✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
For five whole days, Genevieve had nothing but stone walls and hospital beds to look at. Her stay within the Hospital Wing was longer than anyone had expected it be as the damage to her body had made quite the impact, but eventually Madam Pomfrey discharged her after returning her to full health.
The only remnants she had of her injury were the three pink scars that ran delicately across the flesh of her pale stomach. To Genevieve, they were more of a bonus than a burden. Thinking of all the different stories she could tell in order to explain how she got them made her dizzy with delight.
It didn't take long for her to catch up on classes. She had missed off a week of school work which was bound to have an impact on her, but upon her return Lily had pushed a set of detailed notes into her hands and forced her to read them. Genevieve noticed that the handwriting wasn't hers, but instead it was Remus's.
"He didn't want to give them to you himself," Lily informed her sadly when the girl asked her about it. "But I suppose it shows that he cares, at least."
Genevieve's absence hadn't gone unnoticed. To those who didn't know why she had spent so much time in the Hospital Wing, such as Toby, Bradley, Marlene and Jessie, she had to lie and say that she had a Dragon Pox scare, but she wasn't fully convinced that Toby bought it. He kept asking questions starting with 'how' and 'why' and 'when', and despite the answers she gave him he never seemed satisfied. Genevieve hoped he was just being inquisitive and not suspicious.
And that's exactly who she was going to meet in the library — Toby. She dreaded the thought of being endlessly interrogated once again as she didn't know how many lies she could tell at once, but she hoped that he would be more at ease today.
Walking through the empty corridor, Genevieve was very aware of the uneasy feeling in her stomach. It gnawed away at her insides and left her glancing over her shoulder every two seconds, skeptical of anything that might lurch at her suddenly. It wasn't until she rounded the corner when she realised why she had this feeling.
Genevieve had rounded the corner just to be met with Evan Rosier's smug face. She had been avoiding him at every opportunity she could after their encounter on the train. She wasn't scared of him, but the way he spoke unsettled her. The crude tone of his voice, the possessiveness he had over people, the way she knew he spoke with full truth. And the nicknames— don't get her started on the nicknames. If she was called 'Gorgeous' or 'Beautiful' one more time then she might try a spell or two on him. He had already latched his attention onto her now, and his mind wouldn't budge from tormenting her.
A twisted smile tugged at Rosier's lips. "Where are you going, beautiful?" He looked her up and down, not bothering to hide his interest.
Genevieve felt like punching him at the first sound of his voice, but she was already in a plentiful of Slytherins bad books. With the sudden of targeting of muggleborn's in the school, she decided not to put herself even further at the top of their hit list. Genevieve turned on her heel and began walking back the same way she had came. Rosier gripped at her arm. "Leave me alone," she ordered harshly.
"Oh, don't pout now," Rosier criticised with fake sadness, his bottom lip jutting out, "A pretty girl like you should be smiling more."
"And an ugly boy like yourself shouldn't be seen in the public eye," she retorted, a cunning smile on her face.
Rosier's grip on her arm tightened. "That's not fair, doll, and you know it," he said sternly, "I was paying you a compliment."
Genevieve tugged her arm from his hand. "If I wanted compliments then they wouldn't be from you," she snapped, "What use would compliments from filth be to me?"
Something unreadable flickered in Rosier's dark eyes. His jaw tensed. As he raised his hands, Genevieve closed her eyes and shrunk into herself in fear that he might hit her, but she never received the sharp blow of a hand on her face. Instead, he irritably ran a hand through his well-groomed hair and slicked it back. A short, malicious laugh spurted from his lips as he took in her stance.
"Look at you," he said, eyeing her with what could only be tragic hilarity, "You call me filth, yet you flinch at the raise of a hand?" He laughed again at just the thought. "How sad."
Genevieve's face burned with abhorrence, but the sting of his words left a mark on her skin just as deep as the scars she now wore. Never once had she flinched at the hand of a man out of fear he would hit her. Her mind wandered back to the night of the incident. The raising of a frail inhuman hand, and the feeling of its claws sinking into her flesh. It'll go away, she reassured herself, the feeling will go away.
But will it? a part of herself asked.
Growing bored of talking, Genevieve looked down at her bare wrist as if a watch accessorised it and gasped. "Look at the time! I must get going. While I would love to stay here and waste a valuable amount of breath talking to you, I have plans elsewhere."
"Don't leave me now because you're offended, Gorgeous."
Genevieve rolled her green eyes and groaned irritatedly. "When will you get that I don't—" she shoved her way past him "—like you." She glanced over her shoulder. "Leave me alone if you know what's good for you."
With that, she swiftly carried on in the direction of the library while Rosier watched her with a grimace as she walked away.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Sirius watched as Genevieve drummed her fingers against the oak table in particular rhythm in concern. Her ruby red nail polish was chipped, like always. Genevieve had been doing this for the past twenty minutes all while keeping a sharp eye on the common rooms entrance. She was waiting for Remus to get back from his prefect rounds. Besides them, the common was empty.
"And you're sure this is the right way to do it?" Peter repeated again unsurely.
"I'm absolutely positive." The determination in Genevieve's voice was far from unrecognisable. "If I want Remus to talk, this is the best way to do it."
"By cornering him?" Peter said with furrowed eyebrows. "But what if Moony doesn't want to talk?"
"You're really killing her optimism here, Wormtail," James said with a sigh, pushing his slipping glasses back up his nose.
Genevieve began to tap the rhythm to a song. "Guess," she tested, glancing only momentarily at Sirius to send him a challenging smile before her eyes went straight back to the entrance.
"Easy," Sirius scoffed. "Black Dog, Led Zeppelin. If you're going to test me then at least make the questions worthwhile."
"And there goes the ego," she muttered to herself.
"Ok but my question still stands," Peter started once again, looking around at them all skeptically. "I mean, do you guys really think that Moony will want to talk to us if he's being backed up, cornered and forced to?" He rested his head on his hand. "This is Remus we're talking about... he's not exactly the most open about his feelings."
James and Sirius each exchange a look with each other, taking into account what their other friend had just said and recognising the truth behind it. Of course they already knew this, but Genevieve, on the other hand, bit harshly on her bottom lip and kept her eyes locked on the entrance. "I want to talk to him," she said once again. Her strength of will was almost sad for them to see.
"You need to look at this from his point of view though, Silvs," James reasoned, "He hates himself right now because he injured you. Would forcing him to talk to you be such a good idea?"
"I'm not letting him hide away from me," she said strongly. "You guys can go to bed if you'd like, I know it's late, but I'm staying here."
"You need sleep too, Gen," Peter insisted, eyeing the dark bags under her eyes. He had a gut feeling that she hadn't slept properly since the night of the full moon. She had never seen her look so tired before in all his life.
"I will," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. It didn't sound promising, but he nodded anyway.
"I would stay but I need my beauty sleep," Sirius commented. He was already dragging himself tiredly towards the dormitory stairs. "G'Night, Genny," he yawned.
"Sleep well," she called, only glancing over her shoulder to smile at him for a second before returning her focus back to the entrance.
"You better sleep," James said quietly. "You might not be in the hospital anymore, but don't think I won't march you back up there if you're not kind to yourself, Silvy."
"I'm fine, Bambi," she reassured, sparing him a look of sincerity. "Trust me."
It took a few seconds of silence before James finally nodded. A smile faintly graced her lips. "Sweet dreams," he wished, kissing the top of her head before walking himself up to the dormitory.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
When Remus would return to the common room after spending a long night circling the castle due to prefect duties, his eyes would usually be drooping with tiredness and his body would be begging for sleep. Tonight was unusual form him. He was as wide awake as he could be. He blamed the coffee.
As he arrived back to the safety of the common room, Remus was ready to go upstairs to his sleeping friends and spend a couple minutes -or hours- of reading. The figure curled up in the comfortable sofa stopped him in his tracks, though.
There, just a few metered in front of him, was Genevieve. The familiar glow of her skin, the long hair that stuck out adorably in every direction possible, the familiar mole just below her left eye. She was still the same. It took a moment for Remus to realise that she was sleeping.
It must have been a good thing she was sleeping as the bags under her eyes had already given away that she hadn't had any rest in a while. Nightmares, perhaps, he thought. Nearly dying isn't exactly a happy experience. A shiver of guilt made goosebumps stand up on his neck.
He considered waking her and talking about the first thing that came into mind. Whether it be about the accident, Jessie, literature, music, school work, feminism, the perfect flavour coffee, the future — he just wanted to talk to her in order to know that she was doing ok. That would provide him with the largest amount of comfort possible.
His fingers trembled as he took hold of a blanket and approached Genevieve slowly. She was already pretty enough as it was, but when she slept she was a new kind of beautiful. Being carefree and without a worry in the world was only an act of hers — Remus knew this all too well. Late night talks had made him well accompanied of the constant anxiety she had being so far away from her family in an area where magic was advancing. While she was asleep, the nervous knot between her eyebrows unravelled and left her relaxed.
Carefully, Remus draped the blanket over her slender body, making sure to be careful not to actually touch her. Enough damage had already been done by his hands. Resisting the urge to tuck back the hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ears or kiss her forehead, Remus exhaled deeply and took a step back.
As soon as his head hit the pillows. he was asleep. Perhaps he was more tired than he had expected.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*