CHAPTER FIVE
Of Quidditch and Werewolves
Harry stooped down and picked up the ebon, "I'll be right back," he said over his shoulder to Selene. He tip toed back to his room and tapped on the wall; a hook formed itself there. Harry held out the cage and the wall grabbed it from him, forming a secure hold on the cage, the ebon squawked. "I don't know what you want," he said defensively to the bird.
There was a knock on the door and Harry turned to find Selene standing in the doorway. "You want some hot chocolate?" she asked. Harry nodded and she left. He bent over to pick his shirt off of the floor; he pulled the shirt over his head and a piece of string fell from it.
"Stupid bird." He began to feel anger spreading through his veins. He had no idea why he felt it, but he did. He shook his head and crept down the stairs.
He found Selene at the microwave as she pulled a porcelain mug from the machine. She ripped open a packet of mix and poured it into the steaming milk. She put in a spoon and- "Here, I'll stir them," Harry said hurriedly, remembering her bloody hands.
"Thanks," Selene smiled as she handed him the mug and stuck another one into the microwave. Harry stirred quietly as the spoon clinked against the cup. "You wanna go watch the sun rise?" Harry's head jerked up.
"Sure, but we have to bandage your hands up first." Selene rolled her eyes and grabbed some gauze. She winced as she washed her hands with antiseptic; Harry put down his mug and wrapped the fabric around her hands.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Selene took her mug and padded her way up the staircase, Harry followed to the third landing. When they reached the very top level she stopped. She shuffled silently into Buckbeak's room, Harry continued following her lead.
Selene slowly placed her mug on the straw covered floor and unlatched the window, pushed the glass up, and crawled outside. She leaned back in to retrieve her hot chocolate. "C'mon."
Harry stepped cautiously through the window onto the cold roof; he crawled over to Selene and eased himself down. "So," he croaked, "what was your old school like?"
Selene took a sip of her drink. "I'm sure Hogwarts is better," she took another sip. "Well, um I think it was in a canyon in Area 51."
"Area 51?"
"It's a place the Military sets apart for the magic folk. They don't say anything to the Muggles, but they tell them that it's a place where the Military tests the new aircraft," she smiled. "Most of the Muggles think that the Government is hiding aliens and that top secret testing is going on there. Mugs are dense."
"Hold on," Harry interrupted, "your government knows about magic folk?"
"Yes, our Muggle President even knows about us because nothing is allowed to be hidden from him. He's good about it though, he doesn't breathe a word about our world, but as soon as his term is over, his memory will be erased of the truth.
"Anyway, school was okay I guess. As I said earlier, I was hated there except by my Quidditch team, they were my only friends. Of course I gained an infamous reputation when my dad's being a werewolf was exposed." She sighed.
"Classes were good. We're taught in sixth year about Griffons with the one owned by our school, in Magical Creatures class. Defense Against the Dark Arts was always fun, that and Transfiguration were my best subjects. Pretty good in potions. Charms was always a blast." She changed her gaze from Harry to the red glow at the horizon. "I won't miss it too much."
"You'll like it at Hogwarts, I'm sure." Selene smiled at Harry's reassurance. "You might want to watch out for the Slytherins, they'll probably be the only trouble you'll get."
"Oh I'm sure they're all right."
Harry laughed, "I dunno, Slytherins can be quite thick headed." The anger from before had finally receded from his thoughts. The chocolate must have helped it, he thought. He watched as the sun became an array of dazzling colors. He should watch the sun rise more often.
Harry and Selene climbed through the window as soon as their cups were empty to find Buckbeak awake and clicking his beak happily. Selene ran over and patted his head with a bandaged hand. They both went downstairs together for breakfast chatting excitedly about Quidditch the whole way.
Everyone groggily shuffled their way to the table for breakfast whereas Selene and Harry were very awake and hid their thoughts of what happened that night. They both cheerfully ate pieces of the remaining cake and talked about random things. Hermione and Ron stared in amazement at how they acted like friends that had been reunited after being separated for a year.
After breakfast Ron and Harry went to Ron's room to sort through their chocolate frog cards. After about half an hour Ron finally spoke, "What happened to her hands?"
"Huh? Oh nothing, she broke some glass last night and accidentally cut herself, that's all."
"Alright." Ron went silent again. "Oy! I found it!" he exclaimed after about five minutes of pure silence. Harry nearly fell backwards from this sudden proclamation.
"Hell, Ron! What did you find?" Harry straitened himself up and looked at his friend, waiting for a reply.
"It's the Artemis card. See his name is Rudolph Artemis. It says he's the creator of the Wolfsbane potion."
"So you couldn't just take Selene and Hermione's word for it? You had to find evidence?" He snatched the card from his friend's hand and looked it over. A man's face appeared. He had a clasp with a jewel like Selene's on his cloak and a silver white strand of hair fell in front of his face. "Hey, Ron, look!" he gave the card to Ron.
"Harry the card is empty." Ron raised an eyebrow, "What was so important anyway?"
"Nothing important, just a little something interesting," Harry honestly had no idea what to say to his best friend. Maybe that jewel was an heirloom or something.
Harry and Ron both went back downstairs for a butterbeer to find Selene sitting on the couch with a mobile computer on her lap. "Hey, guys. What were you doin' up there?"
"Nothing, just sorting through some cards."
"I gotcha," she replied as she typed something into the computer. Harry and Ron continued their trip to the refrigerator.
"What was that on her lap?"
"It's called a laptop; it's a kind of computer. I have no idea how she's working it though, there aren't any phone lines in the house." They opened their butterbeers, and sat down in the comfy chairs across from Selene.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked.
"I'm emailing my friends. It's kind of like sending an owl, only faster." Ron walked behind her to watch.
"Who are Drew, Skye, and Nyki?"
"Drew used to be our Quidditch Captain, he graduated three years ago, and Skye's his little sister. Nyki was in a different house than we were, and was my opposing Seeker, but we managed to become friends. They were my best friends at Griffonwings."
"Okay, so how does this thing work exactly?"
"Well, this is a computer for magic folk, what you do is you stick the power orb into the computer," she indicated the glass ball halfway sticking out of the back of the computer, "this connects you to the internet, which is a program that connects you to the rest of the world through other computers." Harry stared at the plates on the wall as Selene explained to him the differences between the wizarding internet and the Muggle internet and how e-mail and instant messaging works. He relaxed his body and took a sip of his drink.
After she was finished and Ron had sit back down, Fred and George came into the room holding a load of their new tricks for their joke shop, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. They placed the items on the coffee table in front of Harry and set them up in a display order for them all to see their inventions. "Are those Portable Swamps?"
Harry was surprised that Selene knew what they were. "Yup," Fred replied, "How did you know about them?"
"I ordered a couple from you," she said grinning.
"Where'd you set them off?" George asked eagerly.
"Quadpot locker rooms," she smirked.
"Brilliant!" the twins said simultaneously. Just then a snowy owl fluttered into the room and perched itself on Selene's arm. It was larger then Hedwig, but it had the same piercing yellow eyes as Harry's owl.
"What's this Avedis?" The owl had dropped a plastic card in Selene's lap. She looked it over and smiled. "I got my driver's license!"
"We just got ours," Fred said.
"How old are you?" asked George.
"I turned sixteen yesterday. Guess I'm not allowed to drive here then."
"I'm sure you can," George continued, "You're a witch, you can always change your license to say your seventeen if the Muggles pull you over."
"Sounds like a good deal." Selene's owl pulled at her wispy affectionately and flew away. Fred and George then continued their presentation, but they had to cut it short since a bell rang calling them to lunch.
Harry found his seat and slowly ate his meal. He wasn't in the mood for talking, or eating, all he wanted to do was sleep and he had no idea why. Was he really that tired? Selene, Ginny and Hermione left before anyone else, having eaten ravenously like wolves. .
As soon as Harry was finished he walked to the parlor to find all three of the girls talking. Selene was laying stomach down on the couch and Ginny and Hermione were sitting on the floor. What they were talking about Harry had no idea; he had no time to figure it out either because at the same moment Selene looked at him, Harry's scar began to split in pain. All three of the girls ran over to him, and lead him to the couch. "Harry!"
"Harry! Harry, breath in deeply and let it out slowly. Come on Harry relax!" Harry closed his eyes. How come this happened? What's wrong? He slowly drew in a deep breath and let it out as slow as possible. He repeated this three times and the pain receded.
"Whoa, that was weird," he said as he opened his eyes. The three girls stood over him, each with a look of worry on their faces. Selene straitened up and scratched her head.
"What happened, exactly?"
"I honestly have no idea, it just, I dunno."
"Right," Selene helped Harry to his feet, his head spun from the change. When the colors stopped swimming, he slowly walked around to get his bearings.
Selene left him to himself and the other girls followed her lead. "You need to get some time alone. We'll come back later, Harry," Hermione said.
Harry didn't want to be alone though, he didn't want to be left with only his thoughts. Why, when Selene looked at him, had his scar hurt? What is it that Voldemort wants from her? he thought. Harry fell asleep yet again; it was the only way for him to get away from all his trouble and pain.
After what seemed like a minute, Harry was awoken by the rustling of papers. He reached for his glasses and he was able to decipher who the person was when he put them on. Selene was scribbling down words and hastily stuffing parchments in envelopes. "Stupid deadlines...registration...ugh!" Harry heard her mumble. She snapped her fingers and Avedis swooped down the staircase and fluttered to her arm. "Avedis, take this to the Ministry...Hogwarts...and wherever else they tell you to go." She handed the letters to the owl and it left her shoulder, flying through the window.
Selene stopped when she saw Harry's open eyes. "Feeling better?" she asked. Harry nodded. He pushed himself upright, and a bright light from the open shutters blinded him for a minute. He shielded his eyes with his hand, and felt gentle hands grab him on the shoulders, helping Harry to stand up.
"Thanks."
"What are friends for?"
Selene and Harry headed to the kitchen together, because at that moment the bell rang. Harry noticed then that Selene's jewel had changed; it was whiter than on his first day back at Grimmauld Place. "Selene, your jewel, what does it do? I mean there's more white in it than before and you did something to it at the memorial service."
Selene smiled, "It shows the phases of the moon. Every single person in my family has one of these jewels, I guess they-"
"Hullo, Harry," Ron interrupted. An expression of enormous relief settled itself on Selene's face. "I heard what happened today, are you okay, mate?"
Harry looked at Ron and nodded, "Great!" Ron exclaimed, "Hey, how about we play some Quidditch tomorrow? Do you have a broom, Selene?"
"Yes," she said feebly. "A game of Quidditch sounds like fun."
Harry loved Quidditch and he was happy that Ron suggested this. Harry has felt moody the whole day, and the wind running through his hair would definitely remove his troubles. Why did Selene seem so relieved that Ron interrupted? he thought, Does her necklace contain Dark Magic?
After dinner, Harry decided to take a hot shower, his muscles were hurting from sleeping on the couch and he thought that it would relieve some stress and relax him. Harry asked Mrs. Weasley where it was located and she told him it was through the master bedroom. Harry traveled up to the second landing and walked to the room at the end of the hall. It was the room farthest away from Selene's.
He walked over the moldy carpet through the dank and dark room. Cobwebs hung from all the corners in the room, Harry noticed one place that did not have a trace of aging and decay. He walked toward it to find a portrait of the last family of Blacks. A man and a woman with black hair and brown eyes stared menacingly at Harry. A teenage version of Sirius Black stood handsomely in the portrait, but he did not look happy to be sanding there with his family. A younger boy stood next to Sirius, he had the cold glare of his parents and looked just as mean as them. "Sirius," Harry whispered, hoping that this painting could move and talk as the portraits at Hogwarts did. No one in the painting moved.
Harry turned away from the painting and continued his way to the bath. The room glowed with an intense light of cleanliness. It was not at all like the room Harry had just left, the tile was cool and hard beneath his bare feet and in the silver fixtures was a perfect reflection of Harry. He dropped his pajamas on the floor and turned on the shower, he slid the glass door close. The pane fogged up almost immediately and the steam filled his lungs. Harry took off his clothes and glasses and stepped into the warm soft bullets of water falling from the showerhead. He closed his eyes, and fell into a sort of trance. He opened his eyes and scrubbed himself down with a wash cloth he had brought with him. He turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around himself. He then pulled his nightshirt over his head and continued to get ready for bed.
After he was done in the bathroom he gathered his things and sprinted through the gloomy room to the welcoming hallway. He walked downstairs, after putting his things away, into the drawing room. The fire smoldered peacefully under the hearth and Harry became drowsy from the warm atmosphere. He sat on the couch and stared into the flames. His eyes began to burn as the anger from the early morning became rekindled. Sirius used to talk to me through there, he thought, now I'll never see him again. I hate Bellatrix Lestrange. I hate Voldemort. I HATE Peter Pettigrew.
Bellatrix Lestrange was Sirius Black's cousin and a Death Eater. She was the one that killed Sirius last year. She was the reason why Harry was completely alone. Pettigrew ratted out Harry's parents to Voldemort fifteen years ago; he was the reason why Voldemort was reborn, and the traitor that ultimately killed Harry's parents and sent Sirius into hiding.
Harry thought he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, but no one was there. Harry cleared his mind. He thought of his friends. Of how they made his life so much better than what it would've been hadn't he met them. He thought of Selene, her beautiful smile and caring face. Harry thought more about her until he fell asleep.
Sunlight spilled from the open window to Harry's closed eyes, waking him up. He felt refreshed, almost reborn from his peaceful sleep. He silently tip-toed upstairs, and got dressed, enjoying every breath of air he took; his body was ready for the game of Quidditch scheduled later in the day.
Harry raced his shadow down the stairs to the empty parlor. Tongues of light from the fire jumped around the room, the smoky smell made Harry sneeze. He walked down the stone stairs to the eating area. The Weasley kids, Hermione, and Selene were all sitting down at the table talking excitedly about the Quidditch game.
"Hermione, if you want to play with us, you could borrow my old broom, it's a Nimbus 2000," Selene said.
Harry saw Hermione shake her head as he grabbed some crumpets. He turned to join them, "I'd rather just watch," Hermione said, "I'm not that comfortable with sports."
"Okay, but if you want to join in, the offer stands. Oh hi, Harry, come on, pull up a chair. We're gonna go to get ready in a few minutes."
"Sounds good," Harry said as he sat down in a black chair next to Selene. "So, what kind of broom do you have?"
"I have a new model, a Sonic Boom." Selene smiled proudly, she obviously loved her broom. "It's a bit faster than the Firebolt and is very easy to handle. I really like the twigs at the end, they're very colorful."
"Let's start playing shall we?" Ron interrupted. Harry sprinted up the stairs, everyone ran behind him. They ran through the empty parlor and up more stairs. They each ran to their rooms. Harry grabbed his broom and mounted it; he glided down the stairs and waited for his friends to join him. He let go of the broom and folded his arms. The feel of his broom under Harry felt good. He felt whole as if he was born to sit on this broom, his trusty Firebolt.
Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George flew down the stars in the same manner that Harry did. "Where's Selene?" Ginny asked as she opened the front door and led them outside broom in hand.
"I thought she'd come down already," Ron said.
"She'll come down," George said.
"Yeah, she's not the kind of girl that would turn down Quidditch!" Fred added. They all walked in between the houses to the back lot. Harry threw his leg over his broom and took off into the air. He flew higher and higher until he couldn't see any of the Weasleys' flaming red hair. Harry could hear something though; he flew down and stopped next to Ron.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"We have to select captains and divide into teams, mate."
Harry dismounted and looked in the direction Ron was looking. Selene was standing on the roof. She mounted her broom and flew down to them. "You forgot the Quaffle and the baskets," she said. She tossed the baskets at Fred and George who charmed the baskets to float right before they hit the ground. Harry watched as the baskets soared into the fog to the point where he could barely make them out.
"Whoa," Ron said, "get a load of this broom!" Harry looked at the broom in Ron's hands. "Sonic Boom" was written on the red oak handle in silver. The broomstick was polished to perfection; Harry could see his reflection in the gloss. The tail of the broom had yellow, orange, and red twigs in it making it look as if the handle had a tongue of fire coming out of the end. The broom sprung out of Ron's hands and Selene snatched it out of the air.
"Like it?" Selene said casually.
"How fast does it go?" Harry asked.
"I dunno, how about we race brooms later?"
"Sounds fun," Ginny said.
"Can we get started?" George asked.
"George and I will be captains," Fred said, "oldest picks first!"
"Oh come on, Fred!"
"I choose Harry!"
"Fine, I take Selene!"
"Ron."
"Come on, Ginny."
"Looks like it's girls against boys, George."
"Come off it, Fred."
Fred tied a piece of cloth around his arm. "Now you'll know who to pass the Quaffle to."
"No, really," Ron mumbled. Harry saw Selene whisper something in George's ear, who then smiled. Harry saw George mouth "Nice."
George took off with the Quaffle and the game began. Harry flew into the fog, and almost instantly spotted George whizzing towards Harry's team's basket. Harry tore after the eighteen year-old, Harry glanced behind him to see Ginny, trying to catch up. Harry met up with George and rammed into him. Harry groped for the ball, but missed it. George threw it at the goal, but Ron blocked it. Ron was the Gryffindor Keeper, and that throw was no challenge for him. Ron tossed the Quaffle to Harry who then turned around and speed toward the other team's goal. He pressed his body against his Firebolt, but he couldn't see the basket through the mist. Just then a blur of color zoomed in front of him and he braked on his broom.
"Nice try, Potter!" Harry heard Selene shout. He looked at his hands, but the Quaffle had vanished. Harry veered his broom in the other direction and chased after Selene. She was too far ahead of him though, and Harry heard Ron groan as the American scored.
Ron gave the Quaffle to Fred, who Harry then followed. Harry flew next to Fred. "I'm going to toss the ball under me. You grab it and score!" Fred instructed. Harry nodded and backed off. They neared the target and Fred passed the ball to Harry; Harry clutched it tightly as to not have Selene take it from him again, and he leaned on his broom. His shirt clung to his skinny body and his glasses dug into his nose; the wind whipped Harry's hair back and he neared the basket. George was waiting. George slammed himself into Harry, but Harry held his ground. The basket was open, Harry released the ball, and to his horror Selene appeared out of nowhere and snatched the ball from the air seconds before it went into the basket. She's amazingly good, Harry thought, If she goes to Gryffindor, we HAVE to have her on the team!
Harry followed Selene, but then noticed that she didn't have the ball anymore. Down below them Ginny was flying as fast as she could towards the other goal. Harry tried to get himself to Ginny's level, but Selene was too fast, she flew right behind Ginny and rammed Harry from below. The nose of his broom faced the sky and the Firebolt flew higher and higher into the sky. It spun around as Harry tried to set himself right, and he heard Ron yell. They had scored again.
"TIME FOR SUPPER!" Harry heard Mrs. Weasley's shrill voice shout. Harry silently headed for the ground. They had lost 2-0 in a Quidditch match against mostly a team of girls.
George, Ginny, and Selene were huddled in a group chanting, "WE WON! WE WO- ON!" and they continued to do so as they all skipped inside, although Fred, Ron, and Harry hung their heads and dragged their feet in defeat.
"I can't believe we lost to a bunch of girls!" Fred said as they headed upstairs to put away their brooms.
"Oy, Selene is really good!" Ron exclaimed. "She kept on blocking my own blocks! I certainly hope she's sorted into Gryffindor!"
"That's what I was thinking," Harry replied. "Her dad certainly taught her some great moves."
"That was definitely professional playing." Fred said.
Three days after the Quidditch game, Harry saw no sign of Selene or Lupin until red light began to spill through the blinds onto the parlor floor. Selene came running down the stairs at the first sign of sunset. "Full moon tonight, Harry," she said as she tapped her jewel and disappeared into the eating area.
Harry solemnly followed her path down the stairs, when he reached the dim light of the kitchen, he saw Selene hunched over the ice box. She was grabbing raw meat of all sorts and throwing it into a bucket. "What're you doing?" Harry asked.
"Well, a werewolf has to entertain itself for a night," she said as she closed the box and slammed the bucket of meat on the table, sending red juice flying in the air.
"Well, what exactly are you go-"
"I'm going to keep him company throughout the night. He'll have human emotion in his wolf form, he's had his potion." She wiped her hands on her huge plaid pants that hid her feet from view. "Which reminds me, can you hand me those jugs of potion in that top cabinet? I'm not all that tall as, you can see." She was almost a head shorter than Harry, and only slightly taller than Harry's ex-girlfriend, the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang.
Harry nodded and did as Selene asked. "Thanks."
Harry nodded again. Selene grabbed a biscuit and nibbled on it; she then took a goblet from the lower cabinet, and poured smoking liquids from both of the jugs into it. "What're those for?" Harry asked.
"Painkiller and Wolfsbane, what else is there?" she laughed. Selene held the biscuit between her teeth and grabbed the potion and the bucket. Her feet peeked out from under her pants as she walked across the kitchen and up the stairs, Harry followed.
They walked through the parlor and started up the golden oak staircase, Selene turned around halfway up the second flight, "Wait, are you coming with?"
Harry thought that if she was able to handle a werewolf, surely he could, he had, after all, defeated Voldemort numerous times. "Well, I thought, I could. I mean, I have defeated Voldemort, and a werewolf can't be half as bad, if it's in its right mind. Can it?"
Selene shook her head, "Come on. Men, always think they can handle everything," she murmured. "You might want to take notes, a little birdie told me that we'll be studying them this year, you might as well get a head start."
"Well, why should I take notes? I mean, er, what should I take notes of?" Harry was still a little confused, but this could be an interesting thing to watch. He stopped in his room to get the writing materials and joined Selene in walking up the final staircase.
They found themselves in a dark room, with rips in the wallpaper and scratches on the molding. Harry saw a lump on the broken four-poster bed. Selene put the bucket on the floor and sat on the bed next to the lump, "Remus," she said, "Remus, it's almost time." She gently shook the lump and a face peeked out from under the blankets. "Harry, stay by the door," Selene instructed as Harry took a step towards the bed.
"Harry's here?" a hoarse voice croaked.
"Yes, it's okay, Remus, you'll be safe with your potion. Plus, you have me here to protect him if anything goes wrong. Take your potion." Lupin sat up in bed. His hair was very untidy and he had huge circles under his eyes, he obediently took the goblet and downed the smoking liquid.
"Ugh, that tastes horrible!" Lupin laughed, "Do you think next time you can make it chocolate flavored?"
Selene laughed at his request. She examined the hem of her tiny shirt, "I'll try my best."
Selene stood up from the bed and crossed the room to Harry. She said in a low voice, "Keep your hand on the door. If he looses control while he's transforming, he might attack you." Selene attempted and failed to brush the wispy out of her face. "What we're going to study this year are the differences in a werewolf and a real wolf, in this case an Animagus. They're structural differences-"
Moonlight spilled through the open window then, and Lupin went rigid in his bed. Selene jogged to him, "Harry, stay by the door!" Selene transformed into her beautiful white wolf Animagus form and leapt onto the bed.
Harry watched as the parts of Lupin that Harry could see became covered in fur. Lupin's hands shrunk into paws, his nose and mouth became a snout and his ears traveled up the side of his head. The werewolf became tangled in the clothing and linens, Selene gently removed the clothes with her teeth. The werewolf stood on all fours in the center of the bed, Harry could then see the differences between the two animals. The werewolf's head was rounder, and the eyes were bigger than the wolf's. The tail arched downwards and the spine dipped in the center of the back. Harry didn't need to write this down, he would definitely remember it. The two animals silently jumped off of the bed, and landed in front of Harry, who then saw that the werewolf's paws had an extra toe.
Selene untransformed and leaned on Harry, "Great thing to see, huh?" Harry realized that he was gripping the door so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He released his grip on the door and drew in a slow breath. "Want to feed him?"
"What? Feed him?"
"Well he has been sleeping all day." Selene grabbed the pail and held it out to Harry. Harry reached in and grabbed a particularly squishy and sloppy piece of meat. The red juice seeped between his fingers and began to trickle to his elbow.
"Now what do I do?" Harry asked stupidly. He didn't want to have his fingers bitten off by a werewolf. Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to let the animal take it from his hands or if he was supposed to toss it to the beast.
"Here," Selene dug her hand into the bucket and pulled out another red glob of animal. "Remus," she said as if she were talking to the same Remus Lupin they had seen moments before in his pajamas. The wolf padded over to Selene and gratefully took the meat out of her wet hands. Harry placed his quill and parchment on the nightstand and crouched so he was eye level with Lupin. He cautiously held out his hand, the liquid dripped onto the floor, Harry's heart thumped loudly in his chest, his last experience with a werewolf had not been an enjoyable one. Lupin quickly swallowed the first piece of raw meat happily and blinked at Harry; it walked to him and sniffed at the meat. It gently grabbed a corner of the meat, slid the glob out of Harry's hand, and dropped it on the floor. The werewolf then lay on his stomach, grabbed the meat between his paws and chewed on it, juice gushed onto the wooden floor.
Of Quidditch and Werewolves
Harry stooped down and picked up the ebon, "I'll be right back," he said over his shoulder to Selene. He tip toed back to his room and tapped on the wall; a hook formed itself there. Harry held out the cage and the wall grabbed it from him, forming a secure hold on the cage, the ebon squawked. "I don't know what you want," he said defensively to the bird.
There was a knock on the door and Harry turned to find Selene standing in the doorway. "You want some hot chocolate?" she asked. Harry nodded and she left. He bent over to pick his shirt off of the floor; he pulled the shirt over his head and a piece of string fell from it.
"Stupid bird." He began to feel anger spreading through his veins. He had no idea why he felt it, but he did. He shook his head and crept down the stairs.
He found Selene at the microwave as she pulled a porcelain mug from the machine. She ripped open a packet of mix and poured it into the steaming milk. She put in a spoon and- "Here, I'll stir them," Harry said hurriedly, remembering her bloody hands.
"Thanks," Selene smiled as she handed him the mug and stuck another one into the microwave. Harry stirred quietly as the spoon clinked against the cup. "You wanna go watch the sun rise?" Harry's head jerked up.
"Sure, but we have to bandage your hands up first." Selene rolled her eyes and grabbed some gauze. She winced as she washed her hands with antiseptic; Harry put down his mug and wrapped the fabric around her hands.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Selene took her mug and padded her way up the staircase, Harry followed to the third landing. When they reached the very top level she stopped. She shuffled silently into Buckbeak's room, Harry continued following her lead.
Selene slowly placed her mug on the straw covered floor and unlatched the window, pushed the glass up, and crawled outside. She leaned back in to retrieve her hot chocolate. "C'mon."
Harry stepped cautiously through the window onto the cold roof; he crawled over to Selene and eased himself down. "So," he croaked, "what was your old school like?"
Selene took a sip of her drink. "I'm sure Hogwarts is better," she took another sip. "Well, um I think it was in a canyon in Area 51."
"Area 51?"
"It's a place the Military sets apart for the magic folk. They don't say anything to the Muggles, but they tell them that it's a place where the Military tests the new aircraft," she smiled. "Most of the Muggles think that the Government is hiding aliens and that top secret testing is going on there. Mugs are dense."
"Hold on," Harry interrupted, "your government knows about magic folk?"
"Yes, our Muggle President even knows about us because nothing is allowed to be hidden from him. He's good about it though, he doesn't breathe a word about our world, but as soon as his term is over, his memory will be erased of the truth.
"Anyway, school was okay I guess. As I said earlier, I was hated there except by my Quidditch team, they were my only friends. Of course I gained an infamous reputation when my dad's being a werewolf was exposed." She sighed.
"Classes were good. We're taught in sixth year about Griffons with the one owned by our school, in Magical Creatures class. Defense Against the Dark Arts was always fun, that and Transfiguration were my best subjects. Pretty good in potions. Charms was always a blast." She changed her gaze from Harry to the red glow at the horizon. "I won't miss it too much."
"You'll like it at Hogwarts, I'm sure." Selene smiled at Harry's reassurance. "You might want to watch out for the Slytherins, they'll probably be the only trouble you'll get."
"Oh I'm sure they're all right."
Harry laughed, "I dunno, Slytherins can be quite thick headed." The anger from before had finally receded from his thoughts. The chocolate must have helped it, he thought. He watched as the sun became an array of dazzling colors. He should watch the sun rise more often.
Harry and Selene climbed through the window as soon as their cups were empty to find Buckbeak awake and clicking his beak happily. Selene ran over and patted his head with a bandaged hand. They both went downstairs together for breakfast chatting excitedly about Quidditch the whole way.
Everyone groggily shuffled their way to the table for breakfast whereas Selene and Harry were very awake and hid their thoughts of what happened that night. They both cheerfully ate pieces of the remaining cake and talked about random things. Hermione and Ron stared in amazement at how they acted like friends that had been reunited after being separated for a year.
After breakfast Ron and Harry went to Ron's room to sort through their chocolate frog cards. After about half an hour Ron finally spoke, "What happened to her hands?"
"Huh? Oh nothing, she broke some glass last night and accidentally cut herself, that's all."
"Alright." Ron went silent again. "Oy! I found it!" he exclaimed after about five minutes of pure silence. Harry nearly fell backwards from this sudden proclamation.
"Hell, Ron! What did you find?" Harry straitened himself up and looked at his friend, waiting for a reply.
"It's the Artemis card. See his name is Rudolph Artemis. It says he's the creator of the Wolfsbane potion."
"So you couldn't just take Selene and Hermione's word for it? You had to find evidence?" He snatched the card from his friend's hand and looked it over. A man's face appeared. He had a clasp with a jewel like Selene's on his cloak and a silver white strand of hair fell in front of his face. "Hey, Ron, look!" he gave the card to Ron.
"Harry the card is empty." Ron raised an eyebrow, "What was so important anyway?"
"Nothing important, just a little something interesting," Harry honestly had no idea what to say to his best friend. Maybe that jewel was an heirloom or something.
Harry and Ron both went back downstairs for a butterbeer to find Selene sitting on the couch with a mobile computer on her lap. "Hey, guys. What were you doin' up there?"
"Nothing, just sorting through some cards."
"I gotcha," she replied as she typed something into the computer. Harry and Ron continued their trip to the refrigerator.
"What was that on her lap?"
"It's called a laptop; it's a kind of computer. I have no idea how she's working it though, there aren't any phone lines in the house." They opened their butterbeers, and sat down in the comfy chairs across from Selene.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked.
"I'm emailing my friends. It's kind of like sending an owl, only faster." Ron walked behind her to watch.
"Who are Drew, Skye, and Nyki?"
"Drew used to be our Quidditch Captain, he graduated three years ago, and Skye's his little sister. Nyki was in a different house than we were, and was my opposing Seeker, but we managed to become friends. They were my best friends at Griffonwings."
"Okay, so how does this thing work exactly?"
"Well, this is a computer for magic folk, what you do is you stick the power orb into the computer," she indicated the glass ball halfway sticking out of the back of the computer, "this connects you to the internet, which is a program that connects you to the rest of the world through other computers." Harry stared at the plates on the wall as Selene explained to him the differences between the wizarding internet and the Muggle internet and how e-mail and instant messaging works. He relaxed his body and took a sip of his drink.
After she was finished and Ron had sit back down, Fred and George came into the room holding a load of their new tricks for their joke shop, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. They placed the items on the coffee table in front of Harry and set them up in a display order for them all to see their inventions. "Are those Portable Swamps?"
Harry was surprised that Selene knew what they were. "Yup," Fred replied, "How did you know about them?"
"I ordered a couple from you," she said grinning.
"Where'd you set them off?" George asked eagerly.
"Quadpot locker rooms," she smirked.
"Brilliant!" the twins said simultaneously. Just then a snowy owl fluttered into the room and perched itself on Selene's arm. It was larger then Hedwig, but it had the same piercing yellow eyes as Harry's owl.
"What's this Avedis?" The owl had dropped a plastic card in Selene's lap. She looked it over and smiled. "I got my driver's license!"
"We just got ours," Fred said.
"How old are you?" asked George.
"I turned sixteen yesterday. Guess I'm not allowed to drive here then."
"I'm sure you can," George continued, "You're a witch, you can always change your license to say your seventeen if the Muggles pull you over."
"Sounds like a good deal." Selene's owl pulled at her wispy affectionately and flew away. Fred and George then continued their presentation, but they had to cut it short since a bell rang calling them to lunch.
Harry found his seat and slowly ate his meal. He wasn't in the mood for talking, or eating, all he wanted to do was sleep and he had no idea why. Was he really that tired? Selene, Ginny and Hermione left before anyone else, having eaten ravenously like wolves. .
As soon as Harry was finished he walked to the parlor to find all three of the girls talking. Selene was laying stomach down on the couch and Ginny and Hermione were sitting on the floor. What they were talking about Harry had no idea; he had no time to figure it out either because at the same moment Selene looked at him, Harry's scar began to split in pain. All three of the girls ran over to him, and lead him to the couch. "Harry!"
"Harry! Harry, breath in deeply and let it out slowly. Come on Harry relax!" Harry closed his eyes. How come this happened? What's wrong? He slowly drew in a deep breath and let it out as slow as possible. He repeated this three times and the pain receded.
"Whoa, that was weird," he said as he opened his eyes. The three girls stood over him, each with a look of worry on their faces. Selene straitened up and scratched her head.
"What happened, exactly?"
"I honestly have no idea, it just, I dunno."
"Right," Selene helped Harry to his feet, his head spun from the change. When the colors stopped swimming, he slowly walked around to get his bearings.
Selene left him to himself and the other girls followed her lead. "You need to get some time alone. We'll come back later, Harry," Hermione said.
Harry didn't want to be alone though, he didn't want to be left with only his thoughts. Why, when Selene looked at him, had his scar hurt? What is it that Voldemort wants from her? he thought. Harry fell asleep yet again; it was the only way for him to get away from all his trouble and pain.
After what seemed like a minute, Harry was awoken by the rustling of papers. He reached for his glasses and he was able to decipher who the person was when he put them on. Selene was scribbling down words and hastily stuffing parchments in envelopes. "Stupid deadlines...registration...ugh!" Harry heard her mumble. She snapped her fingers and Avedis swooped down the staircase and fluttered to her arm. "Avedis, take this to the Ministry...Hogwarts...and wherever else they tell you to go." She handed the letters to the owl and it left her shoulder, flying through the window.
Selene stopped when she saw Harry's open eyes. "Feeling better?" she asked. Harry nodded. He pushed himself upright, and a bright light from the open shutters blinded him for a minute. He shielded his eyes with his hand, and felt gentle hands grab him on the shoulders, helping Harry to stand up.
"Thanks."
"What are friends for?"
Selene and Harry headed to the kitchen together, because at that moment the bell rang. Harry noticed then that Selene's jewel had changed; it was whiter than on his first day back at Grimmauld Place. "Selene, your jewel, what does it do? I mean there's more white in it than before and you did something to it at the memorial service."
Selene smiled, "It shows the phases of the moon. Every single person in my family has one of these jewels, I guess they-"
"Hullo, Harry," Ron interrupted. An expression of enormous relief settled itself on Selene's face. "I heard what happened today, are you okay, mate?"
Harry looked at Ron and nodded, "Great!" Ron exclaimed, "Hey, how about we play some Quidditch tomorrow? Do you have a broom, Selene?"
"Yes," she said feebly. "A game of Quidditch sounds like fun."
Harry loved Quidditch and he was happy that Ron suggested this. Harry has felt moody the whole day, and the wind running through his hair would definitely remove his troubles. Why did Selene seem so relieved that Ron interrupted? he thought, Does her necklace contain Dark Magic?
After dinner, Harry decided to take a hot shower, his muscles were hurting from sleeping on the couch and he thought that it would relieve some stress and relax him. Harry asked Mrs. Weasley where it was located and she told him it was through the master bedroom. Harry traveled up to the second landing and walked to the room at the end of the hall. It was the room farthest away from Selene's.
He walked over the moldy carpet through the dank and dark room. Cobwebs hung from all the corners in the room, Harry noticed one place that did not have a trace of aging and decay. He walked toward it to find a portrait of the last family of Blacks. A man and a woman with black hair and brown eyes stared menacingly at Harry. A teenage version of Sirius Black stood handsomely in the portrait, but he did not look happy to be sanding there with his family. A younger boy stood next to Sirius, he had the cold glare of his parents and looked just as mean as them. "Sirius," Harry whispered, hoping that this painting could move and talk as the portraits at Hogwarts did. No one in the painting moved.
Harry turned away from the painting and continued his way to the bath. The room glowed with an intense light of cleanliness. It was not at all like the room Harry had just left, the tile was cool and hard beneath his bare feet and in the silver fixtures was a perfect reflection of Harry. He dropped his pajamas on the floor and turned on the shower, he slid the glass door close. The pane fogged up almost immediately and the steam filled his lungs. Harry took off his clothes and glasses and stepped into the warm soft bullets of water falling from the showerhead. He closed his eyes, and fell into a sort of trance. He opened his eyes and scrubbed himself down with a wash cloth he had brought with him. He turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around himself. He then pulled his nightshirt over his head and continued to get ready for bed.
After he was done in the bathroom he gathered his things and sprinted through the gloomy room to the welcoming hallway. He walked downstairs, after putting his things away, into the drawing room. The fire smoldered peacefully under the hearth and Harry became drowsy from the warm atmosphere. He sat on the couch and stared into the flames. His eyes began to burn as the anger from the early morning became rekindled. Sirius used to talk to me through there, he thought, now I'll never see him again. I hate Bellatrix Lestrange. I hate Voldemort. I HATE Peter Pettigrew.
Bellatrix Lestrange was Sirius Black's cousin and a Death Eater. She was the one that killed Sirius last year. She was the reason why Harry was completely alone. Pettigrew ratted out Harry's parents to Voldemort fifteen years ago; he was the reason why Voldemort was reborn, and the traitor that ultimately killed Harry's parents and sent Sirius into hiding.
Harry thought he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, but no one was there. Harry cleared his mind. He thought of his friends. Of how they made his life so much better than what it would've been hadn't he met them. He thought of Selene, her beautiful smile and caring face. Harry thought more about her until he fell asleep.
Sunlight spilled from the open window to Harry's closed eyes, waking him up. He felt refreshed, almost reborn from his peaceful sleep. He silently tip-toed upstairs, and got dressed, enjoying every breath of air he took; his body was ready for the game of Quidditch scheduled later in the day.
Harry raced his shadow down the stairs to the empty parlor. Tongues of light from the fire jumped around the room, the smoky smell made Harry sneeze. He walked down the stone stairs to the eating area. The Weasley kids, Hermione, and Selene were all sitting down at the table talking excitedly about the Quidditch game.
"Hermione, if you want to play with us, you could borrow my old broom, it's a Nimbus 2000," Selene said.
Harry saw Hermione shake her head as he grabbed some crumpets. He turned to join them, "I'd rather just watch," Hermione said, "I'm not that comfortable with sports."
"Okay, but if you want to join in, the offer stands. Oh hi, Harry, come on, pull up a chair. We're gonna go to get ready in a few minutes."
"Sounds good," Harry said as he sat down in a black chair next to Selene. "So, what kind of broom do you have?"
"I have a new model, a Sonic Boom." Selene smiled proudly, she obviously loved her broom. "It's a bit faster than the Firebolt and is very easy to handle. I really like the twigs at the end, they're very colorful."
"Let's start playing shall we?" Ron interrupted. Harry sprinted up the stairs, everyone ran behind him. They ran through the empty parlor and up more stairs. They each ran to their rooms. Harry grabbed his broom and mounted it; he glided down the stairs and waited for his friends to join him. He let go of the broom and folded his arms. The feel of his broom under Harry felt good. He felt whole as if he was born to sit on this broom, his trusty Firebolt.
Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George flew down the stars in the same manner that Harry did. "Where's Selene?" Ginny asked as she opened the front door and led them outside broom in hand.
"I thought she'd come down already," Ron said.
"She'll come down," George said.
"Yeah, she's not the kind of girl that would turn down Quidditch!" Fred added. They all walked in between the houses to the back lot. Harry threw his leg over his broom and took off into the air. He flew higher and higher until he couldn't see any of the Weasleys' flaming red hair. Harry could hear something though; he flew down and stopped next to Ron.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"We have to select captains and divide into teams, mate."
Harry dismounted and looked in the direction Ron was looking. Selene was standing on the roof. She mounted her broom and flew down to them. "You forgot the Quaffle and the baskets," she said. She tossed the baskets at Fred and George who charmed the baskets to float right before they hit the ground. Harry watched as the baskets soared into the fog to the point where he could barely make them out.
"Whoa," Ron said, "get a load of this broom!" Harry looked at the broom in Ron's hands. "Sonic Boom" was written on the red oak handle in silver. The broomstick was polished to perfection; Harry could see his reflection in the gloss. The tail of the broom had yellow, orange, and red twigs in it making it look as if the handle had a tongue of fire coming out of the end. The broom sprung out of Ron's hands and Selene snatched it out of the air.
"Like it?" Selene said casually.
"How fast does it go?" Harry asked.
"I dunno, how about we race brooms later?"
"Sounds fun," Ginny said.
"Can we get started?" George asked.
"George and I will be captains," Fred said, "oldest picks first!"
"Oh come on, Fred!"
"I choose Harry!"
"Fine, I take Selene!"
"Ron."
"Come on, Ginny."
"Looks like it's girls against boys, George."
"Come off it, Fred."
Fred tied a piece of cloth around his arm. "Now you'll know who to pass the Quaffle to."
"No, really," Ron mumbled. Harry saw Selene whisper something in George's ear, who then smiled. Harry saw George mouth "Nice."
George took off with the Quaffle and the game began. Harry flew into the fog, and almost instantly spotted George whizzing towards Harry's team's basket. Harry tore after the eighteen year-old, Harry glanced behind him to see Ginny, trying to catch up. Harry met up with George and rammed into him. Harry groped for the ball, but missed it. George threw it at the goal, but Ron blocked it. Ron was the Gryffindor Keeper, and that throw was no challenge for him. Ron tossed the Quaffle to Harry who then turned around and speed toward the other team's goal. He pressed his body against his Firebolt, but he couldn't see the basket through the mist. Just then a blur of color zoomed in front of him and he braked on his broom.
"Nice try, Potter!" Harry heard Selene shout. He looked at his hands, but the Quaffle had vanished. Harry veered his broom in the other direction and chased after Selene. She was too far ahead of him though, and Harry heard Ron groan as the American scored.
Ron gave the Quaffle to Fred, who Harry then followed. Harry flew next to Fred. "I'm going to toss the ball under me. You grab it and score!" Fred instructed. Harry nodded and backed off. They neared the target and Fred passed the ball to Harry; Harry clutched it tightly as to not have Selene take it from him again, and he leaned on his broom. His shirt clung to his skinny body and his glasses dug into his nose; the wind whipped Harry's hair back and he neared the basket. George was waiting. George slammed himself into Harry, but Harry held his ground. The basket was open, Harry released the ball, and to his horror Selene appeared out of nowhere and snatched the ball from the air seconds before it went into the basket. She's amazingly good, Harry thought, If she goes to Gryffindor, we HAVE to have her on the team!
Harry followed Selene, but then noticed that she didn't have the ball anymore. Down below them Ginny was flying as fast as she could towards the other goal. Harry tried to get himself to Ginny's level, but Selene was too fast, she flew right behind Ginny and rammed Harry from below. The nose of his broom faced the sky and the Firebolt flew higher and higher into the sky. It spun around as Harry tried to set himself right, and he heard Ron yell. They had scored again.
"TIME FOR SUPPER!" Harry heard Mrs. Weasley's shrill voice shout. Harry silently headed for the ground. They had lost 2-0 in a Quidditch match against mostly a team of girls.
George, Ginny, and Selene were huddled in a group chanting, "WE WON! WE WO- ON!" and they continued to do so as they all skipped inside, although Fred, Ron, and Harry hung their heads and dragged their feet in defeat.
"I can't believe we lost to a bunch of girls!" Fred said as they headed upstairs to put away their brooms.
"Oy, Selene is really good!" Ron exclaimed. "She kept on blocking my own blocks! I certainly hope she's sorted into Gryffindor!"
"That's what I was thinking," Harry replied. "Her dad certainly taught her some great moves."
"That was definitely professional playing." Fred said.
Three days after the Quidditch game, Harry saw no sign of Selene or Lupin until red light began to spill through the blinds onto the parlor floor. Selene came running down the stairs at the first sign of sunset. "Full moon tonight, Harry," she said as she tapped her jewel and disappeared into the eating area.
Harry solemnly followed her path down the stairs, when he reached the dim light of the kitchen, he saw Selene hunched over the ice box. She was grabbing raw meat of all sorts and throwing it into a bucket. "What're you doing?" Harry asked.
"Well, a werewolf has to entertain itself for a night," she said as she closed the box and slammed the bucket of meat on the table, sending red juice flying in the air.
"Well, what exactly are you go-"
"I'm going to keep him company throughout the night. He'll have human emotion in his wolf form, he's had his potion." She wiped her hands on her huge plaid pants that hid her feet from view. "Which reminds me, can you hand me those jugs of potion in that top cabinet? I'm not all that tall as, you can see." She was almost a head shorter than Harry, and only slightly taller than Harry's ex-girlfriend, the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang.
Harry nodded and did as Selene asked. "Thanks."
Harry nodded again. Selene grabbed a biscuit and nibbled on it; she then took a goblet from the lower cabinet, and poured smoking liquids from both of the jugs into it. "What're those for?" Harry asked.
"Painkiller and Wolfsbane, what else is there?" she laughed. Selene held the biscuit between her teeth and grabbed the potion and the bucket. Her feet peeked out from under her pants as she walked across the kitchen and up the stairs, Harry followed.
They walked through the parlor and started up the golden oak staircase, Selene turned around halfway up the second flight, "Wait, are you coming with?"
Harry thought that if she was able to handle a werewolf, surely he could, he had, after all, defeated Voldemort numerous times. "Well, I thought, I could. I mean, I have defeated Voldemort, and a werewolf can't be half as bad, if it's in its right mind. Can it?"
Selene shook her head, "Come on. Men, always think they can handle everything," she murmured. "You might want to take notes, a little birdie told me that we'll be studying them this year, you might as well get a head start."
"Well, why should I take notes? I mean, er, what should I take notes of?" Harry was still a little confused, but this could be an interesting thing to watch. He stopped in his room to get the writing materials and joined Selene in walking up the final staircase.
They found themselves in a dark room, with rips in the wallpaper and scratches on the molding. Harry saw a lump on the broken four-poster bed. Selene put the bucket on the floor and sat on the bed next to the lump, "Remus," she said, "Remus, it's almost time." She gently shook the lump and a face peeked out from under the blankets. "Harry, stay by the door," Selene instructed as Harry took a step towards the bed.
"Harry's here?" a hoarse voice croaked.
"Yes, it's okay, Remus, you'll be safe with your potion. Plus, you have me here to protect him if anything goes wrong. Take your potion." Lupin sat up in bed. His hair was very untidy and he had huge circles under his eyes, he obediently took the goblet and downed the smoking liquid.
"Ugh, that tastes horrible!" Lupin laughed, "Do you think next time you can make it chocolate flavored?"
Selene laughed at his request. She examined the hem of her tiny shirt, "I'll try my best."
Selene stood up from the bed and crossed the room to Harry. She said in a low voice, "Keep your hand on the door. If he looses control while he's transforming, he might attack you." Selene attempted and failed to brush the wispy out of her face. "What we're going to study this year are the differences in a werewolf and a real wolf, in this case an Animagus. They're structural differences-"
Moonlight spilled through the open window then, and Lupin went rigid in his bed. Selene jogged to him, "Harry, stay by the door!" Selene transformed into her beautiful white wolf Animagus form and leapt onto the bed.
Harry watched as the parts of Lupin that Harry could see became covered in fur. Lupin's hands shrunk into paws, his nose and mouth became a snout and his ears traveled up the side of his head. The werewolf became tangled in the clothing and linens, Selene gently removed the clothes with her teeth. The werewolf stood on all fours in the center of the bed, Harry could then see the differences between the two animals. The werewolf's head was rounder, and the eyes were bigger than the wolf's. The tail arched downwards and the spine dipped in the center of the back. Harry didn't need to write this down, he would definitely remember it. The two animals silently jumped off of the bed, and landed in front of Harry, who then saw that the werewolf's paws had an extra toe.
Selene untransformed and leaned on Harry, "Great thing to see, huh?" Harry realized that he was gripping the door so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He released his grip on the door and drew in a slow breath. "Want to feed him?"
"What? Feed him?"
"Well he has been sleeping all day." Selene grabbed the pail and held it out to Harry. Harry reached in and grabbed a particularly squishy and sloppy piece of meat. The red juice seeped between his fingers and began to trickle to his elbow.
"Now what do I do?" Harry asked stupidly. He didn't want to have his fingers bitten off by a werewolf. Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to let the animal take it from his hands or if he was supposed to toss it to the beast.
"Here," Selene dug her hand into the bucket and pulled out another red glob of animal. "Remus," she said as if she were talking to the same Remus Lupin they had seen moments before in his pajamas. The wolf padded over to Selene and gratefully took the meat out of her wet hands. Harry placed his quill and parchment on the nightstand and crouched so he was eye level with Lupin. He cautiously held out his hand, the liquid dripped onto the floor, Harry's heart thumped loudly in his chest, his last experience with a werewolf had not been an enjoyable one. Lupin quickly swallowed the first piece of raw meat happily and blinked at Harry; it walked to him and sniffed at the meat. It gently grabbed a corner of the meat, slid the glob out of Harry's hand, and dropped it on the floor. The werewolf then lay on his stomach, grabbed the meat between his paws and chewed on it, juice gushed onto the wooden floor.