Bedknobs and Broomsticks [HP fanfic; BNB Book 1]

A Growing Rift

Mid-November, 1977

The Great Hall was packed, and few students were beginning to leave, but luckily there were seats available at the far ends of the long table, far from where Lily sat with the Marauders near the center. Mariah took an available seat and hastily began heaping food onto her plate, stopping only to lift her goblet and gulp it down.

Lowering the goblet, she choked on her pumpkin juice as a large owl hooted loudly from the empty seat across from her. Mariah spluttered, coughing violently, and dropping the goblet sideways on the table. The owl eyed the spill with one disdainful eye, but hooted again, holding out its leg. Recovering slightly, Mariah looked at it to see a large letter tied. Covering her mouth with one hand, still coughing, she reached out and unfastened the letter from the owl's foot and the bird instantly took off.

Breathing steadily, Mariah held the folded parchment up and turned it over once before slitting it open and unfolding it.

Dear Mariah,

3rd Floor Corridor, 4:00, bring your tits, not your underwear.

Love, Kurt

Mariah stared flatly at the slanted handwriting, her eyes drifting to three rather squarely drawn hearts lining one edge of the parchment.

Charming.

"Mariah." Mariah slammed the letter down on the table and turned around quickly to see Remus standing next to her.

"Hi! Yes?" she asked a bit louder than she needed to. Remus paused, looking at the letter.

"...What's that?" he asked, nodding at it. Mariah glanced sideways briefly.

"Don't worry about it." She crumpled it up and shoved it into her pocket. "What's up?" Remus looked preoccupied. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I..." He paused, then walked around and sat next to her in the next available seat. "I wanted to ask you something. When you said that you were alright, was that just because the others were there?"

"I'm fine... wait, is this because Sirius called me a liar?" asked Mariah sharply.

"No, this is personal interest," said Remus.

"Course I'm alright," said Mariah. "I wouldn't care if you were really a troll, Remus, you're still my friend."

"Not just that. I wondered... if you were alright after our encounter in the woods," said Remus slowly.

"What do you mean?" Remus sighed.

"Lily says you've been tossing in your sleep," he said. Mariah grimaced. Ever since the event in the Forest, she'd been awaking in a cold sweat at odd hours of the night. She thought no one had noticed...

"I'm recovering," she said finally. "Being rushed at by a werewolf is kind of a shock... but it's you, isn't it."

"...I suppose it is," said Remus softly. He cleared his throat after a moment. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

"Listen," said Mariah, catching him as he started to turn away. "I want to help. I found this potion. It's a recent discovery, something to relieve the symptoms of lycanthropy. "

"Mariah, my family's already looked for anything and everything possible to cure--"

"It's not a cure. It's experimental... or was... recently." Mariah waved it off. "It relieves the symptoms... makes you stay in control. It's called the Wolfsbane Potion."

Remus sighed.

"I don't know..."

"Look, it couldn't hurt to try, could it?" Mariah shrugged. Remus regarded her evenly.