Info Digging (Remus) - COMPLETE

[talls]

Sitting in the library was not one of Ferret's favorite past times. Studying wasn't either. And Defense Against the Dark Arts was defiantly not one she was thriving in. She had posted a tutor request in the common room.

And she had gotten a reply. Remus Lupin, one of the smartest people in her year.

Thank god!

Sitting at the table, she thumbed through the pages of her book. She had gotten to the library early to thumb through her notes. She didn't want to see too dumb.

And there was another reason that she was glad it was Remus. Remus was friends with both Potter and Black and had been for years. He would know if there was veela or incubi in their family line. There had to be a reason that after her...encounter with Potter had lead her being attracted to Black and her best guy friend.

He was the answer to all.

[remuslupin]

Remus strode through the corridor towards the Library feeling on top of the world. James was finally having some kind of success with Lily (honestly, Remus had tuned out after the first hour of school-girlish gushing), his fellow Marauders had finally achieved the Animagus transformation and it was still several weeks yet to the next full moon. And now he was headed towards a tutoring session with one of his favourite fellow non-Marauding Gryffindors to teach one of his favourite subjects.

He spotted Ferret immediately upon entering the Library - her ridiculously coloured hair made sure that she always stood out in a crowd. Waving at her from across the room, Remus headed over to the table and settled down in the opposite seat, opening up his bag to pull out his DaDA notes.

"Hey there, Ferret. Before we do anything else, let me once more extend Peter's apologies for the unfortunate incident in Transfiguration."

Remus hid a wry grin as he remembered the chaos that had ensued and McGonagall's reaction. "Now, how are you this fine morning? Ready for some learning?"

[talls]

Ferret sighed and tugged at her bright blue locks. For people who asked, it was a potion accident that had temporally dyed her hair. In reality, she was just getting very good at changing her appearance. Looking up, she smiled at Remus, settling more comfortably in her chair.

Upon hearing about Peter, she rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, you can tell Peter, again, that he needs to do something for me for me to forgive him for turning me into a ferret!" She let out a overly dramatic huff then smiled.

"I am quite well on this fine morning," she said cheerfully. "And I had corn flakes this morning, so I am quite ready for learning." Organizing her notes again, she pulled out a section towards the bottom. "So, I missed a day of class where, I was told, we were talking about incubi. I have no notes, so I was wondering if you could tell me about them."

[remuslupin]

Remus snickered. "I shall let him know just that, I promise."

Scanning over the notes, Remus leant back in his chair and contemplated the ceiling. He couldn't remember if they actually had covered Incubi this term, but if Ferret wanted to know about them for some other reason, it wasn't his to question why. Perhaps she'd open up to him, perhaps not. Either way, Remus enjoyed Defence Against the Dark Arts and he enjoyed teaching.

"Incubi, incubi, incubi..." He put the papers down on the top and quirked an eyebrow at Ferret, "How much do you want to know? Given your personal preferences I suspect the gory details won't particularly thrill you. The basic details are easy enough; spirit usually identified by more Christian writers as demonic, by definition male, feeds off of sexual energy and therefore usually attacks at night, capable of assuming non-corporeal form."

Remus shrugged. "Beyond that, how much do you need to know?"

[talls]

Ferret found herself figiting. This was going to be harder than she thought. How was she suppose to ask Lupin if his best mates were related to Veela or were incubi? It wasn't something you brought up in normal conversation. Even for her.

She took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Incubi...seduce their prey right? What if they produce offspring? Do they take after their father? Or are they human? Or an incubus/human hybrid? Do they have the power to seduce people who are not usually attracted to the male sex?"

Ok, maybe that was a bit straight forward but she had to know. She had to know how Potter turned her bi and yet, did not make her attracted to him, but to Black! And her best (guy) friend but that was besides the point.

[remuslupin]

"The children of an incubus, hmmmmm..." Remus thought for a moment, "What little folklore suggests their children are normal humans, though there is a story in which it is claimed that Merlin's unknown father was an incubus and as a result some scholars suggest that such is the origin of wizards."

As the stream of questions continued, getting more specific and less academic as Ferret went on, Remus frowned.

"As to being able to seduce people, I've no idea. I could look it for you, if you desperately need an answer. But could you please enlighten me as to why I'm beginning to suspect that you are asking for a specific reason and asking me because those two troublemakers I live with have something to do with this?"

Increasingly certain that his fellow Marauding miscreants had been up to some mischief, Remus felt the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"Given the subject I hardly suspect Peter. So who was it this time - Lord Potter or mangy Black?"

[talls]

Ferret felt herself blush. "Honestly Remus, I asked for your help because you are one of the smartest guys in our year and you are good at Defense Against the Dark Arts."

She paused. "But you do live with them yes. And I will say both Lord Potter and Mangy Black, using your words, are both involved."

Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair. "Potter and I had an...encounter. I think he was drunk or something but he kissed me and since then I have been attracted, not to him, but to Black and my best guy friend." She looked down at her hands, ashamed.

"They are...doing something and I am so confused. They must be doing...something..."

[remuslupin]

Remus fluttered his eyelashes coyly and fanned his hand in front of his face, smiling wryly at Ferret and winking.
"Oh stop, you'll make me blush!"

As Ferret spilled out her tale of woe, Remus' heart sank. Matters of the heart were not his speciality at all, and he had little advice to give. But he'd generally found that people already knew what they needed to do and just needed someone to listen to figure it out. He heaved a heavy sigh.

"I hate to say it, but I doubt James did anything. I can't think of any means by which it could be done, so it must just be old fashioned hormones." He looked down at the table, searching for some kind of advice to give, "Obviously I have no experience of this kind of thing, so I don't really have any idea what to say. I don't have a cure for you because there's nothing wrong with you, magically. As strange as this must be, it's all natural. Don't they say something about everyone having an exception?"

Remus shrugged, somewhat (unusually) lost for words, and reached across the table to pat Ferret on the shoulder.

[talls]

Ferret laughed at his antic and let her wrist go loose. "But its true! I only tell the truth."

Upon hearing his opinion, the girl groaned and pressed her head against the table. "Are you sure? I have been attracted to woman all my life, even when I played house with dolls, there were two women falling in love, not a woman and a man."

She ran her fingers through her hair. "Why couldn't I become attracted to someone like you?" she asked. "I mean, you're smart, you're funny, you're good looking for m-guy standards. Why Black of all people?! He will snog anything in a skirt." A theory she was dying to try out.

[remuslupin]

Remus shrugged and huffed out an unhappy breath, frustrated by his helplessness in the face of Ferret's distress.

"There's no absolutes when it comes to heart-magic, but I'm fairly sure. Even if it is only a mundane issue, I don't know what to tell you. I can't in all good conscience tell you it'll pass because I don't know that it will." He frowned as he listened to her reply, then gave her a sympathetic smile. "Even if you've always been attracted to women in the past, the heart does as the heart wills. The best thing you can do is to accept that this is normal and more importantly natural. Serenity to accept those things I cannot change, and all that."

His smile turned somewhat bitter at the irony of the situation. In many ways Remus was the last person who should talk about self-acceptance of that for which there is no cure. But he was shaken out of his somewhat maudlin thoughts by Ferret's unexpected compliment, his cheeks and ears beginning to burn as he blushed furiously.

"Well that is several great compliments I'm not sure I deserve, and I'm flattered you would say so. But as for Sirius, I truly don't know. For all that he is my best friend and I love the git, the reason that women find him attractive despite his somewhat awful behaviour has always been somewhat of a mystery to me."

[talls]

The girl groaned, pressing her forehead against the wood of the desk. "Grandma always did say look past the bad boys, the one your looking for is standing just behind them." Ferret shook her head and smiled warmly at Lupin.

"You deserve every compliment. You defiantly deserve it." She rolled her shoulders, feeling stiff. "Actually, most girls are wondering why you are still single. Of course, no one is asking because the Great Sirius Black is single too."

She groaned. "Something is seriously wrong with my judgement. Is it possible that something could have made me think differently? There has to be a reason I think Black is good looking." She looked up again. "Then again, I think you're good looking too."

She groaned and slammed her head on the desk again. "Why is this so complicated?"

[remuslupin]

Remus blushed again as Ferret smiled at him, then gaped in shock at her next statement. "Girls wondering - still single - me?" He knew he probably looked ridiculous, wide-eyed and gaping like a fish out of water as he was, but it was a complete shock.

Probably because of his 'furry little problem', Remus had never dared imagine that any girl would want to be with him. The idea that he might be considered attractive or desirable was a new one, and quite startling - popularity with women was and always had been James and Sirius' game.

After a few minutes Remus regained his composure and the heat of his blush began to fade. "I don't think there's anything wrong with your judgement, Ferret. By all accounts Sirius is what can be considered attractive, if you go for that kind of thing." Remus pulled an exaggerated face of disgust, before reaching across the table to give Ferret's shoulder a comforting squeeze "I don't rightly know. But I'm here for you in any way you need either way."

[talls]

Ferret raised an eyebrow.

"No, the Giant Squid, of course you! Unfortunately, girl's like the bad boys for some reason or another but you are very...safe. If more girls went after guys like you, there would be less heartbreak in the world."

Ferret smiled. She had to admit. Like with Ash, she felt very safe with Remus. Another oddity. She avoided male friends as much as possible, afraid that her grandparents would use those friendship for marriage match ups, especially pureblood male friends. And, she just didn't really connect much with them as much as one would expect.

But she laughed at Remus's words. "And the ironic thing is, I usually like the bad girls, maybe that's why BLack corolates well." She then rubbed her chin like she was stroking a beard. "Then again, I like the studious type too..." she smiled warmly at him, liking his blush.

Feeling his squeeze on her shoulder, words tumbled out of her mouth.

"What do you know about Metamorphmagi?" Hearing those words, she began to inwardly panic, but tried so hard to keep her composure.

[remuslupin]

Remus frowned, searching his mental library for what he knew about the subject. "Metamorphagus, name derived from Greek, plural Metamorphagi. Wizards or witches capable of shapeshifting unassisted by external magical stimuli, generally limited to a humanoid shape. Born not made, probably recessive in terms of inheritance though there is a tendency for the talent to run in pureblood family lines."

Though his senses were somewhat duller than their usual enhanced state due to the distance from the next full moon, Remus could tell from her scent that Ferret was far more nervous than she was letting on. The last random question she'd asked had been for a practical reason; presumably this one was to. A question about an obscure branch of inherited magic combined with an abnormal level of caution and some strange irregularities Remus had noticed in her scent over the years suggested that Ferret had a very good reason for asking.

"There's more than that, but it all gets rather metaphysical." Remus met Ferret's eyes and smiled sympathetically. He knew what it was like to keep a secret hidden over which you had no control. "Is there a reason you want to know?" He asked, voice gentle.

[talls]

Ferret found herself fidgeting but did her best to stay calm. The last thing she needed was to lose control in the middle of the library. That would be awful.

Taking a long shaking breath, the girl looked around. She only saw the old librarian muttering about misshevled books. She took another deep breath.

"Remus, can you keep a secret? Like, a big one? Because if anyone was to find out, my sanity may be in danger. I would need to leave Hogwarts in order to make sure that the student order isn't over run and destroyed. No one could trust anyone and everyone would attack everyone." She looked at the boy in the eye and noted somewhere at the back of her mind that he had kind eyes.

"Do I have your word?"