A Second Chance
chapter 10: the unexpected
5th October 1975
As the days passed, they quickly formed into weeks, accompanied with lots of school work and intense Quidditch practices. When the weeks finally rounded into a month, I found myself dreading every minute, every moment, and every second that went by.
The full moon was approaching.
Still I pushed the thought out of my head, trying to focus instead on Hogwarts, the work we had to complete, and the people I had met. The four boys I had met on the train, otherwise known as the marauders, were still getting on my nerves every second of every day, but I had grown significantly close to the girls.
Lily, Alice, Mary, and Marlene were all such incredible people with extremely different but equally intriguing personalities. I had been left in awe with how quickly I had connected with all of them and it was still weird to have girl friends; I had always found myself in the presence of guys instead.
They obviously didn't know anything. They won't learn for a while, if I ever decided I would like to tell them. For now, I just have to worry about finding a good enough excuse to skip out on classes I had on the dreaded day.
I still had nothing, and, of course, it was the morning of the full moon when I realized. My head felt like an inflated balloon that would burst at any given moment when I woke up, twisting and turning under my covers and willing my eyes to remain closed, in order to fall back to a peaceful slumber.
"Rebecca?" a timid voice said, followed by a slight pressure on my shoulder. I groaned in reply. "Come on, Rebecca, wake up…"
I sighed heavily and opened my eyes, regretting it immediately when they made contact with the sun that entered the room through the window across from my bed. I winced as I sat up, trying my hardest to ignore the sharp pain behind my temple and my flight instinct that had just started to kick in.
Then, I slowly pushed myself out of my bed, ignoring Lily's concerned gaze and heading straight to the bathroom to somehow get ready.
The cold water of the shower managed to slightly wake me up, as I scrubbed myself clean of the sweat that had started to pool on my body while it had rested under the heavy and warm sheets. I threw on the uniform and tried to fix my sick-looking face with a ton of concealer and slight blush.
I sighed in frustration as I leaned over the sink, hair falling in my face and only barely resisting to the urge to empty my stomach's continents on the bathroom floor. Instead, I swallowed the bile rising at the back of my throat, took a deep breath, and exited the room.
All eyes were on me for a long second when I stepped out, right before Marlene shoot me a wink and walked straight past the door. I forced a small smile on my face, and brushed off the others' concerning gazes with an effective 'I'm so tired,' as we waited for Marlene to finish up and head for breakfast.
Classes that day were a nightmare. I couldn't concentrate, I, obviously, couldn't do any work, and I couldn't shake off this feeling in my gut warning me about something, anything that I couldn't really make out.
I was treated like a fragile doll amongst the girls, a forced smile plastered on my face every time they turned to my direction, as if afraid I would break down into a million pieces. I ignored their gazes, but I knew I'd have to give in and head to the Hospital Wing soon enough.
I wasn't even comforted by the thought that the teachers had nothing to use against me, sending me subtly glances and ignoring my inability to work. When I made my way to Charms, the last class before lunch break, I knew my body had finally had enough and with a quick goodbye, I made my way to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomphrey looked up from her desk when she heard me make my way into the room and she was quick to get to her feet and guide me to one of the beds. My gaze briefly lingered on an occupied bed in the back, the same bed that had had its curtains drawn the last time I was there.
"Headache?" she asked and I nodded, downing the potions she handed me with a disgusted scrunch of my face. "Try to rest. We'll leave when the sun starts to set…"
I nodded, laying back down and relishing the soft pillows that had materialized under my head. She quickly left, drawing closed the curtains behind her and leaving me in a state of solitude I needed and cursed at the same time. More comfortable clothes were packed at the bottom of my bag and I was quick to change into them and dump my uniform inside instead.
Hushed voices were heard at the other side of the room, one belonging to Madam Pomphrey and the other one to someone else I couldn't identify. It seemed she was ordering him to do something, but my overly exhausted brain made it impossible for me to eavesdrop and I eventually gave up and fell back onto my bed with a squeak of the springs.
Then, before I knew it, I felt my eyes growing heavier and heavier, slowly leading me to an undisturbed slumber I needed much more than I realized.
"It's time to go," Madam Pomphrey's voice rang in the silent room, but when the blonde girl failed to respond, she approached the bed, feeling a wave of sympathy rush through her body when she saw the girl sleeping peacefully.
As if sensing her presence, Rebecca started to slowly gain consciousness, mind piecing together all the complicated pieces to the puzzle. She sat up willing her brain to shut off and relieve her off the pain that had settled on her temple.
Instead, she threw her legs of the side of the bed and slowly got up, gaze wandering in the empty room, all of the beds unoccupied and a slight loneliness in her chest, one she couldn't describe. She brushed it off, grabbing her bag and following Madam Pomphrey out of the Hospital Wing.
They made their way through the school corridors, passing by the bustling Great Hall and made their way outside of the castle.
The sun was setting just then, the sky a dark shade of orange that faded into pink. As the pink clouds turned purple, she had to involuntarily take her gaze away from the sky and focus on the path in front of her, as to avoid tripping on her feet and crushing to the ground.
A wooden hut was by the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a cloud of smoke coming out of the chimney and the sound of a dog barking echoing from inside. She ignored it.
Madam Pomphrey continued moving, making her way away from the hut and closer to the forest, before she made an abrupt turn and approached an enormous tree. The branches and bark were moving around, scaring off any curious students. She picked up a long branch, whose purpose was revealed to Rebecca, when the older woman gently touched a knot at the bottom of the trunk and the tree stopped its frantic movements.
"There's a passage by the trunk," she explained, sympathetic gaze falling on the young girl next to her. "Follow it to the end."
Rebecca nodded, tightening her grip around her bag and willing her feet to move in a straight line beside the headache that had her rooted to the spot.
"Good luck."
She mumbled a slightly coherent 'thank you,' in reply, before the other stalked off and she headed toward the tree on unsteady feet and with a shaky breath.
The darkness of the passage made it almost impossible to see and she waste no time to take out her wand and use it as a torch. She ignored the heavy beat of her heart and chose instead to focus on her trail, making sure she crouched down when the passage became much shorter than her own height.
It didn't take her long to make it to the other side. She pushed open a heavy door, thankfully unlocked, and stepped inside a strangely bright room. A living room and kitchen, relatively empty with worn out wallpaper and furniture.
She turned her gaze to the staircase, choosing to navigate and explore the whole house before she settled on a place to stay for the night. Unsurprisingly the upstairs landing was where the bedrooms were, two wide doors, one opened and the other closed.
The latter wasn't empty when she opened the door, four pairs of eyes staring back at her with equal surprise. All four Gryffindor boys, the well-known Marauders, stared at the girl with shock evident on their faces, unsure how to react.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked in a hushed voice, a horrorstricken expression on his face.
"I could ask you the same thing…" she shot back, her pulse racing and blood pounding behind her ears.
"No, Rebecca, you don't understand, you need to leave!" Sirius stated and she started to get aggravated by the abrupt turn of the conversation.
Her gaze landed on the darkened sky outside the window, stars shining and the evidence of the moon, suddenly appearing. A wave of nerves approached with the prospect of the night in the horizon.
"I understand just fine, thank you very much," she retorted, wincing when her sudden headache brought a certain dizziness to her already fragile state. "You four have no idea, what you're meddl-"
The wave of pain that hit her the next moment, had her doubled over in pain, an ear-splitting scream filling the silence of the night. But for once, she wasn't alone. The sound of someone else's screams synchronized with hers, and she only caught a glimpse of Remus' pained face, before her own pain blinded her vision.
Her bones were breaking, making space for stronger, longer, heavier bones, but the painful sound and the heart-shattering screams did nothing at easing the other three's hearts. Her skin was no longer pale, replaced by a grey coating of fur. They were panting, transforming in much less time than it seemed possible for them.
It was time, and as the two teenagers disappeared, two angry and hungry monsters appeared in their place.
The other three had a few moments to realize what happened, before they transformed into the three animal forms they had learned to a few weeks before. A stag, a dog, and a rat.
The two werewolves were at the opposite parts of the room, divided by the grand queen-sized bed that stood in the center of it all. The female werewolf, clearly far more aggressive than the male one.
The three animagi would have gladly stood off to the side, if it wasn't for the growl that she emitted, clearly far more fed up than would be imaginable. The dog and the stag wasted no time to split, each heading to the other side of the room, in hope to stop the two prior to coming in contact with each other.
The two larger animals managed to distract the werewolves for a vast majority of the night, juggling the intensity of the new information and questionable techniques. At several points during the night, they had had to become a barrier from each to the other, often earning a few scratches themselves.
They were successful, nonetheless, managing to safely distract them from each other and their ever-lasting search for food. It seemed like forever before the sun began to rise, the two werewolves dropping to the floor in an exhausted state in the last few minutes before they returned to themselves.
"Maybe we should put her under the duvet," James suggested, once the three others had returned to normal as well. "I don't think she'll appreciate us seeing her naked…"
Sirius nodded, tearing the duvet from the mattress before he used his wand to safely guide her underneath it. "Take Remus next door…" he said and James nodded, carefully lifting the boy up and leaving the room with Peter trailing behind him.
Once the door was closed, Sirius let out a mammoth sigh and nearly collapsed onto the chair, exhaustion finally creeping up to him after a long night.
And as the girl started to return to normal, he knew he was about to face an even longer day.
6th October 1975
When Rebecca's vision slowly blurred into focus, eyes only just adjusting to the light of the day, spilling past the drawn curtains and reeking a sigh out of her. Her eyes surveyed the room, the memories of the previous room coming back to her, and it was with a sharp intake of breath that she saw Sirius' sleeping form on the chair.
His breaths were calm and even, chest rising and falling with each sharp intake and she was suddenly painfully aware of her naked form, lying underneath the slightly destroyed duvet. She moved around underneath it, making sure that her body was fully hidden despite all the rips in the blanket.
Her head hit the pillow a moment later, her eyes shutting slowly as a loud sigh left her mouth. She was careful not to fall asleep, twisting around on the mattress every few minutes to regain consciousness. A loud squeal came from the mattress underneath her, the springs squeaking due to the sifting weight.
Sirius' eyes slowly fluttered open a moment later and she internally coursed herself for waking him up. It took him a few moments to register the new setting, before realization dawned onto him and he sat up and locked her gaze.
"Hey," he said, hand going behind his neck to awkwardly scratch the skin under his raven hair. "Um…so…I—"
"You don't have to say anything," I cut him off. "Just do me a favor and bring me my clothes."
"Yeah, yeah, of course," he said, rushing to his feet and toward the door when he remembered something else. "Where…?"
"Downstairs," I said, sending him a small, grateful smile before he walked out, his footsteps echoing in the house as he made his way down the stairs.
A gigantic sigh left my mouth again, head lolling to the side, eyes momentarily blinded by the bright sunlight slipping in past the curtains. Desperate for a distraction, my gaze moved to the clouds, observing the white shapes that flew past, trying to decide how she wanted to handle the situation.
"Here." The voice brought her back to reality and she turned around, smiling slightly when Sirius placed her backpack on the bed next to her.
"I'll leave you to it," he said, turning back around to leave the room.
"Thank you. And hey, Sirius," I started, getting him to stop on his tracks and turning around to face me again, "I'll explain everything…"