RUNNING WITH WOLVES remus lupin

O23. 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒, 𝐇𝐔𝐇?

𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 - 𝐓 𝐇 𝐑 𝐄 𝐄

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"EASTER BREAK, FINALLY!" Elodie cries, collapsing into an armchair next to Penelope. She had just come back from the library, where she was studying. Elodie was exhausted.

"Finally?" asked Penelope skeptically, "You realize this is just an excuse for the teachers to pile us with more revision, don't you? I'll be amazed if we have time to breathe, even."

"Who do I look like, the Easter bunny? Of course, I realized!" She replied, pulling a few booklets out of my bag, "But at least I'll have a little spare time to read up on careers. I got these from the library."

She spread the booklets out on the table in front of me.

"That's a lot of booklet's to read," Penelope commented, looking slightly repulsed, "I think I've had enough reading to last me a lifetime."

"I'm not going to read them all!" Elodie said defensively as she thought. Well, maybe the ones on "dark creatures," especially werewolves. "Just skim through them and read the ones that sound good. They're mostly potions related. I figured you were right. Potions are my strength, so I'll play at that. I got a few on careers in general, not specifically potions related, just in case," 

She sat back comfortably in my armchair and began to read the "dark creatures" booklet. Reading the first page, it was talking about the Wolfsbane potion. 

Page 1

The Wolfsbane Potion is an innovative and complex potion that relieved, but does not cure the symptoms of lycanthropy or werewolfry. The main ingredient is wolfsbane (also referred to as aconite or monkshood). The way one must imbibe it was very unique among potions, in that a goblet full of wolfsbane potion must be taken each day for a week preceding the full moon. It is extremely difficult to make. The ingredients are also very expensive, which made it difficult for some werewolves to brew it themselves, as they usually lived in poverty due to their difficulty in finding stable careers.

Then Elodie began flicking through the other booklets, she found information about a few other potions research institutions (most of them more commercial orientated – cures for acne and permanent hair coloring potions and the like), and the information about being a potions maker for apothecaries was interesting too. Though she was still undecided, at least now she had a few options she was seriously considering.

As far as the Easter holidays were concerned, Penny was right. It felt less like a holiday and more like one of those dreaded weekend ends just before a Monday test. In other words, lots of study, lots of stress, and very little sleep. Even the younger kids seemed to be overloaded. There was a rather funny incident in the common room one afternoon when a sandy-haired third year boy who Elodie's pretty sure was called Seamus Finnigan roared,

"Call this a holiday! The exams are ages away, what are they playing at?"

She and Penelope both snorted when we heard this and rolled our eyes. Poor kid, he has no idea what awaits him.

Pen was finding the holidays even worse than Elodie was, because although we didn't have class, she was not able to spend much time with George because of the approaching Quidditch final and he was training more than ever. Though, to be fair, George still made a point of sitting with her at dinner when he got the chance. As always, Freddy joined as well. 

Later, Elodie was sensing something. The feeling confused her all together. She felt that Remus was near. That she needed to find him. Comfort him. But it didn't make sense. She was told Remus never entered hogwarts. Especially not in a place near where she was. 

She began to explore, for some strange reason. She felt as if she needed to go somewhere. A place or a room. Suddenly, she found herself in front of the DADA classroom. She stands confused for a moment before entering the room. 

She enters the dark office alone. The only source of light was the moon, and so it was so dark that she did not notice the full goblet also on the desk, which was a big mistake, because when she went to feel what it was, her hand brushed against the goblet. Luckily, it did not fall over, but a fair bit of the potion inside it slipped over the edge and onto the desk.

"Merlin's beard!" She gasped quietly, "I'm such an idiot."

Elodie quietly reached for her wand and leaned closer to the goblet to clean up the mess she made. she paused for a moment, wrinkling her nose. It smelled horrible. She remembered the smell from somewhere, but she didn't know where. In the dim light, Elodie could just see that the potion was a shimmering golden-green in color. There was something very familiar about it…

Elodie picked up the goblet and moved a piece of paper from under it, which was now soaked by the potion, but she could still make out the writing. What intrigued her most was that it was clearly Snape's handwriting.

Drink it all before midnight. I have more in my office.

She frowned; putting the goblet back down on the desk. The potion looked so familiar, but she just couldn't think where she had seen it before. The smell she knew, obviously, from the time she saw the empty goblet. But the shimmering golden-green?

A cloud outside moved forward, blocking the moon, and the room darkened. She looked out the window and watched as the cloud passed and the moon was visible again.

The moon.

The almost full-moon.

It struck her. Her grip tightened on the potion, and her heart pounded faster than ever. She had seen this potion before. She knew what it was.

Wolfsbane.