She internally thanked herself for not being naked at that moment.
Circe slowly turned her head to meet the boy's eyes. He looked scared, as expected. His hand was shaking and his wand wasn't anywhere near a fatal point, so Circe lightly tilted her head towards the medi-kit. He warily glanced at the box, and his grip lowered slightly, which was Circe's cue to dart out of his firing line and grab his sweater from off the ground before launching herself behind a tree.
Her transformation back was much easier this time around, and she thanked the stars that the boy was significantly taller than her, as the sweater reached a little above her knees and covered up most of her.
She gathered herself, then tentatively stepped back into the clearing. The boy's back was to her, and she could hear him muttering something about "sweater stealing leopards" before she went to pick up the medi-kit. Circe made sure to be very gentle when reaching out to tap the boy on his shoulder, but he still jumped at the contact.
"Hey, are you good?" He nodded slowly, wide eyed and confused. "Here, come sit, I have a healer's kit." She sat down, and patted the ground in front of her. She decided introductions could come after she checked his injuries.
The boy didn't sit. He just kept staring at Circe like she had two heads. She rolled her eyes. "What, do I have something on my face? You're bleeding, sit down." He did so, reluctantly.
A few minutes of silence passed as Circe gently cleaned the boy's wounds. He didn't make a sound, which unnerved Circe a little, but mostly made her sad. How much pain had this boy been in that he didn't even flinch at her actions?
She started to dress his wounds with dittany when he suddenly filled the silence with, "You're American?" It was more of a statement than a question, but it still made her snort. "That's your first question?" She asked incredulously. "Well, there's a lot I would like to ask, but yes? It felt more appropriate than 'how are you' or 'how do you find the weather today'." He flushed.
Circe laughed, and said, "Well I'm doing alright, I like rainy weather better, and yeah, I am American. There." Circe stepped back from him and looked at her work. "That should do it for now, but you should change your bandages tomorrow." He seemed incredibly off put by Circe's blasè attitude, and scrambled to his feet as she started off back to her Aunt's house.
"Wait, I still have more questions!" he called, jogging to catch up with her. Circe kept walking, imagining the endless punishments her mother would be dishing out for missing curfew. "Well good for you," She retorted. "But I missed curfew and I'm starving so I really need to be getting home."
"You still have my sweater," He tried. Circe continued on. "I don't even know your name!" the boy exclaimed. That's probably better, Circe thought. "Will you tell anyone?"
This stopped Circe in her tracks. She slowly spun around to meet his eyes. He looked infinitely more pained now than when Circe was dressing his injuries. She analyzed his expression, the troubled feeling expanding in her stomach. He really thinks I'll expose him, Circe realized.
She took a deep breath. "Would you like to have breakfast with me?"
He was lost. "Huh?" Circe repeated herself.
She shrugged. "It's only if you want." she said, and kept walking. After a while, Circe could hear his footsteps follow behind her. She smiled, secretly glad that he at least trusted her enough to follow her. Her thoughts grew unfocused as she lingered on the boy's fear of exposure. She wondered how he had grown up, and what he thought about the wolf. Circe had always been very invested in the politics of magizoology, a side effect of an early exposure to both of her parent's careers but had not often had the opportunity to interact with direct victims of it. She supposed the boy probably wouldn't take well to her questions.
Circe was lost in her thoughts, and didn't notice as she almost walked directly onto a metal contraption on the ground. She squeaked as a strong arm caught her midstep. Circe turned into the boy's chest, pushing him away and trying to ignore the fact that he was shirtless. "What was that for?" She said, hoping her blush wasn't too obvious. He was still holding onto her arm, and awkwardly dropped it before pointing to the ground, and simply said, "Rabbit trap."
Circe's expression twisted into one of horror as she looked at the jagged metal jaws of the trap. "Yeah, pretty brutal," It was like he read her mind. "Some muggle farmers nearby set them up." He lifted his pant leg a little. "Got me good a couple months ago."
Circe pursed her lips together, distraught at the sight of a gnarled band of flesh around his ankle, even more so at the boy's nonchalance. "We're here." She said tersely, brushing away a fallen leaf on his shoulder. They walked in silence out of the woods.
When Circe opened the door, she was met with an alarmingly irate Tina and a nervous Newt (an awful combination that stressed her out). "Where have you been?!" Her mother shouted. Her father shifted uneasily, noticing the boy, who was currently shrinking behind Circe in an attempt to shield himself from Tina's wrath.
"Er, darling, we've got company," Newt tried.
Circe smiled, used to getting on her mother's nerves. "Ma, I'd like to introduce you both to my new friend whom I found in the woods," She gestured to the boy. "His name is, er,..."
"Remus, Remus Lupin." He supplied, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, but are your parents Newt and Tina Scamander?"
Circe sighed, before dragging him into the kitchen, where Queenie was preparing something that smelled heavenly in the oven. They were quickly followed by her father, who was still trying to placate her mother, as he didn't like yelling in the house.
"Well, hiya sugar, where have you been?" Queenie shot a lovely grin at Remus. His eyes widened even further. "We are in Miss Goldstein's house?" He hissed to Circe. She raised her eyebrows in response. "You know my aunt?" Everything was getting much too muddled for Circe to follow.
Queenie glanced at her knowingly. "Sweetheart, how about you and Remus go on upstairs while I try to sort things out with your parents. You can find him a shirt to wear, and I'll bring up some cinnamon buns when they're done." Merlin, Circe loved her aunt. She sent a wordless thank you with her eyes before grabbing Remus and darting up the stairs.
When she finally got to her room, she shoved him in and quickly shut the door behind her. Circe sighed and covered her face. "So…" she peeked between her fingers to look at Remus. "You gonna tell me your name yet?"