Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 45

Thursday, 11 May 1977

As he sat in Transfiguration, Remus was concerned for two reasons.

The first was that he was ninety percent sure that James was going to kill Sirius.

Although there were no assigned seats in Transfiguration, there was an understanding among the students. Remus would sit with Peter, James would sit with Sirius, Alice would sit with Frank (even before they started dating), Lily would sit with Mary, Dorcas would sit with Marlene. Sirius decided to throw the unofficial rule book out the window, though.

Sirius had waited for Gwen to sit down at her usual desk and the lept into the seat next to her. Gwen looked at Sirius as if he had grown a second head. Remus didn't blame her. It was no secret that Sirius wasn't a fan of Gwen and Gwen wasn't a fan of Sirius. Besides, James was the best person at Transfiguration in their year. Most people would have to be an idiot to not sit with him in Transfiguration when they had the chance. Then again, Sirius could be a bit thick at times.

And since Sirius sat next to Gwen, James had to sit next to Snape, who usually sat next to Gwen.

Hence why Remus was concerned James would kill Sirius.

The second reason was that Gwen was going to bite Sirius' head off for talking to her.

Gwen, to everyone's knowledge and no one's surprise, was not in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone Sirius. She had been humiliated at dinner the night before by her brothers and her former friends Aurelia Zabini and Enoria Greengrass could not stop snickering.

Remus and Peter sat directly behind the two pure-bloods. James shot them a pleading look that screamed help, imploring one of them to switch seats with him. Remus simply shook his head and Peter gave James a look that said "no way am I sitting with Snivellus."

Remus tuned out as Professor McGonagall taught as Sirius began to speak to Gwen. Their conservation seemed a bit more important than learning how to transfigure a teacup into a gerbil.

"Hey, Guinevere," Remus heard Sirius say to the blonde next to him. It was odd, Remus thought. Sirius always called Gwen Rowle.

"Why are you sitting here, Black?" Gwen said with steel. Her armor had gotten thicker since the night before.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"To mock me." It wasn't a question.

"No."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry about what happened last night," Sirius said softly. Remus almost didn't hear him. He was so quiet.

Gwen said nothing.

"That is quite enough, Mr. Potter, Mr. Snape!" McGonagall said, causing Remus to turn his attention back to her.

"You have been pestering each other the entire time. Ten points from Gryffindor and ten points from Slytherin."

The entire class groaned.

"And since the two of you can't stop acting like five year olds, I am separating you! Miss. Evans, if you would be so kind as to switch seats with Mr. Snape, that would be greatly appreciated."

Lily obliged and sat next to James. Snape gave Lily a longing look as he walked over to his seat next to Mary.

And then Remus' prediction of James killing Sirius dropped to zero percent.

"Be good," Remus mouthed to James, who couldn't contain the smile and pure look of joy on his face.

James winked back at him. Remus didn't know whether to take that as a good or bad sign.

Peter nudged Remus and gestured to Sirius and Gwen with his head.

"I know you've got Lena and your other friends, but if you ever need to talk to someone who understands, you can talk to me."

Minutes passed before Gwen said anything.

"Thank you," she said finally, her voice softer and more vulnerable than Remus had ever heard it.

Remus' concerns were for nothing in the end.

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Monday, 15 May 1997

"Take that, loser!" Lena cried as she battled her brother in a game of chess as they sat in Peter's room.

Well, it wasn't really chess per say. It was extreme chess, which Lena and Peter invented when they were eight and ten when they didn't know how to actually play chess. Extreme chess had nothing to do with chess save the chess board and chess pieces they used. Somehow, for some reason neither Peter nor Lena could remember, Magical Creature cards, a pair of dice, a marble, and bowl of water had become integral to the game.

The rim of the bowl of the water was the same height as the chessboard. If one of the siblings rolled an even number, they would attempt to knock over their foe's chess pieces into the water by hitting it with the marble. If they succeeded, the piece drowning in the water would be eliminated. If one of the siblings rolled an odd number, they would both randomly pick a Magical Creature card and their miniature creatures would battle each other. Whoever won the battle would get to win one of their own eliminated pieces back and get to eliminate one of their opponent's chess pieces.

Lena had just managed to knock one of her brother's knights into the bowl of water.

"Lee, you have seven less pieces than I do."

"Oh, whatever," Lena dismissed.

Peter rolled the dice as he spoke to his sister.

"So are you nervous for your O.W.L.s?"

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna fail."

Peter rolled a ten.

"You're not gonna fail. You've been studying nonstop, you've got your fancy pen, and you've got your brains."

Lena watched as her brother positioned the marble in front of one of her pawns.

"What if that's not enough?"

"Trust me. It'll be enough. You're gonna do great," Peter replied.

He flicked the marble. It made contact. The pawn splashed into the water.

"Not as great as I am at chess, though."

Lena rolled her eyes and laughed.

"What in Merlin's name are you two doing?"

Lena and Peter turned to the door. Alice and Frank were standing there with quizzical looks on their faces.

"Chess," Peter said.

"I'm pretty sure that's not chess," Alice said.

"Well, it's extreme chess," Lena said.

"Which is superior to regular chess," Peter added.

"If you say so," Frank said as he and Alice sat down on his bed.

Lena and Peter looked at the couple and shared a knowing glance.

"Well, Lena, I think it's time to make ourselves scarce," Peter said with a smirk.

"I couldn't agree more, Peter," Lena said cheekily.

"Wait, what?" Frank said, a bit frantically.

"Oh, we figured you could use some, ya know, alone time," Lena said, biting her lip.

Frank blushed furiously and Alice smiled, her dimples on display, as the siblings left the room.

"Have fun," Pete called as the door closed behind him and Lena.