The confidante | R. Lupin

Chapter 1

Sirius draped his arm around my shoulders happily as he followed me and Marlene to potions, a sly grin on those perfectly plump lips.
"And what's got you so happy, Mr Perfect?" I asked him, as if I didn't already know.
"Well a little snog session with a certain  beautiful Hufflepuff would put anyone in a good mood, wouldn't it? He retorted cheerfully.

"I thought you were with Alice Prewitt?" Marlene asked iridiculously.

"That was yesterday, besides I heard Longbottom has a thing for her, and vice versa. Can't get in the way of love, can I girls?" He winked at me and stride into the potions classroom.

"That foul git." I replied after Marlene asked me what all the winking was about. "You know the other day when James coerced me into giving date proposal ideas for Lily, yes? Well, Sirius saw and thinks something is going on with him and I. I swear sometimes that douchebag can be a real..."
"Douchebag?" Marlene finished for me in my frustrations. We both nodded and turned for our separate seats.
As I sat down next to Peter, I removed my potions book, quill, ink, parchment and my wand. I loved my wand; it was made of cherry, 9 and 3/4 inches to be ironic, it was unicorn hair like my mothers and also quite flexible.
My mother said that it is rare to get such a flexible wand like ours but she says it helped her shape her identity and show her the flexibility in her views. She was a Black and grew up in the Black household, where blood-purity was drilled into them day after day, so those views were the norm for her. It was only when she came to Hogwarts did she see how wrong those views were, even though she was sorted into Slytherin and still surrounded by all that nonsense.

Slughorn began to rattle on about some marvellous potion he heard someone by the name of Belby was creating. I only began to listen when I heard the mention of werewolves.

"If this potion can be improved, it could help werewolves keep their minds and be able to recognise who is human and prevent harm, this would make the community a lot safer from werewolf attacks."

I put my hand up, trying to show the flaw in this plan. "There is a flaw in this though, Sir." I told him "As I am sure you're aware it contains actonite and a strong dose at that, much too high a dose for humans to handle. So therefore it must be incredibly expensive, like the most expensive potion on the market."

"Ah yes, I should have known you'd know about the potion, with all this study on Actonite. How does the price make it a flaw?"

"When some werewolves are bitten, they generally loose everything, shunned by their family, loose their job and then find it hard to keep a stable job afterwards. No one will employ a werewolf once they find out, curtesy of the stupid society we live in, so therefore they won't be able to afford the potion. If society was a bit more accepting of them, like they should be, then the idea of wolfsbane might have been a good one."

"I must side with you on that one, Miss Black." Slughorn agreed.

He carried on about different properties of some of the ingredients. Today was a theory lesson rather than a practical lesson, by the time I was done taking all the notes, my hand was aching. Next time I go home, I'm bringing some Biros with me, these stupid quills are ridiculous, it's the twentieth century, for Merlin's sake.

"Miss Black, may I have a word?" Slughorn asked as he dismissed the class. I sauntered forward to the front of the classroom to where he stood with a box in his hand. "How are you and Hagrid getting on with your experiments?"

"Quite well, Sir. We have discovered that actonite is not poisonous to grindylows and that once you give it a certain amount, it will fall to sleep, like a sedative. It could be useful if your trying to care for an injured grindylow."

"Very good, you will make a very good potioneer one day, here is some more for your studies." He told me.

I slipped the box into my bag, and thanked him.
While I was trying to help animals out, I used some of the stash given to me for myself to help the aches and pains around the time of the full moon. I know it was wrong to slightly lie about the use, but I kind of need the help, the pain was, well, painful.

I caught up with my group of friends and fell into step with them. Currently, my group of friends extended to the marauders.

"I liked your speech about the 'stupid society we live in that doesn't like werewolves'" James told me as I was about to speak to Lily. "I do agree that it should different, like you do of course."

"They're not monsters, they're just misunderstood. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to run into a hungry werewolf on a full moon, but the rest of the time... in fact werewolves are now that common that one of us could be one and we'd never even realise." I told James.
I watched him share a look with Sirius and Remus.

I had suspected Remus was a werewolf for a while now. It didn't take me long at all. 3 months into first year to be exact. I realised it was no longer a coincidence that he disappeared on the full moon every month for 3 months and came back tired every time. I didn't need proof Remus was a werewolf or anything, in fact I wasn't even going to mention it. It was his secret to tell me and he hasn't told me so I assume he still wants it to be a secret.
That's fine by me, although I would like to help the boy, but I can't do that without divulging my own secret.

Tonight was the night of the full moon and as classes came to a close, I could feel the moon getting to me.
I skipped dinner and instead headed towards the 7th floor room of requirement.
I found the wall and paced besides it for several passes. Talking to the invisible door.
I need a safe place to transform
I need a safe place to transform
I need a safe place to transform.

The door beside me appeared and I slipped through.
I could never be more amazed at how the room turns out.
It was about 50 square feet. The mirrors were gone that you'd find in the room for study use but now the walls were soft and pillowey like someone had put a cushioning charm on the walls and floor. There were dog beds and blankets and dog toys everywhere. There were water bowls and plastic cups so I could drink no mater what form I was in. There was also a plate, in which a house elf would come and visit me in the next few minutes to give me my food. Along one wall it was made of string, like a cats scratching post. This I scowled at, I was not a feline, I was a canine. Although somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew how much I liked to scratch things, so it may actually be a good thing.

A loud pop alerted me to a small house elf in the middle of the room which was carrying a tray of food. They always gave me rare steak on the nights of the full moon. They all knew what I liked best.
"Miss Black, Tizzy has brought you your dinner, Miss. Is there anything else Tizzy can get you, miss?"

"No thankyou, Tizzy, this looks wonderful, send my compliments to the chef."

Tizzy looked proud that she had done well. "I will, Miss, yes." And Tizzy disapperated with a pop.

I tucked into my food, eager to eat the meat that was piled on my plate. Once I had finished, I called Tizzy back.

"Here you go Tizzy, it really was lovely." I told the house elf who now beamed with pride.

"Tizzy must thank you, Miss. Miss has been most kind."

"You're welcome Tizzy, you and your friends work really hard for us students, and I want you to know how much I appreciate it. Anyway, you better run along now as it's getting late."

"Yes, Miss. Tizzy will do just that."