#Obviously James jumps to Sirius' defence | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

quidfree · 4 years ago

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Hi! I saw that you wrote some prompts, I’m hope I’m not too late... could you do a James/Sirius prompt 11? Hope you’re not tired of writing about them I saw you got a lot of requests for that pairing

i never tire of these two x

11: i almost lost you (heavy stuff lol)

in many ways it is the first time they face him.

sure, there had been the recruitment offer, midway through seventh year, like that was going to go anywhere; sirius' mocking laughter and the both of them staunchly unafraid, the handful of them (the year’s best and brightest, as it were) all comparing notes to lessen the slightly hysterical awareness that their last year of high school had included job offers from the dark lord himself. ignoring the fact that some of them had accepted.

that had been hogwarts, however, and though in age they are not far from that time this is markedly different. james has been in duels before, obviously; james has been in nasty ones at that, mainly with various members of slytherin house. the irony of the situation does not elude him as he ducks a sectumsempra curse. fights with the order are not the same. there is an unshakeable urgency to them, and the knowledge that all around you people are afraid, or dying, afraid of dying.

this fight is worse, too. there is a feeling of grim awareness coursing through him before he even knows why, and when he knows why it feels obvious.

“the bastard is here!” moody had shouted, two, five, ten minutes ago, vanishing in a flurry of spells. james has lost track of him since, though he thinks he saw him crack someone’s jaw open with his wooden leg at some point. but the bastard is here, indeed, in flesh and blood, if tom riddle still has those.

now, as he stands stock-still, wand raised, nerves singing, all of those ridiculous rumours they’d invented in school seem less implausible.

“james potter,” lord voldemort says, coolly, advancing a little. they’re not close, but there’s an open space between them, largely unobstructed by the fights taking place around them. james spares half a look for the death eater he’d just knocked out, verifies he’s unconscious, then meets the man’s cruel, removed gaze.

tom riddle had been handsome, in that uncanny aristocratic way that a vein of slytherin purebloods are, dark and charismatic and not all-together unfamiliar, though not the type of bloke james’d like a pint with. voldemort’s eyes are an eerie red, and his skin is reptilian, stretched tight; he looks like the sort of thing james had firmly pretended not to have nightmares about when he convinced his parents he was old enough to be read the warlock’s hairy heart.

“tom,” james echoes, with a genial smile. “small world.”

the faint smile flickers; the man’s snake-like eyes don’t blink. “what a waste of a fine wizard. would you not be spared, potter?”

“spared a lecture, sure,” james retorts. they’re circling each other now, slowly; his pulse is thundering in his ears, throat tight. “otherwise, i’ll pass.”

“no? not even if it would spare your mudblood girl? it seems such a shame for you to lose her and your dear parents in such rapid succession.”

“she can handle herself just fine,” james says, through the throb of how dare he making him see red. his parents’ funeral was barely a month ago. “and my parents clearly raised me better than yours did.”

he just about manages to stop the killing curse very casually flung his way, quidditch reflexes rebounding it harmlessly skywards, then blocks three hexes in rapid succession, twisting sideways to launch two of his own back. voldemort stops them with ease, of course, but it gives james the time to move, pull away from the fray where anyone behind them might get hit, draw the man towards a hallway instead.

he’s a good dueller. near top of his year, even. but he’s eighteen, and six months into the order, and way out of his fucking league for an extended one on one with the dark lord himself.

it doesn’t matter. adrenaline carries him forwards, courage in his veins. he side-steps two crucios, throws out a hex voldemort has to twist to knock away, ignores the lightning-speed of his opponent for his own reflexive reactions. this is a fight like any other, at its core, wand against wand, wizard against wizard; he will kick as much ass as his magic permits, despite the sick thudding in his gut.

“very good,” voldemort calls, mocking, over the explosive sparks between them, robes flapping as he turns. “i expect you excelled at defence against the dark arts in your n.e.w.t.s.”

“i expect you failed,” james shoots back, faux-curious, then has to trip over himself to miss a curse; it gets him in the shoulder, burning like flames, and he swallows a yell to fire a quick block against the next volley, using the spare seconds to finish the curse before he has to duck and roll ahead of the next flash of green light, which catches his robes as he goes.

from the floor he slams out several curses of his own, one particularly annoying binding spell managing to require voldemort’s full attention as he jumps to his feet. his arm is no longer on fire, but the whole shoulder area has gone fully numb, and the smug look on his opponent’s face says he knows this.

he’s seen the same thing on too many’s people faces not to theorise. no doubt it’ll spread down his arm, loosen his grip at the worst time.

well, fuck it. he wasn’t an excellent team captain for three years for a lack of ability.

he tosses his wand from one hand to the other, and enjoys the momentary surprise on the dark lord’s face as he volleys a massive incendio his way. delightfully, it actually ignites the bottom of his robes.

in the seconds where he can afford to, he listens to the sounds of the room drift in through the ringing in his ears: screams, and crying, and spells being thrown dizzyingly from all sides. mad-eye, somewhere, hollering strategies. the tell-tale cracks of apparition.

someone is retreating. if he had the time- if he was someone else, he might have disapparated the moment he saw lord fucking voldemort had his sights set on him. for better or for worse he isn’t, though, and he might as well see this shit through until either camp leaves.

he’s not sure how long the next batch lasts. it feels like quidditch at its worst, like time is suspended and drawn out at once, a million manoeuvres going nowhere, not hoping to win so much as not to lose. he forgets everything of the outside world except the two of them, red against green, so closely knit amongst the chaos that they’re almost locked in a weird dance, pacing each other like animals.

he gets in two good hits. voldemort gets in three.

the third comes as a direct response to his second, and really he ought to have expected that the man’s ego would respond so violently to successful mockery, but the moment his hex lands on his skin, bubbling comically if painfully under it, voldemort’s eyes flash viciously and james can tell, with the inevitability of watching the quaffle slip through the keeper’s fingers, that he’ll be seconds too slow with his next block, shifts course as best he can so he’ll be ready to heal himself-

he barrels to the floor instead, and sirius yells “motherfucker!” as his body explodes into cuts, blood bursting from him with almost comedic timing.

james manages to shield them on instinct alone, his heart pounding with misplaced adrenaline and pure visceral shock, vision locked on the red seeping from sirius’ body where they’re still half-crumpled in a heap on the floor.

he’s still seeing nothing but red when he twist, half-raises himself, and fires off three curses in such rapid succession that he is almost knocked back over by the intensity of his spells. one of them hits, maybe, based on the lack of response; he whips back around, says “sirius” with extreme conviction and no idea what he’s saying exactly, only that- shit, that-

“vulnera sanentur”, sirius grits out, finally audible, though he must have been saying it before; his voice got lost in the buzzing in james’ ears, or else he was practicing non-verbal magic. he is still bleeding.

james pulls them both up to their feet mechanistically, shields with one arm, supports with the other, and feels the killing curse ripple through his protective spell as he looks towards voldemort, close now and smiling broadly. his heart is in his throat; for a moment he could kill.

“enjoying the show?” sirius demands, caustic, unafraid always, even now, and james believes it wholly, because sirius is never afraid of things that could kill him, not like this. “purer blood than yours, tom.”

they are close, and it’s too late to disapparate, james registers distantly; if the fight has turned against them there’s no way out now. but does it matter, really? it’s him, and sirius, against some bully who thinks he’s all that. they have no choice but to give him hell.

voldemort spins two curses their way, and james doesn’t block; james weaves, dragging sirius after him, and sends two right back, grins violently in his direction, ignores the heavy weight of his best friend against him. voldemort doesn’t quite deflect the second in time, and he staggers back, grimacing in distaste, but then sirius is twisting urgently and throwing up a shield and there’s a second mask-less death eater nearby with a recognisably unhinged grin.

“resorting to dirty tricks, bella?” sirius snarls, which explains where he’s been all fight, really, and james just- fucking hell, he hates family reunions with the blacks.

“you’re one to talk about dirty, little sullied cousin,” bellatrix leers, and skips closer to her master, expression going exaggeratedly bashful as she twirls her wand. “my lord, i’m afraid i’ve come to curtail the fun somewhat. many of our ranks have fled before the paltry forces of the order; we are wasting time here.”

“very well,” voldemort says, unruffled, glancing towards the back of the room, where shouting is loudest. “say goodbye to your sweet cousin.”

james knows no small satisfaction in that the end of his sentence is cut short by his having to quickly deflect two hexes, but they get no further; bellatrix is spinning curses in their direction with a manic laugh before he can so much as blink, and it is only sirius’ jerky upwards motion that sends them through the ceiling instead, james following the motion with a blow of his own as he watches voldemort smile, dead eyes taunting.

"look at the state of you,” bellatrix scorns, “and not a scrape on the dark lord.” she too is unafraid, eyes wild and arrogant as their spells collide mid-way.

“his robes look pretty stupid, though,” james retorts, watches her scowl as sirius snorts into his shoulder, itself devoid of feeling. her responding spell is more convoluted, nearly outpaces his twice before he gets a feel for it and rebounds it elsewhere. not far behind them he can hear voices again, and this time he recognises moody, back-up, safety. he is finding it hard to process through the haze, but he knows they are close to survival, so long as he stays alert.

he knows before he moves that it’ll be too much to fend off. voldemort spins green, bellatrix red, and the brute impact burns through his fading shield; the cruciatus curse skims along his leg as he shoves sirius out of the way, and it buckles, searing pain spasming through his muscles as he automatically barrels a hit back. it hurts so much he can’t think, but he throws his weight onto his functioning leg and yanks sirius behind him, watches bellatrix laugh and spin as their bodies begin to blur into nothingness, watches another two spells course through the air that reflex alone won’t be able to stop, and grits his teeth to shield jerkily even as he sinks downwards.

sirius’ free hand knocks into his, wands in perfect parallel, and the shield burns a brilliant white, parting blows collapsing harmlessly into nothingness.

a spell hits his leg and he jolts, but the curse has stopped ravaging him; he pauses, turns.

“are you out of your fucking minds?” mad-eye roars, and james blinks, registers the quiet, registers the smoke fading, the handful of prone bodies and the exhausted disbelief on the faces around them. the many faces, he thinks. “have you ever paid attention to a word i tell you? it’s a bloody miracle you’re not both dead!”

“t’be fair, moody, was james’ fault,” sirius slurs, and that more than anything snaps james out of fight-induced focus, makes him twist to his knees to where sirius is now half-sprawled on the floor, pale and still blood-drenched and wildly, dangerously irresponsible.

“merlin all-mighty, you fucking wanker,” james chokes out, ripping his shirt open to have at his torso, ignoring the convulsions of his leg. sirius shivers, flinches, smirks. his spell sealed many of his cuts, but there’s one jagged wound through his stomach still sputtering wetly, making james’ head spin.

“have some decency, prongs, really-”

“you absolute maniac,” james continues, conjuring dittany from frank longbottom’s bag and smearing it on with a vengeance, his hands shaking like the curse got his arms instead. “you could have just- fucking hell, you could have just shouted, or shielded, you-”

”all right, god,” sirius mutters, grimacing at the sting. “wasn’t fucking- thinking ahead, was i, would a little gratitude be too much to-”

“shut up, the both of you,” moody growls, fury in his hawkish eyes. “the order is moving out of this building. now! if you can’t walk, crawl, and if you can’t crawl, we leave you to die. ‘s what you bloody well deserve, for your antics.”

“could just say you were worried like a normal person,” sirius manages, lost in the irate clanging of wood on tile; he swats james off to drag himself upright, clicks his tongue at his leg. “idiot, what’d you go and get crucio’d for?”

“you,” james begins, suddenly impossibly overwhelmed, and thinks he might kill him, or laugh hysterically, or cry, the latter alarmingly probable, which must show on his face because sirius’ expression registers something like panic.

“prongs?”

“just-” james starts, stops, adrenaline crashing, his hands still fucking shaking. “don’t- don’t do that, don’t throw yourself into the line of fire for me, it-”

“oh, please, like you didn’t stand there and do the same for five minutes after i got a couple of paper-cuts,” sirius retorts, eyes flashing dazedly. “’s what we do, moron, ‘s what i’m here for.”

“no, it’s not,” james says. dumbly, he knows, numbly, and he knows why, actually, understands now that he’s shaking from the aftermath of shock, that when sirius went down he had the brief and violent thought that he’d died, that after his parents nothing seems invulnerable anymore, not even sirius, and he’d not known that until now, no matter how stupid that is. “you’re here to be here, you’re not...”

“oh,” sirius says, noticing his hands, maybe noticing his tone.

he hasn’t cried once for james’ parents. not at the news, not at the funeral, not in the months since, and james knows it’s because he’s a complicated bastard who somehow thinks he can take the pain unflinchingly for his sake, even though james never asked him to, never wanted him to.

“bastard,” he says, out loud, and tries not to cry, drags himself to his feet, pulls sirius up after him, both of them shaky on their legs. they need to leave the building, and then mad eye’ll see them off, and once they’re home there will be time to heal wounds, wait for the next round.

he is so very tired, all of a sudden.

sirius stills him when they’re both standing, oddly serious now, chews on his lip and then lets go of his hand. james has barely refocused on his face through smudged lenses when he leans to kiss him on the forehead, like james does to him sometimes, like his father did, when they were younger.

james inhales, sharp, and then starts crying. predictable, really. he’s done a lot of it the last while.

it’s all right, though, probably. they’ll be out of the building soon enough. he can walk and cry at the same time.

sirius ignores it, generously, or maybe just cautiously. when james starts walking he walks so close to him that james can smell him through the blood and dust, which makes him cry harder.

he can’t ask anything of him, is the thing. he can’t ask any of them what he wants, which is that they let him go first. parents aren’t meant to outlive their children; sirius will always die for james as long as there is a james left to die for. all he can do is protect him as best he can, in return, hope that between the two of them they cover all their bases.

he thinks of the shield, bright and powerful and effortless, and smiles wetly, rubs at his glasses. still smudged. his hands haven’t stopped shaking. if they were different he might’ve grabbed sirius’ hand.

they stop outside the doors, near last, and james gets a glimpse of the others- tired, appreciative, sympathetic- until sirius snatches his glasses off him, visibly surrenders some of his pride to lean heavily against him as he cleans them, shoves them back on with unnecessary roughness, just to be annoying.

moody is saying something, gruffly, and the longbottoms are counting heads, and sirius says: “he’s an ugly fucker, isn’t he?” and james laughs, not shaky at all, ignores the glare moody shoots them and laces their hands together after all, pays no mind to the brief outrage on sirius’ face.

“godric, yeah. d’you reckon he took a bludger to the nose, at some point, or was i imagining the family resemblance with goyle?”

“oh, i think it’s innate,” sirius says, scoffing with unshakeable haughtiness. “looks sort of lizard-like, doesn't he, and we’ve all heard about his dubious parentage..”

“what, mrs riddle fucked a dragon?”

“dragon is generous, prongs, maybe a newt or something.”

“that feels unfair to newts,” james says, seriously, and hums. “limax, maybe. ohh, d’you think that would explain-”

“the robes?” sirius completes, eyes sparkling despite his feverish pallor. “body of a slug underneath. makes sense.”

“potter, black,” moody barks, “if you could spare us the speculation...”

they’ve lifted the mood, at least; he sees alice struggling to restrain a laugh near him as she wipes her brow, smiles winningly at their grumpy commander.

“sir yes sir.”

tomorrow, if the urge strikes him, he’ll kick sirius in the shin to lower him. today, his leg is shaky, and sirius is the sort of steely he only gets when he’s about to collapse, so he just tugs on his hand, and sirius comes, obedient, brow furrowed in light curiosity. james kisses the side of his face, self-indulgent, squeezes his fingers unforgivingly.

“takeout tonight?”

“as long as it’s not indian again,” sirius replies, easy, and james nods feelingly and doesn’t let go of his hand for long enough that it stops being a lifeline and starts being funny.

#lmv #prompt #anon #qui ecrit #this got long as fuck lol #james #sirius #prongsfoot #feelings!#james' parents.... choices.

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loki-is-my-god-of-mischief · 5 years ago

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Took You Long Enough (Remus x Female!Reader)

A/N: So in this fic, Reader is Lucius Malfoy's sister but you are not a death eater, you are part of the order. Reader was a marauder so you will be referred to as your nickname. Also Sirius is alive. Don't have the heart to keep him dead. Also Leodora mean Lioness in Latin since that is your animagus.

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Lets begin.... 12 Grimmauld place was shrouded in a tense atmosphere as Harry found out the person who has been helping the order from the shadows is in fact (Y/N) Malfoy. Sirius and Remus were tense in posture, waiting to leap to (Y/N)'s defence if she needed it. Harry, however, did something unexpected of him...he sat down, stared at her and said "explain." Remus started off the explanation, "She was one of our closest friends in school Harry. She is a Marauder just like us." Sirius jumps in next, "She is fiercely protective of us and fiercely loyal. She is just like me, disowned from our horrible families." (Y/N) finished the speech off by saying, "I know you have problems with the Malfoy family and you probably won't accept me but I will still protect you, even then. As we promised James that we would if anything happened to him and Lily." Harry stared long and hard at (Y/N) to the point that Sirius and Remus were rigid. Then he saw the truth in her (E/C) eyes, walked up to her and gripped her tight in a welcoming hug. "I believe you....Leodora." "How do you know that name?" (Y/N) breathed, relieved yet shocked at hearing the endearing name. "It was on the map...Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs & Mme. Leodora." "Haha, so that's how you sneak around Hogwarts after curfew. I should of known, just like your father." (Y/N) praises. ________________________________________________________________ After many stories being told to Harry of the many adventures of the Marauders time in school, (Y/N) excused herself and moved outside in the back garden to get some fresh air. The remaining people watching her go. "How close was (Y/N) to my parents?" Harry asked, turning to face Sirius and Remus. "She was made your Godmother if that's what your asking?" Sirius replied. "My Godmother?" "Of course, did you really think Lily would trust Sirius to be Godfather without having some back up." Remus replied heartily, covering a snicker when Sirius threw him a dirty look. "So (Y/N) and Sirius weren't together?" "Are you kidding, (Y/N) and the notorious man-whore? Together? Nope, never happened." Remus admitted to which Sirius looked affronted. "Man-whore?! How dare you! I just had a lot of love to go around is all. Besides, you were the one with the massive crush on her. Still do actually." "Wha-What? I do not have a crush!" "Yes you do." "No I don't." "Yes you do!" "No I-" "Maybe you should just tell her Moony. After all, It's obvious you do like her." Harry interrupted the playful argument. "Pup's got a point Moony. Go. Go tell her, what's the worst that could happen?" "Laugh in my face." Remus replied moodily. "You know she would never do that because she is not like that. Just go and tell her." "Fine." Remus finally relents and raises from his seat in the living room to head to the back garden. "Do you think he will notice that she loves him too?" Harry asks. "Yes, If he doesn't bottle it and cowers out like a chicken." Laughs Sirius. ________________________________________________________________ Five Minutes. Five minutes Remus has been stood in the back doorway just watching (Y/N) in the light of the half-moon. She was the only person he admitted to being a werewolf to. The others just figured it out. But she. (Y/N) he wanted to save from himself. How stupid he was to think that she would ever run away from or fear him. She was beautiful inside and out. Her pale blonde hair streaked with (H/C) (If you are blonde then favourite colour). Her big (E/C) eyes that sparkle in the moonlight. She was stunning, how could she ever love a monster like him. "Stop it!" Surprised Remus looked up, He hadn't even realised he looked away, to find the object of his affection right in front of him with an angry expression on her face. "What?" He replied dumbfounded. "Do you really think after all these years that I don't know when you are thinking self-loathing thoughts! That your thinking you are a monster when your not!" (Y/N) shouted at Remus, tears in her eyes. "Hey, why are you crying?" Remus asked soothingly, bringing her into an embrace. "I just want you to realise that your not a monster. You are a smart, kind and a gentleman. Why can't you see the good in you that I do." "Maybe...you can show me the good in me that you so obviously see..." "What do you mean?" "I mean...I love you (Y/N)" Remus hesitantly admits, to which you smirk. "Took you long enough." "What?" "Remus, I fell in love with you when we were in third year and you pranked Sirius after he got me detention." "Then I should prank Sirius more often..." "Haha, no. Maybe we should" "I Love you" you say together.

#harry potter #marauders #hp marauders #remus lupin #reader insert #female reader #remus x reader #remus lupin x reader #harry potter x reader #marauders x reader #female!reader

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isntitsirius · 4 years ago

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╰ °✧ that’s sirius black and he seems to look a lot like david castañeda. according to ministry files, the pureblood used to attend hogwarts and be in gryffindor. now, they’re twenty and is an auror in training. worn out leather jackets; the smell of cigarette smoke; the weight of disappointing the family legacy; a burn of loneliness deep beneath the surface; loud laughter in corridors; being shushed in the library; a purple hickey from a forgotten name and face; intense protectiveness over loved ones; reckless unfailing loyalty are the best way to describe them. it doesn’t say in their file, but word around the street is that they’re an order member.

y’all know sirius and his story so tbh i’m just going to lay out some headcanons about my sirius just so everyone gets the picture

he is literally the dumbest smart person you will ever meet. aka he could make a potion perfectly but then would think it’s funny to stick his hand in it to see what happens

ngl he became a such a prankster because he was bored with school. everything was too easy for him so he needed to do something with his brain and obviously coming up with stupidly extravagant pranks was the only answer

he knows lots of random shit??? he’ll come up with random facts all the time and reveal secret talents that no one even knew he had. he just absorbs information and learns to do so many things because he needs to be constantly occupied

is 10000000000000% a night owl. he considered becoming nocturnal until he realised he’d miss out on all the food during the day. disturbing him in the morning is probs a big mistake because he’ll grumble until he’s consumed his body weight in coffee

grew his hair long because he wanted to be a mermaid

pansexual affffffffffff. will literally flirt with anything that moves. and yes, the rumour that he once asked out the giant squid was not untrue. nor was the one where he asked out dumbledore. and mcgonagall fifty times.

he’s not actually as much of a whore as everyone seems to think he is, it’s just that when he DOES get laid he’s very loud about it just so everybody knows

100% encourages the rumours that he’s dating all the marauders just because he thinks it’s funny ( also because there’s one in particular he would very happily date but is too dumb too actually admit it )

he doesn’t actually hate his family but he doesn’t agree with their views at all and thinks they’re all twats. he half resents himself for not trying harder to be in their good books but he knows he’s better off without them

when he’s sad he usually transforms into a dog and sits by a fireplace or something to nap for a while

he loves muggle things just out of spite of his parents??? it used to be an act but tbh the more he immersed himself in muggle culture the more he realised how much he liked it so now the only music he listens to is muggle bands and he spends a lot of time in muggle london

his motorbike is his baby and he bought it because he thinks he looks cool riding it when he probably looks like a twat

LOOOOOOOOOOOVES QUIDDITCH. he isn’t actually very good at it ( as it’s the only thing he can’t do ) so he wasn’t on the gryffindor team but he was the biggest cheerleader ever and always went all out at the matches and screamed james’ name and wrote chants which he encouraged everyone to sing

he acts like the war is a game which probably pisses everyone off but really it’s just a defence mechanism to hide how scared he is. he’s probably been kicked out of 689789 order meetings for messing about and not taking them siriusly seriously

he will literally do anything within his power to protect his friends. he’d jump in front of a killing curse just to save their arses without a second thought. if sirius has decided he likes a person then he’ll fiercely protect them for the rest of his life

#mm.intro

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halothenthehorns · 4 years ago

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THE VERY SECRET DIARY

To a comment made by a reader regarding that Remus figured it out and seems a little pompous for not really thinking he was wrong, Harry did confirm not moments after he said it that Remus

was right, so he has no reason to think he's wrong.

HPHPHPHP

"Well that chapter wasn't so awful," Sirius said happily, "poor Hermione, but they did learn some new stuff."

"Let's hope that's all Harry learns this year," Lily sighed, "because the last time he figured everything out, he went after it."

"Look on the bright side," Remus shrugged, "if I'm right, then Harry won't be in too much danger from a giant snake."

"What about who's controlling the snake? Or the death eyes!" She exclaimed.

Remus opened, then closed his mouth before saying, "okay, yeah. No snake chasing this year."

"This year?" James asked, but Sirius was no longer listening.

Hermione was stuck in the hospital even after break ended, leading several people to jump to the conclusion she'd been attacked as well.

"Which I would hope would make them all realize how ridiculous Harry being the heir is," Remus huffed. "He hangs around with a Muggle Born! Why would he go around attacking them again?"

"Oh I don't know," Sirius shrugged, "I'm sure if three muggles in particular came around he just might set a basilisk on them."

Harry pursed his lips, humour in his eyes at Sirius' joke, but not confirming either way what he would do. Probably not, he mentally reasoned.

Lily wanted to change the subject, so instead asked, "what did Hermione even tell her happened? They didn't use the bit by a dog excuse again did they?"

Harry laughed, but said, "she blamed it on Ron, he was practicing some transfiguration and a spell went wrong with that broken wand. Madam Pomfrey didn't turn him in, thankfully."

"She's usually pretty good about that," Remus chuckled.

So many kids tried to peek in that Madam Pomfrey put the curtains up around Hermione's bed to save the girl from being seen with fur.

"Well that was sweet," James grinned.

"I thought that was my line," Lily smirked at him.

"Hey, I'm not heartless," James defended, "no one wants to be gawked at in the hospital wing."

Ron and Harry visited her every day after class, to bring her homework.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sirius chuckled. "Most kids would take turning into a cat an excuse to skip homework. She requested it!"

"Hermione could have probably taken a break for the rest of the year and still been good to go," James snickered.

Harry frowned at his dad, wondering why that joke felt off to him.

Ron voiced that if he'd grown a tail he would have taken a break,

Sirius opened, then closed his mouth, ignoring the others who were giggling at him mimicking Ron, again. Then he shrugged, feeling rather amused himself.

but Hermione said she had to keep up of course. She was in a much better mood now that her eyes were going back to normal and most of the hair had left her face.

"Did she still have the tail?" James asked curiously.

"No, that was one of the first things to go," Harry said, pretending to be upset by the fact.

While there Harry noticed a card stuffed under Hermione's pillow, and when he asked what it was, Hermione tried to push it farther out of sight.

"Aw, does Hermione have another friend around we don't know about?" Lily asked.

"No," Harry smirked, wondering why he had an annoyed feeling about this card.

Ron was too fast though, and pulled it out and began reading a get well card from Lockhart.

"Well that was, nice," James began hesitantly.

"Wait for it," Sirius muttered before reading.

The rest of his card was his signature listing all of his achievements.

Remus wrinkled up his nose in disgust as he said, "so, of the forty or so words that were in that letter, I would say only five of those were actual genuine concern about Hermione. The rest was simply his own big-headed signature."

"Niceness gone," James agreed.

"And she slept with that thing?" Lily asked in disgust. "I can't believe she still hasn't wised up to him."

"She didn't sleep with it," Harry said, "I think she got it just before we came in, and she was trying to keep it out of our sight, because she knew we'd mock her for it."

"Are you guessing that," Sirius asked, "or did you ask her that?"

"I asked her that when Ron wasn't around," Harry shrugged, at this point even he hadn't quite understood how Hermione could still be so dense about Lockhart. His friend still wouldn't admit the new teacher was a fraud, but she wasn't going around making note of when his classes were either.

Ron was clearly disgusted as he demanded that Hermione slept with this?

Lily made a choking sort of noise, while Sirius gave her a superior look saying, "so what's it say about us that we both mimicked the same kid."

Lily gave him a disgusted look, causing the other three boys to laugh all the harder.

Hermione was saved from answering by Madam Pomfrey shooing them out. Ron was grumbling about how he'd forgotten to ask Hermione how many rat tails went into a Hair Raising Potion.

"Don't answer that Lily, no one cares," Sirius said without looking up.

Lily leaned back, huffing a bit.

Then they heard someone shouting a floor up, and Harry recognized it as Filch. The two boys went up to see what was going on, staying behind the corner to listen.

"At least you stayed out of sight," Remus grinned.

"I don't get why you went to go see what he was shouting about at all?" Lily asked.

"Curiosity," James shrugged.

Ron's first thought was that someone else had been attacked.

"I would hope not," Sirius shivered, "at least I would hope Filch wouldn't be shouting about it like that. Surely the man would go and get a teacher instead of standing around."

"Well you tell us," James snapped.

Instead what they heard was the caretaker screaming about all the work he'd have to do,

"Okay, a student just made a mess," Remus said, relaxing back at once.

whining that he'd be moping all night, and that he was going to Dumbledore.

"I almost feel bad for Dumbledore," Sirius said, shaking his head in disbelief, "how often does Filch go to him complaining about having to do his job?"

The two boys poked their head around the corner to find him storming off, and realized they were in the spot Mrs. Norris had been attacked again.

"Because that's done you so much good before," Remus sighed, rolling his eyes, thinking back to the other two times Harry had been caught there.

Lily suddenly froze, and went wide eyed as something new occurred to her. The others noticed this, and before she could deny it Sirius snapped, "nope, we saw that. Tell us what you noticed. What about that gave you a clue as to who's doing this?"

"Not that," Lily shook her head, looking frustrated. "I've just realized that Moaning Myrtle might not have been exaggerating to you guys!"

Harry jolted slightly before he settled and gave his mum a brilliant smile, saying, "you're absolutely right." That was indeed a settling feeling of a memory returning.

The others went quite, before James said slowly, "she said she was killed by looking someone in the eye. You think she meant..."

"A basilisk killed her fifty years ago?" Remus breathed.

"Wow, kind of feel like an arse now for making fun of her," Sirius said.

"That still doesn't help us much though," James sighed, "since she obviously doesn't know who set the snake on her. Good on ya Lil, I didn't put that together at all."

Lily smirked at them, saying, "see, I pay attention to you jerks."

"Wow, sincerely thank you," Sirius laughed, rolling his eyes.

Now that Filch had stopped screaming, they could also hear sobbing coming from Myrtle's bathroom.

"Surprised she's only done that twice this year," Lily rolled her eyes.

"She might have done it more, and Harry just hasn't come around to see it," Remus suggested.

They went inside and asked her what her problem was this time, and Myrtle mumbled that they had come back to throw something else at her.

"Who would throw something at her?" Lily asked, annoyed at once. "As if she doesn't already have enough issues."

Harry asked why he would do that, and Myrtle rose out of her toilet with a wave of water.

"How can she move the water around like that?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Ghosts can minorly control inanimate objects around them," Sirius shrugged. "Normally not enough to do anything more than say, move water around a few feet."

"She's been doing this for years to," Lily added on, "so perhaps she can do this better than most other ghosts."

"That's kind of cool," Harry grinned, though he still understood their earlier reasons why it would kind of be boring to be a ghost.

Wailing about how she'd been doing her own thing when someone decided it would be funny to throw a book at her.

"Why would that be funny?" James asked. "It would just pass right through her, and make her cry some more?"

The other three all shrugged, having no idea what so ever. Harry however was feeling rather upset again. Not for Myrtle, but for the book. What could be so important about a book though that he

would have a feeling about it?

Harry pointed out that it wouldn't hurt, and this only upset Myrtle all the more as she screamed that didn't make it okay to make of game of it.

"For some reason we never thought of that," Sirius said, grinning.

"Because it's mean," Lily snapped, "who would torment the ghosts like that?"

"He said we never did it," Remus said in defence of his friend, causing Lily to back down at once.

Harry asked who had thrown it at her, and she said she didn't see since she was hanging around in the u-bend of the toilet.

"Oh, so no one threw it at her," James reasoned, "they were trying to flush the book."

"Why would someone flush a book?" Remus asked.

"Probably a Lockhart book," Sirius muttered, "that I would understand."

Then Harry saw the little black book over in the corner and went to pick it up, but Ron stopped him and said it could be dangerous!

"He's got a point," Lily nodded at once.

"A book?" Harry scoffed.

"Well, since you're in Hogwarts, it shouldn't be," Remus said uneasily, "but then again, that's not a book I recognize. So it could be dangerous on principle."

"A book!" Harry demanded again.

"Well yeah," Sirius smiled, "books are the reason no one ever wants to learn. Who sits around staring at words all day?"

James opened his mouth to both point out why Sirius was being an idiot right now, and explain more thoroughly to Harry what Ron meant, but Sirius was no longer listening, and read on anyway.

Harry laughed, but Ron told Harry a few stories about books his dad had come across.

"I kind of wanted him to keep going," Sirius said a little disappointed, "I could have used those as excuses next time someone asked me to read another book."

"My excuse for this book is it's the most entertaining, and depressing thing ever," James said, smiling at Harry.

"A book that causes an emotional roller coaster," Remus nodded. "Yeah, I'll agree with that."

Harry then said he wanted to find out anyways, and picked up the book.

Lily huffed, wishing Harry would have taken his friend more serious, but there was nothing for it now.

Harry noticed that it was a diary, and the print said it was fifty years old.

"Convenient," James said at once, drawing the word far past its normal syllable count.

"I don't like that book," Lily agreed at once.

"Why not?" Harry asked, not disagreeing, just curious if they were thinking the same thing as him.

"What are the odd's you would find a book someone tried to flush away, that marks the same time frame as when the last attack happened?" Remus demanded. "No, they're right. I don't want you

anywhere near that book."

"Now I really want to know who tried to get rid of it," Sirius said, brow crinkling, "and why?"

Harry was twitching something awful. This book was very important, but he had no more idea than any of them, something he would never not be frustrated about.

Then he cracked open to the front page and found the name T. M. Riddle.

Harry shivered in disgust, knowing there was a significance to that name.

Sirius' eyes went vacant for a moment, then he shrugged and asked, "anyone we might know?"

James asked, pondering it, "I feel like I know that name for some stupid reason, but not personally. Like I read it somewhere..."

Sirius decided to just keep reading, hoping someone like Hermione might know it.

Ron had leaned over Harry's shoulder and spotted the name as well, saying that was the name of a kid who'd gotten special awards to services for the school fifty years ago.

"That was it," James popped his head.

"We had to polish that stupid trophy all the time," Sirius agreed.

"Then you know who it is?" Lilly asked excitedly.

"Nope," Remus said, popping the P. "Just his name. Same as we know who Uric the Oddball is without actually knowing who he is. Just a name we were forced to learn all those years ago."

"I think you guys are missing the point," Harry said, looking like he was going to start rubbing his temple again. He stayed his hand, but only just as he continued, "what if Riddle got that award for getting rid of the heir of Slytherin?" The moment he let those words escape his mouth he knew they were wrong...but what else could it be?

Remus rolled that idea around for a moment before saying, "I suppose, but I still can't believe something like this isn't more publicly known. I've never heard of anyone being murdered at the school at all, let alone a student figuring out who did it."

"I'm still saying someone was payed to hush the whole thing up," Sirius huffed.

"What kind of special services though?" James asked, he'd never really looked into the idea.

"I'm sure Harry will go looking into this, since he was the one who brought it up," Sirius shrugged.

Lily deflated, hoping very much this wasn't going to turn into anything to awful.

Harry asked how he knew that, and Ron said that was the trophy he'd vomited on the night of his detention, and was forced to clean it fifty more times.

"Only fifty?" Sirius scoffed, "he got off easy then."

Harry began looking at the other pages, and found them all blank.

"That doesn't mean the book's empty," Lily said grimly.

"Invisible ink?" Harry asked.

"Or something worse," Remus sighed, "I still don't like that someone tried to throw it away."

Harry glanced at the back then, pointing out that the book had been bought in a muggle shop, so whoever owned this must be a muggleborn.

"Or at least a half-blood," Remus shrugged.

"I could buy something from a muggle shop if I wanted," James disagreed.

"But you wouldn't normally," Sirius disagreed.

"What's the point of this then?" Lily interrupted there squabble. None of the boys actually had an answer to that, they just enjoyed picking at each other.

Ron said that the book wasn't really worth anything to them, then he bet Harry to put it through Myrtle's nose.

James couldn't help but snort with mirth, but quailed at once at the look Lily gave him.

Harry chose to stick it in his bag instead.

All of them huffed, the group of four not happy Harry was now carrying around some strange object, Harry because he just knew there was a significance here he couldn't find.

Hermione was finally released to the public again back to normal come February.

"Wow, she was in there for a month," James said in surprise.

"Could have been worse," Remus said, mouth twitching, "she could have been stuck looking like a cat forever."

"So glad you guys find that funny," Lily sniffed.

Harry showed her the book as soon as she stepped back into the Gryffindor common room.

"Why didn't you show it to her in the hospital?" Sirius asked.

"Didn't want Madam Pomfrey seeing it," Harry shrugged.

"I keep forgetting you don't sneak around there like we did," James laughed.

Hermione was intrigued at once, saying just because they couldn't see the words didn't mean they weren't there. Harry voiced he just wanted to know how Riddle got his Special Award, and Ron cracked the joke that maybe he killed Myrtle,

Harry went bug eyed and made a choking sort of noise, but when asked why no one was surprised when he couldn't answer. They all guessed Harry just hadn't found the joke funny.

it would have made the whole school better. Hermione though pointed out that if the Chamber had been opened fifty years ago, and Ron didn't see the connection.

"You mean Ron really hadn't worked that out yet?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Guess Ron doesn't read as much into the small details," James shrugged.

Hermione pointed the connection out to him, saying that if the diary was fifty years old, and Riddle had this diary fifty years ago and got his special award that same time, what if Riddle got his award for catching the Heir of Slytherin.

Harry nodded to himself, he supposed that's why this exact question had slipped out of his mouth earlier, though he still knew deep down that this wasn't correct.

Maybe his diary held all the secrets, like what was in the chamber and who was behind it last time. Of course they wouldn't want just anyone to find this.

"That's stretching it just a bit," Sirius disagreed, "just because the guy found out who murdered Myrtle doesn't mean he knows all the details."

"And it still doesn't explain who had the book this year, to want it gone in the first place," James nodded.

Ron agreed that wasn't a bad idea, before pointing out the diary was empty. Hermione said just because they couldn't see the words didn't mean there was nothing in it, and used the spell Aparecium.

The three old pranksters cracked smiles at this, remembering full well what a bit of parchment could do to you if you tried to reveal its secrets without the proper spell. Curious enough, they waited to hear what this little diary would do.

The book remained blank.

"That was tame," Sirius snorted.

"What's that?" Lily asked.

"Nothing Lily," James said, smiling at the pair of them. Lily was giving Sirius a loaded look, clearly knowing that wasn't nothing.

Hermione wasn't giving up, as she went and pulled out a red eraser.

"That still might not work," Remus said in a sing song voice, continuing in more normal tones, "some things are enchanted so that unless you do something very specific, it won't react."

"Know a bit about this do you?" Lily asked, her tone implying she knew the answer was yes.

Sirius didn't give his friend a chance to answer.

Telling the boys what it was, and then using it on the page. Still nothing happened, and Ron insisted the book just hadn't been used.

"Now that I doubt," James shrugged, "why would he put his name in it, and someone try and destroy it, without it being some sort of valuable."

Harry still refused to throw it away though.

"Good instincts," Sirius grinned.

He couldn't help it. Despite the fact that he knew it was blank, he would continue to randomly pick it up and start flipping the pages, like it was a half-finished book.

At this the four of them began to tense up, though stayed silent for a bit longer.

Harry also couldn't help but think he'd heard that name T. M. Riddle before, like some old friend he vaguely remembered.

"Well that's not good," Remus said, fidgeting at once.

"And I didn't like this book before," James shook his head. "I'm really going to hate it if it has some kind of enchantment on you now."

Harry sighed, he had the same feeling about Riddle's name now, without the friend part.

But this was absurd. He'd never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.

"And we're right back to the depressing," Sirius muttered in disgust as he flipped the page.

Harry was still determined to find out more about Riddle, so he dragged Ron and a curious Hermione down to the trophy room.

"Gotta agree with him there," James laughed, "if you get detention in a place, you hardly ever hurry back."

The trophy only said as much as Ron had, and even when they went to look him up in the school archives, all they found were a list of his achievements, which Ron said only made him sound like a Percy. Hermione seemed rather upset by the comparison.

"To be fair, Sirius did just then to," Lily snickered.

"I think Harry found the same kind of best friend I did," James beamed, "so I'm not saying a word."

On a lighter side, Hogwarts was almost getting back to normal. With such a long period of time happening since the last attack, and Madam Pomfrey telling how the mandrakes were weaning out of childhood,

"Good," Lily sighed, "and I'm going to make a vague suggestion to the school they should carry that at all times now."

"How often do you plan on the kids in that school getting petrified?" Remus demanded.

"I'd still be happier with it on hand," Lily shrugged.

the plants would soon be ready for the potion. Harry wondered if the Heir of Slytherin had perhaps just grown wary of attacking, and was probably burrowed back into the Chamber for another fifty year long rest.

"Possible," Remus shrugged, "in fact I wouldn't be too surprised at this point. Whoever's been doing this has got to be getting paranoid. Since all of the victims have had miraculous slips from death, they may be getting paranoid that someone's on to them."

"I don't disagree," James nodded, "but I'm still hoping someone figures this crap out before the year's up. I really don't want this cropping up again."

"I'll agree to that," Lily nodded, while privately adding she still hoped it wasn't Harry who would be doing the figuring out.

Ernie still wasn't convinced, saying Harry had shown himself at the Duelling club,

"Yes, because the amount of stupid that is makes all the since in the world," Sirius grumbled.

and Peeves was as helpful as ever, still enjoying singing his made up tune about Harry now with a dance.

"I still hate that Poltergeist," Lily hissed.

"I'll admit, as of right now I'm not his biggest fan," James shrugged. He liked a good joke at the expense of someone else, but this continued picking on his son wasn't what he had in mind.

Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think he himself had made the attacks stop.

All five of them groaned in disgust, no one looking forward to hearing more of his prattling again. They had been quite enjoying his absences thus far.

He was overheard telling some of the teachers how he was positive there shouldn't be any more trouble about the school, and the person behind all of this was lucky he hadn't decided to crack down on them.

"I'm not even going to start on that stupidity," Remus huffed, "I'll be here for an hour."

"Thanks, I genuinely appreciate it," Sirius grinned, "I think he talks about himself more than enough, we don't need to add on by talking about him as well."

Then he added that the school needed a little pick me up, and he had the perfect idea.

"I'm scared," Lily said honestly. "I am truly terrified what that glorified idiot is planning."

"You won't have long to find out," Harry guessed, just as grumpy as his mother on this one.

They found out what he meant when they walked into the Great Hall on February fourteenth, and at first Harry thought he was in the wrong room.

James covered up his face in trepidation of what this could mean, nothing good he was sure.

The walls had been doused with pastel flowers,

Sirius' nose began crinkling up in disgust the moment he read that,

and somehow there was heart-shaped confetti pouring down from the ceiling,

and by the time he was done with the colourful sentences he looked likely to vomit.

"The worst part is you're not kidding," Remus moaned.

"It's not a bad idea actually," Lily giggled, "I think the school should indulge in Valentine's Day more often."

"You're endorsing his idea!" James spluttered.

Lily shrugged, simply saying, "it's not that bad honestly. We celebrate most other holidays."

"Yes, but this is just torture," Sirius groaned, "can you imagine yet another holiday we would have felt obligated to buy gifts for the girls in that school."

"Leave it to you to turn a holiday about love into some money grubbing bit," Lily grumbled.

Harry went to his table in a daze, to find a giggling Hermione. Harry asked what had happened, while dusting confetti off of his bacon,

"More horror," James muttered.

and Ron could only gesture at the head table, clearly too repulsed to put into words. Lockhart was on his feet, wearing bright pink robes and the only one smiling. The other teachers looked more like they were being tortured, Snape in particular looking like he'd just drank a bottle of Skele-Gro.

"Now there's an idea," Sirius said, going bright eyed at that description.

"Enough Sirius," Lily said, her good mood still lingering enough her voice wasn't nearly as snappy as usual.

Lockhart called for attention, and at first thanked the students for his own received valentines, then he waved to the side door and on cue, dwarfs came marching in.

"Wow," Remus said in surprise, "I can't believe Lockhart would have doled out the money for this."

"I heard Professor Flitwick mention it later," Harry shrugged, "apparently they were paid by someone else, and sent to Lockhart beforehand. Flitwick had no idea who though, just that

Dumbledore had cleared this idea."

"Dumbledore just lost some points in my book," James grumbled.

The worst part was that they were dressed as cupids.

"You know I might actually pay just to see that," Sirius snickered.

Lockhart was encouraging the students to indulge in the holiday as his cupid dwarves patrolled the hallways to handout valentines. Then he said it was a good idea to wrangle in the other teachers, suggesting they should all ask Snape for a Love Potion,

"Now there's a death wish," Remus laughed.

or Flitwick, who knew a thing or two about Entrancing Enchantments.

Lily huffed, "yes, but why would you say it like that. He would never teach a student for these kinds of purposes."

"Just his fat mouth running as usual," James shrugged.

Flitwick was red with embarrassment, while Snape looked more likely to force feed someone poison at the idea.

Remus nodded, that had been about what he was picturing as well.

Ron begged Hermione to tell him she wasn't one of those that had sent Lockhart a valentine, and Hermione chose not to answer.

"Ugh," Sirius groaned, "I don't care how advanced in Potions she is, I still say she's being an idiot this year."

"Agreed," Lily nodded.

Sirius gave her a look of surprise, and she shrugged saying, "what? Even idiots have to be right sometimes."

"You really know how to dish out the compliments," he snorted.

The dwarfs turned out to be a menace, barging into classrooms all day and disrupting the teachers,

"Okay, I can see why the teachers wouldn't like that," Lily nodded.

"I can see why the students would like that," James grinned.

and to Harry's horror, he found himself receiving his own.

"Uh-oh," Remus said, lips twitching.

"Can't imagine why a student in the school would send Harry something like that," James said with a grin.

"I can," Sirius cackled.

"You are all awful," Lily told them primly.

The dwarf was hardly subtle either, as it bellowed at Harry from the top of the stairs.

Sirius was unable to control his voice, it kept breaking off so that he could chuckle. Ignoring Harry's dirty looks being sent his way, he continued in the same manner.

Harry dearly wanted to avoid this, not just because Ginny was standing witness in the crowd.

"Ouch," Remus said, grin still firmly in place, "I'm sure when Ginny sent that she didn't intend to be around to see it. Kind of made it all the more obvious."

"You think Ginny sent that?" Lily asked, "I can picture any number of girls in that school sending a letter to the famous Harry Potter."

"Can we please change the subject," Harry groaned, face now in his hands. It was quickly growing as red as it was back then.

"Can't, sorry Harry," Sirius said without any kind of remorse.

He tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf wasn't having that as it ran forward and blocked off his escape, repeating he had a singing valentine for Harry while twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.

James finally lost it, leaning back into the couch and clutching his sides in pain as he ran out of air. Between gasping breaths he brokenly said, "threatening-harp!" at least that's as much as the others made out.

"I am so glad you're enjoying this, really I am," Harry said waspishly, though the effect was ruined since he still had his face in his hands.

Lily patted him on the shoulder in sympathy saying, "he's probably laughing at all of his failed attempts to ask me out, and projecting them on you."

His two friends began laughing anew at this, while James finally settled down into sensible sentences again; now pouting at Lily as he said, "that was just cold."

Lily just smirked at him, then turned on Sirius and snapped, "if you don't keep reading, I'm going to take that away from you."

Sirius clutched the book to his chest possessively, then decided to keep going in fear of Lily's threat. While he did, Lily appraised Remus, now trying to think of how best to shut him up next.

Harry begged the dwarf not to do it now, but the dwarf wouldn't hear it and grabbed hold of Harry's bag to stop him from running. With a tear it ripped, splattering his bottle of ink all over his books. While Harry scrambled about trying to collect them all, he managed to block up the corridor.

"All the more witnesses," Remus muttered to Sirius quietly, giving him another moment to start snickering again, but at the cold look from two pairs of green eyes, he went on himself this time.

Draco entered the scene, demanding to know what the holdup was.

"Oh boy," James muttered, forcing a twitching smile from his face. This scene just kept getting better and better. Aloud he said, "you know Lily, I think you're right. I want the school to

celebrate Valentine's Day more."

Harry didn't even deign to react to his father this time.

Then the next best person arrived, Percy. Harry lost his patience then, trying to abandon the rest of his books and bolt again, but the dwarf caught him around the ankles, and then sat on him so he could sing,

and Sirius actually began to sing

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord!

Then promptly collapsed into fresh waves of laughter.

Lily was momentarily distracted by noting that, 'Dark Lord' bit. As far as she knew, only Death Eater's called Voldemort that, so where on Earth would Ginny have come across that word? Could it possibly be a prank from, say, Malfoy? She had no real idea, so out loud she said, "I am so sorry Harry," Lily sighed, looking around at all of the boys in disdain. "Remind me and I'll be

more than happy to tell you about the time these three boys got caught stuck to the ceiling of-"

"Okay," James said, straightening at once, all humour gone from his face, "you've made your point. No more mocking Harry. I'm all for that."

Harry, his own eyes now shining with mirth, replied, "I want to hear this. It only seems fair."

Lily beamed at her son, and Sirius, now red in the face for a completely different reason, read on swiftly.

Harry pretended to laugh along with the rest of the crowd,

"That might have worked if you hadn't made such a scene about getting away," Remus said, still unable to totally wipe the grin from his face. This was hands down the best chapter they'd had so far.

as he got to his feet and actually thanked Percy who was shoving forward and telling all of the students to get to class.

"He could have done that when he arrived," Lily huffed to herself.

Malfoy wasn't listening though, he had jumped forward and grabbed something off the ground, Riddle's diary.

"Prick," James smirked, his joyful nature still not dampened quite yet.

Harry snapped to give it back, but Malfoy only laughed all the harder as he asked loudly what Harry could have written in his diary.

Sirius gave another amused chuckle at that, saying, "like Harry would write in a diary."

The students all froze up with weariness of this fight to come, while Ginny was looking fearfully from Harry to Malfoy.

"Why?" Remus asked. "You'd think she would have run off after her valentine had ended."

Harry was now straining for another reason, his family's amusement at his personal embarrassment gone at once. Ginny wasn't looking at Malfoy, but the book. Something about Ginny, something really important to do with her this year. Ginny and that diary...

Lily noted the other boys must not have read into the actual words of that Valentine like she had, and with no real ideas on the actual matter and not wanting to be the one to linger on the subject, she chose not to say anything and hoped to just let it go.

Sirius kept reading when no one answered Remus, ending Harry's train of thought at once.

Percy tried to tell Malfoy off, telling him to give it back, but Malfoy took a step back and pretended to start flipping through the pages for a peak. Harry lost his temper and fired the Expelliarmus charm at him, making the book fly into the air. Percy snapped that he'd report Harry for that, as magic wasn't allowed in the hallways.

"Go on then," James scoffed, "Harry was in the right then."

"Percy is such a bore," Sirius grumbled, "any good Prefect knows when to let the small things slide."

"Thanks, I think," Remus said, looking at Sirius in a puzzled sort of way, unable to decide if that was a compliment at him or not.

Sirius declined answering.

Harry didn't care one bit though, glaring hatefully at Malfoy who took his anger out on Ginny, who was skirting by him that he didn't think Harry liked her valentine.

Lily blinked in surprise, her only real suspect seemed to have just stated it wasn't him. Then again, he could have just been deflecting...really unless Harry got another bout of Polyjuice Potion to ask him and even then she may never really get an answer.

"That was uncalled for," Harry snapped.

"I wish you had snapped at him then," Sirius sighed as he saw what Ginny's reaction was fixing to be.

Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran off.

"The poor girl," Lily sighed.

Ron tried to defend his sister by going for his wand, but Harry and Hermione pulled him away, deciding it wasn't worth another bout of slug puking.

"Would have been worth it, again," Remus sighed.

They finally made it to the next class, and only then did Harry notice something off about the diary.

"Well this can't be good," James said, frowning, his good mood finally getting a damper. He'd had a bad feeling about this book since Harry had found it, now Harry had finally found something

odd about the book himself.

All of Harry's other textbooks were now soaking wet with ink, but the diary was as clean and blank as ever.

"It ah-" Remus began, but Sirius cut him off by continuing to read. He was just as curious as his friend, but had a pretty good idea they couldn't actually guess what was up with this.

Harry tried to show this to Ron, but he was having his own problems as his wand had chosen that moment to start spitting out bubbles.

Lily let out a surprised giggle as she said, "well, guess that makes it even more of a good thing he hadn't cursed Malfoy."

"When is not cursing a Malfoy ever a good idea?" James demanded.

Harry went up to bed early that night, not just because Fred and George had decided for the dozenth time to sing another rendition of Harry's valentine,

"Why do they know that song?" James asked in surprise. "They weren't around when it happened?"

"I'm sure Harry's particular valentine spread about like wild fire," Remus grinned.

Lily however couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't the twin's themselves who could have sent it to Harry. Being pureblood, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that they knew Death Eater's called Voldemort the Dark Lord. They had the motive of just wanting to do it to prank someone for the fun of it, but again she had a feeling she was never going to get a full answer and still didn't say anything out loud.

but also because he wanted to study the diary again. He began flipping through the pages, not one of which had a drop of ink.

"I'm guessing this isn't normal then?" Harry asked at the perturbed look on everyone's face.

"It's not too hard to make a book absorb ink," James began, "helps clean it when stuff like this happens."

"So why do you guys all look so freaked out?" Harry asked.

"Because the books still creepy," Sirius told him, "and now you might have figured out how to work it. We really don't want you to figure out how to work it, because that could lead you in

another direction of bad."

"That's putting it lightly," Lily snorted, "but it got the point across."

Harry pulled out a new bottle of ink, and put a drop of it on a page. For just a second the ink remained there, but then it fell through the pages, and vanished.

"Yep," Remus sighed, "Harry figured out how to work it."

"Well this could be a good thing," James said uneasily, "maybe Hermione was right, and Riddle just put in what happened, and that's all Harry's going to figure out."

"Why would he hide that?" Lily asked.

"We've been over this Lily," Sirius snorted. "No one wanted whatever's going on to get out to the general public. This kid obviously disagreed, so he recorded it secretly. Now I really am kind of happy Harry's going to figure this out."

"You're a bad influence," Lily muttered.

Then Harry decided to write an actual sentence, putting down his name. It only took a moment for the book to respond that its name was Tom Riddle, then asked how Harry had found the diary?

"That, is creepy," Sirius said, taking back his earlier words at once.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Harry asked, since Sirius had just been happy a moment ago, he didn't get the opposite reaction now.

"For the ink to make words appear, telling you what happened. Not for the book to start talking to you!" Sirius said, going a little bug eyed at the end.

"This is bad. This is very not good," Remus said, getting a little jittery now.

Harry opened his mouth to demand to know what was so bad, but his dad cut him off.

"Harry," James began, then cut himself off as he realized, once again, no one would have had this kind of talk with his son. Forcing himself to ignore the ever lingering hurt of that realization, he began again, "Okay, the reason this is so bad is that, magical items shouldn't talk to you. They're objects, and any time they grow a mind of their their own, that means that the most powerful of enchantments have been embedded in them. While this can have its uses, unless you know who exactly did this, and for what purpose, it can be extremely dangerous to go poking around this kind of stuff."

"What about the magical paintings, or even that magical mirror that called me scruffy." Harry probed, still not getting the dissimilarities the others clearly have.

Sirius happily explained the difference, "the paintings, first of all, are all at Hogwarts, therefore on principle there's nothing too bad about them. Besides that point though, those paintings are enchanted to act and reenact how their human counterparts really did. The magic used to create them is extremely complex, but you can always trace where a paintings come from to find out how it should be acting. The mirror was not only found in the Weasley's house, again assuring it

was hardly anything bad as Molly and Arthur would never let that around, but again it was preenchanted with a prescribed comment depending on how the enchanter thought you were dressed. This thing could be harmless and we're just overreacting, but it doesn't erase how bad it seems that someone tried to get rid of it."

James was nodding right along with the explanation, adding on, "yeah, you could find yourself possessed, making rash decisions you normally wouldn't or-"

"I think he gets it James," Lily cut him off as she saw how pale Harry had gone when his father first started listing these bad things.

"Err, well," Harry began lamely, "I don't um..." he trailed off miserably. He had no way to reassure any of them like they had done for him. All he could do was sit there and gesture vaguely

to the book, and ignore the feeling of impending doom he had.

Sirius read on, ignoring the tangible fear that was lacing the room all over again.

Harry explained that he'd found it when someone had tried to flush it down a toilet. The diary said this wasn't surprising, as what laid in these pages was a secret no one wanted to know about. Harry asked why, and the diary admitted that it knew things about the Chamber of Secrets. Harry scribbled back that he was at Hogwarts now, and these things were happening again! The diary replied, the return handwriting getting messier the longer this went on,

"This thing is creepy sentient," Remus muttered.

as it explained that it happened in his fifth year when the Chamber had been opened, and someone had died. Riddle had caught the person who had done it, and said person had been expelled. The Headmaster at the time, Dippet, had managed to hush the whole thing up, and forbid anyone to tell.

"Sometimes I hate being right," James sighed, "because this is just awful."

"I can't believe any headmaster would try and cover something like this up," Lily moaned.

Riddle had recorded the story in these pages anyways, because he knew the monster hadn't died, and could be released again, and the person who had done those awful deeds had not been arrested.

"What?" Sirius asked in confusion. "Someone went and murdered a kid, got caught, but not imprisoned?"

"I guess, since this was all covered up," Remus reasoned, "they couldn't convict who did it."

"So there's a murderer running around, even now. That's just great," James grumbled.

Harry asked if the diary would tell him who'd done it, and the diary said it could do one better, show him.

"No," they all yelped at once.

"Why not?" Harry asked, "I thought you guys wanted to know what happened before to?"

"We do," Sirius agreed, "but not at the risk of you being... whatever the hell's going to happen next."

Harry still looked genuinely confused, so Lily tried to explain saying, "just, let's just say this thing isn't good for you to go using like this Harry. I'm really wishing right now you had showed this to a teacher by this point."

"But you still have no idea what 'bad' thing is going to happen?" Harry asked.

"No," Remus sighed, "we're not even sure if it's going to be bad, but we don't know what it is going to do either."

The diary promised Harry didn't have to take all this at word, he could show him a memory.

Remus narrowed his eyes before asking, "so, it's like a Pensive?"

"A really creepy Pensive, that with any luck only holds one memory," Sirius agreed.

"I still don't like it," James huffed, "this diary has a personality, wants people to see this! There's something dark about that book."

"Agreed," Lily nodded, "but I want you lot to shut up now so I can see what Harry actually does with it."

Only looking mildly scolded, Sirius still continued.

When Harry didn't write his reply at once, words appeared again, insisting it wanted to show Harry this.

"Pushy little bugger," James grumbled to himself.

Harry relented, writing down 'ok.'

The four of them released a breath, not at all pleased Harry had done this. James and Lily couldn't help but lean a little closer into Harry again, fearing something awful from something that they were so afraid was full of dark magic.

Harry felt himself going weightless as he seemed to fall forward into a whirlwind of colours.

Remus nodded and said, "at least that was the correct description of going into a memory, I still hadn't ruled out the idea of something more sinister happening here."

When it stopped again, he found himself in a familiar circular office, but it wasn't Dumbledores. Instead sitting at the desk was a very different wizard.

"Who was the headmaster fifty years ago?" James asked, knowing it may have been mentioned earlier, but not really having taken note at the time.

"Ah, I think his named was Dipper or something?" Remus shrugged.

"Well, at least now I know it wasn't Dumbledore himself who covered up a murder," Lily smiled with relief.

Harry tried to apologize for barging in, but the man didn't even react.

Harry sat there, looking genuinely confused as he asked, "ah, what's a Pensive, does it make people not be able to hear me?"

"Oh," James blinked when he realized no one had explained that to Harry, "no, it seems to have tossed you into a memory. A pensive can hold a lot of memories at once. While in memory's, you can see what's going on around you, but you can't actually interact with anything."

He nodded in understanding.

He tried again, nearly shouting out an apology.

"I love your kid," Sirius cackled, "who on earth falls into someone's office like that; and instead of demanding to know how he got there or who that was, he apologizes."

Harry smiled sheepishly.

Still nothing happened, the scene went on around him with the wizard fidgeting and looking at the door.

James suddenly frowned, very puzzled as he demanded, "I doubt this is a former Headmaster's memory, so why is Harry seeing this? Is this Tom Riddle in the room behind Harry somewhere?"

Harry shook his head, then shrugged and said, "you guys know more about this then I do, but I've no idea why he hasn't come in yet."

Remus said, "I've heard some memories can be exaggerated upon to guess what was happening before the memory they are experiencing can begin. That's very advanced, and practically never used since he could very well be guessing the wrong things, but it's the only theory I've got."

The others nodded in acceptance.

Harry looked around the office again and saw no Fawk, nothing of Dumbledore's, so he came to the conclusion that this must be Riddle's Headmaster, Riddle's Hogwarts in his time. Harry was simply watching like a ghost.

"I'm impressed," Lily beamed, "you figured that out rather quickly."

Harry gave another sheepish smile as he said what he had then reasoned out, "well the last thing I saw was that Riddle wanted to show me something, then this. I just kind of worked it out from there."

"Very clever," James nodded.

Then came a knock at the door, and Dippet called in Tom Riddle.

"Dippet," Remus huffed, "can't believe I forgot that."

"Can't believe you even kind of remembered that," Sirius laughed, "who even remembers old Headmasters for fun?"

Remus gave his friend the stank eye, which he promptly ignored.

Dippt began the conversation by telling Riddle how sorry he was that Riddle couldn't stay at the school over the summer holidays.

"Jeez," Lily said, going wide eyed, "exactly how many abused students does Hogwarts house?"

"To many it seems," Sirius sighed, feeling pity for this kid at once.

Harry was feeling something very bad welling up inside of him as he watched his family take pity on Riddle. That was not right, his gut told him, these people shouldn't feel anything but hatred for this sixteen year old. His brain however, once again failed to give any evidence for this.

Asking that if he was correct in remembering that this boy lived in an orphanage.

"Ouch," Remus winced, "poor kid."

Riddle agreed this was true, but reminded he wasn't muggleborn. His mother had been a witch, his father a muggle. Explaining that his mother had passed away just after his birth, only alive long enough to name him Tom for his father, and Marvolo for his mother's father.

Sirius gave a surprised brow raise, Marvolo was an old hand me down pureblood name. Had this kid's parents been killed for half of his family not being like the other half? Not having any way to know this for certain, he continued on without raising his suspicions.

Dippet clucked his tongue sympathetically.

"Who clucks their tongue sympathetically?" James asked, giving a wane smile, "who clucks their tongue at all?"

The others just shrugged, perhaps this was something that Headmaster had simply done regularly, and Harry merely knew this by second hand knowledge of being in the memory? It wasn't

unheard of.

Dippet got back on track, saying that maybe special circumstances could have been set up for Riddle, but under the current situation,

"What kind of special arrangements?" Harry asked curiously. Though he somehow knew he wasn't in school anymore, he suddenly wondered if perhaps he should have brought this up with Dumbledore?

"Basically, they would have told you if anything to bad happened you could contact the school, then nothing more could be done," Sirius muttered bitterly. "I don't know why they even bother to

tell you that."

Remus gave his friend's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, so Sirius paused enough to smile at his friend before reading with less venom.

Riddle cut him off to ask if this had to do with the school attack, and Dippet agreed it was. What with that poor girl being murdered, Riddle would be safer at the orphanage, and he'd be lucky to return as Hogwarts very well may be shut down if they couldn't find out who had done it.

"Good to know the teachers were just as clueless back then," James muttered, "really makes my faith in the school go up some."

Riddle got excited then, asking if perhaps the person who'd done this had been caught-

"Does he know already?" Lily asked in surprise. "If so, then why wouldn't he have said anything before now?"

"Maybe it's a hunch?" Remus offered. "He doesn't feel confident enough to act on it, but this might have motivated him to."

"Then his hunch would be right I guess," James said, frowning, "because Riddle had said in the diary this was his capture of the person."

and Dippet cut him off, asking if Riddle knew what was going on? Riddle quickly said he didn't.

"What is with these kids?" Lily huffed, "Is it really so awful to tell an adult if you're thinking about something?"

"Probably didn't want to be told he was being paranoid, or pointing fingers," Sirius shrugged.

Riddle was excused then, and he quickly left the office and returned to the main floor, before pausing and clearly considering something. He made to head off when he'd come to a decision, but was stopped by a teacher, and Harry was stunned to find an auburn haired Dumbledore.

"Wow," Lily said in surprise, "Dumbledore used to be a redhead?"

"Learn something new every day," Sirius shrugged, clearly feeling the information was inconsequential. He was dying to know who Riddle was going after now, wanting to go find this

murderer now and toss him in Azkaban himself.

Riddle quickly said he had been with the Headmaster, and Dumbledore cautioned him it wasn't that safe to be wandering around, then excused himself. Harry followed Riddle as he went off again, then ducked into Harry's current Potions classroom.

"Figures something awful would still take place in there," James muttered to himself.

It felt like he ended up waiting there for hours,

"Does time pass differently in memories?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yes," Lily nodded, "what could feel like hours to you during that time, is actually just seconds outside of the memory."

until sounds of approach came, and Riddle went after the noise. Harry seemed to forget no one could hear or see him, as he crept along just as quietly as Riddle.

Sirius couldn't help but give a little snort of mirth at that description, but he was so close now to finding this perpetrator that he didn't feel like pausing to mock Harry for this.

They followed the shadow until it stopped inside another room, and Harry heard a familiar voice telling about how he had to get someone out of here,

"Sirius, you must be joking," Remus demanded, trying to read over his shoulder.

Sirius ignored him though, going paler by the second as he continued reading.

insisting the same someone had to get in a box.

"But, but that's-" James started to splutter as he, like his friends, recognized the accent the book was going for.

"Hagrid wouldn't," Lily moaned, fear lacing her tone, "he would never-" then she broke herself off and began gnawing at her lip again.

Sirius hesitated, glancing up at the others before continuing on with high trepidation.

Riddle pushed the door open, and greeted Rubeus Hagrid.

"It wasn't Hagrid," Remus snapped, coming out of his shock now, "and that's not a Basilisk behind Hagrid, I'm sure of it. For starters, it wouldn't fit in a bloody box! Perhaps Riddle thought it was him, but-" then he broke himself off and ran his hand through his hair in worry.

"But what?" Harry asked eagerly.

James picked up his line of thought as he continued, "but that must mean that he somehow got blamed for this anyways."

"How though?" Sirius demanded. "There's no way Hagrid could have done something like that, I know that and I've never even spent time with him properly. Anyone who glanced at him would

know that, so this must not be who Riddle convicts this night."

"Who else though?" Lily asked. "Unless someone else comes strutting into the room right now to claim they'd done it, Hagrid got expelled from school but he's not in Azkaban..." she trailed off miserably.

"This is an outrage," James growled, "Hagrid took the blame for this!"

"Let me finish this memory," Sirius sighed, looking like he wanted to do the exact opposite, "with any luck we're wrong."

Harry didn't have the heart to tell them he knew they were right on the mark with this one.

Riddle told Hagrid that the game was up, and how they were talking about closing down the school now. Hagrid insisted it had never killed anyone, and Harry heard an odd clicking noise coming from the box behind Hagrid.

"There's proof as if I needed any," Remus huffed, "since basilisks don't click."

"Then what does he have in there?" James asked as a distraction.

Sirius, for once, didn't look the least bit curious to know that. He simply wanted to read proof that they were wrong about what was going to happen this night.

Riddle ignored this, telling how the dead girl's parents would be coming tomorrow,

James did a double take in confusion at that, blurting out louder than Sirius, "how though? I thought Myrtle was a muggle-born, or at least I'm fairly certain she's said so. Her parents literally couldn't come."

"It is possible they made an exception," Lily voiced quietly, the very idea of parents having to come up to the school for this reason nearly unthinkable. "Lifted the charms enough to allow them entrance and for them to pick her up." The topic was so depressing that no one wanted to linger on it long to question this further.

Hagrid still insisted it wasn't who Riddle thought it was, but Riddle lost his patience and shot a curse at the box, tipping it over, and Harry let out a scream no one heard,

"Now I'm happy it wasn't a giant killing snake," Lily shuddered in disgust, "memory or not, I don't want Harry anywhere near what killed that girl."

as a spider the size of a dog came scuttling out.

"It's an acromantula," James said in surprise.

"I guess Hagrid went in the forest and caught one, and brought it back to the castle with him," Sirius shrugged.

Riddle tried to curse it again, and Hagrid jumped in the way to block it, giving the spider time to run.

That was the last thing Harry saw as he came smacking down onto his bed.

"Well that was awful," Sirius snarled, pressing his face into the pages to hold in his temper.

"Great, this is just great," Remus hissed, "now, not only do we still have no idea what's going on at the school this year, but now we can blame this Riddle jerk for Hagrid being expelled!"

"I shouldn't be too harsh on Tom," Lily sympathized, "he may have truly thought it was Hagrid's fault, and he was just-" then she cut off in a wince as the four boys gave her haughty glares.

"What," she demanded, "I'm no happier than you about finding this out, but there's no since in needlessly hating on the other boy."

"I swear you'd defend a Death Eater," Sirius muttered.

"I would not," she snapped back, "I'm just willing to look at more than one side of a coin, unlike you lot who curse first and ask later."

"Moving on," James groaned, wanting to get past this part. "I agree with Remus, this whole memory was a bust. Now Harry's gotten his use out of it, and he'll turn it into a teacher, and we'll be done with it for the rest of the year."

"That's being optimistic," Sirius informed him, before pressing on anyways.

Ron came in that moment, telling Harry he looked quite out of it. Harry wasted no time in telling him that it was Hagrid who had opened up the Chamber all that time ago.

"Wow Harry," Sirius said in surprise, as he passed said boy the book, "I wouldn't have thought you'd think that."

"I have a reason for thinking it then," Harry defended.

"Well let's hear it then," James prompted when his son hesitated.

Harry rebutted by saying, "I'm sure I say it in the next chapter, where I'm just as sure we go to confront Hagrid."

#Harry Potter #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #fanfiction

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siriuslysnuffles · 7 years ago

Text

star-crossed lovers

JILY CHALLENGE | @siriuslysnuffles vs @nottellingu (October 2017)

@jilychallenge: social media au + youtuber lily films a challenge video with her boyfriend james and the internet loses its shit over how cute they are together–or close enough.

Read it on FF.

It all started two nights ago when Lily Evans posted a new challenge video with Puddlemere United’s James Potter–her boyfriend and the father to her three-year-old son Harry. While James and Lily were often seen in public–when James wasn’t at practice or at far away games Lily couldn’t accompany him to or when Lily wasn’t away due to Youtube or when they made sure to be extra careful when Harry was out with them (not wanting to expose him too much to the media)–the internet seemed to explode whenever they filmed a video together for Lily’s channel. She’s seen edits on tumblr based on her and James’ relationship. Although not just edits shipping her and James but her and Sirius as well with the occasional Remus or Peter. The edits always made them laugh and James scowl stating that he’d pummel them if they even dared to hold her hand. Lily would then kiss each of them on the cheek to prove a point to him; he would pout all night.

He was the love of her, and she’d often wondered whether his earlier offer was still on the table for them. He’d asked once before, and she had said no, she could tell he’d been disappointed at the time. They had fought when it happened, on the verge of breaking up–she was ashamed to admit that half of those were caused by her–when he had told her he’d been offered a position on his favourite football team. She hadn’t known what that meant for them–she was two and a half months pregnant at that point. She remembered leaving the flat James had shared with Sirius. She remembered crying in her own flat all night. She had thought of Petunia’s taunts of Lily being a whore when she’d found out from their parents, her taunts that YouTube wasn’t a real job, and she’d never be able to maintain a child on James’ amateur career nor on her profession (Petunia had scoffed here). She hadn’t cared at the time, why would she? She had James. Because she’d never even considered that she wouldn’t have James–they were each other’s first (first love, first serious relationship, first time). She had been a wreck and refused to speak to him despite how much she really wanted to. In the end, he had used the extra key she’d given to him. He had kissed her and told her he loved her even if she never wanted to marry him–which she had never said but found no reason to bring up the topic again so soon. He told her they would find a way to make it work–for their child and for them. He kissed her again before looking into her eyes, begging her in the way that often ended with their clothes on the ground and tongues in each other’s mouth, ‘Please, no more fighting.’ His voice had sound as if he were on the verge of breaking. ‘No more fighting,’ she had heard herself saying. No talk of marriage had arisen since and reading through the retweets of her latest video hadn’t helped.

Lily skimmed through the reply section of her latest Twitter post which was filled with requests for a proposal between Lily and James–not realising that Lily was a hundred percent for it.

She scrolled through her feed when she stopped at one of Sirius’ tweets. It read, ‘Am i invited to the wedding?’

Lily typed in a quick ‘wanker’ comment before logging off and setting her computer down.

‘Have you seen the amount of tweets and comments your latest video has gotten, Lil?’ James chuckled as he approached her , ‘Six hundred thousand in the past two days, it’s insane.’

‘Half of those are probably girls fawning over how fit you looked when you took off your shirt.’

‘So you admit I’m fit,’ he said placing a quick kiss on her mouth, ‘and don’t be a hypocrite, I’ve seen you fawn over my delectable abs plenty of times.’

‘I’m entitled to fawn over them whenever I like.’

James threw his head back laughing, ‘Lily Evans, are you objectifying me? What will the tabloids say next?’

‘James Potter: major football star or major ego?’ she teased.

‘You’re mean,’ he pouted as he sat down and wrapped an arm around her waist.

‘You’re a prat,’ she replied.

‘Yeah, but I love you, Evans,’ he kissed the corner of her mouth gently.

She blushed slightly, snuggling deeper into him, ‘I love you too, you prat.’

(video)

2:40

James smashed the chocolate cake into his girlfriend’s face, laughing as she pouted at him. He placed a kiss on her cheek causing her to beam at him. His heart felt like it would explode at that look, he’d give her anything to continue giving him that look.

1:38 PM

from wormtail to ‘james sucks at football’: did you see rita skeeter’s new article

from padfoot: why would i?

wormtail: [sends magazine titled ‘Is Jily Done?’]

padfoot: no way!

moony: does james know?

wormtail: he hasn’t answered my calls

padfoot: fuck

(IS JILY DONE?: HOW THE A LIST COUPLE IS OVER BY RITA SKEETER)

Despite Youtube sensation Lily Evans’ newest video with Puddlemere United’s James Potter, the former ‘it’ couple seems to be heading down a dangerous path. The couple has been dating since their last year at Hogwarts (a Scottish boarding school for the supposedly gifted) where Evans herself according to our sources was said to have once announced her hatred for the supposed father of her child.

Her latest video shows the couple laughing and seemingly in love, but this writer got an inside scoop on what’s really going on with the couple. A close friend of theirs* dished out the gossip on the couple’s constant arguments, Potter’s irresponsible parenting and his inability to commit to one girl.

Potter was seen with the Holy Harpies’ Emmeline Vance just a week ago in what seems to be a very flirtatious conversation with Vance in which Vance even placed her hand Potter’s bicep (see photo below). James Potter’s inability to commit after six years must be a painful heartbreak to Lily Evans and her three-year-old son Harry. In Potter’s defence, it could be the girl he’s the willing to commit to and not the commitment itself.

Until next week when we uncover the truth behind another mysterious Youtuber.

‘Oh no,’ James groaned as he saw a magazine with a picture of him and Emmeline Vance on the front cover and the title, ‘IS JILY DONE?’ instructing him to turn to page nine and ten for details.

He had just been on his way to pick up Harry from his parents when he had caught sight of not one but multiple magazine covers bearing similar titles. While Emmeline was a very pretty girl who he was fairly certain did fancy him, he loved Lily–the woman who not only was he everything, but who was also the mother of the three-year-old he was certain was his and no one would ever beat that. The photo obviously didn’t show the way James had inched away from her or the awkward air that emitted from him.

He read the titles of the other magazines in the store: Potter’s New Flame, the Puddlemere’s Harpy, Star-Crossed Lovers, the Future Mrs Potter, Evans v. Vance.

James could see a few people with their phones out and keeping a distance from the corner of his eye.

Great, he thought. The last thing he needed was another magazine proclaiming his apparent love for Emmeline Vance. He placed the magazine back and quickly made his way through the aisles to pick up sushi for Lily and him along with some sweets for Harry and a few ingredients Lily had actually put on the grocery list.

(video)

3:59

Lily sat giggling in her seat as she watched the chocolate syrup run down her boyfriend’s face. He began nuzzling into her neck, smearing chocolate across her neck and face.

'Stop it, you prat,’ she said as she shoved him off, pouting at him.

The screen jumped to a different scene.

(deleted scene)

'Stop it, you prat.’

'But you look so gorgeous, Evans,’ he cupped her face gently. 'I love you so bloody much, Lil.’ He could see her face inching towards his. He let his thumb caress her cheek slowly, 'You love me, yeah?’

'Of course I love you, you dork.’ James’ lips crashed onto hers, he let his lips move slowly, his tongue teasing hers.

'Mmm…the camera…’ she pushed him away slowly.

'Just delete it,’ he kissed her again, not caring that they were both covering the other in even more food.

(text)

3:28 PM

(Prongs renamed ‘james sucks at football’ to ‘sirius is an idiot’)

prongs: fuck is right. rita’s not the only one who’s written an article. i’m on my way to get harry from mum and dad’s. idk what i’m going to tell lily.

padfoot: it’s not true though, right?

prongs: of course not, you wanker! you know i love lily.

padfoot: good, because i’d have to fight you if you hurt her.

moony: if lily didn’t beat you to it.

wormtail: she is rather scary.

prongs: you’re all terrible, the lot of you.

Lily saw the notifications on her laptop and selected a random one. She almost choked on her tea as she saw a photo of Emmeline Vance flirting with and touching James, her James.

STAR-CROSSED LOVERS

Emmeline Vance and James Potter met at the recent football game that took place in Glasgow, Scotland. While James Potter was away on tour, his girlfriend and mother of his son Harry James Potter was at their home in Brighton, England unsuspecting the heartbreak that would soon take over.

Anyone can see the look of love in which Potter looks at Vance. Two star-crossed lovers forced apart only due to their different teams–a pair of teams which have been rivals for the last decade–but due to Potter’s forced commitment to Evans and her child, Potter and Vance may never be.

'Take that, Vance,’ Lily mumbled bitterly as she continued to read comments debating whether Lily or Emmeline was better suited towards James (her heart broke a little every time she read someone calling her a slut and saying James deserved better than her, her heart broke more when they said he was only with her because of Harry). Some questioned whether Lily would date another marauder–as Sirius had jokingly referred to himself as and the name in the plural had been used in reference to the rest of the guys as well since–if she and James really did break up.

(video)

moments before 4:39

'Please, love,’ James groaned as he selected to drink lemon juice.

'You have to it’s part of the game,’ she laughed.

'I wouldn’t make you do it,’ his pout almost had her. 'Plus, it’s called eat it or wear it not drink it and die.’

'That’s besides the point, and you would absolutely have made me do it.’

He cupped her face again, 'I’ll do anything, Lil.’ His eyes were wide and dark and so hypnotizing. 'Please?’ He looked just like Harry did when he pleaded for something, and she couldn’t help but smile goofily at her boyfriend’s antics.

'Fine, just this once.’ He swooped in and kissed her cheek before she could react. A blush presented itself on her face. She looked at him adoringly, no matter how much of a prat he had once been, he somehow won her heart. She saw him look at her just as lovestruck.

(January, unknown year, Lily is two-months pregnant)

'Say something, James,’ the almost twenty-year old begged of him.

'Marry me,’ the words slid so naturally from his lips.

'I…what?’ Whatever she had expected it hadn’t been that.

'Marry me, Lily Evans,’ his eyes looked into hers, pleading. His hands cupped her face gently into his palms. His eyes drinking in her expression, 'please?’

'I’m sorry but I can’t.’ He shut his eyes, releasing her from where he held her. He got up from his seat next to her, 'I can’t be here right now,’ he uttered whether to himself or to her, she wasn’t sure.

'James, please don’t…’

'I love you, but I can’t be around you right now.’ With that he left, leaving her to cry her heart out.

(two weeks later)

They had barely spoken except to fight–even in the things she found endearing like James’ hair ruffling seemed to be a reason to start a fight.

'You’re so frustrating,’ he screamed at her, his face burning at that that point. 'All you ever do now is start fights.’

'Like you never start anything, Mr I’m So Perfect.’

'I don’t know why I bother any more.’ She wouldn’t admit how much that hurt her to hear.

'If you don’t like it then leave. No one is telling you to stay.’ Please don’t, she thought.

'It’s my flat.’ He ran his fingers through his hair, 'I’m leaving.’

'It’s your flat, like you said. I should be the one to leave.’

'That’s not what I meant.’

'What do you mean?’ her voice had gone softer, more vulnerable than it had been for the last few weeks. James could have swore he heard a whimper.

'I got offered a spot on Puddlemere United, my favourite football team. He looked at the shocked look on her face, the hurt.

'So…you’re leaving?’ Her voice displayed all the vulnerability she felt.

'I…maybe…no…yeah.’ She could see the uneasiness he felt, the indecisiveness.

'Have a nice life, James Potter.’

She attempted to keep her emotions in check. 'Lily, please.’

She could hear the regret in his voice, she just couldn’t make herself care at the moment, 'Goodbye, James.��

She left to her flat where she finally allowed herself to breakdown in tears. James was her first love, her only love really. She briefly considered not having the child or giving it–them–up. Yet she could imagine giving up any child that was part James. She didn’t know what she’d do without him. She was only nineteen, she didn’t know how to be a mother.

She ignored his texts, his calls, and his emails all week. It was better this way she rationalised. She looked at her stomach sadly, 'I’m sorry, baby, I don’t know what to do.’ She thought her eyes would be permanently red from all the crying.

She was lying on her bed when she heard a door open. She panicked for a moment before remembering who else had a key, and she wasn’t sure which alternative she preferred.

The door to her bedroom opened slowly, 'You can’t ignore me all week, Lily.’

'What do you want,’ her tone tried to be cool but came out slightly shaking.

He walked towards her and pressed his lips to hers. His lips moving gently over hers, his tongue begging for entrance. She hated herself for kissing him back.

'I love you, Lil,’ he said as he tore himself away from her, 'I love you more than anything. I don’t mind if you never want to marry me. I love you and want to make us work–for us and for the baby.’ He crushed his lips against hers again. His hands gripping her hair, pinning her to the bed.

'And you won’t leave me?’ she said tearing herself away, letting his lips fall onto her neck where he clung to her.

'No,’ he let his lips pepper kisses up her neck, 'You, I’ll never leave.’ He raised his head to look into her eyes, 'But please, no more fighting,’ his arms gripped her waist harder and let his other hand run through her red locks.

'No more fighting,’ she promised before kissing him once more and perhaps a few times after that.

(present)

'Lil, where are you?’ James asked as Harry clung to his back. 'Get off, Har-Bear,’ James said as he bent down.

'Why?’ he pouted as he was set down.

'I want to find mummy.’ He said as he looked around the room to make sure she wasn’t asleep on the sofa as she often did. 'Are you hungry,’ he added to his son as an afterthought.

Harry shook his head, 'I ate at grandma and grandpa’s. They even bought me an ice cream for dessert.’

'Okay,’ he ruffled his son’s hair affectionately. 'I’m going to check on mummy, I’ll be right back.’ His son nodded before turning his attention on the sleeping cat.

'Hey, love, are you okay? It’s about five in the afternoon, and you’re in bed.’ He went to her side of the bed and began stroking her hair gently. She mumbled something into her pillow.

'What was that?’

'Everyone wants you to marry Emmeline Vance and thinks Harry and I are holding you two from eloping and being in love.’

His heart hurt seeing his lovely girlfriend hurting over what some idiots who couldn’t mind their own business wrote, 'The internet is ridiculous. I love you and Harry more than anything and if it makes you feel any better, my phone’s been blowing up with tweets of how cute we are and how much of an idiot I’d be to break it off. I rather agree, you’re quite the catch.’ He kissed her head gently, 'You’re an excellent mother, funny, intelligent, gorgeous, and you tolerate my awful jokes.’

She laughed, rolling over to lie on her stomach, her watery eyes looking up at him, 'Your jokes are rather awful.’

He moved to lie down next to her. 'Emmeline Vance has nothing on my love for you.’

'Promise?’ she asked as she snuggled closer to him.

'Promise.’

If there’s one thing the internet could see–no matter how much the internet deluded themselves into thinking otherwise–it’s that they were in love.

'Hey, Har?’ James shouted from the bedroom.

'Yes, daddy?’ Harry said, running in with the cat in his arms. James laughed at his precious son.

'Can you go get mummy’s present? The one I showed you yesterday.’ Harry had a big smile on his face as he sped away with Godric still in his arms.

'What present?’ Lily asked sleepily.

He kissed her temple, 'Stay awake and you’ll find out.’

'Mmm…you’re warm,’ she mumbled, snuggling closer.

'I got it!’ Harry rushed into the bed, jumping up and down as James attempted to take the object out of Harry’s tiny hand. When James finally managed to achieve his goal, he crawled out of bed, this caused Lily to whimper at the loss of contact.

'Come back.’ Harry and Godric replaced James’ place, snuggling Lily which in turn caused her to erupt into giggles and place kisses all over her son. 'At least one of you loves me.’ Her eyes had once again shut, the tiredness pulling her in. 'Mmm…nevermind, Harry snuggles better than you do.’

Harry looked up as his father let out a low chuckle, 'Fair enough, love.’

Harry watched as his father walked back over to the bed before pausing to tie his shoe, or at least that’s what Harry thought. Harry didn’t understand why he needed to tie his shoe when he could be cuddling with him and mummy.

'Hey, love, open your eyes for me,’ his fingers had begun tracing up and down her arms until they finally fluttered open to see him down on one knee.

'Hey, Lil,’ James began nervously as he three* sets of green eyes focused on him.

'Yeah,’ she probed, her eyes having widened upon seeing him in his current position, his fingers clumsily taking a ring out of a box.

'Marry me, will you,’ his voice was vulnerable, his eyes shut as if that wasn’t quite what he had meant to say–or more likely how he was meant to say it.

She moved closer to him, slightly moving their son in order to reach him. She leaned forwards and gave him a quick peck on the lips, completely aware of their son watching their every movement.

'If I must,’ she teased as she pulled away, pulling him up to the bed. She hugged him to her, snuggling into his chest as he placed a kiss on her head whilst Harry cheered, with Godric purring his approval.

From then on, no one on social media spoke about how Lily interfered with the star-crossed lovers but rather how radiant Lily Evans would look like in her wedding dress.

Notes for the asterisks.

For the one regarding Rita’s inside source, it was not Peter. I imagined it as Petunia, mostly because of what she had to say about James.

The three pairs of green eyes for the second one refers to Harry, Lily, and the cat.

#jilychallenge #au #jily oneshot #siriuslywriting #oneshot #muggle au #au oneshot #social media au #youtuber au #friends: marauders #couple: jily #c: infant harry #engaged: jily #insecure!lily #football james au #domestic!jily #tw: abortion mention #tw: cursing

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liw-the-melancholic-apple · 4 years ago

Text

How it may have gone - Humble Beginnings

A fic taking place in the marauders era. While the political climate seems to head to a conflict, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are still just teenagers. Dealing with typical teenage problems.

But this year their little group grows. Who would have known that more prefects would be a good thing?

Masterlist

Nine: A hard night's day III

Just when we were headed back inside to warm up, someone called for Sirius and we both turned around. James, Peter, Nica and Blair ran towards us.

“Looks like you two are on speaking terms again”, Peter laughed.

“We are”, Sirius answered. “How’s it going with Remus?”

“Last I saw he was intensely captivated by Milla’s lips.”

“Yeah!”, I screamed.

Blair came over and put one arm around my shoulder. “Seems like everything’s gone into best case scenario mode just before Valentine’s. Remus and Milla are snogging, Sirius and Jette are talking, Crick and Jette are talking, Magnus and Chloe buried their unspoken feud and I got a new lipstick.”

We all laughed as we walked back into the school. We snuck into the kitchens to ask Mimi for some hot chocolate, which she presented with cream and marshmallows and nearly cried of pride and joy when we told her that it was delicious. To my surprise the boys really knew their way around the kitchens although I had only ever seen Hufflepuffs down there. Most students from the other houses didn’t even roughly know where they were but what had I expected from the school’s master pranksters?

Chocolate drunk and Mimi thanked once more we found ourselves back in the corridor and still ninety minutes away from dinner. After a moment of discussion we went back up to the Great Hall, sat down at the Gryffindor table and Sirius and I were filled in on what the rest had seen of Milla’s date.

“Took us quite a while to find them, actually. We thought they’d hang out in one of the pubs or the tea shop. But no.” The gang had finally found them in Casparian’s Curiosities which was one shop none of us had ever been in. They only spotted them in there but didn’t follow, so, we didn’t know what they’d done in there but we were even more intrigued.

During the remainder of the day they ran into the daters every now and again and reported that the two looked very comfortable with one another, that they were smiling a lot and even held hands after lunch.

“I would have loved to see that!”, Sirius moaned.

“You didn’t have to stay here...”, I said with a slightly bad conscience.

“Yes, he did. You were not okay and it was his fault”, Peter shut me up.

“Yeah, he’s right. I’m glad we talked. And I reckon that I’ll get a chance or two to watch them be sickly sweet together.”

“ I’d certainly hope so. They do not get to put us through all of this and not end up together”, Blair commented while taking out Nica’s Queen in the game of chess they lazily played. None of them were really paying attention.

Half an hour into our conversation Crick and Toby had joined us. Up until now they had mainly talked to Blair and Nica but when we had exhausted the topic of our dating friends and fell silent Crick awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Black”, he said, causing all of us to look at him. “Don’t think I’ve apologised for messing up your face yet.”

“ No need to, really. You were upset and I could have chosen my words a little better.”

“Be that if it may, you were right to pull me away from Jette. I was out of control. So, sorry.”

“Sure, thanks.”

“She’s lucky to have you lot. You’re good friends”, Crick said, making a point to look at both, James and Sirius as he spoke.

“Okay, that’s it. Don’t get to ... mushy”, James demanded with a smile.

I looked on in awe as the four boys jumped into a discussion of their upcoming group projects on Offensive Spells for Defence against the Dark Arts like they had been the best of friends for the past five and a half years. How did I lose both Sirius and Crick within twenty-four short hours and get them back within just thirteen? How had they gone from barely accepting the other’s existence to being all chummy? I was obviously never going to complain about it but it did bewilder me.

Laughing and smiling and joking and speculating a bit more we had a lovely time until dinner. The appearance of cups and plates as well as students and teachers coming into the hall even surprised us a bit as it hadn’t seemed like we’d been there for an hour already.

For dinner we were joined by Chloe and Magnus who told us that they had cut their trip to the music shop short when they practically bumped into Milla and Remus who asked if they wanted to join them for lunch.

“Do you know why they were at the curiosity shop then?” Nica’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“ Yeah, really cute, actually. That shop has a lot of muggle stuff. Like the antique stuff. Don’t ask me about the details – I still can’t properly operate a telephone – but Remus knew that Milla loves those antique lamps and things like that. He thought she’d enjoy herself.”

“Did she?”

“By the looks of it. All rosy cheeks and giggles.”

Nica started dreaming up their wedding like she used to do with me and Crick. Fortunately, she had enough tact to never mention her liking me and Crick together after she found out about New Year’s, But with Milla and Remus on the right track, she’d found a new outlet for her romantic side.

We had just finished dessert when Remus and Milla came into hall, still wearing their coats, hats and gloves. Something was off. They seemed fine and happy but also had a weird electric vibe to them. Not the one you might expect from a first date, more like they were excited or nervous about something. Like they had a secret.

They sat down on both sides of James and ignored all of our inquisitive looks. Digging into their plates of blanched pumpkin and potatoes and Lasagna respectively they pretended to be too busy to tell us about their date. We all just kept watching them eat, hardly speaking. What was this? I exchanged looks with the girls and Sirius but none of us seemed to be able to make sense of the scene we witnissed.

Remus drank his chocolate mousse and stood up. “Mates, I need a minute...Mind smoking just the four of us?”

“What is going on?”. Peter wanted to know, voice shaking. He was made for harmony , not for conflict and I reckoned he was not ready to have two of his friends fighting again. After all Sirius and I had literally just made up.

“It’s nothing I just need a word, right? Let’s go!” He rushed out the Great Hall without checking if the rest followed him, which they obviously did immediately. All of our eyes rested on Milla who grabbed a pear pastry and whipped her head to the door. We followed her into the common room where she very firmly got rid of Magnus, Toby and Crick before leading us into our dorm.

“Last I saw you everthing seemed to be just great. How did you get to both needing to go into conclave with your friends?” Blair was clearly panicking. Milla blinked at her. Twice.

“Right, the date... That went well. We... eh... we are a thing now. Like a proper thing. Boyfriend and Girlfriend. But really there are more pressing matters...”

“What could possibly be more pressing than you being Remus’ girlfriend?”, I shrieked, just as happy as confused.

“Something else that happened today. Something he told me. Something I’m supposed to tell you. Can I do that, please?” We all nodded and looked at her.

“Okay...So...On the way back from the village we talked about how we both hoed that things with Sirius and Jette would work out and that they should be friends again and that it was stupid to keep secrets among people that you trust. Because it leads to situations like this, where everybody’s sort of pissed for nothing. Well, I said that. After last night I reckoned that Jette wasn’t too happy how Sirius told us no problem and gave her the cold shoulder.” I was very tempted to comment on that but bit my tongue because I needed to know where this was going.

“After I mentioned that, Remus got all weird and twitchy and quiet. I thought I’d done something wrong but I didn’t what so, I asked. And apparently it wasn’t me. And he just kept quiet. And I din’t like that, you know, because we had been a couple for like two hours and I’d already made him awkward and twitchy, which is not how things should go.”

“But...things are good now?”, Chloe asked a little hesitant rubbing Milla’s back.

“ I mean, I think so. No, they are. It’s just a little weird. But that’s fine, really, I’m werid, too. Different weird, naturally, but it doesn’t bother me. Just a lot to process.”

“What’s a lot to process, love? Think you left something out”, I calmly and slowly said while handing her her favourite teddy bear. She always said she only still brought it every year because her nan got it for her and she died two years ago, but we all knew that she couldn’t sleep without it. Lost in thought Milla played with the teddy’s ear.

“I did. Ehm.. Well, it’s ‘bout Remus and... his scars...you know, the ones in his face aaaand how he got them.” She took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling and talked without looking at any of us. “When he finally spoke again he said that I might be right. When you like someone you should be able to trust them. Especially, when they give you no reason to doubt their loyalty. So, since he more than just liked me and was probably going to spend a lot of time with me and get to know me even better he thought it was only fair to not have any secrets. None that mattered. And then he told me how he got the scars.”

“Merlin, if he got terrible parents, too, I’m gonna commit murder. Those boys have deserved much better!”, Chloe yelled with a passion I had hardly ever heard in her voice. Milla shook her head.

“No, no, his parents are great. He ... he gave ... he did it to himself. The scars I mean.” Now, she did look at each of us like that statement should have cleared everything up. It didn’t.

“Ugh, damn. He didn’t mean to do it to himself. He wasn’t quite himself when he did it. He... wasn’t himself at all. I’ll just say it, yeah. Otherwise this is never gonna work. Okay. There it goes: Remus is a werewolf.”

#marauders fanfiction #marauders era #james & peter & remus & sirius #james potter #remus lupin #remus x sirius #peter pettigrew #original character #harry potter

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cyborgsquirrel · 4 years ago

Text

Sanctuary: Chapter 25

Pairing: Wolfstar

Summary: The epic tale of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, from their first meeting until their happily ever after.

Link to Prologue

Link to All Chapters

Link to story on AO3

Monday, 20th December 1971 Remus spent the last few days leading up to Christmas with Sirius having snowball fights in the grounds, exploring the castle, lazing about in the common room or their dorm and sneaking out at night to set-up the back to school surprises in the common rooms of all four houses.

They'd decided to tackle Hufflepuff first and arrived outside the barrel entrance at two o'clock in the morning. Remus reached out with his wand and, mimicking the boy from the previous afternoon, tapped the barrel. Tap tap rat-a-tap. The barrel opened, revealing an earthy passage that sloped gently upwards. He glanced at Sirius, who shrugged at him before leading the way inside.

He crept down the passage behind Sirius, and after a few seconds, it opened out into a bright, low-ceilinged and circular room filled with plant life. 'This is cosy,' Sirius whispered, looking around. 'I think this is my second favourite common-room. Gryffindor is first, obviously.' Remus was forced to agree. The room was decorated in yellow and black, with highly polished, honey-coloured furniture, and the doors to the dormitories were whimsically round. It was warm and inviting. He would enjoy spending time there, especially with all the plants. 'This bit of wall looks good. Get ready to cover me if you hear anyone coming.' He nodded and Sirius set to work painting a large mural of a badger wearing a Hufflepuff tie and hat and holding a quill in a meadow of wildflowers. The project took a full two hours, and he was beginning to get nervous that people might start getting up when Sirius finally stepped back to admire the finished work. 'Magnifique,' Sirius said, dramatically kissing his fingers. 'It's perfect,' he whispered. 'Now get out the way so I can hide it.' Sirius stepped back, and Remus waved his wand in a complex motion of swirls. 'Statuto tempus cabaturium,' he muttered. The mural vanished. It would reveal itself at half-past four on the first of January, just when everyone would be returning from the holidays. They had one more thing to do before they left. Using the flagrate charm, Remus wrote a message on the wall next to where the mural lay hidden before casting the concealment charm again to hide it from view.

We're the Marauders of Hogwarts

you thought we didn't care

but we broke in to show you otherwise

with just a touch of flair.

The following night they hit Ravenclaw tower. He easily solved the riddle on the door to gain entry, and Sirius painted a mural of an eagle soaring through a library wearing a Ravenclaw tie and hat. Remus wrote his message to Ravenclaw house and then hid both mural and message for later.

We're the Marauders of Hogwarts

and we're just as smart as you

we broke in here to prove it

and we left you with a view.

On Wednesday night, they were feeling a little tired, so decided to do their own house. Sirius painted his mural of a regal lion wearing a Gryffindor tie and hat, with a green and silver snake under its paw, and Remus once again added their note and hid both for later.

We're the Marauders of Hogwarts

and we broke in here to say

that Gryffindors are great

in every single way.

They didn't technically break-in to Gryffindor tower, but saying they did meant anyone from different houses who compared, still wouldn't know which house they were in. Although the "Gryffindors are great" part did give the game away a little. Slytherin was last, and they tackled them on Thursday night. Sirius had resolutely refused to paint a mural, even a mean one. So, instead, they set delayed transfiguration on the entire room to make everything inside turn a violent shade of pink at the allotted time. Remus wrote out the poem he'd written for the Slytherins before Sirius added an extra line at the bottom with a snigger.

We're the marauders of Hogwarts

you thought we wouldn't dare

but we broke through your defences

to redecorate your lair.

Suck it, Snape.

'Sirius!' Remus whisper-shouted. 'What?' Sirius asked, holding his hands up in defence. 'He might suspect us, but no one will believe him. He'll just make himself look crazy.' Sirius made a good point. No one would believe first years had pulled off the Halloween and Christmas displays. 'Alright, we'll leave it.' He cast the concealment charm, and they snuck back to Gryffindor Tower to get some much-needed sleep.

-o-o-o-o-

When Sirius woke up on Christmas day, it was still dark outside the window and Remus was sleeping peacefully. Perfect. He needed to sneak down to the owlery and wait for a special delivery.

He slipped out of bed, grabbed the clothes he'd put ready the night before and padded to the bathroom to dress. When he was ready, he snuck out of the dorm, shutting the door quietly behind him, and ran down the stairs to the portrait hole. It took him ten minutes to reach the ground floor and another ten to get to the owlery. Once there, he rubbed his arms against the cold and paced impatiently, waiting for the owl to arrive with Remus' Christmas present. Twenty minutes later, a large brown barn owl swept through the window carrying a box with holes in the top. He paid the owl and carried the box carefully back to the dormitory, before tucking it under his bed. Hopefully, it would stay quiet until he was ready to give it to him. Sirius glanced at Remus' sleeping figure under the covers. It was seven o'clock. Why was he still sleeping at seven o'clock on Christmas day? He tiptoed over to the bed, leant over Remus and-- 'Arghh!' Remus yelled. Sirius yelped and jumped backwards, almost falling over, and Remus cracked up laughing. 'Merlin, your face!' Remus said in between giggles. 'You scared the crap out of me.' He clutched his hand to his chest above his heart, which was racing. 'Nice one! How long were you awake?' 'Since before you came in the room. Where did you go?' Remus asked, sitting up in bed. Sirius scratched the back of his head. He was caught. There was no point lying about it. 'I went to receive a delivery. It's your Christmas present, actually.' 'Oh. Okay, did you want to do presents now? Or wait until after breakfast?' He gaped at Remus. 'Wait until after breakfast? Are you mad? Presents!' 'Well, that's what I was hoping you'd say, but it's polite to ask,' Remus said, smiling. 'Shall we open the ones from James and Peter first?' Sirius asked, grabbing a small square package and a long oblong one from the small pile at the end of his bed. Remus crawled to the end of his bed and found two similar packages in his own pile. 'Sure. Your bed or mine?' He walked over to him. 'I'm already up so let's sit on your bed.' They ripped the paper off of the small square boxes from Peter at the same time, and they each had a mega-box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Sirius immediately ripped his open and started examining a small white one. 'What do you reckon? Vanilla?' Remus peered at it. 'Could be.' He popped it in his mouth, chewed it with a grimace, swallowed, and said, 'I think it was toilet paper.' Remus shook his head, chuckling, and picked up the parcel from James. 'Ready?' They ripped the paper off of James' presents and each pulled out a fancy red dragon skin wand-holster with gold detailing. There was a note inside the parcel that read: A Marauder should always have easy access to their wand. 'Wow, this is amazing,' Sirius said, putting it on and placing his wand in it. He practised drawing his wand at speed. The action was smooth and clean, so much easier than fumbling to grab it from a pocket. 'Try yours.' 'I'll try it out once I'm dressed,' Remus said with a chuckle. 'Spoilsport,' he said, pouting at him, but he sat back down on the bed. 'Okay, you open mine now.' He handed Remus a small wrapped box and watched closely, eager to see his reaction. Remus took the present, looked at it, glanced at Sirius' bed, shrugged and pulled the paper off. Inside was a silver pendant strung on a black leather cord. The pendant was shaped like a shield with a stylised M in relief on its face. Surrounding the M were four symbols; a paintbrush and a broomstick crossed behind the M, and a book and a cauldron sat in front of it on either side. Remus examined it thoroughly before looking up at him. 'Did you make this?' He shrugged. 'I drew it and sent the design to a jeweller. I bought one for each of us. It's the Marauder's crest.' Reaching into the neck of his robes, he pulled out his own identical silver pendant. 'It's brilliant. Thank you,' Remus said. He put the pendant on and looked at it again with the corners of his mouth twitching up in a suppressed smile before tucking it inside his pyjama top and handing Sirius his present. Sirius took the package, wishing he knew what Remus was thinking, and tore the paper off. The glass ball inside fell into his hand and he stared at it. It was the perfect size to fit comfortably in his hand, and the glass was smooth and crystal clear. He glanced up at Remus. 'What is it?' 'I call it a snitch-o-scope. I transfigured the balls from the sand in the beach room and added charms to detect people nearby. Anyone that isn't the four of us.' 'What does it do if it detects someone?' he asked, giving the ball an experimental shake. Nothing happened. 'It glows red if it's an adult, or orange if they're underage.' Sirius felt his mouth stretch in a grin. Knowing if anyone was nearby would make sneaking around so much easier. 'This is brilliant. You always give the best presents. Thank you.' Remus smiled and a faint blush bloomed on his cheeks. 'You're welcome.' Okay. It was time for Remus' other present. 'I got you something else too.' 'What, why?' Remus asked, frowning at him and causing a crease to appear between his eyebrows. Sirius had the insane urge to reach out and smooth it, which he heroically resisted with great effort on his part. 'I thought of it after you told me about how alone you are at home.' That was an outright lie; he'd thought about it when he read the werewolf books, but Remus didn't need to know that. 'Okay?' Remus said. Sirius jumped up and fetched the box from under his bed, handing it to Remus before sitting back down on the bed to watch his reaction. Remus eyed the holes in the top of the box nervously and glanced back up. 'Is there something alive in there?' He grinned and nodded. 'It won't hurt you. I wouldn't give you a dangerous Christmas present.' Remus raised an eyebrow. 'I wouldn't put it past you.' Sirius barked out a laugh, and a tiny whimper came from inside the box. 'Oops, I think I scared it.' He waved his hands in a hurry-up motion. 'Open it.' Remus pulled back the flaps on the box and peeked inside. 'Awww.' He reached in and lifted out a tiny jet-black kitten. It was mewling softly. Remus settled the kitten in his lap and scratched its ears. 'You bought me a kitten?' He shrugged. 'Yeah. I thought it could keep you company. You know, at home?' And on the full moons, he finished in his head. Remus picked the kitten up and looked at its belly. 'Thank you, Sirius. I love her.' 'What are you going to call her?' Remus frowned. 'I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it.' He paused. 'I hope she gets on okay with Rieka.' He hadn't thought about that, cats and birds weren't traditionally friends. 'I'm sure it'll be fine.' He hoped it would be fine. If the cat ate the owl, he wasn't sure Remus would forgive him. They finished opening the rest of their presents. Remus had a new book series from his mum, and Sirius got a fancy set of quills from his Uncle Alphard and a letter he would read later. Once Remus had dressed and put on his new wand holster, they went down to breakfast.

-o-o-o-o-

Christmas breakfast at Hogwarts was a feast. Every single type of breakfast food you could think of was made available. Remus couldn't help but wonder what they did with the leftovers. The amount of food in this one meal would probably feed his family for two years.

They left the hall with full bellies. His new kitten had been alone in the dorm for a long time, and he may have been walking a little faster than he normally would. 'Would you slow down a bit?' Sirius asked from a few steps behind. 'I ate far too much, and I can't move that fast right now.' 'I'm worried about the kitten. She's been all alone up there for ages. What if she's scared?' Sirius chuckled. 'It's a cat, Remus. She's probably curled up on your bed fast asleep.' Sirius was proven right when they arrived at the dorm. The kitten was indeed, curled up in a black fluffy ball fast asleep. But there was something else on the bed next to her. A tightly rolled scroll, sealed with red wax. 'What's that? Has someone been in here?' Sirius asked. Remus sighed. 'I know as much as you do, Sirius.' Sirius glanced at him. 'Should we open it?' 'That's what you would usually do with mail, yes?' 'There's no need to be a smart arse. There's a mysterious letter on your bed, and you're acting like this is an everyday occurrence for you. Is this an everyday occurrence for you?' He rolled his eyes. 'No, Sirius. I can't say I've ever received a mysterious letter before. But if we don't look at it, it'll remain mysterious forever.' They stared at each other for a moment longer, before Sirius snorted and bounded over to the bed, grabbing the scroll. He broke the seal and unrolled it. 'It's addressed to The Marauders.' 'Who's it from?' he asked, joining Sirius by the bed and trying to see over his shoulder. An almost impossible feat as Sirius was a full head taller than him. 'Dumbledore?' 'No. It says it's from the Hogwarts Chiefs of Raucous Revelry,' Sirius said. 'Really? What does it say?' Sirius handed him the scroll. 'Read it.'

The Hogwarts Marauders, We have been watching you since you arrived at school and have been most impressed with your penchant for mischief and your ability to maintain a secret identity. Your large-scale events at the Halloween and Christmas feasts were remarkable, and your discovery of the beach room showed great promise for your future as mischief-makers. We have enjoyed six and a half wonderful years in charge of entertainment here at Hogwarts, but alas, it will soon be time for us to leave these hallowed halls and join the world. And so we must pass our legacy on to the next generation. Yes, you have guessed correctly. We have chosen the four of you to continue in our footsteps, bringing joy and wonder to the students of Hogwarts. But first, you must prove yourselves worthy. We have devised an elaborate challenge to test your determination, perseverance, skill and daring. You have until the 16th of June to complete the task and earn your reward: our legacy. On the sixth floor, there is a door that cannot be opened. Behind that door is a flag. When you retrieve the flag, you will attach it to the top of the astronomy tower. This will be the signal to us that you have completed the task. The only way to gain access to the room is by drinking a potion called Spectral Essence. We will provide one small piece of assistance in this task. The word "Dissendium" is of great importance on the third floor. Merry Christmas and good luck. Yours in mutual mischief, The Hogwarts Chiefs of Raucous Revelry.

He looked up from the scroll and stared at Sirius, feeling a little dumbstruck. Sirius just nodded. 'I know.' 'James is going to be unbearable when he reads this.' Sirius nodded again. 'I know.' 'He's going to hound us non-stop until we've completed the challenge.' Sirius nodded a third time. 'I know. Stop pointing out the obvious.' 'Right.' He sat down on the bed and picked up the kitten, placing her in his lap where she nuzzled his fingers. 'We could hide it, and never ever tell him?' he asked hopefully. 'If he found out, he'd never speak to us again.' He slumped. 'That's true. We're going to have to do it, aren't we?' 'Don't you want to?' Sirius asked, sitting down next to him. He grinned. 'Of course! I just don't want to put up with James' ego about it.' 'I know, but we can just tell him to shut up if it gets too much.' Sirius took the scroll and looked at it again. 'Do you want to investigate the third floor?' 'I think James will be mad if we start without him.' Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, you're probably right. Think we should tell him about it in a letter? We can be really cryptic, and he won't be able to stop thinking about it for the rest of the holiday.' 'Drive him crazy before he drives us crazy?' he asked with a chuckle. 'I think that's the best idea you've ever had.' They spent the rest of the day in their dorm writing to James and Peter to thank them for their presents and tell them cryptically about the letter, playing with his kitten which he named Cosmo, and setting up a back to school surprise in James' and Peter's beds, a task which included a lot of giggling. The feast mid-afternoon was every bit as spectacular as breakfast had been. The house-elves really went all out at Christmas, and the wizarding crackers were a good laugh. Sirius got a pirate hat which Remus thought suited him, and he got a muggle top-hat in a vivid shade of purple which Sirius forced him to wear for the rest of the day. The next three days of the holiday passed much like the first half, but with less excitement. They explored the castle some more. Having finished with the seventh floor, they had moved on to the sixth but had yet to find a door that wouldn't open. They tested out Sirius' snitch-o-scope, and it worked beautifully, silently alerting them to any human presence within twenty feet of their location. By Wednesday, though, he was beginning to feel the effects of the moon and wanted to slow down. He'd expected some resistance from Sirius to the idea of staying in the common room, but he seemed oddly understanding of his desire for rest, and they sat by the fire together with Cosmo curled up between them and did nothing much at all. It was nice. 'Hey,' Sirius said, breaking the companionable silence. 'Do you remember that lesson on boggarts? You weren't talking to us at the time.' He shuddered. How could he forget? The sight of his mum's bloodied corpse had haunted his dreams for weeks. 'Yes.' 'During that class, James said, after we graduate, he wants us all to move in together. Would you be up for that?' He glanced at Sirius. 'Are you sure I was included? Like you said, we weren't friends then.' Sirius nodded. 'Yes, he specifically said, "Remus too, if he ever talks to us again." Say you will, it'll be awesome.' Remus felt warmth flood his chest. James had included him even though they weren't talking at the time? The warmth soon disappeared though, to be replaced with a heavy weight and an ache in the back of his throat. He doubted they'd want a werewolf living with them, but he couldn't explain that, so he just nodded. 'Sure, sounds great.' 'Excellent,' Sirius said. 'It wouldn't have been the same without you.'

-o-o-o-o-

Letters sent after Christmas

Saturday, 25th December To James, Remus and I thank you for our beautiful wand-holsters. What a perfect present for a team of mischief-makers. Something very exciting happened today that we think you'll be delighted to hear about. Unfortunately, it is sensitive information, and we can't possibly tell you about it in a letter. So you will have to wait until you return to hear the specifics. Can't wait to see you, Sirius, Remus and Cosmo Saturday, 25th December To Peter, Sirius and I thank you for the sweets. We're being very careful about which ones we eat, but if I dare Sirius to eat them, he does, and he pulls very amusing faces. It's a lot of fun. Something very exciting happened today that we think you'll be delighted to hear about. Unfortunately, it is sensitive information, and we can't possibly tell you about it in a letter. So you will have to wait until you return to hear the specifics. Can't wait to see you, Sirius, Remus and Cosmo Saturday, 25th December To Sirius and Remus, Sirius, I love the pendant. I can't believe I didn't think about us needing an official Marauders crest. I'm going to wear it all the time. Did you get one for everyone? Remus, I have no idea what this globe thing is, but it keeps lighting up red. Is that bad? Only a week until I come back! James Saturday, 25th December To Sirius and Remus, Remus, what is this globe? It keeps flashing red and orange, and I'm worried. Sirius, thank you for my pendant. Did you get one for all of us? I really like it. Peter P.S. I can't write anymore. My muggle relatives are getting freaked out by all the owls. Saturday, 25th December To James, Thank you for the wand holster. This is the coolest thing I've ever owned. I hope you liked your sweets. Peter P.S. I can't write anymore. My muggle relatives are getting freaked out by all the owls. Saturday, 25th December To Peter, Thank you for the sweets. I kept all the yucky ones, melted them down and put them in my dad's coffee. It was so funny. James Sunday, 26th December To Sirius and Remus, First, who is Cosmo? Are they a new Marauder? Why was I not consulted? Second, tell me, tell me, tell me! James P.S. You're welcome. I hope you're both wearing them all the time. A Marauder must always be prepared. Sunday. 26th December To Peter, You're welcome. I'm glad you like it. I think you know by now how much I "enjoyed" the sweets. Have you heard from Sirius and Remus? Did they tell you about this exciting thing that happened on Christmas day? They won't tell me anything. Also, do you know who Cosmo is? James Monday, 27th December To James, Cosmo is the newest Marauder. She arrived on Christmas day, and her special talents include dozing in the sun and finger nuzzling. You were not consulted because you were not here. The globe is my own invention; I call it a snitch-o-scope. It lights up if people are nearby (except for us), red for adults, orange for children. Remus, Sirius and Cosmo P.S. We are both wearing our wand holsters at all times except when sleeping. Tuesday, 28th December To Remus, Sirius and Cosmo (Apparently), We have Remus for sun dozing, and Sirius for finger nuzzling. Why do we need Cosmo? I don't believe absence is a good enough reason for not being consulted. The snitch-o-scope is brilliant! It's going to be so useful. You still didn't tell me. Is it Cosmo? Is that the exciting thing? Waiting eagerly, James Wednesday, 29th December To James, I do not finger nuzzle! But you're right about Remus dozing in the sun. Alas, there is not much sun to be had in Hogwarts today, so Remus is dozing on the sofa in the common room in front of the fire instead. Cosmo is curled up with him, and I am all alone but standing guard. Cosmo is not the exciting thing. We cannot talk about the exciting thing in writing in case these letters are intercepted. Sirius (and a sleeping Remus & Cosmo) Thursday, 30th December Sirius and (a hopefully now awake) Remus and Cosmo, I was very confused by your description of Remus' and Cosmo's sleeping arrangements, but I am now starting to suspect that Cosmo is an animal of some sort. I'm in two minds about your refusal to tell me by letter about the exciting thing. I like your caution, but I hate that I have to wait. Only two more days, James

Chapter 26

#wolfstar #wolfstar fanfiction #remus x sirius

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monstrousthingsrp · 7 years ago

Photo

Welcome to Monstrous Things, Mille!

“Sometimes Harry has to explain away the fact that there is a rapid fluttering of his pulse, the thundering beat of his heart, a spark at the base of his spine that propels him forward into dangerous situations. It makes him feel alive, and that’s not something he can explain to his superiors, or his friends.”

We are excited to accept your application for Harry Potter and, of course, can’t deny our own excitement for seeing the path Harry takes in moving from good government stooge to raging against authority! We look forward to seeing both how familiar, and how unfamiliar, he will become and look forward to little touches like that “lightning bolt joke” making us all smirk!

Your FC change to Avan Jogia has also been accepted.

OOC Details

Name: Millie

Pronouns: She/they

Activity Level: Worse than what I’d usually offer :| but I’m generally on the computer everyday to work on my thesis, so when I’ve done a bit of that I’ll get on to check things.

Other: If spiders could get tagged, that would be great (:

General IC Details

Name: Harry James Potter

Age: 24

Gender/Pronouns: Male and he/him

Desired Changes: I’m wondering if you guys would mind Avan Jogia for fc? His father is British Indian and his mother is English, which is how I’d like to play Harry. I love the poetics of him being mixed in both senses (:

Please describe the character’s education experience:

As a poster child for the Ministry, and a racially mixed child to boot, Harry didn’t always have an easy time making friends. It wasn’t until attending TRAUE that he made friends who would stick around long enough to see past the Ministry hype. Harry was good at sitting still and being quiet, a trait learned while living with his state-issued guardians, but it was at school that he discovered his impulsive love of magic. This attitude was not well-suited to a theory-based education and he quickly became bored with book learning.

Harry, used to being alone and taking initiative, decided to take some of the theoretical learning and practice it in a more… active way. This was how he discovered that he was particularly good at combat spell work, and it was this that he focused on in his later years at school. He graduated with passes in all of his classes, though the subjects that focused more on quick and instinctive spell work were the subjects that he exceeded in. He keeps his hair long to cover the stars at the corner of his eyes, having added two stars after his graduation and another after his acceptance to the Ministry. (They’re placed so that a connecting line would form a lightning bolt; a joke about lightning never striking twice). Well, he keeps them covered most of the time. Sometimes it’s fun to see who squirms.

Job/Role:

Like a good poster boy, grown into a good poster man, Harry works as an agent for the Ministry. Most of his work is done out in the field, integrating himself into the general populace and observing people in their natural environments. He gets teased by the other agents about this; they say he’s got it easy because he gets to hang out in London all day, but really they know he’s hard at work. Whether he’s tailing a suspected unregistered wix, or observing areas known for unlawful wix activity, Harry takes his job seriously and his colleagues know that. There are days spent doing paperwork back at his desk though, which are the kind of days that make him antsy, especially if paperwork days turn into paperwork weeks. He most enjoys being in the streets, or out on a chase.

Character Traits:

Observant - Harry has a sixth sense for danger; that’s what people have often said about him. Whether that has come from years of training and honing his skills, or a natural inclination from his childhood and his upbringing, Harry couldn’t tell you. All he knows is that he notices the [little] details details that no one else does, whether he’s using his cloak or not. It’s the small things about a situation or a person that tip him off and sometimes the best way to observe that is while invisible, but sometimes there are things that can only be observed when directly engaging with someone. He couldn’t tell you who at the office was dating but when it comes to people that might pose a threat, Harry’s instincts kick in and he’s in observation mode before he realises it.

Impulsive - The one danger to Harry’s observant nature (and by extension, his job) is a tendency to act before completely thinking out a situation. Sometimes it looks like he leaped in to save someone from trouble, which means that’s what he puts on the paperwork, but sometimes there’s no easy excuse. Sometimes Harry has to explain away the fact that there is a rapid fluttering of his pulse, the thundering beat of his heart, a spark at the base of his spine that propels him forward into dangerous situations. It makes him feel alive, and that’s not something he can explain to his superiors, or his friends.

Selfless - Harry really will charge into danger for the good of others, especially those he considers friends. Growing up as a state of the ward taught him what isolation and not having anyone to depend on felt like, which is something he doesn’t want others to feel. This, coupled with his impulsive and often reckless nature, means that in order to protect someone, Harry is more likely to jump in front of a spell than he is to block it. You could say he’s developed a little bit of a hero complex over time, which can sometimes feel a little misplaced when he’s chasing down unregistered wix.

Proud - Though he doesn’t like public attention, Harry does have a stubborn pride streak that can cost him at times. He avoids asking for help with tasks that are beyond him, even if failing will negatively effect him. This stems from his need to be independent and self-sufficient as a child which has culminated in a belief that not only must he prove that he can do things alone, he can actually only rely on himself to get the job done.

Compassionate - There are a few ways a kid in Harry’s situation can go, one of them being angry and a little sociopathic. Thankfully, despite the occasional mood swing, Harry grew up with a heart full of compassion. He truly hates to see others suffering and won’t stand by if there’s something he can do to help. This capacity for caring has been the basis for all of his friendships; whether it was sharing his food with a red-haired boy on the first day of school, or striking up a conversation with someone who was sitting alone.

Moody - Blame it on his youth but Harry can be a little moody. Some people will tell you that he has a tendency to sulk, and others will tell you that he can just get a little ramped up on occasion. Harry will happily admit that he can get more than a little grumpy when someone pisses him off. He can often bite out unkind remarks, even to his friends, but will always come around in the end and apologise. This moodiness will get worse whenever he is under pressure or stressed, making him an acquired taste on both missions and vacations. He can even be quite intimidating when pushed to anger.

OOC Question List three aspects of the character or world that that caught your interest.

i. As a character, Harry has always been more loyal to people than to institutions so I was immediately interested in the fact that he’s working as muggle defence. It’s a different world of course, and Harry has been raised by the institute that he serves, but I think we all know that Harry’s true self will eventually shine through. Who knows what he’ll do when he finds out what Neville is really doing, or if he ever discovers who that dog is.

ii. Before the bio came out, I genuinely thought it was going to be something along the lines of “Harry had an accent when he was younger and now he flickers out of vision” because I completely forgot about the bloody cloak! I love Harry as an observer though, because he’s so damn oblivious to anything personal but is so alert to danger. It very much speaks to his upbringing and the irony just makes me laugh.

iii. Monsters!! I love love monsters and I love love aus. There’s such a wide range of creatures in this rp and I think it’s hilarious that not only is Harry not the “chosen one” and sans scar in this au, but he’s surrounded by wix with various bizarre gifts (not to mention, violent tendencies) and I honestly just think the overarching theme is so much fun!

What is your dream plot?

Obviously it’s for Harry to hook up with the Caravan rebels and to find out what his parents were really up to. Harry’s got a great capacity for compassion and he likes people more than he likes authority so I don’t think it’ll take too much to convince him to at least give the Caravan folks a chance. I would want his worldview to be challenged by what his friends are doing (Ginny’s mood swings, Neville’s shop) and by the discovery of his parent’s friends (Remus, Sirius - if he’s still alive). Basically, I’d love for his “loyalty” to be challenged and his worldview shaken. Let Harry rage against authority!!!!

#monstrous enter if you dare #harry potter #hp roleplay

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ravkasqueen · 8 years ago

Text

Jily - How long have you known?

Summary: James x Lily (also slight Wolfstar!) After having agreed to go out with James, Lily spends much of her time around the marauders, making them wary of her observations on Remus’s more than odd behaviour.

Word count: 2629

Warnings: Firey redheads

Lily Evans wanders into the Great Hall, vibrant green eyes immediately scanning through the Gryffindor table as she walks towards it, grinning as she spots her boyfriend James sitting with his friends. Despite how new the relationship was, Lily couldn’t help but feel like she had known James forever. Being with him was like second nature to her and she couldn’t help but feel as though she had wasted so many years denying him when they could have been together and as happy as she now felt.

James was laughing at something Sirius had said to him as Lily walked forwards, face lit with amusement as he spent time with some of the people he most cared about. He lifted his head and caught sight of Lily walking towards him and although she hadn’t thought it possible, his face managed to become even brighter, his breaths suddenly easier now she was around.

“Morning,” he told her with his grin still in place as she dropped into the seat opposite him, beside Sirius.

Lily smiled and moved a couple strands of hair up and out of her face. “Good morning, everyone.”

“Evans.” Sirius nods in response with a small smile. “Did you get the answers to the Transfiguration work we had to do?”

James groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Leave her alone, Pad. It’s too early in the morning to talk about school.”

Sirius rolled his eyes as Lily laughed. “I was only asking,” he grumbled in defence.

“Not done the work then?” Lily questioned teasingly.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair. “No,” he muttered. “McGonagall’s gonna kill me.”

Lily shook her head and with a rueful chuckle she said; “Of course she won’t.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sirius asked incredulously. “Of course she will.”

“No,” Lily said, smiling as she rolled his eyes at him, James across from her doing much the same. “She won’t because I’m obviously going to help you, stupid.”

Sirius’ mouth dropped open and a grin took over his face. “You’re wonderful, Evans.” He turned to James and winked. “Good choice, Prongs.”

Lily laughed, moving her hand to playfully slap Sirius’ shoulder as she winked at James from across the table. “Like he had a say in it, really.” She smirked, rolling her shoulders sarcastically and picking up a few of the hot, buttery rolls which sat before her before placing them onto her plate.

“Who didn’t have a say in what?” Remus smiled as he took the seat on James’ side, looking around the table questioningly.

Lily snorted but before she could explain James was already humiliating himself, further. “Me,” He sighed wistfully. “I really didn’t have a choice in being with Lily, you see, mate; she’s just so obsessed with me-”

He was interrupted by Lily scoffing and throwing a crumpled-up napkin from the table in a measured shot at his head. “Liar.” She winked with a grin as Remus began to laugh.

“You’re both so sweet,” he said, shaking his head as he poured himself a drink.

Sirius smirked at the table and leant forwards so that his chin was in his hands as he stared James dead in the eye. “Bet she’s not so sweet in the bedroom, though, huh Prongs?” He wiggled his eyebrows and snickered when James turned red. “Redheads never are.”

James spluttered as Remus choked slightly on his drink. “Bugger off, Pads.” Lily laughed, pushing his shoulder and shrugging off what he had said. “You’re beginning to sound jealous.” She smiled sweetly and bat her eyelashes at him teasingly.

“Oh, don’t you worry, doll.” He winked back at her, casting a grin to Remus. “I have someone far better than you – no offence. And, he may not be a red head but he sure is wild.”

Lily burst into hysterical giggles as Remus turned red and James looked around the group in amusement. “Was that really necessary whilst I’m eating, mate?” James asked but Sirius waved a hand at him, like a small child in a classroom when they realise they know the correct answer.

“Yes.” He said triumphantly, taking a large gulp from the goblet before him. “It really was.”

“You’re so charming,” James muttered to himself before smiling gently at Lily once more, however, Lily was not looking at him. Instead, her eyes were trained on the small scars and scratches which ran across Remus’ neck, just in sight of the line of his collar.

“Hey, Lily-” Sirius began, also noticing her scrutinising gaze.

“Remus, what is that?” She asked and the boy looked up, confusion, curiosity and compliance waiting in his eyes however once he saw what she meant his eyes snapped down to the table and a light blush worked its way up his neck from behind the collar he was now tugging at inconspicuously, to lift it and cover more.

“Uh,” he muttered, abandoning the effort and instead beginning to rub a calloused hand over the marks instead. “Nothing.” He said eventually in an obvious bluff.

Lily frowned and her eyebrows knitted themselves together as she surveyed her friend in obvious worry. Just as she was about to speak, she was cut across.

“So, u, Lily.” Sirius coughed, cutting through the awkward tension with apparent intent to change the current topic. She turned to him with a single eyebrow raised in a way which conveyed her irritation at her question being nudged to the side. “Are, uh, you free now to help me with the transfiguration work?” He asked, his eyes hopeful.

She sighed and placed down her cutlery and with a nod dropped the subject and stood from the table. “Come on, then.” She said and began to walk down towards the large wooden doors of the Great Hall, casting a light smile towards James as she went.

Sirius cast an exasperated and incredulous look at the table before picking up his bag and reluctantly following the sound of padding feet ahead of him at a somewhat rushed pace.

As soon as his best friend and girlfriend were out of hearing range, James let out a large breath of air. “That was too close,” he muttered to Remus on his right.

Remus coughed awkwardly and took another sip of his drink. “Do you think she knows?” He asked, not seeming too worried or perturbed about the question.

James’ eyes almost bulged out of his head, however. “No.” He said whilst rapidly shaking his head from side to side. “Of course she can’t…there’s no possible way for her to know, Mooney.” He said, at last, his eyes darting nervously around the faces of those nearest to the pair, trying to look more calm and relaxed when he caught a few people’s eyes.

Remus chuckled slightly and put his drink down, turning his body so that it better faced James. “Look,” he said eventually. “I know more than anything that you and Sirius would never do anything to expose me-”

“Of course not!” James cut in, not waiting for an explanation.

Remus shot him a look before continuing. “So I know that nothing you have purposefully done will have aided her but Lily is smart. She knows that something is up and she is the type of witch who will work with her clues until she has her answer.”

“She is really smart, isn’t she?” James asked with a grin on his face and Remus watched as a glossy look overcame his eyes and distorted his image to that of a starry-eyed dreamer.

“Yes, James.” He said and it was obvious to everyone but James himself that his friend was doing his utmost to refrain from laughing at the utterly love-struck expression on his face.

James shook his head to relieve himself from the daydream he had been cast into against his will. “She won’t find out, I promise.”

Remus smiled through tight lips. He didn’t mind the idea of Lily knowing what he was but rejection from her scared him greatly seeing as how she was one to often be a great comfort to him. Since he had begun going to Hogwarts, Remus had had an almost wordless friendship with Lily Evans. Nothing ever needed to be said between them, their problems remaining their problems but even then, Lily managed to comfort the small boy and make him feel less alone in their companionship. He didn’t want anything about that part of their friendship to ever change.

“Don’t worry yourself about it.” He said kindly to James, not wanting his friend to ever feel like falling in love was something he should have never done for Remus’, of anybody’s, sake.

Later that day, Lily had just about finished helping Sirius with his work during their morning free periods together before lunch came around and she piled the pieces of parchment before her into her bag before shoving it away from her.

“I never want to look at Transfiguration again.” Sirius groaned, also shoving his supplies back into his bag.

Lily laughed and rolled her shoulders backwards. “It’s not that bad, really.” She argues, giggling at his pouted lip. Suddenly, she jumped slightly as a pair of warm arms secured themselves around her waist. She squealed with glee and giggled as a light kiss was planted on her forehead.

“Hello, love.” James smiled as she tilted her head back, red hair grazing the floor as she held her head parallel to his own and placed a hand on either side of his face.

“Hi,” she smiled, taking no notice of Remus and Sirius who were in similar positions a little to the left of her. “How was Potions?” She asked with a smirk.

James rolled his eyes and pecked her lips once more before allowing her to move her head into a more comfortable position. “Oh, just wonderful.” He rolled his eyes playfully.

Lily snorted at the obviously miffed expression on his face which was likely due to his bitter hatred of that subject. “What have you got now, again?” She asked with furrowed brows as she raked her brain for the answer.

James told her his next lesson and that it would be with Sirius and she replied with what her and Remus’ next lesson was. “I’ll see you back here later, though, yeah?” He smiled and kissed her nose once before watching her flounce upwards with a new spring to her step.

“Of course.” She smiled at him before walking around and practically dragging Remus from Sirius’ side and out through the portrait hole.

The rest of the day’s lessons passed quickly and in a complete blur, so by the time she was dismissed from her last lesson of Divination, Lily was practically hanging from exhaustion. She slowly began to make her way to the common room, each footfall echoing until the final step towards the portrait hole.

From outside the portrait, where Lily was graced with the usual appearance of the Fat Lady who continued to sing over her requests to get in after saying the password numerous times; all was quiet. Nothing in the air or atmosphere alerted Lily or gave her even the slightest warning as to what she was about to find. Perhaps if it had, she would have been more cautious before entering.

“You stupid twat!” Was the first thing to be heard from within the Common Room when Lily was eventually allowed inside. There stood James and Sirius; Sirius having been the one to have yelled as James stood there with his hands raised as he looked around to all the wandering eyes Sirius’ outburst had drawn.

“Pads,” he muttered, allowing his eyes to settle on his friend. “Maybe we should take this somewhere else?” He was worried for more than one reason and was anxious to get somewhere where he could reassure his friend in peace. Remus was doing his utmost in ushering other’s attentions away but it was possible that Sirius could do more harm than good if he continued in public.

Lily watched as the two boys stared each other down and while gently biting her lip stepped forwards into the room, shuffling slightly closer to James’ side. “What’s going on?” She questioned awkwardly, not liking the confrontation.

James glanced at her nervously as Sirius gave her a look of contempt. “Nothing, love-” he began but was cut off.

“No,” Sirius said. “I think she needs to come.”

James looked at him in outrage. “But, you were just saying-”

However, Sirius wasn’t looking at him. Instead, his eyes were trained on Lily’s, his brows furrowed together but slowly coming undone and his mouth relaxing at the corners as though he had just solved a problem he had been working at for a while. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Sirius muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Remus walked forwards then, leaving Peter behind to continue pointing out various books around the room to random people whom he thought may be trying to listen in, asking them if it were theirs’s as he did so. “What’s going on?” He demanded as he came to stand in front of the trio, looking anxiously back and forth between his boyfriend and his friends.

With one final glance at Peter and the others, who were now thankfully backing off, James sighed and turned to Remus. “Pads thinks that me dating Lil’ is gonna be risky.” He muttered, just low enough for Lily not to make out and Remus’ heightened sense of hearing to pick out.

His mouth dropped open slightly and he stifled a laugh. “Really?” He practically giggled. “That’s what you’re bickering about?”

“What?” Lily chuckled, catching onto Remus’ incredulity.

James rolled his eyes. “Well, we were…”

“But, not anymore.” Sirius finished, his eyes finally straying from Lily’s face, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief from the retreat of wandering eyes. “Because she already knows.” He said calmly.

James whipped his head around to Sirius at the speed of light. “What? Mate, seriously…ha…” he shook his head and his face turned serious once more. “You know I’d never tell her – it’s not anything for me to ever tell!”

Only Sirius noticed how quiet Lily had turned and his suspicions were confirmed. “I’m not saying you told her. I’m saying that she’s too intelligent not to know already.” He shook his head and looked his best friend dead in the eye. “She knows.”

“Would you please not talk about me as if I am not stood directly before you, Pads?” Lily questioned scathingly and rolled her eyes.

“You know?” James asked, dumbfounded.

Lily rolled her eyes once more. “I’m not a moron like all these, James!” She laughed. “I’ve known for a while now.”

“Known what?” Peter asked, walking up to the group timidly.

“That Remus is a werewolf,” Lily said, looking him directly in the eye. The effect was instantaneous as Peter’s knees began to shake against one another and his eyes began to furiously dart back and forth. He looked as though he wanted to flee, abandon his friends and save himself from the hatred judgement which would surely occur if word got out.

Sirius looked at him in the disappointment of some regard. “Get a hold of yourself, Wormy.”

James turned to Lily as Remus moved closer to Sirius, likely to prevent him from whacking Peter upside the head for his reaction which surely would have given away the truth had it in fact been a bluff. James laughed once; “So all this time, mentioning the scratches and everything- that was just your way of-”

“Trying to get you to just tell me, yes,” Lily smirked.

“How long have you known?” James asked in amazement.

“Long enough to understand how obvious you all are, Prongs.”

Masterlist

#jily #wolfstar #marauders #james x lily #sirius x remus #lily evans potter #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #petter pettigrew #imagine #writing #fan fic writing #jily imagine #hp #thenarglesdidit #thenarglesmarauders #mywriting

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liw-the-melancholic-apple · 4 years ago

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How it may have gone - Humble Beginnings

A fic taking place in the marauders era. While the political climate seems to head to a conflict, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are still just teenagers. Dealing with typical teenage problems.

But this year their little group grows. Who would have known that more prefects would be a good thing?

Masterlist

Five: December III

I had gotten off the nightshift on a Monday and only existed physically that Tuesday morning. My state was even worse than that fateful Saturday in November. Was I aware that people were around me and that they talked? Yes. But that was it.

“Jette!” I jumped.

“Yeah?”

“Please, drink the coffee. I’m afraid that you’re gonna die otherwise.” Was that Chloe’s voice? Chloe’s hand held a giant mug in front of my face. I was still contemplating whether I had the energy to reach for it, when another hand took it from Chloe. As I was not capable of moving my head to my left I had no idea who had stolen my coffee. There was a scent of leather and citrus, though.

“You know you have to go to classes, right?” Oh, leather and citrus, of course that meant Black.

“Huh.”

“I still got that pepper-up potion, if you want it.” He chuted a little closer and spoke into my ear: “I think you’d want to be up and awake, Goods, I got something to tell you.” His voice was a lot lower than normal. It suited him.

“Wha?”

He sighed. Then my coffee reappeared in front of my face.

“Just drink that.” I did. The listening and talking had made me even more tired and I needed caffeine. The first gulp I took was huge and wonderful. It warmed me up from the inside out, made me sit up straight, let the white noise become actual conversations around me and had me open my eyes fully. The second big gulp took away all residue of exhaustion. I felt amazing. I felt great. I felt like I could take on the world. It was wonderful.

“Black!”, I yelled in my most aggressive voice.

“Yes, dear?”, he chirped back, sliding across the bench away as far as possible.

“Did you just drug me?” A lot of heads turned our way and Potter, who sat on the other side of the table casually pointed at my coffee mug and then at my messy hair and prefect badge. That was enough for most of the heads to turn back to their breakfast.

Black kept his distance but dared to smirk at me.

“Technically, I didn’t. Pepper-up potion is not considered a healing treatment and it’s not on the list of explicitly forbidden potions to be taken on the premises or in classes. So, I wanna say: No, I did not drug you.” I whacked him over the head with Nica’s Daily Prophet.

“Are there any side effects to this thing?” Black shook his head. I looked at Remus. He shook his head.

“Ugh, thank you, then”, I said through my teeth. “I feel a lot better.”

“I’m here all week”, Black answered, closing the distance between us. “Can you please, eat something, so you don’t faint, have another cup of coffee and then run outside with me?” He wiggled around on the wooden bench and played with one of the spoons.

“What’s with you?” I reached for the scones and the apple syrup.

“I have something very interesting to tell you and I’d rather do it without your best friend present…”

“Ouh!”, I shouted way too loud and Black nodded. “Ouh!”, I made again and stuffed my face with two scones as quickly as possible. I grabbed a banana off the table to throw in my bag and got up. Black had already excused himself and left.

“Folks, that potion got me all energised, I can’t sit still. Meet me outside in a bit?”

“Sure!”

I accented my rushing to and out the door and turned to the foyer. Black leaned against one of the winged boars on the first step outside the doors.

“Finally!”

“Tell. Me. Everything!”

He took my arm and dragged me to our passage And out of the snow, already talking.

“Okay, so it’s nothing super huge but it’s news.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, spill it!”

“So, yesterday evening I can’t sleep and I go down to the common room thinking I just read a bit and then fall asleep there, right? But I haven’t even sat down and I hear a door and I hear steps and down walks Remus, right?”

“Right.”

“He sits down next to me and looks at me and he goes ‘Can’t sleep either?’ and I go ‘ Nah, can’t sleep.’ Right? And he asks me whether I’m thinking about Slughorn’s party. And I wasn’t but he didn’t want me to answer anyway, so I didn’t say anything, right? And just like I thought he just starts talking!” Black had to stop and breathe for a moment as he said all of that in pretty much one go.

“Okay, let me not be a twelve-year-old-girl about this. I’m Sirius Black. I don’t get girly.”

“By all means, take your time”, I laughed.

“Point is: Remus was thinking about Slughorn’s party and that’s why he couldn’t sleep. I asked him why that thing would make him lose sleep. He’s been to that party ever since second year. And he says that he was thinking about the fact that both, James and Peter had dates for the party – thanks again for that – and he didn’t.”

“You don’t either, do you?”

“No, but that’s no news. I don’t do dates.”

“Right, sorry. Continue. Remus was thinking he needed a date.”

“No, Remus said he was thinking that he needed a date. Look, he came up with a whole story about being the odd one out and the one nobody wanted.”

“Oh, Remus. He isn’t the odd one out.”

“That’s what I thought, too. At first. But then he got into how Peter was going with you and James was going with Nica and how I would probably end up hanging out with you girls and if I thought he could ask one of the other two, or if that would be weird.”

“Ahhhh”

“Ahh is right. Of course, I said that it wouldn’t be weird and that Blair would probably be delighted to be asked out.”

“She would”, I got sidetracked for a second and gave him an intense look to make him ask her but he ignored that.

“That was not what he wanted to hear. Obviously he wanted to ask Milla, right? So, he asked me if Blair came to my mind because Milla had some hot date nobody had told him about. And he wanted to sound casual and only mildly offended but there was panic in his voice. Panic, Goods!” His eyes widened and he gave me the brightest smile I’d ever seen him wear.

“You know what that means, right? He’s into her!”

“Sounds like it, yeah”, I grinned. “Now if we only could get him to ask Milla out…”

“Would she say yes?”

“I reckon she would.”

“This is so great!”

“I didn’t know that you were such a softie and romantic, Black.”

“Full of surprises, Goods, full of surprises”, he smirked, back to his mysterious heartbreaking ways.

“If you were not going to the Slug Party with Peter, I’d think you two were planning a date!”, Potter had crept up on us, his friends and mine in tow.

“Well, isn’t it funny you should say that?”, Black answered lighting Potter’s fag.

While those two got into discussing my secret talks with Black my attention went to Remus and Milla who found themselves standing next to one another once again, smiling and joking and flirting in that awkward manner that only they could manage. Milla saw me look over and stuck out her tongue. I was going to say something but a waving hand and blond curls distracted me. Never before had Crick joined our after-meal-dates. But there’s a first time for everything.

We greeted him and then all just stared at him, waiting to hear why he had followed us.

“Tea, can I talk to you, for a second?”, he asked after a weird quiet moment. I let him lead me quite a bit away from the rest of my friends.

“Toby and I were just talking about the Christmas Party”, he started when we stood at the other end of the passage. “ And I wanted to know whether you girls are gonna show up in a pack again or whether you need some gentleman to accompany you.”

“Oh, how sweet. Thanks, Crick! But I’m well taken care of.”

“Girls’ night?”

“No. I’m going with Pettigrew, actually.”

“Sorry?!”

“He didn’t get invited. Potter is taking Nica, so she can come, Chloe goes with Mag and I’m taking Pettigrew. That way we’ll all be there.”

“You’re too good of a person. Don’t let him take advantage of that!”

“I honestly don’t think he will.” We stood in silence a bit.

“You’re still going stag, then?”

“Looks like it.”

“Crick, would you maybe take Blair?”

“What?”

“She seems insecure, lately. Maybe it’s beause Chloe, Nica and I have a date to the party – however platonic – and Milla is this close to dating Remus. I haven’t talked to her yet but I think getting to go out with one of the most handsome guys in school would give her a boost.” I bit my lip while waiting for his answer. He didn’t give me one. Instead he walked back to the group and left me standing alone. When I ran after him I heard him explain that he had talked to me about Felix. Liar. He participated in the conversation for a bit and then turned to Blair.

“Blair, you’re going to Slug’s Party, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Do you insist on going alone or would you do me the honours of letting me take you?”

“Are you serious?”, she asked back.

“No, that’s him”, Pettigrew cut in and earned some smiles.

“Of course I am. What d’you think?”

“Sounds like fun.” Blair said a little faster than usual and blushed the tiniest bit. I could already tell that she would be happy and bouncy all day long. Crick was a good lad.

“Thank you. Thank you very much”, I whispered when he walked back to the castle for first period.

In the foyer I had Black assure me again that there would be no side-effects to the potion he had slipped me, then we parted ways.

The dungeons were as gloomy as ever, when we arrived for potions. Slughorn instructed us to turn to page 217 of our books and brew him a batch of Instaurabo-Juice. According to the textbook if brewed correctly the potion would be able to heal small and superficial injuries to the skin.

I partnered with Chloe and prepared the cauldron and the fire while she collected the ingredients. Potions was not my thing. I was a lot better at Charms and Defence against the Dark Arts. For some reason the science behind the brewing of potions was too much for me. It was all too precise. Chloe didn’t mind any of this and usually took care of the actual brewing while I prepared the roots and beasts to throw into the cauldron.

Once I had my violet flame going I filled the cauldron to a third with ice cold water and put it on the fire. Chloe gave me a nod and I started chopping up the mint leaves. Slowly but steadily I worked my way through arnica roots, Himalayan salt, cactus fig, silkworms, narcilan (which looked like ginger), garlic cloves, giant butterflies and fire ants. I chopped, cut, pulverised, quartered and strained, while Chloe grabbed what she needed, gingerly placed it in the water, moved her wand counterclockwise, clockwise and up and down and stirred the potion every now and then.

Halfway through the class I took a look at our cauldron, which now bubbled very happily in a pretty pale blue colour. According to my book this was absolutely right. After Chloe put in the twentythree fire ants one by one our Juice turned gelatinous. The instructions said to let it simmer for twenty minutes on a yellow flame. I pulled out my wand for the second time this class, charmed the flame into a yellow, cooler version of itself and turned to Chloe who was already checking with Milla and Joe and Blair and Nica. Milla signalled that she would need two more minutes, while Blair and Nica came over immediately.

“This weekend is Hogsmeade!”, Nica chirped. “Are we gonna go dress shopping or what?”

“I intended to wait for Milla to discuss that”, Chloe answered.

“Milla says we go dress shopping.” Milla had walked up and left Joe in charge of her potion.

“I need one anyways, I don’t think I have one.”

“What did you wear last year?”, Nica wanted to know.

“Pantsuit of my mums.”

“Why not wear it again this year?” Milla shot me an annoyed look. She had purposefully avoided me since I watched her and Remus in the courtyard.

“I’ve heard one shouldn’t recycle one’s outfits”, she snapped.

“What about you then, Jette, Chloe, Blair?”

“Sure, why not?”

We decided to have an early breakfast on Saturday morning and head to the village right after. There would be a lot of girls who wanted to get a dress that weekend and we wanted to be the first in our favourite shop. We had discovered it on our second ever weekend to Hogsmeade and fallen in love with it right away. It carried clothes that weren’t in style or trendy and it had everything from jeans to haute couture. The most amazing things.

And although there weren’t normally more than three other girls in the shop besides us, we knew that when it came to formal wear most girls would go there.

Getting up on a Saturday at six in the morning was not my idea of fun. I moaned and groaned and cussed while I took a shower, brushed my teeth and got dressed, but I made it to the common room by half past six. Breakfast was served from seven o’clock onwards and we had decided to be the first in the Great Hall and the first out the door.

The half hour in the common room was supposed to be spent on planning what we wanted to get and which options we had after Warrington’s Whimsical Wardrobes didn’t provide all five of us with a perfect dress.

We all wrote lists of what we thought we needed – dress, shoes, tights, accessories – and jotted down a couple of notes on style or colour because we knew that the employees of WWW knew how to work with those. At seven o’ clock sharp we stood in front of the doors of the Great Hall and watched how they opened for the first time that day. We were the only Hufflepuffs who had decided to get up this early, and, like on the mornings after my nightshifts, most other students who were present were first and second years who hadn’t discovered the beauty of sleep yet.

We all went for a quick breakfast of coffee and tea with marmalade toast but stuffed our bags with muffins, scones and raisin rolls. It took us less than fifteen minutes to leave the House table and report to Mr Filch to leave the grounds. He rolled his eyes at our giggling but let us go right away. We crossed the grounds, passed Hagrid’s hut, the greenhouses and the black lake, then reached the giant iron gates with the winged boars that cut Hogwarts off from the rest of the world.

From there we turned right and followed the badly maintained road that took us through a small forest and to the west of Hogsmeade. The landscape around us looked like a set for a Christmas film. White untouched snow on the ground, the few buildings we could see and the treetops. The sun was shining and made everything glisten and shine and we even spotted a family of deer on one of the fields. It was idyllic.

Snacking on our scones we arrived in the village. Hogwarts lay to its West but WWW was in the South-East. After the forty minute walk we were all longing for something to drink and since we knew that we would come past the Broomsticks we popped in very quickly got some pumpkin-juice bottles to take with us. Another ten minutes later we stood in front of Warrington’s Whimsical Wardrobes.

The building was one of the original houses and looked like it came straight out of a muggle fairytale. On the inside it was all white walls and ebony beams behind shelves or cupboards and tables made from dark wood. All the furniture was overflowing with robes, trousers and jumpers while the tallest wall in the back of the shop was decorated with layers and layers of dressrobes and dresses.

Dionysus Warrington scurried towards us through the mountains of clothes. “Ladies, ladies, you are so early!” He came to a halt in front of us, his giant strawberry blond moustache bobbing up and down.

“Good Morning, Mr Warrington”, Blair said extending her hand

“How often do I have to tell you to call me Dionysus, Blair? Or Dio?” His furry eyebrows met at the root of nose and he had raised his index finger at her.

“I’m sorry, Dionysus. Old habits…”

“How can I help you ladies this beautiful morning?”

“Well, Dio, Professor Slughorn’s Christmas party is next weekend”, Nica answered.

“Oh, and you were hoping that old Dio had some lovely dresses for you gorgeous lot?”

“Exactly”, Blair laughed.

Dio called for his employees, two women of his age and a young man probably in his twenties.

“Now, Gerda why don’t you help out Miss Blair, Trudy you take on Miss Nica, Blake will find Miss Chloe a dress and you two”, he pointed at Milla and me “will be all mine. Lists!” We all handed our parchments to our respective dressfinders and were complimented on being well prepared. My personal opinion was that we had just been trained well by Dio and Gerda over the last years. But I kept that to myself.

“Non-girly pink? Care to explain that to me Milla?” Dio gestured at two arm chairs and we plummeted into them.

“You see, I’d love something pink but I would like to not look like a four-year-old.” We answered a couple of questions about our wishes and then were treated to a cup of tea while Dio looked through his giant wall of dresses. On the other side of the wall Nica and Chloe sat in their own chairs while Blake got them tea and Trudy studied the wall. Blair and Gerda were nowhere to be seen.

When Dio came back he was hidden behind a mountain of dresses.

“To the dressing rooms, ladies”, he huffed and led the way.

Milla was drowned in some pale pink floor length dresses and a bit of pale purple. I was given a lot of black.

“Dio, I know that my list says simple and dark, but these all look a bit too funeral for me”, I shyly said.

“Thought you’d say that! Try this one first.”

He handed me a dark grey dress with a thin burgundy checker pattern on it. It was a mini cocktail dress that hit me just above the knees and came with a matching bolero. I instantly loved it. It was my colours elevated to Slughorn Party level.

“Dio you’re a genius!”, I screamed and jumped at him. “This is amazing! Please tell me that I can afford it!” Dio laughed his guttural sealion laugh. “Of course you can afford it, dear. Just put it back on the hanger and I’ll check you out when Milla is done, too.”

This was one of the best shopping experiences I had ever had. The first dress I tried on was the one I fell in love with. If only everything could be this easy.

Milla still sorted through her dresses.

“What about the lilac one?”, I asked watching her. One of the dresses in her pile was a very pale lilac and made out of satin. It was a structured minidress, looked like it would be very tight and too grown-up to remind anyone of a barbiedoll. Besides, I thought to myself, it would look amazing with her light blond hair and blue eyes.

Milla put it on her try-on-pile together with a powderpink long dress and a white one with pink flowers on it. Then she shooed me away.

Nica was trying on a wrap dress in mint green with a paisley pattern that made her eyes pop like I had never seen before. I gave her a huge smile and thumbs up but she waved her hand.

“It’s not sexy enough!”

Chloe looked at two dresses in the exact same shape, one being champagne in colour, the other gold. Both of them looked like she could walk a red carpet in them. She told me that she hadn’t tried them on yet, because she couldn’t decide which one she liked better.

“Start with this one”, said Blake and handed her the gold. “I think you’ll end up wanting the champagne one, so start with the gold so you can be sure of the other one.” He ordered her into the dressing room and she rolled her eyes while waving at me.

“Would you mind coming with me for a minute?” I hadn’t even noticed that Gerda stood next to me.

“Of course. What’s up?”

“Miss Blair doesn’t want to come out of the dressing room… I think she might be crying. I’ve raised three sons”, she nodded in Blake’s direction. “and I can talk to customers about insecurities but I have no idea how to talk to fifteen year old girls. Could you try?” Her narrow eyes begged me to help her out and I followed her to the very last dressing room.

She was right. Blair was crying. I could hear her sniffle behind the purple curtain.

“Blair? Are you alright, love?” No answer, only more sniffling.

“Okay I’m coming in there.”

I pulled the curtain back a bit and stepped into the spacious little room. To my left there hung a lot of beautiful floorlength flowy dresses, reminiscent of the flower power movement. To the right I saw Blairs jacket and her jumper and jeans hanging on the hooks. Right in front of me was the big mirror and in the right hand corner on the little wooden stomp sat Blair, her head in her hands, long dirty blond hair covering her face. She was in her underwear, a red dress lying on the floor.

“Love, what’s up?” I crouched in front of her.

“Take an educated guess!”, she hissed which was very unlike her. I thought for a second. I didn’t want to upset her more.

“It looks like that dress did something to you”, I said slowly. Her head shot up and I saw the traces that her tears had drawn in her make up. I reached out to hug her but she slapped my arms away.

“Why did I even agree to come?!”, she shouted. Again this was very unlike her. Even when she was annoyed she wouldn’t raise her voice.

“What do you mean, Blair?”

“I knew I would freak out as soon as I had to try on these stupid gowns! Especially, next to all of you stickthin dreamgirls!” She kicked the red dress further away and buried her head in her hands again.

I watched her as I processed what she had just said. I wouldn’t describe any of us as stick thin. Milla and Nica were athletic. All the rigorous quidditch training Sian put them through had defined every muscle in their bodies. Just last night I had complained about the fact that Nica had a very defined six-pack although she never explicitly trained her abs.

Chloe and I weren’t as athletic but we were indeed both on the smaller side when it came to clothes sizes. The four of us would raid each other’s wardrobes regularly when we felt that we had nothing to wear.

Blair never joined in that fun. She was by no means overweight but she did weigh more than we did and probably wore clothes two sizes bigger than ours. I never thought that this bothered her. Personally, I had never thought about the differences in our appearances. I loved Blair, whether she had wider hips than me, or not. But apparently, for her the differences in how we looked were a huge deal.

“Blair”, I started. “I had no idea that… Why would you feel bad trying on dresses?”

“Are you joking? I look ridiculous next to you!”

“No, you don’t.” I grabbed the red dress from the floor and held it up. “None of us could wear this dress, d’you realise that?” She rolled her eyes at me. “I mean it, Blair. None of us have the boobs to fill this neckline out. We’ d either look like little boys or run around with our tits out all evening.” I earned the smallest of smiles.

“But you actually have a chest. I bet you’ll look like a goddamn sexbomb in a neckline like this.”

I moved over to the other dresses and found one in midnight blue. It, too, had a deep V-neck but other than the red one it also had puff sleeves and a beautiful golden belt at the waist. The skirt was a-lined and had a single golden threat woven through it.

“Or this one! Really! I love how it looks but I could never wear it.” Blair rolled her eyes at me.

“Yes you could and you’d look great.” She still sounded very defeated.

“No, I wouldn’t. And I’ll prove it to you. Go get a cup of tea and I’ll try this one on.”

“It’ll be way too big for you.” Blair was close to crying again.

“Then, I’ll ask Gerda to find it in my size.” I pushed her out of the dressing room and into a chair. Gerda instantly came running to us and asked if she could do anything for us. I told her what we needed and she bustled about at the wall of dressrobes.

It didn’t take her long to find the dress and while Blair seemed to calm down slurping her tea, I took of my jeans, jumper and scarf again. The dress was absolutely gorgeous. But when I stepped back out behind the curtain I felt very uncomfortable. Blair screamed laughing when she saw that I had to hold up the dress with both hands and it still revealed my bra.

“Now you try it!”, I demanded, hoping to use the momentum of positivity. And she did.

“Blair, I told you! You look like one of these girls who only have to bat their eyes in order to be bought diamonds!”, I yelled ecstatically and I saw her smile.

“It looks better on me than you”, she admitted.

“Finally!”

Gerda padded me on the back and mouthed a thank you, while offering me another cup of tea.

“What would you like to do, dear”, she then asked Blair.

“I’d like to buy this dress, Gerda. It makes me feel good. Let’s not ruin that by trying other gowns.”

“As you wish!”

We both changed into our own clothes again. When I was putting on my shoes, Blair pulled back the curtains. “Jette?”

“Huh?”

“Can we not tell the others about my breaking down in here?” Her eyes were enormous.

“Sure. My lips are sealed.”

She hugged me tightly and for a long time, then I got to lace up my black boots.

We all had gotten our dresses for the party at Warrington’s, thanked Dio once more and left the shop before anybody else had entered it.

Blair was fairly happy for the rest of the day that we spent shopping for shoes, necklaces and Christmas gifts for our families.

#marauders fanfiction #marauders era #harry potter #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew

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