It was quite a peculiar interaction, but he found himself smiling anyway.
It has been a week since Guinevere last saw Charlie. After the kiss they had shared on Valentines day, it seems their schedules have been less than accommodating. Well in this case, only Charlie's. Guinevere has not stepped a foot outside Grimmauld Place during said week and had taken the responsibility of doing measly household chores to keep her occupied.
After her shift with Remus, she reckoned she'd be getting more assignments after, seeing as both Remus and her came back safe and in one piece. Unless you'd take into consideration that one of them had been crucio-d, then she supposed the situation was fair enough.
Speaking of which, following the previous rendezvous they had for their mission, Guinevere had half expected them to be on good terms. Well, they already were, but somehow something had changed between the two of them once more; and she, for the life of her, cannot figure out what she had done wrong to be back in square one.
It wasn't as if she had wanted a friend in Remus, but being stuck in this horrid place, she'd prefer that she was on good terms with the other occupant of the house, apart from her awfully annoying cousin.
Guinevere rolled her eyes to herself, sighing inwardly as she propped herself up on the bed, leaning against the wooden bed frame. Her eyes scanned the room, not one object out of place. For a split second, she had contemplated on messing the room up so that she could clean it all over again for the sake of doing something, but dismissed the thought. She turns to her right, a quill and parchment lying perched on the desk. For a moment, she debates whether or not she'd write Charlie a letter. They hadn't seen nor talked to each other since the night of their kiss and she'd hate for herself to come off as desperate. Usually when a guy decides to kiss a girl, they don't proceed to ignore them for a week.
***
She didn't know how or when she managed to drift to sleep but was woken up by a loud knock on the door. Guinevere would've guessed the person knocking had grown tired by now, as the knock that had woken her up would pass as aggressive.
"What?" She called out, wincing when she sounded a bit too rude for her liking.
The door slowly opened, revealing a particular sandy-haired man, one hand on the doorknob while the other was kept in his pockets. He seemed guilty for waking her up from her slumber as he brought up a hand behind his neck and looked at him.
"Should you find yourself out of your current predicament—" Remus started, his voice trailing off as he looked at her. "Head downstairs please." He nodded at Guinevere, not adding anything after that as he shut the door behind him.
Her brows furrowed, "Predicament," she huffed and then asked herself, "Since when was taking a nap looked down on."
Guinevere got up from the bed, mindlessly reaching for her wand to fix up the bed, not wanting to leave a mess behind. She walked up to her vanity mirror, her mouth forming a shape of an "o" as soon as she saw herself in the mirror. She closed her eyes and shook her head, whispering to herself, "Merlin, help me."
Her hair was all over the place, as if she just had to duel 10 different people at the same time. She could even see a trail of dried drool at the left corner of her mouth. She cursed at herself as she reached for a napkin to wipe it off and got a brush. How long was she asleep for? Guinevere walked to her enchanted window pulling the curtain slightly to take a peek outside, she had guessed it would be about 6 PM right now.
Deeming herself presentable and out of said predicament, she pulled on a jumper and headed towards the door. She saw Amelia at the far end of the table, sitting across Tonks who had Sirius beside her and Remus beside Lupin, there was an unoccupied seat in between Amelia and Molly who was beside Arthur. It seems they'd saved the seat for her. There was food on the table, it wasn't near what you would call a feast as there were about 3-4 dishes. Although compared to what they've been having for the past days, then yes she'd dare call it a feast.
She knocked at the door, although it was wide open, as if to announce her presence.
With a full mouth, Amelia managed to joke, "Nice of you to finally join us, Lilith!" This made Tonks chuckle, maybe a bit too much for a simple joke.
Guinevere walked to the empty seat between her friend and Molly– who had already been serving food for her. She pulled the seat carefully and sat down, turning to Mrs. Weasley and smiling politely and thanking her.
"Oh Molly, give the girl a break! She had just barely arrived and you're already hoarding her plate as if she won't be eating for the next couple weeks." Guinevere heard Arthur say, as if reprimanding her meddlesome wife.
Molly swatted her husband's arm, "Ah but it's as if she hasn't eaten for 2 weeks."
Guinevere felt a blush creep up her cheek as the couple argued over her. She looked at herself for a moment, as if to see if she actually looked like she hadn't eaten for 2 weeks. Sirius on the other hand, was being awfully quiet, which was unlike him. She turned to look at the man beside him, as if to see if he had any idea as to why her cousin was being odd.
Much to the brunette's surprise, Lupin had already been looking at her, it appears as though he wanted to say something to her. Once their gazes met, Remus cleared his throat, straightening his posture as he tried to focus on the meal in front of him. Odd. Seems as if everyone in the table had their own businesses. The two on her left practically eye-fucking each other over dinner, –Guinevere made a mental note to herself to talk to Amelia about this– the married couple locking horns on her right, and the other two across her, who were acting odd.
Raising a brow, she spoke up. "Sirius, you seem unwell.." She pointed out, "Is something wrong?"
Sirius snapped his head up when he was called, as if he was in such a deep train of thoughts. He dropped both utensils on his plate and ran a hand through his long hair, before clasping them together and resting his chin on his hands.
It seemed to take him a minute to collect his thoughts and say something. "I'm okay-" he said dismissively, but with a small smile. "I spoke to Harry earlier, it seems his visions are happening more often and are getting worse. Can't help but worry is all, especially with Dumbledore nowhere to be found."
No one spoke. It seems even Remus did not know about this conversation, seeing as he also looked just as concerned as the rest of them.
"Oh Sirius, Darling!" Molly said, reaching across the table to hold his hand. "We are in tough times and I know it's hard to be so far away from him, trust me I know the feeling all too well, but hang on dear. Everything will turn out just fine, besides Harry is getting lessons from Snape, isn't he?"
Black snorted at the mention of Snape, "S'pose so, but I doubt he's actually been picking something up from Snivellus, seeing as how their last session went according to our conversation a while ago."
Guinevere raised a brow up at the mention of her old Potions Professor's nickname. She felt bad for Harry, he was too young to be experiencing these things and worrying about them. Though she can't help but think about Grant and his situation. She wondered what he was doing right now, was he off doing errands for the Dark Lord? Was he out with death-eaters? Was he okay?
Amelia seemed to have felt her tense over the conversation and squeezed her knee, giving her the most reassuring smile she could muster up.
***
After everyone was done with their meals, they all helped clean up and bring the dishes to the sink. Although the task would be easy and finished with a wave of their wands, Guinevere still stayed behind and helped out Molly, also taking the opportunity to talk to her privately.
"Thank you for dinner, Molly. I'm this close to asking you to adopt me, especially if it means having to eat your meals everyday." She joked, making the older woman laugh heartily.
"Honey, you know you're always welcome back at the Burrow, I'm sure Charlie would agree to that. Or you can call up anytime you want, I'd be more than happy to cook for everyone. It can be lonely sometimes, with the kids gone and all that." She told her kindly, a hint of sadness laced in her voice.
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. Speaking of Charlie, how is he? I've yet to hear from him since.." Guinevere's voice seemed to have trailed off, "Since last week's meeting."
The older woman reached out for the towel rack, wiping her hands off as they finished with the dishes. "That's odd." She paused for a moment, as if pondering her next words. "Had you two not spoken to each other, at least once?" Guinevere shook her head, answering Molly's question. "If that's the case, then I'm sorry darling but I think it's best for you to wait for his word."
Guinevere was just about to reply when the door opened, revealing another redhead. "Molly, we should get going now, it's getting a bit late. I'll wait for you in the sitting room." Arthur called.
Mrs. Weasley held out her right hand, holding her shoulder and smiling sincerely. "Take care Guinevere, and try not to worry too much."
***
As Guinevere brushed her teeth, her mind seemed to be travelling at light years speed. It bothered her that Charlie gave her a more than enjoyable night the other week and had kissed her, only to be ignored or perhaps forgotten. Although what bothered her most was the fact she was actually barely bothered that she hadn't spoken to Charlie, but that once again, Remus seemed to have returned to walking in tiptoes around her.
Stupid men. Stupid wars. Stupid Dark Lords. Stupid, everything! The toothpaste's cap seemed to have flown to the other side of the bathroom somewhere along the way of her cursing life. "Accio cap!" The small item flew back into her hand, she rinsed it off in the faucet and closed the tube.
Reaching for the doorknob, eager to get back to her room and read a book or do whatever she pleases, she pushed the door open only to be greeted by the same sandy haired man she had just been thinking about.
"Hey there." Remus said, an unreadable expression on his face as his shoulder leaned on the wall, as if to give her space. He was looking right at her, his eyes never leaving hers.
At that moment, Guinevere felt very small, having to crane up her neck just to meet his eyes. She muttered, "I was just leaving." Guinevere broke eye contact and turned to her side, leaving the bathroom and began to walk towards her room.
"Lupin," she stopped walking, her back still turned away from him. She called him so quietly, she thought he wouldn't have heard her.
Remus was sure he wouldn't have heard her if he weren't cursed to be a werewolf. "Yes?" he replied cautiously. Truth be told, he was quite anxious to hear what she had to say, finding himself fiddling with his hands but stopped as soon as she turned to face him.
The long scar across his face clashing with his hair that seemed to drop just above his forehead. Guinevere didn't know whether he looked hot or adorable, but decided to go with none of the above. What was she even thinking? Shaking her head, she said. "Nothing. Sorry for bothering you." She decided to leave it at that, turned around, and walked to her room, scolding herself for having called him for no reason.
Remus watched as she walked away. It was quite a peculiar interaction, but he found himself smiling anyway.
——
A/N
aha surprise! it's been a long time :)) hope to be back & be able to write more in the future. thank you for your patience. xx katie