Chapter 9
Friday came quickly and Mina found herself in the hallway of Dumbledore's office, waiting patiently for her tutor to arrive. Dumbledore walked outside and beamed at her.
"He's not here yet, then?"
"Not yet," she replied, returning his smile.
"Professor," Remus entered the hallway with a book in his hand.
"Ah, you're here, Remus," Dumbledore greeted.
"Mina? I knew you needed a tutor, but I didn't think the girl I was tutoring would be you," Remus' attention turned to his girlfriend.
"Well, I see you two know each other, already, so you can skip straight to the studying," Dumbledore said. He turned and went back into his office. Mina stared up at Remus.
"Dumbledore's right," he said, "We need to study." Mina smiled, thinking how much she'd love to study Remus.
"Are we going to the library to study?" she asked.
"Well, that's what I had planned, but if you want to go somewhere else, then that's okay."
"No, the library's fine." She grabbed his hand and led him to the library. Not surprisingly, it was empty. They both took a seat. Mina sat rather close to Remus and had her arm around his neck, playing with his hair. She looked over his shoulder as he opened the Charms textbook.
"You realize this is the perfect opportunity, right? I mean, we can't exactly kiss in public, can we? We'll have the library all to ourselves on Fridays," she said.
"Mina," Remus said as he peeled her arm off of himself, "How do you expect to bring your grades up if you don't let me tutor you properly? Grades should come first."
"They do come first. I promise to be good," Mina said with a hand over her heart.
After studying for 2 long hours, Mina finally began to realize the importance of Charms. Gathering her books together, she gave Remus a quick good-bye kiss when Snape came running into the room. He stopped, panting, too tired to speak, and grabbed Mina's arm, pulling her off of Remus. Confused and shocked, Mina accidently fell on top of Snape; and then she heard a voice she dreaded.
"Mina! Oh, my! You'd better control yourself or I'll be a grandma before you know it!"
"Oh shit." Mina stood up and stared into the eyes of her mother.
"Watch your language in front of your mum!" Mrs. Gray scolded.
"Mum, what in the bloody hell are you doing at my school?" Mina remembered what Snape had said about the attack on Hogsmeade and shuddered.
"I came to financially support my daughter, okay? Is that a crime? Plus, I wanted to talk about your grades."
"Mother, everything is taken care of! You didn't have to come here!"
"Oh yes I did! Anyway, first thing's first. Are you and Severus seeing each other? And who's that boy over there?" Mrs. Gray looked at Snape, then at Lupin, then at Mina again.
"Well…" Mina wasn't sure how to reply.
"Well, Mrs. Gray, that first question is completely up to Mina, but I assure you that I do fancy your daughter," Snape stepped in.
"Well, Severus, I think you two would make a lovely couple," said Mrs. Gray. Remus cleared his throat.
"Don't mind me, I'm just her tutor. I'll leave now," he proceeded to leave.
"Remus, don't go!" Mina protested.
"Yes, please wait. I'll pay you," Mrs. Gray said.
"That won't be necessary, Mrs. Gray," Remus replied.
"Are you positive?"
"Yes." He left.
"Anyway, Mina, I don't want Severus to be a distraction for you. You need to pull up your grades, okay?" Mina nodded, knowing her mother had a point. Well, not about Snape, but about Remus, who had been trying to tell her the same thing.
"I'm going to go see the headmaster now, so you two be good," Mrs. Gray said as she left.
"Sev, you saved my life!" Mina threw her arms around Snape in a friendly hug. Snape smirked.
"Yeah, well, you owe me big time," he said.
"I know."
"So… how will you repay me?"
"Don't tell me you actually want me to repay you! That's so selfish!"
"Look who's talking! Besides, I'm a Slytherin. I have a right to be selfish, and so do you," he said.
"Well, I guess I can figure some way to make it up to you. Honestly, if my mum saw me with Remus, she'd flip!"
"Well, how about that Halloween Dance?" Snape grinned mischievously. Mina stared blankly at him.
"Are you kidding me? No way!" she exclaimed.
"Why? Because you're going with Remus. I understand."
"I'm not going to that stupid dance at all! I hate dances!"
"Go for me!"
"No way!"
"PLEASE." Mina hesitated. What else could she do?
"Snape, can you just think of some other way?"
"You're embarrassed to be seen with me, aren't you?"
"People will talk, Sev."
"It's a dance. Nothing more. We're going as friends. You're doing me a favor."
"A big favor," Mina corrected him.
"Please," Snape pleaded. She sighed.
"Alright, I'll go to the stupid dance with you. Now would you leave me alone?"
"Gladly." He patted her on the back and left. Mina sat down, frustrated, and buried her face in her arms. What was it she was doing that had been interrupted? Oh yes. Remus Lupin. He had left the room so abruptly… She had to find him and apologize. Picking up her books, Mina exited the library. To her surprise, Sirius was in the hallway, arms crossed, tapping his foot.
"Why were you eavesdropping on me?" She asked him immediately.
"Mina! So quick to jump to conclusions, are we? Don't just assume I was listening to your conversation, because I wasn't!" he answered.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I was listening to a part of your conversation, but not all of it," he grinned in satisfaction.
"Don't think you're so clever, Sirius! Why were you spying on me?"
"Well, I was waiting for Remus to finish tutoring you, which must have been torture for him, when Aunt Cassidy arrived. I had to say hello, and so I did. Of course, that's where Snivellus came in."
"And you listened to our conversation?!" Mina was angry now.
"Part of it, yes I did."
"What part?"
"Something about you agreeing to go to the dance with Snape."
"But nothing about Remus?" Sirius looked confused.
"What about Remus?"
"Nothing! We weren't talking about Remus at all."
"…Okay."
"Well, er, speaking of… do you know where Remus went?"
"Common Room." Without saying a word, Mina turned and headed to the portrait of the fat lady.
"Now… what was the password? Maybe I'll just wait here until a Gryffindor comes by." Indeed, a Gryffindor did come out of the common room. It was a 1st year boy, not anybody she knew by name, and she asked him to let her in.
"You're a Slytherin. You don't belong in here," he said. Mina frowned.
"Well, have you seen Remus Lupin? He's a prefect."
"I know who he is. He's inside," the boy replied.
"Well, can you tell him someone would like to talk to him?"
"I'm not your personal messenger!"
"I'll give you a sickle."
"No."
"Fine! How about I give you a detention instead? Would you like that?"
"Who do you think you are?" With that, the kid walked off.
Mina sighed. She was shown absolutely no respect. Luckily, Lily walked out of the portrait hole.
"Mina! There you are!"
"Lil! Thank God. Let me in?"
"Sure." She let Mina in the common room. Mina spotted Remus lounging on a sofa with Potter and Pettigrew. She walked by them, hoping to give him a hint. His eyes followed her, but he didn't speak.
"Hey! Who let you in again? Oh, I see, Lily did this, didn't she?" James said. Lily stood next to her friend.
"You have a problem with it?" she asked.
"No. Just teasing," he replied. Remus sighed. He stood up and brushed past Mina, as if telling her to follow him, which she did. When they were free of prying eyes, Mina opened her mouth to speak. Remus hushed her.
"Let me speak first," he said, "I want to know why you did that."
"Well, my mother is very strict as you know, and-"
"And it was okay to tell her you were going with Snape? Is there something wrong with me? Is there?"
"What? Why would there be-"
"Well there must be something wrong with me that you have to tell your mother you're dating Severus Snape!"
"Remus, you don't understand! You wouldn't, though. There's something about my life that you don't know." Lupin laughed.
"Same here. So, if I tell you my secret, will you tell me yours?"
"I-I… fine," Mina took Remus' hands and looked him straight in the eyes, "Well, ere, you see, Remus, my parents…"
"No, wait. I'll tell you my secret first. You really need to know. Something happens to me… once a month, and-"
"Mina," Lily entered the room. Remus pulled away from Mina.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you two were… having a moment. I'll go," Lily said. She left the room.
"What did you want to tell me, Remus?" Mina asked. He looked at her, but he wasn't smiling.
"I don't think we should see each other any more," he said. Mina's heart sank.
"Sure," she turned quickly, not letting him see the tear in her eye, and left the room.
Sorry to leave it on such a sad note! But it had to be done. Well, Happy Christmahanukwanzikkah, everybody!
To the faithful:
Blackdragonofdeath13: thanks! Keep reading.
Kayhera: even if the romance was too soon, would you agree with me that this chapter is a good twist? Oh, and…. Chocolate kicks butt!
PaulC: well, I read your story (most of it; I'll finish it as soon as I can) and I hope you like this chapter.
Rocker-chick101: thanks! Please keep reading.
Bookluva629: I like to review too, and I love having conversations with my reviewers. Hm… er, what's your favorite color? (don't answer that… . ) I hope you liked this chapter.