Although one of the Marauders, Remus Lupin wasn't one for some of the more devious pranks his friends had concocted-though he was always up for harmless mischief for a good laugh. Currently this desire for a good laugh but to do no harm left him in a rather awkward debate-with himself.
He had gone into the library without his fellow Marauders-who'd much rather stay out of the so called 'accursed place' if they could. And considering that besides Pettigrew, Remus was the only one concerned with his grades he was left alone-but not as alone as he thought. A handful of other students were silently walking up and down the many shelves. But in his particular space was Bernadette Barker a rather pretty Gryffindor girl whom at times was subject to the pranking of James and Sirius. At first the pranking had been over her name, Bernadette, which her friends often shortened to Bernie lovingly but also over the fact she had an awful temper at times. But in fourth year she rather publically and dramatically turned Sirius Black down on a date which got her several cheers from fellow students and a hefty amount of pranks from the Marauders.
She was currently asleep, curled up on the window ledge next to the table that Remus had chosen to sit at, he in all honesty hadn't noticed her because she had been so still and silent-that is until the heavy tomb she had resting precariously on her lap clattered to the floor rather loudly causing Remus to jump in his seat in surprise. He turned expecting to see James and Sirius having caused the disturbance to pause at the sight that met his eyes.
Bernadette was sound asleep curled up on the window ledge, her chin resting on her hand, her other hand still extending from holding her book. Her hair was chocolate brown the silky curls cascading over her shoulders and she had loosened the tie of her uniform that hung loosely around her neck. According to Sirius and James she was a rather plain looking girl but Remus thought her to be pretty. She had taken her shoes off which rested under the window ledge, her sock covered feet helping to hold her in place on her precarious perch. Her chest rose and fell softly as she slept. But what really had Remus' attention were her soft pink lips that were slightly parted.
He wasn't really sure where the urge stemmed from but he wanted desperately to kiss her, if he was careful about it she'd never know. But then again it was rather unfair to kiss a sleeping girl since she didn't get any say in the matter, not to mention Bernadette Barker's temper. Now Remus didn't want to sound harsh, Bernadette was for the most part a happy cheerful girl-but the two times she did snap were some of the more terrifying instances that Remus had at Hogwarts.
The one that particularly came to mind was during a defence against the darks arts class, where a Slytherin made a rather hurtful comment about mud bloods and half-bloods. Bernadette herself was a pure blood, though several of Bernadette's friends were mud bloods and half-bloods. This particular incident stood out to Remus because the comment had been made towards him and Bernadette had happened to be standing next to him to overhear it, so she really had no reason to interfere-especially since he had slipped a dung bomb in her book bag earlier that day.
She was giving the Slytherin a good earful before getting called out by the teacher for disrupting class, because of this she was called up to have a duel in front of the entire class. Nobody was surprised when she called out the Slytherin to be her opponent.
Everyone was expecting a rather harsh attack on the Slytherin and it was an onslaught of attacks, the not so bright Slytherin let slip another comment about half-bloods and that was when Bernadette's temper snapped. The Slytherin was taken to the infirmary and Bernadette was banned from dueling in defense against the dark arts for the rest of the year.
Remus shifted uncomfortably watching her sleep and felt rather awkward for it, he had made up his mind it was now or never. He leaned forwards quickly and gently pressing his lips against hers. She was wearing a cherry flavoured lip balm which he tasted, it was a chaste kiss and when he pulled away he could see Bernadette shifting as if she were going to awaken.
He jumped, snatched his books and dashed out of the library. Bernadette meanwhile woke up with a start she had felt something soft pressing against her lips, her eyes fluttered and she jumped up in surprise. Because of this she toppled off from her favourite napping spot and whacked her head rather harshly on the wall behind her. She lay on the ground in a heap, one hand rubbing the back of her sore head and the other touching her lips confused.
"Eh! Bernadette some boy was kissing you!" Her friend Anna said as she ran over, "I couldn't tell who it was, who was it?" Anna demanded helping pull Bernadette up to her feet.
"What you mean someone kissed me?" Bernadette replied confused and touching her lips again, was that the odd feeling she felt she wondered. And then she got angry, "You mean somebody kissed me when I was asleep?! Why that creep!" she exclaimed.
"Thank goodness you weren't willingly submitting yourself to that." Severous Snape commented as he stepped forwards from his place at the book shelves. The two girls instantly whipped their head around to look at him. Though they weren't exactly friends, Severous and Bernadette were on somewhat good terms especially because she often scolded James for bullying him.
"What do you mean by that, did you have something to do with this?" Bernadette demanded angrily.
"No, but I did see the whole thing." He answered her somewhat afraid of her temper.
"Then who was it?!" She demanded of him stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips, though her temper was scary her friend Anna giggled at her grumpy face, it was somewhat adorable.
"I'm not telling." Severous answered, it wasn't that he was sticking up for Remus. But thought it would be rather interesting to watch how this all played out, maybe letting Bernadette fume over this for a few days and figure it out herself would teach those Marauders a lesson.
"Then it was you." She accused him her hair rising up with her anger as she pointed at him accusingly.
"It was not, but I will tell you that it was a Gryffindor." He answered her calmly not wanting to be wrongly accused especially considering the consequence. Some people teased that a stay in Azkabahn would be more pleasant than facing the wrath of an angry Bernadette Barker.
Remus meanwhile hadn't gotten far after his dash out of the library, he burst through the doors and then collapsed against the wall next to the doors. He wasn't exhausted, that dash was nothing-but his heart was racing madly in his chest and he could hardly contain it.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make a disturbance! The real disturbance is people going around kissing people while they're asleep! This is sexual assault I tell you!" A familiar voice shouted as the library doors were flung open and the familiar brunette was tossed out of the library.
The doors closed and Bernadette spun around angrily glaring at the large doors fuming, her shoulders rising and falling with each of her breaths, her hair standing on end and her small hands clenched into tight fists by her sides. She let out a noise of frustration and stomped her foot and then took a large breath which instantly seemed to have a calming effect over her.
She turned and saw Remus, "Oh, hi Remus. Sorry you had to see that. Hey are you alright? Your face is kind of flushed, do you have a fever, do you need me to take you to the infirmary?" She asked him worriedly leaning towards him, she started reaching her hand forwards to check his temperature.
"N-no I'm fine really." Remus answered preparing to run for his life in case he was found out. Though her pestering over him felt rather flattering and her concerned face was admittedly rather cute. He was saved by the sounds of footsteps approaching.
"Ah Remus there you are, good to see that you haven't gone into that accursed place. I'm looking for Evans have you seen her?" James asked as he strolled down the hall with Sirius close at his heels.
Sirius smirked at Bernadette, there was a rather entertaining and at times annoying feud between them, Sirius constantly flipped back and forth between flirting with her and taunting her. He constantly joked about how he'd be the first to climb mount Bernadette since she never had a boyfriend and was a formidable girl to approach.
Her concerned face evaporated into a sour look as she fixed a scowl on Sirius how smirked back at her, "Sirius… what a pleasure." She greeted him sourly.
"I know I'm quite the pleasure aren't I? How about you and me, at Hogsmead?" He asked her.
She still frowned and looked unamused and unimpressed, "If that was supposed to rhyme, that was cheating. And no, if you couldn't tell by the sarcasm in my voice I was in no way amused at your presence." She answered him, she nodded at James in a half-hearted attempt at greeting him. She turned to face Remus releasing a sigh, "I have things to do, actual serious things. Unlike you Sirius I take school seriously and yes I'm quite serious Sirius."
And with that turned on her heel storming down the hall, Sirius snickered, "She's rather serious about me."
"I wonder what got under her skin today?" James asked watching her storm off, "She's usually not that grouchy even towards you." He remarked.
"Well actually chaps, I believe I'm the cause of her anger." Remus admitted and his friends turned to look at him confused.
"But she was so happy and polite with you." Sirius huffed crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well you see… I may have kissed her when she was asleep… without her knowing." Remus embarrassedly admitted, struggling to stop himself from blushing bright pink.
"Why Remus you old dog you… so how'd you kiss her?" Sirius asked sliding his arm around his friend's neck.
"Gently."
Sirius sighed, "Of course you would." He then grinned mischievously, "How was it?"
"She tasted like cherries."
"Sounds delectable." Sirius responded, "Are you going to tell her your undying love before or after you tell Burnie that you kissed her when she was sound asleep-I quite frankly am unsure of which one is more dangerous and would very much like to be present for both events if at all possible."
"I do not have undying love for her." Remus replied embarrassedly clutching his books tighter to his chest.
"I quite believe you do, may I say one dog to another-you have puppy love Remus." Sirius commented and James snickered as they strolled down the hall.
"It's not puppy love." Remus muttered embarrassed over it.
James snickered, "Sure and I don't have a crush on Lilly Evans."
"I can't say if I'm impressed, or disappointed. She's not the most pretty of girls and we all know the wrath of Burnie's temper-but she is a slightly above average pretty girl, I would say she's never been kissed but Remus saw to that, she's a Gryffindor you can never go wrong there-" Sirius began in a lengthy list of pros and cons on Bernadette.
"Will you just shut up! I do not have a crush." Remus snapped getting irritated at his friend's antics, they in response chuckled next to him.
"Oh Remus… is it your time of the month?' James taunted and that's when Remus snapped and before he even opened his mouth James realised he had gone too far. Remus threw of Sirius' arm and stormed off down the hall his friend's pausing in their tracks knowing that they had to give Remus some space in that moment.