Summer of `76
Souper Trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I won't feel blue
Like I always do
'Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you
"Souper Trouper" ABBA, 1980
31 July 76
“Hiya Rem, how you feeling?”, Helio asked as he burst open the door to Remus's room swinging himself into the old armchair by the window.
“Lord, can you knock on the door next time maybe?”, Remus answerd still a bit shocked over the sudden entrance of his friend. He was lying head down on his bed, reading a muggle book Lily recommended to him. Remus enjoyed it so far even though he often times wondered how author's could come up with a story like that.
Sirius once told him every artist was insane, that's what makes their art so special, no matter if it was music or poetry. To Sirius being normal was boring and no form of art could ever be boring if you understood it correctly.
“Maybe when you ask nicely.” Remus tried not to roll his eyes at that. Helio was his best friend and neighbour since they were 5 years old. He looked older now, facial features changed completely over the time Remus spend at Hogwarts but the lopsided grin he was giving him stayed the same.
“Wanna do something fun?”
“Like what? The sun is burning down and I feel like dying even when I'm inside”, Remus scoffed.
The summer of 76 was one of the hottest they had in years, the temperature not even cooling
down over night.
“Smoking?”, Helio offered now pacing through the room. He was never able to sit still for a long time, something that reminded Remus of James who also seemed to be on his feet the whole day.
“Smoking's always good.” Remus got up from his bed, stretching his hand out for a cigar.
Before he could even light up the cigarrete his eyes landed on the dozens of letters scrambled
and piled up on Remus's desk.
“What are those?”, he asked curiously.
“Nothing, just the letters my friends send me over the summer.”
“Okay, so we have one from James and another one and another one annnnd who would have thought another one. But oh there's one from Peter and let me count 8 from Lily. They have a lot to tell as it seems. Do you reply to all of them?”
Helio was right, he got a letter almost every single day and the summer wasn't even halfway over.
James and his family went to France, Sirius tried to teach him some french words as soon as he found out about their trip and Lily just loved to keep everyone updated. He read all of them but the replying could still be done later.
“Not really, I'd spent all my summer texting them back if I did”, Remus said with a small laugh.
“You gotta point, still think they gonna be pissed when you return to your posh school.”
“Nah, they're used to it by now.”
He hung out almost every day with Helio, either smoking, watching TV or going around London to look at books and records he could never actually afford. He liked the other guys company, his ability to make everyone around him laugh and the storys he had to tell every single summer.
The atmosphere was quiet in a way Remus cherished it most, quiet but never silent.
Suddenly his door was opened up another time by Hope, his mother.
“Remus darling, there are more- are you guys smoking in here?”
At the same time Helio let his cigar fall to the ground, covering it with his foot and looking up at Hope with a guilty smile.
“Boys you know I hate it”, she continued, waving her hand in front of her face as though there was actual smoke, “at least go outside. That's a nasty habit you have there. What I wanted to say was there are more letters for you.” She handed them over to Helio because he stood closest to her. She was gone as fast as she entered and Helio had already started to read the names on the 3 letters, the last one looking paticulary rough.
“What do we have now, let's see. Marlene McKinnon, Peter Pettigrew and oh interesting a new name!”, he held the rougher looking one in his hand, “Sirius Black.”
At the mention of Sirius's name Remus's head quirked up. He would never admit it out loud but he waited for this letter the whole summer. Sirius promised to write him when they left Kings Cross a month ago and since then all he did when receiving post was looking for his name.
“Is this the one with the painted nails you always talk about, the one who wants to make music?”
“Yes, now hand the letter over!”, Remus demanded.
Before Helio was even able to protest he had already snatched it from his hand. It wasn't a long letter of course, Sirius never wrote long letters though you could recognize his neat handwriting everywhere.
Hi Moons,
I'm sorry for only writing now but Mother is not having it, she controls everything I fucking do so
it's really complicated to get letters out. How's your summer going?
I found some new music we can listen to once we're back at school! Hope to see you soon,
your Padfoot
Remus was smiling while reading the letter. He couldn't wait to hear the music Sirius had discovered. Out of all the boys his taste in music was definitely the best.
“What you smiling at?”, Helio wanted to know.
“Nothing, let me just quickly reply to Sirius.”
“What's so special about him? All your friends have written to you but now it's him and you directly have to answer?” His voiced sounded more earnest now as if Remus kicked him out just to reply to Sirius.
The truth is, Remus couldn't even explain it to himself. Something about getting attention from Sirius made his stomach flip in a funny way.
It started in fourth year when the black haired boy skipped quidditch practice just to stay with Remus in the infirmary after a bad moon. Feeling Sirius next to him made him feel calmer and being the center of his attention was even better.
Remus thought about that day very often. He couldn't put the feeling into words, I mean how can you explain something you don`t even understand yourself, so all he did was shrugging his shoulders.
...............................................
5th August 76
Remus was awake. His tank top was sticking to his skin and his hair was damp. It seemed like he hadn't had a good sleep in ages all thanks to the abnormal heat. Not knowing what else to do he went to his desk and picked up some of the letters. James's was first.
Dear Remus,
you can't even imagine how amazing it is here. Dad and I watched a quidditch game live and it
was the best thing I ever did. The players were so fast you weren't even able to follow them with
your eyes somtimes. And I also got an autogram from the chaser!!! He was super friendly and
also kinda good looking;) After all I learned some french words, may I write a sentence now and
you guess what it means:
Salut, j'dore jouer au quidditch! Tout le monde est vraiment sympa ici et j '`espere que tu reponses a ma lettre.
Hope you have a great summer.
Yours sincerely,
Prongs
Next was Lily's.
Hello Remus,
how are you doing? My summer has been great so far even though Pet is being a right little shit. I
spent most of my days outside with Mary eating ice cream. Even Marls was able to visit us for a
few days!! Have you started reading my book yet? If so please tell me how you feel about it. In my
opinion Dorian shouldn't have let himself be influenced that much and is beauty really all that
matters?
Your dear friend
Lily
After that followed one from Marlene and Peter. He was happy for his friends and all the stuff they got up to but some point he got tired from all the reading and fell asleep parchment covering his bed.
............................................................................
20th August 76
“Rem, your grandmother is visiting us today. Will you please get out of that old shirt? You've worn it for 4 days now.”
Remus didn`t want to change. He loved the shirt with his whole heart, it was his favourite with all the members of Queen on it. The other marauders gave it to him for his birthday.“Do I really have to? She won't even notice.”
“Yes she will. And now up you go.”
He didn't dare argue with that, when it came to his grandmother Hope always wanted to be the best version of herself. Of course this also counted for him.
3 hours later she arrived, scanning him from head to toe with her judgy eyes. Remus didn't particullary dislike his grandmother but she had turned into a sour old lady over the years, always looking like her most precious tea cup broke and never here for a joke.
“I haven't seen you for such a long time boy. You get taller everytime I'm here! But don't you think your hair is a bit too long? Your mother has to take you to the hairdresser before you return to your boarding school.”
Oh if she could only see Sirius. His raven black hair got longer with every year they spend at Hogwarts, now falling onto his shoulders in soft waves. He loved styling it and spend more time in the bathroom than the others combined. To add to his rockstar image he decided to paint his nails a few month ago. Mary was happily taking the offer to do so and now his nails were sometimes as black as his hair or as red as the gryffindor house decoration.
“I like it the way it is.”
“Mh, if you say so”, was the only response he got back.
Later when they sat together around the kitchen table eating cake and drinking tea Remus got bombarded with more stupid questions he wasn't to eager to answer.
“So do you have a girlfriend yet? How old are you? It's time now.”
“No I don't.” He didn't like talking about girls especially not with his mom and grandmother around.
“And what do you do the whole day without your friends?”
“Listening to music mostly and watching TV but I also love reading.” He watched as his grandmothers skeptical look turned more approving.
“What music do you listen to?”
Music was something he loved talking about and could do so for hours. This conversation though found a rather fast end.
“I love Queen and David Bowie! I also saw Mick Jagger on the TV recently. They're all so-”
“Bowie is the one who wears these weird clothes all the time and ruins his face with this clown make up, right? That's disgusting! They shouldn't even let him play on TV, only putting stupid ideas into the minds of younng children! And Mick Jagger wears eyeliner!”
“Sirius wears eyeliner!”, Remus interrupted his grandmothers rant.
“Is Sirius also kissing other boys? Remus honestly you shouldn't surround yourself with people like that, you're better. They are all nasty fagotts.”
Remus looked over to his mom who sat head down in her chair, only picking on her piece of cake every now and then.
He could feel his anger boiling up. Without thinking he stood up, his chair falling over.
“Don't you dare insult Sirius! He's my best friend and he always will be!” With that he stormed off into his room.
Remus didn't understand what his grandmothers problem was. Sirius and Bowie were probably the coolest people he knew, always looking like true rockstars. Nobody except for Snape of
course said something rude when Sirius started wearing eyliner and nail polish. James was the most supportive, Peter just smiled and Remus secretly admired him for having the confidence to be who he truly wants to be.
People stared at the makeup on his face
Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace