Ch. 14 - You Made Me Late For Class

Emmeline had never really bat an eye at Remus Lupin before fourth year. He seemed nice enough she supposed, but his friends were rather irritating - James Potter in particular. Lily didn't like James very much at all, but she said Remus was kind. Emmeline reckoned he just needed new friends.

Emmeline had never really bat an eye at Remus Lupin before fourth year. He was fairly quiet, after all. He was always reading or scribbling something down. It was a bit concerning, though, that Remus always managed to hurt himself. Nobody else ever talked about it since he wore long sleeves most of the time; but she still saw the cuts and bruises, especially when he would reach for things and his sleeve would come up a little. Emmeline reckoned he was clumsy.

Emmeline had never really bat an eye at Remus Lupin before fourth year. Sure, she had noticed that he was good in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Really good, actually. She found it odd that he was absent a lot, but their professor never really seemed to care. Nobody really even noticed since he sat all the way in the back of the class with Sirius Black. Emmeline reckoned he had some health issues or something.

Emmeline had never really bat an eye at Remus Lupin before fourth year. Until the morning she found him bleeding by the lake.

Some mornings, before anybody else got up for breakfast, Emmeline would take some toast and a rasher of bacon from the great hall down to the lake to finish homework or read before class. It was often difficult to find any time to be by yourself at boarding school, since every space was shared.

On this particular November morning, there was a fresh, powdery snow from the night before all over the grounds. It was too enchanting to pass up. Emmeline jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed so that she wouldn't get the urge to crawl back under her warm blanket. She threw on her gryffindor cloak and scarf before speeding down the stairs, as if the snow could melt away at any second. After making a quick detour to grab her take-away breakfast from the great hall, she went outside into the courtyard. The cold highland air stung her cheeks, but she didn't care. She pressed on anyway, curious to see if the lake had frozen over during the night. Winter was her favorite season.

When Emmeline reached the shore of the lake, she was rather horrified to find a trail of red blood staining the snow. She dropped her books and was about to run back when she heard someone groaning from the treeline.

With a trembling hand, she drew her wand and called out to the voice in the woods. "Who's there?"

"Over here," the person moaned in a strained voice.

Fighting the urge to flee, she slowly crept toward the source of the voice. She was appalled to find none other than Remus Lupin, crouching behind a sycamore tree, completely naked and shivering violently. There was a large laceration on his calf.

"Merlin's beard!" she exclaimed, ripping her cloak off and kneeling to fling it around his shoulders. She did the same with her scarf. He looked as though he had been out there for far too long. "What on earth happened to you?!"

Normally, Remus was a master of coming up with believable excuses, but in this moment he was far too cold. "I...fell…" he sputtered through chattering teeth.

Emmeline paid no mind, her mind was racing as she tried to figure out what to do. She wasn't sure he could walk in his state, and apparition was out of the question, since a) she did not know how and b) it was impossible on school grounds. She could run back to the castle to get help, but she was afraid he might become hypothermic in her absence. If he wasn't already.

"Moony!" a boy's voice bellowed from some distance behind her. Reinforcements! How fortunate!

"Help! Over here!" She shouted. She was less than pleased when the search party turned out to be James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black galloping towards her.

When they saw her crouching by Remus, they all stopped and stared with dropped jaws.

"What are you doing?! Hurry!" she cried, putting her arms around Remus to keep him warm. They exchanged apprehensive looks before continuing on towards their friend and the unexpected girl with him.

"Here," said Sirius, removing the rucksack from his back and producing some clothing and shoes for Remus. Emmeline stoop up and turned sheepishly away as Remus' rose unsteadily to his feet. His frigid bones shed off the cloak and attempted to dress himself, but James had to help him since he was shaking so much.

"What are you lot playing at, making people streak through the forest when it's freezing out?! It's inhumane!" She scolded, still turned around. She was rather bitter that the trouble makers had ruined her perfectly quiet, snowy morning.

"It was...we were p-playing a game! A streaking game!" Peter stuttered.

"Yeah it was a stupid game, we'll never do it again," said Sirius.

Emmeline peeked to make sure that he was dressed, then turned back around. "Hang on," she said, seeing the dark circles under their eyes. "Were you four out ALL night?"

James, Sirius and Peter all looked at eachother, panicked.

"Why were you out here all night?" she asked again, suspicious of their antics.

"Look, we don't have time to explain ourselves to you. He's freezing," said James, pulling one of Remus' arms over his shoulder. He motioned for Sirius to do the same on the other side.

Emmeline looked down and saw that Remus' leg was bleeding through the trousers they had brought him. "He shouldn't walk on that," she said, pointing to the injury.

"Right then, you run and fetch Madame Pomfrey," James ordered.

Emmeline's lips curled in anger. "EXCUSE me?"

"You're probably the fastest, I don't know!"

"Oh no, I'm not going to be the one to explain THIS to Madame Pomfrey. I'd like to stay out of detention thank you very much. One of YOU can go get her."

"Fine! Sirius, it'll be fastest if you are the one to HOUND her down," James said through his teeth. Sirius nodded his head, having understood some sort of code, and bolted back up through the trees.

Remus continued to tremble, even with the dry clothing on. "S'okay mate, we'll be inside soon," James said, setting him down gently on a nearby boulder.

"We need to do something about his leg," Emmeline urged. She scanned Remus' two remaining friends. "Peter, give me your scarf."

"What? Why?" he said, protectively clutching his scarf.

"Just hand it over!"

Peter reluctantly did as she asked, and she proceeded to tie the garment tightly around Remus' leg below his knee.

"AGH!"

"Sorry," she mumbled. She then took off her jacket and jumper so that she was only in her polo shirt, and set them aside as she crawled under the cloak and hugged him tightly. James and Peter looked at her, perturbed.

"W-What are you doing?" Remus stammered, shocked by both the body heat and the female presence in close proximity.

"What does it look like? I'm trying to defrost you, you twit."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

"So what WERE you all doing out all night?" she inquired again.

James shot her a dirty look. "None of your business, Vance."

"Well it is NOW."

"Just keep your mouth shut when Madame Pomfrey gets here, got it?"

"How about a 'thank you for helping him' instead?"

"Thank you," Remus muttered next to her. He gaze softened as she turned back to him.

"You're welcome."

…

"You made me late for class."

Remus was sitting by himself on the bridge, reading a book when Emmeline turned up out of nowhere and startled him. He was ALWAYS reading.

"...Sorry, what?"

"I said you made me late for class. You know, last month. At the lake."

He blinked at her, confused. "Oh...I'm sorry about that."

"It's alright," she said, sitting down beside him but looking straight ahead.

He didn't say anything, and instead he continued to stare at her. Girls didn't often talk to him. They always talked to Sirius.

"...I bet you're confused as to why I'm just bringing it up now."

"...A bit, yeah…"

She turned to face him. "I didn't see you at dinner last night."

Uh-oh.

Remus quickly selected one of the excuses he had on file. "I was in detention." He nervously tugged down the sleeves of his sweater to mask his latest cuts and bruises.

"Were Potter and Black and Pettigrew with you? I didn't see them either."

"Yep," he shot back, his voice cracking.

"...Do you guys get detention every month?"

No no no no no.

Remus jumped up from his seat and grabbed his book bag. "I've actually got to run," he said, panicked. Emmeline stood up and blocked his way before he could leave. "Emmeline, please-"

"Do you have lycanthropy?" she blurted out.

Remus' whole body went numb.

His heart started pounding. He could see the headlines now: "Werewolf Student Expelled from Hogwarts." He had been so lucky for four years, but now they were going to send him away. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to deny the demands of the angry parents. He was never going to be a wizard. He was never going to see his friends again.

Maybe he could persuade her to keep his secret. "Emmeline, you have to understand-"

"My uncle was a werewolf, too."

He stopped and looked at her, gobsmacked.

"...What?"

"My mum's brother, he was bitten when he was a teenager. When I was a kid he stayed with us for a few months when he couldn't find work, and there was always one night a month mum had to lock him up in the cellar. She didn't tell me about his condition until he passed away a few years ago," she explained, wide-eyed.

Remus had to take a few seconds to process what she had just said. He had never met anybody who knew another werewolf personally.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anybody, honest," she continued. "I just wanted to know."

"You're not...you're not scared of me?"

Emmeline scoffed. "Of you? Hardly. I just had to be sure Potter and Black weren't the ones beating the snot out of you each month," she joked, pointing to a fresh cut just under his eyebrow. Remus was too flabbergasted to laugh.

"...So...I guess I'll see you at dinner then Lupin…" With that, she turned and made her way back towards the castle, leaving Remus speechless where he stood.

Emmeline reckoned he was relieved.