Standing Still

Standing Still

*

Bad Ladies and Batties

*

Almost right after she'd taken Remus from Sirius, Minerva was surrounded by a group of students who were going to the Great Hall for lunch. They all shot curious glances at Remus, then stopped to stare openly.

"Is that --" asked one older student, but didn't finish his sentence. He just stared at the werewolf with a weird look on his face, a mix of amazement and silent terror.

Minerva nodded grimly. "Remus, these are Hogwarts students," she said then gently to the man in the wheelchair. "Students, this is Remus Lupin. I'm sure you have all heard his story. Anybody treating him inappropriately will be assigned a month's detention. Am I making myself clear?"

Everybody nodded. Regarding to their expressions, none of them would have even considered making fun of the former genius -- even most of the Light Side's war strategies had been made by Remus, who was no doubt the most intelligent person around. Or, at least he had been, and the students all knew about his remarkable intelligence. To see this unmatchable mind so badly damaged shocked them all.

Of course Minerva knew that there was the possibility of recovery. Not of a full one, no, Remus would never be as ingenious as he had been. However, because he'd indeed had such a great mind, his hopes for recovery were much better than those of a person with a usual intelligence would have been. With luck -- although the Transfiguration Professor knew very well that the chances were only about one to ten thousands, or one to a hundred thousands -- he would with time become like any normal adult. Much less intelligent than before, true, and he certainly would never again win Albus in the Wizard's Chess, but nobody would notice any difference from a normal man his age.

But, as she knew very well, the chances were very, very small. More probable was that he'd maybe get to the level of a child -- eleven, twelve years in mental age, at best. No more.

She was broken out from her thoughts as a tall, dark figure approached from a side corridor. "Batty!" exclaimed Remus in delight as he saw Severus, clapping his hands loudly together.

Everybody cowered, expecting the Head of Slytherin to explode at being called by such a name. Even Minerva prepared herself for the expected blow, getting her wand ready just in case she had to protect Remus from Severus's wrath.

To all of their great surprise, however, Severus merely raised an eyebrow at the werewolf. "Good morning to you, too," he said dryly, crouching down so that he was on eye level with the werewolf. "So, Remus," he said then with a kinder voice than anyone present had ever heard him use before, "why are you visiting us today?"

Now, the child-adult frowned. "Ziwiuz ill," he told the Potions Master seriously. "Poppy make Ziwiuz okay."

"So Sirius is ill?" asked Severus, now raising both of his eyebrows. While saying this to Remus, he glanced sideways at Minerva as if expecting her to answer. She shook her head. No, she didn't know for sure what was wrong with Sirius, even though she had her suspicions. "I'm sure Poppy will make Sirius okay soon, Remus. There's really no need to worry."

"No wowwy!" replied the werewolf happily. "Ziwiuz okay!" Then, with a curious glance around him, he asked hopefully, "Food?"

"Indeed that there is, and a lot," Snape chuckled. A soft thud could be heard from somewhere in the back of the crowd; a second-year girl had fainted. "This is, after all, Hogwarts. I do suspect the house-elves here could feed all wizards and witches in the whole country, and still have leftovers. So, do you want food?" he then asked teasingly. Thud, thud.

"Yez!" said Remus firmly. "Wemuz food, now!"

"Then food it is." Turning towards Minerva, Severus asked, "Now, my dearest Minerva, shall we lead the war hero to the Great Hall, or would you find nourishing him inappropriate in some way?"

"I think that'd be just fine," replied Minerva, quirking an eyebrow. "The Head Table, then?"

"No less would do." And with these words, he swiftly took the duty of leading the wheelchair from her, starting to push Remus towards the Great Hall.

As they entered, many students raised their heads to look at them, as well as Albus, who was already eating. "Ah, Remus!" exclaimed the Headmaster. "It's been a while. Good to see you, my boy." He waved his hand, indicating that Severus ought to lead the wheelchair to him. The Potions Master did so, determinedly ignoring the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes as the ancient wizard saw the carefulness with which Severus was handling the wheelchair and the man sitting on it.

Remus was placed next to Headmaster, while Severus sat next to him, and Minerva on the other side of Albus. Most students watched the werewolf curiously and horrifiedly. They had all seen the War, they had all lost somebody close to them, but very few of them had ever seen anything this bad. Taking a person's life was bad, but taking their mind was unimaginable -- there was no grave to mourn on, but an empty shell of the former person, a constant reminder of what had been.

After some time of eating -- Albus rather smartly took the knife immediately away from Remus and let him eat with just a fork, although not without cutting his steak into small bits at first --Severus attempted to make a conversation with the werewolf. "So, what's wrong with Sirius?" asked the Slytherin, easily managing a conversating tone.

"Ziwiuz ill," said Remus with a slight frown. As Severus nodded, encouraging him to go on, the werewolf added, "He puked. A lot."

Now, Severus actually frowned. He exchanged careful glances with Minerva, who nodded slightly and then mouthed, 'Maybe.' Thus even Severus got to know what had possibly happened.

The Slytherin nodded thoughtfully. He previously hadn't liked any of the Marauders, and he still wasn't too fond on Black. However, over the years of War, he had indeed become something like friends with Remus. And, seeing his friend in such a pitiful state, he just couldn't bring himself to be as nasty and snarky as usually, at least not to the werewolf. Especially when it was his fault that Remus was this way now, his fault for not getting his friend away in time.

He wasn't too good with kids -- at least not with those he taught, they were just insufferable brats who ought to be locked up until they grew up and got some responsibility. But little kids were another thing. If they weren't afraid of him, and if they weren't too noisy or untidy, he usually could act civilly enough not to make the children's parents scream bloody murder and drag their little sweethearts away from him. And no matter what Remus had been like before, he was now nothing more than a child in an adult's body. The original Remus had been able to deal with Severus's occasional nasty remarks, but this new Remus would just start crying. And Severus wouldn't have that -- not even if keeping Remus happy meant giving bloody heart failures to every living thing in Hogwarts.

Just then, however, Pomona Sprout was stupid enough to whisper to Filius Flitwick, "It's such a sad thing that he has to be like that, and yet it only gave James and Lily a day more." Severus shot a sharp glare at her, effectively silencing her, but it was too late. Remus maybe didn't have sharp mind anymore, but he still had very sharp ears. And his reaction to hearing James's and Lily's names wasn't any different from what it had been a few days ago, when Sirius had said it.

Huge, salty tears started to roll down the werewolf's face. "Jamez and Lilly," he whispered with a sad tone. From what Severus had gathered, Remus didn't even remember the Potters, but he knew that his feeling of loss and sadness was somehow attached to those two names.

Rapidly thinking, the Potions Master tried to come up with a way to stop the werewolf's tears. Children had short attention spans, didn't they? At least that was what Severus thought, and he decided to try turning Remus's attention elsewhere.

"Remus," he said calmly, "do you see this table?" As the werewolf hesitantly nodded, sniffling with fresh tears, he drew a small vial from his pocket -- after all, he was a Potions Master -- and said, "And do you see this potion?" As Remus again nodded, he dropped a few drops of the potion to the table. In an instant the wooden table grew a bunch of magical flowers that were sparkling in every colour imaginable, spreading wonderful scent around them.

"Ohh!" breathed Remus in amazement, his sadness all forgotten. "Pwetty flowewz!"

"That's it, pretty flowers," said the Slytherin calmly. "And do you know what's even better? They're all for you!"

"Wemuz flowewz?" asked the werewolf disbelievingly. As Severus nodded and started to pick the flowers and hand them to Remus one by one, the werewolf hesitated for a moment. Then he whispered, "...Ta, Batty."

Once again, Severus raised his eyebrow. "You're welcome," he replied calmly. Then, noticing that practically everybody in the Hall was very eagerly watching them and listening to their conversation, he added with a voice loud enough to carry over the whole Great Hall, "Anybody else using that word to address me will be assigned a month's detention, be it in my hearing or not. Or a student or a teacher." The students and teachers alike all nodded in unison, not doubting a word of his.

Now having a very happy werewolf sitting on his side, Severus calmly continued eating, determinedly ignoring the continuous stares to both of their direction.