Words: 1559

Description: I've seen this one done before (maybe even with the same title idk), but I wanted to do my version of it. Remus is scared of the dark and every night, he makes Lyall check under his bed for monsters. Lyall tells him of the story about the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Story:

"Daddy! Daddy! There's monsters under my bed!" Remus called to his father, blankets pulled up to his chin in fright. Lyall and Hope had just given their son goodnight kisses and Hope sang him a song. Lyall had flicked the light off when Remus cried out.

He was a brave four year old boy, but he was afraid of the dark. Every night he would ask Lyall to check under his bed for monsters. 

Lyall sighed and nodded at Hope to head off to bed and he turned on the light once more and got down on his knees to check under the bed. As usual, there was nothing there. 

He brushed Remus's light brown curls out of  his face with a smile. "There's no monsters under your bed, Remus."

Remus laid back down against his pillow and Lyall tucked him in. "You're for sure?" He asked. 

"Yes I'm for sure."

Remus's eyes were wide. "But I'm scared, Daddy," he said. 

Lyall thought for a minute and held up his hand for Remus to wait and he went downstairs to look in the cupboards for a muggle night light that Hope purchased when Remus was just a baby. He brought it back up to his son's room and plugged it into the outlet across from Remus's bed. He flicked off the light and Remus whimpered, but settled down once his eyes adjusted to the little light in the room. 

"Goodnight, Remus," Lyall whispered, closing the door so there was just a sliver remaining open. 

"G'night," Remus whispered back.

The next night was much the same, Lyall checked under Remus's bed for monsters and assured him that once again, there was nothing under his bed. 

Hours later, after they'd all fallen asleep, Lyall was awoken by a scream. "Dad!" Remus screamed. "Dad, there's a monster!"

Lyall shot up and out of bed and ran down the hall while Hope sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. 

Lyall flicked on the light in Remus's room and saw Remus shivering in bed, crying. "Daddy, there's a monster," he said. Lyall went over and assured him that it was just a dream and checked under the bed for good measure. Again, there was nothing. 

"Go back to sleep, Remus," Lyall said, closing the door. 

And the night after that, Remus was again awoken from a dream, calling to Lyall that there was a monster under his bed. 

Lyall, annoyed and tired, checked under the bed and told Remus to go to sleep already.

The next night, as Lyall was tucking Remus to bed, he checked under the bed for monsters. There were none. "Now, I don't want you to go calling me in the middle of the night, okay?"

"But what if there's a monster?" Remus asked. 

Lyall sighed. "There is no monster, Remus. Now, let me tell you a story about the boy who cried wolf."

He had Remus lay down and he tucked the covers all snug around the little boy. "There once was a boy. He was a shepherd and he watched the sheep up on a hill by the village. He would get so bored up there, watching the sheep. One day, he decided to cry wolf. All the village people rushed up the hill to help the boy save the sheep from the wolf. The boy laughed and said, "There is no wolf." The village people were not happy and went back down the hill. The next day, the boy cried wolf again, as he was bored. The village people all hurried up the hill once more, only to find that once again there was no wolf."

Remus was enthralled with the story and his eyes drooped as Lyall played with his curls, every once in awhile running his fingers over his eyes to close them. It was something his mother did to him when he was a boy and it always put him right to sleep. 

"And then, the next day, there really was a wolf! And the boy cried wolf to the villagers, but nobody came. The villagers didn't believe him and they didn't want to be tricked again. The wolf killed all of the sheep and the boy was devastated. And that, Remus, is why you don't lie, because then no one will believe you when you're telling the truth. Do you understand?"

Remus nodded wearily. "Okay, Dad."

"Goodnight, Remus," Lyall said. 

"G'night."

For the next week or so, Remus wouldn't make Lyall check under his bed for monsters. Lyall was quite proud of Remus and how the lesson stuck. He knew Remus was still scared, but he was being brave and he never called for Lyall in the middle of the night. 

Until one night. Lyall and Hope were putting Remus to bed, Hope with her song and Lyall with his stories, when Remus begged Lyall to check under his bed for monsters.

"Remus..." Lyall warned, running a hand over his face. He had thought they were over this. "There's no monster under your bed."

"But please, Daddy. Please, there's a monster under my bed, I just know it!"

"Remus!" Lyall snapped. "There is no monster under your bed. Goodnight." 

Remus shook and shivered, blankets once again pulled up to his chin. He would not sleep that night. 

Lyall turned off the light and went to bed, closing his bedroom door behind him. Hope frowned at him. "Must you be so harsh? He's just scared of the dark is all."

Lyall groaned. "I just had a bad day at work, and I would fancy him to get over this monster business. I need my sleep!"

Hope huffed and turned over in bed, Lyall crawling under the sheets beside her and falling asleep. 

Of course he hadn't seen the glowing eyes of Greyback under the bed, eyes reflecting the muggle night light as he grinned. 

He was once again awoken by a scream. But this one was different. It was Remus's but it wasn't the typical, 'Dad check under my bed,' sort of scream. 

It was bloodcurdling and full of pain. Hope and Lyall were both out of bed in seconds. 

"DAD!" Remus screamed, "DADDY HELP! DADDY THERE'S A MONSTER!"

Lyall swung the door open. What he saw that night would be seared into his brain for a very long time. 

Remus was on the floor, blood seeping into the carpet. There was so much blood. It was seeping from the bite mark on his shoulder. Remus screamed and sobbed at the pain of it, the werewolf venom coursing through his veins, infecting him. He was crawling towards his mummy and daddy, hands and knees being torn by the shards of glass from the window. His window was shattered from where a big form had leaped from the room. 

Hope screamed at the sight, a loud howl outside echoing the sounds of pain from inside the house. Lyall instantly knew what had happened. He knew who had attacked his son. Or rather what, he thought. 

"Remus!" he shouted, scooping his son up into his arms, his beautiful boy, face smeared with his own blood. 

Remus wouldn't stop screaming as the venom worked it's way through his system. 

They brought him down to the living room and Lyall wrapped him in a blanket as Hope tried to clean out the wound and wrap it in a bandage. She was working on instinct and wasn't entirely sure this wasn't all a terrible nightmare. 

Lyall didn't know what to do. Because of the Werewolf Restriction Act that he passed, he knew the kind of life his son would be forced to lead. And he didn't want that for him. He knew that if they brought Remus to St. Mungos, he'd be branded and his chances at a normal life would be taken from him in an instant. 

But Remus needed help fast. And so Lyall decided to call an old friend. 

Newt Scamander arrived as soon as he'd received Lyall's patronus. Newt, with his magizoologist expertise, helped the Lupins out that night and he kept their secret. 

From that point on, Lyall never hesitated to check under Remus's bed for monsters, even when it seemed silly, or Remus was too old for that nonsense. 

And he would always go to Remus's room to comfort him when he woke up screaming from nightmares of a different kind. But it was Hope that comforted Remus before and after the full moons when he was sickly and in pain and scared. It was always Hope. 

Because even though, Lyall loved his son, he loved only  his son. He hated the werewolf. And he instilled in Remus a hatred for the werewolf and in turn Remus himself. Because although Lyall exceeded in separating Remus from the wolf, Remus knew better. 

He knew that the werewolf was a part of him. And though it was never Lyall's intention, it was his fault that Remus had all the self doubt and self hate inside of him. 

From that night forward, Lyall's view of his son was tainted.

Because Remus had become the boy who cried werewolf.