☽☽☽
ATHENA WAS FURIOUS AT herself to see the sun rising over the hill, light seeping into the living room window and sending the wooden furniture into a glowing golden dream. She stepped out of the fire, looking at the now dull blue sky kissed pink. It was morning and she'd spent so much time angered about Umbridge that she'd now missed the full moon.
Technically she hadn't missed it. The orb, now overshadowed by the larger and brighter sun, still hung in the sky. Athena loved seeing the moon in the day. Somehow it was a reminder that night would come even in the worst of days. However the full moon never gave her the same comfort as a friendly crescent, mainly because of the terrible connotations she'd been forced to link the moon with.
Athena sighed loudly to herself, throwing her jacket down onto one of the sofas perhaps harder than she should. The force between the denim and the leather made a louder sound than she had expected. However what surprised her more was the sound of something being dropped in the kitchen. Surely the force of her jacket hadn't caused that.
"Remus?" Athena called hopefully.
"Yes, it's me" Remus replied.
Athena breathed a sigh of relief before she walked into the kitchen, stowing her wand back onto a hook on her belt.
"I'm so sorry" Athena began, "there's stuff going on at Hogwarts, Umbridge is torturing students, I mean actually torturing them and—oh my god!"
For a moment, Athena had yet again entered the whirlwind of her own life rather than looking up at Remus who was now picking up whatever he'd dropped off the kitchen floor. As his head reappeared over the kitchen counter, Athena's heart started beating ten times the rate it had been before.
There was a large gash down the side of his face, starting at the side of his temple and ending just under his cheekbone. It was evident that he had to keep wiping the blood away to stop it from bleeding, that's why his face was so red. However whatever he'd tried to do wasn't enough because even now the cut was bleeding, sending a small trickle of ruby down his neck.
Athena wished she could say that was the worst of it but she'd be lying. There were bruises all over his torso and his arms, small cuts possible from trees but marks that were most definitely bites from some large animal. There was another gash right across his ribs, this one he had a towel held to, this was barely doing anything.
"It looks worse than it feels" Remus muttered, placing a muggle first aid kit on the counter. Athena hadn't even been aware she owned a muggle first aid kit.
"Remus what the— what happened?" Athena murmured, "did something attack you?"
"I met another wolf" Remus replied in a bored tone, "I don't remember much of it, I'll have to go to some different woods next time"
"I should have been there" Athena breathed out in anger, "I should have—"
"I'm very glad you weren't" Remus frowned, "overjoyed in fact, that wolf was relentless, would have tried to tear you apart"
"Well it did tear you apart" Athena pointed out angrily.
Remus was now wiping the blood off again with the towel while pouring what looked like plasters out onto the counter. All of them were the size to put over a paper cut, never mind a gash from a werewolf.
"Put that away" Athena sighed, moving over, "you're seriously going to use plasters and antiseptic for this? You're a wizard"
"I don't like using magic on myself, healing magic... I'm not great at it"
"I know you're not" Athena muttered, "sit down"
"What would I do without you" Remus forced a smile as he took a seat in one of the bar stools, wincing even at the smallest movements. Athena stood over him, moving his face to the side by pushing his chin gently.
The cut wasn't clean. It was very clear that he'd been running through the forest all night, there was dirt at the side of his face. Some of this had tangled with the blood , making its way up to the cut.
"I'll have to clean it" Athena murmured, moving over to the sink.
"You're seriously going to use plasters and antiseptic?" Remus asked in a mocking tone as Athena ran a cloth under the freezing water.
"You do realise there are remedies made by wizards?" Athena raised her eyebrows, opening one of the cupboards revealing a bunch of bottles, "why do we even have muggle remedies?"
"This is your house" Remus shrugged, "it was probably your dad, he used to love doing things the muggle way didn't he?"
"Yeah he did" Athena nodded, placing the cold cloth at the side of Remus' face. He seemed surprised by how icy it was but didn't complain as Athena wiped the blood away, holding a careful concentration in order to not hurt him.
"What's going on at Hogwarts then?" Remus asked casually as though he wasn't dripping blood onto the floor.
"Umbridge is using blood quills in detention" Athena answered, "cutting messages into students hands"
"You're kidding?" Remus scoffed angrily, "surely Dumbledore won't allow that?"
"He doesn't know yet, I'm going to tell him of course I just had a busy night" Athena replied, reaching into the cupboard and taking out a few of the bottles, "Elle was one of the students—"
"She hurt Elle?" Remus snapped, jumping to his feet and almost falling over at the sudden movement.
"Sit down" Athena pushed his shoulder back into the chair, "I talked to her, she's ok. I'll be keeping a closer eye on her now I promise, making sure Umbridge stays away. I had no idea Remus"
"Why was she in detention?" The man frowned as Athena poured one of the potions onto the cloth.
"Um well... that's... that's the question isn't it"
"Rena" Remus stated, "it's obvious you know"
Athena sighed as she continued to clean the cut on his face, now with the cooling potion that seemed to relax him somewhat.
"She was defending you" Athena replied, "some of the Slytherins were provoking her"
"She shouldn't have done that" Remus said bitterly, "it's my fault she's put through that... if I wasn't her uncle—"
"Oh Remus shut up" Athena rolled her eyes, "she loves you and it certainly isn't your fault, it's the fault of people who can't see past an illness"
"You have to say that" Remus murmured.
"I don't have to say anything" Athena continued, now placing a few drops of essence of dittany onto the cut, watching at the wound started to magically heal. Dittany didn't work the same on wounds caused by werewolf's meaning there was still a scar left once she was done.
"You've spoken to Umbridge haven't you?" Remus said knowingly, "what did she say about me? What did you do to her... you can't get fired—"
"Slow down" Athena frowned, now moving onto the cut over his ribs, "how do you know I spoke to her?"
"Because you're angry" Remus replied, "not to sound self centred but a lot of your anger is regarding the things people say about me"
"Yes well, she has no right to say anything about you. I told her, I said Remus could teach defence against the dark arts in his sleep and do a much better job than whatever she's doing"
"Did she take that well?"
"She took it better than she did when I tried to curse her—"
"Rena!" Remus called loudly, half in shock and half in exasperation.
"I had to" Athena shrugged, "and I don't regret what I did, she can't fire me. If anything Dumbledore should thank me for doing what everyone else was scared to do"
"There's always going to be people who are horrible about my condition, you can't curse them all"
"I can try" Athena replied, now repeating the process of the dittany onto his ribs.
He winced slightly as the cut turned into a scar. Another added to the collection of scattered wounds all over him. Remus looked tired now as he rested his face into his hands.
"You don't always have to stand up for me"
"But I always will" Athena replied immediately, "it's a waste of time trying to convince me to stop"
"Is it worth telling Elle that she shouldn't?"
"I think it's a good thing that she stands up for you" Athena pointed out.
"Not if she's getting hurt because of it" Remus looked up, "do you think this will ever end?"
"Will what ever end?" Athena asked curiously.
"Werewolf segregation?"
"Realistically?" Athena frowned, "there's always going to be people who are against you, no matter what. Will it get better? Probably. Although there's rarely improvements made about it, the ministry don't care, especially not when Umbridge holds the main opinion"
"She must be a truly terrible teacher" Remus sighed.
"Oh she's the worst, well I've never seen her teach but I imagine that she is"
"Harry's planning on creating a secret group to teach defence against the dark arts" Remus continued lightly.
"He is?" Athena looked up in surprise, "I didn't know that, how do you know that?"
"The majority of the order knows now" Remus laughed, "they held their meeting in that old pub in Hogsmeade, the Hog's Head"
"Really?" Athena scoffed, "but then anyone could have overheard"
"Yes and someone did, Mundungus" Remus added.
"Didn't they see him?"
"Well Mundungus is barred from the Hog's Head so he was disguised as a woman I think" Remus laughed, "anyway, apparently they're looking for somewhere to hold these meetings"
"Umbridge better not find out" Athena muttered, "they'll all have scars on the backs of their hands for as long as they live"
"Do you think it's a good idea, for them to be teaching themselves?"
"I think they need to be prepared" Athena nodded, "obviously it's not under the best circumstances but... all things considered it's going to be one of the only chances they've got"
"Yeah" Remus nodded, "I agree, don't tell Sirius that though. When I first found out I thought it was a bad idea, that they were looking for trouble, he didn't agree"
"You've seen Sirius?" Athena raised her eyebrows.
"I see him a lot" Remus replied slowly, "considering neither of us have jobs"
"Yeah course" Athena nodded, "did he tell you about what happened?"
"With Kennedy?" Asked Remus, "yeah he did, he feels bad about how he spoke to you. Says he didn't mean it, I told him he was a twat"
"Thank you, he is a twat" Athena agreed, "I'm worried about her"
"Kennedy?" Remus mused, "she's always been like this Rena, closed off. There's nothing any of us can do about what's going to happen to her"
"It's still... well it's still... I suppose by now I should be used to losing people but I'm scared of losing her too even though I actually lost her fifteen years ago"
"I know" Remus smiled sadly, taking her hand, "she'll come around. When it hits her that this is the end for her... it's only natural she'll want to make amends"
"Maybe we would but I'm not sure about Kennedy, she's too stubborn"
"That's true" Remus shrugged, "how long do you have until you need to be back at the school?"
"Um" Athena looked at her watch, "three hours"
"Stay?" Remus asked hopefully, "I can think of a lot of things we could do"
"Remus you're injured" Athena pointed out.
"Yeah but you fixed that" Remus smiled, "come on, don't pretend like you don't want to"
"You're impossible" Athena laughed as Remus pressed his lips against hers.
☽☽☽
"You wanted to see me?" Harry asked as he walked into Athena's office. It was later on now but Athena was still in a good mood from spending time with Remus. She looked up as Harry entered the room, still looking as fed up as ever.
"Close the door" Athena stated. Harry followed instructions and took a seat in front of her desk.
"I know what you're doing" she began, "the secret defence against the darks arts class, are you the teacher?"
"How did you know?"
"You picked the wrong place to have a meeting Harry" Athena smiled, "Hog's head is neatly almost empty—"
"Yeah, less people to overhear"
"But for the people there it would be impossible for them to not overhead, whereas in a busier pub it would be too loud for people to understand what you're saying"
"Oh" Harry frowned sheepishly, "were you there?"
"Mungdungus was, dressed as a woman apparently... don't ask" Athena shook her head, "anyway—"
"You're going to tell me it's a terrible idea, aren't you?"
"Oh no I think it's a great idea" Athena grinned, "you should teach yourself defence against the dark arts, especially when Umbridge is your teacher, anyway I think it's good to be prepared"
"Oh... brilliant" Harry smiled, "I'm not sure I'll make a good teacher... maybe you could?"
"Oh I'm sorry Harry but I teach enough lessons" Athena shook her head, "I think you'll do a good job, anyway people are more likely to listen to you... with your experiences"
"Did you bring me here to tell me you thought it was a good idea?" Harry frowned.
"Oh, no that's not all" Athena continued, "I heard you were looking for somewhere to have these lessons"
"You have an idea?" Harry asked excitedly, "I can't think of anywhere"
"I know the perfect place" Athena smiled, "it's called the room of requirement"
"The room of requirement?" Harry frowned, "I haven't heard of it, is it on the marauders map?"
"It doesn't show up on the map, I found it after they made the map and um... me and the marauders never told anyone else"
"You didn't?"
"No it was... our place for a while, a secret" Athena murmured "anyway, the room can be whatever you want it to be, or need it to be... whatever you need, it can provide"
"That sounds perfect!" Harry grinned, "how come everyone else doesn't know about this?"
"A lot of people don't realise what they've found" Athena replied, "if it turns into a bathroom for example, they may just think it's a random bathroom... the name room of requirement isn't that well known"
"Where is it?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Seventh floor, left corridor" Athena replied, "opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet"
"How do I get it to work?" Harry continued.
"Walk past it three times thinking about what you need" she answered, "and it will appear"
"That's it?" Harry said in wonder, "that's amazing... thank you Rena"
"Oh no problem" Athena laughed lightly, "just stay out of trouble, ok?"
"When do I not?" Harry asked sarcastically as he stood up, "you sure this is a good idea?"
"I'm sure Harry" Athena assured him with a smile, "it's just the kind of thing your dad would have done"
☽☽☽
A/n
Words - 2520
Published- 20th July 2021
I bought a hoodie
yesterday that has the
marauders map on it and I
love it but it's currently 27 degrees
so I can't wear it :|