Chapter 22° Smiles and Sighs
oOoOoOo
Remus stepped through the Gryffindor portrait hole, the little but constant smile still plastered on his face. He had just brought Amelia back to her common room, or let's say to the Slytherin portrait hole and went right to his own one after. But it took him quite some time to do so, as he seemed so deep in thought, that his steps were slower than usual. This must be one of the most beautiful and successful days that he has had in a very long time. All these hours with Amelia made his heart melt. She had finally opened up and confided in him a little, even if not completely. But Remus didn't care at the moment. He had learned more about Amelia in the past few hours than in the past few weeks combined. And he found himself very relaxed and understood in her presence. She seemed so closed and mysterious, but there was still so much interesting and extraordinary about it. Perhaps it was exactly this mysterious thing that interested him so much about her, but it wasn't just that. She seemed so lovely and cute, but didn't want everyone to see it. She was so different than he expected her to be in the beginning, not so rude and prejudiced as he expected a Slytherin to be. And there was a lot more to know about her, Remus was sure of that. But he would approach that with slow and careful steps so as not to scare her, now that she finally opened a little to him.
Making his way into the lions cave, he was greeted by red and gold decorations and a warm, homely feeling spread more and more in his body. A look at the couch, the armchair and the small table in the room immediately revealed the point of view of his friends. Peter and Sirius sat on the sofa and played what looked like an exploding snap, while James sat daydreaming in the armchair, his knees crossed. But they seemed to have heard the portrait when it opened, because their eyes were only on Remus. And the dreamy smile on his lips never escaped any of these haunted glances. Even in the silence everyone knew how to interpret this smile and recognize its meaning, they just knew their friend too well for that. The trip went well.
,,Hey." Remus greeted the boys, as he let himself fall onto the sofa, right beside Sirius. He let out a content and satisfied sigh, as he turned to face his friends who were already staring at him.
,,What?" he asked, as none of them seemed to be going to say something or explain their intriguing looks, the smile still not leaving his face.
Peter copied the smile, as he saw the happiness on Remus' face. ,,So the date went well?"
,,Wha- I told you it wasn't a date." Remus denied quickly, not wanting his friends to get any wrong ideas. ,,But you are right. It went really good."
Peter eyed his friends suspiciously but with a smile on his face, he held his hands up in surrender. ,,Whatever you say. I'm glad you two had fun."
,,Okay, cut the bullshit-" Sirius interrupted, grinning at his friend. As cute as this I'm-happy-for-you shit is, there were way more important things. ,,What happened? I want to know everything."
Remus let out a howling laugh at the input and excitement that showed on Sirius' face. But still- ,,Let me repeat, this was not a date, okay Pads? Nothing happened. At least nothing that you're thinking about."
But actually that type of stuff wasn't what Sirius thought about. He knew Remus and that he would never do something on the first date and yet he said that this wasn't even a date. However, Remus was the one who gets really happy about personal things and as he smiled, something must've happened. ,,You have no idea what I'm thinking about, Moony. Come on, tell us what you two did all day long. What has got you smiling like an idiot?"
,,It was nothing special, but if you wanna know. Amelia told me she had never been to hogsmeade before, so I showed her around. After we bought our moonstone, that we needed for the potion, we started talking about books and reading, so I brought her to my favorite bookstore, as I also had to get a book that I ordered, and we spent quite some time in there. After that we went to the three broomsticks and drank a butterbeer, talking about a lot of things."
,,You better have payed for her drink, Rem." Sirius joked, but he didn't doubt it a second. Looks like Remus finally found someone to talk about his stories, he thought, being exceptionally glad. None of the marauders ever seemed to really understand his interest in those kind of things, even Peter, who talked about books sometimes, wasn't able to feel this passion. And if this girl, who made his friend this happy, maybe Sirius would be able to ignore the fact that she was a Slytherin.
Remus smiled. ,,I'm glad to let you know that I did, Pads. Even if she tried to stop me."
,,Looks like you had a really great day." James spoke for the first time since Remus got here. He looked at his friend intently and in great detail, trying to assess the situation. But even if James' heart contracted a little, he had to find that Remus was happy. And that with a Slytherin girl who has shown herself to be very social in the last few days. However, James' fear for his friend's feelings was reduced slightly by the true smile on his face. ,,I'm glad."
Remus' head snapped up, his eyes finding James'. He knew why James hadn't said anything and he didn't expect him to. He knew that James wasn't fond of the idea of him spending time with a Slytherin, but seeing that he maybe was able to accept it warmed Remus' heart.
,,Thanks, James."
oOoOoOo
The sun was shining through the large wooden windows of the Hogwarts library. A slight warmth spread through the golden-yellow light and warmed the students who were trying to learn, read or otherwise pass the time- This included Jaden and Molero, who had been sitting here for an hour and a half, doing their homework together. They also have been correcting their herbology essays for thirty minutes, finally coming to an end.
,,Yeah, I also wrote that too. But I felt like the book was really complicated to read, wasn't it?" Jaden asked, eyeing his essay, before looking over to Molero, who was staring at the book in his hands. Herbs and Plants: The Mystery
,,Kinda. The author made it really difficult for the students to understand the whole background." Mo said, closing his ink pot and the large book cautiously.
,,Whatever. I'm just glad that we're done with that."
However, there was one question, one suspicion that Jay wasn't able to ban out of his mind. It had turned in his head for quite some days now. Mo had acted weirdly and had strangely angry looks on his face, not bothering to explain any. So Jay just decided to ask.
,,Mo, can I ask you something?"
The mentioned looked up and met his friends his eyes with curiosity. It was uncommon for Jay to ask before talking. He normally just did. ,,Sure, what is it?"
Straightening his posture, Jay met his eyes again, before asking carefully. ,,What do you think about Lupin? And his connection to Lia?"
The sudden topic change caught Molero off guard. He was surprised by the question, but couldn't help but feel a little sting in his heart. ,,What do you mean?"
He knows exactly what I mean, Jay thought. ,,I mean, what do you think about them spending time together?" he exerted to specify.
,,Lia can do whatever she wants. And if she wants to spend time with this guy then it's her decision." Mo blocked elusive.
,,I didn't ask about Lia though. I asked about how you feel about it, Mo." Jay knew what the defensive tone in his voice meant that he didn't want to talk about it, but Jay had waited long enough.
Sighing, Mo leaned back and threw his head back. He trusted Jay with everything and he didn't want to start lying now. ,,I don't like him. The marauders are bad news. They made Amelia have a panic attack, even if not intended, they still did."
Jay stayed silent, repeating the words in his head. He knew that Mo was right, but maybe it was different from another point of view. Ever since Amelia started working with Remus, she slowly started changing, even after the rough start of their project. Her smile seemed to come back and even if she couldn't escape her past, she seemed happier than before in the present. Even if it was just a little bit, it was enough for Jay to accept their connection. He just wanted to see his friend happy again. But he also saw the concern and hurt look in Mos eyes. And even if he knew what it meant, it wasn't the right time to ask about it now.
,,You know you can always talk to me, right? About everything." Jay asked, resting his hand on Mo's shoulder, who met his eyes with love.
,,I know. Thank you, Jay."
,,The good times and the bad ones, Mo."
,,Always."
oOoOoOo
After Jay and Mo spent a few more minutes in loving, friendly silence and spiritually swearing allegiance to each other, Jay made his way out of the library. When he risked a look at his watch and saw the time, he remembered the meeting that he had arranged with Amelia two days ago. Lia had promised Jay to help him with ancient runes because he couldn't work with the sign language. Not long ago she offered her help so that the boy could also do his own chores. Lia was happy to give him her solutions if she could help him in class, but she and he knew that he would fail as soon as the exams began. And so he went to the Room of Requirement.
Laurie had discovered this room in fourth year, when Malfoy referred to her as a mudblood. Weeping, the red-haired hufflepuff ran through the stone corridors of the castle in search of refuge for her feelings and thoughts. She passed portraits that looked at her worriedly and offered her an open ear, but Lauretta did not accept any of this. She was looking for solitude to find calm. A room that would take them in without asking questions or chatting them up any further. And so she ran past a large, free stone wall, which ran through the bare and opened to the excess of emotions as a wooden gate. Behind it was a small meadow. It was bright green and shone in the yellow light of the sun. A picnic blanket decorated with flowers lay as light as a feather on the tips of the blades of grass and was equipped with a small picnic basket. In addition, there was no bottom ledge, which was characterized as a lake. Blue, brilliant water billowed in a light breeze from the wind and invited Laurie to peace. And she accepted it thankfully.
When Jaden made his way through the corridors and finally stood in front of the preformed wooden gate, he knew that his friend had already asked to enter. And so he stepped forward and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. He turned and opened the door cautiously, looking around to see if anyone saw him, but couldn't see a single face. He opened the door fully and entered. With his first step he felt calm and relaxed. He found himself in a hushed, quiet room. The walls resembled those of his common room, a dark stone barrier, which was decorated with various tapestries and pictures in different types of brown and blue. A small fireplace provided a source of light through its glowing flames and produced a noise. In addition, there was a large table in the middle of the room that resembled an office. Two chairs stood to the right and left of it, one occupied by Lia.
The girl sat hunched over the many books and parchments and examined the words. She hadn't heard Jaden come in, not even when he sat beside her. Amelia was so deep in thought that she completely ignored her surroundings in order to concentrate on her texts, to really understand the signs and runes.
And so she jumped frightened when suddenly a clear voice rose. But it was certainly not the voice of her beloved friend.
,,What the fuck-"