Out of the Blue (Remus Lupin, Marauder's Era)

Chapter 5: Velitation

noun; a dispute or slight contest

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Alice was intrigued.

The Muggle Studies class was almost over, and Alice was already feeling a bit enlightened both on the habits of British muggles and on the habits of Remus Lupin.

She didn't mean to sound creepy or anything, but it truly was revealing to watch someone without them being able to see you.

Nope, that was definitely creepy, Alice laughed to herself, refocusing on her notes, which had frequently been abandoned during the class. It was true though, it was fascinating to watch someone's twitches and movements, what they did when they were bored, or distracted, or when they would gaze longingly at whatever poor sap they fancied.

Lupin for example, did not pay attention, at least in this class, nearly as much people seemed to think he did. Sure, he took notes and he certainly seemed as though he was hanging in to every word Professor Shepard said, but it was obvious that he couldn't do that all the time. His hand, the one that was not writing, always would drift to either brush over the scars on his neck or absentmindedly drum on the desk. Lupin also seemed to be quite interested in the room around him, students included, because for a minute or two at a time, his gaze would settle on the bookshelf to their left or on the pretty Slytherin near the front of the room, then bounce over to the Hufflepuff lad etching something on his poor desk, and then eventually snap back to attention, fixing his posture and refocusing on his notes.

Alice also noticed that he had a mole right at the nape of his neck, then chided herself for thinking about it.

She was fairly relieved that she was behind him, that he couldn't see her terrible posture and stupid spaced out face, which Tabbie liked to tease her for. Hell, she was glad she was behind everyone, but she knew (sorta) and respected Lupin, so her awareness of herself and all her faults just skyrocketed whenever he looked at her, as much as she was ashamed to admit.

Alice was also aware that Professor Shepard had yet to call the roll, the list still sat on her desk as she spoke about something called taxis.

Now, how did she handle this? Alice liked Professor Shepard, she was passionate and intelligent, so making her aware of her own forgetfulness without invoking the mockery of the class was out of the question. Should she engage psychological mind tricks? Maybe raise her hand and ask about something like sole wall (perhaps it existed?) and hope it triggered whatever in her head that allowed her to skip it in the first place?

No, that was ridiculous and didn't make any sense, and while that was usually Alice's specialty, now was not the right time to bust out some needlessly elaborate and ineffective plot to remind the professor.

Simplicity is key in moments like these, Alice told herself as she very carefully slipped her wand out of her sleeve and recalled the spell to summon wind.

Ventus, she thought, recalling all the training her sister had given her. Alice had yet to completely master non-verbal spell casting, but Rosalind had been able to drill a few useless mental spells into her head.

The gust of wind shot forward, over Lupin's shoulder and towards the front of the room. Shit, it had been lower than she had anticipated, brushing over Lupin's shoulder and left ear, but made it to the front of the room nonetheless, fluttering the papers over the back and onto Professor Shepard's chair. Most of the kids snickered, probably figuring it had been some kind of practical joke by Peeves or another errant ghost. Most.

Lupin had evidently felt her breeze and turned around. Alice ducked her head down pretending to be doodling on her notes. She held that for a few seconds, then glanced back up.