The Marauder Stories: Remus Lupin

Chapter Nineteen: Simply Perfect

Chapter Nineteen

Simply Perfect

           "So... would you mind telling me as to why we need to come home early?" I asked Dominic. He was sitting across me at the library. He asked if he could sit there with me and I agreed, I wanted some answers and his timing as impeccable as always.

Dominic sighed as he rubbed both of his temples with his fingers. "Let me guess," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Laura must've slipped?" I nodded and he sighed once more. "Mum told us not to tell you anything." He set his hand down and opened his eyes. They were ocean blue and were staring right at me. My brother looked exhausted.

          "And I think it would be better off that way," he said. He messily ran a hand through his already tussled hair. The bags under his eyes looked larger than usual. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Whatever was up back at home was adding to his tension, it worried me.

        "It would be best not to bother you with your schoolwork," he went on, "Not with your N.E.W.T.s coming up. You'd want to get decent grades on those blighters, trust me."

       I stared at him for a moment as he went on and about with his work. I felt sorry for my brother. He was Head Boy, Captain of his house's Quidditch Team, and a seventh year. He had to work on the Ball and manage the prefects and all that, formulate Quidditch strategies and hold trainings, do his homework, and then there's this issue about our family which he doesn't want me to know about.

                                               How does he manage to get by all that, even I didn't know.

      "You know Dominic....," I said a bit tentatively, "you could tell me anything." He looked up from his stack of books and sighed once more. It was in that moment that I got a clearer view of his face. Dominic really was under too much stress. He looked... very much unlike himself.

        He gave a wry smile and held onto my hand which he squeezed tightly. "There's nothing to worry about," he told me. "Just don't think about it alright?"

       I just nodded in reply and he gave a tired smile once more. What he asked of me was a tall order but I decided to put the thoughts of it to the back of my mind. I would find out eventually. I was positive that what they were hiding wasn't great, but I knew they were hiding it from me because they knew what was best. And I accepted that. I didn't have much of a choice.

         Dominic sat there with me for a good whole hour. It was when he checked his watch for the first time when he bolted out of his seat. "I gotta, go Charlie," he said hastily as he packed up. "I have a meeting in five minutes and a Quidditch practice to hold afterwards."

         "Oh yeah, sure have fun," I said lamely. Dominic looked up at me and ruffled my hair a bit like he used to when we were kids.

          "I'll see you around, alright?" I nodded and he gave me a smile. "Love you." 

          "Love you too." And he was gone.

                                               Sitting there all alone felt quite good, but I immediately regretted letting Dominic leave when I saw how difficult our Transfiguration homework was. But even if I did ask him to stay, he wouldn't have had because like he said, he had things to do.

                I groaned as I started writing down what I thought would be good enough answers for McGonagall, although I was quite certain that she would burn my paper in front of me if she were given the chance.