Headdesking - Remus Lupin/OC

Chapter 12: The Hunt for the Moondew

"What do we do if we don't make it?" James asked anxiously, swirling the leaf around in his mouth with his tongue.

Remus relayed his response as if on a conveyor belt, "The hunter's moon doesn't rise over the grounds until 10 p.m. It's already a lot chillier out. We have plenty of time." As he said this, he looked down at his wristwatch despite already knowing the time.

7 p.m.

He quickened his step.

The others followed his lead. "Are you sure?" James pressed.

They had all been pretty tense during the course of this Monday, and the mood wasn't showing signs of letting up. See, if they didn't manage to complete the potions today, they would have to start over again.

Remus stopped abruptly and glared at him, "Yes." he hissed and kept marching forward.

"How can you be sure?"

"Gee, I don't know... Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I have lived through quite a few Octobers in my life." Remus snapped his neck around to give James a wild stare. "...So unless the moon decides to get on the freeway tonight, I think we'll be fine."

"We should still have an excuse ready should you need to leave." Peter reasoned.

Remus was quick to reply, his mind was already buzzing. "I'll fake a stomach ache. Say I need the toilet. Do a handstand and injure myself. I'll be sick on the ground or pretend I've been drafted if I have to. This is not rocket science, guys."

Of course his aggressive need to remain aloof about this was only to hide the fact that he was lugging around perhaps tenfold the stress they were. While it didn't bother him so much if they would have to start over, it was the forest he was concerned with. And it wasn't just Hazel he was venturing inside it with — it was all his friends.

Neither was it really the full moon he was worried about. He knew that he was the only werewolf in this neck of the woods, and that any arguments negating that fact were simply just gusts from the rumour mill. Secondly, this would not be any different than a normal wolf-night, when he would usually be cooped up in his dorm before Madam Pomfrey collected him from the Gryffindor Tower at 9 p.m. only this night he would be out on the grounds prior to her collection.

He had told her that he was on prefect duty tonight, meaning that he would instead meet her by the Hospital Wing when it was time. It would be an easy trip, just two floors up from the common room once they had dropped Hazel off.

But the thing that really got his nerves going was the threat of the other creatures that loomed in the forest. Ultimately though, it was not his decision. This was his friends' plan, and one which Hazel had willingly agreed to. Even enthusiastically so with the exception of her initial reaction. He'd even approached her about it after class with an ardent advocacy against it, basically giving her an as explicit out as he could, to which she had responded only with excitement over their plan.

Yet the simple fact of the approaching full moon still made it all the more sinister in his mind, which translated into a nagging discomfort wrapping itself around his gut. Perhaps it was all just his body plaguing him as it braced itself for the transformation. Or there was always the potentiality of the ever less conspicuous gravitational attraction messing with him.

But the distress that took hold on him when Hazel stepped out of the door of her common room was surely not a symptom of the current moon phase. The enthusiasm she'd previously exuded when they had been stepping out of the classroom together was gone. Now her queasy expression and tense posture could easily rival that of Remus' on an average full moon.