Then he changed tack, his tone turning serious again.
"But this still isn't somewhere you should be. I know you're not afraid of werewolves, but Remus is in pain right now. He doesn't want you to see-"
"What if I said I might have a way to ease the Werewolf Curse?"
Gerald's words made Black's hand freeze in midair as he pushed him away. His fingers were still poised to push forward, but all the force behind them had vanished.
Even Lupin abruptly raised his head from the floor, a trace of human surprise flashing through his blood-red wolf eyes.
Thanks to the Wolfsbane Potion, he still retained a shred of reason.
He had struggled in pain for all these years, ever since Greyback had bitten him at five years old.
People had brewed Wolfsbane Potion for him, and people had helped keep his secret, but no one had ever said with such certainty that there was a way.
Had anyone else said it, even Dumbledore, Lupin would have laughed it off.
But since it was Gerald saying it, he found himself believing him for no particular reason.
This student of his always surprised people.
Black quickly recovered and lowered the hand he had been using to push Gerald out.
"Are you sure you're not joking?"
"I don't joke about things like this, Professor Black. But you need to tell me something first. When exactly did my teacher start getting like this? I remember that although transforming is extremely painful for werewolves, it shouldn't leave them this weak."
"I don't know what's going on either. If I really had to pin it down, this probably first started three months ago."
Sirius released Gerald's shoulder and stepped back against the basement wall in Lupin's home. The chill of the stone seeped