𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
045. the art of a red scarf

WIZARDING WORLD, 1967

          𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗣. Nothing about the dull sky or the rows of leaden grass made her feel particularly buoyant in the middle of the October day—along with a salty taste on her tongue. One big, fat cloud loomed over the place, quite dense which made everybody feel chilly.

      It was not chilly near the start of the day when she was getting ready for the ball her parents were throwing. The sun was blooming, the birds were singing and Scarlet was bored of changing outfits according to her mother's suggestions.

      At the age of seven, Scarlet yet had a lot of manners and responsibilities to get used to. So, when her mother allowed her to wear her favourite emerald dress that reached below her knees along with a sparkly pair of flats, she felt lit up. Around her neck was a brand-new crimson scarf she was gifted on Christmas.

She jumped a little on her feet, feeling giddy in her new shoes; a grin was on her face. One that her father did not approve of. "Wipe that grin off your face, do not behave that way in front of our guests,"

"Zircon, she's a little girl," Celeste whispered to her husband, quietly smiling at her daughter who then frowned.

"It's unpleasant enough we don't have an heir to the bloodline," Zircon seethed, "The least you could do is prepare her to be the perfect trophy so nobody complains,"

Celeste fell silent instead of protesting, running a hand through Scarlet's hair to soothe it straighter. The knock on the door perked up her excitement because the attention from her was snatched.

      The house-elf Jaggy opened the door and instantly ran away, Zircon had advised the house-elf to not present himself in front of the guests and stay hidden in the kitchen.

"Druella, it's been so long," Celeste pleasantly smiled, shaking her hand.

Scarlet stood on her tip-toes by the stairway, raising her chin to see three girls in similar dresses. One with raven hair, one with dark brown, and the shortest one of them with longer and straighter blonde locks that resembled Scarlet's.

      To say the day was boring would be an underestimate. The manor was soon filled up with familiar and unfamiliar faces, and Scarlet was growing restless about faking a smile and greeting everybody.

      She stared outside the window, watching the moon develop to its full-shape, a perfect circle with grey tints here and there. There was somebody at the door again, and she squinted her eyes to see her parents greeting another set of pairs. Both the man and the woman had sharp features with elegant postures, defined cheekbones, and light, piercing eyes. Besides them stood two boys who looked rather similar—head full of black locks and similar, grey eyes. Except, only one had a cheeky smile on his face.

       Celeste and Zircon were too invested in greeting this new-arriving family, and using this as the perfect opportunity, Scarlet moved upstairs to her bedroom and snuck out. She had never done it before, and the sudden act of rebellion caused a smile to beam off of her plump cheeks.

      Small, longing raindrops dropped gently on her head, but it always rained in her town—she wasn't worrying about it. A reason for a bigger concern made its way just the moment she felt a tiny bit of freedom.

      Opposite her manor was a cafe, it was rather small and rarely ever had customers. The concern was not the success of the cafe, it was what was sighted behind it.

      Allowing her curiosity to get the best of her, she walked over there carefully, making sure her flats didn't make any clicking sound. She leaned against the wall once she reached the edge, silently looking behind the cafe where an empty, small yard lay.

      The view in front of her made her jump out of her skin, she slapped a hand over her mouth to stop a yelp from leaving her lips.

      There was a small boy, and he was crying aloud—whimpering, even. Cuts and bruises littered his bare back, the shirt he wore was torn to pieces. His muscles started to enlarge.

"Excuse me," politeness dripped from her soft tone as she took another step forward, and mentally slapped herself for saying anything at all.

"Leave," he sternly said, and then let out another cry which almost caused the young girl to cry out of pity herself. "Go, it's dangerous!"

"I can help," she said confidently. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"I'm scared," the boy said, not turning around and facing the girl as he drowned in shame. "I'm so scared,"

"It's okay, tell me where it hurts, I can help," Scarlet softly told him, but she did not dare to step forward more.

"Everywhere!" he cried, "It hurts everywhere," one of his bones cracked, perhaps around the shoulder area and Scarlet gasped.

"Oh bloody Merlin, it's full-moon, you-you're a were—" she cut herself off, furrowing her brows in concentration.

Her brain rummaged through all the tricks and non-verbal spells her mother had taught her over the summer. Celeste was practically a genius when it came to casting non-verbal spells.

      Suddenly, she started to mutter something under her breath. She was not allowed to practice magic at all outside of school. And she did not care one bit.

"What are you doing?" the little boy's crooked voice said, his throat tired from crying. However, he forgot about his question the moment the pain started to dissolve, and the burning ache in her bones was no longer there. It still hurts, it just hurts a lot less.

He was about to thank her, just when he felt himself shift fully.

"Leave, now!" His voice became distorted, and the sound he let out next was no longer human. It only grew, and the worst part was that the street was swarming with individuals taking a walk on the bright Christmas night. Not to mention her entire family and their friends were gathered in a building nearby.

She could not allow him to hurt anyone—or hurt himself in the process. The boy looked no older than her age, and the crying only signified he was frightened.

      A growl emitted from the yard. Scarlet was taught what to do in such a situation, however, at the moment, she was utterly frozen. The growl only approached her closer and closer, she heard the footsteps. Using the fear as strength, she squeezed her eyes shut and felt her figure become smaller and smaller.

      Now, she was still looking at her surroundings from the same angle and height, except her body was shrunk and she was floating in the air. Large wings flapping about in the air.

      For a moment, the glowing-eyed werewolf looked puzzled, he stumbled back at the sight of the animal. It was a small dove. He stared intensely into the eyes of the bird, irises resembling light-blue water found at a shoreline. When she started to fly towards the werewolf, he—with confusion—stepped backward, not wanting to be a victim of the swift-moving wings.

      What he did not realise was the bird leading him back into the backroom of the cafe considering the shop was now closed with no workers inside. Scarlet had memorised their routine pretty well—having lived the opposite of it her entire life.

      The werewolf fell back into the storage-room with a thud, a loud growl leaving his sharp teeth. When he got back up, the door was shut and there was no escape.

      Scarlet made her way back into her true form and into her bedroom pretty soon after that with one and only thing in her mind: she was going to be obedient. She was never going to sneak out and listen to her parents at all times. However, the interaction built a shield around her heart—no matter how much her family tried making her feel disgusted about half-breeds, those beliefs never really got to her heart. Only because of that innocent, crying boy.

      It was a few moments before sunrise and tiredness took over the boy's body, he transferred back into his original shape, feeling out of breath. He unlocked the door, hoping the girl—who was brave enough to assist him, and intelligent enough to already know how to turn into an animal—was still out there, although there was a sleek chance.

      He let out a huff in disappointment when he found the yard empty—despite this, he found himself admiring the mysterious girl he came across. Remus did not have a chance to see her properly, only the piercing blue eyes that resembled a stormy ocean were his only chance of recognition. It was unlikely he would be able to track her down to thank her—many people had blue eyes.

      However, he did not seem to notice how light the girl's eyes truly were, that he never really had seen blue like that before.

      When he was about to leave the place after putting his clothes back on, his eyes caught something in the corner of the place, right near his feet as though it were left for him.

      A red scarf neatly laid on the ground, placed in a swirling manner around a cup of hot chocolate in the middle.

HOGWARTS, PRESENT

      "BLOODY MERLIN, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WAS YOU," Scarlet chuckled lightly, eyes moving between the scarf and Remus' deflated eyes. All of the sudden, he let out a chuckle too, and it only increased every second until he started to wheeze in laughter, throwing his head forward and staring at the ground in disbelief.

Scarlet matched his manners, laughing too, Remus shook his head as he looked her in the eye. "I swore you had a perfect memory,"

"I was seven," she deadpanned.

"I-I thought... you changed your opinion about my conditions... and you'd hate me," he quietly shook his head, "I thought I'd never see you again but on the first day of Hogwarts, I saw you... and—"

"You said I looked familiar,"

"I didn't quite realise how different your eyes truly are to all the other blue-eyed people," Remus admitted, now feeling embarrassed about judging her. "And then the memories from the night I encountered Snape came, I remembered the bird... I remembered your eyes, and..."

      "I don't think I could ever forget those eyes."

Scarlet chuckled and Remus gestured for her to sit down on his bed. She was a little hesitant, the boys' dormitory lacked quite a lot of hygiene. 

      She sat anyway and felt Remus sitting right next to her and sighed sorrowfully.

"Every time he comes and asks for my forgiveness, I really do want to forgive him, you know?" He spoke with utter sadness. "But I don't think I'll mean it."

"That's good. Don't do it if you don't mean it." Scarlet nodded, finding it reasonable.

"I don't know, it's been quite a few days and I don't know where he goes at night but he hurt me, Bridget..." Remus looked at her. "It really hurt, I don't think I'll ever be able to trust anyone again."

      "But then a part of me wants things to go back to normal." He let out another defeated sigh. Feeling the twist of the knife in his heart, feeling the pain he must have caused on him. But it was nothing compared to what Sirius did to him. 

      He watched the wry expression on her face, lips opening to blurt out something but then closing up again. 

The sight made him chuckle, "I don't expect you to say anything, Bridget."

"I'm not good at talking," Scarlet shrugged sheepishly, pursing her lips.

"But you were right, once again, it is easier to speak to a rare face."

Scarlet smiled. "I know what he did to you, and if I was in your shoes, I would've taken more drastic measures. A broken trust is the sort of thing even time can't mend..."

"But?" Remus knew it was coming.

"I hope you can find it in that huge heart of yours to forgive him."

"I will," Remus whispered with a small smile. Deep down in his heart, no matter how much he was convinced he would never forgive him, he knew he would. He was getting a little tired of the repetition of 'I'm sorry' a hundred times a day anyway.

The door swung open and James let out an exasperated sight at the two of them. "Bridget, get out."

      Scarlet obeyed miraculously, she was not keen on staying in that suffocating room one more second anyway. She turned around and grinned at Remus before exiting, to which Lupin only chuckled. James turned to send him a weird look.

"What the hell was that?"

Remus shrugged. "Do you reckon Padfoot has had enough of a punishment?"

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

a lot of u might be
mad at me for not
exploring the marauders
in details post-prank.

but it's important to rmmbr
that this story is about SCARLET
and partially EVE, too.

the plot surrounds her and 
not the depth of the
marauders!!

in future, only a VERY few
chapters will have others'
perspectives, and I look
forward to writing them.

enough talking, i hope
you enjoyed the chapter.

until the next,
GOODBYE FROM CARA!!