Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 67

With trembling hands and a shaky breath, Diana put the book back on the shelf. She felt like her knees were going to give in any moment as her whole body went numb in shock.

"He's not... he can't be..." Diana muttered to herself, her head hurting and her heart aching.

She didn't want to go to the Great Hall where the others were. She didn't want to see anyone. With her hand over her mouth in disbelief, Diana left the library without caring as to where she was going.

It was all coming back to her. The full moons she had been seeing in the orb, the howling she had heard; they all pointed at Remus's direction.

As she wondered down the hallways aimlessly, everything began to add up in her mind. The first time she had touched Remus's hand and had felt pain, darkness, and the bitter feeling of loneliness, they were all what Remus felt each time during full moons when he transformed.

It was lunch time. But instead of going to the Great Hall, Diana walked down into the dungeons and walked into the Slytherin common room so she could be alone.

     Barely blinking, barely thinking, she moved toward the fireplace and sat down on the floor in front of the blazing flames, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared into the burning fire. But the heat of it wasn't enough to mortify the shiver that ran through her body.

Diana couldn't take a grasp of what she had just learnt. Or rather, she couldn't bring herself to believe it.

She closed her eyes shut and shook her head furiously as unwanted memories started floating back to her mind; she could remember all those pictures she had seen in the history books in her father's office. She remembered the terrifying sketches of the pack of werewolves who had attacked a Muggle village, ripping their bodies apart.

She could remember the articles she had read in the Daily Prophet about the werewolf attacks that still happened to this day.

      Even the words of her parents were still fresh in her mind, though the conversation had happened years ago.

"Another attack," her father had mumbled that day, looking through the newspaper. "Two children dead. It says here that the bites belonged to a werewolf."

"Poor kids..." Her mother had sighed, her brows knitted together in sympathy. "Those vicious beasts must be stopped."

"They're already banished from the community, but I agree, it's not enough," Mr. Greengrass had said earnestly, putting down the paper. "There's no way to easily recognize a werewolf when it's not a full moon. They can be walking among us, looking like any other innocent Wizard, while searching for their next victim."

"Blood-thirsty half-breeds such as them aren't deserving to live, when all they do is attack the innocent!" said Mrs. Greengrass.

Diana shook her head again as she remained seated on the floor of the common room, trying to banish the thoughts from her head. There was a burning sensation at the back of her throat that she could not get rid of.

He has no control over it, she tried to convince herself over and over again. He's not like them. He can't be. Remus would never hurt anyone.

But then again, he didn't have any control over that either. With each full moon that emerged, so did the beast.

***

The full moon that week was a rough one. The transformation was more painful than the month before, but at least Remus had his friends to keep him company. As always, they had left the Shrieking Shack and roamed the Hogwarts grounds way after midnight, all the way until dawn.