The Forest - R.L.

Chapter 10 - The Confrontation

IM SO SORRY

It turns out that I accidentally put up chapter 11 instead of chapter 10 the other day, so some of you may have been very confused as to what the hell was happening.

Here's the real chapter ten:

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"And then you fell off your chair, remember?" Grace looked over at Sirius, who was on sitting at the desk behind her "As soon as the food appeared on the first night."

"Only because you pushed me!"

"I didn't push you, I was just-"

"So desperate to eat that chicken drumstick that you had to shove everyone else out of the way and knocked me onto the floor."

"I did not. You just fell off because you're that clumsy."

"Oh, you better take that back, Sirius, or I-"

"Grace! Sirius!" They both turned to Remus, who was sitting next to Grace, an unimpressed look on his face "Shut up."

"You shut up!" Sirius replied, at such a volume that caused Professor McGonagall to look up from whatever she was writing at the front of the front of the classroom.

"Mr Black! There is no need for that kind of language. Must I remind you that whilst this is a group assignment, I expect that you complete it quietly?" She warned him, glaring sharply. "Unless you wish to have another detention?"

Sirius shook his head, before turning back to the others.

It had been just over a year since they first started at Hogwarts. So far, Grace was loving her second year, just as she had with her first. She particularity loved Transfiguration, as it was the only class that she shared with the boys as well as Abbey, Ely and Sam, who was surprisingly finally settling into Hufflepuff. His family however, were still not very happy about the whole ordeal, blaming the school.

They were currently supposed to be working in groups of two or three - which Professor McGonagall had made the mistake of letting them choose themselves - on an oral presentation about the Transfigiration Alphabet. Instead, the five of them were discussing what they remembered from their first week at Hogwarts.

"And then on the Monday you got sick. How unlucky was that!? Five days into first year and you already had a cold." Sirius laughed, and Remus glanced warily at Grace, who just dismissed his worry with a wave of her hand.

"Come to think of it, you are awfully unlucky Remus. Always getting sick or injured, you're even unluckier than Grace, who trips over everything!" Peter said, nudging Grace's shoulder. "I do not."

"You do so Grace," Remus added, trying to shift the focus off of his 'unluckiness'. She just poked her tongue at him in reply.

"How's your arm doing?" Abbey asked, looking down at Remus' arm, which he had broken after 'accidentally being hit with a chair after a first year's attempt at a levitating spell went wrong'. Grace had come up with that one. He had to admit, she was pretty good at coming up with different excuses for his injuries and absences, much better than he was. She still hadn't let him forget 'I fell into a bush'. "Those first years are so clumsy with their spells."

"Yeah," was all he replied with.

James, Sirius and Peter all exchanged glances.

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Remus, James, Sirius and Peter were lucky enough to all be in the same dorm room in the Gryffindor tower, whereas Grace had been placed with three girls that had never talked to.

Teresa Tam, who spent the whole time complaining loudly about absolutely everything, from the beds to the food to the teachers, Catherine Becker, who hardly ever spoke, and when she did it was at such a low volume that you had to ask her to repeat it numerous times, and Ella Graham, who found a way to turn everything into an insult.

"Hey Austria," Ella greeted her as she entered the dorm. It was a nickname that started in their first year after Ella asked Grace where she was from. She had never heard of Australia, so assumed it was the same thing as Austria, as had most of the school so far. Once Grace corrected her however, Ella decided that she would deliberately call her the wrong nationality, as it was clear that it annoyed her.

"Do you know where Teresa's hair potion thing is?"

"No," Grace replied simply, heading straight over to her trunk to grab what she had come here from. She tried to spend as little time as possible inside the dorm, electing to stay out in the Common room until they were all either in bed or asleep.

"Well, that's a shame. She really needs it. Her hair is disgusting! Have you seen that bit at the back where-"

Teresa exited the bathroom, a somewhat distraught expression on her face. "Where the hell is it!"

"Are you sure you haven't seen it, Grace?" Ella asked her again "It's the pink one with the purple label. About this big." She held her hands about 3 inches apart.

Then it dawned on Grace. "Oh yeah! I remember that one. I threw it out because it looked empty."

"It wasn't empty! Ugh, what the hell Grace. I need it!"

"You'll survive," Grace said "It's not like that potion did anything anyway." Which was true: it was a cheap product that was supposed to 'make your hair healthy', however it had been four weeks since she had started using it and Grace hadn't noticed any change.

"WHAT!?" Teresa got up and stormed over to Grace, clearly upset over her last comment.

"What I meant to say was; your hair always looks good," Grace said, adding a smile on the end. She was trying to get Teresa to drop the matter so she could collect what she needed and get out of there.

"Ugh, just leave," Teresa said, and Grace wasted no time in grabbing anything she could possibly need and leaving the dorm, and heading over to the boys' dorm.

When she entered, she found James, Sirius and Peter all standing on one side of the room, exchanging glances as if they were trying to communicate with just their eyes, and a very confused and worried looking Remus on the other.

She stood in the doorway, waiting to see if they would notice her presence, which they didn't. They were clearly too focused on the current situation.

Then James stepped forward, after being nudged by Sirius.

"Is there, uh, is there anything you'd like to tell us, Remus?"

Remus looked like he was about to pass out. He had only entered the room five minutes ago to find the three of them in deep conversation, having just returned from the Hospital Wing after the full moon two days ago.

"Uh, n-no. I don't think so."

"Where have you been these past couple of nights?" Peter asked.

"I told you, I went to go visit my grandfather who was sick."

The boys all glanced at each other again, clearly not getting the answers they were after. Sirius stepped forward.

"Look, Remus. We know, okay?"

"Know wh-what?"

"That you're a... werewolf."

And then, whether it was due to the full moon only a few days prior or the news that Sirius had just shared with him, Remus fainted.

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Woop school holidays.
Hopefully that means more updates.
But probs not bc procrastination tbh.
Sorry in advance.
​​​​- Grace