▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER SIX ▬▬▬▬▬

EVERYONE WAS HAVING A SLUMBER party at the Great Hall while she was busy petting giant pandas in China with Nico. After a quick meal in the kitchens, Professor Sprout hurriedly led Esmerelda to the Great Hall where the rest of the students were.

Dumbledore had generously given each student their own squashy purple sleeping bag which was a hundred times better than the ones given out at camp. She definitely wouldn't have minded having to sleep on the floor of cabin twelve for five years straight if this was the sleeping bag they had given to her.

Gods, it's so soft, she marveled, settling in well with her sleeping bag. Her shuffling caused the body next to her to turn around and notice her. It was Hannah.

Her blue eyes popped out in shock. "Essie?!" She whispered, not wanting any of the patrolling teachers to overhear her. Everyone was supposed to be 'asleep' after all.

'Hi', she mouthed back.

Hannah glanced around cautiously before scooting closer to her sleeping bag. "Where have you been?" She asked, sounding almost hysterical in her whispering. "You didn't show up at the feast, and then we heard Sirius Black tried to break in—we all thought he got you!"

She shook her head slightly, looking genuinely guilty. "I'm sorry, I was being stupid. I fell asleep on some bench in Hosgmeade and it was already dark by the time I woke up. I didn't mean to worry any of you guys..." It was a coverup she had made up as she was being taken to the Great Hall. It wasn't very good, but it was the only one she could come up with in case any of the students asked about her whereabouts.

Hannah looked incredulous. "You were taking a nap this entire time—?!" Her voice rose and she quickly looked around to make sure no adult was coming by. When there weren't any, she looked back at her. 'Seriously?!' she mouthed.

"Sorry..." She whispered sheepishly.

The incredulous look still stayed and whatever reply Hannah was going to come up with was swallowed down when Dumbledore returned to the Great Hall. The girls quickly shut their eyes and decided that now was probably a good time to fall asleep.

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A few days passed after that not-so-fun-and-exciting slumber party at the Great Hall. There had been no other reports of Sirius Black, but everyone was scared. He was still prowling the area, everyone knew it. The Fat Lady had been so terrified after the attack that she refused to return to her painting and her guarding spot had been replaced by some other painting that—according to the Gryffindors—was an asshole.

Other than that, nothing else happened.

The first thing Esmerelda did when she woke up in the morning before her DADA class was Iris Message Percy in her dorm's bathroom. She had been so busy with other things that she had completely forgotten to tell anyone what she had found out. So with the room silenced to keep from anyone eavesdropping, she created a misty rainbow with just her palm and tossed the gleaming drachma in.

"Show me Percy Jackson... um, wherever he is," she said, and an image began to appear in the mist. She briefly remembered that the UK was five hours ahead of New York and since it was 7:15 AM right now, it was 12: 15 for Percy.

Shoot, she realized her mistake. Is he in class right now? Or lunch?

It turned out he was actually in his school's restroom trying to wash his hands. Just as he finished, he looked up to where the mirror was only to jump when he saw her instead.

"Essie?" He whispered, a hand over his chest. He looked around wildly to make sure the coast was clear. "Dude you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "I forgot about the time zones and—hold on, is that what the boys bathroom really looks like? Gods, it's so gross..."

He snorted. "Wait until you see the inside of a stall. Anyways, is something going on?"

"Yeah. I found Nico." She said.

His eyes widened. "You—you what?"

"I found Nico. Sort of," she began to explain. "I accidentally Mist traveled—you know that thing where I can teleport myself and all that?—well, a few days ago I accidentally Mist traveled and ended up in Changdu, China."

"Wait, you found him in China?" He gaped.

She winced. "Yeah and I even landed on top of him too..." Had she apologized for landing on him? Hopefully she did. "He could shadow travel, and it's kinda like what I can do except he uses shadows. But look, Percy, I-I tried to get him to come back, but..."

"But he hates me, doesn't he..." Percy said knowingly, his shoulders slumped.

She nodded. "He doesn't think the camp accepts him. I tried telling him that we did, but he wouldn't believe it."

His face fell even further. "Do... do you know where he's been staying?"

She shook her head. "He wouldn't tell me. And I think he's up to something too, but he wouldn't tell me what either. I'm worried about him. He didn't look like he was taking care of himself, Percy, he was so pale and skinny and he was practically starving and—"

"—Essie," he interrupted her. "We'll find him again. And when we do, I—I'll talk to him this time. I'll apologize and..." He trailed off, his expression lost and conflicted. It was clear to her that he had no idea how to get Nico to come back willingly, but at least he was willing to do whatever he could.

She managed to smile at him. "Okay. You're right. We'll get him back... I should probably let you go now, before someone comes in here and sees this."

He returned her sad smile. "I'll see you later," he said, before swiping through the image.

Esmerelda's smile faded and she gripped the edges of the sink, feeling more emotionally drained than anything. She just wanted to scream for once, and just let everything out... but that wouldn't fix anything. Her siblings were gone, Ethan was gone, Nico was gone, war was coming, her mortal family was fucked up, and she had no idea what to do.

She could feel her hands vibrate with explosive magic just begging to be released, but she suppressed it quickly, closing her eyes shut and taking deep breaths.

When her eyes opened, she decided that she was as ready as she could be for the rest of the day. She was still tired of course, especially after last night's Astronomy lesson. She didn't care that tonight was going to be a full moon nor did she care that the natural moon light causes the stars to become less visible. She was also sure she even fell asleep for a short amount of time during that lesson.

She walked into DADA and practically slumped into her seat. She pretty much matched Remus' mood for the day: tired, tired, and even more tired. The man looked worse than usual, and that was saying a lot since he always looked like he could use a nap, a shower, and a full meal. Except this time he was the same, but tripled.

This had happened once last month, if she remembered correctly. He was just as exhausted, barely even left his desk, and had told the class that it would be a quiet reading and note-taking lesson for the day. As expected, it was the same for today as well.

"Today will be an easy day, no practical lesson though, sorry to disappoint. I'll be busy grading these reports from the older years. While I'm doing that, I want you all to read chapter 7 and take notes on it. We'll be having a quiz on that at the end of the week, so be sure to study your notes well." He instructed.

As everyone shuffled to get their things, Dean raised his hand. "Sir, is there any word about the Sirius Black incident?"

Everyone froze and looked expectantly at him.

"I'm sorry to say, but no," he answered solemnly. "He has yet to be found."

Another student raised their hand. This time it was a Hufflepuff. "Well, why do you think Sirius Black came here for?"

Esmerelda caught it almost immediately, the way Remus immediately glanced in her direction rather than Harry's. Everyone knew that Sirius was a Death Eater, and everyone knew that his target was most likely Harry Potter. But what people didn't know was that he had another family member: her. Not a lot of people knew that, and those who did, thought that she was his daughter and apparently Remus thought this too because his first reaction to that question was to look right at her and not Harry.

He knows too much, she decided. But how?

She needed answers from him because he was way too suspicious to let go.

She patiently waited for class to end (while doing her notes of course, she was a good little student after all) and was glad when the period was finally over. Deliberately packing her things away in a painstakingly slow pace, she waited until the other students were gone to stand in front of his desk.

"Have we met before, Professor Lupin?" She asked, blunt and straight to the point.

He looked about ready to collapse throughout the entire day but her question seemed to snap him back to awareness. "W-what?" He said, staring up at her with wide, panicked eyes.

"You seem to know a lot about me," she barreled on, eyes narrowed. "It's really suspicious."

Remus hastily rose to his feet. "I-I think you're mistaken Miss B—Esmerelda," he quickly corrected, but it was too late. She had caught his slip up.

She stepped in front of him when he tried to circle around the desk. "What were you about to call me?"

He knew! He was about to call her Miss Black! He knew who she was! Well, he probably had the wrong Black brother, but still! How long had he been stalking her? How did he even find out about all this super secret information?!

Remus was very, very bad at lying because he was doing his damnest to avoid eye contact, which was basically, like, the number one thing you shouldn't do. "Miss Esmerelda, you should get to your next class." He tried to say, but she wasn't having it.

She stepped forward, which caused him to step back. She glared at him as she listed out all the shady things he had done, "You knew who I was back at the train. You even knew that I was turning fourteen that day! You keep staring at me and acting all weird! Admit it, you're a—"

"—I tried to kill you when you were a baby—!" He finally blurted out.

"—Stalker!" Esmerelda finished. Then, she paused. She blinked once, trying to register his words in her head. When she finally managed to somehow process it, she was absolutely bewildered. "Wait, what?"

"I tried to kill you when you were a baby!" He whimpered, looking distraught. "During the night of a full moon!"

"Hold on—" She tried to say, but Remus wouldn't stop. He proceeded to tell her everything.

"I'm a werewolf!" He blurted out some more.

"Wait a second—"

"—You weren't even one years old when it happened..."

"Little baby's getting sleepy now," Lily cooed at the baby in her arms. Esmerelda let out a small yawn before jamming her thumb back into her mouth. The red haired woman snickered quietly before looking up at the four men. "You guys ready?"

"You didn't have to come, Padfoot..." Remus said guiltily as he glanced between his best friend and his supposed daughter.

"'Course I did! I wouldn't leave you with these two twits during a full moon," Sirius joked, swatting away the arm James tried to shove him with. "Besides, the Antichrist will be perfectly fine sleeping. I'm sure she'll have sweet dreams about world domination and whatnot."

Lily rolled her eyes. She'd slap him, but she was too busy holding Esmerelda.

"Everything will be fine, Moony," Peter smiled reassuringly. "As long as we're there to keep you calm, nothing will happen."

Remus knew that, of course. This wasn't the first time he had his friends watching over him in their Animagus form and keeping him in control. This wasn't even their first time doing it in the safety of his home which had a shed that he always used for full moons outside of Hogwarts. His shed was much more secure, it had chains and everything.

But he was still worried.

Because this was the first time a baby would be just a few yards away from him. Sure the baby had... exponentially strong magic, but Esmerelda was still just a baby. What if he lost control and attacked her, or worse, bit her?

But Sirius had insisted that it was okay. They had never let him slip before, why would it happen now? Remus was just paranoid because of how young and vulnerable Esmerelda was.

Maybe he was being unreasonable. He had never lost control with his friends around to keep him sane, and they were here today so this night would go as smoothly as all the other full moons had suffered through.

"We better get to the shed," Peter chimed. "It's about to be dark."

"Right, right," Sirius clapped his hands together and grinned. He was always excited when the full moon came, and Remus had no idea why. "Lily, you mind taking her up for her nap?"

"Of course," Lily replied.

"You can stay in my room," Remus offered. "Just, ah, try not to let her throw up on my bed, please? Or pee? Or poop?"

She snorted. "If it happens, I'll just clean it up. Don't worry about your bed, Remus." She stood up and with one hand, shouldered the diaper bag Sirius had brought with him.

Remus couldn't help but question all the things Sirius had bought for his daughter. Like the diaper bag for instance. He could tell from the brand that it was from a very expensive designer, ones that only wealthy Purebloods could afford. Sirius may be wealthy, but he didn't exactly like to spend the money his kind uncle had given him on anything trivial and from what he knew, this diaper bag wasn't too different then the others, just built more expensively.

And then there's that crib of her's... I'm pretty sure it's even made out of real gold! What on earth was Sirius thinking when he bought that? Remus shook his head.

Lily quietly disappeared upstairs and the four of them left the house to go to the shed. Once they got there, Remus immediately began to shackle himself to the wall and floor.

"You really don't have to do that to yourself, Moony," James told him gently. "I told you before, you don't need it."

"And as I've told you before, this is just in case." He said calmly.

James just sighed and shook his head, but didn't argue with him at least.

Several minutes later James, Sirius, and Peter all shifted into their animagus forms just as the moon began to appear. Remus hunched over and groaned, already feeling his bones shifting and his skin tingling from the rapidly growing hair.

He always became hostile whenever he began to shift. All due to the pain of shifting. It wasn't fun feeling your bones break apart to accumulate a whole new physiology. His nails grew into claws and his painfully sharp canines pierced through his gums. He let out a howl once the transformation was complete...

...And then it happened. Once his snout had formed, a mouthwatering scent had drifted into his nose. It grew sharper once he finished shifting and he could feel his control slipping.

It smelled so good... and he was so hungry... He wanted to find whatever owned that scent and sink his teeth into their flesh over and over again until they were nothing but bones.

Any remnants of his human self had gone as he howled once more, thrashing against his chains. The stag, dog, and mouse all sat up with alarm and he could smell the panic from them, but he ignored it. The only thing he wanted to smell was his next meal.

The chains attached to his limbs finally snapped and he barreled forward, kicking the mouse aside and shoving through the stag and dog. The next obstacle, the door, was easily knocked over as he ran through it.

His food was in the house, he sensed. So he ran towards it.

Behind him he could hear the vicious barks of the large black dog and suddenly he was pushed to the ground and his ear was nearly bitten off from the dog's rage.

The wolf growled, but the dog snarled back just as threateningly. He could vaguely hear someone calling a name, or maybe something else. He didn't know. He couldn't understand the human language anymore.

He harshly pushed the dog aside and headed for the front door. He broke through it just as easily as he did with the shed but before he could take another step towards the stairs, sharp teeth was digging into the back of his neck. He howled as he was forcefully dragged out of the house and while that was happening, he could hear the wails of a child.

His food! That was his food! He could smell her fear, smell her delicious blood and—

"—ames! James, what's going on?!" A woman shrieked and a figure appeared at the top of the staircase. She saw what was happening, a dog ripping into a werewolf and the werewolf snarling at her, and quickly backed away from view, screaming.

The dog succeeded in dragging him out of the house where he was immediately kicked in the head by the stag in order to knock him unconscious. The rat was nowhere to be found, but the wolf didn't care about that. He was starving.

Saliva dripped from his mouth. He wanted to eat.

With a vicious snarl, he ripped himself free from the dog's hold and tried to reach the house again, but the dog had bitten his tail and yanked him back. He whirled around to attack it, but the stag slammed his hoof into his eye and everything went dark for him.

When he woke up, he was chained back in the shed and James and Peter were in their human forms, trying to keep a rabid black dog at bay.

"He's awake..." Peter said shakily, and the fear in his eyes made Remus flinch.

"What..." He croaked. "What hap—"

He was cut off when Sirius shifted back and grabbed him by the throat, a wand aimed at his neck.

"Sirius!" James cried out in alarm.

"Who are you?!" Sirius demanded.

"W-wha—"

"—You're one of those things," Sirius sneered. "Trying to get Esmerelda. Who are you, what are you, and where is Remus!"

"Sirius, what are you talking about?!" Peter exclaimed in confusion. "Th-this is Remus, he just—"

"—Tried to kill Esmerelda." Sirius finished with a dark look.

Remus turned white. "I-I wha—what? N-no, no, I didn't—I don't—" He rasped, barely able to speak with the tight grip around his windpipe.

"Sirius, enough!" James ordered, grabbing the noirette by the shoulder and pulling him away. Remus breathed in the air greedily while trying to massage his throat. His limbs felt sore and he was in more pain than ever... What had he done...?

I tried to kill Esmerelda, he realized in horror. He could remember it now. Or at least flashes of it. Him losing control. Him breaking out of the shed and entering his house. Lily's frightened shriek and the baby's cries. Then he remembered pain. Lots of it. Sirius... had attacked him. He was furious. He remembered that.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't—" He gasped, his voice laced with shame and tears spilling from his eyes.

Rather than answering, Sirius stepped forward and grabbed him by the back of his neck. Remus let out a cry of pain as his fingers probed the wounds on his neck. When he pulled away, he stared at the red blood coating his fingertips.

"Sirius!" Peter looked horrified. "Why would you—why?!"

But Sirius wasn't even paying attention to them anymore. His eyes were focused on the crimson. "Blood..." He whispered, and his shoulders slowly sunk with relief before they tensed up again. He whipped his head to face Remus, looking at him with an unreadable expression. "Then you really..."

Remus kept his head bowed, tears freely falling down to the dirty floor. "I'm so—so sorry," he sobbed, wanting to curl in on himself. "I didn't—I didn't want to, I didn't—"

"Moony..." James whispered. Without wasting another second, he hurriedly freed him from the chains. Remus curled in on himself at last, hiding his face as he continued to cry out his shame.

And above him, Sirius continued to stare at him with the same unreadable expression. Perhaps he finally realized how much of a monster his friend really was.

— author's note —

I never clarified but the flashback happened after the incident at the grocery store, so Sirius is very much aware that there are monsters coming after his demigod niece and has experience in fending them off. When he was interrogating Remus and asking things like "who are you" and whatnot, it was because he genuinely thought Remus had been kidnapped by one of the monsters who then disguised themselves as him in order to get closer to Esmerelda (and ultimately kill her). When he touched the wounds in the back of Remus' neck, the blood confirmed that he was, indeed, the real Remus. Had it been golden dust then that would mean it was actually a monster disguising themselves as Remus.

AAAAND NOW YOU FINALLY KNOW WHY REMUS IS SO WEIRD AROUND HER! :D Yaaaay, the mystery has been solved! Isn't that just great??!?! Not only does he feel guilty for letting her get abducted, but he also feels guilty for trying to fucking kill her in his werewolf form!

You know how I said that the creatures in the wizarding world either worship demigods/children of Hecate or want to fucking eat them (and there is NO in-between)??? Well werewolves—the ones from the wizarding world—unfortunately fall into the second category. Or at least when it's a full moon and they have zero control over themselves (unless they're taking the Wolfsbane potion, but that wasn't created until later on so Remus couldn't rely on that at that time)