Her phobia is infection
She needs one to survive
It's her built-in protection
Without fear she'd give up and die
He's a germ free adolescent
Cleanliness is her obsession
Cleans her teeth ten times a day
Scrub away, scrub away, scrub away
The S.R. way.
"You fucking bastard!"
"Oi!" Sirius was on his feet, at once.
"It's ok," Remus said - not sure who he was talking to; Sirius, who had leapt into defence mode, or Marlene, sobbing and red faced and angry.
"Bastard!" She said again, defiantly, rubbing at her eyes.
"Miss McKinnon!" Madam Pomfrey appeared, looking uncharacteristically flustered, "I will have you escorted out if you cannot be civil."
"And you!" Marlene turned on her, "You said you didn't know anything about it! You said you'd never worked with one before!"
"Don't blame her, Marlene please..." Remus said, sitting down on the bed again, feeling a bit woozy, "She was only trying to protect me!"
"How long?!" Marlene spun around and glared at him again.
"... since I was five."
"Bastard!"
"Marlene, please..."
She flung a piece of parchment down on the bed. It was a letter, folded up and a bit dog-eared from all the fuss. Remus reached for it with shaking hands. Marlene stood there, stone-faced, waiting for him to read it.
He unfolded it and looked down, and tried his hardest. Most of the time now, he had no trouble at all reading. But he was still very tired, and so nervous that all of a sudden he felt eleven years old again, the letters seeming to shift and change as he tried to make sense of them.
"Sorry," he shook his head, "Sorry, I've got a headache, what does it... er...?"
Sirius took it from him, and in doing so, placed himself conspicuously between Remus and Marlene. He cleared his throat, frowning a bit.
"It's from Danny McKinnon... bloody hell, Moony, what have you done?"
"Please just tell me what it says," Remus shook his head, leaning forward and cradling his forehead in his hands. He really was getting a headache. Marlene was tapping her foot impatiently, and Madam Pomfrey was still hovering, obviously unsure whether or not to pull rank on this whole situation.
Sirius scanned the page, much more comfortable with all the attention.
"He says 'thank you'." He said.
"What?!" Remus looked up, squinting,
"Well, that's the gist ..." Sirius replied, still reading, "...He received a letter when he arrived home this morning from one of Marlene's friends, who 'claims to be a werewolf'. It had a lot of useful advice, and he'd like to meet you. He says he won't tell anybody, and he has no idea who you are anyway."
"But I do." Marlene said. She had stopped crying now, and her voice was a bit calmer, but Remus could feel the heat of emotion radiating from her.
"Yes." Remus nodded, his neck stiff, "I knew you'd work it out."
"And you sent the letter anyway?" She faltered for a moment.
"I wanted to help." He shrugged.
There was a long pause. Remus would have liked to lie down, but felt that it wouldn't be well received.
