"He hates her."
"No he doesn't, not really.
She just makes him feel things that he's claimed don't exist."
･ﾟﾟ･｡｡･ﾟﾟ･･ﾟﾟ･｡
When Slughorn puts Callisto McAdams and Regulus Black in his potions class together, he unknowingly functions as a match maker...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
☄️☄️☄️
"HAVE YOU ALREADY FOUND A DATE FOR THE WINTER BALL?" Callisto asks Remus, who's sitting next to her at one of the long wooden tables in the library. His fingers tap nervously on the cover of his textbook, clearly struggling to focus. "No," Remus says, forcing a small smile, though his eyes remain on the book in front of him, distracted.
Across from her, Sirius and James look up, their eyes finding Lupin. The four of them are spending their Saturday afternoon together in the library, a makeshift study session to catch up on the homework from the day before. Callisto feels at ease here, surrounded by her friends. The warm light filtering through the library windows is a far cry from the cold, dark corners of the Slytherin common room, where she usually feels a constant weight on her shoulders. Here, with James, Sirius, and Remus, there's nothing to hide. There's no need to pretend.
Callisto can hear the muffled chatter of other students, but the four of them make a quiet little island in the middle of the room. Even though Peter is missing—again—Callisto can't quite recall why this time—it's still... comforting. The kind of friendship she never thought she'd have.
"What about you guys?" Callisto glances up from her parchment to James and Sirius.
"I was going to ask Lily," James says, his grin spreading like wildfire. "I mean, we're kind of official now... It's just been a couple of weeks, but still. I'd like to make it official in front of everyone. Let the whole school know she's mine."
Sirius bursts out laughing. "I can't believe you finally got her, mate! After all those embarrassing attempts."
"Hey! First of all, she's not an object, Padfoot. And second of all, it wasn't embarrassing," James protests, throwing his arm around Sirius' shoulders, who ducks away from the gesture with a grin.
"You can't deny it," Sirius teases. "I mean, we were all rooting for you, but there were moments when we thought you'd never crack the code."
Callisto smiles softly. She knows James' crush on Lily has been a running joke among their group for ages, but now that it's finally happening... she can't help but feel genuinely happy for him.
"Don't listen to him, James," she chimes in, catching his eye. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks, Call," James says, shooting her a warm look. "At least someone gets it."
Callisto laughs, relieved that James has his moment, but she knows it's not her time to focus on that. She wants to get back to the matter at hand: Remus and Sirius.
"What about you, Sirius?" she asks, turning to him. "Have you already found someone to go with?"
Sirius pauses, his usual cocky grin faltering for a moment. "Not yet," he says after a beat, his voice quieter than usual.
