#I hope you gave a wonderful Day moonie!

[electric-s0da]

WE’VE GOT THE MOONIE BIRTHDAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!! :D @moonverc3x

[Drew this with my finger rq]

[aanoia]

Definitely (Dying, pt. 2)

Poly!marauders x reader, James Potter x reader, Remus Lupin x reader, Sirius Black x reader

Summary; a failed attempt and a year later, y/n is finally okay

Words; 1,800+

Warnings; srs tw, talk of drug abuse, suicide, self harm, I think that's all

Pt. 1, "Dying"

Really heavy topics, loves, please proceed with caution. I love you all!

It had been two months. The worst two months of their lives. The Marauders watched from afar as their now ex girlfriend killed herself, and said ex girlfriend had to watch as her lovers sat in each other's arms, basking in each other's presence. It was all too much. She couldn’t take it anymore. 

Today was a rare day where Y/n wasn’t on anything. Her system was clear and a bright smile was on her face. Almost everyone felt uncomfortable about the sudden change, wondering why she was suddenly… okay. Truth is she was the farthest from that that she’s ever been.

“Oh my gosh! Y/n, I love your necklace. Where did you get it?” Lily Evans, one of Y/n’s best friends, asked as Y/n sat down at the table. She sat as far away from the Marauders as she could, which proved difficult as Lily loved sitting next to them.

Y/n smiled and reached behind her head, swiftly unclasping the necklace and dangling it in front of Lily, “Here, have it.”

Lily shook her head, “Oh no, I couldn’t take it.”

“No, I swear it’s fine. It’s not really my style anyway. It’d look much better on you than me.” Y/n insisted and Lily hesitantly took the necklace. 

The thing is, that was Y/n’s favorite necklace. One her mom had given her when she was just a little girl, before she became a disappointment. The Marauders knew that. They shared uneasy looks, confused as to why she would so easily hand over her favorite possession, 

“Awh, that was sweet, Y/n.” Marlene said, admiring the golden necklace that now lay beautifully across Lily’s chest.

“Oh, here. You can have my bracelet. I always see you eyeing it.” She removed the bracelet and handed it to Marlene.

“Oh, thank you, Y/n. How kind.” She said with her brows furrowed.

“Of course.” Y/n responded with a smile.

It had been like that all day. She had given away everything that was complimented and constantly gave people hugs and told them she loved me. It was weird, for lack of a better term. It wasn’t only people close to her that noticed the unusualness either. It was classmates and teachers as well, even the paintings that lined the walls noticed a difference. It left an uneasy pit in everyone's stomach. 

That night, Remus sat at his desk with his hand holding up his head as he was deep in thought. 

James gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, “Moony? What’s going on in that head of yours?” James asked and Sirius perked up at the question, also wanting to know the answer.

Remus shook his head, “S’nothing.”

Sirius let out a short laugh, “You're full of shit. You’ve got that face. You only get that face when you’re thinking of something.”

“Oh, yeah. You’re right. He does have a thinking face.” James agreed and Sirius nodded.

“I know right, he goes like-” Sirius made an exaggerated facial expression.

“No, that looks nothing like him, dimwit. It’s like this-”  Remus tuned them out as they fought.

He went over every interaction Y/n had had that he witnessed throughout the day. She was acting so strange. Even before all the weed and drugs she never just gave away her possessions. She loved her things and held them close to her heart. So why was she giving it all away? And why was she suddenly showing so much affection? And why now? What changed? And why does Remus feel like he’s forgetting somethin-

Remus shot from his seat, “We need to find her. Now.” He said urgently before running out of the room, the boys paused before running after him, knowing exactly who “her” was. 

Remus hastily knocked on the door of Y/n’s dorm room, hoping she would open the door. Instead he was met with the sleepy face of Lily Evans and soft snores from Marlene who was cuddled up into Dorcas’ side. No Y/n.

“Remus?” She glanced behind him. “Sirius? James? What is it?”

“Is Y/n here?” He asked, dread filling his body.

Lily shook her head, “No, she said she was going up to the astronomy tower. Why?”

“I’ll tell you later, thank you.” He said before beginning to move again, but once they got down to the empty common room Sirius grabbed tightly onto his arm, stopping any movement. 

“Remus, what is going on? Why are you so worried?” Sirius asked.

“I think Y/n’s going to kill herself. The signs add up, giving away valuable possessions, being extra affectionate, and you know how her life is. We need to find her, now.” Sirius and James looked at each other before nodding. Sirius let go of Remus and all three sped to the astronomy tower, spending little to no time to think about not getting caught. Right now it was not a priority, their priority was Y/n.

They raced up the steps, not stopping as their lungs begged for air and legs ached for rest. Remus burst through the door and halted as his eyes lay on a silhouette standing at the edge of the tower, on the other side of the rails.

“Remus?” The figure asked, her voice hoarse and broken.

“Y/n, baby, please. Come here.” He begged as his boyfriends came in behind him.

“Y/n?” James asked tentatively. “Sweetheart, don’t do it.”

“Please, go away.” She asked, tears pouring from her eyes. They weren’t supposed to be here. “Please.” She whispered.

Sirius was the only one brave enough to step closer, “No. We let you leave once already, I won’t let you again.” He took another step.

“No, get away from me!” She cried, her sweaty hands slipping against the cool metal.

“Love.” Sirius said quietly, close enough to whisper to her. “It’s going to be okay, yeah?” She began to protest but he shook his head, shushing her while taking yet another step forward. “No, I know how hard that is to believe. But it will. And I- we- we will be there every step of the way. Come on, love, grab onto my hand.” He said quietly while stretching his hand out.

“I can’t do it anymore, Siri.” She whispered, her legs shaking.

“Yes you can.” He assured her immediately. “You can, I know of it. You are the strongest girl I’ve met. I know you can stay here. With me. And Remus. And James. I know you can.”

“But the weed and-and the alcohol, even if I don’t know, I’ll kill myself!” 

“Then we’ll work together to get sober. Y/n, my love, it’s not impossible for you to be happy. I need you to realize that. You can be happy, and you are worthy of being happy. Now hold my hand, please.” He asked again, tears stinging his eyes. She hesitantly grabbed his hand and let him help her over the rails.

The moment her feet touched the ground of the astronomy tower she collapsed in tears and the three immediately engulfed her in a warm hug. She sobbed in their arms for what felt like hours, but the boys didn’t care. She needed love, and they were going to give it to her. 

Once her cries quieted to small sniffles Remus pulled away and gently placed his hand on her tear stained cheek, wiping away the tears with the pad of his thumb.

“Hey, baby.” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“Whatever for?” 

“Being such a bitch to you guys and pushing you.” She said, her eyes cast downward as guilt filled her body.

“It’s alright, my love. We’ve already forgiven you.” Sirius responded, the boys nodding along with him. 

“We just want you to be okay.” James said, his arms wrapped loosely around her neck as he placed a soft kiss on her temple.

Y/n nodded slowly, “I wanna be okay too.”

“You will be okay.”

A year later, Y/n smiled at Lily as she sat down at the table in the morning. 

“Good morning, Lily, how did you sleep?”

Lily snorted, “I would’ve slept better if a few girls in my dorm didn’t stop gossiping all night.”

Y/n and Marlene looked at each other with smirks.

“Oh, how rude of them.” Marlene said.

“Truly a tragedy.” Y/n agreed, grabbing a piece of toast. “Does anyone know where my boyfriends are?” She asked, looking around the table.

“Probably doing something dumb.” Dorcas said and Y/n nodded.

“I believe it.” 

The doors to Great Hall opened and in walked Sirius Black. He walked to the Gryffindor table and stood behind his girlfriend, leaning down.

“We need you outside, please, Ms. L/n.” He said, sending shivers down the girl's spine.

“Oh, really?” She asked.

He kissed her cheek, “Yes, ma’am. Shall I escort you?” He asked, standing straight and holding out his hand.

She grabbed his hand, “You shall.” She stood up and let out a small yelp as Sirius quickly tugged her along. Y/n laughed as they sped down the hallway, making Sirius smile. Her laugh truly was music to his ears.

The left the castle and Sirius brought her to a little picnic blanket which her other two boyfriends were lounging on while conversating.

“Ah, look at our girl.” James said as he noticed them approaching.

“Guys, what is this?” Y/n asked with wide eyes as Sirius pushed her down gently, urging her to sit.

“Well, I do believe it’s a picnic.” Remus answered with a grin.

Y/n rolled her eyes, “No, I mean what’s it for?”

“Ah, great question. Today marks one year of you being sober, and we wanted to show you how proud of you we are.” Sirius explained and Y/n smiled.

“Guys, thank you. I love you all so much.”

“We love you too.” James responded.

“Oh! Hagrid made a cake. We didn’t ask him too, but he handed it to us and told us to make sure it got to you.” Remus said, handing Y/n a box.

Y/n smiled as she read what was on the cake. 

‘PROWD OF YOU, Y/N!’

“Awh, Hagrid is so sweet.” Y/n said with a large smile.

“We’re proud of you too, by the way.” James said, putting his head on her lap.

Sirius grabbed Y/n’s hand, “I told you you were the strongest girl I knew.”

Pride swelled in Y/n’s chest. She had come so far in just a year. She had walked through hell and came back alive, barely, but still alive. She had cut off contact from her parents, much to their dismay as now their scapegoat had left, however they didn’t put in the effort to keep her around. During the summer before seventh year she stayed in the spare bedroom at the Potter house, going under strict rules of doors open at all times if she and James were together, or any of them if the other two came over. Y/n was more than okay, she was happy. She healed. Was it hard? Maybe. Was it worth it? 

Definitely.

Tag list;

@duruxoxo @mars-marley @siriuslydestiny @gagafatale @lestat-whore @1hornyforfictionalmen1 @megluv1 @takem3tothelakes @fictionalmensblog @ssaspencerreidswife

[in-my-feels-probably]

Alright why not

Sirius Black x reader..

Reader's first animagus transformation (she is a wolf), Sirius didn't know she was learning how to become one, she doesn't know he is one either. Mild chaos ensues because there's a wolf in Gryffindor tower (that's not moony lol) Reader is fond of mischief and waits until right before they decision to send for a professor for help to attempt to transform back.

Gen reader or Fem reader preferred.

Canis Major

Request: Reader's first animagus transformation (she is a wolf), Sirius didn't know she was learning how to become one, she doesn't know he is one either. Mild chaos ensues because there's a wolf in Gryffindor tower (that's not moony lol) Reader is fond of mischief and waits until right before they decision to send for a professor for help to attempt to transform back.

Hi! I altered your request just a little bit, I hope that’s alright. If you want me to fix anything or write you something else, just let me know. I hope you enjoy it!

(Warnings: swearing, let me know if i missed anything)

—

“I am so bloody sick of their pranks,” Lily groaned, marching into the dorms. You put down your book, sitting up.

You gave her a sympathetic smile, patting the spot on your bed next to you for her to come sit. “What did they do this time?”

“I just finished transfiguring a few of the second year’s faces and hair back to normal. They were nearly in tears when I found them downstairs. Apparently, Remus found a way to charm jellybeans into a form of polyjuice. Their hair was as white as Dumbledore’s. How they managed to get one of his hairs, I’ll never know.”

“They played that prank on Sirius last week,” you laughed, remembering the tantrum he threw when he couldn’t fix it himself. “It took me ages to figure out how to reverse it. I have to commend Remus on his brewing ability.”

Lily groaned, clearly not sharing your idea of humor on the matter. “I’m a prefect, you know. I can’t always turn a blind eye.”

“Who’s idea was it to use the jellybeans? I thought Remus just used it to get back at Sirius for nicking his chocolate stash.”

“I managed to crack James,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Apparently, it was meant for the Slytherins. There was some kind of mixup, and the second years got a hold of them before they could stop it.”

“Morons,” you mused, shaking your head. 

“We need to get them back. They’ve gotten a little out of hand lately, and I don’t fancy being the subject of their next joke.”

You grinned, rubbing your hands together. “What do you have in mind? I’ve got plenty of ideas personally, but I’m open to yours.”

“Think about pranking your boyfriend often?” She asked grinning, her brow raised. 

“You think I’m safe just because I’m dating him?” You asked, chuckling. “Even I am not immune to his little games. It pays to be one step ahead.”

Lily sighed, taking your hand in hers. “We’ll have to just come up with something good, then. It’s the full moon in two days, you know.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” You asked, turning your body to face her. “Remus will be preoccupied all day, I assume the boys will be as well. You know how he gets the day before, they’ll probably stick to the dorms so he doesn’t have to exert himself much.”

“Exactly.”

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “What’s your plan?”

You knew that Remus was a werewolf, as did Lily. 

It didn’t take long for either of you to figure it out, and Remus reluctantly told you the truth when you confronted him about it and promised you would never tell. You had even offered to swear an Unbreakable Vow, but he declined. You resigned to letting the boys fill you in on what happened when Remus would return to their dorms, knowing they’d be the ones he turned to if he needed someone. 

Lily knew that you were an Animagus, too. 

She was the one you came to when you began training for it. Each month when Remus would return from the hospital wing, you’d cringe at the sight of his fresh scars. You wondered if there was a way you could help him, beyond brewing Essence of Dittany and visiting him the morning after. There had to be a way you could help him each transformation, something you could do in the moment, and not after. The thought led you to your training, which you eventually had to confide in Lily about so that she could help you. 

Surprisingly, she was very helpful about it. She did scold you, and berate you about how dangerous and not to mention illegal it was. But she wanted to help Remus, too, so she agreed to help you. 

What you didn’t know was that the boys beat you to the idea. They had already begun accompanying Remus on full moons, a fact that Lily discovered for herself. She was just that clever, putting together the pieces before anyone else. 

The nicknames they openly called themselves may have had something to do with that. 

The boys becoming Animagi probably eased her reaction when she discovered you were also training to become one. She had by then done some research on the topic herself, helping you with the final stages. 

Together, you finished the trials, and you finally took the form of a wolf. Ironic, considering what had inspired you to begin training in the first place. You had yet to follow Remus to the Shrieking Shack on a full moon, figuring going alone probably wasn’t the best idea. You hadn’t quite figured out how to tell him or your friends about it, figuring they would think the idea was insane. 

It was a wonder they had somehow managed to hide the fact from you that they had already done it themselves. You’d figure it out later, and have the opportunity to scold your friends and your boyfriend for not including you. 

But for now, Lily was the only one who knew the whole truth. 

And she would use it to her advantage. What better way to get back at her friends would there be, than to scare the shit out of them in their own dorm? 

“I have a plan,” she smirked, giving you an uneasy feeling. “Not on the full moon, of course. I’m not reckless in the way they have been recently. But if they have a wolf, I think it’s time we use ours.”

Your eyes widened at her words, and you shook your head. “Are you mad? You want me to show the boys that I can turn into a wolf at will? Don’t you think they’ll wonder where I learned how to do that?”

“Oh, come on. There’s no harm in it. They won’t tell anyone, I promise. I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought they would react badly. Trust me on this.” 

“Are you sure?” You sighed, your voice less than confident. “I’m not so sure Sirius will fancy the idea of his girlfriend turning into a giant beast.”

Lily grinned, disagreeing. “I have a feeling he’ll be very open to the idea. You practically have him on a leash. Where you go, he follows. It’ll be fine.”

You missed how she tried not to laugh at her own joke, and you stood, finally agreeing. 

“Alright! How do we do this? Alone, right? I’d prefer scaring the shit out of them without other people seeing.”

“Tomorrow night, just after dinner starts. We go eat, and hurry back here before them. We’ll say you aren’t feeling well or something, and tell Sirius you’ll wait for him in his room. Their dorm will be empty, I’ll make sure of it, and they’ll be the only ones coming back so early. You sneak in and wait for them, I’ll come down and make a big fuss. They’ll rush up, and you scare them. Easy enough, right?”

You looked at her warily, both impressed and terrified by her plan. “You’re fucking scary, you know that? I’d hate to see what you and those idiots could come up with if you put your mind to it. It’s a good thing you don’t ever join them.”

“Never have, and I never will,” she mused, grinning at you. “But I’ll join you. It’s about time they got a taste of their own medicine.”

—

The next evening, as planned, you excused yourself from dinner. You made sure Remus’s plate was loaded up so that he ate enough to keep his strength up, and then you stood, pressing a kiss to the top of Sirius’s head. 

“I think I’m gonna go lie down a bit,” you said, smoothing your hand over his hair. 

Sirius turned around, looking concerned. “Are you alright, love?”

You smiled, reassuring him. “I’m fine. Just a little tired. Mind if I lay down in your dorm for a bit? Some of the girls are in mine and they’re always quite loud after dinner.”

He nodded, running a comforting hand up and down your arm. “Of course, darling. Do you want me to come up with you?”

Your eyes softened as you looked down at him, almost regretting the prank you were about to pull. But as your eyes met Lily’s, she reminded you of the plan, and you shook off the feeling.

“No, it’s fine, stay and eat,” you said, squeezing his shoulder. “Lily, would you mind coming with me, though? I wanted to ask about the Potions lesson today, I think I missed some of the notes.”

Lily nodded, standing up. “I’m finished anyways. Come along, darling.”

She linked her arm with yours, leading you away from the table and out of the Great Hall. As soon as you were out of sight, you snickered together, rushing for the dorms. 

“Get up there quickly,” she said, ushering you through the portrait entrance. “Sirius seems rather worried about you, the lovesick git. He chooses now to be a good boyfriend?”

“He‘s always a good boyfriend,” you laughed, heading up the stairs to the boys dorm. 

“Yes,” she agreed, playfully rolling her eyes. “It’s sickening at times. Now hurry up, before he decides to come back and do something sweet and ruin it all.”

You nodded, quickly pushing open the door to the boys dorm, closing the door behind Lily. You looked around the room once you both were in, and Lily’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Merlin, they’re messy,” Lily gasped, bending down to pick up stray items of clothing and pieces of parchment. 

You snickered as she tried to clean. “I’d be careful what you touch, love. You don't know where all this shit has been.”

She grimaced, quickly dropping everything in her hands. She took her wand out of her pocket, casting a cleaning spell. You watched as everything on the floor hovered in the air, before categorizing itself either onto a bed, bag, or in the bin. 

“I casted a listening charm in the common room, we’ll be able to hear when they come in.”

“I’d probably be able to hear it, anyways. Wolf hearing and all,” you thought out loud. 

Lily nodded, turning to you. “Alright, let’s see it. Do your thing.”

“Where do you want me?”

Lily thought a moment, before shrugging. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t think. A wolf in any part of their room will freak them out…although maybe you should sit on James’s bed. Something tells me he’d scream the loudest.”

You laughed, nodding. “See you in a bit, then.”

Without another word, you shifted into your wolf form, now on four legs. You stood tall, bowing to stretch as you got used to being in this form. 

Lily nearly gasped when you finished, looking at you with wide eyes. “I nearly forgot how big you are like that. Of course you’re black, too. You match your boyfriend. Why am I surprised?”

You huffed, jumping up on Sirius’s bed. You sat on the edge of it, laying down. Lily came over to stand next to you, running a hand along the fur on your spine. 

“You really are scary, you know. I think James is going to cry.”

You wished you could laugh, turning to nuzzle your head into her hand. Suddenly, Lily perked up, heading to the door. 

“They’re coming! Get down, stand right here behind the door. I’ll corral them all in here, and shut the door so they can’t get out. Do try to not get hexed, I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. Be right back!”

She opened the door, feigning terror. She let out a scream, bounding down the stairs. 

“James!” You could hear her call. “Sirius, Remus! Someone help!”

“What is it?” A unison of voices said, and then there were footsteps bounding up the stairs. 

You took the sound as your cue to hide, stepping behind the door so you couldn’t be seen at first. The door was pushed open, and one by one, the boys filed in. They all stopped in their tracks, looking at each other confused. Lily closed the door behind them, standing against it so they couldn’t leave. 

“Lily, there’s nothing in he—“

Remus was cut off by a low growl, and the boys turned to see you stalk closer to them from the side of the room. James let out a yelp, clambering to climb up onto his bed. 

“What the fuck?” James screamed, nearly shaking on the bed. “It’s humongous.”

“Is that…that’s a…it’s a…,” Sirius stuttered, before Remus grabbed his shoulder, pulling him behind him. 

“A wolf.”

“A werewolf or a wolf wolf?” James asked, and Sirius scoffed from behind Remus. 

“Don’t be daft, James. Werewolves can’t just turn at will, not like this. And it’s not a full moon yet.”

“That’s not what I look like is it?” Remus asked, looking down at you cautiously. 

“Where’s Y/N?” Sirius asked, frantically looking around. “Wasn’t she up here with you?”

You had yet to move, looking between your friends. From the door, Lily was trying to hide her snickers. You huffed out a breath, taking a slow step forward. All three boys let out a squeal, stepping back. 

Lily rolled her eyes, taking a step towards you. “Not very brave, for a bunch of Gryffindors.”

“Lily, no!” James yelled, jumping down from the bed. You let out a growl at him, making him hesitate. He tried to step forward again, but Sirius held an arm out across his chest, holding him back. 

“Sirius!” James argued, but Sirius wouldn’t relent. 

“Just wait!” Sirius said, looking at you with curious eyes. “Evans…keep going.”

Lily nodded, slowly approaching you with an extended hand. You feigned interest, sniffing her hand. After a minute, you nuzzled her hand with your snout. She let out a giggle, running her hand through your hair, reaching up to scratch behind your ears.

“Is Lily petting a fucking wolf?” Remus asked, looking back at his friends. “Am I going mad?”

“If you’re mad, then I’m batshit crazy for this,” Sirius said, slowly approaching you. “Please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me…”

His voice trailed off as he crouched down in front of you, letting you sniff his hand. He avoided your gaze, his hand slightly shaking with fear. You decided you had stalled long enough, flexing your paws. Suddenly, you leaped, landing on Sirius and knocking him to the ground. You pinned him to the floor under you, hovering your face just above his. 

“Fuck!” Remus said, reaching for his wand. 

James had already drawn his, moving to stun you, when Lily stood in between you and them to block you. 

“Don’t!” She said, drawing her own wand. “Don’t hurt it.”

“Are you mad? It’s on top of Sirius right now, move,” Remus said, trying to reach around her. “Lily, this isn’t funny.”

“If we aren’t going to do something about it ourselves, then we need help. I’m going to get a professor,” James said, headed for the door. 

“No need, boys,” Sirius called up from the floor. “I think I’ve got it handled.” 

Lily moved out of the way to reveal Sirius on the floor, with you resting flat against his chest. The boys looked at him stunned, and Sirius was reluctant to move under you. 

“We may need a professor to help get you out,” Sirius said, smoothing a hand down your fur. “But I think it’s safe to say you aren’t going to kill me.”

Lily whistled, and you climbed off Sirius’s chest, moving to stand beside her. She gave you a look, and you took that as a sign, slowly shifting back into your regular form. You stretched once fully stood, smoothing down your clothes. 

Sirius gaped up at you from the floor. “Y/N?”

“What the fuck is going on?” James asked, pushing his way out from behind Remus. “How did you do that?”

“She’s an Animagus,” Remus realized, nearly grinning. “And a wolf. Ironic, isn’t it? Should I feel flattered, Y/N? Do you love me?”

He drew out the ‘o’ in love, making you laugh. Sirius looked between the two of you with wide eyes, flustered. You cooed at him, reaching for his hand. He begrudgingly let you take it.

“I hate to disappoint you, Remus, but I’m not in love with you. I am loyal to you, though. A bit protective. I suppose that had something to do with it. I didn’t choose my form, you know. It just happened. It’s like a patronus.”

Lily let out a small gasp, smirking in realization as she looked at Sirius. “Sirius…the wolf is akin to the dog, is it not? I wonder what your thoughts are on the matter.”

James visibly paled, trying and failing to hide his shock as he put the pieces together. Lily knew. But how? 

Sirius was beginning to wonder the same thing. “James, you dickhead! Why’d you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her anything!” James exclaimed, raising his hands in surrender. “I don’t know how she knows!”

You looked between your friends with a confused look on your face, piping in. “Know what? What’s going on?”

“You figured it out, didn’t you?” Remus smirked, interrupting the bickering between the boys. “Nicely done, Evans.”

“Thank you,” she curtsied, grinning at the confused look on the rest of her friends' faces. 

It was your turn to figure it out as your eyes widened in shock. “Holy shit! You’re all Animagi, too. How didn’t I figure that out sooner? It’s obvious, now that I’m thinking about it.”

“I didn’t know you were one,” James said, shrugging. “I don’t think it was that obvious.”

“That’s because you can’t keep your eyes off Lily long enough to notice much of anything,” you mused, making your friends snicker. 

“Alright, I think that was a success,” Lily said, clapping her hands together. “Let’s go, boys. I’ll explain the rest.”

James and Remus nodded, heading for the door. Lily gave you a smile, following them as they filed out. You could hear her teasing James, stifling a laugh while he was still in earshot.

“That scream was truly something. How very valiant of you, James,” Lily said, smirking. “My hero.”

James groaned, the sound of his voice quieting down the further away he got. “Forgive me for not jumping into action at the sight of a fucking wolf in my room.”

You shut the door as their voices drifted away, turning back to Sirius. You narrowed your eyes at him, slapping him across the arm. 

“What was that for?” He whined, clutching his arm. 

“For not telling me you’re an Animagus!”

“You didn’t tell me you’re one, either,” he pouted, still rubbing at his arm. 

“Don’t be a baby,” you said, rolling your eyes before bending down to place a quick kiss to the spot you hit. “I didn’t tell you because I haven’t worked up to going outside yet. You’ve all been going with Remus for months, haven’t you?”

Sirius gave you a sheepish look, nodding. 

You groaned, shaking your head. “Your form is a dog, I suppose? I guess the nickname Padfoot is actually clever, then.”

“It is a dog. Ironic, I know. When did you start training?”

You thought for a moment, pondering. “A few months. Three, maybe?”

“Smart girl. It took me six,” he said, grinning. “I’m flattered, by the way.”

You furrowed your brows at his words. “Flattered?”

“Your form matches mine, you took after me since mine was established first. It isn’t because you’re loyal to a wolf, and therefore a wolf yourself. It’s because you’re loyal to me. We’re alike.”

You could feel yourself flush at his words, smiling. “So, you saw me. Do I get to see you?”

Sirius grinned, before quickly shifting into his form. You smiled as a wiry black shaggy dog appeared in front of you, with fur as unruly as Sirius’s hair could be. Padfoot was quite adorable, but also slightly terrifying. You had that in common. 

You ran a hand along his fur, noting the black sheen of his coat. “We match.”

Sirius shifted back into himself, taking a seat on his bed. He held a hand out for you, pulling you to sit beside him. 

“You might be cuter as a dog,” you mused. 

He playfully nudged you in the ribs, shaking his head. “You’re insufferable, darling.”

“Hush,” you said, grinning at him before grabbing his hand. “You told James to stop. You let Lily approach me, having no idea whether she’d be attacked or not. Why?”

He was quiet for a moment, scanning your face as he gave you a small smile. “Your eyes.”

“What?”

“You have the same eyes as the wolf. I could see you in them.”

You smiled at him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder as you squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, letting his head rest against your shoulder. 

“We’re gonna have to come up with a nickname for you," he murmured. “I suppose you’re going to want to come with us on full moons now, aren’t you? 

You chuckled, nodding. “You won’t be able to stop me, love.”

—

A/N - Hi! I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think!

[annabelinlove]

I am yours

Pairing: Poly!marauders x reader

Word Count: 2k

Summary: How your searching for love led you to the Marauders

Notes: English is not my first language, use of Y/n, James was dating Lily but then stared dating Wolfstar, just started writing so maybe shit lol

Dating wasn’t easy, not when you were a student at Hogwarts where everyone was in each other business and you couldn’t do anything without it being the hot topic all around the school the next day. Also, being a Slytherin was view as being a snobbish bitch, which didn’t really help your dating life. And still, you wanted to be loved and love with your whole heart.

“I know you’re not studying, darling.”

Your thinking was disturbed by a calm voice that belong to no other than Remus Lupin. You had no idea, how your friendship with the marauders began. Maybe it was when you were 11 and James Potter helped you find your class, when you were wandering lost around the Castle. Maybe it was when you were 13 in a potion class and your hair was falling into your face and Sirius Black gave you his scrunchie so you won’t fuck up the potion because you couldn’t see. Or was it when Remus Lupin gave you his chocolate when he found you frustrated in the library over a stupid homework when you were 12? You really didn’t know, but the golden boys of Gryffindor were your best friends and you wouldn’t change a thing, even if you were secretly hoping, that you could be more.

“I am studying.” You tried to defend yourself, even if you were lost in your thoughts for the last 10 minutes. Remus gave you un unimpressed look as if trying to tell you that he knew you were lying.

“You were just staring at the page for Merlin knows how long, you can’t fool me, darling.” You were sure that the pet names, that each of the marauders gave you would be the end of you yet you would probably really die if they stopped with them.

“Maybe I’m just really interested in this page,” you tried once again, but you knew you were doomed. “Pff, even Moony doesn’t stare that long at a page when it’s interesting. What’s on your mind, hm?” James joined the conversation, ditching his homework.

“This Slytherin boy I’ve been seeing wants to take things to the next level,” you admitted, thinking about the conversation you had this morning. Sirius raised his head, that was comfortably in Remus’ lap, suddenly intrigued in the conversation as well. All 3 pairs of eyes were on you, all of them having a different emotion in them. You squirmed in the silence, hoping one of them would break the silence. After a few seconds Sirius was the first to speak.

“Who was it again? So I can break his face the next time I see him.” You blinked at him, surprised by his violent tendencies. You didn’t know what kind of reaction you expected, but it definitely wasn’t this. Not knowing what to say you just stared at him, but thankfully Remus came to your aid.

“Come on, Pads. Maybe Y/n wants to take things to the next level and I’m pretty sure broken bones would kind of ruin that.” He scolded the raven haired boy, but gave you a curious glance, wondering what was your answer.

“I told him I’d think about it, but I don’t really know what I should tell him. He’s nice and everything, but I feel absolutely nothing when I’m with him,” you answered the unsaid question of all three boys. “Good.” was the immediate answer from Sirius, but James jumped in before he could say anything else. “Is that what’s bothering you, sweets? If you don’t want to be with him, just say it.” He took you hand, when he notices you picking on your nails, a nasty habit you did whenever you were nervous.

It took you a second before answering, looking at yours and James’ joined hands.

“I guess I just expected more, ya know? When he first asked me out, I think I said yes just because I was so surprised anyone would find me attractive or interesting enough to want to go out with, especially someone I just met on hallways and saw in the common room, someone who didn’t know me and I was so eager to go with him because I was hoping I’d finally find someone I could be really happy with. Feel the butterflies and the love and all that shit but that didn’t happen. I don’t feel anything when I’m with him and I don’t know what to do now that I know it’s not what I hoped for.” You were quiet for a second, the boys not interrupting you. They knew you and knew you had more to say.

“But maybe I should be his girlfriend, take things to the next level. So what if it’s not like what I dreamed of, we can’t always have what we want and it’d nice to be someone’s girlfriend. Be with someone who cares about you is always nice, am I right? It could also help me stop feeling like a fourth wheel whenever we hang out and you’re acting all coupley while I’m just kind of there.” You spilled how you felt without being able to stop yourself. Was it the best choice? Maybe not, but you really needed to talk to someone about your feelings and you trusted them and knew they would never judge you.

“Surprised anyone would find you attractive enough? When was the last time you looked into a mirror, pet? Your are by far the most gorgeous girl in Hogwarts. But don’t be fooled, we don’t hang out with you for your looks, but because of how you make us feel. How you make us laugh when we’re sad, how you take care of us and do everything you think we might need, because of how amazing you and your personality is. Everybody would be proud to call you theirs. I’m actually surprised it took this long for someone to ask you out. I would have done it ages ago if I knew I’d stood a chance.” You lifted your head to look at Sirius, finding him looking at you in disbelief. You were definitely surprised by his words. You felt warmth spreading inside you body, thinking about his words. I would have done it ages ago if I knew I’d stood a chance, what did he mean by that? But before you could ask, Remus continued Sirius’ speech.

“Being with someone just to not be alone isn’t really a healthy thing, love. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be with this guy, do whatever you want, you are your own person and no one can tell you what do. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t waste your time dating someone you don’t feel any connection with. If you want butterflies, go find someone who makes you feel butterflies. You deserve so much more than to be with some bloke who doesn’t meet your expectations. Don’t lower your standards for anyone. And we never, ever wanted to make you feel like a fourth wheel, and we’re really sorry we did, love. If you’d feel more comfortable, we could stop acting all coupley, as you’ve put it, and be much less PDA with you. Whatever makes you happy and feeling the most comfortable with us.” Even tho he tried to mask it, you could see the hurt on his face and hear it in his voice. You didn’t think that your words would hurt them, that was the last thing you wanted.

“Listen to me and listen carefully, can you do that, sweetheart? I always thought that being with Lily would make me the happiest man in the world, that’s why I was trying so hard to get together with her. But when it finally happened I wasn’t happy. I tried so hard to love her, but I realized that I never did, I just loved the idea of her loving me. I wanted the same thing you want now. Everyday I saw how Pads and Moony are in love and I wanted that, just not with Lily, as I’ve come to realize. We were both unhappy so why should we stay together? Breaking up with her was the best thing ever, because it led her to be with Mary and I found my way to my boys. And let me tell you, being with them is the happiest I could ever be. And with you by our side. If you don’t feel happy, don’t waste your time with him. You may thing that it’s gonna be okay and you’ll find what you want, but it’s only gonna leave you miserable in the end,” James added.

You tried to wrap your head around everything what was said, but it left you confused. You knew you didn’t want to be with the Slytherin boy, you wanted to be part of the relationship these boys had, but you knew it wouldn’t be possible. But maybe they were right and being in a relationship just to be in one was stupid.

“I never want you to start acting differently or hide your relationship around me That’s the last thing I want and I’m sorry if it came out like I did. I love seeing you all in love, I really do. I feel the most comfortable when you are being yourselves, so please don’t ever change that,” you started to explain. You knew that if you didn’t say anything now, you never would. “I guess I’m just a little jealous that I could never be part of the love you share, you know? I think I want to be with someone so bad so I would stop feeling the need to be with you. Everyday I see how happy you are and I feel jealous because I know I’m not the reason you are happy. I stared something with this boy because I was hoping it would make these feeling stop, but if anything it has gotten worse. Every time he did something, the only thing I could think about was that you would do it differently,” you ended your speech, feeling nervous about what they would say. Would they reject you? Make fun of you? They would never do that told you the voice in you head and you knew it was right, you just didn’t know what to expect now.

“Then let us. Let us treat you like royalty, like you deserve. Let us love you like you deserve, let us be yours and let yourself be ours. Let us take you out and show you what love is supposed to feel like. Please, just let us, pet,” Sirius almost begged. You looked at him in surprise once again, and saw nothing but determination and love in his eyes. He really means it. You looked at the other two boys and found the exact same expression. You wanted to respond so bad but the only thing that you were able to say was just a soft what?

“We’ve talked about this quite a long time ago, we just didn’t know what to do,” James stared to explain. “We weren’t sure if you felt the same way and we didn’t want to ruin what we have now. But we’ve fallen, sweetheart. We fell so hard for you, you had us wrapped around your finger from the beginning and you didn’t even know it.” James gave you a small, almost shy smile.

“We knew that it could be weird, especially when we’re already in a relationship, but if you want us, love, we are yours and always have been. Be ours as well?” Remus finished for him. All of them waiting impatiently for your response. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. You blinked a few times to wake up, but it wasn’t a dream. Actually, it was a dream comes true. You always wanted to hear them say they want you the same way you wanted them. A huge smile formed on your face

“I am yours, always will be.”

Your newfound relationship was the talk of the school for days to come, but the three Gryffindor golden boys didn’t seem to care. About the rumors, about you being a Slytherin, about anything really. If anything, they were proud that the whole school talked about them. Talked about you being with them. Everything was finally how it should be and none of you couldn’t be happier.

[aeligsido]

[WM — September 2024] Prompt 5 — Spell.

Rating: G.

TW: none.

Characters: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black; guest appearances of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.

Additional Tags: first war against Voldemort (technically); established relationship; Neville & Harry are babies; domesticity; fluff; this is just Sirius and Remus being very in love I promise.

Summary: Sirius wonders if babies can cast spells.

Words count: 800.

A/N: Hey!! I’m having a bit of a hard time writing but I managed to get this one out — it came a bit less on the humor side as I wanted and more on the fluff side, but I'm not mad honestly, I like it better this way! Hope you like it 💕

@wolfstarmicrofic

read on ao3.

-

When Remus came back into their room with two mugs full of hot chocolate into his hands, it was to immediately notice Sirius’ absence from their bed. With a quickly raised-and-gone-down eyebrow, he turned around to cross the corridor, passing James’ and Lily’s door to enter the nursery.

As he suspected, Sirius was sitting in front of the crib — big and carefully settled with various wards and protective runes Remus couldn’t even recognize —, watching the babies sleep. His eyes were not leaving the pattern of their small chests, rising and falling and rising again. He looked enraptured, enamored, even.

Remus took a minute to lay his own eyes on the boys; Neville with his rosy skin and faint blond hair and his mouth open in his sleep, Harry with his brown skin and already wild dark hair and his small hands closing and opening in time with his breathing. They were so tiny, and so precious, and so—

“Moony,” softly said Sirius, not once looking up at him and yet still giving him a part of his attention, “do you think babies can cast spells?”

Remus let himself fall beside his husband, carefully handing him his mug of hot chocolate. Then, he looked back to the boys, and couldn’t stop the warmth in his heart, nor the smile at his lips.

“It does feel like it, doesn’t it?”

“They’re so perfect.”

They were, agreed Remus — he didn’t even have to say it out loud either. None of them could stop saying it since the boys were born, already weeks ago, just weeks ago. It felt like forever and nothing at all, and the fear and excitation for the future, their future, was constantly palpable.

They stayed here in silence for a little while, shoulder to shoulder, sipping at their warm drink and enjoying each other’s presence. Then—

“Do you think we could get one of ours, one day?”

Remus wondered, a brief instant, if Sirius had to reunite all his courage for this simple question. It felt enormous, like being at the verge of a precipice you hadn’t noticed the presence of, like the free fall of a lifetime, like the dive to safety in the middle of a storm.

Looking at Neville and Harry, it felt so terribly easy.

“I think I would like it,” he answered softly, so softly he would have worried Sirius hadn’t heard him if they hadn’t been pressed against each other.

He could imagine it with so much clarity — a child with his curls and Sirius’ grey eyes, with dark or sandy or plain brown hair, maybe freckles, maybe tanning in the summer and a smile to the sun and laughing hard and fast, with small hands which would fit perfectly into theirs and a small life tucked against their hearts.

“Yeah?” Sirius tilted his head, looking at him now, face so open and so tender Remus could lose himself in it.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

He took Sirius’ hand, squeezed it, and Sirius looked like the whole goddamn galaxy, unable to stop emitting the most beautiful light.

“We should probably practice, you know.”

“The child-rearing?”

“The conception.” Sirius gave him one of his small, cheeky grins, and Remus let out an equally as small but amused laugh.

“I don’t think it's how it would work for us,” he pointed out, biting his lips to stop them from widening in mirth.

“We won’t know for sure if we don’t try, won’t we?” Sirius retorted without missing a beat.

“I thought you were under a spell?” Remus waved toward the still thankfully sleeping children, and Sirius took a few seconds to look over at them, completely besotted, before coming back to him with yet another one of his signature grins — the one saying he has a plan, truly, and he’ll get what he wants, because he’s Sirius Black and nothing will stop him.

“Lily said something about Muggle fairy tales and True Love's kisses breaking spells…”

“Would I be your True Love, then?” It sounded perhaps a bit too honest, a bit less joking than Remus intended; it only softened Sirius’ gaze, and made his own heart beat faster under it.

“I choose my True Love,” affirmed Sirius, his tone final, his hand soft as it came stroking his cheek. “And I choose you.”

Remus melted, his stomach fluttering and his cheeks warming under Sirius’ hand. No matter how long they’ll be together, how many times Sirius will make this type of declaration — Remus was so, so weak for it.

“Sap,” he said still, too soft and tender to be anything else.

“You love it,” replied Sirius.

His hand slid to Remus' neck, and then they were kissing; and maybe they were under a different kind of spell, now, yet still one of love and wonder.

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 6.2 K Warnings: none Prompt: As Hogwarts days begin, challenges arise, with exhilarating morning flights, and laughter filled environments. Secret struggles surface but a caring gesture from Remus and the Marauders promises to uplift spirits and forge lasting bonds. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Good times

As you walked inside the Gryffindor common room for the first time Lily was sitting on the couch, but stood up the minute you showed up “There you are! I was worried sick!” She told Remus, gave James a look of disdain and turned back to the taller boy  “I thought you’d be faster to bring her here.” 

“The staircase wasn’t cooperating,” Remus explained. “We had to use a different path.” 

“At least you didn’t get caught.” She said taking a deep breath and sitting back down on the couch, now finally relaxing a bit. 

“I brought some food from the kitchens,” said Peter, pulling out a kerchief tied at the top and placing it on the table in front of the fire. “It’s just some scones with cream and jam, but I thought we might get hungry.” 

“Thanks, Pete,” Lily said as she untied the knot and the top and grabbed one of the little treats. 

Then the portrait opened again, letting someone else inside. 

You stood just behind Remus, turned towards Lily rather than the entrance but the moment you heard that voice, you froze. It's Sirius.

“Excellent job guys!” He said with a bright smile. Remus turned to him and shot a warning look, to point out they weren’t alone. Sirius saw Lily and nodded “With the evacuation of the great hall–“ he corrected “It was brilliant how you handled it, Lils, Moony, you’re both top tier prefects.” 

James rolled his eyes but then a smile appeared on his face, a very James-like smile in fact, filled with charm and mischievousness. “We’ve actually got something to show you.” He said and unexpectedly pulled you from behind Remus in a way that you’d end up facing Sirius instead. 

And damned merlin, Sirius was even more beautiful than you remembered. You’d like to think you’d made peace with the idea of being ghosted, with the idea of never seeing Sirius again, but standing right in front of him, now taller, with broader shoulders, longer hair, and the same stunning eyes, made you want to apparate to anywhere but there. So you just awkwardly smiled and waved, hoping he wouldn’t just storm out of the place without even saying a word.

“(Y/N)? What… what are you doing here?” He asked with a frown.

“Hey to you too, old pal,” you said, struggling to not sound as awkward as you felt. 

“She’s here Pads!” Said James excitedly, “She’s gonna study with us!” 

“Yeah,” Peter added, “She transferred this year like you wished she would back in the day.” 

To that you raised an eyebrow, you’d seen his friends get excited when you introduced yourself to them, but it seemed weird that after ghosting you, Sirius told his friends he wished you were a student in Hogwarts “And here I thought you’d never want to see me again,” you said with a bit of a teasing smile towards him, trying to hide the doubt that still lingered in your brain. Could it really be that it had all been some kind of misunderstanding? 

“What?” He asked, visibly confused.

“Since you never replied to any of my letters…” 

He seemed shocked for a moment and then exhaled in a defeated tone “Walburga.” 

“Your mom?” You asked frowning before it downed you “Your mom.” 

He nodded “I did always wonder why you never tried to reach out.” 

You thought about what he said for a moment and then smiled “Seems like we have a lot to catch up on then.” 

Then James placed an arm on top of Sirius's shoulder “And I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to do that, but now we must go to bed. Tomorrow we’re flying first thing in the morning. We gotta practice before we open the tryouts.”

“Which positions are you missing?” You asked him before anyone had the chance to stop you. Once James started talking about quidditch, it was hard to get him to shut up again.

“We lost a keeper and 2 chasers,” James explained “They were from 7th and graduated last summer.”

“And you fly in the mornings, always?” You asked surprised. 

“Gotta stay in top shape, I’m the captain after all.” 

“Oh, that’s amazing. Mind if I join you tomorrow? I wanna test my luck on the tryouts.” 

He raised an eyebrow “Which position?” 

“Uh… I used to play seeker,” he winced at that, “but I’ll try for keeper I guess, I’ve got good eyes for catching things,” you replied with a smile. 

“Careful Potter, she may come take your place!” Sirius teased, “All though, for all I know she might be terrible at flying.” 

With Sirius teasing you like that, it was as if all those years hadn’t gone by, no resentments, no suffering. Just the two of you, continuing on where you left off. “Oh, isn’t that right? You promised me a race a couple of years ago, but that never played out.” 

“Is that a challenge?” He asked but when you were about to reply Lily stood up and placed her arm over your shoulder. 

“Might have been,” She said “But we must now go to our room,” she said pointing at you and herself “and you must go back to sleep if you really want to wake up at 5AM.” 

“5 AM?” Frowned Sirius. 

“Classes start at 7 tomorrow, if you want enough time for flying and breakfast, you’ll have to get up then.” She said before dragging you towards the stairs.

You turned your head, finding it hard to stop staring at Sirius, it was almost like a dream. “Good night boys,” You said, waving at them as you followed behind Lily, Sirius also had a hard time to stop staring at you as you walked next to the red headed girl. 

As you were halfway up the stairs she whispered “It’s a terrible idea to challenge Sirius like that, knowing him, he’ll make a spectacle of the race.” 

You stopped for a minute, looking at Lily with a cocky grin “It’s only a bad idea if I lose.” 

She rolled her eyes with a smile “I barely know you, and so far I can tell you’re just as thick headed as that lot,” she said as she nodded towards them. “Let’s go, I’ll show you our room.” 

“We’re together?” You asked with a smile. 

She nodded, mirroring your expression “We were the only room with only 3 girls.” 

Inside the room were Mary and Marlene, Mary was sitting on her bed while reading a book and Marlene was drying her hair with a towel near a door, which you assumed would be the bathroom. “That’s your bed,” Marlene said, pointing at the bed closest to the door. “It was here when we got to the room, that’s how we figured you’d be with us.” 

“That and the trunk with your name on it,” said Mary looking up from her book “We thought you’d gotten lost in the ordeal, but Lily told us you were with Remus.” 

“We would’ve gone out to find you otherwise,” added Marlene. “Lily wanted to go even if you were with Remus but we told her you’d be alright.” 

“You wanted to go get me?” You asked, turning towards her.

“I felt responsible for leaving you on the stairs,” she explained “I didn’t want you to get in trouble because of me.” 

“Thank you,” You told her with a smile. Lily went for a shower and you started to unpack your stuff. Marlene approached you when you pulled your broom out and you talked about quidditch until Lily was out of the shower, at which point you let Marlene have the broom and went for a shower yourself. 

When you were back in the room Marlene had already placed your broom on a broom stand on the wall. “It deserved to be admired,” she’d said when you noticed and you nodded with a smile. After that, you’d all gotten comfortable in your beds and the lights were turned off.

“Good night girls,” You said with a smile, after months of feeling lonely, you finally started to feel like you belonged somewhere again. And you were so glad the hat had placed you in Gryffindor, with these girls, who had been all incredibly nice to you, and you were even happy you’d met Remus and his friends, who seemed like they would get you in so many adventures and mischief. 

In the morning you were awoken by a small little metal bird picking on your face lightly, it was your mom’s gift before you got to the school, a very elegant cuckoo clock, she’d bought at a furniture store in Diagon Alley. Even if it took you a minute to fully comprehend what was going on you silently stood up and changed, pulling a thick wool sweater over your head and a pair of training pants, thick and sturdy in case of falls. All though, because they were the same you had since you were in the team back at your older school, they were a little tighter than you remembered. Perhaps you really had a growth spurt over the summer. 

 You grabbed a pair of goggles, your broom, and sneaked out of the room without making any noise. James was already in the common room, tapping his foot as he looked up at the stairs, hair just as messy as the day you’d met him. He looked up at you and smiled. “How is it that you take less time to get ready than Sirius?” He said and then took a deep breath “I guess it  is because it’s Sirius who’s getting ready.” You raised your eyebrows in response “He’s brushing his hair,” James complained. You just laughed, longer hair’s harder to care for, but being told about Sirius’ vanity by his roommate was just hilarious. That was when Potter noticed your broom “Is that a Dark Nimbus?” He asked, staring at it from behind. 

You nodded “Brand new, mom got it for me to try and make me feel better about moving.” 

He stood up and got closer to take a look at it “It’s stunning!” He said with a smile as he accommodated his glasses to see better. “I have a Starmist,” he said pointing towards his broom behind him. “I got it last year, I'd like to see how she fares against your Nimbus.” 

“Well, we’ll get to see it today,” You replied with a smile, that’s when you heard a door close and the two of you turned towards Sirius, who was walking down the stairs with a SweepFire he’d had for a couple of years, but that looked well cared for, it had been James’.

“Why are you wearing green?” He asked as soon as he saw you. 

You looked down at your sweater and saw it change to burgundy right in front of your eyes, frowning and turning towards him “Did you just… magic dyed my sweater into a different colour?” 

“Can’t be seen flying around with someone wearing Slytherin house colours,” he said as he continued walking towards the door “It’d ruin my reputation.” 

You raised your eyebrows and gave James a questioning look, he just shrugged in response and followed behind Sirius, you caught up with him shortly after. As you walked down towards the patio James told you all about being Team Captain and how he had to make sure everyone was in top shape. “After the tryouts, it’s not just gonna be flying in the mornings, we’ll have practice at least 4 times a week with the whole team.”

Once on the patio, the three of you got on your brooms. And per James’s instructions did 5 laps around the castle. It was a chilly morning, so you were glad you’d put on the thicker sweater. Once you were done James pulled a quaffle and you all passed it between each other. At some point, He shot it a little farther behind you and you had to fly back to get it, bumping into Sirius and causing him to lose balance.

You responded quickly, stabilising his broom with yours and pulling his arm to stop him from falling, he’d managed to catch the quaffle with his other hand. James had flown towards the two of you as quickly as he could but by the time he arrived you were already pulling Sirius back up and laughing about it. “Maybe we should get some of those muggle hooks so you don’t fall off your broom,” you told him with a small knock on his arm. 

“Hey, even without them, I’ve caught it more times than you!” He said with a proud smile. 

“Not true!” You said trying to take it from his hands “That was my catch!” You nodded towards the ball in his hand as you attempted to grab it, Sirius used one of his hands to keep you back while he stretched the other arm to maintain the quaffle out of your grip. 

“This one? But it’s in my hands.” 

“No! I caught you, you caught it, it’s mine by right of catching you first.” 

James raised his eyebrows at the exchange and smiled mischievously as he flew towards Sirius' other arm and grabbed the quaffle, flying as fast as possible in another direction. He loved flying, like he always had, but he loved the fact that his best friend was genuinely smiling even more. It wasn’t very often that Sirius smiled like that since he’d run away from his house over the summer.

“Oi!” Sirius complained as he saw James fly by and then turned towards you with a look, with a small smile and a raise of his eyebrows he communicated his plan. 

You nodded mirroring his expression and the two of you turned your brooms towards James, flying side by side to corner him. 

Once by his side, the two of you threw your hands toward James and tried to take the ball from him. Sirius managed to take it and from slightly above shouted, “Whoever gets to the courtyard with the quaffle in their hands wins!” He then threw the ball as far as he could. 

You smiled at that and plummeted towards the direction the quaffle was thrown. You caught it just before it reached the floor. 

James, who was still stunned by having the ball stolen from his hands so quickly, saw the entire thing from his broom “Wow!” he said genuinely surprised “She’s really good.” He then flew towards Sirius, who had already managed to take the ball from your hands. You managed to get your hands on the ball again and flew backwards towards James. 

“Hey, James!” You called the boy, flying upside down above him “Would you mind telling me where the courtyard is?” You asked politely. 

He gave you a pouty look and flew upwards, taking the quaffle back in an unexpected movement. And as he flew ahead turned back with a teasing smile “Sure thing (Y/N), I’ll take you there!” He shouted before flying towards the courtyard with the quaffle itself in his hands. 

“You cheat!” You shouted with a grin and flew behind him, trying to catch up. Sirius was already hovering close to the courtyard and was planning to stop James by flying in front of him, but didn’t realise you were flying so close behind him that the moment the three of you were close enough you all crashed onto each other and started falling a few feet towards the grass. 

“Arresto Momentum!” Someone screamed from the courtyard and the three of you froze for a moment, once you moved again the impulse forced the three of you towards the grass, pulling a couple of metres of it along with the you. The brooms had gone flying in all directions and then, you all ended up tangled against each other. 

“James?!” Asked Lily who had been the one to cast the spell. “What in the bloody– Are you wankers?!” 

The moment you saw her you started laughing, so much so that you didn’t remember the last time you’d laughed so openly, you were almost crying. Sirius and James laughed alongside you, as Lily stared with apprehension. You soon realised you had your head on top of Sirius' back and your feet under James’ torso. When the laughter died out the three of you helped each other stand up. You had scraped your knee and leg, James had scraped his arm and Sirius’ lip was parted. 

Lily started scolding you once you were up “Look at you three! You could’ve gotten seriously hurt!” She said and then gave Sirius a warning look before he made it a joke of his name “You can’t pull (Y/N) into your dangerous games like that!” 

“But she started it,” complained Sirius brattily “She almost threw me off my broom.” 

“That was an accident!” you argued back with your finger raised. “I was gonna catch the ball.” 

“You shouldn’t reverse without looking first,” he said with both of his hands raised in defence “basic flying principles.” 

“But I did look! You appeared out of nowhere.” 

Lily rolled her eyes and took a deep breath as he saw the two of you bicker. Then James started to look around “So who won?” He asked with a frown, to which Lily crossed her arms and stared at him. 

“Well, I had the ball right before we reached the floor,” You said.

“Yeah, but it fell off your hands as soon as you took it from James and bounced back straight to my face,” He said pointing at his parted lip. 

“ALL RIGHT! “ said Lily, shutting everyone up with a clap. “Nobody won, you’re all losers, now, I’m gonna take (Y/N) back to the room so she can put on her uniform before breakfast. I’m sure Marlene should have something to put on her scrape.” 

“What about mine?” Asked James pulling his arm up with a pout. 

“Well you can take care of it yourselves, after all you know full well where the nurses’ office is,” she responded and pulled you towards the castle. 

“Please tell me you will be more careful next time you fly with them?” She said stopping you before you reached the stairs and looking straight into your eyes “I know it can be tempting to play their game but, James and Sirius don’t have a straight sense of danger, I swear they’ve been to the nurse's office over 100 times each.” 

You nodded “I got caught up in the fun,” You said as you started to feel the pain in your leg once the adrenaline faded “Lily, I hadn’t flown like that in, years,” you admitted “I wasn’t thinking when I launched myself behind Potter and then Sirius came out of nowhere,” you told her “I couldn’t break on time.” 

“On quidditch games there’s supervision. Who knows how much worse you’d be if I hadn’t been there!” She said finally exhaling. You looked down and nodded. Then she leaned in closer “But I do believe you won,” she whispered with a small smile motioning for you to follow behind her. 

That left you stunned. Up until that moment, you’d thought Lily was all about following the rules and not having all that much fun, especially since she was a prefect. But that moment proved you wrong. Oh the adventures you’d have with her in the castle, they all awaited you. 

Lily took you back to your dorm where you took a really fast shower and changed into your uniform. Marlene didn’t really have anything for your scrape but Mary did, she wanted to become a Mediwitch so she’d been testing some simple potions back at home and gave you one. The pain had gone in an instant but the area still looked scraped when you pulled your socks over half of it. After that, the four of you walked towards the dining hall together to have breakfast. 

Once you arrived you saw the boys sitting all together on the farther side of the table, along with most people of your year. There was an empty spot next to Remus, who had his head buried in a book, so you sat next to him, Lily plopped down right next to you while Mary and Marlene sat in the front. 

“How are you?” asked Remus as Lily talked about the schedule with Beth and another girl from your year, you looked at him confused and he nodded towards your leg “Heard about the fall, how Lily saved your asses,” he explained. 

“Oh,” you replied “Well, It’s alright, looks a lot worse than it feels,” you said pointing at your leg, “Mary gave me some cream potion ting to put on wherever the pain comes back.” 

“Want some chocolate?” He said, pulling a small bar from his pocket “It always helps when I’m feeling beaten down.” 

You nodded, he broke a piece off and handed it over to you. It was rather soft from his body heat, but you preferred soft chocolate to the hard bars so you enjoyed it quite a lot “How are the boys?” You asked him. 

“Oh don’t worry about them,” he told you “They’re used to being scraped all over, they said they had lots of fun tho, it was nice seeing Sirius happy about morning flying, he usually complains about James forcing him to wake up early and ruining his beauty sleep.” 

“Beauty sleep?” You asked while holding back a laugh “With those words?” 

Remus nodded, smiling too “You’d be surprised by the kind of things he says sometimes, with his posh vocabulary. He’s like a princess.” 

“Well I mean he does look like one,” you agreed and tensed right after, but Remus only nodded while glancing at Sirius. 

Then Lily gently tapped on your forearm, “hurry and finish up,” she said, nodding at your plate, “our first class starts in 15, and we still have to walk there.” You nodded in response and started munching on your toast faster, gulping down your tea along the way to help the bread soften in your mouth. 

When everyone was standing up you grabbed your leftover bread, threw some hazelnut spread on it and bent it from corner to corner, to take it along with you. And then you followed everyone towards your first class.

 In the classroom, a very small teacher, standing on top of a podium, awaited for you to arrive. He introduced himself as Professor Flitwick, but you quickly realised that he had only done it for you since everyone else already knew him. He mentioned something about how in this class you’d learn wordless magic and started to explain the basic concepts of it. You, as the rest of them, took notes of the things the teacher was saying with your quill. 

After Charms, you had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, which had been, in all honesty, rather complicated for you. While you were certain McGonagall was a brilliant teacher, you had a hard time grasping the art of turning teapots into ferrets and ferrets into teapots, and that was without even thinking about the fact that down the line, you’d have to transform people into animals too.  

Your third class was divination, and while you were relatively good at it, you were never really attracted to the art of predicting the future, since you’d had bad experiences in the past. Divination is only fun if you’re guessing good things that will happen, like who will win the Quidditch Championship or small things like “It’ll rain tomorrow.” But when you guess sad or tragic things, people stop liking it, and you along the process, that’s why you had dropped the course back in your old school. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do that here, since it wasn’t an optional class. 

A tall dark skinned professor walked inside the round classroom that stood in the farthest part of the North Tower. He was wearing a long green robe and had a very mysterious aura going around him. “My name is Aurelius Spellman,” he said in a very deep voice “I’ve met some of you before, some of you are in my class for the first time ever, but, be certain, I know each and every single one of you.” You were sitting next to Marlene in that class and you raised your eyebrows at her in a poking manner, she giggled.

“McKinnon, (Y/LN), Would you mind sharing the joke?” He said turning to face you. You instantly sat straighter and shook your head, “I’d like to see if what I’ve heard from Professor Ashbourne is true, she wrote to me all about your talents.” He said, giving you a stern look. 

“I have no talent sir,” you lied, Ashbourne had been your divination teacher back in your older school, she had continuously pressured you to pursue your abilities until you predicted something that made you quit it for good. You did not like Professor Ashbourne one bit. “My predictions are rarely any  accurate, I’m especially bad with classic fortune telling such as Xylomancy and Arithmancy.” 

“What about cards?” He said placing an old Spanish deck on your table. 

You took a deep breath and pushed them back “I thought we were going to follow the curriculum,” you said steadily, “Don’t we have to do runes first?” 

He raised an eyebrow at you “Miss (Y/LN) is -in fact- correct, 10 points for Gryffindor, this first unit we will be looking at the art of reading ancient runes. Please open your books on page 50. Potter, start reading, will you?” You exhaled the moment he started paying attention to James’ reading instead of you. 

At the end of the class, he divided some stacks of runes and handed them over to the students at random. You had to study their meanings and write what the runes would mean when combined with other things. It was really easy since you had already done runes in your old school, but you were thankful you weren’t actually reading someone’s future and had just a random set of runes instead. 

Once the class was over you rushed outside as fast as possible, escaping while some girls walked towards the teacher to ask him about the meaning of some runes, you really didn’t want him to call you regarding the whole Ashbourne thing. You had walked down the stairs so fast you didn’t even realise you’d left everyone behind, you leaned back onto a wall and allowed yourself to rest for a bit, heavy breaths becoming softer the more time passed. 

Remus spotted you from a couple of steps higher as he walked down, and after noticing your distress decided to approach you. “You all right?” He asked softly, as if not to startle you. 

You turned to him and blinked a couple of times before you managed to ground yourself. This was Hogwarts, that was Remus, and you only had to read random runes here, you didn’t need to predict anyone’s future. You nodded in response. “I got wrapped up in my thoughts for a moment,” you excused yourself “I’m not a big fan of divination.”

“I don’t know about your old professor, but Spellman will not pressure you into anything,” he reassured “Besides he already has a star student of his own,” he said nodding towards a small Ravenclaw girl with thick-rimmed glasses who was passing by. 

“Sybill?” You asked, raising one of your eyebrows.

Remus nodded, tilting his head towards you as he spoke “last name is Trelawney.” 

“Hold up, that Trelawney?” 

He nodded again and then smiled “Let’s go get some food, I wanna show you something,” he said and started walking downwards. 

You eyed him suspiciously and followed behind. Instead of taking you to the great hall, he took a deviation, walking down a long spiral staircase until you arrived to a long passageway. There seemed to be nothing but a couple of portraits there. Remus approached one of them, used his wand to make a little pear on the painting to move, and all of the sudden, the portrait opened itself like a door would, just like the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. 

There was a rather narrow and short passageway, and finally, you found the kitchens, an enormous room, about the same size as the Great Hall, with tables positioned in the exact same layout. “The elves use the tables to magically take the food from here to the great hall, it’s right above us,” he whispered as he noticed you observing. 

He then kindly asked some of the domestic elves there to pack some food for you. You saw Nimbletwist among them and waved at her. She smiled and waved back. Once the food was ready the elves handed them over to Remus and he thanked them. You followed behind him as he led you outside. When you approached the door of the castle he pulled a small paper plane from the inside pocket of his robe and swished his wand over it. The plane took off towards one of the halls. 

You frowned as you looked at the plane fly off “The boys?” You asked. 

He nodded, “So they bring dessert.” From then he walked out and guided you through the grounds all the way to the lake.

He pulled out a cloth and extended it over the floor “A picnic?” You asked, raising your eyebrows. 

“It’s a wonderful day,” he said with his arms wide open. 

You looked up with a bit of a frown. “It looks like it may rain soon.” 

“This is England love, it always looks like it might rain soon,” he said plopping down on top of the cloth and pulling out some of the food the domestic elves had prepared. 

Which reminded you of something you wanted to ask “Do they just… give food to whoever asks nicely?” You asked. 

“Most of the students don’t know where the kitchens are,” Remus explained. “Peter found them in second year when we were exploring the castle’s secret passages, he befriended the elves, they give us food whenever we ask them now.” He said as he patted the side for you to also sit on the cloth, you complied. Once you sat beside him he pointed at the lake “Whenever I’m feeling down, I like to come here,” he explained “The giant squid comes out every now and then, it’s relaxing to see him swimming around without any worries to perturb him.” 

Sitting next to Remus, with the light watery breeze, you thought back to the day you’d met him, and how he’d looked like a pirate from the cover of a spicy novel to you. He still looked as handsome as one, but he had much more depth than just a hot pirate. Layers, you thought, this boy has so many layers. You turned to look at the lake and saw the giant squid he’d been talking about. It floated aimlessly for a minute and then went back under the water, it really was as peaceful as Remus had described. 

As you stared at the water you grabbed one of the pork pies and started munching on it “Oh, these are incredible,” you said as you took another bite. 

He nodded “They’re Sirius’ favourites, thought you may like them,” he said as he grabbed his own. As the two of you talked about charms and transfiguration James, Sirius and Peter arrived. 

Peter, who was carrying a basket in his hands, sat down next to you, and turned to Remus as he grabbed a pork pie, “You brought her to your spot.”

“Yeah, she seemed like she needed it,” Remus replied with a shrug, “you guys brought the desserts?” 

Sirius and James were quick to sit in front of the three of you, closing the circle completely. “I got some of those meringue pies you really like,” said Sirius, looking at Remus attentively “and chocolate pudding too.” 

James nodded “he used all his charms on the kitchens,” and then he turned to you “By the way, the Gryffindor tryouts will be on Friday at four,” he said giving you a look “I’ll see you there, yeah?” You nodded in response, “But you won’t get any special treatment just because we’re friends,” he said in a warning tone, you laughed. 

“Yeah right, of course, the Gryffindor Team Captain can’t have a bias,” you replied with a smile as you gave him a small nudge and finished your pie. 

“Which class do we have next?” Asked Peter.

“How do you manage to keep your head in the clouds all the time Wormy?” Asked Sirius as he threw himself back, letting his hair sprawl on the grass, looking absolutely carefree as he took a piece of chocolate fudge to his mouth, looking absolutely prince-like, as always. 

“Wormy?” You asked, turning to Peter. 

“It’s a long story,” he exhaled, “short for Wormtail.”

“Wormtail? Now that’s even worse!” You said with a frown. “But you all gave weird names to each other right? Sirius is Pads, and…” you turned to Remus “You’re Moony.”

“Padfoot actually,” corrected Sirius as he took another bite of his fudge and then pointed at James “He’s Prongs.” 

“Wow, and that’s what you call your friends? I wouldn’t wanna be your enemy…” 

Remus chuckled lightly, looking amused and eventually turned to Peter “It’s Herbology?”

“Herbology?” you asked, turning to Remus with a frown. 

“Last class of the day too, why?” 

“I’m… exceptionally good at getting plants to die,” You explained “Theory and memory, that’s no problem, but keeping them alive… Let’s just say… it’s not among my talents.”

“Wormy’s really good,” said James “And Evans, I’m sure they’d give you a hand.” 

“Last year he kept my plant alive,” Sirius said in agreement “And Moony’s, when he was out of it.” 

Remus pulled his sleeve up a bit and checked his watch, which let you see he had some more scars up his arms as well, “All right boys, time to get going, we need to be at the greenhouses in 15.” 

Sirius took a deep breath and sat back down, joining the rest of you as you put everything back in the basket, Peter held it as the boys guided you to Herbology. 

Marlene was the first one to spot you as you were entering the castle, and she called in for Lily, “Hey Lils, she’s not lost, she was with the boys.” 

At that moment you left the boys behind and walked towards them, “you were looking for me?” You asked her when you stood in front of her. 

“Marlene mentioned how uncomfortable you were at divination, we were waiting for you at the great hall and when you didn’t arrive we started to worry, in my first year I got lost rather often, and some parts of the castle can be very dangerous,” she said stressing the last bit. 

You were moved by how caring Lily was of you, you’d met the girl only a day ago and she’d been more worried about you when she’d thought you got lost than your damn parents when you were exploring muggle London for a week, touching your house only for a dash of sleep before disappearing pretty early in the morning, Lily would be a great mother, you thought. “The boys took me for a picnic,” you explained, “that’s why we didn’t go to the great hall.” 

 She nodded “I should’ve guessed, you’ve gotten chummy with them already.” 

“Well, they are fun to hang out with,” you shrugged, “and of course, I already knew Sirius.” 

“You did?” She frowned, to which you nodded. 

“Met him a couple of years ago on a family vacation,” you explained. 

“Hold up! A couple of years ago? Are you talking about Sirius’ vacation in Mexico?” 

You nodded, “yeah, why?”  Lily started laughing 

“Sirius was hung up on you almost the entire year,” Marlene said as she caught up with you “We knew he’d met a mystery girl when Peter accidentally let it out.” 

“Oh, Was he?” You said with a cheeky smile “You girls are just giving me more fuel to tease him.” 

“Please do! He literally had all the girls crying because he kept ignoring their love letters. Throwing them to the fire and eating the treats he was sent. I was tired of girls asking me to introduce them formally.” 

You laughed while shaking your head, “Ahhh.. this is gonna be a fun year.” 

Soon enough, you all arrived at your classroom. The teacher introduced himself as Mr. Folly and started explaining some of the curative benefits of Spellvine and how it was especially helpful for potions to treat pain. You noticed Mary was especially attentive in class, you guessed it had to do with her goal of becoming a Mediwitch. While you wrote down all the special needs and care specificities of Spellvine the teacher handed everyone their own seed. It was going to be the course’s objective to grow said plant from scratch. 

After class, you went back to the common room and Lily decided to show you the way to the library, so you could do research for homework. Inviting you again to her and Remus’ study group, she said the first session would be on Wednesday. Eventually you went back to the Great Hall and you had dinner with everyone and finally, went back to your shared room.  

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Raead more Marauders Fiction

A/N: Most Poly!Marauders fics are oneshots, where the relationship between characters is already established, and they're all happy and pleased with it. No issues, no drama, but I WANTED the drama. Couldn't find it, so I set myself up to write the story behind the stablished relationship. I wanted to know how they started dating each other, the jealousy, the will they won't they, because getting into a poly relationship can't be an easy task, and I wanted to explore that story. If you're interested: Welcome to Gilded Constellations!

[alltheyoungmoons]

The Gift - pt. II

G - WIP - Part I/? - 1k words - ATYD timeline compliant.

“You’re going to help me?” Lily’s pink lips stretched into a wide smile, her hopes restored.

“Of course, anything to make our Moony happy”, Sirius nodded, chivalrously. “So, let’s start with the things you want to avoid? Easier if they’re out of the way.”

“Alright, so: definitely no sweets, chocolate or cigarettes,” she eyed him severely at the latter, but with a smirk “…he’ll get enough of those as is. No more hand-knitted items either, I just don’t have the time, even if I enchanted my needles to do it on their own - and I’ve been gifting him those since second year anyway…” she kept reasoning out loud, keeping track on her fingers. Sirius was nodding along, realising at that moment how long and how well she knew Remus. She probably was the only other person in the world who knew him as well as Sirius did…almost. Sirius relished in the thought that he would always be number one in that regard “…and no more studying supplies! I’m looking for something that will last far beyond school.”

“Ok, that’s a great starting point” Sirius agreed. “So - books are always a safe choice with Moony, but let’s just keep them as a last resort for now, if you really want to impress him. If we don’t figure out anything better.”

“I agree… he really doesn’t need to do any more reading until the end of school!” she chuckled, “I don’t know how he manages, it’s a miracle he’s still got perfect eyesight!” She shook her head fondly. 

Sirius chuckled at that, too, thinking of all the times he caught Remus with his face so buried in a book you’d think he was snogging it. 

“Right? You’d think he’d be half as blind as James at least, by now” he shrugged, smiling, lowering his voice considerably “I guess being a dark creature has his perks after all…did you know he can see in the dark?”

“He cannot!” Her surprise poking through her whisper.

“Oh yes” Sirius nodded. He was now swinging back and forth on the back legs of his chair. “Caught him strolling in the dark many times - the maniac. First time he gave me a right fright, too."

Lily shook her head disbelievingly - for all she knew about Remus, she must’ve never inquired on the extent of his lycanthropy. 

“Speaking of James,“ Lily grinned “have you ever tried his glasses on? He took them off the other day while we-“ her whole face changed to red “Anyway I put them on, and..” She blinked slowly, leaving her facial expression to convey the sheer shock of this discovery. 

“Of course I’ve tried them on!” Honestly, who did the woman think he was. “Once, in first year, we bet who could last longer, me with his glasses or him without. They made me so sick I took them off after a few minutes, but of course he couldn't see I had, so I just waited until he admitted he couldn’t find our dorm room door to go down to breakfast.” 

Lily rolled her apple green eyes, but she was smiling. 

“It’s incredible how thin the lenses are, too,” she mused, “Muggle glasses for such a prescription would be as thick as butterbeer glass bottoms! A kid in my primary school class had them - they made his eyes so small!”

He tried to imagine James with such a contraption on his nose, struggling to hold in his barking laughter - he was terrified of Pince. He was also quite uneasy in libraries still, but Lily’s presence made it much more bearable. 

“So, books aside then…” Lily went back to wondering what to get their friend. “Isn’t there maybe another magical contraption that could work? Like that compass?”

Sirius knew she was asking him because, being the heir to one of the oldest and most traditionalist “Pureblood” clans in the country, he was basically the resident expert in magical paraphernalia. He felt his thoughts starting to race, raking through the images of the countless useless knick-knacks sitting in display cases in Grimmauld Place, Kreacher polishing them with the care reserved for an infant... Though now, being surrounded by books, it was hard to concentrate on any other object - the more he tried to avoid thinking of them, the more it felt they were the key to solving their problem. Surely the library stored some sort of catalogue…? 

“And to think that when I met you, at any mention of reading you’d have squirmed away as if you’d been chased by a Boggart” Sirius had teased the taller boy as they made their way into Flourish & Blotts, that past December, just before- “Yeah” Remus gave him a sly smile “You’ve created a monster.”

Sirius felt as if he was struck by lightning and slammed the front legs of his chair on the floor. He was grinning madly, and Lily was staring at him. Everything had fallen into place.

“Oh spill it, you peeve me so when you act like this!”

Sirius didn’t have time to argue back - not only was this a great idea, better-than-perfect even, but he was sitting across the only other person who could truly understand the impact of it. 

“So you know how dear ol’ Remus is always reading…”

“Yes, we’ve established that, but we said-“

“But when we first met him,” he interrupted “he didn’t. He couldn’t. I know you know about it, you made him that invisible thing in second year.”

“It’s not invisible, it’s transparent.” She corrected. A note of embarrassment then started in her voice “But yeah… I knew about your spell, too. It was dead impressive, still is, to be honest, but he couldn’t use it during the summer, you know.”

He didn’t know, though, he hadn’t thought about that, and of course Remus had never brought it up. Sirius silently cursed his purebloodness. 

“Right, so, if you were able to turn that plastic sheet into a reading aid…”

(He hoped he pronounced “plastic” correctly. He had mispronounced it once and Mary didn’t let him live it down for weeks.)

“…then you could do the same with glass! Glasses!” Lily was beaming, getting the suggestion right away. The girl was truly smart as a whip.

“Reading glasses” Sirius nodded, grinning wildly. He knew, this was going to work. 

[grassyhorizon45]

Huh??

Part 2 of Who? as per @peachesgaeass's request :D

Remus x DiD!Reader microfic where Y/n has DiD and Remus develops feelings for her :>

Warnings: none :3

Word count: 674

He never got a wave back whenever waved to her in the halls, nor reply when saying hi as she passed. Sirius looked at Remus with pity. He felt bad for him, Remy was just trying to be friendly. 

Remus was walking to class one day when someone tapped his shoulder from behind. He turned to face the very person that had ignored him the past few days.

“Hi! Remember me?” She smiled brightly at him

“Hi… Qi,” Remus mumbled, not wanting to give himself false hope.

“I'm not Qi… It's me, Y/n,” Y/n stuck out her tongue adorably awkwardly.

He really felt like asking her about the weird name switching but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

“Oh. Sorry Y/n… I uh–”

“Could you possibly show me the way to potions class? You see, I tend to get lost easily……”

Wasn't Y/n at potions class yesterday? Maybe…Maybe she did have amnesia.

Y/n tilted her head at him, “You okay Remus?”

“H-Huh, yeah– I zoned out, sorry…”

She giggled, “Happens to me all the time. No worries.”

The two talked for a bit as they walked, getting to know each other better. Then the question came out of nowhere……

“Y/n, would you like to go on a date with me?” Remus asked, feeling blush creep up to his ears.

“A date?”

“Y-Yeah,” he fidgeted with the hem of his robe, avoiding eye contact. “Th-Think about it, yeah?” He added as the door to the potions classroom opened for them.

Y/n just stood there, processing what Remus had just said.

Remus hurried into class and sat down next to the others round back, escaping the awkward moment he'd caused.

“What took you Moons? Slughorn's ‘bout to start,” said James who was smirking at him.

“Lost track of time is all…” Remus muttered, staring at his potions book as if it was the most important thing in the world.

“Riiiiight,” Sirius said, putting an arm around Remus’ shoulders. “Then why all this blushing Moony? Hmm??”

Remus knew he couldn't hide his little crush from them for long, so he was grateful when Sirius somehow let the topic slide.

Not long after Professor Slughorn started his lecture, the door opened and Y/n entered. Wait, that can't be Y/n right? Why's she suddenly wearing Slytherin robes?? Wasn't she with me a second ago? I could've sworn she was wearing red……

The professor stopped his lecture. “Qi! Just the person I was thinking about. Come here. Could you please tell us what this potion here is—”

Remus watched as she answered every question with flying colors and wondered how he'd plucked up the courage to ask someone as smart and lovely as Y/n– (Qi?) out. Well, that's if she says yes of course…

“Whatcha starin’ at Rem?” James’ voice cut through his long winded thoughts. 

“Amortentia,” Remus lied. “Wondering what I'll smell.”

Sirius gave him a glare, one he couldn't really decipher. James didn't spot the lie and went on about what he thought Lily would smell like but Remus, though relieved, couldn't shake the look Sirius had given him from his mind.

~

“You really like her?”

Sirius had taken him aside after class. Remus gulped, “I-I do.”

“R-Right, okay,” Sirius sighed. “Just take care of yourself okay? I don't want your feelings getting played.”

He nodded, “I won't. Thanks Pads.”

Remus was deep in thought as he walked towards his next class of the day…

“Remus! Hi- Hi…” 

“Huh?” He turned to face whoever had called him. “Y/n? Why are you in Gryffindor robes– Didn't I see you wearing Slytherin ones in class?” Remus blurted, not wanting to leave this mystery for his brain to solve.

“Er– Right, you must’ve saw someone else— Oh! I would love to go on that with you by the way,” she beamed.

“Really?” Remus smiled back, the uniform thing slipping his mind.

“Mhm.”

“G-Great!” He felt himself fill up with joy, “Meet you in the astronomy tower at seven?”

“Okies.”

a/n: Is Sirius jealous? :>

[up-to-some-good]

18

Happy birthday, Remus Lupin! One of my comfort characters and my favourites. Here's some birthday fluff to commemorate the occasion :)

3 March 1978

Dear Mrs Lupin Hope Mrs Lupin

I hope you're doing well. I wanted to ask you a favour, if you have the time. Could you send me your recipe for your chocolate cake? As you know, it's Remus's birthday next week, and last night's moon was rough, so I wanted to do something special for him.

I hope it's not too much to ask.

Sincerely,

Sirius O. Black

*

Dear Sirius

Please call me Hope. It makes me feel like an old lady to see "Mrs Lupin". Thank you for your letter, and for taking care of my boy (our boy, really). Attached is my chocolate cake recipe, as requested, though I'm not sure how you plan to bake it, since you're not supposed to be in the kitchen. I won't ask any questions. I know you have your ways.

I've just written to Euphemia to ask if you can come stay with us for part of the summer. I'm sure you have big plans after graduation, but I'd love to see you and Remus for a bit before you go into the world as Real Adults.

Have a good term and don't get into too much trouble.

Love,

Hope

*

As far as birthdays went, Remus's 18th birthday was wonderful. It was a Friday, so his friends had planned a big party for the next night after the Hogsmeade visit, giving everyone a quiet night after the week while still allowing themselves to have some fun.

James had somehow acquired helium balloons, which he had attached to Remus's bag, ensuring everyone who passed him in the corridors wished him a happy birthday.

Sirius had, of course, been endlessly sweet all day, walking him to every class, despite needing to be elsewhere, and bribing the house elves to serve waffles for breakfast.

For the first time in a few months, Remus felt completely calm. Even with his fears for the future and upcoming exams, he could comfort himself with the fact that he was surrounded by people who loved him and wouldn't let him slip through the cracks.

After dinner and a marathon study session with Lily, he wandered back to the dorms. Strangely, there was barely any noise when he got to the door. Usually, James and Sirius would be laughing loudly and chatting at this time of night on a Friday, and they never bothered to cast a muffling charm. Tonight, however, he could only hear noise from the common room filtering up the stairs.

Slowly, he opened the door, in case one of his friends was already asleep. As he stepped into the room, he looked around in awe. Instead of the usual mess and chaos, the dorm was quiet and warm. Someone had charmed the candles to float near the ceiling and cast warm light onto the crimson walls. Soft music was playing from the record player and, somehow, the usual smell that seemed to exist simply because of the room's inhabitants was gone.

Remus turned to his bed and found the source of the change: Sirius. He was sitting cross-legged near the headboard with a small tray containing a chocolate cake and a small box in front of him. Remus grinned and went to sit next to him, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he sat down.

"Happy birthday, Moony," Sirius whispered.

"Thank you, Pads," he responded. "This is so lovely, and just what I needed this week."

Sirius cut them each a slice of cake and handed a plate to Remus, who immediately took a bite, barely waiting for Sirius to pick up his own fork.

"Is this my mom's recipe?" Remus asked quietly.

"Yeah, I owled her for it last week. Is it okay?"

Sirius frowned slightly, checking Remus's face for any signs of discomfort.

"It's perfect, Pads. Thank you."

Remus's eyes started to sting a little as he ate. He hadn't had his mother's chocolate cake on his birthday since he had started at Hogwarts and had sorely missed it.

When they had finished eating, Sirius stacked their plates and picked up the small box from the tray.

"I wanted to give this to you in person," he started nervously. "So you don't feel pressured or anything. I know I already gave you a gift this morning, but this one's a little different and I want you to know that you don't have to say yes now, okay? You can think about it or even say no and I won't be hurt or offended, okay?"

Remus laughed a little, but reached forward to squeeze Sirius's hand in comfort.

"Can I open the gift before you worry about my response?"

Sheepishly, Sirius handed him the box. The wrapping was impeccable, with perfectly folded corners and a ribbon wrapped around it. Remus opened it carefully, trying not to ruin Sirius's hardwork. Inside the box was a small key, attached to a pawprint keyring.

Remus looked up at his boyfriend expectantly.

"I bought a flat," Sirius burst out. "I got my inheritance from Alphard and I went looking in London over Christmas and I found the perfect place so I bought it. There's a fireplace and two bedrooms and so much space for bookshelves. The balcony is tiny, but it's perfect for a little herb garden, and the kitchen has just enough space for two people to move around, and the whole place is just perfect. And I was hoping you'd move in there with me? The whole place is fully paid for, but we can split the costs of water and groceries and that sort of thing, because I know you don't want any handouts, but it can be our place. We can stack your books next to my records and you can drive me crazy by leaving your shoes in the middle of the lounge. In winter we can cuddle by the fire and in summer we can open all the windows and let the breeze in. I know it's a lot, and I'm sure you'll want to talk to your parents and think about it, but I couldn't not ask. And the key's yours, whether you move in or not. But will you? Move in, that is."

Remus looked between his boyfriend and the key, taking in Sirius's wide eyes and the little silver keyring he'd picked out while he processed his little speech.

He could see it so clearly. He'd cook dinner every night and Sirius would wash all the dishes. They'd fall asleep next to each other, the windows open to let in some light. The second bedroom could be his office and he could fill it with research or writing or whatever he was doing and Sirius could study for his healer training in there whole Remus brought him cups of tea and reminded him to take breaks.

"Of course I'll move in with you, Pads," he answered eventually. "I'd love nothing more."

Sirius grinned and pulled Remus into a kiss, sealing the deal. Remus had never seen the apartment, never walked around it and checked it out for himself, but it didn't matter. It was perfect for him for no other reason that Sirius would be in it, and that was enough.

[lauralifeleaf]

Another Problem: Chapter 17

~A/N: Hey! I totally didn't mean to go away for 7 months. Anyway, it's currently my b-day, and thought I would gift you all a new chapter. It's not my best work, but I tried, and that's what matters. Hope you enjoy!~ Laura

Violet's POV

After the last kid had left for the day, I began helping Sun clean up the daycare. "Are you sure you're okay, Starlight? You seem low," Sun asked as he lifted one of the bigger building blocks. I nodded with a neutral look, "Drained for the kids. Trying to recharge a bit before heading to the arcade." Sun tilted his head, "Why the arcade?" "Game night." Sun nodded in understanding as we continued to clean.

A few minutes passed as a knock at the daycare entrance made me stop and hand Sun the coloring supplies that were left out. "I got it," I stated as I made my way to the door. Peaking my head out, I saw Bonnie with his hands in his pockets. "Sup, mate! Mind letting me in?" he asked with a lazy smile. I nodded and opened the door.

Letting him in, I finally looked at his appearance. His rabbit ears were a lovely indigo color with a light purple in the inner ear. One was flipped down while the other stood up. Both ears had been pierced with silver hoops, but his left ear had one extra hoop that was blue. His hair was a similar purple and styled in a messy bun.

He was about an inch taller than Monty and a bit on the thinner side. He had traded his atrocious outfit, a joke onstage, for a red and white collared polo shirt, tight shorts, white socks, and bowling shoes. Looking down, I beamed slightly at the little fluffy tail they gave him.

"Is there something on my tail?" asked Bon as I jumped slightly. "S-sorry, I just zoned out... and your tail is fine." I looked at him, "So, what brings you to the Daycare?" His ears flicked a bit, "Came to meet the attendants. Fred insisted I meet them." I smiled and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the ball pit.

"Sunny! Moony! You guys got a visitor!" I sang out, hearing the faint sound of something crashing in the distance. "I'll be over in a second, starlight!" Sun yelled, probably picking up the mess he made. Moon did not respond, but that made sense as he was probably changing out of his jester outfit. Sun poked his head around the corner a few seconds later and lit up. "Sunny, this is Bonnie. Bon, this is Sundrop or Sun for short," I introduced the two as I let go of Bon's hand.

"Nice to meet you. Fred's told me a lot about you." Sun walked over with the silly walk he did with the kids, making me giggle as he shook his hand. "Why hello, hello! It is wonderful to finally meet you, Mr. Bonnie! Do you like glitter glue? What's your favorite color? Is it true that you can spin a bowling ball on one finger?" Sun excitedly asked as he began to ramble. I smiled, "Sunny. Your rambling again."

Sun stood straight and released his hand, "Oh, sorry! I'm just excited to meet a new friend!" "Your good, mate. I was warned you could get excited easily," Bon reassured with a smile.

Sunny sighed in relief as Moon descended from the balcony in casual clothes and his signature beanie. He also had put in his lip ring piercing that he couldn't wear during the day cause it wasn't "child friendly," according to the higher-ups. It never made sense to me, but it made sense that he didn't want to get hurt due to how curious toddlers can be.

He looked at Bon and waved before heading towards the entrance without a word. "I'm guessing that was Moon?" asked Bon, seeming unfazed by the quiet man. "Yeah. He can be a bit distant and rude sometimes, but I swear he is fun and caring once you get to know him," Sun sighed. "You're good, Sunman. Now, tell me about yourself."

Sun nodded enthusiastically as I looked at my watch, letting them talk to each other. A message from Mr. Prestonwood popped up, followed by a picture of one of the enormous arcade machines in the west arcade. My brows furrowed at the sight of his name.

~~~~~~~~

Fix this.

~~~~~~~~

I sighed as I read the message. 'So much for going to bed early tonight.' I looked up at the two boys, who had finished their conversation surprisingly, with a frown. "I gotta go. Mr. Prestonwood needs something repaired. Sorry to leave you with such a mess," I apologized as I gave Sunny a side hug. "Oh, you've helped plenty, Starlight. I can take care of the rest." He stated as I went to grab my bag. "Have a great night!" he enthusiastically waved before resuming his introduction.

Chip was, thankfully, near my bag, ready to go. I looked at him and yawned, grabbing my bag and placing the rimless shades in the side pocket before picking him up. He chittered angrily before accepting that I was too mentally exhausted to give a damn. I walked out of the daycare with my headphones on and an annoyed squirrel in my arms.

With a neutral look, which some guests told me that it looked like I was unhappy, I walked silently toward the elevators leading to the atrium. While waiting for the doors to open, I felt eyes on me but ignored them as I was too exhausted to deal with them. I knew my appearance usually made people stare, seeing as I was the shortest known android in the building. That or the abnormally large squirrel in my arms.

The sound of the elevator opening brought me back to reality as I moved aside for guests to exit before entering myself. Just as the door was about to close, Bonnie rushed in, out of breath. "Crikey, you're quick," he mumbled as the doors slid shut. "Sorry, but I wanna get this done before I forget about it," I apologized, removing my headphones and placing them around my neck.

"Mind if I tag along? I don't have much to do since they closed the alley early," he offered. I hugged Chip a bit closer as I nodded, already nervous. His first introduction to me this morning was not what I wanted, and I was hoping to have the time to myself, but so much for that. 'Why do I have to be a people pleaser?' I thought as my ears lowered slightly, going unnoticed by the rabbit.

~Some Elevator Tunes Later~

"I know they're here somewhere," I mumbled as Bon watched me look for the toolbox that was supposed to be in the supply closet near the dancefloor. I had let Chip go once we arrived, and he went straight to the vents to hang out with MM. I don't know how he was already good friends with him, but I didn't question it. "You need help?" Bon asked as he leaned on the stage next to my bag. "No thanks."

After looking for another minute, I exited the closet with an annoyed look. "Can't even replace the stupid lightbulb, unbelievable." "Any luck?" he inquired, his ears flicking as I walked up. I shook my head, "Even after reorganizing the entire closet, I couldn't even find the toolbox."

Pulling out my phone, I made a note letting someone know they needed to restock the lightbulbs. "Okay, while I'm here...." I began to talk to myself as I went to repair the machine Mr. Prestonwood had asked me to fix. I ascended the spiral stairs, narrowly dodging one of the S.T.A.F.F. bots gliding past me.

I quickly spotted the machine in question, a unique version of Guitar Hero, and frowned. It was designed for those who play guitar that want a challenge and test how fast they can play. It can play up to four players and is occasionally updated for new songs that come out. Each guitar was styled and themed around the main four. It was really popular during the later hours according to staff.

One of the guitar's strings was missing on one guitar, and the other guitar had been snapped in half. "Oh, my fucking stars," I mumbled while rubbing my temples. "You should stop hanging out with Monts. He's a bad influence on you," Bonnie jokes from behind, making me jump. I forgot he was with me for a second. "I don't typically swear. It's only if someone scares me, I hurt myself, or when I'm pissed off," I replied quietly as I took the broken guitar and looked it over.

There was no way I would be able to fix this, though. The guitar was beyond repair and was missing a massive piece of its neck. I unplugged the guitar and turned to Bonnie, "Can you grab a replacement string? It should be in the supply closet I was in earlier. The second shelf on the left side." He nodded with a salute before leaving to retrieve it.

I sighed as my mind wandered. Something I usually do when I'm tired or don't want to be in the present time. I felt the tight feeling of anxiety creep up as I thought about tomorrow. I couldn't help but feel nervous about performing. I wouldn't lie, but I kinda started to get stage fright.

While still nerve-wracking, the fundraiser was manageable cause DJ helped me calm my nerves. That and the others made it easier to ignore the somewhat small amount of staff that attended that night. Playing in front of about a hundred or so people was one thing. Performing for thousands of people is another.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I unplugged the unusable guitar and brought it back to one of the maintenance rooms. Dropping onto the desk, I left a note as I turned to get one of the replacement guitars. As I went to grab it, a sudden wave of electricity shot through me, followed by an error message. My head twitched as more errors popped up, making my body spasm. I felt myself fall forward before it all went black.

Error! Error!

U̸̜̜͔̾͛̈͊͂̆͘̕n̶̦̮̩͈͒̔̀͝k̸͍̞̺̳̞̮̦̯̇̊̍̓̾̕͠n̶̟̖͒͊̈́͘ǫ̵̖̮̙̲̣͋̅͂̂̒̃́w̵̗̼͎͖͙̃n̶̲̺̲̰̻͗̂̈́͘͘͜͝ ̸̡̦̟̞̲̅̀͒È̷̥͉͈͓̭̥̀͂̑̽́̕͜ŕ̶̗̤̱͓̻̹̜͈͕̦̾̉͋͘͠͝r̵̡̡̙͚̉̂o̶̖͓̼̻̮̞͔͚̫̓͋̐͜ř̴̪̩͉̓͛̇͆̽!̶̢̨̖͇̃͑͋̊͌̽͗

Forced Shutdown and Reboot Initiated.

Rebooting...

Rebooting...

Reboot Successful!

I jolted up, looking around, confused as to why I was on the ground. "What in the-" "Oh, good. You're okay." I grabbed my head, still feeling somewhat out of it, looking up to see Bonnie hovering over me with obvious concern. "What happened, Bon?" His eyes went blue briefly before returning to its usual cherry color. "My scans tell me you had a system error, but nothing to worry about. Had it happened after a major update." I looked at him in confusion, and he chuckled as he helped me to my feet. "Come on. You can fix the machine later. I wanna get to know you better before the others get here."

I was slightly embarrassed that he's helped me twice already. He hasn't even known me for a day and being so nice. "Sorry," I whispered, knowing that despite being so quiet, he would hear me. "For what? Being nice and helping you? Mate, we droids got to stick together. As far as I'm aware, I should be thanking you," he stated with a smile. Looking at him in confusion, he chuckled, "I heard how you met the knucklehead and how you apologized for something that was clearly his fault. He's had a short fuse for as long as I have known him, which scared others away, but I was surprised to know you didn't avoid him." I smiled as I looked ahead, "I tend to have a soft spot for those who are misunderstood or treated poorly by others, I found out. I don't like seeing someone in pain and try my best to help where I can. I'm not the best at showing it verbally, so I offer a shoulder to cry on and such. You'd be surprised how often I get asked for a hug."

3rd Person POV

Bonnie just hummed in acknowledgment. 'No wonder they care for her.' He understood why they were so clear about not doing anything joke-wise until about a week or so of knowing her. She was pretty, he had to be honest, but the soft, sensitive, caring look in her eyes pulled something deep at his wires. He swore he saw something similar to a former employee he knew years ago, but he put that thought away for later. No time to dwell in the past.

"Can I be honest with you?" she asked with a slight blush. "Go ahead. I'm all ears," he stated while wiggling his ears. She let out a small snort before stating, as her ears twitched, "I'm kinda embarrassed about how I introduced myself." He smirked, "You mean when you manhandled Mont? I honestly thought it was fucking gold."

Bonnie chuckled before looking at the elf. She was shaking slightly, making him stop. "Hey, wanna know something embarrassing about me?" She looked at him and nodded. "Believe it or not, I fell face-first into the water traps when I met Monty. Was sparking for weeks due to water sneaking into my endo. He held onto that meeting like candy for the next month and a half." She seemed to relax as a soft giggle escaped her.

Once they got to the stage, Bonnie practically bombarded her with questions. He was quite surprised with some of her answers, seeing as she didn't seem like the type to enjoy certain things. He personally didn't think she would enjoy punk music like Monty and Roxanne, but I guess looks can be deceiving.

"Okay, last question. What's your favorite animal?" "At the moment, snakes and lizards. Mainly the Python Regius." "What?" "Oh, Python Regius is the fancy name for Ball Pythons," she explains with a smile. He chuckled, "Well, I'm not that well versed in reptiles aside from our resident redneck. Mind telling me more about the critter?"

From there, she began to ramble on about said snake with a sparkle in her eye. From different morphs and types to their behaviors and eating habits, she practically lit up when Bonnie asked questions. She didn't realize that she was rambling, too excited to talk about the animal.

It was like she wasn't her typical quiet and awkward mask she wore for the crowds. She felt like she could finally show a part of herself that she kept behind closed doors or around people she trusted. She felt a warm fuzzy feeling buzz inside her as she continued talking to an interested person.

Kinda like an old friend.

R̸̛͈͚̮̳͆̊̉͒̒̾̈́̚ę̶̹͋̈́̕s̸̘͓̪̭̜̥̀̾͐͝t̸̛̛̠̞͎̹͔̦͎̭͒̓̀̔̉͠ö̷͍̦̰̠͖̫̥͓̹̏̃̊̔̇̎̀̽͠ͅr̷̜͓̖͙͓̒̆̅̊͜ą̶̨̛̪̬̈́̑̀̾̿͝ţ̴̤͓̠͊̌̇̂͑̈́̈́͝͝i̸̦̠͕̤̥͓͚̭͎̊͗́͊͒̐̈̍͝ǫ̶̛̹͕͇͂̇́n̶͓̯̬͇͔̝̻̘̲̋̈́̈͊̌͊̑̚͠:̸̲̪̋͊̌̕ ̵̟̃̽͋͜5̴̯̬͖̉̑̔͘͠ͅ%̵͔̙̼̰͖̗̺̻̜̠̐́̄͐̍͊͝

[anticomedygarden]

Keeping the Faith part 2

title from billy joel's 'keeping the faith'

also posted on ao3

Part 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

-

“Hey, Lupin, you looked good out there this morning!” Caradoc Dearborn called from across the hallway. “We got this season in the bag.”

The boy in question was standing at his locker gathering textbooks but looked up at the mention of his name. “I was just throwing some balls around, Dearborn.”

Caradoc’s face split in a grin. “Exactly, Wolfman! You didn’t miss a single shot, not even when Coach started blocking you. You’re gonna win this season for us!” 

Remus blushed. “I don’t know about that.” 

Fortunately, that’s when James, Sirius, Marlene, and Lily finally turned up. Remus had long ago stopped wondering where Peter went during the school day. 

James said, “Moons! Just the man I wanted to see.” He pointed to Sirius. “Tell this idiot ‘Welcome to Duloc’ from Shrek is better than ‘Fearless Hero’ from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” 

Remus raised an eyebrow at Lily and Marlene who gave him pleading eyes. “They did this the whole ride here,” Lily said. 

“She says, as if she didn’t argue the whole way here on the wrong side,” Sirius said. 

She grabbed a lock of red hair. “You’re just too stubborn to see that we’re right,” she responded, crossing her arms. 

Sirius put his hands on his hips. “Marlene disagrees with you.” 

Marlene glanced up from her phone as they all looked at her. “I honestly don’t care,” the blond said. “I just wanted to argue with James.”

“Well, good for you, because he’s wrong,” Sirius said. “‘Fearless Hero’ is deep and it’s not sung by children.”

James whipped his head around and stared at Sirius. “Just because the Duloc song is sung by children doesn’t make it bad! It adds an air of innocence to Shrek that Puss in Boots lacks.”

Lily looked at Remus again, desperate. “Do something,” she begged. 

Remus glanced between James, trying to gauge how important this argument was to him. He raised his voice, making sure he was audible on Sirius’ bad side. “Sirius is right.”

“Ha! I knew it!” Sirius said. “Thank you, Moony, you’re clearly a man of taste.”

James threw his hands up in the air. “No taste, or culture, either of you,” he declared. “Shrek is a fundamental film that teaches people they don’t have to be pretty or normal to be loved, and the Duloc song is a metaphor for the dangers of conformity. Plus, Shrek is way better than Puss in Boots.”

Remus turned to him. “But it doesn’t matter how good the movie is; you’re arguing about the song.” James opened his mouth, but Remus held up a hand. “It’s true that Shrek is better and more fundamental, but the Duloc song is just a short introduction to Duloc itself which is the actual metaphor for conformity. The song is only part of the overall symbolism. Meanwhile, ‘Fearless Hero’ is a recurring motif that at first represents Puss’ hubris, then becomes a symbol for everything he’s actually afraid of which pushes the theme bravery isn’t the absence of fear but the pushing on in spite of it.” Something he knew dearly. 

The others gaped for a moment until Marlene said, “Sorry, James, I can’t argue with that. I’m going to class.” She turned on her heel and walked away. 

Sirius smirked. “What do you think now, Mr. Duloc?”

James set his jaw. “I stand with Shrek.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Stubborn.” 

The warning bell rang, signaling an end to their riveting conversation. 

As they all turned to go to their first hours, Remus happened to catch a glimpse of Severus Snape hurriedly turning away from Remus and his friends, as if he had been eavesdropping. 

Well, Remus thought, I hope he enjoyed our detailed analyses of childrens’ movies. 

-

Marlene glided into her first hour, immediately making a beeline for her usual desk by the window. She smiled when she saw the seat behind hers was already occupied by its usual patron. 

Sitting backwards in the chair, she softly whispered, “Hey, babe,” in the most seductive voice she could muster. 

It had the desired effect. Dorcas jumped about a foot in the air, and her book slammed shut. “What the hell, Marlene?”

“Hi!” she said brightly. 

Dorcas wasn’t having it. "You made me lose my page," she complained. 

"Such is the price of love," Marlene said. Then, just because Dorcas looked so sad, she added, "You're on page 232."

Dorcas smiled. "Now I'll say 'hello'." God, she was amazing. Marlene still couldn’t believe how lucky she was. 

If anyone had told her six months ago that she would end up in a secret relationship with Dorcas Meadowes, she would've laughed in their face. See, Marlene and Dorcas were not exactly a classic match. Marlene was an athlete, a senior, and a psychic. Dorcas was a nerd, a junior, and definitely not a psychic. They were also each friends with a different Black brother, and that was not a gap either girl was willing to bridge. However, when Marlene had crashed into the library one August morning frantically looking for a book on STDs (not for her; she was trying to win an argument with Remus, but it turned out she was wrong), they had had a hard time forgetting each other. A week later, Marlene returned her book along with a piece of paper she had scrawled her phone number on. They've been together since. 

 "What are you reading?" asked Marlene. 

"Red, White, and Royal Blue," Dorcas answered. Quickly, she put her bookmark in page 232.

"I think I've seen Remus with that one," Marlene noted. 

"Probably, it's pretty popular." She looked up and cringed. "Incoming."

Marlene turned her head to see none other than Severus Snape walking toward them. "What do you want, asshole?" she asked him, already turning her head away. While she didn't used to hate the boy (at least not as much), she certainly never liked him, and after what he'd done to Lily, she couldn't very well be nice to him. 

His face twitched. "You know exactly what I want," he said, eyes hard. 

"Well, you can forget it," Marlene told him. "I'd rather have my eyes clawed out by your weirdly long nails than let you talk to Lily." She smirked when he hid his hands behind his back. 

"I'd think you'd be more averse to people knowing about your relationship," he said smugly. Well, fuck. 

Before Marlene could yell at him, Dorcas said, "What are you talking about, Severus?"

“If you don’t get Lily to talk to me, I’ll tell everyone you’re dating,” he said. 

Dorcas didn't bat an eye. “We’re not dating.”

He frowned, probably not expecting pushback. "Yes, you are."

Dorcas’ eyes flashed. "No, we're not."

He huffed. “I have proof!” he said finally, pulling his phone out of his front pocket. 

Marlene stiffened, her already terrible opinion of the boy in front of her plummeting, because, seriously, what the fuck? He had fucking proof? What, had he been stalking them? Was that the level he was stooping to now? 

Apparently, because when he turned his phone around, it was to reveal a grainy picture of Marlene and Dorcas kissing behind the practice field. 

Marlene couldn’t hold herself back any longer. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she exclaimed, disgusted and a little bit scared. 

“That’s what I thought you’d say.” He got that smug look back on his face. “And, because I’m so nice, I’ll also throw in some interesting information about the Death Eaters that involves your friend Sirius,” he said, contempt dripping from just the mention of Sirius’ name. 

And, okay, that one wasn’t so tempting because Sirius’ business was Sirius’ business, but, stalking? For blackmail? Really??

Of course, that’s when Professor Sprout walked into the classroom with a cheery, “Good morning! Everyone, put your phones away.” Everyone continued to stare at their phones. 

“You have until the end of school to decide,” Snape said and walked away to his desk. 

Marlene ground her teeth and turned to Dorcas, meeting her fear-filled brown eyes with her own wide blue ones. “What are we going to do?” she asked, panicking. 

Dorcas took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. “Okay.” She took another breath. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” Marlene waited a few seconds for her to finish her thought, but it quickly became apparent she was waiting in vain. 

Marlene felt her face twitch. “Yeah, babe, let’s try that!”

“I don’t see you coming up with any brilliant ideas!” Dorcas whispered harshly. 

“You’re not either!” she hissed back. 

Suddenly, they were left blinking as the room was plunged into near darkness. “Alright, we’re going to watch a movie today.” They all cheered, and, failing to shush them, Sprout waited patiently for them to be done. “I really think you’ll like this one! It’s a documentary on Charles Darwin!” Several people - including Marlene - discreetly took their phones back out. 

Marlene hastily shot a text off to Dorcas, though whether she would actually look at it or not was honestly up in the air. She was about as likely to play on her phone during a mandatory documentary as she was to actually watch it, the nerd. Marlene loved her so much. 

Anyway, she needn’t have worried. About 30 seconds after she sent the text, her phone lit up with a new text from Dorcas. 

Marlene: cas

Dorcas: i have a plan

Marlene: let’s hear it

Marlene heard a rustle and glanced up. She relaxed, relieved to see it was only Sprout pulling out her own phone. Free hour, wooooooooh. Or so the kids say. 

She looked back down. 

Dorcas: i think we should tell everybody we’re dating

Marlene choked. 

Marlene: what

Marlene: you wanna what

Dorcas: it’s not that i want to, it’s just that if we tell them, he has nothing

Dorcas: i mean, how big a deal is it actually?

Marlene: it’s a big deal! sirius will kill me! regulus will kill you! then we’ll be separated, you in heaven, me in hell!

Dorcas: why would you be in hell??

Marlene: i don’t want to talk about it

Dorcas: alrighty then

Dorcas: i really think we should tell them

Marlene: there’s gotta be another option

Dorcas: not that we can figure out in six hours

Dorcas: listen, it’s been two months now, we’re going strong, and our friends love us (and aren’t maniacs). they might be a little mad, but they’ll get over it, and then snape will have nothing

Dorcas: also we have to do it at lunch because i have academic team and you have football tonight

Dorcas: and it has to be separately because i do not trust reg and sirius at the same table

Marlene: fine 

Marlene: but when they hate us and we have to escape to the seaside to live out our lesbian cottagecore life, just know, it was your fault

Dorcas: noted

Dorcas: now stop texting me, i wanna watch the movie

Marlene smiled at her girlfriend’s words, somehow reassured. Because if Dorcas could be calm about this, then surely it would be ok. 

She hoped that sounded better out loud than it did in her head. 

-

When Remus walked into third hour AP English Lit, it was to see that James and Sirius were already there, sitting at their usual table and whispering harshly to each other. 

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice Remus walking toward them until he pulled a chair out, and its legs scraped the ground. Sirius’ head shot up, but James hurriedly finished his sentence, talking a bit louder since he was now facing Sirius’ bad ear. “I just want you to think about it.”

Remus looked at them. “What are we thinking about?” he asked, sitting down. 

“Nothing,” Sirius said quickly, ignoring James. “How was-” he hesitated “-anatomy?”

Remus looked at him, slightly concerned. “We have anatomy together, Pads.” He paused. “In seventh hour.”

James snorted, and Sirius continued to ignore him. “Spanish?” he guessed. 

“Nope.” 

“Calc?”

“Try again.” 

“APUSH?”

“Pads, you have both of those with me.”

“Stop laughing at me, James! Creative writing.”

“There you go!” Remus said, though he thought it odd that Sirius had managed to guess his classes in exact backwards order, leaving out study hall and the class they were currently in. “It was fine, to answer your question.”

Just then, Lily sat down. “Hello, boys!” she said cheerfully. “I sense sexual tension,” she singsonged. 

James fucking giggled. “You’d be right,” he said. 

“She is not!” Remus said at the same time Sirius said, “Fuck off, loser!”

Thankfully, that’s when Marlene finally walked in. Shockingly, the college level literature class wasn’t very popular at their school, so third hour was the only one available. Their little group made up about a fourth of the overall class. This was also true in AP Calculus and AP US History, except there were even less people in those classes. “Hey, Marls,” Lily greeted. 

She muttered unintelligible, and they all glanced at each other, their expressions all some variation of the fuck? James spoke up. “Everything alright?”

She stiffened, as if just realizing where she was. “Yeah, um, I just,” she took a breath, gathering her thoughts. “I need to tell you guys something at lunch.”

They looked at each other again. That didn’t sound good. This time, Lily asked, “Is it…bad?”

She smiled sadly and looked blankly across the room, around the table where Dorcas Meadowes, Emmeline Vance, and Mary MacDonald were sitting. “I guess we’ll see.”

Before they could ask anymore questions, Professor McGonagall called them all to attention. Now there was a teacher they listened to. 

“Good morning, class.” She waited a moment until they said it back. “Before we get started, I want to talk about a new assignment.” Remus shifted in his seat, already preparing for several sleepless nights. Lit homework was no joke, especially on his schedule. 

McGonagall continued, her tight brown bun bobbing on her head. “It will be a partner presentation over theme.” She waited for them to be done looking at each other as everyone automatically turned to their friends. Remus was lucky, in this regard. He and Lily had been teaming up for group projects since kindergarten. 

“You may choose your partner, and you may choose any work of fiction to analyze. Any questions?” A dozen hands shot up. “Yes, any work of fiction means movies, TV, music, poetry, video games, even a TV commercial, though I do not recommend that route. Yes, Mr. Lupin?”

“When is it due?” he asked. He wasn’t particularly worried about the actual project as it seemed pretty tame compared to what they normally did in this class, but if the presentation was due in two days, it didn’t matter how difficult it was. 

“Two weeks.” He nodded and wrote down the due date. “Is that all?” When no one raised their hands, she said, “The rest of today’s class time will be used to decide your partners and give you a head start on your project. Once you’ve gotten your partners and chosen your work of fiction, come tell me and take a rubric.” She turned to go back to her desk, but paused. “Oh, and it is first come, first serve, so no duplicate topics.”

Before she had even sat down, James turned to Sirius, a look of pure, frenzied excitement in his eyes. However, he was cut off by Sirius, who said, “No, James, absolutely not.”

James wasn’t deterred in the slightest. “Shrek!” 

Sirius shook his head. “No, we are not doing our presentation over Shrek,” he said tiredly. “I have done enough projects over Shrek with you.”

Remus and Lily just looked at each other, both trying not to laugh. Sirius was right, though. The two of them had done many projects on the movie over the years, and Remus had been roped into several of them. 

“Here’s an idea,” Lily interjected. “How about we revisit this morning’s argument? James and I can do Shrek, and you two can do the second Puss in Boots?” she proposed. “Whoever gets the better grade wins.”

James’ eyes were wide at the prospect of Lily willingly spending alone time with him. Though the two had made up over a year ago, Lily still mostly stuck to Remus or Marlene, and James by consequence generally hung out with Sirius, Peter, and Remus. James wisely didn’t comment on it, though his eyes were gleaming behind his glasses. 

Remus turned to Sirius, who shrugged. “I’m okay with it if you’re okay with it.”

James clapped his hands. “Awesome! We’re going to crush you.”

Sirius scoffed. “Please. Didn’t you hear Moony’s speech this morning? You’re going down.”

As they all stood to claim their topics with Professor McGonagall, Remus looked around, trying to make sure Marlene had found a partner. He wasn’t all that worried. She was friendly with almost everyone in their class, except Snape and maybe Dorcas Meadowes, the junior who was friends with Sirius’ estranged little brother. 

Except, when he finally found her, she was sitting right next to Dorcas. Huh. 

-

One hour later, the five of them were sitting at their usual lunch table in the back corner of the cafeteria, Sirius in between James and Remus and Lily and Marlene opposite them at the circular table. 

Sirius chewed slowly. He’d been wondering what could have possibly happened to Marlene between getting to school and third hour but had come up with nothing. The best he could figure was a bad grade, but that wouldn’t have made Marlene catatonic like this or require a meeting. Whatever it was had to be big. 

They’d been sitting in relative silence for about ten minutes, only broken up by the occasional comment or chewing noise. Finally, Lily looked at the blond. “You said you have news?” she asked nervously, stroking a lock of red hair. 

Marlene winced. “Indeed.” She blew out a breath. “I’m dating someone.” 

They all perked up, and Remus made a noise of understanding. Sirius glanced at him, a question in his eyes, but the tawny haired boy shook his head, curls bouncing. 

“That’s great, Marls,” Lily said excitedly. “Who is it?”

James waved his fork. “Wait, I’m confused,” he said. “Why all the dramatics? Is it someone we don’t like?” 

Marlene’s face screwed up in a grimace. “It’s Dorcas Meadowes.” 

Sirius’ blood went cold. He must have heard her wrong, must have turned his bad ear toward her at the wrong moment, because Dorcas was best friends with Regulus, and if Marlene was dating Dorcas, then Sirius was only one degree of separation away from the worst part of his life. Somehow, he managed to stutter out a question. “The-the one who’s f-friends with-”

She nodded. “That’s the one.” Next to him, James’ eyes were wide, and Lily’s jaw had dropped. Remus was the only one who didn’t look shocked. 

Lily cleared her throat. “So how did this happen?” Sirius didn’t hear Marlene’s response, having zoned out completely. He was vaguely aware of James and Remus sending him looks of concern, but he couldn’t think of anything besides Regulus Regulus Regulus. 

His brother hadn’t left Sirius’ mind a single time since he had run away over a year ago, nor had the guilt he felt at leaving Regulus alone with their parents. No matter how many times he told himself he’d had no other choice, that he would have died or Walburga and Orion would have literally thrown him out on his ass if he’d stayed even a day longer, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about his baby brother, defenseless in the face of their parents. Nothing chased the guilt away, not even thinking of the two hazy weeks he’d spent in the hospital following his disownment or having to ask someone to repeat something because they’d been talking into his bad ear. More often than not, he’d wake in the middle of the night, soaked with sweat, shaking from nightmares built from years of abuse. 

It was enough to drive a person insane. 

Unhearing what the others were saying, Sirius forcefully dragged himself back to reality just enough to ask the question that had been on his mind for what felt like forever. “Do you know if Regulus is okay?” he asked, barely breathing. 

The table went quiet again, but Sirius was laser-focused on Marlene. Her expression softened. “The only thing Dorcas would tell me is that he doesn’t blame you for what happened, and that she doesn’t think they’re hurting him,” she said, as gently as possible. 

His breath rushed out of him all at once, not relieved in the slightest. He closed his eyes, suddenly consumed by the thought of Regulus lying, lying to his friends to hide his pain, the way Sirius had for 14 years-

A warm squeeze on his hand pulled him abruptly back into his body, and he looked down at the seat where his fingers were resting on the curved bench. There was another, much larger hand encompassing his, squeezing it, rubbing his wrist with the thumb, and he followed the arm with his eyes, up the broad shoulder, then the scarred, tan neck, two pink lips, a small, freckled nose, until he was looking into the amber eyes of Remus Lupin. 

As his ears started working again, Sirius became aware of his ragged breathing and Remus’ gentle murmurs of, “Breathe, Sirius.” And - he tried, he really did, but-

“What if she’s wrong?” he choked out, barely understandable to his own ears. 

Thankfully, Remus got the gist of it. “Dorcas is smart, and she knows your brother well. She wouldn’t say he’s fine if she wasn’t sure.”

“B-but-” he stuttered, unable to force anymore words out. 

Remus squeezed his hand harder. “Breathe.” He turned. “Here,” he said, putting something cold in Sirius’ other hand. “Careful, I already opened it.”

Sirius looked down on his other side, trying to figure out what ‘it’ was; it turned out to be an uncapped water bottle, filled all the way up with cold, clear liquid. He slowly raised it to his dry lips and took a sip. 

It tasted amazing. He quickly gulped down the rest of it, only stopping once it was empty. 

He whined when Remus took the bottle from him. “It’s all gone, Pads,” he chuckled. “Better?” Sirius nodded, cheeks flushed with embarrassment at having a panic attack in the middle of the school cafeteria. Nevertheless, Remus smiled. “Good.” 

Sirius turned his head, not wanting Remus to see how much darker red his face was getting at receiving Remus’ approval. On the other side of the table, James was teasing Marlene about how smitten she was while Lily chimed in. Sirius smiled, recognizing it for the distraction it was. He would have to thank James and Remus later.

Then, seeing Sirius was back to normal, if a bit shaky, James asked Marlene, “So, why tell us now?”

Marlene’s face fell, and she gulped. “Snape. He came up to Dorcas and me in bio and basically said if we didn’t help him get with Lily, he would out us to the school. We decided we’d rather just tell people than let him hold this over us.” That made sense. Marlene had been publicly out for years, so the biggest news for everybody else would be that she was dating a nerdy underclassman. Sirius didn’t know enough about Dorcas to confidently say how much she would be affected. Then, quieter, she said, “He had pictures.”

“He had what?” Lily exclaimed. Then, not waiting for an answer, she stood up, crossed the lunch room to Snape’s table, snatched his phone out of his hand, and announced loudly enough that Sirius could hear her from across the room, “You’ll get this back when you learn to use it properly.” 

She traipsed back their table, a smug look on her face. 

Remus frowned. “Aren’t you afraid he’ll to tell Dumbledore?” The man behind the school, Dumbledore served as principal and thus presided over punishments. However, he was also rumored to be slightly insane, and it was really a matter of chance whether he would actually issue punishment for a stolen phone or just send Lily off with a, “Congratulations on tricking your classmate, Miss Evans.” 

Lily scoffed. “Please. Severus is so sexist, he’ll never admit to having his phone stolen by a girl.” She then did something on the phone that Sirius couldn’t see, but whatever it was must’ve been successful because she lit up. “Ha! I guessed his passcode on the first try.”

“What was it?” James snickered. 

“My birthday,” Lily said judgmentally. “That boy has got to get over me.”

“Yeah,” agreed Sirius. “That’s pretty pathetic.” He ignored the knowing look James sent his way. 

Finally, their disastrous lunch period came to a close when the bell rang. 

“Oh! One more thing,” Marlene said before they could leave. “Snape also said he knew something about Sirius and the Death Eaters, but wouldn’t tell us anything else if we didn’t take the deal.” She turned to Sirius. “Do you know anything about that?” 

He shook his head. “No idea,” he lied. 

- 

Rain pelted the walkway as Lily and Marlene ran up the steps of 300 Fox Way. The sudden downpour had caused football practice to be canceled, so James and Sirius had dropped Lily and Marlene off in the Pig before heading back to the school to bother Remus during open gym. Well, officially, they were there for moral support and basketball, but Lily knew the truth. 

As soon as they stepped inside, Lily’s mother came barrelling through the foyer. “Petunia just called, said she needs my help with wedding stuff right this second, and I’m already late. There’s a guy coming for a palm and tarot reading, can you handle it?” 

“Sure-”

“Thanks, bye!” And with that, she left. 

Lily and Marlene just stood there until Marlene finally said, “Alright, I’ll get the room ready-”

“Oh my god.” Lily felt more than saw Marlene’s head whipped around, panicking at the tension in her voice. 

“What, what is it?” Marlene asked. 

Lily just pointed. There, on the steps of the building, stood Abraxas Malfoy. 

“Oh god, what do we do?” Marlene asked frantically. He knocked. “Fuck!”

“That can’t be the guy mom meant,” Lily whispered frantically. “He’s evil!” Why would Malfoy come here, of all places, when he was trying to shut down their restaurant? 

Marlene shrugged, eyes wide. “Don’t you think I know that?” She put a hand on her forehead, fingers tangling in her hair. “Maybe he’s just trying a new tactic?” she guessed. 

He knocked again. “Hello? Are you still open?”

“Oh god oh god oh god,” Lily muttered, head in her hands. 

Marlene opened the door. “Hello, and welcome to 300 Fox Way Psyche. My Aunt says you’re here for a tarot and palm reading?” 

“Yes, and-oh,” he stopped, catching sight of Lily. “I didn’t realize you worked here.” He sniffed. “No matter. I am indeed here for a tarot and palm reading.”

Lily stayed silent, not trusting herself to speak. Thankfully, Marlene continued to take the lead. “Alright, we’ll be just in here. Now, give us just a minute to prepare everything.” She deposited him in the reading room and turned back to Lily. 

“I need you to do the tarot reading,” she whispered. 

“Why?” Lily looked at her quizzically. Marlene usually wanted to deal with tarot readings because she was particularly prone to visions via touch, so it was very strange that she was wanting to do a palm reading. 

Marlene wrung her hands. “I just have a feeling there’s something important I need to See.” 

Lily nodded. “Okay, I’ll do the cards.”

As they walked into the reading room, Lily made sure to grab a deck of cards from one of the shelves lining the red walls. She sat down across from Abraxas at the far end of the long, wood table. 

“Shuffle these please,” Lily said and handed the cards to Abraxas. She hoped he didn’t notice that she could barely look at him. 

Once the cards had been shuffled, Lily spread them out in a neat line. “Pick a card.”

“How do I know which card to pick?” he asked, eyebrows pinched together. 

Lily resisted the urge to tell him to screw himself. “Just choose the one you feel most drawn to. It might have a warm or cold feeling.”

Slowly, he roved a hand over the cards, eventually landing on one in the middle right. 

Lily flipped the card over to reveal an upside down blindfolded woman holding two crossed swords. Reversed Two of Aces. 

“What does that mean?” Malfoy asked. 

Lily sighed. “You’re facing a difficult decision, and neither path is particularly enticing. You feel you don’t have enough information to make a decent decision, or maybe there’s too much information. You need to take a step back and look at the situation from another angle. You may also need to reassess whether this decision is even yours to make.” 

Malfoy’s face had gone red. Clearly, the Ace of Swords had struck a chord with him. “Do I choose another?” he asked. 

She nodded. The next card he flipped over was an upside down woman between two pillars with a moon in the bottom right corner. “The Reversed High Priestess represents self doubt. It is best to take some time for yourself, and it may help to get in touch with your feminine side.” It gave her great joy to say that to a man like Abraxas, and, based on the snort she heard from Marlene, her cousin felt the same way. Abraxas’ face was red again. 

“Take another,” she ordered. 

He made a face, but did as she said. The final card he chose was a man holding a scepter and a circle with a star in it. He was surrounded by grapes and vines in front of a castle. This one was also upside down. “This is the Reversed King of Pentacles. He represents incredible wealth, so much you don’t know what to do with it. You would do anything for money, even ruin relationships. You’re a condescending dickface, but you’re not above kissing your boss’ ass. If you don’t learn to let go, you can say goodbye to everything you love.” She tried and failed to suppress a grin. 

“And that’s your tarot reading,” Marlene said, stopping Lily from making any more unsavory comments. “Now, if you would give me your left hand.” He stuck out his hand, and Marlene grabbed it, forcing it open, palm up. “See this?” She pointed to the top of his palm. “This is the heart line.” She gave a minute shake of the head. “So yours is very-straight-and short,” she said choppily. It wouldn’t be long now. “That signifies-” and then she just stopped and stared off into space. The vision had started. 

“Alright Mr. Malfoy, I’ll be doing the rest of your reading,” Lily said brightly, taking his hand. 

He hesitated. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?” 

She grinned. “Oh, Marlene is just having a vision. She’ll be back with us in a few minutes.” 

Malfoy tore his hand away and stood quickly. “I didn’t pay for that!” he protested. “Make her stop! I don’t want you people in my head!” 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Malfoy. There’s no way to stop a vision once it starts,” Lily said calmly. Oh, how she was enjoying seeing him squirm. Maybe now he would think twice about his son’s impending marriage and his questionable business practices. She doubted it, but the thought was nice. 

“But I didn’t pay for that!” he exclaimed. It really all came down to money with this one, didn’t it?

She smirked. “Think of it as a bonus. Now, if you still want that palm reading-”

“No!” he interrupted. “No, I don’t want anything else from you.” He had almost made it to the door when Marlene tore back to the present. 

“Leylines!” she gasped. Malfoy came to an abrupt stop. “Leylines, it all has to do with leylines.” She looked up at him. “That’s why he’s in Henrietta. He wants the leylines.” 

Lily caught one last look of panic and fear on Malfoy’s face before he threw open the door and ran. 

She looked at Marlene. “What the hell are leylines?” 

Marlene shrugged. “Fuck if I know.”

-

Back in Monmouth, Sirius Black was sitting cross legged on the floor of his bedroom, just breathing. He had been in this position for nearly a half hour now. He hadn’t tried this in years, and he was pretty rusty. 

He flopped onto his back and stretched his legs. How exactly had he done this before he stopped, locked it away inside his mind like a beast that couldn’t be tamed? 

He took another deep breath and concentrated. Where are you?

Then, suddenly, as if he had just flipped a switch, everything around him melted away. 

No, that wasn’t right. 

He was everywhere, all at once. He was in his bedroom, laying on the floor. He was in the main room, watching James do homework. He was in the kitchen, watching Peter eat cheese. He was at 300 Fox Way, watching Lily and Marlene help Liam make dinner for their family. He was in Remus’ double-wide, watching the love of his life sort through bills he didn’t have the money for. 

Finally, he was at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, watching his brother, for the first time in months, just…do things. He was doing homework. Then he was talking to Kreacher. He was sitting down to dinner with their parents, calm as could be. He was - looking at the tapestry of the Black family tree, paying particular attention to the burn mark next to his own name. 

Sirius tore his gaze away from that scarred piece of fabric to study his brother. He seemed unharmed, though it was a tad hard to tell through the tears in his eyes. 

He was glad to see, though, that he was missing the telltale mark of every other member of the Black family: a manic gleam in some lights, deadened in others. Regulus’ eyes looked perfectly sane and - alive. 

Sirius let out a breath he’d been holding since the night he ran away. His brother was alive, and he was okay. 

He barely felt himself sink back into his body until there were tears streaming down his face. He rubbed his eyes. 

It felt good to cry. 

-

A few hours later, at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Regulus Black lay in his bed, thinking about what Dorcas Meadows had told him at lunch. 

She was dating one of his brother's best friends. It had been two months, and they were in love. 

Regulus wasn't sure how he felt about it. On one hand, he was happy for his friend. She deserved a loving, passionate girlfriend like Marlene. 

On the other hand, he couldn't believe how close he was to his brother. Separated by over a year, their parents, and a truckload of difficult emotions, it was hard for Regulus to believe he was just a couple of texts away from Sirius . 

That afternoon's conversation proved it was possible. If Marlene and Dorcas could do it, then so could Sirius and Regulus (but not in a romantic way; this was Virginia, not Alabama). 

Logically, he knew Sirius would never take that first step toward repairing their fractured relationship. His guilt wouldn’t allow him to reach out because he probably thought Regulus hated him. He’d force himself to wait until Regulus came to him. Nonetheless, the younger Black still wished Sirius would go first, just like when they were younger.

He snorted to himself. Since when was he in the business of lying to himself for comfort? (Forever, but that was besides the point.) 

He dug his phone out of his mattress and sent a text to Dorcas asking for Sirius' number from Marlene. 

A few minutes later, his phone lit up. It was Dorcas with the number and a wish of good luck. 

Quickly, before he could change his mind, he tapped out a text. 

Finger hovering over the 'send' button, he hesitated. This was it. If he did this, there was no going back. His life would be changed forever. 

He pressed it. 

Not even a moment later, he received a text back. 

I miss you too. 

[myladybelle]

the girl with the books | r.l

pairings: remus lupin x reader (she/her pronouns) genre(s): marauder era, strangers to lovers, fluff, humour summary: james and sirius notice that it’s not the books that keep remus in the library, and are determined to know whether you – the object of remus’s affection – return his feelings. word count: 3.0k warning(s): none note: this is a 2022 update of the fic of the same name that i wrote back in 2016! my writing has improved by leaps and bounds and i couldn’t help but edit and improve the fic that a few of you seemed to really love :) i hope you enjoy it if you liked the original, or that you find something new to read

The Hogwarts library was the place where you found the most solace. Even on the few days that the Scottish countryside provided undisturbed sunshine, like today, you preferred to curl up with a book on one of the grand wooden tables. You enjoyed your time in the library; reading fiction or researching different topics that you were curious about. While your friends encouraged you to enjoy the warm day with them, you easily waved them off in favour of the dimly lit library.

Remus Lupin could be found in the library as often as you, except it wasn’t the books that kept him coming back. The sight of you sitting in a corner reading by yourself was enough to draw his attention every few minutes. He couldn’t even help himself, his eyes had no choice in the way they continually found your figure, but he was in no place to complain. 

Remus sat with his three best friends at the other end of the library, and they were less than happy to be spending the first sunny day of spring in the library rather than bothering the giant squid in the black lake. Now that the weather was no longer freezing, Sirius and James were desperate to cause some mischief, and Peter was happy to comply.

“What is it that you find so fascinating about a hall full of books?” Sirius inquired, lifting a book up from the table, grimacing at the idea of spending his free time reading, and carelessly dropping it back onto the table.

Remus flinched as the sound resonated throughout the library, capturing your attention as you gave the four friends an inquisitive look. For a moment, Remus held his breath, unable to tear his eyes away from you as you gave him a speck of casual attention. Realising it was just James Potter and his friends messing around, you happily returned to your reading without a second thought. 

“It’s not about the books, Padfoot,” Remus snapped quietly, glancing away with reddened cheeks, the heat of your gaze on him still warming his body. “And I didn’t force you to be here,” he reminded.

“Well, no,” Sirius sighed. “But it’s terribly tragic for you to spend the first nice day Hogwarts has seen in-“

“A decade,” James chimed in, exaggerating to help Sirius make a point.

“A decade,” Sirius agreed with a nod. “Inside a hall full of books instead of playing outside with us! As your friend, it’s our duty to convince you to abandon this wretched place and do something more fun.”

“Well said, Padfoot,” James agreed, tall frame spread languidly across three chairs in a makeshift bed. “Dare I say, revolutionary. So, black lake, Moony?”

“I’m perfectly content here, thank you very much,” Remus refused, thoroughly entertained by James and Sirius’s usual dramatics.

“Who could be content in such an oppressive place,” Sirius complained, as if he himself didn’t have good grades and didn’t spend time studying in this very library. “Other than Lily,” he added, recognising the smitten glint in James’s eyes that he got every time he brought her up.

“She’s so responsible, my lovely Lily,” James sighed, pleased with himself. “I’m going to marry that girl, just you wait and see. It’s the only reason I come to the library with her.”

“You come to the library to chat up Lily? No wonder you aren’t dating yet,” Sirius teased. As James and Sirius went back and forth poking fun at each other, Peter pondered Remus’s words.

“If you’re not here for the books, what are you here for?” Peter wondered aloud, causing Sirius and James to glance expectantly at their friend. 

Remus rolled his eyes, intending to fabricate a fantastic comeback that would distract his three friends, but even the thought of you caused his stare to drift back to where you were, now getting up to choose a different book to check out of the library. 

He loved the way you did that. Even if you finished a book in your time at the library, you always made sure to bring a book with you.

Remus loved the way you did everything, really. He had always liked you, ever since you loaned him a quill when he forgot his during Defence Against the Dark Arts. Even now, it was his favourite class just because it made him think of you. 

“Moony?” Sirius waved a hand in front of Remus’s face in an attempt to grab his attention. “Remus, what are you staring at?” he followed Remus’s gaze and saw exactly what he was staring at. “Oh,” he said, finally connecting all the very obvious clues together. “It’s not a what, it’s a who,” Sirius practically giggled with glee.

James’s head snapped in your direction, scrambling to sit up and launch himself next to Sirius in an effort to get a good look at you. This commotion once again drew your attention, leading James and Sirius to act as naturally as they could. They picked up the books stacked in front of them and made a big deal out of reading the text aloud, the act so comical and over-the-top that it couldn’t possibly be convincing.

You grinned to yourself, shaking your head in amusement, and slipped behind a bookshelf to look over the Herbology section. Frank Longbottom had recommended a delightful title on growing Dittany and other healing herbs, and you took the older boy’s recommendations very seriously. 

Once you were out of sight, James tossed his book thoughtlessly aside, snatching Remus’s book from his grasp to gain his undivided attention. “Who is that, Moony my dear?” James asked, adjusting his glasses. They had slipped down his nose when he whipped his head around to look at you, and the act had made the boy a little dizzy.

“Who?” Remus asked, knowing that his performance was pitiful and unconvincing, and pretending not to understand regardless of this fact. “What do you mean?”

Frustrated that Remus was lying, and subsequently that he was an absolutely terrible liar, Sirius exclaimed, “The girl you were staring at!”

“Who is that girl? Do you know her?” James asked excitedly, taking a more enthusiastic approach than Sirius in hopes that it would make Remus open up about his crush.

“Girl?” Remus repeated, squinted as if he was giving this conversation a real good thought, before widening his eyes sarcastically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry boys.”

James and Sirius shared a look – having a silent conversation that Remus would promptly regret keeping them in the dark about his crush – before rolling their eyes and sighing. They had decided it: they were just going to have to catch you when Remus was gone.

A few hours later, it had darkened considerably since you first entered the library, and once you realised that you had been hauled up in the library for a considerable amount of time, you realised how hungry you were. Perhaps camping out in the library all day without a proper lunch wasn’t your best idea, but at least you knew dinner would be ready soon.

Rising, you stretched your legs before collecting all the books you had flicked through that day and moving to stow them back in their original places on the tall Hogwarts library shelves. Most of them were within a reasonable reach, slotting easily into their previous spots as you strolled happily throughout the library. However, one of the books was at a considerably higher place on the shelf, and you couldn’t put it away even on the tips of your toes. 

With a huff of frustration, you stood flat on your feet and were about to reach for your wand when someone took the book from your grasp. “Here,” a voice said from behind you. “Let me help you with that!”

You turned just in time to see Sirius Black easily putting your book away for you, his friend James Potter standing nearby with an uncharacteristic spring in his step. Though James and Sirius were always a ball of energy in the classes you shared with them, the grins they sported today were difficult to identify. Perhaps mischievous would be the best way to describe the perfect simpers on their faces.

“Thanks,” you acknowledged his help with furrowed brows, wondering what Sirius and James could possibly be so ecstatic about. When the two boys simply stared at you, unmoving, you figured that they wanted something from you. “Did you two need something?” you asked, their unwavering smiles growing slightly unnerving.

“Oh!” Sirius seemed to realise that they were staring at you, and how disturbing this might be to a girl they had hardly spoken to. “Right! Yes, actually. We wanted to have a word with you.”

“Okay,” you nodded as if this wasn’t unusual. James and Sirius certainly didn’t seem to think their behaviour was odd, so you figured they were harmless on this particular occasion.

“We were just wondering if you knew Remus,” James explained himself, barely keeping still with excitement. “I mean, you do know him, don’t you?”

You nodded, still weary of where the conversation was leading. Sirius and James were known to be pranksters, and you weren’t sure if you were the next victim of one of their jokes. “Yes, I know Remus,” you confirmed. “He’s your friend, right? I speak to him sometimes when we’re in the library at the same time.” When Sirius and James linked hands and started jumping up and down, utter confusion overwhelmed you. “Uh, why do you ask?”

Noticing your discomfort, James and Sirius stopped jumping in favour of smiling at you. “I’m sorry, what was your name again? We share a few classes but between listening to the Professor and keeping James in check it can be hard to keep up,” Sirius said, his natural charisma making him instantly likeable.

“Y/n,” you introduced yourself.

“Nice to meet you, Y/n,” James said politely. “Now, this may seem quite blunt, but we want to set you up with our friend Remus,” he said matter-of-factly, followed by an encouraging nod from Sirius.

Your eyes widened at the confession. “Oh,” you said awkwardly. “I’m not going to lie, I had no idea that’s what you were going to say.”

“We have that effect on people,” said James, nodding sympathetically, as if people often had this reaction to the things they said. “So? What do you say? Give our mate Remus a chance?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you shook your head, trying to smile politely. 

The smiles on Sirius and James’s faces faded. “Why not?” Sirius inquired, tilting his head to the side as he observed your nervous expression. “Do you not like Remus?”

“Why wouldn’t you like Remus?” James added, appalled and affronted at the mere idea of someone not liking their best friend. “You like reading, don’t you? Well, Remus might even have you beat! He’s the world’s biggest bookworm.”

“Incorrigible,” Sirius agreed. “Can’t get him out of this bloody library. And you aren’t helping, either,” he added.

“I’m not?”

“Of course not!” James exclaimed. “You only keep him here even longer than usual! Even on a day as lovely as this.”

“Perfect for wasting time,” sighed Sirius, lamenting the wonderful day outside they had missed out on. “So, how come you don’t like Remus?”

“That’s not it,” you said hurriedly, struggling to get a word in amongst their quick banter. “It’s just,” you sighed. “Why are you asking me this anyway?” you changed the subject, hoping it would take some of the heat off of you. 

Luckily for you, it worked. “Well, Remus seems to have developed a crush on you,” James said casually, as if he wasn’t bearing one of his best friends’ deepest secret. Well, second deepest secret. “It’s really quite adorable. All the typical crush symptoms. You know, longing gazes,” James began listing the many qualities he had noticed in Remus during the last few hours. “Romantic, hopeless sighing whenever you’re around, losing focus, refusing to play with his best friends even on a day as perfect as this.”

“The list goes on!” Sirius exclaimed. You had to smile at the two friends, not only were they quite comical, but they seemed to be buzzing with endless energy. “I think it would benefit you to give Remus a chance. He’s rather attractive, our friend.”

“Though, not as attractive as us,” James added, winking to show that he was joking.

“Well we can’t hold everyone to such impossible standards,” Sirius said sympathetically, nodding to himself. “Still, he’s quite attractive! Charming and kind, too. All the things girls like. So are you in?”

“Well,” you stammered, feeling your face burning with embarrassment when you saw how intently Sirius and James were looking at you.

To save you from your answer, the sound of Remus’s footsteps and voice interrupted your sentence. “What are you boys still doing here,” he froze when he came into view, noticing the way Sirius and James had cornered you. “Y/n?” he asked, the picture of you hanging out with his two best friends nothing short of foreign and unfamiliar. Remus sighed in annoyance when he saw Sirius and James exchange guilty faces. “What have these two told you?” he asked you, already dreading your answer.

“We didn’t tell her much,” Sirius said, quick to defend their actions. “We’ve just been… talking,” he added, purposely leaving out the subject matter. James nodded rigorously, smiling innocently at Remus with visible panic in his eyes. 

“I’ll talk to you both later,” Remus said to his friend, tone firm and borderline scolding. Then, he faced you with what looked like an apologetic smile. “Do you need help putting that away?” he asked, nudging his head to the last two books in your arms

You smiled, instantly more comfortable now that Remus was there. With a nod, you left Sirius and James behind in favour of putting your books away. “Listen,” Remus began, gently taking your books and putting them on the correct shelf in the Herbology section. “I’m really sorry for whatever Sirius and James said,” he let out a nervous laugh, easily reaching the high shelves thanks to his tall height.

“Don’t be,” you shrugged, charmed by Remus’s very presence. Something about Remus’s gentle spirit contrasted comfortably with Sirius and James’s craziness, and it settled your heart in a wonderful way. “They meant well, I think,” you smiled up at Remus. “Your friends are really nice.”

“I wouldn’t say nice, perhaps deranged is more accurate,” Remus joked, a pleased smile gracing his lips when you laughed. “But they’re pretty great. I can always count on them to say things I’m too scared to say,” he admitted, trailing off into a comfortable silence.

“I don’t know about them being deranged, but they did have some interesting things to say,” you admitted, fully intending to tease Remus once you realised his friends were telling the truth. He really did have a crush on you. “All about crushes, and longing gazes,” you added, grinning when you saw Remus turn slightly pink at your insinuation.

Remus groaned, lifting his hands to cover his face in embarrassment. “Oh Merlin,” he muttered, nervous laughter bubbling from his mouth. “I’m so sorry! If anything they said made you uncomfortable, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” you shook your head. “I wasn’t uncomfortable. Stunned by the sheer force of their energy? Definitely. But not uncomfortable. I guess it was just hard to believe,” you admitted. “Still is, really.”

“What, that I fancy you?” Remus asked, uncovering his eyes once you assured him that you weren’t upset. “Why is that hard to believe?”

“I don’t know, you’re… Remus Lupin,” you explained terribly. “You’re a Gryffindor and you’re funny and popular. Your friends didn’t even know what my name was and I’ve been in your class for nearly six years now,” you recalled, shrugging your shoulders good-naturedly. 

“Sirius and James hardly remember their own names, I wouldn’t take it personally,” Remus wisecracked, though there was a seriousness in his eyes that made you believe his words. “Besides, the trouble is only just starting!” he added. “Now that they know your name, you won’t be able to get rid of them.”

“Sounds terrifying,” you joked back, grinning.

“There’s no escaping those two,” Remus said dramatically. “I’ve been trying to shake them for six years now, but they don’t seem to care.”

“Maybe I should change my name,” you offered.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Remus burst out, laughing at your banter. You grinned at each other, so absorbed with the other person that you didn’t notice Sirius and James poke their heads around the shelf to eavesdrop on your conversation. “Y/n, do you think,” Remus paused, intimidated by the adorable way in which you turned your head and smiled at him. You were overwhelmingly perfect, and it was really starting to distract the poor boy. “Would you maybe…”

“Would I maybe?” you encouraged.

“Would you maybe want to go to Hogsmeade with me? This upcoming weekend? If you’re not busy that weekend, I mean,” Remus said, barely getting the words out without struggling.

“Oh,” the smile on your face widened almost impossibly so. “I think I might be busy,” Remus’s face dropped, eyes averting to his feet to hide his disappointment. “Changing my name to avoid these two boys I just met. However, their friend is pretty cute, so perhaps I could postpone my plans,” you added quickly, not wanting your joke to go badly.

Remus’s head rose quickly to meet your eyes, a relieved sigh leaving him. “Really?” he asked rhetorically, and before you could confirm your answer, you heard loud cheering come from beside you. Within seconds, James and Sirius leapt out from behind you and tackled Remus into a hug.

“Yeah Remus!”

“That’s our best friend!”

“Our best friend is finally going on a date!”

“Don’t scare her off,” Remus warned, pushing James away as he started peppering kisses across his face. “Seriously, stop it,” he laughed, not meaning a single word. 

“No,” Sirius said proudly, pulling you in to join their hug. “Y/n’s just going to have to get used to us.”

You quite liked the sound of that.

[theresthesnitch]

What we do to get by, Part 9

Read the rest here.

***

Remus came around more often, after their talk. It felt different now. Not quite friendly, but without the open hostility that Remus had shown him. They weren't quite friends again, but they could coexist in the same space, at least.

Remus still wouldn't stay the night if Sirius was home, and Sirius didn't push him. He still offered every time, and Remus always said he couldn't. Sirius just hoped that he would eventually trust him enough to stay.

***

“Remus!” All three of them cheered when Remus stuck his head around the door and peeked in.

Remus’s face went blank. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Sirius looked around the room, wondering what Remus thought of this ridiculousness. They shrunk the couch and moved it to the side of the room, barely big enough for a single person to sit on. They’d moved both mattresses out into the living room, along with every blanket, pillow, and remotely cozy item in the flat. It was a veritable pile of comfort, and James, Sirius, and Peter were all cuddled in the middle.

“You’re definitely not interrupting.” James jumped up off the cuddle pile and walked over to Remus, who had only taken a step inside the door. “Can I give you a hug? You always gave the best hugs, and I’ve been feeling deprived of Moony-hugs.”

“Uh, sure?” James wrapped his arms around Remus, and Remus looked over his shoulder at Sirius. “What’s going on?”

Sirius smiled. “It’s a sleepover. We alternate where we have them, and today it’s here.”

“How long have you been doing this?” Sirius could hear the hint of longing in his voice, even smothered against James’s shoulder.

“We started it a few months after Hogwarts,” Peter said. “It took us all a bit of adjusting to not living with each other and not seeing each other, so we decided to start this tradition.”

James finally let Remus go, holding him at arm's length with hands on his shoulder. “Who wants to be boring and spend a couple of hours at the pub when you could get pjs and tell scary stories that make Padfoot scared to go to sleep?”

“Oi!” SIrius crossed his arms. “I don’t get scared.”

James looked at him, and then back at Remus. “Yeah, I’d believe that if last time, I hadn’t woken up with him attached to me like a barnacle because of the Dauntless Dreadghoul.”

“No, hey, that’s not fair.” Sirius shuddered. “That story was awful.”

“He’s not wrong,” Peter added. “I didn’t sleep well after that either.”

James threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. “You both are pathetic. It wasn’t even that bad.”

Sirius looked at Remus again, who seemed to be observing them with a sad smile on his face. Sirius couldn’t blame him. They were all best friends once, and Remus should have been part of this tradition. Would have been, except for Sirius ruining it.

Remus ran a hand through his hair. “I–uh, I could go. I don’t want to–”

“Nonsense, Remus!” James grabbed his shoulder and drug him further into the room. “Stay! You’re a Marauder, and it’s never been a real Marauder’s Slumber Party without you.”

Remus looked at them uncertainly. “Are you sure?”

“Of course we’re sure!” Peter said.

“I’ve still got the clothes I lent you, if you want to change.” Sirius spoke quietly, but Remus looked right at him. He seemed grateful for the chance to leave the room, and followed Sirius as soon as he stood up.

Sirius grabbed the clothes from the corner of his dresser, where he had folded them and put them after the last time. “Here. Do you want to go take a shower first? I could set your clothes to wash, if you want.”

“Are you sure it’s okay that I stay?” Remus dropped his voice, as though afraid they’d be overheard. “It looks like you were all having fun, and I don’t want to bring everyone down.”

“Is that what you think you would do, Remus? Bring us down?”

Remus shuffled his feet. “I know I do. That’s what happened when I showed up to James’s stag do.”

“No, Remus. Not at all.” Sirius reached out and took Remus’s hand. “That day was the best day I’d had in a while.” Remus snorted. “No, I meant it. Knowing you were still alive, that you were still out there, that made my day.”

“You don’t have to say that.” Remus wouldn’t look at him, but he hadn’t pulled his hand away.

“You don’t have to believe me, but I had been carrying the weight of thinking you were dead for I don’t even know how long. James and I actually had talked about you before you even showed up, and how you should have been there. About how we missed you.” Sirius started tracing his thumb in a small circle across the back of Remus’s hand. “I’m so happy you came tonight. I had wanted to invite you, but I didn’t know if you would show up if I did.”

“I probably wouldn’t have.” Remus looked up when he said it, a small acknowledgement that made Sirius’s heart flutter.

“Yeah, I figured. But I am really, really glad that you’re here. You’ll see, this will be so much more fun because of you.” Sirius dropped his hand, as loathed as he was to do it, and took a step back. “Go shower. I’ll come grab your clothes in a minute. We’re going to order pizza in a bit. Do you have a favorite topping? Don’t tell me you don’t care, because James will order everything with pineapple on it if you’re not careful.”

Remus wrinkled his nose. “I forgot he did that.”

“It’s awful, isn’t it? He hasn’t gotten any better.”

“I, uh, just want pepperoni, I guess.”

Sirius smiled broadly. “That’s what I get to.”

Sirius grabbed Remus’s clothes–pretending that Remus wasn’t showering with the curtain open and in full view–and headed to the living room again a few minutes later when he had set the spell over Remus’s clothes. James and Peter were sitting huddled on one end of the mattress pile, heads bent together and clearly discussing something. Sirius sat a few feet away from them, and the lads turned to him.

“Is he going to stay?” James asked.

Sirius shrugged. “I think so, at least for a little while.”

Peter’s face lit up. “You know what that means.”

James and Sirius groaned, but it wasn’t either of them who spoke up next. “What does it mean?”

All three of them turned to the door again, and Sirius tried not to focus on the way Remus still had water running down his bare chest. At least he’d put on trousers, because Sirius was certain that he couldn’t handle that.

“It means it’s time for the Greatest Marauder!” Peter was practically bouncing when he said it.

“For what?” Remus looked no less confused.

Sirius sighed. “It’s this game that he’s created. It’s never really worked very well.”

“That’s because it was made for four, and Lily couldn’t play because she’s not a Marauder.”

Remus pulled on a tshirt–Sirius was not disappointed at that, thank you very much–and walked over to the beds on the floor. He looked at it for a moment before diverting and sitting on the chair. “Okay, well, what are the rules?”

Rules were a very loose term for the instructions that Peter gave them. It wasn’t the first time that Sirius had played, and he still wasn’t completely sure he knew the rules. It somehow involved jumping around the living room from cushion to chair to blanket–each labeled with a location in Hogwarts–and lots of drinking for rule penalties that Sirius couldn’t keep up with.

Actually, he was pretty sure that Peter was making up half the times that they had to drink, and he might have called him out on it if it wasn’t for the fact that Remus was laughing nearly constantly. Sirius didn’t care if he, personally, had to drink all the liquor in the flat if Remus just kept laughing like that.

There was a rule that Sirius was certain hadn’t been involved in any prior game they played. Every time they landed on a haunted space–which was never consistent or predictable, 'like the ghosts, Sirius, you never know where they’ll be’–they had to share a story from Hogwarts. Sirius could have kissed Peter for that, because it got them all remembering happy memories from school.

And Remus–

Remus seemed to come alive, absolutely glowing. He hadn’t stopped smiling, and when he and Sirius ended up sharing a cushion after being trapped by Filch in a broom cupboard, Remus stood behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist to keep them both securely on the small pillow, and Sirius could have stayed in that imaginary broom cupboard forever.

Eventually, they’d all taken too many penalty shots to keep hopping through the furniture, and they collapsed onto the pile of beds and blankets on the floor. Or, well, James, Sirius, and Peter did. Remus sat down in the chair at the side.

The stories kept going though. Year by year, it was a highlight reel of their best pranks, up until the end of fifth year. It was almost like being back in the dorm room and sitting on the end of their beds, talking and planning, drawing their map.

Being Marauders together.

As the hour got later, they all started talking less and drifting more. Peter was the first one to fall asleep, followed quickly by James, which left Sirius practically alone with Remus.

“Oh, your mattress is still here.” Sirius looked over to where James and Peter were curled up together at the end of the makeshift bed. “I can try to extract it if you want to go off and sleep in your room.”

“Oh, no.” Remus ran a hand through his hair. “Can I–uh–can I just join you?”

Was Sirius’s heart audibly beating out of his chest? Could Remus tell how Sirius felt about laying next to him in bed? “Sure, that’s no problem at all. I’ll let you have the end.”

Sirius scooted over on the bed, and pat the bed next to him. Remus took off the jumper he was now wearing and slipped under the blanket next to him. Sirius waved his wand to extinguish the lights, and there was nothing but the soft sounds of Peter and James sleeping on the other side of the bed.

Remus rolled toward him, laying on his side and looking at Sirius with piercing eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. There was just enough firewhiskey coursing through him that Sirius had to remind himself not to lean forward and kiss Remus–that this wasn’t the time or the place to do it. That Remus wouldn’t want him to.

For a long time, they just looked at each other in the low light that streamed in through the open window. In the darkness, Sirius could let himself look at Remus. In the darkness, he could pretend that the look in Remus’s eye meant that he wanted Sirius, too.

“Goodnight, Padfoot.”

Sirius smiled at the use of his nickname. “Goodnight, Moony.”

***

Sirius woke some time later when he was jostled. He’d been sleeping on his back, which was unusual for him, but he felt like a heavy weight was holding him down. He opened his eyes and realized that the soft tickle on his neck was actually Remus’s hair.

Remus pulled away from Sirius, obviously not aware that he was awake, moving slowly in order not to jostle him further. Sirius watched him as he moved away and slid out out from under blankets. When he stood up, he looked back down at Sirius, who made no effort to hide that he was awake. The golden light of early morning did nothing to hide the blush that spread up from the collar of his shirt.

“Good morning.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry I woke you.”

“Are you leaving?” Perhaps Sirius should have a little more patience, but finding Remus pulling away from him in order to sneak out left Sirius feeling hurt.

“Yeah, I was going to.”

Sirius sighed and stretched an arm over his head. Remus’s eyes seemed to linger on the strip of skin above his trousers. “You should stay. James will make pancakes.”

“James can cook?” Remus wrinkled his nose.

Sirius laughed. “Yeah, he’s gone fully domestic now. Cooks, cleans, shops for groceries—“

“I suck great dick too.” James’s sleepy voice came from behind Sirius. He turned to look at him just as James pulled his face out of the pillow with a sleepy grin.

Remus snorted. “I’m sure your wife appreciates that.”

James gave a small shrug. “She does. It translates well enough to that too.”

“Doesn’t for you though, does it?” Sirius rolled toward him. “I don’t know how you do it. Vag will never feel like a cock in your mouth. I couldn’t give that up.”

James smirked at him. “Who says I have to give it up? Just have to find someone who’s willing to let Lily join too.”

“Wait, really?” Sirius shoved him in the shoulder. “You never said!”

“It’s a recent discussion.” A mischievous look came across his face. “Why, Padfoot? You interested? Want to take me to bed?”

Sirius snorted. “You wish you were lucky enough to suck my dick, but I’m not really interested in sex with a woman, even for your wife.”

James shrugged. “Your loss. I’m excellent at giving head.”

“Are you fuckers going to keep talking about blowjobs, or is someone going to make breakfast?” Peter’s voice was still muffled by his pillow, and Sirius hadn’t actually realized he was awake.

James looked back at Sirius. “Peter’s just jealous because he’s straight and has never had a blowjob from a man.”

Sirius laughed and pushed James’s shoulder. “Alright Romeo. How about you stow away your sexual prowess and make us all happy?”

James rolled over, hair rumpled and pillow lines on his face. “All you have to do is ask. Oh, and Moony has to stay.” James looked at him and raised his eyebrows a few times. “What’ll it be, Moony?”

Remus looked at them with a raised eyebrow. “Are we talking about blowjobs or pancakes?”

James pushed up onto his elbows to give Remus a wink. “Does it change your answer?”

Remus laughed. “Yes to pancakes.”

James laughed and wiggled his eyebrows at Remus. “That’s not a no to blowjobs.”

Remus winked at him, then walked back toward the bathroom. “Someone make me a tea.” James and Sirius burst out laughing, and Peter groaned about his hangover.

***

James made pancakes while the three of them sat around the table in the kitchen. James was in his element, flipping the pancakes without a spatula to excited cheers from the rest of them–fueled in part by breakfast bloody marys.

Remus was quieter this morning, more reserved. Tired, perhaps from the night before, or maybe a little less emboldened without the alcohol. Part of Sirius wishes that James and Peter weren't here, and maybe Remus would feel more comfortable with just him, like the way they'd been sharing their meals.

Then again, maybe Sirius was the problem and Remus would be more comfortable if he was just with James and Peter. He tried not to think too much about that.

Eventually, they ate their weight in pancakes with sticky syrup. Peter left first, saying something about getting back to check on his mother. James stayed, but Sirius could see that Remus was already checking the door, like he was trying to determine the right moment to slip away.

The moment seemed to finally come when there was a lull in conversation. James sipped his tea, Sirius took a last bite of pancake, and Remus clears his throat. "I have to head out, but this was… well, that was fun."

Sirius smiled at him. "I'm really glad you came, Remus."

"Me too, Moony!" James stood up and wrapped him in a bear hug. "It's so much better when you're around. Next time is at my house. You'll have to come."

Remus had his face buried in James's shoulder, muffling his reply. When James released him–and it was clear that James was the one holding on, Remus looked down at the ground instead of at James.

Sirius looked up. “Will you come back, Remus?”

Remus nodded, and headed for the door without another word.

James and Sirius sat quietly as they listened to the light rustling of Remus shrugging on his coat and the dull thunk of putting on his shoes. They sipped tea as they listened to Remus open the door and walk out.

As soon as it closed, James turned to Sirius. “Was that it?”

Sirius avoided his gaze. “What do you mean?”

“You just let him walk out of here.” James looked over his shoulder, almost like he expected Remus to be standing there. “You didn’t even fight for him to stay.”

Sirius sighed, refilling his tea. “I can’t. When I push, he pulls away. He’s been coming around more, but only when I don’t make a big deal about it. He can come, if he wants, or he can stay away. I just do what I can to make him comfortable and welcome while he’s here.”

James just looked at him for a minute, but Sirius didn’t meet his gaze. “I don’t know how you do it, Padfoot. I don’t think I’d have the patience to wait without wanting to tie him down.”

Sirius met his gaze there, and found it full of warmth and awe. “Honestly, Prongs? I’m not sure how I do it either, but Remus deserves a chance to choose this."

***

Remus was back the next night, showing up as Sirius opened the door after work. He looked hesitant, and perhaps a bit wary, but Sirius tilted his head into the flat as a welcome, and Remus joined him.

It had been a long, difficult shift, and Sirius appreciated the silence between them. He didn’t have it in him to make small talk about whatever horrific thing Remus had found necessary to survive recently (Sirius acknowledged that this thought wasn’t really fair, and that Remus was doing the best he could, but that didn’t stop the thought from popping in his tired head).

Remus didn’t push for conversation either. He stayed in the kitchen while Sirius prepared them a small meal. He said thank you and quietly ate at the seat next to Sirius, and he never once insisted that Sirius entertain him or discuss his day. It was honestly lovely.

When they finished eating, Sirius charmed the dishes to clean. He was about to offer to let Remus stay the night, when Remus spoke up.

“If it’s not a problem, I thought that I would stay tonight.” Remus didn’t make eye contact when he said it, but looked at his fingers that were twisting in his lap. “If that’s okay.”

Sirius let the contentment of being asked–instead of being the one asking–wash over him. Remus wanted to stay. He was choosing this. “Yeah, you can stay. Always, Remus.” He turned toward the hallway. “I’m well knackered, though. I think I’m just going to go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, goodnight, Padfoot.”

Despite his insistence that he was tired, and he was very tired, Sirius couldn’t sleep. Instead, he listened as Remus ran a bath and settled in for bed, very quietly singing as he did.

***

Remus stayed more often after that. Sometimes, Sirius would see him when he was getting ready to leave for his night shift, but Remus would still be there when he came in the next morning. Sometimes he was already there when Sirius got off work, and he would sit down to dinner with him. Sirius didn’t reach across the table and hold his hand. Sirius didn’t kiss him. Sirius didn’t climb into bed with him.

Which was fine, as long as Remus stayed.

One morning, after Remus had spent the night, they were standing barefoot in the kitchen, sipping tea. Remus drained his cup and set it down in the sink. “I suppose I should go.”

Sirius looked at him over the rim of his cup. “Do you actually have anywhere to go, Remus?”

Remus still had his back turned to Sirius, leaning against the counter with his hands spread. “No, but I can’t stay here all the time.”

“Why not, Remus? You could just move in.”

Remus sighed and turned around. “I can’t live here, Sirius. I have nothing to offer you.”

“You don’t have to offer me anything.” Sirius set his cup down on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t need anything from you.”

“I won’t do that. I’ll end up feeling in your debt, and I don’t want that.”

Sirius threw his arms out. “Then we’ll figure something else out. Some sort of arrangement.”

Remus looked at him with raised eyebrows. “An arrangement?”

Sirius smiled. “Yeah, an arrangement. I’m sure we can think of something.”

Remus bit the corner of his lips and looked away. “I’ll think about it.”

“Alright, but please do. I just want to help you, Remus.” Sirius walked out of the kitchen. “I’m going to shower. I’ve got a shift in a bit. James is going to come over for dinner tonight, though.”

***

Sirius went through his day at work with an extra spring in his step. He was assigned to the long-term care ward again, which was generally devastating. However, today, he couldn’t stop smiling at each of the patients, and most of them smiled in return. It was a far better day on the ward than he’d ever had before.

Sirius knew he should be careful getting his hopes up. Remus hadn't promised to stay, but he was so sure that they’d made progress. Remus was going to stay.

When he came home, James was already there sitting on the couch with a bottle of muggle beer, but Remus was not with him. Sirius looked around when he walked in, but one look at James confirmed that he was alone.

“Sorry, Padfoot. He took off a little while ago. Said he had to work tonight.” James looked apologetic.

Sirius shrugged it off, like it was no big deal that Remus wasn’t there, but his mood noticeably soured. “It’s fine. He’s got a job, and he’ll be here when he wants to.”

“Is he living here now? I couldn’t quite get a straight answer out of him.” James took a deep drink from his bottle.

Sirius shrugged off his coat and slipped off his shoes, walking toward the kitchen. He raised his voice so James could hear him from the next room. “Not really, I guess. He’s here three or four nights a week, I suppose, but he won’t stay more than that. He leaves every morning, regardless though. Like he’s afraid of overstaying his welcome.”

“Where does he go?”

Sirius grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge and went to sit next to James on the couch. “I’m not sure, really. I don’t think he always has a place to go, but where was he going before he started staying here? He must have had a routine.”

James grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch, covering both of them stretched out over the middle cushion. Their legs were staggered, soles of their feet pressed to thighs, and Sirius sighed in relief at the casual contact–the touch grounded him, reminding him that he had people who loved him even if he’d made mistakes in his life.

“Are you doing okay, Padfoot?”

Sirius started peeling the label on the bottle rather than answering straight away. “Somehow, I’m both better and worse than I was before he came back to us. Like I’m really glad to know that he’s okay, but to see the way he’s been living and the things he’s had to deal with. That’s my fault, and it’s so much worse than I realized it was.” Sirius took a deep drink from his bottle, and James grabbed one of his feet and started rubbing it. “I’m glad that he’s around and we’re able to help him, but I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve done to him.”

“He doesn’t blame you, you know.” James dug his thumb into the pad of Sirius’s foot, and he groaned at it. “I talked to him about it.”

“He should.” Sirius took another drink and set the bottle aside, grabbing one of James’s feet as well. “I talked to him about it too, actually. He wanted to know if I did it as payback.”

James furrowed his brow. “Payback for what?”

Sirius’s stomach dropped. He’d never told James about what happened with the kiss, and he hadn’t really meant to bring it up now. “Oh, you know Remus. Always looking for something to blame himself for.”

James looked like he didn’t quite believe him, but he didn’t push. “I’m glad you were able to clear it up then.”

“Me too.” Sirius sighed and shook his head. “Enough sad stuff. What are you and Evans getting up to when she’s not harassing me at work?”

“Did I tell you that we’re planting a garden?” James exhaled, a small huff of laughter. “Well, I’m planting a garden. You know Evans and Herbology. She couldn’t grow a garden on her own if she tried. We’ve already got the plot picked, and Mum is going to give us some plants as soon as the weather turns warmer. She said that…”

Sirius let himself get lost in the mindless chit chat with James. He tried very hard not to think of Remus and what he might be doing now. He was (almost) successful.

[luna-redamancy]

Hi Luna! I hope you're having a wonderful day/night!I know I usually request semi angsty stuff, but I am in desperate need of some fluff right now. Could you please do “I’ve thought about doing this for so long,” with Marion, please?

Hello, my dear! I’m having a pretty good day, my birthday is this weekend so my coworker baked me a chocolate cake and ohmygoodness it’s so good! 

Following that sweetness, here is a fluffy little piece for you!

“You look cold,” Mairon’s voice drew your attention as you turned, the night breeze causing goosebumps to rise on your arms. You still weren’t used to the new world you all got sent to, so used to the vibrant warm days with Eru. 

“This world is a cold place,” You hummed, giving him a smile before turning back to face the stars. This amazed you the most, the constellations, the way they burned in the night sky like lanterns being held up by a million different strings. 

“Here,” His voice was soft as he took the blanket in his hands and wrapped it around your shoulders.

“Thank you,” Your voice was barely above a whisper as you held the blanket around you, a flutter forming in your chest. 

As the two of you sat, staring at the stars, Mairon suddenly cleared his throat. 

“Morgoth gave me some advice today,” Mairon broke the silence, causing you to shift to look at him.

“Oh?”

He nodded, fighting the urge to look at you, knowing he’d lose his courage. 

“I’ve been having some unexplained feelings, for quite some time.” 

“And what did he say?”

“To tell the person who they’re for and wish for the best.”

You tilted your head.

“Oh?”

“-So, I have something to tell you. I care for you, deeply, (Y/n), long before we ever came here to fulfill Eru’s wishes,” His words left you stunned as you stared at him, mouth dropped into an ‘o’. 

“Please tell me, do you feel the same?”

Instead of answering his question, you replied with your own. 

“May I kiss you?” 

Mairon’s face broke into a grin as he nodded, your own nervous smile forming as you leaned forward to cup his cheek. Your hand was warm from the heat of the blanket, in stark contrast to his wind-burned cheeks. 

As your lips connected with his, Mairon melted into you, tilting his head to deepen the kiss as his hands took their place on the small of your back to pull you close to his form. 

“I’ve thought about doing this for so long,” You said as you broke apart, a grin on your face. “I’m so happy you feel the same.”

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[proserpina-magnus]

yayy you take requests 🥺 I really love your writing it’s one of the best I’ve come across on the internet I swear

was wondering if I can request a poly!marauder where reader is really snappy/irritated before her period and the boys don’t realize why she acts like that cause she’s usually really kind and loving. she may sometimes not even realize she’s being mean/scary?

she could then out of sudden break down crying over something very stupid - maybe because something or someone really annoyed her

and the boys are literally clueless

Hii! I’m so sorry this took so long 😭😭 this has been in my request for awhile but luckily I finished it today! I hope you don’t mind the delay, anyways I hope you enjoy it! Mwah.

P.S: I also included Peter! I hope you don’t mind (since you didn’t specify).

P.S.S: this is also really bad :)

Irritation (poly Marauders)

Reader: female (she/her)

Warning: irritation (described and displayed), swearing, fighting (mention of blood like once), intrusive thoughts, anxiety (displayed in characters, such as biting nails, words, etc), “baby, love, dove,”, mention of sex (not described though), talk of losing appetite and eating, hurt/comfort, comment to add more.

Word count: 3.6k

You woke up irritated, body aching slightly and adjusting to your upcoming period. You pick at your food, tapping your foot angrily as you listen to every chat. A good 1000 students talking was enough to give you a headache... or at least add onto the one you already had. The littlest sounds, like a fork scraping against the plate, sent you into a fit of rage and you snapped at Remus.

"We get it, the book’s good," you say, staring deep into your plate. Remus let his mouth hang open, mid sentence before closing it. The boys gave you a look, James trying to quickly figure out what the problem was. “…uh, something bothering you? No need to snap at Remus,”

“No need to snap at Remus,” you mocked, James eyebrows scrunched as he made a confused expression. Peter, who sat beside you, had his eyes slanted as he tried to figure out what your issue had been. “James wasn’t trying to-“ Peter had started, But you quickly cut him off.

“Peter, why don’t you just mind your business?” You question, you never had been mean to Peter, not as much as you joked around with the others. This banter confused Peter, and he looked away and bit the inside of his cheek.

“Hey now, don’t get bitchy,” Sirius tuned in, James had sucked in a breath as Sirius uttered the phrase. The boys stayed quiet, even Sirius knew he had said something wrong. You dropped your fork to the plate, it clanked loudly. You stood up, grabbed your bag roughly as the chair scraped against the floor from your quick movement.

“_____, love,” Peter began, trying to clear the miscommunication up with what Sirius had said. You waved him off, eyes glaring around at each of them. Remus had begun to shift awkwardly, not liking the tension, while Sirius had tried to stutter out that he didn’t mean it. James was a bit flushed, hating the anger that was now appearing. Peter had lost his appetite.

You pondered what to say, mouth slightly opened to spew out some insult but you felt ridiculous and teared up slightly. The boys just looked at you, not knowing what to say and somehow that made the situation worse.

“Why don’t you just fuck off,” you rushed out, not really knowing who that was directed towards. Before any of them could get a word in, you had walked quickly out of the dining hall.

“Why’d you say that?” Peter was the first to ask, Sirius feeling attacked over his words. “Well she was being bitchy, Peter you need to stop being such a coward and stick up for us once in awhile,”

“Pads,” James called, Peter rolling his eyes. Sirius snapped his head around, looking at each of them. “Well I’m right! She was making Moony feel bad,”

“She wasn’t making me feel bad,” Remus sighed, and Sirius shook his head and began to get a bit angry. “Yes she was, she had no right to start acting the way,”

“I don’t think we need to focus on what she said, we need to know why she acted that way,” James said, rubbing a hand over his chest. “Did she fail a test or something? Did she mention anything that was bothering her?” He pondered to them.

Everyone shook their heads, they all were confused on why you had acted that way. They had completely forgotten about your period. You never acted so vile on your period, you usually just acted the same. Yet they forgot to realise that not every period was going to be the same and emotions were heightened.

“Maybe Snape said something,” Peter thought, and Remus nodded his head. “True, I did hear that they got partnered for a project in herbology,” Remus said, and all of the boys sorta grumbled at the thought of you working with Snape.

“Yeah if I was partnered with him I’d be bitchy,” Sirius said, nodding his head like he understood now. James hit Sirius on the back hard, and Sirius shot him a look. “Stop referring to her as a bitch,” James said, upset. He never liked the degrading words used against you, there were much better words to phrase your reaction.

“Alright alright,” Sirius said in surrender, feeling guilty now for upsetting you further. Remus stayed quiet, he wasn’t upset about you snapping at him, he was upset at the fact that you felt the need to snap at him.

Peter felt wiry, he didn’t like when you were upset. He always felt like he was to blame, especially since you were always so loving. He decided to go check on you, not liking the tears he had seen in your eyes.

“Where are you going?” Remus asked, he knew exactly what Peter was intending to do but he just wanted confirmation. Sirius and James were deep in conversation, planning on pranking Snape to make you feel better (they had confirmed the issue was Snape, before even asking you what was truly wrong).

“I’m gonna go check on her,” Peter said, cleaning his plate as much as he could as he stacked the dirty dishes together. “I’ll come with,” Remus said, sitting up and Peter took Remus's plate and stacked it with his. “We’re going to go check on her,”

Sirius piped up, standing up before Remus sat him back down with a hand to his shoulder. “Not you, not yet,” Remus told him, and Sirius pouted.

Remus and Peter walked out of the dining hall, and Sirius and James conversed about the prank.

“I don’t think it’s Snape,” Peter said, and Remus nodded. “No, me neither,”

“I just can't figure out what it could be,'' Peter sighed, looking down halls and out windows to see if he could spot you. Remus nodded, sighing as well.

They stayed quiet for a bit, Peter more hyper fixed on finding you (Remus felt the same, but was much better at hiding his worry). Peter stopped, looking over at Remus. “You know she didn’t mean it,” Peter told him and Remus nodded.

“I know, I’m not mad at her,” Remus spoke, and Peter nodded like Remus had. “And you know she didn’t mean to snap at you, it’s not your fault she’s irritated,” Remus said, knowing Peter's thoughts.

Peter nodded, though half doubted it as they continued on their look for you.

—

Peter and Remus hadn’t found you, they had arrived late to transfiguration, Professor McGonagall gave them an eye and told them to sit.

“Where is she?” Sirius asked, James listening in as he leaned closer to where Remus and Peter sat in front of them. Next to James, was an empty seat. Sirius sat opposite of the empty seat.

“Couldn’t find her,” Remus said, James grew worried.

“We will look at the map later,” he said, reassuring the group but it was more for reassuring himself. They all nodded, trying to focus on class, yet they kept wondering about the thought of you.

“No I’m worried,” Sirius said after a while, Remus looked behind them as Peter bit at his nails. “Pads it’s alright; she’s fine,” James stated, but Sirius doubted him.

“You don’t know that, what if what I said made her upset!” He whispered, and Remus turned back around and let James handle Sirius.

“She’s not like that, she was clearly irritated before you talked with her, she’s probably just having a bad day,” James tried to make up any safe possible scenario, he didn’t want to think about dreadful things.

“But-“ Sirius said, and Peter whipped around. “Just shut up Sirius, alright? We will find her after class,” he grew irritated and Sirius grumbled and stayed quiet.

—

They had found you quickly with the help of their invention, but you had put up a wall and just shrugged them off.

“Baby, listen if it’s about what I said this morning,” Sirius began, but you continued to look down at your open book. The library was quiet before, and students listened in to hear the drama of the group.

“Can you just go away? I can't read when you’re talking to me,” you said, mouth in a frown. Remus was the first to realize you really did just want space and he decided it was best to let you get over your irritation, but convincing the rest of the boys was the hardest part.

“She just wants to read guys, come on,” Remus said, grabbing Sirius arm to pull him away from hovering over you (which Peter had noticed was pissing you off). James stayed in place, so did Peter.

“She can’t skip class Remus,” James said seriously, looking down at you as you continued to stare at your book, not sparing a glance at them.

“_____,” James warned, reaching out to hold your shoulder gently and you twitched and removed his hand from your shoulder. “You can't skip class love,”

“Fuck off, you never give Peter or Sirius any shit for skipping,” you scoffed, and James began to get a bit irritated with your rude behaviour.

“Yes I do-“ James was quick to defend himself, and you rolled your eyes.

“Can you seriously fuck off? Like what do you not get about me wanting to be alone? That doesn’t mean I want you around,” you snapped at him, turning around and glaring. “All of you need to fuck off,”

They stayed quiet, looking at you again such as how they did this morning. James stepped back, “alright,” he said, walking out of the library as Sirius followed behind with a grumble.

“We will see you at lunch?” Remus asked and you just ignored him. He decided to follow behind Sirius and James.

Peter stayed, weight going between each foot as he swayed back and forth. You looked over at him, an eyebrow raised as you waited for him to leave, he didn’t.

“I want you to leave,” you said, staring at him like he was incompetent. Peter shrunk slightly against your harsh gaze. “I know what you want,” Peter said, “but don’t you care what I want? What we want?”

“I don’t owe you sex,” you scoffed, misinterpreting what he meant. Peter shook his head, “No, you don’t. that’s not what I meant,”

“What could you possibly mean then?” You asked, huffing. Peter sat down beside you and you slid your chair away. Didn't you get that they were worried?

“What’s wrong,” he asked, “how can I make it better?” He felt completely hopeless. You just shrugged, the wall you had blocked them with slowly falling a bit. But then you remembered that they didn’t even know why you were upset, how could they even forget you had a period? The fury built back up again, all they cared about was themselves. It was always Remus's monthly, never yours.

“You can make it better by fucking going away,” you swore, and Peter did just that.

—

Two days went by, without much effort to talk to the boys. They all tried their hardest to catch your attention and make you feel better, yet their proposals were quickly dismissed.

James had got you many gifts, him and Sirius even snuck into Hogsmeade to get you sweets from honey dukes. You took the sweets, but dismissed them entirely.

Remus tried to talk to you about the books you had been reading, but you told him you weren’t interested in talking with him and left.

Sirius got frustrated pretty easily with not being able to hold hands with you and locked you in the broom closet with him. James had found him an hour later, knocked out.

Peter followed you around, you found many flowers left in your dorm. You had received about 10 letters from him, each every morning, before your first class, during lunch, at dinner, and before you went to bed. You had read them, cuddling with your blankets.

On the third day, you wanted attention and affection. Cramps had made you emotional, you just wanted some attention from your boys. But when you had sat by them at the table, hand going to hold Sirius’s, he had pulled it away from you. You frowned, trying again but he pulled it away. You knew something was wrong, even this morning you haven't received a good morning letter from Peter.

“So what, you think you can just come hang out with us and think nothings wrong?” James asked you, they had all grown irritated with your behaviour. You yourself hadn’t really noticed the way you had been treating them.

“What do you mean?” You asked confused, looking between each of them as they laughed. You felt hurt, knowing they were making fun of you. You tried to hold Peter's hand but he was too quick and pulled it away before you could even touch him.

“You wanted to be left alone,” he reminded you. Remus nodded his head, “you even ignored all of our gifts,” James said, and Sirius laughed and made a joke.

“I didn’t want gifts,” you told them, “when have I ever asked for gifts?” You continued, and they became quiet. Had you been rude to them?

You began to think over the last few days, some things you had done were questionable but it was justified. Couldn’t they see you were emotional?

Did they even care? Of course with these thoughts, your brain forgot to realize all the attempts they made, all the worrying they felt, all the times they talked in private and grew concerned for your well-being.

“You kept snapping at us, you can’t just be rude to us for no reason and then expect us to be okay with it, you don’t get cuddles _____,” James told you firmly, but you tilted your head, you began to get angry again.

“So when I don’t ask for something you give it to me, but when I want to hold your fucking hand that's not allowed? Do you even care what I want?” You asked, you realised how unreasonable some of what you were saying was. You had remembered what Peter had said in the library and you grew quiet.

“Nevermind,” you snapped quickly just as they were about to argue with you. You got up, saddened that you couldn’t get the affection you wanted. You left, heading to herbology.

—

The first class, along with the banter from this morning, ruined your whole day. You had to work with Snape, already in a bad mood.

He had been pretty quiet, so had you, only talking to each other about the project and what was necessary. It was all going fine until the end of the class, when he had said something that made you feel terrible.

“You and the Marauders hadn’t been hanging out recently, I guess they came to their senses that you weren’t really worth it,” he began, who knew why he had said it, but it was enough to trigger some deeper emotional rage. You screamed at him in the hallway, completely losing it at him. At some point, both your wands had been drawn and just before something bloody happened, the professor had stopped it. You had been given detention and since you had been the one that had started the duel, Snape got off scot free.

The Marauders had heard about what happened and what made it worse is that they didn’t try to find you. You passed by James and Sirius in the hall, hoping to talk to them and get all of the anger out about what Snape had said. But they just said a simple “we don’t really want to talk to you right now,”

You watched them walk down the hall, they hadn’t wanted to know if you were okay? They were always curious about any drama revolving around Snape.

You had cried in the bathroom, moaning myrtle was the only one who cared enough to ask you what was wrong. You felt pathetic relying your emotions on a ghost that lives in the bathroom, but it was somehow comforting listening to her weep along with you.

Maybe Snape was right, maybe they did come to their senses.

—

After detention, you passed by the Gryffindor portrait. You had debated for several minutes if you wanted to go see them and finally the fat lady decided to just let you in and told you a “Stop weeping outside my door, I have a date soon and you’re going to ruin it, go in go in,”

You had climbed up the steps, you were going to leave once you reached their door, but it was already open with James waiting for you.

“We saw you on the map,” he said once he noticed you were confused. “Oh,” you said, you looked completely drained and James showed a soft remorse that made you crumple.

“Shh it’s okay,” he comforted, bringing you close as you shakily sighed into his chest. Your arms came to wrap around him, lips trembling as you started to cry. “Let’s get out of the hallway,” James told you, leading you into their dorm as he closed the door for privacy. Your face still buried in his chest, weeping uncontrollably as Sirius sat up from his lying position at the sound.

Peter and Remus piped up as well, as Sirius walked over and took you in his arms. He glared at James, thinking he did something.

“What’s wrong baby?” Sirius whispered gently, guiding you over to the bed as he sat you down on James bed. “It hurts,” you say, not giving much context as they all look at you confused, high in alert and they felt guilty for ignoring you in this state.

“What hurts?” Remus asked, Peter and him had come to stand close as James sat down on the other side of you. James pressed the back of his hand to your forehead, “she doesn’t feel warm,” he told them.

“Love what hurts?” Peter repeated, you sniffled and tried to calm down enough to tell them what was wrong. “My period,” you choked, you thought they had realised by now. The boys became aware quickly that that’s what had been making you upset the past few days.

“You’re periods don’t usually make you this emotional,” James questioned and you scoffed but they decided to let it slide.

“They aren’t always the same,” you told them, wiping your eyes as your uterus twisted again. You let out another sob, you didn’t want to go through this alone.

“I’m sorry dove, we should’ve realised sooner,” Remus said, crouching down as he took you in his arms. You curled yourself into him, he picked you up and switched so he was the one sitting down.

“Snape said something,” you sniffled, face resting in Remus's neck as your nose brushed up against his neck. They all became a bit angry, not liking the sound of that.

“What did he say?” James asked, rubbing your back. You took a moment to try and phrase it, it felt embarrassing to admit that his words had worried you. “He said… that the reason you guys were ignoring me was because you came to your senses,”

“Senses to what?” Peter asked, they all had been confused. “That you didn’t like me anymore,” you whimpered the words, tears welling up again. Their hearts stopped for a second, squeezing so tight they all thought they would pass out. James was angry with himself and Snape. James and Sirius felt horrible for ignoring you right after what Snape had said, they didn’t want to prove his statement.

“That fucking bastard,” Sirius fumed, standing up but peter pushed him back down. “She needs us, going off and throwing a few punches won’t do any good,” he whispered and Sirius looked over at James, but James only agreed with Peter. “Not right now,” he mouthed before they pulled their attention back to you.

“We’re so sorry,” Remus coo’s, rocking you gently as you cry into his neck. They all feel pity and a sense of guilt. “So sorry,” you tell them, feeling horrible for snapping.

“You don’t have to apologise,” James assures, rubbing your hair as he pulls it away from your soaked face. “we didn’t know, that’s on us,”

“I didn’t tell you,” you cried, “I was so mean to you, I didn’t mean it. Snape is right,” Sirius fumes at your thoughts.

“Don’t fucking say that bastard is right, he’s a-“ remus shoots Sirius a dangerous look, telling him to shut up before he upsets you more.

“We shouldn’t have just assumed every period is going to be the same, that's on us love,” James said, kissing your temple. “It ain’t right we care for Remus on his monthly and then ignore yours,” James said and Remus shot him to look like he had Sirius.

“It’s okay,” you say, calming down as you rub your face. “It’s not,” Sirius said, kissing your shoulder. Peter cleans up your face, rubbing gently with a warm cloth.

Without saying a word, they had concluded to spoil you. James had filled a heating pad with hot water, Sirius went down to get a potion to soothe your pain, Remus was helping you into a comfy jumper and pyjamas as Peter was getting the junk food.

After everyone got back and situated, you had found yourself between Remus and James, a black dog cuddled between your legs; it’s head over your lap, while a rat was curled under your chin. A heating pad rested on your stomach, junk food around the bed. You sigh happily, resting your head on James' chest while one hand is running through a thick fur coat, your other hand occupied with Remus's. You felt comfortable, all fights dismissed and forgiven, before you fell asleep, James had whispered “you deserve us, we aren’t going anywhere, not even when it gets rough,”.

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[jimblejamblewritings]

snakes & bets | part 7.

Summary: Social outcast suddenly makes friends? And those friends are Hogwarts’ most notorious pranksters? Despite being entirely suspicious, Y/N doesn’t question any motives. The world can’t possibly come crashing down around her…

Warnings: This whole story is angsty, hurt/comfort, smut, will end in fluff but goes through all the other stuff first.

Pairing: Marauders x black!reader, eventual Sirius Black x black!reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Previous Part | (Series Masterlist)

Professor McGonagall was seriously contemplating telling students that they could no longer knock on her door. Whoever it was kept knocking incessantly, refusing to go away. She didn’t want to hear anymore questions about if Voldemort’s reign was over. The Daily Prophet had dropped off the papers earlier that morning. It was all over the front page. Young upstart Auror, Alastor Moody, helped capture Voldemort and bring him to the Ministry of Magic.

McGonagall didn’t want to entertain her students who were wondering if this was truly the end. She didn’t want to speculate sentences about You-Know-Who. Death penalty or forever in Azkaban, she didn’t care and would rather enjoy her free time in peace. The old woman finally gave in and got up to open the door. She raised an eyebrow at seeing Sirius at her door.

“She hates me.”

McGonagall sighed. “She doesn’t hate you, she’s afraid you’re making a joke of her again. Quite frankly, I can’t blame her for thinking such a thing.”

“I’m not. I swear, I’m not. I love her.”

“Mr. Bla—”

“I mean it.”

“Sirius,” McGonagall said, quickly. “I know. I’ve seen a black dog following her around.”

“Professor, please help me.”

McGonagall found herself taking tea with two students twice a week. She had her normal tea with you. Then on a different day, she would Sirius and maybe one of the other marauders as they came up with a plan. You actively ignored them now. They couldn’t even give you a wave. Remus tried to thank you for the wolfsbane potion but you said that you weren’t interested in talking to him before he could even get out a word.

Sirius even waited half a day in the bathroom that Myrtle usually stayed in, hoping that you would come in. You never showed that day. He ended up talking to your aunt who had a few choice words for him. Myrtle told him the same thing that McGonagall did: Don’t be surprised if you’re too late.

Sirius was well aware of the fact that he might have missed his chance with you. But he couldn’t stop trying. Not until he said everything that he had to say. If you didn’t want him afterwards then he would leave you alone. But he had to tell you how he felt and he had to do it correctly. Sirius stopped listening to other people. Every idea failed and you didn’t like talking to anyone. He wasn’t using the girls, or his friends, or even McGonagall. He was just going to do it his way.

“Ow, fuck.” Sirius sucked on his fingers.

This was the fourth time he had pricked himself with the needle. You made embroidery look so easy but it took him just an hour alone to get the hoop correctly on the green sweatshirt that he bought. He tried to crochet you a skirt at first because it seemed the easiest. However, the pile of yarn that was shoved under his bed quickly proved him wrong. He looked up when the door to his dorm opened.

“Wormtail, does this look alright?”

“Decent.”

“Decent?”

“It’s not as good as (Y/N)’s if that’s what you’re asking. It looks fine, Pads.”

Sirius examined his work in the embroidery hoop. He nodded to himself. It was decent. However, it wasn’t quick. He thought he would be done before the end of February and before another Moony Night. Maybe if he had just done your name and a rabbit in the silver thread, he might have been done early. But, Sirius wanted to add little flowers on the sleeves and around the collar. He tried to mimic the style that you embroidered most of your clothes in. Finally, a few days into March, Sirius held up the sweatshirt in satisfaction.

“Prongs, I need your help.”

Remus and Peter insisted on taking a picture after James managed to get Sirius in his sweatshirt that you made for him. It took a while to get his front paws through the sleeves. James scratched behind his friend’s ear.

“Don’t you look adorable.”

Sirius growled, not that the other three cared. He picked up his gift in his mouth and started to leave, looking back at Remus when he realized that he needed one of them to open the door for him. With one more howl of laughter, his friends let him leave.

The weather was no longer freezing so you were outside underneath your favorite tree. The gnomes were back. They were laying flowers in your hair and trading their old hats for new ones. They were also swiping bread from your basket but that was to be expected. The last of the gnomes put on their new hat and ran off.

You looked over to see if they left any bread in your basket so you could have a piece. As your head turned to the side, you saw a large black dog in a red sweatshirt bounding over to you with something in its mouth. Shaking your head, you got up to leave before Sirius could reach you.

He ran faster. Thanks to the whole four legs being faster than one thing, Sirius overtook your pace and stopped in front of you. He quickly turned back into human form, dropping the sweatshirt from his mouth before he got drool on it.

“(Y/N).”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” you said as you began to turn around to leave.

“Please! One talk. One conversation.”  

“Please just leave me alone, Sirius. I’ve already cried my eyes out over you in the past, I’m not doing it again. And I don’t want to be the punchline anymore. It wasn’t funny the first time and it isn’t funny now.”

“It’s not a joke.” Sirius grabbed your hand. “That list was worse than a bad prank, I know that.”

“Yeah, it was. I just wanted friends.”

He could hear the desperation in your voice.

“I know, Bunny, I know. I’m sorry, I’m genuinely sorry. We should have never done that to you.”

“Apology acknowledged.”

Sirius gave you a smile. He started unfolding the sweatshirt. “I got th—”

“Sirius.”

“Yes?” He stopped what he was doing.

“I acknowledge your apology, that’s it. I don’t accept it.”

The green fabric dropped from his hand. “What?”

“I don’t know if you’re lying to me. I meant what I said, you all aren’t allowed to make a joke out of me anymore. I’m done being a punchline.”

“(Y/N)—”

“I’ll ask the professors about ending detention, I know that all of you are cleaning the school. Thanks again for the apology, I appreciate it. That was all I wanted from at least one person.”

You left Sirius dumbfounded as he watched you walk away. This couldn’t be it. He couldn’t lose you like this. Sirius gave out a dry laugh as he picked up the sweatshirt. He never even had you to begin with. But still. He didn’t want it to end like this. The other marauders asked him about it as they sat down in the Transfiguration classroom— all the sixth and seventh years had once again been called to the room. The raven-haired boy shook his head.

“It was a failure. I don’t think she believes me.”

“You can’t blame her,” Remus reasoned.

“I know. I just… I can come up with every gift, gesture, apology in the world but I don’t know how I can make her believe me.”

“Maybe you have to let her go?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Pads—”

“Moony,” James cut in. “How long did I chase after Lily? Let him have this, just a little longer.”

“Okay.” He sat back.

The rest of the students slowly piled in. Sirius still looked for you. As the professors came in, he knew that you wouldn’t be there. None of the professors seemed to be too pleased at telling the students that they were considering ending detention. As far as they were concerned, none of them had truly learned respect. They didn’t care what you told them.

If the professors had their way, the students would be cleaning until the school year ended. They didn’t feel comfortable just letting the students off the hook. Every sixth and seventh year’s eyes went wide as McGonagall presented them the ultimatum.

“You can clean in detention for the rest of the year or write to your parents about your actions. And we will be overseeing each letter before you send them. You must all remember that actions have consequences.”

James searched his school bag for a self-writing quill and some parchment. “Already told them, easiest choice ever.”

Most students were still trying to process what was just presented to them. Surely, their parents probably had scores of consequences waiting for them. Most of them weren’t sure. A lot decided that they would revisit the idea later and, for now, would rather continue with the detention. Remus and Peter had already told the Potters, telling their parents was significantly easier.

“What are you doing, Padfoot?” Peter asked.

Sirius scoffed. “I’m not telling them over a damn letter.”

“You’re going to keep cleaning?”

“No. I need to talk to Minnie, don’t bother waiting for me after class.”

Remus, James, and Peter didn’t listen. They grabbed lunch, saving some for Sirius, and waited outside McGonagall’s door until their friend came out. Sirius was holding several letters and papers in his hands when he left. He had a lot of things to give to a lot of owls. The boys followed him to the owlery.  

“Oh, Prongs, I’m missing your game next weekend. It was the only time the Professor said I could go.”

“Okay, but go where?”

“I have a dinner party to attend.”

“What?”

Sirius explained a bit more as he gave the first letter to his owl. The marauders praised Padfoot on his idea. It was actually a step up from waltzing alone. Regulus approached his brother like he was insane when he saw him in the corridor the next day. He held up his invitation.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? They’re going to eat you alive, Siri.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“I’m not joking.”

“I know. You’re coming right?”

Regulus scoffed. “Of course, I’m not letting you die alone. They’re already pissed they chose the wrong side of the war.”

“They should be glad they aren’t being put on trial.”

Both Black brothers laughed. Regulus tucked the invitation back in his pocket. He was about to make another joke when you passed by. You were reading an invitation that your owl delivered. It wasn’t an invitation for you but your parents. They had been invited to something and were requesting that you come as well. It was less of a request and more of a command considering they told you that they already discussed getting you out of class with Slughorn.

You already knew that you were getting no say in this. That was fine. It had been a minute since you had to perform the duties of old pureblood families. It was probably because of Voldemort’s downfall. So this was either a dinner party to celebrate or it was a party where the families that were on the wrong side tried to rebuild their social status and worm their way back into high society. Every family had bad people. You didn’t think a dinner to try and join the right side again was necessary. They could just denounce their views publicly.

But purebloods had traditions and this was one of them. So you met your parents outside the gates of Hogwarts late Friday night. The dinner was on Saturday but you had to get a dress. Well, you had to pick up a dress. The hosts insisted on buying something for you. You were getting more suspicious by the minute when your parents wouldn’t say anything. They still wouldn’t offer details even when your grandparents came over or your mother’s eldest siblings— they were a brother-sister twin pair.

This seemed like more than a dinner party. You were starting to feel like this was going to be a sit-down dinner between two families, not a party with several. The thought made your upper lip curl. You only relaxed when your uncle brought his children. This must have been for Mary. Pureblood families and their traditions. Mary must have gotten into a serious relationship.

You still rolled your eyes. Only purebloods would go all out for a simple boyfriend or girlfriend. This dinner party was like the pre-promise to the promise to a potential engagement. It was extravagant for no reason.

You piled into the carriage with Mary and your other cousins— the parents and grandparents were in the one up front. The carriages sped through the streets of London. So the family lived close by? Usually, you would need to apparate somewhere or take brooms to a station and then get in the thestral-drawn carriages. You all exited the vehicles and stood on the steps of some building. Your mother put her hand on your father’s chest as he pressed the bricks on the building.

“Don’t be so nervous, honey, you’ve done these things a million times.”

“Well, Walburga and Orion apologized for their comments but I still feel like they look down on me.”

“Well, they would prefer purebloods to stay pure and I don’t think that will change but I think they’re trying on their more extreme actions. They’ve even invited Andromeda and her husband. They just had a baby, you know?”

Your ears perked up. “I’m sorry, did you say Walburga and Orion? Walburga and Orion Black?”

Your grandfather chuckled. “Still playing coy. This is why you’re my favorite grandchild.”

You were ready to run down the steps, manners be damned, when the building started to move. A house elf opened the door that suddenly appeared with a number twelve on it. He ushered everyone inside and then escorted you from the corridor into a sitting parlor with dark green walls. This house was full of Slytherin pride to say the least.

The Black family— technically Tonks since Andromeda and her husband were there too— were already waiting and talking. They were dressed just as fancy as your family was. Andromeda and Ted stuck to speaking with Sirius. Walburga was fawning over the baby. Orion took the first step by greeting your father after greeting your grandparents and mother.

The two men were awkward with each other. It was clear that getting over blood purity was difficult but something that they were actually trying to do. Sirius stood up from the couch when he saw you. You had never seen him so dressed up— his hair was actually gelled back instead of being long and free.

“You look beautiful,” he commented when he got in front of you.

“Thank you,” you said in the most curt voice possible.

Walburga chuckled. “Sirius never showed us a picture of you so we had to go off of his descriptions for a gown. See, Orion, I still have style.”

The adults laughed at the joke that you, the Black Brothers, and your cousins didn’t think was all that funny. Their house elf informed you all that dinner was ready. Like you expected, you were sat right next to Sirius. This stupid dinner was for you and not Mary. You wondered why your parents kept it a secret? It wasn’t like they knew that you weren’t on speaking terms with everyone at school and that included Sirius. You suspected the invitation said to do so for whatever reason.

Dinner was full of small talk. The Zabinis and Blacks knew of each other but were never really in the same circles. Since both families had roots that were from elsewhere, when they got to England they had focused on establishing connections with UK wizarding families. They just never got around to becoming familiar with each other. You tried to avoid immediate discussion with Sirius and Regulus as much as possible. When dessert was brought out, Sirius stood up.

“First, thank you all for being here. I know we normally do these dinners a bit differently but this had to be done,” he started, nervously.

“We could all use a good shake up in tradition,” your grandfather added. The others laughed and Sirius just chuckled nervously.

“Right. Well, I would love for this to be one of those traditional dinners but it’s not. This is an apology dinner. I did something awful at the beginning of the school year.”

He turned to your parents. “And I would like to formally apologize for having hurt your daughter.”

Sirius brought out the parchment list. His parents’ face grew redder with anger as he explained everything. Your family was a range of anger, confusion, pity, and more. You went back and forth between watching Sirius, his family, and yours. You actually continued to look at him as he met your eyes.

“We weren’t kind to you and I should’ve said something the moment I started liking you. No, I should’ve said something before the list was even finished. I can’t take that back and that’s something I’m going to always regret. I will always be sorry for treating you how we did, (Y/N). Everything I said when I asked you to the Yule Ball was real. I meant it. I swear you aren’t a joke or a stupid punchline. Not to me.”

“Siri—”

“Regulus,” Orion cut you off. “Did you know about any of this?”

He hung his head down. “Everything he said was true. The, uh, the whole school doesn’t talk to (Y/N).”

Walburga’s jaw ticked. “Kreacher! Please show (Y/N) the room she’s staying in for the night.”

“Of course, Mistress Black.”

The little house elf took your hand and led you upstairs. The room was covered in posters and full of stuff that you were only used to seeing when you went to visit your cousins on your dad’s side of the family. Kreacher showed you the bathroom and handed you some towels.

Before you turned on the water to take a shower, you could hear Walburga and Orion yelling at their sons. After you got out, you could still hear them. When you got back to your room for the night, you could no longer make out exact words. You could tell the difference in voices based on pitch but had no clue what was being said. At some point— after you heard a voice speak that sounded like your grandmother— the volume went down considerably.

You could hear the clinking of silverware and the shuffling of several pairs of feet. The shower at the end of the hall started. Whatever conclusion had been reached, you weren’t sure. But a conclusion had been reached. Your family came upstairs as you began to braid your hair for bed.

“I have a game tomorrow, so we’re going to head out,” Mary said before leaving with most of the family.

Your parents gave you the very vague answer that they supported whatever you did and couldn’t wait to see you when Hogwarts got out before leaving with the others.

You finished braiding your hair when Sirius knocked on the open doorway, holding a bundle of green fabric. He tried not to stare at your body through your satin romper pajamas. It had been a while since he saw you with such little on. Sirius picked at his flannel pants, trying to will away certain thoughts of you before he got a hard-on at a very inopportune time.  

“Can I come in?”

You nodded. He sat on the edge of the bed, giving you some distance.

“This is your room, isn’t it?” you asked.

“Yeah. I guess all the stuff gave it away.”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“I’m sharing with Reg.”

You both pursed your lips, not having anything else to say. You looked at him.

“It sounded pretty bad down there.”

“Not the first time they’ve told me I’m a disgrace to the family. The public shaming was new,” he tried to joke. “It could’ve been worse. Reg and I are still in the will.”

“Sirius, I accept your apology.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. This was really his last attempt. There was nothing he could do after this if you didn’t want to talk to him. He took a chance and scooted closer to you, moving even a bit closer when you didn’t move away. He picked at the green bundle of fabric in his hand before lifting it up.

“I actually planned on giving this to you when I first apologized. You make it look so easy, I don’t know how you finished one at Prongs’ matches.”

You looked at the green sweatshirt with your name and a rabbit embroidered in silver thread. Sirius tried to make it match the sweatshirts that you made for them as close as possible. The needlework was kind of sloppy and there was a clear difference in your handwriting. But considering he started over four times, he was proud of himself for finishing. He was a bit over-excited, going to put the sweatshirt on you.  

You flopped the sleeves around. Sirius broke out into the dumbest looking smile when you flapped the extra big sleeves in his face. You suddenly pulled back, thinking he would see you as weird again. His smile dropped when he noticed you overthinking and analyzing everything. Sirius quickly grabbed at the sleeves, only getting fabric in his hands. He swung them around a little before cuffing them so they fit better.

“I bought it in my size… so we could switch sometimes.”

“So, we’re friends?” You asked.

Sirius looked down at you. “I was thinking more.”

“Oh.”

You leaned back as he leaned forward. The marauder pouted and tilted his head. His hand reached out to hold your chin until you looked him in the eyes.

“I’m a bad kisser,” you said.

Sirius just dropped his head. At least now he had confirmation that you had heard some of the stuff they said about you. You poked at Sirius’ head until he looked up. His eyes fluttered closed when you held his face in your hands. He opened them to see you looking at him. You gave him a small side smile.

“Friends, for now?”

“Yeah, friends.”

Regulus leaned against the doorway. “Siri, get your ass inside. I’d like to go to bed.”

The older boy groaned, wanting to spend more time with you. You looked past Sirius to meet Regulus’ eyes.

“He can stay with me, go on and sleep.”

Both boys blinked in surprise. Regulus gave his brother a thumbs up, closing the door and leaving. Sirius looked at you.

“Are you sure? I’ll go sleep on the couch when we finish talking.”

“You can stay, mister.”

He laughed, catching on. It was his turn to be the punchline for once. Except this was harmless and he was willingly entertaining it. The two of you talked well into the early hours of the morning. It was more on Sirius’ side than yours but there was clearly some tension that was past friendship. He wasn’t sure how long being just friends would last. It probably wouldn’t even be a problem if they hadn’t made fun of you.

The conversation stopped after you yawned, making him yawn which just made you yawn again. You both agreed that it was time to go to bed. Sirius transformed into his Animagus form, curling up near the foot of the bed. It might have been a bit creepy but he waited for you to fall asleep before doing the same.

Breakfast at Grimmauld Place was a very awkward affair. Walburga and Orion felt the need to apologize again for their sons’ behavior. In the kitchen, Sirius was told that he should consider himself lucky you saw something in him. He kept poking your foot with his underneath the table, enjoying watching the smile that came to your face. Regulus was mildly disgusted as he watched Sirius rest his chin on his hand and just stare at you. He had never seen his brother so in love before. Even their parents melted a little.

As you all left Grimmauld to go back to Hogwarts, Sirius grabbed your hand. His thumb rubbed over the back of your hand and he held on the entire time. You let Sirius lead you to Gryffindor Tower. He only let go of your hand once the two of you were inside the dorm— he had wanted to make sure the entire common room saw you with him.

“Prongs, the game, how was it?”

James couldn’t speak. Neither could Remus or Peter or Lily who had come up to relax with her boyfriend in a more private space. Sirius wanted to pull you in for a cuddle but wasn’t sure how comfortable you were with that. Instead, he handed you one of his pillows and you both sat side by side while resting against the headboard. Remus recovered first at the sight in front of him.

“It worked? You two are—”

“Friends for now, Moons.” Sirius couldn’t stop himself from grinning when he looked at you. “But yeah, it worked. Bunny’s back.”

(end)