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#sirius had to CARRY the pranks that year
lilyflxwers · 2 months
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reg developed a sticker chart for james one year and gryffindor pranks against slytherin dropped by 76%
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whenlilyfallsinlove · 25 days
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jolene
james potter x reader
this is not a good fic for james.. (love him tho) and my remus bias is SHOWING. i love lily. no lily hate.
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jolene, jolene, jolene, jolene i'm begging of you please don't take my man jolene, jolene, jolene, jolene please don't take him just because you can
a small part of you knew that, although you were the one dating james potter, lily evans still held a place in his heart. i mean it was sad right? someone you were in love with, someone you were dating, was in love with someone else. but for some reason you had grown accustomed to it, was this stupid of you? yes, maybe. but you didn't want to lose james, as both a boyfriend and a friend. so it felt like a logical thing.
you knew lily evans didn't like james either, not even as a friend. she hated the boy. you thought back to the gossip you had had with her, marlene and dorcas when they found out you were dating him.
"merlin y/n, james?" lily had whispered-shouted the very night she found out that you were dating him.
"hey.. he's not that bad." you chuckle.
"that's not gonna convince her, it's a well known fact lils hates james." marlene laughs.
"that's true." you respond.
"and i thought you liked remus anyway." lily teases.
"that was in like 3rd year, i've been over that ages." you feel your face heat. sure you had liked moony once, but you had liked james for a while now.
"he's better than james though, seriously you can do better y/n." lily tells you.
you giggle, but then see dorcas with a confused look on her face.
"you alright dorcas?" marlene raises an eyebrow.
"yeah i just.. i have a question." dorcas speaks up.
you nod at her to speak.
"when did james get over lily? i'm not saying he doesn't like you of course y/n, but up until the other week, he was obsessed with her." dorcas thinks aloud, in all fairness, asking the question on everyones lips.
you sigh.
"i asked him that, he told me he was trying to deflect the fact that he really liked me, and he was too nervous to flirt with me so flirted with lily instead to hide his true feelings." you mutter, now realising that james' reasoning was.. maybe not the best.
"aww thats cute y/n.." marlene sees the look on your face and tries to comfort you.
"yeah." you smile, weakly.
"and don't worry y/n, i would never go anywhere near potter. and i think he does like you and not me." lily reassures you.
noticing your discomfort, the girls changed the subject, but you couldn't nudge the feeling of doubt in your chest. now that you thought about it, james' reasoning felt a bit.. excuse like? but no, he asked you out, not lily. so he must like you?! relationships were complicating; you guessed you'd have to wait to see how things played out.
your beauty is beyond compare with flaming locks of auburn hair with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green
"hello gorgeous." james grins at you cheekily, planting a kiss on your cheek as you take a seat next to him at the gryffindor table.
"guys do we really need to be doing this at eight o'clock in the morning." sirius fake gags. you stick your tongue out at him in response, causing him to laugh.
"just cos you're lonely padfoot." james chuckles.
sirius playfully rolls his eyes at him, and you see remus looking at you from the other side of the table. you smile at him which he returns but looks away quickly, feeling like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't.
james wraps an arm around your waist, and starts telling you whatever new prank him and sirius were planning on snape.
"and then we were planning to turn his hair green." he smiles at you.
"poor snape." you tease.
"what? you planning on leaving me for snivellus?" james raises an eyebrow, playfully.
"of course." you respond chuckling.
your playful banter was interrupted by lily approaching you, carrying your transfiguration book. of course, you invited her to sit with yourself and the marauders but she didn't like to be near james for long periods of time.
"y/n, you left this in our dorm this morning." she smiles at you and hands you the book.
you smile back. she looked extra pretty today, her green eyes sparkling, her auburn hair shiny. it made you feel a little self-conscious.
"thanks lils, what would i do without you?" you laugh.
"you wouldn't be able to cope, that's for sure." lily smiles at you, giving you a wave, heading back to her own seaat.
"thank godric for that, mcgonagall would've been fuming-" you turn back to james, your words faltering seeing his face.
his face was bright red and he looked distracted as he gazed off into the distance. you followed his gaze to see what was wrong with him. then you realised. james was looking at lily. and he had a stupid goofy smile on his face. what a prick! he was YOUR boyfriend.
"james, are you okay?" you snap him out of his daze.
"yeah yeah, perfectly fine love." he turns back to you, his blush fading.
then it was as if everything was back to normal. sirius, james and peter engaging back into their normal conversation. you were quieter however. remus remained quiet as well, noticing the dejected look on your face. he gave you a comforting smile across the table and you gave him a weak one in return.
at that moment, you wished nothing more to be lily evans.
your smile is like a breath of spring your voice is soft like summer rain and i cannot compete with you jolene.
"i don't want to feel like a second choice to you james! i love you." you sighed. this was yours and james's first argument. and you HATED it.
"i love you too y/n, of course you're not my second choice!" james tries to comfort you.
"i just feel like you're just settling for me because lily doesn't like you!" you admitted.
"well that's not true y/n, i told you.. i was using lily to coverup my feelings for you." james lets out a exasperated sigh.
"sometimes it doesn't feel that way james, i don't want to be the person you settle for just because you cannot have her (iykyk)" you rub your forehead with your hand.
"y/n.." james puts his arm around you. "it's you i'm dating.. not evans. don't be jealous!"
you scoff. "of course i'm jealous, she's beautiful and you were obsessed with her long before dating me."
"and i'm not anymore. just drop it y/n. i love you not her." james frowns.
you sigh and cave in.
"i don't like arguing with you james." you say, as you rest your head on his shoulder.
"i don't like arguing with you either y/n" he sighs, and pulls you closer.
you couldn't stop thinking about lily though. you were friends with her, and she would never intentionally hurt you. you knew deep down james still liked her, feelings don't go away that easy.
he talks about you in his sleep and there's nothing i can do to keep from crying when he calls your name jolene
gryffindor house were infamous for throwing the best parties. and tonight was living proof. gryffindor had just won a quidditch match against slytherin which of course meant a big celebration. and of course, your boyfriend and captain of the team james potter was the main centre of attention.
"he's nuts." you shake your head at sirius, when you see james dancing and obnoxiously singing to dancing queen by abba in the middle of the common room.
"he's bloody brilliant." sirius takes a sip of firewhiskey, chuckling.
the man in question headed towards you.
"y/n, would you care to join me." he jokingly bows down, holding his hand out for you to take.
"indeed i would." you giggle and take his hand.
he pulls you to the middle of the common room, twirling you around/ you laugh and join in singing and dancing. you could tell he was a little drunk but you didn't mind.
as the party went on, you had somehow lost contact with james. he was a social butterfly of course, probably talking to his friends. you yourself were stood with marlene, dorcas and lily, sipping your drinks, giggling at the antics of some of your housemates.
the party eventually thinned out, at about 3 in the morning, when mcgonagall told them to quiet down. eventually it was just you and as you looked towards the jukebox (which was playing jolene by dolly parton) remus carrying a half unconscious james.
you walked up to the two.
"he's drunk too much." remus chuckles.
"unsurprising, i'm sure he had already had about 4 firewhiskeys in the first hours." you smile affectionately at james.
remus notices your smile, and smiles wider.
"you don't usually come to parties, do you remus?" your question catches remus off guard.
"n-no i don't. just wanted to support my friends." he responds, knowing that was probably a good answer judging by the smile on your face.
you turn back to look at james.
"let's get you to bed ay?" you say, trying to wake him.
"l-lily?" james whispers, seemingly in his sleep.
your heart dropped. of course he was dreaming about lily.
"i'm not lily." you grit your teeth. "would you rather have her take care of you?"
remus sees your face and is quick to comfort you.
"don't worry y/n, he's drunk, he probably doesn't know any better." he says.
you nod and sit down on one of the armchairs.
how could you ever compete with lily evans?
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jamespottersdaisy · 1 year
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It's nice to have a friend.
Remus Lupin x fem!reader
"No one loves a monster like me."
"I do."
warnings- cursing, the prank (with major changes), angst (?), my writing
13k
author's note:- i wrote this listening to taylor and lana. english is not my first language, so beware <3
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"What time do you call this?"
You bit down your lips at Remus's flat tone. He looked up from his book with an expression you couldn't figure to be irritated or nonchalant.
"I'm so sorry, Remus. I got carried away with astrology," you said as you attempted to sit beside him. He quickly put his books on your seat with a loud thud. Fortunately for him, the library was empty.
"Then go and play with your stars."
"What?" you asked, a bit confused. "Aren't we supposed to study together?"
"We were. But you're late," he said, shaking his head.
"I'm only twenty minutes late," you furrowed your brows at his uncharacteristic rudeness.
He was staring at you as you glared back.
"You damaged your brain while studying Transfiguration without me, didn't you?"
You arched a brow uncomfortably, getting ready to talk again, but Remus's face softened and changed into amusement. The next thing you heard was his light laughter.
"Hilarious, prick."
"I'm a funny bloke," he chuckled as he lifted the books to grant you a seat, which you took.
"You're not really, James and Sirius are way funnier."
"Weren't you the one throwing a tantrum over their prank yesterday? You certainly weren't laughing."
"They died my hair to green! And don't act like you had no part in it."
"I only told them green is your favourite colour. Was I wrong?"
You blankly ogled his smirk.
"Green suits you."
"You know what suits you, Remus? Purple. Should I do something about it?"
To your irritation, his smirk widened. You turned your hand into a fist. "Which eye is your favourite?"
"I only have two."
"That's not an answer."
"Is there supposed to be an answer? The two are the same."
"Well then," you threw your fist at his eye, Remus raising his arm to protect himself.
"Did Sirius bribe you to hit me?"
"No, but he did offer me some galleons in exchange for your chocolate this morning."
"That was you?!"
This time it's your turn to smirk.
"Time is of the essence, Remus, we have to study." you opened a book before you, waving off Remus as he grumbled something under his breath.
You started to study together, helping each other occasionally.
It was a habit now; you two would study together every week for at least four evenings.
Remus was frustrated today; you could tell from his bouncing leg and twitching lips. But you didn't point it out; you knew he felt uncomfortable when someone coddled him. It was one of the perks of being best friends for five years.
From the first year of Hogwarts to the sixth year, you learned almost everything about Remus by heart. How he scratched the hairs on the back of his neck when deep in thought, or how he never looked up from his book while reading, even if his friends were trying to converse with him.
In return, he knew exactly what to tell you when you were overwhelmed by the studies or how to make you laugh when you were feeling like crying.
You two had always been there for each other, listening, understanding, and supporting one another through everything. You had stayed in the hospital wing all night for Remus when he broke his arm in the third year, and he had been there for you when you were burning with a fever two years ago.
There were too many incidents like these which you and Remus shared that proved the special bond between you. James, Sirius and Peter were also your friends, but with Remus, it was different; unique.
He had made you feel appreciated and loved, never let you down or never let anyone look down on you. Sometimes James and Sirius would mock you two for this affection, but that would always earn them a smack on the head from Remus.
You knew everything about him, and he knew everything about you.
Well, almost everything.
He didn't know that your affection for him was something more; It had been for quite some time now.
At first, you thought it was an innocent crush because of teenage hormones or something, and it would fade away with time.
But it didn't. You grew out of 'I fancy Remus Lupin' to 'I love Remus Lupin'. Of course, you never confided in anyone about your burning infatuation, keeping it secret, burying it deep inside your heart.
The same secret that was fighting to break free from your heart's walls every time Remus smiled at you.
The same secret that was clawing from its grave to get up and fly, bleeding your heart every time Remus embraced you and called you a friend.
The same secret that prickled your eyes with tears every time you remembered that you weren't the only one keeping secrets.
He was keeping something from you, too.
You had always felt it in his eyes, glancing away when you would ask about a scar on his arm or a cut on his thumb.
The first time you fought on it was when you saw the huge scar on his face in the second year. You had worried so much that you pushed Remus's patience, and he had yelled at you. For twelve years old, it was a big hit in their friendship. You hadn't talked to each other for two weeks. In the end, Remus approached you to apologize and explained how the Marauders' prank had backfired, resulting in his scar. You had cried that day because of how much you had missed your friend. Remus hugged you tight, but you could swear you heard a sniff or two from him as well.
Remus would always say the scars on his body were because of a prank, and you would pretend to believe it.
Until this year.
You may be a Gryffindor, but you weren't stupid. You had noticed how he would disappear every full moon and "get sick." You didn't push him before because you thought maybe he needed time, but his distrust was turning the understanding in you into resentment.
It hadn't been to hard make speculations about the situation, but you wanted him to confide in you.
"Are you asleep with your eyes open?" Remus startled you, pulling your focus back to the present.
"Are you calling me a dolphin?"
"You two have a lot in common," he patted your head with his quill.
"Freakingly cute?"
"Freakingly evil."
You elbowed him but regretted it the moment he grimaced with pain.
"What's wrong?" you asked, albeit you immediately guessed another injury under his brown jumper.
He forced a smile. "You just proved my point."
"I didn't even hit you that hard!"
"You tell yourself that," Remus stood up, nodding simultaneously. "That's enough for today."
"Already? You sure you okay?" you worried a bit, standing up. "It's only been forty minutes."
"For you, lazy lady. I've been here for an hour, remember?"
"Go on, rub it in, or I won't hear the end of it until tomorrow."
You two were walking to the exit now with relaxed paces.
"Yeah, about that. I won't be able to study with you tomorrow."
You inhale a deep breath and huff it out.
Here goes nothing.
"Again?"
"Yes," his voice is rusty now.
"Why?"
"Marauders thing."
Same excuse as the last month.
You didn't say anything, giving him one more chance again.
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"That's bollocks, Remus."
Remus simply curved a side of his lips to a tiny smile, almost unnoticeable to anyone. Well, anyone but you.
However, you were too irritated to mellow at his smile.
Only for one day, you didn't see him, and he had a new scar, and what a coincidence that the same day was a full moon.
"You really shouldn't curse."
"What truly happened to your arm?"
"Sirius accidentally cut it," he said for the third time that day.
"Stop lying."
Maybe you were wrong to push him like this, but you didn't care at that moment.
"I'm not lying, Y/N," he said before grabbing both his and your books and pressing them between his left arm and torso. "Let's go, we have class in ten."
When you didn't budge, his smile grew, and he stretched his free hand towards you.
"Come on, move your arse. We'll be late."
"You shouldn't curse," you said firmly, trying to look as angry as you could. You were on your limit and had no intention of backing off this time. "And I'm not coming with you."
"Why is that?" he pulled his outstretched hand back to the pocket of his trousers, wearing a soft expression, which his mocking tone contrasted with.
"You know why."
"I'm afraid I don't know why you are not coming to class."
"I will go to class, just not with you," you scowled at his nonchalance.
He pressed his lips into a thin line.
"And why is that?"
"Because I've decided that I'm not talking to you."
"That's not fair."
"Yes, it is," you snapped, standing before him. You waited a few minutes for something, eyes narrowed. When Remus chuckled at your annoyed expression, you walked past him, hitting him with your shoulder.
Striding to the common room's exit, you ignored Remus's call. Only after leaving his sight, you fathomed that you had left your book with him but shrugged it off. You two always sat next to each other, and Remus was too nice of a friend not to bring it back.
"Hey, angry lady." his playfully soft tone danced in your ear, making your heart flutter in your ribcage.
"Go away."
"We're headed to the same class."
"Go away from me, then."
"I'm carrying your book."
"No one asked you to," you still hadn't spared him a glance but could feel the soft smile on his lips.
"No one needed to. I'm a gentleman."
"My arse."
"What about it?"
Your head snapped in his direction. Remus was smirking at you, acting like you weren't almost about to fight ten minutes ago.
You walked into the classroom from the door Remus held open for you straight to your seat.
"Give me my book back."
"You forgot the magic word, lady," he sat next to you. "You know, the one starting with 'P'."
"Petrificius Totalus?"
"That would also work, but I had something nicer in mind. Try again?"
"Periculum."
"What would you need the flames for?"
"To burn you."
"You're so violent this morning. Hadn't had your morning coffee?"
"Just give the bloody book back."
"Now that I think about it, you've been violent for the last three days."
You groaned when the professor started the lesson.
"Don't be bitter, Y/N," he pleaded, watching you snatch your book back. He hated when you were angry at him. "I already told you the truth."
"That's rubbish, and you know that," you whispered so the professor wouldn't hear you. "We're not twelve anymore."
"You were a lot nicer when you were twelve, though."
"And a lot stupider."
"Aye. You'll hear no argument from me."
You knew he was merely attempting to lighten the mood, but he didn't realise it only made you more furious.
"Why are you keeping a secret from me?" you finally blurted out the question gnawing on your insides.
Remus's smile ebbed. He exhaled sharply before turning away from you.
"I am not keeping anything from you."
"Then you must think I am gullible because that's the only explanation for you repeating the same 'prank injuries' lie over and over again."
"That's not a lie."
"Is there a problem?"
You clenched your jaw when you heard the professor's rough voice.
"No, Professor," Remus shook his head, ending the chatter.
You didn't talk for the rest of the lesson. However, to your frustration, you couldn't help but sneak glances in his direction only to find him doing the same.
The moment the class was dismissed, you immediately got up and left the room. The last half an hour in the boring potion class made you question some things. You were at odds with yourself.
And now, in the middle of the hallway, with your books to your chest, your mind was hosting a party for questions.
Was it really about you? Maybe no.
Did Remus deserve some secrecy? Maybe yes.
Did your infatuation with your best friend get in the way of your judgement? Breaking your heart not because he had a secret he didn't want to share but because he didn't love you back? No, of course not (It did).
But you deserved his trust. At least, that was how you were feeling based on the years of friendship.
Were you wrong? Probably.
"Y/N!"
You took a deep breath and blew it out as you turned to face Remus, who quickened his pace to catch up to you. He's smiling. Again.
"What?"
"You still pissed at me?"
"Yes? No? I don't know, Remus," you shrugged and carried on walking to the Great Hall. "I don't understand why you won't share it with me. Don't you trust me?"
"I do," he drawled, and you waited for him to continue. He hesitated at first but gave up after your determination not to make a sound.
"Listen, it's not something about you. I just don't like sharing it."
"Does James know? Sirius? Peter?" you arched a brow, desperately hoping for him to say no. You watched him he open his mouth and close it without a reply.
Well, that was it.
He didn't want to tell you, and you were supposed to be okay with it.
You nodded, hurt at something you didn't want to voice.
Remus stopped you from your arm, turning you so that you would face him. His hands made their way to your sulked shoulders and caressed them back to your hands to hold them tight, sending shivers through your body.
"When the time is right, I will tell you," he said. You looked up into his brown eyes, forcing yourself not to peek at his lips. You had always loved his eyes, and his lips.
"I promise. Just trust me."
You lowered your head, closing your eyes to the pleading in his words.
"I just don't understand why you don't trust me."
Remus stepped forward, letting your head lay on his chest.
"I told you, dove. This is not about you. Truly."
You knew it too.
You knew the reason you were so angry was not Remus but your love for him.
You knew you were not resenting Remus but your own inability to suppress your feelings.
So you nodded, hugging him back.
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"What do you smell?" you asked Remus, trying not to sound too eager or excited. You were hoping he couldn't hear your racing heart and couldn't see your trembling hands.
Remus inclined his head to the potion, taking in the smell the Amortentia was radiating.
One, two, tree...
He frowned, looking lost. He clenched his jaw, blinking fast. Something must be wrong.
Six, seven, eight...
He cleared his throat, locking his eyes with yours.
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen...
Remus straightened his back, curling the side of his lips upwards awkwardly.
"What do you smell?"
You gulp, lips parting and then closing and then parting again. You weren't sure it was the right thing to tell him what you smelled from the love potion.
Parchment, coffee, melting chocolate.
Everything that reminded you of him.
"I asked you first."
You sounded taut, internally having a fight between your heart and your brain over the control of your body, mind, and soul.
You didn't know what you wanted to hear from him exactly, but what you did know was that you were praying for it to be something, anything that would remind him of you.
"It's- it's nice," he simply said.
"Mine, too."
"What is it?" he asked, his voice so low that if you weren't so close to him, you wouldn't hear him from all the chatters in the classroom.
You longed to tell him.
Tell him and get it over with. Put down the weighing affection in your shoulders, your lungs and your heart, even if it meant having it broken.
You looked up at him, biting your lower lip so hard it almost bled.
Remus waited and waited and waited for you.
"It's uhm, it's parchment... and uh,-"
"Mr Lupin, are you two done with your potions?
You quickly put a distance between you and Remus. Professor Slughorn stood by the pot, smelling the potion.
"Ah, you are. Well done, you two."
You refused to turn back to Remus, your eyes examining every student in the classroom as Remus cleaned the desk.
James Potter was grinning at Lily Evans, who, in turn, had an unreadable expression on her face. You hoped Lily had smelled James; it would make your friend foolishly happy.
It was a bit chaotic in the room; happy, angry, sad and confused faces were scattered around. A student had even managed to blow up his potion somehow.
You saw Sirius and wondered what he had smelled, but soon your thoughts took a turn when you noticed Sirius was not alone. He was muttering something to Severus Snape with a devilish grin on his face.
"You guys have another prank coming?" you asked Remus, your eyes not leaving Sirius.
You didn't see Remus flinch and almost drop the knife.
"No? Why?"
"Oh, nothing. Then Sirius must be messing with Snape for his own amusement."
Remus hummed softly.
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"I love James and Sirius, but was this really necessary?"
It was cold, and you were freezing, not because you had clothed lightly but because it was seven in the morning and in the middle of winter. Remus, seated next to you, was in no better condition. All because your friends insisted you watch them fly around on a broom.
"Well, he had said we were a great support."
"Do I look like any kind of support at this moment?" your teeth were starting to chatter. You closed your eyes at Remus's chuckle, hoping, wishing and praying that you would never forget its sweet melody.
"You look anything but."
You laughed at his words, totally oblivious, his gaze lingering on your smile.
"When is even this game?"
"In two weeks, that's the only thing Pads and Prongs talk about. Where's your head at?"
"I usually tune them out. They're disturbingly loud."
James screamed loudly at Sirius; you threw an 'I told you so' glance at Remus, who rolled his eyes in return. You liked when he did that.
"Try living in the same dorm room with them."
"Must not be fun since you're carrying the scars of the battle in your body."
"And in my soul," he nodded swiftly several of times. You adored the way his brown locks messed into each other, still looking fluffy. "Are you cold?"
"No, I'm sweating," you snarked, peeking at Remus. Maybe you were wrong because he definitely appeared more decent than you were. He beamed at you, sneaking in closer, his leg brushing yours.
Without further ado, he pulled his arm over your shoulder, tugging you to his chest. Your breath hitched as his scent filled your mind.
You hated how your heart reacted every time you were this close to him; a hand away to hold his hand, a breath away to kiss his lips-
"Better now?"
You pushed the image deep into your mind, heat blossoming in your chest, colouring your cheeks.
"Cheers."
The next you-don't-know-how-many minutes later, the practice was over, and the players were now descending to the ground. Remus hadn't let go of you yet, not that you wanted him to.
You watched as James and Sirius joked around, Peter joining them later on.
"Hey, lovebirds! Come down!" James yelled, his hands around his mouth.
You raised your head to see Remus frowning at them before smiling at you, which you returned shortly as you stepped out of his warm embrace.
"Who's hungry?" James asked as you two also joined them and answered before anyone else could. "I am. Let's eat."
"Evans still won't tell me what she smelled in Amortentia."
"Drop it, mate. If she wanted to tell, she would've," Sirius slapped James's back before stepping into the Great Hall before everyone.
"If you push her, she might get irritated, you know," you reasoned with James, albeit you knew it was in vain.
"With me? Impossible, I'm lovely."
"Not to her, apparently."
"Not everyone has a Moony around to cuddle, Y/N."
Peter snorted and dodged the hit from Remus's hand.
"What? James, that's not even relevant!" you hid the crimson of your checks with feigned annoyance, refusing to glance at Remus.
"It doesn't have to be relevant," he shrugged, grinning ear to ear. You shook your head, grabbed a toast and didn't see Remus arch a brow at James.
"Where's Sirius?" Peter asked, making all of you turn around.
"He was there a minute ago, was he not?" you questioned, aimed mainly at James. If there was only one person you could ask about Sirius, and he would have an answer, he was James.
Obviously, not this time because James simply shrugged.
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You were jealous. You had never been jealous over Remus until now.
You knew Lily Evans was his good friend, you liked her too, and you knew Remus would never even think about her in that way.
But still, you couldn't help but feel like you were on the edge of a cliff, waiting for someone to push you every time Lily would put her hand on Remus's hand, grazing the tiny cut lightly with her thumb. Your heart was a target to all sorts of knives when you heard Remus chuckle at Lily's words.
You couldn't help but wonder if she knew Remus's secret.
"Jealousy is not a good look on you, Y/N," Sirius cut your thoughts short.
"I don't know what you're talking about," you dismissed him with a shake of your head, pulling your gaze from Remus to the potion top. "Did you add the Powdered Root of Asphodel?"
Remus had always told you that you were the girl closest to him, and it would always stay like this. But you couldn't get rid of the doubts in your mind you were so certain that were emerging because of your feelings.
"Yes, stir twice clockwise," Sirius started working on Sopophorous bean juice. "I'm talking about Moony."
"What about him?" you bit down your lip and hoped your voice didn't shake when Remus's nickname startled your train of thought. How you loved that nickname...
"Others may be oblivious but don't be ridiculous, I see how you stare at him."
You didn't know how to reply to that claim, so you kept silent but turned your eyes to the long-haired boy. He smiled at you as if an encouragement, which almost crumbled your defences. You were on the verge of giving out.
Would it be bad if there was at last a person to share your feelings with?
"So, is it a monthly 'I fancy him' situation or..?"
"Something more," you finished for him, earning a croon. Here, you had said it with no guarantee that he would keep your secret but with the hope that he would help you carry the burden.
"Am I that transparent?"
"Only when you're jealous, love."
You nodded, smiling a little.
Sirius watched the way you were picking the skin around your nails.
"Hey, stop worrying. I'll tell no one."
Relief had hugged you at that moment, thankful that Sirius took your feelings lightly and didn't make a big deal out of it. Also, happy that you weren't alone anymore in this secret; you had someone capable of understanding.
"Sirius?"
"Mhm?"
"Do you think he'll ever...love me back?"
He sighed, drying his hands. You felt his hands on yours, returning the gesture.
"You know Moony, he doesn't talk about feelings," you laughed bitterly, placing your head on his shoulder. "But he is a plonker if he never returns your feelings, and I'll make sure he gets a new scar if he ever hurts them."
"Thank you, Pads," you melt into his hug as you feel his arms around your waist.
"You smell of strawberries," he took a strand of your hair into his hand, sniffing it. "What shampoo are you using?"
"Stop smelling me like a dog!" you pushed him away, giggling when he gasped in fake hurt. "Focus, we still have to finish that potion."
Sirius carried on with his Sopophorous bean, and you looked around for a sloth brain.
"Did you forget the sloth brain?"
"I thought you were going to get it," Sirius shrugged, looking up. "Moony and Evans have one more. Go and grab from them."
You glanced at the pair, noticing that Remus was already staring at you. He didn't budge when you smiled at him and changed his focus back to Lily.
Red hair, green eyes, dainty freckles and graceful stature. Why did she have to be this beautiful?
You sauntered to their seat, passing near a bunch of students that were requiring the Professor's attention. Remus refused to look up to you when Lily offered you a kind smile.
"Hey, Remus, do you mind sharing an ingredient with me and Sirius?"
"You don't have it?" his tone was not kind, and his eyes were cold.
"I thought he was supposed to take it, but it turns out he thought I would take it," you mumbled real quick, still not fathoming the reason behind his coldness. "So here we are."
"You guys were pretty out of it. How do you even manage to get the job done?"
"We are doing fine," you frown. What was wrong with him?
"Yeah, I saw."
"Are you going to let us borrow the ingredient, or should I ask James and Pete?"
His gaze finally changed into something you couldn't quite name. He turned to Lily, who was trying her best not to pry.
"We won't need the spare," she consented in an instant. Remus dashed to the other side of the desk, clutching the jar and dashing back to you.
"Thank you," you mumbled as you clasped it in your hand. He merely nodded one time before carrying on with whatever he was doing.
You could swear you heard Lily whisper to him, 'What the bloody hell is wrong with you?' before parting, but you ignored it.
You couldn't find Sirius when you were back, so you finished the last steps of the potion on your own. He didn't pop up when the Professor checked the work or when he dismissed the class.
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"Why are you pissed at me?"
"Moony is pissed at you?" James hopped in as you made your seat next to Remus, who was busy with his meal.
"Yes–"
"I'm not."
You stared at him in disbelief and bemusement.
"You certainly are. Now tell me why."
When Remus looked at you, a smile inched his lips up though his eyes were still grumpy.
"Where's Sirius?" he asked.
"I-I don't know," your head sought him out, giving out in confusion. "How is he any relevant?"
You ignored James muttering, 'You really do like that word, huh?' as your eyes desperately tried to understand why Remus was being weird. But instead of an appropriate reason, all you got was a shrug.
You shook your head in dissatisfaction and stretched your arm for the pumpkin juice. Seeing your attempts, Remus's hand had already grabbed it and now was pouring the juice for you.
"Thank you," you whispered before clearing your throat. "So, we'll study together in the library again, right? Now that you're not 'angry'?"
Remus shook his head when you drew quotation marks with your fingers in the air.
"Today, yes. Not tomorrow, though."
You quelled the rising anger and heartbreak in your heart. In a trice, you twisted in your seat, facing James.
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
He was taken aback by your sudden query. By the state of his full mouth and the bread crumbs around his lips, you figured out that he wasn't paying the slightest attention to you and Remus.
"Quidditch practice before breakfast?"
"In the evening, I mean."
"We're supposed to–"
"I wasn't talking to you, Remus."
Remus pursed his lips, cursing himself for not talking to James that morning. James's face crinkled in bafflement.
"I am supposed to finish my star chart with Sirius."
You nodded and glowered back at your best friend. James made a face at Remus behind your back as if asking what was going on.
"You don't take Astrology, Remus."
"I'll study with Lily tomorrow," he said, and you froze.
You were supposed to study together. You and Remus. Together. Like the way it had always been.
He wasn't supposed to study with the prettiest girl in the house. The graceful girl with a delicate smile and silky fire-kissed hair.
You didn't know when or how the familiar burn in your chest surged up, but you recognised what it was. You welcomed the acute sharpness of its thorns and the way it cut through your heart.
"Oi! Why didn't you tell me that? I could've finished the chart earlier and joined you!"
You tuned out James's protest. You wished you could tune out Remus mumbling to him, 'We decided in the potions.' too. But if there was one thing you could never turn a deaf ear to, it was Remus's voice; soft yet stern, melancholic yet hopeful. You wanted to tattoo the tune into your brain the way it was engraved into your heart.
You heard Remus call your name. You hated the way you loved your name from his lips. He had always chanted your name so gently, like an incantation, caressing your soul's most hidden-away parts.
"Yes?"
"I couldn't say no to Lily," he said apologetically.
"Yes, of course," you rose from your seat, offering Remus a smile you hoped covered the hurt behind your eyes. "I understand."
"Where you going?" he attempted to grab you by your wrist, but you were agile. You snatched your wrist away unobtrusively.
"I'm going to look for Sirius."
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"Hiya, love," Sirius greeted you at the curtail step of the Grand Staircase. You had looked for him in the castle, but you stumbled on him when you finally gave up and decided to head to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Where were you? I couldn't find you close to the end of the potions," you asked him, feeling a bit better now that you're out of Remus's company.
He shrugged, denying you the answer.
"You, too, Pads?" you stopped your steps, making Sirius do the same. He looked confused.
"I, too, what?"
"Somehow, I never get an answer to any of my questions these days, and it's bloody frustrating," you blurted out the grudge that had made home in you within a breath.
"Someone's getting ready to throw a strop," his mocking tone brought you to your senses. You pouted, sighing away the anger and resentment building up in your core.
"Don't sulk, love," he said as he dropped a hand on your shoulder, which impeded your movement on the stairs. "If it is any consolation, I have a problem with Snape."
"What problem?"
"You remember our last prank on him, right?" he smiled sheepishly. He continued when you nodded. "Right, so he may or may not have been trying to get back at me for it."
"So you two have been fighting like two little third-years for the last week?"
"Uh-huh," you rolled your eyes when he showed you his ridiculously white teeth. "I'm setting the ground for something big, but can't tell you, so don't ask."
"Fine."
"Your turn."
"It's silly," you cringed at the thought. Everything always made sense in your head until it was time to actually voice them.
"Good. Then we'll have a laugh. Come on, now," Sirius squeezed your arm as reassurance.
"Remus is a liar. Sometimes..." you purposely left out the once-in-a-month fact, "He stands me up, saying it's a Marauders thing-"
You held your hand up to interrupt Sirius, who was about to back up his friend.
"Don't. It is a lie. I know something is going on, and I have speculations, I'm not stupid, Sirius–"
"Never said you were."
"And it's okay, you know? We talked about it, and he told me he needed time, and I didn't argue. But now he tells me he isn't gonna study with me because he promised Lily, and I know it's an excuse because he couldn't use the 'Marauders thing' lie this time–"
"Don't forget to breathe."
"It's just...she's pretty and smart and–"
"In love with Prongs."
"You don't know that."
"No, but she will be, and you don't even need to worry about Evans. She's just a good friend of Moony."
You exhale heavily, begging for your endeavours to suppress the ache in your throat to work.
Yes, she was a good friend of Remus. But you're supposed to be his best friend.
Howbeit, more importantly, what was muddling you was the thought that Lily knew Remus's secret.
"I know, Pads. I just can't help it."
Sirius said the password to your common room and gave you the way first.
"You should talk to him, you know," he said as you threw yourself onto a sofa.
"And tell him that I'm ridiculously jealous because of his friendship with Evans, yeah?"
You smiled at Sirius's laugh. "I pity you, love."
You pitied yourself, too.
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You grimaced when you felt the metallic taste of blood. Pulling your teeth from your lips, you pushed them together so the blood on them would dry.
You've been pacing around your dorm room, contemplating whether to get down to the library.
Part of you yearned for Remus's presence, while the other part wanted to avoid him forever, not ready to face and voice your thoughts to him. You knew he never left any quarrel unsolved, never letting you stay upset.
Ultimately, your love for him overwhelmed your resentment, and before you knew it, you grabbed your book and ambled down the stairs.
Your knuckles were white from clutching the book hard when you entered the empty library. The only thing you could think about was if Remus was going to be there.
And he was.
He raised his head from his book the moment you crossed his sight, brown eyes full of different emotions that you couldn't sort.
You chose to ignore how his leg was bouncing and how his hair was way messier than usual.
He softly smiled at you when you sat next to him. You smiled back.
You hoped maybe he would act like everything was alright and you wouldn't have to think about your feelings.
But you inhaled sharply when he didn't.
"We're fighting a lot these days," he said, looking at your fingers rather than your eyes. "I hate it when we fight."
"We didn't fight."
"It may not be a fight, but," he took your hands into his, "I know you're hurt."
When you kept silent, he took this as his cue to go on.
"I'm sorry, dove. I should've known it would hurt your feelings to stand up our evening studies."
"You know well that it is not the matter," you said, pulling your hands back. "Stop acting like you don't."
"I'm going to need you to be more specific."
Dozens of questions raced through your mind, but you only managed to ask the one tearing you apart with jealousy. You pushed to voice that screamed at you, saying 'you're being too blunt' back in its place.
"Does Lily know your secret?"
Remus sighed. He parted his lips and then pushed them back together. You fathomed that he was getting irritated from the twitch of his hand.
"I thought we agreed that you wouldn't bring this up again–"
"Does she?"
"She does."
"You told her."
"She figured it out herself," he arched his brow at you eloquently. You despised the meaning behind that expression. It mocked you, claiming that you were not as bright as another.
"Of course, she did," You turned your side to him and opened the cover of your book. Little did he know you had figured everything, too. Except, you waited for his confiding.
"Alright, that's it," Remus shut the cover back to regain your attention. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What?"
"Y/N, you've been picking fights for the last bloody month. And I try, I really, really try to be patient but I don't understand what your problem is."
Your face wrinkled in confusion. 
"Remus, what are you talking about? We were fine until this morning."
Remus held back for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Maybe. But we're having the exact bloody conversation every once a month, and it's getting on my nerves."
This was the last straw for you. Getting on his nerves? 
You had been patient with him since the day you became friends.
You had been understanding towards him every time he pushed you away when he was upset and pulled you back for support.
You had been gentle with him every time he snapped at you before full moons and every time he broke your heart after full moons.
And you had been loving him for the last five years, first as your friend, then as a boy, despite his flaws, blemishes and imperfections.
And now he couldn't even handle your resentment?
Anger climbed its way to your chest, burning down every wall you've ever built to keep your heart's secrets hidden away.
Words were scattered across your mind, ready for you to use them as your weapon against the pain havocing in your soul.
You couldn't keep anything in anymore.
"You know what's getting on my nerves, Remus? You being a liar–"
"I am a liar?"
"Yes. Yes, you fucking are. You have been lying to me for the last five years, and I've been bloody patient.
You think you're being patient? Well, try being best friends with yourself. Someone who lies to you, keeps secrets from you, but tells you you're his best friend, and then fucking repeats everything again."
"I asked you to give me time!"
"And I did! I've been understanding towards you and acted dumb every time you gave me nonsense excuses like you did today."
Remus shook his head. 
"You're being selfish."
"I am being selfish?" your eyes widened in disbelief. He truly had the gall to call you selfish after five years of his lies, excuses, and your espousing only for his sake.
"It's not always about you, you know. I just wanted to spend some time with Lily tomorrow, it's not an excuse."
You sniggered, awed by the way he could lie so easily.
"How come even Evans knows you better than me?!"
Remus clenched his jaw and rose up to his feet. You knew he was trying his best to keep himself collected, not to take out the anger on you, but you had had enough. You looked up to the veins popping up on his neck from your seat when he raised his voice.
"She figured everything out herself! It's not my fault that you can't do that!"
"So, now I have to try to solve you out by myself? That's not how friendships work, Remus! You're supposed to trust me-"
"No! I don't have to do anything! I've had fucking enough. I don't owe anyone anything, including you. Remus this, Remus that. Everyone has something they want from Remus. Everyone rubs their so-called favours and sacrifices into my face, always demanding something in return-"
"I've never even once harped on anything I did for you! I only wanted you to open up to me-"
"And the only thing I asked from you was patience! Fucking patience!" he dashed at you, grabbing you by the sides. "But here you are, bringing up the same bloody thing every month like a broken record! So yes, you are the most selfish girl I've ever met!"
His words cut through your heart like a sword, the same sword you had placed in his hand.
You looked at his dilated pupils and how they almost swallowed the gentleness of the brown you always loved.
You blinked the tears away that were threatening to invade your vision and swallowed the lump in your throat down.
Patience, he had said. Time, he had said. You were selfish, he had said.
An unfamiliar surge of acrimony washed you down, anger flaming in your chest. Its white flames swallowed your love for the boy whole, echoing his words from nothingness.
You pushed him away as hard as you could. He tottered a few steps back, eyes softening at your raged visage. In a blink, you were up from your seat and closed the distance between you two.
"You want patience? I have been patient when you let everyone in but me. I've been patient when you pushed me away in the second year after learning about your father. When you snapped at me for worrying about you. When you yelled at me because I wanted to touch the scar on your face." 
Remus parted his lips, but you held your hand to stop him from talking. With every sentence, your tone was soaring, the tears were prickling your eyes, and you had let go.
"Don't interrupt me! I'm not done. I gave you time when you got 'sick' every month and didn't let me see you or when you cried in my lap but refused to talk to me later. I gave you time when you didn't speak to me for days because you were angry and when you lied to me every month because you didn't trust me enough!
You want time and patience?!
I have given you my time and patience for the last five years and have been loving you for the past three, Remus! So don't you ever dare to call me selfish!"
You snapped your mouth shut, letting the wave of fury and relief wash over you. Remus's eyes changed into something new, something you had never learned about him.
 Only then did a stronger feeling hit you: dread.
You had confessed your love for him. 
His eyes were heavy with emotion, the crease between the brows still reminding you of his anger, while the benign brown lit up the hope inside your soul.
"You what?" a whisper left his mouth, so low that you wouldn't be able to hear it if it wasn't dead silence in the library.
You didn't repeat yourself. You didn't even reply to him. You simply turned away and dashed out of the library.
xxxxx
When you woke up the next morning, all you could think about was that it was a full moon today.
You didn't think it would be a good idea to see Remus today, but you were worried about him. You wished to know how he was, where he was, and how he would endure this night. Would he have new scars the following day? Or a headache? Did he love you back?
So many questions and not enough answers.
James and Sirius were in the Quidditch practice, probably Remus and Peter as an audience. You had decided not to join them this time, trying to drown the chaos in your mind with homework instead. Or maybe you were too embarrassed to acknowledge Remus. 
Anyhow, one can only tolerate writing an essay to one point.
You slapped your book shut, groaning to yourself when you relived your last memory with Remus. Yesterday was the reason why you hated being angry; you would either cry or lose control of your mouth. And since you had bone both of them in one evening, you were planning on rotting in your room. However, your short span of attention was not helping. With every sentence you managed to put together, Remus's brown eyes would pop up in your mind. 
You glanced at the weather; grey clouds and chilly wind. Who would even want to be outside in this weather?
James (and maybe you).
You shook your head and decided that maybe rotting yourself until everyone would forget about your existence was not a good plan, as it was getting boring. Checking the time, you smiled because the Quidditch practice should be finished by now. Thus, you got up and left your dorm room. If only you could make it out of the common room without being seen by Remus. 
Sauntering down the stairs, you slowed your steps. Before revealing yourself, you checked the common room and saw James and Peter laughing. No Remus or Sirius. You wondered if Remus told them about your love confession. You hoped not.
Stopping into the room, you made your way to them, putting on a genuine smile. You tried to suppress the anxiety rising in your throat and reminded yourself that these boys were your friends.
"Look who's here," James narrowed his eyes at you. "The traitor."
"I missed only one practice, James."
"He and Sirius are way more dramatic today. James almost asked Evans to marry him this morning."
"Seems like a normal morning, Pete," you said, even though you couldn't help but chuckle. "Where's Sirius, though?"
"He went to see his brother. Said he'll be back in ten minutes or something."
You hummed at James, pushing your lips together.
"And Remus?"
"With Evans, I wager."
The familiar burn in your chest resurfaced. 
"I'll go find Sirius. See you guys later."
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"You have a death wish, I see?"
You jumped at Sirius's voice. As opposed to what you said to James and Peter, you didn't go looking for Sirius. Instead, you were strolling around the castle yard. You liked how the frigid air sent shivers down your spine, it was refreshing. And you, without a doubt, needed refreshment.
"How'd you know?"
"You're walking around in nothing but your sweater?"
You smiled and shrugged, waiting for him to catch up to you. When he did, he removed his black leather and placed it on your shoulders. You caught the burn on his hand.
"What happened to your hand?"
Sirius glanced at his hand shortly and yanked it back into the pocket of his trousers.
"Ah. Nothing. Snape and I had a little duel just now."
"Sirius, this is getting out of hand. You need to stop."
"Yeah, don't worry. It's going to end tonight."
Your heart dropped. 
"What do you mean?"
He burst into laughter, worrying you more. 
"I'm going to scare the hell out of that prick, he'll never dare touch me again."
You attempted a smile, though you weren't sure it came out smooth.
"What do you mean?"
Sirius turned to you, patting your arm with his fist. "Don't worry about it. Tell me what made you take a walk in such weather."
Now you were both worried and uncomfortable. Embarrassment was burning your ears up, making you wish that the ground would split in two and swallow you whole. However, you decided to bury the worries and awkwardness. You deserved someone listening to you, after all, so you shared everything with him.
After a few gasps and woahs, you quietened while Sirius was contemplating what to say and how to say it.
"You haven't seen him since?"
You shook your head no.
"Well, he was grumpy this morning, but I don't think it's related to you."
Yet, you were certain that it was related to you. 
He was grumpy because he was angry at you. He was grumpy because he didn't return your feelings, and you made him uncomfortable by confessing them. He was grumpy because you just shattered your friendship. Or maybe he was grumpy because it was a full moon.
"I think he hates me now."
Sirius snorted at your declaration. "You're one hell of an overthinker, aren't you?"
When you didn't reply, he pushed you with his side softly, "Hey, come on, it's Moony we're talking about. He can never hate you."
"You can't possibly know that."
"Yes, I can. Remember in the third grade how he literally hated all of us for burning his paper?"
"I mean, he wasn't exactly wrong. We did destroy two weeks' work."
"Exactly. He rained hell upon us for a month. Well, most of us. He didn't touch you, and whenever we would ask him why, he would hit us before saying, 'It would hurt her feelings'."
You smiled at the thought of thirteen years old Remus coddling you.
"I didn't know that."
"You don't know why James changed his wand last year in the middle of the semester, either."
"I thought he broke it."
"Nah, Moony broke it."
Your eyebrows shot up in bewilderment, amusing Sirius. He nodded before resuming to talk.
 "James had a brilliant idea to cast a spell on you that would twist your tongue every time you talked. Remus wanted to waver him from it, but he was stubborn, that bastard. So before he could cast the spell, Remus broke his wand in our dorm and made it look like an accident to James."
Your smile grew wider, your eyes tearing up from intense emotions. Remus always knew about your anxiety, and he had always cared enough to help you through it. Whenever you would fidget with your fingers because you were about to give a big speech, he would put his hand on yours to calm them down. Whenever you would sweat because the professor was criticising you in front of the whole class, he would touch his knee to yours to let you know he was there. Whenever someone would make fun of you, he would be the first one to stand up for you.
"I didn't know he had it in him."
"Oh, he has a lot more in him when you are the matter," Sirius side-hugged you, letting you lean in. "You can ask him if you want."
You frowned, about to ask him what he meant but stopped in your tracks when your eyes sorted Remus from the other side of the yard. He was with Lily. Before you could ask Sirius to return to the castle, he yelled from the top of his lungs to make himself heard.
"Oi! Moony!"
"What are you doing?!" you whisper-shouted at Sirius, who was dragging you to Remus's side. 
"You can't avoid him forever."
As you got closer and closer to his side, your heart picked up the pace. You didn't feel ready to talk to him today. You were sure you wouldn't be ready tomorrow either.
Lily waved at you two when you made it to their side. You noticed the bags under Remus's eyes and his bouncing leg. You refused to lock your gaze, focusing on Lily's glorious smile. Still, you could feel his burning gaze piercing your heart.
You had tuned out their talking, alerting your mind only to Remus's presence. You didn't hear Lily's giggle or Sirius's mocking tone; you didn't even care what they were talking about.
You only cared that Remus was bouncing his leg, snapping his fingers and rubbing his temple.
You longed to put your hand on his leg to calm it down, hold his hand so that he would stop hurting them, and kiss his temple so maybe it would tender the ache.
Your heart was burning up in your chest, clenching in agony. The agony of being so close and yet so far away from him.
Every tune around you was muffled, slave to even a whisper from Remus, but he wasn't making a single sound.
You had lost count of how many heartbeats were beating in your chest, wasting time by beating away from Remus's heart.
Suddenly, they stopped.
"I have to go," said Remus.
His hoarse tone shattered everything into nothing.
He got up from Lily's side and walked back into the castle. You didn't follow him.
You missed his voice.
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The weather was dark and still cold. You clung to Sirius's jacket more tightly. He hadn't asked for it back and said he would take it from you tomorrow.
You should return to the common room; it was neither safe nor clever to wander around at night. And you did. You turned around and started striding to the castle, only to flinch when you saw a figure exiting it.
It was hard for you to distinguish the person, so you followed him. You waited for the light of the full moon to reveal the silhouette's identity to you. You bit down your lip when you saw Severus Snape sauntering towards the Whomping Willow.
He must've lost his mind.
Your heart fastened with Severus's every step, dread of what was about to come sending tremors down your body. Your fingers itched in anticipation.
You hid behind a bush and watched him with terror. It was dark at night. It was a full moon. You were near the Whomping Willow.
Why did you even follow Snape?
When he finally crossed the safe proximity, the tree started moving. Your hand covered your mouth, your eyes unable to blink.
You waited for the tree to frantically shake and sway its branches. You waited for it to injure Severus or maybe even kill him.
But it didn't.
The moment it started to move an inch, it stopped. You thought maybe Snape had cast a spell; you could only see his back.
He slowly approached the tree, disappearing into a hole under it.
You rose to your feet and took a few steps towards the tree. You felt uncomfortably vulnerable at that moment, standing out in the open where you could get attacked by every side and wouldn't even be able to prevent it.
What if the tree starts moving when you're near?
Where did Snape go?
Should you even be here?
If there was only one question you knew the answer to, it was the last one.
You wanted to return to the castle and forget about all this in the morning. You truly did. However, you figured that there was no turning back when you heard a howl and a scream coming from the hole.
You jumped back with fear, oblivious to the yelp that left you.
Your first instinct was to run. Run away as fast as you could, without looking back, but something deep in your conscience didn't let you flee.
What if Snape was alone out there, and he needed help?
What if he was injured?
You cursed under your breath and took one more step towards the tree.
Your heart was pounding in your ear, competing with the sound of the howl down on the ground. You convinced yourself that it was the fear that made the howling sound closer than before.
One, two, three.
You exhaled sharply and started running to the hole.
You prayed that the tree wouldn't move.
Your legs made a stop before you could fathom what was happening.
More than one figure emerged from the ground, but your eyes only saw the big, ugly beast. Moonlight was glistening through its thick grey fur, displaying a horrendous sight. The tawny glow in its eyes was impossible to miss, as well as its tall and scrawny bone structure. The snarls from the beast were threatening to change into something more dangerous. 
Snape was screaming. You could swear you heard James, your name or maybe your own scream too.
However, your eyes never left the beast.
You had seen it in the pictures. You knew what it was.
A werewolf.
Remus.
And it was planning to attack Severus.
Your Remus.
You took out your wand, not even once looking away from the beast. Your mind was chasing every charm you've ever chanted, looking for the best one for the situation. 
The beast pounced on Snape with a growl.
Snape slumped into the ground. 
The beast towered over him, ready to attack. 
You aimed your wand at it, screaming the first thing that came to mind. 
"Petrificus Totalus!"
You had diverted the beast's attention, presenting an opportunity for James to save Snape.
"No, Y/N!" 
When James's cry tore your mind from the shock, you understood that you had made a mistake. 
Spells don't work on werewolves.
A gasp left your mouth when the werewolf directed its attention from Severus to you. You didn't see Snape fleeing or James carefully walking to you. All you could see was the icy light in its eyes glaring at you, sending sheer panic down your spine.
You hesitated to make any more sound, no matter how much you wanted to yell James's name for help. 
You didn't know how to fight werewolves, no one had ever taught you that. You didn't want to die, either.
The growl from the beast intensified, sending you enough signals that the inevitable was close. With your every step back, it was taking a step forward. 
No, no, no, no, no, no.
"Y/N RUN!
And you did. 
You ran until your lungs gave out, your legs crippled, and your heart burst.
You ran until your eyes watered from the chilly air, your nose hurt from the sharp breaths, and your ears echoed the beast's growls.
A branch cut just above your cheek, but you didn't stop.
 You ran until you lost control of your mind, giving it up to your body, performing purely under adrenalin.
But the beast ran with you, too. It followed you into the forest, howling and growling, letting you know death was close. Letting you know that the screams drowning in the night were in vain. Letting you know that the tears staining your face were in vain.
Your breaths mingled with your screams, your hair getting into your mouth. Sweat and tears melded into each other, burning up the cut on your face.
Before you could understand what had happened, your body hit the cold ground with a thud. Your eyes clenched shut, taking in pain vibrating through you. You felt the soil staining your face and body. Your weeping turned into a shriek when you felt yourself yanked into the dirt on your stomach.
Your eyes widened with fear when you finally fathomed the claw grabbing your ankle. It dragged you back, hoping to get the claws on your throat, too. Your fingers dug into the earth. You fought to free yourself from the beast. The jagged stones on the ground gashed your forearm. The dirt stung the gash. Your blood glistened under the moonlight. The beast howled. It turned you on your back.
Remus, Remus, Remus.
One last cry left you. The beast raised its claws, towering over you.
Remus.
You closed your eyes. The tears didn't stop.
Moony.
A high-pitched whine soared in the sky. You were sure it didn't come from you. Something hit your hip. You opened your eyes. 
A stag. 
A stag stroke the beast with its horns in the underbelly, tossing it away from you. The stag jumped over you, attacking the werewolf again. Animalistic voices ascended in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.
You crawled behind a large rock and took deep breaths. You knew you had to run. This was your opportunity to flee for your life, but you had exhausted your body. You needed time to recover.
The growls and whines never stopped. They got louder and quieter. Closer and farther. You didn't know.
You raised your head. The Moon was gleaming, casting light your way as if telling you to get going. You couldn't. Not now.
You lowered your head at your hands. They were filthy with dirt, the soil blackening the insides of your nails.Y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶g̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶d̶u̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶t̶h̶. You moved your left arm, checking the backside of your forearm. T̶h̶e̶ ̶j̶a̶g̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶a̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶e̶a̶r̶m̶. You winced at the scar and the fresh blood around it. Y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶b̶l̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶g̶l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶o̶n̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶.̶
Without warning, a sob left put your mouth, startling you. You pressed your uninjured hand on your lips, listening around. The voices had stopped. Neither the stag nor the beast was there. You were safe.
Your hands didn't leave your mouth, so terrified that if they did, you would make a noise and lure in the beast again. You knew your body was reacting to the shock and exhaustion, but you despised the tears flooding from your eyes. You needed to get it together and leave the Dark Forest. Albeit the beast was gone, the forest was still dangerous. 
You stood up with a groan, not lowering your wand for protection. Your clothes were spoiled, and you were hurting. You looked around to find a familiar way back to the castle.
"Y/N!"
You aimed your wand at the voice, your heart retaking the pace. The voice was familiar, but you were not in the right mind to identify it.
"It's me, hey. Lower your wand," James's gentle voice weakened your muscles, your hand shaking and breath hitching. Relief surged you from head to toe.
You didn't remember when you dropped your wand into the ground and threw yourself into James's warm embrace. You only remembered how he soothed you as you sobbed with exhaustion.
"You alright?" he put a hand on your shoulder and the other on your wrist to check you out after you pulled away from the hug. You nodded, feeling his gaze on your injured arm.
"Where were you?" You didn't recognise your own tone, rasp and brittle.
"Here. With you."
Something hit you in the gut. A realisation twinkled in your mind, finally comprehending the depth of 'Prongs'.
"You were the stag."
He smiled at you. "I knew you were a bright witch."
James Potter being an animagi wasn't the first priority for you tonight. 
"What happened to..." you couldn't let out the rest of the sentence. The beast. R̶e̶m̶u̶s̶
"I led it back to the Whomping Willow."
The next moments passed with silence, you two walking together to the castle and James subtly keeping his hand behind your back to make sure you were fine. You relived everything from the beginning, this time making sense of the incidents. You had so many questions and even more feelings gushing in you.
"I don't understand, James."
"Hmh?"
"Why was Snape there? Where were Sirius and Peter?"
You heard James clear his throat. His tone changed from gentle to furious in a moment.
"Sirius told Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow. That bastard thought it would be a good prank. He told me later because he had started to second-guess himself," he retorded, "Peter was also there, you just didn't see him. I sent him to make sure Severus gets into the castle safely."
No. 
You shook your head, not believing your ears. This couldn't be what Sirius meant by handling the Snape problem. You didn't want to believe it. Not because you were thinking too highly of Sirius but because you imagined how devastated Remus would be the next morning. You knew how much he trusted his friends.
"Remus..." you muttered under your breath, earning a hum from James that signalled him thinking the same thing. 
"Sirius will be in big trouble. I'm sure Snape had already run to Dumbledore."
You turned to James with widened eyes, he talked before you could panic. 
"Don't worry. He didn't see me as the stag or see Peter at all. That's why I was belated. I'm sorry I couldn't make it there sooner."
"Thank you for even making it there," you whispered, closing your eyes when the castle entered your sight. You avoided thinking about the possibility that James might not make it in time. What would happen then was something tragedic you never wanted to admit. "Will you see Remus tomorrow morning?"
James looked at you with such intense emotion that you thought he was pitying you.
"I will but–"
"I want to be there with you."
"No, Y/N, listen," he scratched his chin. You stared at him in question.
"I will have to explain everything to Remus tomorrow. And by that," he said, "I mean everything."
"James, I want to–"
"No. I don't want you to be there when I tell him how he almost killed you. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be there either."
"But it's not his fault–"
"That's not what he's going to think in the morning. I'll talk to him alone. Don't insist."
This was the most serious you had ever seen James Potter. Thus, you knew he wasn't going to back down. So, you didn't insist.
By the time you were in the common room, your body had calmed down, now only exhibiting exhaustion symptoms. James hugged you one more time before sending you to your dorm room.
"Shower with warm water and go to bed. I'll be in the common room if you can't sleep."
You wanted to ask him why he didn't go to sleep, but you couldn't even part your lips. So you simply offered him a weak smile and headed straight to the bathroom. The girls in your room were already asleep, meaning you had to be extra careful not to wake them up.
You scoffed at your reflection in the bathroom mirror. Frantic hair, shrunk pupils, a cut on your cheek and dirt on your face. As if all these weren't enough, the gash on your arm was throbbing with pain, blood staining your sweater and maybe even Sirius's jacket too.
You stepped into the shower and let the warm water clean you thoroughly. You clenched your teeth to suppress the groan you wanted to let out of pain from your cuts. The black dirt left you as the water stroke down your body, helping you get this night out of your skin.
Your eyes were glued to the dirt getting washed away, harking back to how the beast hauled you onto the ground. Your skin still remembered the burn from the rough friction.
You couldn't close your eyes, you couldn't even blink. Every time you did, a pair of two glistening yellow eyes would stare at you, threatening to hunt you down if you kept your eyes closed a second more. If you thought about the beast a little bit more, you were sure you would have a panic attack.
So you let your mind wander around something else.
Brown locks, chocolate eyes and pink lips. 
Your lips curved when you recalled his soft voice, the way he called you dove. You warmed up, and not because of the water but because of the memory of how Remus gently stroked your hair. How he wiped away your tears. How he braided your hair perfectly after begging Peter to teach him. How he had always given you something hand-made on your birthdays because he couldn't buy anything.
You missed him. You missed the gentle smile he was always offering you. You missed your tender bickering and his teasing innuendoes.
You had missed your best friend, and no matter what would happen tomorrow, you were going to talk to him.
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You couldn't sleep well that night. You even had a nightmare about what happened.
James was late in the dream; you died in the end.
So you stayed up all night, only being able to dive into sleep when the air was lightening up, turning into sapphire blue. At the same time of the day, Remus was turning back to his human self. You would chuckle at the irony if you weren't sleep deprived.
When you woke up, your heart was hammering in your chest. Your roommate was beside you, a glass of water in her hand. You felt sweat drops in your neck and temple; you must be having another nightmare, then.
She offered you the glass, which you gladly accepted. 
"Thank you," you said rather hoarsely. 
"It's almost five in the afternoon, hun."
You sat up in your bed, brushing your hair back with your hands. You had a terrible headache.
"It is?"
"Aye. You sure you're alright?"
"Yes, Lizzie, thank you," you smiled at her before leaving the bad. You were both grateful and uneasy that you had missed the most part of the day. This meant that Remus had already learned about the prank.
You eyed yourself in the bathroom mirror. You looked way better than yesterday night, undoubtedly. Your face had gained its colour back, and your frenzied eyes were glistening with something other than horror. The only flaws were the small cut on your face and the new eyebags.
You got ready and went down to the common room. Because it was Sunday today, the common room was crowded with students. 
Your eyes searched any of the Marauders but failed. They weren't here, and you were hungry. You made your way to the Great Hall, accompanied by nice growls from your stomach. Fortunately for you, it was dinner time.
You were too focused on the food before to find yourself a seat, so you didn't notice anyone approaching you. You flinched when a kind hand touched your arm.
"Y/N?"
"Oh, hiya Lily."
The red-haired girl smiled at you with emerald eyes. She pointed to a corner around the table with her finger. "Potter asked me to call you."
Your eyes found James, who looked as tired as you but still managed to put on a simpering smile. "Cheers," you said to Lily.
You sat next to him, stuffing your plate. Your stomach growled harder at sight.
"How are you feeling?" James asked, watching you nibble on a toast.
"Have been worse. You?"
"Have been worse."
You knew what you had to ask him, but you also knew you needed your appetite at the moment, or you would starve yourself. So you simply hummed and hastened to finish your meal.
You tried not to think about the two empty seats as you sipped your drink. James and Peter were having small talk, trying to lighten the mood. You didn't listen to that either.
You swallowed your last piece as slowly as possible, delaying the inevitable. James looked at you briefly, and you understood what it meant. He raised from his seat, having you follow him.
When you two found an abandoned corner, you turned to him, tuning out the racing of your heart.
"You didn't sleep, did you?" he pointed under your eyes with a nod of his head. You shook your head. 
"Did you talk to him?"
Unfamiliar gloom darkened James's features. "I did. Told him everything."
He glanced at you before averting his eyes away again. "He just listened. Thanked me in the end and said he wanted to be left alone."
Your heart clenched in pain. You didn't want him to be left alone. "Where is he?"
"Dunno. Didn't look for him."
"Where's Sirius?"
James stayed silent for a few seconds. "Dunno, either. We had a fight, but my guess is somewhere in the forest in his animagi form."
You didn't dwell on it any further. You loved Sirius, but you loved Remus more than anyone. Albeit you weren't furious at him, you still didn't plan on seeing him any sooner. 
"I need to talk to Remus, James."
"I truly don't know where he is."
You had to find him. You had to find him and tell him that it wasn't his fault. 
You nodded at James, mumbling a quick bye before wandering around the castle, trying to figure out where he could be.
He wouldn't go to the library. It would be an easy guess for anyone trying to find him.
James said Sirius would be outside of the castle. You were sure Remus wouldn't risk encountering him.
That left you two or three places that you knew Remus would run whenever he wanted to avoid people. So you got going.
You didn't find him at Room of Requirement or Hospital Tower. You cursed the school for being this large in area. It took you almost an hour to get from one side of the castle to another. Fortunately, you were sure Remus was on the Astronomy Tower.
As you got closer and closer to the tower, anticipation chased your heartbeats high, your hands fidgeting with their fingers. You took a moment to regulate your breathing, which had no effect on your pacing heart.
Without wasting one more moment, you entered the tower.
There he was, sitting on the ground, his head low between his hands. Around him was cold and dark, gleaming with the light from the Moon and stars. Your heart ached at the sight of him. You stepped forward, letting the sound of your footsteps alert him. He didn't acknowledge you, but you were sure he had heard you. Heartbreak burned through you, maiming you because of the distance between you two.
Your steps stopped next to him. He still hadn't looked up to you but hadn't asked you to go away either. So you sat next to him, raising your head to gaze at the stars while his head was low between his hands.
"The stars are beautiful, Remus."
He didn't budge. He didn't even move. You peeked at his chocolate-brown hair, suppressing the urge to mess with them.
"Your hair looks nice today."
Silence. You didn't know if he was ignoring you or simply ignoring everyone, and it wasn't something about you.
"Doesn't your neck hurt?"
"No."
You gulped when his voice echoed in the air. 
"It must hurt if you've been keeping it like that for a long time."
"It doesn't."
"Liar."
Silence again. You yearned for his voice once more.
"You can put your head on my shoulder, Remus."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Go away, dove."
His voice was fragile and pleading. It broke your heart, shattered it into million little pieces. A lump made its way to your throat. 
"Why?" you asked, a voice as broken as your heart. "I don't want to go away."
"But I want you to," he loosened his fingers from his hair, dropping them to his lap.
You turned to him. "Don't push me away, Remus."
You reached for his hand, but he gently pulled them away. "Remus, please."
He shook his head, still not looking at you. 
"I need to know why you don't want me here."
He left your side, ambling to the parapet of the tower and leaning to it. You stared at his back in disbelief.
"Remus-"
"Go away, Y/N."
"You won't even look at my face when you kick me out."
Finally, he snapped his head and locked eyes with you. His eyes looked tired, blazing into yours. He had a new scar under his lower lip, from James's horns, probably.
"Go away."
You stood up, frowning in annoyance. "No, I'm not going anywhere," you took stern steps in his direction and closed the disturbing distance. "We need to talk, Remus."
You adored his amber eyes despite your annoyance. You loved to dive into its depth and get lost, sorting out every colour one by one.
He stayed where he was, but you detected his eyes lowering from your eyes. He stared at the cut above your cheek, clenching his jaw.
You unconsciously turned away and hid it from Remus. Memories flooded in a blink and raised the panic inside you. You could still feel the wind hitting your face and the sting from the branch that cut your skin as you fled for your life from the beast.
"It's nothing," you uttered.
Remus scoffed at your face. You saw his eyes change into something harsh and his brows furrow.
"Yeah, sure. The cut in your arm is also nothing."
You didn't ask how he knew that. After all, James did tell you that he would let Remus know everything.
"It'll heal."
"And why is it there in the first place?"
Remus took a step forward when you didn't answer.
What were you supposed to say? Because his wolf form chased you down, and you got injured trying to flee?
"I'll tell you why," he said, voice raised. "Because I hunted you down, tossed you to the ground, and yanked you around. I only did it so I could kill you."
"No–"
"Is that what you wanted to talk about? How I'm a bloodthirsty monster whose first instinct is to kill?"
"You weren't yourself."
"What would happen if James wasn't there?"
You pushed your lips together and closed your eyes. This was the last thing you wanted to talk about.
"No, open your eyes," he raised your head by your chin, forcing you to look him in the eye. "Tell me what would've happened if James wasn't there."
You blinked away the tears that were threatening to invade your vision. Remus made you relive the same nightmare you had that night over and over again.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I need you to understand! I need you to understand that I'm not someone you can fucking love!"
You startled in your place, both by his anger and claim. Something had burst into flames inside you now that he had finally acknowledged your feelings.
You opened your mouth to quarrel, to tell him he's wrong, and that you loved him more than anyone or anything in the world. But he didn't let you interrupt him.
"You think I haven't thought about what you said in the last two days? You haven't left my mind for even a bloody second!" his tone was raised but broken.
"You were the one pushing me away!"
"Because I wanted to keep you away from all this shit! I wanted you to see me as something other than a cursed boy. Why do you think I never shared that secret with you?!"
"That secret is part of your story, Remus. If you thought that I wouldn't love you with it, you must've been out of your mind."
You didn't think he understood the depth of your love for him, and you needed him to understand. It didn't even matter if your feelings were not returned.
He shook his head no.
"No one, Y/N, no one loves a monster like me."
"I do," you pleaded.
Words weren't enough to convince him or express your love for him, but you were trying.
He took your arm in his hand and pulled the left sleeve of your sweater up, revealing the gash. You tried to pull your arm back, but he overpowered you, tightening the hold on your arm. You grimaced when his fingers pushed on the scar.
"This is what happens when you love someone like me."
You used your whole strength and tugged your arm back. You marvelled at your tone when you spoke.
"Stop it! You weren't yourself, Remus!"
"How does that even change anything?!" he screamed, his voice breaking and his eyes tearing up. "Don't you understand? I am a danger to you!
"Remus–"
"You think this is easy for me?! I have fucking lost my mind these last two days because you were the only one in it! My brain wouldn't think of any name other than yours! My heart wouldn't beat for any name other than yours! And when I am finally ready to tell you that I love you, too, James comes and tells me that I almost fucking killed you!"
His eyes were blood red, and the veins in his neck had popped up. Tears left his red eyes and paved the way down from his jawline to his neck.
Remus was crying.
It was a sight you had never got used in the last five years.
Your mind refused to work, denying to comprehend the words that left his mouth. It was all too much, and all in one moment.
"You love me, too?'
You didn't recognise your own voice, probably because all you could hear was Remus's confession. You expected your heart to race this time also, but instead, it was dead silent. Or maybe you were just too focused on Remus's eyes.
His tears never stopped, and he never tried to stop them.
He was breaking down at last.
You walked up to him and closed whatever distance was left. You looked up into his eyes as he lowered them to you.
"But you didn't kill me," you whispered, bringing your hand to his cheek. He closed his eyes, raining more tears on your hand. You gently wiped them away.
"I'm here, Remus. I'm here, and I'm telling you that I love you. I don't love you despite your curse, I love you with it."
Remus scrunched up his face, letting out a sob before sinking his head down your shoulder. You felt his tears on your neck.
At that moment, you knew no words would ever soothe the storm in his heart.
So you held him as he bawled like a child.
His crying sent daggers to your heart, ripping it open.
You begged for his pain to become yours so that he would never hurt the way he was hurting now.
You didn't know how many minutes past. All you knew was Remus's sobs and whimpers hurt you like nothing else ever did.
You didn't let go when the heavy sobs turned into heavy sighs or when the tear-fall in your neck turned into warm breaths.
You caressed his hair and kissed his neck when he calmed down. When he talked, it was gritty and low.
"I'm a monster, dove. A monster that will tear you to pieces if you get near."
"I love you," you whispered. You felt him let a short, breathy scoff to the crook of your neck.
"I attacked Snape last night like a beast."
"I love you."
"I almost killed you."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
You shut your eyes, breaking your face into a tiny smile. Four words, one sentence, and his lips close to your neck was all you needed for revival.
Remus inched away from your neck, lingering his lips next to your wound. The red in his eyes hadn't worn off, but the brown of his eyes was blazing with affection.
You drew a sharp breath when he kissed above your cheek.
He caressed the nick lengthwise with tender pecks. His hand grazed your other cheek while the other one made its way to your waist.
You held your breath when he lowered his lips, hovering them above your lips. His hot breath tingled your face, you fought the urge to close your eyes.
He whispered your name, and that's when you gave in. You closed your eyes and unknowingly parted your lips.
One second lasted one year. 
Something flamed up down in your chest when you felt Remus's soft lips on yours. He kissed your lips gentle and soft, but short. Pulling back, he stared into your eyes, chestnut brown darkening with every second.
"I love you," he whispered.
Within a blink, his lips crashed into your lips again, this time more intense, more passionate, taking away the air in your lungs. You melted to his touch, letting his lips savour yours while his hand on your waist tugged you closer. Your breaths mingled together, leaving your heart fluttering in your ribcage.
If time had stopped and trapped you at this moment, you wouldn't complain.
You craved his scent on your soul, his touch on your body and his lips on your lips. But most importantly, you were more than glad to be buried in his love.
He pulled away and smiled at the way you filled your lung with air. You felt his thumb caress your face.
"There's no getting rid of me, now, dove." 
His smile was tired, his eyes still carrying the heartbreak of yesterday. You knew he was still a broken boy inside, but you loved him anyway.
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rotten1angel · 3 months
Text
slytherin sweetheart. / s. black
sirius black x fem!malfoy!reader
5.7k words
summary — james and sirius see if sirius can break the slytherin ice queen’s shell for a prank – but it leads to much more.
authors note & warnings — borderline inspired by 10 things i hate about you, shit proofreading, underage drinking, forms of child neglect and abuse, lmk anything else!
(y/n) malfoy was an ice queen, a rich and powerful pureblood princess, older twin sister of lucius malfoy. because of that fact, the marauders, particularly james potter and sirius black thought to see whether sirius “the flirt” black could get her to swoon, to get you to swoon.
you walked through the halls, a permanent glare and wicked smile duo on your face as you walked in line with your brother. other slytherins walked behind you two, following like dogs behind the malfoy twins. building up to 6th year, your brother had built up a rather cruel reputation, and you always beside him, lumped you into said reputation. first and second years cowered at the sight of the two of you. and you also seemed to be a target of numerous pranks orchestrated by four gryffindors in your year.
those four gryffindors were now sneering at the gaggle of slytherins walking into the dining hall, including you and your brother.
“we gotta do something about them.” sirius starts, “all of our pranks don't seem to affect them.”
james forms a wicked grin as a practically visible lightbulb lights over his head. “make her swoon.” 
“huh?” is all that stutters out of sirius’s open mouth, “how am i ‘sposed to do that if she hates us?” sirius stares at the bespeckled boy, stating the obvious.
“stop your other dalliances,” earning a scoff from remus, “and focus only on (y/n),” james explains.
“it’ll annoy the shit outta malicious,” james’s nickname for lucius, “and then just leave.” 
a twinning grin makes its way to sirius’s face as peter shrinks into himself and remus sighs in disapproval, but when have they ever listened to him?
you practically hear hisses from your table right before feeling a body slide in next to yours on the bench. you turn your head, tossing your hair over your shoulder to find the outcasted black sitting beside you. you raise a single brow at him, a small scowl on your face.
“hey there, sweetheart.” you could feel lucius’ glare from across the table.
“don’t sweetheart me, black.” you respond, taking a sip of water from your goblet. 
“what are you doing here?” lucius’ cruel voice spits at the raven-haired boy.
“just trying to get to know your sister here, malicious.” you have to stifle the laugh creeping up from your chest at the nickname. your brother turns to glare at you as sirius’ lips quirk up at your show of humanity. 
“pick you up friday then?” sirius quips.
‘yeah, sure black.” you respond, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“i’ll be in the common room.” you say to your brother as you get up, fixing your already shortened skirt and leaving your half finished plate on the grand table as you walk past the curly haired boy, your walk as poised as ever. sirius leaves the slytherin table to prance back to his own, “phase one is in action.”
the next few days sirius smiles at you in your shared classes, offers to help you in potions (though you’re the one who ends up helping him), even offering to walk you to your classes and carry your books, all leading up to friday.
you do not know why he seems to like you all of a sudden, but it is nice to be liked.
friday arrives, classes are over, accompanied by all of sirius’ courting gestures. you’re getting ready with your dormmates, narcissa, who your brother has taken quite a liking to, and bellatrix, to go to a ravenclaw house party, and while it is a house party, plenty of ravenclaws had invited 90 percent of the 5th, 6th and 7th year students, so it was practically come one, come all. you had been putting on the finishing touches, some blood red dangly earrings and a matching necklace. adorned in those jewels and a black mini dress and black heels you headed down to the common room. a knock on the door interrupted the mingling in the slytherin common room, an unusual sound in the dungeons. narcissa moves to open the stone door, surprise coloring her face as she sees the rejected black. you climb the few steps to see what she's gaping at to see the same sight.
sirius black in a black button up, the top few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. at the sight of you his eyes widen slightly before meeting your gaze.
“friday right?”
you gape at him, your dark red lipstick outlining your shock. you cast a glance back at narcissa, who has a teasing look in her eyes, not bothering to look at bella who has a fuming glare at her cousin. you sigh and push black back from the door before following him out, allowing narcissa to close the door behind you, she’ll join you at the party.
“what is this?” you whisper yell at him, though, you're not even near angry, maybe more embarrassment, if that. 
“told you i’d pick you up didn't i?” he sallies back at you. you roll your eyes at him before heading out of the dungeons and to ravenclaw tower. sirius follows behind you like a dutiful puppy before catching up to your poised stride. 
“you’re lucky it wasn't lucius opening that door, black.” you spare a glance at him as you go through the maze of moving staircases to ravenclaw tower.
“oh what's malicious gonna do?” you let your laugh ring out this time, a heavenly sound to the boy beside you.
“you really shouldn’t call him that,” you glance over at him again, “even if it's true.” 
you don't know what's come over you, your hardened, preserved, ‘ice-cold’ heart is being chipped away at by the boy beside you, why are you walking with him? laughing at his jokes about your brother?
you don't see the wondrous gaze sirius gives you when you look forward again, this time at the front of the ravenclaw door. sirius bares you the burden of knocking on the door as he does it himself. you can smell the firewhiskey breath of the boy who opens the door, ushering you and sirius in, eyes following hogwarts’ ‘ice-queen’ who’s arrived with sirius ‘the flirt’ black. 
the sconces and candles lighting the common room have been enchanted to flare blue and purple. drinks cover the tables and drunk bodies grind together in the center of the room.
“well, you picked me up and escorted me to the party, black. that’s more than most men get, i'll see you later.” you leave him, slightly disappointed, with a little wave of your fingers as you take a shot from the table and glide yourself into the sea of bodies.
the party carries on, narcissa and bellatrix arrive. narcissa makes her way to you, no doubt to question what sirius black was doing at the slytherin dungeons, and bellatrix follows her, casting a glare towards sirius.
andromeda, the only black relative who had not hated sirius arrives as well, on the arm of ted tonks, a muggleborn hufflepuff, to sirius’s knowledge. she makes her way to sirius, a curious quirk of her lips clues him in to how this conversation will go.
“so.. provoking even more pureblood families then your own, then, sirius?” she asks in a teasing tone. he scoffs out a laugh.
“‘spose so..” he trails off, his eyes finding your figure as you dance with narcissa, a begrudging bellatrix standing close to the two of you, clearly not wanting to be near any non-purebloods. 
“i hope you know what that’ll do to her.” andromeda says to him before walking off with ted on her arm, leaving a disoriented sirius reeling over his older cousin’s words. he feels a strong pat on his back, sending him jolting forward for a minute before turning to see james and remus. 
“so how’s the situation with miss ice queen coming along?” james asks, a grin on his lips. 
“oh— uh good.. good.” sirius responds, shaking himself out of the trance that andromeda’s comment had him in. remus lifts an eyebrow at him subtly but james steers the two over to the drink table before remus can say anything. 
eventually, james gets drunk enough to saunter his way over to lily evans to try and win her heart as he has tried since 1st year.
remus and sirius move to a back wall, but sirius still has a view of you, still only one shot in, still having a grand time with narcissa.
the two boys are silent for a long while and sirius’s eyes find you again, his gaze is sweet, his mind as far from the ‘prank’ this was supposed to be. 
“you like her.” remus states, snapping sirius out of his adoring trance.
“what?” sirius implores, whipping his head, curls slapping his face as he turns to look at the lanky boy. 
“have you thought about what you might do to her if you just leave her, as james said?” he questions the ravenette. 
“w.. well no..” sirius sputters.
“if she does fall for you and you leave her, you will break her heart.” he starts, “lucius knows you're courting her, which he will be able to tell that she has been heartbroken and likely tell his parents. do you understand that?” remus pushes.
sirius stays silent, he doesn't know what to say, or what he's even thinking.
“think about that.” remus states before giving sirius a pat on the shoulder before going to join marlene and mary at the drinks table. 
sirius leaves the party early after that, and your eyes watch as he goes. 
over the next few days, you and sirius grow closer, opting to sit with him in potions when he offers over your brother. which causes lucius to corner you afterwards, since it is the last lecture of the day. sirius casts you a glance before walking on with his mates.
“what is going on between you two?” his voice has no concern, only barely concealed rage in his hushed tone.
“n..nothing lucius, nothing.” he raises a brow at you, “i'm just having a bit of fun with him..”
“it better be that.” is all he says before he stormed off, a threat unspoken.
your face scrunches in his direction, he had always been on your side, or was it rather you had never deviated from his?
you pulled yourself together swiftly before heading to the dungeons to drop off your stuff. you pick back up only your potions things, stuffing them into a black messenger bag before heading to the black lake where you were supposed to meet sirius to study.
you stride over to where a mess of inky curls sits, a few feet from the lake. you plop your bag down before taking off your cloak, placing it down before sitting on top of it. 
“so.. what did your brother want?” sirius asks. 
not malicious? you thought.
“oh, nothing..” you say, an uncertain undertone in your voice, sirius picks up on it but doesn't pry. “let’s start with amortentia.”
sirius quirks his brow at you, to which you smile and scoff, “it's the first alphabetically, black.”
you both flip to the page in your potion books but sirius lays his on the ground and looks at you, as you are supposed to be testing him. “what are the ingredients to brew amortentia?”
he thinks for a minute, his eyes on the ground, before meeting your gaze again. “ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, powdered moonstone, peppermint, and pearl dust.” he recites them properly, causing a wistful smile to make its way to your face, “and what are the possible substitutions?”
“refined peppermint oil for peppermint, and mother of pearl for pearl dust,” he answers. a grin breaks out on your face that time, a sight sirius relishes in. you smack his arm lightly, “you know this stuff, black! why are you so clueless in potions?” you question him.
“well how can i focus with you next to me, sweetheart?” he asks as he breaks your gaze to look at the lake, he doesn't see the way you try to contain your smile or the way your cheeks flush. all he hears is your scoff. 
you close your potions book and set it on the grass next to you.
“so why ask me to help you study, if i distract you so much?” you tease him, and it gets his heart fluttering.
“well you're hard to get alone, (y/n).” 
your lips quirk upwards as he looks back to you. 
“james keeps saying how he’ll beat you into the dirt during the quidditch game this saturday, he’s even planned a party for his undetermined victory.” sirius voices.
“undetermined? so you do have some faith in me, sirius.” god, the way his name sounded from your lips. 
“if we do win, you’ll come to the party?” he asks, no, pleads. 
“so james can rub his win in my face, captain to captain?” you quip.
“for me.” he replies, rousing you to silence, the soft, pleading tone in his voice making your cheeks flush once again.
“I'll come.” you respond, sirius’s eyes widening slightly before a grin breaks out on his face. he then hears james and remus calling him from across the green and swiftly packs up his things and gets up.
“i’ll see you later, sweetheart.” he says before dipping down briefly to kiss your cheek and runs off to his mates, leaving you a flustered mess in peace. 
saturday came quick enough, and as the captain of the slytherin team, you bring your all, however when you hear sirius call your name you look up to see a bludger coming for you. thrown off, it hits the front of your broom, missing your body completely but snapping the front of your broom off and spinning it to the ground. you end up a little disheveled, but nothing broken. the game is called off since you have no stand-ins and gryffindor wins with the points they have. 
after the game you keep true to your promise to sirius and shower, getting ready for the gryffindor celebratory party. bellatrix eyes you from her bed, fury behind her dark eyes. narcissa and andromeda help you get ready, however, curling your hair for you and getting your jewelry out. you decide on a dark red long sleeve dress, fitting your body perfectly. black heeled boots and a black headband, along with your blood red earrings and necklace complete your look. you kiss andromeda and narcissa on the cheek, leaving lip prints on each of their faces before heading to gryffindor tower. 
you knock on the edge of the painting, careful not to mess with the fat lady, she ushers out a ‘thank you, dear’ before a younger boy, probably a 4th year, opens the door. 
“what do you want, snake?” you're thrown off by the comment, used to people being afraid to look in your direction, since when have you become soft enough for others to notice?
sirius shoves past the boy, knocking him into the wall as he grins down at you, you give him a small smile in return, “you came.”
“promised i would.” you respond as he offers his hand and you take it. he admires the red dress that adorns your figure.
“suitable dress for the house who won,” james saunters around the corner, already tipsy, “only by default.” you quip back at him, he’s definitely less hostile to you now, but whether that's from sirius’s attention or the alcohol, you couldn't say.
when you enter the common room, it's filled with boisterous laughter and celebration, and you can appreciate their enthusiasm. you find the drink table, mainly firewhiskey, a preferred favorite of the gryffindor house. you toss back a few shots, scalding your throat, hopefully to relieve some of the pain from your fall earlier. sirius looks at you with concern.
“i can have fun, black.” you shoot at him and he laughs, “of course, babe.”
your cheeks heat at the nickname, or the alcohol, but you feel your vision haze slightly already. a few more drinks in and you're dancing on the coffee table in front of the fire. gryffindors around you are cheering you on but sirius had lost you in the crowd, he looks for marlene, finding her back by the stairs with dorcas.
“you seen (y/n)?” he asks over the thunder of the crowd, she only points at you and his eyes widen, making her and dorcas laugh. He pushes through the sea of people to get to the edge of the coffee table.
as soon as he does he sees and hears you hit your head on the chandelier floating above you, it throws your drunk body off balance and you stumble until you fall right into him. thankfully, he’s nowhere near as drunk as you are and braces for impact before lifting you off the table and away from the crowd as they continue to carouse.
he sits you on the, thankfully, empty stairs, and marlene and dorcas leave you two be. you cradle your throbbing head in your hand as sirius pushes back the curled strands of your hair falling in your face. 
“you need to see madame pomfrey,” he states as you wince as he tries to examine the bump, thankfully no blood. 
“no, i’m.. i’m fine.” you falter, your head falling forward slightly but he holds it up.
“stay awake, (y/n).” you only hum in response. he helps you off the stairs, holding you up against his body.
“marlene bring some water to the boys dorms, please.” he shouts over the crowd but sees marlene nod at him and give a thumbs up. he ushers you up to the marauders dorm, placing you gently on his bed, making sure you’re sitting up right. you slouch over into him, your forehead against his chest as he examines the bump on your head more thoroughly. it doesn't look terrible but you did hit it pretty hard. he crouches down to be level with you, your eyes are closed and your jaw is slack, he slaps your face gently.
“hey, hey, (y/n), no, wake up. (y/n), open your eyes!” your eyes flutter open at his voice and you gaze up into his stormy ones. “hey… your eyes have a little blue in them..”
he laughs at your drunk mumble, “right you are, sweetheart.”
marlene comes in with two big glasses of water, placing them on the nightstand beside you and gazing over to you, “feel better, sweetie,” she says before leaving the two of you and closing the door.
you break your gaze to look over at the water on the nightstand and sirius catches your line of sight, grabbing the water and handing it to you. you take generous gulps before taking a breath of air, “water’s good.”
“yeah?” sirius asks you, tucking stray hairs behind your ear. his curiosity can't help but take over him, “why are you so.. closed off?” he utters the words before he can stop his lips.
you explain to him how your parents had conditioned you in the ways of a pureblood wife, silent, poised, cold. How they’d locked you in a closet if you’d talked back. How they conditioned you not to cry.
He knew exactly how you grew up, he grew up the same.
His hand moved from your hair to cradle your cheek. You glanced up at him, seeing the look of understanding and you understood too. 
“what a duo we are..” you mumble
“indeed.” he responds.
“i promise i'm here for you..” you mutter.
a comfortable silence overtakes the two of you, you gaze into his stormy eyes, deeper than you’d ever expected. you lean in gently and your eyes flutter close. your lips meet his for a brief second before he pulls back. your eyebrows scrunch as your eyes open again.
“another time..” he mutters out. you back away from him, finishing the glass of water before getting up and storming out of his dorm. 
you avoid his gaze in all your classes on monday, opting to sit next to your brother instead during potions, he scowls at you but doesn't refuse you. you feel sirius’ gaze on you but you ignore it. after you get out he follows after you, calling your name. he tugs on your shoulder and you spin around to face him, a scowl on your face. “please, meet me at the lake in 20, please.”
you sigh at him and walk off, no definite answer to give him. 20 minutes pass and you exit the halls of the hogwarts castle, walking into the sun’s rays and onto the green. You spot a familiar raven-haired boy sitting by the lake, the same place you ‘studied.’ you walk over to him, sitting down beside him silently. 
“you came,” he says, his tone bordering astonishment as he gazes at you.
“i promised.. i'm here for you.” you answer him. 
he smiles at you and you can’t help but return it. 
a few weeks pass as the fall bleeds into winter and the yule ball is brought up. you and sirius have begun hanging out practically everyday after potions. his mates, james specifically, have started to notice. when sirius gets back into the dorms — after missing dinner — and he sits his happy ass down on his bunk, james puts down the potions assignment he was attempting to work on. 
“what’s with you and (y/n)?” james asks, no hostility in his voice, pure curiosity.
sirius snaps out of his giddy daze quickly, “nothing,” he replies, hesitation dripping from his voice.
“he likes her.” peter squeaks out. 
when remus can’t talk about things going on in the group to everyone, he talks to peter about it — the boy’s so quiet anyway. james's eyes widen slightly while sirius’s practically bulge out of his head. he looks accusingly at remus who only throws his hands up in surrender. 
“i mean it's fine if you do, sirius, but.. (y/n)?” james utters out, causing sirius to turn to him, a small glare in his eyes at his best friend. 
“she’s not what you think she is.” he says coldly.
“hey, i believe you, mate! If you say she’s not a heinous stuck-up bitch, i believe you.” james says with a small smile, causing sirius to throw a dirty quidditch jersey in his general direction, pulling a laugh out of the tan boy. 
“does this mean i can talk about her now? cause i've had to keep all my shit to myself and it is hard.” sirius says, getting approvals from his mates before he begins blabbing all about you into the night.
you’re huddled with narcissa and bellatrix in the courtyard when you feel a tap on your shoulder and see bellatrix sneer at whoever is behind you, causing a grin to pull at your lips as you turn to face sirius. bellatrix stomps off and narcissa follows her, but not before giving your shoulder a soft squeeze.
“sirius,” you regard him, tucking a loose curl behind his ear, causing his pale cheeks to redden slightly. 
“go to the ball with me.” he asks, or rather urges. You let out a soft giggle, “i would love to.” 
his face breaks into a grin at your response and he can’t help but cup your cheeks and plant a soft kiss on your lips, the kiss is all smiles and you giggle again when he parts. “you’ve gotta get to class, love,” he whispers.
“so do you..” you respond, but he only tucks a stray hair behind your ear in return and walks off. you have a soft smile on your face as you walk to charms.
unknown to you, your twin was behind one of the stone columns of the courtyard, witnessing your display of affection, and heads to his dorm to write a letter.
weeks pass and the ball creeps up. you’ve been to boutique’s on the higher end of hogsmeade with narcissa and have gotten dresses. narcissa’s a deep envy green, and yours to contrast, a deep red. floor length, the waist line just below your chest and thin straps. matching silk gloves run up your arms and your hair is curled and styled down. you walk down to the dining hall, revamped for the yule ball, with narcissa, her parting from you once she sees lucius, who had asked her. you glance around, not seeing sirius, but you spot marlene, along with dorcas and lily. you hesitantly make your way over to her, stopping a foot away from her. dorcas taps her shoulder and points to you and marlene turns. 
“oh, hey doll!” she says before looking over your dress. “god, sirius is gonna lose his mind!” she comments, making you smile.
“you bet he is.” lily laughs out. 
“you guys mind if i stay with you till sirius comes?” you ask gingerly.
“not at all, babe!” marlene affirms, they make you feel welcome immediately. the four of you chatter, lily mentioning something about how the boys are late to everything.
dorcas spots james followed by the others and waves him down. he makes his way over, arm circling lily’s waist as he steps up to you four. seems she finally gave in to him. 
you turn to spot the other three, a few steps behind and when sirius sees you’re talking with his friends his heart stutters and then swells. He skips over to you, his arm copying james’s action. “amazing dress, love.” 
marlene and dorcas simper at him and he gives them a look. 
you end up spending most of the night with sirius and his mates, dancing in turn with the girls and your date. a slow song has just finished up and the girls whisk you away once again. 
“is sirius good to you, truly?” dorcas asks you, and you smile, “he is, he’s sweet, and funny, and honest..” you say as you feel him creep up behind you leaning over your shoulder, “talkin’ about me, love?” 
you roll your eyes at him, your smile widening at his mere presence. james saunters up behind him, throwing an arm around both sirius and you, squeezing himself between the two of you. “crazy how (y/n) got brought into our little group ‘cause of a prank,” james says, and you falter.
“what?” you ask, a confused smile still on your face but is wiped off immediately by james’s next words.
“yeah, near the beginning of the year we thought it’d be fun to crack your shell and get sirius to flirt with you and.. stuff..” james trails off as he catches lily’s glare, along with marlene and dorcas’s tensed faces, and then yours. 
it was now silent in the hall to you — the shrieks and laughs of joy from the ball now drowned out. your eyes are glossed over with tears, but you dare not let them spill as you look at sirius accusingly. 
“(y/n), listen—” he starts but you storm away, james dropping his arm as you speed out of the hall. 
“do you not know when to shut up, james?” marlene whisper yells at him as sirius tries chasing after you.
he runs after you down one of the corridors as you're making your way back to the dungeons, he grabs your wrist, whirling you around. “(y/n), please listen!”
“are you going to deny what james said?” you ask coldly, he hadn't heard your voice like that in months, and it was as if he’d gotten a bucket of ice-cold water dumped on him. “well.. i can't but—”
you break out of his grasp, one tear slipping from the corner of your eye.
“don’t talk to me, black.” you storm off again, leaving him in the middle of the empty corridor.
the rest of the year passes in a blur, you’ve been shunned by your brother, and you were a cold, ice queen again. sitting alone in classes you don’t have with narcissa. you had appointed a new captain for the quidditch team and you quit. you spent your time in your dorm, sometimes by the black lake during quidditch games when you knew sirius couldn’t run off and find you.
and sirius.. he was in shambles, sulking practically the rest of the year. 
summer came and you went home, riding in a train compartment with lucius, the silence enveloping the enclosed area was suffocating. you were grateful to finally get back to your manor, until you were stopped by your house elf from entering. your father came to the door, nodding at lucius before turning to you. “i understand you were involved with sirius black and his.. company.” 
your heart stops and you nearly drop your luggage. tightening your grip on it, you manage to utter out, “..what?”
“you’ve become a blood traitor, (y/n). this is no longer your home.” and then he shuts the door in your face. a sigh forces its way out of your lungs and suddenly, all the walls and barriers you built around your heart shatter, the dam overflows. 
your eyes well with tears and they overflow, the years of holding them back and pushing them down all come to surface. you sob.
only a few minutes later you hear a honk behind you. turning, you see what you're to understand is the knight bus. you take a ragged breath in before straightening your face, still trained to push down feelings. you step onto the bus and the ‘host’ asks where you're headed, “.. the leaky cauldron.” you utter out before sitting on one of the many beds that are not unlike the beds in the hogwarts dorms. 
you get there and pay for a room. you stay for a few days, until your pocket money runs out and you have to leave again. you debate going back to malfoy manor for a few minutes before ultimately deciding it wasn’t a smart idea. it’s night again, you're not sure how long it's been since you weren't allowed in your house, you had rarely bathed, the days had turned into blurs.
you step out into the chilly air of london outside the leaky cauldron, your breath forming clouds in front of you. and in a few minutes the knight bus came again. you don't hesitate before stepping on this time. and when the host asks where you’re headed, you reply, “potter manor.” without thinking.
you’d remembered sirius telling you how euphemia, james’s mother, practically adopted him after being kicked out.
it’s only a few minutes before you've arrived. you thank the driver before getting off as it whizzes away again. 
you take a few minutes to walk up to the door, and a few more beats to knock lightly on the door. your hear a warm ‘coming!’ from inside before you’re met with the sight of what you believe is james’ mom. her face visibly drops as she sees the state you're in. 
“oh dearie, what happened to you?” she asks but you don’t answer as she ushers you in. she sits you at the large dining table as she ushers around the kitchen, she comes back a few minutes later with a steaming cup of vanilla-something tea. you graciously accept the tea, blowing before taking a scalding sip and warming your hands on the cup, your gaze trained down. you freeze as you hear footsteps and familiar voices coming down the stairs. james and sirius turn to see who euphemia’s guest is, only to see your mussed hair and blotchy face. your undereyes are defined in dark circles and swollen. you wipe your nose with the back of your hand as you look down at your lap.
“..(y/n)?” sirius asks, his voice soft. 
“you’re the (y/n) sirius hasn't stopped talking about? no wonder you came here dearie.” euphemia says, “you can stay as long as you need, honey.” she says as she gets up, ushering james out of the room, telling him to make up a guest room, ultimately giving you and sirius space.
sirius moves swiftly to crouch beside you, he raises his hand tenderly to cup your jaw before turning you to look at him. “what happened, sweetheart?”
oh, that name.
your eyes well up again, “got kicked out..” you manage a grief-stricken laugh. his thumb swipes across your cheek. 
“lucius told my parents about us and,” you hiccup, and continue in a softer voice, “i didn't know where else to go..”
his is hands move to wrap around your body, pulling you into a secure hug. “i’m glad you came, love.” 
you bury your face in his shoulder, letting your tears soak his sweater. 
he pulls himself away for a moment, running his hand through your hair to push them away from your face. “i swore to myself as soon as i could i’d explain.”
your eyes meet his but you stay silent, too tired to say anything.
“it did start out as a prank, our.. relationship, i will not lie to you, but the first day i talked to you i had already fallen for you. when you tried to stifle your laugh at my name for lucius, i wanted you to laugh at me forever.”
“malicious suits pretty well, though, huh.” you chuckle sadly, you're voice sore from disuse and tears. 
“i did truly fall for you, (y/n), none of my actions were ungenuine.” he says as he moves to cup your face again. “please believe me when i say, you will never know how sorry and upset with myself i am for hurting you.”
your swollen, tear-stained face smiled at him. you lifted your hand to tuck a curl behind his ear, “there’s no need to apologize, sirius. I was a bit dramatic..” 
“no, you weren’t, love. I should have told you, or just not done it at all.” he vindicates you. “i never want to hurt you again.”
“i trust you, sirius.” you say softly. he looks up into your eyes, his gaze flitting down to your lips briefly. you lean down and kiss him tenderly.
your lips taste of salt and vanilla but he pays no mind. he pulls away before caressing your face once more.
he stands, placing a kiss on the top of your forehead. “let’s get you some sleep, love.”
taglist — @hunnybunimdun @wildieflower @ell0ra-br3kk3r @diqldrunk @lazydreamer19 @masivechaos @imabee-oralizard @garfieldsladybird @nonamedauthor
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danaewrites · 4 months
Text
you with the dark curls (you with the watercolor eyes)
part ii: i wanna hear you speak to me
james potter x reader // read it on AO3
word count: 3.6k
summary: “Falling in love with your best friend was never a good idea, but you’d managed to do the idiot thing anyway, carrying a torch for a boy who would never look past Lily’s emerald eyes to see the watercolor ones that had always been by his side.”
tags: best friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending, based on the song "dear arkansas daughter" by lady lamb, fem!reader
author's notes: new year, new chapter! i started writing this one back in SEPTEMBER and finally had enough time away from the terrors of calculus homework to finish it. thanks for reading my story so far and i hope you enjoy this incredibly self-indulgent chapter, because i had way too much fun writing it!! i promise that the angst in this chapter *will* be resolved, but it was too deliciously tempting to resist sprinkling a wee bit of hurt/comfort and dramatics in there as well. sorry not sorry!
read it all here: part i, part ii, part iii (coming soon!)
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“I’ve got no bloody clue how Dumbledore can be so energetic all the time,” you groaned, head in your hands as you peeked out at the headmaster’s more-than-slightly manic grin from your seat at the Gryffindor breakfast table. You were far too sleep-deprived to process his latest choice of garish attire: a bright chartreuse robe covered in plaid polka dots, topped off with what appeared to be rhinestones and tinsel attached to his beard.
Perhaps if Kettleburn hadn’t assigned you three feet of parchment on the seventeen glorious properties of dragon dung yesterday and expected it done by this afternoon, you might have appreciated the headmaster’s creative fashion choices– oh, who were you kidding. There really was no understanding that wizard, even properly rested. James and Peter had made a bet during fifth year on how long it’d take Dumbledore to crack under a constant deluge of pranks in his office, but they’d quickly realized that the man was too far gone to do anything but take inspiration for school events– an idea that was quite frankly, comically frightening, and the sort of thing you weren’t keen on pondering on a normal Tuesday morning.
Sirius wrinkled his nose sympathetically and slid the pile of raspberry jam tarts closer to you. “Late night in the library again?”
You nodded sheepishly, gratefully taking a pastry from the pile. “I honestly don’t know why Pince allows me to stay past curfew. Marauder’s luck, I guess?” Your attention was diverted by the sound of hoots and flapping wings as the morning owl brigade arrived, apparently choosing a kamikaze dive-bomb approach to deliver this morning’s newspapers. Ah, the joys of living at the world’s most advanced magical school.
Sirius, ever the epitome of grace, slipped under the table as a rogue owl zipped past, popping himself back up just enough to throw you finger guns. “Exactly right, doll, exactly right,” he grinned. “Trust me, Marauder’s luck gets you everywhere. And I mean everywhere,” he winked, sending you a lecherous smirk.
“Ew, Sirius, I don’t even want to know,” you sniffed. “I’ve learned my lesson after the mental trauma your tales of Dorcas’ birthday adventures inflicted upon my psyche. Please, spare me the details.”
“What? All I meant was Slughorn’s Christmas Party, of course!” He batted his eyelashes angelically, still partially covered by the tablecloth.
Your mouth gaped open in shock. “Last year’s Christmas party? Sirius Orion Black, I refuse to hear another word! What on earth would your ancestors think, with you bragging about such exploits-”
He leaned over, eyes wide with laughter. “No, I meant the one Slughorn is throwing on the 21st, it’s exclusively for us lucky seventh years this time. Although, you bring up some very fond memories… okay, okay, I’ll stop, don’t kick me–”
“What are we kicking Sirius for?” James slid onto the bench across from you, eyeing a groveling Sirius with interest. Peter joined him, but wisely chose to stay away from the ruckus, piling his plate high with the bacon the owls had spared. Remus was noticeably absent, spending the morning resting in the infirmary after a rough night of shifting– which you assumed was much more peaceful than the current chaos at the Gryffindor breakfast table.
“Oh! Good morning, Jamie,” you beamed up at him, passing him the plate of desserts you’d been protecting from Sirius’ nefarious advances. “Morning, dove,” he greeted you, and then paused. “Ha, get it? Morning dove?” He puffed up his chest smugly and nudged Sirius with his elbow in a futile effort to make him laugh. You huffed fondly at his antics. Boys.
Sirius rolled his eyes and took advantage of your momentary distraction, retreating back onto his seat to nurse his wounds– to your ever-growing delight (and Sirius’ woe), you had recently discovered that the Hogwarts girls’ uniform shoes were quite sharp. “At this point we should call you Lames. ‘Cause your puns are lame,” he muttered.
You shooed him away with a brush of your hand, remembering what Sirius had mentioned earlier. “According to Sirius, Slughorn’s hosting a Christmas Party again this year. Let’s pray it won’t be like the last one.” You muttered. James and Peter both looked vaguely ill at the prospect, shuddering in unison. “My tie will never look the same again,” Peter griped, but suddenly sat up straight in his seat. “Hey, wait, we’re finally old enough to bring dates to this one! Without sneaking them in, I mean.” 
Sirius snickered and lightly punched his shoulder. “Why, Petey, got some lucky girl in mind?” Peter reddened and glanced over at the Hufflepuff table, where a certain freckled blonde was chatting with her friends– a move that didn’t go unnoticed by James, who gave a delighted wolf-whistle. “You got a thing for Lucy Abbott, huh? Might want to make a move before Smith does,” he grinned, gesturing to the tall brunette boy who’d just arrived and sharing a knowing smirk with you. You giggled at Peter’s increasingly pouty expression; he’d figure out sooner or later that Smith was definitely not interested in Abbott– or witches in general– but it was entertaining to see him out of his comfort zone. Peter had always been the quietest of your little group, and you privately thought that a bit of momentary romantic angst might spur him to be more assertive. An ironic opinion, considering how your own love life revolved around the fact that your best friend had feelings for someone else… and you couldn’t do anything about it except mope.
Peter scowled. “Easy for you to say, Prongs, you’ve finally got precious Lily-flower wrapped around your finger. I bet you’ve already asked her!”
There it was: another reminder that James wasn’t yours, and never would be. You watched as the Gryffindor boys good-naturedly jostled his shoulder and tousled his curls. James grinned sheepishly, shrugging off their teasing. “Not yet,” he admitted, glancing hopefully at the end of the table, where Lily was chatting with her friends. 
Peter rolled his eyes. “Aw, come on, we all know she’ll say yes this year.” Sirius winced, looking at you out of the corner of his eye. Peter glanced at Sirius, drawn by the movement. “What’ve you got to worry about? Half the population would kill Dumbledore to get one dance with you. The only person who’s got to worry about a date is me– well, and maybe Y/n, I guess.” His face suddenly turned contemplative, looking you up and down. “Are you going with someone?” 
Sirius’ grimace became doubly pronounced at Peter’s tactlessness, and you felt your face heating up. Peter had a way of accidentally hitting on the issues others tried to hide. It wasn’t his fault he’d never heard about your trips to Hogsmeade with a paramour– in fact, none of the boys had. Because there hadn’t been any. You’d spent your entire time at Hogwarts pining after James, and as a result had missed the romantic milestones your classmates had already blissfully bragged about. 
Peter looked at you expectantly, waiting for a response, and you opened your mouth to confess your lack of experience when you spotted a familiar redhead walking gracefully towards your side of the table– to James, you realized with a start. Something within you ignited as you watched her glow with confidence, carefree and lovely as ever. Lily would never pine after someone uselessly; she knew she could get anyone she wanted with the right amount of banter and flirty gestures. You... Well, you weren’t there quite yet, but maybe it was time to take inspiration from the Muggle saying and ‘fake it til you make it’. And before you could think about what you were about to do, you turned to Peter and smiled coyly. “I might.”
James’ and Sirius’ heads snapped up immediately from their perusal of the breakfast lineup as they let out an identical murmur of surprise. “What?” James furrowed his brow, looking you up and down– seemingly trying to discern whether you had taken a holiday from your senses, most likely via Bludger-induced concussion at the last Quidditch match. Sirius merely raised a questioning eyebrow at you. You groaned internally, knowing that you’d have to explain yourself later… although, if your half-baked idea worked, you’d be spending a lot more time with him anyway. For now, you beamed innocently at both of them and took a sip of your pumpkin juice. Apparently, the Sorting Hat had placed you in Gryffindor for a reason- you were either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish to commit to this plan, but with Evans quickly approaching, you saw no other choice.
Peter looked momentarily shocked, then glumly began to assemble an egg and bacon sandwich seasoned with the occasional mutterance of “unfair” and “perpetually single, my arse”.
James’ eyes were still trained on you. “Who is it?” he asked, searching your face again as if he was looking for some indication that you were joking. You shrugged, trying to look casual. “I guess you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?”
“Dove-” he began, but Lily finally reached his seat and placed one stupidly perfect hand on his shoulder, diverting his attention momentarily. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but Professor McGonagall asked me to bring you to her office for Quidditch scheduling.” James blinked, glancing up at her and then at the rest of the table. He stood up and focused on you again, expression clouded. “I’ll see you in Potions, yeah?”
Sirius stood up quickly, ushering him out of his seat with a speed you’d only seen him use to gulp down cheap Firewhiskey. He gave you a significant look. “Actually, Y/n and I were just about to take a walk, isn’t that right? So we'll both see you in Potions, what a sublime coincidence, now don’t be late for your meeting–” he chattered on as he shoved James toward the doors of the Great Hall, the latter eyeing him suspiciously but moving nonetheless. Sirius turned to you and pointed to the courtyard entryway. “You. Me. Talk, as in right now.”
Once you were sure that you’d made it out of earshot of Peter and the rest of the Gryffindor table, you wheeled around to face him. “Okay. First of all… I didn’t plan that.” Sirius raised an eyebrow again. “Second of all, I need a favour,” you pleaded, staring up at him with the most adorable doe eyes you could physically summon. They were usually most effective on James, for some reason, but you were sure that Sirius wasn’t immune to your manipulation either. He groaned, resting his face in his hands. “How do you even have a date? Last time I checked, also known as yesterday, you were still head over heels for Prongsie, doll. So do I need to check you for Amortentia or somethi–” He peered out from between his fingers with annoyed realization. “You don’t have a date, do you.” 
You blinked innocently up at him. He let out a long-suffering sigh and ran his hands through his hair. “This is what you need the favour for? You want me to go with you to Slughorn’s party so you can pretend in front of the rest of Hogwarts that you’re not madly in love with Jamie?” 
You grinned confidently up at him and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Aw, Siri, you know me so well. It’s almost as if you were maaaade to be my date for the party...” You fluttered your eyelashes up at him one more time for good measure, trying to hide a smirk. “Alright, alright, stop with the Bambi act, I’ll take you.” He scowled good-naturedly. “You know, this is going to ruin my dating pool for the next month.” 
You scoffed. “As if! If anything, you’ll just have more people fawning over you– temptation of the forbidden apple and all, you know.” 
Sirius brightened up considerably at this revelation. “Well, why didn’t you say so in the beginning, doll! I vote that we match in purple velvet, it does wonders for my complexion–”
You gave a very unladylike snort at the thought of you and Sirius swanning into the party in some sort of horrendous plum-coloured disco getup, and shooed him away towards the Potions classroom. That was an eyesore to imagine sometime when you weren’t about to get a headache from the dim dungeon lighting.
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Slughorn greeted you and Sirius by directing you to the front of the classroom with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Oho, a pair of latecomers, I see!” He winked at you and Sirius in exaggerated motion. You winced as Snape jeered and nudged Malfoy, who was busy enjoying Flint’s crude gestures at you. Ugh, Slytherin boys. The worst of the lot. Their snickers were quickly stopped by James chucking a handful of powdered wormwood at their heads when Slughorn turned away, making Malfoy’s prized hair appear covered in soot. You shot him a grateful smile. 
“Since you two missed my initial remarks, let’s see if you can make it up by identifying today’s potion, hmm?” Slughorn gestured dramatically to a shimmering green brew in a cauldron next to his desk, cherry-coloured smoke curling off of the top invitingly. 
Sirius shot you a panicked look, clearly not expecting to be put in the academic spotlight, but you shook your head and stepped closer. You smelled something rich and incense-like, which meant that Bumburrel leaves were a key ingredient. And combined with the way the smoke was drifting lazily around your wrists, curling higher and higher… “Brew of Mandelian, sir. Used for sharpened acuity under times of pressure.”
Slughorn gave a delighted chuckle and clapped his hands. “Well then! Ten points to Gryffindor for paying attention in lectures!” He dismissed you and Sirius with a wave, moving on to explain the finer points of ingredient preparation to a very bemused George Goyle as you slipped into your usual seat beside James.
You worked in quiet harmony for a moment, methodically slicing and crushing the slippery beetles needed to give the brew its signature green colour while James handed you the insects. He broke the silence after six beetles (not that you had been counting or anything) with an awkward, “So… you have a, erm, date?”
You huffed, motioning for him to hand you the foul-smelling Moorish tubers next. “Honestly, James, is it that surprising?” He scratched the back of his neck, frowning. “Well, I– yeah, I guess.” he trailed off, seeing your expression. 
“The tubers, Jamie, thank you. I mean, you looked at me like I was a ghost back in the Great Hall!” You were decidedly not making eye contact with him, trying your best to focus on the slimy plants in front of you and not the fact that your best friend-slash-unrequited crush doubted your romantic potential. What a way to be humbled– and while covered in tuber juice, no less!
He huffed, running a hand through his already messy curls. “Come on, Y/n, it’s not like that. What did Sirius want to talk about in the Great Hall, anyway? You two looked… chummy.” 
You glared down at the copper slicing board. “Well, it’s none of your business how chummy we are, is it? I don’t interrogate you every time you converse with Peter. In fact, it’s rather expected that Sirius and I speak to one another on occasion, considering the amount of time we all spend together thanks to you.”
You moved to grab another tuber from the jar, but James reached out and grabbed your hand, forcing you to look at him. His hazel eyes were alight with frustration, a look you knew by heart thanks to the hours you’d spent tutoring him in History of Magic after he napped his way through the entire first semester. “Are you serious? You’re actually going with someone?”
“Please, Jamie, do enlighten me on whyever you think I couldn’t possibly get a date with my numerous and diverse charms,” you sniffed, hoping to Merlin that he would just leave the entire subject alone. 
“No, it’s–” he groaned, leaning back in his seat. “The other boys, they don’t know how– you’re so, I mean, just look at you!” he exclaimed, gesturing at you. He stopped, frowning to himself, looking more confused than before. He glanced over at Lily, expression becoming even more muddled, brow furrowed and hard to read to anyone but you. 
Your mouth parted in shock, and to your dismay you felt tears bubbling up again. You blinked fiercely, refusing to let him see you cry. James thought the issue was… your looks? You suddenly wanted to crawl under Slughorn’s desk and never come out again, except perhaps to find a shovel to dig your grave with. This was far, far worse than watching him transfigure chocolates for Lily every Valentine’s Day. Now you knew for a fact he didn’t find you attractive– thought other boys didn’t either, even! And the way he’d clearly mentally compared you to Lily after what he’d admitted… well. There was no recovering from that. Teenage boys could be dense, but Merlin, how you had wanted him to at least let you down gently. 
You wished you’d never opened your mouth to lie about having a stupid date in the first place, but you forced yourself to laugh and mutter something trite about how that could all be fixed with a couple glamour charms anyway so it really wasn’t an issue for the party, thank you very much. He looked even more confused, opening his mouth to respond, but Snape chose that moment to interrupt.
“Hey, Potter!” James turned to scowl at the greasy Slytherin as you thanked your lucky stars for Snape’s interruption (a rather disturbing thought– potentially a harbinger of an imminent apocalypse. You’d never thanked Snape before in your life and hoped to never do it again). “Here’s payback for earlier,” he smirked, checking that Slughorn had dozed off and the other students weren’t paying attention before whipping a mottled yellow bottle at James.
James’ carefully honed Quidditch reflexes kicked in and he quickly dodged the object, but as the vial soared up, up, past your carefully diced tubers, over James’ messy notes, it hit your arms and shattered. You flinched in pain, crying out as the glass shards embedded themselves in your arm and the congealing, repulsive liquid dripped down your hands and onto your thighs. James lunged towards you, but it was too late– the potion had already seeped into your skin, causing an awful sparking sensation. 
You gasped, grabbing onto the desk as the feeling bubbled upwards. “Jamie, I don’t– I don’t feel–” you stuttered, suddenly lightheaded, and you heard someone gasp as you began to taste something metallic. You absently touched your nose. Why was it so cold and wet? You had been so careful not to touch your face around those horrid tubers and oh, oh Merlin and Morgana what was that pain in your hands and legs, please no make it go away someone help me help me HELP
You vaguely registered someone whimpering in the background. It might have been you, but you weren’t entirely sure what was happening outside of the electric symphony of agony crescending in your nervous system. The pain built swirled flooded through until you weren’t sure where you ended and the potion began which was a funny thought because of course you were you, but you couldn’t remember who you were before this so you laughed but that really hurt, oh how that hurt no no no no no bad idea–  
“Fuck– no–” James? Was he here too?
You blinked– when did your eyes open?– and saw him reach for you, frantically pushing his dark curls off his forehead. Why would he do that? You loved his hair, even when you were feeling funny awful things from the potion. You felt his arms scoop under you, lifting you off your seat as he caught your head from falling back. You heard a door slam open, footsteps, darkness clouding your vision–
His voice. “Sweetheart, no– don’t do that, I need you to keep your eyes open.”
You blinked again, trying to focus on James’ face. He looked pale, jaw set and tensed like it was before his Quidditch games. Were you moving? You couldn’t tell whether James was walking or the hallways were walking around you. He glanced down again, exhaling with relief once he saw whatever he was looking for. “Yeah, just like that. Keep those pretty eyes focused on me, okay?” 
He thought your eyes were pretty? 
James gave a tight laugh. “Yeah, I think your eyes are pretty, dove. Hold on a bit longer, we’re almost there,” he choked out. 
Oh. Had you said that out loud?
But you thought– he had said something, before, you couldn’t remember now but it was important and it hurt–
Some part of you, deep where the potion hadn’t reached, had melted at his words. That part was tinged with pain, too, but in a different way, raw and honest and hopeful and all for him. Or maybe that was the potion, you were pretty sure witches weren’t supposed to melt unless they were green and lived somewhere much further west, but your thoughts on the whole process evaporated as you reached a white door and a woman and your words started to swirl until they melted too and everything went black.
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ellecdc · 3 months
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Grounded (for til college)
CBBH-verse: Harry and Ron are read their Miranda Rights after the Flying Car Catastrophe of Second Year as requested by fans of the CBBH series 😊
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Over the past eleven years, there have been many family meetings amongst the Potter, Black, Lupin, Weasley, Longbottom and Lovegood tribe.
A family meeting was called when a five-year-old Draco and Harry began fighting over who got to perform the big brother duties for Jasmine Potter, and then again a year later for Aurora Black.
A family meeting was called when every glass, vase, pot, and basket in the manor were turned over to 'stop nargles from hiding in them' (it was Luna).
A family meeting was called when someone moved all of the pots and pans in the house onto the roof (it was Harry). 
A family meeting was called when someone started drawing moustaches on all of the pictures and portraits on the walls (it was James). 
A family meeting was called when Fred and George pranked Neville by hiding his toad, Trevor. Each member of the household spent three hours looking for him – Lily later found him hidden in her underwear drawer. 
Another family meeting was called for going through people’s underwear drawers.
Family meetings were called quite frequently, what with the number of members these families had within them. They were called for fights, for updates, for announcements and for check ins. 
But there are two things that have never happened since these families began calling family meetings:
Never, not once, has James Potter ever called a family meeting. And never once has a family meeting been called whilst the children were away at Hogwarts.
Until today.
“Is it really necessary I’m here?” Regulus drawled as he leaned against the wall behind you in the headmaster’s office as he studied his nails. “I mean, I don’t even have a spawn to punish.”
“Sshh,” Remus spat loudly from his spot beside you standing at attention like a soldier. “You’re gonna get us in trouble.”
“Dad’s mad guys...” Sirius mumbled from your other side. 
“Is it bad I kinda feel sorry for Harry and Ron?” you asked your husband quietly.
He shook his head in response. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so mad.”
“Please, 10 galleons he doesn’t even give them a warning.” Regulus added from his place.
Sirius scoffed. “Oh, you’re on.” 
The murmurings were interrupted when the two twelve-year-olds were ushered into the office with Dumbledore and McGonagall trailing behind them. 
Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, Molly Weasley stood from her seat beside her husband and began screeching.
“RONALD WEASLEY. WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?”
Ron’s face brightened to the likes of his hair as he tried to hide behind Harry. James stood beside Molly with his arms crossed. 
“Okay, I know now’s not the time.” You whispered to your husband, “But James’ arms look really good when he stands like that.” which was met with an exaggerated nod of his head.
“When he’s less mad, we’ll tell him.” 
“It was the platform! It was charmed or something and wouldn’t let us on and we missed the train!” Harry tried to argue.
“So, you opted to steal the Weasley’s car and drive it across the country!?” James asked incredulously. 
Harry instantly deflated.
“It was reckless, it was stupid, it was dangerous.” He continued as he started to pace the room, eyes never leaving the forms of the two second years. You gulped loudly on their behalf. 
“You could have been seen. You could have been hurt. You could have died.” He carried on. 
“Your father is now going to be facing an inquiry at work and it is all your fault!” Molly added.
Remus’ eyes furrowed as he leaned into your side. “Well, I mean his father did illegally charm a muggle vehicle...” But you elbowed him hard when the death stares of Molly and James turned towards you. 
“You have absolutely no idea the kind of trouble you could have caused. That you have caused.” Molly continued as she returned her attention to the boys.
“You two have always been mischievous, which I feel I have taken in stride because you are, after all, the product's of Marauders. But this? This exceeds mischievous. This borders insanity.” James said severely. You and Remus exchanged a wide-eyed gaze.
“Mr. Potter and I have discussed your punishments, young men.” Molly stated as she considered the two boys in front of her. But it was James who read them their sentence.
“You will spend the entire summer working at Uncle Moony’s bookstore.” 
This was met with a “what!?” cried out from Ron, Harry, and Remus.
“Why do I have to be the bad guy?!” Remus cried in distress.
“I don’t think you are, Moons.” Sirius said with a chuckle. He turned to regard his friend when he saw a look of understanding cross your features.
“I think it’s Regulus.” You clarified for the werewolf with a smirk.
Sure enough, the three of you turned to see a disturbingly wicked grin spreading across Regulus’ face.
“They’re just lucky Lily was at work and couldn’t be here for this.” Sirius muttered as you all turned your attentions back to the boys. “They’d be working for Regulus ‘til college.” 
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depressoesssspresso · 3 months
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“No way,” you said shaking your head while munching on some popcorn from the bowl. Your legs were over his as you both relaxed on the Common Room couch. James smiles while you both make eye contact.
“What do you mean no way? I definitely had a bigger crush on you than you on me,” he laughs as he adjusts his glasses. This “argument” of who had a bigger crush on who had been going on for the last fifteen minutes.
“Are you actually joking? Do you think I just happen to carry an extra water bottle every time you had a quidditch game?” You laugh and blush at the memory, “Thought I was such a samaritan the way I was like ‘No yeah I think I have an extra water if you’d like’ knowing damn well I packed it just to have an excuse to talk to you,” You and James’ faces turned red from how long you have been laughing. The two of you have been going out for over 3 1/2 years and would love to rehash this discussion from time to time.
“But that was so cute. Ok but actually how much tutoring did you think I needed? In our third year, I started asking you for help in classes because our schedules didn’t match up. You were like ‘Ugh this Ancient Runes assignment is so hard. Then the smooth boy I am would be like ‘I know right it’s so hard. Let’s do it together.’ I wasn’t even taking Ancient Runes. I was taking Divination,” he bashfully admitted. You giggle at his revelation and continue to eat your popcorn.
“No I knew,” you began, “ I obviously got the hint when you never showed up for class. But you were too sweet to turn down I couldn’t say no. I thought it was weird but that’s sort of your trade mark.” He playfully glared at you while you stuck out your tongue. “ No but seriously, the Quidditch match. I was total heart eyes for you. Even Peter noticed it. Peter!”
“ Well darling, what can I say,” he smirked at you lightly slap his shoulder. “ Y/N, Sirius almost threw a bludger at me in the middle of the game so I would pay attention because I kept looking back at you to see if you were looking at me.” You laugh so hard that you start to lightly choke on your popcorn which causes James to laugh even harder. Tears brimmed both your eyes as you remember the day Sirius and James got into a mini hissy fit in the middle of the game. Sirius slapped James’ shoulder and James almost pushed Sirius off the broom. Let’s just say Madame Hooch wasn’t happy in the end.
“Ok,Ok,Ok, but do you remember me telling Emily Scobell that you were gay so she doesn’t ask you to the Yule Ball. Told her that you and Sirius were mad for each other” You say sitting up straight and sitting cross cross Apple sauce facing your boyfriend. His eyes bulge out and dramatically whip his head towards you.
“THAT WAS YOU!” He yelled while laughing. “I gave Sirius hell for that. Thought he was telling girls we were together to get them to stop coming up to me as a prank.” [A/N Kyle in South Park What the hell are you telling people that we’re a gay couple😭] “ What about my family emergencies?” You scrunch your eyebrows in confusion as he gives you the biggest smile while pulling you to his chest.
“What family emergencies?” You question.
“Whenever I wanted to have an intimate conversation with you and was too shy to start, I would come up to you saying there’s been a death in the family. You would then comfort me and give me all your attention,” he giggles as you playfully gasp and hit his chest again sitting up.
“YOU WANKER!” You say in between giggles, “ You told me your grandparents passed away.” This only caused him to die further of laughter.
“ I told you that excuse every week. How many grandparents do you think I have!” James says with an undying smile. Your stomach begins to hurt from how badly you’re laughing.
“YOU MET THEM ON CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY TOO” He continues which causes you to laugh so hard no sound comes out.
“ Oh yeah, I forgot,” you say wiping your tears. As both you laughed dies down, you snuggle back into James chest. “ Damn, we really had it bad for each other, did we?” He kisses the top of your forehead.
“ We still do,” he whispers and he hugs you tight.
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elysianymph · 9 months
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my unpopular marauders opinions
(i'm scared 😟)
'nothing is ooc bc we know nothing about the characters!' might work with the girl characters and the lesser known ones but it does not fly when we are talking about the marauders and other characters like barty, regulus, etc. we have so much (biased) information on these characters and you can't erase all they were in the original text bc you want to make an oc in the marauders era.
sirius is literally one of the most interesting characters in the fandom and i hate how he's been dumbed down to regulus' brother or remus' boyfriend depending on who's pov we're reading. what happened to cool sirius and why has he become a loser who follows remus around like a lapdog??? what happened to casanova sirius who all the girls were into but he never paid them any attention??? what happened to the sirius who risked his life and ran away bc he refused to become like his parents??? and why has been reduced to a whimpering mess who cries bc remus is mean to him (ooc on remus' part too). you're lying to yourselves if you think sirius wouldn't start throwing hands the moment remus insulted him. i need to write an entire separate post for this bc it makes me viscerally angry when i see him portrayed like this. who decided that giving remus all of sirius' main character traits was a good idea??
similarly, remus has become so boring. he has literally become the toxic love interest in a werewolf story please STOP IT. i'm tired of remus constantly yelling and calling other people (specifically sirius) worthless or hitting their deepest insecurities but it's all justified bc it's the full moon and he's angry and emotional. it's overdone, it's toxic, it's boring and i don't want to see it. my remus will forever be a an old sweater-wearing, bookworm people pleaser who wanted nothing more than to have friends who loved him despite who he was and he treasured them so dearly when he found them. he carried extra pens and quills in his bag because he knew peter always forgot his, he always came to james' games to cheer him on despite not being interested in quidditch. idk what you people find appealing about remus thinking sirius is a nuisance or annoying when they're dating but it's not <3 he spent years staring at sirius' back during class and being satisfied to just be in his presence because he didn't think he deserved any of it. how could he wish for more when sirius was wrapping an arm around him and whispering the plan to their newest prank? you want me to think the shy boy who looked away anytime sirius made eye contact with him was a smooth talker who found sirius annoying?? at this point he's an oc with remus' face be fr
sirius >>> regulus any day. cry about it
speaking of regulus i hate how the fandom has characterized him. you've created sirius 2.0 with his storyline (while simultaneously slandering sirius' character) and then made him an emo version of remus' already awful characterization. he's not an uwu victim who begged his brother to come with him, he was a blood supremacist who was probably overjoyed that the stain on his family tree was gone. 'i hate you but i love you' describes the black brothers perfectly but that 'but' doesn't undo the hatred they feel for each other. sibling relationship are so complex, especially in a family like theirs, and their relationship would've been turbulent. by the time sirius had ran away i fully believe the hate they felt for each other was bigger than any love they had left. regulus who is a manipulative asshole, regulus who is actively trying to get rid of sirius so he can get to be the heir he thinks he deserves to be will always be more interesting than the way regulus is written in most jegulus fics.
also james would've literally bullied regulus. it's the truth
also, let james be an asshole! let james be a bully! he was a teenager for fucks sake let him be mean and cruel! give him an ego the size of the sun and nothing else to 'make it better'. he was an only child raised in a pureblood family, i would be more surprised if he didn't turn out to be a narcissistic teenager. he was talented and spoiled and wanted everyone to agree with him bc he had never been brought down to earth from his high horse. let him be messy. i don't understand why the fandom has such a problem with complex characters
this fandom hates on severus too much while babygirl-ifying characters who have done the same or worse than him. was he an asshole? yes. was he also a really interesting character that people choose to ignore or push aside bc he's not conventionally attractive? yes. you've idolized barty and evan and regulus, characters who are also canonically death eaters and have done unforgivable things, yet you continue to hate on severus because?? i don't like him either but commenting 'stan bambi' on every single severus edit is a bit too much effort for a character you claim to not give a shit about :/
remus would NOT be friends with barty, evan and regulus. he's a loser and those three would bully him to death
'i wish people would make more marauders era girls content-' 💥💥💥make it yourself. there is PLENTLY of girls content all you need to do is look in the tags (but oh wait you can't look in the tags bc no one in this fandom has apparently heard of fandom etiquette and they're all tagging every ship under the sun on a post about jegulus. trust me, if i wanted to see jegulus content i would go in their tag. now stop tagging it with dorlene and marylily)
idk if this one is that unpopular cause i've seen it around quite a bit recently but the lupins are literally one of the best families and they are so underrated. the relationships between hope and remus and lyall and remus and the effects that remus' lycanthropy has on them is always on my mind fr. you don't need to give every character mommy/daddy issues to make them interesting or complex ❤️
the prank is SO overdone. like every post prank fic is the same shit and i'm tired. sirius felt no remorse, remus called it an unfunny prank, get over it. it can be interesting to explore (especially sirius' thoughts during it and how remus deals with the consequences of one of his best friends betraying him) but so many times the prank has just been used to justify writing remus being so so incredibly shitty to sirius and poking at his every insecurity that at this point i don't even want to read about it anymore. remus had every right to be mad but once again you're ignoring the canon characterization just to make him seem like a badass when he would absolutely not confront sirius about it.
'[girl character] is just the female version of [male character]' literally makes me want to bite someone's head off. how is it that you have time to create whole new personalities for james, sirius, remus and every other male character under the sun but lily, mary, dorcas or marlene don't get that treatment?? slapping sirius' old characterization on marlene or remus' old characterization on lily doesn't make for compelling characters but none of you care enough to actually flesh these women out and make them something more. it's no wonder people complain about them being boring when the main fanon is just slapping on a guy's personality onto them but make it misogynistic. if you can give regulus an entire backstory and justify his every action then you can give the girls some interesting character traits in your works be fr.
rudy solos grant chapman 🫶🏻
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lulublack90 · 21 days
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Prompt 9 - Heart
@jegulus-microfic April 9, Word count 359
People thought that Regulus was a cold, emotionless replica of his parents. He didn’t help himself. He kept everyone at arm’s length, afraid to let anyone in. That year, when he’d been left alone at Grimmauld Place while Sirius left for his first year at Hogwarts, was the year he’d learnt to squash everything down. And that love didn’t matter. 
On the other hand, James Potter wore his heart on his sleeve. He loved big and loud, just like Sirius and Regulus hated him for it. No wonder Sirius had fallen head over heels for the buffoon. 
For five years, he’d wish James would fuck up, and Sirius would want him as a brother again. 
He was just contemplating how annoying James’s laugh was when his leg sank into the trick step on the stairs leading to the second floor. He was so shocked by his mistake that he dropped his wand. It clattered away and out of sight. 
“Gah!!!” He exclaimed in annoyance. He tried to pull his leg free and was so engrossed in his task that he failed to notice the Gryffindor heading towards him. 
Suddenly, strong, muscled arms were wrapped around him and hauled him upwards. Regulus’s hands flew up and braced themselves against James’s shoulders as he was slowly lowered onto the step below. 
Before he could snarl out a jibe at his brother’s idiot friend, James pulled Regulus’s wand out of his pocket with a flourish and held it out for him to take. 
“Thanks,” Regulus said carefully as he took his wand, waiting for the inevitable prank or whatever else was about to happen. But instead, James winked at him. 
“No problem, love,” He grinned and carried on up the staircase, hopping over the stair that had just ensnared Regulus’s leg. 
Regulus blinked stupidly at James’s back, wondering why his skin tingled pleasantly where James had held him. He shook his head and glowered at himself as he basically ran to the dungeons and up to his dorm room. Heart pounding over the realisation that, for a second, he’d thought James Potter wasn’t all that bad, and his smile was very charming.     
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sunflowerabyss · 5 months
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Charms of Fate: Chapter 1
Paring: Remus Lupin x Fem!Professor!Reader
Series Masterlist
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Plot: Amidst the echoes of a bygone era, you return to Hogwarts years after parting ways with Hogwarts. What begins as a journey fueled by nostalgia transforms into an unexpected reunion with Remus Lupin, now a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. As the past intertwines with the present, the two former classmates navigate the complexities of grief, the resurgence of friendship, and the unwritten chapters of their shared history in this tale of rediscovery and the magic that binds them together.
Warnings: mention of character death
A/N: Hello! Welcome to the first chapter of Charms of Fate! This is the first fanfiction I have written in a bajillion years. So here is my current obsession--Remus Lupin.
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You stepped onto the train, finding an empty cabin before placing your bags in the compartment above the seats. Huffing, you sat down, pulling out the wrinkled letter you had received only a short month ago. Dumbledore's neat cursive stared back at you in green ink and you fondly remember your first letter from Hogwarts. You smiled sadly as your mind began to drift to the days of your youth.
It was the spring of 1978, and the air at Hogwarts was tinged with the scent of blooming flowers and the bittersweet realization that it was the last day you would walk these halls clad in your Gryffindor robes. You and Lily Evans, the uncommonly kind girl you grew close with over the years, joined her boyfriend James, and his friends Sirius, Peter, and Remus in celebrating the end of your magical journey.
The Great Hall was adorned with festive decorations as laughter and joy echoed through its grandeur. Remus Lupin, the quiet and thoughtful member of the Marauders, caught your eye more often than not. Throughout the last year, you and Remus had gravitated towards each other, drawn together by shared interests and a subtle understanding that words couldn't quite capture.
As the day unfolded, you and Remus found yourselves in moments of quiet conversation, away from the boisterous pranks and laughter of the others. His brown eyes held a warmth that mirrored the budding spring outside, and his words carried a depth that resonated with you on a profound level.
When the time came to say your goodbyes, you exchanged promises to keep in touch. But, as life often does, it threw you and Remus onto different paths. Owl-post became infrequent, and the ties that once bound you to the magical camaraderie of Hogwarts began to loosen.
Years passed, and the connection with Remus faded into the echoes of memories. Life unfolded with its trials and tribulations, and the once-prominent figure of Remus Lupin became a distant echo from the past.
As you reflect on that last day at Hogwarts, you wonder where life took Remus and if the paths that once intersected would ever cross again. The nostalgia of youthful friendships mingles with the ache of time's passage, leaving you with a lingering sense of loss and a yearning for the connection that slipped through your fingers after that bittersweet graduation day.
The vibrant memories of Lily and James' wedding lingered in your mind—the joyous celebration, the laughter, and the shared happiness as you stood by your best friend on her special day. The joy only multiplied when Lily announced her pregnancy, and you were there, witnessing the excitement in their eyes as they shared the news.
The day Harry was born brought tears of happiness to your eyes as you cradled the small bundle of joy. Little did you know that those precious moments would soon be overshadowed by the darkness that would shroud the wizarding world.
Halloween 1981, the news of Lily and James Potter's tragic demise, and Sirius Black's descent into Azkaban sent shockwaves through your body. Your dearest friends, gone. The memories of joy turned into haunting echoes of grief, leaving you lost and depressed.
Desperate for a connection, you tried to reach out to Remus, penning letters that poured out your heartache and longing for solace. Yet, as time passed, and the owls returned without a reply, you gave up hope, feeling the weight of isolation settle over you like a heavy cloak.
In an attempt to escape the suffocating darkness, you found employment in the Ministry of Magic. Modifying memories and undoing magical damage became a temporary refuge, a way to numb the pain that seemed insurmountable.
Life took an unexpected turn when an owl arrived with a letter from Dumbledore, offering you the position of Charms professor at Hogwarts. The prospect of returning to the place where memories were both joyful and painful filled you with mixed emotions. Hesitantly, you accepted the position, leaving behind your job at the Ministry of Magic for a chance to share your knowledge with a new generation.
As the train began to move, you were glad for some solitude in your cab, relieved you didn't have to make small talk. The Hogwarts Express rumbled along the tracks, the rhythmic clatter of the wheels providing a comforting backdrop as you read Dumbledore's letter for the umpteenth time:
"Dearest (Y/N),
I trust this owl finds you well. It is with great pleasure and anticipation that I extend an invitation for you to join the esteemed faculty at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Flitwick, our longtime Charms instructor, has chosen to retire early, and your name emerged as a fitting successor.
Your expertise and dedication to the magical arts have not gone unnoticed. I believe your return to Hogwarts will enrich the academic environment and inspire the next generation of witches and wizards. The position is yours should you choose to accept, and I look forward to welcoming you back to the castle.
Yours sincerely, Albus Dumbledore Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
You sighed, folding the letter before shoving it into your coat pocket. You leaned your head against the window, watching the scenery go by. As the train journey unfolded, the nostalgic reverie was interrupted. Abruptly, the train jolted to a stop, jarring you from your reverie. You furrowed your brow in confusion, wondering what could have caused the sudden halt. Peering out of the compartment window, you noticed the somber atmosphere that had settled over the train.
A hushed murmur passed through the train, and a shiver ran down your spine as an eerie chill filled the air. The familiar warmth of the Hogwarts Express seemed to dissipate, replaced by an unsettling stillness.
In the corridor, shadows flickered ominously, and the ambient hum of conversation turned into uneasy whispers. Your confusion deepened, a sense of foreboding settling over her. Unaware of the impending encounter with Dementors, you exchanged puzzled glances with fellow passengers.
The compartment door slid open, revealing a group of hooded figures moving purposefully down the corridor. The air grew heavy with despair, and you felt an unexplainable weight on your chest. The dim light in the compartment seemed to dim further, casting an eerie pallor over everything.
A fleeting thought crossed your mind, wondering if this was some elaborate prank. However, you remember what you saw in the weekly newspaper, and you feel your stomach churn. The Ministry was looking for Sirius Black.
The chilling presence of Dementors filled the cabin, and your confusion gave way to a subtle dread. Your breath caught in your throat as the hooded figures glided past the compartment before leaving altogether. The inexplicable feeling of despair hung in the air, and you found yourself grappling with an emotion you couldn't put your finger on.
Peering through the compartment window, you caught sight of a man walking to the front of the train, obscured by shadows. A familiar chill ran down your spine, but you couldn't quite discern his identity.
As the train resumed its journey, the weight lifted, but the encounter lingered in your mind. The transient confusion had given way to a deeper awareness that the journey back to Hogwarts held more mysteries than you had initially anticipated.
The remainder of the journey was thankfully uneventful, and exhaustion from the emotional rollercoaster led you to drift into a restless sleep. Just before fully surrendering to dreams, you heard the door to your compartment creak open slightly, a subtle intrusion that left you with a sense of curiosity.
You felt the train gradually slow down, pulling you from your slumber as it came to a halt. With a weary sigh, you gathered your belongings, the excitement of returning to Hogwarts now tinged with a layer of apprehension. As you stepped off the train, the castle loomed in the distance, its silhouette etched against the dark sky, and you couldn't shake the feeling that this return held more than just the promise of new beginnings.
Before you knew it, you were standing outside of the castle where you spent many of your adolescent years. Dumbledore welcomed you warmly, his blue eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles. "Ah, (Y/N), my dear. It warms my heart to see you return to Hogwarts. Your presence is a boon to our magical community."
"It's good to be back headmaster," you replied, a genuine, but tired smile on your face.
Dumbledore gestured towards the castle. "Before we delve into matters, let me help you find your living quarters. It has been some time since your last stay, and the castle may seem like a labyrinth."
Grateful for the guidance, you followed Dumbledore through the bustling platform and into the castle. The familiarity of the stone walls and the shifting staircases stirred a cascade of memories.
Dumbledore led you through winding corridors and staircases until you arrived at a charming wooden door. "Here we are, (Y/N)," he announced. "Your living quarters for the foreseeable future. I trust you'll find them quite comfortable."
As you stepped inside, the room revealed itself to be a cozy haven, adorned with warm colors and inviting furniture. It felt like a sanctuary within the castle's magical embrace.
"Take your time settling in, (Y/N)," Dumbledore advised. "Once you're ready, please join me in my office. There are matters we must discuss."
With a nod of gratitude, you watched as Dumbledore left, the door closing gently behind him. Alone in the room, you took a moment to absorb the atmosphere. Hogwarts felt both familiar and different, as if the castle itself held the secrets of a thousand stories.
After gathering your thoughts and putting your things away with the flick of your wand, you made your way to Dumbledore's office, guided by the familiar twists and turns.
As you entered Dumbledore's office, your eyes were drawn to the man already seated in one of the chairs facing the headmaster's desk. Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, acknowledged your presence.
"Ah, (Y/N), right on time. Please, have a seat," he said, gesturing to the remaining chair across from the mysterious man.
As you approached, the man's head turned in your direction, and your breath caught as you met his gaze. It was Remus Lupin, his warm eyes holding a mixture of surprise and recognition.
"(Y/N)," Remus uttered, his voice a quiet revelation that resonated in the room.
"Remus," you replied, a mixture of astonishment and joy coloring your tone. The room seemed to hum with unspoken emotions as Dumbledore observed the reunion.
"I believe introductions are in order," Dumbledore began, his eyes twinkling knowingly. "Remus Lupin, allow me to introduce (Y/N) (L/N), our new Charms professor. And (Y/N), this is Remus Lupin, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Your eyes locked, and a wave of nostalgia washed over you. It felt as though the years melted away, leaving only the echoes of your shared history.
"Quite the unexpected reunion, wouldn't you say?" Dumbledore remarked with a knowing smile, his gaze shifting between you and Remus.
Dumbledore leaned back in his high-backed chair, his fingers steepled beneath his bearded chin. The soft glow of the room's ambient light seemed to dance in his half-moon spectacles as he addressed the formalities.
"(Y/N), Remus, I trust that you both find your roles at Hogwarts both gratifying and challenging. The responsibilities that come with being educators are vast, but the rewards are immeasurable," Dumbledore began, his tone measured and grandfatherly.
"As our new Charms professor, (Y/N), I have every confidence that you will impart your extensive knowledge and passion for magic to our students. Your return is a welcomed addition to our academic family."
Turning his gaze to Remus, Dumbledore continued, "And Remus, my dear friend, I cannot express how pleased I am to have you back within these hallowed halls. Your dedication to the Defense Against the Dark Arts position is both admirable and much needed in these uncertain times."
You nodded appreciatively, the gravity of your role sinking in. Remus, too, inclined his head in acknowledgment of the responsibility entrusted to him.
"Now, as we embark on a new school year, I must emphasize the importance of unity among the staff. The challenges ahead will undoubtedly require cooperation and understanding. I trust that both of you will uphold the values that Hogwarts holds dear," Dumbledore concluded, his gaze shifting between you and Remus.
Dumbledore's gaze, though kind, became somber as he broached another topic. "There is one more matter we must discuss, one that may cast a shadow over the upcoming term. Sirius Black, a name that resonates through our world with both tragedy and mystery."
He paused, allowing the weight of the name to settle in the room. "(Y/N), Remus, though I am sure you have already heard, I must inform you that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. The circumstances surrounding his imprisonment are murky, and the Ministry is fervently searching for him."
A heavy silence hung in the room, the mention of Sirius Black injecting an undercurrent of tension. "(Y/N), as a member of the Hogwarts staff, and Remus, given your history with him, I must ask you to exercise caution. The safety of our students is of the utmost importance." Remus nodded solemnly, his expression reflecting the complexities of emotions tied to his old friend.
Dumbledore, sensing the gravity of the discussion, allowed a soft smile to touch his lips. "Now, my dear professors, let us not let these dark times overshadow the joyous occasion of your return. We have much to celebrate and look forward to. I invite you both to the Great Hall for dinner. I shall be along in a few minutes."
You and Remus exchanged glances before standing up and shuffling out of the door. As they exited Dumbledore's office, the bustling sounds of students and the aroma of a delicious feast wafted through the air.
"Well, I must say, this a delightful surprise," Remus said, a warm smile on his face.
You glance up at the man who kept his gaze forward before replying, a small smile of your own settling across your lips, "It's been far too long."
As you both walked side by side towards the Great Hall, the echoes of shared memories and the gaps of time that separated you created a subtle tension in the air. You couldn't help but notice the height difference between you. Remus towered over you, his tall and lean frame drawing attention. His attire, while seemingly a bit outdated, exuded a timeless charm that suited him well. You observed the scars on his face, a feature that had always intrigued you. The origin of those scars remained a mystery. Yet rather than diminishing his charm, the scars seemed to enhance it, giving him an alluring and rugged quality.
"I've missed this place," Remus admitted, glancing around the familiar surroundings.
"So have I," you agreed, a nostalgic smile playing on your lips.
Remus looked like he wanted to say something, a question or perhaps a sentiment left unspoken for too long.
Yet, after a moment of contemplation, he chose not to voice whatever was on his mind. The unspoken words lingered, leaving a trace of curiosity in the air, but Remus simply offered you a small, reassuring smile. The awkwardness of the silence melted away as the doors to the Great Hall swung open.
As the grand entrance of the Great Hall loomed before you both, Remus, ever the gentleman, gestured with a slight bow, indicating for you to go in first. A faint smile played on his lips, and his hand gently touched the small of your back as you stepped through the massive doors.
The contact was subtle, a genteel gesture that spoke volumes. The warmth of Remus's touch sent a cascade of emotions through you—nostalgia, familiarity, and perhaps something more.
The Great Hall greeted you with its radiant glow, its enchanted ceiling mirroring the starry sky. The tables were laden with delicious dishes, and the murmur of animated conversations echoed in the cavernous space.
Remus followed closely behind, his presence a comforting anchor. The touch on your lower back lingered just long enough to create a lingering sensation, leaving you in a state of gentle bewilderment. It was as if the touch carried the weight of unspoken words, a silent acknowledgment of the shared journey that had brought you back to Hogwarts.
As you both found your seats at the professor's table, the emotions stirred by that fleeting touch lingered, adding a layer of complexity to the reunion. The unspoken connection between you and Remus seemed to dance in the air, an undercurrent that wove through the fabric of the magical atmosphere. Dumbledore opened with a welcoming speech, introducing you and Remus as the new Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, to which you both shyly stood and waved. As the feast unfolded, the feeling of that small, tender touch lingered, leaving you with a sense of warmth and anticipation that awaited the new school year.
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the-chaosbringer · 1 year
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Prongsfoot Headcanons
These are my own headcanons, if you don't like them just scroll past, don't leave rude comments.
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Sirius and James are that one couple: sunshine dude and intimidating punk that's only soft for said sunshine. It's actually disconcerting when the untouchable, immovable, terrifying boy that only wears black smiles at the bubbly, too bright boy that never stops talking or jumping around. James is the only one Sirius is soft for. (He is ridiculously soft for James.)
Both of them are absolute nerds. 99% of the time they're hanging out with each other, their talks are always about advanced magic: anywhere from Runes, Potions, Transfiguration, Magical Theory, Arithmancy, Spellcrafting, Magical Politics. You name it, they have had in depth philosophical discussions about it.
James is obssessed with Arithmancy and Runes. He's best at Transfiguration, but he finds it boring; Arithmancy ans Runes mean he gets to play around with numbers and languages, mix and match to invent new spells for pranks, house help, schoolwork etc. He finds it fun because it's complex, and it keeps his mind occupied for hours on end.
Sirius, on the other hand, adores Defence and Astronomy. He's fierce with a wand— fiercer than James— and can cast with both hands. Duelling is his favourite pastime, and he drags the Marauders to the Room of Requirement for at least two Duelling sessions a week. People expect him to hate astronomy for its relation to his family, but he actually loves staring up at the stars, mapping them out, finding the constellations and seeing if he can remember the names (he always can). He and James have had so many dates in the Astronomy tower where they have nerd talks while lying on their backs.
Neither of them actually hate Slytherin. They just hate Snape (which: fair). They have friendships with a lot of the non- Death Eater Slytherins, and are often found hanging out in the Slytherin common room, being unnecessarily mushy in order to annoy Regulus and Snape. (Regulus is very annoyed, but he's also happy for Sirius. Snape just stomps into the dorms to avoid them.)
Sirius loves James' arse so much, it might actually be unhealthy. He always— always— has to be touching that arse every few seconds; sliding his hand into James' back pocket as they walk to class, squeezing it like a stress ball, pulling him into his lap, landing a teasing spank to see it jiggle as James walks by, etc. James has gotten used to it. He doesn't even bat an eye, just lets Sirius grope him to his heart's content. (He likes it. He won't admit it. Sirius still knows he likes it.)
James loves it when Sirius picks him up. They're both tall and broad, but while James is built lean and wiry like a Chaser, Sirius looks like he could throw around a hippogriff with ease. James likes that difference because he feels small and protected, and Sirius can just pick him up and sling him over his shoulder or press him against a wall to kiss the living daylights out of him. It is not uncommon to find Sirius casually piggybacking or bridal carrying James to classes, both of them engrossed in a nerd talk.
A combination of James' kajal and Sirius' rings was the reason they got together. Sirius could barely stop himself from kissing James silly when he had kajal on, and James could not stop fantasising about sucking on Sirius' slender fingers. The sexual tension finally boiled over two months into sixth year, when James yelled at Sirius to stop being so damn hot, straddled his lap and kissed him full on the mouth. And then, they became utterly unbearable, snogging and groping left, right and centre till the professors and prefects went mad.
Neither of James' parents were surprised by that development. "About time," his mother said when they announced it during Christmas of 6th year, and his father agreed. "I was wondering when you two fools would get your heads out of your arses."
In addition to his arse, Sirius is also obsessed with James' thighs. They're toned and bronze and so tantalizing, Sirius loves it when James wraps them around his waist. He loves sucking marks into James' inner thighs till he's trembling and whimpering and begging Sirius to just fuck me already, please. Seeing the blue and red bruises on James' legs always leaves him feeling extremely smug— they're proof that James belongs to Sirius, and Sirius only.
Despite having darker skin, James blushes a lot more easily than Sirius does. Sirius remains unfazed through most situations, but James is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, and gets easily flustered. One smirk and a teasing whisper in his ear from Sirius and he turns firetruck red. Sirius thinks it's adorable. James thinks it's unfair that he can never fluster Sirius. Sirius argues that he gets plenty flustered, it just doesn't show on his face.
James is pansexual. Sirius is biromantic demisexual. Both of them go at it like rabbits. Their dorm mates (especially Peter) hate them.
James' favourite place to sit is Sirius' lap. Sirius' favourite place for James to sit is also Sirius' lap. It's normal for James to shove his way onto Sirius' legs when the boy is mid conversation, and for Sirius to simply adjust James and keep talking to the third person. Most times, it devolves into James grinding down on Sirius as he sucks hickeys into James' neck.
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Tag list:
@ambrxsiaa @soopsiedaisies @in-flvx @achilleslikespeas @padfootastic @impishtubist @mycupofrum @fiendishfyre
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thebestofoneshots · 9 days
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WOLFSTAR X READER SERIES
Gilded Constellations | THE INTERLUDE Part 2
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Summary: You meet Sirius and Regulus at a family vacation in the Caribbean, but things don't go as planned and you end up losing contact once the trip is over. Years later your family moves to England and you get accepted at Hogwarts where you finally see Sirius once again, along with all of his friends. One of them with a mysterious secret, that you'll uncover as you embark on your own Hogwarts adventure. Mostly canon-compliant. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.
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Series Masterlist | Previous episode | The first Interlude
You guys know I wanted to make another interlude, but upon lack of time, and because I don't want to have you wait another week to read the next chapter (darling @aremuslupinsimp for sure needs someone to vent about the absolute rollercoaster of emotions that it is) I've decided to make it a WEEKL-LONG EVENT!
But Lilly, What does that mean? It means you can send as many questions as you might have and I'll try to address all of them within the week. Including anything related to last week, this week's, and the next week's chapter (although I will not spoil that one).
Adding a few questions here, just as a start:
Have you always known where the story is going or have you kind of figured it out along the way? do you have the ending planned?
Hey love! I do have a base idea of where GC is going. I've had these big plot points thought out from the very beginning to the part where they all start dating. Having said that, a lot of things that happen in the story, and that are in between those points, are just me letting my imagination soar, and a lot of those chapters end up being some of my favourites.
I wanted to end the story either before they end school or before 1981, but now that I've gotten so attached to the characters, I've honestly thought of writing past that, and "fixing" some of the things that happen in canon. But who knows, that's like a whole other fic just on how much plot it would have.
SoIi can’t really remeber if the ‘prank’ that Sirius pulled on Snape had already happened in Gilded Constellations, if it hasn’t will it be happening or will it just get skipped over?
It's happened already (in 5th year). That's the reason Snape is weary about leaving Vixen in the Shack in "Bad Moon Rising". He knew she would be in danger because there was a werewolf inside. He couldn't say anything to them because of the young twisting charm Dumbledore put on him, and he's never been brave enough to stand up to the other Slytherins, so he went straight to Lily and told her Vix was in danger.
That's why Lily knew about Vixen being in danger when Sirius showed up with a fox in his hands and was livid about it.
Tu penses prévoir combien de chapitre pour GC si tu sais sinon si tu sais pas une estimation de chapitre que tu aimerais écrire pour GC ?
I'm terrible with estimations, originally it was going to be a short 5 chapter-long series. And then I wanted to end it at thirty, and then at forty. So far I've written 55 chapters, but I'm thinking of ending before chapter 70. (That's IF I don't get carried away).
Do we get to know if Sirus ever got that necklace back from the first few chapters?
Oh, the necklace is still on Vix's neck and it's going to be HUGE in the next couple of chapters. I've been building on is for a while and I'm really excited about it finally happening.
How is it going with Remus' and reader's fireworms?
They are amazing! They've implemented a whole system that helps them get fed automatically. They're probably going to ace that test.
Are we seeing more to Nina?
Definitely.
After they come back from winter break will the study group start again?
I mean, there're going to be a LOT of things happening after the Winter Break, but I assume yes. Also the reading club, the reading club is going to happen.
How long do we have to wait 'till Remus, Reader and Sirius go out?
I think I'm about one or two chapters away from writing that, but I'm a few chapters ahead. But it's waaay less than before.
Does Nina have a little crush on Reader or is it just me?
I mean, there's a reason why the ribbon she tied on her quidditch gear was enough to defend Vix from Barty's spell. And why, more than once, Nina's love has proven to be a strong protective spell over the reader.
Are we getting more lessons like some of the first chapters?
Yup, not very soon, since the next few chapters will all be happening over the winter break, but once they're back in school, certainly.
Further questions will be answered directly on asks as they come.
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I'm really excited about the questions I might get, also a bit terrified about the questions I'll get after Chapter 44, but of well, the show must go on.
Love ya lots, Lils xx
Series Masterlist | First Interlude
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jupiter-mylove · 8 months
Text
HEADCANNONS
James
-This man definitely gives piggy back rides, he doesn’t care if you think your heavy or anything. He would sprint through the halls carrying you in his back if you said you were tired.
-He’s a really good cook. He isn’t Gordon Ramsey but he can make home cooked meals almost as good as his momma. Man would totally make Alfredo or some kind of pasta for your first date.
-If you play quidditch on the Gryffindor team he would make sure you didn’t have practice while you were on your period (if you have one!) or if your sick
-If you wear his clothes he will pull you onto his lap, and show it off. Loves when people know your his <3
Remus
-Always makes sure he has a book with him that you might like, especially on the train or during classes. Will definitely annotate books and gift them to you so you can read the book and all his silly thoughts with it
-Would be so scared to tell you about his lycanthropy but will be super happy and grateful that you weren’t mad. He loves you and wants to be able to be honest but didn’t know how to break the news.
-Would always help you with your homework. Even if you don’t ask, he’s gonna proofread you essays and double check your astronomy charts.
-GIVES THE BEST MASSAGES! If your stuff after a long day, he will legit sit you down, massage your shoulders, and kiss your neck while asking about your day.
Sirius
-Cuddle bug right here, he always wants to be cuddled up next to you, on the common room couch, train compartment, three broomsticks booth, bench in the great hall, or by the black lake.
-Kisses are a must, if you haven’t had at least five kisses by breakfast he’s afraid you might die. James, Remus, and Peter tried to get him to do a prank and miss breakfast and he whined the whole time because he "didn’t get a second good morning kiss."
-At parties (especially his annual famous birthday party) he makes you dance with him so much. Every song, all night, every kind of dance. He somehow knows all the lyrics to every song they play and will sing the night away. Don’t let him get started on karaoke, though.
Peter (no I won’t exclude him, he’s a marauder too)
-Peter is the kind of guy that would take care of you when your sick. He goes full mum mode and brings you soup, checks your temp, and makes sure you get rest.
-He makes sure that the boys don’t prank you too bad, but if they do and you prank them back he would team up with you so he didn’t get on your bad side.
-I personally headcannon Peter to be neurodivergent and I think he would have trouble focusing in classes and things. He would lace your fingers together and play with your jewelry in class.
-Peter is really sweet and would never forget a date, special day, or anniversary. He brings you sunflowers to all of the dates, and charms them to not wilt
(A/N this is my first post on here! I have been in the marauders fandom for three years and the hp fandom for 12 years. I love all of these characters. I will write for the marauders era girls, regulus/+skittles, poly!marauders, golden trio era, and other fandoms if requested!)
LEAVE REQUESTS FOR ONESHOTS (x reader) AND MORE HEADCANNONS
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seven-ruins-it · 30 days
Text
wolfstar fantasy au:)
“I'm not dying for you.”
“Is that how the song goes now? Endless devotion to our Lord and King, except we should not die for him?” He sings idly. Remus imagines him swinging his arms, then goes back to pretending there isn’t a prince following him a few steps behind. It’s a feat. “Have they changed it since I've been away?” 
“I never sang it.” He swings his machete at a thin branch at eyelevel. This deep in the woods are thicker than he’s ever seen them, but they’ll need to pass through these parts undetected. The further out of reach from Lestrange’s watchmen’s horses the better.
“They do still make the knights sing it at supper, don't they? It's nothing like dear old dad to disturb a routine.”
Remus represses a scoff. “The king starts snoring halfway through, most days.”
“So then you do sing it.”
“I mouth the words.” 
Sirius guffaws delightedly and Remus regrets showing a slip of skin. “How charming.” He means it, too, Remus doesn't doubt it. "Do they not have an installed punishment for transgressions like those?”
Remus breathes out through his nose. Easy, now. “Flogging,” he grits out. Another branch whips to the ground.
“Ah, so you must be careful,” Sirius says airily. Remus swipes at a thin, low branch needlessly. “I myself have enjoyed thwarting duty over the years. I’ve gotten quite creative with it. Of course, I can't say I got out quite as clean as you have.”
“No?” Remus asks, mocking a conversational voice.
“Well, no, getting sent away was never part of any elaborate prank.”
“It must be the worst thing that has ever happened to you.”
Rustling leaves behind him, then silence. Minutes pass and several branches are cleared before Remus gives up and turns, jaw clenched. 
“Do you mock me?” Sirius asks, looking the part of a lost child, pouting and his torse near drowning in the shirt they’d nicked at the village. 
Remus starts walking back. “Only a man born with polished silver rattle will believe a necklace like that one,” he ticks his machete against the prince’s necklace, the one he’d refused to abandon with the rest of his clothes, poorly concealed under teal cloth “-makes him any sort of martyr.”
“Look,” Sirius levels, “I believe you’ve come to misunderstand a great many things about me. I hate the crown and all its frivolous frivolities as much as you clearly seem to, as much as any upstanding man with half a brain ought to.”
“You believe admitting selfcontempt earns you honor?”
“I am not my family,” Sirius grits out, at last having lost some of his princely levity. “Look at where we are if proof is what you seek, friend. Would true royalty wear cow’s leather boots as decayed as the meat it produced?” They’d had to buy those damn boots. Cost Remus three gold. 
“Any upstanding man would deem those boots fit for wear because they keep infection at bay. A friend, I would not dare call you even if you by all measurements proved to be such a man. You carry the crown in your blood, wherever you may go in whichever boots you so choose to be appointed.”
Sirius looks like he’s swallowed a lemon, eyes close to slits. “You remove choice from a test of merit.”
“You confuse reality with fanciful court fairytales. This is no test for you to pass, any more than this forest is a cave and monsieur Lestrange is a dragon. We are men in dire straits, one of us raised to be more of a self assuming prat than the other. That is all.”
“Well, then.” Sirius tilts his chin up, gesturing the path forward. “I should not wish to distract you from your own martyrdom.”
“Indeed you should not, seeing as it’s the only thing keeping your life,” Remus snarks before resuming his way North.
“But not to penalty of death.” A branch falls. Remus looks over his shoulder, locking eyes with the heir to his home kingdom. 
“No.” 
Sirius nods, as if it were his own choice. Like a prince is taught acquiescence. In his turn, Remus pretends he didn’t hesitate.
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ecliptiz · 8 months
Note
Heyyy do you mind if I make a request? If you don't wanna write this that's obvs totally fine I just wanted to ask and see 💗
Could I ask for peter pettigrew x reader where reader is a little bit apprehensive of him because in thier younger years at hogwarts she fell victim to some of thier pranks and general silliness. Now in the last year of school she's in a class with peter and they have to share a book and so she has meet with him in the common room for working together for this class and she begins to realize that the marauders aren't that bad and somehow squeeze in some mutual pining between pete and reader and maybe the other marauders somehow set them up
(Yes I am aware of the cheesey-ness of this, if you could somehow find a way to squeeze in some angst that would be sublime because I love cute cheesy fics but I also love angst so I'm kind of torn on what I want really just anything with peter would be great if you can 💗🥰 )
𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 ╰► PETER PETTIGREW
SUMMARY — Sharing a book leads to a lot of things with the boy you thought you hated.
WARNINGS — CURSING
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PETER PETTIGREW, an unassuming figure among the flamboyant constellation known as the Marauders, seemed to carry a perpetual aura of being overshadowed.
In a group where Remus held the enigmatic allure, Sirius radiated a bad-boy magnetism, and James exuded charisma that could light up the entire room, Peter was the quiet comet trailing slightly behind.
He lacked the rebel spirit that made Sirius captivating, the athletic prowess that drew attention to James, or the layered complexity that shrouded Remus.
Instead, he was just Peter — an unremarkable blonde boy with a penchant for sugary treats, indifferent to the allure of books or the thrill of sports.
His life was the epitome of normalcy, from his home routine to his uneventful days. Amid the cacophony of his more vibrant friends, he occupied the role of an exception rather than the rule.
Yet, against all expectations, his gaze started to drift toward a certain girl who possessed an uncanny ability to captivate him, even when her actions seemed trivial to others.
Whether engrossed in her books during class, fiercely competitive on the Quidditch field, quietly rebelling against authority, or simply navigating an ordinary day, she never failed to seize his attention.
For better or worse, she had woven herself into the fabric of his thoughts, casting a spell on his mundane existence and revealing the unexplored shades of Peter Pettigrew.
And there she was, nestled in the warm embrace of the common room, surrounded by the familiar faces of her friends. Her attention was drawn to their lively banter, laughter harmonizing like a soothing melody. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of intense blue eyes were fixated on her from a distance, tracing her every movement.
Meanwhile, those very eyes were the subject of another's scrutiny. Sirius, the audacious one of the bunch, leaned in with an impish grin, his raven-black hair adding to his aura of mischief. "Who ya’ looking at, Wormy?" he chimed, his voice laced with teasing curiosity.
Peter's heart raced, his gaze quickly veering away, panic dancing in his eyes. His efforts to evade Remus and James's knowing looks proved futile, and he was caught in their playful trap. "No one, just the—uh... window, yeah," Peter stumbled over his words, attempting to sound casual, but his furtive glances in her direction betrayed his façade.
James seized the opportunity with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, his voice carrying a singsong quality. "Oo…" he cooed, delighting in Peter's discomfort. Unsurprisingly, the attempt to downplay his interest had failed. Peter's vehement denial only fueled their amusement.
Quickly shaking his head, Peter fervently dismissed their assumptions. "No, no 'oo'," he protested, his voice slightly too high-pitched in his nervousness. The length of his blond hair shifted as he moved, and in that seemingly trivial detail, his awkwardness was encapsulated.
"Wormtail likes a girl," James teased, his voice playfully sing-song as his round glasses slipped down his nose.
Remus raised his head from his book, a subtle yet teasing smirk gracing his lips.
"Which one is it? The one with the black hair? Oo, maybe the blonde!" James speculated, his excitement palpable.
“Maybe the (H/C) one?" Sirius chimed in, his gray eyes dancing with mischief. As the blush painted Peter's cheeks, Sirius erupted in laughter, raising his hands in mock celebration.
"It is!" Sirius declared triumphantly, elbowing Remus and pointing in the direction of the (H/C) girl. He turned to Remus with an eager grin. "Who is it, Remus? You're like our walking encyclopaedia."
Remus paused, humming in thought for a moment. "Y/N, she’s in our Potions class," he replied, his gaze shifting to Peter along with an arched eyebrow. "And Peter sits right next to her," he added with a playful edge, knowing well where this was leading.
James laughed heartily as Sirius erupted in cheers, earning a few odd glances from those around them. "Finally! Peter's getting a lady, lads," he proclaimed, mixing teasing with a mock serious tone.
However, the enthusiasm was short-lived as Remus interjected. "I don’t think she likes us," he admitted, dampening their spirits.
The realization weighed heavily, but it was no news to Peter, who had already experienced the brunt of Y/N's indifference firsthand, feeling her pointed glances and cool reception whenever he tried to initiate a conversation.
"Why do you say that?" Sirius inquired, reclining on the couch with his legs spread out and his arms casually draped behind him.
"Do you remember that prank we pulled in our third year? The one involving that paint which turned people neon and made them glow like that for a month?" Remus posed the question, tilting his head in recollection.
Sirius nodded, his expression pensive as he pieced the memory together. James mirrored the same contemplative look.
"What about it?" Sirius pressed, a quizzical eyebrow raised. Remus delivered his response with an exasperated eye-roll. "Y/N was the unfortunate victim. We ruined all her homework, papers, her clothes—everything she was wearing," he recounted, listing the extensive damage they had caused.
As Remus spoke, Peter felt a heavy pang of guilt settle within him, his shoulders slumping in response.
James winced, his lips forming a tight line as he glanced at Peter, sympathy evident in his eyes.
Sirius, on the other hand, hissed through his teeth, his gaze now on Peter. "You certainly picked a challenging one there, Pete," he jested, patting Peter's shoulder with a chuckle.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
PETER FELT A sickening sensation gnaw at his stomach, his nerves twisting into tight knots. He sat in the Potions class, a restless heat simmering beneath his cauldron, which signaled one thing—today's practical potion session.
Beside him sat Y/N, her expression a picture of boredom as she idly gazed at the flickering flames beneath her cauldron. The professor's words cut through the still air, announcing the day's task: a potion-brewing assignment.
Y/N's attention shifted to her satchel, her brows furrowing as she rifled through its contents. She paused, her searching becoming more frantic as she realized her textbook was nowhere to be found. An inward curse accompanied her reluctance to turn to Peter for help.
With a reluctant sigh, she finally spoke, her tone tinged with ennui. "I don’t have my book." Externally nonchalant, inside she was churning with worry.
What if Peter had shared her eccentricities with the other Marauders, leading to some sort of bizarre hex? She had heard a rumor from a seventh-year Hufflepuff that they were involved in an eerie cult-like activity within the Shrieking Shack.
On the other hand, Peter was grappling with a jumble of thoughts, his mind a swirling vortex of nervousness. Staring at her, his book hung limply in his hand, his words stumbled and tripped in his mind, leaving him tongue-tied.
"We can, uh... share?" he eventually stammered, inwardly cringing at the crack in his voice. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, and he felt himself shrink under her scrutiny, his cheeks turning a shade warmer than he'd have liked.
After a brief pause, Y/N nodded in agreement, shifting closer to him. This simple movement sent tremors through Peter's nerves, his palms clammy and his heartbeat resonating in his ears.
He tried to steady his trembling hand as he opened the textbook, attempting to act natural while his mind raced with a whirlwind of emotions.
The professor's voice cut through the air, announcing the next part of the class. "And with your table partners, you will be composing a six-inch essay on the effects of this potion, its consistency, and the brewing process—covering the standard topics."
Peter's heart felt like it had taken a sudden leap, only to plummet back into his chest. Spending extended time with Y/N was both thrilling and terrifying for him.
Meanwhile, Y/N couldn't help but internally groan at the prospect. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck working closely with a Marauder, especially since their presence seemed to come in a package deal.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Y/N SAT IN the cozy corner of the Gryffindor common room, Peter beside her on the red couch. Books, quills, and scattered sheets of paper were strewn across the table,
Despite the material at their fingertips, Y/N felt the weight of awkwardness settle in the air. Her posture was rigid, and words seemed to evade her.
Despite the material at their fingertips, Y/N felt the weight of awkwardness settle in the air. Her posture was rigid, and words seemed to evade her. She was acutely aware of the eyes of James and Sirius on them, making her heart race uncomfortably.
Across from them, Remus occasionally looked up from his book, his gentle smile a mixture of understanding and encouragement.
"So, is this one of the effects, or is it for a different aspect?" Peter's voice broke the silence, a seemingly innocent question that held the true purpose of engaging in conversation with Y/N.
She glanced at her book, hiding a small smile. "It says 'effects' right here," she replied, her laughter softening the atmosphere and putting Peter at ease.
"Yeah, come on, Pete," Sirius chimed in, appearing behind the couch with a mischievous grin. He rested his arms on their shoulders, pushing them slightly together.
Y/N stiffened initially, suspicion clouding her expression. However, a deep breath later, she allowed herself to relax. Perhaps Sirius wasn't up to his usual pranks this time?
Peter also eased up, mirroring her movements. The unexpected push from Sirius brought them closer, their shoulders touching.
Sirius released them with a satisfied whistle, striding away as if his brief interference had been entirely innocent. James struggled to suppress his laughter behind his hand, amused by Sirius's antics.
Neither Y/N nor Peter moved.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
FOUR MONTHS, six days, and two hours had elapsed since that fateful day—an interval that hadn't gone unnoticed by Sirius, who was meticulously keeping track.
"Peter, it's high time you made a move," Sirius declared, his expression firm as he stared down at the groggy trio seated on the floor, all clutching their pillows.
Groans of protest filled the room, Remus's voice particularly raspy from sleep. His hair was in disarray, and his eyes struggled to focus.
"Did you have to wake us for this?" Remus complained, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.
"Yes, because for the past two months, you two have been inseparable. Peter can probably recite her favorite shampoo brand by now. Don't you think it's about time?" Sirius's voice held an air of exasperation, his tongue clicking in annoyance.
James let out a long-suffering sigh, closing his eyes and burying his face into his pillow. "Do we have to go through this? Peter's practically sleepwalking at this point!" he protested, gesturing toward the disheveled figure that appeared half-asleep, barely registering the conversation.
"James, remember last year with Lily? You had us going through this every single night!" Sirius retorted, his hair a wild mess as he shook his head.
"I've even got bets riding on this, James. Marlene bet against me, claiming they won't get together this month. And I've staked my hair on it! My hair!" Sirius's voice reached an incredulous pitch as he emphasized the gravity of the situation.
Peter stirred from his half-asleep state, mouth hanging slightly open with a small trail of drool. "Huh? What's happening...?" he mumbled, his speech slurred and drowsy.
Sirius grinned, his grey eyes shining as he shook the boy back and forth by the shoulders. “We’re gonna get you a girlfriend, Pete.”
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
THEY RELENTLESSLY attempted various schemes to portray Peter as a hero, a selfless gentleman, a smooth talker—anything to capture the attention of the girl he secretly pined for, the girl whose minutest details he knew by heart.
One strategy involved James hurling a bludger in her direction, supposedly for Peter to heroically intercept before it reached her. The outcome? A bloodied nose, an irritated Y/N, a sheepish James, a rolled-eyed Remus, and a barely-contained laughter from Sirius.
Then there was the attempt to make Peter appear exceptionally intelligent. They covertly provided him with answers to questions the professor posed, but alas, he ended up delivering the wrong responses half the time.
They even tried to coach Peter in the art of flirting, an endeavor that concluded with him crashing headlong into a wall while trying to charm Y/N on their way to class, leaving him with a concussion and Y/N understandably perplexed.
As the week neared its end, the boys found themselves somewhat disheartened. Despite their efforts, Peter seemed to have made little progress—assuming they had missed any subtle signs—and their attempts at pet-sitting for Y/N's cat had resulted in scratches all over them.
The cat was clearly not fond of their company.
Peter's mood was gloomy as he sat alone in the library, his posture guarded and defeated. His gaze was fixed hazily on a romance book titled 'A Guide to Love for Dummies,' which he had already read three times over.
When someone sat down nearby, he quickly tossed the book aside, looking up with a mixture of surprise and trepidation, only to meet Y/N's (E/C) eyes.
Startled, he took a shaky breath, his cheeks taking on a reddish hue. A similar change in color adorned her (S/C) skin, puzzling him even further. He cleared his throat, attempting to appear nonchalant as he rested his head on his hand, his other hand resting on his waist—an intended display of casualness that didn't quite go as planned.
His arm slipped, causing his head to thump against the table. Panicking slightly, he shot up straight, clearing his throat again.
"Y/N!" he attempted to deepen his voice, but it cracked embarrassingly.
"Peter." Her smile was warm, her gaze flickering between his flushed cheeks and his sparkling eyes.
"What were you reading?" Her inquiry was accompanied by a glance toward the book he had discarded. Unbeknownst to Peter, she was quite aware of his reading material—she had been discreetly observing him too.
“A- uh..Sports book! Yeah muggle sports book.” He said hurriedly, eyes widening when her hand made its way to rest in his.
“So uh- Peter I’ve been thinking about your little stunts with your friends.” She spoke, her soft voice turning serious.
She had alsways thought the Marauders were stuck up bullies, and that may be true to some extent she had gotten to know them over the time..getting to talk to Remus about things like books, life, walks. Being able to Talk to James, or debate with him about random things, not every getting really mad at eachother. Being able to Talk to Sirius about more Serious things- pun intended- the stars, gossip.
And being able to gaze at Peter when he was doing random things, and feeling a warm feeling in her heart, something that made her head spin , tummy twist and turn and a hard to get rid of smile bloom on her face.
Peter watched her, eyes wide and brows furrowed- lip darting out to wet his dry lips.
“I uh..” she trailed off, taking a deep breath.
Peter thought of all the words Sirius had said to him, what James had said, and pushed them to the side- there advice sucked. But he could rely on Remus’s advice.
And following Remus he did. His mouth moved before his brain, words spilling out. “I like you! Really like you..i like everything about you, i like how your serious face looks, i like your smile and how your eyes look when you do..” Peter continues to ramble about her, all while Y/N listens with parted lips, heart beating in her ears.
And in the end, lips jumbled together, expressed feelings and thumping hearts.
Peter was no longer a figure in the background, he was in the main light to the most important person of his life, he was no longer the full character, he had bloomed.
And instead of a dull flashing star in the night sky, he was one of the brightest, shining amongst the ones he was once in the background for. He was no longer the ‘The fourth Marauder’ he was ‘Peter Pettigrew’
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danaewrites · 8 months
Text
you with the dark curls (you with the watercolor eyes)
part i: and while you were asleep, i was surely awake
james potter x reader // read it on AO3
word count: 2.8k
summary: “Falling in love with your best friend was never a good idea, but you’d managed to do the idiot thing anyway, carrying a torch for a boy who would never look past Lily’s emerald eyes to see the watercolor ones that had always been by his side.”
tags: best friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending, based on the song "dear arkansas daughter" by lady lamb, fem!reader
author's notes: hii y'all, sorry for not posting in a year :P my only excuse is that i didn't feel like taking the energy to actually write out my story ideas. also perfectionism. anyway i somehow wrote this in two hours while procrastinating my college app essays and have plans to make this a multi-chapter fic despite intending to write an angsty oneshot request for a completely different fandom (i see you, beloved anons, and i raise you this completely unrelated fic <3)… the brain of a writer works in mysterious ways.
read it all here: part i, part ii, part iii (coming soon!)
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You were in love with James Potter.
It was a fact of life, just like how the sky was blue, or that his favorite dessert was treacle tart, or that you were the only person he’d ever let see him cry besides his mother. You’d loved him from the moment you met him on the train to Hogwarts as a shy, anxious muggleborn unsure of the new world of magic and prejudice you’d been thrown into without so much as a warning. He hadn’t cared at all about your blood status- didn’t even think to ask about it. He had launched himself into your compartment and began talking at you a mile a minute, beaming with every tooth showing once he found out you were hoping to get into Gryffindor, his hazel eyes alight with the joy of making a new friend. And friends indeed you had become; you were proud to remember that you’d known him before Sirius or Remus or Peter did, though it took only an instant after the Sorting for him to become best mates with the rest of them, too.
You and James were inseparable from that moment on, giggling at Professor Binns’ failure to notice Sirius’ antics in the back of class and reassuring each other when home seemed too far away for comfort. He stole sweets from the Slytherin table for you at meals, and you covered for him when the teachers almost caught him pranking Snape– after all, who would believe that sweet, innocent Y/n would ever be involved in such shenanigans? The soft-spoken demeanor and love of everything pastel you’d thought would eventually oust you from the close-knit Gryffindor boys’ group proved to be quite the useful asset when affirming their ‘innocence’.
Not that they only wanted you around because you were helpful, of course. You had quite the talent for exaggerating stories until even Sirius fell off his seat laughing in disbelief, and your creative mind made for some glorious pranks and entertaining mistakes. Peter would blush for an hour straight if anyone mentioned The Great Plum Pudding Incident of Christmas 1974, all thanks to your clever meddling. And Remus– well, he was eternally grateful for your mother-henning during the worst of his moon cycles. You’d been the first to figure out his “furry little problem”, and upon learning that enjoying chocolate was his favorite method of escapism, showed up every month without fail with an armful of Honeydukes sweets. The little ways in which you loved each Marauder meant the world to them. They would do anything to protect you and make sure you were okay, James most of all. You often teased James that he was more bodyguard than friend, with his deep glares at too-forward Hufflepuff boys masking the big softie you knew he was underneath. You remembered fondly the summer days he spent chasing you around your house, scaring your mother half to death with his colander-and-pot ‘armor’ as he declared that as a chivalrous knight, he was meant to save Princess Y/n from the terrible Acromantula King. Privately, you thought James had a few too many Arthurian legends for bedtime stories as a child, but what could you do?
Even now, as sixth years, the bond between you and James never changed, your love for him ever-growing. Your heart melted every time you glanced over your shoulder in the hallway, only to find him chatting softly with a sniffling first-year and guiding them to Professor Sprout’s office for a hot cuppa and a biscuit. You cheered at his Quidditch victories and were euphorically lifted up onto his broad shoulders afterward, whooping as he galavanted through the common room in celebration. You were there when he needed a shoulder to cry on when his grandfather died, softly stroking his hair as he fell asleep in your lap with tear tracks still running down his face. And he adored you in return– braiding your hair while you worked on Herbology essays, racing you on his beloved broom when you stayed with him during the summer, distracting you from your rants about Slughorn’s unfair grading with a trip to the kitchens and a blissfully soft blanket.
James was your lifeline and you his– and nothing in the world could change that.
Except, perhaps, one tiny little complication. A complication with vibrant red hair, sparkling green eyes, and a natural affinity for Potions. A complication that had sparked your jealousy since the first time you noticed James glancing dreamily at Lily Evans in second year Transfiguration, jealousy that had only gotten worse with his grand declarations of love every week. He’d begun to announce his affection for the muggleborn to anyone who would listen in third year, and it didn’t stop there. No, when James Potter loved someone, he loved hard, and that meant that you had to watch as beautiful bouquets appeared on Lily’s nightstand nightly while the rest of the girls in your dorm whispered and swooned. You were a wallflower when he sighed about how lovely her skin was and how bloody talented she was at everything she did during one of your late-night chats in the common room, curling in on yourself with every word he spoke. When he asked her to Hogsmeade the first time (and the second, and the third, and the fiftieth), you observed as she rolled her eyes and shoved past him, despite the small smile on her face.
It wasn’t that Lily wasn’t smart or pretty or talented– far from it. She deserved every good Potions grade she got, and even the pureblood Slytherins begrudgingly noted how she was the darling of Hogwarts society. But you thought that the way she treated your best friend, refusing his advances quite harshly but sending him flirtatious glances and making a show of wearing his flowers in her hair, was rather unkind and misleading. She had James wrapped around her little finger and didn’t seem to want to let go of his attention anytime soon, despite Snape’s protests about how much time he was spending with her. You disliked Severus, but didn’t think he deserved Lily’s bad treatment either. Sometimes you’d see him staring at James and Lily deep in conversation, and shoot him a glance of communal disappointment– before realizing who you were sharing the moment with and resuming an expression of disgust, at least.
At first, you ignored your growing angst about his new obsession, chalking it up to sleep deprivation, stress over your upcoming exams, and even your monthly. But when you started to run out of excuses for the despair slowly overtaking your heart and flashes of his dark curls began to appear in your sweetest dreams, you were forced to admit that your feelings for James ran much deeper than a platonic friendship. From the way he spun you around in the snow to the way he snorted at Remus’ awful puns, you were head-over-heels smitten with your best friend.
The way he’d filled out since the end of fourth year hadn’t escaped your notice, either; you were pretty sure that his pecs should be considered a traffic hazard, with the way you’d fallen flat on your face after seeing him shirtless after a match. He’d rushed over to clean up every one of your injuries, of course, with a touch so gentle it released a whole menagerie of butterflies in your stomach. You’d barely managed to mumble a coherent thank-you before sprinting to take a very cold shower and scream into your pillow with embarrassment. How on earth did Lily Evans even think around him?!
Alas, you’d read your fair share of romance novels, and you knew how this story would end. Falling in love with your best friend was never a good idea, but you’d managed to do the idiot thing anyway, carrying a torch for a boy who would never look past Lily’s emerald eyes to see the watercolor ones that had always been by his side.
That was the state Sirius found you in, broody and lost in thought in a quiet corner of the library. He grinned rakishly, planting a well-polished boot on a nearby chair and leaning over to tap your forehead. “Lots going on in there today, huh?”
You snapped out of your daze and smiled sheepishly up at him. “Sorry, Siri, didn’t mean to ignore you. Just, er, thinking about my Potions essay, do you know how many uses there are for mandelwort? Quite fascinating plants, hones–”
Sirius winced and slid back far across the table. “Oh, no, you are not discussing horrid Potions work with me today when there are so many other wonderful topics.” He gestured to a table of swooning fifth-years gazing dreamily at his backside. “For example, those lovely ladies,” he crooned, sending an exaggerated wink towards them and smirking when they sighed.
You wrinkled your nose and scoffed. “Oh, please, as if I haven’t heard enough about your conquests already. I’m already scarred for life from your stories about that Belgium Veela, let alone the muggle sailor you nearly broke the Statute of Secrecy for.”
He waved a hand, dismissing your allegations of the mental injury caused by his excruciating attention to sordid detail when slightly tipsy in the common room. You made a mental note to charm his shampoo to turn his hair bright lavender for the next week for that little snub. Although, being Sirius, he’d probably just use it as an excuse to sway the rest of the Hogwarts population into going to Hogsmeade with him. “Ah, but darling Y/n, that’s what I’m here for!” He furrowed his brow and stroked his chin in mock consideration. “However, I can’t seem to recall a time when you–” here he poked you in the cheek for emphasis– “confessed to a little tete-a-tete in the hallway. Ever. Which means we have a problem,” he grinned.
You felt rather like prey being hunted for sport. “That would be because I’m not interested in anyone, you dolt!” Crossing your arms, you turned your face back towards your homework. Maybe if you denied romantic interest for long enough, Sirius would leave you alone and go flounce off to flirt with the noisy table of fourth years. “Anyway, I heard Marlene’s been circling Dorcas like a lovesick pigeon lately, so perhaps you should be putting your matchmaking efforts to her benefit instead.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “C’mon doll, I know you weren’t actually thinking about Potions when I arrived. Who’s the lead actor in those fantasies, mm?” He snatched up your favorite pink gel pen, twirling around his fingers as he looked at you expectantly.
Drat. He wouldn’t be so easily distracted with the latest gossip. You opened your mouth to protest yet again when you caught a flash of red over Sirius’ artfully tousled locks. You watched as James strode up to the alcove where Lily and her friends were studying, transfigured a sheet of parchment into a butterfly clip and held it out to her with a grin. Her laughter pealed out through the library as she let him lean over her shoulder to place it in her hair. He seemed oblivious to the titters of the girls around him while he gazed at Lily adoringly. You felt your heart clench as you recognized the expression on his face; you’d seen it on your own in the mirror after spending time with James, after all. And it seemed like maybe Lily was finally starting to be swayed into accepting his starry-eyed proposals, if the pretty blush on her cheeks was anything to go by.
Sirius tracked your despairing gaze to the couple and immediately paled in realization. “Oh, shit.”
Shit, indeed. Your face turned bright red as you scrambled to pack your bag and leave the area as fast as you possibly could, not sure how you could face Sirius knowing your deepest secret now. The boy had no self-control, fueling the Hogwarts gossip mill with the wild stories he overheard, and he had even less discretion when confessing things to his friends around the common room fire. It’s no wonder he wound up in Gryffindor, you thought miserably. There’s no way he’d be able to keep a secret like the rest of the Slytherins, and definitely not from James. It would only be a matter of time before he let it slip about your feelings to the rest of the Marauders, and— well, you’d just have to face losing your best friend for good once he heard.
Sirius broke your train of thought by wrapping his hands around yours, looking up at you with concern. “Hey, doll, wait— I didn’t know—“
You sniffed and wiped the tears threatening to fall from your eyes away fiercely. “That’s exactly it, Sirius, you didn’t know because you won’t be able to keep it from James.”
He looked guiltily down at the table. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit of a git with keeping things private lately, yeah?”
You nodded, covering your face with your hands. Sirius reached out, placing them back down on the table, and softly said, “Listen, I shouldn’t have pried so hard. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.” He broke off, pausing to scramble for a handkerchief from his bag to wipe off your rapidly disintegrating mascara. “And I promise not to breathe a word of this to James,” he finished.
You looked up at him, startled. “Are you serious?” At his answering grin, you groaned. “Don’t answer that. But really, are you sure that you’ll be able to resist telling him everything?” You fiddled with the now-soiled handkerchief and whispered, “You two are so close, I don’t want to drive you apart. If James thought you were hiding something important from him, it would destroy him,” you sniffed.
He frowned. “Doll, you know you’re just as important as James is to me, right?” At your answering slump, his jaw clenched and he continued on with more intensity. “You’re like my sister, Y/n, there’s nothing you could do to make me care for you less. Especially not asking for your privacy. Clearly, I haven’t been treating you as well as you deserve if you doubt that.”
He walked around and took a seat in the armchair next to you, pulling you in to lean on his shoulder. “And I can be discreet, you know. I might not show it often, but growing up in a family of the most intensely secretive purebloods ever to exist taught me a few things.” You glanced at him doubtfully, the tiny quirk of your mouth the only sign that you were joking. “Hey, I’m being serious!” He laughed, then quieted suddenly. “This thing with James— you really love him, don’t you?”
You gave him an exasperated look out of the corner of your eye. Sirius released a breath and gazed deeply into the space in front of him. “Hey, we’ll figure this out together, okay?” He poked you in the side. “If he’s too focused on the smell of Evans’ hair or whatever to see that he already has the perfect girl in front of him, he’s not as smart as you think he is.” You giggled slightly, his words warming you. Sirius smiled, happy to see you cheering up a bit.
“Why don’t we go raid the kitchens? The coolest person I know once told me that elf-crafted mint chocolate chip ice cream is the best way to heal a broken heart,” he teased. You groaned, remembering how you’d told him that as a last resort to get him to stop complaining about how he missed his sailor ex-boyfriend every time you two went to Hogsmeade. At least your random advice wound up benefiting you now, you thought as you collected the last of your stationery and exited the library.
Neither you nor Sirius saw how James watched you smile up at Sirius as you walked away, holding his arm and laughing loudly at something he muttered. Anna Dumotier, a Hufflepuff fifth-year and one of Lily’s friends, would remember later that night how he seemed to tune out Lily’s voice for a moment and stared at the doors to the library with a strange expression on his face. His brows were furrowed like he was trying to decipher the answer to an unfamiliar puzzle, his eyes widened with confusion and a glint of something she could only identify as jealousy before Lily brought him back to the conversation with a graceful flip of her hair. But no— she shook her head— that couldn’t be right. What could James possibly be jealous of when he finally had the girl of his dreams in his arms?
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read on: part ii
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