Falling // Wolfstar

Fourteen

Sirius heads to his fifth class of the day - Potions. It isn't his favorite subject of them all, but it is one of the few classes he has with Remus. The past few days since the accident have been anything but easy, and he can't imagine what it's like in Remus' mind. The boy spends most of his time sitting behind books and going off on his own. The plan to give Remus space was thrown out the window after his talk with Frances.

Remus is a little ways ahead, walking down the steps at a rather slow pace. Sirius grins to himself, picking up the pace to catch up with him. His sandy blonde hair is brushed rather neatly than he usually has it, and his appearance is much more proper. The Remus he knows preferred to be comfortable in his attire nowadays. Even his posture was a bit more...cowardly. Rather than keeping his head up, his eyes stare at the floor as if he's worried of falling every other step.

"Hey Remus," Sirius says confidently.

Remus stumbles over his feet momentarily before finding his balance. He looks at Sirius with a slightly perplexed expression. "Uh...hello," he replies courteously.

Having not planned out the conversation, Sirius can only ask him the first thing that pops into his mind, "What did you have for lunch?" Remus' cheeks burn a bright pink and before he can even recall what he ate, Sirius answers the question. "I had pasta salad."

"Was it good?"

"It was mediocre at best."

Remus nods understandingly. "I had a bit of a sandwich, I wasn't very hungry."

A silence falls between them as they approach the classroom. Sirius swings open the door, holding it open for Remus to enter.

"I know it's a bit weird," Sirius continues as they take place at their table. "You're probably very confused about why I'm talking to you or how we're even...friends."

Remus lets out a heavy breath. "Yeah, just a bit."

"I'm not really supposed to tell you much about anything, really, but I still want you to get to know me. Again. Would you want that?"

The idea runs through Remus' mind, and he slowly smiles. "That'd be great."

Sirius bites his lip, internally jumping up and down like a child. He takes his seat, drowning out Slughorn's welcoming rant about lemon tarts. Across from him, Remus arranges his things in an orderly fashion. Textbook, quill, ink, wand. Everything is precisely accounted for.

Marlene McKinnon takes her seat beside Sirius and smiles at Remus. "How is he?" she whispers quietly to Sirius.

"Better," he replies, keeping a wary eye on him. "Was he always such a stick in the mud?"

Marlene smacks his arm. "Don't be rude."

Sirius scoffs, rolling his eyes. "You know what I mean. His tie is so high up his neck I reckon he's suffocating."

Marlene leans closer, lowering her voice to ensure that Remus won't hear. He sits idly in his stool, waiting for the lesson to begin. "I've never been that close to Remus, but yes. As far as I can remember, he was always very cautious, almost like he's constantly thinking what other people are thinking about him."

Sirius nods as he listens to Marlene when Slughorn slams a chalice on his desk. The ringing silences the classroom and bounces from wall to wall.

"Ah," Slughorn sighs happily. "I'm very excited to teach today's lesson." He walks up to his desk which has a very large cauldron on top. "Can anybody take a guess what this potion is?" With a quick hand, Slughorn lifts the lid and everybody leans closer to get a better whiff of the scent wafting towards them. A hand shoots up, to no surprise, and Slughorn beams as he calls out, "Yes Ms. Evans."

Sirius glances to the next over table where James, Lily, Snape, and Vance Goyle sit. It was slightly better than last years table, but none the less, Sirius pitied James' luck with seating charts.

"It's Amortentia," Lily answers. "A love potion."

"Brilliant!" Slughorn exclaims. "Come up, please. Tell me, Ms. Evans, what do you smell?"

Lily takes a tentative step towards his desk, leaning in to take a deep inhale. "I smell lavender flowers, books, and apple...shampoo." She quickly takes a step away and hurried back to her station.

Sirius raises an intrigued eyebrow, glancing over at James who has a smug look on his face. The only person he knew to have fruity smelling hair was James Potter - claimed it was an aphrodisiac of sorts.

"Yes, this is Amortentia. The strongest love potion known to exist. You might think to slip this to your crush, but be warned, it's not love that will happen. It's an addiction - infatuation." Slughron slaps the lid back onto the potion and everybody subconsciously slouches back into their seats. "Of course, love cannot be created." Sirius looks to Remus who is attentively writing things down. "Today we will be studying the components of the potion and working on a much less powerful potion. Now open your books up to page four hundred and nineteen."

By the end of class, Remus had successfully finished the assignment and Sirius had managed to finish his doodle of a tiny bunny jumping rope in the corner pages of his book. Before the bell rang James was already at their table alongside Peter, the excitement radiating off of his body like Nott's body odor.

"Mates," he whispers lowly. "I'm in. Lily is officially in love with me."

"Are we talking about the same Lily Evans?" Peter teases.

"James didn't you just get told off by her for dangling Snape from the tree in the courtyard?" Remus adds. The boys exchange a brief look and Remus embarrassedly looks away. "Sorry. I didn't-"

"No, wait," James cuts him off. "You remember that happening?" 

"Yes. Why, is that bad?"

"No, not at all! That happened in October during fifth year. You've got a memory back!"

Remus suddenly smiles excitedly. "Really?"

James slaps a hand on his shoulder proudly. "Come on, maybe if I talk about Lily you'll remember more."