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08 - Lunar Callendar
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Helios was generous that afternoon, scorching bright enough to grace Scotland's High Land with heat. Cyan eyes screwed shut as he darted his gaze away to the horizon, the sunlight were achromatic, yet it appeared akin to sea of glitter when it caressed the Black lake's skin. It was empty when Martin surveyed their quick escapade ground.
Gemma slumped herself to the blond, he sat on the grass leaning to a log. She rested her head on his lap as she closed her eyes feeling the sun hit her hair. The blonde paused for a second, eyes onto the lake. It was empty as he raised his hand to touch her hair. And she did not complain to his touch.
"I'm so tired." she mumbled, placing her hand over her forehead to hide her eyes from the sun. Peeking underneath it, she caught Martin's gentle gaze at the lake. She yawned, feeling her spine sore since the previous evening. "I need sleep."
"Must be from your thing with Black." assumed Martin, he sighed looking down to the girl. He caug gt the sight of the girl's freckles under her eyes, and her nose faintly wriggle from heat irritation. He held back his chuckle. "Why do you do that, Gem?"
"Do what, McKinnon?"
"You're terrified of it," Martin began as silence fell between them, "I remember the first time you were staying in my house you were crying when you saw a piano. Why push yourself to learn it?"
Gemma shot her eyes open, facing him, "It's never good to always live in fear, Marty." replied the Irish witch, curving her lips to a frown. It wasn't a lie, she told herself, part of the reason as to why she could tolerate Black's arrogant arse was she wanted to be able to defeat her fear. "I have to face it one way or another, and maybe the fear and I could be best of friends."
She closed her eyes again, thought her mind was swerving to her irritation around how many times Regulus Black noted why her hands were trembling around the harmless instrument. Luckily, a nervous aliby worked, before she retorted the conversation. Hiding the real reason why the hair on her nape rose each time she pressed the tuneful chord. Or how chills seeped through her vein, shoving the nightmare away. So far, the younger Black didn't cross the line.
Martin arched an eyebrow, "But it's not good to push yourself, dear Merlin." he touched her button nose gently, "—or maybe you're liking the masochist teaching-method Black used."
"Ew." The Irish witch scrunched her nose as she chuckled, slapping his hand away from her face, "First of all, no. I don't like his way of teaching. He was like, you are supposed to do this correctly — Zygo are you even a Ravenclaw!"
The both of them burst into laughter, Gemma broke off with a small smile, "He's not a masochist." she said with a grin, "Also, you should tell yourself about the push yourself to-the-sky-and-beyond thing. You are more on the pitch lately."
Martin rolled his eyes, "It's final match, Gem." he defended himself, grinning triumphantly as he went on, "There is nothing wrong with intense practice."
The blond shot up to the clear sky, eyes narrowed from the bright sun. Gemma sighed softly before she raised her hand and pulled the messy bronze and blue tie around his neck that irked her sense. The blond peered down, facing the girl directly with a small grin dangling on his lips.
"What?" Marty jested, the Irish witch clicked her tongue as her brows furrowd, her azure eyes met the bright cyan shade. She peered down to his tie, fixing the loose ends.
"You can say that now but I have to listen to your complain of sore muscles and whatnot—also, don't be weeping like Davies when you lose." quipped the Irish girl, mentioning the Ravenclaw's quidditch captain who was crying after their defeat to Gryffindor.
Mainly because the beater, Sirius, sent a bludger to Martin and injured his skull. Sirius later received a welcoming greeting from Marlene's fist and ruined his charming face with black-eye for days, for the sake of hurting her nugget. Marlene hadn't forgiven him ever since that match.
The blond rolled his eyes, while the azure-eyed girl fixed his tie. "Why are you always make a mess of this, nugget-head?" Gemma joked with a grin.
Martin shrugged, eyes twinkled on her. But it was what he was aiming for, every time he made his tie a mess the girl would fix it for him. And with that, he could see her closer, grumbling over the little tie. That left him with dazed eyes to her.
Smiling, Gemma's furrowed brows from her little whining was loosened up. Then his hand reached her chin, lifting her eyes to his face. Martin was a blessing, she often thought to herself. The boy was way much more organized than herself, allowing him to juggle around quidditch, homework and school at the same time. He would spend his weekend solely to make a checklists and organized his schedule for the coming week. With him she could be herself without being judged no matter how weird her rant could be. Albeit, it was normal since Ravenclaw was the house of the eccentrics.
Proven by her long-term observation over her roommates behavior: Jo Meadowes, for example, had a weird obsession with doing someone's hair. She would be chatting about boys, her quidditch crushes, while braiding the other roomate's hair, Genevieve Karasu, who would be trying to create mega-explosive spell before bed. Though, it was fun before bed-time session, Gemma didn't feel the same liberty as she had with Martin. Perhaps, it was due to she never had a good history of friendship with girls.
The first time, Fidelya had enrolled her to all girl purity school for pureblood witches when Gemma was six, it only lasted her two weeks. According to Nadine Fletchey's confession, the Irish girl nearly set the whole school on fire, that Fidelya Zygo had to bribe the owner. When in fact, the Irish witch only set the young Fletchey heiress' hair on fire until she had a balding spot—because she made fun of Gammaliel, for not having a mother.
Fidelya Zygo, of course, believed in her grandaughter's confession and patted her shoulder proudly as she spoke to Mrs. Fletchey, "We, Merlins, were raised in very high standard—for example we are not taught to lie, and to swallow our own spit rather than to speak bad words. Perhaps, you should plant this mindset to your daughter's head, once you regrow her nasty hair."
Since then, she was taught homeschool, all alone, until she met her first friend Evan Rosier at the age of seven, and then Martin at eleven.
Her eyes landed back to reality to have him closer than every girl would imagine. He brushed her hair off her face, and it was silent for a few seconds. The witch felt her mouth dried, her heart was beating steadily in her chest. She could feel his minty breath brushed her skin. A hint of fuzzy sweet apricot scent from his cologne entered her nostrils.
"I hope I'm interrupting!" a loud voice jerked them apart with a yelp, Gemma's eyes shot open.
Gemma sat herself up to find a boy with his long raven hair was grinning at their direction. His back was leaning against a tree nearby, staring down at the two, "How long have you been standing there?" she questioned, the boy shrugged.
"What are you doing, Sirius?" came Martin's voice, chiming in to distract the Gryffindor.
"This is my spot." he stated coolly, eyes onto the blond with a grin. The Gryffindor boy strutted and made his way to snuggle himself between Gemma and Martin as he sat on the grass.
"Your spot?" Marty's eyes squinted in annoyance, scoffing at the grinning boy. Sirius placed his hand on the two Ravenclaw's shoulder one each, nodding.
"It's called the Black Lake for a reason, future-in-law." Sirius arched an eyebrow, still grinning at him, "What are you up to these days — I hope you're not snogging, are you? — Gemma's goody two shoes and all. Hope you are not polluting her morals."
At the word snogging, Sirius's grip on Martin's shoulder was tighter than ever. Martin's eyes shot wide holding back a small wince, while Sirius smiled vaguely at him. A warning glare sent to the blond's direction, while Gammaliel scoffed.
Martin pressed his lips tight, held back his wince until Sirius loosened his grip, "The only person who would pollute my morals is your brother, Sirius." the witch chimed in, turning to the said boy's brother.
"I see," Sirius mused, "But from what I saw the other day you were the one who went feral with my dear brother. What buttons did he push, your highness?"
"Her patience." Martin chimed in.
Sirius raised his finger and was about to respond to that, but then came footsteps behind them with a low grumble. The three turned to look over their shoulder and found a boy keeping a hunchback posture was mumbling not so far from them.
Gammaliel narrowed her eyes, she could make out the shoulder-length black hair. The hooky nose was standing out from his gloomish features, almost covered with a film of shine from excessive grease on his skin. Sirius grinned, "Oi, Snivellus, what are you doing here?"
"I thought this was a public place." the greasy boy mumbled, but it was loud enough for the three to hear what he was about to say next, "Not some spot for a corrupted bully with his little recruits."
"And what of that has anything to do with you?" Martin challenged.
"Ravenclaws." The Snivellus boy glanced at both McKinnon and the Irish witch, "I thought they're supposed to be brainy rather than brawny." taunted the boy, "You're the brother of that savage blonde."
"Are you talking about my sister?" Martin narrowed his eyes at that, jaw tensed at the tone.
At the mention of Marlene, Sirius's eyes flickered with mischief hidden behind it. Sirius wanted to get to his feet but a gut feeling made Gemma stretched her hand and grabbed him by the arm. "Don't, Pad."
But the Gryffindor squirmed with a smile and got to his feet, "Oh Merlin," he started, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt Snivellus here — I'm just going to suggest Snivellus that the whomping Willow is a much better place for his greasy nose. Maybe he is going to find out what he was looking for."
With that, the boy flinched and raised his brows, Sirius's eyes pierced but the sinister meaning behind it was clear. Gemma wished she could understand how Sirius Black's brain worked. Even Martin knitted his brows at his reply.
The casanova who was head over heels over his sister just said a sentence to chase the Slytherin boy away, when Martin thought he would do something even more vicious than that. The last time a boy was making fun of Marlene's bluntness in front of Sirius, they ended up in the Hospital Wings with enlarged head for a day.
As the Slytherin hurriedly left the lake, Black turned to the Ravenclaws with a huge grin on his face. "What wonderful weather isn't it?" he mused blissfully, before taking his seat back between them.
Martin and Gemma gave each other a suspicious look before Sirius said again, "You know kiddo, that tonight there will be a blood moon. I learned it in Astronomy the other day every two years occurrence pretty rare isn't it?"
"Uh — yeah sure." Gemma agreeing with brows knitted in confusion, "But Siriu—"
"SIRIUS!"
Came a loud half-cackling voice behind them, and followed closely was the sound of rushed footsteps. She smiled as soon as she recognized the voice's owner and turned to him, "There you are."
A jet black-haired boy with his hair messier than Mrs. Norris's fur on hurricane came. Mischievous grin plastered on his face, running, "Merlin, you're here too!" he beamed at the Irish witch.
James Potter slumped himself to the three from behind them, unloading his body weight as he huffed from running he did earlier. "Jamesie!" called Gemma half-giggling, "You're heavy!"
"Hello, Potter. But holy dragon dung get your arse off us." Martin rolled his eyes unenthusiastically.
"Prongs!" Sirius said with a huff, "What is it?"
Prongs shifted to sit next to Merlin girl and ruffled the brunette's hair. Darting his green eyes to Sirius, shrugging, "Nothing, just got Moony's in Hospital Wings with Wormtail, thought I'd come to look for you with McKinnon — you take the doppelganger instead." he grinned, eyeing at Martin.
Martin shuddered, "No, thanks." he shifted away from Sirius, "I'll send it back to Marlene."
Sirius frowned unamused at his respond, "What do you mean?" he sing-songed, "Look at me, every time I look at myself in the mirror — I'll flirt with me damn I'd fuck me."
Gemma laughed at that, before Martin narrowed his eyes and cut off, "Why is Lupin sick again?" he asked in disbelief, "What's he's on?"
There was a short pause between them. Gemma swore she caught Sirius and James shared a look before either of them stuttered and came up with completely different answers.
"Flu."
"Fever."
Both troublemakers said in unison and their eyes widened as if they were talking through their eyes. Finally, came to an agreement that Remus was having flu and fever.
***
That evening, she was dealing with her lesson with Black. Not that she was looking forward to a session or spat and slurs every time she tutted the wrong note, and Regulus would hide the curve of his lips every time.
The session was running for a few days now, Gemma began to take notes of his instruction. Though, that evening Regulus's eyes were fixated on the difference between her left hand and her right.
Her left hand was dancing between each key like it has its memory to the rhythm. While her right hand was placed on her lap, squeezing her robe and he narrowed his eyes to see her hand was shaking.
"Stop." Regulus commanded, the Irish witch stilled and sighed loudly at that.
"What now, Black?" Gemma groaned, turning her head to face him, "I told you I'm trying."
Regulus' grey eyes fixated on her hands now that both stops moving he could see clearly how they were trembling. "What's wrong with your hands?"
"Nothing." Gemma pursed her lips and curled her hand into a tight fist again. She turned away to look down at the keyboard, "Can we just continue?"
Regulus wanted to nudge and say no, he watched her in potion her hands were so still as a healer but at the sight of a piano her whole body began to act one-eighty degree. Her palms covered in cold sweat, her breath was longer and slower — Hang on, why would he noticed all that — Stop.
The boy tore his gaze away, his brows furrowed out of annoyance. Heat spread across his chest that he translated as irritation to the witch attitude. So with that, he cleared his throat.
"We're done for today." Regulus got up from his seat, briskly turning to sling his bag he placed on the table nearby, "We'll try again Monday."
Gemma sighed softly, pursing a small smile, "Okay, same time?" she asked, secretly snapped her fingers, summoning her bag and wand at once.
Regulus hummed to that, "Don't be late." that was the last thing she heard along with the door shut right after, Gemma turned with eyes narrowed.
What the hell is his problem?
Shrugging it off, Gemma got out of the room and rush herself as she passed the dimly lit corridor. She was fidgeting on her bag strap, knowing it was past curfew and the Prefect patrol just began. Passing the Hospital Wings she remembered Remus was sick.
Gammaliel pressed her hand to the nape, slightly massaging her tense neck from all the hours looking down to the keyboard. Her hand stopped shaking as she hummed to herself. The moonbeam entered and showered her skin as she passed the quickest way to the Ravenclaw tower, passing the whomping willow.
The witch turned to face the moon, she paused staring at the moon admiringly. It wasn't bone-white as usual, rather covered with a shade of blood. Then she heard noises, boys laughter. She narrowed her eyes, scanning for the boys. Thinking it was the prefects.
She quickly sprinted and her gaze landed on three boys approaching the aggressive tree. Her azure eyes grew wide as she recognized, the voices was three Gryffindors boys she knew. Sirius, James, and Peter.
The next thing that happened was beyond her wildest imagination, Peter shape-shifted growing hunchback, smaller and smaller until taking the form of a rat. The Irish witch clapped her hand to her mouth stopping herself from yelling.
The yellowish garden rat sprinted stealthily, to the tree as it entered the root of the tree. No, he — the rat — or Peter was entering under the tree. Then the ever so moving tree was immobilized. Sirius was on the outside grinning.
James raised his brows, "You're not coming?"
"Nah." said Sirius with a grin, "Later."
James shrugged and entered the secret entrance, the Irish witch petrified as if glued to where she stood. Unsure if she had to be confused, surprised or amazed, Peter Pettigrew the small scaredy-cat of the group just turned himself into a rat. A fucking rat.
Or the fact that James and Sirius weren't surprised or that this seemed like a usual setting to them and sneaked into the entrance wherever it took them to. Gammaliel was stunned.
A howling, a longing howl of a wolf was heard from God knows where. And the hair on Gemma's nape rose in full tension. Her lips parted, when she saw what was happening next, James was carrying a boy out of the tree.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" James's eyes filled with horror.
She squinted to see, and she could recognize the boy in James's arm from the hooky nose. It was the boy she saw earlier, the Slytherin — Snivellus?
"What the hell are you doing in there?" James yelled at him, while the boy was speechless. Sirius who was grinning triumphantly at that, suddenly taken to a halt when he felt a certain presence.
"Holy shit." Sirius said in a hollow voice, as he felt a growling from behind him. Stood more than six feet tall filled with fur, eyes blazing red. Teeth sharp than razor knife, growling. The moonbeam was recharging the beast before it howled.
"Holy mother of Merlin." Gemma said in a hollow voice. A werewolf. The howling sent chills to Gemma as she stepped forward out of reflect. Seeing the danger she screamed, "Sirius! Run!"
But to her unluck, the werewolf ears were sharper in the night. It heard her voice out of agony and the beast turned to her, got on his four feet. Launching himself in her direction.
"Gemma!" Sirius yelled.
Gemma's feet were rooted to the ground where she stood, unable to see Sirius again. Instead, a black dog jumped in front of her. The black dog barked to the beast while showing the sharp canine, and the beast fought the dog first.
The werewolf grew more and more irritated as the werewolf swung his hand and make the dog hit the ground lying unconscious, "NO!"
Author's note:
I'm sorry I don't include wolfstar or dorlene in this and only left subtle clue for 🐺🌟, y'all been commenting abt it all over this book. I just need something to connect the whole ordeal of Martin—Gemma and the Marauders and I chose BlacKinnon as the line. Meanwhile, I make Dorcas to be a year older than the marauders for future plot purposes. I don't want Gemma to be 'the fifth marauders' because she would smack their head every time they woke her up early for a prank and yelled 'you uncivilized clot-pole' when they acted like bleeding idiots. I want her to be a ravenclaw who has her own vision, goal, her own story and not following the Marauders around.
Thank you.