Who I Really Am (A Remus Lupin Love Story)

Chapter Thirtytwo

After hours of sitting in the bathroom fixing ourselves up for the ball, it's finally time to go downstairs and meet our dates.
"Are you nervous?" Lily asks me as she hooks a rose necklace around my neck.
"No." I lie, staring at my wolf bracelet.
"Well I am. I feel bad for Frank, James is probably going to harass him for this." Lily admits with a sigh.
"If he does, then he's a jackass."
"I already knew that." Lily says with a laugh. "Are you ready?"
"I guess." I reply, staring down at my sneakers. "I like that our outfits match, by the way."
"Thank you! I thought it was a nice idea."
"Where are you meeting Frank?" I ask as we walk down the dormitory stairs.
"Outside the Great Hall. Remus is supposed to meet you there too." Lily replies as we walk across the Common Room.
"Lily, I don't think this is a good idea. I'm not supposed to be with Remus! And everyone's staring at me." I whisper.
Lily frowns, and stops walking. "What're you all looking at?" She asks, and everyone drops their stares. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Frank!" Lily yells, running over to him, "See you later, Bria!"
I wander through the crowd, searching for Remus. Just when I'm about to give up and go back to the Common Room, a voice behind me says, "You look beautiful."
I spin around, blushing. "Remus." I say, taking in his shabby black dress robes. "I think you look handsome."
"Don't lie, my dress robes are crap." Remus replies.
"They're fine." I whisper.
"Whatever. Did you like your present?" He asks, eying my right wrist.
"Of course. Why else would I wear it?" I ask with a smile.
"True." He admits, taking my hand, "Do you want to go inside now?"
"Sure." I agree, letting him pull me along into the Great Hall.
        The Great Hall is decorated with the usual gigantic twelve Christmas trees. But alongside those Christmas trees are ice sculptures, small piles of snow, and other Christmas decorations. In some parts of the Hall it's snowing lightly, but the students standing in those spots don't seem to mind. Around the sides of the hall are tables and chairs, set with silver place settings. In the middle is a dance floor, with a band playing classical music at the far side of it. It's a lot to take in, but it's beautiful.
Remus starts to lead me to a table, but I stop him. "Let's sit with Lily." I suggest, pointing at a table in the far left corner of the Hall.
"Okay." Remus agrees, and I drag him toward it.
"Hey Remus." Lily greets.
"Hi." Remus replies, pulling out a chair across from Lily for me.
"Thank you." I whisper, blushing.
Then, as soon as Remus sits down next to me, menus appear on the table in front of us. I open mine and start looking through the options. As soon as I see it listed, I decide on spaghetti. "What are you getting?" I ask Remus, setting down my menu.
"I haven't decided yet. What're you getting?" Remus asks.
"Spaghetti."
"Oh. Of course you are. I forgot that it's your favorite."
"By the way," I say, spinning my bracelet around on my wrist, "how did you know that I love wolves?"
"What?" Remus asks, looking confused.
"How did you know wolves are my favorite animal?" I repeat.
"I... I didn't know." Remus admits.
"Then why did you-"
"Welcome," Dumbledore says suddenly, cutting me off. "to the Christmas Ball! Hopefully this will go well. When you're ready to order, simply tell your plate and it'll appear. Merry Christmas, and I hope you all have a great time!"
"Did Dumbledore just say to tell our plates our order?" Lily asks me, confused.
"Yep." I admit. Then I lean over my plate and whisper, "Spaghetti." A second later, a bowl of spaghetti appears on top of my plate.
Lily's mouth drops open. "Ravioli." She says to her plate, and she smiles when a bowl of it appears. "This is so awesome."
After dinner Remus and I go out to the dance floor with Lily and Frank, but it's really crowded. "This feels a little claustrophobic." I yell over the music after Remus spins me around.
"I was just about to say that." Remus yells back, "I have an idea. Come on." And then he starts dragging me out of the Hall.
"Where-" I start to say, but I stop myself. I'll find out eventually.
"Here." Remus replies, stopping a hundred feet from the doors of the Hall. "It's the same experience, just minus the decorations and people."
We dance for a little while, until it pops into my mind again. "Remus, I got interrupted before..." I start to say, gathering up my courage. "But, if you didn't know that I liked wolves, why did you get me the bracelet?"
"I don't know." Remus says uneasily, but it sounds like more of a whisper over the sudden roar of the crowd inside the Hall, "I just thought you would like it." 
"Oh." I say, blushing. I should've expected that answer; but I have a feeling he's hiding something from me. But why would Remus hide something from me? I'm be ridiculous. "I'm sorry, I should've expected that answer."
"Don't be." 
"Why are you two out here?" I hear Lily yell, and I turn my head to see her running toward us.
"It isn't as claustrophobic." I answer. "Where's Frank?"
The smile falls from Lily's face. "Well, I was dancing with Frank, and then James tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he could cut in. I said no, and at the same time Frank said yes. Then I said, 'What? Frank, you'd let him?' And then he said, 'Yeah. I think you'd want to dance with him more than me.' And then he walked away! He walked away and left me alone with James!"
"What?" I gasp, surprised. By now Remus and I have stopped dancing; we're all just standing there.
"I'm going to go sit down, it seems like you have a long story to tell, Lily." Remus says, and I let him walk off.
"Yeah!" Lily continues, "And then James said, 'Can I have this dance?' And I said, 'No!' But he took my hand anyway! And then he just started dancing with me against my will, and I let him because I knew it'd be pointless to say no. Then everyone started staring, and someone shouted, 'Finally! Potter got to her!'" Lily's positively fuming now, "And I just kept dancing in shock, thinking, 'No! No he didn't!' But I didn't say it; I wish I did. Then I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them he snogged me! I tried to pull away, but I couldn't. Then everyone started clapping, cheering, and yelling. And when he finally pulled away, I ran out here." Lily finishes, looking extremely pissed. She then walks over to the wall and leans against it, sliding down to the ground.
I sit down next to her. "Wow." I whisper.
"Yeah." Lily agrees, crossing her arms.
"Are you two done talking?" I hear Remus ask, and I look up to see him walking toward me.
"Yes." I say, offering him my hand.
He pulls me up. "Are you done for the night?"
"I think so." I reply. "Lily, are you going to come with us?"
"No. I'll stay here." She says angrily.
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"I'm sure. You guys go."
"Okay. Bye." I say, waving to her as Remus pulls me along.
"Did you have fun?" Remus asks me as we walk up the staircase.
I shrug. "More than I thought I would."
"That's good enough for me. And same here, I thought it was going to suck."
"It did suck. Especially for Lily." I point out.
"Yeah, I heard about that while I was in there. James came up to me and-"
"What? He actually talked to you?"
"Like I said, he came up to me and said, 'Congratulate me Remus, I finally got her! If I can find her... Do you know where she is?' I lied and told him I didn't, and then he said, 'Oh.' and walked away. It wasn't anything special." Remus replies, pushing his hair out of his face.
"Stop." I say, grabbing his hand and forcing him to stop walking. I push back some of his hair from the side of his face, and there's a scar there. It looks like it was from a deep cut. "What did you do?" I whisper, tracing it with my finger.
"Nothing." He replies, walking away.
"If nothing happened then you wouldn't have a scar on the side of your face!" I yell, running after him.
"Does it really matter, Bria?" He asks tiredly.
"Yes, it does!"
"I was giving myself a haircut, and I cut myself. See, nothing bad." He replies, turning around.
I frown. "Sorry. I ruined an okay night with that." I admit, and then I turn toward the Fat Lady. "Snowflakes." I tell her, and she swings open.
"No, you didn't." Remus denies as we climb through the portrait hole.
"Yes, I did. Goodnight." I mumble, walking to the girl's staircase.
I hear him sigh, "Goodnight."

--Author's note--

So much foreshadowing...