Meredith sat alone in the Great Hall eating breakfast when Fred and George sat down on the opposite side of the table. Fred's eyes searched Meredith's face, noticing the prominent dark circles under her eyes and a slight bruise on her cheekbone. "Meredith," Fred said, his voice full of what could be called sympathy, "you...you don't look well."
Meredith scoffed, looking up from the Daily Prophet she was reading. "Gee, thanks Fred, that makes me feel so much better about myself."
"No, no, no...that's not what I mean at all," Fred replied hastily. "It's just that you look...exhausted. Dark circles under your eyes," he pointed his finger to the area under her eyes.
"Oh, yeah..." Meredith said, pushing her bangs back from her forehead. "I haven't been sleeping well lately, uh...stress, you know."
"I heard you gave your broom to Harry," George chimed in.
"Yeah," Meredith said, nodding. "I figured, well...since I quit the team...he could use it until he got a new one for himself."
"Why did you quit?" George asked.
"Did you not see him yelling at me constantly at the last practice? I broke up with him, and I thought he'd be able to handle it professionally on the Quidditch pitch, but he obviously couldn't...so I quit," Meredith said defensively. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have class to go to." Meredith pulled her bag up to her shoulder and walked out of the Great Hall and to Lupin's classroom; she crossed her fingers hoping that Lupin was there.
Meredith's eyes lit up when she saw Lupin in the classroom. "Good to see you back, Sir," she said when she walked into the room. She threw her bag down in her usual spot and walked up to his desk to talk to him. "You were sick?"
Lupin nodded, "Yeah, I...have a terrible immune system and every once in a while I just...become terribly sick." He said, all of a sudden preoccupied with checking some work from another class. "How was Professor Snape as your substitute?"
Meredith smirked, then shook her head. "I wasn't here either. My...cousin is very sick. She lives at St. Mungo's in the long-term care section, and I visit her once a month." She said. "Harry, Ron and Hermione were complaining about him all day at breakfast, though. Apparently he made them do some crazy essay about werewolves, or something."
"Oh, really?" Lupin looked up at her. "I'll...have to speak to Professor Snape about that, then."
Meredith nodded, "That's probably a good idea...those three were pretty livid. I can only imagine what the rest of the class was thinking." She said.
Lupin chuckled, slightly amused by the thought of a group of angry thirteen year olds. At that moment students began to pour into the classroom, and Meredith took her place at her usual table.
Meredith stayed behind after class, wanting to ask him about what Snape had told her. "Um, Professor, can I ask you something?" She walked up to his desk and put her hands on his desk, leaning forward.
"Ask away," Lupin said, organizing the papers they had just handed in.
"And feel free to stop me at any point if you feel like I'm being too intrusive," Meredith said. "But I was in Professor Snape's classroom the other night, uh, serving a detention and...I told him that people would like him better if he wasn't so harsh and mean, like if he was more like you."
Lupin chuckled, "Uh-oh. How did he feel about that?"
Meredith smirked, "He was...not amused. I believe his exact words were: 'I do not wish to be like that mangy dog in any way.' " She said, biting her lip.
Lupin looked slightly uncomfortable, but prompted her to continue by saying, "and your question was?"
"Well, after he said that I asked him why he hated you so much," Meredith paused, looking directly in his eyes. "And he said that he hated you because you didn't stop your friends from terrorizing him in front of the whole school. He said, 'his friends James and Sirius.'" Meredith paused, unsure if she really wanted to ask him now; his gaze intimidated her. "Sir...Did you know Sirius Black?"
Lupin cleared his throat, putting down his quill. "Yes, I did." He said.
"At any point did you sense that there was something...off about him? Something that showed that he was a monster?" Meredith asked, "Or did it take you by surprise when you found out?"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." Lupin said with a slightly confused tone.
"Did you know that...he was a monster? Or were you shocked that he was siding with He Who Must Not Be Named?" Meredith asked, her voice quiet.
Lupin looked at her with concerned eyes, yet he had no idea why she was asking him this. "No, Meredith. I didn't know that Sirius was on that side. I was definitely shocked when I had learned what he did."
Meredith nodded, understanding. "all right, well, um...I should go." She said, picking up her book-bag and walking out of the classroom before Lupin could respond. Being a werewolf never really sat right with her; becoming a monster once a month was unbearable, she needed to know if people could sense that something was off about her, or if she fooled them all, like Sirius fooled Lupin. Her mind dwelled on these thoughts the whole day, even as she sat around the fire in the common room pretending to work on a Potions assignment.
