An Heir

Part Twelve- Dreaming

We sat in silence and I was still trying to grasp what was happening. I had just been found out by Professor Lupin, he knew that I was a werewolf, as did Professor Dumbledore, yet I didn’t appear to be expelled, or under pending arrest; and now that the two Professors knew about my peculiar marking, it seemed that everything was okay, yet Professor Lupin had his hand on his chin pensively leaning on it, his elbow on the desk, right next to my wand, which I felt compelled to reach out and grab; I felt vulnerable without it and I didn’t like it at all. Professor Lupin, who was watching me with cool brown eyes flecked with green smiled. “You want your wand? Here.” He passed it to me and sat back. I reached out and took it from his carefully; my hand shook unsteadily as I clutched my wand. “Thank you,” I muttered, unsure of why he was watching me, and there was an unsettling thought stirring in my mind.
“Professor why didn’t you immediately kill me- or turn me over to the dementors?” I asked, I had been wondering it all the way back to the castle and still was.
“Because you remind me of myself; to be honest I think that had I not been your teacher and had not watched you suffer last night I would have.” He had leant back in his chair and I wondered If he was aware that he looked exhausted. My head began pounding again and I clutched at it, scraping the new scabs forming on my scalp.
“Come on, we need to get you to Madame Pomfrey.” He said hoarsely, I nodded and stood wobbly legs struggling to hold me up, he held my elbow and helped me to steady myself I thanked him and I was deeply grateful that the hospital wing was only up a single set of stairs.
Professor Lupin seemed extraordinarily casual as he led me through the doors and towards Madame Pomfrey. “Poppy,” He called to the matron and she looked up at him and placed the rolled up bandages in her hands onto the small bedside table and came over to us.
“Professor Lupin-” She had just noticed me and gave him a strange look, he placed a hand on my shoulder and her eyes bulged a little.
“You poor girl.” She whispered to me and she led us into her office, just to the side of the ward, somehow she seemed to know exactly what I was from that single look.
Lupin shut the door behind us and Madame Pomfrey indicated to the small pallet bed and I sat on it and let her inspect my skull. “These cuts are deep, deeper than a lot of yours were Remus, is she bigger than you?” She mused, and I swore I heard him chuckle.
“I should be able to heal these, but the older cuts and bruises can’t be helped.” She pulled my chin up and inspected a cut on my jaw, my hair fell out of the way and she saw the gash that had scarred my face. “What a shame, you’re such a pretty girl,” She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “Alright Professor out you go,” He opened his mouth to speak but she pushed him out of the door and shut it in his face.
“Okay, off with the shirt and trousers.” She instructed. I did so, shivering in my underwear and she clucked in the back of her throat and frowned at all the cuts, bruises and deep gashes in my flesh and probably at how skinny I was, I could see my reflection in the mirror on the other side of my room but a glance was enough for me to know just how awful I looked, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was breathing, I would have appeared a corpse. I quickly turned away and looked back to the matron who was watching me as she pulled bandages and ointments out of the cupboard behind the small desk, “Have you been eating?” She asked me and I nodded.
“I’ve been eating but I haven’t been able to keep anything down, I’ve been using a potion to stop myself from throwing up but I only had enough ingredients to make a little, so I’ve been using it sparingly.” She nodded in acknowledgment and placed the medical supplies down on the table and bade me to stand, I tensed all my muscles and stood slowly, my head began spinning but I forced myself to fight the urge to sit back down, clenching my jaw I stood. She made me hold out my arm and wrapped the larger wounds and healed the smaller ones with her wand, the same procedure went for my other arm. There was a wide tear in my side that was still bleeding steadily and she was about to begin cleaning it when I realised what Professor Lupin had been about to tell her. “What in the-? Stupefy!” I fell back onto the bed and blacked out.
I woke up and the door was open and Professor Lupin was standing next to Madame Pomfrey and they were speaking quietly.
“You should take her down to Severus.” She stated softly. I was underneath a quilt and had been patched up fully, I touched my head and it felt tight but the scabs had disappeared and the hair had grown back over to cover the scars.

Professor Lupin replied and as I sat up turned and looked solemnly at me. “Good you’re awake.” Madame Pomfrey looked dubious but gave me a goblet and told me to drink; it tasted like mud but I drank the whole thing when she told me it would take away the dazed feeling. “I'm sorry, I thought that that was the dark mark.” She explained gesturing at my back.
“It’s alright; apparently it’s an easy mistake to make.” I assured her.
“We should go Poppy.” Professor Lupin proposed to the matron and she nodded her agreement. As we left the hospital wing I asked the werewolf a question.
“Professor why exactly are we going to see Professor Snape?” the potions master was quite possibly the last person I wanted to talk to right now, Professor Lupin smiled but he was pale and looked tired as did.
“He’s been making the Wolfsbane potion that allows me to remain myself during the change, and we need to let him know that you’re a werewolf so we can do something about symptoms of the cycle.
“Professor is the Wolfsbane potion well known? It’s just that I’ve been looking for something like it but never came across anything in the books I’ve read.” He smiled.
“As far as I know there’s only three books on werewolves in the library and they’re all ancient. Unless you’ve been reading sixth year potions books you wouldn't find it,” He told me gently.
“Oh.” I muttered I could have kicked myself for not looking in higher potions books, I should have thought of that. I continued behind him as we headed towards the dungeon-like corridors that made up the lowest part of the school.