Crime of the Century | Remus Lupin (o.h)

Chapter Ten

Estrella Quinn hurried down the corridors of Hogwarts, her eyes frantically searching the passageway and the faces of everyone that passed her in her search for a certain sandy-haired wizard. 

She already had a million thoughts travelling at a million miles per hour in her mind, worries about the upcoming Christmas break, worries about the end of semester exam that were quickly looming upon them. Estrella just needed to take her mind off things and while Bridget and Alastair were goodness knows where in the castle, Remus was left as her final solution as a distraction. Although it wasn't quite a distraction as after all, she would be getting some exam preparation in at the same time. 

Estrella was already contemplating heading back to the Common Room to make a start herself when she spotted the infamous group of four boys strutting ahead of her. 

"Hey!" She shouted gaining their attention, running double the speed just to catch up with their long-legged gaits. 

Other students just watched curiously as Estrella came to a sudden stop in front of the boys, bent over at a strange angle, her hands placed firmly upon her thighs, puffed as she tried to get her breath back. 

"Hi?" Remus replied, watching her strange position with a small smile. Despite his crabbiness with the Full Moon quickly approaching, Estrella never failed to make him smile. 

Estrella breathed in heavily before turning to Remus, the three other boys behind him, giving her mixed expressions. 

"Hi." She puffed out. "God do you all have to walk so fast? Cardio isn't my strong suit." She asked, only to be met with a raised eyebrow from James. "Okay fine. In that case, I came over here to ask if you would like to study tonight, I need a distraction."

"Ooh a distraction, you say?" Sirius chimed in but was quickly met by Estrella's glare. 

"Shut it, Black. What do you think, Remus?" Estrella continued, her attention falling back onto the sandy-haired wizard in front of her. 

Remus was bright-red, avoiding Estrella's gaze as excuses immediately formed in his mind. It wasn't that he didn't want to go study with her, it was quite the opposite, he would do anything to be studying with her instead of waiting in the Shrieking Shack for the full moon to appear. 

Even James, Sirius and Peter had gone silent behind him, the realisation striking them as well. It had been a while since any of them had been asked directly to do something the night of a full moon, and even longer since an excuse was used. The Marauder's Map usually ensured that no excuses would never be made as most of the time they could just avoid people, although that wasn't quite the case any more with its own disappearance. 

Eventually, Remus forced himself to meet Estrella's piercing gaze, slowly realising just how long he had been trapped within his thoughts and completely silent, avoiding Estrella's question.

"I can't." Remus stammered out. 

"Why not?" Estrella questioned, tilting her head in her confusion. 

"Um. . .uh. . ." Remus stammered, an excuse failing to come to mind. 

"We all got detention." Peter suddenly piped up, a small smile forming at Remus' look of gratitude. 

"Oh okay. I understand." Estrella recovered quickly, her sharp eyes not missing the looks of relief shared between the four boys. "Have fun in detention! Who knows what McGonagall will make you all do!"

"Haha yeah, we will. Thanks, Estrella." Remus chuckled awkwardly, ignoring the feeling in his stomach that only grew with each second of their interaction. 

"Well, I'll see you around then," Estrella replied, turning to leave, however, something was definitely wrong and she was going to find out what. 

Remus' eyes followed Estrella's figure as she walked further down the hallway. He was half expecting her to turn around and look at them one last time, but she soon turned a corner out of sight. 

"That was a close one." Peter breathed out in relief. 

"Yeah," Remus muttered, his irritable nature returning immediately following Estrella's disappearance.  

"The two of you have gotten rather close," Sirius added teasingly. "You sure it's still friendship, Moony?"

James immediately sensed Remus' growing irritation as Sirius only continued to sprout further comments of the same strain. 

"Why don't we just get Remus to Madam Pomfrey?" He suggested, shooting Sirius a warning glare. 

Remus followed James, his head hanging low, a sudden wave of tiredness washing over him. He already felt bad enough about having to lie to Estrella but the more he mulled over Sirius' teasing question, the more he tricked himself into believing it was true.