studying (open)

[lauren]

Lily entered the Library, she needed some quiet time, some time to be alone. It was too soon for homework, so she had nothing to work on, but the common room was just too loud at the moment. She was actually glad to be back at Hogwarts for once, of course she wasn't so happy about eventually bumping into Severus. During the summer she had well sort of avoided him. He'd been at her house most of the summer, or tried. See, she never really answered the door. She just hoped he'd given up on trying to talk to her.

Yes, she missed him. He'd been her best friend and it was really hard without him around, but she knew she'd never be able to forgive him. What he had said to her, was just unforgivable. She wasn't sure things would ever be the same between them. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to forget. Even know, months later it was like he had said it yesterday. The wound was still fresh.

Lily walked over to one of the empty tables and sat down, but not before picking up a book to read. Right now she was the only one in the Library, but since they all just got back, well most people wouldn't be spending their time in the Library, well unless they enjoyed books. For the most part people only went to the Library to study. Not Lily though, Lily was one of the few who actually enjoyed the Library and just liked to sit around.

[Remus John Lupin]

It would be a lie to say Remus was behind on work and that that was why he spent so much time in the library. The first week back at school was always hectic and he never got used to it no matter how often he'd already gone through it - the noise and crowds of students were such a contrast to his quiet weeks at home that it tended to take him off guard and tire him.
But luckily then there was the library which was not usually very busy and even less so at the beginning of the academic year.

Remus had very bravely begun in a paperback version of Paradise Lost by John Milton just after Lena had left again after her visit this summer, and though some people believed Remus to be able to stop himself from hearing, it was not at all the case. If anything, his heightened senses had more trouble than anyone's to turn the noise in the common room into a background drone and with a challenging seventeenth-century book on his mind, the choice to go to the library hadn't been a very difficult one.

It wasn't difficult to spot Lily amongst the few other students that were around - her flaming hair always seemed to catch anyone's attention (though usually James's). She appeared to be reading as well and though Remus didn't want to disturb her, he did decide to sit next to her.
Since they'd become Prefects together they had come to a point where he felt they'd become something like friends. When James was too loud, Sirius too blunt, or Peter just not interested, Lily was, like Lena, someone who actually listened when he felt he needed someone to do so.
"Hey Lils." He smiled a little as he sat down next to her. "Had a good summer?"

[lauren]

Lily smiled up at Remus and set her book down for awhile, when he spoke. She really didn't mind. Maybe talking would help take her mind off things. "Hey" she said quietly, but still happy to see him. She hadn't seen him since, well last term. They didn't exactly live near one another. Yeah, okay technically Lily could owl friends she didn't leave near, but this summer had been busy. Well, she'd been busy trying to avoid Severus. "I'm good I guess, I've been having to avoid Snape all summer, but other than that I'm pretty good" she said honestly. This would probably be the only time she mentioned snape too. She wanted to move on from what happened, however that was easier said then done. "Then there was the fact it's just me and my sister and she didn't exactly want me coming home for the summer, but again i tried to avoid her as much as snape, so since I didn't see her all that much, it was fine" she replied (I just remember i killed off her parents before lol)

Really it seemed he didn't know when to give up. She hadn't seen him yet since they all got back, but hopefully he'd given up on wanting her to forgive him, but then again she had no way of knowing unless she bumped into him and bumping into him was something she really didn't want to do. "How have you been?" she asked, wanting to change the subject. No, the last thing she really wanted to talk about was Severus. Even though it had been an entire summer, months, what he had said still really hurt. Not only that it was still fresh in her mind, as if it were yesterday or even this morning.

[Remus John Lupin]

[although it hasn't been played (yet - I hope!), the whomping willow incident would've been last year just before the holidays - I recall something about Rem finding a lot of support in Lily around that time (and if it's non canon, I still think it's realistic, anyway) plus I guess she could use a friend after Sev's insult etc?]


Remus smiled back almost in a relieved fashion when Lily smiled at him. Things had been tense since the incident with Snape last year and he was glad to have a genuine smile directed at him. It wasn't that he avoided his friends, because that was impossible unless he would sleep in the common room and not go to class, but there was still a decided degree of tension around them. It was like they were all waiting for something to make it alright again, but no one interacted - everybody waited. After all, last year Remus hadn't quite been on speaking terms with Sirius (no matter the thousand excuses he'd made) and although Remus had forgiven him ages ago (simply because he was unable of holding a grudge against his friend - he was weak like that), the situation was still far from ideal. The conversations were shallow, sometimes laced with hidden apologies, but everyone avoided speaking about that.
"I'm good I guess, I've been having to avoid Snape all summer, but other than that I'm pretty good." Remus couldn't help but pull a slight face at the mentioning of his name; not only because he had insulted and hurt Lily to a degree he had never expected Snape to be capable of, but also because the Slytherin had been finding ways to direct animal-themed sneers and insults at him when they passed in the hallway. Remus was convinced it was a way of hiding his fear by being offensive, but that didn't mean it wasn't hurtful. Remus wasn't in the mood to talk about Snape, either. Anything else would do. "Then there was the fact it's just me and my sister and she didn't exactly want me coming home for the summer, but again i tried to avoid her as much as snape, so since I didn't see her all that much, it was fine."
He nodded a little, half smiling at her. "Well, at least the summer's over." Apart from Lena coming over, his summer had been perfectly quiet. A little too quiet, with hardly any owls except those carrying the Prophet with more news of death. "You can always stay at my place for a while next summer, if you'd like?"

"How have you been?" Remus shrugged a little. "Oh, nothing special. Quiet," he said in a half-whisper. Remus knew Lily was intelligent enough to understand him without an explanation that his friends had been rather absent from his life these last few months. It had honestly hurt him a little and confused him. Had they all decided they liked Sirius better than him? He had asked himself that question very often during the summer holidays. It sounded so plausible in his mind. He had been too much of a coward to send anyone an owl, too cowardly in the face of a possible rejection even if it was unlikely now that he thought about it logically. Now that he was back at school it was clear his friends were as uncertain where they stood as he was, but no one had tried to break the cycle of shallow interaction so far. Remus had a feeling they were expecting him to do it.
"Glad to be back at school," he added, smiling a little lopsidedly. For those who knew Remus Lupin well enough, that might as well have meant 'glad to be among friends again', though in this case 'friends' could well be substituted for 'Lily'.

Drawing a deep breath, he sat up a little. Time to change the subject. They obviously both had subject they wanted to avoid, there were also topics of conversation they were both interested in.
"So what subjects are you taking this year?"

[lauren]

(that's fine. I always imagined them to be close either way - but remus did say she was there for him when others weren't. I would assume he was talking about the willow incident. there were the marauders yes, but id assume that remus would probably be very angry with sirius for what he did, so he'd be kinda torn as you obviously have him. but yeah that's good to me.)

Lily nodded "Yeah, that's true" she replied with a nod, when he said at least summer was over. Lily normally loved summer. It was actually one of her favorite time of years,, but this last summer was far from ideal. Lily smiled at his suggestion. "Yeah thanks for the offer, I might actually do that. I swear the times I was actually around my sister, she was driving me crazy" she sated, with a roll of her eyes. Of course she also loved Remus, like a friend and almost like a brother in some ways, so spending a part of her summer with him would be quite fun. A lot better than being around her sister, or close to snape.

Lily nodded when he said he was glad to be back. "Yeah, me too actually. I mean I really missed it here, but honestly I can't believe that next year is really going to be our last" she stated. It really was hard to believe, or grasp the fact that they won't be returning the year after next. No, they'll actually be out in the wizard world on their own. Where that also was a very exciting thought, it was also kind of scary in some ways and not just because Voldemort was out their lurking. Of course Voldemort made it scary too, but the fact they'd be out on their own was a bit scary.

At his question she looked over at him. She had to think about it for a second "Well, considering how well I did on my O.W.L's I could take pretty much almost everything, so it was quite hard to choose. I have potions, defense, transfiguration, charms, ancient runes, and astronomy. I wanted arithmancy, but since i really wanted ancient runes i figured that might be too much, as ancient runes is supposed to be hard" she stated with a nod. She really could have taken all she wanted, as she did really well on her exams. Then again it was like that every year, but she didn't want to over due herself too much.

(i didnt know how many classes to put so yeah lol)

[Remus John Lupin]

Remus was also very fond of summer. After all, the nights were shorter, the breezes were warmer.. Plus, as much as he liked the rush of Hogwarts, it felt sort of good to not have to think about studying and essays sometimes. Still, in the end, he knew he always was hardly able to wait for the end of the summer before he again longed to see his friends. Then again - that possibly had something to do with the fact he had no friends at home.
He was glad Lily seemed to consider his offer of her staying over for a while next summer. Rem knew James would be seething jealous, but told himself not to care about that too much - after all, Lily was closer to feeling like family than any sort of lover. Lily felt, well.. to Remus, Lily sort of felt like one of the boys. 'One of the boys' meaning 'friends'. It was the same sort of relationship like he had with Lena - one of pleasant and no-pressure friendship. It was still not the same, though. Remus liked joking around with Lena and they seemed to be of similar nature, but he still felt somehow calmer with Lily in some situations. Not that one was a better friend than the other, they were simply different - in a good way.
In fact, he had toyed with the idea of telling Lily about what he actually was, simply because she was muggle and wouldn't overreact as much as others might. It had been on his mind a lot lately, seeing as he wasn't doing too well with his friends at the moment and Remus was feeling some sort of need of sharing. It was silly - he had gone without talking about it for so many years, even avoiding the subject around his parents, but since his friends had found out about him, it had felt so good to be able to share. It had felt great to realise he could just be cranky and moody the day of the full moon and no one would blame him for it and, even better!, he wouldn't have to pretend to be all cheerful to mask it, either.

"I mean I really missed it here, but honestly I can't believe that next year is really going to be our last." Remus nodded and pulled a face. "Let's not mention it," he said with half a grin, trying to be casual about it. "I don't want to think about it too much." Or better yet: not at all! If anyone was terrified about leaving Hogwarts, it was Remus. He knew there would be career-counseling sessions this year - he preferred not to think about that, either.
Next to that rather major obstacle, there was indeed also the threat from Voldemort and his 'Band of Merry Men'. (Remus had once heard Sirius refer to the Death Eaters with these words and although he didn't like it much because it appeared to lessen the threat (and probably caution as a result), the phrase had cruelly stuck in his memory.) It were times like these when Remus wished he could've been an auror - but that would never happen.

When they moved to lighter subjects, he smiled more carefree again. Laughing softly when Lily confessed she had pretty much done well in everything, so she had plenty to choose from. "I never expected anything less from you," he said, still grinning a little. "I won't be taking Potions, obviously, but we share Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, and Ancient Runes," he cheerfully said. Remus liked sharing classes with Lily. She could think outside the box. "Apart from those I'm taking herbology and arithmancy, so if you still want to pick up some of that you can read my notes if you want." Remus smiled again, shrugging a little, then suddenly remembering something: "Oh, and I'm taking an extracurricular class called Ghoul Studies - they teach it in that classroom on the Serpentine Corridor on Thursday evenings, you know?"