#remus lupin ficlet

[ellecdc]

A Man with a Plan.7

prologue // p1 // p2 // p3 // p4 // p5 // p6 // p7

Remus Lupin x whimsical!reader - Hogwarts Era (no Voldemort) - Soulmate AU

CW: angst, discussion of Black and Crouch shitty parenting, accidental attempted drowning/belief of drowning -> please note: there are always happy endings here on ellecdc

Amelia Bones didn’t like to think of herself as a particularly stupid girl, but she couldn’t deny she probably looked pretty foolish right now.

She was just about as pathetic as any school-aged girl got over their first crush – which was to say was very pathetic. The worst part of all of it was that she really sort of did this to herself.

She couldn’t deny that Remus had always been very clear that he was interested in nothing more than casual sex; he never invited her to breakfast, he never asked her out on dates, he never even invited her to parties. But that never stopped her from wanting those things.

And for a while, she was able to pretend it was fine.

She was able to pretend that when he didn’t kick her out of bed right away and allowed her to stay the night, that it meant he actually wanted her there. She was able to pretend that when he approached her at a party, it was because she had always been his first choice. She was able to pretend that when he grabbed her and rushed into a broom closet, it was because he just couldn’t stop thinking about her and needed her just as desperately as she needed him.

But she was only fooling herself.

And to add insult to injury, it appeared that Remus wasn’t completely averse to feelings, relationships, or dating; he just didn’t want that with her.

“And have you noticed how sweet he’s been on that freak L/N?” Shirley sneered from Amelia’s left as they all watched Remus smile sweetly at you and pass you a cup of something at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

“You should start offering palm readings, Amelia. Maybe then he’ll find you odd enough to keep around.” Added Silas, earning snickers from the entire friend group.

“Ha ha.” Amelia deadpanned, tossing her half-eaten toast onto the plate in front of her.

The bitter taste followed her around all day after that. She swore she could hear the sounds of Remus and his friends snickering all day, and if she happened to hear your serene voice echoing in the hallways, she knew that chances were that Remus wasn’t too far behind.

Remus was everywhere; and wherever she was able to avoid him – you seemed to show up. As you walked into the library in which Amelia was currently holed up in, she swore she was a thestrals hair away from using her quill to put herself out of her misery.

Amelia was able to see her friends from her current table but had opted to sit on her own in order to focus on the difficult Care of Magical Creatures essay, knowing that sitting with Silas would result in a rowdy game of gobstones in no time – library or not.

“Oi! L/N! What kind of voodoo spell did you cast on Lupin, huh?” Shirley called to the girl, earning her a round of snickers from the friend group. Amelia cringed, noting that you were currently alone and very clearly minding your own business.

“Hello Shirley.” You offered, albeit much less jovially than your usual sunny disposition.

“She asked you a question, freak.” Silas barked aggressively.

“Oh, leave her be.” Coraline chided in faux sympathy. “We all know she doesn’t have the attention span for voodoo practices; she’d need a brain larger than a goldfish for that.”

You looked away from the group who were now all belly laughing at your expense when your eyes met Amelia’s; her gaze already trained on you.

“Hello Amelia.” You said softly with a gentle smile gracing your lips as you approached her table. Amelia regarded you cautiously, though she hated to admit that she found it extremely difficult to feel defensive in your presence.

“Hi Y/N.” Amelia sighed, looking back down to her textbook.

“Have you gotten far on the essay?” You asked kindly, peering over Amelia’s textbook. She really wanted to be vexed at your intrusion in her studies, at her table, in her life, but she found she really couldn’t muster the effort.

“No... I, uhm. I’m finding this quite difficult, honestly. I’ve still got a foot of parchment to go.” She admitted begrudgingly. You hummed in agreement.

“It likely doesn’t help that it requires an understanding of the mating habits of the frost snails, which we haven’t covered in class.”

Amelia’s head snapped up to consider you. “Really?”

You nodded.

“Helga...I thought I had lost the plot! I was certain I had missed something in class to feel this lost.” Amelia admitted looking back down at her parchment feeling slightly elated to know that she at least wasn’t a complete fool in this area of her life.

“You can find everything you need to know on page 246; the rest of your paper should come along nicely.” You offered, smiling kindly at her. Amelia was sort of annoyed at the pleasant feeling that you elicited from her, but again she couldn’t muster up the energy to be particularly vexed.

“Thank you, Y/N. I would have been quite lost without your help.” She relented.

Your smile grew at that as you stood taller, preparing to walk away. “Oh, I’m sure you would have managed just fine Amelia. You’re quite the witch, you know.”

And with that, you floated away.

Amelia supposed that if there was anyone in this school who would be able to convince Remus Lupin to break all of his rules, you’d be a shoo-in.

Amelia decided then that it was actually quite an honour to have ‘lost’ to a witch like you.

Remus felt silly wandering the grounds in search of you. If he was a man of more restraint, he would try harder to control himself; but he decided there was no use in denying Moony, or himself, of you.

Thankfully for your part, you didn’t seem to mind all that much.

Remus’ life had been flipped upside down twice recently: once when he found out about his soulmate bond, and again when he came clean to you about his lycanthropy. He found he felt... freer, safer, grounded if that made any sense at all.

And though his regular anxiety surrounding the full moons seemed to lessen, his anxiety surrounding you seemed to grow each day the closer he got to the full. It was almost as if Moony was convinced he could feel every beat of your heart – it sped up momentarily, something upset you, you’re catching your breath, you’ve fallen asleep – and though Remus felt incredibly disturbed and admittedly creepy to be capable of assessing all of these things from Merlin knows how far away, it brought Moony immense comfort to be able to sense you safe.

He tried not to overwhelm you with his constant presence as Moony (and begrudgingly, himself) would much prefer, but with the full moon approaching, Remus decided it was better for everyone not to fight the urge to be close.

Remus had (quite embarrassingly) searched the entire castle for you to no avail and had even resorted to asking Regulus (who was accompanied by Barty) if he knew where you were.

Barty had scoffed at him. “Figures you wouldn’t be privy to her schedule yet, Lupin.” He sneered, emphasising his last name as if it were a dirty word.

Regulus rolled his eyes at his friend and let out a sigh. “She goes down to the Black Lake every afternoon to bring a gift to the mermaids, Lupin. Now if you don’t mind, I find Barty to be far more pleasant company when he’s not whining about people dressed in red and gold.”

Well, Remus didn’t have to be told twice. Moony was very excited to leave his present company to find ‘MINE!’.

Remus was admittedly not a huge fan of the moniker Moony had chosen for you, but he was very tired of arguing with The Wolf.

As Regulus had promised, Remus finally found you crouched down at the edge of the dock on the Black Lake, tracing shapes into the water’s surface with your hands.

Perfect. Good. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Remus couldn’t exactly disagree with the sentiment.

You were alerted to Remus’ presence by the wooden planks shifting below his feet.

“Hello Remus!” You cheered in that gentle and serene way of yours; Remus couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

“Hello Y/N, what are you up to?” He asked as he stood above you. You began to squint up at him and Remus quickly shifted over in order to shield your eyes from the sun.

“I’ve been trying to befriend the mermaids.” You explained, returning your gaze down to the water. “Each day I try to bring them trinkets.”

Remus hummed in acknowledgement and crouched down beside you ignoring the burning sensation in his knees. “What kind of trinkets?”

You hummed in thought before you answered. “I think anything shiny works well. Sometimes if I’ve lost the pair to an earring, I’ll bring it to them. Or crystals and gems are nice too.”

“And what do you get for your efforts?”

You turned to consider Remus bemusedly; your brows were furrowed but you were still smiling, nonetheless. “Do you only ever do things for the sake of a potential outcome, Remus?”

Remus figured he ought to feel properly chastised, but he was just too happy to be talking to you in order to do much about it. “I guess so.”

You hummed and assessed his face before turning back to the water. “Do you often feel disappointed?”

“I feel like we’ve already determined that my planning skills are not conducive to success, no?”

You smiled to yourself at that as you continued playing with the water. “It’s true that I’ve set out with a goal to befriend the mermaids. But whether or not they return that friendship, I will have succeeded.”

“Wouldn’t you think that you’d have better luck from in the water?” He queried, causing your lips to purse as you let out a disappointed sound.

“Perhaps; if I knew how to swim, I’d certainly try.”

Moony reared his big old head again at that, and Remus quickly stood and gently helped you stand and pulled you closer to the middle of the dock, away from the edge you’d been inhabiting.

You giggled at him; the first real spontaneous emotion he thinks he had ever heard from you, and it caused Remus’ heart rate to speed up double time.

“You needn’t worry, Remus.” You expressed solemnly. “I’m very careful.”

And for that, he and Moony were glad.

“Where are you headed now?” He asked instead, hoping to begin steering you away from the Lakes edge and towards solid ground.

He could tell by the subtle lift at the corners of your lips that you had caught onto him, but were gracious enough not to call him on it.

“I believe I’m to meet Bartemus and Regulus in the Slytherin dungeons for a bit.” You admitted, causing Remus to wrinkle his nose and Moony to growl in protest.

So many of the words you had used in that sentence were displeasing to Remus, but you were willingly stepping off the dock and walking towards the castle with him, so he didn’t feel he had any right to complain. 

“What are you headed to now?” You asked in turn, catching Remus off guard.

What was he going to do now? The only thing he’d planned on doing was finding you, and he’d done that.

“You know; I’m not sure.” He admitted.

You chuckled at him and began telling him about Barty and Regulus’ plans for the afternoon; and although he was displeased at the content, he was very pleased listening to the sound of your voice.

He hadn’t realised he’d been subconsciously leaning into you or brushing your hand with his until you confidently yet gently took his hand in yours and continued to lament about Barty’s poor study habits without missing a beat.

Remus found himself feeling very lucky to have you as his soulmate.

Remus’ feeling of luck ran out quickly when he found himself stepping down the last stair into the Slytherin dungeon to figuratively hand you off to your friends. 

You must have noticed Remus’ hesitation to let you go when you gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled kindly at him. “Perhaps we can meet in the library after supper? I have a Care of Magical Creatures essay to edit.”

And Remus was certain that was a lie; he was quite sure you were long done that essay, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“That’d be very nice.” He agreed.

“Alright, alright, Lupin. Move along, would you?” Barty grumbled as he made his way over; Regulus rolled his eyes at his friend and actually offered Remus a somewhat apologetic expression.

“Barty.” You chided lightly with a smile. “Be nice, yeah?”

Barty grumbled petulantly, muttering “that was me being nice.” But he acquiesced to your request in the form of keeping his mouth shut until Remus had ascended the stairs.

True to your word, you approached the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when you were finished eating with a kind smile on your face.

Unfortunately for poor Moony (Remus), your presence led to questions from James, who, upon hearing you were working on edits for the essay in Care of Magical Creatures, insisted he join (seeing as he hadn’t even started it yet). Of course, not one to ever be left out, Sirius was quick to offer to join.

And since Remus, James, and Sirius were all going to be in the library, Peter figured he may as well tag along. 

Though Remus was feeling rather petulant about the final attendance of your study date, Moony was feeling very chuffed about his whole pack being together.

He forced Moony to lie down and be quiet as he listened to you try to help James with his essay (read: pretty much write it for him). 

Remus was surprised how well you seemed to settle into his group of friends, and in turn, how his friends seemed to settle around you. 

James seemed to be able to sit still for a longer period of time if it was you he was conversing with, Sirius seemed less inclined to argue with everyone about everything, and Peter seemed far more comfortable in asking you follow up questions than he was with anyone else the group had spoken with before.

Unfortunately, things didn’t seem to want to go smoothly for Remus today. 

The sound of your name being called over and over and over again in a hushed tone interrupted your sentence on why the mating cycle of frost snails was dependent on the growth pattern of shrivelfig fruit as Barty came rushing over.

“I’m sorry,” he started breathlessly, surprising the absolute fuck out of Remus. “I forgot to tell you earlier; I got a letter.”

Remus watched as your face turned grave; your expression far more severe than he’d ever seen it before.

“Did you burn it?” You asked darkly.

“Not yet.” Barty admitted.

“Bartemus.” You chided quietly, looking like your heart was breaking a little bit.

“Merlin; do you really need Y/N to check your mail for you, Junior? Couldn’t this wait until later?” Sirius grumbled, never looking up from his own Runes translations he was currently working on.

Remus was surprised he didn’t hear your neck snap with the speed at which you turned your attention away from Barty and back to the table where you glared severely at Sirius.

“Sorry Treasure.” Barty commented quietly, patting your shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later.” Before he left the library.

Remus felt his heart drop…no…he felt your heart drop as you turned to watch Barty disappear behind the stacks in the library. 

“Sirius Black.” You began quietly, causing all the boys to cringe at the use of his full name. “Tell me; how do you usually feel after receiving a letter from your father?”

You had once again returned your attention back to the black-haired boy, but any of the softness and serenity that the boys were used to seeing when it came to you was nowhere to be found. 

Sirius didn’t seem to have an answer for you as his eyes darted nervously between his friends. 

“Is your father kind? Loving? Understanding? Does he tell you he’s proud of you? That he’s glad to have you as his son? That it’s an honour to share his name with you?”

“No.” Sirius finally said quietly. 

“And who helps you with that?” You asked. “When you had nowhere to go, and no one to turn to; who helped you with that?”

Remus heard Sirius swallow around what was likely a growing lump in his throat. “James.”

“Then call me James, Sirius.” You said emphatically, standing and beginning to pack your things.

“Wait, dove. Where are you going?” Remus started reaching out a tentative hand to rest on your wrist.

You slowed your movements but didn’t stop. “I have a Sirius to comfort, and a fire ritual to perform.” You explained simply. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

And with that, you turned and disappeared into the rows of books.

“Way to go, Pads.” James grumbled as he began organising his half-written parchment. “You managed to upset a perpetually happy person, and now I’ll never finish this essay.” 

“Well how am I supposed to know everything about that crazy bastard?” Sirius finally blurted out defensively. 

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage, brother?” The voice of Regulus Black drawled as he stepped out from behind the stacks. 

“Make it a habit of spying, brother?” Sirius sneered back. “Tell me; was it my conversations you were concerned with, or Juniors?”

Remus watched as Regulus’ jaw tightened minutely as he seemed to consider his next words.

“I’m not telling you this for your own sake, nor for Barty’s. But, if Y/N is important to any of you, there are some things you ought to know.” He started.

Yes. Important. Mine. Important. Moony chanted, sitting at attention.

“You know the fire that was caused by a magical experiment that went wrong a few years ago in Ottery St. Catchpole? That was Y/N’s house. Both her parents died in that fire.”

James’ head reared back as Sirius sucked in an uncomfortable breath. 

“She lives there with an elderly house elf as her only family. The house elf and Barty.”

“Junior lives with Y/N?” Remus asked quickly; too quickly. He was immediately embarrassed.

“Junior lives with Y/N.” Regulus parrotted. “You know, Sirius, the Black’s aren’t the only family who practice Unforgiveables on their children.”

Regulus seemed to allow that to sit in the air for a moment before he continued.

“And you aren’t the only one who needed a friend to run to.”

“I’m sorry, alright?” Sirius admitted, though he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with his brother.

“I don’t think you are, Sirius. I think you’re feeling properly chastised, and have no qualms painting Barty as the villain in every story all because of the school colours he happens to wear. You were so upset when our family accused you of being sorted into the wrong house, but you are the one who continues to view houses as wrong.”

Sirius looked up at his brother at that. “I am sorry, Reg. I didn’t know.” He admitted earnestly. 

“I’d thought that maybe…maybe out of everyone, you’d understand him the best… he reminds me a lot of you, you know. Stop - don’t look at me like that.”

“Reggie, I am trying, but you’re pushing your luck here.” Sirius groaned.

“I just wanted to let you know.” Regulus continued, though he seemed to be saying that to Remus. “Y/N is wonderful. And accepting, and understanding, and wholesome, and open minded. But she will protect her own. If Evans has to learn to put up with the lot of you for the sake of Potter, you’re going to have to figure out how to put up with me and Barty, because I can assure you that Barty isn’t going anywhere.”

Hearing Regulus’ message for what it truly was, Remus made a mental note:

Do not come between you and Barty.

You found the weather to be quite refreshing today as you made your way to the edge of the Black Lake. 

You felt poorly for Bartemus; you didn’t understand what the point of Crouch Senior continuing to write to his estranged son was, or what  he sought to accomplish.

Perhaps it was just to upset Barty, which upset you even more.

But, you’d performed the “fire sacrifice” as Barty often called it, and burned some white sage to cleanse the energy after disposing of the horrid letter.

And today was a new day. 

There were hardly any clouds in the sky, the grounds were quiet as most students were still in class whilst you had a free period, and Barty had offered you a family heirloom to offer the mermaids today.

You had no sooner lost sight of the Crouch signet ring as it sank to the depths of the Black Lake when the sun in the sky was blocked from behind you. 

You turned to see the figures of Silas, Shirley, and Coraline from Hufflepuff standing over you.

“I know you said she had a brian the size of a goldfish, Coraline, but it seems she rather wants to be a goldfish.” Shirley commented with a malicious smile.

“Returning home to the Grindylow’s, L/N?” Silas jeered. 

Your mother always told you to ignore the mean words; to smile and stay kind when people got mean. 

“What?” Coraline cooed in faux sympathy. “Kneazle got your tongue?”

“You better start talking, witch, because the way I see it; you’ve hurt one of ours.” Silas barked.

“Hurt?” You asked as you stood up, trying to sift through memories of your recent interactions with Hufflepuffs only to come up empty.

“Don’t play dumb; you totally stole Lupin right out from under Amelia.” Coraline explained.

Your heart fell; you certainly hadn’t meant to do that, you hadn’t even realised they were together. You never meant to hurt Amelia, and you were sure Remus must just hate you for this if it was true. 

“Amelia is twice the witch you are; Lupin deserves better than some ditzy airhead.” Shirley spat at you.

Amelia certainly was a nice witch; she was competent, powerful, and quite pretty. She was normal too, not like you; you were odd, a freak. 

“Why do you think he was spending all that time with Amelia when you two first started talking? He didn’t want you, L/N.” Coraline stressed.

He didn’t want you.

That was perhaps true. He didn’t choose this soulmate bond; and he didn’t choose you.

He had seemed more than disturbed in the beginning.

Perhaps he was only being nice to you now because he was simply no longer resisting the bond.

No one should have to live like that; to live their life out of force and obligation. Not Sirius, not Regulus, not Barty, and certainly not Remus.

“I don’t think you heard me.” Silas said as he took a menacing step towards you, and he punctuated every word with a sharp jab of his finger into your shoulder. “Stay. Away. From Lupin.”

And then he used his whole body to shove you backwards, and you were plummeting into the cold dark water of the Black Lake.

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[resident-gay-bitch]

From one of my upcoming ficlets :))

Edit: read Defiance & Desire now :))

[chasingthestarss]

Jealousy Jealousy

Just a little short thing I wrote because I wanted jealous James. It's really just a bunch of dialogue but enjoy!

Words: 955

Barty Crouch Junior was a problem.

A big problem.

The biggest problem James had ever had.

He kind of wanted to kill the guy.

James had never felt so violent as he did watching Barty lean in and whisper into Regulus’ ear.

He wanted to rip out Barty’s throat when Regulus laughed at whatever Barty whispered into his ear.

James knew he had no right to feel that way. He had no reason to want Regulus to not go near Barty. They were friends and James didn’t have any claim to Regulus. It wasn’t like Regulus was his boyfriend. And if he was James’ boyfriend, James wouldn’t have the right to tell him how to act with his friends.

He was out of his seat in seconds when Barty's hand settled on Regulus’ waist, like it belonged there or something. James wanted to cut his fucking hand off. Maybe then he would quit touching Regulus. Maybe then he would leave Regulus the fuck alone.

“Something wrong, pretty boy?” Barty smirked when James reached them.

What was he gonna do? Tell Barty to stop talking to his friend? Really why did he even walk over? What could he do other than observe violently.

“I need to talk to Regulus,” James said shortly, not giving Barty any attention.

Barty smirked. Of course he did. When was he not smirking at James? Like he knew something that James didn’t. It pissed him off.

“We’re busy,” Barty smiled at James and waved him off like some sort of child.

James wanted Barty to never talk again. Maybe he just wanted to rip out the boys vocal chords so he couldn’t whisper things in Regulus’ ear. Speaking of, that is what Barty was doing now, once more.

“Do you have a problem, Potter?” Evan chimed in as he watched James silently seethe over Barty and Regulus’ closeness.

Evan Rosier was also a problem. He was always talking to Regulus. He was always with Regulus. Why did everyone always have to be with Regulus? Why couldn’t they just leave him alone.

“No, of course not,” James muttered and stormed off to go find Sirius. Sirius needed to get Regulus away from those fucking Slytherins or James was going to rip their heads off. He couldn’t risk getting expelled.

Sirius was found lounging in Remus’ lap, talking to Marlene about something that James didn’t care about. Right now he needed his best friends.

“You okay, Prongs? You look pissed,” Remus asked, then looked behind James and laughed. “Oh, I see. Sirius, you're needed for Regulus retrieval.”

“Oh my god, just tell him you're jealous and quit bringing me into this shit!” Sirius groaned.

James may have done this more than once. But Regulus’ friends were just so handsy. Sirius was always able to get Regulus away, so James just went to him.

“Pads, please!” James whined.

“No, figure it out. Moony time,” Sirius denied as he leaned forward to place kisses on Remus’ neck.

James grumbled but walked away and sat back in his old spot. Silently seething as he watched Regulus lean into Evan, while Barty talked about something.

He lasted longer than he thought he would.

Maybe five minutes. (thirty seconds)

But then Barty Crouch Junior leaned in and kissed Regulus’ cheek and James lost it.

James stormed over, definitely shoving people as he did so. He ripped Barty away and grabbed Regulus’ arm.

“Sirius needs you,” James spoke sharply, glaring at Barty.

“Does he? I don’t see him around,” Regulus smirked up at James, his eyes twinkling with something akin to mischief.

“He does, come on,” James tugged Regulus’ arm a little, trying to get the younger boy to stand.

“I’ll wait for him to come get me. You can go tell him that. I’ll just hang out here with my friends,” Regulus retorted, shoving James’ hand off him.

“No! You can’t stay with them,” James replied.

“Why's that?” Regulus asked.

James froze. He looked at Regulus, really looked at him and saw it. Regulus was going this on purpose. He was definitely doing this on purpose. There was no way he was just being this antagonizing and mischievous for no reason. How many times had he made James jealous on purpose.

James spun to Barty and saw that he was also smirking at James. Evan too. So they all knew what they were doing. They just didn’t care.

“You were doing it on purpose?” James asked.

“Doing what on purpose, Jaime?” Regulus tilted his head in mock confusion.

“I wanted to cut your buddies hand off. What would you have done if I had done it? Would you have felt guilty? Would you feel remorse?” James questioned, leaning close enough that his breath could probably be felt on Regulus’ cheek.

“I’d probably feel turned on, actually,” Regulus challenged

“Oh yeah?” James taunted.

“What can I say? You’re hot when you’re jealous. So are you going to act now or keep seething in your little chair? Because I’ve been waiting for you to do something. I'm tired of waiting for Jamie. I have other options, Barty for example," Regulus gestured vaguely in Barty’s direction.

“Hell yeah!” Barty agreed moving towards Regulus.

“No.” James snarled, turning to him furiously.

“I told you it was hot,” Regulus chimes. James is sure if he was talking to him or Barty but he doesn’t care.

“Come on, let me show you how hot jealousy can be,” James pulled Regulus a little gesturing toward his dorm room with his head.

“Jealousy sex! Jealousy sex! Jealousy sex!” Barty cheered in the background.

“Shut up Barty,” Evan groaned.

James may hate Barty Crouch Junior, but that was some of the best sex he had had.

[momo-t-daye]

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got your scarf?" “The little asshole was whinging about being cold,” Sirius shrugged, unconcerned by the chilly evening air. “I thought he might gag himself but no luck yet.” “Huh,” said James.

“I still think it’s just a marketing ploy,” the little asshole swathed in woolen scarves said thoughtfully.  “Everyone knows he doesn’t sell firewhiskey to students and his butterbeer is near rancid, but once you’ve hiked all the way up here to check out the goat it’s almost a waste of time to not buy something.” “A giant goat is quite the statement given his, ah, past legal entanglements,” Narcissa said with the sort of obvious delicacy that teetered dangerously close to turning suggestive. “It really must be seen to be believed and the last few have hardly lasted any time at all.” “It looks so flammable,” Lily Evans gushed, bubbling with malicious anticipation. The best thing about the magical world, Lily maintained, was the sheer number of holiday traditions that eventually included lighting something on fire.  Her mother’s nerves had never been up for a proper Bonfire Night and Cokeworth’s Catholics weren’t the type to celebrate it either.

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got MY scarf?" “Because Evans said it was cold and you gave her your scarf to be gallant and she then handed your scarf over to him” Sirius replied, without any worries over his best friend’s apparent memory issues. “Right,” said James.

“He’s bound to have put up some anti-arson charms on this one after the fiasco with Dumbledore’s pet phoenix last year and inexplicable triple lightning strikes the year before,” Severus scoffed.  “If it’s properly phoenix-proofed— and I doubt the rest of Hogsmeade would allow him to put another goat up that wasn’t properly phoenix-proofed— we’d need a miracle to burn it down without being caught.” “We’ve got the blessings of tradition with us, Sev,” Lily replied. “Can’t you see? The goat must burn again!”

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got Remus’ scarf?" “Because I was foolish enough to take my scarf off inside and Snape picked it up and put it and just looked at me when I asked for my scarf back,” Remus interjected, slightly bitter at his ignoble defeat. “Gosh,” said James.

“Twice is hardly sufficient grounds to claim a tradition,” Narcissa opined. “Three is a far more magically significant number.” “So you’re saying it’s up to us to ensure the sacred fires once more hold back the darkness!” Lily said, full of pyromaniacal resolution. “I say it’ll take planning and proper intelligence gathering, neither of which I’m inclined to do while my mouth still tastes like something died in the Hog’s Head butterbeer barrels,” Severus sighed. “Let’s stop at the Three Broomsticks, Potter will buy us all a round of the special seasonal cinnamon spiced butterbeer, and we’ll work on preparations back at school.”

“Hey,” said James Potter.  “Why hasn’t Snape got—” “Unlike you all, I know better than to leave my clothes and stuff unattended in Snape’s vicinity,” Peter interrupted, smugly snug and cozy. “Oh,” said James. It really was quite cold.

_______

For an assortment @snapecelebration's Snoliday 2023 prompts

[oxydiane]

Blue Ink

'Padfoot, what do these words mean?' Harry asks, scratching at his arm.

'Those,' Sirius starts, picking up the child from his sitting position on the carpet and letting him get comfortable on his lap. 'Are the first words your soulmate will say to you.'

'Oh,' Harry chews on his bottom lip, staring hard at the letters. 'What does it say?'

'Mhhh, let me see,' he gently wraps his hand around Harry's tiny wrist and pulls to get him to extend his arm. 'Anyone sitting there? You might meet them at Hogwarts after all.'

Harry's eyes light up. 'Hogwarts! Hogwarts!'

'Don't get too excited, it's still a while for you.' Sirius smirks and runs a hand through Harry's hair, messing it up and earning a low whine from the child.

'Padfoot,' Harry calls again, head now resting against Sirius' chest. 'What is a soulmate?'

'What's a soulmate? Ah, good question...' Sirius strokes his chin with one hand, the other still holding Harry. 'I guess, it's like a best friend, but more.'

'A bestest friend?'

He chuckles. 'Sure. It's someone that completes you, that believes in you, that understands you not because it's an innate capability, but because they put in the work. Someone that will stay by your side against all odds, at the end.'

'Innate capa... capa...' The concentration on Harry's face as he attempts to repeat Sirius' words makes him laugh. He boops Harry's nose.

'I guess you'll understand better when you find your own soulmate.'

Harry pouts. 'Did you find your soulmate, Paddy?'

Sirius steals a glance at his own covered arm and smiles.

'Yes.'

'What were your words?'

'Ah, they were–'

Remus' voice interrupts him as he opens the door and makes his way into the room.

'I cannot fucking believe I have to share a room with your gross arse!' He yells, probably only keeping from throwing the pillow covered in dog hair at Sirius' face because he is still holding Harry.

Sirius grins. Yes, that.

A 'yeah, you must have lucked out, smidget' in blue ink stares back at him from where Remus' sleeve rides up his arm.

@wolfstarmicrofic

[marauders-rarepair-fics]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54883591

^7^

Here’s a fluffy one for moonchaser lovers :)

[jegulily-stuff]

Remus, sitting in the Potters' kitchen: And Jugson keeps being an arse about my sick leave. Sirius said we should break his legs but I think I'd get fired for that. I don't know what to do.

Lily: You've come to the right place. Reg, happen to know any of Jugson's dark secrets?

Regulus, not looking up from sketching: He licks poisonous frogs to get high - keeps them in his snuffbox.

Lily: Brilliant. Now James, imagine you're 14 again and you're trying to slip someone a potion as a prank, how would you do that to Remus' boss?

James, excited: Well at Hogwarts I'd have tried to get something into the drinks while they were still in the kitchen. Jugson makes other people get him coffee - I remember you complaining - so I'd intercept that and put the potion in his cup before it even gets to his table.

Lily: So, Remus, what youre going to do is take the toad venom I give you, slip it into his coffee - it won't kill him but he'll have to go to St Mungo's. Mungo's'll advise Poison Control to investigate - don't forget to wash the cup out. They'll find the frogs, Jugson'll lose his license to work in household monster removal or whatever your job's called. We can always tip them off about the snuffbox. How's that?

Remus: That's uh... wow... you're really efficient.

Lily: Yeah, I think we could use this to run the country.

[stars-a-n-d-scars]

Betrayal

“Sirius, wait-” Remus begged, reaching for his husband’s arm to stop him from leaving.

“No!” Sirius spun around, tears in his eyes. “How could you Remus? How could you? I thought you loved me!”

“I do love you, it was a mistake, it didn’t mean anythin-”

“Well clearly it meant more than a fifteen year relationship of you were willing to throw everything we had away for it! I can fucking smell him on you, Remus”

“You don’t get it! I didn’t mean to, but he was so cute, and it just happened, and I thought of you the whole time. Please don’t blow this out of proportion” Remus begged, trying to make him see just how much he regretted it.

Sirius just scoffed.

“I want a divorce”

“Sirius. We’re not getting divorced just because I patted another dog!”

[siriusblack-the-third]

Mouth Full Of White Lies

From this prompt by @impishtubist . It's un beta'd, so don't be too critical. ao3

.

Remus cannot do this.

He doesn't have the strength— the courage.

Sirius sits in the armchair front of him, slender fingers wrapped around a mug full of Irish coffee and pitch black hair pulled back into a messy bun, looking as comfortable and relaxed as if he was sitting on a cushioned throne. He stares out of the window, wearing a snug cream coloured jumper and one foot pulled up to the seat. Something twists in Remus' chest, but he cannot pull his eyes away from Sirius' face. He takes in the sharp angles and the arched eyebrows, the grey eyes and the relaxed line of his lips, the few flicks of his hair that fall over his forehead as he looks down into his mug when he takes a sip. Sirius looks anywhere but at Remus.

Remus doesn't know how to do this.

Without Harry around to act as a buffer, Remus feels the tension crawling up his spine slowly but surely, and it's worsened by the fact that he cannot tell if Sirius is feeling the same or not.

It has been eight days since Remus arrived at Grimmauld Place with Harry in tow, and in all that time, he has taken great care not to be caught alone in a room with Sirius.

Clearly, he went wrong somewhere, because here they were— alone together in the second floor parlour.

Remus swallows. Digs his fingers into the armrest of his chair.

"Padfoot—"

"Don't."

Sirius did not raise his voice. He did not say it in a hostile manner. He did not even look at Remus. That hurts more than Remus thinks it should.

"Sirius, I—"

"Don't, Lupin."

Remus flinches, feeling the words dig into his heart like he's been slapped. Sirius has not called him by his last name since the November of their first year at Hogwarts. After that, it was always Remus, Remi, Moony, Moons, Froot Lupes, any other nickname he could come up with. Not Lupin. Never Lupin.

"Padfoot, I'm sorry—"

"Lupin." Sirius finally looks at him. Remus flinches again, curling his shoulders into himself at the expression in his eyes. Or rather, the lack of expression. Sirius' face is blank, and his eyes are colder than a blizzard. He looks down his nose at Remus through lowered eyelids, the set of his eyebrows making it seem like he is utterly, completely indifferent to this conversation, like he does not give a single shit about what Remus has to say.

"I don't want to hear anything from you. If we must spend time together, we spend it in silence. Understood?"

Remus gives him a beseeching look, but Sirius doesn't waver in his decision, and Remus casts his gaze into his lap.

They sit in silence. Remus does not look back at Sirius, and Sirius relaxes into the soft padding of his armchair.

"I really am sorry, Sirius," Remus says quietly after a few seconds, fidgeting with his own fingers in his lap.

"I really don't care, Lupin."

Remus huffs and lifts his chin to stare at Sirius' impassive face. "It was wrong of me to leave you in Azkaban and I know it—"

"This," Sirius interrupts in a deceptively soft voice, "is not about my imprisonment."

Remus feels a chill travel down his spine. Still, he swallows down his urge to cut the discussion short. For once, he is not going to run away. For once, he will stay, and he will see this talk through.

"Then what is it about?"

Sirius looks at him like Remus hasn't an ounce of sense in his brain— the kind of disdainful and judgemental look he used to reserve for the students of Hogwarts who were not as smart as him or James. Remus feels the point of a dagger dig into his heart.

"Harry, Lupin," he says, and the icy frost that covers his tone makes the dagger pierce even deeper. "This is about my godson."

Remus grits his teeth, a sudden wave of annoyance rising up his throat. "I told you, Sirius, a werewolf is not capable of taking care of a child—"

"You could have visited him," Sirius cuts him off, and Remus hates how calm he looks, hates the way Sirius looks at him like he isn't worth his time. He hates the way his mind whispers in his ear about the school days when Sirius became eerily calm and composed, when he got that thunderstorm glint in his grey eyes that meant he was out for someone's cold blooded annihilation. "You could have checked up on him. You could have wrangled a deal out of the Hell-flower that made it impossible for her to harm my godson the way she did—"

"I HAD NO CHOICE!"

Remus is on his feet now, glaring at Sirius, who simply reclines back in his seat and still manages to look down his nose at Remus. The expression is so similar to the times in school when Sirius eviscerated someone with nothing but his whip-quick tongue that it makes Remus' blood boil. He hates the way Sirius is so.. so calm and collected. He wants Sirius to scream at him, yell at him, throw shit around and rage at him.

"Everyone always has a choice," Sirius answers coldly. "You had the time to make one— you had twelve years to make a choice. You didn't."

Remus breathes in, then breathes out, and the air that leaves him feels hot with anger. He glares at Sirius, clenching his fingers into fists and locking them down to his sides.

"You don't understand—" he grits out, but Sirius cuts him off again, the expression on his face growing colder with every word he utters. "Oh no, of course I don't. I have no idea what it's like to be a werewolf. That doesn't change the fact that you left Harry there. You left him there. James' child. The child we swore to protect—"

"I did no such thing."

The moment the words leave his lips, Remus knows he has fucked up.

Sirius shuts his mouth with a decisive click of his teeth, face going blank and unreadable. He stares at Remus, nothing showing through the mask he has snapped into place. Remus feels the dread trickle down his throat like freezing cold water, and he scrambles for words the longer the silence goes on, trying to find ways to fix this, to make it better, to get Sirius to understand.

"Sirius, I—"

"I suggest you stop speaking before I rip out your tongue and strangle you with it."

Remus snaps his jaw shut with an audible clack of his teeth at the flat tone of voice. Sirius is very much capable of carrying out that threat and both of them know it.

"Get out of my sight, Lupin."

Remus swallows down the seven replies his mind comes up with and twists on his heel, stiffly walking towards the door. When he is about to shut the door behind him, Sirius speaks again.

"You're not Moony to me. I am not Padfoot to you. You will refer to me as Black, I won't answer to any other name. And stay away from my godson."

Remus let's out a shaky breath. Nods. And steps out, pulling the door shut behind him.

[risetherivermoon]

"Sirius?" Regulus asks, hesitantly. Sirius pauses what he's doing, looking up at him. He raises an eyebrow and his friends sitting near him look around in confusion.

"Regulus." Sirius says, it's firm and he almost flinches at the fact Sirius calls him Regulus, not Reg, or Reggie.

"Can I ask you something? Alone." He looks between the other Marauders. Lupin and Potter are looking at Sirius with worried expressions, and Pettigrew looks between the two brothers, confused entirely. Regulus can feel the rejection coming, and he braces for impact.

"Uh, sure. Cool." Sirius says, seeming weirdly surprised. Regulus walks out of the classroom and hovers near the door, waiting for his brother. Sirius turns the corner and pauses in front of him.

Sirius looks at Regulus, glances him over. His expression softens suddenly and Sirius places a hand on Regulus' shoulder. Regulus flinches and Sirius steps back.

"I- Don't..." Regulus sighs. "Sirius, I want to ask you, why didn't you take me with you?" Sirius gapes a little.

"I wanted to, you said no." He answers softly.

"Then why didn't you drag me with you anyway?" Regulus asks, hating the way his voice sounds forced. He grits his teeth together and looks away, not being able to meet Sirius' eye.

"I- Reg, what is this really about?" Sirius asks, soft. Why is talking so kindly to him? Reg puts a hand over his mouth. Luckily for him, the corridors are basically empty at this time.

Regulus pulls his sleeve up, and a flicker of different emotions goes across Sirius' face.

"I didn't want to. You have to believe me." Regulus whispers. Sirius' fingers go across the dark mark on Regulus' arm. It's gentle, not in the way their mother touches him, it's soft, and sweet, and oh so gentle.

"I- I believe you." Sirius says. "Merlin- Reggie-"

"Can I ask you for something? Something that you're allowed to refuse?" Regulus asks, whispering still, not trusting his voice to come out coherent and to not break. Sirius nods, the look of devastation still in his eyes.

"Can I go with you now? Is it too late leave?"

"It's not too late, Reg. It isn't, I swear." Sirius' hand wraps around Regulus' arm, resting there, doing nothing more but being placed there.

"Then...you'll take me? You'll take me with you?" Regulus asks, tears going down his face now. Sirius wipes his little brother's cheek and hugs him close to himself.

"Of course I will, you're my brother before anything Regulus." Sirius says, and Regulus cries.

[slytherinnbitch]

@a-fangirl-08 i just saw you liking the posts and had the urge to write this. Hope you like it! Also, this is a voldy actually died with Jily AU.

"Are you sure about this?" Draco asks nervously, not for the first time in the past couple of hours.

"Yes, love. It's just Pads and Mooney. They know I'm bringing home my partner tonight."

"Woah, wait! They don't know I'm coming?" Draco asks incredulously.

"I just said they did."

"Harry, love. Have you specifically told them it's me, Draco Malfoy, son to Narcissa Black-Malfoy?"

Harry just looks skyward, avoiding his eyes.

"Harry James Potter! I will kill you and then resurrect you to kill you again if you tell me that-"

Before he can finish his sentence, the door to Grimmauld Place opens. Behind it, Sirius Black, his cousin and Harry's Godfather stands, with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you going to come in? Or do we need to listen to this some more through the charms?" He asks.

"Oh.. we just- yeah let's get inside." Harry stutters out and takes his hand before entering the Noble House of Black.

Sirius doesn't say a word, until they are seaten in the living room, across Professor Lupin.

Before Draco gets to greet the them two formally, he looks at Harry to find him with his eyebrows scrunched up and he then says,

"What charms?"

"They are the opposite of privacy charms, so my lovely ancestors could hear what was going outside their door. It's never been removed, as I got to know a few minutes back." Sirius shrugs and looks from Harry to Draco.

"Oh, okay. Well, er... This is my partner, Draco Malfoy."

"We know." They say in unison and what?

"You know...? How?"

It's Professor Lupin who answers, "Because Harry, he is all you talk about. Have since fourth year. And now, Draco, tell us how were you thinking of resurrecting Harry after killing him? I have some ideas if you want."

"He is teasing, mate. Don't take him seriously," Sirius says before he can muster up any kind of reply, "I'm sure you have heard about us, not as much as we have about you of course."

"Yes, Mr. Black. Harry talks very highly of you both."

"Moons, help me. He is making me sound like some old pureblood man!" Sirius pleas dramatically, or he thinks so?

"Pads, you are an old pureblood man. And Draco, call us Padfoot and Moony if you're comfortable. Or Sirius and Remus would do as well. Let's ditch the formalities, please."

"I am old-" Sirius starts again and Draco smiles softly at them three when even Harry joins in on the banter. There was nothing of this sort at the Manor ever, to make it feel happy and safe.

So he just sits back and enjoys, sometimes commenting about Harry's this or that but otherwise just content to listen to his boyfriend and hopefully soon to be fiance be himself.

[ellecdc]

A Man With a Plan.6

prologue // p1 // p2 // p3 // p4 // p5 // p6 // p7

Remus Lupin x whimsical!reader - Hogwarts Era (no Voldemort) - Soulmate AU

CW: swearing, mostly fluff, funny moments with friends, no plot just vibes [crystal dialogue prompt courtesy of keke the unstablereader 🫶]

Though Remus was undoubtedly relieved that you a) knew of his affliction, and b) forgave him for his arseholery, he was admittedly a little more than slightly disappointed that very little had changed between the two of you.

Which made no sense on account of the fact that he never planned on anything changing between the two of you to begin with; he was discontent, nevertheless. 

“Oh, good, Y/N’s here. Listen, how the hell do I stop the nargles from stealing my things?” James shouted as you approached the table. You looked like you had perhaps only been prepared to say hello and carry on, to which James was having none of it and nearly bodily forced you onto the bench next to him. 

“Hello, Jamie. Do you have your cranberry seed oil infused corks?” You asked as you obediently took your seat.

James scoffed and pulled out a lanyard from under his uniform which, lo and behold, had a cork attached to it smelling very much like cranberry seed oil. “I literally never go anywhere without it.” He said as if you had asked a particularly ridiculous question.

You hummed and Remus watched a divot appear between your eyebrows as you scrutinized what Remus assumed was James’ aura or some other such entity. “Well, I don’t see any around you, James. What makes you think you have a nargle problem?”

James groaned dejectedly and turned back towards his lunch. “All of my things are missing! It started around the time you went missing.” James stressed, still not having completely forgiven you for your disappearance at the last full moon. “It was my school tie, and some socks, a quill set my mom got me at the start of school, and now I can’t find my herbology textbook!”

You hummed again and seemed to look around the table as if you’d somehow find his belongings there. “Perhaps you should ask your friend Peter.”

Remus heard Peter choke on his pumpkin juice as James, Sirius, and Remus all turned to look at him. 

“Uh...haha, so, funny thing...” He started, cut off by an indignant squawk from James.

“You were stealing my stuff!? Why!?” He cried.

Peter’s cheeks pinked though a pleased smile graced his lips. “You were so worried about Y/N being missing and the nargles taking your things. I thought a funny prank would lighten the mood; I wouldn’t get a chance like that again!” He defended himself. 

“You are so dead.” James muttered as Peter (wisely) took off out of the Great Hall with James hot on his heels.

“Alright Y/N.” Sirius started, throwing an arm over your shoulders. “You’ve gotta tell me; how’d you know it was Petey boy?”

A shy sort of pride painted your features and Remus thought it was the most beautiful you ever looked. “Wrackspurts.”

Sirius’ smile fell slightly, but the amusement never left his eyes. “Wrackspurts?” 

You nodded in agreement. “Mhm. His head was full of them.” You said simply as you took a piece of cut strawberry from James’ abandoned plate and popped it in your mouth.

Sirius nodded with a look on his face that seemed to say ‘fair enough’. “And how’d you know about this one?” He asked, motioning towards Remus with his head.

“About his affliction, or about his soulmate bond?” You asked as if you were simply talking about the weather.

Sirius cocked his head as he considered you. “Both.”

“His aura...or I suppose Moony’s aura.”

Remus felt his eyebrows recede into his hair line. “Moony has an aura?” He asked you.

You nodded in the affirmative. “I’m assuming you’re right-handed?”

Remus nodded numbly.

“Most of the lunar cycle, Moony’s aura sits around your left shoulder. As the cycle moves closer to the full, he resides on your right. Also, sometimes when I’m near, he tries to come closer. Would you say that’s true?” Your serene tone did nothing to calm the racing of his heart.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Sirius said, interrupting Remus’ internal struggle. “There really was nothing you could do to hide from this witch, huh Moons?”

Remus chuckled self-deprecatingly and looked down into his lap in a little bit of shame. Your smile never faltered, however. 

Peter and James returned then; James with a self-satisfied grin on his face, and Peter with his hair, shirt collar, and tie in disarray. 

“What’s so funny?” James asked as he sat beside you, smacking a platonic kiss to your cheek as he winked over at Lily from her spot further down the table, whose face turned a shade of red rivaling her hair at having been caught watching James.

“Remus and his last two braincells trying to keep Y/N away from him.” Sirius snickered. Remus kicked at him under the table which caused you to jump. He apparently had missed his mark and had kicked your shin by accident. 

“Fuckin’ hells, dove. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Oh my gods...” 

Sirius barked another laugh as Peter whispered a quiet ‘dove?’

“Oi! You really have lost your gobstones! Can’t believe Moony’s the dumbest one out of all of us now.” James said as he checked your shin for injury under the table. 

“Remus isn’t dumb.” You defended the dumb bastard. 

“Well, you can’t say he’s very smart here, dollface.” Sirius conceded.

You hummed and shooed James away from your leg. “Wisdom was chasing him; Remus was just always faster.” 

This time, poor Pete lost his pumpkin juice completely as he sputtered mid-sip. You didn’t even seem to realize you’d said something particularly funny (or devastating) as James nearly fell off the bench in a fit of laughter and Sirius pulled you into his side.

“Oh, for the love of Merlin. Remus, please, can we keep her!?” He said in between bouts of laughter, wiping away a mirthful tear from under his eye.

Remus had no objections. 

What Remus hadn’t agreed to was this.

Remus understood that allowing Moony (and...himself) to keep you around meant that he would ultimately have to share you. He knew that he’d have to share you with James, he’d have to (rather unfortunately) share you with Regulus, he’d have to share you with Pete and Sirius who seemed just as enamored with you, and he’d likely eventually have to share you with Lily, Marlene, Mary, and the rest of his friend group.

He was however not in the slightest prepared to have to share you with the likes of Barty Crouch Junior. 

Remus had, quite happily, found you studying in the library alone and asked politely if he could join you at your table. The two of you had been studying in companionable silence when Regulus showed up. No matter, Regulus was quiet and diligent in his schoolwork. 

Then, Sirius had shown up perturbed that his baby brother and his best mate were hanging out (to which both Regulus and Remus vehemently denied, seeing as they were both here studying with you, not each other), and insisted he be involved. Though Sirius struggled with the whole sitting-still-and-quietly thing, he more or less managed to join the three of you without much fuss.

But then James showed up, which sparked a long and arduous debate between he and Regulus regarding which entity was worse – wrackspurts or nargles – to which you weren’t even a part of save for each of them calling to you in need of an explanation every so often. You would look up from your book and answer them politely before returning to your schoolwork as if you weren’t surrounded by complete idiots. 

Remus was lovestruck. 

And then Barty showed up.

“Y/N, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N.” Crouch screeched as he ran through the library completely ignoring the shushing from other students and string of curse words following him from the crotchety librarian. 

“Hello, Bartemus.” You greeted the banshee serenely.

“Quickly, darling.” He started before promptly dumping a large sack of tumbled rocks and gems in front of you. 

“Where’d you get all of these?” Regulus asked incredulously, reaching to pluck a small stone that had rolled over to his open book.

“Never you mind that!” Barty shouted as he swatted his hand away. “Y/N - light of my life, apple of my eye - which of these crystals will help me piss of my dad the most?!”

Once again appearing completely unperturbed by the general chaos around you, you perused the crystals set before you. 

“Well, Carnelian can invoke passion.” You said as you plucked a red stone from the pile. “Garnet can invoke intense emotions: jealousy, anger, fear. I recommend pairing it with gold – maybe place it in a gold setting for a necklace or something similar. Dravite will bring up unresolved emotions...” And soon, two red stones and a brown stone sat in your palm as you held them before Barty. 

“Pfft, figures.” Barty grumbled. “Red and gold never fail to piss me off either.” He sneered, looking pointedly at the three Gryffindor’s seated at your table. Remus was not necessarily proud of the low growl that the comment elicited from him, but he was proud of the restraint he showed when Moony was screaming in his head to tear the fuckers head clean off his scrawny body. 

“Bartemus.” You chided gently, looking up at Barty standing above you like a parent might look at a particularly troublesome child: full of love.

Remus hated it. 

“Sorry my sweets.” Barty cooed at you and ran a finger along your cheekbone. 

Remus hated that more. 

“Mr. Crouch!” The librarian called, finally having caught up to her problem student.

“Well, I must be off.” Barty called casually as if it was completely of his own volition that he now vacate the premises. “Keep the rest, beautiful angel face. Much love!” 

And he was gone. 

Thank Merlin. 

“The friends you keep.” James muttered as he shook his head in disappointment as if he wasn’t one of said friends you keep.

“Oh, Bartemus is not so bad. Perhaps just a little misunderstood, and a little more than maniacal.” You put simply. 

James was shushed loudly by the librarian for his laughter.

“I’ll go check on him.” Regulus said as he stood. He barely spared the Gryffindors a glance as he nodded politely at you. “I’ll see you later, Y/N.”

“Goodbye Regulus.” You sang to him, smiling brightly like he had just been anything more than sort of polite to you.

Remus once again figured that was as much affection as Regulus could ever show. 

“You boys are welcome to help yourselves to the crystals. It’s a wonderful idea to take the ones that speak most to you.”

James exclaimed gleefully as he started to browse the many stones in front of you. Sirius’ face piqued in interest as he quickly plucked the most sparkly stone on the table.

“Jamie, you should bring this one to Lily.” You said as you handed him a small, slightly translucent pink stone. James didn’t bother asking questions such as ‘why?’ or ‘what is it?’ or even ‘should I be worried?’ before he accepted it, punctuating his ‘thanks angel’ with a kiss to your hair before he was racing out of the library.

“What stone was that?” Remus asked, unable to quell his curiosity.

“Rose quartz.” You responded simply.

“What’s it do?” Sirius asked.

Your mouth quirked in thought. “Stones don’t really do anything. They just encourage what’s already possible.”

Sirius rolled his eyes earning him a defensive kick in the shin from Remus. 

“What does rose quartz encourage, dove?” Remus placated.

“Love and affection.”

Remus nodded and watched as Sirius pocketed two more shiny and sparkly stones before his expression was painted with mischief. “Say, Y/N. What crystals should our dear��Moony here have?”

Remus couldn’t even bother shooting his mate an unimpressed glare when your face picked up excitedly and you began sifting through the stones. He watched just as animatedly. 

After a few moments, you proudly displayed a small palmful of stones. 

Remus placed his hand palm up beside your much smaller one and relished in the intimacy of you gently transferring the stones into his palm; your hands gently brushing in the action.

“What are those stones?” Sirius asked curiously.

Remus swore some bashfulness painted your features as you pointed the stones out in Remus’ palm. He was thankful for the continued contact as you explained them all. 

“This is amethyst, which supports calmness; rids the mind of negative thoughts, and promotes dreamless and restful sleep.” You explained, causing Remus to nod his head. That could be helpful.“This is obsidian which helps one process their emotions.” That one earned a snort of laughter from Sirius. “Jasper is supposed to provide support during stressful times. This is moonstone which...well...I suppose that’s self-explanatory.” 

Remus hummed but couldn’t help but notice you failed to discuss the last stone sitting in his palm. He wasn’t going to push it, however.

“And the pink one?” Sirius asked sharing no such qualms, lips quirked in a smirk and eyes full of mirth. 

You cleared your throat awkwardly, clearly feeling slightly self-conscious, but explained it nonetheless. “Rose quartz to encourage love and trust.” 

Remus would usually consider himself a generally skeptical person: but you may have just converted him.

taglist: @hanniejji, @y0urm0m12, @c0nsc10usworld, @aphrcdites, @starsval, @thepunisherfrankcastle, @anuncalledbridge, @unstablereader, @rai-strangebr, @klazina-couch-potato, @cancelledkaley, @fandom-crashlanding, @ttulipwritezz, @boo8008, @daisiesformylove, @frostooo, @myriadmoons, @aremuslupinsimp, @simars3, @stargurl99, @dreamingofts18, @iwannabeinthesequalmrghostface, @agent-tempest, @xxrougefangxx, @serenadingtigers, @adhxmoony, @hufflepufffangirlqueen, @thebiggestnaturaldisaster, @urmomw4ntsme, @b4tm4nn, @jamieolivia27, @stqrgirlies-blog, @loving-and-dreaming 

[resident-gay-bitch]

inspired by this tik tok :)

***

sirius waddled across the commonroom, drink spilling from his cup and all over his hands. he grimaces at the sticky feeling and attempts to wipe it away with his other hand, only transferring the golden liquid onto his fingers. he shook his hand out in disgust and stumbled backwards, falling on his ass at the bottom of the staircase.

sirius let out a whine, rubbing at his lower back and almost spilling more of his drink again. he’s so fucking drunk it’s crazy; the rooms spinning, everything’s blurry, he feels sick and dizzy and so, so fucking sad.

sirius doesn’t want to feel sad. he wants to feel very happy. gryffindor just won the quidditch cup, mary and marlene were celebrating three months tonight, and james was over there full frontal snogging regulus - which sirius has his reservations about, but so long as they make eachother happy he’s okay with it.

sirius doesn’t know why he’s so sad.

well, he does. he just thinks it’s stupid.

it all started when everyone around him started making out with eachother. sirius wants to make out with remus really badly. he’s wanted to make out with remus for a really long time, but it’s all so confusing and conflicting and it seems like remus is interested in lily and sirius doesn’t want to get in the way of that.

he can’t even find remus in this massive crowd. he’d probably gone to bed early, with a headache or something. poor remus, sirius wishes he could kiss him better, if that’s the case. but that will never happen.

he progressively got more and more shitfaced in attempt to cover the hole he had in his heart, watching everyone be young and in love and snogging. to try and make himself feel okay without remus right by his side.

but it didn’t work!

all it did was make him sad and nauseous and really fucking clumsy. he just wants remus.

he wants remus so bad.

“you alright?” a voice came from beside him, a few steps up.

sirius turned his head and squinted his eyes at the boy, he was reading a book… at a party… that’s something remus would do. who does this fake-remus think he is, reading a book at a party? that’s something only his moony can do, thank you very much.

“yep.” sirius muttered and swayed as he tried to stand, “just… okay.”

“just okay?” they asked, and sirius nodded.

“do you need something, sirius?”

“how… how do you know my name?” sirius slurred, taking another sip of his drink, slumping against the wall as he looked at the mystery person.

“because we’re friends, sirius.”

“oh…” sirius scratched his head, “are we good friends?”

the person with a blurry face smiled and set their book down on their lap, “i’d say we’re pretty close.”

“okay…” Sirius nodded and swung forward to get closer to them, and in a harsh whisper he asked, “can i tell you a secret?”

“why don’t you tell james?” they asked back in a regular voice.

“he’s… busy.” sirius waggled his hand about in the general direction of the party, “got ‘is tongue halfway down my brothers throat.”

“lovely,” they sighed, “good for, james.”

“mhm.” sirius grunted, “bloody good for him… s’not good for me though.”

“no?” fake-remus asked.

“nup!” sirius shook his head, “can i pleaseeee tell you my secret? not even james knows yet.”

“sirius… do you really want to tell me?”

sirius nodded and poked them on the nose, “if you keep it a secret… i’ll… make sure you’re safe from pranks.”

the other boy sighed, running a hand through his soft looking hair and smiled, “yeah, alright…" he stage whispered to sirius this time, "go on then, what’s your secret?”

“pinky promise?” sirius said, holding his finger out to shake with.

they shook it, locking their finger over sirius’ own and grimacing with the stickiness on his skin.

“so…” sirius said, swinging around to sit next to them, “you know my friend remus?”

the boy stoped for a moment, looking at sirius with suspicious eyes. he swallowed and hesitantly nodded.

“well…” sirius sighed, “im bloody well in love with him, i think.”

“you’re…” they said, going silent again and looking away from sirius for a moment.

sirius only noticed how hot it was in here, due to the pink flush in the other boys cheeks. sirius decided to strip off his jacket, and started undoing the buttons to his shirt to cool down.

“he’s just so… perfect, you know?” sirius went on, slurring each and every honest word, “think he’s wonderful, don’t you? i just wanna kiss him so bad, sometimes. and you don’t know half of what i’d let him do to me-“

“okay, sirius.” they said, plucking sirius’ cup from his hands (not without a protesting whine) and pulled sirius' hands away from himself as he started to unbuckle his jeans, “up we hop. you’ve had a bit too much to drink, i think. off to bed now.”

“off to bed…” sirius sighed, letting this lovely (copy cat) stranger lead him up the stairs as he tripped and swayed, his shirt gone now and in the mystery persons hands, “time for sleepy-bies, sirius… go to sleep, or the boogie man will get you!”

“alright, pads.” they said with a heavy sigh, petting sirius on the back a few times as they helped him to walk.

once in the dorm room, sirius realised it was empty, “where’s my moony?”

“...he’s busy.”

“oh…” sirius sighed, moving over to his bed and allowing this person to help him remove his shoes, “he’s probably off with lily again… lily, lily, lily.” he poked his tongue out and blew a raspberry, making dumb sounds as he spoke, “perfect fucking lily, who’s a girl. she’s a bloody girl. she’s so fucking wonderful, ands everything m’not.”

“what are you yapping about?” they asked, laying sirius down in bed, pulling the covers up to his shoulders, just how he likes.

“s’lily.” he pouted, rolling onto his side and curling in on himself, “he loves her, i think. never stood a chance against lily bloody evans.”

there was a long silence, and sirius closed his eyes, basking in the comfort of his pillow. it smelled lovely, different to usual. it smelled like remus, and that was enough to lull sirius to sleep almost immediately.

“he’s not in love with lily, sirius.” the voice whispered as they stroked a hand over sirius’ hair. only remus and james were allowed to do that, and it feels like remus’ hand, so he supposed it’s okay for now. “i’m in love with you too.”

sirius barely registered that though, and he hummed before passing out completely.

**

sirius woke to a sharp light poking into his eyelids. he opened his eyes eventually, rubbing them to find the curtain of his bed frame pulled back. only, he wasn’t in his bed, he realised. he was in remus’.

merlin, how’d he end up there?

his head is pounding and his mouth's dry.

“morning.” remus said with a smile, walking out of the bathroom and over to the bed, “sorry, forgot to close the curtains after james went for his run this morning.”

“how’s’e not hungover?” sirius mumbled, stretching out his body and flopping back down. he feels kinda ill.

“the sun shines out of his ass or something.” remus smiled and climbed into the bed beside sirius, drawing the curtain closed behind him.

sirius groaned and shuffled over before realising that remus was actually lying under the covers with him. remus was reaching out and pulling sirius in closer.

“what’re you doing?” he mumbled, his face much too close to remus’.

“admiring you.” remus said softly, “you’re fucking gorgeous in the mornings, you realise?”

sirius felt himself flush from head to toe, “what?”

“mhm…” remus said, smiling all dopey. his eyes were heavy lidded and he nudged his nose against sirius’, “are you feeling okay, love?”

oh for fucking merlin’s sake! what was happening?

“are you?”

remus chuckled and nodded his head, “i feel amazing, sirius… can i kiss you?”

what?

“are you joking?” sirius muttered, “is this some joke?”

“nope.” remus grinned, “i just had a realisation last night, and decided to do something about it.”

“what realisation?”

“that we’re in love.” remus smiled, “and that you want to kiss me. can i kiss you?”

“you’re…”

“are you feeling okay, sirius?”

“i’d feel bloody perfect if you kissed me, moony.”

remus smiled and laughed, pulling sirius in closer until their lips brushed. and sirius lost it. he sunk into remus’ hold and kissed him. he kissed him so much he thinks he might have lost some brain-cells.

“you love me?” sirius muttered against his lips.

“yes, sirius.” he smiled, “lily is my friend, i like men.”

“oh…” sirius furrowed his brow, he had no idea what bought this about, or how remus knew of sirius’ feelings but he was kinda feeling too high on remus to care right now.

he kissed remus again. and some more. and even more, and then- then he was rolling over the top of remus and running to the bathroom, thankfully reaching the toilet before spilling his guts out into it.

"how are you feeling?" remus asked, once sirius pulled back from the full toilet bowel, chest heaving to get the air back in his lungs.

he felt like fucking shit, he’d had far too much to drink last night. but that hardly mattered because remus kissed him. and now remus was here, holding his hair and stroking his back and kissing the top of sirius’ head, and everything was going to be just fine.

sirius smiled and rested his head against the toilet bowel, looking up at his moony, "perfect."

[mkaugust]

Steady

Wolfstar, 900 words. Read on Ao3 here

Sirius lulled Remus to sleep and gently woke him up in the same way, when he was struggling with his chronic illnesses flaring up.  All Remus would want to do is lay in bed in as little clothing as possible and a fluffy comforter covering only part of his legs and maybe his ass, but he would have a hard time relaxing during these periods, a difficult time staying still long enough to sleep.  In the mornings, he never wanted to wake up and had trouble getting out of bed as his body was almost immediately in a heightened state when he came to wakefulness.  So Sirius had a technique.  It was down to a science.  How to keep Remus relaxed in bed, no matter the time of day.

The technique was this: slow, sweeping strokes of his fingertips only across Remus’ bare skin, all over his body.  No pressure, no pressing down, this was not a massage.  Gentle whispering touches with the pads of his fingers.  Patterns were irrelevant, so sometimes Sirius would draw patterns or write words across Remus’ back to keep himself entertained.  But mostly, he kept it random to encourage broad strokes reaching as much of Remus’ skin as possible in a single, smooth pass, and allowed himself to watch Remus breath.  He would watch Remus’ breathing slow from rapid pacings some nights or frustrated huffs on others to an even, slow, deep in and out as Remus’ body would melt under Sirius’ fingers further into the mattress until he finally fell asleep, as relaxed as possible.

The parts of Remus’ body Sirius could reach changed often at night.  Some nights, Remus would lay on his stomach, arms above his head to clutch at a pillow, so Sirius would have the smooth expanse of Remus’ back and neck to work with.  He avoided his hair and the back of his legs; Remus very much enjoyed the soft touches in those spots, but it did not always encourage relaxation.  His hips and sides were very much fair game at the beginning when Remus was still getting settled and at the end when Remus was closest to sleep; in the middle it was a recipe for accidental tickles which were the opposite of helpful.  Other nights, Remus would sprawl out on his back, limbs starfished out to keep his body stretched and cool.  Sirius loved these nights as he got to explore so much of Remus and watch his face slowly relax with his body and breath.  He would sweep his fingers across Remus’ chest, avoiding sensitive spots around his nipples and focusing on getting as close to his shoulders as possible.  He would lightly explore the dips and valleys of the side of Remus’ hips and his stomach and ribs.  He even got to trace up and down his thighs and calves, twisting around his knees.  If he timed it just right, which he almost always did, he could trace the curve of Remus’ cheekbones, the jut of his jawline, almost but not quite scratch at the stubble on his chin.  And Remus would just breathe and sigh through it all until he fell asleep, at the mercy of Sirius’ magic fingers.

Mornings were a little different.  Mornings were so often the hardest part of Remus’ days.  Mornings had Remus groaning at the sunlight forcing its way through the shades, dragging him into wakefulness before he was ready.  Mornings had Remus aware of his body and all its complaints far too quickly.  But if Sirius could start the technique early enough, when Remus was close enough to awake to not be dreaming any longer, but still asleep enough not to be aware of the light or be moving around much, he could coax Remus into a gentle wakefulness, helping him to start his day with a relaxed body and mind. There were rarely variations in position in the mornings like there were at night.  Remus slept almost exclusively on his stomach, so his back was nearly always barred to Sirius by daybreak.

Relaxed and even, Sirius had the pleasure in the mornings of watching Remus’ back drift up with each slow breath. The trick was to follow that breathing pattern, touching the tips of his fingers to Remus’ skin at the crest of only the smoothest breath to start. From there, he slowly spread his fingers until his hand was flat on Remus’ back, covering as much skin as he could reach, fingers stretched. Then it was a waiting game; would Remus wake up in that same breath or would Sirius have time to watch, to slowly curl and stretch his fingers again and again, following Remus’ breath until he matched his heartbeat instead, until Sirius gave him a new beat to follow in the morning. A beat without adrenaline, without pain to match and influence, a beat to be at peace, if only until he got out of bed.

“Good morning,” Remus would murmur on good days, his eyes not yet open, his skin warmed by Sirius’ fingers.

“Good morning,” Remus would murmur on bad days, his body turned slowly yet harshly soon after his eyes blinked once then shut tight, his face turned to tuck into Sirius’ chest and the words muffled right there, in that space where his breath could meet Sirius’ heartbeat. 

Sirius stayed steady regardless, to the best of his ability. He wasn’t perfect each time, but he did his best and he tried to give Remus a steady rhythm when the world couldn’t be steady beneath his feet. 

At least Sirius could create steadiness for Remus in the space of their bed.

[momo-t-daye]

“Uh, Professor, er, sir,” Harry stumbled over the seldom-used honorifics in his bafflement. “Uh, on your mouth…?”

“Lipstick, Potter,” Snape sneered, the expression all the more pronounced with the cosmetic assistance.

“Oh, uh, it’s, um, it’s black?” Harry hadn’t known lipstick came in anything other than his aunt’s subdued pinks or the vivid shades of red that Petunia considered sinful and salacious (and intolerably reminiscent of Lily to ever be permitted back into the precariously normal life of Number Four, Privet Drive).

“Very good, Potter,” Snape said sarcastically. “Twelve years old and you’ve learned your colors.”

That was pure nastiness and entirely unfair.

“I’m fifteen!”  Harry protested, which earned him a merely sardonic eyebrow. “Almost fifteen,” he amended.  “I’ll be fifteen on Monday.”

Harry longed to surpass Snape in sheer churlishness and considered pointing out that muggle men generally didn’t wear skirts.  Certainly not in Little Whinging.  Definitely not when Dudley and his gang were roaming the streets.

He’d seen plenty of oblivious wizards sporting spiffy new dresses as their muggle disguises at the Quidditch World Cup the previous summer (a lifetime ago, before Cedric was murdered and he hadn’t been able to stop it from happening).  But there was something peculiarly well-tailored and suspiciously well-worn about the Potions Master’s garb that suggested less “disguise” and more “daily wear”. He found that his brain was oddly unwilling to acknowledge the existence of Snape’s psychedelic cardigan. His mind kept trying desperately to wallpaper something sensible over the bizarre image his eyes insisted on perceiving.

“…nice skirt,” he mumbled.

“Thanks,” Snape drawled the false gratitude out with a smirk. “It has pockets.  Dipshit and Dumbass there were too excited to get on the road this morning and didn’t give me any time to do laundry.”

“Am I ‘Dipshit’ or am I ‘Dumbass’?” Sirius whispered loudly, grin gone well past manic.

“I believe Severus called me a ‘dipshit’ among other things for forgetting to take my Wolfsbane last year,” Remus replied thoughtfully, “So, Sirius, that probably makes you the dumbass.”

“I’m more of a hot piece of ass, but okay,” Sirius said with a wink. “Hi, Harry!”

“Hi, Sirius,” Harry said weakly, glad for the excuse to sidle past Snape.  “Uh, what are you doing here?” The Daily Prophet hadn’t said anything about Sirius being pardoned and news like that, while less of an urgent headline than Voldemort’s return, wouldn’t lurk about in the society pages or behind an advice column.

“Dumbledore told me to lie low at Lupin’s place,” Sirius beamed with an innocence so intense it could only be artificial.

“And, er, well, what with one thing and another, it really hadn’t seemed like a good time really to mention that I’d been, ah, evicted,” Lupin added, “…again.”

“Renting really seems like such a bother,” Sirius opined. “So I bought a house for Remus here.”

“Oh,” said Harry, who had witnessed Aunt Petunia compulsively twitching the curtains as she tried to discover how Mrs. Number Seven had eluded neighborly surveillance and, somehow, managed to sell her house to a person or persons unknown to the remaining residents of Privet Drive. “Isn’t that supposed to take a long time?”

“Building a home takes a lifetime,” Sirius said sagely. “Buying a house just takes money.”

Snape’s scornful snort brought Harry’s attention back to the least welcome visitor to Little Whinging.

“So, uh, why did you bring,” Harry gestured vaguely, unsure if the word ‘him’ could accurately encompass the snidest professor present, “Snape?” He’d rather noticed that Snape hadn’t lifted a finger to help Sirius and Lupin move any of the large boxes from the lorry into Number Seven.

“Severus knows how to drive,” Lupin explained gently. Sirius’ mouth opened, prepared to protest.

“Severus,” Lupin repeated, louder this time, “Has a valid muggle license to drive.” Sirius’ subsided.

“And I know how to hot-wire cars and lorries,” Severus added smoothly. “And,” Lupin echoed wearily, “ Severus knows how to ‘hot-wire’ muggle vehicles.”

“I’m learning to do that,” Sirius said helpfully, “I’m going to figure it out too.  I’ve nearly got it.”

“Talk is cheap, Black,” Snape scoffed starting to stroll in the last direction Harry wanted him to go, “I’ll believe you when I see some tangible results.”

“Wait!  Stop!” Harry wondered if he’d get in trouble for tackling a professor outside of Hogwarts.  It would be worth it, to try to alter Snape’s trajectory towards the front door of Number Four.  “Stop, stop, stop!”

For all Harry’s desperate scrambling, Snape maintained his lead.

“Please stop!” Harry begged as the professor hitched up his skirt slightly, “Use the bell!  You don’t have to kick the door in!” Aunt Petunia was probably at the door, surely she’d spied them across the street at Number Seven.

Snape kicked the door, already unlatched in Petunia’s nosy anticipation, open.

Aunt Petunia let out a shrill little scream.

“Hello, Piss-Tuna,” said Severus Snape, far more gleeful than he’d been even when Harry and Ron were facing the threat of expulsion after flying a car into the Whomping Willow. “You look as awful as ever.”

Piss-Tuna, Harry thought as his world tilted on its axis, Snape, Professor Snape, just called my aunt Piss-Tuna.  This can’t be happening.

“You—!” Her face was white, her eyes were wide, and Petunia Dursley, née Evans, practically growled in her outrage.

Harry found himself thinking that Brazil might be a very nice place to live. It was far away from Privet Drive, for a start.  He wondered what it would take to get there.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in, Tuney?” Snape’s foot had blocked the door from closing.  “I’m more than happy to have this confrontation on your front step if you’d prefer.”

“We, ah, brought some biscuits,” Lupin added. “Store bought. Assorted.  With chocolate.  Er, I’m, ah, we’re the new neighbors. So nice to meet you again.”

Petunia goggled at the lot of them.

She also stumbled back, which Snape seemed to take as an unspoken invitation.  Harry found himself dragged along in the professor’s wake, with only Sirius’ hand on his shoulder to steady him in the swift tide of strangeness.

“I can’t believe your taste in interior decoration deteriorated into this level of disgusting kitsch and doilies, Tuna,” said the man who decorated with floating dead things in jars. Severus surveyed the photos on the wall, on the mantle, on the little side table.  So many perfectly posed pictures of a happy family of three- mother, father, son- and a lock on the cupboard under the stairs. Narcissa had been absolutely right.

“Is that my jumper?” Harry jumped.  Petunia’s voice was high and thin and quite peculiar.

“You’ve really done a terrible job of raising Potter,” said Snape, and Harry bristled. Of course Snape wanted to criticize him, Harry had been expecting the criticism, but he loathed the thought of his two biggest critics were now sharing notes and combining forces.

“Not only is he, like the majority of students, a careless menace in the laboratory, but I have also wasted entirely too much of my already limited time deciphering his atrocious penmanship to correct insipid essay after insipid essay only to see the same flawed reasonings repeated week after week.” It was news to Harry that he was supposed to read the sea of spidery red notes Snape deposited on every essay.  It seemed rather unfair, given that Snape could fit five lines of text for every one line Harry wrote. The single “P”, or the occasional and welcome “A”, was more than sufficient in Harry’s view.

“That’s my jumper.” There was a touch of hysteria in Petunia’s tone now.

“He will be taking his O.W.L.s this year, his O-levels if you prefer,” Snape continued, demonstrating more confidence in Harry’s continued survival than Harry typically expected to hear from the Potions Master. “Unfortunately, his current record of scholastic mediocrity, his stubborn refusal to revise, and a peculiar incuriosity about magical theory does not bode well for his continued academic career.”

“You little bastard! That’s my goddamn jumper!” Petunia’s shriek derailed Snape’s momentum.  The unexpected profanity from his aunt made Harry’s brain stutter to a halt.

“Tuna,” Snape frowned, “We’re not here to discuss my sartorial decisions and I will never take wardrobe critique from you.  I only deigned to enter this suburban hellscape to discuss your horrendous failure to raise and parent Mr. Potter.”

“Biscuit, Harry?” Sirius offered, retrieving the tin from Remus.

“You stole my jumper!” Shockingly, Petunia’s epiphany failed to shatter glass.  Yet.

“Didn’t,” sniffed Snape.

“I thought it was Lily who stole my jumper!”

“She did. I just hid it for her.” 

“I bought that jumper myself!  I’d saved up!”

“Yes, I know.”

“It was for an interview!”

“We wanted to spare you the humiliation of being seen in public wearing such a hideous thing.  You even got that position, even if you didn’t keep it for very long.”

The biscuit was rather good, even without tea, and it was beginning to dawn on Harry that Snape and Aunt Petunia were more inclined to tear into one another than join forces against him. He felt oddly inclined to cheer for Professor Snape, despite the ranting about Harry’s scholastic shortcomings. Perhaps it was because Harry knew so little about his mother that every glimpse was a pearl he treasured.

“I want my jumper!” Did she learn that tone from her little Diddykins or had Dudley inherited that petulant demanding pitch from Petunia?

“And I want you to understand how your failure to nourish any academic inclinations Mr. Potter may have shown before the age of eleven may have rather dire consequences for futures beyond his own, but I fear we can’t all get what we want.” Remus handed Harry another biscuit before he could think to protest.

“Give me back my jumper!”

“Fine!” Snape finally snapped, fingers tearing at the buttons in wrathful haste.  “Fine, here!”

Petunia caught the cardigan with her face and a squeak.

Severus Snape looked like a stranger again, in the ratty, oversized band shirt, hair disheveled from the jumper’s passage.  Harry hadn’t seen the Dark Mark his professor had shoved under Minister Fudge’s nose in the Hospital Wing those few weeks ago, and he found himself oddly glad that the mark was concealed under a peculiar leather bracelet with metal studding.  A wand holster, perhaps.

“Are you prepared to face your shortcomings now, Tuney?” That dangerously silky tone was entirely familiar, and Harry took another biscuit before he was told to go serve detention during summer vacation.

“It smells like Cokeworth,” Petunia’s complaint was bitter, for she dreaded the day her neighbors discovered the lingering taint of the Cokeworth streets sullying their Surrey security.

“Hey,” said Sirius, who had gone oddly still.

“I wasn’t going to take it to Hogwarts, was I?” Snape said.  “It’s acrylic, you know that sort of stuff doesn’t hold up around magic.”

“Hey,” said Sirius.  “Hey.” His face was a rictus of delight, as pleased as Petunia had been put out. “Snape. Isn’t that, isn’t that my shirt you’ve got on?”

“Oh, oh,” snarled Severus.  “Not you too!”

[oxydiane]

Dare

‘I’m getting really sick of this.’

Sirius doesn’t think James has ever looked this annoyed. He was accustomed to his expression reserved for Slytherins or Filch’s particularly nasty detentions, but the way his face twists at the moment makes Sirius second guess any previous knowledge he had of James Potter.

‘What are you talking about, mate?’ He asks, raising an eyebrow.

‘You know exactly what I’m talking about! This’ he vaguely points to Sirius, who is laying on Remus’ bed, nose smushed against Remus’ pillow. ‘Is getting out of hand.’

‘Ah, cut me some slack.’ Sirius whines, sitting up and hugging the pillow to his stomach.

‘I’m done cutting you shit, I physically cannot take this anymore.’ James bites back ruffling his hair with both hands. Oh, that wasn’t his usual calculated mess, this was serious.

‘Watch that, you’re gonna mess up the hairstyle you spend forty-five minutes on this morning.’ Sirius tries humouring him.

‘I don’t care.’ Yup. It was serious.

‘Come on, Prongs, leave me alone. What do you even want me to do?’

James’ face is getting red. ‘What do I want you to do? You know exactly what I want you to do.’

‘And I have already told you, you might as well have gone completely mental.’

‘Why can’t you–’

‘Because I can’t just tell him! Are you insane?’

‘Yeah, yeah, insane, mental, completely hysterical, we have gone over this a million times and you still haven’t given me one single good reason why you won’t just tell him.’

‘Because I don’t fancy getting rejected.’ Sirius replies simply,

If possible, James’ face colours even more. ‘You’ll make me pop a bloody blood vessel! Why on Earth would you get rejected?’

‘Because Moony doesn’t fancy me… Not like I fancy him.’ Sirius looks away, knowing that if he locked eyes with James he would see right through his disinterested facade. His throat had dried up a bit with that last sentence.

Of course, James does not need to look at him to see right through him.

They both stay silent and Sirius can hear James take a couple of deep breaths and run both hands through his hair once more, exasperatedly.

‘Alright.’ He says finally.

‘Really?’ Sirius perks up. ‘You’re leaving this alone?’

‘Sure.’ James slips both hands into his pockets. ‘But I guess that if you are not going to ask Moony out, somebody else ought to.’

Sirius blinks. ‘Excuse me?’

‘That’s right. Since you are obviously too chicken, maybe I will ask him out and give him a fine evening. No, scratch that maybe, I am doing it.’

Sirius searches for any hint of sarcasm or amusement in his voice but doesn’t find any. James is deadly serious.

‘You wouldn’t dare.’

‘Yeah? Watch me, Black.’

@wolfstarmicrofic