RUNNING WITH WOLVES remus lupin

OO6. 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐗𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘

𝐒 𝐈 𝐗

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

WELL, REMUS HAD VERY NEARLY MADE IT THROUGH HIS FIRST MONTH. It was now October. He thought that his classes seemed to be going well-- almost all the students were enthusiastic and engaged, and the first round of essays he'd collected had resulted in high marks for nearly everyone.

He had paid special attention to the essay he'd set his third years on the difference between Red Caps and kappas. Hermione Granger's had been far and away the best, and as he read it he could almost feel her chafing against the twelve-inch limit he had set.

But Harry's essay had been what interested Remus most out of the bunch. It was clear and well-thought-out, but there was something restrained about it, as if the boy didn't trust himself to articulate his original thought to the fullest. And the handwriting... Harry and Lily shaped their g's the same way. Remus thought that maybe it was a silly thing to notice, and yet there it was.

With Sirius on the loose. It was easy to remember how much he missed James and Lily.

Harry tended to be quiet in class and almost never spoke up unless explicitly called on, but when he was, he had the right answer. Remus wasn't sure how much of the boy's reticence was due to his friendship with Hermione, who Remus could always count on for a correct answer, or the fact that students like Dean and Parvati were always so eager to participate and it was easy for Harry to fade into the background, and how much of it was due to his life in Petunia Dursley's household.

Minerva had let slip once that Harry's first Hogwarts letter had been addressed to "the cupboard under the stairs," and Remus had choked on his tea.

"It's horrific," Minerva had continued, furious, in the same conversation. "And Sybill Trelawney predicting his death at every opportunity --"

"What in God's name?" Remus had interrupted, growing cold.

Minerva had rolled her eyes. "The third year Gryffindors came to me right after their first Divination lessons. Apparently, Sybill made quite a dramatic show of reading Harry's tea leaves and saw that nasty great black dog omen, the Grim, or whatever it's called --"

Remus had stilled.

"--in Harry's cup, and she wasted no time in telling the whole class that it was an omen of death. I asked Albus to do something, but once again, he refused to check her, saying that Hogwarts needed her and that she'll have to stay."

Remus had nodded and forced his breathing to slow. Trelawney was a fraud. Everyone knew that. And even if she wasn't, she had no reason to know-- and she had been doing this to her new students for years if Minerva was to be believed. It had nothing to do with Sirius. How could it?

Remus knew he had to force himself to give his other classes as much focus as he was giving to Harry.

The seventh years had voted against extra review sessions for the sixth-year material because the NEWT exam was only cumulative of sixth- and seventh-year material, and the standard curriculum had review built in.

He could tell that the students felt that they were on track to be prepared for the exam in May, and they were all performing well on the periodic diagnostic tests he was setting them for practice.

Remus was glad for the larger class with his 5th years. Because it meant more flexibility in pairing them up to worktogether, and lent more voices to theory discussion.

The fifth years had settled on twice-weekly evening review sessions of the fourth-year material, and at the first one Remus had presented them with an assessment he had written so that he could plan how much time to devote to various fourth-year concepts.

That aside, tensions between him and Elodie Ashcombe we're getting worse. He could barely meet her eyes in class. He also tended to be very skittish around her. Can't say he was the most stubble about it. But it was because he couldn't helpit,t and it was hard to fight Moony.

He also had the sinking feeling the Dumbledore was catching on. Which would make the situation worse than it is. Dumbledore had let many things slide. Meaning the fact that he was a werewolf. But in thiscase,e he doesn't know how the older wizard would react.

And he doesn't want to find out. Remus then flushed and looked down at the tabletop. It was beginning to get harder and harder to keep himself away. His resolution was crumbling... and fast. Mooney wouldn't wait forever.

He had been lucky in that the September full moon had fallen on a Saturday, so he had only to deal with the escalating soreness in the few days leading up to it, and had been able to take Sunday to recover from the exhaustion. He was also lucky that Severus was willing to make the wolfsbane potion for him.

The Wolfsbane potion was disgusting as ever, and Remus still hated the momentary interactions when Snape would hand him the flasks every day for a week, but it was worth it, so worth it, to give in to the transformation knowing that he wouldn't hurt anyone coming out of it.

For the first time since he was a child, he was able to face a full moon without the petrifyingfear, because he was still a monster, but a monster caged, finally.