Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter fifty

 May 20th - Transfiguration

Nephera was not doing well, at all. She had been training with Dumbeldore every single afternoon, while also balancing studying for exams, and trying to cope with barely sleeping. Professor McGonagall was there every time, per Nephera's request, and it was a good thing, not only to ensure that Dumbledore didn't abuse his privilege. If she wasn't there, the Slytherin would keep going until she dropped to the floor. 

She was getting better at it, that was for certain. She was now able to shake off the curse within a few minutes, but it still wasn't good enough. With Dumbledore, she knew when he would do it, and she had time to prepare herself and strengthen her occlumency, but if Voldemort decided to place her under it, she doubted she'd have time to do so. 

Everyone noticed that something was wrong, despite the fact that the girl hid it well. She talked way less, her eyes were typically unfocused and it seemed to take too much energy out of her to even do the simplest of things. The dark circles under her eyes were expertly hidden with both a concealment charm and heave amounts of makeup. 

"Who can tell me the spell which conjures invisible ropes for one's opponent?" asked Professor McGonagall 

Remus and Marlene looked at Nephera with small smirks on their faces, remembering the time she had used it against Lestrange on the Quidditch Pitch. They expected her to answer immediately, but to their surprise, the girl simply remained still, staring at the blackboard silently. 

"Neph," whispered Remus, nudging her slightly, and the girl jolted "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," she shrugged, but the werewolf was not convinced in the slightest 

"No, you aren't," 

"I am, Rem. Just drop it," 

Remus had gone through his fair share of lying and saying he's fine, especially at times around the full moon, so not for once second did he relent, "Minnie," he said, earning a harsh glare from the professor at the use of the nickname, "I'm taking Nephera to the hospital wing," 

This earned the attention of everyone in the class, but most importantly the rest of the marauders, who were now staring at the girl, worried.

"No, he's not," stated the brunette 

Minerva knew that the Imperio training was more than the girl could handle, especially since she insisted on doing it every day for hours on end. She could see the toll it was taking on her, even though she was hiding it rather well, and so she agreed with the werewolf, "I think you should, Mr. Lupin," 

"Professor, I'm fine," repeated the girl 

"Hospital wing," was the only thing she said 

Remus got up from his chair, taking the girl by the arm and practically forcing her out of the room. Nephera tried to shrug his grip off of her, but the boy's enhanced werewolf strength, combined with her general fatigue proved to be too much for her to handle, and so she simply allowed his to pull her to the hospital wing. 

"Mr. Lupin, what's going on?" asked the mediwitch 

"I don't know, but she's tired, she's been spacing out and she hasn't really been eating lately," he replied, fixing his friend with a harsh glare, "Minnie also agreed that I should bring her here," 

"They're both overreacting, I'm perfectly fine, see," replied the Slytherin, flashing a very big and obviously fake smile 

"Mrs. Winchester, have you been sleeping?" 

The mediwitch had suspected that after she stopped giving Nephera the dreamless sleep potion, she would have trouble sleeping, but she had hoped that it would get better as days went by.