Chapter 14
It’s a bit ridiculous how worried Remus, Lily and Dorcas were for their OWLs. They all did awesome, by the way. Lily got almost all Outstandings, only two Exceeds Expectations; Remus got six Outstandings and three Exceeds Expectations; and Dorcas got five Outstandings, three Exceeds Expectations and one Acceptable. Oliver was very proud of his friends. He was curious as to what his brother got but he pushed that down and reminded himself that he does not care about James and he could’ve failed all of his exams for all Oliver cared.
He does try to figure it out but it’s very difficult when Sirius, Peter and James have all been acting so sad recently. Sirius does try to keep up appearances in front of Mary though. They are revolting, by the way. Mary is almost always sitting in Sirius’ lap. Everytime Oliver sees them together, they’re all over each other. Even in the Great Hall where there are people trying to eat. It’s a bit (so so very much) disgusting. It ruins Oliver’s appetite every time he sees it.
Remus doesn’t seem to be taking it very well. He mostly sits with Lily even though Peter and James try to sit with him. Mary and Marlene try too but Lily just ignores them. It gets to the point that they have a full on fight in the middle of breakfast on a Monday morning. Oliver is entering the Great Hall with Evan while Barty, Regulus and Dorcas are a few paces behind them to keep up appearances that Regulus and Oliver totally aren’t still friends, when he notices the way Mary and Sirius are being gross not that far away from Lily and Remus. Lily and Remus are sitting near the end of the table so it isn’t hard for Oliver to hear and see what’s going on. He stands there for a moment and watches the scene unfold.
Remus is trying to keep his food down. It’s extremely close to a full moon and he cannot be bothered with Sirius and Mary’s insistent need to snog at every moment. “You’re so handsome,” Mary coos.
“Oh am I?” Sirius asks with a smug smile on his face.
“Yeah,” Mary laughs. Remus glances over to see Mary sitting on Sirius’ lap and playing with his hair. “And your hair is amazing.”
Sirius huffs. “Well obviously. Everyone knows that.”
“Ugh, barf,” Lily mumbles under her breath.
“What was that, Lily?” Mary asks, glaring hard at Lily. Oh boy. Remus sighs. Here we go.
Lily looks over and gives a strained smile. “Well I am trying to eat here, Mary. Can’t you and Black cut it out? I’m losing my appetite just listening to you two.”
“Oh so you have a problem with me being happy?” Mary accuses.
Lily rolls her eyes. “I never said that-”
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” Mary asks, obviously offended.
Lily scoffs. “Congratulations, Macdonald, you have fucking eyes and know how to use them.”
Remus looks at Lily with his eyebrows raised. Damn. He’s proud of her. She barely ever swears but when she does it’s for a good reason (and absolutely amazing).
Mary looks Lily up and down. “You’re just sad because I have a boyfriend and you’re stuck over there with Lupin.”
Lily slams her hands down on the table and stands up. Remus rears back a bit even though the anger radiating off of Lily isn’t even directed towards him. “Don’t you dare bring Remus into this. I am not stuck over here, I am being a good fucking friend but I’m not surprised you can’t see that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mary asks. She’s getting angry too.
“Let’s just say that you don’t have a very good track record with being a good friend,” Lily says. She crosses her arms. “I mean, I was friends with you for what? Five years? And the one time when I needed you, you were too busy off snogging Black.”
“This is about Sirius?” Mary laughs incredulously. “What, are you jealous or something?”
“Mary,” Sirius tries but she ignores him.
“Are you jealous that a boy likes me and none of them want anything to do with you?” Mary tilts her head in a condescending way.
“Oh please,” Remus scoffs. All eyes fix on him. “James has been in love with her since the moment he saw her and Sirius only just started taking an interest in you. Get over yourself.”
Mary’s face strains as she just gets more angrier. “No one was talking to you, Lupin.”
Lily holds up one of her hands. “Don’t get bitchy at Remus because he knows how to be a good friend.”
Mary turns back to Lily. “Oh we’re back to this now, are we?”
“Guys, that’s enough,” James says, holding his hands out. “Can we just get back to breakfast? Everyone is staring.”
“You got a problem with the eyes all of a sudden, Potter?” Lily turns her attention on him and he shrinks back. Wise man. “Because you certainly have never once cared about them when they were making me uncomfortable all those times you continuously asked me out in big gestures in front of everyone.”
“I didn’t mean to-” James tries but Mary cuts him off.
“Why should he apologise for liking you?” Mary asks. “He’s just being himself, Lily. Why do you have such a problem with people being themselves?”
Lily gasps. “I don’t! I have never once said I had a problem with James being himself! What I have a problem with is when he can’t let something go or when he hurts my friends- and I don’t like it when people rub their personal life in my face.” Lily pointedly looks at how Mary is still on Sirius’ lap.
“What have I ever done to you?” Mary asks. She gets off of Sirius. Remus gets up too, half worried about this escalating and someone getting hurt and half wanting to punch someone in the face (more like one quarter worried, the other three wanting to punch someone). Mary is on the same side of the table as Remus but not Lily, who is opposite him. At least Lily is less likely to get hurt first in the scenario Remus is picturing in his head.
“Maybe we should all take a deep breath,” Peter suggests.
“Shut it, Petigrew,” Lily and Mary say at the same time.
“You have no idea what kind of bullies your little boyfriend and his friends can be,” Lily says.
Mary scoffs. “What about you?”
“Me?” Lily rears back. “When have I ever said anything bad about anyone?”
Mary laughs. “You think you're such a saint, don’t you. You think you’re so special with your good grades and your positivity-”
“That’s enough,” Remus snaps. “Stop attacking Lily for being a happy person. You sound so self absorbed.”
Mary lets out a sharp laugh. “Oh fuck you, Lupin.” She pulls out her wand and points it at Remus. She does some sort of wordless spell. Remus doesn’t react quick enough to counter it. He doesn’t react quick enough to counter it. The spell bounces off of a ward that appears in front of Remus and Mary blinks, only now realising the severity of what she had just done.
“That is quite enough,” McGonagall says. She walks between the tables to where Mary and Remus are. She has her hands folded in front of her. She comes from the direction of the doors so she must’ve just arrived. “Miss Macdonald, Miss Evans and Mr. Lupin. I imagine that you have some sort of explanation for what I just walked into.”
All three of them stay silent. Remus can still feel his anger simmering beneath the surface. His hands are clenched at his side. He really wants to punch someone now. “It was just an argument,” James says. McGonagall looks at him and he clears his throat. “The air’s a bit heavy right now. Thank you for the assist, by the way, Minne. That was badass.”
McGonagall hums. “I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Potter, even though the wording could’ve been less vulgar. However, it was not I who produced the ward that saved Mr. Lupin from Miss Macdonald’s spell.”
Multiple people look confused and Remus is also very confused. That is definitely one of the many emotions he’s feeling. “Well then who was it?” James asks.
McGonagall steps aside and looks behind her. Everyone looks over to see Oliver standing with Dorcas, Evan, Barty and Regulus. Oliver’s got his wand in his hand. “Mr. Sol seems to be quite good with his reflexes and his spells,” McGonagall says.
Remus smiles, the anger dissipating from him a bit. “Thanks, Oliver.”
Oliver nods. He pockets his wand. “Course.”
McGonagall turns back to the Gryffindors. “Now. You three, my office.”
“But Minnie-” Sirius tries but one look from McGonagall is enough to shut him up. James reaches over to put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
Remus and Lily share a look before walking over to McGonagall. Mary follows after and the four of them walk to McGonagall’s office. They pass the Slytherin’s on the way and Oliver gives an encouraging smile to Remus and Lily and Dorcas gives two thumbs up. Remus smiles small at their effort.
The walk to McGonagall’s office is torture. When they get inside, McGonagall sits behind her desk and gestures to the chairs on the other side. The three students sit down. “Miss Macdonald.” Mary sinks into the chair. “Since you did fire a spell at another student, five points will be deducted from Gryffindor.” Mary looks down at her feet. “That could have ended extremely badly, Mary, and you should know better.” Mary lifts her head when McGonagall uses her first name. She almost never does that so when she does, it hits some very deep places for the person on the receiving end.
“I- I’m sorry, Professor McGonagall,” Mary says.
“It is not me you should be apologising to.” McGonagall gestures to Remus and Lily. They both look at Mary expectantly.
Mary looks between them and sighs. “I’m sorry, Remus. I went too far. I shouldn’t have tried to hex you.” Remus gives a tight smile. He looks at Lily, Mary following his gaze. Mary winces and fiddles with her fingers. She drops her hands and puts her head up. “Lily, I’m-” Mary takes a deep breath. “I am sorry.”
Lily nods. “Thank you.” She doesn’t say anything else and McGonagall gives her a look. She frowns and looks at Mary. “I’m sorry too.”
“There,” McGonagall says. “Now, can one of you tell me what started that little “argument”, as Mr. Potter put it?”
Mary and Lily both start talking at the same time and Remus’ head throbs with a headache. McGonagall holds up a hand and they both come to a halt. She gestures to Lily who straightens her back. “Professor McGonagall, Macdonald and her boy-toy-” Mary shoots a glare at her but it goes ignored. “- were snogging in the middle of the breakfast and I was just trying to eat my food. However, I was losing my appetite because I was being forced to listen to those suffering ass-”
“That is quite enough, Miss Evans,” McGonagall cuts her off. Lily huffs. McGonagall folds her hand in front of her. “But you do have a point. Miss Macdonald.” McGonagall turns to Mary. “I believe that you and Mr. Black could tone it down during meals. In fact, if I find you in each other’s personal space in the Great Hall, I will be giving you both detention.”
“What?!” Mary sits up straight. “McGonagall, that isn’t fair! Lily doesn’t have to be near Sirius and I so why are we being punished? She’s the one that has the problem.”
“I sit at the end of the bloody table,” Lily snaps. “I sit as far away as I can. You and Sirius just sit next to us anyway.”
“Oh, bugger off, Evans.” Mary rolls her eyes. “You are just jealous-”
“Enough!” Remus yells. Both of them go quiet. “If you two do not stop yelling at each other I am going to take away both of your tongues.” He glares at them and they both look away and don’t say another word. “Thank you,” Remus breathes out. He takes a moment before looking at McGonagall. She looks slightly amused and a bit proud. “Minnie, you understand that I am having some… issues with my dormmates at the moment and no matter how hard I try, you refuse to put me in another dorm.”
McGonagall continues to look at him with a neutral expression on her face. “I do understand that, yes.”
“Then you know why I don’t want to be around Sirius and Mary, and Lily quite literally just wants to eat her food without having to watch Mary and Sirius eat each other's face.” Lily snorts and Mary glares at him. “So, if it would be alright with you, I suggest that Lily and I sit at one end of the table and the others have to sit at the other end so we don’t have to be anywhere near them.”
McGonagall pulls her lips into a thin line. She thinks for a moment before nodding. “I suppose that is acceptable.” She looks at Mary. “Do you think you can handle that, Miss Macdonald?”
Mary nods. “Yes, Professor.”
“Wonderful.” McGonagall nods. She waves her hands. “You are dismissed. Your classes will be starting shortly.” The three of them stand up and leave her office. Mary walks the opposite way to Lily and Remus. They’re all better for it.
Meanwhile, back with Oliver...
Oliver watches as Lily and Remus follow McGonagall out of the Great Hall. He smiles while Dorcas gives a thumbs up. To keep up appearances, Regulus pushes past Oliver to get to the Slytherin table. Oliver huffs but takes it. He walks over with Dorcas and the two of them sit down. Barty and Evan go sit with Regulus. Pandoras moves down the table so she can speak with Dorcas and Oliver. Oliver and Dorcas sit next to each other so they can face away from the table and speak directly to Pandora.
“So that was rough,” Dorcas says.
Oliver nods. “Yeah.” He frowns. “I didn’t think it would get that bad. I mean, those guys have been friends for ages.”
Pandora hums. “I suppose but people can do bad things to their friends. You should know about that, Dorcas.”
Oliver furrows his eyebrows and looks at Dorcas who looks at Oliver before looking back at Pandora. “What do you mean, Dora?” Dorcas asks.
Pandora turns and grabs a strawberry from the table. She takes a bite. “With your crush on a Gryffindor.” Dorcas’ eyes widen and Oliver’s eyebrows raise to his forehead as he turns to Dorcas. “But I can see why that might not seem like a big deal to some people.”
“You have a crush on a Gryffindor?” Oliver asks.
Dorcas groans and rubs her hands over her face. “No! And keep your voice down.” She looks around. Only the odd couple of people seem to be glancing at them but Oliver really doubts that has anything to do with Dorcas liking a Gryffindor.
“Dorcas, it’s okay if you do,” Oliver tells her. “As long as it isn’t my brother or Sirius, then there’s no problem.” He looks to the side. “Or Remus. Because he isn’t really interested in your type of people.” Both Dorcas and Pandora look at him. “Girls, I mean.”
Dorcas’ eyes light with realisation. “Right. Yeah, that makes more sense than you being racist.”
Oliver blinks. “I am literally Mexican.”
“Yeah.” Dorcas gives him a look. “That’s why it makes more sense that you were referring to me being a girl than someone with dark skin. Duh.”
“I feel like we’ve gotten off topic,” Oliver says. He shakes out his head. “Who is it that you like?”
Dorcas purses her lips. She opens her mouth but before she can speak, her eyes flick over to something behind Oliver and features go dark. “Potter,” Dorcas says, mirth clear in her voice. Oliver furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
“Meadowes,” James replies. Oliver turns and sees his brother standing a few feet away. He’s smiling awkwardly. “Ollie, can we talk?”
Oliver narrows his eyes. “No, and my name is Oliver. Now go away.”
James frowns. “Come on, hermano, por favor. This is ridiculous. I just wanted to talk about the summer holidays.”
Oliver scrunches up his face. “Why?”
“Well since we’re going home-”
“Wait wait wait.” Oliver holds up his hands, stopping James. People have started taking an interest in their conversation now. It makes Oliver a bit on edge but he does his best not to show it. He seems to be doing well. “Who said anything about we?”
Now it’s James’ turn to look confused. “¿Qué?”
Oliver drops his hands. The spanish hurts his heart. He knows James rarely speaks it now. To be honest, neither does Oliver. They've bbeen drifting from their heritge lately... Oliver supposes it's because none of his friends know Spanish so he can't converse in his mother tongue without not being understood. “I’m not going home, James. I’m staying here for the summer.”
James’ eyes go wide. “¿Por qué??”
Oliver looks at both Dorcas and Pandora before his eyes go back to his brother. “I’m surprised you’re surprised. I have been nothing but open about the fact that you and I are not on speaking terms, James. You out of all people should understand why I am not speaking to you. I will be staying here for the holidays.”
James seems to be short circuiting. “Yo… no entiendo.”
Oliver rolls his eyes, trying to keep up appearances. He pushes down that part of him that is horrified at the fact that James can’t form sentences in English. “Me quedaré aquí durante las vacaciones de verano. No volveré a casa."
James looks like he’s going to cry. Oliver thinks he’s about to cry, if he’s honest. Not only is James’ brain refusing to let him speak English, it’s refusing to translate it too. It was only when Oliver spoke in Spanish did James understand that Oliver really wasn’t going home for the holidays. It was only then that James realised his little brother wasn’t so little anymore. It was then that he realised his little brother wasn’t so his anymore. "Oh."
Oliver crosses his arms. “Ahora estoy tratando de desayunar. ¿Podrías dejarme en paz?"
James stares for a moment before he nods. He tries to hide the tears but Oliver sees them fall down his cheeks. Oliver wills down his own tears. He seems to be doing fine. “Okay,” James whispers. “I- I’ll see you around?”
“Probably not,” Oliver replies as he turns back to his friends. At least James is back to English. That’s good, right? ... Okay, maybe not good but it’s better. James walks off and Oliver is about to unravel. There are multiple people whispering in groups and glancing at them. Oliver stands. “I’m sick of this. Come on.” He walks off while Pandora and Dorcas glance at each other before following. Oliver holds his emotions in check until they get to an alcove in the wall where Oliver breaks down, sobbing and crying his eyes out. Dorcas and Pandora comfort him.
He doesn’t explain himself. They don’t expect him to. They understand that it’s hard being like that with James considering how long they were basically sewn to each other’s hip. Now they weren’t even considered brothers anymore and Oliver couldn’t stomach it. He hated it. But it’s what has to happen. Sirius is an asshole and the Black Family are assholes and James and Peter are assholes and they hurt Regulus and they hurt Remus and they hurt Lily. He couldn’t forgive them for that, wouldn’t forgive them for it. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
The time to leave for the summer holidays comes around and Oliver says goodbye to Regulus and the others in the dorm. He gets to hug Regulus and the boy doesn’t protest. It’s a short hug but Oliver’s still grateful for it. “I’ll see you in two months,” Oliver says. Regulus nods. The others go their rounds for a hug and Regulus gives Barty a quick kiss. (WHEN HAD THEY STARTED DOING THAT?! OLIVER NEEDED THE DETAILS AS SOON AS THE HOLIDAYS WERE OVER.) Barty throws an arm around Oliver’s shoulders as the others pile out of the dorm.
“Just you and me, Sol,” Barty says and Oliver can tell he’s grinning. “Just you and me, alone, for two weeks.”
Oliver glances over at him. “You’re dating my best friend,” he deadpans.
Barty hums. “Fuck yeah I am.”
Oliver snorts. He leans into Barty’s side and Barty bumps their heads together. As much as the two joke, Barty knows that this will be the first holidays that Oliver spends without going home. In all, he’s terrified, and Barty knows it. Hopefully he'll be alright. He will be alright.
Typically, Barty would go home for the holidays because his father was usually away on business and it would be the only time he could spend with his mother without Crouch Sr breathing down their necks. However, this summer holidays, Crouch Sr would be flitting in and out of home and that alone was too much for Barty to be able to stand. Besides, Barty wanted to stay with Oliver so he wasn’t alone for his first holidays away from home. No one else could do it because they were all expected at their Pureblood Family’s Purity Cult Meetings or whatever it is Blood Purists do in their free time.
Most of the staff were gone for the holidays but McGonagall was staying and so was Slughorn which was nice. McGonagall gave Oliver sparse glances here-and-there and Oliver assumed she wanted to say something, but she bit her tongue. He didn't know if she was taking his side or James’. He thought that if he asked, she’d say that she doesn't pick sides and that he should get back to having a good time.
Poppy was also still in the castle which made Oliver very happy. Barty was sad that he had to “fight for Oliver’s affection” but it was all fun and games. Poppy pretended to be annoyed by Barty’s antics but Oliver knew she was becoming fond of him.
“Mr. Crouch, get your feet off of my table,” Poppy says firmly and Barty gasps and takes his feet from Poppy’s worktable.
“Oh my goodness, Madam Pomfrey,” Barty gasps. Oliver stifles his laughter as Barty dramatically covers his mouth with his hands. “That table came out of nowhere! Can you believe it?”
Poppy gives him a deadpan stare. “No, Mr. Crouch. I cannot believe it.” This causes Oliver to start cackling. Barty’s grinning and Madam Pomfrey looks to be one more emotionally adopted child away from a heart attack induced death.
Barty made sure to keep Oliver busy over the holidays, however not even he could maintain Oliver’s fucked up attention span by himself. So, he subbed in Isla and Toby whenever Oliver felt like a game of Quidditch or just needed to do something other than walking around the castle. Isla Weller and Toby Skies were both on the Slytherin Quidditch Team, both a year above Oliver and Barty. Isla had been becoming friendly with Oliver through the team and she and Toby had both decided to stay for the holidays, so they were more than okay to play Quidditch with Oliver. Barty wasn't bad at Quidditch but he did fumble quite a bit. It made Oliver fall off his broom twice because he was laughing so hard.
Barty is a good friend. Oliver couldn’t ask for a better one. Oliver knew Barty was over-exaggerating his fumbles for Oliver’s amusement, but it didn't stop them from being funny. Oliver will never not think Barty falling on his face was funny. Toby and Isla also spend time with Barty and Oliver outside of their Quidditch games. It warms Oliver’s heart that after everything, not all Slytherins hate him.