{.21. Something there that wasn't there before}
Remus Lupin had never ever thought he would fancy someone. Well, that's a lie he had fancied plenty of people, Sirius, Dorcas, the Muggle girl from his village but he never expected anything to come out of it. However as he saw Alcyone Montague hug her brothers before boarding the train on the first day back he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked.
She had the ends of her hair curled and she was in a blue knitted jumper with a skirt and a pair of ankle boots. She also had a matching headband in her hair, she was laughing with her brother and her father.
Sirius nudged Remus and gave him a wink. Sirius had known for a while that there was something between the two, however Sirius knew that the two of them were so incredibly dense that neither of them would realise they actually liked each other in that way. Sirius had always thought there would be something there and after he had a conversation with Jackson Clarke — Sirius found out he was a seer — he had a very good feeling about Remus and Ally.
Remus looked out and saw Ally hug Toby and Luke in the platform and saw them walk onto the train. He looked at Sirius who was now grinning and threw a wink at him.
"I saw those looks Moony!" He said wagging a finger in his face
"There was no looks Sirius,"
"Oh don't be daft! A blind person—"
"Ok don't discriminate now Padfoot," James interjected
"There was no looks I was just observing Cece and her friends that's all," Remus dismissed
He didn't want his friends knowing about his new found interest in Ally because he knew that they'd tease him silly and he didn't really feel like it was appropriate. He could be good friends with a girl and that was that, the boys knew that Remus wanted to focus on his school work.
There was a knock on their compartment door and Toby, Luke and Ally were standing there.
"Got room for a few strays?" Toby asked
The marauders nodded and moved over, Toby and Luke took the side next to Remus and Peter so Ally squeezed in between James and Sirius. Remus noticed that she was wearing the necklace that the group had collectively bought for her and smiled to himself.
"Hey Pete, did you have a nice holiday? Went to America wasn't it?" Ally asked
She had been told by Sirius and James when she was at the Potter's that Peter had gone on holiday but Ally really couldn't remember where. She had known Remus was visiting them a few days after Christmas. Ally always liked Peter, he was quiet but he was incredibly sweet. He had always helped ally no matter what and she truly hoped that he thought of her like a friend too.
She was sure he did, he must have because he contributed to the present she had around her neck. The more she thought about it the more guilty she had felt for only buying them all a shirt each in a panic buy. She had enlisted Caspian and Wolf's help while they were friends and she even asked Arcturus for his opinion on the shirts she had bought.
She reached into her trunk, standing on the seat, Sirius held his hand on her waist so she didn't fall and the other boys looked anywhere else but at her so they didn't risk accidentally looking up her skirt — none of the boys wanted her to feel uncomfortable. She grabbed the presents and handed them to each boy — yes she had bought a present for Remus again because she didn't want him to feel left out, yes she had included Luke and Toby in this even though she had already given them both presents — she had a smile on her face and sat back down.
"Merry Christmas my loves,"
"Thanks Ally! Yes we went to Florida," Peter grinned
Each boy opened their present and grinned. They all had different coloured shirts that she had thought matched their personality. Sirius had a blue one just because he was always calm but when he showed his emotions they came in waves, James was red because he was incredibly brave and took risks like his life had depended upon it. Peter was white with yellow undertones, she just thought it radiated happy energy. Remus had a beige one, it wasn't like the others but Remus Lupin radiated calm energy and he loved cups of tea and she was pretty sure brown was his favourite colour after the amount of knitted cardigans he wore in that colour.
Toby and Luke both had navy blue ones, they were nothing to do with their personalities, she had just already bought them shirts that represented their personalities and she knew that they didn't have navy blue ones.
"Thanks Al, this is really sweet," Sirius said squeezing her
"Yeah thanks Ally," James agreed squeezing her from the side
"I don't have a yellow shirt! I can wear it when I go to the beach!" Peter squealed
"What about you Moony, like yours?" She asked
Remus snapped his head up, had she known his secret? He looked quickly at James and Sirius who shook their heads and smiled at Ally. He truly did love it, he only had one nice shirt and the fact that Ally had gotten this too was just really thoughtful and he had appreciated it so much.
"Thanks Cece, this is truly brilliant," Remus said with a smile
Ally grinned and set her head on Sirius' shoulder so she could go to sleep. Not knowing the boys would be talking about her the whole way there.
***
Arriving at Hogwarts was always fun, Ally loved the first feast back because she always loved sitting with Toby and just talking while eating food. They also quite often liked to hear Dumbledore's words of wisdom. Usually they were something about not turning to darkness and whatnot.
Ally waved at Reggie over on the Slytherin table and he smiled at her. After everything that happened over Christmas ally had sent regulus letters asking him how he was. He had said he was doing good and was thankful that Ally hadn't judged him for being with her brother. She could never judge Regulus, as she's always said, there was a special place in her heart for him.
Ally was delighted that the first meal back was a roast dinner, she absolutely loved the beef they had on offer. She always had more meat than vegetables and Toby always called her out on it but she didn't care. She absolutely loved meat.
She had also arranged to meet Remus Lupin for a cup of tea tonight. She was honestly looking forward to it but first they had to go to the Hufflepuff common room and discuss Ally's plan of action. It was the first thing that Toby had asked about when they had seen each other at the platform but Ally told him to be quiet in front of her brothers and they'd discuss it in the common room.
After food had finished Toby dragged Ally to the Hufflepuff common room as quickly as possible so they could discuss Ally's new found emotions. Toby was elated. He had never known Alcyone Estella-Nova Montague to actually acknowledge that anyone was handsome let alone ask Toby about how you know if you fancy someone.
"So tell me everything, what was the letter about? Why were you writing to one another? Was there flirting?" He asked
"One question at a time Tobes. The letter was about a Christmas present I gave to him, that's why we were writing and no, well I don't think there was flirting," she said
"And he called you love?"
"Yes he said I'll see you soon love then a comma and a separate line from Remus with a kiss at the end," she said
Toby let out a squeal of excitement causing the younger years that were in the corner to look at him. He just gave them a glare and they turned back to their work.
"Ok so I think he definitely likes you Ally! Like calling you love? And he calls you Cece constantly and you literally only reserve that for your brothers!" Toby teased tickling her sides
"Toby enough! He doesn't like me! I mean he's so handsome Tobes, he wouldn't fancy me and anyway he made it clear that we're friends. He probably called me love in like a friendly way like James or Sirius do,"
"Ally you're so beautifully naive but you have the biggest heart and it would be an injustice if you didn't show Remus Lupin that. Now go and meet that handsome man in the kitchen!" He said squeezing her shoulders and kissing her cheeks
"Wait do I look good?" She asked doing a small twirl
"Beautiful and if you don't go now I'll keep you to myself darling now go you beautiful angel," he cheered "Wait! Do you need me to walk you?" He asked realising she still might feel slightly anxious
"That's ok. I love you and I'll see you later," she said kissing his cheek
She headed to the kitchens with a skip in her step, she was so nervous but she didn't know why. She couldn't wait to truly catch up with Remus because she felt like she hadn't truly spoken to him on the train because in her usual Ally fashion she went to sleep. She waited for a moment outside the kitchen, trying to make sure that she looked beautiful even though she didn't have a mirror. She nodded her head to herself and walked in, she smiled when she saw Remus and Sirius sat there. She hadn't really expected Sirius but she smiled politely anyway and asked Lala for a cup of tea.
"Al, you look beautiful! Doesn't she look stunning Moony?" Sirius asked
Sirius had escorted Moony down to the kitchens because he needed to make sure that they both had quite a flirty tone to their nightly cuppa. Remus looked up and smiled, he knew Ally was in the same clothes as earlier but he just nodded quickly blushing as he stared at the floor.
Ally just smiled and played with the rim of her cup.
"Very pretty Cece," he agreed
"What are you doing here Sirius, joining us on our nightly tea talks are you?" She asked
"Nope, I'm biding my time before I go snog a beautiful sixth year Ravenclaw," he smirked "right see you later, don't be too wild now kiddos," he said kissing Remus' cheek and Ally's cheeks on the way out
The two laughed and went back to being quiet with one another. Remus could smell Ally's perfume quite strongly, the full moon was coming up and his senses began to feel heightened. She smelt of vanilla, Remus hadn't even realised he'd liked the smell of vanilla if he was being honest with himself but it was enchanting.
She smiled at him and took a sip of her tea, she couldn't think of anything to say and the more she overthought it the more weird thoughts arrived in her head. She didn't even know why she was working herself up, she had always been told she was beautiful and she was doubting herself. She knew she shouldn't but she just couldn't help it.
She couldn't help but notice how incredibly cosy Remus looked. His Sandy hair was falling in-front of his face and his cardigan looked extremely soft and ally just wanted to steal it and wear it all to herself.
"I like your cardi," she said, well she blurted it out, Remus even jumped at how loud she had been but again he had heightened senses.
"Oh thank you Cece, speaking of," he reached under the table and grabbed a parcel, it was wrapped in brown paper with a bow "this is for you, it's from me obviously," he stuttered
Ally smiled and pulled the bow apart before she carefully tore the package apart, inside was a beautiful knitted cardigan in a mustard yellow. Ally gasped and lifted it up holding it against her body.
It was like the one that Remus had worn, she smiled to herself and put it on. It completely clashed with whatever else she was wearing but she didn't care. She had always complimented Remus on his cardigans and now she actually had one for herself. She realised she hadn't said anything at all but she grinned at Remus and he raised an eyebrow.
"I love it!" She squealed
The cardigan completely drowned her, Remus asked Hope Lupin to make it slightly bigger for her as he knew she liked the look of Remus' and Remus liked it when she wore his cardigan one time. He smiled at how happy she looked and the cardigan complimented her skin immensely. Hope Lupin truly done an amazing job.
"I'm glad you like it Cece, my mum knitted it," he explained scratching the back of his neck
"Oh Remus, you must let me write to your mum! She's done such a brilliant job, do I look good?" She asked giving a twirl
"It looks lovely, you look lovely Cece, now you won't have to keep stealing mine," he teased
Ally just honestly couldn't believe it, she sat down and drank her tea and just couldn't believe Remus Lupin got his mother to knit Ally a cardigan just because he knew that she liked them? Her heart was fluttering like crazy.
The two continued to drink their tea and make idle chatter, Remus told her all about Hope Lupin's questions about who the jumper was for and she told him everything about what she had found out over the holiday. Remus had been incredibly concerned but she reassured him that she had been safe throughout the entire time and that was all that had mattered to him.
The two started to walk back to the Hufflepuff common room, Remus always walked Ally back first before he headed back to his common room, he was fairly certain that Sirius would be waiting for him when he got back — Sirius was always a gossip.
"So anyway, Wolfy's baby is going to be born June like me and I've changed my mind and decided I'm going to be the best auntie to baby Montague," Ally grinned
Remus loved listening to ally talk about her new niece or nephew, she just always seemed so happy when she spoke about it and it made Remus feel incredibly happy that she was looking forward to something so nice when there wasn't many nice things happening in the outside world.
"It sounds like an exciting time for your family, who do you think he'll make godparents?" Remus asked
"Oh one hundred percent Perseus or Oberon, they're just the closest you know?" She said and Remus nodded understanding that it was the way it was, especially in the marauders, they had a pact so that none of them would ever feel left out.
They arrived at the Hufflepuff common room and Ally stopped and gave him a small smile before she quickly wrapped her arms around his middle as she was far too short to wrap them around anywhere else. Remus was startled to say the least but he wrapped his arms around her and ran a hand through the ends of her hair.
Ally couldn't believe the courage she had summoned and she pulled away after a few moments of savouring being in Remus Lupin's embrace. She pulled away and blushed before she cleared her throat.
"Thank you again for this Remus, I was wondering, urm there's a full moon coming up and I was wondering if you'd like to come and see it with me in the astronomy tower?" She asked
She didn't know what she was doing but the words had come out of her mouth quicker than she had processed them in her brain. Remus frowned and took a step back.
He didn't know how to let the girl down so he just cleared his throat and wiped his hands on his trousers, trying to think of the best way to say that he couldn't but in all his best intentions he blurted out the worst possible thing he ever could.
"I have a date," he spluttered
Ally felt her heart drop to her toes and she just nodded.
"Ok goodnight," she turned around on her toes quickly and smacked the barrels before she ran inside the common room.
Toby sat up from the sofa he was sitting on and Ally frowned, her bottom lip was now trembling. Toby got up and wrapped his arms tightly around her before whispering nice words into her ear.
"I'll kill him," he whispered
Ally didn't know what she had expected, she wasn't really surprised but the feeling of rejection just hurt too much for Ally to ever want to put herself out there again. She would never do it again and walking back to Gryffindor tower, Remus Lupin couldn't believe what he had done all because he was too flustered to think of a proper response.
He arrived back in Gryffindor tower to see Sirius, James and Peter sitting with smirks on their face. Sirius was the first to react by clasping Remus around the back and ushering him to sit down.
They all looked at him expectantly but he kept his focus on his hands as he fiddled with the ends of his jumper. James noticed this was a nervous habit as when he transformed he'd always scratch his paws and his arms. James carefully pulled his hands away from each other so that he didn't hurt himself.
"Oh you didn't," Sirius gasped "you bloody rejected her didn't you!" Sirius groaned
"You're not a bloody mind reader Sirius give the boy a chance," James said
"Chocolate, Moony?" Peter asked, Remus took a chunk and thanked Peter
"She asked me to the astronomy tower to see the full moon..." Remus started "I said I couldn't,"
"So did you reschedule?" Sirius asked
"No... I told her I had a date," Remus was sheepish now and even James groaned in frustration
He had known that the boy was shy and thought he didn't deserve to be with anyone but he had always known Ally was just as shy and scared of rejection. It was something he had picked up on, James just rubbed his hand on Remus' knee and gave a kind smile knowing that he would try and fix things tomorrow because nobody deserved to be happy more than Remus.
***
Unedited
I submitted my diss so got this out on time! I'm so glad that it's out of the way and I can focus on my final two exams before I graduate university.
How are you all doing?
Comment and vote xx