BACK IN YOUR HEAD. [ROMY]

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/size][/ul]

[ROMY KENNA STERN]

Romy still didn’t understand the point of waking up at 5am in order to get all the way across London to Diagon Alley before the shops opened. For one, she definitely was not a morning person, and had spent the whole time in the car frowning out the window as the sun rose above the dual-carriage way. Her dad, however, always seemed to be in a good mood and had spent the entire morning singing along to some old motown song he had heard on the radio before breakfast and had lodged itself in his brain. It wasn’t that her dad had a terrible singing voice - in fact, he was quite good - but she didn’t like the fact that someone could be so chipper and happy after getting just a few hours sleep.

“Are you sure you’re not hungry, love?” he asked as she watched him polish off a greasy plate of sausage and eggs as they sat at a table of the only establishment open before nine, some four hours after she had climbed out of bed. The little café was quaint and warm, welcoming to anyone insane enough to be in Diagon Alley before the shops even opened, but she just couldn’t face food at that second.

“I’m fine, dad. I ate before we left.”

“What did you have?”

Romy sighed. She knew her dad meant well, and had good reason to ask her constantly if she was eating, when and what it was, but it had been over three years since she had attempted to starve herself by not eating anything at all for as long as she could. For a diabetic, however, it was a very stupid thing to do. She went for a day and a half without eating before she passed out and had to be revived by a very angry healer at the hospital. Now that she looked back at it, she could laugh at how silly the idea had been. Though, she doubted her father found it as much a laughing matter.

“I just ask because I worry about you,” he muttered, bringing his half-drunk cup of tea to his mouth and dropping his gaze sadly to the table in front of them.

“I know, dad, but you don’t have to. I’m fifteen now. I can take care of myself.” She was expecting some sort of saddened or remorseful reaction from him, so when he looked at her and beamed, slapping his hand down on the table so hard that the fork leaped off the plate, she jumped and looked at him like she was staring at a mad man.

“You’re right!” he chimed, grinning so widely that his eyes almost vanished behind wrinkled skin. “You can do your own shopping this year! Here,” he slid a small bag across the table to her, before getting to his feet, smile still on his face. “Get whatever you need, but I want the change. Now, I’m going to grab a beer-”

“Dad! It’s nine in the morning!”

“Butterbeer, my love. Butterbeer!”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the way her father’s eyes widened when she interrupted him, like a crazy person who knew more than the sane one and was surprised to realise it.

“I’ll come find you later,” he added, before walking off in a spring in his step towards The Leaky Cauldron. She shook her head, laughing quietly as she watched him go. The doctors must have increased his dosage, she thought, only partly sarcastic.

Alone at the table, she pulled out her book list from the front pocket of her skirt and glanced over it. There were too many new and heavy looking titles to carry them around all day, so she stuck the list back into her pocket with an oath to get the books last, right before they went home. Or at least, once her dad had joined her again. She also had to get new quills and ink, new robes, and she wanted to have a nosey around a few other shops if she could, too.

She meandered down the cobbled street, weaving between early shoppers and shop keepers and stall vendors as they raised their blinds and opened their doors, ready for the day. There were so few customers around this early that she thought she might be able to get all of her stuff in a couple of hours - less even - and then would have time to get something to eat before they headed back home just before the lunchtime traffic rush.

As she walked, a door right beside her opened, the little bell above the frame chiming merrily to catch her attention and stop her in her tracks. Madam Malkins was one of the places he had to visit, and since she was already there, it made sense. With a tiny nonchalant shrug she pushed open the door, setting the bell ringing again and a few faces inside the shop turned to look at her. She smiled and gave a little wave to Madam Malkin herself, who smiled back warmly and nodded in acknowledgement. By the looks of the robes she was draping over the young boy up on the pedestal, she was almost finished with him. There were a few people in the shop, two of whom were obviously the boy’s parents, and then one other, sitting in one of the waiting chairs.

For the first few seconds she didn’t recognise him. She had even looked directly at his face, eyes closed with his head back against the wall, and had looked away again before the familiarity hit and her gaze snapped back to him. Holy crap. she thought as a faint blush turned her pale cheeks pink. She hardly believed it was actually Remus Lupin sitting there at all. He just looked so different! She even spent a second trying to remember if Remus had an older brother, but as far as she knew of the mysterious and modestly minded Gryffindor, he was an only child.

She looked around the shop, not really sure what she was looking for, with her mouth open in an O and her bright blue eyes wider than they usually were, but her gaze rested on him again, and she felt another wave of blush staining her cheeks. Holy. Crap!

The Remus she knew wasn’t especially built. In fact, she remembered she was almost as tall as he was, with her at five-foot-two last year (and she knew she hadn’t grown, at least vertically, over the summer). He was gangly and skinny too, with paler skin than hers and he just always looked like his body was a few inches too long and too skinny for him. But holy crap, had he changed over the summer. It was as though he went straight from having the body of an awkward twelve year old to that of a sixteen - no, seventeen, or even eighteen, the longer she looked at him - year old. He looked healthier too, the familiar greyness of his skin that she was used to replaced by a warmer, fleshier glow. Maybe he went abroad on holiday and picked up a bit of a tan there? She tried to take a deep breath but it got stuck in her chest. He looked like he had bulked out, too, like the strings of flesh and muscle under his skin had finally woken up and realised if they worked a little bit harder than they had been, they would turn him into the kind of person that gave Romy a funny little feeling, not just in her tummy, but the entire region below her waist and above her knees. I bet he smells nice, too, she noted as she observed the healthy, somewhat lighter tones of his hair.

She couldn’t help the quiet “Mmm…” that left her, right before Madam Malkin spoke her name. She hadn’t realised she was staring at the boy until that moment, and she looked at Madam Malkin’s kind face with an expression of mild horror and panic. She really hoped she didn’t catch her starting, or heard her little mumble of appreciation.

“Ms. Stern,” Madam Malkin addressed her, and didn’t seem to have noticed her strange behaviour before Romy could cover up her expression with a gentler smile.

“Please, it’s just ‘Romy’,” she corrected the woman. Ms. Stern was her mother. “My dad said he was talking to you yesterday, about my old dress robes?” When Madam Malkin nodded, Romy went through the worn, cracked leather bag she had with her and pulled out a faded blue and grey pile of material. “It fit me this time last year…”

“Ah! Too short in the arm? Too short in the-”

“No, no,” she interrupted, and then realised her predicament. Romy hadn’t grown taller over the summer. She had grown outwards, namely around her chest and hips regions. She looked at Madam Malkin a little pained at having to explain herself in present company. With any luck he’s still half asleep, but she glanced in his direction and wished she hadn’t. Remus had his eyes open and was looking in their direction.

Sure that the blush had reached the tip of her nose by now and hoping that Remus hadn’t noticed, or maybe hadn’t recognised her at all, she smiled awkwardly at the middle aged woman and motioned, as subtly as she could, to her ‘blossoming’ body parts.

“Ah!” she blurted again. “Not to worry! I’ll measure you up for your school robes and see what we can do about this old thing, too.” She shook the old dress robes in her hands as if trying to shake some life back into them. Turning away from Romy - finally - she headed towards her back rooms, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be with you in a moment, Master Lupin.”

Romy tried to breathe again, finding it all too difficult, and tried her best to tame the pink in her cheeks. Maybe Remus didn’t notice her. Or maybe he didn’t notice that she had noticed him. Either way, she found great interest in picking at one of the holes in her bag as she waited for the situation to pass.

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/i] to be jealous of him. That just seemed silly. Still, though, there might be the tiniest possibility... right?

"Ms. Stern," a voice said: Madam Malkin, wasn't it? The name slowly registered in Remus's otherwise occupied brain. Very, very slowly. The name weaved in and out of his thoughts, that shiny Prefect's badge still in the front of his mind, but as the conversation between Madam Malkin and this Ms. Stern continued, Remus realized just who that was... sort of. He knew that he knew her, at the very least. Remus was reluctant to open his eyes, and he blinked a few times as they adjusted to the light. Everything seemed to be tinted green for just a moment before the scene in front of him was clear, and he glanced at the girl in front of him with mild curiosity as she tried to explain to Madam Malkin why her robes didn't fit. One eyebrow was quirked and there was a little crease in Remus's brow, his brain dragging along and trying to keep up. He supposed that's what daydreaming did. Made it that much harder to come back to reality.

The girl in front of him - who didn't immediately look like someone Remus knew, so he wondered why the name had even snapped him out of his reverie - glanced in his direction, and another spark of familiarity hit him. He tilted his head to the side, watched the girl gesture desperately at the small robes-maker, and realized with a grin just what the poor girl was trying to communicate. Remus stole what could only be described as an appreciative glance at the figure the girl was apparently embarrassed by, before freezing in his once-over. Wait, had he just - well, that was strange, a new kind of thing to him. Out of everyone in his group of friends, he was probably the only one who wasn't obsessed with the opposite sex, but - well - how strange, indeed! That he had caught himself admiring the girl who was standing in front of him.

And as he unfroze and his eyes traveled up to the girl's face, he remembered exactly who she was. Romy, a Ravenclaw girl in his same year! Well, he certainly hadn't noticed her before, at least not in this way, and... Remus tore his eyes away from her, and they widened slightly. He was shocked at his own behavior and almost wanted to smack himself upside his own head for being so rude and thoughtless but... Well, it was easy to see why Romy needed her robes resized. She had definitely, er, grown up since the last time Remus had seen her.

Madam Malkin gave him a welcome distraction, telling him that his turn would be there very soon, and he had to try twice before letting out an embarrassingly hoarse reply: "Oh, yes, thank you." He cleared his throat, swallowed once, and glanced at Romy again. She wasn't turned toward him, so it was sort of difficult to see her face, and he wanted to have a better look at it. He tilted to the side in his chair slowly, hoping that he'd get a look without her noticing. He leaned and leaned, and he could almost see all of her - including that charming blush that reddened her cheeks and made her look... well, made her look quite pretty - but apparently he had leaned too far, and with a little yelp fell to the side, his chair tipping as well, before scrambling to get his balance again and sit up straight.

Well. It was quite apparent that skill with girls hadn't blossomed in Remus the way his newfound appreciation of them had.

Figuring there was probably no escaping it now, Remus opened his mouth and said, "Romy-" before being cut off my Madam Malkin, telling him to come stand on the platform. He hadn't even seen the first year & co. leave the shop, he had been so distracted. "Right," he mumbled, and got up out of the chair quickly, sliding past Romy to stand where Madam Malkin was waiting. She made a bit of a fuss over him, and about how tall he had grown since the last time she'd seen him, and Remus allowed himself a glance up at the only other person in the shop. An unsure smile came onto his face as he looked at the Ravenclaw, and he decided to safely stick to a greeting while addressing her. "Hello," he managed, and in a relatively normal voice. No hoarseness and mercifully no squeakiness. Perhaps all was not lost. Merlin, what Remus wouldn't give for a little bit of the finesse Sirius had with girls.[/size][/ul]

[ROMY KENNA STERN]

Romy heard the creak of the chair not too far from her, but only frowned at the hole in her bag. She refused to look up, to look at Remus as he moved around or stood up or did whatever it was he was doing. The less attention she brought to herself the better. Head still bowed, she chanced a glance around the shop to see if there was one of those waiting chairs tucked away in a corner somewhere, or just out of the spotlight that she could hide away until Remus left the shop and she could breath again. At the very least, she could hope for one that sat in shadow so she could hide her cheeks more easily.

She couldn’t really tell if her luck ran out or came true at that moment, but a loud creak followed by a rumbling thud and a startled yelp made her jump, and all her effort to not look in Remus’ direction failed completely. Her eyes widened even more than before and both of her hands shot up to cover her mouth, to hide the shock and the laughter that soon followed. She managed quite successfully to hide the hysterical chuckle that pressed against her fingers but, suddenly and out of the blue, and entirely more embarrassing than anything before it, she snorted. Mortified at her own inability to hold back a laugh, the pale pink in her cheeks turned rosy red, and she coughed thickly to try and cover it up. Annoyed with herself, she managed a sigh that sounded a little like a growl, and all she could do was hope that he was so lost in righting himself and his chair that he didn’t notice.

The second he opened his mouth and said her name she thought she would pass out from the confused mix of reactions her body ploughed through her. So he did recognise her, but was that a good thing or a bad one? It was good, of course, that he knew her enough to recognise her, but she couldn’t help but feel that things would have been easier if he didn’t have a clue who she was. Nonetheless, when she heard her name she looked directly at him, her brilliant blue eyes catching his for the few seconds before Madam Malkin returned and addressed him. Romy’s reaction to her name was stunted to an uneasy smile as he stood up and obeyed the small woman’s orders, walking close enough to her that as she breathed she could indeed tell that he smelled rather good, for a boy of fifteen.

She hadn’t noticed just how tall he was as he passed, because her eyes had dropped to examine the cross weaving of the carpet where they stood when he came close enough. She could hear Madam Malkin comment and tisk about how she was going to have to break out the longer bolts of Hogwarts Black Cotton now that Master Lupin was ‘tall enough to be measured as a man’, and it was then Romy really took a proper look at him (stifling another laugh as best she could without snorting this time). Of course, he was standing on one of Madam Malkin’s platforms as she jammed her tape measure into places that made Romy blush, but she could still tell that he was a good deal taller than she was. She worked it out in her head that the platform was probably a foot off the ground, and as she stood close enough to him he seemed to be about a foot and a half - no, more like one and three quarters - taller than she was. That still left her at around about an inch or two of his shoulders.

Her eyebrows raised as she came to that realisation and she couldn’t help feeling impressed (and again, blushed slightly). The slightly bemused expression on her face remained there as she heard a clean and warm-toned ”hello.” She blinked and dragged her gaze off the floor to meet the eyes that stared at her, and she couldn’t help but smile, like his good nature was infectious.

“Hello,” she answered, realising too late that her own voice wasn’t nearly as steady and sure as Remus’ seemed. She cleared her throat and clutched her hands in front of her, playing with the fold in her skirt. “You’ve gotten taller,” she added, not entirely sure why that was the best she could come up with. Stating the obvious wasn’t very endearing when she did it. “Its nice.”

If it wasn’t such an obvious thing to do, she would have turned around and banged her head against the wall. Repeatedly. ’You’ve gotten taller…. It’s nice.’? Stars above, was it too much to ask for a little bit of sophistication or charm or any sort of social skills that might have helped her think of something better to say than ’You’ve gotten taller… It’s nice.’? Awkward, and not entirely sure of her ability to control her limbs any more, she hovered for a minute before taking the few short steps to the chair that Remus had just vacated, where she sat down and felt immediately weird by the warmth she could feel that he had left behind on the cushions. Merlin, wouldn’t anything just feel normal for once?

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/i] her, so that made it a little bit easier. It didn't take much to make Remus smile or laugh a little, really, so the way Romy was looking at him, all shy and red-faced, made him smile so widely he thought his face might just tear in half. And that girl was something if he could distract the Gryffindor boy from the robes-maker and her measuring tape exploring places he'd rather they didn't.

Romy's tentative 'hello' in return was enough to make Remus jump off the platform and hug the Ravenclaw girl, but the slight shifting he did instead - he would be mortified if he wasn't able to control the urge to give her a hug, so thank God he was a little bit aware of himself - made Madam Malkin jab at him with her finger and demand that he stay still or he'll be getting lop-sided robes. Remus cleared his throat and gave a short nod, straightening out and staying as still as he possibly could, keeping his eyes on Romy as she continued to speak. "You've gotten taller," she said, and if Remus had been the least bit quick-witted at the moment, he might have replied with something snarky, or something about the fact that nearly everyone he knew had said the same exact thing to him. But as it was, his brain was moving rather slowly, so Romy had time to add on, "It's nice," before Remus could even think to reply.

Remus's smile faltered as Romy turned to walk away, and he almost feared that his apparent inability to speak might have scared her off, and damned if he wouldn't have run off the platform - ignoring Madam Malkin's outrage at such a thing - and after her. But instead she just fell into the chair Remus had been sitting in, and he gave the command for his heart to slow down a bit. Good that she hadn't left, then. That would have been really disappointing, because he rather enjoyed looking at her, no matter how awkward the air was between them. And oh, it was pretty awkward. A large part of that awkwardness could probably be attributed to the fact that Remus hadn't replied to what Romy had said yet, but was instead just keeping his gaze on her face, and would probably keep looking until something chased away that blush of hers.

Mercifully, after a moment, Remus realized that it was his turn to talk. "Oh, yeah," he said absently, blinking a few times. "Yeah... I grew a few inches." Was this really the conversation they were having. Really. Embarrassed by his threadbare reply, Remus glanced down at Madam Malkin, feigning interest in what she was doing. It wasn't until she looked up at him with some sort of knowing look that he returned his own gaze to Romy, sitting in the chair. "Have you gotten..." Well. Remus was going to say 'taller', but his mind wandered back to the conversation Romy had been having with Madam Malkin before it had been his turn for measuring. No, not taller, but Romy had definitely grown. There were a few curves there that had been absent the year before, and... they were quite nicely distracting, weren't they? Really very attractive and-- Remus forced his eyes to the ceiling and away from Romy, and scrambled for an end to the sentence he had started. He wasn't about to comment on the certain things that had developed on the Ravenclaw girl, so he had to go with what he knew was incorrect. "...taller as well?"

Now it was Remus's turn to blush. He had nearly let his eyes wander over Romy's figure as she was looking right at him! He would have been so humiliated. Get yourself together, Moony! he demanded of himself, clearing his throat. And without waiting for an answer to his last question, he continued talking. "Yeah, erm, I needed some new robes because the old ones were too short," he said, stumbling a bit, grasping a bit, having no idea what in the hell he was doing. He gave a nervous laugh, and motioned toward the tape measure that was flitting around his body. "I mean. Obviously. Why else would I be here, right..." There was an anxious lump forming in Remus's throat, and he swallowed in an attempt to make it disappear. "S-So are you excited to get back to Hogwarts?" he asked, his voice a little higher than before and his finger nervously playing with the hem of his pants. Oh, this was really good. This was just fantastic. If James and Sirius would see him now, they'd both be on the floor in stitches. He was making a total fool of himself, and all because this girl he had known for how many years was appealing to him in a way she never had before.[/size][/ul]

[ROMY KENNA STERN]

It was bizarre having his eyes glued on her. She couldn’t decide whether to hold his gaze or avoid it, so while he answered her and the awkward air between them stiffened, she alternated between them both. She went from staring straight into the rather pretty eyes that watched her, to looking at anything else in the room that she could pretend to be interested in - Madam Malkin, the window to the street outside, the fluttering tape measure - yet, no matter what else she looked at it only lasted a few seconds before she found herself drawn to his face again. And she feared the constant blush was going to severely damage her complexion.

The smile Remus wore before had slid from his face and she found herself missing it more than was really necessary, but once he started to blush too she felt her breath catch and realised she’d have to decide later which she thought was more attractive; the huge grin or the bashful blush. She was so lost in wondering why she hadn’t noticed how handsome he was before, that his asking of whether she had gotten taller too slid past unanswered. She tried her best to shake her head in a belated response but she was sure it was too late. Besides, once he stood next to her he’d see that she hadn’t grown an inch.

Oh, and to stand next to him was such a good idea right then. She shifted in her chair, sitting up straight as she reminded herself that being weird and ‘quirky’ was probably not the best idea right at that moment, and getting up to measure her height next to his definitely counted as weird and/or quirky. She nodded instead, acknowledging on time his talk of outgrowing his robes. She could say that she had outgrown hers too, but she didn’t fancy the idea of explaining or pointing out how she had grown without growing taller. She appreciated his attempts at small talk though, and the more he talked the more relaxed she seemed to become. There had to be something about his voice that calmed something inside her, something that ordinarily made her blush to her boots, because even though she could hear his words cracking and lifting in tone slightly the longer she let him ramble, she could feel the pinkness leaching from her nose. Her cheeks, no doubt, would stay pink for a while after her nose turned pale again, but the degree of blush was definitely fading.

She had to clear her throat before she could answer him, because what she suspected was the makings of a squeak had been pressing against her voice box since she sat down, and she didn’t want to squeak at him if she could help it. “Uh,” she tested her voice and was pleased to find that it was its usual, girly-but-smooth self.

“I’m glad to get back to friends, but not so much classes. Definitely not looking forward to exams this year.” She was impressed with her own capacity for small talk. It calmed her even more, now that she had something else to concentrate on other than her awkwardness in her own skin. She looked at him now with a new (mild) confidence, and she was able to smile without the nerves. Hell, she was even proud of herself for not messing things up so terribly so far that Remus ran out the door, sewing pins intact. Her smile turned to a grin when he looked at her for some unknown reason, but she was relaxing at a swift rate (for however long it lasted) and she was glad her face didn’t feel as warm any more.

“Nearly done, Master Lupin,” Madam Malkin interrupted, throwing Romy a smile as she continued. “I just have to stitch him up, then its your turn, Ms. Stern.” Romy smiled and nodded to the middle aged woman who never seemed to get irritated or annoyed with the constant moving and shifting of some of her more animated customers, which Romy appreciated. But Romy didn’t pay that much attention to the woman for long, and didn’t even spend the time to correct her when she called her Ms. Stern. Her attention was back on Remus. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Madam Malkin pulling out her wand and pointing it dangerously at Remus, and the lengths of cloth that hung on him.

“There were some things I really missed over the summer though,“ she added, a hint of charm making its way into her voice. Wherever the hell it came from. “How about you? You glad to be back? Did you have a good summer?”

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/i] smiles, and Merlin was it pretty. And in that moment he subconsciously decided that he would try to make her smile more often, just so he can enjoy looking at her when she did. Remus had never noticed Romy before! Never noticed her smile, or that adorable blush, or anything! It was as if a switch inside him had been thrown, but he hadn't gotten any sort of warning. He might have liked one, yeah, but maybe since he was unprepared to be practically swept off his feet by this girl, it made his falling all the more hard. So far he wasn't injured, nor had he scared Romy away, so... Well, it was going rather well! Remus tried not to think of the fact that the entire ordeal was only 5 or 10 minutes in.

Focus, Remus, listen to what she's saying! he had to remind himself, still recovering from her grin. He managed to catch what she was saying about exams, and he automatically grimaced at the word. "Right," he interjected, his nose wrinkling a little. "O.W.L.S." Remus definitely wasn't looking forward to that, but everything else that had to do with Hogwarts he couldn't wait for. His best friends, his new Prefect position... and Romy. She was definitely in that category now, the things that he couldn't wait for once he got to Hogwarts. Forget secret passageways and hidden treasures and the reckless adventures he and the Marauders got into; Romy was as - if not more - interesting than all of those things. It was like he was meeting a whole new person, really. And that was reckless as anything - trying to get to know this girl. Remus would take it over sneaking out to the kitchens or the grounds any day. It's not as though the two of them were great friends, but they definitely knew one another. But they didn't know anything about one another.

Remus's brain came to a halt, then sped up as he felt himself tense. Probably unnoticeable to the two women in the room, but Remus felt it up and down his form. The only people that really knew him, he realized, were the other Marauders. Anyone else he didn't let too close. And that was when reality - devoid of any of the charm Romy possessed - came crashing into Remus. As much as he wanted to get to know this girl already, after only seeing her for a few minutes, he knew he couldn't. At least, she would never know him fully. Because that would involve him telling her about his lycanthropy, and there was no way he would ever do that. Not everyone was accepting as Sirius and Peter and James. Actually, there were few people who would be that accepting. Remus's smile, which he might have sworn only a minute ago would have never disappeared - wilted. This giddy, blushing, stumbling Remus didn't fit somehow. Didn't belong in reality. But Merlin, did it feel good to get lost and forget about all the things that kept him up at night, all the things that brought him down and made him feel less than human.

And Remus decided then that, for at least a little bit, he would let himself get lost. That switch inside him as thrown again and he let himself become totally immersed in everything that was Romy - her retreating blush, the comfortable smile that came out of nowhere, that subtle hint in the last thing she had said - because that wasn't beyond Remus. She meant more by 'There were some things I really missed over summer though,' didn't she! Or maybe Remus was just being hopeful. Or maybe he didn't care which was the case, because it made him feel lighter inside. "I'm more than glad to be going back," Remus practically gushed, his smile brilliant again, and any hint of a shadow or damper on his mood was long gone. "Summer didn't go fast enough. If I could spend it at the castle, I would." Well, if he had good enough company. Like Romy, for instance.

Before Remus could say anything more, Madam Malkin gently eased him off the platform and handed him a bundled mass of black, which must have been his robes. How was it that she had managed to do all that work in such a short amount of time, and without Remus being aware of it at all?! Well, he was quite distracted. And she was a professional. "Oh, thank you," Remus said, and was left to stand in the middle of the floor awkwardly, smack dab in the middle of the floor between Romy and the platform behind him. He blinked a few times, glanced around, and then moved to the side. "Your turn," he managed, playing idly with the parcel in his hands.[/size][/ul]

[ROMY KENNA STERN]

Staying at the castle over the summer had always been a tempting, yet impossible, thought for Romy. She would have loved to stay there, away from the business of her home town and the dark depression that seemed to still hold her family home after so many years. The only thing that had her going back there every year was her father. She didn’t want him to be alone more than he had to be. Hopefully things were going to change this year though, when her tiny family moved home. She wasn’t sure where it would be to yet, but she knew it was going to be somewhere smaller and, with any luck, happier.

“I can definitely see the attraction of staying at the castle all the time,” she agreed with a small smile. “Especially if we had the whole place to ourselves.” She had said it before she really thought her words through. The implications, though accidental, were obvious, and she could feel her temperature rising again. Don’t blush, don’t blush, she urged herself silently, bowing her head so that her long dark hair fell forward and covered her face like a curtain. Not exactly subtle, but at this stage she doubted she had any subtlety left in her.

Gratefully, she was saved from her mortification when Madam Malkin gave Remus a nudge off the little platform and left the boy looking perplexed. There was something about his expression that had Romy laughing, albeit quietly, like a whisper of a laugh. His words of ’your turn’ were unnecessary, for as soon as he had moved she was already getting to her feet. It was a subconscious movement on her part, like her body was reacting to something her mind had yet to realise. Like her body knew she wanted an excuse, any excuse, to get closer to Remus again, even if it was to just walk past him for a moment.

Shrugging off her bag and letting it fall to the floor right beside the chair, she made her way over to the platform, possibly walking a little too close to Remus than she really had reason to. She glanced up at his face as she passed him, the hem of her skirt brushing against his trousers, making it swirl around her legs against her skin. Oh, the cheap thrill of it! She left herself take a deep breath too, before she was too far away from him to pick up on the scent of him. It was strangely sweet and rustic and it reminded her of when her and her friends used to go camping in the woods and toasted marshmallows over the fire. It was a bizarre association, she realised as she hopped up onto the pedestal and turned to face Remus where he still stood in the middle of the floor, not two feet away.

His closeness made her grin, and she wondered if he realised just how oddly comfortable they must look to other people. There they were, the only two people in a shop that wasn’t all that small, yet they were standing close enough together that you could have fit another twenty people in around them and they could still be considered ‘close’.

She hadn’t realised she had been moving, but whatever she’d done had Madam Malkin telling her to stand up straight and keep still. Clearing her throat of the laugh that threatened to escape, she did as she was told, standing poker straight and facing straight ahead. Yet, her eyes stayed on Remus, and the smile on her face was immovable. Merlin, what was wrong with her? She felt silly and girly, as though she should be embarrassed that she couldn’t keep her eyes off him and couldn’t stop smiling, but she didn’t care. The only time she stopped looking at him was when he looked right back at her and she though that maybe he’d think she was being rude.

She was so distracted that when Madam Malkin told her to lift her arms she did so, but hadn’t realised what she was doing it for until the tape measure wrapped close around her chest and she almost jumped out of her skin. Eyes wide and nervous, she felt the redness in her cheeks return like a tidal wave and all of a sudden she found it a lot more difficult to look at Remus. She realised that the only thing that could make the situation more embarrassing right then was if her dad walked in. Or worse, Remus’ parents. Or, worse still, and of his friends. Clearing her throat, she pretended to take an interest in what Madam Malkin was doing, right up until the measuring of her more embarrassing regions was finished.

“Why are you here so early?” she asked, finally managing to look at Remus again. “I mean, in Diagon Alley. My dad wanted to ‘make a day of it’. Literally. Yet he’s gone to get a butterbeer and left me to my own devices… not that I’m complaining.” She beamed at him again, knowing that if her dad had been with her, she doubted she’d have built up the courage to talk to Remus at all.

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/i] Madam Malkin was measuring, and when that information clicked in his brain he looked up at Romy's face - which was now red - and then immediately diverted his attention to the shopfront window. And of course he could feel his own cheeks heating up with a blush, though he would bet any amount of money that his blush wasn't quite so endearing as Romy's. Remus fiddled with the parcel in his hands, turning it over once or twice and pretending to be interested in that for a moment before looking out the window again at the people passing by.

Remus looked back at the Ravenclaw girl when she cleared her throat, and saw that she was intent on watching Madam Malkin's progress with the measuring, which Remus's eyes - much against his will, mind you - traveled to as well. Yes, Romy made Remus feel like a normal teenage boy... and one with normal teenage hormones. So he really couldn't help just how preoccupied he became, letting his eyes wander over Romy's figure for as long as she had her eyes away from him. There was a tiny, tiny part of his brain that was ashamed and embarrassed that he would do such a thing, but it was rather overshadowed by the much larger part of his brain that was devoted to following every curve of Romy's body that he could see.

He averted his eyes just in time, because soon after Madam Malkin moved to safer regions of Romy's frame, she was looking at him again, and talking. Oh, right, talking. Remus had almost forgot about that. "Early?" he repeated, blinking as though he didn't really know what she was saying. And now that the two were done staring at one another in silence, Remus felt quite silly just standing there in the middle of the floor, so he shuffled over to the chair that both of them had occupied and sat into it, then scrambled to remember what she had said to him. And he had to scramble to remember, because the way she was smiling at him had him absolutely tongue-tied. "Right, early," he said, nodding and finding his voice. "My mother thought that getting here early would mean avoiding crowds," he explained, though he wouldn't go into too much detail. He didn't want to let slip that his mother liked to avoid crowds because she was afraid that somehow someone would figure out her deep, dark secret - that her son was a dangerous, disgusting werewolf. "My parents left me to my own devices, too," he continued, and smiled, though not as brilliantly as Romy had.

And then, without thinking, Remus went on to say, "I'm definitely glad they did. And I hope they don't come looking for me just yet." It took a minute, but eventually it dawned on Remus, that he had just let those words slip out. His eyes widened suddenly and his gaze dropped to the floor, his fingers picking at the robes he held in his lap. "A-Anyway, they have their own shopping to do," he said in a rush, trying to get past his previous statements, hoping that she had somehow missed it. And when Remus looked up, damn it if he didn't catch a hint of a grin on Madam Malkin's face, and a knowing sort of look in her eyes. He almost groaned aloud at that, embarrassment turning his face red again, and Romy would surely notice that.[/size][/ul]

[ROMY KENNA STERN]

The silence that wasn’t entirely awkward yet not exactly comfortable allowed Romy to mull over the entire situation with relative ease. She found herself wondering not for the first time why all of a sudden she felt herself turning into a useless pile of nerves and hormones when Remus Lupin was in the same room as her. It wasn’t the first time she was alone with him. She could remember a few occasions where they shared notes or made small talk when they found themselves walking the same stretch of hall between classes. Though she had to admit that while she didn’t know why fate chose to hit her with all of this now, she at least knew why. It made sense. Until this summer she had been more focused on her studies than boys. The most her budding teen hormones ever really subjected her to would have been a half hearted sigh at whatever well toned celebrity caught her attention at the time. But this, with Remus, was something entirely different. He wasn’t going to win awards for being ‘Most Shaggable Actor’, but that was what made him more than any of those fake TV personalities.

He was real, tangible, and he seemed to be taking notice of her in a way she really wasn’t used to. She wondered briefly if she found herself attracted to him more because he paid her attention, or if he paid her attention because she found him attractive. Trying to figure it out set her mind spinning, so she decided to leave it alone. It didn’t matter anyway. The fact was, Remus Lupin was making a point of staying in Madam Malkin’s shop well after he was finished, to wait for her? To talk to her? Either way, she liked feeling that someone took notice in her for once, and she was beyond lucky that that someone was as charming and handsome and kind and compassionate… as Remus Lupin. The way he stumbled over his words was so endearing and sweet that Romy found herself blushing ever so slightly for him (or was it what he had said that had her blushing?).

“I hope my dad stays away too,” Romy agreed, much to the amusement of Madam Malkin who gave a little satisfied giggle. Romy, wondering if she missed something that the woman found so funny, frowned and looked at Remus, who had turned a rather flattering shade of magenta. Romy grinned, though she wasn’t sure at what, but her smile fell from her rosy face when the bell over the door chimed, announcing someone’s arrival. Unfortunately, that someone was her father.

“Romy Rome, you’re still in here?” her father almost sang, a merry smile on his face that told her his mood hadn’t sunk yet. Grudgingly, Romy half shrugged and sighed. Her gaze flicked to Remus and, as most overly tuned fathers were wont to do, her dad spun on the balls of his feet to see who it was she was looking at. “Ah!” was all the aging man managed to say, before looking back at Romy expectantly, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, dad, this is Remus. Lupin. He’s a Gryffindor in my year.” She could feel her cheeks burning up again as her dad strode right over to where Remus was sitting and stuck out his hand with a grin. If there was anything she had to be thankful for of her dad, it was his total inability to be aggressive. He was always so mellow and easy going that no one ever thought of him as a threat. In fact, the way he went to shake Remus’ hand was more how a boy would shake the hand of an old friend, rather than a father meeting his daughter’s boy friend for the first time. Boy. Friend. She had to be careful with that. There was nothing worse than when those two words being jammed together when they shouldn’t be. Yet she could think of much worse things than accidentally calling Remus her boyfriend.

“Mr. Stern!” Madam Malkin chirruped, the little woman almost forgotten about in the awkwardness Romy felt for having her father present. “Just in time!”

Romy looked down and saw Madam Malkin pull out her wand, much as she had done with Remus, and gave it a complicated dance of a wave, and Romy felt the black fabric (she didn’t need the longer length like Remus did) tighten around her momentarily before the edges and seams stitched themselves together in a matter of seconds. The woman really was gifted in what she did. Once she was told she could take off the robes she did so, and handed them to Madam Malkin, who waved her wand lasily this time and the robes wrapped themselves into a parcel and dropped itself into her hands.

“Your dress robes will be a while longer. I’ll have to mail them to you in a week or so, when I have the fabrics in. That alright?” How anyone could say ‘no’ to a question like that, Romy couldn’t understand, for the little woman was looking at her with an expression both apologetic and kind at the same time. It made Romy just want to say ‘aww’. Of course, she didn’t, and simply nodded with a smile and thanked her.

“So,” Romy’s father’s voice filled the room, louder than he had expected for he cringed a little and forced a nervous smile before continuing. “You hungry yet, Romy? Remus, you hungry? Romy… Remus…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I bet your mothers held some sort of convention to find out which names were weird enough for this day and age. Not that I can talk…”

Romy, who had taken to glaring at her father for the last minute or so, shook her head and glanced at Remus. “He really can’t talk. His mum called him Gomer.”

“Now, now,” her dad interrupted, wagging a finger at her but not even attempting to hide the amused smile on his face. “Gomer is a good, decent name. It builds character!”

“And it got your ass kicked in school,” she reminded him.

“Hey… wait, you’re not getting any trouble in school, are you?” A sudden concern swept over her father’s face and at once he turned from the joking ‘friend’ to the protective father. He stole a glance at Remus, thereby including him in his questioning.

“No, dad,” Romy answered for both, trying not to be rude but wanting the conversation to steer into less awkward waters. “No one is giving us any grief.”

“If you’re sure,” he said, taking a deep breath and hitching up his trousers before plastering the grin back on his face. “So, food? Hungry? Remus, are your parents here, too? We should get breakfast. My treat!”

Romy could feel they morning turning from a comfortable awkwardness to one which she wanted to run away from. Regardless, she smiled warmly at Remus, a little apprehension in her eyes as she waited for a decision to be made.

[• REMUS JOHN LUPIN]

[/i] new set of robes, probably at the beginning of his sixth year. If he had this kind of company when that happened, he wouldn't mind it so much. Well, maybe saying 'this kind of company' wasn't right... If he had this exact company when that happened, he wouldn't mind it at all.

Remus jumped a little and his gaze flew back to Mr. Stern - had they been trained on Romy the whole time Madam Malkin had been talking? - when he spoke up loudly. He opened his mouth to answer whether or not he was hungry, but fell silent without a word passing his lips when Mr. Stern started musing over the two Hogwarts students' names. And at that, Remus grinned, looking at Romy again. He actually hadn't realized how similar their names were, and now that he did he was rather amused by it. 'He can't really talk,' Romy said. 'His mum called him Gomer.' The grin remained, grew a little wider, and Remus wrinkled his nose a little bit before mouthing the name 'Gomer', letting out a soft laugh as Mr. Stern defended the first name. Watching Mr. Stern and Romy interact, Remus decided that he very much liked the kind of relationship the two had; it seemed comfortable, almost like a friendship instead of parent-child. That was the kind of relationship he would never have with his parents. Speaking of his parents - "Right, no trouble," Remus mumbled distractedly - he wondered where they were, and why they hadn't come back to Madam Malkin's to at least check on him. A tiny grimace traveled over his face, but he banished it as soon as he realized it was there. This wasn't the time for ill feelings. All it took was another glance at Romy and Remus remembered how to smile.

Mr. Stern mentioned food again, and then asked Remus about his parents. Damn, and he had so successfully banished them from his mind. Remus glanced quickly in Romy's direction, wondering what he reaction was to the offered breakfast, and was slightly disappointed to see that she didn't seem entirely up for it, and he could only hope that it wasn't because of anything he had done. The two had been having a pretty good time together so far, so he figured - or hoped - it was the addition of her father that had her looking so apprehensive. The Gryffindor boy wasn't sure how to answer the offer now. Did Romy want him to go or didn't she? And he didn't want to answer incorrectly either way, and maybe hurt Romy's feelings in some way. A little bit of panic was rising in Remus's chest and he cleared his throat once, looking between Romy and her father a few times before opening his mouth to answer. "Well, erm... My parents are doing their own shopping and sort of left me to my own devices to get whatever I needed done..." Or so he guessed, and that would be the story he stuck with. A day of shopping without his parents was better than having to endure his mother rushing around, looking paranoid, wondering when someone was going to lean in and perhaps whisper in her ear that he knew the secret she was keeping. Ugh, that woman sometimes...

Remus chewed on his bottom lip briefly, looking back at Romy and shrugging his shoulders slightly in a sort of helpless way. "I mean, if you wouldn't mind the company..." he started, trailing off. But he was far too indecisive to leave it at that. "Or if you wanted it to just be the two of you, that's fine as well - I could just get the rest of my shopping done, maybe see you around..?" He knew he wasn't going to be able to make the decision, so he would leave it up to Romy. Remembering his manners, he turned to Mr. Stern and offered a smile that was more unsure than he would have liked. "Thank you for the offer, Mr. Stern, really," he said, and then shifted on his feet as he waited for the verdict from the Ravenclaw girl.[/size][/ul]