✧･ ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Lily watched Genevieve impatiently bounce her leg up and down with narrowed and curious eyes. Ever since Genevieve had sat down at the table she had been either bouncing her leg or fiddling with the butterfly necklace around her neck. Her eyes hadn't so much as glimpsed away from the entrance to the Great Hall either.
"What's got you so worked up?" Lily asked finally after she realised Genevieve wouldn't be stopping any time soon.
Genevieve kept her eyes on the entrance as she replied, "Nothing."
Lily's face curved into a frown as she bit down on the inside of her cheek. Looking down the table, she realised that the usual boisterous gang of four hadn't yet seated themselves. No wonder it was so quiet today. "Waiting for your knights in shining armour?" she chuckled while picking up a slice of toast.
"They're not my knights in shining armour," Genevieve snorted. "If anything I'm their knight."
"So does that mean you're waiting for them?" Lily repeated herself, buttering the toast before sliding it onto Genevieve's empty plate. She had a feeling that Genevieve had forgotten food was a thing.
Genevieve nodded and picked up the toast with her eyes still focused on the entrance. "This is really good," Genevieve hummed in approval as she bit into it. "Yeah, I'm waiting for them."
"How come they're not here?"
Genevieve stopped chewing her toast momentarily. "Well you see, Lily, our good friend Remus is secretly a werewolf. Big shocker— I know. Anyways, tonight he grows fur and massive teeth which is totally cool but not cool at the same time, so he's struggling right now. Imagine trying to get a werewolf out of bed on the day of transformation— that's why they're not here. Remus has probably annihilated them by now for trying to take away his blanket. "
But Genevieve didn't say any of that.
Instead, she finally detached her eyes from the entrance and looked at Lily. "Remus refuses to get out of bed sometimes and the boys didn't want to hold me up," she shrugged before taking a bite out of her crumpet.
"I see," Lily said, "The opposite of you then."
"Only on his rough days," mumbled Genevieve.
The sound of footsteps approaching the Gryffindor table alerted Genevieve. She looked over in the direction of them, catching sight of James, Sirius, Peter and yet no Remus.
"Looks like they were defeated," Lily pointed out before turning to converse with Alice.
With their faces hanging in disappointed frowns, they all sat in the spot that Genevieve had preserved next to her. They all looked exhausted to say the least.
"No luck?" Genevieve asked, her eyebrows pulling together.
"Today just isn't his day," James shrugged as he groggily ran a hand through his hair.
"You look exhausted."
"I am. We all are," James admitted. "Remus was having nightmares all night so last night was pretty bad in the sleep department."
"He wasn't too bad though, right?" Genevieve asked, mentally hoping her tone of voice didn't sound too panicked.
She noticed the way that Sirius instantly reached into his robe and fumbled for his box of cigarettes like he was desperately in need for one. A father who had just came home from a long day at work would do the same thing, a girl who was trying to imitate Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's would do the same thing, a silly teenage boy who wanted to impress everyone around him would do the same thing— she noticed he was as desperate as they were for a cigarette. He offered them a quick 'excuse me' before going to have it outside (he didn't want to get told of by McGonagall for using a goblet as an ashtray again).
"Today's probably his worst day yet," Peter told her solemnly, his usual soft and blue eyes turning sad and dull.
Now she understood why Sirius needed that cigarette.
"He's pretty weak and it hurts him to move. We had to get Madam Pomfrey to come to the dormitory to take him to the Hospital Wing because it hurt him that much."
Genevieve's leg stopped bouncing.
"Is he allowed visitors?"
"I mean, yeah, but I wouldn't recommend it," James shrugged as he bit into a banana, "When he's not sleeping he's probably going to be more snappy than usual all day."
"What do you mean by 'more snappy than usual'?"
"Bitchier than James when Puddlemere doesn't win a match," Sirius stated cheekily, joining the conversation and sitting back down after his cigarette.
"Which is rarely because Puddlemere United will forever be the most superior Quidditch team to ever exist."
"I'll second you on that," Sirius agreed as they clinked their goblets full of pumpkin juice together.
"Liar," Genevieve countered. "The Holyhead Harpies have got to be the best team out there. I mean, it's an all female team. Do you know how cool that is?"
Starting a career in Quidditch had been a lingering thought for Genevieve before getting stuck on the idea of being an Astrology Professor. She enjoyed flying, and being apart of the Holyhead Harpies would be an amazing accomplishment, but she felt like she would get bored to easily of doing the same thing all the time.
"Girl power and everything to them, but Puddlemere is way better than them," James debated.
Genevieve turned to Peter with pleading eyes and that too-kind-to-be-true look once again. "Peter," she said sweetly, "Which is the better team— Puddlemere United or The Holyhead Harpies?"
Peter's eyes flicked between the three of them uncertainly. "I'm not sure I want to answer," he said, knowing that his answer would recife just as much backlash.
"Go on, Wormtail," James egged him on. "We won't judge you."
"I have a feeling that's a lie, but I like the Montrose Magpies," Peter told them all matter-of-factly.
James's easygoing smile turned into a scowl. "I'm judging you right now."
✧･ ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Genevieve forced her legs to walk with as much speed as they could in the direction of the Hospital Wing. The seething hot chocolate she had just grabbed from the kitchens was on the verge of burning her palms, but the house elves had put so much effort into it that she couldn't just let it drop.
On the way down, however, her path was blocked by Severus Snape stepping in front of her. His nose was turned up as always, and his hair was as sleeked in grease as ever, but he seemed to have formed more forehead lines over the summer.
"Lewis," he droned in the same monotonous voice that he always spoke in.
Genevieve's face curved into a hostile smile. "Snivellous." She tried to swerve past him, but he stepped in her way to make sure she wouldn't leave. "Look, I would love to chat, but this drink is practically melting my skin away," she sighed.
"You're taking that to Lupin in the Hospital Wing, I presume?" Snape said, one of his eyebrows arching as he looked down on her.
Genevieve frowned. "How did you—"
"Because I'm not stupid," Snape snapped. It was like a switch had been flicked on inside of him to make his once bored manner turn into an irked one. "You and your gang try to make Lupin's disappearances so secretive and discreet, but I can assure you that everyone notices."
Genevieve made sure to keep her face calm instead of getting mad or defensive instantly. She knew that arguing with Snape would only make him curious as to why— after all, he hadn't exactly said that he knew about Remus's lycanthropy.
"Remus gets ill a lot, so what?" She said and put on an act of disinterest.
The corner of Snape's lip curled up cruelly. "But he doesn't just get ill, does he? There's something more to it and I'm prepared to find out what exactly that is."
"Well I'm sure you'll be delighted to find out he has a weak immune system."
She wasn't sure if Snape could see right through her act or not, but she could definitely tell he was irritated, but then again, was Snape ever not irritated?
"You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool me" he said slowly, prolonging every word he spoke as he inched towards her face threateningly, "You're all hiding something."
Genevieve's grip tightened around the mug that didn't seem so burning hot anymore. "Do make sure to tell me when you've figured it out," she urged him as she walked around him in hopes of carrying on her journey to the Hospital Wing.
"You won't be the only person I'm telling if I do."
The famous Lewis eyebrow raised appeared as Genevieve heard that sentence float into the atmosphere and then into her ears. As much as she would have loved to get to Remus as quick as possible, she also couldn't let Snape of all people have the last word.
"Spoken to Lily recently?" She asked his retreating figure.
A petty smile twitched at her lips as she saw him stop walking momentarily. By the way his shoulders had tensed up, she could see that she had clearly hit a rough spot just like she intended to.
"No?"
Snape still stayed silent. He knew what Genevieve was doing. He could tell by the amused tone in her voice that she was taunting him to say something even slightly daring back.
"I see," she tutted disappointedly. She turned back around and started walking once more, knowing that Snape was still listening to her. "And I wonder whose fault that is..." she trailed off as she rounded a corner, satisfied with the fact that Snape couldn't even try argue with her on that.
✧･ ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
When Genevieve arrived at the Hospital Wing she was happy to find Remus already awake. He was staring at the ceiling absentmindedly, and Genevieve supposed he was making patterns out of the roof like he usually did when he was bored.
"Hey Rem," she grinned as she made her way over to him, breaking him out of his pattern-making session.
Remus didn't have to look over at the visitor to know that it was Genevieve, but he did it anyway and tried to muster up as much of a smile as he could. "Hey," he said coarsely while propping himself up a little.
Madam Pomfrey had made sure to give him all sorts of different potions throughout the day to help ease the pain and make him more able to move, and although they worked a little, they would quickly wear off and make him feel just as awful as he did before. Right now, Genevieve had caught him at a good time as Pomfrey had given him another dose of potions only five minutes before.
Genevieve placed the hot chocolate on the bedside table, and Remus wasted no time in peering at it in both hunger and interest.
"What's this?" He asked, sounding a little bit more full of life.
Genevieve shrugged after sitting down in the chair she had dragged to his side. "I thought you needed something sweet. It usually cheers you up a little."
"Thanks," Remus tried smiling once again. He reached over to the mug with shaky hands, and brought it to his lips, trying to be as still as he possibly could. He couldn't help but notice the look on Genevieve's face as he did that, though.
"You feel sorry for me," Remus stated with a sigh as he put his hot chocolate back down. "Please stop. It makes me feel pathetic."
Genevieve averted her gaze from Remus and decided to focus on her twiddling fingers instead. "I don't mean to make you feel that way," she admitted awkwardly.
"I know you don't, but please don't look at me like I'm some poor thing that needs to be pitied," Remus said lowly as he lowered himself back down in his bed.
Genevieve bit down on her lip. She didn't even realise she was doing this 'look', but she felt a wave of guilt rush over her almost instantly. "I'm sorry," she apologised as quickly as she could.
"It's fine." He glanced at her with sunken eyes. "I'm pitying myself more than you are." He tried to stifle a yawn in order to stay awake and talk longer with her. The potions Madam Pomfrey had served him had made him drowsy with sleep.
"I won't keep you up," Genevieve told him. "You're tired, and it would be unfair to keep you up."
"I'm fine," Remus said dismissively. but she could see that he was fighting to keep his eyelids open.
"No you're not. You need sleep," Genevieve protested softly.
"I don't need anything."
Genevieve smiled in amusement as Remus slurred out those words. His head was dropping by now, and his eyes were becoming more and more heavy. A few seconds later, he was snoring quietly, and that was enough for Genevieve to know that he had well and truly drifted off.
She admired him for a moment, not realising she was doing so. He looked peaceful while he slept. So, so peaceful. He didn't have the usual tenseness in his shoulders, or the usual small frown to his eyebrows. He was beautiful too. From his dark eye circles and healed over scars, or his messy hair and freckled nose, he really was beautiful. He had always been magnificent, but it had only just taken her now to realize it.
With soft lips, Genevieve graced Remus's cheek with a tender kiss as thoughts of worry ran haywire in her brain. She hated walking away from him on the night of a transformation knowing that she could do nothing to relieve his pain.
It was only during the latest hours of night that Genevieve remembered what she had been thinking, and the words she had used to describe Remus. With a knot in her stomach and butterflies fluttering around her head, she fell asleep wondering if those thoughts were new, or if they had always been there.
✧･ ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*