Bejeweled

The album conversation had been some sort of breakthrough. Sure, once he wasn’t so terrified, talking to Bellatrix had been easy, but now they were on a whole other level. They’d start chatting the moment they met outside the Great Hall and the conversation would make the time fly by until they returned there, never having enough time to finish their conversation. 

It turned out Bellatrix also loved reading, and Arithmancy was her favorite class too. They’d talk about the history of the castle, and the subjects of portraits as they passed. Remus even showed her a couple hidden passages that Bellatrix was annoyed she’d never found before herself. They’d talk about the week they’d had, and Remus was up to date on all the Slytherin gossip. Of course, they’d also talk about music. 

Every week Remus would ask for a record recommendation and borrow it from Sirius’ collection, much to his friend’s delight. Remus considered telling Sirius about how he shared the interest with Bellatrix, and vice versa, but decided against it. Sirius would probably get so mad he’d end up throwing his entire collection out just to not be like anyone in his family, and that would be counterproductive. Though eventually, Sirius didn’t have the album Bellatrix had recommended, and Bellatrix started simply bringing her own copies of everything and letting him borrow them for the week. 

He was honored she trusted him with such treasures, and was careful to never let them get scratched. 

Remus told his friends that one of the Hufflepuff prefects was letting him borrow them. As much as he was enjoying Bellatrix’s company, the last thing he needed was his friends knowing about it. They wouldn’t understand. 

Every time he happened to casually mention her in passing—which he did his best not to do, least they suspect—Sirius would always say something derisive about her. Talk about how horrible she was, how she was neck deep in all the pureblood supremacy bullshit, and how she was going to end up in Azkaban someday, “if we’re lucky.” James would throw him a pitying look every Thursday when he’d head out to do rounds, and Peter would remind him of any counter curses they’d learned in Defense that week. Remus would nod and act like he wasn’t looking forward to their weekly meetups, and then hurry down the steps to get to see her. 

But there was one person he knew he wasn’t fooling. 

Lily could see right through him. She could tell he was always in a good mood on Thursdays. Noticed how his attention always seemed to drift over towards the Slytherins during prefect meetings. Ask about where this sudden love of music came from. He’d always shrug and say he just wanted a new hobby, and she’d give him a suspicious look. 

Remus knew he’d have to fess up eventually, but at the moment he didn’t even know what he was supposed to fess up to. He wanted to say they were friends, but he wasn’t sure if she would agree with that. Was he supposed to fess up to enjoying her company? That he liked to talk to her? That yeah, okay maybe he thought she was pretty? That maybe sometimes when he’d make a stupid joke and she’d actually laugh, her nose scrunching up in the cutest way, his heart would flutter in a way he would ignore every time? 

No, there was nothing to admit. Especially not to himself. 

But Lily still seemed to be aware of that nothing, so when he hatched up a crazy plan that would require her help, Remus knew she wouldn’t be surprised. 

He had to wait a few days after forming the plan for the right opportunity to talk to her popped up. It couldn’t be anywhere that anyone else, especially not the other Marauders, even had the smallest chance of overhearing. Luckily, he’d decided to study for a quiz that the others weren’t so worried about, and found her sitting in the library alone. Remus sat across from her. Lily glanced up to give him a small smile of greeting, and then turned her attention back to her book. 

However, instead of getting out his own to begin to study, Remus cast a silencing charm around them. 

“I need to talk,” he said, voice still a whisper despite the charm. The fear of Madam Pince was strong, even if he trusted his magic. “Well, I need a favor.” 

“Oh, what is it?” Lily asked.

”Well…it’s Bellatrix,” he admitted. 

Lily sat up straighter in her chair, resting her arms over her book. He had her full attention now. “What about her?” 

“Well, um, as you know…I don’t…completely…hate her,” he began. 

He could tell Lily was holding back a triumphant grin. “M-hm,” she nodded, prompting him to keep going. 

“And, well, she’s not as bad as everyone thinks, but she does believe a lot of what her family taught her, and I think I have an idea of how to maybe help her start questioning some of it,” he started the run on sentence kind of slow, but picked up speed as he went. 

“You don’t want me to talk to her or something, do you?” Lily frowned, pulling back a little. 

“No, no. Of course not. It’s just that she really likes music, and I think maybe she might be willing to give some muggle music a try if I lent her a record or two. Do you have any I could borrow?” he asked hopefully. 

“Oh,” she frowned. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t have any at-wait,” Lily stopped herself and perked up, “I know how to get a few. What kind of music does she like?” 

“All kinds of stuff, all genres really. But she especially loves to dissect lyrics, if that helps?” he offered. “She likes the poetry of it.” 

“Perfect, I know just the thing,” Lily grinned with just a hint of mischief in her eye. Remus was worried he’d somehow made a grave mistake.