Birthday
March, 1972
Eleanor sighed, looking out the library's window. There was so much rain that she couldn't see too far. It had been like that for a few days. The more it rained, Eleanor started feeling down, like her batteries had been snatched from her. Not being able to go out for fresh air was the worst. She felt bored and trapped in this immense castle. At least she had some equally bitter friends to share her boredom with. She loved winter and snuggling with a cup of hot chocolate. But she hated Scotland's persistent rain with everything she had.
"I still can't believe they are playing in this weather," Emma muttered, looking mildly horrified.
Lily frowned, without taking her eyes off the book she was reading. "I can't believe people went to the stands to watch. They are all idiots who’ll get pneumonia and die."
"Well, I still can't believe those idiots think they will be able to actually see anything with so much rain." Marlene shook her head, mockingly.
"Hey! My brother is one of those idiots, idiot. And it's the finals, a small rain won't stop them."
"Small rain! Babe, you better be getting used to being an only child because that looks like Noah's flood."
“Whose?"
The three girls looked at her as if Eleanor had grown an extra eye. "You don't know who Noah is? Noah and the Ark? It seriously doesn't ring any bells?"
Eleanor shook her head, slightly uncomfortable, "Different upbringings, we've already covered that, remember?"
“It's a story from the Bible," Marlene explained, "It's about how God wanted to reset the human race off the face of the earth, so he told the only decent human being to build an Ark and put a pair of every animal in it so they wouldn't extinguish, and then he flooded the earth."
"And then we are the crazy ones," Eleanor muttered, smiling slightly. A couple tables away from them, was Remus Lupin, with only a stack of books to make him company, since the others were at the game. Her father's word rang in her ears once more. Be careful. She had been investigating since she came back from Christmas, at leas she had tried to. She hadn't found anything but some articles here and there about Lyall Lupin's reforms and a nupcial news about him and Hope. Nothing helpful. "Should we tell him to sit with us? He looks kind of lonely."
"Who?"
"The abominable Snowman. Remus, Ems, who else?"
"Yeesh, sarcastic much?" Emma rolled her eyes, smiling. Lily took her eyes off her book enough to glance quickly at Remus, then at the empty seat in their table. Sighing, she said, "Well, I guess it can't hurt."
"Unless he goes all Loonystyle on us..." Emma commented, shutting up when Eleanor kicked her under the table. "Shit!" She almost screamed, gaining her some annoyed glances. "Sorry, sorry." She hissed, "It was a joke, you didn't have to kick a hole in my leg!"
"I did not kick you that hard! And I'm sorry." Eleanor hissed back. Ignoring Emma, who was sticking her tongue at her, Eleanor made a ball out of some loose parchment in her bag. Immediately afterwards, she threw the parchment ball at Remus, hitting him in the middle of his forehead. Frowning, Remus looked up to see Eleanor smiling innocently.
"God, that's some impressive aim." Marlene complemented, elbowing Eleanor, "If you were in the Gryffindor team, maybe we wouldn't have lost so soon."
"Cheers, Marls!" Eleanor winked at her, and then looked at Remus, who seemed very confused. He made a 'What was that about?' Kind of face, and she shrugged, then mouthed, "Come sit with us."
Eleanor didn't think he could frown more, but he did. It hadn't occurred to Eleanor that Remus might not want to hang with a bunch of talkative girls, and that he might refuse the offer altogether. So when he stood up—carrying his small stack of books with him—Eleanor was incredibly relieved.
Remus stood beside her, putting his books on the table. "Hiya, girls," he said, nonchalantly.
"Hiya, Remus," the three girls said at the same time. Lily frowned. "What's with the books? Do we have anything due? Oh dear Lord, tell me I didn't forget anything."
"No, no, we don't have anything this week," he reassured, and Emma mouthed 'yet' at Eleanor, who nodded in agreement. "The books are only some extracurriculars."
"So you are investigating some of Black's not-so-brilliant ideas?"
"Pretty much," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "But it's completely harmless. Complicated as hell, but harmless."
"I bet," Marlene scoffed. "Well, at least we can be calm that someone is keeping those two at bay."
Those two, meaning Black and her brother. Eleanor didn't think Marlene would be so calm if she knew that when he wanted to, Remus could be a serious mastermind—the most dangerous kind, the one that you wouldn't catch. And she knew that from experience, but she would never tell. So instead, she said, "It's that why you didn't go to the game?"
Remus shook his head. "Not a fan of quidditch, or pneumonia, for that matter.”
Marlene looked seriously scandalized, but Emma grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks God! Another sensible soul. It was getting lonely with only Lily and me, but Quidditch is so silly and ridiculous, and I will die on that hill."
Marlene looked like she was a second away from going 'Loony style' on Emma. "Take that back, Emma Winnifred Lang!"
Lily, Eleanor, and Remus exchanged a wide-eyed look. Lily was so red, trying not to burst out laughing as Eleanor asked, "Winnifred!?"
With pink cheeks, Emma screamed, "You said you wouldn't tell anyone, Marlene Guinevere McKinnon!"
That was all that the rest could take before bursting out laughing and saying, "Guinevere!"
"Your parents must really not like you."
"Oh, look who is talking, 'Remus Lupin'"
"Well, that's not my fault. I was damned since 'Lupin' came in the picture."
"Wait, you don't have a second name, do you?" Lily inquired, closing her book. "Because it simply cannot be a good one."
Remus didn't answer, but his cheeks lit up slightly. "What is it?" Eleanor asked, "I promise it will stay between us four."
Remus looked at Eleanor, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. Eleanor wondered why he was so closed up about every single detail about him. That was exactly the reason why she had so much trouble investigating in the first place; it was like he had so many sky high walls that no one would get in. After a couple of seconds, Remus sighed in surrender. "It's Lyall." Like his father.
The three girls let their jaws fall to the floor. "Remus Lyall Lupin?"
"My parents hate me," he shrugged, and then looked at Eleanor, eyes narrowed. "What's yours?"
"Jane," she answered with a smirk. "My parents loooveee me."
→──✦──←
Birthdays. Eleanor loved birthdays as much as she loved chocolate, or flying. She didn't even care that she had to share hers—granted, she wasn't given much choice—, she had come to terms with it when she was six and tried to convince her parents to celebrate James's birthday the next day, and they got mad like she had said something wrong. Eleanor could deny it, but she loved attention. And a day dedicated to her and only her—and James—was a daydream. She loved their birthday as much as the next person, as long as that person was James.
The day had begun with a howler from her parents, wishing her a happy birthday and a book full of famous muggle painting and techniques that she planned on drooling over for the rest of the school year until she could go home and start experimenting with acrylics and oil paints. The girls sang her a happy birthday song before walking down the stairs, all happy and fresh.
Eleanor felt officially grown up, now that she was twelve years old. She was a woman now, older, wiser, and more mature. She wasn't up for childish games anymore. She was a lady, dammit.
At breakfast, Sirius Black started singing a very funny version of Happy Birthday with a solemn expression on his face. Everyone at the Gryffindor table joined, and some at the nearby tables, too. James was far more popular than she was because of all the joking around and endless talking, but most of the people he knew also congratulated Eleanor. They were twins, after all, it would be really rude not to.
The classes passed in a breeze, and before she knew it, she was having lunch in the Great Hall listening to Sirius sing, once again, happy birthday to his bestest friend and Eleanor was rolling her eyes because once again, he was acting like she didn't exist. But it didn't matter to her. As she walked out of the History of Magic to go to the loo, she ran into Remus, who hadn't showed up to class yet. To be fair, neither had her brother and the other buffoons. He was alone again, and it made her wonder if maybe James was excluding him like he did Peter over Christmas.
"Hiya, Lupin," she said as she walked to him. "Where is my darling brother?"
Remus looked around, suspiciously, "Doing an errand. Pete's in the bathroom, I'm waiting for him." He looked away, and she instantly knew he was lying through his teeth.
“What are you four up to? —Never mind, I don't want to know."
"Maybe it's for the best," he said softly. "And the girls?"
"In class, as you should. Anyway, how come they are running an errand and you are standing in the hallway?"
"I am standing guard, and Pete really is in the bathroom." He shrugged. "So how is twelve treating you so far?"
"Great, thanks for asking. My parents gave me this book with pictures of muggle paintings. I think they are more beautiful than the magical ones. There is something so beautiful about the stillness. It's like they captured the exact perfect moment in time." She sighed "Other than that, I feel bigger, more mature."
Remus laughed "But it's not even been a day! You can't be more mature in eight hours."
"People can change a lot in a day!" She argued, her cheeks pink. "And do not argue with me, I am older than you and therefore wiser."
"Really? Why do you think you are older?"
"You still haven't turned twelve, right? I'd remember."
Remus's smile faltered, making Eleanor frown. She would definitely remember if he had turned twelve. For Merlin's grace... Had she forgotten? "Remus, I am older than you, right?"
"Yeah, sure." He said that, not looking at her. He looked fidgety, and recognition hit her like a punch in the gut.
"Oh dear Merlin, you're lying to me!"
"Am not," he argued, turning red.
"You so are. Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying, Potter, give it a rest, will ya?"
"When did you turn twelve?"
“Potter..."
"Why didn't you say anything? Oh, dear Merlin, James is going to kill you when he finds out! He loves birthdays so much.”
"Well, I don't, it's not a big deal to me."
"But it's a huge deal!"
"Potter, it's grand, leave it. And don't scream, I'm supposed to be standing guard and not draw attention."
Eleanor frowned, She didn't know why, but it was a big deal. At least to her. "I'll keep it quiet if you tell me when your birthday is."
"Why?" He asked, suspiciously, like she had said the strangest thing.
"So I can celebrate it next year, duh."
"You don't even know if we are going to be friends by this time next year!"
"But we are friends now!” We’re they? I mean, they did talk often and she felt comfortable around him and all, but Eleanor had always considered him James’s friend. Until now, she supposed “Tell me, Lupin."
Remus rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed but not enough to call her off “March 10. But don't make a big deal out of it because I am not a fan of being the center of attention or parties, for that matter."
"Ok, ok, I won't, Grumpy. But James will. He doesn't understand things like not wanting to be the center of attention. I think he was dropped in the head as a baby." She whispered, making Remus smile once again.
"Then we won't tell him, alright?"
"I won't tell him, but he is not that thick, he will realize it soon enough."
"Shhh!" He shushed her when the door in front of them opened, slowly and quietly. To be honest, she hadn't noticed a door other than the loo’s one in the first place.
The first one to come out of the door was James Potter, his face was sweaty, his hair was suspiciously dusty, and he was grinning ear to ear, followed by and equally grinning—and equally dirty—Sirius Black. James had a package wrapped in brown parchment in between his hands. The moment he locked eyes with her sister's judgy frown, he went pale, which almost made her burst out laughing.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, frowning.
She mimicked his face. "What were you doing in there?"
"You saw nothing."
"Yeah, because I am not here," she smiled, walking away from whatever trouble they were planning. "As far as I am concerned, I never saw you. Bye Lupin."
To that, Remus nodded but didn't say it back. She turned to her brother and said, "Be careful."
"Always. See you later? In the common room after dinner."
"Sure, Jaime."
“Don't call me that!" He said, but she was already walking away.
→──✦──←
The younger Potter had a long tradition. Either of them really knew how it started. But every birthday, at night, they would write their predictions as to what that new year would bring. Then they would read about the traditions they made last year and maybe share the ones that came true. It was silly, and Eleanor wasn't even sure if she believed it helped, but it was sacred to them, so they always did it. No matter what.
That night, Eleanor and James Potter sat at one of the desks in the common room, away from everyone else. Eleanor brought the tiny oak box with all their past predictions. They took last year's and began reading them. Eleanor has predicted she would improve her drawing, which didn't necessarily happen. She also predicted she would beat James at every subject at Hogwarts, which was a half success, and that was before the exams. She wrote that she and James would stick together, which was again, half-successful, but it had worked out in the end. The one that stuck out the most, was the one she hadn't thought would become true. She made friends of her own, who cared for her.
Happily, she wrote her new predictions. She would make even more friends and keep the old ones. She would definitely beat James at every class. She would be more mature, and kinder. She would try to be less judgmental and more open-minded. And she would think before going all 'nutter mode' on other people. The girls would come to stay at her home over the summer, and maybe even Remus.
As she wrote, she looked to her brother and asked, "Can you believe we are actually twelve?"
"Honestly no. How we survived all this time is beyond me." He said this, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "There were too many close calls."
"That's not true!" She argued "Well, yeah, maybe one or two. But we were not that bad."
"You are a good baby sister, you know that, right?" James sighed, changing the subject completely.
"You are not that much older than me, James Potter, at least not enough to call me ‘baby sister’," she teased. "And yes, I know. You are a decent brother, too. Most of the time, that is."
"Cheers!" He laughed."Do you remember when we were younger and we went to that beach for our birthday?"
"Yeah, Cornwall, right? It was beautiful. Why do you ask?"
James shook his head. It looked like something was bothering him, but Eleanor didn't know how to ask him. She just waited until he said, "I was just thinking about that, and about the war."
Eleanor felt her stomach turn. She had forgotten about the war the moment she stepped in the Hogwarts grounds. It was easy to forget because it didn't exist there. It was a safe place. "What were you thinking?"
James shook his head once again. "It doesn't matter. Forget it."
"Jaime—"
"I'm just not ready to talk about it, Ellie. It's alright, though."
Eleanor frowned, worry aching in her face. "But when you are, you'll come to me, right? Or to Sirius, it's okay if you feel more comfortable discussing things with him. As long as you do."
Her brother nodded, taking a shaky breath. They sat in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable one, it was more of an 'I'm here if you need me' kind of silence. After a while, he asked, "So, what did you put on your predictions?"
"Those are private. If I tell you, they won't come true. You know that."
"Well, I hope they do—come true, that is."
She smiled reassuringly at him. "They will, Jaime."