➪ SILVER ➪
"ARE YOU EXCITED?"
Sirius grinned and turned his head to face Loki. She frowned, unsure of how to respond. She clasped her hands together, tapping her thumbs together.
"What for?"
"Christmas. No classes. Free reign of the castle," Sirius listed them off on his fingers. "Presents. Um, what else?" He tapped his pinky, trying to think of the last thing. "Oh, yeah! Spending time with me." He winked.
Loki flushed and averted her gaze. Sirius laughed at her reaction, nudging the girl teasingly. She refused to look up at him. How she wished Remus would appear to save her, but he'd left them, saying that he'd just remembered he needed to return a book to the library and rushed off.
"I mean, I guess Christmas is very exciting. I can finish off my assignments and essays, and we basically get free reign of the castle anyway, so that's not new." Loki desperately tried avoiding the answer she knew Sirius wanted to hear. "Presents... well, of course, I get thrilled about them."
"It's starting to sound like you don't want me around, Princess," Sirius pouted. "Or are you just too embarrassed to admit that you love having me around?"
"I--" Loki stopped herself. She turned to Sirius, feeling a burst of confidence, and shot him a broad grin. "You caught me. I love having you around."
"There we go!" Sirius laughed victoriously. Loki cocked her head, wondering how exuberant Sirius truly was. "I'm glad I get to hang out with you, Princess. It's fun. And it's a bonus you're pretty."
"Oh." Loki was surprised by his comment. "Re--Really? Um, thanks, Sirius."
"Just the truth, " he shrugged.
"What are you two talking about?" The sudden appearance of Remus caused Loki to shout in surprise.
"Just telling Loki she's pretty," Sirius replied, unfazed by her shout.
"Oh," Remus nodded. "Okay."
Loki felt a little disheartened by his response. He looked over at her, his eyes widening at the look on her face. The words began to pour out before he could stop them.
"Ah, Loki! I'm sorry. I--I--I think you're pretty, too. It's just that Sirius is usually the one to compliment people, so I just follow along." He explained, his words rushed.
"No, no, no, it's fine! I wasn't expecting you to compliment me at all!" Loki was quick to say, shaking her head and waving her hands at the boy. "You--you don't have to compliment me ever!"
"But I--I--I want to!" Remus stuttered.
He and Loki paused, both flushing several shades of red. They turned their heads away, both suddenly feeling embarrassed.
"Merlin, talk about awkward," Sirius commented. Loki heard a soft thump, followed by Sirus grunting in pain. "Remus!" He whined.
➪
"IT'S SO PRETTY."
Remus and Sirius watched Loki's eyes widen in wonder as the snow began to fall again. She gasped, her gaze trailing down towards the forest, landing on a small patch of white barely visible between the thick treeline. If she wasn't at the Astronomy Tower with Remus and Sirius she would immediately have headed to investigate.
"Eh, it's snow," Sirius shrugged, holding out his ungloved hand to catch a snowflake. He leant casually against one of the pillar's holding up the stone roof to one of the corner areas.
"Yes, that's why it's pretty. It's snow. Snow is, like, the only type of weather that can be categorized as pretty, and for very good reason." Loki turned back to the boy. He raised his eyebrow at her. "It has no right to be as pretty as it is," she sighed.
"Loki, when's your birthday?" She was surprised by Remus's sudden question. She focused on the boy who stood opposite his friend and cocked her head. "I never thought to ask."
"That's all right. It's on the fourteenth on February," she replied, adjusting her scarf and stepping away from the edge of the small area.
"Isn't that Valentine's day?" Sirius queried, shifting his weight.
"Yep," she responded, popping the 'p'. "I don't like to make a big deal out of it because of when it is."
"I've got a boring birthday," Sirius sighed. "November third."
"It's not boring," Loki spoke.
"Why not, Princess?"
"Because you were born, you silly goose," Loki giggled. Remus let out a laugh as well.
"Did someone put something in your pumpkin juice this morning?" Sirius couldn't help but join the pair. "Did you seriously call me a silly goose?"
"I--" she giggled a little more "--I did. Yes." She cleared her throat after a moment and turned to Remus. "What about you, Remus? When were you born?"
"March 10," the boy replied. "Not that funky of a birhtday, either."
"Hey, Princess," Sirius spoke up, and she turned to him. He had a look on his face she couldn't quite decipher. "Remember the last time we were up here?"
Loki opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out except a soft croak. Her gaze flicked to Remus, whose eyes narrowed at Sirius. Shutting her mouth, Loki swallowed, feeling the familiar heat in her cheeks. She was surprised it had taken that long to surface.
She did remember the date, very vividly. But she didn't like the look on Remus's face.
That was when she remembered her deal with the boy.
"I'll help you get enough courage to ask out whoever it is you like, yeah?"
"Uh, Remus?" Loki squeaked. His hazel eyes flicked to her immediately. "Didn't we have to do that thing together?" He frowned in confusion. "We, uh, made a deal. I help you, you help me?"
Remus's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh. I thought you forgot about that. I wasn't actually going to make you help me."
"We made a deal," Loki smiled.
"Yeah," Remus grinned too, "we did."
Sirius looked between the two, his eyebrows furrowed, watching them speak like it was a tennis match. Loki turned to him.
"I really don't want to leave you on your own, Sirius," Loki frowned.
"Oh, no," Sirius waved her off, quickly plastering on his signature smirk. "You two go have fun. I was craving a smoke anyway."
"Oh, okay." Remus beckoned her to follow him. "Make sure you don't get caught, okay? I promised James I'd keep you out of trouble."
"Don't worry about me, Princess," he told her. "I'll see you later, alright. Dinner."
Loki nodded, waving at him before she and Remus headed down the staircase.
"Did you really want to help me, or did you just want to get me out of there?" Remus inquired once they'd reached the bottom.
"I just remembered," Loki admitted, "but yeah, I did kind of want to get you out of there. Are you okay, Remus? You looked a bit--"
"Annoyed? Yeah, sorry," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. Loki watched as it fell back into place almost perfectly. "Sometimes Sirius gets on my nerves when he talks about dating."
"Because you've never dated anyone?"
"Because I don't know how to date someone, and he makes it look so easy," Remus huffed. Loki hummed. "It kind of feels like he's rubbing it in my face sometimes."
"I can understand. Nicolas makes me feel like a third wheel all the time he Lydia's around," she told him as they headed down the cold corridor. "Everyone I know has dated someone. Properly dated someone. Everyone except me. And that's all because I've had a crush on these guy for three years and I never knew when to let it go even though they've never acknowledged my existence before."
"It sucks, doesn't it?" Remus sighed. "Liking people who would never like you back. Or they would, just not in the way you want them to." Remus looked down at his feet. "You want to know something?"
"Sure."
"I'm the only one in our group who hasn't been kissed."
"Wait," Loki's jaw dropped, "Peter? Who? When?"
"It was last year," Remus spoke, "he deliberately got himself and his crush caught under some mistletoe."
"Oh, wow," Loki breathed, finding the information unfathomable. "I mean, if it makes you feel any better, Remus, I haven't been kissed either." Loki toyed with the tassels of her scarf. "The dudes I'm crushing on really made me stop doing a lot of things."
"Well, they're jerks for not noticing you before," Remus spoke. Loki couldn't help but laugh. Remus turned to her and frowned. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," she waved him off. "To that person --or people-- who doesn't like you back, they're an idiot." Remus smiled, then chuckled slightly.
"Yeah, sure." He paused for a moment. "If we had drinks I would say cheers."
"What to?"
"To having idiot crushes."
"Sure," Loki laughed, "to having idiot crushes."
If only you knew, they both thought, grinning at each other.
➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪
hjonk hjonk, am here. um, teehee, i love writing this and making backstories for all the characters.
i hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment if you wish :) until next time! peace out!