ON A FULL MOON, Liv was always the first to wake up. That's if she got any sleep at all. Though, today, the entire Hogwarts castle was woken up by the early murmur of bad news, and the lonely Gryffindor couch she usually found herself curled up on in the early morning now had her and the small group of Gryffindor third years gathered around it, staring soundly into the fireplace, mourning over someone they'd never met, and who's name they were yet to discover.
Liv, today, woke up to a door slamming, the sniffling of a teenage girl, followed by another door slamming (this time the bathroom). Liv and Padma were jumping out their beds almost immediately, running to the door asking for the sad girl to let them in.
With a sniff, and a lot of persuasion from the other girls, Lavender unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open. "Did you hear the news?" she said sadly. They both shook their head."It's just awful,"
"What happened, Lav?" Liv said, putting an arm around her, which she immediately regretted, for Lavender was now sobbing on her shoulder, her wet noise dangerously close to her bare skin.
"Oh, God! I can't!" She wailed, turning to bury her head into Padma's shoulder instead. Padma's only response was to shrug, a confused look on her face.
Liv tutted, turning away from the pair to go find out herself, since Lavender was so clearly useless. That's when she spotted her friends – all staring gloomily into the fireplaces light glow, not muttering a word to each other. Liv hadn't even noticed Hermione's lack of presence when she'd walked through her dormitory.
"Hey..." she said quietly, rubbing the side of Deans arm, noticing his lack of awareness. "What's going on?"
Padma and Lavender had followed her down the stairs and squeezed themselves into the one seater chair as Lavender continued to sniff, letting Padma wipe away her salty tears of her sleeve.
"There was a werewolf attack in Hogsmede," Dean said, he hadn't removed his eyes from the fire.
"Oh no," Liv breathed, her heartbeat suddenly speeding up to the point it was painful. She could hear it ringing in her ears. Oh no, oh no....
She managed to contain her sudden upset, her sudden concern. Padma's eyes widened in alarm. Liv noticed she begin to chew on her lip nervously. Liv managed to contain that urge. "What happened?" Padma said, asking what Liv was thinking, but couldn't find the words to say.
"Someone died. Another was bitten," Dean muttered. Luckily Liv's gasp wasn't audible over Lavender's sudden wail.
"They must have been so scared," she said, her eyes glistening with tears in the light.
Liv didn't hear a word Lavender was saying. She didn't get it. She'd never get it. Sure someone had died, and someone dying is sad, but this... this is more than someone dying. This is another burden every werewolf across the globe is going to have to hold on their shoulders. This is more than someone dying.
Seamus' angry tone made Liv snap out of her oblivion. "They ought to round them all up and keep them locked away from people!" He said spitefully, tapping his leg up and down very fast.
And it was almost as if Liv's heart stopped.
"Seamus!" Padma sounded hurt. "How could you say such a thing?"
"It could be someone we know," he said, looking angry. "Hell, it could have been us! Surely they can find a way to put a trace on dangerous animals,"
As ridiculous as Lavender's extreme upset seemed, Liv's eyes began to glisten in the fireplaces light similar to a way hers did. This is what her Father had warned her about, though he hadn't warned it we be her own friends.
"They're not animals," Dean hissed. "They're people,"
Liv's heart warmed just a little.
"Try telling that to the next person to get mauled by one of those monsters,"
Nevermind. Liv's heart was now ice cold.
"Don't be so rude," Padma snapped, standing up. Everyone was staring at her strangely. "Monsters? Really, Seamus? They can't help what they are," she continued, looking disappointed.
"Did you not pay attention to Snape's class?" Lavender piped up. "They're dangerous! It's wrong to have them so close to people, let alone near a school,"
"They're hasn't been a werewolf attack since you-know-who's time," Ron piped up. "It's probably getting it's revenge on innocent people,"
"Have you people lost your minds?" Padma yelled, crossing her arms. Everyone looked shocked, including Liv. "This is unbelievable, how dense can you be? Just because someone's a werewolf doesn't mean they're a follower of You-Know-Who!"
"Since when did you join a Werewolf fan club?" Seamus yelled back. "Have some sympathy for once, Patil,"
Although they'd been yelling, Liv hadn't heard a word they'd said, managing to block all the noise out to focusing on the loud buzz that she wasn't sure where it was coming from. When the noise became too overwhelming, she stood up abruptly, wiping a quick tear away on her sleeve, before releasing all eyes were on her.
"Liv..." Padma breathed, noticing the sudden, drastic change in Liv's hair color. She rushed to her side.
"I'm okay," she said, and turned to her group of friends. "You guys are just sad, really,"
Liv left the room as quickly as her short legs would take her, still in her pink sweatpants and floral pajama top, unaware of the pair of legs trailing after her. The moment she was out of the common room, she began to break down.
"What if it was my Dad?" She let her tears run loose, turning to Padma who held her close. "He's the only werewolf around here,"
"Not necessarily," Padma said sweetly, squeezing her tight. "They move around, don't they? The packs? And it's not unlikely for more than one werewolf to be around this area is it?"
Liv's heart was pounding hard in her chest as if it were trying to escape. "I should go see him. I want you to stay,"
"Of course," Padma whispered, nodding slightly, leaving Liv to herself.
Liv found herself sniffing all the way down to the bottom floor of Hogwarts, trying her hardest to choke back any tears. It was silly for her to be upset, anyway, she wasn't the werewolf. She wasn't the monster.
The light movement Liv heard when she entered her Fathers room was a good sign, but she still pushed the bathroom door open with careful anticipation, making sure to conceal any evidence of her tears before she did so.
The sight was what she'd been dreading. Remus, covered in blood – no – dripping in blood, struggling to simply clean a gash on his arm. It was sad to see the smartest, strongest man Liv knew unable to do the tasks that of a two year old could. She hadn't seen him so beat up after a moon since they'd been at home, since before he'd began to take his special potion at Hogwarts.
"What? – Why? Wh–" Liv still managed to stumble over her words despite practicing what she was going to say during her walk there. "What happened?" She finally blurted out.
"I'm not sure," Remus laughed lightly, not looking up from what he was doing. "I must've done this by accident, damn it,"
Remus dropped the bandage he was trying to wrap his arm in, unsurprising considering he was holding about five things in one hand. Liv lunged forward to pick it up. "Let me help,"
"What would you i do without you, Pup?" Remus smiled. Liv began to wrap the material around the large gash.
Liv tried her hardest to smile back.
Remus' face immediately fell in concern. "What's wrong, Liv? Are you upset?
"No," she tried to smile harder. "I'm fine,"
"I'm not going to fall for that," Remus said sweetly, sitting her down beside him. Liv huffed, resting her head on Remus' shoulder, choosing carefully what to say.
"Someone died," she whispered quietly, worrying if she heard herself speak she'd begin crying again. "In Hogsmede,"
"Oh no," Remus replied looking at Liv, though Liv was staring at the floor. "What happened?"
Although she'd tried to stop them, her tears soon came rolling down her cheeks. She didn't even bother to wipe them away, they'd return either way.
"It was a werewolf attack, people are saying bad thing – mean things,"
"Oh, honey," Remus sighed, pulling his sobbing child carefully into his arms.
"People who are my friends,"
"It's not their fault," Remus said immediately. "They've been conditioned to believe all werewolves are bad. That's just the way the world works,"
"It is their fault," Liv cried. "Why can't people just be nice? If you had heard the things they were saying –"
"I've heard it all, pup," he responded, stroking at her hair. "Trust me,"
"It's ridiculous," Liv continued. "And I suppose if they were to find out you're a werewolf they'll be saying this bad stuff about you?"
"Probably,"
Liv's head fell into Remus' chest - the material of his shirt was so soft on her cheek, and she had to resist the urge to just crawl up into it where it was safe and warm. "This is all Snapes fault," she said quietly. "I know how much you wanted to be the one to teach about werewolves, to teach it right! Instead we were just taught how to kill you, and now people think that's what's right,"
"It's not Snape's fault," Remus said, shaking his head lightly. "I was there, twenty odd years ago, sitting in that class. It's what everyone's been taught for hundreds of years, and what everyone will continue to be taught. I would never be able to change that, even if I did get to teach that one lesson a little different,"
"It might have changed a few people's minds, even that would make a difference," Liv mumbled. She now wasn't quite sure why she was upset. Instead of being here, moping in Remus' arms like all hope was lost, she should be taking to her friends and making that small difference herself.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve with a sigh. "I should talk to them,"
"About what?" Remus questioned warily as Liv stood up.
"I'm going to tell them my Dad's a werewolf and he's the coolest person on earth, and if they have a problem with that then they've got a problem with me,"
"No. Absolutely not," Remus said standing up too, but Liv had already made up her mind.
"But I want too,"
Remus walked forward to block the doorway so she couldn't leave. "I'm not having you loose friends over this, I'm serious," He said.
Liv's brows creased and her mouth fell open slightly. She had so much to say, but so little would come out. "I don't want to be friends with people like this, Dad,"
Remus let out a sigh of defeat, and let his arm fall from where it was held up in obstruction, and let Liv slip out the door without another word.
Liv managed to climb back through the portrait hole with little disturbance to the third year group that hasn't moved from that one area in the common room. No one seemed surprised by her return, it was as if she'd never left in the first place.
She stood infront of them for a moment, not sure what to say, tapping her leg nervously. Everyone stared at her curiously.
"Werewolves," she muttered suddenly. "Who doesn't like werewolves?"
"Let's not talk about this again," Padma said loudly.
"No," Liv snapped at her. "No. put your hand in the air if you don't like werewolves,"
Lavender and Seamus glanced to each other, both letting out a snort of a laugh before raising their hands in the air, which was shortly followed by Hermione. Padma firmly crossed her own arms to her chest in protest. Ron and Harry glanced to each other too in confusion, slowly raising their hands union when Ron shrugged his shoulders. Those who were left were Dean and Neville – who was glancing around nervously, wishing to be anywhere but part of this conversion knowing Liv's secret. Dean, however, had his eyebrow raised.
"Well it would depend, wouldn't it?" He said, looking hopefully around the room for some agreement. "I don't like them if they're on You-Know-Who's side,"
"Most of the are," Seamus butted in.
"Most pureblood's were on Voldemort's side," Liv said.
"What's your point?" Seamus laughed.
"Ron and I are purebloods, are you going to group us with the bad ones and hate us too?"
"That's completely different, werewolves are notoriously bad – clearly, as they go around attacking innocent people," Seamus said.
"My Dad is one of those innocent people who got attacked. He's a werewolf and he's hated for it. He's never hurt anybody, and yet he's still blamed for other peoples actions," Liv said flatly. "And you hate him, you hate me too, which means we are no longer friends,"
Seamus fell silent immediately, the rest of them, who had already been silent, managed to go even quieter than before, until...
"Wait, wait," Lavender said, holding her hands up in surprise. "What?"
"You heard me," Liv said, a sense of regret beginning to dawn on her. Maybe Remus was right. Maybe this was a bad idea.
"You're Dad's a werewolf?" Lavender repeated, standing up from where she was sprawled out on the sofa.
"Yes," Liv said.
"Is he.... part of you-know-who?" Lavender asked.
"Obviously not," Liv spat back.
"Then why's he a werewolf?" Lavender said in such a ditsy tone it quite literally boiled Liv's blood to the point she began to smile.
"What part of attacked do you not understand, Lavender?" Liv managed to say calmly.
"Are you a werewolf?" Lavender asked, her tone suddenly sounding concerned.
"You are so stupid," Liv began to laugh, stressfully running a hand through her hair. "All of you, you're all so stupid. Because of people like you my father has to live with the burden of being a werewolf his entire life as well as having to live with people like you hating him for something he can't control –"
"Liv, we didn't know–" Hermione muttered.
"It doesn't matter!" Liv began to yell, not caring at the amount of surprised first years who'd turned their heads in shock. "It doesn't matter if you knew or not! It's disgusting you guys would think that way anyway, and like I said, if you've still got a problem with werewolves we've got a problem too, because i don't want to be friends anymore if that's the case,"
Liv had never been the type of person to storm off after an argument, but in the common room was the very last place she wanted too be. Without another word, she walked to the steps, wiping away a few loose tears, before running up to the girls dormitory to collapse into her bed hoping she'd just disappear completely.
Unsurprising, the light echo emitting from Padma Patil's steps could soon be heard heading up the steps too, and in no time at all she perched on the side of Liv's bed lovingly rubbing at her arm that was being used to cover her wet face. Liv was still trying to disappear in the sheets.
"That was really brave," she said lovingly. Liv disagreed.
"I feel like I shouldn't have done it," she mumbled.
"No, no, you didn't the right thing, Liv," Padma encouraged. "Their opinions were completely unjust - unmoral, even. They're all really sorry, even Seamus, and he hasn't for a single sympathetic bone in his body...."
"Okay," was all Liv managed to say.
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