selenophile || remus lupin

chapter sixteen

Silver snow was evenly falling across the rolling grounds at Hogwarts. Snowflakes of different shapes and sizes floated down, covering rogue footprints in the blanket of snow. Large trees that were once green were now sprinkled with a layer of white dust, threatening to drag out the wintery season with each grey cloud that appeared over the castle.

The inside of the school was just as beautiful as the grounds, if not more. Green wreaths and garlands covered the halls, and there were mistletoe plants that sprouted for a few seconds in different parts of the castle, making students nervous when walking, afraid to get caught underneath. Most teachers had decorated their classrooms with holiday decorations, trying to outdo their colleagues. The great hall had snowy evergreen trees spread around, decorated with silver and gold ornaments, giving it an elegant and festive sense that everyone could feel.

Well, almost everyone.

Sirius and Ophelia Black, their friends had noticed, were conspicuously upset. They all tried to pry and figure out what was bothering them so much, but to no avail.

"Come on Paddy, what's wrong?" asked James, for the nth time.

"I don't know what to tell you Prongs, nothing's wrong," replied Sirius, plastering on a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Sirius," started Peter. "It's almost Christmas, we're going to get to go home and celebrate soon!"

Sirius looked at the small boy with a blank expression on his face, showing no emotion, making James almost uncomfortable.

"Mate, look outside! Look around you, at all the decorations!" Peter motioned upwards towards a few of the garlands that were strung from the ceiling of a corridor in the east wing.

"Don't be such a bah humbug Padfoot," joked James.

Sirius forced a laugh, and continued to act as if nothing was wrong. The rest of the marauders knew that something was definitely wrong, but getting Sirius to talk about his feelings was like trying to crack open concrete with a stick.

Ophelia's friends had the same amount of luck with trying to get their best friend to open up.

"Phee, what's bothering you?" asked Marlene, frowning from one of the large red couches in the Gryffindor common room.

"Nothing, why?"

"Ophelia," said Alice gently, coming to sit next to her friend on one of the armchairs. "Talk to us. We're here for you. Something's clearly making you upset, please talk to us."

"I'm not upset, what are you guys talking about?"

"Well, you've just been kind of down recently, not eating, not sleeping, just not your normal self." Lily pointed out.

"Really guys, noth-" started Ophelia, but her eyes met brown ones, who promptly looked away. Ophelia looked down at her lap, eyes glossed over as she stared at her hands, trying to remember them, as she was afraid she wouldn't recognize them soon.

Marlene turned around and saw why Ophelia had stopped talking.

"Oh, poor thing. It's because Remus won't talk to you, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Ophelia, maybe a bit too quickly, just trying to get a good excuse for her behavior.

She wasn't entirely lying, however. She was upset with Remus. After that night in the astronomy tower, he had been avoiding her at all costs. From leaving class as soon as the bell rang, to sitting with other people in the great hall whenever Ophelia ate with her brother.

At first, Ophelia tried to make an effort. She ran after Remus whenever he left after class, she tried to talk to him in the great hall, but each time he would find a way to get out before she could say anything to him. After getting ignored for several weeks, Ophelia finally dropped it and just let Remus avoid her. Of course she still wanted to talk to him, but she had been constantly trying to catch his attention, to the point where she had grown annoyed and just accepted it.