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CHAPTER 4 (part one)
JAMES SCAVENGER HUNT
Can I go where you go?
☆
The week had passed and the short two day break had begun for students. Remus's hair had returned to his familiar mousy brown and though his schedule meagre in comparison to his past years, he was starting to revel in failing awfully at Care for Magical Creatures. When the simplylists of tasks went wrong in Remus' attempt, Anastasia would kindly swoop in and help him. Potions however did not improve, the flirting had not ceased and Remus had found himself becoming more of a partner with Gideon Prewett rather than who he wished, Anastasia Fox.
With no classes, quidditch tryouts not till next week, hogsmeade trips not for another month the common rooms were filled with cliques of friend groups ranging from first year to seventh. No surprise the Gryffindor common room's main center of warm fireplace, cluttered couches and loveseats was the schools most known groups of friends dwelling in the noon of that Saturday. The group sat bored, no four boys had extravagant plans on what to do with their day.
James however since that morning had been unable to stay still, always rocking on his toes checking his watch and seemingly restless looking as if he was waiting for something big to happen. While sitting on one of the many couches he looked down at his posh watch again as the time had hit 12:00 and stood abruptly, confident strides to end up standing tall on the wood coffee table center to all his friends.
"All right everyone. LISTEN UP!!" James shouted much too loud for the inside space, and likely far too loud for any space.
"We heard you at all right 'all right' much less we saw you get up on the table." Mary Macdonald started rolling her eyes annoyed at the spectacle wearing boy already. James waves his hands shooing her off. Having practiced his introduction to the event he had been tediously obsessing over for the past week completely neglected his beginning of the year assignments.
"After a long first week of our fifth year. I have set up a celebration. THAT TOOK A LOT OF WORK AND WAS DONE ALL ON MY OWN. SO ALL OF YOU better take this seriously." James grins clapping his hands together eager to start the affair he took responsibility for. The girls aside from Ana look uninterested even a little peeved they had been dragged into one of the Marauders activities. Sirius, Peter and Anastasia had their shoulders raised in anticipation keeping their eyes locked on James' looming figure.
"I have created the Great Gryffindor Scavenger Hunt! Exclusive to a small group of fifth years." James smiled giddy and his hands now spread wide as if he was presenting an esteemed award. Sirius and Anastasia clap for him both competitive at heart.
"Alright, I have chosen groups of two that will each be given one clue at the beginning. Each clue will lead you to a new clue and a mystery item. There are three clues and items in total, your group has to return with those three items to get the super wicked prize. The first team to return gets it." James' excitement only increases at the claps. At the mention of a prize the friends stand and gather closer to James. "And don't worry I can't cheat I tasked Annie with choosing my partner and the items, and clu-"
"Just say the groups" Sirius impatiently interrupts, eager to begin the scavenger hunt. His rude interjection caused James to send a glare his way before turning back to the front of the clique and digging in his pocket pulling out a torn sheet of paper from his pocket.
"Frank and Alice." The golden couple already standing close to each other blush and smile at their pairing. "Marlene and Mary." The two friends high-fived, pleased with the choice already. "Sirius and Peter." The pair fist-bumped. "Annie and Remus" Ana felt happy with her pairing; she was trying her best to become closer friends with Remus having spent most of her Hogwarts years seemingly ignored by him. Remus however scowls at James, his overly paranoid self, thinking Anastasia would find it peculiar that James had put the two of them together and somehow catch on to his huge crush on her. "And thank you for this Annie, me and Evans." Lily turned to Anastasia, horrified at the betrayal. Fox sent her a guilty smile.
Anastasia made her way over to Remus with a smile on her face slowly dwindling at what looked like to be an angry or disappointed expression playing on Remus' face directed at James. She felt as if her perspective of their interactions throughout this week had shifted. The small conversations mostly centered around class activities or Anastasia guiding Remus's hands on how to hold a baby Diricrawl without it apparating at the sight of him or walking side by side in silence to their matching classes daily. Now those moments felt embarrassing to think about not once had Remus initiated a conversation with her or followed her to her class and he had never asked for help in his failure of holding the animal or much less any of the work he did less than mediocre at in Kettleburn's class. Anastasia asked herself Had I just been a big pushover this whole week practically clinging to him forcing a friendship he probably never wanted?
Anastasia sighed as she got close to Remus, stupidity consumed her as much as she admired the scar covered boy he had a way of making her feel rotten at times. "I can ask Sirius to switch if you really want." Her statement came out strong despite her insecure thoughts.
Remus showed in staggering reaction, having not seen her approach him the skin between his eyebrows creased once he had registered Ana's words and processed the fact he probably looked less than pleased a second before at the news of his partner. "No!" Remus exclaimed rather clashing to his usually soft and mature tone. "I mean... I don't want to. Do... Do you want that?" and just like that his usual sheepish tone with her had returned.
Anastasia smiled, Remus never made her feel bad for long and his words seemed to have been the sun evaporating all her susceptible thoughts."No! I Just thought that you-" Anastasia cut herself off not knowing how to explain. "Never mind." She smiled at him once more before turning back to James who now held five different colored envelopes in his hand.
"Line up to receive your first clues." Anastasia walked off Remus staring at her as she retrieved their yellow envelope mentally composing himself to begin this scavenger hunt.
"I say we read this outside. Don't want anyone to come in and sabotage our clues." Anastasia offered out receiving a nod from the Welsh boy as confirmation for her to lead him out the common room into the stairwell. Remus followed her blindly as they walked down several staircases before Anastasia stopped her pursuit abruptly, deciding on a corner static compared to the ever moving staircases only serving as a connector for two. Anastasia's unexpected stop caused Remus to almost bump into her stumbling back awkwardly when she turned to face him, starting to roughly tear the envelope revealing their first clue not taking notice of their closeness that seemed all too obvious to Remus.
"A snail without a shell and an... antler that has a cupboard filled with your first item, though only one of them has your second clue?... Bloody hell he's a psycho." Anastasia's brows furrowed more as she went on reading the abstract riddle James had made, wondering how he managed to make twelve of these elaborate clues in a mere week. She also shrugged thinking her clues were far easier in comparison to this. Ana thought James and Lily might actually end up winning if it wasn't for Lily's stubbornness to work with the boy and James' annoying pesking.
Remus stood closer looking down at the puzzle reading it out loud to himself. "A snail without a shell and a antler-" His eyes lit up as if the gears in his brain had put it together the second he repeated the clue to himself. Remus waved his hand for a moment, his tongue not catching up to his brain. "Slughorn!!!" Lupin exclaimed. "T-the item it's, it's a potion." Remus smiled, proud he had put it together so fast.
"Lupin you Ravenclaw." Anastasia gasped, putting her hands on Remus' shoulder and shaking him slightly, causing Remus to try and contain the stupid big grin on his face.
"L-Lets go!" Remus rocked on the balls of his feet before the two took off darting down the stairwell. Speedy and practically jogging down the halls only swiftly slowing down in union at the sight of a teacher or prefect. When the pair reached the entrance to the Potions classroom both were quiet in opening the old door that seemed to scratch loudly, peaking their heads in to make sure there was no sign of Slughorn's presence. Once clear they snuck in shutting the rusty door as soundlessly as possible before standing in front of the rows and columns of tall upwards of twelve feet tall shelves each brimmed in cluttered fashion of potions and ranging in size that looked to be in no specific order.
Lupin's shoulders dropped and a sign escaped his mouth. "They all look the same."
Anastasia however did not look disheartened by the looks to be treacherous task of finding the one potion meant for them in a clutter of hundreds. "Well what's the same about all of them?" Her voice was light heartened and a glint in her eyes at the game.
Remus cocked his head down at her in confusion. "How would that help?" He received a smirk from Anastasia.
"Guess you aren't a Ravenclaw Lupin. What's the same about all of them has got to be different in the one we're looking for." Anastasia mused out like it was the most obvious thing before turning back to the shelves. Remus took a second longer to look at her side profile in admiration trying to. Remus' inner monologue fighting between focusing on the task at hand or the fact that he couldn't think straight with a certain fox right next to him.
"Um... they've all got black seals on them and the same type of labels." Remus shrugged out and received a short string of words as confirmation from Anastasia before their game of eye spy continued.
"There!" Anastasia pointed up to the tallest shelf and at the very highest point sat a small potion vile with a yellow seal and a blue clue attached to its neck. Remus spots it right away and feels proud of himself when he takes notice of the yellow seal. The tall boy moved closer and reached his arms out standing on his toes to reach it but at last the twelve foot high shelf won even over the boy's long wingspan and lanky height.
"Crouch down." Anastasia orders Remus.
"Crouc- why? It's up there." Remus said, confusing drowning his voice,once again stumped at her motives.
"Cause I'm going to climb on your shoulders that's why." Anastasia, far too invested in the scavenger hunt, held no embarrassment to her statement. Remus' eyes went wide and struggled to find a response, opening and closing his mouth a few times before accepting her words and turning around to bend over praying it was enough for her to climb on.
Remus almost audibly squeaked when he felt Ana put each of her thighs on his shoulders, her bare skin brushing lightly on to his cheeks. Remus felt grateful that in this moment nobody could see his face. He could imagine the blotchy red spots of his rosacea coming out and the cackles of his friends at the expression painting his face. Remus straightened his back quickly once he felt her still guessing she was situated on his shoulder.
Anastasia yelped out as Remus stood in his tall height feeling herself slide back on his shoulders out of instinct grabbing onto his hair as support tugging it slightly so she wouldn't take a harsh fall down to the cold cement floor of the potion class. Ana heard a breathy groan and felt him stumble back slightly at the tug.
"Gosh Lupin, hold my legs." Remus hesitated entirely overwhelmed by the situation but brought his awkwardly resting hands up to her calves, not adding a tinge of pressure to hold her in place.
"Not there." Anastasia rolled her though he couldn't see. Reaching her hands down to his own cupping his palms and placing them flat on her thighs, his warm hands a contrast to her cool skin. She let go not before squeezing his hands making sure they had a firm grip on her thighs.
Remus gulps they were close, too close. Despite his modesty he let out a short breath squeezing her thighs again, this time without the guidance of her causing Anastasia to blush though he couldn't see, and took two steps forward directly in front of the shelf allowing her to get the small vile into her grip. Remus crouched down again sliding his hands down to her knees before dropping them completely and caught his breath for the tenth time in this short interaction as Anastasia gripped the skin connecting his neck to his shoulders to stabilize herself as she took her legs off his body before losing her touch completely.
Remus stood rigid, his body stiff and posture ramrod straight. His hands tight in fists, his nails imprinting into his palms. His eyes sat darting around and head tilted up to the ceiling. Anastasia stood staring at his back bringing her empty hand to her cheeks trying to cool down her skin and the wandering thoughts at Remus' lingering touch. The moment served as a delay to collect themselves, both of them ignorant to the fact that both of them were winded at the short meshing moment. He let out one more breath before turning to face Anastasia a brief pause of eye contact before the to shift their heads down to the vile sat in Anastasia palm as an excuse to cut the thick suffocating tension.
"It's a water breathing potion." Anastasia's voice was meek compared to her usual fixed ego filled tone. Remus' hands took the small blue paper off the potion and opened it to read it, feeling if he needed something to do to calm his thoughts.
"I am clear but you can't see through me. You can walk on me when the trees lose their leaves and fall on me when the weather warms. Your next item is a ways away so drink up!!" The riddle wasn't hard; the two seemed to put it together at the same time both groaning and silently cursing James.
"The black lake."
The pair had not thought once that their moment of closeness could have easily been remedied with a simple charm of their wands.
Author Note:
Hi!! My birthday happened five days ago yahhh I went Into the city and had sushi and brought cupcakes from this random shop twice cause the first one was so good. Overall school is killing me my photography teacher hates me strongly and has written me up twice before I had to go to the principal and look at the cameras to prove she was lying.
I am in love with Remus and Ana's moments in this chapter and the next part it's gonna be even more tension. I just love James too and I feel like he would so do something like this to bring all his friends together. Also so excited to write a little bit of jegulus into this story 😳. Chapter five is gonna be so fun and have so much foreshadowing I have planned it out so much though it might be a little shorter.
Sorry for the long authors note but I am really trying to get the story to be one hour long and currently it's at 57 minutes (so close!!!). Hopefully with the length of it being in hours rather than minutes it will push people to read it some more. I know I usually only pick stories that are a hour of longer or at least have 20 parts but we are no where close to twenty part yet. Idk
I listened to hozier this whole entire time I have been writing this update and I think I manifested something because I am now on a waitlist to go see him in concert. Literally so excited. I made it a New Years resolution to go to at least three concerts and I already have tickets for Taylor hopefully hozier and am praying that I can get some Djo tickets.
Also Daisy jones and the six comes out in a few days I am so excited!!! I loved the book. Had a crush on Sam Claflin since I was like twelve and it's so marauder band au coded.
I posted it a minute ago and it's at 58 minutes and 41 second ughhhhhh. Here's the lyrics to hozier someone new
Would things be easier if there was a right way?
Honey, there is no right way
And so I fall in love just a little, oh little bit
Everyday with someone new.
There's an art to life's distraction
To somehow escape the burning wait, the art of scraping through
Some like to imagine
The dark caress of someone else; I guess any thrill will do
I wake at the first cringe of morning
And my hearts already sinned
How pure, how sweet a love, Aretha
That you would pray for him
(Okay poetic genius I have no clue what he is saying half the time and writing out these lyrics made me fall in love with hozier even more)
I feel the need to apologize again at how long this authors note is I just want the little box the sat a hour so bad considering how long it is taking me to update because of school. I will not allow it to saw 58 minutes for two weeks. I hope nobody actually reads authors notes (I don't) please skip this.
Thanks you SO MUCH for 30 reads though :)
Date published: February 26th, 2023