The first week of the holidays aren't actually too bad. Sirius, Regulus and I manage to mostly stay out of mums way and avoid trouble.
But apparently there's some people coming for dinner tonight, so we cant just hide away in the comfort and safety of our beds.
"I want all of you to be on your best behaviour," Mum hisses at us, it's very clearly directed towards Sirius and I rather than Regulus.
We're all dressed up nicely - which sucks because I would much rather be in my pyjamas right now - so I'm assuming whoever is coming over has been deemed important. Sirius complained when he was made to tie his hair back, but promptly shut up when mum said it was either he tie it back or she'd cut it off.
We wait for whoever is coming to arrive and I immediately frown when I see who appears in the fireplace. Two older people and a boy who looks around our age.
Holy fucking shit, it's that guy from the Christmas party a few years ago. I cant quite remember his name, but I know it was something stupid, Sirius and I were joking about it after, trying to make light of the whole situation.
I can tell Sirius recognises him too because he tenses up, an angry look on his face. I grab his arm, partially in attempts to calm him down, but mostly just so I can hold him back if he tries to punch this guy.
"Ah, hello Muriel," Mum says, greeting the woman. "Lovely to see you again."
"You too Walburga," The woman, Muriel, responds. "So great that we're having this get together."
"Yes, it most certainly is." Mum nods. "Well, these are my children, Regulus, Sirius and Y/n. Y/n, I'm sure you remember Muriel's son, Corvus. You met him at the Christmas party a few years ago."
"Yes, of course," I say politely.
"No point standing around," Dad says. "Lets go have dinner."
I sit uncomfortably through the whole dinner. I only spoke when I was directly spoken to, I avoided eye contact with everyone, and I weirdly felt as though Corvus was staring at me throughout the meal. It was uncomfortable and all I could think about was escaping to my room and curling up in bed with a book.
The dinner feels like it drags on forever, but it comes to an end and our guests leave.
"So, Y/n, what did you think of Corvus?" Mum asks me before I can head upstairs.
"Um, he's alright I guess," I answer, not wanting to be rude about him in front of her - though I'm sure Sirius and I will be up late tonight talking shit about him.
"Well, you'd better start thinking of him as more than 'alright,'" She says.
"What do you mean?" I question.
"He's going to be your husband."
"What?" Sirius and I both exclaim at the same time.
"Sirius, Regulus, upstairs, now," Mum says. Both my brothers look at me worriedly before doing as they were told. "Y/n, the only way for you to repair your reputation within this family is by marrying a respectable pureblood."
"I don't give a shit about my reputation, I'm not going to just marry some random guy," I exclaim. "I'm only sixteen, this is crazy."
"Don't raise your voice at me," She snaps angrily. "And you will be marrying him. And don't think you can just run off like you've done every other year, because if you do, Regulus is the one who will be disciplined."
"You cant hurt him for something I do," I argue.
"Cant I?" She questions. "You will do as I say and stop being such a disgrace to this family."
I don't say anything more, instead turning away and walking out of the room. I rush up the stairs and into my room. Sirius and Regulus are in there waiting anxiously for me, Regulus was sitting on Sirius' bed, fidgeting with his fingers, while Sirius was pacing the room.
"What happened?" Sirius asks the moment I enter the room. "What is going on?"
"I'm getting married I guess," I mumble, flopping down onto my bed.
"Y/n, I'm sorry, this is my fault, if I just-" Regulus starts but I stop him.
"Shut up, this isn't your fault," I say.
"Yes, it is," He argues. "If I just stopped being a coward and actually had the courage to leave this place and go with you guys, none of us would be here right now and none of this would be happening."
"Well, I wont disagree with that," Sirius grumbles.
"Sirius, don't be a dick," I say.
"Because we're here you're being made to marry some dickhead, who only a few years ago grabbed your ass," Sirius yells angrily.
"We'll find some way to stop it," Regulus says. "Or you guys could just leave."
"She threatened to hurt you if we do," I say.
"So what? I can take it."
"But I cant," I argue. "I cant stand the thought of something bad happening to you just because Sirius and I left. So we're all just going to have to find a way to deal with this."
We are all silent for a moment.
"I'm gonna go put pyjamas on," I mumble, getting up off my bed. "These clothes are so bloody uncomfortable."
I open up my trunk and dig through it to find the pyjamas I like - they're really soft and I like cuddling up in them when I'm sad - but as I'm looking I find something else.
One of Remus' sweaters, hidden deep in my trunk. When the hell did he hide this in here?
I lift it up and find a note attached to it.
I know you like stealing my clothes whenever you're upset, and your house seems like a place where happiness doesn't exist, so I thought maybe this'll help make you feel a little better.
I miss you already,
Remus
He is literally the sweetest person in the universe.
And I'm about to go marry some other guy, so that probably makes me the shittiest person in the universe.
I put the note back in my trunk but grab the sweater along with my pyjamas and head through to the bathroom to get changed.
Wearing Remus' sweater does make me feel a little better. It smells like him, and if I close my eyes tight and wrap my arms around myself, it almost feels like he's hugging me.
I miss him.
~*𓃦*~
I look over at Sirius confusedly when there's a tapping on the window.
"What the fuck is that?" I mumble.
"It's James." Sirius smiles widely.
I get up off my bed and look at the the window, and sure enough James is there. Sirius quickly opens it to let him in. Of course James climbed the building to get to our window, why wouldn't he do that.
"What are you doing here?" I question as James and Sirius hug.
"Well, I heard about your engagement," He says, a slight teasing tone in his voice. "Congrats by the way."
"Shut up," I grumble. "And how did you even find out?"
"It seems every pureblood family got an invite." He shrugs. "Even the 'bloodtraitors.' When my mum saw the invite she got worried about you guys, so I'm here to kidnap you."
"James, I appreciate it, really, but we cant," I say.
"Regulus can come too," He says. "Really guys, come on, there's no way we're letting Y/n get married, right?"
"There's no way we'd be able to get out without getting caught," Sirius says. "And mum's already on the verge of flipping out."
"Plus, if she sent out your invitations she obviously knows where you live, and I imagine she'd probably figure out that we're at yours," I say.
James opens his mouth to respond but Sirius quickly covers James' mouth with his hand as we hear the sound of mum walking up the stairs.
"Hide," I say, grabbing James by the arm and pulling him into our bathroom, locking the door behind us.
"Why are we hiding together?" James whispers.
"So I can make sure you stay quiet," I say.
"I would stay quiet," James argues offendedly.
"Would you?" I question. "You wouldn't go snooping around and touching things?"
"I guess you're right. You know me so well."
I listen through the door as mum talks to Sirius about something before finally leaving. James and I exit the bathroom.
"James, you need to leave," Sirius says immediately.
"It's as if you don't love me." James gasps dramatically.
"We apparently have a dinner we need to go to," Sirius says. "So, you're gonna need to go. But I promise we will send you a letter if we need you."
"Alright, fine," He says. "But if anything bad happens-"
"Then you can come kidnap us," I say. "Now bugger off."
He hugs both of us and says goodbye before climbing back out the window.
~*𓃦*~
After about a ten more horribly uncomfortable dinners with Corvus and his family, wedding plans had been made.
Today, we're getting my wedding dress. I had to beg mum to let Sirius and Regulus come, but I genuinely might end up committing murder today and I need them there for moral support.
We are in the wedding shop for hours, I try on dress after dress. Most of them are hideous, but there are a few that don't look too bad.
"This one's actually quite nice," I say, looking at myself in the mirror. Mum had wandered off to look at more dresses, leaving Regulus, Sirius and I alone.
"Eh, it'd look better on me," Sirius jokes.
"I'm sure it would," I joke back. "How about we get you a wedding dress too? Even better, you could marry Corvus instead of me."
"No thanks, I'd rather wash my hair in a toilet than marry him."
I go to respond, but out of the corner of my eye I see something out the window.
Oh fuck, it's Remus.
Oh no. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Shit. No.
His eyes meet mine for a split second before he quickly turns and walks away.
"Y/n?" Sirius questions and I quickly turn to look at him.
"Remus saw," I say quickly.
"What?" Regulus says.
"He saw," I say, trying not to cry. "Well that's just great, my boyfriend saw me trying on a dress for a wedding where I'm marrying some other guy."
"Okay, Y/n, Y/n, breathe," Sirius says calmly, stepping closer to me and placing his hand on my arm. "It's going to be fine. He'll understand."
"I need to go talk to him," I say, freaking out. "I need to tell him what's going on."
"Alright, we'll get out of here somehow," Sirius says.
"I could ask if the three of us could go buy our school books together," Regulus suggests. "Make up something about how it'll give her a chance to go do some shopping on her own or whatever - she'll be more likely to agree if I ask. And then you can go run off and find Remus."
"That would be great, thank you," I say, trying to breathe normally again. But I cant.
He saw.
I cant get the hurt look on his face out of my mind.
When mum walks back into the room I tell her that I like this dress.
Then Regulus proposes the idea of us going book shopping. Mum thinks on it for a second, looking between the three of us.
"Alright, fine," She says. "But we will meet outside this store in one hour. And don't even think about running off."
I get out of the dress and back into my clothes before joining Regulus and Sirius outside of the shop. We walk casually together in the direction of the bookstore until we're out of mum's sight. Then I rush off and begin frantically searching for Remus.
I almost give up, thinking maybe he went home, when I finally see him walking out of a shop with his mum. He sees me and says something to his mum before walking over.
"Remus, I swear, I can explain everything," I say quickly.
"What is there to explain? I'm sure there is a completely normal reason for you to be trying on wedding dresses," He says sarcastically.
"Remus, just hear me out," I say pleadingly, feeling on the verge of tears. "I don't want to get married, this isn't my decision. She threatened to hurt Reg if I don't go along with whatever she says."
He pulls me in for a hug, which immediately makes all my problems leave my mind.
"Is there any way for you to get out of this?" He asks quietly.
"Not that we can think of," I answer. "But to be fair, Sirius and I apparently have no brain cells and all the plans we've come up with have ended in murder, chaos or destruction. And we're scared to run to James' because our parents know where he lives. It's just a mess."
"Then come with me," He says, pulling away from the hug.
"Remus, I cant, we-"
"All three of you," He adds. "There's no way your mum will know where I live."
"I don't know, I don't wan-"
"If you're about to say you don't want to be a bother I am going to kick your ass," He says softly. "Y/n, it's really not a problem. Come with me now, I'll ask my mum."
"Rem-"
"Please," He says. "I really cant stand the thought of you going back to that house."
I think on it silently for a moment. I cant think of a way that this could go wrong. Remus is right in that mum wouldn't know where he lives.
"Fine. But only if your mum says its okay."
"Alright, I'll be back in a second." He presses a small kiss to my cheek before walking back over to his mum.
While he's assumingly explaining the situation, I see Sirius and Regulus. I motion for them to come over.
"Is everything alright?" Sirius asks.
"Yeah, it's fine." I nod. "He understood. And he's invited us to go with him."
"But what about what mum said?" Regulus questions.
"She wont be able to find us," I say. "She wont know where Remus' house is."
Sirius smiles but Regulus still looks worried.
"Reggie, it'll be okay, I promise."
"Fine," He says.
I cant help but smile as Remus walks back over.
"My mum said it's fine," He says. "We'll all have to sleep in my room, so it'll be cramped, but we'll make it work."
I wrap my arms around him.
"Thank you," I say quietly.
"You don't need to thank me," He responds.
Very suddenly, Sirius joins the hug, completely ruining the moment.
"I hate you," I mumble.
"I was feeling left out," He says.
"Y'know what, I've changed my mind, Sirius can sleep outside," Remus jokes.
Sirius gasps overdramatically and lets go of Remus and I. "How dare you."
"Alright, quit it," I say. "We should probably go before mum notices us."