metanoia

Chapter Seventeen

"You fucking told him what, Alexandra?!" Letti bellowed at her best friend after she'd returned to their dormitory and quietly recounted today's conversation with Remus in the Astronomy Tower.

Alex set her jaw, crossing her arms sternly over her chest, "Okay, first of all, there's no reason to call me by my full name. And second of all I didn't tell him anything about you! I told him that I knew about him! And the Marauders! We've been best friends for how long, Lisette? When have I ever told anyone something I wasn't supposed to?!"

The second Alex started to scream back at the brunette their roommates made themselves scarce, though they had no clue why they were suddenly fighting they knew that it wasn't going to be pretty if the two of them were having a full blown screaming match. After the three girls scurried out of their dormitory, Letti huffed as she plopped herself down on her bed, cradling her head in her hands as she got a grasp of what was happening. "Okay, fine. I'm sorry.  So why are you telling me that you know this?"

Alex quietly sat down next to her friend, cracking her knuckles against her thighs, "Because I think it's about time you two talked about it, Letti. You will always have me but you know that I'm never going to understand what you're going through. You need him and I know that he needs you too."

"What if he hates what we are so much that he takes it out on me? I wouldn't blame him, being friends with someone who reminds you about the worst part of yourself can be really taxing," Letti whined as she dragged her hands across her face.

Alex giggled at her childish question, "Star, he literally just was scared that I wasn't going to be friends with him anymore because I know about his lycanthropy. He's just as scared about people leaving him because of this condition as you are, that's why you haven't told Fab and Gid. He gets what you're going through, he'd never hate you for it Star."

"Ughh, you're right. I hate it when you're right," Letti sighed, pulling herself together. "Who knew that under all that sarcasm and teen angst was an actual human being?"

Alex gasped lightly and pushed her friend's shoulder, "Wow, how rude. You know better than anyone I'm a human being. And I thought you were my best mate, Star?"

"How many times have I told you to stop calling me Star, Allie?" Letti laughed, pushing her friend off the bed. "It's almost as bad as the Marauder's ridiculous nicknames."

The blonde crossed her arms, pouting up at her friend from her new seat on the cold floor beside Crookshanks, who was sleeping in Alex's boot, "No your name has meaning, Star.  Unlike those nicknames the Marauders have for each other. You know the story, I kept wishing on that star when I found you that night and my wish came true when you were alive. You're my Star, so shut up and accept my love damnit!"

Letti helped her friend off the ground, leading her to the door, "Fine, okay, call me Star. Let's go talk to Remus before you have a conniption fit. Let's hope he's sober enough to remember this conversation in the morning."

The girls walked down the staircase, arms linked together. When they reached their worried roommates at the foot of the stairs, they motioned up to their dormitory as Letti chuckled, "We're sorry about all the screaming guys. It's safe to go in now, we worked it out."

"I'm not surprised, you two are Capricorns. Extremely loyal to your friends and family, of course you figured it out," Marlene hummed, inspecting her new Taurus tattoo that adorns her right forearm.

Seeing that the Marauders weren't in the empty Common Room, Alex led Letti up the boy's staircase to the Marauder's Dormitory. They rhythmically knocked on the wooden door and entered cautiously when they didn't get an answer. As they slowly opened the door, they saw on the first bed was a shirtless Sirius Black laying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, rubbing his temples. The second bed was James Potter throwing a Quaffle in the air but he missed it when he saw the girls in the doorway, it landing on his face and knocking his glasses off his face. The third bed was empty and in the fourth bed was Remus Lupin, under multiple blankets, leaning against his headboard and reading a Muggle book with a wooden pencil behind his ear. The five of them awkwardly stared at each other until Peter entered the dormitory from their restroom, the floorboards creaking under his bare feet.

Peter and Alex made uncomfortable eye contact. Peter's smile turned into a snarl, "What are you doing here?"

Alex rolled her eyes at his rude tone, turning to look at her nervous companion. Letti felt her friend squeeze her hand in a comforting way, breaking her attention from the potted plant that sits beside Sirius' bed. "Go ahead, Star. It's okay."

Letti slowly exhaled, letting go of her hand and walked towards Remus' bed. Remus slowly closed his book, putting the pencil in the spine as a bookmark, looking at the brunette with such curiosity when she began to say what she was here to say, "Uh- hey Remus. I-I know you lot are more Allie's friends than mine but I thought- actually she thought, that you should know that I understand what you're going through. Monthly, I mean. Allie said that James calls it your "furry little problem", well I understand better than anyone how troublesome it can be and if you ever want someone to talk to, or whatever, who really knows what it's like then you can always talk to me. That's all I came here to say."

Remus' surprise was not hidden, nor were any of the other Marauders. Remus shook his head to get a coherent thought, struggling to speak, "Wait, Lisette, you're telling me that you have a furry little problem too?"

Letti pressed her lips in a tight line, raised her dark eyebrows as she slowly nodded her head, reassuring what she had already said once as she rocked back and forth on her heels. She turned her back to them, taking a deep breath as she pulled up her pink jumper to reveal her darkest secret. Two long dark scars trailing down her back, from her shoulder blades to her waist. Feeling four sets of eyes on her scars, she quickly shrugged down her jumper and faced the boys once more.

"If you're a... a you know, too, where have you been going each month? It's not like there's two Shrieking Shacks," Sirius asked, breaking the intense silence.

Alex sat down on the foot of James' bed, "Actually there is."

Until just now, with this conversation, only three other people at Hogwarts knew of Lisette's condition. The three being Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey. As soon as Alex took Lisette back home the night of the attack, her mother owled Professor Dumbledore and the three of them Apparated to the Worth household. Where Dumbledore explained to them Lisette's new condition and how to handle it.

"We've been going there since the start of 2nd year, it's pretty deep in the Forbidden Forest but it keeps everyone safe from me," Letti tells them, fiddling with the strings of her woven bracelet.

Despite it being quite late at night and very tired Remus recognized what pronoun Lisette had used in answering the question. Hoping that his first thought was incorrect, Remus asked, "What do you mean we?"

Alex raised her hand, waving at the boy, "That would mean me and her. I've been going with her since the Attack. The minute I heard Professor Dumbledore explain to us how to manage her condition, I did some research and became an Animagus. Like I said earlier, Remus, I had seen it before."