#went on a date with emmeline as they both (thought) they liked each other but emmeline lightly turned down the offer of a second date | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

blackinn-n · 3 years ago

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Blackinnon headcanons (because @marlymckitten’s lovely ones got me to write a bit again <3 go check on hers!!!!)

Yes. It’s sappy. But I love sappy Blackinnon. I can’t bear angst any longer so enjoy!

Sirius fell in love with her before she fell in love with him. Actually, he fell in love with Marlene before James fell in love with Lily, even if he took longer to realize it. He unconsciously developed a crush on her during their first year and recognize his messy feelings as love when he was a bit older. Anyway, he liked to say to her that he had loved her since he was a kid and Marlene used to roll her eyes and call him a sappy liar — but Sirius was not lying. Not even a bit.

I personally hc that they didn’t start dating at Hogwarts. Sirius was, emotionally, too much of a mess to actually sort out what he felt. It was not that he wasn’t sure of her — he knew he loved Marlene. He was certain of that. He was just scared to hurt her in any way possible, and though less of himself — he though he wasn’t able to make her happy, and he could not bear it.

It was Marlene who made the first move. One night, she just kissed him. They were alone in London, laughing, smoking and chatting at 1 AM while the rest of the gang had already went home. She just did it. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. Hard, passionately. It took him out of breath.

As their relationship became solid, it was clear to both of them that what was happening was that.. they were settling. To Sirius, the word has seem horrendous till she had told him what she felt for him. But he was happier that he had ever been with her and was actually pretty content with the perspective of being hers for the rest of his life.

They weren’t too much into PDA. Sirius resting a hand on her tights, or holding hands was ok — but they couldn’t stand couples who made out constantly while they were out with friends. It was totally different when they were drunk: in that occasions they could not take their hands off each other and used to disappear so as to shag in some bathroom or to go home (to shag. Yes, they did it nonstop)

They had a matching tattoo. They had gone out one evening in March, just the two of them. It was supposed to be a romantic dinner but it had naturally lead to a drunk night in some club in London. After that, they had found some weird (and probably too dirty to be trusted) tattoo shop which was still opened at night and decided to go for it. They were too tipsy to be taken seriously, but managed to explain to the tattooer what they wanted. At the end, Sirius got the written “star of the sky” in Marlene’s handwriting, and she had “star of the sea” in his, on their pelvis. It was sappy, they knew it, but it was them.

Marlene absolutely adored Sirius. She thought he was breathtaking. That’s true, a lot of people thought that — Sirius was indeed a very handsome man, but to Marlene, Sirius was much more than that. Marlene loved everything about him. She loved stroking his hair and caressing the side of his face. She loved when he took her hands into his. She loved kissing his full lips and holding his gaze, despite it made her blush most of the time. She loved feeling his weight on her when he fell asleep while cuddling. She loved feeling him inside of her, it made her feel a sense of fullness and connection she had never felt with someone before.

James was so happy when they got together. He wasn’t even the slightest angry or upset at them, though they knew he would have killed them both if they hurt each other.

Lily was ecstatic when they started dating, too. Perhaps even more than her husband, considering she was the first person Sirius admitted he was in love with Marlene to. It happened during their seventh year at Hogwarts. Lily was looking for Marls — she knew the Astronomy Tower was her and Sirius’ spot and expected to find her there, but only him was present that evening. They talked quite a lot and at one point he just slipped it out. It felt so scaring, but so, so good. Lily promised not to tell a soul, not even to James and Sirius trusted her. She also advised him to tell her, but he knew he needed more time.

He desired a family with her but was scared to bring the topic up — he didn’t really think he would have really been much of a father material with the upbringing he had. His worse nightmare was perhaps inflicting on his children the same pain he had had to endure during his childhood — the idea scared him shitless. But one day, they talked about it. They approached the subject shyly, as if having different perspectives would have risked to break what they had. When Sirius told her it would have be nice, to have kids one day, Marlene could not suppress the wide, genuine smile that appeared on her face. “You’d really want them?” “Yes. With you, I would want them. I think I would be a shit father, but with you to balance I think they’d turn up nice” “That’s bullshit. You will be a wonderful dad.” “I will be? Not “would”?” “Yep. You will. I think we should talk about it… having kids, one day.” Sirius had never been happier.

Marlene’s family was fond of Sirius. Her parents and brother especially. And of course Euphemia and Fleamont loved Marlene — she was James’ first friend ever. Euphemia confessed them once that she had been planning their wedding since fifth year (James laughed a bit to much for Marlene’s liking after hearing that).

Marlene once had called Walburga Black a “fucking cow”. She hadn’t just called her that, she had YELLED it on the platform before taking Sirius hand and making him follow her on the train. She had heard a sneaky comment from her: it was the usual babbling about Sirius being a shame, a failure for being how he was, for hanging out with dirty mudbloods and staying at the Potters. She could not take it. Although her mother (who had intercepted her daughter’s furious expression) had tried to stop her, she had just walked over and yelled at Walburga Black, a witch from a noble and ancient family in the Magical Community, that she was a fucking cow. Around lots, lots of people. Sirius thought he had never loved her more.

Once Sirius told her he wanted to shave his beard, and she screamed, horrified and threatened not to have sex with him for a month if he really did it.

For his 23rd birthday, Marlene gifted him a handful of Polaroids of her nudes, along with his real present. Sirius remained in total awe for a few seconds and then looked at her like a puppy who has received the best toy ever. He really was a simple man, not needing much to be happy.

Sirius couldn’t cook for shit. He could barely prepare a toast without burning something. And most of the time, when he was hungry, he forgot he could use magic. That meant he was not able to surprise her with breakfast in bed or some thing like that — okay, he knew how to make coffee or how to spread jam on bread, he was not that dumb. Anyway, Marlene used to tease him by saying he would starve if she refused to cook for the rest of his days. “I can always eat you, you know” “You are incredible, Black”

7th year’s St Valentine’s Day was perhaps the worst one Marlene had spent in her seventeen years on the Earth. Not that she had ever celebrated it (she hated St Valentine’s Day, the sappy promises, the fake couples who put on a good face during the trip to Hogsmeade so as to show off even if half school knew one of them was shagging someone else. She just couldn’t bear it), but that year every. single. one of her friends had a date. Lily went with James, Remus had gone to Hogsmeade with a bloke he had met in the summer, Alice went with Frank, Mary had been asked by a quite good looking boy who was part of the same club as hers, Emmeline and Dorcas went together (their first public trip after their coming out) and even Peter had managed to set up a date with a really nice girl he had had a crush on since fifth year. And Sirius… well, she supposed he was shagging three or four girls at the same time. Marlene spent most of her time in the library, catching up with her homework, and after a rather depressing lunch alone she hid herself in the Common Room who was occupied only by first and second years who could not go to the village yet. She read a book until she heard someone calling her name. She didn’t even had to turn around to know who it was. Nobody called her Lene. They walked through the empty corridors and corners of the school, perfectly comfortable with one another. He asked her what she had done that day, but she didn’t ask him back. She didn’t want to know if he had gone to Hogsmeade with someone. What she didn’t know was that, yes, he had gone to the village… to buy her flowers. They following morning, when she woke up, she found a beautiful bouquet of tulips — her favorites — of all colors. The was no card attached and it took Lily twenty minutes to convince Marlene that they really were for her.

Marlene’s dream had always been to visit Paris. When she was ten, she promised herself that she would only have gone with the love of her life — Marlene pretended to be nauseated by romance, but the truth was that she was a hopeless romantic herself. She kept the promise. One year or so into their relationship, Sirius and Marlene stayed in Paris for a week. One night they went to a bar and returned to the apartment quite intoxicated and extremely horny, so the usual. They shagged everywhere, on the couch, on the bed, on the floor, by the fucking window, not caring who could see them. Once they were finished, they were laying on the couch, naked, only covered by a thin blanket to protect them from the chilly air, their bodies entangled. She told him about her promise. He just looked at her, his eyes full of pure love. And he told her. And it was not scary, quite the contrary, actually. “I love you” he simply said. “I love you so much, Marls” She tried to reply, but her voice was thick with emotion. He understood anyway and gently kissed her, thinking he had finally found something worth living for. And it was love, it had always been love.

#blackinnon #sirius black #marlene mckinnon #marauders #marlene x sirius #sirius x marlene #harry potter #marauders era #blackinnon headcanons

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embrassemoi · 4 years ago

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Surrounded by the Moon and Stars • 15

Pairings: Sirius Black x Remus Lupin x [F]Reader Content: Language, switches between UK + US slang, head-hopping Author’s notes: None!

Masterlist: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter 15: Date, Snog, Shag

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That morning when dawn broke, their dorm was already wide awake. Dorcas had fallen ill, sneezing and coughing the entire night which kept everyone up. That morning was worse, they awakened to her vomiting into a bin in the bathroom. Y/N quickly got to her feet and pushed back any strand of hair that may cloud her vision and avoid it from coming into contact with her mouth while running a hand down her back. Dorcas gripped the side of the bin while Lily ran to grab a Healer. What made matters worse was that Dorcas wanted everyone to leave the room, far too embarrassed and didn’t want to get anyone sick, but oddly she let Marlene stay with her until the Healer came to down her in potions.

Lily went off to find Sirius and Y/N didn’t stick around long enough to see him, leaving her to make her way down the stairs, bumping into James and Remus before they shortly engaged her into their lighthearted conversation.

“Wait,” she tried to stifle her laughter, feeling her eyes go wide, “You’re — you’re part Veela?”

“One quarter-Veela. My Grandma was full Veela but you can’t pass the gene down through males so my father didn’t inherit it and neither did I.”

“Prongs?!” Exclaimed Remus. His hands flung out and punched him in the shoulder, causing James to cry out, “I’ve known you for four years and you never once thought to tell me?”

“I’m sorry! It never came up.”

Light laughter danced between Y/N and Remus, warming the wintery atmosphere. His soft green eyes locked onto her, sharing a fleeting glance while he balled his hand into a fist, his thumb sticking out, directing it to James. They burst out into another fit of giggles at their newfound information while James surveyed the both of them; they looked like children up to no good.

“Ooo,” Remus taunts, “Gonna use your Veela powers on me? You’re just so irresistible to look at!” His smile is cocky as his eyes become animated, looking down at James while clasping his hands together. He sighed mockingly, “Dreamy.”

“Oi! Fuck you.”

“Pay me?” He winked.

James choked while Remus flipped him off.

Y/N found herself struggling to even out her breathing. Her voice was strained with amusement. “You can’t pick a fight, can’t you? Your middle name is Fleamont —”

“What’s wrong with that?! That’s my father’s name!” In the background, Remus snorts.

“— And you have Veela blood and you can’t woo Lily?”

James’ face burns with embarrassment while his friend can barely form a coherent sentence. His head is thrown back as his body racks with silent waves of laughter. Then, Remus slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning loudly before slumping down at a table beside Y/N. “Why did you say the L-word in front of him?”

He reached out for his usual cup of coffee, splashing a dash of milk. She watched as he stirred it, the liquid turning from black to a tawny brown. With a couple of teaspoons of sugar, he brought it to his lips and sighed in pure bliss.

“Actually, I’m thinking of asking out that Ravenclaw over there,” James points, taking the bench opposite. Just then, their eyes followed his. He made eye contact with a Ravenclaw who had jet black hair. Her curls were large, delicate and she had silky skin that reminded Y/N of a rich brown topaz. Pretty royal blue flower pins were placed in her hair, keeping strands of it from falling into her face and highlighted her deep blue eyes that seemed almost mystical. A bright, flashy, sweet smile crossed her face as she looked down bashfully and then turned to her gaggle of friends. Leave it to Potter to flatter the ladies. “Her name is Emmeline Vance.”

Remus and Y/N looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. They both briefly recognized her from their study group and she was in her Charms class. Very shy and very smart, that’s what their first impression was of her. James’ eyes darted between them, noticing their shared non-verbal response before an odd look flashes on his face. “What? Look, I’ve asked Lily out two times — she declined each time. I don’t want to harass her if she keeps saying no. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to have some new blood.”

“Well,” Remus clears his throat, “That’s surprisingly mature of you. It was about time.”

James tended to breakdance on thin ice, and that thin ice was Lily. He’d make a fool out of himself or pull antics but now that she thought about it, James never actually asked Lily out during her time at Hogwarts thus far. God was he annoying when it came to her and Y/N felt a sense of relief for everyone; James, Lily, the rest of the marauders — anyone who had to deal with James at any given moment, but most of all, Lily.

She wanted to half-hug him on her behalf.

Just then, a woosh came from the upper windows as hundreds of owls soared in. They fluttered from all over the hall, some even made fancy loops and dives to impress the other owls and students before dropping sodden letters and parcels off to their owners. They shook off the snow from their wings, rapidly melting and sprayed droplets everywhere while the owls began to hoot with each other. Celeste was nowhere to be seen, but that was expected. Either she was making a long road from Ilvermoerny with a letter from Matthew, her mother had yet to respond to her letters, or that she slept soundly in the owlery. She couldn’t blame her, it was a mess outside. However, a familiar owl who delivered the Daily Prophet swooped in, dropping a copy onto James’ plate.

He unfurled the newspaper, eating a green apple (which had a few Slytherins sending him dirty looks) as his eyes scanned over the title before eyeing her and then swiftly back to the paper. His brows were pulled tightly together, lips pursed with worry and suddenly, James’ mouth went dry as the air around him grew thick.

Y/N plucked a few pancakes from a nearby dish onto her own. They were warm and smelt delightful. Slathering on a generous amount of syrup, she cut them into small pieces with a fork, eating them before Remus passed her a bowl of strawberries to her, offering before taking some himself.

They chatted back and forth but there was something about Remus today that seemed off, but she couldn’t quite place it. His eyes shimmered a pretty golden colour, very different from his usual overpowering green hues.

Similar to Toulouse.

By the entrance walking in was Peter, Marlene, Lily and Sirius. Sirius scrunched his nose several times, running a hand through his blond hair at whatever Peter said. A few times, Y/N almost mistaken him for another person. Just then, they made the slightest eye contact which had them both stare, unwanting to break it first. This game had been going on for a couple of days now and a silent way of communicating their shared dislike while effectively avoiding a huge blowout fight. Last time, Sirius won and she was determined to win their stupid, silent game.

Sirius dropped his hand to his side, the light bounced off his silver rings as Marlene pushed him, laughing, which startled Sirius, causing him to look away. She smirked: point earned.

Y/N: 1

Sirius: 1

Peter’s eyes crinkled; he held a stack of parchment while Lily looked over to Snape sitting at the Slytherin table, waving.

It was so painfully obvious that Snape liked Lily in a manner far too friendly for her to just be considered a friend which had Y/N pressing her lips together tightly. His body perked up and he tried to straighten out his hunched-over posture; skin pinking as bright as bubblegum pink while his eyes travelled down to glance at her mouth quickly.

She shivered, ew.

“Morning you beautiful tossers,” Marlene chirped, bringing her hands down harshly on the table. Her nails were painted a cobalt blue that she recognized Dorcas wearing this morning while she held her bin. The impact had fruit bowls, mugs and goblets shook before Remus huffed, picking up his mug to prevent the liquid from spilling out. He looked over to Marlene with a deadpan expression.

“Hiya.”

Marlene swung her bag over her head and onto the table, sitting down on Remus’ side. Sirius went to sit by James, creating a barrier between him and Lily while she reached up and began braiding his hair, pulling it into a low messy bun before grabbing a green hair tie from his wrist. “Thanks, Carrots.”

Lily smacked the side of his head which had Y/N thinking she should have hit him harder.

This caused a ripple effect; Remus perked up and he tapped her on the shoulder cautiously, “I think I found a spell that can reverse the potion on your hair. Do you want me to try?”

Honestly, her ever-changing colourful hair had grown on her over the past couple of months, but the idea of being able to control it again seemed nice. She imagined having to attend something as extreme as a funeral — having to dress in all black but her hair flashing outrageous neon colours like a disco ball.

With a nod he brought his wand out, pointing it to the top of her head. He focused and his eyes fluttered shut for a split moment, channelling all of his magic into one place. But instead of her normal hair colour, it grew in length, volume and size. Currently a light peach colour, it grew and grew, now swallowing her body whole and now covered the table and floor. It soon made its way to drown out Remus. Other students looked over to the scene, amazed and curious while James went pink as Emmelin glanced his way.

Looks like she's stuck with this forever. “Christ — you mind?!”

“My bad, my bad!” Thankfully, unlike James, Remus had a reversal spell at the ready. Everyone laughed once it went back to normal before Sirius snickered, muttering something under his breath. Lily whispered something into his ear using a low warning tone, tugging at his sleeve. However, Sirius wiggled out of her grasp. But rather than his usual cold tone, his voice was lighter and more in a mocking tone rather than its mean typical scoff.

There was a noticeable shift in their interaction that did not go unnoticed. They weren’t as vile to each other and Sirius seemed overall calmer — nicer, even. His voice wasn’t as sharp and she assumed that whatever anger he stored must have subsided greatly over the break.

As they looked at each other, there was this burn within both of their eyes, but instead of it being a threat, it was borderline taunting. His grey eyes weren’t as stormy as before and even a little blue decided to take over more often. The scar on his forehead healed completely along with whatever mark was on his hand. Although, the dark circles under his eyes stayed.

There was almost a sliver of a smirk that made his entire aura seem softer, lighter even.

If he wasn’t such a moody brat, he might be attractive.

“If you’re going to be a dick, at the very least have the courage to say it louder. For one, I love what you did with your hair. How did you get it to stick out of your nose like that?”

“For the love of Merlin. Here we go again…”

“Oh why don’t you —” “The Daily Quarrel,” said Peter listlessly. Y/N and Sirius’ bickering was too loud to hear it and they didn’t top for a while. Soon enough, it became background noise, like someone had left on the T.V for comfort while they worked. James and Lily looked at each other, he shook his head while Lily mirrored similarly. Marlene had her eyebrows raised while Remus looked at the scene amusingly, eating a piece of buttered toast.

“You bloody fucking lunatic —”

“Oh, okay, sure — I’m the crazy one,” she paused before quickly adding on, “At least I don't smell like a wet dog!”

“At least I don’t smell like a wet dog!” Sirius mocks in an awfully high overpitched American accent. “Like you smell any better you poisonous little toadstool!”

Remus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked like he wanted to say something and there was slight annoyance burning in his piercing eyes. “Are you guys done yet —”

“— deep as a puddle.”

“Wow, like that was original.”

“Looky here! It’s the new Einstein.”

“For Godric Gryffindor, himself, will you two please cut it?!” A random Gryffindor interjects as they slammed their hand down on the table. “Me, unlike the pair of you, am tired and I need to focus on studying for the OWLs — not hearing you lot scream at each other! Job prospects, people, job prospects!” “Shut it!” The entire group snapped at them.

“Well you, unlike us, are a bellend — little git. Mind your business.” Sirius hissed. “We’ll have a go at each other if we want to. Maybe you can put your nose somewhere else!

“We have plenty of job prospects, especially these lot —” he points to her, Lily and Remus, “— are in the Slug Club. At the very least if that doesn’t prove to you that even the Professors believe we have plenty of talent and a prosperous future then I don’t know what will. I don’t see how this involves you.”

The outburst had been louder than the volume he used with Y/N, so it made her flinch. A few others seemed a little startled, Peter even slipped sideways off the bench.

The Gryffindor got up and swung his school bag over his shoulder and trudged to another table cursing them under their breaths. The unexpected anger that flared in Sirius so unexpectedly no doubt even defending her slightly, shocked her. How had he gone from making fun of her being in the Slugclub to now praising her for it?

“Wipe that look off your face,” he added.

She rolled her eyes and was about to speak before James slapped the back of Sirius’ head and Marlene threw an apple at Y/N.

“Yes, they were a git, but take their advice and shut the fuck up!”

They huffed out and their fidgeting settled. “Okay,” she grumbled out but stopped the urge to apologize. Out of all people, Sirius Black did not deserve an apology from her. Where was hers? She didn’t get one so why did he? Hadn’t people realized that all she did was keep her mouth shut to not cause problems most of the time? At the very least, she’d caught on that something was going on with Sirius and been doing everything not to curse him out because of it. She’d been going through an extremely hard time too! Granted, she never made it vocal and came late into the group, but still! Moving to a whole new country, to a new school, leaving all her friends behind, the house that she loved, her absent mother who seemed to forget she existed and now facing blood-prejudice — she deserved some sort of applause for not freaking out on people despite Sirius doing so! Where was her shitty apology?

Poor Sirius, aw baby Sirius — Sirius is a good guy! Sirius this, Sirius that — don’t be mean to him, he’s having a hard time and we don’t know why he’s being an asshole! Bullshit.

Peter wiggled around lazily while James set down the newspaper and folded it before shoving it into his bag. “Pass me it?” he asked, reaching over to grab it from James’ bag.

“Wait, Pete —”

His hand came and snatched the paper from his grasp. In bold, black fonts, it said: Death Eater Kills 5 Muggleborns.

“Merlin,” he said out loud, dropping the newsletter down only to have Lily swiftly take it from him. Her eyes widened in horror and she clutched the paper, trembling in a mixture of emotions. Y/N saw a glimpse of the moving pictures and suddenly, she felt her heart hammer against her chest but she couldn’t peel her eyes away; the destruction, the scene of their bodies being sent off in bags…

Peter began, chewing at his lip, “This is crazy. Maybe they ought to be more careful.”

“They? You mean the likes of me?” Lily said sharply. Her body tensed and her hands gripped the wooden table tightly — so tight that her knuckles went white and the girls thought she was about to hex Peter. “Blood-status should mean nothing. At the very least I thought you were smart enough to understand that. Prosecute the Purebloods for letting this happen!”

“Woah, Evans! Of course, I know that” he said, shrinking down submissively. “They ought to —” there was a brief pause “— hammer down on the purist but I meant that as a concern! Just look at them!” Peter ushered his head towards the Slytherins. Y/N turned against the table; several Slytherins were watching them.

As a Muggleborn, she and Lily were among some of the students that had been targetted as the result of the rampant blood-purist attacks since the beginning of their school career. Although, while Ilvermorny and her time in North America were not perfect in any way shape or form — hell, there were laws that prevented you from marrying New-Majs — she had never had to face blood prejudice like this. It was never so direct, so open so… approved, almost.

It was clear, though, the drastic switch and ever since she began spending time with more Puebloods like James, Marlene and Peter and just by association being seen around Sirius, put her into an odd place. Being around that many of them did not help her situation. The purist would grit their teeth, baffled how pure magic like them, stemming from some of the oldest Pureblood wizarding families, could want with them; others snarled but were so quiet that Y/N couldn’t hear. But seeing their entire group together now, aside from the absences of Dorcas and Mary, mixed with various blood-statuses seemed to anger them, deeply.

Her eyes bounced off of them, some were staring at Lily, some at James, some mouthed blood-traitor before gossiping with their friends and a few even looked in her direction before averting their eyes.

Mulciber was there, his eyes hopping from person to person in search of someone in particular. Avery was off talking to another boy that she vaguely knew the name of, Notts. However, she noticed Regulus’ absence. Really, she hadn’t seen him anywhere near the Great Hall since December nor did he ever come back to the library. But, Snape was, but he wasn’t staring at any of the Muggleborns, but directly at Remus. Y/N turned to look back at him, but Remus didn’t seem to notice.

It unnerved her. Creepy as fuck indeed.

“Fuckin’ creeps,” Remus said out loud. James clenched his jaw, hard, as his eyes swept over Y/N and then to Lily.

“Merlin, do I hate Purebloods,” Sirius adds in. Out of all the Purebloods sitting at their table, he seemed the most angered and disgusted.

“Cheers to that,” James adds.

Then, Mary entered the hall, taking a seat next to Marlene. Her gaze hopped around from person to person: they all looked either angry or disappointed. She decided to keep quiet and looked over to the Daily Prophet still in Lily’s grip.

“At least nobody in my family is dating their cousin.” Lily spits out. That caused the thick tension to break within the group.

Peter cuts in, trying to steer the conversation out of dangerous waters. “D’you know what you want to do after Hogwarts? I heard we get to pick out what NEWTs we want to do next year. I think I would be… I’m not sure.”

“Quidditch player,” James blurts out, “Or maybe an Auror.”

“Travel the world,” Marlene says with a grin.

“Same!” Sirius says. “I’d like to get a motorcycle, drive around the world in it.”

“I might work in the Muggle world — move back to Canada or the States. At this rate, I’m not sure I’ll get a magical job here. Not if the war doesn’t die down soon.” Y/N says a bit grimily. Her mind raced, not fully taking in the severity of what happened. Perhaps she should write to her mother about it…

James looks down defeated before addressing the group loud and strong. “Don’t think like that — we’re going to win the war.” “No, she’s right.” Mary corrects, “That’s all we’ll ever be to them. Nothing more than a pathetic Muggleborn. We ought to think carefully about our future.” That quickly shut the entire table up.

There was a strange look on Lily’s face as she looked at James before blinking, and then it was gone.

“What would you be?” Mary tries to continue.

“I’m not sure. I’ve thought about being a Healer though. If I chose a Muggle job, then I would most likely go to med school. My path has basically been carved out for me.”

“If we’re talking about Muggle jobs, I think I would like to be a model or an actress. Something that’ll bring me fame.”

“That’s because you're self-centred,” Lily jokes.

“Well I looked this good, why wouldn’t I show it off?”

Over time, something about Y/N was that both a blessing and a curse was that she was able to pick up on the little things most of the time. She was observant and she liked that, but most of the time it left her spiralling with unanswered questions or overhearing something she really did not need to hear.

She noticed how James truly wasn't lying about branching out as his eyes drifted from Lily and back to the Emmeline, wearing a smoulder.

She noticed how Peter seemed to hate anything that had to do with citrus and how’d he curl in on himself whenever someone jokingly waved a slice of lemon in his face. Especially now as Sirius waved an orange at him.

She noticed how Dorcas and Marlene often wore the same nail polish and noticed the little moments Lily and Sirius shared.

But most of all, she noticed that throughout the whole ordeal of the group imagining their future, not once did Remus speak up. In fact, he looked down at his coffee, now gone cold and noticed the tight grip he had on the handle. It looked like it was about to shatter if he squeezed down any harder. Remus looked small despite his tall and lanky frame, looking beyond troubled as his jaw clenched every other moment.

“You okay?” She asked earnestly.

He looked at her, a bit surprised before nodding his head and looked to the blizzard outside. “Tired, but what’s new?”

She could tell he was lying but didn’t push. Remus typically didn’t speak unless spoken to and seeing him like that made Y/N feel a tinge of sadness. She’s always liked Remus — would even go as far as to say he’s a friend after the whole snowball fiasco with Snape. She contemplated a few ideas of how to distract him for a little while; it was the least she could do.

“What book do you suggest I read?”

This caught his attention. “What?”

“I see you reading all the time and it’d be nice to start reading something other than OWL textbooks.”

Remus nodded, his mood brightened significantly and quickly picked up his bag from the ground and pulled out two books: The Lord of the Rings and a beat-up copy of Frankenstein.

“You like Lord of the Rings?” She asked. He did not seem like the type to enjoy it. She picked up the book and turned it over, her fingers gliding on the sides of the binding.

Remus excitedly shook his head up and down. “Y’know, I bet Gandalf and Dumbledore are related.”

“Oh my god! You’re right!”

“Both are old —” Y/N laughed at that. “— Both have splendid beards and great hats.”

“What if they’re brothers.”

“Or Dumbledore is secretly obsessed with himself and co-wrote it.”

“Anoraks,” Marlene adds.

Remus swiftly moved on to his next mini-rant, “So what do you think about it? Quite polarizing. Tolkien is good at creating such a consistent background — by far one of the better high fantasy novels I’ve read.”

She hums in half agreement, “I agree but at times it can be quite bland but I’ve never read something quite as similar. But I think I like Narina better.”

“Narina? I respect that but creating a world like middle-earth —” he continued to ramble about his book, critiquing it before swiftly moving on to talk about Narina and a few other classics he loved. Y/N was just glad he didn’t look so troubled now and a small smile was brought to her lips.

Meanwhile, Sirius watched the two and felt that same irrational jealousy take over him in a nasty way that made him want to scream. To him, Sirius saw L/N as someone that constantly took away his time with his mates. First, it was James; they always spent time with each other, sat beside each other in class, made jokes, James even asking to invite her to join in some of their pranks; treating her like he does with him! Then, it was Marlene and Lily and he'd caught onto her brief interactions with Regulus. Regulus! Out of all people! That was more than enough to question her morals. But now, she had her eyes set on Remus! Couldn’t she just find her own friends and stop meddling her way into his life?

Not to mention that she was rude, annoying and seemed like she thought she was better than everyone else.

But deep down, rationally, Sirius knew his jealousy was childish, but she felt like the shiny new toy that left Sirius feeling replaced. He would never admit it out loud, but he felt slightly threatened, just a bit as he watched her grow close with his dear friends, just like he did once before.

But then, he snapped back to his rational senses and almost felt bad at the way he’s treated her. From the insults, names, pranks, cutting her off and taking his anger out on her, he almost felt horrible. Almost. He would then think back to what she did to him; from the insults, names, pranks, cutting him off and taking her anger out on him. And then, he remembered why he didn’t feel that bad. But at the same time, could he truly hate someone that made Remus, who sulked and moped around, smile on days leading up to the full moon?

Sirius also had the talent to notice the little things.

He noticed the way she brought Remus into a conversation and encouraged him to talk about something he enjoyed. He noticed how she treated Lily such a rare kindness or how she let James ramble on about Quidditch when nobody else would listen. He’d notice her playful side, her stubborn side and the side that he recognized a little too well; the ‘bury your emotions’ side.

Today, Sirius noticed the way her eyes were slightly lidded with sleep. Her smile turned large and laughed at Remus’ jokes. For a moment, a cursory moment when he felt unguarded, Sirius let himself feel the warmth that radiated from her.

If she wasn’t such an annoying brat (which Sirius grudgingly half-admitted to being the main cause), she might be attractive.

But just like that, he’s in control again and pushed away the thought.

James yet again observed the two strangely like he did earlier. As Remus flicked through the pages of the book searching for a particular passage, she felt him nudge her under the table.

What? She looked at him bewildered and swung her leg back. Footsie with James was definitely something she did not expect that morning.

James shook his head again, wearing a large smirk as his eyes flashed over to Remus and back to her. His eyebrows were raised.

What?

Nothing, he said with a look.

Y/N scrutinized him, turning her head away to watch from her peripheral vision of James repeating his actions with Remus. But instead of nudging him like he’d done to her, James must have kicked him hard since Remus jerked up and was about to scold him before his eyes flashed to her and back.

The bell rang and everyone got up from their seats, ready to start their classes. Lily drifted to her side and Y/N made sure to grab a few snacks she knew Lily would want during their break and made a note to check in on Dorcas during lunch. They headed to Artimacy along with the other marauders and Marlene.

She was already dreading the long day and it was worse that her schedule was jammed.

Once they passed the Charms classroom, all the marauders headed inside before Marlene caught her wrist, whispering lowly into her ear. “I need to talk to you later.”

Without any kind of explanation, Marlene then rushed into Charms. This caused a rush of nerves to burst instantaneously.

“What was that?” Lily queried, her nose in her diary for the upcoming events that day.

“Ugh — nothing? Marls wanted to talk about something, probably Quidditch.”

“Uh-huh,” she muttered absentmindedly before finally closing her book once they reached class and greeted Professor Vector. Vector wore her usual red robes and large pointy hat before droning on and on. Her strict voice kept everyone on their toes, effectively silencing the class, lecturing them without pausing for a second. Lily seemed to be the only person able to keep up with Vector and more than a few times, Y/N’s eyes sneakily trailed to copy down her notes. Not so sneakily, Lily noticed and tutted before giving her a good glance at her neat scrawl. By the end of the class, they were flooded with fifteen inches of parchment and additional reading.

Next was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which today Y/N felt herself listening closer than usual. Her mind bustled with that damned Daily Prophet article. Every perfectly printed word replayed in her mind. She felt uneasy and weary and she didn’t want to be alone in the hallways anymore.

Professor Keys was every bit of a tosser that Remus had said he was. Instead of the harsh lecturing and rambling Vector went on (that at the very least was educational and professional), Keys kept talking about head injuries: hitting your head by accident, rolling off the bed while sleeping, a bat to the head, a Bludger to the head, getting into a crash, magic gone wrong! He’d even gone as far as wearing a biking helmet which caused Y/N and Marlene to giggle while James plastered a small note onto the back of the helmet (while Remus asked a question to distract Keys) that said: hit me!

At some point, he’d even addressed her in front of the entire class.

“Your mother is a Muggle, right? A doctor — Slughorn told me.”

“Yes, wh —” “Keep her close. If you ever have a head injury, you’ll be fine — SAFE! Yes, yes! Safe! That’s what we all strive to be — safe! Especially from head injuries!”

“She’s cardio, not neuro,” she muttered under her breath.

But like always, Keys returned to his lesson that was quite enthralling.

“The Reductor curse is a blasting curse that can blow up solid objects into pieces,” Keys paced impatiently along the length of the classroom. “It is extremely powerful and many skilled wizards use this to get past obstacles. Now, for many, MANY, obvious reasons this spell needs to be exercised with care. You can find yourself wandering the halls only to have the floors turn to fine mist. There, you may hit your head and we all talked about how hitting your head is bad.

“I will say the incantation, but you mustn't say it, not until I give you the go-ahead.

“It’s Re-DUCK-toh — repeat it with me!”

“Re-DUCK-toh!”

“Excellent!” Professor Keys showed the hand movements, swishing his wand into a lopsided V shape while they all copied. Marlene swished her wand around fluidly, Remus watched intently while James fiddled around with his wand.

“Here’s an example — REDUCTO!” A jet of orange light had shot up from the end of Key’s wand and turned his desk into complete ash. His photo frames and trinkets all cluttered to the floor as everyone stared in amazement.

Now, everyone was off to their own devices, attempting to shoot the spell themselves. No student had yet to successfully cast it.

“Remember the wrist movement!” Keys squeaked as he made his rounds around the classroom.

It was difficult. Y/N had only managed to spark an orange ball of light from the top of her wand but nothing more. She channelled all her rage into it, but perhaps it was that very rage that clouded her magic. She was never great at offence spells, rather her talents lying in defensive spells.

On the other hand, James shoved a hand into his pocket, kicking around at the air while Marlene became so impatient that she prodded her wand, only to have it almost snap in half and have fire emit from the tip, burning her hair — Remus had to put it out.

“Crackpot! Key’s lost it! This could get someone killed!” Marlene shouted. The smell of her brunt hair filled their noses as they sniffed in the unpleasant smell. Y/N conjured a small gust of wind and pointed it out the open classroom door, ridding the brunt smell of hair with fresh air before cracking open a window.

“Thanks, love. Now — I have to talk to you.” Marlene swings her arm over her shoulder and ushers Remus over; as expected, James follows. “As we know, Lily’s birthday is on the thirtieth. What should we do? I was thinking of a party.”

“For fuck sakes!” Y/N felt her entire body relax, “You could’ve been less cryptic.”

“It was for dramatic effect.”

“Sure — but it has to be on the smaller side,” Remus says immediately. Y/N nodded her head, agreeing.

“Where would we hold it? If it’s not going to be big, then the common room isn’t an option and our dorm is too small.”

“We have rounds that night before we switch with the seventh years. By the time we’re done, it would be around… ten? Students are usually up by then.”

“And Moony can just abuse his powers and threaten them with detention if they don’t leave.”

“Damn, pots — a bit of an outlaw, aren’t you?” He winks at her, smiling devilishly at the group.

Remus sighs, nose scrunching. “Nope — definitely can’t do that but I can keep Lily distracted long enough so you can decorate the room.”

Marlene’s face lit up like a thousand stars. Her smile radiated and shined brightly as she nodded her head eagerly, blathering on and on about their plan.

“You five are just stalling around!” Keys had come by their group, his head shaking.

“Sorry professor.” They all muttered out.

“Well, let’s see what you can do then.” He said expectantly, “Mr. Lupin, you first.”

Y/N looked over at him. She had yet to see Remus attempt to cast the spell and wondered if she could save him from being scolded by Keys if she’d gone first. It was better to cast a few sparks rather than conjuring nothing.

Keys scuttled away quickly, his wand at the ready to protect the rest of the students. Remus rolled up the sleeves of his robe, scarlet cuffs now showing as he effortlessly flicks his wand and said loudly and perfectly, demonstrating to the entire class, “Reducto!”

A searing ball of light blinded everyone; the blackboard in front of them exploded as the cure hit, disintegrated into pure ash. The smoke particles unfurled into the air and floated around, causing all the students to cough as the cloud of ash clouded their vision momentarily while the torrent of crashing chalk and board eraser clattered to the floor.

Marlene let out a low whistle. From what she could see, a few of the other girls in the class looked up at Remus, a shiny look in their eyes. Some swooned, others whispered to their friends.

Of course Remus Lupin knew the answer.

Years later down the line, Y/N would come back to this moment and remember thinking that Remus Lupin was possibly one of the smartest people she would ever get the pleasure of knowing.

Unbeknownst to her, James had his eye trained on her and Remus’ interactions since they first came back from the break. He watched Moony’s smile when he was around Whiskers and right now, as she looked up to Remus with a dazed look, James couldn’t help but feel himself but smirk at his knowledge.

Whenever he saw them both together, Whisker’s sunny energy contrasted with Remus’ quiet and gloomy self; he was a big fan of their dynamic.

He nudged her side as he looked at her, a smug knowing smile on his lips.

“What?”

He shook his head, nothing.

❉───────•~❉•᯽•❉~•───────❉

January 27, 1976

“Do you really think so?”

She dramatically clutched a hand to her chest in disbelief, “You really think I can survive without you and your Charms lessons?! It’s like you want Flitwick to bury my grave. And do you want to be alone in Astronomy? Without my presence?”

“Hey! I’m doing you a favour. You would be shit outta luck without me,” Remus mocks, albeit it’s playful.

“Well, Grandpa—”

“Grandpa?”

“You knit all the time and you dress like one,” she moved to pass him some chocolate truffles laid out while she bent down to a house-elf and politely requested tea for them, continuing, “Not all of us are geniuses.”

Remus' look is soft and everyone can see it but for Y/N as her back is turned, taking the teacups from the elves, thanking them before passing one to him while grabbing the milk and sugar the elves brought unasked for.

It brought a smile onto his lips as he tried to force it down, pretending to be unphased by her overly grand gestures. Remus found himself liking the attention that Y/N was beginning to show him. He liked how she always seemed to be so attentive and let him rant about his books and music. He liked how kind and funny she was. And now, there was hardly a trace of cautiousness or judgement that came from her, not unlike others who tended to avoid him and even his own chaps from time to time.

Remus rubs his face as he gulps down the warm tea in one go, getting up with his bag.

“Where are you going? There’s still thirty minutes before dinner ends!” Peter questioned.

“I have to set up for the group today. Besides, I have to take care of some prefect duties. I’ll see you two later,” he looks at her and Lily. There was a light step to Remus as he made his way out before James and Lily whipped their heads in her direction, both mirroring a giddy expression.

“Getting matey, you two?” James says with a large smirk.

Y/N frowns slightly at the accusation while her arms crossed around herself. “Fat chance. What are you suggesting?”

“You and Remus have been spending an awful lot of time together,” Lily wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at her.

“Same study group, that's the whole point, is it not?” She says a bit irritably. James had been making innuendos between her and Remus for the past three weeks, and now that Lily started, Y/N knew that it would never stop. “What are you implying?”

“You fancy each other!”

Y/N blink once, twice as her brain processed what they were accusing. Fancy? No! Remus was a friend! “Get your heads out of your asses. What a dumb question.”

“Wasn’t a question but a statement. You two fancy each other or at least Remus fancies you! You should’ve seen the way he looked at you just then!”

“Date! Snog! Shag!”

“I’m not going to fuck him.”

“Who are we fucking?” Mary popped in. Y/N dropped her head and stared at the table in front of her. If one thing Lily and James had in common, it was their need to embarrass and annoy her.

She sighs, about to refuse to answer but letting up. “Evans and Potter reckon that me and Lupin are more than friends.”

Mary’s eyes lit up so bright that they could rival the sun. She clapped her hands a few times in pure excitement. “I knew it!” “What?!”

The table looks at each other. James snorted so loudly that he choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking and his face went as red as Lily’s hair. Lily looked as if she were about to pass out. Her laughter caused her nostrils to flare and Mary looked around guilty.

“What?!” She repeated, this time louder.

“Haven’t you noticed? We all think you’ve been shagging.”

“That is ridiculous! Will you guys stop with this nonsense of fake love-dovey gazes? So what he looked at me! You're supposed to look at people while you’re talking and boys and girls can be friends!”

“No! You have been spending so much time together and the only other woman Remus is ever around that often is either Lily and we all know they’re just friends —” “Yeah, like me!” “— or the professors! You should see how much you two smile and giggle with each other!”

Y/N groaned frustrated. “Why is everyone so obsessed with my sex life?”

“Because you don’t have one.”

She looked to Lily, her mouth opening as everyone around her laughed.

“I hate you.”

“Hate isn’t going to get you into heaven.”

Lily was impossible.

“You two would look so cute!

“Stop trying to play wingman here, Bambi!”

“Kiss, marry, Avada — James, Remus or Sirius? Go.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Mary was always wildly inappropriate which usually made her laugh but this time only made Y/N curl in uncomfortability. Mary laughed, unrefined and Peter tried to object, asking why Mary hadn’t used his name.

“You can pick me, darling, I won’t mind. I know you’re obsessed with me.” James says and flicks his pretend long hair behind his back.

She could Avada them all and not feel bad. Groaning, she was not happy with this outcome. “I would murder you first then.”

“Why?!”

“I like Remus more than you at this point.”

“Whiskers! We’ve been friends longer!”

“The week when we came back from the holidays, they were talking about getting married!” Peter blurted out.

“What!?”

Mary cut them off, smiling wickedly, “One sickle that she and Remus are going to snog by the end of the year.”

“Four —” Peter interjected, “I’ve never seen him be so buddy-buddy with another girl that wasn’t Lily or his mother.”

“Guys, this is ridiculous!” Y/N tried to intervene.

Everyone wavered her off, continuing their bets.

Mary chuckled at Lily, “Six sickles.”

“C’mon! I am not going to fuck either boy!”

“You both are going to lose,” James proposed. Y/N’s heart dropped a bit, seeing the temptation in his eyes. James never was the one to bow down from a bet. “What about Sirius?”

Y/N felt the urge to hex him.

“Shut the fuck up, James.”

They all ignored her.

“You are a genius, wee pots!” Marlene jumped to her feet and walked over to sit beside Y/N. “They totally have sexual tension!”

“Right?!”

“Whenever Sirius walks into a room, the first person he likes to seek out is you —”

“That’s not true! What in the Britsh bloody fuck are you on?!”

“Nu-uh,” Potter says, wearing a shit-eating grin as he takes a moment to drink his pumpkin juice. “Kinnon isn’t wrong. Sirius is into you. It makes sense, all that tension and he wanted to ask you on a date when you first came to Hogwarts.”

“He does like the chase,” Lily interjects, “And out of all the years I’ve witnessed Sirius Black and his slag days, nobody has given him a run for his money like this.”

“You guys would look so hot together!” “Are we forgetting about Remus?! They would look better together and they actually like each other. Hell, they’re practically dating at this point!”

James shakes his head, “For a bloke that reads that many books, he’s horrible with words. He’s not going to say anything. Anyway — you should shag Black. I’m telling you, it would most likely solve whatever —” he makes a hand gesture to her, “— this is.”

“Screw it, I got a Galleon that she and Sirius are going to shag or snog before June,” Marlene stated confidently.

James sat up straighter, his chest puffing out in a challenging manner. Marlene flickered her hair off her shoulder and dropped one elbow on the table, placing her chin in one hand.

“Make it two — late May.” James challenged.

“Three Galleons, mid-May.”

“Three Galleons, two Knuts; late April.”

“Three Galleons, four Knuts; mid-April.”

“Four Galleons; March.”

Marlene stuck out her hand, shaking it with his. She turned to Y/N, who sat dumbstruck with her mouth open, absolutely mortified. “I have a lot of money on you, don’t you dare fail me.”

“Get to Remus first! Do you know many women are after him? He's the best boyfriend material out of all the marauders!” Lily shouted.

“Yeah? What about Black?”

“Lost cause! The bloke can’t even choose someone.”

Y/N got up from her seat, pushing up on the table to walk away. She’s had enough. Marlene and James were whooping while Mary was saying some obscene scenarios that she and Remus were going to get up to. People were starting to listen in now.

“Lupin’s a strong one. I’ve seen him lift luggage and parcels as heavy as ten stones the Muggle way, with ease. Imagine if he picked up and pushed you against a wall while —” “MARY SHUT UP!”

“He’s a lovesick git and you too!” Lily teases, “Bet you’ll get cheeky in the library!”

Her face burns with an unbelievable amount of embarrassment. She felt like she could die right there and then.

“What’s got you all so chuffed?” Sirius asks as he sits down at the table. This was the first time he made an appearance at dinner that night.

Just the timing — of course!

“Will you stop with that! I am not lovesick!” She stomped away, almost sprinting away from the group before she heard the faint half-scream coming from Sirius that sounded an awful lot like what the fuck?

Yeah, she could agree with that, what the fuck. Y/N just went through first, second, third and fourth hand embarrassment.

She quickly walked through the corridors and up into the library. Quickly storming up to their usual table, Remus was already there.

Over the past couple of weeks, she and Remus had fallen into this routine of turning from acquaintances to friends, actual friends.

Remus was the very definition of cool. He’s one of the smartest people she knew all the while he skipped classes often and despite that, all the teachers loved him. McGonagall, a hard one to impress, absolutely adored him and it was very obvious. He was also a prefect and he always let the marauders or even her off; had an ear for music, was incredibly strong and she’d always seen him carrying around chocolate that he never shared.

He also had silverly scars littering his entire body and momentarily, she’d sometimes wondered if he was in a gang. Maybe the marauders were a secret gang name? But then she thought rationally; James Potter, in a gang?

He was fiddling around with his knitting needles and he wore glasses, he leaned back in the chair, ankle resting on the other knee. A pile of parchment, journals, books and even a mug sat there. She had never seen him wear glasses before, but he did look quite like a teacher.

“Going for the whole professor look, aren’t you?”

He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “Where’s Lily?” He said, his accent softly lilt

Her face burned again.

“There’s still about twenty minutes until dinner ends; I think she wanted to finish eating.”

“Well then,” he took off his glasses, “You couldn’t get enough of me then?”

“Piss off.”

During their conversation, Remus made her acutely aware of every part of her: her skin, the way she walked, her appearance, her clothes. It didn’t help that his gaze was always so… intense.

At some point, he got up and talked to a few third years who were having trouble with a certain spell while she watched him. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips while her elbows were propped on the table. Remus came off as quiet and awkward, but he always excluded certain confidence during these sessions. She hadn’t thought about it until now, but the way the dimly glowing lamps highlighted the sharpest points of his face and the way the light bounced off the silver scars, Remus… was well… not shabby looking.

Josh! It’s not like Y/N didn’t have… urges. Most people did but all this talk about her and Remus and then her and Sirius was starting to get to her head!

“Want to try?” He asks as he sits back down in his seat, lifting the ball of yarn and needles in her direction, effectively breaking her out of her trance. Y/N shakes her head, waving a hand dismissively.

“Come on, I know you want to.”

“Fine.”

“Do you know how to?” She shakes her head.

Remus then shifts his body so his hands were on top of hers, guiding her fingers through the loops of yarn over the needle as his prefect voice was activated, muttering softly by her ear.

It might’ve been the middle of winter but she felt like her entire body was on fire. This has to be some kind of cruel joke the universe is playing on her.

He continued to help her until the repetition became second nature and left her to continue to knit.

Her small patch had large gaps and looked lopsided, but she smiled at the creation which caused Remus to as well. “Keep it,” he says with a smile.

“I’m not taking your needles.”

“Seriously. James brought me over thirty new ones on my birthday last year because he didn’t know what size needles he should get. Really, one pair won’t hurt me.”

And then Lily, kind, beautiful, yet annoying, slippery Lily waltzes in confidently, sharing a knowing look as she watches the entire scene play out. From his hands touching hers to him being as generous as giving her his knitting needles.

This did not look good at all.

She nodded but was dazed by Lily. She plonks down beside him and Y/N automatically rips her gaze away, shifting awkwardly in her seat.

The room felt too hot, too incredibly hot and thankfully Remus didn’t seem phased but oh my god — she knew deep down that once Remus got back to his dorm later tonight, James was going to give him the same hell and convince him and probably Sirius (if he hadn’t already done so) that they were soulmates or the ridiculous hopeless romantic shit James loved to spew.

Remus began talking in the background, flipping through his notes while Lily jabs her side.

Lovesick, she mouthed.

148 notes · View notes

bradburysbxtches · 3 years ago

Text

I wanna write down my headcanons for Marlene so here we go!

•

1) Marlene was a half blood. Her father was a witch, her mother a muggle.

2) They are the only daughter and she has 4 other brothers. She is the middle child.

3) Family is one of the most important thing in their life and she always does everything to protect them

4) Visited Hogwarts in the same year as the marauders and got sorted into Gryffindor. Lily, Mary and Alice were her Roommates.

5) Alice and her have been Childhood friends and she sees her as the sister she never had.

6) Lily becomes Marls best friend

7) Mary and Marls were unbreakable. People thought there were twins cause they never left the others side. Could be considered as the female sirius × James.

8) Marls always had a huge crush on Mary but she was too scared to do anything also she denied her sexuality

9) She became the beater of the Gryffindor quidditch team and was considered to be one of the absolutely best.

10) they didn't liked the marauders much cause they annoyed her. But at the beginning she liked peter the most cause he was the most "gentle" one so she sometimes talked to him. He was very surprised and developed a kind of crush for marls (but more he was surprised that someone saw him and liked him) he wanted to make the first step and ask her out but then marls got together with Sirius which peter absolutely hated

11) Trough the Quidditch team Marls befriended with James and trough lily's friendship with Remus she also started talking to him

12) She dated Sirius as I said,both denieing their sexuality. Trough the relationship both figure out who they really want and they help each other out. They are considered to be very chaotic together.

13) Sirius than got together with remus and Marls developed feelings for a Slytherin girl named Dorcas. Sirius hated that and both went in a huge fight. They didn't talked for a while but it was Lily who gave Dorcas a chance. With time Sirius sees the similarities between him and Dorcas and he starts to like her. He apologised to marls and they continued being the chaotic duo they always were

14) So Marls is a lesbian and I see their pronounce as she/they

15) Remus fave girl out of Mary, Alice and Dorcas was always Marlene and he enjoyed her company

16) Marls was more like a quite person. At least at the beginning. With time she developed more and more into a more confident person but she was never seen as very loud or impulsive. They were honest and she did say what they were thinking. It was often Marls who told Snape or the Marauders to shut up if they were being disrespectful.

17) Marls was annoyed by the pranks but later she learned to like them

18) they were a huge feminist. She was very passionate in everything she believed in. Their family, their friends, Quidditch, saving people and being a feminist

19) she always put men into their place and she never shut up. They had a lot of problems because of that but she didn't care. She would fight for her rights

20) Marls always wanted to become a healer and when she graduated that's what they became.

21) She met Emmeline Vance, who was a Ravenclaw, during the Healing lessons by Madam Promfrey and they became really good friends. During their Education as healer they became very close friends and Dorcas became very jealous cause she thought they had something together. Emmeline than convinced Dorcas that there was nothing between them cause Emmeline was happy in love with Amelia Bones

22) Mary later developed a crush on Marls but since she was happy with dorcas, they could have never been a thing.

23) Marlene joined the Order of Pheonix alongside her Friends

24) Marlenes younger brother got bitten by Greyback and turned into a werewolf. Since than they were always very critical about werewolfs and she did insulted them in front of Remus (without knowing that he was one)

Later she found out about remus and they cleared their differences.

25) Marlene loved being a healer and she put all her strength into their work. But she hated all the death and at all the war

26) Her Anxiety (as in a panic disorder) got very worse. They suffered from anxiety since she was little and it was Remus who helped her through it since he also suffered with it. Alice also has been a great help for her since they were little.

27) After Dorcas got killed, Marls suffered with very serious depression. She didn't get out of her bed at all. Lily visited Marls at least once a day and tried to help her best friend but nothing worked.

28) one month after dorcas murder, Marls got a but better. At least she tried. But she never had the time to fully heal. Her family got attacked. Marls got locked in the bathroom by the deatheaters and she had to hear as every single one of her family got murdered. The door finally opened and it was peter in front of her. First she was relieved but than they saw his wand pointed at her.

Peter thought they only should kill the McKinnon family but not Marls. Later it was revealed that peter had to kill Marlene in order to proof his loyalty. The moment Marls realized that peter was the traitor, she started to insult him. Calling him a coward. They pushed him. Peter killed marlene.

29) it was Mary who found her best friend. Her better half. After that she stopped being in the order. Sirius was the one who told and comforted lily. Her death hit everyone of them very hard.

#marlene mckinnon headcanons #all the young dudes #marauders headcanon #marauders era #wolfstar #jily #the marauders #sirius black #dorlene #marlene mckinnon #sirius orion black #james potter #lily evans #mary macdonald #alice longbottom #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #dorcas meadowes #dorcas x marlene

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recreancyrpg · 3 years ago

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BASICS.

NAME. James Potter AGE. 24 ALUMNI HOUSE. Gryffindor BLOOD STATUS. Pureblood FACECLAIM. Darren Barnet

HISTORY.

From a young age, James Potter got what he wanted. He had plans. Go to Hogwarts and finally make some friends (his closed-off neighborhood with aging parents wasn’t exactly crawling with children his own age). Explore the castle and have a laugh and ace his exams without trying and become Quidditch captain. The group of friends he found was an unexpected bunch of misfits, but no one questioned his choices because he was James Potter. He viewed even some of the biggest obstacles as an adventure. Like learning one his friends was a werewolf (a mighty challenge!) or when one prank went too far (it was an accident really!) or when he joined the war against Voldemort (bring it on!). The Order had always been the next thing for him and his friends to do. He’d decided it and the boys had followed, like they did with everything. He still had plans. Fight the bad guys, win the war. It would be fine (because he said so!).

Even when things in the war got bad, James’ optimism never wavered. He believed in the Order. He had his friends fighting alongside him, the love of his life right there with him. His money allowed him to dedicate his entire life to the cause without having to deal with a stupid job that would take up extra time. He became the Order. What might’ve begun as his next adventure - the right thing to do, of course, what with his girlfriend being a muggleborn and all - had grown into something much more.

And then he got captured. Right on the edge of what was supposed to be a safehouse. Sure, The Flaming Dragon might’ve been technically located in Knockturn Alley, but it wasn’t a place any of them needed to be afraid of. But James had gotten hexed from behind, taken without anyone noticing, and brought to an undisclosed location with three other pureblooded Order members. It had been a surprise - even with his growing understanding of privilege and Lily’s insistence that he wasn’t safe with her, he never really thought it would be him. Those four months of torture were rough, but he’d made it through with the knowledge that he had people waiting for him. The thought of fighting his way back to them made his survival possible.

What he didn’t expect were the changes he would come home to. Peter, as an unlikely leader. Remus and Sirius at each other’s throats. And Lily... well, she’d told him it wasn’t safe and his capture had only proved that. What he thought would be a loving homecoming led to cracked friendships and a break-up that even James couldn’t have anticipated. Not in his plan. Since his return, James has had to navigate the changes in both his personal life and the Order as a whole. For the first time in his life, he doesn’t know where he quite fits, but he’s trying to figure it out. And, even if he sometimes can’t help but shudder at the pain he’d felt while away, he’s at least pretending to keep that familiar optimism.

CONNECTIONS.

LILY EVANS. He will never understand why she ended things like she did. She says its because his capture proves he’s not safe with her - deemed a Blood Traitor for dating someone below his bloodline - but he thinks risking that should be his choice. If she really loved him, wouldn’t she not let go? SIRIUS BLACK. One staple in his life is Sirius Black. His best friend’s loyalty to James is one thing that hadn’t changed when he’d returned from captivity. While Sirius, like everyone else, thought him dead, James doesn’t hold that against him. It’s just good to have something that doesn’t feel so different to rely on. MARLENE MCKINNON, EMMELINE VANCE, & GIDEON PREWETT. Trauma brings people together. James spent four months locked up in a cellar with these three and, now, they share a different sort of bond. While the group isn’t exactly the Marauders, James has formed something as equally special - something that, unlike his other friends, isn’t splintering apart.

JAMES IS TAKEN.

#harry potter rp #hp rp #marauders rp #harry potter roleplay #marauders rpg #james potter #james potter bio #taken #gryffindor #pureblood #character bio

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lamesiscanon · 4 years ago

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Mistletoe

Day 5 of the holiday prompt list posted by @remus-john-lupin I also did not read this again for mistakes so pardon those... anyways,

The plan was christened as Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him. Or as James called it, Desperation at its Finest. It came together on a rather ordinary Wednesday evening in the dorm, where Sirius was lazily flicking sparks at James’ feet as the other boy slept. The appeal came from the quiet giggles and words like “Lily, stop that tickles” James would mumble sleepily, delighting Sirius to no end. This was prime blackmail material that Sirius would most definitely use as an advantage in the next coming weeks.

Sirius had to bite his sleeve to keep his laughter from waking him up when James started puckering his lips against his pillow. Though, it turned out to be all for naught when Peter threw the door open with a bang.

“Whazzat?” James sat up on his bed with his wand held out, though he held onto the wrong end. Sirius quickly hid his own under his duvet and turned his attention towards Peter, who was out of breath and full of sweat.

“SIRIUS!” Peter shouted in a way of greeting, dumping his bag on the floor and slamming the door shut once again.

“PETE!” Sirius met his words with equal enthusiasm, though he had no idea what this was about.

“JAMES!” James joined in, always ready to match his friends energy. Peter ignored him.

“Sirius, I just overheard a conversation in the library and Emmeline Vance is planning on asking Remus to the Christmas dance.” Peter let out in one breath as he searched through his trunk, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill.

“What?” Sirius and James both yelled in a panic, to which Peter explained everything he had overheard in the Library. Emmi’s Hufflepuff roommates had apparently talked her into asking Remus to the dance after Emmi herself complained about not knowing who to go with. Sona Pearce had suggested Remus because he was tall, kind, smart, and most importantly, mysterious as hell. The rest of the Hufflepuff girls had giggled at that, talking excitedly about how quiet and secretive Remus was. It was decided then, and declared by Emmeline that she would ask Remus Lupin to the Christmas dance. Peter had immediately run out of the library all the way to Gryffindor tower.

And so that’s how Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him was born. Peter, as the scribe, James as the voice of reason, and Sirius as the anxiety ridden idiot in love. Together, they came up with the perfect plan to squash all of Emmeline Vance’s hopes and dreams. (Though, Sirius didn’t think she’d be too sad in the end, since she apparently didn’t have an actual crush on Remus.)

Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him (Desperation at its Finest) ((Shut the fuck up, James))

Step 1: Make sure Remus avoids running into Emmi Vance at all times.

Step 2: Subtly show Remus that I, Sirius Black, am perfect boyfriend material.

Step 3: Ask Remus to the Christmas dance.

Step 4: Get Remus under the charmed mistletoe and kiss him until he forgets his name. (Stick your tongue down his throat) (Gettin’ Jiggy with it) (Peter, for the love of God, please never say that again.)

Step 5: Ask Remus on a date, become boyfriends, fall in love, get married, live happily ever after.

The first steps were surprisingly easy. Sirius managed to execute them without any complications, which was rare for a Marauder’s plan. The map came in handy when the first step was still in motion. All it took was a quick glance at the map after each class to make sure that they wouldn’t run into Emmeline on their way to the next class. A couple of times it was unavoidable, but Sirius would usually engage Remus in a conversation so he wouldn’t notice Emmeline trying to get his attention. And for the one time that Emmeline actually tried to come up to Remus and talk to him, Peter set off a well-timed dung bomb that set everyone running for fresh, clean air. He’d gotten detention for that, but Sirius was grateful enough to finish his potions homework for him for the next week.

Step two was just as easy since Sirius usually complimented Remus on a daily basis and would help him with Transfiguration and Runes (the only classes Remus didn’t have the highest marks). He stepped up the game just a little by giving Remus his favorite sweets from a secret Hogsmeade run and organized his part of the dorm room before and after the full. Remus hadn’t acted like it was out of the ordinary, but he did thank Sirius and even gave him one of those secret smiles the two usually shared, so Sirius counted it as a very successful win.

Sirius was almost sure he failed the whole thing when it came to the third step, though. Actually asking Remus out brought up nerves that he usually only felt right before quidditch games. It ended up being a spur of the moment thing when the two were alone in the dorm, when Remus was getting dressed and Sirius was pretending not to watch. Sirius blurted the question before he could prepare himself for it. He thought the plan was completely fucked when Remus had only stared at him for a moment, confusion and concern evident all over his face. Sirius almost took it back, was about to play it off as a joke when Remus smiled and said “Sure, Pads. That sounds like a lot of fun.”

In the days leading up the the Christmas dance, Sirius learned that the fourth step wasn’t going to be as easy. Regular mistletoe wasn’t proving to be enough, so Sirius had to resort himself to charmed mistletoe, which backfired horribly when Peter had accidentally gotten stuck with him. Much to both of their disappointment, the charmed magic on the stupid plant didn’t settle for any cheek kisses.

The one who the charmed mistletoe was actually meant for had jumped out of the way at the last second, but Peter hadn’t been so lucky. It frustrated Sirius, that Remus seemed to have memorized the layout of all mistletoe decorations around the castle and avoided it well. So far Sirius had been resigned to kissing Both Prewett twins (separate occasions, thank Merlin), Dorcas Meadowes, Sona Pearce, Isaac Ure, and poor Peter all because Remus was apparently afraid of mistletoe.

The actual day of the Christmas dance made Sirius feel excited, nervous, and frustrated in one go, but his hopes were up that tonight would be the night he could get Remus alone and under the damned magical plant.

Remus was getting ready in the boy’s dorm while Sirius was dragged up to Lily’s because apparently it was “more romantic” to wait and see each other until they met up at the common room entrance. At least Sirius got the perk of having Marlene do his eyeliner.

As reluctant as he was to admit it, Lily was actually right about the extra romantic thrill of seeing Remus after walking out of the Fat Lady’s portrait. He cleaned up well, with a set of dark maroon robes that went well with his dirty blonde curls and honey eyes. Merry fucking hippogriffs, Sirius could barely manage from swooning straight to the ground when those eyes met his. And that stupid, beautiful smile that Remus gave him when those honey eyes took in every inch of Sirius. He was completely fucked.

Sirius was fucked when Remus laughed as the teachers took the first dance, he was fucked when Remus ate a sugar quill from the refreshments table, and he was fucked when a hand grabbed his to pull him out on the dance floor for their own dance. The night was one of the best of Sirius’ life, yet he still hadn’t managed to get Remus under the mistletoe. He got distracted by dancing with Remus once the music turned into more upbeat stuff, and then they met up with James, Peter, and their dates and sat around for hours laughing and talking about other couples they could see on the dance floor.

James nudged Sirius at one point, motioning to where Emmeline was dancing with Benjy Fenwick. Apparently Emmi Vance had a type, which was tall and smart bookish boys.

Sirius got so caught up in joking with Remus and Lily that he didn’t hear the announcement for the last song. Lily had been dragged away by her date, leaving Remus and Sirius alone at their table near the refreshments.

“Come on, let’s finish the Christmas dance with a bang.” Remus said, holding out his hand for Sirius to take. Sirius was so excited to dance with Remus that he didn’t even process the fact that this was the end of the night and he still hasn’t kissed Remus.

In the middle of their jumping around and screaming, Remus pulled out his wand and made an unrecognizable motion to Sirius, but before he could ask, Remus put his wand away and continued to dance. The crowd cried for an encore when the song ended, nobody wanted to leave just yet. The band relented, though they announced that this was going to be a slow dance. Sirius shyly took Remus’ offered hand and led them both across the floor in twirls and slow sways.

The night was actually perfect. Even in Sirius didn’t get to kiss Remus, he always had tomorrow, or the next day, or even the next. He just wanted to be in this moment with Remus as they swayed and laughed, completely oblivious to everyone else around them.

“So I found something interesting today.” Remus spoke, jolting Sirius from his thoughts.

“Oh yeah?” Sirius asked, curious as to what Remus found and thought interesting enough to bring up during their dance.

Remus smiled, reaching into the pocket of his maroon dress robes and pulled out a small piece of parchment that was torn at the edges. It sort of looked familiar...

“Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him.” Remus read aloud. “I thought it sounded quite interesting, so I picked it up.”

“Moony, no! You weren’t supposed to see that!” Sirius let of Remus’ waist to grab the parchment out of his hands, but Remus was quick at dodging the attempts.

“Oh Merlin...” Sirius groaned, completely embarrassed. He wished that whatever deity was above would just smite him right then and there.

“Well, it has my name on it so I didn’t have any qualms about reading it...” Remus cleared his throat and shook out the parchment to prepare reading the rest.

“Step one, make sure Remus avoids running into Emmi Vance at all times. This one was interesting, since I have no idea what Emmeline has to do with any of this.”

“She was going to ask you to the dance...” Sirius muttered. He was pretty sure this is the reddest his face has ever been, and there was no way to stop this torture.

“Ah, I see. Step two,” Remus continued, “Subtly show that I, Sirius Black, and perfect boyfriend material.”

All Sirius could do was smack his hand to his face and keep wishing that he could somehow disappear from this whole mess.

“Step three, ask Remus to the Christmas dance.” Remus read, sounding more amused as the moment dragged on. “Now, since we’re both here at said dance, I can only assume you deemed the first three steps successful, right?”

Sirius didn’t answer, but Remus apparently wasn’t actually looking for one, he just continued reading.

“Step four, get Remus under the charmed mistletoe and kiss him until he forgets his name.”

They had stopped dancing at this point. Sirius was pretty sure it was because of him being to embarrassed to do anything but cover his face and listen as Remus read his own plan aloud to him. He felt rooted to the spot, no matter how much he wanted to run away and hide until graduation. Maybe the room of requirement would be a good place to live until then...

“I laughed and James’ and Peter’s inputs here. And suddenly, all your mistletoe mishaps made sense. It was hard to watch actually, nearly crushed all my hopes, but when I found this it all started to make sense.” Remus waved the parchment again and Sirius heard it flap.

“Remus, please stop. I’m so sorry, okay? I promise I can just avoid you if you want that, but- wait? Did you say I crushed your hopes?” Sirius finally took his hand off his face, looking at Remus for the first time since he started reading. He expected to find disgust, but instead he saw Remus smiling that same, sweet, secret smile that they shared between the two of them.

“Well, duh.” Remus shrugged, still holding that damned piece of parchment. “I don’t think anyone would like to watch the guy they fancy kiss six other people.”

Sirius could only gape while his brain floundered for words to say.

“You- you fancy me?” It came out as a whisper.

“Of course I do, you daft mutt. Only for the past two years or so. How could I not?” Remus smiled again, and Sirius realized that the way he was looking at him was the same way Sirius would look at Remus when he thought the other boy wasn’t looking. Oh. This revelation brought back all of Sirius’ confidence, it seemed. He put his hand back on Remus’ waist to pull him just a little bit closer and plastered a smirk on his face.

“Well then, what am I going to do about step four? It’s been bloody hard to check that one off, you know.”

Remus laughed, and then pointed at the ceiling above him, revealing a single spot of charmed mistletoe. Well, that explains why Sirius felt so rooted to the ground earlier, then. And it explained Remus’ random wand movement earlier.

Sirius’ thoughts were cut off again, but he was more pleased by the cause this time. The pair of softest lips he’d ever felt were pushed against his own, and he hummed, perfectly content.

Remus was kissing him, Remus was kissing him!

The song ended, and people around them applauded the band for their night of well-played music but Sirius and Remus didn’t even notice. Their own thought were filled with only each other. It was the best night of Sirius’ life.

“Well,” Remus broke away, breathless from their kiss but still smiling, “You’ve already asked me out, and you got your kiss, so what’s next?”

Sirius laughed and pretended to think about it for a moment, head tilting side to side. Remus smacked him on the shoulder to hurry him along.

“I’m pretty sure the next step was to become boyfriends.” Sirius beamed.

“And happily ever after will come later.” Remus agreed, and then his lips were back on Sirius’ while both boys were completely oblivious to the rest of the people around them.

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thequibblah · 3 years ago

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⭐ honestly there are so many things that I'd likevto ask which is why I want to ask a broaderish question.. How do you approach the characterisation of your "Main cast"? I think you have created some really great complex characters even though they do not exist in canon or even fanon (Germaine in example)

I hope this isn't too broad lol

no, i don't think it's too broad! just let me know if my answer doesn't actually touch on what you were wondering about haha

character creation for me tends to be spontaneous rather than conscious — i.e. i'm just writing my way through a scene and i'm like anyway, these people are new and they're friends or they're dating or they hate each other, and there's rarely a ton of forethought put into it. the vast majority of the ct cast was like that, i would say, except possibly michael, who was the first love interest i invented so there was a little more intention there

(but other than him i was really pulling things out of nowhere for the rest of the students especially — including with emmeline which sometimes surprises me)

the exception is, of course, the main cast. they and sara were very intentional, and i wrote little bio thingies for them before i started even outlining the fic. i mean the non-canon main cast, of course, lol — mary, dorcas (they're both canon but i've invented virtually everything about them, so), and germaine.

i did actually do a lot of hemming and hawing about how many girls there would be in lily's year in gryffindor. as discussed in a previous "my beef with j/k/r" instalment on this blog, the numbers of the hogwarts population really don't make sense at all, so i knew i could be flexible and kind of hand wave any questionable bits away. but the composition of the gryffindor girls was crucial in deciding lily's characterisation, imo — an easy way to convey implied characterisation is to show someone in contrast to the people around them. so: who is lily within the context of her friend group? is she friends with all the girls she rooms with?

separately, i've always liked writing friends in groups of four. in the planning stage of this i was like urghhh it's four girls, the four marauders, is that like too perfect....... and one thing i HATED was that people could then map on each marauder to each girl (lily = james is a bit questionable, though i firmly believe they're much more alike than they seem, but it kind of works.... mary = sirius, dorcas = remus, germaine = peter). and i didn't, and don't, want to make it seem like i've just made vaguely distinct female versions of each marauder!

i've made my peace with that risk, of course, and i think each of the girls is significantly different from "their marauder" (LOL) that it's actually fine — and, better still, if that thought occurs to anyone i hope that their characterisations will go on to provide interesting nuance to the parallels

but, anyway, tangent aside, i love groups of four because i think basically all my life i've had groups-of-four friendships. to absolutely go to bat for us foursomes, it's nice because no single person is the obvious odd one out, and each combination in pairs brings something different to the table — the role that doe plays in the group of four at large, for instance, isn't exactly the same as who she is in her individual friendship with mary, lily, or germaine.

the three main cast members came of some very clinical answers to those initial questions about lily.

one, i have always liked having mary be one of lily's friends, and in my characterisation of her she's obviously a great foil to lily, as a fellow muggle-born student. so, she was a lock.

two, i wanted to write one other canon order character, but i didn't want it to be marlene because in my reading of her canon mention, lily is unlikely to write a letter to sirius with her full name (paraphrasing but "i was so upset when marlene mckinnon died, i cried for ages") or, indeed, write a letter discussing how sad marlene's death made her, if they were besties and schoolmates. i went with dorcas because why the hell not? in developing her i then added all these thoughts

three, i felt the need to make up an oc so i could have absolute freedom over their fate. i had certain preconceived notions about mary and dorcas and what their stories would be, so there were other things (e.g. playing quidditch) that i wanted to have a friend of lily's do that they couldn't. plus, i wanted to write a massive lesbian.

another little sticking point, though, was that i (for a very SHRUG?? reason) didn't want lily to be besties with everyone she's lived with, but i didn't want to insert a catty rival into her dorm either. (now, don't get me wrong, i do love a good rival. i did, after all, write mary and amelia, and i am a known appreciator of carlotta meloni, and i adore TLE's marlene mckinnon. but i wanted the gryffindor girls to be like lily's safe space — a contrast both to her home life and to her recently-strained friendship with snape, where she's spent some time having to second-guess herself a lot. in my mind her friendships with all three of her besties coalesced at various points organically, until she was like wow wait i do actually have a home base here.)

the compromise was someone who was friendly with lily, but there's no strain on that friendship to be more than it is — which, sara and lily respect each other but have also learned they're not so alike that they need to hang out all the time. sara, to lily, is the girl you do things with because you're schoolmates, and then once you're out of school you amicably drift apart and occasionally leave a nice comment on their instagram

so that was how the gryffindors coalesced in my mind as placeholder figures. i will fully confess i start with tropes and then work out ways to deconstruct them or complicate them — as i've talked about in multiple of these questions, i think a lot of my characters are caught between sticking to their perceived label and acting the way they want to, aka the ripest high school drama fodder known to humankind

Wearing a fake smile and watching her sister’s sickening love life had put things in perspective a little. Why should she always do what was expected of her?

(we construct ourselves in contrast to those around us....)

mary started off as boy-crazy, doe started off as idealistic, and germaine started off as struggling to find her place. then i built up from those foundations, adding in tropey bits i enjoyed and wanted to engage with — i wanted doe to be passionately principled, but the gentler counterpart to mary, and even-tempered where lily runs hot. i wanted germaine to be a little bit thoughtless, changeable, someone utterly herself but still uncomfortable in her own skin. knowing, then, that the other two were going to be, how shall i put it, gentler hearts (LOL), i went back to mary and decided she would have this tough-girl, queen-bee persona.

then doe got her family background, which added in her ambitions and hinted at her future, and made it so her foundation would be threatened by events of the story. obviously i was writing mary in the aftermath of the mulciber/avery incident, so i needed to ask how much her take-no-shit vibe was threatened by it — and if not, why? how? unsurprisingly, even to people like amelia...

“At least I’m not overflowing with insecurity,” said Amelia. Mary laughed. The sound echoed through the courtyard. “We both know that’s not true.”

...the persona is put-on, but the "real mary" is so caught up in the invented mary that even she couldn't hope to uncover an authentic self...nor would she necessarily want to, because her affected self is still her...

wait don't get me started

germaine was already a quidditch player, and i wanted her to be a seeker because that's automatic investment in perhaps the single player with the most impact on the game — crucial for what i knew would be many, many quidditch sequences, where james wasn't always the most important pov! some of that seekery vibe leeched into who she is: she's searching, right from the start, for a sense of self that feels just out of reach:

“This year is going to be a year of change,” Germaine said [...] “Henceforth I will be going by... Gemma.” The girls looked at one another for a beat. Then Lily, Doe, and Mary burst into laughter.

she's more anxious and outwardly uncertain than her friends, and i wanted to consciously engage with that — proper teenage awkwardness, the kind that wouldn't really happen to Main Character lily, I Have No Sense of Shame mary, and I Am Overflowing with Good Sense doe. more than the other three, germaine is a normal person in the context of this world — she's not a muggleborn, so the war has a different impact on her; she's not the child of activists; she's not well-off. an absolutely spontaneous invention that i was really quite thrilled by was having her sister be crouch's secretary, because it's such a sudden, shocking realisation for her that she's got such a close connection in the thick of it

Germaine clapped a hand over her mouth. “Big news soon,” she mumbled. “Big news soon, that’s what Abigail said, only she didn’t say what big news…”

so germaine is really just... living her life, an indie coming of age film in which her friends' subplot is a fucking war LOL

i defined germaine in contrast to the other girls a lot when drawing out the characters for myself, mostly for a practical reason — i didn't want her to overlap too strongly with any of them, since she's the only one who's wholly my invention. i think some of that remains in her characterisation, but i decided to make it conscious instead:

Germaine saw herself as a happy medium, flexible enough to stretch sympathetically between her friends. But— What does it mean that I define myself in comparison to them? Nothing. She was only seventeen and she was finding her way.

i knew germaine was going to get the chaotic sporty romance pretty much right off the bat, but, fun fact, i hadn't actually picked out who her love interest would be until after i started spitballing other sixth years' names and had a basic idea of who emmeline was. wild!

i feel like i haven't said all i want to say but let's stop there or i'd go on forever, ha!

#director's cuts #ask me #anon

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keepmeinthedark · 3 years ago

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To The Top || A Marauders Band AU

Chapter Three: This Side of Paradise

Read here on AO3

How did James and Lily go from disliking each other to falling in love?

They spent time together didn't they? That's how most people do it.

In past interviews, James had described his relationship with Lily Evans as "love at first sight."

That's because it was. Just because it started with love doesn't mean that they didn't have their problems in the middle.

Were any of the other boys in relationships at the time?

No, unless you count Frank who at the point was dating Alice, but they hadn't made it official at this point.

And according to Emmeline Vance herself, she was involved in the band during the early days. How did she meet them?

She lived with them. At Maxwells house. She shared a room with James.

Emmeline hated sharing a room with James.

He was messy, he was loud, and above all, he was a complete inconvenience whenever she wanted to bring someone home with her.

She always texted him, a quick and simple rabbit emoji, a quick way of saying "I'm about to bring someone into our room who I intend to have sex with. Please clear all of your shit to the side and go sleep on Sirius and Franks floor please."

But did he ever do it? Nope. Never. Not once.

One time he left a framed photo of himself with rose petals and candles on her bed.

Another time he had Sirius and Frank play the loudest least sexy music ever from their room once they had heard Emmeline and their date come in.

Another time James had replaced all of the photos of her friends and family with photos of the Backyardigans with James photoshopped into them. (They don't even know where he found the time for that one.)

And this time James hadn't even bothered to check his phone.

"Jesus Christ James what are you doing?" she asked the lump of blankets on his bed. She turned to her companion, a tall blonde girl with blue eyes, "Im so sorry, I told him to leave."

Her date just shrugged and started to gently kiss Emmeline's neck, "I don't mind so long as he's quiet," she said.

"Please don't," James squeaked from his bed.

Emmeline rolled her eyes. "Could you give us a second please?" She asked the blonde.

After the girl (she couldn't remember her name) left the room, Emmeline stormed over to where James lay. She pulled the sheets from on top of him and folded their arms. "What are you playing at?" she hissed.

James didn't answer, just mumbled a bit and waved his arms about.

"Are you drunk?"

"Nurr."

"Are you sure?"

"Nurr."

Emmeline uncrossed her arms, "What's this about, James?" she asked, their voice much softer than it was before.

James sat up, "It's nothing it's just... nothing. I'm sorry I didn't see your text I'll leave." He began to get out of bed.

"Hang on a sec. Wait up," Emmeline held their hand out and James sat back. "What's going on?"

James sighed and opened his mouth to answer when Sirius and Frank entered the room. "Why is there a lesbian in the hallway?" Sirius asked.

Emmeline gave him a look, "Nevermind about her, why is Potter depressed."

"I'm not depressed."

Emmeline's look was pleading.

Sirius sighed, "You remember that girl that he met at Christmas?"

"Dark red hair that reached her chest, emerald green eyes, plus size, has a smile that glows, exactly a head smaller, three piercings, a tattoo of a wolf behind her ear and wearing white Doc Martens?" She nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"She was at the gig we played today and she rejected him."

"Well bloody hell is that all?" Emmeline sounded offended. "I thought someone had died or something but you're cockblocking me just because you couldn't get laid yourself. That is low Potter."

Emmeline could hear Frank trying to hold in his laughter and James looked up at her with a shocked expression.

"I didn't see your text!"

"I sent you fifteen rabbits! Fifteen! If that wasn't enough indication that the girl I was bringing back was important-"

"I DIDN'T SEE IT!"

"YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO NOT CHECK!"

"Alright! Alright, inside voices both of you," Sirius got between them. He turned to Emmeline. "Emme. What's so important about the lesbian in the hallway?"

They shrugged, "First fuck of the year ain't it?"

Behind her, Frank started laughing. In front of her, James looked like he was about to kill them.

"All of this for some random lesbian you found off the street?" Frank wheezed.

Emmeline's face scrunched up in disgust. "Alright let's get some things straight," she said, wagging her figure at each of them. "Firstly, it's the first day of the year I need a good start. Secondly, she's bisexual, and thirdly I didn't find her on the street she was at a house party that I just came from."

"So all of this for some random bisexual that you found at a house party?"

"To start this new fucking year off right! Can't forget about that!" Sirius chimed in.

Emmeline had never wanted to hit them more.

"Are we done?" James asked. "I'm a bit over talking about this."

"Oh, I'm sorry your highness are we bothering your coming of age moment?" Frank asked sarcastically.

"Yes, you are ruining my coming of age moment." James hissed. "Now if you don't mind, I prefer to be depressed alone, not with you lot and a bisexual from a house party!" He pulled his covers back over himself.

"Aww come on mate don't be like that. So you don't reject for once in your life it happens to everyone. Doesn't it guys?" Frank said turning to Sirius and Emmeline for support.

"Yeah, the amount of times I've flirted with straight dudes is embarrassing," Sirius said the same time Emmeline said, "Ah not really I'm a catch."

This got a smile from James.

"Ay, there's a smile!" Frank beamed. "C'mon, well go to the pub. Turn that frown upside down."

James' smiled grew and he nodded, finally getting out of bed. Emmeline, Sirius, and Frank cheered.

"Wait!" Emmeline said, "What are we going to do about the bisexual?" she whispered as if she could hear them from the other side of the door.

Frank shrugged, "Bring her along!"

They cheered again and made their way out of the bedroom door. Only to find that the girl Emmeline had brought back was no longer there.

"Ahh fuck her," James said when he noticed Emmelines disappointed face. "She would've brought the mood down anyway."

The Leaky Caldron was the quietest any of them had seen it. It was past 1 am by the time they had gotten there and most of their company were about to do their last rounds.

Sirius preferred it like this. It was easier to get a drink, it was easier to hear your friends and it was easier to actually move around. He was never fond of really crowded places like that.

Emmeline had gotten them all the first round and James got the second, by the time they were on the third Sirius noticed three guys walk into the pub. He immediately recognized one of them as Lily Evans' friend.

He opened his mouth to tell the others but Frank jumped in before he could. "Hey, those guys were at the gig today," he said subtly pointing at them.

James went pale, "Yeah, and one of them was talking to Lily when I went up to talk to her," he muttered.

Emmeline hit Frank's arm, "See what you've done," she hissed. "Don't worry Potter, Ill go throw my drink over him. Now, which one was it?"

"Emme, we've talked about this you cant just throw drinks over anyone you like," Sirius told her and slapped her hand away from her drink.

Sirius expected them to make some snarky come back, but instead they just stared at him and raised an eyebrow. Sirius was about to ask her what the hell she was doing when she threw her arms up and gave him a disapproving look.

"Really Sirius?" she asked. "Out of all the people for you to fancy it has to be one of them?"

Sirius went bright red, "I haven't got a clue what you're talking about," he lied.

"Don't lie to me."

"Well, I can't help it can I?"

"Oh my god, Sirius. Right, which one is it? I'll throw my drink over him instead."

Sirius nearly jumped out of his seat, "Why do you have to throw your drink on anyone?"

Emmeline gave him a judging look. "You can't date the friend of the girl who broke your poor mate's heart, Sirius."

"Yeah Sirius," Frank said in a mocking tone. "You can't break girl code."

Emmeline side-eyed him but ignored his comment. "Let's say you two date, and you falling love and get married and James is your best man while whats her name-"

"Lily Evans"

"- Lily Evans, is his best woman. And those two have to help plan your wedding, but they can't agree on anything because James holds grudges and your wedding is ruined. Do you really want your wedding to be ruined?"

James raised his eyebrows. "That's why this is bad? Not because of my feelings or anything?"

"I was getting to that."

"No, you weren't!"

"It was implied!"

Sirius downed what remained of his drink. "Alright, alright," he intervened before they could get any more annoying. "I just won't date him, you don't have to throw your drink over someone every time we go drinking Emme. We'll just continue our lives and never see each other ever again." Although if Sirius was being honest, he didn't really like the idea of never seeing his mystery boy again. "It's not like we talked or he took any notice of me anyway."

"Emme, get your drink ready," Frank said suddenly. "One of thems coming over here."

Sirius" head shot into the direction where Frank was looking. Unfortunately, it was not the scarred boy but rather the oldest of the group. Sirius wouldn't be surprised if he was the other three boys' father, as it was obvious that they were all related somehow.

Meanwhile, James had to steal Emmeline's drink before she could get her hands on it.

The man noticed that he was being watched and gave the group a small smile. "So sorry to bother you," he said as he got closer, "But were you by any chance the band that played at the fate earlier today?"

Nobody answered for a moment, each one of them was waiting for someone else to take one for the team and talk, in the end, it was Frank.

"Yeah, we were," he told him. "Were you there?"

The man shook his head but smiled. "No, but my sons were," he said pointing to the table where the three boys sat. Upon realizing that the group was now looking at them, each boy quickly turned their head to make it look like they weren't watching. All of them seemed embarrassed. The man laughed.

"They seem to have this problem when they see someone they know and their first reaction is to hide rather than say hello."

The four of them laughed awkwardly as if they weren't the exact same.

"Anyways, I just wanted to come here to prove a point," he said with a friendly smile. He turned to leave but backtracked on himself and pulled a card from his pocket. "Actually, if you guys ever need somewhere to play there is this club that likes to play small bands. Give them a call if you like."

Emmeline immediately reached for the card and took it from him, before any of the boys could tell him that "they're not a small band."

"Thank you, much appreciated," she said with a smile and the four of them watched as the man walked away.

Frank took the card from Emmeline and read it over a few times, then he and Emmeline began talking about if it would be worth giving them a call. James stayed silent and finished his drink, only giving his thoughts every now and then. Sirius on the other hand hadn't taken his eyes off the scarred boy, who was now interrogating his dad, along with his brothers. For a split second his eyes shifted and locked with Sirius'. He gave him a smile - that one that you give to random people on the street - and looked down at his drink.

Shit, Sirius thought. There is no way that I'm never seeing him again.

#the marauders #the marauders fanfiction #jily #wolfstar #dorlene #James Potter #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #peter pettigrew #Lily Evans #marlene mckinnon #dorcas meadowes #mary macdonald #frank longbottom #emmeline vance

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matrixaffiliate · 4 years ago

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Endeavor

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

I hope you have a fabulous week because you're a wonderful person! Our next update will be on Friday, October 2nd!

Chapter 12

"Have you been reading my detailed comments?" Ted asked as his thumb drew patterns on the back of Vic's hand. He'd read straight through her novel two weeks ago, then went back and had been spending the last week adding comments to her document.

Vic rolled her eyes as they walked up the drive to the Potter's home and tried to calm the nervous feeling that was trying to overpower her. Nervous because knowing she and Ted had been invited as a couple seemed to put a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

"Ted, you're leaving comments on every paragraph. How do you expect me to read that many comments? It's a hundred-thousand-word document! Especially with starting my new editing job on Monday?"

"You're an author, doesn't that mean you love to read every critique of the work you create?" He teased.

Vic shoved his shoulder with hers but smiled.

"You're ridiculous, you know?"

"Yes, but you're the one holding my hand, so where does that leave you?"

"Nervous about being here tonight as your girlfriend rather than only their niece," she admitted quietly.

"Hey," Ted stopped them and pulled her into him, "Harry and Ginny love you and there is no way they aren't happy for us, so please try to trust that they aren't out to get you."

Vic nodded but she couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was out to make Ted see what a bad choice he made in giving her a chance.

Ted rapped his knuckles against the old door and they were both swept into a warm hug once Ginny opened.

"Vicky! Teddy! Come in, come in!"

"Thanks, Ginny," Ted grinned as he kicked off his shoes. "You should know that Mum and Dad are going to be supremely jealous when I tell them I brought Vic here before I brought her home to meet them."

Ginny shook her head at his teasing. "Teddy, dear, Victoire is my niece. I knew her for two decades before you did."

"But you also knew me for the same time before Vic knew me, so I'd say it cancels that out." Ted grinned.

Ginny looked heavenward and laughed. "Why do the Marauders have to leave their mark on every male in this family?" She turned to Vic. "Would you believe that even my sweet Al was trying to be a smart mouth the other day?"

Vic laughed, feeling the nervous pit in her stomach start to ease just a bit.

"Al? Really?"

"Al's better at it than the rest of us." Ted walked with them into the kitchen. "He's more like my dad, and Dad always manages to get the best of the other three brothers."

"Heaven help me, then," Ginny chuckled.

"Why ask for heaven's help when I'm right here?" Harry winked at her as she moved to help him with dinner.

"You're a legacy of the problem, love." Ginny leant over and kissed his cheek.

"Ginny is bemoaning the way the Marauders are rubbing off on Al." Teddy sat down at the table and pulled Vic down with him.

"Bemoaning?" Ginny's eyebrows shot up and she turned to glare at Ted.

Vic covered her smile with her hand.

"I'm a simple man, Ginny," Ted grinned, "I use simple words."

Harry turned and Vic could see he was putting a great deal of effort into not laughing.

"You're in an odd humor today, Ted."

Ted shrugged, "I'm happy."

Then he grinned over at Vic and squeezed her thigh. Vic felt the shy smile break across her face and knew there was no way she could stop it.

"Hands above the table!" Jamie shouted behind them, causing Vic to almost fall off her chair.

Vic turned to glare at her cousin feeling her face heat up, unconsciously directing some of her anxiety into the anger that bubbled at his surprising her.

"Are you going to make a habit of tormenting us every chance you get?" She shot at him. Why couldn't Jamie just leave her alone?

"Whoa," Jamie held up his hands, "I'm just playing Vicky, you know it's all in good fun."

Vic huffed, "You've never done this to me before."

"Yeah, well, Sean was a bit of a prick."

Vic felt like Jamie had just kicked her in the chest. She knew she and Sean hadn't been right for each other, but she hadn't thought he was an awful person.

"James!" Ginny gave her son a pointed stare.

"What?" Jamie defended as he pulled a soda can out of the fridge. "We all knew he was; it just took Vicky a while to see it. But she saw the light in the end and now she's with Ted and we can all breathe easy again."

Vic dropped her eyes down and realized she was wringing her hands. Did everyone feel that she had been dating a prick? Was the whole family talking about her poor choices behind her back, not saying anything because they all believed she wouldn't listen to reason? If everyone knew Sean was awful, why had no one made a point of showing her?

"Why don't you see if Al or Lily needs anything, Jamie?" Harry stepped between his eldest son and his wife, who was staring at the teen with menacing eyes.

Jamie glanced between his mum and Vic and then looked at his dad. "Yeah, good idea."

"Are you going to talk to him?" Ginny turned her dangerous glare to Harry.

"I'll talk him through it, love," Harry soothed, giving her a quick kiss. Ginny pursed her lips before seeming to decide to let it lie for now.

"I'm sorry," Vic kept her focus down at the table. "I shouldn't have goaded him."

"You're fine, Vic," Ted moved his arm to wrap it around her shoulders. "We're all a bit difficult when we're teenagers."

Vic bit her lip and leant into him, trying to take as much comfort as she possibly could in the warmth of his embrace.

"Are you excited about your new job?" Ginny asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Vic smiled, "I am, but I'm a little nervous too. I didn't really think that I'd get this one when you sent it to me. Most people I know write for a long time before they become assistant editors."

"But you have been writing dear," Ginny handed Harry the oven mitts and he pulled out the shepherd's pie that Grandma Molly made him teach her how to make. "You were the sole creator of Ron's initial website for his new company, all that text was put there by you. You handled the blog, you handled the page information, that site was all you."

"Plus your book," Ted added. "That's a lot of writing experience."

Vic started to object again but Ginny held up her hand.

"You'll do just fine, dear. I've known Emmeline for almost as long as I've known Harry, she wouldn't have hired you if she didn't think you were right for the job."

Vic nodded, but she still felt nervous. Why did it feel like everything made her nervous these days? Harry moved the large pie to the table and Vic tried to use it as a way to change the subject. She was done having the conversation revolve around her questionable life choices

"This is one of my favorite meals." She gestured to the shepherd's pie.

Ted hummed his agreement. "Aunt Lily's shepherd's pie is pretty amazing."

"I thought it was Uncle Harry's recipe?" Vic turned to him, grateful that Ted pushed the conversation away from the topics that made her stomach clench.

"Who do you think taught me how to make it?" Harry chuckled.

"I guess I forget sometimes that you and my aunts have families outside of us." Vic felt a bit sheepish. "I'm sure Aunt Hermione and the rest of them have recipes that are their parents' too, huh?"

Ginny laughed loud and Harry smiled at Vic's confused face. "Have you ever noticed that your Aunt Hermione doesn't tend to cook much? Yes, her parents have recipes they've passed down, but they've passed them down to Ron. Hermione hates cooking."

Vic chuckled and was grateful when Ginny suggested she and Ted collect her cousins for dinner. And thankfully the Potter brood managed to keep the conversation spinning well enough that Vic was able to just sit back and enjoy. But her initial feeling of dread seemed well justified when Uncle Harry asked her to help him with getting the pudding out later that evening.

"Vicky," Harry handed her a stack of plates, "How are things?"

"Fine," Vic took the plates and set them out on the table, trying for all the world to look unconcerned as she pointedly ignored the clenching feeling in her stomach and the way her heart beat harder in her chest.

"Vic, we love you, you know that, right?"

She nodded, still refusing to look her uncle in the eye.

"Then what's going on? You've been really reserved and jumpy tonight."

Vic bit her lip and tried for boldness, but when she met Uncle Harry's gaze, she realized how foolish an idea that had been. She was not strong enough to shrug this off while looking him in the eye.

"Are you unhappy with Teddy?" Harry pressed.

"No!" Vic felt the air rush out of her.

"Well, then what's going on?"

Vic bit her lip before falling into one of the chairs and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"You know what happened before we got together. Aren't you worried about Ted being with me?"

Harry stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry, that one completely missed me."

"Harry, I was encouraging Ted's flirting while I was dating and engaged to Sean. Wouldn't you be worried if Jamie started dating someone you knew wasn't faithful to their previous relationship?" Vic didn't dare look up at her uncle. She almost expected him to go talk to Ted then and now and convince him to wash his hands of her.

"What does Teddy say about what you're getting at here?" Harry came to sit across from her.

Vic shook her head. "He keeps telling me that I'm crazy."

"Then I'm going to side with Teddy."

Vic squeezed her arms tighter around herself. "You mean how everyone sided with me while I was in a relationship that I shouldn't have been in?"

Harry sighed. "Vicky, we love you, and if you had decided you did love Sean, then we would have done what we could to support you in that relationship."

"Even though everyone thought he was a prick? Even though it would have been bad for me to stay with him?" Vic finally looked up at Harry.

"Vicky, one of the things that come with being an adult is that the grown-ups that raised you have to back off and let you make your own decisions, and let you deal with whatever those consequences happen to be. We all still want to help you, and we may make suggestions along the way, but we can't dictate your lives. How else will you learn other than having to make your decisions and live with the consequences of them?"

"So, even if being with me is bad for Ted, you'll not try to stop him?"

Harry chuckled, "I've not seen Ted happier than I see him now with you, but yes, even if he was unhappy, I wouldn't try to sabotage your relationship with him. If he came to me for help, I would definitely try to help him find happiness, but I would never tell him to break off a relationship. Those sorts of decisions are personal ones, and they have to come from the individual."

Vic took a deep breath and forced herself to ask one last question. "What about the rest of your family, would they do the same thing?"

"Who do you think taught me that when a kid becomes an adult the grown-ups have to let them learn from their own choices?"

"So, no one is going to try and talk Ted out of being with me?"

"No, Vicky, I think the only person you need to be concerned about in that area is yourself."

Vic blinked, "What?"

"If you can't believe that you're worthy of being loved, then sooner or later, you'll be the one to walk away."

Vic sat in stunned silence as her uncle's words washed over her, but before she could respond, Lily came bounding in asking if it was time for dessert yet.

Uncle Harry's comment felt an awful lot like the list that her mum had written several months ago. She really wished that everyone would stop trying to vaguely point her in the right direction and just tell her what she needed to do. But Harry's comment about loving herself made her feel suddenly exposed in the worst way. She wanted to put on a sweatshirt and curl under a blanket. Why did the concept of loving herself make her want to find a rock to hide under? Vic realized it was probably close to the same reason that her mum's list made her want to tear the page out of her notebook and burn it.

"You ok?" Ted pulled her into him as they walked from the Potter's to his car. "You've been pretty quiet tonight."

Vic rested her head against his shoulder and sighed, "I'm starting to realize that I might have farther to go than I think I want to."

"You missed me," Ted leant back against his car and pulled her close to his chest. Vic let her arms snake around his neck and tried to enjoy the feeling of being wrapped up in Ted's embrace.

"My mum, and Uncle Harry, both seem to think that I've got some personal growth I could be doing, and I'm feeling like what they're suggesting is more than I might be able to handle."

"How can I help?" Ted dropped his face and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

"I don't even know where to start, Ted, let alone how you could help."

Ted pulled his chin down her cheek, his five o'clock shadow pulling a giggle out of her.

"Well, maybe we sit down together, look at where you are, and see if between the two of us we can find a way forward, along with how I can help."

Vic bit her lip and pulled back to look at him. "This is scary."

"My mum says that most things that are worthwhile are scary." Ted soothed as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. "But you don't have to do it alone. Scary things aren't so bad when we do them with other people."

"Are you some self-exploratory expert then?"

Ted laughed and brought his lips to hers. Vic pulled closer, pressing up on her toes to deepen the kiss.

"There's the real Vic, I knew she couldn't have gone far." Ted murmured against her.

"What does that even mean?" She chuckled.

"You go get things, Vic. I'm not a self-help expert, but I know that you go get what you want, and that's the only thing you really need." Then he nipped at her ear. "And I'm never going to turn down excuses to spend more time with you."

He kissed down her neck and Vic hummed as her fingers moved through his turquoise hair.

"We should probably stop snogging out here," she sighed as he slowly moved his lips closer to hers. "I'm waiting for Jamie to come out and yell at us to stop."

Ted smirked as he pulled back, "You're probably right, but this is why I have a flat of my own."

"Why don't we take advantage of that before you take me home?" Vic finally started to feel more herself as Ted's appreciative hum vibrated in his chest against hers.

"See every now and again you have these amazing ideas and I end up wondering how I ever managed to make it this far without you."

"You're ridiculous," she pressed forward again, running her tongue against his lips.

"And you're kissing me," Ted murmured, pulling her flush against him and moving a hand to her hair.

"Will you two get a room!?" Jamie yelled from his bedroom window, looking down at the two of them in the front-drive.

"We were just on our way out, Jamie," Ted called back up to him as he reached behind him to open the car door.

When she finally made it home, Victoire opened up the notebook that had her mum's notes in it and read them again.

You and your desires are important.

You are a good person.

You are brave.

You must decide your life's story.

A few lines underneath them she added Uncle Harry's advice.

If you can't believe that you're worthy of being loved, then sooner or later, you'll be the one to walk away.

She didn't feel any closer to finding herself, but seeing it all laid out in front of her, she realized that Uncle Harry's words had given her a bit of direction. Maybe if she could just believe these things, then maybe it would help her see the way forward. And knowing that Ted was going to try and help her made her feel a little less like she was floundering.

Vic was pulled from her internal struggle by the chime of her text message notification.

Ted: Have you read my comments yet?

She laughed and pulled her laptop to her.

Vic: I was just about to start.

Ted's typing bubble made her giddy.

Ted: Good. I think you're going to like what I've put so far.

Vic typed in her password and waited for her computer to log in.

Vic: I'm sure that I'll wonder if we're reading the same document.

She bit her lip and smiled. Teasing Ted was almost as much fun as kissing him.

Ted: Stop that. Go read my comments and you'll see this story of yours is going to be big.

Vic rolled her eyes and opened her browser.

Vic: You have to say that, you're my boyfriend.

Ted's response was almost instant.

Ted: No, I have to say it because it's true. Now stop texting me and start reading. ;)

Vic opened the document and sighed. She hadn't read through her story in almost a year now. It felt like going back to an old childhood favorite food and it made her nervous. She'd liked some pretty awful things when she was a kid, some good things too, but a lot of things that now she found repugnant. Was she about to find out that she had spent three years on something that she now hated? Vic tried to breathe through the anxiety and took a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with." And she started reading.

#Endeavor #tedoire #tedoire fancfiction #tedoire au #tedoire muggle au #teddy x vic #ted x vic #teddy x victoire #teddy lupin x victoire weasley #teddy lupin #victoire weasley #next generation #next gen fanfic #next gen au #next generation muggle au #fluff #romance #coworkers romance #harry potter fanfiction

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emmelineparker308 · 5 years ago

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Unimaginable Love- FINAL PART

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

A/N: I tried several times to post this but for some reason, Tumblr wouldn’t let me. Anyways thank you for all the support and love you’ve shown for my writings.

Previously on Unimaginable Love: “I want to know why you did what you did,” you commanded. He smirked, “Well cause I wanted to. I mean you’re such a slut and throw yourself at any guy you see looking for validation, I just thought I would take advantage of that. Plus HYDRA did pay me well to make you suffer,” He stated.

At the mention of HYDRA, your demeanor faltered a little and he took that as an opening to hurt you with his words. “Oh yeah princess, you didn’t think that HYDRA would have forgotten about you because you went and joined the Avengers did you? Oh no! They sent me to come into your life and make you suffer for humiliating HYDRA by running off. That’s why I dated you, I tried everything in my power to make you fall in love with me so that I could hurt you even more by breaking up with you or cheating on you but damn it even then you were in love with that coward Barnes! And then I thought of hurting you physically but HYDRA hasn’t approved me for any of that super juice. They didn’t think that I was worthy of it or something! Psh! Never thought that was right, I mean look at the people they thought were worthy a slut and a coward! Anyways but then you blindsided me by breaking up with me, after thinking of various ways to get to you I came up with my masterplan. I mean all you women, want to act all strong and want to play on the same team as us men when in fact all it takes is some roofie to put you back in your place, underneath strong men. Literally.” He laughed maniacally throwing his head back in joy. However, what he didn’t see was the punch to the throat that was coming his way. Brandon coughed up blood and tried to regain his breath but even in pain he screamed “BITCH!”

The door flew open with such force that it came off its hinges. Bucky ran in with anger clearly written all over him and went straight to beating the living shit out of Brandon. “She. Is. My. Everything.” He said each word with a punch. “If you even think of hurting her, ever again I will end you!” The others tried to pull Bucky off of Brandon but it wasn’t until Thor said that Bucky was gonna kill the guy that Bucky stopped. “This asshole is not getting off that easy. I’m gonna make an example out of him so that HYDRA and its agents will think thrice before sending someone to try and hurt her again, hurt any of us ever again!” You tried your best to calm him down but Bucky was a man with vengeance on the mind. He demanded you leave the room at once. You knew that there was no way that he could be persuaded to stop so you left, not before you had Steve promise to stop Bucky if he were to derail. Steve made the promise but muttered under his breath that he would finish what Bucky started. You gave him a disapproving look but left the room nonetheless.

You were standing on the rooftop looking over the large city trying to manage your feelings. “You have to be the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” the smooth voice of your favorite trickster friend broke through the silence of the empty common room.

“And I’ve met a lot of women before,” he added cheekily smiling once he saw the frown on your face was replaced with a small grin.

“Yeah, I know you’ve met a lot of women before. Afterall you are like a billion years old, Grandpa,” you teased him. He jokingly punched your shoulder and stared at you for a while. You were an odd pair and no one really knew how you two worked. Though everyone was wary of your friendship what they didn’t know was that like Steve you considered Loki more of a brother than a friend. And even though he refuses to admit it, in his eyes, you were a sibling that he would go to the ends of worlds for.

You had met him not long after joining up with the Avengers, the team had finally caved to the requests of Thor and gave Loki a chance. As part of your first ever assignment, you were put in charge of Loki, babysitting the God 24/7 and making sure his intentions were real and genuine and non-apocalyptic. You were eager to prove yourself to the others and knew that this assignment was to test your abilities. Loki, on the other hand, was annoyed at the notion of having to be babysat by someone. He tried to escape from you several times but thanks to your magical abilities you were able to keep up with him, much to his chagrin. It wasn’t until day three of the babysitting that he realized the only reason you were keeping up with him was that like him you too possessed magical abilities. Since then Loki and you formed a weird alliance using both of your magic to pull the most outlandish of pranks and jokes. The alliance grew to be a bond when you started being paired for missions, having each other backs no matter what. Back then everyone had thought that both of you were romantically involved but you had put all of those rumors to rest.

Loki was smooth, and sneaky to the others but you were the first person to see past the jokes and pranks and see the aching soul tormented with mistakes he once made. Just like that, he was the first person in the team to realize the true horror that you went through, he was the only one that you allow yourself to be vulnerable around. Until of course Bucky had joined your crew of misfits. Loki knew of your love for Bucky even before you did. He encouraged you to pursue it after thoroughly investigating Bucky and seeing how happy you two made each other. The one thing Loki had ever fought with you was over Brandon. Loki was never fond of Brandon and was pleased when you broke things off with him but what that asswipe did to you was something Loki did not see coming. It’s okay, Loki reassured himself, He’ll pay for his sins soon enough.

“You gonna keep staring at me?” You asked breaking him out of his trance. Loki simply smiled at you before taking your arm and teleporting you to the kitchen. “Stop teleporting me without warning, Gramps!!” you smack him knowing that you can’t hurt him. As happy as he was to see a genuine smile spread along your features his attention was quickly caught by the Avengers that were leaving the room were Brandon was held. Your attention went immediately to your boyfriend who looked oddly happy as if a heavyweight had been lifted off of his shoulders. You made eye contact with Steve searching to know that Bucky hadn’t done too much damage, Steve reassured you that Brandon was still breathing. “Loki is here,” you mentioned to Thor as you turned around to where the God of Mischief was standing a second ago.

“Brother was here? Lady Emmeline are you sure?” Thor replied confused at you staring at thin air. At that precise moment you heard an ear-piercing scream coming from the room the Avengers just exited from, before you all could rush inside Loki came out looking rather pleased with himself.

“Loki, what did you do?!?!” you exclaimed hoping that your best friend didn’t kill a man for you.

“Relax, my love, I just gave him the same punishment that we would give someone with his crimes on Asgard,” Loki soothed you. Thor winced at his brother’s response but was proud of him for once breaking the rules for a good cause.

“You didn’t,” Tony stated rather amused. Thor had suggested the punishment after Tony tracked the bastard down, and Tony was on board. But no one else on the team agreed despite his protests, Tony couldn’t help but feel grateful for the Tricksters disregard for rules.

“What did you do, Loki?” you asked frustrated at all the secrecy.

“I castrated him,” Loki stated bluntly.

It took a couple of seconds for you to register what he said, and the way he said it with the amusement hidden in Thor’s, Tony’s and Loki’s face made you burst into laughter. Seeing you genuinely laugh for the first time in a while filled the rest of the team with joy, especially Bucky who held you tightly and joined in on your laughs.

Deep down in your mind, you were terrified about HYDRA coming back to get you but knowing your family of superheroes will do anything to help you have peace of mind. And with Bucky holding you tightly in his arms you knew that nothing in the universe could harm you.

“The best and most beautiful things in this world can not be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart”- Helen Keller

Tags: @ashleyloveslots, @iza-lc , @jessicao19 , @thelostverse , @chibiyanai , @ moody-angel-blossom, @lemonlimeliz , @skyerun13 , @moody-magician-arcana

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #marvel #MARVEL FANDOM #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes series

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alphcevie · 5 years ago

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— is that EVELYN ‘EVIE’ ROWLE i just saw in thornhollow? word around is that they’re a/an 33 year old SHIFTER, but i doubt that’s true. they’re pretty DETERMINED from what i know, but i’ve heard a rumor that they can be STRICT too; must be why they’re a/an LAWYER. they kinda remind me of WALKING ALONE ON ABANDONED RAILROAD TRACKS, A BEAT UP LEATHER JACKET AND COMBAT BOOTS, PAINT COVERING A PAIR OF OLD JEANS .

Full Name: Evelyn Astrid Rowle Age: 33 Birthday: July 24, 1986 Occupation: Lawyer Species: Shifter Gender: Cisfemale Pronouns: she/her Sexual Orientation: Homosexual Faceclaim: Alicia Vikander

death tw

- Evie was born to two shifters like her, Augustus and Emmeline Rowle. They knew that shifters could be dangerous, especially during the full moon, so until Evie was close to her first shift, she wasn’t allowed around them very often. The fact she was possibly going to be one was never hidden from the young girl since both her parents were apart of the pack, but it was still safer to keep her away from them, especially younger shifters who hadn’t quite gotten control of their shifts. When Evie was 12 though, she shifted for the first time, and it took her years to control them. Years to control some of the anger that came with it as well, but she was able to successfully control both after much practice and patience, getting help from the rest of the shifters.

- Emotions were a very difficult thing to handle for the young shifter, as it seemed they only got worse as her ability finally kicked in. Evie found herself easily angered, especially by other species and rarely by her own kind. Even from a young age, she had felt a strong connection with the rest of the shifters. There was one however that always seemed to purposefully get on her nerves. It was while she was still young, while she hadn’t learned to control the shifts, or the emotions. One time, they caused just enough emotion to cause Evie to shift, and attack the older shifter. Of course, being young, she was weak and caused no harm to the other. Though when she learned what she had tried to do, that was when she began taking her training more seriously. She knew as she grew older, she’d also grow stronger, and hurting one of her own was something she never wanted to do.

- During her childhood, before her first shift, Evie had a friend around her age. She’d always believed them to be human, but knowing there was other supernatural beings in Thornhollow, she really was never sure. This was her best friend at the time though, one of her only friends and they did practically everything together. However, when Evie had her first shift, when she realized just how dangerous she could be to another species, she distanced herself. Over the course of just a few days, she had made sure to completely disappear from the other kid’s life, spending the next few years taking her training to heart and spending most of her time in the forest until she finally gained a little control of her shift. She didn’t really know how to explain everything to the old friend, so she never bothered finding them when she returned to town, it felt like everything was so new again anyways. As if she had never even been there before. Never met any of the people.

- From a young age, Evie knew she would never like boys, and she never really did. However, Evie’s main goal was to make her parents and pack happy, so she kept this a secret for most of her life. To her, this made her think she had to try and prove herself to her parents, so she did the only thing she could think of. She dated a few guys, spread them out over a few years so her parents would think she was happy with each one as a new one came along. However, she never really was happy in any of the relationships. Spending time with the guys wasn’t the problem, it was pretending to like them and show affection. None of the relationships would last longer than a couple months, Evie finding herself miserable and either breaking things off or giving the guy a reason to. Evie was 22 when she did finally come out to her parents, and slowly the some of the pack, being quite surprised when no one questioned her and gave her all their support. Evie broke away from the dating scene after this though, finding herself wanting to be more dedicated to her pack than dating anyways. Evie hasn’t dated anyone else since then, and still has yet to come out to anyone outside of her pack.

- It would be a lie if Evie said most of her life wasn’t at least decent, she didn’t have a whole lot to complain about. Her pack was like a huge family, and honestly she had everything she could need. However, about seven years ago, she ended up losing her parents. She still isn’t sure what the cause of their death was to this day, just that their bodies had been found deep in the woods after they went off with some of the others from the pack to hunt. A group of them had left, but only three came back, not unharmed, but still alive. Evie had been devastated at first, but realized quickly that a fight is how they would have wanted to go out and while she still thinks about it today, she tries not to grief about it too much. Her time after this was spent taking care of the three harmed shifters who had come back, not bothering to ask too many questions, and just making sure they would return to full health quickly. Evie knew that each and every member in the pack was equal, and while some of the shifters mourned, Evie made sure the other wolves healed and kept an eye on the border of their part of the woods, making sure that whoever had attacked them, wouldn’t strike again.

- Her parents wouldn’t be the last loss Evie came across. Only a few short years after her parents death, something none of the shifters saw coming occurred. The current alpha passed, which meant a new had to be chosen. It took more time than expected, some mourning over the passing, some arguing over who should take his place. The alpha had had a son, one of which thought he rightfully deserved the place since it had been his father’s place before him. Some of the shifter’s agreed, until unexpectedly Evie’s name was mentioned by the previous Elder’s wife. Evie had always had the pack’s best interest at mind, at heart and apparently his wife wasn’t the only one who believed Evie was the right one to be leading the pack. While the decision could have easily been taken into a vote, Evie knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Honestly, she didn’t want it to be that easy. She knew there was a fight coming, and while she never thought she would be in this fight, she was prepared. It wasn’t easy, but in the end, Evie did win. She’d known the boy since a young age, and knew he wasn’t prepared to be leading the pack, she had to win, it’s what was best.

- The death of Elliana had come from almost no where, peace having been in Thornhollow for some time now, but the death immediately stirred tension as a young shifter had been accused of the murder. Evie knew Jenson’s past problems, most shifters had them, but she had watched the boy grow up and swore she knew he had nothing to do with the murder. Having one of her pack members wrongfully accused and then killed struck anger in Evie, a strong disliking for the Fae quickly arising, especially as Jenson was proven to be innocent after his death - after another murder. While Evie doesn’t really care about many other species, she especially dislikes the Fae due to this event.

#thornhollowintro #evelyn rowle #death tw

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whitequeenasitbgan · 5 years ago

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The House of Smoke and Fog

Cap 7

April 6th, 1917

-Blake, if we’re not clever about this no one will get to your brother.

-I will- said Blake.

Schofield was wise, he had a point. ‘But it must be done, it will be done’ Blake kept repeating himself, ‘If I don’t do this, no one else will’.

Schofield kept telling him to slow down, to wait. He reminded him of Erin. Everything of him reminded him of her, to the point he sometimes believed it was her he was talking to, instead of Schofield. They were so similar: they both wanted to keep him alive, that was sure. He felt cruel towards his friend. He had a wife and two daughters back hime. ‘I should’ve picked someone else’ he thought.

-was it like this before Thiepeval?

-I don’t remember

-You don’t remember the Somme?

-No, not really

‘Why should he?’ Erin said. Blake was dreaming with his eyes wide open. She was there, talking to him, but he couldn’t see her. It was always like this, wether he was asleep in the mud of the trench, or wide awake. ‘You didn’t even answer to my letter, why are you bothering me?’ he muttered, Schofield almost heard him. He was so angry with her for not saying anything. 4 months had passed and not a word from her. ’Because I don’t want you to die, and you know it’, Erin answered. ‘I’ve been dying a bit each day since you disappeared from my life. I needed you, I need you now more than anything’ Blake answered. ‘It was you choice, not mine’ she said. Blake knew it. He was the one that got away, he was the one to blame, he knew it. He could be angrier with her as time passed by, waiting for an answer, but he could’ve never loved her less.

-you sure?

-Yes

Schofield grabbed Blake by the shoulder to stop him. He was ready to go. -Age over beauty- he said, meaning ‘I’m sorry for doubting you, I trust you. I’m with you until the end of the line’.

-Your hand alright?- Blake asked. The German trenches were really empty, they were safe. for now. It was a comfort to know Gen. Erinmore was right about it.

-Put it through an effing German

-Patch it up. You’ll be wanting again in no time.

-Wrong hand- Schofield answered.

At least he had his memories to blow off steam. Blake didn’t. He never regretted waiting. ‘If you want, I trust you’ Erin once said, meaning she was ready to give him something more than a kiss. Many times it had been hard to stop. They slept together many times: he used to let her light on for him, so that he could see it from his house, get silently out and spend the night with her, her parents unaware of it. They weren’t early birds: they risked to get caught more than once. But they were night owls. When they were together, they could stay up all night talking, laughing, whispering, kissing. Touching. Erin knew nothing of men. She learned how ‘sex and reproduction’ worked from a medical encyclopaedia at the library. He learned everything from one of his brothers friends. He visited him when he was in London for college. He had a date with a certain girl, for tea. He took him to a luxurious house in Chelsea. The girl had a sister. She was married, way older than Blake. Her husband was away. His brother and the girl disappeared. The woman kissed him, leaving Blake petrified. He was 14 at that time.

-What is it?- the woman asked him, noticing he wasn’t answering to her kiss.

-I don’t want to get you pregnant- Tom said, terrified.

-What? Who told you that’s how you make a baby?

-My brother…

-How kind- the woman said, getting up from the couch and walking to the other side of the room, towards a mirror.

-And you’re married…

-My husband can have extramarital affairs. Why shouldn’t I?- asked the woman, adjusting her dress to expose her décolleté, leaving Blake to question why social inequality had always favoured men over women in that matter -Your brother told me you have a girl

-Oh, no… she’d not my girl

-But you’re asking him sex, cause you’re planning something

-I don’t…

-Listen boy- she said, as she started to undress herself -I need a distraction and you need to learn. We can both help each other. If you don’t want to bugger everything up with this girl, you need to know how to do things right. Your brother had the decency to take you here, instead of booking a girl or two for you at a brothel, like fathers usually do. He’s saved you from syphilis and gonorrhoea. there’s no better way to learn than this. You don’t want to mess everything up on your first wedding night, do you? What if you hurt her?

-You have a point.

He liked it, but he felt like he was missing something -You’ll understand what it is once you get to this point with your girl. You won’t miss a thing- the woman said.

-Did I hurt you?

-Not at all

-Was I… good at it?

-Honey, you were great. And there’s margin for improvement. Your girl is a lucky one- she said.

Blake got lost in his thoughts, as Schofield was patching up his wounded hand. He remembered Erin, asking him to stay with her for the next time: ‘Do you think you could lie next to me and not need to go further?’. Then he remembered feeling her, how he needed to touch her and how she wanted to be touched. It was hard to stop, even harder when she told him she was ready to go beyond. ‘I want to do things properly’ he said. ‘Me too, but if you dare to leave me like Joe did with Emmeline Davies, to go have fun in London, I swear I’m going to eat your heart for breakfast’ she replied. He kissed her and tucked her warm in bed by his side, ‘first thing first, Joe left Emmeline cause she was a boring, classist bitch. Second… I’m not your brother. Kiss me good night, now’.

Schofield stood up. Blake came painfully back to reality. As the German trench reappeared in around him, flashes of Erin’s face in his arms, the feeling of her body began to go away. He never saw her naked, but she touched her and she touched him. The memory of her moans as he kissed her breast and caressed her inner thighs, her gasp as his fingers slid inside her, the feeling of her hands around him, her eyes as she sucked him, their pantings after they gave pleasure to each other, the peaceful sleep… it all faded away. A brazier full of spent white coal dust appeared instead. ‘Let’s see when these Huns went away’, he thought. He kicked it out of frustration,

-They’re not long gone- Schofield said.

Cap 8

https://whitequeenasitbgan.tumblr.com/post/611984304705306624/the-house-of-smoke-and-fog-cap-8

#1917 film #tom blake #blake #william schofield #blake x reader #ww1 #WWI #smut

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amarauder · 6 years ago

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chapter twenty-eight ❥ original

it’s a hate-love thing original version.

james potter x reader.

Alice squealed loudly. "You're proposing at the end of the year?"

"Sh!" hissed James, looking around furtively. "Al, I don't want y/n to hear."

"Oh, sorry. But are you? Oh, Merlin, that's fantastic!"

Sirius made a coughing sound, glaring at the young woman before him.

"Sorry, Sirius, I forgot you were proposing, too."

"You are?" asked James, astonished. "Arabella?"

"Well, who else?"

Alice smiled. She had just come for a visit to Hogwarts with her fiancé, Frank, and found y/n and James as a blossoming couple madly in love, much to her surprise, since the last time she saw them, they had been arguing as usual.

Frank suddenly appeared next to them, grinning. "What're you talking about?"

"Proposing," said Sirius briefly. "Care to join?"

"Proposing?" repeated Frank, as his eyes widened in recognition. "You're proposing already?"

"At the end of the year," elaborated James. "We're not too young, are we? After all, you guys are only nineteen yourselves."

"True," said Alice absently, "but we've already got everything settled. No, I don't think you two are young at all, though I do have second thoughts about you, Sirius. However, isn't Remus proposing?"

James' light-hearted expression darkened. "No. He wants to break up with her at the end of the year."

"What?" Frank was flabbergasted. "Why?"

Sirius was about to give them a full-blown explanation of Remus' "condition", but luckily, James had nudged his best mate sharply in the ribs and gave him an accusing look. Sirius shut up at once.

"He doesn't think it's working out properly," the latter lied fluently. "They—er—aren't as affectionate as before."

"They looked fine to me," said Alice, puzzled. "I saw them cuddling in the Great Hall when we first got here."

"Oh, that's just a façade," said James with cursory. "You see, Remus still wants to keep a good image of the perfect couple like before."

"All right, then." The couple still looked doubtfully at the two boys, but said no more.

"How's Head Boy duties?" queried Frank, after moments of silence had passed.

"Fair," replied James, sighing at the thought. "There's this really evil git, Regul—" He stopped in mid-sentence, realizing that Sirius was standing right next to him. "I mean, some of the prefects are rude and obnoxious."

"You were going to say something about my brother," said Sirius knowingly. "Don't lie, Prongs. But don't worry. I don't care if you curse my brother with all the curse words in the world."

James laughed uncomfortably. "Yeah. And there are some really cool people, too. Like Kenneth, Laura, Emmeline..."

"Emmeline Vance?" interrupted Frank, looking at Alice. "Isn't she one of the recruits for the Order of—"

Alice made a hushing noise and placed her hand on Frank's mouth. "Frank Longbottom!" she whispered fiercely.

"Oh, never mind," said Frank nervously.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Are you two hiding something?"

"No," they both replied at once.

"Alice!" exclaimed Y/n. "What are you doing out here with those idiots? Come on, Dumbledore's announcing you two soon!"

Frank and Alice followed the seventeen-year-olds back into the Great Hall, where everyone was waiting patiently. The two ex-heads seated themselves at the High Table, while James, Sirius, and Y/n went back to the Gryffindor table.

"Students and staff, I would like to re-introduce to you Frank Longbottom and Alice Hart, who were the Head Boy and Girl here at Hogwarts last year."

Everyone clapped politely, but those who knew the couple personally, including the Marauders and girls, clapped and cheered loudly at this announcement, while Frank and Alice blushed at all the attention.

"Why are they here?" asked a Ravenclaw curiously.

"Ah, they are here by orders from me, Mr. Fawcett. You may continue eating."

After breakfast was over, everyone went immediately either back to their common rooms or in the library, for exams were coming up for everyone, especially the dreaded O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s for fifth and seventh years, respectively.

"What if I do horribly?" said Y/n fretfully, as they headed back to the common room. "Then I won't get to be an Auror, and will have to live my life doing nothing."

"Y/n, you're worrying over nothing," assured James, rolling his eyes. "You're a perfect student; there's no need to be so anxious about the N.E.W.T.s."

"Hear, hear," intoned Alice, grinning. "Your boyfriend is right, Y/n; don't even bother to study. You got the highest amount of O.W.L.s, didn't you?"

"Are you guys Aurors-in-training?" asked James eagerly.

"Well, we aren't Aurors yet," corrected Frank, as he slipped an arm around his young fiancée. "We've still got two more years of training. It isn't too hard, I admit, but some of the stuff is difficult, like Stealth and Tracking. Nearly failed it, I did."

"I got top marks on that," said Alice pompously, sticking her tongue out purposefully at her soon-to-be husband.

Frank snorted. "Yeah, but you failed Concealment and Disguise, in which I got top marks on there."

"Do all engaged couples argue like you two?" said Y/n, rubbing her forehead gingerly.

Frank and Alice both blushed bright red, and smiled guiltily. "We don't argue; we just—er—like to tease each other a bit."

"Like us," added James.

Y/n laughed, as James slipped his arm around her waist and brought her close to him.

"You two are so sweet together," said Alice, looking rather tearful. "The last time we saw you, you were still arguing like third-years."

"So, your wedding is in a few weeks, huh?" said James, changing the subject abruptly.

"Yes, we wanted to discuss that with you," said Alice, shifting her foot. "I—we—were wondering if you will be our best man and Y/n be our maid-of-honor."

Y/n's eyes widened. "But I don't even know you guys too well!"

"True, that we haven't known each other for a long time, but I think that you deserve it, Y/n, since you've been a great friend. And James has been friends with Frank since they were kids."

"What about Sturges and Juan?" queried James, looking at Frank.

"Oh, they're to be ushers," said Frank casually. "You've been the real friend, James."

"Of course we'll accept," they chorused together, beaming.

"Arabella, Jennifer, and Violet will be my bridesmaids," said Alice dreamily. "And Sirius, Remus, and Peter will be ushers, too, I suppose, since I don't want them to feel left out."

"You've already got all this planned?" said James, astonished.

"Obviously." Alice raised an eyebrow.

"When are you two planning your wedding?" teased Frank, winking.

Y/n immediately turned pink. "We aren't getting married—"

"—yet," finished James, grinning at Frank and Alice.

Y/n narrowed her eyes. "Are you hiding something?"

"Maybe."

Truthfully, James was terrified at the prospect of proposing to Y/n. What was he to say? What kind of ring would suit Y/n the most? And most importantly, what knee was he supposed to get down on? He knew he was just being ridiculous, but he really wanted the proposal to be perfect. He had already settled on proposing at King's Cross, as unromantic as it seemed. And he was thinking of getting Y/n a diamond ring, but remembered just then that she wasn't too fond of diamonds, them only having a dull whitish color. So he settled on perhaps getting her an (Stone the color of your eyes) one to match her e/c eyes.

However, what would Y/n say once he proposed? If she said "yes", then all his worries would be gone...but what if she said "no"? What if she said the only reason why she even bothered dating him was to prevent him from asking her out a million times more? All these thoughts became a jumble of mixed thoughts in his head, as he only half-heartedly to his friends' conversations.

"James, I'm talking to you; can you hear me?"

He blinked, and saw Y/n's s/c hand waving in front of his face. "What?"

"Are you all right?" She looked genuinely concerned.

"Do you love me?" he asked suddenly.

"You know I do, James," said Y/n earnestly. "I love you with all my heart, because you're funny, kind, unselfish, and clever. What more would I want out of a boyfriend?"

"Do you really mean that?"

"Of course." Y/n grasped his hand tightly, and her e/c eyes shined down on him. "Now, come on, then, everyone's waiting inside the common room. I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes."

James found himself being dragged by the h/c and into the common room, where everyone indeed was settled in and waiting impatiently.

"Where were you, Prongs?" said Sirius, looking rather put off.

"Outside," he returned vaguely. "What're you all doing here?"

"We're talking with Frank and Alice," said Jennifer slowly. "What's wrong with you, James? Are you sick?"

"N-no, I'm fine, thank you."

"Head Boy duties, probably," said Sirius sympathetically, and when his eyes met James', the latter knew that his best friend understood completely.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Maybe you shouldn't go to Hogsmeade today," said Arabella doubtfully.

"Now, now, don't disturb Prongs, everyone," said Sirius soothingly. "Here, Prongs, talk to me for a minute, will you?"

When they reached their dormitory, Sirius eyed his best friend. "You're having problems with the proposing thing."

"Well, how did you guess?" said James sarcastically.

"Look, James, don't worry about it. You and I are going to do just fine."

"Padfoot, I don't even know the first thing about asking a girl to marry me! I don't even know what knee to go down on!"

Sirius tried his best to subdue a laugh. "Prongs, you're worrying over nothing! Who cares what knee you get down on? I think it's your right one, though."

"No, I think it's your left one."

"Who bloody cares! Now, for the rings, I say we go to Hogsmeade today bravely and get the stupid things. I know my Bella prefers diamonds, but I don't know what Y/n likes."

"Y/n doesn't like diamonds, so maybe an (stone the color of your eyes) will do, d'you reckon?"

"Definitely, Prongs. Now, I say for the speeches, we write it down on parchment and remember it. C'mon, it's simple. All you do is write down whatever you're going to say, ask her to marry you with the ring, and wait for an answer. What's so nerve-racking about it?"

"Well, what if she says 'no'?"

"Oh, pur-lease. Y/n loves you, remember? Or have you forgotten?"

"She could be thinking about breaking up with me any day now...and what if she's already engaged to some bloody rich Muggle? Her mum's that type of person, you know."

Sirius stared at him incredulously. "Prongs, for the last time, stop worrying. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in my life. Now, let's get downstairs and actually enjoy our ring shopping today."

"But we usually go with the girls, and we can't take Y/n and Arabella with us, now, can we?"

"Don't worry, I've got that all set. Moony and Wormtail are going to help stall for us, while Jennifer's going to tell us where the jewelry store is."

"I know where it is; it's right next to Madam Puddifoot's."

"Oh, that store! Never mind, then, Jennifer's useless. But we need their ring sizes."

"Both size six," piped up James.

Sirius smirked and clapped his friend on the back. "Let's get going, then, Prongs. We've got some ring shopping to do."

When they arrived at Hogsmeade with the rest of the student population, James and Sirius immediately went to the jewelry shop and stepped inside.

It was a rather dusty little store, but it held amazing jewelry of all shapes and sizes. There were beautifully hand-crafted earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings made out of gold, silver, bronze, and others. A small tottering man was at the counter, and gave a toothless smile when he saw the two teenage boys.

"'Ello, there! How may I help you?"

"We're looking for rings," began Sirius.

"Rings, is it? The engagement rings are over there by that corner next to the charm bracelets."

"How did you—?" said James, amazed.

"How did I know? Why, what else would a couple of young and comely teenage boys be doing in my shop for? Now, what sizes?"

"Six, if you may."

"Six...six...ah, I sell many diamond rings that are famous in Europe. Would you like one?"

"I would!" exclaimed Sirius, relieved that his job was finally done.

"What about you, lad?" The old man peered at James.

"No, I would like an (stone the color of your eyes) one, maybe," he said hopefully.

The man smiled. "(stone the color of your eyes), eh? You've got a smart girl, boy. I've got (stone the color of your eyes) ones, and I haven't sold them for ages yet. They're over there." He pointed to a shelf.

"Thank you, sir."

James looked over at all the emerald rings. They were pretty, yes, but none of them seemed to fit Y/n. Just when he was about to give up and pick one arbitrarily, one of them caught his eye. It was a perfect size six, and was a simple gold band that held a medium sized (stone the color of your eyes). One may think it looked rather dinky from a fair distance, but James thought it was perfect. The (stone the color of your eyes) sparkled brightly in its small, dark e/c velvet box, and it reminded him strongly of Y/n's own brilliant, almond-shaped e/c eyes. It was perfect for her.

"Sir, I'd like to get that one." He pointed to where the ring was.

"Eh? That one, is it? You sure?" The old man raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"I'm sure," said James firmly. "That one, please."

The old man took it out of the glass case and handed it to him. "I'd have second thoughts about it, if I were you, laddie. I've had this one since I first started this shop fifty years ago, and no one's every looked at it twice, even though I admit it is very special. You've got good insight, boy. This would be twenty Galleons."

James handed the man the money, and pocketed the ring in his jeans' pocket. "Thank you, sir."

"What's your name, boy?"

"James, sir. James Potter."

"Potter, is it? Why, I know your parents just well. I remember your father coming in here when he was a boy, lookin' for a ring for your mother. Brave man, he is."

Suddenly, Sirius stood behind James, grinning. "I found a ring, Prongs? Look at it." He showed him a gorgeous diamond ring that was nestled softly in a small white box. "Ain't she a beauty?"

"Yeah. Hey, Padfoot, look at mine." James showed him his ring.

"That's cool, Prongs, but it looks kind of modest, don't you think? I mean, you Potters have all the money in the world to spend, and you spend it on this little thing?"

"There's something about this ring that I can't put my finger on, Padfoot. It may look rather small, but when you look closely at it, the emerald sparkles like I've never seen before."

Sirius squinted, and jumped back. "Merlin, you're right! Well, we'd better get going, the girls will get suspicious."

After he paid for his ring, the two of them exited the shop stealthily, hoping that no one saw them, and went to The Three Broomsticks, where the rest of the Marauders and the girls were waiting, sipping butterbeer and laughing.

"Hey, where were you two?" said Arabella, spotting them. "We've been looking everywhere for you, but they kept saying that you were at Zonko's." She jabbed her finger at a guilty Remus, Peter, Jennifer, and Violet.

"We were, but we didn't get anything," said James vaguely. "Nothing interesting there anymore."

"Not even a Dungbomb?" said Y/n, looking surprised. "Well, I'm impressed boys. It looks like you two have finally grown up."

James and Sirius looked at each other nervously.

"Yes, they have, haven't they?" interrupted Remus, rescuing his friends' awkward positions. "We all have, since we are graduating from Hogwarts soon."

"We are!" exclaimed Y/n, looking upset. "I've been here for the last seven years, and I don't want to leave." She looked on the verge of tears.

James immediately came to her aid. "C'mon, n/n," he said gently. "We've got our whole life ahead of us. Don't cry because we're leaving Hogwarts. We can always visit it whenever we want. I mean, doesn't it sound so...fantastic? Adulthood; never thought I'd reach it when I was a kid."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound real at all," agreed Sirius, chuckling. "I mean, can you believe it? Me, Sirius Black, become an actual adult and get a job? C'mon!"

They all laughed, trying to picture it, but failing terribly. After all, none of them ever thought of Sirius as a mature adult, figuring out bills and going to job interviews.

"We'll always be together, right?" said Violet quietly. "We'll keep on contact, right?"

"Definitely!" chorused the group enthusiastically.

However, Y/n got a sick feeling in her stomach at the thought of separating from her friends and living on her own. Every single year, she had looked forward to September first, when they would all go to Hogwarts and start another fresh, new year. But there would be no next year...she was nearly finished with her magical schooling, and never coming back to be a student. Sure, she can visit Hogwarts again time after time, but it wouldn't be the same without actually going to class and learning something, or being with her friends on the grounds.

And what's more, she didn't have a future. Yes, she wanted to become an Auror, and had all the O.W.L.s for it and hopefully all the N.E.W.T.s, but there was also the problem of where to live. She could get a cheap little flat at London or in her hometown, Surrey. But how would she be in contact with Sirius? Arabella? James?

The thought of James made her smile. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, no doubt. Visions of them being married and having their first child made the empty feeling in her stomach alleviate slightly.

"You know, I don't think we should be thinking about the future now," said Peter nervously, wringing his hands together.

"Why not?" asked Violet, frowning.

"I mean, wouldn't it be good to just enjoy life now and think about the future later?"

"I suppose that's legitimate," began Remus slowly, "but we need to think about the future. We need to get a place of our own now, and get a job to clothe and feed ourselves and eventually our future family. The future is now, Peter, and there's no use running away from it."

"Wisely said by our good old Moony," said Sirius, smiling. "I second to that statement!"

When they finally gathered themselves up to go back to the castle, James held Remus back.

"You aren't going to break up with Jennifer, are you?" he said anxiously.

Remus bowed his head and didn't say anything. James looked at his friend with incredulity written all over his face. He didn't understand at all.

"But why, Moony? Don't you love her?"

"I love her with all my heart and soul, James, which is why I have to break up with her. I want to marry her, and I want us to have children later and be a nice family. But it can't happen, see? I'm a werewolf, and I have to leave home every month because of my transformations. I am a monster, Prongs; Jennifer wouldn't be happy if she married me or stayed with me after we graduate."

"Oh, that's just a load of crap to me," snapped James angrily. "She loves you, Remus. Jennifer wouldn't care if you were a three-headed dog, for Merlin's sake! The girl is head-over-heels for you, and you'd break her heart if you broke up with her. No, Moony, you aren't doing the right thing at all."

"You may think so, Prongs," said Remus lightly, "but it's the best arrangement. I want to make her happy, and asking her to marry me isn't going to do that for her. I want her to marry a man who can be there for her whenever she's sad, happy, or just plain lonely or bored. We've had the best moments together at Hogwarts, but I think it's time for us to say good-bye to our relationship, because it'll never work. We can still be friends, but the boyfriend-girlfriend thing is going."

James shook his head. "You're a stubborn one, Moony, so I won't try to change your mind more. But pay heed to me right this minute. I still think you're wrong for doing this, but it is your choice. Maybe Jennifer doesn't need a man to be there for her and pamper her to perfection. Maybe she just needs a man to love her and make love to her and have that same passion that she has for him. Maybe she just wants you, Remus. Not what you can give her, but just you, the person."

Remus sighed heavily. "If only life were that simple, Prongs. If only if it was clear-cut and straightforward like we all think it is. But I will make the decision that I feel is right, whether you all think so or not. That's what life is about, James: making the right and wrong choices. But the bad thing is, you never know which is which until after the decision, but by then, it's too late to alter anything."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Moony. Don't worry, I'm not mad. You make your choice and live with it. Just don't complain to me if it's the bad one, though." He grinned.

Even though Sirius was James' best friend and intimate confidant, sometimes he found more comfort in Remus. Remus was extremely wise and composed, and at times James needed those words of wisdom from his werewolf friend. He patted his friend on the shoulder in a friendly fashion, and they both hurried to catch up with everyone else.

"Oh, breathe, will you?" said Arabella, laughing, as Y/n nearly fainted in the common room. "C'mon, the exams so far weren't that bad."

"You would say," snapped Y/n wearily. "You're not the one who wants to be an Auror and needs top grades for it."

"True," her best friend admitted, "but you're still too worried about this. If you fail this, then I know James won't, and you can just ask him to marry you so that you don't even have to work while he does the nasty business!"

"Arabella Figg! A girl, ask her boyfriend to marry her? Isn't it supposed to be the inverse?"

"Oh, it's not like it's illegal or anything, n/n. C'mon, live a little, girl! You're always buried in one of those books of yours and never enjoy life while you can."

"I go to Hogsmeade," protested Y/n feebly, though her voice wavered slightly.

"Hogsmeade! That's hardly the first thing about enjoying life. But you still have to go through that nasty Auror training, don't you? How unfortunate."

"It's worth it. I mean, being an Auror is so exciting, and very worthy. You save lives doing the things you do."

"I know! I'll go call James. He'll know what to do with you."

Moments later, Arabella came back with James and Sirius at her heels. James raised an eyebrow at Y/n questioningly.

"Y/n needs to live," explained Arabella.

"Er—" Sirius looked at his girlfriend. "Are you feeling all right, Bella? Haven't eaten anything Snape offered you, have you?"

"Of course not," she said indignantly. "He doesn't offer me anything, anyway. So what's the problem?"

"Y/n is living," elaborated James, looking extremely perplexed.

Arabella laughed. "Not that way! I mean, the poor girl's been studying day and night, and I need you two to help me liven her up a bit. You know, enjoy life and such."

"Oh..." Sirius grinned. "Well, my dear Bellsies, you've come to the right people. We are experts of that, aren't we, Prongs?"

"Most certainly, Padfoot," replied James, emulating Sirius' sinister smile.

"Oh, NO!" exclaimed Y/n, horrified. "Anyone but those two, Bella! They're pranksters; who knows what they'll do to me!"

"I know!" cried Sirius. "Torture Snivellus! C'mon, Y/n, it'll be fun," he added, seeing Y/n's face.

"Torturing an innocent human being is not my idea of fun," said Y/n stiffly. "I thought you had enough sense than that, Sirius Black."

"Common sense and Sirius are two words that do not, and never will, belong in the same sentence, Y/n," said James, grinning. "But let's not hex Snivellus and enjoy ourselves at the lake, shall we? I haven't been there for ages."

"Let's go then," agreed Arabella heartily.

So the eight of them (having dragged Remus, Peter, Jennifer, and Violet along) left the castle and went onto the grounds and took refuge under a nice, shady tree. Arabella and Sirius were laughing at something, Remus and Jennifer were chatting quietly, Violet and Peter were silent, and Y/n and James were reminiscing.

"That was where you hexed Snape two years ago," said Y/n softly, her eyes grazing over the glittering surface of the lake.

"Yeah," said James, sighing. "It seemed so long ago."

"And what you said at Remus' house," continued Y/n, "it was so romantic and sweet."

"Oh, the letter." He blushed. "I wrote it with Sirius looking over my shoulder."

"Well, then, Sirius must be an auspicious sign." Y/n laughed.

"Did I hear my name said?" said Sirius curiously, peering over his shoulder.

"Remember you were trying to help me write that letter to Y/n last summer?"

Sirius snorted. "Right. You were trying to shoo me away, but I stuck around."

"Do you still have that letter?" asked James.

"Have it? Of course I do! You didn't expect me to just toss it in the fire, did you? Yes, I have it stored in my trunk."

"Do you remember when Deanna fed James that Love Potion in our first year?" said Remus. "I still remember the look on James' face when he saw Deanna sitting next to him in the same chair."

"Oh, that was priceless!"

"Remember when Y/n slapped James at that Quidditch game?"

"Yeah, that was funny. Ooh, what about when James put that spell on Snape to make him like Y/n?"

"Oh Merlin, I bet you didn't expect yourself dating Y/n L/n, James!"

"I would've died knowing that six years ago," said James emphatically. "But now I'm as blissful as ever."

"You know, the fifteen-year-old James of two years ago wouldn't have been happy to see this change in you," insisted Violet.

"No, he wouldn't have been happy," agreed James readily. "Tough luck, though. We all have destinies, and mine is with Y/n."

"Isn't he such a romantic?" whispered Arabella dreamily. "Oh, Y/n, you are so lucky to have James as your boyfriend. I'd love him if he were mine."

"What about me?" said Sirius, pouting. "I'm a romantic, too!"

"Yeah, right. Like you'll ever do anything romantic for me."

"You'll see." He winked over at James.

"What is he talking about?" hissed Peter to Remus.

"The proposing, of course," said Remus, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "They're going to ask Y/n and Arabella to marry them...respectively, of course."

"Y-yes, right."

"Oh, no!" Y/n bolted out of her position at once. "We have another exam in eight hours! What're you waiting for, huh? Let's go inside and study!"

"Which exam?" asked James sleepily.

"Astronomy. Well, let's go then."

"Wait, wait, wait," interjected Sirius loudly, "who said we were going to study, eh? We all know that crap, anyway, why worry?"

"I'll study with you, Y/n," offered James, feeling bad for his girlfriend.

However, Y/n sat down again, looking defeated. "You're right, of course, Sirius. I think I have been a little too panicky about our N.E.W.T.s. But they are—"

"—an important part of our future," finished Sirius impatiently. "I know, Y/n."

"Y/n, we have less than two weeks left of school. Please enjoy Hogwarts as much as possible before it all ends." Jennifer looked at her friend pleadingly.

"Hear, hear," cried James enthusiastically.

"I say we explore the castle!" said Sirius loudly.

"But what about our—" began Y/n, but Arabella cut her off.

"Maybe the Room of Requirement," she suggested.

"What would be our reason, though?" Y/n looked dubious.

"That we need a break from exams," offered Violet. "After all, it is true. Is it all right for me to grab Jackson?"

"Sure." They all shrugged nonchalantly. After all, they almost immediately accepted Jackson into the group, since he was dating one of their best friends.

Minutes later, Violet came back clutching onto Jackson's arm, her hair slightly in disarray and her face rather pink. Jackson grinned at them with unusual haphazard hair, and waved merrily.

"Hey guys; ready to go?"

"What happened to your hair?" said Sirius, feigning innocence. "You don't usually have hair like James'."

"Oh, that." Jackson blushed violently. "I was—er—"

"Snogging Violet senselessly?" interrupted James, unable to hide a smirk.

"Stop it," chastened Y/n lightly. "Let's go, then."

The nine of them set off to the Room of Requirement, and soon found themselves thinking the same thing: we just want a break from our exams. A door suddenly appeared, and they all entered eagerly. Inside, there were comfortable poufs, armchairs, and a tête-à-tête; there were games (such as Exploding Snap, chess, and Gobstones), and books nearly at every corner.

"Excellent!" said James heartily, sinking into one of the armchairs.

So they all settled in comfortably, eating, drinking (there was a small storage room full of foods and beverages), playing, laughing, and talking. Time passed by very quickly, and they ended their time discussing their plans after Hogwarts.

"Definitely Aurors," chorused Y/n and James.

"Department of Mysteries," said Jennifer.

"Department of Magical Games and Sports," added Arabella and Sirius.

"Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," said Violet.

"Department of Magical Transportation," said Jackson confidently.

Everyone else looked expectantly at Remus and Peter, who had been silent the whole time.

"I d-don't have enough O.W.L.s for any job," said Peter sadly, looking down at the ground.

"What about a Healer?" said Violet, though only half-heartedly.

"I suppose..." He shrugged.

"I don't think I can do anything, with my condition and all," said Remus quietly.

"Condition?" said Jackson curiously.

"Yes, condition," he replied through gritted teeth. Remus was never much fond of Jackson because he was always questioning him about his so-called "condition". However, Jackson didn't push the matter further, and all grew quiet.

"You know, the Department of Mysteries is dangerous," said Y/n, after a while.

"Being an Unspeakable would be so romantic, though," objected Jennifer, shaking her head. "You get to know all the secrets of the Wizarding world and everything, like where you go after death, and researching new things. It's amazing, the work they do there. I met a bloke named Broderick Bode, who would guide me through all the steps and stuff."

"Bloke?" said Remus uncertainly.

"Oh, Remus, don't worry. He's in his late-twenties; he won't harm me in any way."

"He'd better not, or I'll be sure to castrate him personally."

"Didn't know you had it in you, Moony," said Sirius rather stiffly. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that Remus was planning to dump Jennifer at the end of the year.

Just then, there were footsteps that approached them, and got louder every second. At first, none of them worried, for no one could get into the room, but as soon as they stopped right in front of the door, they looked at each other. The room, which had been filled with refreshments and entertainment, had suddenly been filled to brim with socks. Puzzled, the seventh-years just stared until the door swung open, revealing Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor!" gasped James. "We were just relaxing; please don't punish us! Please, it was my idea, I'll do detention, but don't blame my friends and please don't take points off from Gryffindor. I mean, if you can just—"

"Mr. Potter, it's quite all right," said Dumbledore, chuckling. "No punishment will be given, though I do apologize for intruding onto your fun. You see, I couldn't find an extra pair of socks..." He gestured to the room with a grand wave of his arm.

James just stared at him, unable to comprehend what he had just said.

Dumbledore chuckled again, crossed the room, and grabbed a pair of socks, and left, leaving behind nine extremely confused seventh-years.

"I think I might faint," commented James, wiping his brow nervously, as they all got onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Why?" said Jackson.

"We're both proposing," said Sirius, as if it were every day that a boy proposed to his girlfriend.

Jackson promptly staggered and nearly tripped over the seats. "What?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, my Bella has been my girlfriend since first year. We've had some ups and downs, I admit, but she's still mine and I'm not losing her again. As for James, well, you saw how much he's wanted Y/n to be his."

"Aren't you a bit too...young?" countered Jackson.

"Well, that is a bit of a problem," admitted Sirius, "but my uncle's left enough money for me to get a place of my own."

"That's lucky," said Jackson gloomily. "I still have to live with my parents until I get a job at the Department of Magical Transportation."

"An Auror is what I want to be," said James, "but it's going to take some training until I can be one."

"Three years. You sure you can handle that, mate? I mean, you can have almost any job in the Wizarding world, with your parents as top Aurors and you getting excellent grades and all."

"True, but none of the other jobs seem worthwhile enough to me. Y/n and I are going to settle down somewhere near both our parents, and start Auror training at once."

"I'm working at the Department of Magical Games and Sports, since I love the job. 'Sides, I get to have Bella working alongside me," said Sirius cheerfully.

Meanwhile, back at where the girls were, Y/n and Arabella were extremely puzzled as to why the boys pushed them out of the compartment for some "alone time".

"They're—er—planning a prank on Snape, probably," said Jennifer, laughing nervously. "You know, thinking that you might not approve."

"But it's Y/n who always doesn't approve," said Arabella. "I never care."

"Maybe Sirius is going to give you something," said Violet, but Jennifer nudged her hard in the ribs and shook her head ruefully.

"Are you guys hiding something?" asked Y/n suspiciously.

"No," they said simultaneously.

On the other side, the boys were preparing their speeches to give to their respective girlfriends.

"Arabella, when I first met you," began Sirius rhetorically, "you weren't much to me. And when our first year progressed, I still thought of you as very good-looking and sweet, but not my right type. However, when you went to comfort me that one night when I was feeling rather touchy, I realized that you and I were meant to be. I know we've been through more than a lot together, and that we've had a million arguments, but I want you to know that I'll always love you no matter what, and I want us to be together forever. So...will you marry me, Arabella Figg?"

The boys all clapped enthusiastically, and Sirius bowed low, grinning widely.

"Now your turn, Prongs."

"No!" said James quickly. "Wait...give me a second, will you?"

He nervously leafed through his speech, carefully handwritten on parchment. No, it seemed so awful to James that he wouldn't be surprised if Y/n refused him at once. It was so ponderous, and so unlike the letter that he had sent to Y/n last summer, expressing his love for her. What had he gone wrong now? When he glanced at the parchment again, he realized that there was no passion in the speech. Did that mean that he didn't love Y/n anymore? Perhaps she wasn't the one for him, after all.

"Padfoot," he said weakly, "I can't do it."

"What?" said Sirius loudly. "Of course you can, Prongs."

"No, I can't," said James firmly. "I will not ask Y/n to marry me."

"You idiot!" his best friend roared. "Here...c'mon, we have to have a talk." Sirius dragged him out of the compartment and into an almost empty one next to theirs, which held a giggly bunch of younger girls. When they saw them, they started to giggle loudly.

"May we occupy these seats temporarily?" asked Sirius politely.

The girls nodded, still giggling and sniggering, making eyes at the two tall boys.

"Now, why can't you do this, Prongs?"

James sighed. "I don't think I love Y/n anymore, Padfoot. Maybe we just weren't meant to be, and maybe my efforts were just wasted."

"How can you say that?"

"I don't know! All I know is that when I wrote that speech, it wasn't from the bottom of my heart. And now I don't know how to write it so that Y/n will know that I love her. Maybe I should just break up with her, since I don't feel that passion anymore when I see her or hear her name."

"You will not do such a thing, James Potter. Any blind man could see that Y/n L/n is quite a catch, and boys have been chasing her all around, Prongs. But whom did she accept as a boyfriend for nearly a year now? She loves you so much, and don't give me any crap about you not loving her anymore. What if I told you that she was having an affair with someone else? Say...Snivellus Snape?"

Jealousy that he had never knew existed in him surged through James, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "I'd bash Snivelly in the head, that's what! How dare he get my girl, the slimy, greasy git!"

"See?" Sirius nodded, obvious satisfied. "If you didn't love her anymore, you wouldn't care for the world if she went out with another guy behind your back. But you do care, and that's proof that you're still in love with her. So go do it, Prongs; go propose to that girl of yours whom you've tried so hard to impress for two years."

"Propose?" piped up one of the girls, whom James recognized as Emmeline Vance.

"Oh, hey, Emmeline," said James distractedly. "Yeah, I'm asking Y/n to marry me right after we get off the train."

She squealed so loud that the two boys had to cover their ears. "Oh Merlin, I must watch it, then! Ooh...how romantic!"

"I'm proposing too," said Sirius proudly.

"But, my speech," said James, waving the parchment weakly.

"Re-write it and practice," he ordered.

So James re-wrote it and read it out loud to the girls and Sirius, his voice and hand shaking.

"Y/n, when I first set my eyes on you, I knew I had fallen in love, but I was too young to understand anything about it then. We've hated each other for nearly half our lives, but in our fifth year together, I finally realized that I liked you. Which wasn't a good time, either, since you still hated me then. But I did try so hard to deflate my ego so that you wouldn't think I was an arrogant jerk anymore. So I changed in our sixth year, but you were still adamant about going out with you. Then, I had consulted everyone I knew, asking them what was wrong with me. Well, they said nothing was wrong with me, but that you were scared of rejection, so I kept trying. Now that you have accepted me as your boyfriend and said you'd go out with me, I thought my heart would burst. You've made me so happy, being my girlfriend, Y/n. I want to spend the rest of my—"

"James, it's now or never!" cried Sirius urgently. "The train's stopped!"

James' heart pounded loudly as he got off the train dazedly. When he spotted his friends and the girls standing together, he and Sirius walked toward them.

"Bella, can we talk to you two?" the latter said casually.

"Sure."

Simultaneously, James and Sirius dropped to their knees. Many of the bystanders gasped in the crowd, the Potters and L/n's included, but Y/n and Arabella were looking at each other with utmost puzzlement. Sirius had already started speaking his speech, but James' mind completely blanked out. That speech that he had so assiduously labored over and memorized shot out of his memory like a rocket. But doggedly, he began.

"Y/n, you've always been special to me. Without you, I couldn't have survived in this world for very long. I know that we haven't liked each other for very long, but that really doesn't matter. I know that we both are in grave danger because of Voldemort going after us, but I always want to be with you, and if we die eventually, we shall die together. You're beautiful, you're smart, you're kind...any guy would be ecstatic to have you, and I thank my lucky stars every day that I was the lucky guy. I love you, Y/n L/n, so I'm asking you...will you marry me?" James groped for the ring in his pocket, and held it out to Y/n.

Tears came to Y/n's eyes, and she nodded slowly. "Yes, I will marry you, James Potter!"

James' nervous smile broke into a full-fledged grin as he whooped loudly, and picked Y/n up and spun her around. Everyone in the crowd clapped and cheered, even Muggles, for young love was something that everyone understood universally. James gently picked up the (stone the color of your eyes) ring from the box and placed it on Y/n's ring finger.

Y/n had never felt happier before in her life. So that was the reason why James was so secretive for the last few weeks, always with Sirius and talking in low tones. As she saw the ring on her left hand, the tears that had threatened to fall before had fallen. She smiled through her tears at Arabella, who was sobbing loudly on Sirius' shoulder, and knew that she was where she wanted to be at last.

If Y/n had thought she was happy, then her happiness couldn't have even been compared to James'. He was more than ecstatic. Seven years ago, he would have been horrified at the thought of asking Y/n L/n to marry him, much less even calling her by her given name, but now, he knew that this was what he wanted. He wanted to marry Y/n and start a family with her, to be a father. Even though Voldemort's rise in power was stronger than ever, nothing could penetrate James' happiness at that moment.

tags: @theredheadedwinchester

masterlist

#amarauder writings #it's a hate-love thing original version #james potter x reader

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embrassemoi · 3 years ago

Text

Surrounded by the Moon and Stars ✷ 23

Pairings: Sirius B, Remus L, [F]Reader CW: Drinking, slight internalized homophobia A/N: The first part dives into Lily's sexuality. It’s pretty innocent but may make readers uncomfortable. If you want to skip, go past the line break and I bolded the words ‘Round round get around’ for when it’s ‘safe’ to continue!

Chap 23 Playlist

【 Masterlist: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 】

Chapter 23: The Daily Quarrel

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Lily always considered herself to be calm, rational and level-headed, that’s what made her a great prefect and student. But over the last five months, Lily felt herself becoming everything but that.

Lily never concerned herself with dating. Of course, she’d entertained the thought. She had crushes before, many crushes, and dabbled in the idea of romance, love, dates and commitment. Especially now as it seemed like the older she got, those around her fell into relationships and quick snogs in the broom closet that she was forced to break up one too many times. If she were to date, she didn’t want to force it. Lily wanted it to come naturally. It was never that important. If it happened, it happened, and she would welcome it with open arms.

But recently, it was all she could think about.

At first, it was a passing thought. Boys — dating — and then other things she thought she buried deep down began to resurface.

Girls, by every definition, were beautiful. Lily would admire the way they style their hair or religious headwear, how they carried themselves with such effortless grace that they never seemed to notice themselves. Girls, women; Lily thought they were thoughtful, kind and more respectful than men. She felt loads more comfortable around them before her thoughts began to turn more obscure — until her mind quickly shut it down and interjected that she just wanted to be close friends.

That was an utter lie.

It’s not like Lily didn’t feel any sort of attraction towards boys. She did, very much and had feelings both romantic and well… er — unleashed a plethora of other feelings. Lily was not opposed to holding hands, kissing or cuddling them, she really liked the idea and felt herself grow warm. She would do all sorts of things with the right boy. But there was something so exciting, yet frightening when the idea of hand-holding, kissing and cuddling with Y/N. That certainly left Lily with sweaty palms, heart racing and a flustered mess.

Whenever she held her hands, went around holding her arm in the halls, or crept into each other’s beds at night, Lily felt like a puddle of nerves.

She’s managed to force a smile most of the time whenever improper thoughts surfaced. She could be alone, walking the hallways for her prefect duties and something would pop up: when her fingers ran through Lily’s scalp when she brushed her hair. Her smile. Her eyes… her damn eyes… All she thought about these days was her. How was Y/N doing? She’s so funny! Would she like the way she styled her robes today? How would she look on top of — ARGH! Lily was mortified half the time.

Let’s just say that it was a gradual realization.

Lily wasn’t stupid, far from it and knew what was happening and it left her on complete edge, especially around Y/N. It left her face scarlet red and felt as if her chest was about to burst into a bloody mess. She couldn’t even look or be anywhere near her sometimes because it was too overwhelming.

But her feelings… Lily grew up being taught that she wasn’t supposed to feel this way for another girl, let alone both boys and girls...

Her heart, mind, morals, feelings, everything she believed in was at war. Lily felt herself change inside and out. It’s always been there, those… emotions — and suddenly it just ripped at the seams. Y/N was just the tipping point.

But why did it feel like such a crime for something so innocent? Something that is supposed to be beautiful?

And Y/N… out of all people!

It had been a very tiring and stressful school year so far.

Potter’s birthday had coincided with Gryffindor’s win against Hufflepuff and thus, a joint party was thrown. Lily watched from the sidelines as Y/N’s back faced her. The glowing of lights, all charmed red, immersed her as she snapped an abundance of photos of a very plastered Potter having the time of his life. He stood on a table, drunkenly singing.

Another bright flash went off and she brought the camera down, took the photo and shook it. A wide smile plastered on her face as she watched the photo develop and her body shook with laughter. But as if Y/N knew Lily was staring, her head swivelled around with a smile so blinding that it hurt Lily’s heart; now filled with hot shame again.

She shouted over the loud music. “Petals! C’mon, let loose for once!” She pointed to the cup in hand.

Lily looked down, looking at the amber liquid filled to the brim of her cup, untouched. Her gaze looked back, giving her a shy thumbs-up and brought the cup to her lips. The bitter taste of Firewhiskey burned before spreading warmly through her. But, Y/N’s reaction was worth it.

Lily tried to still her heart as she ripped her gaze away. Y/N made her feel everything but calm, rational and level-headed. It was terrifying.

━━━━━━━━━༻☽༺━━━━━━━━━

‘Round round get around, I get around, yeah

(Get around round round I get around, ooh-ooh) I get around’

“Hip-hip —” James bellowed, raising a glass filled with Firewhiskey in the air.

“HOORAY!” The Gryffindors roared back.

“Hip-hip —”

Throughout the night, Sirius danced with probably every girl there before he went to turn the record player louder, re-filling his glass. He watched as James hopped off the table and made his way to Emmeline, peppering her skin with sloppy kisses that made her laugh and eyes crinkle.

They all officially met her that night. She’s sweet, kind and they found out she’s just as crazy as James in the love department and they seemed beyond happy.

Peter was there, who looked at the two, almost enviously, faced stained red before solemnly bobbing his head to the music. Sirius didn’t think much of it, instead just passed it off as a sad drunk.

‘I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip

I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip’

Sirius cringed; he was never a fan of the Beach Boys but Wormtail and Prongs loved it…

Students jumped, rocking to the blasting music. Some talked, some were snogging, others tipsy or drunk. Sirius grinned from ear to ears as he looked around the room, searching for Remus. He was already a pole light, he would stick out like a sore thumb. But instead of Remus, Sirius’ eyes settled on L/N; film in hand, talking to another student. He was blond, a year above them, large in stature and Sirius recognized him from the Gryffindor tryouts back in September. Aldrich McLaggen.

His face was beat red as he chatted with L/N, his hand toying with the sleeves as he looked her up and down, wearing a flirtatious yet apprehensive grin. The bastard was flirting with her.

Sirius felt himself grip his glass tighter than normal, his free hand bunched into a tight ball while pressing firmly to his side. Neither she nor Sirius spoke, aside from their Puffskein assignment and it was killing him. From the discomfort or wishing they had kissed that night — he didn’t know. But it was tortuously awkward.

“Padfoot,” came a voice. Remus leant against a nearby table as he sipped his drink. No matter how much he seemed to drink, Remus was able to knock back drinks after drinks without it affecting him. Sirius envied that but then the thought passed, eyes settling on L/N.

“Moomy.”

Remus followed Sirius’ eyes, scrutinizing the situation.

“She’s so annoying,” said Sirius. He didn’t even mean to speak, it just slipped out.

Remus’ brow rose. “Talking about this, again? She’s not. L/N’s my friend and I like her.”

Sirius shook his head. “She’s insufferable. Who does she think she is?!”

“... Who?”

“Just look at her!” Sirius exclaimed, using large hand movements. “She acts like she owns the place. Just because she’s new she assumes she’s better than everyone else! And —” Sirius continued to rant but Remus blocked him out, head shaking.

Fucking idoit, Remus thinks. He wants to slap Sirius silly. When will he stop talking about her?

“— taking all of my friends: Prongs, Lily, Marlene, Wormy, you! I was —”

“You sound like a child.”

“— so smart. The Slugclub? All filled with stuffy pricks — except you and Lily — the kicker, I’ve seen her with Regulus! A Slytherin! Come on. That’s just asking for —”

“Padfoot —”

“— don’t understand how —”

“Crikey! Sirius!” Remus scolded. Sirius went quiet, intimidated by him. Remus took a deep inhale, his eyes fluttering shut but asked, “Why do you hate her? Is it because of that fucking rejection because —”

“What?!” Sirius’s voice cuts, loud and booming to the point where several heads swirled to look at him.

Remus looked at them, making hand movements to shoo them off. “Mind your business.”

“Moony, you know me! Come on! Sure, I’m a dick, but I’m not that much of a dick!”

“Then what is it? It can’t just be that she’s annoying.” Of course, Remus was right again. Always so blunt and never failed to be clear-cut.

Remus then tipped back his drink in one go without a flinch and left Sirius’ side. He’d much rather do his prefect duties than listen to him go on about the same conversation for what seemed like the eighth time that week. With Sirius left to sulk, he sighed and looked back to the scene, feeling irrational jealousy bubble up.

L/N laughed at whatever McLaggen said, who leant into her ear. What an obvious bloke.

Maybe it was because of the mix of alcohol that made Sirius place his cup down and stride up to them, but even he knew it wasn’t just the Firewhiskey.

“I’ve always wanted to visit. How was it like living —”

“McLaggen.” Sirius’ voice came out gruff and cold.

Both their heads turned towards him and she sent him a look, telling him to go. But too stubborn, he stayed put.

“Um… Black. Hello,” McLaggen responded. Sirius continued to stand tall, body language closed off, telling him silently to leave.

Tosser. Pillock. Daft bimbo lookin’ arse —

The boy coughed awkwardly and threw L/N a tight-lipped smile. “See you!” She nodded her head, giving a small, friendly wave. “Bye!”

Sirius took his place instantly. “Finally, you said something right for once. He’s a git.”

L/N’s face scrunched up in confusion. She sent daggers his way and he had to stop himself from smirking. “Surprise,” he drawled, hands going up to shake in jazz hands. “You seem happy to see me.”

“Why are you talking to me? People might think we’re friends.”

“Like we were ever just friends.”

Her mouth hung open after registering what he said and Sirius felt like using an unforgivable curse on himself. Did he have to bring it up like that?

Sirius was all over the place with his thoughts. Point blank, he didn’t know what the fuck was happening. He so badly wanted to draw near, to touch her and hear that damn laughter, but did he?

His… very unwelcomed feelings — whatever they were, were beginning to get in the way of his already messy life. Was it the chase that made him feel so electric, the need to dive into someone else to cover up his own problems? Was this him dabbling in his unhealthy behaviours and would this just set him back? Sirius wasn’t sure and he walked a fine line.

Humans, especially those like Sirius, are social beings. Like most people, they craved recognition, approval and constant reassurance from those around them. People want to fit in that desired image but struggle to find happiness — lost in that perceived image they chase. Desired reality… it’s like a mirage. The constant back and forth only drained him and it had been more apparent than ever since the break. That pretty packaged Sirius — was that him subconsciously crawling its way out, making him lose the little progress he’s made by continuing whatever this was? A game, his true feelings or a way to be social, to fill that void settled deep within his chest?

But he doesn’t think so, and that freaked him out even more. What scared him was that he wanted to get to know all the little parts of her, no matter how much he tried to deny it. It felt like a mantra playing in his head, questions about her he wanted answered. But he could never be sure.

L/N remained silent and he cut in, trying to cover up his internal dilemma.

“Now look who’s the quiet one.”

“Be more conceited, will you?”

“Insolent brat.”

She grinds her jaw aggressively, to the point where he swears he can hear bones crunching but she holds back from a snarky comment. His mouth opens, ready to add on before L/N turns around to survey the room. He watches as she looks up to James and back to him and then a small, separate room that’s cut off from the main room. The last thing either wanted was to ruin James’ night or cause a scene. “Follow me.”

Sirius rolls his eyes, teasingly staying back a beat before another Gryffindor girl comes up to him. He’d danced with her earlier. “Pretty boy,” she greets, “Fancy another dance?”

Sirius’ eyes travel to L/N who’s eyes hardened as she stomped back up to him. “Sorry, but pretty boy” her voice dripping in obvious sarcasm, “Has somewhere to be.” Then, she tugged on the hem of his sweater and the action had Sirius’s heart flutter. He let her lead him through the crowd, nearing the room.

“Pretty boy? So you do think I’m pretty?” He smirked, watching her duck her head to prevent him from seeing her reaction.

Out of the entire student body he could’ve had feelings for — feelings he’s never felt before that caused him to go speechless, heart speeding and the urge to inch closer — it had to be her? She never knew how to take a joke either! How James and Remus were so fond of her, he didn’t know.

She shoved him into the small room, casting Muffliato. It was ill-lit, the only source of luminosity were the red lights seeping in the cracks of the door and the small window; twinkling stars shining just enough. The mixture of lights made her look alluring.

“What do you want?” Her voice is passive-aggressive.

You, he reckons. Or maybe a permanent silencing charm to never have to hear her speak again. Either seemed great.

Her eyes rolled, impatient as he remained silent. “Could you be anymore… confusing? You’re hot and cold! First, you’re nice to me, then mean. Then come up to me, ruin my conversation with Aldrich and now you’re silent.”

“Fine. I don’t want to be here with you, happy?”

“Like you didn’t start this.”

“It’s not my fault you’re infuriating, constantly running your mouth.”

She takes a deep breath, her hands rubbing her face and let’s out a frustrated groan. Her eyes snap back open, “I hate you.” The silence was loud.

Sirius felt himself freeze, eyes turning half-lidded as he took a few steps towards her. She backed up, sliver of a smile there. His chest rose, breathing deeply, “Say that again.”

L/N looked up at him with those eyes he swore looked right through him. Simply being that close made him feel as if he ran a marathon. Then, a wicked, yet timid grin worms its way on her face. Their soft breaths were tense, like if either were too loud, everything would come crashing down.

She repeats. “I hate —”

She doesn’t finish her statement as Sirius pressed himself against her, pushing her back but snakes a hand to prevent her head from hitting the jagged wall.

His voice was low. “Are you sure you want to say that again?”

Her breath hitches. He grins. She swallows. “I. Hate. Y—”

Each syllable was hushed as Sirius pressed his lips onto hers, gentle, sweet and hesitant, contradicting compared to their banter.

When the initial shock wore off, he felt Y/N respond to the kiss, deepening it. Her lips parted and Sirius slid his tongue inside. She was a bit clumsy, hesitant but eager. Sirius smirked at her. Everything felt startling, incredible and better than what Sirius imagined it to ever be like. He felt like a firecracker, a warm feeling spreading through his veins like fire.

She’s soft, incredibly so. His free hand went to roam around before settling on the base of her back, stroking the soft skin up and down. Her hand is threaded through his hair just hard enough that he has to bite back a groan. Her other hand is pressed firmly onto his chest and god — she feels so good.

To Y/N, Sirius tastes like what you think he would taste like. He tastes expensive, smells really good and his kisses are a lot softer than she expected — the very opposite of him: energetic, rough, messy and wild. Instead it’s delicate, sweet and velvety.

She’s the first to pull back and Sirius can’t help but move his head to try and catch her lips but settles on pressing his forehead against hers.

Their soft pants fill the air and Sirius feels like screaming. His skin is boiling and she looks beyond enthralling. Their eyes locked and her eyes washed over him with such an intensity that it could rival any ocean wave.

Neither spoke, just trying to process what happened, letting their eyes run wild before she tucks a fallen strand of hair behind Sirius’ ear. The action, so small and fairly insignificant, made something so bubbly flare in his chest.

Both of their pupils are blown wide and this time, she’s the one to lean in first; with a series of soft peaks before Sirius prolongs it. Both his hands are now on her face, tilting her head up before one goes to graze her neck.

There wasn’t a sinking or horrible feeling in his chest that made him feel used or worthless and he took that as a good sign to continue.

This time, it’s faster, rough and passionate and Sirius leads, his hips pressed against her, caging her against the wall. Her hand then went to embrace Sirius, her nails scratching down his back and he involuntarily slipped out a soft groan into her lips.

Merlin… she’s more intoxicating than any brand of alcohol he’s ever drunk.

Eventually, they simultaneously pulled away, using whatever sense they had left and Sirius was left feeling high and shaky. Y/N looked away first, Sirius continuing to stare wide-eyed.

“Um — w-we should — ugh — get going —”

“— Right, I was just about to…”

Sirius backed up, letting Y/N free as she went to sit on a nearby chair. Sirius ran a hand through his hair and stumbled back into the party. He exhaled deeply, fingers outlining his lips in shock.

He must be mad — blood fucking mad! They’re both equally mad!

God, he must be blushing like a damn fool and certainly, he’s not going to be able to sleep tonight. Blimey…

Once James saw him, he pointed and made a B-line, strutting over, his hips exaggerating until he swung an arm around him.

“Siriusss! You’re my best friend!” James ruffled his hair, “Did you know that? Merlin — you light up my world.”

Sirius felt himself smile, but he’s still not fully there. His mind thinks back to her touch: soft and fleeting and god does he crave more and — what is she thinking?

“In love with me? You’re going to have to get in line.”

“Love with all m’friends… Moony… Wormtail — Whiskersss.” James slurred his words slightly and went on a tangent but Sirius’ eye remained on the door, waiting for her to come back.

She’s taking an awfully long time. Fuck, did he push it?

“Mate — earth to Padfoot?” James says, this time knocking his fist on his head like a door. “SIRIUS! Yoo-hoo! In there?”

“Yeah — sorry. A lot’s on my mind.”

James studied him, looking a lot more sober than he did just seconds ago as he went to fix his glasses and said seriously, “Is it… the nightmares again? We can go and talk about it?”

This caught his attention. Ever since Valentine's, he’s been talking to James about them — or at least mentioning bits and pieces which helped a lot more than he expected. “What? No, no it’s not that.”

“But if it is, you’ll tell me, right?”

Sirius has to stop himself from snorting, but it’s all too endearing. “Of course — I’ve only gotten them two times this week.”

Prongs grins like a mad man, throwing his fist in the air. “That’s one down! Amazing! You are amazing.”

And then he hears the door click open and it’s her. She sent him a small smile, barely there but Sirius felt his heart swell. Marlene bounced up to her, pulling her into a dance along with Mary. He watched as her head tipped back with a smile so dazzling and he felt his skin turn fuzzy again.

She got under his skin like nobody else and he’s starting to love it.

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