Halley knew she couldn't avoid seeing everyone forever but she also wasn't ready to face Fred. After he confessed his feelings all the things she'd been suppressing since last year came back... but she really liked Cedric, he was good to her and uncomplicated plus she didn't want to risk losing Fred as a friend... so she decided that she wasn't going to say anything, pretend as if nothing had happened. However, this also meant she'd have to hide that she knew about George and Violet's secret crushes. Harry had promised he wouldn't tell anyone that she'd heard everything so as long as he kept his promise she had no reason to worry about anyone else finding out.
Two days after she'd woken up, Halley felt a little more human, she'd been taking short walks to get her strength and energy back and had been eating so much food that Madam Pomfrey scolded her for potentially overeating.
After finishing her lunch she'd allowed the matron to yet her friends know they could visit. Needless to say, it didn't take them long to file in because they'd been waiting outside the hospital wing every day in the hopes of being allowed in. She was only allowed three visitors at once which caused some grumbling amongst the large group but they eventually settled on who would go first.
Lee, Fred and George hurried over to her side and engulfed her in hugs then they all started talking at once which made her head hurt a bit. "Okay okay, I get it you're happy to see me but if you don't let go and talk normally Madam Pomfrey will kick you out." She laughed and patted their backs awkwardly as she'd been squished in every direction.
The three let go and apologised then sat down, Fred sat on the chair next to her head and George and Lee sat either side of her legs at the end of the bed. "We're so glad you're okay," Fred said quietly and looked like he wanted to hold her hand but restrained himself.
"We're so sorry, if we'd just got the potion right then you would have been fine." Lee looked so guilty and George just looked relieved to see her up and smiling.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, I chose to drink it, I could have said no but I was too stubborn and angry at Snape... he shouldn't have suggested I drink it in the first place, he knew what the dangers were and yet he let me. This is on him and me, it's not your fault." She reassured Lee and Fred to the best of her abilities and even got them to crack a smile. "I'm fine honestly, look at me. Do I look like I'm on my death bed? So no frowns, that's all anyone's done since I woke up. I demand smiles." She gave them her signature lopsided smile and for the rest of their, they only spoke about happy things. She could feel Fred's eyes on her at all times but tried to not stare back at him too long. She wanted normal and by Merlin, she was going to get it.
Cedric, Alex and Vi were next and it pretty much went down the same way, except Cedric refused to let go of her hand which she had no objections to. "We made sure you were never alone, none of us knew what was happening, Madam Pomfrey said you'd only be asleep for a week but three? Lee joked that it was typical you, sleeping longer than you should." Violet rambled on while Alex and Cedric just sat with her, happy to see the smile on Hal's face.
"Can I have a minute with Hal?" Cedric asked after twenty minutes of Vi's recount of the weeks she'd missed. The two girls nodded and gave Halley another hug each then left to give the couple some space. "You had me so worried, didn't McGonagall ever teach you not to drink strange liquids." He joked slightly and ran his free hand through his hair.
Halley shuffled over and patted the spot next to her which Cedric took gladly and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her so close she was almost sitting on him. "I'm sorry, next time someone offers me unfamiliar liquid I'll say no." She closed her eyes and relaxed into him but there was that little nagging voice in the back of her head which was repeating Fred's confession over and over again.
The two talked about nonsense for the next few minutes before Madam Pomfrey came over and insisted that she move the visits along as the entrance to the hospital wing was far too crowded.
"We'll have a date the second you're allowed out, next Hogsmeade visit the butterbeers are on me, we can make up for lost time," Cedric promised and gave her a kiss which Halley had wished lasted longer but let him go before the matron lost her temper.
Harry, Hermione and Ron paid her a visit and began talking about how surly and mean Snape had become since his telling off by the Headmaster. Hermione commented on how she couldn't believe he wasn't sacked for that kind of behaviour and Ron and Harry merely reminded her of how many times Snape had done something cruel to a student and not been sacked before so why would this time be any different.
Maisie, Angie and Alicia came to see her which she appreciated, and Maisie had brought flowers from the greenhouse to brighten her little corner of the hospital wing.
To her surprise, Professor Lupin even came to see her and asked her the usual how was she feeling and that she needn't worry about her studies, that all the teachers understood her situation and just wished for a full recovery.
"Professor..." Halley started but didn't know how to ask the question that was burning in her mind. "Never mind."
"No what is it? You can ask me anything." He said a little too eagerly for a simple teachers curiosity. When Remus heard about the incident it was as if he'd flashed back to his school days with his three friends. In another life, Halley would have grown up calling him Uncle Remus and the older man just couldn't let go of the hope that somewhere deep down she knew him.
"My father is an Animagus, so is Peter Pettigrew, and I'm going to make an educated guess and say that James Potter was one as well... but I have to know..." Remus looked shocked and Halley looked guilty for being so blunt about what was clearly a sensitive topic. "Are you a werewolf?"
Remus went rather pale and looked away from her in shame, his hands clutching his shabby robes. "You really are as bright at your mother..." he looked up briefly and felt his heart crack as he saw Melissa and Sirius staring back at her. "She figured it out as well, to be honest, I'm surprised more people haven't figured it out, it's sort of obvious that I take a few days off around the full moon." Halley reached over and put her hand on his arm. She didn't know if this was appropriate given that he was her teacher but she too had bad the connection that had her parents been around, he would have seen her grow up, he would have been family.
"I don't care that you are, it doesn't change anything about you. You're still the best DADA Professor we've ever had and I can see that you're a good person."
Remus patted her hand and smiled. "You never cease to amaze me how much like your parents you are. My friends didn't run away screaming when they found out, they became Animagi to help me every month... how did you know? They never told anyone since they didn't register themselves."
Halley looked down, she wasn't the best liar but she couldn't tell him the truth. She wouldn't risk her fathers' safety. "I have memories, faint ones of my dad turning into a dog and um well Fred and George found a map in their first year... the Marauder's Map and I figured dad was Padfoot and if you were Moony, Wormtail is pretty self-explanatory then that left Prongs for Harry's dad..." She hoped he'd buy that explanation and be too preoccupied with the map than staring at some pretty big holes in her story.
Remus had an inkling that she wasn't being entirely truthful, but he accepted her story none the less. What he was more focused on was the map, he hadn't seen their creation in so many years, but now the Weasley twins had it? This was a lot of information for one tired man to process at once. "We were all such trouble makers, I don't think anyone ever realised how much stuff we got away with... promise me you'll be careful with that map. I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands." He didn't have the heart to say the wrong hands included your father when he knew how set she was on proving Sirius' innocence.
Halley nodded and promised, deciding not to tell him that Harry was now the owner, not her or Fred and George.
"I should be going, but I'm glad you're feeling better and hopefully you'll be back in class soon. Anything you need just come and ask my doors always open... and um I hope that we can keep what was said here between us." He gave her a look and Halley smiled nodding.
"You got it... Moony."
The smile that spread across Remus' features was worth all the time she spent stuck in the hospital bed, just to see him react to a little bit of his past that he missed so much. Lupin chuckled and shook his head as he walked out, mumbling something along the lines of, You and your father...
Halley spent the rest of the day by herself, with the occasional visit from Madam Pomfrey to check up on her. However, just after dinner McGonagall arrived, followed by Fred and George who looked to be in higher spirits than before.
"You look much better, colour back in your cheeks." The older witch said and went to talk to the matron while the twins came and sat either side of her.
"Dunno what she's talking about George, looks like death to me, I say we call it." Fred grinned and put his hand against her forehead. George knew why his brother was being so chipper, it was his way of dealing with the stress. George had always been the more sensitive of the two, often following his brothers lead in jokes and pranks, and while Fred would use humour to cover up his feelings, George wasn't quite as closed off.
"Practically an Inferius, she's even got the bloodshot eyes," George added and Halley just laughed, thankful that they had come to make her laugh.
"Oh, I'm a lost cause alright, just leave me here to waste away in my own sadness."
"We can't have sadness, that just won't do. No no no, we're here to bring laughter and to tell you that we're already coming up with a way to get Snape back, but we wanted to wait till you were well awake and back to normal." Fred leant in a bit and dropped his voice in case McGonagall and Pomfrey were listening.
"We've known her since she was eleven, when has she ever been normal?" George asked which earnt him a pinch on the arm from Halley but she was smiling while doing it.
"Do you mind if I speak to Halley for a moment? You can come back after I'm done" Minerva asked standing at the foot of her bed, but it wasn't really a question, more of a polite request. Fred and George nodded and left the Hospital wing to give the two a moment.
"Everything okay? I haven't been overdoing it, and I feel almost back to normal." McGonagall smiled and held up her hand to stop the girl.
"Everything is fine, Madam Pomfrey is happy with your recovery and we have decided to let you go back to the common room tonight, but I want you to get a full nights rest. Since it's the weekend tomorrow you'll have two days to get back into your routine before classes start, but if at any point you feel faint or too weak you must tell someone." She said sternly but Halley knew she was just looking out for her well being.
"I promise I won't stress myself out, I'll go as slow as I need to... does that mean I can't go watch the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tomorrow?" Hal asked hesitantly, she didn't want to push her luck, but she'd never missed her house playing and didn't want to miss this one given how frantic everyone was about it since Slytherin beat Ravenclaw last match.
"You may go, but stay wrapped up and warm, and no screaming at the players... we can't afford another loss and I gave Potter back his Firebolt after making sure it had no jixes, hexes or curses of any kind which could potentially hurt or kill him."
Halley was over the moon and she slipped out of bed and hugged her Gran then the two said good night and Fred and George came back over. "Is it true, you can come back to the dorm?" Fred looked like someone had just handed him a thousand galleons meanwhile George was rolling his eyes at his brothers' enthusiasm.
"Yeah, Gran said I can leave. There's no point in changing since I'll just go from here to bed, but can one of you carry me? I don't have any shoes with me." She looked down at her black and red pyjamas then wiggled her sock-covered toes.
"Sure, do you want a piggyback?" Fred answered quickly and George smirked but didn't say anything as he collected the things on Halley's bedside table.
Hal climbed on his back and wrapped her arms and legs around him so she didn't slip. "Mush." She called and Fred rolled his eyes before walking alongside George back to the common room.
Everyone was happy to see Halley back in the Gryffindor tower, but Fred and George made sure that they didn't crowd her too much. She stayed up sitting by the fire, chatting with almost everyone who had kept her company over the past three weeks but Wood ordered his team to bed which left Hermione, Maisie and Ron to keep her company.
Seeing as the former and the latter weren't on speaking terms they said good night and left.
"Merlin, you could cut the tension between them with a knife." Maisie sighed and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.
"Ron's just being an arse, Crookshanks did nothing, I know that rat is still alive." But Halley had a different reason for believeing the so-called victim was still breathing.
"I just wanted to let you know that dad told me you knew... about his um furry little problem," Maisie said quietly fiddling with the hem of the blanket. "I know he said you'd keep it between the two of you but he and I don't have secrets, especially when it comes to well his condition." She was careful to not say the word out loud in case anyone heard it.
"I did wonder if he was going to tell you, it's fine, and I promise I won't say anything. I like Lupin and despite what everyone is saying about my dad, I know he'd keep his friends secret till his dying day so I will do the same." Halley reassured her and looked into the fire, watching the flames dance.
"You miss him don't you. Everyone knows you're convinced he's innocent, dad doesn't really know what to believe but I can see he misses his friend as well." Maisie opened her blanket and wrapped the other half around Halley's shoulders.
"I miss him every day." The dark-haired witch pulled out the rings from her pyjama top and showed Maisie. "I never take them off, this one was dads and this was mums." Maisie smiled sadly and inspected the rings then gave them back to Halley.
"I wish I had something like that... I don't know who my mum is. Dad said that it was a fling not long after he'd left school, but they didn't plan on me... Dad told her about his condition and she freaked out, left me on his doorstep the second she could and asked that neither of us contacts her again. My dad is the kindest person I've ever met, he's my hero. I don't know why people can't see past the creature and love the man." She got a bit misty-eyed and Halley wrapped an arm around her. "Sorry, I just can't talk about this stuff to anyone, but now that you know it's nice to get it off my chest."
"You don't have to apologise, I understand and am happy to listen whenever you need it. You, Harry and I need to stick together, to know that we can count on each other. In another life, we would have all grown up together, our dads as close as can be. I don't see why we can't honour that dream by being close now." The two sat in a comfortable silence as they watched the fire slowly die down, the common room was empty and the crescent moon shone through one of the windows.
"I believe you about Sirius, I know my dad wants to believe you as well but he also wants proof, but I trust that you know what you're doing, that you wouldn't just go around shouting his inncoence if you didn't know beyond a reasonable doubt that he was wrongly convicted. I hope you can prove it one day and get your father back." Halley didn't need to say anything, she just hugged the blonde girl tightly before they parted ways. Halley made herself comfortable in the warm bed and fell asleep with a relaxed smile on her lips. Nothing could ruin her good mood.