Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 34

Saturday, 5 March 1977

"Come in," Remus called as he heard a knock on his door.

Remus set down his copy of Dune as his bed as Lena walked into the room. She was wearing a white knit jumper and a pair of blue jeans. Her brown hair was framing her face and. She looked quite pretty. But, then again, Lena always looked rather pretty to Remus.

"Hey Rem," she said softly as she walked to his bed that he was sitting on.

"Hey, Lee," he smiled, looking up at Lena. Even though Lena was standing in front of him and he was sitting down, Lena was not much taller than him. "What brings you here?"

Lena looked down at him nervously and struggled to meet his gaze. "I, um, wanted to check up on you before the full moon tonight. I also wanted to talk to you about something that's been on my mind for a while."

"Oh, thank you," Remus said with a smile and gestured to the spot next to him. "Do you want to sit down?"

"No, that's okay," Lena said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Lena took a breath and looked up at the ceiling with her eyes. "Merlin, this is going to sound a bit odd... So, um, for a while now, I've really liked you. Well, I guess the proper term is fancy.

"You fancy me?" Remus said in disbelief.

"Yeah, I do. And I wasn't going to say anything about it, but then I was thinking about it, and I don't want to regret not telling you... So, um, do with that what you will," Lena said with a nervous laugh and turned on her foot to leave, wanting to escape rejection.

Remus grabbed her hand before she could move further away from him.

Lena reluctantly turned around to look at Remus.

"You really can't just tell someone you fancy them and then leave," Remus said. "You won't know what the other person had to say if you do."

"You can if you have a rather good idea of what the other person is going to say."

"Oh, so you know that I was going to tell you I fancy you as well?"

"You were?"

"I was. I still will," Remus paused. "I really fancy you, Lena."

Lena's face turned pink and smiled. "Thank goodness for that."

Remus smiled back. "I couldn't agree more. So what are we going to do about it?"

Lena just smiled at the green-eyed boy and bent her head down slightly. And then Lena placed her right hand on the back of his neck and kissed him on the mouth. Remus smiled into the kiss and stood up, pulling her closer. He snaked his arms around Lena's waist as he kissed her back. Lena raised her other arm to play with Remus' hair and Remus returned the favor. Remus liked the feeling of Lena's fingertips on his head. Remus held her closer and Lena firmly pressed her body against his.

Remus frowned slightly as Lena pulled her lips away from his own, their lips hovering no more than an inch apart. Remus still had his hair tangled in her brown hair and his head was still bending down, causing their noses to touch.

"I've always liked you, Remus," Lena said rather breathlessly against his lips.

"I've alway liked you, too," Remus said. "I thought you'd only ever like me in my dreams."

"But this is a dream, Rem," Lena said, still smiling.

"What?" Remus said, the lovesick tone his voice disappearing.

"You're dreaming, Remus."

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And then Remus woke up and sighed. Of course the only time Lena would ever say she likes me is in my dreams.

Remus looked down and groaned. He was pitching a tent.

Remus looked around the room and breathed a sigh of relief that all of his roommates were still fast asleep. Remus climbed out of his bed and walked as quickly as he could to the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Remus pulled down his boxers and stepped into the shower and turned it on. Remus rested one hand against the shower wall and spat on his other hand. He began to rub his hand from the base of his cock to its tip slowly. As time went on, Remus rubbed his hand faster against his cock and squeezed his balls occasionally.

Remus felt guilty as he mind wandered to Lena. He couldn't help it. He spent most of his time thinking about her and now was no exception. Remus pumped faster as he thought about holding Lena and their bodies pressed against each other. He remembered every time and everywhere she touched him— his hands, his arms, his face. He wondered what it would be like for her to touch more of him and for him to touch her. He loved being with her and how she made him feel— accepted, comfortable, and loved. He wanted for Lena to feel the same things. He moaned as he imagined Lena telling him her feelings, at least the ones he wanted her to have. You're so perfect, Remus. You make me so happy. I love you, Remus. I've loved you for so long.

And at the thought of Lena loving him and returning his feelings, Remus came all over the shower wall. Remus threw his head back and panted, letting the water hit his face. As Remus washed himself off, he came to a conclusion that he couldn't hold his feelings for Lena in any longer.

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Tuesday, 8 March 1977

"You're looking rather moony, Moony," Sirius said, grinning at his joke.

"It's because he's staring at Lena," James laughed.

James wasn't wrong. Remus was staring at Lena with a dreamy look on his face as she happily chatted to Peter on the other side of the corridor.

Sirius grinned. "You've got the same look Prongs has whenever he looks at Evans."

"Hey!" James said, trying to sound offended.

"She's wonderful, isn't she," Remus said, thinking out loud.

"She is," James agreed, sounding rather dreamy all of the sudden.

"He's talking about Lena, mate."

"Yeah, she's alright," James said.

"She is more than alright!" Remus cried. "She's perfect, talented, kind, sma—"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Sirius asked Remus, cutting him off as he leaned against the wall.

"I'm gonna tell her I like her and, depending on how that goes, I'll hopefully ask her out," Remus said firmly but nervously.

"Wait, you are?" Sirius said, his mouth dropping. "Not that weren't not happy you're gonna do that, it's just surprising."

"What changed? I mean, you said you were never going to admit your feelings for her," James said.

"I know, but I've been thinking about Lena a lot and it's hard hiding my feelings for her. And I don't want to hide them anymore. I don't want to regret not telling her."

James grinned and shook him lightly. "That's great, mate!"

"She'll definitely say yes!" Sirius said.

"We don't know that."

Sirius and James looked at each other and nodded and turned back to Remus. "We do," the pair said in unison.

The trio looked back at Lena and Peter who were laughing as Peter was motioning animatedly with his hands.

"Maybe you should tell Peter about what you're going to do before you do it," Sirius suggested.

James nodded. "We don't want Peter to have a heart attack from shock and die."

"Shit, you're right. How do I bring it up?"

There was a long pause.

"Gently," Sirius said.

James nodded. "And in private."