✓ | EPISKEY → remus lupin [ discontinued ]

Chapter Eleven

For the next few days, Alanna half avoided Remus. She hardly talked to him, and Remus was honestly quite thankful for it. However, no matter how hard he tried, there were two people that he was never going to escape from.

"So you told her?" Sirius asked in disbelief after Remus spilled the beans one morning in their dorm. "Unbelievable!"

"Remus, you never tell a girl you like her," James told his friend, clapping Remus on the back.

"It makes you look like an idiot," Sirius finished off.

"Says you two," Remus muttered as he pulled his shirt over his head. "You know Lily's never gonna have an interest in you unless you start being nicer, James."

"Nicer?" James snorted. "Yes, because that's a word in my dictionary."

"We're going to be late," Peter urged his friends quietly. Sirius stared at his friend. "What?"

"Since when have we ever cared about being late?"

Peter shrugged. "Since ... since now?"

Sirius shook his head in exasperation and returned his attention to the conversation at hand.

"Y'know, Remus," he sighed, resting his arm on Remus' shoulder. "I reckon the first thing you gotta do is just kiss the girl."

Remus snorted to himself as he remembered a Muggle movie he'd watched one time. A crab had given someone the exact same advice.

"What?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, nothing," Remus chuckled. "You just remind me of a crab."

All eyes were now on Remus as he hummed the tune to himself. He hardly noticed the judgemental stares of his friends as he slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and headed down to the common room.

James stared at Sirius for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"What?!" Sirius cried. "What's so funny?!"

"You're a crab!" James wheezed in between laughs. Peter soon joined in the laughter and Sirius grumbled to himself as he left the dorm.

- - -

Tiffany was sitting up in her dorm, trying to get Alanna out of bed, but it seemed the girl was extremely ill. She wasn't waking up and it looked as though she wasn't breathing for a moment as well. But Tiffany soon figured out that Alanna was still alive and breathing, it was just very shallow.

"C'mon, Al, wake up!"

Tiffany slapped the girl in the face, hoping she'd respond to that. But nothing happened. Tiffany cursed under her breath and rushed over to the dorm door. She flung it open and turned back to Alanna.

"Don't move," she instructed before zipping quickly from the dorm.

Tiffany hurtled herself down the stairs to the common room and was relieved to find Luke downstairs, reading a book in front of the fire.

"Hey!" Tiffany called as she headed towards him. Luke glanced up but quickly regretted it as he saw the blonde girl making her way towards him. "I need your help."

Luke scoffed. "Why me?"

"Because you're the first person I saw that I knew," Tiffany huffed. "Can you please go and get--"

"Why can't Alanna do it?"

Tiffany ignored Luke's comment and continued her question.

"Can you please go and get Madam Pomfrey for me? Alanna won't wake up and I have no idea why."

Luke's face fell abruptly and he was on his feet. He slammed his book closed and left it on the sofa he was previously occupying.

"Is she breathing?"

Tiffany rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Of course she's breathing, that's the first thing I checked!" she cried.

"Alright," Luke breathed as he headed towards the door to the common room. "Wait with her!"

"Hurry!"

Tiffany hurried back upstairs and into her dorm. She sat down at the foot of Alanna's bed and grasped the girl's hand, waiting for a response. Nothing happened.

"Please be okay," Tiffany begged.

*

Remus was heading to his first class with James, Peter and Sirius when he heard shouting. He frowned and glanced behind him to see Madam Pomfrey and Luke Pilir hurrying down the corridor behind the boys. Remus shook his head and turned back around, wondering if he had just seen right.

"Was that Madam Pomfrey?" Peter asked. "With Luke Pilir?"

Remus shrugged and glanced behind him once more. James and Sirius did the same.

"There's nobody there, mate," James said quietly. "C'mon, we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts and Jeckels isn't the one we want to piss off today. I heard she got divorced last night."

"Are you kidding?" Sirius asked. "No way! Well, good riddance, because I never like her husband anyways."

James laughed. "Yeah, he was a nutjob. He needs to go to a mental institute, don't you think?"

"Definitely," Sirius laughed. The three other boys continued down the corridor while Remus continued to exchange looks between where Madam Pomfrey and Luke Pilir just were and his friends. Finally giving in, Remus shook his head and jogged to catch up with James, Sirius and Peter down the corridor.

The boys were lucky to arrive to their class bang on time. The students were only just beginning to file into the classroom. The Marauders made themselves blend in with the crowd so that Professor Jeckels wouldn't notice their late arrival.

James flashed an innocent smile in the professor's direction, making Professor Jeckels narrow her eyes at the boy. Remus mentally facepalmed at James' action before hurrying inside after his friends.

"That was close," he muttered under his breath.

*

"She's gonna be okay, right?" Tiffany asked Madam Pomfrey as the two women headed down the corridor towards the Hospital Wing. Luke followed behind the two carrying a sleeping Alanna in his arms.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey began. "I'm not entirely sure what she's got at this point. We need to get her to the Wing first."

Tiffany nodded and dropped back to walk quickly beside Luke. She frowned as she glanced down at her friend. She thought to herself about something Alanna had told her about once. A princess deemed Sleeping Beauty because she slept for a hundred years after being pricked by a spinning needle or something along the lines.

"You don't think she'll sleep for a hundred years, do you?" Tiffany asked Luke quietly. Luke glanced down at the first-year with a baffled expression.

"Why on earth would you think that?" he asked her.

Tiffany shrugged. "Sleeping Beauty."

Luke shook his head and focused his attention on Alanna, choosing to ignore Tiffany's odd behaviour. But it was proving to be difficult since Tiffany asked so many questions.

"D'you think she pricked her finger or something?"