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┄┄ .•* 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒 *•. ┄┄

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬

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It was Saturday night and the five Slytherins were sitting in the common room. Bas and Evan were in the middle of a Wizarding Chess game (Evan clearly winning). Barty had his head on Evan's shoulder, his legs propped up over the arm of the couch, and he was sleeping with his mouth open and snoring softly. Regulus and Annora were sitting on the opposite couch—the former reading a book and the latter flipping through a magazine.

The rest of the common room was quiet, most people trying to finish their last-minute homework before Monday lessons or already retired for the evening. Then, Annora darted her gaze up, as she heard grumbling, seeing Severus Snape grumbling as left the boys' dorms. Frowning in curiosity, Annora stood up, catching the attention of her friends, and intercepted Snape before he could leave the common room.

"Hiya, Sev," she greeted him and he scowled.

It wasn't a rare sight seeing Severus scowling at Annora. Annora remembered that for the first month of her first year, he hadn't spoken a word to her, and all because she told Petunia he was in love with Lily. It wasn't as if Annora minded much, they haven't always been friends. They got along more because of Lily's sake than anything else, but Annora didn't hate him, so she was pleased when he started to grunt again as a greeting to her Hellos.

"I don't have the patience today, Annora," he said and made to pass by her. Annora didn't budge.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" she questioned, tilting her head.

"Lupin's sick," he said, and while gesturing to his prefect badge, glinting in his robes, he added, "I have to cover for his rounds."

"Out of the kindness of your cold heart?" Annora gasped in surprise and Snape glared at her as her friends snickered. "I'm only jesting, Sev. Your heart is only room temperature."

Snape growled and stepped aside then headed out of the common room, making Annora chuckle as she got back to her friends.

"He's going to snap one of these days," Evan muttered, and in his sleep Barty muttered something that sounded like "Snape Snap. . . ."

"He's just so easy to rile up," Annora said with a grin. "Especially since he's technically my neighbor."

"What was wrong with him, anyway?" Regulus asked and Annora turned thoughtfully.

"Remus Lupin is sick," she said and the boys rolled their eyes.

"That guy could really use a better immunity system," Evan muttered and Bas snorted.

"Yeah. . . ."

Since her second year, Annora had started to notice Remus Lupin. Mainly because he often studied with Lily in the library and that subsequently led to them studying together. She remembered the first time she'd officially met the boy; she had burst into the library, panting with a notebook and pencil case in hand.

As soon as she had spotted her friend's auburn hair, Annora grinned. "Lils, I need help this year, " Annora said walking over to the library table where her friend sat, along with the sandy-haired boy.

"With what?"

"Studying," Annora had said with a grimace as she took a seat, successfully snapping the boy's attention to her. "I'm Annora Hale, by the way. And I'm guessing you're one of those Gryffindors. Loony?"

"Lupin. Remus Lupin," the boy said with a snort as Lily snickered and Annora opened her mouth in realization.

"Well, close enough," she said with a shrug. "Besides Lupin is just as a great name as Loony."

"I guess," Remus had shrugged.

"You were saying. . . ." Lily started looking at Annora.

"I need help, " Annora moaned. "I barely passed Herbology and History last year. The only subjects I could actually pass well were Transfig, Charms, and DADA. And I was in my first year!"

"Calm down, Nora," Lily said looking amused. "It's only the second week back. But you could've come to me in the summer. So why now?"

"Oh, you're smart," Annora grumbled. "Fine! I have last-minute homework that I desperately need you to do!"

"I'm not doing anything for you," Lily scoffed.

"Did I say do? I meant help!"

"Or you could just use Lily's assignment from last year," Lupin had pointed out, making Annora look at him like a pirate looks at their treasure.

"You're moon sent, Lupin," she had said with a huge grin, and only now, nearly two years later, as she sat in the common room with her friends did she place the look he gave her: fear, anxiety.

"Moon sent?" Lily had asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Annors shrugged. "It's near heaven but far enough that people can do bad things for good reasons. Like him implying I go look through your trunk and find your assignment!" Annora exclaimed jumping up from her place.

"Nora, you can't even get in—"

Before Lily could finish, however, Annora had sent a thumbs up to Lupin before darting off the library and finding herself standing in front of Florence.

"Hey, Flore, " she waved.

"Hello, Annora!"

"Would you happen to know the location of the Gryffindor Tower and its password?"

"Uhm, its entrance is the Fat Lady's portrait but I dunno about the password."

"Oh, man!" Annora grumbled. "Fine, I'll do the work on my own. Thanks, Flore."

"We need to find the other House's common rooms," Annora had announced as she entered the boys' dorm room, where they all were.

"Duh, " Barty mumbled.

"We just don't know the passwords and the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor location, " Rabastan pointed out.

"So basically nothing unless a mount of barrels, " Evan said.

"Actually, Flore told me where the Gryffindor common room was. We just need the password and find the Ravenclaw towed or the way to get it, " Annora had announced.

That was the day, Annora and the boys began hunting for common rooms, and the day Remus Lupin's name weirdly reminded her of her father.

His unusual name, like many in that school. But his name was different, firstly his last name was obviously descended from the word Lupus, which in Latin meant wolf. Annora was sure of this, having spent her childhood learning the basis of the dead language in order to understand the spells used by wizards—her mother had insisted, seeing as she also had Latin classes in Ilvermorny and they really had come in handy. Secondly, Remus was a name that belonged to Roman mythology. The reason her father had come into her mind. She remembered her dad talking about it, creating a children's story around the tale of Romulus and Remus when she was little to lull her to sleep. The two of them had been raised by wolves.

And now, Annora was connecting the dots: the boy's name, the way James and his friends called him Moony, and the fact that Remus Lupin was often sick and his face was full of scars. Annora was sure he was a werewolf, she just needed to confirm it.

So, making up an excuse, she slipped out of the common room, her eyes gleaming as she saw the full moon outside and she started walking through the halls of the castle until she reached the doors of the library. Pressing her hand to the door, Annora scrunched up her face in concentration, taking a couple of minutes to put down the wards in place—which weren't all that strong, to begin with. Knowing that the librarian, Madam Pince, usually closed the door with a key, on top of the wards, Annora tugged a bobby pin from her head and kneeled down in front of the door.

"Come on, work," she mumbled to herself as she slipped it in the keyhole, twisting it around until she heard a click, making her smile proudly.

Passing through the door of the library, Annora shut it behind her and made her way to the place she knew she would be able to find books on Werewolves. She let her fingers trail through the covers and she stopped on one title in specific:

Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don't Deserve to Live

If it wasn't for the gruesome and appalling title, Annora would've snorted. After all, the first word was Lupine. Seriously? What were Lupin's parents expecting when they named him Wolfy McWerewolf? A normal child?

Annora took the book from the shelf, and using a spare inkpot and quill that was laying on the nearest table, opened the first page of the book, and wrote in big letters:

BULLSHIT!

Smiling happily at the sight of it and flipping through the book, crossing out big chunks of appalling information, she closed it and put it back on the shelf. She moved her eyes to the side and finally found the book she was looking for:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

She read through the chapter on werewolves. Every symptom was there. Annora just had to confront his friends (because she was sure they knew), make sure they didn't know her intentions, and manage for them to slip up slightly so she could get her confirmations and for them to still remain oblivious to the fact she knew. Easy, right?

Obliviously to her, Sirius Black was frowning at the map in his hands as he saw her entering the library. He was supposed to be on the watch out for Remus but seeing the name Annora Hale walking through the corridors at late hours at night spiked his curiosity. Though it was quickly replaced by mild disappointment seeing her sneaking into the library. But then again he was curious. What was she even doing there?

***

"She called me out," Sirius grumbled as he and his friends walked down the corridor in direction of their morning class, Charms. "She told me I don't even talk to my own brother."

"I know," James said between gritted teeth, sharing an exasperated look with Peter (who looked about to bang his head on the wall). "You've told us."

"You've been telling us for the past couple of weeks, in fact," Peter said with a nod and Sirius rolled his eyes at them.

"Well, she doesn't even have anything to do with it—"

"—she can bloody well mind her own business," James and Peter joined in as Sirius finished his sentence, making the latter glare at them.

"We've heard," James said. "So, can we please move on from Nora and talk about the tryouts? She's not even here and she's nagging me through you. So, tryouts! They're next weekend."

"You're holding tryouts?" Peter frowned and James nodded, puffing out his chest.

"Well, I'm the new captain and I want to prove I'm going to be great," he said smugly. "Besides we're missing a chaser and a seeker."

Turning his head to the side, James's face lit up as he saw Lily, coming from around the corner, along with her friends, as they, too, headed to Charms.

"Oi, Evans!" he called out and he saw she closed her eyes—Sirius was sure she had closed them in desperation but saw James's face and knew the latter truly thought Evans had closed her eyes in delight at hearing his voice. Lily ignored Prongs, pushing a laughing Marlene along with her, Dorcas, and Alice following after. "She's totally into me."

"Right," Sirius scoffed patting him on the arm. "And I'm not handsome," he said sarcastically.

"Finally," a voice said from behind them making all three turn around. "You've finally admitted it to yourself."

James burst out laughing as Peter snickered. Sirius scowled. Annora Hale was standing in front of them, Evan Rosier by her side, and Barty Crouch Jr. too. The latter two looked rather bored at the sight of the Gryffindors.

"Though, I would've liked to be the one to tell you that," Annora said in afterthought. "Hi, Jamie," she said with a smile.

"I had detention with your mother yesterday, Nora," James told her with a grin, "it was bloody awesome. She taught me all these love poems from this Shaker guy. I have new material for Lily!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend, though he nearly involuntarily smiled when he saw Annora chuckle—he glared at the floor instead.

"It's Shakespeare, JP."

James shrugged.

"Where's your other quarter?" Annora asked, innocently peering around them to see if she could find him—knowing damn well he was in the hospital wing, getting better from the full moon. Evan and Barty send her curious looks, the latter smirking at her—please. As if Annora would like someone who studied with Lily for fun.

Peter paled slightly, yet Sirius and James puffed out their chests. "He's not feeling well," James said confidently.

"Sore throat?" Annora asked, tilting her head and she heard Sirius snort.

"You could say that," he said and she nodded.

"Well, my mother always tells me," she began, "after a sore throat, the rashes come, and you don't want him to scratch himself."

At the sight of their shoulders stiffening, Annora had to fight off her victorious smile. "Anyway, we've to go to Herbology. So long!"

With that she grabbed Evan's and Barty's arms and steered them away from the three Gryffindors, leading the way to the greenhouses.

"What the fuck was that, Annie?" Barty blurted out and Annora waved him off with a laugh.

"I have no idea," she said, lying through her teeth, "just started spewing out stuff to mess with them."

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