Remus Lupin

What did I do? Why did I persist so vigorously to find a magical cure for Delia? Sirius was right. I should have thought about it more. I should have settled down from the initial shock of what was happening to Delia. Now I gave the girl hope that she could be healed, but again that was taken away from her. She had tears in her eyes because of me. I was a terrible person. I hurt her. Maybe I was truly a beast after all.

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"Okay," Delia said in that sarcastic tone of hers, in response to Madam Pomfrey's warning. "Ten minutes… shall I time it?"

She doubted Pomfrey's abilities, but I did not. Even though Pomfrey did not have a cure for her, I knew that she was most likely correct about the ten minute assumption. "Delia," I murmured softly. "You need to trust her." Then, I realized that Delia probably couldn't hear my low tone, so I repeated it again. "Trust her, please."

"Yes, trust the woman that just told me that she can't do anything about this, after examining me for five minutes," Delia complained, absentmindedly. "That sounds like a good plan."

"At least pretend like it's true for the moment," I begged, staring intently at her grey eyes and holding onto her shaky hand. "Live like it's your last ten minutes of sound. Please do that for me."

"Fine," she grumbled, eventually giving in. "But just for you."

"May I interrupt?" Pomfrey suddenly asked, as our eyes backed away from one another.

"What?" Delia brusquely answered.

"I said that there's no cure, but I can do something to help," she offered. I was ready to listen. If there was anything that could help Delia, I was going to do it.

"I should talk to you alone," Pomfrey glanced at me with force in her tone. "Just you."

"This is my illness," Delia proclaimed. "I should be allowed to hear this."

"Delia, let me talk to her." I knew that it had something to do with magic. Something that Pomfrey did not want Delia to hear because we did not want to give away our secret of magic to her. It was too soon for that.

"Just talk softly and I won't hear a word."

Delia was in a terrible mood and I felt awful for having to leave her, but I had to. "Come on upstairs," I said quietly to Pomfrey, half-attempting to keep Delia from hearing.

We quietly walked up the steps and I led Pomfrey into my room. We closed the door and she began to explain to me what she was thinking.

"There's nothing that I can do to stop her loss of hearing and vision," Pomfrey explained. "If there was even a chance of something working, I'd tell you. I'd tell you too if I thought there was hope at St. Mungos, but there's nothing that can be done." I sighed, upset by those words. "But there is something that can help you and her. That is if you want to stay in touch with her. Sirius said that you've only known her for awhile. Are you going to stay in contact with her?"

"I think I love her," I admitted for the first time. If Sirius made a statement like that I probably would have laughed. I probably would have told him to shut up and eat something. And I couldn't even count the number of times that James said that to Lily, before he truly got to know her. I complained about it, telling him that it wasn't true love. But my statement was completely true, no matter how reckless and naïve it sounded.

"Love is a strong word," Pomfrey explained. "You have to be sure. I don't want for you to bring her into an aspect of our world if you're not sure."

"I love her," I repeated, more confidently.

"There is a spell," Pomfrey started to explain. "Something like Legillimens, but not quite as forceful. Actually it is quite the opposite as the spell. She will be able to hear your thoughts if you do it correctly."

"What about sight?" I asked, knowing that wasn't going to cure everything. I wanted to have it all covered.

"If you clearly think about what you are seeing she will be able to see everything from your point of view. She will not actually be able to see, it will be your thoughts that she sees, but it will be helpful."

"Teach me it," I demanded. This had to work out.

"Not now," she explained. "She has five minutes of sound left. You surely want to be there for her last five minutes, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered. "Thank you." I shoved the door open and raced down the stairs, as quickly as I could. I had to be there with her for that moment. I couldn't let her leave the world of sound without me by her side.

When I made it down the stairs, I approached Delia, who was still at the table, but now with tears in her eyes. I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but she had already asked me to stop asking that question.

Lily was sitting next to her at the table, with her arm on Delia's shoulder, like she was comforting her.

Delia's foggy eyes soon faced mine and she began to talk, "I think she's right. I felt this tingling sensation in my ears a little while ago and I felt it again just now. I think it may be going away."

I approached her more closely, walking back to her other side - where I sat before. I scooted my seat in closer and I grabbed a hold of her arm once more. Within no time she leaned her head into my chest and she fell into my grasp. I could feel her heart beating more quickly as the seconds wore on. I held onto her, protecting her from whatever harm was about to come.

And then I knew what I needed to do. I started to sing once more.

You fill up my senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain,
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you,
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms,
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you.
Come let me love you, come love me again.

"I love you," she said as soon as I finished singing in my terrible tone.

"I love you more," I responded, holding her tight.

She soon lifted her head up and pressed her lips against mine.

Her kiss was the most beautiful feeling in the world.

---

I could not leave the beach that summer. I was supposed to be searching for a job… for any place that would hire a werewolf. But she came into my life. And she needed me more than I needed to find a job. She was going to be there just for the summer. What did it matter if I just extended my vacation a little bit longer?

James, Lily, Peter, and Sirius left a week later than they were supposed to. I stayed for her. She did lose her hearing that moment, right after our kiss, and she needed me. She didn't want to admit it because of her independent nature, but she needed me.

The biggest problem came two weeks after I met her - during that time when the moon is the brightest. As much as I was used to it, it pained me to have to transform when she needed me, but James and Lily came to watch Delia that night, and Sirius and Peter helped me as I took my place in the Shrieking Shack again.

The next full moon I did the same thing, but it was just a Lily and Delia night. The two became relatively good friends right away, though Delia told me that she thought Lily was quite bland at first. As the two got to know each other, their opinions of each other transformed into something deeper.

The first major milestone between the two came when Delia admitted to Lily about her illness. Even though Lily had been there for the Pomfrey confrontation, Delia did not say much to her about it for awhile. And she begged me not to say a thing either. I think that Lily figured it out before Delia told her, but it was still a big step for Delia to admit everything.

Sirius turned into the most annoying detractor of my relationship. He always supported James and Lily, but he did not want me to stay with Delia. I could not understand it because I didn't think that he would be so cruel… to not like someone because of what she was going through – her blindness and deafness. But he was acting like a true Black with his prejudices. He really annoyed me during those summer days.

My relationship with Delia was amazing. Every day I woke up with a smile on my face, looking forward to the day. Delia could not hear during those days because I decided to wait to use Pomfrey's spell, but she could see me. And that was enough, even if her sight was a bit foggy.

Pomfrey also told her that her sight was not going to leave her in the same way that her hearing did. It would get worse every day, and eventually fade. She secretly told me that the she would lose it all before the summer ended. But at least it was a gradual thing. And at least we had some time.

We laid out on a towel in front of our cliff. Long ago we named it The Tiger Wolf, nothing particularly meaningful to outsiders, but meaningful to us, even if it did not make sense to name a cliff.

We were lying on our stomachs, staring at the ocean, hands held tightly together like the bars of a jail cell. We took our breaths together, each one deep and peaceful, enjoying each second of every moment.

Her head turned towards mine. As soon as I noticed, I turned my head towards hers as well, staring into her beautiful eyes, however foggy they were at that point. She stared closely at me, lost in a daze for several moments. I did not want to interrupt the beautiful stare, but eventually I gave in.

Why are you staring so intently? I scribbled in large font so that she could see, on the sheet of paper that I always kept by my side.

"I want to remember your face," she said in a voice that was no longer clear and that was rather loud.

You will, I wrote back to her with confidence.

"I can't see the colour of your eyes anymore," she said sadly. "I can barely see that you even have eyes."

I took my arm and I wrapped it around her, as the wind swept by, chilling us both for a moment.

Can you see this? I wrote, allowing her to see the message, before I pressed my lips against hers.

"No, but I can feel it," she answered as soon as we broke apart.

That's all that matters, I scribbled again.

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So is love at first sight really possibly these days? In a twisted type of way, I think it is.

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AN: Lyrics are again not by me, but by John Denver – Annie's Song.