“ ‘The name of the Wind’ is far superior to ‘The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel’. There is no room left for discussion, one is an epic tale, while one is a children’s book.” I said in the slightly dark reading room we took for ourselves.

“Going by a normal writing standard, the second one is much more accessible to everyone.” Jacob said, crossing his arms in front of him in defiance.

“Only if you include eight-year-old kids to everyone.” I said, which was the last straw for me. We actually did share quite a few opinions on books, but this was where we were different from each other.

“Who wouldn’t inc-“ Suddenly, Jacob was interrupted as the lights were turned off. Only the moonlight shone into the small room as he looked up towards the lamps.

“What happened?” I asked because I really couldn’t explain why they turned off the magical lights.

“Oh no … it is curfew.” Well, that would explain a few things. I still had to wonder about the security of this place, especially because nobody checked the reading rooms.

“Oh, we should get back then.” I explained and wanted to stand up.

“We can´t.” He said bitterly, but I could see there was way more to it than he wanted to admit. “The building is secured by a magical barrier we cannot overcome.”

I blinked a few times rapidly, then tilted my head in wonder and mused over the fact he learned to lie. Certainly, the doors would be locked, but because of the kingdoms regulation DIN EN 14604, there had to be doors through which you could escape. Maybe this was already the time where my little doggo began to wag his tail for me, but I still couldn’t push it too far yet.

“So … we have to stay here?” I asked as if I was completely oblivious of his lie.

“I think so … let us hope we can get out of here tomorrow after the librarians opened the building again.” I nodded fervently and then threw my arms into the air.

“It´s a sleepover! I never had one … we need sweets, blankets, pillows … a lot of pillows and horror stories.” I claimed and looked at him beggingly.

“We have … none of that?” He asked, probably going around the library within his head.

“Not even horror stories?” These things weren´t physical. I was sure he had one.

“I don’t like them.” He claimed and with that, my sleepover dreams died. Instead, he went through the library and grabbed another magical lamp. Even though we had to move to a cabin without windows so that nobody could see us from the outside, it still felt quite cosy in this library alone. The scent of the old and new books was truly fascinating, even though the smell of dog irritated my nose a little bit.

Together, we snuggled underneath a blanket he found somewhere and started to read a book he didn´t know before. I did, but I naturally hid it from him. Our shoulders didn´t touch yet, but they would soon. I could see how he was inching closer to me over time, but before he could get too close, I started shivering on my own.

“Are you alright?” He asked as he noticed my trembling underneath the blanket.

“Yes … yes … I´m always quite cold. The doctors said it was because of all the illnesses.” I said and turned the page after he nodded. “Don’t worry about me, I´m used to it.” I said, crossing my arms underneath the blanket and rubbing my skin through the blazer.

“Lucy, you aren’t the only one who has to fight with temperature. Here, take my hand.” Slowly, he moved his hands over to me. Reluctantly, I took my right hand off my arm and touched his fingers. He was hot … not that kind of hot … his temperature was high. Incredibly high. His metabolism must have been insane, completely unlike mine.

“So warm …” I enthused and crawled with my fingers over his whole hand. It felt strangely good to feel this warmth, even though I would never admit it.

“And you are incredibly cold …” He smiled wryly and then robbed even closer to me. Our shoulders were touching as he wrapped an arm around my hip and pulled me even closer towards him. I felt his incredible warmth through the fabric of my attire and honestly thought of it as quite relaxing, but for him, I froze completely.

“Together, we can be normal. With you around, I don’t feel like …” He looked into the blue light of the magical lamp, and sadly, he didn´t continue. He was still incredibly hesitant to talk about his werewolf issues, but I was sure that I would get him to tell me everything within the next day. There was no need to rush.

“Like a monster?” I added, hoping to get the conversation flowing again.

“Yeah. Like a monster.” Poor guy … maybe I should twist him after I dealt with his fellow werewolfs.

“Don’t worry. You aren´t alone. I for example cannot walk around without these glasses under the sun … I´m with you, and I´m sure there are others as well.”

“There are no others.” He claimed, even though he must know that was false.

“Don’t you have a supportive family? I heard it costs quite a lot to be enrolled here.” He balled his hands into fists and I had to snuggle up to him to distract him slightly, which seemed to ease the negative emotions somewhat.

“My dad … he is a horrible person. A person who makes his money with the demise of others. And the rest of my family just stands by and looks.” It did seem as if I hadn’t reeled in any werewolf … but the son of Sirius himself whatever that meant in werewolf terms.

“Why don’t you say anything then?” I asked while feigning worry.

“He is the family.” He mentioned while looking down.

“A family cannot consist of one person …” I claimed.

“You don’t understand.” For a second, he was really reluctant to continue but he did so, nonetheless. “Imagine a wolf pack. There are several wolves from children to mothers and other males. And then there is the alpha wolf. That’s my father.”

“Your father is a wolf?” I giggled loudly, but he could only sigh loudly and pull me closer into his embrace. I even leaned my head onto his shoulders to make him feel even more comfortable. But sadly, he didn´t continue. “What about your parents?”

My giggling died down instantly and I froze in place. I shook my head in denial and crept a bit away from him, much to his displeasure.

“I … I … I´ll tell you someday else, okay?” I didn´t want to talk about the persona I created while fitting the school uniform to my size. I wanted to talk about him, and his family.

“Okay…” He said slowly. As the atmosphere turned quite sour, I tried out something different. Giggling, I wriggled myself free from his arm and dragged the blanket with me.

“Hey!”

“You told me you had enough heat. Catch me if you want the blanket back!” I said, stood up and stormed out of the room, naturally while keeping my pace down. For a second or so, I could feel how he grabbed the blanket, but he let go right when the blanket was close to being taut.

I dashed through the door while still laughing loudly into a labyrinth of books. I turned right immediately and noticed in satisfaction how he followed me out of the room. I could see that his muscles were still quite relaxed as he jogged behind me. I was shorter than him, and that certainly played a huge role in why he had to hold back as well.

When I ran through the corridor, I turned my head around, only to nearly trip over the blanket and fall down. At the last moment, I caught myself and secured the blanket around my shoulders while running. If it would have been made out of white fabric, this could indeed be the horror story I wanted. But it wasn’t, and thus, it turned into something different.

As I ran upstairs, I could hear him catching up, but he naturally didn´t want to do so on the stairs. Only as I reached upstairs did he speed up again to catch me. He didn´t use his hands to grab the blanket though but rather grabbed my sides to slow me down. What I didn´t expect him to do though, was to turn me around and push me against the nearest wall.

I breathed heavily as I looked into his deep blue eyes while he stared into mine. I noticed how he was stepping closer to me, forcing me to look upwards even further. My chin was basically touching his chin as he stopped, his hands now around my waist.

I could feel myself shrinking back a bit until I forced myself to smile wryly. This romance thingy … really wasn’t mine.

“Boohoo. I´m a ghost!” I said and moved my arms up, dragging the blanket with them. He rolled his eyes a bit but had to chuckle as well.

“A very beautiful ghost.” He said and leaned down towards me … which allowed me to squirm out of his grasp and run away from him, still giggling loudly.

“Boohoo! This beautiful ghost is escaping~” I said playfully and ran through the corridor as fast as a human my statue and age would be able to. Needless to say, he caught me within seconds, but this time, he wrapped his arms around my waist and simply lifted me up while I giggled loudly.

“I won´t let you. I will never let you go.” He said and finally let me down onto the ground again.

“… but I need to go back to the institute … and I don’t know if I will ever be able to go back here.” I said and turned around slowly. Once again, I kept looking into these mesmerizing blue eyes and couldn’t help but smile as he squatted down so that our eyes were on one level.

“I will find you, no matter what it takes.” He meant it. Every single word of it. Honestly, it was strange to see someone so normal … to love me. Everyone else who desired me was either mentally insane, or a freaking whore … and Mary, but she saw me as her daughter which was something different altogether. What he felt for me was love. Pure and innocent. His eyes glowed in a gentle pink as he pulled me closer again to put his forehead on mine.

And somehow, I felt my own emotions going haywire again. I didn´t love him, not even remotely. But this love … changed things. It made me feel bad for tricking him … just a bit though.