Lupa | Teddy Lupin

Chapter 12 - In Her Blood

People either sneered at Maddie or flinched away from her when she shifted into the Great Hall. For the first time in her life she wished her hair wasn't so bright and she willed to blend in with the crowd better.
"Mutt!"
"Bloodsucker."
"Oi, half-breed! Saw a few of your friends back there on the train- it's a shame you're thick enough to not leap in front of a train."
Insults flew at Maddie from left, right, forward, back, above, below and everywhere. The tightness in her chest began again and she took deep breaths as Meelee lead her to the Gryffindor table, away from Teddy and near Victoire.
  She slumped beside her friend, eager to hide her face with her hands.
  It was a long evening. Meelee and Victoire watched with concern as Maddie didn't even touch her food or glance at her goblet. By the end of the evening Maddie's head was pounding and she felt like she would be sick.
  When she arrived in the Gryffindor common room she didn't even stop to greet her friends. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at her crimson drapes. As she rolled over to sleep, still fully clothed, tears stained her pillow sheets and she fell into a long uncomfortable sleep.

As the weeks went on, Maddie's grades began to drop and she seemed to shrink further and further into and invisible shell. The caged feeling around her ribs seemed more constant, only leaving her when she was alone with Teddy or one or two other friends. The more she thought about the insults yelled and the dirty looks thrown at her as she lay awake for hours in her bed, the tighter the feeling became and the harder it was to breathe. Teddy and Victoire had always been empathetic with Maddie as the moon grew fuller, but this time all of her friends were worried.

Teddy never liked taking advantage of having his father at school in case other kids accused him of favouritism, but that neither his father nor any other professor had noticed the recent turn on Maddie's grades, the silver hair beginning to shine through her red dye and the complete change in her personality worried him. Remus himself was starting to look peaky as the first full moon of the year was only a week away, but every one of Maddie's friends knew something had to be done.
Teddy and Maya went on in search of Remus on a Friday morning before he taught the young werewolf DADA. As they went through the winding corridors on their way to the professor's office, they happened to bump into the exact man that they were looking for, who appeared to be in quite a rush.
"Merlin! Maya, I am so sorry, that was incredibly rude of me. Neither of you would happen to know where Maddie Pilrick is though, I need to talk to her quite urgently." Remus spoke quickly, his voice flustered and his eyes darting around.
"Actually Sir, that was what we came to find you for." Maya's voice was intent, so much so that Remus' eyes stopped darting and focused on the two students.
"Professor we're really worried about her, and the fact that not one professor has seemed to notice her distress in anyway." That day Teddy was raised to the same height as his father and his deep lavender eyes were intense and urgent. Remus' cheeks went pink and he met his son's gaze.
"I know you're right Teddy. I just can't figure what's happened to her or what to say-" Remus was interrupted by the clanging school bell. "Come on," the father continued, "I'll discuss this with you at the end of the lesson, I promise. However, right now I am going to let you get ahead of me on the way to my lesson with you so I won't have to give you a black mark."

"I cannot believe he doesn't know." Teddy was fuming as he stormed ahead of his father, who gave him a stern and patronising gaze when the boy tried to argue. Maya shook her head.
"None of the professors know Ted. It's not like anyone has been stupid enough to call out Maddie in front of a teacher, even less try to curse her." Maya lowered her voice, "They're all terrified that she'll turn into a werewolf and come and kill her or something stupid." She panted as Teddy was considerably more athletic that her and took strides so long and quick out of anger that she had to jog a little to keep up.
They arrived in the lesson and Teddy went straight to the empty seat near Meelee and Victoire and right next to Maddie.
Her appearance had grown worse than the 1st of September; she always looked worst at that time of year as the Ministry refused to supply her with wolfsbane or silver dittany. Her face was paler and greyer than usual, like a ghost without the glow and she had dark circles under her eyes like bruises. Her cheeks were hollow and her bone structure was predominant; after growing skinny in the summer Maddie usually put on weight in term time. The youthful plumpness usually made her glow and her cheeks rosy. Now she had lost what appeared to be an unhealthy amount of weight, so much so that she looked skeletal and undead. Teddy of course knew that this was because Maddie now avoided the Great Hall as often as possible, as it was the perfect place for other students to pick on her, calling her vile words and hit her with vile curses. She hadn't even shown that she'd noticed Teddy, still seeming to be half asleep, still clouded by a frenzy of worry.
Teddy was soon forced to ignore his friend's appearance when his father walked into the room. As he began his presentation on hinkypunks and how one may defend themselves against them, Teddy whispered quietly to his friend.
"Mads? Hey, how are you?" He tried his best to make his voice gentle and relaxing, but she still jumped. When she realised that the person trying to approach her was only Teddy, she looked upset and tears began to well in her eyes.
"Teddy- sorry- I didn't notice you there." She replied, her breaths suddenly shallow. This scared Teddy but he tried his best not to show it. He gently laid his hand her arm.
"Hey, it's okay. Please don't be upset." He smiled and Maddie started to shake a little.
"I'm really sorry- I don't know why- I was just thinking about-" This time instead of being interrupted, Rosie Northrop, another fourth year Gryffindor, cut Maddie off after eavesdropping on their conversation.
"She was just thinking of who exactly she was going to consume or bite next week." Rosie had a prim, whiny voice and as Maddie listened to her the tight feeling around her chest increased and she soon struggled to breathe as Rosie continued to talk. "God- to think I shared a dorm with a blood sucking monster for four years. You know that mummy cried when I got home this Christmas? She said she was so relived I was still in one piece after sharing a dorm with this monster." Rosie sneered at Maddie who now found that a kind fog seemed to fill her brain, in a way that she couldn't think or see anything. Beside her, Teddy was shaking in anger, his hair slowly turning red. "In fact," the prissy girl continued, "Daddy didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts this January. It was bad enough being around a mongrel like your father; he didn't want me to be near this mutt."
"SHUT UP!" Teddy found himself on his feet, his wand pointed at Rosie's face. He glowered at Rosie, every feature from his eyes to his complexion gone dark. His face was hot with anger and red mist clouded his eyes. Crocodile tears suddenly fell from Rosie's cheeks and she pouted at him. The whole class had gone silent and the only thing anyone heard were Teddy's angry pants.
That was until Maddie's breaths grew very deep too.
"Edward Lupin, will you please sit down?" Remus demanded very quietly as he glared at his son from the front of the classroom and Teddy slumped down into his chair, not taking his eyes off Rosie. That was until Victoire hit him very hard on the arm and brought to his attention that Maddie was not okay.
Her body was shaking and her breaths were irregular. Her hand covered her mouth to stop the sobs from echoing around the classroom. Her eyes were lowered, trying and miserably failing to concentrate on her work.
"Maddie? Hey, don't stress about what they're saying. They have I.D.U.I.S.E, remember?" Teddy tried in vain to make her smile, but Maddie could only take a shuddering breath in response. Meelee and Victoire were closely eyeing their friend, but there wasn't much they could do. Teddy was rubbing Maddie's back unable to comfort her. Worry dried his mouth and he leaned over to Victoire and whispered something to her.
When the professor stopped talking and allowed them to get on with some practical work, Victoire slipped up to the front of the classroom and murmured something to him. He glanced quickly to the back of the classroom and nodded. Meelee crept over to Maddie and helped Teddy get her up and quietly slip out of the classroom.
They didn't count the minutes, but soon the professor joined them in his office.
Tears stilled stained Maddie's face but her breathing was calmer now. Teddy sat on the arm of the chair that Maddie was stiffly sat in and Meelee was sat beside her. Teddy was rubbing Maddie's back soothingly but his hair was still red and his eyes were still angry.