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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟖: 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐆𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒
❝ 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕. ❞
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━Exactly one week after Sirius' birthday, Remus, and the others started to disappear again and Stella couldn't help but be curious about it.
So here she was in the corner of the hospital wing, watching 4 Gryffindor boys from afar.
"No 'buts'." She heard Madam Pomfrey say. "You will have to take the Wolfsbane Potion right now, and you are very lucky, Mr. Lupin. We are almost running out of it."
Wolfsbane Potion? and Remus is taking it? Now it was slowly starting to make sense! Stella thought.
The scars all over his face and body, his ragged clothes, bit feeling well before and after a certain time of a month and ofcourse, his dissappearance every peak of the full moon!
Remus Lupin is a werewolf.
Along her discovery, it pained Stella a lot. Her friend was going through horrid transformations every month and she didn't knew about it.
Until now, atleast.
"But it tastes horrible, Poppy!" James opposed.
"What do you expect, Mr. Potter? pumpkin juice?" The mediwitch retorted. "And you're not even the one who's drinking it!"
"It's okay, Poppy. I'll drink it." Remus said as the mediwitch started to walk away. Even from afar Remus' voice sounded weak.
After a while of standing and talking, one particular conversation perked Stella's ears up.
"I think Stella's getting suspicious on where we go every month." chuckled James and all of them groaned.
"Stella again?" Remus groaned.
Again? Stella squinted her eyes.
"Not that I don't want to hear her name or anything, but you've been talking about her non-stop." Remus explained.
Now, confusion hit Stella like the Knight Bus. Was James teasing her even when he's not with her?
"Okay, okay, fine then." James fumbled, his cheeks were bloodshot red. His friends noticed but Stella didn't ofcourse.
"James is right, though." Sirius interrupted. "Stella's been asking me where we go every month."
The said girl bit her lip in trepidation. She felt that this was too private for her to eavesdrop too.
But she was here already, no turning back now.
"Let's just keep lying to her as horrible as it sounds." Remus said with a sad voice.
It pained Stella a little. Okay— maybe a lot, but it's because she felt dejected. Was she not their friend, a friend who's not trustworthy enough to let her know their secrets? more so, his transformation?
But Stella knew Remus better. Maybe there was a reason behind all this.
There has to be.
"I can't let her know that I'm a werewolf. I can't." Remus whispered lowly. "I've already put your lives at risks. I can't afford to put hers on the line too." he confessed and everyone lowered their heads.
As much as James wanted to include Stella in everything, it wasn't his secret to tell and he wouldn't let her life be put at risk.
Just—— no.
"And I don't intend to let her know soon." Remus continued. "What if— if she thinks I'm a monster?"
"Remus, don't say that." Sirius said in a concerned tone.
"You're not a monster, you're far being from one." Peter smiled at him.
"But whenever you're ready to tell star, I'm sure she'll understand. I know her." James explained to Remus, to which he nodded with a weak smile.
Stella turned back to head to her dorm with a lot of things in her mind, one of them was how she was going to wait until Remus was ready to tell his secret but only two things occupied her mind.
One, was that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, and she did not see him differently in any other way.
And two, was that James Potter had been talking about her constantly.
But about what?
"Does anybody know what this is?" Professor Gibson pointed at the old dusty cupboard displayed for his students.
Half of his students were just drooling on the 40-year-old man while the others were either paying their full attention, like Stella, or just doing anything random, like the Mauraders.
It had been two weeks since Stella had heard their conversation. Remus was slightly avoiding her and she obviously noticed but understood his actions.
It also had been two weeks since James Potter started to annoy Stella even more.
Like passing her notes or his doodles in class even though they were practically sitting side by side.
"A boggart, professor." Lily Evans answered.
Usually James Potter would shout 'You're such a genius, Evans!' but no. James was too busy showing Stella his drawings.
"Very good." Prosser Gibson praised. "Now, can anyone explain what a boggart looks like?"
Lily Evans' hand shot up again but Professor Gibson had someone in mind instead. "Yes, Ms. Rosier?"
Everyone's head snapped to her direction. Along them were Lily Evans' friends, Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald, and Dorcas Meadows (whom Stella talked to a couple of times and was the nicest to her so far.)
James also stopped scribbling to look at her.
"No one really knows what a boggart looks like when it's alone, Professor." Stella explained. "It's a shape-shifting non-being that takes form of the observer's worst fear."
"Brilliant." James breathed out loudly with a smile on his face, and oh everyone in the classroom had heard him.
It was still a wonder to him how Stella was so bright in this early age they were on.
But then again, it was just one of the hundred things James Potter adored about her.
"Very well explained, Ms. Rosier. 5 points for Gryffindor."
"There's a banishing spell for facing a boggart, and that is?" Professor Gibson looked around the class.
And as always, James and Sirius avoided eye contact.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin?"
"Riddikukus is the charm that repels a boggart, it requires force of mind, because the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter, what the observer needs to do is force it to assume a shape that they find amusing." Remus explained fluently that left Sirius' and Peter's mouth agape.
While Stella and James just smirked to themselves. They knew how much Remus was a bright student as well.
Professor Gibson proceeded to tell them that each of them had to face the boggart and that they needed to fall into one line, which they were doing now.
Sirius and James kept pushing each other while Peter and Remus were behind them in the line.
"You go first!" said James.
"No! you go first!" fought back Sirius.
"Oh, you wankers! move!" Stella pushed the two stubborn boys aside so she could be the one infront.
Most Gryffindors were already done facing their boggarts, often of them were bunch of insects, ghosts, and even Filch.
But Stella had a hunch of what her boggart might be, it was the only thing she was afraid of. It made her hands sweat and her heart beat rapidly.
"Rosier! you're next!"
James noticed how Stella was slightly trembling and gave her a smile before she faced her boggart.
Everyone in the room became silent. Stella was already well-known to the whole school, so they were eager to see what Gryffindor's top student was afraid of.
"Wands at the ready!" Professor Gibson instructed.
Stella brought her hand with her wand up, ready to face her boggart, just then a man stepped out of the cupboard.
It was her father.
Her eyes went wide and she felt like a little kid again. It brought her unpleasant memories of when she was being tortured by her own parents.
It was like Stella was frozen.
she couldn't speak, breathe, or think.
"You are nothing but a complete disappointment in this family!" her boggart shouted.
Some students were giggling at her demise but some, like Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James were watching in sympathy.
"You are a disgrace in our family name! you deserve to be taught respect! Cruci—"
"Riddikulus."
Her father, Luke, who was wearing fine dark suit, was now transformed into wearing the ugliest bright colored dress robes.
Everyone laughed at the sight, all except for the Mauraders and Stella.
"Can I step outside for a moment, Professor?" Stella spoke quietly and Gibson nodded.
Her friends, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James watched as she walked outside the classroom with her head hung low.
For the rest of the class, Stella wasn't there to see her friends' boggarts.
She didn't see how Peter's boggart was Lord Voldemort.
She didn't see how Remus' boggart was the full moon.
She didn't see how Sirius' boggart was also his parents.
But what's most intriguing to everyone was how James Potter's boggart was losing his friends.
He was afraid to lose Peter, Remus, Sirius, and especially his Stella.
author's note
you lot are getting spoiled by the constant updates this week :)
i really apologize if this chapter sucks ass.
i will try and make the next one really good though!
anyway. james is back to annoying Stella again 😎