➪ MIDNIGHT BLUE ➪

"I LIKE YOU."

Loki paused, then sighed at herself. She frowned at her reflection in the Black Lake, quickly turning back to Remus. The boy in question sat leant against one of the trees nearby. The girl wasn't quite sure if he was sleeping or not. She stood up from the edge of the grass, dusting off any grass that may have stuck to her robes, and crept up to the boy. She peered at him for at least a solid minute, attempting to decipher if he was, in fact, asleep or not.

One of his eyes cracked open, and he gave the girl a pained smile. "Are you going to join me or not?" The sixth-year boy inquired, a teasing tone in his strained.

"Sorry," Loki quickly muttered before taking a seat beside the boy. She was sure she had sat too close and went to move over. Remus placed his head on her shoulder, stopping her before she even began.

"Why are you apologising?" Remus asked. "You don't have to apologise for anything. I should be the one saying sorry." Loki couldn't properly focus on the male's words.

He-He's on my shoulder. He's on my shoulder!

"How about I take you to Hogsmeade?" Remus's voice came back into focus. Loki paused, staring at the still water's surface. "Loki?"

"I--I'm sorry," she silently cursed her self, "I blanked. What was that?"

The boy laughed, something that felt odd against the girl's neck. "I said I wanted to thank you. Then I asked if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend. We can go present shopping, because it's the last trip before the Christmas break, and then I can treat you."

"You want to take me to Hogsmeade?" Loki couldn't stop the stupid question from falling from her lips. Remus laughed, forcing himself to get off Loki's shoulder so he could laugh out loud. The girl cowered slightly.

"Of course," his overly green eyes turned to the girl.

"Alone?"

"Yep."

"Just the two of us?"

"Pretty sure that's the same as the last question." Remus frowned but waved it off. "So, what do you say?"

"I--I--I," Loki swallowed the lump in her throat, taking a moment or two to think. "I--I guess I'll go. Yes. I will." Remus grinned. His head went back on her shoulder, and Loki's hand almost immediately flew up to his hair, scratching the scalp slightly. "Thank you."

"No--" a soft grunt of pain sounded from the boy "-- thank you, Loki." He shifted slightly, lifting his head for a moment. "I was the one who asked you to skip. I'm sure you wanted to go to class and hear the teacher drone on and on about some magical technique they've already gone over at least twice." Loki chuckled, feeling her face flush slightly. Remus lifted his eyebrow at her. "So, I'm not wrong?"

"No, you're not," she shook her head. Loki leat back against the tree, her hand still toying with the boy's light brown locks as he rested on her shoulder again. This time she tried her hardest not to tense, instead choosing to focus on the dark cloud that floated above. "It's going to storm soon," she hummed.

When Remus didn't respond, Loki frowned. She didn't dare move too far, only until she could see the boy's face slightly. His breathing had calmed, and his body seemed somewhat limp. His eyes were closed, and a tranquil expression rested on his face.

Oh, Loki thought, he's asleep.

The realisation that the boy on her shoulder had somehow found it comfy enough to fall asleep on startled her. She stayed very still, not even moving to adjust herself when her leg began to lose feeling. She pondered if maybe she could get a small nap in. After all, her History of Magics class was going for two lessons that day, and she had a free at the end. She might as well get comfy because she had no idea when the boy beside her would wake up.

"Oh, ho ho!" Loki's eyes flew open right after she'd closed them. They darted around until landing on two boys wearing Ravenclaw robes. She scowled at the sight. "Aw, got yourself a boy toy, Loki?"

"Go away, Thor," Loki sighed, not wanting to deal with the boy at that moment. "I'm not in the mood."

"Loki, that's not any way to talk to your brother, is it?" Marcel, the other Ravenclaw, bent down, tapping his wand on the girl's head. "Especially when you've got a man lying on you."

"Go away," she repeated, finding herself becoming more and more irritated the longer the pair stood there. "You should be in class, collecting house points and doing schoolwork."

"This is why I get confused about why you aren't in Ravenclaw. You probably study more than anyone in Hogwarts, you have never failed a subject, and you're willing to do anything to get to the top," Thor sneered. He glanced at Remus, then smirked. "Well, now you're willing to do everything."

Marcel laughed at Thor's statement. He stood up again, his taunting gaze locked on the girl.

"What happened to the old you? The one before you got a stupid crush on that stupid Black and this pathetic excuse for a wizard. You could have been everything." Loki screwed her face up, turning away from her sibling and his friend.

"Shut up," she growled. "If dad knew--"

"If dad knew he wouldn't do anything!" Thor shouted. "He's constantly out of the country, so he can't do anything. You may have him tied around your little pinky, but, Merlin, he's useless with taking care of his damn kids! Do you not remember all those times when we had to make our own dinners and clean the house ourselves because he wasn't there?" Thor let out a groan of frustration, his hands flying up to tug at his blonde hair. "Merlin, Loki, what happened?" He let out a deep breath, shutting his eyes. When he opened them, he glared daggers at the girl as he shoved his hand in his robe pocket. "Dad sent a letter. Come on, Marcel."

Thor produced the envelope, tossing it at his sister. Marcel sent one final look at the girl before joining Thor and strutting away from the pair under the tree. Loki let out a long sigh of relief, her gaze falling to Remus. He didn't seem bothered by what had happened. She smiled at that, thankful the boy hadn't stirred.

"You know, if that douche had taken a step closer, I would have given him a good sock in the jaw." Loki jumped at the familiar voice, causing Remus to twitch before she turned to where it came from. Sirius's head popped from the side of the tree, grinning at the girl. "You and Remus, eh? Canoodling in such a public area, how scandalous." The boy laughed loudly, then seated himself beside the girl.

"Remus is asleep," Loki informed the boy. "He seemed like he was in pain when we had Care of Magical Creatures, and he asked me if I wanted to skip with him."

Sirius gasped dramatically. "Did I hear that right? Did Loki Hawthorne, the girl who always gets to class at least five minutes early, skip a class?" Sirius cupped the girl's face in his hands, moving it from side to side as if checking for any broken parts.

Loki tried her hardest to ignore the proximity, giggling at the boy's actions instead. "I couldn't leave him in pain, could I? And besides, I'm sure missing one class won't be enough to end my schooling career."

Sirius, whose hands were still on the girl's cheeks, sighed. "Wait until you're being held up by some dark wizard demanding to know what the gargoyles did in 1911."

"They held a strike," Loki replied without hesitation. "Their side was winning for a fair while, too. We learnt this last year."

"Merlin," Sirius let out an amused laugh once more, finally letting her go. "How do you deal with all that information stored in that pretty head of yours, Princess?" He brought up a hand and poked the girl's forehead.

Pretty? Loki's eyes widened at the boy's words. Pretty? What does he mean pretty? Did he mean it? Oh, Merlin, why is he staring at my hand? Is there something on it?

"Hey, what are you going to do with that letter?" Sirius inquired, turning the girl's attention to the letter in her hand. She flipped it over to look at the address.

'To Loki and Thor Hawthorne,

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, Scotland'

The girl flipped it back over. "I--I can open it later," she replied, still flustered over the word. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'm sure Remus won't mind if I joined you both," Sirius shrugged. "I mean, I walked out of class when I saw Remus wasn't there, so I can't exactly just waltz back in. It's better out here, anyway. I prefer the cold to the heat, and this is just what I was hoping for."

Loki hummed. Sirus turned his gaze to the sky, sucking in a deep breath of the chilly air with a grin. Her eyes stayed glued to him for a moment; then she turned away. 

"You don't mind if I take a nap, too, Princess?" Sirius muttered the question, but Loki could make out what she was saying.

"Go--go ahead," she replied. Sirius smiled softly before leaning against the tree and closing his dark eyes. Loki wondered what had happened that made the boys so tired but didn't ask as she could feel Sirius drifting off from beside her.

She was about to attempt to nod off herself but was startled awake for the second time. This time it was because Sirius's head falling onto her other shoulder.

It was going to be a long day.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

o h b o i . i have absolutely zero plan on what to do next haha. as you can see, i am very unoriginal with names =)

how're y'all going? I'm okay, i guess... probably gonna fail history.

i like reading your guys' comments, so don't be afraid to :) thank you for reading, bye!