The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One

40. The Duality of Communion

By the time Althea and Eliana arrived for Christmas lunch, the remaining staff and the only other student who had remained besides Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Althea were already seated at the table and her three friends had only just arrived and begun taking their seats at the small table in the middle of the room.

"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore called as the five of them took their seats, Eliana electing to sit beside her daughter. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables...Sit down! Sit down!" Pulling a cracker from the middle of the table, he cried, "Crackers!"

As they began digging into their meal, the door to the Great Hall opened to reveal none other than Sibyll Trelawney in the entryway.

Standing up, Dumbledore called cordially, "Sibyll, this is a pleasant surprise!"

"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster," she replied. "And to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness."

"Certainly, certainly," Dumbledore replied, instantly conjuring another chair from thin air.

Before she had sat, however, she suddenly uttered a kind of scream, taking several steps back. Instinctively, Althea reached for her wand, nearly drawing it before her mother caught her wrist. Althea met her eyes, releasing a long, soothing breath. As Dumbledore tried to soothe the teacher's fears about making it thirteen dining together, Althea frowned to herself. Why had she been so quick to assume it was some kind of attack?

Shaking it off, she released her wand and returned to her meal, ignoring the confused and concerned looks of her friends. When the meal was finally over, Althea instantly retreated up the stairs and finally up the Astronomy Tower, taking a seat at its edge to look over the grounds below. Before she could stop it, tears began streaming down her cheeks. She had only been crying a few moments when soft footsteps reached her ears. Looking over, Althea saw Professor Lupin, a small frown etched onto his features.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, wiping away her tears. "Shouldn't you be resting, Professor?"

"I feel well enough for a short walk," he replied, wincing as he lowered himself to sit beside her.

They sat in silence for several minutes before Althea sighed, sniffling as she asked, "Professor, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Althea," he replied, glancing over at her.

Staring out over the grounds, she asked, "Before your friends knew the truth about you, were you terrified of them finding out and...abandoning you?"

Remus was quiet a moment, glancing over at her quickly before he too looked out over the grounds.

"Every day," he admitted.

"How did you deal with the guilt?" Althea asked, meeting his gaze as she fought back tears. "Every moment I'm terrified they'll discover how closely I'm connected to Sirius and Amara. I'm terrified they'll realize my family is why Harry has none, but more than that...I'm terrified that if they do find out, they'll never speak to me again."

Remus was quiet for several minutes. He knew that fear well. It was the same fear he had lived with for the last twelve years. Being a werewolf was stigmatization enough. Being the werewolf who had been best friends with Sirius Black? That was about a thousand times worse.

"I understand your fear," he said softly. "Unfortunately, all I know how to say is that if they are your true friends, which I personally believe them to be, they will not, at the very least in the long run, hold it against you."

"Do you think I should tell them?" Althea asked.

After a long pause, he admitted, "I'm not sure, Althea. Oftentimes in life, there are choices one must make, choices you do not like, but that will ultimately be for the better good of everyone involved."

"That sounds like it comes from personal experience," Althea said with a soft smile.

Remus smiled, a wistful, far-off smile like he was remembering a time long passed as he said, "I was in love once. She was the most captivating young woman I had met in my life." He paused, glancing toward the ground as though lost in his own memories. "She was so kind, so loving, and so, so very brave. She would have faced Voldemort himself to protect those she loved."

His smile fell as he cleared his throat.

"What happened to her?" Althea asked curiously, her voice gentle.

"I, er, had to let her go," Remus admitted. "She was too good for me, I'm afraid."

"She said that?" Althea gasped.

"No," Remus said with a small chuckle. "No, she never would have allowed even the beginnings of a thought like that to cross her mind. I let her go on my own. She would have stayed with me if I had let her."

"Why didn't you?" Althea wondered aloud.

Remus sighed, staring at the sky.

"She wanted children," he confessed. "I have always been too fearful that a child would inherit my affliction to dare it. She left. She didn't try to fight me on it. I suppose she knew it wasn't a battle worth fighting."

Althea sighed, staring out over the snowy grounds.

After a few minutes, she got to her feet and said, "I should get back before the others wonder where I've gone."

"Goodbye, Althea," Remus replied kindly.

"Goodbye, Professor," she said.