✓ weasley and the wolf boy ☞ fred weasley

7: wolf boy

SCENE SEVEN
WOLF BOY

    Arlo awoke in pain, four days later. It was the day of the full moon and he was having a day of rest before his transformation. He would get the day off after as well to recover.

    "Hey, you're going to be late." A boy in his dormitory, Xavier Phillpott said.

    "I'm feeling ill," Arlo groaned from his place under the covers. "I'll go to Madame Pomfrey in a bit."

    "Alright." Phillpott dismissed. Everyone in his dormitory could figure out Arlo's furry little problem (they were clever enough to be in Ravenclaw) as quickly as they wanted, but it was to his luck that they just didn't really care. They weren't interested in Arlo enough to notice how his disappearances linked with the cycle of the moon, each one as regular as once a month. That was because Arlo refused to be interested in them, and what was the point in befriending someone who didn't want to be befriended?

    It was a little over an hour later that Arlo pulled himself out of the bed, practically blind as he fumbled for his glasses until he found them, slipping them onto his face. Slowly and painfully, he dressed himself in his uniform lazily- his shirt untucked, rolled sleeves uneven, the blue and silver tie loose. He didn't bother with his jumper like he usually did as his skin burned like a fever.

    When he arrived at the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey immediately fussed him into one of the end beds, pulling the curtains around it. He drank all of the Sleeping Draught he was given, however he still awoke in tears from the fear and pain hours later.

    Soon enough it was time for him to go down to the Whomping Willow. Arlo clutched the robe around him, dressed in the patched up wizard's garb so that he didn't ruin his uniform when he transformed. Madame Pomfrey held the freshly brewed vial of Wolfsbane potion, which she gave to Arlo before she fled the Shrieking Shack. Arlo sat himself on the broken bed, staring at the black liquid inside the glass vial. Suddenly, his body gave a shudder- the bright light of the full moon had fallen upon Arlo's pale skin. He quickly wrenched off the stopper, swallowing as much as he could before his shaking hands dropped the half-drunken potion, and a scream ripped from his vocal cords, twisting into a bloodcurdling howl.

    Jem was leaving the Great Hall when she heard the agonized howl. She paled- in all of his transformations, Arlo had never made a sound like that- the Wolfsbane potion was supposed to keep him in his right mind. Unless he hadn't managed to finish it. She didn't want to think about it-

    "Hey, Berkley-" Jem whirled around with a squeak of shock to see Lee Jordan, George and Fred Weasley beside him. Fred was looking at her oddly, but the sight of him reminded her of Arlo, which suddenly made her want to cry with fear for her best friend. Her hands curled into fists.

    "Jem, are you alright?"

    She didn't know who asked, because she was racing down the hallway before they could finish their sentence.