The Stars and Forbidden Cigarettes | Professor Remus Lupin

The Beaver

Oliver taps her plate of mashed potatoes with his fork, and Reverie jolts up. He's smiling at her gently, and the buzzing sound of the Great Hall fills her ears again.

"Sorry, what was I saying?" She asks, tucking her hair back behind her ear.

"You were telling me about Hogsmeade at night, and then you trailed off," he says, piling more sausages onto his plate. She'd been trailing off more and more the past week, retreating into her thoughts, and he's gotten used to it by now.

Reverie's face brightens as she remembers. "Oh, Oliver, you have to see it." She reaches across the table to grab his hand. "It's so empty and serene and quiet... I would've stayed longer if I hadn't been alone."

Oliver turns his hand under hers and holds it properly as he gently shakes it. "It's too dangerous, Rev. How did you even get over there?"

Her grip slacks as she remembers apparating from the Shrieking Shack nearly two weeks ago. Of course, they can't apparate from the Hogwarts grounds. She clears her throat. "There's always the One-Eyed Witch Passage?"

Oliver crooks his head and looks at her curiously. She hadn't been quite so excited about much in weeks, and in this moment, he can see glimpses of her old self, before last winter. He pretends to think, but he knows he's given himself no choice – not when it comes to Reverie.

"Okay. As long as we promise to be careful."

Reverie smiles and squeezes his hand tightly just as dessert appears on the table.

~~~

After the dormitory empties out that night, Reverie meets Oliver at the foot of the stairs, the firelight illuminating her face in a way that makes Oliver straighten as he sees her walking down to him. She smiles excitedly, and together they sneak out through the portrait hole and into the castle to Reverie's trusty hidden passage.

Their footsteps echo in synchrony as they walk through the dark tunnel, and Oliver is acutely aware of each time her arm brushes against his. They both stay silent as they walk, as if there were an unspoken rule to not speak in fear of getting caught.

Halfway down the tunnel, he feels her stumble and looks over at her and smiles crookedly. Her face reddens and she gently pushes his face away jokingly, and he laughs but continues walking as she catches up with his long strides.

"That was a lot longer than I remember," Reverie says, as she climbs up the ladder at the end. Oliver lightly touches her waist to make sure she doesn't fall, and Reverie pauses at the contact before continuing up and out of the hole. Oliver hoists himself up and brushes the dust off of his shirt and pants, before looking up and registering where they were.

"You didn't tell me we would be breaking and entering into Honeydukes!" Oliver whispers, as he follows Reverie up the dark stairs into the dark shop.

"We're hardly breaking, and look, we're leaving!" Reverie says, and then whispers "Alohomora," as she reaches the door.

Oliver follows her out and shuts the door behind him quietly, as he glares jokingly at Reverie. Once outside, Reverie rushes away from Honeydukes and Oliver catches up with her, until they finally reach High Street. Right away, Oliver can see what had enamored Reverie so greatly.

With all the windows dark and the closest streetlight one street away, Hogsmeade looks like a village under a dome of stars, enclosed by Hogwarts looming in the distance at one end, and the Highlands arching over the roofs at the other. With a bench at each corner and streets that seemed to have been paved just for them to walk on at that moment, Oliver grins.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Reverie asks, looking up at the sky. "It feels like we've bought our very own hamlet in the sky."

Oliver glances at her. "More wonderful than I would have ever thought it could be."