Consequences Of The Heart.

Chapter 19: Progress.

Another full moon and Sirius still hadn't returned. He simply ghosted around aimlessly, reappearing every other day. I just hoped Remus wasn't too affected by his absence. The Marauders worked like a delicate and intricate system in which was extremely reliant and Sirius not being there could have ramifications especially during that time of the month. That's why this month, I decided to take some extra, precautionary measures. Whether it was bringing him some extra chocolate to calm him down before he turned or leaving a few random cups of hot cocoa near his bed. Just anything really, that might help ease the pain. Lily had her incessant requests to tag along, ones that I immediately shut down, unfortunately she didn't listen so I'm half afraid we would reach the Shrieking Shack and she would be waiting there to greet us with open arms. 

"James, as much as I love the cocoa, I think 15 is enough for one day." I watched as Remus came trudging into the Common Room, another tall glass of half-full cocoa clutched in his right hand. 

"Then why did you drink half of it?" He plopped himself down next to me, placing the glass down gently on the coffee table in front and reached his hand out to mess up my hair, muttering an ashamed 'you know chocolate's my weakness'. We just sat there which seemed to be happening quite a lot since Sirius but none of us pointed it out ever, we just went on with our day. Of course, our content silence was disturbed by the one and only, Miss Lily Evans, not that I was complaining, but as of right now -with Sirius gone and everything- the full moon was top priority. 

"What's up, losers?" She sprawled herself dramatically over the couch in a pursuit for attention. Then, she extracted a bar of chocolate from her robes and handed it to Remus who just thanked her. What a joke.

"Amateur." I then proceeded to flood Remus with the various chocolates I had bought and reserved and stored for when necessary in my robes. And though it didn't happen easily, I swear Remus was speechless, as was Lily who I bet was ashamed, not that I wanted her to be. Somehow, my chocolate ocean didn't attract spectators, but Remus was like a 3 year old child who had just been given, well loads of chocolate. 

"Oh my God James, when did you do this?! You really didn't have too, but thank you so much!!!" I shrugged it off while he hugged me and since Remus was temporarily distracted, I thought it a perfect time to act all adorable in front of Evans. I would be all cute and cuddly and she would immediately fall into my arms and profess her undying love for me and we would fly off into the sunset to get married on the Sun.

"So Lily, maybe s-"

"How did I not see this coming? No!" That was rather rude. But thankfully, the pain and hurt subsided after a while and you grew impervious to it after a while. I don't know why she didn't just go for a drink and give me a chance. Then she would see that all I wanted to do was love her. And the flying off into the sunset would be a bonus but the concentrated rays through my glasses might burn my eyes so maybe not. "By the way, we should really be going. So, um just collect the chocolate and let's be on our way. Oh, we have to get Peter too." Peter had already mentioned he would meet us on the grounds so I collected all the bars and we began our way down to the Whomping Willow, close to which Peter stood. It was still light out and there were a few stragglers present so we decided to wait. I had the Cloak stuffed hastily into my pocket so we all went behind a bush and snuck under it. The air was colder tonight and there was a slight drizzle but with a quick Impervius Charm, it didn't affect the thin cloth as we snuck inside which I hadn't estimated would be harder with two people.

Lily had obviously never been into the Shrieking Shack so the claw marks and scratches took her a bit by surprise. I found her eagerness and curiosity rather cute. Her quaint and delicate mannerisms showed as she gently ran her smooth fingers over the tainted walls and how her stride looked the slightest bit more sulky or how her breath swam away from her into the cold air. I liked the way her eyes closed for a few seconds every time her fingertips ran over a claw mark or the way her cheeks reddened when a particularly chilly gust of air blew in through the holes and ridges or how she stopped in mild fear when a floorboard creaked under her shoes and how her footsteps got heavier with the descent down the hallway to the main room. But her new presence in accompaniment with Sirius who's absence I still hadn't brought myself to believe, it made for a contrasting ambiance in comparison to prior experiences. 

The atmosphere was different, it was almost too quiet to be true. There were no sarcastic comments to help ease the tension, there was no one to deliberately stumble over protruding pieces of decaying wood to make the rest of us forget -even momentarily- the situation. There was no one to sit at the piano with Remus and 'tickle the ivories' to make music. 

And lastly, and most importantly, there was no one to remind me that Remus was going to be okay; that he dealt with it most of his life and that he would do it again.

"Is that blood." It was less of a question but enough to pull me out of my thoughts. We had reached the end of the hallway. Lily seemed a bit shaken up. 

"Just focus of the positives: the piano, Remus, chocolate, Peter..." I approached her slowly to make sure she wouldn't push me away. I caressed her arms in encouragement to ignore the gore. I whispered into her ear the positive aspects in the room. When she whispered back.

"...you." I would say my heart skipped a beat if I could feel it at all anymore. It seemed that with a single word, she had nabbed it; or should I say, I had offered it to her willingly. 

And suddenly, my thoughts and worries had come to a much-needed halt. They hadn't vanished, but they had paused and with that, I was content enough.

Word Count:- 1123

Love, Kale.