A/N: I don't own any of these characters except for the original ones like Kara Lupin and what not... the rest belong to JKR. I do not mean to cause any problems with her or Bloomsbury Books or even Warner Brothers, by making these stories. They are simply for my own, and any one else who happens to come across them, enjoyment. With that being said I hope you enjoy the new fic. Oh, and just so you know Rowling stated that Remus was a half blood... so I made his mother muggle so anything she is doing in this chapter, work wise, is without aid of magic. I could be wrong on my choice for which of his parents was muggle but I opted to go with his mum because I wanted to and Rowling never specified as to which it really was.

Lesson One: Attempting to Accept What You Believe to be True

Remus walked out of his hall into his room, what would be a very small loft, and looked down out the living room where his father sat reading some new theories on Lycanthropy. Remus sighed heavily as he made his way back through the short hall that led to the stairs. He slowly went down the wooden staircase that creaked slightly under the added weight. Upon hearing the sound of the creaking steps his father instantly looked up from his book and smiled weakly as his son. Remus did nothing to greet the smile with and simply stood at the bottom staircase, knowing exactly what his father was thinking. His father, then, opened his mouth to speak but Remus cut him off. "No Dad, it won't work."

Edmund Lupin just stared at his son, waiting for some kind of an explanation to this statement and when one didn't come he asked the only question that came to his mind. "Why not? It could work." Remus shook his head at his father's beliefs, and walked towards the kitchen with his mind reeling as it had every morning, with the same things, since he had arrived at home a month ago for his summer holiday away from Hogwarts.

There was no hope for him, even if that book was correct. He had read it when his father had first bought it. Making sure that each time he had read it that it was at night when he was absolutely sure that no one could see him doing so. He didn't even really know his motives for this move; only that it had made sense for him to do so at the time. Yet, that was what he had done. And that was why he had known everything that was running through his father's head, for the same thing had gone through his own. He could be normal.

The theories in the book made sense enough, so this new surgery did have a chance of succeeding but then again for Remus, the more he had thought on it, he knew that this disease did not follow theories; it just was what it was. And no one could ever begin to explain it. So ultimately the surgery, running on his own theory, wouldn't ever work so he didn't want to try it at all. He'd been down that road one too many times in his twelve years of life to know, well enough, that he didn't want to go through with something like that again... ever. And this burdened his young mind greatly because he knew his parents only wanted to help him, but in the end, they couldn't, and this fact alone, below the surface of their 'happy' family, tore at the hearts of every member in it.

He opened the kitchen door and sat down at the table located in the small breakfast nook. He turned and stared out the window at the forest located only a few yards away from their home. He noticed immediately the little beams of light that filtered through the intertwining branches, which made the dark eeriness of the twisting trees look almost peaceful in the midst of the shadowy forest.

The clattering of a plate hitting the table drew Remus away from this scene as his mother placed a plateful of bacon and eggs in front of him. He looked up at her and smiled weakly, one of the few smiles he had managed since the end of his term at school. She smiled back at him and took a seat across from him and watched as he sat in obvious thought.

He slowly began to poke at his food, still thinking about the surgery, which then slowly lead his mind to wander onto thoughts on his friends. 'Maybe I should do the surgery. Maybe then they'd like me more.' He thought bitterly as he looked over at Chubs, the families' barn owl that was a wee bit on the runty side. He was sitting on his perch staring at Remus tauntingly with his big yellow eyes as the mail sat but three feet away from him on the counter. Not a single letter was addressed to the young boy.

It'd been almost two weeks since he had received a single letter from his friends. And that one letter that he had received had been from James, who had simply written him to say 'Happy Birthday.' A simple gesture that had made Remus' week until it had begun to dawn on him that the other two of his 'good friends' had either forgotten about his birthday or had chosen to ignore it. The latter was more likely. Remus knew, in the back of his mind, that this exact thing was going to happen to their friendship, sooner or later. His mates were going to desert him, that was inevitable, and when school started up again for a second term he'd be completely and utterly alone. He took a quick bite of his toast as his mind landed on this last thought and found that he was no longer hungry. He then, slowly turned his attention back to the window, looking out at what most would consider a rather dull scene, still thinking bitterly about the upcoming term at Hogwarts and how he was going to deal with not having any friends.

"Remus, dear," Remus looked back at his mother, "are you going to eat that?" He shook his head and pushed the plate away from him over more towards the middle of the table. "What's wrong?"

Remus sighed not wanted to explain his troubles to his parents. They didn't need it, they had enough to deal when it came to him already, and they didn't need anymore. "Nothing." He mumbled and attempted to fake a smile for her sake. She then got up from her seat, grabbed his plate, and kissed her son on his forehead, knowing that when he was ready he would open up and tell them his troubles.

Remus turned yet again and sat looking out the window as his mother went to cleaning the dishes, carefully drying each of them and then setting them in their appropriate place within the cabinet. He sighed deeply as he watched a deer run through the trees and disappeared into the depths of the forest like his thoughts, until there was a loud knock at the front door. He furrowed his brow slightly; they never had any visitors. His mother set the last clean plate down on the counter intending to put it away later, and left the room to go and answer the door because they both knew that his father wouldn't.

He turned his attention back to the window for hopefully what would be the last time as his cousin waltzed into the room. She walked over to the cabinet and put the plate that his mother had set aside away, and then pulled out a bowl for herself and went on to filling it with cereal and milk. She then proceeded to sit down next to him, and loudly gnawed on a bowl of cereal. He instantly put on his best cold shoulder for her and continued to stare out the window, trying his best to concentrate on everything and anything he could other than all the terrible memories that Kara always seemed to remind him of. He looked over at her, unable to hold his concentration with the window scene and mumbled a 'good morning' to the young girl. She just looked at him still eating her disappearing cereal and blinked at him in a bored sort of way. All the while she said nothing back to him.

"Remus." His mother called through the house feebly. Ultimately, saving him from the unbearable silence he and his cousin had fallen into.