Song:
The Hills (The Weeknd)
"I only love it when you touch me, not feel me."
"The password is Aurorora"
True enough, the password to the Slytherin Common Room had been recently switched from cocaine to Aurora. So, Remus found himself walking for what seemed to be the millionth time this year the dormitory stairs that would eventually lead him to Callisto's room. If he was being honest, he had never thought that he'd willingly enter the Slytherin common room in his seven years in school for something other than a prank. But he didn't know Callisto Claire then. That realisation kind of hurt him and scared him. If he had known her forever, how much more would he care about her?
He knocked on the door, his ears perched as he awaited for the familiar sound of her heels clicking against the floor or some other sound that would betray she was in the room. However, none of that ensued. Remus knocked on the door, waiting.
"Listo!" He shouted, the banging on the door becoming a bit more loud. He waited in front of the door for what seemed to be hours instead of minutes but the girl was nowhere to be seen. A bit reluctantly, he pulled out his wand and aimed at the hand, of the door, bracing himself for the loud sound as the handle exploded. The job would have been much cleaner if he had used a less invasive spell like Alohomora, but Dumbledore had charmed the handles in the dorms not to respond to the particular spell. Just as he expected, the door opened with a small push of his hand and he entered the dorm, closing the door.
"Reparo", he mumbled, sighing lightly as he came face to face with the empty room. Instinctively, his head turned to the small bathroom. The door was closed shut and he could now clearly hear the water running down. The invisible weight on his chest immediately disappeared and he sat on the edge of the bed.
The room was ten times neater to the dorm he shared with the boys. In fact, by the beginning of Christmas break, the room was so messy that you could barely distinguish between the color of the carpet and the clothes thrown messily on top of it. The only area that seemed to be a bit more organized was Peter's, while the messiest was surprisingly enough Remus'.
Remus' eyes wandered on the small nightstand next to the girl's bed and the shut drawer. His hand reached for it and he tried to open it, only to meet the resistance of the lock. Remus rolled his eyes and sat more comfortably on the bed, his fingers fiddling with the emerald blankets. The only sounds in the room were the water running accompanied by a barely audible humming coming from the bathroom. It was almost shocking to see how different Gryffindor and Slytherin were noise-wise. Remus truly couldn't understand how Callisto wasn't going insane from the silence.
His head perked up the moment the bathroom door swung open, Callisto coming out with a white towel wrapped around her body. His cheeks immediately flared red as he tried to stop his gaze from trailing down her body. Instead, he focused on the blue eyes that seemed even more vibrant with the smeared makeup around them. Her eyes narrowed slightly and he immediately averted his gaze, opening his mouth to say something but then immediately closing it.
"Uhm sorry, I just..." He trailed off pointing showing her the note. "You just left, so I came, but I didn't know you were showering. I mean, I knew you were showering but I didn't know that you were gonna come out...Obviously, you would come out but not like this, which is logical, but I didn't expect it and I'll just shut up."
"It's okay, Remus." She mumbled shaking her head. "It's not like you've never seen me like that before."
"Uh...right." He murmured, mentally correcting Callisto. Yes, he had seen her like that before but he didn't remember anything related to that part. "Are you alright?"
Callisto's turned to face him, combing her hair. "Yeah. Why?"
"Your Boggart." Remus replied, feeling increasingly awkward by the second. There was no denying that she was distraught and yet she wouldn't admit to it. If she wasn't upset about it then why would she run out of the class? "Quite scary."
"I didn't notice." She sarcastically responded, shaking her head. The Boggart was more than just scary for her. It was reality. She kept on trying to convince herself that what had happened wasn't her fault, but in the end it was her wand that shot the curse and her friend that ended up suffering.
That mistake had caused a series of incidences where Callisto, consumed by the guilt, avoided Nick at all costs and resorted to a series of what she would later understand were "Self-destructive tendencies". Thankfully, this all ended after two months and she was able to return back to normality. The guilt seemed to fade away day after day, but now she wasn't so sure.
She had forgotten about Remus' presence in the room until she felt two hands wrapping from behind her and her back was brought closer to his chest. She could feel how awkward he was, trying to figure out a way to comfort her without even knowing what was going on. However, there was something behind that awkwardness that made her dread the moment he would break the embrace.
No, she didn't want him to let her go.
Reluctantly, she turned around, looking at Remus' dark brown eyes, not really sure about her next move.
"Rem." She mumbled, observing as he nodded lightly.
"Yeah?"
"I'm stressed."
~ ~ ~
Remus looked around the room, his arm around the sleeping figure of Callisto. Even though their initial deal was that their relationship would be completely friendly with a few making out sessions here and there, they had already broken it. To their defense, it had started out as making out on Callisto's bed. However, soon enough he was on top of her, kissing her neck and her fingers were hastily trying to take his shirt off. One thing led to another and now she was sleeping beside him, her hand dropped over his chest as she snored lightly.
Should he leave? They weren't anything more than friends, that was clear from her part. However it felt wrong to stand up and leave her like that after what had just happened. The little voice in his head reminded him mockingly that she had done exactly that a few months ago without feeling bad about it. She hadn't cared, so why should he?
"Accio." He whispered, his clothes flying towards him. Remus quickly got up, staring at the girl. Would she have left if they were in his dorm instead of hers? And if she would leave, would it be because she didn't want to be with him or because she had to go?
His eyes fell on the mirror as he was putting on his shirt, for the first time smiling as he caught glimpse of the scars. Just like that time at the party, his heart had started pounding ten times harder than it already was when his shirt came off. He didn't really know what he expected, but it certainly wasn't her murmuring that they were beautiful in his ear before kissing him briefly.
No, she didn't deserve to wake up alone. However, he felt like if he ever made the mistake of staying with her after something like that, he would never be able to get over or ignore his developing feelings.
So, Remus grabbed a piece of parchment from her desk and a pen, quickly scribbling down a brief message. He folded the paper in two and left it right next to her, hoping that she would notice its presence on her nightstand and with one last kiss on her cheek, he left the room.
The movement didn't register until he was out of the Common Room.
He shook his head, not daring to think more of it.
"Well fuck..."
~ ~ ~
When Callisto woke up, she noticed two things. The first one was the empty space next to her on the bed and the second one was two voices, bickering "silently".
"Come on!" The male voice she recognized immediately insisted. "Just open it!"
The other person scoffed. "No, it's not any of our business!"
"Then whose business is it?" Regulus mumbled. "I don't thi-"
"Good morning, sunshine!" Narcissa interrupted him, his eyes immediately widening and his cheeks flushing as he noticed Callisto's quizzical look. Regulus immediately handed a folded paper to Narcissa, shaking his head in disappointment.
"See what she wanted to do?" He questioned, turning to Callisto. "This woman has no sense of privacy. No tact at all..."
Callisto glanced at Narcissa. Her eyes resembled slits of a snake, and her jaw was clenched so tightly Callisto thought she'd break a tooth. Regulus seemed to notice the fury in her eyes too and waved briefly before practically running out of the room. Of course, that wasn't before Narcissa shot a swift curse at him and the sound of someone plopping hard on the floor echoed.
Narcissa unfolded the parchment, her eyes running across the lines as a small smirk spread on her lips.
"What's that?" Callisto asked, stifling a yawn.
"Dear Callie," Narcissa began, looking up at Callisto. "I had to go help James with DADA. If you want to talk about anything, you know where to find me. R.L."
"It's not what it looks like?" Callisto questioned, eliciting a laugh from Narcissa.
"When I passed him the password I didn't expect it to go THAT well." She teased, plopping on the bed next to Callisto. "Is that all you did? Talk? Since when does talking leave hickeys Callie?"
"Yeah, go ahead." Callisto grumpily mumbled, instinctively putting the piece of parchment in her drawer. "Laugh about it."
"Well, if you say so..." Narcissa teased, punching her shoulder lightly. A sly gleam appeared in her eyes as an idea popped in her head, but Callisto didn't notice. "What's wrong Callie? Shouldn't you be happy?" She questioned, pausing for a brief moment. "After all, that means you're winning the bet."
Callisto felt like she had been struck by lightning at Narcissa's words. Hell, how could she have forgotten?
"Fuck, the bet..."