An audible sigh escapes my lips as I watch him stretch his arms above his head in the Great Hall. His shirt lifts just enough to reveal a trail of hair going from his belly button down past his pant-line. He then moved his hand and scratched the back of his head, making his sandy brown hair stand up at odd ends. James says something to him and he laughs loudly, the laugh is soft like the wind whispering in your ear. It's not loud and attention seeking like the rest of his friends. His smile causes laugh lines to form around his eyes, and he tosses his head back without any reservation or embarrassment.
A scoff was sounded near him and I looked to see Sirius Black smiling and looking at me with an amused smile on his face as he watched me practically drool over one of his best mates. His eyes flick from me to Remus as if he's solving a puzzle.
"Bugger," I curse under my breath as I advert my blue eyes back to the table, shifting my blonde hair over my shoulders to hide the fact my cheeks had turned a bright shade of red. My embarrassment reminds me of how impossible it would be to get the attention of one of the Marauders. Not only was I not out-going enough around men but I looked like I was thirteen years old. My blonde hair fell at my collarbone, which was normal and dandy, but I have large blue green eyes that form into a perfect circle that give me a child-like innocence. The only guys that ever paid attention to me have yet to go through puberty.
Normally I'm not a shy person that curses into their food and adverts their gaze, to my close friends I'm out-going with a bitting tongue. Around men, especially Remus, I crumble hopelessly and can barely squeeze out a few words.
"Stop cursing at your food, what has it done to you?" Gwen says playfully.
"Sirius Black caught me looking at Remus, again."
"Really?" Gwen says looking at Sirius with no restraint. If Gwen weren't my best friend I would pummel her with mince pies. "He still looks amused, I swear that boy has the attention span of a twelve year old."
"I think he's caught me staring at Remus at least twenty times in the past three days."
"Here's a thought Ella, instead of just gaping at Remus from a distance why don't you try, oh, I don't know...talking to him?"
"I do talk to him," I said defensively. "The other day I asked him for some ink because I left mine out over night and it dried up."
"No, no you did not say that. You opened your mouth and when no words came out you gestured wildly to the bottle of ink and Remus was so confused and frightened he left the table and the ink."
"It was some sort of interaction."
"You know, for a girl whose loud and says the first thing that kinds to mind like you have turrets, you're really quite the disappointment for when it comes to the opposite sex."
I pulled a face and tore off a bit of my biscuit and threw it at Gwen. She responded merrily by picking up the piece of biscuit and popping it into her mouth. "Thanks for that, I was famished."
"Oh yes, because during lunch there's always a shortage of food," I deadpanned. I looked over at Remus again only to catch his retreating form as he left the Great Hall. I sighed and threw the remainder of my biscuit onto my plate. I heard a shuffling beside me but didn't look up. It wasn't until someone spoke my name did I move my eyes away from my plate.
"Ella Vaughn, right?" I looked up shocked and saw Sirius Black had moved himself so he was sitting next to me.
"Uh," was my response.
Sirius smirked and flipped his head, causing his hair to go up and fall back into his eyes. "I can't help but notice that you have your eyes set on my dearest friend Remus."
I could feel my face turn red and I was about to strongly deny it (I will deny it to my death) but Gwen had other ideas. "She's fancied him for ages!" She declared boldly.
I shot Gwen a look, I made a mental note to kill her later. "I do not fancy him, he just has an excellent set of...elbows."
"Elbows?" Sirius questioned with his head titled to one side and an amused smile on his lips. Corr he looks sexy when he does that. If I wasn't hopelessly in love with Remus, Sirius would definitely be second on my list of men to hopelessly pine after and love but never actually talk to.
"Yes, finest set of elbows I've ever seen. He seems like he properly moisturizes them and everything! I've only been looking at him in hopes of catching him using whatever product he uses on those baby-soft elbows."
"You must be pretty obsessed with those elbows," Sirius said condescendingly.
"I wouldn't say obsessed, it's not like I've made a potato shrine of his elbows in my bedroom or anything." Okay, so maybe once Remus threw away a chocolate wrapper and I fetched it from the bins and I put it under my pillow until the school year ended and lost it somewhere between packing up my things and moving back home. But I definitely wouldn't say I was obsessed.
"Well, I would like to help you and your elbow fetish."
"Why?" I asked before thinking.
Sirius shrugged casually and ran a hand through his hair. "Remus needs a girl, not that he's personally asked for one but as his best mate I know when he needs one. And you're a decently attractive, semi-normal girl from what I've seen. At the least you could hold his attention for a few days, every boy deserves a good girl to keep themselves occupied with."
"And what about you? Why are you helping out your friends and not yourself?"
Sirius shrugged again, "I have better things to do with my time than chase around skirts. Besides, I've got the rest of my life to do that, why waste the good years on chasing around emotional girls who are so hell bent on trying to be cute that they don't realize if they stopped trying they would actually be cute. I'm saving myself for the older, more mature species of women."
"Thanks, I'll try not to be too insulted by what you just said."
Sirius looked unaffected by my sarcasm and continued droning on, he was quite annoying, I don't see why girls pinned over him so much. "It's just my personal opinion, Remus on the other hand is open for persuasion. And I have chosen you to do the persuading."
"This isn't going to be a cheesy moment in a book where you give me a makeover and I start wearing skirts that show my bum and garter belts and my hair sudden has insane volume to it?"
Sirius laughed loudly, his laugh sounding like a dog who was being viciously tickled. "No, besides Remus doesn't really go for that sort of thing. He's more of a natural type of guy, naughty librarian -at times- kind of gal."
"Right well I'll start wearing my glasses everyday from now on and sweater vests, all the while doing it provocatively so."
Sirius laughed his weird laugh again, "you're quick on your feet, he'll like that." Sirius said eyeing me up.
"Too bad she's useless once she's actually near Remus." Gwen mentioned.
"So you do fancy him," Sirius said with a victorious grin.
"No, his elbows..." I said lamely. "Alright, I admit it I'm in love with Remus Lupin!" I said it too loudly and got some looks from people. Luckily girls admitting they were in love with one of the Marauders was a common site so people quickly dismissed it and went on with their lives.
"Fantastic, now that you've admitted it we can move on." He clapped his hands together and leaned towards me. His grey eyes were staring intently into mine, I could melt. "Do you read?"
"Hm-what?" I asked, I had been momentarily distracted by his eyes.
Sirius smiled, "I asked if you read."
"Oh!" I said, perking at the subject. I smiled fondly at the question, it was actually the reason why I had fallen in love with Remus over the years.
The first time I had ever seen Remus was first year, our second day. He was sitting at the Gryffindor table with a book poised in his hands. I didn't think much of it but when I looked closer at the book I realized it was one of my favorites, Lucas. As the years continued most of the muggle books he carried around I had read or, after seeing him read the book, I would read it after and always love it. He was one of the few people aside from me who read muggle books.
My dad was a muggle so I grew up reading wizard stories and muggle stories. On some weekends I will draw a bath and light candles and read books for hours on end, not greeting society until I was hungry and my wine was gone. I wasn't one for breaking rules but there was nothing better to me than reading a book and drinking wine, all the while enjoying it in a bathtub. Maybe one of these days Remus can join me in the bathtub...
I digress.
"If I didn't drag her away from books she would have no friends," Gwen said.
"That's being a tad dramatic," I said, trying to cover what she said, not wanting to sound like a complete loser.
"Fantastic," Sirius said. "Have you ever read Heart of Darkness?"
"Of course!" I said excitedly. "It's one of my favorite books of all time."
"Perfect, it's Moo-I mean Remus's too." Sirius started digging around in his bag and produced the book, handing it over to me delicately.
"You just happen to be carrying this book with you?" I asked, holding the book in my hands. The pagers were worn and dogeared, signs of use. My fingers tingled with excitement realizing that Remus had touched this book, I was tempted to rub it on my face, then quickly realized that would be incredibly creepy.
"Remus lent it to me ages ago and I never got around to reading it and it has stayed in my backpack since. Anyway, for the next couple of days I want you to carry around that book. I know if Remus sees you with it he will be bound to strike up a conversation with you."
"Sounds perfect, except for one flaw; Remus has never so much as looked at me, let alone notice what I'm holding. Trust me, if he had looked at me I would know, I spend enough time staring at him." Alright, maybe that was too much information to give out. Sirius, being the sometimes gentlemen he is shrugged it off.
"Leave that up to me, I'll make sure that he sees you and the book."
"Does this plan involve bodily harm?"
Sirius smiled as he got up from his seat, "that's for me to know and for you to find out. Ladies, it's been great doing business with you. Oh, and Ella? I wasn't kidding when he said he liked the librarian look." He then mock-bowed and gave us one last smirk before leaving the Great Hall.
I'm not proud to admit that over the next couple of days I wore my glasses and clutched the book like my life depended on it. Sirius hadn't so much as glanced my way since our discussion in the Great Hall a few days ago. I was beginning to think that this was some sort of joke, that I was their amusement for the time being. I was ready to give up, to return the book to Sirius and start wearing my contacts again until Wednesday.
It had been approximately four days since Sirius had approached me in the Great Hall, I had taken a nap during my lunch hour and had slept longer than I had meant to and was running late for Muggle Studies, a class I shared with Remus. I was rounding a corner, only a few feet away from my class when I ran into something hard. My books went flying everywhere and I landed hard on my arse.
"Argh!" I yelled loudly as I climbed to my knees and started gathering my things. "Great, just bloody great. My arse is throbbing, my hair is standing up in odd directions as if a bat attacked it, I lost my favorite bracelet and Sirius Black-"
"Sounds like you've had a rough day."
I had completely forgotten that the reason I was now on the ground cursing my life away was because I had run into something, or someone. The person's voice made me immediately halt what I was doing and stop breathing. I would recognize that husky, slightly scratchy voice anywhere. I realized that I must look completely bonkers kneeling on the ground, unmoving and slowly lifted up my head. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Remus Lupin standing in front of me, smiling down on me.
"Tough times," I spluttered out, not knowing what the hell I was saying.
"Sounds like it," he said smirking. "Sorry, I would help you clean up but Sirius seems to have sent a sticking jinx my way and I'm currently unable to move." Remus wrapped his hands around his legs and pulled at his leg, proving that he was stuck.
I would have to remember to thank Sirius later, or kill him, depending on how this conversation goes. "Moving good," great, now I sound like a caveman. To distract myself I finished picking up the rest of my books and placed Heart of Darkness on top, hoping it will catch his attention. I stood up and brushed myself off. Remus was still looking at me, an amused expression on his face. I realized we were standing less than a foot apart. This is the closest I've ever been to him, I really hope I don't mess this up.
"I don't believe we've ever met, I'm Remus Lupin," he said extending his hand out to me. I looked at his hand and was unsure what to do next. The thought of touching him had be quivering with excitement and I felt faint. This was too much excitement for me. I took one more look at his hand before I turned around and sprinted down the hallway.
A/N: Alright, so yes, this is a new story. I'm not abandoning my others! Thin Ice is 30% done and Bitten chapter 2 is 40% done. I've had this idea in my head for over a year, with half of the first chapter finished so I figured I'd actually put it out! It's my first Remus/OC so tell me what you think :)