moon cycles and raven feathers [r. lupin]

| 14 |

november 2nd, 1976

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when she was still at ilvermorny cath had always found trips to ilvermorny village impossibly dull and she had tried her hardest to avoided unless delia quite literally dragged her from her dorm.

she was almost entirely sure that she would find hogsmeade just as dull but it was the first trip of the year and she had decided that she didn't move countries just to avoid trying new things. after turning the idea over in her head she, and the incessant imaginary voice of delia yelling at her to leave her dorm room, finally had settled on giving it a chance.

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her original plan was simple: she was going to go with lila who insisted that she would love hogsmeade as much as she did, but those plans were made about a month ago when lila was still bed bond by cause of a broken heart. now, she was 'back on the market' and had ditched their plans in favor of a date with ravenclaws 'totally dreamy' star quidditch player.

"-so i think i might just stay in. i mean i'm not going with lila anymore and if things go anything like they did with sirius i might not have much time left to spend in my dorm so..." cath remarked over a game of wizard chess in the gryfindor common room, filling in both lily and marlene (who was much nicer than lila had made her seem.) on her squashed hogsmeade plans.
"no!! no no no!! you simply can't just stay in!" lily replied, marlene nodded furiously in agreement.
"go with us!"
"yes!! it'll be fun!"

cath thought about the girls offer for a moment, she hadn't really wanted to go out in the first place so she had thought of lila bailing on her as just a sign for her to stay in but maybe she was wrong.
"sure, why not?"

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as it turns out, cath was right. hogsmeade itself was just as dull as ilvermorny village but this particular trip was turning out to be anything but.

when she had agreed on going with lily and marlene cath knew she was also inevitably going to go with james and the rest of the mauraders, not that she minded. though she hadn't been at hogwarts for very long she had already gotten quite used to the four boys, who seemed to be everywhere she looked, and she definitely had a certain affinity for the tallest of the bunch.

mostly though, cath didn't mind being around the boys because she quickly noticed that 'being with the mauraders' had actually become 'talking to remus while james hopelessly harasses lily and sirius snogs marlene.' and she couldn't really complain about that.

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soon after the boys had found cath's little trio, remus and cath broke off from the group, leaving an awkward peter to bumble around and act as a third wheel.

lately it seemed that her and remus had found more and more chances and excuses to chat each other up.

the pair really seemed to enjoy each other's company and their conversations quickly became something both parties would look forward to having. remus was exceptionally witty when he wanted to be and he made each conversation stick out in cath's mind as something truly special, not to mention that, being a half blood, he understood more of cath's no-maj references than most others. something about that mutual understanding filled a spot in her life left empty by the wizarding no-maj integration in the media back home.

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"...did you read about that lycanthrope in the daily prophet? it's absolutely awful what happened to him." cath said as the pair weaved in and out of different shops.
if she had been looking at remus instead of the people passing by them on every possible side she would've noticed that the topic was making him suddenly very uncomfortable.

"no, i uh- i don't think i did, what happened?" he got out finally.
"he was killed in the streets, awful really, i bet he was a good man. i wonder if he had kids..." she trailed off
"well werewolves are-"
"remus!! they're still people!! at least speak about them with a little dignity, don't use the w-word!" cath was clearly shocked by remus' terminology, though he didn't quite understand her reaction.
"w-word? what do you mean?"
she faltered, feeling as if she had offended the poor boy with her outburst. she hadn't once thought to herself that maybe certain things weren't handled here the way they were back home.

"is it- is it not a slur here? it is in the states, you would never use... that word, you'd just say 'lycanthrope'"
"oh, no, it's not, i honestly don't think i've ever heard someone casually use 'lycanthrope' over were- the w-word."
cath shrugged of her minor culture shock as the two entered honeydukes, "well i guess it's just one of those cultural things then, i still think people should use lycanthrope though, it just sounds nicer."
"ye-"
cath kept talking, cutting remus off "i don't think you're generally very nice to them over here though, like the wampus head of house at ilvermorny is a lycanthrope, i don't think something like that would ever happen at hogwarts. you all seem so scared."
remus was taken aback by her casual tone, "well they're monsters. they hurt people. it's right to fear them."

cath turned to look him in the eyes after he said that, she wasn't expecting him to hold beliefs like that.
"agree to disagree then remus, i don't want to make a fuss about this-" she paused lookingat a display case for chocolate frogs "-but i honestly thought you'd be a little more accepting."

it seemed today was all about missing the looks on a certain gryfindors face because if she had turned away from her absent minded browsing for just a moment she would've seen the almost indescribable expression that made its way onto remus' scared face.