selenophile || remus lupin

chapter ninety nine

"Oi! The fuck is your problem?" Remus muttered, his voice deep from sleep.

"The problem is that class starts in twenty minutes, and neither of you are ready for the day," Peter pointed out.

Ophelia opened her eyes and realized she was still in the common room, curled up on Remus' lap.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Time for you to get ready for class," Peter said, looking at the clock. "Nineteen minutes now."

"Shit," Ophelia cursed.

Twenty-five minutes later, Ophelia was sitting in her Transfiguration class, eating a muffin under the desk so that McGonagall couldn't see that she was eating in class. (She saw.)

After her lecture, the class was given time to practice transfiguring a king to a rook. Lily, who was sitting next to Ophelia, charmed hers on her first try, and quickly charmed Ophelia's for her.

"Lil, what was that f-"

"I have something to tell you," Lily said, her eyes wide and bashful.

"...Okay?" Ophelia turned toward her. "What's up?"

"I kissed James."

"You what?" Ophelia shrieked.

"Miss Black!" Professor McGonagall called out.

"Sorry professor!" she turned back towards Lily. "Potter? You kissed James Potter?"

Lily nodded.

"Tell me everything."

"Well, I was woken up by the thunder this morning and I went down to the common room and he was there and I just kind of kissed him. We went to the kitchens afterward and talked for a while. He's taking me on a date next weekend!"

"Oh my Godric, Lil, I'm so excited for you! I can't wait to be your child's godmother."

"Phee!"

"I'm not saying anything you haven't already thought about."

Lily gave her a look as everyone packed their bags and walked out the door. As Ophelia hitched her bag over her shoulder, Remus walked up next to her.

"Hey, love. I have an idea," he grinned down at her.

"I'm listening."

"Let's skip next class."

"And do what?"

"Do you want to go outside?"

"It's pouring outside."

"Exactly."

They dropped their bags off in the common room and raced down the stairs and outside. The storm had stopped, but the rain hadn't let up, so as soon as they were out the doors, droplets of water assaulted them from everywhere. Ophelia just laughed and looked up at the clouds.

"Dance with me," Remus called out over the rain. Ophelia took his hand, and he spun her around a few times. They ran around like a couple of first-years, getting drenched in the downpour.

Raindrops clung to Ophelia's eyelashes and ran down her nose, and Remus kissed her as he twirled the two of them around in the grass, getting their shoes muddy, but they didn't care.

Ophelia looked up at him, the castle towering over behind him, and something inside her said that she could never live without him again. The thought should scare her. It should terrify her. But it didn't. It made her smile.

"What's that dopey grin on your face for?" Remus asked, his face mirroring hers.

"I'm just thinking about you. About us."

"Yeah?"

"About how I never want this to end. This moment. Us. Everything."

"Ophelia," Remus said, his voice almost trembling with a raw honesty. "I'm drowning in you. And I love it. I love you. It's not just a passing feeling; it's a force that I feel deep in my core, in my soul."

Ophelia laughed, a watery laugh that was the only indication of her tears mixed with the rain.

"I love you too," she told him. "Merlin, I love you so much. It's like the whole world disappears when you're around, and it's just us. Do you feel it, too?"

"Of course, I feel it. How could I not? I can't wait to grow old with you. I can't wait to wake up on a random Sunday morning with sunlight shining through the curtains. I can't wait to get out of bed every day and make you a cup of tea while you pull the covers up over your head because you're too tired to get up yet. I can't wait to have a house with you that's so peaceful, a place you'll want to go after a long day of work. It'll have the towels you've folded and the lawn I've mowed, and you won't have flinched in years. I can't wait to watch our children running around our garden, and they'll feel so safe because of you."

"How is it that you make me fall in love with you every time you speak?"

"How is it that you make me fall in love with you every time you walk into a room?"

They looked at each other, the echoes of their confessions getting lost in the rain. Remus tilted her jaw up and pressed his lips to hers.

A chime rang. Once. Twice. Twelve times.

"Oh my Godric, we're late!" Ophelia exclaimed. The pair ran back to the castle, their robes dripping onto the stone floors as they hurried through the corridors to get to their tutoring meeting. They pushed the door open, and Remus pulled her into the classroom but stopped when he saw four pairs of eyes on him. Ophelia bumped into him and slipped slightly on the now wet floor, but Remus caught her and wrapped an arm around her.

"Did you two just go for a swim?" James asked, sitting next to Caliber -- the boy he was currently tutoring -- and another boy that Remus was supposed to start tutoring that day.

"We may have taken a little outing outside," Remus laughed into Ophelia's hair.

Eudora watched them with fondness in her eyes, clearly able to tell their love for each other.

"Sorry we're late, Eudora," Ophelia said.

"It's okay!" she giggled.

"Merlin's beard, we're getting the floor all wet!" Ophelia exclaimed. "It's going to take forever for us to dry!"

"Do you not have magic?" James asked.

"...Right." 

a/n: anotha one