CHAPTER THREE
In the middle of his third year Remus Lupin finally gets lucky enough to hang out with Ambrosia Harkins. It was a chilly afternoon mid-March, and Remus had been tucked away in the back library for all of that Saturday, surrounded by a pile of large textbooks, trying to get through, what he thought was an impossible Potions essay.
"Hi Remus," a voice he easily recognizes as Ambrosia Harkins greets from behind him. He turns his head to see a smiling thirteen year old dressed in a large rainbow sweater.
"Hi Ambrosia," he smiles back, his head already spinning from her flashing her pearly whites at him. He tries to to wince at how squeaky his voice was. Remus thinks that it's due to the fact she's always smiling that he's developed a slight infatuation with he, leading him to constantly make a fool of himself whenever she's in the room.
"Are you doing homework?" She asks, leaning her hip against the table, her still thigh long hair swishing back and forth. Her hair wasn't shiny like Sirius' was but you could tell it was thick and healthy. And for a moment, Remus wondered what it felt like.
"Uh-yeah," he didn't want her to see him struggling with a Potions essay, something he knew she could do in her sleep. She was so smart- and pretty and kind and overall perfect in Remus Lupin's eyes -it hurt.
"Whatcha doing?" She asks, "Maybe if we're doing the same thing we could help each other out?"
"I doubt you need help," Remus blurted out, making Ambrosia beam at him. For the few seconds she was giving him that, 'thank you for the compliment smile', the one where her lips were pulled back tightly and her top row of teeth showed and her eyes squinted a little, Remus forgot how to breath.
"Thanks Remus, but come on we both know you're the man in Charms." Remus ducked his head, trying to avoid her from seeing his pink face.
"James is better," he murmured, his face going red-the usual shade he was when she was around. Ambrosia put her hand on his shoulder, something that turned his blood to fire, and told him, with a reassuring smile- the kind she'd given him when they'd first spoke to one another all the way back when they were eleven, "Come on Remus, take the credit when it's due, we both know you're an ace at Charms."
"Which consequently is what I'm having trouble with," she quickly added on at the end, causing Remus's left brow to pop up.
"You're having trouble with Charms?" He noticed that her cheeks visibly darkened, causing pride to flood his veins.
"The color changing charm," she sighed, explaining her situation to him, "I can never get the color I want-I always get the opposite."
"By opposite, you mean-"
"If I want red I get blue, or visa versa," she told him pulling out a blue and purple scarf from her bag and plopping it on the table.
"I was suppose to turn Dorcas's scarf into a Gryffindor one, and instead got this eyesore." The once Slytherin scarf was now a deep blue and electric purple one. Remus takes one look at his Potions homework, something he knows will take him hours to complete, and then back up at Ambrosia, something that makes his heart stop- in a good way -and makes his decision.
"Pull up a seat, I'll see if I can help." And when she gives him this retina burning smile that rivals the sun Remus is sure he's made the right choice.