"Scruffy, how did you become a werewolf? If you don't mind my asking..." Andrea asked. They were all roasting fish over the fire, and it looked rather uncivilized. But it was food, and Andrea needed to eat it. But she didn't want to eat it raw. She never had been a fan of sushi...
"Well, the becomin' part ain't that long of a story..." Scruffy mumbled, rotating the stick with the fish on it. "So I suppose I could tell it to ya." He finished and took a deep breath.
"I was about four years old when it happened. I was sittin' outside in the front yard. We lived waaay out in the country, mind you, so we didn't have any close neighbors. So, it was dark, I was outside with my family, and all of a sudden, outta the woods came a werewolf. Came right at me, probably because I was the smallest. And closest. Mum came runnin' at the beast, but dad got their first with his riffle in hand. Now, he didn't kill the thing, just shot it in the leg and knocked it over the head with the butt of the gun.
"Mum ran right up and scooped me up in her arms. Dad stopped the bleedin' on both me and the werewolf, then we all rushed to the hospital via the floo network. Dad actually brought the beast along with us. Amazing man, my dad was..." Scruffy gazed into the fire for a moment before continuing. "We got the funniest looks in the hospital, mum told me, because dad had a werewolf slung over his shoulder.
"They worked on me that night to close up my wounds and try to help stop me from becomin' a beast too... Still got some of the scars from when I got all scratched up by the thing." Scruffy rolled up his sleeve all the way to reveal a scar running down his shoulder. "'Course, I still am a werewolf... They didn't stop that." Scruffy rolled down his sleeve and shrugged.
"Archie says you're not a bad werewolf, though... How is that possible? And what's the difference between a good werewolf and a bad one?" Andrea asked, glancing up at Scruffy then quickly looking away.
"Well, my family starting searchin' high and low for a possible cure or somethin' to help me with not bein' a vicious monster. My mum came across a potion that can help a bit, and started me on it right away. I think the book said I was only supposed to take it during the week of a full moon, but mum and dad had me on it every night. Took it the same time, every night of every week. When the first full moon came around, I was a monstrous little thing. 'Course, I don't remember it, but everyone told me I was a fuzzy little rascal. They tried to train me, but I kept trying to bite my older brother and sister, so they had to lock me up in a kennel. It was for my own good, really. I'd wake up the next morning in the kennel and cry until someone woke up and got me out. By then I'd be all right and not remember a thing...
"After a while, I started to be less and less wild. I got calmer, and I think a good part of that isn't just owed to the potion, but also to my family. They helped quite a bit, I reckon. Since I took the potion every night, I just sort of... Settled down over the years. Granted, while I was in school during full moons, I had to sleep in a dungeon cell, but that was just for safety purposes." Scruffy shrugged and pulled his fish-on-a-stick towards him.
"Fascinating story..." Andrea said softly. Archie nodded as he pulled his own stick towards him. "So, did you two go to school at about the same time as Harry Potter, then?"
"Yes, although I was a year or so younger than him..." Archie said.
"I had a few classes with 'im. Fascinating boy. I suppose he's a man, now, though." Scruffy chuckled as he pulled apart his fish.
"What houses were you two in?" Andrea asked, pulling her fish away from the fire and inspecting it.
"Hufflepuff." Scruffy replied promptly.
"Ravenclaw." Archie said through a mouthful of fish.
"Hm..." Andrea said, picking a small bite off of her fish and eating it. She had many more questions to ask these two...
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