It was now nearing Christmas and Absynthe was nearly pulling her now blue hair, out left and right. Sirius had seemed to take a sudden interest in her and would show up out of nowhere around every corner.
Absynthe was walking to the courtyard where she was meeting Kia and Lily. They were going to Hogsmeade together and had somehow managed to go without Lily's second half. Abysnthe pulled her Ravenclaw scarf closer attempting to keep as much warmth near her as possible. At last she could see Lily's vibrant red hair amongst all the piercing white.
"Thank god," Abysnthe sighed out of breath.
"Hm?" Kia asked distracted by a group of people having a snow fight over by a tree.
"Sirius." Absynthe said seriously, "I'm proud of myself, it's been four whole hours since I last ran into him."
"Strange, something must be up," Lily said with just a hint of sarcasm.
"Exactly," Absynthe agreed.
"Absynthe! You're taking this way too seriously, he's just trying to be nice, invite you into the group," Lily said.
Absynthe rolled her eyes, "Look can we just get going before your puppy dog or my stalker come running up out of nowhere?"
"Yeah, it is rather chilly," Kia added.
"Fine, fine," Lily said.
They started their way to the busy little town. It was mainly packed with other students, in and out of stores, either warming up or getting last minute Christmas gifts. Kia pointed to the Three Broomsticks where the heat seemed to be calling to passerby's. They got a small table near a dark quiet table and ordered drinks.
"So are you going home for the holidays?" Lily asked, turning to Kia.
Kia shook her head, "Nah, I think I'll spend this Christmas here, after all, it is our last year. Besides, it's not like we're doing anything special at home."
"Yeah, me neither. Absynthe?" Lily asked.
"I'm not sure yet. I got a letter the other day from my brother, he's really sick again but I hate seeing him like that," Absynthe sighed.
"Shouldn't you be supportive?" Kia said looking over her mug of butterbeer.
"Listen, you don't know the situation, so don't judge," Absynthe snapped.
Kia rolled her eyes while Lily elbowed her, "Why again isn't he at Hogwarts?"
"They wanted him to be in a warmer environment, so he goes to a school in the south," Absynthe said. She got up out of her seat and looked out the window and sighed. "I'll probably just stay here, my parents are getting worse after all. I'll see you later, I have to go pick some stuff up." She hurriedly escaped into the cold before Lily or Kia could say a word.
"She's getting weird," Lily commented.
"Getting weird? Where have you been," Kia laughed.
Absynthe kept her face down most of the way, the freezing cold breeze was stinging her face. She wasn't really going to pick anything up, she was in fact going to shrieking shack. Not exactly inside, but it's borders. There was a small bench where she liked to go and think. Not many people came by there due to the rumors of it being haunted, but she could care less. She stared at the ground below her, frozen and dead. Several footprints lingered, reveling only frozen mud, no grass lived through the cold winter.
Suddenly she felt an instant of warmth as she ran into something. No, someone. She looked up to be staring into the pink face, red nosed Remus.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't really paying attention," Absynthe said, feeling an embarrassed warmth sneak into her cheeks.
"It's quite alright, neither was I," Remus laughed, "Where are you heading?"
"Oh, just the borders of the shrieking shack," she said.
"Mind if I join you?" Remus asked.
Absynthe just shook her head and walked on. Remus kept to her right and she felt somewhat warmer and relieved. For a moment she thought it might have been Sirius she ran into and now Remus was blocking some of the cold breeze. She saw the old bench up ahead and cleared off the excess snow and sat down, Remus followed.
"Are you staying over the holidays?" Remus asked casually.
"I really haven't decided, honestly," Abysnthe said.
"Times running out," he said.
"Yeah I know. It's just really complicated," Absynthe sighed.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how?" Remus said.
"Well, it's my brother. I'm actually a twin, he's five minutes younger than I am and he has a horrible immune system. My parents sent him over the States where there's a warmer climate year round, but he still gets real sick," Absynthe said.
"That's terrible," Remus said, looking down to the ground, feeling sorry he even brought it up.
"Needless to say he's sick again and wants to come home for the holidays. But my parents are crazy. I'm sure they'll have some pompous suitor visiting, hoping I'll fall madly in love and be married after school," Absynthe laughed.
"They sound a little strange," Remus said.
"You have no idea, I won't even let Lily or Kia over to visit," Absynthe sighed. She leaned back until she fell into the snow bank, small snowflakes falling over her pink face.
"What on earth are you doing?" Remus asked with a smile.
"I like the cold, to tell you the truth. I think besides autumn, winter is by far the season that holds the most beauty," Absynthe said.
"Ironic how it's the dead season," Remus said.
"Very," Absynthe smiled. She grabbed a hold of Remus' jacked and pulled him down next to her. They laid in the snow for a little while, just admiring the white blanket falling on them. Absynthe closed her eyes and Remus sat up.
"Absynthe?" Remus said.
"Hm?" Absynthe mumbled.
"Can you keep a secret?" Remus asked lowering his voice.
"What's that?" Absynthe asked, still keeping her eyes closed.
"I've had thing for you since our fifth year when you first dyed you hair blue. The color brought out your eyes immensely and well, you were always beautiful, but there was something about the way you let yourself stand out and didn't mind. I respected that a lot," Remus said.
Absynthe kept her eyes close for a minute or two, Remus kept glancing nervously at her. Finally she smiled at opened her eyes.
"I have to admit, I only just started liking you this year. I always hated James and Sirius, biggest prats this century, so I thought you were just the same. But I was wrong," Absynthe said. Remus smiled, "By the way, you should do that more often."
"Absynthe?" Remus said.
"Yes," Absynthe said.
"We probably shouldn't tell anyone, I'm afraid that some parties might freak," Remus said while running his hands through his snow covered hair.
"I agree," Absynthe smiled.
Remus wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted while she thought to herself that this was probably by far the best thing that had ever happened to her. They sat together in the snow for a moment or two longer before they finally got up and headed back to castle where they would pretend nothing happened.
Authors note: I realize this is rather soap operary, but I like it just the same. I apologize if it seems a bit off at all, it's been nearly two years since I last wrote this and I just haven't found time since I left highschool. Imagine that? After all the time I spent trying to get out, I want back in...
Anyways, as some of you might have noticed, Absynthe and Remus have started a little love affair and I have to say the next little lovebirds are not who you expect. Take care.
