STARS | r. lupin (1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"THERE HE GOES AGAIN." Althea looked through the window of her dorm room as she saw Remus hurrying towards the Whomping Willow.

"What's your obsession with him, anyway?" Yasmin asked without looking up from her book. "You can't take your eyes off of him."

Althea smirked, "Like I can't say the same thing about you and Reina."

"That was completely uncalled for!" Yasmin shut her book and glared at Althea. "I told you about my crush in confidence."

"What was uncalled for was you telling me off for my concern for Remus."

"Concern for someone is not the same as stalking them." Yasmin narrowed her eyes and opened her book again.

"I am not stalking him!" Althea threw a pillow at her friend. "It's just... He looked sick this morning. Now he's going out with his friends?"

"If he was sick, he probably just went to the nurse and she got him a potion." Yasmin reasoned.

"But it happens every month!" Althea deflated. She was sure her friend thought she was insane, and it was starting to get to her head.

"Don't start with that. Just read some fiction. Play a game. Get your mind off it!" Yasmin said, exasperated. "It's bad enough you have that... List."

Althea paused. She knew, of course, what Yasmin was referring to. Since the end of October, when she first encountered Remus, she had kept tabs on his disappearances, days where he looked sick, and times she'd seen him go towards the Whomping Willow. With every moment, she was becoming less and less convinced that she was not, in fact, stalking Remus.

"Alright." she sighed, and picked up a deck of cards from her trunk. "Want to play a round of poker?"

*

"This week, class, we're going to be brewing a Wolfsbane potion." Slughorn announced. The door to the classroom opened, revealing a pale and tired Remus. "Ah, Mr. Lupin! You're just in time. I had just told the class that we were making the Wolfsbane potion. Please take your seat next to Ms. Dubois.

"This potion is recent and very complex, but allows a werewolf to keep their mind after their transformation." Slughorn continued. "However, if brewed incorrectly, it can be poisonous or even lethal."

"Good." Althea heard a hushed voice to her left. "Those vile creatures deserve to be poisoned." she snapped her head to her left, to find Lucius Malfoy whispering to Bellatrix Black in the far corner of the room.

"Something to say, Malfoy?" she hissed quietly as the professor continued. She saw in the corner of her eye the rest of the Marauders on the edge of their seats, eyeing Malfoy angrily.

"Only that werewolves are disgusting creatures." she saw Sirius try to get up, fists clenched, but Remus pulled him back into his seat.

"Go fuck yourself." she smiled sweetly.

"Don't tell me you actually support those things?" he asked, scrunching his nose haughtily.

"Of course she does," Bellatrix sneered, "she's a filthy half-breed, too. I can't believe they even let half-bloods into this school."

"You know, werewolves are a lot more human than you." she spat venomously.

"Pathetic." Lucius scoffed. "What do you get from defending such filthy, disgus-"

He was interrupted by her fist in his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she giggled, "I guess I couldn't control my baser urges. You know, being half muggle and all."

Lucius sent a fiery glare in her direction as he clutched his jaw and whining for Slughorn's attention. Althea tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her wrist. She'd never punched anyone before, and she'd never realised how difficult it was to get right.

"Miss Dubois!" Slughorn scolded. "Detention with me, tonight!"

"Gladly." she smiled, "I have no regrets." she sent one last glare in Lucius' direction and sat down, reading through the instruction for the potion, resting her injured wrist on the table.

"This is why I like you, Dubois." James grinned in her direction.

*

It was the early hours of the morning, and the rest of Althea's dorm mates were asleep, the beautiful embroidered silk blankets pulled over their heads. She, however, had no such luck.

"Why are humans so insecure?" Althea spoke, and Reina turned over groggily.

"Go back to sleep," she ordered, eyes still closed and curly hair sticking out in every which way.

"No, hear me out." Althea demanded, and Reina groaned and shoved a pillow over her own head to block her ears. "All humans are gross, hairless animals with tentacles at the end of their limbs. You have a hole with sharp bones in the middle of your face and somehow you are still scared that your stomach is too squishy."

"Actually, your teeth aren't bones. Bones are derived from the mesoderm, whereas teeth are from ectoderm. Have fun sleeping knowing that teeth are just sharp pieces of skin, you bitch." Caroline sat up and glared at Althea, who just stared back in shock.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"We're Ravenclaws." Reina replied tiredly, "We know all kinds of random shit. Now go to sleep."

"How in the world do you expect me to sleep knowing that my teeth are just sharp pieces of skin?"

"That's what you get for waking me up. I have a date tomorrow." Caroline grinned evilly.

"Well then, prepared to be kept awake for the entire night."

Caroline hesitated and fell onto her back, almost bouncing off the bed. "I did not think this through."