𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝑋.

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𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙣

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"SO, ARE YOU in?" Caroline asked Hermione as they walked down the corridors towards the common room, where a new picture had moved into the Fat Lady's old portrait. Hermione had just appeared, and Caroline had just filled Hermione in on what she had heard the professors saying that night while everyone else was asleep.

      Hermione sighed. "Just to be clear, you want me to help you find out who those people that Professor Snape mentioned are, as well as the professor who has a secret hidden from you?" the girl asked, lowering her voice as Professor McGonagall walked by, paying them no mind.

      Caroline nodded. "I know it's a lot to ask, Hermione, but I trust you the most with this." Hermione smiled to herself at Caroline's words.

      "Of course, I'll help you. We'll start this weekend." Hermione said, and Caroline smiled. The two walked up the stairs and joined Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Ginny, Neville and others at the portrait.

      "Well, interesting fellow." Caroline said, standing next to Dean.

      Dean chuckled, and the portrait started speaking wildly. He was a knight, and an eccentric one at that. "What villains are these that trespass on my private lands? Who dares challenege Sir Kerdanan? Back, you scurvy blackguards. You..."

      "He's barking mad." Seamus chuckled, looking at the knight in question.

      "What did you expect? After what happened to the Fat Lady, none of the other pictures would take the job." Dean said, bumping his shoulder with Caroline's.

      "Yes, well, let's be appreciative of him for taking the job in the first place." Caroline tried to reason. Dean, Ron and Seamus just laughed at her.

      "You're too nice, Caroline." Ron said, and him and his friends started laughing again.

      Caroline scoffed, her cheeks growing red from embarassment. "I'm just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt."

      "But he keeps changing the password. That's twice only this morning. I've taken to keeping a list." Neville said as everyone turned to leave and make their way towards Defense Against the Dark Arts.

      Sir Kerdanan noticed that they were leaving. "Farewell, comrades. If ever you have need of a noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Kerdanan." the knight in the portrait smiled, and Caroline waved to him.

      "Yeah, we'll call you. If we ever need anyone mental." Ron joked, turning with the boys, beginning to walk down the stairs.

      The third years walked down the corridors towards Professor Lupin's class. He wasn't there when they sat down at their desks, but nobody paid much mind. Caroline sat with Ron, doodling on his hand with a quill. Suddenly, the door at the back of the class swung open, and Professor Snape walked in, walking up the center of the classroom towards the front, using his wand to shut every curtain on his way. Professor Snape dropped a large projector screen, standing in front of it. "Turn to page 394." he demanded.

       Caroline instantly stopped drawing on Ron, and started flipping the pages in her book to 394. Harry spoke from the pair of desks to Ron and Caroline's right. "Excuse me, sir. Where's Professor Lupin?" he asked. Caroline knew he wouldn't get an answer he liked.

      "That's not really your concern, is it, Potter? Suffice it to say that your professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time," Snape answered walking to Professor Lupin's podium. "Turn to page 394." he repeated, and Ron was suddenly on the correct page.

       "'Werewolves'?" Ron asked, reading the first word on the page.

      Hermione spoke up from next to Harry. She must've just arrived, Caroline assumed. "But, sir, we've just begun learning about red caps and hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks."

      "Quiet." Professor Snape said, and Caroline looked over at Hermione, giving her a sympathetic smile.

      "When did she come in? Did you see her come in?" Ron frantically asked Harry, who simply shrugged.

      Images began to appear on the projector screen as Professor Snape walked throughout the classroom. "Now, which of you can tell me the difference between an animagus and a werewolf?" Caroline and Hermione instantly raised their hands, eager to answer the question. Professor Snape ignored them. "No one? How disasppointing." Snape was now at the front of the class.

      "Please, sir. An animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice." Hermione said, glancing at Caroline, begging for her to continue.

      She did. "Each time the full moon rises, the werewolf no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if they crossed paths. Also different from an animgaus, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind." as soon as Caroline finished, Draco made a howling noise, and Caroline sighed, knowing he wouldn't get in trouble for his distruptions.

      Professor Snape frowned at Caroline and Hermione. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. That is the second time the two of you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger, Miss Taylor-Jones. Are you ladies incapable of restraining yourselves or do you take pride in being insufferable know-it-alls?" Caroline looked down, extremely embarassed and humiliated.

      "He's got a point, you know." Ron whispered to Harry, thinking the girls couldn't hear. They did hear, and it made them feel even worse.

      "Five points from Gryffindor," Professor Snape continued, all of the Gryffindors groaning and looking at Caroline and Hermione. "As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk by Monday morning, two rolls of parchment on the werewolf with particular emphasis on recognizing it." Caroline somehow felt worse, and now she had to use precious time she didn't have a lot of on this stupid assignment.

      "Sir, it's Quidditch tomorrow." Harry said, voicing some of Caroline's closeted concerns. She didn't care about Quiditch, but she cared about Harry.

      Professor Snape got in Harry's face, leaning on his desk. "Then I suggest you take extra care, Mr. Potter. Loss of limb will not excuse you. Page 394."

      Snape went back to the front of the classroom, talking about the werewolf. Caroline, instead of paying attention to his words, leant across the aisle to see Harry opening a note from Draco, based on his smug look. It was an enchanted drawing of Harry getting a bludger thrown at him, followed by him getting electrocuted.

      Caroline took it from Harry, crinkled it in her hand and tossed it into her open bag on the floor, and then proceeded to follow along in her book and take class notes. Harry smiled at her, because he knew she was focused on her quill scratching along her sheets of parchment. Caroline looked up, brown eyes soft as she met Harry's briefly as he quickly turned away. She smiled, too.

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