morning sun {r. lupin}

sixteen

Greta rested her head on the edge of the hospital bed, gently holding a sleeping Remus' hand in hers. Her back ached from her hunched position, but her exhaustion was greater than her back pain.

The day before was the first quidditch game of the year, Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw, and to no surprise, Gryffindor won. The look on Williams face when the snitch was caught was the best thing Greta had seen. The look of such disappointment and disgust, its just what Greta wanted to see. Of course there was a victory party afterwards leaving no time to sleep before that nights full moon.

So here she sat in the hospital wing, 10am Sunday morning. The night before didnt go as smoothly as they all hoped. Remus ended up getting pretty beat up since the four got there a couple hours after he had already transitioned, the three quidditch stars of the group unable to get away from their peers asking about details of the game.

Greta felt incredibly guilty, as did the others, but she took her guilt further as always. Just minutes after Remus settled into the hospital wing early that morning, Greta had been right at his bedside while James, Sirius, and Peter stayed in their dorm catching up on lost sleep.

Eventually Greta gave up on trying to rest, sitting up and leaning back in the not so comfortable chair. She examined Remus like she'd done several times already that day. The bandages wrapped around his torso, forearms, and under the covers his legs. The patches on his neck and shoulder. Madam Pomfrey said he had sprained his right wrist, thankfully it wasnt a break like several times before. There were a couple new scars on his face, one on his chin which traced along his jawline ever so slightly, the other ran from his forehead across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek, still red and irritated. She blamed herself for the injuries, if only they were with him sooner they couldve prevented this.

Greta's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him. Why did it have to be him to suffer like this every month? Though she would never wish such a thing on her worst enemy, she could think of many people more deserving of this than Remus Lupin.

She sniffled quietly, trying to breathe herself back into a calmer state. She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her hoodie, feeling silly for crying when Remus is the one who really should be, but remains put together and strong.

She released Remus' hand, burying her face in both of hers, resting her elbows on her knees. Her tears continued to flow no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

"Gret? What are you doing here?" Remus croaked, his throat dry and sore.

Greta looked up quickly, doing her best to wipe her tears before he could see them.

"Just want to be with you thats all. How're you feeling?"

"Greta youre crying, what happened?"

"Nothing, just exhausted."

"You look it. Have you slept at all?"

"No, I'm fine though, I just wanna make sure youre okay."

"I'm okay, I'd be more okay if you went to bed."

"I'm not leaving. I- I'll sleep right here."

"Greta." he said sternly.

"No. It my fault that youre this banged up! If we had got out of that stupid party when we were supposed to most of this wouldve been prevented."

Hot tears streamed down her face once again, she was too tired to try and stop them, she didnt care how awful she looked in that moment. She just cared about him.

"I'm sorry, Rem." she whispered, brushing the tears away with her sleeve.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I didnt ask you guys to come babysit me every full moon, you chose to do that which I'm beyond grateful for. You lot have saved me from countless injuries far worse than these, so being a little late is nothing. Infact I dont expect you guys to continuing showing up, but I know you always will." he grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently, "Please dont blame yourself."

"Bu-"

"No buts. Youve done more for me than Ive ever deserved."

"You deserve a lot more than this."

Remus shook his head with a small smile.

"You deserve to get some sleep. Go to bed, I'm fine."

Greta stood from the chair for the first time in hours, her body was tense and needed to move.

"I'll come back later, okay."

"Okay."

She leaned down, gently pressing a kiss on his forehead before releasing his hand again and leaving the hospital wing.

As she trudged down the halls, busy with students heading outside, or to get a late breakfast, what she just did hit her. Did she really just kiss his forehead? What would he think of that?

What if he thinks I'm a lunatic? she thought.

She tried to push the worries aside as she collapsed onto her mattress in the boys dorm where the other three were still sleeping soundly after their busy weekend. Greta curled up under her heavy blanket, falling asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow, all of her worrisome thoughts about Remus disappeared, for now.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Remus could barely hold back the smile on his face as he watched Greta leave the hospital wing. Had she really just kissed him or did he imagine that? It was just the forehead, she did it in a friendly way, he was overthinking its meaning.

Still he found himself with a stomach full of butterflies, and a wide grin. He traced his hand along the spot on his forehead where her lips were pressed just minutes before, replaying the moment, the feeling, over and over in his head.

He wanted more moments like this, as many as he could get. He thought about telling her, maybe it could lead to something, something he only ever thought would exist within his mind.

He sighed, knowing he and Greta would never happen, she deserved more than him, more than what he could give her. She deserved someone normal, not a monster. As much as he wanted her, he didnt want to ever hold her back from having a good life. This argument always being the thing that kept him from telling her.

Its better this way.

wc:1069

a/n

this was sort of a filler chapter but also something ive wanted to do for a while. just a simple chapter with just the two of them.

thank you so much for nearly 200 reads!! just a few days ago we hit 100 i cant believe it!! tomorrow will be one month since i started this so i want to post twice but i have no idea what im going to do yet. we'll see i guess.

also happy pride month!!!

anyways, thank you so much for reading xx

question of the day: favourite hp ship?

my answer: wolfstar!