Sirius was in the room too, sleeping peacefully until Remus had switched the light on. The two shared a bedroom to save space, but Remus had insisted on separate beds, and the two largely kept away from each other during the nights. Sirius always went to bed much later than Remus anyway, although curiously, Remus was usually awake when Sirius eventually showed up.
"What's going on?" Sirius mumbled sleepily. Remus got out of bed, reaching for his cane and taking Imogen's hand in his in order to lead her out of the bedroom into a place where they could talk more privately. He didn't really want to involve Sirius in the conversation, if only because there would probably be things he'd need to explain, which would just waste time.
"Nothing, just go back to sleep." Remus walked out of the bedroom, with Imogen trailing behind him, and to his relief, Sirius accepted his vague deflection. After all, Sirius wasn't as accustomed to the dynamics between the other household members, so he usually left them to their own devices. Remus led Imogen downstairs to the living room and switched on one of the lamps so they weren't sitting in darkness, but dim enough so that the rest of the house weren't alerted. Remus sat Imogen down on the sofa and placed himself down next to her, Farne jumping up between them and settling down across Imogen's lap.
"What's going on?" Remus asked. Imogen stroked Farne's head and chewed at her bottom lip nervously.
"I... I'm gonna get into trouble," she squeaked, her voice even more terrified than she looked. "I didn't mean to, it's... I couldn't help it."
"Hey, it's okay," Remus soothed, recognising the beginning signs of a panic attack. "Take a deep breath, and take your time. You're not going to get in trouble, whatever's wrong, it's between you and me, okay?" Imogen nodded, but she still took a few moments to collect her thoughts.
"I just... I was going to go to Emmie about this, but she talks with Arianell sometimes. You stay away from her, though, so you're the only person I can speak to."
"Arianell's not hurting you or anything, is she?" The whole conversation sounded rather ominous to Remus, and his first priority was to make sure that Imogen was physically okay. Thankfully, Imogen shook her head.
"She's... she threatens me, though." Remus was taken aback by that. He knew there was something slightly off about Arianell, but he had never considered that she could go so far as to threaten a little girl. What on Earth was she trying to achieve with that?
"Why?"
"Because... well... ." Imogen screwed her face up for a second, rocking back and forth ever so slightly as she tried to calm herself down. "I think... I think we need to get away from here."
"... what?"
"Arianell is... she's not on our side, I don't think. I couldn't tell, because... well, her mind is hard to read—"
"Wait, wait... what do you mean her mind is hard to read?"
"Well, usually I can read people's minds easily, but Arianell... she seemed to have switched hers off, but even so I managed to get a few... um, glimpses? I can't explain it."
"Okay, it's okay... ." He didn't want to make Imogen even more overwhelmed with questions, but he was struggling to follow along. "Are you... are you a legilimens?" Imogen bowed her head awkwardly, before slowly nodding.
"Emmie doesn't want anyone to know, least of all Dumbledore, and usually I can control it easily."
"Control how?"
"Well, I can switch it off too, I only read people's minds when I think I need to, otherwise I leave them alone. Emmie didn't like me always knowing what she was thinking, so I learnt how to stop, but... well, it's not always easy. Something about Arianell made me want to read hers, but she seemed to know what I was thinking, so I couldn't."
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Boys Will Be Bugs
Fanfiction[REUPLOAD] Remus Lupin has more than one secret, and there's no way of knowing who he can trust. All he has are his parents, but they can't protect him when he goes off to Hogwarts. But then Remus meets a boy and his two other friends, and soon real...
