~ The Cry of the Lone Wolf ~
-Chapter 4-
Allergic Reactions
Sapphire eyes snapped open, blinking continuously until the whole image was in focus. The current time was of the suns warm rays just rising whilst the sky was still in a deep veil of teal. He sighed at the beautiful sight, of just him and the horizon, the whole sensation of being at a place of normality and not fear, he gave a sorrowful glance at the horizon once more and turned for the showers.
"Oh no!" he gasped, looking at the silver taps, he took a deep breath and braced himself for the spasm of pain that he'd feel at the contact of the silver and wolven blood coursing through his veins.
He returned half an hour later, his pale hands limp and outstretched, feeling as if they'd been passed through ice, yet burning like fire. He shivered under his scarlet gown, in the chill of the early morning, yet still managed to suppress a smile at his reflection in the full-length mirror.
He sighed wistfully, and slipped into his robes then over it he put on the customary cloak, until he noticed the clasp.
"Fantastic! I forgot about the silver clasp!"
Remus squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for the pain again. He fumbled to put on his cloak, which surprisingly hung loosely on his well-built, scarred frame. He looked into the full-length mirror and scanned the reflection it showed.
A tall willowy figure, with a mahogany parting of hair framing his pained facial features - the azure of his eyes unmoving and seemingly in a fixed position.
He quickly turned away and allowed his feet to carry themselves to the great hall, as breakfast would be served at this time, his onyx robes sweeping the floor.
"So-o, now what? What's an ickle werewolf to do?"
Remus turned another corner of the ancient building, a terracotta tapestry however stopped him in his tracks, it seemed flared with life, however the image was of a legendary bird. Remus halted to admire the handiwork, until an acid-green figure erupted through the tapestry, his eyes widened with shock as his pupils got smaller, his mouth slightly agape.
"Ooh, an ickle firstie!" an oily, taunting voice echoed around him, he blinked once, twice then a third, and a face could be diminished from all the green smoke.
It was a poltergeist, and their prefect had warned them of him, nobody could control him except the bloody baron (the Slytherin house ghost, whom looked something to be feared about, as his torn robes were covered with silver bloodstains) - it was Peeves.
Peeves' grin got wider, as he realised which certain first year it was - the wolf boy.
"Ooh, ditzy little wolf, ain't you?" Peeves teased in the manner he could.
"Oh fab, a prejudiced poltergeist, what next?"
Remus bit the inside of his cheek, instead of snapping back, he chose to ignore it, he marveled at his patience, one of the few things he appreciated about himself.
However, Peeves continued to float by him, circling him like a rain cloud of misery and torture, cackling loudly as Remus continued to make his way towards the great hall.
***
Thankfully, Peeve-free, he entered the great hall, arriving to the hustle and welcoming the excited morning chatter of Hogwarts, he looked around, then at the corner of the hall where the Gryffindor table was situated, he held his head up and made his way there.
He seated himself at the edge of the table, where most first years were, talking and laughing, however the person whom he was sitting next to was a slightly plump boy, with blonde-hair matting his forehead and a pointed nose was sitting there quietly, scribbling away on a parchment, tounge out in concentration. Remus stared him up and down in silent amusement, as the boy - whom he recalled as Pettigrew - hadn't even noticed his presence, he folded his arms against his chest and gave him a smile.
"Writing to his 'mummy' probably!"
"So-o, what are you doing?" Remus asked gently, trying not to laugh at the sight before him.
"Oh, I'm writing to my mummy," Pettigrew replied not looking up, furiously writing away, "you know, to tell her that I'm alright, she gets worried easily!"
Remus laughed inwardly, then quickly recoiled himself into his 'shy guy' routine, he smiled and nodded.
Then Pettigrew folded up the letter and pocketed it, he looked up to Remus and gave him a smile, one of the few that he'd received, "you missing your home?"
Remus was taken aback slightly, by the outright question, Pettigrew raised an eyebrow.
"He expects an answer ditz! Oh god I hate talking to myself, even more so, I hate answering back!"
Remus nodded his head, though the movement was slightly stiff, and Pettigrew seemed to notice that, instead of persisting him with more questions, the boy instead smiled and gave him his hand to shake.
"Call me Peter!" Pettigrew smiled, his round-face looking softer and his laugh more welcoming than the morning sun.
Remus dutifully shook the podgy hand, "And you can call me Remus!"
"Stop being such a sarcastic pessimist, be at least more welcoming, like he has to you! He could be one of the few boys who you'd ever get to say 'hi' to!"
Loosening up, Remus gave him a smile, however it only lasted for a moment as enormous bursts of laughter erupted from the opposite end. Remus swiveled his head, as did Peter to see what was so 'funny', only to see two, high-spirited raven-heads. Remus rolled his eyes, as did Peter at the two attention-seekers, as last night at the beginning of term feast, they'd let everyone else know who was the coolest and the ones with the most swollen heads, to Remus' dismay they were in his dormitory along with the four other first year boys who were sorted into Gryffindor.
Ignoring the boys with the swollen egos he picked up his pocket-sized timetable, with the words: Remus Lupin - Gryffindor Timetable, he was sure his was a little different than the other first years, and as soon as he opened it he saw he was correct. There was the original timetable of all the lessons Monday-Friday, however there was a small lunar chart invading the space, and the upcoming dates of the full moon, along with timings and other important information, Remus averted his eyes trying to forget the upcoming painful transformation, instead focusing on the first lesson - Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.
***
"Welcome first years to your first lesson of Herbology, I am Professor Sprout - head of Hufflepuff house, as my own students know," the sandy-haired woman paused, beaming at the Hufflepuff first-years, then continued, "Well your first lesson is a practical, it's nothing hard and we'll use fairly easy utensils, so get into threes whilst I sort out the equipment! Chop chop now!"
Peter immediately came rushing to Remus, which Remus was glad, alas, someone decided to befriend the wolf-child. Peter halted in front of Remus and a slight blush crept up to his face, his hands went through his plastered, blonde hair.
"Err...Can you? Can I work with you?" he asked, embarrassed.
"AH! Work with me? Oh god, I should stop having such a sick mind!"
After Remus had gone back to his original state of mind, he nodded briskly and managed a smile, "sure! But we need another person?"
Peter shrugged, his face blank, Remus looked around until he spotted, well rather everyone heard-
"ARGH! I'm dieing!" one of the ebony-haired boys screamed, his hands had inflated to surpass an average size and little magenta boils had embedded themselves in into his nails and knuckles, it took Remus' total self-control to keep himself from laughing.
"Oh, Mr. Black, stop making such a fuss, only an allergic reaction, nothing much!" Professor Sprout snapped, looking up after rummaging around some pots, she sighed and gave him a thorough glance, "I'm afraid you'll have to go to the hospital wing, pity as it's your first day you'll miss, but it shouldn't take too long!"
"Ah yes, Sirius Black, the show-off! Now I remember his name, and the other one I recall, is Potter!"
Sirius Black ran out of the greenhouse, his hands outstretched leaving behind a very worried but nonetheless, amused, James Potter. Remus was going to ask Peter what plant had Sirius touched, or what he'd done, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, James Potter came bounding up to the two Gryffindors. He flashed them a smile, not one of I-am-god, but more sheepish and embarrassed, Remus decided just this once he was welcome and could work with them, it wasn't like Remus to hold a grudge against anyone really.
"Err, can I work with you guys? I'm sorry, my buddy, Sirius had an allergic reaction towards the residue of the pondweed!" James shook his head, apparently not that concerned, as if it was by any means normal, "I swear, that guy is allergic to almost everything!"
"I'm allergic to silver!" Remus blurted out, then made a mental note to not comment much on other peoples dilemmas.
"Why?" James questioned, eyebrows raised.
"I'm a werewolf, that's why!"
"I have sensitive skin," Remus lied coolly, his sapphire eyes gazing straight into James' copper orbs.
The jet-black haired boy just shrugged and strolled over to the place where Sirius and him had been working, their tray was complete with all the necessary ingredients in needing to grow Cress.
Remus raised an eyebrow, "Why cress?"
"Duh, it's easy and simple, all we have to do is bury the seeds in the soil, they don't need much attention and we can mess about the rest of the double lessons!" James rolled his eyes as if it was obvious.
Remus and Peter nodded, it made sense and they didn't know much about plants anyway.
Professor Sprout peered over the boys' shoulders and tutted, "now really boys, could you try to be a little more creative? Actually, why not challenging yourself?" the face of the middle-aged Professor lit up, she beamed at them, "I know, you can grow some Narcissus'! They are just the thing you need to achieve great, worthwhile results!"
And with that said, she scuttled off to get the necessary bulbs and equipment required, James slapped his forehead in dismay.
"That'll take forever!" he sighed, and quickly plastered a smile as Professor Sprout bounced upto the three holding quite allot of work for the boys.
***
James had surprised Remus quite a bit, in only a short space of time, he'd opened up his life story to them, now he knew allot more than he'd asked for, but what he really found out was that James was quite a nice boy - sure the prankster and wanted to be the center of attention at all times - but there was more to him than that, a real eye-opener of an experience, even for Peter whom hadn't any personality whatsoever, and Remus found it difficult that James hung around Sirius Black, that stupid prat would do anything for attention.
"How ironic, I'm talking to the attention-seeker, me, reasonable-little-sorry-sod, talking to him, I never-"
"What's our next lesson?" James questioned, interrupting his thoughts, "Oh yeah, Defence Against the Dark Arts, I was looking forward to that lesson, better than caring for blooming Narcissus' for two periods, eh?"
Remus nodded, along with Peter whom had opened his timetable just to check.
James sighed wistfully, "eeh, that Sirius, trust him to skive off the first day, I mean I bet it doesn't hurt and he's just making a fuss for nothing!"
"Just the Sirius type thing to do!"
"Yeah," Remus replied nonchalantly, as he'd replied to almost everyone.
Alternately, when they arrived at the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, which was situated in the dungeons, they saw the ebony-haired boy, sitting at the front, (hands back to normal suppleness and size) he grinned at James but Remus was sure that it slightly wavered when his gaze rested on Peter and himself.
Nonetheless, Remus didn't, well couldn't refuse James' invitation ("Come on!" it wasn't a request, as James dragged Remus and Peter, dumping them on the seat beside Sirius and himself) of sitting beside him and Sirius, Remus glanced nervously at Sirius but agreed all the same.
"I know that Sirius is avoiding my eyes, he just hates me, well duh, the feeling is mutual bozo!"
Remus stopped shooting threatening side glances to Sirius -whom didn't respond as he was chatting happily to James about the famous wizarding sport of Quidditch- when the Professor came in, a middle-aged man, bulkier in the shoulder region with threatening arms and a wild mop of ash-blonde hair, his electric blue eyes piercing them all with a cold stare which immediately silenced the class, his gaze bore into Remus - whom defiantly glared back.
"Take a picture; it'll last longer!"
Finally his gaze left him, and settled on the rest of the class, "I'm Professor Bradley, I'm going to be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts-"
"Never!" A whisper carried itself to Remus' ears, then followed by a stifled laugh.
Professor Bradley chose to ignore the culprits and a small unreadable smile came upon his features; Remus squirmed as he met the gaze again.
"This term, we'll be starting a topic on- werewolves," his gaze rested on Remus then like steel moved away, "can anyone tell me what everyone else knows about them?"
Remus' insides did a back flip, as he scanned the students, only a handful had raised their hands - Sirius Black being one of them.
"Huh? What would he know about werewolves?"
"Yes Mr. Black?" Professor Bradley questioned.
Remus' anger welled up inside of him, however, his face showed nothing of the sort.
"I am stone, no emotion, no weakness..."
"They're a menace to society!" Sirius answered, his tone not really serious, more lacing with sarcasm and amusement.
"And like you're not! Geez, what a hypocrite!"
"Excellent, 5 points to Gryffindor!" Professor Bradley replied delighted, as he hadn't heard of sarcasm.
The rest of the lesson was basically making notes on the passages and information read by Professor Bradley, apparently the little 'project' would give Remus enough time to re-think about coming to Hogwarts, but he wouldn't leave, now he'd got the place, he'd stay.
"Your homework for this week is to make a front page for your project, and an introductory on the ways of differing from a werewolf to a normal wolf- any questions?" Professor Bradley barked.
"Can you use magic?" asked a girl whom Remus re-called as Kate Bystrova.
Professor Bradley nodded, "yes, but only the basic charms to decorate and to only decorate your work, any more? What is it Pettigrew?"
"Why are we doing third year stuff?" Peter whimpered, slightly unnerved by the Professor, not that Peter had minded taking notes as his were quite neat and all set out in sub-headings as well.
"Any other questions? None, good!" Professor Bradley chose to ignore Peter, Remus scowled, one of the rare times he ever did.
***
"Move it four-eyes!" a silky feminine voice commanded.
"B-but...your in the way!" another voice cried out in response, a male's this time.
Remus tilted his head around the darkened corner to witness a handsome Chinese boy, his framed Asian eyes giving away his origin, cowering slightly being over-shadowed by two girls. Both wearing identical grins, one was he recognized at once, Kate Bystrova, a Russian Slytherin and she'd got an acquaintance with her.
"Oh, look Lucy, we're in the way!" Kate said in mock sympathy to the blonde girl next to her, who's emerald eyes gave a hint of sheer delight.
"Yep, in the way of our favourite mudblood Hufflepuff!" Lucy replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Now we wouldn't want to scare you, ey Lam?"
***
Authors Note: Aw, poor Jonathan Lam- don't worry this fanfic isn't on racial discrimination at all, Jonathans going to get his own back- but probably it'll be too late. Also just to warn you, there isn't any indication of male or female slash! Congratulations to the reviewer that said Quentin Blake, as yes that was the student that illustrates for children's books, mainly Roald Dahl's books.
nattherat ~ Hey Natalie! Thanks for reading my review and I was really happy of your two reviews, I'm feeling really positive about this story as you give the nicest reviews! :)
Ragemoon ~ Thank you for the review, I feel honoured that you're keeping track of the story, thanks and it leads me to write more and more! ^_^
SuGaSuGa ~ Thanks for keeping track of the story, and do keep reviewing as then I know someone is taking an interest!
Silver Fawkes ~ Congratulations! You got it right, it was Quentin Blake, but it was my sister's idea to put him in!
Crystal Mage ~ I thoroughly enjoyed reading your reviews, they kept me from completing my fourth chapter and I like how my story touches your emotions, it makes me feel happy to know as I was hoping this would be an emotional tale!
Marauder Chick ~ Thank you for taking the time to review my story as well, it made me feel better and I like receiving feed-back and good luck on your story as it's developing nicely!
ArchArtist/Writer ~ Thanks the comment, I was hoping someone would notice my Remus is a little bit original, as I intended the originality whilst staying in-character, thank you!