UNDER THE MOON, Remus Lupin

lx.

FULL MOON, EMPTY HEART
⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

There was only a week left of school. And since you're wondering ... Yeah... Alice had gotten in a lot of trouble for kicking Isabella's arse. But Isabella got in even more trouble for killing Blue. In fact, she got expelled. It hurt Alice so badly that she killed Blue, but she wasn't that sad. She'd gotten over Blue a long time ago and even though he'd been killed, he wasn't suffering. So it was okay. Not really. But it was.

Alice and Zephyr had become even more inseparable after that little fiasco. It was funny how it seemed to be them against everyone. Alice and Zeph hated Clint. Alice wasn't speaking to Aria, Zeph hated Aria. Both of them hated Isabella more than Aria and Clint combined. It's funny how friendship works like that.

"I think if I were a guy... my name would be something like "Daniel." It's exactly what my mother would've wanted," Alice said, licking a strawberry flavoured lollipop as she and Zeph sat beneath a tree in the forest.

Zeph nodded, biting his cotton candy lollipop. "If I were a guy-," he paused. "If I were a girl, my name would be "Sheila." I just know it."

Alice tucked her lollipop stick in her pocket and took out her wand, spinning it in her fingers. She used it to fly a stick through the air, watching it swoop and swing, dive up and down. Magic was beautiful. "Would you ever forgive Clint?"

"I don't think I could. Not only did he kiss you when you were in a relationship, he kissed my girlfriend. He did more than kiss her..." Zeph was disgusted by the images that flickered through his mind whenever he mentioned it. "How do you ever forgive someone for all of that? If I ever forgive him... it'll be after you do. And it'll be after I forgive Aria. If I do."

"I miss us. The way we used to be."

"Me too. But maybe things are better this way."

Since when were things better broken?

Zeph put his arm around Alice's shoulders and squeezed her. "Things will be alright, Ali. After all, you have Remus. And me."

The love that Alice and Remus shared was enough to keep Zephyr believing in love. Maybe life wasn't in the cards for him right now, but he still believed in it. When he saw Remus look at Alice in class... he wondered how you could look at someone that way. Like you'd rather cut your own heart out than see them in pain.

Alice and Zephyr spent some more time in the woods, they sent spells each other's way and laughed when the other one failed. They were running throughout the forest and stopped somewhere near the shrieking shack. That's what reminded Alice that tonight was the full moon. Remus hated this time of month. So did Alice. Because she knew he had to go through this. He didn't have a choice.

It stung to wonder what he went through. He described it to her. So did the books. But she wouldn't really know what it feels like unless it happened to her.

Before Remus would leave, Alice decided to spend the last few hours with him. She'd been spending a significant amount of her time with Zeph because he didn't really have anyone besides her. He had Adrian, but Adrian was like a cat. He showed up when he wanted to. She couldn't rely on him to spend time with Zeph.

"Remus, my love, I'm here!" Alice said as soon as she stepped foot into his room. Where he was not present? "Remus? Wolfie?"

From behind, a figure attacked her waist, hugging it tightly and tackling her onto the couch. "Hello, love," Remus whispered into her ear.

He flipped Alice over and she smiled excitedly at him. "I missed you so much!" She kissed his grinning lips in a rush. "Did you miss me?"

"Was Oscar Wilde gay?" He mocked her. "Of course I missed you, don't be daft."