And There Were Always Two... - oc x r. lupin & oc x s. black

- 6 -

"I think our essay was pretty good," Remus said to Ashley.

"But we forgot to add something about the alternate use." she pointed out.

"Oh, Godric! We did, didn't we?" he shook his head. "Why didn't we?"

Ashley yawned.

"Don't blame me for it, my brain was dying from the inside out." she sighed, collapsing onto the desk.

"Oh, quit the dramatics. We'll be fine!" Remus chuckled.

She slowly returned to an upright position.

"Potter, Curron, what is happening?" Slughorn exclaimed.

Ashley and Remus looked over to see Mavis residing on Potter's lap.

Remus leaned over and whispered to Ashley, "Isn't Ashley supposed to be the shy twin?"

She shrugged.

"She's changed..." Remus mumbled as if he didn't think Ashley could hear him.

For some reason, it hurt her to think that she had changed. She was still the same person, although she felt like she had aged a million years. It felt like their friendship had been a lifetime ago, but the guilt was ever present. Her heart stung, and she turned away.

* * *

Before Ashley knew it, she was sitting in the quidditch stands watching the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff captains shaking hands. Mavis had dragged her outside on a horrible Sunday afternoon, not giving her a reason why she wanted to watch this particular game. Ashley was grasping a jar of honey for dear life, completely out of her element in this kind of crowd.

"Today's game is predicted to be an interesting clash of teams." the commentator began. "Gryffindor Captain, James Potter, and his team are known to be good players with raw talent, but Hufflepuff has tight tactics and flawless technique. It seems that this is such an exciting match, it has dragged out even the most reclusive students."

"Ash?" Mavis leaned towards Ashley. "What's up with Lupin?"

"Why?"

She gave Ashley an unimpressed look.

"He's commentating while staring right at you."

Ashley looked over, and sure enough, Remus was in the teacher's stand with his wand at his throat.

"I hadn't noticed." she shrugged.

"Suuuuuure..."

"Plus, he's not looking at me, he's looking at you."

Mavis glanced over at him again, and he scowled at her. Ashley spooned some more honey into her mouth, trying to swallow the sour taste of guilt that came about whenever she thought about Remus.

Throughout the game, Ashley was dragged up to cheer whenever Gryffindor blocked a goal. It happened often and she felt so tired it was as if she had played in the match herself. Gryffindor won, no surprise, and Mavis dragged her down onto the field. Apparently, they were going to congratulate their team. Ashley quickly got lost in the crowd.

She was short and couldn't see over a hundred heads. At one point everyone started chanting "Potter" and jumping around. About twenty people bumped into Ashley, and only two said sorry. Ashley didn't like people.

It took her a second to notice that she had dropped her honey. She just had to stop losing her spoons. The grass was covered in feet, so she couldn't see it, but her foot found it quite quickly as she rolled her ankle on the jar.

"I got ya."

To arms grabbed her and set her up right before she had the chance for her face to make contact with the muddy ground.

"Thank you," she said, turning around to see Remus.

She tried to step on her foot and winced.

"You okay there?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Fine."

"Did you roll your ankle?"

"Probably not."

"Does it hurt?"

"Pain's a relative concept."

"Godric, you really are a frustrating little creature." Remus chuckled.

He was wearing another pair of jeans, old and worn, and a carmine fleece over a grey t-shirt. There was a tired expression on his face, and he had purple splotches beneath each eye. Though he stood a foot taller than her, it didn't stop her from commenting, "I'm not little."

"Sure, you are," Remus said, ruffling her hair.

"Well, you're a frustrating giant creature, you know that?"

Remus just smiled. "I aim to impress!"

Ashley stuck out her tongue at him and for a second she felt like they were six years old again. That's when she came back to reality.

"I better go find my sister."

"Can you walk?" Remus asked.

"Can you?"

And with that Ashley hobbled away, doing her best to conceal the fact that her ankle really hurt. Damn that little honey jar.