The Stars and Forbidden Cigarettes | Professor Remus Lupin

Fireplaces and Firewhisky

Light spills out from under the doorframe, and the castle is quiet. Reverie, before she can change her mind, pushes open the doors to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, only to find a bright but empty room. The papers on his desk are ruffled, the candles are slowly fading, his chair is pushed out haphazardly — Reverie figures it's very typical of him to disappear like this.

She walks through the room, her hand gripping the book she brought with her tighter, and she heads purposefully towards the stairs that lead up to his office. Her legs are cautious on the first step, remembering that night he brought her up these same stairs and into the room at the top of them, but she gains courage when she hears a bustle from inside. When she reaches the landing, she knocks forcefully on the door twice and steps back. The room goes awfully silent, and she almost convinces herself that she imagined the noise, until the handle turns and the door opens to reveal Lupin, with ruffled hair and a shirt with the top three buttons unbuttoned. Reverie's breath hitches in her throat, and she forgets everything she'd come there to say.

The marks along his face are still there, still red, and he's almost imperceptibly bent forward, his hand grasping at his side as he leans against the open door. But, he nearly forgets his pain when he sees Reverie standing in front of him, her cheeks red and her chest catching her breath and her eyes glistening in the low light of night.

They stand on opposite sides of the doorframe, the quiet of the castle and the storm outside engulfing them as they look at one another, and Reverie frowns as she takes in the scratches along his face and the way he's standing in pain. She opens her mouth to begin speaking, but then closes it again. Lupin's eyes twinkle in amusement, but he doesn't smile and he doesn't say anything. He just raises a single eyebrow, quizzically, inviting her to speak. Reverie's heart is beating fast.

"I- I don't know what to say first." She shakes her head. "What is this?" She lifts the book in her hand and waves it in front of him, looking at him almost incredulously. She opens it to the page in chapter three. "What is this?"

Lupin shuts his eyes and rests his head on the door. But when he opens his eyes and looks at her, it throws her off her rhythm. "Would you like to come in?"

She blinks. "No, I would not!" She scoffs, heat rising to her cheeks. "And your face! What in Merlin's name happened to your face!"

"Are you sure you won't come in?" He asks, straightening now. Reverie notices the hand holding his side tightens, his knuckles whitening, but she goes on.

"And New Year's Eve! Why would you leave before midnight?" She continues, exasperated.

To Reverie's surprise, Lupin's eyes grow sad. Her face softens as she straightens. A beat passes in silence.

"I'm sorry, I forgot my place, I shouldn't have—"

"Reverie. Please come in."

She falls silent as Lupin looks at her and she looks at him. The way her name slides off his tongue is intoxicating. The windows around them glow with the blue light from the storm, and the rain picks up harder against the glass now, but Reverie doesn't notice as she walks through the door frame and into the room.

She stands in the middle of his office, looking around the familiar enclosure, at the fireplace and the desk and the shelves and the gramophone. Behind her, Lupin grimaces with the effort of pushing the door shut. At the sound, Reverie turns around and watches as he walks over to the fireplace, pointing his wand to the hearth in the same way he did all those nights ago, and then beckons for Reverie to sit down in one of the two armchairs arranged in front of it.

Reverie sits down slowly, without taking her eyes off of Lupin, who was now seated on the second armchair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his legs, his hands clasped together. He doesn't look at her, instead fixating on the fire before him.