The markings scattered his back, interlocking and over-layering to weave a tapestry of anguish and indescribable pain.
As she opened her eyes, the comforting smell of coffee and parchment filled her nose. For the first time in 5 years she had opened...
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Remus tried not to move his head too much, although this proved a challenge as he struggled to read his book with the sun blasting into his eyes.
Harper tugged on the neck of her brown jumper and tried not to move her legs too much, which was proving difficult as she could feel the unwanted arrival of pins and needles.
The two friends lay under a large oak tree beside the Black Lake. Harper had her back lent against the old trunk, her legs extended in front of her along the tattered blanket. Remus, on the other hand, was laid at a right angle, his head resting on her shin. The only sound was that of the water gently lapping at the shore and a few birds in the nearby shrubbery. Neither of them were too bothered by the lack of concern as they kept their noses tucked in their books.
After a while of attempting to plait her hair, Harper couldn't help but lift her legs up and shake them in the air. This caused Remus to push himself upwards and turn to look at her with a confused expression.
"Sorry, pins and needles." She pulled her legs up to her chest and quickly rubbed her hands up and down her shins. "Harp, you should've said and I would've moved." Remus said, manoeuvring to sit beside Harper under the tree. "No it's fine, I liked you resting there." She shrugged, undoing the plait in her hair.
Remus felt the heat rush to his cheeks but quickly forgot about this as shouts and yells emanated from the dense forestry. That could only mean one thing.
It was a mere few seconds before Sirius, James, and Peter erupted into the clearing. Sirius and James were engaged in some sort of fight as they both attempted to throw the other onto the floor. Each attempt from both parties however was futile. Peter awkwardly followed the pair, occasionally laughing when things got too quiet.
"You'll fall in the lake if you're not careful." Harper cautiously eyed the situation as the pair of boys neared the water's edge. "Okay, okay! Time!" James shouted, holding his hands up in the air and jumping out of Sirius' way. "You forfeited! What's that Moony? Read us the score!" Sirius leapt into the air, thrashing his arms about in victory.
Begrudgingly, Remus flicked to the last page of his book and eyed the table of tally markings. "Twelve - Nine to Padfoot." He read flatly, before slamming the book shut and raising his head. "Victory, once again... Is mine!" Sirius shouted, throwing his head back and laughing obnoxiously.
Harper let out a long sigh as James started to argue with Sirius about the supposed rules of their brawling.
"We could sneak away you know." Remus nudged. "They'd only track us down again." Harper replied. "They're the smartest idiots I've ever known," He complained. "You're the one who originally befriended them!" Harper widened her eyes at the boy. "Okay fair enough," He let it go.
A few minutes later, the group were bickering about another unimportant matter.
"You could have been a rebellious animagus like us." James puffed out his chest proudly. "To be fair, we did even offer." Sirius added, resting his elbow on James' shoulder. "I know but someone said it was too dangerous. I call it unfair but anyway." Harper threw a look to Remus as she spoke before returning to her book.
The three boys stood for a moment before all at once remembering why they'd ventured so far away from the castle.
"You should've heard Snivellus!" James almost shouted. "He was so proud of himself for knowing this one spell in class yesterday!" Peter added, trying to involve himself in the excitement. "So, we - well really I - came up with this idea to use the spell against him." Sirius smirked, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "What does it do?" Harper asked in a tone of voice laced with false interest but the boys were too excited to pick up on this. "It'll pick him up and turn him upside down!" James was almost jumping in the air with excitement as his plan.
The boys stopped for a moment in wait of Remus' and Harper's reactions.
"I have to say... It's not the most amazing idea you've come up with." She admitted. "I agree, we've had some amazing ideas over the years." Remus stated, smiling to himself. "Yeah but we're bored! And, getting revenge on Snape is always fun." James replied as he stepped forward to pull Remus to his feet.
"Revenge... Yeah right..." Harper mumbled to herself in a voice that was only heard by herself, "Well, you guys have fun. Let me know how it goes. I'm going back to the castle." Harper spoke as she stood up, picked up the blanket from the floor and tucked it in her bag along with her book.
Harper rolled her eyes before departing from the boys and making her way back up to the castle.
Remus, on the other hand, lingered under the tree as he watched Harper walk away from them.
"Oi, Moony. Eyes over here." James gestured to himself, "We didn't want to say it in front of Harper but-" "Do I want to hear it?" Remus cocked an eyebrow. "Snivellus called my Lily a mudblood so we need to get our cold blooded revenge on that snake." James balled his hands into tight fists.
The Marauders banded together with one common goal. They strutted across the grounds to find Snape and his group of evil friends.
"Snivellus!" James shouted as they reach the top of a small hill, finding Snape leaning against the trunk of a tree, reading his book.
The boy looked startled, almost dropping his book to the floor, before trying to stumble backwards and away from them. Remus couldn't help but feel a little bad for the boy. Yeah, Snape was the embodiment of evil and he treated the nicest people like piles of rubbish but surely they shouldn't treat him this badly. Weren't they being as nasty as Snape by doing this?
"If I were you, I'd watch what you say!" James pointed his wand at Snape and he slowly rose off the ground and spun upside down.
"Now, who wants to see me take off Snivelly's trousers?" James smirked. "Didn't know you swung that way Potter," Sirius laughed, running his hand through his hair.
Students were gathering around now, laughing and chanting as James revelled in the attention. Remus nervously watched. This was quite funny for him but he was only scared of what Harper would say if she found out. When she found out.
Suddenly the common room door burst open and a rather red faced Alice ran past the painting and towards Lily and Harper.
"Lil, Harper! It's Snape, down by the lake." Alice panted, resting on her knees to catch her breath. "Potter and them have him flying in the air. I didn't see it but Frank said something about trousers and hexing. It doesn't sound good." She shook her head quickly.
"Potter! That bully! If he thinks I hate him, he has another thing coming!" Lily jumped to her feet, gritting her teeth violently. "Lil, relax. There's nothing you can do now, I'll speak to them." Harper tried to calm down her friend. "How can you possibly put up with them? They're pure evil!" She growled. "Hey! I know you're annoyed and you hate them but they're still my friends. Don't insult them to me." Harper stated. "Okay, fine. But I need to find Sev and you need to tell those stupid marauders off, alright?" Lily huffed. "Yes, miss." Harper saluted jokingly before exiting the common room.
