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

7

Charlotte hurried down the hallway, bag slung over her shoulder, barely shut. She had been rushing around their dorm and common room for nearly half an hour looking for her transfiguration book, a relatively common habit since she had begun carting the book around with her, using any spare moment to read back through their chapters.

She pushed through the doors of the library, scanning over to their now familiar table. Remus was already there, leaning on one elbow, face buried in a book. Charlotte scanned over herself one last time, pulling her sweater down to ease out some of the wrinkles before speeding towards the brunette, trying with all of her might to contain the smile as she pulled the now crumpled parchment from her bag, slamming it to the table before him, Remus dragging his eyes up from his page to the large circled 93 on the paper.

A grin pulled at his lips as he finally met her eyes, sliding the paper across the table to read McGonagall's notes.

"I knew you'd do well." He said, simply, his eyes scanning quickly across the red ink in the margins, shrugging slightly.

"Thanks to you." Charlotte mumbled, taking her seat and watching as Remus scoured over the few notes McGonagall had left. He seemed more calm today, not like their first time studying together when he'd been nearly bouncing off the walls, fingers constantly tapping against the wood of the desk. Charlotte watched as he shut his book, sliding it to the edge of the table before reaching for his transfiguration one. He wore a familiar brown sweater with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.

"How are non-verbal spells going?" He asked the table, flipping through the pages of their textbook before settling on the right one.

"Not terrible, I guess." She admitted. She and Lily had been practicing, much more than their other roommates, although Charlotte didn't mind. Lily had cast her first non-verbal spell the very first night that they had learned them, while it had taken Charlotte three days before she finally forced their bedroom lamps off in her mind.

"James is livid. Sirius got it right away. James claims he summoned his glasses non-verbally the morning after the lesson, but we're not convinced."

Charlotte laughed, pulling her legs up onto the chair beneath her as she watched Remus scan over their text one last time.

"You act like you didn't get it right away, too." She pointed out, remembering the lesson quite well, McGonagall beaming at Remus after his quill turned to stone after a mere two minutes of practice.

"I've been practicing all term. Ever since I got to the chapter and realized we'd be doing non-verbals this year." He shrugged. "I reckon Sirius has been practicing them in his head for years."

Charlotte studied the tall boys face for a few seconds. "Remus, why did you drop so many of your classes if you always do so well in them?" She blurted, grasping her hands together in her lap nervously.

He paused, meeting her eyes before letting his gaze fall back to the table between them.

"Dunno." He answered at last, "I can still learn things. I don't have to take the class."

"Yeah," She agreed, nodding slowly as she considered his words. "It just seems like... you're so happy in classes."

He didn't answer, grabbing a quill and some ink from his bag and spreading a blank page of parchment over their shared table.

"What do you want to do when you graduate?" She pressed on, feeling nervous now that he was no longer answering.

"I don't really know, Charlotte. I haven't thought that far." He answered, his voice sounding cold now. "Ready to get started?"