Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 12

Thursday, 11 November 1976

Lena stared at Remus as she sat at the Hufflepuff table. He had been ignoring her since Monday. She had tried speaking to the hall in between classes, looking for him in his normal haunts, and trying to talk to him during meals. Everytime she got close to him, he would walk away.

"Lee, you good?" Ava asked.

"What?"

"You've been all sad and depressed since Monday and you're just staring at Remus," Maggie said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lena groaned. "I think he's mad at me."

"Why?" Maggie asked.

"I was being an idiot," Lena said, keeping her answer vague.

"Well, that's not any different from how you usually are," Ava joked.

"Ha ha," Lena responded dryly.

"Just go try and apologize to him," Maggie suggested.

"I have been," Lena cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"So try again," Maggie ordered.

"Okay..."

"Like right now," Ava said.

"Right," Lena said, nodding her head and rising from the table.

She made her way across the Great Hall and as soon as she was within a meter of Remus, he rose from his spot and left the Great Hall. Lena sighed and kept walking to the spot Remus previously occupied and sat down next to Sirius.

"Hey, Lena," he said sheepishly.

"Hi, Sirius."

"Um, I wanted to apologize for, ya know, trying to Obliviate you."

"Look, I'm not saying it was okay but I understand why you did it. And I forgive you."

"Oh, thank Merlin," Sirius sighed in relief.

"So, I was wondering... um... if any of you knew if Remus would be willing to talk to me soon."

Peter grimaced. "He still needs some more time. He thinks you hate him or thinks he's a monster."

"But I don't!" Lena cried.

James spoke up. "We know that, Lena. He's just very insecure about this side of himself."

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Monday, 15 November 1976

Remus was still avoiding Lena like the plague and everyone who knew what happened wanted things to go back to the way they were before Lena found out. Everyone hated seeing Remus so tense and Lena so upset. James and Sirius were even more fed up with the whole situation than Peter was because they knew Remus liked Lena as more than a friend and they suspected Lena felt the same.

Naturally, James took it upon himself to fix the situation at hand. As soon as the final class of the day ended, James pulled out Marauder's Map and located where Lena and Remus were. James made his way to the Great Lake and found Lena leaning her back on a tree and sketching.

"Go to the owlery," James abruptly ordered her.

"Hello to you too, James," Lena said lightly.

"Lena, you should go to the owlery right now."

"And why is that?"

"Remus is in the owlery. Go and talk to him."

"But he hates the owlery. All the owls freak him out. He thinks they're gonna attack him like the birds did to Tippi Hedren in The Birds."