A Secret For A Secret
15th May 1978
Solana was glad that Professor McGonagall didn’t receive the letter Remus sent her, cancelling their sessions months ago. It was the only time she could be away from Antonin, he knew that she couldn’t get out of it.
Madam Pince glared at their unopened books as they sat laughing by the window in the Library.
They spoke about the first time his friends transformed, how Potter got his antlers stuck in the wall and how it took them ages to get them out, Solana couldn’t help but notice how different he looked now compared to the picture she had of him, his laugh was much more natural.
“It’s really nice of them to do what they did,” Solana said.
Remus nodded. “Yeah… they’re… they’re really great,”
Solana smiled, glancing at the clock.
“Are you bored of me already?” Remus rolled his eyes.
“Very,” Solana nodded, but kept a sly smile. “Just checking we haven’t gone over,”
“That clock is slow,” Madam Pince said walking over so them, “I’ve asked Filch fifty times to fix it,”
Solana furrowed her brows at the librarian, surely she could just use magic to fix it, but after the many glares she had received that session she did not want to prompt another one.
Madam Pince handed Remus an envelope with a small sticker in the corner with a womens head.
“This arrived for you, a muggle postman brought it, poor bloke has been scouring the area trying to post it but he obviously cannot see the school,” she said, shaking her head. “Had to get Hagrid to go pick it up, he’s been circling the school for about five hours,”
“Thanks, Madam Pince,” Remus smiled, as he opened up the letter.
Solana thought she hid her curiosity but she clearly hadn’t as he looked up at her behind the letter. She pretended to look occupied with the book shelf.
“Will you get mad if I told you you’re just like Sirius?” Remus asked, raising his brows.
“Yes. Seeing as I am older than him so technically he is like me,” Solana said, crossing her arms.
He tutted to himself. “Sorry, my bad,”
“So…” she nodded towards the envelope.
She knew he wanted to make another remark on how she was similar to her cousin but he opted not to say anything. “It’s from my friend back home, it’s her birthday party on Friday and she’s inviting me down.”
“She?” Solana wiggled her brows, she wondered if she was hiding her jealousy behind her smile, she hoped she was.
Remus rolled his eyes, “She is just a friend, we’ve been friends since we were in nappies, like literally, my mums got a picture of us when we were barely two years old.”
“Mmm,” Solana kept a grin, it was hard work.
“You’re just like the village, everyone thinks we’re secretly dating,” he rolled his eyes once more. “Even my mum… that’s probably why the picture of us is on the fridge.”
Solana laughed, “I would kill to see that picture,”
“Why don’t you come?” he asked.
“Oh, um,” Solana hesitated.
He shook his head quickly. “It was a stupid idea, don’t worry–”
“I would love to come but–” she frowned. “It’s Antonin–”
“It’s fine, it was stupid, you probably don’t want to be hanging around drunken muggles anyway.”
Solana didn’t say anything, she just looked down at her hands. “I should get going,”
“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” he said, putting his books into his bag, he kept his head down as she tucked in her chair.
She said goodbye and he mumbled a response. She made her way back up to the common room, Antonin was sitting on the sofa opposite the fireplace, he wasn’t facing her so she quietly walked towards the girls dorm.
“Solana.” his stern voice made her tense up, she turned around slowly. His jaw was clenched as usual, the vein in his forehead was not yet visible. “I will be going away for a few days.”
Solana furrowed her brows, but knew it best not to question why.
“The Dark Lord's orders, he thinks highly of me,”
Ignoring the lump in her throat, Solana nodded. “That’s good.”
Antonin grunted. “Thought it would be best to tell you, then you will not wonder where I am.”
He of all people knew that she would not wonder where he was.
“When will you be back?”
“Saturday,” he spat.
Solana nodded.
“I’ll be gone before dinner,” he told her before dismissing her.
Her heart raced with excitement, if Antonin was gone that would mean she could do what she wanted. She could go to the party with Remus. The same night she put her engagement ring in her drawer. There was no need to carry the extra weight whilst he wasn’t here.
☀
18th May 1978
Solana hadn’t been able to catch Remus alone for the past couple of days, he seemed to always be with one of his friends, she hoped the invitation was still open.
After breakfast she saw him walking to his class, finally alone.
“Remus?” she called, running up to him.
He turned around, smiling softly at her, she ignored the small butterflies in her stomach.
“That party… could I still come?”
He raised his brows in surprise, “You want to come?”
Solana shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve got nothing else to do, plus I’m hoping your friend will tell me really embarrassing stories from when you were a kid.”
Remus nodded, his smile had grown a considerable amount. “Okay, um, meet me at the statue at around eight?”
Solana gave him a nod. “Okay, cool I’ll meet you there,” she turned away from him, then stopped in realisation.
She had no muggle clothes.
☀
She rummaged through her trunk trying to find something appropriate. Cursing at how many robes she owned, she sighed at the pile she had made.
“What are you doing?” Octavia asked as she walked into the mess.
“Spring cleaning,” Solana rolled her eyes, then she had a thought, “Uh, was your last class with Meadowes?”
“Yup,” Octavia replied, folding her own cloak neatly back into her wardrobe.
“Did you see where she went after class?”
“Seemed like she was headed to the library with that McKinnon girl, they seem to spend a lot of time with one another–” she said, but Solana went towards the door. “Hey, you better tidy all this up–”
But Solana ignored her, heading towards the library, she found Dorcas and Marlene at the back, Marlene had seen her first, nudging Dorcas’ arm.
“Hi, Solana,” she smiled, Marlene didn’t have the same approach.
“Hey, I uh, I have a question.”
“Sure, what is it?”
Solana hesitated. “Um, it’s more for you,”
Marlene scrunched her brows. “Yes?” her tone was less than friendly.
“You’re… a half-blood, right? Your mums a muggle?”
Her glare turned defensive. “What’s it to you, Black?”
“It’s just… I need muggle clothes and I don’t know anyone else that has any.” Solana asked, she felt like Marlene was either going to laugh or jump at her, she did neither. She looked over at Dorcas then back at Solana.
“What do you need it for?”
“A party,”
Marlene nodded, “I think I have something,”
Ten minutes later Solana was standing in the Gryffindor girls dorm watching as Marlene looked at all of her clothes, umming and ahhing.
She pulled out a bright pink dress that made Solana widen her eyes in disgust but luckily Marlene thought the same thing as she threw it aside.
“I do not remember packing that,” she murmured.
“Marls, how many clothes do you have?” Dorcas asked, sitting on one of the four poster beds, possibly Marlene’s.
“Cas, you sound like my mum.” Marlene rolled her eyes, “I’m trying to find that dress, you remember, the silver one–”
“Nope,”
Marlene looked up at her. “ I wore it on our first date.”
“Oh yeah, you looked really nice in that dress.”
“You can’t remember can you?” she shook her head, turning back to the wardrobe.
“I love you,” Dorcas smiled.
“Aha! I found it!” Marlene said triumphantly, holding up the silver fabric, she stood up and unfolded it, it would fall just above Solana’s knees, the straps were thin, and it looked really pretty.
“Try it on,” Marlene said, handing it to her.
Solana thanked her, walking into the bathroom, ignoring the bruise on her side as she took her uniform off and slipped into the dress.
She straightened it out before walking back into the dorm.
Dorcas smiled brightly, “You look really nice, that dress really is nice Marley–”
“Don’t try to win me over. I know you still don’t remember the dress.”
“It is but a distant memory.”
Marlene screwed her dark blue eyes, but shook her head. “Anyway, how are you doing your hair? And your makeup?”
“Oh, I didn’t really think that far ahead.” Solana said.
“Okay, I have a vision, sit down.” Marlene told her, pulling out a chair.
Solana didn’t move for a moment.
“Cas tell your friend to sit down.”
“Are you going to make me bald?” Solana asked warily.
Marlene let out a laugh, it was probably the first time she had ever seen her crack a smile. “I won’t make you bald, I promise.”
Solana gave her another wary look.
Marlene sighed. “Cas, tell your friend I won’t make her bald.”
“I believe you,” Solana said, taking a seat.
“Oh shit,” Dorcas said, looking at her watch. “I’m late for care of magical creatures,” she quickly kissed Marlene’s cheek before leaving the two alone in uncomfortable silence.
Marlene picked up her brush from the side and began combing through Solana’s hair.
“So,” she said, clearing her throat. “You’re going to a muggle party?”
Solana gave her a nod.
“Didn’t picture you as one to be around muggles,”
“It was a last minute decision,” Suddenly Solana felt very self conscious, she wished Dorcas would come back so she wasn’t left alone with her girlfriend.
“Who you going with? It’s obviously not one of your Slytherin friends,”
“Um… Remus.”
Marlene blinked, the brush almost fell out of her hand. “Lupin? Remus Lupin? Gryffindor Remus? The Remus who’s best friend is your cousin who literally hates you.”
“I don’t think there’s another Remus, McKinnon,” Solana grumbled.
Marlene shook her head. “Well I would never have thought you two would be friends,” she had a glowing smile she then hesitated.
“What?” Solana asked, curious.
“Nothing,” Marlene said, her grin growing.
“No, go on, say what you want?”
“Do you like him?”
Solana furrowed her brows, the butterflies in her stomach halted, churning into a horrible twist. “What?” she screwed up her face.
“You heard me,” Marlene grabbed her wand twisting Solana’s golden locks around it, a moment later a section was curled.
“Remus is my friend of course I like him–”
“That is not what I mean,” Marlene raised her brows. “If it makes it any better he was pretty upset when you didn’t come to the party,”
Solana’s face felt warm. “He told me he didn’t notice.”
“He sulked in his favourite armchair for the majority of the night, took James about seven attempts just to get him to take a shot” Marlene told her. “So I’m guessing it’s not just a one way feeling,”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Solana said, shaking her head.
“Okay,” Marlene nodded, “I’ll say no more,”
After she finished with Solana’s hair she raided through her makeup bag.
After a long tedious routine, Dorcas turned up again with Lily Evans and Mary McDonald as company Marlene was finally done.
“Well if you didn’t look like a muggle before, you sure do look like one now,” she said, impressed with her job.
“Nice job, Marls,” Dorcas said, kissing her cheek once again.
“You’re gonna have to do my makeup for my wedding one day.”
“Sure Lils,” Marlene nodded, she handed Solana a mirror, and she couldn’t even recognise herself.
“Oh wow,” she said, looking up at Marlene, “Thank you so much,”
“It was nothing,” Marlene said, she smiled softly. “A secret for a secret.”
Solana looked back down at the mirror, choosing not to react to her comment, she threaded her hands through her curls.
“I should get going, thank you again for this,”
Marlene nodded, her arm was wrapped around Dorcas’ shoulders and with that Solana left the Gryffindor tower.