Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All the characters (save Kathy Steele) belong to J.K.Rowling along with settings, objects and anything else you recognize from the Harry Potter series. All the dates are correct according to hp.lexicon and wikipedia.
I hope you all enjoy the second half of my little Remmykins story, which is dedicated to MisheavousMarauder!
Remus woke up with a sickening feeling in his stomach. Today was the day. Sitting up in bed he rubbed his eyes only to discover Kathy sitting on the end of his bed.
"Shit!" Remus shouted, wrenching his covers up covering his bare chest.
"Smatter Moony?" Sirius' voice came through a stifled yawn.
"N-nothing." Remus replied as Kathy raised a finger to her lips. "Bad dream." He added as an extra cover up. "Go back to sleep."
"M'okay." Sirius said.
Remus and Kathy sat in silence until they heard Sirius' breathing slowed and deepened as he fell back to sleep.
"What are you doing here Kathy?" Remus asked, still clinging to his covers. But Kathy didn't reply; her eyes lingered on the profound scars that were visible on Remus' arms. Remus noticed this and quickly covered them, flushing slightly in the red glow created by the hangings around his four poster bed.
As Remus covered his arms Kathy snapped out of her own little world and looked up. "Sorry…" she muttered, more about her staring at his scrars than being on his bed at six o'clock in the morning.
"Don't worry. Nothing you can do about it." He replied with a shrug. "So why are you here?"
"No reason." Kathy said, pulling her long blonde hair over one shoulder and began to braid and un-braid it without thinking, a motion, Remus had noticed, she did when she was nervous or scared. He let his light blue eyes find her grey, the exact same grey as Sirius'.
"There no need to be scared of me." Remus said softly. "I'm only dangerous once a month. And even then I am taken away, to keep students safe."
"No, I didn't mean…" Kathy began, but she couldn't continue. The two sat in silence for a while. "You see, ever since this man came to ours when I was eight I've feared werewolves. The look in his eyes as he passed me; the hunger, the greed. It was just so… cold and…" but again, she couldn't continue.
"How do you know he was a werewolf?" Remus asked.
"'Greyback' I heard my Uncle call him. So I sort of worked it out. My cousin Rodolphus told me later, that it was him."
Remus had become deadly pale while Kathy had been speaking, fear engraved into his face as he shuddered silently.
"Remus are you okay?"
He nodded, though it could easily be seen that the mention of Fenrir Greyback had affected him in someway.
"Was he the one who... you know?" she asked curiosly, though Remus noticed that she still seemed to be hold herself back from him. He nodded in answer.
"Oh... Well, you see... I erm..." she began nervously "I wanted to tell you that-that I don't care about you being one, because you're different. You're a great guy and really nice and kind and I really like you, and yeah…" Kathy suddenly blushed, her pale skin a deep rouge. "Bye." She added quickly before slipping off the end of his bed and out of the boy's dorms.
Remus sat still for a while shocked by Kathy and her sudden appearance and disappearance. Well that was certainly strange, in more than one ways. Now he thought about it, he had never seen Kathy look so vulnerable nor so scared, but yet, at the same time there was something more to her, another thing hidden behind her bold and loud facet. A soft and tender girl, who just wanted to be accepted and wanted people to know that she didn't care about being different, and who could blame her when like Sirius, most of her family had disowned her, calling her Blood Traitor and Muggle-lover...
A few hours later after his encounter with Kathy, Remus found himself at the Gryffindor table almost mechanically eating his toast and chocolate spread. In less than half an hour he would be on his way down to the dungeons for Double Potions and to present his Potions teacher with his gifts and words. But after all, he was a Marauder and everyone would know it was a joke like Sirius admitting his non-existent undying love for Sniv- Severus Snape. But Remus was the serious one of the Marauders. Everyone knew that. What if they thought he was being serious about loving Slughorn's moustache? What if they took the gesture of flowers and chocolates the wrong way? Remus sighed heavily and slammed his head down on the table. Could his life really get any worse?
"Cheer up Moony!" Sirius said, thumping Remus on the back. "Full moon next week." He added in an undertone.
Remus groaned and closed his eyes, hitting his head on the table again. Yup, life could always get a little worse.
The time had come. As Remus, James, Sirius, Lily, Kathy and Peter (hidden beneath James' cloak) and the rest of the Potions class stood outside the classroom waiting to be let in it was apparent that Remus was now getting very nervous. He had taken to pacing along in front of his friends muttering what he planned to say and do over and over again under his breath before stopping, running his hand though his hair and rubbing the back of his neck. And then, he would start the process all over again.
Eventually Professor Slughorn finally opened the Potions classroom door, stomach preceding him. As the students entered, Remus eyed Slughorn's walrus like moustache as he greeted Lily and Severus with particular fervour and smiled broadly at Remus. As everyone else sat down Remus remained standing at the front of the class, his hands sweaty inside his bag as he held onto the roses and chocolates trying not to look too nervous. Something he was failing miserably at.
He glanced up at his fellow Marauders, Sirius grinned and gave him a thumbs up while Kathy, who was sat in front of the black haired student trying desperately to keep a straight face while taking out her cauldron and copy of Advanced Potion Making.
"Remus m'boy!" Slughorn boomed, only just noticing that Remus was yet to take his seat. "Need anything m'boy? Forgotten something? Need to go and fetch it?" he asked happily.
Sirius scowled. If it had been him or James, Slughorn would have given them a detention for forgetting their ingredients, book, cauldron or scales.
"No-no sir." Remus stumbled as everyone's attention turning towards him in curiosity. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Severus whisper something to Mulciber who sneered and sniggered before shooting a glare at Remus.
"You see sir," Remus began taking a deep breath and removing his hands from his bag and holding the flowers and chocolates in front of him. Looking at the floor he muttered his confession.
"I'm sorry m'boy. What was that?" Slughorn asked surprise mingled into his voice with curiosity as he reached out to receive the gift while the rest for the class watched in shock, even Severus seemed mortified by the gesture, though truly amused. Sirius and James mean while had taken to hiding behind their cauldron, fists shoved in mouths to stop them bursting out with laughter. Lily was sitting up a little too straight and though she pitied Remus, she couldn't help but laugh a little as she bit her lip to try and contain herself. Kathy meanwhile was violently shaking, her head literally buried in her bag probably to stop herself from letting out her usual cackle when she become too hysterical with laughter.
"Remus m'boy?" Slughorn asked again when he was greeted by silence.
"I love your moustache and wish to one day achieve one myself of such great decorum and manliness."
Turning around, his face redder than his school tie and robes Remus fled from the classroom at such speed you would have thought he was tied to James' broomstick. As the classroom door closed behind him he heard Kathy's loud bursting, muffled cackle.
Remus didn't return to Potions, but instead locked himself in the Prefects bathroom, refusing to come out until Sirius blew the door off the hinges.
He later found out, that after he'd left, Slughorn hadn't seemed to come out of his state of shock for the rest of the lesson and become very incoherent. According to Sirius, this was a very good thing as he, with the help of Peter under James's cloak, had managed to completely sabotage Snape's potion without a single point being deducted from Gryffindor. All in all, a good morning for young Mister Black, though not necessarily for young Mister Lupin.
YAY! I finished it!
I hope you enjoyed my little two parter. I am quite pleased with it; though I am sure I could do better if I tried. But I can't be bothered! XD Lazy or what? But then what do you expect from a Marauder wannabe?!
I hope you liked it MisheavousMarauder.
Gawd I am weird. Anyway, I am just rambling now, so let's get to business shall we?
PLEASE REVIEW! I will luff you forever! XD
GryffindorAtHeart