Comets and Cupids

Every day, Remus woke up in an empty dorm, trained, ate, trained, talked, trained, had dinner, trained, slept in an empty dorm, and trained some more.

The tension was growing as Christmas grew closer, and so did the auditions. The team danced constantly. Remus spent most of his time with Evan and Regulus, they practiced together daily despite being in different Groups. In the evenings, it was a common sight to see Regulus Black on the floor stretching his legs, Evan Rosier draped in ice packs, and Remus Lupin passed out in an armchair.

He had no particular desire to be selected for the Internationals, he believed that there were people who deserved it more than him. However, amidst the craze, he had became pressured into working on the audition solo, and from there he became frantic to perfect it.

He was only a few weeks in, and Christmas was nearly two months away, but the stress levels were off the charts among all of the A’s and B’s alike.

The sudden alteration they made to the audition piece most likely didn’t help matters.

. . .

“But it’s evil, Evan!” Remus exclaimed throwing his hands up.

“It’s not even that bad, Lupin!” Evan defended himself.

“‘Not that bad’?! It’s practically illegal!” Regulus jumped in to Remus’ assistance. He was disappointed in his friend, to say the least. Remus, felt the sudden, yet justified, urge to get up and leave the common room and Evan immediately.

“I will not sit here and receive this hate, just because I like pineapple on pizza!” Evan threw his arms up.

He stalked off in fake agitation while Remus and Regulus booed him away.

Regulus looked around the room cautiously before tilting his head over to Remus, who was lying on the armchair opposite him. “I just don’t get why someone would mix and sweet and a savoury…” He whispered.

Remus bust out laughing, mainly because Regulus was being one hundred percent serious. The terrifying Regulus Black, who he had minorly feared until recently, was not so scary after all. He drank four cups of coffee on mornings if he couldn’t sleep and got stressed over why people-his own best friend, at that-would ever consider putting a fruit on pizza.

Remus and Evan had both heard his opinions. “The Italians would be horrified!” and how Evan’s love for the dish was “Betrayal of the highest form.” Yeah, Regulus Black wasn’t someone to loose sleep over. Unless you were on his bad side.

He had encountered Regulus on his first night, yes, however he had met him almost a week later. Remus had been reading The Pearl, when he noticed Regulus in the corner. He’d approached him and, without meaning to, earned his respect. They’d talked about Mansfield Park, which Regulus was re-reading, and Remus had mentioned that Persuasion was his favourite Jane Austen novel. They had both impressed each other, however unintentional it may have been.

Now Remus roamed the school grounds with Regulus and Evan in his free time, as he spent his class time avoiding the former’s brother.

After Sirius’ warning, Remus would have been a fool to not feel a small speck of fear. Remus no longer tried to ignore Sirius, and Sirius no longer wanted Remus’ attention. When they did lock eyes, it was only death glares and eye rolls between the pair. The fact that he had befriended Sirius’ baby brother-and arch nemesis, according to Reg-probably did not help matters in terms of Remus’ “hiding” from the great wrath of Sirius Black.

He liked Regulus, which was strange, but they weren’t all that different. They had a shared love for reading and they had both grown up in suffocating, ballet-ruled houses. Regulus also spoke ancient Greek which had excited Remus greatly upon discovery, and although Remus knew he would never admit it, Regulus had been equally-if not more-enthusiastic about the newfound knowledge. They passed notes in Greek when they felt like it and Evan pretended he couldn’t understand them.

Remus had leaned a lot about Regulus’ family in the past few days. Most of the information had been from Evan, Regulus didn’t open up easily, Evan had warned him.

His entire family was in the industry, bar one of his cousins called Andromeda that had ran off and married a teacher, as Regulus put it. Evan added that in reality, she had been studying for a teaching degree and they met in college. They were now married with a young daughter.

“You know the Black sisters, right?” Evan inquired.

“Yeah of cour-wait-“ The Black sisters were some of the best and most famous ballerinas in the world. Everyone knew them. Remus felt like an idiot that he hadn’t connected the dots. No wonder Sirius could dance for any ministry he wanted.

“Yep.” Evan said with a smirk. “Reg’s cousins. Narcissa and Bellatrix. So talented they’re terrifying.”

“Jesus,” Remus said, running his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah, and,” Evan began, clearly enjoying this, “His mother was the best ballerina Beauxbatons ever produced. His father was head of the Royal Europe Ballet for a while.”

“Lord, how did I not even know?” He’d had the sons of a world class ballerina and the ex-Minister of Ballet around him without even realising it.

“Who’s the head of the Europe Ballet now?” Remus asked Evan. He probably should’ve known, but when his father wanted to talk ballet Remus droned him out inside his head. He didn’t know ballet the way the other dancers here did. If he had loved ballet, like they did, it might’ve bothered him. He was just thankful he had Evan to fill him in on everything.

It never bothered Evan, Remus knew that. In fact, he believed Evan loved being the one “in the know.” But now, Evan pursed his lips and a way too casual came over his face.

“Uh…last time I checked…” He was fidgeting with the feathers of one of the couch pillows. “It was Bartemius Crouch Senior, I think.”

Oh. So that’s what the issue was. Barty’s father. Remus looked at Evan and his cheeks were red, either from embarrassment or anger, he didn’t know. But in that moment Remus wanted to corner Barty and force him to apologise for what he’d done to Evan. Shutting someone out without a giving them a reason was practically torture.

They continued to talk after that, but Remus could tell that Evan wasn’t really paying attention. His eyes were unfocused. He was somewhere else.

. . .

“I think it will probably be McGonagall judging us.” Lily said.

“Please, I hope not. She’d probably decide none of us are good enough for the World’s.” Mary replied, waving her fork around.

Remus was eating lunch in the Great Hall with the pair and, as everyone was, they were taking about the auditions.

“I don’t think she’s that bad, Mary.” Lily defended.

“She’s not mean, she’s just strict.” Remus added. From what he knew, McGonagall’s bark was worse than her bite.

“Whatever you say…” Mary replied lazily.

The first time he’d met Mary MacDonald, Remus had thought she was the coolest, brightest, most stylish person he had ever encountered. Now that they had formed a friendship, he knew he had been right.

Mary might have known less people in the industry than some, but her sister was still a Hogwarts prodigy and her mother was a choreographer. She saw dance differently from most people, she’d told Remus that it had brought her family together, they’d bonded over a mutual love for the dance.

Yeah, Remus had been next to her and Lily when Horace Slughorn’s voice had projected over the intercom, telling the students to meet at the official stage in one hour.

“THERE WILL BE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AND ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY.”

No one wanted to wait for a whole hour. So within thirty minutes, Remus was standing outside the stage along with most of Group A and Group B.

Regrettably, it was the same stage that Remus had entered the first time he saw Sirius dance. He pushed this to the back of his mind as it made him nervous.

He found Evan-or, Evan found him-and they sat on the floor next to the doors.

“Where’s Regulus?” Remus asked.

“He’s with Pandora, he’ll be here soon.” Regulus spent a lot of his time with Pandora, Evan had told him. After his fight with Sirius, Regulus had shut people out even more than he already did.

Remus surveyed the people waiting. Himself, Evan, Mary, Lily, Dorcas and Emmeline. Two girls were sitting together further down the corridor and although he hadn’t met them he recognised them to be Hestia Jones and Amelia Bones.

He was nervous, like everyone else was. He didn’t exactly know why, but being next to Evan who was continuously tapping his fingers on the floor didn’t help.

James and Sirius arrived, laughing loudly together. James’ glasses were crooked and Sirius had his leather jacket slung across his shoulder.

Sirius’ laughing stopped, however, when he made eye contact with Remus. His face grew into a scowl and he glared at Remus. Remus stared right back with a blank face, holding his chin up a little higher.

When Sirius’ attention was once again captured by a hysterical, oblivious James Potter, Evan turned to Remus.

“Christ, what’s he got on you?!”

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. “Got into a bit of an argument a few days ago. Told me to watch my back or something.”

Evan sat up straight. “Are you trying to tell me you became enemies with Sirius-Fucking-Black and it went under the radar?!”

“It’s not a big deal, Rosier. I’m not scared of some dick who thinks he’s humankind’s personal gift.” He glanced at Evan. “Besides, it wasn’t like I was gonna tell Regulus about it.”

Evan hummed in agreement. “Fair enough. But,” Evan looked at Sirius and Remus followed his gaze. He was standing with his black jacket across his shoulders and one of his boots up against the wall he was leaning on. His hair curled over his collarbone and the silver chain he was wearing dangled in front of his chest when he leaned forward. “If he told you to watch your back, watch it. He might be the prettiest sinner Hogwarts has ever seen, but also the most dangerous.”

Evan turned the conversation back to the announcement, but Remus was only half listening. He couldn’t take his eyes off Sirius Black.

Barty Crouch Jr arrived a few minutes later, and slumped down well away from the rest of the group. He was wearing a green turtleneck that complimented his cheekbones. His brown eyes were unfocused, as always, and he fiddled with the rings on his fingers. Even the careless Barty Crouch Jr was nervous, it seemed.

At exactly two O’Clock, the doors to the stage opened. Already inside, stood Ms McGonagall, Horace Slughorn and the Assistant Head Choreographer, who Remus had learned took care of most of the B’s dances, apart from four of their fifteen classes in a week, when Slughorn took over. For the other eleven classes, the B’s had Mr Frank Longbottom as choreographer.

“Many of you are probably wondering why we have summoned you here.” McGonagall began.

“As we are aware, the auditions for the International Academy Championship are drawing closer. However, we still have nearly two and a half months until they are to be held.

“For this reason, Mr Dumbledore has deemed it okay to, change, the dance.” Remus got to impression that McGonagall did not agree with Dumbledore.

“How will it be changed, Miss?” Lily dared to ask.

McGonagall sighed. The tension in the room was growing. A complete silence had taken over the stage, and even the slightest creak of a floorboard echoed through the theatre.

McGonagall clasped her hands together in front of herself, then faced the group.

“The dance is no longer a solo. You will be performing a duet.”

The group erupted. Shouts came from everywhere.

“What the hell, a duet?!”

“Who are we paired with?!”

“Will A’s and B’s be mixed?!”

“Who the hell put this into place?!” Remus heard Evan shout from his side.

McGonagall clapped her hands once and the room was immediately silent.

“I know this is very sudden for you all…” She looked very tired and her face was even more wrinkled than usual from stress. “However, if any of you have any further questions…” She looked around. “Please consult Mr Slughorn.” She finished before darting from the room.

Slughorn looked at the fuming dancers with wide eyes. He looked terrified.

“Alright, alright. Calm down everyone.” He said after the talking resumed. “In terms of groups, you will be mixed. Your partners have not been confirmed yet, but will be three days from now.”

“And how the fuck are we supposed to be graded?” Regulus spat. Any other student wouldn’t have gotten away with speaking to an official like that, but Regulus was enraged and Slughorn was eyeing the barre by the door.

“You will perform in pairs but you will be graded separately.”

Remus rolled his eyes. All the shit that had went down at Hogwarts, and the staff didn’t think putting them in pairs and forcing them to compete wasn’t a bad idea.

“You can find me in my office if you have any more inquiries.” Slughorn finished before making his exit. The group shouted their questions after him but he ignored them.

They went to classes the next days as usual. Group A was focused and performed at their best, and Evan had told Remus things in Group B were the same.

“I’ve heard rumours everyone is trying to get paired with Sirius.” Evan whispered.

“I doubt everyone is.” Remus retorted. He definitely wasn’t, anyway.

Evan rolled his eyes. “Even if you hate him, he’s still one of the world’s best dancers, at only seventeen. Everyone knows him.”

“I didn’t know who he was.” Remus defended.

“Okay, well everyone who didn’t live under a rock for their whole life.”

Remus just scoffed and returned to practicing on the barre.

“I don’t get why everybody likes him so much.” Remus said suddenly a while later.

Evan had been lying on the floor but he sat up and looked at Remus.

“Well, he has everything, doesn’t he?” Evan said, like it was obvious. “He’s talented, charming, he’s got the looks. A bit dangerous, if that’s what you go for.”

“Uh…I don’t go for…you know.” Remus felt his cheeks burn.

“Oh! I mean…it wasn’t aimed or anything, just-in general.” Evan looked surprised but proceeded to lie back down and close his eyes.

Remus felt shaky for a while after it. It was the first time someone had assumed that he liked…boys. He wasn’t used to it. He felt offended by it, even though he knew he shouldn’t be. But it was just how he was raised. He didn’t like to think about that a lot.

. . .

“I swear, I’m going to be paired with some incompetent asshole and then I won’t get chosen.”

Dorcas was exasperated. Remus was listening to her fuming about the duets in Studio C. The studio was mostly used for training now that the auditions were closing in.

“Oh yeah, because you’re so brilliant the only possible reason you might not be picked is the other person’s fault.” Regulus shot back.

“Well, if I’m paired with you, I think we’ll know the answer.”

They were only bickering, everyone knew it. The pair were some of the best, and most respected dancers in Hogwarts. They knew it themselves, too.

“What about you Lupin? Anyone you’re hoping to be paired with?” Pandora asked him.

Well. Was “anyone but Sirius Black” an option? He doubted it. Anyway, James Potter was on the benches beside them, half in and half out of the conversation. It was probably difficult for him, when he had so many mutual friends with Regulus. After the drama with Sirius, Remus assumed the two would hate each other. Regulus did, most likely, but James Potter didn’t have a hateful bone in his body.

He’d also like to be paired with Evan, but he didn’t want to admit that. Evan would probably want to be paired with Regulus, and they were probably Remus’ best friends here. There was James, too, but he would obviously favour Sirius.

“No, not really, I suppose.” Remus just laughed it off.

The conversation changed to Pandora and her art that she’d been working on. Remus sweared that she had a new hobby every day. Art seemed to be a reoccurring one, however. She was a designer, after all.

“So, the names will be out tomorrow.” Evan called from the floor. He was lying upside down with his legs on the bench.

“Yeah, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.” Dorcas said nervously.

Evan kicked his legs against the wall and sprung up from his odd position. He had a grin on his face. “Thats exactly along the lines I was thinking.” He clapped his hands together and Remus heard Regulus groan. “How about. We go out. And get hammered?” He smiled innocently.

A chorus of complaints came from the group. Remus stayed silent. It sounded like a great idea to him.

“That’s the opposite of what we should do.” Regulus spoke.

“Oh come on. This could be our last night of freedom. After this, we will have to work day and night until the auditions. And it won’t end there. The stress will always be there. After the World’s we have to choose a company. I’m asking for one night where we can just let loose, and be normal teenagers, for once.”

Remus had to give it to him, the boy could act. All those nobility statements because Evan wanted party. Fair enough.

“Well I don’t buy a word of it, but whatever. Let’s do it.” Regulus gave in.

“Agreed.” James smiled and Regulus shot him a look.

“One condition. We go to Marlene’s bar.” Dorcas said.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, my good friend.” Dorcas rolled her eyes and shoved him on her way out to go “spread the word” with Pandora.

Remus walked back to the dorms alone, actually looking forward to getting absolutely pissed.

. . .

“Evan, hurry up!”

Remus and Regulus had been waiting in the common room for twenty minutes while Evan was up in his and Reg’s dormitory getting ready.

He hadn’t minded talking to Regulus about books for the first while, but they were meeting at eight and it was already ten past.

“Evan Rosier, the only person to ever set the time for a party and show up late.” Regulus observed. Remus laughed in agreement.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Evan screamed as the ran down the stairs, skipping the last few and crashing his feet into the ground. He held out his arms. “Opinions on the outfit?” He spun around slowly.

“God, you love yourself.” Regulus rolled his eyes.

Evan put a hand to his chest in mock shock. He did look great though. Remus had found that Evan took great pride in his clothing, and he didn’t disappoint himself tonight.

He had an odd style, but Remus couldn’t really imagine him wearing anything else. He was wearing blue drainpipe jeans and a white daisy-print tank top. He had scruffy airforces on his feet and a wide range of clips in his hair. Remus saw daisy clips to match his top-he assumed-and rose clips, because well, Rosier.

“Coming from the king of narcissism himself.” Evan retorted.

“You look positively wonderful, Evan. But perhaps you could flaunt your looks somewhere else? We’re already like fifteen minutes late.” Remus checked his watch.

“Oh shit!” Evan shouted. For some reason, he seemed to think it was a good idea to bolt out the door and leave his friends staring at each other, extremely confused.

By the time Remus and Regulus had arrived-they had walked down, like normal people-the bar was packed with people. A lot of them, Remus didn’t recognise and he assumed the bar hadn’t closed yet.

“People actually come here even if they don’t go to the school?” Remus asked Regulus.

“Yeah. I mean it’s mainly people from the Groups or the company, the rest of the school is too young, of course.” He replied.

“Well, technically, we are too.” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“Lies.” Regulus sniffed and then made beeline for the bar.

Remus would’ve followed him if James Potter had not crashed into him.

“Remus!” He called, absolutely delighted. “Late again, we need to get you a watch.”

Remus couldn’t tell if he was drunk or simply just…James. “Don’t blame me, Evan’s the one that needed half an hour to secure his hair clips.”

Looking around, he could see Evan in the crowd, dancing with Lily, beer in hand.

James laughed. “Well, enjoy the night out. Tomorrow we work!” He waved his hands around in front of himself and Remus got the impression he might break into a tango. He did not, in fact, and Remus was grateful. He strutted away and Remus walked over to the bar.

“Hey Marls.” He greeted, taking a seat beside Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones.

“Hiya Remus. How are you?” Marlene replied. They’d grown a certain bond after the first time he met her. Remus made it a priority to try and come down to the bar when it was empty and Marls made an effort to go and talk to him during her breaks.

“Well honestly, kinda shit.” He laughed. “I mean, I was great till Hogwarts decided it would be fun to change not only the dance but the literal style of the dance.” He complained.

“Yeah. And especially after we slaved away for weeks trying to perfect it.” Emmeline turned to him.

“Exactly! Almost everyone had it learned and perfected.” Remus responded.

“I swear they did it on purpose.” She shook her head.

Almost as an afterthought, she stuck out her hand. “Emmeline Vance. This is Hestia Jones.” He shook her hand then offered his own to Hestia.

“Remus Lupin.”

She smiled. “They new guy, right?”

“Ah, he’s. My alter ego.” He was becoming used to being an outsider among the group. Coming years after everyone else had had more of an impact than he’d expected. In fairness, the group never tried to exclude him at Hogwarts. He liked the people here, definitely.

Emmeline laughed. “Well it’s very nice to meet you, New Guy.”

“The pleasure is mine m’ladies.” He nodded at the girls as he mocked the accent that all of his father’s friends flaunted.

He enjoyed talking to the girls for a while. Hestia was a patron’s daughter and Emmeline came from a long line of ballet music composers.

“I lacked musical talent and my parents were so ashamed they stuck me into dance to cover it up.” She said, sipping from her drink.

“Well, if your here it must’ve been the right call.” Remus reasoned.

“Wow, you’re more positive than you look.” He would’ve been offended, probably, if he wasn’t three drinks into his night already.

Eventually the girls were whisked away by Pandora and Amelia Bones, who Remus had properly introduced himself to. Apparently her family were some of the richest people in Britain, but that was coming from Evan.

He was heading back over to James as he couldn’t locate anyone else. When in doubt, look for James Potter. It applied to almost any situation, Remus thought.

He was about ten feet away when he realised James was with Sirius Black.

He tried to back away quickly-he’d been doing his best to subtly avoid Sirius-but they made eye contact, and Remus wasn’t going to look away first. He stood still with everyone dancing and shouting around him, staring daggers at Sirius Black, and receiving the same look.

Without breaking eye contact, Sirius flipped the lid of his beer and took a long drink from it. The coloured lights in the room danced off his rings as he removed the beer from his mouth, holding the bottle in front of his chest. All while his ice blue eyes stayed concentrated on Remus.

Suddenly, Remus felt faint and turned around, looking away from Sirius. He stumbled over the bar and looked for Marlene.

“Is there somewhere I can go for some fresh air?” He asked breathlessly.

A minute later he was walking out the fire exit door at the back of the room. The bar was on the first floor, so he found himself on a large patio staring at acres upon acres of grass and trees. It had a beautiful landscape, Hogwarts did.

“Boo.” Remus genuinely gasped in shock and he spun around to see Evan leaning against the stone wall and a cigarette between his lips.

Remus was about to curse him but he immediately saw that something was off. He was quieter than usual and his entire demeanour was deflated.

Instead he asked for a cigarette.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He looked at him.

“No.”

They stood in silence while, smoking while Remus’ heart rate slowed down and the image of an enraged Sirius Black began to fade from his memory.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” Remus said. It wasn’t very common among dancers, of course.

“I don’t.” He said, as he light his cigarette. He raised his eyebrows and smiled sadly. Remus could tell something was bothering him but he didn’t interrogate him about it. Evan was one of his closest friends, but Remus was still new here and he didn’t want to cross any boundaries.

They remained in a comfortable silence for another while, taking drags of the cigarettes and blowing the smoke out into the cold air. It calmed Remus’ nerves and he began to relax.

“Have you ever felt what it’s like to loose the person closest to you?” Evan spoke up.

“No…” He’d never had someone close enough to him to consider them a friend. Enough that watching them go down a separate path to his own would’ve hurt him, rather than just inconveniencing him. “I’ve never had someone close.” He told Evan.

“Well count yourself lucky, because they ruin everything.” He stubbed his cigarette against the wall.

He let the statement linger for a while as he didn’t know how to react. “Is this about Barty?” Remus dared to ask eventually.

“He’s inside.” He motioned to the door. “I hate seeing him. All the time, I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate.” He rain his hands through his hair and ended up tearing his clips out. They fell to the floor and snapped in two.

Remus laid a hand on his shoulder. He’d never been good at comforting people. “Can I ask you what happened?”

“He broke my heart.” Evan shrugged but his eyes were watering.

“You loved him?” Remus asked, shocked. He’d never heard of people his age falling into love, only in books.

“Still do.” He wiped his eyes. “But it doesn’t matter. He never felt the same way.”

He looked at the ground. “I-this is stupid-I don’t even care anymore.”

Remus knew it was a lie but he played along for his sake.

“Of course not.” He began picking up the clips off the floor. Only a few had been damaged. “But if you ever did care…hypothetically, that is…you could always talk to me.”

Evan smiled at him through wet eyelashes. He took the clips from Remus’ hand. “Hypothetically, I think I would. And hypothetically, I’d be very thankful to have a friend like you, Remus Lupin.”

He turned to go back inside but paused. “What were you doing out here anyway?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “I pissed off Sirius Black again.” He did not want to talk about it.

Evan must have sensed it. “‘Nuff said.” He replied before disappearing through the door.

He looked around, at the fields of land and the scenery. It was truly magnificent. He was starting to understand why Evan loved it so much-the school, not the ballet. If he could stay here forever, he would. He never wanted to leave this spot. However, he eventually finished off his cigarette and headed back inside.

Sirius was nowhere to be seen and Remus was extremely grateful of it. Walked over to Marlene and hopped behind the bar.

“And what exactly do you think you’re doing, Lupin?” She said teasingly.

“Helping you, of course.” He walked past her and started looking at the line of beer and alcohol cans beneath the bar counter.

“Playing bartender, are we?” She crossed her arms and leaned against wine rack.

“Not just playing, perfecting.” He retaliated, crossing his arms and mirroring her body language.

“Doubt it.” She smirked as she walked past him and took a strangers order. “Why don’t you go have some fun, Remus?! She asked seriously as she began mixing drinks in a glass. She worked at an alarmingly fast rate, not even looking at the bottles.

“I’ve had my fun. Believe me, it’s overrated.” He walked over to someone at the end of the bar. “What can I get for you?” The girl gave him her order and she assured her it was coming right up.

He went to get a glass and motioned to Marlene. “What the fuck is a Fish House Punch?”

From then on he was assigned to handling the beer orders, and nothing more.

He was talking to Mary at the bar when he saw Evan in one of the booths. He was smiling and laughing with a boy Remus didn’t recognise. He saw Evan playfully pushing him and it took a while for it to occur that they were flirting.

It came as a shock, given Evan’s state less than an hour ago. Although he knew it was none of his business, after all it had been six months since Evan and Barty…broke up? He wasn’t sure what relationship status they’d had at the time. Anyway, it wasn’t entirely crazy that Evan might start dating again.

The boy he was with had dark hair and blue eyes, and broad shoulders that very few Hogwarts dancers had. It was uncommon among ballet dancers.

Remus smiled to himself when he saw the boy pick up the flower clips from the table and started placing them in Evan’s hair teasingly. Evan tried to ward him off as he laughed but his efforts were in vain.

The smile disappeared and Remus’ stomach dropped he saw the figure of Barty Crouch Jr himself watching the pair from the opposite side of the room.

Barty looked dishevelled, as usual. He had a vodka bottle in his hand and at least three stranger girls had swarmed him, stroking his shoulders and playing with his shirt collar. Barty seemed not to notice them. His glare was on Evan and the boy in the booth.

His stare only flickered when Evan took the bottle of beer from the boy’s hand and bringing it up to his own mouth, taking several gulps and then handing it back to the boy. Evan was smirking with squinted eyes and the boy looked absolutely bewildered.

Suddenly, Barty jumped up from his seat and the girls all stumbled backwards, but he paid them no attention. He quickly walked to the exit and disappeared.

Remus didn’t know how to comprehend the situation. A large part of him wished he’d never witnessed it. Damn his observant mind, anyway.

He stood there for a while, unsure of whether or not he should tell anyone. Even if he did, he wouldn’t know what to say.

The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself it was nothing to worry about. Ok, Barty was pissed that Evan was flirting, it didn’t necessarily mean he was jealous. He could have been mad that Evan was happy? Yeah, that fit the evil persona everyone had painted Barty to have.

So he told no one, even thought deep down he knew there was more to it than what he had made himself believe. It was selfish, but he just didn’t have time for other people’s problems right now.

. . .

The next day, everyone was up and awake, waiting outside the stage doors at eight o’clock. That was the time they’d been given by Slughorn.

When the doors opened, people began pushing to get inside. Remus felt himself being shoved in every direction and he heard James yell that he’d lost his glasses.

They grouped together eventually, huddling together in a large group. Slughorn and Frank Longbottom were standing there like the previous time, except Slughorn had a piece of paper in his hands.

“Alright everyone. Calm down and no taking please.” He said, despite the fact that the room was dead silent.

Remus was nervous. Extremely nervous. He could feel his heart beating in his chest and he assumed everyone else could hear it too.

He scanned the crowd and saw James had found his glasses. Evan was near Remus with his fingers crossed behind his back. Regulus was twisting his rings on his fingers, a clear sign that he was nervous. Lily was biting her nails and Mary kept tapping her foot.

Slughorn cleared his throat. “The pairs for the duet are the following…”