iv. A SLOW ORBIT
( chapter four )

     "Sorry I'm late! I had a friend who needed my help and I lost track of him."

     That wasn't true.

     Cal actually slept in till nine in the morning and rushed out of the Slytherin common room in less than ten minutes. He wasn't showered, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were slightly crinkled. It was a Saturday, and he was so tired from studying the night before that he'd slept on top of his bed and right through his alarm. But when face-to-face with a professor as stern as Griffiths was, one would do well not to tell them that they almost missed a meeting made for them because they slept in. Especially when one was panting heavily and trying not to fall over. Especially when one's crush was sitting right in front of them, head tilted cutely and eyes so golden they looked like molten lava in the morning sun.

     "I'm glad you care about your friends so much, Mr. Axton. We've only been here for a few minutes, so it shouldn't be too much of a set back," she said, her back stern, as she peered at Cal. Her tone sounded sarcastic, but she always sounded like she was subtly mocking everyone so he didn't think it was cause for worry.

     Her dark skin was pulled tautly across the harsh angle of her cheekbones, like leather stretched to its limits over a rock. She was wearing a long, black robe and it seemed to encompass her. Underneath Griffith's traditional hat, her dark, lightly greying hair was manipulated away from her face. Altogether, she made a terrifying image that early in the morning.

     "Even so, it does limit the time I have to speak with the both of you before I must go. Mr. Axton," she said, "are you aware of the great opportunity this is for you to excel your learning?"

And to seduce my future husband.

     "Yes, Professor Griffiths."

     "Are you aware that your tutoring will require extra time and effort on your behalf? As you must always show up on time and treat Mr. Lupin with the amount of respect he deserves for being willing to tutor you."

Not to worry, I will dedicate all of my time and energy into Remus Lupin.

     "Yes, Professor."

     "Excellent. I will allow you both to sort out your schedules and guidelines, as I have a meeting to attend. Do not let me down, Mr. Axton," she said to him. Then, to the both of them, "have a lovely Saturday."

     She nodded her head and exited the library, her dark form disappearing behind a tall, towering shelf of haphazardly put away books.

     Cal turned to Remus, trying not to get caught up in his smile or his dimples or his anything. It proved to be an almost insurmountable task. But at the risk of looking like a stalker, he averted his gaze and sat down across from him.

     The table was silent, apart from the chatter of various other students—how did they manage to get up so early?—and the clatter of books on desks. Remus was fiddling with a piece of parchment sticking out of his worn leather satchel, and despite being the epitome of awkwardness, Cal thought he was the most adorable thing ever. That didn't change the fact that things were very awkward.

     He didn't imagine this being their first interaction since the train. He thought it'd be more...romantic. That there would be more swooning and love confessions and kissing. He really wouldn't have minded kissing Remus. Not at all.

     Nevertheless, he tried to remember Carmen's advice: make conversation and, for Morgana's sake, don't fuck it up. Cal thought the latter part was going to be hard, given his habit of rambling whenever he was nervous. So he started out small.

     "Hi," said Cal.

     "Hi," said Remus.

This is going splendidly, isn't it?

     "Um, how are you?"

     "I'm...fine. A little tired, actually. What about you?"

     "Well," he replied, "I woke up about ten minutes before this meeting started after studying all night, so I would say that I am also quite tired. Exceptionally tired, in fact. So tired that I would love to go back to bed."

     "Oh, well, if you want to reschedule then I'd be happy to—"

     "No!" Interrupted Cal, maybe a little bit too harshly if the small cringe Remus made away from him said anything. He back-peddled. "I'm over-exaggerating. Carmen says it's something I need to work on." He was pulling shit right out of his arse. Carmen didn't give a shit about his flaws. She actively encouraged them, said that it would make her look bad if she was the only idiot in the group.

     "Carmen?"

     "Oh, right, you've never met my friends. Um, Carmen Simoni? Half-Spanish, Half-Italian. About five foot three. Kinda pretty, kinda resembles a toad. Dating Adonis Parkinson? Any of this ringing any bells?"

     Remus' eyebrows furrowed in thought. His ring finger tapped idly against the scratched wood of the table and looked like he was trying to grasp at thin air. That was, until a lightbulb seemed to light up above his fluffy head. He smiled victoriously.

     Remus' smile could light up an entire galaxy.

     "I think I've seen her hanging out with you. Vaguely."

     "Great! That's great," said Cal, lamely.

     Running out of conversation topics, Cal turned back to the reason they were up so early in the first place. "So, what were you thinking about this whole tutoring thing?"

     "What do you mean?"

     "Do you think you can help me?"

     Cal hoped desperately that the next words out of his mouth were either "Yes" or "Make out with me." Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, Remus replied with the former.

     "Yeah, I do. I'm only taking five N.E.W.T.'s because I was allowed to move forward a year for Charms in sixth year, so that frees up some slots where we can meet and go other theory and classwork."

      "Oh wow, so you're like, really smart," said Cal, only half-aware of the how ditzy he sounded.

      He watched as a red-tinged flush crept slowly up Remus neck, spilling onto his cheeks like a river of warmth, heating up his whole face. It made Remus look warm, as if he were the sun and Cal a humble planet orbiting it, basking in its warm, pink glow. The other stars would be their friends, standing by as he slowly became absorbed in Remus' fire. He'd burst into rivets of lava. It would be a glorious way to die—to have become one with Remus.

     Remus shyly ducked his head, pulling at the frayed ends of his sleeve with his long fingers.

     "I wouldn't say that. Just hardworking."

     "You sound like a Hufflepuff," remarked Cal.

     "Is that a bad thing?" Said Remus. He sounded a little offended.

     "No, not necessarily. My sister would've been in Hufflepuff, I think."

     Remus didn't reply. Cal thought that he might think Marian was dead and didn't want to be rude, or maybe that she wasn't accepted into Hogwarts and, again, didn't want to be rude. Speaking about squibs in public, even if you didn't really care, was considered to be a major faux pas. Neither Carmen nor Evan asked him why they didn't see Marian at the sorting, but Cal knew it was for very different reasons than what Remus' probably were. They were purebloods, and to be associated with someone who was related to a squib was unseemly. Everyone thought it was better if they didn't bring it up. Even though Cal didn't care that Marian was a squib because she was still his little sister and he never wanted to make her feel insecure about herself, he silently agreed with them. It was best if people didn't know.

     Clearing his throat, Cal started rummaging through his bag, pulling out wrappers and tattered feathers in an attempt to find his work. It took him a few minutes of endless searching to realise that he'd forgotten everything in his dorm room, on his bed, where he was studying the night before so as to not look like a dumbass in front of the guy he liked. The guy who was looking at him like he had lost his marbles.

     "You alright there, Cal?"

     "Yeah, no, I'm fine. I just—" He released a small huff of frustration "—can't seem to find my Arithmancy work. Looks like it just wandered off or something," he said, dying slowly on the inside.

     Normally he wouldn't care. But normally he wasn't right in front of Remus lupin, the hottest piece of arse to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts.

     "That's fine. Professor Griffiths left me a copy of the work you completed in your last class."

     "Oh. That's good," said Cal, blinking owlishly. He set his bag aside. "But I also forgot my quills."

      Remus waved it off, pulling his satchel up to himself. He was laughing quietly to himself, probably thinking what a fucking idiot this kid is, and the thing was, Cal couldn't even blame him. He was an idiot. A big fucking idiot for falling for a guy way out of his league.

     Remus was smart, and humble, and considerate, and attractive as all hell. He looked like he glowed and his hair looked really soft and he probably smelled great. Like fresh cloves and his Mum's signature blueberry tarts. Meanwhile, a mermaid from the Black Lake looked better than Cal. It would probably have as better personality than him, too.

     "You can borrow one of mine. I always carry around spares."

He even carries around spares!

     Cal could only take the offered quill with a great deal of self-pity.

     "Thanks."

     The rest of their tutoring sessions ( of which there were four ) ran in the same vein. They participated in some polite chit-chat when they both got to the library, Cal stared, Remus went over his work and—heavily—corrected it, Cal stared some more, he complained and Remus laughed, Cal stared. It was all very repetitive. But he wouldn't have had it any other way. Because for two times a week, Cal got to sit across from Remus and intimately study everything about him.

     He knew that Remus loved chocolate because the bloke brought at least one bar of it to every session, he fidgeted a lot, whether it be with a quill or some parchment or his jumper sleeves, he didn't talk much unless you prodded him ( which Cal did a lot ), and he really loved the library. Whenever Remus gave Cal work to do or let him read over something, and there wasn't much else for him to do, he would wander off for a minute and come back with a book. He actually read it, too—he didn't pretend to so he could look smart.

     Cal also got to stare at his arse, which looked quite firm, when he stoop up and bent down to pick up his satchel. So that was a bonus.

     At the end of every session, Cal gave Remus six galleons as payment. At first, he refused, saying that he didn't need the money. Cal called bullshit. He didn't want to assume, but from Remus' worn jumpers and frayed trousers, he could tell that he came from a lower income family. After a lot of wheedling, and a fair amount of puppy dog eyes, Cal got Remus to grudgingly accept the money. It was only fair. Remus gave up two hours of his life to deal with Cal and his inability to understand anything that came out of Griffiths' mouth.

     Cal didn't know if it was because he naturally paid more attention to Remus, or if he was just that good of a teacher, but Remus' teaching definitely helped. He had a way of making people feel like they were the only thing that mattered, that he cared about them. It wasn't helping Cal's crush situation in the slightest.

     But no matter how much he enjoyed their tutoring sessions, Cal's pockets were not handling it very well.

     "Come one, Carmen. Pretty please."

     "No, Cal. Go bug Evan."

     His mind flashed back to his friend's raised eyebrow and his arms crossed over his chest. His voice when Cal had finished his long monologue about why it was important that he continued getting tutored by Remus. His deadpan expression.

     "I can't. He already said no."

     Carmen pouted mockingly at him, her broomstick positioned clumsily at her side. "Well, that's too bad." She went back to ignoring him.

     Cal, nervous he had lost her, felt like crying.

     "You said you would help me out with Remus," he said, his voice low, thick.

     "Yeah. Until I knew you were going to extort me!"

     "That's not fair. You know it isn't."

     "And how is it not fair, Cal. Hmm?"

      "I'm not extorting you. I'm just asking you if you'll lend me a bit of money until I can pay you back," he reasoned. "The majority of my savings are at home. I.e., not here. Pleeeeease."

     When he saw that he wasn't getting to her, he changed tactics.

     "You know I can't ask my Dad. He'd lose the plot if he knew that I needed a tutor to help with school. That's why I'm asking. I wouldn't do that unless it was really important."

     "Do they actually help? Or do you just want more time to ogle Lupin?" Her lips were pursed as she glared at him.

     Looking down, he blushed.

     "Both," he began. Her glare flattened out into disbelief. "Don't look at me like that, it's true. He's a really good teacher and I'm actually getting whatever the fuck Griffiths is saying in class." Then, "and he's nice to look at."

     And finally, "please."

     "Fine! Now go change. We need to get ready for Quidditch Tryouts. And don't you even try to hug me, you weasel."

     Cal's beam smile took up half of his face.

     "Yessir!"

     He was off before she could change her mind, dashing past a group of other Slytherins who were trying out for the Quidditch team.

     The team from the year before needed to tryout for their spots again because of a change in captainship. Their old Captain, Willow Forsyth, graduated the year before. This left Alexander Heathrow, the biggest dick at Hogwarts, as their new Captain. The bloke was prejudiced against muggles to an almost fanatical degree. And Cal, a halfblood with a known muggle mum, was obviously at risk of losing his position as Keeper. It meant that he would need to absolutely destroy any of the competition in the next few hours to make it.

     Not just to secure his spot on the team, but also as a means of protection. Slytherin House would do anything it took to win the House Cup at the end of the year, and so, they needed the best Quidditch team possible. Cal was the best Keeper they had seen in over a decade, and everyone knew that the reserve Keeper, Alfonso Delaurentis, was nothing compared to him. This kept potential bullies like Heathrow at bay. They would receive a lot of hate from the rest of the House if they threatened the House Cup by hurting him. It was why he had joined the team in the first place. Carmen mentioned it once in passing and Cal had jumped on the idea.

     He spent the entire summer before third year trying to perfect his technique—his Dad had even hired a skilled teacher for him, retired Holyhead Harpies Keeper, Martin O'Connell. His Dad thought it would benefit his reputation if he joined the Quidditch team.

     That's how he got the position in the first place. With a fair bit of skill and some measure of talent Martin had mentioned the first time they practiced.

     Cal was just banking on being able to do it all over again.

     Remus pulled out the small, hastily written note he got from James, his narrowed eyes glaring at its contents.

Meet me at the back of the Quidditch change rooms at 1. I have a plan.

     James

     He hadn't thought much of at it at first, too busy catching up on some last minute homework when he found it sitting neatly on his things to care. It wasn't until he'd finished that he cast a number of detection spells on it, ranging from first year spells all the way up to ones Aurors were supposed to know. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't from James. Something about that innocuous little square of parchment upset his stomach. However, nothing came up, so he put away any distrust and chalked it up to James being in a mood. He and Lily recently had a fight, so maybe that was it.

     Whatever the case, Remus showed up where the note said for him to. He noticed when he first arrived that the Slytherin team had just finished with some practice session, a few trickling back up to the castle.

     Remus realised that James' plan had something to do with it.

     Too busy trying to figure out what James could possibly have planned, and wondering where the hell he was, he almost didn't hear the distant shouting of his name.

     "—mus? Remus!"

     They called, and Remus jerked up from his leaning position against the brick wall of the change rooms.

     It was Cal.

     He hadn't thought about seeing Cal there, even though it should have registered when he had gotten there. Cal was always talking about Quidditch during their sessions, explaining some aspect of it he thought was interesting and—in a futile attempt to get Remus to understand it—the rules. Remus thought he would get sick of it, as he had to hear James go off on tangents every other day, but for some reason, seeing Cal face light up as he talked about it did things to his heart. Weird, tingly things that weren't very good for his health.

     "Cal?" Remus shout-said.

     Cal jogged over to where he was standing after saying goodbye to two girls. One he was almost positive was Carmen, but he couldn't be sure about the red head.

     "Hi! What are you doing here?"

     Remus realised how odd it looked for him to be at the Quidditch Pitch during a training session. He tried to think of a good excuse.

     "Just thought I'd head out for a walk." What? Who goes for a leisurely stroll near the Quidditch Pitch? "I thought James would be here for some practice. I didn't know the Slytherins were training."

     "Oh. Well, we're not. Training," said Cal. "It was tryouts."

     There was a mud stain on his right cheekbone. Remus had the urge to rub it off with the pad of his thumb.

     "I didn't know that. How do you think it went?" He asked. Anything to steer them away from the Why were you loitering suspiciously around the Pitch issue.

     "Good. I hope."

     Cal looked dejected as he said that, like he didn't actually think he was any good. It made his chapped, pink lips curve down into a small frown. Remus thought he was being ridiculous, because he had seen Cal play during the Slytherin vs Gryffindor matches. Not to mention all the times James had cursed his name in the common room.

     "Why do you say that?"

     "No reason. Just feeling a bit stressed from all of my classes, is all."

     "I didn't know. You know you can talk to me, right? I'm more than just your tutor. We're friends, Cal."

     Cal perked up at that, like a wilting flower exposed to sunshine. A blush appeared on his pale cheeks and Remus had never wanted to hug anyone more.

     "I'll keep that in mind."

     "Good."

     They feel into a comfortable silence. Cal was smiling at him and Remus felt some of the tension ease up in his shoulders. He wanted to ask him something, and before he could overthink it, he did.

     "Hey, since we're friends, would you want to come to a Halloween party Gryffindor's having after the feast?"

     "Really? I'd love—"

     Cal deflated. "On second thought, I can't."

     Had he stuffed it up? Did Cal think he was weird for asking? Of course, he was weird. Why would a guy like Cal choose to spend Halloween with him?

     "It's fine if you don't want to. I get that being in a room full of Gryffindors might be—"

     "No, no, it's not that. I just...I promised my friends I'd hang out with them that night."

Oh.

     He could work with that.

     "Why don't you invite them, too?"

     "What?"

     "You should invite them. I'm sure no one will mind."

Oh, they will most definitely mind.

     "Cool! Thanks, Remus."

     Cal grinned, his eyes bright as stars, and leaned forward to hug him. Remus froze, stifling his breath as Cal locked his arms around his waist. It lasted only for a second, but to Remus, it seemed like a lifetime.

     Cal let him go and, with one last lingering look, took off up to the castle.

     Remus watched him go and, with a great, heaving sigh, crashed back into the wall.

     He could convince his friends.

     Maybe.

~

henlo