UNDER THE MOON, Remus Lupin

vii.

LIVE A LITTLE

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"No, that can't be right." Alice shook her head.

"Then what?" Zeph flopped his arms hopelessly.

Alice sat up. They'd been laying on her bed for the past few hours, arguing about meaningless topics. "I mean, it's totally irrational for a man with saggy bollocks to judge a woman for having saggy tits."

Neither of them knew how they made it to this topic, but they continued their conversation anyway. "Well, I somewhat agree, but I think-,"

Alice scoffed at him. "Don't think, you're just going to say something stupid."

"Kiss my ass, Ali," He kicked the side of her ribs with his heel. "Ali?"

"Yeah?"

"I asked Isabella out. But she said no. But she also said she likes me." Zephyr wasn't hurt about it, but he was confused.

"Why did she say no?" Alice frowned. She wanted to see Zeph happy.

Zephyr laughed at himself. "I don't know. Something about her wanting to be a priority but fearing I couldn't provide that. I think she doesn't trust you, actually. She was very interested in how loyal you are to Fred. Maybe that's a... casus belli, but what do I know?"

Alice didn't want anything to do with the downfall of Zephyr's relationships. She also didn't want him to get into a toxic one. "Perhaps I could talk to her."

"I don't know. It might help, but I'm so baffled by everything going on. I mean, she's just being weird, Clint's acting weird, you're always weird, and everyone is just acting like a bunch of buffoons." Zephyr wanted to scream into the woods with an aching throat and let it all go.

"Buffoons?" Alice covered her mouth as she began giggling hysterically at Zephyr's choice of wording.

Speaking correctly around Alice was a constant fight. "Leave me alone." Zeph placed his face in his hands.

Around this time, Blue would usually come trotting in after scratching at the door. The cats at Hogwarts liked to prowl, but Blue still spent a majority of his time asleep. Until it was time for Alice to sleep, then he decided to act like a homicidal maniac.

"Where do you suppose Blue is?" Alice asked, leaning over the side of her bed to look for her cat.

"Mmm... I see him in the common room a lot. I'm sure he's fine."

"He needs to eat, and I hate waiting around for his prissy arse," Alice crossed her arms and slid off the bed. "I'll check the common room quickly, stay here."

Alice hopped down each step, twisting her ankle at the bottom. No one was in the common room. That made it more likely that Blue was here. Alice began snapping her fingers and checking underneath tables and seats.

This was getting frustrating. After another few minutes, she saw him lying by the fire, completely ignorant to her calls.

"Blue! Do you want to eat or not?" She approached him with a smile.

But why wasn't he responding? He wasn't biting her. He wasn't clawing at her. He wasn't stretching. He wasn't... he wasn't breathing. Alice gulped. "...Blue?"

Still nothing. Her heart began to thud against her chest so loudly that she couldn't hear the crackle of the fire anymore. Alice knelt on the floor, covering her mouth as she saw the other side of him. His stomach was cut open. And blood was stained into the rug. His black and white fur was ruined, everything was ruined. Alice's hand began to quiver and she choked on a sob. "What happened?" She whimpered to herself, gently grasping his small body and pulling it onto her lap.