There was another note on Remus's bedside table when he woke up.
A smile flickered across his face as his eyelids fluttered open to see a small folded piece of parchment in his direct line of sight. The heavy breathing surrounding him told Remus that no one else was up yet. He moved quietly, only the crackle of paper giving away his consciousness, and unfolded the slip.
Morning, Moon Boy. Tonight sound good? That wasn't really a question. I don't know why I wrote it like one. It's not like you can answer. Anyway. See ya tonight. Don't be late.
Remus grinned. I wouldn't dream of it, Hel Bel.
..............................
Sirius wandered aimlessly into the Great Hall. He had been the last one up today, and the rest of the Marauders had gotten tired of waiting for him to whinge his way into clothing and out of the portrait hole. Some friends.
He started heading toward the Gryffindor table, where he could already see Remus and Peter sat in their normal seats. Glancing over at the Ravenclaw side, Sirius sat down. There was Lin, Jade and Helia as usual. Lin caught his eye and leaned over to say something to her friends.
"Hey, where's Prongs?" Sirius asked his friends, still not taking his eyes off the Hufflepuff girl.
Remus looked up in surprise. "You didn't hear?"
Finally, Sirius returned his gaze to Remus, frowning. "Didn't hear what?"
"Lily Evans's parents were killed by You-Know-Who." Peter squeaked. Sirius felt his eyes widen.
"Prongs has been with her all morning." Remus confirmed.
Sirius struggled to find words. "That's... woah."
"Yeah."
"She let him stay with her?" Sirius couldn't help the incredulous question.
Remus glanced down at the empty bowl of Owl Pops, replacing it instead with porridge. "I think she was a bit too preoccupied to tell him to go away to be honest."
Marlene flopped into the seat next to him. Sirius glanced over. She had bags under her eyes and hadn't put her makeup on today. She surveyed the toast platter unenthusiastically. Sirius felt sympathy pinch at his gut.
"Is Evans okay?" he asked her quietly.
Marlene looked at him blankly. "Would you be okay?"
Sirius glanced down. "Probably. But I'm an exception."
Marlene inhaled deeply. "Sorry. I've been up all night. You know, to make sure she's doing alright. I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for Potter. I don't think either of us would've slept if he hadn't come along." Marlene winced. "Never tell him I said that. God. I can't even imagine what Lily..." She trailed off.
"I know." Sirius said quietly, even though he didn't. It seemed to have been the right thing to say though. Marlene nodded slightly and picked up a piece of toast, eyeing it as if the task of eating was one of the twelve that Hercules had faced.
"Good morning."
The light voice was instantly familiar to Sirius. He glanced up to see Lin standing over him, smile in place. Her brown hair fluttered around her shoulders, hiding a little green Pygmy Puff that bounced there.
"Morning Lin." Sirius greeted her with a grin. "And morning Ay." He nodded at the Pygmy Puff, who bounced a little higher as if to say hello.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Lin asked.
Sirius glanced at Marlene for approval, but the girl was already refocused on her toast.
"Sure." he said, grinning. He followed a surprisingly calm looking Lin just to the entrance to the Great Hall, watching her with puzzled eyes.
"Okay." Lin said "Okay. You and James win. You get my wonderful help in your plan to trash the library."
Sirius grinned. "We do? How come? I mean... Of course we do."
Lin returned his smile, and he could feel the excitement positively bouncing off her.
"Look." Lin pointed at Remus and then at Helia. Sirius did as he was told. A few moments later, he returned a frown to the Hufflepuff girl.
"Yep... I see... Remus Lupin and Helia freaking Blacksmith. And... And..." He searched desperately for the answer "And Blacksmith got a hair cut?"
"Has she?" Lin pondered. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that," she paused for dramatic effect "Remus and Helia are totally going out!"
"Merlin, are you like Sherlock or something?" Sirius shook his head, "How do you know this stuff?"
Lin tapped the side of her head. "I'm geniused. I see everything. Also, Jade caught them making out in Hogsmead."
"That's why he didn't come with us." Sirius muttered. "Extra curriculum Flobberworm project my ass."
Lin gave him a pitying look. "Did you actually believe that?"
"Silence, human. This is not the moment to point out my wrongdoings. You can do that another time. Preferably when the sun explodes the earth into a million pieces."
"Lovely imagery. Really took me there."
"Quiet."
,...........................
"Do you really want to tell them?"
"Prongs."
"I know. But with Blacksmith and everything..."
"Moony needs some fun."
"Do you call this fun?"
"Are you saying you don't enjoy having a secret like this?"
"Fair game. Let's go."
,........
Remus crossed out another line of his essay for Professor Scamander, sighing. The world would end and Severus Snape would fall in love with him before he found anything interesting to say on the subject of the physics surrounding non verbal magic. Lunch would have to wait if he wanted to get it finished. Absentmindedly, Remus rubbed a line of dust off the desk he was leaning against in the library. The tiny particles had collected in places where the wood had had a pen forced into it, carving marks. That would have been a muggle born. Wizard quills wouldn't do something like that. Squinting, he leaned in to read the cramped, all capitals, childish handwriting: NOI VIVI.
Ah yes. Italian. The language of poetry. Or, when used by the English, the language of the pretentious. Fun times.
"Ah, there you are, Moony."
Somehow, both Sirius and James had moved up in front of him without Remus realising. He grinned at them, glad of the excuse of the distraction.
"What's the issue, boys?" Remus leaned back in his chair.
James and Sirius exchanged unusually serious expressions. "Meet us outside the Great Hall by the messed up gargoyle at eleven." James said mysteriously. "We have to tell you something."
"Or." Remus wheedled persuasively, thinking about Helia. "You could tell me now."
"Awwww." Sirius whined. "But you have so much work to do. We wouldn't want to distract you."
As Sirius and James made their exit, Remus called after them, "I hate you guys!"
"Love you too, Sweetheart!" Sirius yelled over his shoulder, drawing glares from Madame Pince.
.......................................
The whale dive bombed Helia.
If it had been anything other than a mirage conjured by her wand, she would have been thrown off the Astronomy Tower. As it was, she only wobbled slightly, reaching down a hand to steady herself against the railing. She was early, and amusing herself by casting shapes and illusions into the air. Squirrels and octopi and koalas danced around her head, along with the whale that had taken on a particularly unrealistic shade of brilliant blue, with bright yellow eyes. Helia could've sworn it had winked at her as it went for another pass.
A noise at the hatch alerted Helia to Remus's presence. She spun quickly, sensing how most of the creatures dissipated around her. The whale, though, stayed stubbornly in full form. She could see the reflection of it in Remus's eyes. He grinned at her, and then at the aquatic mammal.
"I'm thinking of naming him." Helia said, not bothering to explain as she smiled slightly, "Since he seems so keen on sticking around."
The whale released a long, sorrowful note of agreement.
Remus turned his face back to Helia. "Hmmmm.... But what shall we call him?"
Helia frowned in thought for a moment. "Derek." she announced decidedly.
Remus let out a short half laugh- the kind that has to be surprised out of you. "Derek?"
Helia nodded as the whale- Derek- flipped on it's back, swimming upside down through the air.
"I'm pretty sure whales can't do that in real life." Helia teased the apparition lightly. Derek shot a short spout of water out of his blowhole in indignation. "Idiot." Helia snorted affectionately.
Without even thinking, Remus reached a hand out and took Helia's in his own as her turned to watch Derek dip and soar around them. He didn't notice her eyes jump to him, but he definitely felt the small electric current that danced between their clasped palms.
..,...........
"Okay, so you still owe me one more."
Remus looked at Helia, who had spoken. They were trading embarrassing stories, since Remus hadn't believe that Helia went through life with anything but gliding elegance and the occasional eyebrow quirk. So far, he had learnt that Helia hadn't understood the difference between right and left until she was thirteen, leading to an unfortunate Hypogriff accident, and that she was one of those people who always managed to blink in photographs, no matter how many times they were taken, thus declaring wizarding cameras as life savers.
Remus, meanwhile, had divulged the tale of when he had woken up one night and, thinking it was a full moon, had raced all the way through Hogwarts and into the Forest in his Pygmy Puff patterned pyjamas (try saying that five times fast), leaving a mixture of very confused unicorns and paintings in his wake. It was only upon Peeves mocking arrival that he discovered the full moon wasn't for another week.
"Embarrassing stories..." Remus pondered.
"Come on." Helia encouraged "You have to have more than that."
"I don't know." Remus teased. "I'm pretty awesome."
"We're pretty awesome." Helia corrected. "Holy shit, dude." She said as if she'd just come to a realisation. "We made friends with a fucking Sphinx."
"Yeah." Remus laughed with the same aura as an old guy looking back on his life. "Yeah we did."
"Woolfy, this is just a warning." Helia began, with a cautionary tone "but I think we might be badasses."
"That we are, Hel Bel."
"The most bad of asses."
"Okay, I'm not sure where you're going now."
"Asses that are so bad, they got sent to prison on a life sentence."
Remus smiled into the dark. "I'm not sure I like the objectification of my butt in this scenario."
"Maybe I was simply comparing you to a donkey." Helia stuck her tongue out. Like, actually stuck her tongue out at him.
"Or maybe, you tried for a comeback and ended up on a really bad pun." Remus grinned.
Helia dramatically threw one hand over her forehead. "Ah! My plan is foiled! And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids."
"How did I ever think you were edgy?" Remus wondered allowed.
"I am edgy." Helia protested "You may as well call me a dodecahedron, 'cause I got so many edges you won't even be asked to remember me for a maths exam because it's so unreasonable to ask you to remember that many edges."
Remus smiled, and leaned back against the cool brick. Helia was gesturing expressively, dragging his hand through the air as she moved her own.
Regretfully, Remus decided to choose that moment to completely ruin the atmosphere with the most simple of acts: He checked the time.
"I have to go." Remus said reluctantly.
Helia quirked an eyebrow. "How come?"
Remus sighed. "Prongs and Padfoot told me to meet them somewhere at eleven. It's probably something stupid."
"See you, I guess. Then." Helia grinned at him. "I'm gonna stay up here for a while. Sort Derek out."
"Of course."
Remus got about halfway to the hatch before that trademarked Gryffindor courage finally decided to kick in. He spun on the spot and, before he had time to think about it, walked back over to Helia, bending and pressing his mouth against hers.
Helia made a small, surprised sound in her throat but did not pull away. Remus felt fire lighting him up from the inside. It was tearing him apart, sending splinters down his bones, destroying him.
And then it was over.
Remus rocked slightly, awkwardly backwards on the heels of his feet as he crouched in front of her. Helia was watching him with an amused expression.
"You're going to be late." She pointed out, before pulling him back in for a parting kiss.
Slipping his eyes closed, Remus felt a grin spread across his face.
"Worth it."