Stars {Remus Lupin} ✓

22. POTION

| CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO |

POTION.

AS CHRISTMAS NEARED, STUDENTS SEEMED to have permanent smiles plastered on their faces. And much to everyone's surprise, Cassiopeia Black wasn't anywhere as angry as she usually was around this festive holiday. How could she be when she was spending all of it at Hogwarts and nowhere near her parents. It was like her Christmas wish was actually coming true.

As it turned out, Walburga and Orion Black decided to spend their Christmas fuck knows where and didn't even bother telling their daughter. Cass only found out after bumping into Regulus on her way to breakfast and to say that those news made her day would've been an understatement. Those words made her entire month. 

The Slytherin common room was probably the only room in the entire school that wasn't covered head to toe in tinsel. Instead, it had one simple Christmas tree right in the corner, the colour scheme was of course green and silver and the decoration was kept to a minimum. 

The black haired girl was sat on the green couch. Her potions book propped up on her lap as her eyes scanned the words carefully. She had been trying to master a certain potion for the last few months and it didn't seem to be working well at all, so, instead of spending her weekend revising in the library, Cassiopeia stayed up all Saturday night reading up all about the potion (the morning and midday was spend finding the ingredients) before planning to make it on Sunday.

She stayed down in the common room until the last person from her house finally went up to their dormitories, then, grabbing her robe and school bag the black haired girl exited the common room. Cass used her wand as the only light source as she walked as quietly as she physically could through the abandoned corridors, her hood was up on her head, trying to hide her figure as much as she could.

She finally pulled the hood down when she reached the first floor girl's lavatory. Shutting the door behind herself, Cassiopeia walked further in before using her lit up wand to light up the rest of the room. Placing her bag on the ground, the Slytherin girl got down on her knees before she began the hard work.

By the time Cassiopeia was finished, she was exhausted but ecstatic at the very same time. Her bloodshot eyes stared at the three full vials lined up right in front of her. A tired smile was resting on her face until her eyes looked towards one of the colourful windows. Her eyes widened in shock when she spotted just how bright it looked outside. 

Without a second thought, the black haired girl shoved everything into her bag apart from the vials; which she carefully placed into the pockets of her robes before rushing out of the lavatory. Her tired eyes spotted small groups of tired students walking through the corridors, most of them making their ways towards the Great Hall for their breakfasts whilst some went to their early classes.

Cassiopeia gripped her bag tightly as she rushed through the corridors, not stopping until she finally reached the Great Hall. She noticed Liv was almost finished with her breakfast, a puzzled expression on her face as she sat by herself at the Hufflepuff table.

Letting her aching eyes look around the room, she finally spotted the one person she really needed to see. Rushing straight towards the Gryffindor table, the sound of her boots caught James' attention.

"Oh shit, Cass, did Buddy drag you through the forest?" He questioned, gaining the rest of the Marauders' attention as the other three boys turned to look at the exhausted girl. 

Their eyes widening at her messy appearance, especially her hair which was sticking in all different directions.

However, Cass ignored James' question as she looked directly at Remus, noticing the dark circles under his eyes; ones that were much bigger than her own, "Can I talk to you?"

Remus looked confused for a moment whilst Sirius and James shared excited looks. Peter just sat there shovelling waffles into his cheeks.

"S-Sure," The scarred boy nodded, as he stood up Sirius let out a happy squeal which caused them all to turn and look at him.

Sirius' eyes widened as he let out a cough, averting his eyes back to his plate.

Remus and Cass looked puzzled but nevertheless the pair walked away in silence. The black haired girl ran her hand through her messy locks whilst Remus shoved his fists into his robe pockets, following the Slytherin over to a more deserted corridor.

"I have something for you."

"Oh, you didn't have to get me anything," Remus smiled warmly at the shorter girl.

"I had to get you this," Cass muttered reaching into her pocket and pulling out the three vials. She gestured to Remus' hand which caused him to put it up in the air, his palm sticking upwards.

His eyes widened in shock when the three vials dropped softly into his scarred palm, "Is this...?"

Cassiopeia nodded, "It is," She told him with a friendly smile, "I've been working on the recipe for a while now, but I finally figured it out."

Remus' eyes landed on her tired ones, "You didn't have to do this, Cass," He breathed out, his heart fluttering as he looked at the girl.

"I know," She shrugged, "But I wanted to."

Remus didn't know what to say. So, instead he threw his arms around the black haired girl, his cheek resting on top of her head, her jet black hair tickling his face. Cassiopeia was caught off guard, but as soon as everything registered in her brain, she let her arms encircle around Remus' torso, brining him even closer to her as they both just stood there, in the corner of one of the many school corridors, safely tucked away in each other's arms.