Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Crescent Moon: Chapter Two

Dani slipped on the black cloak around her arms and shoulders quickly. She was fairly excited this morning, finally getting the chance to see the young Conall Lupin actually awake rather than conked out by a spell! She grabbed up her knapsack and books rushing to the Great Hall once again, but this time legally, for breakfast.

She plunked herself next to her best friend, Liza Pasha buried deep in the Daily Prophet.

"Anyone we know?" she asked sarcastically. An old term used by her uncle Ron and herself in jokes whenever anyone was reading the paper.

"What?" She asked, not even bothering to look up.

"Never mind…" Dani waved her hand. She glanced up and around looking for Mr. Lupin again…but to no avail the boy wasn't anywhere in sight. She sighed lowering herself again. Liza looked sideways from the articles.

"Problem?" She asked raising a brow.

"Huh? Oh yeah…" She leaned over to her friends ear. "Liza….I'm gonna tell you something…but you cannot tell a soul…got it?"

"Dani, how long have we known each other? Whenever you "Gotta tell me something" I always keep it confidential!" She made a zipping motion over her mouth, "trust me."

"Of course…alright...last night I was wandering around…" And Dani proceeded with the discovery of the long unknown son of Remus Lupin and his were abilities. After the story Liza shrugged and turned back to her paper. Dani stared at her puzzled.

"Huh…thought you'd be a little more.. y'know…enthusiastic…about it.." she said frowning a little.
"Well, I've come to expect this sort of thing from the Potter Daughter…" She smiled from her paper continuing to scan the print with her spectacled green eyes.

Dani laughed heartily almost missing a coffee colored blur brush by. Her head whipped up and there he was. The long gaunt figure that could only be Remus's son. His face resembled that same tired look his father had, and creamy feathery hair when it was normal. A goatee, not uncommon amongst teen boys. Though, she was sure that the slightly pointed ears were his father's too, but you never know.

'Pfft right! Tonks is a regular elf..' she thought shaking her head. She noticed though, that he also had a very sweet look in his liquid gold eyes, besides exhaustion, and a gentle softness about him. But that was probably her trusting side talking, not rational thought. Her hand shot up in the air.

"RE- oops- CONALL! OVER HERE!" She called to him. He turned his head towards her with a worried look as she waved frantically at him. Liza actually looked up from the Prophet.

"Not bad…you hooked a nice one Dani." she muttered turning a page.

"Wha-? No! We're friends Liza!" Dani snapped back. Conall sat down hesitantly.

"Are…are you the girl?" He croaked, almost like a whisper.

"If you mean Dani, yes I am!" She grinned at him kindly holding out her hand, "How do you do?"

He took her hand and shook it keeping an anxious eyes on her. He had that other look too, like he was waiting or he KNEW something bad was going to happen, like any major loud noise would send him skyrocketing out of his chair.

"Y-You're also…the Potter girl.." he croaked again, "I…I've heard loads about you.."

Dani nodded. "Yeah I'm sure…but my father has never said a word about you...or Uncle Lupin ever having a child before…"

Conall looked slightly startled, but half seemed to expect it. "Yeah well, we had to go into hiding too after that… "You-know-who" incident…" He gave fleeting look over his shoulder, nervous again, then turned back to Dani's face.

"Yeah lack of communication or something…" Dani muttered still pondering if it was REALLY that, " and you're coming to Hogwarts after being home schooled…so I've heard…."

Conall nodded. "Yeah my mum did most of it…"

"How is your mum? I haven't heard much from your family at all…."

"S-she's good…" he answered quietly. There was a few moments of awkward silence. Dani sometimes regretted talking to new people cause she really hadn't a clue what to say next! Suddenly Liza looked over The Prophet.

"Oh! I didn't even see you come over!" She raised herself from the table, and rushed around to the other side to give him a great big hug. Conall's eyes widened and his face dropped receiving such a warm welcome. He stared puzzled and flustered at Dani, who smiled.

"Liza always has to make physical contact."

"S-so I've f-felt!" He stuttered. Liza removed herself from the hug and went to sit back down again. Just as she plopped herself down , a hand came crashing down between them.

Dani grabbed the pumpkin juice about to splatter the table and other assorted drinks. Her head shot up to see the smug, prideful face of...Rebecca Malfoy. Her long, silky gold hair swished around poor Conall, one of her luring attempts that usually caught boys...but all Conall did was sneeze.

"Bless you ," She purred sweetly, "Hey, why don't you come and have a seat by us? I'm sure you'd rather, than," She examined Liza and Dani with her catty eyes, "Stay over here…"

Conall hunched his shoulders and looked like a bad pup who'd gotten caught gnawing on his master's slipper, blushing profusely. Dani growled to herself. She remembered her father telling her about Malfoy and his first meeting, strangely the scene was almost a replica of what was going on.

"I..I…"

"As interesting as that sounds….Malfoy…I think he allergic to prats….I MEAN cats…" Liza smiled sweetly, yet with an evil glare. Dani leaned on her hand towards the flabbergasted girl.

"Say, Malfoy, how's your father? Azkaban treating him well?" she asked.

"Wha- Well- I- Humph!" She stomped her pretty little foot and stormed off.

Conall watched her walk off and gulped. The looked back at the two laughing Gryffindor's.

"Her f-father's in prison?" He asked taking small bits of toast.

"Y-yeah!" Sputtered Dani wiping her eyes and starting to calm down, "Her dad's been in prison since she was eight. For being apart of that Death Eater cult some odd years back…"

He nodded and quietly resumed chewing.

"Don't think she didn't deserve that Conall," Liza said cutting in, "she's always insulted our team, us, are parents, sent letters, dung bombs, you name it…she's done it to us.."

Conall shrugged looking up at them, those gold eyes, they were transfixed into Dani's own and she saw pity there. Pity for Rebecca of all people. Guilt slowly rose in her chest and she was now thinking of her own dad. She still had him, Rebecca just had her mom and the shame of her Death Eater father in prison. Dani looked away from his eyes focusing on the perspiration oozing down her jug of pumpkin juice.

Suddenly her ears perked at the deafening sound of scraping chairs, signaling the time to go to class was now. She took one more swig, and stood up.

"I'm not sure if McGonagall told you….but I'll be escorting you to your classes and helping you." she said smiling at Conall.

"Oh yeah…she did.." He took out a parchment of paper and handed it to her. Her eyes scrolled down the many classes most of them reading "NEWTS".

"Wow!" gasped Liza, "All NEWTS?" she looked over Dani's tall shoulder to get a peek.

"Uh y-yeah well, my father always wants me to try my b-best…"Conall answered rubbing the back of his head.

"More than I can do!" laughed Dani, "lets get to class." She looked at the paper again noticing she had the same classes as him (Except his were NEWTS of course). 'Clever McGonagall…clever." her inner thought muttered and she led him to the first class of the day… Arithmacy. Arithmacy was the same basic thing as algebra….only ten time more murderous and riddle filled. Dani sat frustrated and confused trying to figure out a problem. She couldn't just say "Well! Who cares how many apple Johnny has!" or "This won't matter when we're older!" Because most of the time the "apples" were wounds and "Johnny" would be some wizard in horrible pain due to the bite of some creature or curse and that this could be a real life situation. Dani sighed angrily.

"I thought I'd escaped this wretched math when I became a witch! My old nemesis seems to follow me everywhere!" she whispered to herself harshly.

"W-would you like some help, D-Dani?" came a gentle voice. Dani turned to see Conall standing behind her, holding his quill and a slip of parchment.

"Well, yeah…but I'll figure it out even.. tu…" Conall leaned over her to get a better look at her paper,
"-ally.." As his body pressed against hers, she felt the same heat rise in her cheeks and ears.

"Nice doodles.." He added, his eyes darting around the page. She grinned sheepishly at the numerous little wolves chasing each other over the numbers.

"They always come out when I'm frustrated…" she said, "I just have the worse time with these problems…I honestly stink at math.."

He remained quiet for a few more moments then scribbled some numbers on the page. "Well, you had it right so far until you came here…by which you divide the number of stinkhorn slugs by the number of bites to the wizard…then add the amount of potion and… voila!" Dani's eyes widened, now understanding the concept of the equation.

"Oh! I see now! Brilliant!" She clapped quietly at him, Conall blushed.

"Y-yeah well, I'm just good at this s-sort of t-thing…" he set down her quill and walked over to the teacher handing in the scroll. Dani got out a new parchment and revised the equation (What teacher would want to be bitten by an ink wolf? Honestly.) then turned it in and began to pack up. The class was soon dismissed and Dani rushed up to Conall.

"Hey! Conall!" He stopped and waited for her to catch up, " I just wanted to thank you back there…usually I have to take the papers with me to finish! That's one of the first times I've ever finished in that class!"
He smiled warmly at her. "I'm g-glad I could be of a-assistance…"

"Thank-" Suddenly she was elbowed hard in the back and toppled onto Conall. "Ugh!"

"Aww! Isn't that sweet? Potty and Loo snogging in the hall…"

There was that high pitched evil laugh. The owner, was none other than Rebecca.

"Hello Becky.." muttered Dani coldly, muffled by Conall's jacket. She straightened herself up and stared at Rebecca's smug grin. She was about to retort, maybe a harsh joke about her dad again would do the trick! Or perhaps another mention of her horrid performance at the match against Gryffindor last week. As she opened her mouth to speak, Dani remembered suddenly…Conall's eyes. That look about them at breakfast that pierced her pride, stunning her to silence. What right did Dani have to make harsh jokes to Rebecca? Her family wasn't necessarily perfect ...nor was her Chaser record for that matter and although Rebecca probably deserved it…she honestly didn't in a way. Dani stepped closer to Rebecca, who's eyes widened.

"Rebecca, I-I want to apologize about earlier," she sighed. "…I had no right to say that about your dad…and I'm sorry.." Dani hung her head a little, feeling rather silly to apologize to her enemy and felt that a "forgiven" wasn't coming any time soon…but at least she herself felt better inside.

"What is this Potter? Some sort of a trap if I stand here long enough?"

"No…just an apology.." Dani raised her head, forcing a smirk. She thought she saw Conall smile a little, but it vanished from her mind as Becky started to walk off.

"Whatever…" She heard her mutter. Dani sighed standing next to Conall.

"Well, I tried…" She said. Suddenly a gentle hand clasped her shoulder. Dani jumped and looked up .

"That was a very kind thing of you to do Dani….I'm sure it impacted her in some small way…" Conall said quietly, a smirk un-erased from his long face. That same heat scoured up inside of Dani again and she was sure her ears were beet red. She also noticed, that he didn't stutter either.

"Uh, thanks!… I guess… Lets move on shall we?" She swiftly began to walk to potions class, her heart beating rapidly and mind scrambled with thoughts about this young Lupin…

Sighing, Liza Pasha fitted herself between Conall and Dani, collapsing on the table.

"Brutal work today…" she muttered miserably, grabbing a peach, "I don't think I'll be able to write another spell with this hand as long as I live…"

"Good luck passing then, Liza…" Muttered Dani, smiling, through a turkey leg.

"I was only-"

"-joking, I know.." She handed her friend a napkin. Liza grumbled wiping her mouth, but looked at Conall buried in a book.

"Having a good day so far, Mr. Lupin?" She asked scanning the book as well.

He bobbed his head slowly and continued to read, turning the page and leaning on his hand.

"You're no fun either…" she sighed. Suddenly the tall humbling figure of Headmistress McGonagall shadowed the three, Dani looked up from her food, so did Liza and even Conall stopped reading.

"Good afternoon, I suspect that Mr. Lupin has been finding his classes alright, Miss. Potter?"

"I-"

"Y-yes Ma'am…"spoke Conall in a slight growl before Dani got a word out, "S-she's been helping me j-just fine.."

The hairs on Dani's neck bristled. Wasn't Conall being a little menacing towards McGonagall?

His eyes were a deeper gold than before and glowering at the Headmistress, who merely looked at him with dismissal.

"Very good…Mr. Lupin, it's also time for your...medicine.." she added calmly. Conall was still staring her down, boring holes into her for sure. The tension was so thick it could've been sliced with a razor. Dani turned to Conall.

"Medicine? Are you sick, Conall?" She asked cocking her head, slightly concerned.

Conall shook his head. "N-no…just don't w-worry about it, Dani, I'll be right b-back…" He broke eye contact from the Headmistress and got up from his seat.

"Good day, Miss. Potter." McGonagall said leading Conall away.

"Yeah, you too.." She said distracted at Conall, who was now boring a hole in the back of McGonagall's head. He had his lower jaw tucked out, in a snarl, as if ready to snap her head off.

"Bye, Conall.." muttered Dani quietly. He gave her a distracted wave, still staring at McGonagall while walking off. An awkward silence followed that awful conversation. Dani was thinking to herself, wondering Why on earth anyone would have anything against McGonagall. Sure, she was strict, but it wasn't an excuse to totally loathe her!

"That was ODD…" Liza said, breaking Dani's train of thought. Dani looked over at her and blinked a few times.

"Yeah that was…why would Conall act like that?" she asked, "He doesn't seem like the type to growl at a headmistress like that!"

"Well, Dani you don't know him well enough to say that…what if he's Bipolar maybe?" She suggested.

Dani's face dropped and she raised her eyebrow to question that little spurt of logic…or sarcasm.

"Bipolar…?"

"Yeah! Y'know! Mood swings at random!"

Dani shook her head and took a sip of pumpkin juice. "I just don't think so...I think something more is going on-"

"Dani…" said Liza in a strained voice.

"I'm serious! I can feel it! Conall wouldn't act that way!" Dani protested, "no I think something is very, very wrong here…"

"I'm not gonna' argue with you Dani…cause when you get these feelings…" started Liza.

"-They tend to be right, right?"

"No… wrong. So I'm not gonna' get involved."

"Gee, thanks best friend." Dani grumbled coldly. Liza started to laugh.

"I'm only joking! Just…be careful okay?"

"I will..." The young Potter stared down at her hands, wondering what one Earth could be going on behind these castle walls and the minds of those inside them.