AN: So, obviously things didn't work out the way I hoped! The next couple of chapters are done, so they'll be up soon! GBT is somewhat on hold. Feel free to stop by Tumblr and read my RL Update or just leave a comment or an ask, same name.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows and favourites. Love you all!
Sable, this is for you, darling.
...
He was running late.
Charms was about to start and he was barely midway through the seventh floor. Bloody Sirius had somehow gotten his hands on a handful of fleas and put them in his underwear drawer.
The stupid mutt was going to get his… And soon.
They'd been working all month on the lengthening properties of certain potions ingredients and just last Monday they had successfully brewed the very first batch of their Tongue lengthening solution. Granted, the name needed work, but they had yet to find an actual use for it other than exactly that: to make their tongues longer. In what possible scenario would a long tongue come in handy? Such a useless yet brilliant solution. Solution… This could be the solution! A prank! He could give it a use and get revenge on Sirius at the same time!
Brilliant! He'll think twice before messing with me again, he thought.
Sirius had a date in the Astronomy Tower with the lovely Dorcas Meadows later that day, and Remus had just the Tongue elongating solution for the occasion. That ought to give his date more than she'd bargained for.
He was a quiet boy, a bit more reserved than the rest of his friends, mostly because he didn't want to draw attention to himself but, truth be told, he was just as wicked, if not more so than the rest of them. Hogwarts personnel should be grateful he was mellowed out given his circumstances or the four of them would burn the school down… accidentally, of course.
The full moon was in two weeks, which meant he had physically recuperated from the last moon and he'd have a couple of days of bliss before it started to deteriorate with the upcoming moon. These were the days when he almost felt normal. His senses were still keener, but his energy felt inexhaustible and his body could take a little exercise without feeling sick. He felt like playing Quidditch and pulling pranks, he felt like kissing girls. He'd had his first kiss not three weeks ago with Marlene McKinnon on Thursday. It hadn't been as momentous as Sirius made it out to be, but he'd enjoyed it. Now, however, he was avoiding her like the plague. The reasons were obvious to his friends but the poor girl must be confused and hurt. Remus resolved to never go near girls again.
Sirius kept teasing them because he'd had his first kiss in First year. The third year girls at the time had been playing truth or dare and even then they'd found an 11 year old Sirius attractive enough to giggle about kissing him. Peter had kissed a girl in Second year, though the jury was still out given that consent on the girl's part was very much debatable. Sirius argued that if the look of utter repulsion on the girl's part was anything to go by, then he had definitely assaulted the poor creature. Peter maintained that the girl had been willing in the beginning but had become disgusted after the fact, not realising that his defence against being a predator was weak if not a bit sad.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the slightly uneven tiles and his shoe caught on the floor making him stumble over. He regained his balance just in time, only to have a body collided with his out of nowhere.
It was a girl. Her scent wrapped around him like a blanket and it warmed him from the tips of the hairs on the back of his neck to his every toe. He was amused by her facial expression. She looked so absolutely put out, a small frown on her forehead, her lips softly pursed. She had the expression of a child that hadn't quite gotten her way.
But then she looked at him straight in the eye. Hot, his skin became almost unbearably hot and he didn't dare breathe again. Her eyes. Her chocolate eyes bore into him and he felt rooted to the ground. Blood was pumping in his veins so fast it was a wonder they hadn't given into the friction.
There was something about her, there was something different about her. He'd never come across anyone that had made him feel so… He didn't know exactly what. He couldn't place it.
What was it?
He couldn't help but look into her eyes, somehow expecting to find the answer there.
"I'm terribly sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I won't hold you up any longer," she said and almost turned around, but she stopped mid-turn and her eyes grew a fraction. Her voice had an unexpected effect over his body. It felt like a chill ran down his spine, cold but then hot right after. Everything about her made him feel warm and… and what? It was as if his body was trying to tell him something. Something he couldn't quite comprehend.
She was wearing a Hogwarts uniform and a Gryffindor tie at that, and yet he didn't recognise her. How was that even possible? How could this girl have been walking around Hogwarts for three years of his life and he'd not noticed her?
Deep within his thoughts, he didn't notice that the girl appeared to be hyperventilating. He assumed she was a Third year, too, she looked about his age, her cheeks young and swollen, her teeth a scale bigger than her mouth, her hair… Merlin, her hair. It was wild and it was clear to him that nothing would be able to tame it, there was no reasoning with that beast. Oh, how he hoped she was as untamable as her hair.
If she's anything like that unreasonable thing over her head, I'm lost, he thought.
He took a deep breath and something quite strange came over him. It felt like confidence, not that he'd felt that many times in his life, but he could recognise it well enough. He'd felt it during DADA, knowing he could perform the defensive spells of the entire curriculum for Third year if asked. No one would, of course, it was the second week of September, but knowing he could, knowing that despite his condition he was better prepared than students with everything going for them, made him feel almost worth something. It made him feel like he wasn't a waste of space.
It made no sense whatsoever but, looking at her face, breathing her in, the smell of parchment, chocolate and ink, he felt like there was yet hope. Maybe he could belong somewhere and if that place was by her side he was certain he would belong to himself no longer.
And he would gladly lose himself to someone like her, he concluded, looking deep into her eyes. A determination to get to know the girl swept through him, a determination he wouldn't have thought possible just moments ago. He normally stayed away from girls, he could never have what his parents had, a normal relationship, with anyone. But this girl… Somehow, for some reason, just delving into her eyes made him think it was possible to be happy, to have it all. To have her.
If he had a choice, if she would give him a chance, she would have him. He was hers, he concluded.
Was this what James felt when he saw Lily? Suddenly his erratic and idiotic behaviour made sense. He hadn't said anything in response after she spoke and, catching her look of unease, he realised he'd been staring at her for the better part of a minute, maybe more. He tried to relax, noticing his shoulders were tense, almost ready to… To pounce? He had to make her feel comfortable around him, not threatened! Bloody wolf.
Way to go, Moony. We'll convince her to be around us by the time Nicholas Flamel dies, at this rate, he thought.
"Were you on your way to class?" he tried asking politely. He didn't want to scare her off more than he probably already had.
She looked a bit like a deer seized by a Lumos. Her brain was clearly struggling to function properly and he wondered what was going underneath all that hair.
"I haven't seen you around," he started again, trying to get the conversation flowing. It probably wasn't the most polite thing you could tell someone, 'Hi, I had no idea you existed even though we're in the same school, same house and live in the same tower'… Yes, smooth going, he berated himself mentally. "What class do you have now?" he asked softly; he noticed he had startled her once again. He really, really, wanted to know what was going through her head.
"I'm… I'm late for Arithmancy." Her voice cracked and she looked like she wanted to run. Perhaps she had keener senses than he'd given her credit for and her instincts were probably telling her, accurately, that she was prey in this particular scenario.
"I didn't think there was Arithmancy on Fridays." Evidently the girl wasn't thinking clearly, he wouldn't question her, though, he just wanted to keep her there in front of him, talking. Or simply there, allowing him to look at her.
"Better be on my way. Don't want to be late." The words almost sounded like one big word, all jumbled up together. She stayed a second longer, a small pause before she sprinted into the classroom next to them and promptly closed the door.
Had she been Confunded or something? That classroom had been empty for years, no classes took place there since Dumbledore himself taught Transfiguration there.
He followed after her, hoping to save her the embarrassment of getting late to whatever class she actually had that Friday and escort her there. Perhaps the act of chivalry would make her smile.
The thought, in turn, made him smile himself but it was short lived. When he opened the door he found nobody there. She was gone. No trace of her could be found in the empty classroom and he felt a stone drop in his stomach.
He felt a restlessness come over his whole body, anxiety overcoming his brain and a number of emotions he couldn't place.
Is this it? Has the wolf finally managed to drive me mad? he wondered.
His heart was beating out of his chest and he felt lightheaded. Something wasn't right, his whole body was telling him something was horribly wrong, but what?
He was having a panic attack of some sort, his psyche had probably cracked and he was having a breakdown of some kind.
Breathe in and breathe out. He could hear his mother's voice telling him in his head and he did.
He took one big breath through the nose and exhaled from the mouth. In and out. One breath, two, three, four.
He could breathe again. He could think. The amount of oxygen reaching his brain was the right amount and he could feel the blood reach his brain and his limbs properly now.
Except, in his next breath, he detected her scent. She couldn't have been a fabrication of his brain if he could still smell her, right? Right? The wolf could tell the smell was real. It had not been in his head. Then, what? What had happened?
Dumbledore. He had to run and tell the headmaster what had happened. What if something horrible had happened to her? He couldn't let anything happen to her.
It was an instinct that came over him beyond anything he'd ever felt. Really, it was beyond his understanding, but it felt so natural.
He just knew one thing: He had to protect her.
Come what may.