Dry leaves and branches cracked under their feet as they walked deeper and deeper in the Forbidden Forest. It was around midday, so a few filtered rays of sunlight still streamed through the dense foliage, giving them enough light to see not just shapes and shadows but colours too. A loud but short shriek left Elsie's throat as she almost tripped on a long and thick broken piece of wood, but Remus's strong hands quickly caught her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, only a bit of concern between his words as he chuckled; one hand still holding her steady while he brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear with the other.

Elsie let out a short laugh. "Yes, but I'm sure one of our trips like this will kill me sooner or later."

Remus smiled and pressed a kiss on the top of her head before he said, "Not while you're with me." Elsie wrapped her hands around Remus' arms while he led her deeper in the forest where rays of sunshine can no longer peek from the canopy. There was only darkness, as if it was the middle of the night, and there were no stars or moonlight. A shiver ran down Elsie's spine, so she snuggled closer to Remus; slipping down her small hands to grasp his and holding it tight. Knowing how much Elsie felt safe with him, Remus's lips let slip a light and almost invisible smirk, one he couldn't contain even if he tried.

"Are you scared?" he asked with a smug smile, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I'm not," she lied, as she always did, because even if she was with Remus, there was something unnerving about walking inside a dark forest where any kind of beast could attack them. But that was the fun of it – doing something exciting, something risky; and facing something that no matter how dangerous, they will face together. They feel the absolute trust and safety they feel whenever they are with each other.

Shortly they reached what their destination – an area with a small waterfall surrounded by high cliffs, and a tiny lake laying nearby. The perfect amount of sunlight was hitting the area so that it wasn't too bright nor too dark. They sat down in the cool grass, resting their back against a huge oak tree.

"I love this place, it's so beautiful," Elsie smiled, looking slowly around. Remus, however, couldn't take his eyes off her.

"You are beautiful," he whispered as he leaned closer, stopping when he was only an inch from her lips and making her giggle.

"That was so awfully romantic I think I just threw up in my mouth."

A short chuckle left Remus' mouth as he pressed his forehead against hers, cupping her cheeks and closing his eyes. "Okay, just laugh at me because I think you're beautiful. I don't care."

Elsie felt her skin burn under his touch as he rubbed her cheek with his thumb. Remus placed a small kiss on her jawline and murmured a quiet and soft "I love you" to her before he pulled her face closer and closer until there were no space between them at all.

Everything went dark, and Elsie stayed motionless, thinking hard, before she realised it was only a dream. She kept her eyes closed, hoping she could fall asleep again and continue the sweet dream – but that's never worked. She sighed, but it quickly transformed into a growl when she opened her eyes as the intense sunlight beamed through the window, burning her eyes, and reminding her she drank way too much the night before. She mentally noted to pull the dark curtains down next time as she climbed out from the bed, letting her blanket fall on the floor while she walked out. She made her way to the tiny bathroom that was in front of her room in the apartment where she lived with two of her friends – Juliet, who was with her from the start, and Lydia, who only moved in a few months ago but spends most of her time at her boyfriend's place.

Elsie removed her clothes, dropped them on the cool floor, and stepped under the streaming, almost cold water, hoping it will ease her throbbing headache somewhat. It didn't – but at least she felt much stronger and fresher when she finished. Now her sole mission was to get a coffee.

She wasn't surprised to see they had a guest as she entered the kitchen – Sirius casually leaned against the counter, half naked. Elsie's eyes grew large, and she quickly and timidly looked away; though Sirius didn't look ashamed or shy at all. "Morning," he said, raising a big mug.

She grumbled back while she sat down, massaging her temples and looking at Juliet, who was standing beside Sirius. "Make me a coffee please, before I die."

Juliet laughed and turned around, grabbing a cup from the shelf. "I wanna hear everything."

Straightening herself, Elsie pulled her hair into a ponytail while Sirius took a seat in front of her; murmuring something about how she surely must have had a great night, considering the expression she's donning.

"Sorry for disappointing you, but there isn't much to tell. I got drunk. That's all," Elsie shortly replied.

Juliet growled with her arms crossed across her chest, a smirk on her lips. "When did you come home?"

Elsie shrugged. "I swear I have no idea. I think maybe we left James and Lily's flat at around three, but it took us at least half an hour to get here."

"We?" Juliet asked excitedly, turning her head at the direction of Elsie's bedroom door with a smug smile. "Are you talking about the pretty boy? Is he here?"

"What pretty boy?" Sirius asked with a chuckle, trying to join the girls' conversation.

Elsie looked at Sirius and rolled her eyes while Juliet placed the coffee in front of her on the table. Elsie quickly grabbed the cup and took two big sips before she started. "He isn't here, Juliet, calm down. He left after he walked me home… he was really strange, actually," she said, frowning, as she warmed her hands up with the hot cup.

Juliet looked slightly disappointed, but her voice was cheerful. "He looked so sweet! Did you know him from somewhere?"

"But who?" Sirius asked again, louder this time, definitely offended he still hadn't got an answer.

"Remus," Elsie answered shortly, and Sirius had nothing more to say; he fell completely silent. "Anyway," Elsie started again, looking at Juliet now, "I don't know him. I mean, I know who he is, he was at Hogwarts too, but I don't remember us ever talking during our six years there." As she said this, a strange, nostalgic feeling overwhelmed her as the pictures from her dream slipped into her mind.

"Well, I can tell he likes you. It was enough to look at him last night to know. Did he ask you out? Please tell me he did," she asked hopefully, but before Elsie could give her an answer, Sirius jumped up from the chair.

"I need to go."

Juliet followed him and wrapped her hands around his neck, purring softly. "But I thought you will stay for an hour! Or two…"

Sirius smirked and pulled the girl closer by her hips. "Maybe next time, doll." He gave her a passionate kiss, but pulled back when they heard Elsie growling into her mug.

"Can't you do that… somewhere else?"

Juliet tutted but chuckled before something popped into her mind. "Don't you have a family lunch to attend to?"

"Oh, shit!" she murmured under her breath, quickly emptying her cup before she stormed away. "This is your fault, again!" Elsie shouted over her shoulder as she made a beeline for her bedroom and hastened to get ready for the family lunch.

It was long past noon when Sirius finally returned to his apartment – his plan to come back hours ago failed miserably when the blonde girl's clothes slowly fell onto the floor while he tried to take off his own. His hair was still a bit messy and his eyes tired as he collapsed on the couch, placing his legs up on the small table in front of it.

Sirius was just closing his eyes before they snapped wide open again to the sound of Remus storming out from his room and coming to a halt near him. Sirius knotted his eyebrows in confusion as he saw Remus's furious features. "Why did you bring her there last night?"

Sirius looked away and let out a short breath as he understood the reason of his friend's anger. "It's been two years. We just met, and…"

"It's been two years! You say that like what she and I had was something so easy to forget!" he shouted, not even trying to control himself.

Sirius took his feet off of the table and stood up, his grey eyes filled with fury, but his voice calm. "Maybe you should've wiped out our memories too to forget her, then."

The pain that Sirius's words left were clearly visible in Remus' eyes, but Remus knew very well why his friend said that. It was not only Remus who needed to let Elsie go – it was all of their friends as well.

James and Peter supported and respected his decision, even though James tried to talk him out of it multiple times. It was Sirius, though, who took it worst; he became good friends with Elsie and hated the idea of her disappearing from their lives.

Still, it was the hardest for Lily. She even said she will tell her everything and give Elsie her memories back, she shouted and cried and even refused to talk to Remus for two solid weeks until James calmed her down.

"I almost killed her, Sirius," Remus said with a weak voice, causing Sirius to feel some empathy.

Sirius sat down at the armrest of the sofa. "I know, Moony. But you didn't. And it wasn't your fault. She shouldn't even have been there! She would have understood…"

"Stop. Don't," Remus cut him off as tears blurred his vision. They have had this conversation a million times before, but they haven't talked about this at least since a year ago. Sometimes the wounds inside him still felt fresh, hurting him with a wrecking pain; but after last night they opened up again, bleeding and burning his veins.

Sirius closed his mouth but kept looking at his friend, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He could still remember that night and how they needed to rip the girl out from Remus's claws, but no matter what happened, Sirius never blamed him, not even for a split second. There was one thing he was sure now, something that he only guessed before – Remus was still in love with her.

"She remembers, you know," Remus said suddenly with raspy voice, "Not me, but she remembers the feeling of being in love." He shook his head, looking at his friend desperately. "Is that even possible?"

Sirius shrugged and looked like he got a sudden headache. "I don't know, mate. You either screwed the spell up or removing feelings isn't so easy after all."

The weekend was short as always. It passed too quickly, Elsie hardly got time to take some proper rest before they were already sitting in the classroom again, waiting for their new Creative Writing teacher. She scribbled lines and shapes down on her parchment, trying to not getting a headache from Juliet's constant rambling about Sirius. Elsie was just about to tell her that she really doesn't care about how hot Sirius looks, especially underneath her, when Lydia stormed inside and took a seat on her left side, trying to catch her breath.

"Next time check if I'm still asleep or not, would you?" she panted, trying to fix her dishevelled, dark pink locks.

"Sorry, we forgot you still live with us," Juliet said with a tiny smirk. "Had a nice weekend?"

They didn't realize the teacher had already arrived; they only did when Elsie got suspicious of the sudden silence. Elsie watched every head turn towards them while Lydia and Juliet kept talking; the professor in front of the blackboard looked at them with a blank face. Elsie elbowed her two friends, making them fall silent. "Sorry, professor," Juliet said with a kind voice.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry to interrupt your surely very important discussion. Now, if you could please turn your attention to me…" he said with a reproachful tone. He was around his late forties, but his hair was already completely grey, and Elsie wasn't sure if he can laugh or even smile. There weren't much people in this class – maybe only thirteen, so he asked everybody to tell a few things about themselves and why they chose writing. He murmured short comments under his breath after every one of them; like "boring", "stupid", or "hopeless". When the students finished, he didn't tell anything about himself except his name – Professor Pitts – before he stood up from the chair and walked up and down in the classroom, only looking at them occasionally.

"So you want to be writers. Journalists," he let out a short laugh, shaking his head. Elsie and Juliet exchanged a glance with furrowed eyebrows, not able to decide if they should laugh or cry at this man. "If you think it will be easy, you're naïve. No, you're idiots," he stopped suddenly in front of a girl with long, black hair. "You, what's your name?"

"Andrea," the girl said with a weak, almost scared voice.

"Andrea," Pitts mocked with the same tone. "Do you think you can be a writer with a name like this?"

Elsie could only see the back of the girl's head, but she could tell she was frozen. "I guess."

The professor threw a pitiful look at her before he opened the door with a wave of his wand. "If you aren't sure about yourself, just do me a favour and get the hell out of my classroom."

A short, muffled laugh escaped Juliet's throat, causing the teacher to look at her. "Do you think this is funny?"

Juliet, being herself, just kept smiling. "Actually, I think it is."

"Then you get out too," he said with ease. Elsie's heart skipped a beat, but her friend remained calm; only shrugging at the grouchy professor and replying, "No, I want to stay, I think this class will be really interesting."

He said nothing but looked mildly impressed, walking away and continuing his speech about how impossible it is to become a writer.

"Awful, that man! How can someone like him become a teacher?" Elsie asked as they hurried to their next class.

"I like him. He's such an asshole it's entertaining," Juliet laughed, a bit out of breath as they hastily jogged.

"Yeah, it was so entertaining when he said, 'bring tissues to our next class,'" Lydia said with despair on her face.

Elsie didn't tell them though, but she was seriously afraid of him. He seemed like a kind of man who could destroy her hardly built up self-confidence very easily – and she didn't need that right now.

They arrived to their next class – Writing & Reporting – soon, but before they could go inside, the teacher walked out and closed the door behind herself. "My missing students? Your classmates already left. Follow me," she said with a smile before leading them out of the school. Though in the middle of London, the campus was disguised as an old, half-collapsed theatre for muggles' eyes.

"Today's lesson will be a bit… irregular, but I believe you should see what's happening outside. No one will learn how to write a good report while they're sitting inside a classroom," said the teacher lightly as they walked the paved and busy lanes of London.

Elsie, Juliet, and Lydia followed the teacher down the streets, murmuring to each other excitedly, and guessing where they were going. "See? This is what a good teacher is like," Elsie said, but Juliet only waved her hand with a shake of her head.

It took them only five minutes of walking until they reached the narrow streets of Diagon Alley, where the rest of the class was waiting for the teacher. She introduced herself to them as Ms. Averill before making the class walk again; this time leading them to the front a dark corner. Speaking in a low voice, she said, "Before we go in, remember you can write down anything, but don't take photos. We're here because a friend of mine let us in," she waited until everyone nodded or murmured a yes before she continued. "There was an attack in the bar at the end of the street. Two people died, any they said dementors were there too – and not to catch the dark wizards," some people gasped in terror, so the professor went on quickly, "But they're gone, and aurors are already here too. No need to be afraid. Now follow me, and try to be quiet."

A mixture of excitement and fear was visible on the young witches and wizards' faces as they walked down the long street; it was empty as the aurors sent everyone away. Elsie was just starting to think about whether they will let all of them go inside the pub or not, but she soon got an answer to her question – half of the building collapsed. There were bricks and debris everywhere; and the dust and smoke that combined with the air was stifling their breathing end eyesight. Aurors walked up and down, examining the ruins and questioning the eyewitnesses. There were two covered shapes in the middle of the empty street – the two dead people, Elsie assumed. She pulled her notebook out from her bag and started writing down everything that she could – mostly just notes and short words about how the place looked, though it wasn't something that she could easily forget. She also wrote down some things that she heard from the aurors, but stopped as she saw some familiar faces nearby.

With a smile, she walked closer to Remus and waved at James and Sirius in the distance. "Hello Remus."

"Elsie! What are you doing here?" he asked, clearly surprised.

"Our teacher brought us here… to see something real, you know," she replied smiling.

Remus simply nodded. He wanted to say that they're here for the same reason, but his eyes darted up and down at her – Elsie was wearing a dress, and Remus couldn't remember ever seeing her in one. It was short and dark, ending just above her knees with floral prints. Do you remember when I used to give you wildflowers and how your eyes gleamed every time I did? And do you remember that you always put one of them in your hair and pressed a kiss on my cheek after? Well, of course not.

"Remus?" Elsie called his name for the second time when he finally looked up.

"S-sorry. You just look very pretty," he said with a kind of dreamy voice, like he didn't really want to say it, but he just can't hold it back either.

Elsie blushed and was just about to thank Remus, but Sirius appeared next to them. "Hello Elsie. Is Juliet here?"

She chocked back a chuckle. "Yes, she's around… somewhere over there," she said, pointing to their class. Sirius thanked her and left, trying to find the blonde girl.

Remus sighed. "We're supposed to learn here, not flirt."

Elsie narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip, fighting the urge to say something like "Then I should go too". After all, Remus was the one who could hardly take his eyes off of her only a few minutes ago. "So… did you arrive home in one piece?"

Remus nodded. "Yes, but I suffered with a really bad headache all weekend…"

The girl growled. "Don't even mention it. Nearly the whole time, I thought I was going to die. You see, I met with my family and…" she started, but the next thing she saw made her stop. One of the two covered bodies she saw earlier, stood up with the help of two healers – he was alive, but his gaze was distant, dark and empty, his skin grey and like old leather. She shivered and without thinking about it twice, she grasped Remus's hand with both of her own, her arm pressing against his as the two healers led the old man out of the place. Elsie heard someone – probably from her class – threw up nearby. She couldn't blame them; the sight was the worst she ever saw. If that is how someone looks when their soul gets sucked out, death is truly much better.

She only realized how tightly she was gripping Remus's hand when other people's voice started to fill the street again. She let his hand go and looked up at him apologetically. "Sorry."

"It's okay – are you alright?"

She gulped and nodded. "I guess I am. It wasn't a nice sight."

Remus kept his eyes on her with an aching heart – the feeling of her clinging on him was awfully familiar. It reminded him of the days when they walked inside the Forbidden Forest and how she always grasped his hand a bit too hard, even if she never admitted she was afraid.

A short, paunchy man suddenly appeared in front of them; eating a small bowl of French fries with so much ketchup it was disgusting while waving another batch of what seemed like trainee writers to himself. Elsie furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about how somehow could possibly eat after seeing something similar to what the man was eating.

"Alright. You all saw what happened. I want you to write a report…" he stopped with a mouthful of fries and looked at Elsie. "You aren't in my class young lady, are you?"

"No, I'm sorry," she answered shortly and quickly hurried away, finding her way back to her friends. Ms Averill told them every extra information she heard from the aurors and gave them a homework: write a 500-word report of today's event. Since that was their last class, they didn't go back to school – and no one minded it, as they were in enough shock as it is for one day.

Elsie just said goodbye to Lydia – who probably went to visit her boyfriend – when Juliet stopped next to her. "See you later, honey. I'll go with Sirius."

"Are you kidding me?"

The blond girl looked at her questioningly. "What? After this day I really need some… emotional support." She winked at her and Elsie rolled her eyes before they started to walk out from the deserted street. They saw Sirius waiting in front of a bookshop with Remus by his side. Juliet looked at her friend smugly, but for once, she said nothing. She left with Sirius, and for an awkward moment Elsie and Remus looked at each other. Elsie involuntarily blushed as her dream slipped into her mind again. It was like dreaming about someone and being unable to stop thinking about them for weeks, but why did that dream feel so damn real? The tall boy smiled at her kindly, but looked concerned too.

"Are you feeling better?"

She thought back to the man – who she learned was the bartender – with eyes like an empty shell. She said yes, but her face suddenly went pale and betrayed her.

"You should eat some chocolate. Here…" he said, searching for one in his pocket, but only able pull an empty package out. "Oh… I forgot I ran out of it."

Elsie chuckled softly and skeptically. "Would it really help?"

"Yes. Didn't you know? Chocolate is the best against dementors too. After a good patronus charm, of course."

"No, I didn't know," she said with a short laugh. "Maybe, uh… join me for a hot chocolate at Fortescue's, then?" she asked, a blush flooding her cheeks again.

"Oh. Well…" Remus started, his face going straight. "I still have one more class today…"

But Elsie rolled her eyes and grabbed his forearm, pulling him to herself. "Sirius skipped too. And one missed class won't be the end of the world, Remus."

He followed her because saying no was much harder than he thought it would be. Remus knew that wasn't the right thing – he should leave her alone and they should continue their lives without each other. On the other hand, her sweet laugh, her radiant smile, and her small hands that were wrapped around his arm like they used to so many times before… it all made him lose his composure completely.

They walked to the shop, and stood before the counter, ordering two hot chocolates. Remus bowed his head and smiled to himself as he heard the question even before the words left Elsie's lips – Florean had just placed two mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. "Can I get some whipped cream on top of it?" Elsie asked.

Remus cleared his throat and looked away, chocking back a laugh while Elsie got what she ordered. They grabbed their mugs and walked outside, taking seats in front of each other at a small table. "Thank you for not commenting about it."

"About what?"

She took a sip and wiped the cream off from her lips. "Usually, other people thinks it's strange or even disgusting, drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream when it's already sweet enough."

Remus thought back on a late night when they were in the kitchen and how Elsie's eyes lightened up after he put some cream on his own cocoa, seeing she wasn't the only weirdo there. An invisible hand gripped his heart with a throbbing pain – deep down he wished she could remember all those small things, he wished she would sit closer to him, he wished he could hold her soft hands and kiss her lips. He shook his head and tried to wipe these thoughts away.

"How was your day?" he asked the first thing he could think of.

"Not so good so far. I met with our new creative writing teacher… he's terrible, and constantly tries to convince us we're all hopeless."

Remus huffed angrily. "I don't understand people like him. If I ever become a teacher, I'll motivate my students."

Elsie smiled. "I think you'd be a really good teacher, actually!"

"I don't think so," he replied, shaking his head.

"Why? As far I know, you're smart, you're really kind and patient… but funny too." She stopped and let out a short laugh. "I remember one time – I was in my fourth year I guess – I sneaked out into the kitchens in the middle of the night, and you were patrolling the corridors, and when you saw me I was all frightened but you just smiled and said, 'Next time bring some waffles for me too', and walked away."

Remus knew he only wiped her memories about him after they started to talk, but he was still surprised she remembered this.

Time went fast as they talked four hours. Elsie couldn't remember when she last met someone she could talk to so easily – maybe never before. Remus walked her home again, and Elsie couldn't hold back the question that burned her tongue.

"So I thought… can we meet sometimes? I mean, not at crime scenes and parties while we're both drunk," she joked, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Remus ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. I'm not sure that's a good idea."

His answer surprised her, but she didn't want to give up so easily. "Why? Do you have a jealous girlfriend who'd kill me if she ever sees you with me?"

He laughed. "No. No, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Then what's the problem? Because I don't think you don't like me…"

"Of course, I really like you." Oh, if you only know…

Elsie nodded and stepped closer. "Then no excuses. See you later. You know where I live now, so…" she laughed and he laughed with her. As a goodbye, she hugged him, and Remus could hardly let her pull away when they did.

"See you, then," he said, walking away with a smile that he couldn't wipe off of his face.