James&Remus&Ravens

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Any other time she might have thought too hard on her hand in Remus’ as he helped her up. Of course anyone else and she might have fixed them with a glare before helping herself up. But at that time all she could think about was the bright orange Camero that had just pulled up with James Potter behind the wheel. She sputtered at his off-handed comment about it not being that hard. Her hands tightened into fists so she wouldn’t march over there and shake him by his ridiculous lime green shirt. Though she did have the passing thought of punching him in his smug face with one of those fists. Of course James Potter wouldn’t find it hard. Lily still didn’t understand the how of it all. It was hard enough wrapping her mind around the fact that someone their age could just go out and buy a car like it was nothing. But there was all the muggle things that went with it that she wouldn’t have thought James even knew about let alone knew how to go about it all. 

The blokes, as they all tend to do, forgot she existed now that there was a car to peer at. At least in Remus’ case he would actually understand what he was looking at. She doubted the same could be said for the other two. Lily tried to get over her temper flare up as she watched Sirius eye the car like he was about to jump into it and take off when Remus said how fast it could go. His whole body seemed to vibrate at the thought. While Sirius was having some sort of weird experience thinking about all that speed Remus was clearly not impressed by the car. “Has he bought a death trap for us to ride around in?” As garish as the car was, and an actual embarrassment if she was seen in it by any muggles she knew because it went against all her principles, a car was much better than walking. Especially in the heat. The problem was Lily wasn’t sure five minutes of comfort was worth dying in some fiery crash and having James Potter’s lime green polo be the last thing she saw. 

“Now that we got Mooney with us, we should see how fast she can go,” Sirius told them, eyes still gleaming. 

“Why is it a she? How come cars are always girls? Next you’ll be telling me you named it Sharon or something.” This time Lily did roll her eyes. Blokes around cars were the worst sort of blokes. 

James’s brow furrowed for just a moment when he saw Lily take Remus’s hand to stand up; Godric, he hoped whatever was happening there didn’t result in Remus getting hurt, but he was too excited about the car -- and the adventure it was going to lead them to -- to linger on that too long. Though he supposed he should have counted on Evans not to be nearly as excited as she should have been given he’d just shown up with a means of transportation for the lot of them that wasn’t bikes. Rather than wait for her to explain precisely how he’d managed to offend her in saying the simple fact it had not been hard to get ahold of the car or figure out how to drive it -- because it hadn’t! -- he instead moved to where Sirius and Remus were now looking into the hood of the car, hovering anxiously over Remus’s shoulder and grinning when his mate more or less said the car would run with a lot of work. Just like him, but James kept the thought to himself. 

Instead he frowned at Evans’s remark. “I have not!” He answered, offended. “It might stop on us, but it’s not going to explode.” James paused, glancing at Remus who had now closed the hood and was wiping dust from his hands. “...Right, Mooney.”

“Right,” the other confirmed. “But I’d say it’s definitely going to stop on us, there’s no might about it. We should stop at the shop and pick up some tools to keep in the trunk.” James beamed, clapping his mate on the back. “Good man, Remus, always thinking of solutions!” He’d known the car couldn’t pose any problem Remus wouldn’t have a solution to. 

As for Sirius, though, James fixed him with a sharp glance. James knew that glint in the other’s eyes, and there was no way he was letting the other behind the wheel of his car. That apparently should not be called a she or named Sharon? James looked at Evans, curious. “What’s wrong with a car being a girl?” Instantly he regretted asking, and so he quickly added, “And I’ll have you know it’s not called Sharon. It’s the Pig,” he told Evans and Remus proudly. “Pig of a car is what the salesman called it.”

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Lily heard it before she saw it. The roaring engine had gotten louder the closer it got to them. Interrupting their conversation even before it careened into view. At first she thought it was just some dumb muggles, overcompensating for lack of personality. But as the orange beast of a car got closer she was shocked to realize that James and Sirius sat in it. With wide eyes and open mouth she looked to see if Remus was seeing what she was. It looked as if he was. “What did they do,” she asked but was certain the engine drowned out her question. Not that it mattered, Remus wouldn’t have any answers. When James Potter said he had a surprise he really went all out. A car. A muggle car. A Camaro at that. Bright orange and loud as hell. The sort of car she’d turn her nose up at when it passed. Garish just like Potter’s shoes. 

In the middle of the settling dust from the car’s approach was a proud, excited looking Potter getting out. Even Sirius had a glint in his eyes she’d seen when they were making trouble at school. She looked to Remus once more before looking back at the pair of them. Sirius was coming out of the window because of course he was, doors were obviously too pedestrian for his taste. Normally Lily might have rolled her eyes at the sight but now she was too shocked at this surprise to do so. “You bought a car,” she asked despite the obvious answer sitting in front of her. 

“Good to know the obvious hasn’t escaped you, Evans,” Sirius quipped sarcastically. Only this time there didn’t seem to be any poison behind his words. Instead he had that same excited tone that James seemed to have. 

Ignoring him, Lily looked back at James. “When did you get a license or learn to drive?” There were a million other questions she wanted to ask. Namely why on earth this orange environmental hazard. But as someone currently struggling to get in some driving practice so she could get her license she was curious about that. 

“How fast do you think this thing could go, Mooney,” Sirius asked clearly not interested in whatever answer James was going to give her. Instead he was eyeing the car as if he was fantasizing about speeding off into the sunset with it.

Remus’s gobsmacked expression mirrored Lily’s perfectly as the bright orange car came rumbling down his dusty driveway, just as out of place in front of his shabby home as the two blokes who sat inside it. A car. James was late because he’d bought a car. He’d bought a bloody Camero. He just shook his head dazedly in answer to Lily’s drowned-out question, rising to his feet and offering her a hand up the car came to a noisy stop. Maybe it wasn’t as nice a car as it looked, but Remus couldn’t imagine why James would have been shopping on a budget. 

There were times when Remus could very nearly forget that James was James Potter. Those were the moments in which James had won Remus over. Those were the times that Remus liked James best. 

Right now, as Sirius exited through the window and James stepped out of the car in an equally bright lime green polo shirt and beamed proudly, it was impossible to mistake either of them for someone normal. Especially when James answered Lily with a light shrug and a matter-of-fact, “Oh, yesterday afternoon. It’s not like it’s hard.” Remus wondered how many times James had stalled the engine on the way here, but he left that one for Lily to deal with as Sirius drew his attention away. 

Remus looked from Sirius to the car that was clearly requiring every last ounce of Sirius’s self-control. It was a surprise the other hadn’t sped off on a joyride just yet. Amusement flickered at his lips. “Most Camero’s can get up to 110 easy, depends on the engine,” he mused as he stepped closer to the car, appraising until he reached the hood and pushed it open to take a look. He sucked in a sharp breath at what he saw. “Fucking hell…” He looked up from the engine and caught Prongs’s eyes. “Prongs, mate, tell me you didn’t pay full price for this.”

A sheepish grin pulled at James’s lips, then, a hand finding his hair and ruffling it up as he always did. “‘Course not, mate! But it’s not that bad, right?” Remus looked at James for a long moment. It was that bad. But he’d known James Potter since they were eleven, and he knew that just like Remus and Sirius were project for James, so was this car. Even if Remus told him to take the car right back to whoever sold it to him and get something else, James would refuse. “Good thing you know a mechanic,” he said instead, shaking his head lightly as he carefully lowered the hood.

[ravenmarauders]

Two days ago, something had shifted. The appearance of the forest. The message in Padfoot’s writing. The trees that spoke to them and the disappearance of time while they were exploring it. But it was more than all of that. Something about having Evans along, with her fresh perspective on their quest, felt like the biggest shift of all. Like she was meant to be part of this the whole time. And then there was the town itself, that Remus had led them to, the one that surely held the answers James had been seeking for so long now. Finally, finally they were making some progress. And while he was undeterred by the fact they had to wait a whole day before they regrouped so Remus could work, he’d woken up the next day feeling that same energy he’d felt when they left Cork. He’d spent the morning with Sirius poring over books until he couldn’t sit still any longer. It had occurred to him that same morning that they were surely going to be spending a lot more time in Cork that summer. That it might be nice to have transportation other than bicycles to get around the place. And that there was something about the town, and the promise of discovery that it held, that made James want to experience it the right way. The way the muggles did. The way Remus and Lily did. 

So struck by a rare impulsiveness, he’d left his parents’ house with Sirius in tow after lunch. They’d stopped at a few different car lots -- the experience of looking at cars was a novelty in itself, as was the fact that the muggles had wanted a lot of information James certainly didn’t have prepared. It hadn’t been hard to whip up what was needed with Sirius’s help, though. But it hadn’t been at one of those lots with the shiny new cars he’d ended up using them. No -- it had been at a lot full of used cars. More specifically, on an orange monstrosity of a thing he’d been urged not to buy. Looks a dream on the outside, but the insides are falling apart. That’s what the man had said. Maybe that was why James found himself so drawn to it. They weren’t so different, after all, he and that car. The only difference was, he’d learned to stop himself from breaking down. Maybe he -- or rather Remus -- could achieve the same for the Camero. 

And so it was that it was that very same orange car that had him and Sirius arriving later to Cork than planned the next day after it had stalled out on the way there. But James was beaming, alight and alive and absolutely certain he was in the right place as he pulled down Remus’s dusty drive, drawn by the beacon of red hair that was Lily Evans waiting on the stoop next to Remus. The car sputtered loudly as he parked it, and then he waved eagerly at the other two. “Sorry we’re late!”

[ravenau]

Sirius held out his hand; Remus took it. Sirius hauled him up, his mind all palm against palm, thumb crossed over thumb, fingers pressed into wrist bone – and then Remus was facing him and he released his hand.

[ravenau]

The Black brothers ~ a liar, a dreamer, and an angel

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Lily’s smile grew more relaxed when Remus’ did. This didn’t feel very sensible of her, sitting with a bloke like this. But for once she didn’t want to be sensible when it came to blokes. Remus was interesting in ways she never would have guessed. And he grew more interesting the more she got to know about him. Though this getting to know things about him was much better than having someone else tell her things about him. Lily wondered what it must be like to be an only child for Remus. For Severus it was lonely. While she had the impression his home life was happier than Severus’ she couldn’t help thinking maybe he felt that loneliness too. She let out an surprised laugh when he told her how his parents had met. “That’s weirdly romantic actually.” Lily’s cheeks grew a little warm talking about something being romantic while sitting so close to a bloke she thought was cute. “I can’t believe I never knew you had muggle relatives,” she added to leave the romance notions behind. It seemed a shame to find out she had something in common with Remus all this time later. But then again she had herself at least partially to blame. Lily had been friendly to most of her housemates especially but being friends with Severus dented her social life somewhat. “Yeah, just the one. Petunia’s a year older. We were close, once.” It would have been easy to blame that on Severus but even before she met him there were problems between her and Petunia. Lily was odd, there was no way around that, weird things just seemed to happen around her. As they grew older Petunia liked odd less and less which in turn meant she liked Lily less and less. At least that was how Lily saw it.

Lily’s laugh pulled a soft chuckle from Remus as well. He’d gotten a lot of reactions to the story of how his parents met, but he was fairly certain this was the first time anyone had called it romantic. He liked it. He liked her laugh, too. Not to mention that light blush that colored her cheeks. It was enough to have his own ears heating up again, and he couldn’t decide if he was relieved or disappointed when she changed the subject so quickly. He nodded. “I don’t get to see much of them. Or my dad’s relatives, really,” he added not wanting her to think that had anything to do with their being muggles. “It’s...people would probably start asking question,” he explained, eyes leaving hers for a moment but looking back at her when he asked about her family instead. His brows pulled together when she said she’d been close to her sister once. Clearly they weren’t anymore, and Remus had gathered that much from what she’d said about her sister not liking magic. “What happened?” He asked before he could stop himself, and instantly he felt his cheeks flushing. “I mean - you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I get it if you don’t.”

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Lily had the feeling she’d said something he didn’t like but she’d been honest so there was not anything she could do. Either he’d be okay with it or he wouldn’t. It was a relief when he seemed to be. Though she couldn’t help wonder what he was apologizing for. Calling her fake maybe? But his smile was cute and he seemed to want to move past this as did she. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she agreed easily. The question was move to on to what. They didn’t really know each other well at all. Lily would never have guessed Remus would live in a house like this. She liked him better for it actually. While they waited for Potter and Black to show up now felt like as good a time as any to find out more about the bloke whose knee she still had her own pressed against. “So do you have any siblings?” She knew, or at least was certain, that there were no other Lupins at school. Oddly enough trying to think if she knew of any at school had reminded her of something Remus said when they’d first ran into each other. “You said your uncle owns the garage right? Is he muggle?” She didn’t think Remus was muggleborn but that didn’t mean he didn’t have muggle relatives. Lily had always assumed he was pureblood like Potter and Black. Rich too but that was clearly wrong.

For the first time in their conversation Remus was relieved, his smile coming a little easier when Lily so readily agreed to put the misunderstanding behind them. Not that Remus was certain he’d call it a misunderstanding; he couldn’t forget that she pitied him, but he could leave it be for now. Enjoy the way her knee was still pressed against his and she didn’t seem to mind sitting here on his shabby doorstep. He wondered if she’d been surprised to see he lived in a place like this, or if she’d noticed the way all his uniforms and schoolbooks had always been secondhand, noticeably more worn that the new things James and Sirius always showed up with. When she spoke up again, her question surprised him. He shook his head. “No. Just me.” He’d wondered, sometimes, if his parents had wanted more kids. If that had been the plan, before he’d turned into something more than they’d ever planned to handle. He was glad for her next question. This time he nodded. “Yeah, he is. My mum’s brother-in-law. She’s a muggle, too. Ran into a boggart in the woods and my dad saved her,” he explained, because people always asked how his parents had met, with one of them a muggle. That was one way he’d never minded being different, though. He loved his mum too much for that. “Do you only have the one sister?” He asked, wanting to get to know more about her, too.

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Lily turned, just her head, to look at him when he said he thought she was kind. That was better, only just considering he was still acting as if she would be here if she were bothered by it. She didn’t know what she would have thought about it before she met Remus. Or even what she might have thought about it before a few days ago when she got to know who Remus was. But she did know how she felt learning about it in Defense. Lily hadn’t liked the chapter on werewolves. Because it had treated them as if they were beasts. And maybe so, but as far as Lily had been able to make out in the book it was only one night a month they were. The rest of the time they were human. It had felt very bias and incomplete in her opinion. Lily almost interjected that he hadn’t told her either but she managed to hold her tongue. She couldn’t help wondering if there was a reason he liked her thinking he was normal. Which was probably the wrong thing to focus on. Lily turned her body towards his again, letting her knee brush against his once more. “I don’t think any of us can really be considered normal,” she told him, a slight tease in her voice. She almost added that at least he didn’t wear ridiculous shoes but making a jab at one of his best mates right now didn’t feel right. “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t feel bad for you, because I do. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because, well because who can resist an adventure. But also because you’re a nice bloke. What Potter told me doesn’t change that.”

If Remus had been surprised by how angry she’d sounded when he suggested she might only have been here because she felt sorry for him, he was even more surprised when she turned to face him again, knee brushing against his once more. He could feel the tips of his ears heating up as he dared to look at her again. A slight smile curled at his lips at her words, though it faded almost as quickly. She felt sorry for him. Of course she did, and it was hard for Remus to hear anything she said after that. Sometimes he wasn’t sure which was worse: when people were frightened of him, or when they just felt sorry for him. For all of Sirius’s faults, he’d always been the one person who didn’t seem like he was either. But Lily’s knee was still touching his own. And she thought he was nice. Did that make it any better that she felt sorry for him? Remus wasn’t sure. He let out a breath and then nodded. “Okay. Sorry I….” Remus trailed off. He wasn’t certain what he was sorry for. For implying she just pitied him? That hadn’t been wrong. For not telling her what he was himself? For the fact that he could have killed her that night in the Forest? Or for being what he was at all? “Sorry,” he just mumbled instead, looking back up at her and managing a slight, embarrassed smile. “Can we just um...forget I said anything?”

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Perhaps Petunia would have been a better subject to stay on. Except there wasn’t much to say there except to explain why she always chose other places to meet. Not that it was entirely Petunia either. Severus was still lurking around her house and she didn’t think any good could come of him seeing Remus over. Those two combined were enough of a deterrent. But bringing up Severus was probably not a great idea considering he was actively trying to ruin the life of the bloke she was talking to. Still Lily wondered how much Remus thought she knew, and approved of, when it came to Severus. Lily knew it wasn’t her fault but that didn’t stop her feeling bad all the same. Or maybe that was guilt at turning a blind eye to his horribleness for so long. None of that mattered when he continued talking. A surge of irritation came over her. “Is that the sort of person you think I am? Fake?!” Lily turned to where she was facing forward again their knees no longer touching. Blokes were so stupid! She was far better off not fancying any of them. “I might not have the best track record for being a good judge of character but I am not fake, Remus Lupin! If you think I’m just here out of pity or something like that you are not nearly as smart as you seem to be at school.” Honestly! As if she would have been sitting this close to him if it bothered her. What bothered her was that he hadn’t told her himself. That he’d just sulked off and let James do it while he and Sirius broke things. Typical blokes! She wanted Remus to be more than just a typical bloke. Maybe it was good that he wasn’t. The last thing Lily needed was to continue to indulge this potential fancy she seemed to be developing for Remus.

Lily snapped at him, turning away and facing forward so their knees were no longer touching. Remus winced. So maybe that hadn’t been the right thing to say, but could she blame him for wondering? It was why James and Sirius stuck around. James thought he could fix him and Sirius would follow James to the ends of the earth. He brought his thumb to his lips and chewed on the nail. “I don’t think you’re fake,” he murmured after a moment, gaze still fixed on his knees. “I just….I think you’re kind.” And in Remus’s experience, kindness and pity were one and the same. “...I’ve never actually told anyone before,” he added quietly after a moment, finally daring to glance up at her. “James and Sirius figured it out themselves. And...I wasn’t ready for you to find out so quickly, I guess. I liked it when you thought I was just...normal,” he admitted, eyes dropping again. He’d been stupid to think that could last. Stupid to think getting closer to her was even an option. It had been three days and he’d already managed to screw it up.

[ravenmarauders]

ravenau‌:

Part of her had sort of hoped that Remus’ secret would make it easier for her to remember that she didn’t do fancying blokes. After all knowing she was destined to kill her true love put a damper on that. Instead the easy thing was to forget entirely his secret and her destiny when they were just a bloke and a bird sitting on a doorstep, knees so close together. Lily raised her eyebrow inquisitively at his answer. A surprise from James Potter seemed less like a bad idea than it had two days ago but it still made her wonder. Since Remus likely didn’t know any more than she did she let him change the subject. “Lucky you,” she answered without thought. A moment later realizing how she sounded. “That sounded mean. It’s just Petunia doesn’t like magic or wizards.” How much of that was thanks to her and Severus and how much was actual jealousy Lily wasn’t sure. She’d tried at the start of the summer to mend things with Petunia but as every summer previous it hadn’t worked. Not even not being friends with Severus seemed to help. The thought of him had Lily picking at the lace she’d clumsily sewed onto her skirt. “I’m sorry about Severus.” Lily turned to look at him, her knee brushing against his slightly as she did so. Anything else she might have added fled her mind at that bit of contact. Once again leaving only the fact that they were just a boy and a girl sitting next to each other.

Remus didn’t have an answer to that lift of Lily’s brows; James’s surprise could be anything, so he simply let his shrug speak for itself. There was nothing to be gained by guessing except letting his jealousy carry him away. He was glad when she went with the change in subject, the question never meant to divert her attention but one of genuine curiosity that only increased at the answer he got. Lily’s sister didn’t like wizards or magic. “Oh.” He said quietly, unsure what else to say to that. There were a hundred questions he could have asked about it, but he wasn’t sure if that was something he should push right now. If it was something she’d want to talk to him about at all. The way she changed the subject again was answer enough. “Oh,” he said again, surprised, eyes flickering from where she’d been picking at the lace on her skirt to meet hers when she turned to look at him, shifting enough that her knee brushed against his and he momentarily forgot what she’d just said. All he could think about was that spot where their skin touched, how bright her green eyes looked in the sunlight. Remus swallowed. “Uh, that’s -- you don’t have to be sorry,” he finally managed to answer. “Not your fault.” He thought back to what she’d said the other day. That Snape wasn’t her friend anymore. That she’d thought she could make a difference in his life. Was that what she was doing with him, now? Was he just some new charity project for her? Be nice to the werewolf? He looked down at where their knees touched. Was she actually repulsed right now? “You don’t have to pretend,” he murmured, not meeting her eyes. “If it bothers you.” He didn’t think he had to tell her what it was. What he was.

[ravenmarauders]

Remus sat on his doorstep, eyes scanning the dirt road ahead of him for a sign of bright red hair or his two best mates - though he was less certain whether he should be looking for them out here or in his fireplace. All James had said was that they’d meet him here instead of Godric’s Hollow, and Remus couldn’t help the jealous thought that maybe they’d figured something out yesterday while he was at work. What else would they have done, together all day after their adventure in the forest while Remus was hunched over car engines because their summers were free. For his part, Remus had been turning over the events of the day before non-stop. Why had the forest spoken to him? Why had it been Sirius’s writing there? And what about Lily?  It had felt like the right thing to bring her along. It had been the right thing. But now she knew what he was. And while she hadn’t seemed frightened of him that day, she’d had more time to mull it over now. What if she’d changed her mind? Or come to her senses, more like. Remus kicked at a small stone, watching the dirt the action kicked up. Maybe it was better she knew, now. Before… before what? Why would a girl like her have any interest in him to begin with, especially compared to blokes like James and Sirius. And yet -- there she was. She’d come. Remus straightened up, running a self-conscious hand over his hair, far too aware of the fact that he probably looked every bit as shabby as the small house he sat in front of. “Hi,” he got to his feet when she was close enough to hear him, suddenly all too aware this was his first time alone with her since she’d learned what he was. His eyes dropped to the ground as he hovered by the doorstep; he didn’t want to move any closer, too afraid to see any trace of fear in her eyes. Instead he touched the back of his neck. “Er - sorry about yesterday.”

[ravenmarauders]

[ravenmarauders]