GOSSIP GIRL. ( remus lupin )

ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ᴄɪɴQ

        THAT NIGHT, after the rest of the marauders had fallen asleep, Remus' hands grasped the parchment away from James' nightstand. The werewolf silently jumped back in his bed, ignoring Peter's loud snores and Sirius' twists and turns in his sleep.

The boy pulled the duvet over his head and reached for his wand.

"Lumos," he said in the lowest tone he could reach vocally. A tiny light erupted from the tip of his wand lightning up the map. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." as soon as the words escaped his lips, the drawing of the Hogwarts castle appeared along with the words 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, & Prongs are proud to present you the Marauders map'.

The process was tricky ━ holding your wand and trying to unfold the map at the same time. Remus rested on his side, letting the wand out of his hand near his body, covering it with the map itself.

He quickly unfolded it, searching for the Ravenclaw tower. As soon as he saw it, his eyes searched for the name 'Rita Skeeter' ━ but it was not there. The werewolf decided to let his eyes linger on that particular area, unconsciously searching for Estelle's name ━ ah, there she was.

Estelle Devereaux was in her dorm, walking in the direction of the window. Besides her, three others names: Victoria Atkinson, Willow Carter and Georgie Clinton, all three of them remaining still, indicating that they were most likely sleeping unlike the Devereaux girl.

His eyes remained glued to Estelle's name ━ she was staying in front of the dorm's window, probably gazing out at the Quidditch pitch ━ why? He had no idea. She remained there for a good minute before jumping into her bed and staying still much like her dorm mates.

Remus Lupin snapped out of his daze like attitude, beginning to search the whole castle for the missing girl: Rita Skeeter.

"Moony?" the werewolf froze making the light at the tip of his wand disappear, "Moony, are you awake?" murmured Sirius Black in husky voice. Remus didn't hear more than the ending of his sentence due to the extremely groggy voice Sirius possessed at that moment, " ━ must've imagined it."

Remus waited a few extra seconds, waiting to hear nothing but the sound of breathing coming from his friends before casting the charm yet again. His hazel eyes moved slowly but surely on the map, making sure to cover every centimeter of it. As time went by and he still couldn't spot the Ravenclaw's name ━ Remus felt anxiety attack the bottom of his stomach.

Maybe Estelle was right ━ everything was pointing in Rita's direction: her suspicious behavior, her locking gazes with him in Defense Against The Dark Arts, Elisa seeing her right before getting her letter ━ every single thing seemed too suspicious to be a coincidence.

Remus let a soft sigh get past his lips, his teeth sunk into the bottom lip ━ he was growing frustrated, where in Merlin's name was Rita Skeeter?

By the end of it, the Lupin boy covered the map at least three times and not a single time had he seen her name. The light disappeared leaving him in complete darkness.

Remus squinted his eyes, pushing the map on his own night stand. His head peeked out, pulling the material all the way to his neck.

That night, the werewolf didn't close one eye, theories nagging at his mind not making it possible for him to sleep in silence.

One thing was certain, everything was pointing in Rita's direction and he was starting to believe she was behind the 'Gossip Girl' persona. All he needed now to convince himself was to hear what her secret was.