lovesick || r. lupin

¹⁶howler from a bastard

At dinner that night, the whole Slytherin table was red and gold, excluding Grace. Some Slytherin's complained about it, shouting to Dumbledore to do something, to punish whoever done it, whilst others sat and ate, trying to ignore the colors that stained their bodies. Regulus Black was in the latter category, poking at his food with his fork, bored and uninterested in what Severus Snape was rambling on about to him under his breath.

Of course, the fact that Grace hadn't been plagued by the same unfortunate look that the rest of the Slytherin's had, rose suspension. And with these suspicions, Grace would merely reply with "I was out. I decided I would study in the library and I was lucky enough to not turn into a big Christmas ornament."

Many Slytherin's weren't too fond of that response.

Because of the excitement of "being a rebel", Ayla was practically bouncing off the walls. She seemed to have almost forgot the whole incident with the letter and quickly ran to the Gryffindor table, hoping to talk to the quad of boys.

"Hey!" She greeted, shoving her way into a seat between a second year boy and Remus. The second year glared at Ayla and went back to his food as she apologized.

Remus chuckled, "Hello, Ayla. How are you?"

"Bloody brilliant, that's what I am! It's fun making a mess, isn't it?!"

"Of course, but you might want to keep it down or we'll all get caught," James scream whispered across the table, his body bending forward towards her in a playful way.

"Oh, right," Ayla laughed to herself.

She got herself more comfortable in the seat, looking around the table, studying all the food and people it was holding. She saw Avi as the opposite end of the table, pushing around at his roast beef as one of his mates tried to shove a pair of underwear on his head as a joke. Ayla also saw Frank Longbottom watching intently at Alice Fortescue, who was talking about how hilarious it was that the Slytherin's were the Gryffindor colors. The poor boy was beet red and nodding along murmuring soft "Oh, yeah's" and "definitely's".

Ayla smiled and turned back to the four boy's, "Quite a lively bunch, this table is. The Hufflepuff's are always so... normal. Of course, I'm not saying Gryffindor's are better or anything, so don't go getting a big ego because we all know Hufflepuff is the best house but... It's fun over here."

Sirius rolled his grey eyes dramatically and pointed his fork at her, which had a large piece of chicken on it. "You're having a great laugh saying that Hufflepuff is 'the best house'. You're bonkers-"

But as Sirius was about to go into a long-winded explanation on why Gryffindor was obviously better than Hufflepuff, he was cut off. Professor McGonagall was at the podium that Dumbledore always stood at and she cleared her throat loudly to get the attention of the hundreds of students in the Great Hall.

"May I please speak to James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Grace Vale, and Ayla Quill in my office after dinner?"

The hall went silent beside the handful of giggles and snarky remarks that were getting whispered across it. Ayla felt like she could drop dead right then and there and she wouldn't mind.

Remus quickly swallowed his food down, looked Professor McGonagall in the eyes and replied, "Of course, Professor."

Tonight was going to be a long night.

-----

"What were you thinking when you decided to put that charm on the Slytherin's?!" McGonagall started once the six teenagers gathered around her desk. She did not look happy.