TEACHER'S PET ━ 𝓡. Lupin

12. The best

—"AND THAT'S WHY" Jonah brought the cigarette to his lips, taking a long puff "I promised that slytherin kid a monthly supply of Fizzing Whizzbees, at my own expense"

He concluded, as the others surrounding him wildly laughed. JJ was just telling them about how, that one time he was sneaking out of the Slytherin common room after paying one of his nocturnal visits to Delilah, he had found himself facing a devilish first year whom he ended up having to bribe so he wouldn't be reported to Snape... or, even worse, to McGonagall herself.

"Wow, you really are an idiot" Said Thea
"Yeah, no wonder you're not in Ravenclaw" Added Kenneth, sniggering to himself.

"You're not exactly a great example of a Ravenclaw yourself, K" Jonah argued back, slapping his friend's shoulder.

The five students were walking through Hogsmeade's snow-capped streets, it was the end of yet another week, this meant that exactly two weeks had passed from the whole dementor-attack and kissing-the-teacher incident.

From that day on, time had been passing by in an odd way, Natalia sometimes felt like everything was going by faster, other days everything felt slower and unbearable.

She had seen Lupin a couple of times, exclusively during school hours, in class.
He wasn't talking to her, nor his eyes dared to linger on her figure, not even for a split second. It was like she wasn't there.
It almost felt like, to him, she didn't exist at all.
And, as a matter of fact, during those weeks Natalia hadn't properly existed.

She was constantly mentally absent, her friends had pointed it out to her, even though she had barely seen them during those past weeks.

That Saturday morning she had hardly managed to crawl out of the Ravenclaw tower.
It had always been like that, luckily or not, her crippling fear of being left out was stronger than the burning desire to be on her own.
Therefore, she had to make an effort not to avoid her friends.

That day she was also planning to meet up with Charlie, she couldn't have possibily kept avoiding him forever, and she was also feeling guiltier with each passing day.

By that time, everything in her life felt like a duty to her.
She hung out with her mates, because she always had to be the perfect friend if she didn't want them to abandon her.
She was going to speak with Charlie, because she always had to do the right thing.
She studied hard and tirelessly, because she always had to prove everyone she was the best at something, she needed to be the best at something, anything.
And, at that moment, the only thing in her life she was good at, the only thing she had under control, was school.

From an early age they had always told her about how good and naturally gifted she was.
Talented, intelligent, clever.

And for a while in her childhood she had truly been a natural, effortlessly good at everything.
Then, the burnout.
And she had had to work twice as much not to disappoint anyone, to live up to everyone's expectations, to always be the best.

Because, who would've ever wanted her if she hadn't been the perfect child, the perfect friend, the star student?

She had to be infallible, she couldn't afford to contradict herself, she couldn't afford to lose herself.

Natalia: feet firmly on the ground, always sure of which path to follow, without ever falter, without ever ask for any help.

Simply the best.