Rose Petals ✿ Remus Lupin - Discontinued :(

Chapter 24

Belle had made a decision.

Whether it was the right decision or not was unclear, but it was definitely a huge choice for her. After her night on the balcony two weeks ago, she'd felt alone even in company. She didn't feel the comfort she did last year from her friends.

She walked behind her friends in the corridor, watching how they interacted. Sirius was laughing madly at a joke Rose told while his arm was around James and Eileen. Remus was talking animatedly with Lily about their latest Potions essay which he thinks he aced, and Lily was giggling back. Every once and a while James would look back at Lily and smile, a simple gesture that only someone who was looking would catch. Peter drifted between the two groups, hoping to find his place for conversation.

They looked like such a conventional group, such a tightly knit group. They looked good together, no missing links like Belle. Where did she fit in? The nerd? The lonely girl without a mother and a neglecting father? A girl that can't seem to find her place? She never thought she'd be an outcast, but she didn't think it'd be with her own friends.

Belle stopped, waiting for one of them to turn around and notice. She waited and waited for them, watching them down the hall and turning the corner, but it never happened. No-one glanced back at her, no-one cared to talk to her, no-one wanted to include her. She was the outcast, she was the loser. Maybe she'd start her own club?

The losers club.

Catchy.

"You alright there Bells?"

She turned her head to see Aiden looking down the hallway, trying to see what she was looking at.

"M'fine—hey, can I sit with you at lunch?"

Aiden look taken back. Normally Belle went with her friends, her Gryffindor friends.

"Yea, of course! Anything happen?"

"No, I just need a break. C'mon, we should get going."

Aiden nodded slowly and the two begun walking the opposite direction to the Great Hall.

"You'd tell me if something did happen, right?"

Belle pursed her lips and gave him a sarcastic smile.

"You'd be the first to know, and that's a promise."

— — — — —

Remus watched Belle with Aiden from the Gryffindor table. There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he watched the two laugh and giggle, his eyes following the curve of Belle's smile. He missed the smile that he used to cause, now all Belle ever did is frown around him.

"Rem, mate, quit it with the puppy eyes. Some of us are trying to eat over here." James rolled his eyes, though they were all tense. When Belle didn't show up to dinner they thought maybe something had happened, but when Lily spotted her at the Ravenclaw table all concerns immediately vanished. Sirius was furious and claimed that Belle was a traitor, but no-one else was listening; they were all trying to figure out what they did wrong.

"Do you think she's cross with us?" Lily asked, now the group looking towards their friend.

"Why else would she sit with him without letting us know? She hasn't even looked over here," said Eileen.

They watched as Aiden whispered something in Belle's ear and she giggled, her eyes briefly drifting over the Gryffindors for a split second. She looked away once her eyes caught Remus and then was fully focused on Aiden once again. He poked her nose.