Secret Wings [Remus Lupin]

Chapter 16: More Running

"Run, Stella!" Remus whisper-shouted at me, as we ran for our lives down the corridor. The party had been going great, well, at least for the ghosts. I myself wasn't having a grand time, and by the looks of it neither was Remus. So naturally, we decided to sneak out.
A brilliant idea, if I do say so myself, until it wasn't.

We hadn't made it a few corridors away when we heard the telltale meow of an all too familiar cat. Ms. Norris. As you can imagine it didn't take but a few seconds more until Filch himself showed his face. But it was the few seconds head start that had ultimately saved us so far, as we ran through the moon and torch lit corridors of Hogwarts.

"I am running!" I puffed back, trying to keep up with his longer legs. "If you would just shorten your leg span maybe I could keep up." I heard him give an out-of-breath chuckle in front of me.

"Just a few more corridors and we'll be safe." He mumbled, mostly to himself.

"What's a few more corridors away?!" I asked, but the words were almost inaudible due to my lack of breath. Remus seemed to catch the words though because as we rounded yet another corner, he answered vaguely. "You'll see."

"Oh yes, please just continue to answer in short cryptic sentences, because I completely appreciate them." I muttered to myself. Remus just sent a sly smile over his shoulder at me in response. I kept my gaze on the ground as I focused on my breathing. I could faintly hear Filch somewhere behind us, shouting. But then it was eerily quiet as I only heard my own footprints on the floor. Looking up, I noticed that Remus was no longer there. "Remus!" I whispered.

There was no reply, but an arm shot out from behind a tapestry beside me and pulled me behind it as well. I squealed in surprise, and a hand promptly covered my mouth cutting off the beginnings of my protest. "Shhhhh, it's just me." Remus whispered in the darkness of wherever we were. Blinking, my eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness of a corridor apparently behind the tapestry.

"Where are we?" I whispered, warily.

Remus grinned, and said proudly. "We are in a secret corridor." I raised my eyebrows at him in the semidarkness of the "secret corridor".

"And how it it that you happen to know where this is?"

Remus hesitated for a second, as if reluctant to tell me. "Well, actually, me and my friends have found and mapped quite a few of them."

I blinked, but found I wasn't really surprised at the fact. "Have you ever considered making a map of all of them?"

Remus seemed to throw the thought around in his head before speaking up, a slow grin spreading across his face. "That's actually a brilliant idea Stella."

I blushed, and scuffed my feet across the floor to distract myself, hoping the dimness would be enough to hide my reddening cheeks. "We should probably get back to the Common room."

"Yeah, but first, I'm starved. We should stop by the kitchens for some sweets. I mean, it is Halloween after all." I nodded rigorously in agreement, putting a hand to my stomach as it grumbled at the thought of food.

"Anythings better than that rotting buffet the ghosts had at their party." I said, my nose wrinkling thinking back to the horrid display. Remus nodded his head in agreeing with me, and then led the way through the secret corridor. We stopped every so often to listen for Filch or his menacing cat, Ms. Norris, before we crossed down into more corridors, secret and regular alike. And after a few more minutes we made it to the kitchens.

The house elves were more than accommodating as they excitedly served us a multitude of sweets.

********

Me and Remus trudged up the stairs, our stomachs full to bursting with candies, when he spoke up breaking the silence between us. "Why did Nick invite you to his Death Day party in first place?"

I paused my steps, gnawing on my bottom lip, thinking of what to say, and what not to say. I looked to that Remus had also
stopped in his tracks to look at for an answer. "Can you keep a secret?"

He tensed, but nodded anyway, his eyes sincere as they looked earnestly into mine.
"I-I can't walk through ghosts." I murmured. "They're just like solid people to me. Alive people. That's why Nick invited me to his party, he thought that I was interesting."

I looked away from his warm gaze, my face burning with undefinable shame. I chanced a glance at my only friend, and saw only acceptance on his face. I felt myself relax as we continued on our way, talking in low voices. "Have you done anything to research it?" Remus asked.

"Not really, I wouldn't know where to start." I replied honestly.

He smiled. "We can go to the library sometime and research it if you'd like." He hesitated, then added, "I mean, only if you want to of course. It's up to you."

"Maybe sometime." I shrugged noncommittal. Truth was, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what kind of freak I was. Remus just nodded along, and we didn't say anything else except goodnight, before we parted ways at the spiral staircases.

*********

We never did go to the library to research my strange ability. Weeks passed and before I knew it Christmas break was almost upon us, ready to take away students back home. Most of the Gryffindor house had signed up to go home. I didn't have a home to go back to so I was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.

Not that I really minded, Hogwarts was more of a home to me anyway.

I was sitting on my window seat in the common room, a few days before the students were due to leave, when I felt a hand tap my shoulder.
I turned to see no one other than Remus.

"Hello Remus." I smiled, happy to see him a s always.

He smiled back. "Hello Stella. I don't suppose you're going to be going anywhere for the holidays." He said. A statement not a question.

"You'd be correct." I said, shrugging.

A grin spread across his face. "Well then I suppose it's a good thing I decided to stay and keep you company."

I leaped up and hugged him.

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I just recently posted it!