Cursed by Moonlight (HP fan fiction)

Chapter 9: Wolfsbane Potion - part one

Dedicated to KathleenOliviaDaley for being an amazing friend!  She sat up all night with me, through the 'end of the world', and kept the evil noises away from me in the night :)  Everyone, please go and check out her stories - they are beautifully written!

Brie’s P.O.V

My hand stirred the coffee until it become light in colour.  I turned away from the kettle to face Remus, who had picked up the Daily Prophet.  Four days ago, I felt like I had some kind of connection with him, and now, it was like we were both strangers sat in the same room.

“So… What are you doing today?” I asked just to break the silence between us.  In the last four days, I had rarely seen him, and I suddenly felt starved of his company.

“I’m meeting with the Order this morning, and then coming home.  We’ll do something together when I get back,” he said looking up from the newspaper.  From the day he brought me here, everyday had consisted of long Order meetings.

I nodded, momentarily lost for words, and looked down at the mug in my hands.  That’s when I heard him speak again. 

“Brie, why is Voldemort after you?”  His voice was so serious, but I wanted the conversation to stay light.

“Oh, now that would be telling,” I replied smiling at him.  I couldn’t help it when I was around him.  Being happy was like a drug, that seemed died down when I was left alone again.

He beckoned me to come closer to him, which I obeyed immediately.  “Guess what?” he asked, making me move even closer.  “I’m good at keeping secrets,” he whispered into my ear.  

I shivered and moved back.  “It isn’t trust that is stopping me.”  I push my brown wavy hair off my face and moved further away from him.  This feeling inside had to stop, even if it meant killing it.  I had to focus on the plan for revenge, not someone who wouldn’t be staying in my life.

“Then what is?  In fact, don’t answer that.  There is other ways I can go about finding out answers…” he trailed off, hoping I would ask him more.  I wasn’t going to take the bait.

“I’m sure you have to be somewhere now, you know, places to go, people to see.” I busied myself by placing all the dirty dishes into the sink and cleaning them, using magic.

“That, I do,” he said standing up.  “I’ll be back before you know it.”  At that, he left me in the apartment, alone once again.

~          *          ~

I looked around the spotless apartment from the kitchen and began feeling guilty.  I had been here days and hadn’t cleaned once.  I hadn’t really left my room, but that wasn’t the point.  Instantly, I started pulling open cupboards, searching for one that held cleaning products.  Bewitching the broom to begin sweeping around the house, I hoped it would make it look better. 

Wondering over to the coffee table in the centre of the room, I pointed my wand at it, to get rid of the non-existent dust.  Remus couldn’t like me anymore than a friend, nobody likes me full stop, why would he be different.  My mind idly wondered back to our conversation that morning and the past few days.  I played the words around in my head, losing concentration at the task on hand. 

Then a sudden clattering noise on a wooden floor awoke me from replaying the past.  I looked at my hand and saw it was wandless.

“Oh, bloody brilliant,” I said out loud, annoyed when it seemed to have disappeared into thin air.  I knelt down and cringed as I put my hand into the darkness under the sofa, groping around for the stick of wood. 

My fingers ran along the floor before hitting into the cool, smooth surface of something square.  I tensed in fear of not knowing what it was.  Curiosity strong, I pulled it out and looked at what appeared to be an old book with no title.  The spine was battered and creased in all directions showing age, and the pages were yellowed from time.

How long had it been there?  My heart began to race and the wand laid forgotten.  A small piece of parchment stuck out from the middle, bookmarking a certain page.  My eyes never left the book, waiting for magical atoms come to life, and make me wish I hadn’t laid my eyes upon its words. 

In one quick swift motion, I opened the book, scanning my eyes upon the image in horror.  The sketch showed a man, going through the change into werewolf.  The pain engraved onto his face was so realistic; I didn’t know others experienced it in the same way to me.  Suddenly, it was as though a bomb had gone off inside of me.  He couldn’t know, and yet the growing dread told me, Remus knew exactly what was going on.  My breathing quickened with panic.  No, he couldn’t know.  He was just asking me this morning, and yet here he was, with the answers.

With shaking hands I picked up the parchment and focused on the long scribbled words written.  I tried to ignore the moving picture and concentrate on what the words were saying.  At the top of the page, the scrawled letters formed the words: Wolfsbane Potion.

I hadn’t heard of such a potion, and I had done well at school in the subject.  The more I read of the instructions, the less dread I felt, as it was invaded with happiness.  Wolfsbane potion allows the drinker to go through the change, considerably reducing pain and keeps a sane mind for the night.  Less pain.  Those words swam around my head, building up hope for the first time in a while.

To face the moonlight, without hating yourself every single moment, was as good as a cure.  Out of the corner of my eye, my wand laid on the floor.  I reached out and duplicated parchment, staring at the very last words which had been scribbled.

New potion, has yet to be approved.

That was something that I wasn’t going to let get in my way.  This potion was the possibility to change my life, forever.  Any doubt of it not working was outweighed, by having this chance to be normal.  If it worked, I could possibly stay longer with Remus.  My mind was over thinking the good things, hope welling up even higher. 

I stuffed my copy of the instructions into my pocket and began placing the book back where I found it, hoping nobody would realise.  Taking one last glance at the sketch, a new thought popped up.  “Maybe he doesn’t know,” I tried reassuring myself out loud.

Just because there was a werewolf book in his apartment, with a new potion to make the condition better for a sufferer, doesn’t mean he knew my secret.  I was being stupid.  He might have an interest in the subject, after all we didn’t know each other well.  But why was the book hidden?  I asked myself.  I only had one answer for that, and the words escaped from my lips before I had chance to stop them.

“Unless he is one.”

A/N -  I know I haven't updated in ages and this chapter isn't great.  I've been ill the past few days, so I have worked on it.  From now on, I aim to update this story once a week until my exams are over.  We'll see where it goes after that :)

If you like it, please don't forget to comment and vote.  If I think nobody is enjoying it, then I will update less and less, so please do :)