Lunar Charts
A/N: Don't worry, people, there is a plot, I just haven't gotten to it just yet. I haven't gotten many reviews for this, but no matter. I shall continue writing this faithfully.
Remus ascended the staircase, slowly making his way up the plush stairway to the tall tower that was the home of Sylvia Sinistra.
Why he hadn't thought of this before was a mystery to him, but all the same, he was glad he had thought of it sooner rather than later.
He finally reached the top of the tower, after what seemed like an eternity of stairs. Taking a breath to steady himself, he stood before the oaken door and raised a fist to the door.
Sylvia stepped out of the shower upon hearing a knock and narrowed her silvery eyes.
Who'd come calling at this time of the night? she wondered in aggravation.
Muttering to herself about discourteous late-night visitors, she pulled on a dark gray bathrobe and walked out of the bathroom to answer the door.
The rapping of the door was repeated and she let out an extended sigh of exasperation.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Just a moment!"
She cursed silently upon noticing the trail of wet foot marks.
Turning her attention away from the droplets of water raining crudely down on her carpet, she flung open the door and felt her mouth drop open in surprise.
"Remus!" she cried in delight, a smile creeping along her face.
He grinned meekly back at her and her smile dissipated at his weakened and pallid appearance.
She frowned slightly.
"You should be resting," she murmured.
Remus only grinned and looked at his colleague up and down once in amusement.
"And you, my dear Professor Sinistra," he leaned in the doorway casually, smirking at her. "Should get dressed before you catch your death of cold in that robe."
She looked at him in confusion and opened her mouth as if to question him.
Following his eyes, she glanced down at her attire and let out a small shriek of embarrassment.
Remus only laughed softly and entered, shutting the door after him as Sylvia ran off to dress herself properly.
While she was occupied, he allowed himself to take a tour of the living room he had stepped into.
It was very nicely furnished – the room was made up of a beige carpet that went nicely with the light-colored wooden furniture. She had a fair-sized brick fire-place in the center of one wall and lovely, but uncomfortable-looking off-white couches surrounded it.
She had quite a lot of portraits on the walls, he noticed; mainly naturistic scenes of deserts and sandy beaches – perhaps she had a thing for nature? To the right corner rested a white grand piano laden with sheet music.
The last sight made Remus smile fondly in remembrance of younger days when he used to pass by the Astronomy Tower in between classes and hear his professor drumming out melodies on the instrument.
At that moment, Sylvia walked back in wearing jeans, a black sweatshirt, and thick, comfortable-looking socks. Each article of clothing looked as if if had been thrown on at the last minute. Her raven-colored hair was now dry and he wondered momentarily if she had used a charm on it.
She shot him a sheepish look and…was that a blush?
His dulling amber eyes showed a flash of amusement in them that wasn't wasted on her.
She strode over to him, her thumbs in her back belt loops and flashed him an embarrassed smile.
"Would you like to go into the den? It's far more comfortable than this show-room," she gestured with a hand toward the finely-furnished room and he recalled suddenly that she didn't live off of her teacher's salary alone.
She led him into a room to the right of the fire-place and he found himself in a midnight-blue carpeted room decorated by various dark woods.
The room was smaller, but much more comfortable-looking, he noted to himself. There was a fire place in the corner surrounded by a pleasantly squashy-looking loveseat and two couches that closely matched the wood and carpet color.
Bookshelves aligned the walls laden with scrolls and books engraved with titles such as, Movements of the Planets and their Satellites, and Constellations: The Patterns of the Skies.
In between the bookshelves there were posters and detailed diagrams of the Milky Way galaxy as well as others whose names he couldn't recall.
She gestured for Remus to take a seat and he did so, settling himself in an armchair and leaving her to curl up in the one opposite of him.
As they sat down, a coffee table sprung up between them offering them two steaming mugs. A few feet in front of it, the fireplace suddenly crackled, alight with a warm fire.
Sylvia reached over to pick up her cup of French Vanilla cappuccino and Remus, seeing this, did the same.
His eyes closed momentarily and he rolled the mouthful of cappuccino around a bit.
Irish Cream.
Amazing how she remembered after all this time.
She watched him savor the taste of his preferred flavor and allowed herself a slight smile. He glanced up at her and she quickly set her mug down on a napkin upon the table.
He set his own cup down and he looked up at her, a warm smile alighting his features. He glanced down at the cappuccino and voiced his thoughts:
"It's amazing how you remembered my preference after all this time."
His eyes snapped back up to meet hers and she shrugged nonchalantly.
"Lucky guess?" she smiled sheepishly and avoided his eyes.
Remus blinked.
"Oh…yes, quite lucky…" he murmured, letting his eyes stray over to the fire.
She picked up the mug again and let it envelop her hands with its warmth.
"So what brings you here tonight, Remus?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes, of course."
He sat up in his chair and took a sip from his mug.
"Well, you are aware of my," he hesitated, lowering his mug to his lap. "Condition…every month."
She shot him a wary glance, and seeing that he seemed mellow enough, relaxed back into her armchair.
She nodded and waited for him to continue.
He gently ran his fingers around the rim of the cup before continuing.
"And some months…the transformations," he shivered a little and leaned just the slightest bit closer to the fire.
"Are worse than others," he whispered.
Sylvia took a sip from her mug and watched him carefully as he went on, noticing how he didn't look at her most of the time he explained.
When he had finished, she set her cup of cappuccino down.
"So you want me to supply you with a chart of the lunar movements each month?"
He nodded.
"You see, the moon controls my…transformations…and while we know it occurs during the full moon, no study has ever been made to decipher just whether or not the position of the moon affects…" he trailed off and lowered his eyes.
She nodded understandingly and gazed into the fire for a short period.
"Well," he said suddenly and stood up, his mug drained and set upon the coffee table.
He flashed her a small smile.
"I seem to have taken up enough of your time, Sylvia, I'm sorry for bursting in at this hour of the night."
She stood and led him out to the door.
"It's really no trouble at all, Remus."
She looked up at him. "In fact, I rather missed your visits while you were away."
He blinked in mild surprise and smiled at her, the action taking years off his face.
She gazed at him, suddenly having flashbacks of a laughing teenage Lupin, pulling pranks and generally getting into mischeif with his friends.
It wasn't until he gave her a questioning look that she realized she had been staring.
"Yes, well, goodnight, Remus, and don't hesitate to come and visit me," she said softly.
"It does get lonely up here, you know, with only the stars for company," she said slowly.
He nodded once. "I'll keep that in mind… Goodnight, Sylvia."
"Goodnight, Remus."
She watched him turn and descend down the stairway, his robes flowing behind him.
A/N: Yes, yes, it's short, I know, but I updated this quickly, don't you think? I think I'll be working on The Exchange Students, next as I've been neglecting it. So…stay tuned, or something.