numbers » remus lupin

chapter one

Scarlett gave up on trying to finish her Potions essay. She couldn't concentrate on that, anyway, for too many thoughts were consuming her mind. She let out a sigh while putting the piece of parchment back into her bag, ready to leave for her dorm after a long and exhausting school day. After all it was after midnight, she thought.

She stood up and looked around the common room for a few seconds. The only people there were the Marauders, a group of boys that did mischief on a daily basis, and even pranked her sometimes. The group consisted of four boys, James, Peter, Sirius and Remus. She stood closest to Sirius, they grew up together and were like siblings.

Of course she knew the dates of deaths of each. And, she found, one of them had to die too early for her liking.

She refused looking each one of them in the eye when she was talking to them. It hurt her too much knowing the boys wouldn't even be 40 years old until they died. They didn't know about her ability, or curse, she kept it to herself. So the boys didn't know when they would die and it was better for them, so she thought.

The familiar voice of her best friend brought her out of her trance, "Hey, Scarlett, what are you up to this late? Planning on doing something nasty? You know you-"

"I was just finishing my Potions essay, Sirius, calm down", she interrupted him in a playfully annoyed tone. He glared at her while James' eyes widened and he muttered under his breath, "Potions... What? We had homework?"

She nodded. "I'm going back to my dorm now, boys, and Sirius, don't follow me trying to get to Marlene again, alright? Let the girl sleep for once", Scarlett pleaded him. Sirius had an obvious crush, which he always denied, on his friend's dormmate and friend Marlene McKinnon. And he took every chance to get to her.

She heard Remus letting out a laugh. She glanced at him. At the sound of his laugh her heart had flutterd. Yes, she was stupid enough to fall in love with someone who would never return her feelings. They never even had proper conversations, only when one of them entered the room a "Hello" was spoken.

She smiled at him and let out a silent yawn. "Good night, boys," she turned around and began walking to her dorm. She heard them repeat her words.

When she arrived in her dorm room she put her bag on the floor and changed into her pajamas. Silently, she crawled into her bed, not wanting to wake the other two girls.

The two Gryffindors were Marlene and Lily, her friend James had a huge crush on the latter. Scarlett couldn't deny Lily was pretty, her flaming hair lay around her head and back, sparkling green eyes and freckles that marked her face. She was a beautiful girl. Though the numbers in her eyes held the same date that one of the Marauders' held. It was odd, she thought.

Scarlett let out another yawn and fell asleep instantly.

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The next morning she was waiting for Sirius in the common room to arrive so they could get to breakfast. Her stomach grumbled and she was getting angry, Sirius always took much time in the morning.

He arrived five minutes later, his hair was perfectly styled and she assumed that was the reason why her best friend took so long.

She noticed he was alone, "Where are the others?", "Good morning to you too, my dearest friend," she shot him a look, her eyes never meeting his. "They're already in the Great Hall and left without me. I overlsept a bit, I guess."

She nodded. She linked her arm in his when he blurted, "I want to set you up with Moony, you know." She abruptly stopped walking and looked at him in shock.

"You always seem so very out of everything you do and I thought you needed a little bit of distraction. Plus, Moony is bloody handsome, isn't he?", he grinner from ear to ear, like the Cheshire Cat. The boy was really satisfied with his idea, she realized.

Though she wasn't. "Sirius, Remus is a nice guy but why do you want to push him into that? Why push me into that? I don't even like him in that way. If I had a crush on him like you do on Marlene, I would have tried getting closer to him already," she rambled on. She blushed while cursing herself, she was a terrible liar.

Sirius had noticed his friend's crush on one of his best friends a long time ago. She was always staring at him, whether they were in class or the library, or somewhere else for that matter.

"Oh, come on, Scarlett. I don't even like her. And I know you, you would not try to get closer to him, you would distance yourself so maybe your unconditional love towards him would sway away. You're like an open book, you know. I know everything about you."

She scoffed internally. Did he really know everything about her?

But he looked so happy and satisfied with his idea, that she had no choice but agree with it. "Alright Sirius, you get one chance. If you fail, I solemnly swear that I will be up to no good with you, you heard me?"

He grinned. He threw his hands up in the air and kissed her on the cheek while they were still walking into the Great Hall.

Some students turned around to him, looking at him like he was a mad man. But he didn't care, for he never cared about what others thought of him. He ran away from his parent's house when he turned 16 for Merlin's sake.

They arrived in the Great Hall a few seconds later and sat down next to their friends that were already in a heated conversation and noticed neither of them arriving.

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author's note:
This was the first chapter of numbers, I hope you liked it and leave a vote or a comment if you want to, they always make me really happy. :)