crushed - remus lupin

-four-

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"What the fuck happened last night?"

Celeste stared into the fires of the common room, feeling a pounding ache coming from the back of her head.

A low chuckle came from across the room, causing her too look for the source. Standing there, leaning on the entrance to the boys dorms, was Remus. His eyes glistening, icy blue with hints of white. There was something about his eyes that could make anyone feel safe and protected. His hair was swept back, strands of chocolate brown falling into his eyes. He hated the scars that fell across his face, but Celeste loved them so. She thought that they were marks of bravery, reminding her of his courage every time she saw him. He regarded himself as a monster, but someone who looked that beautiful couldn't possibly be a monster.

Some people believe that the term 'beautiful' should be reserved for women, but Celeste was not one of those people. She believed that some people were too gorgeous for this world, regardless of their gender, and beautiful was truly the only world that captured his beauty. So she would call him beautiful until the day she died, regardless of what anyone else thought.

She had never seen him in this sort of light before. It was foreign, but she liked it.

"Esta? Helloooo are you in there?" Remus snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Celeste snapped out of it, her cheeks heating up as she realized she'd been staring. "Sorry Rem, just zoned out. What were you saying?"

Remus smiled a bit at her embarrassment. "I was saying that everyone went down to breakfast, and the rest of the girls already moved their stuff back to their houses. Do you wanna get some food?"

She moved to answer, when a sharp pain from her head stopped her. "I would never pass up food, but I don't know how I can move with this horrible hangover."

His eyes lit up as he remembered something. "Wait, hold on! I have something for that!" He handed her a small vial filled with a leafy green substance.

"Madame Pomfrey started making hangover draughts, we keep a bunch of them in our dorm for when Sirius gets drunk. I figured you could use one after seeing how you were last night."

She took it gratefully, already feeling better as she downed the glass vial.

Celeste and Remus walked out of the common room, side by side, as Remus told her about her huge 'stairs to slide' plan.

"That was a stroke of genius on my part, really. I guess it just takes some firewhiskey to become an Einstein."

Remus laughed heartily. They entered the Great Hall, seeing their friends spread out throughout the room. The girls had returned to their respective houses. Ella and Shelley were loudly talking about how chocolate chip muffins were the best kind of muffins, and anyone who disagreed was a disgrace. This argument included Ella death glaring a first year who claimed that blueberry was better. Needless to say, that kid is terrified of her now. Shelley was also sharing glances with Adrian Scamander at the Hufflepuff table, the two smiling and each other and looking away and blushing in turn.

Maya was excitedly chatting with a fellow Hufflepuff about how cute babies are, and how she wants one. Because of this topic, Ella and Shelley were glaring at her from across the room because in their words, "Babies are ugly and I want to kick them."

Remus and Celeste took a seat at the Gryffindor table across from one another. Celeste grabbed a scone and listened to Emma and Lily argue about whether water was wet or not.

"Technically," Celeste interjected. "Wet is the feeling that one gets when something is taken out of water, you don't feel wet until you're out of the water."

Emma fist pumped. "Take that Lily!" Lily stuck her tongue out at Emma.

She turned towards the rest of the marauders, giving them her full attention.

"Did you guys get your invite to Slughorn's Christmas party? I heard it's this Friday!" James looked excited.

"I didn't." Peter said sheepishly.

Sirius stroked his chin, attempting to look deep in thought, though it failed as he just looked plain stupid. "Hmm... I wonder who James wants to go with?" Sirius said mockingly.

The rest of the group played along, pretending to wonder who.

"Slughorn?"

"Snape?"

"McGonagall?"

"Flitwick?"

James glared at his friends playfully before calling to the red headed girl next to Celeste.

"Lilypad? Will you go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?"

James asking Lily out was a regular occurrence, so much so that the group paid no mind to when this took place. One of Celeste's favorite memories of him asking her out was when they were walking down to Hogsmeade and he jumped out and asked her, so, naturally, Lily screamed and pushed him into a snowbank. He was freezing and yet it didn't deter him in the slightest.

As she was so caught up in memories, she almost missed Lily's faint, "Yes."

The Gryffindor table went silent. Well, silent except for the sound of both Celeste and Remus dropping their forks onto their plate.

Breaking the awkward silence, Remus and Celeste said, "Jinx!", at the same time.

"Did you just say yes?" James asked, a dopey grin spreading across his face.

"I said yes. Don't make me regret it... James."

At the sound of his first name his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You got it, Lily-kins!" At that, he skipped out of the hall, looking happier than he ever had.

The group turned to Lily, but she didn't speak. Instead she was wearing a grin that was almost exactly the same as James's.

No matter how much she pretended to hate him, it was obvious. She loved him.

Celeste was distracted from Lily's lovesick smile by her tawny owl, Aquila, dropping a letter onto her lap.

Celeste,

Your father and I have gotten word about Slughorn's party. You must attend, this is non-negotiable. Seeing as you have already disgraced our family by being in that disgrace of a Hogwarts house, we have arranged a date for you. You need someone by your side who is so fantastic that they will forget your blatant betrayal of our lineage. Your date is Kai Rosier, he is a sixth year Slytherin, pureblood, and heir to a large fortune. It would be best if you tried to get to know him, you'll be spending a lot of time with him in the future. We also wanted to inform you that your brother has gotten engaged to Narcissa Black. You must come home for holiday break, as we'll be meeting her on Christmas day. Don't disappoint us any further.

Your parents,

Abraxas and Valyn Malfoy

Celeste couldn't believe that they would do this to her. When she was younger, she had made her parents promise her that they would never make her marry someone, and that she could marry who she wanted, but the way this letter was sounding, it sounded as if they were planning on marrying her off to this Rosier guy. Celeste knew there was only one thing she could do.

Scare Kai Rosier off.

hey guys! so slughorn's party is next chapter!!
how is she gonna get out of going with kai?
love you all!!
ella