ONCE BOY |2| Remus Lupin

-Chapter Four: The Blacksmith Survivors Support Group-

"Kadin."

"Shh. I'm busy."

"Kadin, wake up."

"Why would I be asleep? The Pygmypuffs need me to save them from the evil cartoon man in a moustache."

"You're dreaming, Kadin. Now, wake up or I'll dump a bucket of Hagrid's slug repellent on you. Trust me, the smell does not come out."

Kadin reluctantly cracked her eyes open to see Devin Wood peering down at her. She threw a pillow at her, "You're mean."

"It's not my fault you're such a heavy sleeper." Devin rubbed her forehead ruefully, "Potter sent me up. He's in the Common Room. What've you dragged him into now?"

"A plot." Kadin declared, sitting upwards in bed. Her hair exploded outwards in every direction, like some kind of mad drawing by a child with too many coloured pens, "A case and a mystery!"

"And why was I not invited?" Devin demanded. At Kadin's splutter, her friend laughed, "Nah, just kidding. I can't be arsed. Now, go see the Boy Who Lived and leave me to my book."

Kadin bounced to her feet, pausing only to ask, "Is it a good book?"

"I've read it before." Devin said, "Everyone dies at the end. It's great."

She scrunched up her nose, "That's weird."

"No, it's not. Death give us size." Devin argued, falling back onto her own bunk, "If nobody died, there wouldn't be any stories worth telling."

"That's great, Dev," Katy Bell called from across the room, "But could you shut up? Most of us are trying to sleep, and we also know where the slug repellent is."

With a wink, Kadin disappeared down the staircase.

---*---

Harry Potter was wearing a pattern in the carpet. 

That's what Remus Lupin would have said. Kadin had stayed at his home for only the odd few weeks here and there, but it was enough for her to pick up a few idiosyncrasies and for it to be super weird that he was an actual teacher in her school. 'Wearing a pattern in the floor' had been one of his favourites, next to 'for Merlin's sake' and 'Kadin, please stop trying to break out and find pixies. I know I live in Cornwall, but it's three in the morning'.

On the sofa, quite surprisingly, was Ron Weasley. His head jerked up at Kadin's entrance. She grinned at them both, flouncing into the room and plopping onto the settee next to Ron in her stripy pyjamas.

"What's up, guys?" Kadin asked, "Anything exciting or hopefully deadly happen?"

Ron made a small noise. Harry glared at him.

"Professor Lupin's going to give me lessons on how to deal with dementors." Harry relayed, "I thought we could use it to, you know, trigger your mind thingy."

"Awesomesauce." Kadin announced happily, "This is all going towards my evil plan."

Ron grumbled, "You shouldn't make jokes like that."

"Why? Are you evil?" Kadin asked, suddenly worried, "I didn't mean to offend you."

"I told Ron what you told me." Harry supplied, "About your dad."

Kadin's grin widened, still not fully understanding the situation, "That's fine. I trust Ronny."

Harry glanced at the floor. Ron shuffled a little further away from her.

"Oh." Kadin said, very plainly, "But he doesn't trust me."

"You could have told me." Ron muttered, "You're basically part of the family."