Maybe
Remus was never worried about what he looked like. He wore what was comfortable and he hardly ever brushed his hair, just running his fingers through it in the morning seemed to suffice. He didn't need to worry about what he looked like. He always thought that people looked at him and saw a big ugly facial scar. His friends told him that the scar wasn't ugly and even though they were right, Remus still insisted that it was. He liked it sometimes because it meant that people tended to avoid him and he didn't have to help first years to class at the start of the year since they were scared of him.
Today Remus was worried about what he looked like. He wouldn't have been if it wasn't for Lily and Mary insisting that Elsie had asked him out to Hogsmeade as a date and not just as a friendly hang out. Apparently people dressed up or dates. Remus had never been on a date and so he didn't know what the appropriate attire was. He had dressed up for Christmas dinner and for funerals and for his sisters christening but he guessed that 'dressing up' meant different things for different occasions.
"I don't know what to do." Remus sighed, falling back onto his bed wearing nothing but jeans and a chain around is neck, clutching a plain grey t-shirt in one hand. His scars had started to heal but they still looked nastier than he wanted them to which meant that long sleeves were the way to go. Thankfully, the weather was grey and depressing, so he wouldn't be absolutely sweltering under his layers.
"I'm telling you, she won't care what you're wearing." James checked his watch, they were going to be late if Remus didn't get dressed right away. James had been ready for almost half an hour, wearing a pair of jeans with a long sleeved top, looking appropriately casual. Peter wore pretty much the same thing in different shades of grey. Sirius did not look as casual but this was a normal occurrence. It was difficult to not look 'dressed up' while attempting to look like a more some kind of London punk minus the mohawk. But the band t-shirt, leather jacket, doc martens and ripped jeans combo didn't look half bad on him. Remus liked the softer, quieter version of Sirius but he couldn't deny that Sirius looked ridiculously good when he was 'dressed up' too.
"She will. Mary said that I should look and that Elsie would be expecting that." Remus said to the ceiling above his bed, looking like a man that had given up hope completely.
"Mary says a lot of things." James replied. That was true but Remus trusted Mary's insight on girl things more than James'. Mary was the girliest girl that Remus had met and James was a teenage boy who had spent his entire school career pining after one girl, who had only accepted his date invite after four years of knowing him. Yeah, Remus really didn't trust James' advice on how to impress girls.
"Lily agreed with her." Remus shot back, knowing that would shut James up.
And as if she had been summoned by his words, someone began to bang on the dormitory door.
"If you guys don't get down here in the next five minutes I'm going to strangle you all with Sirius' hair!" Lily yelled, her voice muffled by the door but not so much that all the boys couldn't tell exactly what she was saying and in what tone.
Peter opened the door a crack to answer her, attempting a whisper even though the other three could still hear him very clearly. "Remus doesn't know what to wear."
They heard a small laugh from the door and then she spoke. "That's it, I'm coming in."
"No." Remus shouted, jumping up off the bed, scrambling to correct his inside out t-shirt so that he could pull it over his head before Lily entered the room. Wishful thinking. She walked through the open door, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him.
"You know your going to need to wear a shirt, right?" She shook her head at him.
"Yeah, I know." Remus replied, tugging his top over his head to keep the last remaining scrap of dignity that he possessed. "I was planning on it."
"James." Lily called.
"Yes." He said, looking nervous that she was in his bedroom.
"Do you still have that corduroy overshirt?"
"Yeah." He said, confused but already walking over to the shared wardrobe where the garment was hung up. He pulled it off the hanger and tossed it over to Lily, who then handed it to Remus.
"Wear that and a decently clean pair of shoes. Not those white converse that haven't been white for a long time."
Thank god for Lily Evans. She knew exactly what to do. Of course, she did. She was the smartest person that any of them had ever met in more ways than one.
"Thanks, Lils. You're the best." Remus grinned as he pulled on a pair of black converse. Not completely clean but not as crusty as his white ones. He didn't feel overdressed which was a good sign and he didn't look as casual as he normally did, so maybe this could work out. Maybe this date with Elsie was a good thing but there was a knot forming in the pit of Remus' stomach that grew and grew as he realised that he had to meet Elsie in ten minutes.
The eight of them walked down to the grand entrance of the castle together. As always, the girls looked all sorts of stunning. The Hogwarts uniform left very little room for self expression, meaning that Hogsmeade weekends were the perfect time to look your best and go out with your friends. They all had their makeup done but in vastly different ways. Mary was done up in a shiny glam look, Lily was dewy and natural, Marlene just wore smudge eyeliner and Dorcas' eyeshadow was like a work of art with bright colours and a subtle red lip. This was what Remus missed when he saw them in summer in their funeral get up. Remus thought his friends were the coolest, especially when they dressed how they wanted.
"Hi." Elsie waved manically with a wide smile tugging at her glossy lips. She wore a floral button up with a mini skirt and thigh high boots. She'd pulled her tight hair into two impressively puffy ponytails and Remus wondered how her curly hair didn't get caught in her hoop earrings but she seemed to be unbothered by them. Earrings constantly confused Remus. He had no idea how they didn't just latch to every piece of clothing you pulled over your head and rip your earlobes off.
"Hey." He smiled back at her, stepping away from the group. He assumed that bringing seven friends to a first date was bad etiquette. He thrust his hand forward, giving her a pathetic looking bunch of flowers that Peter had picked for him from the greenhouses. "You look very nice."
"Oh, thank you." Elsie didn't seem sure whether she was thanking Remus for the flowers or for the compliment. Remus knew they could both tell that he had never been on a date before. Everything he was doing, he had learned from movies or from Lily and Mary's advice. But she took the flowers, looking at them and seeming genuinely pleased with them. "No one's ever given me flowers before."
"Well, now someone has." He smiled sweetly taking her free hand like Lily had told him to do and asked, "Shall we?"
She nodded her head and they began to walk down to the village together with his group of friends and two of her friends walking a few metres behind them. Remus knew that his friends wanted to keep an eye on their date but that they also wanted to buy books and quills so they might actually be able to spend an hour alone. He could here them talking about various subjects like homework and whether the date was going well and even Elsie's friend, Maria, trying her best to flirt with Sirius. He would occasionally answer her questions but Remus could feel Sirius' eyes boring into the back of his head.
"So, what do you want to do first?" Remus asked, hoping that she had more of a plan than he did because he definitely did not think this far ahead.
"I wanted to go to Tomes and Scrolls first. They just got a new book in that I wanted to look at and then I thought we could go to Madam Puddifoot's for a cup of tea and a bite to eat and then I thought it might be fun to walk up to the shrieking shack to get away from our friends for a moment before meeting them in the three broomsticks. Sound okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it does. Wow, you've really thought about this."
She giggled nervously, tucking a coil of hair behind her ear. "Yes, I have. I guess I've sort of been really nervous. It's embarrassing to admit but I've never been on a date before."
"I've never been on a date either, if it makes you feel better." He offered. Maybe she was just as nervous as he had been. Maybe she had had that knot in her stomach as well. Maybe this would work out.
"It does a bit. I'm glad you came. I thought you might be too sick after the whole tree incident, so it means a lot to me that you were able to make it."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world."
"Really? You're not just saying that, are you? It's fine if you are. A lot of guys in this school are like that. They'll just sleep with you and never take you out."
"Oh. Well, I'm not like that. You don't have to worry."
"I'm glad."
They walked around the book shop in silence. Remus looked at various titles before concluding that his reading list was already too long without him adding to it. Elsie bought a cheesy looking romance novel that had just been brought out. It had a girl and a boy on the cover and they were holding each other near a tree, the title was written out in curly letters which made it difficult for Remus to read the title. Elsie seemed pretty pleased with it so he asked her to tell him about the plot while they sat in the cute little tea shop. It was decorated in pastel colours with flowers and patterns everywhere. Unsurprisingly, Remus had never once stepped foot into Madam Puddifoot's tea shop until that day but Sirius had moaned to him about it a few times since he had been dragged in there by several girls. It was more of a couple hang out location than a place to get a drink.
"You know what's weird?" Elsie asked as they strolled along the path to the shrieking shack. Remus had already had a bad feeling about going anywhere near there but he had had to calm his nerves by asking himself what could actually happen that was that bad. He concluded that nothing bad could really happen and went along with Elsie.
"What's weird?" He asked her back. He was starting to enjoy talking to her. She was interested in cool things like reading and music even though her tastes were not at all similar to Remus', he found that he could add something to her conversation because Mary, Lily and Dorcas all seemed to like Abba and romance novels just like Elsie did. Talking to Elsie felt like talking to a good friend.
"The shrieking shack only 'shrieks'," The made bunny air quotes with her fingers when she said 'shrieks'. "once a month when the full moon has risen."
Oh.
"That is weird."
"I have this theory, see, that the shack isn't haunted by a ghost but a werewolf. A friendly werewolf of course."
"Why a friendly one?"
"Because it never leaves. Like, I've never heard of any werewolf attacks in Hogsmeade, have you? It must care about people to keep itself locked up in the shack during full moons. Like don't you think it would be painful, the transition, and to do that locked up in a little house, well, the 'shrieking' speaks for itself, don't you think?"
It.
"Wow, that's a good theory. Have you thought about that a lot?"
"Just a bit. It's the product of an overactive imagination and too many spooky horror novels but I really think there's some truth in it. It could be anyone, the werewolf, a teacher, a student, someone in Hogsmeade and no one would ever know because werewolves just look like people when the moon isn't full."
It.
"You like horror novels?"
"YES." She stopped in her tracks, turning to look at him. "I love them."
"I thought you were more into romance."
"I like a good romance but they tend to lack the excitement, the thrill of a horror story. It's the element of the sublime, the blurred lines between pleasure and pain that make them so good, if you get what I mean."
"I definitely do get what you mean. Have you read 'Carrie'?"
"Oh my- Of course, I have read 'Carrie'."
"Really? Because that's like one of my favourite books right now."
"Yes. I love it. I love that she gets her revenge in the end and I love that she's wearing this pink prom dress as she's killing all these people. Like she's powerful as fuck without sacrificing her femininity. And that's what its about, ultimately, the demonization of femininity. Especially with her mother's horror when she gets her period and how she's bullied for such a natural function of the female body, right?"
"Yeah, I get that. It's different hearing it from you. I guess you have so much more of an understanding of Carrie than I have because you're a teenage girl just like her. I guess not JUST like her. But... Um... You know..."
"I know what you mean, Remus." She laughed a little at his flustered state. "I know you're not saying that I'm a weird girl with telekinetic powers."
"Yeah." He smiled. This all seemed like it was working out. Elsie was cool and beautiful and she liked 'Carrie'. "None of my friends like books like that. They all think I'm weird."
"Well, I don't think you're weird. I think your cool." Elsie looked down at her feet. They were still holding hands. They had been for a while. Remus wondered if she could feel how clammy his hand was.
"I think you're cool, too." Remus replied, hoping that the comment didn't sound too shallow. He always thought that kind of thing was an empty compliment like saying 'vice versa' instead of 'I love you too'. His dad sometimes would say that to his mum. But it didn't feel like an empty compliment when he told Elsie she was cool because she was cool.
"You don't have to say that. Its fine."
"No, I mean it. You're so cool."
She laughed. "Thanks."
They met there friends at The Three Broomsticks a while later. They all sat at a big table, since the eleven of them couldn't fit into a booth, with butter beers in front of them. Maria was still chatting off the ear of a very silent Remus, Peter was in a very engaging looking conversation with Dorcas and Elsie's other friend, whose name was Anne, about herbology or something else that Remus thought was extremely boring. James, Lily and Elsie were talking about something, Remus really couldn't pay attention to everyone.
"She's nice." Marlene said out of the blue.
"I know."
"I... Uh... Never mind." Marlene started to talk and then changed her mind in the space of about ten seconds.
"What?"
"No, its fine. I was..."
"What were you gonna say? It seemed like it might have been really deep or insightful."
"No, it wasn't. I was just going to say that... I didn't think that you were the type to... I don't know, I guess I just didn't think a girl like Elsie would be your type."
"I don't think I have a type." Remus said, thinking for a moment afterwards. It did seem that it was true. He didn't have a type. He had never had a crush on a girl. Not one that he could remember anyway. He thought back to his primary school. Not one girl that he fancied. He'd never had a crush on a girl in Hogwarts either or a girl in Wales over the summer. He did see an actress in a movie that he thought was pretty. Maybe that was a crush. He thought Elsie was pretty in the same way as that actress. They didn't even look very much alike. The actress was blonde with straight hair and wore different makeup.
"Yeah, I guess." Marlene sighed.
"I mean, Elsie's the first girl I've liked." Remus shrugged. "I don't really have a type because I've barely ever liked anyone."
She leaned in closer to him and spoke very quietly. "Have you liked people who aren't girls?"
What.
"What?" Remus asked her. This was very out of the blue. "No. I don't think I have."
"Dude, you looked so scared. I'm joking mate. Its okay." A smile broke across her face and she started to chuckle.
"Oh. Shit, Marls." He was shocked slightly but he still laughed. When they began to calm down, Remus leaned in to Marlene just like she had done to him and spoke quietly. "Have you ever liked people who weren't boys?"
She looked up at him, right into his eyes. She nodded, her short bleached hair moving around her chin as she did. "Maybe."