Wow, quick update for once. It's because I have no more school, honestly. Stupid thing got in the way of the REAL important things ;p. Stay in school kids. What.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

"You seem tense. I haven't made you uncomfortable, have I?"

I shook my head stiffly. The bell rung. Students flooded from their classes, engulfing us in the crowd. Not what I needed to regain my calm. Maybe he timed the bomb he dropped with the end of class to make sure my footing stayed nice and unstable. Anything's possible, as I've just learned, unfortunately.

"You know, if you hadn't messed around where you didn't belong, we might have got along well. But," Regulus said, raising his eyebrows, "what can you do?"

He chuckled. So amused with himself. Prick. He can fuck right off as far as I'm concerned.

"What do you want?" I asked quietly. Not like anyone would hear me. Practically everyone was yelling. It was nearing lunch time. He led me to a bench on the side, guiding me down once we got there. He used enough force to ensure my submission, but gave enough slack to remain gentlemanly.

"Want? Nothing."

"Then why are you doing this?"

Again he chuckled. "Doing what, exactly?"

His eyes twinkled menacingly. It reminded me of Sirius in a dark, twisted way. My arm remained trapped in his.

"But you said—"

"Listen carefully, Miss Wilde. I'm only going to say this once." He pulled the sun ring from his pocket and held it up. "You will bring me the other one of these. I know you have it. I don't know how it came to be in your possession, but it is. It's useless to try and convince me otherwise," he said forcefully as I opened my mouth to protest. Leaning in closer, his eyes stopped twinkling and started to blaze.

"Tomorrow evening, you will receive a letter. Inside will detail instructions telling you where to bring the ring. Tell no one. Trust me, I'll know if you do."

The second bell rung. The corridor cleared. I attempted to stand, but Regulus tightened his hold.

"Remember," he whispered. "Secrets, secrets are no fun."

And as quick as my gasp, he was gone. I was left sitting, alone and confused, to ponder what the fuck just happened. From start to finish, this day demolished me. I'm wrecked. I'm done. My eyelids suddenly got heavy. Sleeping's a no-no, though. Now, I needed to find Remus. Or at least one of those other misfits.

I must have looked so unbelievably pathetic. Long-faced, bags under my eyes, hair lank and gross. I wanted to get up. My legs didn't. They stuck to the ground like gum in hair. Begrudgingly, I lifted my arse off the bench. Back creaking, knees cracking, I shuffled back along my original path. To Remus. He better be in that tower. If he isn't, I do not care, I will fall asleep on the ground in front of the Fat Lady until he trips over me. I'm missing a whole day of class for this.

Finally, some luck struck. Walking up the stairs nearly as sluggish as me, was Remus. Sudden energy pumped through my bloodstream.

"Remus!"

He stopped mid-step. His foot hovered limply over the marble as he turned his head to me. New batches of cuts freshly shined in the light of the torches. In his dull, sleepless eyes there lacked the spirit I saw when he and I first met at the train station so long ago. Actually, it wasn't even that long ago. Only a few months. The events after our meeting slowed down the passage of time. Before we were timid and excited at the prospect of a new romance, but now. Now all we were was tired. Tired and pitiful. A painfully obvious thought crossed my mind. Remus and I never so much as held hands. We'd never hugged, never kissed. Hell, the last time we spoke officially he told me he believed all of the stuff we found out about Snape. Looks like I'd have to tell him how wrong we were.

Sighing heavily, I picked up my feet to meet him on his step.

"I need to tell you something."

He nodded his head gravely. I'm surprised he didn't slap me across the face. He appeared so worn out. I probably interrupted him from taking a well-earned nap.

"Do you mind if we stay here? I feel so ill."

I smiled, sitting down on the cold marble stair. I patted the floor next to me. Groaning as he sat, his body plunked down heartily.

"Ready steady?"

"As I'll ever be," he said with a sad chuckle. "What's the matter?"

I sighed. "You know that whole gigantic scene I made about Snape?"

"I wouldn't call it a scene. But, yes."

"Well…"

"What?" he urged.

"Turns out Sirius was right, funnily enough."

"No," he scoffed. "No, he couldn't be."

"Hard to believe, I know. Trust me. I know. And yet, here we are."

"So everything with Snape? It's dismissed?" Remus scrunched his eyebrows. "How?"

The third sigh of the day let itself out. "Long story short, Regulus is the one behind all of the horrible rumors."

"Regulus, as in Sirius's brother, Regulus?"

"Yep."

Remus slouched as much as possible on the stair, letting out a deep breath. Tilting his head back, he brought up his calloused hands to rub his eyes.

"I'm too old for this," he muttered with a groggy voice.

I laughed. "You're only seventeen!"

"Eighteen, thank you."

"Oh, excuse me," I said with a laugh in my timbre. "That changes everything. You want me to get you're your walker, grandpa?"

Remus started to smile, too. It grew prettily, much like it did when things weren't so vile. He turned to me with it still on his lips. The bags under his eyes pleasantly wrinkled from the apples of his cheeks. I don't know why it was so funny to me. It began with a lighthearted giggle. Then a stomach shaking chortle.

"What's so funny?" Remus asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, covering my mouth to keep my smile from falling right off. Remus made a confused face that only fuelled my humor's flame. One of his eyebrows cocked at a weird angle, and it tickled me. All of the stress from the past few week bubbled up to the edge of my limits, then gently fizzled back down like the foam on a lukewarm butterbeer. My devolution had begun.

"Your face!" I managed between fits.

At last I had infected Remus with the giggles. His started as slow as mine. Polite chuckles, then shoulder bouncing snickers, until finally we both melted to the floor in manic laughter. I held my sides as they ached from happy use. Every now and again I'd hear Remus gasp for air between overpowering noises of cheer. After a long while, both of our laughs became silent. We laid on the cold floor, the tops of our heads gently touching, hands across our stomachs. For acres above us, staircases changed in their usual way. Looking at it straight on from below put the whole network in perspective. We were merely stars in the vast universe that was Hogwarts. We're not even stars. We're stardust.

Remus shifted. My hair pulled underneath the weight of his head. I let out an itty bitty yelp. Barely audible. But Remus still heard it. With a breath of a laugh, he lifted his head and moved my hair out of the way.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm bad at this."

"Bad at what?" I replied, turning my face towards his. I liked looking in his eyes when we spoke. They always told me what I wanted to hear. Without another word, he leaned in and kissed me. We must've been a sight. Two idiots lying on the ground, making out at an awkward angle, and probably doing it all wrong, because I sure as hell know that I've never done this before. From what James and Sirius told me, Remus hadn't either. Still, it was nice. Soft, and tender. My ears rung for the duration of it, blocking out all sounds and making it so us two were the only ones in the whole universe. Back to stardust.

When we broke apart, my stomach flipped. It hit me then. Finally, Remus and I had left the weird in between zone of friends and more than friends. And I'm not talking best friends, if that's what you think. I'm talking full-blown dating. Or full-blown-interested-in-pursuing-a-romantic-relationship-with, at least. I mean. We kissed once. I'm not gonna go draw little hearts on my notebook with our initials. That would be creepy. Whatever this thing we had going was, I liked it.

"I'm sorry if that was really out of the blue," Remus said, both wincing at his own awkwardness and grinning coyly. "I just—what I meant was—oh, Merlin."

I shut him up with another kiss. I had a better idea of what I wanted this time. I put my hand on his cheek. His skin accumulated chills from the shock of my deliberate touch. In the back of my mind Regulus popped in and out of focus. While I wanted nothing more than to lie here forever, I knew we were stalling the inevitable. We still had all that nonsense to deal with.

Right now, I'm content putting it off for another minute or two.

Aw, a nice chapter finally! So much doom and gloom was going on, so I'd thought I'd lighten it up a bit until it all goes to shit :).

It's about time Jemus got some action. Yeah, I just named the ship, sorry. Well, not really.

SO

Question!:

Do you ship any of the characters? Doesn't have to be Jordan + someone, just anyone!

Thanks for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following! Now that I'm done with school, expect more updates :). Byeeeeee!