A FEW DAYS LATER, on one Saturday morning, Remus went to meet with Lily at the library.
They were supposed to study for the Transfiguration exam planned on Monday, but Moony knew that - and he was pretty sure that Lily knew that too - it was going to end up with them talking, anyway.
But that was a good thing - even though he and Lily were both prefects they hardly had time to meet. They mostly went like 'Lily, you take care of that first-year student and I can check on those second-year students that keep being loud, ok?' and separated ways to do their tasks.
So now that Remus finally told James, very clearly, that he and Lily were going to study, he could happily spend some quality time with her.
And, once the right time came, he met with her in the common room and from there the two of them made their way to the library.
They took their usual spot - next to the books about wizarding history. They liked it a lot, even though it wasn't the most quiet or intimate place in the library. What pulled them towards it, however, was the fact that when they were bored and tired, they could take one of the books, open it on a random page and laugh from what was written there. It was especially funny that Lily didn't know most of those facts and Remus only knew the basics.
But, oh man, the wizarding history was weird. And also pretty gay, actually, even though most of the historians seemed to be 'straightening' it.
Remus sighed, looking at Lily as she was taking out her books - some appearances had to be kept.
"So." He started, as she finally straightened up on her chair and looked at him. "You said you would explain something about some girl that you were in a group on Herbology." He said.
Lily giggled slightly at the memory and, after moving her hair away from her face, began explaining.
"Well, yes, so Mary and Dorcas were in a group with some Hufflepuffs they know so me and Joan were left alone." She started, playing with her quill. "And you know how Sprout is with the number of people in the group, so we joined Maggie and some other girls from Hufflepuff." She continued. "Maggie was cool, like she didn't work all the time, she joked around a lot, but like it was sometimes even kind of funny, though I'm not a fan of dick jokes." She explained and Remus frowned on her last sentence.
"Dick jokes?" He asked. "I didn't know she made dick jokes." He stated, confused and for a moment thought that maybe making dick jokes could be a good tactic in romance... but no. No, why would he ever think that?
The only person it could work for was Sirius, and Remus wasn't going to date Sirius, because well... Moony was rather into girls.
Well, he admired boys aesthetically, okay? Like James had nice abs. The abs he would have to tell Lily about, but well not only James looked objectively good. For example Sirius had nice hair and a nice face and oh, he had very aesthetic, grey... or maybe green eyes, but that was only Remus's definition of being attractive.
Nothing more.
"Well yes, quite a bit of them, actually." Lily answered Lupin's question seemingly not suspecting what feelings did that fact cause in Remus. "Anyway, it's not really about her." She added quickly. "Like I said, she was okay, just like this other girl... I think her name was like Maria. I'm not sure, but that's not important." Lily accidentally scratched herself with her quill so she paused for a moment to look at her finger and only then continued, putting the quill away. "But the interesting one is Virginia." She finished finally and Remus frowned.
"Virginia?" He asked. "That's an odd name, I don't think I even know who's that." He said and Lily inhaled deeply.
"Oh you should be happy about that." She decided, her expression visibly irritated. "Well, Virginia kept just talking some bullshit about her boyfriend, who told her that she had pretty hair, through the whole project. And she was also pretending to work, when really she was just stabbing the ground in the same spot." She huffed, annoyed and Remus had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying 'are you sure Virginia is not James?'
Luckily he managed to stop himself - after all he was supposed to speak well about James, even though both he and Sirius were awful partners in group projects.
Not that he was convinced that he and Lily were actually soulmates, but he also wasn't convinced that they weren't so...
"Yeah, that sucks." Commented finally Remus, unsure of what else he could say. "But on the positive side at least now you'll know to avoid her." He shrugged and Lily just took a deep breath.
"Sure as hell I'll know." She said. "But anyway, at least Maggie happened to already know how to handle her." She added, smiling with a slight amount of satisfaction. "That's the funny part, actually. When Virginia said that her boyfriend told her that he was going to buy them a flat when they finish Hogwarts, but oh no, she didn't know if they were even soulmates yet. And that was all because he still didn't tell her that she's smart and apparently her soulmate mark says that she's smart." Lily rolled her eyes, finishing. "Then Maggie interrupted her and told her that all that her soulmate mark said was that she's a gossip girl."
Remus cleared his throat and frowned trying to understand what he just heard. He honestly had no idea who Virginia really was and for some reason he hardly enjoyed people appreciating Maggie...
Well, Sirius didn't bring her to their dormitorium in the last few days, so maybe she wasn't all that great.
Remus shook his head and focused on the conversation again.
"How did she even know what Virginia's soulmate mark was?" He asked and Lily shrugged.
"I mean it seems kind of weird, but you know, I guess it's not that weird when you're with someone in the dormitorium." She assumed. "Like I once accidentally saw Mary's soulmate mark. Not that I ever told her..." She cleared her throat. "But yeah, it's not impossible." She finished and Remus nodded his head.
For a moment the two of them sat in silence until Lily broke it again, stating a new topic before any of them got to propose getting to the actual lessons.
"So how are you doing?" She asked and Remus just sighed.
"You know just dealing with how useless Sirius and Ja..." He started but then he reminded himself about what James asked him to do and, unwillingly, changed the end of the sentence. "I mean Peter are." He said, smiling awkwardly. "You know, but James was actually kind of nice lately." He cleared his throat. "Like he was digging in the ground pretty well... maybe he's not the best in Herbology itself, but he's pretty useful..."
"Are you at it again?" Interrupted him Lily and Remus laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Come on Remus, I told you it doesn't make sense already." She huffed and Moony pursued his lips.
He didn't want to start that topic, but from the other side... What if Lily really was James's soulmate? Like it couldn't hurt to try, right? After all even if James wasn't her soulmate then the chances that she would meet one while still at Hogwarts were pretty low now and if it was Snape...
If it was Snape Remus would be happy to interrupt. Especially after that incident in their fifth year and after how he behaved.
"But it was before we all got our..." Remus swallowed, not feeling very confident with talking about that. "...soulmate marks." He finished. "Like maybe... maybe there's a chance that you two could be... you know?" He suggested slightly and Lily clenched her fists, looking away from Remus.
"Like I didn't ask myself that enough already." She shook her head, irritated. "Seriously Remus, complimenting him awkwardly won't help." She pointed out. "The best you'll achieve with that is me thinking that you are the one who likes Potter." She explained and Remus frowned.
Well, he would never think that about himself. Like, if he had to choose which one of his friends he would have to date he would probably choose Sirius. James, on the other hand, would be very low on that list.
What, actually, only made him feel more embarrassed for even trying to convince Lily to him.
"Fine." He answered slowly. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "It's just that he's unbearable with his constant tyrades about how great you are." He rolled his eyes and only then did Lily look at him again.
"He talks about how great I am?" She asked and Remus raised his eyebrows on her.
She seemed genuinely interested in that, so could that maybe be...? No, no if she liked James then why would she pretend that she hated him? It didn't seem like something Lily would do and even if, then just... what for?
"Yeah, he does." Remus sighed. "Like on Herbology he was just so annoying." He commented, happy to take that off his chest. "He kept going like 'oh, but Remus, tell her that I'm great, but Remus what if I'm missing a chance to be with my soulmate, oh Remus..." He finished and Lily laughed slightly at his impression of James.
"That sounds pretty accurate." She commented and Moony only shrugged.
"I've always thought I'd be a good actor." He decided, on which Lily only poked him slightly.
Then, the two of them sat in silence for a bit, both preoccupied with their own thoughts. Remus was wondering whether he should learn Transfiguration at night and potions in the morning or maybe the other way around, while Lily...
Lily seemed to have something heavy on her mind, but Remus couldn't tell what, not before she spoke.
"You know I just might be soulmates with Potter." She said, swallowing hard and Moony immediately frowned.
"What?" He asked and Lily quickly added.
"Just don't tell him." She looked at him seriously and when Remus nodded slowly, she added, much more quieter than a moment ago. "But my soulmate mark says 'will you go out with me, Evans?'." She whispered and Remus opened his mouth slightly.
He had no idea what to say. No one ever told him what their soulmate mark was. He didn't even know what his parents' soulmate marks were, he had no idea what James's soulmate mark was, even though he kept talking about it and...
"I...I..." He stuttered and then finished, trying to collect some sensible thoughts. "That's... uhm... I am... honored that... you've told me." He said finally and Lily only waved her hand dismissively, even though her expression seemed tense.
"I mean I know that you're a werewolf." She said, still keeping quiet, just in case. "And besides..." She pursed her lips. "I kind of need advice." She finished and Remus glanced at her, trying not to look too frightened.
"Oh." He said only.
He hardly knew what to do with his soulmate mark and it wasn't even that uncommon thing. It said simply 'what's uuuuuuuup?' and honestly, Remus was thankful for it from one side - at least it was short - but angry from the other. Cause like, so many people told that phrase to him already. How was he supposed to decide if that one was the one if everyone used those specific words?
He shook his head.
"You don't have to if you won't want to." Said quickly Lily and Remus realised that she had to take his reaction as the reaction for her question, so he quickly explained himself.
"Oh, no... uhm, I can help you, I will help you." He assured her. "I was thinking about... something else." He admitted, on which Lily glanced at him suspicious, but quickly decided to ignore it and went to the point.
The rest of the evening the two of them spent on discussing whether it was possible that someone else would say those words as well and what James's soulmate mark could be.
When they came back to the dormitory it was almost curfew and McGonagall, who they passed on their way back, looked at them with a deadly stare, but didn't say anything.
Anyway, when Remus went to his room and noticed that Maggie was sleeping with Sirius again, he felt that all his forces left him and he fell, tired, on his bed.
°•○•°
Mmmmm, soulmate shenanigans,
who doesn't like those, right?