Chapter 12 : Werewolf or not werewolf

While planning her expedition to discover the reason why Remus was regularly leaving the castle during the night, Akira never thought that she would have to survive a violent attack from a bloodthirsty werewolf. And yet, that was what she had just done, but at what cost. Indeed, she was now covered in wounds from head to toe but of all, it was the ones on her right arm that were worrying her the most as one of them had the same shape as a fang mark. Because it wasn't impossible that in the middle of the fight against this ferocious beast, she had been bitten.

This possibility wasn't leaving Akira's mind, and after learning from Arcturus that this type of injury could turn her into a werewolf, she was unable to tell herself that life was going on. This information depressed her to no end and she didn't speak much when she returned to the castle with Arcturus after their encounter with the werewolf. In the meantime, Arcturus was filling the silence by being so talkative as he was absolutely beside himself because of the bloody state in which she was. He assured her that he wouldn't be able to sleep after all these events and she couldn't either. She simply spent the rest of the night awake in her bed, dreading what might await her in the future while replaying the images of the confrontation with the werewolf in her head.

Akira didn't even have the strength to get out of bed when the sun rose, even though it was a cold but bright Saturday. Because she didn't want the others to notice her scratches that she hadn't managed to make completely disappear with her medical chakra, just succeeding in making them stop bleeding by closing them the best she could. Her wounds were bad but nothing was worse than constantly being asked what had happened while she tried to forget it.

So Akira lie there on her bed in her dormitory, sighing from time to time as she stared blankly out of the window while being buried under her blanket with only her eyes showing. This contemplation of the sky reminded her that she should send a clone to spy on Dumbledore after the last one had vanished several hours earlier, but she didn't feel like it. All she wanted to do was spending the day doing nothing, then the day after that, and the next one until the end of the school year. But it was impossible with Arcturus around. However, it wasn't him who came to pick her up from her dormitory, but Alice.

"Akira, are you there ?" The latter asked as she passed the door before scanning the room that seemed deserted.

Akira didn't respond, hoping that she would eventually leave but Alice was quick to spot her.

"Are you ill or what ? You're always the first one awake in the dormitory, even on weekends." Alice pointed out cheerfully while tearing Akira's blanket off her head which made the latter jump up.

Alice got also surprised and took a step back when she discovered the state of her roommate with all her reddish scars.

"Wow, did you go for a night walk again and meet Mrs Norris which attacked you for not being in your bed ? Because you're covered in scratches." Alice commented unnecessarily.

"It's nothing." Akira lied while hiding her bruised hands behind her back. "What do you want from me ?"

"It's not me, it's Arcturus. He's in a state of dismay after not seeing you this morning. He woke up early - which was strange coming from him - and harassed me during breakfast to go check if you weren't dead. So here I am."

"Go away. And tell him to leave me alone." Akira replied in a dull voice before lying down again while pulling her blanket over her head.

"He would have come up here himself if boys weren't forbidden from reaching our dormitories. So I doubt that he'll give up that easily. Next time, he'll probably send McGonagall to go get you."

"Fine. I'll go see him." Akira grumbled while standing up reluctantly.

Alice didn't add anything else, letting her grumpy roommate get out of bed and dress sluggishly.

Akira dragged herself to the foot of the stairs and didn't struggle when Arcturus threw himself at her to take her in his arms. However, she pushed him away when she noticed that this display of affection attracted the attention of all the students present in the common room.

"How did you treat all your wounds so well and so quickly ?" He asked her in shock as the last time he saw her she was covered with deep and bloody scrapes. "Did you use Essence of Dittany ?"

"Sort of." Akira lied as she didn't know what he was talking about but didn't want to reveal to him the existence of medical chakra. "Now that you've seen that I'm not dead, I can go back to bed."

"No, not right away." Arcturus replied with a panicked look while grabbing her injured arm to hold her back which made her wince in pain. "Because there's a werewolf on the loose in Hogsmeade. A werewolf !"

"I know. I was there when we saw it." She told him angrily while making him let go of her with her other hand.

"No, but what I mean is that we need to talk to someone about it. Knowing that such a monster was lurking around kept me up all night. That and the horrible injuries it inflicted on you…"

"And to whom should we reveal such information ? In the first place, we shouldn't have spotted it in the Shrieking Shack in the middle of the night as we were supposed to be in bed. Besides, we don't know who this werewolf is. We don't have its identity and it's going to be difficult to find it until the next full moon."

"I'm sure that if we tell Dumbledore, he'll intervene without punishing us for breaking the rules and he'll find the culprit even if it's difficult." Arcturus said in a confident tone.

"In that case, go see him. I've enough of all this story." Akira added mournfully.

"Actually, I was also hoping that he could determine if you were bitten. You don't want to go to the Hospital Wing to not be in trouble for sneaking out of school but Dumbledore is trustworthy to make sure that you're okay without giving you detentions after what you went through."

"I won't go. Stop insisting !" Akira advised him sharply before heading towards the portrait of the Fat Lady which she pushed unceremoniously.

She ignored the indignant cries of the latter and also Arcturus' calls as he was trying his best to follow her after she sped down the hallway. But before she reached the stairs to go to a random floor, she saw James, Sirius and Peter who were coming in the other direction. They hadn't noticed Akira. They were just walking slowly towards the Gryffindor common room while joking happily with each other on this first day of the weekend.

This sight and the memory that it was James and Sirius who had lured her into the werewolf trap put Akira absolutely beside herself. She wanted to make them pay, so as soon as she was at their level, she grabbed the two offending boys by the collar of their coats before dragging them by force towards the nearest room which she opened with a powerful kick which broke the lock.

"Let us go ! What are..." James wanted to say but Akira didn't let him finish as she slammed the two boys against a wall so brutally that their heads hit against it.

"Why did you tell Severus to go to the Shrieking Shack last night ?" She called out to them while half shouting as Arcturus and Peter were joining them inside the room.

"Did he give us away ?" Sirius asked instead of answering to her question before turning his head towards James. "You shouldn't have stopped him because now, he'll tell this story around."

"I saved his life. I thought it would be enough for him to not speak about his misadventure." James defended himself which didn't help Akira understand what they were talking about.

So to make their conversation stop, she shook them roughly which worked right away.

"Why did you send Severus in the Shrieking Shack specifically this Friday ? Is it because you knew what was lurking at the end of the tunnel during this full moon ?" She insisted angrily.

"Leave them alone. I'm sure that they have nothing to do with this." Arcturus said to come to the rescue of his brother and his best friend.

"You don't know everything so shut up." Akira rebuffed him before throwing the two boys to the ground as it had been far too long since the last time she had manhandled them. "They had sent their old enemy pay a visit last night to the Shrieking Shack in order to find out why Remus was regularly disappearing. They must have known that a beast was awaiting Severus there, and they still sent him to be killed ! No doubt because they thought it would be funny !"

"That was the idea, indeed." Sirius admitted before remaining silent when James kicked him in the shin since making Akira madder was a really bad idea.

"You didn't tell me that you sent Severus to the Shrieking Shack to see Remus." Peter said with astonishment. "I thought no one beside us should know that he's a..."

"Shut up, Peter." James interrupted the latter sharply.

"What are you talking about ? Remus wasn't even there. There was just one fierce werewolf. We know because we saw it with our own eyes and it attacked us. Akira even got badly injured." Arcturus added before pointing at the latter with a nod.

"Wait a minute." Akira said while freezing in place much to the others concern. "Was this monster Remus ? Is that why he disappears from the castle so often ?"

"Yeah, every month on every full moon. It didn't take us that long to discover his secret." Sirius said mockingly to Akira and his brother.

But these two didn't respond, too shocked by what they had just learned. Of all the possibilities, they wouldn't have imagined that the werewolf which had wanted to tear them to pieces was the kind Remus whom they had known for three years now. It was impossible but at the same time, Remus' regular disappearances, his tiredness and his scratch injuries coming back every month were enough to convince anyone.

"On the other hand, Severus shouldn't have spilled the beans to you about our little prank. Because now, too many of us know about Remus' condition and it's becoming dangerous." James sighed with exasperation.

"He didn't tell me anything." Akira corrected while glaring at James and Sirius menacingly which made the two retreating on the ground to get away from her. "It's from your mouths, in the library, that I heard the trap you were planning for him. It's your fault if Remus' secret isn't one anymore !"

"That was the worst idea you ever had." Arcturus intervened now that he knew the reason why Akira had paid a visit to the Shrieking Shack out of the blue. "Because of your stupidity, we almost died and Akira was awfully hurt !"

"Before accusing us of almost killing you, you should learn to not overhear people private conversation." James replied defensively.

Pointing this out wasn't the best thing to do when Akira was still boiling with rage after what Sirius and James did. It earned the latter a nasty kick in the face which sent his broken glasses flying away in addition to having injured the bridge of his nose which started to bleed.

"Ouch ! Are you crazy or…" James complained while feeling his nose carefully with one hand.

However, he was interrupted by Remus who had just entered the room, looking more miserable than ever with fresh scratches on his face. Although he was indirectly responsible for this argument, his presence immediately put an end to it while Akira couldn't blame him for his behaviour which he couldn't control in his werewolf form. He nevertheless made Arcturus and Akira feel uncomfortable now that they knew his dark secret, which would be difficult to forget.

"What's going on ?" Remus asked sheepishly as everyone was staring at him in silence. "I wanted to go back to the common room to find you guys when I heard your voices coming from this room."

"There's nothing. Nothing at all." James hurriedly replied to cut off Peter who was about to tell something he probably shouldn't. "It's just Chitsute who snapped again when she saw me. This isn't new, she can't help but hate me."

Without adding anything else, he got up like Sirius and once he collected his broken glasses, he left the room with his group.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting all that." Arcturus said when they heard their footsteps fading away. "So, if it's Remus the werewolf, what do we do ?"

"As if none of that misadventure happened." Akira immediately replied as she had no intention of overwhelming the poor Remus. "For my part, I'll just be even more intransigent with the stupid actions of James and Sirius but otherwise, nothing has to change to not be rude towards Remus who doesn't deserve it."

"I agree, but what if someone else tries to enter into the Shrieking Shack like we did ? Perhaps we should put in place more protection around the place so that no one can sneak in when Remus is there in his werewolf form ?"

"If James and Sirius stop sending people there to have fun, no one will risk anything." Akira replied for sure. "At least until next month, if I don't become myself a threat for the others." She thought in her head.

This possibility was frightening her more than anything else. Especially to stay in uncertainty for a whole month. It was like a shadow that was following her constantly, transforming the days following the werewolf attack into real ordeals. They were passing too slowly for her liking and at the same time, she didn't want to see the next full moon. Nothing else mattered to her anymore, not even the threat of incurring Voldemort's anger for not continuing to send clones in Dumbledore's office to gather interesting information. Even going to Hogsmeade didn't appeal to her, especially since it turned out that the trip taking place on the first Saturday of April was occurring on a full moon day.

"Do you think there's a chance that you'll transform ?" Arcturus couldn't help asking her when they entered inside Honeydukes which was crowded with people who were too focused on their own discussion to listen to their on this sleet Saturday which was both rainy and sunny.

"I don't want to speak about it." Akira advised him in a mournful tone while unconsciously scratching her injured and probably bitten arm. "All I want is for the full moon to raise and find out then. Or no, I'd rather it never raises because I don't want to find out."

"You're not the only one who doesn't want to see it." Arcturus added in a low voice before pointing at Remus who was hanging out with his group of friends without looking happy about it. "He also seems to be dreading the night. Even if it's not the first time that he has suffered from the awful transformation."

"I wonder how he got this illness." Akira said as she was well placed to sympathize with Remus' misfortune.

"Just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and BAM !" Arcturus exclaimed which startled the customers who were choosing candy around them.

"Like us last month." Akira sighed while not taking her eyes off Remus.

The latter seemed completely dejected and just as his three friends were filling their pockets with candy of all kinds, he had put back the only Fizzing Whizzbees that he had taken. He was in really bad spirits and Akira knew an antidote for that which worked better than any medicine.

"I'll have this." She stated after grabbing a Chocolate Frog. "Just pick what you want, I'll be back in two minutes to pay for everything."

"Really ? Cool !" Arcturus replied enthusiastically at the prospect of not being limited by the few Knuts that remained in his pockets.

Akira quickly paid for her Chocolate Frog before running out into the street which was wet from the intermittent rain. Remus - in the company of James, Sirius and Peter - didn't get time to go very far after leaving the shop so she easily caught up with them. However, she only wanted to talk to Remus – especially not to James and Sirius for whom she was still holding a grudge against after her deadly encounter with the werewolf – so she grabbed the arm of the latter without the others noticing as he was trailing behind the group.

"You look a bit off so I've something for you that will surely help you feel better." She said to him out of the blue before shoving the Chocolate Frog into his hand. "My mother always said that chocolate is the best remedy for gloominess so you can tell me if it effectively works."

"Thanks." Remus replied automatically after being surprised by this unexpected gift.

Akira didn't add anything to justify her action. She just nodded before heading back to Honeydukes, hoping that Arcturus hadn't emptied the store in the meantime. It was true that her mother used to say that chocolate was perfect to cheer up when something was wrong, and she used to give to Akira a piece every time the latter was in trouble when she was little.

The death of her mother put an abrupt end to this habit but now that Akira's mood was at its lowest, she could help eating some chocolate so she bought for herself a Chocolate Frog while also paying for a box of Ice Mice for Arcturus who had been really reasonable with her offer. But her stomach was so knotted that she was unable to eat the frog.

Even after wandering the whole day in Hogsmeade – and missing her meeting with Rookwood which she totally forgot – she didn't feel like eating anything. Not even the dinner in the Great Hall as the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon. Instead, she hid in the Potions storage room in the dungeons, in case she would transform into a ferocious and bloodthirsty beast.

And despite this threat and the fact that he was starving to death, Arcturus insisted on coming with her.

"It's stupid to have put ourselves in this room. Without windows, we can't see when the moon will rise." He worriedly stated while looking around the stuffy place.

"Can still wait here for one hour or two. Then we can reach the Grounds to find out if the full moon is here." Akira suggested weakly.

"Don't you want to eat your Chocolate Frog while we wait ? Or play a game ? It will help pass time." Arcturus offered more for himself than for her as he couldn't sit still.

"If you want." Akira said without much enthusiasm.

"Let's see…" Arcturus added while looking in his pockets. "I have some cards to play at Exploding Snap. That's quite a catchy game. We won't see time flying with this !"

Akira didn't share his excitement but since it was the only distraction that they had, she agreed to play. And it was quite effective as the sequence of games made the time go by very quickly. It was now eight thirty in the evening and neither Akira nor Arcturus could tell if the night had already arrived outside. On the other hand, both were eager and worried to find out if the full moon was finally there.

"We can try a thing." Arcturus suddenly announced when they couldn't decide whether to go take a look in the Grounds. "If your Chocolate Frog's card is rare, you'll turn into a werewolf. If it's common, you haven't been infected."

"Because I've a higher chance of finding a common one than a rare one ?" Akira asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly." Arcturus agreed while watching her grab the chocolate box with apprehension.

In order to not prolong the mystery, Akira opened it, let the frog make a jump which caused it to fall on the dirty floor, then grabbed the card to show it to Arcturus who was the specialist.

"Oh no." He said while turning pale. "It's Ptolemy and it's really really really rare. I don't know anyone who has it."

"Then, take it for your collection." Akira offered him indifferently while handing him the card. "I'm going to go for a walk outside."

"I come too !" Arcturus announced even if she already knew that he wasn't going to leave her alone until they found out about her state.

Taking their courage in both hands, they left the room and returned to the Entrance Hall plunged into darkness. The night was finally here, but now it was all about seeing whether the moon was also present.

The prospect of discovering it made Akira drag her feet while Arcturus was twisting his extremely rare card between his fingers. And they needed a lot of will to pass through the castle door.

"Can you see the moon ?" Arcturus asked in a low voice once they were out as he began to shiver from the cold while scanning the dotted with clouds sky.

"No." Akira replied while turning around in an attempt to spot it.

Suddenly, they were both lit by a pale ray which gave them the impression of being in broad daylight. And when they turned around with a jump, they saw the round moon slowly rising in the sky in the middle of the clouds.

"The moon is here ! And so are you ! I mean, the real you, not a werewolf you !" Arcturus exclaimed with a big smile as if it was his birthday.

Happier than ever by this finding, he rushed towards her in an attempt to take her in his arms. But Akira - who was used to this display of affection coming from him - took a step aside which made him miss her and lose his balance. However, before he hit the ground, she caught him by the back of his coat and put him back on his feet.

"I told you it was only scratches and not a bite but you didn't want to believe me." She pointed out to him even though she was herself relieved to not have been infected by this recurrent disease.

But when she laid her eyes on the Whomping Willow, she remembered that this wasn't the case for everyone.


Hello dear readers,

Phew, what a relief for Akira. She's already going through so much that becoming a werewolf each month would really have been a burden. Can you imagine ? Trying to protect people during the day but becoming a threat for them at night ? That's awful. Poor Remus who's going through all of this since a young age.

Akira avoided this illness but other issues are coming at her since she missed her meeting with Rookwood. Voldemort made it clear that she shouldn't do a thing like that, so what will be her punishment for disobeying him ? Let's find out at the end of the month in the next chapter.