Sweet Creature || Remus Lupin

Chapter 8

October, 1993- Hogwarts

The rest of September went by in a blink of an eye. Delia was doing well with all of her classes and the students seemed to like her. Remus and Delia talked every chance they could, they learned a lot about each other (not the werewolf part of course) and their times here at Hogwarts. 

Cordelia took notice that for a few days Remus would fall sick and wouldn't be able to teach. She thought it was weird and he'd quickly come up with an excuse for it. Delia wanted to look into it, but also didn't want to pressure Remus into telling her. 

Remus grew fond of Delia and how excited she would get if he brought up magical creatures. He also realized that they are very much alike in the types of books they read. 

This school year was going pretty normal until October 31st. 

Everyone was sat down in the Great Hall eating the Halloween feast. Snape was looking towards Lupin a lot more than normal. Both Harry and Delia took notice of this. 

After the feast was finished, all of the students were sent back to their dormitories. Delia starts walks back to her room to prepare for teacher rounds when Professor Sprout came into Delia's classroom. 

"Cordelia!" Pommy shouts franticly as Delia comes running out, "Sirius Black is in the castle, we need to search around the castle. I said that I would take you, so come on!" 

"Sirius Black? In the castle?" Delia puts down her bag and grabs her wand, putting it in her pocket. Pommy nods quickly and drags Delia out of the classroom. 

"He must be mental, breaking into the castle!" Pommy and Delia walk down the castle corridors looking around closely to see if they spot anything. 

"What happened? Are the students okay?"

"Sirius Black threatened the Fat Lady to let him in the Gryffindor common room and she was so scared, you see he slashed her painting open!" Pommy takes a deep breath before continuing, "so the students couldn't get into their common room, now they are in the Great Hall with the rest of the students."

"The poor Fat Lady, well it looks like this corridor is clear, is there anywhere else we need to look?" Pommy shakes her head no and they start to walk towards the Great Hall. 

"I need to check on my Hufflepuffs, I will see you later." They quickly hug and Sprout walks away before turning, "Oh and please stay safe!"

"Will do!" Sprout walks into the Great Hall and Delia subconsciously looks around for Remus. She finally spotted him, he looked a lot better than last night and it made her happy. Delia walks to where he is standing, starring off into his own world. She puts a hand on his shoulder and jumps, but once he realizes who she is, he turns and smiles at her. "Are you okay? I know Sirius being back must be hard on you."

Remus nods and turns to completely face her, "I'm fine. Can we talk about this somewhere else?"

"Of course, your class or mine?" 

"Yours, mine is kind of messy." Delia smiles, and Remus sticks out an arm for her to take and she gladly takes it. They walk into Delia's classroom and she waves her wand to produce light to the candles. 

"Would you like some tea?" Delia asks as she walks to her dormitory. 

"That would be great! Thank you." Delia smiles as she walks into her room and towards the kitchen. 

"Remus, you can come in if you want!" she shouts so he can hear her though the door. Remus awkwardly shuffles and walks in. Her dormitory is very warm and smells like vanilla. The layout is almost like his, with the kitchen and living room in one area and two doors which lead to the bathroom and bedroom. The room has a yellow glow and many plants, very much like the Hufflepuff common room. "Make yourself at home." Delia walks over to the sofa with two mugs and lays them down on the table in front of them. Delia points her wand at the fireplace and mutters "Incendio". Flames come out of the fireplace as Remus sits down next to her. 

"Thank you." Remus picks up his tea and takes a sip.

"There is sugar and honey in front of you if you need it." Remus smiles and nods takes a sugar cube, stirring it into his tea. 

They sit in a comfortable silence for a minute, both drinking their tea. They were stealing glances at each other before looking away quickly. 

"Remus, what did you want to talk to me about?" Delia turns to Remus and puts down her tea on the table. 

Remus takes a deep breath, "I'm scared. For Harry, for me, for Hogwarts in general. I can't believe he is back, how could he be back? How could he betray us? I can't believe I trusted him" Tears start sprouting in Remus' eyes as he also puts down his cup and turns to Delia. 

"It's okay Remus, nothing will happen to you or Harry. Everyone here will make sure of it."

"It's not okay though!" Remus shouts and Delia is taken back in surprise, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. This just can't be true." He puts his head in this hands. Delia acts on a whim and leans forward. She elopes him into a hug, putting her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. Remus was shocked, but returned the hug gratefully. His arms wrapped around her waist, putting his head on her shoulder. Because they were sitting, it was an awkward entanglement, but they were comfortable. Remus takes in her scent, she smells like vanilla with a hint of fresh lemon. Delia notices the more she hugs Remus, the scent of new parchment and chocolate. 

They stayed hugging for a few moments longer until Delia pulls back, but places a hand on the right side of his face. They smile at each other before Delia speaks up, "Things will get better, okay? They will find Sirius Black and you will be fine."

Remus greatly appreciated Cordelia in this moment, he looked to her as a bright light at the end of a tunnel. "Thank you" was all Remus could make out, and he meant it. Delia lightly smiles and traces his scars gently. 

"How did you get these?" She asks softly, not wanting to upset him. Remus pulls back a little bit which makes Delia retract her hand. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me, I was just wondering."

"It's fine. I don't want you to judge me." His voice trails off quietly, but Delia can still hear him. 

"I don't think I could ever judge you. You give out chocolate, help Harry, cried when reading 'Little Women', and always can make me smile. Remus you are amazing." Delia exclaims as Remus shakes his head, but smiles lightly. 

"You just won't look at me the same, I'm a monster Delia!" Remus raises his voice slightly, but not loud. Though all Delia does is smile and look away. 

"There are no strange creatures, only blinkered people." Remus looks at Delia perplexed. "That is what my grandfather used to say, well still says." Delia lightly laughs, and turns to Remus. 

"I like that, he is a smart guy."

"He is, but we are not going off topic." Remus chews the inside of his cheek, nervous. "Why are you are 'monster' Remus?" Delia puts quotes around the word monster. 

Remus looks away and takes a deep breath. "I get sick every month, on a full moon. I am not 'sick' though, I am changing to the monster." Delia puts a hand on Remus' arm, he doesn't even seem to notice. "I was turned when I was four years old. I was turned by Fenrir Greyback. He wanted revenge on my father for his harsh words about the werewolf community. Although my father burst in and saved me from death, the attack left me as a werewolf." 

Delia is taken back, but doesn't remove her hand. Instead she turns him to face her and brings him back into a hug. Remus is taken back, surprised by her reaction. He expected her to kick him out, never talk to him or even say something derogatory about werewolves. But no, she elopes him into a hug. That meant enough to Remus, "you don't hate me?"

Delia pulls away and laughs, "How could I hate you? and don't answer that. It's not like you can help it. You didn't choose to become a werewolf."

"Really?"

"Really."