L Y C O P H O B I A

3. Unanswered Questions

A/N: (1896 words); enjoy! 💜

Remus John Lupin is exhausted. So exhausted.

He sat at his desk, head in hands, breathing in and out loudly. Tonight's a full moon. He certainly was not ready for it. Lupin gathered all his courage and took a large sip from the vial containing his Wolfsbane potion, wincing at how disgusting it still was. Before he had everything down however, he heard a knock on the door. He looked around in a panic, not knowing who it could be at this hour. He hoped it was Minerva, she truly was a worthy colleague, not being mean to him, even though she knew of his condition.

He swallowed the some more of the potion, nearly spitting it all out again. With a soft voice he said: "come in." He really wasn't up for any visitors, he just wanted to spend the night in peace. As much peace as you can have being a werewolf.

The door opened to reveal a small student, by the name of Hermione, he knew. He came closer to her, surely there must be something wrong? Otherwise she wouldn't appear at this hour, much less to him.

"Yes, Hermione? You're not supposed to be here at this hour. Is something the matter?" He asked, worry clouding his eyes as he cautiously came closer to her. He let his fingertips trail the surface of the desks as he passed rows and rows. Once arrived at the last row, he sat down, tired from the short walk. He felt as if his legs just couldn't carry his weight anymore, like they were to buckle out from under him at any moment.

She replied that she had a question, but Remus could see in her eyes and body movement that she simply already knew the answer. This only worried him more.

"Is it urgent?" He asked, getting frustrated. He didn't have time for this now, in less than an hour the moon would shine through. It's way too dangerous for her to be near him now. She begged him to let her ask her question, and who was he to deny her that? He gave her permission and she asked the question he had least of all wanted to hear.

"Professor, are you..," she paused and took a deep breath, which only raised his suspicions, "are you a werewolf?"

Remus breathed in sharply, his heart seemed like it was going to pound out of his chest. He was sure she could hear it.

"I don't-" he started to deny, though knowing that his sentence wasn't even going to be grammatically correct if he carried on, and that all this would give it away. She clearly already knew.

"Hermione, please get out." He lifted his heavy arm and pointed towards the door. She started resisting, wanting her answer, but he didn't want to deal with her right now.

"Get out! You don't want- I don't want you to see me like- ... As a monster. Please, just go." His voice got softer the longer he spoke. He sounded utterly defeated. Hermione nodded, knowing that she got her answer and turned to leave. Before she was completely out of the room, she turned around and said:

"I don't think you're a monster, professor."

With that she took her leave.

Remus was shocked, not only because someone had figured out his biggest secret already, but also because she didn't think of him as a monster. Surely she's just an exception. The other students would probably be creeped out by having a werewolf as teacher. It was best that no one else knew, and he hoped that Hermione would keep it a secret. He couldn't bare to lose this job as well.

Shock turned into frustration.

How is it possible that she already knew? Sure, she's exceptionally bright, but he covered up his tracks really well! Snape's probably behind it, he did offer to take over Lupin's lesson.