THE WOLVES | R.L.

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter 13

"Thanks so much for that," Remus spluttered as he climbed out of the Lake.

Ardelle cast him an irritated look and said, "You deserved it."

"What did I do wrong?"

"You're a stupid, selfless Gryffindor who doesn't accept other people's kindness." Ardelle sniffed, "I gave you kindness, and you just want to give it back to me. Don't you know it's rude to return gifts to the gifter?"

Remus shook the water out of his hair and said, "That's...a different way of putting my intentions."

Ardelle scoffed, "Uh, yeah. Anyway, give yourself some credit. You're a good person, and just accept that people want to be nice to you, okay?"

"Fine, fine." Remus sighed, before pulling his wand out of his drenched robe pocket and muttered a spell to dry himself.

He got to his feet, his clothes no longer dripping with water.

"I'm no longer in the mood to sitting beside the lake now, Ardie," Remus said, "Erm, you sort of ruined the peacefulness of it."

"Good." That was all Ardelle said before she turned and strode back to the castle, casting only one look back towards Remus to signal him to follow her.

With a groan, he quickly gathered his things into his bag and rushed to follow Ardelle.

That girl...Remus swore that she was too good for him.

***

"Jamesie!" Ardelle said, pulling James into a hug.

James took in Remus, "Why're your clothes messed up and your hair all messed up?"

"Um, yeah, our dear Ardie," Remus slung an arm around said girl, "decided to shove me into the lake."

Sirius and James both gave Ardelle incredulous looks, and Ardelle raised her eyebrows.

"What? He deserved it!" Ardelle said defensively.

"I'd say not to question her," Sirius said after a moment.

"See, at least one of you are logical," Ardelle said with a smirk in Sirius' direction as she pushed Remus' arm off her shoulder and strode to stand beside Sirius.

Remus frowned, "Did you just call Sirius logical?"

Ardelle and Sirius both scowled at him, and they looked so alike in that moment they could've been mistaken for siblings.

But then James took Ardelle's hand and pulled her to his side—and there—they were the twins.

Not Sirius and Ardelle.

James and Ardelle were the twins—the Potter Twins.

Even though James and Ardelle Potter looked quite different, they shared many similar traits.

Their smiles were the same, and their eyes were the same shape.

The dorm was empty save for the four of them—and Ardelle asked with a tone of distaste, "Where is Pettigrew?"

James shrugged, "He's somewhere."

"Or nowhere," Sirius suggested.

"Yeah," Remus said dryly, "But he's somewhere."

Anybody who didn't know Remus like Ardelle did would've just mistook Remus' expression for wry humour and sarcasm, but Ardelle saw beneath that.

She saw the sadness that he felt about Peter not being around them anymore—she saw the pain that Remus felt about Peter vanishing all the time and refusing to help him with the Full Moon even though Remus liked to smother his feelings.

Ardelle offered him a smile of understanding, and Remus just gave her a weak one back.

"Indeed," James said, before lowering his voice, "By the way...did Dumbledore ask you to join the Order of the Phoenix? Both of you?"

"Yeah," Ardelle answered, and Remus nodded in agreement.

"Did you—,"

"We both accepted," Remus said, cutting Sirius off.

"Yeah, Lils, Sirius, Marlene and I also accepted," James said quietly, "I don't know about Peter, though. He hasn't been around much at all."

"I heard Frank Longbottom was joining, too," Ardelle said, "And Alice, as well. It's going to be great!"

"Yeah," Remus said half-heartedly.

"Hey, hey," Ardelle said softly, meeting his eyes, "Don't be so negative about this. It's the future—we already know that we have dark times ahead of us. But at least we'll all have each other, right?"

Sirius said, "Yeah. We'll always have each other."

They met each other's eyes and the four of them said quietly—in a quiet, vow that all of them understood:

"Always."

Author's Note:

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