written in the stars | s. black | r. lupin

5

Charlotte pushed another small piece of chicken around her plate, trying to listen to Marlene's recap of their morning practice, which Mary and Lily had both found hilarious, as they were practically doubled over the table with laughter.

"Char, you alright?" Lily nudged her leg, jolting the blonde back into focus.

"Yeah, just tired." She assured them, taking another bite of her now nearly cold dinner.

"Yeah, I wonder why. Not like you were up at seven this morning doing Godric knows what." Marlene mentioned.

She hadn't meant to wake up that early. It was Sunday after all. She had planned to sleep in, but after tossing and turning for hours, she had decided that her brain was obviously not going to let her get anymore sleep, and had dragged herself into the common room with her transfiguration book.

She had been reading through the chapters they'd gone over so far off and on the entire day, re-opening the book every time she decided to be done. One would think after all of the hours spent reading the same chapters, she would be an expert, but she had found that none of the information had stuck very long, as every time she began reading, all she could think about was studying with Remus later.

Charlotte had gone back and forth all day between excitement and dread. While two days ago she would have given anything to get some alone time with the boy, it was now the one topic threatening to send her running to the bathroom to vomit.

He was going to know, once and for all, how truly terrible she was at Transfiguration this year. So terrible, that McGonagall really thought she wouldn't pass this term.

"Ready?" She had to spin around to make sure the voice was real and not in her head, as she had been thinking of him all day. He was stood behind her, a different sweater than yesterday's, blue this time, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His fingers tapping relentlessly on his leg as he waited for her answer.

"Yes!" She hurried to grab her bag from the ground, pulling it to her shoulder and standing beside him. "I'll see you guys, Remus is going to attempt to catch me up on Transfiguration."

"Catch you up? You've been studying all day!" Mary blurted, Charlotte's eyes narrowing to slits, shooting her a warning glare that was already much too late.

"Alright, see you tonight then!" Lily cut in, resting a hand on Mary's arm as Remus lead the way out of the Great Hall.

"Don't get your hopes up. You've still got your work cut out for you." Charlotte joked, hurrying to keep up with the tall boy beside her.

"Hmm," It was nearly a laugh. He led the way, Charlotte hustling to keep up, down the hallway, up the last flight of stairs, a quick right before the large library came into view. The yellow light spilling onto the stone, the windows in the hallways already growing dark.

She followed him towards the back of the room where he dropped his bag onto one of the four chairs at the square table. The library was practically deserted, almost everyone surely finishing their dinner. Charlotte peeked over at a silent table where three seventh year students had their noses pressed into textbooks, scribbling at the speed of light. She didn't even want to think about how she would be this time next year, with NEWT's right around the corner.

"Alright," Remus pulled her from her thoughts, her eyes snapping towards his, the nerves flooding back into her stomach. "Want me to look over your paper for tomorrow, or should we start farther back?"

"Uh..." She pulled her parchment out, unrolling it onto the table between them, noticing the way that Remus's fingers were drumming furiously against the desk, as if he was bored, his body overflowing with energy. "I'm not really even sure where I got so behind. I remember feeling fine the first two weeks, but-"