A/n: Chapter 7, wherein Secrets are told and a promise is made.
(yes, i'm keeping the beforewords short now)
Disclaimer: I only own Simone. If anyone tries to take her...by god, you'll wish you had sooo many lemons!
Chapter 7 – Wolfish Secrets
It was early December, and the whole school was excited because of the coming holidays. It was Transfiguration again, and this time, Lily was worried. For starters, she was sitting all alone. She hadn't seen Simone since breakfast, and now it was the afternoon, Lily was beginning to get very worried. Next to her, she couldn't help but notice the boys looked a little down too. James wasn't staring dreamily at her, like he usually did, and Sirius wasn't his usual cocky self. Peter looked absolutely miserable, but that could have also been because the tea cosy, that he was supposed to be turning into a lamp, kept trying to bite him.
Then it occurred to her: 'Where is Remus?'
Meanwhile, Simone was in the hospital wing. A large gash, running from her wrist to her elbow was slowly spilling blood all on the bed sheets. Madame Pomfrey was bent over the wound, attempting, and failing, to clean up the large cut.
"How in the world did you get this Simone?"
"Oh, just a fight with a Muleagle."
"A Muleagle? What is that?"
"Not quite a Mule, not quite a Beagle. It's the cutest part donkey, part dog, demon I've ever faced. Too bad it had to be banished to the underworld, but I suppose it's for the best."
"It sounds strange."
"Oh, it is, but I'm used to those kinds of weird, cross animal demons. All part of the job. Now, if you stopped fussing over my arm, I might be able to heal it."
"Nothing is working, this Muleagle must have been tainted with something."
"I think I will be the judge of wether I can be healed or not, since I am a qualified Healer, now, for god's sake, step back woman!"
Madame Pomfrey stepped back and Simone held her other hand over my gaping wound. It glowed as she attempted to use pure healing magic to close the gash, but her efforts were fruitless.
"Perhaps you were right in saying the Muleagle's talons were tainted." said Simone.
"What shall we do?" asked Madame Pomfrey.
"Make a potion to cure the toxin, of course. Fetch me some rosemary, two sticks of sandalwood, a couple of cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of rose oil and a handful of snapdragon petals. Put them all in a small cauldron of cold water, mix them around a bit and then simmer the mixture on a small fire for ten minutes. Bring me the potion once you're done."
"Okay Simone." said Madame Pomfrey, as she rushed off to fetch the ingredients.
"Finally, peace and quiet," Simone sighed and lay back on the bed. "At least my gash has stopped bleeding."
"Simone?" asked a mysterious voice from behind the curtain next to her.
"Remus, is that you?" Simone clicked her fingers and the curtains flew open, revealing the pale boy in bed just metres away.
"What are you doing here Remus?" asked Simone.
"Oh…I was just…not feeling…too well…" muttered Remus.
"Right…" replied Simone, not believing one word.
'Hmm, I know there is something he isn't telling me…' thought Simone, 'I remember last night was full moon. Wait a second, full moon, away every month, the scars, Remus is a…'
"Werewolf!"
"Excuse me?" asked Remus, startled.
"You're a werewolf. It all makes sense now. You being away all the time, your scars, you're a werewolf!"
"Oh, God, Please don't hate me!"
"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"
"Because I kept it from you all. They're all going to hate me!"
"What? Remus, look at me." Simone commanded, coming over to him. "No one is going to hate you. I have tons of secrets I keep from you all. Even Lily. And I think the fact that you're a werewolf is a pretty good reason to lie to your friends."
Remus looked at Simone.
"You really think so?"
"Remus, I know so."
"…Thanks."
"You're welcome." Simone smiled. "So, I was wondering…"
"What?"
"Well, I've never actually met a werewolf before, well not when he isn't in transformation anyway, so I was wondering if I could as you a few questions."
"I guess so."
"Cool, ok, so firstly, does it hurt when you transform?"
"Ten times worse than death, every second it feels like my skeleton will burst through my skin and my muscles will snap from the tension."
"Ouch!"
"Indeed."
"Do you get lonely, as a werewolf?"
"Most of the time I can't help but attempt to destroy everything in sight, but in the quiet modes, when I'm less destructive, it gets pretty lonely."
"Oh, poor you. You realise that now I know this, it completely changes my attitude towards werewolves."
"For the better or worse?"
"Defiantly for the better."
"Okay, now it's my turn: does that gash on your arm hurt?"
"It would, but I've completely numbed my whole arm from the shoulder down. You could cut if off with a rusty knife and I wouldn't feel a thing. But don't try it or I will have no choice but to kick your ass."
"Okay then," replied Remus, trying not to laugh at the notion of him attempting to get out of bed in his state, let alone try and cut off Simone's arm.
Moments later, Madame Pomfrey came back with the potion. After Simone analysed it to make sure it was correct, the used her magic to sprinkle it over her wound. As Simone guessed, the potion did counter the poison, and she quickly began to heal her arm. With her arm as good as new, Simone told Madame Pomfrey to store what was left of the potion away in case it was needed again, and she sat down on the end of Remus' bed.
"You know, you don't have to go through your transformations alone."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you see, I'm different to everyone here. I'm not like you or the others. I can do…things. Special things. Like Shape Shifting."
"Shape Shifting?"
"It basically means I can transform into any animal at will, whenever I want, for as long as I want, and also, it's completely painless and I have full control, unlike your transformations. Mine are a form of magic."
"Sounds fantastic, I wish I could do that."
"You and everyone else in the world. Anyway, the point is that, during your transformations, I could come with you, like in wolf form and keep you company."
"I could never ask you to endanger yourself…"
"You won't need to ask, because I am going with you from now on, and you won't endanger me. I'm not as mortal as others and it would take more than one young werewolf cub to hurt me. Even that Muleagle couldn't injure me properly. I am coming with you and that is final."
Remus smiled weakly. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Yay, now wasn't that fun. I know it was short. Sorry. But i'll put up chapter 8 tomorrow to make up for it. It took a while to update cos my editor misplaced this chapter and confused it with the previous one, but thats only cos I switched them around. Abut at least now everything is where it should be.
Please Read and Review. If you do, i'll go and R&R YOUR fics, so its a win win situation. Also, everyone who reviewd my last chapter gets many vertiual cookies. I've been giving alot of cookies lately, i'll have to go and make some more now...
See ya tomorrow! ;D
