Cherry Wine: Professor RJ Lupin

Chapter Twelve: The Date

"We've been lonely too long"

With a small click, the door shuts leaving Emma on the other side, biting down on her lip to stifle her smile. Her head still spinning from the feeling of his lips on hers, drunk on the thought of how perfectly they moved with her, utterly enchanting. With her every step that she takes further away from him the more she wants to turn back around and continue what they had started. Fully knowing she is far past curfew, she ensures to stray from the common path taking the longer route to the common room in fear of being caught. Her lips still tingling from his, her waist littered with goosebumps from his hands. Wherever he had touched, it left a mark of longing on her body, desperate for hers to feel it again.

Lost in the thousands of thoughts in her head, she barely notices the casting of a large shadow down the hallway that took the shape of a dog pacing back and forth. It is only the sound of sharp nails clicking that echoed through the corridor that Emma stops dead in her tracks, eyes wide now focused on the large shadow. Her breath increasing in pace, as she watches it round the corner, its shadow going with it. She waits until the clicks become just a faint echo, far enough away that whatever it was served no more of a threat.

Without thinking of the encounter again she continues in the opposing direction eventually reaching the fat lady and entering the baron common room. Sleep comes easily to her, a trait she never carried, but the memories of the night are a calming whisper that lulls her to sleep. 

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The next morning, it takes everything in her to not blurt out the last night's events to the first person she sees remembering their not-so-conventional relationship. The grin carries her into the Great Hall as Emma spots Fred and George at their usual spot. 

"Hi boys," she chirps her smile playing into her words as she sits down next to them, "How are you on this lovely day?" 

Fred and George exchanged looks of confusion and concern, unsure of Emma's motive, "Em, it's bloody 8 am, not great. You drunk or something?"  George quizzes her, passing glances at Fred, his brow furrowed with confusion. 

Ignoring his comment, she leans into the table biting the edge of her lips anxiously waiting for them to ask her about last night. Fred leans his head in quizzically, whilst George leans back out and focuses on the food in front of him. With a huff in the realization that neither one of them was going to ask her, she decides to take matters into her own hands. 

"Last night, I went Professor Lupins, well Remus's, and we kissed,"  she pauses, waiting for their expressions to change, "It was brilliant, I felt as though everything in the world paused except us, the way we were so in synch without talking, oh my god and...." Emma is cut off mid-sentence as Fred gets up from the table without saying a word. 

Her mouth still open from the unfinished sentence turning to George who's shaking his head and scoffing. Anger attempts to reach her lips, but she quickly swallows it before she says anything else. 

"Honestly Emma, you know Freddie fancies you and then you go on and tell these lies that you know will hurt him..." 

"I am not lying George," Emma cuts him off the anger once again coming to the surface, "I am not going to silence myself around my best friends about things that happen in my life," 

"Well, that's real unfortunate because the things you say hurt him. Tell him the truth about how you feel, stop torturing him cause you're doing it to me too," he quickly gathers his things and takes off in a slight jog to catch up with Fred leaving Emma alone. 

She doesn't even save a passing glance at either of them the entire day, the drunk feeling of happiness slipping away, enough to the point where she is silent next to Darcy unable to tell her of the events of the night before. The only thing getting her through each class is each minute that passes is one closer to Defense Against The Dark Arts.