Chapter 5
Over the course of the next week Remus met up with Seb three more times. The first time they’d studied together. And they had actually studied, despite all the jokes Marlene made about ‘private study sessions.’ The second time they had lunch in the courtyard and taken a walk around the lake. Lily insisted it had been a date when Remus told her about it afterwards. The third time Seb had kissed him again. It had been after curfew and they’d been in the owlery looking at the stars. Remus had been hesitant but eventually had given in. After all, the full moon wasn’t for another two weeks. Seb had asked him if he knew the constellations. Of course, Remus had said and had begun listing them off and pointing them out. And then Seb slipped his hand into Remus’ and pulled him close to his chest and pressed his lips against Remus’. At first Remus had been too stunned to react. But when Seb pulled away Remus pulled him back and he had no idea how long they’d stayed up there but he knew it was longer than he’d meant to.
The day after the owlery date Seb was all Remus could think of during lessons. His skin bathed in moonlight, the faint taste of coffee on his lips, the worn fabric of his jacket. He kept trying to put the wrong ingredients into the cauldron and was only jolted back to the present when Sirius grabbed his wrist to stop him from pouring an entire vial of acromantula venom into their potion.
“Sorry,” Remus muttered.
“Mm,” was all Sirius said.
“How much did the instructions say?” Remus asked.
“Three drops.”
“Right.”
Remus tilted the vial carefully and watched as the venom turned the bubbling liquid a deep purple color. Sirius began stirring the potion counterclockwise, counting under his breath as he did so. His hair was tied back into a loose ponytail except for that one short bit that always seemed to escape. It fell across his forehead, slightly obscuring his eyes. Stirring became more difficult as the liquid congealed slightly and a bead of sweat formed on his temple.
“I don’t think it’s supposed to be doing that,” Sirius said, looking up at Remus and gesturing to the potion which was now solidifying much faster. Remus startled, having been caught staring yet again.
“No, I don’t think so either.” He flipped back to the page titled Befuddlement Draught for the Experienced Wizard and scanned the instructions. “You’re supposed to stir clockwise, not counterclockwise,” he said.
“Is there anything we could do to fix it,” Sirius asked. They peered into the cauldron. What had before been a perfectly concocted Befuddlement Draught was now a rock hard square at the bottom of their cauldron.
“At this point, I think we’ll have to start over,” Remus said.
“We’ve only got about fifteen minutes left of class,” Sirius said, glancing at his watch.
Remus shrugged, “There’s not much we can do then, is there.”
“No,” Sirius agreed. He sat down and propped his legs up on the table, spinning his wand in his hand and occasionally sending sparks in various students directions. Remus stood there, awkwardly. He looked over at James and Peter. Peter was trying desperately to get their potion to turn from the foul green it was to the dark purple it needed to be while James was levitating paper airplanes over to Lily and Dorcas’ table. They were adamantly refusing to notice.
When Slughorn finally dismissed them—after declaring Lily and Dorcas’ Befuddlement Draught the best in the class and awarding them extra points on the next quiz—Remus rushed to catch up with the other three Marauders. They were, unsurprisingly, discussing Jame’s chances with Lily.
“I swear she stuck one of my airplanes into her bag when she was leaving!” James insisted.
“Come off it, Prongs. She’s been avoiding you since before we even walked in the entrance hall first year,” Sirius said.
“She has been a bit more friendly, though, hasn’t she?” Peter piped up.
“Yeah, see Padfoot, even Peter’s noticed it,” James said. Sirius rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“I think she’s been more friendly too,” Remus said, slightly out of breath from having to run to catch up with them. The three boys stopped talking and turned to face Remus. There was an awkward moment of silence before James spoke.
“She’s certainly been more friendly than you,” he said.
“I—” Remus started but James cut him off with a sigh.
“Moony, if you’re going to apologize for avoiding us, you don’t need to. Just, whatever it is you’ve got going on, let us help instead of running and hiding,” James said. Remus saw Sirius and Peter nod. Remus took a breath. He’d rehearsed what he was going to say to them. He wasn’t going to tell them the full truth—he would eventually but he couldn’t yet—but he was going to tell them the full moons had gotten worse and that he was possibly seeing someone.
“Alright, come on.” Remus led them into an empty classroom and locked the door. James, Sirius, and Peter each took a seat in the front row, leaving Remus standing at the front of the classroom and making the whole situation far more formal than it really was. Remus sat down on the floor to lessen the feeling that he was a teacher delivering horrible news.
“For one, Sirius was right. The full moons have gotten a lot worse and I don’t know why. Madam Promfrey and the Healers at St. Mungo’s don’t know either,” he said.
“St. Mungo’s—” James started but Remus held up a hand to stop him. He sat back in his seat, looking disgruntled.
“And for two… I might be seeing someone,” Remus said, keeping his eyes trained on the cracks in the stone tiling of the floor.
“Seeing someone, as in seeing a girl?” James asked slowly. Remus nodded, head still down. He hated to lie to his friends but he couldn’t find the courage to tell the truth.
“As in dating a girl?” This time it was Sirius asking and Remus had to look up. There was something in his face, something Remus felt like he was supposed to see and know and acknowledge. Remus watched Sirius’ eyes and the something left. He nodded again. Sirius looked away.
“Who?” James asked, leaning forward over the desk.
“A Ravenclaw, sixth year, we haven’t made it official or anything,” Remus said quickly, happy for the excuse to stop looking at Sirius.
“What’s her name?”
“Marina Edgecombe. But you can’t go around being loud about it, she doesn’t really want the general public to know,” Remus explained. Marina Edgecombe really was a Ravenclaw sixth year and she looked surprisingly similar to Seb but Remus had never even spoken to her before, let alone kissed her during a spin the bottle game.
“Got it, keep it quiet. Got that Wormy?” James asked. Peter nodded. “I think you’ve started a trend by the way, Wormtail. First you start dating sixth year Hufflepuff Bertha Jorkins, and now our dear old Moony is dating sixth year Ravenclaw Marina Edgecombe.” James was laughing but Peter looked strangely sullen.
“How are things with Bertha anyway?” Remus asked, changing the subject from his non-existent girlfriend to Peter's very real girlfriend. Peter shrugged.
“She only ever wants to snog. She never wants to talk or eat lunch together or anything. And I think she’s been suggesting that she wants to, um, that she wants to do more than snogging,” Peter said quietly. His face was beet red and he was fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt to the point where it had begun to fray.
“And you don’t want to?” Remus asked gently. Peter shook his head.
“Then don’t,” Sirius said, propping his feet up on his desk.
“But, we have been dating for a while—” Sirius cut Peter off mid sentence.
“Peter, you’re fifteen. It’s not like the two of you were planning on getting married. If you don’t want to, then say no,” Sirius said. Peter was looking at him like he wanted to argue but James spoke before he could.
“And if she decides she’s done when you say no then that’s her loss, not yours,” James said. Peter looked back and forth between the two boys. He had always—both figuratively and literally—looked up to them for guidance, but when it came time to make a decision, he looked to Remus. Sure enough, Peter waited for Remus to nod his agreement before opening his mouth.
“Ok,” he said. “Next time I see her, I’ll tell her I want to talk and hang out instead of kissing and, um, other things,” he said. His voice was surprisingly strong and Remus recognized James’ and Sirius’ confidence reflected in Peter’s face.
“Right, now we’ve got Peter settled and Remus back, let’s get lunch,” James said, clapping his hands together and standing.
“Please, my stomach’s been growling this whole time,” Sirius said, unfolding himself from his chair. James laughed and Remus found himself falling easily back into their friendship.