One Fate Leads To Another

Chapter 4: Moony

At sunset, I went with Lupin into the woods. The walk took some time, allowing me to subtly examine the scars on his face. He caught me watching.

"How long have you been like... this?" I blurted out. What a clumsy choice of words...

"Since I was a child," he looked at me and said quietly. "How was the hair potion?"

"It worked perfectly," I flipped my hair to show him. He curved the corner of his mouth.

The awkward small talk lasted for a short while before we reached the cabin.

"Are you sure about this?" He was having second thoughts. "I have no control over that beast inside of me."

"Yes, I know the risks," I nodded.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me," his face looked bitter.

"Lupin, my job is to try to tame your beast. Once that is achieved, you won't be hurting anyone else."

I could tell he wasn't convinced.

"I have faith in you." He tried to put on a sincere grin on his face. "Please, call me Remus."

Soon, the bright moon illuminated the land beneath us. We quickly entered the hut, and I performed the locking spell on all the entrances.

He began to transform. His skin was torn apart and stitched together on repeat until his fairly handsome face was gone and the fur on his body was fully grown. His once soft eyes turned crimson red, thirst for blood and animal flesh.

I, unfortunately, was the blood and flesh on his menu. I turned into a white wolf and prepared to get into battle.

The fight went terribly for me. He was fierce and I was inexperienced. He fought wild, yet I was sane enough to remember to leave the poor boy some mercy. Severus was right, it was a suicide mission.

It was a long night. I've got scratches on both my arms and legs. Yet, the largest wound was on my back, from my neck to my waist.

Lupin gradually transformed back, and so did I, both of us weakly attempting to catch our breath. His werewolf claws tore my sweater, leaving holes of all sizes. Though there were many small wounds and scratches on his skin, his situation was much better than mine.

The brown-haired lad soon regained consciousness. He got up and saw me lying on the floor and got terrorised by my situation.

"Have you got any potion with you?" Lupin asked nervously. Seemed to me both of us did not expect things to turn out like this. I desperately needed training.

"I... let you... down." I found it difficult to speak very fluently as I was bleeding too much. My brain was addled. "Please... find Severus. He has Dittany." And if he did not have any, he will find a way.

Remus nodded and ran out. I closed my eyes and waited. He went back sooner than I presumed. Following right after him is a gloomy young man with pressed lips, eyebrows lowered and pulled together.

"Liz," he swiftly marched to my side and took out a medical box. "You call this 'unharmed'? Sometimes I just can't understand why you behave so recklessly, so... Gryffindor."

"Severus..." I whispered his name. "Please ... don't get upset with me."

Not looking at me at all, he opened the box. There were four bottles of Dittany potion, enough to cure lots of wounds. I was surprised by the number of bottles. I did not know he was such well-prepared for accidents.

"I was not upset. I was busy making these, so that you won't die for your indiscretions."

He cleaned my wound with wet towels and pours Dittany potion on them. The cure came in time, so I know there will not be any scars. The wound on my back was the real problem. When Severus saw it, he glared at Remus, who stood very still and almost blended in with the background.

"Severus, it feels like a deep wound. Will it leave a scar?"

Severus, who was bluntly interrupted from making an outraged statement, glanced at me. The anger in his eyes eased gradually as he saw me in pain. "Not under my watch," he replied.

I've regained some strength from the healing potion. Yet, my sweater was badly torn, half was even drowned in blood, making it damp and cold. It's clearly not suitable for wearing. If anyone else saw me like this, it would take tremendous effort to convince them that Hogwarts was the safest place second to Gringotts.

"Remus, is there any way you could get me something to change? I'm afraid I'll have to get rid of this sweater." He was surprised I didn't blame anything on him, he slightly nodded and hasten back to Hogwarts. Ever since Severus got here, he hadn't uttered a word.

As he left, Severus began to heal the last wound on my back. We had a tacit understanding of silence. My breath was deafening in this absolute quietness. His, however, was so light and almost imperceptible if I hadn't been listening intently. Maybe it was my painful gasps that had drowned out his breathing.

Remus returned after some time, with a new sweater in his hand and an invisibility cloak hanging on his arm. "I talked to James. He agreed to lend me this, so that you can go back to your room and get rested."

"So that people won't get suspicious of your little secret," retorted Severus.

"He meant well," I murmured to Severus.

Lupin moved his lips as if he was going to say something, but instead he just tossed me a look that said 'thank you' and left.

"For whatever reason, you can't do this again," Severus said softly. "I believe those simple-minded friends of his can take your place."

"I'm an animagus, remember?"

Of course, by common sense, Dumbledore would never let a child under the age of thirteen come into contact with a werewolf. It's just that, if I add up my past and present experiences, my soul was now almost 23 years old, and Dumbledore was well aware of it.

Besides, if we look at what happened to Harry Potter, whom Dumbledore kept putting in danger, his seemingly mad decision was not surprising at all.

Severus gently helped me put on the new red sweater, which in terms of colour was the best for hiding my wounds. He then carried me on his back and put on the cloak of invisibility. We headed back to Hogwarts.

Severus had held my hand to teach me potion-making before. His fingertips were usually ice-cold. Yet, when I was resting on his back, with my head effortlessly leaning on his shoulder, he was much warmer than I recalled.

We got back to the Slytherin Common Room. Boys couldn't enter the girl's dormitory, so he had to bring me to his room, where he was sharing with a Slytherin who was too studious to be ever in the dorm. His roommate loved to bury himself in the piles of books in the library all day. If not for the colour of his robe, people might just mistake him for a Ravenclaw because of that.

"Lucky that it's Saturday, right?" What would Severus do if the full moon next month is a school day? What would any of us do? Lupin and me skipping class every month on the same day? That sounded very suspicious.

He didn't reply to my question. "Rest," he tucked me in.