BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑥.

"Where is she?" Vindia asked Walburga as she narrowly eyed the empty seat at the dining room table.

"I think I saw her go upstairs," Evan said.

"Then go get her," Vindia instructed tersely.

There was a twinge of annoyance in her voice at how her daughter was embarrassing her by being late while the rest of them had been at dinner for nearly a half-hour.

The black wood of the bathroom door slammed open so quickly that Hollis nearly jumped from her position in front of the mirror. Her eyes caught her brother with a smug expression on his face standing behind her through the reflective glass.

"Mother wants you down now," Evan relayed with a bit of irritation at what was taking her so long as well. "And she doesn't seem happy."

She put as much venom in her stare as she possibly could when she turned to face her brother, not through the mirror. "Really had to add in that part?" she snapped, and he just narrowed his eyes right in return.

"Just come down already," her brother finished, slamming the door behind him again.

The instant he left, her shoulder slumped and she let out a sigh of relief. She had just now noticed that when the bracelet's message changed, the flashing was rather visible to anyone. It could be taken for just a catch of the light, but Hollis knew she had to be more careful than that around the Rosiers.

i have to go - h

She only waited for a few seconds to get a reply before she headed downstairs.

be careful - r

kick kreacher for me - s

that's animal abuse - j

he's an abusive animal - s

im not kicking kreacher - h

there we go - r

Heading down the stairs, Hollis smiled slightly. Whenever Remus said something into the bracelets, she could always imagine his face perfectly and hear his exact tone when he said it. She didn't know what she would do if it weren't for the silver band connecting her to the other Marauders.

Go mental, probably, Hollis thought as she reached the end of the darkly carpeted stairs.

Straightening her back and wiping the smile off her face, Hollis turned the corner to reach the Grimmauld Place dining room. The kitchen table was much more casual and relaxing, but only Kreacher would ever use that one. It was considered lowly for wizards and witches to eat off the same table as such a lowly creature.

The conversation continued as Hollis sat down, besides Vindia Rosier giving her daughter such an uptight look that any other person besides Hollis would have turned away from how piercing it was. Instead, Hollis just looked right back until her mother was the first to turn her cold eyes away. It was a tiny, somewhat petty, victory, but a victory enjoyed none the less.

"Have you heard the rumors going on about the Carrow twins?" Walburga asked, taking a delicate bite of the salted green beans in front of her. "Only in their first year at Hogwarts, and already cursed about a dozen muggleborns and halfbloods."

Hollis stiffened. She had seen the two eleven year old Slytherins, Amycus and Alecto quite a few times around the corridors. Once, Charlotte had come into a tutoring session sobbing her little hazel eyes out because Amycus had called her a 'stupid mudblood.' Those twins already had the cruelness of Bellatrix and the cleverness of Narcissa to use that malice for the worse.