Ya'll: I had trouble with this chapter; I am sorry to say I may not have done the randomness as well as I'd hoped, and conflicting revelations are my big difficulty…. And I do apologize for not updating in so long…. I hate people like me. Lol, please review, and I will try to update as soon as lycanly possible.
A Lycan in Labor on a Guilt Trip
I willed my eyes open and sat up. As opposed to down, or something.
I was in the hospital wing. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley were asleep in the beds on my right. And I was in here too. Why was this, I wondered.
Oh, right. The Sirius Orion Black thing. And then me getting bit by Professor Lupin. Ah, yes, that's probably why I was in there. Unless this was really an asylum, and someone had followed up on Professor Snape's frequent requests that I be placed in a looney bin- wait, maybe I was just imagining all of this under the influence of St. Mungo's magic drugs! Or perhaps not.
I lay back on my pillows. It was really quiet. Everyone else was asleep and there was no sound in the room- except for Ronald's snoring.
Weak rays of sunlight were filtering through the windows. For what reason are they weak in the morning? Most people, you see, will yatter on and on about how the light hits the earth and the atmosphere and junk like that- but I have secretly entitled these theories "MUGGLE IDIOTIC COFFEE" for no real reason, but it seemed to fit. Anyway, I am of the belief that the sun is a living thing and the fact that it gets woken up before everyone else, every morning, must really suck.
Course, I am allowed to hate the sun because Captain Sun often outshines the moon. One time I just stood on a roof shouting at the sun for being a self-centered, egotistical fool, and that if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that it had has plastic surgery.
No real response to that.
It was really quiet, and as lovely as watching the sun awaken is, it did not entertain me too terribly much. Suddenly- oh no, is this a disease? Like, MuggleMusicItis! Why is it that every time I find an opening I want to sing muggle music? And this seemed- to me- to be such an 'Oklahoma' moment. I really wanted to sing. But then I would wake everyone up and they'd probably be mad at me, if they aren't all ready.
I began to mentally screech the song out in the perfect harmonization with Ronald's snores.
Oh, what a beautiful SNOREing! Oh, what a beautiful SNORE! I've got a wonderful SNOREing, everything's going my SNORE
Better than the Weird Sisters and Madame Pomfrey's rock band put together, right?
Why do I always sing Muggle music, no matter what the situation? Is it a rare disease? It's rather odd. I could truly think of no logical explanation, but hey, who wants or needs logic. Albus Dumbledore doesn't and thus I shouldn't either.
I glanced warily down at the night table beside me. My earrings were still there, smirking malevolently, just waiting for the moment to strike, with its pretty silver lining, and innocent little radishes…. Ohhhhh, I'll kill those earrings!
I reached beside them and picked up Harry's chocolate wrapper. Here was my chance to make history. Will the wrapper build a home on my nose? Or will it shun me and make me cry? I picked up the wrapper and perched it curiously on my nose. It stayed for a moment, swaying precariously, but when I exhaled, it fluttered into my lap.
I glanced down at the end of the ward. Madame Pomfrey was probably in her little office. Or at a concert. I wondered what she did there. Just sing, or did she write as well?
I jumped slightly, hearing a rustling noise behind me. I turned and saw that Professor Lupin had been lying there, asleep, but he was sort of awake now. Like a disgruntled mummy, but without the fashionable wraps.
I smiled hazily, wondering if he remembered anything. Oh dear, what if he remembered my singing? That could be rather traumatic. And what if he remembered biting me? I began to feel slightly nervous.
"Good morning, Professor."
He looked startled; obviously he hadn't noticed me. Hmmmmm, that sounds oddly familiar. Really, when was the last time somebody noticed me without me doing something drastic, like getting hurled back in time or cursed with lycanthropy? Rather depressing. Oh well. Back to Lupin.
"Hello…." He cast about for my name. "Luna,"
HUZZAH! 1 POINT TO LOVEGOOD FOR BEING REMEMBERED! 2 POINTS TO LUPIN FOR ACTUALLY REMEMBERING!
Suddenly he looked stricken.
"Did anything happen- last night, after-"
He seemed to realize whom he was talking to and stopped abruptly.
"After you transformed?"
He gave me a sort of wary look. "How do you know?"
I had half a mind to say "BECAUSE I AM THE ALL KNOWING ORACLE! BOW DOWN UNTO ME!" but that wouldn't have gone over so well, and it would have interrupted the corny sappiness of it all.
"Uh…. Harry and Hermione told me… and it's truly a very long story."
Aye, longer then Maiden Rapunzel's gorgeous locks.
The disturbed look returned. "What happened to Sirius- do you know about all that?"
I nodded. "Harry and Hermione went back in time to change some events and I got sucked back with them."
He opened his mouth, probably to ask about Pettigrew, but I interrupted, rude though it is to contradict your elders.
"We sent Sirius Orion off on that hippogriff Hagrid got in trouble about. Pettigrew still got away when… Well, yes, he's far gone."
He sighed heavily.
"Did- did I hurt anyone? Because, I know I don't remember eating anything… but I was chained to Ron and Wo- Pettigrew…"
"We're all fine." I felt bad about lying, but then, it wasn't really a lie. Harry and Hermione and Ron were just asleep, and I wasn't really hurt. I just wanted to save him a big guilt trip, right? We can't all be insensitive prats. Hmm, I bet if we were then our noses would all grow really long, and take the place of our arms…. Like Pinocchio…. But with wands.
"Then why are you in the hospital wing?" he inquired, undeterred.
"We, uh, ran into some dementors, and a hippogriff, and you, and Peeves, and Snape-"
I couldn't bring myself to leave out that we had run into him. It would be stupid…. And he would find out eventually. In fact, he might be arrested…. So I added his name in quickly- hopefully he wouldn't notice. But alas, we are not all as stupid as Cho Chang, that dum broad who keeps insisting that the Ministry tries to 'help' us. I am officially a magical anarchist….
"And I bet if I could remember clearer, I could tell you that we ran into a Sprofiliach, which is this North American creature positively obsessed with urinals. I wonder how it got here, Professor."
"Luna-" he raised a hand to pause my rambling. No- not rambling, descriptive- speech.
"Did you say you ran into me?" he stared at me with his amber eyes. OH. Dung. His eyes widened as he stared at my own eyes, which I could only assume had remained yellow.
"Di- Did- Did I bite you?"
I said nothing (for once) (shut up, are you calling me a loud mouth) (yes) (why you little- what the deuce, am I talking to myself?) (yes you are, loser) (blimey….). I couldn't bear to tell him. I hate, hate, hate, HATE, having people feel guilty because of me. And it wasn't his fault. Oh, this was just like the time when a wasp landed on my head at the bakery, and the baker clouted me with a rolling pin trying to get it. Thus, I got stung and whacked, and for a few minutes there thought I was a teapot named Marian. Thus the baker tried to make me feel better by giving me a free cake. I never blamed him though, and I gave the cake to this man outside in a big coat who looked happy and kept talking about how the sky is actually violet, but we just didn't notice. I fully agreed with that ingenious assessment.
At that very moment, the door swung open, as Professor Dumbledore strode into the room, disturbed eye twinkle and all. He smiled wearily.
"Good morning Miss Lovegood- Ah, and Professor Lupin! How good to see you. How do you two feel?"
"Reasonably well," I said. "My leg doesn't hurt or anything. I bet I could chop it off and not feel a thing!" I speculated.
"Let's not attempt to find out- I think your leg has had enough for the time being." He said dryly.
"Luna," Lupin said again. When I just stared unresponsively back at him, not blinking, but looking very apologetic, he turned to Professor Dumbledore.
"Please, tell me," he implored. I stared at the ground for a moment, trying to keep my mind on the subject, and not on the very colorful wrapper on the tile. I took a deep breath. Not like it was a big deal or anything. No, not at all.
"I've got lycanthropy," I said in a conversational tone. You know, conversational tones always shift the mood to something pleasant. In my limited experience, I suppose.
"Oh, God," Lupin said quietly- he sounded really calm, and I was getting this 'calm before the storm' vibe from him. Oh, dear. Wonder how I look with yellow eyes. Has to be more interesting then the pale irises which had always been mine in the past. Perhaps I could make my hair turn an interesting color as well.
Lupin started hyperventilating, and Dumbledore placed a secure hand on his shoulders. "Calm-down, Remus. It's going to be all right."
Lupin shook his head. I stifled a giggle. He sounded like a woman going into labor…. Disgusting, does that make Dumbledore the father? Ech. "T-t-t-take me to the Ministry. I broke the Code of Conduct. I-I,"
"Oh, please don't go to the Ministry," I said. "We would miss you an awful lot." I nodded, as if to prove my point.
Dumbledore gave a half-smile. "I must say that my sentiments do rest with Miss Lovegood. It is not necessary to jump to any extremes. However, we cannot ignore the seriousness of this matter."
An idea occurred to me. "Professors, if I need to register at the Ministry-" a look from Dumbledore confirmed that I would indeed. What fun "-Well, I'll say it was a feral that bit me- that I was being silly and wandering through the Forbidden Forest, and that Professor Lupin was elsewhere."
"That will be highly complicated Miss Lovegood. Do you believe we can accomplish it?"
"Yes, sir."
He smiled, and began to construct a story for Lupin and I to follow. I had heard that Snape had run out into the woods from a fellow classmate who had been looking out the window, gotten curious, followed, found myself lost in the forest, cornered by a werewolf whom I distracted by singing until I performed a heroic leap into a tree, though still getting my shin bitten. The story for Lupin was that he had had an errand to perform for Dumbledore the previous day, and had found himself stranded in some random town Dumbledore chose. Then of course, the full moon came, and Lupin would have been forced to transform in a most conveniently placed basement at his current location, making it quite impossible that he was the one who bit me.
As Dumbledore told us these strange facts, Lupin remained in a sort of strained silence. Madame Pomfrey came in at the ending of this speech, muttered something, and returned to her office to compose rock music. I wondered if Dumbledore knew about her band. Ohhhh, he was probably the tight stockinged, mohawked drummer! Negative image…. But you know, if he wasn't, then it must be Professor Flitwick, and that means I have blackmail on at least two of my educational instructors. This is power at its greatest degree! Bah on Voldemort, and bah on Grimmelwauld (you know, that bloke Dumbledore conquered)- THIS IS POWER! MAUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!
"Are you prepared to hold to this story, Miss Lovegood?"
"Yah," I said, wondering what color Dumbledore's hair had been when he was my age. Or Lupin's.
"Remus?" Asked Dumbledore carefully.
Professor Lupin stared at him, and then stared at me, one of his hands feebly rubbing the skin below his eye. "Your eyes," he whispered, suddenly gazing at the floor.
"Did they change color?" I asked nonchalantly. "Wouldn't that be interesting."
"Actually, they have taken on a rather vibrant shade of yellow."
"Really? That's pleasant."
Dumbledore looked at the both of us and sighed. "I've got to go now- Miss Lovegood, you shall be taken to the Ministry of Magic at a later time today."
"Okay."
He leaned over and quietly said something to Lupin, then walked from the room. I silently wondered what he had said.
I glanced at Lupin, who was slowly digging the nails on his thumb and pointer finger into the skin on his left hand. He didn't notice me. Had he gone insane? That would be rather fun. We would truly miss our professor, but just so long as he could still talk, he would probably discover some sort of sacred philosophy! Don't all psychos do that? Curious. Curious has been a very cool word, ever since Ollivander said it. Seriously, the first years, every year, spend the first couple months saying 'Curious' all the time. It's almost as funny as a talking papaya.
I sneezed, purely by accident, and Lupin's gaze shot up and at my face. He visibly paled, if that was possible with how pale he was, and his skin looked disturbingly white.
"Professor?" No answer. "Professor?"
"Why don't you hate me? How can you so simply accept the horror of this curse?" he suddenly demanded.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure. It just seems rather inconsequential. The pain and suffering of one person- or two-" I acknowledged him. "Is minute and pointless when placed in the comparison of the world, or maybe just an exceptionally important person."
"That is what you fail to understand," Lupin said slowly, quietly. I felt like I was on a muggle soap opera- all of these people dramatically overreacting.
"You aren't a person now- neither am I. Y-you are a werewolf. You are placed in the beast division of the justice system. You are a danger to society. We are monsters. After the next full moon- then you will hate me."
I shook my head. "I doubt it. It's not your fault I got bitten. Anyway, I couldn't care less about the Ministry of Magic or their legal systems. I care about the upholding of law, but I've never seen the Ministry help much in that. Individuals do. The worst thing the Ministry can do is to kill the ones I love."
"They could kill you if you disobeyed them- and they will kill me."
Oddly, the thought of my own death didn't phase me, for I, Luna Lovegood, have other things to consider. Like how to hold up my strict vegetarianism if I try to eat people all the time….
"Professor?"
"I am going to tell them the truth- that it was me that bit you. And they will kill me for breaking the Code of Conduct."
"No, Professor you really oughtn't tell them."
"I have destroyed your life! Do you understand that? You are an eternal outcast society- all you will know is pain. Pain of being shunned and the pain of transforming! Welcome to hell. And I am sorry. I am so sorry…."
I swallowed. This was, well, slightly more frightening then being bitten in the first place. Not to say that all of this had not already occurred to me, I wasn't quite as stupid as Ronald Weasley (bless him)- but it just gave me a sort of hollowed out grief for what Professor Lupin must have suffered. What his sad life had been. Perhaps I could compose a musical in his honor! Yes, precisely, that's what I would do. I couldn't use the title 'Hairy Snout, Human Heart', that was indefinitely taken. Hmmmm, Lupin's Lamentations? Something to think on. And what awesome costumes it would need….
Giving an odd smile, I slid out of the bed and went over to Lupin's bed, picking up his hand. Poor man.
"But you'll stand by me, right, Professor? I won't ever be a complete outcast- nor will you. Not as long as there are other twelve year old Ravenclaw girls, and young werewolves, and old werewolves, and circus clowns, and talented muggles!"
Professor Lupin's face relaxed slightly (though still looking painfully stressed) , and he gave a wan grin. "Yes, I will stand by you." He said slowly, haltingly. This was so dramatic. " Though never will it atone for what I've done."
What is it with Gryffindors and 'atoning'? Strange people….