‘’ Again ‘’
Outside the windows of the huge castle, the birds that were slowly flying from cold countries back to Scotland were slowly falling asleep, the sky becoming darker with each chime of the clock. The Gryffindor Prefect was currently wandering through the halls, heading towards the heavily besieged library. It is true that Lily had a shift today, but she asked him to visit the library before her shift and help Madam Pince drive out the students before Argus Filch's night watch. Therefore, at half past nine he appeared on the first floor, but before he could take a single step towards any table, the librarian called him.
‘’ You're finally here! ‘’ She quickly tugged on his robe sleeve and pulled him closer to her wooden desk. She sat down in her chair, sulkily, correcting the already neatly arranged papers with various names of students who still hadn't returned the overdue books ‘’ I had already shooed most of them away when you were beating all the way down. But this one sleeps like the dead and there's no way I can wake her up ‘’
She said and then pointed to a small table in the corner of the room, Remus almost didn't notice her due to how many stacks of books and parchments there were circling her from every side. Wasting no time, he walked quickly to the table and then froze slightly in place, the girl sleeping soundly in the library was Aia. Moony was aware that she was a smart witch, she wouldn't be a Ravenclaw otherwise, but he didn't realize that she fell asleep while studying so often. When he told Lily about their meeting less than two weeks ago, she said that such situations were common with Aia, not only he noticed it, but also many of the teachers.
‘’ Uhm ‘’ He cleared his throat, not knowing what to do. He pulled up a chair and sat next to her, and gently began poking his finger at her arm. After almost two minutes, the half-dragon slowly began to lift her eyelids, then with a bang she stood up straight on the spot, returning to browsing through the books as if out of habit, not noticing Remus at first ‘’ Hi? ‘’
She turned her head hurriedly, pushing and knocking down a stack of books on both of them. Confused by her behavior, he looked at her slightly confused and then helped her collect the books, feeling Mrs. Pince's sharp gaze on them. Leaning around their own axis, they gently placed the books back on the table and then looked at each other.
‘’ Hi ‘’ Lupin repeated his greeting, slightly lifting the corners of his mouth. The blonde looked at him and didn't answer for a good few seconds, as if she was still subconsciously sleeping ‘’ Filch's watch hour will soon be here, it would be a good idea for you to go to sleep in your bed as soon as possible. Especially since the Ravenclaw tower is quite far from here. ‘’
‘’ Ah, yes. I got up so quickly and went through all these books, I forgot that this wasn't my dorm... Even though that would explain what the Gryffindor prefect was doing next to me ‘’ She laughed, slowly packing her parchments and quills into a brown bag. If only the light in the library was a bit brighter, maybe our Moony would also see her cheeks burning with a furious pink color ‘’ It's your shift today? ‘’
‘’ No. Lily's shift today, but she asked me to help herd the students out of the library, June is coming soon and exams are taking place, many of them have just woken up and are sitting at night cramming material from the whole year ‘’ He replied, getting up from his chair and then sliding it shut to quietly arrange the books on their shelves ‘’ I was a bit surprised that you fell asleep here, but apparently it's common for you… ‘’
He muttered the second part of his statement quietly, as if the idea of doing so many things at once and then studying and falling asleep from exhaustion did not appeal to him in the slightest. Quickly after packing her things, Aia stood up from her seat and she closed the chair. Then she stopped, not knowing whether to go to the dormitory without saying a word or to speak to Remus.
‘’ Uhm ‘’ She tried to say something, then quickly thought better of it, yawning slightly and quickly covering it with her hands. Moony looked at her with hard eyes, and she, not knowing what to do, quickly replied ‘’ I'm sorry, it was rude of me. ‘’
Lupin was about to assure her that it wasn't a problem, but their conversation was joined by an irritated Madam Pince, who had been sitting at her desk for several minutes and nervously tapping her foot on the floor, trying to signal them to leave, to no avail. So, after many failed attempts, she stood up from her desk with a bang and shouted at the two students.
‘’ Get out of here! The library is not a place for small talk, after all you should be in bed, GET OUT! ‘’ They left the library quickly, with a slight chuckle but also fear, quickly taking their bags. They walked in silence for a moment, listening to see if anyone was bustling around, and then they burst out laughing again, supporting themselves with their hands on their own knees.
‘’ Have you seen her face? She was as pink as a piglet ‘’ Aia snorted, trying to catch the air that was furiously escaping from her as she laughed loudly.
‘’ Another minute and she would have exploded on the spot ‘’ Remus said jokingly, clumsily wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, breathing heavily, slowly calming down ‘’ I hope that we didn’t wake up Miss Norris with all that noise. ‘’
‘’ Don't say that, or it will happen ‘’ Aia scolded him as they started walking towards the stairs again. Together they walked through thousands of dark corridors, illuminating their path with their wand and annoying the portraits on the walls. After walking for some time, they reached the stairs. Kobayashi began to climb the stairs, leaving Remus behind, as they slowly began to rotate, and she hurriedly jumped off them and landed awkwardly on Lupin, almost knocking him backwards.
‘’ Watch your feet ‘’ He laughed, grabbing her by the arms and helping her step correct. Aia quickly got off of him and straightened her robes, trying not to look at him out of embarrassment ‘’ Let's go. ‘’
They started walking up the stairs again in silence, looking around carefully. This time the stairs didn't bother them any more, and soon they were in the main corridor on the fifth floor. The sound of their footsteps echoed off the walls and Gothic windows, and the warmly burning candles danced furiously. Suddenly, they heard rustling from behind the wall, and then Filch's cat emerged.
‘’ Oh shit, let’s go! ‘’ Remus cussed under his nose, and pulled Aia by the arm, Miss Norris mewed behind them furiously, and Filch's heavy footsteps could be heard in the background. Runners scattered along the opening corridors, Aia tried to keep up with Remus as he continued to walk them through newer and newer corridors until they came across a tiny door.
‘’ Alohomora ‘’ He whispered, placing his wand on the lock, which gently clicked, opening the door. They hurried inside, slamming the gate behind them, and quickly remained pressed close together in complete darkness.
‘’ Lumos ‘’ Aia whispered, and then a soft light burst from her wand. They stood there, noses almost touching, with the wand lit between them. They moved closer to the door, and listened. Footsteps could be heard in the distance and Filch's quiet murmurs ''Look around, we'll find them again, darling''. After a moment, the voices disappeared further down the corridor, Remus tried to move his arm ‘’ Wait, stop moving, you're warm. ‘’
Kobayashi murmured sleepily, to which he froze in surprise, which Aia certainly liked. They stood like that for a few moments until he cleared his throat quietly.
‘’ I don't want to interrupt your nap, but Filch and Miss Norris will be here any minute and we're still not in bed... ‘’ Lupin informed her, to which she just huffed something under her breath and opened the door lazily, almost falling out of the office.
Trying not to make any noise, they quickly climbed the towers of Ravenclaw. Remus was walking Aia to the dormitory, despite her assurances and objections. After some time of walking, they stopped at the door. The entrance to the Ravenclaw common room had neither a door handle nor a key lock, and whoever wanted to enter had to answer a riddle correctly. They both looked at the knocker and it spoke:
‘’ Who lived longer, the ghost or the poltergeist? ‘’ The knocker asked, and Aia rubbed her eye and stood for a minute. She took a gentle walk around her axis, rubbing her scales with her finger as she pondered the riddle.
‘’ None of them ever lived in the first place ‘’ She answered with a little uncertainty, the knocker stopped and then the door to the common room opened for her ‘’ Sometimes they repeat themselves… ‘’
Aia slowly walked to the door, and as she was about to say goodbye to Remus, she yawned slightly from exhaustion. To which he hurriedly, even thinking that the door would slam shut by itself in a second, quickly rushed out.
‘’ If you ever need a friend, I'm always available, okay? ‘’ He said quickly and confidently, to which Aia closed her mouth and nodded with slight surprise ‘’ So.. Good night, Aia. ‘’
‘’ Good night, Remus ‘’ She replied with a smile, then disappeared into the depths of the Ravenclaw room, the knocker door slamming shut. The Gryffindor Prefect looked at the knocker, then turned around to finally lie down in his warm bed, praying that the rest of the Marauders were already asleep.