Crossroads | Marauders

Chapter 11: Starry Night

— 𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟒

        By the time you had come back to Hogwarts from the holidays, it was like nothing had happened between you and Sirius. It was awkward at first, but the two of you had quickly gotten over it, especially when you had to get back to studying if you were to help the Marauders become Animagi.

        And you were relieved — for the most part. Just because Sirius had gotten back to talking up with the girls who admired him, and you, nose deep in the pages of your books, it didn't mean you had somehow stopped thinking about him.

        Occasionally, you had to stop yourself from staring at him from across the room for too long. He was one of your best friends. That's why you had to mentally remind yourself that this was Sirius — the boy who revelled in every girl's attention. You'd be no different, and you didn't want that.

        However, it didn't help when on one particular day, every girl in your year had it extremely bad for the Marauders: Valentine's day.

        For most of the day, you completely detached yourself from the boys, not wanting to get the middle of the human stampede. While Lily, Marlene, and even Severus had a few admirers approaching them, you spent your time in the library, continuing to study the complicated recipe to brew the Animagus potion. After hours of staring at the same pages and a mountain of piled textbooks, you headed back to your dorm room in hopes of letting the nauseating day come to an early end.

        By the time you enter the room, you see Lily and Marlene greet you with a smirk on their faces. Indulging them, they point to your bed where a note laid atop the fresh bed sheets. It was from Remus, writing to meet you at the top of the Astronomy Tower tonight. You sighed, hoping to get some early rest — then again, you didn't really want to sleep anyway. Eventually, curiosity took the better of you and you left the room, ignoring the giggles from the two girls.

        Once you were able to sneak through the halls and quietly run up the tower, you spot Remus who sat on the floor by the balcony, his head leaning against the stone wall. An open book was placed over his eyes, allowing its knowledge to press gently against his eyelids. The floorboards creaked under your weight as you crossed the room.

        And the air grew thick with tenderness that couldn't help but make him smile — he knew, even without taking the book out from his face, that it was you. Only you had this effect on him.

        "Hiding out from your admirers?" You joked, stepping in front of him.

        "Don't blow my cover." Remus quickly says, bringing his neck upright and letting the book fall onto his lap with a light thud.

        You chuckled, looking around the dark bare room that was softly lit by the moonlight that shone through the stone archways, "And here I thought you had something extravagant arranged for me."

        "Just thought we could hang out somewhere else besides the lake." He shrugged his shoulders, placing the book onto the empty space beside him, and gestured to the floor where he sat next to the tower's end, "Lie down on the edge with me."

        "Are you sure?" You nervously ask, mostly for yourself.

        "Don't tell me a swan that flies is scared of heights?" He challenged with a smirk, laying flat on his back and positioning himself towards the edge of the balcony to let his legs dangle in the cool Winter night, "Come on, I've been studying up on my Astronomy too."

        Wrapping your fleece coat tighter around your body, you slowly lay beside Remus on the cold wooden floor, letting your own legs drop to the edge as you looked up at the star filled evening sky. And then Remus goes on to point up at the stars, explaining each constellation like he's seen them all before.

        Your favorite however, was Orion, outlined by four bright stars at the corners of an imaginary trapezoid, and in between them, a pattern of three stars at an angle — Orion's Belt. A constellation, who'd witnessed centuries and millennia just the same by others, watched over this tiny moment.

        "How'd you know all this?" You whisper, tilting your head to see Remus' eyes reflected back from the moonlight, filled with awe.

        "Mum's old Muggle books." He answers, leaning to the side to stretch his arm out and grab the book he had earlier, "They're pretty interesting."

        "Why haven't I seen this before?" You ask, inspecting as you grabbed it from him.

        He shrugs, "Found it in the attic last summer."

        You only hum in reply, placing the book to your side to view the night sky once again. You curiously tilt your head as you stare hard at the constellation, you raise up a hand to point upwards, and mentally draw a line through Orion's Belt, extending a line toward the horizon — and then you spot Sirius, the sky's brightest star. 

        "Remus, have you... kissed anyone yet?" You blurt out, suddenly feeling the warmth that rose up your cheeks, realising what you just asked.

        You had no idea what suddenly possessed you to ask something as intimate as that, and then almost instantaneously, you recalled the close encounter you had with Sirius two months ago. You mentally scold yourself at the image of his lips a breath away from yours, and cursing his parents for naming him after a bloody star. Your muscles tensed, your gaze fixed up at the sky, unable to look at Remus as you felt your face grow hot against the cool air.

        He stammered, almost flustered, "I—No. Why do you ask?"

        "No reason. Just curious." You reply as calmly as you could, steading your ragged breathing.

        And then you were both silent. Unsure how to further continue the awkward conversation. You and Remus had known each other since you were babies, talked about anything and everything. You trusted each other without fear or judgement, yet why was a specific simple question be the one thing that would be so difficult? Utterly embarrassed, you wanted to floor to swallow you up.

        After a moment, Remus swallows hard, "Have you?" Surprised, you turn your head to finally face him, he nervously adds, "Kissed anyone."

        "No." You simply say, slightly shaking your head.

        Staring back into his emerald eyes, it was like something clicked in your chest, in your head — something that's always been there but kept hidden for so long. You couldn't say anything else, unable to find the voice stuck inside your throat. You only stared at Remus, his strong lines of his face so close to yours.

        Your eyes wander to his lips for one tantalising second, feeling the warmth of his breath as it escaped his half-open mouth. The moonlight had painted him in a shade of silver, making the air crackling with possibility. 

        Without hesitation, without thinking, you closed the space between the two of you and fluttered your eyes shut as you gently placed a cold hand on his warm cheek, and kissed him.

Mischief Managed