REVERIE

12 | LIBRARY

" i'm following the compass of my heart " | CH TWELVE

---silent.

That was all it was in the library. Asteria felt grateful for that. For once she had a bit of time for herself. Sure she loved the girls to death but she missed the company of her own.

She took a deep breath as she began to set out the books in front of her. NEWTs weren't going to pass themselves. She thought to herself. Her Ravenclaw potential showing off as she began to flip the pages of her Advance Potions book. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit before taking out her reading glasses from the pockets of her cloak.

She casted a small spell on her quill as it started taking notes for her as she read, back straight and neck craned to her book as the seconds began to dwindle away.

---the room was rowdy, not to mention noisy as Remus sat on his bed. Eyes bored as he watched his friends laugh their arses off.

Recently, James found a way to smuggle in some firewhisky in their room. And although Remus had a choice to join them, he was not too keen on taking his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam with a hangover the next day.

So he watched as Sirius began dancing on James' bed with Peter passed out on one corner of the room and James singing to the latest song of a rock band at the top of his lungs. Which band? He didn't know. Yup, this was his fate.

With a groan, he decided to lift himself up. Eyes a bit droopy as he made his way to the door.

"I'm going to the library!" He called off behind his shoulder, not really expecting any answer in return as the boys began screaming their lungs out.

---asteria sighed as she closed the book, quickly organizing her notes for Potions before starting on the next one. Studying felt like a chore to her these past couple of days, she missed Louis's company. By this point, the both of them would have quizzed each other like they normally do. Trying to best the other. All of it seem like a dream to her now, so far away... Literally. She thought.

Ever since coming back, a lot of things reminded her of Louis. It was suffocating her if she was being honest. Still, she never stopped herself from thinking about him. It varied from what he was doing to if ever he got over an embarrassing moment he once told her. Merlin! did she miss him to bits.

"Is it okay if I sit here?" An abrupt voice snapped her out of her daze. Her eyes turned to the culprit of the voice which turned out to be none other than Remus Lupin. "It's okay if you don't want me to though, like I get how it can be awkward but I won't do anything weird I promise." He rambled on, rubbing the back of his neck as his face began to turn red.

Asteria could help but smile a little for the boy. "I-it's fine," she stuttered out, "I don't think you're weird." Her face turning red as well as she tried hide it with her hair, refusing to look up.

Remus smiled at that before taking his seat. "Thanks," he said, "and thank you for not thinking I'm weird, I guess." Frankly, he didn't know what to say. This was the first time he ever thought that someone was possibly his soulmate so he didn't really know how to react around that certain someone.

"So, what are you reading?" Asteria asked timidly, still looking down, pretending to act casually.

"It's just our Defense Against the Dark Arts book, no big deal." He answered.

"O-oh."

Suddenly Remus's mind started to turn its gears, trying to think of a way to lengthen the conversation before resorting to the question; "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm studying for NEWTs."

"Really? But it's still a few months away."

"Well you can never start too early." She said, finally looking up at him and seeing his eyes focused on her, she looked down again, her mind wandering back to her friend back home. "Louis use to tell me I worry too much about these things, he's always telling me how much of a 'nerd' I was." She said as she scrunched her nose upon remembering.

"Louis?" Remus asked, trying to get her to talk about herself more. He was curious of her and he found her genuinely interesting.

"My best friend back in Ilvermorny." She answered. "He found his soulmate recently, the lucky git, didn't even wait for me to find mine first. I mean i guess it was easy for him to find his soulmate first since he had that freaking tattoo while I'm stuck with this." She kept rambling on before noticing Remus looking intently at her. Suddenly she felt embarrass of herself for talking too much.

"Oh no, please don't stop talking." Remus said after noticing her. "It's just that... you look so animated when you talk. It makes me want to know more."

Asteria felt a bit relieved, "well I'm sure you have more interesting stories up your sleeves. I'm not exactly that exciting of a person back in Ilvermorny."

"Neither am I," Remus said, his hand placed on his chest, "here I mean, in Hogwarts not Ilvermorny," he added hastily before sighing, "in my group of friends it's mostly Sirius and James who does a lot of crazy things, I just stand in the sidelines."

Suddenly he looked down at his book, his hand now placed on the table. Asteria observed him closely, his eyes held a bit of a sad look to it as he stared down. His shoulders were now more slumped than before. Asteria then noticed his scars, she never liked the one on hers but she can't help but appreciate those on Remus. To her he was enchanting. Someone she wants to know more of.

"You don't have to do crazy things to be interesting, you know?" She said, subconsciously placing her hand on his causing him to turn his attention to her. "What you might call 'boring' might be fascinating to some. You just haven't found the right person yet."

She suddenly realised what she'd done and she quickly took her hand away from his, her face burning more intensely than before. "Sorry, it was just a force of habit."

Still, Remus smiled at her. "Thank you, Asteria."

"Please, call me Ria. Asteria sounds too long in my opinion." She smiled, almost apologetically. Her hand soon found its way back to the book she was previously reading while Remus began to open his. He looked back at her seeing her continue her reading before he spoke;

"I think it sounds just fine."

A/N:
Whew so hello everyone. It's been a very long time since I last updated this and I'm very sorry for that :(( I hope you guys liked this. I haven't been very motivated to write anymore these past few years but right now I'm trying to get back to it. Thank you all for the constant support, your comments in this book really warms my heart.