I am so so sorry about the long wait, I'm trying to finish up my The Walking Dead stories and between that and the holidays coming up I have been very busy. Enjoy and I promise the next chapter will be far more exciting.
Remus Lupin's entire body ached. He could tell by not even looking that there was a bruise coming on his jaw and his ribs felt like they had all been crushed. The hospital wing was silent, surprisingly quiet. Usually he could hear Madame Pomfrey moving around but not now.
He had slept in later than usual, he could hear people talking and laughing faintly as they walked past the Wing. Seeing as it was a Friday, the other Marauders had classes that they would rather not get detention for skipping plus they could visit him all weekend long.
His head ached, he knew that he had done something to his head the previous night but couldn't remember what. Remus sighed and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was in the back corner of the Wing, his personal spot so that he could look out the wide windows at the Black Lake.
It was one of the last warm days of the year, and there were plenty of students relaxing by the lake. He could see Lily Evans' bright red hair as she and Marlene dangled their legs in the cool water.
"It's beautiful Rem." Remus almost got whiplash from turning so fast to see Messalina standing just inside the curtain. She looked far more beautiful than the lake ever could, even with her hair thrown up in a ponytail and clutching books to her chest. She was gazing outside over the vibrant trees and lush grass, a peaceful look in her eyes.
"Lina-" He began almost breathless and Messalina blinked and she tensed up. Messalina strode across the small space and opened one of the books, placing it lightly on the bed beside him.
"Babbling passed out a lot of papers today and wanted me to bring them to you." She handed a stack of papers to him almost formally. She was, in truth, petrified that their hands would touch and that she would realize what she wanted. She wasn't going back. "We also got new seats. You'll be sitting next to Finch-Fletchley."
She turned around and left quickly almost as though she had been electrocuted. Just as she went to leave, she paused and turned to face him once again. "I'm glad you're okay Remus."
"Who brought you this?" James asked later that afternoon crinkling his nose while picking up the stack of papers.
"Lina stopped by earlier." Instantly Sirius and Peter stopped talking about quidditch teams, turning slowly to look at their best friend.
"And?" James asked cautiously and Remus looked down at his lap.
"She gave the papers to me and left." He muttered looking downcast.
"And that was it?" Peter asked and Sirius gave him a look.
"She said she was happy that I was okay. Nothing new guys, I thought it was back to normal when she first got here. She called me Rem again." The three boys glanced at one another as Remus went silent. "I don't even sit next to her in Ancient Runes anymore."
"We'll help you get her back Remus." Sirius chirped up and Remus eyed the other three wearily.
"And how are you going to do that? She hates my guts. She hates all of us." He reminded them and Sirius nodded solemnly.
"We've got quidditch with her. I solemnly swear that we will be early for practice forever now." James pitched in causing Peter to speak out.
"I can't believe she made you seeker James. That's so not fair."
"Wormtail." Sirius warned and Peter looked abashed. Remus sighed, wishing that he had been honest with Messalina. At least she wasn't with anyone else though. He practically stalked every move she made with the map. She had been spending a strange amount of time with Graham Pucey between classes and at the library, but Remus had yet to figure out why. They couldn't be friends, could they?
Messalina Lucien groaned as she walked from her own quidditch practice. Her muscles were taut and sore and all she wanted to do was crawl up in a ball and sob for a few hours. She wanted to forgive Remus and the others, to at least forgive them because being mad made her entire body ache. It was truly tiresome to be angry at a group of four rather funny boys.
"Hey Lucien, are you trying to kill us?" Sirius called after her and Messalina smiled tiredly and nodded.
"You got me Black, that's the plan," Sirius laughed slightly at her, exchanging a look with James who grinned.
"I swear Lucien, you're ten times worse than Wood ever was." Benjy joked and Messalina snorted.
"Who did you think I wrote to on how to be a good captain? This is only the beginning." She grinned as the rest of the team groaned and instantly began complaining to one another.
"Messalina, I think my arms will fall off if all I do all practice is hit those blasted bludgers and fly around," Edgar Bones complained and Messalina turned back to face him a look of concern on her face.
"Bones you are not quitting." She stated but it seemed more for her than him.
"No Messalina, it's just that this isn't what I thought it would be." Messalina visibly relaxed and sighed.
"The first match is in two weeks. I promise it'll be much more interesting after that. Don't worry." She laughed at the relieved look on his face and headed into the locker room with Hestia Jones.
"Is your family coming to watch the game?" Messalina asked when it was just her and the younger girl.
"No, my parents will be in Italy and my siblings are too little to come. They don't understand quidditch quite yet. Yours?"
"Fabian and Gideon are coming. I'm very nervous." She admitted and Hestia gave her a confused look.
"But Lina, you're so bloody good! You'll do just fine, it's me you should be worried about. It'll be my first game!"
"And my first as a captain. My first since I realized they would never catch who attacked me last year. I'm a bundle of nerves. I'll be lucky if I can eat anything or even sleep Friday night."
"Why does our first game have to be against Slytherin? It's so not fair." Messalina laughed and smiled at the younger girl.
"I agree 100% Hestia. 100%"
Remus watched how Messalina lingered longer than usual at the locker room, far later than anyone else. He saw Graham Pucey and John Higgs moving slowly up to the pitch and Remus squinted into the growing darkness. He could see Messalina approaching the pair and the three walking towards the castle together, and after consulting the map he saw that Messalina was in the middle.
She had seemed happier the past few weeks than she had in a while and Remus had to admit that if Pucey and Higgs were the cause of it, he couldn't disparage their friendship. That did not, however, mean that James, Sirius and Peter saw it the same way. It was a betrayal for them and they were beginning to worry that Messalina would fall back into old habits and stop hanging out with anyone in Gryffindor altogether. Remus didn't think she would take it that far but he wasn't sure how far exactly Messalina would fall into the depths of Slytherin.
"Pucey, you're a bloody genius." Messalina was saying as James, Sirius and Peter walked past them in the corridor as they went to visit Remus. She was too distracted to see the look of disgust on her fellow Gryffindors' faces, but Graham wasn't and he gave the three boys a reproachful look. That only made the three angrier and James hoped that Remus wasn't looking at the map at that particular moment. He didn't need to know about their relationship.
That would only make the already brooding werewolf even more intolerable. They at least needed to get Messalina to forgive him, that was Step 1 in the threesome's plans. It was a thirty-three part plan that would roughly span until the rest of the year if it went accordingly. And the three were hoping it would go as planned if not faster.
Transfiguration was far more enjoyable than Messalina could have ever imagined it would be after who she was paired up with. Graham Pucey and John Higgs were interesting company and John's muggleborn girlfriend Jenny was bubbly and often told stories about her life in muggle London. They were highly entertaining and Messalina found herself liking Transfiguration far more than she had in previous years.
Her new friendships had not gone unnoticed. Rumors were flooding the school that the pretty Lucien was going out with the fit dark haired Graham Pucey and that Remus Lupin had gotten into a fight with the Slytherin, causing Lupin to miss a few days of school. That was the general consensus and nothing anyone could say would make anyone think differently.
Remus was slowly adjusting to Messalina's new friends. She was the happiest he had seen her since school had started and she didn't glare at him anymore, which was already a bonus. When he said hi to her now, she would at least nod or get a small smile which never would have happened if she hadn't made new friends. He was simply relieved that she had found happiness once again.
Sorry this one was so boring, believe me the next one will be far more interesting. Please review if you have any ideas, I'm beginning to run out of interesting ones. Thank you!