A/N: After reading this chapter, I was utterly amazed that- even by my low standards- I found the chapter worthy of a compost heap, but find it worthy I did. So here I am, praying that you won't find yourself exasperated at this inept writer of humble fanfiction. Alas, I digress. I wish for you to read this new chapter, which is hopefully loads better than the older one.

Chapter Seven: Jeune Amour

Mina

She fell down haphazardly onto her luxurious four-poster bed and surveyed her surroundings. The burnished oak panel flooring; the fat feather-bed on which she now lay, with its gorgeous high black bedstead with carved posts; her miniature table, with its brass-knobbed drawers and other such accoutrements. She sighed, then rolled over on her back, and preceded to gaze up at the stunningly sewn indigo canopy of her four-poster bed. This wasn't the first time she was rendered utterly perplexed by Remus's behaviour...and, in all confidentiality, probably wasn't going to be the last. What was he playing at? she pondered in the silence of her dormitory.


Earlier that day

Though it had been Mina who suggested they take a walk, now she wasn't so sure what to say, or whom to speak about,...nor was she entirely sure what to do and was more than a tad bit apprehensive in regards to where this was leading to. She was, to say the least, a nervous wreck, but this could be attributed to a number of things, the utmost in Mina's mind, the fact that Remus was holding her hand as they walked. Every fiber in her being screamed at her to do something, exactly what still remained unclear at the moment, which vexed Mina so. What was Remus doing to her? Why did she feel this way? Was it normal or to be expected? She was halfway through a sigh, when she realized that the object of her inner affections was holding her hand. She decided several nanoseconds too late to stifle her sigh and doing her best to conceal it, changed it into a light cough. She withdrew her hand from Remus' and in doing so gave him an airy explanation.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, but I do believe I've contracted a slight cold." She glanced over at him and saw his crestfallen face.

"Oh...er...right, of course..." he concluded. "Nasty bit of weather we've been having, eh?" he mumbled to the ground. His shoelaces had suddenly become the center of his life, Mina distressingly noted. She was so caught up in silently rebuking herself with such severity that it took her a few uncomfortable seconds to reply, in which she folded her arms across her chest, as if to brace herself against the stinging winds.

"Oh! Um...yes, yes, of course." now she too had begun to stare at her shoelace as if it were some type of elusive and fascinating creature she might never have the chance to see again. This is unheard of! she screamed at herself, gritting her teeth as though she were in actual pain. What in the bloody hell...is WRONG WITH ME? Of all the sodding gits in the world that Remus could've choosen to hung out with, he choose me! If left to her own devices, Mina could do some serious harm to herself, all due to the fact that she had, heretofore, done a superb job of botching this little conversation up. After several minutes of awkward silence, Mina was grateful that it was Remus who was the first to stop scrutinizing his attire to gaze about the tremendously wonderful landscape, to which they had hitherto been utterly oblivious to, and attempted to will intelligible words from his own gaping mouth.

"So...how do you think you did on your exams?" he queried gently, as if testing the waters.

"I think I did alright." she replied slowly, she too chose her words carefully as if to avoid a row. "The History of Magic exam was a little bit difficult," she admitted, with a slight hint of chagrin in her voice, "I don't think that I kept the goblin rebellions straight...And yourself? How did you fare?" she inqured politely.

"What, on the goblin rebellions?" he asked, slightly taken aback, as if she had the nerve to imply that he was anything less than spectacular in the devine subject that was the History of Magic, or so it appeared to Mina as such. Oh, please! she chided herself, sounding more and more like her father when, after making a huge show of rolling his eyes, he would ask her to please cease being dramatic whenever she chose to indulge in what her father considered farcical shows of passion over something he would tend to see as exceedingly trivial. More often than not, he was right, much to Mina's exasperation. Her father could never know that she resolutely and earnestly felt that if she ever wanted to become someone famous, someone worthwhile, she would have to have had at least some flair for the dramatic during some time in her life. It was only her father's capriciously unfavorable luck that she rarely acted like this at school, choosing only to let her parents see the more exuburent side of her, while at school on the other hand, she prefered to associate herself with a small clique made up of people whose ideas, customs, conduct and other such attributes were similar to hers. She was moderately puzzled when Remus seemingly flippantly declared, "Oh...um...fine." Oh, um, fine, what? she thought to herself, startled out of her recollective trance.

Before she had a chance to recall to her ailing memory what it was that had been said, Remus indifferently asked, "And what rebellions did you become muddled by?" This time, there was no doubt in Mina's mind that Remus had asked this as if his mind were preoccupied with other, more pressing manners. Mina was suddenly overwhelmed with the atrociously frightening premonition and impression he had only asked her out of sympathy, as if he was too busy to become involved in or worried about the plight of a daff schoolgirl.

Not realizing that she had yet to supply Remus with an answer, as she was so paralyzed with fear, she walked on silently; Remus obviously attributing her silence as a time to reflect on the various goblin rebellions one might get muddled by. A few minutes and meters later, Remus asked of her, "Was it the rebellion of 1456 versus the rebellion of 1656?"

"Oh!" she mumbled, as if Remus was spot on. "Yes, it was a tad bit confusing..." she added inconclusively. She simply could not bare to spend another minute here with Remus, as she was unable to think coherently in his presence, something she desperately needed now to do. With much guilt, she decided to fall back on her previous prevarication and in doing so, tried to produce a mock cough. She suceeded, and trying desperately to appear hapless, asked of Remus, "Remus, I'm not feeling too well...Would you mind if I went back to the castle?"

"Oh no, not at all." Remus alleged, in a dull and (dare she think it?) forlorn tone.

"Right then...Perhaps, I'll see you on the morrow..." Mina trailed, forgetting her hacking cough and unfortunately severe cold, brought on by the onset of the supposed glacial temperatures. She turned towards the castle, only stopping to turn around and look back once, and as she did so, saw Remus walking briskly in the other direction.

Present time


She sighed once again, and looked about her person pessimistically. And men say we're hard to understand...and with that she, once again, let her thoughts trail off.

Remus

He had clearly made a mistake somewhere, he noted dejectedly. What other cause was there for her behaviour? Why couldn't he do anything right? First the whole Quidditch practice fiasco and now this. Damn letter! he silently fumed, remembering the letter he had sent Mina regarding the Quidditch practice times. He had only written that pathetic excuse for a letter because he was horribly frightened, what with the date of the ball and other such pressing matters and dates encroaching-nay, impeding- upon his person and livelihood. He sighed, remembering how he had originally planned to write her to inquire if she was available in a casual, and what Remus would've liked to have hoped, friendly manner, but as Remus's luck would have it, a drunken James had stumbled over to where Remus sat and began to pester him. Thankfully Sirius had pulled James away from Remus, but regrettably, the damage had already been done, and Remus had undergone yet another mental row. His thoughts had taken a turn for the paranoid and then, all of his once-bountiful morale had been shot. What if somebody intercepts the letter? was the terrifed thought of the hormonal driven teenager. One thing led to another, and Mina was given a letter about Quidditch times. Remus still wasn't quite sure how those chain of events had produced that bloody excuse for a letter but he still hung his head at the memory, which caused him to look ominously like a man being led to the guillotine.

Remus raised his head reluctantly, and began scrutinizing the region which he currently found himself in. He had grown to love the intolerably beautiful season that was winter over the past few days, as it permitted him time to be with Mina. The winter days shone with what one might call clear brilliance; the evenings were like cups of the purest vintage of winter's wine; the nights with their dazzling stars that amazed and astounded. He thought it simply marvelous that he was able to arrange a rendezvous with Mina within such a resplendently magnificent ambience.

Remus fondly recalled a recent tramp through the exquisite reticence of the grounds after snow had fallen gently onto Hogwarts. At times they seemed to be strolling through a bewitched world of crystal and pearl, so luminous and radiant were the woods, clearings, castle, and sky. It was then that Mina confessed to Remus her great love of the season; a conversation Remus could recall verbatim...


Flashback

"Oh, Remus!" she sighed in rapture, "Isn't it the most wonderous thing to have every laid eyes upon?" she exclaimed, taking in with delight the sight that lay before her eyes.

He chuckled, amused at her earnest behaviour. "Well,...I suppose so..." he added inadequately, then purposefully trailed off.

"Oh, Remus, how ever can you remain so infuriating neutral on such a day which makes its abode in such a splendid season?" she all but sang, causing Remus to ponder as to what had lifted her spirits so. "How can you not love the exquisitely tranquil winter sunrises, especially when the sun suddenly peers through the ominous grey clouds, thus piercing the lovely birches of ice and ferns, placing them in a silvery thaw? Or how about when you look up to see the mountains around the castle transformed into ice grey baronial monoliths and the lake a gorgeous chilled steel?" she queried to a thoroughly perplexed Remus, all the while trying desperately to sustain a solemn face, or so it appeared as such to Remus, but before Remus was able to supply her with, what he perceived as an acceptable answer, she burst into her telltale sing-song laughter.

"Remus!" she cried amid gales of laughter, "you needn't try so hard! 'Twas merely a jest!" He took this opportunity, as always, to take in her lovely features. Her golden cloud of hair made a stunning aurora about her face and fell in a shimmering wave behind her back. The bracing winds had crimsoned her cheeks and her eyes were alight with mirth. God, how he loved her.

End Flashback


He smiled, beamed rather, as was customary whenever his thoughts turned to those of Mina. He frowned abruptly, after recalling the events of his last 'rendezvous' with Mina, which he knew he had fumbled up horrendously. He had been exceptionally preoccupied, if truth be told. The matter was of great importance, though! he silently justified to himself. Remembering the events of the afternoon he felt himself turn an interesting hue of red. He remembered that as he had glanced up from his shoelaces to survey the surrounding area, he was in awe at the world of crystal and pearl in which he had found himself and Mina. It was then that he had planned to ask her to the ball, but was bewildered as to how to go about it. He walked along with Mina trying to multitask, a suit that was quite obviously not his strongest, and after Mina had left him he correctly assumed that he had seemed perceptibly preoccupied, thus the cause for Mina's premature departure. He sighed, and looked about himself despairingly, knowing that Mina, in all probability, thought him some stupid great prat. She might even be so inclined as to hex him upon sight when she saw him next. He moaned, utterly caught up in his despair, and upon seeing the sun's relation to the horizon, trudged wearily up to the castle.

Mina

She hadn't the slightest clue as to how long she had lain in her bed, pondering over the afternoon's events, trying in vain to explain to herself Remus's queer behaviour. Maybe he's simply grown tired of me...she thought to herself disconsolately. Or maybe, a logical voice reasoned in her head, he's worried about someone...just as you were that day out near the lake...

Mina was confounded that she had not thought out this angle earlier, and could've slapped herself for not doing so. As she slowly rose from her bed, she let out a small cry of shock to see that the sun was setting and knew that dinner would soon be served in the Great Hall, so leaping to her feet and hastily making herself ready for dinner, she put on her shoes,while flying down the winding spiral staircase that led to the common room, and all but jumped out of the portrait hole.