A/N: Sorry for the long wait :)

Gavroche-Girl: You haven't read the previous chapter either! I'm waiting!! ;)

xxxsapphiretearxxx : Thanks :)

Chapter 13 - The shock and the letter

The world seemed to crash on top of Christine's head as she heard Remus' last words. She started trembling, and couldn't stop herself from taking a step back. Remus looked at her with deep sadness in his eyes. He didn't know what to say. He knew she was afraid of him now.

Christine stared at Remus for a while. She shook her head in denial, but he kept staring at her as to confirm his words.

"Tell me you're joking… please," she said in a whisper.

"I'm not," he replied.

"This is a very bad joke, Remus," Christine took another step back.

"I was the one who caused that injury," he said, "and I wish I am joking."

Christine shook her head as tears started filling her eyes. She fought against them and kept looking at Remus, expecting him to laugh at the joke he made. Instead, he kept looking at her without saying anything

"YOU'RE LYING!" she yelled and ran to the Hufflepuff common room.

"I'm sorry," Remus whispered after her and went to the Gryffindor tower.

After spending three hours of detention, Sirius returned to the Gryffindor common room and saw Remus sitting alone in front of the fireplace. He wanted to catch Remus off guard, but the look on Remus' face made him put that thought away. Sirius walked to Remus' side and sat in an armchair next to him.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"I told her," Remus replied without taking his eyes away from the fire.

"Told who about what?"

"Christine, about me," Remus said simply.

"Oh… you WHAT?"

Remus nodded, "I told her I'm a werewolf and that I'm the one who…"

"But Remus," Sirius cut him off, "do you realize what you did? What if someone heard you? What if she told someone?"

Remus turned to look at the concerned face of his friend.

"You don't trust her, do you?" he asked.

"Of course I do!" Sirius said quickly, "it's just that… well, she's so close to Malfoy and she might tell him."

"I don't care anymore," Remus said.

"Whoa! Now wait a minute," Sirius got up and knelt in front of Remus, "you do care! If anyone knew about your condition you'll be banned from everything! You might even get expelled!"

"So what? I'm dangerous and I shouldn't be among innocent people."

"Will you just listen to yourself? This isn't the Remus I know!" Sirius said, "You didn't care about it before! Why now? Only because she knows?"

Remus remained silent.

"I have had such injuries. James and Peter had them too, but we never complained. We know you can't help it and it's not your fault," Sirius said and put a hand on Remus' knee. "Being a werewolf isn't good, I know. But you can't blame yourself for it!"

At that moment James and Peter came out of the boys' dormitories and joined Sirius and Remus next to the fireplace.

"How was your detention?" James asked Sirius.

"Not bad, but I'm more concerned about Remus," Sirius said, looking at Remus.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"He is blaming himself for being a werewolf," Sirius said.

"Moony, you know it's…"

"Not my fault that I'm a werewolf," Remus continued what James was about to say. "Yes, I know that already."

"Then what's all this fuss about?" James asked.

"He told Christine he was the werewolf who attacked her," Sirius said and Peter whimpered.

"What did she say?" James asked, looking at Remus. "She's not going to tell anyone, is she?"

"She said I was joking," Remus said. His shoes seemed to be so interesting at the moment that he kept staring at them. "She said I as lying to her and she stormed off."

"Well, that's a relief," Sirius said, "if she doesn't believe you, then you have nothing to worry about."

"You should've seen the look on her face when I told her. She was frightened like I was going to attack her again."

"She shouldn't be afraid of you!" Peter said, "you can't hurt anyone!"

"True," James said, "did you tell her why it happened? Did you tell her she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"I didn't say anything," Remus said, "I didn't have the chance."

"We can fix that," Sirius said, "I'll tell her everything tomorrow."

Sirius got up and patted Remus' arm.

"Don't worry, Moony. She'll understand."

Christine entered the Hufflepuff common room and headed straight to the girls' dormitories and into her room. She shut the door closed and threw herself on her bed and cried. She couldn't believe what she heard. She has read about werewolves, but she never imagined herself meeting one in person.

Remus was a nice person - she knew that. He was Sirius' best friend, but she was surprised by his confession and didn't know how to react. She wasn't sure why she was crying now. Was it because of fear? Or was it because her boyfriend's best friend was sentenced to a meaningless life just because he wasn't a normal person.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump and she quickly turned around to see it was.

"Jane," she said and quickly dried her eyes with the sleeve of her robes.

"I saw you come here. Why are you crying?" Jane asked, "is it because of him?"

"No," Christine shook her head, "it's got nothing to do with him."

"Then, why are you crying? Can you tell me?" Jane sat next to her on the bed and looked at her with concerned eyes.

"I know I'm too young to understand many things," Jane said, "but I would help if I could."

Christine smiled, "thanks," she muttered.

"What's wrong, why are you crying?" Jane asked again.

"I… I just have a bad headache, that's all." Christine said. She wasn't sure if she could tell Jane about Remus.

"And you're crying just because of a headache? You could've went to see Madam Pomfrey."

"Well, I didn't want to bother her," Christine said.

"Maybe you should get some sleep, it might help."

"I think I will. Thanks."

"But I still don't believe it's just a headache," Jane said as she got up, "if you ever want to talk about it, let me know." She smiled as she left the room.

Christine sighed and got up to change her clothes. She wore her nightgown and climbed into her bed. This was going to be a long night.

Severus was sitting in the Slytherin common room when an owl appeared from nowhere and dropped a letter in his lap. He picked up the envelope and looked around. The owl had disappeared again, but how? Severus didn't know.

He looked at the envelope and read his name written on it. He opened it and read the contents:

Dear Mr. Snape,

We would like to invite you to join our meeting at six o'clock in the evening on the 20th of November. Mr. Lucius Malfoy would inform you about the location once it's confirmed.

Sincerely,

L.V.

Severus read the letter a couple of times, trying to figure out what it meant. At that moment, Lucius came into the common room holding a similar letter.

"Did you get it?" Lucius asked.

"The letter? Yes, I did. Who is this L.V. and what meeting is it going to be?"

"Well, you remember when you told me you wanted to join us?" Lucius asked, "this is time. The Dark Lord has approved on having you on our side and the meeting is held to introduce you to him."

Severus' face lit up by the news.

"And where is it going to be?" he asked.

"We don't know yet," Lucius replied, "The Dark Lord will inform us soon."

"And who is this L.V.?"

"Lord Voldemort," Lucius said with a flinch, "that's his name, but we're not allowed to say it."

"Why?" Severus asked.

"He's a great wizard, and no one's worthy of saying his name. That's why." Lucius explained.

"You know, I can't wait to join him."

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I know this is a short chapter but that's how my brain worked! I was drunk while writing it! It was my birthday and I drank two bottles of white wine! I'm surprised I could write this at all!!

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