Classified XXXXX
4th January 1978
Solana made her way to the library, it was only ten to eleven but she was worried if she stayed longer Antonin would want to apologise more.
The bruises along her stomach didn’t hurt anymore, but her wrists had become itchy as they healed.
She found Remus sitting in his usual seat reading a book, wearing a turtle neck brown jumper, she wondered if he wore jumpers in the summer as well.
“Romeo and Juliet?” She asked, looking at the cover. “By…”
“It’s Shakespeare.”
“Shakespeare? Sounds like a wizard.”
“He’s not, he’s a muggle.” he said, putting the book down and looking at the time. “You’re early,”
“You sound surprised,” she said, pulling the book towards her. “What is it about– and don’t say Romeo and Juliet.”
Remus grinned slightly, “How’d you know I was going to say that.”
“Because I would probably have said the same thing,” she said.
“It’s about Romeo, who’s a Montague, and Juliet, who's a Capulet. And their families despise one another and have done so for centuries, but they fall in love. Like star-crossed lovers.”
“Does it have a happy ending?” she asked, passing it back.
He shrugged. “They end up together.”
“That doesn’t sound reassuring,”
“Would you like to read it?”
“No thank you,” she said, eyeing it but began pulling out her books from her bag, “Wait, you didn’t say what we were studying today.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t actually have a plan, I was going to spend the time you were going to be late to figure out what to do, but you ended up getting here on time.”
“So I surprised you?” she said, raising her brows.
Remus nodded, “Pretty much,” he put his book in his bag and scavenged through hers, he picked up a defence against the dark arts book.
“You can start on this,” he said.
She flipped through the book landing on a random page, “Werewolves…” she started.
Remus let out a cough, making her look over at him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, fine,”
She furrowed her brows, but began reading the passage out loud. “Classified as XXXXX, which means they are extremely dangerous.” she told him, with wide eyes. “When it is not a full moon they present themselves as a normal man. But during the full moon they can become uncontrollable, fearsome and murderous. Most have said they beg for death rather than becoming a werewolf– Lupin, you’re not even listening to me,”
He caught her eyes. “Huh? I am listening to you.”
“What did I just say?”
He swallowed, looking away. “Uh, most beg for death rather than becoming a werewolf.”
“I mean, I would, wouldn’t you?” she said, he didn’t respond. “Lupin?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah,” he nodded in agreement.
“Bloody hell, you’re acting like you are one,” she chuckled expecting him to as well but he didn’t. “I’m joking. Dumbledore’s not stupid enough to let Half-breeds walk amongst us.”
Solana didn’t see Remus’ face fall, letting his mask slip momentarily. He knew that her views would be just like everyone’s in the Wizarding world, but hearing it from her out loud somehow hurt more.
He stared at her as she read through the book more, wishing he had never chosen that book. He noticed she was scratching her wrists under the table, then he remembered the bruises he had seen the night before.
He pulled his own sleeve up consciously, “You should get some cream from Madam Pomfrey,”
“Pardon?” she asked, looking up.
“Your wrists, she’s got this cream to help with the bruising...”
“Oh, um… thanks,” she said.
There was a short silence before he spoke again.
“It wasn’t Dolohov was it?” he asked, warily.
“No,” she shook her head. “Uh, I don’t… I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Remus nodded, it was understandable that she wouldn’t want to confide in him. “You know if he ever hurts you–”
“You gonna beat him up?”
“Probably,” he nodded.
Solana rolled her eyes, not believing him, “Sure, Lupin.”
“What I don’t think I would?”
“I don’t think you can,” she stammered a laugh.
“I’ve won fights–”
“Fighting with your friends doesn't count,” she grinned.
Remus rolled his eyes but nodded. “Yeah, most of them were with James and he punches like a toddler, he’s got a proper toddler fist as well,”
Solana let out a chuckle. “I’m just imagining Potter doing that,”
“He likes to think he’s a really good fighter but he couldn’t hurt a fly,” Remus shook his head. “Unless he really needed to,”
One of the remaining chairs was pulled out and Sirius sat down opposite Solana. “Can we talk?”
Solana groaned. “Sirius–”
“Please, Solana– Moony, could you…”
“Um, yeah, of course,” he said, grabbing his bag, he nodded towards Solana, “See you later. See you later, Padfoot.”
Sirius just nodded in response, looking down at a yellowed piece of parchment.
“I told you I can’t talk to you–”
“Antonin is in his dorm, look.” he said, showing her the paper that seemed to have all the rooms of Hogwarts on it, she saw her name next to Sirius, and Remus’ name walking away from them.
“What is that?”
“It’s a map,”
Solana rolled her eyes at the obvious answer. “What do you want–”
“You need to leave, Reg told me what happened, about the portrait–”
Solana cut him off abruptly. “He shouldn’t have said anything–”
“Well he did, he told me what happened– did Cygnus use crucio?”
“Sirius–”
“Did he?”
“I don’t want to talk about it–”
“Well you should, Solana, you are being tortured there–”
“I’m leaving in August–”
“You think that’s going to be better? You need to cut ties with them–”
Her temper began to rise, “Listen, not all of us have a James that we run away to, okay, not all of us have people we can rely on– I only have Antonin–”
“You have me–”
“I do not–” she scoffed.
“Solana, just because we don’t talk doesn’t mean I don’t care about you–”
“I have responsibilities. I am engaged. I cannot drop everything like you did.” Solana said, begging her voice not to crack. “We don’t all get that privilege.”
She began packing up her books and slinging her bag across her shoulders.
“Solana–”
“I don’t have time for this, Sirius. I get that you’re trying to help but… it’s no use. My future is with Antonin.”
She turned around, leaving him sitting at the table. Before making her way back to her dorm she decided to take Remus’ idea and get the cream he told her about.
Which made the itch disappear instantly.
She wondered why he knew about the cream.