CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

listen to this - experience by ludovico einaudi (slowed + reverb)

 While Hollis sat on the roof, she hugged her knees to her chest with one arm against the cold fall air while the other held out one hand up to the dark, steely grey sky. As her scarred palm was extended to the air, a single drop of rain fell onto the skin with a freezing cold drop that signalled the fall of the sun on the horizon with its temperature.

Even though only a few bits of water were released from the sky at a time, the clouds seemed heavy and ready to burst at any second, like they were just waiting for a dagger to slice through them and allow clear blood to spill from the condensation.

Hollis watched as the drops slowly began to make a pattern on the black roof, a series of tiny circles that dotted the tiles like tears on a sheet of parchment.

There was that smell in the air, that sweet smell that told one a storm was coming soon and they better get inside with a warm mug of hot chocolate before they got drenched.

Hollis stayed.

As she listened to a breeze gently rush through the sea of pines below, she knew that some weather would not prevent Voldemort from killing her if Peter had indeed done what she thought.

"I thought you might be up here," a soft, deep voice came from behind her. "It's rather peaceful, isn't it?"

She twisted her back around to see Remus shutting the trapdoor behind him, brushing a bit of dust from his light hair that must have gathered there in the attic.

"Yea, it is," she whispered back as he sat down next to her with his arms hugging his knees to his chest as well. "The last time I came up here was.. was when you left."

Remus rested his chin on his knees and turned to her with sorrowful green eyes.

"It's alright," Hollis reassured him. "There's simply no point in holding onto a grudge with someone you love. It's a waste of valuable time."

Remus blinked a few times as a drop of rain landed on his eyelashes. There was something about the way she said this so calmly that made him feel like he was sinking, something he had never really felt before.

"It did teach me the importance of goodbyes, though," she said in a low tone, moving her neck so that she was looking at Remus. "And I wish I could have said goodbye to her."

"We're all going to miss her," the Lupin replied, moving a stray strand of her coily black hair behind her ear. "It's just something we're going to have to get through together, right?"

On any other occasion, Hollis would have nodded yes without hesitation.

"Remus," she said, slowly grabbing onto one of his hands and looking at his features with slightly parted lips, unable to speak for a moment. "Sometimes one of us is going to have to learn how to deal with these things on our own."

Remus blinked again, not with the rain, but with concern at her sure tone.

"Obviously at some point, but not anytime soon, right?" he said, smiling with a bit of nervousness.

The corners of his pink lips dropped and his eyebrows furrowed when he saw that Hollis did not nod to say that something like this would indeed not be happening anytime near then.

"Hollis, what aren't you telling me?" he asked carefully, not knowing what he was about to hear. "You don't look alright."

He hadn't seen the cloud of black smoke appear behind him in the forest. Hollis had five minutes at most before Voldemort got there, and she had to make sure that they were all safe. If they died trying to defend her, it would be a waste.