Surrounded by the Moon and Stars • 15
Pairings: Sirius Black x Remus Lupin x [F]Reader Content: Language, switches between UK + US slang, head-hopping Author’s notes: None!
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Chapter 15: Date, Snog, Shag
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That morning when dawn broke, their dorm was already wide awake. Dorcas had fallen ill, sneezing and coughing the entire night which kept everyone up. That morning was worse, they awakened to her vomiting into a bin in the bathroom. Y/N quickly got to her feet and pushed back any strand of hair that may cloud her vision and avoid it from coming into contact with her mouth while running a hand down her back. Dorcas gripped the side of the bin while Lily ran to grab a Healer. What made matters worse was that Dorcas wanted everyone to leave the room, far too embarrassed and didn’t want to get anyone sick, but oddly she let Marlene stay with her until the Healer came to down her in potions.
Lily went off to find Sirius and Y/N didn’t stick around long enough to see him, leaving her to make her way down the stairs, bumping into James and Remus before they shortly engaged her into their lighthearted conversation.
“Wait,” she tried to stifle her laughter, feeling her eyes go wide, “You’re — you’re part Veela?”
“One quarter-Veela. My Grandma was full Veela but you can’t pass the gene down through males so my father didn’t inherit it and neither did I.”
“Prongs?!” Exclaimed Remus. His hands flung out and punched him in the shoulder, causing James to cry out, “I’ve known you for four years and you never once thought to tell me?”
“I’m sorry! It never came up.”
Light laughter danced between Y/N and Remus, warming the wintery atmosphere. His soft green eyes locked onto her, sharing a fleeting glance while he balled his hand into a fist, his thumb sticking out, directing it to James. They burst out into another fit of giggles at their newfound information while James surveyed the both of them; they looked like children up to no good.
“Ooo,” Remus taunts, “Gonna use your Veela powers on me? You’re just so irresistible to look at!” His smile is cocky as his eyes become animated, looking down at James while clasping his hands together. He sighed mockingly, “Dreamy.”
“Oi! Fuck you.”
“Pay me?” He winked.
James choked while Remus flipped him off.
Y/N found herself struggling to even out her breathing. Her voice was strained with amusement. “You can’t pick a fight, can’t you? Your middle name is Fleamont —”
“What’s wrong with that?! That’s my father’s name!” In the background, Remus snorts.
“— And you have Veela blood and you can’t woo Lily?”
James’ face burns with embarrassment while his friend can barely form a coherent sentence. His head is thrown back as his body racks with silent waves of laughter. Then, Remus slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning loudly before slumping down at a table beside Y/N. “Why did you say the L-word in front of him?”
He reached out for his usual cup of coffee, splashing a dash of milk. She watched as he stirred it, the liquid turning from black to a tawny brown. With a couple of teaspoons of sugar, he brought it to his lips and sighed in pure bliss.
“Actually, I’m thinking of asking out that Ravenclaw over there,” James points, taking the bench opposite. Just then, their eyes followed his. He made eye contact with a Ravenclaw who had jet black hair. Her curls were large, delicate and she had silky skin that reminded Y/N of a rich brown topaz. Pretty royal blue flower pins were placed in her hair, keeping strands of it from falling into her face and highlighted her deep blue eyes that seemed almost mystical. A bright, flashy, sweet smile crossed her face as she looked down bashfully and then turned to her gaggle of friends. Leave it to Potter to flatter the ladies. “Her name is Emmeline Vance.”
Remus and Y/N looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. They both briefly recognized her from their study group and she was in her Charms class. Very shy and very smart, that’s what their first impression was of her. James’ eyes darted between them, noticing their shared non-verbal response before an odd look flashes on his face. “What? Look, I’ve asked Lily out two times — she declined each time. I don’t want to harass her if she keeps saying no. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to have some new blood.”
“Well,” Remus clears his throat, “That’s surprisingly mature of you. It was about time.”
James tended to breakdance on thin ice, and that thin ice was Lily. He’d make a fool out of himself or pull antics but now that she thought about it, James never actually asked Lily out during her time at Hogwarts thus far. God was he annoying when it came to her and Y/N felt a sense of relief for everyone; James, Lily, the rest of the marauders — anyone who had to deal with James at any given moment, but most of all, Lily.
She wanted to half-hug him on her behalf.
Just then, a woosh came from the upper windows as hundreds of owls soared in. They fluttered from all over the hall, some even made fancy loops and dives to impress the other owls and students before dropping sodden letters and parcels off to their owners. They shook off the snow from their wings, rapidly melting and sprayed droplets everywhere while the owls began to hoot with each other. Celeste was nowhere to be seen, but that was expected. Either she was making a long road from Ilvermoerny with a letter from Matthew, her mother had yet to respond to her letters, or that she slept soundly in the owlery. She couldn’t blame her, it was a mess outside. However, a familiar owl who delivered the Daily Prophet swooped in, dropping a copy onto James’ plate.
He unfurled the newspaper, eating a green apple (which had a few Slytherins sending him dirty looks) as his eyes scanned over the title before eyeing her and then swiftly back to the paper. His brows were pulled tightly together, lips pursed with worry and suddenly, James’ mouth went dry as the air around him grew thick.
Y/N plucked a few pancakes from a nearby dish onto her own. They were warm and smelt delightful. Slathering on a generous amount of syrup, she cut them into small pieces with a fork, eating them before Remus passed her a bowl of strawberries to her, offering before taking some himself.
They chatted back and forth but there was something about Remus today that seemed off, but she couldn’t quite place it. His eyes shimmered a pretty golden colour, very different from his usual overpowering green hues.
Similar to Toulouse.
By the entrance walking in was Peter, Marlene, Lily and Sirius. Sirius scrunched his nose several times, running a hand through his blond hair at whatever Peter said. A few times, Y/N almost mistaken him for another person. Just then, they made the slightest eye contact which had them both stare, unwanting to break it first. This game had been going on for a couple of days now and a silent way of communicating their shared dislike while effectively avoiding a huge blowout fight. Last time, Sirius won and she was determined to win their stupid, silent game.
Sirius dropped his hand to his side, the light bounced off his silver rings as Marlene pushed him, laughing, which startled Sirius, causing him to look away. She smirked: point earned.
Y/N: 1
Sirius: 1
Peter’s eyes crinkled; he held a stack of parchment while Lily looked over to Snape sitting at the Slytherin table, waving.
It was so painfully obvious that Snape liked Lily in a manner far too friendly for her to just be considered a friend which had Y/N pressing her lips together tightly. His body perked up and he tried to straighten out his hunched-over posture; skin pinking as bright as bubblegum pink while his eyes travelled down to glance at her mouth quickly.
She shivered, ew.
“Morning you beautiful tossers,” Marlene chirped, bringing her hands down harshly on the table. Her nails were painted a cobalt blue that she recognized Dorcas wearing this morning while she held her bin. The impact had fruit bowls, mugs and goblets shook before Remus huffed, picking up his mug to prevent the liquid from spilling out. He looked over to Marlene with a deadpan expression.
“Hiya.”
Marlene swung her bag over her head and onto the table, sitting down on Remus’ side. Sirius went to sit by James, creating a barrier between him and Lily while she reached up and began braiding his hair, pulling it into a low messy bun before grabbing a green hair tie from his wrist. “Thanks, Carrots.”
Lily smacked the side of his head which had Y/N thinking she should have hit him harder.
This caused a ripple effect; Remus perked up and he tapped her on the shoulder cautiously, “I think I found a spell that can reverse the potion on your hair. Do you want me to try?”
Honestly, her ever-changing colourful hair had grown on her over the past couple of months, but the idea of being able to control it again seemed nice. She imagined having to attend something as extreme as a funeral — having to dress in all black but her hair flashing outrageous neon colours like a disco ball.
With a nod he brought his wand out, pointing it to the top of her head. He focused and his eyes fluttered shut for a split moment, channelling all of his magic into one place. But instead of her normal hair colour, it grew in length, volume and size. Currently a light peach colour, it grew and grew, now swallowing her body whole and now covered the table and floor. It soon made its way to drown out Remus. Other students looked over to the scene, amazed and curious while James went pink as Emmelin glanced his way.
Looks like she's stuck with this forever. “Christ — you mind?!”
“My bad, my bad!” Thankfully, unlike James, Remus had a reversal spell at the ready. Everyone laughed once it went back to normal before Sirius snickered, muttering something under his breath. Lily whispered something into his ear using a low warning tone, tugging at his sleeve. However, Sirius wiggled out of her grasp. But rather than his usual cold tone, his voice was lighter and more in a mocking tone rather than its mean typical scoff.
There was a noticeable shift in their interaction that did not go unnoticed. They weren’t as vile to each other and Sirius seemed overall calmer — nicer, even. His voice wasn’t as sharp and she assumed that whatever anger he stored must have subsided greatly over the break.
As they looked at each other, there was this burn within both of their eyes, but instead of it being a threat, it was borderline taunting. His grey eyes weren’t as stormy as before and even a little blue decided to take over more often. The scar on his forehead healed completely along with whatever mark was on his hand. Although, the dark circles under his eyes stayed.
There was almost a sliver of a smirk that made his entire aura seem softer, lighter even.
If he wasn’t such a moody brat, he might be attractive.
“If you’re going to be a dick, at the very least have the courage to say it louder. For one, I love what you did with your hair. How did you get it to stick out of your nose like that?”
“For the love of Merlin. Here we go again…”
“Oh why don’t you —” “The Daily Quarrel,” said Peter listlessly. Y/N and Sirius’ bickering was too loud to hear it and they didn’t top for a while. Soon enough, it became background noise, like someone had left on the T.V for comfort while they worked. James and Lily looked at each other, he shook his head while Lily mirrored similarly. Marlene had her eyebrows raised while Remus looked at the scene amusingly, eating a piece of buttered toast.
“You bloody fucking lunatic —”
“Oh, okay, sure — I’m the crazy one,” she paused before quickly adding on, “At least I don't smell like a wet dog!”
“At least I don’t smell like a wet dog!” Sirius mocks in an awfully high overpitched American accent. “Like you smell any better you poisonous little toadstool!”
Remus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked like he wanted to say something and there was slight annoyance burning in his piercing eyes. “Are you guys done yet —”
“— deep as a puddle.”
“Wow, like that was original.”
“Looky here! It’s the new Einstein.”
“For Godric Gryffindor, himself, will you two please cut it?!” A random Gryffindor interjects as they slammed their hand down on the table. “Me, unlike the pair of you, am tired and I need to focus on studying for the OWLs — not hearing you lot scream at each other! Job prospects, people, job prospects!” “Shut it!” The entire group snapped at them.
“Well you, unlike us, are a bellend — little git. Mind your business.” Sirius hissed. “We’ll have a go at each other if we want to. Maybe you can put your nose somewhere else!
“We have plenty of job prospects, especially these lot —” he points to her, Lily and Remus, “— are in the Slug Club. At the very least if that doesn’t prove to you that even the Professors believe we have plenty of talent and a prosperous future then I don’t know what will. I don’t see how this involves you.”
The outburst had been louder than the volume he used with Y/N, so it made her flinch. A few others seemed a little startled, Peter even slipped sideways off the bench.
The Gryffindor got up and swung his school bag over his shoulder and trudged to another table cursing them under their breaths. The unexpected anger that flared in Sirius so unexpectedly no doubt even defending her slightly, shocked her. How had he gone from making fun of her being in the Slugclub to now praising her for it?
“Wipe that look off your face,” he added.
She rolled her eyes and was about to speak before James slapped the back of Sirius’ head and Marlene threw an apple at Y/N.
“Yes, they were a git, but take their advice and shut the fuck up!”
They huffed out and their fidgeting settled. “Okay,” she grumbled out but stopped the urge to apologize. Out of all people, Sirius Black did not deserve an apology from her. Where was hers? She didn’t get one so why did he? Hadn’t people realized that all she did was keep her mouth shut to not cause problems most of the time? At the very least, she’d caught on that something was going on with Sirius and been doing everything not to curse him out because of it. She’d been going through an extremely hard time too! Granted, she never made it vocal and came late into the group, but still! Moving to a whole new country, to a new school, leaving all her friends behind, the house that she loved, her absent mother who seemed to forget she existed and now facing blood-prejudice — she deserved some sort of applause for not freaking out on people despite Sirius doing so! Where was her shitty apology?
Poor Sirius, aw baby Sirius — Sirius is a good guy! Sirius this, Sirius that — don’t be mean to him, he’s having a hard time and we don’t know why he’s being an asshole! Bullshit.
Peter wiggled around lazily while James set down the newspaper and folded it before shoving it into his bag. “Pass me it?” he asked, reaching over to grab it from James’ bag.
“Wait, Pete —”
His hand came and snatched the paper from his grasp. In bold, black fonts, it said: Death Eater Kills 5 Muggleborns.
“Merlin,” he said out loud, dropping the newsletter down only to have Lily swiftly take it from him. Her eyes widened in horror and she clutched the paper, trembling in a mixture of emotions. Y/N saw a glimpse of the moving pictures and suddenly, she felt her heart hammer against her chest but she couldn’t peel her eyes away; the destruction, the scene of their bodies being sent off in bags…
Peter began, chewing at his lip, “This is crazy. Maybe they ought to be more careful.”
“They? You mean the likes of me?” Lily said sharply. Her body tensed and her hands gripped the wooden table tightly — so tight that her knuckles went white and the girls thought she was about to hex Peter. “Blood-status should mean nothing. At the very least I thought you were smart enough to understand that. Prosecute the Purebloods for letting this happen!”
“Woah, Evans! Of course, I know that” he said, shrinking down submissively. “They ought to —” there was a brief pause “— hammer down on the purist but I meant that as a concern! Just look at them!” Peter ushered his head towards the Slytherins. Y/N turned against the table; several Slytherins were watching them.
As a Muggleborn, she and Lily were among some of the students that had been targetted as the result of the rampant blood-purist attacks since the beginning of their school career. Although, while Ilvermorny and her time in North America were not perfect in any way shape or form — hell, there were laws that prevented you from marrying New-Majs — she had never had to face blood prejudice like this. It was never so direct, so open so… approved, almost.
It was clear, though, the drastic switch and ever since she began spending time with more Puebloods like James, Marlene and Peter and just by association being seen around Sirius, put her into an odd place. Being around that many of them did not help her situation. The purist would grit their teeth, baffled how pure magic like them, stemming from some of the oldest Pureblood wizarding families, could want with them; others snarled but were so quiet that Y/N couldn’t hear. But seeing their entire group together now, aside from the absences of Dorcas and Mary, mixed with various blood-statuses seemed to anger them, deeply.
Her eyes bounced off of them, some were staring at Lily, some at James, some mouthed blood-traitor before gossiping with their friends and a few even looked in her direction before averting their eyes.
Mulciber was there, his eyes hopping from person to person in search of someone in particular. Avery was off talking to another boy that she vaguely knew the name of, Notts. However, she noticed Regulus’ absence. Really, she hadn’t seen him anywhere near the Great Hall since December nor did he ever come back to the library. But, Snape was, but he wasn’t staring at any of the Muggleborns, but directly at Remus. Y/N turned to look back at him, but Remus didn’t seem to notice.
It unnerved her. Creepy as fuck indeed.
“Fuckin’ creeps,” Remus said out loud. James clenched his jaw, hard, as his eyes swept over Y/N and then to Lily.
“Merlin, do I hate Purebloods,” Sirius adds in. Out of all the Purebloods sitting at their table, he seemed the most angered and disgusted.
“Cheers to that,” James adds.
Then, Mary entered the hall, taking a seat next to Marlene. Her gaze hopped around from person to person: they all looked either angry or disappointed. She decided to keep quiet and looked over to the Daily Prophet still in Lily’s grip.
“At least nobody in my family is dating their cousin.” Lily spits out. That caused the thick tension to break within the group.
Peter cuts in, trying to steer the conversation out of dangerous waters. “D’you know what you want to do after Hogwarts? I heard we get to pick out what NEWTs we want to do next year. I think I would be… I’m not sure.”
“Quidditch player,” James blurts out, “Or maybe an Auror.”
“Travel the world,” Marlene says with a grin.
“Same!” Sirius says. “I’d like to get a motorcycle, drive around the world in it.”
“I might work in the Muggle world — move back to Canada or the States. At this rate, I’m not sure I’ll get a magical job here. Not if the war doesn’t die down soon.” Y/N says a bit grimily. Her mind raced, not fully taking in the severity of what happened. Perhaps she should write to her mother about it…
James looks down defeated before addressing the group loud and strong. “Don’t think like that — we’re going to win the war.” “No, she’s right.” Mary corrects, “That’s all we’ll ever be to them. Nothing more than a pathetic Muggleborn. We ought to think carefully about our future.” That quickly shut the entire table up.
There was a strange look on Lily’s face as she looked at James before blinking, and then it was gone.
“What would you be?” Mary tries to continue.
“I’m not sure. I’ve thought about being a Healer though. If I chose a Muggle job, then I would most likely go to med school. My path has basically been carved out for me.”
“If we’re talking about Muggle jobs, I think I would like to be a model or an actress. Something that’ll bring me fame.”
“That’s because you're self-centred,” Lily jokes.
“Well I looked this good, why wouldn’t I show it off?”
Over time, something about Y/N was that both a blessing and a curse was that she was able to pick up on the little things most of the time. She was observant and she liked that, but most of the time it left her spiralling with unanswered questions or overhearing something she really did not need to hear.
She noticed how James truly wasn't lying about branching out as his eyes drifted from Lily and back to the Emmeline, wearing a smoulder.
She noticed how Peter seemed to hate anything that had to do with citrus and how’d he curl in on himself whenever someone jokingly waved a slice of lemon in his face. Especially now as Sirius waved an orange at him.
She noticed how Dorcas and Marlene often wore the same nail polish and noticed the little moments Lily and Sirius shared.
But most of all, she noticed that throughout the whole ordeal of the group imagining their future, not once did Remus speak up. In fact, he looked down at his coffee, now gone cold and noticed the tight grip he had on the handle. It looked like it was about to shatter if he squeezed down any harder. Remus looked small despite his tall and lanky frame, looking beyond troubled as his jaw clenched every other moment.
“You okay?” She asked earnestly.
He looked at her, a bit surprised before nodding his head and looked to the blizzard outside. “Tired, but what’s new?”
She could tell he was lying but didn’t push. Remus typically didn’t speak unless spoken to and seeing him like that made Y/N feel a tinge of sadness. She’s always liked Remus — would even go as far as to say he’s a friend after the whole snowball fiasco with Snape. She contemplated a few ideas of how to distract him for a little while; it was the least she could do.
“What book do you suggest I read?”
This caught his attention. “What?”
“I see you reading all the time and it’d be nice to start reading something other than OWL textbooks.”
Remus nodded, his mood brightened significantly and quickly picked up his bag from the ground and pulled out two books: The Lord of the Rings and a beat-up copy of Frankenstein.
“You like Lord of the Rings?” She asked. He did not seem like the type to enjoy it. She picked up the book and turned it over, her fingers gliding on the sides of the binding.
Remus excitedly shook his head up and down. “Y’know, I bet Gandalf and Dumbledore are related.”
“Oh my god! You’re right!”
“Both are old —” Y/N laughed at that. “— Both have splendid beards and great hats.”
“What if they’re brothers.”
“Or Dumbledore is secretly obsessed with himself and co-wrote it.”
“Anoraks,” Marlene adds.
Remus swiftly moved on to his next mini-rant, “So what do you think about it? Quite polarizing. Tolkien is good at creating such a consistent background — by far one of the better high fantasy novels I’ve read.”
She hums in half agreement, “I agree but at times it can be quite bland but I’ve never read something quite as similar. But I think I like Narina better.”
“Narina? I respect that but creating a world like middle-earth —” he continued to ramble about his book, critiquing it before swiftly moving on to talk about Narina and a few other classics he loved. Y/N was just glad he didn’t look so troubled now and a small smile was brought to her lips.
Meanwhile, Sirius watched the two and felt that same irrational jealousy take over him in a nasty way that made him want to scream. To him, Sirius saw L/N as someone that constantly took away his time with his mates. First, it was James; they always spent time with each other, sat beside each other in class, made jokes, James even asking to invite her to join in some of their pranks; treating her like he does with him! Then, it was Marlene and Lily and he'd caught onto her brief interactions with Regulus. Regulus! Out of all people! That was more than enough to question her morals. But now, she had her eyes set on Remus! Couldn’t she just find her own friends and stop meddling her way into his life?
Not to mention that she was rude, annoying and seemed like she thought she was better than everyone else.
But deep down, rationally, Sirius knew his jealousy was childish, but she felt like the shiny new toy that left Sirius feeling replaced. He would never admit it out loud, but he felt slightly threatened, just a bit as he watched her grow close with his dear friends, just like he did once before.
But then, he snapped back to his rational senses and almost felt bad at the way he’s treated her. From the insults, names, pranks, cutting her off and taking his anger out on her, he almost felt horrible. Almost. He would then think back to what she did to him; from the insults, names, pranks, cutting him off and taking her anger out on him. And then, he remembered why he didn’t feel that bad. But at the same time, could he truly hate someone that made Remus, who sulked and moped around, smile on days leading up to the full moon?
Sirius also had the talent to notice the little things.
He noticed the way she brought Remus into a conversation and encouraged him to talk about something he enjoyed. He noticed how she treated Lily such a rare kindness or how she let James ramble on about Quidditch when nobody else would listen. He’d notice her playful side, her stubborn side and the side that he recognized a little too well; the ‘bury your emotions’ side.
Today, Sirius noticed the way her eyes were slightly lidded with sleep. Her smile turned large and laughed at Remus’ jokes. For a moment, a cursory moment when he felt unguarded, Sirius let himself feel the warmth that radiated from her.
If she wasn’t such an annoying brat (which Sirius grudgingly half-admitted to being the main cause), she might be attractive.
But just like that, he’s in control again and pushed away the thought.
James yet again observed the two strangely like he did earlier. As Remus flicked through the pages of the book searching for a particular passage, she felt him nudge her under the table.
What? She looked at him bewildered and swung her leg back. Footsie with James was definitely something she did not expect that morning.
James shook his head again, wearing a large smirk as his eyes flashed over to Remus and back to her. His eyebrows were raised.
What?
Nothing, he said with a look.
Y/N scrutinized him, turning her head away to watch from her peripheral vision of James repeating his actions with Remus. But instead of nudging him like he’d done to her, James must have kicked him hard since Remus jerked up and was about to scold him before his eyes flashed to her and back.
The bell rang and everyone got up from their seats, ready to start their classes. Lily drifted to her side and Y/N made sure to grab a few snacks she knew Lily would want during their break and made a note to check in on Dorcas during lunch. They headed to Artimacy along with the other marauders and Marlene.
She was already dreading the long day and it was worse that her schedule was jammed.
Once they passed the Charms classroom, all the marauders headed inside before Marlene caught her wrist, whispering lowly into her ear. “I need to talk to you later.”
Without any kind of explanation, Marlene then rushed into Charms. This caused a rush of nerves to burst instantaneously.
“What was that?” Lily queried, her nose in her diary for the upcoming events that day.
“Ugh — nothing? Marls wanted to talk about something, probably Quidditch.”
“Uh-huh,” she muttered absentmindedly before finally closing her book once they reached class and greeted Professor Vector. Vector wore her usual red robes and large pointy hat before droning on and on. Her strict voice kept everyone on their toes, effectively silencing the class, lecturing them without pausing for a second. Lily seemed to be the only person able to keep up with Vector and more than a few times, Y/N’s eyes sneakily trailed to copy down her notes. Not so sneakily, Lily noticed and tutted before giving her a good glance at her neat scrawl. By the end of the class, they were flooded with fifteen inches of parchment and additional reading.
Next was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which today Y/N felt herself listening closer than usual. Her mind bustled with that damned Daily Prophet article. Every perfectly printed word replayed in her mind. She felt uneasy and weary and she didn’t want to be alone in the hallways anymore.
Professor Keys was every bit of a tosser that Remus had said he was. Instead of the harsh lecturing and rambling Vector went on (that at the very least was educational and professional), Keys kept talking about head injuries: hitting your head by accident, rolling off the bed while sleeping, a bat to the head, a Bludger to the head, getting into a crash, magic gone wrong! He’d even gone as far as wearing a biking helmet which caused Y/N and Marlene to giggle while James plastered a small note onto the back of the helmet (while Remus asked a question to distract Keys) that said: hit me!
At some point, he’d even addressed her in front of the entire class.
“Your mother is a Muggle, right? A doctor — Slughorn told me.”
“Yes, wh —” “Keep her close. If you ever have a head injury, you’ll be fine — SAFE! Yes, yes! Safe! That’s what we all strive to be — safe! Especially from head injuries!”
“She’s cardio, not neuro,” she muttered under her breath.
But like always, Keys returned to his lesson that was quite enthralling.
“The Reductor curse is a blasting curse that can blow up solid objects into pieces,” Keys paced impatiently along the length of the classroom. “It is extremely powerful and many skilled wizards use this to get past obstacles. Now, for many, MANY, obvious reasons this spell needs to be exercised with care. You can find yourself wandering the halls only to have the floors turn to fine mist. There, you may hit your head and we all talked about how hitting your head is bad.
“I will say the incantation, but you mustn't say it, not until I give you the go-ahead.
“It’s Re-DUCK-toh — repeat it with me!”
“Re-DUCK-toh!”
“Excellent!” Professor Keys showed the hand movements, swishing his wand into a lopsided V shape while they all copied. Marlene swished her wand around fluidly, Remus watched intently while James fiddled around with his wand.
“Here’s an example — REDUCTO!” A jet of orange light had shot up from the end of Key’s wand and turned his desk into complete ash. His photo frames and trinkets all cluttered to the floor as everyone stared in amazement.
Now, everyone was off to their own devices, attempting to shoot the spell themselves. No student had yet to successfully cast it.
“Remember the wrist movement!” Keys squeaked as he made his rounds around the classroom.
It was difficult. Y/N had only managed to spark an orange ball of light from the top of her wand but nothing more. She channelled all her rage into it, but perhaps it was that very rage that clouded her magic. She was never great at offence spells, rather her talents lying in defensive spells.
On the other hand, James shoved a hand into his pocket, kicking around at the air while Marlene became so impatient that she prodded her wand, only to have it almost snap in half and have fire emit from the tip, burning her hair — Remus had to put it out.
“Crackpot! Key’s lost it! This could get someone killed!” Marlene shouted. The smell of her brunt hair filled their noses as they sniffed in the unpleasant smell. Y/N conjured a small gust of wind and pointed it out the open classroom door, ridding the brunt smell of hair with fresh air before cracking open a window.
“Thanks, love. Now — I have to talk to you.” Marlene swings her arm over her shoulder and ushers Remus over; as expected, James follows. “As we know, Lily’s birthday is on the thirtieth. What should we do? I was thinking of a party.”
“For fuck sakes!” Y/N felt her entire body relax, “You could’ve been less cryptic.”
“It was for dramatic effect.”
“Sure — but it has to be on the smaller side,” Remus says immediately. Y/N nodded her head, agreeing.
“Where would we hold it? If it’s not going to be big, then the common room isn’t an option and our dorm is too small.”
“We have rounds that night before we switch with the seventh years. By the time we’re done, it would be around… ten? Students are usually up by then.”
“And Moony can just abuse his powers and threaten them with detention if they don’t leave.”
“Damn, pots — a bit of an outlaw, aren’t you?” He winks at her, smiling devilishly at the group.
Remus sighs, nose scrunching. “Nope — definitely can’t do that but I can keep Lily distracted long enough so you can decorate the room.”
Marlene’s face lit up like a thousand stars. Her smile radiated and shined brightly as she nodded her head eagerly, blathering on and on about their plan.
“You five are just stalling around!” Keys had come by their group, his head shaking.
“Sorry professor.” They all muttered out.
“Well, let’s see what you can do then.” He said expectantly, “Mr. Lupin, you first.”
Y/N looked over at him. She had yet to see Remus attempt to cast the spell and wondered if she could save him from being scolded by Keys if she’d gone first. It was better to cast a few sparks rather than conjuring nothing.
Keys scuttled away quickly, his wand at the ready to protect the rest of the students. Remus rolled up the sleeves of his robe, scarlet cuffs now showing as he effortlessly flicks his wand and said loudly and perfectly, demonstrating to the entire class, “Reducto!”
A searing ball of light blinded everyone; the blackboard in front of them exploded as the cure hit, disintegrated into pure ash. The smoke particles unfurled into the air and floated around, causing all the students to cough as the cloud of ash clouded their vision momentarily while the torrent of crashing chalk and board eraser clattered to the floor.
Marlene let out a low whistle. From what she could see, a few of the other girls in the class looked up at Remus, a shiny look in their eyes. Some swooned, others whispered to their friends.
Of course Remus Lupin knew the answer.
Years later down the line, Y/N would come back to this moment and remember thinking that Remus Lupin was possibly one of the smartest people she would ever get the pleasure of knowing.
Unbeknownst to her, James had his eye trained on her and Remus’ interactions since they first came back from the break. He watched Moony’s smile when he was around Whiskers and right now, as she looked up to Remus with a dazed look, James couldn’t help but feel himself but smirk at his knowledge.
Whenever he saw them both together, Whisker’s sunny energy contrasted with Remus’ quiet and gloomy self; he was a big fan of their dynamic.
He nudged her side as he looked at her, a smug knowing smile on his lips.
“What?”
He shook his head, nothing.
❉───────•~❉•᯽•❉~•───────❉
January 27, 1976
“Do you really think so?”
She dramatically clutched a hand to her chest in disbelief, “You really think I can survive without you and your Charms lessons?! It’s like you want Flitwick to bury my grave. And do you want to be alone in Astronomy? Without my presence?”
“Hey! I’m doing you a favour. You would be shit outta luck without me,” Remus mocks, albeit it’s playful.
“Well, Grandpa—”
“Grandpa?”
“You knit all the time and you dress like one,” she moved to pass him some chocolate truffles laid out while she bent down to a house-elf and politely requested tea for them, continuing, “Not all of us are geniuses.”
Remus' look is soft and everyone can see it but for Y/N as her back is turned, taking the teacups from the elves, thanking them before passing one to him while grabbing the milk and sugar the elves brought unasked for.
It brought a smile onto his lips as he tried to force it down, pretending to be unphased by her overly grand gestures. Remus found himself liking the attention that Y/N was beginning to show him. He liked how she always seemed to be so attentive and let him rant about his books and music. He liked how kind and funny she was. And now, there was hardly a trace of cautiousness or judgement that came from her, not unlike others who tended to avoid him and even his own chaps from time to time.
Remus rubs his face as he gulps down the warm tea in one go, getting up with his bag.
“Where are you going? There’s still thirty minutes before dinner ends!” Peter questioned.
“I have to set up for the group today. Besides, I have to take care of some prefect duties. I’ll see you two later,” he looks at her and Lily. There was a light step to Remus as he made his way out before James and Lily whipped their heads in her direction, both mirroring a giddy expression.
“Getting matey, you two?” James says with a large smirk.
Y/N frowns slightly at the accusation while her arms crossed around herself. “Fat chance. What are you suggesting?”
“You and Remus have been spending an awful lot of time together,” Lily wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at her.
“Same study group, that's the whole point, is it not?” She says a bit irritably. James had been making innuendos between her and Remus for the past three weeks, and now that Lily started, Y/N knew that it would never stop. “What are you implying?”
“You fancy each other!”
Y/N blink once, twice as her brain processed what they were accusing. Fancy? No! Remus was a friend! “Get your heads out of your asses. What a dumb question.”
“Wasn’t a question but a statement. You two fancy each other or at least Remus fancies you! You should’ve seen the way he looked at you just then!”
“Date! Snog! Shag!”
“I’m not going to fuck him.”
“Who are we fucking?” Mary popped in. Y/N dropped her head and stared at the table in front of her. If one thing Lily and James had in common, it was their need to embarrass and annoy her.
She sighs, about to refuse to answer but letting up. “Evans and Potter reckon that me and Lupin are more than friends.”
Mary’s eyes lit up so bright that they could rival the sun. She clapped her hands a few times in pure excitement. “I knew it!” “What?!”
The table looks at each other. James snorted so loudly that he choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking and his face went as red as Lily’s hair. Lily looked as if she were about to pass out. Her laughter caused her nostrils to flare and Mary looked around guilty.
“What?!” She repeated, this time louder.
“Haven’t you noticed? We all think you’ve been shagging.”
“That is ridiculous! Will you guys stop with this nonsense of fake love-dovey gazes? So what he looked at me! You're supposed to look at people while you’re talking and boys and girls can be friends!”
“No! You have been spending so much time together and the only other woman Remus is ever around that often is either Lily and we all know they’re just friends —” “Yeah, like me!” “— or the professors! You should see how much you two smile and giggle with each other!”
Y/N groaned frustrated. “Why is everyone so obsessed with my sex life?”
“Because you don’t have one.”
She looked to Lily, her mouth opening as everyone around her laughed.
“I hate you.”
“Hate isn’t going to get you into heaven.”
Lily was impossible.
“You two would look so cute!
“Stop trying to play wingman here, Bambi!”
“Kiss, marry, Avada — James, Remus or Sirius? Go.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Mary was always wildly inappropriate which usually made her laugh but this time only made Y/N curl in uncomfortability. Mary laughed, unrefined and Peter tried to object, asking why Mary hadn’t used his name.
“You can pick me, darling, I won’t mind. I know you’re obsessed with me.” James says and flicks his pretend long hair behind his back.
She could Avada them all and not feel bad. Groaning, she was not happy with this outcome. “I would murder you first then.”
“Why?!”
“I like Remus more than you at this point.”
“Whiskers! We’ve been friends longer!”
“The week when we came back from the holidays, they were talking about getting married!” Peter blurted out.
“What!?”
Mary cut them off, smiling wickedly, “One sickle that she and Remus are going to snog by the end of the year.”
“Four —” Peter interjected, “I’ve never seen him be so buddy-buddy with another girl that wasn’t Lily or his mother.”
“Guys, this is ridiculous!” Y/N tried to intervene.
Everyone wavered her off, continuing their bets.
Mary chuckled at Lily, “Six sickles.”
“C’mon! I am not going to fuck either boy!”
“You both are going to lose,” James proposed. Y/N’s heart dropped a bit, seeing the temptation in his eyes. James never was the one to bow down from a bet. “What about Sirius?”
Y/N felt the urge to hex him.
“Shut the fuck up, James.”
They all ignored her.
“You are a genius, wee pots!” Marlene jumped to her feet and walked over to sit beside Y/N. “They totally have sexual tension!”
“Right?!”
“Whenever Sirius walks into a room, the first person he likes to seek out is you —”
“That’s not true! What in the Britsh bloody fuck are you on?!”
“Nu-uh,” Potter says, wearing a shit-eating grin as he takes a moment to drink his pumpkin juice. “Kinnon isn’t wrong. Sirius is into you. It makes sense, all that tension and he wanted to ask you on a date when you first came to Hogwarts.”
“He does like the chase,” Lily interjects, “And out of all the years I’ve witnessed Sirius Black and his slag days, nobody has given him a run for his money like this.”
“You guys would look so hot together!” “Are we forgetting about Remus?! They would look better together and they actually like each other. Hell, they’re practically dating at this point!”
James shakes his head, “For a bloke that reads that many books, he’s horrible with words. He’s not going to say anything. Anyway — you should shag Black. I’m telling you, it would most likely solve whatever —” he makes a hand gesture to her, “— this is.”
“Screw it, I got a Galleon that she and Sirius are going to shag or snog before June,” Marlene stated confidently.
James sat up straighter, his chest puffing out in a challenging manner. Marlene flickered her hair off her shoulder and dropped one elbow on the table, placing her chin in one hand.
“Make it two — late May.” James challenged.
“Three Galleons, mid-May.”
“Three Galleons, two Knuts; late April.”
“Three Galleons, four Knuts; mid-April.”
“Four Galleons; March.”
Marlene stuck out her hand, shaking it with his. She turned to Y/N, who sat dumbstruck with her mouth open, absolutely mortified. “I have a lot of money on you, don’t you dare fail me.”
“Get to Remus first! Do you know many women are after him? He's the best boyfriend material out of all the marauders!” Lily shouted.
“Yeah? What about Black?”
“Lost cause! The bloke can’t even choose someone.”
Y/N got up from her seat, pushing up on the table to walk away. She’s had enough. Marlene and James were whooping while Mary was saying some obscene scenarios that she and Remus were going to get up to. People were starting to listen in now.
“Lupin’s a strong one. I’ve seen him lift luggage and parcels as heavy as ten stones the Muggle way, with ease. Imagine if he picked up and pushed you against a wall while —” “MARY SHUT UP!”
“He’s a lovesick git and you too!” Lily teases, “Bet you’ll get cheeky in the library!”
Her face burns with an unbelievable amount of embarrassment. She felt like she could die right there and then.
“What’s got you all so chuffed?” Sirius asks as he sits down at the table. This was the first time he made an appearance at dinner that night.
Just the timing — of course!
“Will you stop with that! I am not lovesick!” She stomped away, almost sprinting away from the group before she heard the faint half-scream coming from Sirius that sounded an awful lot like what the fuck?
Yeah, she could agree with that, what the fuck. Y/N just went through first, second, third and fourth hand embarrassment.
She quickly walked through the corridors and up into the library. Quickly storming up to their usual table, Remus was already there.
Over the past couple of weeks, she and Remus had fallen into this routine of turning from acquaintances to friends, actual friends.
Remus was the very definition of cool. He’s one of the smartest people she knew all the while he skipped classes often and despite that, all the teachers loved him. McGonagall, a hard one to impress, absolutely adored him and it was very obvious. He was also a prefect and he always let the marauders or even her off; had an ear for music, was incredibly strong and she’d always seen him carrying around chocolate that he never shared.
He also had silverly scars littering his entire body and momentarily, she’d sometimes wondered if he was in a gang. Maybe the marauders were a secret gang name? But then she thought rationally; James Potter, in a gang?
He was fiddling around with his knitting needles and he wore glasses, he leaned back in the chair, ankle resting on the other knee. A pile of parchment, journals, books and even a mug sat there. She had never seen him wear glasses before, but he did look quite like a teacher.
“Going for the whole professor look, aren’t you?”
He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “Where’s Lily?” He said, his accent softly lilt
Her face burned again.
“There’s still about twenty minutes until dinner ends; I think she wanted to finish eating.”
“Well then,” he took off his glasses, “You couldn’t get enough of me then?”
“Piss off.”
During their conversation, Remus made her acutely aware of every part of her: her skin, the way she walked, her appearance, her clothes. It didn’t help that his gaze was always so… intense.
At some point, he got up and talked to a few third years who were having trouble with a certain spell while she watched him. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips while her elbows were propped on the table. Remus came off as quiet and awkward, but he always excluded certain confidence during these sessions. She hadn’t thought about it until now, but the way the dimly glowing lamps highlighted the sharpest points of his face and the way the light bounced off the silver scars, Remus… was well… not shabby looking.
Josh! It’s not like Y/N didn’t have… urges. Most people did but all this talk about her and Remus and then her and Sirius was starting to get to her head!
“Want to try?” He asks as he sits back down in his seat, lifting the ball of yarn and needles in her direction, effectively breaking her out of her trance. Y/N shakes her head, waving a hand dismissively.
“Come on, I know you want to.”
“Fine.”
“Do you know how to?” She shakes her head.
Remus then shifts his body so his hands were on top of hers, guiding her fingers through the loops of yarn over the needle as his prefect voice was activated, muttering softly by her ear.
It might’ve been the middle of winter but she felt like her entire body was on fire. This has to be some kind of cruel joke the universe is playing on her.
He continued to help her until the repetition became second nature and left her to continue to knit.
Her small patch had large gaps and looked lopsided, but she smiled at the creation which caused Remus to as well. “Keep it,” he says with a smile.
“I’m not taking your needles.”
“Seriously. James brought me over thirty new ones on my birthday last year because he didn’t know what size needles he should get. Really, one pair won’t hurt me.”
And then Lily, kind, beautiful, yet annoying, slippery Lily waltzes in confidently, sharing a knowing look as she watches the entire scene play out. From his hands touching hers to him being as generous as giving her his knitting needles.
This did not look good at all.
She nodded but was dazed by Lily. She plonks down beside him and Y/N automatically rips her gaze away, shifting awkwardly in her seat.
The room felt too hot, too incredibly hot and thankfully Remus didn’t seem phased but oh my god — she knew deep down that once Remus got back to his dorm later tonight, James was going to give him the same hell and convince him and probably Sirius (if he hadn’t already done so) that they were soulmates or the ridiculous hopeless romantic shit James loved to spew.
Remus began talking in the background, flipping through his notes while Lily jabs her side.
Lovesick, she mouthed.
