swim || remus lupin

down the drain

"Hello, Kitty!" Sirius called, poking fun at Remus's band-aid. He and Peter joined the line that consisted of Remus, James, Lily and I, in that order. I hardly noticed, however, as I was sort of moving subconsciously.

The awkwardness between Remus and I was embarrassingly evident as we set off for the greenhouses. We walked on opposite ends of the group, though I wished he was miles further. Then maybe I would be able to think straight.

Clips from the class continued to replay in my head, growing worse and worse each time. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I would rather endure 80 transformations than relive that helpless confession. I was still a bit shocked at the words I had admitted, I didn't even know I felt them. Not to mention he was standing right there.

"Syd? Syd. Lils, you've broken her." I blinked and shook myself out of my daze to find Marlene's hand waving in front of my face. We were in the greenhouse, on the opposite end of the class as the boys (thank God), and Alice had set up our Sopophorous plant.

"Sorry," I mumbled, pulling on my gloves.

"What happened in potions?" Marlene asked with excited curiosity. I felt myself color and I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, honestly, Syd. You should be thanking me!" I gaped at the redhead.

"Thanking you? You and James practically planned my worst nightmare!"

"Okay sure your end was a little rough," she giggled briefly. I covered my face with my gloved hands. "But you're acting like Remus didn't act exactly the same!" I moved my pointer finger to peek through my hands.

I hadn't even thought of Remus's confessions. After I had downed the antidote everything was a bit hazy. I supposed he had almost admitted his feelings for me as well, hadn't he? What was it that he said about my dimples?

"What happened?" Marlene groaned. "Alice and I are right here you know!"

"Alice owes James and me 20 galleons, that's what." Marlene and Alice's mouths dropped open before they attacked us in a flurry of exclamations.

"No way!"

"Already? I was sure they'd take another two months!"

"How did you do it?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah! We could've hidden somewhere in the dungeons!"

"They just admitted it right in front of you?"

"I can't believe you and James successfully completed a task without killing each other."

"Or shagging each other."

"Woah let me stop you there," Lily said through a laugh. "Our Veritaserum potions were finally ready today. Why do you think he and I were so specific about the date?"