Seymour opened his eyes and felt the sting of the sun thump his sight into retraction as he closed them again. On his third attempt he finally gained some clarity and stared around him to find the Hospital wing spring into view.
He hoisted his shoulders up from the bed and pushed the covers away. It was silent apart from the occasional hint of laughter that whispered into the room from one of the open windows. He rubbed his head to find a bandage wrapped securely around it. The pain was dull but still very present and reacted to his touch so he pulled his hand away and sat up on the bed.
He looked around the room and spotted an empty armchair by his side. It was covered in textbooks, a school cloak, a blanket and some empty packets of chocolate frogs. He made to stand up but couldn't urge the strength into his legs so he just remained sat on the bed until the sound of footsteps approaching pointed his attention in the way of the hospital door.
Luna came hurrying round it carrying a fresh blanket in her arms. She froze when she found him sitting there to greet her and let the blanket drop to the floor. It was an odd moment where she seemed to struggle with herself as she half made to walk towards him and then decided to gather up the blanket instead.
She smiled as she strode forward and laid the blanket at the bottom of his bed. "You're finally awake." she sighed as she sunk into the chair beside him with a relieved look. "We thought you'd end up sleeping through Christmas at this rate."
"It feels like I've been out for months." he noted making another attempt to rub the bandaged part of his head. "What happened?"
"A bludger hit you on the head." Luna explained taking the cloak from the back of the chair and putting it around her shoulders.
Seymour rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "So that's what this is for." he replied pointing to his head. "I meant how bad was it. I can't remember anything accept…" he trailed off as a vision of the gathering crowd loomed at the back of his mind.
"Well you cracked your head and fell from quite a distance. Luckily Madam Hooch spotted you in time and slowed your fall but… it was horrible." she muttered to herself making to pour herself a glass of water from the tumbler beside his bed. "We all knew you'd be ok after Madam Pomfrey had taken a look at you, she said you'd probably need some time to rest, a couple of days at least so we wasn't worried."
Seymour nodded but his glance was led towards Luna's hands which he couldn't help notice were shaking as she tipped the water into a glass. "Wasn't worried at all…" her voice seemed to catch in her throat as she repeated her last words to herself before taking an overlong sip from her glass.
"Well you know there's not much up here to damage in the first place so I'm not surprised." Seymour grinned, gingerly tapping the side of his head.
Luna smiled back but cast her eyes towards her knees as she seemed to struggle to conjure up her voice before finally looking back at him after a long pause. "Seymour I-"
"So you haven't died then?" Robin's voiced emerged like a drill from the doorway as he bounded into the room with a grin. "That's two Sickles you owe me Alice."
"Oh shut up Robin you moron. Seymour thank heavens." Alice barged Robin out the way and rushed over to Seymour, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. "What are you playing at, sleeping for four days straight?" she moaned angrily before hugging him again.
"Yeah, it's usually Robin that likes a long sleep on the weekends" Lloyd added with a smile before sitting down on the bed opposite. They all smiled at him as they settled down to talk. Robin laid himself out flat on Seymour's bed almost pushing him off in the process. Alice joined Lloyd on the other bed and Luna got up from her chair.
"I'd better return these." she explained taking the fresh linen from the end of his bed. "Looks like we won't be needing them after all." she added with a smile turning to leave.
"Can't it wait?" Seymour asked but Luna was already heading for the door.
"I won't be long. If fresh bedding's left out too long they'll end up infested with Hoppergrolls." she called back before disappearing out of sight.
"Well at least she's ok." Seymour observed as he pushed Robin to make room for himself.
"You are joking?" Alice exclaimed her eyes staring widely at him.
"What'd you mean?"
"Well beside the fact she hasn't been anywhere but that chair every night after lessons and the fact she's even taken to sleeping here the last two days I'd say she's been anything but ok. You scared Luna half to death you fool." Alice ranted waving her finger at him.
"Well that's not really my fault is it?" but he couldn't stop Alice's words from swimming around in his head, his blood running strangely warm.
"No but she sure as hell thinks it's hers."
"Huh?" was all Seymour could managed as he stared back at Alice dumbfounded.
Alice heaved a heavy sigh and continued, "Well she's certain it was her mumbo jumbo before the match that caused you to have the accident."
Seymour shook his head furiously. "No it wasn't that, I saw-"
"Well of course we know it wasn't but Luna thinks she did something wrong and caused the accident. You know what she's like."
"Speak for yourself Alice, if Luna hadn't put all that nonsense in his head then maybe he wouldn't have-"
"Oh shut up Rob, not this again." Alice snapped.
"I'm just saying if she-"
"Robin please mate." Seymour requested, squinting as the pounding at the back of his head began to worm it's way round his skull.
Robin fell silent and patted Seymour on the shoulder. "Sorry… but what a fall hey? That was insane, you looked like a rag doll rolling round like a barrel up there." Robin added in awe.
"I'm glad you were paying such close attention." Seymour grinned back. "What happened to the match, they didn't call it off did they?"
"What for you? Nah. If Harry had taken a tumble then they might have closed the school but luckily he managed to catch the snitch just as you were hit. Nobody noticed until afterwards though. Even he forgot about it."
"Well at least we won." Seymour sighed with relief.
"Oh yeah that's what's important isn't it? Forget the split down the side of your head as long as the team didn't lose." Alice whined, crossing her arms and looking furiously out the window.
"I wouldn't go that far Alice. I was more worried about poor Seymour losing his only brain cell than some silly little game… and so should you." Robin teased causing her to launch a pillow into his face.
At that point Luna came back into the room though she hesitated before making her way towards them. The bell rang in the distance and Robin gave a massive groan before rolling off Seymour's bed. "Not potions. I don't want to go." he grumbled as he picked up his bag from the floor. "You're lucky Sey, all you had to do was nearly die and now look at you, lording it above us all, laying on your throne, not having to go to potions. Sod." Robin waved as he stomped out the room. Lloyd patted Seymour's shoulder and then followed. Alice kissed him on the head before running to catch them up.
"We'll come back before dinner." she called back.
"No we won't!" Robin hollered.
Luna and Seymour remained as she busied herself with tidying the chair next to his bed. "Won't you be late too?" he asked.
"I don't mind. I just need to…" she turned round and sat back onto the chair, clasping her hands onto her knees and leaning forward. She fixed him with a resolve in her look. "Seymour I'm so sorry. It was a stupid thing to do. If I hadn't-"
Seymour held up his hand and she fell silent. "Luna it wasn't your fault." he smiled back.
She shook her head and continued. "But what if I made you lose concentration because of that stupid ritual. It was actually suppose to make your broom faster but what if I did it wrong, I was an idiot to try something like that without telling you first." she hung her head but continued to look at him.
Seymour grinned from ear to ear and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What about all that stuff you said about Ravenclaw's pride and the need to win? I don't think making my broom faster would benefit them." he forced her head up and smiled at her.
She grinned back sheepishly. "Well I didn't want to take away all those Wootburps and not give something back. It's only fair."
He laughed and laid back into bed. "Luna don't blame yourself for one second, it wasn't your fault. I just wasn't paying attention."
She smiled before standing up and going to straighten out his pillow. "Well you really should be more careful then." she admonished but the relief in her voice was more than apparent.
"True but I did have a good reason…" Seymour bit his lips in anticipation as he began to explain what he saw that night at the game.
"You saw it?" In Luna's shock she whipped the pillow from under his head causing it to bang on the bedpost,
"I'm sorry." she cried as he rolled over in pain.
After the pounding in his head had subsided Seymour continued. "It can't have been that long after I saw the Professor go in there."
Luna knitted her brow and sank back into the armchair, folding her legs up. "But after Professor Lupin, why would Dumbledore ever consider letting another Werewolf teach at Hogwarts?"
"Maybe he doesn't know. That is if we're right and Professor Goodwin really is a -"
"Well we have to find out for sure." Luna jumped to her feet and grabbed her bag from the floor.
"Wha… how?" Seymour made to get up from the bed but his body still in the process of recuperating didn't seem so eager.
"We're going to ask him." Luna explained simply before fastening her cloak around her shoulders. "Come on."
"We can't just go asking a teacher if he happens to be part wolf Luna it's… rude." was all Seymour could come up with as he struggled to grab hold of her arm to stop her from leaving.
"But what if he ends up attacking another student like he did us." She fixed him with a look of intent.
"There are other ways Luna, we just need to find out the truth and then we can let Dumbledore know. He might not even lose his job, they managed to keep Lupin on all those months until the parents found out."
"Then what should we do?" she asked sitting back down again and staring into his face with expectation.
Not anticipating having to come up with a solution there and then Seymour had to think desperately for a moment before blurting out, "His office. Yeah, I bet you there's something in there we can use. Evidence, clues… mind you why would he leave that sort of thing lying around his office. Maybe we could -"
"Perfect!" Luna sprung back off her chair like a jack-in-the-box and once again made for the door. "All we need to do is wait until he leaves his office and then we can sneak in and have a look." She turned to face him and waited for him to follow suit.
"What now?" Seymour asked motioning to his current state of rest.
"Oh yes. Sorry." She deflated like a balloon and trudged back to her chair, the sense of adventure already whisked away from her tone. "Hurry up and get better ok, I can't conduct such an investigation without my vice chairman present. It's not the done thing."
Seymour didn't have the strength to comment on this and just slumped back into his bed wondering why yet again he seemed to be so willing to feed himself into the jaws of danger just to see the light of excitement ignite in Luna's eyes.
At breakfast the next morning Seymour was feeling much better and he'd managed to convince a reluctant Madam Pomfrey to let him out of the hospital wing early. She'd done an amazing job and his head was perfectly fine albeit the occasion headache whenever someone mentioned the word "lessons" but he didn't think that had much to do with his injuries anyway.
"You'll catch up Sey don't worry. As long as you go over the notes Robin made then you'll be just fine." said Alice dripping some fresh honey onto her morning porridge.
"What notes?" asked a bemused Robin too busy spreading his second layer of jam onto his toast to look up.
"The ones you volunteered to write out for Seymour when McGonagall mentioned you be excused from the homework to do." Alice's eyes narrowed on Robin as he searched his mind.
"Oh yeah I did say that didn't I… sorry Sey." Robin cast a gloomy look Seymour's way before shoving his toast into his mouth. Seymour's shoulders collapsed and he eagerly looked to Alice who in turn looked to Lloyd who stared back at them both with a nettled expression on his face.
"Fine." he grumbled before fishing into his bag for his notes.
Just then a flurry of owls came swooping into the hall carrying the students morning post. Seymour was about to go back to his breakfast when he spotted a familiar looking Barred owl sail down towards them.
"Faustus?" Seymour hadn't expected to see his dad's owl appear at the breakfast table and eyed the small brown letter it dropped onto his empty plate with intrigue.
"Here you go fatty." Robin offered the bird the crust from his toast which it accepted gratefully.
"Don't call it that." Alice growled leaning over to stroke the bird.
"Well it is." Robin pointed out defensively.
"Only because he hardly ever gets to deliver anything nowadays." Seymour added busy tearing open his letter.
"What's it say Seymour?" asked Lloyd.
He scanned the letter, his face falling further with each line.
Dear Seymour,
Hi son, how are you. I hope school's going well. I heard about you making the Quidditch team, well done. Your mother would be so proud but not as proud as me, I always knew you could do it. Make sure you keep up with your studies and don't let practice get it the way of them.
They're running me ragged at Gringotts, haven't had a day off in weeks. That's what I wanted to write to you about. My boss Mr. Skellkin (you met him once last year, he's the goblin that said I should have had you sent you to Durmstrang, remember?) well he wants me to go to Saqqara in Egypt.
Apparently they've made a new discovery out there and they want me to go in the place of Bill Weasley while he's tied up with another job. It'll be my first chance to actually get to do some real work out there and Mr. Skellkin has hinted there may be a chance of a promotion in it for me. The thing is I'll have to leave this Sunday and I'll be there until New Year which means I won't be home for Christmas. I'm really sorry Seymour, I tried to get them to give me a week to make it back but Mr. Skellkin said if that was the case he'd have to send someone else.
I know I'm not being fair and I'm sorry but we really need this promotion to make ends meet. You'll need to put your name down on the list of students staying behind this year. It won't be so bad, I'm sure you'll have other friends staying for the holidays and I promise I'll have your entire birthday week off in the summer.
Stay out of trouble son, please. I'm sure Robin has already put plans to make these words ineffective but I can only plead and hope for the best. (We've still not replaced the door to the living room which went missing the last time he was over.) Again I'm really sorry son. I'll make sure to send your presents over as soon as I get round to wrapping them. Have a wonderful Christmas and I'll see you in September.
Love Dad.
P.S Please don't go along with every bright idea Robin has.
Seymour heaved a heavy sigh and past the letter to the other three to read.
"Oi what does he mean "go along with" half the ideas are yours too." Robin grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
"I'm sorry Sey." Alice cast him a worried look.
"Well it's only staying here for Christmas, it's not the end of the world is it?" Seymour pointed out even though inside he couldn't help letting the fact weigh on his mind. "Plus we could do with the extra money as dad says. I can't complain too much." Although at this point in time it was the one thing Seymour felt most like doing.
The idea of spending the holiday season on his own was not something he relished the thought of doing. "Are any of you staying this year?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry Sey I'm off to France this year. Martin's invited the entire family and you know my mum won't pass up the chance to see my brother." Robin frowned as if he didn't find the idea of seeing his older brother as a good enough reason to have to leave the country for. "Being Muggle-born it's not as if we can just take the floo network either. My mum's too scared of it. Three hours stuck on a train. The trip to Hogwarts is bad enough."
"I'm stuck at my cousin's for her wedding all holiday." Alice moaned chucking her spoon back into her porridge with frustration. "This is the same person who used to make me eat worms when I was little. The spiteful cow."
"Well you could always come with me and my family to my aunt Rose's for Christmas. My mum likes you, it's Robin she's not so keen on." suggested Lloyd ignoring Robin's protests. "Mind you that would mean having to sleep in the same room as my little brother Terrence. He screams half the night and I've been put in charge of feeding and changing him to give my mum a rest for the holiday. We could take it in turns, he's not too loud but he does like to cling on to your ears a lot. Hurts a bit."
"See, Hogwarts is looking better by the minute isn't it?" Robin added causing them all to laugh, even Lloyd who nodded in agreement.
"So it's a Christmas at Hogwarts for me then." Seymour resigned himself to the fact and started to butter a fresh slice of toast with very little enthusiasm.
At that moment Luna appeared at their table side, half a crumpet dangling from her mouth as she struggled to fasten her bag. "Mmmoorin." she greeted them before turning to Seymour with a serious look. "Remember Seymour in the courtyard before lunch. You're right it's probably the best time to do it." She patted him on the arm and left for her table leaving Seymour to avoid three very interested looks aimed his way across the breakfast table.
"It's not what you think. We're just going to try and prove that Professor Goodwin's a Werewolf that's all." and in his very best attempt to look unperturbed by Robin's goggle eyed expression he rose from the table and made his way to Herbology.
Lessons past quickly that morning with double Herbology providing great amusement in the form of Robin nearly getting his fingers bitten off by a Snarfalump plant. He was all for cursing it there and then but luckily Alice manage to talk him out of it.
After Herbology they had a long drawn out lesson of Transfiguration which involved them having to change a fully grown parrot into a dining room chair. Suffice to say that even Lloyd struggled with this one, only managing a footstool and Alice didn't fair any better with her parrot spouting an extra wooden leg and squawking "idiot" at her after every attempt. Seymour's Parrot kept dodging his wand on the perch until he gave up and merely used a silencing charm to muffle it's jarring cries.
So it was with a slightly tired mind that Seymour made his way down to the courtyard when the end of lesson bell rang. Luna was waiting for him just as she said she would and they both hurriedly made their way towards their Defence classroom.
"He's bound to be in the great hall during dinner. That gives us half an hour at the least I should think." Luna explained as they wandered the deserted corridor.
"Still we'll have to be careful just in case. I really don't think I can stomach another detention this month. Not after everything else." Seymour whispered as they neared the classroom door.
Luna wrapped the entrance with her knuckles but upon receiving no reply she pushed open the classroom door and they both scurried inside. The room was empty and silent apart from the whirring noise of a miniature moving solar system on the teachers desk. They both wandered over to the office on the other side of the room making sure to keep their footsteps light as they went. Seymour held his breath as he pushed on the door and heaved a huge sigh when it swung open silently to let them in.
The office itself was one of the most untidy spaces Seymour had ever been in. Books and charts were scattered everywhere upon every surface that didn't contain odd contraptions or jars of sickly coloured liquid.
"Wow." Luna breathed as her eyes wandered around the room. The only light cast came from the tiny window at the back which looked out over the grounds.
Seymour could make out Hagrid's cabin and the Forbidden Forest in the distance. The professor's empty trunk was left open and empty by a small desk in the corner, the inside looked just as bad as it's exterior. Next to it lay his blood red cape which was draped on the back of the desk chair, what little sun that entered the room shone through the tears in the fabric and traced light patterns on the floor.
"He's messier than Robin." whispered Seymour as he wandered over towards the desk. He noticed the small book that the Professor was always carrying and picked it up. He waved it at Luna on the other side of the room who nodded and quickly rushed over to the door to make sure they were still alone. Seymour flicked through the pages and something fell out of the book onto the floor at his feet. He ignored it for now as he ran his eyes over page after page of complicated formula and theory. The handwriting was very neat and all the diagrams had been sketched expertly. Seymour didn't have a clue what any of it meant but stopped on one of the pages which looked like a journal entry. It was dated October 10th and read,
I can't keep doing this, not anymore. If they found out what I was doing, what I'd become they would never understand. But it's out of my control now. I can see now how dangerous I truly am and it's gone on for far too long. I need to end this soon before it's too late and someone gets seriously hurt. I think he might be on to me already, I've seen the looks he's been giving me when I try to explain it all away. I don't know what he's capable of, he's not the same, not anymore. I can't keep doing this, to think of the people I'd could end up hurting if I continue. I can't keep lying to them all the time. It's too hard.
The writing was scribbled and more frantic but clearly by the same hand. Seymour remained frozen on the spot as he ran through the pages looking for similar entries. "Luna I think you're right, he really is a… Luna?"
He turned to face the door and felt a chill run down his spine as he was greeted by the figure of Professor Goodwin standing at the entrance. Luna was stood beside him her face wracked with horror, his hand placed lightly on her shoulder.
"Sorry for interrupting. You looked so engrossed." Clement said with a smile. He strode into the room and pulled out the chair at his desk to which he sat himself upon, hitching his leg onto his knee and leaning back, watching them both with a curious glance. "I'm not surprised of course. The things it that book are truly a riveting read even if I do admit so myself. Years and years of my research, my life all held within the pages of such a small book." He eyed the book in Seymour's hand but made no attempt to take it. "Though I can't say I didn't have help. Inspiration can come from anywhere at any time." He looked tired and ran his gnarled fingers through his long straggly hair with a sigh.
A moments silence passed between them with neither Luna nor Seymour daring to speak after which the Professor locked his fingers together and stared hard at both of them. "I feel I've given you more than enough time to conduct yourselves. Now if you wouldn't mind explaining why I happen to return early from lunch to find you both in my office if you please." He smiled at them both and cocked his head to one side waiting for a reply.
"Well… well we just came to see you about last lesson's homework sir." began Seymour between huge mouthfuls of gulped breath.
"And when we found the classroom empty we thought you might be in your office." Luna carried on taking a step into the room.
"I see." The professor smiled yet again but wore a more sceptical look on his lined features. "At what point between entering my office and having a good look around did you finally decide I probably wasn't here." He held back a chuckle but continued to look on at them both as they shifted their nervous glances towards each other.
"Err… well… we…" Seymour came to a stop and looked back at Luna who frowned and gave a defeated shrug before blurting out.
"Professor are you or are you not a Werewolf."
Seymour broke into a coughing fit and looked back at his friend as if she was mad. She on the other hand continued to look at the professor her eyes narrowed hard into his face.
"A Werewolf? I see, I see." Professor Goodwin pondered on this for a while before breaking into a joyous laugh that rattled the frame of the only window in the room. "Fantastic… a Werewolf… me? And that's why you're here is it, to see if you could find me out?" He couldn't control himself and he continued to laugh him self silly, stamping his foot on the ground heartily. "Well that's a new one, it certainly is." For some reason he looked delighted with both of them and sat back in his chair. "And what brought you to this conclusion then?" he waited his attention wrapt as Luna began to explain.
She told him all about the creature attacking them on the night down by the lake, then she mentioned the talk they had over heard with Hagrid and Rosmerta in the three broomsticks before finishing with the night of the Quidditch match and his disappearance into the Forbidden Forest.
He listened intently and when she'd finished he spoke. "I see, well unfortunately Luna my dear I must admit I did go into the forest that night during your thrilling Quidditch match Seymour. I felt I'd rather let you down in the past promising you something really special so I thought I'd take the chance to look around for a Centycore to show off for the next lesson. I can assure you that I did not pass nor did I turn into a Werewolf along the way I'm afraid." he chuckled to himself. "As for Rosmerta well I suppose it's very true I haven't been keeping myself very well lately." he cast his eyes down to his own appearance before shaking his head. "My wife always said I'd wear myself away down to nothing if I carried on. I didn't realise that River Trolls were extinct over here, I couldn't face telling her the truth to be honest my pride was rather dented." he smiled fondly before continuing. "But let's be honest me telling you all this is hardly going to convince you otherwise is it. But do you really think a full-fledge Werewolf would be able to sneak into this school under the very nose of Albus Dumbledore without him growing suspicious. I don't need to remind you how intelligent that man is and me disappearing for a few hours every full moon to raise havoc on his grounds is not going to go unnoticed. You forget that we teachers are required to report for patrol duties every night and undertake many other duties throughout the school after lessons have finished. I'm fairly certain I would have been discovered by now if I'd neglected my duties and disappeared after every full moon. Not to mention Professor Snape seems to be keeping a very close eye on me. I don't think he likes me much." he added with a smirk.
"That's because you've got the job he wants." Seymour explained not being able to stop himself.
"So I've been told. Every teacher that enters this school has always been carefully examined after all that business with Professor Quirrell. I really don't think I would have lasted two days If I really was a savage beast of the night." he chuckled.
"Well no I suppose not." Seymour admitted looking over to Luna who also looked rather unsure of herself now.
"But I'm really not one to put down a wild imagination. It got me to where I am today after all. I can remember my younger years at Hogwarts. Me and my friends were convinced our old house master was a vampire. Spent half the term waiting for someone to turn up dead with teeth marks in their neck. Never happened though." he looked rather disappointed at this before once again fixing a serious face and looking at both his students. "Can I trust I have explained myself enough to at least warrant the privacy of my own office in future?" he didn't look angry but his words were firm.
Seymour and Luna both nodded silently. Professor Goodwin smiled again and made to usher them out the door. "Come now you two, lunch will be over soon and I can't have you both going hungry now." Luna walked silently from the office followed by Seymour who stopped in his tracks and bent down to pick up the piece of paper that had fallen from the professor's book.
It wasn't a note but a photo. It looked old and in it were two young children. One was a skinny boy with wavy black hair that came to his shoulders, the other was a girl, her long blonde hair cast down to her waste. She had brilliant blue eyes that shone brightly as the two of them waved to the camera. They were both dressed in Hogwarts robes and they were standing on the edge of what appeared to be the black lake as one of the huge squid's tentacles was also waving in the distance. They looked so happy side by side smiling merrily back at him.
Seymour held out the picture to the professor, "Sir sorry but this fell from your book." The professor took the picture from him and stared at it for a few seconds, his lips curled into a faint smile, his eyes slightly misty.
"My daughter." he mentioned after catching Seymour still looking at him. "Her first year at Hogwarts… and she said she'd never make friends." He slid the picture back into the pages of the book and looked back at Seymour. "I just wish she'd had a bit more time to…" he trailed off and stared at the open door way which Luna had disappeared from. "Look out for Luna Seymour. I know she has it rough. It doesn't take a genius to notice something like that." He remained silent for a bit and then spoke again. "And I won't pretend this creature you saw doesn't worry me a little. I don't take you for a liar Seymour and maybe there really is something out there. If it's wandering nearer the castle then maybe I should keep my eye out too."
Seymour nodded and smiled back before with a soft wave of his hand the professor motioned him towards the door. As he left Seymour couldn't help feeling sorry for his Defence teacher. To think only hours earlier he was disappointed that he wouldn't get to see his family over Christmas when at least he would be able to. A luxury Professor Goodwin no longer had.