Bejeweled

Luckily, Sirius apparently was a Ministry of Magic fan too because when Lupin casually mentioned the album, Sirius got excited and shared that his order should be in on Tuesday or Wednesday. Remus knew that meant he’d be locked away in the boy’s dormitory playing it entirely through on his record player at least twice that night. It was perfect. 

Even though Remus would typically stay in the common room, when Tuesday night rolled around he joined his friend to hear it. Of course Sirius asked what was up with the change, but Remus simply shrugged and said he wanted to get into more music. That was a mistake because it meant Sirius suggesting all the different albums he’d be happy to lend Remus in a way that felt much more like McGonagall assigning homework than a friend offering a favor. 

Then again, he wondered if they were the same albums Bellatrix couldn’t go even a couple months without. Though he still hadn’t figured out why he seemed to care. Maybe it was just…hope. Hope that her weird behavior did have something to do with him after all. Hope that if he connected with her, he could encourage even more change in time. 

Yeah, that had to be it. 

Whatever the reason, on Thursday night he was able to join her for rounds and say, “I listened to the album.” 

”What’d you think?” she asked happily. 

“It was good, really good. I see why you like them.” 

“Honestly I think it’s their best yet,” she informed him, and then went on about the songs she liked and why. All the lyrics that spoke to her, the way the music was influenced by this group and that, how it was different from their previous work, yet still was distinctly them. 

Remus was perfectly happy to just listen to her go on about this thing she was clearly so passionate about. It was wild seeing the difference between this Bellatrix and the one that espoused her pureblood beliefs. The pureblood princess was so dour in comparison, snarky and so sharp around the edges you’d always get cut. This Bellatrix was bright, passionate, and knowledgeable. 

It was infectious, and Remus found himself smiling easily as she explained how this album’s lyrics connected to their previous work. 

Eventually though, her cheeks turned a bit pink. “Sorry, I’m just going on and on. I’ll stop.” 

”No! No, please don’t. It’s really interesting. I’ve never thought about music like this before, please continue,” he said genuinely. 

Music had always just been…background noise. Sure, there were songs he liked and songs he didn’t, but he’d never really thought about it much. To Bellatrix, music was truly art, and it was beautiful to see it from her perspective. It made him want to listen to the album again and again to see if maybe he could even begin to hear it like she did. 

“Well…if you’re sure,” she said, trying to hide a grin. 

They spent most of their walk that way, with him happily listening to her energetically tell him all about her passion. Including him asking for recommendations and receiving a list twice as long as the one Sirius had given him, though he was much more interested to actually give them a listen. 

When Remus got to the boy’s dorm that night he found Sirius had left the new Ministry of Magic album playing as he fell asleep, with the final track coming to a close as Remus walked through the door. He bit his lip and crept over to the record player, lifting the needle and placing it back at the beginning to start the whole thing over again. 

He’d liked it when he listened to it before, but now it was magic.