CHAPTER FOUR
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i. potions class !

— THE RUSHING FOOTSTEPS ECHOING OFF THE MARBLE WALLS WAS A CONSTANT REMINDER THAT DORIAN AND WENDY WERE ALMOST LATE. Hand in hand, robes billowing behind them as they booked it down some stairs, flushed and breathing loudly. Both Hufflepuffs sighed in relief when they saw their potions classroom with a cluster of students just outside, meaning no one had been let in yet and they weren't going to be awarded with a tardy on their first day back.

"Where's the fire?" Sirius asked amusedly as they approached, still gasping for breath.

Dorian wheezed, "Under my arse, apparently."

"I thought we were going to be late!" Wendy defended, reaching over and grabbing her potions textbook from Dorian and gently hitting him on the arm with it.

"Forget about all that- how are you, Darling?" James jumped out of the crowd, attacking Wendy with a heavy arm around her shoulders.

"I'm right here, Potter." Dorian scoffed with a poorly hidden roll of his eyes as he fixed his robes, straightening them out from their messy state.

"And I was ignoring that fact in favour of my dearest friend, thank you." James sassed, practically sticking his tongue out like a child.

"I'm alright." Wendy laughed, choosing to ignore the juvenile arguing, "How are you, love?"

"Better, now that I know we're sharing our potions class with the Hufflepuffs." He grinned, removing his arm from around her shoulders so he could push his glasses further up his nose.

Wendy took advantage of the lack of restraint, and hopped up in front of Peter, opening her arms to him.

"What's this?" He chuckled, matching her silly stance, despite not understanding it.

"To make up for this morning." She said in a kind, yet obvious tone.

"Ahh." Peter nodded, leaning into the hug she offered, sharing in her brilliant, flashy grin when they pulled away.

A squeak of metal sounded as the door to Horace Slughorn's classroom unlocked and swung open, revealing the professor himself, beckoning the students inside.

"Seats have already been assigned, please find your desk and settle in." He shouted over the pressing crowd, eager to find their chairs and see who they'd be partnered with for this particular class.

Remus peeked out from behind Sirius, catching a glimpse of Wendy's bright smile as she teased James about his messy curls, the sight bringing a certain warmth to his chest and a flush to his cheeks, trailing after the group as they pushed their way inside.

"Please note that I will make changes in this seating should I feel it necessary." Slughorn grumbled routinely, seemingly already bored of this class.

Remus could hear the many groans of disbelief as everyone found their seats, and fought against verbalising his own discontent as he realised he was sat next to Peter.

There wasn't anything wrong with Peter, of course, but he had hoped by some brilliant, blind luck that perhaps he'd be seated with Wendy. He desperately wished for any sort of excuse to speak with her one-on-one, thinking maybe the more they spoke, the more likely it would cure his mindless nature when he was around her.

Regardless, he piled his textbook and supplies onto the table next to his friend's own belongings, sparing a look around the room and mentally cursing at the fortune the rest of the group had apparently been blessed with.

James and Sirius shared an enthusiastic high five as they leaned back in their seats, side by side, kicking their polished shoes up upon their desks in a naive and dangerous show of carelessness.

Wendy, he noticed, was seated next to Dorian, engaging in what seemed to be a lively, light-hearted argument, which Dorian seemed to back down from with a bright smile, his hands raised in mock defence.

He supposed, in the grand scheme of things, this situation wasn't as bad as it could have been- at least Remus was next to someone he knew would shoulder their half of the responsibilities.

Peter was always sure to follow instructions to a T. Despite Remus' previous dissatisfaction, this knowledge comforted him a small bit.

"This is a sixth year potions class, and I assume you all recognize my face the same way I recognize yours- therefore, I will not be repeating the rules of this classroom, you should know them already." Slughorn stated, swiftly making his way to the front of the class, stepping around clusters of jars with odd looking contents.

Remus fell back in his seat, sighing and tugging a roll of parchment paper from his supplies, already anticipating the next instruction before the professor issued it.

"Now take out your quills, we're beginning with a lecture." The man spoke over the shuffling of items and brief noises of frustration.

— DESPITE THE MANY LETTERS HE'D WRITTEN OVER THE HOLIDAYS, nothing could have prepared Remus for the notes he was expected to take during a sixth year potions class. The words 'everlasting' and 'elixirs', of which this lecture was focused mostly on, were beginning to lose all meaning in his head- he'd stared at them for what felt like a torturously long time, writing them over and over until his hand began to cramp.

Remus liked learning. He adored books, and knowledge- most professors that didn't have first hand experience with his trouble-making side would say he was more suited to Ravenclaw than the house of lions.

Still, no amount of love could cause him to enjoy this kind of exercise.

The only thing keeping the boy sane at this point, was the fact that even though it felt as if time was practically at a crawl, it was still passing. Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, he could flee from this classroom and, ultimately, Slughorn's practically monotone voice.

Then Remus remembered the history of magic class with Professor Binns he was scheduled to take this year, and suddenly he didn't mind Slughorn's nasally, boring tone half as much as before.

Slowly, he realised a lot of the information they were now receiving was getting repetitious, so he set his quill to rest in the open inkwell on his desk in favour of stretching his hand across his face, leaning his chin into his palm as he absent-mindedly looked about the room.

There were many interesting textures and colours in a potions classroom, but as Remus let his eyes wander he couldn't help but notice the way his gaze always seemed to gravitate towards a certain Hufflepuff, wishing she would turn to look at him so he could see those striking steel blue irises once again.

He forced his eyes back to the front of the class, internally shouting at himself for letting his mind retreat back to that which so often occupied it.

"Struggling there, Moony?" Sirius whispered teasingly, leaning back in his seat as far as he could in order to mock his friend.

"Piss off." Remus hissed quietly, tilting his head towards the professor to try and focus entirely on the lesson once again.

Sirius moved to make another snide comment, but quickly swallowed his words in order to let out an indignant yell, losing his balance as the chair he was in toppled over with him still in it.

Professor Slughorn's hand paused over his chalkboard as he let out a deep sigh, anticipating what would come next.

A burst of loud, boisterous laughter came from James Potter's mouth when he saw one of his best friends hit the ground, sprawled in a mess of red and gold robes.

As always, James' unstoppable laughter overpowered his brain, and when he threw his head back, he, too, lost his balance and fell to the floor.

Slughorn waited impatiently for the amusement to settle and for Sirius and James to get back into their seats before speaking his next sentence.

"Seating changes. Mister Pettigrew, Mister Black, and Miss Ambrose, please stand." He droned, rubbing at his forehead to ease a steadily growing migraine.

The three mentioned students stood and gathered their things, Sirius smiling guiltily at his friends who were now being forced to uproot due to his negligence.

"Pettigrew, please take Black's seat." He waited until Peter had plopped down next to a sheepish looking James before continuing, "Black, you'll be sitting with Farrington."

Sirius discreetly stuck his tongue out at the Hufflepuff as he carefully lowered himself into his chair, not wanting a repeat of what had just happened.

Dorian simply made a similar face in retaliation, but welcomed his new desk mate with a mute tolerance.

"And Ambrose, dear, you'll take Mister Pettigrew' seat." Slughorn nodded tightly, as if he agreed with his own decisions regarding the layout change.

Remus' heart nearly stopped as Wendy messily laid her things out on his table, plopping down happily in the seat next to him.

Maybe all his internal complaining really did lead somewhere- or his previous prayers had somehow been answered.

Whatever it was, he was grateful.

Now, he could smell her citrus shampoo just as clearly as when she had hugged him earlier- and he could distantly feel her warmth as she pressed closer to him, trying to see past the heads of those much taller than her to copy notes off the board.

Remus wished he was more like Sirius or James- or even Farrington. He wished he had their confidence and carefree demeanour.

If he was more like them, maybe he'd actually follow through with the sudden unanswered wish to rest an arm on the back of Wendy's chair, just to be that much closer to her.

Instead, when his hand twitched with that wordless plea, he instead simply grabbed his roll of parchment paper and slid it over to her, knowing it'd be easier to copy the notes if she could actually see them.

Then she smiled at him. Dazzling and kind, a warm ray of sunshine bleeding through the dark, cold dungeon this classroom resided in.

Suddenly he didn't care about being confident. He didn't care that he could barely speak a few words to her without collapsing in stammers and nervous fumbling.

Remus only cared about that beaming smile, and the flower of adoration that seemed to bloom in his chest just that much more whenever she looked his way.

author's note

i promised a mass update for when a certain Thankmas fundraising goal was met and you guys absolutely crushed it! thank you so much to everyone donating, sharing, and supporting— remember we're gonna be fundraising all throughout December so keep up this incredible energy up and more incentives such as this are coming your way!

also please cut me a little tiny bit of slack if the chapter isn't great, I decided a week before the Thankmas launch that I would update every one of my stories so that was 6 total chapter in 7 days with a lot of extremely late nights 😓 I did my best though I really hope you enjoyed!

I'm honestly totally in love with Wendy's character and her demeanour, I can't wait to explore her plot more in the future (:

anyway I've talked enough, thank you for reading! I love you all! 💕