swim || remus lupin

dandelions

The leathery ball slapped the outside of my palm casually. I spun it quickly to gain a better grip before tossing it back across the room to Sirius, who was sitting criss-cross on his bed.

"Giando will live," he was saying. "I wrote the last essay."

Sirius threw the quaffle over to James, who caught it with his left hand and flicked it over Lily's head to his right before throwing it to Peter. Lily, who was sitting in front of James, her back leaning against his chest, laughed at Sirius's lack of care.

"I don't understand how that doesn't stress you out," she said. "When was the last time you did an entire assignment?"

"I just said that I turned in the last one for Divination."

The quaffle was now being thrown back to where I was sitting, on the edge of Remus's bed. Peter's throw was a bit short, and I had to lean forward a little to be sure it wouldn't hit the side of the bed. In doing so, I slightly shifted Remus's head, which was resting in my lap with a book over top of it.

"Sorry," I mumbled, allowing him to readjust before turning my attention back to the main conversation.

"Sirius, you only wrote half of that essay," I threw him the ball and he laughed.

"Can't let their expectations get too high."

"He always does Minnie's work," noted James, catching the ball and throwing it backhandedly to Peter.

"I love that woman," said Sirius.

"Can you stop calling her Minnie?" Cried Lily. "It's so disrespectful."

"Well, 'Minerva' feels a bit too formal," replied Peter, tossing the quaffle back to me.

Lily rolled her eyes as I snapped the ball back to Sirius.

"Oh, hey," she said, checking her watch and sitting up off of James. "It's midnight."

She turned to quickly kiss James on the cheek before standing up to go.

"Goodnight, boys," she said. "Good luck, Syd."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as she opened the door.

"Happy birthday, Moony," she cheered softly, swinging the door shut quickly.

I looked down at the boy in my lap to find that he had closed his book and was looking nervously out to his three friends. All of their eyes were glued to the brown-haired boy, mischievous grins spreading through their lips.

"Get up," Remus said quietly, his eyes flickering between the predators on the other beds.

"What?"

"Save yourself," he whispered. "Get up slowly and go stand by the loo."

I placed both hands under Remus's head and lifted it carefully, slipping my legs out from underneath and resting it back down on his bed. With my eyes trained on the other boys I slowly rose to my feet and put my hands up as I crept towards the bathroom.