Till Forever Falls Apart

Third Year: Eve

October 1, 1993

    It had been a month into their third year, and the students had spoken.

    Remus Lupin was now almost everyone's favorite teacher.

    If anyone could have seen it coming, it was Val. She received numerous comments in the corridors and all hours of the day during her meals and study times that her father was "fantastic", "fun", and "cool".  Kids in all years asked her what he would be doing the day after, or the next week, wanting to know any detail they could about the lessons that interested them most. There were days she accepted the praise willingly, others she would tell them she couldn't be responsible for his "genius" works, as one kid had described to her. Everyone wanted to know if his teaching reflected him as a father, to which she gave an honest answer.

    "He's great as a dad," she told a group of kids who had crowded her in the hall, wanting to know what his favorite color was and anything else she could tell them. "He taught me everything, and he's always loved teaching, as far as I know."

    "Tell him we hope he stays for the next few years!" A fifth-year shouted to her as the herd left.

    Thankful to not be kept against her will, she hurried to the Gryffindor common room, where she and Harry had arranged to work on their star charts together.

    "That miserable cat!" She heard Ron yell when some other red and gold-robed students entered the hole in the portrait. "Hermione, get control of your animal!"

    On second thought, Val wheeled back around, hurrying down the steps she had just come from. Hermione and Ron had been fighting like, well, cats and dogs recently, with their pets at the center of it all. She didn't want a headache to form in the early hours of that morning when her day had started off well enough.

    "Did you see the moon last night?" Two fourth-year girls were saying as they headed in the opposite direction as her.

    "A full one, right?" The one with blonde hair turned to her friend. "It was pretty."

    Val looked around to see if anyone was nearby, then darted to the hospital wing.

    It had only been the night before when she had been in her father's classroom, asking if she could at least accompany him to where he would undergo the transformation.

    He had looked at her, already worn by the effects increasing by the minute. "You know I can't let you, love."

    Sirius and James had come last night too. They were going to be the ones to accompany him, they said, as a courtesy. The two men promised Madam Pomfrey (and Professor McGonagall, who was extremely uneasy about it) that they would leave right before.

    Val wasn't dumb enough to believe that. She thought she had almost dreamed the previous night, hearing a distant howl, joined by the calls of a dog and stag.

    No matter how she had asked, trying all different angles and flatteries, her father did not budge. She went to bed right before curfew, hoping he might knock at her common room and ask. But Remus did not come, saying he would see her that morning.

    And, with a jumpy heart, she went to find him.

    She had seen him before he had seen her, putting on a steady face though her steps thundered in time with the blood that rushed in her ears. He had been very good, in all her years of living, not to see her until later in the day after his transformations, when he could stand to rise from bed and greet her. In her younger years, he might've blamed it on fatigue until she was too smart to link his state to the monthly moons. He usually kept out of her line of sight until he deemed himself to be in a better condition.