chapter 13

                                    

                                          
Wednesday, 17 November 1976
                          
Remus grinned when he walked into the library and saw Lena sitting alone at a table. He walked over and sat across from her.
                          
"Hey, Lena."
                          
"Hey, Remus," Lena said brightly, looking up from her book.
                          
"What are you doing?"
                          
Lena's smile dropped. "Studying for Binns. I've got an exam on Friday and he assigned us an extra three chapters to learn."
                          
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do fine. You're brilliant."
                          
Lena smiled softly and gazed down at her book. Hearing rustling, Lena looked up.
                          
"What are you doing?"
                          
"Keeping you company," Remus said as he tapped on his book.
                          
Blushing, Lena said nothing.
                          
<><><><><>
                          
"Are you alright, Lena?"
                          
"Yeah, why?"
                          
"It's just you been reading at that page for a really long time," Remus explained.
                          
"Oh," Lena said as her cheeks turned a bright red, "I just got distracted."
                          
"S'all good," Remus said kindly. "No need to be embarrassed."
                          
<><><><><>
                          
Unlike earlier when she lied to Remus, Lena was actually distracted and it was all his fault. She could not help but stare at him as he read. She loved the way he played with the corners of the pages with the fingers of his right hand. She loved how relaxed as he submerged himself into an imaginary world. She loved how relaxed his body was. She loved that his light brown fell on his forehead as he leaned over his book. She loved his eyes that were as green as grass and how they flicked across the page.
                          
"What's up?" 
                          
"Huh?"
                          
"You've been staring at me."
                          
"I was thinking about you."
                          
Lena was positive that her face was the same color as Remus' tie.
                          
"You were?"
                          
Shit!, Lena thought. I need to come up with an excuse. I can't tell him how I was thinking about how good looking he is!
                          
"I was wondering how it happened," Lena said slowly.
                          
Why did I say that? 
                          
"How what happened?"
                          
Stop talking!
                          
"How you got bit."
                          
Lena wanted to die as Remus stared at her with a blank expression. She could not believe she just used that as her cover for looking at him. She didn't even care how it happened and she felt terrible for bringing up something Remus was so insecure about.
                          
"You don't have to tell me. It's personal and it was nosy of me to ask. I don't even know why I was thinking about it. Shit, I'm sorry!"
                          
"No, it's okay. Calm down. I just didn't think you'd want to know about it.
                          
"I like knowing stuff about you."
                          
Lena could not believe how she kept making herself look like a fool.
                          
Remus smiled, "I like knowing stuff about you too."
                          
Lena gave him an appreciative smile and hoped her face was returning to its normal color.