Change My Mind

Late at Night


The fire crackled softly as the Gryffindor students settled into their common room. The pale yellow light illuminated a small group of girls huddled in one of the sitting areas, giggling quietly as they shared their secrets. Around them, several of the more studious students sat at work, sending glares in the direction of the group every time the mindless giggling interrupted their thoughts.

Emmeline Vance ignored the giggles, though. She sat in a scarlet armchair with her back against one end and her legs hanging over the other. Her legs swung back and forth as she held her book open, mouthing the words on the page as her eyes skimmed it over. Squashed in the small space between her and the chair laid a small cat who—stomach outstretched and paws curling—purred softly as Emmeline ran her hand over the soft fur of its belly. It let out a small meow as it playfully swatted at Emmeline's hand, and then jumped onto her lap. It turned in slow circles before curling into a ball and resuming its purring as Emmeline continued to pet it.

Sirius Black, who had an hour to kill before detention and no James Potter to kill said time with, took notice of his new acquaintance as he stepped down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. A smirk played on his lips as opportunity unfolded before him; he had a plan. A wonderfully magnificent and mischievous plan that he planned to put into action right there and then. So he plopped down in the armchair next to Emmeline and waited for her attention.

Except he didn't get it. Emmeline, who let a few curse words cross her mind as she realized who had just sat next to her, chose to ignore him. She knew Sirius did nothing without reason, whether that reason be something as simple as personal enjoyment or something a little more complex. It was the possibility of complexity that scared her, and she quickly decided her best bet was to stay out of whatever he was planning.

Then the bouncing started. Sirius bounced his leg up and down, creating the rough and distracting sound of his pants rubbing against the fabric of the chair. Emmeline, instantly annoyed, took a deep breath. She knew Sirius was stubborn; but so was she, and she would not let him win. She would not let him get to her. Inhaling deeply, she recalled the image of a large, magical pumpkin-sized Sirius bouncing angrily along the ceiling of the Great Hall. Emmeline bit her lip to fight the smile that was threatening to ruin her cover, and returned her attention to her book.

Then the tapping started. Tap. Tap. Tap. Sirius's fingers hit the armrest of his chair in a melodic pattern: Tap. Tap. Tap. Using her thumb, Emmeline cracked the knuckle of her index finger as she clenched her jaw. Emmeline was stubborn, but by no means patient—and her patience was starting to wear thin. As the tapping continued, she tried her best to push it out of her mind. Magical pumpkins, she thought. Bloody bouncing magical pumpkins. Slowly, her jaw began to relax.

Then he cleared his throat, and she felt something boil inside of her. Screw the pumpkins, she thought, and screw being stubborn. She snapped her book shut dramatically, and turned to Sirius with an innocent smile on her face.

"Hello Sirius," she said sweetly, "I didn't notice you there."

"No?" Sirius asked, "What a shame. I've been told my stunning good looks are rather hard to miss."

Emmeline cocked an eyebrow. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Sirius shrugged, "I was just wondering: have you hexed any innocents lately?"

Emmeline smiled. "I would never hex an innocent. I might, however, charm an idiot."

"I fear you may not be able to," Sirius said solemnly, "You have to be charming to be able to charm, dear." With that he flashed her a grin; his signature grin—his charming grin—that he used whenever he was attempting to flirt with or flatter a girl.

Emmeline was not easy to woo, however. Especially not when her suitor was the idiot who made her look stupid in front of not only her peers but her teacher as well. Sirius Black was the last person she would date. In fact, if she had the choice between dating Sirius Black or a rat, Emmeline would happily choose the rat. Sirius was crude, self-centered, ignorant, and above all: "Pathetic."

"What is?" he asked, "Your blatant attraction towards me?"

"Your attempt to flirt with me," she corrected.

"Who said I was flirting? I was merely making conversation," he said, "Aw, Em, I fear your infatuation with me is getting to your head. It's okay, though. I have that effect on people."

"Don't call me Em," she said curtly.

"But Emmie," he flashed her that grin again.

Emmeline sighed. "You really can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you?"

Sirius immediately tensed. "What?"

Emmeline didn't notice his sudden uneasiness. "You use that same trick—that grin—every time you try to get your hands on a girl. I fear you've lost your touch."

Sirius, relieved, smiled. "Well," he said, "There's no need for new tricks when the old ones always get you the treat."

Emmeline blinked, dumbfounded. Part of her wanted to applaud him for his cleverness, but that part was completely overruled by her desire to just smack him. She stared at him blankly for a minute as she thought about it before she turned her attention to the book in her hands. She opened it and resumed reading, only to be interrupted by Sirius within seconds.

"Aw, come on, Em," Sirius whined, "Don't be angry with the puppy." Emmeline looked up at him with the intention of glaring, only to notice he had made his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes.

"You're wasting your energy, Mr. Black," Emmeline said, "I'm more of a cat person." She scooped up the cat in her lap carefully and held it out to him, as if to prove a point.

"Cats," Sirius said slowly, "are awful creatures." He had to admit though, the small kitten in front of him was rather… cute. It's strange coloring—a mix between cinnamon and chestnut with stripes of white and brown—made it the most peculiar cat Sirius had ever seen. Its ears and stomach were white, with long strands of fur extending every which way. He reached his hand out to pet it—"Ow!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling his suddenly bleeding finger away.

"Awful creatures," Sirius groaned as he leaned back into his chair.

"His name is Ares," Emmeline said happily, "And apparently he's a wonderful judge of character."

"Sirius?" Remus interrupted the one-sided glaring contest Sirius seemed to be holding with Emmeline. "Shouldn't you be in detention?"

Sirius snapped his head up to check the time only to realize he was already five minutes late. He looked over at Emmeline and felt a twinge of irritation as she smothered her cat with love and attention. He took a breath and looked back at Remus before smiling. "Well," he yawned, stretching his arms out, "I guess that'll be an extra detention for me, eh?"

"That's not a good thing, Sirius," Remus joked.

Sirius stood to walk towards his friend. "Where are you headed Moony?"

"Library," Remus sighed, "I still haven't done that charms essay."

"Another busy night in the astronomy tower last night?" Sirius nudged his friend.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You better hurry, Sirius, or you might end up with two extra detentions." He walked over to portrait hole, then stopped and waited for Sirius to join him.

Sirius glanced over at Emmeline, who was back to reading her book. A smile played on his lips; he still fully intended to follow through with his plan. He started walking towards Remus, but stopped to sneak behind the armrest of the chair that Emmeline's back was resting on.

He swiftly leaned down until his lips were just next to her ear. He placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Goodnight, Em." With that, he left a wet and sloppy kiss on her cheek before he bolted out of the room, grinning like a maniac.

Remus, both befuddled and amused, chuckled as Emmeline groaned in disgust and wiped her cheek with her sleeve. She turned to look at him, her dark brown eyes flashing with anger. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Remus said casually, "just thinking of a joke Sirius once told me."

She rolled her eyes. "Sod off." She turned back into her chair, mumbling something under her breath that Remus couldn't quite make out, though he was almost certain he didn't really want to know.

With a small stack of books in his arms, Remus made his way out of the common room and into the corridor. He glanced down the hallway to see that Sirius hadn't stopped running as he turned the far corner and disappeared from sight.

Remus made his way towards the library, going over his ideas for the essay in his head. His plan was to write it as quickly as possible, so he could get back to the dormitory and sleep. Remus knew all too well, though, that things hardly ever went according to plan.

"Hello, Remus," Ariadne smiled as she skipped towards him.

"Oh, hey, Ari, I didn't see you there," he said.

She smiled in a way he had never seen her smile before—almost as if she knew a secret, a secret so marvelous that she just couldn't wait to share it with him, so that he could be that happy too.

"What?" he asked,

She laughed. "You called me Ari."

"Oh," he said, "I guess it just slipped, if you'd prefer to be called by your full name—"

She cut him off with a passive wave of her hand. "It's fine. It just means you consider me to be your friend."

He cocked an eyebrow. He wanted to ask her why that was a big deal, he wanted to ask her if it was surprising, or wrong, or if she didn't consider him to be her friend, but before he could even put together the right words, she turned on her heel and began skipping down the hallway. "Ari," he called, confusion laced through his voice, "where are you going?"

"It's Thursday!" she said, pausing for a brief moment to look back at him. Remus stood for a moment as her words sank in, and then he smiled. Of course, he thought. It was Thursday, and Thursday meant she would be going to the astronomy tower. "You're slow," she said as she turned back to continue skipping.

Ariadne hummed quietly to herself as she skipped, never bothering to check and see if Remus was following her. It never crossed her mind that he wouldn't, and as soon as he realized she wanted him to follow her, that's exactly what he did. When he finally found his place beside her, she continued skipping ahead, not bothering to look at him. Remus somehow matched the length of her skips to his steps, though he still struggled to keep up with her. She seemed to take notice of this, though, and her skipping slowly faded into a type of graceful walking.

"You know," Remus said as he walked through the door and into the tower, "I was heading to the library to do my charms essay." After setting his books down on a small at the opposite end of the tower, he sat on the steps, resting his arms on his knees before he looked at her.

Ariadne was already at work with her telescope, her eyes pressed against the lens as she altered the focus. "So do it now," she said.

"Here?" he asked, looking around.

"Sure," she replied, "it's much quieter."

"That's true," he said. Grabbing his books, he looked around for a more comfortable place sit, and settled on resting his back against the railing behind the raised platform. Using his knees as a desk, he opened his books and began working.

Surprisingly, he found that this was a much better place for him to work—it was certainly more comfortable than the library. The air was still around him, and instead of the constant distraction of the sounds of pages being turned and papers being written, all he could hear was the occasional movement of Ari, who he almost forgot was there. It was easy to focus, easy to concentrate, easy to lose himself; and that's exactly what he did. He became so immersed in his work that he didn't notice anything that was happening around him. It wasn't until he was done with his essay that he realized he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings; he didn't even know how much time had passed by. A half hour maybe? An hour and a half? Two hours?

When he looked up to ask what time it was, he was instantly reminded of the time they had spent in the library. He thought then that she had more charts than one person would ever need, but that thought was certainly put to shame now. Ari had spread out, in the center of the floor, more charts than he had ever seen before. They were laid out in a circle, the edges all overlapping each other, making it look as if the chain never ended.

He stood up and walked closer, then leaned down to study one. The first thing he saw was a rough sketch of two dogs that overlapped a set of stars. Just under the sketch, in neat cursive, read Canes Venatici. He ran his fingers over the ink, surprised to feel a slight bump in the page as he did so. Then the pieces all seemed to fit together; where the parchment overlapped, so did the constellation. Ari hadn't spread out various charts. She was making one very, very large one.

He stood up and looked for her, finding her lying on the floor, huddled over one of the pieces of parchment with a quill in hand. "Ari?"

She looked up at him, her wavy blonde hair falling in her eyes. "I'm almost finished," she said, then went back to charting.

He took a moment to walk in a circle around the giant chart she had created. He had never seen a chart as large or complex as this one, and he was extremely impressed. Some of the constellations hadn't yet been sketched, but all the stars were there, laid out around him the same way the night sky always had been.

"There," she said as she stood up, "done."

"Did you do all of this today?" He asked.

"No," she replied. She walked over to stand next to him, and admired her own work.

He waited for her to continue, but instead she knelt next to one of the pieces. She took her wand out and pressed the tip to the paper, murmuring some spell that Remus couldn't recognize.

"Come look," she said, motioning for him to go to her.

He knelt next to her, wondering what exactly he was supposed to be looking at. Then something caught his eye—movement. He looked closer to see that the charted stars and constellations were moving, circling around from parchment to parchment slowly, as if representing their daily transitions. The dogs moved slowly, their legs bending underneath them as if they were running. Then there was a swan—Cygnus, if he recalled correctly—that flew from page to page.

"How long have you been working on this?" he asked in awe.

"A while," she said. "I started last year, but took a break over the summer. It didn't feel right to chart from a different place."

"So this is why you come up here every week," he said.

She nodded. "It takes me a few weeks per sheet. I'm almost done, though." She pressed her wand to the paper again, and the stars all floated back to their original positions. As she gathered the pieces of parchment, Remus stood and walked back to his own work, suddenly feeling inadequate.

All these years he had just been going through the motions, writing essay after essay just to get a good grade, and here was Ari, spending weeks after weeks, months after months working on something purely for personal enjoyment. It was just like her in every way; she never did anything she didn't want to do. He admired that about her; he wished he could be like that. He wished he could do only want he wanted to and nothing more, but that just wasn't the way he was. Remus was responsible; he always did what was expected of him, and what he was supposed to do. If he was supposed to write an essay, he'd write the essay. If he was expected to write it well, he would. When his friends expected him to help with their pranks, that's what he did. It never bothered him, either.

"Ow," Ariadne said softly, breaking Remus free of his thoughts.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he walked over to kneel beside her. She was sitting on the ground, papers in one hand with the other pressed against her head.

"I hit my head on the rail."

"Let me see," he said, and she moved her hand off her head and into her lap. He placed his hands on her head, moving her hair aside softly to check for injury. "Well, there's no blood," he said.

She looked up, her bright eyes meeting his tired ones. "You have pretty eyes," she said softly.

Remus felt his face flush. "Um, thank you." He had been complimented before—usually on his kindness or his intelligence—but he had never had a girl tell him he had pretty eyes. He hadn't really ever had anyone comment nicely on his appearance, especially when he was standing next to James or Sirius. He stood up, suddenly extremely self-conscious, and politely held out a hand to help her up.

She took it without hesitation, her delicate fingers resting in his calloused hands as he pulled her up. The sudden warmth of her hand sent shivers across his skin.

He was not supposed to feel like that—friends don't get all tingly when they touch other friends. Remus thought about Sirius and James and Peter, and how they insisted that there was more going on between him and Ari than just friendship. Maybe they were right. Maybe Remus had been developing feelings for her ever since she spoke to him, since she noticed him. That must be it, he thought. I'm only interested because she noticed me. It's just a small crush. No big deal.

Deep down, though, Remus knew he was lying to himself. "We should get back," he said quickly. The only way to keep her away from him, the only way to keep her safe, was to walk away while he still could. His friendship with Ariadne had only just begun and he was already ruining it, but what other choice did he have? He made a promise to himself, and he had every intention to keep it.

Ariadne nodded and finished collecting her papers as Remus gathered his books. He waited for her at the door leading to the stairs. She walked up to him with her bag slung over her shoulder, and he avoided meeting her eyes with his own.

"Thank you," she said, "for coming with me."

He nodded and pushed the door open, letting her walk through first. They descended the stairs silently, and he stayed behind her the entire way, his mind racing. How do you tell someone you just became friends with that you can't be around them anymore? He didn't want her to hate him, but there didn't seem to be another way. He'd just have to stop hanging out with her, stop with the Thursday trips to astronomy tower, stop with everything. At best, she'd just forget about him. At worst… well, he didn't want to think about it.

"Goodnight, Remus." Ariadne said as they reached the end of the staircase. She stood next to him as he looked at her for a few moments, gathering up the strength to do the one thing he hated the most: saying goodbye.

"Goodnight, Ari." He finally replied, taking one last look at her before he turned to walk away. After hearing her footsteps fade down the hall, Remus hurried back to The Fat Lady, eager to be in bed and fall asleep, thinking that he had to be the worst type of person in every single way.


This chapter was hard to write, and I don't really know why. I knew exactly what needed to happen, I knew how and when and why it needed to happened, but it felt like I was just stuck at a certain point for forever. Anywho, here is the final product: my longest chapter yet (by maybe 200 words?).

You might be wondering why there's no Lily and James. Last chapter I promised you their part was coming up.

Well I didn't lie. It's just impossible to try and give each character an even amount of time each chapter when they all have a story to tell.

But I can promise you this: you will see a little of the next chapter. You will see even more in chapter nine.

What's this with Ari and Remus? I'm not sure. You'll have to stick around to find out ;)

If you're one of the few who have stuck with me even after two weeks of no updates, know that I love you with my entire soul. To the moon and back.

Thank you all for keeping me going. Honestly, all I need is to see that people are reading and it makes me want to update. But, hinthintwinkwink, reviews always excite me.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and thank you so much for reading :)