just like me || remus lupin

stay here, you twat.

Remus woke up cold. He was in a dark place he didn't even recognize, trapped in a cage. He had clothes and a blanket draped over himself but when he looked around no one was there.

This definitely didn't look like the Shrieking Shack.

He turned to the side to notice an open dungeon that looked like it used to be occupied. He tried to think back to what happened before his transformation but his mind drew a blank. He took the folded pair of pants next to him and attempted to put it on while still sitting down. An odd familiar smell of red apples and cookies came from them. That's when he remembered.

"Cerise."

His mind began to panic. He was wrong. She wasn't a werewolf. Even though his theory proved incorrect, his mind began to fill with more questions. Why did she know what to do when he began to transform? Where was she going last night? Why did she help him instead of running away?

He tried to weakly get up but as he did he heard someone running into the dungeon. Cerise slid into a wall making Remus smile and letting him forget what just happened for a few seconds. She opened the cage door and he grabbed the blanket tightly, acknowledging that he was still half-naked.

"I'm here, I'm here." She said panting. Her deep breathing gave it away that before she ran in she had been running for quite some time. He wondered why. He looked down at her arms and noticed bandages and other medical things that Pomfrey would normally use on him.

"How'd you know?" Remus asked as she prepared some towels and medicine.

"About your lycanthropy?" She responded not even looking up.

He stammered, secretly not wanting to know her answer. "I-I m-meant the medicine but yeah, that too."

"Oh, um, being Pomfrey's assistant really helps. I work in the hospital wing all the time. Anyways, I was already there for-," She paused before turning her concentrated face into a smile.

"Nothing."

He frowned. "There you go again with the secrets."

"Not my secret to tell." She said sitting down on the dirty floor. She pointed at his stomach with a towel in her other hand. He hesitated but let her. "Anyways, about you being a werewolf, I found out either last full moon or before that, kinda forgot. Didn't want to say anything until you were comfortable to tell me yourself." She said patting his scars with a wet towel. He groaned as she silently apologized. He stayed silent not knowing what to say. He winced as he took in the pain of his scars in. She was surprisingly better at healing than Pomfrey.

"So when Pomfrey told me that her assistant ran away right as James and I walked in-,"

"That was me." She sighed meeting his eyes. She smiled before going back to his aid.

"That's when you heard everything?"

"Yeah. Not that hard to put two and two together, y'know?" She paused taking a deep breath. "I know I should've told you I knew earlier it's just-,"

"You don't hate me?" Remus cut her off. She stopped tending to his wounds and looked up again. His eyes were shaking.

"Is there a reason for me to?"

"I-I mean-, I could hurt you and-,"

Cerise chuckled. "Remus. I've seen you put Rosie's pet ferret into a sock and then laugh about it for an hour. I could never be scared of you even if I tried." She said wrapping him up. He uneasily smiled. How could she trust so easily?

"But, I put you at risk last night!"

"Yeah, that was pretty stupid. Why were you following me last night anyway?"