Chapter 18
the table in the centre of the common room that had been reserved since the first night of their seventh year was never empty during the exam period. at all hours of the day at least one exhausted head would be slumped against the hard wood, maybe a quill still loosely held in a hand.
the final paper of the NEWT timetable was muggle studies, which of the group only mary, lily, emmeline and dorcas were scheduled to sit. the others had finished their written papers the day before, giving them time to arrange a post-exam picnic in the grounds.
collecting baskets of bread, cheeses, fruits and baked goods from the kitchens, remus and peter joined the others by the lake. alice’s head was already in frank’s lap, his fingers running through her hair which glowed as the sun caught her blonde strands. her eyes were closed, so when peter set down one of the baskets that contained a bunch of grapes frank took one in his fingers, resting it against her lips and watching amusedly as she sat up, her eyes flying open in surprise at its cold texture. the brown eyes narrowed but she eventually relented, allowing the fruit into her mouth with a soft smile as he offered her another.
james and sirius were already in the lake, a mismatched pile of clothes strewn by the edge. it took remus a couple of seconds to locate his boyfriend, whose head disappeared below the surface as he sat down under the branches of the clump of trees. he stretched out, his joints clicking. he ran a gentle finger down the spine of mary shelley’s ‘frankenstein’ but before managing to turn the first page, water droplets fell onto the thin paper causing the ink to run slightly.
“for fuck’s sake, sirius.”
remus looked up, annoyed but his expression softened when he saw a black dog standing over him, a long pink tongue hanging out between two rows of teeth. remus extended a hand to run it through the dense fur. sirius barked loudly, making alice jump. she scowled slightly and reached out over the edge of the blanket, her hand floating just above the grass for a stick to throw in the dog’s direction. she hit him on the nose with surprising accuracy but groaned when the consequences of her action became clear.
sirius hovered above her with the stick in his mouth, waiting expectantly for her to throw it again. alice rolled her eyes and reached out for the stick, glaring when the dog refused to let go, forcing her to her feet as she attempted to take it from his mouth.
“keep it” she huffed, sitting back down against frank, “i won’t play with you, then.”
sirius whined, the stick falling from his mouth as he did so. he rested his head against her shin, slowly soaking her white knee socks with pale pink sewing around the top. it matched the short tennis skirt she was also wearing, her outfit carefully crafted to match the scrunchie frank had chosen to wear around his wrist that day.
“can we eat yet?” james asked, throwing himself down on the rug next to peter who was setting up a chessboard. the pieces all fell as james’ weight made the floor shake somewhat. “sorry pete” james said, quickly gathering the collapsed pieces in his hand.
peter smiled at the quidditch captain before nudging one of the picnic baskets closer with his foot. remus noticed and immediately grabbed it away from the pair of them.
“no” he said firmly, looking disapprovingly between both of them, “we’re waiting till the others have finished too.”
“we’re being starved, pete” james said, sighing dramatically with a hand over his heart.
peter tried to suppress his snort as remus rolled his eyes and looked down at his watch. it was almost midday.
“they should be finished by now; just wait” remus added as he eyed james inching towards a bread roll.
james lay back down and moved the pawn nearest to him. within five minutes james rolled back onto his dark back, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. he opened them again when he felt the temperature drop slightly as a shadow fell over him.
he looked up, the corners of his mouth immediately turning upwards when he recognised the pale grey of regulus’ eyes above him. he scrambled into a sitting position, allowing regulus to slot in between his legs. the slytherin leant back comfortably, his head fitting underneath james’ chin.
barely ten seconds later mary and lily threw themselves onto the spread picnic rugs, reaching for a bottle of butterbeer straight away. marlene finally got out of the lake, leaving the inflatable she’d been lying on for the past hour abandoned on the water when she saw her girlfriend making her way down the path towards the group. she ran at dorcas, leaping up at her when she was close enough.
“you’re wet” dorcas said, looking down at the darker patches that were already forming on her blouse.
“only for you” marlene said with a wink as she unwrapped her legs from around dorcas’ waist.
“eww gross stop” emmeline said with a grimace.
marlene grinned at her, causing emmeline to relent and break into a smile herself.
“how was the paper, then?” marlene asked as she intertwined hers and dorcas’ fingers to lead the way to the picnic.
“i thought it was okay” dorcas said tentatively. she continued more confidently when she saw emmeline nodding next to her. “the final essay question was literally perfect.”
“i’m glad” marlene said, lifting their connected hands to press a kiss onto the back of dorcas’.
they joined the others on the grass by the lake and to james’ relief, remus opened the basket nearest to them and offered him a plate. thinly sliced pieces of cheese and tomato were arranged in james’ bread roll and a large packet of crisps were opened and placed in the middle of the group to share.
“have we got anything sweet?” sirius asked, licking his fingers.
he stepped over mary and alice’s outstretched legs and lifted the second basket, knocking it into mary’s head in the process. she merely looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. he smiled sheepishly, throwing her a doughnut in compensation.
“what do you want to eat?” james asked the smaller boy between his legs.
“oh nothing. it’s not lunchtime for the rest of the school and i’ve got charms in ten minutes.”
“not even one small strawberry?” james asked, pressing the bright red fruit against regulus’ lips. “one itty bitty berry?” he persisted with a lopsided grin as he tilted his head to look at regulus softly.
“fi-”
as soon as regulus opened his mouth to begin replying the berry was pushed through his teeth, exploding sweetly on his tongue. a small line of red juice ran down his pale skin and he wiped the back of his hand across his chin quickly. he got to his feet and rolled his eyes as james grinned up at him.
“see you later?”
james nodded, rolling onto his stomach to watch regulus wander slowly back up the path to the castle. once the slytherin was out of view, james sat up, dragging the packet of crisps closer to him.
“hey!” emmeline protested as they were removed from within her reach, “they were to share.”
she shuffled closer to the quidditch captain, her hand outstretched. james offered her the packet but refused to let go entirely.
“remus, put your book down and come and play truth or dare with us” lily said, nudging the werewolf with her elbow.
“truth or dare is a good idea” sirius said. “anyone got any secrets to share before we leave?”
“lily does” marlene said with a wink, before quickly putting a grape in her mouth to prevent herself from revealing any more.
every head turned to face the muggleborn who flared furiously at marlene who was smirking at her smugly from the other end of the picnic rug.
“go on then” alice prompted.
“you already know” lily muttered to her, her blush darkening.
“ohhh that.”
“oh come on” sirius said. “share.”
“i used to have a crush on james in first year” lily mumbled in one breath and not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“WHAT?!” sirius shouted, upsetting a bottle of butterbeer as he waved his arms around. “how did i not know this?”
lily shrugged before turning back to alice.
“truth or dare?”
“truth.”
“who was your least favourite in our dorm when we first started?”
“marls” alice said probably a little too quickly.
“hey!” marlene said, raising her head from dorcas’ lap to look at alice. “why me?”
“you had a permanent resting-bitch face on for the first two weeks and say anything; just sat there judging. it was pretty daunting to be honest.”
“okay your turn remus” alice said, turing to face the boy next to her. he looked down at her expectantly, waiting for the inevitable. “truth or dare?”
“truth.”
“first crush?”
“mary” he eventually breathed out. “i think we were partnered together in charms for like a week in first year.”
“well excuse you” sirius said, screwing his nose up at remus.
“leave him alone; he’s clearly got taste” mary joked from the opposite side of their little circle.
“yeah he does to be honest” james agreed. “i think you were my first crush too - right at the beginning of first year.”
“damn mary, they were all queuing up for you and you didn’t even know it” emmeline commented with a smirk.
“but remus clearly came to his senses” sirius said with a wink, pressing a small kiss on the werewolf’s cheek.
“ouch” mary said in a tone of fake hurt. “truth or dare then, sirius?”
“dare.”
there was a collective groan as sirius (predictably) picked dare.
“see how many of these grapes you can fit into your mouth.”
“easy” sirius said confidently, reaching for the bunch.
soft smirks turned into bursts of laughter as sirius gagged at the fourth one.
“pathetic” remus told him, taking the fruit off his boyfriend.
“you do it then” sirius said indignantly, spraying half-chewed grape across the blanket.
maintaining eye contact with him, remus easily placed nine grapes in his mouth. he raised an eyebrow suggestively.
“so that would be why sirius makes half the noises he does” frank noted, muttering to james as he connected the dots.
james burst out laughing but it quickly changed into a grimace as the connotations of what frank was saying properly hit him. sirius grinned, waving across the circle at his best friend who rolled his eyes.
“for those disgusting insinuations, i think it should be frank’s turn next” lily said. “so, truth or dare?”
“dare” frank said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“jump in the lake with your clothes on” sirius quickly interjected before lily could even start her sentence.
frank stood up, and without looking back, ran down to the water before taking a flying leap at it, large amounts of spray erupting from the surface. within seconds, his blonde head broke appeared, the hair plastered to his forehead. he heaved himself out of the lake, his clothes laden with cold water that continued to drip down his limbs.
he arrived back at the group, smiling somewhat smugly as he reached for his wand and quickly dried himself off before sirius could protest.
“YOU’RE CHEATING!” the beater yelled a second too late.
“at no point did you say i couldn’t dry myself afterwards” frank told him, watching amusedly as sirius only managed to open and close his mouth silently.
“emmeline, you want a go?” frank asked, looking across the circle at her.
“absolutely not, thank you” she replied, reaching for a punnet of strawberries.
after her declination, the game fizzled out and james stood up, announcing he was going back in the water.
“you’ve just eaten; i’m not sure it’s a good idea” lily said.
james pushed his glasses further up his nose with his middle finger making lily roll her eyes.
“IF YOU GET SICK LATER I WILL TELL YOU I TOLD YOU SO!” she shouted after him. “anyway,” she said, turning back towards remus and mary, “what’s on your reading lists for this summer?”
remus waved the copy of frankenstein that had been resting in his lap since the late morning. his bookmark hadn’t moved and he fingered the soft pages carefully.
“don’t you think you should read something new?” mary asked him. “you read that every summer.”
“but it’s good” remus said, holding the book close to his chest. “and i also plan to read a couple of shakespearean tragedies and lady chatterly’s lover.”
“ohh that’s been on my list for ages. my mum refused to buy it for me but i got myself a copy anyway” lily said. “let me know what it’s like.”
“why wouldn’t she buy it for you?” alice asked sleepily, her head back in frank’s lap.
“it’s a very sexual book with some pretty graphic scenes - it was banned for obscenity when it was first published” lily explained. “sex isn’t really something that was ever discussed in my house.”
“yeah neither to be honest” alice admitted. “but it’s important to, i think.”
“oh definitely, otherwise people end up with all sorts of misconceptions about it.”
remus lit the cigarette he’d balanced between his teeth and leant back with his eyes closed, enjoying the way the sun and conversation washed over him.
“i definitely plan to reread gatsby” mary confessed. “what?” she said as remus opened an eye to look at her. “oh okay fine but it’s such a good book - literally fitzgerald’s best; i don’t care if it sounds basic.”
“okay but i agree” peter said. “i mean, i only recently discovered fitzgerald - i mean i’d obviously heard of him before, but i just started reading him a couple of months ago after lily leant me her copy of the great gatsby and now i’ve read pretty much all of his stuff and i still think gatsby’s the best.”
“maybe you’re biased because it was the first one you read” remus suggested. “because linguistically it has nothing on tender is the night or the beautiful and the damned.”
“maybe” peter conceded after a pause, “but gatsby was also just a beautifully written character, not just a story. like, as a protagonist i prefer him to rosemary or dick diver.”
“yeah i agree with pete - jay gatsby is a gorgeous character; clearly flawed, but still gorgeous.”
peter smiled sheepishly at lily as she spoke, pleased he’d found someone who agreed with him. remus exhaled, thinking her words over.
“i’m not denying he’s a well-written character but i still think it’s inferior to the beautiful and the damned. maybe it’s because i’m just not a particularly big fitzgerald fan.”
“that would probably do it, yeah” peter said with a slight laugh as he reached for a chocolate chip muffin.
“SNACK TIME!!”
a loud shout made remus tear his eyes away from mary shelley’s words only to be faced with james potter sprinting towards him and the open basket of baked goods. sirius followed quickly after, water droplets leaping over the ridges of his well-defined stomach muscles.
“shotgun the last jam doughnut” james said as he grabbed his towel.
his head disappeared briefly as he rubbed his hair, a messy black mass the result when he pulled the towel away. he reached for the nearest doughnut, spitting out the mouthful as cold custard hit his tongue.
“are there not any jam ones?” he asked disappointedly, looking up at remus.
“near the bottom, prongs.”
james grinned as he pulled out a second doughnut, his smile remaining as he tasted the sweet raspberry filling.