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CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
kathy's song
NOSES WERE STILL red as the frost began to melt off of the bluebells on the castle grounds. The end of winter brought about the buzz of Lily Evans' birthday and whispers about Easter holidays. There was a hum across the library as James, Betty, Remus and Sirius sat together, consumed by essays and assignments. All of Betty's usual crowd was previous engaged, so she'd found herself wandering to her brother as he scribbled away at a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. However, his attention was taken ever so often by the feeling of Sirius's foot underneath the table. He always grumbled, but always smiled.
She scrupulously stacked her papers, making sure that each paper was with each stack of each subject. She had finished all of her work due for the next day already, so she got started on a few long term assignments, swapping sleepless nights and ten cups of tea for the slow and steady pace of working out the steps of her project. She pushed herself up off of the table and searched the rows for the Potions books in pristine alphabetical order.
Even in heels, she struggled to get Spell Potions by Tim off of one of the upper shelves, but, a hand beat her to it. She whipped her head around to see Freddie Abbott holding the book out to her with a crooked smile. Her eyes lit up as she drunk him in and carefully took the book from his hands.
"I never got to properly thank you for lending my brother your uniforms."
Freddie scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Eh, it's alright. Glad they're in one piece. Really thought Potter would've done something to them."
Betty snorted as she looked through the book in her hand. "He would have loved to. Kept an eye on him the whole day, though."
Freddie chuckled as he studied her. The way her hair fell over her shoulders, the way she placed her fingers on the pages with unbridled potential energy—to stay on the page or move to the next. He watched the curvature of her lips and the small hole in her uniform on her shoulder. He took in a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair as he looked back at his friends—all cracking jokes as they stared at the two of them.
But, then Betty's bright eyes were on him, smiling brilliantly, she thanked him once more and was gone again in a whirlwind of brown hair and the soft smell of books and floral notes. He cleared his throat and turned back towards his friends as she floated back to her brother's. On her way there, she passed Remus and Sirius walking together towards the back shelves.
