I am quitting fanfiction and handing out some of my stories to other authors. Check my profile for more info. I own nothing.
"Did you see him?"
"See who?" Tonks asked distractedly.
"That's just it! No one knows, except the teachers. Lauren said she heard the teachers in the teachers lounge talking about 'That poor Lupin. What will he do now?' Doesn't that make you wonder?"
Tonks stopped. "Lupin?"
Charlie shrugged. "That's what Lauren said. And you know her. She knows everything." Lauren was a highly knowledgeable second year who generally completed their trio, though at the moment she was serving detention for sneaking into the teacher's lounge. He looked around. "Do you think he knows something about..." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "You-Know-Who?"
Tonks shrugged. For some reason, she didn't want to tell anyone about her strange encounter with the young man. The young man whom she couldn't stop thinking about. But she was sure there was some normal, rational, easily explained reason for it. It wasn't that weird thing Lauren had been talking about the other day, because she was only eleven. It wasn't, like, a crush. Or anything.
"I'd ask my dad," Charlie was continuing. "But I'm not supposed to write him about... you know... that stuff."
Tonks nodded absently. "Yeah. I know what you- Oi, I'm walking here!" she shouted as two laughing fourth years came barreling past her, their muddy brooms slung over their shoulders. Their was a trail of dirt behind them. As Tonks and Charlie stared at each other in confusion, they suddenly heard an ominous scuffling gait. They stared at each other in horror. Filch!
"Quick," Charlie hissed. "In here." He opened the door to an empty classroom, and they shot inside. They both let out a sigh of relief when they heard the footsteps, accompanied by an angry muttering, go past the doorway.
"That was close," Tonks muttered. She turned around to look at the room. "I've never been in here before. Have you?"
Charlie looked at her strangely. "You've never been in here before?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, it's just..."
Tonks clutched her stomach. "Charlie," she whispered. "Is this that place...?"
"Yeah." He looked down. "Everyone was crowding in here to see it. I felt bad. It looks like they've cleaned up the blood now, though..." He looked up at the walls. "Yeah, it's all gone. There was some on the ceiling at first. Filch must have had a hard time of it..."
"Charlie!" Tonks felt sick. "How can you even talk about it like it's so normal?"
"Tonks, that is normal," Charlie said softly. "I'm sorry, though. I keep forgetting you don't have anything to do with the Order. I hear all about this stuff."
"The Order?" said an unfamiliar voice. Except that it was familiar. They both whipped around to see the young man standing there. He was leaning calmly against the doorframe. His mouth said he was uninterested, but his eyes said he could easily crush the two of them. Very nice eyes, though, other than the fact that they were terrifying her.
"Um..."Charlie was very clearly biting his tongue. Though he had told her, mostly because she had figured it out and just needed confirmation, he obviously didn't want to tell a stranger.
Tonks assumed his name was Lupin, since that was what several different people had called him. Then again, he called himself Moony.
"You shouldn't go around talking about that, Weasely. Your father will be less than happy when he hears about that. Believe me, a friend of mine got drunk-" his voice said clearly how much he disapproved of this act, though Tonks rather enjoyed Firewhiskey- "and told his Muggle girlfriend all about it. The talk that Arthur gave him..."
"Hey!" Charlie said hotly. His ears were bright red; he probably knew Lupin was right. "How do you know all that?"
Lupin rolled his eyes. "I have my sources." He glanced at his watch. "The bell's going to ring any minute now; I suggest you get going." They nodded and scampered out. Glancing back, Tonks saw him place a hand on the wall, a yearning, sorrowful expression on his face. THis guy was weird.