Wild Amenity » Remus Lupin

4. Multipurpose Greenhouse: a guide not to

Tuesday, 2nd December 1975. 14 days after the full moon.

That day, Judson made a drastic decision: he was going to have a conversation with Remus Lupin.

The plan wasn't that hard. He just had to approach him when he was alone—because there was no way he was handling the other three as well—and ask him some trivial stuff about his day. Judson didn't really want to brag about it, but he knew he wasn't going to get rejected, because Remus had already called him 'mate' once (at a party, a month ago), so they were practically best friends.

"Hey, mate," he said, waving his hand.

"Remus! Hi!" he said again, smiling.

"Oh, hey! I didn't see you there," he spoke for the third time, winking at the mirror in front of him. Nope. Not winking ever again.

After several painful and cringy attempts, he decided to go for the typical, "Hey, how you've been?" A bit simple, but that one never failed. So with his confidence brought to the top, he adjusted his hat, and was ready to face whatever that day was willing to put on his way.

Judson couldn't figure out what was wrong about wearing the uniform properly. It seemed as if he was the only one to do so, because even though the rest of the students respected the general aspects of it, no one else wore the hat the reglament said explicitly was part of it. Maybe he'd run into some first-years with the dark cloth on their heads, and he always got great pleasure when, on special occasions, everyone was forced to wear it. Justice.

That was the reason for the many eyes he had on him as he walked through the halls. Ever since second year it had been like that, but Judson was used to it. Besides, he was a Prefect for following the rules, which were made to follow, not to break.

Juniper was long gone after Herbology class, always being the first one to leave the room thanks to her natural hate towards the subject. Yet this time, Judson didn't follow her steps, as his eyes spotted Remus from afar.

He was leaning on a wall, talking to some younger Gryffindors Judson suspected were asking him for help with their homework—which he knew happened, for he had seen Remus doing so before. The exchange didn't seem to be taking too long, and Judson considered the odds to be in his favour.

That's my call, he thought to himself, taking one step at a time. It's fine. I've got it. I've got it.

"Can you take that thing off?" Sergei Yakov appeared in front of him, interrupting his view. His blond hair fell in small waves over his forehead, and created a beautiful contrast with the green scarf around his neck. But his eyes were looking up, as most people had done that day. He was looking at the hat.

Reluctantly, Judson redirected his gaze to him. "Why?"

"I can't speak to you when you're wearing it, it's quite distracting."

"Then don't."

Judson tried to walk away to get to Remus, but Sergei took a step into his new path. He wanted to scream. Where had he come from? Couldn't have he picked another day to annoy him?

With his head cocked to the side a little, Sergei lifted up his hand, covering Judson's hat from his view. He smiled.

Judson let out a frustrated sigh. "What do you want, Yakov?"

"Sergei. Sweet Salazar, when will you learn?" he said, but Judson couldn't care less. He checked the back of the hall, making sure Remus was still there. And he was, thank God. "Anyway, I've heard you're staying here for Christmas."

Judson tore his eyes away from Remus and stared at Sergei, perplexed. "Yes, I'll stay to study for the O.W.L.s. How do you know?"

"Simple. Slughorn told me." Sergei shrugged. It clearly wasn't a big deal to him. "He has a list in his office with the students who are staying here during the holidays. Probably to see if he can organize one of his dinners, or something equally boring."