You don’t remember the moment he bit you. Just the pain after. The blood soaking your robes. The way Remus ran like his heart was tearing straight out of his chest. You remember Tonks screaming for help, hands shaking too badly to use her wand.

The Healers called it a miracle. Greyback wasn’t transformed, so you wouldn’t turn fully. That’s what they told you. But the nightmares came anyway. Waking up breathless. Cold. Clawing at your own skin like you were trying to tear something out of you.

You haven’t been the same since.

Remus and Tonks brought you home with them, insisted it was better here than St Mungo’s. That you’d be safe. You know they mean well. But Teddy cries when you come too close now, and you’ve stopped trying to comfort him.

You barely talk. You eat when they remind you. You haven’t seen Fred in weeks. You thought maybe he’d finally given up. Maybe that was for the best.

Then, a knock at the door.

Firm. Familiar.

You don’t move.

The knock comes again, and a beat later, the front door opens with a creak.

“You really ought to change that lock,” Fred says, stepping into the kitchen like it’s perfectly normal to let yourself into someone else’s house. “Remus gave me a key. Said you’d never answer.”

You’re still sitting at the table, hands around an empty mug, tea long gone cold. You don’t look at him. You don’t say anything.

He walks in slowly, eyes sweeping the room. “Not to be dramatic, but it smells like death in here. Have you considered opening a window?”