It was twelve o clock at night. Dinner had been a rewarding sort of experience, with a lot of food and a lot of chatter, but Remus had felt much less in the spirit of celebration, and eventually left the table with complaints of a crook stomach and a headache. Everybody was worried about him, but there wasn't much they could do, so they stayed at the dinner table, now having a somewhat subdued celebration. On a brighter note, tomorrow they would know whether they were on the quidditch team or not, and Arcturus could hardly bare to wait. He had even gone up to the dormitories looking for the first snitch he had ever caught, which he kept on a necklace chain in his trunk, but realised he had forgotten to pack it. This resulted in a letter home begging forgiveness for being a Griffindor, and asking if his parents could please send the possession through. He could only pray this would be enough.
In the meantime, however, Arcturus was sneaking out of his four poster bed, and down the stairs. Kyra had asked to meet him down at the lake. He made it to the common room unnoticed, and continued out the portrait of the woman in the pink dress.
"Where do you think you're going?" The painting put her hands on her hips sternly.
"For a walk." He muttered, and then stalked away. The corridor that Cassandra usually resided in was well lit for once, and empty. He made it to the moving staircase without any further disruption. The trip down them was more successful than that first time now that he was familiar with them, and he was out the front doors of the school in no time.
Kyra's dark hair reflected a raven sheen in the light of the full moon as she stood down by the lake, her back to him. Arcturus briskly made his way down the slope towards her. She jumped slightly when he tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh- hey Arcturus."
"Hey Kyra." He replied. She met his eyes for a moment.
"No trouble getting down here?" She asked.
"No not really." He smiled gently and ran a nervous hand through his mass of curly hair.
"I did." She frowned, and Arcturus' eyebrows shot up. "Peeves apprehended me. Luckily, i was able to act quickly, and used the 'wadawassi' spell against him." She said casually.
"Wow." He laughed, and without thinking about it much, he reached out and grabbed her hand. Kyra's eyes widened and she squeezed his hand back. She turned to stare across the lake.
"I-it's beautiful out here, huh?" She stammered.
"Yeah." He whispered, leaning in towards her. "Beautiful." He added. He could sense her flushed complexion, and the sweet scent of her perfume. Arcturus stood up straight again.
"I forgot to ask- what house are you in?" He said, pretending the previous exchange had never happened.
"Um... I'm in Ravenclaw." She told him. "You?"
"Griffindor." He nodded.
"That's cool." She smiled, staring across the water contentedly. There was a comfortable silence between them. Kyra started to slowly swing her arm back and forth, going faster. She giggled, and then stopped. Arcturus smiled down at her.
"You know, hanging out with you is a lot of fun." He told her,
"Yeah... You too." She grinned gorgeously, and Arcturus was tempted to lean in and kiss her. Hanging out with Kyra was, to put it simply, wonderful. Arcturus thought about what it was like with Cassandra. She was paranoid, and skittish and depressing. Being with Kyra was much better. Being with her was much more rewarding. Remus was right. Arcturus didn't need Cassandra. He wanted Kyra, and only Kyra.
He was just leaning in close to her, ready to satisfy his urge to kiss her, when he heard footsteps on the lawn in front of the castle, and grabbed her hand instead. He dived behind the large tree growing by the lakeside, dragging her with him, and the pair peered around it at the silhouetted people crossing the grounds.
"Who is it?" She whispered suddenly, making him jump a little.
"I-i dunno. There's three of them."
"It looks like they're headed towards the whomping willow!" Kyra exclaimed under her breath. And so it did. The trio paused just outside the reach of the terrifying tree, and the shortest, stumpiest member came forward and then seemed to disappear. Twenty seconds later, the tree seemed to freeze, and the remaining two people walked briskly to the trunk, stooped down at its base, and disappeared.
"What just happened?" Kyra spoke quietly.
"No idea. Do you want to find out?" He whispered, glancing towards her.
"Okay." She smirked mischievously. Arcturus could swear she was just perfect. Together they moved towards the willow. The wind swept through the grass and ruffled the hair on their heads. They paused just clear of the whomping willow and the tree swiped at them dangerously. Arcturus grabbed Kyra's hand and tugged her backwards along with him as he stumbled away from the dangerous branches.
"Shit, how are we gonna get in there?" He questioned aloud.
"I dunno...." Kyra frowned.
'Meow'
The familiar noise of a cat meowing got Arcturus' attention, and he glanced downwards to see his fluffy white cat Wisp, rubbing herself against his leg.
"Hey girl." He smiled, and stooped down to scoop her up, stroking the fur between her ears and down her neck affectionately. Wisp mewled again, and Kyra smiled gently.
"Is that your cat?" She chuckled,
"Yeah." Arcturus smiled back.
"He's gorgeous." She reached out and petted the cat too.
"She."
"Ah, she's a she?..." Kyra smiled, still stroking the cat's snowy fur.
"I don't think we'll be getting in there very soon." Kyra looked back towards the tree.
"No... I'm afraid not." Arcturus agreed.
"I don't wanna be rude, but it's pretty late, and you know- i'm tired, and-" Kyra began to over explain.
"It's okay." He put a finger to her lips, smiling gently. "I understand."
"Thankyou." She smiled too. Arcturus placed Wisp back on the ground and the pair of them began to creep back up towards the castle. Right before they reached the front doors, Arcturus put a hand on her shoulder.
"Before we say goodnight, i just want to do one thing." He told her. Kyra looked up and met his eyes, showing that she was paying attention, and Arcturus leaned in towards her and placed a chastise kiss upon her lips.
He felt dizzy and blissful, and his whole world span, and by the time she pulled away, Arcturus was overwhelmed by his emotions. Kyra touched her index finger to her lips, smiling, and then turned and left. He just stood there for who knows how long, and then he leaned up against the wall, trying to process the kiss he had just shared with her.
Arcturus had kissed plenty of girls before, but none of them had kissed him so passionately. None of them had sent sparks through him the way that Kyra did. He came to his senses and shook his head slightly, then he himself tiptoed inside and began the hike up the stairs to reach the Griffindor dormitories.
As he got up to the top of the moving staircases, he noticed that the seventh floor corridor was dark, torches extinguished, meaning that Cassandra was there somewhere, residing in the corridor. Arcturus wasn't even sure which house she belonged to, but it didn't really matter. Cassandra kind of... Slept here.
He carefully entered, trying not to alert her to his presence. His footsteps seemed to echo more loudly than normal, his breathing sounded enormous, his heart was in his ears. He really did not want to speak to Cassandra. Talking with her always made him feel sad and sorry for her, and almost guilty because even though they were never together, he felt almost like he owed her something for the interactions they had shared, and he was in an excellent mood for once, which he didn't want ruined.
"Who's there?" Her voice called out. It sounded broken, almost like she had been crying. She sniffled. Arcturus couldn't see her, but as a few more seconds ticked by, the anticipated sadness enveloped him, ruining his great mood.
"It's just me, Cassandra. I'm just coming up to bed." He told her, glancing around in the pitch darkness.
"Lumos." She whispered, and her face was illuminated suddenly by her wandtip. She must have been crying, because she certainly looked it. Her eyes were watery and puffy, and her hair was slightly awry.
"Oh. Arcturus. I should've known." She glanced at the floor. "Where have you been?" She questioned.
"Erm... I fell asleep. I woke up and realised how late it was, and now i'm coming to bed." He didn't know why he felt the need to lie to her, but it was out there now.
"Okay. That's unlucky, i guess. Sirius seemed to think you had gone for a walk with some girl down to the lake. Dunno why he said that." She said. Arcturus couldn't tell if she was bitter about him lying, or if she even knew he had lied and had just assumed Sirius was confused, but whatever it was, her expression was very hard to read.
"I'll let you go, anyhow." "Nox."
"Goodnight." He whispered in the dark, and then trotted down the corridor. As he turned the corner and stepped into the light he was able see the portrait of the chubby lady in the pink dress that guarded the Griffindor common room. He approached it briskly, and noticed that she was asleep.
"Hey- wakeup." He tapped on the gold frame. She startled awake, blinked at him and then frowned.
"You can't expect me to do this often, you know."
"Yeah yeah. Bathilda Bagshot." He gave the password, and she swung open to reveal the doorway. Arcturus stepped inside and then tiptoed across the common room and up the stairs. He opened the door to their dormitory carefully. All of the curtains were drawn around the four posters except for his. Careful not to wake his room mates, he quietly made it to his bed, slipped off his pants and drew the curtains. Exhausted, he very quickly fell into a restful sleep.