STARS | r. lupin (1)

CHAPTER THREE

ALTHEA WOKE UP AT HALF PAST THREE in the morning to the sound of hushed whispers in the next dorm over. A common occurrence, of course; the other Ravenclaw girls thought sleep was for the weak and stayed up all night, only to pass out in their first class. She knew that too well.

The only thing that truly bothered her in this case was that she had fallen asleep over her unfinished essay. Only a few hundred words left, she was aware, but she had mentioned almost everything that she knew on the subject and still fell short. She let out a sigh of exasperation and climbed out of bed, heading to the library.

It wasn't unusual for students to find themselves heading for the library in the early hours of the morning, most to finish up some homework, occasionally for some kind of trouble (the latter was mostly the Marauders). What was unusual was that the door to the library was unlocked. Althea entered hesitantly, making sure to not make a sound, and was relieved to see only a Gryffindor student, not some attacker. The war had her more on edge than she cared to admit.

"Hey," She heard Remus say. Oh shit, Lupin.

"Hey, Lupin." she replied, casually taking a seat across from him.

"Last names?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Were we ever on a first name basis?" she countered, taking a book from the shelf next to them and skimming through it.

"Fair enough." he tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table. "Are you still working on the Potions essay?" he asked, peering over his book.

"Yeah. I'm looking for some extra information." She shrugged casually before going back to her reading. They sat in an awkward silence for moments, which she didn't mind, but Remus seemed to feel a little bit uncomfortable around her.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" he asked in a poor attempt to break the tension.

"Are you asking me out?" she joked.

"No! No, I was just curious." he laughed. Truly, that was the last thing on his mind, since he barely knew the girl, and he was going with his friends anyway. Some more time passed as they sat in silence.

"Yes!" she exclaimed suddenly, quill still in hand as she scribbled some more things onto her parchment and stood up, "I've finally found something useful, so I'm gonna head back to the dorms in hope that I can actually get some sleep tonight."

"Chances are pretty slim." he laughed and bid her goodbye, finally realising that he hadn't done any work since she'd arrived.

*

Althea's eyes skimmed over the letter for the fifth time. It felt as though it were some kind of a nightmare. How was she supposed to get that kind of money?

She let out a guttural sob as tears dripped onto the letter.

Dear Althea,
I hope you're doing well at Hogwarts and are studying for your N.E.W.T.s.

However, I don't have time for any formalities and pleasantries. I need you to send me 70 galleons by Sunday. It's really an emergency.

I know I promised to stop with the drugs, and I did try my best, but I'm indebted to someone very dangerous. I'm afraid that if you don't send the money, I might die.

Sincerely,
Your brother Thomas

Seventy galleons. She didn't have that kind of money lying around! Thomas should have asked her father instead, he worked at the ministry. She was just a schoolgirl.

She tore apart the dorms in search for money, and barely scraped by the seventy galleons. She found an extra two sickles, but other than that, it was all the money she had. Unless...

She hesitantly glanced over at Aubrey's bag. Aubrey's mother was very well respected in the ministry and her family was completely pureblood. Althea was sure that Aubrey wouldn't bat an eye at some money going missing, considering she spends so much of it that it wouldn't seem unusual.

No! How could she even consider such a thing? She mentally scolded herself and headed over to the owlery to send the money. Wiping the runny mascara from her face, she headed down to breakfast with her friends, hoping that her absence wasn't suspicious.

*

Another day, another chance for Althea to sob her eyes out.

The previous evening, after she had received the letter from her brother, she had gotten completely wasted at Sirius Black's birthday party, which she had attended despite not knowing him. Now she was paying the price.

"Good morning, sleepy heads." Caroline came into the room with four cups of coffee. Caroline despised the taste of alcohol and has not had a drop since the disaster in their fourth year (she will never tell a soul).

"Don't yell so loud." Althea groaned in response, her head throbbing.

"Not good morning. Terrible morning." Yasmin shoved a pillow over her head.

"Come on, get up. It's eleven in the morning and I thought we could grab lunch in Hogsmeade." Caroline said in a cheery voice, "I have coffee for everyone!" she passed around the hot mugs, but none of the girls could be bothered enough to move.

"Bite me." Aubrey replied, and Caroline responded by pulling open the blinds and killing all of them.

"You've brought this upon yourselves," she pointed an accusing finger at all of them. Althea reached for her sunglasses on her bedside table and stood up, only to be shoved back down by a wave of nausea. Reina stood up and grinned.

"Well if none of you drunkards are going to get up, I guess I'll just have to use up all the hot water." she shrugged, walking into the bathroom.

"Don't you dare, you bitch!" Aubrey stood up and fell down to her knees, finally settling for crawling towards the door. "Open the door!" she banged repeatedly, making herself and the girls around her wince.

Althea groaned once more and successfully got out of bed, sending one last glare at Caroline, putting on some clothes and walking slowly towards the door, where Aubrey was still banging, and twisted the handle, opening the door (that wasn't locked, Aubrey was just too short to reach the handle if she was on her knees). Reina was applying some mascara in front of the mirror.

"What took you so long?" She gave a cat-like grin.

"Out." Althea pointed towards the door, wanting to rinse off the strong smell of alcohol on her clothes.

Did I spill something on these? She looked at the stain on her shirt that reeked of firewhiskey and cigarettes. She didn't even smoke.

She just shrugged, not in the mood to play detective and locked the door behind her, getting into the shower and getting ready for Hogsmeade.