Corrupted Souls | remus lupin

alice's birthday

Remus, who was inadvertently scanning the room every minute or so, noticed Neoma before the rest. He nudged Sirius, who glanced toward his friend's line of view. Soon enough Alice spotted the girl as well. 

"Neoma!" Alice beamed, standing up and pulling the girl into a hug. "I'm so happy you could make it."

Neoma smiled as they broke apart and avoided eye contact with the rest of the table. "Happy birthday, Alice!"

 Alice thanked her bashfully and gestured toward the open seat, which was between Marlene and herself. 

The rest of the table greeted Neoma. She could see Remus out of her periphery, but tried to not look directly at him as she exchanged pleasantries with Lily and James. They seemed to be less standoffish than they'd been in their final weeks at Hogwarts, which was a relief. 

"Neoma this is Frank - I'm so glad you two're finally meeting." Alice leaned back a bit so Neoma and Frank could see each other. 

Frank Longbottom was a little goofy looking, but handsome. Alice stared at him like he was some famous quidditch star as he reached his hand across her to shake Neoma's.

"Nice to finally meet you, Neoma. Dumbledore's told me a lot about you."

So he's in The Order, Neoma noted to herself. She wondered if Alice had known about the organization while they were in school. 

"And Alice has told me lots about you," Neoma giggled when her friend's cheeks turned a faint pink.

The table quickly fell back into their prior conversation, which entailed a story of the newest bloke that Mrs. Pettigew was dating. Peter didn't seem to like him one bit, and chucked a roll of bread at Sirius's head when he started to make guesses on what his mum was like in the bedroom. Lily scolded them both for their behavior, and the couple next to their boisterous table eyed the group of young adults with disdain. 

Marlene filled Neoma in on she and Dorcas's love life. The rest of the table had heard these stories at least four times since the two came out, but seeing as Neoma hadn't seen them since graduation, it was her first time hearing about the girls' not-secret-anymore relationship.

"You guys were sneaking around for the entire year?" Neoma's eyes widened. "I get keeping it under the radar at first ... but why wait so long? No one here would have given you grief about it."

"Oh, it wasn't the gay thing we were worried about," Marlene shook her head fervently. "It was the whole friend-group thing."

"Well ... you lot are still in a 'friend group', so what changed?"

"We're out of Hogwarts now. If Dorcas and I ever break up - not that we're going to, Dorcas, don't look at me like that - but if we do, then when everyone at this table inevitably chooses my side over Dorcas's, she won't have to still see us in classes and such." Marlene smiled cheekily, which only stretched wider as the rest of the table laughed.

"Sorry, Marls, but I think Prongs and I would pick Dorcas. We've spent many, many hours together on the quidditch pitch talking about the pitfalls of your personality," Sirius joked.

"My personality is perfect and Dorcas knows it," Marlene gave the girl a kiss on the cheek. "But alright, I guess she can have two friends if we break up. The rest of you will be coming with me, though."

Dorcas rolled her eyes at Marlene's antics, but a smile was plastered across her face nonetheless. Marlene's forward nature and confidence was one of her most attractive attributes. If it weren't for her then they probably never would have gotten together in the first place, and Dorcas's crush would still be deeply, deeply buried.