SEA, SWALLOW ME, remus lupin

deich, it pours

CHAPTER TEN
it pours

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THE GREAT HALL IS ALIGHT UNDER the golden glow of candlelight, the grandiose room echoing all the laughter and chatter as everyone catches up with their friends after a long two weeks apart. Each table is adorned in embroidered tablecloths that are specific to every house, little clusters of holly and sprigs of pine arranged atop the rich fabric to serve as the final winter decorations before it officially becomes spring. The enchanted ceiling has already darkened down to canvas of smoky purple smudges behind clouds of midnight blue, the wintry darkness bejewelled with constellations.

   Fallon is babbling away about something hilarious that her uncle had done during the holidays, her chestnut hair restrained in two pretty French plaits that frame her jaw. She's sporting sparkly eyeshadow and a new pair of golden hoops that she'd gotten from her step mum for Christmas, her matching bangles jingling wildly as she speaks.

Although, Cove feels sorry to say that she's not entirely listening to Fallon's melodramas tonight, her focus drifting past her friend's head to the table situated behind.

    Cove has been trying to catch Remus' eye from over Fallon's shoulder all evening. She wants an indication that he's alright, even if it's just something small to say that everything went okay between him and his friends. The only problem with that is how he's pointedly sat himself at the opposite end of the table from them, instead choosing to sandwich himself in between Lily Evans and Frank Longbottom as he piles his plate high with more mashed potatoes than is really ever necessary. He looks like he's engaged in an intense conversation with Mary and Marlene, his dimples poking out when the blonde says something particularly daft.

   Seeing him laugh fills her chest with warmth, even if she looks like a bit of a creep sitting and glaring daggers at him as he talks amongst his friends. His relaxed body language and the smile on his face should reassure her that he's perfectly fine, but she just feels like there's something else weighing on his mind. She simply wants to know what's wrong so that she can make him feel better. Is that such a crime?

   Cove deflates slightly when she realises that he's not going to look over anytime soon. She'll just have to bide her time and wait until the morning to ask him if everything's fine. First period seems like a lifetime away when there's a whole ( probably sleepless ) night wedged between herself and that nine o'clock start.

   "Is there something on Lupin's face that's more interesting than what I've got to say?" Fallon teases, her eyes twinkling. 

  That snaps her out of her daydream.

  "Shite. No," Cove hurries. "Of course not. I'm sorry, my lovely. I didn't mean to ignore you. It's just..."

   "You're worried," Fallon fills in the blank. "I know. I get it."

   Everyone knows. If you hadn't heard about the falling out between Remus and Sirius by no, you were truly living under a rock. Gossip spreads around the school like wildfire on the best of days but when it comes from the prime source of entertainment, it tends to spread with more vigour.

   "Hey, don't look so gutted," Fallon says softly. "He'll be perfectly fine. I'm sure he knows how to handle himself."

   "Aye, but—"