The Quartets Query

Lyla’s POV

Today was Amanda and Bryant’s sixteenth birthday, and the Ravenclaw commonroom was chaos. A magically magnified record player shook the room on the beat as it blasted Twist and Shout by the Beatles. 

Students from all houses, many of which I was pretty sure had never spoken to either of the twins, were dancing atop tables, cups full of firewhisky clutched in their hands or else scattered around the floor creating dark stains on the carpet. 

I had already presented the twins with their birthday cake and made everyone sing. Amanda had been giddy with the attention and even Bryant had seemed relaxed and gleeful despite the approaching O.W.L. exams. 

Now the pair were thoroughly drunk and doing some weird flailing of their hands dance that they swore their American uncle had taught them. 

I was grinning and having a blast. 

I jumped, surprised, when an arm was thrown over my shoulder. I turned to see Sirius grinned at me. 

“I’m surprised you’re not dancing up there too, Zemen,” he shouted over the music. “Ravenclaws can’t hold their liquor.”

“And you can?” I challenged. 

“Oh, please,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’ve got at least another five drinks in me before I get too tipsy.”

I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him over the the drink table. It was less loud here and I could talk without screaming. 

“Where’s your girlfriend?” I asked, pouring us both another cup of firewhisky. 

“With your sister,” Sirius took the cup from me. “I think they’re trying to teach Reggie how to do the Salsa.”

I snorted into my cup. “How is it going with you and him?”

“Good,” Sirius grinned. “I mean not perfect or anything and we’ve got a long way to got before were anything close to normal brothers, but it’s…good.”

“I’m glad,” I smiled. “And happy for you both.” My smile faded slightly. 

“I’m worried about you both,” I admitted. Sirius frowned at me. 

“I’m afraid I’ve done you a disservice,” he said. My eyebrow shot up.

“What? How?”

“I think I’ve only ever shown you…well, the bad stuff.” Sirius was looking intently into my eyes, imploring me to understand something. I wonder what. 

“Huh?” It wasn’t a very intelligent response but I figured alcohol made people not very intelligent. 

“You’ve been helping us, and you’ve seen quite a lot,” Sirius shifted his weight. “Me in the library, Remus transforming, whatever Reggie has shown or told you.”

I nodded my head slowly, unsure where this is heading. 

“I think that you have gotten the wrong impression,” Sirius scratched the back of his next. “Moony, er, Remus told me that you worry a lot, and that maybe your view of the world has been a little…negative as of late.”

I titled my head. “Isn’t yours?”

Sirius shook his. “We’ve been feeding you a lot of bad stuff and not told you a lot of good. Look, Lyla, you don’t need to carry anything for us.”

I squinted at him. “Isn’t that what friends are for?”

“Friends are for support and comfort, not to take on so much responsibility and pressure they crumble.” Sirius looked at me intently. “I don’t need that from you. Remus doesn’t. Regulus doesn’t. It just…it doesn’t help, and it only hurts you.”

“But…but I want to help,” I rubbed my forehead. “Am I not helping?”

“You’re are! That’s not what I’m saying. Merlin, I’m going about this all wrong,” Sirius took a deep breath. 

“I like my life. I mean, a lot of bad has happened to me, but so has a lot of good. And the good far outweighs all of the bad. The same is true for Remus and I think Regulus too,” Sirius put his hands on my shoulders. “You don’t need to go through your life thinking everyone is miserable and depressed. There is happiness. I’m happy. We’re happy.”

It felt like a frog was stuck in my throat. My eyes burn and my cheek were wet when I went to brush them with my sleeve. 

I had been thinking that. I had been thinking Sirius always felt horrible, Remus always hurting, and Regulus always drowning. But, what evidence did I have to back that up?

I had seen them sad and upset, but I had also seen them so incredibly happy. Maybe that was just life, full of ups and downs. 

It wasn’t my job as their friend to stay hunched eternally in the valley anymore than it was for me to try and pin them to the mountain top. All I could do was ride the wave with them and stay by their side. 

I felt an enormous weight life from my shoulders and I threw myself at Sirius, sobbing. 

He patted the top of my head. “There, there,” he chuckled. “Can I tell you a secret?”

I nodded my head, wiping snot from my nose. 

“When I first became friends with James and Remus, I hated the thought of them dating anyone,” Sirius laughed again, quietly. “I thought the girls would take them away from me, separate us.” He gave me a playful shove. 

“I know now that was just plain stupid. I just guess I didn’t know those girlfriends would be such amazing, wonderful people and become fantastic friends,” he smiled at me, and through my own tears, I couldn’t tell if he was crying or not. “Lyla, you’re turning out to be just like a sister.”

I squeezed him tighter, trying to make him know all of the love I felt. “I’ve always wanted an older brother.”

Regulus POV 

Iris tugged my left arm flush with hers as Mel kicked my right leg, hard. 

“Ow!” I yelped. 

“It’s this foot, Regulus, your right foot okay? You have to lead with your right,” Mel yelled at me over the music.

“Okay! Okay!” I exclaimed. “Just stop kicking me, you’re leaving bruises!”

“Fine, fine,” Mel said, throwing up her hands. “I’ll take a refreshment break,” she said, already eagerly heading over in the direction of Sirius. 

“Oh a refreshment break?” Iris called after her. “Uh huh!”

“Go refresh yourself,” I murmured after her, grinning. She didn’t turn back but threw up a vulgar gesture in our direction.

“When did she become mean?” I asked, turning back to Iris whose arm and hand were still loosely intertwined with mine. 

“Don’t ask me,” she said, shrugging. Her shoulder bumped against mine in the process and I tried to ignore the way my skinned burned from the small brush. I was hyper aware of every place our skin touched, which was probably why my focus on actually learning to salsa was so lacking. I was absolutely awful. 

“I’m absolutely awful,” I told her. 

“No,” she said, uncertainly. 

“You’re a terrible liar, you know,” I said, looking down at her fondly. 

“You’re not awful!” she protested. “You just haven’t practiced enough! C’mon.” She lifted our arms and put her other hand on my shoulder as I snaked my arm around her waist as nonchalantly as I could manage. Our chests were practically pressed together and I tried not to shiver at the closeness. 

“Okay lead with your right foot and I’ll lead with my left.”

I did as ordered and she beamed. “Great! See?”

“Yeah great. We managed to take one whole step,” I deadpanned. 

“Whatever,” she answered. “I believe in us.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice suddenly rough. “I do too.”

Then I made the mistake of looking down at her. She was smiling this soft, happy smile just for me, her face illuminated under the golden orbs of light that Lyla had charmed to bob against the navy ceiling. Little flyaways framed her face, curling against her flushed cheeks and I drank her in, memorizing every detail. 

I knew it was stupid. I knew it wasn’t rational, but for this one perfect moment I was done being rational. I knew caring inevitably meant loosing. But all I could seem to care about was whether she lost.

Blood rushed to my ears as I bent my head down towards her’s. People swarmed around us on all sides, the Ravenclaw common room packed with students of all houses, but I didn’t think of a single one of them. I didn’t care who saw me or what people thought as I leaned down to kiss her.

I wanted everyone to know that I was in love with Iris Zemen.

Iris POV 

My world was spinning and I didn’t know if it would ever stop. 

Regulus Black was kissing me. Reg. 

Nothing was computing. It’s like my brain had completely screeched to a halt. My body however, was working just fine. My lips burned where they met his and I could feel exactly where his hands were on my waist, even through my jumper. I had never been kissed like this before. It was somehow a swirling mix of firm resolve, sweetness, desperate need, and tentativeness all blended together into an intoxicating  light headed dream. I curled my fingers into thick wavy hair and it felt exactly how I had imagined it. I couldn’t believe this was real. I couldn’t believe he was real. As I kissed him back I could feel him relax into my embrace. His shoulder muscles loosened and he gathered me to him. 

It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that it was Reg, my Reg, kissing me. Someone I didn’t even know a year ago. Someone who had become so important to me. I should have been worried that this was going to ruin our friendship. I should have been worried that this might turn awkward. But I wasn’t. Because even through the nerves and the butterflies and the aching in my heart I was blanketed in an overwhelming sense of rightness. Being in his arms felt right. Leafing through textbooks side by side until all hours of the night felt right. Constantly teasing him and watching him try to repress his grin and blush felt right and holding him when he broke down about Sirius or his parents felt like exactly where I was supposed to be. 

He was like some unexpected wrench in the plans I had thought I wanted, that had somehow thrown my life more on track than it had been before. 

As I pulled back to look at him, I could feel his hands tightening on my waist like he was afraid to let me go. I smiled up at him, looking flushed and dazed and drop dead gorgeous. It was maybe the first time I hadn’t seen him completely put together. 

He caught someone’s gaze over my shoulder and barely resisted rolling his eyes. I turned to see Sirius giving him a thumbs up and beaming, Mel hanging off his arm and staring at us like she was going to faint with joy and looking more than a little tipsy. As I tuned back to face Reg, I rolled my eyes too but couldn’t help grinning. I loved watching Sirius and Reg interact the last few days, even if it was awakard at times. Seeing the two brothers reconcile felt like something worthwhile I had been a part of. Something bigger than Hogwarts or romance or even the war. Something long lasting. I bit my lip as a question surfaced to the forefront of my thoughts and I knew I had to ask it, kiss or no.  

“Reg, I need to ask you something,” I said. 

He immediately stiffened and I almost wished I hadn’t said it. But if I was going to trust him again, really trust him, I had to ask. 

“Why did you become a Death Eater?”

“That’s the question you’re asking right now?” he asked, running his hands through his hair, looking flustered. My fingers twitched to smooth it back down but I resisted the urge. 

“It’s not what I want to be doing,” I muttered and his gaze found mine, softening as he blushed a little. That blush did powerful things to my heart but I forced myself to stay focused. “Reg,” I prompted. 

“Alright,” he said. “When I was ten and Sirius was away at Hogwarts, the Dark Lord came to our house. No one knew he was coming, not my parents, not my cousins, and not me. I was setting the table in the dining room while my parents were screaming at each other across the table about some stupid thing that had happened at Father’s work. 

Then out of the blue, completely out of thin air, the Dark Lord appears five feet from me. Iris, you don’t understand, but power radiates off of him. He doesn’t have to say anything or do anything and yet still you know that if you make the wrong move, you could be gone in an instant. He didn’t scream, not like they always did. He spoke softly, whispered so you had to hang on his every word. He was mad at my father. He had messed up some mission I guess, and so he started torturing him. And you know what my mother did? She said that he didn’t represent the rest of us. Over his screams she tossed her head and told him that she wouldn’t have failed him and to not hold her husband’s inadequacies against her. I knew without a doubt that if the Dark Lord turned on me she would deny me too. No one was going to protect me, and it was terrifying.

I swore to myself that I would never be that scared again. I knew that power was the only thing to counter fear and for a long time it felt like being a Death Eater was the easiest way to get that power, to stay in his good graces. But during my fifth year, every time Bella came to visit she had new burn marks on her arms and I knew they were from him. I realized that even the most loyal and powerful Death Eaters still lived in fear and the only way to truly escape that was to escape him. Of course the Dark Lord can’t be escaped, no matter what Sirius and Andy think, he can only be destroyed. And best chance at destroying him is to know him. That is why I joined the Death Eaters. That, and that alone,” he finished, looking tired. 

I swallowed. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked. 

“Okay,” I said. “I didn’t think you really agreed with him or anything I just wondered if your family…”

“Forced me into it? No. It was international. Though to be honest, I don’t think there would be any escaping it.”

“Right,” I said. “Reg, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that that happened to you and I’m sorry you’re constantly living in fear and that your life is so trashy.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “And besides, we’re doing it. We’re getting closer. For the first time ever I feel like there might be an end in sight.” He looked off into space and blinked a few times like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“I feel like that too,” I said. 

His gaze returned to mine and he started to smile a little. “Besides, this party can hardly be considered trashy.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Hardly,” I agreed. He grinned at me and I couldn’t help but throw my arms around him, holding him as tightly as I could, feeling his heart beat against mine. 

Remus POV

I was drunk. That was the only explanation for why I was currently doing some sort of dancing off with James and Sirius. 

“Throw it down, Moony! Woohoo!” Sirius shouted at me at he grinded on Mel. She was giggling manically, trying to capture Sirius lips with her own. 

“Lyla!” This came from Lily who was being spun around by James at a dizzying speed. “Dance! C’mon!”

Lyla was looking at us with raised eyebrows, her body very clearly not moving to the music. It was clear she could hold her liquor. 

“Yeah c’mon, Ly! Don’t be a party pooper!” James giggled. Pooper! Hehehe!”

Lily pulled James closer and he picked her easily up into his arms. 

“Love, stay with me,” he murmured, swaying. 

“I will.” I looked away as their bodies became entangled. 

A hand grabbed my, and I knew from feel it was Lyla. I pulled her up against me. 

“Hey, Brains,” I could still smell her perfume threw the stench of alcohol and sweat. 

“Dance?” I asked, eyebrows raised. Lyla laughed and I melted. 

“Sure, but later, Rem,” she said, beginning to pull me through the crowd. “But let me get you sobered up a bit first.”

I giggled as she leaned into me. “Regulus and Iris kissed, did you see?”

“Yes!” I pumped my fist in the air. “Finally!”

Lyla laughed again, and I grinned. So violently was I pleased with making her happy that I didn’t realize Lyla had stopped walking until I crashed into her. 

I peaked over her shoulder to see what was in her path to find a very grumpy and displeased Kreature glowering at us. 

“Kreature!” I cried. “I didn’t know you moved to Hogwarts!”

Kreature gave me a once over, examining me like I was a roach in the kitchen. He dismissed me without so much as a grunt. 

“Miss Lyla,” he croaked, giving a short, half-bow to my girlfriend. “I have a messege for you to give to Master Regulus. It is very important, and I know you work with him on this…project. Unfortunately, you seem to be the only one, er, sober enough to deliver the message.”

I snorted. “Lyla, Lyla! Look at Sirius! What is he doing?” My voice grew higher and higher pitch as I spoke. 

Lyla sent a fleeting glance toward Sirius who was balancing five cups of firewhisky on his head as Mel place another atop his curls. She turned back to Kreature, still holding my hand. 

“Where’s Regulus?” She asked. 

“Master Regulus is busy being intertwined with you’re sister,” Kreature, if it was possible, seemed to be flustered. I wondered foggily why that could be. “I did not wish to disturb him.”

“No,” Lyla was quick to agree. “I wouldn’t either. What is the messege?”

“Tell Master Regulus that the object he is looking for is Salazar Slytherin’s locket,” Kreature passed a shocked Lyla a slip of paper. “I wrote its location here. But I must warn against haste. There will be many enchantments in the cave the locket resides in. You will need to be very prepared.”

Lyla bobbed her head up and down, her face pale as moonlight. I belatedly felt like howling for her. Would she like my singing?

“Thank you, Kreature,” Lyla said. “I will tell him.”

Kreature gave a short nod before vanishing. 

“Whoa,” I said. “Where’d he go?”

Lyla turned to be taking my face into her hands. “Oh Remus.” She looked nervous, he teeth tearing at her bottom lip. 

I pushed her hair out of her eyes. “What can I do?”

Lyla sighed, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face. “Nothing, love. Not tonight. Tomorrow we will research. But tonight is just for us.”

I leaned down, brushing my lips against hers, questioning and soft. She answered, burying her hands deep into my hair, her nails scratching at my scalp as I picked her up. 

Her legs tangled around my waist as we fell gently onto a nearby sofa, basking in each other.

“My heart,” I whispered, my pulse quickening as I deepened the kiss.