Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 78 - A Birthday Tragedy

"Sel, I'll be honest with you, these essays are terrible."

A couple of months had passed, and the spring term was in full swing. Harry had kept his mother well-informed on his private lessons with Dumbledore, and Remus had indeed been coming up to visit every weekend, as promised.

Seeing him so often while at Hogwarts had put Selene in high spirits, distracting her from her intense worry about the well-being of her nephew, but she couldn't deny that Remus had been acting quite odd.

Every time he came to visit, he would plan out these elaborate evenings for them, with dinner, dancing, and other romantic activities, and every time, they'd managed to get interrupted somehow.

One time, Remus had cooked a lovely dinner for Selene in her living quarters, accompanied with her favourite dessert – treacle tart. Remus had been in the middle of saying all of these wonderful things about Selene, and then Harry had come bursting in to share about how one of his lessons with Dumbledore had gone, and Remus, who'd been kneeling on the floor, presumably to tie his shoe, fell backwards, looking mildly exasperated. Harry had left soon after, looking strangely apologetic and a little mortified.

Another time, Remus and Selene had been on their way to Hogsmeade for an evening out, when Ginny had rushed up to them, catching them in the Entrance Hall, and begun complaining irritably about her boyfriend Dean Thomas. She'd been so upset that Selene felt too guilty to leave her, and so Ginny had come with them to the Three Broomsticks. Most of the evening was spent talking about girlish things, and Remus had – admirably, Selene thought – sat there for a majority of the time listening to the two of them wearily, his hands shoved in his pockets.

However, Selene had to admit that that evening had been particularly odd, even in addition to not going according to plan; Madam Rosmerta had swung by their table with a very expensive bottle of wine, eagerly insisting that it was on the house and giving Remus these very significant looks. He'd stood up to usher the barmaid away, and had later come back, saying it had all been a misunderstanding – which Ginny had found particularly shocking, for whatever reason.

Selene ended up not paying it much mind; they'd still gotten to keep the bottle of wine.

There had been several other occasions in which she and Remus' date nights had not gone to plan or had gotten interrupted, but Selene didn't mind much – even though it was clearly beginning to get on Remus' nerves. She was just happy that she was getting to see more of him.

"I know," said Selene, as Remus held up a stack of essays for her to see. He was sitting across from her at her desk in her office, helping her grade papers. They had plans to go grab dinner in Hogsmeade as soon as they were finished. "I don't know what's gotten into my seventh years... they must have gotten it in their heads that they're about to graduate, and they've begun slacking off."

Remus set them aside, leaning back in his chair. "You think we'll go uninterrupted tonight for dinner? Or do you suppose there will be some freak–accident that'll prevent us from having a single night together?"

His tone was half-exasperated, half-bitter, and he looked a little put-out.

Selene gave him a sorry smile. "Well, I suppose now is not a good time to mention that today is Ron's seventeenth birthday, and Fred and George wanted us to meet them, Ron, Hermione, and Harry in Hogsmeade for dinner."

Remus groaned, rubbing his face with his hands, and he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Typical." Then he looked up at Selene, plastering a smile on his face. "Sounds like fun."

Selene raised her eyebrows. "Well, I mean, if you really don't want to go, we could skip out –"

Remus shook his head quickly. "No, no, Selene, it's fine. It really does sound like a lovely time. I just – I just wish we'd be able to have a single night alone – you know, just you and I."