Trapped In Time: Love's Secrets

Chapter Fifteen

The next month passed swiftly as staff and student settled in to their new school routines. Hagrid was back at the staff table for meals on and off, when he felt up to it and Severus was just as angry as usual. Or was this more angry than usual? It was hard to tell but whatever it was, he was avoiding Shannon like the plague which suited her just fine.

There had been one other full moon since the start of the year but Remus was up and about by dinner the next day. Though he was slow and ragged looking, Shannon didn’t mention it as she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. Most people happily accepted him by this point, but the Slytherins were always making loud stage whispered remarks on his cheap clothing and tatty robes.

Remus’s classes were going well and anyone could see the adoration of most his students as they looked his way in the Great Hall or in passing around the school grounds. Much of his and Shannon’s meals together had Remus explaining excitedly what he planned to teach next and then going in to finer detail for her since she of course had no idea what a Kappa or Red Cap was or how the spells would work to fight them.

Slowly but surely they inched closer to each other until by mid-month they were almost inseparable and could be found on Remus’s free mornings wandering the castle together laughing and sharing stories. On one occasion, they stopped by a fairly racy painting of ladies in various states of undress and Remus lapsed into a story about how in his fifth year, James, Sirius and Peter had tried a spell to paint themselves in to the scene but were caught by McGonagall just in time and instead they shed old paint chips like dry skin for a month.

Remus had laughed almost to the point of tears before a real sadness enveloped him and they had walked on in silence while Shannon pretended not to notice when he reached to wipe his face. To cheer him up in those moments, she would tell her own funny stories like how as a teenager she’d gone with friends to meet the Prince who was in British Columbia. Then as fate would have it, she was singled out for a handshake and when the Prince took her hand, all she could do was stare at him glazed over and say “thank you.” The poor Prince stood there holding her hand, completely taken aback and unsure what to say in reply. Only, for her stories Shannon had to omit details, like the Prince in her story was actually Prince Harry and this happened years in the future.

Though it was obvious to almost everyone else at the school how much Remus and Shannon liked each other, both held back while woefully fighting the urge to be more. Shannon felt almost bi-polar the way she swung between the urge to do the right thing and leave Remus alone and the blatant lack of concern for what might change in the future if she claimed him for herself. Then of course there were the days of crushing misery when she meditated on how Remus would not live through the final battle.

Remus’s moods were slightly more predictable, as he would pull away at more specific times of the day or month. Nights were always a little more reserved but when the New Moon appeared mid-month and towards the end of the month as the Full Moon built, he could become downright sulky and distant.

At one point while eating dinner the night before the Full Moon, they had been laughing quite heartily at a surprisingly dirty joke Professor Trelawney told about Mountain Trolls and tree stumps. As the laughter died down, both were caught in a long yearning gaze before Remus frowned, threw his napkin down and stormed out of the room leaving Shannon hurt and ashamed.

The weather started to change to the stereotypical British rain and Moss was constantly singing his heart out. Luckily, Shannon still hadn’t grown tired of his complex, heart wrenching song and would often just lay in her bed letting it move over her. When not singing, Moss was let free in the room to fly as he only did it during rain and she was worried about him getting enough exercise. His flight was much like his song, very much a performance with dips and dives and great swirling descents that had Shannon thinking she was going to have a dead bird soon if he hit the floor at that speed.