moon cycles and raven feathers [r. lupin]

| 13 |

october 23rd, 1976

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"-following directions in the book of household poisons..."

the time had finally come for cath to pay back the countless hours of tutoring she had received from lily evans.

the unusually bright witch had reached a bump in the road: she was struggling in herbology, which just so happened to be catherine's best subject. consequently this also meant tutoring the four boys that followed at lily's feet due to a one mr. james potter. peter and remus seemed like the only mauraders who were actually paying attention to what she was saying but she didn't mind, she had learned from remus that sirius was actually quite smart when he tried and james didn't seem to understand a single thing anyone else said when he was around lily.

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the particular topic was, at least to her, a simple one, complex household poisons. it was something cath knew a lot about.

her father's family, the prestigious house of nightshade, consisted of a long line of celebrated herbologists. though no nightshade had done anything too notable in the field for many years their name was still firmly cemented in the practice. 'nightshade apothecary' had become the most notable apothecary in the states and had spread itself between all sorts of american magical communities. the first store, currently owned and operated by her great aunts flora and belladonna, was in sayre town and had become somewhat of an escape for cath when she wanted to escape her mother.

as she got older she started to help out in the shop and quickly began to learn what plants were friends and what plants were foes.

she felt quite at home with her father's family, much more so than with her mother's. she was good enough at the family trade to be accepted as a nightshade, she didn't feel like she had anything to prove. unlike with her mother she wasn't in the shadow cast by an outstretched ravens wing, instead she shone in greenhouse sunlight.

"-shattercane and velvet grass..."

webster naming was as odd as it could get, and catherine had really grown to hate it. after all, if it had been any simpler, if her mother had been anyone else, she would've been a nightshade, and a perfectly happy nightshade at that. but it wasn't that simple, and her mother most certainly wasn't anyone else, she was othella webster.

the rule of webster naming was simple enough, though cath still thought it was absolutely daft, all young witches and wizards born of webster blood bore the webster name, no matter what.

at some point cath remembered her mother telling her that the naming convention had been quite common during the witch trials due to the fatherless children so many young witches bore. many old blood families such as her own used to hold up the tradition but, for one reason or another, now theirs was the only one left who still did.

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"... so do you have any questions? all of this is really quite simple, it's just a matter of knowing what and how much of everything. basic math and memorization really."
"simple?!" james, who apparently had been paying attention more than she had originally noticed, balked.
"maybe in america-" james said pronouncing america in a dramatic fashion "-they teach you the top 10 ways on how to kill someone in a forest-"
"well you can't actually find most of these in a forest, most of th-"
sirius cut her off, "not the point, love"
lily, surely not wanting to hear james complain anymore cut in herself.
"well i found your explanation very helpful, i guess i just needed it explained in a different way." she gathered up her things and got up from their table, "if only everything could be as simple as potions" she said on a sigh, "but thanks cath, i'll definitely let you know if i have anymore questions."
with that, lily left, taking her bag and, much to the red heads dismay, 3/4 of the mauraders with her. the other 1/4 that decided to hang back was of course

remus lupin.

"so how come you're so good at this? do they push herbology harder in the states?"
cath gathered up her papers as she replied, "not really, herbology's practically in my blood. i'm sure the only reason i've taken to it so well is because of my father."
"your father?"
"he's a nightshade, i trust you've heard of them? not to sound conceited or anything but we have mentioned some of them in class."
remus looked confused, "yes but- i thought your surname was taken after that witch, half-hanged mary you called her? is your father not a webster."
catherine took a deep breath before attempting to explain why she had her mother's surname instead of her father's, and shy her family had stuck to such and antiquated tradition.

"...so essentially it's just because of old witch trials tradition. not something that really happened over here."
"well that's..."
"confusing? i know, i could write a whole book about how much of a pain in the ass it is to explain." she said with a smile.

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despite having had her things ready to go for a while now and the stack of charms homework she knew was waiting in her dorm she kept talking to remus, about her father, and herbology, and all sorts of other little things. half an hour must've passed before she finally decided to leave.
"you know, i have loads of charms homework to do-" the boy seemed almost disappointed when she began to excuse herself from the conversation, she felt bad for leaving him and the little frown that made its way onto his face nearly broke her heart, it wasn't like she wasn't enjoying his company.
"we'll have to pick this up another time, yeah?"
he perked up when she said that, the small frown flipping up into a bit of a smile.
"yeah definitely, well i'll see you tomorrow, you know, in divination."
cath smiled sweetly before picking up her things, "see you then, remus."