Headdesking - Remus Lupin/OC

Chapter 15: The Hufflepuff Common Room

Remus, for the first time ever, stepped into the Hufflepuff common room. He was met with a nutty waft, like that of roasted pecans.

He looked around, familiarising himself with the new location.

In spite of the glory of being in another common room but his own, nothing really stood out to him as different except for a sense of how crowded it was. Not so much with people, but by how all around its mustard coloured walls sat picture frames or dried flowers or some other decoration. The surfaces that weren't occupied by groups of students –either studying, conversing or otherwise engaged in another form of merriment– were taken up by firewood, cases with blankets and pillows in them, or shelves. The latter was fully equipped with board games and puzzles.

All the residual space on shelves and countertops had been lavished instead with decorative little knick-knacks.

James came in after him, tripping over a wicker basket of windfallen fruit. He regained his balance and, both puzzled by their new environment, they exchanged a sceptical eye.

A kettle was boiling somewhere, but Remus, for the life of him, could not spot it among the abundance of stuff. Sirius had entered now too, and was looking around the room, tugging rapidly at his collar to air his chest. He stopped in his motion when his eyes fell on something. By the almost fearful look on his face, Remus had to follow his gaze.

When his head turned to the fireplace, a circular hole in the wall, he could almost immediately guess what had caught his friend's eye. There, on the wall above the fire, hung a tapestry with the embroidered words "Own hearth is gold worth".

Sirius wrinkled his nose, uncomfortable with such unironic sentimentality. It teased a chuckle out of Remus, and Sirius swung an arm around him to pull him close, suddenly now with a large grin on his face.

"This lady better be worth it."

Remus was about to pretend not to have heard him, but Sirius spotted a girl he knew and greeted her ostentatiously from a distance, thereby letting him off an attempt at fakery.

Sirius then diverged toward the girl, leaving James and Peter behind.

"Come with me." he whispered. He usually preferred backup when he was chatting to a girl. Remus wasn't sure whether this stemmed from insecurity, or if it had perhaps proved to give him a higher success rate. Nevertheless he made a quick decision on which of the three stock-laughs he should use later on when Sirius made a joke in front of her, then complied with his friend's wishes. He couldn't really do anything but tag along, as he was still firmly in his friend's grasp.

James didn't seem to notice their departure, and he was exchanging a few pleasantries with the Hufflepuff quidditch captain while Peter hovered close to him.

Sirius strutted up to the girl. She was one of the quiet girls in their year, and true still, she was currently wearing a dreary expression, bored of having to listen to a friend of hers. The other girl was sitting next to her, animatedly relating a tale for her. But when Sirius approached her –with Remus at his side, doing his best not to show any signs of pain as his bruised ribs shifted with every step– the girl broke into a brilliant smile.

It wasn't Remus' wish to make a scene. These things just sort of happened when his friends were involved. This time however, against all odds, he was the one to cause one.

See, he was still not fully recovered from the injuries he'd suffered on the night of the full moon — and walking wasn't as easy as it was on the regular. So when Sirius manoeuvred himself into the tight alley between the couch and the coffee table, toward the side chair where the desired girl was located, Remus soon felt himself biting off more than he could chew in terms of locations where he could keep his balance in his physically fragile state.