His Past, Her Future {Book One}

Chapter 15. The Prefect Bathroom Octopus

A.N. I'm sorry I haven't been updating for a bit but I have been working on the Rose Dylan Lupin series. Hope you enjoy.
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It didn't take long for the Hogwarts rumour mill to spread the news that the new girl My was now officially dating the quiet marauder Remus Lupin.

Hermione was not surprised at that.

After all, as one does as Harry Potter's best friends, she had often being victim of wild-fire-rumours.

What did surprise her however was the apparent interest in which their relationship took to the Hogwarts population, students and teachers alike seemingly greatly intrigued that Remus Lupin had openly declared a relationship.

At first Hermione took offence, not on her own behalf but for Remus. She didn't understand how so many people could find it unbelievable that he could have such a thing as a girlfriend.

When she vividly expressed her anger to Lily and Emily, enclosed within the girl's dormitories, the girls merely smiled serenely not at all caught in the fury that Hermione seemed to shoot like flames from around her.

Sensing that their disposition was only adding fuel to their curly haired friend's rage Lily and Emily interrupted Hermione's rampage, each girl taking a flailing arm and pulling her down to sit upon Lily's bed.

With Lily on one side and Emily the other the girls shushed the distraught girl into a manageable state of stiff irritation and implored her to listen.

Lily slowly explained to Hermione that it wasn't a slight against Remus' attractiveness or deservingness or any other such claim that she had made in her temper fit but rather a reaction to Remus' known 'bachelor' status.

Apparently, as Emily continued on to reveal, Remus, although in no way adverse to the female gender, as she could personally account for - Lily slapped her playfully, in a now-is-not-the-time type of way - Remus had never actually 'dated' girls before.

As far as Emily's gossip-knowledge extended too, being particularly friends with a couple of flirty and loquacious Ravenclaw girls, the Prefects bathroom was basically considered off limits after 10pm, under an unspoken agreement born out of quite a few awkward interruptions involving a very wet Remus and more often than not more than one girl.

Lily, being a Prefect, was astonished at this new bit of gossip, apparently under the belief that prefects were not allowed into the bathroom after 10 due to an elaborate story that James had (now obviously) invented. Lily wouldn't tell them what he had told her but both girls could tell she was bubbling with anger, either at James, or at herself for being so gullible. Either way, Hermione felt a little sorry for James, amused as she was as well at Lily's reaction.

Returning back to her own problem, Hermione thought that Emily's explanation, although answering her initial concern, seemed to then raise even more worrying points.

She rose absentmindedly from the bed, leaving the two girls to whatever the conversation had now diverged to and made her way down the spiral staircase towards the crowded common room.

She hesitated at the bottom step when she realised how crowded the room really was and how it would be virtually impossible to snag an armchair near the fire like she had vaguely planned to on her way down.

Before she could even consider wandering to the empty library (because although Severus had been out of the hospital wing for a few days he had not yet however returned to their regular nightly schedule, another concern that ate at her mind) she was pulled firmly by the wrist and tugged over an armrest to fall snugly into a warm lap.

Temporarily snapped out of her thoughts she struggled in the lap, although absurd even in her mind, thoughts of a dark shadow and a hot breath on her check, rough hands bruisingly crushing her into a wall...