chapter seven
She had set out on a stroll by herself before supper, needing some fresh air and some quiet to think. Her emotions and thoughts were loud enough, she believed. The only issue was, with that warm front passing through a couple of days before, there was now a nasty storm brewing in the skies ahead.
She listened to the sound of rumbling thunder and the sharp patter of the rain hitting the stone castle. She listened to the squeak of her shoes, and her deep breaths. She found herself at a secluded courtyard, watching the way rain fell from the tree limbs and onto the beginnings of the springs’ flowers.
“Hey beautiful,” Remus' voice sounded hoarser than normal, but it didn’t scare her, even when it came from a pillar across the courtyard.
Her mood lifted immensely and she squealed in delight at the sight of him. She no longer cared about avoiding the rain and ran directly across the yard to get closer to him.
“Remy, where have you been? I’ve missed you so incredibly!” She sang.
“Don’t get too close,” He warned, taking a step back from her. Marigold’s confidence faltered, as did her bright beam of a smile.
“Oh, are you sick?” She asked, halting in the rain about three feet from him.
“Yeah, sure, but if you stay in the rain like that you’ll get sick too,” He tried to grab her hand to pull her under the roof’s protection, but she took a step back.
“Well then, you step out here and we can be as close as we’d like!” She tried.
He looked worn, his skin shockingly pale, his eyes darted around nervously, he had deep purple eye bags, his hands were vascular and it appeared the muscles in them were strained.
The full moon would be that night, he’d stepped out from seclusion because being coped up in bed was making him grow restless. He did his best to go to a secluded part of the castle, and he promised himself to disappear to the shrieking shack before supper. He’d wanted so dearly to see Marigold, but he feared if he did he might make a mistake.
“It’s not safe,” He tried to disagree.
“It’s only a bit of water,” She countered, holding her palms out to catch mini puddles.
“You look like a water nymph,” He mused weakly.
“Maybe I am,” She smiled gently at her weakened companion.
Remus couldn’t take it any longer, he sighed, his urges and instincts were so easy to give in to at this time of the month. He stepped out from the roof covering and into the rain, placing his palms over hers.
“I feel like we’re about to dance,” She joked at their posture.
“Would you like to?” He encouraged.
“I’m not very good at it,” She shook her head, rain droplets falling from the ends of her hair when she did so. “But I can spin around till I get dizzy, and that’s kind of fun, you know when you don’t have anything better to do,”
“Teach me,” He entertained, even though he knew he shouldn’t. He just couldn’t resist the girl.
They found themselves hand in hand, leaning back and spinning around in the courtyard, rain pouring down but not dampening the spirits. They both had their heads thrown back as they laughed like children and experienced the head rushing dizzy effect they sought.
Remus clutched the girl around her shoulders so she wouldn’t slip on the slick cobblestone beneath her feet. He caught his breath and she continued to laugh adolescently. When she opened her eyes to look at him, she found her face much closer to his than she’d expected.
Her laughter ceased and his face grew more focused. He moved in to connect their lips, but she stopped him with a finger to his. He looked at her with quizzical eyes.
“Remus, I’m so sorry, I can’t kiss you….I already kissed Sirius just last night,” She frowned guiltily.
Remus didn’t say anything, but his gaze softened and the corners of his mouth perked up. Now it was her turn to give him a confused look.
“Do you want to kiss me as well?” He whispered, and she dropped her finger slowly.
“Well, that’s really not-“
“Sirius wants you to kiss me if you want to, I promise,” Remus spoke in a tone laced with affection, soft and sweet,
“Are you sure?” She asked hesitantly, but unable to keep her eyes from glancing at his lips.
“He and I have an agreement, we know the situation we’re getting ourselves into,” Remus grinned damn near ear to ear, the pull of the moon influencing him in a wolfish manner to act on every impulse. “Did he kiss your cheek last night like I told him to?”
Marigold looked him in the eye and nodded slowly.
“You can kiss both of us, it’s what we want.” He explained, his arms wrapped around her waist evident to both of them. “Is that what you want too?”
“More than anything,” She replied breathlessly, pulling him by the back of his head into a lip lock.
Remus breathed in deeply through his nose, the sensation was amazing. She smelled even better, he thought, and tasted like her peppermint chapstick.
When she pulled back they placed their foreheads together. The rain seemed to matter so little now that they had kissed. What was important now was chasing the incredible feeling again. Remus this time lead the kiss, surprisingly dominant, Marigold thought to herself.
The only thing that stopped it all from progressing into another full-on makeup session was Remus sensing the presence of the other Marauders, as they followed their map to where it listed Remus and Marigold together.
He pulled back and winked at her. She heard them now too, the boisterous laugh of James followed by the snickering of Peter and her adored chuckle from Sirius. He lead her to the shelter of a roof again and fussed over her wet cloak before the other three finally appeared.
“How’s it going love birds?” Sirius offered the two, not jealousy but a hint of concern in his voice.
“Everything going alright?” James and Peter at his heels seemed much more nervous.
“Lovely, lovely,” Remus dismissed, giving the woman at his side a butterfly kiss on her shoulder. She looked back at him delighted.
“Alright, that’s enough Mooney,” Peter stepped forward.
Remus gave him a sharp glare, worrying everyone present. Sirius had an inkling the only one Remus would allow near the girl was him.
“He’s so silly when he’s sick,” Sirius tried to cover for the out-of-character behavior.
“I don’t know why he got out of bed in the first place,” James laughed anxiously.
“We’re going to let darling Marigold go to dinner, and then us boys can make sure you’re feeling better tonight, hm?” Sirius wrapped an arm around the girls wet shoulders, gauging Remus’ reaction.
Remus nodded calmly, the boys all settling at the peaceful action.
“Find me tomorrow morning?” Remus kissed the girls hand.
“Maybe the morning after that?” Peter cringed. Sirius and James shot him a warning glance, but Remus’ focus was placed solely on Marigold.
“I promise,” She squeezed his hand holding hers and nodded.
She’d spent the night with her close girlfriends, gossiping and trying to master new spells for doing their hair. It was decidedly always better when your best friend did it for you.
When she woke up it was still storming, and she felt quite a bit under the weather, a sniffly nose and a painful cough. Lily and Dorcas had disappeared to visit some Slytherins, under the guise of going to the library. Marlene had snuck out in search of bothering Peter in the same manner James might to Lily.
She figured she should visit the hospital wing for some potion against her little sickness. When she arrived there was only one bed in occupation, with curtains drawn around it, through a crack she happened to notice Remus and her stomach sank in worry.
“Ms. Noble?” Madam Rhubarb called her attention.
“I-I’m sick…I have a cold,” Marigold tore her eyes from the curtains and explained herself, followed with a weak cough.
“You went out in the rain, hm?” The nurse tutted, albeit with a smile.
“I guess I did,” Marigold shrugged.
“Be glad you’re not playing quidditch in this, you’d be struck down with a zap of lightning and then we’d have a bigger issue,”
“Unfortunate,” Marigold agreed with a chuckle.
“Here, take this and go sit in front of a fire with a warm drink, doctor’s orders,” Madam Rhubarb handed her a small cup of potion. “And get some rest for Godrick’s sake, child,”
“Yes ma’am,” She nodded, sipping on the foul-tasting brew, her mind still placed on Remus behind her.
“Good thing you caught me, now I’ve got to go attend to the first year that slipped in the owl tower,” The woman shook her head and collected a bag of supplies, exiting quickly.
Marigold finished her potion with a pained chug and discarded the cup before swiftly turning on her toes. She rushed back to the drawn curtains, and gently pushed one back, frowning at the sight before her.
Remus lay asleep, one arm bandaged up completely, a fresh scratch above his right eyebrow, his clothes wet and dirty. He was sitting up in the bed, but looked rather chilled still adorned in his wet clothing.
Marigold sat on his left side, avoiding his arm, and cradled his face in her hands, a frown evident.
Remus stirred awake, blinking rapidly and frowning back at the woman.
“Marigold, what are you doing here?” He questioned, voice raspy and pained.
“Just scoot over, let me lay with you,” She pushed gently.
Remus did as she requested, and let her lay at his side in the hospital bed besides with damp and cold clothing. He felt miserable allowing her to see him in such a condition. He wished she wouldn’t pity him for his condition.
“We’ve got to get you out of these clothes, they’re gonna make your cold even worse,” She peeled a sleeve from the skin of his shoulder.
“I don’t have a cold,” He shook his head, grimacing.
“Don’t tell me that, then I can’t kiss you,” She looked him in the eye.
“Oh,” His eyes lit up.
“I’ll refrain for now, till Madam Rhubarb’s potion works on me, and till you’re better too,” She could tell he didn’t want to address his ailment.
“No, wait,” He attempted to sit up more, but groaned in pain at the use of his right arm.
“Alright Remus, I’ll kiss you,” She chuckled, helping him back into a more comfortable position.
Marigold carded a hand through his messy hair and applied a chaste kiss on his nose, chin, and finally his lips. Remus shuddered, partly due to his wet clothing, and partly because of the girl beside him.
It started off as slow pecks, gentle for Remus’ sake, laced with sweetness and caution. Remus was growing restless of the teasing though and began offering more open-mouthed exchanges, very little mind paid to the fact they were still in the medical wing.
He had his good arm under the girl’s head and around her shoulder, keeping her close. She did her best not to cough or sniffle, the same as Remus trying to avoid his injuries. Furrowing his brows split the crack above his eye, and although he wanted to use his bandaged hand to pull Marigold impossibly closer, it sent a sharp pain every time he moved it.
“Ahem,” Sounded a female voice, and a sharp pull of the curtains alerted the love-stricken teens that they were no longer alone.
Marigold looked sheepishly, expecting Madam Rhubarb to have returned. Remus threw his head back, bashfully avoiding eye contact with the intruder.
“I came to bring you some fresh clothes,” Peter spoke, Marlene slightly in front of him. They both portrayed knowing smirks, and Peter did indeed have a bundle of dry and rather warm-looking clothes.
“And I tagged along just to annoy him, but now that I’ve found you!” Marlene grabbed Marigold’s hand that wasn’t on Remus’ chest.
“We ran into Madam Rhubarb on our way here, we must have beat her, but she says we can bring you back to the tower if you promise to-“ Peter began.
“Sit in front of a fire, drink something warm, and get some rest, for Godrick’s sake,” Remus and Marigold finished together, giggling.
“Look at you jolly two, sharing one brain cell,” Marlene teased.
“Well this half of a brain cell has to help Sirius with his essay,” Marigold sighed and looked to Remus for permission on standing up.
“We’ve each only got a third then,” Remus agreed, and Marlene helped her friend to get up.