#remus002

Despite their little hiccup with their assignment, from the Order, Félix actually slept soundly that night. It was nice no longer feeling that the bed was too big for him alone. Even if the one at the pub that they slept on was technically too small for two. Just the warmth of having someone beside him eased his thoughts and helped ward the bad dreams away.

When morning came, Félix woke up instantly. It was a mixture of not sleeping in an environment that he was used to ad the haunting feeling of knowing that they still haven’t accomplished what they came here to do.  Félix forced himself to sit up, only to be greeted by Remus who was already awake. “Good morning,” he muttered. He didn’t catch the weird vibe Remus was emitting right away but upon second look,  Félix became worried. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

Due to Mulciber's awful negligence, they now have to take extra measures to prevent from being exposed. Who knew what Filch could possibly remember? The time he spent inside the bag? Being dragged further into the woods by Bellatrix and Rabastan? Damon attacking him and pinning him to the wall? The possibilities were too many and none of them were comforting. That's why they had to come up with a plan. And plan they did, Walden was quite proud of it too since he came up with the initial idea himself. All they needed was an opportunity.

Luckily, the opportunity was practically handed to him in the form of the announcement of the Yule Ball and the delicious Remus Lupin. 

They haven't really talked after their brief tryst in the forest. It's not like they had much to talk about, especially with the incident of seeing Filch almost crucified was still in everyone's minds.

Walden didn't know where he could find the Gryffindor so he just decided to linger in one of the busiest hallways in Hogwarts. When he finally saw Lupin, the Ravenclaw greeted the other boy with a knowing smile before tilting his head towards the nearest restroom. Walden added a wink for good measure before slowly making his way towards the restroom.

She was now an expert at apparating right onto the front step of James and Remus’ apartment building. It was convenient that her boyfriend lived with one of her dearest friends; half the time she came here was to visit Remus rather than James. Perhaps even more than half, Lily thought, a smile emerging on her lips. It faded a little when she remembered why she was here today. There wasn’t much she could do for Remus, really - she’d never become an Animagus, so she couldn’t help him the way the boys did. Usually she accepted that. But last time they’d been together, he’d been so haunted. Not being quite able to forget about the stress on his face, she’d spent last night brewing a Draught of Peace. It was meant to reduce anxiety, which would help his human mind. Maybe it would even do something for the wolf, too. 

It wasn’t much. But she hoped it would help. Letting herself in, she called out for either of the boys. “Hello? Remus?”  Back when they’d first moved here, and she and James had only just started dating, she’d knocked on the door every time. Sirius had just laughed at her (here so often she could be forgiven for thinking all three of them lived together). Remus had been kinder. He’d told her she could always come in. She set the potion down on their counter. “I brought you something. Don’t tell James, though. I didn’t get him anything.” 

Snow had fallen outside Hogwarts on Saturday morning, and naturally, a bunch of students decided to head outside. The Marauders followed suit, and ventured out to the grounds after lunch. The snow had piled up throughout the beginning hours of the day, covering the grass in a thick layer of white flakes. Sirius walked alongside everyone else, all of them talking together about anything and everything they could think of. 

Suddenly, Sirius had an idea, and put on a mischievious smirk as he bent down to pick up a handful of snow, indiscreetly rolling it into a ball a ball and chucking it at his friends. “Snowball fight!” He exclaimed, grinning wildly. It didn’t take long for it to escalate into a full-fledged battle together, the boys throwing snow balls back and forth at each other. Sirius dodged an incoming one that he was pretty sure Peter threw, before grabbing some so he could get revenge. He hurled it towards where Peter had been standing, but realized he’d moved before Sirius could do anything. It was almost comical how the snowball soared past at full-speed (really, it had been a good throw), and smacked right into Marlene, who was standing to the side with Lily and Mary. Sirius couldn’t help but laugh at that as he called out, “All right there, Marls?!” 

It seemed that everywhere she looked around, Marlene McKinnon was simply surrounded by Valentine’s Day things. A lover of red and pink herself, she could not fault the colour scheme that was running undercurrent through the scrawled doodles in the margins of notes and flurried conversations about attire for the ball—though she could fault it when it came to attire, because pink and red were two colours that she adored and could not ever wear to the ball, not when it would match literally every aspect of the room. Marlene McKinnon was not made to fade into the background.

She was considering wearing something white and angelic, to signify how she was pure at heart—to which she amused herself by imagining the expressions that would adorn her friends’ faces, particularly Sirius’ and Mary’s—when she caught yet another snatch of Valentines-related conversation: make sure it matches your date’s colour scheme—is he wearing a tie or dress robes with a trim? At these words, Marlene’s expression melted into a petulant look. For one, as far as she was concerned, that girl shouldn’t have to inherently match her attire to his, what the fuck, especially not if it was only the lad’s bloody robe trim or something. Secondly, and more significantly, a date was required in order to have this dilemma.

Marlene was hardly an unappealing specimen, and the concept of finding a date was no great challenge. In fact, she was rather adamantly avoiding a particularly dogged Fifth Year and had already politely declined one nice enough lad, before, of course, sending him to a Hufflepuff girl who she felt would be rather more suited to him. Marlene, for this reason, felt confident she could find a date if the fancy struck her, but it hadn’t, at least not for just a random person. She was magnificent enough to go confidently stag or in a group of friends, but given that Mary and Sirius were attending together, apparently, she might need to reassess her plan.

It was absolutely not warm enough to justify being outside, and yet that was where Marlene had just entered from, cheeks pink from the cold, and pockets filled with enough flowers and petals to keep her occupied throughout the day. She greatly enjoyed enchanting them into crowns, amongst other things, and once cheerfully bequeathed one upon her dear Professor Flitwick. She was, in fact, in the process of crafting one of her floral masterpieces when Remus appeared, and she paused in her work, retracting her tongue from where it was stuck out the side of her mouth in concentration, and sent him a grin. “Ayyy, Lupin!” she greeted. Before she could say anything else, she heard, from behind her, two girls gushing about this boy they were sure was going to ask one of them, and she rolled her eyes in fondly amused exasperation at Remus. “Got yourself a hot date for the ball they won’t shut up about?” she inquired easily, shifting slightly so she could face him better, her floral masterpiece momentarily forgotten.