[HP] The Order of the Phoenix Family

Neville knocked lightly on the office door, but when there was no answer, he encouraged himself and knocked again.When he heard the slight movement from inside, the boy's heart rose to his throat, but there was no sound of approaching footsteps, nor did the door open.

Professor Lupine must have fallen asleep, he thought, really shouldn't disturb the professor's sleep, Professor Lupine is always so tired.But thinking of his horrible crucible today, thinking of Professor Snape's criticism, the Slytherins' ridicule, and the yelling letter from his grandmother... Neville sobbed softly, covered his mouth hastily, and stood in the dark Looking around in the corridor, I am afraid that Professor McGonagall or Filch will suddenly appear.He knocked again, and under the tension and fear, the small sound that broke the silence almost made him jump up.But Neville knew that although the knock on the door was as loud as thunder here, the people sleeping in the back room probably couldn't hear it at all.

what to do?Neville turned his gaze once again to the deserted corridor, where in the darkness there were the mischievous stairs he always couldn't escape, the mischievous portraits and ghosts - especially Peeves!There is also the teacher of the night watch, Mrs. Norris, who is more silent and malicious than a ghost... Just thinking about going back to Gryffindor Tower makes Neville's legs go weak, and he doesn't know how he touched it. here.Then Neville suddenly shivered, covered his face with his sleeve and sniffed, stood on tiptoe and squinted to look at the sign on the door.That's right, that's right...Professor Lupine's office, oh my God, if he found out he was typing on Mr. Filch or Professor Snape, he would probably die of fright on the spot.

Then the boy took a shuddering breath, the urge to push him here was quickly being replaced by fear and regret, how could he think Professor Lupine would condone such behavior?He violated the school rules and left the dormitory in the middle of the night, and disturbed the professor's rest!Moreover, he heard that Snape was taking the fourth grade's Defense Against the Dark Arts class today, and that Professor Lupine was ill again, so he must need a good night's sleep more than usual.My God, Professor McGonagall had deducted fifty points from Gryffindor when he was found outside the tower in the middle of the night before last!If so, he'd be getting another Howler letter in no time!

He is finished, he is dead!Neville almost knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, not understanding why he was so useless and prone to making mistakes... His parents were both Aurors!He is the bravest and strongest man who sacrificed his reason for justice, why is he like this?He can't do anything except herbal medicine class. He obviously wants to be cautious, but he still makes all kinds of careless mistakes. Last time, he even let Black steal his password card and break into Gryffindor Tower!He deserved his expulsion, what if Harry and Ron were really hurt by that murderer?He's embarrassing his parents again, tarnishing the family's honor... Neville the Squib, Neville who let everyone down...

Only Professor Lupine recognized him.When Professor Snape scolded him in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Lupine chose him as a teaching assistant and asked him to destroy the Boggart - the most amazing thing is that he actually did it!No one has ever been able to make Neville do a good job when he thought he would screw up, and everyone just waited for him to screw up, and then took it for granted or cleaned up the mess in anger, Professor McGonagall or Hermione A non-committal attitude is already the best, and Professor Snape... don't think about Professor Snape, don't think about him finding Neville in his pajamas in the middle of the night, standing in the corridor, unable to tell himself doing what……

Neville trembled all over. Driven by fear, he stretched out his hand and pulled the doorknob. There was another terrible click, and the door was locked.The boy was almost paralyzed, all desperation welled up, how could he think that Professor Lupine liked him?After the first class, he didn't do very well in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupine is just too nice to praise him and patiently guide him with his homework out of sympathy. He does this to all students. If It's better for Neville only because Neville has done exceptionally poorly.And he almost killed Ron and Harry not long ago, Professor Lupine likes Harry very much, Harry always does a good job...

There seemed to be the sound of footsteps in the distance, and Neville jumped all over. Although he didn't see anything when he looked back, his heart didn't settle down at all.The footsteps still seemed to be approaching, but the blood was rushing in Neville's head, and he couldn't tell whether it was imagined or not.Whatever happened next, whether Professor Lupine forgave him or not, it was better to have Professor Lupine around than nothing.Neville suddenly had a burst of courage, pulled out his wand, pointed at the door lock, and said, "Alahoh hole is open!"

He must have used up all the good luck he had had all month - the door opened slightly.Neville squeezed through the gap without thinking, and immediately closed the door behind him. He moved so hastily that the slam of the door almost knocked his heart out of his throat.Why should Professor Lupine be woken up now? Neville swallowed, and tentatively said against the door: "Professor Lupine? I'm sorry, I'm Neville..."

The boy closed his eyes tightly, anticipating and fearing the moment when the light came on, but after a while, only his trembling breath remained in the office.Did Professor Lupine sleep particularly soundly?He opened his eyes, and in the dim light, Neville could vaguely see the layout of the room, and he had been here many times, so he was already quite familiar with it.There is a large desk by the window facing the door. On the left are bookcases, cages and water tanks for magical animals. The door on the right probably leads to the bedroom, which is usually closed...

Now the door seemed to be ajar, and Neville held his breath, pricked up his ears, and slowly, among the thousand small voices of the Hogwarts night, he discerned another breath in the room.Professor Lupine doesn't snore, but this breathing sound sounds weird, unlike the kind he heard from his roommates at night-is it because Professor Lupine is an adult?Neville walked forward curiously, and touched the door frame of the bedroom with his fingers, after all, he didn't dare to go any further to wake up the professor.When he arrived in the office and was not caught by Snape or Filch, he was more than half relieved. Maybe he didn't need to wake up Professor Lupine, and he could just make do with the night in the outer office.Once the tension subsided, he was really sleepy.

Neville carefully closed the bedroom door and approached the desk, thinking about where he could stay for the night.However, he suddenly discovered that after he closed the bedroom door, the other breathing sound not only did not disappear, but became louder and louder!It's as if... its source is simply under the table.

"Professor Lupine?"

He instinctively called out, hoping that the middle-aged man would come out of the bedroom quickly and explain what was under his desk.Neville secretly guessed that it was a new creature for class.Maybe Professor Lupine didn't lock it properly, causing it to escape from the cage.What could it be?Neville tried desperately to recall the rest of the lessons, which he had previewed... but he could only think of one thing, the one at the end of the textbook - the werewolf.When Professor Snape was a substitute for the first time, he was afraid of being reprimanded again. With Hermione's help, Neville quickly finished the homework, but Professor Lupine canceled the homework again.Neville also comforted himself and reviewed it a few times, thinking that when he learned that chapter, he might impress Professor Lupine.

Don't think about it, Neville warned himself, it's impossible for Professor Lupine to put a werewolf in his office, it's so dangerous, and he's still far away from learning that chapter.But even if it wasn't a werewolf, the class used wouldn't be a good thing. If he got hurt here, it wouldn't be Professor Lupine's fault. Who would have thought that there would be such a stupid student sneaking into the professor's office in the middle of the night...

The boy glanced back at the bedroom door, still silent, and the idea that Professor Lupine would not be at school at all tonight was growing stronger.Maybe it's because there are dangerous things in the office, so the professor went out for a while?Merlin, then this is really the stupidest thing Neville has ever done in his life...Professor Lupine even locked the door... If he saw Neville dead in his office tomorrow, he would even let this thing go ...

Neville was thinking about how to lock the door again, Hermione must have taught such a spell... The creature poked its head out between the legs of the table in the moonlight filtering through the window.In an instant, the blood in Neville's whole body froze, the contours of its snout, ears, and the shape of its pupils were clearly——

Neville gave a squeak as it turned towards him, and he sank to the ground, wondering if he had wet his pants.You can't be wrong, all the characteristics are exactly the same as those written in the book, he has memorized... It's a werewolf, Professor Lupine locked up a werewolf in his office!

Oh no oh no oh no oh no...he's going to die!And he opened the office door, what if the werewolf ran into the corridor after killing him?He might bite the teacher and Filch on the night watch, and even break into the student dormitory!It's all his fault!Blake was already watching outside, and he even let a werewolf out of the office!

No, wait!Neville was suddenly hit by a more terrifying thought.What if the werewolf wasn't imprisoned by Professor Lupine, but...for example, by Black?What about Professor Lupine?Could it have been bitten by it?Captured by Blake?Neville, finding courage from nowhere, stood up and pointed his wand at it.The boy's fingers squeezed the wand so hard that sparks came out, and the tip of the wand trembled. He blinked hard to see if there was blood around the werewolf's mouth, and he didn't seem to smell blood, but he couldn't trust his nose...

The werewolf slowly emerged, and the more features it revealed, the more convincing its identity.Neville glanced quietly at the office door, should he have yelled?Let the teachers deal with the wolf...but do they know about it?Will you be bitten by a werewolf unsuspectingly?He had to find a way to block it for a while, but how could he do it?It's hard to hit a werewolf, and the spells he knows probably won't work...

Neville braced his limp legs, Hermione was so sorry that he petrified him that time and taught him the spell.He could aim for a werewolf's eye, which, like most creatures, is the weakest part of a werewolf's body, so maybe he could...if he aimed well...

But meeting the gaze of the werewolf, Neville hesitated again.This time it wasn't because of fear, but because it looked...not crazy or bloodthirsty at all, but with a kind of human gaze, Neville could almost feel that it was as scared as himself.He wasn't used to trusting his own judgment, and kidnapping a werewolf into his office was an exaggeration.He has been standing here for several minutes, and the werewolf has not launched an attack. According to the textbook, this is impossible.

"...Is it a dog?" He muttered in a very low voice. He had never heard that Professor Lupine had a pet, but if it was a dog, it's really lucky that he was too scared to bark just now, otherwise he would have no face to go home Or back to Gryffindor Tower.It would be foolish to expect the creature in front of it to answer, but it stopped, and then actually shook its head.

"Then..." Neville swallowed, "...a werewolf?"

The creature nodded, and then, slowly, it retracted under the desk, gathering itself into the smallest possible pile and hiding in the table's shadow.Neville's wand was still raised, his arm was sore, and his mind was in a state of confusion.It just admitted to being a werewolf, but do werewolves usually admit it?Is this a Boggart?But his Boggart is Professor Snape... Werewolves can't avoid humans by themselves, they have no reason, only bloodthirsty instinct, unless...

"Is it... Wolfsbane potion?" Neville lay down and looked at the werewolf under the table, "Hermione told me that a few years ago someone invented a potion that could keep werewolves sane... Lupine Did the professor give you medicine?"

The werewolf snorted, not sure if it meant yes or no, but it still didn't attack Neville, so Neville mustered up his courage and reached out to touch the opponent's fur.Unexpectedly thick and warm, not too far from a particularly large dog, Neville never dared to approach large dogs, fearing that they would chase and bite him, even if Granny reprimanded him and said that smelling from him was afraid they would The reason for chasing him.Somehow, he had the guts to touch a disfigured werewolf tonight.

"Or are you actually a dog?" Neville slowly combed the hair on the opponent's back along the direction of the hair growth, "I don't remember exactly, your tail..." It was what he remembered the tail of a werewolf.When Neville instinctively stiffened, the tail wagged.

"Werewolf, are you really a werewolf...?" The wolf's head was basically on Neville's lap, so it replaced that tail with a vertical wag, like a nodding motion, "My God, I used to I've heard of werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, but I've never seen one..."

Neville suddenly remembered that if the creature in his arms would take human form at dawn, then he might have done something very rude.He honestly drank medicine and slept in Professor Lupin's room, but he recklessly barged in to wake others up, almost chanted evil spells, and even groped each other's body... Wait!Could this be a female werewolf?

When he was stiff and blushing, the werewolf arched his stomach with his head in confusion.Don't look, don't look below...!Neville raised his head, his hands were still a bit reluctant to part with those hairs, thinking that since the werewolf maintained human reason, he should reject his hand if he resented it, instead of... turning his chest over for him to scratch.It really looks like a big dog, Neville tried it for a while, and the werewolf lay down comfortably and relaxed, so he continued, still not convinced that he had met such a good-tempered werewolf.

"I'm sorry I disturbed your sleep." Neville whispered, "I'm here to see Professor Lupine, thinking... I think... I don't know, I just feel that seeing him makes me feel at ease. I'm so scared ...I must be the most timid and useless Gryffindor ever."

A hairy paw patted on his arm, did it mean to comfort him?

"Thank you." Neville pinched the sole of his foot and couldn't help laughing, "Do you like Professor Lupine? I really like Professor Lupine. If only he could be at Hogwarts. I heard Defense Against the Dark Arts is cursed, the professor can only teach it for one year, I really hope not this time...he looks very powerful, maybe he has found a way to break the curse."

His legs were a little numb, and he was getting more and more sleepy. Neville yawned deeply, moved towards the wall, pushed the chair away, and the werewolf crawled out from under the table.When Neville tried to lie down on the ground, the werewolf bit his sleeve and dragged him towards the bedroom door.

"I can't sleep in Professor Lupine's bed without his permission!" The boy wanted to pull back his sleeves. "Don't you sleep under the table too? No..."

The werewolf let go of his teeth before the fabric tore, and instead circled behind him and arched his legs, with such force that Neville couldn't help but staggered a few steps in that direction.

"Don't do this! I can't... Hey, do you really think that Professor Lupine won't be angry?" The wolf pushed his hand with his head, and Neville patted it, not thinking that this was also a lack of respect. "Actually, I I also think that Professor Lupine probably won't be angry, he seems to be very difficult to get angry, but..."

He hesitated and glanced at the bedroom door again, but there was no sign of another person, the soft bed beckoned him from behind the door.

The werewolf became impatient, and flicked its four paws around him and ran lightly towards the bedroom. As soon as Neville uttered a single syllable, it slapped on the light in the back room, pushed open the door and rushed in, and immediately there was a big dog jumping onto the bed that sound.Neville followed quickly, squinting his eyes under the light. The werewolf had already got into the bed and lay down, leaving half of the bed empty, looking at him expectantly.

"Is it really okay?" The thought of going back to Gryffindor Tower flashed by, but the temptation in front of him overcame the cold and dark corridor in an instant. fluff.The werewolf paused for a moment as if surprised, and then guided him to rest his head on his front legs, and put his feet on his back legs... It's so warm, with a slight smell of ink.

"You also smell a bit like Professor Lupine, are you friends?" Neville inserted his hands into the slightly stiffer hair on the other's back, like hugging a giant dog pillow, and he could feel many scars on the fur, " Although Professor Lupine is not here, it's great to meet you... If only he could teach Potions, I know it's my stupidity, but I didn't mean to fail Potions..."

Muttering, the boy fell asleep.In his furry and gentle dreamland, it was his parents who hugged him and told him the story of Babbitty the bunny and the croaking tree stump...

Dimly, Neville realized that it was dawn, and the people around him were quietly pulling out their arms from under his neck.Is he sick?Otherwise, grandma would never sleep with him, she thinks a man should sleep by himself... No, he was at Hogwarts, last night——

"Professor Lupine!" Neville shouted, opening his eyes with a snap.

The man trembled all over, his entire face was pale at first, and then turned crimson in embarrassment.Everything that happened in the middle of the night gradually returned to Neville's mind, and he slipped out of the tower - God, how dare he, but instead of finding Professor Lupine, he found a transformed werewolf.Professor Lupine avoided his gaze, pulled up the quilt to cover himself with panic that Neville had never seen before, Neville saw the light-colored scars on the man's body flashing in the morning light, and finally came to his senses: that werewolf is Professor Lupine, Professor Lupine is a werewolf.

Just as the werewolf was about to speak, Neville yelled first, "I won't tell!"

Professor Lupine was stunned, as if he hadn't expected him to say such a thing at all.

"I will never tell anyone that you are a werewolf, I swear!" Neville said desperately, "You are a good teacher, there will never be a better Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher than you, I will not let You were fired!"

It's not that he's not afraid of werewolves, of course Neville is, but this is Professor Lupine!He looked eagerly at Professor Lupine, hoping that he would believe that Neville respected him and would never do anything to hurt him.

"I see, thank you, Neville." Professor Lupine said in a calm tone, as if he was not completely relieved.

"I won't tell anyone, not even leak, I won't say a word to anybody! Not to my granny, not to Harry—" He swore so loudly that Lupine finally couldn't help it. stopped him.

"I trust you completely, Neville." The professor coughed softly, "But I want to say, can you give me some space?"

Yes, Professor Lupine was still naked, of course he couldn't get dressed in front of Neville.How embarrassing!Neville blushed a bit, apologized and fled out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.In order to vent his embarrassment, Neville walked around the office, looking at his pajamas awkwardly, he couldn't walk back to the tower like this.

The bedroom door opened a few minutes later, and Professor Lupine was clearly aware of his predicament: "Neville, I can send the elves to fetch some of your clothes, don't you think? They'll all be here the morning after the full moon night For breakfast."

Neville nodded again and again, he couldn't help noticing that the middle-aged man looked so haggard and weak, as if he was barely able to breathe.Blame him for disturbing Professor Lupine's sleep.

"It's like this after the transformation. The wolf will drain the strength of the whole body. I guess it's not written in this book." Seeing what he was thinking, Lupine said.

"Will it be painful, Professor?"

Lupine pondered for a moment, "Yes. But now that Professor Snape is making the wolfbane potion for me, it's much better than before."

"I thought you didn't have a good relationship." Neville blurted out, thinking that he had said so many bad things about Professor Snape yesterday, he felt embarrassed again.

"It's not very good, but Professor Snape has been faithfully performing his duties."

"Professor, I—"

"It's okay, you just slept with a big dog yesterday, nothing happened." Professor Lupine smiled slyly, just like when he was instructing him to deal with Boggarts, "It's like my little furry problem , this is also a secret between us, okay?"

Neville nodded vigorously. He believed in Professor Lupine, but he was still very worried about the state of the other party, and he was almost choking on a lot of questions he wanted to ask.

"Sir, I'm sorry for the offense—when did you...?"

"When I was very young." The man's smile disappeared, but he didn't mean to be angry. "Thanks to Dumbledore, I was able to come to Hogwarts as a school...and as a professor, of course. He was a wonderful man .”

"I feel so too!"

"You too, Neville." This sentence surprised Neville. "It was very dark here last night, but you immediately recognized me as a werewolf, and you knew that I drank the wolfsbane potion to keep my sanity. These are beyond The scope of the curriculum, I'm honestly amazed."

"That's all Hermione—"

"You've learned, that's how it works." Professor Lupine seemed to think about it, and let a hand rest on his shoulder, "You did a great job, there is only one thing, you should believe in yourself more. Some werewolves are very cunning, Will not attack for a while, luring people closer to them to ensure success. When you recognize a werewolf in front of you, you immediately treat it like a werewolf. It may be a bit embarrassing to treat a dog as a werewolf, but a werewolf As a dog, it is fatal."

"Okay," said Neville, not mentioning how glad he was that he somehow treated Professor Lupine like a dog last night, instead of rushing out and yelling around in fright.

"You can accomplish amazing things." Professor Lupine squatted down with great effort, looked him in the eyes and said, "It's okay to be afraid. It's no big deal if you can't be better than others for a while. Don't be ashamed of yourself. I once had a friend with You're like, kind of clumsy and lacking in confidence...but he's one of the bravest people I know now. I wish I'd encouraged him like that before, so he might have..."

"he……?"

"Passed," said Professor Lupine simply, staggering to his feet. "Fighted and lost the Death Eaters valiantly—I'm not encouraging you to. Don't carry it alone. Believe in you." friend."

"He's a hero," said Neville sincerely, grabbing Professor Lupine's hand. "He must be very happy to have you as his friend, sir."

"hope so."

They did not continue the subject, and Professor Lupine summoned the elf, who soon brought Neville's school robes and breakfast.Neville liked the lively Gryffindor table, but breakfast with Professor Lupine was better than that. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor explained his week's lessons in a way he could understand. They even joked with each other, Nawei Wei felt light all over his body, and nothing could scare him——

A very ill-tempered owl barged in, with a particularly large bundle strapped to its foot, and yelled at them both.As Neville dropped a coin into the leather bag, Lupine unwrapped it.

"It's my new cauldron!" said Neville happily. "I thought my grandma would definitely send me another Howler letter this time, but she didn't say anything!"

"So, Jing escaped unharmed?" Professor Lupine smiled, picked up his own cup, and touched his.

"Get away with it!" Neville excitedly took a swig, only to choke himself.

Not just getting away with it, the boy thought secretly, it was the best night and morning of his life.And next he will keep a secret for Professor Lupine!The thought made Neville feel like he had grown up a lot. He could screw up Potions ten thousand times, but never this one.

"Although I am very glad that you recognize my work, and I also like to have someone to accompany me on the night of wolf transformation, just in case, I will lock the office more tightly when I change shape in the future, and I will not be able to get in if I open it with the Alahoo hole. When sending Neville away, Professor Lupine warned, "From now on, try to come to me during the day, okay? It's not safe to run around in the castle in the middle of the night, and Black is still watching."

I don't know if it's an illusion, but when Black is mentioned, Professor Lupine's voice will always change subtly, but Neville didn't think too much about it, he still has to go back to the dormitory to get his schoolbag to catch the morning class, and the time is already very tight.The boy agreed with some embarrassment, apologized repeatedly for disturbing the professor's rest, and told him to take care of himself, then he carried his new cauldron and left the Defense Against the Dark Arts office briskly.

(End of the article)