"Seven 'Outstandings' and two 'Exceeds Expectations'... You fell just a bit short in Runes and Astronomy," Lyall Lupin evaluated my report card, taking his time before raising his watery eyes to look at me.
"The atmosphere in the castle wasn't very conducive to studying purely theoretical subjects," I shrugged calmly, showing no reaction to the words of the somewhat flabby-looking man.
"He is nobody to me, and his name means nothing," I realized with crystal clarity, having worried up until this moment that I might have inherited some feelings for the father from the past Remus... But no, he was a complete stranger with whom I would have to share a roof for at least a couple more days. "Fortunately, no one will have any questions about my behavior. Teenagers change too fast for me to worry about being exposed."
"Yes, I heard... There were a particularly high number of disturbances at Hogwarts this year. However, it's the same everywhere," Lyall nodded to me, finally turning away completely. "Drag your things to your room," he demanded as a parting remark, heading into his study.
"Yeah," I yawned lazily, lifting my trunk with magic and heading to my own room.
It was located all the way up on the third floor of a rather sizable house. It was solid, made of brick, but very sparsely furnished... It was obvious that after the death of his wife—my mother—Lyall hadn't been able to maintain a cozy atmosphere in the house.
"However, that's the last thing I care about. The main thing is that no one forbids me from doing magic," I shook my head, frankly exhausted after the journey...
The very first thing my father did upon our meeting, without even greeting me properly, was to start an interrogation about my grades. And having made sure that I was only slightly short of a perfect academic record again this year, he went off on his own, showing no further particular interest in his son. Rather the opposite, it seemed to me that Lyall... was avoiding me?
"I won't jump to conclusions, but so far, that's exactly the impression I'm getting," I sighed almost silently, starting to unpack my things... Nothing special, but leaving certain books and leftover potion ingredients in the trunk wasn't the best idea. Which is why I decided to unpack my luggage first, and only then crash into bed, dead on my feet.
The early wake-up, the long train ride, saying goodbye to friends, and the rather tense meeting with the original Remus's father... All of this had thoroughly exhausted me, both physically and mentally.
"Even a strong body and mental magic can't completely negate the fatigue from a long journey," I chuckled to myself, immediately settling into my own bed... Which I only remembered through the memories of my predecessor, but that wasn't a big problem.
I fell asleep easily and quickly, and greeted the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for new achievements... At the same time, I woke up before the first rays of the sun, which meant I went through my entire morning routine in solitude, not forgetting to prepare a standard English breakfast, the ingredients for which were always available in the cooling cabinet—the magical equivalent of a regular refrigerator.
"You're already awake?" Lyall's slightly sleepy voice caught up with me as he came down to the first floor in his pajamas.
"Yes... Is there a problem with that?" I turned toward the man, slicing apples into my oatmeal and keeping an eye on the fried eggs and sausages to make sure they didn't burn. I also had a desire to find something sweet for breakfast. It wasn't like I had to worry about an excess of calories right now anyway. But there was no candy, chocolate, or sweet pastries to be found in the house.
"Nooo," the middle-aged wizard yawned. "But don't make too much noise. Even though I woke up from all these smells from the kitchen, I'm not planning to get uuuup just yet."
"Don't worry. I'll eat now and go for a run," I reassured Lyall, simultaneously informing him of my plans for the morning. Just so he wouldn't be surprised by my absence from the house.
"And how long have you been running in the mornings?" the man asked, slightly surprised. It seemed he wasn't expecting any athletic achievements from his son at all... Not without reason, though. Remus had never been interested in sports.
"Since about the end of October," I answered indifferently... At which point, by and large, our conversation ended.
It seemed the middle-aged wizard really wasn't very interested in what was going on in his son's life... He tried to keep a certain distance from me, not avoiding me, but not forcing his company on me either. Thus, over the next three days, Lyall never asked about my life at Hogwarts, limiting himself to checking my exam grades and ensuring the physical wholeness of his offspring... Everything was just like last year, if Remus's memory was to be believed.
"And it's somehow even convenient... convenient for both of us," I was forced to admit, slipping very easily into a familiar rhythm and almost completely forgetting about the existence of my parent.
We only ever crossed paths in the kitchen, hardly ever talked about personal topics, and felt no aggression or dissatisfaction toward each other... A very even and impersonal relationship, which I could have stirred up a bit myself, as Remus used to do in his time... But I didn't need to.
Intense physical training, which took up most of the free time that had appeared due to the lack of classes, constant practice in mental magic, and playing around with Lumos and Leviosa, which allowed me to improve my own sensitivity and control over magic... All of this, along with daily chores like cooking and occasional cleaning, ate up most of my time.
And even though my summer vacation schedule could hardly be called too tight, because training endlessly without breaks for rest was a sure way to drive myself into a hospital, if not an early grave. But I still didn't want to spend my actual free time in the company of my "father."
Besides, he was also a rather busy person, working five days a week at the Ministry, and spending all his free time either reading adventure novels or brewing potions in his own laboratory... So yes, interacting with Lyall didn't become something particularly burdensome for me, nor was it particularly useful.
The only thing I was really able to get from him was books. And I'm not just talking about the rather modest number of magical treatises that had accumulated in our house over several generations. No, in this case, there wasn't much for me to catch here, because most of the magical books were still too complex for my understanding.
Literature from the ordinary world, however, was a completely different matter... Those very adventure novels of my father's and standard 1970s fantasy were, for the most part, not particularly interesting or captivating. Lyall completely perceived most of the Muggles' ideas about magic as a very funny joke, reading fantasy books with exactly that mindset.
But beggars can't be choosers, so this summer I got seriously hooked on the entertainment literature of the ordinary world... Because of which, at times, my biological father and I even managed to have more or less meaningful dialogues that went beyond everyday discussions of equally everyday problems and things.
But such moments happened infrequently, and the next full moon completely killed off any desire my father had to communicate with me for several days... As for me, on the day when my father was dragging my tired and exhausted body out of the special cage in our basement, I saw an infinitely guilty expression on Lupin Senior's face for the first time.
"It seems Lyall blames himself for what is happening to me," I suddenly realized, though I immediately doubted my own conclusions. "Or I just imagined it all, which is also highly likely. Your vision gets pretty blurry after a night alone with that creature the locals call a werewolf."
In any case, from that day on, I started keeping a closer eye on my biological parent, looking for possible confirmations or refutations of my theory... But I found nothing special, and very soon gave the whole thing up. In the end, communicating with Lyall wasn't something truly important to me.
As long as the father of this body didn't interfere with my affairs, allowing me to spend all my free time on training and lazy book reading, I would be satisfied with everything anyway. Because of this, I didn't particularly bother the man with my attention... However, at some point, Lupin Senior himself showed a drop of interest in me.
"Are you taking any potions?" the moderately plump man suddenly asked me during one of our dinners.
"Mmm?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly, not understanding where such a question came from. "Where would I get them? And why would I take them?" I asked Lyall after chewing a piece of a chicken wing.
"I don't know," he became slightly embarrassed. "It's just that you've been growing too fast lately. So I thought potions might be the cause."
"Growing?" I didn't fully understand, looking at myself in surprise. "Everything seems to be as usual."
"That's because your clothes have tailoring charms on them. But even they will soon stop coping... we'll have to go get new clothes," my biological father dragged out his words thoughtfully, forcing me to freeze for a moment.
"Damn, I had completely forgotten about the charms on the clothes... For the last month, the main source of magic and all sorts of wonders has been myself, because of which I already managed to forget that things can be otherwise," I clicked my tongue mentally, though not rushing to worry too much about it.
"Have I grown that much?" I asked anyway, knowing perfectly well that such things are always better seen from the outside.
"About six or seven centimeters this month... and you've gotten broader in the shoulders," the man answered simply. "Because of the latter, I thought you were taking some potions for accelerated muscle growth. Otherwise, it's hard to explain your growth both upwards and outwards at the same time."
"I'm not taking any," I shook my head. "They are expensive. And I'm doing fine without them. Because of my nature, my recovery rate is wild," I smiled barely noticeably, taking my time to recall... the rather extreme training with my own body and transfigured weights.
My body really responded well to any physical load. And a medical spell, not the simplest one by my standards, allows me to track the condition of my own body, adjusting the loads depending on the "medical tests."
"So that's how it is," Lyall darkened slightly, reacting quite sharply to the mention of my furry little problem. Usually, we avoided this topic in every possible way in our already infrequent conversations. "Looking for advantages in your own situation?"
"Constantly stressing over problems isn't the way out. I've already thought enough about my bleak future in a society where it's not shameful to hit werewolves with a curse just for the fun of it... It's time to stop thinking and start doing something that will help me avoid this future at least to some extent," I looked seriously at my "father," making him fall silent for a long three minutes.
The atmosphere at the table suddenly became somewhat awkward, and the food not as tasty... But I still wasn't in a hurry to leave, firstly, yielding to hunger, and secondly, wanting to find out what Lyall would actually reply to such a speech.
"Have you already come up with something?" the middle-aged wizard finally asked me, piercing my face with a somehow new, subtly changed gaze...
"Well then, let's talk, you sorry excuse for a father," I snorted to myself, not knowing how else I should react to such a question.