Éthérée

everything will be alright if you keep me next to you (8)

"What are you and Remus hiding from us?" Sirius asked Audrey as they sat in the boys' dorms, along with James and Peter. The Potter twins were sitting on the hardwood floors, while Peter and Sirius occupied their beds. A bowl of assorted candy was being passed around the four regularly, the floor sprawled with quills, ink pots, textbooks and pieces of parchment. The soft white light of the full moon filtered in through the window, illuminating the room along with the help of the multiple yellow lights. 

"Nothing," Audrey said with a slight shrug, eyes focused on her Potions' textbook, taking a bite of a muggle sour candy.

"Oh come on Aud, it's painfully obvious something is going on between you two," Peter said, putting his quill down and rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.

"What's painfully obvious, is your little crush on Mary Macdonald Pete," Audrey shot back with a slight smirk.

"Oh shut it," Peter mumbled, throwing a pillow at her, his cheeks reddening.

"You two would make a good couple in the future mate," Sirius said with a smirk, popping a candy in his mouth.

"Whatever. And anyways, weren't we talking about Audrey and Remus?" Peter asked, waving his hands around. 

"No we weren't, because there isn't anything to talk about." the blond replied throwing her head back on Sirius' bed, which she was sitting against for support, and closing her eyes. 

"Well, I'd bed to differ Audrey. For starters, the way you dragged him out of the Common Room and you two disappeared for about forty minutes, and none of you would tell us about where you went," James said, looking at his sister. 

"It was nothing James." Audrey replied, looking at him dead in the eye. 

"It certainly didn't seem like it. You two are keeping too many secrets from us," he shot back.

"Sod off! We'll keep what we have to from you. Maybe if you weren't so irritating, you'd know sooner," 

James rolled his eyes, irritated at his twin. She scoffed in return, returning the feeling. Thick tension fell between the two, none of them making a move. 

Audrey exhaled heavily. "It's late. I'm gonna go to bed. Good night Sirius. Good night Pete,"

"Good night Aud," they both said simultaneously, and the girl walked away from the messy room, shutting the door with a bang. All she could think about that night as she lied in bed was Remus. No one deserved to go through the pain he was going through, and especially not the Lupin. 

***

The next morning she woke up in her dorm. The sun hadn't risen yet. She glanced at her bedside table, rubbing her eyes slightly. 5:30 am. She rushed to the bathroom, a pair of sweatpants and a Gryffindor sweater in her hands. She looked at herself in the mirror. Slight dark circles were present under her eyes from her late night study session with the boys.  Her hair was sprayed out in all different directions. She ran her hands through them, trying to control them, but failed miserably. Discarding her clothes on the cool marble floor, she stepped into the stalls, taking a warm shower.

After changing into her new clothes and tying her hair up into a ponytail, she rushed out of the bathroom, and grabbed two bars of chocolate and the invisibility cloak from her bedside table before making her way out of the dorm. Remus had a habit of having chocolate, especially after the full moon for reasons unknown to Audrey. She closed the door of the dorm as quietly as possible so as to not wake up her friends, before breaking into a run out of the Common Room. 

And she didn't realise that she had three boys watching her the whole time.

"Where do you reckon she's going so early in the morning?" Sirius asked as he along with James and Peter saw Audrey sprint out of the common room.

"We have to follow her," said James.

"Don't you think that'll be wrong? I mean, we should respect her privacy," Peter said looking at the two boys who were looking at him with quiet an intimidating stare.

"Oh come on Pete, we have to see where she's going," James said.

"Yeah, we do," Sirius said, and the boys rushed out the Common Room, leaving behind the Peter, who ultimately had to catch up with them. Audrey was already quiet far away from them, her footsteps making no sound. The corridors were deserted, no students roaming around. Except of course the four. The Potter girl cast a quick glance around her, before throwing on the cloak, making  her invisible. 

Sirius groaned in defeat, while James rolled his eyes in bitterness. 

"We can't get her now, let's just go back," Peter said in a quiet voice, and the two other boys followed him back to the Common Room. Meanwhile, Audrey made her way to the hospital wing. She quickly navigated the halls of the castle, reaching just in time for Madam Pomfrey to close the doors.

"Madam, you need to let me in," she urgently told her.

"Oh Audrey honey, what are you doing here?"

"Ma'am, I'm here to see Remus. I just wanna make sure he's okay,"

"Oh, why wouldn't he-"

"Ma'am I know about him. Please, let me in," she pleaded. The teacher looked shocked, and Audrey took that as an opportunity to slightly push her to the side. She ran inside, but she wasn't ready to see what she did. An unconscious Remus, with cuts, jabs, and bruises lining every inch of his pale skin. His sandy brown hair was tinged with just a bit of blood. She quietly made her way towards his bed. He had a sharp gash across his cheek. His arm was in a sling, definitely broken. He also had a deep cut running across his chest. She lightly whimpered at the sight of her best friend. The one person who had been there for her no matter what. The one person who would listen to her drone on about basically anything, any hour of the day or night. He was turning out to be more like her brother than James was. A lone tear slipped down her face and landed on Remus' cheek. He fluttered his dark brown eyes open.

"Hey, hey I'm okay," he said, consoling his friend. He tried getting up but winced when he accidentally put effort on his broken arm.

"Don't get up. Rest." Audrey said, trying to keep her tears at bay, and wiping away the ones that had already escaped. He smiled gratefully at her, and for a while, both of them just held each other's hands. Finally, Audrey handed him the chocolate. 

"You didn't have to," Remus said with a small smile. Audrey sniffled a little, rolling her eyes in the process. 

"Oh shut it. The least I can do is get you some chocolate," she replied. Remus let out  a small chuckle, biting into the bar, inhaling the sweet smell.

She knew that it wasn't going to be okay, it never would. But what she did know that she was not going to leave this boy alone, ever again.

And she stuck to the promise. Until the very end.

*****

Rewritten: 30th May, 2021.