𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸, remus lupin

˗ˋ 21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH SHE APOLOGISES

. . .

Remus didn't react at first, eyes wide and completely still as he stared at the dark haired girl in front of him. Involuntarily, his hands tightened around the book in his hands until he was forced to slide the attached ribbon bookmark in and put it down out of fear for ruining it. 

It wasn't that he couldn't think of something to say - no, he had far too much to say - but he wasn't sure how to approach it. Did he take people's assumptions that Pandora Rosier was just a psychotic bitch, or did he dig further into the idea that she simply didn't know how to function in a normal wizarding society.

"What the hell do you want, Pandora?" He eventually asked, hands folding over the cover of the book, fingers tracing over the ridges on the leather spine. "Come to intrude on my thoughts again? Break a bookcase maybe - or what about finding out more secrets that if I had wanted to know then I would've told you?"

Remus wasn't sure what approach he had taken, a mixture of both he supposed. But the underlying anger in his sarcastic tone was far more prevalent in his mind. Quite frankly, Remus couldn't believe how the Rosier girl had been, didn't understand how he managed to stay around her for so long. 

"I want to apologise." The words were sticky in her throat and sounded downright awkward for the Lupin boy to hear. Pandora had decided just to be out with it, not fuss around with any other conversation and announce what she was there for.

"Alright then." Remus sat back in his seat, rocking on the back two legs. The bar at the top hit the wood of one of the shelves behind it, and he pretended not to notice the couple of butterflies that flew to the corners of the creaking bookshelve and melt into the wood, holding it still. 

"Alright?" Pandora repeated, curling her hand inwards and hiding the fingertips from which butterflies had erupted out of just moments before. 

"Apologise." Remus waved a hand in front of him, urging her to do just that. He watched as the girl sat up, brushing her palms on the material of her skirt and pulling up her thigh-high socks. 

For seconds, nothing could be heard other than adjusting material and the heels that Pandora insisted on wearing no mastter how inappropriate they were for walking around a castle. 

Then - 

"I'm sorry." The girl said, a small smile arriving on her pretty features. "There - now can we start meeting up again?"

Remus stared, jaw dropping. "You can't be serious. That's it?" He couldn't help but exclaim, genuine disbelief arriving. 

"Yes?" Pandora's head tilted to the side, dark eyes wide. "I'm.. sorry?" She repeated, but yet again, no words followed that and Remus continued to stare. Even she could sense that something was wrong. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Sorry isn't really good enough though, is it?" Remus finally picked a path to take. "Its no good saying one measly word when you're still invading my mind - like you did right before - and doing other shit with your crazy butterflies."

"I-"

"You don't get it. You can't just say sorry and expect everything to be alright, that's what you exppected isnt it? Well it cant happen." Remus reached for his book, shoving it in his bag and pulling the several sheets of parchment in with it. "Sorry just isnt enough." He shrugged, turning his back and beginning towards the end of the aisle.

She didn't even say why she was sorry. And Remus had gone far too much because of her, the meetings with Dumbledore, almost being hit by a centuries-old statue, his biggest secret at threat to being revealed to the entire student body of Hogwarts - who would then share it with parents who would share it around with everyone else.

Pandora stared after him, eyes wide before a frown settled on her features. 

"I'm sorry.. I - I don't know what else to do." Her chin tilted towards the floor, gaze landing on the stone pavings. Pandora wasn't necessarily one to fiddle with things, but now she couldn't help herself, twisting a ring around her pinkie finger, daring to glance up seconds later.

Remus had stopped in his tracks and seemed to be rather lost in thought. It was clear to absolutely everyone that Pandora lacked the ability to function within a normal society without standing out somehow - that was why Dumbledore had asked him to help her and why he had agreed.

And now it became obvious to him that it wasn't that she couldn't function normally, she really didn't know how. And her apology was her actually trying. And he couldn't ignore that.

"You might want to start with adding why you're sorry next time you apologise." The girl straightened up instantly, lost for words as Remus returned to his seat. "No more talking about my.. problem, and no more reading my mind, okay?"

"Okay." Pandora nodded, features brightening as Remus sat down again, extracting various items from his bag. 

He was going to help her, and with that thought, their daily library meetings began once more.

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