Chapter Twenty-Two
>:)
"Are you sure you are going to be alright for the evening?" Mrs. Legna asked the kids, who were just about to apparate out when they were stopped.
"We'll be fine. I'll have you know, I am an excellent babysitter." Hanna assured their mother. Venus wanted to laugh, considering she knew Hanna would leave as soon as they were out of their mother's view. The carnival wasn't her 'scene' apparently.
"Ana, they will be fine out on their own. You need to learn to let them go." Her husband chimed in.
Ana lightly smacked his chest. "Graham, they go off to boarding school for nine months a year, excuse me for wanting to spend some time with them and make sure they are okay!" She snapped, but quickly composed herself.
"Get us out of here before mum pops a blood vessel." Michael whispered to his older sister, who was the only Legna sibling that knew how to apparate.
Hanna didn't hesitate in grasping her siblings hands and leaving the scene. They had already said goodbye to Sebastian, who was probably still sulking in his room since Mrs. Legna refused to let him come along.
The trio appeared in a nearby alley that was a short walking distance to the carnival entrance, in order to not be seen by any muggles. "Please be careful, and don't die while I'm gone. I'll come back at nine sharp to take us home." The two younger siblings bid her goodbye as the girl apparated away again.
It was a silent walk to the carnival entrance, as no words were exchanged between the pair until they reached the entrance and scoped out the nearby area. "Make sure to stay with your friends the entire time." Michael said to his sister. "I'm sticking by the food area."
"Of course you are." Venus laughed, waving goodbye to her brother in order to find her friends. As she caught sight of Rosie's raven black hair, she gently pushed herself through the crowd to reach her friends.
She was pleasantly surprised to see Marlene, Clare, and Lily there as well. "Hello, everyone!" She greeted the group, excited to finally get to spend some time with everyone outside of school.
"Venus, love of my life how amazing it is to see you on this fine day!" Thea greeted the brunette girl back, with a dopey smile on her face.
Venus's eyebrows shot up in confusion, looking to Rosie for an answer to ger behavior. "I think she's just a little over excited."
'Totally not because Michael is here. Nope, absolutely not.' Rosie snickered to herself.
The group tried to link arms so they wouldn't lose each other in the crowd, and eventually stumbled onto a ring toss game. "You guys are so going down." Clare called out as she payed the booth worker and grabbed her rings. Marlene and Clare went head to head as the others watched the two girls put everything they had into a game of ring toss.
"Dont act cocky now, Pesters. I will destroy you!" Marlene shot back, feeling much happier than she has been in the past few days.
Rosie and Thea stood by Clare, while Venus and Lily stood by Marlene, acting as cheerleaders for their friends who were determined to take the others down.
"I call a rematch!" Marlene yelled out, her competitive side already shining through.
"Why, so you can be beat twice as hard next time?" Clare teased the blonde, who only crossed her arms in response.
Much to Lily's dismay, James and his friends had finally showed up and joined the party. "No need to fight, ladies, the party has arrived." Sirius announced himself, putting his arms around both girl's shoulders. Clare pinched his side, causing the Black boy to yelp in surprise and remove his arms. "Ow!"
Remus laugehd as Sirius walked away from Clare with a light scowl on his face as he clutched his side. "Been here for two minutes and I'm already being abused."
Before Sirius was able to complain anymore than he already was, Venus pointed to another game where you take a mallet and whack the platform to test your strength.
Of course, James and Sirius were boasting about their tremendous strength while the girls rolled their eyes at them. Sirius rolled up his sleeves, taking the mallet from the worker.
"Watch this." Clare whispered to the girls as she glanced around and pulled her wand out of her inside pocket. Lily contemplated telling Clare not to risk using her magic in front of muggles, but telling Clare not to do something is like speaking to a brick wall.
Venus nudged Remus's side to get his attention, as if she didn't always have his attention.
She pointed to where Clare whispered, "Arresto Momentum," and pointed her wand towards the mallet in Sirius's hand as he swung it down, causing the buildup to subside.
When the mallet touched the button, his score ranked 'Pitiful' on the scale, causing laughter to break out between the group of teens.
"This is so rigged!" Sirius complained. He ruffled his hair and passed dropped the mallet out of annoyance.
Venus walked up to the mallet, picking it up and giving a ticket to the worker. She planted her feet and swung the mallet down, this time no spells kept her back, reaching the 'Good Job!' rank.
Everyone laughed when Sirius got upset. Multiple shouts of "This thing is rigged," and "There is no way Venice Lasagna scored higher than me."
"I think you are just too scared to admit you lost to a girl!" Clare countered, standing up for the girl who has stood up for her, making Venus smile.
Of course, Sirius wasn't actually mad, but to say his ego wasn't bruised would be a lie. The teens wondered around the park until they found more games that piqued their interest.
After Sirius's anger subsided, he whispered something in James ear, pointing to where Remus and Venus were playing a game of Skeeball with Peter. James nodded and walked up to Lily, Clare, and Thea, once again whispering and pointing to the pair.
"Wow! Would you look at that! They have a balloon pop game! How... Interesting. Come on Lily." Clare tried to excuse themselves.
"James and I will go with you guys!" Sirius chimed in, quickly leaving,
"Thats odd..." Remus noted when Lily didnt oppose the notion of leaving with James. In fact, they all seemed happy about having to go. Rosie and Marlene awkwardly shuffled away after them, leaving the three confused friends to finishe their skeeball game.
"Dont fret, maybe Lily had a change of heart!" Venus suggested, throwing the skeeball and earning another fifty points, though she too was confused by her friends odd behavior. Remus nodded his head in agreement, though he knew that was far from the truth.
Peter was still the clueless boy he always was, and Venus was still looking for the optimistic option, but Remus being the realistic boy he was knew his friends left with the intention of getting he and Venus alone together.
He shook his head in annoyance, regretting ever telling his friends of his infatuation with the brown-haired Hufflepuff. Instead of being upset, he tried to enjoy the time with Venus and Peter, as they were much more quiet than the rest of the group.
Remus groaned as he missed the hundred point hole, causing Venus to laugh as she earned another ten, bringing their score to 80- 50, with Peter's measly score of 20. "My wrist hurts!" the mousy boy tried to explain as he missed yet another shot.
Venus pumped her hands in the air as the timer ran out and she won the game. Remus didn't even try to pretend to be mad as he saw the huge smile that had dawned onto her face. "You are an excellent opponent, Ms. Legna." He said formally, holding back a grin.
She turned to him, bowing her head as she spoke, "You as well, Mr. Lupin." with the same tone as he used.
"Skeeball is stupid!" Peter whined, taking his single ticket from the booth worker and crossed his arms over his chest. Venus walked over next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be upset. You can always try again another time, Pete. Here, take my tickets and go buy yourself something to eat, you'll feel better." She spoke, handing her friend the tickets she had previously stached away into her purse.
"You know me so well." He turned to walk away, but stopped and faced Venus again. "It's nice to feel appreciated."
Remus took the spot where Peter once stood and faced the girl that has been occupying all of his thoughts recently. "How do you always just know what to say?"
Venus pretended to think for a moment. "Some say its magic." She teased before grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the skeeball booth. "Its just us now, anything special in mind?"
His hand was tingling as it held onto hers tightly. Before he allowed himself to make a complete idiot, a loud voice interrupted him.
"GET YOUR ICY TREAT AT ANDRE'S SWEETHEART ICECREAM STAND!" The voice boomed, along with the ringing of a bell to catch people's attention. The man behind the stand, presumably Andre, glanced at the two kinds, and then their hand which were still connected. "Young love, how sweet to see it bloom. Would you be interested in some icecream?"
Remus blushed as he glanced down to where Venus's hand still held onto his. "Oh no, we aren't actually-"
"Sure!" She cut him off before he could correct the man with the ice cream scooper in hand. Andre looked delighted as the pair walked up to the stand, one looking more confused than the other.
"I know just the flavors for the two of you." He opened his freezer that held all of his flavors, and two cones. "Yellow butterscotch for you, young man, to match her kind attitude. And red cherry for you dear, for his fiery heart." He handed the two their icecream with the kindest smile.
If anyone knew something about true love. it was Andre. His icecream was the best and most wellknown in Glasglow. Venus reached for her wallet, but Remus was not about to let her lay for anything. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.
"I've got it, Venus."
"But Im the one who suggested we get icecream." She reasoned.
"Yes, but I'm not letting you pay."
"But I want to."
"Well too bad, I'm paying." Remus said, trying to maneuver his wallet out of his pocket, when Andre stopped him.
"It's on the house. How can I make a couple pay when their love is so true?" This time Venus blushed a little as she looked to her shoes. They thanked the man and took their ice cream to a bench. Kids ran past them to tey and get to the next carnival game before they had to leave.
"So, dear, how do you enjoy the cherry?" Remus built up any courage that the sweet treat was supplying him.
"The flavour is excellent, honey." Venus laughed along with him, taking another spoonful of the dessert.
He smiled with her as he took a few bites in silence. He enjoyed how their personalities always seemed to match the others. There was never a lull in conversation, as they bounced off one another so well. "Why do you think our friends just took off the way they did?"
Remus stopped the spoon before it could enter his mouth. "I- er, i find it best not to ask. You know how James and Sirius can be." He laughed, scratching the back of his neck.
Venus squinted her eyes at him for a moment, lifting her spoon to point at him as she spoke. "See, I can tell you're lying, but I don't understand why, so I wont ask." She paused for a moment, looking at her green sneakers that were so close to going into the garbage. "I don't mind that they left. I quite like spending time with you, Remus." Her soft voice spoke.
He almost didn't hear her. She wasn't facing him, as she had turned to look at the crowd of people walking by. "Good. I. . . like spending time with you, too?" He unintentionally made it sound like a question.
"Maybe we can do this more often then?"
He nodded slowly, a smile creeping onto his face. "I would not oppose to that." He thought for a moment about how stupid that sentence sounded coming out of his mouth, but his mind was wiped clear when Venus pulled her feet onto the bench to sit facing him.
"Grab my hands." Venus asked, not letting herself wonder why her heartbeat was picking up pace, or why the smile on his face made her want to see it everyday. She wanted to give him another reason to smile.
He looked confused for a moment, but let any sensible part of his mind go as he too pulled his legs up onto the bench, and sat with his legs crossed facing the brunette. She grabbed his hands to that they were lightly interlocked in between them.
"Close your eyes." She instructed. This was something she used to do with her father all the time during their trips. Her father always said it brought him closer to the people around him, and he wanted to share that with his daughter.
So now Venus was sharing it with Remus. He closed his eyes like she said, and once she saw he did, she closed her eyes as well. They sat still for a moment, letting Venus's gentle voice wash away him insecurities, his fears, and his worries. "I think we spend too much of our day trying to analyze everything, every person, every emotion we come across. My dad used to tell me, that once we stop analyzing, and start living is when we finally allow ourselves to be happy."
He stopped seeing the crowds of people walk by. He stopped hearing their voices as they spoke to their friends and family. He just heard the sound of their feet as the crowd walked to their next destination. It was loud, and fast. Almost overwhelming.
It was like it was the first time he realized how fast the world was.
He opened his eyes and looked at the girl in front of him. Her eyes still closed as she took in her surroundings using all of her other senses. Her hands still held his as the smile on her face grew.
He spent so much time analyzing every decision before he did it. Deciding what was good or bad, should he or should he not do it. It wasn't until he met James, Sirius. and Peter that he allowed another part of him to show. A part of him that wanted to stop overanalyzing, and just live!
His eyes flickered to the cherry stained lips, a result from the icecream she had previously had, and decided to stop thinking.
To just live. . .
So he did.
Author's Note:
mwahaha. now cue all the comments screaming.
i may or may not have stolen inspiration from miraculous ladybug, do not judge me.
2569 words
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