willow───james potter

06 | jade

'Did what?' she murmured distractedly.

'You zoned out. Something on your mind?'

She sighed. 'I wish. There's nothing in my mind - it's quiet. Too quiet, I -' She broke off. 'It doesn't matter.'

Remus tilted his head, a soft understanding flickering in his golden eyes. 'You know, Isla, don't you think it might be better if you talked to someone?'

Her breath caught in her throat. 'No.'

'I know what it's like to have secrets, Isla,' he whispered, voice soft. 'I know what it's like to have them eat you up inside.'

'What do you mean?'

With a sigh, he leaned back on his chair and put his hands behind his head, chestnut streaked hair falling down his forehead in soft curls. 'You haven't noticed how I disappear every full moon?'

Confusion melded with a flicker of comprehension within her mind, the pieces of a fractured puzzle slowly aligning. Thoughts were flickering through her consciousness; sickness, the nickname Moony, absences, hospital wing visits, scars ... it all made sense.

'Remus ...'

'The first few years were terrible. But then Sirius, James and Peter figured it out and now they can help.' He shook his head. 'All I'm saying is that ... sometimes sharing can help you.'

Brushings of snowdust and silver icicles nipped at her hands. 'Not this time. But thanks, Rem.'

'Just ... think about it, okay?'

She sighed, letting her gaze wander over the library. In the corner was a section obscured by shadows, roped off and often guarded by the hawlike eyes of Madame Pince. 'Remus,' she murmured, 'what's in the restricted section?'

He frowned, pausing with his quill hovering over parchment. 'The restricted section? Nothing that interesting - books that are considered too gory or violent, or cover too much Dark Magic that would scare away the first years.'

Isla hummed. 'How do you get to read them?'

'You need a note from a Professor,' Remus said. 'Sirius tried to get one from Minnie so he could hex Snape - it got him three weeks of detention.'

She sighed. 'I can't ask a teacher. Is there any way that I could ... sneak in?'

Remus opened his mouth to reply, but their conversation was cut off by a smooth voice from behind them. Isla put a hand to her head in annoyance as she felt James lean over her shoulder, sending sparks up and down her spine.

'Surely Isla isn't planning on breaking school rules,' he said, voice a tantalising wave of molten lava. 'And you, Prefect, letting her?'

A flicker of irritation burned up the column of her throat. 'Go away, James.'

He didn't. Instead, he pulled out a chair around their small table and leaned forwards, messy scraps of hair falling behind his glasses. There was this tugging sensation lining the bottom of Isla's stomach, this feeling that she couldn't quite define, and it was driving her up the fucking wall.

'So,' he said. 'I hear someone has to get into the Restricted Section?'

She grumbled.

'I could get you in, you know.'

Her chin nestled in the palm of her hand as she turned her unimpressed gaze towards him. 'How?'

'Well, I can't tell you here,' he said, and if Isla wasn't careful, people might start to think that she had a thing for the honey sheen in the boy's eyes. 'Meet me in the common room tonight, and I'll help you out.'