BLACK MOON ⍋ Remus Lupin

Chapter NinetyNine- Numb.

I walked back into Remus' room and shut the door behind me. This time taking a subtle glance around, instead of staring directly at the floor or into his tired eyes.

He didn't own much. Less eclectic and messy than Peter's room. Though still not super neat.

Three posters hung on a wall: The Rolling Stones, Electric Light Orchestra and Led Zeppelin. All muggle bands I could assume.

A broken laundry basket messily shoved in the corner, full up of socks that needed to be paired up.

A tall stack of books balancing on top of his chest of draws, as he didn't have a bookshelf and an odd cylinder type of glass beside his bed.

"That's a lava lamp. It's green and blue. Its a muggle thing, so..." He mumbled noticing I was beginning to stare at it, obviously looking confused. Correctly guessing I had probably never seen one before.

Green and blue lava inside a lamp? A muggle thing? That sounded a bit far fetched considering they didn't have magic.

He leant over a little, wincing as he did and flicked on the switch; the room that was beginning to get dark was lit up with a soft, pale lighting and the lamp began to form green and blue blobs that grew, stretched and changed inside the lamp. Occasionally making the room feel tinted in the tones of the blobs as they passed wherever the light was coming from inside.

"That's really cool." I said sincerely, though still in a small voice out of awkwardness.

"You don't have to just stand there, you can sit down." He said to me.

I pulled my eyes away from the hypnotic colourful 'lava' and back onto Remus, still wrapped up in his white and grey striped sheets.

I perched on the end of his bed, turning my body to face his. Not feeling as if I could entirely get comfortable.

He let out a sigh as if all this time he had been in deep thought. He probably had been, we hadn't spoken and he probably wasn't as interested in looking around a room that he sleeps in every night, like I was.

"I could have just wanted a weekend alone, unbothered. A bit of time by myself. What if I didn't need your help?" He pitched.

"If you don't , why does it feel like you're trying to hide something?" I said gesturing to the striped sheets. I knew exactly what he was trying to hide. Cuts, bruises, you name it.

In all honesty, it did look relaxing to be cocooned the way he was, but it wasn't cold enough to be. He wasn't resting wrapped in them before I stormed in and he didn't let them fall an inch lower than the bottom of his neck and despite the comfortable look of his duvet, he visibly looked uncomfortable.

"I don't like being topless around people." He said bluntly.

"You've been topless around me." I reminded him.

"And that isn't a normal thing for me to do. I guess it's not dark enough for me to feel comfortable enough for that." He said stubbornly. Raising an eyebrow up at me.

I simply got up and switched the lava lamp off, walked over to his window and drew his curtains. Small amounts of light from the street lamps outside and the glow of a clear summer nights moon, seeped through the gaps in the material.

"It's dark." I said.

"Arty." He sighed, almost as if he was trying not to say it in the tone of a warning.

"I can see you're uncomfortable sitting like that, Remus. If you need me to keep my back turned to you or just leave altogether, that's fine. Just stop pretending you're not in a bit of pain right now." I said beginning to feel annoyed that he wouldn't just let me in. Wouldn't trust me.