STARS | r. lupin (1)

CHAPTER TWO

ALTHEA SAT BEHIND REMUS IN ancient runes. He had never distracted her nor had he disrupted her work and had always been respectful. In fact, she'd never spoken to him before, bar the time she asked him for a spare quill. And now, due to her own inability to keep still in boring classes (though it wasn't stopping her in her current class, apparently) she was facing the consequences of stupid actions.

As much as Althea would have loved for their position as utter strangers to go on, apparently it was too much to ask of him. While she payed attention to the teacher droning on about things that she, quite frankly, had no interest in (though she had to listen for her N.E.W.T.s), he scribbled on a piece of parchment and handed it to her. When he saw that she didn't react, he took it back, scribbled some more, then handed it back over. She still looked straight at the teacher.

She had never taken Remus for someone who wouldn't pay attention in class, though perhaps that was just reputation-- a comparison with James and Sirius, who were as lazy as they were mischievous,(though she knew that, to some extent, they were smart without trying so being lazy didn't make a difference, but it made her feel better to think that they were stupid).

Despite being placed in Ravenclaw, Althea couldn't say that she was very different. Though she had a bit more care for her grades than the two boys or even the rest of her friend group, she often slacked off to do something more fun.

Remus didn't know it, but his note passing was tempting Althea to the point where she couldn't concentrate, but still didn't want to give him the satisfaction of responding. However, curiosity got the best of her, and she picked up the piece of parchment on her table.

Hi.
Why aren't you replying?
I thought we had something going :(
Seriously, I'm really bored.

You had to distract me from the lesson to tell me this?

It's not like anything interesting is going on.

Yes, but N.E.W.T.s are this year and I don't want to fail.

You won't fail.

You don't know that.

I might as well.

Althea sighed in exasperation.

Are you always this annoying?

If you think this is annoying, you should meet my friends.

I'd rather not.

And there it was. Yet another subject rendered a thousand times more interesting by Remus' mere presence in it. How did she not notice before?

*

Another end to another relatively boring day. While note-passing was a welcome anomaly to a regular day of class, it was not nearly enough to make her day better, especially not after that dreadful Care of Magical Creatures, where she almost got her hand blown off by a blast-ended skrewt.

One thing that certainly did not make her mood any better was Caroline's insistance on playing Celestina Warbeck's new song on repeat, while singing along to it, despite being completely tone-deaf.

"Oh, come and stir my cauldron,
And if you do it right
I'll boil you up some hot, strong love
To keep you warm tonight."

"Would you turn off that bloody music?" Althea exclaimed, throwing a pillow in Caroline's direction, "I want to work on my Potions essay."

"Well, I happen to like Celestina Warbeck." Aubrey informed the group, admiring the nail polish Reina had just painted on Aubrey's left hand. Reina kept quiet, working on the right one.

"Too bad. Silencio." Althea pointed her wand at the stereo and continued to write her essay, scribbling down whatever came to mind.

"Buzz kill." Yasmin muttered, though she, too was working in her essay.

"I'm surprised you two didn't do it any earlier, quite frankly." Reina said honestly, turning to face the two. "It's due in eight hours."

"Yeah, but yesterday we had the Transfiguration essay." Yasmin replied, not looking up from her paper.

"And the day before that, the Charms essay," Althea continued.

"And the day before that, you two insisted on having a snowball fight outside instead of working on said Charms essay." Caroline argued.

"Come on!" Yasmin whined, "It never snows in Britain." she said, earning an approving look from Althea.

"Let them do what they want, they're the ones who'll have to pay for it." Aubrey shrugged.

"You know full well they'll be no price to pay besides my own well-being." Althea smirked, causing Aubrey to pause for a moment to to glare at her.

"You're impossible."

"Then how am I here right now?"

Aubrey tried to lunge at Althea, perhaps because of the latter's sheer stupidity or perhaps just because of lack of sleep due to early N.E.W.T.s studying was finally catching up with the girl, but in any case, Reina held her back.

"Sleep." she commanded, finally done painting the other hand. Aubrey rolled her eyes but pushed Reina off the bed, giving Althea one last playful glare before closing her eyes.

"Muffliato," Yasmin cast the spell at Aubrey, making sure her well-earned sleep wasn't disturbed. Meanwhile, Althea scribbled furiously on her parchment, not wanting to stay up all night, but knowing full well she'd have to if she wanted to get the work done. Her mind wandered, and she ended up wondering what classes she had with Gryffindors the next day, only to scold herself.

Notes are a distraction, she told herself, we have N.E.W.T.s this year, and I intend on passing.

It was all she could do to not fall asleep on the spot, she didn't have the time or the patience for internal conflict.

She spent the rest of the night finishing her Potions essay, Remus Lupin did not cross her mind again.