borealis • R. LUPIN

chapter 7

chapter 7 - suspicion

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Although Poli wasn't distressed or weary about Remus' condition, she found it increasingly difficult to act the same way around him as she usually did. The first time she saw him after she found out, she had almost forgotten about it. The time after that, she stuttered her way through a greeting and quickly departed from seeing him after giving him the notes from the day before. Her reasoning made sense but seeing as her usual calm and collected exterior was completely off made it seem lackluster. The 3rd encounter after she found out, she made sure to stay quiet and took the time to really study his behavior. From that point on, it was much easier to continue acting as though she never knew his secret.

Remus himself was confused at her mood changes around him. He was worried that maybe he had done something to upset or offend her, but when she began acting more normal around him, he was relieved. It, however, sparked a curiosity as to why she was acting weird before, and he was increasingly more confused when his friends would change topics suddenly to avoid answering his questions about her.

"Do you know why Poli was acting strangely the other day?" Remus asked his friend suddenly as they were sprawled out across the couches in the common room.

"Strangely? I don't think she acted strangely, why do you think she acted strangely?" James said quickly. Remus was somewhat started by his response.

"Well, she just acted jumpy, I guess." Remus narrowed his eyes, studying the boys around him. Peter looked towards the ground fiddling with the pen in his hand, James stared at him with a nervous smile on his face, and Sirius whistled out a time as his eyes wandered around the room, refusing to make eye contact with him. "Are you sure you guys don't know anything?"

"Of course not!"
"Know what?"
"Not a thing!" They all said at once. Remus sighed in a quiet frustration. He knew they were lying as they were terrible liars, but he didn't have the energy to push it out of them.

"Okay, whatever. I'm going to go read." Remus said as he grabbed his bag and made his way up the stairs. The boys watched as he went and as soon as he was out of view, they breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure we should be lying to him like this? Maybe we should tell him." Peter said quietly with guilty eyes. James and Sirius snapped their head toward him.

"No, it's fine! It's better that he doesn't know. We wouldn't want him to feel bad that we told her or something." James said in a hushed tone. Something in his eyes though said he didn't feel right about lying to one his best mates.

"If anything, we'll just wait to tell him at the right time. He's probably stressed right now from the O.W.L. S coming up anyways, so why stress him out more? Right?" Sirius tried to say lightheartedly. The other boys agreed, but they were mostly silent after that.

Little did they know that Remus was hiding behind the pillar on the stairs, listening to them. His eyes narrowed as he still didn't know what they were talking about, but now he was dead-set on finding out.

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sorry this is not a good chapter and i'm so sorry it took so long to come out!!

it started with me getting into new animes and then having a lot of mental breakdowns and school starting and more shows and a lot of depression, but i'm back.

im not going to promise chapters that will come out quickly anymore bc knowing my mood and attention disorder, i'll probably get sidetracked again, but i do want to write again. it makes me feel calmer so i will be updating this one and my other stories as well.

again, sorry about how long i was gone and how short and shitty this chapter is, but then next one will be better, promise.

love y'all, stay safe! <3

(also biden won!! yay!! i will most likely get to keep my rights now!!)