Nobly Wild, or Five Times Teddy Lupin Felt Like A Wolf

"Made us nobly wild, not mad." –Robert Herrick, Ode for Ben Johnson.

for the 5 things challenge on HPFC

i. at full moons

Teddy Remus Lupin sat in a chair in the Ravenclaw Common Room and stared out of one of the huge arched windows at the beautiful sight of the nearby mountains illuminated by the moon.

Any other time, he would have appreciated the sight, but this night he just stared unseeing at the landscape.

The moon taunted him, mocking him with its perfect spherical shape, that lovely orb that teased him once a month.

He was not a werewolf, as his long-dead parents had been relieved to discover.

But he was pretty damn close.

He did not morph, change into a fearsome, loathed beast.

Instead he was restless, animalistic, wild energy surging through him all night on full moons. He could not focus his mind on anything, merely sit, tap his fingers (or toes, or jiggle his leg-some movement) and wait for the sun to rise.

ii. when eating meat

When eating meat, close friends and family knew he preferred it rare, almost bloody.

He would eat it quickly, "wolfing it down" was how Victoire described it, and wipe the red juice running down his chin "sheepishly, like a wolf in sheep's clothing," Victoire also cracked.

Teddy didn't care- he much preferred it rare.

iii. when somebody insulted Victoire

The first time (and not the last) he lost control when hearing people insult Victoire was when he was in seventh year and she in fifth.

"Jumped up Gryffindor slag," he heard a Slytherin fifth year say to his friend in the library. Teddy tensed and listened.

"Thinks she's so special cause she's half-French and part-Veela."

"And that ridiculous name- Victoire," the first boy said, putting a mocking accent on it.

Now, Teddy was all for inter-house unity, (his Grandmother had been in Slytherin), but not at the moment. He closed his book quietly and strode over to where the boys were sitting.

Without stopping to think of what his Grandmother would say, he punched the first boy as hard as he could in the nose.

The other boy rose to his feet as the first yelped and used his sleeve to stop the scarlet flow. Teddy punched him too, for good measure.

The animal inside of him snarled in fierce triumph.

Casually wiping his hand on his robe, he said coolly, "Don't ever let me catch you talking about her that way again," and, gathering his things, walked to his common room, fist still clenched in cold fury.

He was not surprised in the slightest when he was summoned to Professor Goldstein's office. Of course the students knew who he was- he was the only one in Hogwarts with blue hair.

He served his detention proudly.

iv. when he was running

His feet smacked the ground loudly, quickly, but never quick enough for Teddy. He loved running, but when he ran, he always felt a strange longing for four legs, to pound the ground speedily and effortlessly. The animal urge drove him to run faster, to satisfy it, but it was still not fast enough.

So he was overjoyed when he became a wolf Animagus.

v. when he thought about his parents

When he thought about his parents, and the fact that no matter how many stories Harry and Grandmum told him they were still blurry figures full of gaps and Teddy couldn't remember a thing about them and it hurt sometimes hurt that he would never know them except through tales and a few old treasured photographs but otherwise they were just shadowy concepts ideas of what it means to have a family and it was then he wanted to howl his loneliness and frustration and inexplicable feeling of loss at the moon…