lovesick || r. lupin

³⁵confessions

Everything was going according to plan.

Ayla scanned the Marauders Map, searching for the name that always caused butterflies to erupt in the pit of her stomach. On the fourth floor, it idly glided back and forth.

Hours before, Sirius had reminded Ayla how to open and close the map, how to read it, and where Remus Lupin would be for the majority of the night doing his prefect duties.

And Sirius was right. Remus was exactly where he was said he would be.

Sirius had promised to keep it secret, what Ayla was planning to do. He had grabbed her arm and squeezed it tight and nodded saying that he believed in her and that she shouldn't give up. He had held out the map to her, saying he trusted her with it, and bid goodbye, worrying he'd be skinned alive for being late to class once again.

And now that Ayla stood standing here alone in a dark hallway that Filch would definitely be lurking through any moment, she wasn't so sure she was up to the task she had schemed. Perhaps she was being much too bold and much too confident. Perhaps Remus being so distraught with finding out she fancied him was a sign that she truly should never bring it up to him again. But she pushed that nervous feeling down and made her way to where the boy was, heart thrumming a thousand times faster than it should.

Ayla slid up the stairway to the fourth floor, dodging the steps Sirius had warned her of. And then there stood Remus at the end of the hall, his face aglow in the moonlight that shined through the windows, his hair flopped over his tired eyes, his cheeks flushed pink. He itched at his body as if something were irritating it. Ayla wondered...

Ayla nearly just stood there, nearly just stopped to admire him and his features, but she shook her head to bring herself back to reality. And once she returned, she nearly took a step back and went back to her dorm room, completely abandoning the plan she had took so little but also so long to come up with. But she didn't and she took a deep breath, practiced a smile, and forced her way forward towards him.

Ayla didn't say anything, she merely just walked his way, heart pounding harder than she wished it would and face skewed in determination.

The sound of footsteps caught Remus's attention and he snapped his head up towards her, eyes squinting through the darkness. "Hey, you're not suppose to be out, it's nearly midni-", and the boy stopped halfway through his sentence and he stared. Remus's mouth was agape in surprise and his eyes went wide as he recognized who stood before him.

"Ayla..." He began, his voice hoarse. "What are you doing out?"

Ayla stared back at him, trying to calm her nerves. She lifted the Marauders Map for him to see. "I was here to talk to you."

Remus did not move from his spot. His feet were frozen to the floor. "Oh," was all he had replied with.

"Can we talk?"

"Ehh..." Remus paused. "I have prefect duties..."

"It'll take a moment or two. I just... I just really need to get this off my chest."

Remus still did not move. It looked as though he wasn't even breathing and for a moment, Ayla was worried he might pass out if he didn't take a breath but finally, he sucked in a gaping gasp of air. Remus then nodded. "I suppose..."

Ayla nodded back. "Thank you, really," she murmured. She pointed to the stairwell she had come from with her thumb. "Would you mind us going somewhere a bit more private? Maybe a bit more out of sight from Filch?"

The scarred boy shook his head. "I don't mind at all... Lead the way."

And so Ayla did. The pair had stepped their way on the stairs, silence ringing in the air, ringing deafeningly in Ayla's ears but she forced her mind to shut up because she wasn't gonna go ruining the plan by rambling about nothing.