CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜.

There was something the Marauders had been avoiding.

The past few days had been going too well for any of them to want and disrupt it with the mention of the event right in the middle of their minds, screaming for recognition and acknowledgment that it had happened.

But in a few minutes, that delicate tension they had been dancing around was going to snap.

Every single time Hollis smiled, she couldn't really enjoy the warm feeling trying to spread through her chest and boost her mood over all. She did her best to act like everything was fine, and for the most part, the Rosier did a good job of pretending.

Regulus's death was preventing it.

All five of them had somehow crammed themselves onto her bed so that their feet weren't touching the floor.

The Marauders had been carrying on a conversation with laughs and giggles from various members for the past half hour. Slowly, all of them noticed the Hollis was slowly starting to fade off and lose interest in what they were saying.

She slowly drew her leg closer to her torso, looking down at the bandage around the burn with a frown placed mildly on her face as she could still feel the fire creeping up her leg as the Inferi shrieked away from the flames with relcutance to get close to the heat.

Hollis immediately wished that she hadn't done this, though, because that cave became vivid in all of her senses in the blink of an eye.

Her lungs were suddenly void of the hospital wing air and filled with the salty water like tar refusing to unstick. A flame licked up her leg as smoke replaced the liquid, just another substance to die full of. Legs trembling slightly, Hollis took in a shakey breath that made all of the boy's heads turn in alarm.

The hand in hers that was now gone felt like it was still there for a brief moment, a single comfort among all of the other horrible sensations.

But then she reminded herself that Regulus was dead, and the tight feeling was gone.

"Hol?"

The single word from Remus made Hollis blink her eyes suddenly, turning her head up off her violently shaking fingers and back up to where all of them were staring at her with concern.

"Did I say something?" James asked with concern that his tangent had triggered something.

Shaking her head with a tiny motion, Hollis gave him the most reassuring smile she could as guilt coursed through her.

"No," she said. "No, it's fine."

Then slowly realizing what she was saying, Remus tensed up and looked at all of them with a firm glance.

"No, everything's not fine," he said to Hollis as gently as he possibly could. "Regulus is dead, and we shouldn't be avoiding that."

An instant silence fell among them as they looked at Hollis with alarm at how quickly that atmosphere had changed with these words.

"Talking about it isn't going to change it," she told them with determination ringing through her flat tone. "What do you want me to say?" 

The truth was, Hollis really did want to talk about what had happened the in cave.

But the horcrux had already killed one person to obtain, and there was no way in hell she was going to endanger these people she cared about so much with the knowledge of Voldemort's plan for immortality.

"There's nothing I want you to say," Remus said softly. "I'm just worried."

"And I get that," Hollis replied without any emotion as she looked him dead in the eyes no matter how hard she tried. "But I need you to not be."