Blackmail
21st February 1978
Solana woke up with a smile on her face for the first time in months, she looked over at Antonin who was still asleep, she stroked his hair away from his eyes, her wrists had a ring of burn on each of them but it was only noticeable if you looked properly.
He stirred awake, opening one eye and smiling at her.
“Morning,” she said, kissing his shoulder.
“Did you have a good night?” he asked, circling his finger against her shoulder blade.
She nodded. “I did,”
“I’m glad,” he said, kissing her temple, he sat up, stretching. “You have a leaf,”
She touched her hair, pulling out a golden crumbled leaf. She groaned looking at the time, “I have to go, got to do a session with Lupin.”
“But you went yesterday,” he muttered.
“He said he’s going to miss Thursday’s session and he can’t do it on Friday, so I have to make it up now,”
Antonin frowned, holding her closer, “Stay with me,”
“I can’t,” she sighed, “I’m going to get breakfast, then go,”
He groaned into her chest, “I want to stay like this forever,”
She stroked his hair, “I’ll be an hour and a half max, then we can stay in bed for the rest of the day,”
“Promise?” he breathed as he kissed her neck.
“Promise, now I have to go,” she laughed, pulling away and grabbing her uniform. She gave him a kiss goodbye before she left.
“I love you,” he called out.
“I love you too,” she replied back.
She entered the common room and saw Alecto sitting on the sofa.
“Morning,” Solana said, happily.
Alecto furrowed her brows, “You’re very happy this morning,”
She shrugged in response, “It’s a good morning,”
“Glad you feel that way,” Alecto laughed.
“I’m going to get some breakfast, you wanna come?”
She shook her head. “You’re okay, I’ve got loads of homework to catch up on,”
Solana nodded, “If you change your mind you know where I am,” she left the common room and headed up to the Great hall.
She sat down away from the rest of the students on her table and began buttering her toast as someone sat opposite her.
“I need to talk to you,” Dorcas said, her voice timid as she looked at her. “Just– what you saw, me and Marlene– It wasn’t– I mean–” she took in a deep breath, “I don’t have any money and I just can’t let anyone find out– I dunno, I can do your homework for the rest of term–”
“Wait, do you think I’m going to blackmail you?” Solana cut her off, furrowing her brows.
“Umm, yes?” Dorcas said, like a question.
“Meadowes, I have no interest in telling anyone what I saw, and if anything I completely forgot about it until now,”
“You did?”
Solana looked over at the Gryffindor table, Marlene was watching them, along with Sirius.
“You speak to Sirius a lot?” Solana asked.
Dorcas turned around and nodded. “Uh, yeah, we’re friends.”
Solana nodded, “He doesn’t like me that much, and has probably said all this shit to make you scared about me, but just so you know, I’m not going to tell anyone, your secret is safe with me,”
Dorcas let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Just maybe don’t make out in corridors, that’s how people find out,” Solana shook her head.
“Noted,” Dorcas grinned, “And thanks again, not a lot of people would keep that to themselves.”
Solana gave her a small smile. “I’d hate for someone to tell my secrets so why would I tell someone else’s,”
“Again a lot of people wouldn’t do that,” Dorcas smiled, she pulled a loose thread from her jumper.
Solana shrugged, “A lot of people can be pricks,”
“That’s right,” Dorcas agreed, “Thanks again,”
“It’s fine,” Solana smiled as Dorcas stood up.
“See you around,” she said, and Solana nodded, taking a bite of her toast.
She watched as Dorcas went over to the Gryffindor table, sitting opposite Sirius and Marlene, as she spoke Sirius scrunched up his brows, looking over at his cousin, but she looked down at her plate.
She finished her toast and headed towards the library, but before she got there she realised she had left her books in the dormitory, she had a short debate whether or not she should get them, but decided Remus would probably be annoyed she didn’t bring them so, she turned back around towards the Slytherin common room.
She walked past the students sitting on the sofa, noticing that Alecto had left her homework strewn on the floor, Solana walked over to pick it up, placing it up on the table.
She walked into her dorm, Alecto wasn’t there, she didn’t think anything of it as she walked over to her bedside cabinet, cursing as she realised she had left the books in Antonin’s dorm.
She groaned loudly as she trudged over to the other side of the common room, “I forgot my books–” she said, walking in.
“Solana–” Antonin exclaimed, jumping up from his position.
As she looked up she was met with Alecto’s blue eyes, her wrists attached to the headboard with the exact same ropes Antonin had used the night before.
“Oh–” Solana gulped, her face began to redden as she realised what was going on. “I– I–” she began but she turned away running down the stairs.
“Solana! SOLANA!” Antonin called out, he grabbed a pair of trousers before following her out. “Come back here!”
“Leave me alone!” Solana shouted, tears beginning to fall down her face as she stormed away from him.
She knew it was too good to be true, last night had been a façade, and now she looked like a fool. She ran out of the common room slamming the door behind her, she barged past other students as she entered the library.
“Miss Black be quiet!” Madam Pince scolded from her desk, her glasses halfway down her nose.
But Solana ignored her, sitting down opposite Remus her head kept down, he looked up from his book noticing she didn’t have hers.
“No books today then?” he asked, just like she thought he would.
“Yeah, I– I didn’t bring them,” she muttered, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Are you… okay?” he asked, narrowing his brows.
“I’m fine,” she told him, “I just don’t have my books, so can I get one from you?”
Remus nodded. “Uh, yeah, one second.” he rummaged through his bag, trying to find one appropriate for their session, but other than a few muggle books he didn’t really have any. He looked around on the shelf grabbing a History of magic book from it. “You can read this one?”
“Thanks,” she said, sliding it over to her and opening the pages, she kept her head down ignoring Remus’ stares.
Five minutes later she was still sniffling so he cleared his throat. “Close the book,”
“Huh?”
“Close the book, we’re going to do a practical.”
Solana gave him a confused look. “What?”
“Do I really have to spell it out for you, come on.” he said, grabbing his bag from the chair.
She didn’t move from her place.
“If you don’t come with me I will tell Professor McGonagall that you didn’t attend today’s session,” he crossed his arms, and lowered his head towards her.
She stood up reluctantly, leaving the book on the table as she followed him out of the library. He didn’t walk as fast as he usually did, he had seemed to slow his pace for her walk beside him. But she paused as he began walking towards the exit of the castle.
“Where are we going?” she asked, watching as his long legs carried him away.
“Come on,” he ushered.
“I swear, Lupin, if you’re going to murder me I will attack you,”
Remus chuckled, “I’m not going to murder you, Solana… or am I?”
“If you did, make it quick please,” she rolled her eyes.
“As you wish, okay, we’re nearly there,” Remus said, as he disappeared behind a bush.
Solana hesitated. “I’m not getting in a bush with you, that’s weird.”
The bush moved aside to reveal a trodden path.
“You’re welcome,” Remus said, standing next to the black lake, a small wooden boat parked by the grass.
Solana tilted her head. “So, you’re going to drown me?”
“Oh my god, I am not going to kill you,” he rolled his eyes.
She turned her head back to the castle, the grey clouds covering the top towers. “I mean we are pretty far away from the school, this would be an ideal place.”
Remus screwed up his eyebrows. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Maybe,” she grinned.
“Looking forward to it,” he said, nodding his head towards the boat. “Come on,”
“How is this a practical?”
“Care of Magical creatures, we’re going to find… the giant squid.” he said, a champion smile on his face.
Solana frowned. “I haven’t taken Care of magical creatures since third year.”
“You haven’t? News to me,” Remus said, he shrugged. “May as well still go seeing as we’ve made the long journey down here.”
She looked at the boat, debating her options: get on the boat and risk getting murdered by Remus Lupin (it didn’t seem likely but the option was there) or go back to the castle and face Antonin.
“Do you even know how to row?” Solana asked, as she stepped onto the boat.
“Of course, there’s a canal by my house, when it was hot me and my mam used to always go out on the water and pack sandwiches– which I don’t have if you were hungry, sorry.” he said, as he climbed on after her, unhooking the rope from the bollard and they slowly drifted away from the grassy bank.
They sat in comfortable silence listening to the sound of the water swooshing as they rowed out further and further. Solana looked down at the water, her reflection stared back, she touched her cheeks that were still red from the crying.
Then she looked back at Remus who quickly turned his eyes away from her, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed her one.
“No strong stuff today?” she questioned.
“Not today,” he shook his head, lighting the end of hers with the orange pocket lighter he always carried.
She leant her head back after taking a drag. “I just caught Antonin cheating on me with Alecto.”
“Oh,”
“Yeah…” Solana muttered, she put her hand into the water, slightly regretting it because it made her shiver slightly. “I don’t even know why I am so shocked, I’ve been suspicious of them for weeks,” She remembered the night Antonin got his mark, then she remembered Bellamy’s lips. “And it’s not like I’ve been loyal either…” she mumbled the last part, avoiding Remus’ eyes, the last thing she wanted to do was tell him the reason she even kissed Bellamy.
She looked down at her hand submerged in the water, the obnoxious engagement ring glimmered back at her, she pulled out her hand and tried to pull off the ring, but with the water it was too slippery for her to do so.
“It is not coming off–” she strained, trying once more.
“Careful, you’re gonna pull your finger off.” Remus said, reaching over, taking her hand and carefully threading the ring off her finger. His eyes lingered on her wrists for a moment longer than he needed to have but he didn’t say anything as he handed the ring back into her palm.
“Thank you,” she muttered, debating whether or not she should throw it into the water. But she chose not to, slipping it into her pocket instead.
Remus put down the paddles in the slots and reached into his bag, pulling out a rather large rectangular box with several buttons
“What is that?”
“A stereo,” he said, pulling another smaller box and putting it into the stereo. “We’re far enough from the school, so this will work… have you ever listened to muggle music?”
Solana shook her head. “I think maybe one time when I was at Sirius’ he played… something like… Sweet Home… Alabama?”
Remus burst out laughing making the entire boat shake, she had to grab onto the side to make sure she wouldn’t fall out, he wiped away tears as he still chuckled. “That is fucking hilarious.”
“Why?”
“I fear you’ll get too offended if I tell you the reason it’s too funny.” he turned his lip inward.
Solana shrugged. “I won’t,”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Remus told her, shaking his head, but Solana nodded for him to tell her. “Basically, there is a lot of incest in Alabama… and there’s a lot of incest in…”
Solana nodded. “Okay, okay, I get it… but technically my parents aren’t the ones that are cousins…”
“Not even a little bit?” Remus tugged his brows playfully.
“No, ew.” Solana shook her head. “My dad basically got my mum shipped from Spain back in the 50’s, she was thirteen I think. She also spoke no English at the time. She also had no family here… that’s changed now though because her cousin moved here a few years ago, but still, for about ten years she was alone. And my father didn’t help her much, useless prick.”
“So you can speak Spanish?”
“Sí, and French,”
“I can speak Welsh,” Remus said.
“How do you say hello?”
“Helo.”
Solana blinked.
“That was a terrible start, you have to give me something else to say,” Remus rolled his eyes.
“Okay, Hello, my name is Remus Lupin.”
“Helo, fy enw i yw Remus Lupin… That is all I know though… My mam tried to teach me but I couldn’t grasp the language.”
Solana shook her head. “You should learn the language where you originate from, it’s in your blood.”
“You’re telling me you can speak perfect French and Spanish–”
“My mother made sure that all of my sister’s were able to speak our mother’s tongue,” she spoke in Spanish then swiftly switched to French, “And our father threatened to throw us in a portrait or use the torture curse when we were children if we didn’t speak to him in French,”
“What did you say?” Remus said, fascinated, Solana had expected him to laugh at her but he seemed genuinely interested.
“My mother taught us Spanish and my father taught us French,” she said, putting her hand back into the water. “Anyway, that box. What does it do?” she pointed towards it.
“Ah, right,” he pressed down on a button and music began playing out of it. “Bowie is one of my favourites,”
“I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be heroes, just for one day”
“Wait, I remember one song… Sirius used to play it and it got stuck in my head…” Solana murmured trying to remember the tune, she hummed a little but shook her head. “Nope I can’t remember,”
“Hum it again,” Remus asked, his face concentrated.
“No, you’re just going to laugh,”
“I’m not, it sounded familiar,” he shook his head, solemnly.
Solana sighed, humming it again.
Remus nodded, “I know it, one of the guys at the pub my mum works makes custom cassette tapes” he opened up the stereo and turned the cassette around, then pressed a few buttons before a song began to play.
“Oh my gosh!” Solana grinned, “Do you know how long this song had been stuck in my head. Literally years!”
“Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun.
And I say it’s alright,”
“The Beatles are very popular back in the muggle world. The band broke up about ten years ago yet their songs are still played everyday on the radio.” Remus nodded, stubbing out his cigarette on the side of the boat.
“I like this song.” Solana said, sitting back in the boat and closed her eyes. “Thank you,”
“What for?” he asked, furrowing his brows.
She shrugged, “Taking my mind off things.”
Remus smiled softly. “That’s what friends do for one another.”
Solana looked up at him. “We’re friends?”
“We see each other a minimum of two times a week, and we always end up having a laugh, of course we’re friends, Solana.”
She chewed her lip. “Well in that case, Lupin, most of my friends call me Lana,”
“And my friends call me Remus.”
Solana squinted at him. “I thought they called you Moony.”
“My friends that aren’t James, Peter or Sirius call me Remus,” he shook his head.
“Why can’t I call you Moony?” she crossed her arms.
“Because you’re not on that level yet–”
“Yet? Meaning there is a chance I can call you Moony?”
“No.”
“Worth a try anyway,” she shivered again.
“Take this, I’ll paddle us back to the bank,” he said, handing her his jacket, usually she would refuse but her hands were frozen blocks.
“Can we stay here a little longer?” she asked, wrapping it around her like it was a blanket. “I don’t want to go back yet.”
Remus nodded. “Of course,”
Solana looked up at the sky, the dark grey clouds watched over her as they floated on the water, slowly drifting by.