Pretty Little Bumble Bea /James Potter/ ❁book 1❁

❁Chapter 14❁

Chapter 14

"You're going to make them bleed," a voice piped in from the edge of the hall, showing the vision of the young fourteen-year-old with her short hair and a small smile etched across her face. Her curled curls bounced ever so slightly as she walked, falling beside the tall boy of the same house as she was, and taking his fingers away from his mouth.

Biting his nails was a habit she had noticed of his, when he was nervous, or worried, or angry, Remus Lupin had developed the annoying habit of biting his nails, "why aren't you with Bea?" he asked, his voice strained from the angry muttering he did as he walked through the castle to find this spot, unaware that Violet was only a few steps behind him.

"Because I'm with you," she shrugged, leaning against the cold window behind her, "just because you guys aren't talking doesn't mean I'm going to ignore you when you're clearly hurting."

"We aren't friends, though, Violet - as much as I'd like us to be...as much as I'd like something else," he closed his eyes, developing the trait of talking too much, much like his sister, Violet noticed his cheeks had turned red, "it'd be the tad bit hypocritical."

"Not really," she mumbled softly, seeing his scarred knuckles, "why are you hurting yourself?"

"What?" he frowned, his lips parting as though to speak but quickly stopping himself when she grabbed his hand, examining the cuts scraped along his knuckles, "oh- it's, it's nothing."

"It's clearly not nothing," she mumbled, running her thumb over the new scars that weren't from the full moon, but from the dent that he had formed in the wooden door of the dorm room, quickly though, did he use his wand to fix it before anyone could see.

Violet draped her legs over his, pushing herself closer to look at the scars trailing over his hand, his scarred, and still bloodied knuckles sending an uneasy feeling of sadness into her stomach, "you can't just hurt yourself like this Remus, it's worrying."

"Why do you care?" he didn't mean for it to sound harsh, especially when her face contorted to one that seemed to be hurt when she looked up to meet his eyes, his hand dropping from hers and onto her knee, and soon did she move to stand up, feeling the embarrassment pool in her stomach until he quickly stopped her.

"I didn't mean that," he mumbled softly, getting much more comfortable in her presence, "I just- why do you care about me, why are you worried that I'm hurting myself, Violet? I'm just me, I'm just Remus Lupin, your best friend's brother, I'm just this boring guy in the year above you.

And you're...well you're you, the cool Gryffindor fourth year that everyone always stares at, and lingers for moments before reluctantly looking away. Do you know how many people would kill to be in my position right now?

You might be acting harmlessly, of course you are, but you're so close to me, and your legs are over mine and you're worried about me, why?!"

"Because you're not just my best friend's brother," she whispered, laughing softly, her cheeks evidently redder than his were, "and you're definitely not that boring guy in the year above me.

You're the kindest, sweetest, nicest boy I've ever met in my entire life. You barely knew me but you still made sure to be kind to me. You don't think twice about helping people, you protect Bea with every bone in your body and it's just second nature to you, it's as if you would do anything for her, and anything for your friends but you don't do that for yourself.

You always put others before yourself, Remus, and it's just not fair for you!"

Remus thought for a few moments, seeing her there with him, her legs over his and her hand tracing over the cuts that littered his hand, he couldn't exactly deny that he was having trouble breathing. He tried not to pay much attention to Violet, even though she had slipped through his mind countless times, it just seemed like a bad idea to think of her the way he did, especially since she was Bea's best friend.