Selenophile // Marauders

|48| Opening Up, Fifth Year

"Why isn't she waking up?" Marlene asked as she looked down at Riley. She was still asleep on a Saturday and it was almost past 11 AM. 

"Come on Marlene, she doesn't have to wake up at 6 AM sharp every day!" Lily said. 

"Yeah, but she does!" Marlene said. "Honestly she drives me crazy when she wakes up when she wakes up at six, who's excited about a bird chirping for fuck's sake!" 

"Marlene!" Lily shouted.

"What? Are you five? Oh no, Lily has heard her friend use the word 'fuck' now we have to obliviate her!" Marlene said mockingly. Lily rolled her eyes. Marlene then opened the curtains that prevented the sunlight from getting into the dorm. Riley opened her eyes as the bright sun hit her eyes. 

"Who opened the fucking curtains?!" she mumbled. "Ugh!" She buried her head under the pillow and tried to stay asleep. 

"Wake up already!" Dorcas said. 

"No!" Riley protested. 

"There's something wrong with her, she always wakes up early..." Mary said. "Come on Riley! You'll miss breakfast!"

"I don't care, Mary!" Riley said with a muffled voice. Marlene took out her wand and pointed it at Riley, causing her to fall off the bed and hit the floor with a thud. 

"MARLENE!" Lily shouted. 

"I HATE YOU MARLENE!" Riley screamed as she stood up and rubbed her arm which she hit at the corner of the bedside table. 

"Oh come on, Rey Rey, wake up!" Marlene said as Mary and Dorcas laughed. Riley turned sharply towards Marlene as she heard what she just called her. Rey.

"Don't call me that..." she said quietly. 

"Why?" Dorcas asked. 

"...Personal reasons. Only one person is allowed to call me that..." Riley said. 

"Who is that? Your secret lover?" Marlene said jokingly. 

"Just— don't," Riley said. 

"Alright, I won't... At least you're awake!"

***

Riley went to the library after Marlene woke her up. She didn't go down to have breakfast or didn't try to find the rest of the Marauders. She took some books about Potions and then sat on one of the chairs as she opened the large book. 

"Hi," Remus said as he sat next to her. 

"When did you come?" Riley asked as she smiled. 

"An hour ago. Why didn't you come down for breakfast?" he asked. 

"Didn't feel like it..." Riley answered vaguely. 

"I actually found this on the floor after you left Potions yesterday. I thought it was yours..." Remus said. "But I didn't read it, I promise."

Remus handed Riley a crumpled piece of paper. She quickly opened it and closed it again. It was the letter her mum sent to her, actually, the letter Ivy was meant to send to her last week. 

"Oh— uhm— thanks— I didn't realize I dropped this..." Riley said. She didn't realize how she stuttered as she tried to put it in her pocket.

"I suppose it's something rather upsetting..." Remus said softly.

"Sort of."

"Sort of? I really don't mean to be nosy but are you alright?" Remus asked.

"I will be, sometime."

"Do you wanna talk about it? I mean, you can talk to me if you want to..." Remus said. "I can try to help."

That section of the library was quite empty as nobody was really interested in Potions except for a few. After an hour, Riley found herself and Remus sitting by the window, with her crying as Remus listened. She leaned on the window and had her arms around her legs as she sniffed between her words. 

"So, she was meant to send this to you on your birthday but couldn't? So your mum sent it to you?" Remus asked as she looked at Riley. She gave a small nod. 

"I'm crying over this stupid letter, how will I ever get over it... I mean, she's gone and there's nothing I can do about it to fix it... It just doesn't make sense!" Riley said with her voice breaking.

"Some things just don't make sense... And there's nothing we can do to fix them—" Remus said.

"But there has to be a reason for it, right? I mean, they tell us everything happens for a reason, right?" Riley said as she cracked her knuckled but then winced as the scars on her hand from hitting the hard walls hurt once more. 

"You don't have to get over it, you just need to move on..." Remus said. Riley looked up as he said this. None of the other things happening in her life made sense but that sentence did. Nobody had the right to judge her because she never got over the murder of her sister and she knew that for a fact. Nobody had the right to make fun of her. But she knew she had to move on from this void she was in or it would get worse. For all her life, she tried to seem tough, tried to seem like she wasn't hurt when she actually was in the greatest pain she ever felt. Always tried to find logic in situations that seemed like a maze. Most of the time, this made her feel better but when she couldn't, it made her feel worse than ever. And the worst thing was that she just realized this. 

"I— I never thought like that—" she mumbled. "You're right," Riley said. Remus gave a wry smile and put his hand on her shoulder. 

———

A/N: 

Firstly, I just wanna say rest in peace Helen McCrory /* She was such an amazing actress, an amazing person... I was shocked when I found out that she had passed away and now they're reunited with Alan which makes me both happy and sad. Rest in peace Helen, the best Narcissa Malfoy we ever knew...

Secondly, thank you so much for 2K! I cannot believe it, y'all are the best <3 Follow me on TikTok for Harry Potter edits: pygmypuffarnold