stain ☾ remus lupin

NINE

C H R I S T M A S
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The holidays let their presence be known; between the ankle high snow and the Christmas trees lining the hall. Merriness seemed to radiate through the school and left its touch on Freya in particular, who was still rediscovering herself.

Sirius and Freya's newly found friendship was truly surprising. The boy had not been angered in the slightest at the blonde's sudden flight from their date. In fact, he'd already found another girl to woo — Marlene.

November had passed quickly and rather uneventfully. Pranks were performed before consequences were given in form of detentions, lessons were taught then forgotten altogether, and Remus's small moleskin journal seemed to fill up faster than James's book of reasons why Lily should date him. The journal was messy and leather bound. It wasn't necessarily meant for one certain thing. The pages held small sketches, coffee stains, poems, excerpts from books and newspaper clippings.

One day while James was with Sirius in detention and Peter was who knows where, Freya had walked into the room, easily catching Remus's attention, and sent him a dazzling smile. It was then that he noticed the nails of her fingers were a bright, teal color that she flaunted nearly every day of sixth year before Sirius asked her why and she immediately abandoned the color for a more mature hue.

Needless to say, a corner of his journal now held the bright blue color and forced the corners of his lips to tug up into a small smile each time his eyes sat sight on it. He'd missed her real personality.

Freya, on the other hand, was on the verge of discovering something that could never be written down in a journal. She'd always known that Remus had poor health, which occasionally caused him to miss classes, but he'd always had a believable excuse to make up for it.

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The train passed the snow covered trees with such a quick force that her eyes could not fully focus on much outside the compartment window. Her fingers running through her hair softly as her thoughts drifted off.

Remus Lupin was dreadfully ill.

The thought of how exactly sick he was forced her eyes to fill with water and her heart to ache. Although she wasn't entirely sure, it seemed to be the only logical conclusion. Her best friend was sick and possibly incurable, that explained the tired attitude, occasional nightmares, regular trips to the infirmary. However, it didn't explain why he hadn't told Freya.

"What's gotten into you?" questioned Mary from the seat across her. The brunette was flaunting a rather atrocious looking Christmas sweater, if as a joke or actual outfit she did not know.

Freya's gaze snapped from the window and to the girls in the train compartment. "Is Remus ill?"

"What?" the three asked in unison, Lily's voice coming out more high pitched than normal, something that every once in awhile happened when she was hiding something.

"Oh, never mind," she shrugged it off, "Lily, will you help me find the trolley?"

The redhead reluctantly stood and let the magazine she had been reading fall back onto her now empty seat. Marlene immediately picked it up and could be heard flipping the pages as the other two exited the compartment. Freya allowed herself to walk ten paces before swerving around to face Lily so suddenly that her friend let out a small gasp.

"What aren't you telling me?" Freya whispered.

"About what?" Again, unnaturally squeaky.