Drama Llama
Chapter 22: Drama Llama
November 7, 1993
"Please, Lily."
"I told you, Remus," she snapped. "Stay out of this."
"Lily," he sighed, "what happened? It's better to talk through things like these."
She gave him a murderous glare. "I'm not going to tell you. Nothing's wrong."
"Oh?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing's wrong? So when James storms out of the castle, leaving his paperwork behind, that's nothing? When there's fire in his eyes and he's cursing you under his breath, that's nothing? When you decide to burn his paperwork, that's nothing? Don't insult my intelligence, Lily."
"You're supposed to be supporting me!" she cried. "Not picking at me further! Leave me alone!"
"How do you expect me to support you?" he asked wearily. "Say 'it's not your fault'? How can I even know that it's not your fault if I don't even know what you did?"
"I didn't do anything!" she shrieked. "It was all him! I didn't do anything, he did it all! It's entirely his fault!"
"Fine," he replied coolly. "Take some time to calm down, since that's what you need the most. You know. Have some water, eat something sweet, just calm down. It's not going to help for you to be in this kind of mood for the rest of the day. You have classes to teach. And don't flip out on me, it's not going to help your mood."
"I hate you!" she screamed. "Why are you so perfect? Like you know everything? I already know all this, Remus! Just go away, I can take care of myself!"
"Okay," he replied patiently. "If you need anything, just come around."
This man was so infuriatingly calm, and it bothered her. She felt her hands clench into fists, and she took a deep breath, reminding herself that it was not a good time to punch him.
"There," he said. "Just breathe. You're already halfway there." He stood up and made his way to the door. "Take it easy, Lily."
And then he was gone, and she collapsed onto the sofa, taking deep, albeit shaky, and erratic breaths.
James. That wretched, filthy, slimy, disgusting, cruel excuse for a human being! Her blood boiled at the mere thought of him, and she felt anger gushing through her blood again. She had made the biggest mistake of her life, by marrying him, by falling in love with him, when he had been using her just to get back at Severus? Because when they had gotten married, James had promised to be kind, to be civil, to treat Severus with as much respect as he could muster. And if James was still rolling his eyes or something at Severus, Lily could deal with that. Because, frankly, she never expected them to get along, regardless of how much she tried. Eye rolling was okay.
But this… This was so much worse. It went so much deeper. He had promised never to hex him again, never to curse him or insult him, no matter what. And he had broken that promise. It was like he didn't care. Because he didn't care, because surely, anyone could understand how Lily would feel that her husband and ex-best friend were warring?
James could too, but he didn't. And he wasn't any ordinary person. He was her husband. He was supposed to be there for her, respect her wishes, and honor them. This was too much for her.
She vented her frustration out by hurling a marble from a vase at the window, causing it to shatter into sharp shards of glass fragments. Then she picked up another one, throwing it at the window. And then another, and then another. Soon, the floor was littered with pieces of broken glass and marbles. But she didn't care. She didn't care about anything anymore.
Luna looked around on the floor, but she couldn't find her shoes.
She was used to it by now. People always thought it was funny to steal her things. Though she really did want her shoes.
Well, she would have to manage without them until someone decided to give them back. Sighing, she slid across the room and started journeying to the Great Hall in just her socks.
Most people didn't notice her in general, but they always seemed to notice when she was missing something. In this case, her shoes. People all around her were whispering furiously behind their hands, giggling. Luna didn't care, but she did wish they would stop. It wasn't very mature of them to act this way.
"Ouch," she muttered, as someone bumped into her, conveniently stepping on her foot hard with the heel of their shoe.
"Oh, I'm sorry." It was Ginny, that redhead girl whom she had helped in Transfiguration. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"That's okay," replied Luna, attempting to smile, and then hissing in pain at the stinging of her foot.
Ginny looked down. "Blimey, where are your shoes? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to step on your foot!"
"It's okay, Ginny, I know it wasn't intentional," Luna assured her. "People think it's funny to steal my things, you see."
"And you're just going to let them do that?" asked Ginny in disbelief.
"Yes, unfortunately, it happens quite often with me," Luna responded simply. "Thank you for your concern, though."
"Wait," Ginny said. "Wait right here, I'll be back."
She ran off to the Gryffindor table and came back a few minutes later with a tall boy who was wearing a Head Boy badge on his chest.
"This is Luna," Ginny told the boy. "Someone stole her shoes. Can you help her get them back?"
"Shoes, you said?" asked the boy, furrowing his eyebrows. "Oh, I found someone smuggling a pair of shoes back there at the Ravenclaw table. Are they yours?"
"Most probably," Luna responded.
"Here." He performed a quick spell and Luna's shoes magically appeared at her feet.
"Thank you," she said kindly, smiling.
"Don't mention it," waved away the boy, and he walked away.
"Thank you," Luna repeated, this time to Ginny.
"Yep," said Ginny brightly. "Here, get on your shoes, and then we can go have breakfast."
"Was that your brother?" asked Luna, gesturing to the retreating figure.
"Yeah, his name's Percy." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Bit of a show-off, but has good intentions. Why?"
"Oh," said Luna, "I just wanted to know if he knows exactly who it was that stole my shoes."
Ginny's eyes glinted. "I bet he does."
Put simply, Dobby was in paradise.
He was having the time of his life.
Ever since he had been freed from the cruel clutches of the Malfoys, he had lived a very happy life. At least, for a house-elf. Though he did wish he had some sort of earnings, he was capable of providing for himself for the time being, so Dobby was living like a king.
Currently, he was sitting on a tiny plank of wood and rafting down a small stream somewhere in the northern parts of Scotland. He was wearing an oversized sweatshirt (well, everything was oversized for him), and many, many different colored socks. Not to mention the sunglasses.
And that wasn't all. Dobby was sipping luxuriously from a straw at a pathetically tiny carton of orange juice.
It was the life.
Jonathan was having a terrible day.
It wasn't his fault that he was a slower student than the others. It wasn't his fault that he took longer to understand concepts, because it was hard for him to focus in class. And still, he was challenging himself by taking Ancient Runes, to expand his knowledge, despite knowing that it was a tricky class and would require him to concentrate in order to understand.
But that didn't mean he was dumb.
Heck, no. Just because he had a tougher time understanding things did not mean he was dumb.
Yet there he was, being called dumb in the middle of class, by, of all people, his teacher.
Professor Potter had just called him dumb in front of the entire class.
He staggered back, the impact of her words like a tidal wave threatening to silence him forever.
"How many times do I need to explain this to you, Jonathan?" she hissed. "How dumb can you get? That's water, not fire! Why don't you understand the difference?"
Jonathan didn't answer, not wanting to lose his temper, not wanting to lose House Points, not like this in front of the entire class.
"What do you need me to do to get you to understand?" she seethed, fire blazing in her eyes. "Why don't you get it?!"
"Because it's hard for me!" Jonathan cried, standing up, breaking free, letting the water crash against the dam and let loose. "Because it's hard for me to learn! It's hard for me to understand things! I don't get things as fast as other people do!"
She was deadly quiet for a minute. "What do you want me to do about that, Jonathan?" she asked finally. "Do you want me to give you easier work, be more lenient on your grades? I can't and won't do that. Why did you take this class if you aren't prepared to learn what's taught in it?"
"I don't know, why don't you help me!" he demanded. "I don't want you to be more lenient on me, but I want you to help me learn! Help me get faster at doing stuff, help me understand! Don't give me easier work, but help me do the work you do assign!"
For a moment, he felt like he had overstepped a boundary, and instantly regretted losing his temper to a teacher. But he did feel like it needed to be said, needed to be put out there, because otherwise nobody would know.
"You've said quite enough, Jonathan," Lily remarked coldly. "Now sit down or that'll be twenty points from Ravenclaw."
He sat down in his chair. "Yes, Professor," he said stiffly.
"Continuing," Lily snapped, and she began instructing again. But this time, Jonathan didn't pay attention. He couldn't, not after the turn of events that had just taken place. Not after a teacher had dismissed his learning difficulties like they were nothing.
Dean badly wanted to take Diggory by the neck and smash him against the table.
He did not like how easily Cedric and Aliya were talking, laughing, teasing, bantering. Dean watched, pricked by thorns of envy.
It wasn't so much about his hate of Diggory as it was his interest in Aliya. He couldn't stop watching her, watching how her hair bounced around her shoulders, watching how her eyes lit up as she laughed, watching her hand resting on Cedric's arm.
Darn that Diggory.
Pretty boy Cedric got everything, didn't he? From the good grades, to the popularity, to the good girls. He was like that model student; at the same time, he was friends with everybody, and it seemed that the girl he liked was stellar as well.
Whereas Dean was struggling with A's in most of his classes, and had just a small, closely-knit group of friends, and was nowhere near having a girl.
It wasn't fair.
"You didn't," he heard Aliya say, her eyes wide.
"I wish I could tell you otherwise," came Diggory's solemn voice.
Dean glared at the two of them and turned back to his dinner, poking around for a few minutes until the temptation took hold of him again and he glanced back over at the Ravenclaw table.
He noticed that he wasn't the only one staring at the two of them.
It was well into the night when Tonks finally managed to haul herself over to Hogwarts. After a long day at training, and belated birthday wishes, and a visit to her parents', and so many other little things that flooded her day, she was finally looking forward to meeting Remus after six long days.
But, naturally, it was storming outside, and so it was in a very drenched fashion that Tonks entered the castle, heading right over to Remus's private quarters as bursts of thunder echoed through the empty corridors, flashes of lightning streaming through the glass windows. Finally, she managed to get herself to his door, and she knocked softly.
In a moment, he had opened the door, taking in her appearance. "Tonks, what's going on? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," she assured him. "I just wanted to see you."
His lips turned downward in a slight pout. "I'm touched, truly, but… it's so late, and it's dark, and it's stormy! You didn't have to come all this way just to see me. I can wait."
"Relax, Remus," she said softly. "I have a wand, and I have a cloak. I'm prepared to take on a thunderstorm. It's okay, really. Are you going to let me in?"
"Yeah, come in," he replied, worry still etched across his face as he held the door open for her to walk in. She stepped in daintily, trying not to trip on the carpet and make an utter fool of herself. As soon as he had closed the door, however, he turned right back to her, somewhat pressing her against the door.
"Are you okay, though?" he asked gently, his hand making its way to her lower hip.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she responded as another crash of thunder sounded, trying not to think about where his hand was and what it was doing to her.
"There's something in your hair," he whispered, and his other hand made its way into her hair, picking off a small fuzz ball, and flicking it off his index finger.
"Thanks," she breathed, her voice barely audible.
His hand was still tangled in her hair, and his other hand was still gripping her hip. Their faces were mere millimeters apart, and Tonks knew that he was thinking what she was. Slowly, very slowly, they both leaned in, and they met.
It was soft. It was passionate. It was blissful.
It was Remus who pulled away first, seeing as she was backed against the door and really had nowhere to go. They were both breathing heavily, waiting for the other to say something. Her heart was pounding against her chest. Did that mean to him what it meant to her?
"Why?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Rationally, logically, why would you want this?"
"I can't think rationally when I'm around you," she whispered, and she closed the distance between them again.
Sia was reading a book about a murder plotted by an evil mastermind.
She was just getting to the good part when Tonks burst into the common room.
"What the heck?" she hissed. "How'd you get in here?"
"I guessed the password, it was Pureblood," she replied impatiently. "But that's not the point! Guess what happened!"
"What?" asked Sia, not knowing what else to say.
"He kissed me!" shrieked Tonks, falling back onto the sofa in delight.
"Who?" Sia asked. "Professor Lupin?"
"Yes! Oh my god oh my god Sia, he kissed me!"
"That's amazing!" Sia replied, smiling. "How'd it happen?"
"Well, I came to visit him, and then something happened and I found myself against the door, and then… well, he plucked something out of my hair and then we just kind of… went from there."
"Wow," Sia said. "That's really cool! So the two of you are dating now?"
"I guess? I mean, we went out together like last week, on my last day here."
Sia smirked. She knew there had been something between them. "Congratulations!"
Tonks looked jubilant. "Thank you! You can't tell anyone, though. Remus would kill me if he knew you knew."
"Relax, I won't tell anyone," promised Sia. "That's great, though."
She beamed. "I know. Is that…" She frowned at the book in Sia's lap. "Is that that dark book we were talking about the other day?"
Sia smirked. "Yep. It's actually really good. But I know you prefer books about cupcakes and stuff…"
"Hey!" interjected Tonks. "I never said that! I said when I was your age, I liked books about cupcakes. You think they want a cupcake-loving woman in the Auror Office?"
"That's true," admitted Sia. "So you like gory books too?"
"Yep."
"Nice. I'll let you know how it is."
Tonks smiled. "Thanks."
Sia smirked again. "Don't mention it. So aren't you going back to Professor Lupin now?"
Tonks snorted. "We just snogged for a good fifteen minutes. I think we both need to catch our breath."
Sia laughed, realizing how easily it was for Tonks to make her laugh. Laughter wasn't something she was accustomed to, not the way she had grown up.
"Wow, Tonks," she remarked. "Moving so fast already?"
Tonks grinned. "This is just the beginning."