Headdesking - Remus Lupin/OC

Chapter 6: Burn After Reading

Hazel was in Defense Against the Dark Arts. They had all been split up into pairs. Not necessarily to duel, but to take turns practising blocking incoming hexes.

Instead of actually hexing each other though, they had been instructed to only use the disarming charm in place of a real curse (so as to prevent the hospital wing from filling up).

But the hypothetical threat could still feel quite real at times. Especially since they were in year eight, and for it to be an actual challenge the spell was being sent in rapidfire toward you, leaving you with mere split seconds to block every next spell as it came toward you. The efforts were leaving people out of breath and with quick pulses, some even feeling shaky and light headed after a showdown.

Hazel's pulse had definitely increased somewhat during her round. But now that it was her turn to fire the spell, she was finding it difficult to focus. She kept looking over at Remus Lupin while she was shooting spell after spell at her own duelling partner.

The focus he exhibited in blocking his partner was awe-inspiring. She watched the hard expression on his face as he flung his wand sharply back and forth, up and down, causing static noises to expel between the magic and his barrier. Nothing could make him lose his focus.

He hadn't lost his wand once since they'd started. It seemed impossible to disarm him. He was adjusting his wand so quickly and with such intentionality behind his movements that the whole segment looked rehearsed. As if he could predict where the next spell would hit him.

But it was obvious that nothing about it was rehearsed, because the girl he was paired up with was looking just as awestruck as Hazel felt when she took in the scene.

When the girl stopped firing at him, he was too busy critically examining his wand to notice the look of disbelief on her face. He practised another movement once more with a dissatisfied pout. Probably running through ideas of how he could improve.

Then Remus finally snapped himself out of his self-assessment and complimented his partner on her performance. The girl blushed, but just as she did, Sirius made a joke to him and Remus' attention was briefly snapped away. He chuckled and fired something back at his friend.

The girl had blushed about five times or so during the course of being paired up with Remus, and Hazel thought the boy should have noticed it by now. But every time she blushed, Remus would either have his attention stolen away by one of his mates messing around with him, or simply by going about some other business at that moment. And so he remained utterly oblivious to his effect on the girl. It was the only time that he wasn't actually all that attentive.

"Feel free to give me a break at any moment." Lily quipped at her then, with what may very well have been her last breath from the sound of it.

Hazel's eyes went wide and she immediately put down her wand. Ejecting a submissive, "Sorry!"

Lily waved it off. "It's okay." she said, then closed the distance between them and leaned in giddily.

"He's cute, isn't he?" Lily whispered with a knowing smirk.

Hazel recoiled her jaw at the sudden and exposing nature of her change of topic. Making any note of whom Lily was referring to was redundant (to Hazel's misfortune).

"No!" she instead spat in her fluster. She attested it without proper consideration and with a complete disregard for any honest opinion she might have had, leaving Lily to regard her with a critical expression.

As soon as it had been announced that they needed to pair up, Hazel had found herself side by side with Lily Evans not long after. It wasn't a regular occurrence, so she had found it a little curious.