Beyond Rumours | Remus Lupin x Reader

Chapter Three

REMUS LUPIN

Saturday, 3rd of September 1977

"Well, I think this is a job well done, lads," James said proudly.

As I looked at all of the flamingos in the Great Hall, I had to agree. There were exactly sixty-nine (Sirius's idea) flamingos in the Hall, and they were looking at everything curiously. It was nice to be back at Hogwarts and back at our pranks - I'd really missed this over the summer.

"We should probably get out of here," Peter squeaked, looking around nervously.

"Great idea, Wormtail," Sirius said, before turning around and bolting.

James, Peter and I followed after him down the hallways of the castle, and quickly heard the sounds of the castle caretaker, Argus Filch, chasing after us.

"Scatter, boys!" James yelled, before taking a right.

Sirius followed after him, while Peter and I turned left. Eventually Peter and I split up, but I could still hear Filch chasing after me. Why me? I had the longest legs out of all my friends - surely I should be the one to outrun Filch! How fast was he, anyway? Surely he was too old to be able to keep up with me, but no, that was the sound of Filch's shoes hitting the cobble floors as he pursued me. If only I'd agreed to go on early morning runs with James - maybe I could outrun him then.

I quickly turned into the library, hoping to lose him in the shelves. Luckily Madam Pince wasn't out the front, so she didn't see me sprint in. I could hear her voice in my head, screeching, 'no running!' 

I ran through the library and down a few aisles, turning my head to look for Filch, when I bumped into someone. The collision caused them to drop their books, and I recognised the person as Y/n Malfoy. She opened her mouth to speak, and I heard Filch enter the library.

"Oh, I-"

I shushed her anxiously, pressing a finger to my lips and then using my other hand to cover her mouth. Her eyes went wide in shock, and Filch ran down the aisle next to us, cursing under his breath. After a few seconds he turned back and exited the library, leaving me to let out a relieved breath, and I removed my hand from Y/n's mouth with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry," I said apologetically.

I expected her to be angry at me, or maybe even call me a 'filthy half-breed' (something her brother had called me on more than one occasion), but instead she smiled nervously.

"It's okay," Y/n said, her voice sounding oddly high-pitched. She cleared her throat, and her voice returned to normal. "I mean, it's okay."

I knelt down and picked her books up for her, and glanced at the cover of one of them. It was a potions book, the same one I had, and I remembered seeing her in my Potions class.

"I saw you in my Potions class yesterday," I recalled. "Aren't you a sixth-year?"

"I - uh... yeah, but I've always been pretty good at potions, and I did perfectly on both my theoretical and practical O.W.L.s, so Professor McGonagall had me do a test over the summer to see whether I could move up and I passed those and so now I'm doing seventh-year Potions... I'm kind of rambling, sorry," she said quickly and all in one breath.

"No, no, it's okay," I assured her. "Do you have any seventh-year friends?"

"Uh, no, not really," she said. "I mean, I sat with Lily Evans last lesson, but I wouldn't call us friends because we've never really spoken before that, but she's super nice and... and now I'm rambling again, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, don't apologise," I said.

She smiled at me meekly, and we fell into silence. I generally didn't like speaking to people I didn't know, but for some reason, I wanted to keep the conversation going, or at least start a new one. She peered up at me and brushed her (h/c) hair out of her face, and it suddenly hit me how pretty she was. I'd never really noticed before. I opened my mouth to say something, maybe to invite her to sit with me and my friends if she wanted, when Sirius came bounding down the aisle.

"Moony, I just escaped from...oh." Sirius noticed Y/n, and he seemed to straighten his spine and look down his nose at her as his cheerful demeanour disappeared. "Malfoy," he greeted.

"Black," Y/n said quietly, her smile disappearing. "I, um, I'd best be going now. See you."

I watched as Y/n walked through the shelves and left the library, and Sirius looked at me inquisitively.

"Why were you talking to her?" Sirius questioned.

"I bumped into her. Literally," I replied.

A memory came back to me, of another time when I'd bumped into her. I'd been in third year, and I was running from some teacher, when I'd bumped into her and caused all of her books to fall to the floor. I helped her pick them up, and she'd looked at me in almost the exact same way she'd looked at me today – eyes slightly wide, and scanning my face like she was trying to memorise it.

"Doesn't mean you have to talk to her," Sirius countered. "She's a Malfoy, mate. You know what her brother was like. What her entire family is like."

"Not all purebloods are obsessed with blood status," I chided, giving him a pointed look.

Sirius rolled his eyes at me and shook his head.

"Fine, you got me," Sirius relented. "But I still think you should be careful around her."

I didn't want to fight, so I replied with a simple, "sure." Sirius and I headed back to the common room where we met up with James and Peter. Both had escaped getting detention, so we all congratulated each other on another great prank. Then James and Sirius began to talk about Quidditch, and Peter and I played a round of Wizarding Chess. I hadn't beat Peter at chess in four years, but I was determined to try.

As we played, I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the rumours about Y/n Malfoy might be untrue. That maybe... maybe she wasn't as bad as they portrayed her to be. I mean, the rumours said she was exactly like her brother; pretentious and rude, obsessed with blood-status and blood purity... but when I'd spoken to her, she'd been... nice, I supposed. Definitely nothing like her brother.

Maybe I was just overthinking things.

"Oi, Prongs," Sirius said quietly. "Lily alert."

James's head twisted so fast I was afraid he'd broken his neck, and I looked over to see Lily entering the common room with Marlene and Mary, all chattering away. When Lily saw me, she gave me a smile and a wave, and then smiled at the rest of my friends before heading up to the girls' dorms.

"Did she just smile at us?" Sirius exclaimed.

James just looked dumbstruck, and Peter looked confused. I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. Lily had told me during our Prefect duties that she'd started to fancy James, but told me she'd turn me into a toad if I told him. It was kind of funny, actually.

So I stayed silent, and let James freak out over it a bit.