A couple of weeks passed and Eleanor was getting on fine in all of her classes. She had even received several more house points from Professor Slughorn because she had been doing very well in Potions, which was by far her favorite class. But then, one day as she was doing her homework with Doris in the Library, she saw Remus sitting in a corner reading a book, looking rather grim, and a thought dawned on her.
"Doris," she whispered, "What's the date today?"
"The twenty-second, why do you ask?" she said without looking up from her homework.
She gulped, "Oh, just because," she said, trying to act normal.
She looked up at where Remus was sitting. The truth was, she didn't 'just' ask. She asked because she knew there would be a full moon soon, but had completely lost track of the days. She put down her quill and got up from her seat.
"I'll be right back, have to ask Remus something," she whispered, but Doris just nodded, too captivated by her Herbology assignment.
She walked over to her brother and sat down next to him, "Hey," she said softly.
Remus looked up at her. He had bags under his eyes and he looked very pale.
"Hi, what's wrong," he whispered, and put down his book.
"I-I know it's going to be a full moon tomorrow," she started, making sure nobody could hear them, "Are you okay? Do you need something?" she said, sounding concerned.
He smiled, and shook his head, "I'm fine, really, you don't have to worry," he showed her a bar of chocolate in his bag.
She bit her lip. She had always had trouble with this, with Remus. She wanted to help him so bad, but she knew all too well she couldn't because he would probably hurt her.
"But where do they take you?" she whispered.
Remus explained that there was a secret passageway from the Whomping Willow all the way down to the Shrieking Shack. Madam Pomfrey brought him over there every full moon so he could transform without hurting other people. The next day she would come and pick him up and take care of him in the Hospital Wing until he was fully recovered from his wounds.
"So that's why the people in the village think it's haunted, the Shrieking Shack," she whispered, "B-Because they're hearing you. Hurting yourself," she said softly.
Remus nodded solemnly. Her heart ached at the thought of her brother doing those things to himself.
"I'm not always alone though," he put a hand on her shoulder, "Sometimes there's rats and mice, so they'll keep me company, seeing as I don't hurt them," he chuckled.
Eleanor smiled a bit at that.
"Just, make sure nobody finds out okay," he said earnestly, "I've just been making up excuses whenever I have to - you know... " he took his hand off her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah of course," she said quickly, "I'm going to go back to Doris, we've got an Herbology essay to finish," she sighed and stood up.
Just as she was about to leave, she turned back on her heels, "Tell me if you need anything okay? Anything," she looked into his eyes.
He just nodded and went back to reading his book.
She walked back over to Doris and sat down next to her, continuing her work as if nothing had happened, and she liked to keep it that way.
When it was time for dinner, the two of them headed down to the Great Hall, where it smelled of mashed potatoes, roast, and all kinds of steamed vegetables. Amelia waved at them, she had saved them a spot. When they had filled their plates, the four of them talked about their day like they did during any other dinner.
Suddenly she heard someone yell, "I'M IN, I'M IN! I MADE THE TEAM!"
It was James Potter, and he was running over toward Sirius, holding a piece of paper in his hand. He looked over the moon.
"Merlin's beard, you're joking!" Sirius exclaimed, taking a look at the list James handed him.
James looked across the table, grinning proudly. Then he seemed to have spotted someone interesting, his grin turning into a smirk.
"That's right Evans," he said triumphantly, sitting down next to her, "Your future husband made it as Seeker in the Gryffindor Quidditch team," he grinned.
A girl who she had learned to be Marlene almost choked on her water.
"Bugger off Potter," Lily said, clearly annoyed.
James pouted, "Aren't you going to congratulate your beloved boy friend?" he smirked.
Apparently, that was all Lily could take from the Potter boy that day, because in the blink of an eye she had grabbed her drink and thrown it on James' face. The whole table looked over at him and broke into laughter, and Eleanor couldn't help but finding it hilarious as well.
"Whoopsie," she said sarcastically, before grabbing her stuff and leaving the table, Marlene following her, laughing like a maniac.
"He totally deserved that," said Amelia in between chuckles.
But Eleanor wasn't paying attention to James anymore, and neither was Sirius or Peter because the two of them were talking to Remus about how he looked.
"Maybe you should see Pomfrey mate," Sirius said, concerned.
"Yeah, we'll cover for you in class tomorrow Remus, don't worry," Peter reassured him.
Remus coughed and shook his head, "It's okay, if it doesn't get better tomorrow I'll go to Madam Pomfrey," Sirius raised his eyebrows at him, "promise," he added.
"Hello?!" James said, sounding hurt, "Does nobody care about the state I'm in," he said, faking sobs and clutching at his chest.
Remus rolled his eyes, "It was your own fault, you know it annoys her," he said flatly.
Sirius nodded in agreement.
"So much for best friends," James sighed dramatically.
After dinner, the girls went to the common room to finish up their last bits of homework before the weekend, because they wanted to enjoy their free time as much as possible. Eleanor sat in a corner reading up on the Wand-Lighting charm while Kathy sat across from her, doing something for their DADA class.
"Oh, Ella, I totally forgot!" Kathy suddenly said.
Eleanor looked up from her parchment and frowned, "What is it?"
Kathy smiled and handed her a book.
"Uh thanks?" she chuckled and looked at her, a bit confused, "Why did you get me this?"
"Well, you were so interested in all that Animagus stuff so I figured there must be a book that covers some parts about it, and so I found one," she smiled, "It took literal ages to find it though."
"Awh thanks, Kathy," she smiled and gave her a hug, "That's really kind of you to remember that. I'll check it out immediately."
Kathy nodded and continued reading in her own book, as Eleanor opened the book she had gotten her. She paged through it, finding the chapter on Animagi.
An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can transform themselves into an animal and back again at will. It is a learned skill, unlike the hereditary skill of a Metamorphmagus.
Well, that was old news. Kathy had told her those exact words on their very first day at Hogwarts when Eleanor had just found out about Professor McGonagall being an Animagus.
The chapter then went on about there being a registry for Animagi in Great Britain, because it was illegal to become one unregistered. It also said that becoming an Animagus took a very long time because of all the specific steps, like keeping a single Mandrake leaf in your mouth for an entire month. If you failed one of the steps, you had to start all over again.
Feeling like she was getting a headache from all the reading she had been doing, Eleanor excused herself and went up to their dorm. An early night in would probably help.
But she couldn't sleep, and she was still awake long after the other three girls had gone to bed as well.
She kept worrying about her brother and thinking about the conversation they had earlier that day. She just didn't want him to be alone during those awful hours of pure agony.
Then, all of a sudden, a thought popped into her head, and she felt as though her heart stopped for a second.
How did she not think of this before?
"Sometimes there's rats and mice, so they'll keep me company, seeing as I don't hurt them," she remembered Remus say.
Werewolves don't hurt other animals, Eleanor smiled to herself.