Extra: Remus Lupin's School Days

Extra: Remus Lupine’s school days

Because I was squeezed by the capitalists before the New Year's Day legal holiday, I decided to make a cool side story before Anthony intervened in the story. It is not related to the main line of this article, so this chapter is given as a gift.

——

That night, in a warm dormitory in Gryffindor Tower, a very serious meeting was about to be held.

"Guys, let me go." Lupine said tiredly, getting under the quilt, "Unless Hogwarts is going to collapse, no matter what happens, we can talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

No one answered. James slipped in quickly before he could lower the bed curtains, followed closely by Sirius. Under the cover of the bed curtain, Lu Ping couldn't see their expressions clearly. He could only feel several feet stepping on his striped quilt, and occasionally there would be hands touching his feet.

Lupine sighed and shrank his legs.

James and Sirius finally found a place with their hearts and settled down contentedly. Even after their movements had subsided, Lupine heard, as he expected, the slight rustle of the bed curtain at the foot of the bed, as if there was someone outside who was hesitating to follow.

"Come in, Peter," James said, "We need to finish before Remus snores."

"O-okay," said Peter.

The bed curtain was lifted again. Lupine felt his bed sinking slightly.

Peter was the shortest one in their dormitory. He has admired James ever since he knocked out four of the teeth of the Slytherin who bullied him. No matter what James said, he would agree, no matter what James showed off, he would applaud.

But the one closest to James was Sirius. Of course they had quarreled - in fact, they were the only ones in this dormitory who quarreled - but every time they reconciled, they were closer than before. This made Lupine very confused.

Lupine was confused because he had never had such a friend. To be more precise, he had no friends at all. Friends are the ones who hold the key, so it is difficult for people to make friends when they have secrets locked in their hearts. And Lupin's secret is bigger than anyone else's.

Some people's secrets may be that they grind their teeth while sleeping, some have frequent quarrels with their families, and some people like a certain girl... But Lupine's secrets cannot be told to anyone.

This is what his mother said to him when he moved for the third time: "Lemmy, promise me, no matter how the neighbor's children ask you, you will not tell them your identity." Her brown eyes overflowed with emotion. Tired and distressed, she reached out and put down her sleeves for him, covering the scars on her arms.

The secret is, Lupine is a werewolf. Every time the moon is full, he turns into an irrational wolf.

At home, he had a basement of his own, filled with quilts and pillows, but they couldn't satisfy the beast. The beast would burst out of his body during the full moon, tearing at the pillow and tearing itself apart in a thirst for blood and human scent.

When the sun rises, Lu Ping will find himself lying in the sky with flying catkins, covered in bruises and blood, unable to stop himself from hunger and nausea. Mom and Dad would rush in and hold him. They couldn't stay with Lupine on those terrible nights, because anyone bitten by that beast would have two endings: become a werewolf like Lupine, or be bitten to death by him.

It was difficult for Lupine to say which ending was easier, but he knew that such a thing must not happen.

That's why he's so tired now.

He had just gone through a particularly violent transformation yesterday in the Shrieking Shack far away from Hogwarts, had spent the day in the school hospital today, and now desperately needed the peace and quiet of his familiar four-poster bed.

But the people in front of him were his friends, his first group of friends in so many years. They ran up and down the corridors of his mind, rattling the chains on the doors.

One day, they will discover the truth, realize that behind Lupine's locked door is not "fallen down the stairs", "Peeves is throwing teacups everywhere" or "sick grandmother", and leave in anger. he.

However, before that, Lu Ping did not have the courage to tell them proactively. He cherishes every moment they take the initiative to approach him.

He propped up his arms and sat up, half leaning against the wall.

Maybe James had another brilliant idea... Lupine hoped it had nothing to do with Snape, and it was best not to propose a night out...

"Remus," he heard James say, "we didn't even see you at dinner, and you came back today as white as a ghost."

"Oh...I didn't realize it. I had diarrhea." Lupine said in a familiar voice, suppressing his guilt, "You know, my grandmother...she was so happy after she got better, she made sure to ask me to eat some of her comfort food. Either the visitor has a grudge against her, or the cake has been there for half a year. Talk about your own business, James, before I snore."

Not sure if it was his imagination, but James' tone seemed more cautious than usual: "Remus..."

Lu Ping was really surprised now. Usually, Sirius was the only one who could get James to calm down. He didn't know when he would get this tone again.

"What's the matter, James?" he asked.

"Come on, James," said Sirius, "Let me tell you. We were following you yesterday."

Lupin felt his mind go blank, and it seemed to take him longer than usual to understand what this meant. He was numb and his eyes were dark. But he couldn't see the expressions of the three people. The curtains blocked out the little light that was left.

After a while, he realized that no one was talking. He could hear the breathing of the three people, all very close.

Why were they still sitting here, on a werewolf's bed?

"Anything you want to say?" Sirius prompted.

"I'm sorry..." Lupin said with difficulty, "If you want me to move out..."

"What are you talking about, Remus?" James said, "Why do you want to move out?"

Lupin's heart rose a little hope again.

Maybe they didn't see him transform at all, but just saw him being led to the Whomping Willow by Madam Pomfrey, wondering why his grandmother, who had suddenly become seriously ill, lived in the Whomping Willow.

"You followed me," he asked in a casual tone, "to monitor whether I was secretly wandering around at night without your knowledge?"

There was silence again. Lupin hated this silence. It made him hear clearly the sound of hope shrinking and blood rushing in his ears.

"No... no, yes, almost," James said, "Anyway, we know you're a werewolf."

Lupin's last hope was shattered. His stomach tightened, and at the same time he felt unexpectedly relieved, as if the sword above his head had finally fallen.

He deserved it. Because he lied to his friends.

"So..." he heard himself say.

"So you don't have to lie anymore." James said seriously. At that moment, he didn't sound like the Gryffindor who showed off his Quidditch skills everywhere, and didn't sound like the jerk who fought with classmates in the corridor.

"But keep this skill." Sirius said casually, "We may need it when we are unlucky enough to be discovered by the professor while walking at night."

James laughed: "That's right, Remus. We really need your good student expression."

"You..." Lupin tried not to let his voice tremble, "You still want to walk with me at night?"

"Of course, why not?"

Lupin felt a little dizzy, clutched the quilt, and said: "I am a werewolf." He couldn't remember when he last said this, and to which short-term playmate. He could feel the bed curtains shaking. Probably Peter shook.

James asked back: "Then what? Werewolves don't like walking at night?"

"Remus doesn't like walking at night." Sirius laughed, but there was no malice, "Remus is a good boy who folds his pajamas at the head of the bed."

"Okay, Remus, we are friends." James said, "I'm not a fool or a coward. You don't think this little thing can make me give up such a good friend like you?"

"I'm not a fool or a coward." Sirius declared.

"That's right." James said with satisfaction, "Peter, what about you?"

Peter hesitated and said, "I-I'm not either."

Sirius said, "Louder, Peter, this is not convincing."

James laughed, but seemed to kick him-Lupin felt his quilt shaking a few times-Sirius stopped talking.

"I'm not!" Peter said loudly with a trembling voice.

Lupin smelled fear and timidity from his unstable voice, but Peter still sat on Lupin's bed, sitting beside him, which was enough. All this was too beautiful, Lupin almost suspected that he was dreaming.

"Speaking of this, Remus, when we were swimming at night last time... Remus?" James' hand touched Lupin's trembling body, he paused, and shouted in panic, "Oh my God, are you crying!"

"I'm snoring." Lupin dodged his hand and said in a muffled voice.

...

They not only want to swim with Lupin at night, but also want to swim with him at night when the moon is full.

James and Sirius soon realized that Animagus was exactly the kind of magic they needed.

They made careful plans to practice Transfiguration, even got an "O" on their essay involving Animagus Transfiguration - Lupin felt a little guilty every time he saw Professor McGonagall's pleased eyes - and after no less than five visits to the hospital wing, they declared themselves 100% sure to try one of the most advanced branches of Transfiguration.

James said smugly: "Madam Pomfrey must be wondering why Snape wanted to turn my hands into lion's claws."

"That's why we need Remus," said Sirius.

Lupin said without looking up: "You need me to help you write your papers and distract you." He measured the length of the parchment, "You can write the last two inches yourself, Sirius."

"I already knew how to do it." Sirius said disdainfully, "It's a complete waste of time to finish the paper."

Lupin pushed the parchment and quill to him: "Write it yourself."

Sirius sat down with a sigh, glanced at the open reference book, picked up the pen and started writing. Professor Binns would check their papers, but he never remembered who was who.

...

Whatever James wanted to do, he rarely failed to do it - attracting Lily's attention was not counted - if Sirius was added, Lupin couldn't think of anything else they wouldn't do.

After that, every full moon day, after saying goodbye to Madam Pomfrey, Lupin would walk to the Shrieking Shack with trepidation, guilt and excitement. His friends would follow him in their invisibility cloaks, complaining and laughing from time to time because of who stepped on whose feet.

With their company, the beast that howled in pain under the moon, trapped in his body and the shed, seemed to be much happier. The morning sun climbed onto him, the beast fell into a deep sleep, the fur fell off, and Lupin gradually woke up, still uncomfortable and exhausted, but with fewer wounds on his body.

Lupin looked around and touched the cold wooden floor of the Shrieking Shack. Yes, his friends once again returned to the dormitory before the professor found out. He smiled and turned himself over with difficulty so that the sun could also shine on his cold chest and stomach.

Madam Pomfrey came over soon. Lupin lay on the curtained bed in the corner of the hospital wing for a long time again, sleeping and waking up in a daze, feeling the various potion ingredients slowly stirring in his stomach.

When he woke up from a nap again, he felt something was wrong. After a while, he realized that it was because there was a furry, wet thing pressing against the palm of his hand hanging outside the bed rail.

He pulled his hand back suddenly and sat up. A huge black dog's head came out from under his bed. It turned out that it had been sniffing Lupin with its nose.

"Sirius?" Lupin asked in a breath, pulling open the bed curtain.

The black dog seemed to be wagging its tail. Lupin felt a muffled vibration coming from the bed board.

"You're crazy!" Lupin said, "If you get caught, you'll be expelled!"

"Don't worry about him, he lost the bet." James' voice came over. Lupin breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he must have brought the magical invisibility cloak.

Sirius's Animagus was a big black dog, James' was a stag, and Peter was a clever mouse.

At first, they only transformed into animals on the night when Lupin transformed - they were illegal Animagus who had not been registered, and if they were discovered, they would get into big trouble - but they soon became more than satisfied with playing once a month, and began to transform into animals frequently in the dormitory.

James would chew parchment as if he was a real deer, making them laugh; Sirius could get his socks and scarf all tangled together, and immediately complained that James's socks were the stinkiest after he turned back; Peter liked to hide in their pencil holders, steal snacks from the desk, or run around behind James and Sirius.

"Where's Peter?" Lupin asked. If James and Sirius were here, he had reason to believe that the fourth person in the dormitory was also here.

"Look out the window," James said invisibly, "He lost, too, but we don't think Madam Pomfrey would like to see rats in the ward."

"Do you think a big dog would be better?" Lupin asked weakly, looking out the window. If James hadn't pointed it out, he would have thought it was really a daring rat, sneaking around with half a muffin cake.

Peter looked very scared, shaking all over. Chocolate cake crumbs kept falling as he shook. Lupin quickly climbed out of bed, opened the window - coughing a few times because of the cold wind that poured in - and reached out to take the cake from Peter.

"Thank you, Peter," he whispered.

Peter nodded at him, bent down, jumped off the window sill, and left along the wall.

James laughed softly.

Lupin turned his head: "What's wrong?" He was a little unaccustomed to talking to an empty room.

"Peter still lost." James said, "Hey, I declare you the winner of this one, Sirius."

Lupin asked, "What are you betting on?"

Sirius stood up and stepped on the clean sheets that Madam Pomfrey had carefully checked with his huge paws, licking Lupin's hand like a dog. Lupin gently touched his paws, and hoped with some envy that he would have such warm and soft fur when he turned into a wolf, instead of endless pain and suffering.

"Bet who has the least Animagus flaws." James said, "I won the first game-"

The big black dog suddenly began to grow taller, and soon, the black-haired Sirius Black appeared in the ward. He jumped to sit on the edge of Lupin's bed and complained: "That's because none of us are familiar with real stags--"

James smiled at him and said without interruption: "As a punishment, Sirius and Peter need to run out in their Animagus forms and not cause too much commotion."

"Such a black dog didn't cause any commotion?" Lupin asked, almost forgetting that he was still in pain.

"I said 'too much commotion'." James said, and he also took off his invisibility cloak and sat down on the edge of Lupin's bed, "But no one suspected that he was Sirius, not even his brother recognized him."

"I recognized you immediately, Sirius." Lupin said, "On the contrary, Peter is very hidden."

Sirius said nonchalantly: "That's because I am a ferocious big dog, even a werewolf--"

Lupin interrupted him reflexively and vigilantly: "Shh!"

Sirius looked at him a little surprised, and didn't seem to understand why. James said: "You don't have to be so careful, Remus. No one will suspect that you are a werewolf..."

"Don't say it." Lupin said worriedly.

James scratched his hair: "Okay... Hey, Remus, look at the way Peter holds things next time. No mouse grabs things like that. People didn't recognize him just because no one paid attention to a mouse." He said thoughtfully, "We have to be careful. Peter may be beaten to death by the broom of the house elf one day."

"For our own sake, let Peter keep his flaws." Sirius said, "Lie to him that he won. This is all so that we don't have to save every mouse that appears around us. Old Peter is such a good mouse... Except for that posture, every move he makes makes me feel that the mousetrap should be used."

"Watch out for every mouse in the dormitory." James warned him, "I don't want you to become a murderer."

Sirius thought for a while and reluctantly admitted: "I think I almost stepped on his tail last time."

Even though he knew that this was not a good thing for Peter, looking at the smiles of James and Sirius, Lupin couldn't help but smile.

He knew that from now on he would watch not only every mouse, but every stag and every black dog—watching them cheerfully and gratefully, with the eyes of a man and the nose of a wolf, in the days of the waning and full moon.

Grateful for the New Year's Day holiday (Namaste)