𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖘 𝖔𝖓 𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊

20

The sandy haired boy feels himself growing flustered as she rests their conjoined hands on her lap and she begins gently stroking it with her thumb. A satisfied smile creeps onto his face, as he looks over at her face. The brunette is looking up at him, with a soft expression- that rendered him unable to look away. The rest of the world seems to slow down around them as they make eye contact and his heart begins to pound rapidly in his chest.

Even though his past self surely would think him to be a fool, Remus slowly finds himself growing to believe that he actually has a chance with Circe. That she actually likes him. His whole body tenses up when Circe crosses her legs, their hands still remaining on her lap, as she begins rubbing her foot up and down his long, outstretched legs with a cheeky smile on her face. If that wasn't enough to completely turn his face red, then her next action certainly is. The brunette shuffles closer into his side, and with his hand firmly glued to her lap, his arm had no else to go apart from to sit firmly pressed against her chest.

"What are planning on getting, pretty boy?" Circe asks him, the smirk on her face telling him that she knows exactly what she is doing to him.

He shrugs, unsure as to whether his voice would actually work with the current situation they are in. "A butterbeer to drink, but I'm not sure what I'm going to eat yet." Remus tells her.

"I think I'll be having you." She teases, earning a baffled look from the boy. "After all, you are a tall drink of water." Circe explains, which earns her a deep chuckle.

He grins, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Then perhaps I'll have the strawberry shortcake for dessert." Remus tells her, both referring to her red outfit and her small stature. She flushes as his quiet words vibrate through her ear, her whole body shivering in excitement. His attention is focused solely on her, much to her delight, and hers on him.

"Yes, you are particularly short, aren't you?" Sirius laughs, interrupting their little moment, causing Circe to scowl in his direction.

A small smirk slowly creeps onto her face as she comes to a realisation. "You do realise, that with Lily here, that you are part of the shorter half of the group, not in the middle." The brunette informs him, with a wide shit eating grin.

His face drops into one of horror, realising she is in fact right. With Remus being the tallest in the group, then James standing at 5'11 and Lily only a little shorter than her boyfriend, not even by an inch at this point. Even though he is five inches taller than Peter, the second shortest of the group, he is- as she had not so kindly pointed out- by no means one of the tallest in the group. "You're so irritating." He pouts, lacking any kind of witty response to her statement.

"Thank you." Circe responds with a bright smile on her face, which winds only him up even more.

They have their food and wander back out onto the street debating which shop they should go to next. James and Sirius obviously want to go check out the quidditch shop and so the rest of the group gets dragged inside. Afterwards Circe tells them she has to stop by the bookshop for something, which neither Remus nor Lily have any complaints about. To her surprise the whole group comes trailing in, which she supposes will allow her transaction to be a little more discreet with the idiots running around the shop.

She lets go of Remus' hand when they step inside, suddenly missing the tingling feeling his touch had caused. The messy haired boy cheers as there little unspoken competition had finally come to an end and he had won. As everyone begins wandering around the small shop Circe approaches the shopkeeper, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and handing it over to the man. "I was wondering if you have this book in?" The girl asks him quietly, trying not to attract attention.

"I do." The man says, understanding that she is attempting to be discrete. He abandons his post at the till and goes further into the shop, only to reappear a few moments later with a tattered book in hand. "Will that be everything?"

"Yes, thank you." Circe tells him, slipping the large book into her handbag which has an extension charm placed on it. She hands over the money and goes to look for Remus, who is eyeing up the books he had decided not to buy last time. The brunette had already made a mental note to come back and buy them at a later date for him as a Christmas present, but she'd prefer for him not to be here when she does. She is thinking of suggesting a girl's trip to Hogsmeade to either Lily or Addy before the holidays. "Have you found anything you like?" She asks him curiously.

Remus shakes his head, putting the worn book back on a precariously stacked pile of books. "Not today." He replies, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his jumper.

"Hmm, well there's always next time." She says, grabbing his arm and tugging him out of the shop, the rest of the group following them.

James knocks her shoulder slightly as he walks past, an insufferable grin on his face as he looks down at her. Lily tried to tug on his arm, not wanting them to start another fist fight, but her tries are in vain. Circe runs up behind him, jumping in his back and pulling him into a chokehold. "Chokehold's illegal, you arsehole." He insists, trying to remove her arm off from around his neck.

"You're just saying that because I'm winning." She laughs, still not releasing him. James starts spinning around in circles, in an attempt to shake her off from his back- but to no avail. In fact, it only makes things worse for him. The lack of air entering his lungs and dizzying head make him collapse onto the ground in exhaustion.

It goes on like this for a few seconds later before James once again taps out, much to his reluctance. "You've made an enemy of me, Circe Darkwood. Never forget that." James loudly declares, pointing his finger over at the smug looking girl.

"I think I'd like a kiss from pretty boy as my prize." Circe decides, completely ignoring the boy's declaration of war. The girl slips back next to the tall boy, patting one of her cheeks with a finger, signalling where he should kiss.

Remus has no choice, if he wants this madness to end that is. He complies with her request, trying to hide how happy he is with her teasing command. His face is red as he bends down and places a gentle peck on her soft cheek, amused by how much he has to lower himself down even when the girl is on her tiptoes. The tint on his face growing several shades darker as he pulls away. However he is pleased to find that Circe is also blushing just as much as he is- if not more. "You're awfully flustered for someone that flirts with me every chance she gets." He chuckles, lightly brushing over the spot he had kissed with his thumb.

Circe opens her mouth to speak. Then closes it again. Unable to form any kind of response she hides her crimson face into her hands. Where had that just come from? His teasing tone had sent excited shivers running up and down her spine. She almost couldn't believe that those words had just come out of his mouth- if she hadn't seen and heard it herself she probably wouldn't have. Part of her, deep, deep down is grateful that he has self esteem issues because if he teased everyone like that she would be beating of hordes of people with a stick to have a chance with him. However another part of her is shaking in anticipation for this other side of him to fully reveal itself.

If they hadn't had a crowd of people staring at them judgementally beforehand, they certainly have one now. James is loudly complaining about unfair of a fight that had been and Sirius is howling with laughter at Circe's mental breakdown. Peter is somehow trying to calm both of the boys down and Remus is patting the girl's back sympathetically.

Lily, only now noticing the crowd that had formed around their little circus act, sighs. She absolutely detests this kind of attention. "Sirius, take me away in your rocket ship."  The gingers groans.