The following morning I awoke tangled in Remus's bedsheets, Remus's t-shirt, and Remus's arms.
The boy had one limb slipped around my waist and a fistful of my shirt in his hand whilst his other hand rested carefully on my cheek. I lifted my own hand from its place across his torso and set it down above his with a fond smile as my gaze flickered across his sleeping face.
The sun had just begun to peek over the trees, allowing for cool rays of morning light to wash through the windows and shine over Remus's peaceful features. Slits of pink decorated his cheeks and I traced one of these lightly with my fingertips before pressing a kiss between his eyebrows.
Remus's hold on my waist tightened slightly and he smiled a sleepy smile, pulling me closer to him as he did so. The hand that rested on my face adjusted to hold me better and his thumb slid across my cheek softly.
"Morning," I said quietly.
"Morning, love," he answered, still with his eyes closed. "Sleep okay?"
"Mhm... You?"
"'Course."
And with that, Remus's eyelids flipped open, leaving way for the golden rays of light to float through his honey colored eyes. He smiled and kissed my forehead and I swear I would have been perfectly content if I had died right there.
"So," he said as he pulled back, his soft expression altering slightly into mischief. "Who gets to tell Frank that he's the lucky winner?"
I grinned.
"Rock paper scissors?"
Remus nodded and his hand slipped off my face. We played best two of three and he came out the champion without needing a third round.
"You need to stop using rock every time," he laughed, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"I'm setting you up," I replied. "Eventually we'll play for something important and I won't throw rock and you will lose and I will laugh."
"So when we play for something important I should be prepared to throw rock to counteract your scissors?"
"I dunno," I said with a shrug. "Should you?"
Remus grinned and kissed me quickly on the lips.
"C'mon, my love," he said. "Let's go have breakfast."
Remus and I dressed quickly and slipped out of their otherwise empty dorm room. We trailed through the castle corridors hand and hand until we turned into the overwhelmingly crowded Great Hall.
It was unusual for the dining hall to be so busy this early on a Saturday, though I suppose it was not unexpected considering we were rounding quickly on our final exams.
Each table had an assortment of books, parchment, quills, and people scattered about. All were chattering nervously and pointedly, doing their best to make up the lost hours of studying due to Sirius's party the night prior.
Remus and I shifted through clumps of Ravenclaws to get to our spots at the front of the Gryffindor table. Seated there were Marlene and Dorcas, who were sharing a plate of food at chatting casually; Alice, Frank, and Peter, who were passing around a sheet of parchment that was covered in more red correction notes than black text; and James and Lily, who were across one another and not sitting, rather hovering over top of a Potions textbook.
"Morning," I smiled, sliding in next to James.
"Yeah, hi," he breathed, hardly acknowledging our presence.
I picked up a bagel and passed one half to Remus with an amused and knowing smile as our friends continued bustling about their notes.
"Where's Sirius?" Asked Remus.
"Dunno," James said quickly. "Our room."
"No," I shook my head and took a bite of my bagel. "Remus and I were just there. We would've seen him."
"Okay," James shrugged, still entirely caught up with the review page he and Lily were eyeing. "Then I don't know."
Remus placed a hand on my knee and grinned with his eyebrows slightly raised.
"That's fine," he said casually, turning to face our unresponsive friends. "Just wanted him to be here when we tell you all that Frankie is a rich boy."
Everyone paused.
"Huh?" Said Frank.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I mean, 10 galleons alone is quite a lot... now multiply that by the seven losers..."
"You're not saying-"
I nodded and beamed as every jaw dropped below the table.
"ATTA BOY MOONY!"
"I WON!"
"DAMNIT SYD, YOU COULDN'T HAVE WAITED ONE MORE WEEK?!"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ABSTINENCE?!"
Every book, piece of parchment, quill, and scrap of food that once absorbed their attention was now shoved aside and all eyes were on Remus and I, who were beside ourselves with laughter.
"Cough 'em up," Frank chuckled, holding his hands out to the six teens surrounding him. They all begrudgingly shoved their hands into their pockets and ripped out handfuls of galleons which were placed in front of, pushed to, and thrown at the grinning winner.
"One more week," Peter muttered again, shaking his head disappointedly. "I was so close."
"Haven't you won enough bets?" Lily asked sharply, her chin now rooted into her palm.
"Evans, you and Wormtail are tied for 'most bets won'," Remus said with an eye roll.
"Well it would've been nice to have taken the lead!" Lily protested.
"I, for one, am glad Frank won," said Dorcas. "Considering Marls and I were out anyway, we were hoping one of you rich white boys wouldn't get it."
"The Longbottom's are rich, though," noted James.
"Yeah but he isn't arrogant about it like you, Jamesie," added Marlene.
"Thanks, Marls," nodded Frank proudly.
"Who's arrogant?"
Sirius had just entered the Great Hall, his hair tied into a loose bun with black strands running wild around his face. He wore a baggy white t-shirt that was definitely not his as well as a pair of grey Ravenclaw sweatpants. He had his fist rubbing into his exhausted looking eyes.
"What ran you over?" Marlene chortled, pulling the boy down next to her.
"More like 'who'," chimed Alice.
"I- uh-" Sirius took a moment to look over his choice of clothing. He shook his head slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose and his face scrunched as though he had to reach to the back of his brain for the information. "I don't know."
"You don't know?!"
Sirius exhaled with bafflement and threw his hands out, his tired eyes flitting across our faces as James pushed a plate of eggs towards him.
"I woke up under a sheet in the Ravenclaw common room with these clothes folded in front of me and a note saying 'Thanks for last night.'. I just... I just assumed it would be better to take them rather than walk around naked."
The rest of us stared at him in a mix of shocked humor until Dorcas broke the silence with a laugh and said,
"Godric, I guess Remus wasn't the only one getting some."
My face flushed bright red and I turned to see that Remus's had done the same. Sirius snapped his head up, shaking off any hint of weariness that entered the hall with him.
"Moony?" He asked with a large amount of shock. His wide eyes moved to me next. "Syd?! Moony? You two-"
Remus nodded carefully.
"ARE YOU BLOODY SERIOUS?"
"No, you're-"
"MERLIN'S SAKE MOONY I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AND CARTER FINALLY SHAGGED I'VE BEEN WAITING ON THIS FOR DECADES."
I gave a small wave to the cluster of Hufflepuffs who had turned to gape at Remus and I across the hall.
"Yeah, thanks Padoot," Remus muttered.
"You owe Frank-"
"Yeah," Sirius said offhandedly. "10 galleons, you'll get them when I'm in my own bloody trousers.... I just can't believe it..."
Sirius shook his head dumbfoundedly for a moment as the table let him sit with the world-ending information.
"What was your bet, anyways?" I asked, partially out of curiosity and partially due to the need for a shift in the conversation.
Sirius snickered and shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth before answering,
"I bet that you'd both die virgins."
N.E.W.T.s were something I was entirely grateful I only had to endure one time in my life. Each day exhaustingly mirrored the last. Each test was more draining than the next. Each question seemed to strip another fiber off of my brain, leaving it more and more raw and confused as the long week progressed until finally, I was seated in History of Magic with only one prompt remaining:
Explain, in great detail, what the relationship between Emeric the Evil and Egbert the Egregious was and the circumstances surrounding said relationship.
I let out a huff of depleted air and pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes in a desperate attempt to force the answer forward.
Emeric the Evil was concerned with... what? Being evil? That doesn't count as a circumstance.
Okay, what about Egbert?
What the fuck kind of name is Egbert?
Wait, that was one of Lily's study things.
Fuck, what was it...Egbert... Eg-bert... Eggs... Easter eggs... Hard boiled eggs... Scrambled eggs... Scrambled.... Like in a duel!
Okay, so Egbert scrambled Emeric.... For what??
Emeric... Evil... Egbert... Egregious... Elder...
The Elder Wand! Jesus that took too long.
I dropped my hands and picked up my quill, dipping it in ink and scribbling down a string of less-than-great details surrounding the defeat of Emeric the Evil in one of the only duels where the owner of the Elder wand was killed.
When I was finished I had pulled together a pitiful looking paragraph. But, at that point my brain had been completely reduced to mush, so I hardly had the will to care. I pushed my parchment to the corner of my desk and looked up, a wave of relief washing over me with the knowledge that I was officially done with my final test.
Around me, the class was divided obviously between those who had finished and those who hadn't. Of my friends, it appeared as though Sirius, Marlene, Remus, and James were done, three of which were involved in some sort of crude sign language conversation across the room. Remus, who was sitting up front and facing backwards, looked on with a defeated yet amused expression, his head resting sideways in his palm until he caught my eye.
"Done?" He mouthed with a smile.
I grinned and nodded and he sent me a thumbs up, sideways, and down as if to ask how I felt about the test. I shrugged and held my hands up loosely.
"At least it's over," I mouthed back. Remus nodded with wide and agreeing eyes.
James and Sirius appeared to notice that I had joined their club of early completion and were now shooting me various hand signs that made absolutely no sense. James created a fist and dropped it onto the top of his head while making crab-claw motions with the fingers on his other hand as Sirius puffed out his cheeks and flapped his arms like chicken wings
I pulled my ears out and then tapped my nose twice in a random response and they both nodded professionally and returned to what they were doing.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Remus who was holding back a laugh. I nodded towards Lily - who had been on edge this entire week and had asked ten minutes prior for a stack of extra parchment - and furrowed my eyebrows questioningly at Remus, wordlessly wondering why she needed so much. Remus shook his head confoundedly.
"Teacher's pet," he said silently. I shook my head as well and smiled.
"Five more minutes," Professor Binns noted boredly from his spot at the front of the room.
Lily's hand shot fearfully into the air.
"What happens if we don't finish?"
"Do try, Miss Evans."
"Right... But, if we don't?" She bit on her thumb and Remus pushed his fingers into his eyes.
"Just don't write essays for every question," Sirius offered obviously.
"Some of us want to pass," Lily fired back.
"Don't worry, Lils, I'll still love you if you don't pass," declared James.
"Quiet, please," Binns droned.
Lily's ears nearly matched the hair she had shoved behind them, but she said nothing more. Though I did notice that her quill was scratching much faster against her third sheet of extra parchment.
Remus had his head sideways in his palm again when I turned back to face him, and he was quite obviously staring.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," he smiled. "I love you."
I felt my grin spread a little wider into my tinted cheeks.
"I know."
"Alright," Binns said. "Quills down."
"But-"
"Down, Miss Evans."
"Oh alright."
"Accio Parchment."
My test, along with the pages that lined each desk fired forward to the table in the front of the room where they piled neatly atop the corner.
"You may leave... Congratulations."
"FREEDOM!!" Cheered Sirius as he, James, and Peter ran in wide arcs along the corridor, sprinting as far from the dreadful History of Magic classroom as they could. The rest of us - Alice, Frank, Dorcas, Marlene, Lily, Remus, and I - walked at a normal pace back towards Gryffindor Tower.
I could see why the three boys were so energetic. A bit of me absorbed the summer sun that radiated off of the castle walls. With our final exams in, we were weightless in a sense; no more notecards, study guides, cram sessions, sleepless nights.
But, although my chest had lost an immeasurable weight, I also felt that Sirius was wrong. I did not think we were released from anything. I did not think we were done. In fact, this newfound independence was starting to feel like quite the opposite of freedom.
It was starting to feel like war.
_______
A/N
okay this is j a filler but there were some cute parts and at least it wasn't sad LOL
song: starlight - muse
how it applies: it's originally abt like leaving home and missing the people you love and i feel like in a sense they are leaving home bc an era of their lives is ending and i'm sure they'll miss when their biggest worry was the history of magic exam and who Sirius slept with lmfao