GOSSIP GIRL. ( remus lupin )

ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ꜱɪx

        GOSSIP ALWAYS SPREAD like an unwatched wildfire, whether you liked it or not. It was inevitable and you could do nothing but stand and watch. It was destructive and could backfire right into your face ━ but at the same time, it was fun when, of course, the gossip was not about you.

It all started with an anonymous note received by a random student (how that student was chosen, no one knew). The note was small enough to fit in your palm in case one wanted proof about what you were telling. The one who got the note was always considered lucky ━ much unlike the chosen one. When receiving such note, you had to make sure it had the dark lipstick mark on the back of it and the famous signature ━ otherwise it was nothing but a fake.

Tara Olsen smirked involuntarily, glancing down at the piece of paper that her fist was clenched around.

I HEARD THAT RITA SKEETER STOLE THE ANSWERS SHEETS IN THE TRANSFIGURATION TEST!

-the Gossip Girl

So Tara did what she knew best ━ she ran her mouth. She hurried to meet her best-friend, telling her about the note; her best-friend hurried to tell her dorm mates; her dorm mates hurried to tell their own friends; the friends swiftly told the gossip to a few other dozen people, and, in the matter of a single hour, the whole castle was aware of Rita's secret.

But the said girl was nowhere to be seen ━ it was as if the Earth had swallowed her, or, as if she was waiting for the flames to die down before she actually showed her face at dinner.

Remus Lupin was one of the last students to be made aware of the gossip going around ━ to be more exact, he found out just as he sat down at the table and pulled a plate his way. He overheard it be talked about by a set of third year girls, just a few seats away.

He frowned ━ what secret was he even expecting? Certainly not this one. In his opinion it had not been as inciting and exciting as other's secrets ━ however, it was enough to make him question Rita's true identity yet again.

So many questions filled his mind that it took James to snap him out of his daze and remind him of the mashed potatoes in the plate. Remus kept glancing at the entrance door, waiting for Rita to appear ━but she never came. All the way from the entrance door and back to his plate, his eyes would linger on the Ravenclaw table on Estelle's straight back and brunette hair pulled into a low ponytail. He found her listening to a boy speaking about Merlin knows what.

"Moony!" exclaimed Sirius, exasperated. "Moony, they're going to destroy all the books in the library!" Such a statement would usually make his friend listen, but, Remus gave no answer, gazing into the distance. The Black boy rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air, completely fed up with the werewolf's attitude. Sirius grabbed hold of his fork and aimed its contents at Remus' face.

The prefect froze, feeling the the food stick to his cheek and drip on his freshly washed pants. Remus growled lowly, squeezing his eyes shut. James Potter laughed loudly, almost choking on a turkey leg if it wouldn't have been for Peter's thumps on the back.

"Moooony!" Sirius dragged out the nickname, batting his eyelashes. The Lupin boy grabbed onto a tissue, cleaning up the mess.

"Yes, Padfoot?" replied the boy through a clenched jaw.

"We were talking about whether or not Skeeter will be expelled ━ what do you think?"

"I reckon McGonagall will suggest it," spoke up James through a mouth full of food. "What test did she cheat on anyway?" The rest of the boys shrugged their shoulders.