𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸, remus lupin

˗ˋ 06

CHAPTER SIX
✧
-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH SHE FALLS

. . .

Remus made his way slowly down the stairs, feet brushing against the stone and hand trailing down the wall, and every so often his finger dipped into a ridge between the bricks. He came to the end of the stairs, greeted by a blank, curved wall.

It soon broke apart, turning on the spot to reveal the corridor outside, and as he stepped out into it, the wall returned to it's previous position, and the gargoyle statue settled behind him. 

"Had quite the enlightening chat, I presume?"

"I assumed you would have made your way to first lesson by now. Little lost, are we?" Remus's voice was cold, and there was no hint of question in it, no wonder at all about how who had spoken previously. 

He turned to the side, and Pandora was already smirking up at him, a lone finger twisting the chain that hung around her neck. And the Lupin boy did not find himself too surprised as he realised the charm that hung just left of her thumb, ever so elegantly colliding with her nail, was nothing other than a butterfly, a singular gem glinting in the centre of it's body. 

"You're no idiot, Lupin. Of course I haven't made my way to class yet." The Rosier girl replied, a glimmer of a smile on her face. But it was no smile of happiness, but one that held no emotion at all. Completely and totally cold.

"Dumbledore wouldn't be too pleased with this current arrangement Miss Rosier." Remus replied, and the corner of the emotionless smile jerked upwards, a smirk forming on her face.

She stepped forward, raising her hand. He waited for her cold palm to touch his chin, but instead it was the tip of her wand, trailing along his jawline. "Oh, how long I've waited just to hear-"

Her words stopped coming as a group fo first years passed, in a hurry to get to their first lesson. They were running around like a gaggle of headless-geese, and in their rush, one of them had ended up bumping into her arm.

"How dare you." Pandora froze and Remus winced, watching as the first years came to a halt. "Well? Aren't you going to apologise?"

Nobody said anything, which seemed far worse than the one who had bumped into her not apologising. Pandora scoffed, a sigh of exasperation and distaste leaving her lips.

She stepped forward, and the first years watched, eyes wide as the butterfly pin that sat on top of her grey robes seemingly come to live, rising in between the girl and them, a glowing red.

"Count to three." Remus found himself stepping in before the first years had another chance to apologise or not. "Count to three." He repeated, when he saw the same look of utter confusion appear in the girl's eyes.

He stepped towards Pandora cautiously, almost as if he was approaching a wild animal. With one hand, he gestured for the first years to go, and they began to shuffle off in the direction they were heading.

"Place your hands," Remus reached down to take her hands, faltering when the girl instantly jerked her hand way before it slowly seemed to accept that he was going to take it. "And place them here."

Slowly, still like Pandora was some creature, Remus took one of her hands in each of his, lifting them up to her shoulders, crossing them and flattening her palms against her shoulders. 

"Count to three." Remus repeated for the third time, and the butterfly still hanging in the air seemed to fade as Pandora blindly followed his instructions, eyes fluttering closed as she slowly counted to three.

"One... two.."

"There you go." Remus gently coaxed her to continue, voice soft and the only sound that could be heard in the corridor.

"Three." Pandora's eyes flashed open, but whilst the anger in them had dissolved, it was replaced with something that seemed far more dangerous. "Nice strategy Lupin. Now, where was I. Ah yes, you so delightfully called me Miss Rosier. Are you scared, by any chance?"

Remus had made a bad choice calming her down, because now the girl seemed filled with craziness. Anger would have been better - any ounce of that dratted confidence she exuded would have been better.

"Scared of a little magic, Lupin? Someone who doesn't just have to rely on their wand?" Her words were smooth, as was the surface of her own wand, which trailed along his jawline. "Well?" The wand dug into his skin just a little.

"I wouldn't say so."

"No? Well, the prettiest ones are the most confident. Now, back to the pressing matter of my first class. You wouldn't by any chance, be able to tell me where the Charms classroom is? Not that I need any of that dratted lesson, of course." Pandora asked, stopping by his side, and tapping the otherside of his chin, some invisible force jerking his head towards her. 

"Directly on the floor below us." Remus replied, the invisible force that had him looking at her disappeared, and the feeling over her wand disappeared, replaced by the two pats on his cheek.

"There. That wasn't hard. There's no need to be scared of a little magic, Mr Lupin." Pandora turned on her heel, walking away from him. He stood still, watching as she stopped in her path, not glancing back at him like she had expected, but towards the window on her left.

"Pandora-" He didn't even know on what she was planning to do with the window, but it certainly wasn't opening it and slipping out onto the edge below it. "You're actually crazy."

"The best of us are." Pandora smiled back at him, the wind ruffling her hair just a bit. "But don't worry, I have all the magic in the world to catch me if I... fall."

And Lupin watched in horror as she fell backwards, dashing towards the window and staring out of it. But she had completely disappeared - although the sound of glass breaking on the floor below gave him a rather good indication of where she had ended up.

There was absolutely no doubt about it. Pandora Rosier was well and truly a sociopath.

✧