It Rains

Full Moon

It had been three days since Laurel woke up in the Hogwarts infirmary. Her wounds had healed completely, and even, to everyone's surprise, they had not left any visible scars.

"As if by magic!" — Madam Pomfrey had exclaimed as she removed the bandages.

Yet despite this good news, the Akardos' spirit seemed to sink lower and lower as the date of the next full moon drew nearer. She couldn't help reliving the werewolf attack over and over again. She had convinced herself that that terrible night had sealed her fate. Like the dark mark in Severus' arm, Laurel felt that Fenrir Greyback had marked her too, with his teeth, with his claws. She felt that her body did not belong to her completely, she felt that after being abused and tortured, Greyback had planted in her a terrible disease that would emerge that very night, and that would confirm the words of the lycanthrope: "You and I are not that different".

"You should eat, it's not good for you to be starving yourself. You'll need your strength. I will need your strength". — Severus said, as he stirred the vegetable soup that she refused to even look at.

The wizard had spent most of the time with her, sitting next to the bed, reading to her, teaching her to play wizard chess, talking about banal matters, avoiding at all costs mentioning the incident with Greyback, avoiding recalling the months of confinement, as if that way he could erase the desolation that could be glimpsed in Laurel's eyes.

"I'm not hungry, Severus." — She whispered as she got ready to get up, pulling the quilt away from her and looking for her slippers with her gaze. — "Could you call Madam Pomfrey? I want to take a bath".

"It's ridiculous, just a spoonful, you are not five years old." — He insisted, bringing the spoon towards her only to finally let out a resigned sigh and abandon the plate on the table — "It's the third bath you take today... I know you said you don't want to talk about what happened, but I have to know..."

"Just drop the subject, please".

"You know you can trust me".

Laurel turned to him, brushing her hair back from her face, staring at him.

"I stink of him, Severus. I stink of Greyback, and I can't take it. I feel tainted, I need to take a bath. If you don't want to call Madam Pomfrey, that's fine, I can do it alone".

"I'll call her, Laurel". — He said, taking her face with his hands, bringing his lips to hers. — "If that makes you feel better, I'll call her".

Laurel turned her face, avoiding his kiss, her doe eyes shunning away from his gaze. She was not worthy of him. Severus deserved to be with a woman who was not broken, who did not carry in her blood the curse of being Akardos, of being a werewolf. He deserved a woman who hadn't been used by a monster.

"I'm sorry... I can't..." — She sighed, staring at the ceiling, convinced that if she looked at him, she might not be able to hold back her tears.

Severus didn't say anything else, just cradled her, stroking her hair. Laurel leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes until she felt she had the strength to stand up and head to the bathroom.

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Madam Pomfrey came out of the bathroom drying her hands on a towel and glancing at her little pocket watch: 4:35 p.m. It was less than an hour before the sun set and so far, there was no indication that the girl had really been infected with lycanthropy, however, she had to start preparing everything necessary to contain her in bed in case there was some kind of transformation. She sighed and decided she would add a few drops of Wideye potion to her afternoon tea: Madam Pomfrey was to spend this Christmas Eve keeping vigil, watching for any possible change in the Akardos.