𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 → 𝑟.𝑙𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

two

Eretria woke up a little later than usual. She had been crying a lot, but she woke up with a smile on her face, plunging back into her colourful world. The other girls in the dormitory had already left, so she took the opportunity to stay in bed for another five minutes.

In the Great Hall, Remus stares at Tria's empty seat before raising his head to hear new students enter, and his shoulders slump when he sees that it's not Eretria. His parents have lectured him, so he tries to keep an eye on her from a distance.

- She'll be here soon, Sirius scoffs. You stare at the door as if your life depended on it.

- She's always early, Remus explains. Maybe she's ill or needs to go to hospital or...

- No, James cuts him off with a sigh. Look, here's your darling. How do you know she's always early, anyway?

Remus raises his head, ignoring James's words as Tria skips to her seat. She places her dismembered doll on the table and smiles at the Marauders and those around her.

- Hello James, she says. Hello Sirius, hello Peter and hello Mr Remus.

James and Sirius chuckle quietly while Remus blushes and mumbles. He doesn't know where the nickname comes from, but she's always called him that. Sirius leans forward on the table and grabs a piece of the doll.

- Hey, he says,  she's a mess. You really did it.

- My doll has been broken, says Tria with chocolate around her mouth. The girls in my dormitory have been having fun, so I'll have to take it in to be fixed.

- Well, I'll fix it for you if you like, suggests Peter. Don't you know how to throw a reparo?

- Yes, but Mum and Dad say it's not nice to use magic like that all the time.

Remus looked up discreetly at Erétria and then at her doll. He's noticed that she never looks the same. When he was younger, he thought it was because the dolls were alive and ran away. He was scared to death of them because they're all deformed.

- What a bunch of sluts, says Marlene, joining in the conversation. Why don't you ask to change dormitories?

- Oh, it's nothing, replies Tria. They're having fun and then I'm going to fix my doll.

- Well, yes it's serious, suddenly says Remus. They don't have to break your things.

- Mr Remus is waking up, laughs James.

- I take it we're going to do something about that, sneers Sirius.

Remus grunts and looks at Tria, sometimes, most of the time, she annoys him because she doesn't react. As soon as someone hurts her, she finds an excuse, she never gets angry and he'd like to shake her up and make her react.