Panacea || Remus Lupin

𝟛𝟝 - ℝ𝕖𝕞, ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖

Remus swallowed the lump that seemed to become suffocating in his throat, he wanted to speak but words were just stuck. Instead he found himself listening to Ophelia intently, wanting to tell her she was wrong but selfishly found he enjoyed hearing these words.

"I am a werewolf though. You've seen the books, the notes and heard the stories. You know how vicious they are, how ugly they are. How ugly I am." Remus touched his scars on his hand, gaining Ophelia's attention. Neglecting her manic hand explanations to trace over the lines littering Remus' hands, Ophelia returned to squeezing Remus' hand whilst she tried to reassure him.

"You are a werewolf once a month, and even then that isn't you. No. The real Rem is the one that reads classic books, shares his chocolate, pranks people with his lunatic friends, has a heart full of kindness and love, is insanely intelligent and hard working, and that's just the start of it. You're the greatest friend I could ever ask for. You need to see that Rem. You need to see how the werewolf isn't Remus John-" Ophelia was interrupted by a hug, one of the warmest hugs she had ever felt.

It took every ounce of energy Remus had but he needed to wrap Ophelia in his arms. Forcing himself to sit upright he wrapped his arms around the side of Ophelia's waist with a firm grip, squeezing her more as the scent of her favourite tea filled his nose. Ophelia relaxed into the hug, the pairs first hug, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

"Thank you." Remus whispered into Ophelia's hair.

"I've done absolutely nothing to deserve a thank you Rem." Ophelia murmured the words into his shoulder. "I just wish I knew sooner, maybe I could have helped."

"You wouldn't be able to help Fi, nobody can." Remus sighed whilst he pulled back from the hug, trying to refrain from flinching as his bones cracked. Ophelia noticed though.

"This is so unfair." Ophelia's eyes filled with tears once more whilst they flicked across each scar that was visible to her.

"Don't cry Fi, please don't."

"I will cry because it's so cruel, you really don't deserve this. I wish I could take it away from you."

"I wish you could just take away the scars."

"No Rem, you shouldn't be ashamed. These scars are a roadmap of your survival. They are a reminder of the times where the moon tried to break you, but failed because the real you fought back." Ophelia spoke strongly, even though tears still fell.

"You're too pure for this world."

"I'm really not. We all have some dark secrets or pasts that haunt us. But all I care about is making sure others don't feel alone. So let me help you in some sort of way." One part of Ophelia felt hypocritical for not telling Remus about her past now, but then a part of her told her that her past struggles were incomparable to his. He was strong, he continued to fight and live his life. Ophelia hadn't, instead letting others conquer her.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Remus spoke, pulling Ophelia out of her negative thoughts.

"Remus I'm not planning on sitting in front of a werewolf screaming for you to bite me I'm not stupid." Ophelia answered in a playful banter manner, mirroring what a normal conversation between the two would be like before she knew he was a werewolf.

"I don't mean that though. Even as a human I can hurt you, I hurt you back on Valentine's Day by yelling at you. That was the werewolf in me and I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"You won't hurt me because I understand. Well I don't fully understand the pain you go through but I can attempt to imagine it. Friends stick together ok? Even through our ugliest times."