ten; the monsters we hide "perhaps love and a sudden lightness are all it takes."
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Remus, despite all his friends effort to convince him otherwise, could simply not believe that there was any chance Hope felt for him the way he did for her. However, no matter what he thought, he knew what he wanted to do. He knew what he needed to do. Because Hope mattered more to him than any other person ever had, so she deserved to know. He didn't know what it would do to them - how it would change whatever is was they had - but he had to tell her. If she thought differently of him because of it, well that was that. She would know he was a monster and he would just have to find a way to deal with it and move on. But, if she accepted it the way his friends had? If she thought no differently of him? Then maybe that meant something. He decided that, if she didn't run screaming or call him a monster, he would have to tell her the other thing. He would have to tell her he loved her.
He could only hope that, if the werewolf part didn't scare her away, neither would the other part.
It was the last Sunday of November when he came to the resolution that he'd finally do it. He told James, Sirius, and Peter about his plans the day prior and they all replied encouragingly, telling him that Hope would love him no matter what (said with a rather suggestive wink from Sirius). He had his doubts.
But above all else, above his doubts, his worries, his hope, he was absolutely terrified.
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Hope noticed right away on the last Sunday of November that something was off about Remus. He seemed overly anxious at breakfast, and he continued to be jumpy and nervous throughout the rest of the day. She tried to think of possible things that could be bothering him, quickly dismissing any recent essays or homework, knowing that he had spent an immense amount of time in the library working on his assignments in the past week. It would have been easier if she just went to talk to him like a normal person, but she couldn't bring herself to approach him. She had a strange feeling that if she did it would only make it worse. She was almost positive he would have to come to her.
Not to mention that she couldn't seem to formulate a comprehensible sentence when talking to him ever since the quidditch game. Her thoughts became more jumbled than usual when he got too close, and she was still recovering from the encounter, despite the fact that it had occurred in mid-November. She didn't avoid him, but she made no attempts to talk to him. It wasn't until later in the night that he approached her in the common room where she was sitting alone, putting the finishing touches on her potions essay for Slughorn.
"Hope?" He asked softly, cautiously. She looked up at him, eyes wide. His hands were playing with the hem of his sweater and he wouldn't meet her eyes, but he continued on nonetheless. "Could you - er - would you come with me? So we can... talk?" She nodded, organizing and putting away her supplies before standing up. He gave a brief nod as well before turning around and leading her out of the common room, refusing to look at her. As they walked through the castle she noticed his hand shaking at his side and, on instinct, reached for it. The minute their fingers touched he stopped shaking. No words were exchanged, but they walked the rest of the way hand in hand and the tension in Remus's shoulders seemed to have decreased slightly. When they finally reached their destination they were in the astronomy tower. Remus brought Hope over near one of the open balconies and sat down, her following in suit.
