build me up buttercup [s.black]

[12] Arithmancy

Aisling's eyes snapped open at six in the morning and looked around her dormitory at the other girls, all sleeping peacefully. Even though she guessed she must have had about five hours sleep, it felt as if she hadn't even had five minutes. Her stomach flipped at the thought of trying to sit her Arithmancy exam. Slipping quietly out of bed, she grabbed a towel and some clean clothes and went to get a shower.

As she reached the nearest bathroom and entered a cubicle, she swore she could smell fur and blood and dirt, just for just a second. As she turned the dial and the shower sputtered to life, she swore that - masked by the noise of the running water - she heard a faint howling. As she closed her eyes and rubbed shampoo into her hair, where she usually saw pitch darkness, she saw a pair of huge eyes staring back at her - amber coloured and fierce.

She stepped out of the shower and stood there for a minute, shivering even though she was wrapped in a fluffy, white towel. She was horribly aware of the cold water dripping down her back and pooling round her feet on the floor. Everything felt cold and wrong. She was so scared.

Because what are you supposed to do when someone you think you know turns out to be something completely different from what you thought they were? Aisling found herself wondering where her Gryffindor bravery was now, and why it had suddenly decided to desert her when she most needed it.

Fear was a new feeling for her, having lived a relatively sheltered life. But she remembered once, when she was about nine years old, she had used the floo network to go and visit a friend in London. She had stayed there all day, not even thinking about the fact that her parents would be looking for her. When she had appeared back in her own fireplace she had been pulled into a huge, tearful hug by her mother who warned her never to go missing like that again.

For weeks afterwards she had been plagued almost constantly with horror stories about what happened to children who went places without telling their parents. She had heard about murderers and rapists and pedophiles from her dad. And her mum had lectured her about ghouls and banshees and boggarts.

And werewolves. Aisling thought with an unpleasant shudder, which had nothing to do with the cold water.

She hurriedly started pulling on her school uniform and as she slipped her robes on over her shirt she thought guiltily about what her mum would say to her if she found out how much danger she had put herself in the night before.

***

Remus Lupin lay on his bed in the hospital wing, just like he did every day after the full moon. He had the curtains drawn around his bed and was especially thankful for them now, as they meant that he could listen in on a particularly interesting conversation taking place in the bed next to him without worry of being caught. He always felt like his nerve endings were hanging, exposed out of his skin, the day after the full moon. So, taking advantage of his extremely heightened senses, he pricked his ears and listened.

"All that matters is that you're okay Sev, how do you feel?" He heard the voice of his friend, Lily Evans.

"Yes, I'm fine." Severus Snape replied, sounding dismissive and impatient. "But you're not listening, Lily."

"I heard you Severus." Lily snapped. "But you're being ridiculous. Why can't you just let this go?"

"Because I saw him. In..." Snape paused and Remus supposed that he was looking around to check if anyone was listening. He was more thankful than ever for his heavy, white hangings.