Portraits of a Flower in Bloom | Jily

10: LOVE and FEAR

~ Saturday 17th September, 1977 ~
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The next week passed with little disturbances or excitements to report. They were all settling down nicely to their final year at Hogwarts, and Jo was finally settling into a routine she had sculpted for herself. Her confidence s still lacked, but she'd found reliable companions in all the Gryffindors, Alice and Lily especially. The Saturday night tumbled in and out of action with Jo sitting in their presence, only occasionally engaging in the action.

Finally, the action reduced to a minimum, and after that, became fickle whispers of sounds, caught by only those nearest. Jo had elected to stay sat around the fire before going up to her dorm. Being homeschooled and an only child made some of the noise and action too relentless sometimes, and she needed to breath. Cross-legged, she sunk into the sofa before the fire, immersed in the fantastical world her book was narrating.

The dorm was silent now, the whispers had ceased to nothing, and the quiet weaved through her mind comfortingly. That was until a tentative tap troubled her fictional engrossment.

For a moment Jo looked around, unsure whether this was a real noise she'd heard, or merely a shadow of noise her mind created to scare her. The noise sounded again. Strange, she thought, definitely real, and coming from... the portrait?

The taps stop and now a voice breathed a hushed message, "anyone there? I think I've forgotten the password."

Oh joy, Jo thought bitterly, of all the people. She tugged the portrait open, letting a scantily dressed Marlene McKinnon seep through the cracks, murmuring angrily about stupidly long passwords, about the and carefully place her feet into the dorm.

"Oh thank god," she whispered gratefully, "Josephine, you're a lifesaver, honestly."

"What were you doing out after curfew," Jo replied harshly.

"Sshhhhh!" Marlene tried to shush her frantically, placing a finger to Jo's lips.

Jo swatted her away, annoyed, "it's well past midnight, McGonagall with have your head for this, you know."

"Pfft," Marlene retorted, almost proudly, clearly not worried in any way, "she'll never find out, I sneak out all the time, and I've never once been caught."

Jo raised her eyebrows, "you got caught by me today, though, didn't you? What's to say I won't tell McGonagall?"

Marlene's face betrayed a flash of stress before returning to the self-confident assuredness that Jo found detestable, "you wouldn't."

Jo scoffed at this challenge, "and why is that?"

Marlene's arm slammed into the wall next to Jo's head, pinning her in place. Both girls were tall, but Marlene had an extra inch that she decided to monopolise on. Straightening her posture, she extended herself so she was now looking down to Jo, directly into her unflinching eyes.

"Because," Marlene spoke just above a whisper, "you like me too much."

Jo let out an audible laugh and shouldered Marlene to push her back. Jo could feel a real anger coursing through her body, she stepped up to Marlene, looking her squarely in the eyes, "yeah right! Look, Marlene, rules were made for a reason, so follow them. You're lucky I was here today to help you in, you should be thanking me, not being cocky about your entire disregard for law and order."

Jo pushed passed Marlene, making her way to the girls dormitories. She stopped short of the first step and sighed, "look, I won't tell McGonagall this time, but don't let me catch you again, I can't turn my eye to this again, okay?"

Marlene remained still, standing facing away from Jo still staring at the entrance she'd been let in just a minute ago.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Jo spoke up again, and finished their conversation with an unsympathetic, "goodnight, Marlene."

Marlene remained stuck in the spot where Jo had been centimetres from her face. Whisks of her long, blonde curls had hit Marlene's arms and made her shiver. The fierce eye contact had made her heart falter for a second too long. It sent her back to her fifteen year old self, feeling the same momentary falter she had felt for Sirius in fifth year.

Well, she said, finally pulling her body away from the fated spot, I wonder who's romance Sirius will be with, 'cause it sure as hell ain't me.

After a few more moments frozen in place m Marlene rubbed her face with her hands, sighing deeply. As she finally moved back up the stairs to her room, a dazed and confused Remus Lupin edged carefully down the stairs of the boy's dorm.

"Hello?" He whispered, "anyone there?"

He had heard voices, and thought he'd also heard the door open too, he wanted to make sure that it wasn't a first year who'd gone on a midnight adventure and got trapped outside, or hurt in some way.

"I said is anyone there? I'm not going to punish you, I just want to know if you're alright," he ventured further into the dorm.

A muted voice from behind startled Remus, "no punishment? Well that's no fun now is it Moony."

Remus jumped back in shock, and Sirius stifled a laugh, "what are you doing here?"

"Me?" Sirius replied innocently, "I was woken up by some noise, and saw the door open and your bed empty."

"So you decided to follow me to scare the living daylights out of me, huh?" Remus replied, regaining the breath he lost from the scare of his life.

Sirius glanced at the floor, looking slightly uncomfortable, "sorry Moony, I didn't think you'd jump that much, you really are a wimp you know." Sirius laughed slightly, which made Remus glare at him.

"I didn't mean to scare you... I just- it's the full moon in a few day I wanted... I wanted to make sure you weren't already getting symptoms," he said this carefully, not wanting to sound too serious, even though that's not what it felt like "I just wanted to check if you were okay."

"Oh," Remus replied simply, not knowing how to reply to this unexpectedly sweet answer, "well I'm fine at the moment, no need to worry just yet." He smiled slightly wearily at Sirius, with the hectic action of the last few weeks Remus had forgotten the full moon was only a few nights away.

They shared an awkward glance and a following silence, "thanks though... for caring and all."

Sirius let out another stifled laugh, "well don't say it like that, of course I care if you're in pain, I'm your friend, you know? When I saw your bed was empty my heart practically plummeted to the floor!"

Remus was having the most unexpectedly stressful night. He had no idea how to respond to this comment. His heart dropped... for me? Remus, no, god, don't go down this path again, you're friends, of course he's going to care if you went missing. Or Peter. Or James for that matter! Why can't you respond. Just respond with anything!

"Oh okay," he finally whispered back, smiling a vague, unconvincing smile, "well goodnight!" He pushed past Sirius and practically sprinted back to their dorm, digging his head as far down into his pillow as it was possible for it to go.

For the second time this night, a student was left stood still in stunned silence, facing the closed door. Oh okay, Sirius replayed Remus' words in his mind, oh okay. Oh okay? Okay to what? Did I really say my heart plummeted to the floor. Plummeted? That makes it sound like I was panicking... well you kind of were though, weren't you? Sirius told his mind to shut up and went back upstairs to try and get back to sleep. Or at least toss and turn all night replaying a certain conversation in his head. He'd yet to decide.