(A/N): So this is one of two brand new chapters, written on 30/12/22, with this one to be inserted between what used to be chapter 195 (The Rules for a Pre-Bound Relationship) and chapter 196 (My Protector). The reason I wrote this chapter was because, after I changed chapter 191 (A Battle of Wills), to make Leo change out of animagus form to distract Remus, and chapter 193 (No Doubt It's Magic) to make Leo expect there to be Elaine-shaped consequences to his decision, this chapter needed to explain why those consequences never arose. Or, well, why they haven't arisen yet (as of chapter 318). This chapter is Leo realising that Elaine and Remus have no idea that he changed back, and him refusing to ask them what happened after he passed out, because he knows that would lead to them asking questions about what happened before that, which he really doesn't want to answer.
Leo
After the incident on the full moon, I had expected Elaine to be furious with me. I had expected her to scold me for being a reckless idiot, and make me promise never to do something so stupid ever again. She hadn't addressed it at first, and I thought it was only because she was so happy to see me- she had kissed me, after all, and after that we had been... er, distracted.
Every time she looked at me, I saw in her eyes relief that I was back with them, or a sadness when she glimpsed my still-healing wounds, but never any anger or frustration.
It was only after the first time all three of us- Remus, Elaine and I- had been able to spend time alone, that I realised their lack of ire was not just carefully concealed until such time they could scold me in private- but that they didn't seem to know what I had done.
I knew them both well enough to know that if they had been aware of it, they would be furious with me for putting myself in danger, so clearly if they weren't angry... they didn't know.
How? How could it be that they didn't know?
Remus, I could maybe understand. He had experienced memory loss after the full moon before, especially when his wolf form had taken over so completely, but Elaine? I suppose she was quite a distance behind us when I had started to turn back, but surely she had questioned why, when she came to me, I was mid-transition?
Then again, I wasn't sure exactly how far I had managed to transform back before she had reached us, and once she had, she must have been busy forcing Remus away from me and trying to get him back under control, so she probably hadn't gotten a good look at me until later on. I had passed out at some point during that process, with her voice in my head desperately calling my name, but I had no idea whether that was before or after I had completed the change back to human.
Clearly if it was before, I had managed to finish the change while unconscious, because I must have been human when Elaine dragged me to plead with Madam Pomfrey for help. Hmm... Which begs the question, was Elaine human when she dragged me to Madam Pomfrey? Yes, she must have turned back, at least once she reached the castle, but the healer at St Mungos had said I had been found at the edge of the forest, which meant that Elaine must have left me there in order to go get help.
How far had she dragged me? From where we had been- still in the forest but close to Hogsmeade- all the way to the edge of the forest closest to the castle? Or to the edge of the forest that had been closest to where we were? Had she dragged me a long way, to bring Madam Pomfrey a short way, or had she dragged me a short way, to bring Madam Pomfrey a long one? And had she done the deed in wolf form, or human?
There had been a bite mark on my left ankle when I had first woken up- smaller than the rest, definitely not as shallow. It had healed much quicker than the rest of my wounds, which said to me that it didn't carry the same properties as the other bites from the werewolf. Had that been from Elaine? It hadn't looked like I had been dragged by that wound- it looked like an animal had set its teeth to me, tugged, and then realised it would shred my leg apart before being able to carry me any sort of meaningful distance.
I tried to picture Elaine- with her body so much smaller than mine, sturdy, but certainly not built with the same sort of musculature mine was- dragging me out of the forest, and I came up short. Maybe she had used magic? Hm, but if she had used magic, why hadn't she just taken me straight to the Hospital Wing, instead of leaving me at the edge of the forest?
I couldn't ask- If I asked what had happened after I had passed out, Elaine would inevitably ask what had happened before- why had Remus attacked me so suddenly, when mere seconds before we had been running happily together? Why had I agreed to let him leave the shack in the first place? Why hadn't I even tried to fight back? And she would maybe even think to ask the most important question: why weren't you in animagi form when I found you?
(A/N): Leo: I put my hand in this bear trap shaped cookie jar and my friends are going to yell at me for being dumb.
Elaine and Remus: *oblivious*
Leo: I MUST KEEP THIS FROM THEM AT ALL COSTS