SECURE | REMUS LUPIN

17 ; the embarassments of the wrong bed

She splayed her arms out behind her, expecting to find a similar stack of multiple pillows to the stack that was usually on her own bed, but she instead fell onto one lone pillow. This was Remus' bed.

He was the only of the Marauders that purposefully only used one pillow to sleep on, a habit Katie never quite understood. James, Sirius, and Peter all slept with an unfathomable amount of pillows that it was almost concerning.

As she began to recover from her early grogginess, the smell of chocolate and wood shavings began to make sense, though she'd have thought she would've had that peculiar scent engraved into her mind after her little bout of time with Amortentia.

With the allure of the intoxicating scent that felt more addicting as it entered her nostrils, her brain buzzed in muddy confusion - she wasn't completely sure what had happened after Remus' story of a talking knight prank the Marauders brilliantly pulled off in third year. One minute she was chortling loudly with Remus and the next she was out fast asleep without anything in the world that could've woken her.

"Where's Remus?"

James' mouth was halfway open with an answer playing at his tongue when the door to the washroom opened, emitting a warm steam that smelled of saltwater and pine. Out stepped the answer to her question, sporting pants, an unbuttoned shirt, and damp strands that fell to frame his face. That same unwanted voice in her brain spoke once more, teasing her.

Her eyes unintentionally grazed over his surprisingly well toned chest, not too muscular - Remus always did have a lean build - but defined enough for people who happened to see to notice.

There was a wide range of scarred tissue raking across his chest, ranging wildly in size. A brief memory of claws that had put similar looking scars on her own skin flashed in her mind, but she didn't want to entertain that thought, trying to focus on anything else. I won't be scared of him. I won't.

But they were a hard sight to tear her eyes from. Though they were acquired through some bit of torment, they were beautiful in the way that they were a reminder of just how much he'd gone through. These scars were an essential part of him. She was ashamed that even for a moment she felt fear.

An awkward cough from James slowly pulled her from her thoughts, a subtle reminder that the world continued to move even when she was lost in thought. She thought she had an inkling of what James would think her thoughts were for staring so long and so intently, an amused smile playing at her face.

She cast a half upturned smirk at James' perturbed face. He never did ever get comfortable with the fact that she'd grown up and wasn't the little girl he'd always set out to protect anymore. Even though they weren't technically related, it was in these moments that he felt so much like an older brother to her.

Katie let her eyes meet Remus' again, biting her lip gently to suppress a smile. He looked as if he'd been petrified, a subtle red staining at his neck and cheeks. "I wasn't aware that you'd gotten so fit, where's the scrawny eleven year-old that I remember?"

His head shook and he appeared to come out of his momentary trance. Remus looked down at himself, examining his body. She watched as he opened his mouth, a timid smile playing at his face before closing it again without saying a word. He seemed to think quickly before shrugging nonchalantly.

Katie was reminded of a conversation they'd had their first day back about Remus' inclination to nervous replies, and she knew that he must've been thinking of the same conversation because his next words were an obvious attempt to not appear bashful. "Reckon I've gained muscle having to throw objects at those three for six straight years," he said as he began to stride to his trunk. The sight looked a little unnatural with the way his chest puffed out awkwardly in the way that James usually walked. The posture looked odd on Remus.