BLACK MOON ⍋ Remus Lupin

Chapter FiftyThree- Steal Him.

(Thankyou for being so patient with this chapter update! Keep the comments and enthusiasm coming! It fuels my narcissistic ass!)

The smile was half sad, not staring down at the jumper smiling over how it could have made Sonny feel in a negative way. I didn't want to offend or upset Sonny and I could tell by his eyes that there was disappointment laced behind the realisation. It had just been strange Remus deciding to bring down this jumper at this specific time, unknowingly, that resulted in Sonny figuring out the boy I had briefly mentioned was closer than he had thought.

"Green not your colour? I think it looks good." Remus mumbled as I continued to stare down at the jumper I had put on.

"Sonny said he asked Lily to get me something to wear," I said finally looking up from the wool and watching the boy awkwardly shuffle in his spot with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"He did, but I decided to go find something instead." He said directly.

"Why?" I asked.

Before he could answer Madam Pomfrey came sliding in through the gap of the hospital screen Sonny had previously pulled over to give us some privacy. She jumped a little, startled and bumped into Remus; obviously not expecting to find the boy stood lingering on the other side of the screen entrance. She instantly changed her demeanour.

"Oh! Remus dear, is all ok?" She fussed, grabbing his face (having to reach tall because of how short in comparison she is to him).

I watched confused, my face scrunching up a tiny bit at her sudden spike of anxiety over the sight of Remus. Not at all as calm as she was when I had been dragged in only a short time ago.

She forced him to sit on the guest chair beside me despite his awkward laughter and protests that he was fine.

"Poppy I promise I'm feeling fine, I'm here as a visitor!" He laughed, now sitting comfortably in the chair. Folding his arms and resting one of his legs on top of the other. It was odd how he so casually called Madam Pomfrey by her forename.

She tutted at him and quickly glanced at me.

"Madam Pomfrey to you if you're a visitor, don't set a bad example!" She swatted him with a roll of bandages. He raised up his hands in subtle submittal. Suddenly she turned to face me and grabbed my wrist, reached inside her pocket to pull out a stop watch and held a concentrated pose for a few seconds.

"Pulse seems a little fast still but nothing abnormal. If you'd like to lay here for a while longer you are welcome to, or if you feel able to leave then of course you can." She said matter of factly.

I nodded and thought to myself I should probably leave but my body felt heavy as lead and told my first thoughts that I probably wasn't leaving quite yet, or at least wasn't ready to. Pomfrey caught on and nodded to herself, turning back to Remus.

"Whilst Miss.Black collects herself, how about we see to this scar? You've left it a while but it's probably not too late to rid you of it. Any others?" She once again grabbed Remus' face with her plump pink fingers and observed the scar across his cheek and nose.

He shook his head from her grasp and politely smiled.

"Uh, they're staying this time actually Popp- Madam Pomfrey." He said a little shyly. She seemed taken back by what he had said and gave me a suspicious side eye that made me feel mildly uncomfortable,

"Very well Mr.Lupin...Miss. Black should be well enough to leave shortly, I trust you'll escort her to wherever she needs to be?" She said before excusing herself and slipping away to attend to others in the hospital, leaving us both in the privacy of the closed off corner.

There was a moment of silence and then suddenly.

"Why keep it?"
"What happened?"

We both spoke at the same time with curiosity. I didn't answer though, a silent demand to be answered first. Feeling as if my question was much more important.

Of course I had noticed Remus had kept his scar, I never asked him about it out of respect and tried not to think about it because it wasn't that important. The whomping willow hit him, brutal but so what? If he decided to keep it then that was his decision and I liked that decision. I enjoyed the fact he decided to allow the scar to heal naturally and dance permanently across his face. It added to his character, made him even more unique than he already looked. Though the question was still there, buried beneath my approval...why now? Why stop healing himself like he had told me he had done before?

"I don't understand what you're asking?" He shrugged and casually picked under his shortly bitten fingernails.

"Why didn't you let her try and heal your scar?" I said more directly. He merely shrugged and paired his non vocal response with a hard to interpret smile.

"Why does it matter?" He asked, still carrying the smile. The tiniest bit lopsided (as always) but closed mouthed and a strange mixture of smugness and as if it was a smile of a sleeping boy having a nice dream.

"I suppose it doesn't if you don't think it does, just wondering is all." I shrugged it off, pretending as if I wasn't bothered to be gifted the answer. I wanted him to react to my reaction, suddenly spilling everything in great detail because I had seemed to loose interest...but he didn't, just stayed vague and unbothered.

"Sonny is quite attractive isn't he?" Remus said nonchalantly. I stared at him frowning a little, trying to read his unreadable expression. I slowly nodded.

"Why? You want to kiss him too?" I couldn't help but bitterly say. Remus seemed to instantaneously take it in good humour though with the tiniest bit of a smirk appearing on his face.

"I wouldn't steal him from you, not my type personally." He shrugged.

"You think you could steal him from me?" I raised an eyebrow up at his cocky comment. In all honesty, Sonny wasn't mine to steal from. We weren't officially a thing, merely testing the waters. We were more friends than anything else; friends though knowing he wanted to eventually date me.

"Is he free to steal?" Remus intensely read my eyes. I didn't reply.

"Interesting." He couldn't contain the smile that appeared lopsided and boyish on his face. I felt myself redden in the face, turning away from him at once to 'grab a drink'. He read me as easily as he would a children's book.

"Tell me why you came instead of Lily!" I perhaps aggressively spat out. Just embarrassed enough to flip the conversation heavily back onto Remus.

"Lily would've left after giving you a jumper." He said.

"So? Sonny was with me, I wouldn't have been alone." I said back.

"Exactly." He said bluntly.

There was a pause as I was trying to interpret his bluntness. Why was it such a big deal that I would have been alone with Sonny? Wouldn't have been the first time. Remus knew that. Did he not trust him? I can't see why he wouldn't.

"Besides, that shade of green suits you much more than the Slytherin jersey did." He said.

I saw it for a split second, remarkably masked. If I had blinked I would have missed it.

Remus was jealous of Sonny. Though he had no right to be, he's the one who chose someone else over me. He isn't allowed to be jealous now.

"Jealousy won't get you anywhere, Remus." I rolled my eyes and heaved myself up from the bed.

He simply smiled and offered me an arm to support myself...I took it nonetheless.