November 25th ⭒ 1977
"WHAT A LOVELY day," Josephine remarked, slipping into the gap between her brother and Sirius that was customary for them to save.
James choked down a mouthful of orange juice, looking at her disbelievingly. "It's pouring, stupid."
"Ah, yes, but I value the art of deception, stupider."
Remus pointed at her with the sausage on his fork. "That sentence made absolutely no sense."
She waved aside his protests. "It's like, eight in the morning. My brain isn't supposed to be working."
"But mine is," James pointed out, "So I'm the more intelligent twin, obviously."
Remus wisely stepped on her foot to stop a full-blown war from breaking out, tilting his head in the direction of the boy on her other side.
Sirius had sat quietly throughout this interaction — something that hadn't gone unnoticed. Before Josephine could get a word out of her mouth, the boy yawned and stretched, knocking the fork on his plate to the ground. "Lads, I think I want to take a walk around the grounds. Fine weather today."
He got up, without sparing a glance at anyone.
Josephine caught her brother's eye after a knowing look from Remus. Yes, she loved the boy, but did he have to rub it in?
"Wonderful, wonderful," Jo clapped, swinging her legs to the other side of the bench, "Where the fuck has Siri gone?"
The four of them almost turned over the table at the speed they attempted to scramble out of the Great Hall at: if it hadn't been for the large entrance, they would have become the human version of a car pileup. James furrowed his brows as he looked around the almost-empty hallway. "Didn't he say he was going around the grounds?"
"Right, Sirius would skip breakfast to stand in this weather." Jo nodded very slowly.
Remus shifted uneasily from one foot to another from her side. "I don't know, it's worth a chance."
"You're taking his side?" Jo grumbled, still taking a hesitant step towards the door. "Merlin, I wish one of us was a bird or something."
James prodded her. "Your fault, we all thought you were going to be a blasted cuckoo bird because you talk so much."
Jo stalked into the rain soundlessly, her boots sinking down in the mud. Turning around, her blonde locks sticking to her face, she flipped her brother off. "Well, what are you waiting for? Am I the only one who's going to be standing out here?"
Fuck.
Noticing the thought that seemed to pass through James's mind, Jo crossed her arms indignantly. "No, you are not ditching me, you asshole."
James glowered, following her out into the rain as Remus and Peter did the same. The four of them trekked rather moodily around the place, with James attempting to lighten the mood once with a song and dance number that no one joined in on.
After a few more moments of four irritated teenagers trying not to get mud on their shoes, Remus cleared his throat and asked hesitantly, "Jo . . . what really happened between you and Sirius last night?"
"Yeah, Pads hasn't been right since he said 'bye' to us and went off to find you for a study session," James interrupted.
Jo stared at her brother in disbelief. "James, I know that expression well enough to know what you're thinking."
He raised his hands, "I'm just saying, if you and Pads did, well—"
"Explain."
Jo glanced at Remus, but the boy didn't offer an explanation. Instead, James grinned. "No, no, you'll get it when you're older, Josephine. This is adult talk."
"You were asking me, I'm supposed to be part of the bloody talk. I swear, we did nothing." Jo threw her hands up. "We walked, talked, then all of a sudden Sirius was holding my hand. And he looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Hold on, that's weird. Screaming? Did I mention the screaming? Oh Godric, was my hand that sweaty?"
Remus rolled his eyes.
"That's it?"
Jo rubbed her eyes. "No, no. Then he said he was ready for the test that we don't have and ran off. And I went back to the dorm."
"You sure you were holding his hand? That's a stupidly romantic move for Sirius," Peter asked.
"Well, yes, because he let go a few seconds later. And I thought Sirius was supposed to be a heartthrob? Probably mistook me for someone else," Jo elaborated.
"Jo, he literally walked the entire way with you. You didn't hit your head on anything on the way back?"
"You're the one with glasses," Jo snapped.
"You're the one that almost walked right into the Whomping Willow once. Jo, your depth perception in the dark is absolute shit," James countered.
She couldn't argue with that, could she?
James muttered something under his breath that Jo couldn't quite make out. "Maybe we should just head in: class starts in a few minutes," Peter suggested.
Resigned to the fact that their lovely friend was not anywhere to be seen, the four stomped back into the building, soaking wet. Remus dried himself and Peter off, James had conveniently managed to forget where his wand was, and Jo was so annoyed at him for suggesting to go out in the rain that she refused to cast the spell on him.
"Please, Jo. I'm sorry," he whined, "I don't want to walk into the classroom like this!"
Jo tilted her head to the side, "Fine, fine. But you owe me, don't forget that." From her pocket, she pulled out James's wand.
"Hold on — you had that the entire time?"
Josephine looked up, her smile too wide for her face. "Maybe. Bye, we're going to be late, brother dearest!"
⭒
AT MIDNIGHT, after a whole day of classes, the four of them managed to squeeze through the doorway (actually, just the two of them. Remus, sensible Remus, and tiny Peter followed Jo and James who had attempted to shove each other out of their way in order to make a good entrance.)
Unimpressed, their professor rapped her knuckles against the desk rather sharply as James slid into the seat that was usually Sirius's. Jo looked at him, bewildered, before realizing that Marlene had taken the seat next to Lily.
Professor Sinstra — a young woman in her late twenties, was possibly Josephine's favorite teacher. After Minnie, of course. The transfiguration teacher was in a class of her own and she knew that. Tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she looked at the twins, "Hold on, not the two of you together. Mr Lupin, take the spot next to Miss Potter and Mr Potter can swap seats with you. Mr Black—"
Her eyebrows furrowed, noticing the absence of the eldest Black brother. Moments later, Sirius slid into the room with his hair unkempt and breathing heavily.
With a raised eyebrow, she smoothly continued her sentence where she had left off. "—you can take the seat next to Mr Snape. Please don't hex the teacups so they whack him in the head while I'm not looking."
Josephine attempted to catch Sirius's eye, without success. Sirius slid into his seat, ignoring both of the twins' frantic gesturing.
James leant forwards, tapping him on the shoulder, but Snape raised his voice as he looked at his star chart. "I see, Venus is in the 9th house."
"Shut up, Snape!"
Snape raised his voice, "Which means idiotic Gryffindors will die: painfully! And swiftly! They shall go mad with anger over the years and they will fall wishing they had never—"
Professor Sinstra glared at Severus, to which the boy looked down and continued to fill out his chart. "Sorry, Miss," he mumbled.
Jo stabbed ferociously at her paper. "Venus is the goddess of love, not death."
"Yeah, but people kill each other for love," Remus said.
She elbowed the boy. "I wasn't done. You can't die painfully and swiftly. But anyways, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't exactly see Romeo and Juliet at Hogwarts."
Remus looked at his parchment. "I don't know. Maybe there is a secret love affair going on and maybe the guy would kill himself for the girl and the girl would kill himself for the guy."
"Yes, yes, James and Severus Snape — oh, wait! James and Augustine Malfoy are having a torrid affair and the Slytherins are going to be all lovey-lovey with us once it comes out," she mocked disbelievingly, "James Potter will put an end to the rivalry of the decade and stun everyone because there's somehow a cell in his brain that doesn't melt when he sees Lily Evans."
James turned around in his seat, glaring pointedly at his sister. "Shut up."
Remus, for what seemed like the first time that day, allowed for a small smile on his face as he leant back in his chair. "Jo, Jo, stop acting like such a savage."
She smiled overly sweetly at her brother, before leaning back in her chair. "Alright, Rem, but just because you asked. Not like he doesn't deserve it, though."
"Are you that mad about having to stand in the pouring rain?" Remus raised an eyebrow, his arm on the back of her chair. "At least you're not soaking wet anymore."
"It's the experience that counts. Not the ending, according to just about every Muggle self-help book I've read."
Remus leant down to scribble on his parchment, "Your taste in books is questionable, Jo."
She peered over his shoulder, "Yeah, but I get it from you. At least my taste in book people is better."
"Book people?" The boy deadpanned, "Jo, they're called characters."
"Same difference. I don't get why Josephine didn't like Laurie, he read books, he was cute, and he flirted with her. Like, you'd think she'd notice, right? Instead, she went off and married that old guy."
He propped up his elbow on the table, leaning towards her with a look so intent that she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks. Jo, instead, tried to focus on the paper in front of her.
It was silent, for a few moments, before Remus spoke again, "I don't know, that's just how the world works. The guy gets the girl and the side characters end up alone."
Jo looked revolted, "Literature is disgusting."
"I don't know about literature in general, but those chick flicks James secretly reads are revolting."
Then their conversation delved into poking fun at James's inner hopeless romantic before Professor Sinstra told them to get back to work.
lola's notes.
jo & moony are kinda cute, ngl . . . like tbh i want to explore that some more?
anyway idk if i portrayed sirius's reaction right, but i do believe he's not the best at hiding erratic emotions. long-term things, sure, but things tossed onto him so suddenly, not so much.
vote & comment your thoughts! mwa ily all