Rose Petals ✿ Remus Lupin - Discontinued :(

Chapter 20

The first week of classes was the same as every year: every single teacher using up the whole first class to go over the rubric and the guidelines, study sessions, and rules which bored every student to death. By the time the first day of electives came around, every student was itching to do something new and not the same old same old as last year. Because they were third year now, they had electives, or chosen classes, in which they would be spending a large amount of time studying something that actually seemed mildly appealing to them.

Belle had chosen Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, as the two classes seemed quite appealing to her. Sadly, all of her friends chose Divination for different reasons, leaving her alone in her Runes class. She'd never been alone in a class before, as she'd always shared her classes with the Gryffindors in her year. Now, she was all on her own in a very difficult class.

Not only was everyone excited for the electives, but the date for the first trip to Hogsmeade had been posted on the announcement board for two weeks away. Another perk of being third years is that Hogsmeade was now open to them giving them an out of Hogwarts which a lot of the time got boring. Belle had already planned to go with Lily and Remus, as Quidditch tryouts also landed on the same day for Gryffindor due to Captain's terrible planning. Eileen and James were already part of the team and required to be there, but Sirius was there to try out again. He was determined to actually make it on the team this year. Peter and Rose would be watching them, and as much as Rose wanted to go to Hogsmeade she promised Sirius she'd watch the tryouts.

Talk of Sirius Black spread quickly throughout the castle, and now just about everyone in third year and below had a undying crush on the boy. He adored all the attention naturally and begun embracing the idea of being the Hogwarts Hunk. He went around the halls swaggering and winking at any girl who batted her eyes at him or brushed against him 'accidentally'. Belle found herself getting mildly peeved at this as she'd developed a small crush on him too in a very short amount of time.

James took notice of Sirius's castle status and begun to use it to his advantage, persuading kids to do things for him if they got to talk to Sirius. Many second year girls had fallen prey to this trap and as much as the older years tried to warn them, they seemed in a love-struck daze for weeks on end. Sirius had yet to try this little moves on any of the girls in their group, but Belle feared if he did she'd also make the same mistake.

Belle chewed on her lip as she scanned her book for Ancient Runes. There were a few pages dedicated to just charts of the runes and Belle found herself trying to memorize them before her first class. She wanted to get a head start as she heard this class was tough, though it seemed like mostly memorizing to her.

"Whatcha doin' Belle?"

The voice of Rose broke her out of her trance, making her glance up at the blonde who was accompanied by Remus and Eileen. Remus took a seat next to Belle, crossing his arms over the table as he scanned through her book page.

"Ancient Runes." Belle responded, flipping the page.

"Belle, you haven't even had that class yet..."

"I'm trying to get a head start." She shrugged.

The girls stared at her blankly before moving to get some food.

"Bloody hell," Remus whispered from beside her, "What the hell is an Othala?"

Bell let out a laugh and looked for translation.

"It means—ah! Here, othala means heritage or estate."

"Why?"

"Why is the sky blue, Remus?"

"I think some Muggle scientists already figured that ou—"

"Shut up Eileen." Belle hissed, making the group smile. They were glad Belle was back to her normal self almost as much as she was.

"I don't even understand why you took Ancient Runes, Belle. Why not divination?"

"Because," Belle sighed, shutting her book, "It's completely rubbish. I mean, telling the future? That's absurd."

"You're absurd." James snorted, using his wand to levitate a vase on the other side of the room. Belle rolled her eyes at this statement and jumped as the portrait opened. She twisted her head to see who was entering the Gryffindor common room, her head titling closer to Remus's. In came Sirius and this younger Gryffindor named Charlotte. She was clinging to his arm like it was keeping her alive and gave a gloating wave to her group of friends who sat scowling in the corner. It was obvious they all had some secret liking for Sirius Black, but it just so happens that Charlotte got to him first. Belle didn't know what made her more sick, the fact that Sirius was going for girls who were more 'mature' than normal, or that girls so willingly turned on each other for him. She would never turn against her friends, no matter what.

Well, maybe.

She frowned at Sirius as he winked goodbye to the girl and let her saunter off to the other second year girls. He strolled over, plopping down on the opposite side of Belle and sighing with delight. No-one talked to him at all for minutes and he immediately became defensive.

"What did I do now?"

Rose shook her head and stood up, frowning at the boy in front of her. She flung her hair over her shoulder and sashayed towards the dorms without a word to anyone. Eileen and Lily shared a glance and quickly followed, leaving Belle alone with the boys. They four then turned on her.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked, pushing the book down from Belle's hands. She ignored him as well, picking the book back up and continuing to read. She was a little upset, yes, but she wasn't ignoring him for that reason. She was ignoring him because she didn't want to reveal and secrets told by the girls.

A few days ago the girls stayed up late and just talked until early hours in the morning. During that 'sleepover', Rose, Eileen, and Belle had all admitted to their crushes on Sirius Black, but Lily hadn't budged in her opinion about him. Belle believed it of course; Lily would never get used to Sirius and James, she hates them too much.

"Oi— oh, you're ignoring me too then? I'd like to know what I've done wrong before I get ignored, thank you very much."

Belle let out an annoyed sigh, conflicted about what to do. Was it bad that Belle liked the attention Sirius was giving her, even though it was slightly negative? What was this crush doing to her?

"That's for you to figure out, Black." She stood from her spot just like Rose had done and made sure she had all her things before leaving the room. Sirius stared after her for a bit before leaning his head back on the couch.

"Why are they always so secretive and angry? I swear those girls are going to drive me into bloody madness if they continue with that crap!"

"They don't do that to us..." Remus chuckled, motioning to himself and Peter.

"Good for you, Lupin."

"I do assume it is, Black."

A/N: Sorry that's its late and short, but I've been super busy with starting school and finishing summer homework. I went to the Ed Sheeran concert yesterday so I wasn't able to update but I promise next one will be better!

-Hannah