𝙑𝙄𝙍𝙄𝘿𝙄𝙏𝙔 ➞𝘏.𝘎

seventy

"Remus' Advice"

-WALKING OUT OF THE HISTORY OF MAGIC CLASSROOM, ADHARA IMMEDIATELY WALKED TO THE LIBRARY. She gave Madam Pince, the librarian, a nod and walked over to the bookshelves.

"Still fascinated by the Dark Arts?" asked a voice behind her.

Adhara turned around and nodded. "Of course."

Harry frowned. "I've grown up in a light household. I've got no information on the Dark Arts whatsoever, but I know for a fact that they're not that fascinating. It's all torture and death."

"Well, like you said, you've got no information on the Dark Arts whatsoever."

A book suddenly dropping caught their attention. "Sorry," said Remus, picking up the book he dropped. He then looked at the two of them and asked suspiciously, "Don't you two have classes?"

"Nope." The godsiblings said simultaneously.

The man nodded, then looked at Adhara. "Addie, can I talk to you?"

Harry patted Adhara on the back, earning a glare from the girl. "I'm out."

As soon as Harry walked out of sight, Remus started carefully, "Summer Break is on its way and we were wondering if you'd like to visit as usual."

"We?" scoffed his stepdaughter. "I'm not going anywhere near your husband, Lupin."

Remus smiled gently. "I know, but you've been avoiding him for too long. You haven't even noticed him trying to talk to you."

He was wrong, though. Adhara did notice.. Whenever Sirius was in the same room or even dozens of feet away from Adhara, she'd rush out of sight immediately.

"Oh, I have. I've just been ignoring it."

Remus sighed. Noticing something, he said, "You've changed lately."

Adhara's face hardened. Of course, they keep pointing out her changes. Of course, they don't ask why she changed.

He immediately shook his head frantically. "I didn't mean it in a bad way! I just meant that you're.. finding yourself." He said, trying to find the right words for it.

"Finding myself?" She frowned in confusion.

"You've been through a lot, Addie." Remus smiled softly. "And I'm so proud of how you're fighting the need of changing into a bad person."

Adhara let out a shaky breath unconsciously.

That was the first time somebody had noticed it.

"You know," said the man, finally sitting down in front of her at the table. "Our situations aren't alike, but they're not so different either."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a werewolf," his voice dropped to a whisper, almost as if he was ashamed. "I'm a menace to society. I've been bitten when I was a mere child. Just like how darkness clouded up on you when you were a mere teenager."

Adhara became quiet, taking it all in. He was right, of course.

Remus sighed again and pursed his lips. "I have my killing-instincts during the full moon, but you? You have so much hate for the world. Why?"

"Because nobody did anything to help me from the darkness. It was all on my shoulders."

"But they did," said her stepfather. "Harry did. Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco did. I did.. sometimes, however, other people don't know what to do.. Sirius being one of them. He was scared, Addie. He didn't want to lose you. He was scared of Narcissa blaming him and not letting him ever see you again."

Adhara rolled her eyes. "Is that why he called me a slut?"

"No. That's because he felt the need of being a father at that moment. Father instincts, you could say." He sighed and shook his head. He disagreed with Sirius's ways sometimes, but Sirius didn't know what to do. It wasn't like the man had a good father figure growing up. "Addie, Sirius had never seen you as a child, nor was he there for your childhood. That's what makes him think that you're still a child. He just wants to protect you. He knew you had some feelings for Hermione and seeing you with that Nott girl made him think that you're ruining what you want and that it'd break you.." he whispered the last part.

Adhara immediately stood up. "I do not have feelings for—!" but she stopped.

Did she have some kind of feelings towards Hermione?

Wasn't she the one to break Hermione's heart?

"She broke me first." whispered the girl, eyes tearing up. All the emotions she had been trying so hard to keep in, was coming all out. "I didn't want to break her. But it — it just happened. I couldn't help it."

"You took all your anger and hurt out on her, Addie. On the person that loves you—"

"Don't you understand?!" She whisper-shouted with horrorstricken eyes. "I'm protecting her! She can't love me! She can't love a monster!"

"You're protecting yourself," said Remus softly. "You're the one who doesn't want to love. You're scared of it. You're scared of your emotions. Of your feelings."

Adhara tensed immediately. "How.. how do you know that?"

"I've went through the same thing," he shrugged. And it was then that Adhara realized what he was talking about; Remus had pushed Sirius away because of his lycanthropy, just like how Adhara was pushing Hermione away because of her darkness.

"What should I do?" She sat back down, finally accepting the harsh truth.

Remus immediately smiled. "Listen. Listen to Sirius. Listen to Hermione. Listen to them, Addie. That's it. And if they do hurt you, you know where to find me."