NOTHING GIRL || Remus Lupin

-Five: Remember Me-

"What?"

Remus looked at Lyn, eyes wide. Shock stopped every other thought from coming into his brain. What's going on with you and Helia? A couple of pieces of parchment filled with ink splotches and progressively more scrawling writing. One conversation. What had Lin seen?

Lin took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I've seen you eye-flirting at breakfast and she thinks I can't see that stupid bit of parchment she keeps scribbling on. I'm just... I know James and Sirius have some plan about stalking Helia, and I didn't know if this... this thing  that's going on is one of James' ideas. To get close to her and find stuff out." Remus opened his mouth to try and say something, but Lin raised her hand to stop him. "You just need to know that if you do hurt her" Steel hid under Lin's words. It sounded wrong in her usually-kind voice. "Then she wont be the only one with a revenge plan."

"I can promise you there is nothing going on there." Remus heard his own voice as if from a distance "I'm pretty sure I've spoken to Hel, like, once in my entire life,"

Lin looked satisfied "Okay" she said quietly, as if to make up for her previous harshness. "But just one thing: No one calls her Hel."

"Okay?"

Lin looked almost disappointed, as if Remus had missed a joke. "I'm pretty sure it's for a reason, that's all."

................................................................

"Out after dark again, Oh Brave One? We need to stop meeting like this."

Helia found Remus sitting on the window ledge of one of the sixth floor classrooms. He was looking out across the school grounds and the Forbidden Forest, to the moon, a shining hunk of rock with a very distinct cut in it's shape, a warning of the full circle of a couple of night's time. His knees were drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them. A textbook was open on a random page on the ledge in front of him, though he wasn't paying it any attention. Silvery light spilled through the glass, giving his brown hair an unreal quality. He looked over when he heard Helia's voice, not entirely surprised. Confusion sparked across his face for a moment before disappearing.

"Hey," he said softly.

Helia wandered across the room until she was standing over him. "You okay there? You looked like you were deep in contemplation," There was no concern in her voice, just curiosity.

"Couldn't sleep." he said by way of explanation.

 "And what? Your dormitory window already had an angsty teenager moping in it?" Helia's amused tone let slip a genuine interest. She mentally cursed herself; Helia was a lot of things, genuine wasn't one of them.

Remus didn't seem to notice. Instead, he tuned away from the glass, a half smile in place. "What are you doing here?" He asked, leaning his head against the wall to look up at her.

"That's answering a question with a question. I've already had a bad influence on you," Helia sounded amused.

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Because there aren't already enough bad influences at Hogwarts."

Helia nodded, accepting his point "We are all mad here."

"I know that one." Remus said, surprised "Alice in Wonderland, right?"

"Yep. My brother calls me the Mad Hatter." Helia's eyes strayed past the boy at the window to the trees outside. There was a silence where Helia could sense Remus digesting the idea of her having a family.

"You have a brother?" Remus was obviously looking for a link. The wizarding world was small; everyone knew everyone.

Helia shifted her gaze back to Remus. "Older." she said, and then to answer the question in Remus' tone "He's a muggle."