PART 8
The sweets shop felt dark somehow. Remus didn't see bubblegum anywhere. He went to the shop assistant.
"Hello do you have bubblegum?"
The shop keeper just stared at him, blank faced.
"Bubblegum? What's that?"
Remus headed for the door, horrified.
Then he saw a big bubblegum machine and sighed. He felt so relieved, until he saw...
The bubblegum machine only had white bubblegum.
And the sky was full of moons.
A hooded figure carrying a scythe he hadn't seen before spoke:
"HELLO."
"Hi. What's going on?"
"YOUR TIMES HAS NOT YET COME."
"Then what am I doing in hell?"
"BECAUSE WEREWOLVES GO TO HELL, THAT'S JUST THE RULE. UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, YOU ARE DOOMED TO BE ONE OF LUCIFER'S WICKED DEMON MINIONS ONE DAY. TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY HOWEVER. CURRENTLY YOUR LIFE IS HANGING BY A THREAD. I WILL RETURN YOU TO YOUR WORLD ON ONE CONDITION."
"What's the condition?"
"YOU MUST SHOW TRUE COURAGE."
"Ok. Any pointers?"
"NOT REALLY. WELL I CAN GIVE YOU ONE: DON'T CONFUSE IT WITH HEROISM. TO SHOW REAL COURAGE MEANS TO DO WHAT IS TRULY DIFFICULT, RISKING WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE IT'S RIGHT. IT IS ONLY REAL COURAGE, IF IT IS REALLY HARD."
Somehow that felt like a really unfair task. Why couldn't his task to be nice to someone?
"Suppose I consider my life truly important…"
"I SAID NO HEROISM. HEROISM IS A NO-NO."
Hoody snapped his fingers and disappeared. The task really felt super unfair, not at all as easy as the task Sirius had received! This task, the way it was phrased and what it implied, would be hard for anyone!