Two Slytherin’s, a Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Griffindor all walked into a room
Two weeks after the prank
Today is a new day thought Remus as he tied his tie, he had been avoiding the marauders ever since the encounter in the hospital wing, which was hard to do considering they are in the same classes constantly which Remus foolishly taken to be close to them, and on top of that they shared a dorm which is even more of an inconvenience, so Remus would come just in time before curfew when his ‘friends’ would be hopefully asleep, as well as spelling the curtains of his four-poster bed shut just in case they try to get his attention.
Were his friends even friends anymore? Peter had occasionally tried to talk to him but other than that Sirius and James didn’t truly bother, for only a few days was Remus bothered by Sirius, which was the stupid idea of throwing paper planes at him while he’d whisper very loudly “Oi Moony!” but Remus ignored it all, which eventually led to Sirius not bothering anymore, only giving him sharp looks every time they saw each other, and when Remus would usually go back to his dorm to sit and read, he would find Sirius randomly making out with a seventh year Ravenclaw girl on Remus own bed. Part of Remus wants them to talk to him, win him back, but the more logical side of Remus insists that it’s for the best and that clearly they didn’t care enough about him as they revealed his secret to Snape of all people.
Speaking of Snape, any time Remus would catch eyes with the Slytherin, he would always see him go white as a sheet. Two days after the prank Remus tried to speak to Snape in the library but he quickly took off leaving all of his school books and supplies on the library table. If Remus was with the maruaders, together they would have gone through all of Snape’s things and thrown them in the lake.
Anyway it didn’t matter anymore, clearly they didn’t care about him anymore. After getting ready and grabbing his school bag, Remus went down to the great hall for breakfast, usually he and his friends would always wake up really late so they would barely make it in time for class let alone breakfast, so it was nice to be able to actually have something to eat in the morning, the plus side was that barely anyone is there in the first half an hour of breakfast, so no one in Griffindor or any other house would suspect a break in the ‘Great Marauders!’ as young first years would say. Unfortunately Remus stomach was on fire for today so he barely eat.
The entirety of fifth year was going to be split up in groups of five depending on skill set to create a potion for the O.W.Ls examination, the likelihood of Remus being paired up with his friends was high because they all got the same score in the September exam that they were meant to study for over the summer (which none of them did) however rumours were going around that they were going to mix up the houses to promote ‘inter-house relations’. So there was hope that Remus could avoid them yet again, this assignment was extremely prestigious with some of the greatest potions coming out it which have then gone on to be sold to the ministry and taught in school, one of the ones Remus could remember was veritaserum, Remus bit his lip, imagine, if he was paired up with some ravenclaws they could create a potion and he could make some royalties off of it, he wouldn’t have to worry for his future after Hogwarts.
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The whole of fifth year remained behind after breakfast, the familiar sound of nattering filled the hall, as per usual each house remained with each other, hoping the rumours wouldn’t be true. “Alright everyone, settle down, I know how excited you all are for this year’s potions assignment,” chuckled Professor Slughorn making his way to the podium. The hall went silent as they began to listen to the long winded speech that Slughorn gave every year on the prestige of this assignment and how it could impact your life permanently. Remus wanted it to (atleast in a good way). Slughorn continued to drone on for half an hour more leading to most of the hall dosing off with boredom, from the corner of his eye he could see Sirius properly sleeping and most certainly hear his loud snoring with his unfortunate enhanced hearing. “Well now everyone, I’m sure you would like to find out who they are working with, maybe get ahead of the competition, eh.” Slughorn grinned, trying to make a joke, which as per usual was pathetic thought Remus with a grimace.
Finally after an hour of painful waiting Slughorn waved his wand, causing golden coloured numbers to appear on top of all the students heads, Remus looked up to see the number forty nine floating over his head. Ok, who else here is number forty nine, Remus thought getting off the bench and looking around the room. He went around the hall watching as everyone found their partners and conversed with them, some people where laughing hugging as they got to be in a group with their friends, others stood awkwardly in a circle, Remus was losing hope of finding his group when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder’s, he turned to find a girl standing behind him smiling “Hello there.” said the girl softly. This just wasn’t any girl, this was Isabel Silversteam.
Oh merlin, he was part of a group with Isabel Silversteam, had god answered his prayers? Isabel Silversteam was held in such high regard around the school, she was considered one of the most popular students in Hogwarts, she was a hufflepuff so she was naturally kind and exceptionally hard-working, so she always scored highly in class, leaving Lily Evans grumbling ever time Silversteam scored better than her (which is always), she had the advantage of being a pureblood, so she never had to feel inferior to anyone, she was close friends to those high society pureblood heirs, at one point last year it was said that she was being courted by none other than Lucius Malfoy, and to top it all off she was exceptionally beautiful, with her dark pin straight hair which was always tied up with a white ribbon, her toasted coloured skin that some of the boys liked because it gives her a ‘foreign’ look (which always made Remus uncomfortable when Sirius would say it), her dark eyes that you could get lost in (not that Remus ever has), and her small petal coloured lips that she would always lick when she was concentrating (again not that Remus has ever noticed). It wasn’t like this was going to be the first time he had ever spoken to her, since James made Evans his conquest in first year, Sirius had made Silversteam his, so he would always be pestering her about Hogsmeade dates, but Isabel would always politely decline and hang out with her friends, come to think of it despite being popular she would only really remain by her friends, friends who the marauders have done pranks on, on oca-
“Aphrodite above, I think Lupin has gone dead at the sight of you,” a dry voice came. Remus snapped out of his thoughts to find Silversteam along with her friends and Snape watching him in confusion. “ah, sorry I er-”
“Oh it’s alright Lupin, I know it must be a shock to not be with your friends, but we’ll make you feel right at home, right Cassian?” Said Silversteam, looking over to the blond haired blue eye boy who had a tight look on his face. Oh shit, there is a period of time, around Christmas every year were the marauders would leave pictures of a first year Cassian Gold sobbing uncontrollably all around the school, which read- ‘you won’t miss home as much as he had’ there was also a rumour fuelled, that Gold had came from the Gaunt family and was disowned from it because of his status as a half-blood, though the slytherin always ignored the aggrieved comments and continued on with a brave face. “We’ll see,” he smiled although it did not reach his eyes.
“So… shall we head to the library maybe?” Piped Amari Harris, Remus cringed, although the marauders haven’t exactly pranked her in a way, they still looked down at her for reason’s simply because she wasn’t interesting enough for them, she was most definitely not unattractive by any means, the muggleborn had lovely lashes that brought out a boldness in her eyes, curly hair that framed hair face very well, she adorned several rings on different fingers, however one finger had a single white ribbon wrapped around it and her lovely umber coloured tone which looked beautiful against the midnight blue of her ravenclaw school robes. “don’t we have class next,” replied Severus Snape with a soft smile, “maybe staying up to do the astronomy work that’s due at the end of the month isn’t such a good idea, heard it can make you feel like your’e gone with the wind,” joked Snape lightly.
“Oh come off it you!” Grinned Harris, giving Snape a slight shove.
“As I recall there was a certain slytherin doing the exact same thing.” To that Snape stuck his tongue out at the girl, Harris rolled her eyes playfully. It was so strange seeing Snape so talkative and comfortable, usually when he was with Evans or on his own he seemed so shy, almost huddled into himself, but now he stood tall, relaxed, dare Remus say confident? “Severus is right, the three of us have divination, and don’t you have history of magic, Severus?” Spoke Gold clearing his throat. “oh…er…yes!” Stuttered Snape.
“You remembered…” a soft blush appeared on Snape’s face as he looked down to the ground, avoiding anyone’s eye. “of course.” muttered Gold with a wink. Gold’s demeanour dropped as he looked back to Remus, “what about you then?”
“Me? Well I have care of magical creatures next!” blurted Remus his voice cracking.
“Well, maybe since we all have a busy day, we can all meet in the library after breakfast tomorrow, it will be a Saturday, you’d have to cancel any plans you have Lupin, but I firmly believe we should start straight away.” Silversteam said looking back to Remus giving him her full attention with her chocolate coloured eyes staring up at him. Merlin she’s looking at me thought Remus. “um, I don’t have any plans, Saturday works great for me!” Replied Remus, rubbing his hands together. They nodded, giving each other their goodbye’s and splitting up to their next classes.
Remus haphazardly began walking out of the hall, bumping into people on the way to class. Merlin that was a lot, he thought letting out a breath he didn’t know he was keeping. Hopefully tomorrow he would be more put together. Although Remus couldn’t have acted any more stupid than he had done two minutes ago, he was feeling much better than he thought he would when he woke up this morning, who know’s maybe seeing him with Isabel Silversteam might make Sirius jealous, maybe he had a high chance of creating a potion that could be of high value (Snape is brilliant at potions after all), maybe he actually could make some new friends.
Hopefully Remus can properly move forward with life and start a new chapter, or maybe a new book…..