CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

pls read this chapter carefully and slowly - 

starring james potter and remus lupin (ft. mental breakdown)

it fits the vibe (black flies by ben howards)

The warm, breezy open air corridors surrounding the clouded over courtyards of Hogwarts were full of students going to either the library, the Great Hall, or their common rooms after the match the had just watched.

Gryffindor lost at quidditch yet again, this time to Hufflepuff. The rest of the team besides James had been up to their usual energy, but their Head Chaser was lacking the majority of his typical effort. He had let quaffles slip into the hands of canary yellow robed players, not flown fast enough, and thrown the red leather ball weakly into the hoops so that they were easy to block. 

It only deepened James's sense of defeat.

After the game, however, Remus decided to go to one of the more isolated shores of the Black Lake to try and get his mind off things, unlike the other students.

The sun was completely blocked out by the dull, steely clouds that stubbornly refused to budge despite the occasional breeze. This blank slate reflected down onto the mirror like surafce of the lake, making the water as well as the sky look grey and bleak. Surrouding the water were even more bland tones, this time taking form in smooth, ovular stones with thin layers of muted water washed up from the depths of the lake.

Standing right in the middle of all of the grey was a tall boy with pale skin and dull eyes to match the landscape he had placed himself in.

Reaching down to pick up one of the unscatched stones, Remus held the weighty, unremarkable stone in his palm for a few moments, just letting it rest there. Then, with as much force as he could, he threw the stone back into the lake where it belonged.

Unseen to Remus, it sunk to the bottom and would remain there for years until the gradual pull of gravity would wash it back up.

This was one place that he had never shared with Hollis, which the Gryffindor was now thankful for. Because everywhere else that the girl had been, he felt echos of her presence  screaming back at him with a deafening volume only heard by him.

Instead, all Remus could heard was the slight rippling in the water and breeze rustling through the pine needs on either side on the rocky shore. Shutting his eyes momentarily, he was at peace for the first time in a long while.

And then heavy footsteps and a thud of something being set down broke that.

"Thought you'd be here, Moony," James said with a deep sigh. "I can't believe we lost again." 

Remus turned around slowly to look at the Chaser with a small frown.

"Yea, it sucks," he replied dryly, not really wanting to engage with James's whining about quidditch at the moment. 

The black haired boy noticed Remus's tone, and realized something was wrong. Or more wrong than the new normal, that is. It might have been because tonight was the full moon, and he was going to miss Hollis again. There were dozens of possibilities, and James would rather just ask Remus than go through all of them in his head.

"What's the matter?" 

"It just doesn't seem fair that the hardest thing you've ever had to lose is a bloody quidditch match."