A/N: Hello, everyone! Just a little something I've been thinking of working on for a while and I may or may not give this a second chapter, but for now, it stays as a one-shot. I've given Hope a little bit of Welsh accent, just so you guys remember that, I put it very light since I didn't want to make it unreadable.

bach = little one in Welsh just to make it a bit more realistic. ^^ Hope you guys enjoy it!

Cursed

It had been a dreadful night. The beginning with Lyall strained from work was nothing. The most awful sound Hope had ever heard, Remus … screaming in despair as that beast nearly tore apart his tiny shoulder. Her husband shouting curse after curse until the wolf was out of her boy's room, but she only had eyes for him. For her son crying in pain and blood covered his favourite pyjamas. Lyall had taken him from her arms and disappeared into the fireplace, leaving Hope to cry with her son's favourite stuffed animal — Dino, the dragon — as company and without a clue of what would happen to him, whether Remus would even live or die. His blood covered her hands and she had to compose herself in that tiny room where her son's fate had changed forever.

At last, after he had told the Healer everything he could, when there was nothing else he could do to help their son, Lyall came back to her, though he didn't have any news on how Remus was, at least she could be near him. With the trouble of getting a Muggle inside St. Mungo's behind them — when the Muggle's son was in mortal danger, security tended not to be so rigid, after all who knew whether the boy would even make through the night —, Hope and Lyall waited by the door as those Healers took care of the boy who only wanted his mum, but whose mother could do utterly nothing to help him. She felt powerless. Her only job as a mother was to protect him. And she had failed her only son. Such sense of failure made her even forget to look to her side and see the guilty in her husband's eyes. He had been the one who angered Greyback two nights before. He had been the one who had not even thought of putting a few spells around the house to protect his family. He should have been the one the werewolf should have directed his anger. Not his poor, innocent boy. Remus had nothing to do with that. The committee should be punished. He had warned them. He had told them the truth, but they simply chose not to believe him.

'Lyall, stick with your Welsh Boggarts, that's what you're good at.'

Just because he was good with something didn't mean that he knew nothing about other creatures. The signs were all there ... and the so called specialists in werewolves could not see them.

At long last they were allowed into the room, the wound was covered by bandages and Remus was asleep. They started explaining so many things Hope and Lyall could barely understand, but all that mattered was that their baby Remus had been infected. He was a full-fledged werewolf, henceforth. Tears came down her eyes once more, but she held his hand throughout the rest of the night, kissing his forehead and assuring him that she was right there. Right there for him … for whatever it was worth it … Remus still had his mother. Until finally, he began to stir. Lyall left to fetch the Healer and she approached her lips to whisper in his ear, "Remy, bach, Mam's 'ere, OK?" In response, he looked at her with a quizzical face and Hope realised ...

For five year old Remus Lupin, the night had been entirely confusing. He'd been read his bed-time story, tucked in … and then slept quite soundly. And that was when the confusion began. There had been a scratching at his window … and then he had been tackled. Remus remembered heaviness on his chest, and then a blinding pain at his shoulder. He'd been so sleep-addled, that he had no idea what was happening to him. Terror had filled the small boy, and he'd cried both from the pain and the fear. His father had picked him up and taken him away … and that was all. After that, everything was dark.

Remus woke up in the hospital's bed some time later. The fever was racing through him. His flesh was hot, sweaty, flushed. The Healers kept him asleep through the worst since the pain would be too much, it could have been another factor to kill the small boy. So, he slept, unknowing the change his body was being forced to go through. A change of species. Remus Lupin would no longer be human, his body's biology was changing. When his body cooled, the Healers allowed him to wake up on his own. When Remus came to and became aware of his mother's whisper in his ear.

"Mama?" his weak, hoarse voice so very small in the room. Blue eyes opened and then closed a little against the bright light that filled the room. However, his gaze took in his mother's face near his own and the quizzical feature turned into a small smile. "Mama, where are we?" he asked. This wasn't their home, that was probably all he knew about that place.

"At the 'ospital, love," Hope answered, trying to stop her trembling chin.

Lyall entered a few minutes later with a Healer and Remus rose up a bit on his pillow.

"Papa."

"Shh, Remy, don't move, all right?" Hope pushed a few hairs out of his forehead.

Both watched the Healer stand beside the bed and smile warmly at the boy.

"Hi there, Remus. Can I take your temperature?" Remus nodded, shying. The Healer danced her wand around him. "The fever's gone down. He's survived the infection. That's remarkable. Many his age aren't so lucky."

Remus frowned in confusion. Having inherited his father's shyness, he didn't like speaking in front of strangers and so he shifted closer to his mother and whispered, "I was sick?"

God, what was she even supposed to say to such innocent question? Hope sucked in a deep breath and whispered back, "There's a big cut on youer shoulder, that made you a bit sick, yes, so Papa brought you to sleep 'ere and they took care of you."

Remus's blue eyes widened and the look he shot her was of almost terror.

"He didn't leave Dino to sleep alone, did he? Dino feels sad if I'm goned."

There was no controlling the trembling chin and the tears coming down her eyes when Remus barely cared about himself being wounded and only wanted his toy to feel happy.

"Papa will go 'ome and fetch Dino. Don't worry, bach."