"don't you get it?" remus said frustratingly, "i don't love you. i've never loved you."
she blinked, feeling hurt to no extent. what did he think she'd say to that? after all the years she'd spent showering him with love and affection, after all the hours she'd spent caring for him. he was throwing it all down the drain just because of a simple question.
where do you go every month?
did he expect her to just shrug it off as if her boyfriend hadn't shown back up with more bruised and cuts littering across his already scarred skin?
"how could i ever love someone as clingy as you?" he asked tauntingly, his dorm mates along with lily going quite as they watched from the sidelines.
"remus," james interfered, his tone firm and sympathetic, "you don't mean that. just tell her, she'll understand."
"tell me what?"
"there's nothing to tell, prongs," remus said through gritted teeth, "i meant what i said."
"you don't," james insisted, not wanting to see his friends break up over something so —in his opinion, mundane. "she'll figure it out sooner or later. there's a pattern, moony. pushing her away isn't going to help keep her from you furry little problem."
remus tensed at his words, jaw clenched as he shut his eyes and took a deep breath in, trying to calm himself. it was clear that james was dropping hints to something, trying to get her to understand why exactly remus was saying the things he had said.
and then it clicked, it all made sense. the pattern james spoke about, the scars that would reopen after remus goes missing, it all falls under the full moon, remus was a werewolf, that was his furry little problem.
now if she was rational she would've said something kinder, more empathetic and tried to understand that he was just ranting out of anger. she'd understand that he hadn't meant anything he said, but then again she had never been the person to think things over twice. "you never loved me."
a scorpion never intends to sting when fighting back, they strike to kill and you know she sure as hell will too. "because, if you had —for even one second, you'd know that i couldn't give less of a shit about you being a werewolf."
there was a shift in his posture, face becoming slack and saddened. his eyes blinked rapidly, trying to keep itself from tearing up. "i don't know what you're talking about," he said bluntly.
"oh you don't?" she asked with a dry laugh, her throat going dry. "so you haven't been lying to me all these years?"
"i was your friend before i was your girlfriend, remus. i'm not daft, i always knew you were lying but i never asked why because i wanted to keep feeling that sweet oblivious bliss and now that i finally do ask you, you would rather end it all then tell me the truth? do you not trust me at all?"
remus huffed, a frustrated, stressed exhale of air releasing from his lungs. "you've gone crazy," he murmured accusingly.
lily didn’t miss how his words had drove her even more vexed. the atmosphere in the room changed completely, the tension so sharp it felt like it was suffocating. she cleared her throat, trying to console them, “come on, you’re both angry right now, let’s just leave this as it is and talk more when you’ve both calm down.”
her intentions backfired, lily watched as she smiled maddeningly, eyes filled with fury. lily knew in herself that it was time that they stopped intervening, there was nothing like a mad woman and she knew that best. if remus were to utter another word he would be poking at the bear until its claws came out.
sirius didn’t get the memo though, doing his best to stop the two of them from saying any more harmful words. “hey, let’s move on from this, hogsmeade weekend is tomorrow. why don’t we all go together?”
his effort went to vain when she promptly told him to, “shut the fuck up,” breathing flames with each words she spoke. eyes kept still to the boy in front of her, glaring at remus. she would not move on from this, not when they were all siding with remus as if she hasn’t been their friend for as long as he has.
“so that’s it?” she stared daggers into him, watching as his green eyes focused on everything but her. “this is over?”
“it is,” he confirmed coldly. “we’re over.”
she took her time, thinking it over and over. incredulous at how not one of them attempted to side with her. not even lily. she supposed women liked hunting down witches too. finally, she let out a distressed sigh, chest heaving heavily, keeping her anger within herself. “it was a mistake meeting you.”
her words seemed to be directed to remus but they couldn’t help but feel it pointed at them as well, feeling guilty as they watched like some innocent bystanders.
they had kept the secret from her.
they were nowhere near innocent.