Mary
Remus keys into Lily’s room, ready to unload onto Lily the escapades of the day. Tutoring with James was more chaotic then usual. Most often, James is able to focus on the tutoring, even after he and Remus got closer, but today he was practically bouncing off the walls, ranting about how he thought Lily was finally warming up to him. All because she’d smiled at him. Remus didn’t have the heart to break it to him that her heart was lost to another, simply smiling awkwardly as he went on and on about Lily. The boy was smitten, truly.
Upon opening the door, though, Remus regrets not telling James how slim his chances were, as they have just flown out the window in the face of the sight before him.
He slams the door closed before he can see everything, but not in time to avoid seeing far too much, as he was just able to make out Lily perched above Mary’s face, skirt hiked up to her hips, thoroughly enjoying herself.
“I’m sorry, sorrysorrysorry!” Remus shouts, not sure whether he just turn tail and run or if he should continue begging for forgiveness “I should’ve knocked, I’m sorry!” He says, even though he’s never knocked, and Lily’s never seemed to mind.
“Jesus, Remus, don’t you check your phone?” Lily shouts through the door.
“It was in my bag!” Remus shouts back, checking his phone now, although late it may be. He reads sees an all-caps message from Lily reading; “DON’T COME TO MY DORM I AM BEING RAVISHED AND RAVISHING THANK YOU VERY MUCH”
Remus can’t help but smirk at that. She was indeed being ravished.
“Sorry!” He shouts through the door
“You’re not forgiven!” Is Lily’s response.
“Not even a little bit!” Mary tacks on, but there’s laughter in both of their voices, tinged with some embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry, Lily! And Mary! I’ll… I guess I’ll just… leave you guys to it. Sorry!” He says, turning and speed-walking out of the building, hearing Lily’s and Mary’s laughter fade as he does, flushed from the neck up.
It’s hours later, Remus sitting in his bed working on homework, that Lily barges into his dorm room, jumping onto his bed beside him.
“Oh, so you can barge into my dorm but when I do that to you I get yelled at? What if I had been getting action in here?”
Lily scoffs. “If you had you would have warned me. Like I warned you.”
Remus rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He fights his smile for as long as he can, which turns out to be not long at all. “So… this is a new development, yes?”
“Very new.” Lily says, grin spreading wide.
“Like… you barged in on our first time, new.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry!”
Lily waves him off. “No, no, it’s okay, Mary found it hilarious, actually.”
“Somehow, that’s not comforting.”
“Pshh, stop being a wimp.”
“Sometimes I think you have as much common sense as James.” Lily’s mouth drops open and she grabs a pillow, lobbing it at Remus.
“You take that back!” She shouts, throwing another pillow at him, which Remus catches and throws right back at her. She lets it hit, falling backwards onto the bed with flair as if the pillow had knocked her clean out.
“You’ve killed me!” She wails “You’ve killed me Remus!”
“I did nothing you didn’t deserve.”
“How very dare you!” She throws the pillow off her face towards Remus, who catches it and holds onto it this time, stealing her ammunition.
“Yeah yeah, whatever.”
“For that, you’re going to help me.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“You will, actually, and once I tell you what with, I think you’ll be more then willing.”
“My interest has been piqued.”
“I’m going to ask Mary to be my girlfriend. I mean, officially. I think it’s kind of already assumed, but… you can’t go wrong with a romantic gesture.”
“‘I’m not seeing how I figure into this whole arrangement.”
“Well I want it to be this huge thing. Like huge. Huge.”
“Yeah, huge, I heard you the first time.”
“Huge, Remus. And I need help pulling it off.”
Lily was right, he was interested.
“‘Nuff said, I’m in.”
Lily grins, and Remus wonders if he maybe agreed too quickly.
Somehow, the marauders end up involving themselves. Remus should’ve known better then to trust James with this kind of gossip. James had jumped at the chance to help Lily.
“Even if it helps set her up with someone else?” Remus had asked.
“Look, wolf,” James had said, putting on a voice that Remus guessed was supposed to sound like some wise old man. “Love is a mysterious thing—sometimes you must put aside your own interests for the one you love and hope that they will find their way back to you.” Remus had laughed. It was impossibly not to, with the ridiculous character James was playing, sucking in his lips to make himself seem toothless, hunched over with a hand on his lower back. But the words were still deeply profound, and Remus couldn’t help but admire James for them.
What he definitely wasn’t admiring, though, was the chaos that ensued as soon as the marauders roped themselves into the whole ordeal.
They all go out for drinks to plan—the boys, Dorcas, and Lily. Remus only barely managed to convince Lily to come along—her annoyance with James is no small beast to tame, much like Remus’ with Sirius. But thanks to James’ willingness to back off and help with Mary, Lily is able to be convinced. Remus is glad to have her along, to have someone else sane beside himself to lay witness to the other three boys, whose flame Dorcas only feeds, her love for drama thriving among these three embodiments of the concept themselves.
“What about…” Sirius pauses for effect “drumroll please” James and Peter are quick to oblige, slapping their hands against the table “a flash mob” Sirius declares, looking mighty proud of this idea.
Remus turns to Lily, expecting a loud and very entertaining refusal—Lily, as well as anyone else with taste—hates flash mobs. But Lily is just sitting there with a thoughtful look in her eyes, like she’s actually considering the idea.
“Really, Lily? A flash mob?” Remus questions, more then a little betrayed. Sirius cheered.
“Fuck yes!” Sirius cheers “I’ve always wanted to do a flash mob!”
“Oh god no,” Lily finally speaks up “I’d die before I let that happen. But it did give me an idea.” She says, turning to Sirius. “Does your band have any good music?”
“Christ, Lily, tell me how you really feel.”
Lily rolls her eyes. “I’m asking if you’re any good. I’ve only heard from James and Remus, and they’re both biased in opposite directions so I can’t trust their opinions.”
“We’re exceptional, thank you very much.”
Lily waves him away. “Never mind, actually, I can’t trust your opinion either, don’t know why I asked. Pete, Dorcas, thoughts?”
Pete shrugs. “They’re not bad.”
“Fuck you very much, Pete” Sirius gasps, flipping him double birds.
“We’re pretty good.” Dorcas says. Remus thinks it says a lot about Sirius that Lily will dismiss his opinion but still take Dorcas’ even though she’s in the band as well.
Sirius smiles at her. “You can have Peter’s spot in the group, I don’t want him anymore.”
“I was just being honest!” Peter pipes up in his own defense “I’m not really one for rock n roll, sue me!”
“I might just.” Sirius snaps back.
“Okay, okay, enough.” Remus says. “Lily, what’s this idea of yours?”
“It’s not fully fleshed out yet, but whatever we end up doing, I think it could be fun to bring Sirius’ band into it.”
“Done. We’re in.” Sirius says.
“You don’t want to consult with the rest of the band first?” Remus asks.
“Dorcas?” Sirius asks.
“I’m in.”
“There, happy now?” Remus rolls his eyes.
“Last I checked, you’re not a two man band.”
Sirius waves away his concerns. “It’ll be fine, they’ll want in, trust me.” He turns to Lily. “What’s the vibe? Are we thinking something love dovey and slow, something more high energy? Something jazzy? We’ve never done jazz before but I think we could pull something together.”
“Let me get a read on Mary’s taste and I’ll get back to you on that one.”
Sirius sends her a two finger salute. “Yes ma’am.”
Dorcas stands, brandishing her empty glass. “I’m gonna go get us some more drinks before we get into this—don’t have any fun without me!” She has to climb over Sirius and James’ laps to get out of the booth, but neither she nor the boys seem to mind that. Lily reaches over from where she’s sitting on one end of the booth and slaps her on the ass as soon as Dorcas is out of the both. She turns back to throw Lily a wink, shaking her butt a little bit as she walks away.
Remus, Lily, and Dorcas are the first to arrive. In the woods near their campus, right off a small hiking trail, is an old amphitheater—little more then a wooden stage and some benches—located in a little clearing. This is the location they have selected for Lily’s pseudo-proposal. They start by moving the benches out of the way, making room for all of the blankets and pillows that they have collected to create a small mountain of comfort before the stage, atop a tarp to prevent the blankets from getting dirty. The end result is more of a nest then a traditional picnic setting. Remus thinks it’s lovely.
The boys arrive late and loud, Peter and Sirius lugging boxes and instrument cases, while James leads the charge carrying only a small—but very loud—portable speaker. Even out of breath as they are from the walk combined with the heavy burdens they’re carrying, they still sing along with the music, huffing and puffing the whole way through. They drop their boxes on the stage, pulling from them a collection of music-related equipment and lights—they’ve got what must be a miles worth of fairy lights, several small paper lanterns, and Peter seems to be carrying two tiki torches strapped to his back. Remus should have guessed that they’d go so all out, but he’s still surprised by the amount of effort they seem to be putting into this whole thing. When James had said he’d had some lights he could bring along, Remus hadn’t been expecting this.
Lily takes charge of the boys, bossing them around in a way that Remus didn’t think was possible.
“The tiki torches should go by the stage—no, not that far back—a little to the left—there, perfect. I want fairy lights over the stage—all the way across from that tree to that one.” She says, pointing the trees out.
The boys seem plenty prepared for this, despite not having brought a ladder. Pete grabs one end of a string of lights, and Sirius grabs another. Without speaking to communicate what will follow, James bends down, Sirius climbs onto his shoulders, and and James stands to give Sirius some more height. Peter clambers up the other tree that Lily had indicated, the fairy lights between his teeth.
Remus watches on in silence, extremely entertained by this whole show and the knowledge that something is bound to go wrong.
Sirius reaches upwards, straining to get close enough to the nearest branch so he can wrap the fairy lights around it. He ends up leaning forward a little too much, though, and his weight shifts on James’ shoulders so drastically that he sends the both of them tumbling down to the ground. James hits the ground face first, with Sirius’ legs tangled around his neck still. There’s a moment of silence, and then James lifts his head, grinning despite having just face planted into the forest floor, and everyone—Remus included—busts out laughing. Lily is doubled over, clutching at her stomach, Dorcas is howling with her head thrown back, and Peter is laughing so hard that no noise comes out. His face does turn red, though, and tears stream from his eyes.
James struggles to his feet, brushing dead leaves off his clothes, and then helps Sirius up. The two of them turn to their still captive audience and bow in perfect sync. “We’re here all week!” James declares, laughing. His glasses are skewed to one side of his face. Sirius has leaves in his hair. It’s a whole scene.
“Bravo.” Remus deadpans, clapping slowly.
James bows again. “Encore?” He asks Remus.
“Y’know, for some reason, I don’t think that would be wise?”
“Boss lady says the fairy lights need to go up…”
James bends down again, and Sirius starts to climb right back on.
“Alright alright, lets not get anyone killed today.” Remus interjects. “James, climb on my shoulders—I’m taller anyway, and Sirius wasn’t going to reach anytime soon.”
“Right you are, you giant of a man.” James says. “Sirius, you’re dismissed.” He says this while shooing Sirius away, like he’s some peasant who doesn’t deserve to be in James’ presence. Sirius hangs his head dejectedly, stomping away towards Peter, whose still in his tree, waiting for them to get the other half of the lights up.
Remus crouches down beside the stage, which James scrambles onto, and then practically jumps onto Remus’ back with no warning, climbing up to his shoulders. Remus stumbles forward, barely catching himself.
“Maybe a little caution there, mate?” He asks.
“Sorry boyo.” James says, ruffling Remus’ hair.
“I regret this already.” Remus mumbles, walking over to the tree slowly so that James doesn’t tumble off. As Remus goes to pass the fairy lights off to him, though, James starts fumbling around in his pocket, very nearly falling off.
“Oi, watch it!” Remus grabs James’ legs tighter, holding him in place.
“Sorry, sorry, one sec.” James says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He holds his phone above Remus’ head, and Remus hears the artificial click of a phone camera going off.
“You did not.” Remus groans.
“I absolutely did. Hear that boys?” He turns back to address Sirius and Peter “Mission successful!” The two other boys whoop and holler. James addresses Remus once again, patting him on the head. “We’re all .5’s in each others phones—you’re the only one I didn’t have one of, but you’re a right giant, you are, so I had to get creative.”
“Just put the lights up you idiot.” Remus groans.
“Send that to me!” Lily calls from a little ways away.
“You’re the worst!” Remus calls back at the same time James says “You’ll have to give me your number first!” Remus can practically hear James waggling his eyebrows above him, just like he can hear Lily rolling her eyes.
“Send it to Dorcas and she’ll send it to me!” Lily corrects herself.
“Foiled again.” James mutters, finally getting around to putting the light up.
Lights up at last, James climbs down from Remus shoulder. Sirius is already there to give James a crisp high five. Peter is still in his tree, even though his half of the lights are already up.
“Hey, could someone help me down?” He calls “I think I’m stuck.”
Remus sniggers a little. Pete does look particularly helpless, clinging onto a tree branch for dear life. “I’ll get him.” He says, volunteering himself for the job. “You guys get the instruments set up.” He directs this at everyone else before walking off to rescue Peter, their resident damsel in distress.
By the time everything is set up, Remus is glad they planned for a couple extra hours then he thought was strictly necessarily. He figured if they were a more functional group (I.e. Lacking the disaster duo that was Sirius and James) they could’ve gotten it done in half the time, at least, but oh well. It was done now, and Mary wasn’t due to show up for a while yet, so all Remus had to do now was make himself scarce, along with James and Peter. The rest of the band had shown up—Remus had since discovered their names to be Frank (keyboard) and Marlene (bass)—and were running through some songs, Lily watching on to make sure everything was to her liking.
Remus, although a little sad to miss out on Mary’s reaction to the whole display, left Lily there so that her moment with Mary could be as private as possible. He knew he’d hear everything later, anyway. And, just as expected, he receives a text hours later from Lily, all-caps communicating her excitement.
Lily: SHE SAID YES
Lily: ALSO DON’T COME TO MY DORM FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE HOURS
Lily: ACTUALLY MAYBE NEVER AGAIN—THIS MIGHT BE THE LAST YOU HEAR FROM ME, I’VE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN
Remus smiles at his phone, setting it face down on his bedside table. All gone according to plan.