October 21st, 1976
Before Sunrise
Things, they thought, couldn't possibly get any worse.
Prongs had taken a few deep slices to his shoulders, seeming to be from Moony's paws.
Padfoot had dislocated his shoulder, taken a few stabs from Prongs's antlers, and also had slices across his back.
Wormtail, predictably, had been too small to do much, so he had hidden in the bedroom inside of the shack.
Moony, still somewhere off in the forest, had tried to eat three of his friends, resulting in his own injuries.
Evangeline had sliced her hand open, but had also broken her ring finger when she punched Severus in the face.
Severus had a broken nose from the previously mentioned punch.
"What in Merlin did you do that for?" Severus nasally asked.
Evangeline, still breathing hard, replied, "Because you're a fucking idiot."
She pointed her wand at Severus's face, causing him to flinch violently.
"I have to fix your nose. You can't go to Pomfrey."
"And why not? They deserve to know what kind of monster lives in the castle with us!"
"They know, you idiot. Now let me fix your nose so you can leave."
This seemed to silence Severus, but he slowly lowered his hand and allowed her to fix his nose.
"Now get out of my sight. I'm sure this isn't over, but I can't bare the sight of you," Evangeline sighed, sitting down on the stone floor and looking out into the darkness.
"You're just going to sit there?"
"Yes."
"You're not afraid?"
"Whatever would I need to be afraid of?" Evangeline asked incredulously.
"There's a werewolf out there! And where did the other idiots go? Surely they're not still out there."
"Suddenly grow to care about others, Snape?" she sneered.
"He shouldn't have been allowed here in the first place."
"And why is that, Severus? Hmm? Because he was bitten as a child? Because in my book, he belongs here just as much as you do. Maybe even more. You may think he's a monster, but at least he hasn't designed curses to torture."
The air stilled around them as neither bothered to speak. Her muscles ached, and the feeling of dread still sat low in her stomach.
Her eyes never strayed from the line of trees as Severus began to hastily walk back in the direction of the dungeons.
"Oh, and Severus?"
He turned to look at the girl, question in his eyes.
"You owe me a life debt for tonight. You'd do well to remember."
October 21st, 1976
45 minutes after sunrise
As soon as she was certain that enough time had passed, she pulled herself up with what strength she had left and rushed back to the shack. The staircase had splotches of blood decorating the stairs, coupled with the remnants of the broken bedroom door. Flying up the stairs, the first thing that she noticed is that Remus had made it back to the bedroom.
The second thing was the blood.
Remus had seemed to gash himself up during the night, along with the bites from Padfoot and the stab wounds from Prongs's antlers. A deep purple outlined one of his eyes, and it looked as if he had chewed on his own arm at some point.
The other two boys were both passed out on the floor, and Evangeline couldn't decide who looked worse.
"James," she whispered, "Wake up."
His eyes blinked open, suddenly remembering where he was. With a groan, he sat up on the floor, heavily leaning against the bed and holding his left shoulder.
"How bad is it?" he asked, not even turning to look at it
Evangeline's hands shook as she gently peeled his hands away from the wound. Three large gashes decorated his arm from neck to elbow. Luckily, it seemed to have missed any important veins. It had already begun to stop bleeding.
"I can clean and bandage it. You'll be fine, but werewolf scratches scar. We have about thirty minutes before Pomfrey will be looking for Remus. We need to be out before then."
"What about Snape?" He ground out, gritting his teeth as she cleaned his shoulder.
"I broke his nose."
At that, both Evangeline and James paused in what they were doing and looked into each other's eyes. Without a moment of hesitation, both gently starting laughing.
"He's gonna hate himself, Evie," James whispered.
"I know. We just can't let him."
"And what if Snape tells?"
"We figure it out. It's what we do."
After James was well enough to be able to hide the marks and scrapes, Evangeline turned her attention to Sirius. He still hadn't woken up, and she could tell that he had taken the brunt of the damage from the night.
Gently rolling him onto his back, he let out a puff of air from his lips and slowly cracked his eyes open.
"A quel point es-tu blessé, Sirius?" she whispered.
(How hurt are you, Sirius?)
"Je vais bien chérie." He breathily replied, a groan mixing with the end of his sentence.
(I'm fine, darling.)
"Your shoulder is out of socket; it'll need to be reset. You also lost a bit more blood than James. Let me clean and bandage it, and we'll pop your shoulder back in."
"I can manage, I'm sure. Just go ahead and head back."
"You've gone nutters if you think I'm not about to pop that shoulder back into place. So either stand up and let me, or I'll force it back in place with magic," her temper flared.
At this, Sirius seemed to look at her, ashamed.
"We'll all talk about it later, Sirius. I can't let you bleed to death, and we're running out of time."
Finally nodding his head, he sat up and leaned towards Evie, letting his head fall to her shoulder with a groan of pain.
"This is going to be terrible, just to prepare you. Bite down on something if you plan on yelling."
Sirius's face looked rather green, but in the moment, Evangeline didn't feel too terribly. Seeing that they had all survived the night was enough to spur her into action, and the panic ebbed away.
Grabbing his arm gently and positioning it, she took a deep breath, "On three."
Sirius nodded, gritting his teeth.
"One, Two..."
With a bit of pressure, the crack of his shoulder echoed off the walls as it slid back into place. Yelling out, he collapsed onto his back, then hissing as the deep slashes made contact with the floor.
Evangeline bandaged him up as well as possible, and told them that she would help Remus to the hospital wing to cover for them. Truthfully, she was afraid that he would push everyone away because of that accident. Remus always viewed himself as a monster, no matter who told him that it was far from the truth. His self-deprecation ran deep, much deeper than most. He had mentioned in passing a few times that his dad wasn't understanding, and those words bothered Evangeline even more after the night they had all just had.
"Has anyone seen Pete?" James asked suddenly, remembering the night before.
He apparently was listening, because a garden rat scampered into the room before shifting into the form of Peter Pettigrew.
"I tried to help last night, I did. But I was too small to do much," He wrung his hands together.
"It's fine, Pete. We're all good," James reassured.
With a scoff, Evie turned to him, "Maybe you would have been more help if you would have kept up with the belongings that people were kind enough to give you."
"But-I mean-I do! Usually! I don't see how much of a difference wearing a ring would have made though!" Peter tried to justify.
"Don't be crying for help when your life is in danger and you find yourself alone, then," Evangeline snapped, "That could have serious implications if it falls into the wrong hands."
"I'm sorry," Peter weakly mumbled.
"Help them back to the castle, yeah?" Evangeline asked, much too tired to have a row with Peter over it.
When only her and Remus remained, she looked down at the broken boy in front of her. Even in his sleep he looked troubled, with his forehead wrinkled and a frown marring his face. Peeling back the thin blanket, she could see that the injuries he had gotten were much worse than James and Sirius had. Holding onto his shoulder, she gently whispered, "Remus?"
His eyes popped open, a strike of fear running through them. Beginning to breathe heavily, he tried his best to back as far away from Evangeline as possible. Letting out a cry of pain at the movement, he held up his hands between them.
"What happened? Please tell me I didn't- Merlin, please tell me I didn't harm anyone?" His voice begged, thick with the implication of tears.
"Everyone is fine, Remus. Well, except for maybe you. It was a bad one, it seems."
Looking down at hisself, Remus had a brief look of sadness coat his features. It was only there for a split second, and if Evie wasn't paying attention, she would have missed it all together.
"Do you need help getting dressed? We need to get you to Pomfrey."
"You should head back," Remus's voice was scratchy as he tried to distance himself from Evie.
"Don't do that," she scolded, handing him his shirt, "I'm helping you to the hospital wing whether you like it or not."
Remus didn't bother to answer, but continued to silently dress himself as Evangeline faced away, giving him privacy. When she heard him begin to shuffle his feet into his shoes, she turned back to him, offering her arm for support.
"I'm not an invalid, you know."
"I know that, Rem. I'm just here," she smiled, gesturing back to her outstretched arm.
Sighing, he casually threw his left arm around he shoulders as she slid her right arm around his waist. If no one looked closely, they would assume they were just flirting with each other. But once they did look closer, they would see an exhausted witch and a dejected werewolf.
October 21st, 1976- Hospital Wing
She helped Remus onto the bed as Madame Pomfrey began to flurry around the wing, mumbling disapprovingly while doing so. Evangeline lingered at the end of the bed, waiting until someone else spoke. Remus was the first to break the silence.
"Go get some sleep, Evie. There's nothing to do here."
"I can stay," she rubbed her hands against her shoulders, "If you want me to."
"I'll be fine. Just sleeping anyway. I'll see you later."
Not leaving it up for discussion, Remus tucked himself under the blanket and turned away from her.
"What's the password this week?"
"Cornish Pixies. But you don't have to always check on them, you know. They'll take everything from you if you let them."
October 21st, 1976 Gryffindor Common Room
With the same withering look from the fat lady, Evangeline took two steps into the red and gold common room before her path was blocked by someone standing in front of the stairs. Exhaustion weighed heavily upon her, but she raised her chin to see who it was.
The red hair was an instant giveaway.
"What happened to you all this morning? You look like someone drug you out of bed by your hair, and James even snapped at me!"
"Lily," Evie sighed, "It's really just not a good time."
"It's the best time Evie. Now, what happened?"
Evangeline rubbed her hands against her face, forgetting about the slice that still decorated her palm.
"Is that blood?" Lily gasped.
Groaning, Evangeline wiped at the small smudge she had across her temple, "Leave it, Lil."
"Does this have anything to do with the full moon?"
"Whatever in this world are you talking about?"
Evangeline may have been an excellent liar, but lying your way out of the truth was sometimes much more complicated.
"He's a werewolf, isn't he? Remus."
Although posed as a question, it sounded much more like a statement.
"You can't tell anyone, Lily. And you cannot tell him that you know right now. Things are...bad."
"Why on earth would you all be outside with a werewolf on the full moon?"
"Some secrets aren't mine to tell. Now, how good are you at healing and diagnostic charms?"
"Well, I suppose I'm alright," Lily stated.
"Good. Because mine are atrocious and James and Sirius are probably bleeding out."
With Lily's gasp behind her, she began to climb the stairs to the boys' dormitory, Lily on her heels. She paused to knock, then swung the door wide and both girls stepped inside. Evangeline noticed it was actually a bit cleaner than last time, and all three boys were stretched across their beds, not talking.
James was propped against the headboard, head thrown back and eyes closed. Sirius seemed to be out of it again, with his arms and legs spread out like a starfish across his own mattress. Peter, being the only one uninjured, sat on the edge of his and looked between the other two nervously.
"Still alive, boys?" Evangeline weakly teased.
After a pause, "I've had worse," James croaked. Sirius didn't respond.
"Luckily for the both of you I brought backup."
At this, James opened his eyes and held his head up, noticing Lily for the first time that afternoon. Evangeline could see a small blush painted across his cheeks.
"Lily. Sorry about snapping at you," James cleared his throat.
"It's perfectly alright, James. But would anyone care to explain why you were outside tussling with a werewolf?"
That, it seemed, finally got Sirius's attention.
"What are you talking about, Evans? Me and Pr-James just got into a fight."
"Please, Sirius. Do I look that stupid?"
"I'm choosing to not answer that, Evans."
"Will you both knock it off?" Evie exasperatedly remarked, "It has been a terribly long night, my body feels like its been snapped in half, and I am tired of always being the bloody morally superior one!"
All four pairs of eyes looked at her, their gaze wide. Evangeline was breathing rather harshly, with her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her hair was an utter mess, with the flyaway pieces falling into her eyes. A thin layer of dirt and splotches of blood dotted her uniform. The others weren't used to an emotional, erratic, or even unkept Evie. She was who held everyone together.
"All that you need to know is that yes, Remus is a werewolf-"
"Hey!" Sirius interjected.
"She already knew, Sirius! And we wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for you, so I suggest you shut it."
Turning back towards Lily, she continued, "But you mustn't tell him you know. Not yet. He's going to hate everything about his existence after tonight and he's going to push us all away. He thinks he's a monster."
The wince on Sirius's face didn't escape her.
"But why? It's Remus. He alphabetizes his own bookshelf and his favorite jumper is yellow," Lily interjected, "He's the most harmless person I know, frankly."
"Someone let it slip where he goes to transform, and Snape followed him tonight," Evangeline ignored the gasp from Lily and continued, "We got to him in time, but those two took a few bad hits. I tried my best with healing them, but it never was my strong suit. Would you mind?"
"Oh. Oh, no of course! Neither one of you were bit, were you?"
"Don't fret, precious Lily," James weakly teased, "I am perfectly intact and still deeply in love with you."
"Do shut up, Potter. Now let me make sure you aren't dying, yeah?"
As Lily began to check on James, Evangeline couldn't help but to look towards Sirius. He stared blankly at the ceiling as he laid motionless on his bed.
"Evangeline?" he whispered.
"Yeah, Sirius?"
"Suis-je une mauvaise personne?"
(Am I a bad person?)
"Je suppose que cela dépend."
(I guess it depends.)
"On what?"
Evangeline paused, turning away from him before responding, "Si tu veux être ou pas."
(Whether you want to be or not.)
October 21st, 1976 Hospital Wing
If you were to ask Remus Lupin about his worst memory, he would usually automatically think of the night that he had been bitten in his mother's garden by a werewolf. His father was spending more and more time gone from home, and his mother was doing her very best to keep them all going. Hope Lupin, a non-magical woman, never truly understood the wizarding world. But when the piercing scream from her son rang throughout the house, she didn't need magic to tell her something was wrong. And from that moment forward, Remus had been a monster.
Or, at least, that's what he saw himself as.
Now though, if you were to ask Remus Lupin about his worst memory, he would say that it was that night in the Shrieking Shack. He would never be able to forget the terrified look on Peter's face as he raced into the room, gasping for air. He would never be able to forget the moment he woke up, his friends surrounding him on the floor, coated in their own blood that he had caused.
And he'll never forget the look in Evangeline's eyes as she leaned over him to wake him up.
It was just a brief moment, but Remus had seen it. A look of fierce loyalty that even the best actors couldn't portray. Because of that look, he knew that he could trust her. Without a shadow of a doubt, he would always be able to find that fierce loyalty within Evangeline. And he hated himself for making her waste it on a monster such as himself.
It was that thought that he had been stuck on when the Headmaster himself casually walked through the doors of the hospital wing and stood in front of Remus's bed.
"Mister Lupin. I'm glad to see you awake after such a difficult night."
Remus gulped, nodding shyly at Dumbledore, "Thank you, sir."
"I had quite a peculiar visit this morning from a Severus Snape, you see."
And Remus knew it was all over. He was going to be sent home, or worse. Attacking someone on school grounds as a werewolf could even get him sentenced to Azkaban.
"Don't fret, Remus, don't fret. Mister Snape and I had a lovely conversation and it is well taken care of. He has promised to not tell anyone about your affliction. He did, however, mention that Miss Oleander was there to save him. I assume she knows as well?"
Remus, mute from shock, mechanically nodded once more.
"Hmm," the headmaster acknowledged, looking up at the portraits on the walls, "Do be careful in who you put your faith, Mister Lupin."
"Sir?" he asked, confused.
"Do be careful from here on out, Remus. While Severus has assured me that he will hold your secret, not everyone will. I'll leave you to your breakfast."
And without another word, Dumbledore strolled from the room, leaving behind a confused and somewhat grateful Lupin.
Unedited as of 02/2022