✧TURN TO PAGE 394✧

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After about two hours of being on the mirror, as a family, it was decided that if another incident happens in that sort—They would get pulled.

Romulus attempted to throw in words of defense, and the mixture of Ravenclaw and Slytherin could not battle the reasoning of their mother.

She was the head of the family—After what Aurora Lestrange had endured, her children being unhappy was the least of her concerns. Safety was her number one priority, and Severus Snape was in pure damnation on all sides.

As if he didn't know the severity of it all.

Although it had been decided that they would not be allowed to Hogsmead, Romulus didn't care. He simply had them all go as one group, and it was better than not going at all. Course they rarely stayed that long, not when there was such a sudden dislike to the Lestrange name.

It hadn't started out too badly, not when Imara had been so close with the rest of the Gryffindors. Just the unnerving pattern of being constantly weary to the point of avoiding conversations was leaving Romulus and the rest of his siblings upset.

Lorelei being the most affected.

Course the Slytherin's weren't at all that affected, but it was difficult to see them target the weakest link. Which was the youngest year.

"Are we staying in the castle this weekend?" Cara asked Roe and the lad nodded as he adjusted his satchel on his shoulder. "It'll cheer her up, maybe we could get out the board games and set up in a classroom for the day with some snacks. That'll lift her spirits." He caught his sister nodding with an excited smile.

Granted, he could use a bit of relaxing time with his family without needing to watch his back.

He and Malfoy might've come together on a common ground, meaning that their parents stepped in at this utter nonsense. And Draco being a following of his parent's directions, he made nice with Ronan—Though the tattler had gone to his parents in the record that Lestrange hadn't come back the same.

And Ronan scoffed at the mere notion of his mate being oblivious.

Upon entering their DADA room, either Cara and Ronan had taken their usual seats behind Malfoy with the birds behind them. It usually went like this in their classes, as Ronan wasn't going to pass up on his sister's brilliance in Potions.

And while Defense Against the Dark Arts was his strong suit, pairing up with his sister never hurt either.

In the midst of the room's conversation, the classroom's door had been yanked forward and slammed. Cara's eyes had widened in seeing Professor Snape's black cloak flowing off behind him as he pulls down the curtains and yanks the projection screen over the blackboard before darting his attention to the class.

"Turn to page 394."

There had been many curious glances, but none had the gall in speaking forward. Or that's what Cara had thought as she pulls her textbook and notebook out from her satchel. "Excuse me, sir, but where's Professor Lupin?" Harry's question had caused a bit of a stir, clearly everyone's movements had stalled to be able to hear.

"That's not really your concern, is it Potter? Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Page 394." The professor had given the Lestrange twins a bit of a side smirk, course Ronan had returned it—Seeing what the topic had been placed for the week.

And he was immensely happy, and Cara's eyes widened at the sight of the projection screen showcasing a horrific beast.

"Werewolves?" Ronald said in a bit of shock, and Cara had turned to her brother with a glint in her eyes.

"But sir, we've only just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks—"

"Quiet." Snape had warned, and Cara had looked down to skim through the textbook. "You think mum's name is in this one too?" Ronan shrugged as he too had taken the liberty in reading it through.

"Now. Which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a Werewolf?" Cara had already rose her hand at the sight of an animagus being brought into the conversation. Though Snape's back had been turned from the class as he continued back towards the projector screen.

"No one? How disappointing?" He makes eye contact with Cara and she laughs slightly to herself, and Ronan just pulls down her hand. "Mum said not too much attention, remember?" "Shove off, this'll be the easiest week of our lives."

But as Cara's hand returned back into the air, Hermione had taken the pleasure. "Please sir, an Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A Werewolf has no choice in the matter. Furthermore, the werewolf actively hunts humans and responds only the call of its own kind—"

"Ahoooo!" Cara had made a face at the back of Draco's head and yanked back his robe in damnation. It was entirely rude all things considering, as if this year could be any worse with hime.

"Quiet Malfoy! Though one must admit to feeling your pain. That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss.Granger. Tell me. Are you incapable of restraining yourself? Or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" Cara had bit her lip, she had certainly earned herself that conversation once or twice.

But in a much nicer way—Her mother had said that sometimes the value of a conversation doesn't amount to what they know to what they don't.

And this just hurt to whistles.

"He's got a point you know," Ron whispered off towards Harry and Cara shook her head and leaned back in her chair. "Five points from Gryffindor...Yes, Ms.Lestrange?"

"I'd like to correct her, if I may?" For some, the delighted face of Severus Snape was horrifying—But the Lestrange children had seen him a few times over the summer.

This was no different.

"This is outdated information, a werewolf doesn't have the choice when the moon comes but there are numerous ways in preventing their activity. They do not actively hunt humans, but if there is a human in the vicinity they will most likely be killed. In the last thirty years or so, most magical citizens were shifted—Making there a theory of whether or not werewolves go so far as to kill or not. But they do not respond only to their own kind. Animagus were used in containing werewolves, they're seen to be very calm in the company of others. Really they are just wolves, it's the unpredictability that makes them dangerous." Cara said with a smile on her face, and it certainly caused Hermione to blush.

And of course, the Gryffindor had hurried into the book to look for the answer.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw...As an antidote to your ignorance, I prescribe two rolls of parchment on the werewolf by Monday morning, with particular emphasis placed on recognizing it." Ronan had been scribbling the assignment as Snape continued his rant on Potter's ability of being an artist on Draco's account of teasing.

"Lestrange, you're excused from the assignment." The two's faces had turned up in a bit of confusion and that certainly caught the class's attention. "What the bloody hell is that all about?" Ron scoffed, and Snape had his ear out for it.

Like he usually did for Gryffindor's.

"Mister and Misses Lestrange, why do you think I've given you an excuse to not do this assignment." Cara bit her lip and looked to her brother and he cracked a knuckle. "Our mother created wolfsbane." He dwelled, and the class had been rather surprised—Of course they knew of Madam Lestrange and the Apothecary the family-owned.

But it was going a bit outdated with the years passing forward.

"Then this textbook is false, it doesn't reference Mrs.Lestrange at all." Hermione voiced and Cara nodded.
"It's because the potion was brewed and created in America and moved here, she's still working on the textbook revisions." She explained, and that certainly drew a brighter light for the Lestrange family.

Reminding them that there was a decent bit of good on one side of the family, course Aurora's side was indeed consistent of Sirius Black—So luckily it nulled out.

Or would've, had Cara not just pulled out her DADA assignment to share with Romulus when she met with him during their free period. "Alright...I've already had to help Lori with her potion's assignment. If you need help with this I might be worried about—"

"Oh you idiot, it's not the assignment I need help on! Snape excused Ronan and I from it. How cruel and inconsiderate is it to do this to poor professor Lupin?! He has to grade this!" She shouted and Ronan's mouth had dropped in the instance.

Clearly Snape knew what he was doing, he would've stuck to the curriculum at hand, but this was beyond his level of reach.

"Shite." He said, taking hold of his locks and taking a small pull towards them.
"Maybe you could offer to grade them for him? Otherwise it'll be a lot of my class' 'what if I ran into a werewolf' scenarios and in detail of what it all. He must feel like shite as is." Cara said, gesturing to her watch to show that now many moons have passed since his transformation.

"Alright...Do you have any chocolate from Hogsmead still?" Cara perked her lips and then nodded, prepared to search for her secret stash. Together they managed to make a small care package, one their mother would normally have sent on a subscription basis.

The two knew their mother hardly made much of a profit from this potion, and this was the main reason. It needed to be accessible and this was the best solution. Course there is a handful that have decided to ignore it as a whole because they're prideful, Lupin included.

So come his surprise when he received a knock at his door.

Madam Pomfry had done him a service, as always, and so he managed well enough—Assuming that it was indeed Snape coming to either gloat or share what he's done as a stand-in for the class.

What he wasn't prepared for, was to see the young Romulus Lestrange with a package in his hand. "H-hey professor Lupin, I hope I'm not intruding..." He offered with a friendly smile, course it took another moment or two to grasp that Sirius Black had not answered the door.

"Not at all...Though I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I'm not taking any visitors."
"Right... You see, Cara and I put together a little care package—And well, we wanted to warn you of what Professor Snape has done." That certainly felt like Sirius, to get the better hand at someone.

And yet the package looked bigger than Lestrange's torso.

"Hopefully he wasn't that horrific...?"
"I didn't have him today, Cara did. He had a whole assignment focusing on Werewolves." Romulus could only smile at Lupin's fear in the eyes and the young student shrugged this shoulders.
"No worries professor, I brewed your potion thus far and I think it's my best work...There's an after-care lotion for the cuts and such, please don't tell my mother that I stole that formula—Right. Er, I was wondering if you wanted me to look through the 3rd year's assignments. Reckon you wouldn't want to go through that." The lad had started to ramble, but Remus had still looked at him as though he'd grown a second head.

"Which part are you caught up on?" He said and Remus sighed and pulled his door further to allow the lad in.
"Who told you?" He said just as his door locked closed and Romulus laughed.

"Your mannerism, course Snape confirmed it when he asked me to brew the potion...And Cara's confirmation was your boggart." The unkind swear had left Remus to turn away from the twin and he sighed. "Well considering that I still have a job, I take it you and your sister—"

"Won't tell a soul, course not. I've met loads of American wizards and witches who were inflicted with Lycanthropy and they're some of the kindest people I know...Though they manage to owl my mother back." Remus' eyes went wide now and Romulus shrugged his shoulders.

"Y-yes, well, I've tried to leave behind that fraction of my life." Romulus nodded once more and offered a kind grin.
"Then I suppose I'll warn you that my mother and father are coming to watch the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw game this Saturday. They usually sit with Professor Snape." The young lad hadn't been aware as to which part was making the man look sicker than before.

But in its entirety, it was a lot to deal with.

"Don't look at the third year work, I've graded a few assignments for Professor Snape before. Please let me, otherwise Cara will try and ask—And she'll pout and plea until you say yes." Remus nodded numbly, but clearly the idea of Aurora coming onto the Hogwarts property was giving him strong heart palpitations that haven't sparked since he was a lad.

And truthfully, he hadn't made any everlasting friendships since that faithful night of October 31st.

Romulus had long since left his Professor's dorm, which meant Remus had been sitting alone in the armchair that he would usually grade papers in underneath a candle projector—Yet now he couldn't even enjoy that menial task after Snape's damning pity.

However, he didn't want Romulus to slack when his parents would be coming to watch this upcoming game. From hearsay, he heard that all the Lestranges dominated the field—But now this was the first game he'd be able to see properly, and he'd be able to enjoy either side.

Though a part of him was anticipating the ultimate Gryffindor and Slytherin match, that was further in the year for sure.

Upon rising to his feet, he'd almost tripped over the package that Romulus had dropped off. Leaving Lupin to kneel down to shift the top part of the cardboard, and instantly enough he caught the familiar sight of Aurora's packaging.

Or what she'd usually give him the days he'd find himself trapped in the infirmary, granted now he was without self-inflicted wounds. It was just the soreness and his senses winding down.

This was going to be a damning last few days for sure.

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Date Posted: 05-01-2021

Time: 10:36

Words: 2457

Sure the title said it all but I loved writing this chapter, tell me what you think🤗