➪ KALE GREEN ➪

"OI, LOKI. LOKI!"

Loki looked up from the book she'd buried her nose in, her eyes connecting with Max's. She cocked her head and waited for him to continue.

"I need some help," Max told her. He spun his parchment around and slid it toward her, showing her his half-completed homework. "I don't remember what the rune for 'man' is between these two."

"'Horse' is the big M; 'man' is the M with the part that makes an X at the top, okay?" She pointed to the symbols in turn. Having already completed her Runes work, Loki's task then was to help Max. "And you remember 'reed' and 'earth', right?"

"Yeah, I get those now," Max looked up and grinned widely. "I think I'm good for now. Thanks again, Loki!"

"You good if I go get another book?"

Max nodded, giving her a thumbs up. Loki returned the gesture, pushing back her chair and walking away from the table. She knew which book she needed, having borrowed it previously, and quickly made her way to the aisle.

"Charms," she murmured as her fingers brushed lightly over the spines. "Charms, charms, charms."

Her eyes stayed glued to the spines, reading each title. At least until she felt a piece of paper hit her back. Loki span around in confusion, quickly looking down at it. Curious and slightly annoyed, she picked it up. She frowned as she looked around for the culprit, coming up empty with her search.

"Loki," the whisper of her name from the aisle to her left caught her attention. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Loki, come here."

"Sirius?" Loki stepped out from between the bookshelves, walking into the next row. "Sirius, why are you sneaking around? You haven't been banned from the library again, have you?"

"No, that's not it," Sirius's dark eyes flicked behind the girl, darting around. "I just wasn't sure if you had Remus with you."

"No, it's only Max and me," Loki responded. "Sirius, can I ask you something?" She cocked her head, her features donning an expression of concern.

"I guess," Sirius shrugged.

"What's happening with you and Remus? I've never seen you two so... distant."

Sirius's change in demeanour was near immediate. His relieved look fell to one of despair, his happy smile falling to a frown, and he quickly averted his gaze. Loki's lips quirked downward at his expression.

"We disagreed with something; you could say," Sirius muttered. "I did something stupid, and the boys had to fix it. Someone almost got hurt because of it."

"Sirius," Loki placed her hand on his arm in comfort. "Do you want to sit down and talk about it?"

She was genuinely concerned for the boy. Now noticing, Loki spotted the dark circles forming under his eyes, a telltale sign of sleep loss and stress. Her hands moved to the sides of his face, her fingertips getting tangled in his hair, and Loki softly smiled at him.

"I'll be fine," Sirius replied, his hand coming to hers. "Thanks, Princess." He gave her a weak grin. "I'll let you get back to Max. I lied before, I have been banned again."

"Sirius," Loki shot the boy a disapproving look as her hands dropped.

Sirius let out a muted laugh, patting the girl on the head before he walked past.

"I'll see you later, Princess," Sirius smiled. He sent the girl a two-fingered salute before disappearing around the corner.

➪

"BACK AGAIN, LOKI?"

The familiar voice snapped Loki out of her trance. The girl blinked, turning her head to James. He smiled at her, as did Peter beside him. Loki frowned, looking to her other side where the Hufflepuff table was.

"I didn't even realise I walked this far," she muttered.

"That's fine. You're here now, so come sit!" James motioned to the empty spot across from him.

Loki gazed at it, and then her eyes flicked to Remus, who was actively avoiding looking at her. She felt her heart drop.

"No, I'll just go back to where I usually sit," Loki plastered on a smile. "I was going to eat lunch with Nic anyway."

"Can't Nicolas join us, too?" Loki could tell James desperately wanted her to sit there, but it seemed Remus didn't like it.

"No, sorry, James." She frowned apologetically. "Maybe next time." She spared one last look at Remus before waving to Peter and James and walking away.

Once she was out of earshot, James's attention quickly turned to his quiet friend.

"Remus!" James harshly whispered to the boy. "Why are you avoiding her? You're not going to tell me something happened between you two, are you?"

Remus let out a groan, dropping his head onto his folded arms. "I can't face her, James," he replied, his voice muffled. "After what almost happened I just—I realised what a monster I am."

"Remus John Lupin, you are not a monster," James pointed his finger at the boy, also giving his leg a swift kick from under the table. "Sirius was the one who brought Snivellus into it. He's the one that put him in danger."

"Yes, but the thing is James, I am that danger." Remus lifted his head, using his finger to point to himself. "Sirius couldn't have killed him, but I could have."

"You won't hurt Loki, if that's what you're frightened about," Peter spoke up. "There's no way it could happen."

"How do you know that?" Remus raised his hands. "Did you know she has a habit over overworking herself so much sometimes that there are times when she falls asleep outside while she paints? Imagine if she fell asleep out in the open and I go out. We both know what would happen then."

"I doubt that would happen," James reassured him. "And this doesn't answer why you won't talk to her now."

"Do you know what happened to her?" Remus queried.

"You mean how she got those bruises?" Peter asked. Remus nodded. "Because of the Ravenclaw, right?"

"I can't help but feel bad I wasn't there with her," Remus spoke. "I keep thinking that maybe I could have stopped it before she got hurt. I feel guilty. I wasn't even there for her after it happened."

"That's not your fault. You could barely get out of bed that morning, Moony," James attempted to reason with him, but he could see it was futile. "You need to stop thinking everything's your fault. It's not."

"But what if—"

"No 'ifs' or 'buts', Moony. Go talk to her," James told him. "She misses you. I can tell she thinks it's her doing. Go and say it's not, because it's neither of your faults. Okay?"

Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Okay."

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

hello! how are you going? I hope you're doing well. I would have had this out earlier, but I fell asleep while writing it so... oops.

We finally got to see Sirius again. And a little hint for later: Loki's really good at tricking people into going places.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, leave a comment to let me know, because they keep me going. Thank you for reading, bye! :)