Bejeweled

Remus couldn’t deny it anymore: he fancied Bellatrix Black. 

Like, really fancied her. Couldn’t focus in class because he was busy thinking about her kind of fancied her. Felt like he was absolutely melting every time they happened to pass each other in the corridors or made eye contact across the Great Hall kind of fancied her. 

It wasn’t something he could hide from his friends any longer, no matter how much he gave it the good ol’ college try. 

“I don’t remember,” Remus admitted one night in the common room when Sirius asked him a question about their homework. 

“Of course you don’t,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “You were too busy dreaming about Cousin Bella during class.” 

Remus felt the blood run to his cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tried to brush it off. 

“Oh come on, Moony, it’s pretty bloody obvious!” Sirius exclaimed. 

“Yeah, you’re not exactly subtle,” James laughed. 

“How the fuck you caught feelings for her I’ll never understand,” Sirius shook his head. “Didn’t know you liked ‘em absolutely off their rocker.” 

“She’s not-“ Remus began, and as soon as those two little words were out of his mouth he knew that any last shred of deniability he had was gone. He was caught. 

He groaned, leaning back in the plush chair and covering his face with his hands. “Fine. Fine! I fancy her. But she’s not like you think she is.” 

“Oh really?” Sirius raised a very sarcastic eyebrow. “Then please, enlighten us.” 

“She’s smart, for one thing. She likes to read, and she’s really good at Arithmancy.” 

“Alright, total nerd, checks out so far for Moony,” James nodded. 

Remus fought the urge to roll his eyes. “She’s fun to talk to. She’s witty. And she’s really passionate. Really loves music.” 

“Wait, is this where your sudden interest came from?” Sirius huffed. 

“…maybe,” Remus admitted. He hadn’t thought he was able to blush harder in that moment, but apparently he was wrong. 

“She is kinda pretty,” Peter mused. “Objectively, I mean.” 

“All that may be true, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s a massive fucking blood purist,” Sirius huffed. “Or am I wrong about that too?” 

All eyes turned to Remus, who felt himself shrinking. Sure, he could tell them about the albums. About how they’d danced to a muggle artist together in the Room of Requirement. But not only did he suspect his friends wouldn’t think that was a big deal, he also felt like it would be a violation of her privacy. The truth was, Bellatrix was a blood purist. He was doing everything he could to try to shift her beliefs, but right now she probably didn’t want anyone to know that she was giving muggle music a chance. Especially not her cousin and his friends. 

“Well…she didn’t call Lily that word that one time,” he tried. 

Sirius rolled his eyes so hard Remus wondered if they’d get stuck. “Oh yeah, deserves a parade for not calling someone a slur one time.” 

“Look, I know she’s been indoctrinated into all of that. All I’m saying is I think there’s hope,” he defended. 

“Hope? For Cousin Bella?” Sirius scoffed. “Remind me never to fancy anyone, apparently it makes you lose all your marbles.” 

But James’ reaction was worse. He gave Remus a pitying look and said, “If you really think so. We’re just worried about you, that’s all.” 

~

Remus didn’t know what to do. He knew his friend’s were right. The girl he was crazy over was a blood purist who would never look twice in his direction. Not like that anyway. And he knew she really was dangerous, more likely to curse him should he ask her out than say yes. But no matter how often he reminded himself of that, told himself that he needed to get over this, he couldn’t help the warm feeling that rose up in his chest every time he thought about her. 

Maybe it was a good thing it was the week of the full moon. He’d have two weeks between their meetings to give himself more time to try to squash the crush before seeing her again. He also absolutely hated that it would be so long before he got to talk to her again. Sure, sometimes they’d walk past each other in the school, but there was no way they could ever be seen to be having a casual chat, so those few glimpses just made him long for their nights doing rounds even more. 

It was only two days before the full moon, but they were having a meeting with all the prefects and he was determined to be there even if his “sickness” was getting noticeably worse at the moment. Of course it was partially because he hated for it to make him miss things, he wanted to be as dependable as he could be, but it was also because he knew she’d be there. 

“You don’t have to come, you know? I can always just tell you what happened later,” Lily said for the third time as they made their way down from Gryffindor Tower together. 

“Thank you, but I’m fine,” he assured her again. “I also…wanna see her,” he sighed. He was sure Lily had known about his crush before he had, and now that his friends knew there was no point in denying it to her. 

“So you’re admitting it now, huh?” she grinned up at him. 

“I was terrible at hiding it,” he shrugged. 

“Yeah, you were,” she laughed. “But I’m happy for you, this is the first step in something actually happening between you two.” 

Remus rolled his eyes. “When hell freezes over.”

”Oh come on,” she playfully hit his arm. “You’re a catch. She’d be lucky to have you.” 

He smiled warmly at his friend. “I’m a sickly half-blood Gryffindor. She’d never go for it. Besides, it’d be…complicated for us both. I’m surprised you’re not warning me to run screaming.” 

Lily nodded slowly as they began the last staircase. “I’m…cautious, but optimistic. I think you’d be good for her. I mean, she hasn’t called me a mudblood to my face in months. You seem to be a good influence.” 

Remus didn’t know what to say—he wasn’t sure she was right, but he also wasn’t sure she was wrong—so he let them entering the Great Hall be his excuse to let the subject drop. There were only a few tables set up for their meeting, and only a couple students there as early as they were. One of which was Bellatrix. 

He caught her eye when he came in and gave her a polite nod, which she returned. Even if it was only the Head Boy and Girl, other people were around, and as close as they’d gotten in private, the closest they’d come to being seen together in public was the Quill shop in Hogsmead, so Remus had every reason to assume they’d be keeping their distance. 

Which was why he was quite surprised when she got up and came over to them. 

“Hey,” Remus smiled warmly. 

“Hey,” she smiled back more than just politely. “Are you alright?” 

“Oh, yeah, fine. Just feeling a little under the weather. What’d you want?” he asked her curiously. He assumed it was probably something prefect related. Something she could easily explain to anyone as the reason she was seen talking to him. 

But she didn’t answer him. Instead, she turned her attention to Lily. “I, um, actually wanted to ask you something.” 

The surprise was clear on Lily’s face, but she nodded and said, “Sure. Yeah. Go ahead.” 

“If I were to give you some money, would you be able to get copies of those records for me? And anything else by that artist?” Bellatrix asked. 

Remus wondered how Bella had figured out Lily had anything to do with those, but then he remembered how sharp she was. Of course she would put it together. 

Lily lit up at the request. “I’d be happy to! Though she actually has eleven albums, so it’d be a lot to get them all.” 

“Eleven!” Bellatrix gasped. “That’s wonderful. I don’t care about the price, here,” she handed Lily a small sack of Galleons that Remus was sure was worth more than just what the albums cost. 

Lily didn’t bother to give her any back. “I’ll exchange this at Hogsmead this weekend, then send a letter to my parents right away,” Lily smiled. 

“Thanks. And see you Thursday, Remus,” Bellatrix gave them a little wave and went back over to her spot where the Slytherin prefects would sit once they all arrived. 

Lily was smirking at him. “Remus, huh? First name basis.” 

“Oh shut up,” Remus muttered, cheeks pink.