Fire Whiskey in the Moonlight (Remus Lupin)

Chapter Nine: A Different Perspective

None of my friends mentioned anything to me about the note I had given Tyler in class, but I knew they had been talking about it before I had gotten to lunch. When I walked in I saw Eric shush Katie and Tyler, all three of them giving me goofy looks when I sat down, Tyler trying and failing to contain his grin.

"Keep talking, I'm just grabbing a sandwich and seeing if Annie wants to work on our Ancient Runes homework."

Despite what I had said, none of them spoke instead they just busied themselves with their food until I headed over to the Hufflepuff table. Annie was sitting with her friends Anthony, Micheal, Cedric, and Malcolm, they were all on the Hufflepuff quidditch team together.

"How's it going Smudge?" Cedric yelled as I approached the table.

"Pretty good. Are you excited for your first match as Captain? It's getting pretty close!"

"I'm a bit nervous but overall pretty confident that we are going to demolish your house."

"In your dreams Diggory!" I laughed as I bent down next to Annie. "I'm going to the library to do some homework for Ancient Runes if you want to join me."

"No thanks, I have a free period later so I'll work on it then," she smiled.

"Alright. And just so you know, I asked Tyler out." I quickly stated before turning and practically jogging to the door. I heard the Hufflepuff boys crack up laughing and knew that Annie must have jumped up and was walking angrily behind me.

My suspicions were confirmed when I heard her voice shout-whispering from down the aisle, "Vivan." It was always bad when she called me by my real name.

Once I had exited the great hall I stopped and waited for my fire-haired friend to catch up. When she did, she didn't say a word. She simply grabbed my arm and began leading me down the hallway until there was no more hallway left to walk down.

Spinning on her heel, she stared at me, "Explain."

"I asked if he wanted to be my date to Hogsmeade."

"Why?" Her eyes were wide, gazing at me as if I had two heads. "I know you two reconciled and are friends again or whatever but Viv, why on Earth would you want to go out with him again?"

"It was a split-second decision, I don't really want to go out with him," I insisted.

"Then why- Oh my God Vivian, do not tell me!" She looked around to make sure no one had suddenly appeared next to us, "Are you doing this to try to make Professor Lupin jealous?"

"Well, it worked!" I defended. "I asked Tyler in class, and afterward Remus asked to speak with me and he was less than thrilled, to say the least."

Annie took a deep breath "So you are telling me that you are going out with one cheater who broke your heart in order to get the attention of another cheater who broke your heart?"

"It's not to get his attention, I just want him to feel as crappy as I do," I looked down, knowing how pathetic I sounded. "And he didn't break my heart!" I added quickly.

"Ignoring your crazy-arse motive, why Tyler? Why not, literally, anyone else? Tyler did break your heart, there is no debating that, so why would you risk getting hurt again."

"Remus already has a problem with Tyler."

"But what if this doesn't work out? What if this backfires and you end up hurting even more than you are right now?"

"That might happen but what is life without risk, Annie? I have to be brave."

"I will never understand Gryffindors." She said, astonishment covering her face. "That is so dumb! Be brave? Why, Vivan? What do you get out of this, best case scenario?"