Chapter IV - Monday morning
Ellie hadn't slept almost all night and every time she did sleep she would have these weird dreams about weretigers and werefish accusing her of forgetting all about them just because she had fallen in love with a werewolf. Then they would complain to the Ministry of Magic, who sent a couple of Dementors (oddly dressed in emerald green) to lock her in Azkaban forever. And then she would wake up startled and convince herself that it was just a nightmare.
By 5 a.m. she just gave up trying to sleep and went to her lab, to check and double check on the Wolfsbane potion.
She was very nervous about what would happen. She didn't know how to ask him to be her lab rat, she wasn't sure how he would react and she hadn't seen him for ages!
She made some breakfast and actually managed to fall asleep on the kitchen table, over her arm.
This time, she was dreaming that a vampire had come, instead of Remus, and that he kept telling her he was Remus and she had made a mistake: he had never been a werewolf, he had been a vampire all along! Then she said "Rats! I'll just have to start all over again!" when she heard a knock on the door. She tried to open it but the door wouldn't open!
Next moment, she woke up and realised there was actually someone knocking at the door.
She quickly looked at a mirror by the door (she had markings on her face of the robes of her sleeve) and noticed her arm was numb.
"I'll be right there!" she called, and the knocking stopped.
Picking her wand (which had fallen under the table), she removed the markings on her face and quickly crossed the room. Not sure whether to Alohomora it or opening the door herself, she ended up Yellowmora it, which embarrassingly turned the door to a bright canary yellow.
Outside, Remus Lupin frowned, looking at the door changing colours and hearing a number of weird noises that greatly resembled someone tripping over a pile of books.
Finally, the door turned wood-brown again and was obviously opened by a spell because the person inside, closer than she should be, cursed when the door flung open in a spilt second and hit her right in the nose.
Remus entered, very puzzled by the whole thing, and saw Ellie hanging on to her nose while looking for something on the ground.
"Are you alright?" he asked leaning on her.
"I'b jus' looging for by dose" Ellie said.
"Your nose?!" he asked in alarm.
"Joging! I'b looging for by wand."
"Oh! Accio wand" Remus said and her wand came flying into his hand.
"Thangs."
"And your nose?..." he asked her in concern. But she was already moving to her lab ("I'll be right back"). He looked around for a place to sit, but unable to find one he found safe, gave up and just waited standing for her return. Two minutes later she entered the room again.
"I'm so sorry about that."
"Not at all, please. Are you alright?"
"I've taken a very strong healing potion. I just hope my nose doesn't come of-centre. I'm joking!" she added, looking at his very concerned look on her nose, trying to eye-measure if it was still centred.
There was a very awkward silence (Ellie was sure he was not convinced that it was just a joke) broken by her sudden voice "How about a cup of tea?"
And they both walked towards the kitchen. Apart from the fact that he wasn't much familiarized with the place, he still walked very smoothingly through the great mess that was the living room, and a lot faster than Snape had.
She indicated a high stool for him to seat and offered him a cup of tea.
"Hummm, this is quite tasty." he said
"Thanks." And those were the only words they exchange for long minutes, while drinking in silence. Finally he looked up at her and spoke again "So, tell me, Ellie, what have you been doing these many years?"
"Travelling around the world, studying all sort of magical creatures and trying to invent new potions" The answer was so compact he winked blankly before finding his voice again.
"I've been travelling too." he said. "I've been studying the dark arts. Well, self-defence against dark arts, I mean."
"That's all the old gang's been doing for years. I mean, fighting the dark arts" and she suddenly remembered Sirius Black was in Azkaban because he had been in the dark arts and fell into silence again.
"I'm... I'm sor-"
"It's okay." he interrupted her.
After a brief pause he spoke again, determined to keep some memories out of his mind. "Well, you said in your letter you wanted to discuss something. A new experiment, is it?" he seemed very business-like suddenly.
"Yes. I've been trying some new... things."
"And it's got to do with dark arts, is it?"
"Hummm... yes, you can say that."
"Wasn't that why you called me?"
Suddenly it seemed a lot more difficult to tell him in person what it was. She had pictured this moment a million times in her mind. She would say "Oh, Remus, I found a cure!" and he would say "I've been waiting for this all my life! How can I ever thank you?" And they would break in tears and embrace with emotion (and in her wildest dreams they would kiss afterwards, although she knew that part was just a dream) but now she couldn't find the heart to say anything.
Knowing her silence was starting to be a little strange, she smiled and said "Come and see, then, I want you to tell me what you think."
And she pointed the door to the lab. They walked inside and she picked the recipe for the flea-repellent for pumpkins.
"This is a new potion I've developed from the old Repelus by Godwin Groylock" He took it in his hands and examined it. "Hummm" he said "I'm not sure you got the right person. I'm not very good in potions, you know."
"But you're good in dark creatures and fleas are certainly... dark... creatures...hum... I mean..."
But he was looking at her rather then looking at the potion recipe or the cauldron. She fell silent.
"I'm sure fleas are very dark creatures" he said with a smile "but I'm also sure this is not what you wanted to show me."
She breathed very deeply and said "You're right." she took it from his hands and said very quickly "I've just finished brewing the Wolfsbane potion. It will prevent werewolves to become monsters every full moon."
Whatever he though was the real reason for him to be there, he certainly never though it would be this one. Ellie was biting her lips in expectation. She was sure he was very surprised by what she said. He seemed to be fighting an inner battle. He looked rather pale and suddenly very tired. For few long minutes, she just stared at him, while he stared at nowhere in particular looking fragile and scared. They seemed to have stopped breathing and the only sound came from some bubbling potion in the room. At long last, he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Are you sure" he said, looking her very deeply in the eyes.
"I've not tested it yet" she said "but, yes, I'm dead sure."
He ran his fingers through his hair. It was such a weird moment. He closed his eyes and seemed to be doing very quick thinking, then, looking at her again, he said "You said it has not been tested yet..."
The moment had come. She felt her heart bumping so hard it seemed it would to be coming out of her throat. For a split second she was sure he would say she was plain crazy and curse her before he left... forever.
But he just said "I'll do it, then."
His face was set... and her heart suddenly felt lighter than air.
Ellie hadn't slept almost all night and every time she did sleep she would have these weird dreams about weretigers and werefish accusing her of forgetting all about them just because she had fallen in love with a werewolf. Then they would complain to the Ministry of Magic, who sent a couple of Dementors (oddly dressed in emerald green) to lock her in Azkaban forever. And then she would wake up startled and convince herself that it was just a nightmare.
By 5 a.m. she just gave up trying to sleep and went to her lab, to check and double check on the Wolfsbane potion.
She was very nervous about what would happen. She didn't know how to ask him to be her lab rat, she wasn't sure how he would react and she hadn't seen him for ages!
She made some breakfast and actually managed to fall asleep on the kitchen table, over her arm.
This time, she was dreaming that a vampire had come, instead of Remus, and that he kept telling her he was Remus and she had made a mistake: he had never been a werewolf, he had been a vampire all along! Then she said "Rats! I'll just have to start all over again!" when she heard a knock on the door. She tried to open it but the door wouldn't open!
Next moment, she woke up and realised there was actually someone knocking at the door.
She quickly looked at a mirror by the door (she had markings on her face of the robes of her sleeve) and noticed her arm was numb.
"I'll be right there!" she called, and the knocking stopped.
Picking her wand (which had fallen under the table), she removed the markings on her face and quickly crossed the room. Not sure whether to Alohomora it or opening the door herself, she ended up Yellowmora it, which embarrassingly turned the door to a bright canary yellow.
Outside, Remus Lupin frowned, looking at the door changing colours and hearing a number of weird noises that greatly resembled someone tripping over a pile of books.
Finally, the door turned wood-brown again and was obviously opened by a spell because the person inside, closer than she should be, cursed when the door flung open in a spilt second and hit her right in the nose.
Remus entered, very puzzled by the whole thing, and saw Ellie hanging on to her nose while looking for something on the ground.
"Are you alright?" he asked leaning on her.
"I'b jus' looging for by dose" Ellie said.
"Your nose?!" he asked in alarm.
"Joging! I'b looging for by wand."
"Oh! Accio wand" Remus said and her wand came flying into his hand.
"Thangs."
"And your nose?..." he asked her in concern. But she was already moving to her lab ("I'll be right back"). He looked around for a place to sit, but unable to find one he found safe, gave up and just waited standing for her return. Two minutes later she entered the room again.
"I'm so sorry about that."
"Not at all, please. Are you alright?"
"I've taken a very strong healing potion. I just hope my nose doesn't come of-centre. I'm joking!" she added, looking at his very concerned look on her nose, trying to eye-measure if it was still centred.
There was a very awkward silence (Ellie was sure he was not convinced that it was just a joke) broken by her sudden voice "How about a cup of tea?"
And they both walked towards the kitchen. Apart from the fact that he wasn't much familiarized with the place, he still walked very smoothingly through the great mess that was the living room, and a lot faster than Snape had.
She indicated a high stool for him to seat and offered him a cup of tea.
"Hummm, this is quite tasty." he said
"Thanks." And those were the only words they exchange for long minutes, while drinking in silence. Finally he looked up at her and spoke again "So, tell me, Ellie, what have you been doing these many years?"
"Travelling around the world, studying all sort of magical creatures and trying to invent new potions" The answer was so compact he winked blankly before finding his voice again.
"I've been travelling too." he said. "I've been studying the dark arts. Well, self-defence against dark arts, I mean."
"That's all the old gang's been doing for years. I mean, fighting the dark arts" and she suddenly remembered Sirius Black was in Azkaban because he had been in the dark arts and fell into silence again.
"I'm... I'm sor-"
"It's okay." he interrupted her.
After a brief pause he spoke again, determined to keep some memories out of his mind. "Well, you said in your letter you wanted to discuss something. A new experiment, is it?" he seemed very business-like suddenly.
"Yes. I've been trying some new... things."
"And it's got to do with dark arts, is it?"
"Hummm... yes, you can say that."
"Wasn't that why you called me?"
Suddenly it seemed a lot more difficult to tell him in person what it was. She had pictured this moment a million times in her mind. She would say "Oh, Remus, I found a cure!" and he would say "I've been waiting for this all my life! How can I ever thank you?" And they would break in tears and embrace with emotion (and in her wildest dreams they would kiss afterwards, although she knew that part was just a dream) but now she couldn't find the heart to say anything.
Knowing her silence was starting to be a little strange, she smiled and said "Come and see, then, I want you to tell me what you think."
And she pointed the door to the lab. They walked inside and she picked the recipe for the flea-repellent for pumpkins.
"This is a new potion I've developed from the old Repelus by Godwin Groylock" He took it in his hands and examined it. "Hummm" he said "I'm not sure you got the right person. I'm not very good in potions, you know."
"But you're good in dark creatures and fleas are certainly... dark... creatures...hum... I mean..."
But he was looking at her rather then looking at the potion recipe or the cauldron. She fell silent.
"I'm sure fleas are very dark creatures" he said with a smile "but I'm also sure this is not what you wanted to show me."
She breathed very deeply and said "You're right." she took it from his hands and said very quickly "I've just finished brewing the Wolfsbane potion. It will prevent werewolves to become monsters every full moon."
Whatever he though was the real reason for him to be there, he certainly never though it would be this one. Ellie was biting her lips in expectation. She was sure he was very surprised by what she said. He seemed to be fighting an inner battle. He looked rather pale and suddenly very tired. For few long minutes, she just stared at him, while he stared at nowhere in particular looking fragile and scared. They seemed to have stopped breathing and the only sound came from some bubbling potion in the room. At long last, he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Are you sure" he said, looking her very deeply in the eyes.
"I've not tested it yet" she said "but, yes, I'm dead sure."
He ran his fingers through his hair. It was such a weird moment. He closed his eyes and seemed to be doing very quick thinking, then, looking at her again, he said "You said it has not been tested yet..."
The moment had come. She felt her heart bumping so hard it seemed it would to be coming out of her throat. For a split second she was sure he would say she was plain crazy and curse her before he left... forever.
But he just said "I'll do it, then."
His face was set... and her heart suddenly felt lighter than air.