#please let me yap to you about peter pettigrew

[starkayezer]

who can I yap to about Peter Pettigrew

[remussaggressivedogspecialist]

Beyond the Veil: Chapter 2

Castle Lupin

A Stranger Things x Marauders Fic

Warnings: Death, violence

A/N: sorry for killing him off guys😞

WC: 5.8k

The principal’s office was loud, filled with the separate voices of the three boys, all giving explanations as to where Remus’ whereabouts could be. Pomfrey was tired. She was always tired nowadays, but good God, these boys knew how to yap.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she held a hand up to silence them. Trelawney sat next to her and gave her a look, telling her to calm down with her wide eyes, magnified by those ridiculous glasses. Pomfrey always wondered why she didn’t just get contacts. Regardless, she let out a slow breath to ease the tension in her brain.

“One at a time, boys, please. You.” She pointed to the one with shoulder-length black hair. At first glance, she would’ve taken him for a boy, bThe principal’s office was loud, filled with the separate voices of the three boys, all giving explanations as to where Remus’ whereabouts could be. Pomfrey was tired. She was always tired nowadays, but good God, these boys knew how to yap.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she held a hand up to silence them. Trelawney sat next to her and gave her a look, telling her to calm down with her wide eyes, magnified by those ridiculous glasses. Pomfrey always wondered why she didn’t just get contacts. Regardless, she let out a slow breath to ease the tension in her brain.

“One at a time, boys, please. You.” She pointed to the one with shoulder-length black hair. At first glance, she would’ve taken him for a boy, but the signature cheekbones gave it away. Another Black. She could never seem to get away from that wretched family. “You said he takes what road to get home?”

“Diagon Alley,” the boy answered, his eyes blazing.

“Diagon Alley?” At his nod, she glanced over to Trelawney. “Have you ever heard of Diagon Alley?” A slight shake of the head.

“That sounds made up to me,” she sighed, already tired with this group of prepubescent, for lack of better terms, losers.

“No, it’s from Dungeons and Dragons. Peter came up with it.” The boy with the glasses explained. The Black boy argued with him over some technicality from the idiotic movie they were referring to.

“Hey. Hey! What did I say? One at a damn time. You,” she pointed at the girlish-looking boy again, gesturing for him to continue.

“Diagon Alley. It’s a real road. It’s just the name that’s made up. It’s where Cornwallis and Kerley meet,” he continued. Sirius. His name was Sirius. She recalled Walburga bragging about her beautiful son about a decade ago at some event.

“Yeah, all right, I think I know where that is,” she leaned back in her chair, her fingers itching for a cigarette, her mouth watering at the thought.

“We can show you if you want!” The blonde boy finally sputtered. A Pettigrew, of course. He had his father’s features.

“I said I know it,” she held back a scoff.

“Yeah, but we can help look.” Glasses said, and the two others agreed like a couple of goddamn yes men.

“No, after school you are all to go home, get tucked in bed by your mothers, and wait until morning for any news about your little friend. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating, no nonsense. This isn’t some Dungeons and Dragons movie, this is reality.”

“Game.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a game.” Always those goddamn Blacks.

“Do I make myself clear?” She ignored his correction and moved to stand, signaling to Trelawney. Upon their silence, she repeated herself menacingly. “Do I make myself… clear?” At the nods and muttered ‘yes ma’ams’, she took her leave, reaching for her Marlboros as soon as she cleared the grounds.

Castle Lupin. Built by Severus and Remus when Lyall was in the middle of a horrible argument with Hope all those years ago. Remus had signalled to Severus, who was still new to staying there, for the exit. Lyall caught the motion out of the corner of his eyes, and when they came back later that night, he asked where they were.

“Out in the woods, Dad. Show you sometime,” Remus had smiled at him, a toothy grin, not forced or fake like it had been after other arguments. He was happy. He had been happy. “Severus isn’t so bad.”

Lyall walked there now, the small fort still standing, the flag dirty and wrecked but still waving in the wind. He pushed back the blanket with a sigh. Some part of him had known that it would be empty. That his son wouldn’t be there, hiding in the corner with one of his books, sitting on the beat-up Superman blanket covering the grass and the leaves.

“Remus!” Severus shouted from outside the ‘castle’, trailing after Lyall. He was making an effort, which surprised Lyall. He never thought the two got on well, unless they were agreeing on how much they despised Remus’ mother.

“Remus!” Lyall roared, his vocal cords nearly fried from all the shouting he’d done that day, but he still yelled louder than he thought he was capable of.

“Where are you, boy?” He murmured, the words getting lost in the beating wind.

The meat hit the grill in the shape of a circle. Papa had taught her the shapes. But she didn’t know what this was. The man, Rubeus Hagrid, flipped it a few times, looking back at her spot on the table. When he gave the circle meat to her, he put bread on both sides, sliding it across the counter to her, his arms crossed. She ate it without a word, gripping the sides and devouring it, bite by bite. The shirt she was wearing was one he had given her, along with a pair of shorts that she had to tighten to the limit; they didn’t fit, but at least they weren’t that horrible hospital gown Papa made her wear.

“Jesus, your parents forgot to feed you?” She didn’t answer. She hadn’t said a word to him yet. Elena could be quiet while the world around her was loud. She could listen while they talked. She could be good.

“Is that why you ran away? They, uh… they hurt you?” She wondered if he meant Papa. Papa did hurt her. Hagrid was right. She ate more, pushing down the thoughts, the feelings, the regret. Should she have stayed?

“You went to the hospital, you got scared, you ran off, you wound up here, is that it?” She stared up at him and then pushed her dark brown curls out of her face, ignoring him yet again. Trying to. Trying so hard to.

“All right,” he muttered before pulling away the food, and she reached for it before remembering her manners. What Papa taught. Her hands fell to her lap.

“I’ll give this back, okay? And you can have as much as you want. All right? Maybe even some ice cream. But you gotta answer a few of my questions first, mm? We got a deal, missy?” At her silence, he continued. She liked him. He got the hint.

“Let’s start with the easy stuff. My name is Rubeus. Rubeus Hagrid. If you can read, you already saw that on my name tag here. " He held out his hand and taught her how to shake it. “You got it, missy. There we go. Nice to meet you. And you are?”

“Elena.” Her voice was scratchy and hoarse, from screaming and crying, overexertion, dehydration, and every big word she could think of.

“Well, I’ll be damned. She speaks. Elena. Elena what?”

“No,” she quivered.

“All right, then. Here you go, missy.” He slid the plate across the table back to her, and she scoffed it down, wary of the possibility that he could take it away again.

“Take it easy, take it easy.”

He excused himself to go to the kitchen with promises of ice cream and dialed a Social Services Hotline from the newspaper.

“Look, lady, all I know is that she’s scared to death. Yeah, I think maybe she’s been abused, or… kidnapped or something. Yeah, it’d be great if someone could come by. Of course, we are at 4819 Randolph Lane. Big restaurant. Can’t miss it. Yeah, Randolph with a P-H.” As he chattered away on the phone, Elena continued eating, the fan above her twitching and making a bothersome creaking noise.

She glanced up and tilted her head to the side quickly, too fast for Hagrid to catch, and the fan ceased. She went back to eating.

Down the road and across the way, Pomfrey, Trelawney, and Hooch walk down this ‘Diagon Alley’ that Sirius told them about.

“Remus! Remus Lupin? Yoohoo!”

“Remus! Remus Lupin! Come on, kid!” Hooch whistled.

Pomfrey walked several yards ahead of them, checking the terrain before motioning back at them.

“Hey! I got something.” She walked off the road into the trees nearby, getting a closer look at an overturned bike, not having been there long due to the lack of dirt and bugs on it. A Firebolt, by the looks of the logo.

“Hey, what did Lyall say the kid’s bike’s model was?” Pomfrey asks as the other women catch up to her, bile rising in her throat.

Trelawney consulted her notes. “A Firebolt. Why, what is… oh.”

“That his bike?” Hooch questioned.

“Yeah, he must’ve crashed here.” Poppy wanted a cigarette.

“You think he got hurt in the fall?

“Not so hurt that he couldn’t walk away. Bike like this is a Cadillac to these kids. He would’ve walked it home.” Pomfrey picked up the bike with one hand, scanning her surroundings as if Remus would pop out and say, ‘It’s all one big prank! Nothing happens in Hawkins. Everything is fine.’ Except Remus John Lupin didn’t pop out of the bushes, and everything was not fine, and where were goddamn cigarettes?

Radio frequencies crackle over the headphones of the lines of people stationed in Hawkins Lab, the satellites picking up every nearby call for 100 miles. A woman with a magazine listened absentmindedly to call after call, until she came across one Lyall Lupin’s line.

“Is Hope there?”

Another masculine, tired voice answered him. “No, Hope ain’t here right now.” Quite frankly, he sounded like a kid.

“Can you please put her on-”

“I told you, Hope ain’t here.”

“Who is this?”

“Her boyfriend, Edison.”

“Edison, okay,” Lyall was trying to de-escalate the situation, as Edison only antagonized him more, and his hand subconsciously reached for a cigarette, so he shoved it in his pocket.

“Who the hell is this?” So much for descalation.

“Edison, this is Lyall.”

“Who?”

“Hope’s ex-husband. I really need to speak to her, so can you just please-”

“No. Hope ain’t here. Why don’t you call back later?”

“No, no, not later, now. I need to talk to her now!” Lyall was begging now, and right as he opened his mouth to try again, the line disconnected.

“Asshole!” He slammed the phone back into the receiver, garnering Severus’ attention. Severus quickly glanced back at his homework, as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Lyall never intends to scare Severus, but for fuck’s sake, the kid jumps when a twig breaks.

Lyall muttered expletives to himself before dialing the number again, Hope’s voice sounding through the other line, the first time he’d heard her in years.

“Hey! This is Hope. I can’t reach the phone right now because I’m on some cool adventure, so call me back later or leave a message after the beep. Beep!” She kept the message. Hope had come up with those lines for her voicemail over a decade ago, when she was still with Lyall. She kept the goddamn voicemail. He wanted to cry, or scream, or laugh, but he didn’t want to startle poor Severus again, so he spoke into the phone, as calmly as he could.

“Look, Hope, some… teenager just hung up on me. Remus, remember him? My boy, our boy, he’s- he’s missing. I don’t know where he is. I need…” He was ranting, no longer calm, and his voice was breaking, the anxiety finally falling through the cracks and into his words. “I just need you to call me back, please, just- just call me? Okay?” He put the phone back down with a sigh, a long, tired, depressing sigh. If Remus had been there, he would’ve asked what was wrong. He would’ve comforted him, even if it wasn’t his job. Lyall was the parent. But Remus would’ve reassured him. Anything he did would’ve helped.

“Damn it,” he walked into the living room where Severus was still on the couch, looking for his cigarettes. He hadn’t run out, had he? He could send Severus out for more. Or was that too much to ask?

“Lyall?” Severus was standing now, his homework forgotten as he looked out the window.

“What, Severus?” Lyall huffed, scanning the table for his pack of Camels as if it would magically appear if he wanted it badly enough.

“Cops.”

Lyall finally looked up, running to the door with Severus on his heels. There were two cop cars. Pomfrey’s and then her little squad’s. Here she was. Finally. Remus was probably in the backseat, scared, maybe cold, but alright. He had to be. Lyall stepped out to the porch just as Pomfrey walked out from behind her car, carrying a bike.

Remus’ bike.

After the officers were all in the house and explained what they had seen, Lyall bombarded them with questions as Severus sat back down, clutching one of the couch pillows.

“It was just- just lying there?”

“Yeah. Trelawney?” Pomfrey motioned for the officers to step further into the house as she walked into the kitchen.

“Did it have any blood on it, or-”

“No. No, no, no, no…”

“If you found the bike out there, why are you in here?” Severus spoke up, his knuckles whiter than him as he held the pillow in a vice.

“Well, he had a key to the house, right?”

“Right. So?” Lyall and Severus were both ambling after Pomfrey as she seemed to inspect the house.

“So… maybe he came home.”

“You think I didn’t check my own house for my son?” Lyall accused, his fists clenching.

“I’m not saying that. Has this always been here?” Pomfrey’s fingertips brushed a small hole in the wall, less than an inch wide and deep.

“What? I don’t- I don’t know. Probably, I mean, I have two boys. Look at this place.”

Pomfrey continued to walk, opening a door and swinging it slowly towards the hole, the knob lining up perfectly with it. “You’re not sure?” Pomfrey walked out the back door, following a trail only she seemed to be able to see.

She walked over to the shed in the back, the rotting wood barely holding itself together, and she shut the door behind her, flicking on the sole lightbulb in the center of the ceiling. She traced down the table, catching side of the stray bullets discarded randomly, the gun hook empty, no rifle to accompany it.

As soon as she lightly brushed the hook, the light glinted and then went out with a buzz. She looked into the corner, the dirty window being her only source of light, and saw a broken wooden box. She nearly turned to go back inside the house, but her ears picked up an indistinct squelching sound. She moved closer, crouching in front of the box, grabbing her flashlight, and looking within reach of the wood. She reached her hand out, inches away from it, when the light turned back on and the door slammed open, Hooch’s silhouette in the doorway.

“Hey!”

“Jesus!”

“What are you, deaf? I’ve been calling you.” Hooch berated.

Pomfrey exhaled, putting her flashlight away, and Hooch continued, noticing her frazzled state.

“What’s going on?” Pomfrey took no note of her and walked out of the shed, needing to get away from the darkness. “Are you sure you’re okay, Chief?”

“Listen, I want you to call Molly. I want to get a search party together, all right? All the volunteers she can muster. Bring flashlights, too.”

“Hey, you think we got a problem here?” Trelawney asked as she joined them outside.

Pomfrey didn’t answer as she stepped back inside, and that was answer enough.

“We should be out there right now. We should be helping look for him,” James said at the dinner table, not bothering to touch his food.

“We’ve been over this, James. The chief says-” Euphemia starts, but James is quick to cut her off.

“I don’t care what the chief said!”

“James.”

“We have to do something. Remus could be in danger.”

“All the more reason to stay put.”

“Mom!”

“End of discussion, James Potter!”

The dinner table was quiet, the only sound being glasses clinking and silverware cutting, until Dorcas spoke.

“So… Alice and I are gonna study at her house tonight. That’s cool, right?” She prodded.

“No, not cool,” Euphemia refused, not bothering to look up from her food.

“What? Why not?”

“Why do you think? Am I speaking another language in this house? Until we are positive Remus is okay, no one leaves.”

“That is such bullshit!” James says, standing up, and for once, Dorcas doesn’t disagree.

“Watch your language,” Fleamont warns.

“Are we seriously under house arrest?” Dorcas starts, “Just because, what? James’s little friends got lost on the way home from-”

“Oh, so you’re blaming Remus now?” James’s glasses are lopsided, his fists clenched, and his mother did raise him right, so he’s not going to punch a girl, let alone Dorcas Meadowes, but he really, really wants to.

“Dorcas, take that back.” Euphemia proclaimed, holding her hands out like she were some pastor preaching about religious nonsense as the crowd tried not to fall asleep.

“No!”

“You’re just pissed off cause you wanna hang out with Evan,” James glared at her, and she gave him a warning look, her eye twitching and mouth pulled into a grimace.

“Evan?” Fleamont inquired.

“Who is Evan?” Euphemia seconded.

“Her new boyfriend,” James rolled his eyes, sitting back down after he knew he had won this argument.

“You are such a douchebag, James!” Dorcas blustered, somehow managing to make the insult sound elegant coming from her.

“Language!” Fleamont yelled over her, and she groaned before standing up and walking back to her room.

“Dorcas, come back,” Euphemia pleaded, just as Dorcas slammed her door.

“You see what happens, James?” Fleamont scolds.

“What happens when what, Dad? I’m the only one acting normal here! I’m the only one who cares about Remus!” James explodes, standing all over again.

“That’s not fair, James. You know that we care,” Fleamont says, remaining serene instead of squabbling back. James only hits the table with his fists, opening his mouth to respond, then thinking better of it and walking back to his room.

In the woods down by the not-so-real Diagon Alley, flashlights illuminated the trees and bushes alike as the search party, well, searched.

“Remus!” One shouted.

“Remus Lupin!” Another echoed.

“Remus, we’re here for you, bud!” More volunteers shouted faintly, their voices being swept away by the wind, a storm already brewing.

Minerva McGonagall sidled up to where Pomfrey was at the head of the party.

“He’s a good student.”

“What?”

“Remus. He’s a good student. Wonderful one, actually. I don’t believe we’ve met. Minerva McGonagall. I teach at Hawkins High School. Chemistry and Physics.” Pomfrey only glanced at her once with disdain, her expression changing slightly when she scanned McGonagall’s figure.

“I always had a distaste for science.”

“Perhaps you had a bad teacher.”

“Yeah, I guess Mr. Binns was a real piece of work.”

“Binns? Oh, you bet. He’s still kicking around, believe it or not,” McGonagall jokes. Pomfrey’s face doesn’t visibly change in the darkness, but her lip twitches.

“Oh, I believe it. Mummies never die, or so they tell me. Myrtle, my daughter… Galaxies, the universe, whatnot. She always understood all that stuff. I always figured there was enough going on down here, I never needed to look elsewhere,” Pomfrey smiled to herself, pushing tree branches out of her and McGonagall’s way.

“Your daughter, what grade is she? Perhaps she’ll be in my class.”

“No, uh… she lives with her mom in the city. Thanks for coming out, Teach. We really appreciate it,” Pomfrey walks ahead again, her rare smile gone as she pushes past more bushes and trees.

“Please. Call me Minerva.”

Pomfrey only gives a small nod back at her, but Minerva sees it, her own secret smile hidden by the gloom.

“She died a few years back.” Minerva startles.

“I beg your pardon?” Molly Weasley had seemingly snuck up on her from behind at some point.

“Her daughter. Terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Minerva’s smile drops.

James sits in the basement, long after dark, his walkie-talkie set to channel 1 as he holds it to his mouth.

“Sirius, do you copy? It’s James. Over.”

“Hey, it’s Sirius, I copy,” Sirius replies, his response almost immediate.

“Yeah, no shit, I know it’s you. And say ‘over’ when you’re done talking so I know you’re finished. Over,” James snaps, the lack of Remus in his life already affecting him negatively.

“I’m done. Over.” Sirius matches his energy, as always, good or bad.

“I’m worried about Remus. Over.”

“Yeah,” Sirius’ voice softens as he sighs. “This is crazy. Over.”

“I was thinking. Remus could’ve cast Protection last night, but he didn’t. He cast Fireball. Over,” James plays with the Basilisk figurine, turning it over in his hand anxiously.

“What’s your point? Over.”

“My point is, he could’ve played it safe. But he didn’t. He put himself in danger to help the party. Over.”

Sirius looks at his ceiling, then over to his window. “Meet me in ten. Over and out.” Both boys sneak out, grabbing their bikes and rolling out of their respective driveways. As James looks back at his house, specifically at Dorcas’ window, he catches a glimpse of blonde hair. Evan Rosier himself was climbing onto the roof towards it. He waves awkwardly. James only rolls his eyes and bikes off, pulling his hood on.

Dorcas opens her window upon seeing the idiot, and he smirks at her, his cologne invading her nostrils.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She whisper shouts. “I told you on the phone, I’m basically grounded now.”

“Yeah. You couldn’t come to me, so I came to you.”

“No. No way.”

“Oh, come on. I can’t have Dorcas Meadowes failing this test, now, can I?” He pushes past her into her room, and she shuts the window behind him, sentencing herself to this hell others would perceive as heaven. “Just bear with me. What’d I tell you? Ninja.”

Back in Hagrid’s kitchen, Elena sits on the table as he washes dishes, stealing not-so-subtle glances back at her while she eats. She hasn’t really stopped eating, taking anything he’ll send her way.

“You like that ice cream, huh?”

She gives him a small smile. Tight-lipped, no teeth, just barely reaching her eyes, but that’s something in his book.

“Smile looks nice on you. You know, smile?” He says at her momentarily confused expression, before breaking out into his own exaggerated grin, making her crack a realer smile, this one reaching her eyes and letting the whites of her teeth show. There’s a knock on the door, and she freezes, her heart and smile dropping into sub-zero, and he holds out a calming hand.

“All right. You just sit tight. Whoever it is, I’ll tell ‘em to go away real quick, got it?” Her eyes follow him as he leaves the kitchen, and she places the ice cream down next to her, slipping off the table. The door opens, and a lady with midnight black hair he’s never seen before smiles at him, a toothy and off-putting grin.

“Hello! You must be Rubeus Hagrid?”

“I’m afraid I am. I’m afraid we’re closed for the evening, too. So try back tomorrow morning.”

Her smile twitches, failing at the corners, becoming more of an unpleasant to look at grimace. “Bellatrix Lestrange. Social Services.” She holds out a hand for him to shake, and he relaxes.

“Ah, Social Services. My apologies. I didn’t expect you so soon,” he takes her hand and gives it a firm grip that vibrates her entire arm before dropping it. “That’s a hell of a drive, ma’am.”

“Not too bad this time of night.”

Hagrid glances back at the kitchen. “Listen, I… haven’t told her that you’re coming yet. I don’t want her running off again, she’s a tad skittish.”

“Children I work with generally are,” the smile slowly drops.

“Right, right, ‘course.”

“So?” She shrugs, the awful smile reappearing. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the kitchen. Come on up, I’ll introduce you.” Hagrid let her through the door slowly, and she pushed past him, walking with a purpose.

“Sorry again for turning you away at the door just then.”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

“You know, it’s funny. Your uh, your voice sounds different on the ph-” A silenced gunshot. Elena jumps in the kitchen as Hagrid’s large body falls to the ground, blood pooling around his head. She gasps before running out for the back door, the bowl of ice cream clattering and smashing on the ground. She’s cut off by two men with guns pointed directly at her, and she steps back, nearly losing her balance.

Dumbledore steps in the front door with several other men, ready to take Elena back to where she belongs, when a loud thud sounds from the back, and the radio crackles. He walks to the back, only to find the two men he sent to intercept her dead on the floor, their necks at an odd angle, cracked, with the door wide open.

He runs out the door to find her, but in the darkness, there’s no trace of brown curls or cinnamon colored skin glinting in the moonlight. He’s lost his chance.

“Ah, man. This is it,” Sirius says when the three boys get to the barricade at Diagon Alley. Peter sighs as they slide off their bikes, thunder rumblings and lightning flashing, rain hot on its heels.

“Hey guys, you feel that? I think maybe we should go back,” he suggests when he feels a droplet of water on his face.

“No way. We’re not going back,” Sirius replied with finality.

“Just stay close, Pete,” James says, patting him on the back, a gesture that would’ve been reassuring had it not been for the thunderous patter of rain beginning to fall.

“Stay on channel six. Don’t do anything stupid.” Sirius warns as he and James slip under the barricade. Peter had previously agreed to be the lookout, so as not to get in trouble, but with the way the darkness loomed over him, and the trees seemed to have eyes, and-

“Guys? Wait up!”

“Which polymers occur naturally?” Evan sat on her bed, his shoes off, practically lounging while she wracked her brain. Evan wasn’t actually a terrible study partner, despite his own insufficient grade in the class.

“Starch and cellulose?” She bit her lip, an uneasy tick she’d picked up over the years.

“Mmm. In a molecule of CH4, the hydrogen atoms are spatially oriented towards the centers of-”

“Tetrahedrons.”

“Wow. Jesus, just how many of these did you make?” He shuffles the cards in his hands and glances up at her, his smirk already finding a way onto his face.

“You said you wanted to help,” she swats his leg playfully and holds back a groan. She doesn’t do playful. She isn’t a playful person. What was happening? Maybe she did like him.

“How about this? How about every time that you get something right, I have to take off an item of clothing, but every time you get something wrong-”

“Uh, pass.”

“Oh, come on.” Evan made Dorcas nervous, and he was a teenage boy, so of course, he was going to at least attempt to have sex with her, but another thing of note she liked about him was that he wouldn’t pressure her. If she was solid and said no strongly, he wouldn’t bring it up again; he’d move on breezily, talking about some dull-witted activity he participated in that would make her laugh against her will. He was easier like that. To talk to. To be friends with. “It’ll be fun.”

“No.”

“During fractional distillation, hydrocarbons are separated according to their-”

“Melting point,” she begrudgingly answered. She technically still needed to study.

“Oooh. It’s boiling points.”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“But it’s not what you said.”

“No.”

“No? Oh, I’m sorry, baby, do you need help, or…” He sidled up close to her, his nose brushing hers, and she smiled because this was ridiculous and right out of some cheesy romance novel or movie, and he took that smile as permission to kiss her, and Dorcas was selfish. She didn’t particularly want Evan Rosier, and she felt bad. Awful about that, really. But she also hadn’t been wholly successful in making many friends when she transferred here, and she liked Evan. A lot. He was almost all she could ask for. In a friend.

He pushed her back onto the bed in a truly smooth move, and would’ve had any girl who wasn’t clearly as broken as Dorcas blushing and giggling, but she took no note of it. He starts to unbutton her top, and she pulls away.

“Evan. Evan, come on.”

“Mmm, what?”

“Are you crazy? The Potters are here.”

He brushes a braid out of her face.

“That’s so… gosh, that’s so weird, I don’t see them,” he mutters and goes back to kissing her, managing to joke at a time like this, and she pulls away again, sitting up.

“Was this your plan all along? To… to get in my room and then… get another notch on your belt?” She questioned while buttoning up her shirt again, and his smirk fell.

“No, Dorcas, no.”

“I’m not Laurie, or Amy, or Becky, or-”

“You mean you’re not a slut? And those are random girl names, by the way. Never met a girl named Laurie in my life.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Pretty when you lie, too.”

“Shut up,” she’s smiling again. But she doesn’t feel her face heating up or her toes curling or her heart beating. She’s just amused at his silly antics.

“Dorcas.”

She looks up.

“I’m sorry. Won’t happen again unless you want it. Okay?”

“Okay,” she mumbled, a little too awestruck by his random maturity to speak up.

“Okay. Now,” he picked up the stack of flash cards again, “Compared to the rate of inorganic reactions, the rate of organic reactions is generally…”

“Severus, wow. I mean, you took these?” Lyall sifts through pictures Severus took on his camera, the angles feeling almost expert, not that Lyall was the best judge. “These are great. They really are. Look, I know I haven’t been there for you,” he stammers. “I’ve been… working so hard and I just feel bad, god, I don’t even… I barely know what’s going on in your life. All right? I am sorry about that,” Lyall places a hand on Severus’ shoulder hesitantly, and Severus chokes out a small sob.

“Hey, what is it?”

“Nothing,” he sniffles.

“Tell me. Come on, you can tell me.”

“It’s just… I should’ve been there for him,” he admits, blinking back tears.

“No, no, this isn’t, this was never on you. This was not your fault. Do you hear me, son? He is… close. I know it. I feel it in my bones. You just have to trust me on this, okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.”

“God, look at this one,” he holds up a photo of Remus from a few years ago when he tried to dye his hair like Sirius’ and they had to cut it all off because he hated it. He never dyed his hair again. They both laugh, Severus forcing out a struggling yet real laugh.

“That’s definitely the one,” Lyall snorts, and Severus lets himself smile. The phone rings and interrupts their jests, Lyall getting up to get it.

“Hello?” There’s static on the other end, crackling through the receiver, no voice to be heard. “Hope” Lyall tries. “That you?” The crackling breaks through, muffled breathing on the other end, hoarse and gravelly.

“Remus?” Severus stands up at this, walking over to Lyall, who grasps the phone like it’s a lifeline. “Remus?”

“It’s Remus?” Severus inquires, and Lyall, regretfully, ignores his entire existence, straining his ears to hear anything at all. The scrambled voice changes into something else, a nearly demonic chittering sounds overtaking it.

“Lyall, is that Remus?”

The chittering switches to full-on growls, and Lyall starts yelling. “Who is this? What have you done to my boy? Give me back my goddamn son!” The electricity in the phone surges and shocks Lyall, forcing him to drop it. Severus picks it up, but a black mark has already formed, the mechanisms fried.

“Hello? Hello, who is this?” Lyall’s cheeks are wet, and he thinks he might’ve been crying, he’s too busy wracking his brain, trying to think who would even try to hurt Remus.

“Lyall? Lyall, who was it? Who was it? Look at me, Lyall, was it Remus?” Lyall is mumbling incoherently, but he nods, part of his brain registering the question. “He just breathed, he just breathed.” He’s shaking his head now, forcing himself to stand.

“I know my boy, I know his breathing, it was him, it was his breathing.”

Lyall’s fingers twitched for a cigarette.

“Remus!” Sirius shouted, the rain pelting down on the Marauders, minus one, as they trudged through the woods, hooting and hollering.

“Lupin!” James yells into the shadows.

“I’ve got your special edition Godric Gryffindor!” Peter offers. “Guys, I really think we should turn back,” Peter advises after almost falling into a mud puddle.

“Seriously, Peter? You wanna be a baby, then go home already!” Sirius roared over the thunder.

“I’m just being realistic!”

“No, you’re just being a big sissy!”

“For God’s sake, did you ever think Remus went missing because he ran into something bad? And we’re going to the exact same spot he was last seen? And we have no weapons or anything?”

“Peter, shut up,” James responded, laser-focused on a bush.

“I’m just saying, does that seem smart to you?”

“Shut up, shut up,” he repeats as the bush rustles. “You guys hear that?” There’s a screeching from behind them, far away, but loud enough to be heard, and they all turn with a start, pointing their flashlights towards… a girl?

Her shirt was thoroughly soaked, her curls plastered to her skin, and she looked at Sirius before looking at Peter, her eyes finally landing on James, and he adjusted his glasses.

“Oh, shit.”

[pendragonfics]

Seventh Year

As Time Goes By: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four

Paring: Sirius Black/Reader

Tags: female reader, Hogwarts houses, set in the Marauders’ Era, fluff, angst, Reader is friends with Lupin.

Summary: The reader isn’t taken at first sight by Sirius Black. Honest.

Word Count: 1,949

Posting Date:  2016-05-19

Current Date: 2017-06-01

As it would always be at Halloween at a British school for witches and wizards, there were plentiful festivities, and always had been every year of your schooling (except none had been this memorable or anything notable). The Great Hall was swathed in orange and black and the eerie glows of the white ghosts that milled around by the enchanted ceiling, and you, your close friend Lily Evans were doing your best to just keep to the side as the pair of you walked through the hall, both hoping to keep mostly away from the hullabaloo of the 31st of October.

Lately - well, for a long time...about a year - since Lily and James had started going steady (you had thought they'd hated each other!) you couldn't help but wonder if your friend was hiding things from you. And not just I-cheated-on-the-charms-exam sort of hiding things, you meant big things. Big things that meant silence when you would join her and James and those friends of his - it had been hard trying to ignore Sirius since that kiss in fourth year, but you'd achieved it - and you couldn't help but wonder if they all hated you. Even Remus, your oldest friend of them all.

But you had NEWTs to study for, even though the school year had only just began.

Halloween.

"Silly how we decorate here even though we're literally at a school that teaches half of what Halloween's about," You almost scoffed, unlike yourself.

Your friend agreed, "but it's nice to celebrate something, _______. Time to loosen up, kiss someone..."

You laughed. "You've got James for that, Lily. And I've got...a ghost, if they consented."

In turn, Lily chuckled. "That's not what I meant, you know...I was thinking he's in our year - our house, even! - and you know him -,"

You frowned. "You're not trying to hook me up with Pettigrew, are you?" You winced, lowering your voice, "he has the sex appeal of a Niffler."

Lily shook her head heartily as the two of you had made it to the moving staircases, "It's not Peter, ________." She paused, and looked back to you with a sort of look that made her seem like she had realised something very important, "You're right, about the Niffler thing, though. His voice hasn't broken yet."

"Whose voice hasn't broken yet?"

You snapped out of the conversation and realised beside you stood Sirius Black and James Potter with identical devious grins on their faces. You felt a blush tinge your checks at both the presence of Sirius and the lack of an answer to the question when Lily swooped in and saved the day, "Professor Dipit," she winked.

Both boys raised their eyebrows in question but obviously beside you Lily had given her boyfriend and his friend a warning glance and shut them up.

"Where's Remus?" you asked out of the blue. The boys shared glances and you couldn't help but notice the uneasiness in the looks. "That rundown old shack in Hogsmeade?" you whispered.

James nodded.

"What are we going to do for Halloween?" Lily interrupted, changing the subject. "Back up to the dorms or into the melee of the feast?"

"Feast," the boys grinned.

"I'll put our books away, Lily, if you want to go on down with James," you offered. You didn't want to go immediately; it meant small talk and proximity with the guy you had gotten a kiss from years before and hasn't really talked about it since: the drop dead gorgeous Sirius Black.

"I'll pay back the favour," Lily promised, handing the hardbacks to you, mouthing a thank you.

"I'll help," Sirus declared. "Be down in fifteen, Prongs."

Prongs?

"See you there, Padfoot."

Padfoot?

"I'm capable," you interjected speedily.

"Didn't ask if you were or weren't," Sirius grinned, stripping you of your own book bag so you were left holding only Lily's things. "Now, lets get a move on before all the good food is eaten downstairs."

You nodded silently, and led the way to the Gryffindor tower, answering the fat lady's request for the password before she had spoken it.

"Something wrong?" you heard Sirus ask behind you as you began the accent to the restricted-for-boys-girls-only-because-its-the-girl's-dorm stairs. Spinning to face him, you didn't anticipate the weight of the books you were spinning with, and felt yourself going to topple. A hand anchoring you to keep your footing saved you.

Sirius' hand.

"Perfectly fine, thank you." You retorted. The brave smirk of Sirius Black faded slightly.

"Are you sure?" he whispered.

"No, actually," you murmured, taking a step back up the stairs from the troublemaking Griffindor. "You know what it feels like to get kissed by your best friend's boyfriend's best friend for no reason, no context, and then silence for a few years on the matter? Do you know what it feels like to have a close friend and not be able to be there for him in his time of need?" Your mind went to Remus. You remembered when he had been bitten when the pair of you had been children. "Do you know how it feels to see someone with a group of other someone's every day and wish you were in the loop, Padfoot?"

His face went from pale to ghostly.

"I don't know the feeling, _______." He managed to say back, "And I'm sorry that's the way you feel."

You shook your head. "You're not sorry Sirius. I know it when someone's sorry after all of these times. You're in the loop in something I don't understand, and never will, I get it. Like MI6 or a cult or something with code names. And if kissing people on random occasions for a one time only is really your thing, I can deal with that."

You broke the stare with Sirius, laying the heavy books down on the stairs before they tore your arms off.

"I wasn't going to wait for someone who didn't want me back," you heard him whisper, and your (e/c) eyes snapped back to him.

He liked you?

"Thanks for halving the load, Black," you nodded, feeling slightly lightheaded. "I think we should go back downstairs now."

As you went to walk past Sirius, you heard the book bag of yours cascade lightly to the floor and a strong hand encircle yours.

"Sirius, I -,"

"Shhhhhh," the famed bad-boy of the student population hummed. "I want to try something now, with your permission."

Your eyebrows skyrocketed into your hairline. "Not like -,"

He laughed. "I don't think what you're thinking is the most sanitary," Sirius went to brush away a fake tear from his eye. "Not what I was wanting for us to partake in."

"No?" you questioned.

"No."

It was then you felt his lips on your cheek and you positively melted.

"Thank you," you whispered, "I'm so, so sorry for the outburst."

He laughed as he withdrew from your cheek. "It's Halloween, anyways, maybe the ghosts and dark magic influences it."

You went to chuckle, but from the corner of your eye noticed the figure of the rounded full moon mounted in the sky and cussed internally.

"Where's Remus?" You demanded.

"Way to kill the mood, asking where another guy is," Sirius retorted, but silently after his cocky retort, noticed the moon's presence out of the corner of his eye as well. "Damn." He grimaced. "You go down to the feast, _______, I've got to do something."

You nodded blindly. "Okay," you echoed.

---

As you slid down beside Lily at the Griffindor table, you couldn't help but feel off-kilter post the kiss on the cheek and the absence of Remus.

"________, are you alright?"

Sharply, you turned to your friend Lily and stood. The bench creaked under the sudden movement and you shook your head. "No. I'm going to find Remus."

Lily had panic behind her eyes, you saw the flash of it before she subdued it in a mask. "What? No, Remus fine. He told me he was going into the whomping willow and there no way he'd make it out of there as -," she didn't finish her sentence.

She didn't need to. Or need the other students privy.

"I don't care." you shook your head. "I'm going."

At that you sped way by foot, fleeing the great hall like a fugitive to find your friend the werewolf. Usually you wouldn't have been upset for his transformation but the potion to suppress the bestial nature of it hasn't been made. Leaving Remus free.

"Remus!" you yelled, coming to the open lawn where the cold air bit you. November was already on its way with the December chills following suit. "Remus!"

A guttural growling erupted from the base of the whomping willow, where you saw the form of his moon-changed self hiding. But as you went to go forth, you paused, hearing a different sort of growling, and then a bark from big shaggy black dog that yapped at you quickly, but sped toward Remus as his wolf self.

"________!" You heard Lily shout behind you, "come on, you're missing out on the feast." But turning, you couldn't help but scream. Beside Lily stood a stag, just like the kind that moseyed around in the forest behind the house you lived in the off term. "What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"There's - theres a deer beside you. And a - a flipping dog is trying to tame my friend the werewolf and you're just blinking like its no big deal?" Your voice went high, afraid, and while you spoke, the stag trotted elegantly like a model in a runway past her to the melee of animals to aid Remus. "Lily, you've got to tell me what's going on. Please."

At that, a rat scurried between your legs, following in hot pursuit of the animal parade with a subduing Remus-the-werewolf. Your heart jumped silently; you never liked rats. But your screams had been spent.

"Okay, _______." Lily prefaced, "Since you're close and all, they're Animagus. James is the deer, Peter is the rat and Sirius is the -,"

"Dog," you whispered. "They - you - have all been hiding this from me?"

She nodded.

"________!"

You turned to see a bare, slightly shaky Sirius laying on the lawn with a wound the shape of a crescent, but not teeth marks.

Keeping track of the bustle, you dove forward to aid your - whatever you'd call this relationship with the most arrogant member of the Black family - from the grass, shedding your Gryffindor scarf for his privacy. "I can't believe it," you whispered, bending down to see Sirius' face. "You're a dog. And not just physically."

He grinned, "I know, right," Sirius joked beside the fact that he was buck-ass nude and scratched up. "I've gotten you to fall in love with me."

You started. "No - no...no, I haven't. I'm not. Am I?" you frowned. You then realised all those mixed up feelings. "I am," you confessed with a sigh. "Well, then, now I officially have feelings for you, Sirius, I -,"

"Kiss me," he whispered dramatically, writhing as if in utter pain. You knew better than that with Mr Drama King. But nonetheless, you bent down to lay your lips on his cheek when he jerked - and your teeth crashed upon his cheekbone. "Ow," he complained.

You laughed. "Hold still, then," And your mouthes met, and for a minute, you felt the definition of bliss take hold over you. "I can't see you wanting to grow old with me, though, Sirius -,"

He shrugged. "We'll work something out," and the pair of you bent in to kiss again.

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