i know the end

Sirius Black - July 22nd - Day 1

“Oh come on!” Marlene screeched, glaring at the screen in front of her. She rested her back against Mary’s legs while lounging on the carpet.

Sirius watched her reaction from their comfortable spot on the couch.  James, who was sitting next to Sirius, reacted similarly. Sirius smiled smugly in Peter’s direction; fortunately for him, it was the team he was rooting for who got the touchdown. Unfortunately for James and Marlene, they decided to root for the losing team. Also fortunately for Sirius, they had made a bet with Peter on the winner of the game. Pay up. He mouthed, to which Peter rolled his eyes and rested his cheek back on Mary’s coiled hair, who was pressed into his chest.  

The two were one of the most well-suited couples that Sirius had ever seen, and he lived with James’ parents. If you looked up ‘soulmates’ in the dictionary, then you would see their faces. Peter and Mary had been together since freshman year of high school,  Sirius had never seen anyone last as long as the two of them did; especially with the whirlpool that high school was. They were adorable. 

They were about to start their senior year. Sirius was practically giddy with excitement. It was currently the summer before and he could barely contain themselves. He no longer lived with his “parents,” as if they could even exist in the same sentence as that word. However, much to Sirius’ dislike, his parents still legally had guardianship over him. In the meantime, Sirius was living with James and his parents, Monty and Effie, the absolute angels that they were. They had since his sophomore year. Last year, in junior year, his younger brother, Regulus started living with them too. The “problem” was, as his parents liked to call it, Regulus told them that he wanted to go by Regulus and that they no longer had their “perfect daughter”. Of course, being the absolute shit parents they are, they didn’t like this very much. Sirius, of course, had no issue with this and made sure that Regulus knew they loved him no matter what and that he always had a home with him and the Potters. Thankfully, Regulus took him up on this offer. 

After high school, he planned on going to college and majoring in art, which happened to be Sirius’ favorite thing ever. This plan includes rooming with James and Peter. I mean really , who else would Sirius share a room with? The two had stuck with him through the hardest parts of his life. The three of them had met on the first day of kindergarten. They all saw they were all wearing striped shirts, and had been attached at the hip ever since. Sirius was interrupted from his reminiscing by a wave of popcorn being thrown up into his face. “Go go go,” James chanted, staring intently at the screen and slowly rising from his seat, tossing the nearly empty bowl of popcorn into Sirius’ lap.

30 seconds were left on the clock and all that James’s favorite player had to do was run 15 more yards to take the game. “NO NO NO!” Sirius’ eyes tracked the player on the screen and saw his personal favorite player intercept James’. He couldn’t wait until he could rub this in James’s face later. Ha. Take that Potter.

Sirius turned away for a single second. Just one . And somehow. In some way, Marlene and James’ team scored the winning touchdown. “JAMES HOLY FUCK WE WON!” Marlene scrambled up and grabbed onto James’s arm, the two of them spinning and jumping up and down.

“You didn’t do shit,” Sirius grumbled, pulling pieces of popcorn off his jacket, “and your stupid butter popcorn is going to ruin the leather”.

“Aw, you big baby,” Marlene waltzed over and took his face in her hands, the red nail polish on her nails chipping. “Want me to do your eyeliner?”

Sirius squealed and jumped up in excitement. Then he realized why he had gotten upset and fell back on the couch in a huff. “You can’t just offer to do my makeup whenever I’m upset like it’s going to make me feel any better”.

“I’ll braid your hair too,” Sirius quirked a brow at her response.

“I also have a new bottle of black nail polish,” She tried once more, squeezing Sirius’ cheeks in with her pointer and her thumb. 

“You’f  got y’erself a deal, McKinnon.” 

Peter looked on in amusement as Marlene let go of Sirius’ cheek and patted it. “There wasn’t even a deal being made just now,  Sirius was just being grumpy because they lost the bet.”

James whipped towards Sirius, “ you placed a bet? ” 

“Indeed he did. Sirius I suggest you pay up,” Sirius grumbled and pulled out their wallet, glancing longingly at the 20 dollar bill before slapping it in Peter’s hand. 

“Marls, I don’t know how you do it,” James shook his head disbelievingly, chuckling at the relationship that Marlene and Sirius had. 

“Do what?”

“Do that . You can cheer Sirius ‘drama queen’ Black up in less than a heartbeat.”

“James, love, the difference is, you don’t know how to do Sirius’ eyeliner,” Marlene laughed, grabbing the eyeliner out of her bookbag that rested on the floor.

“Sure I do,” James grumbled in response. He chucked the nearest pillow at Marlene’s head, which Marlene threw back in retaliation, a smirk imprinted on her face.

“James! Watch the hair!” Sirius cried, putting his hands up to adjust it.

Sirius inched up slowly and like a cat, pounced on James, a grin surfacing on his face. 

“Kids! Dinner time!” All of them look towards the doorway to the kitchen where Effie is standing, a plate in her hands, and a soft smile resting on her lips.

Sirius’ mouth starts to water at the sight of Pav Bhaji. God bless Effie, always making the best food known to mankind. Sirius couldn’t imagine life without her. He springs to his feet and runs into the kitchen, pulling James and Marlene along behind him.

Halfway through the meal, Marlene started choking on a pepper that she hadn’t seen in the dish. “ Ahh ,” she starts fanning her mouth, glancing at Mary frantically. Mary snorted and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a glass of milk that Effie had already prepared. It was well known that Marlene had an extremely low spice tolerance, and Sirius loves her for it.  Sirius glances around at the people surrounding him at the table, feeling incredibly warm. He loves all of them so deeply, he couldn’t imagine his life without them. The smells of Effie’s cooking and just the Potter’s house swirl around him and make his head foggy with comfort. He could live in this singular moment forever, for the rest of his life if he could. The chatter of those he loves joined the soft wave of joy washing over him.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Remus Lupin - July 22nd - Day 1 

“That’s going to be $10.57. Thank you very much, alright have a nice day now,” Remus sat underneath the counter and glanced up at Lily, who was currently checking out customers.

“Remus, you can come out now, he’s gone,” Lily glanced down at Remus, a smile playing on her lips.

Remus scrambled up and leaned over the counter, watching the man walk out the front door. The bell jingled. He sighed in awe and rested his hand on his palm, watching the man put the book in his car and drive off. A finger appeared in his face, snapping to grab his attention. “Hey, loverboy, care to help me out here?” Remus stared at her blankly. “You can’t panic and hide every single time an attractive man comes in. You get paid to work you know? Not ogle.”

“At least it wasn’t that one guy.” 

“Oh, you mean a certain raven-haired person who happens to be named after a star?”

“Ugh yeah, I hate them.”

“Oh please, you’re definitely obsessed with him.”

“I definitely am not , I despise him. I bet they don’t even know how to read.”

“Mhm, not obsessed my ass..”

“Like you aren’t the same? Every time a particular blonde-haired girl comes in?” Lily’s freckled cheeks darken.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about my dear moon ,” Lily fluttered her eyelashes and turned back around to the counter, where another customer was waiting to check out.

“Does the fact that her name is in greek mythology ring any bells? Maybe the fact that it’s a constellation?” Lily quickly flipped back around and mumbled something under her breath, customer forgotten. “Also, Lily , I thought we decided to let the whole moon thing go, it wasn’t my fault that the solar system exhibit that Professor Binns put in was wobbly.”

“Oh but Remus it was so funny. You fell into it and the moon fell off the exhibit and right onto your head. Then you ran into a wall and got a minor concussion.”

“ I know , I was there. No need to rehash the past. I told you to erase that from your memory. So let it be gone, poof , no more.”

“Poof,” Lily made an explosion gesture near her head and turned to the counter, the previous customer replaced with another. She paled when she saw that it was the blonde they had been discussing. “I uh, I actually have to be somewhere, like right now. I’ll be back, maybe.” Lily glanced around, “Remus will take care of you for now!” Lily stuttered out and turned on her heel, making a bee-line to the back room. 

“Wait! Lily! I wanted to ask, would you maybe like to grab coffee with me this weekend? I know this place just across the street-”

Lily made a choking noise and her legs visibly started to shake, Remus rushed over to keep her upright and to prevent her from any further embarrassment. “Pandora, that sounds delightful. I’m sure Lily would love to, right Lily?” Remus responded for her and turned back to Lily who stared at Pandora in awe and slowly nodded her head.

“Wonderful! I’ll pick you up here on Saturday at the end of your shift, which is er-”

“7:00,” Lily managed out.

“7:00 then, see you soon,” Pandora smiled sweetly at Lily and skipped out of the store. 

“Remus,” Lily turned towards him with stars in her eyes. He had a very difficult time not laughing.

He didn’t ever plan on falling in love. Yeah, of course, the sentiment was nice but really, what was the point? Besides, seeing the emotion plastered on Lily’s face was enough for him, simply seeing Lily happy made him happy. “Yeah, yeah. You’ve got yourself a date, flower,” Remus guided her to a chair in the corner so she would be able to regain her composure. 

Lily and Remus had been best friends for as long as Remus can remember. Their parents had been best friends in high school,  so the two luckily spent every part of their lives together. Much to Petunia, Lily’s older sister’s dismay. Who always envied Lily’s relationship with Remus. The two of them went through all of their school together and somehow, some way, landed the same job at Flourish and Blotts Bookstore . Which, thank God , Remus could imagine a life without Lily’s presence and the scent of cinnamon she always seemed to exude. Remus wanted to spend all of his time possible with one of the only people he really cared about. “Oh my God, I just got a date with an angel on earth,” Lily interrupted Remus’ reminiscing and looked over at him with glass eyes, albeit a little less foggy. 

“You did indeed,” Remus smirked over at her. He then glanced at the clock located on the wall behind her head. “Damn, it’s already time to close, I didn’t even see it get dark outside,”

“Huh, I guess it did. You on Teddy duty tonight?” Lily rose and flipped the sign on the door to CLOSE.

“Yeah, his parents are going out of town. They’re leaving early tomorrow morning, so I have to get him tonight. Want to come with? We can order some pizza?”

“My love , my moon, ” Remus rolled his eyes at her use of the nickname, “ of course, I want pizza, when do I not?”

“Perfect, let's go. I’ll drive,” Remus grabbed his keys, flipped off the lights, and locked the door. 

Remus and Lily both climbed into his car and sped off to Teddy, his younger cousin’s house. “Oh weird, why do you think the streets are so empty?” Lily glanced around, nudging Remus’ shoulder. 

He responded with a shrug, “no clue, is there a sports game or something tonight?”

“Yeah, I think there's that one football game, but normally wouldn’t that mean people would be outside tailgating?”

“Yeah, usually…”

They pull up to Teddy’s house and Remus’ 7-year-old cousin came running out wailing. “Reeemus! Help! They- they- the-”

“Teddy, I need you to slow down, take a deep breath,” Teddy took a shaky breath in and with Remus’ demonstration, exhaled. “Okay, now tell me what happened.”

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Regulus Black - July 22nd - Day 1

The soft sound of TV girl drifted over Dorcas’ bedroom. But it could barely be heard over the sound of screaming. The screaming belongs to Evan of course, because Barty refused to pay rent on his hotel. Barty landed on boardwalk, a place that Evan owned, and he didn’t have $2000. “Barty you can’t just refuse to pay for the rent you owe me !” Evan shouted at Barty who was glowering in his direction. Regulus rolled his eyes. 

“I believe it may have been a mistake leaving you four alone with Monopoly?” Pandora asks while breezing into the room and settling on the bed next to Regulus. 

“Three, I’m reading. I’ve sworn off Monopoly since the first time we all played together,” Regulus narrowed his eyes and glared in Barty and Evan’s direction. 

“Oh hello Pandora, where have you been? You were supposed to be here two” Dorcas ducked as a pillow was thrown, “hours ago,” she yelped and hid behind her stool, separating herself from the two that Won't. Stop. Bickering. 

“I’ve nagged myself a date with that cute girl at the bookstore that I keep telling y’all about,” Pandora blushed and hid her face behind her hands.

“She agreed to go out with you?” Regulus looked over the top of his book and watched Pandora with interest. 

In most instances, and with literally anyone else, Regulus would have responded with ‘I can’t seem to see why she would,’ or something along those lines. But Pandora owned the only soft spot in his otherwise rotted soul. Or so others liked to say. He personally thinks his soul is perfectly fine, albeit a teensy bit black. 

“Yeah,” Pandora fell back on the bed, her head falling in Regulus’ lap, which makes him lose his spot in his book; much to his very short-lived annoyance. “I think I’m in love with her.”

Dorcas snorted from her spot on the floor, “alright Pandora, you’ve only known her for five days,” she teased lightheartedly.

“I know, and they’ve been some of the most wondrous days I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.”

Pandora let her eyes fall shut as Regulus ran his fingers through her blonde locs, a content smile on her face. She didn’t seem to mind, or didn’t seem to notice, that his silver rings kept getting caught in them. “Lily has this one ring, it’s a frog,” she sighed wistfully. “I wouldn’t mind letting that ring get caught in my hair either.”

Barty let out a sarcastic gasp and collapsed into Evan’s lap, a hand pressed to his forehead,  “Evan my love, it appears we’ve corrupted our poor sweet innocent angel.”

“Don’t think you can get just out of paying me Bartemus Crouch Jr,” Evan turned up his nose and looked away from Barty, but he didn’t push him off of where he was lounging in his lap.

“Ooh, the full legal name. If you like the name so much I’ll let you keep my last one,” Barty winked at Evan, getting closer to his face, and further into his lap. To which Evan responded by promptly shoving him off, unable to hide his smile. 

“You can’t just flirt your way out of doing things you don't want to do. You did that with Regulus just last week ,” Evan got up and walked to the record player to flip the vinyl over, attempting to hide the pink dusted across his cheeks. 

“He’s right Barty. You do that with everyone,” Pandora commented softly from Regulus’ lap, pulling out a pen, seemingly from nowhere. 

Barty grumbled at being reminded, much to Regulus’ delight. Also annoyance. It’s so painfully obvious the two’s feelings toward each other. Barty and Evan had been silently pining after each other for years now. And everyone but the two of them were pitifully aware of it. Regulus didn’t even think that they themselves knew their own feelings. He had no clue how they remained so oblivious. The last time that Barty kissed a girl at a party, Evan shaved his head. Which only made Barty shave his own head out of solidarity. Luckily for both of them, Evan’s twin sister is a cosmetology student, and luckily for us, that twin is the one and only Pandora Rosier. So, because of how wonderfully gruesome Pandora is, the two had matching dyed buzz cuts with realistic bleeding hearts. Which is agonizingly poetic and as much as Regulus would hate to admit it, is actually adorable . But you wouldn’t catch Regulus dead saying that. Not in a million years. 

Regulus looked down at Pandora’s doodle on his arm, one of an anatomically correct brain being stabbed through the middle with multiple knives at once. “What does this one mean?” Regulus asked her while picking up his book and returning to it, glancing at it one last time.

“I'm not entirely sure, it came to me in a dream,” she chewed on the pen cap, pausing in contemplation before returning to her gory masterpiece. 

“You and your premonitions, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were a seer in another universe. That’s the devil’s work right there,” Evan poked Pandora on the arm, smiling, before returning to his spot on the floor next to Barty, seemingly put back together. 

“Like Dorcas is any better! With her crystals and tarot cards!” Pandora gestured wildly towards Dorcas who had moved on to doing a general love reading for Barty.

“Pandora love, you do the same things. We all know you’re wearing your rose quartz necklace because of your little trip to the bookstore,” Dorcas grinned at her, watching Pandora tuck her necklace back into her shirt before returning to her reading. Regulus watched as Dorcas pulls out three cards. She flipped them up to reveal the five of swords, eight of swords reversed, and finally the lovers. “Barty, it appears you’re facing some sort of internal conflict with your own feelings,” Barty nods knowingly, “if you would face those feelings, you would find that love is waiting for you,” Barty begins shaking his head no.

“You see, you had me, and then you lost me. I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Barty declared, causing Dorcas to sigh and Regulus to roll his eyes.

“Alright, love. I’m going to go see if my mom ordered the pizza yet,” Dorcas stood up and stretched before walking towards the door. 

“We’ll come with!” Pandora sprung up and skipped toward the door where Dorcas was standing.

Barty and Evan join them. Regulus put his bookmark in his book, the bookmark being a photo booth strip of all 5 of them. It was one of the only pictures that Regulus liked the way he looked in. He was actually smiling, which is rare for him. Pandora had dragged them all to the local arcade and they spent the day getting a sugar high and hanging out. It was one of the best days of Regulus’ life. He looked down at the picture of them all grinning and a small smile appeared on his lips as he closed the book. 

Regulus walked over to join them, book in hand. They all walked down the stairs and noticed that the sky had an odd tint to it. There was a fog in the sky that hadn’t been there 20 minutes ago. “Mom?” Dorcas called out, peeking her head around the corner.

“Hey sweetness, I just ordered the pizza; you all can sit at the table while we wait. Let's chat,” Mrs. Meadowes pats the seat next to her at the table. Regulus was rich but his house with his parents had an older feel to it, everything was a family heirloom of some sort. Regulus despised it. The Meadoweses were rich, but their massive house was a picture of elegance. Ornate chandeliers hung from the ceiling and everything was made of marble. It would seem that all the brightness and marble would make the house feel cold, but Dorcas’ parents made up for it. It was one of the warmest houses he’d been in. Save for the Potters, which nothing would be able to beat. However, the previous warmness of the house was replaced by a foreboding chill. The once bright and airy dining room had a darkness that hadn’t been there before. A siren cuts through the silence and Regulus’ head whipped towards the front door.

“Hm, weird there must have been a fire or something down the street, I hope everyone is alright,” Mrs. Meadowes’ brow knitted in concern.

“It must be,” Regulus responded. He couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t adding up. The hairs on the back of his neck began to prick up. He looked around and settled on Barty’s gaze, who appears to be feeling a similar way. 

“So Dorcas, kids, how has school been-” She’s interrupted by a sharp noise coming from outside. It sounded like wailing.

“Did you hear that?” Dorcas’ father rose from the couch to join them at the table. He put his book down on the counter. 

“I did, it appears to be the neighbors. I wonder if everything is okay,” her mother stood from her seat at the table and walked over to the sliding glass door that led out to their backyard. Her husband standing directly next to her. 

Out of pure curiosity and slight fear, the rest of the group rose and walked over as well, but several feet away. “Mommy! Daddy!” a disembodied voice howled from the neighbor's house. 

“Teddy dear? What has happened? Where are your parents?” 

“They’re-” Teddy is interrupted by a cry crawling from his own mouth, “I- they’re gone, I don’t know what happened. Was it my fault? Did I do this?” 

“What was your fault? Teddy what happened-” Dorcas’ mom was cut off by a shatter. The glass in front of them shattered like a scene from a movie. It all seemed to slow, Regulus didn’t even know something like that was possible. He stumbled back as a rotted creature with stringy, wispy hair framing its face leaped out and latched its mouth onto Mrs. Meadowes’ shoulder. The two of them fell to the ground in a cacophony of screams.