Chapter 13

"How does Love speak?
In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek,
And in the pallor that succeeds it; by
The quivering lid of an averted eye-
The smile that proves the parent to a sigh
Thus doth Love speak."

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox [Love's Language]

The cold clear sky on the mid November day gave the Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams the perfect conditions for their match. As Rose strolled out on the pitch, her Nimbus 2001 in one hand, she lifted her other high and waved to the cheering crowd, throwing a cocky smile towards the stands. Draco, who was walking beside her was mirroring her actions, an excited grin on his own face. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as they approached the middle of the pitch. Rose could see the Hufflepuff team entering from the other side. Locking eyes with Sam from across the pitch, the two exchanged competitive grins. As usual they'd spent the past couple of weeks engaging in their traditional trash talking of each other. Sam swung her beater's bat deftly in her hand waggling her eyebrows at Rose who turned up her nose at her.

"Mount your brooms." Madam Hooch called to them, and Rose swung one of her long legs over the broomstick. Her eyes fixed on the quaffle in Hooch's hand as she kicked the trunk open and the two beaters and the snitch soared out. At the earsplitting sound of her whistle, Rose kicked off hard, heading straight for the quaffle. Reaching her hand towards it, Rose had almost grasped the ball when one of the Hufflepuff chasers bodychecked her, snagging it instead.

Shooting off after him, Rose quickly caught up on her superior broomstick. Flint was paralleling them a few meters below, and she knocked the quaffle from the Hufflepuff's hand, letting it drop down to Flint. After a rapid series of passes up to the goal posts, Rose dodged the keeper and threw the quaffle through the rightmost hoop. Spinning around, she pumped her fist into the air as the Slytherins cheered and the other three houses hissed in disappointment.

The rest of the game progressed in a similar fashion. Despite the stronger team Diggory had put together that year, their chasers just couldn't compete with the faster, more ruthless Slytherin trio. When Draco caught the snitch nearly a half an hour in, they were already up by forty points. Rose landed hard on the ground, clutching her stomach from where a bludger had struck her—sent hard in her direction by Sam in the last few moments of the game, but otherwise feeling great about the match. When Draco landed next to her, grinning from ear to ear, Rose slung her arm around his shoulders.

"Nice flying, pipsqueak," she grinned, leaning over and kissing his cheek with exaggerated enthusiasm.

"Get off, Rose," Draco yelled in embarrassment, pushing her away and wiping his cheek clean of her kiss; his eyes darted nervously to where his friends were crossing the field towards them. Rose laughed at him affectionately, enjoying the blush that rose to his normally pallid cheeks.

"Alright, alright." Rose released him to be with his friends and made her way to the changing room, changing into an oversized sweater and jeans. At Malfoy manor she wouldn't dare to wear muggle clothing, but at Hogwarts, even among the Slytherins, it was common to wear them on weekends. Glancing in the mirror before leaving, Rose ran her hands through her hair, detangling the windswept locks. She was careful to leave them looking tousled and wild—Rose always loved the way her hair looked after getting off a broom. As she left, Rose walked out to the unwelcome sight of Marcus Flint leaning casually against the outer wall. He grinned at her, and she smiled unenthusiastically back.

"Good job out there, Malfoy."

"Thanks, you too Flint." Rose made to move past him, but his hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer.

"Want to celebrate together?" He asked suggestively.

"I'll pass, but I'm sure there's plenty of other girls tripping over themselves for the honor." Rose shook him off and moved quickly away. Marcus Flint gave her the creeps. She knew just how horny a Quidditch victory could make you, but he needed to get it through his head that she was not going to solve that problem for him. Rounding the corner, Rose's eyebrow twitched in irritation at seeing none other than her brother pressed up against the black-haired Slytherin girl, their faces locked at the lips. What was her name, Patsy?

"Ew, Draco! Merlin. Get a room will you—actually don't do that either." Rose partially covered her eyes, peaking out at them from between her fingers. She did not want to see her little brother kissing anyone. When they broke apart to look at her, both of their faces were flushed red, Draco's in fury, and the girl's in slight embarrassment. As Draco opened his mouth to reply scathingly, the three were interrupted as Professor Lupin rounded one of the stands.

"Oh, hello there," he grinned awkwardly at the three of them.

"What are you doing here?" Draco sneered at him, looking his patched robes over with a critical eye.

"Mind yourself, Draco," Rose hissed at him in a manner scarily similar to Lucius Malfoy. The two locked eyes and after a brief battle of wills Draco looked away.

"Sorry, Professor." Draco drawled insincerely, but Lupin waved the apology away good naturedly. Grabbing the girl's hand, Draco began pulling her quickly away from the pair, heading back towards the castle.

"I better not find you two snogging again!" Rose shouted after them, and Remus chuckled next to her. She grinned at him sheepishly.

"I suppose I should congratulate you on your victory." Lupin told her, and Rose shrugged nonchalantly but was unable to keep the smile off her face.

"If you'd like, but I imagine you were rooting for Hufflepuff like the rest of the school."

"I must admit I find it hard to cheer for Slytherin, but I was cheering for you Rose." Her stomach lurched pleasantly at this statement, and she could feel the blush spreading across her face. By the cheeky grin Lupin gave her, she could tell he noticed her reaction.

"Care for a walk?" He asked, pointing towards a trail that would take them along the forest's edge and loop around the Black Lake. "I wouldn't want to keep you from your celebrations of course."

"A walk sounds great," Rose replied enthusiastically. The two walked in silence for a while, enjoying the crisp air and sunny day. Much as they had after the incident on the tower, the two had been ignoring the events of the full moon. The first few days after the discovery had been awkward, Rose was sure Lupin had been avoiding her, and if she was honest, she had been avoiding him too. But she had quickly come to miss their quiet hours together of sipping tea, grading papers, and making small talk. When she had wandered back into his office at their usual time later in the week and sat down across from him, neither had commented on her previous absences. The relieved smile on his face at the end of their time had left her in no doubt that he had missed her as much as she had missed him.

"Are you… feeling better?" She asked eventually, and Lupin gave her an appraising look out of the corner of his eye.

"Are we doing this now?" He asked, and Rose's face flushed.

"We don't have to, it's not really my business." Rose turned and surveyed the shore of the lake as they walked, watching as one of the giant squid's tentacles broke the water and sent ripples out across the glassy surface.

"I was bitten when I was very young. Fenrir Greyback, if you know who he is…" Rose nodded at this, familiar with Greyback's bloodthirsty story. "There was no wolfsbane potion in those days. I turned into a fully grown beast back then, nothing like the wolf you met after Halloween."

Rose listened quietly as Lupin spoke. Once he got going, the story seemed to pour out of him. She got the impression that he hadn't told anyone these things in years. How Dumbledore had invited him to Hogwarts, his monthly transformations in the Shrieking Shack, how his close friends, including James Potter, had found out but hadn't deserted him, how Sirius had tricked Snape into following Remus into the Shrieking Shack and how James had saved his life, why that was why Snape hated him so much. He talked about life after Hogwarts, struggling to find and hold down paid work, how he had been wallowing in poverty in his family home in Yorkshire before Dumbledore had offered him a job at Hogwarts. He told her how terrified he'd been when the door had opened that night and he saw her standing there with her wand drawn. He'd been so sure she would run to tell her classmates or that she would curse him or that she'd never speak to him again. His voice choked up for a moment then and he fell silent.

Turning to look at him, Rose saw there were tears on his face. Reaching up, she wiped them off his cheeks affectionately, enjoying the touch of his warm skin against her cold fingers. His blue eyes were full of melancholy and fear again, and he looked so vulnerable Rose couldn't stand it. Looking away from him, Rose wrapped her arm around his, leaning her head against his shoulder. She stared out at the Black Lake, so she didn't have to stare into his eyes.

"I just asked how you were feeling, Remus, I didn't ask for your life's story," she said at last in a teasing tone, and Lupin let out a bark of laughter. She tilted her chin up at him, glad to see amusement in his eyes rather than sadness. He lifted a hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face, his fingers lingering on her cheek.

"When did I tell you it was alright to call me Remus," he asked, his voice low and husky. Rose's heart was hammering in her chest at the molten look in his eyes, warmth pooling in her stomach and between her thighs.

"You didn't…. Do you want me to stop?" Rose breathed out. He was so close, so achingly close. She could feel the heat of his body even through their clothing, could feel the strength of his arm, could smell the pleasant earthy scents of him, could feel the roughness of his palm as it cupped her cheek.

"No… no, I like the way it sounds coming from your mouth." And there was something about the way he said mouth that made her body feel like it was on fire. His face was so close now, she could feel his breath on her lips. Rose closed her eyes. If she leaned forward just a few inches their lips would—

Another tentacle broke the surface of the lake with a loud splash and the two jumped at the noise. By the time Rose looked back to Lupin, he had taken two steps back from her and was running his hand through his hair nervously. He gave her a sheepish grin and gestured back towards the path. Swallowing her disappointment, Rose followed him, continuing their walk. She couldn't help noticing that he walked closer to her now, their shoulders and the back of their hands brushing occasionally. He frequently offered her a hand to help her step over fallen logs or hop muddy sections of the trail. At one particularly large puddle she had slid in the mud after jumping and he'd wrapped an arm around her waist to catch her, his fingers digging into the hallow of her hip. Rose nearly moaned at the feeling of his hands on her body. Remus had released her quickly, but she could still feel the way his hands felt as if they had burned their shape into her. Emerging from the woods, they walked back towards the castle, now standing a more reasonable distance from one another.

"Congratulations again, Rose," Lupin told her as they walked in through the entrance.

"Thanks Professor, have a good weekend." Their eyes lingered on one another for a moment before he turned to head up to his office and she began descending the steps to the dungeons. Rose felt like she was lighter than air as she made her way to the Slytherin common room, replaying every touch however innocent they'd had during the walk. When the portrait swung open to admit her, Rose saw that the party was in full swing. Draco and Patsy were squished together on the couch drinking butterbeers and groups of students accumulated wherever a Slytherin Quidditch player happened to be standing. As Marcus Flint was suspiciously absent, Rose assumed he'd found someone to help with his own celebrations.

"There you are," came Mariko's voice as she shoved a butterbeer into her hand. Rose popped the top quickly and gulped down some of the pleasant butterscotch drink.

"Thanks," she said, grinning as Mari covertly tipped some clear liquid from a flask into the bottle. Rose swirled the bottle gently before taking another sip, the drink now burning pleasantly on the way down.

"Where were you? I waited at the entrance after the match, Ava and I couldn't find you in the crowd."

"I decided to take a walk."

"A walk?"

"Yeah, around the lake, it was a nice day." Rose shrugged and took another swig of the spiked butterbeer, not meeting Mari's eyes under the pretext of watching the party. Mariko's sharp gaze took in Rose's tussled hair, flushed cheeks, and the brightness of her eyes.

"Uh-huh," she replied skeptically, but decided to drop it for now and enjoy the party.

AN: finally it looks like the website has been fixed to allow new chapters to update! Keep an eye out, I'll have a bunch coming your way over the weekend that I couldn't upload last week due to the glitch. Hope you enjoy! Review, Follow, Favorite!