Only the Good Die Young

Part 8: Sixth Year: Only Cool Girls Hide in Bathrooms

Remus opened the girl's lavatory door and immediately, his eyes searched for Iris. 

There she was, standing in front of one of the many mirrors, lining her glossy eyes with eyeliner.

"Hooty? You, okay?" Remus asked hesitantly as he partially covered his eyes with his hand. He wasn't totally comfortable being in there since he was most definitely not a girl.

Iris didn't expect to be followed as she turned her head towards Remus, still hiding behind the door to get in. 

She rolled her eyes at the sight of him and spoke, "Moony, no ones in here but me and you. You don't have to cover your eyes you wanker." She laughed quietly, anyone who was as close with her as Remus was, would've been able to tell that something was slightly wrong with her.

"I saw you leave after what Sirius said. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Remus asked, carefully approaching the girl. 

"What do you mean Rem?" Iris asked, not bothering to look up from her reflection as she drew on a perfectly straight line.

Remus simply approached the girl from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"It's okay to have feelings you know," Remus started, whispering into her ear, "You can feel sad, everyone does, you don't have to be weirded out by it all the time." 

"I know!" Iris said, hastily closing her eyeliner, and turning to face Remus, "But I just- I feel- there's always something. . . wrong."

"Wrong? What do you-" Remus started before he was cut off by a yelling Iris.

"I kissed him! I kissed him and- and I think I liked it? No. No, I know  I liked it and that can't happen, because we are strictly friends, and friends don't kiss and like it. And we did? And I liked it? And I don't know if he did too-" 

"What? You two kissed? I thought maybe you two were hanging out, but kissed? Bloody hell Iris." Remus's eyes bulged as he tried to process the thought of two of his very best friends together.

"You aren't really helping Rem." Iris looked defeated as she turned back towards the mirror.

"Right. Right you're so right. I'm sorry," Remus paused here for a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the conversation ahead, "I think it's lovely that you two are engaging with each other on a deeper level, I- I think that's truly what this friend group needs."

"Remus!" Iris said, covering her ears, "I don't even thinks he likes me like that! And I don't even know if I like him like that. And on top of us kissing while unsure of our feelings, I have more problems because of Aaron! Like seriously, Rem, what the fuck was I thinking?"

 Iris was breathing heavily as she turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. She closed her eyes and shushed Remus as he tried to respond to her manic ranting.

As Iris opened her eyes, she looked as if she hadn't just had a breakdown in the girls' lavatory. 

"Never mind about me. It's Pete's birthday and he's probably heading to eat now. He doesn't need this mess." Iris smiled in the mirror and opened the door to the now empty hall.

Remus didn't follow for a long second. He just stared at Iris wondering if she's ever pulled herself together like that before and no one had noticed. He knew the answer to that, but he couldn't bring himself to ask Iris as he smiled and raced out of the bathroom, knowing Iris was glad to get away from any more questioning.

Before Iris could get too far, Remus grabbed Iris's wrist and pulled her to say, "Iris, once Peter's birthday is over, can we find a time to talk? I feel like we haven't really talked in a while."