Bejeweled

“What happened?” James asked Remus as his friends accosted him the moment he stepped through the portrait. The common room was empty of other students, the fire too low to light the entire space. But his friends had waited up for him with no complaints. 

“Everything looked alright, but did we miss anything? We didn’t look away for a second,” Sirius insisted. 

“Yeah, yeah, it was fine actually,” Remus said. “She…requested me, actually.” 

James, Sirius, and Peter shared a look of disbelief. 

“Apparently she likes doing rounds alone, and since I’m sick so much she knows she’ll get to if I’m her partner,” he explained. 

“And she wasn’t a nightmare or anything?” Sirius pressed. 

“No, she just said I need to be punctual and we’ll be civil,” Remus answered. The words still didn’t sound right to his own ears, but unless he’d been hit with some sort of memory charm, it was what she’d said. 

James scoffed. “‘Civil’ with Bellatrix Black? Is that even possible?” 

“She wasn’t too bad tonight,” Remus admitted with a shrug of one shoulder. 

“What did you even talk about with her?” Peter piped up. 

“Nothing, really. ‘Did you have a nice break?’ And ‘it’s warm tonight’. That kind of thing.” 

Sirius’s brows were at his hairline and he was shaking his head slowly. “Civil. With Cousin Bella. Insane.” 

It was then that Lily came down the steps from the Girl’s Dormitory and went up to their little group, eyes focused on Remus. “Still in one piece, I see. How’d it go?” 

“Insane!” Sirius exclaimed. 

Remus ran through what happened again quickly for Lily, but her reaction made him think that maybe he really was dead and in bizarro purgatory. 

Lily gave him a teasing smile and a shrug and said, “Well, Bellatrix is rather pretty.” 

Sirius choked on his own saliva. “Cousin Bella?!” 

~ 

Meanwhile, Bellatrix was relieved Lupin wasn’t unbearable like his good friend her ridiculous Cousin Sirius. He’d always been quiet. Easy to overlook to the point where she wouldn’t have known he existed if she hadn’t seen him around Sirius regularly. She hadn’t even bothered to learn his name until she decided she wanted him as her rounds partner this semester. 

She’d heard some of the other prefects saying they hoped they weren’t stuck with him because he was sick so much, and thought he sounded like the perfect partner. As long as he wasn’t unbearable the rest of the time. 

But if he had been, she would have just requested a change and been given it. Or else. 

Luckily, that wouldn't be necessary as it had gone better than she’d even hoped. Gryffindors weren’t known for their sense of self preservation, so his caution around her was admirable. Of course, if she was going to have to share the halls at night, an awkward, terrified silence wasn’t the most comfortable way to spend it. It’d made the time seem to crawl, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted, so she’d simply told him the truth. Broke the ice a little bit, even if she’d always hold a Gryffindor at arm’s distance. 

They’d just had a little small talk to make the seconds tick by faster. Civil. She might even call it pleasant, if she were so inclined. Though, only in her own mind. 

Yes, being around Remus Lupin was pleasant. Thankfully. As long as it continued going well, she’d have to tell the Head Boy and Girl to keep their partners the same for next semester, no matter how much they didn’t like it. No matter what they'd have to tell the other prefects when someone inevitably got their kickers in a twist that they didn't get to keep their partner but her and Lupin did. How tragic. 

Her friends had gone to bed before she got back to the Common Room, which was fine with her. She hadn’t exactly told them about her request, simply shrugging her shoulders and saying she didn’t care as long as he wasn’t annoying when they’d said something about her doing rounds with a Gryffindor. It wasn’t as if she particularly liked any of the other Slytherin prefects. Lucius had graduated the year before, and none of the others were future followers of the Dark Lord. Or present ones, as she liked to think of herself. So what did it matter if she was with a goody-goody Slytherin or a rare tolerable Gryffindor? 

Bellatrix yawned as she stepped into the shower. One nice thing about doing rounds was she always got the entire bathroom to herself afterwards, and often indulged in a long, hot shower; letting the steaming water wash over her muscles for minutes on end until her skin was pink. 

The next day when they asked how it went, she’d tell them it was fine and give no further information. No one needed to hear her calling a Gryffindor ‘pleasant’.