Best Off As Friends

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Best Off As Friends


The lesser-recognized 13th Zodiac Constellation of Ophiuchus, through which the sun passes for 19 days from November 30 to December 17, is known as the Serpent Bearer. The constellation is Zeus's memorial to the mythological healer, Aesciepius (Egyptian, Imhotep). He was a healer, given power by a potion from Athena, made of the blood of the snake-haired Gorgon. He was killed by Zeus's lightning bolt after accepting money for bringing a man back from the dead. Zeus honored him posthumously for his good deeds by placing him in the night time sky. The symbol of a snake-entwined staff, is commonly used as the muggle symbol for medical healing.

Remus had read the paragraph no less than six time and it still wasn't sinking in. He looked up and snuck a peek at Lily's textbook - several pages ahead of him by now - and sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, trying to clear the fog that filled him up.

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I can't concentrate," Remus admitted.

Lily slid a ribbon into her book as a placeholder and closed it, looking at Remus with concern. "What's distracting you?"

Remus hesitated, looking down at the moving illustration of Aesciepius, a thick snake coiling up and down the wooden staff he held. Lily's eyes didn't leave Remus's face and he felt a bit as though the snake were coiling 'round him as nervousness built up. He looked up finally. "Are you angry with me?" he asked.

Lily looked startled, "I - no." But she sounded unsure about it.

"It's just that - well, you seemed really short with me the other day, before the Ilvermorny team came and then I haven't really seen you since and you've been really quiet -- and before that, we weren't really studying like we usually did because of the Full Moon and everything and --" Remus paused from his rambling, his cheeks turning a bit red. "We aren't really talking tonight, either," he pointed out.

"I'm not angry," Lily said. Then, "Well, I suppose maybe a little... why in Merlin's beard would you tell James Potter about our kiss?"

"I didn't," Remus said, "I told Sirius. Well, I guess James was there, too." His face turned even redder, if that was possible. "I'm sorry. I just... I was so mortified... and --"

"It really wasn't your fault," Lily reminded him.

Remus shook his head, "It felt like my fault. And it was after that when it started seeming like we weren't seeing each other and... I sort of... I was worried maybe you were angry with me... you know, for being a horrible kisser."

"No way!" Lily said, "I'm not angry! I'm sure you're a brilliant kisser once we've got it worked out how to go about it, you know?"

"Yeah?" Remus asked.

"Yeah." She said... and suddenly the air between them seemed to shift and sort of thicken and all the upset feelings she'd been harboring sort of evaporated. She got up and went over to sit down next to him and cleared her throat, looking about. There were only a couple other students in the common room still, and they were off by the fire, paying Lily and Remus no mind. She hesitated and then leaned slowly forward toward him. "Tilt your head to the left a little," she said quietly.

"Alright," Remus replied, and he did, his heart racing.

When their lips touched, he was overwhelmed yet again by the feeling of it. Remus tried very hard not to overthink, but his mind was going even faster than his heart rate... But nice as it was, there was something funny about it. He couldn't stop overthinking it. He was kissing Lily Evans and there was something quite weird about that, something he couldn't really put his finger on. She was apparently feeling the same way, too, because when she pulled back, she blinked up at him.

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