Rose Petals ✿ Remus Lupin - Discontinued :(

Chapter 37

Hey guys, so I'm back! My tests went alright and I found a day where I had minimal homework so I managed to write this! Before you read this chapter, I do want to mention an amazing person, son-of-a-snitch, who made a beautiful cover for Rose Petals which is posted in their cover arts book! I really recommend you go check it out because I love it!

This book does have a new cover, however, and it is one that I actually made! It's not the best but I'm really proud of it and I wanted to show it off to you guys :) And the girl on the cover is a slightly older version of what I imagine Belle to be...

Now, onto the chapter!

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Belle, Lily, and Eileen walked arm in arm down the halls of Hogwarts, laughing and letting off steam. Christmas break was in exactly one week, meaning final exams and crammed studying occupied their afternoons. They had just spent the last four hours studying harshly for their potions exam and Belle's mind was fried. It was hard to believe she still had three other classes she needed to study for that Saturday. Lily had finally begun to hyperventilate when they had decided they needed a walk outside the stuffy common room.

"Honestly Lily, you can't expect me to believe that!"

"It's true, I promise!" Lily giggled, letting go of their arms and spinning to one of the columns facing the courtyard. "Professor Slughorn told me—"

"I don't want to hear it again!" Eileen covered her ears.

"I think it's sweet..." Lily giggled, "Who would've ever thought-"

Lily cut herself off as a group of people revealed themselves at the end of the corridor. They were all eerily quiet, talking in hushed voices and casting glances over their shoulders every once and a while. It was a group of Slytherins, among them some familiar faces, but there seemed to be younger and older members trailing around as well. Lily frowned when she noticed Snape near the back of the group. He was talking to Aris LeFou, someone Belle had surprisingly never talked to. Belle caught her friend's gaze and tugged on her arm, pulling the three of them into the courtyard and away from the group.

"He's becoming more distant..." Lily sighed. She had lost her pep almost immediately, all signs of laughter gone from her concerned face.

"Wasn't he always?" Eileen frowned.

Lily had been complaining about Snape's lack of openness to Lily for months now, but it seemed as if it had gotten worse recently.

"He hasn't spoken three words to me this week—I swear, it's like we're not even friends!"

"Snape is going towards the wrong path, Lily, it's not your fault."

"Yea," Belle agreed, "I heard he joined them."

"Them?" Lily frowned. She assumed it was another wizarding world thing, something she never really knew about due to her going back to the Muggle World every summer.

"The one's who want to follow You-Know-Who," Eileen whispered, glancing over her shoulder, "There's been rumors of a group planning to join him after Hogwarts."

"Really?" She gasped.

The two girls nodded.

"My grandmum says that everyone who's pure-blooded is being hunted down to join." 

To say Belle was nervous was an understatement. Her family had been strictly pure-blooded for centuries, and if You-Know-Who was to come to anyone, it would be her family. Lily glared at the floor, seemingly deep in thought. Belle and Eileen shared a glance, not sure of how Lily was interpreting this new information.