It was the day of the full moon and Moony had made sure that his lessons of that day were only filled with theory. And even though I was used to the full moon and staying with Moony during the night, it was quite different in a new place, especially if it was filled with students. I made sure he took the last potion that morning, but you could already see the effects of the moon.
He found me that morning still sleeping on the couch and knew immediately that I had been crying. He asked a house elf to get us some breakfast in our room and I told him everything that happened with Jack as he pulled me close to him. Even with the full moon coming, he still took his time to see if I was okay. I wanted to ask him about the picture but thought the better of it. I waited for another time.
So, clearly my head wasn't with the classes and all of my fellow students had noticed. Crazy how they noticed it since they had only known me for a few weeks.
"Hey, you okay?" I felt a nudge against my arm when I was blankly staring in front of me. I shook my head before turning to my left.
"I'm fine, George. Just nervous about the potions' exam."
"Are you sure?" He asked, not really convinced. "You can always talk to me, you know."
I smiled at him. "I'm okay, I promise." I gave his hand a squeeze. "Just have to pull through until next month."
"I know you're way ahead of me, but if you need help or just someone to study with..." He offered.
"Thank you, but I don't see you sitting still and quiet for more than thirty minutes."
"It is hard for me, that's true." He grinned. "But if I try hard, I can make it work."
"It's okay. I study better alone anyway." Just then the professor dismissed the class, and I jumped up already stuffing my things into my bag. "I got to go." I kissed his cheek. "See you, George."
When I looked back, I saw George standing there with a stunned expression, his twin coming over to him with the same look. Kissing someone on the cheek wasn't a big deal, at least not for me. That's how we say hello and goodbye to friends and family back home.
I had just walked out of the first corridor when someone stepped up next to me. I looked to my left and saw Emmett Nott walking next to me. His gaze was fixed on the pathway ahead of us as we made our way to the Ancient Runes classroom. We walked in silence and took our usual seats once we reached the classroom. When we sat down, he turned in his seat and looked at me.
"There is something different about you." He stated as I reached down to take my book. I slowly sat up straight and turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Excuse me?"
"There is something different about you." He said again.
"Care to enlighten me?"
"Can't put my finger on it, not yet anyway." He said thoughtfully as his eyes stayed on me. "Thought about your favour yet?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head, looking as casual as one can be.
"Not yet, I don't have a time frame, do I?"
"No." He grinned as he stared at the door as the other students came in. "I'm just curious what it is you're going to ask."
"Me too." I chuckled as I stood up. "Homework?" I asked, pointing at his bag. He let his arms fall from behind his head and bent down to get his homework out of the bag. I reached for it when he held it out, but when I pulled it away, his other hand grabbed me and pulled me closer. Our faces once again inches from one another.
"I better pass this."
"You're going to do more than pass this." I whispered back and I saw the storm in his eyes. I winked before I headed to the professor and placed the homework on her desk. When I turned back, I saw Nott talking to the two other Slytherins. I could see their lips move, and I put on my wolf hearing.
"What was that about?"
"What?" Nott said in a boring voice as he inspected his nails.
"You and the serial killer's daughter." The broad Slytherin hissed.
"Don't call her that, you don't know her." He shot back.
"And you do?" The other asked.
"Not yet, but I will."
I was a bit surprised at his defensive stance to the other Slytherins, especially since it was about me. I shook my head before walking back to the desk and sat back down next to him. The two other boys looked at me with a stink eye, but Nott just had his gaze directed to the front again. I flipped my book open to the right page, but again my mind drifted to nothing. My gaze was fixed on a smudge on the window behind the blackboard. I didn't hear the professor talking, or any of the students. My head was completely shut off from the world. I came out of it when Nott placed a hand on my arm.
"Lupin-Black? You're alive in there?" He said teasingly but I heard a fraction of concern seep through.
"Hm, what?" I turned to look at him.
"I asked if you were still alive in there." The concern was now visible on the boy's face.
"Yes, I'm breathing, aren't I?" I snapped at him, and he pulled his hand of my arm quickly. The class ended just then and once again, I was up from my seat before everyone else and walked out of the room.
"Lupin-Black!" I heard Nott call behind me, but I just kept going until I was standing in front of my chambers. I walked straight to my room and dropped my bag on the bed. As I slid down to the ground and leaned against the bed. I pulled my knees up and buried my head in them, the night of the full moon, the break-up with Jack, the exam, the move, it all became too much. The tears started to fall, making my skirt wet. When I heard the main door open and close again, I jumped up and dried my tears.
"Alec?" Moony's voice came from the other side of the room.
"I'll be there in a second. Just changing into something more comfortable." I called back with a steady voice, much to my own surprise. I head his footsteps retreat and pulled out black sweatpants and an oversized hoody out of my wardrobe. When I had changed, I walked out of my room. Moony was already pacing in behind the couch.
"Uncle Moony?"
"I should never have taken a job as a teacher! What if I hurt someone?"
"Hey, hey." I walked over and stopped his pacing by placing my hands on his shoulder. "We talked about this. All summer actually." I smiled softly. "I'll be with you the whole time and you took your potion. It will all be okay; I even believe we can stay in here tonight."
"I won't do it."
"I know, but we'll be fine. Trust, Moony."
"Trust." He repeated as he took in slow breaths.
"What time do you want to go?" I asked and dropped my hands from his shoulders as he glanced to his watch.
"What about now? It's getting dark already."
"Alright. Let me get my bag." I walked to my bedroom but turned to look over my shoulder. "Do you need anything?"
"Your company is enough, cub." He smiled softly. I smiled back before grabbing my bag out of the room.
We walked through the castle quickly. Nodding a hello to the ones we pass without stopping. When we reached the castle grounds, I gave my bag to Moony and walked behind a wall and changed into Loki. When I toddled out, he followed me to the whomping willow. I walked under the large three branches, while he waited for me to press my nose on the trunk of the tree. It looked like the three had fallen asleep, the branches hanging down and only they only rustled with the wind. Moony came over as I walked in the hole under the tree. We walked in silence until we reached the shrieking shack. I pushed the door open with my nose and hopped on the couch, before turning back. Remus stood in the doorway as he looked around the room. Fear, regret and confusion flared through him.
"Are you okay?" I asked. "Is it weird being back here?"
"It is. The last time I was here..."
"You still had all your friends." I whispered and he came over and sat next to me, pulling me close again.
"And now I have family."
"You're a big sap, you know that." I chuckled as I took the bag from the ground in front of us. Moony just grinned as he leaned against the couch, his head on the back as he breathed in slowly. "Here." I said as I handed him a sandwich. "You probably haven't eaten all day."
"I had eggs." He countered as he accepted the sandwich.
"You had one boiled egg at breakfast, and I know your even more grumpy if the wolf inside is hungry, so eat. I don't want to hang out with mister grumpy wolf all night."
"You win." He sighed and took a bite, I heard him sigh in contentment. "What did you bring, anyway?"
"Food, of course. Games and books."
"How's the potions studying going?" He asked taking another sandwich, and I smiled at that.
"Good, tired but we're almost there. I study in my free time and during class, Professor Snape lets me make the potions they're going to ask at the exam."
"I was shocked that he suggested for you to take your OWL's this year, to be honest."
"After what you told me, me too. And he did act like a git the first class, but I think he was surprised that a spawn of you and Black would be a pro in potions. Even with all the hate, he couldn't see past that."
"I'm proud of you, cub."
"And I'm proud of you." I said leaning back, he looked at me surprised. "Everyone's been saying you're the best teacher they had in years. They can't stop talking about you."
"Well from what I heard; it isn't really a competition from what they had before... You would do better than the previous teachers."
"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment." I chuckled, but it stopped as Moony leaped forward and groaned loudly.
"Loki." His voice hoarse, and not of his own. I quickly turned into my artic wolf form as he started to change. The clothes ripped from his body, as fur started to appear over all of his torso. He was crouched down on the ground, breathing heavily. When the turn was over, he stretched out and howled to the ceiling. The howl so loud, the Shrieking Shack started to tremble. The werewolf now was different than the one I saw for the first time a few years ago. Then he was skin and bone, bald spots over his body where the fur had disappeared from lack of food and control. Now it was a large and full werewolf with a thick black fur, muscles all over its body. I gave a little howl myself and the wolf turned to me. His eyes bored in mine before he sat down on the ground across from me. I knew Remus was in there trying to control himself. The wolf had his head hanging low as he breathed in and out. I hopped off the couch and searched my bag with my nose. When I found the right book, I took it in my mouth and toddled over to him. I dropped it in front of him and sat down. The wolf didn't look up. I changed just a minuscule thing in my Animagus form, so I could speak.
"Scotty!" I said with a low voice. The wolf looked up and after a few minutes of the staring game, I pushed the book to him with my white paw. He followed the book until I stopped pushing it. He made a noise from deep down before flipping the book open. It was one of Moony's favourite books when he was younger, and to his surprise the werewolf side of him liked it too. The name Scotty came from a muggle movie, we went to see a few years back. Teen wolf, and the boy that turned into a werewolf was named Scott. Ever since then I called his wolf side Scotty and it seemed like he enjoyed been giving a name, its own name. I looked to him reading the book for about fifteen minutes before hopping back on the couch with my own book. The first part of the night went smoothly as we both read in our books. When we passed one o'clock in the morning, Scotty jumped up. I was on my feet – paws in a moment and growled at the large werewolf who towered above me. He grunted in response, and I tossed him another sandwich. Scotty sat back down, and I strutted over with all the sandwiches, so he could munch on them during the night. When he was eating, I walked over the bag and took it in my mouth and walked over. I searched the bag with my nose again and took out a muggle boardgame. The wolf looked at me and barked a laugh, I think. And with that response, I knew that Remus had most of the control now. The werewolf placed the game a little brutally on the wooden floorboards and we played. If someone would walk in right now, they would think they were dreaming. A werewolf and an artic wolf playing a game of chutes and ladders in a beaten down shack.
I woke up as I felt the ground move. But when I opened my eyes, it wasn't the ground that moved, someone was carrying me, wolf me. I looked up to see it was Moony, back to himself as he carried me to the castle. I nuzzled myself back in the crook of his arm as he carried my inside. When Moony closed the door behind us, he continued to walk to my bedroom and placed me gently on the bed.
"You did good, cub." He said as he stroked my head. "I'm just going to call you in sick." I gave him a high-pitched whine, but I could barely keep my head up, and Moony chuckled. "Sleep, Alexandra. I have the morning off, so I'm going to sleep as soon as I send the message to Minerva." He stroked my head one more time before leaving me in the dark room and I drifted off within seconds.
I slept the whole day, and by the time I woke up it was already dark out and I climbed out of bed. I notice that my wardrobe was larger than I'm used to, before I realized I was still in wolf form. I changed back into myself and walked out of the room. Uncle Moony was sitting at his desk grading essays.
"Hi, cub."
"Hey, uncle Moony." I said lazily as I walked towards him and stood behind him, my head leaning on top of his. "How do you feel?"
"Okay. Tired, but we had worse. Chutes and Ladders was a nice touch, though." He chuckled.
"I thought we could try something different."
"Bring it again next time. Do you want to eat something here, or want to go to the great hall?"
"Not in the mood to come up with an excuse, but I need to stretch my legs." I said as I stretched my arms above me. "What did you tell them anyway?"
"Just that you had a little stomach bug. Nothing a few hours of sleep couldn't fix." He said placing his papers away and standing up. "But we can't do this every month, or they'll think you're the werewolf."
"Better me than you. I don't want you to lose your job." I stated and my stomach grumbled loudly.
"Alright, kitchens it is."
"The kitchens?" I asked surprised as I followed him to the door. He grinned to me from over his shoulder before he led me out of the corridor.
I knew I was in for a whirlwind of questions the next morning. So, when I entered the great hall, my eyes scanned the Gryffindor table and instead of sitting with uncle Moony for breakfast, my eyes found a certain red head and I walked over to him.
"Hey, Percy." I dropped down next to a surprised head boy. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I let it completely slip my mind." I said as I searched my bag. "Here." I said as I held out the pamphlets for the exchange program.
"Oh." He said in surprise. "Thank you, Alec."
"No worries." I smiled and pointed to the pamphlets. "See here? You can stay there from January till the end of the year."
"But isn't it too late to apply?" He asked, his eyes scanning the paper.
"Nope, you can apply until the start of December." I pointed at the bottom of the page. "You need to discuss it with your parents of course, but I actually already talked to McGonagall about it, and they are open to start the program again."
"I don't know what to say." He gasped as he looked from the pamphlet to me.
"Just think about it. This is a great opportunity, and it would look good for future employers."
"I will ask my parents of what they think about it, I'll send them the pamphlets."
"Let me know what they decide, yeah?" I jumped back up when I saw the twins arrive in the great hall.
"Oh, Alec?" He asked a blush apparent of his cheeks. "Are you going to Hogsmeade?"
"Yeah, with Harry. You?"
"I don't know yet, lots of studying to do." He said looking back at the pamphlets.
"Well, since you may be in France in a few months, you don't have a chance to go. So, maybe I'll see you there." I smiled before I headed to the twins on the other side of the table, leaving Percy to look over the information.
"Are you okay?" They both asked, each a hand on my shoulder when I sat between them, as they scooted over.
"It was just a stomach bug. A little bit of sleep and it was gone."
"A little? We went by your room." Fred started.
"To see if you were okay."
"We even brought-"
"Soup." They ended together. "But Professor Lupin said you were sleeping." George added.
"You brought me soup?" I asked surprised, looking at the boys who rubbed their necks as their ears turned pink.
"Well, yeah. But then we dropped it when your uncle bumped into us, when we reached your chambers."
"That was really sweet of you. Thank you." I kissed their cheeks, their ears turned red. A few minutes later, Angelina and Lee joined us. Alicia was behind them but took a seat next to Katie as she tucked into her breakfast. I let out an internal sigh when she didn't come sit with us.