1972, Year Two, Part 2
1972, Year Two, Part 2
Remus wraps his wool coat around himself tightly, listening to Lily complain at him. “Why did you have to drag me along too?” she whined. “They’re your friends.”
“Kind of your friends too.” Lily raised her eyebrow at him. “They dragged me along and Peter’s got a cold, I wanted company.” Remus watched as the team filled out onto the field, Rowan had invited the two to stand on the pitch for practice, he had given Remus that same smile again that made his stomach funny.
“Mm. Fine. Good thing you’re cute.”
Remus blinked and his head snapped to stare at her. “What?”
“I’m kidding, Rem. God, you boys,” she sighed.
He stuck his tongue out at her. “How was your summer? You haven’t told me yet.”
Lily groaned loudly. “I had to spend it with my blasted sister, how do you think?”
“Not well?"
“Horrible. She’s awful, always complaining and messing with things. She stole my dress! And ruined it!”
“I’m so glad I don’t have any siblings,” Remus hummed. “You make it sound so fun.”
“I almost ripped her hair out.”
Remus blanched. “Why?”
Lily shrugged. “Who can remember?”
“Who can remember?” Remus squeaked. “I would hope you would!”
Lily smirked and shrugged again.
Over the course of the practice the team was run almost ragged with drills, the seeker crashed into the mud chasing after the snitch. Several other members were covered in dirt as well- including Sirius who was knocked off his broom by a practice bludger. Rowan Otters walked up to Remus and Lily, casting his smile at them. “You came. And you brought a friend. Nice to meet you,” Rowan said, reaching out his hand to shake hers.
Lily smiled and seemed to turn red. “Hi.”
“Hi. Remus, did you come for a lesson?” he hummed.
“Lesson?” Lily asked.
“Oh, well, I- I don’t know how to fly and Otters offered to teach me.”
“I want to see that,” Lily teased.
“Evil woman,” Remus muttered. “Uh, not- not today. I have an early class.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. But, um, we can plan for another time?”
Rowan smiled and chuckled. “Sure, you know where to find me.” He walked off to the team changing rooms.
“He is so cute!” Lily squealed, shaking Remus’ arm. “You have to tell me everything about him.”
Remus rolled his eyes and pulled up his coat collar to cover his cheeks. “I really don’t know anything.”
~.~
James leaned over to Remus during charms class. “Hey, Re, why’d you bring Lily to our practice?”
Remus shrugged. “Peter’s sick and I wanted company. Is that okay?”
“That’s the only reason?” James pressed.
“Yes? Why?”
“Well, it’s just you two spend a lot of time together.”
“Yes. Because we’re friends,” Remus said, scrunching his eyebrows together at James. “What are you getting at?”
“You fancy her?” James cooed.
“What?!” Remus squeaked. “No, I don’t, we’re just friends.”
“I saw you blushing with her after practice.”
He rolled his eyes at James. “It was cold.”
“Mhm. You have a crush,” James said in a sing-song voice.
“Ew. No, I don’t. Bugger off, James.”
“Yeah. You can’t fool me.”
Remus shoved him in the shoulder. “Shut up.”
“Boys!” Professor Flitwick interrupted. “No fighting in my classroom.”
“Yes, sir,” Remus and James said in unison.
“This is not over,” James whispered.
“Yes, it is.”
~.~
Remus was lying on his stomach in the common room, soaking up the warmth from the fireplace. Lily and Mary were sitting with him. Mary was absently braiding small sections of Remus’ curls as much as she could.
“Seriously, you have such pretty hair,” she hummed at him. “It’s so soft.”
“Is that why you’re trying to rip it out?” Remus grumbled.
“Please, you’re such a baby. My mom would yank my hair as tight as she could.” Mary pulled on one of her braids. It was a stark contrast to her large kinky curls from last year. “My scalp felt like it was on fire for a week.”
“Jesus, that sounds awful.”
“Yeah, but now I have pretty braids.” She shrugged, pulling Remus’ short curls into tight braids.
“Ow! Okay, done with the braids. Take them out, please.”
“Ugh, boys are so sensitive,” Mary said to Lily, causing her to look up from her book.
“You’re surprised?”
“No.” Mary started to undo the braids in Remus’ hair. Marlene came and sat down the three of them. “Hey, Marls, I haven’t seen you out of our room in a bit.”
“Yeah, just haven’t been feeling up to it,” she sighed.
Remus propped himself up on his elbows, his curiosity piquing. “What’s going on?” Lily asked softly.
“Crappy summer. A lot happened.” Marlene worried at her lip. “My- my dad passed away this summer. It’s just me and mum now,” she muttered. Remus’ eyebrows went up. Marlene hugged her knees, tucking her hands in her sleeves, her eyebrows were pulled together and her lip stuck out in a frown. “He had a stroke, no one saw it coming and the doctors- the doctors couldn’t do anything. He- he said he was feeling numb and that he had a headache and then suddenly he just dropped,” Marlene’s voice started to trail off into a whimper. It seemed once she started talking, she couldn’t stop. Tears built in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks.
Remus looked away from her crying face. “I’m sorry, Marlene,” he offered.
Lily and Mary moved to hug Marlene, muttering condolences, and words of comfort. Remus stared at the carpeted floor. Marlene sniffled and cried quietly, he tried not to bring attention to the scene, throwing a piece of wood into the fire. Mary pet Marlene’s hair muttering something about how it will get better eventually. Remus glanced over at them, announcing he would be back soon before running off to his dorm. He went through his bedside table, grabbing one of the few chocolate bars his mother had sent him with, and turned back down the stairs. He handed the chocolate to Marlene.
She stopped sniffling if only for a moment to stare up at Remus confused. “Thank you?”
Remus gave her a pursed lip smile and nodded. “Let’s go to our room,” Mary hummed, helping Marlene to her feet. The three girls started walking away from Remus.
“Why did he give me chocolate?” Marlene muttered as she walked away.
Remus cringed. Maybe that wasn’t the right choice. He found Sirius and James playing chess on the other end of the common room. He pulled out a chair to watch them play. “What happened to your girlfriends?” Sirius hummed, taking one of James’ pawns.
“Excuse me?” Remus huffed.
“The girls. They were all over you.”
“Yeah. Didn’t I see Mary braiding your hair?” James teased. “First Lily, now this?”
“You like Evans?” Sirius finally looked at Remus.
“No! Will you let that up? I don’t like Lily, we’re just friends.”
“We’re your friends, what do you need the girls for?” Sirius questioned.
Remus rolled his eyes, sinking down into his chair. “For one, Lily and Mary are both from muggle families. And they’re just different. I am allowed to have other friends than you two and Peter, you know? You have other friends, right?”
Sirius clicked his jaw, avoiding Remus’ eyes. He made a move on the board, taking James’ king. He muttered something Remus didn’t catch, stood up, and stomped off in the direction of the dorm. Remus sunk down further, frowning. He kept doing the wrong thing today apparently.
James and Remus spent the rest of the afternoon playing chess. Remus won two games. James won five. Remus wasn’t paying attention. He thought about Marlene and Sirius. The look on Sirius’ face when he walked away. His mouth was pulled down in a frown, his sharp eyes barely sparing Remus a glance as he left the table. The way Marlene looked at Remus confused when he handed her a chocolate bar. She was so distraught over her father, and all he could do was hand her a chocolate bar. He couldn’t do anything. How was he supposed to make her feel better about something so horrible?
When dinner came around Marlene and Mary were nowhere to be seen. Sirius only exchanged small talk with Remus. He hummed, there was meatloaf on his plate. He pushed it around in a pile of gravy. Lily was talking with some of the other girls, who shooed Remus away for ‘private conversation’. The boys went back to their dorms, Sirius undoing his tie almost immediately.
Remus hummed. “You know what? We need a new prank.”
Sirius perked up at that. “You have something in mind?”
“Not yet. We need to plan it.” Remus put one of his records on at a low volume. “So?
“So?”
“Are we going to plan it?”
Sirius smiled, sitting on the floor and inviting the other three boys to sit with him while they planned. “We need to pull it on Slytherin.”
“Should we get Regulus in on it? Man on the inside?” James suggested.
Sirius glowered at him, his eyes turning dark. “He wouldn’t want to.”
James stared at Sirius, pursed his lips, and leaned back on his hands. Remus looked down at the floor. Peter was the first to speak up, “So, what kind of prank do you want to do? Does it have to be on Slytherin?”
Sirius hummed. “Maybe not. What about the girls?”
Remus groaned. “Which girls?”
“Oh, don’t worry, we won’t bother your lovers,” Sirius teased.
Remus narrowed his eyes. “I will kill you; I know where you sleep.”
Sirius smirked. “Or we could just prank moody.”
“Moody?”
James laughed into his hand. “I mean, you can be pretty moody in the mornings.”
Remus gave James a hard shove. He laughed and pushed Remus back. The two kept playfully shoving each other back and forth until James tackled Remus. He laughed loudly and shoved James off. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“See what I said about being moody?” Sirius tisked.
~.~
Remus had rarely seen Sirius and his brother together. The few times he had the two separated before anyone could approach them. Sirius often came back from their conversations sullen or sour. The one day he did he had wished he could have sunk into the ground. Remus and Sirius were walking outside in between their classes. Sirius seemed to narrow in on someone in the distance, Remus followed his eyes, spotting Regulus with two other boys. He tried to recall their names from the Sorting ceremony, his mind coming up blank. Remus watched Sirius’ face; his expression held in a careful neutrality. Sirius’ eyebrows barely moved together; the corners of his mouth turned down ever so slightly. He didn’t seem to notice Remus studying him, his eyes trained on the little brother that was walking towards them.
Regulus held a similar expression to Sirius, except his eyes were softer. “Sirius.”
“Reggie.”
The softness in Regulus’ eyes dissipated, replaced with a scowl. “Don’t call me Reggie,” he scoffed. “Have you gotten any letters from Mother lately?”
Sirius watched Regulus carefully. “Not really. Why?” His voice dipped lower when he asked why.
“Maman m'a envoyé une lettre. Elle m'a félicité... et m'a demandé qui son tes amis.” Regulus’ careful expression cracked; his eyes trailed downwards in guilt. Remus caught the word, Maman; he was fairly sure that meant Mom. Regulus shifted his weight while he waited for Sirius to process the information.
Sirius’ eyes turned into pools of stormy grey, his eyebrows scrunching together. His jaw clicked and he breathed harshly through his nose. “Qu’est ce que vous la dit?” he finally said.
“Rien pour le moment.”
“Say whatever you want,” Sirius sighed. “Come on, Rem.” He tugged at Remus’ sleeve, pulling him away from his little brother.
“Sirius, don’t you think you should stay?” Remus asked tentatively. “I can leave you to talk with Regulus if you want.”
“Did I say I wanted to be left alone to talk with my brother?”
“No, but-”
“Then I don’t want to talk to him,” Sirius snapped. “Stay out of it.”
Remus shrunk back and Sirius let go of his sleeve. “Fine. I’ll stay out of it.”
Sirius scanned Remus’ face, taking in the slight pout that came with his harsh tone. “Good. Thank you.”
~.~
Remus burst into his room after overhearing the girls talking. “You three are helping me with a party.”
Sirius looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow, James and Peter both glanced up from their chess game. “Party for who?” Sirius asked.
“Marlene. Her birthday is in a couple days.”
“You want to throw her a party?” James questioned.
“Yes. And you guys are going to help me.”
“Why do you want to throw her a party?” Peter hummed, turning back to his game.
“Because. She’s my friend and she would enjoy it. Are you going to help me or not?”
“Yeah, we’ll help you impress her,” Sirius teased.
~.~
Remus had also recruited the help of Mary and Lily for the planning. They had made pink streamers, apparently Marlene’s favourite colour was pink, they had gotten some of her favourite foods by bribing the kitchen staff, Remus played the records he thought Marlene would like, Lily added some albums from her own collection, and Remus managed to charm some paper cranes to fly around the room.
“This is really sweet of you,” Lily told Remus as he charmed a few more cranes and let them loose. Mary was off distracting Marlene until it was time for the party.
Remus shrugged. “I just wanted to make her happy, after what happened over the summer.”
Lily smiled at him. “Awe, that’s so sweet. Marlene’s lucky to have a friend like you.”
Remus gave her a confused look. “I’m your friend too, you know?”
“I know.” Lily squeezed his shoulder. “Marlene is going to get here soon.”
Mary walked in with Marlene, as soon as they did the room shouted happy birthday. She jumped back with a gasp, looking around and taking in the room. “Holy-” Marlene squealed. “Thank you!”
The music started up and soon people were dancing and talking around the room. Remus found himself on the couch with a few boys he hadn’t spent much time with yet. He chuckled as they watched James dance horribly. Remus spotted Marlene with Lily who pointed over at him, Marlene looked over at Remus. He awkwardly gave a little wave and a smile.
Marlene made her way over to Remus and grabbed his hand. “Come on, can we dance?”
Remus blinked at her and looked between her hand and her face. “Uh, sure. See you, mates.” He got up and followed her, someone changed the music to a slower album. Remus waited until Marlene gave him direction, she grabbed his hands and they started to dance. “Why’d you want to dance with me?”
“Lily told me this was your idea,” Marlene hummed. “You planned a whole birthday for me.”
“Yeah. Well, you know, I thought you would- I thought you would like it,” he muttered. “I wanted to cheer you up.”
“It worked. Thank you.” Marlene leaned up and kissed Remus’ cheek. He froze, staring at he while his cheeks started to turn red. Marlene cackled when she saw his face. “You look terrified. Don’t worry, that was just as friends.”
Remus nodded with burning cheeks. Sirius spotted the two and started walking over. “Not your girlfriend, eh?”
“Shut up.”
“Awe, you’ll make me feel bad like that,” Marlene teases. “Hey, Sirius. How’s Quidditch?”
“It’s fine.” Sirius smiled politely, moving next to Remus.
“Your brother keeps outflying him,” Remus said.
Marlene laughed. “I can teach you how to show him up,” she offered. Sirius’ eyes lit up. “I take that as a yes?”
“Yes. Obviously.” Remus smiled and watched the two excitedly talk, Marlene using her hands to explain different flying strategies, most of it sounded insane to Remus. The fact they felt comfortable hurtling through the air on a stick was terrifying.
Eventually the party started to die down. Remus crashed onto his bed, still wearing his jumper and slacks. He faintly heard the other boys getting ready for bed and blowing out the candles in the room. Someone shook Remus’ shoulder several minutes later. “Rem, you should get on your pajamas.”
“No, bugger off,” he mutters. The bed dipped beside Remus, and he cracked his eye open to look up at James. “It’s late.”
“Yep. The party was a good idea. Heard from Marlene’s brother what happened over the summer.”
“Yeah.” Remus sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Sounds like everyone had an eventful summer.”
“Did you?”
“Maybe.” James got himself comfortable on the bed, waiting for Remus to tell him more. He sighed and started recounting what had happened with his mother. He leaned on James while he talked. A smile found its way onto his face when he started talking about Miss Direction. “You should have seen her and her friends, James. They all looked amazing.”
“I think you’re in love,” James laughed.
“I think you’re right.”
“So... they can just dress up as a girl? For fun?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I think they also put on shows.”
“That sounds... actually really cool,” James hummed, leaning his head on Remus’. “I would watch a show by Miss Direction. She seems amazing.”
“She was.”