UNDER THE MOON, Remus Lupin

xxxvi.

(ALMOST) EVERYONE'S DATING

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"What... the... fuck?" Alice asked out loud as her sister and best friend pulled themselves off of each other. Zephyr cleared his throat and wiped his mouth. Aria just scratched the back of her neck and stared at the ground.

Zephyr breathed in sharply. "I can't really explain this. I think Aria can, though!"

"Hey!" Aria snapped at him.

Alice began laughing. "Don't bother. I don't want you to explain. Just- don't break each other's hearts. And don't do stuff here! I don't want to walk in on it."

They both assumed Alice would be a lot madder than she appeared. But Alice didn't really care that much. Well, she cared. She cared in the sense that she sort of saw it coming. For whatever reason, Aria had always been flirting with Zeph. And Zeph had always gotten overly flustered from it. Alice didn't mind.

"So you're not going to castrate me?" Zephyr asked her with his hands covering his pelvis.

"Not currently."

Somewhere along the line, Alice was sure she'd find a reason. When they were younger, she'd found plenty of reasons. During the summer before their 4th year, Alice was spending the week at Zeph's. His older brother was such a prat, poking fun at her, pulling her pigtails as she tried slapping his hand away. He was only a year older than them but acted like he was five years younger. Zephyr had been able to tell his brother had a major crush on Alice at the time. Despite her being the biggest dork ever, Zion Aberra couldn't stop flirting with her the entire time.

It had made her never want to go back. Countless times during the night, Zion tried sneaking into her and Zeph's room to scare Alice awake. One night, Alice had mistaken Zephyr for Zion and rammed her knees into his groin, having had enough. Zephyr cursed his brother's name all night long as he held a cold compress to his nuts while watching a muggle movie with Alice.

Though that hadn't been Zephyr's fault, Alice still had the gut feeling that she'd find a reason to castrate Zeph one day. Perhaps if he decided to crush Aria's heart Alice would step in. Though her sister was scarier than she was, Aria was extremely soft. She didn't take heartbreak easily. Alice and Aria handled breakups differently. Aria cried for days, and Alice kind of just moved on. Maybe it's because Aria let herself fall in love. Alice usually didn't. Not until she met Remus. She loved Fred, but she hadn't ever been in love with him.

"I do have one question though." Alice held up her index finger as though to signal that she needed them to halt. "How'd this even happen?"

Zephyr waited for Aria to answer because he sure as hell would not dare to open his mouth on the subject again. Aria rolled her eyes. "When we were coming back from Christmas break... I didn't have anywhere to sit so I joined him. Clint was with Cedric. And... we talked a little. Then Zeph brought me a hot chocolate and we kind of... ended up... making out in the cabin."

"Okay, well... Gross. But okay."

"Now this isn't fair!" Aria exclaimed suddenly. "You get to know about my relationship, why can't I know about yours?"

Zephyr burst out in a fit of sputtered laughter. "You two have a laugh with that, I'm going to find something to do." He snorted once more before pulling his sweater on and leaving. He almost gave Aria a kiss goodbye, but then he remembered Alice was watching him like a hawk.

Aria crossed her arms at her sister. Alice wasn't sure if or where she should start. Tucking her leg beneath her, Aria sat down on her bed and watched her sister struggle with her thoughts. "You have to promise not to tell anyone. Only Zeph, Adrian, Kiara, and... Clint know."