BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑦.

She had never felt so safe in her life.

But as they pulled apart, none of them had gotten a good look at her from how quickly they had hugged her.

Hollis still had the dark blue and violet bruises all across her neck, as well as the one on her temple. The split in her lip had almost healed, but the dried blood surrounding the break was still very much present. There were several bruises on either side of her cheeks like her face had been hit very hard.

"Hollis?" Remus whispered, heartbroken. "What happened?"

"Did my parents do something?" Sirius asked, his voice venomous.

Hollis shut her eyes and shook her head at both of the boys.

"You're here, I want to focus on that," Hollis said with a slight shake in her voice that none of the Gryffindors had ever heard before. "How the bloody hell did you pull that one off?"

Sirius's severe look at Hollis's injuries softened.

"Moony never threw away the Map," he revealed, smiling at Remus. "The one of Lolchant that we marked while studying for Care of Magical Creatures, you remember?"

Hollis nodded and looked up at Remus with such adoration that those fateful words almost slipped out.

I love you.

Hollis swallowed them and settled for a kiss instead.

He tasted blood and she tasted chocolate.

Sirius coughed dramatically, and James chuckled slightly as Remus and Hollis pulled away from each other with small but sad smiles.

"And your house elf is bloody amazing," Sirius added. "She told us how to get here. Your window, that is."

Hollis felt her heart warm for the house elf.

"And you climbed four stories?" Hollis asked, still trying to get over it. "You're fucking mental."

James brushes some snow out of his hair with a smile.

"Not our fault you live in a place half the size of Hogwarts," he replied with a grin. "If it weren't for Monty, we would have never found you."

Sirius slowly shook his head.

"No, we would have."

Something about the way Sirius said this made Hollis's eyes water gently with salty tears. He knew what it was like, even if not to the extreme Hollis did.

"What happened to your bracelet?" Remus asked with concern.

Hollis's eyes narrowed, and she softly took Remus's wrist. It hadn't taken long for the Slytherin to notice that the dark leather band had become much thinner.

"What happened to yours?"

Sirius was the first one to pull up the sleeve of his light orange sweater to reveal the traces of the burn that still remained.

"Around a week ago, all of our bracelets burned us and a fifth fell off," Sirius said. "We thought-"

He trailed off.

"And then Regulus wrote Remus."

Hollis shut her eyes briefly, remembering that night. Taking a sharp breath in, Hollis opened back her eyelids to try and explain.

"It's a long story, but my mother and father found out about the bracelets," Hollis said.

"You're fucking joking," Remus muttered in horrified disbelief, and James's face had drained of all color.

Trying her best to ignore these reactions, Hollis continued.

"I tried my best to get it back, but at a point, they're much stronger than I am," Hollis said, her voice shuddering slightly. "Unfortunately, one of you said something just then, and.."

Hollis trailed off. It was painful to remember.

"My dad broke it."

"It's metal."

"I'm aware."

There were a few moments of tense silence as the three boys started at the girl with pained expressions.

"Please tell my Regulus's letter was true," Sirius pleaded in a low tone. "Please."

Hollis frowned slightly.

"I don't know what he said," she told them. "He had to leave before our parents got suspicious."

Remus stepped in here, he still had the letter, even though short, always in the back of his mind.

"The bracelet is the only thing capable of being broken," Remus said to Hollis, not breaking his eye contact with her. "Not too reassuring."

Hollis smiled sourly.

"Classic Regulus fashion," she sighed, rubbing her eyes and sitting down on the edge of the window seat. "Where's Peter?"

James frowned at this.

"I dunno, Wormtail hasn't been able to do much of anything this break," James said truthfully. "Bit confusing, usually he won't back off."

Hollis didn't like the sound of that, but she knew that Peter didn't really pose any sort of threat to them, he was too loyal.

Sirius sat down next to Hollis and squinted his eyes at the girl's palms. The scars were now invisible, covered by a new layer of blood. Remus and James noticed this as well, and exchanged a loaded glance.

"Hey," Remus said, pulling Hollis's chin up gently with two fingers so that her eyes were off the floor and looking at him. "We're here."

Remus pressed his forehead against Hollis's.

"I'm here."

Those were the words Hollis had been wishing to here for what felt like months upon months. And it was enough for Hollis. It would be enough forever. As long as Hollis had Remus, she would be fine. Anything would be worth it.

And then footsteps sounded outside her door.

wow this was so cute - might be crying a lil bit and idk why

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