Chocolate Covered Strawberries [Remus Lupin]

𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

Chapter seventy-eight; Mystery box

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Floorboards creaked under Sirius' feet as he walked the length of the room back and forth, hands wringing in front of him and occasionally going through his hair to mess his curls up even more than they already were.

''Okay mate, calm down. You're making me nervous just by looking at you pace around,'' said James and tried to grab Sirius' shoulder to make him stop.

Sirius pushed him away slightly and continued his steps around the room. James sighed and dropped down on the couch, where Remus was sitting, his head resting back on the pillows with closed eyes. His body was bandaged up and he was barely keeping awake even though it was well in the afternoon after the full moon. Everything hurt on his body and more than anything in the world he wished to see Jasmine. Her voice and her calm demeanour were what kept him sane right before and after the full moon. His friends were helping as much as they could and anything was better than being alone in the cottage his family owned deep in the woods. This one was used by him during full moons and there wasn't much interior other than the couch and a few broken pieces of other furniture.

''You came here yesterday just before nightfall freaking out. Did something happen?'' Peter asked from his spot on the floor at the foot of the couch.

Sirius stopped abruptly with his back to his friends and all they could see is the rapid rise and fall of his shoulders due to his heavy breathing. He hadn't spoken a word since the previous night when everyone asked him if he was okay because of his frantic state but he only dismissed them before transforming into a dog preparing for the full moon.

James and Peter continued to state what Sirius did as if they wanted to remind him, not sure if he forgot. They were about to do anything for him to speak up. ''You have yet to tell us what happened when you took Jasmine home.'' James tried again.

At the mention of Jasmine, Remus picked his head up and blinked slowly to stay awake while the talk was about his girlfriend. ''Jasmine,'' he whispered. ''Did something happened with Jasmine?'' He addressed Sirius.

Sirius slowly turned around, hands still wringing in front of him as he met the eye line of Remus. He didn't have to say anything, that one look was enough to tell that something was very wrong. Remus took a deep breath and straightened up as if he wanted to move off the couch and go somewhere but James was there to stop him.

''Whoa, whoa, stay there buddy.'' James grabbed his arm and kept him in place.

Sirius joined and placed himself in front of Remus to block his path. ''Okay, I'll tell you. Just stay still and don't hurt yourself.'' He spoke for the first time.

Remus looked at him and a part of him still wanted to stand up and immediately apparate to Pearson's home to check out for himself. Sirius sighed and ran his hands once again through his hair. ''Jasmine is doomed and I'm the reason for it.''

''Wait, wait, what?!'' Remus raised his voice and leaned forward in his sitting position.

Sirius took a tentative step back and continued to explain as if his life depended on it. ''We were at her house and the coast was clear and her mum invited me to stay for tea. It was all nice and well until her dad came home, literally five minutes after we did and Jasmine's mum distracted him. We didn't know what to do so we ran in hopes we could escape. I got outside and through the barrier but Jasmine didn't. It was like this invisible wall was keeping her back and she couldn't step off her yard. She started crying and screaming and I couldn't do anything when her dad dragged her back into the house.''