Where are you?
15 minutes earlier
It's been a moment since Remus has gone to see Dumbledore when the sound of an explosion reverbed through the halls, waking up the sweet child in a panic. She don't know where she is, neither do they remember how they got here. All she could remember was running away from her mother and being attacked by this creature... It then all came back to her. The weird vortex, this creature and this big monster. The monster! What if he comes back? And where was she? It then occurred to her that maybe it was him that took her. Maybe he was like her. But if it was the case, then she surely wasn't safe. If her mother treated her like that, it was for a reason. And if she was dangerous, then this big one was definitely a biggest treat.
-I need to hide!-
It's the only thought present in her mind in this state of panic that harassed her in a wave, gripping her by the gut and sinking it in the very bottom of her stomach. Allowing the nausea to make it entrance.
She was now frequently seeking a place to hide, to make her existence unknown to the world. Which she found in less than 10 seconds, in the form of an old couch. More specifically in the gap underneath it.
Now the place found, she rolled on her back, falling on her feet and sprinted to her found living space. But even if she was now hidden, she knew she wasn't safe and so , placed herself in position to defend herself at any moment.
After all, she is at the mercy of the monster and could be attacked at any moment. She wasn't planning on trying to make any attempts to counterattack. No, she knew that it was something to not do if you wanted to get out of there alive.
Back to the present
As she hears the door open, she scoots closer to the wall the couch is against and freezes in place right after.
On his side, Remus is trying to get a grip of the panic that took possession of his mind and body. He knows that if he wants to be able to find her, he needs to get full control of himself.
He can't find her in this state, he knows it, in fact he shouldn't even be in this state. After all, he only knew her for a few hours, but it's like he always knew her, like he had to protect her. The moment that he saw her, it was like she became a part of his world, no, not a part. It was like she became his world.
As soon as he saw her, his instincts told him to protect her at all costs. At this instant, if the world would explode, it wouldn't be important if she was safe. He don't know why, but it's like that and he can't do anything to change it, just accept it and deal with it.
And so that's what he did, taking in a deep breath by the nose and starting to think. - okay, before panicking why not search for her here first? Yeah, that's what I am gonna do- And so with that in mind, he started to look for her.
Looking behind every furniture, every corner, in each of the few pieces that composed his apartment. The more he searched, the more his options were shrinking while his anxiety was doing the exact opposite.
It's then, when he was going out of options and now inspecting his big old couch that he heard it, a breath. He cursed his lycanthropy almost every day that he woke up from but at this moment he saw one of the only good sides of it, his ears were more sensitive which allowed him to hear the faint almost inexistent breathing that was coming from underneath his couch.
Getting on his knees, he was now met with the small shacking figure of the little girl, looking at him with fear in her eyes, this look of instinctual fear that was making her follow his every move.
Not wanting to risk making her panic, he simply stays where he is and starts trying to talk her out of there "hey cub, you don't need to be scared of me. It's me, the wolf of yesterday" -Wow, am I really trying to reassure someone with the fact that I am a werewolf!?- "Are you hungry? If you want, we can go into the kitchen and make something to eat" but she didn't budge, she was like frozen in place.
5 minutes later
He now tried everything he could think of to lure her out but nothing worked. Leading him to start to get a bit in his head and telling her random facts that normally would only be interesting for him. He thought that maybe she would react the same as everyone else to his small rambling ; falling in a deep sleep.
But what was his surprise when he looked at her and saw her completely fascinated by his words. She was completely still, the fear in her eyes slowly fading away as she was listening to him. Seeing that, he continued to speak with a sparkle of excitement in his voice.
After all, it was the first time in a looong time that someone listened to him with this interest, the last time being when he was still a student.
On her side, she was absolutely captivated. She always liked to learn and his voice had something that made her whole body relax, she hated to admit it but if it wasn't for her instinct that kept her alert the whole time, she would have fallen asleep a long time ago from exhaustion.
But now, she was way too fascinated by what he was saying -I need to stay focused, I can't trust him, but why does his presence makes me feel like that?-
It was then that he appeared, he was now just infront of her, taking in her surroundings. "That you will discover it soon enough" he said will looking at her with the biggest grin she ever saw on his face and responding to her question.
"Mimi?!"She said with a shake in her voice even though it was her internal one. "It's okay, I'm here now, I am so sorry I wasn't with you, I had a problem. Seems like you're faster than I thought." he said, his grin never leaving the corner of his mouth.
She kept looking at him, with this fear in her eyes that he wished he could remove. The same one he've seen her with since the beginning of her life. But he knew that it wasn't his job, even if he tried he knew he couldn't do it in this state.
As he was starting to wander in his thoughts, he saw her tense up again, reminding him what he was there for "hey, hey, calm down, you are safe here, you don't need to stress so much" "how can you be so sure?"
At that he looked at the man on the ground that was still ranting and smiled, "Because I know him, from a long time back then... He is one of the safest person I've ever known"
He interrupts their connection a minute to let her process the information he just gave her but starts to speak again just before she could go back in her thoughts, "And besides, I can give you a good reason to try to trust him my little snitch" "what is it?" "He knows your father. Actually they are the closest person you could find"
"Really?!" For only answer he gave her a nod and disappeared into thin air with a smile on his face, leaving her a bit more relaxed than before.
Tuning back in his rambling, she started to be even more interested, now allowing herself to truly listen to him. It didn't take long, not more than a few minutes, before she started to move towards him. It was like she was hypnotized, her body moving unknowingly to her consciousness.
And although she didn't notice it, Remus surely did, having hope growing in him as he was seeing her slowly crawling towards him, her eyes fixed on him. But he was now seeing something else in them, nothing that he saw before as been removed, only slightly faded, but there was something else in them alongside with the rest.
A sparkle, like his paroles were the most precious treasure in the world that nothing in the world could make her let go of.
After a few more minutes, she was now only inches away from him and completely calm. She still had this look filled with fear but different from before.
He couldn't explain it, he only had this feeling telling him that she was now ready to hear him out. Putting his hands in front of him, right in her field of view, he started to speak directly to her in his most soft voice.
"Hello, like I said earlier, I am the wolf from last night, I know this can seem a bit crazy and scary, after all you don't know me. But I promise I won't hurt you, I just want to help you if you would allow me."
She didn't say a word, only looking at him in the eyes, searching for some sort of feeling of safety that he hoped with all his heart she would find. After a few seconds he saw her changing of posture, adopting one that he had the impression was saying I believe you.
Choosing to follow his gut, he continued in his track " okay, I'll take that as a yes, so first ; are you hurt anywhere else, apart from your head?"
She looked at him like he was crazy, this questioning look on her face telling him that he made a mistake and confused her even more.
- Oh shit, what did I say that gave her that look?! I thought I was speaking simply enough, except if.... If she doesn't know what I'm talking about...-
"Do you know what I mean when I say hurt?"
She shook her head, looking down to the floor with a look of shame on her face
"Hey, it's okay to not know something. You can't know everything." He said with this smile that he hoped was reassuring enough to comfort her a bit.
"Let me rephrase it ; you see the feeling you have at the back of your head, a sort of big ache?"
She looked at him slowly nodding her head.
"That feeling, this what you call hurt, your head is hurt. So do you have this feeling somewhere else?"
While waiting for her answer he backed a bit away to let her the space to get out of under the couch seeing the hesitation in her eyes.
Now that she had the space she needed, she crawled out of her spot and shyly nodded while looking at him in shame.
" Okay, can you show me where please?" He said, the anticipation building in his stomach as he looked at her think and hesitantly moving her finger to show him.
But nothing could have prepared him to what she was now pointing at. Everything. She slowly pointed at every zone of her body, looking even more ashamed after each new part she was pointing at.
This made his heart drop in his stomach, and his smile changed in one of pure concern, the realization slowly taking form in his mind.
-Oh Merlin, please tell me it's only the dementor that caused this, please tell me I'm wrong-
"Okay, can I look at it? I won't touch them if you don't want me to."
She nodded her head still refusing to look at him.
"Great, thank you" he said scooting a bit closer and bending towards her while trying to keep a distance between them to not make her more uncomfortable.
"Can I move your shirt ?" He said while pointing at her clothes in case she wouldn't know what it was.