A/N: Hello Everyone!
I'm in a state of utter and complete elation! Over a 100 reviews! I never thought I would see the day! Now for the all-important 'thank yous': (bare with me, this may take a while)
lilyfan: I'm terribly sorry that you found the last chapter to be confusing...I hope that this new chapter will make amends.
The Grim: Thank you so much for faithfully reading and reviewing! (pats large black dog on head)
EyesofEmerald: Where to begin? You've been one of the major driving forces behind this story. I thank you for all the kind words you have given me. And thanks again for betaing for me, when no one else would!
Riaelfgirl: I'm glad to see you come back to my little fic! I will try my best not to disappoint
gallandro83: Aren't you a clever bloke? You seem to have hit the proverbial nail on the head when it comes to Kaida and Severus. I had tried to email you to answer some of the points you raised but your email address seems to be down. If you are interested please email me.
PaarsKonijn: Thank you for all the kind words and for continuing to review.
Titou Moony :-p: Welcome to my little story! And thank you for reviewing!
browneyedgirl2004: Thank you for reviewing! And you don't have to thank me for reviewing your story; it was a pleasure!
The Parrot has ceased to be: I understand perfectly. Thank you for reviewing, each and every chapter! I can always count on you to say something nice!
WotcherTonks: Yes, Remus stood her up the same night she went to see Severus...it's the same evening, it kinda dragged out though so I broke it into pieces. I have a tendency to do that. And Welcome back!
Aerandir: You've been diligently asking for the school year to begin and for the students to return. Rest assured that in the coming chapters I will move into the school year and maybe even have Kaida encounter some of them;) Thank you for reviewing both my stories-it was very kind of you!
Neoma: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoyed chapter 12!
Padfootrulz011: Welcome back! You were my first reviewer for "Why Do You Stare?"! You have a very special place in my heart for that. I was a tad worried when you stopped reviewing...I thought that perhaps my story had started to go down hill or something of the like. But now that your back, I feel oodles better.
angelriseng85: Thank you so much for being my 100th reviewer! And welcome to my little story! I hope that you will continue to find it interesting and enjoyable!
Thank you one and all for reading my fanfic! I can't thank you all enough! I don't know if I deserve all the compliments and kind words that you have all given me, but I will do my very best to not disappoint you!
Chapter 13:
Books scattered around me create a fort of solitude. I feel safe amongst this sea of words. I flip through the books at a frantic pace. The hunger I felt the night before has not left me; but now I hunger for knowledge rather then blood. Each book has so little to offer me-like an edacious vulture; I pick through their remains hoping to find a sliver of information.
----The sound of a heavy book cover slamming shut echoes through the empty library----
Nothing! These books hold nothing but scraps of molded paper! This library has been my fountain of knowledge for years, and now when I desperately need to drink from it, it runs dry… There must be another source…somewhere… I gather the books in my arms and begin to place them back on the shelves.
---The sound of a door opening-creaking softly---
Someone is here. I can sense them. I follow the line of bookshelves. Someone is sitting at my table.
"Remus?"
"Good evening Kaida. I had a feeling I would find you here."
"Old habits die hard…" I said feebly. Despite the dark veil of night that filled the room, he smiled. "None of these books have what I'm looking for…"
"And how would you know that? It's obviously too dark for you to read…or are you just drawing this from memory?" He says teasingly.
Doesn't he know what I am? For someone who claims to be well acquainted with the dark arts he is quite blind! Perhaps I should tell him… Perhaps another time…
"It's true, I've read these books countless times. I had been hoping to find something new that perhaps I had overlooked."
"If you've grown tired of these books, you are welcome to mine." Brandishing another enchanting grin, he offers me the crook of his arm. I reach out to wrap my arm around his when I suddenly remember the state of my hands. I have bandaged them the best I could but they're still tender. He waits patiently for me to take hold of his arm. I swallow hard, preparing myself for the sting of my wounds; I reach out and gingerly take hold of his arm. I wince with pain, thankful that the darkness hides my grimace upon my face.
As we walk down the twisting corridors I notice the flickering dance of the candlelight. To think that the night before, I could have extinguished the life of a student as easily as a candle's flame…I shudder at the thought of what could have happen.
"Something wrong, Kaida?"
"It's nothing, Remus…just felt a bit cold…"
"Not to worry, I've got tea for two in my office and a nice crackling fire going" His voice is so comforting…gentle, with a steady timbre, I could listen to him speak forever. Such a wonderful voice.
"Tea for two? Were you expecting me?" I ask coyly.
"Not so much expecting, as hoping that you would" He pushes open the door of his office to reveal a familiar sight-his mismatched tea set arranged carefully on his desk, the smell of tea and biscuits and the unmistakable crackle of a fire. I watched as his lithe form moved in the firelight; he turned to gesture for me to sit by the fire. I settled myself on the dusty rug that lay before the heat of the fireplace. The room filled with the familiar chatter of porcelain cups and saucers, as Remus brought them towards me. Offering me a cup, I noticed his hands were far steadier then they had been during our first encounter-there was a hint of distraction in him. His mind was definitely elsewhere.
Pretending to take a sip of tea, I studied his handsome face-it seemed to radiate with a tired wisdom. On their own accord, my eyes began to trickle down from his face to his neck-its skin was beautifully pale and tight. My gaze lingered on the small cuts that covered his neck; they seemed to pulsate with blood. They glistened seductively-I wanted to touch them…to caress them…to brush my lips upon them… His body seemed to be covered with these small lacerations…I wanted to press my lips to all of them… Upon realizing what my wandering mind had conjured, a chill ran down my spine, as my face began to blush furiously.
Were those thoughts the product of some vampiric instinct or could they have been the fabrication of a female mind?
I was at a loss as to whether I had wanted to seduce the gentle professor or if I had simply wanted to feast upon his blood. Feeling thoroughly awkward, I tried to direct my mind to less…hedonic thoughts.
"Remus?" He lay on the carpet, his elbows supporting his graceful frame, as he tilted his head to face me. Exposing his neck to me in a most sensually nonchalant manner.
"Yes?"
Control yourself Kaida…Well stop looking at his neck already! No, don't look at his chest…His eyes! Look into his eyes!I look deeply into his eyes, desperate to clear my mind of this blood lust. His eyes glow with an amber light-I've never seen such brilliance in mortal eyes. There seems to be something there…something below the surface of his calm face…
"Is everything alright, Remus? You seem to be a bit…moony…" His elbow gave way as he lost his balance-I must have hit a cord with him, he seemed to have been caught off guard.
"Moony?" He said in a hushed voice.
"Yes, moony. You know, 'distracted', 'preoccupied'; whatever you want to call it, there's something not quite right with you tonight."
Chuckling softly as though finally realizing the humor in a forgotten pun, he tells me, "It's nothing…"
"Nothing? Then you must have a lot of 'nothing' in that head of yours." I smile teasingly at him, hoping to encourage a loosening of his tongue.
"Is that so?" Rising to my playful taunting, he flashes me a roguish grin. "Then I take it that you don't want to be bothered by the rhetoric of an empty-headed fool now would you?"
"On the contrary! I too, am a fool! And what better an audience for a fool than an even greater fool?" He laughs at my words-a wonderful mirth-filled, flirtatious laugh. He shakes his head slowly, like an adult would to a playful child.
"No, you were never a fool… If anything, it had been your brilliance that had drawn me to you." His mischievous grin gave way to the shy curling of his lips, that I had become so well acquainted with on our first encounter. I feel my cheeks flush with heat at his compliment.
"Really Remus? Do you think that this flattery will get you out of telling me how you got my journal back?"
"Not at all! Would you like me to tell you now?"
"Yes, please do!" I felt like a child on Christmas morning-eager to see what awaited me. I shifted my legs so that I could sit comfortably cross-legged, facing him. He rose to his feet and took a few steps back, as he prepared to begin.
"It had been a dark and stormy night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Our young hero, Remus Lupin…"
"Our 'young, handsome hero'" I said, surprised by my own boldness-my face continued to glow as I covered it with the sleeves of my robe. He shot me another toothy smile before he continued.
"Our young, handsome hero, Remus Lupin, was waiting patiently for the love of his…I mean…his lovely lady-friend, Kaida Nox, in the school's vast library." He smiled sheepishly as he bit down on his lip gently.
"He had done so every evening since his first year at the school. He had come to look forward to these evenings, when he would quietly sit across from her, studying. Tonight would be the last evening they would spend together; for it was their last year at Hogwarts. She arrived on time, as she always did. But to Remus' dismay, she was in tears-distraught that her beloved journal had been…uh…pilfered by the evil Professor Acacia. Upon seeing her great unhappiness, Remus felt his heart sink into his stomach-he hated to see her this way. It was then that he devised a plan to rescue her treasured diary. Excusing himself, he ran to find his friend, James. James had a marvelous cloak of invisibility, that would allow the wearer to become…uh…well, invisible.
Remus put on the enchanted cloak and ran to the dungeon office of the dreaded gorgon-of-a-woman, Professor Acacia." He proceeded to gesture with his hands, acting out the different movements of his story.
"He slipped into the room quietly, to find that the professor was not in the room. He searched diligently through all her possessions but could not find the journal." He shook his head with mock-sadness.
"He heard the door open, Professor Acacia entered the room. He stood quietly in the dark corner next to her fireplace. Shortly after her arrival, the lovely Kaida made an appearance. Remus stood in the shadows, searching the remainder of the room with his eyes. He finally found the journal-it had been hidden amongst the kindling of the fireplace. Upon realizing what Professor Acacia had been planning, Remus quickly tried to pull the journal out from the debris. Remus had managed to pull the journal out only seconds after Kaida had unknowingly set it aflame. His hands were burnt but he had saved the journal. He dare not go to Madame Pomfrey for aid, for they would know what he had done…" I was then hit with a flashback. I remember seeing his hands bandaged so tightly later that night that he could hardly turn the pages of a book he had been studying from. He had told me that they were burns from a "potions-related-accident".
Poor dear Remus, what would possess you to do something so foolhardy?
I heard his sweet voice and was lured back to the rest of his story.
"It would be years later that he would reunite Kaida with her precious journal. The end." He bowed to me, much like an actor would to his audience. I clapped loudly in response, wincing at each clap. The blood from my wounds began to bloom on surface of my bandages. Suddenly he lifted his head from his deep bow, almost as though he had caught the scent of my blood-which would be preposterous, as mortals don't have such a keen sense of smell!
"Kaida! Your hands are bleeding!" His voice had lost its cheery, singsong quality; it was now riddled with shock and worry.
"It's nothing, Remus…" He takes my hands carefully into his. He begins to remove the soiled dressing-I flinch as he pulls it away from my open wounds. I heard him draw his breath in sharply upon seeing the misshaped mass that had once been my hand.
"Kaida, what happened to your hands?" I had never heard someone speak so imploringly.
"It's nothing…it was only a 'potions-related-accident'." I say it so softly that I thought he might not have heard my words. I hope he understands that I do not wish for anyone else to know of my injury.
"I see… Well, there's not much I can do for a 'potions-related-accident'…I can however, get some clean dressing for it." His eyes twinkled with an unspoken sympathy. He moved towards the door. "I'll be right back."
I hear his the cadence of his swift feet echo on the marble floors of the corridor. As I sit in this empty room, I feel a sense of, for a lack of better words, amour propre fill me. His lavish attention seemed to trigger something inside of me. This feeling engulfs me and has left me with a longing. A longing to leave Remus' office with my scent, so that perhaps he may think of me through his tedious day-a gentle reminder that I was there and that I will return. I remove the amaranth that nestled in my hair and throw it into the hungry mouth of the fireplace. The flames lick the delicate petals, and the room is soon bathed in its eerily sweet fragrance.
Soon I hear the rhythmic pounding of his feet; he bursts into the room with an arm full of bandages and gauze. He has left the door ajar.
"Where did you get all of that?"
"I nicked it from the Hospital wing. Here, give me your hands." I watched in awe as he wrapped them quickly and carefully. Upon noticing my jaw drop he shrugs airily and tells me, "I've done it before…"
I thank him and look out the open door. The sky has taken on a dangerous shade of amethyst-the sun has started to rise.
"It's very late Remus…perhaps we should continue our research tomorrow night…"
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Allow me to escort you to your room…" He walks me to the door of his office. I stop abruptly, realizing that he may see my coffin if he were to escort me to my chambers.
"Thank you, Remus, but I should be fine on my own…" He leans gracefully on the doorframe.
"Are you sure now, Kaida?"
"Positive." I lean over to him slightly and kiss him softly on his cheek. I leave quickly but not before I see him blush a violent shade of red. I hear him quietly sniff the air. I see he's caught my scent. Let the chase begin.