Monday came sooner than I would have hoped, and I found myself buttering toast in the bustling Great Hall, when I noticed my dear cousin, seventh year Slytherin Evan Rosier, sauntering up to me. I groaned inwardly. My father was Evan's uncle by blood, but when he married my muggle mother, he was branded a blood-traitor and took her surname. Evan and I rarely spoke, but when we did? Let's just say it was never good news.
"Hello, half-breed." Evan sneered as he sat down sideways next to me, one leg on either side of the bench. "So, I hear you've been causing a bit of trouble, eh?" He leaned forward and breathed down my ear. "I always liked the naughty ones. Although, that said, defending foul, hairy, threatening creatures is never an attractive quality." He finished, leaning back again.
I looked at him coldly. "The only foul, hairy creature around here is your dick, Evan, and it's so small it's hardly a threat to anybody. And I wasn't defending it; don't flatter yourself." I stood to leave the hall, but Evan (not one to be shown up in front of his Slytherin slime-ball friends) followed me. Once we were out the hall, he snaked his arms around my waist and tugged at my neck with his teeth.
"Why don't you come with us to the dungeons, and you can see for yourself how small it is. Or not small, for that matter. Then, maybe we can talk about your punishment for speaking out of turn to poor Atkinson, and for defending werewolves. I think I know just the thing to set you straight." His hand slithered down to my bum, and I tried to step away, but his other arm remained firmly around my waist.
He laughed menacingly and began to tug me towards the nearest classroom. I struggled and tried to shout, but his hands were all over me, leaving me defenseless.
"Hey!" came a loud shout, and a chorus of heavy footsteps came crashing towards us. "Put her down, Rosier, or I swear to God you'll regret it." Black drew his wand as he spoke, and the other three Marauders followed suit. Evan seemed to notice as I did that all his goonies had run away, and his grip loosened just enough for me to lift my foot to his groin and dig my elbow into his ribs. He keeled over in pain and I stepped forward, letting out a sigh of relief.
"You little -" He began, reaching for me, but I turned and kicked him square in the face, causing his nose to start bleeding profusely. Potter, Black and Pettigrew looked impressed, but Remus's face still had concern etched all over it. No, that wasn't concern, I realised as I neared him. That was burning anger. We began to walk away, Potter clapping me on the back, when we noticed Remus moving forward to stand over Evan.
"Never. Go. Anywhere. Near. Her. Again. Ever!" Remus kicked Evan with every word, his voicing raising from a hiss to a roar. By the time he finished, I was by his side, slipping my hand into his. I knew what it was like to be blinded by anger, and sometimes only a touch can break the spell and bring you back to reality.
"Remus, don't. Just leave it, he's not worth it." Black came and tugged Remus away, a look saying "we'll talk later" on his face. I nodded once and set about cleaning Evan up a bit. He was unconscious and bleeding, but by the time I was done, he was just bruised. I was glad: I wanted him to have a few reminders of what would happen if he came near me again.
…...
I crashed into DADA as the clock struck 9am, meaning I wasn't late. I took my seat next to Remus, and scribbled a note:
You didn't have to do that. He'd already let me go. -S
I don't care. He needs to learn he can't do that to people. To you. -R
I was stumped. I'd never seen Remus as a particularly violent person – even when the others would beat me up, he'd hang back shouting, or be so feeble I barely noticed compared to the likes of Sirius or James.
I know, but you went a bit over the top, don't you think? You kind of scared me a bit - it was like you were in an anger-trance or something. –S
He looked at me, brow furrowed, and scribbled again.
I didn't mean to, I guess sometimes when I'm angry, the wolf takes control a bit. It's only happened that badly once before. –R
Curiosity began brewing inside me.
What happened the first time? –S
I can't tell you, it's not my secret to spread. But I only ever get angry like that when the people I care most about are in danger. –R
Remus and I looked at each other. I was about to ask if that meant he cared about me when Atkinson slammed a pile of textbooks onto the desk in front of us.
"Well, Miss Smith?" He snarled, and I looked up at him, and then to the blank blackboard.
"I – I'm sorry, Professor, could you repeat the question?"
We completed the lesson in silence, and without passing any more notes. I needed to talk, but I couldn't say it to Remus in case I scared him, and I couldn't exactly wander up to any friends or Professors and enlighten them on the situation. I had two options, and one of them included trusting Black, Potter and Pettigrew more than I would ever want to, so that was out of the question.
I climbed the stairs of Ravenclaw Tower, ignoring the aching in my legs. When I reached the top, I found myself looking over a wait-high wall – the only thing between me and a 100ft drop.
"Helena?" I called, looking around.
"Miss Stella," She smiled, gently. "How may I be of service to you?"
I'd first come across the Grey Lady in second year, again avoiding mocking comments from my peers. She'd offered me comforting words and advice; she'd had been my friend ever since. She'd nick-named me Stella, telling me Star was a thing, not a name, but I could always rely on her for good advice when I had nowhere else to look: her mother's wisdom lived on inside her, even in death.
"I did something, and I think it's backfired awfully and I don't know what to do." I shook my head and began relaying the events of the past week to Helena, from finding out about Remus' lycanthropy to his notes in DADA this morning.
"And I know that latching was safe on my brother, because it just made the wolf feel the family connections. But Remus and I aren't related, so what if, like in the article, I made it believe I'm his mate?" I held my hands to my head as I paced. "I'm such an idiot. I must have done it wrong; it's supposed to wear off once he's back in human form. Oh, Merlin, what have I done?"
Helena placed a translucent hand on my shoulder, encouraging me to sit beside her. She took a deep, unnecessary breath and curved her soft features into a smile.
"Miss Stella, has it occurred to you, that perhaps Master Lupin may care about you?" My eyes widened. No, it couldn't be that – if it wasn't for me finding out his secret, he'd still hate me. They all would.
"That's impossible." I said firmly, shaking my head. "It's just the latching. It'll go away soon, I'm sure. Then it'll all go back to normal. Yes, that's what it is." I continued, though I knew Helena could see I was trying to convince myself, not her.
I thanked her and began the long walk back down the stairs and out of the common room. I'd missed most of my free period before lunch, so I decided to head out to the lake to read and distract my thoughts for a while.
Two chapters later, I heard shouting and laughter, and followed my ears until I saw an upside-down person, hanging in mid-air. Black hair hung down slickly, and the green-rimmed robes told me that this was Severus Snape, a quiet, studious boy in my year. We'd partnered together sometimes in Potions and Care of Magical Creatures (he excelled where I failed, and vice versa) and, although he kept himself to himself, he was a perfectly decent person.
Beneath him were the Marauders, laughing and jeering. Potter had his wand pointing at Snape and was obviously the one keeping him in the air, while the other three shot hexes and cruel words at him. Had they learnt nothing? They'd been forced to leave me alone, so now they were working on ruining Snape's life? I flared my nostrils and stormed forward, shoving Potter with all my might. I whipped my wand out to lower Snape gently, then flipped back round to the Marauders.
"How dare you?" I screamed, hitting Black square in the chest. "How cold are you? Who gave you the right to hurt people? To decide who's good and who isn't? Because from where I'm stood, Snape is better than the four of you combined." I spun on my heel and stormed away, dragging a bruised Severus behind me.
Once we reached the edge of the forest, I motioned for him to sit down. He leant against the tree as I worked on cleaning his cuts and reversing the hexes that had been placed upon him.
"Thank you, Smith." He said quietly, the tiniest smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
"You don't have to thank me, Sev. I did what was right. What I should have done a long time ago." I stood. "Come on, we should go back to the castle. We're late for potions."
Phew, this is the longest chapter I've written so far! I meant to upload this last night, but we had some snapchat issues with an anonymous account being mean to girls at my school, so I was helping get that taken down.
I really wanted to get Star to begin standing up to people more, like Evan and the Marauders. I also wanted to show how the people who have been bullied by the Marauders have almost bonded through those experiences; I hope you enjoyed it! As to Remus, has he started to care about her, or is it latching gone wrong? Who knows… ?
As always, please favourite, follow and review!
Daughter of Orion xox
