The Art of New Beginnings

Chapter Ten: Fitting into Tight Spaces

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend, but they all visited him as much as they could regardless. They made varying attempts to cheer him up, but to no avail, which only made Draco upset, so Erica found she had to comfort two people instead of the customary one.

On top of that, she had a growing sense of worry in regards to Severus. With the way he was acting with her every time she went to visit him, she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. He was being unusually distant with her, avoiding her whenever he could, and she couldn't shake the feeling that this had something to do with Remus.

Nobody else was as worried as she was though, so she shrugged off the thoughts and tried not to focus on it too much. She had been doing good with her normal year so far, and she wouldn't ruin it by getting fixated on problems that weren't hers to fix, so she set forth to only focus on her own problems from then on.

It was a relief to return on Monday the familiarity of lessons and homework and studying, which gave her a welcome reprieve from her own mind. Others didn't share the same sentiment though, as Pansy complained all the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"No offence to you or Snape or anything," she began, which never usually signified anything good, "but if Snape's taking Defence Against the Dark Arts again, I'm going off sick. Check who's in there, Blaise."

Blaise walked straight into the classroom, ignoring her. She rounded on Draco next. "Please."

He was gone before she had to badger him any more, leaving Harry and Erica, who both sighed before shoving her through the door ahead of them.

Remus was back at work. It certainly looked as though he had been ill. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class as they took their seats, and they burst at once into an explosion of complaints about Severus' behaviour while Remus had been ill, despite their loyalty to their Head of House.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he set us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves-"

"-two rolls of parchment!"

"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Remus asked, frowning slightly.

The babble broke out again.

"Yes, but he said we were really behind-"

"-he wouldn't listen-"

"-two rolls of parchment!"

Remus smiled at the look of indignation on every face (aside from Erica's, but she rarely joined in on bashing against Severus). "Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."

Everybody groaned a little at that, the majority of them having actually already completed it.

They had a very enjoyable lesson. Remus had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who seemed as though he was made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless-looking.

"Lures travellers into bogs," Remus told them as they took notes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead- people follow the light- then-"

The Hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass.

When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door, leaving Harry as Remus had called him back to stay for a moment after class. They waited for him outside for a few moments, and he exited not long later, looking happier than he had done for a while.