— chapter four —
THE LIBRARY DEBACLE

—

    IT WAS ONLY two weeks into the year, and Remelda was already falling slightly behind in Herbology. She hated that class so much she didn't care about her grades, but of course her parents had threatened the school to always tell them when their two (not three) children were falling behind and she had gotten a letter threatening her to bring up her grades.

    Remelda didn't care if she failed Herbology, she hated that class so much, but she was afraid of her mother. She remembered the scars that colored her back like tattoos, some were still pink from summer, and she knew that they would be there forever. The scars would be a constant reminder of who her mother was, how she couldn't do anything against them, her parents would always have power over her.

    So there she was, a Friday evening, in the library by herself with many Herbology books as she answered questions that she had no interest in answering. She knew that she should probably get herself a tutor, someone who could hold her accountable for her grades (besides her parents) and help her, but she wouldn't. If anyone in her house knew, she would be dead.

    Slytherins were very prideful. They didn't like help and they didn't want it. They always thought they could do everything themselves, and she would be looked down on if she admitted that she needed help to anyone that wasn't Regulus. It wasn't just with grades that Slytherins were prideful, they thought anything they were was better than others – like the purity of their blood.

    Remelda couldn't be mad at most people in her house, she would be just like them if it wasn't for Sirius (not her brother, she refused to call him that). But others, those like Demetri, she couldn't sympathize for, because they bullied and hexed many other people in other houses for not being like them.

    Then she huffed. She was getting nowhere with her homework and she was never a fan of libraries. They were too quiet for her liking, reminding her of summer at home. But Regulus found them quite enjoyable. She understood, it was an escape from all their 'friends' (excluding Alfie) in Slytherin, it was an escape from listening to Demetri boast about how 'great' he was. But even with all that, she hated the quietness that the library brought.

    Even though there were more things to hate, even though there were bigger things that everyone hated that loomed over their heads, she still hated the library with a burning passion. She knew it was like the childhood fear of spiders, something so small, but it held such a large place in her heart.

    It was like home. Home. No, the place she lived. That was more like it. Remelda's home wasn't 12 Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts, she didn't have the best memories with her year, her home with Regulus. Her home was the one person she loved with hadn't betrayed her, hadn't hurt her.

    Regulus was always there, unlike Sirius. Sirius hurt her, betrayed her, left her to take the harsh punishments of their parents, which had only gotten worse after his leaving. But she still found it in her heart to love him, even though it hurt. She wanted to desperately to forgive Sirius, to have that relationship back with him, but he had hurt her, he had broken his promise.

    She had waited every day for him to return, saying that he was taking her and Regulus out of that house, but that never happened. She waited all summer, clinging on to that hope, until school returned and he didn't even look at her. Then it was clear that he had forgotten that promise, forgotten her, and she didn't matter anymore.

    That was yet another reason to hate that house – all those memories of them together, being a happy family. Until they burned, along with his face of the family tree.

    Plop!

    Remelda jumped, her thoughts seizing as she looked in front of her to see a certain scarred boy who was friends with her (ex)brother. Remus Lupin. The boy had a scar running across his face, a coffee-colored jumper with a chocolate stain on, and a slight smile on his face, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

    "Hello," he whispered to her, maintaining the quiet of the room.

    "Hi," Remelda returned unsurely, "I don't see what you're doing here, there's plenty other empty tables."

    Remus chuckled, "I actually wanted to talk to you, if it's alright with you."

    Remelda rolled her eyes. She looked at him with glaring eyes, a knowing sense of the topic he wanted to bring up. "You want to talk about Sirius," he nodded, "Well don't, there's nothing you can say that will convince me to talk to him."

    He sighed, knowing that this would be harder than he originally thought. "He never stopped talking about you. He always talked about you, said that you and I would get along the best..."

    "And that's why he sent you to talk to me," she finished quietly. She remembered the times that Sirius told her about them, his friends, when he wanted to cheer her up. She thought about the many different times he told her that she would get along best with Remus, but of course, she didn't tell Remus that.

    She didn't want to remember that.

    "Yeah," Remus said, "Kind of, he also bribed me with chocolate from Honeydukes."

    Remelda's lips curled upwards in the smallest way, "How cruel of him to send you to me in exchange for chocolate."

    "You're not that bad," Remus disagreed.

    "So you're telling me that I'm a little bad then?" Remelda smirked at him.

    She watched as he sputtered, stuttering out different words to try and explain himself, "What – no – I-I – that's not – um, uh – I mean, you're a wonderful lady, from what I know, and – and, yeah."

    Remelda chuckled lowly, "Calm down, Lupin, I was only joking with you."

    Remus smiled kindly at her, a foreign concept to her. In Slytherin, they didn't smile, not at that time, anyways. They smirked, held up their heads proudly, and didn't show any sign of weakness or emotion. It was then that Remelda decided that maybe Remus wasn't that bad.

€

    "Did you have a fun date with Nadia?" Remelda flipped through the pages of her book (a muggle one, but it was well hidden with enchantments) without even looking up at her brother.

    She heard him chuckle quietly closing the door of his dorm room before joining her on his bed. She knew that it couldn't be anyone else, it was right after dinner and Demetri's Night Circle was in commence. Again, she heard him sigh.

    "We aren't dating, Remelda, she's actually with Sirius now," he said his name with slight bitterness.

    It wasn't disgust, she knew that tone with him as well, it was bitterness. He was bitter about the subject of him, but so was Remelda. He was a sore subject with them, and when Remelda heard his name, from the tongue of her brother, she felt a pang in her chest.

    It wasn't like when with Remus. That was small. But this was Regulus, who went through the same things as well, and the pang in her chest was as strong as steel, demanding to be felt.

    "And what did you and Nadia exactly," Remelda then questioned, "if you weren't snogging each other."

    She felt a pillow collide with her head, causing Remelda to roll her eyes, place down her book, and look at her brother. "That's very immature, Regulus."

    Regulus rolled his eyes as well, "Why are you like this, Remelda? You know that Nadia and I have never held romantic feelings for one another, so why do you feel the need to constantly question that?"

    "I don't question it, I know your friendship status with her, I just enjoy annoying you. You get so worked up when I ask you these questions," she smirked.

    He scoffed. "Moving on, Nadia and I watched another movie together."

    "Did you snuggle? Put your arm around her? Maybe you watched a horror movie and told her that you would always protect her," she laughed at him.

    "Sometimes, I hate you deeply, sister," Regulus muttered, "And no, we didn't watch a horror film. Actually, it was more of an action movie. It was about a princess who was taken by a tyrant and a young boy who fancied her, even though he had never met her before, setting out to save her with the help of the force and an older man."

    "Sounds riveting."

    "It was," Regulus agreed, "Well, it was better than one of those Disney movies...the one about a fox and a hound, it was terrible."

    "I thought you liked Disney movies," Remelda carefully bookmarked her place, setting the novel down and giving her brother her full attention.

    "Yes, most of them, but even a huge franchise like that can make a few mistakes," Regulus nodded.

    "Well," Remelda smiled at him, "as much as I love egging you on about Nadia and her love for Disney, I'm quite sure that Demetri is finished gloating for the evening and I still have Transfiguration homework to complete."

    "Really? You've had the assignment all week and you still haven't completed it," Regulus rolled his eyes.

    She scoffed, standing up only to walk to him and slap the back of his head with her book. "Shut up, little brother, not all of us spend every waking moment in the library working. Some of us actually like to go outside and enjoy the weather."

    "Says the girl who despises the outdoors," he snorted, but Remelda didn't do anything else to him, only rolling her eyes (for the millionth time) and leaving the room.

    Like she assumed, the common room was mostly empty with Demetri long gone and only first years completely their essays, trying to keep up with the workload that Hogwarts brought.