Chapter Text
Iris Sallow entered the great hall, making her way towards the Gryffindor table. She paused, surveying the seats available. Every seat was taken except for a select few; groups formed naturally leaving small, scattered gaps. She thought for a moment, would she rather sit with, a loud group of second years or the Marauders, the loud and annoying sixth years. She moved towards the Marauders, mostly because Lily Evans was sitting near and she was polite.
As she sat down on the bench, she smiled at Evans and plopped her potions textbook on the table next to her. Iris opened her potions textbook, reading the same paragraph three times. Across from her, Sirius Black stole a piece of toast off Remus’ plate. Remus didn’t even look up before shoving him away with one hand. Iris lowered her eyes back to her textbook. She still hadn’t absorbed a single thing.
Lily glanced up from her breakfast, “Morning, Iris.”
Before Iris could open her mouth, Potter made a joke and the table erupted into laughter and Lily’s attention shifted back to Potter.
Iris stared deeply at her textbook, the words starting to blur as she continued reading the same sentence over, and over again. Across the table, Sirius was talking over to James, who looked entirely too amused for someone who just got interrupted mid-story. Lily leaned over to correct something James said, rolling her eyes. Iris continued to stare blankly at the page re-reading the same sentence repeatedly.
“You’ve been staring at the same page for ten minutes.”
Iris paused, her fingers fidgeting with the page, the words blurring together. She glanced up cautiosly, he was already looking at her. Her thoughts seemed to run at a mile a second. Had he really noticed? Of all people, why him? Remus Lupin, the infamous marauder?
¨And you’ve been staring at me for ten minutes?” She said as if it was a question, her eyes finding the page again, pretending to study a paragraph. She could feel his gaze lingering on her. Iris forced herself not to look back up at him, her hands gripped the book with such intensity she thought it might rip.
“I haven’t.” Remus cleared his throat, daring to still observe her. He watched carefully as her hands tightened around the book.
Iris brought her attention back to him; the response came so quickly that almost thought he'd been expecting her accusation. She looked up from her textbook, her fingers still resting against the edge of the page. Across the table, Remus met her gaze for only a moment before lowering his eyes back to the worn book in front of him. His expression remained frustratingly calm, as though this conversation meant nothing to him at all.
Iris narrowed her eyes.
“You looked over twice.”
Remus turned a page; a faint crease appeared between his brows as he glanced up again. “That’s not how staring works.”
For a second nether of them smoke, just accompanied by the distant chatter of students scattered around table Iris could feel heat creeping into her cheeks, though she wasn't entirely sure whether it was embarrassment or annoyance.
"Then enlighten me," she said, folding her arms. "What exactly qualifies as staring?"
Remus's lips twitched slightly, as if he were fighting back a smile. "More than twice."
Iris stared at him. "That's your defense?"
"It's a perfectly reasonable defense."
A quiet laugh escaped from somewhere beside them.
Both of them turned.
Sirius was leaning forward onto the table, looking far too entertained by the exchange. His dark eyes flickered between them as though he were watching a particularly interesting Quidditch match.
"You two are fascinating."
"Mind your business, Black," Iris replied immediately.
Rather than looking offended, Sirius seemed delighted.
"There it is," he said, pointing at her dramatically. "That's exactly the reaction I was hoping for."
Iris rolled her eyes.
"I was minding my business," Sirius continued. "Then you started arguing over the definition of staring."
"We weren't arguing."
"You absolutely were."
"We weren't."
"You just proved my point."
Across from them, Lily let out a snort into her tea, quickly covering her mouth as she tried—and failed—to hide her amusement.
James looked between everyone at the table.
"I leave for five minutes and somehow we've started a debate about eye contact."
"It's an important discussion," Sirius said solemnly.
"It really isn't," Remus muttered.
Iris glanced at him despite herself.
For the briefest moment, she caught the hint of a smile on his face before he lowered his gaze back to his book.
Something strange settled in her chest.
She looked away first, focusing on the words in her textbook.
The problem was that she still wasn't reading them.
The bell rang through the Great Hall, its familiar chime echoing off the enchanted ceiling and stone walls.
Almost immediately, the room erupted into movement.
Benches scraped loudly against the floor as students stood, gathering books, stuffing half-finished breakfasts into bags, and calling farewells across the tables. The steady hum of conversation swelled into a chaotic roar as hundreds of students prepared to leave for their first lessons of the day.
"Saved by the bell," Sirius announced dramatically, leaning back against the bench as though he had just survived some terrible ordeal.
Lily glanced up from packing away her notes.
"From what?"
"The thrilling eye-contact debate."
James snorted.
"It was hardly a debate."
"It absolutely was," Sirius argued. "There were accusations. Counterarguments. Witnesses."
"There were no witnesses," Remus said.
"There was me."
"That doesn't count."
"It counts if I'm interesting enough."
Iris shoved her textbook into her bag with perhaps a little more force than necessary.
"I hate all of you."
Sirius placed a hand over his heart.
"That's hurtful."
"No, you don't," James said cheerfully.
Unfortunately, he was right.
Iris rolled her eyes but couldn't entirely suppress the faint smile threatening to appear.
The Marauders were insufferable.
Loud, obnoxious, and incapable of taking anything seriously for more than thirty seconds.
Yet somehow people kept gravitating toward them.
Even Lily, who spent half her life pretending she wasn't amused by them.
Students streamed out of the Hall in clusters, conversations overlapping into an indistinct blur of voices. The scent of toast and tea lingered in the air as the crowd gradually thinned.
Iris stood, adjusting the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
For a brief moment, she considered saying goodbye.
Instead, she simply nodded toward Lily.
"See you later."
Lily smiled.
"See you."
Iris turned and headed toward the doors before anyone else could stop her.
The cool corridor outside felt noticeably quieter than the Great Hall.
Her footsteps echoed softly against the stone floor as she joined the flow of students moving through the castle.
She should have been thinking about Potions.
Or the essay she still hadn't finished.
Or the fact that Slughorn had threatened to assign extra work to anyone who arrived late.
Instead, her thoughts kept circling back to breakfast.
Specifically, one very irritating conversation.
You've been staring at the same page for ten minutes.
She frowned.
It wasn't even what he'd said.
It was the fact that he'd noticed.
Remus Lupin wasn't exactly known for paying attention to people outside his immediate circle. At least, not from what she'd observed.
James demanded attention.
Sirius attracted it naturally.
Peter followed wherever the others went.
Remus mostly sat back and watched.
Quiet.
Observant.
The sort of person who noticed things without drawing attention to himself.
Which only made the situation worse.
Because if Remus Lupin had noticed she was staring blankly at a textbook for ten minutes, then he had probably noticed every other embarrassing thing she'd done over the past six years as well.
The thought made her cringe.
By the time she reached the dungeon corridor, she had almost convinced herself the entire interaction had been insignificant.
A meaningless conversation.
A few jokes.
Nothing worth dwelling on.
Certainly nothing worth replaying repeatedly in her head.
The dungeon classroom was already filling when she arrived.
Students occupied their usual seats, conversations bouncing off the low stone ceiling. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with jars of preserved ingredients floating in murky liquids. The familiar scent of herbs, parchment, and potion fumes lingered heavily in the air.
Iris slipped into her seat and pulled out her textbook. Around her, students continued talking. Someone laughed loudly near the back. A bottle shattered somewhere across the room. Slughorn hadn't arrived yet. For a moment, she relaxed.
Then the classroom door opened. The Marauders entered together. James was talking animatedly about Quidditch. Sirius looked as though he hadn't stopped talking since breakfast. Peter laughed at something neither of them had said particularly well. Remus followed behind them carrying a stack of books against his chest.
Without meaning to, Iris glanced up. At the exact same moment, Remus looked over. Their eyes met. Only briefly. A second at most. Then both of them looked away.
Iris immediately opened her textbook. Her heart gave an annoyingly noticeable thump. Ridiculous. She hadn't done anything. Neither had he.
The classroom door slammed shut. Professor Slughorn swept into the room. "Good morning, good morning!"
The chatter died down. Slughorn beamed at the class as he settled behind his desk. "I hope everyone is prepared for a productive term."
Several students looked unconvinced. Slughorn either didn't notice or chose not to care. "This year," he continued, clasping his hands together, "we'll be focusing on more advanced potion work. Naturally, that requires cooperation." A collective groan swept through the room.
Immediately, Iris knew she wasn't going to like whatever came next. Slughorn smiled wider. "Which means you'll all be working in pairs."
The groaning intensified. Iris froze. No. Absolutely not. Please no. Slughorn reached for a parchment resting on his desk. "I've already selected partners."
Of course he had. The room fell into uneasy silence as he adjusted his spectacles and began reading names. One by one, students were paired together.
Some looked relieved. Others looked horrified.
A few immediately began negotiating trades. Iris stared fixedly at her desk. Maybe she'd get Lily. That would be fine. Or Mary. Or literally anyone she already knew.
"Miss Sallow.” Her stomach dropped.
Every instinct she possessed suddenly told her this was about to go very badly. Slowly, she looked up.
Slughorn glanced down at his list. "Mr. Lupin."
For a moment, the classroom seemed unnaturally quiet. Then Sirius made a noise that sounded suspiciously like he was trying not to laugh.
Iris closed her eyes. Of course. Of course it was him.