The students fidgeted apprehensively in their seats as their soft
gossiping echoed gently in the dim chamber. It was already ten minutes into
their Defense Against the Dark Arts class and Professor Lupin was nowhere
in sight. The rising dread was that their favorite professor's health took
another turn for the worst, leaving them once again to the whims of their
least favorite. Already there were several friendly bets as to how long it
would take Snape to storm in with another torrential blast of seething fury
that would leave them with three times the homework, two pop quizzes, and
100 house points less for their troubles.
At exactly fifteen past the bell, there was a slight thumping sound followed by muffled voice at the door. Neville squeaked in fear and tried to look small and insignificant while others jumped to see who was to be the substitute. As if empathizing with their nervous curiosity, the doors swung open to reveal a checkered cloth draped over a large box-shaped object. "Sorry I'm late," Professor Lupin cheerfully stated as he carefully maneuvered the package to the front of the class. "Professor Dumbledoor asked me to change today's lesson plans rather last minute, and I needed the extra time to prepare. Please do not worry about today's homework. I will collect your reports on Ares Dragontraps next class."
All worried faces immediately melted into large grins except for Hermione who, with a disappointed look, stuffed what resembled a large hand-bound book back into her bag.
"Today, we have a special lesson due to a rising and dangerous threat to all Hogwart students." Lupin quietly paused and seated himself on the corner of his desk while the students eagerly leaned forward with interest. "What I am about to show you will at first seem like a distant cousin to the succubus, but is in actuality in the same family as the dementors you've seen around Hogwarts."
A cold shudder went up Harry's spine. Dementors. That name has haunted him his entire third year. He still hasn't mastered the Patronus spell, and didn't feel at all comfortable dealing with anything related to them.
Harry's mind was about to wander back to his last failed attempt when he heard the gasps of his fellow students. Looking up, he saw that the cloth had been removed to reveal a transparent box containing something which looked nothing at all like a dementor. In fact, she, being a rather young and pretty girl, was the complete opposite. This "dangerous threat" had yellow hair, a soft complexion, and a sad look on her face. Harry could not help but immediately feel sorry for her.
"This, class, is a fallopulchrum. Can anyone tell me what the common name for this creature is? Yes, Hermione?"
"A fallopulchrum is more commonly known as a 'marisue' if it is feminine in nature, or a 'garistu' if it is masculine."
"Excellent! Five points for Griffindor!" Lupin smiled. "This one is obviously a marisue. Now, notice the container that I have it in. This is specially enchanted glass that allows us to see the marisue in a toned-down and less appealing form. The box also blocks the pheromones that it produces so we can study it without falling under its charm spell. However, I must ask you to please avoid direct and prolong contact with its eyes. You might start feeling an uncontrollable urge to release it, and that would start a rather nasty chain reaction that I believe all of us would rather avoid."
Harry blinked and then realized that Lupin was staring directly at him. As soon as their gaze connected, Lupin immediately looked away and proceeded with his lecture while Harry felt himself turning red. To his immense relief, while he glanced around the room to observe everything except the marisue, Harry noticed that he was not the only one who looked uncomfortable.
Clearing his throat, Lupin continued, "No one knows where the fallopulchrum originates from, but recently scholars believe to have discovered key evidence indicating that they are not from this world. There is also no known pattern for when nor where they emerge, though they seem to favor strong emotional events. The last major increase in the Hogwarts population was several decades ago, and it looks like this swarm will be even worse. All teachers are well aware of this particular event, and are more than capable of verifying and dealing with any that might be spotted on school grounds."
Neville raised his hand. "But, sir, she...uh...it looks just like a normal girl."
"Good observation, Neville. This box is actually dimming her appearance so it is safe for us to look at her. If she was in her natural habitat, her plain yellow hair would be a sunshine gold, her skin would be milky white and smooth, and her eyes would be amethyst blue. Also, there would be a rather sweet and alluring scent to her that would be reminiscent of one's favourite fruit or spice."
Harry peered at the marisue. She did look rather plain in her well worn blue jeans and white cotton t-shirt. And her hair certainly appeared more straw than gold. But those eyes. They just seemed to peer into his soul. She wasn't plain; she was cute! She reminded him of –
"Ow! What did you do that for?" Harry harshly whispered to Hermione as he rubbed the fresh bruise on his elbowed ribs.
"Shhh. Don't look at it directly. Marisues usually target men." Heromine replied as she reached over and readied her hand to smack the back of Ron's head.
"Usually...?" Harry started but stopped as Hermione furiously glared at him and blushed.
Professor Lupin gently tapped his wand against the side of the box and it went completely opaque. There was a murmuring sigh from most of the boys as if they just realized that they were at Hogwarts instead of Honeydukes.
"Now, it is true that no two fallopulchrum look the same, but finding distinguishing markings might sometimes prove to be difficult. One might have sunshine gold hair," Lupin gestured to the box, "while another has glimmering yellow hair. I could only find a standard specimen on short notice, but some can be quite exotic. Expect any shade of pastel colouring to be found on a marisue while the garistus usually have distinctly deeper hues. This will be on your test next week, by the way."
Hermione was busy scribbling every word on her parchment. Ron rolled his eyes, and Harry had to agree. Why bother if she knew everything about this creature anyway? The marisue hardly even came into the same class as a dementor. There was no fear or screaming voices echoing in his head. There was only that glimmering promise of peace and a hint of an old overplayed romantic song that seemed to be stuck on repeat.
A chilling realization suddenly hit him and his eyes widened. That all- too familiar shudder once again went through Harry's body as he hesitantly raised his hand.
"Yes, Harry."
"Professor, you said that...it is like a dementor. Is this because they use their gentle appearance to get near enough to feed off of hopes and dreams?"
"Ah. Very close. Very close, indeed! This is where fallopulchrum's are tricky. Most of you might have felt the depression and stress of tests a little early this year thanks to the dementors, and no, it's not by some strange mishap that every meal has had some sort of chocolate-based dessert recently."
Several of the kids immediately started complaining about having chocolate bread pudding two weeks in a row.
"Calm down, I'll see what I can do about changing that. I agree with you that chocolate is a very important part of a balanced diet and we should not get bored with it just because two certain someones cast a quadruplication cornocopious spell on the cook's cauldron."
Ron leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Actually, it was only a duplication, but it got screwed up when George and Fred cast it at the same time."
Lupin raised his voice only slightly to regain his classrooms attention, "Your stomachs will be happy to note that there is no edible relief currently known to counter a fallopulchrum's charm. However, this means you will be left completely at their mercy unless your mind remains clear enough to properly perform the spell to make them dissipate."
His wand tapped the glass again to make the marisue visible. This time, the desire to feel pity was replaced with an unsettling feeling that made Harry's stomach queasy, though it could have been the thought of another week of pudding.
"A fallopulchrum does not feed on hopes and dreams. Instead it attempts to cultivate them while falling miserably short." Harry could have sworn he heard a bit of bitterness in Lupin's voice. "This is why they usually can co-habitat in the same regions as dementors. The two species can feed off of the same prey and are more or less immune to each other's innate magical abilities. This marisue would love to do nothing more than to make you the most content, yet boring, person alive, all the while devouring your fate and destiny."
"Fate and destiny? Like, Professor Trelawney said that it's my fate to lose something special to me before next week. It'll happen to her instead?" Pansy asked, pointing.
"Yes and no. Yes, the fallopulchrum will take away your fate and all evil which might ever befall you."
The classroom immediately started talking. No more tests! No more tripping down stairs! No more You-Know-Who!
"But what about the consequences?" Hermione asked, breaking the celebratory mood.
"That, I'm afraid, is where the trap lies. We, as human beings, are nothing without our experiences - whether they are good or bad. It defines us and makes us into who we are today. You will have no mistakes to learn from. You would have no fond memories to treasure. This creature before you will slowly drain any personality you may have until you are only a shadow of who you were. You see," with a swish of his wand, Lupin rotated the box around, "the marisue is only two dimensional. There is no actual substance to this species. The easiest way to tell this is to squint while looking at it. If it appears flat, then you have a fallopulchrum."
Everyone squinted. Harry was amazed at how quickly she became translucent.
"Luckily the banishing spell is very easy and takes practically no concentration. Not even a wand is necessary. Repeat after me; 'Haud Canonicus!'"
"Haud Canonicus!"
The marisue flickered out of sight before slowly fazing back. The pitiful look was replaced with one of anger and resentment. Harry got the feeling that if she could, she would burn the lot of them. The students looked nervously at each other.
"Do not worry, class. The box will not allow her to harm you, but unfortunately you cannot displace her as long as she is in it. I will deal with this creature later." Picking up the checkered cloth, Lupin threw it over the box and levitated it to a back corner.
"Since out time is almost up, please remember what I've said. Some fallopulchrums are not too harmful. In fact, the weaker ones can be quite useful in solving small problems such as getting new shoes or rescuing your familiar from a tall tree. But beware the strong ones. They will completely dominate your life. One year a rather powerful marisue became attuned with a seeker and would catch the snitch for him in the first five minutes of every game. Even then it would not have been too bad if it wasn't for the drama it caused in presenting the snitch to him."
Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't imagine anyone but himself catching the golden snitch! And Wood would be beside himself if someone broke the rules like that. Even if that creature would fight Voldermort for him, it wasn't worth losing Quidditch! He needed to start practicing more. Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus! Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus! Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus...
"Class dismissed!"
EPILOGUE
As the last student left, Remus J. Lupin locked the doors behind them. Slowly turning around, he pulled out his old wand from the inside pocket of his worn suit jacket. A few muttered words, and the box disappeared. The cloth slowly fluttered down and wrapped itself around a human shape. Perfectly manicured fingers daintily and seductively pulled back the sheet, revealing a beautiful woman.
"Remus..." she purred.
"I am sorry my dear, but, this is not the way it is."
"But...but, I don't even mind that you're a werewolf!"
"That's what makes this so very hard." He said with a sad smile. Your kind never does..."
"Haud Canonicus."
At exactly fifteen past the bell, there was a slight thumping sound followed by muffled voice at the door. Neville squeaked in fear and tried to look small and insignificant while others jumped to see who was to be the substitute. As if empathizing with their nervous curiosity, the doors swung open to reveal a checkered cloth draped over a large box-shaped object. "Sorry I'm late," Professor Lupin cheerfully stated as he carefully maneuvered the package to the front of the class. "Professor Dumbledoor asked me to change today's lesson plans rather last minute, and I needed the extra time to prepare. Please do not worry about today's homework. I will collect your reports on Ares Dragontraps next class."
All worried faces immediately melted into large grins except for Hermione who, with a disappointed look, stuffed what resembled a large hand-bound book back into her bag.
"Today, we have a special lesson due to a rising and dangerous threat to all Hogwart students." Lupin quietly paused and seated himself on the corner of his desk while the students eagerly leaned forward with interest. "What I am about to show you will at first seem like a distant cousin to the succubus, but is in actuality in the same family as the dementors you've seen around Hogwarts."
A cold shudder went up Harry's spine. Dementors. That name has haunted him his entire third year. He still hasn't mastered the Patronus spell, and didn't feel at all comfortable dealing with anything related to them.
Harry's mind was about to wander back to his last failed attempt when he heard the gasps of his fellow students. Looking up, he saw that the cloth had been removed to reveal a transparent box containing something which looked nothing at all like a dementor. In fact, she, being a rather young and pretty girl, was the complete opposite. This "dangerous threat" had yellow hair, a soft complexion, and a sad look on her face. Harry could not help but immediately feel sorry for her.
"This, class, is a fallopulchrum. Can anyone tell me what the common name for this creature is? Yes, Hermione?"
"A fallopulchrum is more commonly known as a 'marisue' if it is feminine in nature, or a 'garistu' if it is masculine."
"Excellent! Five points for Griffindor!" Lupin smiled. "This one is obviously a marisue. Now, notice the container that I have it in. This is specially enchanted glass that allows us to see the marisue in a toned-down and less appealing form. The box also blocks the pheromones that it produces so we can study it without falling under its charm spell. However, I must ask you to please avoid direct and prolong contact with its eyes. You might start feeling an uncontrollable urge to release it, and that would start a rather nasty chain reaction that I believe all of us would rather avoid."
Harry blinked and then realized that Lupin was staring directly at him. As soon as their gaze connected, Lupin immediately looked away and proceeded with his lecture while Harry felt himself turning red. To his immense relief, while he glanced around the room to observe everything except the marisue, Harry noticed that he was not the only one who looked uncomfortable.
Clearing his throat, Lupin continued, "No one knows where the fallopulchrum originates from, but recently scholars believe to have discovered key evidence indicating that they are not from this world. There is also no known pattern for when nor where they emerge, though they seem to favor strong emotional events. The last major increase in the Hogwarts population was several decades ago, and it looks like this swarm will be even worse. All teachers are well aware of this particular event, and are more than capable of verifying and dealing with any that might be spotted on school grounds."
Neville raised his hand. "But, sir, she...uh...it looks just like a normal girl."
"Good observation, Neville. This box is actually dimming her appearance so it is safe for us to look at her. If she was in her natural habitat, her plain yellow hair would be a sunshine gold, her skin would be milky white and smooth, and her eyes would be amethyst blue. Also, there would be a rather sweet and alluring scent to her that would be reminiscent of one's favourite fruit or spice."
Harry peered at the marisue. She did look rather plain in her well worn blue jeans and white cotton t-shirt. And her hair certainly appeared more straw than gold. But those eyes. They just seemed to peer into his soul. She wasn't plain; she was cute! She reminded him of –
"Ow! What did you do that for?" Harry harshly whispered to Hermione as he rubbed the fresh bruise on his elbowed ribs.
"Shhh. Don't look at it directly. Marisues usually target men." Heromine replied as she reached over and readied her hand to smack the back of Ron's head.
"Usually...?" Harry started but stopped as Hermione furiously glared at him and blushed.
Professor Lupin gently tapped his wand against the side of the box and it went completely opaque. There was a murmuring sigh from most of the boys as if they just realized that they were at Hogwarts instead of Honeydukes.
"Now, it is true that no two fallopulchrum look the same, but finding distinguishing markings might sometimes prove to be difficult. One might have sunshine gold hair," Lupin gestured to the box, "while another has glimmering yellow hair. I could only find a standard specimen on short notice, but some can be quite exotic. Expect any shade of pastel colouring to be found on a marisue while the garistus usually have distinctly deeper hues. This will be on your test next week, by the way."
Hermione was busy scribbling every word on her parchment. Ron rolled his eyes, and Harry had to agree. Why bother if she knew everything about this creature anyway? The marisue hardly even came into the same class as a dementor. There was no fear or screaming voices echoing in his head. There was only that glimmering promise of peace and a hint of an old overplayed romantic song that seemed to be stuck on repeat.
A chilling realization suddenly hit him and his eyes widened. That all- too familiar shudder once again went through Harry's body as he hesitantly raised his hand.
"Yes, Harry."
"Professor, you said that...it is like a dementor. Is this because they use their gentle appearance to get near enough to feed off of hopes and dreams?"
"Ah. Very close. Very close, indeed! This is where fallopulchrum's are tricky. Most of you might have felt the depression and stress of tests a little early this year thanks to the dementors, and no, it's not by some strange mishap that every meal has had some sort of chocolate-based dessert recently."
Several of the kids immediately started complaining about having chocolate bread pudding two weeks in a row.
"Calm down, I'll see what I can do about changing that. I agree with you that chocolate is a very important part of a balanced diet and we should not get bored with it just because two certain someones cast a quadruplication cornocopious spell on the cook's cauldron."
Ron leaned over to whisper to Harry, "Actually, it was only a duplication, but it got screwed up when George and Fred cast it at the same time."
Lupin raised his voice only slightly to regain his classrooms attention, "Your stomachs will be happy to note that there is no edible relief currently known to counter a fallopulchrum's charm. However, this means you will be left completely at their mercy unless your mind remains clear enough to properly perform the spell to make them dissipate."
His wand tapped the glass again to make the marisue visible. This time, the desire to feel pity was replaced with an unsettling feeling that made Harry's stomach queasy, though it could have been the thought of another week of pudding.
"A fallopulchrum does not feed on hopes and dreams. Instead it attempts to cultivate them while falling miserably short." Harry could have sworn he heard a bit of bitterness in Lupin's voice. "This is why they usually can co-habitat in the same regions as dementors. The two species can feed off of the same prey and are more or less immune to each other's innate magical abilities. This marisue would love to do nothing more than to make you the most content, yet boring, person alive, all the while devouring your fate and destiny."
"Fate and destiny? Like, Professor Trelawney said that it's my fate to lose something special to me before next week. It'll happen to her instead?" Pansy asked, pointing.
"Yes and no. Yes, the fallopulchrum will take away your fate and all evil which might ever befall you."
The classroom immediately started talking. No more tests! No more tripping down stairs! No more You-Know-Who!
"But what about the consequences?" Hermione asked, breaking the celebratory mood.
"That, I'm afraid, is where the trap lies. We, as human beings, are nothing without our experiences - whether they are good or bad. It defines us and makes us into who we are today. You will have no mistakes to learn from. You would have no fond memories to treasure. This creature before you will slowly drain any personality you may have until you are only a shadow of who you were. You see," with a swish of his wand, Lupin rotated the box around, "the marisue is only two dimensional. There is no actual substance to this species. The easiest way to tell this is to squint while looking at it. If it appears flat, then you have a fallopulchrum."
Everyone squinted. Harry was amazed at how quickly she became translucent.
"Luckily the banishing spell is very easy and takes practically no concentration. Not even a wand is necessary. Repeat after me; 'Haud Canonicus!'"
"Haud Canonicus!"
The marisue flickered out of sight before slowly fazing back. The pitiful look was replaced with one of anger and resentment. Harry got the feeling that if she could, she would burn the lot of them. The students looked nervously at each other.
"Do not worry, class. The box will not allow her to harm you, but unfortunately you cannot displace her as long as she is in it. I will deal with this creature later." Picking up the checkered cloth, Lupin threw it over the box and levitated it to a back corner.
"Since out time is almost up, please remember what I've said. Some fallopulchrums are not too harmful. In fact, the weaker ones can be quite useful in solving small problems such as getting new shoes or rescuing your familiar from a tall tree. But beware the strong ones. They will completely dominate your life. One year a rather powerful marisue became attuned with a seeker and would catch the snitch for him in the first five minutes of every game. Even then it would not have been too bad if it wasn't for the drama it caused in presenting the snitch to him."
Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't imagine anyone but himself catching the golden snitch! And Wood would be beside himself if someone broke the rules like that. Even if that creature would fight Voldermort for him, it wasn't worth losing Quidditch! He needed to start practicing more. Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus! Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus! Expecto Patronum! Haud Canonicus...
"Class dismissed!"
EPILOGUE
As the last student left, Remus J. Lupin locked the doors behind them. Slowly turning around, he pulled out his old wand from the inside pocket of his worn suit jacket. A few muttered words, and the box disappeared. The cloth slowly fluttered down and wrapped itself around a human shape. Perfectly manicured fingers daintily and seductively pulled back the sheet, revealing a beautiful woman.
"Remus..." she purred.
"I am sorry my dear, but, this is not the way it is."
"But...but, I don't even mind that you're a werewolf!"
"That's what makes this so very hard." He said with a sad smile. Your kind never does..."
"Haud Canonicus."