Figured You Out

26: Vixen

Remus walked down the hall, his hands in his pockets and his focus on his feet. Then something caught his attention, he heard it again and he sped up, following the sound. It led him to the Room of Requirement, a room that he and the other Marauders used repeatedly when they were students. He opened the door slowly, making sure he wasn’t walking in on any students who were doing anything inappropriate and only found someone knelt on the floor. He knew her hair, every sparkle, every curve to her body and he cautiously entered. She wasn’t crying, she wasn’t angry, her face was set on a blank stare at a particular spot on the floor. “Amber,” he whispered. Wary of touching her so he crouched down across from her, his hands hanging between his knees and his eyes wanting only to connect with hers.

“I don’t know what it means,” she said, her eyebrows etched together.

“What don’t you know?” He asked as a couch and fireplace faded into view. Cleaning up the mess with his wand, he helped her up by her elbows and they made their way to the plush sofa. The fire was already crackling, spitting sparks into the air and the white-hot embers glowing.

It looked like it was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t find the words, “these things that have been happening lately.”

“Amber, why were you on the floor when I came in?” He asked as he sat down. He propped his legs up on the couch and Amber sat down in between his legs and leaned back against his chest. Her eyes were fixed, searching for some kind of answer that she couldn’t determine.

“I came into take my mind off things, to get away for a little. She I imagined some Death Eaters and I fought them. But I didn’t know who person was that I was fighting with, I didn’t look at his face until my sword was through him.”

“That’s what you do to relax?” He said in a dubious tone.

“Yes,” she said without thinking. His hands rested on her shoulders and began massaging. Applying gentle pressure to the tense muscles in her neck and shoulders. He kneaded her forearms, upper and lower back, his touch tingling her skin.

“When you looked at this person, who was it? Did you recognize him?”

She nodded silently. “It was someone who I never would have thought, someone I’ve known my whole life, someone I trusted.”

He put her hair over her shoulder and began rubbing her upper neck as she leaned into his caresses and sighed.

“It was David,” she said in a distressed tone. Her voice quivering, however no tears fell.

“David… David in the infirmary David?” His eyebrows furrowing at the name.

She whispered a yes with her eyes closed and angled her head to the side, opening to him.

“Amber, are you sure you weren’t imagining this?” His calloused fingers stroked her skin gently while giving her neck a rubdown.

“I don’t know,” she said airily, resting her head on his shoulder. Although she began to relax, the sight of David’s pain stricken face flashed in her mind and she opened her eyes. “I don’t know what to think now, it’s all messed up because now he’s here and I just saw his face as a Death Eater and because I’m…”

“You’re what?” He wondered, feeling her shoulders tense up.

“Nothing,” she quickly mumbled.

“It must be something if you were about to say it.”

She sighed, hoping he would take her lie, “because I’m tired. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately because I’ve been searching the grounds and just some dreams that are nothing.”