Not Fit For Man Nor Beast

The winter weather had taken a horrible turn for the worse. A very rare severe winter thunderstorm had broken out in the region of Hogsmeade. Robert had been in Hogsmeade to check on his pregnant daughter and had gone out to get more ingredients for a potion he wanted to make for her On the way back the thunderstorm grew horribly worse. Most villagers were running for cover, with the exception of a gang of dimwitted first year Hogwarts students, obviously freshly escaped from their ruthless headmaster and now looking for some mild evil to inflict upon someone to gratify their need for revenge. He had had his eye on them. They were about to make some foolish error or another, he felt, and he wasn't sure that he wasn't going to have to rescue them from the wrath of this so called evil mastermind named Majere.

Weather was unpredictable at the best of times. Dora knew better than to be out in them. What if she was to have a relapse out in a storm? That wouldn’t bode well for her and the last thing she wanted to do was to end up in St. Mungo’s. She was terrified of the place; Spinner’s End was where she’d heal – it always was and that certainly wasn’t going to change. Dora continued through Hogsmeade. She wanted to go back up towards the castle but at the same time she didn’t. The Thestral’s had taken shelter and it was her turn to take refuge somewhere. But unfortunately the weather was having a horrifying affect on her magic and it was something that she clearly wasn’t noticing. Dora stopped to pull her coat tighter around her and she saw a group of first years move over to her. She bit her lip and watched as the circled around her, laughing as they did so. Dora didn’t understand, what was going on?

“Nice face!” one of them taunted. Dora’s hand instinctively went up to her cheek and she felt the trench-like scratch marks in the shape of nails that had nearly destroyed her on the outside.
“Hey Scarface! Get some glamours and cover up your ugly face!” Another boy taunted. Dora bit her lip and looked down at the floor. She didn’t have to listen but she heard a spell being cast. It seemed the whole of Hogsmeade had to hear what they thought about her. The boy lifted his wand to his mouth and spoke into it. Dora cringed as his voice echoed across the village.
“Come along, one and all to see the freak show!”
“Please stop.” Dora sobbed as tears came streaming down her face. Did they not know how powerful werewolves were? Were they that naive?
“Just one knut to see the Hogwarts freak show! One Knut because that’s all it’s worth!”

Robert's anger raged. That was rare for it to rage that quickly, but this girl was in trouble. And he clearly understood why. Her face was scarred for some reason, and she was being made the butt of their jokes. Well not on Robert's watch.

He walked up to tthem very calmly, stone faced, and wanted, for once to let these young idiots know just who they were messing with. He made the very slightest flick of his wrist and it threw each one of them to the top of a different building, catching them on steeples, weathervanes, whatever pinnacle that each one could be stuck upon. Other witches and wizards started to run, horror striken by any wizard who could do that with such precious little effort.

Nonplussed, Robert went over to the young girl who was wide eyed and unable to speak. "Come with me," he said gently. "You're among friends now." He apparated with her to the kitchen of Khaat's Hogsmeade home. "I want them to wonder where you went," Robert explained. "I'm Robert. Robert Lupin. This is my daughter's home. As I said, you are among friends. Sit down. I'll get you some tea to warm up. Oh, and about that scar of yours, don't give it a second thought. We're healers here and we're used to things like that. From the looks of it, you're lucky you lived at all. Don't you let their remarks get to you. You're a beautiful young woman, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. They were just a bunch of young prats, that's all.

" Make yourself at home and take your coat off. I'll get you some tea to warm up with. You're soaked to the skin from that storm. We'll get you warmed up straight off. " He took his own dark cloak off, and hung it up. Then he disappeared into the kitchen for a moment.

No one seemed to want to help her but Dora could accept that. She’d just go home and not go back to Hogwarts; that was a lot easier than hearing the whispered words of the students in the halls. But as she gathered herself up see saw one of the boys fly away. Dora looked up in time to see him catch on one of the weathervanes and scream from the top of his lungs. She knew that it wasn’t her magic acting up. She’d kept a firm damper on her powers since her father disappeared; not willing to show off her whereabouts more than necessary and by making even the easiest spells seem difficult, Dora could achieve that.

She watched as an elderly wizard walked over to her and began to speak but none of it was really processing. She wasn’t among friends because she had none and now she was in a strange house with the man that had saved her from first years. That’s what hurt her most though. She could deal with an amount of pain for hours on end without relief and knew how to handle herself but she was being taunted by First Years who probably couldn’t even levitate a feather just yet. That made Dora feel a bit green but it wouldn’t be a problem much longer. She’d only go back to Hogwarts for the Thestral’s and even that would be to say good bye.

She nodded and took in some of the information. She was still in Hogsmeade which didn’t make much difference to her but she was in a Lupin house. She could remember reading about Remus Lupin in some text books but she had never heard about these Lupins. Dora gathered that Robert was probably Remus’s brother as they did look alike. Well, Robert looked like an elder version but if one looked they could definitely see the resemblance. It did make her smile a little. She knew that those who had known the late werewolf had been stricken with grief after his death in the late 1990’s. She was glad that the family were able to move along and accept his death, not quite let it go but accept it.

Dora slipped her coat off and hung it up on the hook. She needed to get her magic back in order because despite the man being adamant about her supposed beauty, she still saw the scars as ugly abominations. She pulled the sleeves of her jumper down and wrapped her arms around herself. She’d done it many times before just to try and keep herself together but now it was to try and retain some heat within her body. But then again, she’d never noticed whether she was hot or cold and the weather never bothered her. She’d probably been protecting herself in a war cocoon since she was six years old. Now, the weather was having a serious affect on that and she’d been pulled out of that protective layer and expected to fend for herself. It was like déjà vu almost, she had to do that with her father’s death – she had to learn to look after herself.

She walked to the kitchen and stood hesitantly in the doorway. She couldn’t see Robert right away so she decided to see if she could find the living room. It wasn’t too difficult to find and once she’d found the room she slipped inside and settled herself down on a settee. She was still very on edge but she looked a little bit more off-guard and her defences were being let down. Despite being the sky high reinforced walls that she’d surrounded herself with; they were coming down ever so slowly. Dora ran her hands through her curls. She didn’t know what to do; she’d never been caught out before. Although granted she’d never been around people during a thunder storm and if she was around something living then it would be the Thestral’s. Dora just wasn’t sure what the man expected of her. She wasn’t going to open up and spill every thought and feeling she’d ever had on the coffee table. She’d promised her father that they would stay a secret, that their very existence would even be recorded once she withered away into nothing. She’d promised discretion and this is where it had gotten her.

Dora took the blanket from Robert and did as she was told. She wrapped it around her shoulders and began to warm up a little more. She was grateful for the extra warmth but wasn’t sure she wanted to stay in the house for very long. She was thankful to the man but she didn’t want to stay. It was too awkward. Dora looked at the cats as they came up to her and bit her lip, wondering if they would smell the wolf on her. They could have done but didn’t seem to care as they sat down either side of her. Dora hesitantly began to run her fingers through the fur of the orange tabby and smiled a little when it began to purr.

She took the mug from Robert and smiled a little at him in thanks. She curled her long fingers around the mug and held it as if it were a precious gem. It was warming her hands through so it truly was precious to Dora. She took a sip from the mug and decided right away that she liked whatever he’d made and put in the tea. It wasn’t your normal cup of tea to say the least. “N-no.” She said finally. “It’s fine. I’m glad you did. I wouldn’t have stopped them. They would have gotten bored eventually.”

The door of the living room opened and Dora looked up to see Professor Lupin walk through the door. Dora bit her lip and looked down at the mug of tea. She didn’t want to answer and she didn’t plan to. If she could get her magic back on par then she’d Apparate out and back to Spinner’s End where she’d hide for the rest of her pitiful life. She just wanted to disappear.

Friends didn’t exist as far as Dora was concerned. Her problems were her own and she wasn’t ready to tell people about it. They were still as raw as they were ten years ago and still ate away at her like an unstoppable cancer. She listened to Khaat but didn’t really take much of it in. She had a father and a mother she didn’t lose both. She wasn’t thrown around by a werewolf like a chew toy and she wasn’t teased by her siblings about her scars. No, she had no idea what it felt like to be hurt. The hurt that had scarred Khaat didn’t run nearly as deep as Dora’s did. It hurt for Dora to breath and sometimes even staying alive while trying to fight off the grief was difficult. That was coupled with the memory relapses and it was a wonder that she was even alive and sitting in the living room of Khaat’s house. Dora looked up and met Robert’s eyes. She didn’t know what to think or what to say... what was there to say?

Dora bit her lip. She didn’t want to disappear entirely but it seemed that her attempt at blocking Robert out of her mind had been ripped down or completely ignored. He was indeed a very powerful wizard. He could read her like a book it seemed and her secrets weren’t hers anymore. She didn’t want to tell anyone or have anyone find out. She felt a little betrayed but didn’t press the matter. She knew there would be no arguing with the man so she took his hand. She didn’t want to have to explain why she didn’t want to go with him. She didn’t but she knew he wanted he trust him. She could try.