Ana looked up as the Ravenclaw boy tapped her on the shoulder.

"What's up?" said Ana kindly, taking a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich.

Ivy and Sage had stopped talking on either sides of Ana and turned to look at the Ravenclaw kid.

"I- er..." said the boy nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I wondered if you wanna go out with me."

Ana raised an eyebrow. "That's great and all, but I think we ought to properly introduce ourselves. Ana Miracle," she said, putting down her sandwich and holding out her hand.

The boy shook it gingerly. "Er- Mike Williams."

"Cool," said Ana nonchalantly, turning back to her sandwich. "I'm the kinda person who doesn't go out with people I don't know well, so how 'bout this? We talk more often and become friends. If that works fine, then I'll agree to a date. Sound alright?"

Mike nodded. "Sounds great. See you around, Ana."

He strode off to the Ravenclaw table.

Ivy and Sage turned to Ana and sighed.

"An, you just blew your chance to get with that Lupin boy!" said Ivy.

"I don't want to!"

"He's completely smitten with you, An," Sage tried convincing her. "Just..."

"No."

"But-"

"Nope."

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

Later that day during Remus' free period, he headed to the library to study where he saw...

Ana and some Ravenclaw kid chatting around.

Remus hesitated. He didn't want to intrude, even though it was Ana and Remus' time to study together. They had a schedule.

But it was fine. He could skip it one day and go study by himself.

Ana looked up and spotted Remus lurking near the bookshelves. "Rem!" she said with a wide grin. "Ready to study? You got your books?"

"Yup," said Remus, not sounding as enthsiastic as he wanted to sound. "Is that your- er..."

Ana shook her head frantically and stood up. "Nah. Just a friend."

"See you around, Ana?" said the boy with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," she said, turning around to face him. "See ya, Mike."

'Mike' walked away with his books.

"I dunno, An," said Remus, walking along to their usual studying beanbag. "He seems like he completely wants to date you."

Ana nodded. "And I agree, because that's literally what he asked me when he met me! And I tell him I ought to get to know him first before anything, so we're friends."

"For now," teased Remus. But he didn't feel that jovial, lighthearted feeling anymore that he normally got when he was with Ana.

Ana shoved Remus lightly as they sat down on the beanbags. "Oh, shush."

They sat down and cracked open their books and homework. 

"You do anything fun lately?" Ana asked nonchalantly, scribbling down something on her Transfiguration homework.

"Not really..." said Remus, flipping a page of his book. "Though I did meet a nice Ravenclaw girl."

Ana raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Is the little Remmy Lupin now smitten with girls?"

"Shut up," groaned Remus, burying his head in his hands.

"Tell me everything," said Ana eagerly, ignoring what Remus had just said. "Name, favorite food, hair color- everything!"

Remus blinked. "I JUST met her, An. I know almost nothing."

"Then give me her name and I'll do the background research."

"Am I allowed to say I'm slightly scared of you?"

"Of course, everyone's terrified of the epic and totally ferocious Hufflepuffs," said Ana with a dramatic hair flip. Her brown wavy hair was in a messy side-braid today with bouncy curls all on the sides.

"James and Sirius beg to differ," scoffed Remus. "They're the most annoying/the people who most identify with the Gryffindor qualities."

"Like arrogance?" said Ana. "Or obnoxiousness. Or too much self-confidence. Can be selfish-"

"Ahem," said Remus, clearing his throat loudly. "As you can see... Gryffindor... right in front of you..."

"Well, you're not included," Ana reassured him. "You're nice and kind and sweet. You're worthy of being a Hufflepuff."

"The Hat thought I was Ravenclaw, actually."

"I could see that."

"I could too."

"So," Ana prompted. "What's her name?"

Remus sighed. "Zhara. Zhara Rafid. She's pretty nice."

Ana's eyes gleamed, but not with happiness. "I've... met her."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming it wasn't a good encounter?"

"Well," said Ana. "She said 'that Lily Potter' always acted like she knows stuff. Zhara actually said that Lily was obnoxious with her intelligence."

Remus gaped. "Then?"

"I smacked her in the face."

"..."

"..."

"That seems like something you would do," admitted Remus.

"I got in trouble, obviously," Ana said. 

Remus' expression darkened. "This is a literal... toxin of a human to be around, always insulting everyone else."

"Lot of the world is like that, Rem," said Ana, scratching her nose with the end of her quill. "Not a lot of people liked me, you know. Thought I was weird for being the only one who tried to stay out of gossip in primary school."

Remus blinked. "But that makes no sense. Of course you wanna stay out of drama."

"Thank you!" agreed Ana. "But those idiot 4th years thought I was wimpy and- well- bullying is the right term. But the moral of the story? Our world is s-"

"There are first years here," muttered Remus. "We're prefects, An."

Ana thought for a second. "Our world is filled with garbage?"

"Much better."

Thanks for reading! The new solangelo fanfic will be out next week! :)

Hope you enjoyed!

Love, Jui W.