#my name badge will say remus & my brother who works there says it’s not a big deal

[not-rome]

i have orientation for work tomorrow & im not dreading it but i’m dreading it

[lumosinlove]

Relic Keel

(warnings in tags)

PREVIOUSLY ON RELIC KEEL

Marlene got into college and hasn’t told Dorcas because she’s scared of how she will react.

Lily and James had sex and obviously like each other, but Lily is scared to have attachments on Hogwarts when they’re going to college soon.

Leo and Logan question each other about their pasts without much progress. Logan finds out that Leo hopes to own The Lion restaurant one day, and that his father’s death has something to do with “The Voldemort.”

Saint and Sirius talk about leaving the island and how they met when they were eleven years old. They have sex and avoid more difficult topics.

James and Lily meet at the Gryffindor Club as promised. Lily tells James that she doesn’t want anything tying her to the island, that she hates the fake boundaries that Hogwarts has and that James isn’t crossing them as much as he thinks he is. James understands, even though it hurts.

Saint and Sirius are cleaning the Potter’s pool when James arrives with Remus and Luke. Remus and Sirius have a tense moment in the kitchen, Luke and Saint argue, and Sirius finds out that it’s Remus who sails the Wolfsbane every morning—Remus thus finding out that Sirius notices.

Logan returns to the Carrows to hand over his money and stock up on Crucio. We find out that he works for them in the hopes that they will help him get Finn out of Saint Clair, only the Carrows are angry with him for using their Crucio—they say that Logan owes them now.

Logan heads over to Saint Clair to watch Finn from afar, and swears again that he will rescue him.

part iv

Remus closed his eyes, soaking in the morning sun and the salty air. The wind pushed his hair back as he tightened the rigging, catching the wind. Sometimes his sails felt like his bare hands. Like he finally had something to hold onto, even if it blistered his palms. The sea made him feel alone, in the best way. Usually, it felt like people were always around. He couldn’t go anywhere without running into at least two people from school, or his parents’ friends. Yes, he’s excited for college, no, he’s not sure exactly yet, yes, he’s still sailing, yes, he’s still obsessed, yes, he remembers learning at Gryffindor Club, sure, I’ll tell my mom you say hi.

Solidarity was less exhausting.

The wind buffered and he sighed as he slowed down. he looked back towards Shack Beach. Saint had said they saw him every morning—that Sirius saw him every morning. He wondered if Sirius was watching now.

He couldn’t see anything from this far away. Part of him wondered if he could make this island disappear completely, just for a moment. But it was dangerous to stray that far. Even The Cradle, the small U of islands just off of Hogwarts’ southern coast, was pushing it. Remus huffed out a laugh as he managed the ropes to come about, back towards shore. If that wasn’t a metaphor, he didn’t know what was.

Things on Hogwarts had become complicated in what felt like overnight, even though Remus knew that wasn’t true. They were older now. They didn’t just care about summer vacation. There was college to think about, and then jobs. Hogwarts wasn’t the dream it once was. Remus wanted to see mountains, and huge cities, or snow—and not just for a week on vacation. He wanted to belong somewhere because he wanted to be there, and not just because he had grown up there. He was tired of knowing everything there was to know.

He tied up his Wolfsbane on autopilot, stroking his hand over the side before tugging his shirt over his head and jumping straight into the water. It was cooler from the night, but it was what Remus needed. He held his breath as he found the sandy bottom, his eyes closed. For a moment, he didn’t have to be anywhere. He got to enjoy the ocean and its predictable changes.

When he came up for air, he remembered why he loved this island. That still didn’t mean he didn’t want to leave.

“Are you headed to the museum, sweetheart?” his mother said when Remus came down to the kitchen, freshly showered. He preferred to let the salt linger all day, but he figured he should be fresh for his first day of work.

“Yeah,” Remus held up his keys. “Just looking for some coffee first.”

His mom held up a mug for him, laughing. “Ask and you shall receive.”

Remus smiled. “Thanks, mom.”

“How was it this morning?”

Remus poured some milk into his cup. “It was good. Sun’s going to be strong today. Went near The Cradle—not too far, don’t worry.”

“You know me too well,” Hope laughed, whisking some eggs into a lather. “Well, it’s pizza night. We’re ordering in so, if you want to have some friends over and take it to the den, that’s fine with me. But don’t complain if Jules crashes the party.”

Remus nodded. “Actually, I think we’re going out. If that’s all right?”

Hope nodded. “All right, sure. Be safe, though. Who, uh…”

“James and Luke,” Remus sighed. “Mom—”

“I wasn’t going to say anything—”

“It’s not Luke’s fault,” Remus continued anyway. “His dad, I mean. He didn’t know.”

“I know that,” Hope sighed. “But…Even I can see that boy’s hurting and I barely see him at all.”

“Then shouldn’t he be with his friends?” Remus said.

Hope raised her eyebrows at him, and Remus raised his own right back.

“All right, all right,” Hope said. “You’re gonna be late, I’ll see you later, baby.”

Remus knew he should take the car his parents had given him. He knew he should get used to driving, knew his dad wondered why it just sat in the garage. But here, on the island, Remus liked his bicycle. He liked the warm breeze. It reminded him of being out on the water.

Which, in turn, now reminded him of Sirius Black.

When Remus remembered Sirius, he mostly remembered bruised cheeks and nasty looking cuts. He remembered the hushed way people used to whisper about him, and how, even when he was loud, grinning and well-liked, he was still from Salazar. Sometimes he had eaten lunch surrounded by people, and sometimes he had eaten it alone with his brother.

Remus didn’t understand this island. Was Sirius really so different because he was born a few miles South rather than North? It made no sense—only it did, but only because it was all Remus had ever known.

The Hogwarts History Museum was a pride of the island. Remus knew it well from school trips, and from his own interest. He’d spent many Saturdays there as a kid, gazing at all of the small models of ships and dreaming about what it would be like to sail them, wishing they weren’t trapped behind glass—feeling a little like he was trapped behind glass. A ship in a bottle.

“Hi there, Remus,” Layla smiled at him, green eyes kind and skin a rich, dark brown against the pale pink scarf in her hair.

“Hi, Layla,” Remus smiled. “Having a good summer so far?”

“Sure,” Layla shrugged. “Lots of time here. I saw you win the sailing race last Sunday, congrats.”

Remus smiled. “Thanks. It was real fun. Sorry I beat your brother, though.”

“Oh, Lyle doesn’t mind,” Layla waved a hand. Her nails were painted pink, too. “Don’t worry about it.”

Remus had been friends with Layla since they were little, competing for best in class usually. She was wicked smart and mellow. Remus could always use some mellow, good conversation—especially with James being James and Luke being…well, whatever Luke was now. Layla liked history, and her family owned the museum, which meant Layla told tales that were, albeit tall, fun to listen to.

Remus leaned against the desk, looking around. “This place never changes, huh?”

Layla laughed, clicking a pen. “History doesn’t tend to change that much, R, and so neither do we. Unlike the world out there.”

“I don’t know about that. Nothing ever feels too different out there,” Remus laughed, too. “But I guess you’re right. I’m glad you’re here, though. Or else I’d be sitting behind this desk by myself.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” Layla nodded. “What made you take the job?”

Remus snorted as he rounded the corner, picking up his name badge where Beatrice, Layla’s mother and the museum curator, said it would be. “Don’t pretend we didn’t see each other here when we were little all the time. Not to mention at Gryffindor Club. You, obviously.”

Layla raised an eyebrow. “Me and your mom.”

Remus winced and Layla laughed.

“C’mon, we both know you’d be out on your boat all day if it was up to you.”

Remus laughed. “Fine. But seriously. You’re a perk.”

Layla nodded, rolling her eyes with a smile. “Just a couple of history buffs, I guess.”

Remus shrugged. “There are worse things to be.”

The day was pretty slow. A few tourists here and there, taking photo behind the cardboard cutouts that made you look like you were dressed as a sailor, or a pirate.

“Are there really pirates here?” one little girl had asked Layla.

Remus had smiled when Layla crouched down and whispered to her, “careful, there’s one there,” and pointed at Remus.

When lunch rolled around, Remus expected Layla to pull out a bagged sandwich like him, but instead she scoffed and picked up her bag.

“Come on. We have to get out for a bit.”

Remus shrugged. “All right, where to?”

“The Lion, of course,” Layla replied. “It’s the best food on the island.”

“The Lion,” Remus repeated slowly. “You mean—in The Hollow?”

Layla gave him a look. “Oh, you’re not one of those are you?”

“One of what?” Remus said. “No. I’m not, I just… c’mon, you hear things.”

“Hear things? You’ve never been?”

“Once,” Remus swallowed, thinking of the fight. “It didn’t really go well.”

Layla just shook her head.

“History is just one great field of stories, Remus. You’ll never get to the truth unless you listen to them all.”

And so Remus found himself riding alongside Layla on their bikes and right through Gryffindor. The Hollow didn’t have a sign or anything, but you knew when you were in it. Remus almost wished he had been able to see some sort of line to cross, but everything was just suddenly different. Low houses with open doors, people gathered together and laughing. Kids running with surfboards over their heads, towards Shack Beach. It had seemed even more vibrant in the dark the night of the party, even through the tinted windows of Luke’s car. String lights hung over cookouts, and music blasting from speakers. It had smelled amazing, and Remus would have to say Layla was probably right about the food. 

The Lion was just as bright as everything else. It was bustling with lunch-goers, and the doors were flung wide, letting the heat right in. Remus looked around at the people. Some tourists, obviously. Some not. Hollows. Some of them smiled when they caught Remus’ eye, and some narrowed their eyes.

“Hi, Leo, babe,” Layla said as she slid onto a stool at the counter.

There was a blond boy behind it wearing a tank top and a snapback. He smiled as he set some shrimp down in a frier. “Hey, Layla, babe, ça va?”

“Just working. At least I’ve got Remus for company now.”

Remus smiled awkwardly when Leo fixed his blue eyes on him. He really didn’t know what he was waiting for. Something terrible to happen?

Leo only held out a hand. “Leo, nice to meet you.”

“Remus,” Remus said, and took it. He tried not to look at the rainbow bracelet on Leo’s wrist for too long, but he could tell Leo had felt the way his hand tightened. “Yeah—you, too.”

Leo touched it briefly, like an old habit, as he pulled away, giving another smile to Remus.

It didn’t necessarily mean Leo wasn’t straight, but on such a small island, Remus tended to notice these things. He and Luke had figured each other out pretty fast around sixteen. They’d kissed. Once. And then winced, laughed, and shoved each other in the pool. Sometimes Remus wished he and Luke had worked. He didn’t see any other boys coming his way. Leo was smiling at him like he knew what Remus was thinking.

“What can I get you two?” Leo asked.

A boyfriend? Remus thought wistfully.

“Two of your specials, please,” Layla said. “Re, you’re going to lose your mind it’s so good.”

“What’s your special?” Remus asked.

Leo shrugged, but he was grinning. “Like a chef ever gives up his secrets—”

Leo had stopped mid-sentence, eyes going over their shoulders towards the door. Remus turned to look, and a moment later, a brown haired boy was slinging a backpack down carefully between his feet and taking the seat beside Remus.

“Well, look who’s back,” Leo said to him.

The boy glanced at Remus and Layla, then gave a small shrug. “Yeah.”

Leo snorted. “Yeah,” he parroted. “You’re just hungry.”

The boy shrugged again.

Leo sighed, and gave Remus a look that said, can you believe this? before turning back to the stove. “This is Logan guys. Apparently he doesn’t talk today. Three specials. Coming up.”

~

Logan didn’t recognize the boy sitting at the counter. He didn’t recognize the girl either. Then again, he didn’t recognize many people. He didn’t know anyone. Except Dorcas—if that even counted. And Leo. If that counted, either.

The Felix was heavy in his pack, wedged protectively between his feet, and he wished the strangers would leave so that Leo would talk to him. He hadn’t said two words that weren’t him making sure that Logan liked his food, and asking him where he’d been.

Logan was a little annoyed with him for asking that question. It wasn’t like Leo didn’t know what Logan did. Then again, Leo didn’t know why Logan did what he did.

“You guys get the new madness exhibit up yet, Layla?” Leo was asking the girl with the scarf in her hair. “The one you were telling me about.”

The sandy-haired boy looked up from his food. “The madness exhibit?”

The girl—Layla—cocked her head. “Remus, you…you don’t know?”

“Know what?” the boy—Remus—replied.

Layla sat up a little, looking suddenly awkward. “Your mom donated almost everything we have. I mean…it is your family that’s famous for…”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Losing their fucking minds?”

Layla winced. “Well, yeah, okay, poor choice of words on my part. But madness isn’t always a bad thing, you know. People say people are crazy all the time. Sometimes they’re just extraordinary.”

Remus looked back down at his food. “My family’s not extraordinary, believe me.”

“Usually extraordinary-ness belongs to one person, I’d say,” Leo said. “My mom’s pretty extraordinary. Doesn’t mean I am.”

“You want to stay on this island, don’t you?” Logan found himself saying. Then, he felt his neck heat and he turned down to his food.

“What’s so extraordinary about that?” Layla replied at the same time as Remus said, “You do?”

Leo just laughed, rolling his eyes at Logan. “I’m with Layla on this one, guys, sorry.”

“What about you, Logan?” Layla asked. “I want the museum after I go to college. At least I think I do. Leo wants The Lion, Remus wants to sail the world…” Remus blushed at that, and Layla’s eyes were very green. “What do you want to do?”

Logan found it strange that they were treating him like that. So normally. Logan knew his necklace was on display. It was easier than explaining why people hadn’t seen him around and pretending to be a tourist. That lead to questions. Being abandoned didn’t. And he was. He was abandoned. People didn’t ask. Most probably thought he had just aged out. People didn’t ask. It was better that way. Logan didn’t have any answers. All he had was the memory of that last night with Finn. Finn had returned to their room, eyes wild and voice urgent.

Come on, Lo, wake up. Wake up, Logan, we have to go. Now.

Logan had felt helplessly awake in the first weeks of being out. He was still sorting through what that meant.

Logan swallowed. “I don’t know. I’m—looking for someone first.”

Remus sighed and mumbled. “Aren’t we all.”

“You are?” Leo asked softly.

Logan nodded. “Or, not looking. I’m just…I’m waiting for someone.”

He knew where Finn was, but Logan knew that he could wait forever and he wouldn’t come. Logan had to take what he wanted. It was a lesson he was learning fast.

“Oh,” Remus replied. “Um…cool. I hope you find them.”

Logan just nodded.

“Well, we should head out,” Layla said, rising. “Gotta get back to work.”

“Sure thing, just pay up front,” Leo smiled. “See you later, Layla.” He nodded at Remus. “Nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Remus smiled back. “The food was great.”

Logan watched Leo watch them leave, then snort. “That guy looked more spooked than a horse with a snake.”

“Isn’t that what Gods are supposed to look like?” Logan replied.

Leo shrugged. “Usually you can’t see their eyes behind their aviators.”

Logan laughed a little. “Right.” he looked back down at his food, realizing he had begun picking his fries apart, rather than eating them.

“I’m looking for someone too, you know,” Leo broke the silence.

Logan did. Only, he hadn’t thought about it like that. Leo’s dad and Finn. Leo’s dad was probably dead. Finn wasn’t.

“I hope you find him,” Logan replied. “Your dad.”

The Lion was in full swing now, the lunchtime rush loud and boisterous. Leo had a tank top on, and Logan thought he looked a little tired. Sleeplessness showed easily on his skin.

“Do you have to run?” Leo asked instead of responding. “And hide? Like, from the police?”

Logan sat up, instinctively looking behind him. “I assumed I would have to. But…it hasn’t been that difficult.” He laughed a humorless laugh. “I guess I keep overestimating how much people actually care about me. Maybe I should have learned something by now.”

“Maybe you’re just looking at the wrong people,” Leo said quickly, and looked up with a smile, a small one, then down again. “I know a few others who got out. They don’t seem to have trouble, so, you know, if you needed a job or something, you could work in my mom’s workshop. With me. Or here. I’m sure Celeste and Pascal would be all right with it.”

Logan felt taken off guard. “Oh. I…” he thought of the powder packets in his bag. Of the Carrows. How much do you think you owe us by now?

Others? he wanted to ask. What others? 

“Just think about it,” Leo said, and turned towards one of the stove tops to check on some boiling water.

“Yeah. Okay.”

They sat in silence for a long moment.

“It’s a boat,” Leo began suddenly, answering Logan’s yet unasked question. The Voldemort. What his father had been looking for. It was almost like Leo was thanking him for telling the truth about his situation. An eye for an eye. A truth for a truth. Logan sort of liked that consistency. “Was a boat. In the eighteenth century.”

“Oh,” Logan said.

“Biggest story on Hogwarts,” Leo said. “Ten thousand pieces of gold, all fallen to the depths of the ocean just off of Hogwarts’ shores…and never seen again.”

“But if it’s just off the shore…”

Leo smiled a little, shaking his head. “But you have to know where off the shore. Otherwise, you have a whole circumference of miles and miles of open water to work with.”

“And your dad figured it out?”

Leo shrugged, expression closing off a little. “He thought he did.” He cleared his throat as he put an order on the counter for a waiter to take away, and ripped another piece of paper down from the line up to look at. “The Cradle. You know it?”

Logan shook his head.

“It’s a sort of…horse shoe shaped cluster of islands, just off of our southern tip.”

“Salazar,” Logan said quietly.

Leo nodded. “Salazar.”

“Your dad was a treasure hunter,” Logan said slowly. “He was looking for a treasure.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, flipping a crab cake in sizzling oil. “He was.”

“And did he find it? Do you want to find it?”

“I don’t know,” Leo whispered, busy hands stilling. “He never came home.”

Logan nodded.

“He wanted to find it,” Leo said softly. “Really badly. And I… I feel like I should.”

“And was he close?”

Leo glanced up from his knife. “Yes.”

“Leonardo,” a voice came suddenly, entering the restaurant. “What does your mother feed you, you gorgeous specimen?”

Logan froze. He knew that voice.

Leo rolled his eyes, and looked at the newcomers. “Fuck off, Saint. Hey, Sirius.”

“Hi,” a second voice came, and it was closer, almost beside Logan at the bar.

Leo’s eyes caught on Logan’s again, probably meaning to introduce him, but he stopped instead.

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked.

But Logan just shook his head, and then the newcomers—Saint and Sirius—were leaning against the bar. Logan felt the breath beside him catch just as his own had, and he turned to look.

Logan thought the boy standing beside him looked different. Older. More muscular. Squarer jaw. But the same. Same eyes. Same shock of blond hair. Same warm, brown skin.

“Logan?” Saint breathed, his eyes disbelieving.

Logan went to open his mouth, when Saint’s arms were around him suddenly.

“It’s Saint,” he said softly, just for Logan’s ears. He squeezed him tighter. “God, you’re here.”

“Saint?” Logan whispered into his shoulder. No one had touched him like this in what felt like forever.

“Yeah,” Saint said. He pulled back and raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

Logan shrugged. “I…yeah, okay.”

“Knutty,” Saint’s serious expression morphed into a grin. He leaned against the counter, keeping his palm on Logan. “Handsome as ever.”

Logan blinked at Saint, then at Leo. “Knutty?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”

“Oh, Logan already knows not to do that,” Saint laughed. He tapped his cross necklace. “We’re practically brothers.”

“Oh,” Leo blinked. “Right.”

The other boy—Sirius—looked just as taken aback.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Saint called in a sing-song voice, looking at Sirius. “Order for us, won’t you? And get us a table? Logan,” Saint nodded towards the door. “Come hither.”

Logan was so thankful to see Saint, he nearly tripped while getting up. A familiar face. A familiar anything. Saint had gotten out almost seven years ago. He’d been there one day, in his bed, in classes, in the courtyard, and gone the next.

“Sweetheart?” Logan asked, glancing back inside at the dark-haired boy, Sirius.

Saint just put his hands on Logan’s arms, eyes more intent than Logan had ever seen them, then on Logan’s cheeks. “Holy shit, how did you get out?”

Logan felt his heart slow, then speed up. He swallowed dryly. “Finn. How did you?”

Saint ignored the question.

“Finn,” Saint repeated, nodding. “Of course. When?”

“About a month ago. And he—he’s still in there,” Logan said. “He’s…And I’m—”

“I hear you,” Saint said. He jerked his head over to the table. “Not now. Let’s get back.”

“Saint?” Logan asked again.

Saint rolled his eyes. “Leave it alone. For now.”

~

Saint hadn’t been ready. He hadn’t seen Logan in nine years, but he’d know his face anywhere. All eyelashes and sad, green eyes. A smile he wore with Finn only. He looked spooked now, and tired. They’d sat at the bar, watching one of Leo’s shifts go and another one come, then moved to a table. Watching it get dark outside now, Saint wondered where Logan had been living for a month.

He eyed the backpack that Logan held so protectively close, and thought of the way Dorcas did the same thing.

Saint had a bad feeling.

“So, how’d you two meet?” Sirius said, gesturing between Logan and Leo with a fry when Leo brought over more water.

“Party,” Leo shrugged after a moment of hesitation. “Shack Beach.” He jerked his head at Saint. “You two were there, judging by Sirius’ shiner. Could hear that fight at my house, probably.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “I didn’t start it.”

“True,” Saint said, wondering how he had missed Logan that night. “Some God—albeit a beautiful one—thought we were selling Crucio.”

Saint flicked his eyes over to Logan. Sure enough, he blushed.

Saint cocked his head. “The horror. Dangerous stuff.”

Leo looked at Saint quietly, and glanced at Logan, then back to him. Saint nodded. Got it, it said.

“Well, would you look who it is,” said a deep voice from behind them, and then there were two strong arms around Saint and Sirius. Pascal placed a loud kiss on each of their heads.

“Eck,” Sirius laughed. “You smell like grease, old man.”

Pascal Dumais laughed. “Grease that feeds you, maybe. And who’s this?”

“Dumo, meet Logan,” Saint said. “Logan, meet Pascal. He owns the Lion with his wife, Celeste.”

“The most beautiful woman in the world,” Pascal said, accent heavy. “Logan, it’s nice to meet you.”

Saint watched Pascal eye Logan’s necklace.

“We were together at Saint Clair,” he supplied.

“Maybe not so loud,” Logan said harshly. “Saint.”

“Oh?” Pascal said, and squinted at Logan. “Who are you with now, mon cher?”

Saint watched Logan open his mouth, frozen, and was about to speak up when—

“Me,” Leo cut in. He looked down at the carrots he was chopping as he said it. “Me and my mom.”

Oh, Saint thought.

“Oh, Leonardo,” Saint sighed. “Un ange.”

“Not my name,” Leo said.

“I know.”

“Yeah,” Logan replied to Pascal’s still questioning gaze. “Yeah.”

“I see,” Pascal nodded. “Well, I’m happy you and your mother will have a helping hand now. I miss your father dearly, mon fils.” He smiled sadly at Leo.

Leo just nodded. “Yeah.”

“Him and his treasure, eh?” Pascal said. “A wonderful man. I miss going out on that boat of his.”

Leo’s smile was small, but fond. “Those were some of his favorite mornings.”

“Treasure?” Sirius asked.

“Black!” a new voice shouted. “Thank fuck.”

Saint looked up when Sirius did. James and Remus were barreling towards them from the dark outside.

“Good lord,” Saint said. “Rain, from Olympus. Water my crops, why don’t you.”

“James?” Sirius said. “What are you—”

James and Remus walked right up to their table—Remus looking slightly more reluctant. “We have a question.”

“How did you know we were here?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “I mean, just…it’s a little out of your way, non?”

“Remus came here earlier, and when I told him—well, you’ll see—he said maybe you’d be here.”

Saint watched Sirius’ eyes narrow at Remus, confused. “Okay…”

“Well, it’s good to see you again, tweedle-hot,” Saint said to Remus. “Up close this time. We actually though you were going to sail right out of sight this morning.”

Sirius stepped on his toe beneath the table.

“Excuse me?” Remus choked out. “What the fuck did you—”

James blinked at Saint, then shook his head, as if to right his thoughts. “All right, setting every strange thing that comes out of your mouth aside for a moment —where is Dorcas?”

“Meadowes?” Logan chimed in.

James’ eyes turned on him. “You know her?”

Saint raised his hand. “I have the same question.”

“Well,” Logan hesitated. “Sure.”

“And she sells Felix,” James said, as if trying to confirm the information.

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Says you.”

James sighed. “I’m not here to turn her in, Jesus, I just have a question.”

“Do…” Sirius was looking at Logan. “Do you sell…”

“What kind of question?” Saint cut in.

Remus spoke up. “A does-she-deal-to-Luke type of question.”

Saint laughed. “Deveaux?”

“You know who Luke is, Saint,” Remus sighed.

“Well, yeah I do, Lupin, he tried to buy off me,” Saint shook his head with a tisking sound. “Turns out he’s a prejudice piece of eye candy. Who knew.”

“Come on,” James sighed, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. “Please, Sirius, come on.”

Sirius shrugged. “We don’t know who Dorcas deals to. We’re not involved.”

“If you did would you tell us?”

Sirius smiled, just a little. “Probably not. But I really don’t know.”

James sighed, sagging away from the table. He looked at Remus. “Fuck.”

“What were you hoping to accomplish here?” Sirius asked slowly.

“We—” Remus said, then sighed, too. “We were going to see if she would agree to stop. If it was her, if she would stop giving it to him.”

“We’d pay her,” James added. “Obviously.”

Saint scoffed, and Logan laughed a little, too, from beside him.

“Obviously,” Saint mimicked.

“We just meant—” Remus began.

“We know what you meant,” Sirius said.

Saint popped a fry into his mouth. “If we’ll clean your pools for a few bucks, we’ll grant you three wishes, too.”

“Jesus, Saint,” James groaned.

“Mary. Joseph—”

James ran his hands through his hair. “We’re sorry, we misspoke. We’re just trying to help our friend. His dad got taken to jail, his mom pops pills all day and night.  That’s already draining what little money the bank didn’t seize and if he wants to do anything with his life he needs a straight head. Just—fuck, we’re just asking.”

Saint prided himself on gathering information, but most of that were things he didn’t know. Luke’s dad had got taken away. But the pills? The financial distress? All of that paired with that guarded snarl the boy always seemed to wear…it almost made Saint feel sorry for Luke Deveaux. He almost said so.

Instead, he said, while twirling the cross around his neck. “Wow, he must feel like an orphan or something.”

“All right,” Remus sighed. “James, let’s just go.”

“What does he look like?” Logan said suddenly before they could turn to leave.

James looked a him warily. “Um. Sort of blond-ish. More brown-haired, I guess. Big guy, built and tall and all that. Oh, he’s got this green spot in one eye.”

Logan nodded. James raised an eyebrow. Saint waited.

“How much will you pay me to stop selling to him?” Logan finally said. He rose as he did, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. “That’s a lot out of my pocket.”

“Logan,” Saint said, but Logan didn’t look at him.

James blinked. “I—oh. Oh, uh—God, what do you want? Two hundred?”

"One grand,” Logan said.

James laughed. “Dude. Who the fuck are you? No, I don’t have that much just—on me.”

“Logan,” Saint warned again, and this time Logan did look at him. Saint shook his head softly.

“Fine,” Logan said through his teeth, and held out his hand. “Two.”

James took his wallet out and handed over the cash.

“Thanks,” Remus said from a little behind James’ shoulder. “Really.”

Logan just nodded, shoved the bills into his pocket, and headed for the door.

“Pardon,” Saint sent a grin to them all, and followed him.

Once they were outside, Saint gave him a wack on the back of the head.

“Fuck,” Logan swore. “S—”

“You get out of that shit-hole and you go around selling Crucio? To Gods?”

“I—”

“I mean, seriously, what the fuck was that? Do you know how not careful that was?”

“I don’t even know who that boy is,” Logan bit back.

Saint blinked. “What?”

Logan looked out towards the ocean where they could hear the waves crashing against the shore. “He offered to pay, and so I told him what he wanted to hear. When his friend shows up hallucinating next, that’s their problem.”

Saint scoffed. “Fine, okay, clever boy. But you do sell Crucio.”

“Felix,” Logan countered. “And yes.”

“Crucio. And no.”

Logan shrugged. “I need the money.”

“For what?”

Logan looked at him and, this time, his eyes were hard. Desperate. “For Finn.”

Saint froze. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. “Excuse me?”

“If I can get enough cash, I can get Finn,” Logan said.

Saint stared at him, and then Saint laughed. Then, he laughed louder.

“You’re shitting me,” Saint said. “You think that?”

“What do you…”

“You think you can buy Finn out?” Saint repeated incredulously. “You think you can walk back in there and buy Finn out.”

Logan took a breath. “He—”

“Logan, Jesus Christ,” Saint snapped. “You walk anywhere near that place and you are never getting back out.” Saint pressed a hand to Logan’s shoulder and shook him. “Do you hear me?”

“I need to do something,” Logan shouted back. “I need to do something, I can’t just leave him in there, he’s everything to me.”

Saint shook his head. “He got you out. Don’t waste that.”

Logan nodded, eyes bright with tears now. “And you know he got punished for it. You know he did—”

“Stop,” Saint spat, glancing around, as if anyone could hear. “Don’t.”

“You could help me,” Logan said, wiping his nose. “Bash, you got out once—”

“No,” Saint said, and turned away. “No. And don’t call me that. Don’t you ever call me that.”

“Please,” Logan begged. “Please—Saint.”

Saint whirled on him again. “I am never going near there, and neither are you. Finn’s still in there, fine. But he’ll need to get himself free like us if he wants it bad enough.”

“I owe money,” Logan began, then his breathing hitched. “I owe them, I took some of it to see—to see Finn and…Bash—Saint—”

“Them?” Saint took a step forward. “Them?”

Logan pressed a hand over his eyes, but Saint walked forward and pulled it away.

“Logan,” he said lowly. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Logan closed his eyes, mouth twisting against his tears.

“Tell me, right now, that you didn’t let the Carrows tell you they’d help you. And that you didn’t believe them.”

Logan shook his head, not in negation, but in defeat. “I need him. I need him, I’m so…I’m alone.”

Saint pulled Logan against his chest and let him cry. The sobs heaved out of him for a long while, until the collar of Saint’s shirt was wet. Until Logan was breathing softly again, exhausted, and until his voice sounded shot when he spoke.

“You’re really staying with Leo?” Saint asked, more gently this time.

Logan nodded.

“I have a place, too. Here, in The Hollow. If you want.”

“With the others?” Logan rasped.

“What others?”

“How many others are out?” Logan said softly.

Saint shook his head, fingers in Logan’s hair. “Just me, that I know of.”

“You still wear it,” Logan said, pulling back to look at him. “The cross.”

Saint let his hands drop with a last touch to Logan’s hot cheek. “So do you.”

They were both silent.

“I’m sorry about Finn,” Saint said rigidly. “I know how much he meant to you.”

Logan’s brows pulled together. “He’s not dead.”

Saint nodded. “Right.”

“Saint…” Logan began, and Saint heard the almost B instead. “Would you—just thinking about it—“

“No,” Saint said, and then turned and went back inside.

Sirius, back at the table, looked at his face, and then at his wet shirt.

“Okay?” he asked softly when Saint sat down.

“Just dandy,” Saint replied, and looked towards the door. Logan was gone.

[ginemrys]

dozens of colours of thread

read on AO3

TW: this oneshot mentions suicidal thoughts and goes deep into depression. also brief mentions of parents being ill/dying

Everyone had noticed it, had noticed that James Potter was acting weirdly. He took long walks alone at night, walks that usually led him up to the Astronomy Tower.

WC: 2600

---

The dregs of sadness had started simmering at the end of his fifth year, after he had completely destroyed someone else’s life thanks to his own stupid arrogance. He’d spent most of that summer sulking silently while also trying to hide how he felt from Sirius, who had it a lot worse than him. He’d tried to stay positive for his friend, who had been disowned by his abusive family and moved in with James, because Sirius needed positivity around him.

Sixth year had been rough. The looming war was growing ever closer, tensions were high behind the castle walls. Mary MacDonald had been attacked, as had countless other Gryffindors and muggleborns. Then Sirius had told Snape, told him where to go to find Remus in his werewolf form. James and Snape had both almost died because of what Sirius had done. For weeks it had seemed like James and Remus were finished with Sirius, their conjoined fury pushing him away. It hadn’t been until Lily Evans had spoken to James in a way she’d never done so before, told him to forgive Sirius, told him how much the man he usually called brother was hurting, that James spoke to him again.

Even though Lily had somehow become his friend, James still felt the sadness. Because friendship was all they could ever have. Snape was lurking around what seemed to be every corner when the two of them were together, even if there were others around them. James had been hit with many a curse, his skin needing to be knotted back together thanks to Snape’s horrific dark magic. It was the year that he spent the most time in the hospital wing.

Then came the summer again along with a heavy letter and an even heavier Head Boy badge. Sirius had sworn hands down that it was some kind of mistake and that the badge was meant for Remus. James had even considered writing to Dumbledore to ask if he’d messed something up, but he also knew that the old wizard had an odd sense of humour. So instead he wrote to Lily, telling her that he had received the badge. She’d written back, which helped to alleviate the sadness for a short time as his eyes roamed over her words. She’d also gotten a badge, they’d be working together as Head Boy and Girl, and she also said that she was excited about it, that he would be a good Head Boy. James had smiled at that, smiled until he saw the ‘ your friend ’ as the bottom of the letter. That’s all he would ever be.

Being responsible was difficult with Sirius as his best friend. Because Sirius always wanted to pull some kind of prank or hex some Slytherins. But James couldn’t do that any longer. Seventh year was the first year that James hadn’t received a detention within the first month of being at the school. The sadness was worse now, his parents had caught some rare illness, dragon pox the healers had called it, and so were mostly bedridden. James did his school work on time, patrolled the corridors with Lily, removed points and dished out detentions.

Everyone had noticed it, had noticed that James Potter was acting weirdly. He took long walks alone at night, walks that usually led him up to the Astronomy Tower. He’d stand with his bare toes curling over the edge, a small, minuscule wondering in the back of his mind, how bad could it really be if he let himself fall?

Lily kept smiling at him. She kept finding ways to touch him, whether it be a brush of her hand against his arm or a ruffle of his hair. It confused James to no end. Her smile was always so bright, so beautiful. It was a smile that seemed to be reserved for him, and him alone. But it was also a smile he couldn’t feel he could return, because of the sadness.

James kept the sadness at bay as best as possible around other people, he tried to stay happy, to stay the same positive man he always had been. But it was even harder when Dumbledore asked him to join the Order of the Phoenix, because even though he had said yes before the headmaster could even finish asking, the fear of death still rose up in him.

It was winter before he told anyone. He found himself at the top of the Astronomy Tower once again, his toes frozen in the ice cold air. Not that he noticed the cold. He didn’t realise he was crying until he started sniffing, his sleeve wiping at the tears on his cheeks. He nearly lost his balance and fell when she spoke.

“James? What’s going on with you lately?”

He turned to see her there, her worry for him clear as day on her face. She looked scared, her hand halfway outstretched like she was about to try and grab at his shirt and pull him away from the edge. James suddenly realised what this looked like, what it was. So he stepped away from the ledge, moving back towards sturdier ground.

“Evans… Um… Nothing, I’m okay.” He avoided her eye, staring down at his bare feet.

“Merlin, you look frozen…” Lily whispered, taking a step closer to him. “Why didn’t you wear more layers, James? And shoes?”

“I’m okay.” He repeated.

“No, no you’re not.” She shook her head, taking another step towards him that almost forced him to look at her. “You’re not okay, James, and you haven’t been for a while.”

His lip trembled as he stumbled back, only stopping when he felt the wall behind him. He slid to the ground, his knees tucked against his chest. “How did you find me?” He asked softly, his hands in his hair.

“Well, Remus told me you sneak out of your dormitory most nights, and you seemed so down today I was worried about you.” Lily said, moving to sit next to him. She didn’t sit too close, leaving a couple of inches between them. “You didn’t even see me in the common room as you walked out, so I waited a little while then followed you. It wasn’t like I performed some really difficult magic to scout you out.”

“Right.” James said, rubbing his face with one of his hands. “Well, sorry for worrying you, Evans. But I’m fine, I just like getting some air.”

“Don’t lie to me, James Potter.” Lily snapped, making him start. “You were crying in here before I said anything and you looked like you were going to-”

“Maybe I was.” He interrupted, looking at her. “Maybe I was going to, because everything is so shit right now and maybe I would be better off for it.”

Lily blinked at him, and James could see how deeply his words had affected her. Her eyes welled up, her hands shaking a little where they rested in her lap. “Don’t.” She said after a long pause. “Don’t you dare. You mean too much, James. To everyone around you, to your friends, your family, to me.”

James swallowed deeply then, his hazel eyes widening beneath the wire frames of his glasses. What could she mean? She hated him, sure they’d been getting on better recently, they worked well together and joked together. But she hated him. He meant nothing to her.

Her hand touched his, and she winced. “You’re like ice.” She whispered and soon enough there was a small blue fire burning away in front of them, warmth spreading through his bones. Lily pulled off her jumper and with another flick of her wand it became a blanket. She tried to spread it over both of them, but it wasn’t quite big enough. So Lily shifted closer, their hips meeting and their thighs pressing together.

As numb as James felt in that moment, he had to admit that her body heat felt nice by his, her warmth seeping into his skin. Before he could help it, a tiny sigh of relief escaped him as his fingers started to thaw out beneath the blanket. She must have placed a warming charm on it.

“Talk to me.” Lily said, her voice cutting through the silence after a few short moments.

“I’m just having a rough-” He cut himself off before he could finish, shaking his head. “No… I was going to say month but… Actually, despite what everyone thinks and says, I’ve had a rough few years. But you can stop worrying, Evans.”

“No, I won’t. Because this isn’t you , James.” She spoke up again, her hand finding his beneath the blanket. He kept his eyes fixed on the stone floor in front of him, knowing that if he met her gaze he would never be able to look away. “Sirius told me about your parents, told me everything. He said that you wouldn’t mind if I knew, I hope he was right. My dad- Remember he died, James?”

He looked at her then, his eyes snapping to meet hers. Of course he remembered. She’d raced out of the Great Hall during spring of their fifth year, tears streaming down her face. She’d been gone for a week and for the first time ever Lily Evans had been behind on her homework.

“I know about wanting to keep things private, I know about wanting to pretend everything is fine in front of others before finding a spot to cry in.” Another memory stirred, one of James seeing Lily’s name alone in a classroom on the map, of him seeking her out. Of her telling him to go away before crying against his chest as he held her. Only a few months after that she’d screamed at him after he had been the cause of her biggest heartbreak. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you.”

“Because it’s not just my parents being ill, Evans. It’s everything.” James finally admitted, unsure of whether it was just to her or to himself as well. “Because I know that for years I’ve been everything that would disappoint them, that I’ve hurt people, people I care about a great deal.” He might have imagined it, but her cheeks seemed to turn a little pink at that. “Because there’s arseholes out there that hate people like you, just because of who you are, that no matter what I say or do there’s nothing that can stop them. Because I want to protect muggleborns, protect my friends, protect my family. But at the end of the day I’m just a seventeen year old kid that can do a little transfiguration and can duel. And ride a broom.”

“You’re more than that.” Lily said when he stopped to draw a breath. His words had tumbled out of his mouth after so long of keeping them trapped behind a smile. “James, you’re an incredibly talented wizard. Magic comes so easy to you, I’ve seen you in class. You don’t even need to make notes, you just figure it out so quickly. You’re kind, you’re smart. Sure you’re a little hotheaded and arrogant at times, but you make up for it in the way you treat your friends.” The hand that wasn’t holding his had moved to his cheek, making James’ heart lurch up into his throat. “You care so deeply, I was too stubborn before to see it. It’s shown in the way you ruffle up Remus’ hair when he’s looking peaky, when you help Peter with a spell. When you comfort Sirius after he sees his brother with the Death Eaters.”

“Have you been watching me, Evans?”

“Yes, I have actually. Because you’ve been worrying me for a while, and because you’re my friend. More than that really.” She definitely blushed that time. “Your grief is warranted, your sadness and your doubts are completely valid. But they’re not all that you are. You’re a great man, James Potter, not just a star chaser that can non-verbally transfigure a desk into a pig. “You’re a good friend, a trustworthy one, and Merlin, anyone who has any sense loves you.”

James blinked at her a few times, drinking everything she said in, the fog in his brain starting to disappear at the same rate that the warmth was seeping back into his skin. Maybe she was right, maybe he was more than that.

“I’m not saying you have to wake up tomorrow morning and be happy.” Lily continued, apparently not noticing the effect her words were having on him. “I’m just saying that you have people who care about you, who want to help, who want to burden some of the weight on your shou-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence, her words cut off by James’ lips pressing against her own. His hand dropped hers as he moved to cup her face with each of his hands, pulling her lips to his. He didn’t know what had given him the nerve to do it, maybe the Gryffindor in him had reared its head finally. She was still for a second, her lips frozen against his.

Just as he was doubting his decision, she responded. She moved, her hands sliding up to rest on his chest, fingers clutching at his shirt. She leaned into him, pushing herself up and into his kiss. While James had been attempting to keep the kiss sweet, feeling Lily respond so eagerly set him ablaze.

Though the tips of his fingers were icy on her face, James felt like he was burning up with heat. His tongue slipped along her lower lip, prompting her to open for him, their mouths meeting again and again in a delicious slide of lips and tongue pressing together. One of her hands reached up to his hair, tugging on his soft black curls. James moaned at the feeling, a hand of his own dropping to her waist to pull her impossibly closer.

A small whimper escaped Lily’s lips when he moved away, her lips red, her eyes blown. They were both breathing heavily, their cheeks were flushed.

“I’ve been wanting you to do that for ages.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years. Wait, how long is ages?”

Lily’s face somehow got even redder as she looked at him, the tongue that had just been in his mouth darting out to wet her lips.

“Since last year, after the Quidditch final.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. You made me wait, Potter.”

“It won’t happen again.”

Whichever one of them leaned in first, James couldn’t tell. But all he knew was that Lily’s hands were back in hair after she had climbed onto his lap, knocking the blanket away to get closer to him. Her mouth was working on his neck before he managed to say it.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Lily asked between kisses. “For snogging you? Because for that you’re very welcome.”

James grunted when she bit down on his neck softly, his head leaning against the stone wall behind him.

“For saving me. Every night, I was a little closer.” He whispered, his words drawing Lily away from his neck, her green eyes meeting his hazel ones again. “I was so cold for so long, Evans, numb to it all. But you, you came in here with those blazing eyes and your kind soul. And now I’m warm again, I can feel. I’m not completely whole again just yet, but even now, I’m being stitched back together.”

“Then let me keep threading the needle.”

[malfoymanortings]

lavender and velvet //part four

SUMMARY: she had her fathers eyes, his aristocratic looks, her grandmothers spite, her mothers heart, but the one thing she didn't have was the love of her father that her god brother received. juliet black finally meets her father who has already decided who his child is.

PAIRINGS: to be decided.

hello again! hope you all are doing well. i hope everyone is liking this so far! my messages/asks/replies/reblogs are always open if you wanted to comment on anything or give suggestions/feedback.  i’d love to hear from yall! enjoy loves xx

The last day of the holidays approached rather quickly. Juliet had been expecting a bit more excitement at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but that wasn’t the case. Sure, there was at least one member that passed through daily, sometimes staying for a meal and sometimes just for a whispered conversation that none of the children were allowed to hear. Her days passed in a blur of spending time with Ginny and Hermione, smoking with Fred and George, and being cordial towards Harry and Sirius. 

She no longer yelled at Sirius. She made little attempt to speak with him, no longer wanting to fight. He had tried more to engage with her, but it was hard when she would see how easily he would speak with Harry. She spent a lot of her time in the room with the Black family tree, finishing up her summer work uninterrupted. 

She sat in there now, writing another letter to Draco. They had sent several correspondences to each other over the last month, and he seemed to have been going a bit stir crazy. He said he had something important to tell her, when they saw each other on the first day of term.

“Your booklist arrived.”

Sirius was standing in her doorway, envelope in hand. 

“Thanks,” Juliet stood, taking the thick paper out of his hand. He nodded to her, his eyes watching her as she opened the envelope.

Inside was her booklist, yes, but there was another letter tucked behind it. She moved the booklist aside, scanning over the separate letter. A grin broke across her face, and she reached into the envelope once more to pull out the green and silver badge with a silver P embedded on it.

“Prefect?” Sirius questioned, smiling as she nodded. “Taking after Remus, I see. I caused too much trouble to be a one. Reckon they made Remus a Prefect to try and get him to tame James and I. It didn’t work, needless to say.”

Juliet smiled, a bit deflated at the mention of yet another difference between them. “Can’t imagine him having authority over you anyways.”

Sirius chuckled slightly, an odd look on his face. “Well, I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true.”

Before Juliet could question him, Ginny walked into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the Prefect badge in her hands, and looked over her shoulder as she shouted.

“Mum! Juliet’s been made Prefect too!”

“Who else is Prefect?” Juliet questioned, putting her letters back. “Hermione?”

Ginny turned back to her and Sirius, a grin on her face. “You’ve got that one right. Ron has been made one with her.”

“Ron?” echoed Juliet in disbelief. “Oh, merlin.”

She could only imagine how Draco would react to that news. It was tough already, the tension between her cousin and her chosen family, and this would surely strain it even further. 

“Mums going to buy him a broom when she goes to get our things,” Ginny raised her eyebrows. “As a reward.”

“You’d better write to Remus, and let him know,” Sirius nodded to Juliet, pausing for a moment. “Actually, I think I’ll go do that myself.”

He left the room, leaving Juliet and Ginny alone. Juliet gathered her parchment and ink, quickly finishing off the note by letting Draco know the news, while Ginny leaned against the doorway.

“Another note to Draco?” Ginny questioned, nodding to the rolled up paper.

Juliet nodded. “I’d better see if anyone’s got an owl I can use.”

As they left the room, George was calling Juliet’s name. The girls went together to find him, spotting him in the living room with a familiar owl perched on the high backed chair, nipping at his fingers.

“You’ve got another letter from Malfoy,” George informed her, wincing as the owl bit his thumb. “Bloody hell, have you got something for it?”

Juliet spotted a half eaten biscuit on the table, and quickly ripped a piece off, ignoring George’s protests. “It’s either this biscuit or your fingers.” 

“‘Lo, Achilles,” Juliet held out the fluffy food, and Achilles accepted it with a small nip. “Can you take this to Draco for me?” she tied the parchment to his leg, ruffling his feathers before opening the window for him to leave. 

Achilles flew off, and Juliet opened her letter to see it was rather short.

Juliet,

I’ve been made Prefect, no surprise there. I'm assuming either you or Parkinson have been made one along with me. With any luck, it’ll be you. Dunno if I could stand a year of working closely with Pansy. The thought alone sickens me. you’ll have to come by for Christmas, by the way. Mum misses you and she’s getting annoying about it.

See you tomorrow. 

-Draco Malfoy

Juliet grinned, folding the letter back up and tucking it into her pocket. She looked at George and Ginny, who were watching as she read it.

“His owls name is Achilles?” questioned George, snorting. 

“Is that bad? I quite like the name.” Juliet quirked a brow at the ginger haired boy, smirking when he grew red and grumbled under his breath.

“What did it say?” asked Ginny.

“He’s been made Prefect,” Juliet replied, turning to George and grinning. “By the way, you and Fred better keep yourselves in line this year. I’m Prefect as well.”

George’s eyes widened, and he gave her a hug. “Perfect, you can cover for us now!”

Juliet pulled away, swatting his arm. “Are you daft? I’ll be the first one to report the two of you!”

“Now why would you do that?” George pouted, giving her pleading eyes.

“For fun, of course.” she tilted her head, smirking, and left the room. 

Later that night, Molly had thrown together a feast for everyone. A banner hung over the dining room, reading CONGRATULATIONS RON, HERMIONE, AND JULIET - NEW PREFECTS. 

The unmistakable sound of Remus’ voice came from the foyer, and Juliet slipped out of the growing party in the kitchen to go greet him. He stood with Sirius, who had an arm slung around his waist, and was holding an emerald green box. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Remus beamed when he caught sight of her, handing the box carefully to Sirius before enveloping her in a hug. She held on tightly, already missing him. It was the first summer she had spent this much time away from him, and now, she was heading to school the next day. 

“Thank you,” she replied, eyeing the box as she pulled out of his hug. “What’s that?”

Remus and Sirius looked at each other, a smile on their faces. Sirius held the box out to her, and she took it hesitantly.

She lifted off the top, revealing a small, gorgeous owl, grey in color with black tipped wings. Her eyes widened in surprise, mouth open as she saw the owl blink at her sleepily.

“A present for getting Prefect,” Remus explained, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’ve been wanting one.”

“Thank you!” exclaimed Juliet ecstatically, reaching in to gently pet the owl on its head. 

“Sirius thought of it,” continued Remus, glancing over at said man. “He gave me the idea to get you something.”

“Thank you.” Juliet said to Sirius, who nodded and winked at her. She hadn't been expecting a gift of any sort, much less an owl. 

“I’ll take it up to your room to set it up,” Sirius offered, holding out his hand. “You’ll have to think of a name for her.”

Juliet handed the owl off to Sirius, thanking him once more. Remus pulled her into another hug, and the two of them headed back into the party.

They were greeted back into the fold, and drinks were served out. Soon, the arrival of Bill, Arthur, and most unfortunately Mundungus Fletcher, came upon them, and they were soon seated at the table and serving out food. Sirius came back into the room, and Juliet ignored her jealousy as he sat next to Harry. She told herself that it was just because Ginny and George had already taken the seats next to her, and pretended to not hear the voice in her head that whispered he wouldn’t have sat next to her anyways.

“You’ll never guess what my dad got me,” Juliet burst out, ignoring her thoughts. 

“What?” Ginny questioned, taking a bun from the massive pile. She then passed it down to Ron, who was eyeing them hungrily.

“Must be something special for you to be this excited,” George remarked, nudging her with his elbow.

“Dad got me an owl,” she beamed, pouring a glass of pumpkin juice. “I’ve no idea what to name her, but I’m glad I finally got one.”

“Hopefully that means we won’t be seeing Achilles again,” George remarked, letting out an indignant protest when Juliet whacked his arm. “Hey!”

“Well, I think a toast is in order,” said Arthur, raising his glass. “To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor Prefects, and to Juliet, the new Slytherin Prefect!”

Juliet, Ron, and Hermione beamed as everyone drank to them and then applauded.

“I was never a prefect myself,” said Tonks brightly, standing across the table from Juliet, behind Harry. Her hair was tomato-red and waist length today; she looked like Ginny’s older sister. “My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities.”

“Like what?” said Ginny, who was choosing a baked potato.

“Like the ability to behave myself,” said Tonks.

Ginny laughed; Hermione looked as though she did not know whether to smile or not and compromised by taking an extra large gulp of butterbeer and choking on it.

“What about you, Sirius?” Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.

Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual barklike laugh.

“No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”

“I think Dumbledore might have hoped that I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends,” said Lupin. “I need scarcely say that I failed dismally.”

“Betcha that’s why Dumbledore made you Prefect, Jules,” George snorted, wrapping arm around her in a quick hug. “He’s hoping you can keep us on a short leash.”

“No, Georgie,” Fred disagreed, shaking his head. “Dumbledore’s smarter than that. It was probably so she could get Malfoy to stop bullying the other students.”

Ron and Harry laughed loudly at that comment, and Juliet felt a brief surge of anger. Yes, that comment was warranted, but she was protective of her cousin. They didn’t know him like she did.

“Actually, Fred, Draco has been appointed Prefect along with me,” Juliet cut into her baked potato, sprinkling cheese on top. “He wrote to me this morning to tell me.”

“I got bit by his bloody owl just for him to tell you that?” George exclaimed, shaking his head. 

He looked to his left, and suddenly looked serious. He nudged Fred, and the two stood up from the table, walking over to Mundungus Fletcher. Before Juliet could ask what they were doing, Sirius interrupted her train of thought.

“Maybe you should try to distance yourself from the Malfoys, Juliet,” Sirius said carefully, looking at her from across the table. “Lucius-”

“I’m not going to do that,” Juliet cut him off, setting her knife down and focusing her eyes on him. “Auntie Cissy has been nothing but kind to me. Draco is one of my closest friends, regardless of the activities his father partakes in.”

“Even though his father is a Death Eater?” the words seemed to slip out of Harry’s mouth, and Ginny and Sirius, the only ones paying attention to their conversation, froze as the tension became thick in the room. 

Juliet stared at Harry, her eyes narrowed. She felt slight satisfaction when he seemed to shrink away from her hard stare.

“As I said,” Juliet repeated, her words concise. “Draco and Narcissa are my family, regardless of Lucius’ activities. Until they do something unspeakable, I will continue having them in my life.”

“So you’ll wait until they hand you over to Voldemort, to stop being friendly?” Harry asked harshly, and Sirius brought a hand down on his shoulder.

“Harry, just leave it,” Sirius cleared his throat, looking at Juliet. “She can handle herself.”

“While I don’t need to handle myself, as I trust them, you are correct,” Juliet rolled her eyes, angry and annoyed with Harry. “I can handle myself just fine. As I’ve been doing for the past fifteen years.”

“... it would look so much better shorter, wouldn’t it, Harry?” 

Molly broke the tense atmosphere, directing a question to Harry who looked away from Juliet, alarm on his face.

“Oh -I dunno-” Harry said, and he moved over towards the twins, who were huddled in a corner with Mundungus Fletcher.

“Juliet,” Molly called over to her, motioning towards Bill. “Wouldn’t Bill’s hair look much better shorter?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Juliet grinned, winking at the older man. “Long hair suits him quite well.”

Sirius choked on his drink, and Molly looked flustered at her words. Bill, however, winked back at her, turning his mom with an expression of ‘see! Told you so!’. Ginny whacked her arm, giving her an amused sharp look, and Juliet smirked in return.

The rest of the evening went fairly smooth, aside from a Boggart scaring Molly. A few of the Order members had rushed upstairs at her scream, and taken care of the problem. Juliet and Ginny had stayed downstairs, as instructed, and were thankful that it turned out alright. 

Too soon, Remus was hugging Juliet and promising to see her in the morning. She headed upstairs with Ginny, an undeniable sadness wrapping around her. She dressed for bed slowly, her usual oversized shirt that hung down to her thighs with nothing else. Tomorrow, she would have to go back to wearing pants to bed, and she wanted to enjoy her last night without them. 

Thinking back on the first night the girls had shared the room, she laughed to herself, ignoring the look Ginny gave her. Hermione had been so overwhelmed when Ginny had worn a tank top and underwear, and Juliet her shirt, and hadn't been able to look at either of them. She still didn’t, but she usually woke before the other girls.

Long after the other girls had fallen asleep, Ginny’s loud snoring and Hermione’s deep breathing echoing throughout the room, Juliet found herself unable to sleep. She was sad, and she didn’t quite understand why. She got up slowly, and with her blanket in hand, she quietly made her way out of the room. 

Down the hall she went, slowly opening the twin’s room door. The skunky smell of weed hung in the air, so she knew they hadn't been sleeping for that long. She shut the door behind her softly, walking over to George’s bed where he lay, his face buried in his pillow.

“Georgie,” she whispered, nudging him softly. He didn’t move. “George!” she said a bit louder, shaking his shoulder.

“Wh- Freddie?” George rolled over, blinking sleepily at Juliet. “Jules?”

“I can’t sleep,” Juliet bit her lip, suddenly shy. She didn’t know why, they slept in the same bed every so often other summers. “Can I sleep with you?”

George blinked once more, suddenly more focused. “Yeah, love. Of course. Inside or outside?”

“Inside,” Juliet replied, smiling slightly as George was already moving out of the way. “Like always.”

“How could I forget,” George’s voice was teasing. “Always.”

Juliet fluffed the pillow, waiting until George laid down before throwing her blanket over both of them. He grumbled to himself, turning to spoon her as they always did. Juliet tucked her head onto his arm, his other arm wrapped loosely around her. 

“What’s wrong with my blanket?” George asked, offended. He yawned loudly, his breath hot against her neck.

“Mines softer.” Juliet pointed out, tucking her hands against her chest. 

George mumbled something under his breath, his breathing deepening once more. He was asleep again. Juliet lay there, his arm around her, and felt butterflies in her tummy. That was odd to her, and she couldn’t figure out why she felt them. They cuddled like this all the time. There was nothing more to it. Maybe it was because Fred didn’t know she was there, and normally he did. That was probably it.

Juliet soon fell asleep to the sound of George’s breathing, tucked into embrace.

one

two

three

five

taglist: @person1839 @treblebeth @big-galaxy-chaos

let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist!

[anxiouslyfred]

The Day Started in a Cell

Summary: Virgil knew he might be swapping with his soulmate soon. The day had been coming up. He still didn’t expect to wake up in the cell of a police station and only hoped Patton would be okay meeting his soulmate when he went around to check on them.

Warning: spider mention, breaking in

/\/\

Virgil had woken up from sleepwalking in all manner of places, but usually that was confined to his own home and during times when he was stressed. The only thing Virgil had to be stressing about currently was the chance he'd swap places with his soulmate today.

Hopefully the swap taking place was the true reason for where Virgil found himself, because the room he woke up in could only be described as a cell. There was too much noise outside the room for it to be an actual prison though so he was fairly confident this was a police station holding cell, with only the lack of any others being kept in there with him casting doubt on that.

It wasn't sensible to ask though. Everyone knew if the soulmate swap occurred while someone was arrested the force would not treat them kindly and could use everything to arrest both soulmates under the charge of assisting with an escape. Even if Virgil had no context for who he now had the body of, he wasn't going to mention it.

The morning passed smoothly, Virgil managing to learn that his soulmate was called Remus Dolally and he'd been apprehended on suspicion of vandalism. Since the station hadn't got enough evidence to charge him that day they were just waiting for a relative to pick him up. How the police already knew the number for one of Remus's relatives Virgil decided not to ask, but hoped he'd be able to once they arrived.

“Remus, your brother's here. Get out and actually stop getting arrested this time, or I'll make sure you go to jail for your next offence.” One of the sergeants ordered opening the cell door and waving down the hallway.

Nodding, Virgil hurried through, immediately looking at the person near the desk in concern.

“Remus, one of these days I'll decide being your brother is more trouble than it's worth.” The man sighed, shaking his head for a moment and leaning down to sign a form before turning to leave. “Let's get you home.”

Staying quiet and following what was said had kept Virgil safe so far so he just carried on following, getting into the car, Remus's brother unlocked.

Only once they were both in, with seatbelts done up did Roman look at him again. “Remus would never be this quiet. Are you his soulmate?”

“Yes? I'm Virgil. Does he do this often?” Virgil squeaked out, sure he could get in trouble for admitting it.

“More often than I'd like, but usually his chaos is harmless. I'm Roman, by the way.” With the introduction said Roman started the car and pulled away. “If I was in your position I'd have been asking a million questions the second someone got me out of the cell.”

Virgil nodded after a second. He'd been frowning out the window, trying to confirm where he was since some of the landmarks were recognisable. “Sorry, just trying to remember where this is. It's definitely a town close to mine but I'm not sure which.”

“It's Anstey. Does that mean my brother is likely to turn up here a-” Roman's question broke off as they turned a corner. Virgil could see Patton's car parked outside a house not far along the road, and given his morning, could only assume that it was his bum sticking out of a window on top of the porch.

“Well I did ask Patton to pop over in case I did swap with my soulmate on my birthday.” Virgil muttered, beginning to wonder just what his soulmate would be doing next.

He didn't have long to think though since Roman was storming out of the car the instant he'd put it into park. “Remus Dolally get the hell down from the roof and if you've broken that window then you are either paying for it, or paint purely to sell until it's paid for! Do you know what you've put me through this morning? What you've put your soulmate through?” He screamed up at Virgil's body, getting Patton to come shuffling over.

“Hey Pat, I'm guessing you've had as interesting a morning as I have.” Virgil muttered, still watching the brothers and just hoping he wouldn't be injured when their bodies swapped back.

“Kiddo thought I rescued him from police cells and then locked himself in your bathroom for ages before even thinking to ask where we were.” Patton nodded. He looked a bit shaken and very stunned just thinking through how the morning had gone. “Far be it from me to criticise your soulmate, but he's either a pervert or just completely lacking any impulse control at all.”

Virgil snorted. “Wow, must have made a really bad impression. That's the closest I've heard you get to criticism in a while. How long were you here before he decided to break in?”

“As soon as he opened the door of the car he was climbing onto the roof. Did you really wake up in cells?” Patton asked but when Virgil went to reply his name was called by his own voice.

Roman hadn't gotten Remus off the roof yet, but had got him to the edge, which if he'd remained upright would have been good. Instead Virgil was now looking at himself, hanging upside down off a roof and feeling the chances that he'd be uninjured by midnight reducing every minute. “If you're so upset with me being your soulmate your going to risk my life with stupid stunts I'll go do something you'll definitely get a life sentence for.” He snapped, hurrying over and glaring up at Remus.

“Beautiful, I'm just doing what I do, and it ain't going to kill you. I need to hear some of the noises this body makes from the outside before I'd allow that. Trust me, I already know the best ways I can pleasure you.” The leer was almost enough to make Virgil ignore it would only hurt him in the end to throw something at him.

“So far I've woken up in a cell, had to have your brother get me out and then found you trying to break into your own home. What is there meant to convince me to let there be any kind of relationship between us, never mind whatever depraved acts you're thinking of?” Virgil hissed up, not caring if the words would be heard or not.

The question and glare must have been enough to convince Remus to at least back off for a while since he was flipping to be upright and actually climb down off the roof finally. “I'm guessing the soulmates thing isn't as much of a motivation for you as it would be for Roman? You've got a good spark though, telling me off just gets me all shimmery. You know I'm Remus already then?”

“Der. I wasn't going to say anything when I woke up in that cell and given it was empty except for me, pretty obvious who the officers meant, Dolally.” Virgil snapped, rolling his eyes when all the reaction he got was a shimmer bringing Remus that bit closer to him.

The move did make Virgil smirk though. Now he could be certain that he actually was taller than his soulmate. That would be very useful once they swapped back, especially if he had to prevent Remus from climbing onto roofs at some point. “I'm Virgil and as soon as that body is mine again, your days of breaking into places are numbered.” He pointed out.

“Meh, it's the least interesting mischief I can get into. Come on in and I'll share my plans for world domination with you.” Remus reached forward and grabbed his wrist before he could move it back.

“Why does this feel like I'm being recruited to make sure you don't get killed or incarcerated? I already have anxiety, how is having you for a soulmate meant to help that?” Virgil protested but didn't actually fight being pulled in. He was mostly being dramatic because a glance backwards showed Patton still looking uncomfortable and concerned.

Roman had headed over to talk to him now though, so hopefully he'd be able to comfort him a little. He'd even unlocked the door already so Remus didn't have an excuse to try breaking in again either.

Remus was cackling as he pulled them through the house. “I was born with the intent to cause problems on purpose and that includes for you. Hope you don't mind spiders. They're the octopuses of the land and we can't in good conscious keep an octopus as a pet!”

The declaration turned yell at least had Virgil expecting it when he saw a tarantula roaming freely in a fenced off corner of the room. “Spiders are brilliant. Just don't let Patton up here. He's got a phobia. What's this guy called?” He asked, crouching down to look a little closer at the enclosure.

“Tarantuknife. I'm still working on getting him to attack or shove knives at people though. He will hiss as police badges. Down with the police state, y'know.” Remus shrugged, throwing himself on his bed while Virgil looked around.

“Fine, you've got me interested enough to see where knowing you leads.” Virgil decided after a while of looking around again, seeing some delightfully dark artwork and even more things to look after Tarantuknife than he'd originally spotted.

Remus bounced up at that, beaming. “Good cause I think some of my plans to keep you from leaving would have your friend trying to call the police on me again.”

“Nah, he wouldn't do that unless I asked. We hate the police too, wouldn't call them on my worst enemy unless they really did something extremely bad.” Virgil waved off the words, sitting on the edge of the bed and trying to ignore the fact it was still bouncing with Remus's movements.

“So what actually increases your anxiety to really bad amounts, and what are others able to do to help?” Remus asked, diverting the conversation from where Virgil had thought it would go.

At the genuinely interested and hopeful look he began to explain anyway, mentally wondering if it was because he wasn't currently in his own body that so far today he hadn't panicked at all, despite everything that had happened.

[awanderingdeal]

Summer Camp AU - Chapter 3 - Leo

Sorry about the wait on this one! Our darling Leo will be taking us through this chapter. 

CW: mentions of injury (minor)

Fic Rating: T

Please message me if you feel that any content warnings need to be added or the rating is not appropriate. 

Thank you to my wonderful betas @bkfstclubmember and @fleetingpieces. 

The characters in this fic belong to @lumosinlove and you should definitely go and check out her fics!

For previous and future chapters please see my masterlist

Leo had only been to summer camp once as a kid, and that had been back in middle school. It had escaped his memory how draining it was to meet so many new people, learn the layout of the site, and to keep track of all the rules he needed to remember. Between that, and the bruises littering his body from the evening of Dodgeball and Capture the Flag, Leo was exhausted. Happy, but exhausted. 

Regulus hadn’t crept back into their cabin until the early hours of the morning and had declined coming to breakfast in favour of more sleep. It meant that Leo was alone when he set his breakfast tray down at an empty table. He was only able to savour the quiet for a couple of minutes though, before the chaos of camp caught up with him. 

“Leo!” a boy said, startling Leo into looking up from his eggs. He recognised him from the game of dodgeball; he’d hit Leo square in the chest. Besides, it would have been difficult to forget that face. Cropped curls, a chiseled jawline and deep brown eyes. He’d cut his camp t-shirt into a low tank top. Leo noticed the scars, a slightly paler brown than the rest of his skin, peeking out through the oversized arm holes. He’d never seen anybody wear them so proudly before and it made him want to smile. Not only for the other boy, but for himself. Because if 13 year old Leo, heck if 17 year old Leo, had been told that one day he’d be in a place that would allow him to be authentically himself, and he’d be surrounded by others who understood what it was to be different, he never would have believed it. 

“Morning,” Leo had to glance at the boy's badge; he was awful with names. “Thomas,” he said with a smile. He’d only said two words to the boy yesterday, but Thomas seemed like the type who would be friends with anybody that was willing. 

“Call me Talker,” Thomas said, reaching out a hand for Leo to shake. “Please.” 

“Morning, Talker,” Leo repeated with a laugh, shaking the hand before shovelling more eggs into his mouth. 

Soon the table was full, and Leo found himself in a heated conversation about whether kindles were better than books. Somehow, that led to him lapping up James’ stories of previous camp disasters until Lily shoved her boyfriend and told him to stop scaring the rookie. 

The chatter was interrupted by the static of a microphone. Everybody, including Leo, turned towards the source of the noise. A flustered looking young man stood over by the buffet table, clutching his hands around the microphone so hard that his knuckles were white. James cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered, “Go Loops!”

The man smiled and gave a nervous cough, but the encouragement seemed to work. “Hi everybody, I’m Remus Lupin. Most people just call me Loops though. My pronouns are he/him and I’ve been coming to this camp for the last two years. Clearly I didn’t suck too much, because they hired me as a medic this year,” he paused, his eyes searching the crowd. They landed on the man that Leo had met as Regulus’ brother the day before, and his smile grew wider. “I’m going to be leading the first aid training this morning, so if you could all be out at the pavilion in 15 minutes that would be fantastic...thanks.” 

The room fell silent as Remus set the microphone back in its stand and walked off, receiving a pat on the shoulder from Dumo as he passed. The hall soon erupted with noise again as people finished up their food and made to follow the instructions they had been given.

“Alright! Let’s go save some lives,” Thomas boomed, downing the last of his glass of milk and grabbing his tray. He’d only taken two steps before he turned back around and flashed a grin at Leo. “Nutty! I forgot to say. Dumo asked us to film some promo TikToks and your beautiful face would be great in it. You in?” 

Leo had no idea who ‘us’ was, but he’d promised himself to take every opportunity that this camp threw at him so he nodded, and gave a small, “Sure, why not?”

“Great, I’ll see you after dinner then,” Thomas said, walking off with a bounce in his step.

When Leo made his way to the pavilion, he was given a card with the number 1 on it by Remus. He didn’t know what it was for, but clutched it in his hand as he looked around for Regulus, hoping they had managed to wake up on time. He was relieved to set his eyes on them talking to June, a girl that Leo had met yesterday. She had been a bit intimidating, leaning against a tree, dressed in biker boots and a leather jacket that he later learnt had a bisexual flag stiched into back. However, she’d turned out to be extremely friendly and Leo relaxed knowing Regulus was in good hands. 

“Okay! Listen up, folks,” Remus called out. “Each of you has been given a card with a number on it. There is one other person with the same number as you. Please find them, they are going to be your partner for today’s training session.”

Different people seemed to have different strategies for finding their partner. Some decided to stay where they were and just shout their numbers. Others darted around asking each individual what their number was. Leo didn’t need to use either to find his. With his first glance across the crowd, he settled his eyes on a person holding a card with the number one on it. With a triumphant smile, he weaved through the other counselors quickly so as not to lose sight of his partner.   

“Hey, I’m Leo. I think you’re mine,” Leo introduced himself, glancing quickly at the nametag on Logan’s chest before looking up at his face again. The action had become almost habitual already. 

Logan peered from under the brim of his hat. He had deep green eyes that Leo swore were looking into his soul as they swept over the length of his body.  “Yeah, I suppose you are,” the boy said eventually. “My name’s Logan, but I guess you already know that. Pleased to meet you.” 

“The pleasure is all mine,” Leo mumbled quietly under his breath. He had promised himself that he wasn’t going to do the cliched ‘summer camp romance’ thing. After all, he’d just gotten over the ‘closeted jock’ situation and that hadn’t been fun, to say the least. He wanted to be done with men for a very long time, but it didn’t hurt to look, right?

Before Logan could respond, Remus had gathered their attention again and they got swept away with learning how to recognise and assist the injuries and ailments that they were most likely to see over the coming weeks.

“Merde!” Logan gasped, pulling Leo from his thoughts. He figured that he had wound the bandage too tight around Logan’s arm.

“Sorry! Sorry,” he apologised, trying to remove it as quickly as he could. “Are you okay?”

Logan frowned for a second, “I am fine. Why would you ask that?”

“Was it not too tight?” Leo asked, gesturing to Logan’s arm, a little confused. 

Logan’s features knitted into a tighter frown before he seemed to have a realisation. “Oh, non. That was fine. Perfect. I will never bleed to death with you around,” he said, gesturing for Leo to do the bandage again so that Remus could inspect his work. 

“Okay…” Leo hesitated, “Why did you swear then?”

“You’re the angel,” Logan grinned, and Leo just grew more confused. Logan huffed out a laugh. “I believe you met my boyfriend yesterday. Tall...although, not as tall as you. Red hair. Bit of an idiot.”

“You mean Finn,” Leo smiled, remembering the boy from yesterday. “Wait. Did you say boyfriend?” 

Leo had been one of the people allocated to defend his team's flag. His back was to it, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see the blue, white and pink stripes. Dumo had taken the opportunity to educate the counsellors on the flags of different identities before letting each team choose which would be theirs for the game. A timid looking blonde girl had whooped so loudly before her pale cheeks had turned crimson that it had been a unanimous decision for their team to take the trans flag. 

It had been eerily quiet for a while when three people came crashing out of the trees. Leo recognised two of them; a Russian boy who had insisted everybody called him Kuny instead of butchering his name, and Jackson Nadeau. They were both on his team.The person they were chasing was not. Leo glanced to his right, checking that there was nobody coming from that direction before he tried to intercept the intruder. Leo had thought he was fast, but they had easily whipped past him and Leo was left watching them run. He didn’t have time to call out between seeing the rock and watching them fall flat on their face.  

“Are you okay?” Leo shouted, forgetting the game as he ran over to check they hadn’t hurt themselves too badly. He was worried that they weren’t moving, but just as Leo kneeled down, they groaned and rolled onto their back. 

“Shit,” Leo said, taking in the blood dripping down the pale skin. “Hey, I’m Leo. Can you tell me your name?” Leo asked, already knowing it was Finn from the name tag, but he wanted to check that the boy knew himself. 

“Fi-Fish,” the red haired boy slurred, blinking rapidly. “Am I in heaven?”  he asked, reaching up to cup Leo’s face.

“No, you’re at Camp Gryffindor. Not quite heaven, but pretty close,” Leo gave a nervous laugh. “Just stay still. We’re going to get somebody to help you.”

“You look like an angel to me,” Finn whispered, making Leo blush. He gave a little cough before looking up at Kuny and Jackson, who had joined him at Finn’s side. “Can one of you go and grab a medic, please?”

Leo had been meaning to check up on Finn. Both because he had been worried about him, but also because he hadn’t been able to get that red hair and those freckles out of mind all night. Finn was beautiful, of course he had a boyfriend. 

“Yeah,” Logan nodded, his smile widening a second. “My boyfriend who apparently met an angel last night. He’s not wrong.”

Leo scratched at the back of his neck before continuing to wrap the bandage around Logan’s arm. “How is he?” 

“He’s fine. He’ll have a headache for a few days, but Lupin fixed him up,” Logan reassured. He hummed and pulled at the grass with his unoccupied hand. “Wouldn’t shut up about the blue-eyed angel called Leo though. I tried to make him stay in bed today, but he insisted you were real. Seems you are.” 

Leo thought his face was going to permanently take on its new shade of pink with the amount of blushing he was doing. “Isn’t it weird for you? Your boyfriend calling me an angel?” 

Logan shrugged, “Non, he didn’t lose his eyesight just because we got into a relationship. Besides, I trust him.”

Thankfully, Remus chose that moment to join them, praising Leo’s work and making a few comments on how it could be made a little better. Once he had gone, Logan began to tell him about his life growing up in Canada as if the previous conversation had never happened. Leo wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or frustrated. 

In return, Leo told Logan about the cooking classes that had led him to applying to work in the camp kitchens that summer. He found that Logan was actually a good listener, and nearly ended up spilling the details of the drama that led him to taking those classes as a replacement for the hockey games he was due to be playing. Another time maybe. Leo wasn’t going to think about how much he hoped there would be another time. 

The rest of the morning session seemed to fly by after that, and soon Leo found himself saying goodbye to Logan in order to find Regulus for lunch. 

“I’ll see you around,” Leo smiled.

“Sure thing, mon ange,” Logan said easily, and Leo tried not to read too much into that.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

In Love and Death Part 5

Harry Potter AU 

Link to Part 4 

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: M- smut and mature themes.

____

6 am…

You had been up since 4 am after waking up with your now dead mother on your mind. After tossing and turning a few times, you decided to get up before waking Regulus up. For the first night in ages, he hadn’t woken up from nightmares.

“She doesn’t deserve your pity. Mother’s don’t abuse and abandon their daughters.”

You thought before taking a sip of the tea in front of you. Why you felt guilty about not feeling sad enough was beyond you. Your mother had stopped caring the day that Evan died. You were just a throne in her side that begged to be cuddled. The depression that you felt at 4 years old returned with a vengeance. You were devastated when Evan didn’t come back home and in ways you still were.

Now here you sat at 18 years old with the knowledge that your father wasn’t the man that you thought he was. Evan was supposed to come home so you could keep being the daddy’s girl that you were. He was supposed to be the prince charming that he always “pretended” to be when playing with you. Evan wasn’t supposed to be a death eater that apparently had a wish to have your head on a silver platter.

“He’s only shocked over who your boyfriend is.”

Your mind added.

“He’s not a good man. The man that you know is dead.”

You wanted to tell your brain to shut up but stopped when Moody came into the room. He was the last person that you really wanted to talk to at the moment. Your morning was quickly going down the tube.

“Y/n, I think that it is time we have a talk about the other day.”

You leaned back in your chair as Moody sat down across from you.

“You made your feelings perfectly clear.”

Moody gave you that parental look of discontent that you had become used to over the past year. You wanted to say something witty but decided not to.

“I actually wanted to apologize to you Ms. Smarty pants. You were right. It's your own business who you date and if Regulus makes you happy then so be it. We don’t want you to leave. It's too dangerous especially now that your scum-sucking father is alive again.”

You were silent a moment before looking back up.

“You heard about that too, huh?”

Moody nodded.

“Yes, Tonks told me. She’s as worried about you as I am...especially since you ran into him.”

Moody was no fool. He knew how you felt about your father. You didn’t have to say it.

“Yeah, well, he made his choices. If you want to go kill him, I won’t hold it against you. He’s alive and ruining what good memories I had of him.”

Moody looked thoughtful.

“You aren’t anything like him.”

You stood up and walked to the window to look outside. The neighborhood was still silent as the sun began to come up.

“I’m a lot like him. I have his face, his hands, and if I really wanted to I would think just like him.”

Moody stood up and limped over to you.

“I want you to look at me, Y/n. You are nothing like your family. The only thing that you have in common with the Rosiers is your last name. This alone proves it.”

Moody held out your badge making a silent appeal for you to take your job back.

“None of us want you to leave. Both Regulus and yourself are safer here. We have safety in numbers. Would you like your job back?”

You smiled before reaching out and taking your badge back. Neither Moody nor yourself had to say anything else. Everything that needed to be said for the moment had been said.

You quickly went back upstairs knowing that you would have to break the news to Regulus. He was thrilled that you weren’t an auror anymore. That was one less thing that he had to worry about...now it was back.

Regulus lay on his stomach when you got back into bed and pounced on him. He groaned as you shoved some of his messy curls away from his face to kiss his cheek.

“What time is it?”

He asked with a yawn.

“Little after 6:30.”

You replied before taking your place beside him. Regulus sighed and threw an arm around you.

“Why are you awake?”

“I was thinking about mom.”

Regulus’ eyes opened. He sat up enough to look down at you.

“Before you think it or say it, you aren’t anything like your family.”

You were trying to think of the best time to drop the bomb that you had accepted your job back. Maybe now was the best time. Regulus was sleep and not thinking fully.

“I wouldn’t be an auror if I was.”

You watched as the realization hit Regulus. His peaceful expression went to fury as he sat up.

“Y/n, do not tell me…”

“Okay...I won’t and we can pretend that I did.”

Regulus groaned before laying backward. His eyes were locked on the ceiling as you quickly wiggle your way on top of him. Leaning down, you gently kissed his cheeks before focusing on his lips. Regulus didn’t kiss you back. He lay beneath you with his eyes open and glaring angrily at you.

“Come on Reggie. Kiss me back.”

You whined. Regulus’ hand wrapped around your waist preventing your mouth from touching his. To say that he was angry was putting things lightly! He was livid.

“Where was I in this decision?”

You sighed.

“Reggie, Moody and I were talking this morning. He offered me my badge back. I had to take it.”

Regulus pushed you off of him before quickly getting out of bed.

“It's too dangerous, I don’t know why I have to tell you this. You know that your father is out there running around but hey don’t let common sense stop you or my feelings for that matter.”

You sat watching as Regulus pulled on his abandoned clothes.

“Your opinion does matter. Reggie…”

He held a hand up.

“Don’t Reggie me. I only matter when it comes to us making love or when someone else says something mean your way.”

You were out of bed at that.

“Regulus, you know that isn’t true. I worked too hard to become an auror for it to be thrown away.”

Regulus gave you an icy expression before storming out of the bedroom. He knew his reaction was the best in the world but he couldn't help it. You were the only person that had actually shown him any form of his life. His parents were psycho. Sirius left him and now you were going back to one hell of a dangerous job. How was Regulus supposed to be thrilled with this news?

You had remained in the bedroom a moment before your own annoyance kicked in and resulted in your storming down the stairs.

“Regulus, I am not done with you!”

You half-shouted, not caring that the rest of the house was probably sleeping.

“Yeah, well I’m done for now.”

Regulus snapped as the two of you went into the dining room. Both of you stopped talking upon the realization that Sirius, Remus, and Tonks were sitting at the table.

“What are you two fighting about?”

Sirius asked. Regulus motioned to you.

“She decided to be an auror again.”

Sirius nodded. He wanted to ask Regulus what he honestly expected to happen. Everyone in the house, with the exception of Regulus, knew that you would return to work eventually. It was just dependent on whether Moody or yourself would crack first.

You, meanwhile, had figured out something was going on with your friends. Tonks wasn’t out of her chair squealing like a maniac and trying to hug you.

“So why are you three up at this hour?”

Sirius groaned.

“I am going to have to start liking sunrises.”

Both Regulus and yourself had, at the moment, had forgotten about your own argument.

“Why?”

Regulus questioned. Tonks finally looked up.

“I suppose both of you should know. Y/n, Regulus...I’m pregnant.”

Both Regulus and yourself stood with open mouths. Neither of you were able to say anything. For you, it was the shocking feeling of a rug being “pulled out from under you.” You knew that Remus, Tonks, and Sirius had something going on (any idiot knew that).

Regulus, meanwhile, was busy putting everything together. His dark eyes were hyper-focused on his brother. Sirius was WAY too calm at the moment and it was unnerving Regulus beyond all reason.

“So which one of you is the father?”

Regulus asked when he regained the power of speech. Sirius and Remus shrugged at the same time making Regulus laugh. Your eyes flickered to your boyfriend who was laughing like he was watching some kind of comedy. Regulus never laughed like this.

“So I’m just throwing this out there...the three of you have no idea what birth control is. Between the three of you, no one could conjure up a contraceptive charm or bought a condom? Wow, this is the funniest thing that I have seen in a long time.”

Sirius frowned at his little brother.

“I’m glad that you are amused. I figured it would be you two that this would happen to. As much as I walk in on you two....but no...it's us.”

You quickly shook your head and decided to rejoin the conversation.

“I’m scared of babies.”

Regulus turned his attention back to you.

“You’ll take down a death eater but you’re scared of screaming children?”

You nodded. Babies always made you nervous! They were little potato looking poop machines that screamed with no way to tell you what in the hell that they wanted. You were slightly thankful that you couldn’t have children of your own. Never in your life did you feel like the “maternal type.” You were happier with the idea of being an aunty that passed said kid back to mummy and daddy when they became too rowdy.

“The death eaters I understand. A baby,...no.”

Tonks quickly stood up and walked over to wrap her arms around you. She pressed a kiss to your head.

“You have 6 months to work on this. I want you to be the godmother.”

You stumbled.

“Godmother? 6 months? You mean to tell me that you have been pregnant and nothing has been said before now?”

Tonks shrugged.

“We wanted to wait until everything was safe.”

Regulus had gone into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of whiskey. He was still laughing to himself. It wasn’t the knowledge that he could be an uncle but the oddity of the situation.

“This kid is going to be so confused.”

Sirius finally was beginning to get annoyed. His annoyance with his younger brother returned full force. This was just like when they were children. Regulus would be laughing at him over something that caused Sirius pain.

“Regulus, get a grip. Tell you what, when Y/n gets pregnant I am going to laugh big time!”

Both Regulus and yourself looked up at that. Regulus’ amused expression went sour. His eyes narrowed on his brother before turning and walking out of the room.

“What? Oh, he isn’t getting off that easily.”

Sirius muttered before chasing after Regulus. Regulus stood in the back garden lighting a cigarette when Sirius came out.

“I wasn’t done!”

Sirius snapped. Regulus didn’t lookup.

“I was.”

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest.

“What? Does Y/n not want kids?”

Regulus shook his head.

“It's not that, you idiot. Y/n can’t get pregnant. If you were her friend at all you would know that.”

“We don’t sit around discussing her gynecological history. That’s what Dora is for. Are you okay with this?”

Regulus shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter. It's kind of reckless to be having a child right now. I want nothing to do with a child.”

Sirius smirked. There was the sensible younger brother that Sirius knew so well.

“Says the guy who shot Voldemort the biggest fuck you ever.”

“I’m not joking, Sirius. This is huge and let’s face it. You aren’t the best in the world with commitment. You forgot about your hamster until it chewed its way out of the cage and bit mother.”

Sirius chuckled at the memory.

“It will be fine. Now that we are done talking about my love life and strange predicament...what about Y/n? What has your knickers in such a twist about her being an auror again?”

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest. He wanted to appear as closed off as possible.

“Nothing.”

Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Reg. What is it? You're pouting like a giant child.”

Regulus glared up at Sirius.

“Fine. I don’t want her to be an auror because she is the first person in this world to actually love me and I don’t want to lose that.”

Sirius stepped back.

“For what it's worth, I love your haughty little ass.”

Regulus laughed before turning to go back inside. He didn’t want to have this conversation with Sirius. It was clearly evident that his older brother didn’t realize how badly Regulus was hurt over the running away from the Potters incident. Sirius’ selfishness hadn’t changed. Regulus felt ignorant for even thinking that Sirius would change.

“Whatever, Sirius.”

Sirius quickly stepped forward and wrapped his hand around Regulus’ wrist.

“Hey! What are you talking about?”

Regulus turned.

“Just fuck off. You don’t understand and you never will.”

Sirius looked as if Regulus had slapped him.

“Help me then! You never talk to me about anything. Since we were children at school, you have blocked me out. We used to be so close.”

Regulus kept his face as cold as possible.

“That’s what happened when you were sorted into Gryffindor and left me to do everything with this family. I had to be the perfect son to make up for your shortcomings. I had to be the one that mother and father’s every desire. It didn’t matter what hell that they put me through, I had to do everything and look where it got me. I shouldn’t be 18 years old still but here I am. You let them torture me while you went off and had your fun with Potter and your stupid friends. While you were out having your fun; I was out opening up my own wrists. You don’t know all of the things that I have had to do but it doesn’t matter. It never has and it never will.”

“Regulus!”

Sirius gasped. Regulus shook his head. The bitterness of his childhood was still painfully evident and it made Sirius step back. He could only look at his little brother as Regulus turned back to the door.

“Y/n is the only person in this world to love me and I am totally fine with it. Have fun with your unorthodox relationship. Leave Y/n and I out of it. She’ll never be able to be a mother and you find it amusing. To hell with you…”

Sirius didn’t attempt to stop Regulus this time. He only stared as Regulus went back inside.

Later that afternoon…

You walked silently beside Regulus down a busy London street. He had barely spoken since the crazy that had occurred earlier that morning. You, in all honesty, didn’t blame him. So much had happened in such a short period that it was hard to take everything in. Your mind was locked on Tonks, Remus, and Sirius. This was truly an unforeseen surprise that you couldn’t help but be a bit happy about (you just wouldn’t admit that to Regulus at the moment). Sure, it was a really bad time to be thinking about having a baby but you were still happy.

Your eyes rolled up to Regulus. His handsome face was furious. It didn’t take you being his lover to know a Regulus happy face from a Regulus angry face. You couldn’t help but wonder what happened between Regulus and Sirius in the garden.

Reaching out, you wrapped your hand around Regulus’ wrist and pulled him into an alleyway between two buildings. Regulus frowned before looking down at you.

“What are you doing?”

You stood on your tiptoes and wrapped your arms around his shoulders.

“Don’t shut me out, Reggie.”

You said in a soft whisper. Regulus leaned down and pressed his forehead against yours. He didn’t have to say a word. The misery in his dark eyes told you everything that you needed to know. You moved one hand to his cheek gently cupping his face.

“Regulus, I love you.”

“I love you.”

He replied. Regulus was quiet a moment longer before speaking again.

“This whole you being an auror thing...is it important to you?”

You nodded.

“I’m really good but I don’t want you worrying either.”

Regulus finally smiled. He took your hand in his before pressing a kiss to your palm.

“That works as well as stabbing me and telling me not to bleed.”

Regulus pulled you into a heated kiss before you could say a word. His hands fell down your body to the hem of your skirt. You shook your head and pulled away.

“We can’t right here in the alleyway.”

Regulus gave you a cheeky grin before raising an eyebrow. “Come on, love. Show me those auror skills that you are so proud of. Put up a nice privacy charm and none of those twats out there will know a thing. We haven’t done something like this in a while.”

You stood a moment before smiling and quickly casting the charm that Regulus was referring to.

“Pull your skirt up and put your hands on the wall.”

Regulus ordered. He didn’t care that the two of you were about to make love in the middle of a crowded city square. The events of the day had left Regulus desperate for some physical love.

You, meanwhile, had quickly done as you were told. Regulus was quickly unbuckling his belt.

“Haven’t done this in a while.”

He commented wrapping his left arm around your waist.

“We haven’t had to sneak to make love in ages.”

You said with a gasp as Regulus tilted your head to the side. His face nuzzled down your neck. Soft lips locked onto your skin and gently sucked a deep bruise.

“Reggie.”

You whined his name as his hand gently caressed your thigh before moving to your folds. The vibrations from his laughter left you gasping even more.

“I’m going to make you feel good, sweetheart.”

He whispered before pushing in. Your hands grasped at the stone building as Regulus set a steady rhythm. Neither of you were able to be as loud as you would have liked. It didn’t matter if the privacy charm had been cast. Screaming each other’s names while people walked seemed awkward.

“Regulus, I…”

He growled against your neck.

“Come, love.”

It took two more thrusts before you came. You tightened once more as Regulus filled you. Neither of you moved for a moment before Regulus pulled away enough to fix his pants.

“Never thought that I would be making love to a pretty girl in an alley before. Not the most romantic of places, I admit.”

You fixed your skirt as Regulus took out his want to clean you up.

“Leave it.”

You said before letting the privacy charm drop. Regulus gave you a raised eyebrow before wrapping an arm around your waist.

“Fucking tease.”

30 minutes later, you stood in a store that sold baby goods and other housewares. Regulus hadn’t said much when you requested to go into the shop. He stood patiently as you pawed through various baby items. You wanted to find something to take back to Tonks.

Sure, you were scared to death of the thought of being a godmother to a living breathing human but you couldn't deny Tonk’s request. You could only pray that Tonks, Remus, and Sirius wouldn’t be dropping dead soon to leave you in care of the little one that was cooking away in its mother.

“You can’t go and call the kid a potato.”

Regulus said nonchalantly. You looked up with a big smile that let Regulus know how amused you were.

“I don’t think Tonks and whichever one is the father will appreciate that too much.”

Regulus shook his head.

“Is it bad that I kind of hope that it's Sirius so I can totally watch him be out of his element? You know I was thinking about how fucked up that relationship is. I mean, yeah, my whole family...well...every pureblood family is so incestuous that it's scary. Andromeda is going to have a shit fit. My mother and father would probably be proud seeing as they were cousins and all.”

You stood blinking.

“Yeah, I totally have not thought about any of this at all.”

Regulus shrugged.

“You do know that your aunty Druella is also my aunty Druella by marriage, of course.”

“Regulus, I am disturbed enough at the moment so can you stop?”

Regulus was silently laughing about the whole “fucked up-ness” of the whole situation. This was partially one reason that he was glad that he “drowned” when he did. Had he been alive, his mother would have forced him to marry a cousin or something that he knew too much about.

“What do you think about this outfit?”

You asked after a moment of silence. As much as you hated to admit it, Regulus was right. All of the pureblood families practiced some shady relationship practices to keep things “pure.” That didn’t mean that you liked to think about it. In fact, you wanted to shove it from your mind altogether.

That, however, didn’t happen. You were shocked that your grandmother hadn’t tried to marry you off to a cousin. Grandmother Rosier was into the “keeping things” pure as much as the Black family and any other member of the sacred 28 was.

She will be ecstatic whenever I go see her again and she finds out that I am with Regulus. The old bat will probably die from joy...great!”

You thought as Regulus looked back up.

“What do I know about baby clothes? All I know is they better not think that we are going to be a built-in babysitting service. If they do I am loading that kid up on chocolate and giving it back with a shit-eating grin on my face.”

You grinned.

“That’s what aunty and uncles do...and feel no guilt about it.”

“Works for me.”

What the two of you didn’t see was Antonin Dolohov and Rodolphus Lestrange watching the two of you with confused expressions.

“Didn’t waste any time making a baby, did they?”

Dolohov question. Rodolphus nodded, looking a bit surprised.

“Better get back.”

Evan sat with a bottle of whiskey in front of him as he thumbed through the fifteenth book on trying to figure out how he came back to life. He looked up the moment that Antonin and Rodolphus stepped into the room. Both men looked surprised by something.

Frowning, Evan closed his book and lit a cigarette.

“Well, what?”

Rodolphus sat down with a smirk.

“Saw that baby girl of yours.”

Evan’s frown intensified.

“And?”

“Still with Black.”

Dolohov said. Evan rolled his eyes. What in the fresh hell were the two of you thinking? Being in love? Please! Love wasn’t a real emotion anyway.

“Is he dead?”

Rodolphus shook his head before speaking.

“You won’t believe where I saw the two of them. I found Romeo and Juliet at that little home shop in the alley. The two of them were looking at baby things.”

Dolohov quickly came in. The mirthful expression on his face was almost sickening.

“Looks like that little lamb of yours is having a baby with little baby boy Black.”

________

@fairywriter-oracle

@amelie-black

@swinginsoulbailiffrascal

@velveteencurls

@sunles

@hello-love06

@realgaytrash

@brokencasbutt67-writer

@authoressskr

@fandom-trash-worth-it

@hankypranky

@summer-novak

@li0nh34rt

@tas898

@marichromatic

@maggioli-m

@emiwrites3reads

@stuckinsaudi1

@knight-of-gleefulness

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts

@wontlookaway

@mycuddlycorner

@shitfaceddaniel

@sprnaturallover

@untoldshortsofthefandoms

[shut-up-its-funny]

Roman's Super Awesome and Fun Spontaneous Planned Date Night.

What a name right XD anyway! Fic exchange fic yay!!

For CheerleaderCherry! @remrom2yr-exchange

Remus destresses Roman from all of his stressful college work, pure sappy sap fluff.

tw: they drink and Remus gets slightly injured.

Words: 4750

AO3

Roman swings open his dorm room door, his shoulders are slouched and the door barley even opens all that much -he’s just too fucking tired to put any effort into it- he needs a nap… or a vacation.

There’s just too much work to be done though, college is a never ending supply of work, but it’ll be worth it he just knows it.

The door that he hardly swung open creaks its way back to him and he groans “can’t you just like… listen to me?” he tells it and a snicker comes from right behind it; Remus’ face pops out from there.

“You look like shit.”

Roman sighs and walks past his twin “thanks babe.”

“Did Romie have another hard day at school today” Remus coos and follows Roman to his bed, Roman flops down on it and Remus flops down on him; he bumps their noses together “wanna talk about anything?”

“Uuuuuugh no not really, same bullshit as every day, I can’t wait until we’re out of here and have our dream jobs” Roman laments.

Remus snickers “you’re such a dreamer” there’s a soft smile on his face as he lightly kisses the other “love that about you.”

Roman hums into the kiss leaning in for more when Remus backs away, he whines when Remus doesn’t lean back in.

“Shush your whining I have an idea!” Remus says but pecks Roman again before telling him “we should do something fun and crazy tonight to let you wind down!”

Roman’s face scrunches up with indecision “I don’t know Rem, I have homework and I need to practice my lines I ju-“

Remus squishes his index finger on Roman’s lips “shhhh no! no worrying and no work tonight! Besides I know that you know those lines by heart.”

“How don’t you have a bunch of work to do?” Roman asks from under Remus’ finger, his words are a little muffled.

“I’ve already finished my mountain of work” Remus boasts.

Roman throws his hands up and lets them thump back down to the mattress “how? your homework is harder than mine is!”

Remus fans out a hand to his chest “I’mwhat people would like to call: A Genius.”

“Yes yes and you’re always sohumble about it too” Roman smirks.

“It’s my one redeeming quality” Remus says then sticks out his tongue.

“Mm, but you use it for evil.”

“Okay, you made your point: tworedeeming qualities” Remus’ smile widens

“You have a lot more than that, and Istill have work to do” Roman sighs.

“Not tonight you don’t” Remus says and gets up, he grabs Roman’s arm and shakes it “c’mooon we’re going out and we’re gonna have fun!”

“Do you even know what we would do?” Roman asks a little sceptically.

“Inspiration will strike” Remus waves off “now let’s go!” he bounces.

Roman smiles at his boyfriends enthusiasm “fine, I trust you let’s go.”

“Yes!” Remus fist pumps “you won’t regret this!” he declares tugging Roman off the bed and kissing his cheek loud and playfully before snatching his backpack and dragging Roman out of their dorm.

They’re walking down the hall, still hand in hand not really knowing where to go until they overhear some people talking about a party, Remus bounces a bit as he walks.

“Ah, found our first stop” he says excitedly.

“I don’t know… don’t you have to be invited to parties?”

“We just were” Remus says flapping his hand towards the people who’re not there anymore.

“No, we just overheard about it.”

“How do you think parties fill up? Word of mouth brother dearest and we’ve heard about it therefore we were invited, besiiides we’re not staying.”

They get outside and start walking towards where the party is being held “what do you mean we’re not staying?” he’s kind of relieved to hear that, he’s not too fond of being in a room with a bunch of random drunk people.

“You don’t think we’re gonna have yournight off at a random sloppy college party do, you? that’s my scene not yours, nah nah nah we’re there for food and drink, we won’t be five minutes.”

“Five minutes? To eat? Remus what?”

“For food and drink” Remus says again pointedly.

The party isn’t that far, they get there in about ten minutes their hands linked the whole way and Remus only tightens his grip when they walk up to the house.

“Stay close, don’t wanna be separated” he says and Roman agrees tightening his grip as well.

Remus leads them through the throng of bodies all dancing and shouting and not paying attention to their surroundings, he high fives some people and finger guns others from across the room.

“How often do you go to these things?” Roman asks, sure Remus goes out a lot, he doesn’t like to stay still but does he know all these people?

“Oh, like all the time, like I said before it’s my scene; some crazy shit happens sometimes and it’s fun to wreak havoc and get hurt” he waves off “these are my people Romeo!”

Apparently so, he really should know this stuff…maybe he does need more breaks.

They get to the kitchen and Remus slings his backpack to his front, they’re standing at an island counter where food and drink are laid out; Remus takes out a plastic baggie.

“What are you doing?” Roman asks panicked “you can’t just take their stuff!” he looks around to see if anyone is watching.

“Calm down Ro Bro, no one cares” Remus says putting sandwiches in the bag, he grabs a whole bag of chips and shoves it in his backpack, he fills yet another baggie with cookies and other assorted goods that are on the counter “I do this more than you’d think, we’re broke college students and I have no qualms with taking food.”

“I am learning so much about you tonight” Roman says “I really should not be surprised though.”

Remus bounces towards Roman and lands a small peck on his nose “you may learn even more” he winks.

He doesn’t zip up the backpack as he grabs Roman’s hand again to get to the cooler with the drinks, he shoves a couple of cans into his bag and then manoeuvres them to a table with larger bottles of alcohol on it and bags an almost full amber one, zips up his bag and then brings them back outside shooting more hand greetings at people Roman has never seen before as they go.

When they’re a little ways away from the party Roman speaks “you… live a colourful life huh?”

“Wouldn’t live it any other way love, I knooow you have loads of work to do all the time, but” he glances at Roman “maybe sometimes you can come with me, I’d really like you to do stupid shit with me again.”

“I suppose I could use more breaks, heh I never even knew I missed doing this kind of stuff until now” he squeezes Remus’ hand “thanks for always looking out for me, I love ya you know?”

Remus beams and squeezes back “of course I know that ya big dumbie!” he knocks their shoulders together “love ya too.”

Roman unlinks their fingers and wraps an arm around Remus’ waist to pull him closer, they stumble a bit as Roman kisses Remus’ cheek “how did I get so lucky to be born with the love of my life hm?”

Remus laughs loudly at that “that’s a weird thing to say, you’re a weirdo.”

Roman shoves Remus playfully “oh I’mthe weirdo? Do you want me to repeat to you what you did this morning? Or that time in the pool at home? Oh or how about our tenth birthday party? Or maybe the things you do and say every single day of our life?”

Remus is laughing at every memory Roman shoots at him “I didn’t say I wasn’t a weirdo! I just said that you are, we’re weirdoes together be proud of it - it’s a badge of honour!” Remus accentuates by poking Roman’s cheek.

“So, what’s our next stop genius?” Roman asks.

“Well, we have a whole ass picnic I say we go somewhere somewhat secluded to enjoy our spoils.”

“And do you have a place in mind?”

Remus smiles knowingly “of course I do, who do ya take me for?”

Roman chuckles “someone may think that you’ve planned this whole night.”

Remus’ smile widens “oh, may someone think that?”

“You did didn’t you?” Roman laughs out.

“Weeeeeeell someone had to!” Remus swings his arms up “we both have tomorrow off and you’re always so strung up!”

“So you decided to let me fall behind on my work to have some fun and completely ruin my work ethic?” Roman teases.

“Excuse you I decided to give my wonderful boyfriend a night of fun through a well-planned but spontaneous date so he can stop being so freaken stressed all the time, aaaand if he happens to fall behind on his work ethic it’s totally not my fault” Remus ends his explanation with a boop to Roman’s nose.

“Then who am I supposed to blame for when my life hits rock bottom because of this night? Myself? I don’t think so brother mine.”

“Oh Romie you know I’d never let you hit rock bottom, cause even if you do drop out because of this I can be your sugar daddy~” Remus wiggles his shoulders and eyebrows.

“Well now if I knew that was an option I would have flunked out agesago” Roman flips his hand up.

Remus waves him off “ah it’s probably a good idea ya didn’t, gotta wait a few more years anyhow until I get my super amazing high paying genius job.”

Roman taps his finger against his chin in mock thought “ooor perhaps” he purrs and nuzzles his nose into Remus’ cheek –Remus shivers at the touch and tone- “I’ll get famous and be your sugar daddy” he whispers in Remus’ ear.

“Oh god yes” he melts - he lets his limbs go limp and Roman has to tighten his grip around hos twins waist; he stumbles and stops walking trying to keep Remus from dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“Jesus fuck Remus I almost didn’t get you in time!” Roman squawks out.

“Buuuut’cha diiiiiid” Remus sing songs “and hey look you’re dipping me, ever the romantic one huh Bromeo?”

“Pff this is the worst dip, I’d be ashamed to dip you like this on purpose, now-“ he shakes Remus’ limp body “-stop being a noodle so you can bring me to wherever we’re going.”

Remus perks up “oh! We’re already here look!” he points a little ways down the street.

“The pier?” Roman asks and Remus rights his body; he takes Roman’s hand and swings their arms as they continue walking.

“No no! The beach!” Remus declares with a skipping hop.

“The beach” Roman says softly the smile he has is just as soft when he looks to Remus at his side “I love the beach.”

Remus wiggles a bit “I know.”

And then off he goes running, still holding onto Roman’s hand so he has no choice but to match Remus’ speed.

They run hand in hand towards the sand and trip a little when they hit it making their stride back into walking.

“This way” Remus tugs Roman in a direction “I’m gonna make fire!”

“Fire? Please tell me there’s a pit here and we’re not just committing arson.”

Remus snorts “since when are you concerned about committing arson?”

“How about the moment we turned eighteen? And also when we got college scholarships?”

“Oh Roman always the good little golden boy - thought I broke you outta that” Remus winks with a cheeky smile.

Roman rolls his eyes, chuckling out “oh don’t give yourself too much credit, I’ve always had that wild side.”

“Yea” Remus agrees and then points to himself “that side is me.”

“Ohhhohkay I’ll let you continue thinking that”

Remus plops himself to the ground in front of an unlit fire pit dragging Roman down with him; he rummages through his backpack and retrieves a lighter, some newspaper, a small bundle of sticks and three small logs.

“What” Roman deadpans.

“What what?” Remus says as he starts to build the fire.

Roman gestures to Remus’ bag “what do you mean ‘what what?’ is that some kind of magical bag?”

“Uhm, duh” Remus answers “didn’tcha know? I recently gained magic powers and made my pack a pocket dimension where I can put anything I want in.”

“Mmhm, and would this pocket dimension happen to have a blanket to sit on, I’d rather there be no sand in my pants thank you very much.”

Remus is holding a tube of flaming newspaper under the logs on the twigs “you’re welcome to set up if you don’t wanna sit here and wait” he says.

“No fuckin way” Roman says with scepticism; he gasps only half surprised that there actually is a blanket rolled up in there when he looks into the bag “you really put some thought into this huh?”

“Like I said: well-planned” Remus answers waving a flaming paper tube like a wand in Roman’s direction with each word.

“Apparently so” Roman smirks and gets up to unravel the blanket to lay out their picnic – there’s a container of food in there that didn’t come from the party “you even brought berries.”

“Of course” Remus replies “they’re your favourite.”

The fire flares up and Remus beams, the light dances on his face beautifully; he turns to Roman, his large smile is proud.

He knows his face must look love sick and dopey right now “god I hope you know how much I love you” he says with adoration.

Remus crawls over to sit on the blanket with Roman “well it’s a good thing that you’re stuck with me then hm?” he leans in feigning going in for a kiss and instead licks up Roman’s cheek.

Roman squawks out “ugh, more like you’re lucky that I do” he foax pouts while wiping the saliva off his face, Remus laughs at his displeasure.

Remus’ tone is soft when he speaks despite the high pitched noise of his laugh that Roman will always be fond of “yea, yea I am lucky” he leans his head on Roman’s shoulder and the two stare into the fire for a few seconds – well Remus is staring into the fire, Roman is side eyeing Remus with a smile.

“Thank you” he whispers.

Remus lifts his head to look at Roman; his head is cocked to the side “of course!”

Roman leans his forehead on Remus’ “I really needed this, and you just… knew that and did something about it.”

“Well someone had to get you out” Remus chuckles “you’d work yourself into the ground if I wasn’t here to break you outta it, only doing my duty.”

“Your duty?” Roman asks.

“Yea, not only as the oldest but as your soul mate I have a duty to make you have fun.”

Roman’s cheeks flush a bit “soul mate…” he says softly with a very fond smile “I like the sound of that.”

He kisses Remus softly and breathtakingly at the same time, their foreheads still connected when the kiss breaks.

The rumble from Roman’s stomach makes Remus laugh out “have you eaten today?”

The flush on Roman this time is from embarrassment, he turns his head and pouts “I didn’t have any time.”

“And I’m the reckless one…” Remus rolls his eyes, he picks up a raspberry and shoves it in Roman’s face “eat” he commands.

Roman opens his mouth without a word letting Remus pop the berry into it with a satisfied nod of his head and hands him the container filled with them and Roman wastes no time in eating more; Remus opens the amber alcohol and takes a swig right from the bottle with not even a wince.

“Holy shit how can you just do that?” Roman asks befuddled.

Remus swishes his hand about “I like the burn” he holds the bottle out for Roman to take, he does.

As he’s taking a sip Remus throws a berry at his face and laughs when Roman jumps at the sudden splap on his cheek, he turns slowly to look at his twin who is laughing too much at his expense; he picks up a different berry and throws it towards Remus and it thwacks off of his forehead and his laughter stops but the smile doesn’t leave – in fact it gets mischievous.

“Oh fuck” he giggles out, he knows he’s just started something even if he was the one to throw second.

Remus takes a cookie and crushes it in his hand, he gets up and crumbles it over Roman’s head.

“Ugh!” Roman lets out his mouth hanging agape “how. Dare. You” he says but he’s still smiling; Remus shoots him a raspberry and dashes away from him, Roman scrabbles up and gives chase “come back here you heathen!”

“You gotta catch me!” Remus laugh shouts over his shoulder as he runs.

“Challenge accepted!” Roman shoots back aiming to bring his brother down for his indiscretions.

“Ha! Bring it on biiiiiitch!” Remus chortles.

Roman narrows his eyes and digs the ball of his foot into the sand to boost his running speed, Remus looks behind him to see that he’s almost caught.

“Ooohh shit” he giggles and tries to go faster, but Roman has always been the better runner so he gives in to the chase -but not calmly- he starts to run backwards sticking his tongue out and flapping his hands at the side of his head “take the shot!” he goads Roman on.

Roman leaps and catches Remus around the waist, they both go crashing down into the sand laughing and giggling hysterically Roman crawls up to straddle his twin and pin his hands above his head “ha ha ha, got’cha.”

“Oh woe is me” Remus playfully laments “what ever will you do with me now that you’ve finally caught me?”

“Hmm” Roman purses his lips in thought he then wipes sand out from Remus’ ‘stashe and leans down to kiss him.

“I aint complaining or nothing but wasn’t this supposed to be a punishment?” Remus says in a teasing manner through the kiss making Roman break it with a little laugh.

“Do not question my punishment methods, besides do you want it to be harsh?”

Remus raises an eyebrow like ‘you know who you’re talking to right?’

“Okay okay” Roman backtracks “point taken” he lays his chin on Remus’ chest and just stares “so much for not getting sand everywhere” he mumbles.

Remus laughs “you wanna go back to the blanket Your Majesty?”

Roman scoffs “shut up-” he pushes off the ground to get up “-but yes, yes I do” he holds out his hand for Remus to take and he does, he does so surprisingly not pulling Roman back down into the sand and they walk back to their little picnic setup.

Remus drops himself down and Roman shakes himself off before sitting back on the blanket picking up one of their stolen sandwich halves to continue eating.

When they’re done their little picnic they cuddle up against each other, staring into the dying fire or watching the ocean, the waves crashing against the sand in the moonlight.

“We should jump off the pier” Remus suggests.

Roman lowers the bottle that he was drinking from, his face twisted in displeasure as he swallows “we’re both a little too tipsy for that don’tcha think?”

“What? psshaw” Remus flaps a limp hand around wildly, he turns to look at Roman and wiggles his shoulders “c’mooon it’d be fuuun!” he tempts and gets up grabbing Roman’s hand without waiting for him to answer and tugs his boyfriends arm “c’mon c’mon c’moooon!”

“Okay! Yes I’m coming!” Roman laughs letting Remus pull him up.

“Yea yea yea yea yea!” Remus chants bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Remus grabs Roman’s hand and dashes towards the pier stumbling on their own feet and soft sand, once they get to the beginning of it Remus turns his head back with a wide smile on his face, oh no Roman knows that look.

“Remus whatever you’re planning, don’t!” he shouts and Remus smiles wider.

“We’re not stopping brother we’re just gonna fuckin jump right into the ocean Gucci?”

“What!? No not Gucci! I need to psyche myself up or something!”

“Do it now! We’re almost there!”

Oh god, he’s not stopping is he?

The pap pap pap of their bare feet running on the wood of the pier gets rapid as Remus speeds up.

“Okay so we’re going to jump on the bench to get over the fence!”

“Oh fuck no - Remus!” he screeches as they get to the bench, Remus jumps and Roman freezes in place - Remus however does not stop with him.

He loses his stride by Roman’s sudden stop and his whole body flips over the ledge and a harsh splash sounds a couple seconds later.

“Remus!” Roman shouts with worry and barely looks over the edge before jumping in after his other half.

Roman hits the surface as Remus comes up laughing hysterically.

Remus is giggling as Roman comes up and tackles him in a watery hug.

“Holy shit I thought you might have been hurt.”

“That was fun” Remus giggles out.

Roman pulls away to look his brother in the eye “you don’t have a concussion or are hurt anywhere?”

“Pft no, stop worrying” he waves off and when his hand breaches the water blood starts to trickle down into it from a gash on the side of his hand; they both stare at it for a beat “huh, that’swhy my arm stings” is all Remus says.

“Oh no oh my god Remus we need to get you to a hospital!”

“Nuh uhn no fuuuuckin way Broman, this” he gestures to his bleeding arm “this is bullshit, it’s nothing it’s baby stuff I’ve had worse than this and you never even knew about it.”

Roman lets out a concerned strangled sound “is that supposed to make me feel better? Cause it’s not working!”

“Chill bro” Remus says.

“No you un chill bro!”

Remus gasps “you take that back mister, I can’t believe you’d just say that to me, you don’t mean it you can’t that’s just ludicrous, my feeli-“ Roman slaps a hand over Remus’ mouth.

“Okay, I get it shut up you goober” as expected Remus licks all over Roman’s palm “ha! We’re in water I don’t care if you do tha- ouch! Did you just bite me?” he pulls his hand away.

“Not hard” Remus defends.

Roman glares “I’ll decide what’s not hard” he grumbles and cuts Remus off when he goes to respond to that particular sentence “don’t do it.”

He shrugs “fine your loss Bromeo.”

“Doubtful, now let’s get out of this water and dress your cut yeah?” he says a little impatiently.

“Fine fine fine, but I’m tellin ya” he points at Roman with his bloody hand “tis but a flesh wound and will in no way be anything other than a fun scar.”

Roman rolls his eyes and grabs on to Remus’ wrist to drag him to the land.

They walk back to their stuff and Roman doesn’t let Remus pack up any of the sandy items, he snuffs out the embers of the fire by kicking sand over it.

They start to walk back to the dorms bare footed and still tipsy, they’re leaning on each other and slowly getting back.

“You had fun right?” Remus asks.

Roman looks to Remus perplexed by the almost unsure tone he asked it in “I… of course I did, it’s the most fun I’ve had in-” he windmills his hand around “-in like years Rems, I loved it and I love you” he kisses Remus’ cheek.

Remus beams “good! Expect more of this then!”

“Hopefully not exactly this, we don’t need for you to get hurt on every date.”

“Snrk” Remus lets out “says you.”

Roman pouts at him “yes says me, is my word not enough to deter you?”

Remus puffs out his chest lifting his hand to it, waving his fingers out “I dear cannot be tamed.”

Roman snickers and nuzzles his face into Remus’ neck making them sway their walk even more and in a soft tone he says “not even if I ask nicely?”

“Cheat! You can’t be all cute and soft while asking me for something!”

Roman looks up with wide puppy eyes saying nothing else.

“I… I’ll try my best okay?”

Roman looks unconvinced – Remus narrows his eyes.

“And anyway, I’m blaming this one on you, so there” he says like a child who thinks he won and even tops it off with his tongue sticking out.

Roman straightens (hah) up at that “how exactly is it my fault?”

“You stopped the momentum bro, never stop the momentum.”

“Well you shouldn’t have been running and leaping off a bench over the fence” Roman pouts.

“Haha, and I’ll do it again too.”

“That’s not a counter point! That’s actually worse for your case!”

“Pff, I’ve done it before.”

Roman throws his arms up “of course you have.”

“And I gotta say” Remus starts “this is not only the most fun I’ve had doing it, but also the only time I got injured doing it!”

“Well…” Roman says impassively “that makes me feel like shit.”

“Aw no!” Remus shouts getting in front of Roman and holding his shoulders, he shakes him a little “no no no Romie baby! It’s not a bad thing!! Now I’ve got a scar to have a memory of this night and you know how I feel about cuts!”

Roman scrunches his face up but it changes to thoughtful then resigned “yea, okay” he sighs “this is the norm for you.”

“Exactumando brother love!” Remus exclaims throwing his arm over Roman’s shoulder to continue walking.

Roman snickers and shakes his head good naturedly.

They get back to their room and immediately start to shuck off their gross sandy wet clothes, Remus’ cut is not completely bleeding anymore and when they dress enough to be comfortable –meaning Roman in pyjama pants and Remus begrudgingly in boxers- Roman takes out the first aid kit.

“C’mere you” he sits on a bed and pats next to him, Remus bounds up to it and plops his butt down.

Roman takes his hand to start cleaning out the wound “man, I wonder what got you, this is gnarly…”

Remus takes his hand back to examine it “oooh yea it is! This is gonna be a pretty one!” he enthuses.

Roman chuckles “god you’re so weird” he says fondly.

“But you looove it” Remus sings poking Roman’s cheek and wiggling his finger around.

“I dooo” he sings back and grabs Remus’ hand towards him “now let me finish this, even if you don’t mind or even like this you won’t like it being infected.”

“Anything you say princey baby” he salutes with his other hand.

Remus is gazing softly at Roman while he dresses his cut “heh I feel like a knight who got hurt in battle and my wonderful prince has decided to patch me up all pouty like.”

“You read too much fan fic, and I am notpouty.”

“Not right now you’re not and you do too” he shoots back.

“Irrelevant on both accounts” Roman says.

Remus shoves him lightly “totally relevant bitch.”

“Mm nope” Roman shakes his head “no relevance here…bitch.”

“I’ll show you relevance.”

“This word has no meaning anymore” Roman points out.

“You have no meaning anymore.”

“Oohkay time for bed I think, how long have you been awake for?”

Remus finger guns him with a wink “not relevant.”

Roman bursts out laughing “let’s not start that up again, I say let’s call this even and go to bed hm?”

Remus smiles adoringly at Roman “ye I think that’s a goooood idea” he snuggles up to him even before he gets to the pillows, Roman just drags him up with him and lays the blanket over them.

He kisses Remus’ forehead and snuggles into the bed and his love.

“Love you” Roman whispers.

“Love you too” Remus slurs out.

And off they go to sleep.

[blankdblank]

Ridikulus Pt 36

“Among word of an incoming engagement to both Elven King and Lord on the heels of a soon to be named premier of Jaqi Black’s latest cinematic appearance comes with another new tidbit to clarify a long since pondered puzzle. Not a few months past the win of the Kenmare Kestrals, the team which won the Quidditch League Cup with Miss Black at the helm of Thief, an unmistakable pregnancy was announced by Rita Skeeter. Such conditions are protected and some fans have questioned if the Kestrals should have relinquished the trophy as their Thief has possibly broken that rule against harm of any possible child conceived at any duration of a pregnancy.

From none other than Newt Scamander we have our answer, Boa Red Panda Cubs. Known upon further research to have used Morphers as surrogates in the past while Miss Black and then fiancé David Tennant had been guarding their surrogate for their little girl on a protected island question of survival through the oncoming battles brought on a wish to leave some good behind should the worst come to pass. An old offer from Newt, known to be good friends and mentor to Miss Black since discovery of her Basilisk on Hogwarts grounds, was taken up and together have forged a new brighter future for a once marked to near endangered status with populations soon to be thriving with hoard of daughters in the fifteen cubs born, fourteen of which are female.”

Process of impregnating was next along with statistics that even before the war they were marked for extinction if they had not been regimes to your islands anyways through the destruction of their home territories in the war. With a stunning two month gestation period to calm any nay sayers on you being so heavily pregnant for such a short time out of nowhere. Some more it carried on filling in details on the rare breed and then branches into how this was a much needed good bit of news on the heels of a chunk on the yearly pox push that was marked as successful branching into news on the fostered youth in the Elven and Dwarf territories.

Letters plopped onto the end of the table and Regulus said, “Jaqi, from Newt.” Waving the letter he lifted them opened at your approving nod reading, “Apparently Newt has been hearing whispers on an inquiry into the validity of your win on terms of pregnancy. He submitted memories of conception and birth to go with his official statement on the event along with documented notes on the Panda populations. Apologizes for not warning you sooner.”

You shook your head, “Had to come out soon enough with the new season.” Continuing to finish feeding Em so you could eat before your first class.

The second page however was turned to and Lindir said, “Oh,”

You looked at him as Regulus asked, “Oh?”

Lindir said, “It’s a death notice. It reads, speculation and rumor has spread around the absence of a driving force of our allied forces these near on two decades past. Harry Potter, upon the discovery of Auror Nymphadora Tonks, wife of freshly elected Minister of Magic Remus Lupin, has been revealed to have sacrificed himself to push Auror Tonks and another to safety in the call to flee. While hope was held out in the search of the final missing duo and searches of the new lands were approved by the leaders of said lands coming up moot with the exception of the discovery of another kingdom named Rohan.

Aged just out of his teens brave young Harry is survived by numerous aunts, uncles and cousins along with his newborn son now in the custody of his godfather Sirius Black.

For now this is just a notice of death with another issue to follow enlisting all of those lost to the flight and battles prior destroying our old world. While talks of a memorial are still in discussion within the Ministry walls to be forged and no doubt unveiled in the summer breaks of our magical schools to ensure all will be available to attend.

Again the Ministry is continuing its plea to not use the flue system until all grids have been inspected. Out of a yet to be explained fluke formerly assumed deceased Leta Lestrange was discovered by her distant relation along with that of her oddly still toddler aged baby brother Corvus Lestrange. Their arrival came on the heels of the feather and spider barrage from the flue system making it all the more puzzling as no other long since deceased figures have been discovered as of yet.”

Sirius said in shifting the bottle in Fin’s mouth, “We had to say something. People kept asking on Harry and no doubt would when Leta was spotted.”

Em swallowed her last spoonful and Regulus smiled taking her on his knee as you said, “Not a bad explanation.”

Neville said, “Well Hermi and I are off to check on Lockhart today, see what he remembers.”

You asked, “Luna not going?”

Luna answered, “Oh they have me helping Draco with possible ideas for the memorials. I was thinking of involving Thestral charms somehow, or Nifflers if the former is too morbid for some.”

Neville, “Besides, we figure since we know him a bit more than others he might be more open to sharing with us.”

Ginny said in your glance her way accepting the crescent roll bin she passed your way, “I get to go with Regulus to gather notes from Star Speakers from the Elven Kingdoms to pass onto our Astrology classes. I get the impression it will take a while.”

Again Lindir turned the page taking in each odd article until he said, “Three headed puppies for sale... Is that accurate?”

He asked looking to Regulus who leaned in, “They’re not meant to sell those in papers. Strictly protected creatures requiring licenses.” Reading over the ad he said, “Cerberus do have three heads, however these are memorabilia on the mascots for a pro Quidditch team. Selling homemade goods to honor their favorite teams prepping for the future season and no doubt stashing up funds for tickets.”

Lindir looked your way asking, “Does your team have a mascot?”

Ginny answered as oh were eating, “Kenmare Kestrals have golden harps on a green background. Other than that they are known for using Leprechauns on occasion.”

Lindir looked to the paper in search of an ad for that and Regulus chuckled, “True Kestral fans buy from the source. Their own shops in Ireland. Badge of pride for them getting goods with the official seals and details around signatures from their favorites.”

Lindir nodded, “Yes, Lord Glorfindel informed us of the tradition of autographs. Quite interesting gifts from those you admire.” Again he looked to his paper and you held back your giggles at his tries to blend in on his second morning he had slept over the night prior. Figuring out himself how he fit into the incoming future of dwelling with his One. Before long however you were off to school claiming a kiss from Em on her cheek as well as one for Fin then hurried off through your door to make it to your desk in time for your students to enter. All seeing your hands smoothing around the waistband of your jeans ensuring your blouse was tucked in properly still. Questions still lingering in their eyes with a few papers spotted in between making you say, “Alright. Before the lesson, anyone have any questions about today’s paper?” All the hands shot up and with a smirk you went a desk at a time answering each to calm any confusion or concern from those stunned by some of what was in the papers.

 *

Tucked in a private suite in the bustling floor for energy maladies Lockhart laid back in his assigned bed still under watch of the doctors there ensuring nothing else had befallen the popular Wizard. Upon seeing the familiar young Ministry Members he inched up in his seat grinning at the pair collecting a silver framed compact and another small trinket now rested on his lap. “Miss Granger and young Longbottom, I was curious which of my old students would be sent my way to question me.”

Pulling a duo of stools from the wall over the teens sat and Neville asked, “Feeling better? Remus said you were rather queasy last time he saw you.”

Lockhart nodded and said, “Yes, and I am pleased to have been so prompt in checking on me. While it appears mainly my captors were only able to drain my energy I was able to ascertain much more. And while some may not believe me to be of much use sans powers my plan worked out brilliantly.”

Hermione’s brows arched up, “Your plan? You planned to be captured?”

Lockhart nodded with a spreading smile, “You see, we arrived here and there were whispers of a Wizard hiding horcrux and deeming to endanger us all. How better to draw out such a fool than with a chance to take a hostage. I make quite the damsel, and I knew you all would find me soon enough. The Elf Lords did share which lands were known and which might be more likely for said baddy to be hiding in. Starting off, I have this for you,” passing over the silver framed compact to Neville closest to him. “Mirror glass charm contains my travels and especially the castle they kept me in, which is where I found this,” into Hermione’s palm a golden ring with runes of Khuzdul around a large rectangular sapphire narrowing her eyes recognizing Durin’s marker inside the band. “There were two more I couldn’t reach. But that one I managed to get close to. I know they said that Wizard had an affinity for using rings for his misdeeds so I assumed that might be the most useful.”

Neville asked, “Where did they take you, any idea?”

“Just past Gondor within a ring of mountains, not Mordor, I know Mordor has a volcano, there was one in the distance, perhaps one of the Elves might know where I was. Upon our flight back however there was a destroyed little village we flew over similar to where the Dwarves were met heard those houses were in hills. Caught sight of Mordor and a set of islands in the distance all coated with white glowing trees.”

Journals were brought over from his night table as well copied to ensure he had full record of all this adventure the pair flipped through listening to his sharing exact details around symbols they knew to be where he would embellish later. And when they went to leave he grinned saying, “Some might find it a bit mad however this will make a perfect plot for my next best seller.”

His next round of tests had the duo leaving trading nods and handshakes with the former Professor on their way to head to your house first to go through the memories and journals more thoroughly. Leaving the possible basilisk venom dip of the ring to you later so any memories from it might be tapped by you for more help in the search for the remaining Dwarf Rings from Sauron. A report was drafted up to share with the Ministry to be edited later for full disclosure once you had consulted the memories and Elves for information on the unknown lands and any more cursed items securing all threats to peace had been quashed.

To their evenings off the duo relaxed while Fred and George at the shop caught their first glimpses of a few Dwarves eyeing the shop known to be yours. The brothers stealing glances at one another from across the sales floor making note to share with you more clients for the gender swap potion clearly successful by Thorin’s demonstration.

Ginny’s evening however seemed to drag on while Regulus gleefully delved into learning about the stars and constellations of this world. For his hope to possibly use a name for a child of his own with Lindir the rule limiting that sank his mood a tinge at least until the next tale was shared. Copies of each record was made by Regulus who would compile them later to fit better way for sharing with the schools for one of a set of encyclopedia’s of sorts on this new world and lands to be sold and used in schools to inform the masses to study.

 *

Post feeding at lunch you did get a glimpse of Regulus’ notes brightening your mood on having to keep delving into the painful subjects covered in the paper. Though after school a wish to have some time to yourself brought you to the open pastures beyond the stables in the middle of the trees you walked eyeing the branches above. Soft hoof beats behind you and a warm breath to follow shifting your raven ended silver ponytail across your back turned you around to find Turo there, “Hello Queenie, care to run?”

Grinning up at him in a stroke of his cheek he lowered his head to receive more, “Only if you’re up for it. Just needed some time to myself before heading home finding others.”

“Sometimes silence and solitude can be cleansing to a wounded heart. Our youngest require supervised runs, come and run with us, allow the forest to speak to your pain.”

“Thank you,” you said stroking his neck in a turn for the stables to dress the Great Elk hoping this run may help to lighten your spirits.

Scattered between the hoof beats stray tears flew off your cheeks in tiny gems nestling into the grass sprouting wild flowers for the opening steps of the run until the smaller elk came into view and surrounded you. The response to your letter to the Pear clan about the papers was thankfully supportive with actual glee that Em was never in risk for being harmed. Each of them so proud to hear of your special task of aiding an endangered species supporting the affection you have for magical creatures they treasured highly since first meeting you. They had put up with so much, the whole David mystery and dissolution of whatever that was just as suddenly as it had popped up, Em out of nowhere before the nonexistent wedding, and now hearing you carried cubs for a giant cuddly creature. You just hoped Em, if she learned the truth, she wouldn’t hate you for what some could be seen as a bold faced lie.

The boys were well aware that they were adopted, had memories of their families you knew they were holding back on to spare your feelings. So much like their wish to be older than they are, even to the point of barring playtime in fear of harming their clothes. There was so much you had to unlock for them and somehow in balancing the weight of all your godchildren with help of the new Ministry this generation would be a safer and happier one. Stolen strokes of your hand down Tuo’s shoulder in slowed breaks allowing another young one to pass him up had him glancing back to you in subtle checks on if your mood was lightening. A break for water however for the young ones had his head turn again to spot your downward gaze at the grass and he asked, “Are you in pain, Queenie?”

Your eyes met his and shaking your head you replied, “Do you get orphans in your herds?”

“On occasion. We have heard of the young ones you have gotten charge of. Is one of them unwell?”

“No, I just, another woman carried my daughter. I don’t want her to hate me when she finds out. Everyone knows about it now.”

Underneath you on his hooves his body weight settled and facing you as fully as possible he replied, “No greater gift to claim a young one who requires a clan. The sons you have accepted in your heart are beyond content to have been welcomed they will always bear a fondness and love for their adopted mother. Your daughter will be proud to have such a mother to guide her.”

That had a tear drop down your cheek causing him to inhale deeply, “A lot of people are dead because of me, and there was no shortage of people who wanted me dead. So many cruel people that never hesitated when I was a child to sentence me to be beaten and imprisoned. Only thing I can think of when I remember the names of people I’m responsible for their deaths is if I killed enough. If my little girl is ever going to have to be afraid to tell people her name like my dad was.” Another tear fell and you wiped your cheek on your shoulder saying after a sniffle, “It hurts so much, how easy it could have been for me to have killed them all, anyone who tried to hurt or insult me. I could have put even Melkor to shame I bet, all the chances they gave me to turn dark. Em shouldn’t have to be afraid, least of all of me, what I had to do to get us here where she could be safe.”

His mate had come up beside you turning your head with a comforting nuzzle of her head into your belly, “All our fathers face painful seasons we may not weather to build our herds stronger. Your pain will not be lost to your daughter.”

Tuo spoke again, “There is honor in kindness little Queenie. In mercy. A strength some will never face. Hard lessons must be given to our young and we must stay the path we cannot shield them from all suffering and trials.”

“Thank you,” you said stroking her face and his neck again. “I don’t mean to sour the mood of your run.”

Another of the Elk stated, “You have soured nothing. Runs are great times for clan discussions.”

One of the other females added, “We have seen the birth and growth of many a young one, the troubles are welcomed among our herd. Your daughter is your first child, always the most worrying along with your final child.”

The bounding steps of her youngest from his full belly of water had you giggle at the circle around her he made joined by his cousins around the legs of their own parents starting the second round of the run. It was nothing new you had heard but somehow with the hoofed creatures you felt more support in hearing it from them. Back to the stables you got swinging your leg over the front of the saddle to drop down and begin undressing Tuo who pressed his head into your belly glad for the gentle hug to his head and peck to his forehead as a goodbye freeing him back to his family. “Pleasant run, Darling?”

Turned around your eyes fell on Glorfindel in his moment to wet his lips looking you over in this stolen time alone, “The baby elk are adorable.”

However you hoped to sound closing the distance he asked with hands smoothing from your shoulders downwards, “Something is troubling you.”

“Just over thinking the reaction Em might have to hearing I didn’t carry her when she’s older. The Pears are relieved, like others have been that she wasn’t in danger at all.” Inching his head closer to silently urge more from you he sighed to your stating, “I’m fine.”

The distance between you was closed and what was meant to be a brief kiss found him again pressed into that moment of that evening he had to leave you from such a warm chance at entangled matrimony to finally be all yours. Firmly his hands pressed into the small of your back melting more into the kiss that lured your hands from his middle upwards. Clearly he had hoped for a place more secluded, yet in the stroke of your fingertips along his jaw in a path towards his ear the stall he felt you step back to would have to be accepted for now. Two blind steps and he readied to lift a hand to open the gate to at least be inside for some semblance of privacy only the back of his hand met silk. In the blind fumble a decision of your own called your enchanted doorway that brought you straight inside the King’s apartment, unknowingly into the back of the King.

From the papers in hand his eyes rose turning at the body that pressed into his back. Pink lipped in a break for air Glorfindel straightened up a bit as you turned your head to catch the turning King’s gaze that warmed in seeing it was you. “Hello, Dew Drop,” you managed to squeak out with a hint of a blush that made the corner of his mouth tick upwards.

“Hello, My Darling Starlight,” his eyes scanned over your face.

Glorfindel said, “Apparently our Love is fine.”

“Hmm,” Thranduil hummed and shifted a hand to stroke though your hair behind your ear, fingers finding their own strands of curls to tangle in at the warm demanding kiss, through which Glorfindel’s hands stroked along your back and side. The moment his lips left yours however to press to your cheek below your ear Glorfindel moved with a hand raised to your neck, thumb extended to angle your head in a slow tilt granting the King a straight path to trail his lips meeting your shoulder when you turned your head again. Hungrily now claiming your neck Glorfindel moved in what would be the tipping point to a blind tugging path to get the three of you on the lounge in the bedroom now locked to prevent the children coming in.

Against the back of the lounge you rested still on a knee stretching to give Thranduil more neck to claim. His hand you found only partially certain of its owner to ease up under the end of your disheveled shirt for the snapping of the tether or restraint. Your shirt went first and down your chest to your back he moved guiding you to melt more into Glorfindel’s kiss so he might selfishly steal the first taste of your skin and claim as many strokes and caresses as possible until Glorfindel gained the courage to be more bold. Their shirts were next and again in a tangle of lips that same hand was smoothed along your thigh in a silent path to the waistband you had magically undone.

Permission was given and while your hands worked the pair into a frenzy around you his to make you come undone first while his moan parted lips savored the bare skin revealed between those obstinate loose curls failing to bar him from that tempting silky skin on his newly made wife. Easily they crumbled first and in an experienced albeit rusty endurance Thranduil made easy the task of turning you to lay you against Glorfindel’s chest to wiggle your lower layers off and see to your release next.

Slow and tender his lips found yours upon your recovery and with a chuckle blending into your soft giggle to Glorfindel’s question of, “How do I touch you?” Thranduil simply kissed you while you did the instructing, until he had the chance to lay you against his chest to hold you through the finale of your lesson, hands loose and wandering to the helpful nibble on your ear.

Just breathing in the silence you sat between the pair, like kittens nuzzling their heads affectionately to yours with stolen kisses in between, both allowing you the first word in joint adoration of this blissful union. “I take it this means we’re married now.”

Those were the magic words and with a thumb used to turn your chin in a blissful hum Thranduil replied, “We are married,” claiming the lingering kiss to seal those words into being contractual. All it took, the offer of matrimony after the physical union and with agreement and kiss the marriage is born.

Of course you didn’t get the depth of that offer for them and how long they had waited to have this one particular moment they had dreamed of come true. Glorfindel was next not missing his chance to reply, “We are married,” beginning a kiss for which reason why you couldn’t help but struggle against the moment ending smile fighting to spread across your face.

The next silent moment however came with your hand smoothing over the droplet of milk now leaking out down your belly. “I should probably take a bath and pump.”

“Of course, a bath sounds wonderful.” Glorfindel said in his pop up with smile down at your bringing out yours at the Elf with haphazardly loose pants still open and threatening to fall that matched his lopsided curls your hands had eased one side slightly out from the ribbon wrapped down the length of his ponytail. Into his offered hand yours settled and you found your feet with crownless King smoothing his fingers through his out of place hair ignoring the open pants shifting down his hips in each step.

Thranduil, “Give us a chance to give you a massage as well if you wish.”

The pair while you dipped a foot into the hot spring in the open bath tugged off their boots and pushed the last of their coverings down to step into the water to help you down into the seemingly bottomless pool of a tub. “How deep does this go?”

Thranduil, “Not far, the bottom is lined with abyss crystals however that deepen the appearance of it. There is a bench inside here.”

They both helped you to sit down and while he worked the ribbon wrap from his hair Glorfindel said, “You most certainly were not fine when I found you. Would you care to discuss it? We are your husbands and here to aid in your burdens.”

Softly you sighed watching Thranduil’s long arm bring the floating soap bowl over in case you wanted to use some of his. “I was doubting if I killed enough of the despicable people from my world so Em would never have to be afraid they would do to her what they did to me.” They shifted closer to your sides in the lift of your feet onto the bench in front of you. “I’m never going to be perfect, I have moments or days even where I get so helplessly lost in the pain of all those wrongs. Seventeen years I didn’t have a life that was mine, I didn’t matter except as a shield, and,” you inhaled looking between them with tears bubbling into your eyes mirrored by theirs at the darkening or your roots.

“75 adults on the Wizengamot sentenced me to Azkaban when I was eleven years old, ‘by any means necessary’ they were told to get me to surrender Tulip. That’s what the records said along with notes of the names of seven ‘suspect’ Wizards who could have argued against the decision they kept from knowledge on the vote. They had me for a month before I was found. People have no idea how many chances I had to go dark, how easy they made it, and people would have still supported me. I could have put Melkor to shame. I spent so long with people that made my skin crawl, with a mark from the man who tortured my mother to death and tried to kill me and Harry. I can’t say how many times I wanted to snap and just blow up entire buildings with thousands for my death count.”

A tear dropped down your cheek furrowing their brows in focus to not cry themselves sensing the pain you were expressing. “I lost it once, I thought my aunt Bellatrix had killed my dad, I had her head in my hand and, I slammed it into the ground. And I kept punching her until she stabbed me in the side to get me off her. I lost it,” you whispered out to another two tears falling and you shook your head lifting a hand to wipe your cheeks. “Remus managed to snap me out of it, and I managed to get back, to the plan. I haven’t been able to breathe for seventeen years, and it hurts to breathe a bit right now. But, I’m trying, to see who I can be now.” Your eyes shifted to Thranduil saying, “I wouldn’t trust me to be in power right now. I’ll try to help you both if you need it, but-,”

They moved closer and smoothed their hands over your arms and Glorfindel said, “Take your time. There is no rush. No one is going to force you into anything you don’t want to take charge of. We have charge here.”

Thranduil drew your gaze adding, “No one is harming our little ones. There is an army to guarantee that now, all of the Elf Lords would send armies should anyone dare to be foolish and harm a child in these lands. A promise the Dwarf councils will surely back as well.”

“I’m sorry,”

You said and he again shook his head saying, “You owe us no apology.”

“There always was a goal, a job to do, no mission.”

Glorfindel said, “You will find peace, that was very much my same pain upon my return. The restlessness. I know you will handle the pain better than I had.”

Thranduil chuckled saying, “Made it his mission to collect every uncut quartz stone in our river beds. Took him months and upset countless beavers and bears in the process. Five hundred years of watching him drenching wet being chased by some creature roaring after him. You make mistakes, you learn and heal.”

You nodded and said to the ripple of your hair to silvery blue again calming them a bit at your pain retracting its claws, “Well whoever cleans that couch will be furious, I’ll charm it when we get out.”

Glorfindel began to smooth his hand down to your leg he claimed, “Pay no mind to the couch,” massaging it while Thranduil claimed the other.

Couch charmed and wrapped in a towel you dried your hair with your wand using a jet of warm air you shifted to help the others with theirs afterwards giving both a time to smile in your fingers again traveling through their long locks. Again in fresh pants the pair found you now in shorts and a tank top, lip tucked between your teeth in thought widening their curious smiles on the path to your sides for another cheek cupped kiss for the both of them from their loving wife once you had finished pumping your milk. Both speaking to you sweetly all the while and helping in the transition between bottles when the two were filled and capped the third when you had tapped out halfway.

Behind his back however Thranduil kept the hand holding the box with gift meant for just this occasion to Glorfindel’s hand being offered that snapped you from your thoughts. “Might we discuss something with you a moment?”

You nodded and joined them back on the couch, wetting your lips in the cross of your legs to look at the pair on the foot stools in front of you. Glorfindel anxiously bumped Thranduil’s arm with his and you looked between them and then to the expanded then retracted smile on his face that preceded his throat being cleared. “Our Love, now, with this new deepening of our union comes certain tokens to bestow and so after much deliberation and sleepless nights put to use between us we wished to present this to you. Like a small metal book the box now resting in your palm waiting to be opened in the retraction of the King’s hands from leaving it there. His fingers hovering a moment then reaching out to open the lid that caused your heart to skip.

Inside on 4 overlapping bands, 2 black, 2 silver with white glowing stones lining these. In the center a yellow heart also surrounded by more of the white glowing stones with two black antlers extending above it. “Oh wow,” you whispered to yourself.

Glorfindel said, “The black metal is Galvorn, a black form of mithril, among some of my properties returned to me upon my awakening from Gondolin and the lemon quartz stone is also from my gatherings that we chose together.”

Thranduil, “The rest of the ring is silver mithril with the remaining white stones that are from my collection of Lasgalen stones from Doriath carved out of the heart of a fallen star gifted to my line from Valar Queen Varda.”

Carefully you lifted the ring from its box that felt impossibly light for how heavy it should be. “Is this the, do you have separate engagement and wedding bands or is it all in one? We haven’t discussed this before.”

Thranduil, “Upon meeting your father we have chosen to adapt to your customs of using engagement rings, now, we are bound by marriage for our kin though a ceremony of sorts could be planned according to your customs. Also we are aware these rings sit on separate fingers to ours that sit upon our index finger and this has been fitted to your chosen ring finger.”

“You measured my finger?” You asked with a hint of a grin.

“Estel was bribed to help us with that.” Glorfindel answered, smiling as you watched as he eased the ring onto your finger that fit perfectly, “When you are ready to discuss a ceremony we could possibly discuss designs of what a wedding band might be.”

A moment you bit your lip and said, “I need some dirt.” Parting his lips at your pull back to ease over the back of the lounge you swung your legs over to head for the window revealed in the magical ease of the curtains back in its opening to let you pass through it. The pair of them stretched to see what you were doing, watching your stroll across the patch of grass looking between each of the bushes in the marked off garden plots, beside a patch of orange flowers they saw you charm two handfuls of dirt out of the ground, careful to leave the few small worms back in the garden. A bit confused a pair of guards tilted to watch your path back through the window that closed and covered itself again leaving you just in the sight of the duo.

Glorfindel, “You need dirt, for, what exactly?” He asked watching you ease back over the back of the lounge you sat cross legged on top of again.

“Not exactly fair if you both don’t have something shiny of your own.” Their brows inched up only to see your skin begin to shimmer in the multicolored hue of your eyes that grew lighter in spectrums of color to the deeper the breath you took in. Out of your lips around the dirt clump above your left palm a white flame escaped your lips while you mentally recited the Draconic spell splitting and contorting the clump in half. More and more they compressed making the shapes of rings, in the center an oval mystic quartz stone sat between two wide flat black metal edges of the ring that dipped for a platform for the stone, down the band the ring grew thinner and held white opal shapes between strips of the black metal.

A second breath drew their focus back to you on the lift of the second clump that you blew out over the clump that split into three, this time for two more black metal sat around five round green opals, the one in the middle the largest that around the top and bottom had five emeralds closing it off. The third had the same metal and shape, merely with blue opals and sapphires around the top and bottom of the center opal.

At the dim of your glow they watched your hands to shift and offer the both of them the larger of the two styles of rings then locked their eyes with yours as you said, “These should morph to fit whatever finger you slip it on and won’t break, for your engagement rings if you like them.” Timidly the pair accepted the rings, lost for words on the skill of the gift you had made for them, looking next to the pair of green rings that they stared at taking in every detail of these as you slid them over the ends of their index fingers to the last knuckle. “We’re married,” that had their eyes shoot up to yours again missing the ripple of the stones’ colors turn to yellow, “Ceremonies for my culture can wait, we can have a family dinner or something. You’re a King and a Lord, you deserve to have your status marked. If anything I can always just put in the paper I eloped.”

Thranduil, “These,” he said clearing his throat to steal a second glance down at his hand that had him exclaiming, “It’s yellow now!”

“They change colors, I can make them stop-,”

“No,” they both said and after a shared glance eased their engagement rings on above their wedding bands. Tenderly with free hands Thranduil took the wedding band from your hand he eased onto your left index finger locking his eyes on yours. “I have never seen rings of this skill before.”

“I rarely make rings, yours must have taken months-,”

Glorfindel eased his hands around your free hand, “Thank you falls utterly short. Elleths rarely forge in our culture, merely hire a master craftsman. We will be the envy of all with your unmatchable gifts.”

Thranduil said, “Yes, truly. These five opals alone would have taken weeks to shape and I do not doubt several months to find the proper shade. I am flattered as well that they change hues. Five, we did not cover significant numbers for importance in our cultures, seven is sacred to our kin, five is sacred to yours?”

“No,” you said looking between them to say, “I thought, we have, five kids, between us.”

If they thought it was impossible to breathe upon seeing the ring that was nothing to now at realizing this was not just a wedding back but a sort of birth celebration as well that Legolas especially would be honored to have been included in. Glorfindel said, “Birth celebration as well, then truly this is beyond precious to us and will be to our children when we share it with them.”

“Well, um, my mother had one from my dad for theirs. Used to spark up around the stone when I got hurt. Um, Leg’s is in the middle, since he’s, well, fully grown, bad luck to put his anywhere else, and they’ll grow as the kids do and get their little crowns of emeralds.” Quickly you looked down and then up again in time for Thranduil’s lean in to steal a loving kiss trailed by a moment of foreheads tapped together. “I’m guessing you’re behind the antlers on mine?”

Lowly he chuckled and replied inching back to allow Glorfindel to claim his own warm kiss and pause with joined foreheads to Thranduil’s reply of, “It was a joint decision, as was the choice of yellow, your favorite color.”

“Thank you,” you said in their inch back and tangling of their hands in yours on your lap again. “Never really thought about engagement rings before, I mean, Barty gave me the rose gold pink teardrop ring, and it was beautiful, I was really grateful for it, I just…I guess you just don’t think of what you might want until you meet the person who you’d be needing it for.” You inhaled at their spreading smiles and said, “I’m rambling.” The narrowing of your eyes a moment had their brows twitch up tick only to hear you say, “There’s someone in my study.”

Glorfindel, “Is, that forbidden?”

“No,” you said uncrossing your legs in their rise to stand and help you up, “There’s just, someone there.”

Thranduil released your hand hurrying to the closet, “Grant us a moment and we shall inspect this together for any danger.”

“It’s not a danger,” Glorfindel turned in the doorway of the closet accepting the shirt tossed his way he found the bottom to that parted for his arms to slide through to the sleeves, “How is this so weird to say, you don’t ever just, know, something. Like you randomly pull the toast off a bit early or it will burn or you go to check on your chicken coop even though it’s not laying day to find that there’s now a huge gnawing blackberry bush taking over the back of the enclosure that has to be moved or it’ll ruin the fence? Places to go aren’t really unreasonable to explain but sometimes I just feel I have to say something and usually it goes terribly wrong but I just have to say it because I guess no one else will.”

Glorfindel, “Such as?”

You sighed, “Such as I had to tell a girl Margerie in the year of the Triwizard Tournament, she came from Beauxbatons, the school Fleur studied at.” The pair nodded in securing their shirts and robes after having tugged on their boots to their knees, “Never met her a day in my life, never spoke a word to her, walk right up to her and have to say ‘How did you like the Trout in Their Pajamas?’ She slapped me across the face and storms off! Two days later, I have this other girl Ophelia coming up to me hugging me. Saying that there’s this whole convoluted plot that had been buried with Margerie’s family that goes all the way back to a Unicorn thief who had stolen this useless children’s book from Margerie’s ancestor and then used it to break into the conservatory where Ophelia’s family had been keeping their Unicorn herd. Nearly got the ancestor locked up from his name written inside the book cover.”

Their brows narrowed in confusion as you mimed and explosion on either side of your head, “I didn’t get it either, but apparently I pissed off Margerie and she went steaming mad and ranting back to their tower and Ophelia overheard it. Apparently they both had been compiling their own internal investigations over the years and they sent what they came up with back home and they caught the guy 87 years later.” Your hands popped up at your sides and fell again, “I don’t get it, just had to say it.”

Glorfindel, “That, must be tiring, does it happen often? Was it a voice you heard?”

“Not a voice, no, I’ve been down that road, no, that time it was the cover of the book popped up in my head. Which reminds me I have to settle a flight time for the Pegasus foals, could we fly over your forest, they don’t like flying over towns they aren’t fond of seeing people.”

Thranduil, “Our forest, and yes, absolutely, these, Pegasus, are they another Quidditch team?”

“No, they’re winged horses,” parting their lips, “They also mostly have fangs, and tend to not like people, well, most people. But they have a new bunch of foals and they have a traditional first flight that has to be a long one and usually we would take them to Sherwood forest for that but the Muggles aren’t situated enough right now for us to get the Prime Minister involved for the approval of memory charms. Still a work in progress on the tolerance of us for them at the moment.”

Glorfindel, “You have flying horses and yet you do not ride them,”

“They attack people. Viciously. Their nests are normally high in cliffs out of reach from people. We just have the tolerating herd at Hogwarts in the Forbidden Forest now quadrupled from those we saved in the move here otherwise Hagrid would have handled it, the new ones think he’s going to eat them.”

Thranduil, “Why do I imagine that day Thengel will drop by unannounced?”

“Well it has to be tomorrow you can have him for tea I guess. I can show the boys, even bribe a Unicorn to drop by possibly. Buckbeak could use a nice long flight I can take him instead of the bike this time still have to get myself a new broom. He’s been anxious waiting for his baby sibling to hatch.” The confused pair followed you out of the bedroom and through to your door linked to your house where you heard voices inside of your study.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Draco said only to be answered by Neville’s sigh.

Neville, “I know that, but he told us, he did it on purpose.”

Draco, “And they let him teach us?!”

Papers were shifted and once in the doorway you caught Neville’s eye and he smiled in relief, “Here’s Jaqi, Lockhart says he went there on purpose to play Damsel. Gave us his journal and this mirror glass charm of his travels and that place they locked him inside of. And, found this.” In his palm was the glass jar holding the ring Lockhart had found that lured the Lords in around you to see it.

Thranduil, “That is Durin the Deathless’ crest. King Thror bore that ring.”

Neville, “Said there were more rings but he only could manage that one.”

“Hmm,” you said setting the ring down the accept the journal you lifted to sniff, “This is a copy, it smells like guava.”

Draco, “Kept the original for his next book.”

“Ah, naturally.”

Neville, “Says he was kept in the mountain but wasn’t Mordor. No volcano but it was in sight of an island with glowing white trees,” that had the Lords’ heads tilt to look at him directly, “And there was a city like the Shire that was destroyed on the way back.”

Glorfindel, “That is not possible, the only island with that description was taken by the seas ages past.”

Looking back at him you asked, “Which Lord would have ruled that one?”

Glorfindel, “Lord Elros. That would be Numenor, if they are correct.”

“Hmm,” you accepted the Mirror Glass Charm saying, “I’ll tend to the screaming ring later, for now, I’ll see if the Lords can help us find out where he went.”

Draco said, “We’ll keep the twins posted if you need a sub tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” you said turning back for your room leaving the pair to share their mutual notice of the ring on that particular finger, and into your closet where you confused your husbands in the tug of your shorts off to hop into a pair of jeans and long socks you added tall boots to your knees.

Thranduil asked, “How you were dressed was acceptable.”

“Not for a Mirror Glass Charm. Last time I went in one of those took me three days to get out and it was nonstop gales and moors.” Over the top of your tank top you pulled your silver low cut sweater that hung over your thighs that once the neck was tied over top you added a black rib covering vest and the holster for your wand from the pile of clothes you had sent back earlier during your bath to the vest pocket.

Glorfindel, “Three days?”

“Surely this time we can just skip to the end and miss any weather but I had to go day by day last time to figure out where they hid one of our Aurors a few years back in a Muggle Born raid.”

Pt 37

[teddylupines]

[ PLOT ARC 4, PROPHECY 6, THE CHAMELEON ] ❝ Oh, I’ve been waitin’ for something to change but I can’t escape this waterfall of doubt. Oh, my blood, sweat, and tears for twenty-some years, all bottled up and broken. ❞ TEDDY LUPIN looks a lot like that muggle, TOMMY MARTINEZ/MARIA GABRIELA DE FARIA, right? Only 27 years old, that HUFFLEPUFF alumnus works as a WANDMAKER and is sided with the ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. THEY identify as GENDERFLUID and is a HALFBLOOD (METAMORPHAGUS). [ JAY, HE/HIM, 24, EST ]

howdy hey i’m jay, and no i didn’t mean for that to rhyme but here we are. this is teddy! my child! my heart! they’re soft. very good. mean well. a little chaotic. a little messy. they have a lot of feelings. below the cut is info about teddy!

i definitely want to plot with everyone. i have ideas for people who are in the order and for people who are wraiths (listen........ plotting their relationship with valentina nott, the wraith teddy is impersonating......... and having teddy try to figure out how to interact with everyone? *chef’s kiss* the drama. i’m here for it) and just everyone please.

Teddy Lupin is my trash son (read: absolute darling love of my life 10/10 would die for him without hesitation they’re perfect and I disparage them with fondness)  and I’m playing them a bit differently than I usually do so I’m still learning about them, so please bear with me. I’ve played them a hundred times before but I’m still figuring out the nuances and details.

Teddy Lupin, in a mess of words: Strange and unusual. Turquoise. The smell of something faintly burning. Crooked grins. Bubblegum pink. An old piece of parchment (maybe it’s a map). Messy hair. Nails painted the muggle way, dried with a quick charm. Heart bursting. Odd splinters of wood. Righteousness. Rich yellows. Bleeding heart. A collection of records first started by the first Ted. Coming alive after dark. Ever changing. Grief-stricken. Scribbles on scraps of paper. An eyebrow piercing that made Andromeda cry. Cereal at midnight, no milk. Plinking keys on a piano. Blood doesn’t make family. Too many words to say. A former troublemaker. Dedicated.

To begin, as we all know, Edward Teddy Lupin was the only child born to Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. One was a Gryffindor, one was a Hufflepuff. Both were brave beyond compare, dedicated to their beliefs and to their friends -- at least, that’s what Teddy was always told growing up, and they had no reason to believe otherwise. They grew up with their grandmother, Andromeda, and they’d lay on the floor in her living room as she told stories of them both. They’d stare at the ceiling, their mind flitting with thought as they replayed story over and over until there was no way they could forget it forget it.

Andromeda, the only blood relative that Teddy grew up around, was not Teddy’s only family. And they thank Merlin for that every day. Teddy had the privilege of growing up around their godfather, the one and only Harry Potter. By extension, he also grew up around the Potter-Weasley family and their relatives. There was never any question that the lot of them were their family. Older than most of them, they saw most of the lot as younger siblings, friends unquestionably (of course, this included everyone but Victoire, but she’s another story entirely).

Going to Hogwarts, Teddy walked up to the sorting hat, their hair their signature turquoise, and they placed it on their own head and waited. And waited some more. The hat talked to Teddy, about their parents, about where they would do well. Much to the hat’s chagrin, Teddy had no preference whatsoever, so they served as no help. They wanted to go where they’d fit best (a strange thought, considering how prone to change they were). Finally, after what seemed like ages, the hat called Hufflepuff. Pleased, Teddy’s hair turned a rich yellow, and they walked to their table -- to their new family and home.

With a marauder as a parent, and a marauder’s son as a godparent, there was never ever doubting that Teddy was going to be a little troublesome, and perhaps, on some days, a little was an understatement. They were never malicious or filled with bad intent, they just craved fun and excitement. There were times they couldn’t get either of those things without a little rule-breaking. Teddy always saw it as this: as long as no one got hurt, there was no harm done. Whether they were right about that was and will always be up for debate. Despite their disposition for a little trouble, they were named prefect their fifth year, then headboy their seventh year. Their headboy badge was then charmed to say, “Head Ted”. It was much more fitting, if you asked them.

Post-Hogwarts, Teddy faltered. The plan had been to follow in Harry’s footsteps, to become an auror. They had the grades, their NEWTs were nearly impeccable, but when it came time to apply? They didn’t. They couldn’t. Everyone knew that Teddy had always been more of a lover than a fighter anyways. So, for the summer after finishing their schooling at Hogwarts, they did a little bit of everything. They shadowed mediwitches at St. Mungos, they worked at a few different shops in Diagon Alley (including a very brief stint at WWW -- it ended when they realized they had not one, not two, but three different puffles to take care of, and they couldn’t be confident in their own abilities to say no to bringing home a fourth).

Everything changed when Teddy noticed a brief advertisement in the Daily Prophet. It was written by none other than Garrick Ollivander and Teddy’s attention had been caught. It said they were looking for someone strange and unusual for a strange and unusual job. How could they have said no to that? They couldn’t. So, instead, they wrote to Ollivander, inquiring about the position, and soon enough -- Teddy was the elderly wandmaker’s apprentice. It was never where they imagined themself ending up, but they quickly realized they loved working with wands and with the renowned wandmaker.

 When Harry restarted the Order in 2023, there was no doubting that Teddy would be a part of it. Though their godfather wasn’t keen on them putting themself at any risk ,there was no stopping Teddy. Their mother had been a part of it, their father had been a part of it -- wouldn’t they have wanted them to do what was right? Teddy, though slightly morally ambiguous in school (rules were broken, fights were had -- they were genuinely good-spirited, but they weren’t always nice), not quite brave enough to become an auror, couldn’t deny that the Order stood for what was right. The idea of anyone disagreeing was blasphemous, and what the Death Eaters had done? What the Wraiths were stirring up again? Teddy had never been too keen on fighting, almost too soft, almost too hesitant, but they wouldn’t sit idle. They’d play the fight where they could. If that was offense, so be it. If it was intelligence, so be it. They couldn’t stand around being useless. Tonks and Remus’ child was not going to stand around, letting the world fight for what was right around them. ( Quick addition: Teddy’s Order Code Name is Kit -- their patronus is a fox!)

{ DEATH MENTION } When someone first told Teddy that Harry had been killed, they couldn’t believe it -- they didn’t want to believe. Harry was the Boy Who Lived -- he wasn’t meant to die. And yet, Harry, their godfather, the closest thing to an actual father they had, was dead. It was devastating. Suddenly, Teddy had to do more. They watched people give up their day jobs to dedicate themselves to the order, maybe they should do that, too. They just needed an opportunity, a chance to prove themself.

That chance came when Valentina Nott died. The Wraiths believed that she was missing, no proof otherwise or body found. The idea came to Teddy quickly, and they approached both Ron and Hermione with trepidation. They didn’t want to be seen as the kid that grew up around them, so they raised their chin, they spoke without a wobble in their voice. They would pretend to be Valentina, having been injured badly, too severely to immediately return. They knew that her rune was seen on her hand -- like her, they’d wear a pair of gloves. So long as they didn’t remove it, no one would know. It could be crucial to getting information, Teddy urged. Eventually, Ron and Hermione. Teddy would be given a chance to do this.

Teddy is getting used to the Wraiths, hiding their disgust in meetings and discussions. They’ve learned to talk like Valentina, they’ve learned to be Valentina. It’s hard, spending so much time away from the order, but this is what’s right, isn’t it? They’ve only ever wanted to do that.

Regarding Harry Potter returning, Teddy is conflicted. On one hand, they know how much pain Harry went through -- they were alike in so many ways, orphaned by a war started long before their birth, and Harry had dealt with so much more. To spare him reliving it would be merciful.  But to let him know nothing, to be naively blind? That seemed just as cruel.

For the prophecy, Teddy wholeheartedly thinks it means they will die. Whether as Teddy or Valentina, they’re willing to take the risk. Their parents died for what was right, Harry died for what was right. Maybe they will, too.

Quick and Dirty about for Valentina Nott, the Wraith Teddy is impersonating

25 years old, a former Slytherin

Betrothed to ??? someone. Honestly I’m a sucker for a cool plot idea & I had the idea that maybe Valentina was betrothed to another Wraith & now Teddy not only has to deal with the struggle of pretending to be Valentina and the Wraith ideology, but now this person who Valentina was supposedly in love with or was in love with her (more details to come later, I’m just a fool)

ANYWAYS. The eldest daughter to Camila and Theodore Nott. She has an older brother and another younger sibling. Theodore Nott had not gotten the dark mark before the end of the war but was close to it. He always had poor things to say about muggles and muggle borns as she grew up.

Pretty. Loves the idea of being more than someone else.

Talented with charms, begun developing her own spells when she was alive. Her rune was meant to enhance her power of spell-casting. Her rune was on the palm of her hand and was typically covered by silk gloves.

Her Wraith Code Name was Coruscatio, meaning a glittering, a flash

[hpdabbles]

Student Involvement Club Founder

Harry Potter was everything and nothing like Sirius Black imagine he be when he first meets his godson. 

Yes, ten years have passed since he’s last seen the little copy of James, and he knew that while Harry was James’ son he wasn’t exactly James. There were bound to be some difference between them varying form different areas. For example, James was raised in magic and Harry was handed over to Muggles to start them off.

There was a large possibility Harry could be nothing like James.  He knew this. Was willing to accept it once he learns it was Harry that proved he was innocent. Apparently, his godson was the top student of his year and was quickly gotten the title prodigy. 

He was the one that discovered his friend’s rat was Peter Pettigrew, after casting a spell over the rodent in an effort to change colors and realizing something was off with his spell. 

The boy forced his magic to “set the rat to its original state”. (Accounts from eye witness even claim Harry was too confident guiding his magic for a boy his age)  Since the rat was very much alive, Sirius’ case was open and people realize he never had a trail.

He was released with the public aware he had nothing to do with the Potter’s death and slowly been getting help to re-enter the populace. He would become Harry’s legal guardian when he could prove he was mentally stable enough to do so. 

It took him a while, nearly a year, but he was finally allowed to be near Harry. He was ecstatic, having heard so much about the boy from others- like Remus who had been Harry’s teacher last year- and sending each other carefully crafted Owls but nothing beat seeing the boy face to face.

Yet, he wasn’t expecting the boy to be so very this.

Sirius sits awkwardly in the chairs before the reception desk watching the organized chaos as the office of the Student Involvement went about their business. He wanted to visit Harry, especially since the boy was brilliant enough to ask Bill Weasley to return to Hogwarts with a crew of Curse Breakers to finally get the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.

His boyfriend- that still makes him giggly to think about- could stay as the Professor as his students all adore him. Remus spent days in a daze, amazed that the general populace of the kids didn’t mind his werewolf status.

Apparently, this was due to Harry again. The boy had been campaigning to have his classmates open their minds and with his influence and fame was able to get most of the youth behind him during his first year. 

Sirius couldn’t have been any prouder of his ward. So he had hoped into the Floo hoping to see the boy and invite him to dinner with Remus. (Also to finally tell the boy he was in a relationship since he’s been putting it off too long)

But Harry was booked in meetings and appointments until late evening. So Sirius had to sit in the small chairs feeling awkward to be gaping at the effective office the Student Invomelent Club create. 

Dennis Creevy had been kind enough to offer him coffee while he waited, handling the reception desk like the small boy was meant to be there. He had greeted him with a bright smile and an easy “Can I help you? Do you have an appointment with one of the division Heads?” the second he stepped through the door.

It was so weird. This kid’s like elven, he shouldn’t know how to properly greet customers! At least, not better than Sirius. 

“Hermione! Where’s the spreadsheet for the Margical and Muggle Art Exhibition?! I need the expense rates before Friday!”  Harry shouts over the sound of various Hogwarts students chatting and working over their own little desks. Students from all house, each with their own cubical covered in quills, files, and rolls of scrolls, lined behind Dennis’ small back.

Some of them glance up to the head desk where Harry sits but upon realizing the Boy-Who-Live wasn’t asking for their department return to what they were doing.

 A young fourth-year girl with big bushing hair sprung up from her desk, desperately grabbing sheets and running over to the young man that may as well be a muggle CEO.

Maybe he is. 

“Luna! I want the list of creatures for the self-study program yesterday! Headmaster needs the approval before midnight!” 

“Of course Harry”

“Colin, I thought I told you to have the Yearbook and Photography club meetings schedule set. These ones are overlapping and creating a time conflict. Fix it!”

“Yes Harry, right away!”

“Ron-”

“I know Harry! I’m on it! Muggle Movie Night will be on schedule I swear.”

The boy was snapping orders but not unkindly, and it was obvious the children loved to work for him, yet Sirius couldn’t help but notice how adult-like Harry is. His mannerism never seems to fit his physical age. Somedays he wondered...

“He’s just stress,” Dennis tells him, appearing at his side silent as a grave and making the adult jump. The boy is holding a tray with a steaming cup and smiles when grey eyes lock on it.  “Harry’s in charge of all the Student Involvement Club so he has to write and approve the reports. Some of the department heads slack off so now everyone a bit rushed.”

Taking the cup, Sirius twirls it in his hands.  “What departments are there?”

“Oh, what isn’t” The muggleborn laughs.  His eyes turn a bit starstruck as he leans into stage whisper.  “Harry tried to have anything the students may be interested in approved and organize into clubs for us to enjoy. Sports, Studies, Hobbies; if you can name it, Harry will work for you to be able to enjoy it here. He got permission to have Muggle Movie Nights. With Popcorn and everything. We watched Aladdin last month!”

Sirius has no idea what Aladdin is but he nods like he does. Anything to get this kid out of his face.  He was leaning too darn close.

“ Harry even got the Headmaster to sign for a GSA.” The boy says smiling so wide his face may split. He shows off his rainbow Alley badge with a proud puff of his chest. But upon seeing Sirius’ face he explains.  “Gay-straight alliance. It’s a muggle name. The wizarding world is accepting but it’s nice to have a place to go in complete support you know? My brother even found a boyfriend! ”

Yes. Remus had been over the moon- heh pun- about it. The GSA passed out information about bisexuality and it was refreshing well researched. His lover was always up for his sexuality to be spoken about with respect.

The receptionist snaps his fingers.  “Oh hold on, we just created scrolls that explain everything we offer.” 

Running over to his desk, Dennis ducks under Draco Malfoy’s newest statue the boy brought in. If you were ever to ask Sirius if he thought he see a Malfoy happily doing office work he laugh in your face a few years ago, but Harry had apparently been able to see the boys love of supplicating and convert the pureblood into a Department Head for the said subject/club.

Dennis returns handing Sirius the roll, with a smile, leaving just as quickly and the adults spend a good twenty minutes looking over all the programs and events Harry has started.

Each title had a description, follow with fees, dates and meeting times, materials needed and the contact information for the desired Department Head if the student wanted to join. Some Department Heads overlapped other subjects but all in all, everything was well organized and evenly distributed of labor. 

  If any other student ever leaves a bigger Hogwarts legacy after the young Potter they may have to rebuild the school.

“My godson is very impressive.” He mumbles.  “Oh James, you sire a business CEO.” 

“I prefer student activist,” Harry says as he walks over.  “Sounds better and less cold.”

Barking a laugh, Sirius stands to bring his fourteen-year-old- goodness he’s only fourteen!  How can he possibly have a better system then the Ministry set up at this age? - into a hug.  Like always Harry stiffens up but returns the hug, and it makes Sirus bite back swears at his muggle relatives. 

“How are you so impressive?” He asks instead, not wanting to embarrass Harry.

“It’s cause I’m actually a time traveler who used his future knowledge to set things right but got bored so now I help run clubs.” Harry is quick to say and like always it makes him roll his eyes.

It’s nice to know some of James was inherited after all.  (He never spots the honesty in the eyes of a boy who shouldn’t have such age in those green gems)

[moonysfrexckles]

All The Gold In Between (OR The Marauders: Fifth Year)

July 1976

The roar of euphoria was deafening, spilling from grinning lips and erupting from horns and clappers that crackled every time someone ragged them above their heads. Students decked out in red and gold made their way up the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, feeling the familiar buzz of triumph settle in their veins and thanking their lucky stars that, whilst Slytherin might have caught the snitch, James Potter existed to grasp victory in the firm hold of his Chaser's gloves, reigniting their reign every time he potted the Quaffle through the hoops.

"Potter! We're going to crack open McKinnon's Firewhisky stash- you coming?" Davey Gudgeon yelled, hanging back and beaming like a lunatic.

James ran a hand through his hair. It was windswept, made cold from the rush of air that had breathed life into it just moments before. The grin sparking at his lips was legendary.

"No, I'm not drinking tonight," he said, adjusting his grip on his broom and jogging backwards to the changing rooms. He twirled around, cape kissing his ankles, and called, as an afterthought, "But save me some! I might change my mind."

He couldn't hear the reply over the din of his House, still cheering and chanting and singing songs about lions and snakes. His heart was thudding dangerously quick in his chest, beating so hard against his ribcage he was half-scared it would squeeze through the bone and pop out of his body completely. It would be easy enough to find it, James thought. If it wasn’t lounging in his Common Room with his brothers, it would be underneath the stars, spread out on the pitch he was leaving now. Or sidling up to a certain redhead, with absolutely no qualms about being rejected for the third time this year.

He winced at that, unstrapping the dragon hide gloves from his hands once he shouldered open the door into the changing room. It was empty. Sirius must’ve already buggered off to meet the others. James huffed an affronted laugh at the thought.

His ears were still ringing, and he shook his head to try and regain some sense of reality. Life always seemed to stop when he was flying; the wind would continue, patting his back as it raced on by, cheering his name and planting cold, sobering kisses on his skin. The ground would shrink below him, and the sky would beckon invitingly, stretched out like a wide, blue promise. He never knew what exactly it was promising, but he vowed to find out. One day, James would take to the skies and he’d never return.

“Honestly, Prongs, you’d think you were moisturising with how long it takes you to get fucking dressed!” exclaimed Sirius Black from the doorway.

James whirled round to grin at him.

Sirius had already shrugged out of his Quidditch robes, though he remained in the cream leggings and Gryffindor striped jumper; his boots were laced up to his knee, hair still somehow impeccably in place (a feat James never seemed to manage, even when he tried) and arms folded across his broad chest.

“Perhaps if some bloody prat hadn’t left me, I’d be ready sooner,” James replied indignantly.

Sirius pushed himself off the doorframe. “We both know that’s a lie,” he said. “You’d purposely take longer to punish me for not redirecting the Bludger Pucey aimed at you.”

James scowled at that, reaching up absently to stroke the whisper of a bruise left on his arm. “That fucking hurt,” he murmured.

“I don’t doubt it,” responded Sirius, eyes glinting with amusement as they surveyed his friend. “That’s kind of the point of them, is it not?”

“Then what’s your job?” James inquired. “To fly there and look pretty?”

Sirius brushed his hair from his eyes, lavishly extending his arms. “Well, if you must know-”

“Shut up, Black.”

The two boys shared a secret grin, eyes meeting in an incendiary collision of euphoric momentum. They were both burning.

"A certain redhead looked awfully pleased when you winked at her today," commented Sirius, idly picking at something under his fingernail.

James tried to keep his voice neutral, though his ears perked up regardless. "Oh?"

"Yes. And a certain greasy haired bat couldn't look more disdainful if he tried. He set Peter's robes on fire again you know. Just before the match started."

"Oh."

James felt a frown pull at his face.

"Don't worry, Remus managed to put him out before the fire could spread," assured Sirius. "But still... it's more the fact this is the eighth time he's gotten in our way just this month. Really, Snivellus needs to be put down."

"He gets as good as he gives," James reminded him softly.

Sirius spluttered in outrage. "We retaliate. It's called defending your honour, James. Something that the Snake clearly doesn't have-!"

"Still," James sighed, running his fingers through his hair again. Sirius' eyes followed the action. He often pondered on whether his friend's hair was just naturally as stubborn and stuck up as it was, or whether years of worrying it like that had caused it to remain fixed in position from pure habit.

"Don't tell me you're starting to feel sorry for Snape," he said finally, tearing his eyes away.

James shot him a look that obviously implied he was barmy. "Of course not." He started pulling off his helmet and chest gear. "He chose his path. We chose ours. I don't want to be affiliated any more than I have to with someone who dabbles in the Dark Arts for fun."

Sirius was quiet for a moment, and all that could be heard was James' occasional scuffle and huffed swearing as he struggled to disrobe.

"Leaves no question about whether he's going to join that Anti-Muggle group on the rise, does it?" Sirius asked finally. His tone was flat and it seemed he wasn't really asking at all, more stating it as fact.

James paused. "I just don't get what Lily sees in him," was all he said, before dropping the subject entirely.

It didn’t take him long to shove his broom and gear into a locker, planning to return for them later, and he and Sirius left the changing room, hearts still fluttering with the excitement of flying and the thrill of victory. James slung an arm around his friend, dragging him close. Though Sirius was tall, he could still fit snugly under James’ chin and the latter seemed to enjoy hauling him into his side and laying his cheek against the top of Sirius’ head. Sirius would allow himself to melt for just a second, eyes closing in the embrace, before he would wrench away, indignantly spluttering that he was a man! Goddamnit! A tall, six foot man who would not be namby-pambied! But- no, James don’t leave-

They made their way across the grounds, separating from the few stragglers still meandering up to the castle from the pitch, and bee-lined to their tree by the Black Lake. It was tucked away, not necessarily secret as the tree was visible from almost any window you bothered to look out of. Even so, the Marauders had claimed it as their own, occupying the small grassy mound, where the lake lapped the flowers and the sun soaked into the naked branches of the spindle tree. It seemed to have been charmed, for it was the only tree, in the whole of Hogwarts, that shivered in summer and bloomed bright, beautiful flowers in winter.

Sure enough, they could see the other two of their group lounging in the shade of it, and sped up their pace to meet them.

“Did you get waylaid in the changing room or were you just that drunk on victory that you lost your senses?” questioned Remus Lupin, not even bothering to open his eyes when their shadows blocked out the sun. He was laying on his back, hands cushioning the crown of his head.

Peter offered them a wave from where he was stood at the water’s edge, skimming stones across the shimmering black surface of the lake, trousers rolled up to his knees.

“Both, since you asked,” replied Sirius. “James attacked me as soon as I walked through the door. It was passionate and steamy. I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Lovely,” Remus cracked an eye open at that, regarding him distastefully. “That was just the image I needed to pervade my mind on this fine day.”

Sirius grinned at him. “What can I say? It’s a service.”

James shook his head, throwing himself down beside Remus. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a rather rumpled looking Snitch. It fluttered its crushed wings, stretching them languidly, and he let it go, watching with keen eyes as it sped around his head, before his hand shot out and he caught it again. Remus’ eyes followed the action, before he turned his head away and scoffed.

“School property, James,” he reminded. “I could report you for this.”

He tapped the glowing Prefect badge pinned to his robes.

“But you won’t. I’m making the most of my resources. As a Prefect, would you dare get in the way of education?”

"I'm not sure how that works."

James merely sent him a dazzling grin, before making a grand show of releasing the snitch again. Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius sat down beside the pair of them, stretching his legs out and tipping his head back. The sun beamed down on him, warming his face with ephemeral bliss. He felt his joints ache and clench from the match, and his heart beat steadily against his chest. He could hear a bird singing nearby and the gentle skip of the stones Pete sent flying across the lake, tripping over the dark water. Sirius could feel all of life's intricacies as though they were a part of him; the water trickled through his veins, the sun blushed his cheeks, each of Peter's stones dropping down his gullet and thudding against his ribcage, in tune to the beating of his heart.

He opened his eyes, and looked around. James was leaning against the tree, head back as his eyes followed the little snitch as it buzzed around him. Occasionally, his hand would dart out to catch it, but he mainly sat still and watched it fly, a pensive expression softening his angular face.

Sirius' eyes fell on Remus then. His friend was looking worse for wear, more tired than usual, with purple crescents weighing down his eyes and white skin. Something snagged in Sirius' throat and he swallowed thickly to clear it.

He knew what night it was. They all knew. Though the topic barely left their lips, it haunted each of them and had done since third year. Sirius didn't know his class timetable, but he knew every moon cycle.

"You're staring at me," Remus murmured suddenly.

Sirius jumped and looked jerkily away. Remus' eyes peeked open. His lips quirked upward, but there was a minuscule strain that made his smirk resemble more of a grimace.

“I don’t mind,” he added and in a dry voice said, “I have been told I am a wonder to look upon.”

Sirius snorted. "You sound like me," he noted in amusement.

Remus only looked mildly offended before his face split into a grin. There was no hint of pain this time. "You've rubbed off on me."

"Please, you rubbed off on me more like!" Sirius exclaimed. "I thought for sure your angelic, innocent act was legitimate. And then not two days later, you'd blown up Nott's cauldron for calling Evans a Mudblood!"

"Don't mistake angelic for just, Padfoot. The two are very different."

They stared at one another for a moment, a slight crease between Sirius' eyebrows as he regarded his friend.

"Hey, Prongs!" yelled Peter abruptly, and Remus tore his eyes away.

James caught the snitch easily and looked at their fourth friend. "Yeah, Pete?"

Peter grinned. His bulbous cheeks, red from the heat of summer, lit up in pride and he waved the stone in his hand up in the air and said, "Watch this."

Screwing his face up in concentration, he flicked his wrists a few times before stopping and shifting his grip on the slim stone in his hand. Then, he swung his arm back and it went flying across the water.

One.

Two.

Three.

James sat up straighter.

Four.

Five.

Remus raised an eyebrow.

Six.

Seven.

Sirius' mouth dropped open.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten and the stone sunk.

Peter spun around, eyes alight with obvious glee. He held his short arms out and said, "What was that? ‘Oh, Peter, you’re so talented and exceptional at throwing stones. I’m so lucky to be your friend!’?”

Remus let out a small laugh and commented, “Because throwing stones really wins you the ladies, Peter. You should show your impressive skills off to Mary someday.”

“You mean, when he finally manages to speak to her,” said James, raising his eyebrows. Peter blushed, arms dropping back to his side.

"What about you and Evans?" he demanded, but there was no real heat to it, more of a stammer.

James frowned, and he released the snitch, lulling it into a false sense of security; four eyes tracked it then-

His hand closed around it tightly, and the feathers shivered from between his fingers.

There was a moment of silence and then James held it up cockily for them all to see, and said, "She's warming to me. You just wait. I'm going to marry Evans if it's the last thing I do."

"Judging by her contempt for you, marrying her would be the last thing you'd ever do," rationed Remus, pushing himself up. He winced, and Sirius fought the urge to reach out and stabilise him.

"Yeah, she'd murder you on your honeymoon," added Peter, once he stepped out of the water and started making his way towards them. Sirius slid his wand from his pocket and cast a drying charm on his legs, earning a grateful grin from him as he tumbled to the floor with them and began rolling his trousers back up.

The four boys sat there, basking in the summer sun, wishing this was a carelessness they could afford to drown themselves in. Alas, it was not.

“Are you ready for tonight?” asked James delicately. His eyes remained adamant on the snitch, but the worry creasing them was obvious.

Remus didn’t say anything for a moment, just continued to stare up at the branch-fractured sky, face blank as a slate, before he said, “I don’t think I will ever be ready for it.”

And the conversation was left at that.

It was only hours later, when the sky began getting streaked with oranges and pinks that they clambered to their feet and trudged their way up to the castle; James made a quick detour to drop the snitch off and collect his Quidditch gear. Dinner was well underway, and they heard the din of chatter through the slit in the heavy oak doors but passed straight by and headed instead to the kitchens. So caught up in their newfound determination for the oncoming night, and the anxious coil of their stomachs, they did not see the black eyes that followed them, nor catch the malicious sneer tainting his face.

They didn’t waste much time in the kitchens, only ate what the House Elves had saved them, before they were hurrying back through the castle to the Common Room. They only reached the Entrance Hall when they were stopped.

“Sneaking off again, are you Lupin?” a voice drawled from the shadows.

Remus’ body seized up. James slipped his wand into his hand, twirling it through his fingers as Severus Snape stepped into the light.

“Oh, Snivellus,” delighted Sirius, though the snarl was biting and sharp. “Shouldn’t you be playing with your chemistry set?”

Snape’s upper lip curled into a sneer. “Shouldn’t you be running off to get ready for whatever you wander off for once a month?”

Remus swallowed thickly, eyeing the Slytherin. His face was waxy and pallid. “What do you want, Snape?” he asked tiredly.

“Nothing you, nor your equally dim-witted lackeys, could give me, I assure you, Lupin.”

“Then, please, have some courtesy. You go back to your dormitory. We’ll go back to ours.”

It seemed this had gotten through to him, for he didn’t reply and the Marauders turned on their heel to leave, just as Snape called out, “It’s a full moon tonight. Are you aware, Lupin?”

Sirius whirled on his heel and he was upon Snape in an instant, shoving him roughly into the brick wall. He relished in the way the other boy winced, no doubt as the stone dug into his back, and a trickle of fear lighted his dark eyes when Sirius’ wand pressed into the hollow of his throat.

Then, Snape began to smirk.

Sirius ragged him forwards by the scruff of his shirt and rammed him into the wall again.

“I don’t know what games you’re playing at, Snivellus,” he spat, bringing his face close to Snape’s and speaking in a deadly, low voice so that no one else could hear, “but you need to learn when to keep that abnormally, large nose of yours out of other people’s business.”

“What happens in the Whomping Willow, Black?” Snape asked silkily.

Sirius smiled at him, and it was twisted and ugly. His murmur was barely distinguishable but Snape heard it nonetheless. “Poke the knot at the bottom and find out.”

“Sirius,” James warned, for what seemed like the seventh time. As he was about to drag his friend off the other boy, Sirius stepped backward, dropping Snape and he tumbled against the wall roughly. “That’s enough.”

Sirius’ eyes didn’t waver from Snape’s until James hauled him around, and the Slytherin watched darkly as the Marauders continued down the corridor, before disappearing around the corner. Snape reached up and touched the delicate spot at his neck. He was burning.

He climbed to his feet, ignoring the stinging of his skin, and set off in the opposite direction, cloak swishing behind him.

oOo

The grounds were silent, tucked up in a blanket of obdurate darkness, where nothing stirred nor dared to whisper in the moonlight. There was something tempting about the night, however, as though it were simply holding its breath with anticipation. Trepidation lay heavy and thick on the air.

And then, movement. The door to the castle breaking open- there was a pool of light that flooded onto the grass, before it was swallowed once more in shadow. A figure, swathed in black, made its way across the pathway, descending the small hill, before stopping just out of range of the dozing tree.

The tree did not seem sinister. It shook off dead leaves, every now and then, but other than that, remained peaceful. The figure cast an immobilising spell on its branches just in case.

When he was sure it was frozen, he edged closer to its trunk, kneeling down and fumbling for the knot in the roots. His hand found it and he pressed down, silently cursing when nothing happened. But surely enough, the tree’s branches seized up and a small opening presented itself at the very base of the trunk. Though he knew he didn’t have much time, his fingers grazed the scratch marks engrained deep in the wood, and a nasty sneer twisted his lips.

He crawled inside.

The tunnel was so obviously fashioned by magic, for the walls were smooth and held up by no visible force. His knees tripped over protruding rocks, and he could feel the dirt stick to his hands, but he made himself continue on, only stopping when the hole he had climbed in through was a mere pinprick of satin midnight, and he reached a trapdoor above his head. He pushed it open and pulled himself up.

This was not what he had expected.

He was somehow sitting in a house, of some sort, however dilapidated it might be. The floor was filthy and scuffed, the walls were wooden panels that were falling apart and every window had been barred, once or twice over. There were no lights, and Snape cast a quick ‘Lumos’ so that he could see. He got to his feet.

The more of the house he saw, the clearer it was that no one had stepped foot in here in years, decades even. Every room he peeked into was barren and neglected. It seemed as though the house had been dead for a long time, with no flicker of life to taint it.

That was when he heard it. A low whining. Coming from somewhere ahead.

Snape continued his perusal, wand held in front of him, cloak clipping his ankles. With each step, the whining grew louder and more desperate. There was a panicked scratch at the door just ahead of him. The whining stretched on, increasing in volume and vigour.

His hand reached for the handle-

Someone wrenched him back, fist tangled tightly in the material of his robes, ragging him about. Snape grappled for the doorknob but whoever was holding onto him had a secure grip and was not letting go. He tried to kick behind him.

“What are you doing here?”

He stopped. He recognised that voice.

“Potter?”

Sure enough, when he managed to get free, and could turn around to face his assailant, he saw James Potter standing in front of him. Though perhaps ‘standing’ was the operative term, for the taller boy was leaning against the wall as if for support, clutching his side and wincing every time he breathed. His hair was a mess, more so than usual, sticking to his forehead from sweat, and there was dirt clinging to his cheeks and hands.

“What are you doing here, Snape?” he asked once more. Though visibly shattered, his eyes remained clear behind his glasses.

Snape sneered at him. “Black invited me.”

James’ face went white. He shook his head, and muttered, more to himself, “Sirius wouldn’t do that.”

“Really? Then how would I know to press the knot at the base of the-”

James blinked, seemingly remembered he was there and said, “Sirius would never tell you.”

Snape scoffed condescendingly. “Then how am I here, Potter?”

But James couldn’t reply. There was a bang, a crash from further down the hallway, before a howl cut through the silence. Both boys shot to look in the direction it came from. The sound echoed through the night.

James didn’t waste a second. He leapt forward, grabbing hold of Snape and shoving him in front of him, pushing them both back to the trapdoor.

“Whatever it is you’re hiding here, Potter, you won’t get away with it. You, or your merry band of imbeciles,” Snape snarled over his shoulder, though he found his feet more than willing to comply with James’ ushering.

James glanced behind him. He was deadly serious. “You can’t comprehend anything past your vicious prejudices and sick fancies, Snape. You have no idea-”

When they got to the trapdoor, Snape hauled himself away, holding his wand against James’ throat. James eyed it cautiously, lip darting out to wet his dry lips.

“No idea about what?” he demanded.

As if on cue, a howl cut through the house again, only this time it was followed by a splintering thud, louder and heavier than the last. Both boys watched the ceiling shake, sawdust raining down.

A rat scuttled along the bannister and past their feet. James’ eyes followed it.

He looked quickly back at Snape and said, “Go back to the castle. Climb into bed and pretend this never happened.”

Snape let out a derisive laugh. “And let you get away with whatever you’re doing here? No. This will get you expelled Potter. I’m sure of it.”

But instead of flustering, James just shook his head, almost sadly, and said, “Snape… I’m going to ask you one more time. Please. Leave.”

Snape smirked. He raised his wand, and pointed it right between James’ eyes, a curse brewing at his lips.

The opportunity was ripped away from him as there was another bang. James’ eyes widened, and his chest heaved. He jumped down into the trapdoor, wrapped his fingers around Snape’s ankle and lugged him down with him. Snape kicked to relinquish his hold, swearing and hissing, trying to twist so he could use his wand and curse the bastard-

Then, from around the corner, something appeared. It was huge, scrawny but tall, spanning the doorway above them. Its eyes gleamed yellow, narrowed to slits, and it was panting and drooling. Snape could only stare at the beast, feeling his heart stop in his chest.

James tugged the door down, hastily sliding his wand out and locking it tight.

“Werewolf,” Snape murmured. The trapdoor above their heads shook violently and he jumped. James just stared at the ground unflinchingly. “It makes sense.”

“Are you happy now?”

Snape looked up to stare at James’ blank expression.

“You nearly killed yourself. If I hadn’t been there-”

Snape scoffed. “Oh, spare me, Potter. You saved yourself.”

James’ face changed then, and he shook his head. “Yeah. Because I was scare I would get the blame for this when there’s nothing at all to incriminate me. Some things are more important than reputation, or a petty feud.”

“Like the full moon?”

Snape’s face contorted into a smug and sickening sneer. James simply said, “Tell anyone and I will make whatever fate could have made of you up there look merciful. I will make you regret the day you walked into my compartment on the train. Do you understand me, Snape?”

Snape’s lip just curled, and he began to crawl back along the tunnel, ignoring the way the trapdoor still shuddered and jerked from the other end every few minutes, and the rumbling growling. Just before he clambered out into the cool night breeze, he heard James’ voice float back to him, dejected and tired:

“Oh, Sirius. What have you done?”

oOo

“What were you thinking?”

The words were hushed and stolen, spoken to the silence and Remus knew, blearily, that he was not supposed to be able to hear them.

“James.” That was Peter, quiet, timid. “Keep your voice down. Remus is sleeping.”

There was a shuffle from beside him, the scraping of a chair against the stone floor. It made his head ache, and he wanted nothing more than to burrow deeper into his pillow, but he kept still. Though his body ached all over, and there was something stinging, and he knew he should rest, he needed to listen to this conversation.

He heard James swallow. “You know how he gets in that house! He goes stir-crazy!”

“I didn’t mean-”

Sirius.

“You didn’t mean what?” James demanded in a whisper. His voice was strained, almost agonised. “You knew what would happen! There was only one possible outcome to that… Are you stupid? Are you actually stupid, Sirius?”

There was no reply. Then, there was a long, strenuous sigh.

“Why did you do it?”

Nothing.

Then-

“I wasn’t thinking.” The excuse was small, intangible. Then, it grew in desperate vigour. “I was just so fed up with him looking at us like he knew us, acting like he could set Peter on fire whenever the fuck he wanted, like he knew about Remus and could treat him however the fuck he wanted- you heard him, he mentioned the Full Moon-”

“He was grasping for straws, Sirius,” said James tiredly. “He was monitoring you for a reaction.”

“Then why-”

“You didn’t see his face. You didn’t see Snape’s face when he saw it.”

James’ voice was so low, Remus almost didn’t catch the words. Almost. They sent a ripple of panic through him, hurting more than any scratch or bruise or broken bone could, feeling as though someone had winded him. His eyes grew hot. He wanted nothing more than to be alone.

It.

He’d been called that before. More than once. The first was by his father, in another conversation Remus shouldn’t have been listening to. His father had been arguing with his mother, claiming that this wasn’t natural in the Wizarding World, this… infliction. Remus had heard the shouting from his room and had crept out of bed and sat at the top of the stairs to listen, fighting the urge to run and hug his mother when he heard her start crying. His father had broken down and told her he couldn’t do it, that whatever was sleeping in his son’s bed, it wasn’t their son.

That had broken Remus’ heart.

“You’re just much more extraordinary than you realise.”

This felt like setting it on fire.

Sirius

The burning spread across his heart quickly, devouring it in agony, soaking it in a betrayal so profound and cutting he could only ask why.

Why did you do it?

When his friends had first shown him their animagus forms, he had cried, sobbed. The thought that someone, never mind his three brothers, loved him enough to do that had rattled him to his core. He had never thought anyone could love a monster. Remus had never thought anyone could ever love him.

And yet, his friends had disproved that. They’d kept his secret, bandaged his wounds, brought him hot chocolate when he was feeling low and handed in their homework under his name if he was feeling stressed about the Full Moon. They had loved him with so much vigour and passion, Remus was sure he had felt it resonate inside of his soul and perch there like a butterfly.

That butterfly fell limp now, landing in his gut with a dull thud.

Snape knew.

Oh God. It was over. Word would be out tomorrow, and the owls would come flooding in. Parents wouldn’t want their children gallivanting around with a werewolf. The mere notion was taboo. Dumbledore would have no other choice. He would never see his friends again.

Remus started crying, and when his friends realised he was awake, he moaned in pain and pretended it was the agony of his joints forcing tears from his eyes. He couldn’t even look at Sirius, as Madam Pomfrey was alerted and she bustled over to force a few more nasty tasting potions down his throat, but he caught James’ eye. He’d always found James the unwavering candle in the darkness, like some sort of pillar to lean against and look for in times of need, but even his eyes were poison. They held pity and, worst of all, they held fear.

Pure, undulated fear.

oOo

There were no owls.

Though Remus had held his breath and closed his eyes each time the mail came soaring in through the open window, there had been no gasps of horror, no frightened looks shot his way. He sometimes felt Snape’s eyes on him, though he ignored them. Things almost went back to normal.

There was that word again. Almost.

He had not spoken to Sirius properly since that night, nearly two weeks ago. It wasn’t that he refused to, simply that he had convinced himself he had buried the pain, and it was easier to leave it in the ground than to drag it all up and face again. Remus pretended that the image of his betrayal festering in his bone marrow did not keep him up at night, alongside images of his werewolf self mauling Snape before being carted off to Azkaban.

They had been sitting under their tree again, sunshine drying up any conversation they might’ve had. Lunch was nearly over, however, and it was with heavy legs that they’d decided to head back up the grounds to the school.

“Snivellus!”

Remus felt his breath catch in his throat. His heart dropped.

James had his wand out first, eyes deceptively clear of the disdain that marred his face. Remus didn’t know why he was doing it; he could see the reluctance coiled tight in the set of James’ broad shoulders, and how his knuckles were turning white.

Snape eyed the four of them with open distaste.

“Potter,” he spat.

Without warning, he was hoisted into the air, held at the ankle by an invisible rope. His books fell from his arms, bag slipping over his shoulder. He spluttered furiously.

James kept his wand trained on him. “I learnt that from you. You wrote it in the margin of your Potions book, remember? I’ve been curious to know what it does for a while now, and honestly, I was expecting something darker.”

He swallowed, moving closer, pulling Snape down so he could murmur, “Remember our deal.”

Snape spat at his shoes. “What deal? I don’t recall making one with you-.”

James’ lips tightened into a line. He jabbed his wand sharply, and Snape went hurtling to the ground, stopping short when his head was a few centimetres away from colliding with the dirt. A crowd had assembled at some point, and there was a ripple of gasps across them.

“Don’t tell anyone, or this will only get worse.”

The two stared at one another, as colour rapidly rushed to Snape’s head. Finally, he relented and snarled viciously, “I’m not going to cross my heart, Potter. Lift me back up!”

James did so, realising this was the best he was going to get to an unspoken promise. The counter-curse was about to touch his tongue, when his attention was snagged by a certain redhead barging her way through the throng of people watching.

“Potter! Let him down!”

Lily Evans stopped directly ahead of him. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes sparkled with fury. They flicked up at Snape, and she faltered ever so slightly before her glare hardened and she refocused on James.

“Evans, this has nothing to do with you,” Sirius told her disinterestedly.

Remus had to check himself to hold back the laugh that had nearly forced its way out of him. If Sirius thought he could use that tone with Lily Evans and escape unscathed, he clearly hadn’t learnt anything in the past five years. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

“Don’t you dare, Black! This has everything to do with me!” she fumed. “I am a Prefect! If you think your tyranny of this school will continue next year, then you are sadly mistaken-"

Sirius lowered his wand a little. "Did she just call us tyrants?" he asked, amused.

Lily wasted no time. She took full advantage of his distraction and disarmed him in a heartbeat, catching his wand in her free hand. Remus rolled his eyes. They made it far too easy for her.

"Now, put him down."

James just stared at her. There was a small crease between his eyebrows, as though some sort of battle was being waged within his eyes, something that was causing him stress. It disappeared too quickly for Remus to place what it was, and his cocky facade slipped back on in no time.

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," he grinned.

Lily regarded him in disgust. "Not even if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid!"

"Hey now!" Sirius called, pointing a finger at her. "That's not fair! One's a handsy, hideous face-sucker and other is a ridiculously large squid. That's no fair comparison. It's the squid every time."

James shot him a look.

Lily chewed on her lip, glancing up at Snape again, who had stopped wriggling and was turning purple.

"I mean it, Potter! Just put him down! This stupid war has gone on for long enough-!"

"Stop it!" Snape spat out. The blood rushing to his head made his words gargled. "Just stop it! I don't need help from a filthy, little Mudblood!"

James, who had been in the process of lifting his wand to utter the counter-spell, stopped. His face grew murderous; there was no flicker of doubt across it.

"How fucking dare you," he said quietly, then roared, "She is twice the witch you will ever be a wizard!"

He started forward, fuelled on his rage, eyes livid and set on his target, hand wrapped tight around his wand. Lily ran in front of him.

"No!" she screamed. She pointed her wand at his chest.

Her face was red, almost as red as her hair, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. James deflated, arm dropping to his side.

"Lily, I-"

"No! Potter, I don't need your help! You are nothing more than an arrogant, bullying toerag!" declared Lily vehemently, throwing herself away. She dragged her sleeve across her eyes.

"Lily-" Snape began, and his voice was low and desperate.

She straightened, hand still clutching her wand. Her eyes slid to him. "Do you still intend to join the Death Eaters?"

Snape opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. The two best friends stared sullenly at one another.

At his prolonged silence, Lily's eyes widened fractionally, as if she hadn't truly believed it. Her face grew cold soon after and she said, "Have fun, Snivellus. Let's see how you get out of this one without your 'filthy Mudblood.'"

With that, she turned on her heel and started back towards the castle. Remus could hear her small whimpers, and shook his head, wishing his hearing wasn't so in tune to the suffering of the world. James' eyes followed her the whole way.

"You fucking idiot," he said, looking at Snape with thinly veiled disgust. "Did you not listen to what I said to you?”

Snape could only stare at him, hatred bubbling in his black eyes. James raised his wand, let it linger between those same eyes, and Remus sucked in a breath. There was a stolen second of silence where the world dropped away, and Remus was sure it was just Snape staring at James and James staring at Snape; two boys on different sides of a brewing war, two ideals boiled down to the basic symphony of school rivalry.

Then, James’ arm dropped to his side, and he started walking away, calling over his shoulder, “Hang in there, Snape,” though his usual vehemence was absent. Sirius followed after him, directing a quick spell and Snape’s pants flew down to his ankles. He struggled violently.

Remus started forwards. “James,” he began. The other boy didn’t even slow his pace. Peter patted his shoulder as he passed, giving him a small, hopeless look.

He continued after his friends, head down, feeling his head spin and his stomach grow cold. As he passed, he paused, eyes sliding over Snape’s discarded wand. Remus clenched his jaw before he swooped down and picked it up, holding it out for Snape to take.

The Slytherin eyed him for a moment of disdain.

Remus sighed. “Are you really going to let pride stop you from taking it? You’re hanging upside down with your underwear on show.”

Snape snatched his wand and Remus nodded tiredly, not staying to see him mutter the counter-curse and fall to the ground, as he set off up the hill to the school.

oOo

August 1976

It was a stormy night. Ravaging winds and eviscerating rain had swept in from the West, following a summer of nothing but eternal sunshine and hot spells. The skies were dark and swirling, and the road shone slick with water.

The old manor house stood largely unaffected, solid and unwavering in the face of such an onslaught. The trees groaned, shifting with the weight of the wind ploughing into their trunks, and there was a little broom shed that’s foundations looked as though they would be pulled from the earth and the wooden panels of the walls would go splintering. Other than that, there was nothing.

Until a figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was largely unremarkable, for the wind made one’s eyes hard to trust, but one minute there was solitude and silence, and with the next bout of storm, a boy stood in its place.

He was relatively tall, though his body was racked, and he was shivering violently. He ran with fear lacing his strides, clutching tightly at the thick cloak wrapped around him and lugging after his heels an old leather trunk.

The boy stopped only when he got to the house, collapsing against the doorway, gasping sharply for air. He knocked desperately.

There was no answer. Nobody even stirred.

But then, a light flickered on above him. And another. It was like a game of dominos, each light lit quicker than the last, until the door was flung open and a yellow warmth devoured him.

“Sirius?”

James Potter stood in the house, glasses shoved onto his nose, tired eyes slowly widening. His hair was stuck up in all possible directions.

Sirius tried to smile, but he could taste blood and knew it was more of a grimace.

“Dear Merlin,” James whispered.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Sirius offered quietly.

It was only then that James noticed the trunk behind him. He didn’t waste another second, throwing the door wider and ushering his friend inside, taking the trunk from his cold and clammy hands and hauling it into the entryway. The door slammed shut behind them.

James had seen many things in the five years he’d spent being friends with Sirius Black. He had seen him thrash around in the dead of night, pleading to an invisible man to stop, flinching and crying out when they didn’t. He had seen him determined and loving ferociously, stopping at nothing to make sure that Remus Lupin was not alone when the rest of society seemed to believe he should be. He had seen him cold, when the hatred burned through him, black as his namesake and eyes. He had seen him euphoric and free, laughing like nothing in the world could touch him and at one time, James had believed that to be true.

He had never seen him like this.

Sirius’ eye was swollen, purple and bulging, protruding from his ashen face like a stone from water. His lip was bust, still oozing blood, and there was a bruise blossoming on his cheekbone, ugly and grey and pink. James knew that if he lifted Sirius’ shirt, even a fraction, he’d see identical bruises, like a meadow spreading up his skin.

He was shaking, trembling so vigorously, James was sure he would burst. He was convinced that Sirius would explode and everything he’d ever felt, everything he’d held inside of him, would come ricocheting out, all the red and gold and black traversing through his veins.

“I tried calling you,” he murmured. “On the mirror. I didn’t mean to- I didn’t know where else to go-”

“Sirius,” whispered James, and he felt his throat close up. Without saying another word (he wasn’t sure he could), he pulled the smaller boy into his arms, hugging him so closely, so tightly, as if this embrace would make all of Sirius’ broken parts fit back together. But then James wondered if he wasn’t whole to begin with.

The two boys stood there, clutching onto one another so firmly they left marks. Sirius sobbed into James’ shoulder, fingers clenched around the material of his pyjamas and James didn’t mind that he was now as drenched and cold as the storm outside. His brother was safe in here, in his arms, and if it meant he had to hold him for an eternity, James would do so in a heartbeat.

“James, darling, what-?”

Euphemia Potter stopped at the foot of the stairs. She breathed in sharply, and her words were lost.

“Sirius, love, is that you? What’s happened? What’s-? Oh my.”

She didn’t wait any longer, rushing over and she bundled both boys into her arms, hugging them to her body as though they were till children in need of a mother’s embrace, and she felt Sirius cling to her, melt into her warmth.

Euphemia realised he had probably never felt the love of a mother’s embrace before. She made sure to hug him tighter.

She patted his back to let her go, pulling away and wiping at her eyes, sniffing resolutely. She cast a drying and warming charm on him, smiling softly, holding his face tenderly in her hands. “Love, we need to get you out of these clothes. You’ll freeze to death if not. James, run and get him some of your pyjamas.”

James seemed hesitant to leave his friend, but his mother’s eyes urged him and he set off at a sprint, returning mere seconds later with a pair of clean Quidditch nightclothes, emblazoned with snitches and Puddlemere United. Sirius hardly had the effort to jab at James’ shocking allegiances.

“Can you walk, dear?” Euphemia asked him, brushing away some hair by his eyes. Though her face didn’t show it, she wanted to flinch at the sight of him. A child. And yet, here he was, beaten and bloody, almost a pulp. She tried to lead him upstairs, but he collapsed in her arms. “No, it’s okay. We’ll get you on the settee for tonight and move you upstairs to your room tomorrow.”

With James’ help, they gently led Sirius over to the settee, and Euphemia procured blankets and pillows to wrap him up with. She flicked her wand and a fire leapt in the hearth, bathing the room immediately in heat.

“I’ll just go and get some balm for his eye, and see if we have any potions for his bruises. I-”

“Mum,” James cut her off.

She fell quiet and the two looked at the broken boy on their settee. He had settled into the cushions, burrowing into their warmth, with the blanket tucked right up to his chin. In the firelight, the purple of his face made him look haunted, nearly dead. James’ throat clenched up at the thought and he cast it away instantly, focusing instead on the steady rise and fall of his brother’s chest.

Euphemia felt her heart melt. A sad smile formed at her lips. “I’ll be right back.”

Luckily, because they had a son as danger prone as James, their medical cupboard was well-stocked, and she was returning in no time with the necessary balms and potions and a warm cloth to wipe away any blood, but as she stepped back into their living room, she stopped in her tracks.

James had climbed under the covers beside Sirius, and was snoring peacefully, the smaller boy tucked against his chest. He had his arm draped over her son’s waist, and every now and then, his hand would seize into a fist and he’d clutch the material of James’ shirt. James absently stroked Sirius’ hair.

Euphemia faltered.

She and Fleamont had always had trouble having children. They had thought, as old as they were, that they might be condemned to live in a big, empty house, happy and in love, though missing something, missing the echoing of laughter and the high-pitched glee that followed it, spiralling out of control, and yelling after ghosts that sprinted down the hallways and slammed doors and made messes in the kitchen, and trailed mud into the house after a day spent dancing in the rain-

The day she found out she was pregnant with James was the happiest of her life, and though he was her blessing and her joy, it had come at a cost, and she was warned that another childbirth would kill her. And so, the dreams of a big family with several children had bubbled down to one child, whom she loved with all her heart.

Now, however, she thought that wasn’t true.

She laid the tray of medicines down on the coffee table, before quietly moving over to her boys. She pressed a lingering kiss to each of their foreheads, and pulled the blanket further up, making sure it covered their feet.

Euphemia stopped in the doorway, looking back once more at her sons.

No, she didn’t have one child. She had two.

[amarauder]

chapter twenty-six ❥ original

it’s a hate-love thing original version.

james potter x reader.

James fingered the shiny Head Boy badge, and sighed as he stared at all the new and old prefects alike in the carriage. He never wanted the job, but Dumbledore had appointed him, and he would be with Y/n more often. The latter thought made him smile as he stared adoringly at the Head Girl.

"All right, being a prefect is a very great honor," began Y/n, with a sideways glance at James. "Professor Dumbledore made sure that the best girl and boy from each House in fifth year be appointed with this duty. You must set an example for the younger children, especially the incoming first years. Anyone found abusing their position will be stripped of their badge, and a worthier being will take their place. You may not deduct points, but detentions can be given when necessary. Any questions?"

"Yeah," sneered a long-nosed Slytherin boy, "why did Dumbledore appoint a Mudblood as Head Girl?"

"Excuse me," said James sharply, "but there will be no foul language as a prefect! I shall let the Headmaster know of this immediately after the feast."

"And you're a Potter," continued the boy, unfazed. "At least you're a pureblood. I hear that you're going out with our Mudblood Head Girl. Blood traitor, you are."

"Oh, shut up, will you?" James roared, causing the Slytherin to jump in surprise. "You pathetic excuse for a human being!"

"James, let it go," said Y/n, sighing. "It doesn't matter."

"But Y/n, he insulted you!"

"James Potter!"

"Oh, fine." He pouted, causing the other girls sigh audibly.

Y/n frowned. She was quite a possessive person, and as far as she was concerned, James was as good as attached now, even though they weren't officially going out as a couple.

"You will patrol the corridors for forty-five minutes," informed James, turning to the group of prefects again.

Just like two years ago, there were shouts of protests of this.

"Oh, come on, you didn't think being a prefect was fun and games, did you?" James rolled his eyes.

"Are you single?" asked a Ravenclaw girl, smiling.

"Not anymore, I'm not." He looked over at y/n, who immediately blushed and looked at her hands.

"So it's true then?" the girl persisted. "You're going out with her?"

"Yes, I am. Do you have a problem with that, whatever-your-name-is?"

"Emmeline Vance," she said at once.

"Right. Well, what're you all waiting for? To the corridors, all of you! Yes, even you, Vance."

"You have good leadership," said Y/n, grinning, as she followed the prefects out of the carriage.

"Thanks." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not much, but I am trying. I guess it all comes naturally."

"That Vance was openly flirting with you," said Y/n angrily. "Can you believe the nerve of her?"

"Well, we aren't going out officially, so I have every right to ask her out," said James teasingly. Seeing Y/n's face, he added hastily, "Of course, I'm not going to. You're too good to lose. I've waited two years for you, Y/n L/n."

Y/n smiled and kissed James on the cheek. "I know you're not going to, James."

James felt a warm desire to protect her, and slipped his arm around her shoulders, sighing contentedly. Emmeline, who was sent by the other prefects to call out the Head Boy and Girl, interrupted them, however, before they could do anything else.

"Er—hello," said y/n amicably, as she slipped out of James' grasp.

"We need you at the corridors," said Emmeline stoically. She obviously wasn't pleased that James only had eyes for Y/n, instead of her.

"Oh, of course. C'mon, James."

Y/n and James followed Emmeline out of the carriage and into the corridors, where the other prefects were waiting. Some of them were smiling knowingly, while the others raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"Sorry for the wait," apologized James, clearing his throat. "We were a bit distracted."

"Some Head Boy you are, then," said the same Slytherin who had called Y/n a Mudblood.

He glared. "Who gave you permission to talk, kid? Who are you, anyway?"

The Slytherin smirked. "I'm surprised you can't recognize me, Potter." He stuck out his hand. "Regulus Black."

James jumped back in alarm. "You!" he hissed venomously. "I knew the word 'blood traitor' sounded familiar! You're Sirius' kid brother."

"Who's Sirius?" asked Emmeline.

"My best friend. Sirius Black...you know him. We're the ringleaders of the Marauders."

"Oh, him." She sighed dreamily. "He's so handsome; is he taken?"

"'Fraid so," said Y/n, looking amused.

"Anyway." James turned to Regulus again. "You and your stupid family has made Sirius' life a living hell. You're nothing but a—"

"Now, now, Potter, you're Head Boy," said Regulus smoothly. "No foul language."

James opened his mouth furiously, but closed it tightly. "Get to work, Black."

Regulus raised an eyebrow, and then sneered. "You'll be sorry for insulting my family, Potter. And you'll be sorry you ever dated that stupid Mudblood."

"Let it go, James," said Y/n quietly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "He isn't worth the trouble."

"He's Sirius' little brother," said James coldly, glaring after Regulus. "I'm going to get him some day. Sirius said that he was a Death Eater."

"Oh, James." Y/n withdrew her hand. "You don't mean that."

"'Course I do. Sirius told me that Regulus was brainwashed by his parents, and that they all support Voldemort."

"But Sirius is so different from them..."

"Yeah, he's the black sheep of the Black family. Good thing, too, or else he and I would be enemies." James chuckled slightly.

She smiled. "Well, I'm glad that he doesn't believe in purebloods ruling the world."

"Sirius? He'd never believe that crap."

"James!"

"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly.

"Hey, Prongs!"

The heads turned around to see the Marauders and girls waving joyfully at them.

"How is Head Boy duty, Prongs?" asked Remus, smiling.

"Terrible. Padfoot, you won't believe who one of the new Slytherin prefects is!"

"Who?"

"Regulus."

"My brother, a prefect? Oh, mother must've been jumping for joy when she got that news." Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, Mother was pleased, in fact, brother, which is more than I can say for you," said Regulus, smirking. All the prefects forgot their duties and watched the exchange with interest.

"Oh, wonderful," said Sirius sarcastically. "I get to deal with a soon-to-be Death Eater. How does it feel to almost be one of Voldemort's servants, Reg?"

"Shut it, Sirius," spat Regulus disgustedly. "You blood traitor! You broke Mother's heart by leaving home without a single glance back. You, mingling around with blood traitors, Mudbloods, and halfbloods!"

"Don't you dare call Y/n a Mudblood, you Dark Arts follower! You and the rest of our blasted family follow Voldemort's path. Well, I don't! I'm on my own now, Reg, so none of you can stop me. I'm nearly eighteen, which is the legal adult age."

"Ha! You've been living off of charity of blood traitors, you have, Sirius."

"For your information, Regulus, my best friend, James, and his family are not blood traitors."

"Sirius," said Arabella, sighing. "Please stop."

"Oh, so this is your half-Squib girlfriend, Sirius." Regulus looked at her up and down. "Well, she's good-looking, to say at the least. But she's got a mum who's a Squib! If you need to pair up with someone, dear brother, then pair up with Walker here." He jabbed his finger toward Violet. "She's got a Slytherin mother, at least."

"Excuse me?" said Violet incredulously. "I happen to have a boyfriend already, thank you."

"Right, that Bradley from Ravenclaw. Well, he isn't a Gryffindor, is all I can say."

"Let's ignore him, Sirius," muttered Jennifer, rolling her eyes.

Sirius reluctantly left his little brother alone, and went to talk with his friends instead, but cast furtive looks around at the younger Black now and then with a hateful expression upon his face.

"Damn brother," he muttered ferociously.

"So, Prongs, are the little prefects listening to you?" asked Remus, trying to make the atmosphere more cheerful.

"Most of them," replied James, deciding not to mention Regulus' interruptions.

"There's this Vance girl from Ravenclaw that keeps making eyes at James," said Y/n huffily.

Arabella, Jennifer, and Violet laughed, while the boys (excluding James) held amused expressions upon their faces.

"Y/n, Prongs isn't even yours yet," said Sirius, grinning.

"But we're planning to date," she argued.

"Yeah, but Prongs can have a rendezvous with any girl before you agree to date him, and it wouldn't be called an affair, either."

"Yes, but—"

"Oy!" James waved his hand around impatiently. "Don't worry, Y/n, I won't date Vance or any other girl, no matter how tempting they might be."

A look of relief went upon Y/n's face. "Thank you, James."

"This is getting too fluffy for me," muttered Sirius.

Arabella scowled. "Shut UP, Sirius! Merlin, sometimes I don't even know why I started to date you."

"Aww...but you know you love me, Bellsies."

"If you must call me something, than call me 'Bella' or 'Bells'! Not Bellsies."

"Come on, can you guys just stop bickering for once?" said Jennifer resignedly. "You two are just like Y/n and James!"

"Where's Jackson?" said Y/n, looking at Violet, and trying to start a decent conversation.

"He's with his Ravenclaw friends again. He was with us for a while, but then his friends dragged him away and I have a feeling they're lecturing him on the importance of studying this year, since we're taking our N.E.W.T.s."

"Oh Merlin!" cried Y/n. "I forgot!"

James couldn't help but smile. "You, the Gryffindor bookworm, forget that we're taking our most important standardized tests this year? What's the world coming to?"

Everyone laughed appreciatively as Y/n blushed to the roots of her hair.

"So, James," said Emmeline coyly, "would you like to go to our first Hogsmeade trip with me?"

He sighed inwardly. This girl certainly couldn't take a hint even when she had walked in on him and Y/n kissing. "No, I'm sorry, Emmeline, but I'm taking Y/n."

Emmeline looked at him wonderingly. "Oh! You're going out!"

"Took you a while," muttered Sirius to Arabella. She snorted in response.

"Er—sort of," said James nervously. "We're going to go out as soon as Y/n feels comfortable to publicize it."

"But then you can take me somewhere before L/n agrees!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, girl! Can't you take a hint? James won't ask any girl out except for Y/n, so you can just bugger off."

"Well, what about you?" She batted her eyelashes.

"I, miss, have been attached since my very first year at Hogwarts." Sirius grinned at Arabella, who smiled back.

"And you?" Emmeline turned to Remus, smiling.

"I am, as well. Sorry to disappoint you." He put his arm around Jennifer possessively.

She looked crestfallen and didn't even bother glancing at Peter, who was eyeing her hopefully.

"Hey, guys," said Jackson, tumbling out of the compartment next to where they were all standing. "Sorry I disappeared, but my friends dragged me into their compartment and started to lecture me on our N.E.W.T.s and homework."

Emmeline's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Oh, go out with me!" she squealed at him, flapping her arms wildly, which made her look oddly like a maniacal duck.

"Er—" Jackson looked at his friends and girlfriend for an explanation, but they roared with laughter instead. "Sorry, I have a girlfriend."

"WHAT? Why are you all attached? How come I don't have a boyfriend?"

"Bad luck, dear," said Y/n briskly. "Now, shouldn't you be inspecting the corridors?"

"Yes," she replied sulkily, and set off to marching around with the rest of the prefects.

Y/n suddenly pitied Emmeline. Even though she was a flirty coquette, she was still a prefect and therefore must've gotten good grades throughout her Hogwarts years. And Y/n knew exactly how she felt, seeing everyone else paired off but herself.

"Wait, Emmeline!" she called. In a lower tone, she said, "You can go off into other compartments and search for a boyfriend if you want. But only fifteen minutes, mind you."

Emmeline beamed. "Oh, thank you, Y/n!" She quickly rushed off to the compartment where Jackson had just exited.

"Bathroom," she informed all the other puzzled prefects.

"What was that all about?" said Arabella, perplexed.

"Let her off for fifteen minutes so she can find a boyfriend," said Y/n.

"You can't find a boyfriend for fifteen minutes!" her best friend exclaimed.

"Well, at least the poor girl wants to be attached for once. Just let her have a fling, even, I say."

James smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist. "You're one in a million, y/n."

Emmeline came back, exactly fifteen minutes later, in the arms of a good-looking boy that they recognized as Kenneth Hughes, a sixth-year Gryffindor who had been prefect last year.

"Hello, Emmeline," greeted y/n, taken aback at the sight of Kenneth.

"I'm attached now; thanks Y/n," whispered Emmeline, her eyes shining, as Kenneth followed her around like a puppy as she proceeded her prefect duties.

Violet blinked. "That was interesting."

"How did she snag Hughes so fast?" said Sirius in awe. "I heard that he was one of those hard-to-get guys!"

"Like you?" said Y/n wryly.

"Of course! I'm very hard to get, since I've had a girlfriend for seven years now. And hey, I stayed with the same one, too!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Arabella, frowning. "Then what about Alanna Macmillan? Or Lori Paterson? Or—"

The couple had gone off to another compartment to argue, while everyone else sighed helplessly.

Y/n smiled at James. "We've got a lot to do this year, Mr. Head Boy."

He grinned back. "Are you up for it, Ms. Head Girl?"

"Definitely."

"I'm not up for this," groaned Y/n, staring at her list of Head Girl duties and her homework at the same time.

James sniggered. "You said you were definitely up for this year, Y/n."

"Shut it, Potter."

"Hey, don't say 'shut it' to your boyfriend, now! Remember, we're actually going out now, and the whole school's in shock about it."

Y/n couldn't help but smile. "Well, we have hated each other for—what, five years?"

"Pretty much. I stopped hating you around the middle of our fifth year, though."

"Oh, right." She rolled her eyes. "You kept asking me out constantly like a stalker."

"I was not a stalker!" said James, pouting.

"You were!" She laughed merrily, and tumbled out of her chair in the common room as James started to tickle her.

All the younger students stared in awe as their Head Boy and Girl teased and flirted in the most immature way possible.

"Oy!" Sirius waved his arms around. "Stop it, Prongs, Y/n, before you corrupt the ickle firsties!"

"Geroff...James!" cried Y/n desperately, as James had started to tackle her mercilessly again.

"Oops..." He grinned and waved at the smaller children, who immediately turned back to their homework again.

Arabella went into a fit of giggles, while Jennifer and Violet just smiled at the scene that had just occurred. The rest of the Marauders grinned at each other. They didn't care that it was rather too mushy; they were just happy that Y/n and James were finally together and in love.

"Oh, yeah," said Y/n, perking up. "I just got a letter from Alice yesterday. She and Frank are getting married in June, and they want us all to attend."

"They're getting married so early?" said James, flabbergasted. "But they're barely nineteen."

"Voldemort's getting stronger, James, and Frank didn't want to take any chances. He proposed right after they got off the Hogwarts Express this year."

"Hey, Frank never told me a thing!"

Y/n put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "Well, you didn't expect him to tell you, did you? You would've told the world already and spoil the whole surprise!"

"But he didn't seem at all excited when I went over his house on the first day of summer."

"Well, he's good at keeping his emotions in check, then. Which is more than I can say for you, by the way."

The whole Gryffindor common room watched with amusement as Y/n and James continued their little bicker. They were too used to these to even be affected by them; even the first years were starting to adapt to their little arguments.

"Do they always do this?" asked one first year to Sirius.

"Always," he corroborated, grinning at his best friends.

"Hey, Head Boy and Girl!" cried Kenneth, waving his hand. "Prefect meeting right now. Have you forgotten? You were the ones who set up the date."

"James, hurry up!" shouted Y/n anxiously.

She nearly dragged him all the way down to the Prefect Lounge, where nearly all the prefects were getting settled in and waiting for their Head Boy and Girl. Most of them smirked when they saw them come in with disheveled appearances.

"Sorry we're late," said James, flashing one of his heart-winning smiles that made all the girls sigh dreamily. "A bit preoccupied."

Regulus snorted in disbelief. Kenneth burst into the room, panting.

"Gee, you could've slowed down!" he said, and immediately seated himself next to Emmeline, who giggled.

"We have to decide on a Hogsmeade weekend," began Y/n, "so does anyone have any suggestions?"

Laura Smith's hand shot up at once. "I think it should be on Halloween."

"Anyone else with any suggestions?"

No one raised their hand.

"So is it unanimous, then?" said James questioningly.

Everyone nodded wordlessly, as they slowly raised up their hands dully.

"Why the long faces?" asked Y/n curiously. "You don't look so enthusiastic."

All the prefects, even Regulus, poured out their woe stories of too much O.W.L. homework, and for the sixth-year prefects, just homework in general.

"Ah, yes," said James sympathetically. "We know how you feel. We're taking our N.E.W.T.s this year. I remember my O.W.L.s very well."

"Were they hard?" asked Laura at once. "And what did you get?"

"No, they were not too hard, at least not to me at least. And I got fifteen O.W.L.s."

She gasped in surprise. "That's hardly possible."

"Well, I'm not joking. And Y/n got fifteen O.W.L.s herself."

"You weren't a prefect," pointed out Regulus, rolling his eyes. "How can you be Head Boy, then?"

A slight murmur of surprise rippled through the prefects as they looked up at their Head Boy in shock.

"True, I didn't get the prefect badge; my friend, Remus Lupin, did instead. However, I do believe that Dumbledore found me competent enough to ignore the usual rule of having the Head Boy have records of being a prefect as well."

"I hear your dad's Daniel Potter," said a Hufflepuff, Naomi Jones, in a hushed voice. "Is it true? The famous Auror?"

"Er—yeah, that's him all right." James laughed nervously.

"And I take it that you're following right into his footsteps," said Regulus disdainfully.

"Well, what else, Mr. Black?" He sounded oddly like Professor McGonagall scolding Sirius.

Regulus grinned. "You know, Potter, you are very useful to the Dark Lord. You can always follow his footsteps instead of your father's."

James raised his eyebrows, and looked at Y/n. What was Sirius' brother getting at? Surely, he knew that Potters were all against the Dark Arts.

Y/n froze when she had heard those words from Regulus. It was now known to the Marauders and girls that Voldemort was after James, because he had the potential to be just as a powerful wizard as he, maybe even more. But Y/n also knew that James would never turn sides for things like power and glory. However, the thought of James going over to the Dark Side still unnerved her at times.

She shook her head, clearing away all those thoughts. "I was thinking," she pronounced slowly, "that maybe we should have a Halloween dance this year. If you all want to, of course."

There were murmurs of excitement at this announcement, especially from the girls. The boys just stared up at the Head Boy and Girl blankly, as if contemplating their sanity.

"I think it's a grand idea," piped up Emmeline, her cheeks flushed. "I vote for a dance!"

"Hear, hear," cried Laura.

"Do we have to adorn ourselves in frilly costumes?" asked Irwin Macmillan, whom James recognized as Alanna Macmillan's younger brother.

"It is a choice, but I suppose it doesn't have to be mandatory," said Y/n.

"Now, for Christmas, I was thinking—" began James.

"Wait!" exclaimed Kenneth, waving his hand in the air.

"Yes, Mr. Hughes?"

"I was thinking that there might be more activities than just the dancing," he said rather timorously, for nearly every single eye was on him in the room. "You know, in cause we don't know how to dance, or something."

Y/n nodded emphatically. "Yes, all right, Kenneth."

"You don't know how to dance?" said Regulus rudely.

"N-no," replied Kenneth in an even smaller voice.

"Mr. Black, that will be all," interrupted James sharply. He was sympathetic to Kenneth, since he didn't dance very well either.

Regulus glared at him, but did not reply back. After all, he didn't want to lose his prefect badge, or his mother would be sorely disappointed.

For the rest of the meeting, the prefects and Y/n and James were planning all the other activities for the Halloween party. They all looked up to their Head Boy and Girl, for most of them knew that Y/n and James had hated each other ever since their first year at Hogwarts, so it struck the younger prefects that they were actually dating and in love.

"That's all for tonight," concluded Y/n, nodding at all of the prefects. "You may go."

Y/n and James walked out of the room hand-in-hand after the prefects had exited. James inhaled Y/n's sweet lilac scent, and sighed happily. He finally had his girl, and all was well with the world...well, except for Voldemort. But he could wait.

When they entered the common room, they found everyone still glued to their seats and scribbling on parchment or leafing through textbooks. The Gryffindors looked up briefly to acknowledge their Head Boy and Girl, but then went back to their work again. Y/n and James found their friends huddled together in a corner, with the boys muttering spells under their breaths and pointing their wands straight at pincushions.

"'Lo, guys," said James with a yawn. "What're you doing?"

"Levitation charms," muttered Sirius, glaring at his dark blue pincushion. "Damn thing! It won't budge."

"Did you do a nice swish with your wand?" said Y/n knowledgeably.

"Er—I don't think so."

Y/n then went off explaining about Levitation charms, while James just stared at her with a lovesick expression upon his face, which the Marauders found quite amusing.

"And I thought you knew everything," she finished, grinning at a red-faced Sirius.

"I need to go to bed," announced James, his eyelids drooping.

"What about your homework?" said Y/n sternly.

"Finished," he mumbled tiredly. "Stop nagging, Y/n."

"You're finished? But that Transfiguration essay is two rolls of parchment!"

"Well, that happens to be my best subject, with my wand and everything." James grinned, despite his fatigue.

Remus smiled at his friend. "Go off to bed, now, Prongs. We'll wake you up in the morning if you don't yourself."

"Thanks, Moony." He clapped his werewolf friend on the back, and headed for his dormitory.

"Isn't he wonderful?" sighed Y/n, watching her boyfriend go up to his dormitory with a dreamy expression.

Arabella exchanged looks with Jennifer and Violet.

"If we told you last year that you'd be dating James Potter later on, you would've told us we've had too much mead or something," said Jennifer, shaking her head.

"Well, I still can't believe I'm going out with James," said Y/n, with a goofy smile on her face. "But I guess it was inevitable from the start, huh? We were 'meant to be', like you guys always love to say."

"We all have our soul mates, in my opinion," said Arabella quite forcefully. "Even Vi."

"You think?" asked Violet curiously.

"I don't think, Vi; I know."

"You know, that sounded exactly like something Sirius would say," commented Jennifer.

"Well, obviously; we're soul mates, aren't we?"

The rest of the girls just looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Oh, Merlin," breathed Y/n, grasping James' arm. "James...the Ministry!"

Everyone in the Great Hall that day, which happened to be Halloween and a Hogsmeade weekend, was poring over the Daily Prophet. Voldemort and his Death Eaters had recently attacked the Ministry, and many of the students' parents, neighbors, or relatives worked there, including James' parents.

"'Aurors Daniel and Sarah Potter are one of the many Aurors who were at the scene

shortly after the attack. No one was killed, but several Ministry workers were slightly injured.' Merlin, Voldemort means business now. I mean, attacking the Ministry?" James looked very apprehensive after reading the sentence.

"He won't take over our world," said Y/n firmly. "After all, Dumbledore's the only one that he fears, so we'll be safe at Hogwarts. But what about my mum and dad? Voldemort knows who I am, and he kills Muggles and Muggle-borns." Her voice shook slightly as she said this.

"I won't let Voldemort get you, Y/n," said James, putting his arm around her. "Not you or your family. Ever."

Y/n smiled weakly, despite her doubt. "Thank you, James," she whispered.

"Well, well, if it isn't Potter and his Mudblood." Lucius Malfoy sneered at them, as he strolled over to the Gryffindor table.

"Bugger off, Malfoy," snapped James. "We don't need slime at this table."

Everyone laughed, as Sirius gave James a thumbs-up.

"The Dark Lord wants you, Potter," spat Malfoy. "So you'd better not make a wrong move. He does not like it when people defy him."

"How would you know?" said Sirius bitterly. "Work for him, do you?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be telling you, would I, Black? Pity you aren't like the rest of your family...especially that cousin of yours."

"You stay away from Narcissa," said Sirius threateningly. "She may be just another Black, but she's still my blood relative."

"Oh, but your dear aunt has already approved of us, together, Black," whispered Malfoy. "As she has for Bellatrix and Rodolphus. You could have been one of us, Black, if you weren't such a Mudblood-lover and sorted into Gryffindor."

"Go away, Malfoy," said Y/n wearily.

"I didn't ask you, Mudblood."

"You take that back!" roared James, standing up with his wand pointed straight at Malfoy's chest.

"James, no!" hissed Y/n. "It's not worth it."

"'Course it is," he muttered back.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?" said McGonagall furiously, as she marched up to the boys. "Mr. Potter, I expected better of you, as Head Boy! You should set an example for the younger children."

"Professor," said Malfoy in his oily voice. "Professor, this is all Potter's fault, and I had nothing to do with it."

"You insulted Y/n," snarled James. "You called her a Mud—a Mud—a you-know-what!"

"Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall glared at the blond boy. "Thirty points from Slytherin for such abominable name-calling."

"Professor McGonagall, you can't," said Professor Hurst angrily, standing up to the elder witch from the High Table. "It was just a name, Minerva, there's nothing—"

"Oh, just a name, is it?" shrieked McGonagall. "Well, you would think that, Professor Hurst, since you do use the name yourself, but I assure you, I will not tolerate it in this school by myself as deputy headmistress to boot!"

"My dear Minerva, do calm down," said Professor Dumbledore with equanimity. "Thirty points from Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy, and ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. That will be all." As serious as the situation was, Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he allowed a small wink, which only James saw.

The Great Hall had gone completely silent, as they witnessed the scene with amusement, interest, or anger. James' face was still red with fury, but he calmed down considerably after Dumbledore's wink. Malfoy stalked back to his Slytherin table, still fuming.

"It's just like you, James, to pick out a fight on a Hogsmeade weekend," said Y/n, sighing.

"Oh, well." He shrugged. "You're going with me, anyhow."

"Am I?" She feigned mock surprise. "I thought you'd be asking your girlfriend, James Potter; not me!"

James laughed. "Who else would I ask but my girlfriend, Y/n L/n? Will you go with me to Hogsmeade."

"Of course, you dope." She chuckled and went on eating her breakfast.

"I can't believe I'm going to be related to the Lestranges and Malfoys," groaned Sirius, putting his head in his hands. "Not that I'm not already related to them, anyway, but I have no idea how I'm related to them now."

"What?" said Jennifer, confused.

"All the pureblood families are interrelated," explained James. "Like, we're related to the Blacks, Figgs, Walkers, and practically every pureblood family. There aren't many left now, since we're all marrying Muggles so that we don't die out. But Sirius' family..."

"All right, Prongs, I think that's enough," Sirius growled. "Anyway, what he means to say is that the Blacks have a very long pure bloodline, but I could care less, unlike the rest of my damn family, except for Andromeda. I wish I could've seen my aunt's face when she found out that Medie married Ted and had a Metamorphmagus child named Nymphadora."

They all laughed only out of politeness, for they weren't very keen on touching upon family histories. The Marauders and girls knew that Y/n and Jennifer had Muggle blood in them, despite them having magical powers.

"So, Prongs," said Sirius subtlety. "Going to tell us what's in store for us at the party tonight?"

James sighed. "Haven't you bugged me enough? No, I won't tell you, Padfoot."

However, James couldn't be really mad at his best friend, for he was too happy. Having Y/n as his real girlfriend now...what could possibly get him to be angry again? The thought of telling every single person he met that Y/n was his girl made him feel happiness he thought he'd never have again. He smiled, thinking of his parents' faces when he had written to them just a couple of days ago, telling them that he and Y/n were officially going out. They had sent him a reply full of raptures and congratulations, especially from an ecstatic Mrs. Potter. Life was perfect at that very moment.

Even though Voldemort was gaining full power and was murdering Muggles, Muggle-borns, and even some pureblooded families who were a threat to him, James didn't really care at that point. He had his family, his friends, and especially Y/n. It was perfect for him, and even though the world started to crumble outside the castle walls, he still felt safe and alive.

"James?" Y/n poked her boyfriend. "Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" He looked up from his reverie. "Oh...nothing wrong, N/n. Just thinking, that's all."

"The almighty James Potter thinking? What is the world coming to?" She grinned at him playfully.

"Yeah..."

"James, really, what's wrong?"

He took a deep breath. "I was just thinking how everything's perfect at the moment. I have my family, friends, and you. But I can't help feeling guilty that I'm so happy when Voldemort and his followers are killing so many people. Do you think me despicable?"

"Oh, James, of course not!" exclaimed Y/n. "There's nothing wrong with feeling happy. In fact, feeling happy during hard times will pull you through easier. You have to have some optimism during these times, and I'm glad you do."

"Really? Thanks, Y/n; you can really cheer up a guy, you know."

Y/n giggled. "Yeah, I'll bet you're the only one who thinks so. I'm not that much of a popular girl like Deanna. I still don't know why you like me."

"Love you," he corrected. "And I already told you, didn't I? Do you want me to give you a sappy speech again?"

She thought for a moment. "No, I think I'll pass on the offer."

"Having fun, kids?" said Sirius. "'Cause breakfast is over and everyone left."

"WHAT?" cried Y/n, and sure enough, there was no one there but her, James, and Sirius.

"C'mon, you'll be late for Hogsmeade," insisted Sirius, looking a little impatient.

"It's not like it'll affect anything, Padfoot," James pointed out. "We can always use our own way of getting there."

"You've got a point, Prongs." Both boys grinned at each other and walked off, leaving a very confused and angry Y/n behind.

I wonder how I ever made it through the day

How did I settle for the world in shades of gray

When you go in circles on the sea it looks the same

And you don't know why and I looked into your eyes

And the world stretched out in front of me and I realized

Y/n and James were slowly swaying to the music, along with many couples in the Great Hall, which was elaborately decorated, thanks to the Head Boy and Girl.

"I love this, James," whispered Y/n, kissing his cheek. "Just being with you..."

"Yeah, I love it to," he whispered back.

I never lived before your love

I never felt before your touch

I never needed anyone to make me feel alive

But then again I wasn't really living

I never lived before your love

Y/n pondered on those words. Yes, it was true. She never did live before James' love. His love for her made her feel special, like she was someone unique and worth living and dying for.

I wanted more than just an ordinary life

All of my dreams seemed like castles in the sky

I stand before you and my heart is in your hands

And I don't know how I survived without your kiss

Because you've given me a reason to exist

Everything was perfect for her. Just being with James and all her friends, and knowing that her family was safe and alive...it was all she needed. Who cared about being Head Girl? Who cared about striving to achieve her best in everything and winning the respect of her classmates? It was all a dream of her past, and her change of heart was all because of James.

I never lived before your love

I never felt before your touch

I never needed anyone to make me feel alive

But then again I wasn't really living

I never lived before your love

I never lived before your love

James grinned and waved at Sirius and Arabella, who had passed him, dancing at a rather fast pace. Typical Sirius to rush when dancing with his girl of seven years. But Arabella didn't seem to mind. Remus and Jennifer were sitting at a table, sipping punch, and holding hands, while Jackson and Violet, neither very adept at dancing, played the games set up in booths. Yes, everything was perfect for that very moment.

And I don't know why,

Why the sun decides to shine

But you breathed your love into me just in time

He slowly leaned forward and captured Y/n's lips with his own. It was like a magical moments, as sparks flew between them. They weren't aware that all the couples had stopped dancing to watch their moment together, smiles playing on everyone's lips as they deepened the kiss. After they pulled away, everyone started clapping and cheering.

I never lived before your love

I never felt before your touch

I never needed anyone to make me feel alive

But then again I wasn't really living

I never lived, I never lived before your love

The song ended, and Y/n and James reluctantly pulled away from each other. It had been a magical night, and there was only one song left before the Halloween dance ended, but neither one of them felt like dancing. They seated themselves next to Remus and Jennifer, who were laughing at a joke that Sirius was telling them, while Arabella just smiled and shook her head.

"You guys looked wonderful out in the dance floor," said Sirius, as he saw his best friend. "Best couple out there. The little kids nearly wet their pants seeing you two dance, I believe."

Remus snorted and rolled his eyes, while Arabella and Jennifer burst into giggles. James grinned and rolled his eyes as well, while Lily sighed with an air of resignation.

"Y/n? What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

"Nothing." She smiled at him warmly. "It's just that this is too perfect to be true."

"Nah. You're too perfect to be true." James held her close to him.

"And you guys call Arabella and I bad," said Sirius.

"Oh, shut it, Padfoot! At least we don't snog at every hour of the day."

"Snog? Why that isn't snogging, Prongs! It's merely expressing our love for each other."

"Yeah, more like lust and desire."

"Take that back!"

"No!"

Arabella laughed. "Will you two ever grow up?"

"Not in a million years, Bella," replied Remus, eyeing his friends.

"James has grown up enough for me," interrupted Y/n. "And I think he's perfect."

"You would." Jennifer scoffed. "He's your boyfriend, after all."

"Hey, guys," greeted Violet cordially, as she and Jackson strolled toward them.

"Hey, Vi," said Y/n enthusiastically. "Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah, great fun. But I see that you're enjoying yourself the most with your James. And don't try denying it, Y/n! You're going out with him now, so you can't say you don't love him."

Jackson eyed her carefully. "Since when have you been so social all of a sudden?"

Violet smiled secretively. "Oh, it's their fault." She pointed to the Marauders and girls. "They're the ones who brought me out of my shell." She kissed her boyfriend square on the lips, and grinned at his stunned expression. "C'mon, let's dance, Jack."

"Whoa, how did that happen out of thin air?" said Sirius, shocked.

Arabella looked at her friends. "Looks like Vi is finally out of her shell."

"Yes!" Jennifer punched her fist in the air triumphantly. "I knew it'd happen someday! It's all me, everyone!"

They all laughed at her ridiculous gestures.

"James?" whispered Y/n, leaning closer to him.

"Yes, Y/n?"

"This is a perfect moment and a perfect night." She sighed contentedly. "I'm glad I stopped being so darn stubborn and finally accepted the fact that I love you and that nothing can tear us apart."

Happiness surged through James' body again, as he gave her the shy smile that she loved so much. "I'm glad, too, Y/n," he whispered.

a/n; ahh, i’m reading this over again now three years later since i wrote this and i am so sorry! this is so cheesy and bad. but, oh well. and i’m so sorry for the lily’s and everything else in here!

tags: @theredheadedwinchester

masterlist

[bewarethefangirl]

Designing Luxendarc with Doll Makers #3- Growing the Family Tree

So, kids. When you ship characters, sometimes you have them have kids, and I'm not the only one.

My problem is, sometimes, it can get a little outta hand when you have lots of AUs. I had to make a freaking LIST of which children goes with who- and that's just with two characters, Janne and Yew! They have fifteen kids in all my AUs between the two! Thankfully, due to headcanons, Tiz and Agnès do not have the same problem as those two and only has four kids, and as for Edea and Ringabel... Let's just say I'm waiting for Third and leave it at that.

THE LISTS:

Arch-Geneolgia -All AUs that follows the canon ship of Yew and Magnolia, because those two deserves happiness. Rubina Basil Branwen

Balestra-Geneolgia -Mainly 'Berryverse, but can be used with any universe that utilizes THE POWER OF LUNAR MEDICINE Wolfram Esteban Alstroemeria Branwen

Balestra (Denys) -This is mostly Swanverse canon. The Japanese artist Oukan got me into it. Eloise Falk Aurel

Balestra (Minette) -I blame Miss Tree to get me into the ship. Granted, the idea that Minette is older than Janne is funny already. Bastet Oskar Astrid Remus Romulus

THE KIDS:

Rubina Arch-Geneolgia

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. My adorable Ruby. I managed to use a customizer made to create your own Corrin to design you, Ruby. You are the heiress of House Arch-Geneolgia and YOU OWN IT, sweetie. You were the biggest evidence that your mother's looks wasn't due to albinism when you were born with everything but her hair color- instead, you inherited your uncle's hair color, except a tad darker. In Swanverse, you and your cousin Eloise are as thick as thieves, and as older sisters to your respective siblings, how can you not? The same thing happens with your cousin Bastet. You're also very close to Uncle Janne- in fact, he taught you everything you know about swordplay, making sure to take care of the wounds you end up with. Nikolai was also your grandpa figure, as warm and kind as your father.

Once you got old enough, you continued the Geneolgia tradition of joining the Crystalguard, and even used the Kaiser Asterisk as a Sub to help your abilities. The scar on your nose was a result of a successful mission as a cadet, a badge of honor that represented the will of House Arch-Geneolgia. You'll even end up as a member of the Three Cavaliers, though without the influences of the high houses, you weren't the leader. Being the heiress of House Arch-Geneolgia is responsibility enough.

Basil Arch-Geneolgia

Oh, Basil, you and your poliosis. Your role as member of House Arch-Geneolgia made you perfect in becoming an ambassador, and your charming Geneolgia looks helps you in that role. While your sister Ruby looks more like your mother, you, on the other hand, look a whole lot like both your father and your uncle. You're three years younger than Rubina, in fact, and four years older than Branwen. While you're not interested in being an Asterisk Bearer, you did had training with them, preferring the skills of the Ranger and Pirate Asterisks. You end up being best friends with Yasu, who's parents were once trainees under your father and your grandpa figure. Your family is very important to you, as well, and you always make sure your parents and sisters are always in good health.

Of course, you're not exactly perfect- you have an immense fear of wasps and had learn fire magic to deal with them. And because you know so many languages, sometimes you end up a little tongue-tied at figuring out the word in one language while knowing said word in another! And yet that also adds to your charm.

Branwen Arch-Geneolgia

There's another Branwen, when your father Yew is married Balestra instead of Arch. You two Branwen almost share the same name. Both of you are the youngest children. The two of you have the typical Geneolgia glasz eyes, with your non-Geneolgia parent's eye shape. And speaking of your non-Geneolgia parent, the both of you inherited their hair color, as well as their skin tone. You've also inherited your mothers', ah, bust-size (or in the other Branwen's case, her grandmother's as well). Neither of you prefer combat, and instead preferred in dabbing in every Asterisk for non-combative utilities.

However, you are the youngest of three siblings instead four, and you prefer Asterisks such as White Mage, Bishop, Performer and Patissier. You end up working for the Orthodoxy as some sort of cleric, but your main role as a member of House Arch-Balestra is to make sure everyone in Gathelatio aren't being idiots. Especially the high houses, who does have a history of making stupid decisions.

Wolfram Balestra-Geneolgia

Wolf, you take after your father Janne and uncle Denys in looks. You have Janne's dark hair and Denys's eye color, thought your eyes are darker. You are a stoic young man, yet as passionate as your parents and as scholarly as Yew(berry). You are the eldest, your brother Esteban born three years after you. Your name was chosen to match your parents, but the "ram" also doubled as a nod to your Crystalfather Tiz, the shepherd of Norende. Your kind heart made you follow in your surrogate grandfather's path and become the next Bishop Asterisk Bearer, but you added an impressive skill to your repertoire- bo staff training. You've also trained in the White Mage Asterisk for some offensive abilities, but your greatest weapon is your politeness- you know politeness judo, and you use it well.

You are the heir of House Balestra-Geneolgia, however you decided not to become the head, instead giving the role to your younger brother Esteban, that you see as the better leader of the four of you. Thankfully, your siblings agreed with that decision. You've started a school funded by the high houses of Gathelatio for the impoverished children, thanks to your younger sister Alstroemeria's rather... forceful personality. (Honestly, it wasn't a surprised that Meria was very much a chip off the old block named Janne. People has joked she was born via budding.)

Esteban Balestra-Geneolgia

Born three years after Wolfram and two years before your sister Alstroemeria, you look so Geneolgia that it's sometimes easy to forget you've inherited your father Janne's green eyes and your Balestra grandmother's freckles. Training has left you a scar at your eyebrow, which you kept as a reminder to be careful. You're a pretty quiet guy, but you're also rather adventurous, hot-blooded and outgoing. You never wanted to be an Asterisk Bearer, but you do dabble in Emperor when the time is needed. You are fond of archery, and have trained intensely in it since you could hold a bow.

You are next in line as heir of House Balestra-Geneolgia, but your natural leadership skills made Wolfram choose you over him as head of the household, which you accepted. Like the rest of your family, you worked in improving Gathelatio and its citizens, and your main goal was to ensure enough jobs were created to help sustain Gathelatio's citizens and keep the economy growing. You also help created a boom of tabletop games, creating a new reason for social gathering.

Alstroemeria Balestra-Geneolgia

Meria, you just look like a female version of Janne with Yew(berry)'s hair and eye color. Heck, you were even born on the same day as Janne! Younger than Esteban at two years while older than Branwen at four, you are the most vocal of them as well as a natural-born leader like Esteban. Because you take so much after your father Janne, it didn't came as a surprise when you became the next Fencer Asterisk Bearer. You've also studied under Kamiizumi to learn the ways of the Swordmaster Asterisk, bolstering your aptitude with the sword.

While you are a natural-born leader, you weren't interested in becoming head of House Balestra-Geneolgia, and was overjoyed when Esteban took the position. Instead, you aimed to use your talents to become the leader of the Three Cavaliers, and became the first Balestra to do so, while being the first Geneolgia to gain the position without the influence of a High House. You enjoyed helping out trainees find their talents within the Crystalguard, and your willingness to aid people quickly made you a popular figure in Gathelatio. You also have a massive sweet tooth (thought not to the insane intensity that is Edea Lee) and would always go to the local bakery and sweet shops to buy the daily specials.

Branwen Balestra-Geneolgia

I've already spoken of your Arch-Geneolgia counterpart above. The baby of the family, born four years after Meria, you are reserved and formal- and yet you're an extrovert who eschews tradition. Thanks to the former Pope Agnès, a group of untouched Asterisks were found, and you got up to the task of trying them out, seeing if everything was polished to be useful for potential Asterisk Bearers. You seem to have an affinity to one known as the Engineer Asterisk, which you end up being its Bearer.

Like the other Branwen, you ensure that the high houses doesn't do anything stupid with the influence of House Balestra-Geneolgia, however it's your technological prowess that put you on the map. Your studies of the Celestial Altair's creations help in revolutionizing Luxendarc's technology to a new level, while ensuring that these creations were environmentally friendly, knowing what resulted in the Celestial Realm's state of affairs.

Eloise Balestra

No one could guess that your fathers adopted you when you were three- you have enough resemblance to Janne's parents as it is, but your personality is, well, just like Meria, you're another chip off the old block. Yet you take pride of your origins as a girl from the New Grandship Republic, and like the corsairs before you, you've had a tattoo made when old enough celebrating your identity. Yet you also take pride of being part of the reborn Balestra family, recreating your father Denys' markings on his mechanical arm for your tattoo. In tribute to your father Janne, you try to mimic an old hairstyle of his... as thick as your hair is, you still can't get it as wild as good ol' dad. You like to play hairstylist on your spare time, as well.

You inherit the Fencer Asterisk, while dabbling in both Spell Fencer and Swordmaster for extra help. You end up, like your cousin Rubina, becoming a member of the Crystalguard as well as the Three Cavaliers. You also currently possess what was once known as Vendetta- you rebaptized it Redeemer, a fitting new name under your hand. You also technically own Boots, a cat that came into the family before you joined, but who only likes you, and you alone.

Falk Balestra

You fell short of inheriting the Fencer Asterisk, but at the very least you're capable of using it as a Sub-Asterisk! The main reason why you had problems with Fencer is that one day, you've misused one of it's abilities, and your rapier whack your face and left you with a scar over your left eye. Cue your fathers freaking out and Janne forbidding you to use Fencer until you were a bit more responsible. You and your twin Aurel joined the Balestra family a little after Rubina's first birthday, taken from Eisenburg at the age of four. Your parents died when leftover toxic mist mixed with something that resulted in a nasty explosion in your small village.

As you grew older, you mellowed out personality-wise and decided that perhaps being part of the Crystalguard as a knight just wasn't ideal for you. Instead, you aimed to become a swordplay teacher to the cadets hoping to be knights of the Crystalguard, guiding them to responsible use of their chosen weapons- something you had to learn when you received your scar. With a smile and a kind but aggressive attitude towards teaching, you've not only met your goal, but became the go-to person to teach Janne's famous fencing skills.

Aurel Balestra

Taking an Asterisk who's former Bearer was, well... You received Salvemaker from Eternia thanks to your intense studies in chemistry and alchemy, and sworn to not become another Qada. ...Which is easier done than said in your case, seeing that you were raised by kind hearted people who adopted you after you lost your parents and hometown. Besides being an Asterisk Bearer, you're also a well-known fashionista and you let your older sister Eloise style your hair. Personality-wise, you're quite similar to your uncle Yew, and it's his talk about his studies in Al-Khampis that made you want to be who you are nowadays.

Your work in the alchemic fields helped making new medical discoveries that would've been impossible without the help of Salvemaker. Qada's famous poison, you not only managed to find how he managed to make it, but what would be the perfect antidote to it, and how to prevent its misuse from happening again. This, among other findings, made you join Eternia's Council of Six per your uncle Yew's suggestion, which suited you perfectly, as you would take the position once held by the former wielder of the Spiritmaster Asterisk.

Bastet Balestra

Bast, despite being named after a goddess of cats, you grew fond of foxes. At first glance, you look like your father, but there's much more of your mother with a second glance that you're a good blend of your parents. Personality-wise you're quite similar to Edea Lee, except without the absurd sweet tooth, crazy appetite, black and white insanity, and aggressive matchmaking. You were pretty little when you received the scar on your face, but you don't remember how you got it and who did it to you- your grampy Nikolai simply said it was from some animal, but it was never clarified. You were born exactly between your cousins Rubina and Basil, who are three years apart.

You also became a Six-Stars graduate of Al-Khampis, thanks to your studies in both fabric fibers and magical manipulations of medicine. You are also the current Bearer of the Arcanist Asterisk, however you only use it in dire need, having been trained in your parents' Asterisks themselves. And although you're a fox person, you're forbidden from touching the Yokai Asterisk for now, until your uncle Yew feels comfortable with you using it. Your main goal, however, is to start your own clothing lines that would benefit the poor somehow, either by being part of your team or via funding supported by the brand.

Oskar Balestra

You resemble your father quite a lot, and inherited your Balestra grandmother's freckles, but one look at your eyes and anyone can tell you're Minette's kid. At first glance, you didn't seem remarkable among your siblings. You and your twin sister Astrid were born three years after Bastet, but among the five of you, you seemed the most plain. That is, until all of you were able to distance yourself from each other a bit that your personality- that you're a total goofball with a nack of improving utilities. Weaving looms? You managed to design one perfectly for rugs. The kitchen stove? You've redesigned it for new types of fueling. You turned the saw into a musical instrument, even! Not that you couldn't invent things- in fact, you are Luxendarc's creator of the scratching post.

You only have Catmaster and Fencer as Sub-Asterisks, but that's because you preferred refining utilities over combat. You often visited Sagitta to understand their technology and how to peacefully apply it to the current standard of the rest of Luxendarc. While not a Six Stars student like your older sister, you did place your mark for your re-inventions in Al-Khampis, and your studies on applying your discoveries became part of many a curriculum, and not just in Al-Khampis!

Astrid Balestra

Your father once joked to your mother that your calico looks came from her- and indeed, part of your hair is your father's color and the other part is your mother's. You also have your mother's eyes while, like your twin Oskar, you have your grandmother's freckles. You were born without your left leg, but prosthetic technology helped you in being able to walk- and your false leg is pretty resourceful as a bludgeoning weapon. It wasn't a surprised when you ended up being the new Catmancer, or that you grew fond of your trademark color- the purple of a Five-Stars Al-Khampis student.

You've decided to join the Crystalguard, since your father was a member, and one day replaced him as a member of the Three Cavaliers. Soon, and not surprising in the least, you became THE face of the Crystalguard, which helped you when the role of the Three Cavaliers' leader was given to you not long after. You continued on your parents' work in the reformation of the Crystalguard and the Orthodoxy, including creating the Order of the Metal Limb, a honor given to people that helped society grow despite their disabilities, named after the fact that you yourself have a prosthetic leg.

Remus Balestra

The third chip off the old block, and the eldest of the mirror twins. Romulus and you are a year and a half younger than the other twins (much to your parents' distress), and both of you are redheads with heterochromia of blue and green- however, it's the placement of the colors that identifies you: green on the right, blue on the left. There was no surprise when you inherited the Fencer Asterisk, or that you joined the Crystalguard. Like father, like son, after all.

What made people caught off guard was that you weren't interested in becoming part of the Three Cavaliers. No, instead, you suggested creating a new unit in the Crystalguard that you could help develop, the Inner Guard- a unit specifically build to ensure the mistakes of the old Orthodoxy and the Crystalguard never happened again, being aware of the crimes that plagued Eternia for generations, and how they affected your parents. And once you were old enough, you were given the position of leader of the Inner Guard, who's only bosses are the Three Cavaliers and the Pope. You also playfully doubled as a model for your sister Bastet's clothing lines, wearing them during down time.

Romulus Balestra

While you are the mirror twin of Remus, you are much more like your grandfather Jerome in personality. Your eyes are green on the left and blue on the right, and the small scar on your cheek was from training with your father in survival. You also had the potential to inherit Fencer, but you left it in the hands of your brother Remus, not interested in the least in anything involving Asterisks, the Crystalguard, or anything related to them as a whole. You were much more interested in the history of Eternia and the fallout that resulted by the Great Plague, as well as how it changed all of Luxendarc.

You've decided to undertake perhaps a rather unusual challenge- rebuilding the lands destroyed by the Great Plague. Your first target was the village that turned into Gravemark, finding land not far from it suitable for rebuilding. With the information provided by Braev and Mahzer Lee, you also kept the culture of the area alive as well. This started the ball rolling as the Duchy, with the help of the Orthodoxy, decided to follow along and rebuild other villages and towns, revitalizing Eternia's population. You end up mayor of the new village you've put sweat, blood and tears into, a fitting conclusion for you.

...Two guys, four family possibilities, fifteen kids, who knows how many AUs. Yeah, this is me in a nutshell.

[anxiouslyfred]

Unofficial Bar Security

Summary: Remus likes fighting and has gotten known at his local bar as someone who will fight anyone with bigoted views. He just hopes that his marks don’t mean he’ll meet his soulmate by fighting them

warnings: sexism mentions, homophobia and racism mentions, bar fight

/\/\

Remus enjoyed fighting. He always had and it had only gotten worse when he realised how many bigoted self-absorbed bastards there were around, all to ready to lecture, insult or attack him because of the pride badges he wore, or just because he didn't care about wearing popular fashions.

When the bar he liked going to most often started doing specials and hosting events for Pride month or to support the Black Lives Matter movement, Remus was already on watch for anybody causing trouble. In fact he basically became a voluntary security guard given the owners and staff had assured him that any fights started because someone had been racist or queerphobic towards any labels wouldn't get him thrown out. That was basically permission given to Remus to insert himself into any situation he liked and get into additional fights.

The main reason he even thought curiously about getting into fights was that he was fairly sure however he met his soulmate was going to include him grabbing them. He could only hope that was a grab to get them out of a fight rather than starting one with them. It seemed likely given the lighter skin covered his hands and a line down his chest which no matter how many play fights Remus had instigated with his brother couldn't easily be used to attack, only capture and possibly defend as a body shield.

He had visions of meeting them in the bar, possibly someone getting harassed by the one racist group that refused to get the point that their views weren't welcome, and just grabbing them out of the way. There could even still be a fight once he got them out of the way, to show how skilled he is at them.

Remus dismissed the daydreams from his mind, taking another sip of his beer and glancing around the bar. The group of pests was back again, but they seemed to be being quiet for the time being. There were a few groups of teenagers from out of town, probably on a road trip together or something for the summer.

There was a fabulous fellow just waiting at the bar, and looking more than a little uncomfortable. They seemed a bit out of place, hunching into their hoodie and glancing around at the various groups cheering and laughing together. Remus  had to watch for a while, just taking in the lithe form and wary posture. Either this was someone who had been forced to come with their friends or had come out for some space from a bad situation.

Still Remus wouldn't mind on getting his hands on that bum, or offering to keep their company for a while. There was only so much control one could have while waiting for their soulmate and Remus would happily let it go for an adorable... fighter? While he'd been watching the person they must have heard something from the abuse gang and was already glaring and stepping over to them.

Just was the frantic gestures Remus had to move closer, ready to act whether to help or just get the person out of there was yet to be determined. The group had been in the bar longer than normal without causing trouble and tended to react worse the more alcohol they'd had, which could be very bad for the person Remus had been watching.

Whatever was being said was getting hissed too quietly for him to make out the words, but the reaction was obvious. The men that had been laughing together and judging everyone else had started off falling silent but now were all standing, scowling and trying to get out from the table in order to surround the person. Remus barely thought the instant one raised an empty bottle as though about to break it.

The noise of yelling and glass breaking broke out just as he grabbed the person, one hand aiming for their shoulder but hooking around the neck, the other for their bum as Remus pushed into them, the momentum taking them into a booth next to where the guys were getting out from.

“Security! These guys are attempting to attack us with a broken glass! They've been making racist and homophobic comments all evening too!” He turned to yell after checking the person hadn't hit anything in the action. There were battles Remus would love to fight, but the chances of someone completely uninvolved getting hurt with broken glass being used as a weapon was far too high. Plus hopefully if security got involved then the group would be banned forever this time.

From the faces now directed towards him it was obvious they all realised it too. He might be the volunteer unofficial security against bigoted people but as soon as he was calling for the people paid for the role, they weren't likely to be coming back again. Still Remus paid attention to what was happening, using his body to block the fascinating person behind him in case any of them tried anything now. The cameras in the place would show what had happened and his own reports that had been recorded after the previous few fights they'd had should be more than enough to identify them if they tried coming back.

Eventually though he turned back to face the person, hoodie now discarded to the side of them as they were trying to look at the side he'd tackled them from. “Are you okay? Sorry for tacking you, but those guys are some nasty work I've been trying to teach to be better with my fists for weeks. Didn't know what else to do when one raised the bottle.”

They startled, turning to him with a stunned expression, before raising their hand up to their neck. “Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I guess. Um, are your hands...?” They broke off, looking at Remus as though they were torn between finishing the question and ignoring it. Their actions had already made Remus realise that their neck now had a neon green hand print on it though.

Raising his hands up for them both to look he burst out laughing to see they'd turned violet, but just to be sure he was dragging his top and jacket off to look at the pale line on his chest, now a matching purple to his hands. “Oh my god! I actually did that trying to protect you! I mean I hoped, I hoped so much, cause body connections like that are kinda weird to get but with all the fights I've been in I was still worried.”

“I mean that's a better worry than I had. Everyone said one of these marks had to be a birthmark and if they could only see the neck that my soulmate is going to try to suffocate me the first time we touch.” Their voice was shaky, and they were watching Remus as though expecting some kind of bad reaction to his soulmate being them.

“Never. Besides that's like the least interesting way for someone to die. I've got books and books about how different deaths are interesting and suffocation just isn't that good.” he had calmed a little at the mention, reaching out to stroke over their neck for a moment before realising he still knew nothing about this person, and they knew nothing about him in return. “I'm Remus, by the way, and you are fascinatingly dark. He/him pronouns if you will. Can I know my soulmates name and pronouns, or even just whatever battle led you to telling those jerks off?”

“Virgil and  he/him too, currently. I'll let you know when they change. And those guys were making the girls close to where I was stood with the catcalling and jeers they made. I might not know them but nobody should have to hear the vile things they were talking about when they just wanted to have a night out.” Virgil nodded, tugging a pronoun wristband out from the sleeve of his top so it could be seen.

Remus snickered a little. “I have done the same before. Got standing permission to get into fights if people say hate filled things or encourage discrimination while I'm here.”

“What – what do you want to do now? About the soulmates thing, I mean?” Virgil asked, gaze following Remus's hands as he bounced them a bit.

That felt like a loaded question, and just from the way Virgil was shifting in his seat Remus could see he was anxious about the answer. There was a lot of pressure from society over how soulmates should act together, but it all felt pretty meaningless to him. “Get to know you preferably. I'm not jumping into settling down with a complete stranger no matter how cute your butt is, but we could practise fighting together? Message online or something?”

“Thank god. I did not want to jump into soulmates means we have to be joint at the hip thing either. It sounds socially exhausting just thinking about it.” Virgil sighed, giving the distinct impression that if Remus had wanted it he would have gone along with it all for his sake. “It does sound like fun to practise wrestling with you. Where do you train?”

Remus had always enjoyed fighting. He was just ecstatic to know that he didn't meet his soulmate by fighting them.