#it’s not like he promised sirius anything or vice versa

[theicarusconstellation]

so i’m seeing posts (incorrectly tagged!!) about regulus apparently “betraying” sirius now?? get REAL

[t1oui]

honestly i’m a friends to lovers situationship-y jegulus truther. like

james and regulus knowing their feelings are reciprocated for a full YEAR before anything happens

(as in james likes reg and knows reg likes him back and he knows reg knows and likes him back and vice versa)

sirius running away over winter break and regulus refusing to go with and sirius feeling betrayed not only by his brother but by james bc james refuses to stop being friends with reg

they’re basically dating but they aren’t because regulus refuses to date james before he leaves his parents’ home

they literally go on (platonic-ish) dates to hogsmeade and aren’t dating

james is all in and regulus is pushing him away

pretty much the whole school knows there’s something going on, but only their friends know exactly what

as they get off the train for the summer before james’s seventh and reg’s sixth year, regulus promises to james that thinks will change next year

on september first regulus comes to the train station with narcissa, who he lives with now (alice also lives there, let’s get some nobleflower rep guys)

now regulus isn’t one for pda, but you bet he jumped into james’s arms and snogged him in front of everybody

sirius couldn’t figure out if he was supposed to gag or cheer so he kind of did both

peter and mary were laughing their asses off

marlene was screaming, probably cheers but nobody could understand a word she was saying

dorcas and pandora were laughing at evan, who was trying to keep barty from falling out the train window he was hanging out of while he tried to make the same decision as sirius.

james and regulus would’ve missed the train if remus and lily didn’t stop laughing long enough to go down there and grab them.

[floralembarrassment]

Hi!!!

Can you please write about jegulus promising to marry each other when they were young (kids), and they would see each other (+ Sirius) every summer, but one summer the blacks move away? Even 10 years later they still think of each other holding the little rings they promised each other with.

Thanks <3 love ur posts

Summer Lovin' (1/1) (jegulus)

It couldn't be him... could it? James eyes had clocked the soft black curls that plagued his dreams and childhood from across the hall. Then he turned, and James breath hitched. Regulus Black standing quietly, seemingly taking it all in. It was a busy conference hall, and people kept coming over to talk to James. He realized he had suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He didn't have space for anything but Regulus. He actually wasn't sure he was capable of breathing at all.

"Reg!" He called. Not noticing or caring that he nearly yelled in someone's face. And then when those stormy grey eyes--the eyes he desperately wanted to fall asleep to and wake up to and looking into ever moment he was awake--snapped up to meet his. James was moving before the recognition appeared on Regulus' face.

As James moved through the crowd his mind was filled with those summers of his childhood. The summers when he would come home and spend everyday playing with the neighbour kids: with Sirius his best friend. Sirius who was his other half. Sirius who knew everything about him without asking and vice versa. Sirius who he wished could go to his school with him instead of in France.

And of course with Regulus. Regulus the inexplicable light of his light. Regulus the person he looked for everywhere. Regulus who he would rip his own heart out from under his ribs just to prove to him that James was his. Would always be his. Still is his.

He is still moving across the hall, it felt like years to get to Regulus. He sees Regulus move a step toward him, watchful and curious eyes, mouth slightly parted. James' mind was suddenly transported back to one particular summer night:

They were in the back yard, Sirius was inside getting lemonade and had ended up chatting with Effie and Monty. It was nice when that happened because it let James be with Regulus alone. They stole off to sit in the middle of the field that separated their homes. Wild flowers and tall grass blowing gently in the warm breeze around them. The sun starting to set in the distance.

Regulus had pulled a few pieces of grass and was braiding them in intricate circles in his hands. James remembers thinking he was just fidgeting but then Regulus grabbed James' hand, giving it a small squeeze and placed what he now was realizing waa a small braided ring around his finger.

"Promise me," Regulus had whispered, locking eyes with James in that moment. "No matter what, you'll marry me one day," it was a wish and a dream and the only promise James ever desperately wanted to keep. An echo of the promise he made to Regulus at 10 that of course boys could marry other boys. A whisper of the promise James had made to Regulus at 7 that he would always be there to hold his hand if Regulus wanted it.

They were so young, too young really to know what it all meant. Too young to understand the strong pull, the force of the universe that brought them together. James knew Regulus like he knew himself. He knew, even at just 13, that Regulus was his forever. That nothing could keep them apart.

Regulus had kissed him for the first time, the only time, when James had promised yes.

James remembers going back to school and coming home for the holidays to find that the Black family had moved permanently. And James didn't know where too, so he couldn't send any letters.

James has that memory frozen in his mind when he collided with Regulus in the hall. When Regulus is shocked and surprised and holding his face in his hands trying to make sure James is real. It's like no time has passed but they are finally together at the right place and the right time. "Uhmm hi?" James says, "I think I was supposed to marry you but maybe could I... could I take you to dinner first?" And Regulus laughs lightly, hugging James for the first time in years. "Yes, Dinner first marriage second." Regulus says, quietly tapping on a clear locket containing the preserved braided rings from that fateful summer.

[free-pool-trash]

x of swords - george weasley

part one of three

Summary: Growing up as Harry’s neighbor, you always believed that you were completely regular. In an attempt to feel closer to Harry (your best friend) you begin to dabble in the art of divination and, in the process, you uncover magic that you didn’t know you had. (i hate doing summaries this does not sum it up but you get the jist)

Relationships: George Weasley x Reader, platonic!Harry Potter x Reader, platonic!OC x Reader, platonic!Sirius Black x Reader, platonic!Remus Lupin x Reader, platonic!Fred Weasley x Reader, platonic!Nymphadora Tonks x Reader, platonic!Molly Weasley x Reader, platonic!Hermoine Granger x Reader, Sirius Black x Remus Lupin

Warnings: Swearing, anxiety, fluff, angst, mentions of torture, mentions of death (let me know if I missed anything!)

Word count: 22.9k 

so here it is 😏 i was going to wait until i was completely finished with this to post it but i didn’t wanna rush it and oh my god it’s already so long  😫 I’m moving to Edinburgh in 2 weeks so i won’t be able to write as i have so much to pack so i hope this keeps some of you happy for a while <3 obviously i put a lot of effort into this and spent a lot of time on it so i really hope yall like it and i will personally kiss everyone who comments. likes or reblogs <3

mastelist

Life on Privet Drive was definitely something- something being incredibly boring. Nothing even remotely exciting happened on the street and the company was, to put it simply, miserable.

You’d lived in 5 Privet Drive since birth which, unfortunately for you, meant that your family are extremely close with the Dursleys who live next door. The Dursleys are a family of bigoted, pig-headed bullies. Made up of Petunia, Vernon, Dudley and, in your opinion the only tolerable one, Harry.

From the age of five, Harry had been your only friend on the street and vice versa. Initially, the both of you had bonded over your dislike of Dudley but as the years rolled on Harry and yourself had become virtually inseparable.

It was certainly strange- how close your parents were with Petunia and Vernon. Your mother and father are actually quite lovely, they are the complete opposite of the Dursleys, they’re open minded, kind and extremely friendly. But, you supposed, their friendliness didn’t discriminate from person to person, even if said person forced their orphaned nephew to sleep in the cupboard underneath the stairs.

There was no denying that Harry had been miserable with the Dursleys, who were unfortunately his only remaining family and you supposed you should’ve been happy when your best friend finally got away from them after his 11th birthday.

You’d missed him for the entire school year and you only got a chance to ask where he’d actually gone off to when he’d arrived home for the summer. (You didn’t believe the story Vernon had spun about Harry attending a boarding school for juvenile trouble makers).

“It’s incredible, (Y/n), honestly! I wish you could be there too.” He’d told you when you finally saw him again, after he’d finished his first year in his mysterious boarding school.

“That’s great, Haz, but where exactly is it?” You wondered and Harry only gave you his signature grin.

“Scotland.”

With a heavy sigh you let the subject go, he was clearly happy wherever he was going to school so it didn’t matter where or what it was. As long as he was happy.

By the time his 12th birthday rolled around you’d found the perfect gift for him. You’d made your parents buy you a polaroid camera for him to take away to school, he’d told you so many amazing stories about his school, you wanted to see some of it for yourself so you figured a camera would be the best course of action.

The morning of his birthday, Harry was woken up by the sound of pebbles tapping against his barred up window. The boy looked out to see you waving at him, an excited smile on your face and a neatly wrapped present in your other hand. Harry couldn’t stop the smile that formed on his face as you beckoned him down with your hand. It was barely dawn but you knew better than to give a present for Harry to either his aunt or uncle because they’d only give it to Dudley, so it was best to get it to him before the rest of his supposed family woke up.

Hogwarts was amazing and Harry was over the moon to have discovered he was a wizard and make so many new friends, but he had missed you- his only friend in the muggle world. Your birthday was only a few weeks after his and he hoped that maybe you’d get a hogwarts letter of your own, obviously that hadn’t happened. Nonetheless he was happy to see you in the summer, he couldn’t shake the thought that Ron and Hermione would have loved to meet you though.

Slowly and quietly, Harry snook down the stairs and out the front door to meet you.

“Happy birthday, Haz!” You whisper-shouted excitedly, pulling the green-eyed boy into your house so he wouldn’t get caught outside when he wasn’t even allowed out of his bedroom.

Harry rolled his eyes at the nickname, “I hope you know that you’re still the only person who calls me that.”

“Good,” you said happily, closing the front door behind you. “Anyway, I got you something that you can bring away to school with you!” He rose an eyebrow at you as you pushed the carefully wrapped box into his hands, “Open it,” you instructed. And so he did.

It was very possibly the most expensive gift he’d ever gotten, you (or your parents) usually got Harry presents that couldn’t be stolen by Dudley. For example, your mother had taken to buying Harry his own clothes, seeing as your best friend was a lot taller and thinner than his horrid cousin.

You, on the other hand, would usually make him gifts with sentimental value, something Dudley had absolutely zero interest in. The camera though, you knew would be safe as Harry would be leaving for school again soon enough.

Harry stared dumbfounded at the cardboard box that held the rather large polaroid camera, judging by the image on the box it was a good quality thing, probably expensive. “This is… really nice, (Y/n).”

A bright smile found your lips as you rushed into an animated explanation about why you’d picked a camera as his birthday present this year.

“So you can take lots of pictures of you and your new friends in your new fancy private school and when you come back here you can show them to me!” Harry chuckled and nodded his head, hoping he’d be able to find time to take pictures like you wanted.

“I’ll take pictures of everything. Promise.” He told you, holding out his pinky with a cheeky grin. You linked your pinky with his and nodded gratefully.

“We should christen it,” Harry announced, tearing into the box and he quickly set the camera up before he pointed it at you expectantly. “Well, come on then. I’ve told my school friends all about you, they’re going to want to see what you look like too. So, smile-“ with a disbelieving laugh, you crossed your legs underneath yourself from where you were sitting on the floor across from Harry, and tucked your hair behind your ears before you looked directly at the lense of the camera and gave it the brightest smile you could muster. The camera flashed and the picture slowly revealed itself, it seemed to be good enough to satisfy Harry’s twelve year old self.

He’d shown the polaroid to Hermione first, the bushy haired girl had smiled softly as she held the polaroid gently, “She seems lovely, Harry.”

Harry had nodded his head in agreement, you were lovely. He just hoped Dudley wasn’t terrorising you too much while he was away. His cousin always had somewhat of a crush on you, which Harry knew was ridiculous considering you all but loathed Dudley.

True to his word, Harry had taken plenty of pictures, many were of (non-magic) areas of the Hogwarts campus, many were of his friends; Ron, Hermione, Fred and George Weasley (who had an absolute field day with the muggle contraption), one or two of Hagrid and he even managed to capture a nice one of the owlery. Although you were one of his best friends, sometimes thinking about you while he was in Hogwarts brought his mood down. It reminded him of how much he wished you could’ve shared in his adventures and not to mention how much he missed you, you could hardly send him an owl, what with being a muggle and all, so he only got to spend time with you during the summer months.

Things had changed during his third year, though. When he received a rather shocking, albeit very welcome, letter.

Dear Harry,

I’d like to start by saying: hi, how are you? How’s school? Good? Great. Now that that’s out of the way… when you come home I’m going to KILL you!!! I cannot believe you didn’t tell me you are a wizard! Well, I understand why you didn’t but anyway.

You’re probably wondering how I found all of this out. Long story short, I saw Vernon’s sister floating around your sitting room and then I saw you running out swinging a wand around. I put two and two together. You would not believe how long it took me to figure out how to get in contact with you. I practically had to beg Dudley to tell me how to get this package to you, he eventually told me how in exchange for a kiss on the cheek. It was as horrifying as it sounds, the things I do for you, Haz, honestly. Don’t worry though, you can make it up to me over the summer.

I bought an owl by the way. I’m guessing she found you okay? Look after her for a little while before sending her back will you? She’s just a baby so she can’t do too much long distance travel just yet.The lady I got her from is a witch, she was very kind and knew exactly what I was looking to use an owl for. Her name is Astra (the owl’s not the lady’s)! Isn’t she lovely?

Moving on from that, I felt bad forcing you to send me pictures and getting nothing in return so I have decided to very kindly grace you with my exhilaratingly normal life. You will also find I sent you some of those sweets you like.

Tell Ron and Hermione that I said hi! Oh and Fred and George too! Get into lots of trouble for me ;) I suppose I better stop rambling now, sorry about that I’m just excited (and i might be missing you… just a tiny bit!)

Write back to me soon, if you can! Tell Astra I’m proud of her for making her first delivery! (give her plenty of treats for me yeah?)

I’ll let you get back to your wizardy stuff now, Haz.

Lots of love,

(Y/n) xoxo

P.s. your magical secret is safe with me. promise.

Harry looked up from your letter with a dazed smile, your new little owl was looking at him expectantly, no doubt awaiting her treat, “Good job, Astra. Your owner says she’s very proud of you,” he informed her, handing her a piece of bacon from his breakfast plate and laughed when she hooted happily.

Astra is a gorgeous little tawny, she has brown and white feathers that were fluffy to the touch. Harry could already tell she was well suited to you though, she was friendly as anything with the most curious eyes he’d ever seen.

“Whose it from?” Ron grunted from beside him, munching happily on his huge breakfast.

Harry let out a short laugh, digging into the envelope to pull out the photos and sweets you’d sent, “(Y/n).”

“I thought she didn’t know about you?” Hermione asked from beside Ron, Harry only shrugged.

“She figured it out. She’s quite clever, I think you’d like her Hermione. She says hi by the way.” He answered somewhat distantly, distracted by the pictures you’d sent, all of which had writing on the backs. He paused on one photo, he guessed one of your parents had taken it, you were stood in the woods, surrounded by trees with a huge smile on your face, your eyes were closed and your nose was scrunched up as a very tiny Astra seemed to be nibbling at your ear affectionately.

“I’m sure we’d get along, I admire her determination, really. And she even bought an owl?” The girl questioned, reaching over and petting Astra gently.

Harry’s smile was gentle as Astra hopped onto his shoulder, “Yeah, suppose she did.”

“Alright! I’m gonna say it!” George Weasley exclaimed, plucking the photo of you from Harry’s grasp, he held it between himself and Fred, the older twin had somehow swiped the letter you’d written. “Harry’s girlfriend back home is quite cute, don’t you think, Freddie?” Fred nodded resolutely, pushing the letter into George’s face as he pointed towards a specific line.

“I have to agree and look, Georgie, she told Harry to tell us that she says hi! Ugh, such a darling,” Fred fake swooned and Harry felt his face heat up while George made kissy faces.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Yeah, you had opened Harry up to a whole new world of teasing yet somehow he didn’t mind.

“Oi, do you think she’d like some of our Weasley products?” George asked genuinely, wiggling his eyebrows. Harry shuddered at the thought of you getting a hold of anything that Fred and George had created, because yes, you would like some magical pranking products. You had quite a talent for mischief, only in Harry’s worst nightmares would the Weasley twins ever get their hands on you.

Harry shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, “Dunno.”

“She single?” Fred asked jokingly and Harry scrunched his face up. He supposed you were single, though, he’d never really pictured you with anyone. He felt quite protective over you, but he supposed he'd like to see you happy with someone he approved of- or alternatively; anyone but Dudley.

“Think so,” Harry told him with another shrug before a cheeky grin spread across his lips, as he focused his attention on the twins who were nudging each other in mock victory, “Why? Should I write home and tell her the esteemed Weasley twins have a crush on her?”

George was the first the speak, he nodded, completely serious and Harry found himself worrying that perhaps one of the Weasley twins would get his hands on you.

“Yes. Absolutely,” Fred snorted and said no more, allowing his younger twin to continue the girl based antics seeing as Fred’s actual crush, Angelina, had started to glare. “In fact, give her my name. Tell her to write to me next time, eh?”

Harry’s eyes widened, oh Merlin, George was serious.

“Oh sod off, would you? The poor girl is a muggle, she’d throw herself off the astronomy tower if she got stuck with either of you prats.” Ron said through a laugh, none of them could deny it was quite funny, even Hermione had to bite back a smile at the chaos your simple letter had caused.

Around two weeks had passed until Astra returned to you, two letters attached to her leg this time.

You greeted her with a warm smile as she landed on the inside of you window, “Welcome home, pretty lady! Did you have a nice trip?” You cooed, patting her feathers and giggling when she nuzzled her head against your fingers. Having a magical owl as a pet was weird, but still, you seemed to be managing her okay.

Astra hooted happily, as if informing you that she did, in fact, have a nice trip. “That’s good! Let me take these letters off and you can have a well deserved rest, I’ve made a nice nest up for you,” you rambled softly as you untied the string that was holding the letters to her leg.

Astra hooted, hopping onto your arm and allowing you to place her on the plush pile of pillows and blankets which she immediately made herself comfortable upon, once again hooting in content when you placed a handful of treats in front of her.

You assumed that both letters were from Harry until you noticed the messy handwriting that covered one of the envelopes, handwriting that definitely didn’t belong to Harry. Besides, never, even in the furthest reaches of your imagination, would your best friend ever refer to you as; “Harry’s Pretty Neighbour”. You set that one to the side for the time being and focused on the letter you knew to actually be from Harry.

Dear (Y/n),

Hi. Sorry I didn’t tell you I was a wizard. If it makes you feel better I was actually planning on telling you this summer, but thank you for saving me from that conversation. I miss you too (only a tad). I hope you’re having a good school year so far, it’s been pretty chaotic here but I promise I’ll tell you every single tiny detail when we see each other at the end of May!

Did Astra get home okay? She’s a really lovely owl, she took quite a liking to George who (terrifyingly) has taken quite a liking to you. He’s been badgering me all week for “permission” to write to you, in his words, “just to say hello.” I think you’d actually get along but he and the rest of his family are very magic oriented, I’d be surprised if he didn’t scare you away… the pair of you together would be my worst nightmare. Don’t even get me started on how I’d feel if Fred was in the mix too. I’m tired just thinking about it.

Thank you for the sweets they were lovely, I put a chocolate frog in the envelope for you, it’s a really popular sweet in the wizarding world- don’t freak out when it hops, it’s just a charm the frog isn’t really alive.

I enjoyed the pictures too, I put a few in this letter for you too, the polaroid is running out of film but it should be enough to keep me going until the end of term.

Write to me again soon, I like hearing from you.

Take care,

Harry.

P.S. I’m really sorry you had to kiss Dudley, I’ll do something to make it up to you. Promise.

P.P.S. If George OR Fred manage to write to you PLEASE don’t eat anything they give you.

With a laugh you set the letter down beside you. Curiously, you reached a hand into the ivory envelope and pulled out the peculiarly shaped chocolate box as well as the polaroids. You viewed the photos with a fond smile, Harry always looked so happy, even with whatever chaos was happening around him. Wizard school definitely made your best friend the happiest he’d ever been.

Opening the next letter, which you now guessed judging by Harry’s letter, came from George Weasley, Harry’s friend Ron’s older brother. That was all you knew about him. You let out a gasp once you opened the seal, a small show of tiny fireworks shot out, exploding in balls of reds and oranges across your bedroom before they disappeared as if they’d never been there in the first place.

Slightly frazzled, yet amazed, you cautiously plucked the letter from the envelope and began reading.

Hello, Harry’s Pretty Neighbour.

I hope you enjoyed the show, hopefully it didn’t startle you too much… I’m not exactly sure what muggles are used to… if it did scare you I’m sorry.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi. Promised Harry I wouldn’t spook you, he’s quite protective of you, you know. It’s very sweet.

I don’t blame him, though. If I had a friend as pretty as you I’d be protective too ;)

Don’t break my heart, write back?

Yours truly,

George Weasley x

And that had been the start of it. Two years had passed since you’d discovered the wizarding world and it seemed as though things had simultaneously gotten worse and better. As it turns out, your lifelong best friend was some sort of prophetic hero in the wizard community and on top of that it seemed that there was a war brewing that he would be expected to lead.

Of course, you were completely useless as you don’t possess the ability to perform magic which also means you're at risk of being hate crimed by some classist, wizard, blood supremacists? You weren’t sure. But Harry was worried.

You’d been writing back and forth to a few of Harry’s Hogwarts friends (your friends now too) for a long while now, you’d even gotten a chance to finally meet them when you’d gone with the Dursleys to collect Harry from King’s Cross Station.

You got along best with Hermione seeing as she was raised similarly to yourself and Harry. However, of all of Harry’s school mates, you liked George the most. Everyone could have predicted it really, you’d been writing to each other constantly and the second you’d clapped eyes on each other in the flesh he’d broken out in a run to crush you in a hug. Harry had groaned at the sight of the pair of you, smiling widely at each other, seeming to slot together perfectly. He had to laugh about it now though, if things went well with Ginny he supposed you’d probably end up being his sister-in-law, assuming his predictions of George falling completely in love with you were correct (they were, he knew).

All air of laughter or wizard/muggle romances was gone at the moment however. You and Harry sat alongside each other, your hand holding his loosely between the swings you were sat on, he’d be going into his 5th year at Hogwarts soon, he’d yet to recover from the last. He’d made a friend only for that friend to be killed right in front of him. He’d almost been murdered himself for God’s sake.

“If you don’t feel safe, Haz… maybe, I don’t know? Don’t go back?” You suggested weakly, knowing he’d never do such a thing. As you expected, Harry shook his head and looked at you solemnly.

“Can’t. Not now that he’s back.” With a sigh you squeezed his hand.

“They should be paying you for this, you know,” Harry chuckled then, squeezing your hand in return.

“I’m doing this for you too. To keep you safe.” He admitted and you sighed miserably.

“I wish I could be of more help.” Harry scoffed, his green eyes shining with pure disbelief as he stared at you.

“More help? (Y/n) you must be joking…” he trailed off as you shook your head, you weren’t joking, you hated that you couldn’t help Harry through this, for once you knew there was nothing you could do to improve the situation in any way that would make an impact, “Oi. Look at me,” Harry demanded, no trace of the usual awkward sarcasm to be heard when he spoke.

You let your eyes meet his again and watched how they seemed to soften when he took in how utterly defenceless you looked, “If it hadn’t been for you, the first ten years of my life would’ve been an even worse hell than they already were. You were the only good thing and you’re still the only good thing about being back in this place.”

He watched sadly as your eyes fell to the floor again, “Besides, the sooner we get this mess with Voldemort sorted out, the sooner you and George Weasley can navigate the whole muggle/wizard romance thing.”

At his statement you barked out a laugh and Harry let himself smile too, “Shut up, Potter. S’not like that.”

Harry laughed then too, “Oh it is so like that, (N/n).”

“It so isn’t.” You grumbled, but your little smile confirmed to Harry that it absolutely was like that.

“Okay. Fine, please then do tell, what is going on between you and the infamous George Weasley?” Harry challenged, revelling in the way your cheeks burned with embarrassment. He let out a low chuckle when you shrugged shyly and kicked the stones beneath your feet.

“I don’t know… We write to each other a lot, and I think he’s really interesting and funny and sweet and of course I think he’s fit. But, I don’t know,” you bit your lip as Harry listened to you, he found it quite endearing. “I just don’t see how it would work. I like him, yeah, but…” Harry scoffed again as you trailed off. He hated seeing you feeling so insecure, Harry was clueless about a lot of things, but he knew exactly how much his best friend was worth- more than all the gold in Gringott’s.

“Ok as your best mate, and as someone who is very close with the Weasley family, I’m telling you that he’s mad about you. All he ever does is ask me about you, Fred is completely sick of him. He’s even told Molly about you, which is truly a commitment believe me,” Harry started, growing more content with the more bashful you became, “And didn’t he write to you just before the Yule Ball to tell you that he was going with Katie Bell as a friend but he wanted to tell you just incase you heard it from someone else and he didn’t want you to get the wrong idea?” Finally, you were back to fighting a smile.

“Yeah he did.”

“Well there you go. But seriously he hasn’t dated or even so much as looked at anyone else since he met you. Which I’ll be honest is super annoying for me but you deserve someone who thinks you hung the stars in the sky.”

A mock gasp left your lips and you released his hand to place it over your chest in faux hurt, “You mean to tell me you don’t think I hung the stars in the sky? I’m hurt, Harry. I think I’ll have to rat you out to Mrs. Weasley.”

Harry laughed but the lighthearted atmosphere didn’t last long before Dudley had shown up with his little gang of bullies, all of whom made fun of Harry’s nightmares.

It was then things had taken a turn for the worst, the sky turned black and storm clouds completely blocked out the previously scorching sun. You looked to Harry for answers but he seemed to be seeing something that you couldn’t, all you knew was that it had become unbearably cold, a feeling of misery making a home in your bones as Harry rushed to pull you to your feet.

“Run! Come on!” He shouted, clutching your hand tightly in his and sprinting through the neighbourhood until you, Harry and Dudley found yourselves struggling to catch a breath in a graffiti covered tunnel.

A terrified yelp left your throat as what you’d been running from revealed itself to you.

Several floating, cloaked shadowy figures swooped into the tunnel on both sides, their hands decaying and boney, their presence leaving you with the feeling that you’d never know positively ever again.

Harry had effectively used his body to cage you against the wall of the tunnel, his back pressed firmly against your chest, your own back pressed to the cold concrete wall, his wand was at the ready as the creatures approached rapidly.

“Don’t look at them.” Harry instructed, protecting you first as you watched in horror as one of the creatures seemed to be ripping Dudley’s essence straight out of his body.

It only took Harry a few painfully long seconds to take care of the creature in front of the pair of you, you’d wished you’d taken his advice and buried your head in his shoulder so you wouldn’t see the monstrous creatures before you, yet, you couldn’t seem to tear your eyes away from Dudley.

The rest happened in a blur, Harry had yet to let go of your hand as it (and your entire body) shook violently. Demontors broke even the strongest of wizards, Harry knew that as a muggle who’d never seen a magical creature, other than an owl, you’d react negatively.

“If it makes you feel any better, I used to faint every time I saw a dementor.” You nodded numbly, giving Dudley a side glance of concern while he mumbled incoherently to himself.

“Is he alright?” You questioned meekly, voice shaking. You were still freezing and the all too familiar feeling of uselessness didn’t do anything to help you regain your inner warmth.

Harry nodded, “He will be.”

“The ministry will be after my head for using magic outside of school,” he told you after a few minutes, squeezing your hand lightly for the umpteenth time, “So I’m gonna have to go away for a while. Probably tonight. Eat some chocolate, it should stop the shaking.” He told you, you hadn’t even noticed you’d reached Privet Drive.

“And they won’t-“ your breath got caught in your throat and your eyes filled with fear, “The dementors. They won’t come back, will they?”

Harry shook his head, “No. But come on, we should get you inside before the ministry shows up and tries to obliviate you.” His final words came out as more of a mumble than an actual sentence as he passed a bumbling Dudley over to Petunia and Vernon before steering you down your own driveway.

“You better not have broken her too, boy!” You vaguely registered Vernon’s voice shouting in your and Harry’s direction.

Your parents were away on holiday at the moment, in Spain. They’d wanted you to come but you hadn’t wanted to miss Harry’s visit, so when you shakily managed to open the door the house was completely dark, you weren’t sure at what point night had fallen.

Harry closed the door behind himself and made his way into your kitchen, the boy rifled through your sweet press before his hand finally settled on what he was looking for. A triumphant sort of yell left his lips as he pulled a bar of chocolate out of the cupboard.

While Harry tossed the bar onto the counter and busied himself with boiling the kettle, you stood in the hallway still, completely rigid.

“Come on, (Y/n). Sit down.” He urged gently, not turning around. Wordlessly, you fully entered the kitchen and slid into a chair facing Harry.

“Don’t you have better things to be doing than making me tea?” You wondered, setting your hands on the table and fidgeting with your icy fingers. Obviously, you appreciated Harry’s fussing but with the way he was talking about the ministry earlier you were sure he had more important things to worry about.

Harry only faced you once he was finished making your tea. He carried the hot cup and the previously discarded bar of chocolate over to you, he placed them both on the table before giving you a hard look, “I’m looking after you first. I’ll deal with everything else later.”

“I used to be the one who took care of you.” You said through a sigh, taking a sip of the hot tea and slumping against your seat as you began to heat up on the inside again.

Harry let out a low chuckle, “Oh how the tables have turned.”

“I liked it better the other way.” You complained, munching on a square of chocolate.

“Trust me, so did I,” Harry groaned, standing up and placing a comforting hand on your shoulder, “Don’t worry though, (N/n). Have a sneaking feeling that you’ll be looking after me again soon enough.”

You patted the hand he had clamped on your shoulder in appreciation, “Thank you, though, for looking after me.”

“Course. I better go. I don’t want you getting roped into anything else tonight,” he said with a sad smile and you nodded in understanding, “We probably won’t see each other for a while but I’ll write. Is Astra back from Cecilia's yet?” Celillia is the witch you’d gotten Astra from in the first place, the pair of you had kept in touch and she’d recently offered to try and teach you some basic divination skills, she claimed that, “Being a wizard isn’t exactly a requirement” and you desperately needed something, anything, to make you feel more connected to your friends in the wizarding world. You supposed you’d need to plan a trip to her cottage soon, after tonight you definitely needed some of her wisdom.

“No, not yet. She flew straight there from the burrow so I suppose she’s probably resting,” you informed him distantly, still clutching his hand, “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”

Harry squeezed your shoulder and let out a deep breath, “I’ll try my best. Promise,” with that he lifted his hand from your shoulder and extended his pinky to you, you gladly linked it with your own. Harry noted, very gratefully, that the warmth had now returned to your hands and you’d stopped shaking so violently.

“Send me a letter once Astra gets back, alright? I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on over on my side.” You agreed before walking Harry to the door, hugging him tightly and watching as he approached the Dursley’s front door.

As predicted, Harry, George, Hermione and Cecillia had let you know that the wizarding world was crumbling fast. Admittedly you were worried about your wizard friends, but Cecillia had done a great job of keeping you distracted by keeping you buried under heaps of divination books, tarot cards and crystal guidebooks. As it turns out, though, you had quite the talent for making accurate detailed predictions.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were descended from a powerful seer,” she’d written to you in awe after you’d managed to predict exactly how a date of hers would go without missing a single detail.

Reading tarot cards quickly became one of your favourite hobbies to indulge in when you weren’t in school. You’d made the mistake of telling George about it in a recent letter, Harry already knew and he also knew that there was no point telling you that he didn’t have a heap of faith in divination. George however was having a field day with the new information.

The older boy teased you at every chance he got, but it was all in good fun as in every letter he sent, you’d find a page that he’d ripped out of his own divination book, the pages would be crinkled and have messy notes scribbled along the margins, with explanations over words that he knew you wouldn’t understand as a muggle. They were actually really helpful. Aside from all the teasing he found it quite endearing that you were trying to get familiar with some form of magic. Even if it was a form of magic wizards tended to ridicule.

He’d been quite worried about you, Harry told him about the dementors and how you’d been quite shaken up after your encounter with them. He’d written to you on a weekly basis, constantly checking in on you, making absolutely sure that no more dementors paid you a visit. He and Harry both kept you up to date with the constant and seemingly never ending rules being imposed upon them by their new headmaster, or headmistress; Delores Umbridge. George also disclosed to you all about his and Fred’s plan to leave Hogwarts and pursue their lifelong dream of opening a joke shop. You had nothing but faith in the twins, really. Your complete faith in them hadn’t stopped you from sending George a handful of crystals that you believed would help his and his shop’s success. He’d teased you relentlessly in each letter since he’d received your package containing citrine, tiger’s eye, amazonite, aventurine and smokey quartz. What he hadn’t mentioned since receiving your little gifts, is that he’d been carrying the five crystals around in their little orange mesh drawstring bag in his pocket everywhere he went. He had to give credit where credit is due and, to be fair to you and your holistic ways, he hadn’t run into any serious obstacles since he started carrying the gems around.

November through June had brought forth a plethora of unfortunate events. You were practically swimming in school work which left you with no time to write to Harry, or even practice tarot. As well as that, you’d been having nightmares, although Cecillia had warned that these dreams could hold some sort of prophesies within them, you highly doubted that though, you weren’t a wizard, only a muggle. Whether prophetic or not, the nightmares plagued you, keeping you up at night or waking you at all hours of the morning.

On one particular morning, you’d awoken with a gasp. Sweat coated your face, soaked your pillow cases and caused your legs to stick to your blankets in a way not even the June heat could've caused. Your heart pounded against your ribcage, tears welled in your eyes, and your body shook as violently as it had the night you’d come face to face with the dementors of Azkaban. The unadulterated fear coursing through your bloodstream suggested that perhaps this bad dream had been something more than simply that.

As fast as you could manage in your panicked state, you dragged your body out of bed and stumbled towards your light switch, flicking it on before haphazardly ripping a sheet out of the refill pad on your desk, grabbing a pen and beginning to scribble down the dream that you could only describe as a warning.

Your laboured breaths stirred Astra from her slumber, the tawny hooted tiredly, hopping out of her cage and fluttering over to your shoulder, settling there as you wrote.

Harry,

I hope this letter reaches you in time. I might sound completely mad but something terrible may be about to happen. I’ve been having these horrific dreams over the last few months, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry but Cecillia suspects they’re premonitions and I’m terrified she may be right. I’ve just woken up, it’s around 2am and if I’m lucky, Astra should get this letter to you before 6am…

Onto the dream, you were there and you were asleep, I was standing by your bed, it was a four-poster sort of thing, the room was decorated in mostly red and gold. You woke up panicked, you looked completely overwhelmed and you began shouting about your Godfather Sirius, about how he was in trouble… From then on I watched the day play out. You, Hermoine, Ron, Ginny, a boy with brown hair I’ve never met, I think you called him Neville in my dream, and a blonde girl- Luna I think you called her, you all went to the ministry to rescue Sirius and find some kind of prophecy. Harry you have to listen to me, you mustn’t go, it’s a trick, Voldemort planted it in your head and if you go you’ll only put Sirius in harm’s way. But, knowing you, you’re gonna go anyway… so here’s my advice: keep your eyes open for the witch Bellatrix. Keep Sirius away from the veil and please please please, be careful.

I’m heading to Cecillia’s cottage for the day and maybe even the next couple of days, send Astra there when you find time to write back.

I hope I’m wrong but if I’m not; good luck, Harry. I love you and if you don’t look after yourself the dark lord will be the least of your worries.

Lots of love,

Y/n.

Folding up the letter and placing it in a stray envelope, you addressed it and gently tied it to your loyal owl’s leg. “I’m gonna need you to go as fast as you can to get this to Harry, okay Astra?” She hooted with what you guessed to be determination before she set off, out into the night. Thankfully for you, now that your owl was occupied, you knew Cecillia owned a telephone so you’d have no problems contacting her. While writing to Harry, you’d left out a few details about the dream. You conveniently forget to mention that you’d watched his only remaining family member killed at the hand’s of Bellatrix, it had looked so terrifyingly real that your mind couldn’t have possibly conjured it up all by itself. You also failed to mention hearing Harry’s agonising scream as Sirius fell, the noise was nearly deafening. Seeing Sirius, a man you’d only seen in pictures, die and watching your best friend mourn for him was, well, traumatising. There was no way you’d get a wink of sleep for the remainder of the night, so, you quietly tiptoed downstairs and made a call.

The line rang three times before Cecillia’s voice sounded, chirpy as ever despite the late hour, “Hello?”

“Sorry to call so late,” was all you managed, your voice although shaky was immediately identified by the much older witch.

You could nearly see the soft smile on her youthful face as she spoke, “Ah, Y/n my darling, no worries at all! How is my favourite student doing at half two in the morning?”

“Not well, I’ve had another vision. I think you might’ve been right about the dreams being prophetic,” you told her, willing your voice not to crack as the image of your bad dreams crept into your mind once again.

Cecillia let out a gentle hum, “Shall I apparate over? You don’t sound in the highest of spirits, darling.”

“Yes please,” you answered simply and within seconds Cecillia was standing before you, a worried furrow in her brow and her ashy brown hair disheveled from apparating to you in such a hurry. How could she not? You were, after all, her protégé.

“Oh, darling. You look terribly shaken up, come, come, let’s get you some water,” she fretted, guiding you to your kitchen, magically flicking on the light with her wand and filling up a glass of water, with a few flicks of her wrist the glass had floated over to your usual seat at the table, meanwhile Cecillia had stirred you into the wooden chair adjacent the glass.

Wordlessly, the witch peeled your damp hair away from your face and secured it back with a crocodile clip shaped like a huge golden bumble bee, it’s wings adorned with glittering gems. The bee sat comfortably in your hair as Cecillia finally sat down beside you, she made herself comfortable on the kitchen chair, crossing one leg over the other, resting her elbow on the table and using it to prop her cheek up. Her wide green eyes stared at you sympathetically, watching intently as you sipped your water.

“I’m assuming your loyal familiar is sleeping soundly?” She wondered, referring to Astra. You shook your head, simultaneously swallowing a gulp of water before responding verbally.

“I sent her with a letter to Harry, it was more of a warning really,” Cecillia nodded her head, signalling you to go on, “I dreamt of Harry and his friends going to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Sirius Black, but it was a trap. When they got there they were ambushed by dark wizards and Sirius well he…” you trailed off, eyes growing distant and unfocused when the sight of the man being murdered reentered your mind’s eye. A gentle hand on your shoulder pulled you back to the present.

“This one was far worse than the others then?”

You nodded, “It didn’t feel like a dream, cecillia. It was like I was actually standing there but I couldn’t do anything to help though… as per usual,” you muttered bitterly, receiving a harsh squeeze to your shoulder in response.

Cecillia fixed you with a maternal glare, “None of that! You potentially saved a life tonight. And, as I effortlessly predicted since the moment I met you, you’ve got the magical gift of sight,” her hard look melted into something more forgiving as she spoke, “You’re much more than just a muggle. You may have been an extremely late bloomer, but, you’re a witch and a seer at that. A peculiar case indeed, although in the wizarding world stranger things have happened,” the old witch told you proudly, eyes shining with glee as your own filled with confusion.

“How do we know the dream will even come true?” You questioned.

Cecillia simply shrugged and offered you a cheeky grin, “I trust your feelings, darling.”

True to your initial feeling, you hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep, you knew you wouldn’t be able to rest until you found out whether or not your dream had come to fruition. Cecillia remained by your side throughout the night, eventually the sun had risen and your parents descended down the stairs, neither of them were surprised to see Cecillia sitting at the kitchen table. They saw her as an odd woman, very kind and perfectly lovely, but odd. You’d told them that she owned an animal sanctuary and that you’d been volunteering with her, it wasn’t too far fetched really, she had given you an owl after all, not to mention the amount of cats that hung around her cottage.

She explained to your parents that she needed your help at ‘the sanctuary’ for the next few days and that she’d drop you home once the work was finished. It hadn’t been a problem, so you traveled to Cecillia’s cottage after getting dressed and packing an overnight bag (full to the brim with tarot decks and only some clothes).

It was nearly 8 in the evening when Cecillia sauntered into her living room, where you were sitting, sporting a knowing grin, she held a piece of parchment in one hand and an unopened envelope in the other.

Jovially, she plopped herself down beside you, obviously doing her very best to contain a huge grin from forming on her face. Wordlessly, she placed the envelope on your lap with a mere, “For you.”

On the envelope you could tell by the handwriting that it had come from Harry. This was definitely a make or break moment for you. The contents of this letter would either confirm that you did in fact have magic, or, they would be responsible for causing you to experience a seismic amount of embarrassment. Swallowing the lump in your throat you tore the envelope open, freeing the letter and daring to read what was inside.

Dear Y/n,

Your dream was right. And that advice you gave about keeping an eye on Sirius? It saved his life. I suppose I’m mostly writing to say thank you. I’ve got some updates for you too: firstly, it’s finally been confirmed that Voldemort is back so my name is cleared. Secondly, it turns out that Remus and Cecillia are old friends, she contacted him earlier today about your vision and he and Sirius haven’t shut up about how impressive it is. I have a feeling you might be hearing from them soon, The Order now more than ever is in need of a secret weapon and genuine seers are hard to come by. I hate to involve you in this, it’ll probably be dangerous and you know I don’t want to see you hurt, or worse. But having said that, I’m glad we’re in this together now.

Astra got here in good time, by the way, she landed on my window just after I woke up from my vision of Sirius, it was actually quite freaky. I’m taking good care of her so don’t worry, she should be back to you at some point tomorrow.

Hermoine and Ron say hi too. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from George soon, seeing as he and Fred are in the Order… On that note I better get going.

Thank you again for the warning.

See you soon,

Love, Harry.

A bemused smile spread across your lips as you scanned the page, thankful to have finally made a significant difference in Harry’s life. Cecillia was grinning like a cheshire cat beside you, pride shimmering in her emerald eyes. She bumped her arm against yours playfully when you let the letter fall to your lap, “An old friend of mine will be stopping by in a short while. It seems he’d like to get you trained up in some defence against the dark arts.” She told you, still grinning.

“Defence against the dark arts?” You wondered out loud, you were sure you’d heard Harry mention those words to you before, however, the memories were fuzzy.

“Magic to keep you safe from darker magic, the likes of which the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters rely,” she explained darkly. Just then, a loud bang erupted from her open stone fireplace, a bubble of green dissipated as two men stepped less than gracefully onto Cecillia’s faux-fur rug. You recognised them both from your vision. They were Sirius Black and, if you were to take an educated guess, Remus Lupin.

Cecillia wasted no time before she was giddily jumping from her seat to greet the pair who had just appeared in her sitting room.

“Remus! Oh, how wonderful to see you!” She all but squealed, pulling the tall man into a hug and ruffling his already messy hair.

He reciprocated the hug with a gentle chuckle, “It’s nice to see you again, Cece. It’s been far too long,” he pulled away and the pair of them shared a fond smile before simultaneously looking to Sirius. “I trust you remember Sirius?” Lupin asked, almost rhetorically.

Sirius let out a booming laugh at that, “She could never forget me, now could you, Cece?” Cecillia rolled her eyes, and with a look of endearment nearly tackled Sirius into an embrace.

Seeing the woman who was essentially your magical mentor so overjoyed was lovely, Cecillia was jolly at the best of times but you’d never seen her quite like this. Her happiness added to your sense of helpfulness, Sirius Black was obviously important to more than just Harry, if the smile on the free-spirited witches face was anything to go by. Although you were ecstatic for the three witches and wizards before you, you couldn’t help but feel like you were imposing on an intimate reunion.

Awkwardly you cleared your throat, successfully bringing the trio’s attention onto you as you stood by the sofa, smiling unsurely. If it was even possible, all three of their smiles broadened when their gazes landed on you.

“Am I right in assuming that this is my guardian angel?” Sirius asked, separating from Cecillia.

Cecillia nodded, filled with pride, “And isn’t she just the loveliest guardian angel you’ve ever seen?” She gushed, half seriously.

You offered Sirius a bashful smile, along with a nod of greeting, “I’m glad to see you’re alright,” you told him.

His grin stayed fixed in place but he raised a single eyebrow in confusion, “Glad? And yet you’ve never met me before now…” his tone was laced with inquisition, as if he wanted to figure out what ulterior motive you could possibly have for caring about a stranger you’d only ever seen in a dream.

It didn’t take a seer or a psychic to see what Sirius was after, so you simply answered him truthfully, “No, we’ve never met, but you’re still a person, I watched that woman kill you, it was horrible, nobody deserves that. As well as that; I know how much you mean to Harry and what sort of best friend would I be if I didn’t try to help him keep his last family member safe?” Sirius nodded approvingly at your reply, looking between Remus and Cecillia.

“She remind you of anyone?” The black haired man asked in a low chuckle, Remus snickered and Cecillia bit back a grin.

The witch made her way back to your side and wrapped an arm around your shoulder, jostling you ever so slightly when she noticed your vaguely worried expression, “Don’t worry, darling, you just remind us of one of our most treasured school friends, I promise I will tell you all about it later. But for now, I believe Sirius was about to thank you for saving his life?” She prompted, waiting expectantly.

Sirius cleared his throat and straightened his posture before outstretching his arm, offering you his hand which you took firmly in your own. His voice was steady, strong and genuine when he spoke, “I am truly thankful for what you did for not only me but Harry today. I’m extremely proud of my godson for aligning himself with such a strong, powerful and wonderfully loyal young lady.”

“How sweet,” Cecillia cooed, before guiding you to the kitchen, “Come now, boys, kettles on- we have a lot to discuss!” She called over her shoulder.

There certainly had been a lot to discuss. The Order of the Phoenix thought having a seer at their disposal would be extremely beneficial in the upcoming war, the issue was; you are not yet of age and some members of the group didn’t wish to involve a child in their battle. Sirius, Remus and Cecillia made it abundantly clear that if you desired to join the Order, you were more than welcome but you would be welcomed under certain conditions. Those conditions being that your membership be kept under wraps and not disclosed to any muggles, meaning your parents.

“To keep them safe and to give you an escape route if things get too messy, even with the level of magic you’ll have gained by the time the war is in full swing, as a muggle born you’ll most likely need to flee quickly,” Remus explained, though it didn’t make much sense.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to run if my parents knew what we were running from? They’re open minded people, I’m sure they’d understand,” you attempted to reason, the trio but exchanged yet another loaded look with each other.

Cecillia placed a gentle hand on your shoulder, “We have a contingency plan in place, darling. Nothing you need to worry about for right now,” she reassured, easing your nerves a tad. “You trust me don’t you?” She followed up, her tone slightly stonier, more serious. You nodded your head certainly in response, there was no doubt about it; you trusted the witch with your life. “Then,” she began again, a somewhat chastising look on her face, “Trust that I will not allow a single hair on your head to be harmed.” This rule also extended to wizards not in the Order, which meant that when in the magical world, you were to air on the side of extreme caution.

Relating to that, another condition was that, at all times in the magical world, you were to be accompanied by an of age member of the Order. According to Sirius, who your were growing to like more by the second, he was going to arrange for a member of the Order to bring you to Diagon Alley in the morning to get you a wand. The prospect of having a wand of your own was terribly exciting, once again though, you found yourself wondering if you had it in you to properly wield one, or wield one at all for that matter. You were too exhausted to fret for too long, so the thoughts about magic levels and your own capabilities were only fleeting. Once all of the serious chat dissipated into friendly chatter, you managed to slip away from the table at which you were all sat. Making your way back to the sitting room, you tucked yourself into the corner seat of Cecillia’s old and very comfortable sofa, pulled your knees against your chest, wrapped your arms around them and rested your cheek against your knee. Slowly and deeply, you began to breathe in and out, fiddling with the amazonite bracelet that adorned your wrist in order to quell your ever growing anxiety. For a few sweet minutes you indulged in the calm silence, meditating peacefully in your comfy seat until a soft knock sounded from the doorway. When your eyes fluttered open they were met with the image of Sirius Black, leaning casually against the frame of the door, a hand plunged deep into his trouser pocket and another flipping a stray tarot card between his fingers. His eyes were focused on yours as he spoke, “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

You shook your head and patted the seat beside you, “‘Course not, come sit.”

The man chuckled but obliged, settling in the spot beside you and offering you the card he’d previously been fiddling with.

“The ten of swords,” you identified easily, “I assume you’ve been feeling quite overwhelmed if this card found its way to you.”

Sirius hummed, “CeCe tells me that you’ve a penchant for card reading. I was rubbish at divination back at Hogwarts, only took it because I thought it’d be easy but I could never get my head around it,” he reminisced, an airy laugh slipping from his lips.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who were you all talking about earlier when you asked if I reminded Cecilia and Remus of anyone?” He let out a deep sigh before fixing you with a soft smile.

“An old school friend of ours, she was more than a friend to me, but that’s a story for another time,” he started, staring out into the empty space before him a melancholy grin on his lips, “She was fiercely loyal to her friends, if she wanted to help there was absolutely nothing that would stop her from doing so. I know I don’t know you very well, but from what I heard today and the way in which you’ve been described to me by Harry; I can see her in you,” he finished, bumping his shoulder with yours and forcing a happy smile onto your lips which mirrored Sirius’.

“What’s her name?” You asked.

“Her name was Marlene,” Sirius answered.

Your heart dropped with his use of past tense, “Was?”

Sirius bowed his head slightly and began to twist the rings that adorned his slender fingers, “She was killed during the first war,” he told you, making eye contact once again, a grave expression on his face as he continued, “I saw your apprehension earlier when we brought up the topic of secrecy, but you must understand that during the first war we lost so many who were dear to us, keeping you in our back pocket will ensure that you aren’t harmed in the face of this war, if any dark wizards hear so much of a whisper of a muggleborn seer they will stop at nothing to eliminate you,” he paused for a brief second, never breaking eye contact, the gravity of the situation heavy on your chest your fingers absentmindedly found your amazonite bracelet once again. Your movements were halted when Sirius placed his large hand over yours, squeezing it warmly while staring at you determinedly, “You saved my life today, Y/n. So believe me when I tell you that I will stop at nothing to keep you safe,” he promised and you squeezed his hand in return.

“I know,” he smiled as he watched your eyes return to the ten of swords and your grin broadened with the sort of mischief he’d only ever seen in four people; James Potter, Marlene McKinnon and Fred and George Weasley. “I have a prediction for you.”

Sirius entertained you fondly, a mischievous air that reminded him of when he was your age surrounding the pair of you, “By all means, do tell.”

“I predict,” you paused for emphasis, “that we are going to be very good friends.”

Sirius let out a booming laugh of which the volume he couldn’t control, “That is a prediction I truly hope will come to fruition.”

“Oh no, this is a duo that spells trouble,” Cecillia giggled to Remus as they entered the sitting room.

Remus looked between you and Sirius with a grin, “With a mentor like you, Cece, I’m not surprised Y/n has a taste for mischief,” the ruffled wizard teased, receiving a gentle elbow to the ribs from your mentor.

“Oi, if you’re going to blame my beloved girl’s mischief on anyone you better blame it on a certain Weasley twin,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows and causing the boys to smile giddily like teenagers.

Sirius bumped your shoulder again, this time with a faux-scandalised smile, “A Weasley twin, eh? Come on then, which one?” You blushed heavily and cleared your throat in an attempt to alleviate the embarrassment filling your being.

“He’s just a friend!”

“Mhm. A friend that sends her annotated pages from his divination text book,” Cecillia sang and Sirius snickered.

“Whichever one it is must be quite taken with you if you made him actually crack open a textbook.”

“Annotations are quite intimate,” Remus half teased although you could see he believed what he’d just said, “I bet it’s George,” he directed the bet at Sirius who carefully observed the way you bit your lip and bashfully looked towards the wooden floor.

“I think you’re right, moony. Now!” He stood suddenly and pointed a finger at Remus expectantly, “We best get going and arrange Y/n’s accomplice for tomorrow’s field trip,” he wiggled his eyebrows before turning his head to face you again, he shot you a wink and you couldn’t stop the airy laugh that left your mouth at his lighthearted antics.

Remus gave Cecillia a one armed hug, “we’ll be seeing you both tomorrow then, it was lovely to meet you, Y/n, perhaps next time Sirius will allow me to get a word in,” he chuckled and Sirius responded by throwing his arm around your shoulder.

“I better get off, this husband of mine is growing jealous,” he told you in a teasingly hushed whisper.

Your eyes widened and you looked between the two men, “You two are married?”

A love struck smile took over both of their faces which immediately gave you your answer. “We’re engaged,” Sirius clarified before pulling you into a proper hug, “Get a good night's sleep, we’ll be sending an order member to collect you early tomorrow morning so you can be in and out of Olivander’s before a crowd can build,” he told you while giving you an affectionate squeeze, you could’ve laughed when you realised that it felt like you’d known Sirius forever but you also could’ve cried when you relived the image of him losing his life and realised that just because it was over and prevented didn't mean it hadn’t still transpired in your mind’s eye, you didn’t let that show on your face though.

“I’ll make sure I’m well rested,” you promised.

With that, Sirius bid Cecillia goodbye, and he and Remus left the way they’d came.

The rest of the night had been spent with Cecillia telling you story after story about her school days and the trouble she’d caused with Sirius, Remus, James and Lily Potter, Harry’s parents, and another boy who she only referred to as “the rat”. Though the tone of the stories were completely lighthearted, they weighed on your chest with a sense of such tragedy. A huge majority of their friends were killed young because of the war, a war that was now waging once again. It led you to wonder who’d be lost to this one, if perhaps you’d be on the list of names that Harry or Cecillia or George would speak about fondly with a dense undertone of sorrow in the years after the second war had long since been won. It was a risk you were willing to take though, the notion of fighting for a deserving cause filled you with a sense of purpose, a purpose you’d been searching for for years. More than that, you felt important. You were needed. An asset. You would actually be of some help.

True to your word, you’d been getting a good night’s rest. The bed in Cecillia’s spare room was the comfiest thing you’d ever come across, though, as you began to stir from your deep slumber you couldn’t recall the empty side of the double bed being quite so dipped.

Slowly and begrudgingly, you cracked your eyes open to see Cecillia smiling tiredly at you in the light of dawn, “Morning, darling. Sorry about the early start, I’ve made you some tea,” she greeted quietly so as to not disturb the peace of the early morning. She held two ceramic mugs, one in each hand and passed you the steaming cup that was hand painted green, keeping the brown one for herself. Tiredly, you patted the spot beside you and pulled the quilt to the side, inviting the witch into the warm bed. She happily slid in, pulling the quilt over her and chuckling quietly when you dropped your head onto her robed shoulder and began to sip the tea she’d made. Cecillia rested her head against yours and sipped on her own tea.

“Are you excited for today?” She asked and you hummed.

“I’m having mixed emotions,” you stated, “I’m excited to see everything, but I’m sort of nervous that I won’t have enough magic to even get a wand,” Comfort spread through your chest when Cecillia pressed her lips to the crown of your head.

“The wonderful thing about wands, lovely, is that the wand picks the wizard,” she began, “so whatever wand you end up with will accentuate the level of magic inside you. Its power will grow as yours does and you’ll soon come to realise that you couldn’t imagine wielding anything else,” her voice was wistful and her eyes shined with wonder as she recalled how it felt to bond to a wand.

“What do you think mine will be like?” You wondered, excitement awakening in you thanks to Cecillia’s encouraging words.

The witch took an exaggerated slurp of her tea before answering, “Something curious,” was all she said.

“Insightful,” you murmured and she shrugged unapologetically, her chaotic energy exuding now that she’d started to wake up fully. “What time is it anyway?”

“Half six, your chaperone should be arriving at seven and Olivander’s opens at eight,” she told you before shimmying out of bed, you whined in the absence of your head rest. “You better get dressed. Wear something nice, rumour has it that your tag along is quite the eligible bachelor,” she wiggled her eyebrows and all but floated out of the spare room. It was practically your room by now though, over the years since you’d gotten Astra and met Cecillia you’d stayed in the room on countless occasions. Cecillia embodied something that was something between a second mother, a spiritual mentor, a teasing older sister and a slightly kooky aunt.

“Oh? So do you reckon I should brush my hair then?” You jokingly called out after her only to receive a harsh scoff.

“Absolutely not! Don’t be desperate!” You barked out a laugh at her response, shaking your head and getting ready for the day ahead.

You were just about finished getting ready when a familiar bang sounded from the sitting room. Taking a deep breath, you gave yourself one last look over in the mirror, happy with the outfit you’d chosen, you made your way towards the sitting room to come face to face with your surprise chaperone for the day.

When you shuffled into the sitting room, a smile immediately stretched across your lips upon seeing who had been appointed to stick by your side for the day, “George!” His name left your mouth in a squeal that would’ve been embarrassing had you not been so excited to see him. It’d been upwards of a year since the last time you’d seen George in the flesh and although you’d seen each other in photos and written to each other at a rate that was almost excessive, the prospect of spending time together in person was, for lack of a better word; magical.

George drew his attention away from the framed pictures that lined Cecillia’s fireplace to see you standing in the doorway, looking as bright as the newly risen sun and sporting a smile that he couldn’t quite put into words how it made him feel. It only took a second before his own cheek splitting smile grew on his face, and with it left his hopes of impressing you with his cool and collected attitude. You hadn’t given him too much time to dwell on his ruined cool guy facade as you all but threw yourself into his arms. The red head let out an endearing laugh, catching you in his toned arms, wrapping them tightly around your torso. A scarlet blush rising on his ears when he felt your smile against his neck. “Hello to you too,” he chuckled against your ear and you pulled back enough to look at him, your arms still secure around his shoulders.

“Sorry,” you started, the smile that still adorned your lips telling him that you weren’t all that sorry at all, “Hi,” you greeted, bashfully pulling your arms away from him.

The sitting room was quiet for a moment as the pair of you only stared at each other, would it be too much to tell him that you’ve missed him? You didn’t want to come on too strong after such a long time apart, you’d already tackled him into a hug within the first five seconds, but with that came your next internal question of; did you really want to keep this boy on his toes?

George, having already discarded his notion of acting nonchalant with you, bet you to the punch. He rubbed the back of his neck and flicked his gaze to the floor before bringing it back to you, “I’ve missed you.”

A giggle left your lips before you could think about choking it down, you nodded your head, bouncing slightly on the balls of your feet, “Yeah, I’ve missed you too. Sorry I haven’t written, Astra is still with Harry.”

George gave you a grin, “No worries, darling. Heard you’ve been a very busy little psychic lately.”

Darling, you mused internally, the nickname echoing through your head and causing your heart to somersault in a way you’d never really felt before.

“Oh how sweet,” Cecillia sang from the doorway, a wicked grin on her face as she took in the two hopeless blushing messes, staring doe-eyed at each other in the middle of her living room. “I hate to break up the reunion, my dears, but the pair of you really should get going,” she instructed, strutting up to you and holding a cloth pouch in your direction, “Sirius left you some spending money, it’s different than the money you usually use but I’m sure George will have no problem helping you out,” Cecillia shot the boy a wink and he nodded, once again growing bashful.

“Now,” she grew serious, directing her words at George and making him slightly intimidated with her strong eye contact, “You are to be extremely careful. You are not to mention that Y/n is a seer and you are not to draw any attention to the fact that she is a muggleborn, if Mr. Olivander asks, she’s a half-blood who's been living in the states and that’s why she doesn’t have a wand,” you wore a confused expression, George nodded in complete understanding, “Did Sirius give you the list?”

George nodded once again, pulling a folded piece of parchment out of the back pocket of his slightly baggy denim jeans, “May I take a look?” Cecillia asked, already snatching the parchment from George’s long fingers and unfolding the sheet and reading it aloud, “Alright! A wand… seriously? He used a whole page of parchment just to write one thing?” She grumbled, stomping over to the nearest side table, leaning down and began to scribble on the parchment. You looked to George as she wrote, “Why do you have to say I’m from the States?” You asked quietly and George leaned down slightly to be closer to your ear.

“Witches and wizards in America don’t get wands until they’re of age, we get them here when we’re eleven,” just as he was finished offering his explanation, Cecillia walked back over, a hard look on her face that you weren’t used to seeing, though it seemed that the look was reserved for George.

Silently she handed him the parchment before looking to you, hard look dissolving back into her usual playful expression, “Have fun, lovely.” She then turned to George again, apparently having had enough of trying to intimidate the poor boy, she shot him a smile, “You’ll be taking the floo to Diagon Alley, my fireplace is big enough to take the both of you at once,” she handed George a pouch of what looked like green powder, “George knows what to do, now, not to sound like a broken record but do stay safe and have fun,” she finished, ushering the pair of you into her fireplace. You couldn’t lie, it was quite strange, you supposed you should get used to things coming across as strange, you were about to be exposed to the magical wizarding world for the first time after all. In the fireplace, you stood shoulder to shoulder with George, noticing the nervous look on your face, he slid his hand into yours gently. When you looked at him, he kept his face focused on his feet, “Ready, Y/n?” Taking a deep breath you nodded shakily.

“Ready, George.”

At your words, George slammed the green powder onto the ground and shouted, “Diagon Alley!”

You were sure you were going to be sick. Whatever the powder was, it had you spinning at a pace you didn’t know was possible, you had screwed your eyes shut and you were almost certain that you could feel yourself physically moving. It was only when George tugged on your hand that you opened your eyes to see that your surroundings had actually changed. “It’s horrible the first time, but you get used to it,” George said, pulling you by your still intertwined hands onto the cobbled street. The dizziness died down after only a few seconds out in the fresh air, the added sensation of George’s thumb rubbing soothing circles against your hand seemed to do the trick in settling you completely as you took in the street ahead of you. It was dazzling, really. A long cobbled street, lined with shops that looked like they were plucked straight out of a fairytale. As planned, the streets were fairly empty in the early morning as George led you down the path towards the shop where you’d hopefully get your wand. The name “Olivanders” was written above both windows of the dark shop, the words “makers of fine wands since 382 B.C.” were to be seen just above the door. Excitement had completely overridden your nerves and you practically skipped towards the door, George followed casually behind you, his hands tucked into his pockets and a fond smile on his lips.

“I suppose you’re excited then?” He asked teasingly and you didn’t bother trying to hide your obvious childlike wonder as you waited for him to catch up with you.

“It probably seems silly to you, but this morning Cecillia told me all about when she got her wand and it sounded so wonderful,” you told him, smiling when he bumped his shoulder against yours.

“I don’t think it’s silly, I still get giddy thinking about the time Fred and I got wands of our own,” he pushed the door open and motioned for you to step inside, slowly you walked into the empty shop. It was dark and somewhat dingy but there was something very mystically inclining about it, you could feel the energy and it was utterly exhilarating.

“Wow,” you breathed out, spinning where you stood, gazing at the boxes upon boxes that lined the shelves.

Only a minute passed before an old man stumbled to the front of the shop, smiling at the pair of you from behind the counter, “Ah, Mr. Weasley, it’s good to see you, it’s been some time. What can I do for you this morning? I see you’ve brought a friend,” the older wizard greeted and you smiled in response.

“I’m looking for a wand. I’ve been living in the states for the past few years but I just moved home,” you lied easily, George couldn’t help but smirk, what he’d give to have had you around for some of his and Fred’s pranks at Hogwarts.

The old man nodded in understanding, his eyes scanned you, his eyes were scrutinising and you fought the urge to squirm under his gaze, “Interesting. One moment please,” he said, murmuring to himself as he searched the isles for what he was looking for. A small “aha” sounded from within the isles, he was back in front of you within seconds, an open rectangular box in his hand. It was absolutely gorgeous, it resembled a raw tree branch, wood spiralling up its expanse until it stopped at the top, cutting off in a jagged, dull edge. He must’ve noticed how your jaw dropped, how could he not? He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off you since you’d wandered into his shop. He was an old wizard, but he wasn’t naive, he was well aware you weren’t returning from America, he could sense an energy in you that he hadn’t come in contact with in a long time. “Curious, isn’t it?” He prompted you, causing you to let out an airy laugh. Cecillia was going to tease you big time when you got back to her cabin.

“It’s lovely, what is it?” He offered you the box expectantly and you hesitantly picked up the wand with as much care as you possibly could. It was cool against your skin and was heavier than you’d imagined it would be.

“Thirteen inch, oak; cut from the base of a tree, which at the time, was almost six hundred years old,” he explained, watching happily as you ran your fingers along the wands several ridges,”With a phoenix feather core, quite a rare piece indeed. Unfortunately, this particular wand has been extremely difficult to match to a witch. But something tells me that you might be just the witch for the job,” he held your gaze and you once again got the feeling that he knew something he shouldn’t, “Go on, then. Give it a wave,” he prompted and you looked to George for further encouragement. George laughed at your lost expression, pulling his own wand out and pointing it towards the now empty box on the counter, “Like this, love,” he demonstrated, moving his wrist in a semi-circle motion, making the box levitate off the counter.

Another pet name. You ignored the butterflies in your stomach in favour of clearing your throat, squaring your shoulders and pointing your wand at the same box George had just made float, which was now settled back against the counter. Imitating the boy beside you, you moved your wrist in a swift semi-circle. Suddenly, a golden light poured from the tip of the wand and warm air surrounded you, gently blowing your hair back and forcing a laugh of disbelief to leave your lips. George stood wide eyed beside you, his lips parted slightly. He was amazed really, he went through five wands before he found the one that fit him, yet you’d found yours on the first try, and he had to admit; you looked glorious doing it.

After paying for your wand, you exited the shop, looking around George’s side at the list he was holding. From what you could make out, Cecillia had added a number of items to the originally very short list; 1) a wand, 2) a pendulum (crystal of the ladies choice), 3) crystals: labradorite, lapis lazuli & azurite, 4) mugwort, 5) new tarot deck (again, whatever she wants Sirius can afford it ;)).

“Suppose our next stop is the divination shop,” George said, mostly to himself but gave you a mischievous smile, “If we hurry up and get our shopping done fast we could probably get a butterbeer in before we rejoin the rest of the Order,” he sang, grazing his hand against yours as you walked side by side.

“Beer? You seriously want to drink beer at half eight in the morning?” You asked him, your eyebrow raised and he replied with an exaggerated roll of his eyes and draped his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close against his side and once again leaning his head down so his lips were level with your eye.

“No, you git,” he began with a laugh, “It’s not really beer, it’s pretty sweet; most wizards love it.”

You hummed in acknowledgment, “Sounds nice,” you told him absently, preoccupied with all the intriguing shops that surrounded you. George’s arm remained wrapped around your shoulder as you strolled further into Diagon Alley, seemingly uninterested in his offer for a butterbeer. The pair of you got what you needed from the shop and, since it hadn’t taken long, you decided to take George up on his drinks offer. You noticed that he seemed a little bit crestfallen since your noncommittal answer earlier.

“Hey,” you said, bumping your arm against his.

“Hello,” he replied, returning the gesture.

“So… d’you wanna go get one of those beer things that you were talking about earlier?” You asked nervously, your lip between your teeth. For all you knew, asking someone to grab a butterbeer in the wizarding world was the muggle equivalent to proposing.

George flashed you a grin that was almost childlike, it was mesmerising, so sweet and pure and you almost wished you’d brought your camera to take a picture of it. “I thought you’d never ask.”

With a giggle you let him grab your hand and lead you excitedly towards a building that had “The Leaky Cauldron” written above the door. When you got inside, George led you to a small round table with two chairs and you both sat down opposite each other. As casually as you could, you rested your elbow against the table and let your cheek rest against your fist, for a solid few minutes, while George ordered, you curiously looked around the pub until your gaze finally rested on George who was already looking at you with a soft smile, “Having fun?” He asked, genuinely curious.

You nodded your head, “Mhm, are you? I’m sure getting up at the crack of dawn to take me shopping isn’t something someone like you would usually like to do for fun,” you said, becoming slightly self conscious when you realised that he probably wasn’t enjoying the morning as much as you were. This was all normal for him, you’d nearly forgotten.

George gave you a perplexed look, “Course I’m having fun, love. But, what do you mean someone like me?”

You shrugged, once again pushing down the butterflies that arose in your stomach from the pet name, “I dunno, you’re just- you’re mischievous and fun and… I don’t know, shopping for stuff with me doesn’t seem like it’s something you’d want to do. I just hope Sirius didn’t force you into it,” you admitted shyly, smiling gratefully at the waiter when he placed the mugs of golden liquid on the table.

George chewed on his bottom lip for a second before he shook his head, “He didn’t force me. I sort of, well, I sort of forced him to let me take you. He wanted Professor Lupin to do it but I…” he let out an exaggerated sigh before giving you a smile, “I wanted to spend time with you,” he confessed sweetly, watching happily as a smile formed on your lips and you tried to hide it in the rim of your butterbeer. He laughed when your face lit up once the liquid hit your lips, “Like it?”

“This stuff is amazing,” you almost shouted, taking another large sip from the drink, “No wonder you all love it so much.”

George snickered, “Just in case it wasn’t clear; I’m having a lot of fun with you,” he said all too casually, taking a sip of his drink.

“Where to now?” You wondered, after you’d finished your drinks and set off back towards the floo network.

George shot you a cheeky look and wiggled his eyebrows, “I’m taking you back to headquarters.”

“Sounds ominous,” you commented, following him into the fireplace, nervously.

“D’you want a tip?” George asked out of the blue and you looked up at him expectantly, nodding. “The dizziness isn’t as bad if you keep your eyes open,” he whispered, taking your hand once again and throwing down the same green powder from earlier and shouting a new location that you hadn’t heard before. You cringed as the world began to spin, listening to George’s advice hadn’t helped much as the transportation was just as awful as it had been the first time. Unbeknownst to you, you were squeezing George’s hand like your life depended on it, George’s thumb had resumed brushing circles around your hand in response, the harsh squeezing didn’t bother him at all, not when it was you doing the squeezing. Just like earlier, George led you out of the fireplace and into the unfamiliar sitting room. Though the room was completely unfamiliar it was full of faces you immediately recognised, one face in particular standing out above all the rest.

In a second you’d dropped not only George’s hand, but all of your shopping bags to the floor carelessly and hurled yourself towards the boy who had already begun rushing towards you the second he caught sight of you appearing in the fireplace. Your bodies collided with so much force that you nearly sent each other tumbling to the ground, laughter sounded from both of you as you swayed the other, almost roughly, the way you always did when reuniting after an extended period of time.

“Glad to see you in one piece, Harry,” you told him with a cheeky smile on your lips, opting not to call him Haz in front of all of his wizard friends lest they tease him, not to mention you’d become quite possessive of the nickname, you wouldn’t be too pleased if anyone else started adopting it. Not that you’d ever admit that out loud.

“Yeah, you too,” his smile was as wide as could be when he shook his head, “I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“Do you want me to pinch you?” You teased, jokingly taking his cheek between your thumb and your pointer, giving the skin between them a gentle squeeze. Harry swatted your hand away with a low chuckle and unraveled his arms from around you.

“Alright, you two, if you’re ready we have some matters we need to discuss with our newest member,” Sirius’ voice sounded from behind you, a knowing look on his face as he watched Harry sneakily pinch your arm in retaliation. He had to fight the urge he felt to reminisce on his old school days; when he’d purposely annoy James, Remus or Peter and receive the exact same mockingly vengeful look that you’d just given Harry.

“I’ll bring your things to the kitchen,” George announced, reminding you of his presence before he walked rather quickly out of the room, bags clutched in his hands.

Harry snorted out a laugh when Sirius followed George out of the room, leaving the both of you alone. Harry wiggled his eyebrows and did his best to make his voice take on a sultry tone, “he’s bringing your things to the kitchen.”

“Shut your mouth, Potter,” you replied, pinching his cheek for the second time and tossing your arm around his shoulder, him doing the same as he led you to what you assumed was the kitchen.

“Do I have your permission to open my mouth to tell you something,” Harry asked lightly, stopping so you were both standing outside a closed wooden door.

“I’ll allow it,” you answered, smiling softly at your best friend.

Harry grinned, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Haz,” the boy groaned at the name but made no further comment, he pushed the wooden door open and walked inside.

The room held a long table where many adults were sat, chatting in hushed whispers when you entered the room, some of whom you recognised and some you didn’t. Mrs. Weasley was fluttering about the table, filling people’s tea cups before she spotted you. The woman, who you’d only ever met briefly at King’s Cross station one year, rushed over to you and greeted you warmly, “Hello, dear! Come, come sit down!” She ushered you to a vacant chair beside George and across from Fred, Harry took the seat on your other side. “I trust you got everything you needed from Diagon Alley? I hope that son of mine didn’t cause any trouble for you,” you gave her a friendly smile and shook your head.

“Yes, we were able to find what we needed and George was very helpful,” Mrs. Weasley, seemingly satisfied with your answer, offered a gentle smile to you and George. She then pushed a cup of tea towards you before sitting down herself.

Beneath the table George bumped his knee lightly against yours, but didn’t break from his conversation with his twin as he left his knee pressed against yours. You didn’t draw attention to it either, simply letting your knee relax against his as the witches and wizards at the long table grew quiet in favour of staring at you wordlessly.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the news of the seer we’ve acquired,” Sirius’ commanding voice broke the silence as he stood up from his chair, and placed his palms against the table, “I’ve brought her here today so that we may discuss proceedings to ensure her safety.”

“Yes,” a toneless drawl, drawn out nasally from the end of the table drew your attention to a black haired man at the opposite end of the table, “and what of Mr. Potter’s presence?” He asked, almost menacingly. Right off the bat, you didn’t like the greasy haired man. He was rigid and his face sported a permanent snarl and from across the table you could already tell; he wasn’t on your side.

“She’s my best friend, I’m here to make sure she’s not going to be put in any unnecessary danger,” Harry told the man shortly, in a tone that he’d more than likely perfected after having spoken to the man previously.

“As touching as that may be,” the older man snarled, “you are not a member of the Order.”

“Oh, enough, Serverus,” Sirius scoffed, pulling his hand down his face in exasperation before he let his eyes settle on Harry, “Perhaps you should wait upstairs for now. We’ll let you know of any significant updates.”

“I’ll tell you everything later, promise,” you whispered quietly, linking his pinky with yours beneath the table before he stropily took his leave.

“As I was saying,” Sirius spared Severus a glare and continued, “As we know, Yn is an unregistered wizard with an unregistered wand, meaning she won’t be on the radar of The Ministry of Magic. On the downside of this, seeing as her power manifested late, she is also untrained.”

All gazes fell to you once more, only Remus’ eyes were staring softly, crinkled at the edges from the smile on his lips, “I’ll be tutoring her in Defence Against the Dark Arts over the summer. She’ll catch up quickly, no doubt,” you smiled gratefully at him from your spot, relaxing a bit knowing that you’d actually be learning how to defend yourself the wizard way.

“I suppose I will be tasked with teaching the art of Occlumency? A seer with an easily accessible mind is hardly an asset,” Severus drawled. You didn’t have a clue what occlumency was, in all honesty, but you kept your mouth shut in favour of asking Remus when the meeting was over.

The meeting soon drew to a close, the older Order members slinking to one end of the table to arrange the schedule for your glorified summer school while you, Fred and George snuck away to find Harry. You found him sitting against the headboard of a bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms, “How’d it go?”

“Take a guess, mate, Snape had a right sour look on his face the whole time,” Fred answered, sitting on the bed across from Harry’s. George sat beside him and you made your way to sit with Harry.

“Ah, so that was the infamous professor Snape?” All three boys nodded, looks of exhaustion on their faces, “I don’t trust him. Something is very off about him,” you spoke thoughtfully and the boys nodded in agreement once again.

“I don’t like the idea of you being alone with him,” George said, his brows furrowed.

Fred snorted and clapped his twin roughly on the shoulder, “Getting a bit jealous are you, Georgie?” Harry laughed along with Fred while you blushed lightly and George felt heat rising up the nape of his neck.

“Sod off,” he muttered, but made no attempt to deny that he was slightly jealous of all the alone time his old evil potions professor would be getting with the girl he was harbouring feelings for.

The afternoon quickly turned into the evening and before long you were gathering your things and preparing to return to Cecillia’s. Harry would be heading back to the Dursley’s later that night, much to his dismay. You told him you’d be back on Privet Drive at some point the next morning since Cecillia would be dropping you home, as she promised your parents, so he wouldn’t have to suffer alone for too long.

That summer came and went in a bit of a blur. Two days in each week were spent learning how to protect yourself against the dark arts with Remus. He’s an amazing teacher, that couldn’t be disputed. In the space of only two months he had you duelling like you’d been doing it since the day you were born. Of course, you were thrilled to be bonding with your wand and developing (according to Remus) a very impressive skill for Defence Against the Dark Arts. But, on top of that, the shared conversations and exchanging of stories over hefty mugs of hot chocolate with the werewolf had been a huge highlight of your summer, and had caused the two of you to grow exponentially closer.

September was nearing and with it came a stiff breeze that prompted the hair on your arms to stand alert as you waited by the bus stop, the one just down the road from your house. Today was to be an important lesson with Remus, he hadn’t told you what the lesson would entail, but he had said that it was a charm that was “of the utmost importance”.

Although June, July and August were technically your summer holidays, you’d barely had a second to rest. You were, at this point, running on fumes and sheer will power. Extensively using magic was bound to wear you out, however, getting a good night’s rest after a gruelling training session had become something of a luxury for you. Visions of the future and retellings of past torments plagued your dreams and allowed you no time to rest. One vision in particular had been reoccurring, it arrived every night for the past two weeks, taunting you. The autumn chill that dripped down your spine reminded you of the premonition, having your hairs standing due to fright, rather than cold. It was always the same, no details ever shifted or warped and, unfortunately, the experience never grew any less harrowing. The warning that the vision brought about weighed on you heavily and followed you around like a stray cat. Images of a cold, desolate, blue-hued cellar lived behind your eyes, the phantom feeling of freezing metal shackles weighed on your wrists painfully and the undiluted terror combined with the indescribable agony brought about by the unfamiliar wand shoved against your throat had you forcing yourself to stay awake until you physically couldn’t anymore, each and every night. Nobody knew about the vision, you didn’t want to worry them, though, you knew that your distress was beginning to become visible; dark bags were prominent beneath your eyes, Harry had watched you fall asleep in the middle of the day, often on his shoulder, almost everyday that week and Remus could tell by the sluggish movements of your wand that your mind was elsewhere.

A few minutes passed before your bus arrived, the journey to Grimmauld Place was quite long but you couldn’t seem to warm up to floo travel, so going on a regular bus was the better option. When the red double decker pulled up, you greeted the driver with a smile and paid for your ticket. You made your way up to the second story and sat right at the front. The bus, as it normally tended to be, was empty. Resting your head against the window, you let your eyes slip shut, the noises of tree branches brushing against the speeding windows lulling you into a, hopefully, peaceful sleep.

Thankfully when you woke up, no visions lingered. You woke up just in time too as the bus was rounding up to your stop. As usual, Remus waited for you at the bus stop, his hands shoved deep in his tattered jacket pockets and a gentle smile on his lips.

Still groggy from your nap, when you exited the bus you greeted Remus with a tired wave.

“Dare I say you haven’t been sleeping well, dear?” He said gently, walking alongside you towards the house.

You thought about it for a second, perhaps telling someone wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. “I’ve just, well, I’ve been having this nightmare,” you started, growing nervous just thinking about it.

“Nightmare or vision?” He pressed as you walked into the house.

Guilt creeped into your chest upon seeing the clear worry on his face, “I think it’s a vision.”

Remus nodded quietly, placing his hand on the small of your back and pushing you in the direction of the living room. He gave you a warm smile, when you sat down on the sofa. He grabbed a blanket that hung over the back of the sofa and draped it over your lap. “I’ll make us some hot chocolate and we can discuss this,” he suggested.

“I thought you had an important lesson for today?” He only shook his head, smiling lightly.

He made his way to the door wordlessly and returned within two minutes with two big, steaming mugs in his hands. Remus handed you a mug and sat down beside you on the sofa, accepting your invitation to pull the blanket over his lap too.

“Now tell me; what has been going on in that wonderful mind of yours?”

You took in a deep breath, staring into the hot chocolate and avoiding his understanding gaze, “It happened for the first time around two weeks ago. I thought that it was just a dream, it didn’t feel like a dream but I thought that if I kept telling myself it was I would start to believe it,” you started, taking a sip of your drink before going back to staring at it, “But it kept coming back. Every night for the last two weeks. I haven’t been able to sleep, I’ve been too scared to,” your voice was small as you made the confession. You hated that the feeling of helplessness was beginning to wash over you yet again.

“What happens in this vision?” At his question, you placed your cup on the floor and turned to face him fully, turning on the sofa and pulling your knees up to your chest.

“It’s always the same. I wake up and the first thing I know is that I’m absolutely freezing. I’m in this cellar-like thing. I’m chained up by my wrists and my feet are barely touching the ground… I can’t see anyone but I can feel-“ your breath hitched and you rushed the swipe the tears that were falling away from your cheeks, “I can feel a wand against my throat, it’s pressing hard. There’s a whisper, it’s quiet and ghostly and I can barely make it out but I hear them say; crucio.”

Remus’ eyes widened in horror.

“Then I feel nothing but agonising pain and then I wake up,” Remus’ eyebrows furrowed.

“You’ve had this same vision every night?” You nodded.

“I know I should have said something but I didn’t want anyone to worry,” it was then that Remus grabbed your hands and looked at you with a sense of urgency you didn’t know he could possess.

“I need you to listen to me very carefully,” his eyes were wild and his hands shook lightly as they held yours, “You-Know-Who is back. There are already reports of certain Wizards going missing and none of us have any doubt that it’s his doing. And although I- we- care for you a great deal, it would serve us all well to remember that you’re a detrimental piece in this war. If he catches wind of you, he’ll stop at nothing to take you from us,” your heart was now running at the speed of a hummingbird. “We have a plan in place to keep you safe, I fear we may have to implement it sooner than planned.”

Before you knew it, you were surrounded by the entire Order of the Phoenix, all of whom looked grave. Cecillia sat to your right while Nymphadora Tonks occupied the seat to your left. You had the pink haired auror to thank for your duelling capabilities, as well as Remus of course. Her presence was comforting, she made it a point to shoot you a wink every time she caught your eyes looking more fearful than usual.

“Our original plan will need to be tweaked, I ran into Narcissa Malfoy in Diagon Alley and she very plainly insinuated that I was a person of interest in the death eating community,” Cecillia informed the table, a, for lack of a better word, bitchy tone laced in her voice. She’d told you many of her Hogwarts stories, you could recall her telling you that she and the woman she’d mentioned, Narcissa, had once been good friends until around their fourth year. She hadn’t told you what exactly had happened, only that it had been messy.

“What was the original plan?” You asked, growing frustrated with the Order’s lack of communication skills.

Thankfully, being one of the younger members of the group, Tonks understood your frustrations and spoke up on behalf of the group, regardless of whether they were ready for you to know or not; she understood that it was your life they were coordinating.

“We talked about relocating you to CeCe’s. We also, and far more pressingly, planned on erasing all traces of you from both the muggle and wizard world. Which would mean using a memory charm on your family and friends in the muggle world,” Tonks explained, eyes locked on yours while everyone else in the room glared daggers at the purple haired girl.

“Yes. Though we also planned on telling you this information with a far more delicate approach,” Snapped Molly Weasley from the end of the table, causing Fred, who sat to her left, to roll his eyes.

“She’s been riddled with visions of being ruthlessly tortured with an unforgivable curse for the past two weeks. I think the time for delicacy is long passed,” the older of the two twins practically scoffed. George nodded in agreement.

“Besides,” he set his gaze on you, eyes genuine and unwavering as he spoke, “she’s strong enough to handle the truth. It’s time you all stopped acting like she isn’t.”

The table fell silent. His words hung in the air as many of the adults hung their heads.

“By memory charm I’m assuming you mean obliviate?” You broke the silence, if you could you hoped to start an open conversation with the experienced witches and wizards that surrounded you.

“Yes. They’re completely reversible and once the war is over I’ll restore all of the memories.” Cecillia said.

“We know it’s a huge ask, dear, but it’s our best chance at keeping you out of that wretched creature’s hands,” Molly attempted to soothe both you and herself when she pictured what it would like to be in your shoes, how she’d feel if she had no other choice but to be forgotten by the thing she valued the most; her family. Molly Weasley had never been very good at hiding her maternal instincts, over the summer that fact had become glaringly obvious to you. You and Harry had laughed about how the children of Privet Drive had a special place in her heart.

“I understand,” you told her sadly, chewing on the inside of your lip, “I’m guessing by the atmosphere in the room that I won’t be home to say goodbye before you wipe their memories,” you shifted yours eyes from person to person, stopping when Cecillia took your hand firmly in hers.

Her lips were downturned and her eyes filled with guilt, she shook her head mournfully, “I’m afraid we can’t risk it, my darling. Even being here places you in danger at the moment.”

“Where will she go then? If CeCe’s place isn’t an option we’ll have to find a safe house,” Sirius sounded and, simultaneously, both Fred and George stood up, shoulder to shoulder with very professional expressions on their faces.

“We may be able to help with that, actually. George, if you would,” Fred started, nodding to his twin who straightened his shoulders and puffed his chest out over so slightly.

“Thank you, Fred. As you know, we have a property for Weasley Wizard Wheezes secured and we’ll be living in the flat above where the shop will be,” everyone at the table, including yourself, stared at the twins in confusion, not quite sure where they were going with their little pitch until Fred took over again.

“And that flat has three bedrooms,” he said, a smirk growing on his thin lips.

George spoke again, “Which means there’s one for me and one for Fred.”

“Which means there’s one spare,” Fred grinned wickedly.

Tonks let out an impressed laugh once the penny finally dropped, “We apparate her in and nobody would ever know a thing. Nobody other than those of us in the room know that Y/n is a friend of the Weasley’s, plus us visiting the joke shop wouldn’t raise any suspicion. I have to give it to them, it’s a great idea,”

“And one of the two of us will always be within shouting distance if anything happens,” George added, somewhat pleadingly.

Sirius looked across the table at you, “Y/n, it’s up to you. Whatever you decide will be final, we won’t interfere,” he promised sincerely. It was an easy decision, but still, it weighed heavily on your chest. In all honesty, you weren’t worried about your location, staying with the twins would surely be a light and fun time amidst all the doom and gloom. Your worry was that you would, once again, be handing over your control. Sirius dressed it up as though it was your choice, but you knew that this was probably their best option and in reality you really had no other choice than to move in with Fred and George.

“Sounds good to me,” you whispered halfheartedly, eyes dropping to stare at your lap as your teeth pulled anxiously at the skin of your lips.

“So it’s settled then,” Remus said, “Y/n will go with Fred and George tonight.”

Abruptly, you pushed your chair away from the table and stood up. Sparing nobody a glance, you left the room as quickly as you possibly could, before the lump in your throat could choke you or the tears that pooled in your eyes spilled like water through a broken dam. George made a move to rise from his seat only for Remus to stop him by placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Give her a moment.”

You found yourself locked in the second story bathroom, sitting in the bath. Your legs hung out over the side of the tub while your head was tilted back against the black tiled wall. As hard as you tried to prevent them, tears were streaming down the expense of your cheeks, neck and beneath the neckline of your shirt. The minutes ticked by yet your chest continued to rise and fall rapidly due to the sobs that shook it, your breath uneven. Visions of brutal torture were bad enough when you were in your own home, in your own warm bed, with your parents just a room away and ready to make you a hot cup of tea after you woke up screaming. Now, the visions would without a doubt continue to plague you, unlike before though, you wouldn’t be waking up in a familiar setting, nor would you fall asleep in the comfort of your own mattress, when you woke up screaming so loud that your throat grew raw, your comfort would rely on two seventeen year old boys who seldom took things seriously. It’s not that you didn’t trust them, no, you trusted them with your life- you are trusting them with your life, it’s just that there was already a lot going on in your mind at the moment, moving in with your crush and his identical twin brother isn’t exactly your idea of a nerve killer.

A knock against the bathroom door pulled you from your thoughts. You rushed to wipe your tears with your sleeves, sniffling, “Come in,” you choked out. Cursing your voice for breaking when you spoke.

Remus’ head poked through the door, his body following soon after. Even in an atmosphere as dense as this one, a sense of gentle calm always followed Remus wherever he went. Clumsily, the werewolf slid into the bath beside you with a low “oof” sound, mimicking your position with his much longer legs dangling closer to the wooden floor than your own.

“CeCe has gone to collect your things for you and get Harry, then, I believe, perform the spell,” he eyed you cautiously, hyper aware of your glassy eyes and puffy face. When your eyes widened and you whipped your face towards him, his stomach twisted into knots, he hated seeing you like this. He could sympathise with your feelings. When James and Lily were killed, and Sirius went to Azkaban and even when Peter was presumed dead, Remus had been left with a vicious frustration fuelled by his belief that he was utterly powerless in his own life. He could see in your eyes that that same notion was starting to creep up on you too.

“Already?” You gasped out, pulse rising again, a slight panic setting in. “It won’t hurt them will it? The spell?” You fretted, looking pleadingly to the man beside you.

He shook his head, tenderly taking your hand and placing it against his clothed chest, his beating heart present against the palm of your shaking hand. “I promise you that they won’t feel a thing. They will go on living an exciting life, travelling, seeing the world safely while you’re away. When this is all over we’ll place their memories of you back in their minds and it will be as though you were never gone.” Your teeth found the inside of your cheek again, gnawing relentlessly at the skin as you failed miserably to hold back a fresh set of tears. Remus squeezed the hand he held against his chest. “Let it out, Y/n. It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone,” he whispered, heart sinking lower when your bottom lip quivered and you let a rasped sob leave your body. With a deep sigh, Remus used the hand he was already holding as leverage to pull you into him, wasting no time he enveloped you in his arms, holding you securely as you cried against his chest. Admittedly, it felt good to let it out, Remus’ hand rubbed soothing circles against your heaving back and eventually, you didn’t know how long it had been, you calmed down, your tear ducts all dried out.

Remus held you in his arms for a while longer, even though you’d stopped crying, he could feel your body as it continued to shake. “I can’t promise you it will all be okay, but I can assure you that myself and Sirius, and everyone else for that matter, will be there for you at the drop of a hat; whatever you need,” he spoke against your hair.

“Whatever I need?” You echoed, the pit in your stomach ever growing.

“Of course,” he confirmed.

Remus startled slightly when you suddenly tore yourself away from him. As best you could in your awkward position, you turned to face him and grabbed his hands with as much urgency as he had done with yours. “I need you to do something for me,” Remus furrowed his brows in confusion, but nodded his head anyway.

“If anything happens to me… Don’t make them remember,” you instructed, maybe the request would’ve seemed radical if you had said it to anyone else, but you knew that Remus had experienced losses like no one else you knew, perhaps Harry came close but even his shortcomings couldn’t compare to Remus’. “It’d only cause them pain. If I die and they’re happily living none the wiser, leave them be, please,” the man let out a heavy sigh and took a moment to take you in. Your eyes were hard yet pleading, they left him no room to negotiate and he understood perfectly where you were coming from.

“Alright,” he agreed before raising his eyebrow and readjusting himself to get a better look at you, “However you should know; no matter what may come of this war, none of us will forget about you. In such a short time you’ve given us so much… you gave Harry his first friendship, a friendship that he cherishes more than anything in the world, I might add. You saved Sirius from death, my fiancé and Harry’s godfather. Mentoring you has given Cecillia a new lease of life and Molly Weasley one more child to knit jumpers for at Christmas,” he took a brief pause then went on, “For the sake of saving time I won’t even begin to tell you what you mean to the twins. My point is;” there was a melancholic type of smile on his face when he paused again, as if he was imagining what it would be like to remember you fondly if you did in fact die for the cause, “What you’re asking is incredibly selfless. And while your mother and father may not remember how wonderful you are, we all will.” Remus chuckled lowly when you shuffled your way back into his arms, squeezing his middle tightly. He slung his arm around your shoulders and delicately pressed his lips to the top of your head. You held so much love in your heart for the man who was currently cradling you in his arms. You debated telling him, you weren’t sure if it was entirely appropriate but after the speech he’d just given you couldn’t have cared less, “Remus?”

“Hm?”

“I love you,” you murmured, looking up at him innocently.

He offered you a toothy smile and breathed out a soft laugh, “I love you too.” With a content nod, you rested your head back against his chest, enjoying his soothing heartbeats against your ear. A melodic hum rumbled against your cheek, a quiet giggle left your mouth when you recognised the melody to the song he was humming. The tune of “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac floated through the bathroom bringing a genuine smile to your lips. The werewolf’s humming was interrupted by another knock against the bathroom door, whoever was knocking didn’t wait for a response before entering the room. Sirius stepped in and quietly shut the door behind him. He didn’t question you and Remus' position in the bath but simply slid into the tub on the other side of you, sandwiching you between himself and Remus. The black haired man let out a heavy sigh and leaned his head back against the tiles.

“The mother hens downstairs are worrying up a storm,” he said in exasperation, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tonks so riled up about someone’s safety. I tasked Molly with making you some hot chocolate to keep her occupied”

“Maybe I should go back down…” you muttered halfheartedly, begrudgingly peeling yourself away from Remus’ warm body.

Sirius gave you an apologetic look, “I held them off for as long as I could.”

“Thanks,” you whispered, bumping your shoulder to his, making him chuckle. After pulling yourself out of the bath, rather clumsily, you took a second to check yourself over in the mirror.

“You’re glowing, darling,” Sirius all but sang from behind you and you couldn’t stop the slight snort that escaped you.

“That’s one way to put it.”

“If you don’t believe me go on downstairs and ask George what he thinks,” Sirius teased, wiggling his eyebrows and receiving a light shove from his fiancé who couldn’t hide his grin.

“Leave her alone, love,” he chastised weakly, “You look perfectly fine, Y/n. Go downstairs and get something to drink, you need to rehydrate.” A bittersweet smile broke out on your lips, his fatherly tone simultaneously soothed you and left you yearning for what you were in the process of losing. Trying not to dwell on the sad fact, you left the bathroom and slowly descended the stairs.

As you assumed, the second you stepped back into the kitchen, Molly began to fret over you as if her life depended on it. Sipping on the hot chocolate she’d given you, you were reminded of how desperately tired you were. All the crying hadn’t helped ease the heaviness in your eyes either. Every bone in your body felt heavy for that matter, you were struggling to even hold your head up.

“You can lean against my shoulder if you’d like,” George’s voice broke you from your hazed state, you’d completely forgotten he was sitting beside you despite his leg that was pressed against yours beneath the table. You gave him a sleepy but grateful smile, as subtly as you could you scooched closer to the ginger and slotted yourself against his side, letting your head fall onto his shoulder. “Will you keep me awake until Harry and Cecillia get here?” You requested in a slurred murmur, your eyes fluttering between open and shut.

“Of course,” was all he said, he looked down at you adoringly, smiling like an idiot when you nuzzled into his shoulder, your nose rubbing against his neck. Try as he might, George couldn’t pull his eyes away from your drowsy face. “What do you propose we do?”

You shrugged your shoulders lightly, “Just talk.”

“How would you like your new room decorated?” He asked quietly, his head tilted down while he spoke to you, so you could hear him and so he wouldn’t ruin the lulled bubble you’d managed to obtain between you by talking too loudly. A sweet smile grew on your face, a smile that all but knocked all the breath out of George’s lungs when you angled your head to make eye contact.

“Can I have a double bed?” George snorted at your question and shook his head no.

“Nothing smaller than a king. What else?”

You pretended to ponder for a moment, “Can we paint it?” The ginger nodded, taking his bottom lip between his teeth.

“If you want to,” he started, almost sounding nervous, “We could paint it together?” Even in your sleep deprived state you hadn’t missed the vulnerability in his voice, it was the same vulnerability that you’d noticed when he’d asked you to go get a butterbeer with him a couple of months ago.

“I’d love that,” you told him, your answer causing his lips to twist into a pleased smile, “How do you feel about the colour green?”

Immediately, his smile dropped and he let out a disgusted scoff, “Green is a Slytherin colour.”

“You keep forgetting that I don’t get the whole house sorty thing,” you reminded him, not happy with his reasoning for hating your favourite colour. “Besides, I love green, it’s my favourite colour.” You told him truthfully. Not content with his disgruntled facial expression you began to defend your preference, “A lot of beautiful things are green; you’ve got grass, trees, emeralds- did you know that emeralds are really useful for enhancing psychic abilities? It also evokes clarity of thought,” you rambled, willing yourself to be quiet when you registered George’s fond expression.

The look of endearment aimed at you brought butterflies to life in your stomach, effectively waking you up somewhat.

“Do you have any emerald?” He asked, you assumed he was only feigning interest, you didn’t know that he could’ve listened to you go on and on about anything and everything for the rest of his life.

“No, not yet. I should probably get some though.” You said through a yawn. Your breath against his neck made him giggle, it was pure and unsuspecting but you took note of it. Everything about George Weasley felt like sunshine to you, his laugh filled your chest with warmth whenever you heard it, his eyes found yours like a lighthouse, guiding your lost mind back to the present each time your gazes connected. His voice, like his laugh, warmed you up when you were cold, giving you a reason to stay awake when you’d rather just slip away. In conjunction with the sun, even if you couldn’t physically see him, you never doubted that he was always there. As well as all of that, like your favourite tarot card; The Sun, he signified good things, hope that hard times will end with you on top, contentment and happiness. While your thoughts consisted of George’s similarities to the sun, his were consumed with the, in his mind, overwhelmingly cheesily romantic notion that you were the moon and the stars, he would’ve cringed if he didn’t wholeheartedly believe it. Everything that made the night sky magnificent was reflected in you. Like the stars, you were mysterious and captivating. Nothing seemed to compare to your glow or beauty, if you were to ask him what he preferred; you or the night sky on a clear night, he’d happily ignore a blank, starless sky in favour of simply staring at you as you went on tangent after tangent about crystals or tarot cards.

The pair of you were pulled from your musings when Harry rushed through the kitchen door looking unmistakably heartbroken, ever the empath when it came to his best friend, Harry’s heart sank the moment he laid eyes on your form, limp against George’s side. The second you saw him you all but ripped yourself from George’s side and the older redhead felt a surge of irrational jealousy begin to build in his chest at how fast you left his hold in favour of the chosen one. He knew it was ridiculous, he’d heard the way each of you respectively talked about each other, at this point you were practically siblings. But he supposed it was rational to be jealous when you liked someone the way he liked you.

Quickly, you crossed the room to Harry who had his arms already outstretched. He knew you were emotionally exhausted when you didn’t bear hug him. You meekly slid your arms beneath his open zip-up hoodie, tucked your head beneath his chin and didn’t say a word. “I shouldn’t bother asking if you’re okay then,” Harry muttered to himself, leaning his cheek against the top of your head and wrapping his lanky arms around your frame.

“Did Cecillia remember to bring Astra?” You asked, it was all you wanted to know about the night’s events.

“She’s in her cage in the living room, darling,” Cecilia said, walking into the room looking guilty.

“C’mon, let’s go have a chat,” Harry suggested, leading you out of the kitchen and upstairs to his unofficial room. Once inside the room you sat down on the edge of the bed, the blue duvet softly creasing beneath you. Harry plopped himself down beside you and offered you a gesture that was always saved for when either of you felt the other was on the edge of something dangerous. Your hands rested against your lap and he deftly slid his pinky over yours, intertwining your two littlest fingers. It was such a familiar experience; he’d done it when your grandparents died, when you’d cried over failed exams that you worked hard for, and in turn, you did it for him when he’d felt as though he had no place in the world, when he’d open up about his parents and when Cedric died and the ministry dragged his name through the mud you’d find your pinky tangled with his almost every night after he’d sneak over to your place after another nightmare or panic attack. “Do you want to talk about it?”

You shook your head, “Not tonight. I don’t want to cry anymore,” you croaked out, looking straight ahead of you at the grey painted wall.

“I understand,” he said, sighing and dropping his head onto your shoulder, “Let’s talk about something else then.”

“Like what, Haz?”

Harry snorted out a chuckle, “Like the way George looked like he wanted to hex me when you left him to come to me,” he teased, a smug lilt to his voice.

“He wasn’t teasing me, perhaps I’ll go back to him,” you grumbled, ignoring Harry’s childish giggles.

“Yeah you’d like that wouldn’t you?” You smacked his arm lightly with your free hand, doing a bad job of containing giggles of your own. “Don’t worry, since he’s going to be your new roommate there will be plenty of time for “oh George I’m so sleepy, please hold me until I fall asleep”,” you let out a cackle at Harry’s terrible impression of your voice, laying your cheek against his wild hair.

“That is so not what was going on, Haz,” you defended with a tiny smile.

Harry let out an airy, disbelieving chuckle, “Then what was going on?”

“He just said I could lean on him until you and Cecillia arrived and we just started chatting about how I wanna decorate my room,” you explained truthfully and Harry nodded.

“Riveting,” he mumbled sarcastically. Despite his snarky comment, the boy removed his head from your shoulder and pulled you against his chest. “Jokes aside, I’m glad you’re staying with him, I know he’ll look after you for me,” you rolled your eyes at the sentiment.

“I don’t need to be looked after,” you reminded him, looking up at him with a chastising smile.

He rolled his eyes right back at you, jostling you slightly in his arms, “No. But you like to be.”

You threw your head back in laughter, “Yeah, I suppose I do.” You did. You quite like both doting on people and being doted on, you’d grown up in an affectionate family so it was no wonder really.

“It’s getting late. We should get you settled into your new home,” Harry announced, pulling himself and you up from the bed, “I wasn’t going to say anything but you look terrible. You need sleep.”

“Thank you, Harry. Just what every girl wants to hear before moving in with her crush,” you joked, gently hitting your hip against his.

The kitchen was quiet when you returned, it seemed everyone had grown tired from the dramatic events of the evening.

“Ready to go then?” Fred asked, his coat already on and a handful of your bags in his hands.

“As I’ll ever be I suppose.”

After saying goodbye to everyone you, Fred and George traveled to their apartment by floo, to your dismay. The apartment was bare as they’d only just moved in but you could see it had lots of potential for becoming a cozy home for the twins.

As your first night in your new residence began, your aching eyes and tired mind didn’t leave you with any time to dwell on current events, the second your head made contact with the pillow you were out like a light. A dreamless slumber welcomed you for a while until your peace was broken by the all too familiar nightmare.

The first thing you recognised was the burn coming from your wrists. Shackles adorned them and effectively held your hands high above your head, stretching them uncomfortably. Goosebumps painted the expanse of your arms and legs, due to the freezing temperature in the nondescript cellar. A feeling of hopelessness planted firmly in your chest, the feeling only hightening when the familiar echo of footsteps, heavy and loud, drifted from the corridor outside of your field of vision. You knew who was approaching, you’ve lived this before, and so, you held your lip between your teeth and squeezed your eyes shut. The face of the dark wizard who always brought about your intense suffering was, for the most part, completely fuzzy, unrecognisable, featureless and bone-chillingly terrifying. You’d learned over the last two weeks of having this vision that it was less harrowing if you closed your eyes.

“I’ll ask you once more,” The voice was distorted, like it was being heard through a weedy radio, ominously unplaceable, “Where is he?”

You held no control over your voice, as was the norm during visions, as you felt and heard yourself reply, “I’ll tell you once more; I’d sooner die then sell him to you.” You felt your teeth gritting and your jaw clenching while you spoke. Jaw only tightening when the pointed tip of the wizard’s wand stabbed unforgivingly against the column of your neck.

“And die you will, my dear. But not yet-“ your eyes sealed themselves shut and you did your best to shake yourself out of the vision before what you knew was coming took place, as usual, your attempts were fruitless, “-Crucio.” Just like that your body was consumed by pain, the likes of which you’d never imagined possible, until you couldn’t even register yourself screaming anymore.

You bolted upright, clutching at the sheets of your new bed. Laboured breaths left your mouth and you aimlessly gripped at your neck, where the wand had been pressed, and let the tears spill freely. Momentarily disoriented, you’d forgotten where you were. Deep, heavy bursts of air left your mouth as you hastily scurried out of bed and towards the door. Somewhat aimlessly, you gravitated to the door across the hall. A yellow hue seeped from under the frame into the otherwise dark hallway. Light flooded the hall once you managed to fumble the handle down and pull the door ajar, a discombobulated ginger greeting you with half lidded eyes, obviously having been dozing off before you disturbed his peace.

“Sorry,” you rasped once your peace of mind returned to you and you realised where you were. Despite knowing that you shouldn’t have been standing numbly in his doorway, your feet seemed to be rooted in place, you couldn’t have walked away if you wanted to.

“S’alright,” George called out to you softly, sitting up in his bed, his back against the headboard. “You can come in, you know.”

Shutting the door behind you, you nervously shuffled into the room, stopping when you reached the side of his bed. George’s eyes roamed your face and he took notice of your still somewhat panicked expression, he drew his covers to the side and patted the empty space by his side. Something that always intrigued you was people’s preferred side of the bed, some people gravitated towards the left while others were more biased towards the right, but George Weasley? He slept right in the middle. The twin slept with a huge number of pillows, to the point where it was almost laughable, many of which you could only guess he’d smuggled from the Burrow.

Far too wound up to save face, you slid into his bed and didn’t shy away when he guided you into his side and tucked you tenderly beneath his lean arm. His embrace offered a greatly appreciated warmth as the chill of the dank dungeon always lingered long after the vision itself was over.

“What’re you doing up so late?” You asked, your voice gravelly. As you spoke, George effortlessly shuffled your body and his down so that your backs were resting on the mattress and not the headboard. Your head found it’s home against George’s shoulder and your hair was being tentatively twirled between his fingers.

“It’s our first night actually sleeping here. I couldn’t get to sleep,” he explained, his voice low and laced with fatigue. “I’m not really used to having my own room. It’s strange not hearing Freddie snoring or breathing.”

“I get that,” you whispered, “it’s quite comforting knowing for certain that someone is there with you.”

George nodded then. His eyes were glued to your face and he hadn’t even registered his own thought process before his lips were pressing delicately against your forehead. Today had appeared to be the day for laying all your cards out on the table, yourself and George hadn’t danced around your feelings for each other half as much as you usually did when you’d be in each other’s presence. Neither of you had the energy anymore, besides, if today’s events proved anything it was that; things were getting seriously messy as the war built momentum and it was clear that time was something that could very well be running out.

“Yeah,” he regarded you carefully, a little grin growing on his lips, “It is.”

A comfortable silence overtook the room. George’s twirling of your hair never ceased, every now and then his fingers would ghost over your shoulder and you’d catch yourself smiling against the cotton of his shirt as your eyes grew tired enough that they were close to falling shut.

Just as you were working up the motivation to lift yourself up and trudge back to your own bed, George spoke, “You can sleep here if you want, with me,” there was that innocent vulnerability again. There was never an ulterior motive when it came to him, he did things purely for the sake of making others happy, if he felt he could make a difference he simply needed to. Especially when it came to you, he realised.

“You don’t mind?” You asked, daring to peek up at him.

“Course not. I could use some company anyway.” He reassured you, his lips returning to your forehead, only this time the action held far more intention. “You don’t snore do you, love?”

You snorted out a giggle, looking up at the ginger cheekily, mischief dripping from your little grin that forced George’s heart to stutter rather violently and he hoped you hadn’t noticed. “No. But I drool.”

George’s face contorted, his nose scrunching up adorably in disgust, “Do you really?”

“Suppose you’ll have to find out, won’t you?” You teased and he sighed deeply, his disgruntled expression melting into a soft, adoring smile.

“I should’ve expected this, I knew you couldn’t have been completely perfect,” he said, mockingly sorrowful.

You scoffed, pushing his chest lightly, “You’re doing a lot of sweet talking tonight, Mr. Weasley,” you told him and he shrugged innocently.

“Just wanted to see you smiling again, darling.”

“Yeah, well, you’re doing a good job,” you assured him, the bashful yet tired smile that stretched your lips as you gazed up at him proved that you meant what you’d just said. “I like it by the way, the sweet talking.”

At your words, a huge, shit eating smirk grew on the boy’s freckled face. He managed to rearrange your bodies so that you were still tucked under his arm but you were now facing each other at eye level. “I knew it,” he proclaimed cockily.

You raised a challenging eyebrow, biting back a smirk, “Oh did you?”

George nodded pridefully, “‘Course I did. You see, I’m a little bit psychic,” his words forced a booming laugh from your lips, your cheeks hurting from the smile he’d orchestrated.

You shook your head, smile never dulling as you let out a chastising whisper, “oh sod off.”

“I love your smile,” he said suddenly, his eyes widened in horror when he realised he’d uttered the words out loud. The world could’ve stopped in that moment and you wouldn’t have noticed, all you could take in was George’s face, his eyes searching yours for something.

Carefully, you slid from hand from his chest to his red, blushing face. You cupped his cheek gently, moving your thumb against his cheek bone, almost swooning where you lay when he nuzzled against your touch. Working up some Gryffindor courage, George mimicked your movement, removing his arm from around your shoulder and bringing his palm to rest against the curve of your jaw.

As you stared at each other, you weighed up the pros and cons of telling him that you were completely head over heels for him. Your decision, apparently taking far too long, was made for you when George tugged you impossibly closer to him.

“I wasn’t going to tell you… you’ve had so much going on I didn’t want to overwhelm you,” he said, brown eyes boring into your soul.

“Tell me what?”

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for every possible outcome that may spring once the words on the tip of his tongue are spoken aloud, “That I love you.”

[wistfulrat]

a 4-part rec list of my fave drarry fics - the thrillers, dramas, soft bois, and wankbanks getting me through 2020′s shitstorm

[ for my fellow fledgling drarry stans! the drama list is here and, well. like i didn’t initially intend to go off in the mini-reviews beneath every rec but it’s just that you can't nOT yell about drarry as classic literary foils!! also it’s my dumb sideblog so i decided there are no rules and i get to be annoying about good writing.

but rly, the whole premise of the drarry pairing is shaped by this genre and if the ~serious world of serious published writers~ weren’t absolute cowards, they would admit that drama fic authors have contributed more to the genre than the average shit you can find at your local chain bookstore. so that's that on thAT. & if you love a fic here, don't forget to follow the authors, leave kudos & comments on their work, send them nice msgs bc they do all this shit for free xoxo ]

part 2: dramas

mood: for when I need emotional catharsis and maybe 7 hours to sob/brood about loneliness, the cost of love, & the perpetual fear of being truly known

includes: angst, hurt/comfort, reconciliation fics. it’s cruelty o’clock folks and someone is about to say/do something Fucked Up that they can’t take back. but don’t worry!! there will be a Reckoning feat. hamlet-worthy monologues, ugly truths, unbridled rage, trauma, insecurity, and just a fuck ton of tears!! but maybe even tender apologies and mended things.

(Un)wanted by @aibidil​ - 36k - E | Ginny's pregnant, then she's not and Harry's single. Harry, again with no family, doesn't know what to do with this turn of events, or how to find a new life—post-war, post-Ginny, post-abortion—in which he belongs. He doesn't expect that life to include dancing to the Backstreet Boys with Hermione and Draco Malfoy. A story of finding belonging in the unexpected. | --- can a fic be tender and unflinching at the same time? bc this story strikes that balance rly well and for a piece about unwantedness, it is incredibly humanizing. ginny holding her own, draco being gentle but not letting harry play victim, hermione calling harry “hazzah” and just the way this friendship insists on the validity of found families even when harry is spiraling?? and you’re forced to consider that no one has the monopoly on fucked-upness and that doesn’t absolve us of the ways we hurt each other but it means that everyone has the same potential to be better after being broken. goD JUST READ IT, OKAY.

Blood Magic, the series by @houseofhebrideanblacks and @thestralsofspinnersend 335k - E “Later that night. . .Draco wondered at the depths of magic, its breadth and scope. The ways in which life pervades and eludes death, the ways in which they endure all manners of small and large deaths within their lives.” -- if you don't read any other fic on this list, i hope you read this series bc holy shit it’s breathtaking. harry’s a recovering addict, draco’s recovering from abuse, and in a cottage within the forbidden forest begins an unlikely partnership as the boys take up the tedious work of healing. there are thestrals and everyone's in therapy. there are whole chapters of cottagecore drarry. it's a beautiful exploration of how we bare the immensity of loss against the miracles of birth and regrowth. 

Ship of Theseus by GallaPlacidia - 18k - T “A ship in a full sail, a ship in a state of decay, a ship that had been rebuilt, slightly different. A repeating cycle. “What makes the ship the same?” asked Harry. “I don’t know. There must be something in it that lasts across the changes.” -- DO YOU KNOW HOW THIS QUOTE LIVES RENT FREE IN MY SAD, SAD BRAIN. DO YOU KNOW HOW I LOSE SLEEP THINKING ABOUT THE FUCKING SHIP OF THESEUS. it’s a memory loss fic and everything is so unFAIR. you want to murder harry sometimes bc he’s such a shiT and you suffer through the ways he questions desire, penance, redemption, true love. and by the end, you want to believe in those golden slumber lyrics: “once, there was a way to get back home” 

Yours to Keep by @dracoismytrashson​ - 135k - E i love the university setting, i love getting to see harry and draco’s first forays into a real LGBTQ community, the class and race structures outside of the wizarding world. i love that this is the context in which they’re allowed to confront the shittiness of PTSD, anxiety, depression etc. as they come together and fall apart against each other’s traumas. it makes the ending feel earned af. “Baby, we’ve been easing into it for a decade.” -- my god this line

Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered​ - 153k - T  this fic is devastating. like, completely forget whatever reticence you might have towards a de-aging fic and read this. the de-aging premise allows the author to cut through the ways harry and draco hold each other at a distance and you end up with these stunning moments of clarity where they’re truly seeing each other for the first time. and suddenly everything makes sense. i won't spoil it here but there’s a scene towards the end where harry is talking to hermione and ron about realizing the first time he felt what its like to be loved and I fucking SOBBED. an all-time fave fic about learning how to belong.

Had To Be You by @lettersbyelise​​ - 59k - E a genuinely excellent slow burn about absolute fucking morons who refuse to express their mutual love over the course of literal years?? HOW MANY TENDER MEET-CUTES DO 2 GAY IDIOTS EVEN NEED. a car ride a bookshop a street corner -- when harry met sally is my enemy. but you know what? this fic is masterfully written, it’s an epic tale of unexpected friendships and the inability to say the things we feel. also its very much also a soft boi fic if not for the Major Fuck Up that pushes it into drama territory for me. so worth the turmoil tbh.

Hurricane by phrynne - 120k - E auror partners terrified of love. it’s a fic about walls - where the emotional landscape of this fic is occluded by dishonest words so you feel the tension play out in hollow voices, shuttered looks, emptied eyes. it’s like watching two ppl get flayed alive in slow motion and everything is SHIT for a little. it’s mean, it’s ugly, it doesn’t let you give the characters an out when they’re being cruel - to each other and to themselves. but harry and draco are two violent forces hurling toward each other’s walls and the inevitable reckoning comes and it’s so very worth the ending. the hospital bed scene to rule all hospital bed scenes.

Returning Tides by @zigster-ao3​ - E  “Is my timing that flawed? Our respect run so dry? Yet there's still this appeal That we've kept through our lives” --those fuCKing ian curtis lyrics in the summary!! p a i n. why do i put myself through getting-back-together fics knowing full well i’m gonna be Sad As Hell during the not-together portion of the story?? we are all unfortunately hoes for heartache. anyway this fic is beautiful. draco’s a dad and recently widowed, harry has a thestral reserve, the settings here are stunning. a story about grief and love that lingers.

A Piercing Comfort by @talithan - 44k - T “There is no objective scorecard. There isn’t anything that a person does that tips the balance from ‘deserving’ to ‘undeserving’, or vice versa. A ‘deserving’ person will not run out of worthiness after a set time of happiness and have to then go about working to deserve it again. And an ‘undeserving’ person does not have to suffer at length before having the opportunity to be ‘deserving’.” -- the heart of this fic. harry’s in therapy, facing depression, and learning how to accept love he doesn’t think he deserves. (also draco is harry’s therapist but yes, that power dynamic is handled ethically-well imo and addressed in the author notes I promise!!).

Borrowing Courage by @xx-thedarklord-xx​ - 70k - E |After years of being a Magical Artist and painting for other people, Draco decides it’s time to paint for himself for once. The secrets pile up as he tries to unravel the mystery of his relatives but the only thing he didn’t count on was having to go to Potter of all people for approval.| --god i love this fic. the thing about drarry here is that they never mean to hurt each other but they do. they do and draco’s trying to do the right thing and he wants so badly for good family but harry’s never rly stopped grieving sirius and it’s this whole unintended mess of festering wounds forced to heal. everyone needs a hug. also ron/blaise pairing and ron+draco’s friendship here is everything!!

Reparations and the sequel, Foundations by Saras_Girl - 320k - E | Harry is about to discover that the steepest learning curve comes after Healer training, and that second chances can be found in unexpected places.| -- incredible. harry and draco’s dynamic as healers, the cast of original characters, the boys learning what it means to trust each other, draco building a rehabilitation center, harry falling in love with him, and “meus fabula est mei ut dico: my story is mine to tell.”  i cry

The Ties that Bind by phoenix_writing (not on ao3) - 61k - T | Upon Andromeda’s death, Harry and Draco are given custody of Teddy. Their lives will never be the same.| -- harry’s got major abandonment issues and he’s just trying to be a good co-parent with draco but everyone is being the woRST and you want to murder them on behalf of harry. but then, the boys learn to listen to each other and god it all becomes so tender. also harry has a gay panic. things are awful but it all works out. -

[part 1: thrillers | part 2: dramas | part 3: soft bois | part 4: wankbanks]

[marauders-venting]

Heather - Epilogue

pairing: wolfstar (remus x sirius), remadora (remus x tonks)

genre: fluff & angst

warnings: none

words: 1464

a/n: so this is the fluffy wolfstar epilogue that i promised. so. yeah. enjoy!

There was a knock on the door and Sirius glanced at his watch. It was only eleven-thirty.

“Who is it?” Sirius called, abandoning his cup of coffee in the kitchen and rushing to his room to grab a shirt.

“It’s me,” said a familiar voice.

“Remus?!” Sirius said, swinging the door open. And there he was, standing with a bag on his back, his eyes dazed like a lost puppy. “What are you doing here? What happened? Is everything okay?”

“Nothing, nothing happened,” Remus said. “Everything is fine. Did I wake you up?”

“No,” Sirius said. “I woke up, like, five minutes ago, though.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Sirius said. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. Kind of. Tonks and I broke up.”

“What?” Sirius said, surprised and confused.

“We broke up,” Remus said. Sirius felt a lurch of excitement in his stomach but immediately felt guilty about it.

“Oh Remus,” Sirius said, hugging him tightly. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. Come inside,” Sirius said, leading him through the doorway and taking his bag. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Remus nodded. “Okay. We’ll figure this out, okay? Do you want me to make you tea?”

“Okay,” Remus said. It’s what they always used to do at Hogwarts. Anytime Remus was upset, Sirius would make Remus a cup of tea and they would talk it over. And vice versa. Remus didn’t look upset now, though. But Sirius knew, better than most people, how good Remus was at hiding his emotions.

“Okay,” Remus said again, exhaling loudly and rubbing a hand over his face. “I’ll come help with the tea.” So together they went to the kitchen and brewed the tea in silence, neither one saying a word. When the tea was ready, they brought it into the living room and sat down.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Sirius asked. Remus nodded and took a big gulp of tea; Sirius saw him wince through the heat.

“Basically…” Remus started, “it was really… weird. Like the weirdest break-up I’ve ever had.” At the words ‘break-up’, Sirius’ feels that excitement inside him again and he hates it. He hates that his best friend’s pain is bringing him joy. Is there anything more terrible than being happy about someone else’s pain? Especially when that person is your best friend.

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked.

“She put Teddy to bed and then she came in and said she had to talk to me. And then she told me that she’s gay—”

“She what?!” Sirius said.

“She told me she’s a lesbian,” Remus said and smiled.

“Woah okay, that was… not what I was expecting. Um wow. Okay. And then what happened?” Remus smiled at his hands.

“And then I started laughing. And I told her that it’s probably better if we break up anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because I… I kind of…  I’m gay too.” Sirius’ jaw dropped, his mind went completely blank. What? Remus is gay? Remus is gay. Sirius felt that flutter of excitement and happiness again. Because maybe now he has a chance with Remus? No, he reminds himself, this doesn’t change anything. Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he likes you.

“Sirius?” Remus asked. “Please say something. You’re freaking me out.”

“Sorry,” Sirius said, snapping out of his dazed shock. “I’m just… surprised is all. But yeah, that’s great, Remus. Ironic that you both ended up marrying each other and then realising that you’re gay at the same time.”

“I know,” Remus laughed. “I couldn’t believe it when she told me. I was shocked. I was like… how is this even possible? But it’s good though. I mean, we both had a good laugh. And I think we were just glad that nobody got hurt. At least I know I was.”

“Wow,” Sirius said. “So how long have you known?”

“Um, it’s been a while now actually,” Remus said. “Like two or three months, I think.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to hurt her. Or Teddy. I thought I’d be ruining everything. And at first, I–I was scared, I guess.” Remus looked away. “I was… having all these feelings and I didn’t know what they were or what to do with them and… I was just freaking out. And it took me a while to accept it but in the end, I realised that I… I’m in love with someone, I think. Someone else, I mean. A bloke.”

“Oh,” is all Sirius can manage as his heart sinks. No, ‘sinks’ is too delicate a word. It comes crashing down, along with any hopes he may have had. It crashes so hard he feels the pain in his chest. This is what Remus had been building up to, Sirius knew. But he forces himself to act normal and keep talking. “That’s… that’s great, Remus,” he says, smiling weakly. Remus shrugs.

“I don't know,” he says. “I don't think I have a shot with him, really.”

“Why not?” Sirius asks. He’s upset and he’s hurt but he’s not going to let that stand in the way of helping Remus with anything and everything.

“Because he’s… too perfect,” Remus says. He might as well have shot Sirius in the stomach and then punched him right in the bullet wound. “It’s like… I don't think he could ever think of me the way I think of him. He’s like this… untouchable masterpiece and I’m like… a piece of chewing gum stuck to the bottom of somebody’s seat.”

“Remus, come on, don’t—” Sirius starts. But then he looks up at Remus and sees his eyes. They’re trained on Sirius. Sirius thinks he’s seen this look before. And then he knows he has. He knows this look all too well. It's the look that he himself gave Remus for the long months that he was dating Tonks. Longing. But no, that’s impossible, it can’t be. Except it’s not impossible. It might just make sense…

“Remus is it… is it… me?” Remus nods slowly.

“I’m sorry, Sirius. I didn’t mean to fuck things up but I couldn’t help it and I—”

“Did you say,” Sirius starts, cutting him off, “did you say that you’re… in love?” Remus bites his lip. Then slowly, he nods again. Sirius can’t breathe.

“Sirius, please don’t freak out. You don’t have to do anything, I’m not asking you for anything, I just—”

“Can I kiss you?” Sirius interrupts again. Remus sits in stunned silence for almost an entire minute and Sirius worries that he’s blown it.

“Yes,” Remus says, and it comes out in the softest whisper, so soft that Sirius would have been convinced he had imagined it if he hadn’t seen Remus’ lips move. So he leans towards Remus and ghosts his lips across Remus’. He pulls back slightly, unsure of himself, unsure because he’s suddenly allowed to do everything that he’s been holding back from doing for the past few months and he can't quite believe it. He locks eyes with Remus again and then sees Remus’ eyes shift down. It’s a moment before Sirius realises that Remus is staring at his lips. Sirius lets the smirk form in his mouth before he leans in again, kissing Remus properly this time. And when their lips connect, it’s nothing like Sirius has ever felt before. It’s nothing like Sirius could’ve imagined that kissing Remus would be like.

Remus knows what he’s doing. He’s pressing his body into Sirius’ and hands find Sirius’ waist, then his back and finally his hair. And with every sigh that escapes Sirius’ mouth, he hears a little sound in Remus’ throat, a sound that makes him tug Remus closer until he’s sure their bodies have melded together. And even when their lips finally break apart, they don’t move away from one another, Remus’ hand is still in Sirius’ hair and he brings it down to Sirius’ face, letting his fingertips brush Sirius’ cheeks before his hand falls to his side. Sirius’ catches it and laces their fingers together.

“I love you too, Remus,” Sirius says. “I’ve been in love with you for months. And watching you with Tonks was like torture. It was like someone had stabbed me in the gut and every time I saw you together it was like you were twisting the knife around and all my insides were twisting with it.” Remus raises his eyebrows.

“Well thank you for that lovely description,” he says. Sirius laughs and bumps his forehead against Remus’ gently. “And I'm sorry. That I hurt you so much. I guess I just… needed some time to figure all this out, huh?”

“I guess so,” Sirius says and he smiles. Maybe Remus gave Tonks his sweater, but he gave Sirius his heart.

[drunksugarskull]

Dating Sirius Black would include (or more like whole story of a relationship with him lol) ... Part 1

*some things are different from the events in books etc*

you met at the beginning of 4th year when you became a victim of one of the marauders' pranks

they didn't want to pull it specifically on you but it kinda happened

and oh god, they started a war

you pranked each other for around six months

one time James and Peter dug a hole near the lake the way you couldn't see it

it wasn't deep enough for you to fall completly in it but you tripped and badly scratched you arm

Sirius decided that it's enough, he wanted to end the pranks between you all and to apologize

his friends were surprised because they were sure that he doesn't know the word "apologize"

the next day he came up to you in the great hall during the breakfast

you were shocked cause you two have never really talked before

you both agreed that you should bury the hatchet

a few minutes later the rest of marauders came

talking with them was really nice and you guys met again at the lunch time

and the next day

and next

you can say that eating with them quickly became a tradition

but Sirius always was a few minutes before the rest so he could spend some time alone with you

not that you were complaining

marauders were teasing him non stop

few weeks after the last prank and day before the trip to Hogsmeade, Sirius approched you after lessons

"you know, i still didn't make it up for you for the pranks, soo... what do you think about some butterbeer tomorrow?"

and of course the next day you two were in the three broomsticks laughing like crazy over some stupid memories from your childhood or something like that

"one time i was pretending to be a dog and ate my dog's food. you should see my mum's face when she saw my dirty face and heard me barking"

you can't even imagine how hard Sirius was trying not to tell you about all the animagi stuff when he heard this story

from this day you and the marauders (but mostly Sirius ofc) were practically inseparable

after that you were sneaking around the castle or watching stars with Sirius almost every day

"see? I'm named after this one"

you loved talking with him, you could literally start a conversation about everything

he opened up to you about his family, his problems, some feelings and even about that he is an animagus

because of how much James wanted to be near Lily you were often spending time with her and quickly became best friends

one time you and Lily were talking about boys and she helped you realise that you have a crush on Sirius

but no one seemed to see it

at least not until one day

you walked into great hall for lunch and saw a girl flirting with him

let's say that you were a "little" mad and stormed out the room

Remus noticed

"i think your little crush's jealous"

Sirius didn't believe it, but he quickly stopped talking with the girl next to him

he gave you a note on potions

"meet me at the lake at 5?"

you met and there was an akward silence between you

you couldn't take it anymore

you just blurted out that you have a crush on him

he didn't say a word so you started apologizing because you felt like you just ruined your friendship

and then he kissed you

"ok, now shut up and let me tell you something"

he told you about how long he had to hide his crush for you and how he couldn't handle it anymore

"does this mean that you're my boyfriend now?"

so yeah, that's how you became a couple

the next day Sirius was telling everyone how he asked you to be his girlfriend but you just rolled your eyes because that ofc wasn't they way your conversation went

but you let him say whatever version he wanted cause you saw how happy it made him (and probably Sirius and Remus made a bet about who will ask out the other one first so you let Sirius win)

EVERY SINGLE GIRL IN HOGWARTS WAS JEALOUS OK

and you couldn't blame them because let's face it - Sirius was hot af and he really was a charmer

you were the power couple of hogwarts

even McGonagall was happy about you

marauders teasing you both on a daily basis

holidays came and you had to go home

you were sending each other letters as often as you could

one time you wrote that you really missed him and he appeared the next day in your living room after using floo powder

he did it a few times in the first month and wanted to do it over whole vacations but his parents noticed that he is sneaking out and scolded him

you knew that his parents were unpredictable and you were really worried so you told him not to do it

but he is Sirius Black so of course he did it anyways

at the end of holidays he asked if he can stay at your house

your parents agreed

when he arrived he had an ugly bruise under his eye and you knew that longing for you wasn't the only thing that made him stay here

you were mad that you couldn't do anything about his situation

your parents knew that Sirius was a troublemaker but they fell in love with him

"i wish he could stay here longer"

you went back to hogwarts and the madness begun again

you had o.w.l.s this year so you were constantly stressed out

but Sirius was always there, he understood that you wanted to study but was looking after you so you didn't overwork yourself

he gave you back massages when you were tense

once you were both studying (wow) and you fell asleep in his bed

you woke up with a black dog laying near your legs

"there wasn't enough space on the bed so..."

you were always impressed by his transfiguration skills so he often changed just to see your face expression

your mum knew that there was a lot of bad blood between Sirius and his parents so she often wrote letters to him so he wouldn't feel so alone when everyone got their post

you wanted to help Remus during the full moon but Sirius said that there is no way that you are doing something so dangerous

so you were just prepering lots of chocolate for Remus because you knew that it made him feel better

Sirius is really overprotective

one time you cut yourself slightly with scissors and he took them away from you because he thought it's to dangerous lol

he always gives you his leather jacket so you won't be cold, takes care of you when you are sick or on your period

"i wouldn't have signed up for this if i knew that i have to take care of another person turning into a monster once a month"

now Sirius was the one prepering chocolate

Peter once said that Sirius looked more tired after taking care of you during one day of your period than when he did after the full moon

but he was only joking

at least you hoped so

but Sirius couldn't blame you anyways

you rarely argued

at some point of the fight one of you always yelled something like "are you serious?" and we all know how it ended

so yeah, you never stayed mad at each other for longer than thirty minutes

one time you pretended to be upset with each other just so Lily and James could together try to make you and Sirius talk again

they didn't know about your little plan

that's how they eventually ended up together

you went on double dates but you wanted to spend some time alone with Sirius so you stopped it after a few times

Sirius and you were still stargazing every single night

"i want to stay like this forever"

your parents invited Sirius for Christmas

he was extremely happy because he didn't want to go home or stay alone at Hogwarts

you gave him a new leather jacket and he gave you a promise ring

"one day i will give you an engagement ring but for now have this"

let's be honest you did cry "a little"

ofc he gave small gifts to your parents and vice versa

everything was amazing until you found Sirius awake on the couch in the middle of the night

he looked like he just stopped crying

you saw that he is holding a watch that he sent to Regulus for Christmas

Sirius just looked at you with eyes full of tears and you hugged him as tight as you could

"he sent it back and wrote that he doesn't want it because it's from me"

James was throwing a party on New Year's Eve and you obviously were invited

you shared kiss with Sirius at midnight

what a great way to start a new year

[rainandhotchocolate]

The girl next door

A/N ok yes it’s technically 1am but fk u all its STILL DAY 6 IN MY MIND anyway this is a !muggle reader x James fic, the classic girl next door trope :)) Enjoy lovelies! 

The girl next door

James watched from his window as a bright red car rolled up into the driveway next to his. The house next door was relatively similar to his own, a classic Victorian terrace with a balcony overlooking the front lawn and the back garden. James’ parents hadn’t changed the decorations much, wanting to keep it in line with muggle stereotypes as much as possible, not draw attention to themselves unnecessarily. The most they had added were two rocking chairs out on the front porch for them to watch the neighbourhood pass around them, doing muggle things.

James’ next-door neighbours, however, had done the exact opposite. Whilst they had to keep the front façade, heritage or some odd muggle council thing, they had painted the front a deep-sea blue, the door was porcelain white to match the balcony. Hanging down across the painted walls was lush ivory which vined its way across the façade and up the edge of the balcony, meeting a row of blueberry and raspberry plants that had never really sprouted. From James’ bedroom, he could see into the back of the house and garden, completely renovated so that there were large windows covering the kitchen and living space and led out into a complete mess of a garden, a huge oak tree in the middle, daisy’s and honeysuckles covering the grassy surrounding it.

When James was young, he used to watch with envy at the large tyre that was tied to the edge of the tree, watching the couple swing their young daughter higher and higher into the tree. He wondered if it was the closest thing muggle’s felt to flying.

He first met the girl next door when he was 8, when Euphemia and Fleamont had brought around a large pudding to greet the new neighbours. They had ushered them in, the woman wearing an oversized pair of overalls and covered in paint, the man in jeans and a jumper, holding the newspaper in one hand as he led them into the kitchen.

“We have a daughter around the same age as James.” He remembered them saying to his parents whilst he looked around at the brightly coloured utensils hanging around the kitchen.

“Y/N!” At her mum’s yell, Y/N came skidding through the open doorway, sliding further than she expected in her socks on the smooth wooden floorboards and grabbing hold of James to slow down.

“She’s a bit of a wild one, our Y/N,” her dad had said, grinning down at her as Y/N gave James an apologetic grimace, “Why don’t you show James the yard?”

She grabbed James’ hand and pulled him out the large back door, which was also a window, and led him towards the tree.

“This is a fairy tree, they like to sleep here at night, but if you’re lucky you might get to see one,” She winked, a piece of her curly dark hair falling into her face. She tried to blow it off with the corner of her mouth before shaking it off her face. She was wearing a bright pink dress, James remembered because he wondered whether she was going to ruin it as she grabbed hold of the tree branch and swung herself up and onto it.

“Come on! What are you staring for?”

“Nothing, coming,” He’d grinned up at her and pulled himself up, joining her on the large tree. They’d jumped around it for an hour before his parents came back into the yard and brought him home.

Being an only child, James took any opportunity he could do have her over or vice versa when she was bored and wanted someone to hoist her onto the tallest branch.

“I can see the whole way to London from here!”

“You bloody cannot,” James snorted, tickling the inside of her leg so she jolted forwards, having to grab hold of the branch in front to steady herself.

“Oi!”

“That’s what you get for lying,” James giggled as she tried to reach down and poke him, but she was too high up.

“Come up here so I can get you back.”

“Not even if Merlin was up there,” James danced around the trunk of the tree, avoiding her foot as it dangled, trying to find his head.

“What, like King Arthur? Stop moving! I promise I won’t hit you I’m just trying to get down,” Y/N held her leg still until James sighed and moved over so she could use his shoulders to climb back down. She hit him across the arm the moment she landed on a thick branch, her lip curling brazenly.

“You are so dead,” James growled at her, chasing her across the tree branches, watching Y/N giggle loudly as he got closer until he could tackle her onto the grass in a heap.

When they got older, well mostly when James went to a ‘faraway very boring nothing to talk about’ boarding school they drifted apart. It was natural enough, they still saw each other on break, chatting about their classes and friends. On Christmas eve, Fleamont and Euphemia would invite all the neighbours around for scones and tea and Y/N would sneak some chocolate for James and herself to share in the garden, watching the stars. When they turned 14, it was a bottle of wine from her parents tiny under the floorboards cellar and they giggled for hours as the wine made James feel light-headed and flushed and like he could do bloody well anything.

When the parents had moved into the sitting room for whiskey (well it was firewhiskey with the label hidden), James and Y/N had stolen a blanket so they could keep lying on the grass as the snow began to fall on their heads. James turned to look at her, face flushed from both the bottle of red wine and freezing air, eyes wide and twinkling as she looked up at the stars, a look of awe on her face. Snow had begun to land on her eyebrows and hair, sparkling brightly against her pale skin and dark curls in a halo around her head.

“Snow has got to be the prettiest thing on earth,” She’d said sitting up and looking across the garden as it settled in the grass and leaves. James was still staring at her and she gave him a funny look in return. “What?”

“You look so beautiful with snow in your hair.” James wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol talking or himself but without giving it a second thought he leaned in and kissed her, softly, his heartbeat rising in his chest.

He’d pulled back slowly, watching Y/N’s mouth make a small ‘o’ and her whole body freeze momentarily.

“I’m sorry, it… must be the alcohol, I didn’t mean – “

“No it’s fine I just – “

“Why don’t we go back inside?” James’ heart was racing, his head catching up to himself. You bloody idiot.

“Oh, yeah ok.” James had given her a hand standing up, and they’d both walked back inside in silence, brushing the snow from their hair and shoulders.

Since then, things had never really gone back to normal. James focused all his romantic energy on Lily, Lily who would scowl as he walked past and became infuriated by the smallest of prods, but wouldn’t make him feel like he did that Christmas Eve. Hollow.

The next Christmas break, Sirius turned up on their doorstep, bruises covering every inch of visible skin, blood dripping down his lip and staining the side of his thin long-sleeve top.

“Hey… mate,” He spluttered when James pulled open the door, freezing up when he saw Sirius’ state.

“Sirius, Merlin, are you ok, get inside come on, MUM! DAD!” He yelled towards the stairs before reaching out and grabbing Sirius as he went to collapse on the front doorstep. They didn’t have anyone over for Christmas eve that year, Sirius still sickly thin, the fading bruises still deep blues and purples splaying across his face and legs. Sirius sat up with James all night talking about next years Quidditch cup and the best way to get a date for the first Hogsmeade weekend back, James continually flicking his eyes towards the bedroom window where lights were still on.

“Am I not as interesting as the darkness,” Sirius threw a pillow at him when James outright didn’t respond to Sirius’ question about how much frogs spawn was too much frogs spawn.

“Oh sorry, what?”

“What are you looking at?” Sirius narrowed his eyes, a smile creeping onto his face.

“Nothing, it’s nothing- “ But Sirius had already jumped out of the bed, masking his pain with a grimace and was limping over to the window. He gazed out, pushing James to the side as he tried to close the blinds, looking over into Y/N’s house.

“Ahhh, of course! I guess a hot girl is more interesting than I am,” Sirius snorted, still watching, “Ooo, a taken girl, much less interesting.”

“What?” Forgetting all pretence of composure, he hopped out of bed and rushed over to the window. He could see Y/N leaning up against the wall, smiling at something out of view. That something quickly returned, as a tall curly haired boy who lifted her up in the air and kissed her passionately. James felt something in his gut twist. He turned away quickly from the window, sitting back on his bed, determined to look calm.

“And here I was thinking that Lily was the only one for you huh?” Sirius grinned widely, prodding James, “Come on, there’s a million girls out there, I promise we can find you someone just like that.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow when James didn’t reply. He sat back on the bed and watched him, letting the silence hang.

“She was my first kiss.” James had said. He’d never really admitted that before. They didn’t really talk about that kind of stuff, more like what they could do, will do. Sirius remained silent, gripping one hand on James’ knee.

Y/N hopped out of the red car, opening the boot to help her parents get out the rest of the shopping bags and bring them into the house. Sirius wasn’t awake yet, and James was indulging himself by watching her smile up at her dad who had likely told a really terrible joke about fishing. The door closed and James found himself wandering back to his bedroom, wondering if she would go to her room and read or listen to music or something. Maybe she would look up to where his window was too, looking for him. James rolled his eyes at himself, shaking his head. Stop being such a sap.

Then he froze. Standing at the side of their house was Sirius, looking up at James and waving fervently, smiling like an absolute dick. He saw him exaggerate waggling his eyebrows and mime walking up to the front door.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” James mouthed at him, giving him the finger and trying to swat him away from the house. Sirius grinned wider and walked out of James’ vision. James sprinted back to the living room banging on the window loudly as Sirius walked up to Y/N’s front door and knocked. James stopped banging immediately as her mum answered the door and craned forwards, desperately wishing he could hear through glass. She brought him into the house and closed the door.

When Sirius returned James jumped him.

“What the FUCK,” He hissed, eyes flashing at Sirius who continued to look very satisfied with himself.

“Oh, calm down, I didn’t do anything too wild,” He winked, making his way to the kitchen, forcing James to follow him in a huff.

“You need to tell me exactly what you did.”

“I just invited her over – “

“What? Why? She doesn’t even know you!”

“For a little party we are having,” Sirius continued as if James hadn’t just spat a little in his face.

“Party?”

“Just a small thing, it will be fine. I’ve already cleared it with your parents!” He grinned as James went to tackle him.

As it so happens, Sirius (for once) was actually telling the truth and had only invited a small group of people from Hogwarts who lived around London and had gone home for Christmas. Marlene arrived first, holding a bottle of firewhiskey and a wild grin, followed closely by Alice and Frank who brought mince pies, and Remus and Peter who had brought a selection of sweets from their parents. They were sitting in the front living room exploding snap when the doorbell rang. James sprung up, flattening out his shirt pedantically.

“You really weren’t lying Pads,” Remus shook his head at James, “He’s smitten.”

“I told you,” Sirius sang, chuckling as James gave him daggers.

“Ok please, she doesn’t know we are wizards so please tame down the whole… fact that we are wizards.”

“Well said, Prongs,” Remus gave him a small clap.

“Oh, shut it the lot of you.”

“James are you going to get the door?” Euphemia called from the kitchen.

“Yes, mum, I’m going now!”

“Hurry up, she might leave,” Marlene winked at James but he ignored her, moving down the hallway a little too quickly, having to stop himself from slipping into the door in his socks.

Ok, calm down, it’s just a lowkey Christmas hang, nothing to worry about. Chill.

He took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face, swinging open the door. Y/N was standing in the cold, covered in a large fluffy coat, arms tucked inside to keep warm.

“Finally, I thought you’d forgotten about me,” Y/N smiled up at him and James felt his entire pep talk get thrown out the window as he remembered how her how face scrunched up when she smiled and it made his heart jump. He silently thanked the stars when he heard Sirius slid up beside him.

“You came! James has told us all about you, come in come in,” Sirius elbowed James subtly, and James opened the door wider so she could step inside.

“Looks like you haven’t changed a thing,” Y/N stepped out of her wet boots and looked around the hallway.

“I honestly think I’d be worried if it had, my parents might have gone mad,” James felt himself fall back into the easy rhythm of conversation with Y/N as he led her back into the living room, Sirius on their tails.

“So this is a bunch of people from school, Marlene, Alice, Frank, Remus, Peter, and well you must have met Sirius this afternoon?”

“Yes! So nice to meet you all, and actually put faces to names,” Y/N beamed around at them all, finding a place beside Remus on the floor.

“He talks about us?” Marlene made a loud gasp.

“I’m shocked,” Alice shook her head in mock amazement.

“You all suck,” James hissed at them, quickly returning to his previously plastered smile state, “We were just playing cards. Do you know any good games?”

They continued playing cards, Marlene sneaking them sips of Firewhiskey when they were sure that James’ parents weren’t about to come and drop in another bout of snacks, with only one minor mishap with the cards when Frank slammed too hard on two similar cards resulting in Remus spinning Y/N around as a card exploded.

“What the hell was that noise?” Y/N looked disorientated, blinking vehemently.

“Car backfiring,” Marlene smiled, her eyes still slightly panicked. Frank was mouthing I’m sorry to James as he quickly wiped down the table with his hand.

“Right…” Y/N still looked confused but dropped the topic. Alice yawned loudly, stretching out her back on the soft carpet behind her.

“I’m actually getting super tired, might head off?” She turned to ask Frank, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, I have to be home before 12 anyway, my parents love Christmas,” He grinned at James, sending him a sly wink. James rolled his eyes, praying that Y/N didn’t see.

“Well if you’re heading, I might… catch a ride,” Marlene held back a laugh as she attempted a muggle phrase.

“Uh, yeah, sounds good,” Alice poked her in the ribs, shooting her a look to shut up. They all stood up, Marlene grabbing the bottle of firewhiskey and putting it back in her bag.

“Sorry boys, and Y/N, you’ll have to live without for the rest of the evening.”

“Fine with me, it tasted way different to anything I’ve ever stolen from my parents,” Y/N laughed, smiling warmly up at Marlene. James wanted to hug her. Or something. Perhaps he was getting delirious.

They waved goodbye, leaving the house before apparating together away, James cringing when he heard the loud crack!

Sirius kicked Remus in the leg and gave Y/N a smile.

“Would you like a hot cocoa? Remus makes the best, I can help him find the ingredients.”

“I don’t think she want –“ James started, feeling increasingly panicked. He hoped his eyes accurately said don’t fucking leave me alone I’m a mess.

“I’d love one!” Y/N cut him off and Sirius’ smile widened.

“Perfect, come on Remus,” He pulled him up, Remus giving James an apologetic smile before following Sirius out of the room. A silence fell over the two of them, and James found himself beginning to stress over whether it was comfortable or if he should interrupt it or if that would make it seem like they couldn’t just hang out in silence anymore and would that be worse?

Thankfully, Y/N spoke first.

“Your friends seem nice,” She was leaning back on her hands, looking up at him with her y/e/c eyes.

“They’re a bit mental, but in a good way,” James chuckled, fixing his hair unconsciously. Y/N laughed loudly when she saw his hand ruffle through his already messy hair.

“You always do that when you’re nervous.”

“I’m no-“

“Oh shush, I’m nervous too… it’s been a while I guess.”

“Yeah… I guess it has.”

“I broke up with Dan – my boyfriend last month,” She avoided his eyes now, leaning forward. James saw her face flush slightly but didn’t say anything, pretending not to notice. “The first thing I wanted to do was come over and lie in your garden and just forget about it but you were at school and we hadn’t really spoken since… well, you know.”

“Yeah,” James replied dumbly, wincing at his lack of conversational aptitude.

“I just, miss you, you know?”

“Yeah, I miss you too. I pulled the best prank on one of our teachers and I just wanted to send you an o- letter, but I didn’t know if, you wanted to hear from me I guess,” He laughed awkwardly, reaching for his hair but stopping himself.

“I’m sorry for running out on you like that it was, well it was my first kiss.”

“Mine too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really, what do you think I am, Casanova?” James snorted at her and she grinned sheepishly.

“I don’t know, you were always talking about girls from school, especially um, Lily? I just presumed that it was something you did.”

James laughed properly now, a large booming laugh he hadn’t felt in a while. It felt good to talk to her again, even if it was vaguely awkward small talk.

“I honestly am the worst with girls. I think everyone presumes I’m some smooth mover and then doesn’t talk to me.”

“Well obviously, if you’re calling yourself a smooth mover,” She joined in, her face scrunching up as she laughed at him.

“Oh, fuck off,” James threw a pillow at her, but she just laughed harder, blocking her face and letting it fall to the ground.

“I had a massive crush on you, you know.” She spoke quickly, like she’d been holding it in and let it out all in one breath. James stared at her, momentarily stunned.

“So, your answer me kissing you was to splutter and run away?” James teased, unsure whether this was still a casual conversation or not. His heart was beating in his throat and he swallowed hard.

“I was 14, give me a bit of credit, I was having a mini heart attack,” She gave a soft chuckle, but also looked increasingly uncomfortable, swinging back and forwards on the floor.

“You were the one who got me drunk!”

“Ahh so you’re going to blame it on the alcohol huh?” She gave a knowing nod, her lip curling cheekily.

“I will give some credit to the alcohol for giving me certain encouragements.”

“Fair enough.”

A silence fell over them again, but this time James felt calmer, like a weight had been lifted from his chest and allowed him to look her in the eye again.

“I am sorry I didn’t respond how one should have responded,” She cringed at herself as she spoke.

“Ahh, don’t stress about it. Honestly I don’t know what I would have done if you had just sprung that one me either.”

“Mmm,” Y/N simply hummed in response, her head crooked to one side.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You are the worst fucking liar.”

She huffed at him, tucking a curl behind her ear. James watched her hand carefully. He wondered what it would feel like to do that for her, to graze the edge of her cheek, cup her chin.

“I guess… I guess I was just wondering,” She bit her lip and James resisted the urge to stare at it. “How you would have reacted.”

James felt his whole body stop. He forced himself to nod in reply, suddenly very aware of how alone they were. And how easy it would be to just lean down…

“I guess we’ll never know.”

“Cocoa!” James could have killed Sirius in that exact moment, and by the expression that dawned on Sirius’ face, he could tell.

“Oh shoot, I should really get home, I promised mum I’d help wrap dad’s presents before tomorrow morning!” Y/N had checked her watch and stood quickly, brushing the mince pie crumbs from her skirt. “I’ll, er, see you soon?”

“Yeah, yeah of course, I’ll bring by some treacle tart tomorrow,” James led her to the door and watched as she got home safely. He closed the door and immediately banged his head against it.

Sirius and Remus were staring furiously at him when he returned to the living room and sunk into the couch, feeling more depressed than anyone should on Christmas Eve.

“HOW COULD YOU NOT KISS HER!” Sirius whispered and yelled simultaneously, not wanting to wake up James’ parents.

“It really is poor form, mate,” Remus agreed, sipping on a mug of cocoa.

“I think I’m just going to die here now. Forever. Please leave me to mull in my failures.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and sat up next to James’ face.

“You’re a fucking idiot if you think we’d let you give up this easily.”

In a matter of minutes, the three boys had pulled on boots and jackets over their trackpants and snuck quietly out the front door and around the side of the house. They reached Y/N’s window slowly, careful not to make any noise that would have any neighbour poking their heads out the window and seeing three boys sneaking towards a girls bedroom window in the middle of the night. Not the best look.

“Ok, the lights are still on in her room, she said she was helping wrap presents. This is your moment!”

“This is stalking,” James hissed back, his stomach clenching. This was so so so stupid. And yet, the thought of surprising her, her big toothy smile at the window, and likely the firewhiskey, made him continue to follow Sirius. Remus walked behind, checking to see if anyone was watching.

“We will keep watch, go!” Remus pushed James forward lightly so that he was standing directly in front of it. He didn’t move, just watched the light flicker against the curtains.

“I can’t do this –“

“Shut up!” Sirius and Remus both hissed back. Sirius leaned forward and knocked on the window, immediately hiding on the right side of the wall, Remus on the left.

“You fucking – Y/N! Hey!”

Y/N had pulled back the curtains cautiously, opening them fully when she saw who it was.

“What are you doing here?” She whispered back, eye flickering to her door and then back to James who was now shivering slightly in the snow.

“I… well I was just thinking about what you said and…” He took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. She was examining him closely, expression unreadable. “I was thinking that you never got to see my reaction…”

He wanted to bang his head against her window. Maybe he would pass out and could pretend this was all a sleepwalking episode or something. She continued to watch him for a second before she snorted loudly.

“Fuck, I am so sorry I just thought, I’ll leave,” James closed his eyes for a second, clenching his fists by his sides. He was going to stab Remus and Sirius in their sleeps for ever suggesting this.

It happened so quickly James wasn’t actually sure it did happen. With his eyes still shut, he suddenly felt something soft press slowly against his lips. His eyelids flickered open quickly, just in time to see Y/N pull away, a small smile on his face.

“I… oh.”

“You’re right, that was a reaction worth witnessing.” She looked a little giddy, though James was sure he looked ten times happier.

“I mean I’m definitely happy with it.”

“Good.” She bit her lip again, pausing for a second before continuing, “What are you doing on boxing day?”

“Nothing,” James replied very quickly.

“Pick me up at 10.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.”

“I should probably actually get some sleep tonight.” Y/N giggled, her eyes shining bright against the moonlight.

“Yes, of course, sleep well, Y/N.”

“You too James.”

Y/N looked at him for another moment before closing her blinds with a wave.

James turned around on the spot, moving away from where Y/N would be able to hear him and jumping in the air, a fist in the air.

“Fucking YES.”

“Finally,” Sirius punched him in the arm, flanked by Remus who beamed at him.

“I’m glad this worked, the next thing was storming the place and telling her you were in love with her.”

“Very glad it didn’t come to that.”

“I’m not, I’ve always wanted to storm a house,” Sirius replied pensively, putting an arm around Remus and James, “But I’ll settle for this.”

 Advent: @maraudersandco​ @gollyderek​

All fics: @hermione-is-my-queen

James tags:  @blackpinkdolan @blushingskywalker @thebabblingbookworm   @cherrie511  @imlukesnirvana @avengersassemblee @maraudersandco  @sly-vixen-up2nogood   @katbernoulli     @sirius-lysad   @cherrie511   @siriuslyjanhvi   @aikeia @evyiione  @minerva26love @your-typical-giggle

[gundamthey17]

Year One, Day One

This is prompt 1 / 2 for the @transwizardtournament!  Thanks to @lifetoanother for commissioning me!

Read on AO3

“Sirius Black,” called Professor McGonagall in a sharp, clear voice.

In that moment, Sirius found himself hating his last name for an entirely new reason: it started with B. Why couldn’t his last name have been Zebwick? Nobody would be prideful about the Noble and Most Ancient House of Zebwick. But no, it had to be Black, which meant he was only the third student to be Sorted, right after Rufus Armitage and Edmond Baelfort.

He swallowed, took a breath, and climbed the stairs to the awaiting stool. He sat, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

Hmm, said a voice, and the voice was inside his head.  Sirius Black. I know your family well. Slytherins, all. But you… hmm. It deliberated for a moment. The road ahead of you is not an easy one. But you will choose to walk it all the same. You are true to yourself, and no one else. In which case… It fell silent for another moment, then shouted for the entire Great Hall to hear, GRYFFINDOR!

For a heartbeat, the room was silent as nearly everyone who was familiar with his family experienced feelings of surprise, shock, disgust, or anger. Even McGonagall’s eyebrow twitched curiously. But then she smiled down at him, and as the Gryffindor table began to cheer for their newest member, she murmured, “Welcome to Gryffindor, Sirius.”

Sirius fell into step among his classmates as they followed one of the prefects up the stairs to their dormitory. As the staircase moved under them, some students gasped in surprise and fear, and one small blond boy squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the railing. But Sirius took it all in, unable to keep from grinning. He was at Hogwarts. Away from home for the first time in his life. And he was in Gryffindor. He would hardly have to see his cousins at all.

They stopped in front of a portrait of a woman, who was aptly and candidly called The Fat Lady. The prefect said “calidum saxa” loud enough for all of the first years to hear, and the portrait swung open to reveal a cozy, lush common room. Sirius thought his heart was about to beat out of his chest. No more dark, dingy stairwells and cobweb-coated passageways. The room was full of pillows and couches and armchairs, with a large fireplace in the center, and everything was colored in shades of scarlet and gold.

The prefect at the head of the line, a girl named Millie Ipswitch, cleared her throat.  “This is the common room. You’ll get to spend a lot of time here, I promise, but for now it’s probably best you all head up to your rooms to unpack. The boys’ dormitories are up these stairs on your left. Girls, up these stairs on your right. Please note that boys are not allowed in the girls’ dormitories, and vice versa. You may mingle all you like down here, but old Godric was apparently worried about what shenanigans might ensue if boys and girls were in each other’s rooms.”  There were a few laughs at that.

“All right,” chimed in Henry Attwood, another prefect. “Go on, up to your rooms. If you need anything, the prefects will be in the common room for the next hour.”

Students jostled and dispersed, returning students taking the lead as they reunited with friends and trod familiar paths to their rooms. The first years were moving far more hesitantly, but Sirius didn’t feel like waiting around. He ducked his head and moved with determination toward the stairs.

“Oh, um,” called a voice. It was Henry, standing at the junction between the stairs. “Sorry, the girls’ dormitory is on the right.”

Sirius stopped in his tracks and felt his ears get hot. But he kept his voice even as he turned to him, feigning nonchalance, and said, “I know.”

Henry frowned. “Girls aren’t allowed in the boys’ dormitory.”

“Yup, got it.”

“What I mean is, your dormitory is over here.”

“No, it’s not.”

By this point, the first years in the common room had started to watch, and some of the other students poked their heads curiously down the stairwells.

Henry cast his eyes to the other prefects, looking for help. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Sirius planted his feet and looked up at the older boy without flinching. “I’m a boy. I’m going to the boys’ dormitory.”

At that point, Millie joined Henry in the stairwell, and they conferred in hushed tones.

“Can we do that?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I don’t think we should.”

“We could ask McGonagall.”

“Not at this time of night.”

 “Oy!” called a new voice. The prefects looked up, startled. Sirius followed their gaze and saw one of the first years, a boy with glasses and messy black hair, moving toward them.  “If he says he’s a boy, then he’s a boy, and he belongs in the boys’ dormitory. What’s so hard about that?”

Sirius felt a rush of gratitude. Some of the tension left his shoulders.

Millie glanced at Henry and sighed. “Look, Sirius… we can ask Professor McGonagall about it tomorrow. For now, how about you just go to the girls’ dormitory? Just for tonight.”

Sirius’ eyes filled with tears, and he quickly dropped his gaze so no one would notice.  “Thanks for trying, mate,” he murmured to the boy with the glasses as he walked past.

But the boy wasn’t done. “I have a question,” he announced.

“Yes?” Henry asked, his patience clearly wearing thin.

“What happens if a boy tries to go into the girls’ dormitory?”

“Ah, well, funny you should ask.  See, Godric Gryffindor enchanted the stairwells. If you tried to go up those stairs, they would turn into a slide, and you wouldn’t be able to…”

He trailed off as Sirius lost his balance and slid down the stairs that were, at that moment, demonstrating the very enchantment Henry had been describing.

“Like that?” asked the boy in the glasses with a satisfied smirk.

“Uh…”

“If he says he’s a boy, and the castle says he’s a boy, then he’s a boy!”

Henry and Millie looked at each other and shrugged.

“All right,” Millie said, gesturing to the left staircase.  “Just get to bed.”

Sirius nodded and scrambled up the stairs, hardly believing what had just happened.

 Sirius was the first to arrive at the first years’ bedroom. There were four beds, and he claimed the one in the farthest corner of the room, near the window. He smiled softly as he grabbed his trunk from the center of the room and started unpacking his belongings.

The boy with the glasses arrived not long after. “Phew, that was a lot of nonsense, wasn’t it?” he said loudly, flopping down onto the bed closest to the door. “Glad we got that sorted.”

“Did you…” Sirius started.

“Did I…? What?”

“Did you know that? About the stairs?”

“That they turn into a slide? Yeah, my dad told me.”

“Did you know that they would do that for… for me?”

The boy shrugged. “I figure Gryffindor was a pretty smart bloke, so yeah. I thought if you knew that you’re a boy, the enchantment would as well.”

Sirius didn’t know what to say.  When he finally found his voice, he settled on, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. It was nothing.”

“What’s your name?”

“James Potter,” the boy said proudly. “And yours?”

“Sirius Black.”

James grinned at him. “I knew that. I was just asking to be polite.”

“You sure about that?”

James sat up and eyed him curiously.  Then he stood and crossed the room to where Sirius was standing, and held out his hand. “Welcome to Gryffindor, Sirius Black. It’s gonna be a good year.”

As Sirius shook James’ hand, he couldn’t hide his smile.  “Yeah, I think it is.”

[violetwolfraven]

I don’t care what y’all think about my Prof Remus Lupin headcanons:

Luna LOVES him. He’s always baffled by the way this tiny 12-year-old follows him around with a million questions about creatures and does he believe in nargles?

Of course when she asks questions about if he believes in obscure creatures, his answer is always yes.

Ginny reminds him so much of Lily and he keeps getting annoyed with himself for shipping her and Harry.

He becomes an icon for all lgbtqa+ students.

Pavarti comes to him with her crush on Lavender and vice versa. (It’s very awkward like ‘no I have no idea if she likes you back.’)

A pair of equally awkward conversations with Dean and Seamus makes him regret coming out to them as bi.

Even an embarrassed and ashamed Blaise Zambini comes to him with a crush on Theo Nott.

Basically he becomes the support system for anyone struggling with sexuality issues and also crushes in general.

Ron gets a tip from Dean about where to go for romantic advice.

So Remus ends up with Ron asking him about what to do about his crush on Hermione.

Remus watched James and Sirius try to go out with enough girls/guys in his day to know what does and doesn’t work (and what worked on him in Sirius’s case) so his relationship advice is legit.

He knows Harry is bi, but you should never force someone to come out, so he doesn’t say anything.

Of course Harry is too oblivious to realize, even after Remus drops some fairly obvious hints that make Pavander, Deamus, and a few others laugh.

One day, Snape comes to him with a Slytherin having a panic attack.

Because Snape may care (at least a little bit) about his snakes but he has no idea how to help them with the dementors.

He hates Remus but he knows he can’t just let that kid suffer on their own.

Harry is not the only kid Remus teaches to do a Patronus.

Mostly he teaches the ones who have depression, anxiety, or abusive families.

He keeps his promise never to say anything when he trains Draco Malfoy.

Peeves confronts Remus one day and asks about the other Mauraders because nobody tells him anything.

When he hears the news about Sirius being a traitor and Peter and James being dead, the poltergeist almost cries.

Peeves actually covers for him a couple times at full moons.

Because Peeves respects his fellow mischief makers.

Hermione comes to him asking about animagi because she found a textbook in the library with notes in the margins.

It was the same book James, Sirius, and Peter used to become animagi and Remus almost cries.

He tells her that she can’t start the process until she turns 17, but she assures him it’s not for her.

It’s for Harry because she thinks it’d be a good way to hide him from Voldemort. She’s also curious about the handwriting that looks a bit like Harry’s, and the two other distinct writing styles.

He lies and tells her he has no idea who’s handwriting it is.

Hermione doesn’t believe him but she does trust him so she lets it go.

Basically everyone loves him even if they won’t admit it.

[fruitquake]

When All Of This Is Over

@mania-junkie said World War 2 au and here I am, providing the content. 

thank you for the prompt! it’s wolfstar like you asked for and it’s uhh.. it’s a bit angsty if I do say so myself. 

trigger warning: war and mentions of guns/shooting and blood (not anything graphic but I'm putting it here anyway)

-

Mud. Mud everywhere. It’s on the ground where they’re lying, it’s smudged on their clothes, face and hair. 

If Remus could have anything he wanted right now, he would choose to have a shower. Then perhaps some proper food, and not just the field rations they were given. 

But all of that, the shower and the meal and the warmth of his home is so far away: it feels as though it’s in a different world, a different time, completely out of reach for him. 

Remus curses. He can’t help it. That’s how much he fucking hates this. It’s 4 in the morning and he’s lying in a trench: cold, wet and fucking exhausted. He’s sunk down into the mud so it’s close to getting in his mouth. He’s been lying this way for hours, and he briefly wonders if he could even get up if they were to be attacked. Let them shoot me, he thinks. It’s an absurd thought, not something a soldier is supposed to think, but it’s how he feels. At least then, this hell would be over. 

“What are you thinking about?” The question comes from Sirius, who’s lying next to him. He’s so close to Remus their upper arms brush against each other at the slightest movement. 

Remus shrugs, as well as he can in the position he’s lying in. “Just… home, I guess.”

He can see Sirius nod from the corner of his eye. “Yeah,” the young man says. “I miss it too.”

Remus is so eternally grateful that Sirius is here by his side. They have known each other since they were kids. Remus remembers all of the nights he has spent in Sirius’ house and vice versa. 

Sirius didn’t have to fight in the war. His family is more than rich; it would’ve been obvious for Sirius to get a fancy degree at an even fancier university, or even just to buy a ridiculously nice house with his parents’ money. 

It wasn’t like Remus, who hadn’t had any choice: his family was piss-poor and ever since last year, his mum had been very sick, only getting worse over time. 

And once Sirius had learned that Remus was enlisting, he’d decided to do the same. Remus had tried to talk him out of it: even if he wanted to have Sirius by his side, he knew it wasn’t fair to demand, but Sirius had insisted.

“Wherever you go, I go too.” That’s the promise they had made, years ago, probably sitting under the oak tree in Sirius’ garden. 

“Hey… Remus?”

“Mhh?” Remus turns his head towards Sirius. Even with mud smudged all over his pale face, he looks beautiful as he gazes out into the horizon where the sun is slowly rising. 

Sirius sighs, hesitantly looking at Remus. Despite the exhaustion written all over his face, his grey eyes light up like the star he’s named after. “I…” He hesitates. The stretched-out silence only fuels Remus’ curiosity.

“Yes?”

Sirius takes a deep breath. “Remus,” he says, looking into his eyes. “When all of this is over… Will you marry me?”

Remus almost chokes. That’s how unexpected the question is. He coughs, aware that he’s being way too noisy, that the sound could potentially attract attention. “What?!” Has he lost his mind? “Sirus, we can’t-”

“I know,” Sirius cuts him off, looking down at his hands. “But what if we… What if we ran away? Together?” He bites his lower lip and Remus has to look away. “You don’t have to answer right now,” he mutters. “But Remus, I love you, and I know you feel the same. I’m not stupid. So why not do it?”

Remus doesn’t answer him. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. How long has Sirius wanted to ask him this?

Both of them are startled by loud and sudden bangs: gunshots.

“We’re being attacked, we’re being attacked!” another soldier yells. 

The adrenaline kicks in immediately and Remus jumps to his feet, clutching his firearm. He can see Sirius doing the same, out of the corner of his eye.

“Fuck,” Sirius hisses as they get into position, shielding themselves behind a barrier of rocks stacked onto each other. 

It’s chaotic. The sun isn’t fully up yet and it’s hard to tell who’s the enemy and who isn’t. All Remus knows is there are bullets flying everywhere around them. 

 Sirius stands up. Why is he standing up? Well, Remus knows it’s probably to get a better view, and better aim too, but still: it’s too risky. 

He’s about to say something, to tell Sirius to get down in relative safety again, when something happens. Remus’ brain doesn’t really understand what’s going on. There’s a gunshot and Sirius falls to the ground. It’s all happening in slow motion. Remus screams his name, throwing himself down beside him. 

“Sirius?”

He’s bleeding. Remus doesn’t know how bad it is yet. 

“Fuck,” he whispers. His voice is shaking. “Someone, please help!” he shouts, but he isn’t sure anyone hears him. Swearing loudly, he turns back to Sirius.  

He’s gasping for breaths, but at least he’s still breathing, Remus thinks. 

“Sirius, please stay with me,” Remus begs, clutching the fabric of his dark green uniform. “Yes, I’ll marry you!” he says as desperate tears blur his vision. “We can run away right now, and we never have to look back, just, please. Stay.”

Sirius doesn’t respond. He just lies there, staring emptily up at nothing. 

“No,” Remus sobs. “Sirius, please say something.”

But it’s too late. He’s gone. 

[seriouslyblacklikemysoul]

The course of life - James Potter x Reader[AU]

Request: this is kinda weird and a really, really fucked up AU but the idea was in my mind for days and your writing is pretty. 💘 So I was thinking that James survived when Voldemort attacked them (didn't think why/how) and he got to raise Harry with a lil help from the reader who was with them in Hogwarts (also harry's godmother). So years pass by and he realize that he's starting to fall in love with her and he asks harry's permission cause he knows how harry cares so much about her and vice-versa. Warnings: It’s an AU. My English and language(it’s me!) Gif aren’t mine/ Credits to their original owners.  Word Count~3.6k MASTERLIST Pending Requests

It was always James. Since the moment you met, it was only him. It had always been him. His hazel eyes and his pouty lips; his crazy, messy hair and his round, nerdy glasses. His kind nature and his sassiness. Everything about him was intoxicating and calming, at the same time. At first, you were not very concerned about it because he seemed like a good guy and you immediately became friends. You were closer to him than the others but you considered them family. In fact, it was you that had insisted to find a way to help Remus - every full moon. It was James though, who forbid you to tag along and told you that it would be too dangerous and that it was for the best if you were there afterwards to help them. You would have kept pushing him to change his mind but it made you feel too important to him. So, you didn’t. Maybe, just maybe, he actually saw you as more than a friend. All your hopes died when he started flirting with Lily. He would bombard you with questions about your best female friend and he would confess his undying love for her ... to you. Which was a bit ironic and a tad painful. That was when you decided to put all feelings aside and move on.  Of course, that was easier said than done. Sirius noticed and so did Remus. They saw that their best friend was trying to avoid being in the same room as James and Lily; not when they were on their own but when they were together. They never said anything. It became almost unbearable to be around them. You had done everything in your power to move on. You had dated other guys and you had been in a very nice relationship. But it didn’t last, mainly because none of the other guys was James. You thought that he was so dense. How could he not notice that you had feelings for him? How could he look at you straight in the eyes and instead of seeing how much you loved him, all he would do was talk about Lily? You wanted to be mad at her. You wanted to hate her once she agreed on a date with him. You truly wanted to. But you couldn’t. Lily was a very, extraordinary kind person and an amazing friend. Besides, you could see how happy he was. You had never seen him that ecstatic. It was that exact emotion of his that made you realize that you never stood a chance. Once they were together, there was nothing left for you. And you grew colder and distant. You would never try to ruin their relationship; they were your best friends and they were perfect for each other. Sirius was the one to make a move. He had kind of formed a crush on you, even though he knew that it would always be James for you and well, it would always be Marlene for him. He couldn’t exactly handle, though, seeing you sad and hurt. And since neither of you could be with the person you truly wanted to, why not be with each other? It wasn’t like you had never thought about it. And he moved fast. It was your last year after all and even though he knew that you wouldn’t just cut ties with them after that, he was also aware that you would try to keep your distant. And in all honesty, he couldn’t blame you. He would do the same. You hadn’t even taken a second to think your answer. It was simple as that. Being with Sirius was easy as breathing and as hard as that. It did feel natural; like being best friends but with…benefits. But, it also felt wrong. Surprisingly enough, your relationship had lasted a year. It was when Remus talked to you and voiced his concerns that you understood that you weren’t over James- who, by the way, didn’t even seem to be bothered… and why would he? He was with Lily and they were planning the freaking marriage for Merlin’s sake. And it was when both of them wanted you and Sirius to marry them, that you had to be honest with the gray-eyed man and with yourself. You talked and talked for hours. You both knew the truth and you both saw it coming. There were no hard feelings between you and you still were very close. He was actually concerned about the whole ‘being the one to marry the man you loved with your best friend’ thing but you just shrugged it off. James didn’t even know. Honestly, you didn’t want him to know. It was better off like that. And with Sirius… it had gone back to being just friends- who would, occasionally, hook up, but that was okay. The wedding arrived and you were in pain. You physically felt it. Your body was sore and your mind, clouded. The wedding passed and you got wasted. You couldn’t remember a thing from the wedding reception. Well, you did remember one thing. How they glowed with happiness and love. That was the final hit. You kept on drinking and drinking. You had woken up with a terrible hangover and a headache that made you want to bang your head against the wall. You tried to move but you felt a body next to you. You froze and tried to focus on – oh, it was just Sirius. And you had your clothes on. That was a relief. You hadn’t mentioned to anyone that morning, afternoon, really. You had made a promise to yourself. You would stop dragging Sirius into your mess. It was more than enough that his ‘family’ was with Voldemort and every time he went on a mission, he would stumble across one of them. He didn’t need your messy feelings. You tried to stay away. For a while, you were just a muggle; did the things Muggles did; got a flat near the wizarding world but outside of it. You did try to make it work. You had gone out on dates and gotten an interesting job. And then, your world came crumbling down. You were still in love with James and you loved him deeply. But life had different plans. You got a letter from Lily. A howler, really.  She was so excited that she could barely contain herself. And then she was too worried at the same time. Why? Because she was pregnant. You didn’t get to listen to the rest of the letter as you apparated to Remus’ place. He would be lying if he was to say that he didn’t expect you to appear to his room right after you would find out. He knew you way too well. He knew that you didn’t want to go to Sirius because Merlin knows where that would lead you. The moment he saw you, you were already wrapped around him, your body shaking with sobs. He held you close, whispering comforting things as you just fell apart. Not only Lily and James were going to be parents, but they had the nerve to ask you to be Harry’s-that’s the name they had agreed on once they found out that it was a boy-godmother. It felt wrong. So wrong. Yet, seeing them so happy and so in love, made you swallow your emotions once again. Sirius saw it. Remus saw it. Peter wasn’t anywhere to be seen. It felt like you were drowning and your demons were holding you down, never letting you breathe. Sirius tried to make it better by suggesting James to make someone else godmother/father. James didn’t really know why his best friend would say something like that for you. Well, he did. He truly did. But he had decided to bury it deep down, years ago, never letting it reach the surface. Instead of just pointing someone else, he told Sirius since he was your man-you never really told them that you had broken up in order to keep your emotions hidden- he should be Harry’s godfather as well. At least, you would have someone to share the pain. Because he was truly asking you to be the godmother of his child- his child with Lily. And it hurt. Immensely. For everybody’s sake, you smiled and laughed and cheered. But when you were left alone… that was a different story. So, you tried to numb the pain. Alcohol, sex, sleeping pills. Whatever it took. But the pain was there. Every time you saw them smiling at each other, your heart- what was left of it- would break a bit more. Until you had a meltdown. Thankfully, both Sirius and Remus found you and helped you. They were growing even more worried about you. It had been almost nine years. They realized that it wasn’t just a crush. You loved him. You loved him so much that you sacrificed your own happiness for him. And you cared about Lily too; she was like your sister. You had given up on your heart for the happiness of theirs. For the first time, they saw how difficult it was for you and the got why after the whole ‘godparenting’ thing, you left. The next thing you learned, had left you absolutely broken and almost too numb to react. You were with Sirius and you had decided to visit them together, after almost a year that you had been abroad. You had travel quite a bit and you had found out that you would like to settle down in Rome. Well, the handsome Italian guy that you were in a relationship with, had kind of helped your decision. You were well. Even happy. And then, the world fell upon you. Peter, sweet, innocent, shy little Peter had betrayed them to Voldemort. And Lily was dead. She was dead. She was gone. Leaving a toddler and a broken James behind. Remus had rushed there and you had just apparated with Sirius, who was not just shaken but a complete mess. And then you saw Lily’s body. It made your heart drop to the floor. This wasn’t right. She was just twenty-one. This was just a messed-up nightmare. It couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t. In the years to follow, you could never remember that night. It all was so blurry and maybe it was for the best. Maybe your brain was protecting you. James never asked you to ditch your life back in Rome. He never asked you to stay away from Jason-your fiancé, as he was later informed- or to break the engagement. He didn’t have to. You did it, anyway. It was difficult, in the beginning. You didn’t know where you stood. Everyone just got together and moved to your flat, since it was hidden in the Muggle world and it would draw less attention. The empty apartment was filled with four grieving adults and a toddler, who knew very well what had happened. James couldn’t handle Harry at first. He had Lily’s eyes and it felt too much to even look at him. At the same time, he felt guilty. He was, in his mind. He was responsible for her death, according to him. You had stepped in, took Harry under your wing, helped your friends when you were just too numb to feel the pain, at that point. You hated yourself. For a couple of reasons that would start to bother you after a few weeks.

Years had passed. Harry was already ten. You were living with him and James. James… well, he wasn’t exactly the boy you used to know. He had changed a lot. And who wouldn’t? He had lost his wife, his son’s mother when he was twenty-one. No matter how many years will pass, something like that cannot be forgotten. You hated yourself and even though you tried to put some distance between yourself and him-it never worked. You were there when he couldn’t sleep, when he couldn’t function; you were there when he had a breakdown; you were there when he couldn’t stop crying behind closed doors; you were there when he couldn’t change Harry’s diapers; you were there when he would go days without coming out of his room; you were there when he started smiling again because you were the one who scowled him about his behavior-it wasn’t just him anymore, he had a child; you were there when he first laughed and it was genuine; you were there when he started cracking awful jokes with his friends and you had to run after a mini-him. You were there all the time. You had been there forever. And you felt like you would die. Because your feelings were there as well. You pushed them away, buried them six feet under. You couldn’t possibly believe yourself. You had feelings for your dead best friend’s husband. It felt like you were the most sickening person in the world. That’s why you never even let them free again. You had an amazing relationship with Harry. He was a wonderful kid. Lily would be so proud of him. When he was younger, you played with him, chased him around the house, fed him, tacked him in… That little creature had stolen your heart. Once he grew older and he was asking questions that James couldn’t answer, you told him stories about his beautiful mother and his toe-rag father. James snorted but he smiled at the memory. Even though there were tears in his eyes. You kept telling Harry everything you could remember and it might hurt you but you couldn’t resist his big green eyes and his pouty lips. What you didn’t know was that you were never alone. He was always watching you-you hadn’t even realized it. James was speechless because he knew. He knew how you felt about him. At least, when you were all attending Hogwarts. He knew that it must had been one of the most difficult things you had ever undergone. He knew that you had broken off your engagement with an amazing guy that you were truly in love with-for him and his son. He was admiring how strong you were and how discrete- you never told him how you felt because you valued his happiness way too much to care about yours. One day, you were all in the living room, watching a muggle tv-show that Harry found hilarious. It was late and Harry knew that had to go to sleep. He was ten and he didn’t want help to go to bed. He was a man, as he had stated. The freaking Potter genes. But he was complaining and honestly, you would have laughed at the stubborn kid if it wasn’t for the word choice. “But I don’t want to go to sleep, mom”. You froze. You could hear the stillness. Your heart wasn’t beating and you weren’t breathing. James had gone wide-eyed and couldn’t move. Harry seemed to realize what he had just said. He hugged you with his little hands and you found yourself on the verge of tears. “I just have two moms” he said calmly as he looked at his father. The world was so much simpler and more beautiful through a kid’s eyes. James didn’t really know how to respond and that’s why you smiled at the little boy. “You still have to go to sleep, tough guy” you playfully tickled him and he giggled like someone who had just been busted. You carried him in your arms since he didn’t let go. Once you put him to sleep, you returned to the living room, only to find an empty couch. You knew that James had looked his door before you even tried to open it. And that’s why you didn’t.

After a few months he realized why he kept glancing your way and why he always felt more like himself around you; why you were his… what were you exactly? He knew now that you weren’t just a friend- to him. He felt this sickening almost nauseating feeling. Again. It couldn’t be true. However, every time he looked at you, holding his son, playing with him or helping him with his homework- you had insisted that Harry should attend the elementary school as every Muggle kid did and James just couldn’t say no-his heart was beating a tad faster and he felt lightheaded. A good dizziness. When Harry had called you mom, his whole world had stopped spinning. It didn’t slip. He had told you that he had two moms. He was acknowledging you as his mother and James had to admit to himself that he was right. He did have two mothers. But why had you stayed? Why had you given up your life willingly? He needed to talk to you but first, he had to come face to face with his emotions. And the truth was that he was falling in love with you all over again. Because he had feelings for you before. He did but he was too coward to admit it. That was when Lily happened and he didn’t saw a reaction from you, so he thought that you didn’t see him like that. It was only after he had gotten together with Lily, that he realized everything. And okay, maybe Remus had let a hint or two, or a dozen. He was dense. But then, you and Sirius happened. What the hell was happening? He was sitting down, next to his bed. The door was half-opened. He knew someone was there and he expected to be you. But it was Harry, who waltzed in and went and sat right across from him. James raised an eyebrow, stunned by his son’s actions. “It’s okay, dad. I know you love her”. Say what, now? To say that James was shocked, it would be an understatement. He was choking on his own breath. Harry laughed at him, which didn’t exactly help. You heard a noise and went to check it out, but halted when you saw the two of them in the room. You stood behind the wall, far enough to not be seen but close enough to actually listen. “Of course, I do. As I love Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot” he said carefully but the ironic expression that Harry had, reminded him of himself way too much. He knew that his kid knew. “Dad, please. I am ten, not two. You are in love with her. Even if I don’t really know what that means. I heard Moony and Padfoot saying it” he stated matter-of-factly. You gasped and quickly placed your hand on your mouth. What did Harry say? James closed his eyes. How was it that a ten-year old knew more and could see clearer? And why on earth would those two talk about his personal life? And in front of Harry? “You are okay with that?” he asked before he could stop himself. He had just admitted his feeling for you. Feelings that were there for the last eight years. You didn’t dare to breathe. “She is my other mom, dad. I love her. Not like you do, but I love her”. You didn’t know you were crying until the tears reached your lips and tasted the salt. Your boys. Your precious boys. You heard a sound that you guessed it was the sound of a hug and your heart melted. “Mom would like her” you heard Harry whispering a little over-emotional. You must have done something extremely good for- no. How could steal Lily’s men? It didn’t feel right. Like, what? You waited for her to die and steal her man? You felt sick. “She did” you heard James whispering. You were about to turn and leave when they walked on you. James was taken aback but Harry rushed over and hugged you so tight that you thought you would stop breathing. “You make my dad happy and you make me happy” he simply told you before heading off to his room. You stayed there frozen. What could you do? You both just stood there, before he enveloped you in a bone-crushing hug. I need you, I need you, I need you, you kept screaming in your mind. You weren’t teenagers or school kids anymore. You were two people with a very disturbing past and a child. Because he knew that Harry was yours as much as his; if not more.  His hands were around you, holding you tightly close to him, as his head rested in the crook of your neck. He didn’t feel guilty anymore. He didn’t feel guilty for loving you, for moving on. And he slowly made you accept that too. From the way you hugged him like your life depended on him, he realized that your feelings hadn’t changed. You loved him for almost twenty years. Twenty years. You had kept your feelings hidden for so many years, just because you wanted him to be happy. You loved him for dear life. And he found out that loving someone is something selfless. And he gave himself to you- and Harry. Always Harry. “We can take this slowly” he gently said, pulling an inch apart. You smiled. It was a real smile. “I would like that very much” you answered truthfully. He was about to lean down but alas. “Guys, I’m hungry!” Harry screamed and made both of you laugh. It wasn’t going to be easy but it would, at the same time. You were not replacing Lily. You were you and that was all they wanted. It might had started out as’ James, always James’ but it had turned out to be, ‘Harry comes first. And then James’. And that was… a family. A happy one. 

tags: @orionsirivsblack @kapolisradomthoughts @nadinissavage

[whysosirius-james]

James Sirius Potter + Questionnaire (1/??)

trigger warning ; alcoholism

ORIGINS & FAMILY

Name:

James Sirius Potter (adopted name)

Bernard Vernon Dursley (birth name)

Nickname(s): James, Jimmy, Jim-Jam, Bernard (sarcastically)

Reason for name:

James is his adopted grandfather and Sirius is his adopted father’s godfather. They were two men Harry looked up to and loved and in turn, James aspires to be them.

Bernard is a Dursley family name and Vernon is his biological grandfather’s name. He has not used this name since he was adopted and has no intention of changing it back in the future.

Birthday: Thirteenth of November, 2003

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Somewhere in England, exact location unknown.

Places lived since: 

In the unknown location for a few weeks with his mother

With his biological father in Little Whinging for nearly six months

With his adopted parents and siblings in Godric’s Hollow following his adoption

Hogwarts from age eleven to eighteen for most of the year

With Mackenzie in a house they bought together in Hogsmeade following his graduation

Parents’ names, backgrounds, occupations:

Dudley Dursley - Biological Father - He is the son of Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley (nee Evans, deceased as of 2020) and maternal cousin of Harry Potter. He is a muggle and was a bully as a child, especially towards Harry, which he has since come to regret. He had an affair with Samoan witch - unaware of her heritage at the time - and Bernard was the result. Dudley asked his cousin to take Bernard, to be named James, as his own when he started showing signs of magic so that he would not receive the same treatment Harry did growing up. He currently works as a salesman in the position Vernon held before he retired. He had another affair which resulted in James’ muggleborn half-brother, Fletcher (who he does not know about). Dudley got married in 2007 and has no other children.

Talia Leapei - Biological Mother - She is a pureblood, Samoan witch. James does not know who her parents are. She had an affair with Dudley Dursley early 2003, resulting in her pregnancy. She kept him for a few weeks before leaving him at Dudley’s doorstep. In 2021, she wrote to her son to get in touch and they have since been in contact. She is currently a florist in Samoa, is unmarried and has no other children. James met her in 2023.

Harry Potter - Adopted Father - He is the son of James Potter and Lily Potter (nee Evans) - both are deceased - and the maternal cousin of Dudley Dursley. He is a halfblood wizard, Gryffindor alumni and was the captain and seeker on his school’s Quidditch team. He led Dumbledore’s Army and defeated Voldemort at seventeen. As a favor to Dudley and to keep a child from abuse for being magic, Harry agreed to adopt James - then Bernard - and pretended that he was his and his new wife’s biological son.  He is the current Head of Auror Office and occasionally guest lectures for Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. He is married to Ginny Weasley-Potter and is the father of two other children, Albus Severus and Lily Luna.

Ginevra “Ginny” Weasley - Adopted Mother - She is the daughter of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley (nee Prewett). She is a pureblood witch, Gryffindor alumni and the chaser - and at one point seeker - on her school’s Quidditch team. She fought in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside Harry, Ron (her older brother) and Hermione (friend, now sister-in-law). She agreed without hesitation to adopt James with her husband, Harry, and used her sabbatical from her career to hide her “pregnancy” and maternity leave. She is the former chaser for the Holyhead Harpies and former senior Quidditch reporter for the Daily Prophet. She currently works as the Sports Editor for the Daily Prophet . She is married to Harry Potter and is the mother of two other children, Albus Severus and Lily Luna.

Number of siblings: Two

Albus Severus Potter (adopted, younger brother)

Lily Luna Potter (adopted, younger sister)

Edward “Teddy” Lupin (god-brother / “adopted” brother)

Fletcher Duke (younger paternal half-brother)

Relationship with family (close? estranged?):

James loves his adopted family; parents, siblings and numerous cousins. There is nothing more important to him than them and he would take a bullet for each and every one of them. He has a unique relationship with each of them. Their bond has only grown strong since they found out he was adopted and accepted him for he knew that they would love him no matter what and vice versa.

Before knowing that he was his biological father, James’ relationship with Dudley wasn’t much to talk about. Harry always insisted on his three children visiting his cousin. James never understood why and was always reluctant to go until he received the letter with the truth when he was eleven. After that, he made much more of an effort and writes to him frequently.

Up until 2021, Talia Leapei and James had no contact. All he knew was her name. She wrote to him out of the blue which had a major impact on him. It took him months to respond and they’ve exchanged only a few letters. They met in 2023 and she was invited to his wedding, even organising the flowers for it.

James does get along with Fletcher despite not knowing they are related. They are not close but if James ever did find out, there is no doubt that he would want them to be.

Happiest memory:

The day Lucy was born. It was the best birthday present ever. 

As of 2024, his marriage to Mackenzie Finnigan-Thomas

Childhood trauma: Most of James’ trauma occurred in his teens / young adulthood when he became an alcoholic in his sixth year - since recovered - and when his girlfriend Mackenzie and cousin Lucy were kidnapped by Death Eaters in 2022.

Children of his/her own?: N/A

PHYSICAL

Height: 5′ 11″ /  1.8 m 

Weight: 161 lbs / 73 kg 

Build: Athletic

Nationality: English & Samoan

Disabilities (physical or mental, including mental illnesses): Alcoholism (in recover)

Complexion (freckles, acne, skin tone, birth marks): Two small moles on his left cheek close to his jawline, otherwise totally clear complexion

Hair color: Ginger

Usual hair style: Messy

Eye color: Dark Brown

Glasses? Contacts?: N/A

Style of dress/typical outfit(s): James’ style is very casual and comfortable (i.e. jeans, t-shirts and sneakers). He generally wears very plain shirts with the occasional logo or slogan written across it. He is also prone to wearing plaid shirts or bomber jackets over said t-shirts.

Health: James is rarely sick. He keeps in good shape for Quidditch, eating well and working out frequently, especially since finishing rehab. When he does get sick, he’s quite stubborn about it and lives in denial until someone literally forces him to rest.

Grooming: James showers every morning after his jog and again in the evenings after Quidditch practice. He tends to wear clean clothes. He does not wear makeup or pluck his eyebrows (although every now and then one of his female cousins plucks them for him but he never asks). 

Tattoos? Piercings?:

James has a tattoo that represents each of his siblings and cousins:

A teddy bear for Teddy on the top of his right arm.

Lightning bolt on left ring finger for Albus.

An orange lily on the back of his left shoulder for Lily.

On the back of his right shin he has a rose for Rose.

A flame on the back of his right shoulder for Hugo.

A laurel wreath for Victoire on the outside of his left forearm.

A blue shell on the inside of his left forearm for Dominique.

For Louis, there is an anchor on the inside of his right ankle.

To represent Fred, there is a tattoo of a crown on the inside of his right wrist.

There is a joker’s hat on the inside his left ankle for Roxanne.

For Molly, there is a tattoo of a sun below Lily’s on the back of his left shoulder.

There is a pinky promise tattoo on the outside of his right upper arm. This is a a matching tattoo he has with Lucy.

James has ‘adventure’ tattooed on his inner upper arm.

A golden snitch can be found on the front of his right shoulder.

No piercings.

Accent?: British

Unique mannerisms/physical habits (bites nails, talks with hands, taps feet when restless):  He gets twitchy / shaky - especially his hands - when he feels like he needs a drink and also tends to tap his feet and fingers against surfaces.

INTELLECT

Level of education (high school drop out, undergrad BA/BS, PhD, MD, etc.): Hogwarts graduate

Gifts/talents/skills:

James is a very talented Quidditch player. He was the chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and later became captain. He currently plays a a chaser for the Montrose Magpies.

James is a very gifted prankster. As a Wotter, albeit adopted, he has access to the best pranking tools and ideas from his Uncle George and his shop.

James started to play the guitar at age twelve and his knack for it has only developed.

Alongside his guitar playing, James can sing and has written songs. His most significant example is the song he wrote for Mackenzie right before they got together. He spent a year working on and perfecting it.

Shortcomings: 

James has addictive tendencies, shown through his year of alcoholism. During that time he also smoked and did the occasional drug. Now he stays away from anything addictive substances, including caffeine.

He can be overly protective of his loved ones to the point of annoying them but he means well.

Despite not having Weasley blood, James certainly has their temper. He can get so angry especially when someone hurts the ones he cares about. 

Style of speech:

James usually speaks in a loud and confident voice. His tell when he’s upset or anxious is when he speaks quieter than usual.

Religious stance: Atheist (was not raised with any religion)

Cautious or daring?: Daring

Most sensitive about/vulnerable to: His adoption and his former alcohol addiction

Optimist or pessimist?: Optimist

Extrovert or introvert?: Extrovert

RELATIONSHIPS

Current marital/relationship status: Married to Mackenzie Finnigan Thomas

Sexual orientation: Heterosexual

Past relationships:

Penelope Hawthorne - This relationship was a bit of a roller coaster. They were together when his alcohol addition developed and when he went into rehab, he broke up with her and shut her out. At the time, he believed that she was the root cause of his addiction and thought it was best to stay away from her. They have recently made amends due to a mutual friend dealing with addiction and are trying to be friends.

Level of sexual experience: 

Normally, James only sleeps with people he has an emotional connection with. Altogether he has slept with four people, including his wife Mackenzie.

Most comfortable around (person): Mackenzie Finnigan-Thomas & Lucy Weasley

Oldest friend: Lucy Weasley

Pets?: Barn Owl named Hedwig II

VOCATION

Profession: Chaser for the Montrose Magpies

Past occupations:

Student

James worked three summers in Weasley Wizard Wheezes.

Passions:

Quidditch

Music

Pranking

Attitude towards current job:

Quidditch is James’ passion and there is nothing he would rather be doing.

Attitude towards current coworkers, bosses, employees:

James’ team is like his family and gets along with all of them.

SECRETS

Phobias:

Thanatophobia - fear of dying and losing a loved one

Atychiphobia - fear of failure

Life goals:

James’ main goal in life was to play for a professional Quidditch team, either the Montrose Magpies or the Wimbourne Wasps. He has achieved this goal.

He would also like to work his way up to team captain of the quidditch team he plays for.

His only other goal is to find the perfect woman and settle down and have a large family. His wife, Mackenzie has been told that she may not have children but he has no doubt that they will have kids one way or another.

Greatest fears: 

James is afraid of losing his family in any way, physically or emotionally, above all else.

Most ashamed of:

James’ biggest shame is lying for seven years about his adoption.

His year of alcoholism and partying was a shameful time for him especially when he started lashing out at his family.

Compulsions:

Alcohol Addiction (formerly)

Crimes committed: N/A

What he/she most wants to change about his/her self/life?:

Despite the flaws he knows he has, James would not change much. If he had to say anything, it would be to have more control over his temper sometimes.

DETAILS/QUIRKS

Daily routine:

On weekdays, James wakes up at six for a run and follows that with a shower. He eats breakfast with Mackenzie normally, which they take turns making. He then goes to practice for most, if not all, of the day, only taking a break for lunch and water. When he gets home, he eats dinner with Mackenzie if she’s home. They might watch a movie or he’ll write to his relatives before going to bed. He tends to go to sleep fairly early especially if he has practice early the next day.

On weekends, he still wakes up at six for a run and eats breakfast, occasionally he’ll make breakfast in bed for Mackenzie. If he has practice on weekends, his routine is similar to the weekdays or he will spend his day relaxing or hanging out with his friends and family. For a while after graduation, James would spend a lot of his day’s off unpacking and renovating the house that he and Mackenzie live in together. His weekend evenings are similar to that of the weekdays.

James will always spend his holidays with his family. He will likely go back to the Burrow, bringing Mackenzie with him if she’s available. This is still the case after graduation.

Night owl or early bird?: Early Bird

Light or heavy sleeper?: Heavy Sleeper

Favorite food: Anything Grandma Molly cooks

Favorite book: Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp

Favorite movie: Citizen Kane

Favorite song: Do The Hippogriff by the Weird Sisters

Favorite color: Dark Green

Coffee or tea?: Tea

Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?: Crunchy

Type of car he/she drives (or wishes he/she drove): James doesn’t plan on learning to drive. He thinks that apparating works better and more efficiently.

Lefty or righty?: Righty

Cusser?: Definitely

Smoker? Drinker? Drug user?: No / Formerly an Alcoholic / Formerly Though Recreational 

[marauderingbad-blog]

Yer a Werewolf, Remus

PART 3/3

Read the Full Story on ArchiveOfOurOwn http://archiveofourown.org/works/11614782 

James stood before his trunk, wand pointed and brow furrowed in an attempt to render the requisite wand power and concentration. The goal was to transfigure this hulking mass of a thing into a matchbox. This was the sort of thing he wasn’t supposed to learn how to do until fourth or fifth year, large objects into much smaller ones and vice versa; but James would need to master this way sooner than that if they had any hope of becoming animagi before they graduated.

“Flintifors!” James cried in an attempt to transfigure his trunk into a tiny matchbox. His trunk rocked violently, but retained its form.

“Argh!” he groaned, collapsing onto his bed in frustration. James ran his fingers through his hair--he’d hoped that they’d be able to get their animagi transformations down in time for the next full moon--now that that was tomorrow, James realized the impossibility of this. Becoming an animagus essentially required being an expert in Transfiguration, and apparently that could not be done in four weeks.

Sirius and Peter were giggling at James from Sirius’ bed. Sirius lounged with his hands behind his head and bare feet crossed while Peter was granted access to huddling on the very edge of the bed.

“Sorry, mate,” Sirius sniggered. “You looked like you were trying to pinch one off.”

This comment sent Peter into a roaring fit of laughter--mostly, he was probably just pleased to not be the one accused of soiling himself for once.

“You did look like that, James! Sincerely, you did! Pinched one off!” Peter exclaimed with glee through hysterics.

James rolled his eyes, “McGonagall said you need to double, maybe even triple or quadruple your concentration and wand power,” he insisted. In moments like these, it was clear who was the Quidditch player out of the three of them--James had persistence, he was good at doing things over and over and over again until he eventually got better. He would eventually get better, but he couldn’t be too sure about these two--especially Peter.

Nonetheless, James couldn’t help but smirk and snort lightly at Peter’s outburst. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was laughing with or at Peter, though.

Sirius’ smile slowly faded as Peter’s ecstatic laughter lingered for too long. He watched him with a sour, displeased look before promptly pushing Peter’s back with his foot, sending Peter crashing from the bed to the floor.

Sirius himself had also attempted the spell..once. After one failed attempt he gave up. He was accustomed to having a knack for magic, but something this advanced was going to take practice and patience. Two things Sirius disliked.

He then leaned over to his record player and tinkered with it until Moonage Daydream began to play. Evidently, practice had ended for today.

James sighed, looking between Peter and Sirius as music filled the room. “So. Anyway. Looks like we’re not going to become animagi in the next twenty-four hours. “What should we do in the meantime? Should we tell Remus we know, so he doesn’t have to keep making excuses for us?”

From the floor, Peter grunted. “I think probably-maybe we should tell Remus...Sincerely, I dunno how much longer I can hold it in. I mean, only if James thinks so. James, do you think so?” Peter asked, turning to James--needing his constant assurance and approval.

James raised his eyebrows at having the question he’d posed now turned back at him. “Well...I think maybe we might as well. He probably worries about us finding out, yeah? So we should let me know that we know, and it’s alright.”

“Well, If James thinks so, then I think so.” Sirius mocked in an exaggerated impression of Peter’s voice with a self-satisfied smirk without looking up from the issue of a muggle magazine, NME, that he had taken up scanning.

“But, really, we should tell him,” he continued, seriously this time as he looked at James. “I’ve honestly been feeling like a shit-friend the past few weeks…Let’s tell him before the next full moon tomorrow. Maybe it’ll help him to feel better?” Sirius offered, he honestly did not have a clue what it must be like to have to transform into a werewolf--but judging by Remus’ poor health, it certainly must not be pleasant.

As if on cue, Remus entered the dormitory. He always tended to do his homework and study in the library--something about not being able to focus around all of them, whatever that meant. James had just opened his mouth to respond to Sirius, but then swiftly closed it and fell silent. Did they just tell Remus now? And how did they tell him? What if they were actually wrong and he really did just have some weird illness? But, no, he was definitely a werewolf. Had to be.

Remus froze mid-step, looking between the three of them with a half-amused, half-weary expression. “What are you lot up to?”

Sirius froze in place upon Remus’ entrance. He shot James a furtive glance. Although he had sounded so sure of himself just before, now that Remus was actually present, maintaining that same courage suddenly became far more difficult. But this clearly was the moment he had been describing...He instinctively sat up from his repose to a more alert position.

Peter audibly gasped when his eyes fell on Remus. He stood up with difficulty from the floor and began to unsteadily head towards the door, muttering something about needing to use the bathroom.

“Oye, get back here!” Sirius called after Peter before facing Remus. He took a deep breath.

“Er...Could we talk to you?” tentativeness did not suit Sirius. “And by we I mean all of us,” he went on firmly, fixating on Peter. James crossed the room and blocked his way, steering him back further into the room.

The smile dropped from Remus’ face and shifted into a look of deep uncertainty as he looked between his friends. This wasn’t their normal sort of strange--this felt different. Serious. He’d never heard Sirius use that tone of voice--and had Peter gasped at him?

“Sure…” Remus said hesitantly, moving over towards his own bed and sitting down, gazing intensely between James and Sirius. “What’s going on?” he asked again, this time his voice somber.

He felt a pang of nervousness all of a sudden. It was right before the full, and he had worried that his friends--his ridiculous, but clever friends--would one day put two-and-two together, but most of the time, Remus was able to push thoughts like that to the far crevices of his mind. They tended to come more to the surface around the full, and maybe that’s all it was--full moon induced paranoia. It wouldn’t have been the first time he felt it. Remus tried to dismiss the thought, because it was unbearable to imagine what would inevitably happen next. It could be anything, Remus reasoned. James could have had his cloak confiscated, or--yet, as Remus tried to think of other rationales, he felt his stomach churn and the color drain from his face. A physical manifestation of the anxiety he was inarguably feeling.

Remus had often imagined walking into their dormitory one day to this, after all.

James frowned as he observed Remus. He looked ill--and iller by the second. Really, the vague “he’s sickly,” excuse could have worked well enough, if they hadn’t noticed the full moon pattern.

“Listen, Remus, it’s about your disappearances. We...want to talk to you about what’s really going on,” he said. Remus’ eyes widened, and James watched as he, incredibly, became even paler after all the color already seemed to have left him. James noticed he was gripping the folds of his comforter.

“I--” Remus began, but found his mouth suddenly too dry and his throat too tight to get much else out. He tried to clear it. Remus felt his heart speed up and, much to his embarrassment, moisture gather in his eyes. He’d never imagined having friends like these, who were funny and bold and who somehow seemed to enjoy his company as much as he did theirs. Remus had never imagined having friends at all, until coming to Hogwarts. He couldn’t bear to lose them, and he felt as though he was about to.

Then, James stood up from his own bed and sat down beside Remus, wrapping an arm firmly around him. “We know--you’re a werewolf,” he said, simple as that.

Sirius wordlessly crossed the room and joined James and Remus. He sat with his legs crossed under him and put his hand on Remus’ shoulder, looking at Remus with a sympathetic but steady gaze. Even Peter came over and squeezed onto the bed between them--all four of them together now.

“We know,” Sirius repeated. “And we’re here for you. We’re here with you.”

“You don’t have to be alone,” Peter added in a faint, yet sincere whisper.

Remus almost couldn’t comprehend what was happening. This was not how the scene had ever played out in his mind. They were supposed to be terrified and repulsed--that’s the way people feel about werewolves, after all. And that’s the way Remus had always felt about himself. They were supposed to leave him. But they they didn’t leave. In fact, they joined him. As Remus watched his three best friends unite together with him, he became so moved that some of the tears welled up in his eyes silently rolled down his cheeks. But these weren’t tears of sadness. He still wasn’t able to get words passed his throat, but looked from Peter to Sirius to James in sheer amazement.

“We’ll always be here for you,” James promised.

Remus hastily wiped his eyes. “I never expected--” he began, but then paused. He had to fight the urge to rationalize with them, to ask them if they were sure this was how they felt--but then he realized how stupid that would be. Remus didn’t want to convince them to no longer be friends with him, and as he looked at the three of them surrounding him, he realized with full, unwavering certainty for the first time that he couldn’t convince them to stop being his friends even if he tried. It’s not that Remus had ever thought they were prejudiced--he just always thought that no matter how people felt about muggleborns or muggles, they usually still hated werewolves, and not always without good reason. So their friendship had always felt somewhat illusory and conditional--not anymore.

“Thank you,” he said, finally.

~~*~~

As soon as classes got out the following day, James headed up to the Hospital Wing with Sirius and Peter. They probably would have skipped classes altogether if it wasn’t for the fact that Madame Pomfrey was well aware of the daily schedule and never would have permitted them to stay when she knew they should be in class.

James had never really gone to see Remus in the Hospital Wing--mainly, because Remus rarely admitted that that was where he’d gone off to. In first year in particular, Remus wouldn’t say much of anything at all, he’d just be gone. As they became closer, sometimes Remus would say he was sick, but with something that wouldn’t be conducive to visitors, like a stomach bug. Other times, he’d say he was cramming for an exam or even that he’d gone home to visit his parents, who were sick. It was always something. But now that they knew what was going on, of course, they would be there.

The three burst into the Hospital Wing, talking raucously among themselves, as usual. Madame Pomfrey stormed out of her office and across the Hospital Wing upon hearing them, a reprimand sharp on her tongue, but to James’ surprise, she softened slightly at the sight of them.

“Potter. Black. Pettigrew,” she said by way of greeting. “Please, lower your voices,” she demanded, her own voice hushed, but intense. Then, that almost gentle look resurfaced. “Are you here to see Mr. Lupin?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” James answered.

Madame Pomfrey smiled a bit, but then turned serious again, “Well, alright, he’s behind the curtain. But no rough-housing, boys, I mean it. I’ll throw you right out as quickly as you came.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it, Madam Pomfrey,” Sirius explained with an angelic smile as he waved her farewell. Once she had returned to her office, he dumped his robes and backpack to the middle of the floor and strode over to Remus’ closed curtains.

“Mr. Lupin,” Sirius exaggeratedly imitated Madam Pomfrey. “You have visitors. They’re very good looking--except for the four-eyed one and the plump one, that is.” he said before tearing back Remus’ curtains.

James put all his chaser bulk into ramming Sirius with his shoulder, breaking their no rough-housing promise mere seconds after it was made.

Peter pursed his lips at Sirius once he registered the insult but scooted to Remus as the curtains opened. “It’s us: James, Sirius, and Peter!” he exclaimed, in case Remus hadn’t realized.

Remus looked surprised to have visitors, unaccustomed to anyone coming other than Madame Pomfrey, and occasionally McGonagall and Dumbledore. He laughed warmly at Peter’s comment, “Yes, I’d figured that out.”

James surveyed Remus quietly. He didn’t look great; he looked weak and exhausted--but happy, and James thought that had to count for something, and maybe it counted for a lot. “We brought you something,” he said, revealing a box of chocolate mice. “Convinced the House Elves to make some fresh. I also took notes for you today, which was considerably more work than the chocolate, so I hope you like them all the better for it.”

Remus grinned and sat up slowly, accepting the gifts. “Oh, believe me, I know how hard that must have been for you,” he said, “So, thank you, truly.”

“I would’ve taken notes for you,” Sirius added as he flopped onto the end of Remus’ bed. “But neither you nor I would have been able to read them. You do know how the House Elves feel about me, though. So my contributions were immense.”

“I’ve no doubt,” Remus said.

Peter followed Sirius onto the edge of the bed, getting his shoes in his face. “That’s a pretty big box..” he noted, observing the chocolate. “Alot for one person to eat..”

Sirius rolled his eyes at Peter. “Please. You daily consume three times that amount of candy as a mid-afternoon snack. And they’re not for you, you prat.”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “I think I can handle it, but you can have some,” he agreed, ignoring Sirius’ rebuttal. Peter gleefully ignored Sirius as well and dug in.

“Not too many,” James instructed, and Peter instantly complied with James’ demand. He smirked for a moment in triumph, then turned contemplative. There was something he wanted to ask, but James didn’t know if it was the right time--then again, he wasn’t sure there would ever be quite the right time for this question.

“What?” Remus asked, ever observant, as he popped a chocolate mouse into his mouth.

James shook his head, “Nothing, just...you don’t have to answer, but I was wondering--” he trailed off, still hesitant about broaching the subject.

“How it happened?” Remus asked, lowering his voice.

James nodded.

Remus frowned a little bit, but decided not to dodge it. There was relief in not caring these secrets anymore. “Well...my father works for the Department of Magical Creatures,” he explained, for the first time, in fact--Remus loved his parents, but he was never sure how much information might be too much. “He’s an expert on...on dark creatures,” he said, stumbling on the word. “When we were young, Fenrir Greyback--I’m sure you’ve heard of him--he...murdered two muggle children,” Remus said, and James saw how he shuddered at the name. “They brought him into the Ministry for questioning, and my father was one of the people to interrogate him. Greyback insisted he was a muggle, and only my father saw through him, the Werewolf Registry wasn’t very good or up-to-date then,” he explained. “Everyone else laughed at my father, and he got angry and...said some nasty things about werewolves, in front of Greyback,” Remus continued, then began to play with the freys of the blanket. “So...Greyback wanted revenge, and he came into my room one night, and he...bit me. I was five.”

James could tell just from looking at Remus how much it hurt him to bring the memory back to the surface. “I’m sorry--I shouldn’t have asked, I just--”

Remus shook his head. “No. It’s better you know. Of course you’d wonder.”

“Bloody hell…” Sirius responded in horrific awe as he propped his hands to look at Remus. “That’s…bloody hell...” He had always imagined that his own childhood had been bad...between the purist fanatics, unending lessons, and cold mother. But Remus quite literally lived through a nightmare.

“Sorry, mate,” he frowned. “But we want to help now. We’ll be with you right before you go and as soon as we can, we’ll come see you like this. Whatever we can do. I dunno if that helps but…” he trailed off.

“No, it helps,” Remus said quickly, nearly cutting Sirius off. “I can’t tell you how much it helps,” he said earnestly. James and Peter smiled in turn.

James jumped as he felt movement behind him. He was stunned to see that Professor Dumbledore had made an entrance, with Madame Pomfrey behind him.

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled at the sight of them all. “Why, young Masters Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin,” he remarked.

“Hello, Professor Dumbledore,” James greeted, still wide-eyed. He felt like they’d been caught, but then he began to realize that Dumbledore must know--he was the one who’d granted Remus admission, after all.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to check in on how you were feeling, Mr. Lupin.”

“I’m alright, Professor. Thank you,” he said.

“And it seems someone’s brought you notes?” Dumbledore arched an eyebrow, observing the parchment on Remus’ lap. “I’ll have to tell Professor McGonagall she needn’t worry, then.”

“It was me, Professor,” James said quickly, shamelessly eager to bask in Dumbledore’s esteem. Yet, Dumbledore looked at all four of them with equal fondness.

“I’m sorry, this is lovely, but I must insist you all give Mr. Lupin sometime to rest,” Madame Pomfrey said.

“Oh, I won’t make a nuisance much longer, Madame Pomfrey, but do let the boys stay a bit longer,” he said, that twinkle back in his eyes. “It does so warm my heart to see true friendships blossom here,” he remarked, giving James, Sirius, and Peter each an approving look in turn. “Take care then, boys. Don’t give Madame Pomfrey too much trouble,” he said, then turned to leave, his purple robes billowing majestically behind him. Madame Pomfrey followed, returning to her office as he left.

They all watched Dumbledore exit, wonderstruck. The feeling lingered even a few moments after the door had swung behind him. Truly, there was no one like Albus Dumbledore.

Eventually, though, the magic of that moment faded.

“It was ME, Professor” Sirius mockingly broke the silence and then began to playfully laugh at James, giving his a light punch in the shoulder. “I’m James Potter, I’m the cleverest boy in the school. Notice me, Professor,” he carried on.

James wasted no time in punching Sirius back. “I wasn’t going to let you take credit for my hard work.”

Remus laughed, “But in the process, I think you outed yourself for not habitually taking notes. If you did, you’d be able to just make a duplicate,” he pointed out.

“Don’t you turn on me too.”

“You brought this on yourself, mate,” Sirius teased before he quickly grabbed one of the pillows from the bed adjacent to Remus and gave James a good whack in the face with it.

Peter swifty came to realize where this was leading. He emitted a playful yelp before diving under the covers with Remus and pulling the blankets over his head.

James grunted from the impact, then jumped up and ran over to an empty bed, grabbing an unused pillow and smacking Sirius in the head with it. Remus laughed and simultaneously tried to hush them, but it was to no avail. Madame Pomfrey could hear a pillow fight a mile away, and she was soon standing back at the curtain divider.

“That’s it!” she managed to yell without exactly yelling. “You boys have to go. I told you, no rough-housing. It was very sweet of you to visit, now, go so that Mr. Lupin can have some rest and some peace.” James smiled back at Remus, as he returned the pillow. “Ah, well, it was good while it lasted.”

Sirius, meanwhile, sighed and struggled to drop his pillow. It was difficult for him to let go of excitement. “Alright, alright,” he eventually agreed and began to collect his belongings from the floor.

Peter followed behind James and Sirius as they were being shepherded out the door.

“We’ll see you later, then, Remus,” Sirius said with a wide grin as he waved Remus goodbye.

Remus grinned broadly, “Bye,” he said. Although he was sad to see them go so soon, Remus couldn’t remember feeling quite so much at ease with all the doubts he had about the endurance and genuineness of their friendship lifted. His body still ached terrible, and Madame Pomfrey was right that he did need to sleep, but somehow, in spite of that, he still felt better overall.