Author's Note: My little sister asked me to write her a Lupin one-shot so, of course, I did. The OC, Amelia Fairchild, is based on her, but I left out most physical descriptors to protect her privacy. I don't own anything related to Harry Potter, so please don't think I do.
Amelia stomped over the wet grass, her black and yellow scarf wrapped tightly around her face to protect her nose from the biting winds. The torrential rain had let up recently, so she was at least grateful for that. Her bag beat against her back, heavy from the herbs she had collected from the edge of the Forbidden Forest for Professor Sprout. She feared the Forest for what monsters it held, but her Head of House asked her specifically to gather herbs that had to be picked exactly at midnight on the night of the full moon. Said full moon was cloaked in dark clouds, and Amelia's lumos flickered as her tired eyelids drooped. The blue-white light emitting from the tip of her wand shined over the surface of a puddle just long enough for Amelia's heart to fill with dread, and for her boots to fill with cold, muddy water.
"Merlin's saggy, sweaty-" The rest of her swearing was carried away by the wind howling across the lawns. As she wrenched her boot free of the deep mud it was stuck in, movement to her left caught her eye.
Not 50 feet away lay the infamous Whomping Willow, named for its deadly swinging limbs, and Amelia could distinctly see three figures creeping towards it with a very long stick. She crouched down to observe, because she knew someone would have to levitate them to the Hospital Wing after they got bludgeoned by the Willow, and she was the only one out on the grounds this late at night. Or, at least she should have been the only one.
She slowly walked forward, holding her breath and bracing herself for the inevitable impact of wood on flesh, but it never came. She quickened her steps as she saw the figure in the front jab the trunk of the tree with the stick, freezing the agitated branches in place. Her curiosity peaked when the three silhouettes dove into a hole that opened at the base of the Willow. She started to follow them, but stopped herself. What kind of idiot would follow three strangers into a tree? Amelia's curiosity warred with her self-preservation and she saw the branches of the Willow start to twitch, meaning she had mere seconds before it would once again begin to flail.
Suddenly, the sky reopened to dump heavy, stinging raindrops that quickly soaked her to the core, and she took that as her go-ahead from the Universe to sprint towards the swinging branches. Now completely alert, she attempted to dodge the branches, but one whipped towards her and sliced straight through her robes and clothes to leave a nasty welt on her upper left arm. Amelia willed her legs to move faster and, with an agility she rarely uses, used her momentum to slide on the mud straight into the opening in the trunk.
As the trunk slid shut behind her, she strengthened her charm to see that she was flat on her back in a long, dirt tunnel. Roots grew along the edges, and the tunnel itself seemed to have been dug out by hand. Men's voices carried down to her, and she quickly scurried to her feet and walked forwards, her right arm outstretched to illuminate the route ahead. The voices got louder as she approached, before she heard several sets of feet climb stairs above her and several doors slam shut.
Amelia muttered, "Nox" as a rickety set of steps leading to a wooden door came into her view. She placed her foot onto the first stair, and it creaked loudly. She froze, but the only response to the noise was a soft rustling from the other side of the door. She climbed the rest of the steps, placed her hand on the tarnished doorknob, and took a deep breath. She supposed that this rush of tingly adrenaline must be what the Gryffindors felt whenever they hurried off on their crazy adventures and began to understand their motives.
She outstretched her wand arm again, turned the knob, and pushed the door open to see a large, dusty room filled with broken pieces of furniture. Crooked wooden stairs led to another level on the far left side of the room. Why would anyone want to sneak into here?
The soft rustling sounded again. She turned to her right and jabbed her wand towards the corner of the room, ready to hex anything that would try to attack her. However, she only saw a black lump slouched against the wall.
Ragged breathing coming from the lump told Amelia that it must be a student in their Hogwarts robes. She dared to whisper, "Hello?" The person stilled and Amelia whispered again, "Are you okay? Can I help you?"
The person slowly turned to face her and she was shocked to see Remus Lupin staring back at her. She felt that she was friendly enough with him to help, having sat behind him in their N.E.W.T.-level Potions class since the first day, so she rushed to his side and fell onto her knees. Amelia saw that his pale skin was a sickly, sallow color and his eyes were glassy and unseeing. She gasped when a drop of blood emerged from a cut on his hairline and he raised a violently shaking hand to wipe it away.
"Oh my God, oh my God, are you okay? What happened?" She grasped his shoulders and shook him once in an attempt to wake him from his stupor.
His eyes focused in on her face and he asked, his voice scratchy and deep, "Amelia? What are you doing here?"
"I followed three people into here. Who were they?"
"No one, it's fine. You need to get out of here." Remus's now bright, feverish eyes darted around the room, as if he was looking for someone.
"Did they hurt you? Are they still here?"
"It's fine, I'm fine, but you seriously have to leave now."
"I'm not leaving without you, I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing." Amelia tried to grab Remus under the arms and pull him up with her, but he used what little strength he had to push her hands away.
"Please just go, you need to run!" His back suddenly arched with a sickening crack and a wail escaped his mouth.
Heavy footsteps ran down the stairs on the opposite side of the room "Moony! Moony, look what Padfoot found!" Two dark-haired men emerged from the upper level and came to a halt at the bottom of the steps.
The first man, whom Amelia recognized as James Potter shot her a glare when he saw her. "Fairchild? What are you doing here?" From next to him, Sirius Black's eyes mirrored the distrust that must be evident in her own.
"I could ask you the same, Potter, Black," she glanced at the cowering figure behind them, "and Pettigrew. I thought you were his friends! How could you do this to him?" Amelia indignantly stomped over to them and poked each one hard in the chest, unfazed by their irritation although they towered about a foot over her.
"What are you talking about? We are his friends, that's why we're here!" Sirius snapped, and James had to put an arm in front of him to stop his friend from barreling over the small Hufflepuff.
"You're sneaking around in the middle of the night and leaving your friend to suffer in this hellhole! I'm taking him to Madam Pomfrey." She turned to face Remus, "Come along, we're going now."
The moon finally broke through the clouds and cast its light through the boarded-up windows onto a writhing Remus Lupin. Amelia watched in terror as his bones broke, robes ripped, and nails sharpened into long claws.
"Shit," Sirius whispered, knowing that Remus would be beyond their reasoning very soon.
James, without taking his eyes off of his werewolf friend, waved his hand at Amelia, motioning towards the door, "Now it's really time for you to go, bye!"
"No, no, let me help," she insisted, swatting his hand out of her face.
Sirius reached to grab her arm, but Remus turned his head and gnashed his deadly teeth at him. "Godric, Moony. Fine, eat her for all I care," Sirius snapped, causing Remus to recoil and whimper softly.
"Shh, Remus, it's okay." She placed her wand into her robe pocket and held both hands up for him to see. "I'm not going to hurt you, and you're not going to eat me." She smiled reassuringly at him, trying to distract from his transformation.
"Yeah, easy for you to say. You haven't-"
She heard a smack and James whisper, "Shut up Pete, it's working!"
And it was. Remus's tremors calmed and his eyes lost their bloodthirst. Amelia outstretched her right hand, palm facing Remus, and slowly took a few steps.
He growled, and she stopped. "Remus," she began to whisper again, "I know you're scared, and I know you're hurting. Please let me help you." He stopped growling and allowed her to take a few more steps until she stood directly in front of him
Time froze as she reached out and cradled his clammy cheek in her palm. His eyelids slowly closed and his shaking stopped. Amelia gently ran her thumb along his high cheekbone when a loud sneeze echoed from behind her. Remus's eyes snapped open, locking onto her with a glowing glare. He growled and backhanded her torso, causing her to fly back several feet.
James span around to face Peter. "Goddammit Wormtail!"
"Sorry! It's really dusty in here!"
Amelia had landed on a destroyed couch and her every limb was aching. She raised a hand to gingerly feel the back of her head and it came away warm and wet. Damn her bleeding heart, because of it she got a bleeding head to match.
Everyone's attention was drawn back to Remus as another harsh snap and high-pitched scream shook through the room.
"Moony, did you take your wolfsbane potion?" Sirius asked, hands in front of him with palms facing out. Remus's jaw popped, unhinged, elongated, and snapped back into place. The loudest roar of the night ripped from his throat as he snapped his teeth and saliva flew from his snout-like mouth.
"I'd take that as a 'no,'" Amelia squeaked from her corner of the room.
James sucked in a shaky breath. "Go. Run, now. We can handle this." She opened her mouth to argue, but James cut her off, "Seriously. He's going to beat himself up enough for hurting you this much, don't make it harder on him!" Then James disappeared, leaving a massive stag in his place. A shaggy black dog shook out its limbs, and a rat scurried quickly across the planked floor. Amelia chalked what she was seeing up to hallucinations from a minor concussion, because trying to figure it out made her head throb even more painfully.
"Oh Merlin. This is it." She shakily got to her feet backed herself up until she could feel the splintered wood of the exit door scraping against her. As the friends battled in front of her and tried to restrain Remus, the door behind her would not budge.
Remus, now fully transformed, batted James aside like he was a fly. Sirius was also easily pushed out of his way as he reached a clawed paw towards Amelia. She fumbled with the doorknob behind her, silently praying that it would open and all of them would make it out of this situation alive. Just as Remus caught the fringed end of her scarf in one of his claws, Amelia slammed her weight against the door. Her momentum caused her to tumble backwards down the stairs, leaving the werewolf in front of her with a confused expression and a striped scarf.
Remus woke up in the blindingly white Hospital Wing and glanced to his left. His three best friends slumbered peacefully in cots next to him. Check. He glanced to his right and inhaled sharply in shock when he saw that the bed next to him was also occupied. The patient's hair was splayed around her face, and her cheeks were flushed a bright pink. He wondered for a moment what Amelia Fairchild had done to end up in here when the night before came rushing back to him.
Groaning, he forced his stiff legs to stand up and walk the few feet to the wooden chair beside her cot. She looked perfectly healthy except for a small scrape on her right cheek, which he ran his index finger along. He gently brushed aside a lock of hair that had fallen into her face and tucked it behind her ear, his calloused fingers savoring its softness. He quickly pulled his hand away when her eyelids started to flutter open.
He sighed and rubbed his hand across the stubble on his jaw. "Thank Merlin you're okay, I was so worried," he confessed while he roughly shoved his too-long hair out of his face.
Amelia looked disoriented before her eyes focused on Remus's concerned green ones above her. "I could say the same to you," she whispered, voice scratchy from sleep.
Remus handed her the glass of water from her bedside table and blushed gently when their fingers brushed. She sat up and diverted her eyes to take a small sip. He whispered, "I'm so sorry, I hurt you and I could've…I could've-"
Amelia nearly choked on her water. "No, no, don't even think about that. I'm fine, and you're fine, and that's what matters." She placed the glass back on her nightstand.
"You can't tell anyone about last night. Not any of it," he urged, grabbing one of her hands that rested on her bedsheets.
"I know, Remus, I'm a Hufflepuff, so your secret is safe with me. All of your secrets are safe with me." She looked back into his eyes, which were filled with guilt and pain. She squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile. "Don't beat yourself up about this, I'm perfectly fine."
He blushed darker when he realized where his hand was, pulled it away, and shoved it into the pocket of his pants. "Only thanks to them," he glanced towards the cots that his fellow Marauders currently occupied, "Peter transformed back, found his wand, and managed to stupefy me. Sneaky bugger," they both managed a soft laugh, "then James levitated you here. Without them, I probably would've killed you."
"Remus, you didn't. It was my stupid fault for following them in there anyway."
"I remember what you did. That was really brave."
"Yeah, brave for a Hufflepuff. That's not saying too much."
"Amelia, that would've been brave for Godric Gryffindor." A small and comfortable silence fell over the two as he looked at her with unhidden admiration. He cleared his throat. "So, what can I do to make it up to you?"
"What?" She sputtered, "You don't have to do anything."
"I'll do your Prefect rounds, or your potions essay, or your-"
She interrupted him, "Remus, please, you don't have to do that. I just wanted to help."
"Amelia, please, I'll go crazy from this guilt!"
"Fine." She took a deep breath and prayed to Merlin that this would work. She mustered up as much of that famous Gryffindor courage that she supposedly had and choked out, "Hogsmeade? Next Saturday?"
"Yeah, yeah, totally," he stammered. "It's a date."