HP: The Stellar Witch [OFC]

If the injuries were just superficial, I would have been treated upon arrival. Clearly, he was waiting for me to wake up under the guise of an excuse.

"Does the Headmaster wish to tell us something?" she asked directly, disliking the probing and implications.

"Can you promise not to reveal Lupin's identity as a werewolf?" Dumbledore seemed unaccustomed to such straightforward questioning, but he still provided his answer.

Snape's eyes widened again. After nearly being bitten to death by a werewolf, his Headmaster had come here to ask him to keep their secret!

Lys even sat up once more. "The day after we were attacked! Headmaster..." She stared directly into Albus Dumbledore's eyes. "Headmaster, even if Severus and I are not good children, even if we may not become good people in the future, Headmaster, you... Do you think this is appropriate?"

"It's sudden, children. This matter must not be leaked at all. Otherwise, that child may not be able to continue his last two years at Hogwarts. I promise that in every full moon night from now on, an additional teacher will be assigned to watch over him."

Lys sneered and suddenly asked Snape, "Severus, did you see the two alchemical chains on my father when you visited my house?"

Snape didn't know why Lys suddenly brought this up, but he nodded nonetheless.

"My father is a werewolf," Madam Pomfrey suddenly gasped, but Lys didn't look at her. She continued to stare into Dumbledore's eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Even though his spine is said by St. Mungo's to never stand upright again, even though my mother and I stay by his side at all times, he still implanted those two magical chains—one into the bones of his calves, the other linking his upper and lower jaws—before he opened his shop in Diagon Alley."

"All to ensure the greatest protection for the people around him while blending into the crowd, because he had learned a profound... lesson."

Lys stopped talking about her father but didn't mention Lupin at all.

The unspoken words hung in the air, but Dumbledore understood them. She was criticizing his indulgence, his bias.

He thought Lys had finished speaking, but she hadn't.

Because of his silence.

"No one has the right to discriminate against my father because: he didn't fight for things that didn't belong to him; he did his utmost to protect those around him. So he can hold his head high under everyone's gaze, without resentment, without weakness, without begging."

"Now, has Lupin achieved that? Have you, Headmaster?"

"After all, Headmaster, last night Lupin was under the influence of enhancement potions. His state last night was far from that of an underage werewolf, and he exhibited behaviors of chasing concentrated magical energy."

The previous words might have had little effect, but this statement caused even Dumbledore's expression to freeze momentarily.

Actually, Lys knew she shouldn't provoke Dumbledore. After all, during the summer, she had just avoided some troubles under his protection.

But just like how Lupin had actively approached her father and the recent spying incidents on her, Lys understood that Dumbledore was observing her.

A certain degree of distance was necessary. After all, looking at it now, her personality and identity would rather align with the Dark Lord than play along with Dumbledore.

Because Dumbledore would never truly trust Lys, but the Dark Lord's cruelty was openly displayed.

Lys was merely good at fighting and a Slytherin. In the Order of the Phoenix, she would only be an untrusted frontline member, knowing nothing while being pushed to the forefront.

But the Dark Lord's side was different. There were too many bloodthirsty lunatics and ambitious individuals eager to flaunt their value. They wouldn't let someone like her, who was only good at fighting, steal their opportunities to play the game.

So she avoided it if possible. If unavoidable, it wouldn't be Dumbledore.

Lys increasingly felt that the Sorting Hat might not have placed her in Slytherin solely because of her pureblood status.

The hospital wing was eerily quiet, with only the sound of Gabo rustling on the bed, [agitated].

Lys grabbed Gabo's collar, carefully checked its condition, then pried open its mouth. "Your teeth aren't swollen. What's wrong, Gabo? Why are you so agitated? You didn't bite the werewolf and turn into a wolf-snake, did you?" Lys joked, though it wasn't particularly funny.

"Werewolf injuries don't affect animals." Snape was still resentful, but his voice no longer trembled. He adjusted his head back onto the pillow. "Headmaster, I won't bring this matter up proactively in the future. So I suppose some petty tricks should stop, shouldn't they?"

Lys shrugged, "They have never been a threat to me."

After receiving the promises from the two children, Dumbledore left for the Headmaster's office.

He needed to find out what was going on with the enhancement potion used on the full moon.

His protection shouldn't foster behavior that recklessly disregards the safety of others.

But this had nothing to do with Lys anymore. She had fully expressed her harmlessness and distance. The rest was the dispute between Snape, the Headmaster, and the Marauders.

She didn't believe that Snape or the Marauders could resist provoking each other when they met.

Nor did she believe that after this incident, Snape would still hold Dumbledore in such high regard.

So, apart from Snape nearly losing his life and becoming a werewolf, this incident had no other significance. After all, Potter was in his animal form at the time, and werewolf injuries don't affect animals.

The only victim of this accident was Snape. If Lupin wasn't aware of it, then Lupin could be added to the list.

But Lys believed Snape bore a tiny bit of responsibility too. He always eavesdropped, trying to catch someone's little tail.

This conversation didn't even offer any comfort. It was a smooth suppression. Lys guessed that if she weren't there, the still-dazed Snape would have been pressured by Dumbledore into agreeing to keep silent.

Although the result was the same—they had to keep silent—the responsibility didn't fall on Snape and Lys but on Lupin as a werewolf and Dumbledore for allowing a werewolf into the school.

She massaged Gabo's body, burying it under the blanket to let it sleep peacefully for a while.

Lys lay on the hospital bed, feeling like she was wasting time. After all, tonight she would have to take soul stabilizers again, and the unfinished tasks of this month would drag into the next.

But Gabo's act of lunging at the werewolf for her last night touched Lys deeply. She couldn't bear to disturb Gabo's rest.

Turning over, Lys lamented how her current life was far less simple than when she only cared about grades.

Meanwhile, she noticed Snape lying on the bed with a twisted expression.

Lys didn't know what to say to Snape. After all, he had almost been set up to be killed, and then was asked to thank his halfway repentant enemy.

She could only pretend not to see and enjoy the rare darkness of sleep she hadn't had for two months.

Ah, the darkness of sleep. How long it's been.

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