CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦.

"It was an act, remember?" James muttered so that only Remus could hear him, knowing exactly what, or when his friend was thinking of. "That kiss meant nothing to her."

"Yea," Remus replied in a just as low tone. "Yea, I know."

He didn't.

"Can you blame her?" Sirius asked, sensing the dark place this conversation was going if he didn't bring it up quickly. "He was her only friend in Slytherin, or only real one, at least."

"That's true," James said, glancing nervously at Remus's hardening expression. "But he also caused her a lot of pain."

"You can miss someone whose caused you pain," Peter said, as if from personal experience. "It just makes it hurt even more."

"She blames herself," Remus said, staring down at the carpet between his socks. "That's why she feels so guilty. Regulus killed Evans for her, and she feels like its her fault that he had to do that. It doesn't make any sense, but I understand where she's coming from."

The other three boys looked at Remus in surprise at how accurate his dissection seemed to be.

"You know her really well," Peter said with barely controlled envy in his tone. "It's like you two can read each other's minds."

There were a few more moments of silence before James said what they were all thinking.

"Do you think she's going to try and do something stupid?" the Potter asked with furrowed eyebrows and hands fidgeting. 

"Like try and find him?" Remus clarified, knowing where his friend was going with this. "Nah, she wouldn't."

None of them thought of the possibility Regulus might find Hollis first.

.‌｡‌*‌ﾟ‌+.*.‌｡‌　‌　‌　‌ﾟ‌+..‌｡‌*‌ﾟ‌+‌ ‌

Hollis made a beeline towards the Slytherin dormitories, one very clear idea in her mind.

If Regulus had left so abruptly, the boy simply had to have left something behind in his room.

"Pureblood," Hollis said clearly, and the door to the common room flew open silently on its polished silver hinges. "Merlin, I hate these passwords."

Clutching her wand subtely in her robes, Hollis climbed up the stairs to the seventh year boys dormitories that Regulus, Evans, and Roldolphus had occuiped the previous year, among others.

To her immense relief, the room full of five beds was empty when she stepped inside. With a much less pleasnet sensation, Hollis smelled Theodore's cologne and winced slightly at the hazy memories associated with the sharp smell.

Only four of the five had things laying on them, though, missing one person because Lucius now slept in the Head Boy's room. The only small dresser with items not on it was against the very back corner of the room, one that Hollis assumed had belonged to Regulus after he had talked about being able to have more privacy.

Her heart beating quickly, Hollis walked over as quietly as she could to the dresser and opened up the top drawer, only to see that it was empty. She sighed every time as the rectangles revealed themselves to be empty except for a few stray particles of dust every time she pulled it open.

Frowning deeply, Hollis looked over to his bedside table and opening the tiny drawer installed there.

Inside was a thin silver chain that she had seen Regulus wear on many occasions, the one with a tiny pendant of a serpent on the end.

Hollis picked it up, and fastened it around her neck with nimble fingers. After tucking it underneath her shirt, she turned to leave.

And Theodore was leaning against the doorframe, smoking a cigarette lazily as he watched her.