36
The Unfortunate Irony
They walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts completely unaware of what an uncomfortable lesson it was going to be. When they got in there, all of the desks were in place for a lecture and on the board in thick letters was ' Lycanthropy'.
Remus stiffened when they walked into the room. His entire body shook slightly and his face was very pale. Doe looked at him nervously and saw that James and Sirius were looking at him with the same expression. Doe took Remus' hand and sat down in Peter's usual seat next to him. Understanding, James sat down next to Lily, and Sirius and Peter took the seats behind Doe and Remus.
Remus still hadn't said a word. He just sat quietly staring at the board.
She reached across the table and kissed him quickly on the cheek reassuringly.
His mouth quivered slightly and he placed his hand on top of hers.
Professor Weasley strode out of the room and stood in front of the board.
" Today we will be discussing Lycanthropy, so please turn to page 394 in your books"
" What's lycanthropy?" Elizabeth asked from besides Bellatrix.
" Werewolves, Merlin" Lucius told her.
" owwwwwwwwwoohhhhhhhhhhhh" Rodolphus threw his head back and howled, in an impression of a wolf.
Remus turned forward pointedly.
" Lycanthropy" Professor Weasley stated, " Is the disease that causes Werewolves. It is transferred by being bitten by a fully morphed werewolf, or in some rare cases, the gene can be present in the offspring of an infected individual. Now a werewolf differs from an animagus, in that a werewolf cannot control when they phase. Once a month, on every full moon, the individual transforms into a wolf. The transformation process is very painful and when it is finished, they werewolf is no longer fully aware of the individual they were before it. Now, let's discuss the proper ways to identify werewolves and how to track them".
They were all silent as we took notes on what Professor Weasley said. Doe watched Remus as he wrote down a perfect recollection of what Professor Weasley said, grimacing slightly at some of the more detailed parts.
At the end of class Professor Weasley turned to them, " Now I want a foot long composition due at the end of the week on recognizing werewolves".
Elizabeth shuddered, " Werewolves terrify me, we should just round them all up and get rid of them"
Beside her, Doe saw Remus look down sadly and grab his stuff. He left the room quickly, with James, Sirius and Doe at his heels.
Doe caught up with him in the corridor, " Hey do you want to go to the grounds or something?" she asked him.
He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed, " No, I think I'm just going to go up to the dormitories" he said and walked away.
She stood in the corridor and watched him walk away.
" It's okay, he always gets like this when we study them" Sirius said coming up beside her.
" Is he going to be okay?" she asked.
" He just needs to be alone, come on" Sirius said leading her towards the common room.
Lily and James sat down in one of the large couches in the corner, so Sirius, Peter and Doe sat down on the opposite side of the room in an effort to give them some privacy, they had been spending all of their time together lately.
Doe pulled out her Potions composition and began working on it. She hoped it would distract her so she wouldn't worry too much about Remus.
" You're unbelievable" Sirius said watching her begin to write.
" What?" she asked.
" That isn't due for a week" Sirius said shaking his head.
She rolled her eyes and kept writing it.
A few hours passed, and Remus still hadn't come down for dinner.
" Should one of you go see if he wants to come down?" she asked Sirius and Peter.
Sirius shook his head, " Nah, he'll come down if he gets hungry enough".
Remus didn't come to dinner.
Doe spent the whole dinner laughing at the new politeness/frustration that was the relationship between Lily and James. It seemed as if being in a relationship had both maintained their new niceness but also exemplified there bickering. However surprising it was, it seemed to work well. They were very big into public displays of affection.
At the end of dinner, Doe decided to head down to the library. She didn't want to be sitting in the common room. She wouldn't be able to stop herself from worrying about Remus.
She noticed happily that Severus was sitting in there too. She joined him.
" Hey Severus"
" Hello Doe"
He scribbled angrily on a piece of parchment.
" What did that parchment ever do to you?" she asked lightly.
He looked at her, looking more angry than she had ever seen him " Can I ask you something?"
" Sure" she told him.
He looked back down at the parchment, " How the hell did Lily end up with James Potter?"
Doe sighed. She had forgotten that Lily and James were so public that even the Slytherins knew.
" I'm sorry, Severus. I know you don't like him" she said.
" She didn't like him either" Severus snapped, " when did that change?"
" He's been nice to her lately, I think he's changed" she said.
Severus shook his head, " He is impervious to change. I'm sure it's all an act and he's just as arrogant and lazy as before".
She shrugged. She didn't know what to say. She doubted Severus would ever like James, or vice versa.
" I'm sorry" Severus said after a minute, " that isn't your problem"
Doe shook her head, " You can tell me things, Severus. That's what friends do"
Severus just kept writing things down on the parchment. Doe felt for him. She knew he really did care for Lily.
" Hey Severus, Can I borrow Doe for a second?" a voice said behind them.
Remus was standing there looking exhausted.
" I don't care" Severus said.
Doe turned to Remus, " Sure".
She gathered her stuff and followed Remus out of the library.
" When I came down, Sirius told me you worried about me" Remus said in the corridor.
" Sirius needs to learn to keep his mouth shut" she said quietly.
Remus stopped her, so that she was facing him, " I'm fine. I was being dramatic, you don't need to worry"
" No you weren't" she told him.
He frowned, " I just don't want anyone to find out"
Doe sighed, " You know, it might not be so bad if someone did, I was fine with it" she told him.
He shook his head, " Not everyone is you. Most people don't accept it. It scares them so they condemn us, it's not socially acceptable"
" Well, screw them" she told him, " You are a wonderful person, and I am sure much better than they are"
Remus smiled slightly.
She grabbed his face and kissed him quickly.
" I don't know how you can still want to do that after everything you heard Professor Weasley say today" he said softly.
" It's not you, it's something that happened to you" she told him.
He pulled her against him into a tight hug, and buried his face in her hair.