Bleeding Heart | REMUS LUPIN

Chapter Three

When Sirius, James and Peter wandered back into their dormitory, they wondered why Remus hadn't come to meet up with them as he had said he would, but their questions were answered quickly when a certain sight met their eyes.

Remus was fast asleep on his bed, and so was Ivory. Her head was rested on his chest and his arm was draped across her shoulders.

Seeing this made each of them smile slightly. They wondered what the two had talked about while they were gone.

"What—" Peter started to say, but the other two shushed him, afraid to wake Remus and Ivory.

Sirius winked at his other two friends and they carefully tiptoed to their beds.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

When Ivory awoke, it took her a while to figure out where she was and what pillow she was sleeping on. She looked around; the dormitory looked much like hers, but it appeared backwards and was a lot messier. She carefully turned her head and saw that she was sleeping on a boy's chest.

The minute she saw him, she remembered everything that had happened the previous day. She remembered the horrible, haunting letter that told her her parents had been killed. She remembered sobbing into Remus's arms and having a heartfelt chat with him, and she remembered finally lying down with her head rested on his chest. She remembered why her eyes had been crusted and glued shut with dried tears. The only thing that she really cared about was the fact that her parents really were gone and it hadn't all been a nightmare...

She got up abruptly, lifting her head off of Remus and scooting away from him. It was still dark, so she figured it would still be a few hours before breakfast. The tears were falling fast down her cheeks again as she rolled off of Remus's bed and onto the floor. She put her hand in front of her mouth, attempting to muffle the sound of her cries so as not to wake any of the boys up.

Ivory lifted her knees to her chest and rested her head against the side of Remus's bed. She didn't even have time to think about the fact that she'd been sleeping in the same bed as Remusーsomething that, a few days ago, would have completely startled herーbecause all she could think about was how helpless she felt.

She looked over at Remus, whose chest was rising and falling steadily. He looked so peaceful in his slumber, and Ivory wished she could share in that peace. Asleep, there was no crease appearing between his eyebrows, no worry lines etched onto his face, no signs whatsoever that he had a care in the world. She wished there was a way that she might be able to do that once again.

It was terribly inconvenient that most of the peace a person could feel was while they were asleep; while they were not conscious of anything that had happened during their waking hours. One could sink into a dream, living a different life in an alternate universe and plunging into a false sense of security until such a time that they finally opened their eyes and were forced to continue on with a life full of despair and disappointment.

Ivory closed her eyes, hugging her knees to herself. She wasn't sure whether or not she ended up drifting off, because one minute she was closing her eyes, blocking her view of a dark room, and the next she was lifting her head again as sunlight flooded through the windows. She had somehow gotten back into Remus's bed, though he was no longer there.

"Morning, sleepy," came a cheerful voice. Sirius came into view and it appeared that he was the only one in the dormitory. He wasn't wearing his school uniform, but rather some plain Muggle clothing. He had his usual smirk on his face. "It seems you rolled right out of Remus's bed last night... that had to be the only explanation for why I found you curled up on the floor this morning, right?"