lore (lore) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2008-06-23 14:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | art: g, fic: g, prompt: fairy tales, theme: au |
Fairy Tales Challenge: A Wolf's Heart, G
Title: A Wolf's Heart
Author/Artist: Story by lore, art by dianamoon
Rating: Art and Story, G
Challenge: Fairy Tales
Summary: There's magic in a child's innocence and a loving heart.
Disclaimer: They may not be my toys, but I take much better care of them.
Notes: ~850 words. Thank you to betas scribbulus_ink, arionrhod and ellid. Any mistakes or irritants remaining are my own. This story started as a lark in the community chat room, but it has been refined and expended since then...which means you have to read and review all over again, lassies! My deep thanks to dianamoon, who was so inspired in chat that she produced the illustration at the end of the story.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Severus, and he had a stuffed wolf named Remus that he always kept by his side. Severus made sure his wolf went everywhere with him, and when they were alone, Remus would come to life!
The wolf licked Severus' face and chased sticks Severus threw and danced at Severus' feet. Remus ran with Severus when he was too anxious to sit still and rested against Severus' side when the boy was tired, a warm ball of fuzz. Severus was a lonely boy and Remus the wolf was his only friend.
When Severus tried to show his mother what Remus could do, the toy only lay at his feet, button eyes sightless and red felt tongue perpetually lolled. As soon as Mrs Snape looked away, though, Remus would raise his head and wink at Severus, wagging his tail. At first, this frustrated young Severus, but he came to see his time with animated Remus as special - a secret only the two of them knew.
As Severus grew older, he had to start leaving Remus behind more and more often. It wasn't normal for a boy of his age to been seen carrying around a stuffed animal, even if Severus longed for the soft fur of his toy when other children teased him for his big nose and lank hair. Remus missed Severus desperately and began not coming to life every time they were alone. The magic that animated him was fading as Severus' innocence was replaced by books, school and the strain that growing up brought with it.
The wolf became increasingly inanimate, still aware, but conserving his energy in case Severus would really need him some day. At first, Severus was saddened by his wolf's limp form, but classes and new children distracted him until he barely remembered Remus at all, let alone that his toy wolf could come to life.
Boarding school was hard on Severus. The people Severus thought were his friends turned out to be not very nice. Severus had to study long hours just to stay at the top of his class because his peers wouldn't help him. Severus missed his family, living away from home most of the time, and then his father died in an accident during Severus' last year of school.
Severus' mother had to sell their house, and she sent him a box of his old things from his childhood room when she moved, unsure if he would join her when he finished school. It was dark in his private little room at school, the full moon's light streaming in a narrow window as he pried open the cardboard lid. Never had Severus felt so sad and alone than he did looking at the picture his mother had included of herself, his late father and young Severus clutching the arm of a ragged toy. When he suddenly recognized his Remus, Severus dug through the box until he found the worn wolf, one eye hanging by a thread and bare patches of fur where moths had eaten at him.
Dim memories of Remus prancing about at his feet rose in Severus, but the wolf remained sadly still and Severus was convinced the antics of his toy had all been a dream. Friendless and with little family left, young Severus began to sob for all that he had lost.
The dormant wolf's heart stirred at the sound of his Severus crying! The forlorn young man he had come to love so well, for so long, was all alone in a tiny room and Remus could feel the loneliness threatening to claim his charge! At the edges of the room, shadows gathered; dark powers threatening to claim the easy prey that Severus made of himself, lost in his despair.
For years, Remus had been preparing for this moment. He let the stored memories of the love Severus had given him for all those years feed his own deep love for Severus in return, the energy quietly building, building, building in him. Remus' button eye repaired itself and then his patchy fur became full and soft again, but the force he was gathering in himself could do far greater, and in a sensational burst of white light, it did!
Remus' body transformed itself from fluff and plastic to flesh and blood, the enchantment of a child's pure love shaping Remus into everything he needed to be. The wolf's small form grew and changed right in Severus' arms, from a ragged little toy into a full-grown man who wrapped himself around Severus and snarled at the gathering shadows, the sound of his fierce growls and the wild beating of his heart creating a magic that was death to the darkness. The shadows fled.
Severus was frightened at first to be holding a naked man in his arms, but he instantly recognized the brown hair and chocolate eyes of his Remus, come to life again! Only this time Severus knew, deep in his soul where his dear toy's transformation had planted a seed of hope, that Remus would remain alive and by his side for good now. And for the rest of their years, neither man was ever lonely again.
The End.