written in the stars | s. black | r. lupin

8

There was a murmur of chatter as the four boys dropped into seats behind the girls. Lily already had her book out in front of her, her eyes wide from the abundance of coffee she had practically inhaled at lunch. Despite taking nearly every class available to them, prefect duty twice a week and only having a few break periods each week, she was holding up quite well.

"Ladies." James grinned, pulling out his Defense Against the Dark Arts book and dropping it to the desk with a thud. "How's everyone's day going?"

"Potter." Marlene answered after a moment, seeing that Lily wasn't going to. "Were you hoping for your hair to look like you had just rolled out of bed, or is it an accident?"

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes up to try to spot his bangs, fluffing through them with his fingers before offering Marlene a glare as Peter chuckled beside him.

"It's effortless, McKinnon." He answered, the door shutting softly as their professor headed towards the front of the room.

"Good afternoon, class." She smiled, taking her place in front of the blank chalkboard. "We have a pretty exciting lesson today." With a jerk of her wand, everyone's books opened before them, pages flipping along until Charlotte looked down at the start of a new chapter.

"Werewolves?" A few voices muttered around the room, whispers sounding shrill as we all looked back towards the front.

"Werewolves. It's a somber chapter, unfortunately. Werewolves, like so many beasts we will study in this class, have been around for centuries. While there are many documented cases and we have been able to study some of their habits, the werewolf is unable to recall anything from their transformation, their human brain is out of commission while they take on their other form."

"S'fine, Sirius, shove off." Remus's voice carried to Charlotte's ears and she snuck a peak to the row behind her, Sirius pulling his gaze from his friend to meet her eyes, forcing a smile to his face.

"Pay attention now, Charlotte. I'm not sure Lupin will have enough time to tutor you in this class too." Sirius smirked and Charlotte rolled her eyes, turning back towards the front and tuning back into the lesson.

"While there has been some discussion of whether werewolves should be classified as Beings or Beasts, the ministry has come to the conclusion that in human form, they will be considered Beings, while in wolf form, they are Beasts, and are ranked at level five in that category. How are level five beasts ranked, can anyone tell me?"

Lily's hand shot through the air and Mary rolled her eyes at her friend, slouching deeper onto her own desk.

"Level five beasts are known to be violent and can often kill wizards. They are also impossible to train or domesticate, even from youth." She answered, the words sounding eerily similar to how Charlotte was sure the passage would be found on one of these pages.

"Correct, Miss Evans, five points to Gryffindor." Their professor smiled, turning back towards the chalkboard and drawing five matching X's.

"Now, in 1637, the Ministry enacted the Werewolf Code of Conduct. This was intended to help these beings co-exist with wizard-kind as well as muggles, safely. At 17, werewolves were to sign the code of conduct, which stated that they would refrain from attacking non-werewolves, which means they must be locked up for every full moon. There are holding cells at the Ministry equipped to handle their transformations, or else they must prove that they have made sufficient arrangements for themselves if they wish to remain in their own homes."

The room fell silent for a moment, the only sound the scratching of quills as everyone took notes. Charlotte, however, couldn't stop her mind from replaying the professor's words. At 17. She supposed she hadn't given werewolves much thought before, but in her mind, they were all adults. They weren't children, forced to change into a terrifying creature once a month, waking up with no memory of the night before. Locked into cells while everyone hides away, terrified of you.