Chocolate Covered Strawberries [Remus Lupin]

𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

Chapter one hundred three; Late night

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A whistle tune travelled down the empty hall and due to its emptiness it echoed loudly, making much more noise than expected. Jasmine nudged Sirius with her foot to make him stop whistling a song and he narrowed his eyes at her. He then stopped nonetheless. The two of them were sitting at one of the large windowsills in an empty hallway at night. Their backs were pressed up against the wall on opposite ends of the window and both had extended their legs in front of them, the soles of their shoes pressing up together. Jasmine felt the cold of the stone beneath her bare legs travel through her skin as she was still dressed in a school uniform's skirt.

It was late again, long hours after curfew and the two friends found themselves yet again spending time together in comfortable silence. Just like a year ago, only this time they weren't in the kitchens but out in a hall, looking through the window glass at the clear night sky. Jasmine reassured Sirius that they would be left alone and if anyone would catch them, she'll just use her prefect card to get them out of trouble. At second thought, it's been a long while since Jasmine baked at night, it seemed that life was keeping her so busy she couldn't bear the thought of baking. She had to study quite a lot and she didn't like that at the end of the day she was so tired she couldn't do the things she used to do for fun. The only thing that was still persistent was her lack of sleep. She constantly worried about something and the thoughts didn't want to leave her alone for long enough to fall asleep.

Why Sirius was awake tonight was beyond her and she didn't think to ask either. If he wanted her to know, he would let her know. Though she couldn't forget his behaviour from the past few days. He was more reserved than usual, quieter and definitely sadder. Whenever she wanted to ask him about that he faked his happiness and acted as if everything was alright. Maybe she'll get to learn tonight. Sirius leaned closer to the window and breathed onto it for the fog to appear. Then he proceeded to draw a smiley face on the window. But instead of a happy one, it had its mouth turned down.

''Sirius,'' Jasmine called out to him.

Sirius removed his face from the window and looked at her. ''Jasmine.'' He repeated in the same tone. He fixed the cigarette he had tucked behind his ear, without intention to light it up actually. He knew Jasmine hated the smell of smoke even though she tried smoking herself that one time they were out in the halls after curfew.

''How are you?'' Jasmine looked straight at him.

''Good?'' Sirius' voice suspiciously got higher in the end. ''Why –''

''No, I'm serious.''

''You're not. I am.'' Sirius laughed.

Jasmine rolled her eyes but could not hide the smile on her face. She straightened her back and pulled her knees up to her chest. ''It was a serious question. How are you?''

Sirius's smile dropped significantly as the heaviness of the question hit him. They fell into a certain silence and it took him some time to answer properly. ''I don't know, to be honest. Things have been weird.''

Jasmine frowned slightly. She didn't say anything to back up his comment though. Agreeing with him would lead him to redirect the conversation on her and she didn't want that. So she stayed quiet and never moved her eyes away from Sirius'. She wanted to let him know she was there and listening.

"Do you know what my New Year's resolution is?" Sirius turned his head to look out of the window. "I promised that I'm going to take better care of myself and my loved ones around me."

Jasmine leaned forward. "You already do that all the time. It doesn't really count as a resolution if it's already a part of who you are."

"But that's the thing, I don't feel like I do. Which is why I decided on two resolutions." He looked back at Jasmine. "I'm going to stop lying to myself."