𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚖 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 <𝟹
The days went on mostly the same. Harry was forced to stay at the hospital wing for the remainder of the weekend. Y/N, Hermione and Ron stayed with him most of the time and only left at night to go to sleep.
Dumbledore had finally reached out to Y/N about her training sessions with the more experienced Metamorphmagus(Nymphadora Tonks). She was scheduled to meet with her a couple times in January, Tonks was on a tight schedule since she was still in Auror training and needed to be there for the majority of the time.
When the four of them returned to classes on Monday, Harry was taunted and made fun of (by the Slytherins) for losing the match. It was incredibly annoying to both Ron and Y/N, Draco was almost beside himself with glee at Gryffindor's defeat.
He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing imitations of Harry falling off his broom. He spent much of their next Potions class doing Dementor imitations across the dungeons.
Ron finally cracked and flung a large crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.
"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron as they headed toward Lupin's classroom after lunch.
"Check who's in there, Hermione."
Hermione peered around the classroom door and exclaimed "It's okay!"
Professor Lupin was back. He looked as though he had been ill. Y/N felt bad for the professor, well technically her Godfather... it was still weird to call him that. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class as they took their seats, and they burst at once into an explosion of complaints about Snape's behavior while Lupin had been ill.
"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"
"We don't know anything about werewolves —"
"— two rolls of parchment!"
"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Lupin asked, frowning slightly. The babble broke out again.
"Yes, but he said we were really behind —"
"— he wouldn't listen —"
"— two rolls of parchment!"
Professor Lupin smiled at the look of exhaustion on every face."Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."
Y/N groaned in annoyance and shot Hermione a small glare. "I told you we wouldn't have to do it!" She said.
Hermione had practically forced Y/N to complete the assignment with her the night it was assigned to 'get ahead'
The essay however, allowed Y/N and Hermione to figure out that Professor Lupin was a werewolf. Everything lined up, his boggart and he was always ill during full moons. She made a mental note to ask him about it after class.
"I've already finished it!" Hermione said looking very disappointed.
They had a very enjoyable and exciting lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking.
"Lures travelers into bogs," said Professor Lupin as they took notes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead — people follow the light — then —"
The Hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass. When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door. Just as Y/N was about to approach Remus, he said. "Wait a moment, Harry," Lupin called. "I'd like a word."
Y/N decided she'd wait outside and speak to him after. She walked out of the classroom with Hermione and Ron.
"I'll catch up after, I need to speak to Professor Lupin" she said leaning against the wall outside the classroom.
"Ok we'll be in the common room, I've got loads of homework" Hermione sighed waving goodbye and walking away with Ron.
She waited by the door for what felt like an eternity, what could they possibly we talking about? Just as she was about to walk away and speak to Remus the next day, the door swung open and Harry walked out looking somewhat satisfied.
"Y/N?" He said in confusion. "You didn't have to wait for me, it's been too-"
Y/N playfully rolled her eyes. "I need to speak to Professor Lupin.. now, if you'll excuse me" she said walking past Harry into the classroom.
Remus looked up and smiled upon seeing Y/N.
"Y/N, How have you been?" He asked kindly. Y/N walked forward taking a seat across from him.
"I'm doing well" she said, "I uhm, I have a question.." she said. Remus gave her a small nod as if saying 'continue'. "Er- Hermione and I did the essay that Professor Snape assigned us and we noticed a few things.."
Remus' expression didn't falter. "You and Hermione seem to be very bright, if your question is whether I'm a werewolf or not, my answer is yes"
Y/N couldn't help but be completely shocked at how straight forward he was, she had expected him to deny it. "Oh- uh well.. are you feeling better?" She asked.
"Much better" he said stacking a pile of papers on the desk. "I'm sure you're quite curious" he said "I'll be glad to answer any question, I do however ask for you to keep this between us"
Y/N nodded, she didn't exactly know what to ask but she didn't plan on telling anyone else. Hermione had already assumed he was a werewolf, Y/N simply wouldn't confirm nor deny her suspensions.
"You don't look like a werewolf.." she said awkwardly, it's not that she had ever seen a real werewolf before Remus, but she had seen diagrams on werewolves when if wasn't the full moon, they looked like humans.. but not as much as Remus.
Remus served two cups of tea putting the teacup in front of her and offering the sugar spoon. "The reason I don't look like a typical werewolf is because i'm not a full werewolf, I was bitten when I was 5 years old making me a Lycanthrope" he said.
Y/N couldn't imagine what it must've been like to go through all of those horrible transformations at such a young age. He put 2 spoonfuls of sugar into his tea and stirred. "A Lycanthrope, only becomes a werewolf during full moons, on other days I spend my days just like a regular person"
"You are a regular person" Y/N said stirring her own tea, "you shouldn't speak of yourself as if you aren't"
Remus completely disagreed with with her opinion, had it been any other person telling him that he would have argued saying he was a monster and a danger to everyone. But this was different, he didn't want to argue because he couldn't help but feel relived that Y/N's image of him hadn't changed.
Remus didn't respond to her comment and continued to speak. "My condition is the reason why Albus didn't see me fit to raise you, it would've been dangerous"
Y/N understood, it was simple, but it didn't stop her from wondering what her life would've been like growing up with Remus.
"Could you tell me some things about my parents?" She asked hopefully. She had only heard snippets of things about her mother from Narcissa, but that was mostly about family events, and well.. the only things she had heard about her father, was that he was a psychotic murderer. She longed to know about the things from before everything started to crumble.
Remus tensed at the mention of her parents, he of course grew up very fond of Sirius though he didn't know as much about Cassiopeia. Sirius' betrayal never stopped paining him, he couldn't possibly bring himself to tell her that he didn't only kill 12 muggles.
"What would you like to know?" He asked taking a sip of his tea.
Y/N took a moment to think. "Anything about your school years, before.. everything began"
Remus couldn't help but smile at the memories, he definitely had lots to say.
"Well our school years were exotic to say the least" he said with a smile. "James which is Harry's father, Sirius, Peter and I, we would spend our school years pulling series of pranks, all harmless. There was never a single day that was boring when we were together."
Y/N listened intently grasping every detail as Remus continued to explain specific pranks they did which usually ended up with a group of Slytherins who wanted to hex them.
"James came up with the absurd idea to call us the Marauder's-"
"No way" Y/N muttered as realization sunk in.
Messers
MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, & PRONGS
are proud to present
The
MARAUDER'S MAP
It was them..
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.." she muttered. They were the Marauders, the prank gods which she, Fred and George had admired for so long.
"Where did you hear those nicknames.." Remus asked, he hadn't mentioned those names at all in his stories.
She stopped herself before continuing. Would he take away the map?
"Er- I heard it somewhere.. anyways" she said changing the topic. "How did you come up with the nicknames?"
Remus refrained himself from explaining the Animagus transformations his 3 best friend so eagerly did behind his back, he had heard enough stories about Harry, Ron, Hermione and Y/N to know that they would possibly try to take on the challenge.
"Prongs? You all just collectively decided to call one of you a kitchen tool?" Y/N asked in amusement.
"There's a bit more to it than just that" Remus said with a pleasant smile as he checked the time, "another story for another time" he said. Y/N nodded realizing it had been an hour since she walked in.
"Thank you Profes- uh Remus" she said standing up.
***
Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a bright white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in snow. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air.
Professor Flitwick, 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. The four of them decided they would stay at Hogwarts, Y/N and Harry were initially going to stay at Y/N's house and spend christmas there, but Y/N's parents had to leave last minute on a trip to visit Y/N's grandfather who had fallen ill.
To everyone's delight except Harry's, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term.
"We can do all our Christmas shopping there!" said Hermione. "Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!"
This time around Y/N didn't say anything about staying behind with Harry, though she had a mischievous look in her eye that Harry recognized from whenever she was about to do a prank with Fred and George or whenever she had something planned.
The three of them walked out of the castle with the large group of students who were also going.
"Are you sure we should? It's our best asset" Fred said skeptically.
"We've got all the passages memorized by now, and I'm sure he'll let us borrow it if we need it" Y/N said.
"What do ya say Freddie?" George said pulling out the map.
"About time we pass it on to ickle scarhead" Fred said with a laugh pulling the map out of his pocket.
Y/N would have offered to stay with Harry again, but of course she had made sure that he wouldn't have to stay at Hogwarts. She hoped he would understand the map and find the passageways.
"I can't wait to get my hands on those pepper imps" Ron said his mouth watering simply imagining the creamy peppermint candy.
"Honestly Ronald, do you only ever think of food?" Hermione said rolling her eyes.
"Sorry?" Ron said sarcastically.
"I for one can't wait to get to Scrivenshaft's Quill shop, I've been wanting a self writing quill"
"Honestly Hermione, do you only ever think of school?" Ron mocked earning a glare from Hermione and a look of amusement from Y/N.
"Stop arguing like an old married couple" Y/N smirked. Ron and Hermione looked over at Y/N with small glares. She had noticed small changes in the way they acted around each other, it of course was still countless amount of bickering (usually revolving around scabbers and crookshanks)but also how Hermione began to get a bit more touchy, for example- when her hand instinctively reached for his during their first care of magical creatures lesson.
The glares didn't last long as they approached the village, it was beautiful, shop rooftops covered in light powder-like snow and the laughter that echoed around the village. They all agreed to go to Honeydukes first and walked into the brightly colored candy shop.
Honeydukes was so over crowded with Hogwarts students that they had to bump into people to reach the candy area. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable.
Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees. Hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows. There was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbet balls that Ron had mentioned.
Along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' — sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell- colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!'), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.
Ron tried to walk over to the chocolate section but Hermione pulled him away.
"It's too crowded" she said pulling him to the 'unusual flavor' candy area.
"Do you think Harry's want anything from here?" Ron said grabbing a few blood flavored lollipops.
Y/N grimaced in disgust taking them out of his hands and putting them back, "would you want to eat this?"
"No gross" Ron said looking at the dark red lollipops in disgust.
"Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," Hermione said pushing her way through.
"How about these?" said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione's nose.
"Definitely not," said Harry. Y/N turned around quickly at the sound of Harry's voice and Ron nearly dropped the jar.
"Harry!" squealed Hermione. "What are you doing here? How — how did you —?"
"Wow!" said Ron, looking very impressed, "you've learned to Apparate!" Y/N nearly snorted at Ron's guess.
"'Course I haven't," said Harry. He told the three of them about Fred and George giving him the map, Y/N of course already knew.
"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!" said Ron, outraged. "I'm their brother!"
"But Harry isn't going to keep it!" said Hermione, as though the idea were ludicrous. "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?"
"No, I'm not!" said Harry.
"Are you mad?" said Y/N, jaw dropped, "do you know how much convincing it took to get Fred and George to agree to hand it over?" Hermione rolled her eyes disapprovingly.
"If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it! Filch would know Fred and George had nicked it!"
"But what about Sirius Black?" Hermione hissed. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!"
"He can't be getting in through a passage," said Harry quickly. "There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And of the other three — one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through — well — it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar — so unless he knew it was there.."
Y/N knew that Sirius did know about the passages.. he was one of the people to develop the map. She didn't say anything, regardless of what anyone said she was convinced Sirius didn't want to hurt them, he had his chance to do so, and he didn't.
Ron, however, cleared his throat, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweetshop door.
BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown.
This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black.
It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.
Merry Christmas!
"See?" said Ron quietly. "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!"
"Yes, but — but —" Hermione seemed to be struggling to find another problem. "Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade. He hasn't got a signed form! If anyone finds out, he'll be in so much trouble! And it's not nightfall yet — what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"
"He'd have a job spotting Harry in this," said Ron, nodding through the blurry windows at the thick, swirling snow.
"Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas. Harry deserves a break." Y/N said trying to reason with her. Hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried.
"Are you going to report me?" Harry asked her, grinning.
"Oh — of course not — but honestly, Harry —"
"Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?" said Ron, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven — it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick." Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box.
"Do you think it'll still work if I bake it into something— like a cookie?" Y/N said grabbing a box and putting it in her basket.
"Maybe.. blimey—You could hand them out to the Slytherins!" Ron said looking excited. Hermione still looked displeased but didn't comment on the matter.
"Reckon Fred'd take a bite of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?" Ron said they had paid for all their sweets.
The four of them left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside.
_______________________
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I had a couple exams over the past few weeks. I'll have another chapter out by the end of the weekend or sooner.
Thank you for reading <3
𝔈𝔭𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔩
________
"ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʟᴀꜱᴛ"