#yeah we already know about you and Evan barty

[lulublack90]

Prompt 13 - Defend

@jegulus-microfic February 13, Word count 520

Previous part First part

James felt an almost imperceptible tremor run through Regulus. He felt a deep protective urge take over him, and he found himself shoving Barty Crouch into the opposite wall by the throat. He blinked a few times at the wide-eyed Slytherin. James was not known for using his broader size against anyone. “Whatever you were thinking of doing stops now. You won’t spread whispers about Regulus. You don’t come up with theories. You just shut up.” He leaned in close, staring into Barty’s dark brown eyes. “Got it?” Barty nodded profusely. “Good,” James slowly let him go, manoeuvring himself so he was blocking Regulus. 

“Reg,” Barty coughed, rubbing his throat. “I swear, I’d never do anything to get that bitch on your case.” Barty coughed again, and James winced; he hadn’t meant to actually hurt him. 

“And how exactly am I supposed to ensure that you don’t say anything?” Regulus asked. He’d moved forward, his shoulder bushing James’s. Barty threw his head back dramatically, letting out a long-suffering sigh.

“Fine. I’ll tell you something that will make my father throw me in Azkaban if he ever found out.” He squared his shoulders and inhaled hard through his nose. “I am in love with Evan. I love him. I want to have his babies and run off into the sunset with him on the back of Abraxians,” James heard Regulus groan. 

“Barty, that is not a secret. Literally the entirety of Slytherin house knows you two are shagging. You are not subtle and are worse at silencing charms than my brother and Lupin,” Regulus told him, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Well shit, I thought we were being quite stealthy. Oh, well. Erm fine. I’m the one who put a colour-changing potion in Dorcas’s shampoo.” He shrugged in defeat. “Wait, your brother and Lupin need silencing charms?” Regulus grabbed James’s wrist and pulled him away from Barty. James felt they should have talked a bit longer to Barty to make sure Regulus was kept safe, but he trusted Regulus to deal with it. Barty was his friend after all. “Are your brother and Lupin shagging?!” Barty yelled down the corridor. “That’s so hot!” He shouted, dodging the barrage of stinging hexes Regulus shot over his shoulder. James had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself laughing at the look of disgust on Regulus’s face. 

“Are you sure he won’t tell anyone, love?” James asked as they slipped behind a tapestry and climbed the concealed staircase behind it. 

“If I told Dorcas what he’s just told us he’s done, she’ll hunt him to the ends of the earth. She’s far more terrifying than either of our parents. We’re safe.” So James let it go. He didn’t need to defend Regulus anymore. So he scooped Regulus into his arms and raced down the corridor with him, waiting impatiently for the come-and-go room’s door to open and rushed in, throwing Regulus on the bed they’d left only a few hours ago. He hoped one day he’d be throwing Regulus on his actual bed at home, but for now, this one would do. 

Next part

[heaven4lostgirls]

can I request a poly!rosekiller where Barty and Evan are dating already and they slowly start to incorporate reader into their relationship and before they realize it they’re basically in love with her or smth 🎀

(also I love your writing oml)

pairing: poly!rosekiller x reader

summary: request above!

word count: 1.2K

a/n: i?? love?? you?? thank you for requesting! feeling very inspired abt rosekiller at the moment!

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

“You look like a dog without its owner Crouch” Regulus says as he enters the Slytherin common room and sits across from the aforementioned boy. “Piss off Black, don’t you have a Gryffindor to bother?” Barty snarks back as he slinks into his chair in what anyone else besides him would consider a pout.

“Missing your boyfriend?” Regulus pouts back mockingly before Barty bares his teeth at him. “No, actually. Y/N’s spending the day with Remus, reading some stupid novel” Barty counters with a huff. Regulus barks a laugh at the petulant expression on his friend’s face.

“We’ve been friends since we started Hogwarts and I’ve never seen you pout over anyone like that, other than Evan” Regulus says simply and Barty looks at him in mock outrage.

“I do not pout!” Barty states, “besides, I just miss her, I’m used to spending most of my time with her and Evan that I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do when they’re not around” Barty complains as he lays down on the couch in the common room.

“You’re in love with her” Regulus coughs out and Barty turns to look at him with a glare. “what??” Barty hisses and Regulus shrugs with a knowing smirk. “Talk to your boyfriend about it Crouch”

Barty huffs and with an indignant huff of, “maybe I will!” He stalks off to wherever the fuck Evan is.

After looping the school twice, Barty finds Evan smoking a cigarette in the courtyard, he walks over to him without so much as a hello before he’s pulling him into an empty classroom. “Hello to you love, if you wanted a quick shag you could’ve just told me” Evan smirks in greeting but is met with Barty’s scowl.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Evan coos in immediate worry, Barty’s only tell of his surprise is the slight widening of his eyes before he shakes his head. His expressions shifts to contemplation before he presses a quick kiss to Evan’s lips. “Regulus thinks I’m in love with Y/N” Barty states deadpan.

Evan’s eyes widen and his mouth drops open slightly, “what?!” He says, “…are you?” He asks skeptically and Barty is quick to shake his head.

“No!” Barty defends himself before he looks at Evan with a look of suspicion, “do you think I am?” He asks incredulously. “What? No!” Evan immediately denies but then looks slightly uneasy.

“I mean…we’re not exactly very platonic with her, are we?” Evan says with a slight wince. Barty quirks a brow and shakes his head, “but we’re like that with everyone, remember when I tried to kiss Reg on his cheek and he punched me in the face, but when I did it to Dora she was okay with it!” Barty says with fake cheer, almost forceful sounding.

“Yeah! sure!, I mean, of course we’re not in love with her, Regulus doesn’t know what he’s on about!” Evan says but hopes to himself that Barty doesn’t look closer into him to notice the slight twinge of falseness in his tone.

Barty nods in a decisive manner before a contemplative silence envelopes the two lovers, disrupted only by the sound of the school bell. “I’m gonna go check on Y/N, wanna come?” Barty quickly asks and they share a look of understanding, neither willing to admit what they’re feeling.

“Sure, haven’t seen her all day!” Evan says as his tummy swirls in a mixture of anticipation and what he hopes is excitement.

“Been studying with Remus” Barty says offhandedly, unbeknownst to Evan’s inner turmoil as an ugly feeling bubbles under his skin, one he’s only felt after finding out that Barty used to have feelings for Regulus.

Evan pushes it down, not letting himself think too much about it in fear of it confirming something he’s not ready to vocalize.

As they reach the Gryffindor common room, Barty mutters the password in slight impatience before he walks briskly to the couches where you and Remus seem to reside.

Sitting close enough for your arms and legs to be touching, Evan’s eye twitches at the sight, Barty scoops you up within immediate notice and places you in his lap on the other couch. Much to your chagrin and Remus’ amusement.

“Rosier, Crouch” Remus says in greeting with a small smirk and a knowing glance as Barty’s hands splayed over your midsection to keep you from moving.

“Lupin” Evan and Barty growl in distaste. “Barty, let. me. go.” You growl as you struggle in his hold, “stop struggling angel, I missed you” Barty huffs as he places his face in the crook of your neck, placing a soft kiss in the area.

Remus only meets Evan’s gaze with a quirked eyebrow before Evan huffs and moves to sit on the other side of the couch next to Barty, pulling your legs into his lap as he strokes your leg in soft touches, letting you readjust your position in Barty’s lap.

Your leg muscles tense before relaxing as you meet Evan’s calm gaze. “Hi” you murmur, abashedly at the attention from both boys. “Hi angel” Evan murmurs back in a tone laced with affection. His eyes not leaving yours as he allows his mouth to curve into a rare, gentle smile.

Your eyes widen as you look at him as your face heats, “good day?” You cough out, embarrassed by your lack of composure. “Dull, getting better though” he says as his pupils expand as he continues to watch you, lovesick.

Barty only hums, “what did Evan do to get such a sweet greeting?” Barty pouts and you can’t help but smile, which seemingly quells any qualms Barty had concerning whatever argument he was about to hold with you.

“Hello Junior” you coo affectionately, his eyes widen significantly before a wide grin blooms across his face. He looks more boyish in comparison to the unhinged and emotionless Slytherin the rest of Hogwarts knows.

You’re unaware of Remus bidding you all goodbye as he makes his way back to his dorm, too enraptured by the gazes of the two boys in front of you.

“Angel” Barty says with a grin as he looks all over your face with adoration, lifting a hand from your waist to push a lock of your hair behind your ear.

You laugh before looking towards the other couch, only now noticing the departure of your dear friend. “Oh no! I was supposed to help Remus with his herbology notes!” You say with a gasp.

“Leave it.” Barty murmurs and he pulls you back into him, your form melting at the familiar sense of his hands on your waist. “Meet with him tomorrow” Evan supplies helpfully and you smile back in thanks with a nod.

You snuggle deeper into the chest of Barty as you pull Evan to lie further on top of you. “Tired?” Barty hums again as he places his hand into your hair, softly playing with it an subsequently lulling you to sleep.

You only half-assedly hum and close your eyes as you turn to let Evan lay his head in the crook of your neck and shoulder and your place your lips in his hair, kissing it softly.

Unbeknownst to you, the position allows both Evan and Barty to make eye contact, something they had both been eagerly avoiding in fear of what the other might find in their gaze.

We are so fucked Barty mouths to Evan, who only smiles wider and shrugs nonchalantly.

Who cares is his only reply.

[moonydoodlez]

Little White Lies

Pairing: James Potter x Slytherin!Reader

Summary: Reader smells something that's vaguely familiar in the Amortentia but can't quite figure out who it is.

Warnings: Use of y/n twice

Wordcount: 1,149

A/n: Reg, Barty, Evan, and reader are all not friends with snape or mulciber

Hogwarts at spring was always your favorite. The bright sun warming your skin, lovely meadows dotted with flowers. Classes always seemed a little easier, everything just felt lighter.

You longingly stared out the window you were sat next to. Fingers tediously playing the with quill that was in your hands, destined to stain your fingers black. God was it too perfect of a day to waste inside.

A few giggles surrounding you suddenly broke you out of your daze. Your eyes darted around the room when suddenly they fell on Professor Slughorn. His eyebrow cocked up and a playful glare on his face.

"Am i bothering your nap time" He jokes. "Or shall I continue"

"Yeah sorry" You smile nervously, setting your quill back down on the table and adjusting your position to actually pay attention this time.

"Like I was saying Potter and y/l/n" He reads off your names, before just as quickly moving onto the next pair.

Your head whipped to the left to find James and the rest of the marauders already glaring daggers into your head. You weren't one to hate many people, despite what nonsense the green that adorned your body put into peoples head.

James and his co marauders however had become the exception over the years. You had never spent much time with them but you were one of the many who were prime targets for their pranks.

The first two years of school you managed to get away from their mischievousness, and you even thought it was funny. Especially when they went after Snape and Mulciber. Who even you could agree were utter twats.

However when you became friends with Regulus, Barty, and Evan you began getting lumped into the 'bad slytherins' group. Which was weird considering Barty wasn't even in your house.

Time had passed and everyone had expected the boys to get over their childish antics. Yet even in your sixth year they seemed to cause a daily quarrel amongst everyone.

You sighed and look back down at your quill and parchment, wanting to no longer think about the boys who were definitely still staring at you.

"Can anyone tell me what this is" Professor Slughorn asks, pointing at the large cauldron with a bubbling pink liquid.

A Ravenclaw who sat next to you quickly shot her hand up answering.

"Good, yes it's amortentia" He smiles proudly. "Does anyone know what it does, and or the side effects of it" His eyes trail around the classroom before finally landing in you. "Y/n"

"It's a love potion but it causes obsession not love" You answer making sure to keep your answer short and concise.

In the corner of your eyes you could see blonde curls shaking around. Your eyes wandered to Evan smiling putting both thumbs up. You tilted your head at him giving him a confused smile. What a weirdo that one was.

"Correct, it also is extremely powerful" He adds. "Now if everyone would please find their assigned partners we can get started.

You waited until the majority had already found their new spots before stalking to the other side of the room where James was standing looking into the bubbling cauldron.

"Goodluck" Barty smiled pushing his shoulder into yours as he walked by. You were going to need a lot more than luck. A gun maybe.

"Potter" You snarled looking up at the boy.

"I don't want to be around you any less than you don't want to be around me" He looked up and down slowly before his eyes settled on the front of the classroom.

"Alright now I want everyone to smell what's in their cauldrons and discuss what it is you smell" He smiled. "However do no drink it or touch it, or anything that seems stupid" He added.

Nobody missed the pointed looks that found their ways to the marauders from others in the class and Professor Slughorn.

You watched James lean slowly in closing his eyes as he took a whiff of the potion. Slowly pushing his messy curls back in precaution. You hated to admit it but you understood why girls seemed to flock to him.

His lips parted for a moment before his eyes opened again.

"What are you smiling at" He huffed staring at you.

You quickly straightened up, your slight smile dropping as quickly as it had formed.

"Move let me smell" You grunted slightly pushing him out of the way. Closing your eyes you inhaled the scent.

Broom polish, tangerines, and a faint smell of what you think is coconut oil.

You pulled away, a slight frown on your face, the smell felt so familiar like it was something you had smelled a million times. It felt like you should've been able to guess it instantly. Yet you couldn't

"What did you smell" James asks. Moving his hands to the table and leaning a little closer to you.

For a moment you're confused because he almost actually seems interested in what you have to say. God were you tempted to tell him but who were you if not petty.

"Tell me yours first" You challenge.

James began saying the first thing he smelled before Sirius laughed loudly and there was a large noise from behind and suddenly James was no longer by your side.

You rolled your eyes giving one last smell. Letting the flavors mix and you felt so close to figuring out who it was.

When suddenly like a bird hitting a window, it hit you.

Shit.

...

"He is so infuriating i don't know how i am going to be able to stand him for the rest of another year" You groan throwing yourself onto Barty's bed.

"You could always murder him" He suggests, not a single ounce of sarcasm in tone or face.

"Yes Bartimaeus that is a wonderful idea, thankyou for your input" You sarcastically smile at the boy before it instantly falls.

"It's okay babe you tried to help" Evan smiles sympathetically at Barty who is wiping fake tears from his eyes. "We can murder someone another time" He coos, rubbing his hand up and down his back.

You rolled your eyes, covered your face with a blanket to block out the light. You heard footsteps before there was a dip at the end of the bed. The smell of expensive cologne filled your sense as you closed your eyes.

"You know it could be worse, you could've been paired up with my brother" Regulus added.

"Well I guess that's true" You replied.

"So what exactly did you smell" Evan asked before rolling over on top of Barty and stuffing his head into the boys sweatshirt.

"Oh um i don't really remember" You giggled nervously.

They all looked at you, a weird look on their faces. One that clearly read that none of them believed you.

"Hmm must've been Snape" Barty laughed.

taglist: @chososrightpigtail

Masterlist James Potter Masterlist

[marauder-misprint]

The Morning After

Series Masterlist

Sirius Black x Fem!Slytherin!reader

1.3k words

cw: fluff

The next morning, you aren’t talking to anyone. You are far too in your head with conflicted feelings about yesterday’s date to converse with anyone. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t feel all the eyes on you. Word of your date with Sirius had quickly spread beyond your friend group. There are whispers accompanying the stares but your ‘don’t talk to me’ face wards off any questions directed at you, for the most part. 

“Well?” Regulus asks as soon as you sit down across from him at breakfast. 

Dorcas leans her elbow on the table so she can get a full look at you. Instead of answering Regulus, you reach for a mug in front of you and it’s filled with tea by the time it reaches your lips. Regulus waits a moment after you set the mug down before giving Dorcas a pleading look. 

“How was it?” Dorcas asks.

You hum. “Could use some sugar. Can you pass it?”

Regulus holds out the container of sugar cubes for you.

“We’re not talking about your tea,” he says. His voice is teetering on impatience. 

“No?” you retort blandly. You didn’t want to talk about the date until you knew how you felt about it. 

“How was your day with Sirius?” Dorcas asks. 

You take another sip of your tea and nod.

“Much better,” you mumble. 

Dorcas and Regulus share an annoyed look.

“Can’t you just get the rundown from Marlene later?” Pandora asks Dorcas with a hand gesturing toward the Gryffindor table. “Seems like Sirius is more talkative this morning.”

Sure enough, when you turn around, you can see Sirius deep in a lively conversation. He’s surrounded by his usual crowd, all of whom are leaning in, captivated by whatever he’s talking about. James throws his head back laughing as Marlene says something. By the looks of the rest of the group’s reaction, it was an insult aimed at Sirius. 

Facing Regulus again, you sigh. “It was… fine. He wasn’t a complete arse.”

Dorcas’ face lit up. She had hoped the date went well because if you started actually dating Sirius, she’d have another Slytherin in their Gryffindor group. The Gryffindor group that already liked you. 

“Sooooo, will there be another?” she asks eagerly. 

Your face snaps towards hers. “I don’t know,” you say bitterly. “Maybe? Probably not?” You groan and rub your temples. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Like what?” Dorcas crosses her arms. She obviously wants to know every detail about  your date and why there won’t be a second one. 

“Isn’t there a quidditch match coming up? Last one of the term?” 

“Yeah, but that’s not nearly as interesting as-” 

You threw a slice of toast at Regulus to shut him up.

“Talk about quidditch or I’m eating in silence.”

---

At that moment, you want to be left alone so you can work on your assignments. You can’t work in your dorm, Dorcas and Pandora would hound you for details about the date. You can’t work in the common room, same thing but with Regulus and maybe Evan and Barty since they were nosy. You drag yourself to the library and search for an empty table that’s semi-out of sight. You really hope people respect the unwritten rules of the library that when someone is working, you leave them alone. 

For the most part, they do. You are completely unbothered minus the few lingering stares and too-loud whispered comments. You work through it. It’s nothing too disruptive and one harsh glance from you often sent the culprits scurrying off. 

“-made progress, Moony. I really think she’s warming up to me!”

That voice. You stop writing, eyes wide as you continue to stare at your parchment. 

“That’s great, Padfoot, really, but can you help look for the book?”

“She confirmed that I’m attractive.”

“I know.”

“That has to mean something.”

“Maybe…”

“She didn’t say she wouldn’t write over Christmas!”

“Sirius!” The second voice, that you recognized as Remus, was growing irritated. “We can talk about her later. The Charms essay is a bit more pressing right now.”

The Charms essay. The one you were currently working on and had snagged several books for. You hear Sirius let out a soft groan. You look up in time to see them appear from the shelves next to you. Sirius pales slightly, realizing you probably just heard everything he said. You give them an awkward smile.

“Which book were you looking for? ‘Fraid I might’ve grabbed it,” you offer.

Remus approaches your table, leaving Sirius where he stood. “Tunnels and Tombs of Moldova.”

You scan the table and spot it among the pile of books you haven’t looked at yet. You point at it.

“You can take it. Just bring it back when you’re done?”

“Thanks,” Remus says quickly, grabbing the book and heading off to wherever he and Sirius are set up.

Sirius is still standing just beyond the bookshelf aisle he emerged from. He’s staring at you, waiting for you to say something. 

“You better go with him, Sirius,” you say after a moment. “I doubt Remus will write your entire essay for you.”

Instead of following Remus, Sirius walks up to your table, standing at your shoulder and looking down at your essay. 

“You did enjoy yourself yesterday, yeah?”

It’s one of the few times you’ve heard him sound so uncertain, so unsure of what your answer would be. You tear your eyes from your essay to look into his grey eyes. The uncertainty isn’t just in his voice but etched onto his face. Like he really cares what you have to say.

“It… it wasn’t bad. Don’t think I’ll be writing to you over Christmas, but you know,” you say earnestly.

He runs a hand through his hair.

“So that’s a ‘no’ on a second date then?”

Part of you wants to laugh. Did he really think you were interested? Were you interested?

“Sirius…” 

“Yeah?”

“Ask me again after the next quidditch match.”

The widest grin spread across his face, his eyes lighting up. 

“So there’s a chance! You are warming up to me!”

You give him a gentle shove in the center of his chest, causing him to take a step backwards.

“Don't push it, Black,” you warn as you turn back to your essay and reach to grab a new book from the pile. 

There is silence again so you assume that Sirius left your side to find Remus. You end up not needing the book that Remus borrowed from you. You finish the essay without it. You move onto your other homework and are about done when Remus comes back, holding the book. 

“Oh, are you leaving?” he asks, confused. 

You nod as you finish stacking the books on the table.

“Are you done with that book? You can just set it on the stack and I’ll get ‘em put away.”

Remus steps forward cautiously and puts the book on top of your pile. He’s eyeing you carefully.

“Are you playing with him?”

Remus’ tone is almost accusatory, which takes you aback. You focus on putting all of your work back into your bag as you answer him.

“No? I don’t think so? What do you mean?”

“I know you heard him when we were over here. Made him jump through some hoops to get you on a date. And now you’ve given him hope that there’ll be a second date. He’s giddy ‘bout it.”

Standing up straighter, you say, “I need time to figure some things out.”

“Hm.”

You watch Remus walk away before turning to tap the stack of books with your wand so they would return to their places. Sirius is giddy about the chance of a second date? You think that’s a bit of an overreaction, but you’re not sure if you can talk since you don’t know how you feel about him. He was so concerned about if you had a good time yesterday. You had had a good time. You’d be damned if you told anyone that right now. The more you thought about it, you didn’t not have a good time every time you were around him. Maybe if you got to know him a little bit more…

tags: @2dloveshp, @yearninglustfully, @made-for-oliverwood, @ilovejamespottersomuch, @hisparentsgallerryy, @itsseaberri, @corawithfanfiction, @devilslittlehelper, @jllyunn, @barnes70stark,

tags: @crowleythesexydemon, @flow33didontsmoke, @navs-bhat, @louweenier, @l0g0phobe,

@ellouisa17, @theendofthematerialgworl, @marina468, @bmyva1entine, @ravisinghs-wife

[moutainrusing]

soft

575 words, @rosekillermicrofic

Class was boring, so Barty flicked his best friend in the forehead and muttered under his breath, just loud enough so that the other students around them could hear and gossip about it later, “Heard you went soft, Rosie.”

“Soft when?” Evan shoved Barty away, trying to focus on what he was writing. Algebra.

Barty smirked twistedly, “While you were inside—”

Evan pressed his pencil into the book harshly, “No one, I was inside—”

“And that’s why she broke up with you,” Barty finished smugly.

Finally, Evan dropped the pencil and looked up from his work to glare at him, “Can you stop making up rumours—?”

“Who me?” Barty clutched his chest in faux-innocence. “I’d never. You’re my ride-or-die, Evan. As in, I ride you or I die—”

“Thought I’m too soft,” he scoffed, picking up his pencil.

“Nah, you’re always hard in me,” Barty leaned back in his chair to watch him.

“Must be painful,” Evan snarked, writing again.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Barty swung forward.

Evan made a face at his scribbled maths. “Wait, how long have we been—?”

Barty gasped, “You don’t remember?! I’m calling quits.”

“Two break ups in one day,” Evan shook his head, hair falling into his eyes as he got out an eraser. “How am I coping?”

“Botox,” Barty blurted, staring at his face.

“Figured out my secret,” Evan muttered, concentrating intensely on erasing his botched-up maths, scrunching the paper while he did so.

“It’s a botched-up job,” Barty hummed, crossing his arms.

“I’m switching surgeons,” Evan casually brushed the rubber crumbs off his ruined page, looking pleased at how he’d fixed his mistake by rubbing it out. Barty wanted to laugh at him.

“No one could fix your face,” he pushed.

Ignorantly, Evan played into Barty’s fabricated game, “You used to fuck me, what’re you complaining about?”

Grinning, Barty said mournfully, “Don’t bring up bad memories. The wound’s still fresh, we broke up today.”

“I’m glad,” Evan said shortly. He wrote something down and added, “You’re skanky.”

Barty wasn’t sure if he was addressing him or the algebra. Either way, “Rat.”

“I’ma set my man on you,” Evan continued glaring at the maths.

“Already got a new man?” Barty raised an eyebrow. “Slut.”

“Misogynist.”

“You’re the one feeding into sexist beauty standards.”

“Don’t shame the plastic surgery.”

Barty could feel the eyes of the kids behind them flicking between their conversation like they were watching a sitcom. He bit back a grin, “What if I liked the way you looked before?”

Evan glanced up at him as if he was weird. “I still look the same. I didn’t actually—”

“Good.”

“What?”

“You okay about the break up with Celeste, yeah?”

“She didn’t break up with me ‘cause I went soft,” Evan deadpanned.

“I know. But you’re cool about it?” Barty checked.

Evan paused. Leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear so that no one could hear, “I broke up with her. I let her say that it was her choice.” He shrugged and went back to trying to understand the algebra, which they both knew was a pointless endeavour. Evan never grasped any concept until they went home and Barty showed him.

Barty stared at him for a moment. Nudged his shoulder, “Why did you…?”

Evan shrugged him off. He was blushing. He liked someone else. Another girl, Barty thought. He pushed that thought away, cooed, “Aw, Rosie.”

Evan blushed harder. Barty felt nothing.

[ultravioletbrit]

“mess” - Jegulus microfic - @into-the-jeggyverse - 445 words

Regulus is pacing in the courtyard alternating between wringing his hands and nervously running them through his hair.

“Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?” Pandora asks him.

“I… I just… I just really don’t want to mess this up.” Regulus sighs.

“Reg, I’m pretty sure you could walk up to him and punch him in the face, and he would still say ‘yes’ to you.” Evan tells him.

“I’m pretty sure he would enjoy that. Throw away the plan, do that instead.” Barty chimes in unhelpfully and Regulus stops his pacing to glare at him.

“Not funny right now, Bartemius.” Regulus scowls.

“Well, you need to calm the fuck down, Reginald.” Barty fires back.

Regulus takes a step towards Barty, but Pandora intercepts him putting both her hands on his shoulders. She takes a deep breath and gestures for him to do the same, which he does.

“You’ll be fine. You know what you want to say. You already know that he likes you.” Regulus opens his mouth to argue but Pandora holds up her finger. “No. You do. We all know he’s going to say ‘yes’. And honestly, I think James is going to love that you asked him first.”

“Ask me what?” James walks up beside him.

Regulus freezes just staring at James and his mind goes completely blank. He opens and closes his mouth, but he’s forgotten everything he wanted to say. So instead, Regulus… punches James in the face.

James stumbles backwards, a little shocked, and brings his hand up to his cheek. Regulus stares at him completely shocked and panicked, then he takes a few quick steps to stand in front of James again.

“Oh my God! James, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Are you okay? Fuck! Why did I do that? I am so sorry. Are you alright?” Regulus rambles rapid fire.  

“Err… yeah.” James says rubbing his cheek. “Any particular reason you needed to punch me?”

“I’m so sorry, I just got nervous and panicked. But I didn’t–”

“Nervous about what?” James cuts him off.

“I wanted to invite you to Hogsmeade. But I–”

“Are you going to punch me again?” James asks with an amused smile and Regulus closes his eyes and shakes his head, completely embarrassed. “Then, sure, I’ll go to Hogsmeade with you.” James shrugs.

“What?!” Regulus’ eyes fly open.

“I’d love to go to Hogsmeade with you.” James smiles and chuckles a little at Regulus’ stunned expression. “I’m going to go get some ice first. Do you want to walk with me?” James holds out his hand.

“Err… su-sure?” Regulus says and awkwardly takes James’ hand and walks with him to the hospital wing.       

[theyrealllesbians]

Regulus was manically pacing around his room, playing with the cord at the base of the phone.

"What do you mean there's another one?" He asked in an exasperated tone, rubbing the bridge of his nose to try and fight the annoyed headache he could feel brewing.

"Another wedding invitation has just come for you, from Emmaline Vance? Wait was she the one who was obsessed with Peter and would try to dance with him at every party for like a year?" Sirius said, getting progressively louder and more excited as he carried on.

"Yes." Regulus bit out. He really could not be bothered to go to another wedding. Why did everyone want to get married all of a sudden, it's only been a couple, wait no 7 years, since he left high school. God, how had it been 7 years already? "Surely I don't have to go. I can just RSVP back saying 'thanks, but no thanks' that'll work right?"

Regulus didn't even really understand why he was getting so many invitations. He'd had 5 wedding invites so far, 2 baby showers which he was not going to and 2 reunion dinners. Of course his own brother's wedding invitation was not included in this list of grievances. He's never dare complain about having to watch the happiest day of Sirius's life. Even just hearing him and Remus try and sort out the last few details made his heart warm in a way that he would never dare admit to.

"Come on, you have to!" Sirius exclaimed. "Everyone will want to see you. Besides all of us," 'us' being Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, Lily, Mary, Marlene and Dorcas, "are going and I refuse to spend another evening answering a million questions about you when you could just get over yourself and come!!!!"

Sirius was referring to the last high school reunion that happened 2 years ago that he had refused to go to. Apparently, Sirius spent the whole night getting asked about Regulus's whereabouts and what he was doing, if it was true that he had refused to work in the family business, whether he was gay and if so, was he single?

"Ugh," he groaned, "if I do go, and that's an if! I'll need a date. Where am I supposed to get a date on such short notice." Regulus's head was now beginning to ache as it had threatened to do so at the thought of having to sit through a wedding with someone he barely knew just to show that he wasn't alone and that he was doing well for himself.

"I don't know, do I? I mean you don't have to have a date." Sirius suggested, speaking through a mouth of some form of food.

"I do though don't I, otherwise I'll just get pitying looks the entire night. Or worse, people coming up to me trying to ask me out." He shivered at the thought.

Sirius choked a little, "That's a bit cocky don't you think?"

"No I don't think it is actually, not after I had Gideon touching my knee last month asking if I'd 'be interested in a night to remember', I cannot do that again. I just can't," he whined. He may as well have stomped his feet to go along with the toddler type tantrum he was getting close to. But Regulus did not care, he was being entirely serious when he said he could not do it again.

"Fine then, go with Barty?" Sirius suggested.

"Can't he's already going with Evan." Regulus responded, damning them both because it wouldn't be a half bad idea.

"Act as if you're in a throuple, you could pull it off." Sirius teased.

"Sirius" Regulus whined again, he needed real solutions.

"Pandora?"

"Doesn't really work now that everyone knows I'm gay." Regulus was getting tired now, why did he call his brother again? Oh right he didn't, Sirius called him because Regulus is currently on a work trip and Sirius is watering his plants and clearly snooping through his post.

"Well, I don't have any other ideas. This is why you need more friends." Sirius said matter of factly.

"To have as back up wedding guests?"

"Yes, that's what we do all the time. I don't actually think that anyone really knows who is with who. Oh, you could go with James. I don't think he was planning to go with anyone."

"Yeah, pass." He would not go with James Potter. Not for any particular reason, he just couldn't.

"Right well, I can't help you"

"Apparently so. I'm gonna go" Regulus just needed to lie down and think about what he was gonna do. He still had a month to figure it all out.

"Alright, see you soon, call me if you need anything else." Sirius said, trying to maintain his 'helpful' older brother personality that he had built.

"Yep will do, bye." Regulus hung up.

He really hated wedding season.

Just had this idea, it will be Jegulus. Kinda fake dating/ friends to lovers type deal. I'm actually pretty excited to start writing it and have quite a few ideas already.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Just really close roommates?

You guys wanted Rosekiller :D

Year One:

"McGonagall's a hardass," Barty grumbles, collapsing back on the foot of Evan's bed, rolling his eyes. "Twenty-four inches in two days? I'm going to die."

He realizes too late that Evan is giving him a weird look, probably because he has just invaded his personal space. "Erm, sorry," he apologizes, sitting up and making to move off of the bed.

"Nah," Evan shrugs, grinning. "Too right. She's a bitch."

And Barty laughs.

Year Two:

"-and then Father said he'd rather I have been sorted in any other house than Slytherin," Barty says shrugging.

Evan, from his usual space at the head of the bed, kicks Barty's shoulder with his foot. "Your father's a prick."

Barty just snorts from his spot by Evan's feet. "Yeah. Fuck him."

Year Three:

"Alright. Marry, shag, kill..." he begins his turn, searching around his brain for the perfect three girls. He's wedged next to Evan in his bed, shoulder-to-shoulder, looking at the canopy above them.

"Shag, Narcissa Black. Every time. But don't tell Regulus," Evan smirks.

Barty cackles, ignoring a weird feeling in his stomach.

Year Four

His head is in Evan's lap, the taller boy's long fingers combing through his hair. "I took that bird to Hogsmeade," Evan offers as they lay there.

"She put out?" Barty askes, grinning.

Evan winks. "That's between me and the broom cupboard."

"Slag."

But he feels a strange pang in his chest.

Year Five

"You're an idiot," Evan says, rolling his eyes as Barty leans back into his chest.

"She's the idiot. She wants me to skip hanging out with you lot? For what?"

"Your anniversary!" Evan almost yells, shaking Barty with his laughter.

"One month hardly counts," Barty argues, rolling his eyes and leaning into Evan's hands in his hair. It makes him feel better. Calmer.

Year Six

"Honestly never would have though it'd be Reg who'd be the first of us to settle down," Barty quips, laying next to Evan, tangling their legs together.

"He's a romantic at heart," Evan jokes back.

"Don't let him hear you say that. I won't protect you," Barty warns, grinning.

"Like I need your protection," Evan says, nudging him.

He pushes back, making the taller boy yelp a bit, grab him to stop himself from toppling off the small bed. And then suddenly, without even thinking about it, they're rolling. And Barty is, without even really knowing how he got there, laying on top of Evan.

"I-" he begins to say, not sure what to say, because his body is hot, now, his chest pressing to Evan, his voice stuck in his throat.

But Evan just laughs awkwardly and places his hands on Barty's hips gingerly, rolling them both back on their sides.

The only thing that gives Barty some hope that Evan is just as confused as he is?

He leaves his hands there for a few minutes as they continue to talk.

Year Seven

"It'll be weird, huh? To not have this next year." Evan says it so casually, but the statement stabs Barty in the chest as he lays on top of Evan, their bodies pressed together.

"Suppose...suppose we lived together?" he whispers, unable to speak any louder for fear of rejection.

Evan chuckles. "You still want to be roommates? After dealing with me for seven years?"

It's only then that it all comes violently colliding into place in Barty's head.

Roommates?

No.

No.

He does not want to be roommates with Evan.

So he takes a deep, steadying breath and murmurs, "Maybe...maybe really close roommates?" he asks, unable to find the words for what he wants.

But before Evan can open his mouth to ask for clarification, his bemused expression showing Barty that he is definitely confused, Barty leans in and kisses him.

And the kiss is insane. It is intense and passionate and all tongue and teeth and they're already pressed so tightly together that Barty realizes he's been a total idiot for not doing this sooner.

Evan pulls back for a minute, eyes wide and pupils blown and whispers with a chuckle, "Really close roommates, huh?"

"Fuck off, you arse."

[bri-cheeses]

Our Little Secret - Part 2

| Rosekiller microfic | Word count: 787 | Part one is here |

-

“Can’t you just tell me plainly like any other normal person?”

Evan ignored that.

“Ravenclaw party. Fourth year.”

“What?” Barty asked, shocked back into bewilderment once more.

“That’s when I figured out I liked guys.”

Barty’s response was a beat late. “Uh… okay?”

“Do you want to know how?” Evan pressed. He took a step forward. He wasn’t sure whether he was gratified or angry that Barty took a step back.

“Yeah, sure,” Barty huffed. “Whatever gets you to finally spit it out.”

Evan closed his eyes. Barty’s barbed words were almost enough to stop him from saying it, but he had already made up his mind. And he doubted that their relationship could really be salvaged now that they had both managed to mess it up so terribly, so really, there was nothing holding him back anymore.

He opened his eyes slowly, calling to mind dim lights, bad music, and too many teenagers in one space. He took a deep breath.

“You were dancing with this girl,” he began slowly. “I don’t even know who it was, because I didn’t spare her a second glance. Not when you were there next to her, dancing and smiling like you were having the time of your life. And then you looked back over to me and somehow you smiled even wider, then gave me this stupid little wink and in that moment all I could think was how much I wanted to kiss you.”

Barty’s breath hitched. Evan ignored it.

“Olivia Gleaves, fourth year again. The first ever girlfriend you had, who I hated so fiercely that Cas had to corner me and tell me to knock it off, that you were my best friend, yes, but that didn’t mean I could feel entitled to being your number one person all the time. And so I shut up and stopped glaring and I was a good little “best friend” until you two broke up three weeks later.”

“Barret Fay, fifth year. The first guy you ever kissed. Coincidentally, I broke my hand that night, and a dent found its way into the wall. Lucky for me, I suppose, that we had a big Transfiguration paper due the next day and I could easily write it off as frustration with schoolwork.

“December 16th, fifth year. We got caught under the mistletoe, and instead of laughing it off and kissing me on the cheek like you had with every single one of our friends, you refused to even touch me and spent the dinner afterwards eating in complete silence, and I made sure to never walk through doorways with you again during the holiday season.

“Cooper Covenhelm, sixth year. The first actual boyfriend you ever had, and the first guy to threaten me to stay out of the way and to not talk to you unless I absolutely had to. So I took the back burner for the next two months and let Regulus fill in as your best friend, then tried not to let anything slip when you finally cornered me and asked why I had been avoiding you. I don’t remember what I said, but you broke up with Cooper a week later and I felt so relieved I could hardly breathe.

“There are a bunch of other things I could talk about. The runs I started going on just to get a break from you and clear my head. All the people who threw themselves at me but I rejected because I was too hung up on someone else. The way Regulus figured it out at the end of last year and actually looked sad on my behalf, because, I’m assuming, he knew how impossible it was, too. The fact that I lied about what I smelled in Amortentia, the way literally everyone else in our friend group has figured it out, that time that you accidentally stole one of my shirts and I didn’t say anything because I liked how you looked in it… the way you kissed me last night, then told me just now that it was a mistake and I should keep quiet about it.”

“So you’ll excuse me if I’m a little angry right now. But I’m sure that you’re right. It was a mistake, and I’ll keep quiet about it because that’s what I’m best at, isn’t it?”

Evan waited a beat for Barty to say something, then shook his head when nothing came. He should’ve known better than to expect anything, honestly.

“I’m going to breakfast,” was all Evan said. And he turned around and walked away, cursing Barty for never being able to see him as anything more than a friend, and hating himself for hoping that he ever would.

-

(Part three)

[ecstarry]

"One Day" situationship prongsfoot // @del-stars @star4daisy @v7lgar

“I think I’m lost,” James said, frustrated.

They had been going in circles for an hour, saying the same fucking thing but never quite understanding each other’s points.

“It’s not like you can have the 'Talk' while you’re still figuring things out—”

James opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius immediately pointed a scolding finger at him. Mockingly, James zipped his lips and nodded for him to continue, which only pissed Sirius off more.

“I know this might be hard for James Loverboy Potter to understand, but there is such a thing as too soon.” Sirius shot him a pointed look. “So, in the meantime, it’s a situationship.”

“Can I talk now?”

Sirius leaned in closer, retracing the path James had just followed to unzip his lips. “Yeah, go ahead.”

The smugness on James’ face washed away immediately. “Just because you’re figuring things out doesn’t mean you’re in a situationship.”

James didn’t pull back, and neither did Sirius. James shifted on the couch, trying to shake off the weird energy—or whatever it was that kept happening when they got too close.

Sirius carried on as if nothing had changed. “I don’t know. Sometimes you just aren’t sure what you want yet.”

“Then why not say that? That way, both people are on the same page about where they stand.”

They both leaned back, their heads resting against the couch, staring at the ceiling.

“Just because it doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for other people,” Sirius insisted.

James bumped his elbow against Sirius’ in silent demand for an example.

“Barty and Evan are—”

“No.” James quickly interrupted, sitting up straighter. Sirius followed. “Whatever they have going on should never be used as an example when talking about relationships.”

“Fair.”

“You can just say you’re seeing someone.”

“That’s so fucking vague,” Sirius argued.

“And situationship isn’t?” James countered.

“A situationship doesn’t have to be romantic—it can just be about sex.”

“Oh.”

He didn’t say more, afraid his voice would break.

James hated it. He told himself he just hated disagreeing with Pads—that it had nothing to do with the other night. Or with what happened during summer break. Or winter break.

Or with how badly he wanted it to keep happening. Again and again.

“What?” Sirius asked.

“I just didn’t know you saw it that way.” James closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back tears.

He felt Sirius move closer—he knew even before Sirius’ hand reached his, before the fabric of his clothes made a single sound. He knew. James always knew when Sirius was near.

“Jamie.”

“Mhm?” Barely a sound left James’ lips.

“What are we talking about?”

“I don’t know,” James mumbled, finally opening his eyes, knowing he would find Sirius’ gaze already fixed on him.

“What ar—?”

Sirius gently took his hand and squeezed it. “Can we not talk about it anymore?”

“Yeah.”

Maybe one day, they could.

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 8.9 K Warnings: none Prompt: It's a cosy day with one of the boys while the other plans something special for the two of you. Not proofread

Chapter 70: Back Talk

Saturday, 15th, 1997

“He’s not here yet, is he?”  You asked once you were back. You had gone back inside for some charmed warmth tea before your next class. 

“No,” replied Remus as he checked his watch, a small frown drawing between his brows. “He hasn’t arrived.” 

“It’s kinda late, isn’t it?” Lily asked as she looked at the pens, Diricawls were roaming inside of it, looking around with their big, wobbly beaks at some of the students. 

“Yeah,” Peter retorted. “He’s never this late.” 

“Maybe he got eaten by one of his bigger creatures,” said Mulciber spitefully from a few feet behind. Severus and Mulciber laughed bitterly. You rolled your eyes. Even if you had already made peace with some of the Slytherins, many from remaining in your classes were insufferable. 

“How unfortunate if it was him and not you,” you said under your breath. Sirius and James snickered. Remus smiled as he shook his head, amused but knowing you’d probably kindle the Slytherins with it.

“What did you say?” he spat, stepping forward menacingly. 

“Nothing,” you replied nonchalantly. He narrowed his eyes at you, clearly pissed at how you tilted your head, a faint smile appearing on your lips. Completely impervious to his threats. 

“Severus, didn’t you say you had something you’d tell us about her?” said Mulciber, turning his head slighly but not actually looking at him, his tone laced with malice. 

Severus looked rather uncomfortable at the question. He remembered telling them that, but he had no idea what the hell we were talking about when he said it. “I did?” he feigned ignorance. 

“Yes,” said Mulciber, now turning to him with a frown. “You said it would shut her big mouth for good.” 

You threw a look at the boys. You’d told them about your little talk with Evan and Barty the night it happened, and you had all been a lot more relaxed since then, the fear of being exposed lifting a huge weight off all of your shoulders. “Perhaps you misheard,” you said with a small shrug, a tone that, although polite, was borderline derisive. 

“I didn’t mishear anything,” retorted Mulciber, looking at you a little pissed. “Severus?” 

“Not sure what you’re talking about, Mulciber,” he insisted. 

“Me neither,” said Evan with a shrug as he threw you a look. 

“Preston?” he said with a pleading frown.

Preston either took the hint or decided he wanted to gaslight Mulciber along with Severus. “Not really, no.”

Mulciber looked at them as if they’d gone mad. “We were in the great hall, you were eating soup, Preston was stuffing his face with pancakes, and you–” he turned to Evan “–you were with Barty and Regulus talking about Quidditch or whatever it is you do when you hang out… Heck, you even made a joke of it.”   

“Maybe you dreamed about it,” you added, mockingly comprehensive. “Do you dream about Severus often?” 

He turned to you, brows knit and contemning look. You returned it with a wholly unaffected tilt of the head that seemed to vex him even further. 

“I mean, I’m not judging you for it. But you should probably talk to him about it.” Evan seemed as diverted as you were with the little talk. It seemed that now that his hate wasn’t straight towards you, he thought you were at least slightly funny. And he was still mad at the way Severus talked about homosexuality when he told Barty and him about Sirius and Remus. He’d called them fags, and sissys and a bunch of other words with negative connotations. 

“Vixen,” Remus said in a simple warning tone. Have I gone too far? You wondered. 

“Go on, Lupin, tame your bi–” 

“I expect what you were about to say was not what it sounded like,” said McGonagall from behind him in a calm yet dour manner. Mulciber felt a chill run down his spine as he turned around. “Do go on, I’d like to know what it was,” she said with a smile that was nothing short of threatening. 

“Professor,” he said, completely deflating. “I wasn’t– What I meant to say was–” he stammered. “We were just playing. Weren’t we?” 

“We were?” you retorted. 

“Seemed to me like you were about to insult her,” Marlene intervened. 

“For sure,” agreed Mary, they had both veered closer when Preston started with his threats.

“No, no,” he said as he shook his head. “I was about to say ‘be-autiful friend.’” 

McGonagall raised one of her eyebrows at him. 

“You think me beautiful? Why, that’s very polite of you, Mulciber.” 

He shot you an angry look, jaw tightening as he breathed. “Like the diricawls and doxies we saw last year,” he added scornfully, a rather satisfied sneer spreading across his lips. He knew he could always argue he thought the birds lovely, after all, beauty was in the eye of the beholder. 

“How wonderful it is that you like diricrawls,” said McGonagall, she seemed satisfied now. You wonder what it was she was thinking.

He turned back at her with a surprised face, an almost indiscernible “what?” dropped from his lips.

“Well, since you like them so much, you’ll be in charge of cleaning their pens for the rest of the month.” 

“The rest of the month?!?” he said loudly. 

“By Merlin,” she said with a smile. “You’re right, you’re right. If you like them so much, it will be for the rest of the year.” 

“You mean until July? Right?” 

“No, Mr. Dolohov, I mean until January 1998.” 

“Isn’t that what you pay Professor Ketleburn for? And then there’s the house elves and–” 

“Well, yes,” said the witch with a short, elegant nod. “Of course, but there’s plenty of work to do at the school, and I’m sure they can be busy with something else. We wouldn’t want you to lose the chance to see the birds you love so much every single day, would we?” 

Mulciber scoffed and bit his tongue when Severus placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He shook his shoulder back, pushing it almost violently. He was aware opening his mouth would only make things worse. 

“In fact,” she said as she took a deep breath. “I’m afraid the reason I’m here today is precisely about Professor Kettleburn.” 

“By Merlin,” breathed Peter. “What if he really got eaten by one of his creatures?” James turned to him with a sceptical, and slightly judgmental frown. 

McGonagall looked at Peter with a similar expression, except it was much more subdued in comparison. “I’m not sure how that idea got into your head, but Sylvanus is quite alright.” 

“And why isn’t he here?” Lily asked. 

“Due to the incident with the fireworms after the Toad Flood, Professor Kettleburn has taken a leave of absence.” 

“What? He’s gone?” asked Peter, surprised. 

“He got kicked out,” whispered Preston to Mulciber with a smile. 

The other boy frowned and then leaned closer to him and whispered, “Do you really not remember Severus mentioning–” 

“No,” he cut him off sharply. “I do not.” Although Preston Parkinson was from a pure-blood family, his father had abandoned his mother for a muggle the previous year, and his status had taken a pitfall. And while he didn’t care much about Severus, he did care about Evan Rosier, and he had clung to him to maintain himself in the Slytherin Clique as much as possible. It often pissed him off Evan preferred spending time with the younger Slytherins, but he supposed it made sense since the Black Family was the only one with a status similar to the Rosiers. 

Mulciber was neither as clever nor as relevant as Evan (at least to him), and even though he had a vague memory of Severus talking about “The Stupid Gryffindor Girl”, he decided it would be better to just go along with whatever Evan said.

“But–“ Mulciber started again.

“Anything you care to share, boys?” McGonagall said impassively as she looked at the two of them.

“Nothing, Professor, we’ll be quiet,” Preston said as he nudged Mulciber and whispered, “Shut up, now. Would you?” 

Mulciber might have also been a pure-blood, but his family had moved from Russia when he was a kid, his father was just a member of the Broom Regulatory Control, and he hadn’t even made it to the Quidditch team. Preston hadn’t either, but he pretended not to care much about it. 

She gave them a stern look. “Perhaps you’d like helping Mulciber with the pens today?” she said as she looked at Preston.

“I wouldn’t dream of taking away his fun, Professor,” he responded in a tone sarcastic enough to irk Mulciber further but not enough to be penalised himself.

“What’s going to happen to our Care of Magical Creatures Classes?” asked Mary. “Who’ll take care of the creatures?” 

“Rubius Hagrid helped Kettleburn often with the creatures, he will continue with his labours,” McGonagall explained. “If anybody would like to help him, you’re more than welcome to do so. Just come and talk to me on Monday after classes. It’ll give you extra points on your final grades both for this class and mine, but it is not obligatory.” There were a few whispers among the students.

Hagrid, the tall man who took care of the boys’ Fireworms before the incident and the owner of Fang (the real Fang, not Padfoot-Fang), it’d been a while since you last saw him. The boys had introduced you to him sometime in November, but you hadn’t seen him much since. 

“And regarding your classes,” McGonagall continued. “You’ll be excused from them until further notice, but you must study your books since you’ll go back to them as soon as we find someone to continue with the classes.” 

Several groans came as a response. You dug your heel in the snow as you looked at the diricawls on their pens. They recoiled back when Remus moved, as if they were terrified of him. Some of the snow got stuck in the front of your boots, and you softly shook it off before you turned back to look at Remus. He was looking at McGonagall attentively. A small frown on his features that you knew as his “deeply focused” face. You smiled, it wasn’t snowing, but there was a white overcast of light from the clouds that made his features look somewhat softer. Not so much a roughed-up pirate, but rather a tragic prince. 

“I know he’s handsome, but if you don’t close that pretty mouth of yours, you’ll get flies,” Sirius whispered in your ear. 

It instantly shook you off the trance you’d been in, and you turned to Sirius, he had a teasing smile. The little shit-eating grin that you loved so much. “Why, jealous?” you teased back. 

“Personally, I rather enjoy your ‘drolling for him’ look,” he responded, also in a whisper. “But Maggie is saying important stuff.” 

“But he looks too good,” you added. Knowing Sirius wasn’t the only one listening to the current conversation. Although Moony was looking at Minnie, you’d seen the slightest movement of his jaw, the almost imperceptible tilt of his head, and –the dеad giveaway– his breath had gone softer. He often did that when he wanted to listen to a conversation that was far from him or hard to hear for some reason. You turned to Sirius and smiled. “Here–” you patted your shoulder “–see it from my point of view.” 

Sirius raised one of his eyebrows inquisitively. He already knew you were up to something, and there was always something delightful about you being up to something. He leaned his head on your shoulder and turned to look at Remus as his soft and rather cold skin brushed against your jaw. He smelled as delightful as ever: leathery, musky and fresh. He had both of his hands on your shoulders but embraced you a second soon after. 

You turned your eyes towards Maggie. She was still responding to some questions from other students, but she seemed, at least for a second, distracted by the PDA Sirius and you had going on. She gave you a look, you smiled and nodded as if you had been paying attention. She let out a short breath and shook her head lightly before turning back to Mary and Marlene, who were asking her more questions. 

“You’re right,” Sirius said, his hair tickling the side of your face as he moved. “He looks incredible from here.” His whisper had been so low you could barely hear it yourself, but the way Remus cleared his throat and how the smallest bit of flush started creeping to his chin was enough for you to know he’d heard. 

You were both still looking at Remus, who found it much harder to conceal his blush when McGonagall clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Any further questions?” Everyone went silent; some people also added a soft shake of the head. “Excellent, then you’re dismissed.” 

“Does that mean we can do anything now?” 

“Indeed,” she said with a nod. 

“Even going to Hogsmeade?” Asked Peter. “Some of us were planning to go after class.” 

“Of course, in fact, I believe some of the older students are on their way at the moment.”   

“Brilliant, thank you, Miss,” said Peter with a smile. He pulled out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something on it. 

“What’s he up to?” you asked, turning your head towards him.

“I think he’s going to see Annie,” Sirius said. He’s been talking about taking her on a date for a while. 

“On a date?” you said with a smile. 

“You want to go to Hogsmeade, too?” 

“Not sure,” you said honestly. 

James walked towards you once McGonagall started walking back to the castle. “I think I’ll be on a date with Lily today,” he said with a smile. “We were planning to do something together last night, but with the change of schedule, I thought you might want to come along…”  

“I’ve actually got some essays I need to work on,” you replied once you realised both Peter and James would be off. Perhaps the three of you could have your own little date back in their room. 

“What essays are you talking–” 

“The essays, Prongs,” said Sirius with a small nod and a raise of his eyebrows. You smiled and winked. 

“Right,” James said once he got the hint. “Those essays. I think we won’t be back till pretty late,” he added then. 

“That’s not what–” Sirius started.

“And I’ll make sure to entertain Peter as well.”

“Prongs, we–” 

“Just put a sock by the door in case–”

“James!” you chided. 

James, who was just trying to tease the two of you, started laughing. “I’ll entertain him even then,” he added in between laughs as he walked back towards Lily. 

“He’s such a case,” you said as you turned around, hiding your burning face on Sirius’ shoulder. “I was just thinking we could have a nice date. The three of us, without prying eyes.”

Sirius laughed, wrapping his arms around you, “I think it’s a brilliant idea,” he said. “We could surprise Moony,” he whispered in your ear. 

Remus had gone over to talk with Marlene, who had given him one of the sandwiches she made earlier. You made sure he was far enough before you pulled your head from his shoulder and leaned your faces closer together in an almost conspiratorial manner. “How?” you whispered. 

“You think you could entertain him while I plan everything?” 

“How much time do you need?” 

“2 hours,” he replied confidently. “No, wait. Give me two and a half.”

“Deal,” you said with a smile. “I’ll keep him away from the room, is that okay?” 

“And from the kitchens,” Sirius said. “If you could keep him outside of the castle…” 

“Well, I’m running out of the plants I’m feeding Nieve,” you said. “We could go to the herbology greenhouses, but we’d have to go to my room afterwards…” 

“From there, you can go to ours,” Sirius said with a smile. “You could entertain him further by telling him you want to find something, a book about owls in the library maybe...” 

“Or we could go restock on chocolate at Hogsmeade.” 

“He still has a lot from Christmas. It wouldn’t work.” 

“All right, we have a plan then,” you said with a smile, leaning to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “See you at 12.”

He winked your way, and you approached Remus, you smiled towards Marlene. “Will you come to Hogsmeade?” she asked. 

“I don’t think so,” you said as you shook your head. “You and Mary?” 

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “I think Holden and Alex are coming over too. We’re going to Zonko’s, and then we’re getting some Butter Beer with everyone.” 

“Sounds like you’ll have fun.” 

“That's the point,” she said. “Mary bought this new card game at a muggle shop, and she wants to teach us all to play, maybe you can make it?” 

“I need to get some more medicinal herbs for Nieve. Solacis said she should already be looking better than she does.” 

“I thought she looked better,” Marlene said with a frown. You wished you could tell her the truth, that you wanted to have a date with your boyfriends. You were sure she would be happy about it if she understood, at least. Perhaps she would have teased you as relentlessly as Prongs.  

“Yeah, seems like it wasn’t enough,” you said with a shrug. “I was actually about to ask Remus if he could help me find some books in the library before going to the greenhouses.” 

“If it’s for Nieve, I’m sure Mary and I could stay and–” 

“Oh, no,” you said as you shook your head. “It’s not that bad. Don’t worry about it. Besides, you already have stuff planned with Holden.” 

“Sure?” 

“Totally! Have fun,” you said confidently and then turned to Rem. “If you want to go, I’m sure I’ll manage to find the books–”

“Don’t worry,” he replied as he shook his head. “I need to go find some stuff for the Magical Theory Project Sirius and I are working on. I was going to do it in the afternoon and skip Hogsmeade anyway.” 

It wasn’t true. Remus didn’t have any research to do, but he wasn’t about to let the chance of spending some time with you slip away from his fingers, not now that he could enjoy it without hating himself for liking Sirius’ girlfriend so much. 

“Oh, what a shame,” said Marlene as she looked in between the two of you. That same feeling from before crept into her chest. As if she knew something was going on but couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. She tilted her head. “Are you planning another prank together?” 

“Why?” you asked. 

“Don’t know, you’re acting a little weird.” 

Remus took a step back from you once he noticed how ridiculously close he’d been standing. It felt so natural how he gravitated towards you as if you were the earth and he was the moon, constantly floating in your vicinity, round and round, until just the thought of you made him dizzy. He didn’t want to step away, he didn’t want to take a step back, but he also didn’t want to be outed. 

“Something like that,” you said with a smile. “We’re planning something, that’s for sure.” 

Marlene hummed, seemingly satisfied with your answer. “Good,” she said with a smile. “Make sure to warn me before you cause havoc, all right?” 

“Always,” you said with a wink. Marlene shook her head in amusement and then went back to talk with Lily and Mary. 

Once Lily realised neither you nor Sirius and Remus would go to Hogsmeade, she looked for you until you locked eyes. She smiled and raised one of her eyebrows. Sirius had already left, but Remus stood beside you as some Slytherin boy asked if he could borrow his notes. You tilted your head to the side just a little, and she wiggled her eyebrows in return, nodding towards Remus for a second and then towards you. She was about 3 metres away from you, but the intention of her expression was easy enough to guess. 

You shook your head, amused, and she laughed, her head rolling back and the corner of her eyes wrinkling, James turned to her. 

“What’s so funny.” 

“Nothing, nothing,” she said as she turned back to look at him. “I just remembered a joke.” 

You shook your head in amusement and then felt a soft hand on your shoulder, “Ready, Luv.” 

“Yeah?” you said as you leaned your head towards him. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to Hogsmeade?” 

“Not right now,” he said as the two of you started walking towards the castle. “I’d rather spend some more time with you and Sirius…” he then turned around, looking at the students arranged in smaller talk circles, some already walking towards the School’s Gates. “Where is he, by the way?” 

You had not thought of an excuse to make for Sirius not being around. “He said something about Slughorn wanting to see him over his performance as Severus’ partner in potions or something like that…” 

“Oh,” Remus said. “I assumed he’d come with us.” 

“I’m sure we’ll see him later,” you said with a shrug. 

Once you were in the library, you told Remus you needed all the books with Owl’s health information on them.

“But there must be hundreds,” he said as you walked inside. His tone became a little more hushed when he noticed the look the librarian threw his way. “I mean, there is an entire section about Owls with rows and rows of books. 

“Maybe just Owl Medicine?” 

“I suppose that would narrow it down at least a little.” 

“Potions?” 

“Maybe herbs.” 

Remus nodded, and the two of you started looking through the tomes. Reading the names on the spine, pulling them out and checking some of the contents before placing them back on the bookshelf and taking another one. The ones that he thought could be useful were sent floating towards the nearest table. You were looking at one of the tomes when he placed his hand on your arm, leaning closer to you to be able to see what you were reading. 

“You found something,” you asked as you looked up at him. 

“Mhm,” he said as he nodded towards the pile of books on the table. “You?”

“All of these,” you said as you nodded at the floating pile of books beside you. You closed the book you had in your hand and placed it back on the shelf before moving to take the floating books in your hands, but Remus beat you to it. 

“I could have–” you started. 

“I know,” he said with a smile. “I just feel like we’re actually dating if I do.” 

You knew of something else that would have him feel like you were actually dating in a couple of hours. Once you reached the table, he placed them next to the other pile gently and sat down on one of the chairs. You smiled, looked around to make sure there was nobody around and leaned down to press a quick kiss to his cheek. He seemed startled and turned to you with a mortified expression before turning his head around. You were near in the back of the library with the rest of the magical creatures’ books. It was a section that was almost always empty and that you had used more than once when you wanted to focus. The only other student you had ever seen in the section before had been Ominis, and it had been once. 

“There’s no one around,” you said with a laugh. “You believe I wouldn’t check?” 

“Well I… We can’t be too careful. After what happened with Severus–”

“That’s been taken care of.” 

“Yeah, and the snakes know about us now.” 

“They won’t tell anyone.” 

“Because you have that other thing on them, I know.” Although Sirius and Remus knew that Evan had helped you because of the way you had responded to his father, you never told them that he was dating Barty. It was better that way, not because you didn’t trust your boys, but simply because it wasn’t your secret to tell. Perhaps they had guessed some of it, you suspected they had, but neither of them had asked, and you were thankful because you didn’t want to lie about it, not to them, at least. 

“Besides, I’d be a lot more worried about our friends figuring something’s up than anyone else. You saw Marlene today.” 

“Perhaps we could just tell her.” 

“But you have to tell Peter first,” you said. 

“I know,” he said and sighed, leaning his head on his hand and brushing his hair with his fingers before turning back to look at you. “We’re scared he might not take it well,” he added. He had been talking to Sirius about it. Peter’s family wasn’t only filled with pure bloods but also with rather conservative zealots. Peter had expressed countless times how his sister had bullied him when they were kids, and although they didn’t disapprove of James being his friend, they had never liked Remus –evidenced by the fact that although he had invited both Sirius and James to his house during the vacation period, he had never been allowed to invite Rem.  

“I think you’re being too reticent,” you said. “It’s Peter we’re talking about. I’m sure he just wants us to be happy. And if this makes us happy, then–”

“We think he might be homophobic,” he blurted. 

“What? Why?” 

“The way he speaks,” Remus said. “You know how he tries not to insult as much when you’re around; I’m sure you’ve noticed” 

While Peter had been nothing but supportive, you did remember how much harder it had been for him to warm up to you and how, at the beginning, he had been reluctant to your joining most of the pranks. You would have sworn that was because he was scared of being displaced, never quite feeling secure with his spot with the Marauders; Peter often thought he was not good enough to be a member because of how much smarter the other boys were, but that didn’t make him an idiot. In fact, he was quite capable, even if often eclipsed by how talented the other boys were.

But what if his reticence to accept you in the Marauders wasn’t because of fear of displacement but rather internalised misogyny? Not that he had ever been anything but a gentleman, but misogyny wasn’t entirely exclusive to behaving like one. Unlike James, Peter had never quite seen you as an equal or rather seen past your gender. You were first a girl and then a person, not the other way around, which was how James saw everyone. Unfortunately, not everybody was lucky to be brought up by parents as incredible as Monty and Effie. 

And if there was some level of internalised misogyny in Peter, then there might have also been a small or large level of homophobia. “Do you really think he’d care?” 

Remus breathed, “I have no idea.” He closed his eyes. He’d been thinking about it a lot lately. “I’m just–” he blew some air out. “Sirius and I have been trying to feel him out first.” 

“Do you want me to help?” 

“If you’ll suggest something like Sirius’ ‘asking him directly’…” 

“Well,” you said, placing your hand on his forearm. “I think it would be faster than just– you were also worried when James found out, and he has been nothing but supportive.” 

“But it’s James we’re talking about,” he said. “Peter is a lot harder to see through.” 

You sighed. Remus, whose wizarding side of the family was also more on the conservative side, knew how hard it was to be different. His father had been disowned by his own family after marrying Hope because they didn’t like the idea of him dating a muggle. Lyall had never minded it, but he still had some of those conservative views ingrained in his brain, many of which Hope, who was a complete liberal, had slowly helped him break. Remus had always been scared to come out to Lyall, and he still hadn’t. Not even to Hope, who he knew would be accepting.

“I’m not trying to pressure you,” you said as you squeezed lightly, he turned to you, his face soft, even when he had clearly been struggling. “I’m just saying, even if he was homophobic, we can teach him acceptance.” 

“And if it doesn’t work?” 

“Well, I’m certain he wouldn’t go around telling eveyone just because he doesn’t like whom you are dating,” you said with a shrug. “After all, he hasn’t told anyone about Moony, and I’m certain whatever prejudice he had against werewolves was way bigger than the one he might have about our sexual preferences.” 

“I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted. “Maybe you’re right, and I’m just being paranoid.” 

You breathed. “Regardless, if you don’t want to tell him at all,” you added tentatively. “Then we’ll just be more careful of how we act when he’s around.” 

“More careful?” he turned to you with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I can try not to look at you as much as I do lately.” 

“And have Sirius stop teasing you about it?” He quirked a teasing eyebrow. “It’d be such a loss.” 

“Sometimes we ought to make some sacrifices, don’t we?” you added, a small smirk appearing on your lips.

He shook his head in amusement and looked around before he leaned a little closer to you. “We don’t have to make them now, though.” 

You looked at him for a second, heart hammering against your chest from excitement. “I supposed we don’t.” You leaned into him and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips, the warmth of his breath brushing against your skin and tickling you for the smallest of seconds before you pulled back. You cleared your throat. “We should find this herb for Nieve.” 

“And I was starting to think you had only used that as an excuse to get some time alone with me.” 

If he only knew. 

Sirius had gone straight to the kitchens and spotted Nimbletwist rolling some dough on the table. Although her face was expressionless, the way she squeezed the dough against the table made him guess something was upsetting her. 

“Hey!” he said politely, she didn’t turn to look at him at all. “Nimbletwist?” 

She jumped from where she was and turned to him as if shocked, “Master Black, how may Nimbletwist be of service to you?” 

“It’s not urgent,” Sirius said and then hesitated before speaking again. “Are you all right?” 

The little house elf looked at Sirius with her big purplish eyes and broke down into a feat of tears. She covered her eyes with her hands and sniffed, wiping her eyes with the checkered cloth she had on and turning back to look at Sirius, who had now kneeled down to see her eye to eye. “Nothing, Master. How may Nimbletwist serve you?” she insisted. 

“Did somebody do something to upset you?” 

“Nimbletwist is alright.” 

“You don’t seem like it.” 

She huffed, wiped her face again and looked at Sirius with a sad pout. “Nimbletwist found out recently that her friend passed away.” 

“Another house elf?” 

“No, Sir, a Witch. Nina Blythe, Sir.” Sirius didn’t say a thing, and Nimbletwist took it as a sign to continue speaking. “Master Nina read Nimbletwist and other elves the paper and other tales in the library while we were cleaning sometimes. She was always so pretty and kind to us. We think she has been upset since class starts, and she never comes no more.” 

“And you found out just now?”  Sirius asked, he had no idea the elves didn’t get the news. He assumed, like everyone, they got a copy of the Daily Prophet delivered every day. 

“Jibu found the Prophet on Ravenclaw Tower, said Master Nina and family dеad in an accident. Jibu was reading the paper when Ravenclaw boy takes it and burns it on the fireplace. Jibu wanted to keep the picture as memory.” 

“He burned the paper?” Asked Sirius in disbelief. 

“Says Jibu is there to work, not to read paper. Jibu was suspended for a week, and Jibu makes bread with Nimblewist. No Jibu means Nimbletwist must make bread alone. And no Nina means no more news, and… no more friend” 

“I knew Nina, she was really good friends with my girlfriend and my… boy-best friend.” 

“Me knows,” Nimbletwist said with a small, sad shrug. “Nina spoke of ye often. Nina said she clever and bright as he in october last year. Nina said she fly fast like dragons and he big and strong. They good wizards, they treat us kindly. Your girlfriend is a good friend of elves too. Not all wizards treat elves kindly. Me’s got friend who’s hit and kicked by owner. Mean pale boy, finished school last year.” 

Although Sirius had no idea who it might have been, a sad feeling came over him when he realized just how many options to choose from there were. In fact, he would have perhaps been among them had he never learned that not all house elves were bad (not that he ever hurt Kreecher, it was more the other way around), and that you didn’t have to treat them badly for them to work. James had been the one to teach them that when he met Mellie and Picksie.

“Would it make you feel better if I left the paper on top of my Common Room’s fireplace from now on? You could take it back to the kitchens and read it along the other elves.” 

Nimbletwist looked at him, her eyes becoming bigger and her chest growing with the air she’d sucked in excitement. “You’d do that for we?” she said, her voice even higher pitched than normal.

“Consider it done,” Sirius said with a short nod. 

“Oh, thank you Master Black!” she said and started crying again, Sirius placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, thinking of what Prongs or Moony would do, but that was enough for Nibletwist to pull him into a hug. “Thank you, thank you!” she insisted in between sobs. 

Sirius, who had almost frozen from the surprise –he had no idea House Elves even knew what hugs were– ended up softening and tapping on her back. His shoulder would probably be wet with her tears, but he didn’t mind it all that much, he was just happy he could be of help.  “And I think I may be able to work something else out, but I’ll need more time for that.” 

“Master Black is nothing like the rest of his house,” she said as she pulled from the hug, hands still on his shoulders as she looked at him with a soft, wistful smile, lips slightly pursed as she sighed as if she were proud to have met him, or hopeful now she knew he was a good wizard. “Master Black is kind.” Sirius found himself smiling at the remark, being compared to his family in such a positive light was nothing short of satisfying. He was still thinking about it when she pulled on the sleeve of his robe with her small hand. “Master Black? What bringes’d you to the kitchens?” 

Sirius turned back to her with a smile, sheeísh now that he had to ask for something so trivial after such an emotional moment. “I needed some snacks for an indoor picnic,” he said as he scratched the back of his head, an apologetic frown drawing itself on his beautiful face. 

Nimbletwist smiled. “Me can help Master Black.” She snapped her fingers and a basket appeared in the middle of the table, similar to the one Marlene had used earlier for her sandwiches, which made him wonder if she had gotten it from the elves as well. “Sandwiches?” Sirius nodded. From a table relatively close to where they stood, food started to float towards the baskets. “Fruits?” Sirius told her your and Remus’ favourite stuff. “Sweets?” 

“Something with chocolate, and maybe something fresh, if there is?” 

Nombletwist nodded, and suddenly small pies were floating inside the basket, along with a small chocolate pound cake about the size of a Pygmy Puff. 

“More?” she asked as some scones dropped over the basket along with small jars with jam, butter and other spreads. 

“No, no,” Sirius said once he looked at the basket, it was barely going to close. “It’s definitely enough.” 

“Me’s happy you is satisfied, Master Black.” 

Sirius smiled, taking the basket in his hands. “Thank you for your help. I didn’t get the paper today, but I’ll make sure to leave it on the fireplace starting tomorrow.” 

“I tell Jibu and Daxy to recover it for we,” she said confidently. “Enjoy your picnic,” she added as she waved at Sirius who walked outside the door. He smiled and with the basket, alongside himself he saw her go back to rolling the dough, much more tranquil now, although there was still that sadness in her eyes he sometimes spotted in yours. The grief of missing someone who was not there anymore. 

Now that he had the food, he had to get the drinks. 

“You said you’d been using boswellia and chamomile?” Remus asked as he looked at the third book he’d picked up. He has been checking the medicinal herbs section of this one, but he hadn’t found anything other than that. 

“Mhm,” you said as you pretended to look at a book, rather you were trying to sneak a look at the clock in the far corner. You’d been there about an hour already, and you still had to go to the greenhouses. 

“Well, here it says it’s the best option. But if the owl is not better in a week and a half, then you should take them to a doctor.” 

“Week and a half?” you asked as you turned to him. “It’s been days.”

“Yeah,” Remus said with a nod. “It also says you could try and give him a few drops of St. John’s Wort extract with billywig wings mixed in.” 

“Wouldn’t that make her float?” 

“Yeah, that’s the idea,” Remus said as he pushed the book towards you. Your hands brushed against his as he did, and you had calmly left it here, knuckles touching against knuckles as he pointed towards a section in the page. He tried not to make a big deal of it, but it was always thrilling to feel that close domesticity with you. “Apparently, it can give them the confidence required for them to fly again, especially when their not flying is on the psychological side and not the physical one.” 

“Oh, that makes sense!” you said as you read the small section he pointed at with his finger. “We should get to the greenhouses then.” 

“Now?” Remus asked, turning to you as you stood up rather suddenly. “I was hoping we could browse for a book to read later or–” 

“We can come back after,” you said as you placed your hand on his arm and tried to pull him up, taking a small stack of the books on the table and allowing them to levitate back to their spot. 

“Right,” Remus said, trying not to sound disappointed. What he really wanted was to spend some more time with you in the rather dark and empty section of the library. “Yeah, sure, I guess we can come back later.” 

You pursed your lips and squeezed your eyes, your shoulders falling a little bit when you noticed the slight angst in his voice. You wanted nothing but to indulge him and stay for however long he wanted, but you were sure whatever Sirius had planned would be worth it. Once the last book went to its spot, you noticed Remus also holding a stack of his own. You helped him, and soon enough, you were picking up your bags from the table and walking outside of the library. 

You moved fast towards the first exterior door in fear of bumping into Sirius in the halls. “Wouldn’t it be better to go through the courtyard and then outside?” he asked. “We’ll have to walk in the snow for a while if we leave through here.” 

“Yeah,” you said with a nod. “I was looking forward to a short walk in the snow, just the two of us, without so many people around…” you then bit your lip, and decided you might as well risk it, “If you want to stay indoors, then that’s fine too.” 

“I like the idea of a walk in the snow,” he said honestly, the two of you stepped outside. 

You almost wished you had gone to the Great Hall for some warming tea first. Of course, it was impossible if you didn’t want to bump into Sirius. Either way, you were not expecting outside to be so cold, rather than increasing, the temperature seemed to have dropped compared to what it’d been in the morning. The air was humid, making the cold slip easier into your clothes and feel sharper against your face. 

“I’ve always liked the way the school looks once it’s snowed,” Remus said and sighed contentedly. 

“It’s beautiful,” you agreed with a short nod, although you weren’t looking at the landscape all that much. There was a soft crunch of snow as you walked, the wind carried faint laughs from students so far away you couldn’t even see, and the forest, all the way to your left, looked white and peaceful instead of ominous and dark. 

You both leaned a little closer towards each other as you turned one of the corners, his shoulder was brushing against yours. You could have grabbed his hand, you almost wanted to grab his hand, but perhaps you could do that once you were in the greenhouses.

As you reached them, Remus hurried and opened one of the doors for you. Inside, it was warm and cosy, as if you had entered into a living room with a strong fireplace working to warm the place. You breathed, rubbed your arms with your hands and dusted some of the snow in your boots on the welcome mat at the door. 

“Good afternoon, Professor Folly,” Remus said with a short nod as he saw the man near the back of the greenhouses. Professor Folly had brown gardening trousers and a white shirt with sleeves rolled back and was diligently working on repotting a venomous tentacula. The moment the two of them entered she seemed to wake and gripped onto his forearm viciously. 

Folly shook his head, “Let go,” he said as if dealing with a meddlesome child. “Come on, let go,” he insisted. The tentacula recoiled slowly and went back to just waving her vines as if she were some kind of squid. Richard was quick to brush some dirt over her roots, once done, he stood and turned around, brushing his hands against one another and then wiping them on a dirty rag he held in his hands. “How may I help?” he asked as he looked at you and Remus with a smile. Before either of you answered, he turned and nodded towards a watering can, which floated animatedly towards the plant and started pouring water over it.

“We’re looking for some St. John’s Wort,” Remus said. “We were hoping we could get some extract from it.” You noticed the tentacula tried to grab the sprinkler of the watering can, and she shook herself a couple of times, trying to break free from the vine wrapped around her spout.  

“St. John’s Wort?” asked Professor Folly, rather puzzled. “Are you working on a potion with Horace?” 

“No, it’s for an Owl,” you explained. “I took some chamomile and boswellia a few days ago as well. Just a few leaves…” 

“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear, that’s what they’re for,” he said, then turned around again. “Stop it, the two of you!” 

The plant softened its grip on the snout of the poor watering can, and she swiftly moved away from its grasp, turned around and dropped the rest of the water into the tentacula abruptly before returning to her spot close to the fountain. You had never seen such a dignified watering can, and yet there she was, filing herself up as if the tentacula had genuinely grieved her. 

“Please excuse them both, they’ve been acting like this since this naughty girl,” he looked at the tentacula who seemed to stir under his accusatory gaze, “tripped her on the way to water the baby mandrakes…” he looked at the two of you for a second. Richard was one of the youngest Professors in the school, and he had rather pointy ears. People whispered about him being part hag, but there was nothing else in the way he looked that could point in that direction. He was attractive, in a strong gardener kind of look, although he was rather pale for someone who spent so much time inside the greenhouses. “So… St. Johns Wort, I think I’ve got some of it near the back. Pretty yellow flowers, you know how they look, right?” 

“Kind of, yeah,” you said with a nod. Herbology had never been your forte. Although you could identify most of the more common herbs with ease (since you used a lot of those in potions), telling the difference between St. John’s Wort and, say Evening Primrose was almost impossible for you. You either needed some reference pictures or to have previous knowledge of the flower’s perfume. Not to mention how terrible you were at taking care of plants, you often forgot to water them and at some point, decided to stop buying new ones in fear they’d end up all wrinkled and dried up like the ones you already had in pots.

“I can go if you want,” Remus offered once he noticed the apprehensive look you were giving the rather large array of flowers near the bag.

“I’d actually appreciate you helping me move this plant over to the back,” he said as he pointed at a large potted tree across the room. “I’d levitate it, but they tend to get extremely annoyed when you do.” 

“Is that a– baby whomping willow?” Remus asked as he looked at the tree stir and twisted on itself in the same way he’d seen the Willow do so many times. 

“Yes,” responded Professor Folly animatedly. “We got a sapling a few months ago; I’ve been taking care of him until Professor Dumbledore finds him a home.” 

“Oh,” Remus said as he walked behind Richard towards the plant. He placed his hand on his shoulder and pulled it back, remembering how hard he’d been hit by the Willow a few months back. Well, technically, it had been Moony, but it had hurt him for the rest of the month. 

As the two of them finished carrying the big tree, Remus being careful not to get slapped by his angry branches, you rushed to the back of the room, getting overwhelmed rather quickly by the number of flowers that looked exactly the same. You picked two or three flowers that looked close enough to a St. John’s Wort (or what you remembered St John’s Wort looked like) and rejoined them with a good deal more flowers that you’d need since you weren’t sure they were all actually what you’d been looking for.

“Just be careful as you lay it down since there are some–”

Remus heard a small explosion, and then his face was covered with some slimy texture, he’d barely closed his eyes, scared whatever had fallen on him was toxic. 

“…Rushrooms at the bottom,” he finished with a grimace. 

You stifled a laugh from your spot, an apologetic smile on your face once Remus removed the slime from his face and gave you a “This is your fault” kind of look. 

“Here, take this,” said Professor Folly as he handed over a clean rag to Remus and approached you, looking at the flowers with a frown.

“Please tell me at least one of these is the one I was looking for.” 

Folly let out a light, airy chuckle before looking at the flowers in your hand, picking out a few of them. “This one is Potentilla,” he said as he took a small bunch of the yellow flowers. “This is Marigold,” he said as he pulled another one, looking a little displeased at seeing it in the bunch. Marigolds looked nothing like St. John’s Wort except for their bright yellow colour. “See how the petals are clumped up together? That’s how you identify them.” 

You nodded, and He pulled out another one “These are Sundrops, close enough to St. John’s Wort, but do you see the petals?” He pointed at the petals with his fingers “–Sundrops’ are smoother and more cup-shaped? They also have a brighter, shinier appearance.” You looked at the flower he mentioned, what he saw as “cup-shaped” looked more like heart-shaped with ragged edges to you. Perhaps that’s why it was so hard to identify flowers based solely on a textbook.

“Now look at this one,” he added as he pulled another one. “Do you see how this one has only five petals? They kind of have a bit of an almond shape, ending either round or in a sharp point, and  the stamen is a little longer than in the rest.” 

“Mhm,” you said as you looked at the difference between the flowers. When he put it like that, it was much more obvious that they weren’t the same thing. Still, you wouldn’t know if the one he had was actually the one you needed or just another yellow flower. 

“That’s the main characteristic of St. Johns Wort. Also, they smell kind of resinous, almost like turpentine?” You brought one of the flowers to your nose and scrunched it up, the tension in your forehead thick, as if you were going to sneeze. “That’s another way in which you can differentiate them from the rest; they are more herb-like and medicinal. They lack the sweetness other flowers have.”

You looked at the flowers in your hand, slowly trying to pick out the ones that were and weren’t Saint John’s wort. You handed him the ones that you were sure weren’t it and kept the ones you thought might be. Then smelled them and took out a few more.  Professor Folly was patiently looking at you while Remus still struggled to take the slimy rushroom stuff off his face. 

“Think I’m done,” you said as you showed him your stack again. 

“Almost perfect,” he said as he pulled a smaller herb. It was nothing but a yellow bud and a yellow flower on the side. “This one is an Oenothera, commonly known as…”

“Evening Primrose,” you finished, remembering the name from one of the owl care books you’d been reading with Remus. “Combined with Dittany, it can create an injury-treating paste.”   

“Indeed,” he said, looking rather pleased. “Will you work on the extract here?” 

“No,” said Remus, leaving the rag on the side. It was pointless to try and take the gooey stuff off. It was still all over his face and now he also had some fluff from the rag attached. He needed warm water if he wanted to get it off. “We’ll work on it in our common room.” 

“All right, then, please take that book over there–” he pointed at a book on the table “–it’s got some remarkably helpful tips on extractions, might be of use.” 

“Thanks, Professor,” you said, walking towards the book and taking it in your hands since Remus’ were still filled with the viscous stuff.

“You’re very welcome,” he smiled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he added as he placed a bubble head charm around his mouth. The next thing he said sounded muffled and wobbly, almost as if he were underwater, “I’ll be working with Phantasmocybe Mycota.” 

“Phantasmocy– do you mean Dreamspore?” you asked in shock. “I thought that stuff was highly regulated, impossible to… Is it even legal?” 

Professor Folly smiled. “You’ll have a class on dreamspore next year,” he said. “I gather you’ll enjoy it more than our regular classes…” 

“I enjoy your class!” you said rather quickly. “I’m just not that good with plants.” 

Richard laughed, his voice still muffled by the charm, “Alright, alright,” he waved his hand dismissively. “Please exit the classroom,” he pulled out a small box. “Wouldn’t want either of you to end up with strong hallucinations on your way out, would we?” 

“Thank you, Mr. Folly,” said Remus as he walked over to you, nodding his head towards the exit as you continued to look at Folly with curiosity. 

Eventually, you turned around, walking towards the exit with Remus but lingering just long enough to hear Mr. Folly whisper, “Persequere Nubes”. The door shut behind you a second later. 

“You heard that too, didn’t you?” you asked as you turned to Remus, he looked at you, sighing as he shook his head.

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A/N: Hey kiddos, this is really cute, isn't it? I love soft domesticity so much, there'll be a lot of it in the next few chapters. Just letting them be happy together as they discover each other. Talking about discovering each other, maybe Lily and Prongs are onto something? I mean, the three alone in a room with a GUARANTEE that nobody will bothering them... Sidenote: OPEN SPACE FOR PROOFREADER! DM if you're interested. Proofreaders get access to chapters days earlier :D

Leave a comment telling me if you wanna be tagged on Gilded Constellations

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[psychoticallykind]

Jegumas Day Thirteen - Party

687 words

@noblehouseofgay

--------------------------------------------------------------

James loved parties. He loved the noise, and the lights, and the music. He loved talking to his friends and inviting new people. He loved setting everything up and welcoming everyone inside.

But this party - this one might be his favorite. Because this was the first party at he’d been to with Regulus.

James loved everything about it.

He loved getting ready with the other boy. He loved walking in with him. He loved dancing with Regulus when a slow song came on. He loved refilling Regulus’s drinks and bringing him small plates of snacks. He loved the way Regulus looked tonight - dressed in dark slacks and an emerald dress shirt that looked absolutely amazing on his figure - and the smile he was wearing as he talked with his friends.

He grabbed a small plate of chocolate biscuits and some water before heading back to Regulus. “Here, love.”

“Thanks, Jamie,” Regulus took the plate and water with a soft smile. “Did you have fun with Sirius?”

“Yeah,” James replied, beaming and slightly out of breath from all the dancing. “Are you okay over here?”

“I’m good,” Regulus confirmed. He slapped Barty’s hand away from his plate. “No. Mine.”

“What? You didn’t even get them yourself,” Barty complained. “You can share.”

“No,” Regulus said simply. “Unless James wants some.”

“Rude,” Barty muttered.

Evan rolled his eyes. “I’ll grab you some, B. Want water too?”

“No, alcohol,” Barty replied. “Thanks.”

Evan nodded as he walked off.

“I think it’s sweet,” Pandora spoke up, smiling easily at them. “Reg deserves someone who’ll bring him water and biscuits.”

James beamed at the approval. Regulus rolled his eyes, but there was a smile tugging the corners of his lips up, too. “We were talking about Panda’s new crush.”

“Oh?” James turned to look at her, interested. “Are they in Gryffindor?”

“She is,” Pandora confirmed. She tugged on her long white skirt, smoothing it down. “Actually, you know her really well, so maybe you can help.”

James was pretty sure he knew who it was already. “I’d love to.”

“Great.” Pandora nodded, glancing away for a moment. “So maybe you can ask Lily if she has a crush on anyone?”

Oh, this was great. “Lily would probably be thrilled if you asked her out tonight,” James told her. “I can go find her for you.”

“I know where she is,” Pandora told him. “She’s over there with Sirius and Remus.” She glanced away again, and this time James turned to follow the look, grinning when he spotted his friend.

“Staring at Lily again?” Evan announced his arrival, handing biscuits to Barty and drinks to both Barty and Pandora. “Is she staring back?”

Pandora shook her head. “She’s not looking at me.”

“She should be,” Barty commented. “You look great.”

Pandora considered him. “I’m not sure how valid that is considering you don’t like girls.”

“It’s valid,” Regulus told her.

“Do you want me to tell you that you look hot?” Barty asked, raising his eyebrows. “Completely fuckable? Heartbreak worthy? ‘Cause I will.”

Evan made a face. “Don’t say any of that. Merlin, Barty.”

“What?” Barty shoved a biscuit in his mouth. “Don’t get me wrong, Rosie, you’re the only one I want. But if she needs a pep talk…”

“Not like that,” Evan protested. “Not to her. Ever.”

“Well, I think you look amazing,” James told Pandora. “And so will Lily. Here, hold on - Lily! Lils!” He waved, catching her attention.

Lily looked at him for maybe a second before her eyes slipped to Pandora, widening. James grinned, waving her over.

“We should leave them alone,” Regulus told him, taking his hand and pulling him away. “They’ll be fine.”

James nodded, happily following his boyfriend to a new corner of the room.

James loved parties. He loved his boyfriend. He loved his friends. He loved looking over ten minutes later and seeing Pandora on Lily’s lap. He loved holding Regulus close and humming along to the music.

And when the party was over, and he was lying down, carding gently through dark curls - well, he loved that, too.

[julesdaydreams]

@rosekillermicrofic II prompt: May 1 - rose II word count: 951

TW: blood (it's nothing major, just a cut, but it's there)

Barty was standing in front of him with a rose.

Barty, his best friend for over six years, was standing in front of him, Evan, with a fucking rose.

And Evan's mind was spinning.

It wasn't like he hadn't dreamt of a moment like this. When the ball at the end of the year was announced, Evan's mind immediately wandered towards Barty. How it would feel to go there with him. His best friend, but more importantly, with the boy he's been madly in love with for the better part of three years.

Evan imagined himself standing in front of Barty, asking him to the dance, and not as friends - like the other times the two of them had attended gatherings together instead of bringing a date because they just couldn't be arsed to ask someone - but as more.

And now Barty was standing in front of him with that damned rose, thorns still adorning the stem because of course Barty wouldn't bother removing them, would like the fact that if he wasn't careful they'd sting and draw blood.

Was this some crude joke of his friend? Was this like all those other times they've gone together to such things instead of bringing someone else? But no, that wouldn't explain the rose. In all those years there had never been a rose and Evan didn’t know what it meant.

“So?”, came the all too familiar voice and Evan's head snapped up and towards those large eyes that looked like Barty's, but also not because Evan had never seen them like this; wide and expecting, but there was fear behind them, a tension, as if Barty was ready to bolt if Evan said something wrong.

“What?” Was all Evan's very unhelpful brain could come up with.

Barty looked exasperated with him already.

“The ball, Evan. You want to go? With- With me?” Barty's voice was higher than usual, if not by much but Evan could tell. He was also fidgety - which was usually pretty normal for the boy, but not with Evan. Not when they were alone.

Finally focusing on the fact that he should probably say something, Evan stepped into action.

“Oh! Yeah sure, mate. You don't have to ask so formally, we always go together to these things, no?”, he laughed lightly but it all came out wrong. Because for once in his life Evan couldn't suppress the hope that this was something else, that this meant more, whatever that more was.

Barty cursed, rolled his eyes, before looking at Evan with so much intensity, he found himself pinned to the floor, not even blinking.

“Rosie, you know that's not what I meant. That's not what this is. I got you a rose for fucks sake! Isn't that obvious enough?! I don't want to go as mates. Not with you. Not anymore. I just- I really hope I haven't been reading this wrong and I'm making a complete arse of myself right now. But- you want this too, right? Want… want us to be more than best friends?”

It all came out in a jumbled mess, just calming down over the last few words and he sounded so unsure. Evan has never seen him like that he wanted to make it go away, now.

So, when his brain finally caught up with him, when his thoughts where finally aligned, focused on the boy in front of him, the boy he loved, he just acted.

He took the rose from Barty's hands, feeling the way the thorns dug into his palm, cutting skin, because he couldn't waste a moment being careful about such a thing when all he wanted was Barty.

His arms wrapped around Barty's neck, pulling him down the few inches he had on Evan, and crashed their mouths together.

It wasn't gentle. Maybe it could've been. If Evan wanted it to. He could've taken Barty's rose gently, instead of crushing the stem in his palm. Could've taken Barty's cheeks in both his hands, cradling them, before planting a sweet kiss to the other boys lips.

But Evan had waited three years for this moment. Had been gentle with his own heart this whole time, trying to protect it, to shield it from every hook-up of Barty's, from every hickey that the other had, that weren't from Evan.

For once he wanted to be reckless and now, here, with Barty he finally could.

Soon it was tongues and teeth clashing together and Evan biting Barty's tongue, drawing blood from the other and loving the taste, loving the whimper it elicited from the taller boy.

Evan would've spent the rest of his life standing there and snogging Barty, but the taller boy took a step back all too soon, looking at Evan with such adoration it made him melt on the insides.

“Is that a yes?”, Barty asked and it wasn't nervous anymore, but cocky. That familiar smirk on his face finally back where it's supposed to be and Evan was so happy with it all.

“That's a fucking yes. I'll go to that stupid dance with you, Barty.”

They kissed again, something long and slightly less brutal, if just as intense.

And if Evan forgot about the rose in his bloody hand and brought it to the side, cradling Barty's neck and jaw; if the thorns stung the other boy's creamy skin, painting it a crimson red… Well. None of them seemed to mind.

[siriuslylu]

𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 - 𝗷𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝘂𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗰 - word count: 746

Regulus is not used to sharing his feelings outloud, is not that he doesn’t feel things, it’s just that he was raised in a very closed household, never getting kind words from his parents, not being able to tell Sirius because that was a sign of weakness.

So is not that he doesn’t feel love, is just he’s not used to expressing it loud and proud like James does.

But he’s been wanting to say this for a long time, he’s been holding onto this for far too long, James deserves to know, and he deserves to be able to say it without feeling like he’s doing something wrong.

He knows it’s mutual, but James won’t say it first, because he doesn’t want Regulus to feel pressured, into either feeling it or reciprocating. What James doesn’t know is that he’s very much reciprocated, and Regulus has been biting his tongue for a long time already, fighting his inner demons, trying to push his mother’s voice out of his head making him backtrack every time.

The thing with Regulus is that, when he does show his emotions, he gets all flustered and awkward, and so he’s mistaken for being angry or upset. So it’s quite funny to Evan and Barty when they find him in front of a mirror practicing saying those three words, with a deep frown and a little bit meaner than it should be. In return, they get hexed, but it was worth it since it’ll never happen again in their lifetimes.

So now, here he is, laying on the grass with his boyfriend, late at night, watching the stars. James is asking him about constellations, and Reg decides this is it.

”James”

”Yeah?”

”I-��

But words won’t come out

”I want… I feel…”

”Yes?”

James turns his head, looking at him softly, and the moment he stares back, he feels suddenly calm, because this is what loving James Potter feels like, is tranquility, is feeling safe, and loved, and cared, is feeling like you could do anything in the world. Still, he looks back at the sky and points to his star.

”Regulus, right there, it’s the brightest star in the Leo constellation. It’s also known as “the heart of the lion”, and every year, the sun meets up with it, and we kind of rise and fall together”

He looks at James for a minute, finding nothing but pure love in his eyes.

”You and me, we are not only meant to be together on Earth, but also in the sky, forever, and I’ll always be your heart, and will shine brighter than anyone, to make you feel cared” he looks up again, swallowing a lump because he can’t say it looking right at him, what if he laughs at him?

”Reg…” James says breathless

”I love… you… James”

”Reg” gasps again

“If you don’t…”

”I do! Oh Merlin, I so do!”

”Well then?” getting all nervous and frowning now “say it back”

He hears James laughing at his side, oh he knew this was bound to happen, he-

“Regulus.”

He stops, because he was gonna flee, fight or flight they say, but he could never fight James.

”Look at me”

He does

”Regulus Arcturus Black, don’t you dare tell me you love me and escape from me”

He says grabbing his hand, turning to his side and caressing his cheek as if it’s the most precious thing to exist

”I love you Reg, you’ll always be my entire heart, my brightest star, and I want to rise and fall with you every day for the rest of my life, not just for a while.”

”Really?”

”Really. Would you say it again?”

”No” looking up flustered, James only exhales a laugh, but then “Yes, I love you”

”I love you”

Silence, the comfortable one, the one you enjoy because it’s filled with everything he can’t say just yet, but they both know already, he might not be able to fully express how he feels, but he’s trying, because his boyfriend deserves it and he does too, and he’s allowed to feel, so he turns and leans in, and places the softest kiss, because there’s nothing he loves more than kissing James Potter, except maybe James Potter himself

”I’m so telling Sirius you said I’m your brightest star, he’s gonna lose it”

”Reg! No! Please!”

He laughs before being trapped in his lover’s arms, and he’s shinning when they conjunct, they both are.

[moonstruckme]

Congrats on 1k love!!! Im so happy for you, you deserve all the love 🩶

Could i request a ravenclaw!reader who's a little volatile (i suppose like dark acadameia) that the slytherins have kind of adopted (because shes volatile not violent and they think its cute). But shes been in a relationship with Remus on the down low and they realise at a halloween party?

I imagine Remus as an angel while reader is a devil and the slytherins were already concerned by the costume but then they notice you and Remus and just loose their marbles. Barty's having a meltdown, evans im shock and Sirius is cackling because Regulus is trying to stand tall but Remus is so much bigger than him its just impossible.

Anyway, tysm for your wonderful self and feel free to twist this however fits you, love!!

Hi lovely, thank you so much! I'm assuming you meant this to be for the Fade Into You part of the celebration since it's a specific reader, and also I don't know the Slytherin boys very well so I feel like my characterization could be wayyyyy off but I hope this is alright!

join the party

Remus Lupin x Ravenclaw!reader ♡ 930 words

You’re dancing with your friends when your drink is plucked suddenly from your hand. 

“Hey!” You spin around to find the thief, and then your tone changes completely. “Hey, Remus, you came!” You crash into him, reaching up to wrap your arms around his neck. Remus hugs you back the best he’s able, a drink in each hand. “And you wore your costume!” You grin as you pull away, resting a hand on either side of his face to admire how soft and sweet he looks in seraphim white. “Is that glitter on your cheeks?”

Said cheeks grow warm under your hands. “That’s Sirius’ touch.” 

“You look very pretty.” He grins, and you stand on tiptoe to whisper sweetly in his ear, “Now give me back my drink, pretty boy.” 

Remus’ smile doesn’t waver, but he becomes a tad more serious about the eyes. “How many have you had?”

“Oh, don’t be such a drag, Lupin,” Barty pipes up, coming up behind you to sling an arm around your shoulder. “She’s fine, and not that it’s any business of yours, but we won’t let anything happen to her.” 

“She just seems like maybe she’s had enough,” Remus replies, and his tone is far from unkind, but there’s an edge of admonishment to it that has Barty bristling noticeably. He turns back to you, voice softening. “What do you say, lovely, want to go sit down for a little while?”

You look at Barty, who raises an eyebrow at you. Behind him, Reggie stands with his arms crossed, looking bored with the whole thing.  

“I won’t be gone long,” you say in apology, and Barty scoffs disgustedly, but releases you. 

“Fine, go play with your costume buddy,” he says. “We’ll be here when you get sick of him.” 

You take Remus’ hand in one of yours, flipping Barty off with the other. 

“Are we really going to sit down?” you whisper hopefully, and Remus chuckles. 

“Yeah, we are. Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re not exactly walking in a straight line right now.” 

You grin, tugging at his hand playfully. “That’s just ‘cause I’m a rebel. The boys would never let me hang out with them if I walked the straight and narrow.” 

“That so?” Remus hums, pulling you down onto a couch beside him. “Have I mentioned how nice you look yet? You really do.” 

“I’m not supposed to look nice.” You roll your eyes, shuffling closer to him. “I’m a devil, Rem. I’m supposed to look hot and salacious.” 

Remus graces you with a smile, brushing a piece of hair from in front of your eye. “You do look hot, but you look nice too. I don’t think you can help that one, dovey.” 

“Yeah?” You bat your eyelashes, moving into his lap. Remus’ eyebrow quirks up slightly, cheeks glittering with the movement, but he doesn’t stop you. “Is it just that I radiate sweetness?” You kiss his jaw. “And patience?” Remus’ cheek is faintly pink where you press your lips. “Innocence, certainly,” you tease, breath hot on his ear, “but what else?” 

“Dove,” he whispers, “I think your friends are watching.” 

“Hm?” You look up, and sure enough, Regulus, Barty, and Evan are standing just a few feet away by the punch bowl, expressions ranging from bewilderment to abject horror. “Oh. Oops.” 

“I—I can’t,” Barty sputters. “I can’t be seeing this. Are you plastered? Get off him.” 

You don’t, but Remus does it for you, standing and setting you on your feet as Regulus stalks forward. He stops with his arms crossed in front of the two of you. 

“Is this who you’ve been ditching us for lately?” he asks you. 

You start to reply, but Barty talks over you. “No.” He shakes his head. “No, there’s no way. There’s no way.” 

Others have started migrating toward you to watch the show, among them Remus’ friends. Normally you wouldn't care, but Remus is beginning to squirm, so you try to calm things down for his benefit. 

“You guys are overreacting,” you say, as peaceably as you’re capable of. “As if it really matters what house my boyfriend is in.” 

“Boyfriend?” Barty despairs, and you should have known better than to think anything could quell his dramatics once they’ve begun. “God, as if the costumes weren’t bad enough, you have to throw lovey-dovey terms like boyfriend around.” 

A peal of laughter sounds from somewhere nearby, and you look around to find Sirius, eyes already wet with mirth as he watches his younger brother. “Reggie,” he manages between giggles, “are you trying to look taller than him?”

Reg raises an unimpressed brow, and anyone who didn’t know him well might not notice the flicker of embarrassment in his gaze. “Don’t be stupid,” he says, but his posture is better than you’ve ever seen it, his neck elongated in an attempt to look Remus in the eyes without having to tilt his head. 

“Reg.” Sirius swipes under his eyes. “You may be taller than me, but you’re never gonna get all the way up there.” 

“Alright,” you say decisively, taking Remus’ hand and proceeding to push past Regulus’ stiff form. You shoot Evan a half-apologetic look as you go by, still standing frozen like he’s been stupefied, and Barty follows your movement with eyes blown wide. “Just for that, we’re going back to you guys’ dorm, Black. And we’re going to fuck, loudly, all night.” You shoot your most winning smile in his direction, even as Remus’ face takes on a fiery hue beneath the white glitter. “I wouldn’t recommend coming home. Goodnight!”

[mightbeimpossiblenotto]

Swirl - Oct 26 - @rosekillermicrofic - 505 words - Warnings: character has a panic attack

Barty had gotten another letter from his father. He didn’t write very often, only once or twice a year, but each time it rocked Barty to his core. It was a short message: Dear son, Quit acting out in class and earning yourself detention. Your mother frets, and I am disappointed in you. BC. He hadn’t even properly signed the letter Father, for Merlin’s sake.

The words from his father didn’t necessarily both him. But thinking about his mum worrying over him made Barty feel agitated. He begged off to the dorm instead of attending dinner, where he crawled directly into bed without even taking his robes off.

Barty’s thoughts formed a vicious spiral, already swirling entirely out of control. Mum is concerned about him. She’s been feeling poorly, will the anxiety worsen her health? Will he be the reason his mother dies? His father will truly hate him then. Barty couldn’t breathe, his heart pounding between his ears. His body was starting to shake without his consent, his stomach clenching and unclenching repeatedly in a nauseating sensation. He distantly heard the door to the room open and shut, and someone speaking to him.

“Hey, Bee, I grabbed you some food from the kitchens,” Evan called. “Are you not feeling well?”

Barty couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even move, his body locked up and trembling all at once. He wanted to scream to Evan that he was falling apart, he was going to die right there in his bed, probably, but he couldn’t move his mouth to form the words.

“Barty?” Evan questioned, his steps coming closer, and then he was pulling Barty’s covers off and exposing him to the world. Barty was curled into the fetal position, staring forward unseeingly. “Whoa, hey — okay, hold on…”

Barty lost some time for a long moment, his thoughts taking over again until he felt the bed shift as Evan wrapped around him from behind. His arms came around Barty’s body like a gentle cage, comforting instead of confining. His legs tucked behind Barty’s own, warm and reassuring. His face tucked into the crook of Barty’s shoulder, his mouth right by Barty’s ear as he whispered soothing words.

“You’re going to be okay,” Evan said. “I know It doesn’t feel that way right now, but you will. Just breathe through this with me, in and out, here we go…”

Evan coached him through several rounds of slow, careful breathing, until Barty regained control of his heart rate and breathing, his thoughts slowing to a manageable jumble.

“You okay now?” Evan asked softly, still holding him.

“Yeah,” Barty rasped. He had let his eyes close a while ago, and it was helping him feel grounded. “How’d you know what to do?”

Evan cleared his throat a little. “I’ve had panic attacks before. I just did what I thought would help me.”

“Oh,” Barty said quietly. “Well, it really helped.”

“I’m glad,” Evan responded. He shifted closer, and they ended up falling asleep there, the food Evan had retrieved forgotten.