The Stars and Forbidden Cigarettes | Professor Remus Lupin

The Corridor

She still feels the ghosts of his fingers on her arm when a low, reverberating, knocking noise floats into the dark upstairs office from within the classroom. Reverie and Lupin both turn towards the sound, and Lupin walks slowly to the door, opening it and letting the fading candle light of the classroom seep into the room. But when he stops cold in his tracks in the doorframe, Reverie doesn't dare to move from her spot by the fireplace, and her hand moves to her wand.

"Remus, I hate to bother you this late at night. I'm so sorry if I woke you." Reverie recognizes the shaky voice echoing off of the tall stone walls. Lupin's next words confirm it.

"No worries, Minerva — I was the furthest thing from asleep." Reverie burns at his words, but she forces herself to put them out of her mind as she looks around to find a place to hide if McGonagall were to come upstairs. "How can I help you?" His voice is steady.

Reverie hears her moving further into the room. Reverie freezes, but Lupin responds by moving down the stairs.

"Oh Remus, it's more of how I can help you. Severus has just told me that a certain shipment of ingredients that he was expecting to come in today has been held up indefinitely by the Ministry of Magic's postal check, and I'm not sure if it'll pass through in time, or at all for that matter, what with the speed of the incompetents at the Ministry, and he's asked you— well he's asked me to ask you to perhaps hold off on the doses he's given you for recovery for today and tomorrow and the day after in order to ensure you have enough for at least one more cycle." McGonagall finishes breathlessly and, as far as Reverie can tell, worriedly.

Lupin breathes out a heavy breath, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking down at the floor. "I'm not sure if I have that much left. I'll have to check." McGonagall doesn't say anything, and Lupin looks up to see her looking at him half-expectantly. His eyebrow twitches slightly. "I can check now, if you'd like."

"Severus would want to know, I'd expect. You know how he is." McGonagall half-laughs.

"Right." Lupin says drily, turning and walking up the stairs. "And why didn't he come tell me himself?"

"Another one of his quirks, I suppose," McGonagall responds, but when her voice sounds closer than expected, Lupin turns back around halfway up the steps to find McGonagall climbing them after him. He coughs a surprised cough.

"Oh, Minerva, you don't have to climb all the way up here, it'll just be a second."

McGonagall relents, and Lupin climbs two steps at a time to the room as McGonagall stands patiently by the foot of the stairs.

Walking into the room, he finds a wide-eyed Reverie, looking at him questioningly, frozen in place. The room is deafeningly silent, and Lupin rubs a hand over his face and rests it over his mouth in near-disbelief as he searches the office. Reverie watches as his eyes land on a set of flasks behind her, and he walks towards her and she makes to move out of the way when the floorboard creaks. Her eyes shoot up to Lupin's, and he places his hands on her shoulders, beckoning her to stay in place, and nods at her, as if to say "it's ok," before he reaches past her to grab the flasks off the shelf. She doesn't dare to move, she hardly dares to breathe, and his warm hand keeping her in place makes the room even more stifling.

He walks towards the door, opening the first bottle and cursing under his breath as he looks inside. He shuts his eyes as he closes it, and he turns around to glance at Reverie, his eyes unreadable, before he walks out of the room and down the stairs.

"It's not enough," he says, and McGonagall sighs a weak sigh.

"I was worried it wouldn't be. We can go to Severus now, he might have another idea. He was awake just minutes ago, and I'm sure he won't mind given the severity of the situation."