Eight.

I walked down the corridor as fast as I possibly could, my head all in a spin. I was so lost in my thoughts that I ended up almost crashing into someone. 'You should watch where you're going, Miss Flynn,' a low voice told me. I looked up to find that I'd almost just bumped right into Professor Snape. 'S-Sorry sir, won't happen again..' I mumbled. 'Good. Now tell me, what exactly are you doing roaming the castle? You should have been in your common room ten minutes ago.' Snape sneered. 'I was going over my essay with Professor Lupin,' I explained. I was half-lying, but I really hoped Snape would believe me. 'He was giving everyone's back at the end of class a few minutes ago.' For a moment, Snape paused to consider my explanation. 'Is that so?' He said, eyeing my face suspiciously. 'Tell me, Miss Flynn, why exactly are your lips swollen to twice their normal size?' I frowned, prodding my lips. Shit. 'I, um.. I tried a new spell out and it went wrong, sir,' I lied. 'Well, let's hope that it doesn't go wrong next time - and I will be talking to Professor Lupin about this. Now, hurry along to your common room before I change my mind about not giving you detention.'

I nodded and mumbled my thanks, then carried on down the corridor. 'Oi!' I heard someone shout from behind me. I turned around to find both Kate and Nat stood in one of the doorways, looking at me expectantly. 'And where exactly have you been?' Nat smirked. 'Uh..' I turned bright red, not sure what to say. 'Oh my God, you were with Lupin, weren't you?' Kate squealed, beaming. I turned an even darker shade of red and they grabbed my arm, pulling me into the next room. 'So go on then, what happened?' Kate asked. 'He gave me my essay back,' I replied plainly. 'Yes, and what else?' '..Andhesnoggedme.' I muttered under my breath. 'He what?' Nat exclaimed. 'He.. He snogged me.' I bit my lip and glanced down at my feet for a moment. 'Ha!' Kate grinned triumphantly. 'I told you they would eventually!' 'I have to tell Dumbledore,' I said. 'Are you mental or something? Not only will you get yourself into a huge amount of trouble, but you'll get the best DADA teacher we've had fired!' Kate cried. 'But I can't just leave it as it is!' I replied, sitting down on a table and putting my head in my hands. 'I feel something for him, Kate, and I'm scared. Him kissing me like that just made me even more aware of it.'

'But what's that got to do with telling Dumbledore?' Nat asked quietly. I just sat there for a moment, thinking about it. 'Nothing,' I sighed, giving up. I took my head out of my hands and stood back up. 'Come on then, what was it like?' Kate grinned, lightening the mood a little. 'What was what like?' I smirked, playing dumb. 'Snogging him, what else would we be on about?' Nat said playfully. 'It was bloody incredible!' I beamed. 'He did this amazing thing where he kept switching between nibbling my bottom lip and-' 'Okay, slightly too much information!' Nat interjected, laughing. 'You should tell him how you're feeling next time you see him, though. He should know.' Kate pointed out. 'No way!' I shook my head rapidly. 'It's just a stupid, pointless crush. It'll fade soon..' Both Kate and Nat gave me a defeated look and I sighed. 'Alright, but I still think I should leave it for a little while, okay? I need to see what happens in our next DADA lesson first.'

Later on that evening, I was curled up in one of the common room's armchairs by the fire. I'd just come back from dinner, which was almost as bad as what had happened after Lupin and I had kissed. I was rather happily talking to Nat and Kate about something else in order to try to forget about it, but then I saw him walking into the Great Hall out of the corner of my eye. I promptly fell silent and I turned around slightly where I was sat. As he walked past me, he automatically gazed downwards at me and I felt my stomach fill with butterflies. I met his eyes with mine as he walked a little bit further down towards the staff table. Neither of us seemed to be able to tear our eyes away. 'Oi!' I got pulled back to reality by Kate elbowing me in the ribs with a grim look on her face. 'What?' I asked, turning back round to face her. 'Hate to burst your bubble, but Snape happens to be looking right in yours and Lupin's direction.' My eyes flitted towards the staff table and sure enough, Snape was glaring right at me with a look of suspicion on his face. 'Great. This is exactly what I need right now,' I complained.

Lupin obviously hadn't seen Snape watching, as he continued to occasionally glance in my direction throughout dinner. For some reason, I wanted to return the eye contact but I avoided it, knowing I couldn't. I instead chatted away to Nat and Kate again as I ate, wishing that none of this had ever happened in the first place. Once I'd finished, I immediately got up, mumbling 'see you later,' to the girls.

I walked out of the Great Hall as fast as I possibly could, until I heard a warm, gentle voice calling out my name right after I'd closed the doors behind me. Oh, how bloody brillant. 'Yes, sir?' I sighed a I turned around to find Lupin standing incredibly close behind me. His arms were dangling awakwardly by his sides, as if he wanted to put them around my waist but had decided against it at the last minute. 'We, um.. We need to talk.' He replied, almost whispering. He had his head tilted down towards mine and I could practically taste his breath on my lips. I shivered, feeling the urge to close the gap and kiss him again. 'A-About what exactly?' I stammered, suddenly very aware of how high pitched my voice had gone. Lupin didn't get the chance to reply, as out of nowhere, a voice said 'well, well, just the man I was looking for.'