The markings scattered his back, interlocking and over-layering to weave a tapestry of anguish and indescribable pain.
As she opened her eyes, the comforting smell of coffee and parchment filled her nose. For the first time in 5 years she had opened...
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"Harper!"
She looked up from her book, where she sat in front of the fire in the common room, to see Sirius bounding through the portrait towards her.
"Harper! You goddess! You beauty!" He shouted as he lifted her off her feet and pulled her into an intense embrace. "Did James show you it?" She asked, laughing as he planted her back on the ground. "How-when-why-you, my dear dear friend, are the best!"
The door to the common room slowly opened and Remus stepped in. He and Harper made eye contact, neither daring to be the first one to break it.
"Well... I should go... Have fun, stay safe, protection is key..." Sirius smirked before squeezing Harper's shoulder and rushing past Remus and out of the common room.
"Harper..." Remus began slowly, taking small steps towards her. "Did you like it? The map?" "I loved it." "Great."
They stared at each other for a moment.
"How did you do it?" He asked quietly. "Well... I had a lot of time on my hands and I found this spell called the Homonculous Charm and it was really difficult but eventually I managed to pull it off." She explained, sitting down. "How much time have you spent working on it when you should've been sleeping?" He sat beside her. "What?"
She rubbed her eyes, trying to remove the dark bags she knew lay there.
"You look exhausted and it's worrying. You shouldn't make yourself ill over some stupid pranking map." "It's worrying? Since when have you been worried about me?" She turned away and kept her eyes glued to the floor.
"I'm constantly worried about you every second of every day and it's driving me insane! Why won't you just take care of yourself?" He threw his hands up in the air. "You know I worry about you too." She murmured.
"Harper..." Remus rubbed his hands over his trousers. "Do you want some chocolate?" She asked, pulling out a piece from her pocket. "Chocolate isn't the solution to everything you know." He laughed lightly but took the chocolate anyway.
"I know, it just makes things better." She shrugged, "I'm sorry by the way." "Sorry for what?" "Sorry for not kissing you back."
Remus froze in his seat. That was not what he was expecting.
That's when she did it.
She turned to him slowly. She took his face in her hands. She stared into his eyes for a moment before pulling him towards her. She planted her lips on his.
She kissed him. He kissed back. They kissed.
Slowly she pulled away, their foreheads resting against each other as they kept their eyes closed.
"So... I kissed you back." She murmured after a moment. "Yeah, that you did." He couldn't hide the goofy smile that had erupted onto his face.
As she opened her eyes, the comforting smell of coffee and parchment filled her nose. For the first time in 5 years she had opened her eyes. She saw. Not just what she had seen before, now she understood.
Harper understood that she was no longer confused. Harper had hopelessly and deeply fallen for her best friend and she couldn't deny it anymore.
Remus looked at her, a million questions racing through his mind but he didn't want to ask a single one.
"I mean... you wouldn't want to... I don't know... I mean..." he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down at his lap. "I like you more than friends." She whispered, "more than best friends."
"I-I... woah... I've never done this before but... I don't know how you're meant to-but-I well... Do you maybe... it might be t-to soon but... Girlfriend? Wait no!" He clapped his hands over his mouth. "D-do you want... to... m-maybe be my... I don't know..." He stammered.
Harper smiled at him and took his hand in hers.
"Do you want to be my boyfriend?" She asked.
Remus let out a long, shaky breath, "Thanks." He sighed. "Thanks? You not going to answer the question?"
Remus raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened in shock.
"No no no!" He exclaimed. "No? You don't want to-"
"I mean yes! I meant no to me... I'm an idiot, ignore me. Yes please. Please? Does that sound desperate? I just... Sorry." He could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks. "Don't apologise." She giggled.
"I'm so glad I didn't mess that up." He laughed, pulling her into a hug.
"You completely messed that up, good thing I was here to smooth that out." "If you weren't here this whole conversation would've been a lot shorter." "Well yeah because you'd still be stammering." "I meant because there's only be one person having a conversation." "I know what you meant." "Oh."
Remus loosened his grip but Harper wrapped her arms around his neck and held her head against his chest.
"You know when you kissed me I completely freaked out. I was scared that my family would kill you or I'd mess everything up or you'd find out you hated me. It was selfish and I upset you and I'm sorry." Harper mumbled into his shirt. "You could have stolen my kidney and I'd forgive you because of right now." He rested his chin on the top of her head.
"Remus Lupin..." she sighed, "Whatever did I do to deserve you?"
