Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 8

Tuesday, 12 October 1976

Lena and Regulus had worked out a system in order to sit next to each other in potions. Lena would always let Maggie and Ava sit together, leaving her to sit alone without a partner as the fifth-year Hufflepuffs consisted of an uneven number. Regulus always made sure to be the last Slytherin to enter the classroom. Since the Slytherins also consisted of an uneven number of students, Regulus would be left without a partner and it would appear to the rest of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins that Lena and Regulus had no choice but to work together.

Potions class was one of the opportunities that Regulus and Lena had to talk. They valued spending that time together as friends. People tend to become friends after stealing from Death Eaters, fighting a Manticore, sharing secrets, and admitting their love for other people. Lena and Regulus never looked at each other though when they spoke to each other as they did not want to alert Slytherins of their friendship.

"How did your History of Magic exam go yesterday?" Regulus asked as he stirred their potion.

Lena sighed. "I doubt it went well. I hadn't been able to finish the three chapters he assigned us to read on Friday. So I'm sure I got a few questions wrong for that reason. I didn't even get to the last two questions because it took me too long to read the other questions."

"I'm sorry, Lee. I'm sure the next will go better."

"Thanks, Reg. So how's your friend been?"

Layla Burke, Regulus' girlfriend, was only ever referred to as his friend when Lena and Regulus spoke about her. They both felt that it was too risky to mention her name in case someone overheard.

"My friend is great," Regulus said.

Lena could see him smiling out of the corner of her eye. "We're going to meet up this weekend at our spot."

"Wonderful."

"You seem closer to Lupin recently," Regulus commented.

Lena turned red. She had been doting on Remus ever since he had gotten injured a few days earlier. Whenever she saw him, she'd ask him how he was feeling and give him pieces of chocolate.

"Well, our idiot brothers got him hurt when they tried doing a prank. I just want to make sure he's okay."

"Oh, so it's not an excuse for you to talk to the guy you're in love with?"

"Shut up, Reg."

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Friday, 15 October 1976

Just as Lena suspected, her History of Magic exam had not gone well. She had prayed for an A, expected a P, and received a D. Lena could feel bile in throat and she pushed it down. She had never done so badly on her exam. If she wanted to get at least an A in the class she'd have to get A's on the rest of her assignments for the class. She could maybe afford to get another P if she could muster higher than A. But that was essentially impossible considering Lena's dyslexia and the amount of work Binns assigned to read.

After class let out, she, Ava, Maggie, and Raj made their way to Gryffindor tower to hang out. Lena was in a trance and could not even hear what her friends were saying. She broke from her trance when she was violently shaken by Maggie.

"Lena!" Maggie said loudly.

"Hmm...Yeah."

"So what do you think?"

"About what?"

"About going on a picnic tomorrow?"

"Oh. I can't. It sounds fun, though"