Remus hardly ever had an easy full moon. But this one was particularly bad. He hadn't taken his potion as often as he was supposed to. He trusted Snape and his skills, but not so much that he would take whatever the good professor told him to. This morning, Remus found himself too ill to teach so Snape was taking the classes. Remus had insisted that Lizzie go to her classes, but when he awoke from his nap, she was there, placing a cool cloth on his forehead.
"You should be in class."
"So should you."
It was true enough. If he had been more careful it would have been a better moon. Luckily for Remus he seemed to never pose a threat to his own daughter. He used to bring her to the home of Arabella Fig for the moons, someone from the old crowd. But there was one month in Lizzie's young childhood that he had forgotten. It was right after Miranda died. The time had gone by in a cloud. He had missed the full moon, hadn't ordered his potions and when he transformed Lizzie was still in the house. Remus didn't remember anything, but when he woke up in the morning Lizzie had been playing in her room where Remus was curled up. There were no scratched or bites on him, and Lizzie was unharmed. It seemed her presence was almost as calming as Wolfsbane potion itself.
"I told Hermione not to come for me this morning. I'm going to take care of you, and from now on, I'll make the potions. If you don't trust Snape I'll do it."
Remus struggled to sit up. "No, my dear. Best not to rock the boat. What did you say to Hermione?"
"I just said you were ill and I wanted to stay to help. I didn't know how much to say so I said as little as possible."
Remus smiled. He reached out for Lizzie, who sat on the edge of the bed. "I don't like raising suspicions when Snape already doesn't like me much and with Sirius out there somewhere. Best just let him play whatever tricks will be played. As for Hermione and the others, the less said the better."
"You want me to lie to my friends?"
Remus smiled wider now. "Friends?"
"They are my friends," the girl insisted.
Remus considered for a moment before taking both Lizzie hands. "I know we've had trouble about lying lately, but I'm asking you to omit some things from your friends. Things will come out in time, but I would rather not be chased down by a mob of angry parents. I trust Harry, but the others I don't know nearly as well. Best err on the side of caution."
And because she was a bright child, and knew the kind of stigma that surrounded her father's condition, Lizzie nodded in understanding.