moony ~ remus lupin

Chapter Six • Alone Time

Authors Note: There is a little bit of talk about alcohol in this chapter and subjects relating to abuse from a parent. I also understand that the song "O Children" probably wasn't released before this era but i thought it'd be cute considering Harry and Hermione danced to that song. :)

The next few months were all the same for Claire and Remus. Can't sleep because all they think about is each other, go to class, have friends make jokes about them being a thing, meet up in secret and talk, repeat. Even on full moons it was the same. Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter would leave before the sun set and Lily and Claire would come a little bit before sun rise to help fix up the boys and clean up a little bit. Claire would take Remus to the hospital wing then they'd hang out some more.

Remus never got used to it though. It hurt Claire to see how much pain he was in. There was nothing she could do about it though. All she could do was hold his hand while they applied the serum. This didn't affect their relationship though. If anything, it made it stronger. They would talk quietly to each other at the Shrieking Shack and after the potion was applied to his cuts. They had even started staying in the hospital wing for a little longer for some alone time, well, alone time with Madam Pomfrey.

After a while though, alone time was starting to get very, very scarce. James and Lily started coming to the hospital wing with Claire and Remus because they felt bad, and Peter would always unknowingly sit in between them, and even in her free time Lily would pull Claire away into the library to study for their exams. 'Alone time' was no longer in their vocabulary.

"Oi! Remus!" Sirius called from the front of the library before Madam Pince shushed him. "What are the potions answers?" Lily, Remus, and Claire were studying in the library all day and James and Sirius still found ways to annoy them. Either with quidditch talk from James or cheesy jokes from Sirius, they always found a way to distract them.

Remus shoved his potions paper over to Sirius without looking up from his book. "Are you sure-" Sirius began, pointing to one of Remus's answers. "Shut up!" Remus and Claire snapped at him. Sirius just laughed and beamed at them. "Ha! You guys are so in sync." Claire glared at him with her cold, tired eyes as he sat there and laughed. "That's it!" Remus yelled. "Get out, Sirius." Sirius stood shocked, looking at Remus. He had never been this angry before. "You heard me. I want some peace and quiet for once. And tell James to stay out too unless you guys can actually sit quietly and study," Remus said aggressively. His voice echoed through out the library and a few Hufflepuffs looked over at them from their table.

This sudden aggression with Remus was very alarming to all of them. To the people that didn't know Remus like they did, he was such a quiet kid that sat in the back with his weird friends and got good grades, but this was even alarming to Lily, Claire, and Sirius.

Sirius slowly backed away from their table and slipped out the door. Claire and Lily were staring blankly at Remus once he sat back down. "Remus, I think you're a bit stressed. Maybe-" Lily began. "I am stressed! All we do is study and go to class, I don't get any alone time with the only person I like right now, Sirius and James have never been so annoying, I'm failing Defense Against the Dark Arts because apparently I don't know enough about werewolves!" He complained. Claire and Lily watched him rant on about how the professor thinks all of his facts about werewolves were wrong. "What does he know about werewolves?! Nothing! I'm the one who should be an expert on fucking werewolves!" He yelled. Madam Pince shushed him and gave him a final warning.

"Remus, I think we should go..." Claire said, closing her books. "Yeah, you two go. I'll stay here," Lily said softly. Claire walked around the table with her books, picked up his as well, and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, Remus. We can study sometime else." They walked out of the library, hand in hand, and Lily waved at them as they walked out the door.