twelve the quidditch cup
🧣
'... AND RAVENCLAW HAVE possession, the Quaffle in the hands of Crouch,' Sirius commentated. 'He goes for the hoop and scores! That's Slytherin, fifty; Ravenclaw, one-hundred and sixty. The way this is going, Prongs, you're going to owe me that bottle of Firewhisky.'
'One more mention of gambling or alcohol,' McGonagall could be heard scolding. 'I'm warning you, Black.'
'WHICH ONE?' [y/n] yelled over the cheering, hands cupped over her mouth in a feeble attempt to project her voice.
'Concentrate, Paws,' James hissed, pulling the girl back down to her seat be the edge of her cardigan. 'You need to be watching carefully — we're playing the snakes next week, we need to work out their tactics.'
'Oh, can't you just enjoy a game?' [y/n] groaned. 'You're always so het-up and anxious about everything.'
'If I'm going to play for England when the war is over, I need to have a good track-record.'
'So it's not the looming threat of McGonagall murdering you that's your motivation?' [y/n] teased, to which she received an elbow to her side from James.
'Bertie Bott's, anyone?' Peter asked.
'No, thank you,' Remus grimaced, pushing the box away. 'I know you've worked out how to sniff out the good ones so I know it's only the bad ones left.'
'... and the Quaffle is back into Slytherin's possession — Stebbins goes to pass,' Sirius continued after another quick scolding from McGonagall. 'Crouch intercepts yet again! What a player!'
'He's one to watch out for, is he?' Lily asked, feigning interest as she continued to highlight her Charms textbook. 'I've heard his name mentioned a lot.'
'He's brilliant,' James replied, watching the flashes of green and blue hovering across the pitch. 'He's only a third-year, too. Shame his dad's a bit of a knob.'
'Seconded,' [y/n] contributed. ''Twas always a pleasure when Barty Crouch came for tea.'
'Do you know every prospective Minister for Magic, [y/n], or just the Pureblooded ones?' Lily asked with a light chuckle before slapping a pad of Post-it Notes onto the pages of her textbook.
'No, she just likes rubbing it in that I —' James cut himself short when he turned to finally take notice of the fact that Lily was paying no attention to the game. 'Lily-Bean, honestly, stop revising for two seconds. You'll fry your brain if you work any harder.'
'I'm — no, Potter, don't you — give them back — James!' Lily hissed as the boy whipped her Post-it Notes from beneath her pen — a Muggle refillable quill, [y/n] called it — and tossed it over the stands onto the pitch below. 'That was my last pad,' Lily frowned, 'all my others have gone missing.'
[y/n] glanced at Remus guiltily. He sent a look back that said, 'So that's where they all came from.'
'I'll buy you more from that shop in Hogsmeade, I promise, but please, I am begging you, give yourself a break.'
'But I don't like Quidditch.'
'Lils, my love, are you trying to kill me?'
'Don't worry, Lily, the game's almost over anyway,' Peter said, squinting through his pair omnioculars. 'I think Regulus has found the Snitch.'
[y/n] gasped. 'Come on, Reggie,' she murmured, leaning over the side of the stands, Remus holding on to her to make sure she didn't topple over the edge.
'What's this?' Sirius' voice boomed around the stadium. 'Seems like dear little Reggie has caught sight of the Snitch! Now, I could tell you an embarrassing story or two about our young Regulus here from when he was growing up, like that time he mistook the Minister's wife for our mother in front of half the Ministry —'
'Black.'
'Just something to lighten the mood, Professor,' Sirius said sincerely. 'Although to be honest, I'm hoping I can distract him because the prospect of facing You-Know-Who is honestly preferable to having Slytherin win yet another match —'
'SIRIUS BLACK!'
'Whoops, sorry, Professor, I didn't realise my microphone was on. Either way, it seems like Black has caught sight of the Snitch and he's chasing it down, diving and rising all over the place — let's hope he falls off — only joking, Professor — and ... Black catches the Snitch! That's Slytherin two-hundred; Ravenclaw one-hundred and sixty!'
There was a humungous cheer from the Slytherin stands as the shiny silver flags waved in the frantic celebrations of the pupils dressed in the green.
'Shit,' James muttered under his breath. 'It's all to play for next week. They're practically neck-and-neck with us.'
'You'll get over it,' said [y/n], slapping him across the back. 'Come on, let's go commend my brother's A-star commentary.'
'Better make it quick, Paws, because I think he wants to call a Marauders meeting,' Peter announced as the group joined the throng of students leaving the stands.
'Can I come?' Lily inquired.
The group of four Gryffindors ahead of her turned to look at her in confusion, to which she raised an eyebrow.
'You do know what a Marauders meeting is about, don't you?' [y/n] responded as silence bounced back and forth.
'Well, you just have one of you cute little get-togethers in the dorm.'
'Oh, Lily, darling —'
'Don't be condescending.'
James shook his head quickly. 'No, no, I meant that it's for planning pranks. I'm thinking about you. You wouldn't enjoy it with your Head Girl morals.'
'You're Head Boy,' Peter added from the side.
'Not now, Wormtail.'
'Please,' Lily pleaded. 'I can come up some good ideas! How about ... convincing the other houses to switch uniforms for a day to confuse the professors.'
'That's —' James' look of disapproval quickly contorted into a look of appreciation. 'That's actually really good.'
'I know,' Lily winked. 'I'm glad you think so, anyway. My next argument was going to be that Remus gets to take his girlfriend.'
'That's a desperate argument,' [y/n] teased. 'We all know I'm the reason any of us still have all four limbs left.'
'Besides, it's more like Paws gets to take her boyfriend, but I like it when you make out that I'm the one that stops them ending up dead,' said Remus. 'Oi, Padfoot! Lily's coming to the meeting!'
'I knew you'd come 'round, Evans!' Sirius bellowed, running up to Lily and giving her a bear hug. 'Prongs, we've corrupted her.'
Sirius flung an arm around the redhead and the girl listened intently to the rules and regulations of a prank planning session as the group made their way to the boys' dormitory.
'If you have an idea, write it down and stick it on here,' Sirius explained excitedly after giving Lily a quick rundown of the contents of the Wall.
'Got it,' Lily replied with a firm nod of her head, still taking in the organised mess of the room as she took Minnie the kneazle into her arms. 'Nice to see my Post-its are being put to good use, right, [y/n]?'
[y/n] hid behind her textbook sheepishly before peering over the pages to catch Lily gesturing to her with her two middle fingers before bursting into gleeful laughter.
'Piss off, Evans,' [y/n] grinned, picking up her ink pot quickly before Minnie could knock it over. 'Let's just call it payback for you stealing my socks all the time.'
'Do you really expect your Head Girl to be walking around with holey socks in her shoes?' Lily retorted jokingly, twisting her hair up in a bun using her wand.
'Ooh, what about sending the professors Howlers?' Peter suddenly suggested excitedly.
[y/n] pointed her quill without looking up from the parchment in front of her. 'Stick it on the wall,' she instructed.
Peter quickly scribbled his idea in his rushed scrawl onto one of the yellow Post-it Notes [y/n] had stolen from Lily's stack revision supplies. Struggling to clamber over the open textbooks, Marauder's Map, wands, discarded footwear and cardigans, not to mention the five other students in the room, Peter attached the paper to what had once been the blank wall by the door of the bedroom. Over the seven years the boys had occupied the dormitory — and [y/n], considering the number of frequent visits she made — the Wall had become plastered with pranking ideas, spell inventions, photographs from across their time at Hogwarts, pages from textbooks about Animagi which James desperately tried to remove from Lily's view, humorous edits of articles on werewolves and, most famously, their process for the creation of the map. There were also excerpts of Sirius' poetry accompanied by comments and criticism from his best friends, but the boy had given up on becoming a poet by fifth year. Neither [y/n], Sirius, Remus, James or Peter had come to an agreement as to which Marauder would gain custody over the contents of the wall, and they weren't prepared to settle it the same way they had before — James had one every single match of their Gobstones tournament over the Easter holidays and therefore, he claimed each and every one of their notebooks filled to bursting with their successful pranks.
'Is there any way we could charm the suits of armour to sing some rude songs?' Sirius asked. 'I have a few verses in mind about You-Know-Who —'
'Why have you been writing songs about the most dangerous wizard in the world since Grindelwald?' James interrogated, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
'It was Evans that inspired me, actually,' Sirius grinned, watching the concern grow on James' face as Lily shrugged her shoulders proudly. 'She said the Muggles had a few about Hitler. You know, that guy who made the world go to war?'
James, [y/n] and Peter looked to Remus for confirmation. The werewolf chuckled.
'They did,' he said. 'Mam whistles it a lot when I'm helping her cook and she taught me it on the piano as well. I think it's the only song she knows.' Remus started giggling before singing, 'Hitler has only got one ball ...'
'I love that one!' Lily laughed. 'Grandad always used to sing it to Tunie and I if we were upset when we were little.'
'Muggles scare me sometimes,' James said. 'They just mock everything they should fear.'
'Hence my song about Voldy,' Sirius declared, spreading himself across the floor, notebook and quill in hand. 'Now, should I write about his lack of nose or dreadful dress-sense?'
'Honestly, Padfoot, you're putting more thought into this than your N.E.W.T.s,' [y/n] tutted, shaking her head and huffing when as an aside when Minnie decided to curl up on her Transfiguration textbook.
'This is important, Paws!' Sirius exclaimed. 'We're leaving in less than two months! We have to go out with a bang!"
'Well, maybe we could do it when Moony and I aren't revising?'
'It's not my fault you two are massive nerds,' Sirius sighed. 'Couldn't you just do your revision later? C'mon, even Evans is relaxing.'
'No,' [y/n] replied shortly, pointing to James, 'because this one is making me go to training until curfew.'
'Don't put the blame on me!' James cried. 'If we don't win the Cup this year, Minnie will never forgive me. Not you, Minnie. Professor Minnie.'
'So it is the looming threat of McGonagall murdering you that's motivating y— ow! Prongs!'
'What's motivating you, Paws?' Peter asked. 'The eternal glory?'
'Honestly, just the ego boost.'
'Pfft,' Remus snorted from behind his textbook, 'as if you need any more of tha— ouch!'
'James, stop hitting me!' [y/n] yelped as she was smacked around the back of the head with some rolled-up parchment once more. She hit James in return.
'Don't hit my friend,' said Remus, thwacking [y/n] across her leg.
'I really am in for a treat when we all graduate,' Lily muttered, pulling Minnie onto the bed with her to keep her safe from the unfolding chaos.
[y/n] quickly whipped Remus on his arm before ricocheting the paper square into James' face. She ducked both of their attacks swiftly only to a hear a resounding smack from behind her.
'Hey! What have I done?' Peter cried, sticking an arm out in Sirius' direction. 'Pads, pass us some —'
'Can we all please stop hitting each other with my Shakespearean poetry?' Sirius snapped, snatching the rolled-up parchments sheets from his friends.
'Nothing you have written in the last seven years is Shakespeare-like, mate,' Remus scoffed.
'And that's what they told Shakespeare about Chaucer in his time, and look how famous he is now,' Sirius retorted, sticking his tongue out in response to Remus' extended middle finger.
'Come on, you,' James said, heaving [y/n] up off the floor from under her arms. 'We'd best get stuck into training.'
'Do we have to?' [y/n] groaned.
'Yes,' James stated.
[y/n] grunted. 'Meet you in the common room in five, then.'
'Ah, ah, ah.'
[y/n] turned from the door to find Remus cross-legged on floor, innocently tapping his lips. She rolled her eyes playfully and shared a quick kiss with the boy. 'I'll see you later.'
'Disgusting,' Sirius said.
'Absolutely revolting,' Peter added.
'Positively nauseating,' James contributed, before kissing Lily.
'Funny,' [y/n] deadpanned. 'By the way, what are we doing tonight?'
'Everything,' James responded, throwing his Quidditch robes over Lily's head. 'We have to be prepared.'
'Of course we are,' [y/n] sighed. 'Of course we're doing ... everything. Wormy, Post-it Note.'
And, leaving the room, [y/n] left her mark on the pranking wall, a yellow sticker under the 'final prank' section with 'EVERYTHING' scrawled across it.
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[Y/N] BECAME INCREDIBLY grouchy because of her late-night Quidditch training sessions over the following week. She would come back cold, muddy and grass-stained — often soaked to the skin, too — but James was determined to put on nothing but the best show. She reached boiling point just hours before the final match which would determine the winner of the Quidditch Cup — Gryffindor or Slytherin. She would have been fine if breakfast was quiet and she was allowed to wallow in her nervousness, but Sirius and Peter had better ideas.
'Gryffindor!' Sirius shouted. 'I refuse to believe otherwise.'
'No, Padfoot, Slytherin,' Peter argued back.
'Gryffindor!'
'Slytherin!
'Gryffindor!'
'Slytherin!'
'Discussing match bets, are they?' Remus asked, leaning across [y/n] to retrieve a piece of toast.
'No,' [y/n] replied shortly, massaging her temples as her face hovered over her empty breakfast plate. 'They're ... I can't even begin to explain.'
'I'm telling you, Gryffindor!'
'SLYTHERIN!' Peter yelled.
'GRYFFINDOR!' Sirius barked, quickly lowering his voice after receiving a glare from McGonagall. 'Han Solo is a Gryffindor! He joined Luke on his little adventures for the greater good, did he not?'
'He modified the Falcon specifically so he could boast that he had the fastest hyperdrive engine in the galaxy,' Peter raged rapidly. 'He is ambitious. He is initially self-serving. He — is — a — Slytherin.'
'Oh dear God.'
'Exactly.'
'What have we done to Padfoot?'
'Clearly, something we're bound to regret.'
'Morning!' James chirped as he glided into the Great Hall, his robes floating behind him.
'Nervous?' Remus asked, sharing a concerned glance with [y/n]. The girl smiled all-knowingly.
'Not — at — all,' James beamed, dolloping half a dozen spoonfuls of scrambled eggs onto his plate. 'I feel great! We're definitely going to win today.'
'Have you had a reading with Professor Trelawney or is it just your head being abnormally large today?'
'Nope,' James sung, pointing his finger at Remus. 'I just feel ... fresh.'
'Had a good sleep, did you?' [y/n] teased. 'Even after coming back late from your prefect rounds?'
James spluttered slightly. 'I wasn't late. Maybe Lily was but I wasn't. I think she went to —'
'Yeah, Lily told me everything,' [y/n] smiled innocently, but her menacing still showed in her eyes. 'I'm sure half the school knows by now knowing Marlene.'
'Well,' said James, 'that's fun.'
'Gryffindor!' Sirius cried.
'Slytherin!' Peter shouted, leaning across the table after banging his palms on the wood.
'Are they still going on about that?' James sighed, grateful for the diversion in conversation. 'They've been at it for a good three hours now.'
'Pads said that whoever has a daughter first has to name her either Leia or Caroline after Carrie Fisher,' Remus explained, rolling his eyes when Peter pulled out a stack of comics from his rucksack.
'For whatever reason, I don't like names that begin with C,' James grimaced, taking a swig of his pumpkin juice.
[y/n] frowned. 'You're never going to be an uncle to my child then,' she huffed. 'I've always liked Charlotte for a girl.'
'Yeah, but that's not really a name that begins with C,' James commented. 'It's got a SH sound. Plus you can shorten it to Lottie, so you can forget about the C altogether.'
'Have you had one too many Quidditch accidents or we're you dropped on your head as child?' Remus teased. James kicked him under the table.
'Come on, Potter,' said Aminul Rees. He patted James between his shoulder blades causing him to spit his pumpkin juice out. 'We've got a trophy to win, and we can't do it without our captain.'
'Yeah,' Saoirse reinforced. 'Imagine if Black had to take over from you.'
'No, no. Not happening,' James said quickly, wiping the remnants of his breakfast from around his mouth and standing up from the bench. 'Let's go, Paws.'
'Good luck,' Remus smiled, giving [y/n] a kiss.
[y/n] laughed lightly and gestured to Sirius and Peter. 'You're going to need the luck if you're going to get these two to get a move on.'
'Let's go, team!' James shouted from the doors of the Great Hall.
The walk to the changing room seemed shorter than usual, but the wait for Madam Hooch to call the teams onto the pitch was agonisingly long. Timothy and Aimee were fumbling over their words as they tried to remember their tactics, Aminul and Saoirse practiced their Beating with a Remembrall at the back of the room and Morgan Hart, the Seeker, paced back and forth between the benches, fiddling with the hem of her sleeves constantly. James did his best to encourage his team away from their nerves and [y/n] offered some humour in between speeches so that the Gryffindors weren't pep-talked to death.
A pair of yellow eyes peered through the curtains of the tent.
'It's time.'
James gave one short nod of his head. 'Gather round.'
'We've got this, Prongs,' [y/n] said in the huddle. 'You've done what you can.'
'We'll win,' said Aimee. 'For you.'
'Yeah,' Aminul agreed. 'We've got to get you two going out with a bang.'
The nerves evaporated from James' face. [y/n] grinned.
'It's been a pleasure, kids.'
'Hands in?' Morgan asked.
'On three,' James announced. 'One, two, three.'
'GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!'
'You really should have let me change that.'
'Shut up, Paws,' James groaned, ruffling the girl's hair.
They entered the stadium to tremendous noise, so much so that [y/n] missed Madam Hooch's cue to mount her broom. She eventually came back to her senses when the balls were set free, so she clambered onto her broom and sped off to the goalposts she had to protect.
'Potter straight in there with the Quaffle, flying in V-formation with Viggers and Jenkins,' Sirius commentated. 'Potter passes to Jenkins — Jenkins to Viggers — back to Potter — the Slytherin Chasers don't know who's coming or going — bit of a wobbly pass from Jenkins there but Potter is there to catch it — he lines up to shoot — he — ah, bugger — perfectly aimed Bludger there from Slytherin's Callahan sends the Quaffle flying away from the posts.'
'Unlucky, Prongs!' [y/n] yelled across the pitch, to which James stuck his thumbs up in response — their non-verbal way of saying, 'Message received'.
'... and Stebbins is racing across the pitch at an incredible speed — Bludger sent his way by Finnigan — dodges it — missed tackle there by Gryffindor's Viggers — bad luck, Aimee — Stebbins swerves around Jenkins — Potter's trying his best to catch up but he's still too far away — c'mon, Prongs — Stebbins shoots ... and — saved by [y/n] Black! Marvellous work, Paws!'
[y/n] saluted the crowd before launching the Quaffle into Timothy's arms.
'You've always had an annoying habit of getting in the way of things,' Stebbins snarled.
'Then you're just going to have to do better than that if you want to score against me.'
'Black, sort your blood-traitor sister out.'
'What have you done now, [y/n]?' Regulus exhaled.
'Just told him to be a better player s'all,' [y/n] shrugged. 'Might get Saoirse to have a Bludger sent his way later, too. I haven't decided yet.'
Regulus rolled his eyes. 'He's so pissing annoy—'
A distant, high-pitched yell from the middle of the pitch drew the siblings' attention away from each other.
'I caught it!' Morgan squealed, waving her closed fist in the air. 'I've got it!'
'Morgan, you absolute star!' [y/n] yelled over Regulus' swearing. 'Prongs! Prongs, we've won!'
Chatters started around the stadium as the game slowed down so that the attention could be turned to the Gryffindor seeker. Unfortunately, there was some confusion as the commentary did not highlight the abrupt end of the match.
'... and Potter — stops in mid-air? Prongs, what are you doing, you twat? You could have scored easily!'
Despite the screaming and shouting, Sirius seemed blissfully unaware of what was happening.
'PADFOOT, YOU IDIOT!' James shouted.
'SIRIUS!'
'I HAVE THE SNITCH!'
'BLACK, GAME'S OVER!'
'DOG-STAR!'
Sirius suddenly snapped his head over to the goalposts [y/n] was hovering in front of, quickly following the direction her arm was pointing in.
'Fucking he—'
'Black.'
'Sorry, Minnie,' Sirius apologised, jaw dropping as he finally spotted Morgan thrusting her gloved fist in the air, golden wings flickering either side. 'That was quick playing there from Hart. I, uhh ... I suppose that's game over, folks! Gryffindor one-hundred and fifty; Slytherin, nil!'
McGonagall ecstatically snatched the microphone from Sirius' grasp.
'Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup!'
A cheer so deafening that the Muggles could have heard it erupted in the stadium. Red and gold fireworks exploded across the sky and Gryffindor banners were tossed in the air. [y/n] joined her teammates as they drowned Morgan in congratulatory hugs whilst descending to receive the Cup from Madam Hooch. James and Aminul hoisted Morgan's tiny figure onto their shoulders and she raised the trophy into the air to more cheering. [y/n] looked across to Regulus. He was slow clapping miserably, but when making eye contact with his sister, he smiled.
'Party in the common room at seven tonight!' Sirius announced over the celebrations. 'Everyone's invited! It's been a great year with you all; that's Sirius Black, over and out!'
✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩
WHAT WAS MEANT to be a five-minute journey for [y/n] to get some sausage rolls for the common room from the house eleves in the kitchens turned into several round-trips to get additional pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes and bowls of Bertie Bott's, as well as a half-hour long chat with Regulus when the two bumped into each other near the dungeons and visits to the other houses' common rooms to invite them to the Quidditch Cup party in Gryffindor Tower.
Essentially, [y/n] joined the party nearly two hours after it started.
After hauling herself through the portrait hole, she was immediately grabbed on her upper arm by a pale, freckled hand.
'Black, thank Merlin,' Marlene sighed, dragging [y/n] across the common room. 'I think you need a word with your pathetically light-weight boyfriend. He's very excited that we won.'
'I'm sorry, what?'
'Look at him. I've never seen a man so happy in my life.'
'Moony? Dear Godric, are you drunk?'
Remus turned too quickly and swayed on the spot, but grinned when he saw [y/n]. He stumbled across the room, his half-empty bottle of Firewhisky sloshing in his hand. [y/n] instinctively held onto his arms to steady him when he was close enough.
'Hello there, good-looking!' Remus slurred, tripping over his feet as he tried to lean in and kiss his girlfriend. 'Oh, wow, [y/n]! Look at you!'
[y/n] laughed lightly at Remus' dumbstruck face, following his tilting head. 'Merlin's beard, you're pissed.'
'I'm not,' Remus protested, pouting his lip.
'Sure, sure,' [y/n] smirked as she raised an eyebrow. 'Walk in a straight line. Go on, from the staircase to me.'
'Easy,' Remus shrugged. He handed [y/n] his drink — which she secretly placed on the table beside her — and he slowly backed up to the staircase, carelessly bumping into numerous people before stopping. 'Now, don't move, OK? You do things like that to be mean sometimes.'
[y/n] stuffed her hands into her pockets and laughed again. 'I won't move,' she assured him, leaning on the arm of the chair. 'I solemnly swear.'
Remus scrunched is his eyes and his nose like he did when he was reading a paragraph of a book that required every ounce of his concentration. He lifted up one leg to take a step and started swaying on the spot.
'I said don't move!'
'Not moving,' [y/n] smiled, jumping off the chair and moving towards Remus.
'You are!' Remus yelled. 'You're getting bigger!'
'Come on, Mr Moony,' [y/n] sung, placing a hand on Remus' back and another on his arm. 'I think it's time you went to bed.'
Remus seemed to sigh at [y/n]'s touch and let out a soft hum before a small hiccough escaped. The girl couldn't help but smile as her heart swelled when looking at him. There was an innocent mischief glinting behind his shining eyes, revealed when he blew his soft curls away from his forehead. His tongue poked out a bit as he focussed on waving goodbye to everyone in the common room, giggling when James shouted across the room at them.
'Use protection!'
[y/n] rolled her eyes as she helped Remus up onto the first step of the staircase.
'And at least put a sock on the door or something this time!' Peter added.
'Or here's one of the main principles behind the Black Idea for you.' [y/n] turned sharply. 'Use your common sense when a door is locked!'
'And what's the Black Idea, dare I ask?' Alice asked, suddenly appearing beside Peter and passing him a fresh bottle of Marlene's Gigglewater.
'The Black Idea is behind some of our most famous pranks,' Sirius explained, 'but it's pretty much how we solve most of our problems.'
'Padfoot and Paws come up with an idea, Prongs and I expand on it and Moony makes it work,' Peter continued. 'It's how we're all geniuses —' He grimaced at Remus stumbling up the stairs. '— when we're not all inebriated.'
'Geniuses? Oh, please,' Lily scoffed, waving her glass in the air. 'The five of you share a single brain cell and eighty-five percent of the time it goes to Remus.'
'And unfortunately for us we're in one of those situations where it's the other fifteen percent of the time,' [y/n] said, her pitch ascending slowly before squealing as Remus fell backwards on the stairs into her outstretched arms. 'I'm putting this one to bed, I'll be back in a minute.'
'He only lasts that long?' James teased, a suggestive wink sent in his friends' direction.
'It's longer than you,' Lily retorted, smacking her boyfriend across the back of his head with her hand.
[y/n] rolled her eyes. To think that James was that girl's mortal enemy up until the end of sixth year and now she was joking about how he performed in bed ... honestly, it was beyond her.
She turned to her own boyfriend and smiled softly. It wasn't often that he was this happy sober and something heavy settled in [y/n]'s chest that made her heart ache just a little. It was odd. Remus made her feel a million different things all at once, even when he was talking a mile a minute — happy, panicked, wistful, nervous, nostalgic, melancholy, concerned, utterly gleeful. She wasn't confused; she knew she loved him, and she knew he loved her back. But, sometimes, she couldn't help but get the feeling that something wasn't sitting right with Remus, no matter how hard he tried to hide the falter in his smiles whenever she talked about the future.
There was a little trouble as they made their way into the boys' dorm as Remus knocked his head into the side of the doorframe before bouncing back into [y/n], causing her to ricochet into the door handle. Remus was more focussed on yapping about his secret passion for sport and how he was 'a complete, human manifestation of a juxtaposition. I love watching sports, but I hate taking part in them and I don't know why, [y/n]. I confuse myself, Pawsy. It's like there's a god or something torturing me because I watch Quidditch or rugby or football or tennis or anything in the Olympics, really, and I want to have a go then when I do have a go, I get so ridiculously anxious that I have a minor panic attack and then I'm just a mess, Paws. Like, I watch you doing your Keeper thing and — you look really hot doing it, by the way — and I get a bit jealous because you're just able to get on with it and I want to kiss you, can I kiss you?'
'Let's get you into your pyjamas first,' [y/n] giggled after helping Remus settle onto his bed.
Remus hummed in response, eventually beginning to sing to himself, eyes closed, heading rocking left to right on his pillow. [y/n] opened and closed all the drawers in the room in an attempt to find a pair of pyjamas that looked remotely large enough to fit Remus' long limbs — the boys were clearly the type of roommates to spread their belongings in no particular order so that they could claim a spot as theirs.
When [y/n] turned with a pair of jogging bottoms and a burgundy jumper in hand, Remus had already discarded the last of his clothing on the bedroom floor, tucking himself under the bed covers with nothing but his underwear on.
[y/n] let out a small laugh. 'I guess that's what you're doing then,' she smiled, discarding the clothes she found on Sirius' bed.
Remus grinned and opened up his arms, gesturing for [y/n] to join him. Naturally, [y/n] obliged, slowly crawling under the duvet with him. She had always dismissed Alice's claims that humans were made to be held, but as their fingers interlocked perfectly, their bodies moulded as one and her head slotted into the nook of his shoulder, she appreciated why Alice thought that.
Just as [y/n] was getting comfy amidst Remus' warmth, the latter's arms went a little rigid and he let out a shaky breath. [y/n] felt Remus' grip around her tighten gently and he nestled his chin on her head.
'Are you happy with me?'
[y/n]'s head shot up suddenly. She was too shocked to notice that she had head-butted Remus' jaw. 'What?'
'Are you happy with me?' Remus repeated, tilting his head like a puppy being told off.
Now, this was a question she thought she had made the answer to clear from day one.
'Of course I am,' [y/n] spat, slightly appalled. 'What sort of bloody question is that?'
Remus confirmed his satisfaction in the answer by nuzzling back into the pair's shared warmth. Unfortunately, [y/n] had a very deep-rooted flaw in that she was completely incapable of letting things go, especially when Remus rarely shared his feelings anyway. She was only mildly guilty that she was coaxing his emotions out of him whilst he was utterly hammered, but this was important.
'Moony,' [y/n] hissed, nudging Remus when she saw his eyes drooping. 'Why would you ask that?'
'Dunno,' Remus shrugged. 'These beds are really comfy, have you ever noticed?'
Well. [y/n] wasn't going to get a better than that, apparently.
'What about you?' [y/n] asked, shuffling in the bed. All of a sudden, the warmth became sticky and unbearable. 'Are you happy with me?'
'Yeah,' Remus replied weakly. 'It's just, y'know ...'
'You know what?' [y/n] pushed. That unsettling feeling in her stomach needed to go away.
Remus yawned. 'It's just I'm a werewolf and stuff. 'Nd I'm not fun like you or — or very good-looking and everything. 'M just really boring and I'm just waiting for you to get bored of me, really. I dunno why you want me. I dunno why any of you like me. I'm just waiting for you all to leave me behind. It'll really, really —' He yawned quickly. '— hurt when you do get sick of me. I really, really like you all. And I love you.'
What. The. Fuck.
[y/n] was left looking like a goldfish as she gaped at Remus' sleepy face. His brain didn't seem to register what his mouth had let slip. Oh, Merlin, what if he didn't remember what he said come morning? Would she be able to pretend like that didn't happen? She couldn't just let it go. If that's what he's thinking all the time then they had to talk about it properly. Or maybe it would be less of an embarrassment for the two of them if this night was allowed to fade into non-existence like many other indifferent nights before that.
But what? He thought this was temporary? Best friends for nearly seven years and he thought she was going to get sick of him? That they all were? She felt guilty that she was more angry than sympathetic and clenched her teeth to hold in her madness. She tried to brush it off, but all the feelings were pooling in the bottom of stomach whilst simultaneously making her feel empty.
[y/n] slowly untangled herself from Remus' loosening grip and slid out of the bed quietly. She treaded carefully, avoiding the creaky floorboard directly in front of the door, only to be stopped in her tracks by a displeased huff from behind her. She turned to find Remus pouting at her, bottom lip jutted out and eyebrows furrowed.
'Where're you going?'
He was so pure. He seemed to have already forgotten his confession. [y/n] swallowed and secretly stepped beyond the threshold of the dorm room. She held onto the door handle so tightly that her knuckles paled.
'I thought you could use the space,' [y/n] whispered, tears threatening to spill. Her voice wobbled as she told him, 'Have a good sleep.'
[y/n] didn't want to look away, so she let the closing door block her view and once it had clicked shut, her hand slapped around her mouth to muffle the sob which escaped her throat. If it wasn't for the fact that she could hear the drunken wails of 'Mamaaaaaa, oooh ooooooh oooooooooooh' from the common room, [y/n] would have stayed on the steps to the dorm and cried for the rest of the night. She rubbed her eyes hard as if to punish the tears for ever forming and made her way down. She didn't care if her face was red and blotchy — everyone would probably be too distracted by James and Sirius' Bohemian Rhapsody performance to even notice.
Of course, she was right. Sirius was the perfect Freddie Mercury as he strutted along the short length of the coffee table, Beater's bat in hand as if it were a microphone. Lily had somehow, for whatever reason, allowed James to hold her in the air so he could make is air-guitar more realistic. Alice and Mary were among the many tossing bronze knuts in the boys' direction. Marlene and Dorcas were nowhere to be found, although that was a common occurrence at Gryffindor parties. Across the room, a concerned pair of eyes landed on [y/n]'s hunched figure.
Unusually, [y/n] made a beeline for Peter. One out of near seventy spotting her wasn't the end of the world. And besides, it was Peter. You could pour your heart out the boy and he wouldn't tell a soul.
'Is he all right?' he asked as [y/n] sat on the floor next to the stool he was perched on.
'Yeah,' [y/n] breathed, taking a few seconds to register that Peter had spoken to her. 'Yeah, he's fine.'
'What happened?' Peter quizzed, handing a fresh bottle of Firewhisky to [y/n] which he had kept hidden under his jacket, presumably to save it for the girl's return.
'Do I look that bad?' [y/n] scoffed. She pulled her sleeve over her hand and wiped a stray tear from the side of her face.
'Not at all,' Peter responded sincerely, slinging an arm around his friend's shoulder. 'Solemnly swear.'
[y/n] wordlessly stuck up her pinky finger in the air, eyes brightening as she watched Sirius and James do their jig routine in the guitar break. Peter locked his own little finger around [y/n]'s from behind his glass bottle.
'I'm just so tired, Wormy,' [y/n] sighed, letting her head drop onto the boy's knee.
'D'you want to talk about it?'
'Not yet,' [y/n] said. 'Not at all, particularly.'
'Well,' Peter replied, lifting his bottle, 'I can drink to that.'
'Cheers,' [y/n] hiccoughed as the pair clinked their bottles.
'The two of you'll sort it out eventually,' said Peter. 'You know what Moony's like.'
[y/n] nodded her head silently and continued watching their best friends' spectacle unfold before them like it had in the Great Hall on Sirius and [y/n]'s birthday in fifth year, with just three days of preparation after the song's release.
'Peter,' [y/n] murmured.
'Yeah?'
'Thank you.'
Peter smiled. 'What are best mates for?'
is this ... angst??
tbh idk what this is
psa: peter! was! a! marauder!!! turned out to be a little bitch but he! was! their! friend!!!