eloquence | sirius black ✓

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

TAINTED BLOOD

- ⚜️ -

Remus never really liked the holidays. He was alone. Locked up in his room. Locked up in an iron cage during the full moon. When he was a beast. He didn't like the feeling of being in that cage. He felt like he was trapped, and that wasn't something good to feel at all. The feeling of being trapped was one of the worst feelings in the world, in his opinion.

       It was started when he was little.

       Lyall John Lupin was messing with Fenrir Greyback. It resulted to Remus being bit. And that was when he had tainted blood. And because of that, every month when he became a beast, he was alone. There's still hope, the Marauders said. But what is hope? Your mother' name, James and Sirius would joke. Hope was indeed his mother's name. Hope Lupin. She always gave him hope, no matter what. She was always there for him.

      "Only if there was something that could reverse the lycanthropy," muttered Remus under his breath.

- ⚜️ -

Remus was back at Platform nine three-quarters. He had his hands tight around the trolley. (He was quite anxious to go back to Hogwarts, to go through another school year. He was always anxious, at least a bit, at the beginning of the school year.) His father gestured him to go.

       "Bye, dad," said Remus, hugging his father.

       "Good luck on your OWLs." said Lyall Lupin. He let go of the hug as Remus ran through the barrier. When he opened his eyes, he finally saw the train. The Hogwarts Express; scarlet, steamy, and newly polished. Clean as always. It always got cleaned every time Remus headed for a new semester ag Hogwarts. Remus took a deep breath as he entered the train, climbing up the stairs. As usual, he looked around for the Marauders' compartment.

       "Moony!" exclaimed a voice.

       It was Diana. Remus gave a sad smile. He did truly love her - as a friend. It only took a while to figure out that what he wanted was friendship. Not love.  Sometimes it was difficult to distinguish love and friendship.

       Luckily for Remus, he had managed to distinguish between them. He found out that her feelings for Diana were merely friendly. Nothing more than that.

       "Diana," said Remus, waving at her with a smile.

       Diana grabbed Remus's trunk from him, bringing it to the Marauders' compartment.

       "Shut it, Lupin," said Diana when Remus was about to say that she didn't need to do that. "I know that you need help. Not of pity. But you're not strong enough right now."

       "But Di - "

       "Lupin. One more word and I could slit your throat open. Now go. I don't care if your tainted blood makes you week. You obviously need help," said Diana sternly (she really could act stern sometimes, as if she were his mother) as she pushed Remus into the train compartment.

       Remus looked around awkwardly and sat beside Peter. James, Sirius, and Diana were seated opposite.

       "What's that?" asked Peter, pointing to a notebook Diana carried. "Um - I didn't mean to be rude - " he cowered a little. Diana just smiled at Peter.