HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

During the second week of Christmas, Hermione and Ron came to Potter Manor, bringing Ginny with them.

"My parents don't have time to look after Ginny, so I brought her along. You don't mind, do you, Harry?" Ron said.

"Of course not! Ginny is my sister too," Harry said happily.

Sirius played Quidditch with Harry, Ron, and Ginny at the Potters' Quidditch pitch, where Ginny displayed exceptional talent.

"You'll be an excellent chaser, Ginny!" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry smiled and said, "Welcome to the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Ginny."

This made Ginny a little shy, and she hid behind her brother. Ron grumbled, "Her brother isn't even on the Quidditch team yet!"

Meanwhile, at Somerset Manor, Snape, unable to hide his excitement, carefully filled the cauldron with the potion.

West examined the color of the wolfsbane potion and asked, "Was it a success?"

Snape said in a low voice, "We need to conduct one more experiment." Judging from his expression, he wished he could grab Lupin on the spot and use him for the experiment.

As luck would have it, Lupin was coming to Potter Manor the very next day to visit Harry—most importantly, to see his old friend whom he hadn't seen for many years.

Upon meeting, Sirius gave Lupin a warm hug. "Oh, my old friend, I'm so sorry..." Sirius said, his voice choked with emotion.

Lupin silently hugged him back, then sighed after a long while, "It's alright."

The two chatted for a while, reminiscing about the past and discussing the present, until it got late before reluctantly ending their conversation.

"Then, Professor Lupin, would you please come over here?" West stood at the entrance of the hall.

"Of course, West." Lupin smiled gently, stood up, and went with West into the corridor outside.

"The night of the full moon is approaching," West said, looking out the window at the soon-to-be-full moon.

"Yes, but don't worry, Severus gave me plenty of wolfsbane," Lupin said. He observed West discreetly, sighing inwardly.

He could see the shadows of James and Lily in Harry, but West, apart from resembling Lily in appearance, did not look like James's child at all.

He went to Slytherin, and even... seemed to have a special affection for Severus Snape.

"You don't need to drink those anymore," West said, producing several new vials of wolfsbane potion. "Drink this for the next week."

"This is..." Lupin noticed that the color of these vials of potion was different from before. He remembered what Snape had said, and a flash of wild joy crossed his eyes.

West sighed, a slight smile playing on his lips, but his eyes remained cold. "You're truly lucky, Professor Lupin, to have returned to Hogwarts to teach during the crucial time when Severus was developing the wolfsbane potion."

"Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to be the first werewolf to be successfully healed—though the process will be quite painful, you don't mind, do you?"

Lupin took the potion with trembling hands, and gave a bitter smile. "Nothing is more painful than becoming a werewolf, West."

West nodded casually, turned and left. "Good luck, Lupin."

West walked out, and the Gemini appeared before him.

"Hey!" "Vester—" "Good afternoon!"

They chattered back and forth. West laughed, this time genuinely, "When did you get here? Harry didn't tell me."

"Just now," Harry said, popping his head out.

George and Fred put their arms around Harry and called out.

"That's outrageous!"

"Harry!"

"There's a Quidditch field at home—"

"They didn't even invite us to play ball—"

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "My fault, my fault."

"Now that you're here, enjoy your vacation," West said. He couldn't wait to get back to Snape.

Fred and George looked at him with knowing smiles. "Of course, West, you can go now. You seem quite eager."

They dragged Harry toward the Quidditch arena.

West quickly returned to Somerset Manor via the Floo Network. Snape was sitting in the hall waiting. "Did you give the potion to Lupin?"

"Hmm, we just need to wait a few days patiently, Severus," West said with a smile. "Don't worry, your potion is absolutely fine."

Snape rolled his eyes at him. "Of course I know." As a renowned Potions Master, he had that much confidence.

"Shouldn't we enjoy our vacation?" West walked over to Snape, put his arms around the back of the sofa, and asked, looking down at him.

He suddenly had a brilliant idea, "How about we go on a trip?"

Snape looked shocked and speechless. "The Death Eaters are on the run, and you're really letting Potter and a bunch of third-year students stay alone at Potter Manor?"

"But we still have Black and Lupin..." West said sullenly, noticing Snape's distrustful look, and gradually shut down.

Sure enough, Snape wouldn't let his guard down for a second until Voldemort was completely dead.

West thought darkly, starting to think of a thousand ways to kill Voldemort.

After Christmas, everyone returned to Hogwarts.

Lupin was absent again, and Snape substituted for Defense Against the Dark Arts for two weeks, assigning a four-page parchment paper that left the students complaining endlessly and praying every day that Professor Lupin would return soon.

Perhaps Merlin heard the students' prayers, because Lupin returned to Hogwarts in the third week.

Lu Ping had lost weight, and his worn-out clothes looked very loose on him. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced, but he was surprisingly in good spirits.

The students had never seen this reserved professor so energetic.

Lupin found the cellar as soon as he returned and thanked Snape and West.

"I've never felt so happy," Lupin said excitedly. "On the first day of taking the medication, I felt like I was going to die—but after getting through the first three days, everything got better and better!"

"I can't believe it, Merlin! This time, on the night of the full moon, I didn't turn into a werewolf!"

He was so excited his body was trembling. "Thank you, Severus."

Lupin bowed deeply in gratitude, "You saved me, and you saved countless innocent people bitten by werewolves..."

Snape glanced at West, who was sitting obediently to the side revising his paper, swallowed the harsh words that were about to spill from his mouth, and said coldly, "You think I'm acting out of noble sentiments? I'm only doing this for my own research. The improved Wolfsbane potion is enough to earn me the Order of Merlin, First Class, and make a huge impact in the wizarding world."

"You deserve it," Lupin said stubbornly. "You freed werewolves from the pain and loss of control caused by monthly transformations. With the potion becoming more widespread, werewolves might also be able to have equal status and rights in society."

As Lupin spoke, his eyes lit up, seemingly filled with anticipation for the future. "Severus," he said, "if there's anything you need my help with, I'll do my best."

Snape, not adept at handling such situations, blurted out sharply, "I don't need..."

"In fact," West stood up at some point, walked up to the two men, and grabbed Snape's sleeve, "we do need your help, Professor Lupin."

Do you remember Fenrir Greyback?

Lupin's eyes became complex, filled with pain and hatred. "...I remember when I was five years old, he broke into my house, bit me, and turned me into a werewolf."

"Good that you haven't forgotten—I heard he's been regrouping his people lately," West laughed, a chill creeping up Lupin's spine. "Guess what he's up to?"

Lupin opened his eyes wide.

"Voldemort is coming back—the Death Eaters have broken out, the wolves have regrouped, don't you think it's all too coincidental?" West sighed. "Lupin, we need you."

"Go find the wolf pack and try your best to win them over—you know what I mean, how tempting is the wolfsbane potion to them? I wouldn't even mind offering them a stable job."

"Don't let them become Voldemort's allies. If you don't want them all to die."

Lupin lowered his head and nodded heavily. "...Okay."

The students were very happy today because Professor Lupin was back, and they finally didn't have to use Professor Snape's Defense Against the Dark Arts.

As a result, the day after his return, the dear Professor Lupin submitted his resignation to Headmaster Dumbledore and left Hogwarts with a determined look on his face.

Students: We've behaved, please let us go.

Time flies like an arrow, and just when everyone was still immersed in the torment of the Stanford paper, the final exam was just around the corner.