⠀ ❝ And in the back of her mind, Katie knew that her words were a lie. Because if her nightmares could creep up into her mind and become her reality, she would be damned if this Remus Lupin - his lips, his hands, his ragged breath, his willing rec...
[ "James Potter just do what I fucking tell you to do," she grit out, her wand steady in her fingers. ]
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⁺ ⁺ ⁺ ⁺ ⁺
Remus was a werewolf.
Suddenly everything made sense. The scars, the proneness to sickness, the monthly visits to his mother, his hesitancy to talk about his childhood, all of it. Several memories with Remus over the years flashed through her mind and everything about his behavior suddenly clicked together.
Of course, after he'd told her about his mother, she'd never wanted to question his motives or pry. No matter how close they were, that would never be her place to pry. She did have to admit, they had gotten good at concealing it, as she'd never found enough basis to feel suspicious of his alibi.
She stood there momentarily in shock. There was part of her that felt a sinking feeling her stomach at the way he never told her, how he wanted to keep the secret from her for so long. Six years they'd known each other and not once had he ever outwardly tried to tell her anything.
She selfishly wished that maybe she could be so closely knitted as the Marauders were, knitted closely enough that she would be privy to their deepest secrets instead of left out, despite their close connections. But she shook away the feeling as quickly as it'd come to mind.
Never in her life had she ever felt like an outsider around them, and they'd never given her a reason to. They treated her just the same as they treated each other and she was glad for that. The 'Marauders' was their group and she couldn't even begin to fathom the four of them not together.
She was content with how things were, James and Remus were her best friends, Sirius and her were nearly as close, and though she wasn't as close to Peter, they'd never felt truly awkward around the other.
And so she quickly discarded that previous thought from her head, realizing that she wasn't a right fit for their group. She absolutely adored their dynamic - how well they flowed and balanced each other's personalities and she decided that she'd never want to ruin that by attempting to insert herself in.
Slowly a chill went through her from the autumn wind and Katie realized that the group of four was far ahead of her now. With that, she put a pause to her thoughts and cautiously trekked closer in an attempt not to lose them.
Careful to watch her step, she saw the Whomping Willow come into view.
Its branches thrashed and bellowed in the night, but somehow didn't cause a disruption. The branches had grown quite a lot from when she first spotted the rather gigantic tree back in her first year. The tree now towered over most of the trees around it.
