lovesick || r. lupin

³³really drunk

Remus had suggested that Ayla should go back to her dorm instead of returning to the party. He even offered to walk her back to the barrel but Ayla had insisted that she do it on her own, that she was plenty sober enough to walk down a few flights of stairs. That could move. At midnight. While emotionally unstable.

With all these odds against Ayla, Remus was hesitant to let her go alone but after a while of Ayla promising that if she had the slightest feeling something could go wrong, she would return to the Gryffindor common room. And on that, Remus and Lily parted ways with a still drunken Ayla and began to make their way back to the party.

"She'll be fine, Remus," Lily assured.

"I know. I'm not worried." But he was. Very much.

"Ayla's a smart girl. She won't do anything dim."

"I know."

-----

The party was going how most usually went. The ease into the celebration, then the explosive rage with drunk teenagers dancing about and singing and laughing and making out in broomclosets and dark corners. All that was left was for the slow, the drowsy close where there was nothing left but a murmur of music and the sound of snoring and quiet whispers. That honestly was Remus's favorite part. The calm. Not before but after. It was rather metaphorical, wasn't it.

Remus wasn't very fond of parties, if he was honest. The smell of firewhiskey was much too strong and the overbearing noise a little bit too intense and the constant action too dramatic. It all was too much of everything. Especially when the full moon had only been five days prior.

And that's what had led Remus to the astronomy tower. With Sirius being the birthday boy, and James laughing much too hard, and Peter getting pulled into a game of spin the bottle and snogging a stout little Ravenclaw girl, the scarred boy didn't really have anyone else to hangout with. So he had left all alone.

He strolled his way up the stairs into the tower, taking a deep breath of fresh, clean air. His headache was beginning to subside and his nostrils were burning from the strong scent of alcohol. Remus pushed open the door softly, and surprised and taken aback, he saw a blonde girl with her pretty lavender top and favorite bellbottoms with her green cardigan thrown askew on the stone floor though it was rather frigid outside. Ayla.

He stared for a moment, too startled to see her there to say anything or do anything. But then she had turned around and smiled big and goofy and her eyes were bright as if she were excited to see him there, like she had just been caught thinking about him. But surely that wasn't the case.

"Hi, Rem!"

Remus raised his brows and softly smiled, "A nickname, I see," he pointed out as he eased his way over beside her. He grabbed her green cardigan from the floor and held it out for her. "You should really put this on. It's freezing out here."

Ayla shrugged with a giggle and rested her head on her arms, which laid on the outlook of the astronomy tower.

"How come you're out here? Did you not make it back to your dorm?"

"I must have forgot..."

"Suppose that can happen when you drunk," Remus chuckled.

She nodded in response, continuing to look out onto the Hogwarts grounds that were blanketed in snow. Her curtain bangs were falling into her eyes but she didn't brush them out of her face, she merely let them hang there.

Remus pointed at her bangs, "Your hair."

Ayla looked at him but still did not do anything.

A knot of embarrassment rose in Remus's throat as he moved his hand to push her hair out of her face. He tucked her bangs behind her ear and within a moment, Ayla had laid her hand atop his, holding it there to her cheek. Remus froze and debated with himself on whether he should let his hand be held there, so delicately and longingly or to rip his hand away because he truly shouldn't be allowing himself to feed into these impossible daydreams of being with Ayla.