Jasmine came down the stairs from the girls' dormitories to find an almost empty Common Room, but for a pale Remus sitting in one of the armchairs by the fireplace. She folded the collar of her warm sweater over her neck and chin as she walked up to him and carefully touched his shoulder.
Remus jerked as if she'd threatened him, and Jasmine took a step backwards, the little giggle that slipped her being both surprised and guilty.
"Sorry, Remus, did I scare you?"
He turned around, twisting his neck into an uncomfortable position, looked at her for a second and then turned back to the fire.
"Yes. Yes, you did", he said, also laughing a little, but the answer slipped Jasmine, as she, shocked, stared at his neck as if she could catch a glimpse of his face just by looking intensely at its backside.
"Remus", she said softly, walking around the armchair and sitting down beside him. He was not only pale, she could tell now as she'd gotten closer, but he had rings under his eyes, dark like bruises, and marks around his mouth as if he'd bitten himself. On his throat he had a scar that seemed so tender Jasmine came to the conclusion that it must've been healed just this day, and Remus's hands looked sore.
When she looked at him, he turned away, as if he could hide everything that cried out that something was wrong by hiding his face.
"Remus, has something happened?" She leaned forwards in her chair, a concerned look on her face, and the tune of her voice made him look at her.
His eyes were all red, as if he hadn't got any sleep for several days, and this made Jasmine even more worried.
Remus shook his head and looked down at his hands again.
"Nothing special", he said in a low voice. "I haven't slept very much the last nights, and then an experiment went wrong - probably because I was so tired."
Jasmine tilted her head to the side, in a gesture reminding quite a lot of one Sirius often did.
"What kind of experiment?"
He smiled, raising a hand almost completely blue from bruises to push some hair from his face.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it included a great number of explosions, and a bookshelf collapsing and spilling all the books over my hands."
Jasmine smiled and shook her head. The story weren't very convincing, but if he lied to her, he should have a good reason to; and she didn't make a fuss about it. Remus had helped her too much for her to push it and force him to tell.
"Okay", she just said, brushing her hand through his hair in a friendly way before she leaned back in the chair. As usual, Jasmine pulled her legs up into the armchair and folded her arms, half hugging herself and Remus turned against her, leaning to the elbow on the arm rest.
"So how are you doing nowadays?" he asked in his usual soft voice. The unspoken question was if the Slytherins in Jasmine's year and the year over them still harassed her, and the honest answer was yes.
"It's quite fine", she answered, nodding a little. "Of course it's better now, during the winter vacation, when almost no one is here."
"Yes, I'm surprised you didn't go home. I thought your parents…"
Jasmine shook her head.
"They're in Brazil", she said. "They haven't had a vacation on their own since I was born, so I told them to go away somewhere for Christmas. Then I could experience a Christmas on Hogwarts as well."
"And get a part of both worlds", Remus said, adding her usual argument for it having benefits being of mixed blood.
Jasmine laughed softly.
"Yes, of course", she said, but then she grew quiet and her smile faded. "It's a little lonely, though. All the girls from my year went home, and so did most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The Slytherins don't talk to me, so they aren't of much use. There is almost no one from my year left. Just a few Ravenclaw boys whom I don't know."
Remus smiled and shook his head.
"That's bad", he said, "but you've got me, Sirius and James. Peter's with his family, but Pad and Prongs didn't want… they decided they wanted to make use of their last year here on Hogwarts, so they stayed."
"Oh, right, this is your last year. You know what you want to be after school?"
Again, Remus shook his head, but this time as an answer in the negative.
"No, I actually have no idea. It's hard, since I've only got half a year to go now, but I think I'll come up with something."
"What about a teacher?" Jasmine proposed, "Or a welfare officer? You would do great as that."
"A welfare officer, you say." He made an exaggeratedly surprised face, and caused her to laugh. "I haven't thought of that, actually. Remus shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps. The future will tell."
Jasmine smiled, and they both went silent, keeping each other company without talking.
Outside, the day faded into twilight and when some pale beams of moonlight slipped through the curtains in a strange angle, Jasmine rose and walked over to the window.
"The moon is rising", she said, more to herself than to Remus and felt her lips curl into a soft smile as a perfect, orange circle rose slowly over the dark horizon. "Oh, that's beautiful", she said, hearing Remus turning to her in the armchair, "it's full again. That's the third night in a row."
Jasmine watched the moon as it climbed the last stretch to show completely. "I don't understand that", she said, turning towards Remus. "How can it be… Remus, what's wrong?"
He hadn't turned to her at all, but curled forwards with his arms pressed against his stomach and chest, gasping for air. She could see sweat drops appear on his forehead and neck, and his face showed an expression of restrained pain.
"Pad! Prongs!" He called in a half choked voice that no doubt didn't reach all the way to the boys' dormitories. "I don't think I feel very good…" Remus's words faded away as he fell out of the armchair and onto the floor, his fingers faintly scratching the floor in spasms.
"Remus", Jasmine's voice was sharp as she hurried to him and got to her knees in the cramped space between the armchair and the fireplace, "Remus, what's the matter?"
She tried to turn him over, so that he would be lying on his back, but suddenly Remus started jerking without control, his skeleton seemed to crack, and Jasmine herd herself scream before she pressed a hand to her mouth.
"Jasmine, is something wrong?" The door to the boys' dormitories opened, and a tired and bed headed Sirius stood in the doorway. "What are you…" he interrupted himself as he saw Remus on the floor; his shoulders shooting up and his shirt ripping as if he was transforming; and gave out a yell. "Jasmine, get away from there!"
The sixteen-year-old looked up just in time to see Sirius jump the last five steps of the stairs, landing so hard he had to put a hand to the floor no to fall, and then running to them. "Get away!" he cried again, reaching them as Jasmine got to her feet. Fur was now growing rapidly on Remus's back and arms, and Sirius grabbed the young witch by her shoulders, pulling her away. As he quickly backed off, Sirius pushed Jasmine behind himself and spread his arms a little in an attempt to shield her.
Remus was now getting to his feet - all four of them - and he was no longer human. Rising to a grotesque imitation of a man's way to stand, the huge wolf chewed the air with long fangs and then threw his head back and howled.
There was a thud from the upper floor, and Sirius swore as the werewolf moved between them and the portrait.
"Jasmine, get up the stairs", he pushed her in the direction of the girl's dormitories, "run!"
Jasmines heart raced in a mixture of shock and fear as she had to turn her back to the transformed Remus and hurry up the stairs. On the ledge, she couldn't force herself to go inside, but turned around as Sirius slowly backed a few steps with his hands raised, just to have to throw himself to the floor in order to dodge a sudden attack from the werewolf.
"James!" Sirius called as he rolled and lithely got to his feet again. "Prongs! Little furry problem!"
There was the sound of running feet from the other dormitory, and then James stood in the doorway, in only his jeans, pushing the glasses on his nose. Spilling no time on words or questions, he took a few jumps down the stairs, transforming in the middle of one of them into a dark brown stag, who landed gracefully on the floor, making such a sudden noise the werewolf turned in that direction.
James kept stomping and throwing his antlered head as Sirius seemed to shiver and starting to transform himself.
Then, the portrait opened, and in the doorway stood professor McGonagall in her tartan dressing gown.
"What is happening here? I herd some nois…"
"Professor McGonagall, out of the way!" Sirius yelled, interrupting her. Halfway through the transformation, his voice was rough.
Professor McGonagall drew a sharp breath, and then she transformed into the streaky, grey cat the same instant Sirius turned into a huge, black dog. The dog barked to catch the werewolf's attention and lead it away from James, who'd been pushed into a corner and only had his horns between himself and a wielding paw with long claws. Then, professor McGonagall took a jump and landed on the werewolf's back pushing all her claws through the fur and into his spine.
Jasmine was too shocked to even scream or react as she watched the supple cat jump off Remus's back, though the portrait hole and run off through the corridors, the werewolf following. After the werewolf went the stag and the dog, and Jasmine could hear their steps disappearing through the corridors and down the marble stairs.