Have Fangs, Will Travel: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Darkness. Warmth. Silence. A comforting environment, a room obviously quite 
lived-in, but not exactly quaint. Worn carpet the color of pepto-bismol 
covered a creaky floor, and the white walls would dimly light up 
now-and-then from the neighbor’s motion sensor lamps. Books cluttered 
the shelves and dresser tops, and a fine layer of dust seemed to cover 
everything. Yes, it was lived-in. Far from quaint.

“-a look at the front page, yet more problem with the Florida chads, don’t 
expect a president anytime soon, a local woman presses a lawsuit against 
Burger King-” A blaring clock-radio shatters the tranquillity, and a 
hand shoots out from under a pile of blankets, finding the ‘off’ button easily. 
The owner of the hand pauses, then rolls out of bed, automatically grabbing 
a towel and tramping off to the bathroom to spend a good fifteen minutes 
in a steaming shower. 

Six a.m. comes very early. Especially for high-school students. 

Approximately twenty minutes later light fills the white-walled room, 
and a figure paces about the ragged pink carpet. Lj Reese flops down 
on her bed and sighs. Too early, too early. Heaving another sigh, 
Lj somersaults up and stares in the mirror. And sighs again.

She is not especially pretty, to others nor to herself. Messy, 
untamed brown locks cascaded over what once were pretty blue eyes, 
but too many 6 a.m. mornings had given them a greenish tinge and circled 
them with black. She knows she is not popular, with her baggy jeans 
and black nails. On the other hand, she is not a geek. No, Lj Reese tends 
to fade into the background, and her misanthropic tendencies do 
a excellent job of keeping her there. Fine by her. 

After devouring two pop-tarts and throwing a backpack filled with 
half-completed homework over her shoulder, she steps out of her home 
slightly before 7 a.m. The darkness of a January winter encloses 
around her, and the full moon glints in the cloudless sky. She shivers. 
A cold January winter. 

Making a mental note to wear a jacket tomorrow, Lj stomps off to the 
bus stop, wearily bracing herself for another day of awkward hell.

-------------

Remus Lupin is currently very close to having a nervous breakdown. 
At least, his human mind is. His wolf mind is in ecstasy. 

Lupin had traveled to America yesterday. Sirius Black had gone about a 
week ago, searching for Albus Dumbledore’s supporters, and had asked Remus 
for help. Remus, being unemployed because of his...condition, 
eagerly agreed. It would give him something to do, at least. 

Blame it on jet lag, blame it on excitement, blame it on stupidity. 
Remus Lupin was unaware of the full moon. He was choosing to blame 
it on jet lag, screwing his internal sense of the lunar cycle to 
uselessness. But it was still his fault. 

Even worse, he had chosen to sleep at a bus stop, like any other bum with 
no money would. Because that was what he was. In both the wizarding world 
and the muggle territory. Poor. 

And it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a wizard or a squib or a 
muggle, in wizarding or muggle land, if you’re a bum during the middle 
of a snowy winter, you freeze your ass off. He was using what little 
energy he had to keep in his body heat and lull himself into a 
catnap, not stare up at the moon. 

So he had not known, had not bothered to look. He’s paying for that 
mistake now, running through a muggle neighborhood, humans all around 
him. Indoors, though. As long as they didn’t come out until sunrise, 
he’d be okay. They’d be okay. His human mind processed this. 

His wolf mind wanted prey. Wanted to kill, to tear flesh and taste blood. 
His wolf mind growled with irritation at the walls that surrounded 
sleeping, helpless victims. 

It was to Remus Lupin’s horror when he first saw lights turn on. 
The full moon was still glowing strong, and sunrise wasn’t for another 
hour and a half, at least. 

He was screwed.

What little control his human mind had was gone. He crouched low, 
out of sight, and waited. Nose twitching with anticipation, 
he watched lights flash on in several other houses nearby. It wouldn’t 
be long now.

Then, a door opening. Shutting. A figure walking out, away from safety, 
down a darkened street.

He attacked.

Lunging out of his hiding place, he pinned the person to the ground, 
snarling with the rhapsody of the hunt. “What the f-!” A feminine voice 
screamed, but he canceled out the cry with a victory howl of his own. 
His fangs glistening in the moonlight, he lowered his jaws and bit down. Hard.

She screamed obscenities again, blood oozing down her shoulder and staining 
the snow. Remus howled again, his senses muddled by the taste of blood,
and moved to tear out her throat.

Suddenly, a black blur cut through the murky pre-dawn air. It tore Remus away 
from his prey, biting and barking in a fierce, reprimanding manner. 
Grabbing Lupin by the scruff of his neck and holding him so he wouldn’t be 
able to turn suddenly and bite, it dragged him off into the shadows of 
a nearby grove. 

‘Sirius...’ His human mind managed to process before everything went dark.