a bittersweet smiled curved on remus lupins face as he drank champagne and watched the newly wed potter couple dance with each other. the pair gazed into each others eyes with nothing but love in them, and their foreheads touching the others as they whispered sweet nothings to each other.
lily looked as stunning as always. her red and gold sari fit her perfectly, as did her makeup. the potter-evans hair framed her face, and the tikka at the top of her head brought out her eye color. then there was james… his perfect james. his messy black hair to his black and red salwar kameez made him like he was adonis himself.
in remus’ eyes, the tamil boy was always the most beautiful person he’d ever encountered. it was like love at first sight, yet he was the one who fell harder. as he watched them dance in each others arms, he couldn’t help but imagine that he was the one getting married to james.
a tightness in remus’ chest caused him to swallow and take a choked breath. the dark skinned man buried his face into his hands and sighed, ‘how the hell did my life end up like this,’ he thought with a soft laugh.
a tap on his shoulder brought the silently miserable werewolf out of his musings. he turned and was faced with peter pettigrew, who had a small but sad smile on his face. he motioned to the door, and remus caught onto what he was implying. of course peter knew… he always knows.
after giving the filipino man a small smile, he quietly got out of his chair and made his way towards the door. remus had made his way to the bar that was in the area outside the hall. while brushing the curls out of his face, he asked for some rum; he needed something strong enough to numb his silent yet excruciating pain.
at first he didn’t even notice the few tears escaping his eyes. then some tears had fallen onto his bare hand. the same hand that younger remus had a ring on… not just any ring but euphemia potters ring. james had given it to him about two years after they started dating while stating, “amma always said to give this to the one. you’re the one moons.”
a sweet yet bitter voice at the back of his head said, ‘if i were the one, how come lily evans is wearing it instead of me?’ lily evans, now lily potter-evans was his best friend.. the same best friend who is now married to the love of his life. he didn’t blame lily. how could he when she had no idea of the four years the pair had spent together?? remus was truly happy for her, yet he couldn’t help but wish he was the one james potter would be embracing in his arms… till death do them part.
light footsteps made the man turn around, a sorrowful mary macdonald was not who he was expecting to see. he looked at her and attempted to give her a smile, but he knew it came off more as a grimace. it didn’t help that his eyes were red and dried tear marks stained his face. the woman let out a sigh as she sat next to him, ordering a glass of wine.
she then turned to him, eyes scanning him as she let out a watery laugh, “unrequited love’s a pain in the ass, isn’t it?” remus most certainly didn’t expect that, but he let out a laugh… the most genuine one he could give since he heard the news of the wedding. “yeah, it really is,” his slightly raspy voice said.
after a few moments of silence she looked at him again, but instead of the pity he expected in her eyes, he saw understanding. “i’m sorry about james. if it means anything, you weren’t the only soul crushed after hearing the news.” she let some sort of cackle as she saw his expression of surprise.
“what? thought you were the only one in love with their best friend?” the man shook his head at her, “no actually, i’m just somewhat surprised i didn’t catch on.” the woman rolled her humor filled eyes, “oh come on! it was pretty obvious!”
the brown eyed man just shook his head slightly, taking a sip of his rum. “i guess i was just too caught up in james potterland.” the pair let out chuckles, they both knew it was true. both mary and remus were enjoying this time they had together. the pair never really interacted much without their friend group being with them.
it wasn’t much of a shocker to mary about remus being in the dumps about james, remus on the other hand didn’t expect mary to be in love with lily, but then again, who was he to judge? “so what’s your story?” he asked. a bitter chuckle left her mouth, “i’m in love with my best friend, have been for the past 8 years. she never looked at me like i did her. as i said earlier, unrequited love’s a bitch.”
he nodded at that, clicking his tongue. he felt bad for mary, at least he got to spend time in a relationship with james, but mary couldn’t do that with lily because the girl didn’t love her romantically. the curly haired woman looked at him with a curious gaze, “i know that you and james had a thing, but what exactly happened.”
“we were together from third year to the beginning of seventh. i don’t even know why we broke up, one day i just received an owl from him stating that our relationship was over and that he hoped we could go back to being just best friends. four years down the drain just like that. i was naive thinking him and i were going to last.”
she sighed, laying her head on his shoulder, “that bloody sucks, but at least we have each other. from this day forward, it’s us against the world.” he laughed at that, raising his glass and mumbling an ‘amen!,’ clinking his with hers as they drowned their sorrows with alcohol.