Entering my third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I heard the worst news on the first day of the new term. Sirius Black, a murderer who had escaped from Azkaban Prison, was apparently after me. Worse, he was the one who had killed my parents.
During nights when I couldn't sleep from fear, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher appeared. His name was Remus Lupin. An older man in worn-out robes with a tired face. But his classes were more interesting than any I'd ever t
Forbidden Love - Night in the Forbidden Forest — Ancient Documents and the Crescent Moon Birthmark
The September night already carried the scent of autumn.
Only the footsteps of Fianna MacGregor echoed off the stone walls as she walked the corridors of Hogwarts Castle. In the inner pocket of her robes was a single folded piece of parchment. It was a copy she had secretly made from the Restricted Section during the day—a transcription of an ancient text about the werewolf curse.
(Before anyone finds me.)
She passed by the portrait of the Fat Lady and continued deeper into the castle. At this hour, most students had already returned to their dormitories. She only needed to avoid the prefects on patrol.
When she reached the library, she pushed open the heavy door.
Inside, all was silent. Rows of bookshelves stretching to the high ceiling floated pale blue in the moonlight. The candles had been extinguished. Madam Pince was gone as well.
Fianna headed straight for the Restricted Section.
(That book, one more time.)
During the day, she had found an ancient text here. *Lineage of the Cursed—Werewolves and Their Transformation*. The cover was dark-stained leather, the page edges tattered. A book no one had read in a long time. But its contents had seized her heart.
She pulled out the book and sat at a small desk by the window.
Moonlight fell upon the open pages.
*"On the night of the full moon, the werewolf loses all reason. The memories of being human, the face of the one they loved—all are swallowed by the beast's impulses. The transformation is accompanied by intense pain: bones break, skin splits, and the entire body is remade into that of a wolf."*
Fianna traced the words with her fingertip.
(Bones, breaking.)
A certain wrist surfaced in her mind. Old scars. Marks that looked like something had bitten deep. A tired face. Worn robes.
—Professor Lupin.
(Every full moon, he goes through this.)
Something tightened deep in her chest.
*"If one takes the Wolfsbane Potion, they can retain their reason during the transformation. However, its brewing is extremely difficult, and the ingredients are costly. Moreover, this potion does not cure the curse. It merely preserves reason temporarily—nothing more than a symptomatic treatment."*
*"Werewolves are fiercely discriminated against by society. Employment is nearly impossible; they are driven from their homes and disowned by their families. Many live in solitude and die in solitude."*
Fianna read that passage over and over.
Live in solitude, die in solitude.
(Just like me.)
She placed her hand on her left collarbone. A crescent-shaped birthmark. Right beside her grandmother's locket pendant.
(I've always been alone, too.)
An orphanage in the northern Scottish Highlands. She lost her parents at three, and for fifteen years after that, she had lived without opening her heart to anyone. No friends. No family. Even after coming to Hogwarts, she had always been alone.
(But, Professor—)
The warm hand that had touched her cheek on the train. The back that had stood before the Boggart. The small note that read, "Did you sleep well?"
(He touched me.)
(He cared about me.)
It was the first time. That someone had acknowledged her existence.
Fianna took out the parchment and copied the important sections of the ancient text. The full moon transformation. The Wolfsbane Potion. The history of discrimination. And the werewolf's solitude.
(If Professor really is a werewolf—)
(I want to know.)
(What he has been carrying all this time.)
She tucked the copy into the inner pocket of her robes and quietly left the library.
The next day.
The sky after class was covered in thick clouds. The wind was cold. It smelled of autumn.
Fianna went outside the castle alone.
(Today, I'll gather herbs.)
For her Herbology assignment, she needed to collect a plant called Moondew. It grew wild near the entrance to the Forbidden Forest. There was no danger. She was still outside the forest's boundary.
With a basket in hand, she walked toward the west side of the castle.
The Forbidden Forest was dim even in daylight. Centuries-old oaks and beeches grew thick, and the depths sank into deep darkness. The black shadows of Dementors drifted slowly along the forest's edge.
(Disgusting.)
Keeping her distance from the Dementors, Fianna searched for Moondew. Small flowers that glowed silver. When they absorbed the night dew, they shone faintly blue.
After walking for a while, she found a cluster of Moondew growing in the bushes near the forest entrance.
She knelt and began carefully picking the flowers.
That was when it happened.
"—What are you doing?"
A low, calm voice.
Fianna looked up.
Professor Lupin was standing there.
Old robes. Dull brown hair. Amber eyes. In his hand, a small leather pouch.
"...I'm gathering Moondew."
Fianna answered with her eyes downcast. Her heart beat a little faster.
"Ah, for your Herbology assignment."
Professor Lupin looked at her hands and smiled.
"You're choosing good ones. Moondew is most potent when it's full of night dew. Pick the ones whose stem base glows pale blue."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. I came to gather some herbs myself. Ones for class, and also—"
Professor Lupin started to say something, then closed his mouth.
(And also?)
Fianna looked at the pouch in his hand. Unfamiliar leaves peeked out from inside.
(That's—could it be—)
She recalled the description from the ancient text she had read yesterday.
—The ingredients for the Wolfsbane Potion require moonflower, laurel root, and tuberose to neutralize the werewolf's venom.
(Tuberose.)
The leaves peeking from the professor's pouch looked exactly like tuberose.
(Just as I thought.)
Fianna's heart pounded.
"Were you gathering herbs too, Professor?"
"Yes. Well, just a little."
Professor Lupin smiled with a slightly troubled expression.
"...May I help?"
The words came out so naturally that Fianna surprised even herself.
Professor Lupin gazed at her for a moment.
"...Thank you. But I'm fine on my own. You should finish your own assignment."
"I've already finished it."
"I see. That was quick."
"Besides, it'll be faster if we search together."
Fianna looked straight into the professor's eyes.
Professor Lupin was silent for a moment.
"...All right. Then I'll take you up on that, just a little."
He said that and smiled.
The two of them walked side by side along the forest's boundary.
The sun was beginning to set. The western sky was stained orange and purple. The wind shook the trees, and the rustling of leaves echoed like waves.
"Tuberose grows around here. We won't go deep into the forest. It's just outside the boundary, so it's safe."
"...Tuberose?"
Fianna asked, feigning calm.
"Yes. It's a type of herb. It only blooms at night. Its silver petals gather the moonlight."
"What kind of potion is it used for?"
Professor Lupin's steps halted for just a moment.
"...Various things. It has sedative properties, and it's used especially to ease a certain kind of... symptom."
He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
(A certain kind of symptom.)
Within Fianna's heart, conviction solidified.
(It's an ingredient for the Wolfsbane Potion.)
(Professor really is—)
But she did not say it aloud.
"This area is dangerous at night. There are Dementors, and monsters sometimes wander out from deep in the forest. You shouldn't come here alone at this hour either."
"You're here alone yourself, Professor."
When Fianna said that, Professor Lupin gave a wry smile.
"Ha. Well, I'm a teacher."
"Even teachers can be in danger."
"...You really are a sensible girl."
Professor Lupin looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.
"Do you think so?"
"Yes. More composed than any of your classmates. But that's exactly why I worry."
"...You worry?"
"You're always alone. In class, during breaks, in the Great Hall. You always keep your distance from everyone. It's as if you've shut the world out yourself."
Fianna felt her breath stop.
(That's how he saw me.)
"...I just prefer being alone."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"...Your eyes don't say that."
Professor Lupin's voice was very gentle.
Fianna could no longer say anything.
The wind blew. A cold wind. The trees rustled, and fallen leaves danced.
"...How can you tell, Professor?"
Fianna asked in a small voice.
Professor Lupin walked in silence for a while.
"...Because I've always been alone, too."
His voice was quiet.
"Since I was a child, always. No friends, no family, nothing. Carrying everything alone, living alone."
"...You, Professor?"
"Yes. That's why I can tell. The eyes of someone who's used to being alone. Your eyes have the same color as the eyes I used to see in the mirror."
Something deep in Fianna's chest grew warm.
(The same color.)
"...Why were you alone, Professor?"
Professor Lupin looked up at the sky.
"...I have a secret I can't tell anyone. Because of it, I couldn't let people close. Because if they got close, I would hurt them."
"Hurt them?"
"...I've hurt people before. I couldn't stop myself. I've put people I cared about in danger."
Professor Lupin's voice was trembling.
"That's why I keep my distance from people. If I don't get close, I can't hurt anyone. That's what I believed, and that's how I've lived."
Fianna gazed at his profile.
(He thinks of himself as a monster.)
(As a werewolf, he fears hurting people more than anything.)
"...Even so, you touched me."
"What?"
"On the train. When the Dementor got me, you touched my cheek and called my name. And during the Boggart, you protected me. You gave me a note, too."
Fianna's voice was trembling slightly.
"You said you keep your distance, but you came close to me. Why?"
Professor Lupin stopped walking.
"...That's—"
"Why me?"
"...Because you reminded me of myself."
Professor Lupin looked at Fianna. His amber eyes reflected the twilight, shining gold.
"When I saw you on the train, I thought—ah, this child is alone too. Unable to rely on anyone, unable to open her heart to anyone, and yet standing there desperately. When I saw you like that, I couldn't leave you alone."
"...Is that all?"
"That's all. I just did what any teacher should."
"No one has ever done what any teacher should for me."
At Fianna's words, Professor Lupin fell silent.
"...You're the first, Professor. The first adult who called my name, who cared about me, who touched me."
Her eyes grew hot.
"That's why I want to know. About you, Professor. What you're hiding, what you're afraid of. All of it."
Fianna took the folded parchment from the inner pocket of her robes.
The copy of the ancient text.
Professor Lupin's expression changed.
"...That is—"
"It's an ancient text about werewolves. I found it in the Restricted Section yesterday. The full moon transformation. The Wolfsbane Potion. The discrimination from society. It was all written there."
Fianna held out the copy to him.
"You're a werewolf, aren't you, Professor?"
Professor Lupin's hand took the copy. That hand was trembling.
"...Why would you do this?"
His voice was low and dry.
"Because I wanted to know about you."
"Why me?"
"...Because I'm the same."
"The same?"
Fianna shifted the collar of her robes slightly.
Below her left collarbone.
A small birthmark shaped like a crescent moon.
The moonlight illuminated that mark.
"I don't know what this birthmark is. But this mark, and my solitude, drew me to you. Because your solitude and mine must be the same color."
Professor Lupin stared at the mark.
"...Don't come near me."
His voice was strained.
"I'm someone who shouldn't be near you. I'll hurt you. Someday, without fail. You should stay away from me."
"I refuse."
"Fianna."
"I don't want to leave your side, Professor."
Fianna looked straight at him.
"Even if you're a werewolf, it doesn't matter. Whatever you're afraid of, I want to be by your side. Even if you try to push me away, I won't run."
"...You don't understand anything."
"I do understand. On th
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