crushed - remus lupin

-sixteen-

Celeste's past two days were vastly different.  The former had been painfully boring and quiet, and the latter... well there's no sense in beating around the bush, the latter was filled with hardcore drinking and partying. The perfect way to recover from a hospital visit, by Gryffindor standards.

The day had started out pretty calmly. Celeste had left the hospital wing with Remus the morning after their nighttime excursion. The two were both very happy with the fact that they had seemingly gotten away with sneaking out, as Madam Pomfrey hadn't said anything the next morning.

But she knew. Nothing got past Poppy Pomfrey, they should've known that by now. However, she let it slide. No one would expect her to allow it, especially since she was so careful about Remus' recoveries. She went against her own rules because she could tell that right now, more than any kind of medicine, he needed company. Specifically hers.

And so she pretended she didn't notice.

Maybe her decision was partly guided by the fact that she had a lot of money riding on when the two would get together, and she would not let Flitwick win this time.

The teenagers made their way to the common room, taking their time because it was a Saturday, and they had no classes to get to. At the moment, they were involved in a heated debate of who was the better teacher, McGonagall or Slughorn.

"Ridiculous! Slughorn has taught me literally nothing in the six years I've taken his class. McGonagall might be strict but she cares about her students." Celeste would not be backing down anytime soon.

"Let's just say, agree to disagree?" Remus knew he wouldn't win, not with her passion about the topic.

"No, you're wrong and you should know it."

He couldn't help but laugh at her stubbornness. She always seemed to find a way to argue about anything, and Remus couldn't help but admire her for it. He could never seem to tell anyone what it was that he thought, and sometimes it cost him dearly, but Celeste was never that way. She could appear shy around new people, but if anyone crossed her they would see how fiery she could be.

The paintings in the deserted hallway were greatly enjoying the show. They all knew Celeste, for when she couldn't sleep she would wander the castle, talking to various portraits and learning about their lives. One painting in particular, containing a woman named Dotty Greenwald, was a favorite of Celeste's. The woman within it lived in the 1920's and her father was the Prime Minister of England. That being said, she was a muggleborn and had to fight a lot of hate in her time.

The portraits were currently following the pair around the castle, listening to the two converse about everything on the face of the planet, even the odd stuff, like now.

"I'm just saying, did someone just look at the middle finger and think, 'Man that shit looks offensive'?" Celeste was very adamant that this was what happened.

"Actually, it originated in the first century Mediterranean world, it was meant to be a method to divert the evil eye from gazing upon you."

Celeste immediately raised both of her middle fingers, waving them around, yelling, "Get back magical evil eye!"

If it was anyone else, they would've been bored by Remus' expanse of knowledge, but Celeste always found it intriguing. Her parents had never cared enough about her or each other enough to share random facts or cool things, so hearing them every day was something that made her feel loved, like as long as he kept telling her random bits of trivia, he still cared about her. Celeste knew it was silly, but it was like a non-direct way of reminding her that he hadn't stopped.

That was when they both realized that it was 7 PM, and they had spent the whole day wandering.

After a moment, Celeste grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him towards the Gryffindor common room in a hurry, ignoring Filch's shouts.