Illicit | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 3

A couple of weeks passed and Eleanor was getting on fine in all of her classes. She had even received several more house points from Professor Slughorn because she had been doing very well in Potions, which was by far her favorite class. But then, one day as she was doing her homework with Doris in the Library, she saw Remus sitting in a corner reading a book, looking rather grim, and a thought dawned on her.

"Doris," she whispered, "What's the date today?" 

"The twenty-second, why do you ask?" she said without looking up from her homework.

She gulped, "Oh, just because," she said, trying to act normal. 

She looked up at where Remus was sitting. The truth was, she didn't 'just' ask. She asked because she knew there would be a full moon soon, but had completely lost track of the days. She put down her quill and got up from her seat.

"I'll be right back, have to ask Remus something," she whispered, but Doris just nodded, too captivated by her Herbology assignment.

She walked over to her brother and sat down next to him, "Hey," she said softly.

Remus looked up at her. He had bags under his eyes and he looked very pale. 

"Hi, what's wrong," he whispered, and put down his book.

"I-I know it's going to be a full moon tomorrow," she started, making sure nobody could hear them, "Are you okay? Do you need something?" she said, sounding concerned.

He smiled, and shook his head, "I'm fine, really, you don't have to worry," he showed her a bar of chocolate in his bag.

She bit her lip. She had always had trouble with this, with Remus. She wanted to help him so bad, but she knew all too well she couldn't because he would probably hurt her. 

"But where do they take you?" she whispered.

Remus explained that there was a secret passageway from the Whomping Willow all the way down to the Shrieking Shack. Madam Pomfrey brought him over there every full moon so he could transform without hurting other people. The next day she would come and pick him up and take care of him in the Hospital Wing until he was fully recovered from his wounds.

"So that's why the people in the village think it's haunted, the Shrieking Shack," she whispered, "B-Because they're hearing you. Hurting yourself," she said softly.

Remus nodded solemnly. Her heart ached at the thought of her brother doing those things to himself.

"I'm not always alone though," he put a hand on her shoulder, "Sometimes there's rats and mice, so they'll keep me company, seeing as I don't hurt them," he chuckled.

Eleanor smiled a bit at that.

"Just, make sure nobody finds out okay," he said earnestly, "I've just been making up excuses whenever I have to - you know... " he took his hand off her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah of course," she said quickly, "I'm going to go back to Doris, we've got an Herbology essay to finish," she sighed and stood up.

Just as she was about to leave, she turned back on her heels, "Tell me if you need anything okay? Anything," she looked into his eyes.

He just nodded and went back to reading his book.

She walked back over to Doris and sat down next to her, continuing her work as if nothing had happened, and she liked to keep it that way.

When it was time for dinner, the two of them headed down to the Great Hall, where it smelled of mashed potatoes, roast, and all kinds of steamed vegetables. Amelia waved at them, she had saved them a spot. When they had filled their plates, the four of them talked about their day like they did during any other dinner.