Battle Report

Little Barty's expression froze for a second, and he looked somewhat confused.

Lucretia added, "Not snacks. I'll make some filling sandwiches and hot soup, so you can eat during your break. Training is so hard—you should replenish your energy."

Little Barty stopped and turned to her. "...You're making lunch for me?"

"Mm, I need to practice my cooking anyway..."

Most of the exhaustion vanished from Little Barty's face at once. "There's a rest area behind the training ground. You can come straight over. You don't need to enter the training ground—it's dangerous."

They reached the corner by the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower before Little Barty stopped and reached out to straighten the loosened collar of her robe.

"If you come, I'll tell Regulus. He'll definitely be looking forward to the lunch you make too."

Lucretia took the schoolbag he handed back to her. "All right. Then go back and change early. Don't catch a cold."

"I will. See you tomorrow."

Lupin had originally been ready to leave.

The patrol was over. It was time to return to the Common Room.

But his footsteps stopped.

Little Barty was still standing at the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower.

Lucretia had already gone inside, and the door had closed, yet he was still there.

Lupin retreated into the shadows.

Little Barty's shoulders remained straight, just as they were on the training ground.

But after a few seconds, his entire body suddenly relaxed.

First his shoulders slumped, then he sneezed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

He stood there for a few more seconds, his gaze still fixed on the tower entrance.

Then he shook his head, as if trying to throw off some thought, before turning toward the dungeons.

Lupin waited until his figure had completely disappeared before stepping out of the shadows.

That waiting, that reluctance to leave...

He had not been spying. He had merely wanted to make sure Lucretia reached her destination safely.

But what he had just seen gave him pause.

This had not been a simple escort.

Little Barty had waited until she entered the tower, then stood there for a long time before leaving.

It was a sincere concern that could not be ignored.

But now, he needed to decide how much to tell his friends.

Especially Sirius.

After all, James would definitely be in for some friendly greetings when he got back.

He chose the longer route back to Gryffindor Tower and did not use a secret passage.

The corridors were empty, filled only with his footsteps and the occasional murmured conversations of figures in passing portraits.

The Werewolf relief potion Lucretia had prepared for him was already finished. She would bring it to him on Saturday.

At the thought, gratitude welled up in Lupin's heart.

That kindness and understanding were precious to him.

By the time Lupin stepped into the Common Room, almost no one was left.

Only two younger girls remained by the fireplace, eagerly trading Chocolate Frog cards.

James and Sirius sat at the round table closest to the fireplace.

Parchment was spread across the table, and quills were in their hands, but the pretense was far too obvious.

Every few seconds, James's gaze drifted toward the portrait hole, while his fingers tapped an arrhythmic beat on the tabletop.

Sirius's quill hovered in midair, ink gathered at its tip, ready to drip at any moment.

But his attention was nowhere near his homework.

The Marauder's Map spread across the table was conspicuous, with one label standing still on it.

Lucretia Crouch, Ravenclaw Tower.

The moment he saw Lupin, James put down his quill. "Moony! Finally! We were about to send out a search party."

Sirius's quill tip finally left an ink blot on the parchment.

Lupin walked over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

The fireplace in the Common Room gave off a comfortable warmth, driving away the chill of the nighttime corridors.

The wall torches cast dancing shadows around them, illuminating Sirius's tense shoulders.

Lupin spoke calmly as he took off his robe and hung it over the back of his chair. "I was delayed a little. I wanted to make sure they were all right."

Sirius looked up, his brows tightly furrowed. "Did she get back to her dorm safely?"

Lupin nodded and picked up a copy of Advanced Transfiguration, which James had been using to hold down the edge of the Marauder's Map, flipping through a few pages at random.

"She got back safely. But you wouldn't believe what Crouch looked like. He was soaked through, from head to toe."

James stopped his unconscious tapping. "Soaked through?"

Lupin explained softly, continuing to turn the pages as his eyes passed over passages he had already memorized. "A torrential downpour. It started pouring during Quidditch training. It looked like he slipped away directly from training and went to pick her up before he had time to change."

James straightened up, tugged at his tie, and exaggeratedly pretended to shiver from the cold. "Aha! Such classic Slytherin romance—how touching! I can picture it already: a knight in the pouring rain, defying wind and weather just to wait for his princess!"

Sirius snatched the book from Lupin's hands and slammed it down in front of James. "Shut up, Fork."

James grinned at Sirius and draped an arm over his shoulders. "Oh, angry already? My dear Padfoot, isn't your jealousy a little obvious? Or are you regretting not having an excuse to pick up the little princess after class?"

Sirius gritted his teeth and shrugged off James's arm, glancing at the clock above the Common Room. "I'm not jealous. I just want to know what they said."

James waved a hand. "Do you even need to ask? Crouch must have acted just like last time we saw him—classic protective conversation, defender's stance, plus that gentle tone only she gets to hear. Though I'm guessing he didn't wrap her in some giant Slytherin robe this time, right, Moony? He couldn't exactly let a girl walk back dripping wet."

Lupin shifted his gaze to the Marauder's Map on the table, the corner of his mouth twitching. "It wasn't like that, James. Actually, they looked very... natural."

Sirius stopped fiddling with his quill and looked up. "What do you mean?"

Lupin leaned back in his chair, considering how to accurately describe everything he had seen.

"Crouch stood there waiting for her, of course, completely soaked. But when she showed concern for him, he didn't pretend everything was fine or deliberately act tough... There was an understanding between them when they were alone, more at ease than anything I'd seen before. He took her schoolbag as if it were something they did every day."

Sirius's voice was low, nearly toneless. "And then?"

"They talked about the Perception Magic Lucretia had learned in class. Crouch mentioned that at high altitude, you could sense magical fluctuations in different ways, especially when looking down from above the castle."

"What?"

Lupin said, "He suggested taking her up to experience sensing from the air."

Sirius had not yet grasped the meaning of those words.

"After training next week, probably around sunset. Um, he said that from that height, you could see the magical currents of all Hogwarts, like a living web."

James asked in surprise, then his eyes lit up. "Crouch is taking her broom flying? Merlin, if I'd discovered her talent sooner, why were you lot going on about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff at my house? We should've brainwashed her into coming over on the spot! And you all saw how she performed in her first Flying class—her ability to control a broom is practically inborn! If she were a Gryffindor first-year..."

Lupin noticed Sirius tighten his grip on his quill and immediately cut James off. "He said he would carry her like before and wouldn't let her ride a broom alone. Lucretia hesitated for a while, but she agreed in the end."

James clutched his chest dramatically and put on a wounded expression. "Looking down at a web of magic from the skies at sunset? Merlin's beard! I've been chasing Lily for years—how did I never think of that? I've always been using those worn-out invitations like, 'Hey, dear Lily, want to go to Hogsmeade together this weekend?'"

He turned to Sirius and winked.

"Looks like we need to ask Crouch for romance lessons, Padfoot. Who would've thought that expressionless Slytherin was a dating expert? And the kind girls can never resist: I'm only special to you! No, I need to find a way to get closer to him. Maybe you'll hear my good news this year!"

James was still endlessly analyzing Crouch's dating skills, every word stabbing at Sirius's nerves like a needle.

A sunset flight.

A web of magic.

A dating expert.

Sirius suddenly threw down his quill. Its shaft bounced off the table with a crisp sound. "That isn't a date."

His voice was very calm.

So calm that even James stopped teasing and blinked.

Sirius picked up his quill again and lowered his head.

But even he did not know what he was writing.

He simply needed to do something to prove that he was normal, that he was calm.

That he did not care in the slightest what kind of web of magic Little Barty was taking Lucretia to see.

Lupin gently set down the book in his hands and gave James a warning look.

Only after James shrugged to show that he would temporarily restrain himself and be a quiet listener did Lupin continue. "They also talked about Saturday's arrangements."

Sirius tried to look as though he were listening rather than imagining a high-altitude flight at sunset.

Lupin tapped the spine of the book lightly with a finger. "She suggested making lunch for Crouch and bringing it to the training ground. Crouch said he would be training all day Saturday and would not have time for lunch. Sandwiches, hot soup, that sort of thing. She said training was hard for him and that he needed to replenish his energy."

Sirius stared at the ink blot on the table. It had grown as large as a black flower.