Harry and Ron were very angry at Hermione. Gwen, too, felt that it was unfair to confiscate the whole broom, but she understood where Hermione had been coming from. She couldn't deny that the thought hadn't been one of the first things that crossed her mind.
Hermione spent more time avoiding the common room and would disappear off to the library for long hours as the New Year approached. Gwen joined her, not liking that she was alone, and also not enjoying Harry and Ron angrily saying nasty things behind Hermione's back.
Classes were due to start again, and Hermione had finished all of her homework and was completing extra things for credit. Gwen was still struggling to understand most of her Muggle Studies work. She couldn't understand how Muggles had developed so much without magic.
'But I don't understand,' she was saying to Hermione on New Years' Day. 'How is it that these tiny wires make something heat up and cook through? Where's the fires?'
They were sitting in a small nook by a window, the cold chill from outside forcing its way through the window panes, yet the fire beside them was roasting their feet. Hermione explained to Gwen, in the simplest of terms, the process of Electricity and how metal conducts heat, which then led into Hermione explaining a scientist from the Second Muggle War named Oppenheimer who had created a Nuclear Bomb.
It was all foreign to Gwen, but she found it fascinating just how seriously advanced Muggles were.
Maybe that was why some Pure-Bloods hated them so much.
'How are you coming along with your Defence Against the Dark Arts?' Hermione said, having finished her speech on Nuclear Physics.
'I'm mostly done,' Gwen said, shifting aside her many pieces of parchment for their most recent homework set by Professor Lupin. 'I just need to write the finishing paragraph.' She paused, rereading her work. 'Do you think Professor Lupin's OK?' She said eventually.
Hermione looked up. 'What do you mean?'
'Well, he goes missing almost monthly. He gets sick every three weeks or so,' Gwen said. 'Hermione, you're the smartest person I know, there's no way you haven't noticed.'
Hermione looked uncomfortable. She opened her mouth, thought better of it, then went to speak again. 'I... I mean... OK, did you... you wrote Professor Snape's essay, didn't you?'
Gwen nodded.
'Did you not... notice anything? Don't you think there may have been a reason... why he set that essay?'
Gwen did not want to think about it. She had specifically chosen to not to. She had had her own inkling, but had thought herself purely reaching. She didn't answer.
Hermione, however, could read Gwen like a book. 'You think so too, don't you?'
Gwen, again, did not answer immediately. 'It's a little far fetched, don't you think? I don't think Dumbledore would hire a-- someone like Professor Lupin-- that is, if he actually is in fact one...'
'Why would that be so bad?' Hermione asked.
Gwen stared at her. 'They're dangerous, Hermione! They change into a beast once a month, an uncontrollable beast that would kill his best friend! They don't know what they are when they change.'
Hermione bit her lip. 'But Professor Lupin seems so nice...'
'Of course he does, he's not really a monster. He's the last person you'd assume to be one. But, Hermione, there is only one way to, well, to tame a werewolf...'
And then it clicked. The Wolfsbane Potion. The Potion invented initially by her ancestor, who, herself, had been a werewolf. Gwen hadn't thought about her for over two years, not since she went to Diagon Alley to get her first year supplies... Emmeline Everill, the only known Ravenclaw of the Everill House to date.
'Merlin's beard,' Gwen murmured.
'What?' said Hermione.
'Hermione, the potion Snape brings Professor Lupin. I'll bet you anything that's the Wolfsbane Potion. If, of course, we're right.'
Hermione nodded. 'I read about that. It was invented a couple of centuries ago, right? Then the recipe was lost and it was only recreated a few decades ago...'
Gwen nodded. 'Yes, yes, the first known user of the Wolfsbane Potion was the inventor. She herself was a werewolf, but she fell victim to an alleged family curse. She was the youngest of her siblings and mysteriously vanished years later. The recipe for the Wolfsbane Potion with her. No one knows what happened to her.'
Hermione bit her lip. 'Yes, yes, I read about it... Oh, God, who was it... what was her name...?'
Gwen held her breath. 'Emmeline,' she said. She hesitated, then, 'Emmeline Everill.'
• • •
As everyone came back to school for the start of the new term, Gwen and Hermione were barely able to spare a minute alone to go over their theory. They were both watching Professor Lupin closely. Gwen couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable, as if he would change into an uncontrollable, dangerous beast at any given moment, but she knew that Professor Lupin had a kind, gentle soul. If anything, she felt sorry for him. She couldn't even begin to imagine what living a life like that would be like, and Dumbledore, he was intelligent, and cared nothing more than for the safety of his students. He wouldn't let the Dementors onto the grounds, why would he let a werewolf teach unless he was sure he was absolutely safe?
No, Gwen felt herself admiring Professor Lupin more. He was kind and brave and she would be lying if she didn't say she genuinely liked him.
In their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson back, Gwen found herself listening more intensely than before. She had not given him the credit he had deserved before. He was smart, no denying it, and gave them fun lessons, but he was also a proper teacher. He was patient and he listened, and he made sure that his students were following before moving on.
She felt like a secret fangirl.
At the end of class, Harry nudged her, and they both approached Professor Lupin's desk. Gwen had forgotten about their teacher's promise, but with Quidditch games being back on soon, she remembered her and Harry's urgency to have their Anti-Dementor lessons.
'Ah, yes...' he said, 'Let me see... how about eight o'clock on Thursday evening? The History of Magic classroom should be large enough... I'll have to think carefully about how we're going to do this... we can't bring a real Dementor into the castle...'
'Still looks ill, doesn't he,' said Ron, as he and Harry walked ahead of Gwen and Hermione down the corridor, headed to dinner. 'What d'you reckon's the matter with him?'
Beside Gwen, Hermione gave a loud, impatient tut. She stopped at the feet of a suit of armour, repacking her bag which was so full of books, they were spilling out.
'And what are you tutting at us for?' said Ron irritably.
'Nothing,' said Hermione, standing up and heaving her bag over her shoulder. Gwen took a couple of her books that would not fit in her bag.
'Yes you were,' said Ron. 'I said I wonder what's wrong with Lupin, and you--'
'Well, isn't it obvious?' said Hermione. Gwen shot her a warning look. She thought about how repulsed she had been at the idea at first, and Ron, who was also from a Wizarding family, would likely have a similar reaction, if not worse.
'If you don't want to tell us, don't,' snapped Ron.
'Fine,' said Hermione, and she marched off. Gwen followed, giving Harry and Ron a helpless look.