The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 10

Delilah stayed behind. "Professor, I have a question for you. Two questions actually."

"What do you want to know?" Lupin asked as he put the hinkypunk's tank away.

"First off, I was wondering if you could teach me the patronus charm, it would be a useful charm to learn," Delilah stated.

"As I told your brother, it would have to wait until next term. I fell ill at an unfortunate time and have a lot of work to catch up on. Your lesson would be at the same time as Harry's."

Delilah looked up, surprised. "Harry wants lessons as well?"

"Yes, he asked me after his lesson. What is your other question?"

She hesitated. Should she ask Lupin if he was a werewolf? If she was wrong that would be really awkward. But if she was right, it would still be awkward.

"Are you a werewolf?" Delilah bluntly asked.

Lupin looked surprised. "How did you figure it out?"

She was relieved that she was right. If she hadn't been... that would have been awkward to say the least.

"Snape's essay got me thinking, and when I looked at the lunar calendar I saw that you were sick every full moon. Plus I heard some Gryffindors talking about how your bogart took the shape of a crystal ball, which looks very similar to a full moon."

Lupin stiffly smiled.

"Well, when you put it all like that, it does seem pretty obvious. I'm afraid I must ask you not to tell anyone though. They'd tell their parents and then I would probably have to leave."

Delilah nodded. "I won't. Honestly, all the werewolf prejudice is as pointless as the muggleborn prejudice. They're only dangerous at full moons, and now that the wolfsbane potion is out, they aren't dangerous then either, as long as they get the potion. And while some went bad, how many wizards have gone bad? Yet we don't have prejudices against them," Delilah reasoned.

Lupin relaxed.

"Great, I'll see you next class then. Thank you," he said.

Delilah walked out the door, noticing how the pattering rain was oddly peaceful.

The weather only got worse. The rain came more frequently and became harder and harder, sometimes even turning to hail. Yet the Gryffindors managed to stay in a cheerful mood, and everyone knew why.

Ravenclaw had flattened Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match at the end of November, so Gryffindor was not out of the running after all, although they couldn't afford to lose another match.

The Saturday after the match, all the Animagi students headed to McGonagall's room. There were only seven people now, everyone else had swallowed their leaves. Delilah was the only Slytherin, there was one seventh year Gryffindor, three Ravenclaws, two sixth years and one fifth year, and two fourth year Hufflepuffs.

They all cheered when McGonagall told them they could finally spit out the dreaded mandrake leaves. After that they made the potion and McGonagall showed them all out.

"Now we just need to let them rest for a week and then wait for the next lightning storm, so I suggest you all stay for Christmas break. It may happen during that time. Now every sunrise and sunset, you have to say 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus'. Sometime after that, you will feel a second heartbeat, do not change anything. Just keep saying it every sunrise and sunset. Now repeat after me, Amato Animo Animato Animagus."

The class repeated the words multiple times before McGonagall was satisfied.

Professor McGonagall finally said they could leave, leaving her to put all the potions in a quiet dark place without looking at them. Needless to say they were all grateful that they didn't have to deal with that step.

Then it was suddenly two weeks before the end of term and the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds transformed to a glittering white.

Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. Somehow Draco had managed to convince his parents to let him stay, claiming that he needed to catch up on some work, but Delilah knew he was doing it so she wouldn't be alone with Harry, because things were still tense between them.

To their delight, there was going to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term, and Delilah decided to go Christmas shopping with Lyra, who was going home for the holidays.

On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Delilah and Lyra walked down to Hogsmeade.

She had been invited to go with Daphne and Pansy and their boyfriends, Theodore and Blaise, but Delilah didn't want to intrude. Draco had gone with Crabbe and Goyle.

"Come on, let's go to Honeydukes first. I think that'll be a good place to start, I mean, who doesn't like sweets?" Delilah suggested but Lyra shook her head.

"Let's head to the Three Broomsticks first, they are only open for half an hour, then it's adults only. We'll grab a quick butterbeer and then go to Honeydukes, maybe the bookstore after," Lyra planned.

Delilah agreed. If that was the case, they should go there first.

They grabbed a quick butterbeer and then hurried over to Honeydukes.

Delilah grabbed her favorite pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes, some sugar quills for Daphne, liquorice wands for Draco, and snuck some chocolate frogs for Lyra into her pile. For Pansy she just got one of the small boxes of treats.

Just as they were checking out, Delilah saw Ron and Hermione by the treats along with... but no, he hadn't gotten his form signed. So how could Harry have gotten into Hogsmeade?

Before Delilah could go over to see what was going on, Lyra had decided to go to the bookstore. So there they went. Lyra got a handful of books, but Delilah went to the side and found a pile of stuffed animals. She looked through them, thinking.

How had Harry gotten into Honeydukes? He wasn't allowed into Hogsmeade. Maybe she had imagined him, or maybe he had found a way to sneak past the dementors.

Absent-mindedly, Delilah looked down at the stuffed animal she had been holding. Surprised, she immediately thought of Draco and smiled. It was perfect for him. She bought it and put Harry out of her mind, she'd ask him later.

Deciding that she should get Daphne something more than a bit of chocolate, Delilah got color changing ink and a nice quill. She'd enchant it to make part of the ink attached to the quill so that Daphne wouldn't have to dip it in, but there would also be another bottle of the ink so that she could use it with any other quill. For Harry she found a flying Nimbus 2000 model in the Quidditch store next door along with some chocolate snitches.

Lyra got some stuff for her other friends including plenty of books, quills, and treats. Laughing, they walked back to the castle. By then, Delilah had forgotten all about seeing Harry at Honeydukes.