Professor R.J Lupin
16th March 1978
Remus always had the same breakfast, boiled egg and soldiers. His father always made it for him when he was a child, after the attack his mother began making it for him, but it was never as good as his dad’s. The boys used to take the piss out of him when he got older, saying he was too old for the childish breakfast, but he didn’t care and he wasn’t a big fan of change.
He sat down at the table and cracked open the shell, dipping one of the soldiers into the yellow yolk, he glanced over at the Slytherin table, he saw Antonin sitting with his friends but Solana wasn’t there, he hadn’t seen her since the day before his birthday, that she was invited to but didn’t turn up.
Luckily Sirius hadn’t been much of a prick to remind Remus that he was right, and that Remus shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.
“Moons, are you watching us practice later?” James asked, sitting down next to him, grabbing usual porridge with brown sugar sprinkled on top.
Remus shook his head, dipping another soldier into the yolk. “Got tutoring,”
In the corner of his eyes he saw Sirius roll his eyes but he chose to ignore it rather than start something.
“You still have to do that?” Peter asked, his breakfast varied each morning depending on his mood, today he was tucking into beans on toast.
Remus nodded.
“Sucks for you,” Sirius commented, he bit into his bacon sandwich, the fatty bits laid on his plate like every morning.
Remus held back rolling his eyes as he scooped the egg out of the shell and ate it in one. Then he began buttering toast and wrapped it in tissue.
“Are you still hungry?” James asked. “You never go for seconds,”
“Bit peckish, plus I want to get most of my work done at the library after,”
“Fair enough,” James nodded. “If you change your mind we’ll be out on the Quidditch pitch,”
“No thank you,” Remus gave a tight smile, putting the toasted bread carefully in his pocket, saying goodbye before leaving the great hall and towards the library.
He waved good morning to Madam Pince who seemed to be scolding a second year who was returning a book “ Two months late! ”
He took his seat at his usual table, by the window. It had been his favourite since his very first year, it was the only window that didn’t overlook the Whomping Willow.
He took out a book from his bag and propped it open but he didn’t read it, he merely looked at the words but nothing was going in.
A few moments later the chair opposite him pulled out and Solana took a seat, her eyes seemed red and puffy– even more than when she found out Antonin had cheated on her, the bags under her eyes raised and bruised, her engagement ring still perched on her finger, he couldn’t see her wrists underneath her sleeve but he knew there would be marks under there from where she would be tied up, he wondered if it was her idea or Antonin’s.
She muttered hello as she sat down, pulling a book from her own bag and setting it down.
They didn’t say anything, Remus glanced at her, on her neck there was a love bite that he so wished that he had given her.
Solana caught his eyes, lifting up her cloak to cover it from his sight.
Remus cleared his throat taking out the toast from his bag. “I didn’t see you at breakfast,”
“Oh, thank you,” she muttered, taking the toast but she didn’t eat it. “Sorry I didn’t come to your birthday party,”
Remus shrugged, “It’s fine, I didn’t even notice,” he lied.
It must have been the trick of the light but he thought he saw her face fall for a split second.
“Did you have a nice night?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, we just got drunk, barely even remember the night.”
Solana pressed her lips into a smile. “Oh shit,” she sighed. “Your present!”
He furrowed his brows. “You got me a present?”
“It’s not amazing– it’s more of a joke really, I’ll send it to your dorm later,”
His heart warmed. “You didn’t have to get me a present,”
“It’s a stupid present, you might not even like it,” She shrugged. “Just means you have to get me a present for my birthday,”
There was an awkward silence, knowing between the two that by the end of the school year neither of them would ever speak to each other again.
“Can we get high?” Solana asked.
“Absolutely,” he nodded, putting his book back into his bag, Solana mirrored him and the two left the library making their way down to the greenhouse.
“Shit,” Remus muttered, poking his head past the door.
“What is it?” Solana asked.
“Sprout is at her desk,” he said, Solana moved slightly so she could see.
“She’s asleep,” she stated the obvious.
“Yeah but if she wakes up then we’re fucked.”
“Which drawer is it normally in?” she asked.
“The third– Lana what are you doing?” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, he felt her tense for a second.
“Just keep watch, I’ve been told I’m quiet when I’m sneaking around.” she said, shrugging his hand off her.
“Lana–” he whispered but it was too late, she had already entered Professor Sprout’s office.
He watched as she creeped over, he winced slightly as the drawer made a terrible squeak, Solana’s head darted towards the Herbology teacher, but she just smacked her lips in her sleep. Solana pulled the drawer more slowly, reaching and grabbing the bag, she waved it up at him, and he grinned.
“Oi! What’re you doing!”
Remus’ heart jolted as he looked at Professor Sprout, Solana was frozen next to her, but her eyes were still closed.
He saw Solana breathe a sigh of relief and breezed towards him, and handed him the bag. “That was easy, you can do the hard bit,”
Remus just smiled. “Come on, we need to get some food before we smoke this,”
☾
“I can’t believe you actually have access to the kitchens,” Solana said, looking amazed as she looked around.
“You’ve never been here?”
“Once, but the house elves kicked me out,” Solana said, “Mainly because Sirius has told them not to serve me,”
“Sirius can be a prick,” Remus rolled his eyes.
Solana raised her brows. “I thought he was your best friend,”
“Yeah he is but, you know… he can be very… untrusting, and he can have bad judgement,”
“Oh yeah?” She asked. “About what?”
Remus shrugged, opening up a cupboard full of snacks. “Just stuff, right. What do you fancy?”
He moved over so she could go in front of her, catching her sweet scent, he turned away from her and looked up at the cupboard. She instantly grabbed Cockroach clusters.
“Good choice,”
“Thank you, it was a hard choice,” she said, looking back at the cupboard. “I don’t think I want anything else,”
Remus nodded, also grabbing a packet of Cockroach clusters, he walked over to a jug of ice cold pumpkin juice and poured it into two goblets, charming them so they wouldn’t spill out.
“Come on, I know just the place to smoke,” He said, nodding for her to follow him, and she did so with no hesitation.
☾
Solana put her head next to Remus’ on the grass, their joint was gone and they both had their cockroach clusters resting on their stomachs.
“Hey, don’t you think that cloud looks like a dick?” Solana said, pointing up at the sky.
“Which one?”
“The one right there– no left, your left– wait no my left–”
“No it doesn’t,” Remus shook his head.
“Tilt your head,”
“Oh fuck, yeah it does!” he laughed, he pointed at another one. “See that one looks like a cloud–”
“They all look like clouds, Remus, that’s cheating,”
“Okay fine,” he studied them as they moved slowly above the two. “That one there looks like a star,”
“That looks like a blob,”
“Nah, look at the points,”
“I don’t see your point,” Solana shook her head, putting her hand into her bag of treats and groaned. “Dammit, I’ve finished,” she looked over at Remus and reached over to his bag.
“Oi, absolutely not!” he said, pulling them away from her.
“But mine are all gone!”
“Okay, but mine aren’t,” Remus said, holding them up in the air out of her reach.
“Come on, you know I don’t have the energy to get up there,” she sighed, frowning at him.
“Oh that is never going to work,” Remus laughed.
She frowned more.
“Nope,” he said, eating another cluster.
“Please?”
Remus looked at her, she was tilting her head in a way that made him feel warm.
“Fine,” he rolled his eyes, offering her the bag.
“Thank you!” she said, taking a handful of the clusters and eating one at a time, she sat up looking at the Black Lake.
“Have you ever swum in there?” she asked him.
He shook his head, “Nah, bet it’s freezing in there though,”
Solana undid the button of her cloak, leaving it in a pile on the grass as she stood up.
“What are you doing?” Remus asked, propping himself onto his elbows.
“Going for a swim,” she said, nonchalantly, kicking off her shoes.
“It’s the middle of March,”
“Which means it’s Spring soon, are you coming?” she asked, she ran out towards the water and jumped in fully clothed, her head popped out of the water with a giant grin. “Come on, Remus! Don’t make me be alone!”
He let out a loud sigh before undoing his shoelaces, “I can’t believe you’re making me do this,”
“It’s freezing by the way,” she laughed, floating on her back, she moved her arms up and down slowly, as if she was making a snow angel in the water.
She wasn’t wrong about the temperature, Remus was sure that if he didn’t have the werewolf gene he wouldn’t have been able to get into the water without mass persuasion, he wondered how she could stand being in the water.
“You can see the clouds better from here,” she said, pointing up.
Remus tried to look past her arm but he saw the bruising around her wrist. She had quickly noticed he had noticed, whipping her arm back down causing the water to splash.
Without even thinking Remus placed his hand on her wrist, she didn’t flinch or move away. “Do you like it when he does this to you?”
Solana hesitated, “Uh… not really, but–” she pulled her arm away from him. “It’s cold, I’m gonna get out,”
Remus watched as she swam back over to where they were sitting, shivering in the cold as she wrapped her cloak around her. He followed her and grabbed his wand from his cloak pocket, using the drying spell on her.
“Thanks,” she said, her teeth still chattering.
“Where’s your wand?” he asked.
“Uhh, I left it back in my dorm,” she said, the bell rang from the school. “I should get going, I’ll see you next session,”
Remus nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you next session,”
She gave him a small smile before walking back to the school.
He let out a small sigh before drying himself off and putting his shoes back on.
When he got back to his dorm there was a large box on his bed without a note, he opened it up to reveal a leather briefcase, his name written in golden foiling read:
Professor R.J Lupin
He smiled brightly at his new possession, he would be sure to take it to their next session.