Her Single Rose (Remus Lupin)

Sixty

"You never told me how tryouts went." Aries said trying to deflect Remus's questions.

"Don't even think about changing the subject, Aries, c'mon, what happened on the train when we got back?" Remus asked as he followed Aries down to the dungeons.

"I told you nothing happened. I felt upset, I saw you and was happy again." She said as she touched the metal arm on the soldier and waited impatiently for it to let them in.

"I didn't want to say anything on the train, but it's obvious that wasn't what happened." Remus said as he followed her through the Slytherin common room, which thankfully was empty.

"You looked tired and drained, I wanna know-...talk to me, please." Remus asked as he followed her up to her dorm, someone must've put the jinx on the enchanted stairs already, seeing as Remus walked up them easily.

"I already told you-" Aries was cut off by Remus pushing her gently against the wall by her door, trapping her there.

Remus was still in his Quidditch outfit, something must've been said during the tryouts to make him rethink what happened on the train a month ago.

"You didn't tell me the truth. Aries, I need to know. I need you to know you can come talk to me when something is bothering you. I need to be able to convince myself that I'm not worrying for no reason." Remus sighed.

Aries starred at him for a moment, thinking about her words carefully, going through her words and trying to-

"Stop doing that." Remus huffed.

"Doing what?" Aries furrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Thinking. You don't need to sugar coat it for me, just say it." He told her.

Aries sighed, looking up and away from him as she began to remember what happened, began going through the memories of her scare.

"A corset." She told him simply and casually, though her eyes betrayed her when they began to water. His confusion made her explain. "I was wearing a tight corset, my mother made me wear it, she said I'd look fat without it. On the train, I started losing my breath and started hyperventilating, Regulus got Marlene and Sirius and they helped me out of it...but I went unconscious from the loss of oxygen." Aries breathed.

Remus sighed and pulled Aries into his arms, she buried her head in his chest, a small sniff coming from her.

Saying it out loud made Aries realize how real that was, how scary it was to have it even happen. She guessed that her bodies overall instinct was to cover up her scare with ignoring it, only so that she wouldn't need to be burdened with more fear.

Remus ended up taking her into her dorm and getting comfortable on her bed, Aries clinging onto him in a bear hug with her arms around his neck and straddling him. Remus was sat up against the head of the bed, holding her and whispering comforting words to her.

After a while, Remus decided it would be a good start to talk, "Meredith." He said, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"It felt good to talk about it..." Aries admitted, droning off.

"But it still hurt." Remus finished for her, earning a small nod in acknowledgment. "Is it bad that I'm doing a dance in my head because you told me?" Remus asked jokingly, recognizing the need for a change in emotional direction.

Aries giggled tiredly into his uniform and slid her head up from his chest, to his neck, inhaling his slightly sweaty cologne. He smelled of pine.

"You smell good." Aries shocked the both of them at her words, both of them smiling at the sentiment.