Lupin did not look back. He knew that Harry, Evan, Hermione and other children must be looking at him.
All he could do was holding his tears.
Legend has it that the ferocious and terrifying werewolves can only get endless bleakness and inarticulate desolation.
Everyone looked at the lonely figure of Professor Lupin, and many of them cried.
Evan couldn't dare move as Hermione and Ginny were crying over his shoulders.
Although he knew that Professor Lupin should be fine, he was affected by the surrounding sad mood and he still felt sour.
Nobody knew who started it, but before they knew it, practically all the young wizards were whispering Professor Lupin’s name. As they were moving from the scene, they all had a feeling that it was the last time they would see him.
If he's proven to be guilty with the charge of attacking Ron, he would have to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.
“Professor!” Harry shouted miserably, and he rushed to grab Professor Lupin.
Remus stopped, his body shook slightly, but he still didn’t look back.
“Let go, Harry!” Evan walked over and said gently.
“No!” Harry whimpered, and he saw Dumbledore coming beside him.
“You've done a very good job, Harry!” said Dumbledore calmly, his gaze moving slowly across the faces of all the young wizards behind Harry, and his voice was extremely gratifying. “And you all, I’m very proud of the efforts of every one of you on this evening, and I think Remus also feels the same. Let me deal with the rest of this matter."
Harry shook his head stubbornly, and he was about to say something, but he stopped. It was professor Lupin. He turned around and hugged him again.
The two people stayed like that silently for a minute. No one spoke. Even Lucius and Snape did not urge them.
Then Lupin let Harry go and stood up.
Dumbledore walked past and patted his shoulder. They went out of the office together with Fudge, Lucius and Snape.
“Okay, Lupin’s matter is handed over to the Headmaster. It’s too late. Now you should go back to your respective Common rooms!” Professor McGonagall twiddled her nose and her eyes were red.
Next to her, Hagrid was crying loudly and Professor Flitwick wiped his tears off with his handkerchief.
Everyone left one after another. When they passed by Ron, they looked at him with deep contempt.
Even Percy, Fred, George and Ginny; they were no exceptions, especially Ginny. The young girl was weeping uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that Ron would accuse Professor Lupin.
Ron stood there quietly, unmoved.
Just then, unexpectedly, Harry suddenly approached him.
Just as everyone was guessing what he was intending to do, Harry took a hit at Ron's face punching him brutally.
Ron was brought to the ground, and the office became a mess.
Malfoy smiled with pride, staring at Harry and Ron maliciously. It was a wonderful day. He didn’t know what his father had plotted, but he looked down on the two guys he hated the most and watched them scuffle together. That was simply the best Christmas present he could ever get.
The only one missing was that Mud-Blood Mason.
“Potter, stop it!” Professor McGonagall shouted harshly, and went to separate them.
However, she did not need to do that. Harry did not beat Ron any more.
He just stood and looked at him with cold, terrible eyes!
“Give me a reason. Why?” Harry shouted to Ron. “Tell me, why?!”
Ron didn’t answer Harry. He didn’t say a word. He stood up, keeping his head down and not looking at anyone.
Hermione looked at him with tears in her eyes and her face was full of worry.
The image she was looking at felt awfully familiar. She also thought of what happened in the Common room last year when Ron was up to attack Evan. It felt exactly the same as now.
Ron is too abnormal. Maybe he's not…
“Evan, I got it…” Hermione hurried to Evan and said breathlessly.
“Don’t say it here!” Evan hurriedly reached out to cover Hermione’s mouth. He knew what she was going to say.
She must have found out the fact that Ron was under control. But exposing things now, although it might rescue Professor Lupin, it could also scare Peter Pettigrew away. And if this were the case, there would be no way to help Sirius Black clear his name.
Evan also was thinking that Dumbledore should have concerns in that regard, although he couldn't think of a way for him to know about Black and Peter.
But anyway, now is not the time to panic. He has just found out that Peter was not in this office, and that the cunning guy didn't take part in this evening's events.
Although Peter was not there, Evan still had to be careful facing the controlled Ron.
He peaked at him rapidly, and it didn't seem that he was concerned, nor was he looking at him and Hermione. Evan felt a little relieved. If they accidentally get exposed, Peter Pettigrew would run away. Before doing anything, he had to see what Dumbledore had arranged.
“Evan?!” Hermione blushed and removed Evan’s right hand from her face.
Looking at her, Evan was also a bit embarrassed. He was anxious as what he just did seemed a bit bold.
He gulped as he intended to withdraw his hand, but before he knew, feeling her tension, he moved without thinking. His hand fell from near her mouth just to hold her cold hand naturally. She struggled for bit, as her hand was held tightly by Evan. Her face blushed even more.
Hermione's thoughts drifted further and further, and she began thinking again about the question she had after seeing Cho Chang…
She had no time to check if Ron was really being controlled. Actually, no one but herseemed to realize that he was just too abnormal.
Actually, no one was blaming Harry for what he did to him. They all thought that he had the right to be so angry.
Not even Fred and George did. They walked over and patted Harry’s shoulders, not looking at Ron, as if he had never been their brother.
No one understood what had happened to Ron, nor did they understand what difficulties he had.
No one thought about these things. As Ron said just a while before, they only believed in their own eyes. They saw that Ron had betrayed Professor Lupin, sold out Gryffindor and betrayed Hogwarts. Even Slytherin students looked down on him.
“Okay, Potter!” Professor McGonagall came over and stood between Harry and Ron. “I know you’re sad, but this can’t solve anything! You should trust Dumbledore, and Remus will be fine.”
Like everyone else, she did not look at Ron, as if he did not exist.
“I know, Professor!” Harry wiped his tears off and said, “I believe in the Headmaster!”
"We all believe in him. Dumbledore has never let anyone down." Professor McGonagall sighed and said slowly. "There were so many things happening tonight. Do you and Weasley need to go to the school hospital?"
“I’m fine; I'm not going to the hospital!” Harry shook his head. He didn’t feel anything wrong except for anger.
“Me too!” Ron whispered, as if he were a wooden man. He had no response to Harry’s punch.
“Well then, hurry to go back to sleep!” Professor McGonagall turned and looked at Evan and Hermione. “Mason, Granger, you need to go to the school hospital for treatment. I promised Poppy to get you back there.”
“Wait a minute, Professor!” said Evan. “I want to go to Professor Dumbledore’s office. He seems to have something to say to me. Can you lead me through?”
“If there is anything, you can say it tomorrow, what you need now is bed rest.” Professor McGonagall frowned. She saw Evan looking at her as if begging and she puffed. “Well, I will take you, but you’d better hurry up. We can’t linger too long.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ T/N: Hey there this is Translating_Wizard. I wish you like the story so far and are happy with the releases, I just posted the chap 185 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me and reading more chaps hit the button below ^^ Liked it? Take a second to support TranslatinOtaku on Patreon!