Ephemeral

The last photo in the bundle was the final day of that year it was a heatwave and students had been given a lot of free time to cool off. It was the first time that Remus merged his friend groups. He regretted not doing this sooner. All his friends together.

*The last day of the year*

The sun shone bright in the sky, as it had for the back two weeks, it was almost a disappointment everyday not to wake up to the typical pouring rain Scotland was infamous for. Despite this, the great lake was still rather cold even at this time of year, very few swam in it half in fear of hypothermia and the others feared the infamous giant squid. Peeves the poltergeist had told them ‘it has a liking for first years, nice boney crunch’. Remus hadn’t believed him of course. The squid wouldn’t hurt anyone right? No. definitely not. Dumbledore wouldn’t allow it; never mind mcgonagall, she always had great concern for the students welfare. And peeves was always causing a ruckus pulling pranks and making the girls cry. Either way sitting beside was guaranteed perfect safety, it had become a regular spot for him it had the perfect amount of shade under the trees so he wouldn’t get burnt.

“There you are Remus, we’ve been looking for you all over the castle”, Sirius came bounding up to the small cluster sat against the tree beside the lake. Remus lay sprawled out on the grass, his head rested of Lily Evans’ lap.

“Can’t have been looking very hard then”, Remus responded with his eyes still closed.

“We bloody well were!” Sirius said pushing his leg playfully, “All the while you’re out here hiding out with Evans” Remus shrugged him off and sat up to rest against the oak tree. They both turned to catch James staring at Lily in complete focus. She was whispering something to Marlene, who in turn whispered it to Mary, it must have been very funny because all three burst out into a fit of giggles. They did this a lot, Remus didn’t always understand what they were talking about but he went along with it. Girls were very confusing sometimes, boys were much more simple. But he liked the company of the girls, they were much easier to talk to (except for when Lily talked about Snape or when Mary talked about Sirius or when Marlene wouldn’t talk at all).

“And how are you ladies?” Sirius said striking a new conversation. He tipped his imaginary hat to them. Mary giggled a little too hard and had to stop herself.

“Really Black?” Lily began, shaking her head. She looked as if she was about to start up again when Mary placed her hand over Lily’s mouth.

“We’re fantastic Sirius, absolutely brilliant!” Mary said enthusiastically, “Aren’t we marls?” She agreed smiling at Sirius sweetly. Not Marlene too now. Mary was already obsessed with Sirius, she knew more about him than Remus knew. Although some of it was bound to be all rumours, Mary loved to gossip she persisted even when lily reprimanded her, ‘but Lils it's not a habit it's a lifestyle.’

The group sat in a small circle chatting the day away. When it came to around one in the afternoon, Peter strolled down to meet the six of them and invited them all in for lunch. Remus’ stomach had been growling for an hour now but he didn’t want to disturb the blissful peace.

The great hall was almost empty, everyone was wandering the grounds, so they could all sit together. The long Gryffindor table shot out infant of them as they walked in , remus had never seen a table larger it looked as though it could stretch to the horizon. Every couple of feet stood a golden platter stacked tall, with all kinds of sandwiches, he never left the hall on an empty stomch. James and Peter had ham sandwiches, Mary had egg, Marlene and Lily had cheese, Sirius had cucumber the posh git. And Remus ate four corned beef sandwiches, “Bloody hell Remus!” Mary uttered in amazement, “Where do you put it?”

“Dunno?” He replied, “James had three”, passing off the attention. James had always eaten his sandwiches quite oddly, First opening the bread up and scraping the butter off, then cutting off the crust and folding in the ridges of ham. James did a lot of thing is queer ways but nobody took notice or tormented him. If anything his quirks made him all the more loveable. Then they finished they each stuff a few shortbread biscuits into heir cloaks and made their way back to the tree. The sun was right over head. It was forever burning Remus’ scalp, sometimes he thought he might be a vampire too.

Sirius was chatting some ridiculous shit about the girls being in love with him. For whatever reason it was made James quite red in the face. “I can’t help it if every girl in the castle is enchanted by my wiley charms.” Sirius said without a sarcastic tone to his voice. Just like that, James and Sirius were wrestling on then ground again and the girls were back to gossiping so Remus pulled out his book. It was a fiction book, his favourite. And it had lots of beautiful drawing that he liked to copy. He was reading James well-loved copy of The tales of Beedle and Barde . James was floored when Remus said he’d never heard of it. Remus supposed it was like the Brothers Grimm for wizards. Being raised by a muggle mother despite being half born left him with boundless gaps of knowledge within wizard culture. But he would adjust eventually.

“How can you two fight like that?” Remus called out not lifting his eyes from the sentence. Sirius had pounced on James pinning his arms down while James struggled desperately to get back up.“It’s so hot I can barely turn the page”. Sirius, distracted by Remus’ voice, accidentally released James. James had got the edge on him he flipped him over and placed in a head lock.

“Submit! Submit!” James yelled. Sirius tapped his arm twice and was freed. He panted for breath then stood up and wiped down his trouser legs, James too stood up. They shook each others hand. James bowed and Sirius curtseyed like an aristocratic lady. He was always acting like a pansy with James. Finally the two swivelled around to Remus who was still concentrating on the words.

“Remus I think you might have been right. It is too hot for this!”. And just like that Sirius began stripping his clothes off down to his black briefs and vest. Christ even they were branded with the family crest. Sirius’ body was slim and pale he had the faintest outline of ribs but not boniness. He was what you could describe as perfect even considering the slim pickings of the genepool. It just meant that the blacks kept churning out gorgeous offspring, each one more batshit crazy than the last. James immediately followed suit and removed everything other than his boxer shorts. James had a weak outline of abs on his stomach which made Remus feel very insecure. Peter was too left in just his pants. Peter had a rounder figure that had developed over the past year but he still stood as confident as the other two. Remus admired it.

“oi what are you three doing!” Lily shouted at the boys hobbling over the pebbles on the shore. “Have they gone completely mad?” Lily questioned. By now they had wordlessly walked in knee deep.

“I don’t think so”, Mary chuckled. Remus and Lily spun to see her stood in nothing but a bra and pants. Mary was developed for her age, it was no shock when Sirius started whilsting and beckoning her into the water. She ran to his call like moth to a flame.

“oh come on lily” Marlene said next she’d only just begun stripping. Marlene could be very shy at times but if Mary did anything she felt obliged to do the same, not in fear of being left out but with comfort knowing Mary did it first. Lily still looked unsure so Remus began for encouragement. He took of his trousers and felt ashamed of his skinny legs, that didn’t touch. His knees were a patchwork mess of bruises: violet there, indigo there, lavender creeping up the thigh, a sort of mossy green here, oh that one was a bile colour isn’t that fascinating. All very strange for a boy who seemed to do no physical activity whatsoever. “There’s spirit” she nodded to him. Marlene was muscular like James she had a real six pack. Where was everybody exercising, it never crossed his mind how intense quidditch could be. Her arms were strong and had a sprinkle of light freckles spanning down them.

“Are you training for the olympics or something?” Remus and Lily chuckled. Lily was catching up now she had all but her skirt left. He was surprised but delighted by her willingness to engage with the rule breaking behaviour. He took off his tie and felt ashamed of his razor collar bones.

“The what?” Marlene said puzzled, but before Remus could explain himself she let out an audible gasp. Remus took off his shirt and felt ashamed of his scars. Marlene had gotten a full view of his horrible injuries from the weeks previous. He muttered every swear word under the sun but it was too late, he’d done so well in concealing those. Furious with himself for being so careless, he tugged the shirt back on aggressively. Marlene still had a mortified look on her face and he immediately redid the buttons on his shirt. Lily had shot him an apologetic but it was too late and not her responsibility not look after him. Thankfully she didn’t bring it up at the time but it was a fair reaction to the scars. Remus had gotten so used to seeing them they almost felt normal. The three walked down silently, to meet the others in the water. Lily and Marlene hand in hand.

“Remus, it’s okay you can take it off”, Lily whispered to him. “She was just caught off guard, she didn’t know.” Lily reached out to touch his chest, he flinched but did not resist her. She started unbuttoning his shirt again but he stopped her hand at the second button and shook his head. “But it’s going to get wet” he just shrugged and continued into the water to splash James, who had just been splashing Sirius and Mary. He’d rather the shirt be wet than embarrass himself like that again. What most the boys have thought every time they caught a glimpse of him changing. He often used the bathroom or closed his bed curtains, but sometimes he’d do it in the opening her thought everyone was asleep. What if they knew too? He was too frequently ill. Too peculiar for them to have not noticed. From what he gathered wizards weren’t welcoming of his kind. They boys probably thought him a charity case he was poor and a werewolf and halfblooded. Not like Sirius who lived practically as royalty. Not like James who’s family was known all across England. And not like Peter who’s father was important at the ministry. When he returned from summer Remus had to be more careful, he needed to close himself off he had to protect himself, but for now he was happy and free. He needed to enjoy the time he had left.

Marlene sat on Sirius’ narrow shoulders, Mary balancing on Peter’s while Lily, burning red from embarrassment, perched on James. The three on top tried to push one another off. Last one standing we hailed the winner by Remus. Lily dove forward James charging underneath, straight towards Mary and Peter, they jostled back and forth for a moment before Mary was sent flying backward and Peter’s head disappeared below the surface. “that’s not fair!” Peter exclaimed wiping the water from his face. Remus heard him complain, something about losing his footing but everyone had already shifted focus to the two teams remaining. James and Lily sprang into the offence again but Marlene fought back hard. Pushing with everything she had, Lily lost her balance, toppling off James’ shoulders. James pulled her from the water. Assured she was okay, he ran to Sirius, diving below the surface wrapping his legs between James’ arm and slamming him down into the water Marlene in tandem. Marco Polo came next. Remus new this one, he used to play it with his Mam in the garden.

They played for a long while throwing water and dunking each other briefly beneath the surface. The water was baltic but non of them minded it felt refreshing in the summer heat. The fun was interrupted by Mcgonagall who came running over with towels to make them all dry off. “YOU COULD DROWN!” “PULLED UNDER BY A GRINDLOW!” “WHAT WOULD YOUR MOTHER SAY MR BLACK?” . She would have given them a detention given any chance but it was far too late now the train would be coming that night and he’d be home by morning. Home to see his Mam. He missed her dearly.