Full Moon Fall Out
By: PenDiva
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this for the Mystery Competition Round One - This was my prompt: "You will be writing about Luna Lovegood and Remus Lupin. You must write about these characters being good friends but getting into a horrible argument. You must have the word 'abditive' in there somewhere" Definition of abditive: (adjective) having the quality of hiding
…
Remus sat on a large rock, admiring the stillness of the lake. Barely a breeze touched the surface, and the sun warmed his scarred face.
"Do you ever wonder what's below the surface?"
Startled, Remus turned around. A girl with white blonde hair and a soft, round face stood behind him, also staring out at the Black Lake. Her eyes were a vibrant blue that matched her Ravenclaw uniform.
"I wonder if anyone really knows for sure," the girl said with a pleasant smile and airy voice. She took the bag from her shoulders and dropped it beside the rock.
Remus, not entirely sure how to respond, just watched her sit on the rock next to him.
"Aren't your feet cold?" he asked.
She shrugged and looked into his eyes. "Not at this time of year." She let her toes dig into the cool rocks of the beach.
"I'm Remus," he said.
"Luna Lovegood," she replied. Her feet swung away from the rock and then back again. "Are you particularly good at riddles?"
"Maybe…" Remus turned to face her, curious to use his mind.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Tell me what you think of this one: Which came first the phoenix or the flame?"
The eleven-year-old boy watched her innocent eyes wander over the lake, trying to think.
Remus said, "I haven't heard that one before."
She nodded. "To enter Ravenclaw Tower, you have to answer a riddle. Unfortunately I got a rather hard one and no other students were around to help, so I went away to think about it. You were the first person I found that looked thoughtful."
Remus was only half-listening. "The riddle is sort of a paradox - isn't that the point?"
"I suppose… That's what got me - there really is no answer."
Remus looked down at the ground as he stood up. Picking up a stone, he threw it nonchalantly into the lake. Ripples formed from where the rock plopped into the water. Luna stood up and watched the delicate waves reach the shore.
Remus said quietly, "A phoenix and a flame are a cycle… with no beginning."
"So it doesn't have an ending either," Luna finished. She followed the gryffindor's lead and picked up her own stone. She gave a small throw that sailed through the air; the concentric circles of water grew bigger from the place where it initially splashed.
"The phoenix's cycle - it's like a circle."
"I'm sorry?"
Luna looked Remus in the eye. "A circle never ends, that's the answer. A circle or a cycle rather, has no beginning."
Remus' eyes brightened. "You're right! Clever job to solve that hard riddle."
"We solved it together," Luna replied. "At least now we can return to the castle more enlightened than we started. It's almost dinner you know and I do hope there's pudding."
They walked back to the castle together, a friendship beginning that would last through their school years. For the next three years, they saw each other as much as they could between classes and hung out with each other during the Hogsmeade Trips. Remus's Gryffindor friends were kind to Luna, but only Remus felt like he could trust her and valued her as a friend more than anybody else.
However, he could never bring himself to trust her with his biggest secret - his condition as a werewolf. By now, in their third year, Remus could tell Luna had figured it out already or nearly had. Remus feared she would fear him and never want to see him again, so he kept to himself around the full moon, and snuck out of the castle to transform. Luna noticed every time he was missing from classes for a day or two, but she was patient and understanding of her best friend.
Remus glanced at the clock. He was done with homework, and anxious as ever. His roommates were off goofing around, something Remus had no desire to be a part of. He enjoys them as friends, but there were definite times when he did not want to be around them.
He left the castle hours early and started for the Shrieking Shack. He checked over his shoulder a few times, but no one was following him.
The sky was clouded over and the air was crisp and cold. Remus suddenly wished he had brought other warm clothes to wear.
He sucked in a sharp breath all of a sudden and he hid behind a tree instinctively.
Severus Snape was standing outside the Shrieking Shack looking around. He did not look like he was going anywhere.
Remus turned around frantically behind the tree and ran his hands through his hair. What was Snape doing here?
A hundred or so feet away, Luna watched her best friend anxiously. She pulled her coat up tighter around her neck but waited in the cold.
After a few minutes, Remus crept towards the Forbidden Forest, watching the castle and Severus earnestly. Luna started walking and hugging the tree line until she got to the spot where Remus entered. Suddenly she was very thankful she had found her shoes yesterday and wasn't barefoot right now.
The trees were tall and eerie around her. A wind whipped at her blonde hair and she drew her put her hands in her coat pockets.
Remus, an instinctively abditive person, was nowhere to be seen and did not leave any signs that he had been in the forest at all.
Leaves crunched under Luna's feet. She was not afraid of the forest or her friend, but that did not mean she was enjoying this stroll through the woods late at night. A sound behind her made her turn, but in a flash whatever it was disappeared behind the tree.
"Remus… is that you?" Luna asked quietly.
She walked halfway around the tree but heard no reply and barely made out the crinkle of leaves. Remus had an impressive ability to make himself invisible when he wanted to.
"Please come out and talk to me. I don't want to have made this trip in the cold for nothing," Luna said raising her voice.
Remus came out with a pale face that looked even more ghostly in the shadowy moonlight.
"You should not have come, go back to the castle."
Luna never moved. "Is that what you say to everyone who cares about you?"
Remus looked up nervously. He had some time before his transformation, but he feared for his best friends life.
"It is very dangerous for you to be here, you have to leave now, please!"
Luna took her hands from her pockets and clutched the strap of her bag defiantly. "And why exactly is it dangerous for me to be here?"
Remus shook his head, barely speaking in a whisper. "I-I… Luna, please-"
"Remus, you can trust me. Why don't you?" Luna stated.
"I didn't want to tell you," he said, realizing she knew exactly what would happen to him in a few hours.
"Didn't want to tell me what? That you transform into a werewolf every full moon?"
He cringed at the words. "I'm sorry…"
"Why couldn't you tell me?"
Remus came out more from behind the tree, glancing up at the castle again before staring at the ground.
"I do trust you, and I you're my best friend, but I didn't want you to be afraid of me. I would never be able to face it if I lost you as a friend because you fear me. You really should just go back to the castle..."
Luna shook her head angrily, "What do I have to say to make you understand?"
Remus's head snapped up at the change of tone. He had never seen Luna get mad.
"You could've told me the day we first met! That would not have changed what I thought of you at all!"
"Luna-"
"No, Remus Lupin you listen to me, or I really will stop being your friend. You are a kind, smart, and clever person. You are compassionate, and one of the only people in this school that talk to me." Tears sprung into her eyes, but they never fell. "You are not a werewolf despite what you may think. Your transformations during the full moon do not define you or the person you are, and you should never have to worry about your friend being afraid of this very cruel curse that you have to deal with."
Remus voice broke, "Luna, I'm so sorry."
"I want to help you, so please, trust me," Luna said.
Remus nodded, unsure what else to do. "I do, really, I trust you more than anyone. I should've told you years ago. I was a coward and a fool to… to think you would hate me or fear me because of my condition."
"No, don't call it your condition. I think we can call it your 'furry little problem.'"
Remus gave a sobbing laugh. "If you want too." He looked Luna in the eyes. "But will you forgive me?"
Luna smiled. "Of course, I will. But let's get you into that crazy tree of yours that I've seen you go into during the full moon. I'm not afraid of you, but I still don't want to be around when you transform."
"Right, and you need to get out of here no matter what. I'm not sure if I could live with myself if I accidentally hurt you."
The two hurried out of the forest and luckily Snape had left from his post in front of the Shrieking Shack. The temperature had dropped even further and without the protection of the forest, both Hogwarts students were shivering.
Remus went quickly towards the Whomping Willow, his body beginning to ache.
"Luna, you need to go - now," Remus rushed to say.
"Wait, I brought you a blanket-"
He started to protest. "When I transform I won't -"
" - so that you can use it when you wake up." Luna put the folded blanket into his hands. She backed up quickly, and Remus watched her start to walk away. "I will see you tomorrow, Remus," she said.
Remus quickly turned around and disappeared underneath a tree. Luna watched him go and stood quietly for a few minutes before hurrying up the castle herself. The full moon came out from behind the clouds and illuminated the ground as she went, a distant howl breaking the silence of the night.