Dorcas Meadowes
Remus manages to convince James, who convinces Sirius, to wait at least a week before doing anything stupid. He has a presentation to put together that he would very much like to focus all of his attention on. Apparently, though, the world is out to get him and his grade-point average, because Lily soon approaches him with a desperate plea for help.
“Remus!” She shouts, flinging his door open. “REMUS REMUS REMUS!” She slams the door shut behind her with such force that the walls shake. Remus, sitting at his desk trying to work on said presentation, regrets giving her his spare key-guard. Small mercy’s, though, his roommate Kingsley isn’t here at the moment. He’s not too fond of Lily’s tendency to barge in. “Remus!” She shouts again.
“That is my name, yes.”
“I need my wingman!” She pleads.
“After last time, I think I’m gonna pass on that one.”
“Betrayal!” She calls, “Complete and utter BETRAYAL!”
“Self-preservation, more like.”
“Same difference.”
“Whatever.”
Lily clambers to her feet, shoving Remus’ work aside on his desk and sitting herself in its place, forcing him to pay attention to her.
“No, Lily.” Remus says. “You don’t even need a wingman anymore. Mary is interested. Just give it some time and keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Well “doing what I’m doing” has been working a little too well as of late.”
“How so?”
“She invited me to get coffee with her.” She says this like she’s announcing she has some terminal illness and weeks left to live.
“Lily!” Remus exclaims, grabbing her by the arms. “That’s amazing!”
“It’s terrifying!”
“I thought you were into that?”
“Well, yeah, but the lady-boner doesn’t immediately cancel out the nerves, Remus. I need help!”
“How exactly am I supposed to help you on a date?”
“Moral support! Just be there!” She pouts at him. “Please?”
“I don’t think Mary would like that.”
“She won’t know!”
“I’m about 90% sure the woman is omnipotent.”
“Please Remus? Please! It won’t take long, a couple hours, tops, and you can work on homework the whole time. Just having you near by will make the whole thing so much less nerve wracking.”
Remus can’t think of what to say, which might as well be admitting failure.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Lily shouts, leaning forward to hug him. sHe doesn’t hug her back, instead asking.
“Where am I meeting you?”
Lily pulls back, cringing, and that’s all the answer Remus needs.
Not for the first time in his life, Remus wishes Lily didn’t have such a hold over him. He’s never figured out how to get her to do what he wanted, so how is it fair for her to have figured him out so perfectly?
Somehow she’s gotten him to set foot in the very cafe he swore never to enter ever again. And of course Sirius is performing. As well as a woman Remus realizes he’s seen before. She’s on drums now, and Remus supposes she must’ve always been there, but now Remus recognizes her as the bartender Sirius had been talking too when they’d gone drinking. He can’t remember her name, although he knows the band introduces themselves before their shows. The other band members, the bassist and guitarist, are still unfamiliar to him, though.
Remus tries to sneak by without being noticed by them, but he of course fails. The song Sirius had been singing has suddenly replaced every single pronoun and noun with Remus’ name. Remus isn’t sure anyone else in the cafe notices, but he is incredibly embarrassed by the whole thing, and speed-walks his way to a booth in the back where he can hide away while he waits for Mary and Lily to arrive.
Lily entering the cafe does quite a bit to raise his mood, though. She’s a blubbering, fawning mess. Remus can’t see them from his position—which is the whole reason why he chose this seat—but he can hear them perfectly fine, and Lily is showering Mary with compliments. Remus results the urge to shout at her to pull it together—they’re not going to get anywhere if all Lily can do is tell Mary how great she is.
Mary does it for him, though, saying; “Lily, please, I know I’m great, you don’t need to tell me.” She says this while chuckling a little bit as they sit down nearby, within earshot of Remus, although he has to strain a little bit to hear them over the music. He’s not sure if he should, though, or if he should put his headphones in. Lily said she wanted him there, yes, but she didn’t specify how there that actually meant. Did she want him listening in, or had she assumed that their conversations would be just between the two of them?
Just to be safe, he slips in his earbuds and starts playing some music. It blends with the bands music, making it hard to focus on either of the soundtracks or his homework. He does his level best, though, and eventually is able to fall into a good flow.
He’s not sure how long he’s been sitting there when his flow breaks, but it is quickly revealed to him why he was able to get into that state in the first place—at some point, the band had stopped playing, as evidenced by their lead singer sliding into the booth across from Remus wearing that shit-eating grin of his. Sirius.
Remus tries to ignore him, but Sirius isn’t having that. He reaches forward and pulls one of Remus’s earbuds free by it’s cord.
“Hello again, wolf-wolf.”
“Hi.” Remus says dismissively, and with a tad bit of venom, before shoving his earbud back in.
Sirius pulls it right back out.
“Relax, I’m not here to come onto you. At least, for the most part. I’m here to talk shop.”
“Sure you are.” Remus doesn’t bother putting his earbud back in.
“We only have half a plan, epic-pens and Benadryl, none of the logistics. Hit me with them.”
“‘Talking shop’ usually involves teamwork, what I’m hearing is that you want me to just… tell you what the plan is without you having to put any work in.”
“Exactly!”
“No.”
“Aw, come on!”
“Aw come on yourself.” Says a new voice. Remus looks up, startled, to see the blond drummer standing before their booth. She grabs Sirius by the collar of his leather jacket, like a cat, and hauls him out of the seat, stealing his spot. “Shoo.” She says when Sirius moves to just sit back down right next to her.
For some reason, he listens, grumbling all the way.
“How’d you do that? I’ve been trying to get him off my back for weeks.”
“Magic.” The woman says. She reaches a hand across the table for Remus to shake, which he does. “Dorcas Meadowes.” She greets. Ah. That explains that then. Mary and Lily’s friend, and also apparently Sirius’. Playing every side of a game Remus didn’t know he was a part of, chasing drama, according to Mary.
“Remus Lupin.”
“I know.”
“I figured. Seems like you know everyone.”
Dorcas shrugs. “I know a lot of people. Only the interesting ones, though. You’ve recently become one. Meddling with the boys and Mary and Lily.”
“I don’t know that I’d say meddling. Most of it was accidental. Or forced.”
“You know, I actually believe you. How’s their date going? Hard to eavesdrop from the stage.”
“I wouldn’t know.” Remus says, pointing at his headphones. “Thought they deserved some privacy.”
“Good man. A tad boring, though.”
“Well I can tell you it started well. Lily couldn’t stop complimenting Mary, Mary told her to shut up, and then there was some laughing before I tuned them out.”
“Getting more interesting.”
“Thanks, I think?”
“You’re welcome. Now, what’re you up to with the boys? They won’t tell me.”
“I’m sure you could get it out of Sirius.”
“Oh, I’ve tried. ‘The boys’ are sacred to him, though, and he won’t budge.”
“What about James?”
Dorcas scoffs. “He’s as bad as Sirius. When those three get together it’s like some kind of cult. Nothing uttered between them is allowed to be shared with anyone else. Except for you, apparently. So. Spill.”
“I’m gonna pass on that one, thanks.”
“One of the boys then, are you? I was under the impression that club was closed to new entries.”
“Not one of them, definitely not that, just… I don’t want to get any of them in trouble. Well, I don’t care much for Sirius to be honest, but I don’t want to get James in trouble. Or Peter.”
“Hm. Interesting. Very interesting.” She scans Remus, and Remus fights the urge to squirm under her gaze. Her eyes are blue, stark against her dark skin, and piercing. “Tell me about Lily then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gossip. What’s she all about?”
“You said the boys were sacred, yeah? Well, that’s Lily for me, so I’m not gonna do that. Not that there’s anything bad to tell, but still. Not happening.”
“You are a fascinating man.” Dorcas says, standing. “It was nice talking to you. I’m sure I’ll run into you again.”
And then, before Remus can say anything in reply—although he isn’t sure whether he’d agree that it was ‘nice’ talking to her—she leaves.