The Other Half

Chapter 4

Emilia woke up before the sun. Rolling out of bed she found she was the only one in the dorm awake. Mary and Marlene were cuddled up on one bed and Lily sprawled out on hers. Rubbing her eyes, and smudging her mascara, Emilia took a big yawn and stretched her arms above her head. Last night had been wicked fun. Sirius and her had danced to practically every song and when they got tired of that a bunch of older students had gotten together to play truth or dare. Someone had asked James who he fancied and although everyone knew it was a lie, he said "some 7th year Ravenclaw, and it's none of your business." Emilia was proud of her brother that he'd matured over the last few years, he wasn't trailing after Lily and annoying her like a love-sick puppy. He got that his feelings weren't reciprocated and he'd left her alone. Although he'd always been respectful of her, this kind of maturity was new. Emilia couldn't have helped seeing Lily's slightly disappointed face when he'd said what he'd said about the Ravenclaw.

It was the same dorm they'd been in since year 1. In the room, there were four four-poster beds with crimson duvets and dark red embroidered curtains for added privacy. At the end of each bed was a trunk for personal belongings and clothes. In between every bed was a dark dresser to store uniforms. The headboards were up against the far wall from the door, the wall which had many windows.

The windows had iron trim and would open up for air. In the centre of the room was a wood stove for warmth in the winter.

From the ceiling hung schoolhouse lights lit by balls of light.

The curved tower walls, faded brownstone. On the dark hardwood floor were many red rugs, soft underfoot. The textiles of the dorm were the same Gryffindor colours of the common room, often embroidered with Hogwarts and Gryffindor symbols.

    On the wall to the left of the beds was the half panelled, half filmed glass bathroom door, and inside a high tank toilet, bathtub with a showerhead, a small sink, and a mirror. All utilities were bronze, and the floor was white tile.

Stepping out her the steaming hot shower Emilia felt like a new woman. She used her wand to try and style her hair, giving herself a first day of school blowout. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders and back, fluffy, and smooth.

Emilia was a bit of an early bird and had found herself dressed, packed, and ready to go only a little while later as her friends began to wake up.

"What time is it?" Mary said groggily.

Leaning over and kissing her forehead, Emilia said, "time for you to wake up."

"Aw fuck off Potter," she said with a laugh.

"I call the shower first," Lily said as the bathroom door closed behind her.

Mary and Marlene groaned but started getting up.

"See you all downstairs," Emilia said.

To that, she heard some mumbles of agreement as she took the stairs down to the common room.

The common room was still a mess and would take some cleaning that afternoon.

Spotting Remus just leaving through the portrait, Emilia ran to catch up with him.

"How'd you sleep?" She said.

In response, Remus took a huge yawn and laughed.

Emilia chuckled in return, "I see. Last night was fun though."

"Nothing I love more than a swarm of sweaty, horny teenagers making a mess."

Emilia bumped his shoulder with hers and he smiled.

"But, yeah I had a good time," he said. After a pause and a staircase, Remus continued, "you know James thinks you and Sirius are hooking up?"

Emilia whipped her head around to look at him, "wait what?"

Remus nodded, "when you two were dancing Lily said you two would make a good couple, James kind of blanched and I think it really stuck with him."

Emilia nodded, then finally said, "are you guys going to tell people?"

Remus stopped in his tracks.

Emilia bit her lip, eyebrows pinching together.

Remus sighed, "how long have you known? Did he tell you?"

Emilia shook her head, "you two are some of my best friends, I figured something was going on. I'm not as blind as James or Peter. But then last summer, I went down to the kitchen one night to get some tea and I saw you two kissing in the kitchen. It was very romantic, moonlight streaming through the window and all that."

Remus looked her deep in her eyes, "and you haven't told anyone?"

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head vigorously, "I would never do that."

Remus looked relieved. "I'm not sure when we'll tell people."

"How long?"

"Since last Christmas."

Emilia's eyebrows shot up, "wow, that's a long time."

"I liked him long before that, and he said he felt the same but didn't think I'd like him."

"How did you guys find out? If you don't mind me asking."

"No it's fine, kinda feels nice to talk to someone I guess. Last Christmas when we were at the Potters, him and I had snuck onto the roof to smoke and we got talking forever, it was probably four or five hours. Anyways, it was chilly and we were close together and I just thought, what the hell, and I kissed him. Sirus was pretty surprised but well, he kissed me back and from there..." he trailed off.

Emilia smiled and they continued walking. Pausing, she said, "I'm sure Sirius told you but I feel like I should. When we were like 15 one summer, we kind of made out. We thought that it would work you know, we were already best friends, anyways a couple of minutes in we realized there was nothing, no sparks, so we went back outside to play Quidditch."

"He told me a long time ago," he said with a sly smile.

"Good," Emilia said, "I don't want you to think I'm after your man," chuckling.

After a few more staircases they reached the Great Hall.

"Hey Lupin," a voice called.

They saw a Ravenclaw prefect, a year older than them, striding towards them. Pointing to his own silver prefects badge, he said, "we have to wear these at all time, you know this," he said pointing at the empty place on Remus' chest. With that, he strode away haughtily.

Remus rolled his eyes and continued into the Great Hall.

Emilia decided that perhaps this wasn't the best time to reveal she also knew that Remus was a werewolf, he'd done enough coming out today.