𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐔𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐍

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

☽

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑
𝐓 𝐖 𝐎

REMUS LUPIN WAS FAMOUSLY quiet. The boy was born with mischief twisted into his bones and chaos in his heart. Some would say he was too mature for his age, others would say the boy had gotten away with three expulsions worth of trouble over the last 5 years. But there was just something about him. . . Something etched in silver and draped in gold, something so gorgeously scarred. It was like he was born to make you feel alive.

Esta was tapping her feather quill against the parchment in front of her as anxiety rushed through her endless astral thoughts. The Ravenclaw and met Remus Lupin three years back, well into their third year. He reached his hand out to her and she felt her body quiver, knowing every detail of the brutality she could witness when they latched hands, but he quickly redacted his hand and blushed profusely. Promptly, he pulled a tissue out of his pocket and used it to wipe a streak of chocolate off his palm, and smiled at her bashfully.

"I'm sorry! I was eating some chocolate right before this! My name is Remus Lupin, and you are?"

His boyish voice and happy attitude made the reserved girl almost smile, the ends of her lips twitching ever so slightly. But they stopped when his hand was back out. The skin on his hand appeared jagged, scarred to the very bone, a deep contrast from Esta's abnormally soft and flawless skin. So she braced herself for the worst, ready to see the hell the universe had planned out for this poor boy with a cute smile.

And then she saw nothing. Not even the stars.

Esta blanked out, waiting, holding onto what could be the worst thing she had ever seen, but nothing came. So she offered him a polite, yet brief, smile and told him her name. Panic was traveling throughout her body in harsh waves, like a tsunami hitting her insides, wreaking havoc on her head.

So here she was, waiting for him to approach her in the library with her eyes closed, taking in the sight of the universe shifting and expanding rapidly. There was a star chart in front of her, glistening as a blue aura drifted off the page, the solar system and beyond visible, perfectly inked writing near each dot's body, names and movement around each other and the Milky-Way written out. It was a gorgeous scene, but nothing like the one Esta could see as waited.

Esta didn't hear the soft steps behind her until a voice spoke up. "Wow! That looks amazing!" She gasped and practically jumped from the chair, the universe leaving her as the boy with soft brown hair and honey stained eyes chuckled at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," He brought with him the aroma of chocolate, fresh like it had been made just for him.

Her heart slowed down with every beat as she looked at him in all his golden Gryffindor glory, sun-basked in rivers of red silk, everything she wanted to know, and more. "It's fine, just unexpected." Remus couldn't help but smile at that, her timid demeanor returning to her ethereal features. The werewolf moved effortlessly toward the chair next to her's, still holding his grin as he plopped down into it.

"So. . . Astronomy teacher? That's what you've decided?" Remus asked her, trying to keep conversation because he knew Esta would let them sit there in silence outside of their work. "Yeah, rather out of character for me, I know, but it's my passion," The white-haired girl tried to justify herself for some reason.

He noticed she did that a lot. . . She'd rather suffer through an awkward silence than bring herself to speak first. He couldn't help but wonder where that started from, if it was because of something that happened to her or if that was just how she's always been.

Remus nodded and looked down at his parchment, the words were mostly names of starts, and complex concepts about space he could bring himself to understand simply. Esta looked over at his paper and its contents, wondering what could've possibly stumped one of the highest-scoring boys in their year.

The boy was stuck on constellations. Patterns in the sky.

She found it more cute than anything, but at the same time Esta couldn't grasp how it could come across as complicated to someone. . . But it was also her she was thinking about, the girl who was bred and born in stardust.

"Where do you want to start? Like, with each Constellation family group?"

"They're called families?"

✧

Ellen Anthony was waiting quietly at the Ravenclaw table for her best friend to arrive, feeling out of place as her emerald robes contrasted dramatically against the sapphire that surrounded her. Typically, she sat at the Hufflepuff table with Aneurin, the house of ember growing to enjoy her presence when he was with her, seeing as her Slytherin "family" had rejected her for finding love, but not enough to be comfortable alone with her.

It wasn't uncommon for the Slytherins to merge with the Ravenclaws during meals, but Dinner was seen as the day when each house sat at their own table. It always left Ellen with a sore thumb.

Her saving grace came in the form of a girl with pale porcelain skin and platinum hair, Esta Novic was as beautiful as she could come. Even her flaws looked beautiful to Ellen like everything was perfectly molded to create the perfect girl. "I'm so sorry Elle! I was helping Remus and we got caught up in the work-"

"I'm sorry- Remus? As in Remus Lupin?" Ellen stopped Esta dead in her tracks after she had sat down. ". . . Yeah, I thought I told you about this?" Esta couldn't tell if her best friend was shocked or appalled. Knowing her, it was probably both, "It's part of the deal I made with Professor Sinatra, I was going to help tutor student's to get used to teaching so I can her job after I graduate."

Ellen stared at her, not fully knowing how to process the information at hand. "You don't find it coincidental that the first person you are meant to help is the only person whose future you can't see? The only person who makes you blank?"

The platinum-haired girl paused. She hadn't thought of that. Something about that made her feel queasy like fate was playing another sick game with her. Esta Novic had come to realize she is nothing more than a pawn in the hand of destiny, she was just the only one who could see it.

"I'll take that as a no. Essie, just be careful, yeah? I know you are worried about Aneurin and I with this whole "seeing the future" thing, and that you know why you can't see Remus's future, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous for you. I- I don't know what we'd do if something happened to you."

Vulnerability was something that was rarely seen from the two girls, but when it came out, it was the most genuine thing you could imagine.

Esta reached out and gently grabbed one of Ellen's hands, giving her a soft smile, something divine on the girl's face, "I promise, Elle, for you."

✧

firstly, i'd like to apologize for this taking so long for it to not be the best quality, but i've rewritten this chapter multiple times to get to this and it is the version i am most satisfied with:/

i promise another update of better quality very soon!! promisepromisepromise:)
<3