The Lost Wolf (a Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Give Up the Ghost

Something strange happened the night after McGonagall's visit.

At first it was the same old nightmare he had been experiencing for a few months.

"Are you sure you want to take this shift alone, Wilkins? I can stay with you if you want…"

Everything is dark and quiet. The smell of alcohol and blood fills the air but nobody is screaming in pain. 

There is a light, coming from a door at the end of the room.

Remus walks towards the door and quietly opens it.

It is an office. Sort of.

The walls are hidden behind large metallic cupboards filled with what seem to be Muggle medicines.

The light is cold and falters slightly every couple of seconds.

There is a desk in the middle of the office. In front of it stands a woman. She is tall and has a dark complexion. She is wearing a strange uniform.

Behind the desks stands another woman. She is giving her back to the door, Remus can't see her face. She's taller than the other one, and is wearing a long white coat. She's scanning through the shelves, apparently searching for some kind of medications. Her hair is dark blond and is gathered in a low bun.

She speaks. Her voice is sweet and musical.

"Don't worry Kate. Go to the party and have fun… You deserve some rest, after all"

The woman in that strange uniform, Kate, rolls her eyes in exasperation.

"You could use some rest too, you know. How many hours have you slept this week? Ten? Eight?"

The blond woman turns around, smiling tiredly.

"Six. And I'm perfectly fine. Sleep is highly overrated"

Kate mutters something and finally exits the room, but Remus doesn't care. He's too busy staring at the girl in front of him.

Her eyes. His eyes.

Her skin is strained and her jaw looks badly bruised. Her cheeks are sunken and her complexion is so pale that she looks dead.

But those eyes. He could recognize them everywhere.

Cassandra.

She is smiling. She always smiles. But she isn't happy.

Why?

She was happy. He saw her.

An explosion echoes in the distance, and the floor trembles slightly. Cassandra, however, isn't worried by the little earthquake. She just keeps scanning through the shelves, eventually picking up a small white box. She sits at the desks and starts scribbling something on one of those Muggle notebooks. 

After a while she takes off her white coat, showing her own uniform. It's different from Kate's one… it looks like the Aurors' one, but it's green, and the trousers are full of pockets.

Cassandra rubs her face with her hands. She's tired, despite what she has told Kate.

However, something happens that wakes her up from her numbness.

A thud. A growl. A crash.

Remus knows that growl so well. He has heard it coming from his own mouth so many times.