#remus and his “I hate james potter” agenda

[soniabookwhore]

THIS -hear me out- effie and monty and NOBODY can disagree

[soniabookwhore]

They are HANDSOME. I want to be sirius and draco sooo bad

No but really.

[hp-confessions]

really do hate how characters are being stripped of characteristics that make them interesting in the first place.

Remus ran away from his problems, he was a coward, he never stood up for himself because he comes from a disadvantaged position. He can never be brave, my guy was grateful he was even allowed to go to hogwarts. That's also why he's so blindly loyal to Dumbldore, of course he feels indebted grateful towards him.

My Remus would never be this confident cocky Casanova guy people depict him as?? You guys know we can have conventionally unattractive characters right?? Not everyone has to be self assured, we have cocky Sirius and James already.

Literally where are the fics where he's so scarred he's ugly, has a bad leg, uses a cane, has chronic pains???

he wanted to break away from the past and yet he's simultaneously attached to it as well. He literally can't move on (not reporting Sirius' animagus form??) but makes no moves to get closer with Harry.

REMUS IS A LOSER AND WE LOVE HIM FOR THAT.

Like he's clearly a complicated character and literally everything that makes him interesting is taken away to put him in this macho daddy role.

How do y'all say you guys like this fanon version of Remus when canon Remus was so much more interesting?? Do you guys even like Remus??

You can have your headcanons where Sirius is dressed up in skirts, wearing make up, I don't mind gender something Sirius! (It fits his whole rebel thing for me) But when he's wearing anything that literally isn't punk or goth, like stockings, shirts that "swallow him up", no. Or worse, if he's so short, so skinny and twinkified in order to push this submissive bottom agenda that some wolfstar tend to do, oh my god then I have a problem.

Why can no one ship them with equal heights if you don't like their canon height difference?? Do y'all not want tall Sirius black AND tall Remus lupin?? I DO GIVE ME EQUAL HEIGHTS. It genuinely freaks me out when one of them is ridiculously short.

I don't even care for the whole masculine tall dark handsome character that he canonically was but...to twinkify him..??? When he's probably the literal blueprint for fanon Remus now??

Sirius that is emotional, irrational, whiny, overdramatic?? Who?? Yeah it's fine when it's on occasion because it certainly does add flavor to his character plus comedic relief but lets not make that his whole personality? Where's the Sirius black that gave 0 fucks about everything!! "I wish it was a full moon", his reason for The Prank, his general idgaf attitude after escaping Azkaban!! Like he was a proper apathetic menace and y'all need to write him that way more.

And together, femboy sub Sirius x masc dom "the rational one" is the worst thing that happened to wolfstar, literally everything dimensional about it is gone and it's just...a regular mlm ship.

James sunshine potter. I fear I am guilty of liking James that's only ever nice to people but please. Make him cruel. Where's the guy that threatened lily, the guy that treated severes the way he did?

I'm all for sunshine potter but we don't have to erase the shitty things he did. The guy that kept being shitty because he knew he was getting away with it. It makes him interesting, how he is capable of such viciousness while being the sunshine character??

He even sees the world in black and white and yet he's so awful?? Like I genuinely can't understand this guy and it makes him beautiful.

If anything I should be seeing more Slytherin James but I barely see any of that?? Bro was cunning

Lily, and I know how much the fandom is protective over her but please fucking admit she's a character with flaws. Jily should've never happened because of James' cruelty towards Snape. Yet it did because Lily is a flawed character that got with his ex best friends bully.

Yes lily doesn't owe Severus shit after the mudblood incident but she can do that by...not defending him?? NOT getting with his friend??

James threatened her, SAed Snape, and she was there to witness this among several other things he did. She was Sev's best friend, she'd know personally how being bullied made him feel.

But one slur word and those years of friendship, the loyalty is thrown away and she gets with James Potter. Yes, girl boss, but she's also cruel. Make her capable of cruelty, no need to make a complete empath!!

Low-key, y'all need to give Snape fans an apology cause y'all out here making up stories that glorify fanon Regulus when Snape has canonically done more things for harry while serving cunt.

Like please, let's not forget that Snape is the exact opposite of being masculine too, he is very capable of being an actual LGBTQ icon whereas the mauraders are the furthest thing from that.

If you want LGBTQ icon mauraders, who canonically made fun of Snape for being less masculine, why the hell aren't you doing the same for Snape?? Why in the world is he being written as some creepy homophobic incel??

Also please give him credit, he's fucking funny. He took over for Remus, assigned students to think of ways of killing werewolves and made Remus mark them. He's PETTY, he did not let that Prank slide.

He's such a beautifully grey character, where his FANS don't even want to call him a good character or an evil one because he's that grey. And all of you stripped off the good parts of him and just made him a boring evil characters. Like bro, c'mon.

And regulus. He's literally just a mix Sirius and Snape. There's nothing badass or cunty about him?? Literally anyone can tell he takes after sirius or Snape.

If you want an original character, please reference canon. He's so much more tragic that way.

I don't care if he grew up abusive, was fed blood supremacist bullshit and believed it, groomed to take part in a cult only to realize violently afterwards that he didn't like it there. If I wanted to read about that id read the books and focus on Snape.

I don't care that he was petty, was a boss bitch, did badass things and gave 0 fucks about the people around because that's literally just Sirius.

He's tragic because he tried to be a hero and failed. he was always going to fail, he was always too naive, he was never going to amount to anything and that makes him tragic and much more interesting. He was on the path for reform and didn't have enough time.

It's like you guys switched up canon Severus and canon regulus, it's actually annoying, give these characters justice.

Everyone, mauraders, lily and Snape, all of them are so grey it actually hurts, and yet they keep getting pushed into these labeled boxes like what.

~

[starless-gaze]

james potter variants bc i've come across so many recently and i need to share them:

pavitr prabhakar (atsv)

i feel like he needs no explanation

any marauders stan who's watched across the spider-verse saw pav come on screen and went "yep, that's jamie"

he totally lectured his friends on the whole "chai tea" thing more than once

really just everything about him screams james fleamont potter

give him a pair of glasses and it's the exact same guy

also spidey james means everything to me

niall james horan

really what brought me to this conclusion was his new album

(stream the show by niall horan everyone)

must be love is suuuuch a james coded song

hc that he has an extensive collection of cardigans

grandpa sweaters might be remus' thing but this man owns every and any cardigan you could possibly imagine

while we're on the topic, seeing blind (flicker) is just james falling for reg

every 1D boy is assigned to a marauder and it just so happens that niall is a james guy

sunil jha (loveless)

alice oseman thought they could write james potter with a different name and we wouldn't notice?

just the way he, no questions asked, helps georgia when she needs them is as james potter as it gets

ace james, anyone?

also he/they jamie ftw

sunil verbally destroying that little twink (justin? i think?) really was everything

honorable mention to their "could've gone harder with the pride flags" quote

smith parker (iksw)

popular guy, captain of the football team, who everyone thinks is arrogant but is actually the sweetest person you'll ever meet

he just has so many layers

james is totally genderqueer, at least demiboy but that man is not cis

(i'm here to push the "every marauder is some shade of trans" agenda)

dating the most popular girl just so he could keep an eye on his ex best friend who he was secretly in love with?

on that note, the whole childhood best friends to enemies/rivals to allies to friends to lovers with rory is insanely jegulus coded

(also rory is so reg but more on that later)

WHEN HE PUTS FLOWERS IN HIS HAIR?????

his friendship with chloe reminds me so much of james and mary

(chloe is def mary but again, i'll elaborate later)

casey mcquiston knows how to write marauders variants and it shows

q (xo kitty)

ok yes, i see a fluffy poc jock and i think james potter

but you have to understand that q is simply james

him and kitty give platonic flowerpott vibes

you would think that the obvious choice for a james variant in xo kitty is dae but you'd be wrong bc james is not a selfish dickhead with his head so far up his ass it's basically a hat (can u tell i hate dae?)

also q bending his morals for florian? otb jegulus

q being the captain of the KISS outdoors club is so james coded

[kool-kelp]

Statement of Remus Lupin, 1st Nov. 1981

CONTENT WARNING: Major character death, violence, mentions of torture and starvation. Basically, Remus talks about the war and the murder. It’s real sad.  

Remus was sweating through his robes. He had showered several times before leaving their apartment. He couldn’t quite wash the disgusting feeling off his skin.

“Can you tell us your name, please? For the records of course,” Dumbledore asked him.

“My name is Remus Lupin,” he told him. His voice was shaking, embarrassingly. He thought he was going to be sick.

“And you are a werewolf, correct?” Remus heard gasps echo throughout the chamber. It made him almost want to laugh. Like him being a werewolf was the most shocking thing of this whole ordeal.

“Yeah, I had to register on my seventeenth birthday. You can check it if you’d like, Professor,” he said, trying to sound less embarrassed than he was.

“I’m sure it’s all in order. As you all know, we are here today to determine whether or not Sirius Black should be given a trial. He has been sent to Azkaban for the time being, and I hope to determine whether we should use ministry resources to grant him a trial. I believe Mr. Lupin’s statement will be instrumental in this decision,” Dumbledore said. By this point, Remus pretty much hated Dumbledore, but the man did know how to talk.

“You mean that we are to take the word of a werewolf, a dangerous creature, in order to decide the future of a known murderer?” an official looking man said, Remus flinched at this. Remus wasn’t able to vote and therefore didn’t see the point in following politics so he didn’t know the man's name. 

“As you can see, Mr Crouch, it is not currently a full moon, so Mr. Lupin is perfectly capable of recounting the events that, I think you’ll find, can shed more light on the situation than we could ever hope to have without him,” Dumbledore didn’t seem fazed by this. Remus looked around the room to try to gauge people’s reactions. Half of them looked at him like he was about to fall apart, the other half looked like they were worried he might suddenly leap out of his chair and kill them. Remus found that he only recognised three people in the entire room: Dumbledore, who was using Remus to further his own agenda, whatever that may be. Nothing different there. McGonagall, who looked at Remus with so much pity that he wanted to curl into himself and cry over the mess that had been created forever. And Snape, who looked at Remus like he always had, with disgust and that ‘afraid but trying not to be’ look that Remus had never seen anyone else pull off quite so well as Severus Snape. He vaguely recognised the other from the papers, but he had always passed those sections off to Sirius.

Mr. Crouch nodded his head to tell Dumbledore to proceed with whatever questions he was going to ask.

“Mr. Lupin will now be given Veritaserum to ensure his complete honesty from this point forward,” he paused as Remus was presented with the drink. He knew this was coming. It had made his stomach turn to think about the secrets that he could be responsible for spilling. Then, he thought, all of the people he had kept secrets for were already dead or close enough to it. He drank it.

“Mr. Lupin, what exactly was your relationship to the Potters?”

“We were friends,” he said confidently. It had been an easy question. He had no doubt worse was to come. “We met at Hogwarts. Lily and I were prefects together and James and I shared a dorm. They were like family.”

“Were?” Dumbledore asked. Although the question was ambiguous, the potion knew what Dumbledore was asking. Remus wanted to punch him already. Or scream at him. Anything would do.

“They had to go into hiding. You made me go on missions, secret from them lot. They knew there was a spy and I looked suspicious, disappearing for days and weeks. I hadn’t spoken to them in months. I knew that they believed that I was the spy. I didn’t know where they were until yesterday evening. Saw it in the papers,” Remus told the court that had been gathered, laughing dryly at the last part. There were tears in his eyes but he would hold them in for as long as he could.

“And how were you acquainted with Mr. Pettigrew?”

“Peter…. We were friends… but he was always a bit afraid of me, I think. He was always kind, though. He would bring me food and homework when I could go to class. I thought he was always a bit on the outside of James and Sirius, like I was. That made us closer, I guess. He always seemed just a little bit out of his depth, in school and the war. He tried though,” Remus didn’t like to think about Peter. At least James and Lily had each other when they died. Peter died facing Sirius alone. He must’ve been afraid out of his mind, knowing that Sirius was going to kill him. Remus tried not to imagine the fear that poor boy must have felt. He’d never even been in love.  Even Remus had had that, despite what it looked like now. He had felt it, if Sirius hadn’t.

“And lastly, if you would tell us about your relationship with Sirius Black, then we can get on to the events that led up to last night?” Dumbledore asked. Remus looked him in his eyes with the most fury he could muster.

“You know well what my relationship with Sirius Black was.”

“I do, and I think it’s important that everyone understands the context of your statement to grasp the importance of it. I remind you that everyone in this room has been Magically sworn to secrecy. Whatever you say cannot leave this room”

“Fine. Sirius Black and I were…. together .” Another round of gasps went around the room, he looked at McGonagall instead of anybody else. She was the only one who’s opinion he still cared about. She didn’t seem shocked by the news. Remus saw his anger reflected in her face. 

“We met at Hogwarts and we became friends. We got together in 4th year. I loved him. We broke up for a time at the end of 5th year, but we got back together around 7th Year.” Remus felt ridiculous talking about his boyfriend problems in front of this group of ministry officials. He felt like they were looking at him like he was a fool. Like he should have known, somehow, what Sirius was going to do. You were all fooled too! He wanted to scream. You all trusted him! 

“Would you mind telling us what caused the separation?”

“I don’t really have any choice in this so you can stop acting like you care about what I want. We broke up because Sirius almost killed another student. He told Severus Sanpe,” the crowd turned to look at the man in question, “where to find me during a full moon. He told him how to beat the safeguards that stopped me from hurting other students. Snape and him had been fighting. They were always fighting. Snape had figured out what I am and was telling other students. I don’t know what Sirius was thinking. Maybe that Snape would get scared when he saw me and stop. Maybe he wanted me to kill him. James stopped it somehow. I never got the full story. I didn’t speak to Sirius for almost a year after it.”

“How did Sirius know how to beat the safeguards?” Dumbledore asked him. No, Remus thought,  I can’t tell them. They’ll think I put James and Peter in danger. They’ll put me down. Fuck, I can’t lie. He was panicking. ‘Then don’t’  a smarter part of his brain said.

“Sirius was always very good at figuring things out when he wanted to. Especially when he wasn’t supposed to,” he said. The serum accepted his half-truth. It wasn’t a lie, it just wasn’t the whole story. If Remus was entirely human he thought that it probably wouldn’t have worked. If Remus was entirely human, he mightn’t have even been there.

“And yet, after the incident, you forgave him?” Dumbledore raised his eyebrows over his half moon glasses. Remus wanted to break the fuckers by punching him right in his nose.

“I couldn’t stay angry at him. It hurt too much. Hating him turned into hating myself for still wanting him. It was killing us both, the shame of it. I felt like I was walking around with half of myself missing and the other half too angry and ashamed to do anything. I don’t think I ever forgave him fully. I tried to. But then we joined the Order and there wasn’t any time for long talks. You saw to that, Professor.” Remus said sharply. The slight at Dumbledore did not go unnoticed as several heads turned to look at the old man. Yeah, that’s the man who tore us apart. Every last one of us.

Dumbledore held eye contact with Remus for a moment. “I think we’ve got enough context to begin questioning about the war, don’t you?” he said, mildly. That only made Remus hate him more.

“I think it’s time we took a break,” came a quiet but confident voice. It was McGonagall. He had as much respect for her as he had hatred for Dumbledore.

“You’re alright, Professor,” he told her, trying to sound okay with his current situation. “If I leave this room, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk back in.” She smiled at him apologetically and nodded.

“Go ahead,” he said to Dumbledore.

“Tell us about the very start of the war, how you became involved with the Order of the Phoenix.” He said. Remus was glad that he had dropped the false questioning tone he was using earlier.

“I never had a choice. My war started when I was bitten. It started when I was five, not seventeen. Fenrir Greyback,” murmurs spread throughout the room “Bit me. And then I went to Hogwarts. I think you’d had my future laid out when you first pleaded my case to the Wizengamot, Professor. You helped my parents keep me alive, told them it was wrong to put down a five year old werewolf. You gave me a life, and for that I thank you, but you did not give me a choice in this war. You were training me from the minute I stepped foot in Hogwarts. You knew that Voldemort,” people flinched at the name. Remus was too pissed off to care, “was on the rise, and that eventually, he would turn to the werewolves for support, and that they would support him because what reason had they not to.” Remus knew he was crying. He could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn’t bother wiping them away. He didn’t have any dignity left to protect. “You knew what you could use me to do. What I could do to fight your war.”

“That may be your opinion,” Remus scoffed at him, “but I am not on trial. You must stick to what is relevant to the murder of Lily and James Potter.” Dumbledore finished.

“To be frank, Professor, I think you are a lot more relevant to their murder than my relationship status,” Remus snapped at Dumbledore, glaring at him. People seemed shocked at the disrespect shown to the headmaster, very few knew how justified it was.

“Please continue, Remus,” he said.

“Don’t you fucking say my name. Like we’re friends. Like you didn’t make me this,” he was practically yelling at him.

“Make you what?” Dumbledore sounded less patient than normal. Remus felt proud of himself.

“I don’t know. Whatever you’re called when you’re the last one left. A soldier? Whatever it’s called, you did this to me so you don’t get to say my name.”

“Okay, please continue, Mr. Lupin.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Remus told him but he did continue. He had to. “Dumbledore had started to send me on these missions the second I turned seventeen. I would spend full moons with packs and plead with them to join our side,” he was now addressing the people instead of Dumbledore. “Then I would report whatever information they had given me to Dumbledore and I would go back to potions class or whatever. I usually ended up in the hospital wing after the moons. That wasn’t much different to how it normally was, except now, the scratches and bites mostly came from other wolves rather than myself. Things didn’t really change when I left school. I would leave for longer periods of time. Stay with the packs longer. I had normal missions too, in between the moons. Werewolves have certain abilities, even when we’re human. We’re stronger, faster, spells don’t have as much of an effect. It takes a lot more to kill a werewolf than it does a wizard. That combined with enhanced senses meant that, more often than not I was on a mission. I began to forget what month it was. I would come back from missions unable to tell anyone where I had been, they were all secret. I guess Dumbledore knew what the Potters and Peter and… Sirius would say if they heard about what I was doing. I don’t think I need to tell you exactly what I did as a member of the Order?” he asked. 

He didn’t look at Dumbledore, he looked at the faces up in the gallery. Politicians that hadn’t been killed or outed as  Death Eaters. None of them were members of the Order. They didn’t know what the fighting had been. Remus knew that they didn’t want to know what he had done to survive.

“I think it’s best that you tell us a bit about your work, so we understand your state of mind these last few months.” Dumbledore said. Remus still refused to look at him.

“You know all of my missions, Professor. Which one would you like me to tell you about?” he was asking Dumbledore but his gaze was focused on the reflection of the light of one of the black marble stones that covered the floor.

“Tell us about your run in with Bellatrix Lestrange,” he said. The people looked at each other, clearly unsure whether they wanted to hear this story.

“Bellatrix Lestrange is a very talented witch. She and her husband have been sent to jail and I’m sure you all know about what they’ve done,” the tears had stopped. Remus had always talked about his missions very impersonally. He had to think about them like they had happened to someone else in order to get to sleep. Moody had taught him that trick. “Bellatrix was arguably Voldemort's most dedicated follower. As well as her undying loyalty, she truly loved the work she carried out on his behalf. She took joy from each and every murder and torture. Each ungodly act was treated like it was a prayer. She took pride in a job well done, is what I’m saying. She found me. Found out who I was, what I was, who I loved and she took it upon herself to torture me. She planned to kill me at some point. All of the werewolves she had encountered were muggles that had turned. Turning wizards is a lot more of a hassle, I suppose,” Remus’ attitude towards this story unnerved many of the politicians. Remus himself had told it many times, to many members of the order. The information he had discovered was useful and it needed to be shared. At this point, the story was an old routine to Remus.

“She had me. Tied me up in silver chains. No other death eater ever came to help. I was supposed to be her kill and her kill alone. There’s probably a plaque with my name engraved on it somewhere, waiting for my head. I was there for over three weeks. It was just me and Bellatrix. She told me that she planned to starve me, she never gave me food. Wanted to see what it would do, but she didn’t have long enough. I can still feel the hunger, sometimes. She began to test spells on me, saw what would work on a werewolf and what wouldn’t. The information was useful but painful to obtain. Greyback didn’t allow it. He had made Voldemort take an Unbreakable Vow back when Voldemort still needed followers. He made sure that the werewolves that joined them weren’t to be tortured or killed without cause. They weren’t to be treated like animals so long as they were loyal to Voldemort. This worked out well for him. It ensured absolute loyalty. More werewolves joined for protection rather than belief in the cause, I’d say.” The crowd looked at each other guiltily. Remus saw tears in McGonagall’s eyes. She had heard the story before and had held them back until Remus had left the room. It was harder, this time.

“I was an opportunity for her to figure out what exactly makes werewolves tick. There’s not a lot of research. Or wasn’t, before this. Wizards would just use petrificus totalus and then transfigure something into silver to kill us. If a werewolf is being put down, they inject us with melted silver, it’s meant to be quicker. More humane,” he smiled darkly as he said this, he liked watching the looks on the people’s faces. He knew that they didn’t like to think about werewolves when they were human. He liked watching them look at him, someone they respected, and try to combine the two ideas. 

“She tried the first two unforgivable curses first. The imperious doesn’t have much of an effect, if you were curious. You just sort of know what the person wants you to do. You have an urge to do it but it’s easy enough to resist. The cruciatus hurts a bit. Nothing crazy. I don’t know if it just doesn’t hurt us as much, or if transformations make it seem okay. This went on for a while. You can find the research, I’m sure. She went through almost every spell meant to harm a person, some that I hadn’t heard, some that their side had created. The last spell she used was the killing curse. I guess she never wondered why no one used it on werewolves. As I said, there really wasn’t any research. She must have just assumed the silver was because the curse was banned. Other Order members had found me somehow and she was running out of time. She hit me straight in the chest but couldn’t stay to see whether it killed me. It hurt, I’ll give it that. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt. Knocked me out for two days and took me out of missions for two weeks. But it didn’t kill me,” Remus paused and enjoyed the shocked looks on the faces staring down at him. He felt an odd sort of pride about how difficult he was to kill.

“Bellatrix saw me again. She looked furious that she had failed her mission. I helped arrest her. I have no doubt that if she’d had the time, she would have found a spell to kill me,” he finished.

Dumbledore let everyone sit with the story for a while. To let the reality of the war sink in, Remus guessed. They had heard plenty from the other side, but not many from their own. The stories they had heard were the victories. The arrests of death eaters or how they had been caught. Not what had been endured to get there. Not from someone who lived to tell it.

“How did Sirius react when he’d heard?” Dumbledore asked. Remus laughed properly for the first time in days. He remembered the look on Sirius’ face and the words he had shouted at Dumbledore.

“He went a bit mad. He was sick with worry. No one knew what had knocked me out. I woke up, two days after the curse, to him screaming in your face,” Remus smiled at the memory, “it was the most he ever learnt about my missions. He looked frightening. After that, we talked more than we had in months. He was given the mission, if you could call it that, to make sure I didn’t die. I had to tell him exactly what she had done to me so that he could write the report. Also for my medical care. It took days. I would only be able to stay awake for a few hours the first couple of days. Even then, I was in shock. I could barely speak, let alone about that.” he told them.

“Then what happened?”

“I went back to work, eventually. As I said, I was barely home and we barely spoke. I didn’t sleep at home. I would go to get clothes or whatever I needed and I would leave. We weren’t together except for a shared meal every now and then. Sometimes, I think we had very different wars. He had partners on his missions, I had handlers. I didn’t go to many meetings. I didn’t strategise. I just went where I was told to and did what I had to. I didn’t have much of a say. I was only told what information I could use in a fight. I learnt how to fight a battle, not how to win a war.

“Then, somehow, it came out that there was a spy. I didn’t know enough to be a spy, but I was suspicious enough. I knew what it looked like. I’m a werewolf. They said that it didn’t matter but that changed when Harry was born. They were suspicious of everyone. I didn’t want to put them at risk by being around them. More Death Eaters knew my face than most members. Greyback made sure of that. I spent most of my time with werewolves. While I might have been a good person, they still saw the other werewolves as dark creatures. I knew that they thought I was the spy, I would have too…” he trailed off. There was a lump in Remus’ throat. He understood why they thought he was the spy, he did. It didn’t mean that the betrayal didn’t hurt any less. He was their friend. He believed them when they said that they didn't care that he was a werewolf. They said that they loved him, and he believed them.

“When was the last time you spoke to James and Lily?” Dumbledore asked him gently.

“The Order meeting back in August, just after Harry’s first birthday,” Remus told him.

“What did you talk about?”

“They told me that they were going into hiding and that they thought I should know. They didn’t tell me where and I didn’t ask. I never saw them again,” Remus’ voice cracked. The words hit him. He cried silently, tears rolled down his cheeks freely. Knowing that you would never see someone again and admitting it felt very different. Admitting it made it more true, somehow. Like before, he still had some chance of seeing Lily smile again or hear James say something dumb to make her laugh. But now that he had said it, they were gone for good.

“Lily told me that she was pregnant. James promised that  we would talk about everything once it was all over. They said goodbye. I thought that it might have been the last time I would hear them say it. I thought I was going to be the one to die, not them. I never thought that the Potters would die. In all this death they had made life and love and I thought it would be enough to save them,” he said through the tears. He was half-sobbing by that point. He saw several other people, including McGonagall wipe their eyes. They hadn’t known about the baby, he guessed.

“When did you last see Mr. Pettigrew?” Dumbledore asked, gentler than he had said anything all day.

“A week ago. I had to go to headquarters to give a report and I ran into him. He smiled and told me that he was sure that this would all be over soon. He was right, I suppose,” Remus remembered his smile. He looked at Remus, very hopeful. Remus had almost believed him. He wanted to believe him.

“When was the last time you saw Sirius Black?”

“Two days ago. The day before the… murder,” it hurt his throat to saw the word. “We were on a mission together. After it was done, he cornered me and said that he was going to find the spy and end this. He looked manic. He was threatening me. He was paranoid, didn’t trust a soul in the Order other than the people who were already dead.” 

“Do you think Sirius was the traitor?” 

There it was. The real question. The only part of this that actually mattered. Remus took a minute to breathe. He’d thought about it since he heard the news. He managed to calm down and stop the sobs. He needed to sound sure. He had to convince them.

“I think that Sirius Black was capable of many things. I think that he was capable of betraying the Order. If I was dead right now instead of the Potters, with the evidence we have, I would say that without a doubt, Sirius Black was responsible. But I’m not. James and Lily Potter are. Their son is an orphan. Sirius would have betrayed the Order, however, nothing would make him give up James. He would have let every other person, including himself, die if it meant that the Potters could live.

“Thank you, Mr. Lupin. You are free to go.”

[i-am-not-afraid-i-am-with-you]

Okay it's been another period of time since I caused chaos and I love him parasocially so have my Remus Lupin headcanons

I spent way too long on these bad boys (the headcanons to be perfectly clear)

Tonks lives with Remus, Sirius, and Teddy, as well as her mom, who moved in after the death of Tonks' dad

Tonks takes on a bit of a "grown-up older sister" role for Teddy and helps take care of him a little when she's home which is rarely and Andromeda Tonks is a very supportive grandmother who considers Remus a son-in-law and Sirius a son

Kreacher lives at Hogwarts but sometimes visits only because of hard work by Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Remus, who over time got Kreacher and Sirius to talk again, with supervision, and Kreacher told him about Regulus. Sirius had been friends with Regulus when they were kids but thought Regulus hated him, especially after Sirius ran away from home and didn't take Regulus with him. The bond between Kreacher and Sirius started over their shared care for Regulus and different understandings of what Regulus did.

Sirius survived OotP because Harry wasn't able to leave Hogwarts until after Snape caught up to him and told him Sirius was safe. Aurors went to the Department of Mysteries instead of six high schoolers, just to be sure, and a few involved Death Eaters were locked up (including Lucius Malfoy) and the prophecies all got destroyed. As the aurors and ministry officials arrived, Voldemort had just gone in to grab the damned prophecy himself, so the ministry found out that he was back

Remus made sure Sirius stayed in hiding by putting him in a safe house with Andromeda, who he hadn't seen since she'd been disowned. Between Sirius and Tonks, Andromeda was done hearing about Lupin by May 4th, 1998, so she hid in her room, at which point a message arrived from Remus saying Harry Potter was in Hogwarts and the Death Eaters were attacking and to make sure Sirius stayed put but Sirius obviously didn't and he fought in the battle

Through the power of combined plot armor and the gay agenda, they both survived the battle

However, Fred Weasley still died. A few months after the battle, Tonks helped George Weasley dye his hair, which she knew how to do bc she used to do Bill's all the time in school. Molly was mad at first until he explained quietly, "I kept thinking it was him in the mirror." She never said a negative word about it again.

Remus's coming out as a trans man was about as fast as it being public he was a werewolf, except without his parents knowing. He showed up at school early his first year to sort out the Whomping Willow mess and tried to sleep in the girls dorm but found out it didn't let him up, then he proceeded to not tell anyone and just pretended to accidentally fall asleep studying every night. Eventually the Marauders figured it out and he admitted it to them. He started staying with them in the guy's dorm and Sirius pretended to be in a relationship with him so the gossip wasn't so much about Remus as it was about Sirius and them being in a relationship. It got back to McGonagall, who confronted Remus bc she thought he was regularly breaking rules to be with a guy. He came out to her and she offered to get him his own bed in the guy's dorms but he said he wasn't ready to be out to everyone yet and she said she understood. After Hogwarts, Remus left his family to live with Sirius, James, and Lily, as well as James' parents. When he got there, he introduced himself as Remus and sometimes people still wonder what happened to Sirius' ex-girlfriend who disappeared off the face of the earth after graduation, and who Sirius wasted no time replacing with an oddly familiar new partner, a boyfriend this time.

As soon as Remus started publicly going by Remus, Sirius promptly forgot his deadname. Remus thought he was trying to make him feel better or making fun of him but one day Sirius was filling out paperwork for him before he changed his legal name that Remus otherwise would not have known Sirius was doing and Sirius waited for him to come home and had him write it because he forgot it then didn't know how to spell it.

Bonus: Percy is a stay-at-home dad who loves his wife Penelope Weasley very much. His brothers still tease him. Since Fred's death, he decided that hearing anything from his brothers, even if it was teasing, was better than nothing.

[nah-she-didnt]

“It’s nothing personal.” Jily angst

Thank you for the prompt!!

Send me a prompt <3 

Complicated

The students greeted each other and chatted animatedly as they loitered in the Great Hall. Excitement hung thick in the air before the first Hogsmeade trip of the term. The students, already bored of studying, longed to rid themselves of the stuffy castle and stroll up and down the village streets with no agenda. The news had been so terrible recently, new deaths and attacks reported every day, that they had collectively decided that everyone needed a day off. 

Lily stood with her back to the crowd, clicking her tongue boredly as she waited for Dorcas and Mary to join her. She’s only left the common room after making both girls promise not to sleep through the day. Mary had merely grunted, and Dorcas stuck a hand out from under the covers to flip her off. 

As Lily wondered whether her friends would ever join her she felt a sharp jab between her shoulder blades. Ouch! She whirled around for the cause of the pain. “Watch it, mudblood,” hissed Rosier as he passed. He’d jabbed her in the back with the point of his wand. 

Lily forced herself to stay cool. He wouldn’t dare attack her in the hall, there were too many other students around. Besides, she could handle Rosier. 

She watched him walk away with narrowed eyes, then looked back up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room. It was entirely possible that her two dates had abandoned her after all. 

But for Lily Evans another date was always waiting around the corner. 

“Alright, Evans?” a voice called to her from across the hall. 

She sighed. James Potter and two thirds of his crew meandered through the crowd in her direction. 

Sirius glanced behind her, as if he were looking for someone. “You look a little lost without your girl gang, Evans.” 

“Yes, well,” Lily winced as she tried to rub the bruise between her shoulders, “some of us had a bit of a lie-in this morning. They never could handle their booze.” 

Remus tutted loudly. “Lily Evans, head girl, drinking alcohol!” 

“I’m of age!” she laughed, punching him on the arm, “though I suppose that doesn’t make a difference when we’re in school.” 

“Careful, Evans,” James wagged a finger annoyingly in her face, “or we’ll report you. We can’t have any troublemaking in the dorm that isn’t caused by the four of us.” 

“Speaking of the four of you,” Lily interrupted, “where’s Pete?”

“Detention,” snickered Sirius, “the git didn’t hand in his Transfiguration homework. He’s only barely in the NEWT class in the first place, and you know McGonagall hates when people slack in her class.” 

Lily raised an eyebrow at Sirius. “Yes, I’m sure you would know all about that.” 

Sirius, pretending to be offended by Lily’s comment, grabbed Remus’ hand. “Come on, love, best leave these two to chat. We’ll meet you in The Hog’s Head, Prongs.” And they wandered away towards the large front doors. 

James watched them go with a sappy look on his face. “Those two are so adorable, don’t you think?” 

Lily smiled, but realized that she suddenly didn’t know what to say. She and James didn’t usually find themselves alone unless they were on Head duties or studying. She felt her palms grow a bit sweaty, which made her want to smack herself. It’s just Potter, she thought furiously, get a grip. 

“Well,” prompted James, who raised a hand to scratch the back of his head anxiously. This movement showed off the muscles in his arms, toned from hours on the quidditch pitch. Stop thinking about his muscles! she berated herself. “I guess we should get going then, shouldn’t we?” 

“What?” She snapped distractedly, forcing herself back to the present. 

“Hogsmeade, I guess we should head down,” James gestured at the crowd of students behind her. They had begun to make their way out of the entrance hall and down into the grounds. 

Lily paused. It was one thing to chat with James in the entrance hall where the whole school gathered. It was another to walk down to Hogsmeade with him. Alone. Where Rosier or anyone else could see. 

She took a step away from James. “I better not. People might think…”

James took a small step towards her, the corner of his mouth lifting flirtatiously. “Might think what, exactly?” 

Lily felt her insides grow cold. “Might think there’s something going on between us when there isn’t.” 

James froze, the smile melting off his face. He tried to puff out his chest and look unbothered, but Lily knew better. “Right,” he huffed, “of course. Couldn’t have people thinking that, imagine the horror.” 

“Potter,” she was doing this all wrong, “it isn’t like that. It’s nothing personal, it’s just complicated-” 

“No, you’re right. It’s complicated. I’ll see you around, Evans,” and with that, James turned on his heel and marched out into the sunlight. 

“Fantastic job, Lily,” she muttered to herself as she watched him go with a hollow feeling in her heart. 

She couldn’t expect him to understand. It was acceptable that she and James had grown closer this year, given that they were Head Boy and Girl, but she knew she couldn’t let their connection grow into anything beyond acquaintance. These days, muggleborns walked the halls at Hogwarts with targets on their backs. Lily was already considering going into hiding with her Dad after graduation. She couldn’t drag James into her mess. Life was already complicated enough without introducing cocky, headstrong, pureblood into the mix. 

She checked her watch and sighed. Her friends definitely weren’t coming. She glanced one last time towards the front doors, but James had disappeared into the thinning crowd. Lily turned on the spot and headed towards the staircase. There would always be another Hogsmeade trip next month. 

[procrastinatingfeminist]

Enemies to lovers trope

Harry Potter wasn't the first book where I encountered the "one true epic love"-type of romantic couple that started out with an incredibly abusive dynamic and barely to no transition phase to romance. But it was the first one with a big and vocal fandom where people like me, who didn't get the attraction, the pull between the romantic pair, got made fun of for it. "How could you not seen it, it is so obvious!" "It was clear from the beginning that those two would end up together!" " Haha, it reminds me so much of (insert a real world couple the speaker knew from school who ended up in a relationship)!"

I stopped voicing my doubts about the chemistry between Ron and Hermione, between James and Lily; hell, even Remus and Tonks looked much too orchestrated and unorganic to me, because there was no build-up for me as a reader to see where their attraction might be coming from. For some time I even started thinking that maybe the reason for my selective blindness was simply because I identify as grey-ace, and thus do not get the sexual pull others see in them.

I am done with doubting myself. Because the point is - it is my sexual drive that is barely there (though not nonexistent either, so yeah, I am capable of extrapolating some of the experience), not the romantic drive. I am fully capable of parsing romance. And a relationship, that starts out as abusive and bullying; in some cases as one-sided obsession, isn't a sign of compatibility. It is what it says on the tin - a sign of abuse. You better fucking show me the progression from antagonism to friendship to romance, instead of skipping straight from hate to boinking, becase otherwise I will call you out on shitty characterisation. Just because hatesex exists, doesn't make it for a great basis for a marriage or cooperative child-rearing.

Maybe because I was that girl in school who constantly got told "Ooooh, he liiiikes you!" when I complained about my bully; until I finally snapped and had to threaten him with a knife to finally get some peace. Because people in positions of authority over us, prepuscent children, dismissed it as pigtail-pulling and flirting. His possible romantic forays were always deemed more important then my peace and comfort. This is bullshit.

Snily is not my pairing of choice, but at least I can understand where those shippers come from. Because despite Snapes radicalisation and shitty behaviour in SWM he and Lily previously had built trust between them and she knows that he is capable of being a good and dependable friend, of doing good things. She has a basis for comparison, to deem if his regret is genuine and if his de-radicalizing is true. Whereas with James there never was a relationship of trust and respect and she always only seen his asshole side. And suddenly she agrees to go out with him? Why? What possible reason would she have for it, that isn't mercenary? Sure, their transformation from enemies to friends to lovers might have happened offscreen, but if so - then this is shitty writing. JKR managed to shove a memory of something that Harry wasn't even born for, in form of SWM, she should have found a way to shove something in to showcase the progression of their relationship. Hell, give us a Sirius memory, pining and being slowly exiled to the sidelines of James' circle. But as it stands - Jily is incomprehensible and makes no goddamn sense.

Ron and Hermione have the same difficulty straddling the divide between "she is annoying/he is lazy and stupid and a bully" and "I've got to boink that", much less a step further to "I want the ever after with that person and have their children". Ron has more chemistry with Lavender than with Hermione. At least in the book version there are some glimpses of that transition, probably whenever JKR remembered "Oh, right, they are supposed to end up together, maybe I should throw in a moment where they don't despise each other quite so much.

On one hand, it is unfair to lay into JKR for the shitty writing - after all, we have a whole ass tradition of shitty characterisation of female characters, who exist solely to be a cardboard cutout for male characters to project their feelings on, with no agenda on their own. But Harry Potter books are an influential cultural milestone that formed a generation of people in their reading habits, and this is the book that brought the problematic points into focus for me - for other it might have been other pieces of media. I just hope that we are getting better.

[owlways-and-forever]

Summary: Lily Evans thought her life would be normal. Well, as normal as it can be for a muggle-born witch in England. But when her boyfriend turns out to be the prince of the wizarding world, and tensions begin to rise among factions of wizarding society, Lily must find her way in situations she never anticipated, and try not to lose sight of her identity. Word Count: 3,293 Links: ao3 | FFnet

A/N: Okay, since this is the official beginning of the story, I'll go over a few points of order now and get them out of the way.

New chapters will be posted every other Saturday. I know this is a long time between chapters, and hopefully you'll be dying for new ones as soon as you've finished the previous ones. But I've got a lot going on right now writing-wise, and I don't want to put myself in the position of having to delay posting because I haven't had a chance to write one week. So I think every other week will have to work for us, and that's just how it's gonna go.

The story is pretty fast-paced, mostly because I'm trying to cover a lot of things happening - both fluff and angst and everything in between. I'm pretty happy with it the way it is but idk, just be aware that if you're wanting a slow burn, this is not that.

Comments and feedback are ALWAYS welcome. Seriously, I love hearing anything from you guys, even if its just one word. Helps me to know that I'm not shouting into the void. Please be respectful with feedback, I don't mind constructive comments, but again, just be nice, respectful, and not hateful. I've never had a problem with this before, but I'm just throwing it out there.

Okay, that is all my points of order at this moment! I am super excited about this story, I've absolutely loved it since I started working on it, and I'm really excited to share it with all of you. My original plan was to finish writing it before I started posting, but I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer. If you check out the "atttr" tag on my tumblr ( owlways-and-forever) you might get to see some edits and artwork to go along with the story! (Also if you want to make edits/art, please do, I would love that). Okay, that's a lot of notes, so without further ado, I present to you the first chapter!

*drumroll*

Chapter 1

The entire wizarding world knew what Prince James looked like officially. He had always been somewhat tall for his age, thin but athletic as he got older, with sleek black hair and hazel eyes. Official portraits of him used to appear in the newspapers every now and then, especially after a big event. The odd thing was, however, no one knew what he looked like unofficially. There were no pictures of him at school or at a bar or anywhere other than somewhere officially planned, where he always looked prim and proper. No one ever saw the Prince out and about, or at least, no one ever knew they did.

Marlene said that when the Prince was born, the King and Queen had made a push to keep his life quite private, and no one really knew anything about his daily life. They didn't even know who his nanny was. Lily had been quite surprised to find out that there was a wizarding monarchy, but then she found out that things were not so different here than from the Muggle world. The Royal Family was largely ceremonial, while most of the functioning government was run by the Ministry of Magic. Like the Muggle world, there were some who thought the monarchy should be disbanded completely, and others who were completely besotted with the Royal Family. She was the same age as Prince Andrew, but Lily had never been terribly bothered about him, especially since she was not likely to ever meet him.

According to Marlene, a long ago, the Royal families had been one family. Brothers who wanted different things or different magical abilities. No one was really sure, it was too long ago. But the fact was that now they were very distinct, in fact the Windsor-Mountbatten family probably didn't even know that there was a whole other Royal Family in Britain.

Marlene was somewhat obsessed with the Royals, and was determined to find out who Prince James really was. She had a number of maddening theories written down in a journal, the equivalent of a board with red string all over it. There was no selfish agenda behind it, she wasn't one of those crazy girls who was in love with him or dreamed of marrying him; it was just a mystery, and Marlene loved a good mystery.

Theory 1: Prince James was homeschooled in the Royal Palace of Whitehall by his mysterious governess. Deemed unlikely on account of needing to socialize with children his own age.

Theory 2: Prince James had been sent to Beauxbatons to be educated. Deemed highly likely owing to English-French treaties and a history of close relations between the two wizarding communities.

Theory 3: Prince James had been sent to one of the other known wizarding schools (probably Ilvermorny) to be educated. Deemed unlikely due to tense relations between wizarding communities.

Theory 4: Prince James had been sent to an unknown wizarding school in one of the Commonwealth states (most likely: Australia). Possible, but not likely.

Theory 5: James Potter was actually Prince James. Deemed highly unlikely for the very obvious reasons.

The last theory had been proposed precisely two days into their first year. The girls were all slipping into their night-dresses and brushing their hair when Marlene burst out of the bathroom, long hair swinging over her shoulder.

"Do you think James Potter is the Prince?" she had blurted out excitedly, hands clutching the railing around their heating stove.

The girls had all giggled at the suggestion, but no one answered. While Lily, Mary and Alice were all Muggle-borns and knew nothing about the Prince, Dorcas simply didn't care. Marlene scrambled across her bed and pulled out a small leather bound notebook from her trunk, opening it to a recent picture of the Prince published on the occasion of the Queen's birthday a few months prior.

"Don't you think they look alike?" Marlene pressed, her eyes wide with excitement.

Lily took the photo from her carefully and looked at the picture of the Prince, waving and smiling with his parents. There was a similarity there for sure, but there were quite a few differences as well. Even though the picture was in black and white, Lily could make out that James had darker skin than the Prince. James glasses and his hair were wild, not sleekly laying down atop his head. And while the Prince had a very proper expression on his face – a smile, but not deep enough to wrinkle his handsome face – James seemed to walk around with a permanent smirk.

That had been when the conversation started, but they had all deemed it impossible, except Marlene who insisted that there was a slight possibility. Over their years at Hogwarts, it did come up a few times, mostly as a joke, but it was clear that it could not be him. Lily had even been to his house once, during their Easter holidays, for a surprise birthday party for Remus. It was a nice house, spacious with a large sloping yard, but it was hardly a royal residence. And also, there was the matter of his friends. Sirius was from a noble family – the equivalent of a Muggle dukedom – but he hated it and vocally opposed the entire aristocratic life. So she highly doubted that he would be best friends with a prince. And she was pretty sure that Remus was a werewolf, not that she had shared her suspicions with the other girls, but she doubted that a prince would be allowed to befriend a werewolf. The aristocracy seemed like that. Not to mention, James Potter appeared to be quite a reckless Quidditch player (and person, in general), and presumably the sole heir to the monarchy would not be allowed to continuously put his life in so much danger.

So when Lily Evans agreed to go to the Three Broomsticks with James Potter to have a butterbeer, she had been quite certain that she was not going on a date with a prince of any kind.

She said she would meet him there, it seemed too much to walk to Hogsmeade together, but now she was rather regretting her choice, as she sat there waiting for James to show up. Her leg bounced nervously, brown saddle shoes lightly tapping the floor. She checked her watch - it was five minutes to 3. Lily had gotten there insanely early, anticipating that her friends would be chatty on the walk to Hogsmeade, pestering and teasing her endlessly, but everyone had been surprisingly quiet. Marlene and Dorcas almost suspiciously so. So she had arrived at the Three Broomsticks more than ten minutes early, and had to sit by herself, anxiously waiting, while her friends went off to do whatever it was they had planned. Mary she knew was meeting Dirk for the afternoon, but wasn't sure what Marlene and Dorcas would be doing. No doubt something they shouldn't be. Lily hoped they weren't planning on spying on her and James.

"Been waiting long?" James asked, sliding into the seat across from Lily with a charming smile and shaking her from her thoughts of her friends. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"You made it, I was starting to worry you'd changed your mind," Lily answered coyly, the corners of her lips lifting in a smile. She wasn't sure she liked how easily smiles came to her when she was around him. He ought to have to work harder to charm her.

"I'd never change my mind about you, Evans," he said, and she felt color rising on her cheeks.

Rosmerta, the pretty, young barmaid approached them with a grin. Lily guessed she had a soft spot for James, as she paid Lily no attention whatsoever, her brown eyes fixed on him, taking in his muscles as they flexed while he removed the jacket he had on over his t-shirt. They were long and sinewy, lean, but clearly fit. Like he was built for speed.

"Butterbeer okay?" James asked, but Lily didn't hear him. She had somehow conjured up an image of his arms wrapped around her, how good and safe and strong it would feel. "Lils?"

"What?" she said, flushing darker as she tore her eyes away from his muscles and fixed on his hazel gaze.

"Is butterbeer okay?" he repeated, his eyebrows arching somewhere between curiosity and satisfaction.

"Yes, that would be lovely," Lily answered, directing her answer at Rosmerta with a weak smile.

"Everything alright?" James asked, once Rosmerta has sauntered away.

"Yeah, fine," she said. "Just… in my head, that's all."

"What are you thinking?" he pressed, grinning.

"Nothing, nothing," Lily tried to say, waving his question off, definitely not making eye contact with him.

"C'mon, Lils, you can tell me anything," he said sincerely, the grin replaced by a moderately more sober smile.

"I... just… you look very good today," she answered at last, blush staining her cheeks again.

"Thank you," he replied, reaching out to take her hand across the table. "You look quite beautiful yourself."

Lily smiled. She had tried to look nice, but beautiful was never really a word she felt applied to her. Pretty, sure, and cute. Maybe even stylish. But beautiful felt like it implied a kind of grace or elegance that she certainly didn't possess. 'Beautiful' was for duchesses who wore elaborate gowns and fine jewelry and had blowouts done every day. Not for girls who just put their wet hair in a plait and never had their makeup right and spent as little as possible on clothes.

"Did you read Maria Melendez' article in the Prophet this morning?" James asked, his thumb moving gently across the back of her hand.

"I didn't, actually," Lily answered, turning to look out the window. She loved Ms. Melendez' writing, and usually tried to follow everything she wrote. She had even been excited for this morning's piece - a scathing assessment of the monarchy's damage to feminism - and had meant to read it, but she had been sidetracked trying to decide what to wear and how to do her hair with Marlene, Dorcas and Mary. (Lily had adamantly stated that she would dress how she usually dressed, and if James didn't like it, he could go fuck a hippogriff. Marlene said she needed to dress sexier, Mary had said she should look pretty, and Dorcas said she should wear one of her political tees so he knew exactly where she stood.) After she had gotten them all off her back and chosen something she felt comfortable in, they had been running late, and Lily had barely had time to wolf down a late breakfast, let alone read the Prophet.

Rosmerta came back and deposited the two butterbeers on their table, casting a sullen look at their intertwined fingers before returning to the bar.

"It was rather well written," he said when she had gone, eyes following Lily's gaze, and she snorted lightly. "What?"

"'Well written' is what people say when they completely disagree with everything in an article but don't want to admit it," Lily replied matter-of-factly.

"That's not true…"

"Do you agree with her?"

"Not as such, no," James admitted, his hand leaving Lily's to run through his hair. Lily knew it was his tic, his way of soothing himself when he was anxious. She'd seen him do it numerous times.

"Why not?"

"How much do you know about the monarchy?" he asked with a small sigh.

"Admittedly not as much as I do about the muggle monarchy," she said. "Most of what I know is what Marlene has told me, or what I actually listened to in Binns' class. But, without having read the article, I would imagine that she has a point. Monarchies are always unfair to women, ignoring them and passing over them not only for opportunities to rule, but also for recognition for the contributions they have been allowed to make."

"There have been quite a few muggle queens," James observed, trying his best to sound off-hand.

"Yes, but they only became queens as a last resort, when there were no male heirs to assume the throne," Lily countered, color rising in her cheeks as she started to feel out a good fight. She loved a good debate.

"Did you know that wizarding queens have equal right to ascend the throne as their male counterparts? Always the eldest child, regardless of sex…" he said, hazel eyes sparkling with defiance.

"I -"

"In fact, the current queen inherited the throne over two younger brothers," he continued. "57% of all wizarding monarchs have been queens, and have served on average longer terms, which means that in the history of the wizarding monarchy, 71% has been spent with a queen sitting on the throne."

"While that may be true, when queens marry, their husbands are given the title of King, not king consort or prince, which puts them above their wives in ranking," Lily argued, but James was ready.

"The Marital Equity Act of 1432," he said, "grants the husbands of queens the rank of rex honorarium et desponsata. It means that the title is subject to their marriage. Should the queen divorce him or die prior to him, his title would disappear. In the case of divorce, he is returned to any titles he would have had prior to marriage, but in the case of death he becomes the princeps patria or, if there are no children, the princeps consiliario. He has no power over her in any situation, but gets equal weight in any decisions of house."

"How do you know all of this?" Lily asked, impressed with his knowledge.

"I'm rather interested in history," he answered with a shrug. "Have been since I was a kid."

"So you don't think there's a problem with the way women are treated in wizarding society?" Lily asked, turning her focus back to their debate.

"That's not what I said," James replied with a wry smile. "But I don't think the monarchy is the root of the problem. In fact, I think the monarchy does what it can to help improve things as much as possible. And I have hope that the next generation with do better."

"You have a high opinion of the prince then?"

"I… I just try to be optimistic," he said. "I have to believe that he understands that there is more that could be done, for women, for muggle borns, for other beings in the wizarding world."

"James… what's happening with the death eaters… it scares me…" Lily admitted, her green eyes focused on the table, and James reached out again and took her hand.

"Me too, but I can't imagine how it must feel for you," he said softly, his eyes full of tenderness. "But I can promise you that you aren't alone. I am here for you anytime you need support or need to talk, and I will offer you any protection I can give. Though I'm sure you don't need it. But the offer, at least, always stands."

"Thank you."

They spent the rest of their date talking about lighter, mundane things - Sirius' new idea for a prank, Lily's plans for Christmas break, the Quidditch season. Lily teased James about Rosmerta and he made her blush when he poked fun at her fling gone awry with Benjy the previous year. Between them, there was an easy air of people who had been friends for some time, who knew each other inside and out. But at the same time, each time James' fingers brushed her hands, Lily felt like there was electricity in her blood, and she nearly jumped when his hand lightly touched the small of her back when they stood to leave.

"Hey Lily," James said quietly, as they were walking down the street together, meandering past shops."I'd really like to kiss you."

"Are you asking my permission?" she teased, the corners of her mouth twitching upward. James had stopped walking, his hand tugging at hers while he wore a very serious expression, as though her answer would be life or death.

"I won't if you don't want me to," he said.

Lily was so touched by this that she moved abruptly, reaching up to place her hands on his face and pulling his lips to meet hers. It took him a second to respond in his surprise, but then he was leaning into the kiss, one hand splayed out across her back while the other caressed her jaw. He pulled away after a moment, touching his forehead to hers as he breathed her in. She could see the blush tinting his tan cheeks, and the way his eyes were focused on her he seemed to be quite affected. She felt like something had changed as well, like this was one of those moments that changed your whole life, and she butterflies swooped in her stomach at the thought of her and James twenty years down the line.

"Okay then," James said, trying very hard to regain his composure as he stepped back, his fingers finding hers again.

Lily smiled broadly, James echoing her, and just like that they were Hogwarts' newest couple.

[soniabookwhore]

Okay, i understand that in this fandom we can come with a weird ship but still be okay with that, and that we should respect everyone opinion...but THAT...its too much for my 15 years old mind....

[moonspiresx]

Its your friendly neighborhood rose coming in with 4 more characters cause I have 0 self control! 

TW: Character Death, Childhood werewolfness??? Idk

Scorpius Malfoy

( bang chan, male, he him) WOAH, what’s SCORPIUS MALFOY doing walking around rivergate? what do you mean they GO TO SCHOOL here? oh, well that’s crazy! now that i think of it, i hear that they’re known as the 21year old ACADEMIC because they’re so + BRAVE, but can also be pretty - HESITANT. rumor has it that they DO remember who they are, but who knows?

Ohhhhhh Wow A soft boy

is 1000% confused as to why he is here

thinks a spell may have gone wrong 

new places are scary! 

Scorpius is an anxiety ridden boy who just wants to drink tea

is v gay and loves albus severus potter but also is muildly afraid to put himself out there

misses his momma so so much its been 7 years since she passed and he hates how much he misses Astoria 

Scorpius is very like “Imma protect but also like A BeE WhErE????” 

I love this soft small kiddo

Remus Lupin

( matthew gray gubler, male, he/him ) WOAH, what’s REMUS LUPIN doing walking around rivergate? what do you mean they WORK AS A(N ) TEACHER here? oh, well that’s crazy! now that i think of it, i hear that they’re known as the 34 year old WOLF because they’re so PROTECTIVE, but can also be pretty PASSIVE. rumor has it that they DON’T remember who they are, but who knows?

All ABOARD THE FEELS TRAIN

100% has no idea where he is and why

doesnt remember dying but 1000% remembers the mauraders era

doesn’t know he has a son

Remus is a very nice man who loves showing his students new and exciting things

he does miss classes once a month because...

HES A WEREWOLF OH NOOOO 

Hates his lycantrhopy and in turn hates himself

students think his scars are cool

remus really just wants others to feel joy 

knows he can do magic and such but his memories are fuzzy

misses lily and james and SIRIUS 

wonders constantly what happened to Harry

Jughead Jones

( ryan potter male he/him) WOAH, what’s JUGHEAD JONES doing walking around rivergate? what do you mean they GO TO SCHOOL here? oh, well that’s crazy! now that i think of it, i hear that they’re known as the 21 year old IMP because they’re so + LIGHTHEARTED, but can also be pretty - SARCASTIC. rumor has it that they DON’Tremember who they are, but who knows?

Hahahahaha riverdale canon who???

Jughead jones aka my gamer son who loves cheeseburgers and his dog hotdog

a meme, sarcastic, but also like wants the best for people. 

ASEXUAL FOR LIFE

JUghead has 0 idea what his life was like prior to ending up in rivergate 

loves video games and mischief 

not here for your straight agenda

dating ew 

he 100% plays DnD and doesnt care if you think hes weird because why would he? 

Studying to be a game developer

Dustin Henderson

( tom holland, male, he/him) WOAH, what’s DUSTIN HENDERSON doing walking around rivergate? what do you mean they GO TO SCHOOL here? oh, well that’s crazy! now that i think of it, i hear that they’re known as the 21 year old BARD because they’re so + STUDIOUS, but can also be pretty - STUBBORN. rumor has it that they DO remember who they are, but who knows?

Dustin is literally walking sass

apparently hes now the oldest friend

somehow he ended up in rivergate sooner than his friends which Sucks!!!

will roast you for pudding

loves his science textbooks and is a biochemical engineering major

a literal walking meme

still kind of awkward and really nursing a crush on nancy still

WHERE IS MY DAD STEVE HARRINGTON

Has two cats because he misses mews

REMEMBERS EVERTHING WHAT THE FUCK

thinks eleven and the gang time traveled without him

[scaredofrobots]

Nightmare Before Christmas

Shout out to @petalstofish for BETAing and explaining Tumblr and @beks21 for telling me it didn’t totally suck. 

Prompt for Jily October:  It’s Halloween at Hogwarts but Lily’s already humming Christmas music on rounds and James wants to kill her.

also on FFN

It is a fact universally acknowledged that come October, people can be divided into two factions.

Those who live for leaf piles, pumpkin patches and Halloween.

And those who turn the calendar to October 1 and begin the 84 day countdown to Christmas.

Now, James Potter always paid particular attention to Lily Evans. Somehow though, October had always been an exception to this rule. Because James Potter lived for the bliss of cooler weather, the beginning of quidditch and planning the annual Halloween prank. In the month of October, James had other things on his mind thankyouverymuch and couldn’t be bothered to know what kind of October person Lily Evans was. 

He knew, of course that her eyes sparked the most in the winter. She practically glowed in January, especially on her birthday week. He knew she was melancholy in March, whimsical in April and that she would take any dare she was given and make you regret it in July.

Through no fault of his own, James had missed the inaugural pronouncement of “84 Days until Christmas” on October 1st in their first year due to an unfortunate accident with the giant squid; missed the distribution of “pre pre Christmas cookie taste test” on October 11th their second year (detention); the Christmas tree catastrophe of their third year (quidditch); the Christmas knitting party in fourth year (quidditch); the mistletoe mishap of fifth year (holding a leaf in your mouth for a month sucks); and he was unaware of the failed 84 day advent calendar of sixth year (the giant squid really needed to give a man a break).

So when James picked Lily up for rounds he was taken aback when he heard her singing “Good King Wenceslas” in their office.

 “Lily… are you ready? It’s time for rounds!”

 As she flung the door open James swore he smelled pine, gingerbread and plum.

 She responded with too much enthusiasm for a Tuesday, “Oh yes sorry! Lost track of time. Tis the season, you know?”

“Right. Well shall we take the usual route?”

“Of course!” She said with a overly cheery laugh and off they went. 

Rounds were the usual banter and discussion of quidditch, classes and gossip. Near the end of the second hour however, Lily began to hum. Now, Lily always started humming when they’d run out of typical conversation and normally James enjoyed it. She’d introduced him to at least five new bands in the few months they’d been dating. But tonight, tonight surprised him. He swore he must be having some sort of auditory hallucination. At first it was “Good King Wenceslas” which he figured could be a tune that had a variety of lyrics. By the time they got to astronomy tower though, James was positive Lily was humming “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

He racked his brain on how to approach this. They’d entered a tentative friendship at the beginning of sixth year and had fallen easily into something more than friends over the summer (a man can only stand being bested in Muggle poker for so long before he has to make a move). They hadn’t had a fight since they started dating and he didn’t want to start now.

“Hey Lils…what’s today?”

The humming stopped. “October 3rd- only..” 

“28 days until Halloween I know”

“Right! I forgot! I was going to say only…”

But they were interrupted as was typical of rounds by an excited couple and the conversation was cut short. After losing rock-paper-scissors (14/25) James had to fill the appropriate paperwork, owl the heads of house and create the rounds schedule for the next two weeks.

He was halfway to the kitchens for a pick me up when he decided he needed to seek the advice of one Remus John Lupin.

The dorm was a mess as usual and he was unsurprised to find Remus studying, Sirius braiding his hair and Peter trying to beat himself in Wizard Chess.

“Ah ha!” Exclaimed Sirius “The prodigal Prongs returns”

“Did we have a meeting planned?” squeaked Peter as his knight destroyed his other knight. 

“No, no. I just finished rounds.”

“And how were rounds?”

“Interesting”

 Sirius twisted his expression, “Interesting, what did you and Evans catch Filch and McGonagall in the astronomy tower or something and felt the need to tell us all the gory details?”

“No! God No���I just….” He can’t quite define why he is so bothered by the events that transpired so he starts, “Well rounds were great as usual… but then Lily starting humming”

“alas-“ exclaimed Sirius “not the humming! Not the waxing poetic ‘Pads I swear it feels like home’ humming!” 

“How shall you survive the humming?” Peter agreed dramatically, following Sirius’ playful jest.

“I never thought humming could be beautiful until rounds with Lily Evans.” Sirius mimicked James’ voice and James frown deepened.

Peter clasped his hands like he was praying and said through snorts of laughter, “And I just keep thinking I could hear that humming to our child as she puts them to sleep.”

“Oi! I never said the bit about rocking a kid to sleep”

“Yes you did” was the chorused reply

“Right, well normally I enjoy her humming. But tonight she bloody well went through every Christmas tune known to man.”

The response was not what James had expected. He had expected protesting, outrage at the blasphemy and Sirius dramatically storming toward the head suite to have one of his “chats with Evans”.

 He did not expect Remus to simply pick his book back up, Peter to laugh and Sirius to say “Right. Well- you know how Evans gets”

 “No I do not know “how she gets”. It’s October 3rd. We are nowhere near the reasonable time to begin singing Christmas songs”

 Remus shrugged, “I’m with you mate, but for Lily that timeline is different. I mean the girl begins knitting Christmas jumpers in July”

“I think the worst was in third year when she tried to teach me how to knit”

“Honestly Wormtail it isn’t that hard to cast off. Evans did turn your monstrosity into a lovely scarf” 

“I do love that scarf” Peter said wistfully.

 “Personally I think her worst attempt was last years advent calendar” Remus added, unhelpfully.

Just as the conversation was about to spin totally out of control James countered “What. The. Bloody. Hell. Are. You. Lot. On. About.  I know everything about Lily Evans. I would know- I would have to know if she was a - a- “

He couldn’t finish his sentence so Sirius finished it for him, “Pumpkin abusing, Halloween skipping, heinous pre Christmasophile?”

“YES! How could I miss such a glaring flaw?”

 “Lilytober” they chorused again

“Stop speaking all at once!”

“Remus you tell him” Peter motioned pathetically to James.

 Calmly, Remus set down his book and started “Lilytober is the great and time honored tradition where one James Potter does not mention Lily Evans for 31 days because he is manically preparing for quidditch, the annual pumpkin carving contest and the Halloween prank. In his absence, Lily Evans pushes her pre Christmas agenda on all of us but we do not mention it because it’s a fair trade to have 31 days of rant free bliss”

“We, of course, knew that this year would be different since you finally got Lily to agree to go out with you” Sirius said, “Lilytober- may it live in our hearts forever and ever”

Ignoring this James said “So, you mean to tell me….everyone…..everyone in Gryffindor tower knows that Lily Evans is an absolute Christmas nutter who ignores the sacred month of October and all that autumn holds except me?”

“All of Hogwarts knows Prongs”, Peter added unhelpfully.

James pressed his fingers to his temples, “I need a drink. Or 5. Or to reevaluate the kind of woman I fall for.”

How there always seemed to be a stockpile of Firewhiskey in the dorm, James would never know but he was appreciative of Sirius and his ability to keep a constant and much needed supply. 

On the 5th shot James had an epiphany , “I’ll just convert her!”

On shot number 6 Sirius responded “Convert her to what? You’re talking crazy mate”

“No, no, listen. I converted Lily from borderline hating me to being my girlfriend. Making her see that October is for spooky things and not Christmas should be easy. I just have to show her all that October can offer. Pumpkin carving, setting off explosives, scaring first years. Come October 31st we will never remember Lily unnecessarily singing ‘Good King Wenceslas’ on October Third Again”

“Good luck with that mate” Sirius said into shot number 7.

The next morning dawned bright and early and although they had planned a lie in to deal with their hangovers they were awoken by the smell of coffee and someone singing

“Good Christian men rejoice

With heart and soul and voice!

Give ye heed to what we say

News! News!

Jesus Christ is born today!

Ox and ass before Him bow

And He is in the manger now

Christ is born today!

Christ is born today!”

 Amidst the groans and complaints of “Fuck, Evans, it’s only Wednesday” James heard the love of his life respond “Wake up gents, I’ve got coffee and hangover potion and Minnie is already looking for you Sirius so you better get up and at them” before she kissed him on the head told him “see you in potions” and whisked out the door. 

“How does Lily always know when we’ve been drinking?” Peter asked, pulling pumpkin pasty from nowhere and taking a large bite

“James never tells her goodnight on our drinking nights so she always prepares a ‘Hangover Cart’” replied Remus grabbing the sole cup of tea.

Sirius’ grey eyes looked at the hangover cure lovingly, “Moony, if I ever leave you for someone it will be that mad Christmas bird. We’d be dead without her”

James chucked his sock at Sirius playfully, “Oi! That’s my mad Christmas bird”

After a day of too many loud noises, bright lights and general discomfort, James decided that Operation Spooky Lily could wait until the weekend.  He had much too much homework, his quidditch team was looking like rubbish and they didn’t even have a draft of the big Halloween prank. So it was on the way to Hogsmeade on October 7th that operation October went into effect.

As they walked down the path to the village James took Lily on a detour to Hagrid’s pumpkin patch.

 “I thought we could skip Hogsmeade today and celebrate the beginning of October properly, by carving pumpkins and roasting seeds” James told her as he pulled her from the usual path.

“But James, I wanted to go to Madame Puddifoots and snuggle- we haven’t  been to Hogsmeade since we became official” Lily whined, but with a twinkle in her eyes that made him retaliate with a slight pinch on her side.

 “I don’t know why I started dating someone as sarcastic as my best mate.”

“Because your best mate was already dating your other best mate and Peter is just there as a cute accessory?” Lily guessed.

“I’ll have you know Peter brings a lot to our group dynamic.”

Lily just rolled her eyes, let go of his hand yelling “race you” before running to the pumpkin patch. 

James Potter learned that afternoon that Lily Evans had never carved a pumpkin or eaten pumpkin seeds. After recovering from this shock, he promptly showed her “the proper way” to cut and gut her pumpkin (he was glad Sirius wasn’t around or there would’ve been a 4 hour debate). After two hours of carving, throwing slime on each other and catching roasted pumpkin seeds; they revealed their masterpieces to each other.

James had carved an elaborate black cat wearing a witches hat that looked suspiciously like McGonagall. Lily had carved a shape that looked suspiciously like Santa Clause. 

“Lil- is that”

“Santa? You know him? I wasn’t sure if it was just a Muggle thing or-why are you looking at me like that? I know his beard is a little off but I think the hat is clear enough”

She looked so pleased with herself and worried about his approval, the rant bubbling up from his core died on his lips.

“It looks brilliant. Now let’s go drop them on some Slytherin’s heads” 

After thoroughly checking off “pumpkin carving prank” on the Operation October checklist, James knocked out “haunted house” , “leaf piles”, “dying Mrs. Norris black” and “charming all the cauldrons into jack o lanterns” with Lily at his side in no less than two weeks.

Things were going so splendidly James often forgot there was an operation unless one of the boys asked. It was October, he was pretty sure he was in love and his Quidditch team had never looked better. Nothing could take James Potter down.

That was of course until the morning of October 21, the day of the Gryffindor/Slytherin match when his beautiful girlfriend came to breakfast, not in the agreed upon James Potter quidditch jumper she had worn to matches since February 6th year after an unfortunate accident at breakfast but a blinking twinkling jumper that had a red nosed deer embellished on it.

Taking a deep breath, counting to ten and trying to not curse James prompted “Lily, dearest…what are you wearing?”

“My October 21 jumper. It’s Rudolph the red nosed reindeer’s birthday and I wear it every year”

“Lily” James said through gritted teeth,  “It’s a Quidditch day”

“You’ll survive one game without me wearing your ‘lucky jumper’”

“Rudolph will survive one year without you wearing a bloody Christmas jumper in October!!!” 

Lily drew back, “James Potter I do not like your tone.”

This, for some reason was the last straw, “Look- if you’re not going to wear my jumper and insist upon wearing that blasphemy in October then don’t even come to the match, alright?”

“Fine” Lily said coolly, “but don’t expect me to show up to the post match party either”

And then she left. James watched her go.

Miraculously and despite his girlfriend’s absence and refusal to wear the proper attire- Gryffindor won. James was so thrilled (and trashed) he had completely forgotten why and what they had fought about until he asked Marlene “where’s Lily?” and Marlene started shouting about reindeer and birthdays and “if you can’t love October Lily you don’t deserve Summer Lily” and shouting until his head hurt.

His only response was “It’s bloody October and no reasonable person should even look at a Christmas jumper until November 1 and you can tell her that.”

The party died down soon after and James did not emerge from his room the next day. He was doing what any reasonable bloke in a fight with his girlfriend would do, hide and avoid.

This was going remarkably well. He only ate in the kitchens, arrived to all classes at the last possible second and left as soon as the bell rang. He even switched with Remus to do

Wednesday night rounds so he wouldn’t have to be alone with Lily that Friday. He was sure he could successfully avoid her until graduation even instead of Benji Fenwick waiting for him in the great hall, there in a hideous Christmas jumper stood one Lily Evans.

“I thought Remus had rounds” she said in her Best Head Girl voice.

“He did. We switched”

“If I was going to be stuck with one of your lot for rounds I wanted Remus”

 “Your lot again, is it?”

“Let’s just do rounds I’m too tired to do this now.”

“Nice jumper.”

 “Thanks. It’s my ‘two months till Christmas’ jumper” 

Rounds had never been so awkward. Their interactions had never been so awkward. Total silence. So when Lily started humming James was almost relieved. That is until he realized what it was.

 “Can you stop humming please?”

She did. Two minutes later however she started singing “Oh the weather outside is frightful”

“Lily”

“But the fire is so delightful”

“Evans”

 “And since we’ve no place to go”

“Please.” he asked weakly.

“LET IT SNOW. LET IT SNOW. LET IT SNOW!”

“WOULD YOU BLOODY STOP. I don’t understand how the girl I’m dating could possibly sing that song on October 25.”

Lily crossed her arms and smirked, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud to all to hear!”

“ITS OCTOBER.”

“it’s only -“

“I don’t care how many days it is till Christmas. I don’t care about your ruddy jumpers. I just care that Halloween is in a week and for no discernible reason you have decided that my favorite holiday should be besmirched with Santa and Rudolph!”

Lily tossed her red hair over one shoulder, “I just love Christmas. Christmas is my favorite” 

“Christmas has enough! It has a whole church season! Halloween doesn’t have anything.”

Lily scoffed, “IT’S THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS!”

Taking a step back, James said “maybe we should just- take a break until November”

“No,” Lily stated, “if we can’t even resolve this fight we should just end it. It was good while it lasted but maybe this is a sign.”

For the second time in less than a week, Lily left and James let her.

 The next 7 days were transformative. It felt like 5th year again. Lily and James existing in separate bubbles. She was as good (if not better) than James at avoidance a fact he was more aware of because Sirius kept complaining of “that red-headed banshee trying to get out of our much needed ‘Chat with Evans’”

On Halloween morning, James couldn’t even be encouraged by their impending Best Prank Ever when the final nail in his coffin was delivered by Lily Evans flirting with Some Ravenclaw Bloke. Lily Evans who was a vision in some Christmas jumper that he was sure she called “her Halloween Christmas jumper”. Some Ravenclaw Bloke has just made her laugh and she was leaning over his shoulder to look at something. James realized he hadn’t looked at her in over a week and he had forgotten how lovely she was.

“That is it!” Sirius exclaimed.

Sirius threw down his bacon and stalked over to Lily, told Some Ravenclaw Bloke to “get bent” and dragged the redhead from the dining hall to what James was sure would be the most terrible “Chat with Evans” of all time.

As he started to imagine the lecture Lily was sure to get regarding Some Ravenclaw Bloke his thoughts were interrupted by Remus

“You know I hate to meddle Prongs but maybe you need to rethink this whole argument”

“It’s October Remus” 

“I know but maybe this is Lily’s Thing.”

“Thing?”

 “The Thing you have to accept and then maybe try and understand. Lily didn’t get quidditch and was against it until she became our friend. She doesn’t like that you broke the law to help with my furry little problem but she respects it. You’ve got Things that she accepts about you.”

“She never told me she had a problem with any of that.”

Remus stared at James pointedly, “Because she loves you, you idiot, and didn’t want you to feel guiltier than you do.” 

James swallowed deeply, “I’ve fucked up.”

Returning to his crossword, Remus said “I’d dare say you have.”

 “What do I do Remus?”

 “A grand dramatic gesture should do the trick.”

“But when?”

“The post feast party tonight. I’d say the actual feast but Lily is taking Samuel’s shift for rounds.”

“Who the bloody hell is Samuel?”

“The Ravenclaw she was talking to- he’s a prefect and wants to enjoy the feast with his boyfriend. Honestly, I thought you were head boy?”

After the realization that Some Ravenclaw Bloke was alright, James and Remus started plotting. Peter joined them after divination and at their lunch break in the kitchens Sirius arrived looking grim but smug.

“How was the ‘Chat with Evans’” Remus asked

“Bird is bloody stubborn. I also told Some Ravenclaw Bloke to leave my mates girl alone”

“who?” Asked Peter the same time James said “she’s not my girl”

“Samuel” Remus responded and there was a firm “Yes she is” from Sirius

“She won’t be if we don’t get the fuck to work” mumbled James.

The feast was excellent, the Best Prank Ever went off without a hitch and got a standing ovation from all the houses and professors. The fireworks were successful and didn’t catch anyone on fire. In the Gryffindor Common Room the Halloween Costume Party was in full swing. The Grand Romantic Gesture was all set up but the lady to woo was nowhere to be found. James felt absolutely ridiculous in his costume but Remus assured him it was the right choice. He was ready to abandon all hope when he heard a “trick or treat” from behind him.

He turned around to see the sexiest pumpkin of all time. Lily was wearing green tights and a ridiculous pumpkin costume. She was perfect and all James could say was “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas” through his pull on beard. With these words all the floating pumpkins began to sing

“We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy Halloween!”

“I’m sorry” they said together

 then, “I love you”

Lily said with a laugh, “Happy Halloween, Potter”

“Happy Christmas, Lily”

And then they kissed.

Once James took off the beard.

[wildegreenlight]

Who cares about Harry Potter?

 Who cares about Harry Potter? I am glad you asked.

The Dursley’s hate him. Petunia’s jealousy of Lily and Vernon’s fear of magic make him loathsome to them. Dudley merely feeds off his parent’s prejudices.

Dumbledore cares for Harry. His concern is primarily caused by his awareness of the role that he might play in saving the wizarding world. Eventually, he does learn to feel a kind of love for him, but it is always tinged with the knowledge of his “importance.”

Snape despises Harry. Harry’s resemblance to James is noxious to Snape for many reasons. First it is a reminder of the man that he has hated above all others. He blames James for Lily’s rejection and ultimate death. He in turn feel that Harry’s mere existence is what truly caused Lily’s demise. While some might argue that it is only his twisted obsession with Lily (and those eyes) that keep him “in check”, I would argue that it only deepens his resentment.

Sirius loves Harry. He loved Harry before he even met him, to be quite honest. James is like a brother to him and Harry is an extension of James. That “Nice one, James!” moment just solidifies that fact. Sirius struggles to see past his relationship with Harry’s parents. He does care for him, but he never gets the opportunity to really know Harry.

Remus loves Harry. In a similar way to Sirius, Remus loves Harry in the beginning because of his strong attachment to James and Lily. He has more of an opportunity to know Harry on a personal level and in some ways bridges the gap between those whose feelings for Harry are based on his parentage and those who value him as an individual.

Hagrid adores Harry. He is the first adult that we see possess pure feelings for Harry. He knows all about Harry’s “importance”, but he mainly just wants him to keep him happy and safe (even if he is sometimes a little misguided and reckless).

Molly (and Arthur) Weasley loves Harry with a mother’s love. She does not see him as harry POTTER, but just Harry. She accepts him as one of her own because, quite frankly, nobody else has. There are no agendas, just love. She tries to shield him from the great responsibility that has been placed on his shoulders. When others are offering him up as a sacrifice, she decides that the entire wizarding world can go hang if it means that this child has to be sacrificed in its stead. I see quite a bit of Molly hate; saying that she tried to coddle him, that she was too overprotective. You know, what? I’m okay with that. God knows he deserved some love and protection.

[orionlakehastodie]

Ocean And The Breeze (1/?) - The Sweetest Thing

She did not know when it all began. But if you ask her it was always there. 

Lily could hardly remember a day when she did not, in any way or form, feel strongly about James Fleamont Potter. Whether it be good or bad, she felt for him, so strongly she was sometimes scared of the tides, the ebbs and flows of her own emotion. 

Such was the way of love, a tumult, a tempest, especially when it was... not as simple as love ought to be. 

Maybe it began in seventh year, when his owl, snowy white with golden eyes, tapped on his window asking her to talk. Maybe it was the rapid thud in her chest, the warmth on her skin, the rush of blood in her veins that she felt when he walked in the doors of Florean Fortescue’s ice cream shop wearing a crisp white shirt and tight jeans and scuffed up shoes. 

Maybe it way his glasses slipped down his nose, and the wind ruffled his hair at the same time he saw her and beamed that gave the illusion of a dramatic entrance into the story of her life. Here he is, here he is at last. 

Maybe it was the way the Head Boy’s badge fitted in his palms, and seemed to belong there, seemed to be perfect for him, despite the Marauder is his eyes that shaded and darkened as he awaited for her expression. 

Maybe it was the way his cheeks flushed when she laughed and patted his hand and told him she was glad it was him, and that they should work well together. 

Maybe it was the way that James Fleamont Potter blushed when he was embarrassed, despite having the world bow down at his feet that drew her in. That hint of... James amidst all the bravado. 

Maybe it was the notion that there was a James she did not know, and yet always knew. 

Maybe it was the notion that if she were honest with herself, it began far longer than seventh year. She was just never able to admit it to herself. 

---

If you asked her, she knew from the first moment that one day James and Lily would change the world as she knew it. They were far too... potent, too vital, too James and Lily for them to be anything else but. 

Marlene McKinnon could tell the exact moment it happened, the moment she knew with certainty that it was, finally, happening. 

James Fleamont Potter and Lily Jane Potter were finally falling in love. 

It was a cold day in sixth year, and Lily had finally, finally admitted to herself that Severus was beyond saving. He wasn’t some hapless victim brainwashed by Voldemort’s agenda. He sought it, he craved it, and the power, the status that it brought with it. 

And with that acceptance she had also, finally admitted what Marlene knew from the first night Lily Evans opened her mouth about James - that her friend was completely and utterly besotted. 

It had been a revelation to watch of course. The way Lily would often sit on the sills of the window by her bed, arms locked around her knees and looking out at the sky, dark and bleak or bright and sunny, and worry her lower lip with her teeth. On her hands was a stuffed deer that she always had, a toy named Prongsie, which she knew mimicked the secret nickname James’ friends called him sometimes. 

The way she’d look sadly at the drawer full of cards, and dried flowers and knick knacks James gave her over the years. She claimed to have hated them of course, but she kept them all, every single one, locked in the bottom drawer of her dresser, safely guarded and carefully preserved. 

She most especially enjoyed that painstaking concentration Lily gave to a pair of knitting needles, a large ball of red and yellow yarn and Molly Weasley’s Letter being read to her outloud by some spell she cast on it, trying to follow Molly’s instructions to a T. 

In the end it wasn’t the “I’m sure it’s a magnificent jumper” Molly assured her it would be. The stitching was crooked, and the large J pattered on the front looked more like a toddler scrawled I, but it was warm and soft and smelled faintly of fresh laundry, and Lily - with various plasters and healing paste on her hands, and bags under her eyes, wrapped it in bright gold paper and stood in the biting cold of December, watching the finals between Gryffindor and Slytherin. 

Lily had always been a fan of Quidditch, and she had never missed a single game, but today she stood out in the crowd with her flaming red hair poorly restrained by a crusty scrunchy behind her head. She avoided wearing red as it clashed horribly with her hair, but she was now, in view of everyone, clad in a large scarlet shirt with a blazing Gryffindor Lion on the front and POTTER blazoned on the back with a large number 1 accompanying it. 

When Gryffindor won  the match 300-290 despite the Slytherin Seeker Flint catching the Snitch, having miscalculated the lead Gryffindor had on them, Lily was the first one up from the stands, and James Potter was currently mobbed by his teammates but he met her eyes and she met his and everyone saw the kiss she blew to him, and the stunned pleased flush that took residence on his face for the rest of the night as he emerged from the Quidditch Pitch in a badly sewn jumper with a really skewed J towards the Lake where Lily Evans was hosting the Gryffindor victory party. 

Marlene helped with the food and Lily looked over to James and it was there, in that quiet look, the I’m glad you’re here, with me, with the rest of our friends.

And the things was she did not feel left out. Maybe real love was like that, it opens, it makes you more, it give more than it takes. Because when James came over to them, he engaged both of them in conversation but his arms wrapped around Lily and Lily fit against his chest. 

But they were present in that moment, not lost in their own world but there, alive, vital and vivid. And that was the image of them that she’d carry with her for the rest of her days. The image of what love, good and true and pure can do to a person. 

---

If you asked him the moment he knew for sure that the Marauders were not just the boys anymore was fifth year. 

He liked Evans well enough, but Sirius believed in brotherhood - something he and Regulus failed to have, and for a while he had the notion that it would be him and Prongs and Moony and Wormtail against the world. 

Until he saw the looks James sent Lily. 

And saw the looks that Lily sent back.

Until Lily became as much a part of James’ life as the Marauders. 

Until she became much a part of his. 

And he realized then and there that James was growing up, but not outgrowing them. They were still the best of friends, but the dynamics have changed. 

No longer was James a fellow prankster, a blood brother in crime, he was... very much Sirius’ family. He loved Remus and Peter of course, but James was his brother. He opened his home to him, when his own had cast him away. 

And wasn’t it nice, that Lily Evans was just like him in that respect? 

She... took him in. 

He could have sworn she never much liked him, but she still took him in. 

To be honest he was afraid that when Evans returned James’ feelings and he was sure that one day she would, for he often saw the longing stares she sent his way, waiting for him to finally, finally grow up - James would abandon them. 

But she stood by them, as she stood by James. When she made her choice that fateful day under the tree, choosing to defend Severus, but being brave enough to choose herself, to cut off ties with a friend who crossed a line, to love herself more than Severus, she placed herself with them.

And he found that he actually, quite enjoyed her presence. Lily Evans with the braying laugh, and the fiery hair that was always attached to some part of James’ anatomy these days. 

She found out about Remus two months into her stint of truce with James. 

She found out about James’ attempt to be an animagus when she found him vomitting in the toilet during day 5 of having a mandrake leaf perpetually stuck in his mouth. 

It was her who helped them transform. 

Her who nursed James’ broken bones and cuts and bruises from his many failed transformations.

It was her who almost broke down McGonagall’s door when James grew antlers that they could not, for whatever reason stop from growing. 

It was her who fixed him and Pete too. 

It was her who convinced Slughorn to let her use a dungeon to brew Wolfsbane. 

It was her who was with them the first night Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs rode off into the night. 

She was as much a part of their lives as she was James’ and that’s when he knew for sure that this was real between them. 

James would think it the height of dishonor to betray his friends and he’d never go for a girl who would make him leave behind his friends.

And Lily had no intention of doing that, instead, she opened her life and let them in, took them in, and sitting across from James, soundly asleep and drooling against Lily’s shoulder as she read a massive book on cursed bites and cures from around the world, Sirius discovered that he was quite pleased that Lily Evans came into James’ life. 

They’d make him wonderful godbabies after all.

---

Severus always suspected it, but he knew for sure the first night James Potter walked out of the Quidditch Pitch as the youngest captain Gryffindor ever had. 

Figures. 

Saint Potter got away with everything he wished to do. Everyone worshipped the ground he walked on. And just because he was good at tossing a ball around, everyone acted like he was something so great and princely. 

He sneered at the cocky smirk on his face, and his messy hair that never saw a comb a day in its life. 

Potter was just a Quidditch player and not much else.

He wasn’t really a fan of Quidditch, but Lily seemed to like it, and so he’d bear the discomfort and sit with her in the stands. He turned to her to make a scathing comment about how Potter will probably lord the captaincy over their heads when the truth was Gwenog Jones just took a sabbatical to try out for the Harpies and will be back soon when he caught the sneering expression on Lily’s face, and the burning in her green eyes and he looked over to where her eyes were focused at with laser like precision and caught the site of a very blonde and freckled girl who was tinged with a shade of green, her blue eyes wide as she took in the stands around her. 

Her long hair was pulled back from her face with a red and hold elastic hair band and she was currently locked within James Potter’s arms as he dragged her against his chest and holding her tight. She seemed to melt against him and he could see the grim determination on James’ face.

“That arrogant toe rag. He should be focusing on the game not making moon eyes at some slag.”

He never heard Lily use a derogatory word for another girl before and was quite taken aback at her behavior. 

Her friend Mary sniggered from her perch beside Lily and pointed at the girl. “Don’t you recognize her Lils? Marlene McKinnon, third year. She’s replacing Gwen for Beater. Her first game ever the poor dear. Must be scared as a lamb.

“Well that’s no lamb I’m seeing. She’s just slobbering all over Potter! I bet she’s not even good a beater as Gwen is. I bet Potter just took her to impress her. Even I could be a better beater!”

She has never, not once expressed that she had wanted to be a beater or part of Quidditch or anything and Severus had the feeling that what Lily actually meant was that she’d be a better girl for Potter than Marlene McKinnon ever would. 

“My, my Lily, I do believe you are turning into a green eyed monster.”

Lily shoved Mary off but her eyes remained at the hugging couple. 

“She’s James’ childhood friend. The McKinnons are tenants at the Potter estate. And... she’s Sirius’ girl. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

At that moment Sirius appeared from the changing room and dragged Marlene from James’s clutches and held on to her himself. The scared look on McKinnon’s face transformed into smug glee and her cheeks tinged pink and Sirius dragged her closer against him and James laughed at something he said. 

Lily’s hackles died down, and her eyes narrowed again at James’ back before he turned abruptly and faced their general direction and the jolt Lily gave was indication enough that their gazes met, held and locked, before Potter gave a winning grin and mussed up his hair before turning back to McKinnon and Black. 

And Severus watched as a small smirk played on Lily’s lips as her shoulders relaxed and she turned to Mary to place a bet on Gryffindor winning the match. 

It spoke of her satisfaction, of her jealousy and of a primordial ownership that she held over James Potter. 

It was the same smirk that would play on her lips a year later, by the lake with him in his old and worn underwear, hanging from a tree while James Potter stood there, tall and golden. 

It was the same smirk that she’d have whenever she’d call James Potter an arrogant toe rag whenever he mentions he believes Potter has feelings for her, contradicting her words in a way that Severus never really believed she meant it, but was happy enough that she would want to keep the pretence for him. 

It was the same smirk that would grace her lips when the Gryffindor table belowed their way through dinner at another Marauder antic targetted at his house. 

It was the same smirk that would play on her lips when James Potter winked at her from across the Quidditch pitch as he held the trophy sky high.

It was that, the arrogance of it that mirrored Potters, the surety that James Potter was there, the amusement in him, the joy she found in him, that finally tipped Severus off to the fact that Lily Evans looked at James Potter and she did not hate what she saw. She never did. 

---

There were very few people that Remus Lupin absolutely held dear in his heart. 

The first was of course his mum.

And the second was James. He admired him at first, so brave and bold, so sure of the world and of himself and of who he wanted to be. 

A Potter of Potter Manor who had the world at his feet. 

At first he feared he might envy him, resent him for having what he doesn’t. James Potter didn’t even have to try. 

But then he got to know James. Behind the bravado, behind the Potter, there was just James. 

James who owled him mum to give him chocolates to give to Remus for when he was sick. 

James who spent hours buried in books when he saw his scars, his sickness, his absence on the nights of the full moon.

James who sat down by his bedside one horrible transformation, held his hand despite the open wounds over his body, and looked him dead in the eyes and told him he never had to be alone again. 

He cried then, silent tears streaking down his face as James held his scarred hand in his own, not realizing just how much power touch, especially when genuinely extended could have. 

And he loved James for it. For being the one person he trusted. For being his only friend. For not shunning him away. And he saw that more than anything else, James Potter had a good heart. 

And he knew the first time he saw Lily Evans quietly take a seat in front of a tired, sleepless James who was buried in a mound of books on Transfiguration and Advanced Arithmancy in the library and simply watch him with curiosity alive in her green eyes, that he was not the only one who had discovered that fact. 

He stayed in a corner, clutching the blanket he brought down for James and watched as Lily cast a bubble charm around him, protecting him from the noise and cold, and slowly, tentatively reached out to brush his hair, and flush bright red the moment her skin touched his and bolted out from the chair and away from James. 

He watched them dance around each other, trying to convince themselves that this was impossible, for who ever did find the love of your life at 12 years of age, and it wasn’t until he was bedridden in the same hospital bed, the first night after James had managed to transform himself into a large stag that he found himself finding one more person to love. 

Lily was sitting by his bedside, his hand clutched loosely in her slack ones as she slept by his bedside. 

And he felt the storm of emotions once more inside of him, at that simple human contact, at another person who found beauty in him when no one else would, and his dry wracking sobs woke Lily from her slumber and she gripped his hand in hers as she let him cry it out. 

“He’s okay. James. Had a gash on his side but seeing as he’s not foaming at the mouth or howling at the moon yet, he’s not infected. You don’t have to be alone anymore Remus.” 

“I’m sorry...” He forced out through his sobs. “I know... I know you love him and you must have been so scared for him... I’m sorry...”

Lily’s eyes widened at his revelation and her eyes softened, taking on a playful glint. 

“Why is it that everybody seems to know how I feel except for that bloody git himself? Should I really just go and date the Squid?”

He chuckled through the hysteria and everything was so surreal around him that he just kept laugh-sobbing and Lily just let him get it out of his system.

When he calmed she gripped his hand again. “He loves you Rem. And I love you too. And James would not be the man I loved if he let fear get in the way of helping people he loves. So don’t feel bad about this okay? James is fine. He’s not hurt. And he sent me here to make sure you know that. To make sure you didn’t hurt him and there’s nothing to be sorry for, nothing to forgive.”

She looked straight at him and still kept a tight grip on his hands and he nodded at her. She smiled and patted his hand before rising from her perch. “Now that that’s settled, let me check on the git. You know how clingy he gets when he’s sick.”

She walked off but turned back to him, a happy flush on her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes. “Agrippa help me, but I love it when he gets clingy.”

She danced out of the Hospital Wing and Remus can’t help but grin. 

There were few people he held dear to his heart. 

And wasn’t it just his luck that they ended up falling in love?

---

James Potter knew it from the very first moment he laid his eyes on her. 

Well that’s what he’d like to say, except back them he was a smarmy git of eleven and all he saw were adventures to be had and fortunes that favor the bold. 

He didn’t know exactly when he fell in love with Lily Evans, it’s just that he realizes that there’s a part of him that had always been in love with her, as if he was waiting for her to come, like some part of his soul that was missing. 

And they have grown through the years and changed through the years, and the feeling inside him grew and changed with him, until it wasn’t the obsession in his youth, or the burning in his loins in his adolescence. Rather it was this quiet, this calm that made everything around him okay. 

Even if everything was wrong. 

It her love that brings sanity to a mad world. And it wasn’t a wild raging fire, it was warm, life giving no destroying. It made him want to be a better man... or no, not a better man, just be... the man she believes he can be. 

It was that quiet that gave him strength in the times when he was caught up in a crossfire, not knowing if he would live to see another day. 

It was the quiet that came when he made the decision to fight a battle that was not his to fight, but was hers, and because it was it made it his as well. 

It was the quiet that comes when they look at each other before every mission, knowing that if today is the day that they leave this Earth they leave with no regrets for they have met, and they have loved and that was more than enough for most. 

It was the quiet rush of joy in him when he held his son who shared his face, but had his mother’s eyes. 

It was that love that lead him to stand calm, and wandless in front of a murderer as he raised his wand against him with the intention of killing him. 

It was that belief that wherever he goes, he’ll find her again. And again. And again. 

And that was the moment that James Potter knew what it was to love and be loved in return. 

[soniabookwhore]

Again weird ship...who can pay for my therapy please ?