Blood Status || Marauders Era

Chapter 48|| Moonlight

It was a Friday night in November, and I was sat by the window seat in the Gryffindor common room, staring at the moon. It had been a busy day of classes in this day, the only exception to a normal day was that Remus was missing. It was the night of the full moon, and he had been missing all day. 

His poor senses were heightened, and he was in a large amount of pain, which was why Madam Pomfrey told us we couldn't see him. It was only now that I knew he had fully transformed somewhere and there was now maybe a werewolf running around the Hogwarts grounds. 

There had been more thought on the Animagus theory that we had been plotting, and now it was a mere challenge of collecting the ingredients and making the potion. Peter and James had wanted to finish it at least by fifth year, Sirius placing his bet on this year, and Remus telling us that we should never be making it anyway.

I heard a noise by the boys dormitories and I looked over and saw, in the light of the moon, that someone was walking towards me. That somebody sat down next to me and smiled up at the moon, leaning on the side of the wall. "It's a blessing and a curse, the full moon, isn't it?" he asked me. 

I looked over at him, his voice was soft and quiet, and he was staring down now into the grounds, just like I was doing, "I hope he's alright, and you too, I didn't want you to be lonely down here."

Peter continued to stare ahead into the grounds and looked down with a distant expression, even while I glanced at him as he spoke. It was a beautiful and a scary sight, mainly why I liked the night better than the day, as well as it being much more peaceful. The moon was bright, almost like it was guiding everyone to sleep, the stars were the backing singers, shining too, but always smaller than the moon.

I decided to break the silence, "The moon is gorgeous isn't it? Everyone may be asleep, not noticing, but I think it's more valuable than the sun, as it gives off our only light in the darkness." Peter tore his gaze towards my face and he nodded and spoke quietly, "It reminds me of someone I know." I looked over at him, only to see him turning his head away and towards the window once more.

Peter's dirty blonde hair was a lot lighter in the moonlight, it shone almost, and his eyes were a sharp, gently observant blue, and all they did was stared into the abyss. I felt like speaking, but didn't want to interrupt the tranquil atmosphere, then suddenly, it was broken. Peter spoke up, "Remus doesn't like it." 

I fixed my gaze on him and waited for him to elaborate, Remus didn't like a lot of things. Remus didn't like sharing, Remus didn't like polyester clothing, Remus didn't like the colour orange. Peter said, "The Animagus thing we're doing, he's against it, strongly against it."

I sighed, looking wistful, "Well, that covers it then. If Remus doesn't like it, no one can, we'll have to call it off." The boy looked at me in surprise before I shook my head, "I'm being sarcastic Peter. Honestly, can you try and have your own mind for once, and just, not rely on others. You don't have to go along with everything said, or be forced into something just because someone said so. Think about that, for me." 

The blue eyed boy contemplated my words, I knew it was about more than sarcasm, it was about the fact that Peter was a follower, and not a leader. And that was fine, but it would definitely get him into trouble at least once. He then looked at me.

He murmured, "For you, I'd walk to the ends of the Earth." I just wish I'd heard it. 

I turned to him, "What did you say?" He focused back on the Hogwarts grounds, gazing at a hoard of trees, "Nothing." I believed him. 

The common room fell back into silence, the only sounds being heard was that of the crackling, dying out fire, and the occasional howl of the wind. Then, we both heard something, a noise that made us both look at each other, worried. It was a wolf.

"Do you think-?" Peter started. I didn't even need to answer as I just nodded. We were both sure that was Remus, a very pained Remus, and it seemed to seal the deal with Peter as he said, "In the morning, I'm telling the boys to go ahead with the plan. Get some sleep, goodnight Athena." I said goodnight and watched him up the boy's stairs. 

As his back vanished from sight, I took a deep breath, looked out into the grounds one last time and turned away for the night.

I went up the girl's dormitory steps and up to bed, not even realising for one minute that Peter had just sat next to me in my yellow pyjamas. As I laid in bed, I heard a noise from my right, and then from my left, and suddenly the whole room seemed to be moving. "Was you with Gideon?" A voice asked me from my left side. 

I sat up quickly and whispered harshly, "Why are you up Marlene?" I heard movement from in front of me, and heard Lily's voice say, "We all are. So now answer Marls' question."

A light turned on from the direction of Alice and I blinked in the sudden brightness, "No, if you must know, I was with Peter." I heard Mary cough and then ask, "Did you say Peter? Like, Pettigrew?" I frowned and looked at the dark brown haired girl who was blinking, eyebrows raised. 

I answered her slowly, "Yes, and what is wrong with that? Peter is a friend, a good friend, I came down to sit by myself in the common room and he happened to be down there too."

I heard a snigger from Marlene and as I looked to my left, I saw the blonde girl smiling, she said, "We all know about Peter, there's no use in hiding it Athena." I pulled my face back, confused, I had no idea what they were talking about, maybe I was oblivious, or maybe they were making it up. 

Lily said, "Even I've noticed, Athena. Peter has a crush on you, let him down gently.. if you are going to, of course." I was surprised to say the least, it was the first I'd heard of this.

"You really didn't know did you?" Aafiya asked slowly, sitting up in bed. I quickly glanced at her as the corners of her mouth quirked upwards, "It is painstakingly obvious if you look into the details and the fine print. I tend to observe people, and I've noticed that he looks at you every few minutes in Transfiguration as he is next to you and I am behind, I've noticed he always hurries to walk next to you walking up to the common room-"

Alice laughed, "I wish someone noticed things about me, Frank found out when my birthday was yesterday even though I told him five times last year, and twice in September." Aafiya smiled and said, "I do Alice, I notice you turn red when you talk in Potions, but only Potions, I notice then when someone brings up Fortescue's ice cream you tend to get annoyed, and when Lily forgets to walk with you to the library you mutter to yourself." 

Alice turned red as Lily apologised to her.

Marlene sighed, "Can you expose me then while you're at it?" Aafiya nodded her head, "You're mysterious, tend not to show too many emotions or anything obvious, but I do notice that your favourite lipstick is the one in the silver tube. and you love having your hair curly even though it's naturally straight, and you glance at this certain Ravenclaw every lunch on Friday because they sit in front of you." 

The blonde chuckled, "Guess I asked for that."

Lily decided to round everyone up and get everyone to go to bed, soon, the lights were off, everyone laid down in bed and there was a lot less movement coming from everyone. Suddenly, there was a whisper in the darkness, and Aafiya said, "Athena, you don't let many people call you a nickname, but also, when he has someone else around him, you tend to stare at-" 

I coughed, "Thank you Aafiya."

I closed my eyes and finally there was silence, everyone was asleep in a small manner of ten minutes, well, I assumed so, as there was only the sounds of the wind and the trees blowing in the wind on the outside. There was the occasional animal making a noise or an owl flying past the window, hooting. 

One thing I did hear out of the ordinary of a normal night was a painful sound, one that made my stomach drop, a mix between a howl and a scream. I thought back to my conversation with Peter and the parts that I hadn't heard, I still couldn't make it out now. It sounded awfully like something about me or something to me but I couldn't be sure. 

And Lily was right, if what the girls said was true and Peter did feel something stronger than friendship, I would have to let him down gently. It was a shame, and I was half hoping that, for the sake of awkwardness, he would never confess to any of those feelings.