Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Six - Liability?

As soon as Flitwick dismissed his class, Remus tried to get out of there as quickly as possible. All through class his classmates kept giving him looks and it made him feel sick. He had even heard Potter whisper to Black 'so he can talk'. He knew he had made a mistake giving that mini-speech even though it was right and he had earned ten points--no, eleven points total for Gryffindor.

Someone called his name but Remus just ran as fast as he could through the school until he found a ghost that could take him to Herbology. They went outside where there were several greenhouses and Remus thanked the ghost before sitting on a rock, opening his book and sticking his nose into it before anyone else could show up. When they did, several of them tried to talk to him but he just pretended like he couldn't hear them, not moving at all except to flip pages, until the teacher came out and called the students into one of the greenhouses. Remus shut his book and went into the greenhouse, ignoring everyone else, glad the scents weren't too bad in this greenhouse.

The tables were set up like the ones in the Potions dungeon, four to a table. Black and Potter joined Remus at his, and Pettigrew took the fourth spot. Remus just sat stock still, pretending like he hadn't noticed. Pretending like he didn't notice Black trying to get his attention until Black out right poked Remus in the ribs. Remus yelped and jumped, falling off the stool.

"Whoops," Black said, offering a hand to help him up. Remus scrambled to his feet on his own and, blushing, returned to his stool. "Is it just talking to people that gives you trouble?"

Remus stared at Black in slight horror. For a second he thought the other boy meant, Is it because you're not a person that you find talking to people hard? Then he realized that wasn't at all what Black meant. Remus was spared from answering by Professor Sprout introducing herself and giving a very practical and short speech about plants and what they'd expect to learn in the class. They got right into learning about some very basic plants which were commonly used in various potions. They got their hands dirty learning about how to take some of the plants out of their pots (or the ground) with their roots intact. Sprout buzzed around the greenhouse, talking about various magical properties of the plants they had in front of them, and asking questions. Remus kept his hand down, not daring to risk having everyone stare at him again except Black and Potter did keep looking at him whenever Sprout asked a question so after about fifteen minutes Remus gave up and raised his hand, answering five different questions in the remaining time and earning five more points for their house.

The points didn't really matter as a total of five points were also removed from Gryffindor. From Potter when he took some of the fertilizer sitting by their table and rolling it into a ball and throwing it across the room at some of the girls, and from Black who began chasing Pettigrew around with a watering can and wound up knocking over an entire table.

"Wanna sit with us for lunch?" Potter asked as they left the greenhouse.

"Er--c--can't."

"How come?" Black asked.

Remus's face went a bit blank as he tried to figure out a lie and after a total of two seconds of silence, Potter linked his arm with Remus's and began pulling him towards the castle. At first Remus was so confused he didn't quite understand and then he realized Potter was touching him. Physical proximity was something that he wanted to do his best to avoid and here he was with his arm being held and him being dragged. He fought against the panic bubbling up inside of him and resisted the urge to push Potter away. When they went through the doors back into the castle, Potter let go and Remus kept walking with them, going a little bit slower than them, then even more slowly until they were a fair ways ahead, and then he ducked into a side corridor and ran down to find another side corridor which he hid in for a good fifteen minutes. The only reason he left was because two older students started snogging rather passionately in a nearby broom cupboard and he didn't want to hear their moans.