I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 16

When Devyn and Neville got to the DADA classroom, she was entirely unsurprised to see that Moony was not there. There was no reason to expect him to be, considering he was recovering from the full moon, but that didn't make her feel any better.

She might have been getting older, but that didn't mean she didn't need her Moony anymore.

"Where's Professor Lupin?" Neville asked. Devyn tried not to crack a smile at the fact that Neville wasn't comfortable calling him by his first name. Although…Moony had told her not to call him Moony unless they were alone, so maybe Neville was just doing it as a professional courtesy.

"Well, like I said, he's a little under the weather. He'll be back soon, I'm sure," Devyn said, taking her seat behind Harry. It was a little unusual to see Harry not sitting at the same table as Ron, but their red-headed friend was at the adjacent table, sitting next to Bem.

What was even more unusual, though, was the lack of Hermione. In three years of being Hermione's friend, Devyn had come to know that missing a lesson was paramount to committing murder to Hermione, so the fact that she wasn't there troubled Devyn quite a bit.

However, she had no time to focus on Hermione not being there, because she heard the door creak open and none other than Snape himself walked through it. He waved his wand three times, closing the shutters on the windows silently, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

All chatter ceased immediately. Devyn noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Neville's face had become set as stone, in an expression of both frustration and annoyance. Neville's dislike of Snape was widely known amongst their friends, but that was only because he bullied Neville needlessly. So Neville wasn't a Potions whiz; so what? Everyone had their strong points and their weak points.

Snape had been even worse to Neville as of late, probably because he had found out about Neville's Boggart and the result when he used Riddikulus on it.

Devyn never really had a problem with Snape – aside from her resentment of his treatment of her friends – but that didn't mean she was fond of him, especially recently. Ever since the school year started, he had been death-glaring at Moony any time he got the chance.

Devyn didn't understand it. Moony was never anything but polite and mild-mannered; it didn't make sense for anyone to hate him as much as Snape seemed to. But, Devyn had to admit, there were things about her godfather's past that she simply didn't know (perhaps she didn't want to know, either), so she couldn't be sure that something hadn't happened between Snape and Moony to cause the Potions Master to hate him so much.

Snape didn't say a word as he lowered the projector screen, but when he finally turned to face the class, he said, in his no-nonsense voice, "Turn to page 394."

Everyone hesitated for only a moment before grabbing their books and opened them to get to the page. When she saw the topic of that chapter, she was both annoyed and intrigued. She was looking down at the creature her beloved godfather transformed into every month; the affliction that had pretty much ruined his life. There it was, in bold, black letters: WEREWOLVES.

Snape walked down the aisle between the desks and Harry leaned over the empty seat beside him. He looked up at Snape and said, "Excuse me, sir."

Snape came to a dead halt and looked at Harry with a steely gaze. "Where's Professor Lupin?" Harry asked. Devyn tried not to smile at Harry's obvious concern for Moony. It was sweet that he cared about her godfather.

"That's not really your concern, is it, Potter?" Snape told him, and kept walking. "Suffice it to say that your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time."

Devyn knew exactly why he was incapable of teaching and she wouldn't be surprised if Snape knew why too. Dumbledore seemed to trust Snape, and Dumbledore would know about Moony's condition, so it was logical to tell the teachers about Moony's condition as well, in case the need ever arose for someone to cover his classes.

Snape reached the podium in the middle of the room and said again, "Turn to page 394." He tapped his wand against the projector and it turned on, lighting up the screen.

Devyn noticed that Ron was taking quite a bit of time flipping through his book to get to the page they were supposed to be on, and apparently, Snape noticed it too, because he flicked his wand angrily and Ron's book turned to the right page of its own accord, in much less time than it would have taken Ron to get there.

"Werewolves?!" Ron exclaimed when he saw the chapter title.

"But, sir, we've just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks!" Hermione told him, turning in her chair to look at Snape.

"Where the bloody hell did she come from?" Neville asked, his tone clearly befuddled. Devyn blinked in surprise at her friend's sudden appearance in front of her.

"I've got no idea."

"Quiet," Snape warned her. Ron and Harry looked at each other, helplessly confused.

"When did she come in? Did you see her come in?" Ron asked Harry, who shook his head, becoming even more confused with each passing second.

Definitely not for the first time, Devyn got the feeling that there was something that Hermione was not telling them, and although Devyn thought it was perfectly fine for her friends to have their own secrets, she didn't like it – not one bit. Something weird was going on here, and she wanted to know what it was.

Devyn tried to redirect her attention to the screen at the front of the room, on which a picture had just slid into view. It seemed to be a cave painting of a wolf-like figure going up against some people.

Lovely, she thought.

"Now," Snape said, "which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?"

Although Devyn knew the answer, she wasn't going to raise her hand. There was no point, really, because Hermione's hand was in the air before she could even process the question. Also, she didn't want to draw attention to the fact that she knew a fair bit about both werewolves and Animagi. That was the last thing she needed.

Unfortunately for Hermione, Snape's back was turned and he didn't see her hand, although Devyn doubted that would have made a difference, anyway.

"No one? How disappointing," Snape commented dryly.

"Please, sir," Hermione said, as Devyn closed her eyes. She should have just stayed quiet; now Hermione was probably going to get some snide remark as to her being a 'know-it-all' or something. "An Animagus is a wizard to elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon, when he transforms, he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind –"

Hermione's textbook explanation was interrupted when Malfoy felt the need to demonstrate the werewolf's call by howling.

"Owwoooooo!" Malfoy made the noise and Crabbe started laughing stupidly.

Devyn rolled her eyes and made a noise of disgust. Malfoy was smug about it now, but if he ever came face to face with a real werewolf, he'd soil himself and run away screaming.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Snape said pointedly, and Malfoy smirked. Snape turned his attention to Hermione and said, "That is the second time you've spoken out of turn, Ms. Granger. Are you incapable to restraining yourself, or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"

Devyn felt a growl rising up in her throat and felt her eyesight shift into 'wolf-mode' (the first thing that changed when Snow was about to make an appearance) and she fought to keep Snow from being unleashed. She hated that Snape was so mean to Hermione, but she couldn't wolf out on him. Not only would she be expelled from Hogwarts, she'd also be in big trouble with the Ministry of Magic, considering she was an unregistered Animagus.

"He's got a point, you know…" Ron commented quietly. While this was all being said, the pictures on the screen kept shifting, going from an Egyptian-like painting of a man confronting a werewolf, to a sort of werewolf version of Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, to another cave-like painting, to a scene that depicted, on a vase, one man in armor running away while his brother in arms was half-devoured by a werewolf, to an Indian, or maybe a Hindu interpretation of the werewolf.

"Five points from Gryffindor. As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk by Monday morning, two rolls of parchment on the werewolf," the entire class groaned at this, although Devyn did not; this assignment would be a breeze for her; "with particular emphasis on recognizing it!"

"But, sir, it's Quidditch tomorrow!" Harry protested. Devyn thought this was entirely in vain, but credit had to be given to Harry for steel nerve. Not many people would be willing to contest the assignment of a paper, much less when the assignment was coming from Snape. But then again, Harry never did have any problem standing up to Snape...

"Then I suggest you take extra care, Mr. Potter; loss of limb will not excuse you," Snape told him. "Page 394."

Devyn fought the urge to roll her eyes when Snape repeated the page number yet again. Did he really think that they would forget what page to turn to, in the minute that he had last told them? Did he really think they were that incompetent?

Apparently yes, yes he does...Devyn thought. Otherwise he wouldn't keep repeating himself.

"Now, the term werewolf is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon word 'wer' meaning 'man' and 'wolf'. 'Werewolf', 'man-wolf'. There are several ways to become a werewolf. They include being given the power to shape-shifting, being bitten by a werewolf, or..."

Devyn allowed her mind to wander as Snape continued lecturing them about werewolves. She didn't really need to listen; she already knew everything about werewolves that needed to know, and she really didn't want to have to listen to Snape going on and on about how they were dangerous, bloodthirsty animals and mindless killers, and blah, blah, blah. She knew it wasn't true and she didn't want to listen to it. If werewolves were only mindless killers, then why would Moony have adopted her? Hmm? It was impossible for a person to be only one thing! Humans were much more complex than that. The only reason that werewolves were ostracized by society was that they did, in some way, pose a danger. Up until recently, when werewolves transformed, they'd lose all sense of their human identity. But now, with the help of the Wolfsbane Potion, the werewolf could keep his mind and just go through the transformation a harmless wolf - well, as harmless as a wolf could be, she guessed. She understood that the Wolfsbane Potion was extremely difficult to make, and potentially disastrous should the brewer get it wrong, but she thought that people should at least give the werewolf population a chance to show everyone that they were normal people too. The only difference between werewolves and normal people is that werewolves are forced to turn into an animal every month, whether they want to or not; and people, who have that glorious choice, elect to act like animals anyway.

As she pondered the prejudice against werewolves, she also thought about the assignment. The only thing that bothered her, about this assignment, was that someone might do the research and put together the puzzle pieces about her godfather. Once you thought about it, it was no great wonder; the scars, the mysterious illness, his apparently constant weakened state, Devyn's sensitivity when it came to werewolves (on behalf of her godfather), among other things; all those separate, seemingly random things…when they were pieced together, they spelled it out clear as day.

Devyn doubted that Ron, Harry, or Neville would figure it out, despite their levels of intelligence; no, the person Devyn was concerned about figuring it out was Hermione…she, Devyn feared, would be the one to piece it together.

She hoped that Hermione, when she did uncover the mystery of her godfather's condition, would approach her about it and Devyn would be able to, hopefully, either steer her away from the idea, or get her to keep quiet about the truth.

Life was getting really complicated.