“I believe he is safe. He could not attack anyone!”
Evan's voice was not loud, but it was heard clearly by everyone in the silent office.
Everyone turned their heads and looked at Evan in surprise. He instantly became the focus of all the students and Professors in the school. Under everyone’s gaze, Evan walked through the crowd, and all the young wizards opened the way for him.
“Evan!” Harry shouted in surprise.
Evan nodded and went to stand beside him. His eyes looked across the faces of the crowd, and all their expressions were different.
Hearing what he said just now, most of the young wizards were both amazed and puzzled. They did not know why Evan would say so; and Snape, Lucius, and the Slytherin students were gloomy, and their faces were full of malice and disgust.
“I'm sure that everyone already knows…” Evan took a deep breath and said slowly. “This werewolf in front of you is Professor Lupin!”
His words came like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake, splashing a lot of water. There was a huge commotion in the crowd.
Since they've entered this office, everyone had an ominous hunch about this. And then when they heard the confusing discussion between Dumbledore, Fudge, Snape and Lucius, they all became almost sure of it. But it was one thing to guess, and a whole other thing to hear it clearly being confirmed by Evan.
Deep down in their young hearts, they just could not believe, nor would they believe, that the kind and friendly Professor Lupin could actually be an evil and cruel werewolf.
It took a moment until they gradually all went quiet.
Almost everyone held their breath and looked at Evan, waiting for him to carry on.
"And also, I'm sure that everyone knows that Hermione and I had just faced a werewolf in Hogsmeade that had attacked us." Evan's voice was steady, and he raised it gradually, "Perhaps now you think that Professor Lupin was going to attack everyone, but let me tell that Prof. Lupin is nothing like the werewolf that we've met. He's not dangerous, and he wasn't going to attack anyone this evening. He has been taking the Wolfsbane Potion a week ago, and that helps him keep enough soberness and reason when becoming a werewolf."
The young Wizards had just heard Dumbledore's dialogue with Snape and knew that Professor Lupin had taken the Wolfsbane potion. The vast majority of them didn't know about the effect of such a medicine, and they understood it well when hearing Evan’s explanation.
"The Wolfsbane potion can guarantee his safety. Although he is a horrifying werewolf now, his heart is indeed that of Professor Lupin whom we are familiar with. He cannot…"
“Wait a minute, Mr. Mason! As a Potioneer, I have a few words to say.” Snape squinted at Evan with a sneer at the corner of his mouth, and said, "I have to remind you that the Wolfsbane potion only allows the werewolves to be sensible, but it doesn't guarantee that they will not bite people! In fact, after taking the potion, a werewolf like the one before you may become more dangerous. Because he gets to keep his mind, he becomes more cunning and difficult to deal with than an average werewolf.”
"Thank you for the reminder, Professor Snape!" Evan turned and continued, "What you've said is absolutely correct, and there may be many people who, just like you, would think that Prof. Lupin is not trust worthy just because he's a werewolf! Yes, he is one indeed, but that is no reason to fear him and discriminate against him! Let's just think about it! Think about his usual behavior, and the way he treats everyone. Do you still think that he would hurt others??!"
Hearing Evan’s words, many of the young wizards bowed their heads and pondered.
They remembered how professor Lupin treated them. He was the best one that they've ever seen at the position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. His class has always been interesting. He patiently responded to all questions, and did his best to teach them how to face dark creatures, even with doctrines that are not found in common textbooks.
Remembering such a professor, almost everyone stopped believing that he might hurt them.
However, the buzzing of controversy continued. After all, although they've all remembered Professor Lupin's behavior, many of them were repulsed as they saw his horrifying werewolf form.
Evan understood what Lucius was going for, so he knew that he had to strike while the iron was hot and take immediate actions to prove that Professor Lupin is nothing like Greyback.
He wasn't dangerous, and he wasn't about to attack anyone.
So under everybody's eyes, he went on and reached out to touch professor Lupin.
He extended his right hand to him, and several girls screamed in the crowd.
All the young wizards looked at him nervously and held their breath as if he was to be killed by the horrible werewolf at any moment.
Lupin trembled softly and let Evan touch him.
Completely different from normal people's soft skin, a werewolf’s skin is unusually hard, and the long hair on it pricks the hand and is a bit difficult to grip, which makes people feel uncomfortable.
The strange feel at his fingertips and the terrifying wolf head in proximity of him made Evan feel a bit nervous. He felt the hot breath of the beast on his face. But his right hand was able to go beyond the horrifying looks of the werewolf to touch the heart of the man inside.
He could feel that Remus was even more nervous than him.
Then, without thinking about it, Evan opened his arms and tightly embraced Professor Lupin.
Hugged by Evan, Lupin’s body jerked.
Tears flowed out of his eyes. He never expected that Evan would do such a thing. For the 1st time in over 12 years, he felt this level of trust once again.
For a werewolf loitering on the edge of society, trust is probably the most precious thing in the world.
Suddenly he saw Sirius Black in Evan. At that time when his true identity was discovered by his friends for the first time at Hogwarts, he was equally nervous and terrified. He feared that the three of them would tell others, and he was afraid of being driven out of school.
Like Evan, Sirius Black hugged him at the time.
Faced by Evan's hug, Lupin did not know what to do. He was like a child. He saw Dumbledore, who stood not far away nodding smilingly at him, just as he did at that time, when he insisted on accepting him in the school.
Tears flowed down Lupin’s cheeks. He hesitated for a moment and tried to stretch his arms and embrace the thin boy in front of him. Twelve years after James and Peter Pettigrew died and Sirius Black was caught in Azkaban, he felt such warmth again.
Lupin knew that this was the warmth of trust.
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