Flower Crowns For The Broken

beautiful discovery

September 15th, 1976

-Remus-

It was a rather sunny Saturday which meant the marauders would be out in the courtyard causing chaos. Remus however had opted to stay in, seeing as the full moon was approaching causing his body to become rather tired.

The werewolf was seated in his favorite red crushed velvet armchair reading Celia's copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book, which had obviously been reread multiple times from how the binding looked, was filled with underlined quotes and an ample amount of the veela's delicate penmanship in the margins.

Remus now understood what the Hufflepuff meant when she said the book contained her. Celia had turned this average novel into a portal to her mind, a mind he quickly became fascinated with. Quotes he never paid much mind to suddenly resided with him. The thoughts she expressed were laid out as if she was having a conversation with the book as if it were a friend.

She told the pages how she knew someone similar to Atticus, explaining her multitude of thoughts about this boy. Remus was convinced that the guy she wrote about in the notes, Book Boy as he decided to call him, must be Regulus because who else would captivate her in such a way?

Yet her inscriptions didn't quite make sense with what he knew about the youngest Black brother. Celia's margin entries described Book Boy as the moral backbone, the person others turn to in times of doubt. Someone that recognizes that people have good and bad qualities but is determined to admire the good while forgiving the bad. She wrote about how Book Boy never takes pride in his talents, never boasting about the things he excels at, simply living with quiet dignity. Celia went on to say he is also characterized by his courage and empathy, not to mention his extreme politeness. All of which she believes mirrors, Atticus Finch.

From what Remus knew, this didn't quite sound like Regulus as "moral backbone and empathetic" isn't what comes to mind when thinking about a known pureblood supremacist. Despite the description not lining up, the boy simply couldn't think of anyone, other than the younger Slytherin, that she'd care enough to observe so closely. At least no one that even somewhat matched her descriptions.

Tommy fit many of the characteristics but was ruled out once Book Boy was described as a forgiving person. The Andet boy was probably the last person Remus would think of in terms of forgiveness.

While James could be described as empathetic, he was far too boastful to match her description.

Sirius, though very courageous, wasn't someone that handled other's feelings, let alone his own, very well thus ruling him out in the empathy department.

Polite was a term he'd use to describe Peter but courageous wasn't one that normally came to mind as the quiet boy was more of a follower than a leader.

And Remus himself? Well, he simply ruled himself out completely. He just didn't think Celia would bother to study him, at least not enough to fill the margins of her book with thoughts about him.

Is there another boy in Celia's life that I'm not aware of? Has she mentioned him? Have I just tuned it out? I need to start paying more attention to her.

While the identity of Book Boy intrigued him, it wasn't his biggest mystery. No, the fact that she had the idea to give him the book in the first place is what confused him the most.

Why would she give me this? It's so personal to her and she barely knows me, what if I lost it. Why does she trust me with this? Why does she want me to read this in the first place?

Remus's internal spiral came to a halt when a certain realization came to mind, much to his dislike.

She barely knows me.