The girl in the cell opposite him had been crying for over an hour. 

Remus was sitting up against the wall, leaning his head against the bars to his left just listening to the poor girl sob her heart out. She was a redhead, about the same age as Remus himself, but she had only been locked up yesterday morning. The guards had come down with her between them and threw her into the cell that had previously been vacated just weeks before. The Death Eaters had obviously just caught the girl recently, or maybe she had been transferred here. Either way, she was terrified and hurt. That Third Year girl had picked on her quite a lot that day, sending stinging jinxes her way throughout the entire afternoon. Remus himself hadn't come out of it unscathed. He clutched his right arm to his chest where that horrible boy had held his wand. Even now, Remus could barely look at the wound without wanting to throw up.

The girl had stopped crying now. Remus could see her, curled up on the floor in the middle of her little cell. Swallowing hard, he slowly rose to his feet and pressed himself close to the bars. "Hey," he called out. "Are you okay?" 

The girl lifted her head and Remus was startled by her bright green eyes that shone in the darkness. She was quite pretty but her face was tear stained and dirty. Not that Remus cared. He was sure he looked a lot worse. As she wasn't protesting to his company, Remus decided to keep talking. "My name is Remus, by the way," he said, trying to keep his voice gentle. "Remus Lupin. What's yours?" The girl crept forwards to the bars so now it was only the corridor between them.

"I'm Lily Evans," she whispered, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. She looked up at Remus and gave him a weak smile. "I'd shake your hand but I can't be bothered to get up." Remus chuckled slightly which seemed to relax the girl enough to laugh a little too. 

"It's okay," Remus said with a kind smile. "Maybe some other time." Lily smiled and nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest. 

"So," she said, biting her lip. "What brings you here?" Remus raised an eyebrow at her but sat down, cross-legged on the cobblestone.

"Meh, same as you," he replied, keeping up the charade. "Just checking out this super 5-star hotel. Food's alright but the accommodation is a bit off if you ask me." Lily snorted, shaking her head in amusement.

"Yeah, well, you should have seen the last place I stayed in," she said. "It was a real dump." Remus titled his head to the side at that. So she had been somewhere else before, just like he had been. He wondered why they had moved her here then. For him, the last place couldn't...control his condition. Here...well, they had methods that helped with that. Besides, werewolves were rare these days and the school wanted one for 'academic reasons'. Not that Remus had experienced any of that yet.

"Where were you before?" he asked Lily, trying to not be too nosy but unable to hold back his curiosity. He'd never spoken to another prisoner before and Lily seemed really sweet. Anything he could do to make her feel more comfortable was worth it. 

The question seemed to subdue her though and she played with the hair to avoid Remus's eyes. "It was some farm in the country somewhere," she replied quietly. "They put muggle-borns like me to work there, sometimes working them until they're dead. It was horrible. I was only there for a month but that was long enough. They only caught me before when I accidentally used magic to smash a glass at home. Apparently there are people who can tell when you use magic, like a tracer or something. They just appeared at my doorstep, these men with hoods and masks. My parents tried to stop them but they took me. I haven't seen them since." Remus listened to her story, feeling awfully sorry for this poor girl who had already been through hell. 

"I wish I could tell you it gets better here," he said to her. "But I think you've already figured out from this afternoon that it's just as bad. But don't worry. It's always easier with a friend to help you through it all." Lily nodded, wiping her eyes again to stop the tears. After a few shaky breaths, she gave Remus a watery smile. 

"What about you then?" she asked. "How long?" Remus sighed, looking down at his hands.

"I've been here for seven months," he said. "But I've been moved from place to place for just over two years."

"Two years!" Lily gasped, her hand going to her mouth in shock. "Oh my goodness, Remus that's awful!" Remus shrugged but he could feel the pressure building up behind his eyes. It had been ages since he thought of home, of the day he was taken. He would not think about it now, though. Not yet. 

"I get by," he said to Lily. "You learn how to survive in places like these. Speaking of, do you have any water in your cell? They should have given you some this morning at breakfast." Lily disappeared for a moment, melting into the shadows of her cell towards the back. When she came back, she held a wooden bowl in her hands half filled with water. 

"What's it for?" she asked. "Did you want some?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about me," Remus said. "I was just going to help you with those sting jinx burns. I always find that if I dab them with water, they calm down quite a lot." Tearing a bit of shirt off, Remus bunched it into a ball and threw it across the corridor. Lily grabbed it from the floor, sending Remus a grateful smile, before dipping the cloth into the water and dabbing it onto the burn across her collar bone. She sighed with relief as the redness started to fade.

"Oh, that feels much better," she murmured. "How on earth did you figure out to use water?" Remus gave her a meek smile, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He'd suffered numerous stinging charms himself over the years and so learning to adapt was kind of part and parcel of life. But he didn't want to tell Lily that this might be a regular occurrence, so he was about to open his mouth to reassure her but the sound of footsteps cut him off. Suddenly scared, Lily backed away from the bars to the back of her cell, trying to put as much distance between her and the newcomers.

"It's okay, Lily," Remus said, knowing those patterns of footsteps from anywhere,especially when his hearing was so heightened this close to the full moon. "It's alright. It's just my friends." As if on cue, Sirius and James appeared from the darkness, both carrying bags over their shoulders and appearing to be bickering about something. As soon as Sirius saw Remus, he rushed forwards, abandoning James. 

"Remus," he gasped. "Merlin, are you alright?" Remus looked at him, slightly confused.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, subtly moving his bloodied arm behind his back. "Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius sighed with relief, running a hand through his hair. 

"We overheard the Third Years talking about their Dark Arts lesson," he breathed out. "It sounded nasty and...and I was worried about you." Remus felt his cheeks go red, his heart fluttering a bit. He wasn't used to people being worried about him. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken to him with such care in their voice. It almost brought him to tears, remembering what it felt like to be loved and not hated.

"I..." his voice faltered and Sirius immediately picked up on it.

"They did something, didn't they?" he said, his voice going cold. "Show me, Remus. Tell me what they did." It was then that his grey eyes zeroed in on the arm Remus had tucked behind his back. As quick as a viper, Sirius had reached through the bars and grabbed Remus's arm, bringing it towards him. Remus tried not to wince at the tightness of Sirius's grip on his arm, biting his lip to stop the small cry escaping from his lips. "No, Sirius, don't!" But it was too late. Drawing up his tattered sleeve, Sirius gasped when he saw the bloodied letters that were carved into Remus's skin.

"Remus..." he said slowly, his voice shaking with rage. "What is this?"

Across Remus's pale forearm were five letters, each one put there by a cutting jinx that had dug deep into the skin. The letters spelled out a word that Remus just wanted to flinch away from whenever he saw it. 

BEAST.

It was ugly and painful and Remus really just wanted to forget it. Deep down, he knew the cuts would scar and the reminder of what he was would always be there, but he had plenty of scars. What was one more? Besides, right now he was more worried about Sirius figuring out his secret by looking at the word.

"I-it's nothing," Remus said, pulling his arm back. "I've had w-worse."

"I don't care if you've had worse," Sirius said, his voice fierce and passionate. "You shouldn't have to take any of it at all. James, get over here!"

James hadn't been listening. He was, in fact, staring at Lily in the cell opposite, his mouth hanging open and his eyes fixed on her face. Poor Lily was looking extremely uncomfortable with the attention, biting her lip and averting her gaze so she wouldn't meet James's eyes. "Remus," she asked, looking to him. "Who is this creep and why is he staring at me?"

Both Remus and Sirius let out a laugh as James's jaw seemed to drop even further. "I'm not a creep!" he cried, scrambling over to Lily's cell and thrusting his hand through the bars. "The name's James Potter. I promise I'm not a creep. At all. Like, I'm never-"

"Okay, whatever," Lily said, looking James up and down with disgust. But she still shook his hand. "I'm Lily. Lily Evans."

"That's a really pretty name," James told her. Remus rolled his eyes but Sirius made actual barfing noises.

"James, mate, shut it," he said. "You're making me want to tear my eyes out. Come over here and leave the poor girl be. Last thing she needs is for you to be sticking your nose in where it isn't wanted." He paused, biting his lip as he assessed Lily. "I don't recognise you though."

"She's new," Remus said softly. "Came in this morning. It...it happens every so often. She's hurt too. The Third Years really went rough with her." Sirius hesitated again, looking from James to Lily to Remus. He then sighed, shaking his head and looking to the ceiling. 

"James, help Lily out with whatever she needs," he said to his friend. "And stop being a prat about it too. I'll help Remus."

"I told you, Sirius," Remus said as James rifled through his bag of food for something nice to give to Lily. "I'm fine."

"No, you aren't," Sirius said firmly. "Now give me your arm so I can clean those cuts. And no buts, Remus. Accept my help, you stubborn idiot." 

For once, Remus didn't protest. He sat crossed legged on the floor with his arm through the bars as Sirius cleaned the cuts on his forearm with some fresh water he had brought in a flask and some tissue. By the time the blood was cleaned off, the cuts somehow looked even worse, dug deep into Remus's skin. Remus looked away, his stomach churning at the sight of it. As if noticing his discomfort, Sirius dug through his bag and found a wad of bandages. Carefully, he drew Remus's arm closer to him, wrapping the material around the wound and covering it up.

"There," he said. "That should be good enough for a few days." Remus bit his lip, looking down at the floor. In a few days, there would be much worse wounds to deal with than the small gashes in his arm. But he couldn't tell Sirius that. He hated lying to his friend but Sirius would be much safer if he didn't know.

"Thanks," Remus whispered. They sat in silence for a moment, looking over to James who was making a fool of himself in front of Lily. He had practically emptied his bag, offering Lily all kinds of food and asking question after question. Lily looked perplexed and very much freaked out by James's enthusiasm and Remus couldn't help but chuckle at them.

"Thanks for helping Lily too," he said to Sirius who turned his attention back to him. "I appreciate it."

"Somehow I think we'll be seeing much more of her now," Sirius said. He looked back at Remus, a strange look on his face. "Remus, can I ask you a question?" Remus stiffened but nodded. "Why are you down here? Why did do you have 'beast' written on your arm rather than 'mudblood'?" Remus's mouth went dry. He couldn't answer that, at least not honestly. Time and again he had imagined scenarios of telling Sirius what he truly was but each time he always believed that Sirius would never want to be friends with him once be knew that monster he was. Even now, he could see the betrayal slowly sinking into Sirius's grey eyes. No. He couldn't do it. He couldn't risk losing the only person that was keeping him sane.

"I-I don't know," he answered. "I'm a half-blood, maybe he thought I was just some beast because of that. I really don't know, Sirius." It was a weak excuse, but tainted with a half-truth that hopefully made it more believable. Sirius frowned but didn't say anything more after that. Instead, he moved the conversation on to his classes and how he hated them, and Remus, looking back over his shoulder at the wall where he carved a line for each day he got closer to the full moon, was grateful for the distraction. There was still a few more days before he'd have to lie again. 

But that was okay for now.

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