Dana Diggory is led deeper into the depths of temptation as she forms an unlikely bond with her new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor during a whirlwind of her final year at Hogwarts.
Little does she know that Remus Lupin's growing fondness fo...
SILENCE. THAT'S ALL THERE WAS. Not a single change made to Dana's watch. Not an answer at Remus's office door. She hadn't heard from him since the Quidditch match, and she wondered what was going on with him.
To only make matters worse, Sirius had broken in yet again after their Quidditch celebrations, scaring Ron half to death with a knife in the night and forcing Dumbledore to tighten the rules on curfew once more. Honestly, he was hardly doing a stand up job of proving that he wasn't a raging lunatic.
It wasn't until Monday morning when Dana arrived late to the Dark Arts classroom that she feared the worst. Snape was stood at the front, textbooks laid out on desks. She hadn't once thought to even check the lunar cycle and was forced to wait until after break to check up on him.
Her head pounded all through lunch and the cut from the Bludger was only just starting to scab over— the unexplained migraines continued on intermittently throughout the day. When Dana made it to the top of the spiral staircase outside of Remus's office, she knocked on the wood with a tight fist.
"Let me in." she ordered.
Silence met her ears. She rapped on the door again, harder, knowing he was in there.
"Remus Lupin, if you don't answer this blasted door then I'll blow it off it's hinges—"
The lock clicked on the other side and she waited, swallowing hard. Quite frankly she hadn't expected him to actually let her in and hesitantly twisted the brass doorknob open. When Dana thought it was going to be bad— it turned out to be far worse.
Thick lacerations were ripped into his shoulder blades; bright red gashes torn through his creamy white skin like paint on a blank canvas; dark purple bruises spreading like wildfire on his rib cage. Dana could smell a mixture of sweat and iron, the faint metallic traces of blood filling her nostrils.
Remus was positioned on the floor, leaning up against the side of his mahogany desk, wincing harshly as he tossed his wand aside in a clatter onto the flagstones. A bottle of Dittany and some bandages were carelessly sprawled out beside him in a mess, probably in an attempt to fix himself up in his weak state.
The moment she stepped into the office, he averted his gaze from the floor to the window, frowning bitterly.
"I don't want you here." Remus croaked, refusing to look at her. "Leave me be. Please."
She stepped further into the room, mouth parting open. His upper body was more or less butchered and Dana tried her best to remain calm.
"Like hell am I leaving you in this state."
He clenched his fists, fighting back a growl of pain, "You don't understand what you're getting yourself into. You never have— just look at me, Dana! I'm hideous! I'm a beast!"
