Rose Petals ✿ Remus Lupin - Discontinued :(

Chapter 22

Belle flipped through a book slowly, careful not to miss a single word. Her eyes scanned a sentence twice before moving to the next and so on, causing her to read at a snail's pace. She wasn't doing it because it was hard to read, it was actually very easy, but she was terribly bored. She had agreed to go to the library with Rose to help her with Transfiguration, but James ended up pulling her away for a surprise Quidditch practice. Now Belle was alone again in the library, feeling pathetic.

She chewed on the end of her sugar quill that she had previously gotten from the Hogsmeade trip two weeks ago, her feet swinging back and forth under the table. Remus had been strangely avoiding her the past couple days, which she was linking to another one of his sickly moments. He had looked better than the last two years but he still was exhausted all day. On top of that, Eileen and Rose had a falling out over their similar liking to Sirius, which Belle was confused as to how she had avoided being in the cross fire. She liked him too, after all. Now Lily and Belle would switch off every other day in hanging out with them, which was starting to drive the two girls mad. The boys had no clue on why the girls were so split and no-one could tell them why. Belle had informed the boys multiple times on the 'girl code rule' but they weren't satisfied with that answer.

She was beginning to doze off when her foot hit something that wasn't there before. Across from her was a boy in her year in Ravenclaw, Aiden Roulle. She and Aiden had met in Ancient Runes and were decent acquaintances, but she had kept her distance ever since she heard about his brother and the dark arts.

"Hey Belle," He grinned.She set down her book.

"Hey, Aiden. How are you?"

"M'fine—I'm really sick of Slughorn's ingredients' essays."

Belle chuckled, nodding. "He sure does know how to assign the longest essay's ever, doesn't he?"

"Sadly—I heard the younger students didn't get any homework this weekend. They get it so easy now, it's unbelievable."

"No homework? It seems unfair that they have less homework and less classes! Shouldn't they get more work and us less? Like age authority or something?" She scoffed.

He laughed, but was quickly shut down by the librarian. "Yea, we should start a petition."

"We should."

"The Age Authority Assembly."

Belle giggled, holding her hand over her mouth to silence her laughs. "I'm almost positive Dumbledore would be on board."

"Oh, of course." Aiden beamed, "He would get the most rights, he's the oldest."

"Wouldn't the ghosts get the most rights? Considering they've been here for their life and death?"

"Didn't you read the fine print? You have to have have a beating heart to join."

"That's discrimination."

Both of the teens quietly laughed, hiding their smiles behind books to avoid being scolded again. Once they had settled down, she raised her eyebrows.

"So did you need something—or did you just sit here to marvel at my undeniably attractive face?"

"Little of both." He teased, making Belle kick his leg again under the table. "Actually I came here to ask if you wanted to hang out tomorrow?"

Belle was taken back, to say the least. Aiden was normally pretty shy and reserved, he wasn't usually the one to make the plans. She gave him a shy smile.

"Sure!"

"Uh, cool! Didn't think you were gonna say yes," He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Meet me at ten-thirty at the Entrance Hall?"