Nine
If you were to look at the Marauders that next morning, you would have thought that exams had been canceled or something. They were overly excited about everything, all because they knew that Celina and Remus had gotten back together. They were so happy that their friends were no longer fighting, and that they no longer had to pretend to side with both of them. After all, Remus had asked them to believe him, but they were a bit wary to do so. As for Lina, they wanted to side with her, but they didn't want to lose Remus as a friend in so doing. So now that that problem no longer existed, everyone was much more cheerful.
And even better for Lina, the problem had been sorted out without her father figuring out that she and Remus were a couple.
After they had withdrawn from their kiss, Lina had said, "Oh, someone's coming."
Sure enough, the second Remus removed his arms from her hips, John came through the door, with Professor Dumbledore at his side.
John walked over to her. He leaned over and quietly whispered, "Don't worry – your father doesn't have to know."
She could have kissed him. She was so worried about her father's reaction to this whole thing, and he would probably be skeptical. She was afraid that she would have to explain the whole story, including the part about dating Remus, having kissed him already, and her romance with John – now and back then. She did not want to deal with something like that at the moment.
John was an expert at this sort of thing. It only took him about two minutes to convince Dumbledore of what had happened.
"Headmaster, I have noticed that Remus has been acting quite strange lately. Celina has noticed it, as well. We tried to figure out what was going on, but we couldn't think of what was wrong. We then made the connection that Carolina must have ha something to do with it, through a piece of gossip, courtesy of Rosalie, the painting on the fourth floor."
"Well, why have you asked me to come here, John? What was wrong with Mr. Lupin? Is he alright now?"
"Oh, yes sir, I'm fine. It's just that . . . well, let's let Carolina tell you," Remus said, grinning.
"Carolina?" John asked. She looked up sleepily. "Can you tell us what curse you put on Remus of late?"
"I put the Imperius Curse on him," she responded.
That was all Dumbledore needed. "The Imperius Curse? A student, in our school? What is this world coming to, that students cast such curses on other innocent students?"
Lina smiled. Remus wasn't exactly what she'd call completely innocent. She reached to the back of her neck, where the hickey had been.
"Don't take her away just yet, sir. We first need her to lift the Curse," John explained. He raised his wand and pointed it at her. She awoke from her dream-like state.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"The gig is up, Carolina. We know what you were up to," Lina sneered. Remus reached around her and put his arm on her shoulder.
Carolina looked nervously from Dumbledore to John to Remus to Lina, her blue eyes swiveling madly. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Just shut up and take it off," Remus snapped.
"And then, you'll be taking a special ride home on the Hogwarts Express," Dumbledore said.
Lina remembered it well. She was so happy in that moment – Remus' arm on her shoulder, the look on Carolina's face as she tried to get Remus on her side, the look on her father's face when he found out what had happened. It made her laugh and smile and almost cry at the same time. She couldn't be happier.
But as the middle of the month of November grew near, she noticed that Remus was becoming a bit weak. He didn't seem to be as upbeat as usual, and often went to the Hospital Wing, complaining of a headache and a stomach ache and other things. He didn't go outside anymore, because he was feeling so poorly. Lina had to walk along the grounds, all by herself.
Finally, one night, she came to the Common Room, where Remus had said he would wait for her after dinner, only to find that he wasn't there. She ran up to her Dormitory to see if he was there. He wasn't. But there was a note.
"Lina I had to go to the Hospital Wing to spend the night – I'm feeling like absolute crap. I'll see you tomorrow. Love, Remus," Lina read aloud.
She paced the Dormitory, wondering what was wrong. He seemed to do this at least once a month – decide suddenly that he was sick and go to the Hospital Wing to spend one night. Not that she doubted that he was actually sick, it just seemed too odd. Maybe he was extremely weak in his immune system, and was apt to get lots of diseases. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of some logical reason for him to be sick all the time. So she decided to go visit him in the Hospital Wing.
When she arrived, she opened the door quietly. Madam Pomfrey wasn't there. She walked around for a while, to wait for her to get back. She didn't come for about ten minutes, and when she did, she seemed surprised that Lina was there.
"What do you want, Miss Peterson?" she asked.
"I was just wondering if I could see Remus for a minute – I wanted to talk to him about something."
Madam Pomfrey bit her lip. Lina could tell she was thinking hard and very quickly. "He's . . . er . . . not feeling well, and badly needs his rest. Actually, he's sleeping right now. You wouldn't want to wake him, would you?"
"I suppose not . . ." Lina trailed off. "Well, thank you anyways, Madam Pomfrey."
"You're welcome, dear. Now, you might want to go back to the Common Room – the prefects will be making their rounds soon."
"Yes, I will. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, dear," Madam Pomfrey called as Lina walked through the door.
Lina was curious. What was going on? She knew that there was a lot more here than just Remus lying in a hospital bed, sleeping. But she couldn't figure it out. She went back to the Common Room and without even speaking to anyone, fell asleep in an armchair, staring into the fire.
Remus didn't return for the rest of the night, and arrived back in Defense Against the Dark Arts late. John, however, didn't seem to mind. Remus handed him a small piece of paper that Lina could only assume was a pass. He still looked quite weak, though. His face was pail, and he was coughing a lot. He walked over and sat down gingerly next to Lina.
"Hey," he whispered.
"Hey," Lina responded. "You look horrible. Are you feeling any better?"
"No, not really, but Madam Pomfrey sent me back. She didn't want me to miss any more of my classes, since I've already missed about a week's worth for the entire year."
"What was wrong, anyways?" she asked.
Remus opened his mouth slightly, as if he wasn't sure. He looked to the ceiling, but then looked back to her, saying, "Stomach virus or something. Nothing Madam Pomfrey can't heal in a jiffy."
He didn't look like he was healed in a jiffy, but she didn't say anything.
"Mister Lupin!" a voice called. "What was I just saying?"
Lina looked up to see John, yelling at Remus.
"Um . . . I, er . . ." Remus stuttered.
"He doesn't know, Professor. He was too busy talking to his girlfriend," another voice came from behind Lina. She turned around and saw Snape, smirking at her.
"If you don't shut your trap this instant, I will smack you so hard, it will knock you into next Tuesday," Lina hissed. Snape grinned skeptically, but said no more.
"I see," John continued. "Mister Lupin, I'd like to see you after class."
"But, but sir –"
"I will see you after class, Mister Lupin!"
Lina's mouth dropped open. This was not like John at all! What was going on with everyone today? She threw him a look of contempt.
"Don't be looking at me like that, Miss Peterson. It was your fault, as well."
Lina almost flipped him off, but didn't dare. She just folded her arms across her chest and slumped deeper into her chair. If she had had eyes in the back of her head, she would have seen Snape sneering at her triumphantly.
The rest of the class, Lina refused to answer any questions. She talked to no one, and when she was asked a question and demanded of an answer, she would reply, "I don't know, sir. Maybe you should ask Snape, since he seems to know everything," or something to the same effect. John seemed greatly annoyed by this, but said not a word.
Afterwards, as Remus was gathering his stuff together, Lina waited for him and whispered, "I'll meet you outside."
Remus nodded solemnly and shooed her away. She went outside the door and closed it shut behind her. But instead of waiting patiently, she pressed her ear to the door to listen in on what they were saying.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Remus asked nervously. It was almost funny – Remus was never one to be in trouble with a teacher.
"Yes, Remus. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, I just wanted to walk to you about . . . you know," John said. "How did you do last night?"
"I'm alright, I was fine."
"Have you told Celina yet?"
There was a pause, then a stiff, "No."
"You must tell her, Remus. She gets so worried about you. If you can't trust her, whom can you trust?"
"I don't know. That's what I'm afraid of," Remus said uneasily.
"You must tell her, Remus," John repeated firmly. There was silence for a moment or two, but then he said, "Alright, I'd better let you go – you'll miss lunch. Good-bye, Remus."
"Good-bye, Professor Martin," Remus said, turning to the door. Lina jumped out of the way just as she saw the doorknob turning.
"Remus?" John called.
"Yes, sir?"
"Please, tell her."
Remus sighed and replied, "I'll try, sir," before opening the door.
"Hey," Lina said quickly, covering up for the fact that she had been listening.
"Did you hear any of that?" Remus asked, horrified.
"No, of course not," she lied. And simply as that, she walked away from the classroom, his hand in hers, thinking about what she had just heard.
How unfair was that? Remus had a secret that even John knew about, but she didn't! What was this secret? Why was it so horrible that he didn't have the strength to tell her what it really was? And how come everyone else knew, but she didn't, the one person who would accept him for no matter what his secret was? She remembered all the things that anyone had ever said or done that had made him seem suspicious. She remembered Professor Trelawney looking at his palm and saying, "Well, don't worry about that, dear, you have more important things to worry about." And she couldn't forget when she had said, "And you also have a dark secret to keep . . . a very dark secret . . . and unfortunately, somehow the secret will come apparent to one you do not want to know about it . . . and, goodness, my dear, it shall turn against you in a horrible way. I am terribly sorry, Mister Lupin." What had she meant by that?
Then she thought about her own secret. She hadn't told anyone. And all of the teachers in the school knew about it. Everyone that had ever met Lina had said that she gave off vibes of mystery, sort of, so it wasn't fair to say that she wasn't doing the same thing to him. Maybe the fact that she had a secret was just as obvious for her as it was for Remus. Maybe he was walking with her, holding her hand, thinking the exact same thing.
Maybe she was over thinking it. Maybe it wasn't anything at all, and when she found out, she'd be disappointed that it wasn't anything more exciting. Maybe she was over exaggerating. Maybe. Maybe not.
As the orange November sun faded into a white December sky, Lina grew more and more anxious to discover what was going on with Remus. For some odd reason, he seemed now more cautious than ever not to let her know. She always tried to bring up things, like secrets, and he would change the subject.
"Do you have a deep, dark secret?" she would ask at random times, hoping to catch him off guard.
But he would simply reply, "Nope. Word travels too fast around Hogwarts for me to be able to keep a deep, dark secret, even if I had one, which I don't."
Nevertheless, she persisted to ask him things along the same line.
At the beginning of December, she was forced to go back up into the stuffy tower for Divination again. She had really started to hate Divination. The whole year, Professor Trelawney had been saying such things as, "Oh, my dear, be careful who you confide in this month!" or even, the week before she had caught Remus on the lake with Carolina, she had said, "Beware of broken heart, sweet child!" This was really starting to creep her out, because she was afraid of what Professor Trelawney would predict this class. Would she predict that her secret would get out? Would she predict another break-up? She really didn't want to know, but unfortunately, the glittering insect seemed to have taken a great interest in her.
That class, they were to begin Tarot Card readings. Professor Trelawney made her usual dramatic entrance through veiled curtains in the incensed room and glided over to a large armchair.
"Today, we are to begin Tarot Card readings, as I said previously. Before I begin, may I have a volunteer to help me with a demonstration?" she asked. Lina didn't raise her hand. She was called on anyways.
"Ah, Miss Peterson, would you step forward, please?"
Uneasily, Lina slipped out of her chair and walked over to the table in front of her, on which many Tarot Cards were laid. She turned back to Remus, who shrugged helplessly.
"Alright, dear, let us see what your future holds . . ." she murmured, sorting and piling the cards. After a minute or two, she said, "Ah, let us see . . . oh, it looks like the future will be cleared for you, but it will be hard for you to get there. There will be pain involved, and if I am to judge, I would say that you will not like what you find out. Do not let that get you down, however, or else a heart may be broken."
Lina stood there, in front of the table, looking blankly at the vast array of cards before her. She had no idea what the cards themselves meant, but she had an idea as to what Professor Trelawney was talking about.
A few people ooh-ed and ah-ed at this feat, and a couple of people even clapped.
"You may sit down, now, dear. Thank you for volunteering . . ."
She walked back to her seat and sat down next to Remus, who now looked extremely tense. This only confirmed Lina's thoughts as to what Professor Trelawney had meant in her Tarot Card reading.
"Another volunteer? Anyone? Anyone? Alright, Mister Lupin, will you come here please?"
Remus looked more nervous than ever. Despite the look on his face, however, he rose and walked slowly over to the table.
"Let us see what your future holds . . . oh, Mister Lupin, I see that at the moment, you've had a lot on your mind. What with your classes, your social life, and the – er – troubles you've been having, you're finding it hard to focus. Despite what I just told Miss Peterson, it would be best for you to confide in someone about your feelings. You may not like the outcome at first, but trust me, it will turn out for the best in the end."
There was more clapping as Remus turned without a word and took his seat. He was bright red and sunk deep into his armchair, as though he wanted to disappear in the folds of the fabric.
"What was that about?" Lina asked him in barely more than a whisper.
"I have a fairly good idea . . ." Remus murmured, sinking farther into the chair.
Little did Lina know that within ten days, she would know, as well.
