NOTHING GIRL || Remus Lupin

-Twenty Seven: The Night's Calling-

"Meet us there at eleven they said. We have something to tell you they said."

Remus's mutterings were swallowed by the still night air that had descended like a cloak around him after his departure from the luminous-whale-lit Astronomy Tower. James and Sirius were fifteen minutes late.

It felt annoying, like a clawing at his fingertips, to know that he could've still been up on the roof with Helia, to know that he hadn't had to walk-jog through the corridors, barely checking for teachers lurking around the corner, down to Great Hall. He didn't like the night when he was in it alone, and he didn't like the way that gargoyle was looking at him.

It may seem ironic, that a werewolf would fear the dark, but it made more sense the more you thought about it, and Remus didn't care​ and enough about opinions to try explaining.

"Stupid animagus, making me stand in the cold." The muttering made Remus feel better. So he said it again, this time replacing the words 'stupid' and 'animagus' with a few choice ones that you would definitely not find in the kind of dictionary that children could get their hands on.

"Those are some very intense emotions, Moony." James said, appearing out of the shadows with a grin as he uncurled the invisibility cloak from around his shoulders, grinning maniacally. "Sure you don't want to talk them out?"

Remus glared at him, not really meaning it. "How long have you been there?" He asked suspiciously.

"Long enough to know what you really think of me." James said, mock hurt. Remus shook his head, relaxing into an easy grin. "Honestly, I'm scarred. Emotionally scarred. I'm going to have to attend therapy after this."

"Mmm Hmm." Remus smiled, and then it dropped "How's Evans?"

"Threatening to run away and burn down Voldemort herself." James said, sounding torn between pride and concern.

"She could do it too." Remus acknowledged.

James nodded, smiling. Then he stopped smiling and ran a hand through his hair. Then he glanced suspiciously up and down the corridor. Remus frowned.

"Where's Padfoot?"

James beckoned to Remus with a wave of his hand, lifting the invisibility cloak. "He'll meet us there."

Remus's frown deepened. "Where?"

But James didn't answer, only disappeared into the shadows with a swish of the invisibility cloak, letting his soft footsteps lead Remus down the hall.

...........

"What? Don't look at me like that."

Derek gave another circle. He seemed unsettled about something. Perhaps the fact that as a magestic creature of the deep, he had been nicknamed 'Derek'.   Truth be told, Helia didn't know if he was sentient, or whether he understood her, or how much he knew about how the world worked. The charm had never done this before.

Derek slowly descended from the heavens and nuzzled into her arm. His nose (do whales have noses?) felt like a breath of warm air against her skin. Up close the animal appeared to be made out of a thousand tiny blue firecrackers, woven together to form a giant tapestry of whaleness.

She sighed, and reached out a hand to run it along his head, even though technically he was just coloured air. She tipped her head back and looked at the sky, at the bright watercolour white rips across it's great inky canvas.

"Well," she muttered, smiling sadly at Derek "The stars can stay up there and not give a shit about us, but this whale is pretty cool."

Helia did, as it turned out, have a quote for everything.