When Albus Dumbledore tells Madam Pomfrey that
Hogwarts
is expecting a most unusual student next term, she is amazed to find
that
this is to be a young werewolf, Remus Lupin. This is Poppy’s
story.
______________
Prologue -
Memories.
My quarters here at Hogwarts are very pleasant, but I wanted to
redecorate
my sitting room. Which meant sorting out the bookshelves and going
through
the boxes stored under the window seat. A wet Tuesday morning, no
patients
in the hospital wing – a good time to begin. I pulled out the
first
box and opened the lid.
I’d only dealt with a few papers when I came across the books and
letters.
The items were carefully tied together with a length of green
string.
On top, a bundle of letters in a flowing, gracious hand, evidence
of
a friendship which had grown largely by means of owl post. A
friendship
cut short all too soon through Gwen’s untimely death.
Immediately beneath them was a slim blue notebook with its
contents
neatly indexed and a note inside the front cover: "Madam
Pomfrey
– I hope this may be of some use to you. Gwen Lupin."
The bottom item was a larger green volume, my own writing this
time.
I flicked through it. Seven years’ worth of notes and
descriptions,
medical details, library references, sketches, extracts from
papers.
I’d been so ignorant when it all began, so I’d recorded
everything.
And then I had kept it up as a sort of diary: my unwritten
textbook
with all the things I’d discovered, things that healers should
know.
Below this bundle I found the calendar. I remembered it well – a
really
beautiful one, full of pictures of famous apothecary and herb
gardens
in Britain. The colours were still bright, the flowers and plants
moving
gently to an unseen breeze. I lifted the first page and the card
fell
out.
A simple little card with a hand-drawn wreath of holly. I opened
it
and read the message, the writing very neat and tidy, yet in a
still-childish
hand.
"To dear Madam Pomfrey. Thank you very much for everything. I
hope
you have a very happy Christmas. Remus Lupin."
Remus Lupin. Ah, Remus …