Chapter 3
Lily let out a long sigh and then threw her head into her arms in a big huff.
She dropped her head to the small table where she was doing her makeup and mumbled something.
Remus couldn’t miss an opportunity to tease her, “ What was that? You missed the English part of that sentence,”. He nudged up next to her and started poking her in a way he knew would elicit a reaction.
Lily surfaced from the blanket of her arms with a huff.
She leveled him with a glare that quickly made him back off. “ He was just some sod from school, arrogant ponce walked around the school like he owned it. He and his mates would run around setting small figurative fires, ones that I would usually inadvertently walk into. James Potter has the confidence of a thousand men, and he..” Her rant was cut off with a cool comment from Marlene.
“ He also desperately wanted to shift Miss Evans over here,” She said behind her darklipped smile. Remus’ face lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Did he now?”, He asked.
Lily threw miscellaneous pieces of drag queen jewelry at Marlene’s head in response.
“ Yeah, but he was always joking. He liked to rile me up is all. Marlene might be having a stroke folks, no way did Potter want to get with me,”. She rolled her eyes, and while he could see she was trying to keep a cool demeanor, there was a flash of old hurt in her eyes.
Dorcas immediately piped up, “ Nah mate, I dated that fugly friend of his for a week, what was his name?”.
“ Peter,” Marlene bit out with a grimace. Marlene and Dorcas had been dating for a year now. Marlene was the picture of a possessive girlfriend at this moment, practically foaming at the mouth at the thought of this Peter bloke with her girl.
Remus was also struck with the realization, that in his friend group, he was the only one who didn’t go to Hogwarts Secondary. This happened a lot, where they’d muse about their time there and the people they had met. Remus thought of it as his weekly podcast.
“ Yeah, whatever happened to that twat?” Dorcas mused still talking about her ex, knowing what she was doing to her girlfriend then. Remus thought she secretly enjoyed the jealousy.
“ He fell in with that crowd of skinheads by the end of final year. He’s in jail now on crimes related to assault and organized crime,” Alice said flatly, as she was multitasking with doing her eyeliner at the moment. Of course, Alice knew, Alice knew everything.
“Jesus, dodged a fucking bullet there, didn’t you Babe?”, Marlene cooed at her girlfriend who was sitting half in her lap.
“ Yeah, dude was a right weirdo, but we’re getting off-topic, he, Black and Potter were pretty close at the time. I knew from him, that Potter was like, desperately in love with you all of secondary,”. Dorcas had a smug grin on her face, as Lily blushed hard enough to match her hair.
“ He did not! It was just a joke, it was always a joke with that lot. Why would the captain of the footie team, prefect of our year, go for the school’s staple fat girl?”. She looked around desperately as if for an answer, and then blushed again finally hearing what she had just said out loud. She cleared her throat and turned back to the mirror, as we all stood in silence. Unsure of how to comfort or assure her at this moment, as body weight had always been a touchy issue for Lily.
Lily had an overactive thyroid and had had it since she was a kid. She hadn’t known that though during her time growing up, so she was a little heftier in her teens. She was diagnosed near the end of her final year. She had gotten on the right meds, started working out, and watched her diet, and she was now as petite as any other girl on the street. Remus had seen photos of her younger and thought she looked beautiful with and without the weight, but Lily still struggled with body image. She also just struggled to talk about her being plus-size at one point or another in general. It was a taboo subject for the group and one they would have to tiptoe around to get to the bottom of this Potter situation. If Lily’s face was anything to go by, this was a particularly sore subject for her.
Dorcas swallowed and then said confidently, “ Be that as it may, that might have been how you viewed yourself lovely, but that’s not how the rest of the school saw it. You were always stunning, and smart, and had a killer wit and sense of style. Potter was head over heels. Also if that reaction earlier was anything to go by, it seems like he’s still holding a flame for you,”. Alice and Marlene watched as Lily just grumbled and huffed, unable to refute her, but not being happy about it. It looked though, from a distance that there was a hesitant grin on her face as well.
Alice clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“ While I would love to divulge in this conversation, we have a show in exactly 10 minutes, so stuff your faces with food and makeup Ladies. Being our first gig, we don’t exactly want to piss off the bar owner if we want to play here again,”. Lily quickly looked at her watch and started scrambling to apply lip liner while also eating her enchiladas, while the other girls were a flurry of black clothes and eyeliner. It might have been more of a spectacle than the show they were currently preparing for.
Graham nudged him again and then nodded his head toward the door.
Remus understood immediately, he wished the girls luck if they could hear him through the vortex that was them getting ready. They were then through the wall of glitter, out the door, and at the bar in less than a minute.
Graham seemed uneasy, whether he was uncomfortable with the girls chatting in a conversation he really couldn’t have been involved in, or whether he was still angry about their almost fight earlier, Remus didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed a jaegerbomb, and maybe a nice cocktail as well to get through this night, without inadvertently throwing a major wrench into his relationship. Maybe not the smartest plan, but the drinks were already in his hand, and he was 21, what else was man supposed to do?
Graham glared down at him as he downed the jagerbomb and chased it with a nice long sip of his margarita. Remus knew he wasn’t helping things. Graham already saw him as someone who needed care. Something Graham also seemed to resent, but he loved doing it anyway. It threw Remus’ head in a spin, hence the drinks. He didn’t want to worry about a possible fight or the disappointment of his boyfriend. He just wanted to enjoy this evening, without the melodrama. Something that had become increasingly hard for him as of late.
They sidled up next to the stage before the show had officially started. Remus wanted to be front row, he had even brought his old camcorder to get a video of the show live. Something he was planning to surprise Lily with, once he had it uploaded to his computer.
There was a trickle of new people coming in, some even had makeshift t-shirts made for the band. Remus made sure to film them so that Lily and everyone could see all the support they had.
Their band was very underground and hadn’t blown up yet. Though one of their songs was used in a simply fantastic Arcane edit, and ever since they’ve had pretty consistent monthly listeners. A huge milestone for them. When Lil had found out, she had ordered takeout for everyone and bought a bottle of tequila to celebrate. Now that was a great night. He was now proudly able to say he had crossed, seeing a bearded dragon twerk, off his bucket list.
Lost in thought Remus didn’t notice the MC step on stage until he coughed into the mic.
“Alrighty folks, now hello and welcome to The Skeff, happy to have you here. We are having a 3 dollar shot night tonight, excluding the top shelf, so feel free to head over to the bar. You could even go right now, no one’s stopping ya. And remember to tip your bartenders! Don’t piss off the guys who handle your drinks,”. He scratched his beard and then his groin, lovely. He then scrambled to find something in his pockets. Eventually yellow post-it note was retrieved from the depths of his wife beater, reading off the note he said, “Tonight, we have, for the first time, The Villainesses!” He brandished a hand to the backstage. His statement was followed by an awkward silence. Remus coughed into his hand, “ It’s The Lionesses mate,”.
The MC looked at Remus and then looked backstage to where he could see Lily’s hands doing wild gestures.
“Ah right, sorry Lasses. Handwriting’s been illegible since the nuns cracked me hands. Right, ye all here we go, without any further mishaps, The Lionesses!”. The MC stepped to the side, almost ate shit from a cracked floorboard, and quickly ducked his head down on the way to the bar. Not his first of the night.
Lily and the girls strutted onto the stage, undeterred by the lackluster introduction. They looked great, like maximalism models for Vivienne Westwood or something. Most likely due to Lily’s obsession with finding ‘the perfect piece’ for performances. A feat he thought she had achieved about 30 thrift stores ago, which he loved to tease her for.
Right now though it seemed he was eating his words, as each girl looked perfect, and on theme with the grungy fairytale vibe they had been dreaming up since they first started planning this show.
Lily was incandescent, in a plaid skirt adorned with vintage earrings and chains. Chains fell just over the skirt and laid on top of her ripped fishnets. Her knee-high black boots had been painted with a lioness, courtesy of Lily herself. Her top was a mix and match of ripped mesh shirts laid over each other, which let just the smallest bit of her black bra leak through.
She was beautiful, in every sense of the word. She gave a small introduction, and then it was right into the show. Their first song was upbeat, and Remus found himself and the rest of the crowd bouncing along.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed Lily though, as a certain security guard had gotten to the front of the stage and was intently staring at her behind his gold frames. James Potter looked like a moth to a flame. He was bobbing his head to Lil’s every movement, and Remus could only smile. He didn’t know the bloke really, but he seemed to have good energy. Something they were always in desperate need of.
Remus got out from under Graham’s arm and headed back over to the bar after the first set was done. He had made it through his two drinks and was feeling a little buzzed. He was in desperate need of a margarita though and that outweighed any pretense of not drinking more.
He ordered his drink and the bartender smiled at him. As he was waiting a mysterious shadow fell over his left-hand shoulder, and as he looked up an arm fell across his face. Looking to be reaching for the limes at the top of the bar. Remus followed the view of said very muscular arm up to its owner.
He was starstruck for a moment, looking at the ethereal man who looked down at him now. He had gray almond eyes, that were painted over with some messy kohl that just looked fantastic. His skin was flawless, practically reflecting the club lights off his warm pale overtones. He had a broad smile and rows of perfect teeth. As well as a strong jawline. He had long wavy raven hair, that was tied back in a low messy bun at the moment. The stranger stared down at him for a second, seemingly struck by something as well, and then a very charming smile spread across his face.
“Well Love, what brings a pretty thing like you to a shabby bar like this?”. The stranger said, arm still reaching across Remus. Blocking him in.
“ I’m just here for the band, my friend’s the lead singer at the front,”, Remus replied shyly. His stomach doing traitorous backflips.
The man peered up at the stage and squinted for a minute before his eyes lit up with realization.
“ No way, you know Evans? I went to secondary with her, haven't seen her in ages. My best mate had a huge thing for her. Like embarrassingly huge. You must be a good bloke though if she keeps you around, Lily always had a good heart, and her friends did too,”. He looked down and stared Remus directly in the eyes as he was saying this. He and Remus were practically breathing the same air at this point. Remus looked down and saw the security armband on his left bicep, and then it clicked.
“ Oh, you were the bloke Lily and James were talking about earlier. The one who always follows James around, huh?”, Remus barely knew these men but yet he felt a comfortable energy around them that warranted a little teasing. The Man looked stunned for a second.
“ Well yeah, I'm his best mate,” He said haughtily. Remus snorted, suddenly getting deja vu to James in the dressing room not 40 minutes earlier. The man seemed slightly offended that Remus found that humorous.
“What is so funny darling?” He said, with a slight growl to his voice. Grey eyes blazing, and mouth set in a hard line.
Remus chortled, “ Nothing, you and your best mate sound alike. And also while I am thoroughly enjoying whatever this is, I hate to break the tension, but my drink is here, I don't even know your name, and I have a boyfriend,”. Remus said the last part with a wince but felt the need to get it out there, as this situation was about to become dangerous.
The man coughed, “Right well, heartbreaking about the boyfriend, seriously call me when you’re bored with him, Love. I’ll always have the time of day for a beauty like you. And the name is Sirius. Sirius Black and I am speaking to..?”. He stared imploringly at Remus while extending his hand.
Remus took it and answered, “ Remus, Remus Lupin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“ Oh believe me Love, the pleasure is all mine,”. He smiled and winked.
Remus took a big glug of his Margarita.