𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸, remus lupin

˗ˋ 31

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
✧
-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THE HORRORS
OF HALLOWEEN SURFACE

. . .

They had made up. And Remus was much more glad about that than he expected to be, returning to his group of friends as they walked to their first lesson and listened to their opinions on the entire matter - including exactly what Sirius thought about him making up with his childhood friend and distant relative. 

But not even his strong, sarcastic words could push him away from continuing to help Pandora and getting to know her better after two fallings out. To say he was interested in finding out more about the butterflies and the nightmares would be an understatement, but he wasn't happily friends with her again just for that; Remus was friends with her because - most importantly - he wanted to be, and because he thought she could possibly benefit from just having a friend.

Even if it was a Gryffindor who was admittedly a little scared of her but had gotten to know her well enough to know she was someone with a hardened shell and had been alone for the six years of her life that would help shape who she was.

They had resumed their meetings in the library, Remus sat with her at least one meal a day, sometimes two or three if they had anything interesting to talk about. In a few classes, he would sit beside her, walk her to her next lesson and regroup with his friends and spend as much time as he could with them.

His days were busy, but he didn't quite mind it, even as he hurried out of the Gryffindor common room on Friday morning and down to the Entrance Hall, where he found Pandora stood between the two large doors, staring at the mass of orange and black decorations. 

"What's all this?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she turned to Remus, her gaze having been on the very large 

"Halloween." The Lupin boy smiled. "Or All Hallow's Eve, have you heard of it? It's on Sunday, October 31st." They always put up the decorations a couple days earllier, so that the students could get into the spirit of it all. 

"Oh.. October 31st." Pandora repeated. "The one where children dress up and come to your front door? I remember that bit.. not much else."

"So you know it?" Remus asked, a light, momentary touch guiding her through the doors and into the hall, down to the end of the Slytherin table as usual, taking their seats by two empty plates and the gap widening between Remus, Pandora and the people either side of them.

"Yes.. kind of." Pandora reached for an apple and began to slice it up onto her plate, clutching the golden knife rather tightly in her enclosed fist. Remus stared at it. Halloween was such a happy time - but Pandora seemed to have experienced something rather horrible in relation.

"What do you remember?" 

"Not a lot. I was kept inside the grounds of my house most days when I was younger. I only left to visit other people's manors or Diagon Alley once or twice." Pandora revealed, and even though it wasn't about the long-standing celebration. "I was homeschooled about certain things by my mother, but even I knew what the locals in the nearby village called my home - the Cursed Castle." 

Remus listened in silence - or as much as he could muster whilst eating his toast and with the busy hall around him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see James trying to get his attention. The name sounded oddly familiar to him for some reason, but he couldn't quite fathom what reason that was.

"They were afraid of it, of my family. They hardly even knew I was there. But sometimes, on the 31st of October some brave children would climb up the hill and come to my front door and knocked on it, expecting sweets and chocolate." Pandora seemed even more lifeless than ever, chewing on a bite of the gleaming red apple, which hadn't a single imperfection. 

"Would they get them?" 

"I wasn't sure for a while. Mother would always tell me to wait in the kitchen, and if I moved she would use the Curse on me. But one time I tried, I saw a little Muggle girl in a witch's outfit. She was the last to get whatever Mother had in the bowl. But I saw her costume." Pandora smiled at the memory, although Remus was beginning to think that it wasn't so pleasant. "It was purple, and green and blue. I knew about what the Muggles thought of witches, but I didn't mind."

She paused, cutting another slice of apple. "I got back to the kitchen before Mother or Father found me.. but I mentioned the costume. By accident. But instead of the curse, I got to go down to the basement and meet the girl." Pandora's eyes were bright. "It was so pretty. Mother seemed to know how much I liked it, and said she would get me my own if I had a sleepover with the girl. Her name was Laura - but I could call her Laurie if I let her borrow my necklace for a little bit."

Remus' eyes travelled down to the chain of her necklace that he had admired so many times, the charm attached hidden beneath her blouse. "Did you let her borrow it?" He asked. He didn't know what he was gaining from this story, but he had a strong, sickening feeling that it wasn't so positive and happy as Pandora believed it to be. 

"Yeah, I did. Laurie is the only person I let wear it." Pandora's spare hand reached for the chain, sliding her finger beneath it and toying with it. "She fell asleep with it on, but when I woke up she was gone - but on her blanket was my necklace, and my own witch's outfit." 

"Really?" Remus was finding it hard to believe, after everything he had heard about Dysnomia Rosier he doubted that she would purchase a muggle costume for her daughter. 

"It was perfect - almost the exact same one." Pandora nodded. "Except the colours - the purple, blue and green weren't the same." 

"No?" 

"No, they were all discoloured.. a little more reddish brown than Laurie's."

✧

a/n
space song makes me
so sad just generally but
it's even worse since i saw an
fanart of reg and sirius at
@regulusblxck on tiktok scroll
down a bit its got like 48k views but
i need someone else to see it
and cry with me