MOONSTRUCK ... r.lupin

chapter twenty-four

One day, in the future, there will be enough versions of this photograph for them all to have. Nate will have three versions. He keeps the polaroid in his wallet, right there at the very front so that whenever he flips it open, he's met with the smiling faces of his best friends. He'll have another in his cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, framed above the fireplace so that his daughters will always grow up with their parents smiling right down at them. And the last one will hang right here in this common room, all nine of them watching the Hufflepuff's grow throughout the years, battling everything thrown at them, forced into a war that they should've finished the first time around.

One day, in the future, it won't feel so harrowing for Nate to stand in this very spot.

The clock chimes one. The ceremony starts in half an hour and most of the parents will already be here or will be arriving soon. They all share looks before nodding. It really is now or never.

If Nate was given the chance, he'd never leave.

Hiro leads the way. They all follow close behind him, hands starting to shake, past the greenhouses overflowing with pretty flowers, through the fire-lit tunnels, and to the stairs at the end of the hall. The ten Slytherins are already gathered there, smoothing down their formalwear before they climb those stairs into the limelight. Their heads turn towards the Hufflepuff's, eyes cool, mouths downturned.

Amalthea's hand slips into Nate's as she presses against his arm. Rabastan Lestrange stands in the very middle of the pack, eyeing her up like some sort of starved lion. She stares back at him like she's the gazelle. He's wearing an emerald, velvet suit over a black shirt. Most of the boys are dressed similarly in varying shades of green and black. Whereas the girls wear an array of dresses in cool silvers, rich greens, heavy blacks. Alecto Carrow even managed to slip into a Grecian style disco dress that clings tightly to her body in shimmering shades of emerald, like a disco ball sitting beneath the murky waters of the Black Lake. She actually looks quite pretty with her honey blonde hair draped delicately in an updo on the back of her head.

The unbearably thick silence is broken when Benjamin steps forward, smiling his toothy grin that apparently makes all the ladies swoon, one hand stretched outwards towards Rabastan. His ginger hair looks almost brown in the low-lit hallways of the dungeon.

"Hey," he greets, voice booming as always. "How 'bout we walk up there together? No rivalry, no hate. Just a bunch of seventh-years graduating together."

Nate can't help but wonder if the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors are having the same conversation. Of course, now he's stuck thinking about Remus. He wonders how good he looks in a suit.

What's he talking about? Of course, he looks good in a suit!

Rabastan's eyes flicker from Amalthea to Benjamin. He smirks, but his hand clasps around Benjamin's slightly more tanned one. "We can do that."

And it is settled. They walk up together, taking up all the space in the corridor as they start to climb the stairs that takes them to the rest of the castle. Amalthea holds Nate's hand all the way, staying at the very back of the group, as far away from her ex as possible. Rabastan doesn't try to get closer. Thankfully.

The higher up they get, the louder the noise becomes. Most of their parents must be here already, waiting to be let in by whichever professor's were stuck on door duty, complaining about having to stand around until their children get here.

The noise only gets louder when they step out into the light. A mother calls out to her son and suddenly, everyone is splitting up, leaving behind their friends to hug the parents that actually came all this way just to see them graduate.