The Marauding Sort of Priorites

Juniper did not see films that often, but James’ question gave her pause as she considered her answer. “I like Hitchcock films,” she admitted with a shrug of one shoulder. “The pacing is always interesting, and who doesn’t like being frightened just a bit?”

Juniper’s lips thinned, even as the corners turned up, at James’ pouting. “You want details of your best friend’s sex life? Should I be concerned?” She let out a bit of a laugh, making it clear she was teasing before she continued.

“Well,” Juniper drawled, her eyes widening as she appraised him. “Perhaps you could clear something up for me?” Juniper tossed a few more toys into the rubbish bin, feeling her chest clench at the waste. Who destroys a toy store for children?

Without waiting for a response, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Do you have any idea why he’s got the letter L tattooed on his arse? Was it some type of bonding and does Lily have a matching one?” She did the best to inject just the right amount of confusion mixed with curiosity into her tone.

At the question about quidditch, Juniper shrugged one shoulder. “Ballycastle. Second best in league history.” Her lips quirked, though in truth Ballycastle was her team simply because she was from Northern Ireland. “It could be worse,” she told him. “You could support the Cannons.”

“Hitchcock?” James repeated, looking up long enough to furrow his brow at her. He didn’t recognize the word but he recognized the sentiment and flashed his teeth at her in a winning grin next. “I agree though! The best motion pictures are the ones that get you invested. Otherwise they can get real boring, don’t you think? Like that one - Annie Hill?” He pulled a face. “Romance is boring, don’t you think?” 

James made more kissy noises in her direction and didn’t miss a beat when she asked about the tattoo. “Oh yes,” he said. “It stands for ‘Loser’, and it’s not Lily with a matching one, but me! ‘A’ for ‘Amazing’. Want to see?” 

He turned his rear in his direction and made like he was to pull his trousers down and then laughed heartily before returning to his duty. The store was finally starting to look somewhat nearer neatness. 

Regulus had long since moved out of Molly’s house and into a flat of his own, but he was still a frequent visitor. He’d grown rather fond of the kids, particularly Percy, and had a habit of stopping by to help Molly around the house or to babysit when he could. 

Coming in from the garden, Reg took a second to vanish the mud from his clothes. The older kids had roped him into leading an impromptu flying lesson in the garden, which had rather predictably dissolved into chaos. He only looked up when he heard James say his name, having hoped the other man would have already left.

“Potter,” he replied in place of a greeting, raising an eyebrow slightly. He hoped James had moved past throwing curses in a family residence, but he couldn’t quite be sure. The worry had him visibly on edge. “I’m not the one who started throwing mud; Charlie’s the trouble maker around. I tried to explain how that would get the ref pretty mad, but…” He trailed off, realising that’s not the kind of trouble inferred. “Seriously, get over yourself.”

Regulus had been playing with the children. James did not bother to hide his surprise at the news, both of his eyebrows shooting towards his hairline. This did a great deal to ingratiate this new-and-improved Regulus Black to him, although it did make him newly suspicious that somebody had either Imperio’d or impersonated him. 

“You never struck me as the kind of bloke who liked having mud on his robes,” James pointed out fairly (or at least it seemed to him). He couldn’t help but smile though. “Although the news that Charlie started it all doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, the little devil.” 

Charlie was his favourite (not that he’d ever tell the others that). 

Remus wasn’t sure what the proper proceedings were for conversations at a funeral and didn’t know what James wanted to hear now. There were many things he could say about how great his parents were but the words in past tense only made him hesitant on his words. This was the most tragic day for anyone to experience and Remus nodded in silence.

There were many things he could say but decided on making sure how James was feeling and focusing on the life his parents had lived. “I…my mother never met yours. But the way I talked about your mother and father…she would say the nicest things as if they were best friends. I think their effect on people will not go away as long as we continue to remember them.” Remus glanced away, knowing he was speaking his own truth into those words and felt his heart pace quicken. 

“Oh, you’re definitely lucky to have me.  I am thankful to have you.”

Remus had a way about him that made everything he said, every emotional moment they shared, seem earnest and meaningful. James had always known this about his friend - indeed had in the past complained that he was too serious and somber at times - but he’d never been grateful for it the way he was today. 

Gilderoy couldn’t imagine, couldn’t even begin to imagine, what James felt like right now. Any time he even tried to think about harm befalling his family his entire brain just shut down and he lost the ability to function. How was James Potter still standing? How could even begin to form words?

He hadn’t really known James, only knew him as Lily’s boyfriend at the most, and that handsome one Regulus’s brother hung about at the least, and he couldn’t quite describe why he’d come here at all. Only… it was his parents. Someone had lost their parents. 

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Gilderoy tried to find words that didn’t seem entirely meaningless. “Is there anything you need?” He said after a long moment. “Is there anything I can do?”

He hadn’t seen Gilderoy Lockhart since that somewhat meaningless exchange in the Muggle grocery shop and was therefore surprised to see him there, at his parents’ funeral. But then, his parents had been somewhat well-known; his mother had held a Wizengamot seat and his father had invented Sleekeazy’s, they were widely revered in the Magical community, and their death had even made the Prophet. 

He didn’t know whether it was a kind gesture, a reverent one, for Lockhart to have shown up at the funeral or a politic one, but he did at least sound earnest. The words were ones he’d heard about a trillion times since they’d passed, so if he sounded a little exasperated, he hoped the other wizard wouldn’t hold it against him. 

Marlene almost reached out to him, and tell him it was okay to cry but decided against it. After all if he started fully crying  Marlene was sure that whatever dam on her emotions she’d done would break down. 

It wasn’t fair. At the end of the day none if this made sense to her, and it wasn’t fair. Shaking her head slightly she crossed her arms over each other almost relieved she wouldn’t have to go up to see them. 

She could still picture the both of them in her mind’s eye, and she didn’t want her final image of them to be them in a casket. 

 A choke at of a laugh leaving her as he tried to make a joke. She didn’t even realize she’d been close to tears before then, but quickly tried to wipe the one that escape with her sleeve. 

“Of all the bloody things,”Marlene said looking down at her shoes, not really wanting James to see her face. “Didn’t even know it reached all the way out there.” 

This was why he had retreated in the first place, if he was being honest - not, of course, to get away from Marlene, or from Sirius, or from Remus, or from anyone in particular, but to get away from them all. It was difficult; each new confrontation demanded her to think of the different and myriad relationships he and his parents had had with these people. Marlene, for example, had grown up with James, inasmuch as anyone could be said to have done so. They’d been friends for ages and of all his friends knew them the longest. 

Perhaps for someone else this would have made her a prime candidate for some good old-fashioned weeping, but James just couldn’t bring himself to do it. The two of them didn’t weep, it just wasn’t the nature of their relationship - even if everything in the whole world had turned topsy-turvy now that his parents had died. 

“They were two of only five cases reported in Wales,” he said, repeating the facts he’d been told matter-of-factly. “And the only two casualties. Doctors said - well, they were old, I guess.” 

He shrugged again and dragged his hand across his nose. 

“Think it hates everyone, but Lily. Figures,” Remus countered with a quick grin. Even though he only used it for necessities it was hardly used otherwise. His eyes were fixed on James and him cleaning what he could with an appreciative smile. The morning after a full moon left him in twisted pain, bruises and fresh scars that shamed his body. He sighed and leaned against the table, the heels of his hands rubbing against his face. There was no hint of indication Greyback would be there at next moon and Remus felt like he was wasted space for getting information like this.

The thoughts were interrupted at the quip and he chuckled silently. “Don’t think Sirius and I haven’t discussed that. I never had one and Sirius’ is dedicated to the Black family. We would need to find one and obviously we haven’t lifted a finger to do so,” Remus explained with a huff of laughter at their own expense. “They spoiled us with food didn’t they? Would go back to school just for that.”

There was beat of silence and Remus could feel James’ eyes on him even if he wasn’t looking at his friend. The scent of pine filled his lungs and he ducked his head at his friends words. He dug his nail at his skin, knowing he wanted to tell someone and he was doing Order business. The mission of being a spy didn’t mean he had to hide these things from his friends. But it weighed on him how he was using himself and the panic that rose within him when he thought about what he was doing.

“I want to…He looked…remorseful. Sorry even,” Remus mused aloud, his brows drawing together as he described that meeting. The place that Greyback had bit him projected forward on his side, the rest of him feeling paper thin in comparison. “I’ll tell you and the Order if anything happens. That much I can promise-I’m sure Dumbledore will want to know.”

“Well, that’s not its fault, really - Lily could charm a Bowtruckle out of a wand tree,” James said, shrugging and grinning a little.

“Finding a House-Elf together,” James smirked, lifting one eyebrow at Remus. He leaned over the table and rested on his elbows so he could look across the table at him. “I assume you’ll be announcing your engagement any day now?”

At Remus’s words, James finally felt comforted. He had truly been pushing too much, but he could hardly control himself. He needed Remus to know he was there, that he could trust him - and on the other hand, curiosity - no, more than curiosity, a need for the knowledge - burned in him. He needed to be needed, trusted, vital. In a strange way he was almost jealous of Remus, which was outrageous and would never be uttered, but this was such a vital mission and James felt like he hadn’t done anything vital in weeks.

Juniper supposed she could have guessed that he’d choose Leia – didn’t most of the men she knew who had seen the movie? – and she chuckled as she shook her head. “She’s an interesting character,” she agreed with a small grin. “I like her a lot more than some of the other female characters in movies lately.”

Tilting her head to the side, she asked him another question. “What other films do you like?”

She raised a brow at the kissing noises, though Juniper didn’t comment on them specifically. Her eyes were alight. “I’d hope so,” she finally said as she picked up a broken hippogriff from the floor, making a face when the repairing charm wasn’t working.

Juniper’s lips twitched at the corners as he tossed the Quaffles into the bin. She shook her head as she continued to sort through some more of the destroyed toys, fixing what she could and disposing of what she couldn’t. At his question, she shrugged one shoulder. “Beater, actually. For five years,” she told him. It had been fun for her, Quidditch, though she could acknowledge she’d been much shorter and wirier than most of the beaters on other teams. “Probably couldn’t been Captain if my grades hadn’t constantly been somewhat abysmal.”

“Oh, lots,” James said lazily. There was a pile of toys broken beyond recognition, unearthed now that they had moved enough of the debris that had been laying over top of it. Rather than waste time bending down to sort through it, he raised his wand and levitated it, a bit at a time. “I like the scary ones mostly. The one about the shark and - and the one about the alien. I think it’s just called Alien? Anyway, that one. What about you?” 

This was not how he had imagined meeting Sirius’s most recent paramour but it wasn’t completely unpleasant. The room was starting to look tidier and he could see why Sirius enjoyed her company; she was easy to talk to, certainly, funny and seemingly carefree. They got along swell, which pleased him. He’d have to be sure to tell Sirius later. 

“Aw, come on,” he said, pouting now. “Is that really all you have to say on the matter? You’re shagging my best friend and I don’t get even a little bit of gossip?” 

He threw the Bludger from the set towards her, smiling. 

Remus knew there were happy and normal families and was reminded of that fact when he saw James and his parents. They didn’t deserve to die and it was a fickle thing to be bargaining with death, but Remus’ face was worn thin with grim when he took his first step into the church. 

He managed a weak chuckle at James’ attempt at lightning the mood, but nodded stiffly. No one should ever have to lose their families and the way it happened seemed like an agonizing death. The Dragon Pox had left its infectious print on the community and didn’t leave without taking a number of good people.

“Better than alright if you ask me,” Remus commented softly, his hands tightening in his pockets tensely. His parents had always been the kindest to him even when he thought he wasn’t deserving of it. Of course it was life and you were meant to take care of your parents when they grew old. But not like this. Not so early.

His eyes flew back up from his gaze on the foor before his expression softened. For a moment he thought James had meant himself and he didn’t know if he could handle himself if he lost James.

“Oh, yeah. They…I didn’t think obituaries and funerals would be of common practice but…” Remus swallowed and went silent, knowing there would be a fair share of more funerals but that was horrid conversation for the setting. “We are all here for you, alright? I know this is…hard. But the best thing is not to feel like you’re alone.”

Remus chuckled at James’s attempt at a joke, but as was his wont he also cut through to the truth, to the earnestness that James had been trying to avoid. James gave his friend a sad smile and nodded, feeling the tug of loss again but somehow it felt more cathartic and less debilitating with Remus standing there next to him. He felt... reinforced. 

“Yeah,” he said, his face getting a little wistful. He nodded again and gave a good sniff. “Yeah, they were great.” 

Remus’s words were similar to ones he’d heard a million times in the last few days but they seemed more genuine and certainly more poignant when they came from him - and not only because he had so recently lost his own mother. He felt a pang of guilt. He hadn’t been very present when Remus’s mother had died, so caught up in Lily’s pregnancy and the changes that were about to take place in his life that he’d forgotten to give consideration to the changes happening to those around him. 

He grimaced and shrugged again.