GOSSIP GIRL. ( remus lupin )

ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ᴛʀᴏɪs

        ESTELLE WOKE UP late the following morning. The girl jolted up from the comfy bed, glancing around ━ all of her dorm mates were already gone and probably on their way to classes. The girl scowled, picking up her uniform in a hurry and entering the bathroom.

Estelle's nose twitched as the smell of pineapple shampoo filled her nostrils ━ she was certainly not a fan of the exotic fruit. Shaking her head and ignoring the gross smell, she took the quickest shower (if there was a world record for that━she had just beat it, for sure) and jumped into her uniform. Messily tightening the blue tie, swiftly buttoning her shirt and tucking it inside the skirt.

Estelle charmed a brush to go through her long locks as she brushed her teeth in the biggest hurry. What good were dorm mates if they didn't even wake you up? Morons, absolute morons; she was quite positive Lily would have woken her up.

The brush fell to the ground with a thud as soon as the charm wore off. Estelle didn't bother pick up, instead ran for her school bag and shoved in her books and quill. In an instant, the Devereaux girl was out of her dorm, hurrying down the steps.

She barely caught glance of a few fourth years huddled together around a, from what she saw, a Charms book. Estelle paid them no mind, glancing sideways at the clock on the wall ━ the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson had begun ten minutes ago. Professor Merrythought certainly wouldn't be happy. In less than four steps, she was out of the common room, running down the corridor of the fifth floor.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was situated on the third floor in the Serpentine Corridor. The walk towards that part of the castle usually took ten minutes, but somehow, it had only been five when the girl stepped foot on the marble of the third floor.

Estelle felt out of breath despite being on her house's Quidditch team. She took a few extra seconds, resting her palms on her knees, to breath in and out and hopefully, get rid of the redness on her cheeks.

She straightened her posture, walking a little bit slower. However, the sound of another pair of shoes pattering against the floor made her whip her head back and squint her eyes. At an equally slow pace, Remus Lupin was making his way towards the same class.

He had his shoulders slumped down, his hair was a mess, sticking up in multiple places much like James Potter's hair and, he simply looked tired. For a mere second, Estelle felt guilt but in the next, the feeling went just as quick as it came.

The girl froze as soon as his eyes were locked on hers ━ what was she supposed to do now? Wait for him to catch up or was she supposed to continue her merry way, arriving before him? She preferred the latter.

But that question was quickly answered due to the boy fastening his own pace to catch up to her. The two did nothing but nod in each other's direction and force a smile, and then glance swiftly in front.

Awkwardness certainly was an understatement. Questions filled Estelle's mind ━ he most likely saw the letter because he was not blind, but why was he alone and late?

Remus sighed, stepping in front of her for a mere second. Estelle blinked and frowned to herself but quickly adopted a neutral look, realizing what he was trying to do ━ open the door for her. Estelle thanked him silently, cursing internally as soon as the lesson was stopped due to them interrupting it. She stepped inside, followed by Remus and the sound of the door being closed.

The daughter of Galatea Merrythought tore her gaze from the class.

"Ah ━" Merrythought raised her eyes from the text book to glance at them over her semi-lunar glasses, "Devereaux and Lupin, nice of you to finally join us." The two teens opened their mouth at the same time.