I do not own the Harry Potter series or Pokemon.

Some scenes and dialogue are derived from Prisoner of Azkaban.

Chapter Eighteen: A Shot in the Dark

Moon spent the rest of the weekend in relative isolation. She did not want to confront the Gryffindors or the Slytherins, and so spent the meals with the Ravenclaws. Although they were all practically fountains of information, it got rather boring being lectured to outside of class hours.

Harry had woken up sometime in the middle of the night. Moon attempted to visit him, only to turn back when she spotted Hermione and Ron hovering by his side. They didn't seem to leave, either, and so Moon stayed away from the three of them.

She spent most of her time in the Come and Go Room with her pokémon to keep the loneliness from sinking in. As nervous as she was about confronting either of her friend groups, she was suffering from their absence.

"Ridiculous, really," she mumbled while stroking Silvally's fur during a training session. "I never needed anyone before."

It wasn't a stretch by any means. She had grown up without any friends her own age, she preferred to be by herself, and the few friends she acquired during her time as a trainer weren't constantly by her side. It was just her, her mother, and her pokémon.

"And I only have two of those things now."

The weekend passed without confrontation, and it wasn't until Monday that Moon willingly went anywhere with the Gryffindors. She kept near the back of the group as they flooded into the classroom after being given the all-clear. Lupin was at the front of the classroom, exhausted but smiling. Moon made a mental note as to how long the full moon affected the professor. She sat down with the rest of the class, keeping her own mouth shut when everyone burst out with scathing remarks about Professor Snape.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he set us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves—"

"—two rolls of parchment!"

"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Lupin questioned, his brows creasing slightly. Everyone started talking again, and Moon tuned them out. By the sounds of things, no one had even tried to do the essay. Since Lupin was revoking the homework, no one would find—

"I've already finished it!"

Her eyes darted over to the smartest girl in Gryffindor, and she screamed internally.

The lesson on Hinkypunks might have been interesting if it wasn't for Moon freaking out. She appeared to be paying attention and mechanically took notes, but her inner dialogue consisted of a list of swear words she would never say in front of adults a second time. She couldn't properly focus knowing that Granger—possibly the most perceptive person in the school aside from her—had completed Snape's essay.

When the lesson ended, Moon ended up walking outside the classroom first and waiting near the doorframe. She waited until Granger stepped out and tapped on the brunette's shoulder. The girl jumped, startled to see who was poking her.

"Moon?"

"We need to talk," Moon said, reaching for Hermione's sleeve. "In private."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak when Ron exited the classroom. He saw the two girls standing huddled against the wall and gave them a questioning look.

Moon leaned forward, so her lips were nearly touching Hermione's ear, and whispered, "After you're finished with classes, meet me outside the Barnabas the Barmy portrait that has the trolls. Don't bring anyone."

Moon moved away from the pack of Gryffindors to go to her own classes. She caught Hermione staring at her throughout the day. The brunette always glanced away whenever she was caught. Moon found herself staring just as often, although she blamed it on wanting to check on Harry, who was hardly ever more than three feet away from the other two.

The brief stretch of time between classes and dinner came, and Moon was waiting outside of the portrait. Her first instinct was to pace until Hermione arrived or her shoes wore out, but another part of her insisted on waiting patiently. The second part eventually won out, and when Hermione found her, she was leaning against the wall, eyes closed as though she were asleep.

"The Gryffindor in you won out, I suppose?"

Hermione jumped. "You—you're—"

"Awake, yes."

"Then how—"

"I heard your footsteps. For someone who has sneaked around this castle so often, you don't seem to be trying to stay hidden."

Moon's eyes slid open to take in an annoyed Hermione. The corners of her mouth pulled into a smirk, which only irritated the Gryffindor more.

"Can you just tell me why you wanted to see me?"

"Not yet sweetie," Moon said, beginning to pace in front of the portrait.

"Then why—oh!"

The set of doors had finally appeared, startling Hermione. Moon took the opportunity and grabbed the brunette's wrist. She dragged the shocked Gryffindor inside the Come and Go Room. The room had taken on the form of a lounge rather than the usual training grounds she preferred. Red sofas were scattered around the room, with glass tables pressed against them. Blankets were piled up on the outer cushions along with pillows. A fireplace crackled on the far side of the room.

'Probably close enough to the Gryffindor common room,' Moon thought. 'Although glass tables might be a hazard in such a place.'

"Sit," she ordered as she released her grip on Hermione's wrist. She fell onto one of the couches, shifting her bag out from under her. Hermione slowly sank into the sofa opposite to Moon's, looking around the room in awe.

"What is this place?" the brunette asked.

"The Come and Go Room," Moon answered. "Or at least, that's what I was told it was. It changes into whatever the user needs, as long as they're specific enough."

"That's fascinating! An entire room hidden from the rest of the school. And it morphs into whatever someone needs?"

Moon smirked. "Figures you'd find it fascinating. And yes, it can change to practically anything you want it to, aside from a few things that would break magical laws."

"Like the five Principal Exemptions to Gamp's Law, you mean?"

"Something like that," Moon said.

The two fell into silence for a moment. Hermione's dark eyes were soaking in every feature the room offered. Moon was just enjoying not being so uncomfortable around the Gryffindor.

"So, do you mind telling me why you dragged me here?" Hermione asked. Moon put on her poker face before looking the brunette in the eye.

"Snape's essay."

Hermione's jaw twitched. "What about it?"

"You finished it."

"I do my homework."

"So do I," Moon said. She bit her lip before proceeding cautiously, "What did you think of the topic?"

"Werewolves? Bit far ahead in the curriculum, no matter what Professor Snape says."

"It was a rather sudden change in topic."

"It was like he was trying to hint at something," Hermione said evenly. Moon didn't say another word. She simply lifted one of her eyebrows, goading the other girl to speak. It took a minute for Hermione to crack.

"Professor Lupin's a werewolf, isn't he?"

Moon paused, and then nodded.

"What gave it away, specifically?" she asked the Gryffindor.

"Nothing in particular," Hermione answered. "Everything just sort of fit—him being sick, Professor Snape's behaviour… what about you?"

"Harry mentioned that Professor Snape brought Professor Lupin a potion," Moon replied honestly. "I was suspicious, so I did some research, and the Wolfsbane Potion matches what Harry saw. The essay was just further proof."

Hermione nodded. "And, of course, we're the only two in the entire school who did the essay."

"Pretty much."

"So we're the only students who know about Professor Lupin being… a werewolf."

"Yep."

"What do we do?"

Moon tilted her head. "Why should we do anything? Professor Lupin is using the Wolfsbane Potion, so he's not dangerous to anyone in the school."

"I know that," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "It's just—do we say anything to him?"

"Best not," Moon said decisively. "Someone could overhear us—imagine the backlash if word gets out that there's a werewolf working at Hogwarts."

"But he's not dangerous!"

"Doesn't matter. The people in power around here hate anything they can't understand unless they can exploit it."

"That's…" Hermione faltered, "that's… pretty accurate, actually."

The two lapsed into silence again. Moon curled up on the couch, allowing herself to relax.

"So we do nothing?"

Moon rolled her eyes beneath closed lids. "Absolutely nothing. Professor Lupin is, from what I hear, the best Defence professor in a decade. Best not to jeopardize that."

Silence again. After a moment, Moon heard Hermione standing up.

"Well, I don't really mind keeping this a secret. Thanks for the discussion, I suppose."

Moon nodded. "Anytime."

"… Moon?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you bring Harry here during the Hogsmeade visit?"

"Yes and no. I brought him to a different version of this room."

"Why?"

Moon's eyes snapped open, and her head rolled over so that she was staring at Hermione. "I had nothing better to do, he was stuck here because of his useless relatives, and I figured that I might as well show off."

"And why, exactly, have things been so awkward between you two ever since?"

"We talked, emotions were a little high that day, don't exactly want to follow up on that."

"… I see."

"What's it now?"

"You have no idea how to behave around other people."

Moon jumped and crashed face-first onto the floor. She scrambled onto her knees and gave Hermione an insulted look.

"What do you mean by that?" she tried to say harshly, but it came out as more of a squeal.

"I'm not an expert when it comes to making friends," Hermione said, "but you, for all your charm, have no idea how to act around other students.

"Take the way you act around Harry, for instance," she continued. "At first, you were doing fairly well. Harry doesn't talk to many people himself, so it's been odd having you join in on conversations so often."

"Sorry for intruding, then."

"No, not like that—it's a good thing, really. I like having you around. Evens things out a little more."

"Really?" Moon said incredulously. "I could have sworn that you were just tolerating my presence."

"What made you think that?"

"Whenever I talk, it's like you have to contradict me. Granted, my sarcasm doesn't help matters much, but I don't think that warrants you arguing with me every time I open my mouth."

"That's not…" Hermione stumbled, "I don't—you just—"

"Act so contrarily all the time?"

"Yes—wait, no—it's more like…"

"Like what?" Moon asked after a minute.

"Like you don't really want to be here."

Moon was surprised by the laugh that escaped her throat. There wasn't anything she found particularly funny about the statement itself, but it was Hermione's tone of disbelief—how could anyone not want to be at Hogwarts after all?—that was funny.

"I don't want to be here," she said honestly. "I want to go home."

"You're… homesick?"

"Yeah, you could call it that I guess."

"Have you tried talking to your parents?"

"Hermione, it's not that simple."

"Then explain," the brunette ordered, staring Moon down.

Moon told her what she had told Harry; where she was from, what she did, and how she ended up at Hogsmeade. She showed the Gryffindor the pokéballs, and the beast balls as well after some hesitation, but did not release them.

"And these pokémon willingly fight for you?"

"I suppose, but you could argue that they're fighting with me, not for me. I put a ton of energy into battling. Trust me, it's harder than just dishing out orders."

"And your education?"

"Ends when we turn ten, but there's secondary schools for those wanting to get into specific careers."

"But being a trainer is a career?"

"More like a hobby that finances itself until you get into a higher position. Still highly profitable if you're good."

Hermione, slightly dazed from all of the information, sank into the couch cushions. She started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Moon asked.

"You. This. Everything," Hermione said, rather inarticulately. "I don't see… it's hard to picture, being eleven and running around the country on your own. Making friends, exploring new places, being… free to do whatever you want. It sounds amazing."

"It is," Moon agreed, "and you can see why I'm not exactly enthusiastic about being stuck here. All of this magical stuff is great, sure, but being treated as though I were eight is rather taxing."

"I can't even begin to think of what that must be like. The teachers here expect you to be competent—most of them, at least—but going from being on your own to being a student here must have been a shock to you. And you can't talk to your friends at all?"

"Not as far as I know. My regular phone doesn't have a signal here, and Rotom does have a call-only function, but…"

"But…?"

Moon slowly released her breath. "I… haven't used it much. It's not really practical when you have another device that does that and video conferences."

"You'd forgotten about it until now."

"In my defence, there were a lot of other things on my mind," Moon argued.

"You didn't check."

"It's a Muggle device!"

"Piloted by a ghost, by the sounds of it," Hermione said. "Your regular phone might not work properly, but it might be worth seeing if Rotom's does?"

"And what if it doesn't?" Moon asked, her voice softer than normal.

"Then you will have lost nothing."

Moon's bag jostled, and Rotom tugged itself free.

"She's right, you know. It'zzz worth a shot," the orange pokédex chirped.

Moon reached out towards Rotom and opened the call function. She dialled the first contact she could think of—Red.

The sound of a phone ringing echoed across the room. Both girls held their breath in anticipation. Moon's hands shook slightly, and she rested her arms on her knees to steady them.

Reaching Red—reaching anyone from home—would mean everything to her, even if it was just the one call.

But the ringing continued again and again, until it had chimed ten times.

The call cancelled itself.

"That's…" Moon whispered, "that's what I thought."

She had thought it was pointless, but she had tried it anyway. She had hoped that she could hear her friends' voices, but her chances were gone.

"I'm sorry, Moon."

"It's not your fault," Moon muttered, not looking at the Gryffindor. "It's what I expected. Hogwarts and Muggle technology don't exactly mix—"

Moon's words were cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.

Her eyes darted towards Rotom. Instead of the blank screen it had been displaying for months, two words were glowing in yellow font against a dark grey background.

Incoming call

The ringing started again, and Moon hit the button to accept the call. Her hands trembled when she was met with a few seconds of static silence.

"Hello?" a familiar voice said. "Moon, are you there?"