☆ 𝟙𝟛 : too much advice

thirteen too much advice

🧣

'BOYS ARE SHIT, anyway, Black.'

'Marls, love, I really don't think you're helping her,' Dorcas sighed softly, placing a hand on Marlene's forearm.

'I just give up,' [y/n] sniffed, flopping back onto her bed. 'It's been — what? Two weeks? Prongs is the only one willing to talk to me, and that's only because of you, Lils.'

    'Nah, James tends to catch on pretty quickly when he's made a fuck-up,' Lily commented as she played with [y/n]'s sprawled [y/h/c] locks. 'And besides, even if he did go the wrong way about it, he wasn't exactly wrong in what he was saying.'

    [y/n] sat bolt upright on her bed and snapped her head in the redhead's direction.

    'Dear Merlin, not you, too?'

    'Godric, Lily, getting into a relationship with Potter is possibly the worst thing that's happened to you,' Alice said, turning the page of her copy of Witch Weekly. 'Honestly, what happened to female solidarity?'

    'I'm just saying that after your careers talk with Professor McGonagall, perhaps you should have a chat with Rem—'

    'No.' [y/n] shook her head firmly. 'Not a chance.'

    'Maybe you should,' Mary said weakly, trailing off after receiving a glare from [y/n]. 'What about Sirius, then? Tackle the easier conversation first.'

    [y/n] scoffed. 'Well, he said he's only willing to talk to me once I've made up with Remus.'

    'With all due respect, Black,' Marlene cut in, 'as much as I prefer you to your God-awful brother, you're acting terribly alike to him.'

    'You're all useless,' [y/n] cried after an offended gasp. 'Dorcas, you're always the voice of reason. What's your opinion?'

    'I reckon you should go to your careers meeting with McGonagall, gain some inspiration from our lady in tartan, mull things over and then decide what you're going to do,' Dorcas suggested, passing across a plate of custard creams. 'If it's taken you two weeks to get to this stage, what harm is another two hours going to do?'

    'Prongs said the same thing,' [y/n] muttered exasperatedly.

    'What's happened to Pettigrew, then?' Alice asked. 'You haven't mentioned him at all.'

    'He's practically fallen off the face of the earth,' [y/n] replied, rolling her eyes. 'I did bump into him on my way to Muggle Studies yesterday and he ran in the other direction when he saw me.'

    'Always knew he was a coward,' Marlene huffed. 'The power of the argument is in Remus' court, so that's the side he's taking.'

    'He's not a coward,' said [y/n] defensively. 'He just knows better than to piss Sirius off.'

    'I'm still not quite sure how Sirius got involved in this,' Mary stated.

    'I'm not going over it again,' [y/n] groaned.

    'Oh, one more time, please,' Mary begged. 'I'll make notes. Perhaps we can draw a pros and cons list from it to help you decide what to do.'

    [y/n] sighed. 'I'll do it quickly, then, because I have to leave in ten to meet Minnie.'

    'Let me grab a quill.'

    'Let me grab some Firewhiskey.'

    'Marls.'

    'What? This is the most drama we've had in months! I'm relishing it.'

    Truth be told, recapping the events of the past few weeks was the last thing [y/n] really wanted to be doing. It was painful enough going through it, let alone reliving it on several separate occasions. But then, on the other hand, talking things over with the girls became almost relaxing, especially when she received five different dynamics of therapist in response to her woes.

    And so, [y/n] retold the story, for the seventh time — not that she was keeping count — as she filled her face with Dorcas' leftover custard creams, trying her best not to remember that look on her boyfriend's (or was it ex-boyfriend, now?) face.

✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩

Two weeks before

'RISE AND SHINE, lazy bones!'

    'Merlin, Paws, do you want me to have a heart-attack?'

    'Preferably,' said [y/n] after little thought. 'Get your arse out of bed, you're going to miss breakfast otherwise.'

    Sirius groaned. 'My head.'

    'Yeah, I'm not surprised,' [y/n] chuckled. 'You drunk enough to enact an opera scene to Bohemian Rhapsody with Prongs, then fell off the table in the common room. I wouldn't be surprised if you're concussed, as well as hungover.'

    'I'm just going to stay here for today,' Sirius sighed, turning over in his bed and snuggling into his pillow.

    It didn't take much convincing to get Sirius down for breakfast — and by convincing we mean repeatedly smacking him across the head with a pillow — and [y/n] was satisfied with every yelp of pain Sirius made. She went to trip him up on the staircase, but thought that was perhaps taking her mischievous glee too far.

    Despite her happiness, everything from the night before — the words, the feelings, the pictures — came flooding back to her as the twins joined their friends at the Gryffindor table.

    '... and Frank said that his mum — oh! Morning, guys!'

    A sluggish chorus of 'good-mornings' followed Alice's greeting.

    'Pads, mate, you need to drink that,' James informed, pointing to the cup next to Lily. 'Headache's gone — like, poof!'

    'Sure, sure,' Sirius dismissed. 'Oi, McKinnon, chuck us a slice of toa— Yeah, not literally, you arsehole. Honestly, it's any wonder people like you, you absolute ...'

    'Morning,' Remus murmured groggily as [y/n] tentatively took a seat next to him. She put on a smile.

    Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine ...

    Remus placed an arm around [y/n]'s waist and pulled her in for a peck. [y/n] froze.

    'You all right?' Remus asked, pulling away before their lips had the chance to meet.

    'Yeah, yeah,' [y/n] breathed, hastily sitting down across from Peter. 'Yeah, I'm fine.'

    'You don't seem f—'

    'I said I'm fine,' [y/n] snapped, avoiding Remus' eyes.

    Peter was eyeing the pair nervously and silently passed [y/n] a scrap piece of parchment.

    'Moony, help me with my Defence revision later,' Peter demanded suddenly, offering [y/n] a moment to read the note whilst he had Remus distracted.

    He remembers.

    [y/n] snapped her head up at Peter who was watching her from the corner of his eye. She stuffed the note in her pocket briskly, only to find Sirius surveying her suspiciously.

'Have a good sleep, Paws?' Peter asked. 'Heard McKinnon and Meadowes made quite the entrance at four o'clock this morning.'

'Well, I must have been fast asleep,' [y/n] murmured, looking at her plate whilst she pushed her food around with her fork. 'I went to bed early so I would have been long gone.'

'Should have seen this one this morning,' James remarked, pointing his thumb at Remus and joining the conversation briefly. 'Throwing up his guts in our loo. It stinks like you wouldn't believe.'

'They don't say early to bed and early to rise for no reason,' Remus chuckled, turning to [y/n]. 'Thank you for making sure I went to bed though, I really appreciate it.'

[y/n] smiled weakly, grateful that Lily pulled James into her and Mary's debate about the best Muggle chocolate. Remus stretched and tried to put an arm around her, like he would do when he pulled her in to kiss her temple, but retracted himself when the girl flinched away and went rigid.

'What's wrong with you today?' he asked.

Peter gulped, eyes widening in panic.

'Nothing, nothing,' [y/n] muttered. 'Just eat your food, Remus. You've got your monthly period next week, we wouldn't want you not being strong enough for it.'

'I might be socially inept, Paws, but I'm not stupid,' said Remus, dropping his cutlery onto his plate with a clatter. 'Did something happen last night? Talk to me —'

'Nothing's wrong!' [y/n] shouted. 'You've always got to pry! Can't you just leave things alone?'

'Right, Bear-Star, come with me a second,' Sirius interrupted, dragging his sister from her seat and out of the hall of bewildered students, back to the common room without another word.

'What the fuck is wrong with you?' Sirius yelled, not giving a second thought to the wide-open door.

'Nothing!' [y/n] shrieked. Her hair went wild and her eyes turned black. 'Can people just leave me alone?'

'No,' Sirius growled. 'You need to talk if this is about last ni—'

'I just want one minute so I can calm down!' [y/n] whimpered.

'Then stop making everyone so awkward!' Sirius responded, dark curls waving ferociously as he talked. 'Remus is already uncomfortable because of what he said to you last night and felt the need to apologise to us!'

'So he should!' [y/n] screeched. 'What a lovely thing to hear after the seven years of friendship we've given him! And what he said about me, especially after these last few mon—'

'Give him a break, would you?' Sirius snarled, pointing a finger dangerously close to [y/n]'s face.

'When can I have a break?' [y/n] asked, voice strained as the tears threatened to spill. 'It's like a full-time job trying to keep him happy! I do everything — absolutely EVERYTHING — to change his mind about life and he expects me to just leave at the end of it? Am I not working hard enough? Is that what it is? Or does he expect me to abandon him because that's what he wants, and I'm just a temporary fix so he can get through school? I'm not a drug, Sirius, I'm a human-fucking-being!'

    'Give over yourself, [y/n],' Sirius scoffed rolling his eyes. 'I'm meant to be the dramatic one, not y—'

    The creaky floorboard at the entrance of the room sounded. The arguing siblings snapped their attention in the direction of the noise and grimaced at the sight they saw.

    'I was just ... uhh, I was just going,' Remus stammered, trying to escape past Peter was hovering at the entrance to the room. 'I'll, umm —'

    'Shit, Moony,' Sirius squeaked. 'Godric, we're so sorry —'

    'No, no, it's OK,' Remus gulped, voice rising in pitch. 'I'll be in the library.'

    And he stalked down the stairs, desperately clutching at the books he pushed against his chest.

    'Look what you've done now!' Sirius roared, gesturing towards the spot Remus had just disappeared from.

    'This is not my fault!' [y/n] yelled back. 'You should have closed the fucking door!'

    Sirius made a low grunt in frustration and massages his temples. 'Get out, [y/n]. Just go. Wormtail, take her to the girls.'

    'I don't think I want —'

    'I'll go myself,' [y/n] hissed, storming out of the room, 'seeing as none of you appear to like me.'

    The girls would take her side — certainly Marlene, anyway. And Alice knew what it was like to argue with boys, especially because of that blip her and Frank had last year. Lily had been pissed off by boys her entire time at Hogwarts, mainly because of Snape and Ja—

    'Paws!' James beamed, standing up from the chair closest to the fireplace at the heart of the common room. His glasses had steamed up because he sat so close to the fire. 'Fancy going down the pitch to have a one-on-one match?'

    'Not now, James,' [y/n] growled. 'I've really had it up to here with you boys at the minute.'

'Hey, what's wrong?' James pouted, fanning his heat-induced flush on his face by pulling the neck of his Beatles sweater. 'It's not to do with what Moony said this morning about last night, is it?'

'And what just happened now,' [y/n] added frustratedly. 'Sirius has been bollocking at me because I've been awkward about it instead of moving on, and now Remus won't even look at me. And don't get me started on Peter!'

James blinked silently, every other part if him motionless as if he had been petrified to the spot.

'Merlin, it's like fifth year all over again,' [y/n] sighed exasperatedly, dropping to the armchair James had just vacated.

'This is nothing like fifth year!' James cried.

'This is every bit like fifth year!' [y/n] exclaimed.

'But there's no risk of you and Pads getting Snivellus murdered by Moony!' James responded, rather too cheerful considering the topic. 'And here I am again, sweeping in to be the hero!'

'How would you feel if Lily decided she wasn't going to converse with you because she held a grudge?' [y/n] spat, ignoring the boy's previous comment.

'I mean, I had six years of it, Paws, it wouldn't be anything new.'

[y/n] roared frustratedly, clenching her fingers at the side of her head. 'You're so fucking annoying, James!'

'Hey, I'm just trying to help,' James snarled, his face suddenly contorting into an unusual anger. 'Just because you've decided to push the rest of us away doesn't mean I'll put up with it!' [y/n], taken aback by the change in James' mood, cowered slightly under his sharply pointed finger and stormy eyes. 'You can be so ridiculously self-centred, sometimes, [y/n]. That wasn't about you. That was about his insecurities and his uncertainty about his future. All you had to do was reassure him one more time so he could rest easy.'

'I think you'll find he rested pretty easy —'

'And this stupid, petty, I'm-the-heir-of-the-oldest-wizarding-family, self-righteous, I'm-always-right attitude needs to stop,' James continued. 'I know you didn't have much of a childhood growing up but that doesn't mean you can act like a four-year-old now.'

[y/n] was defeated by the silence that allowed James' voice to ring around the common room. She became overwhelmed by realisation after James' speech. How could she be so stupid? Merlin, was she really that awful a person? Her brother, who thought she could do now wrong, despised her; Remus always saw the best in everyone but struggled to look her in the eye; Peter never left her side and now was avoiding her all together; oh-so understanding James was yelling at her ... Was it really all her fault?

[y/n] felt a hot stream run down her face and, bringing a hand up to touch the burning trickle, soon realised she was crying. Then came the waterfall.

    'O-oh dear,' James stuttered, holding out his arms to [y/n]. 'Oh Merlin, what have I done? I didn't mean to make you cry, Paws. Honest.'

Harsh, heart-wrenching sobs were escaping [y/n]'s lips by now, to the point where she could barely stand on her own two feet.

'Shit, Paws, I'm so sorry. Come here, come on.'

    [y/n] allowed herself to be pulled onto James' lap and curled into a ball against his chest.

'I'm just so sad, Prongs,' she hiccoughed. 'Merlin. You're brutal, Potter.'

    'I know, I know,' James panicked as [y/n]'s sobbing continued. 'I'm so sorry, I really am.'

'Is something wrong with you lot? Why's Remus storming out of here again —?'

Lily stopped in her tracks as she watched [y/n] fist James jumper desperately, struggling for air between her crying. James sent Lily an urgent look as he cradled [y/n] in his arms.

'Christ, James, what did you do?'

'I think I broke her,' James replied slowly, voice rising as if he was asking a question.

    'Come with me, [y/n],' said Lily, offering a hand. 'I think you've had enough trouble with boys not understanding female feelings today. Dorcas' mum just sent a box of shortbreads and I think you could do with a few. Come on.'

Lily guided [y/n]'s trembling figure to the girls' side of the common room, looking back at James apprehensively to find the same anxious look she held mirrored in the spectacled boy's face. The two shook their heads.

They vowed that they would never take on the role as the mum and dad of the group, yet they couldn't help but take on the responsibility; they had a lot of work to do to sort this mess out.

✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩ ∘ ⋆ ∘ ✩

'AGAIN,' MARLENE SAID when [y/n] finished her recap of the last few weeks, 'boys are shit.'

    'And the moral of the story is —'

'I don't care about morals,' [y/n] interrupted Alice sharply, pocketing her wand from her bedside table and pulling on her socks. 'I need to go see Minnie, I'm already late.'

'Oooooh,' Lily sung, winking an emerald eye.

'Honestly, Black, don't worry about it,' Marlene said, waving a hand in dismissal. 'It's just a bit of a piss-take really. She asks if you've changed your mind since fifth year, then chats with you for five minutes about nothing.'

'I still don't want to be late,' [y/n] huffed, tying her shoelaces and lunging for the door. 'Back in a jiffy! And don't eat all the custard creams, they're really nice!'

A deep conversation with Professor McGonagall was just about what [y/n] needed considering her current predicament. Everything would be all right with Sirius, she knew that — that's how siblings worked; they argued and slowly but surely pretended nothing had happened. Peter, obviously, would follow suit as soon Sirius made up his mind to listen to James' explanations of [y/n]'s side of the story, which he heard from Lily. Remus was a much more difficult situation, on the other hand.

[y/n] desperately wanted to fix things with Remus, even if they only went back to being friends. Perhaps — and she couldn't believe she was saying it — Sirius was right. This was all her fault. What sort of way to prove to an anxious person that they needn't worry about anything was to avoid their gaze and escape their touch. Yet, then, again, [y/n] knew that her hot temper would have only resurfaced at a later date, so she couldn't help but feel grateful that feelings came to a head whilst they were still at school and forced to be in the presence of one another, allowing time to heal the cracks in her relationships with her best friends.

'Come in!' McGonagall's muffled voice called through the door.

[y/n] surprised herself back into reality, unaware that she had managed to carry herself to herself to her Head of House's office.

'Miss Black,' McGonagall greeted, gesturing to the empty chair in front of her desk.

    'Evening, Professor,' [y/n] replied, shuffling the black leather seat closer to the desk.

    'Have a biscuit, Black,' McGonagall instructed, pushing a tartan tin of shortbreads towards the girl, 'then we'll begin our careers advice.'

    'Is it really careers a'vice, 'ough?' [y/n] queried, having already shovelled two biscuits in her mouth. 'You alrea'y know I won' 'ave change' m'min'.'

    'The Headmaster has suggested we offer more assistance to newly graduating students,' McGonagall explained, raising an eyebrow and chuckling to herself as [y/n] wolfed down another piece of shortbread. 'With the current circumstances in the world, I can't begin to imagine how anxious you all must be entering employment.'

    'Understandable,' [y/n] approved.

    'Please don't finish my biscuits, Miss Black, I have five other students to see after you.' [y/n] jutted her bottom lip, sneaking her hand into the tin to snatch one more shortbread. McGonagall continued, 'Now, I believe you said you hadn't changed your mind —'

    'Still want to be an Auror, Minnie,' [y/n] grinned. 'We've all got to do our bit for the war.'

    McGonagall shook her head solemnly. 'Children should be in no place to have to fight in a war,' she murmured. 'Can I not convince you to take yourself elsewhere?'

    [y/n] shook her head firmly.

    'Not even as a professor?' McGonagall suggested.

    'I considered it,' [y/n] replied, 'but no. Maybe after the war.'

    McGonagall grimaced.

    'Besides,' [y/n] added with a wave of her hand, 'a professor of what? It's not like there are any vacancies, especially now that Quirinus guy from Ravenclaw has put himself forward to teach Muggle Studies. And I'm not teaching Defence — I swear, that position is cursed.'

    'You know what will be asked of you if you do pursue a career as an Auror?'

    'I do,' [y/n] nodded. 'I'm hoping I'll have some insider knowledge, you know, being from a Death Eater family and all.'

    McGonagall straightened her posture and sat back. She considered [y/n]'s comment for a moment, expression unwavering.

    'Perhaps I could put you into touch with Alastor Moody —'

    'Mad-Eye Moody!' [y/n] exclaimed ecstatically. 'Minnie, he's a legend —'

    'I can't promise anything, but I know he keeps an eye out — excuse the pun — for promising candidates,' McGonagall explained, scratching away hurriedly at her notepad. 'I'm sure it wouldn't do much harm to get you a head-start, and I know you would put a good word in for your friends.'

    'Obviously,' [y/n] beamed as McGonagall set down her quill. 'I always knew you were my favourite professor.'

    McGonagall smiled and crossed her hands in front of her.

    'Now that's sorted, [y/n], I was wondering if I could have a word with you about Mr Lupin,' McGonagall said, replacing her quill back into its holder. 'He didn't quite seem himself earlier. I don't know what's made him feel this way but he was incredibly miserable.'

    'Well, you know what he's like, Professor,' [y/n] shrugged, attempting to hide a guilty gulp with a cough. 'There's a reason we call him Moody Moony.'

    McGonagall glanced at [y/n] over the rim of her silver glasses, sat on the end of her nose.

    'It would do you well to remember, Miss Black, that Mr Lupin is very unsure of himself,' she said stiffly, folding her arms on the table. 'He fears he is facing a life of unemployment, loneliness and living with the anxiety that his condition will be revealed to the world, forcing him to be shunned by society.'

    [y/n] went to say something, but McGonagall's thin eyebrows furrowed. Instead, [y/n] looked down and bit her lip.

    'He needs his friends over anything, Miss Black, to bring him back onto his feet. His time at Hogwarts has only been any semblance of a utopia because of his brothers and yourself.'

    'I understand, Professor,' [y/n] breathed, nodding her head slightly.

    'And besides,' said McGonagall, rather more cheerfully this time, and leaning back into her chair, 'I was rather hoping to be receiving an invitation to your wedding in a few years —' [y/n] started choking on her saliva. '— because I believe that after putting up with your escapades over these last seven years it is a reward that is the ... bare minimum.'

    Bare minimum? Bare minimum? Why did she put an emphasis on ba—?

    Oh, holy Merlin on a pogo-stick. She made a bear pun.

    'How do you —?'

    'There are many creatures in the Forbidden Forest, [y/n], but bears went extinct in Scotland long before Hogwarts was ever built,' McGonagall stated behind an all-knowing smirk. 'Let alone bears that travel with stags, dogs or rats.'

    'How did you —?

    'I'm assuming Mr Potter is the stag?'

    [y/n] was utterly bewildered. She stammered, 'I — I — Yes, he is, but how do you —?'

    McGonagall replaced her glasses at the top of her nose before looking at [y/n] square-on.

    'I believe, in time, we can share some stories together,' she smiled, 'as friends.'

    [y/n] grinned. 'Of course. Without a shadow of a doubt.'

    'Then that'll be all,' McGonagall exhaled, voice wobbling slightly. 'I don't want to keep Miss MacDonald waiting any longer than is necessary.'

    'Thank you, Professor,' said [y/n], raising out of her seat and heading for the room's exit.

'Miss Black,' McGonagall called as [y/n] opened the office door.

'Yes, Professor?'

'You have made me incredibly exasperated over the years,' McGonagall said sternly before breaking out in a tearful grin, 'but my Godric, you have made me proud.'

[y/n] winked. 'Anything for you, Minnie.'

    After all those years of never feeling the love of her birth mother, and panicking so much over her relationships with her friends' mothers that she never made the right kind of connection, she had forgotten that she'd had someone looking out for her all along.

    And now came the difficult bit. Mary preemptively whispered a quick 'Good luck' as they passed at the threshold of McGonagall's office and honestly? It gave [y/n] just that little bit more courage as she took each step towards the common room.

    She muttered, 'Hippogriff' to the Fat Lady and barged her way through the portrait hole, only to stop dead in her tracks when she walked into someone.

    'Godric, sorry, I'm not looking where I'm going, I've got a lot on my mind ...'

    Remus was looking down at her blankly. [y/n] gulped. She daren't move, but as her searches for an escape route were failing miserably, [y/n] had only one option left.

    It was now or never.

'We need to talk.'

Both Remus and [y/n] spoke at the same time, blurting the four words that couldn't be kept quiet any more. They watched each other awkwardly for a few seconds. [y/n] looked down at her feet. Remus jerked his arm ungracefully towards the staircase that lead to the boys' dormitory. [y/n] nodded.

As they reached the door silently, [y/n] held back from the threshold, letting Remus make his presence known to James, Sirius and Peter first.

'Out,' he said stiffly, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Sirius made a noise of appal. 'You can't do that, Moony!' he cried. 'You can't just kick us out of our own bedroom.'

'Besides,' Peter added, mouth full with half a cheese sandwich, 'I'm eating. If the first-years see me with food they'll be begging me for some.'

'Please,' Remus sighed defeatedly.

'This is our room!'

[y/n] plucked up the courage to wordlessly poke her head over Remus' shoulder and successfully halted her brother's protests.

'Right, we're going, it's all yours!' James chirped hurriedly, grabbing Sirius and Peter by their collars and dragging them out. 'Play nice,' he added as an aside to [y/n] as they passed in the doorway.

'After you,' Remus said, gesturing to the vacant room.

[y/n] instinctively wandered over to Remus' bed and perched herself on the edge. Coming to terms with what she had done, she went to lift herself up to move to Sirius' bed next to her, but when Remus turned around after clicking the door shut quietly and looked at her, she froze. Remus stared blankly.

'So,' squeaked [y/n] after an excruciatingly long pause.

'I'm sorry about what I said,' Remus said, arms folded rigidly. 'I was drunk and I didn't mean it.'

'You did mean it though, that's the thing.'

Remus exhaled deeply and turned his head to the ceiling. 'Fuck me,' he muttered angrily.

'No, no, no, that's not —' [y/n] panicked, flapping her arms. 'I just meant that it obviously is how you feel and it's affecting you a lot. And I want to help you, even if it's just a little bit.'

'Sure,' Remus replied bluntly, still looking anywhere other than at [y/n]. 'Look, I'll just stop saying stuff like that, it'll save everyone a prob—'

'No, that's not what I want,' [y/n] bursted. 'I mean, if it's what you want, then sure, but I want you to keep saying it until you feel like you don't need to anymore because I've managed to convince you that you're wrong. Even if it takes until we're thirty, I will prove it.'

'If you haven't already up and left by then.'

'Remus, I'm serious,' [y/n] cried, trying to find everything in her not to make another Sirius joke. 'Moony, please.'

'Let's just go, this was a bad idea —'

'But I love you.'

Remus snapped his head towards [y/n].

'What?' [y/n] asked rhetorically. 'I mean it. You don't think I say it as a joke, do you?'

'Well, you say you love everything,' Remus shrugged. 'I never thought you were serious.'

[y/n] couldn't help it anymore. 'I'm not Sirius,' she grinned, beaming further when Remus had to bite back a smile, 'but really, I do mean it. We all love you, Moony. Merlin, we broke the law for you.'

'You'd break the law for a prank.'

'The only other way I'm planning on breaking the law is to murder Snivellus,' [y/n] furthered, to which Remus' smile broke free.

'Nice to know I'm on the same pedestal as him,' he murmured. 'Jesus Christ.'

'Oh, well, I've definitely broken you,' [y/n] teased. 'You're pulling out your Muggle swearing.'

'[y/n], stop it,' Remus scolded, holding back a laugh. 'This is a serious conversation.'

'He's not here.'

'Paws, honestly —'

'A-ha! You're calling me by my nickname,' [y/n] shouted, pointing a finger gleefully. 'You're back to normal!'

Remus shook his head happily. 'Why you? Why couldn't I be in love with someone normal?'

[y/n] was ready to burst with pure delight at the comment. In love ...

    She masked her feelings with humour, and by rising to her feet and crossing the room towards Remus.

'You can't be in love with someone normal because you turned-down Jenny Horn in third-year without a word,' she recalled, giggling mischievously. 'And all those Ravenclaw girls that I'm simply better than ...'

They were stood inches away from each other and [y/n]'s nervousness caused her laughter to fade. She searched Remus' face, like all those times before, and smiled dopily.

'You're blushing.'

'No I'm not!' [y/n] exclaimed, hastily covering her pink-tinted hair with her arms.

Remus chuckled. He smiled softly.

'Promise you'll be patient with me?'

'I promise,' [y/n] replied, lowering her arms slowly. 'With all my heart.'

'And you won't go anywhere?'

[y/n] shook her head gently. 'Never,' she said. 'Same with the boys. You're stuck with us now, Moony. It's been written in the stars ever since you sat in our compartment in first year.'

'Would you perhaps fancy starting again? Starting us again?'

[y/n] was ready to cry with relief and couldn't help herself throwing her arms around Remus' neck.

'I'll take that as a yes —'

'A thousand, million times yes,' [y/n] breathed, leaning back to study Remus' face. 'I'm so sorry. I'm truly, really sorry.'

She held his face in her right hand and he unconsciously pushed his head into it, looking at her with the same wondrous expression in his eyes.

    'I'm so sorry, Moony. This is my fault.'

    Remus shook his head gently, closing his eyes briefly as a sweet smile lingered on his face. [y/n] ran a thumb over his freckled cheeks. Without thinking, she leant in, eyes closed, and aimed to place her lips on his.

Their parted mouths had barely grazed each other when Remus pulled back.

'Sorry, I just — just ... give me a moment. To come to terms with everything. Y'know?' he spluttered, afraid as [y/n] looked up at him with a similar face to puppies when their favourite toy is taken from them. 'It's just, up until an hour ago I thought I'd lost you for good.'

'It's fine, I understand,' [y/n] responded, replacing her arms by her side and brushing down her school skirt. 'Shall we go back to the common room, then? I still have to apologise to Padfoot.'

    'Perhaps we could stay here for a bit longer,' Remus suggested apprehensively. 'When do we ever get peace and quiet to just ... talk?'

    'Oh,' [y/n] whispered, removing her hand from the door handle. 'Oh, OK. Shall we do some revision together? Exams are next week, after all.'

    'Yeah, we never get time to ourselves to do what we like,' Remus continued, moving towards the spot on his bed [y/n] had recently vacated. 'Who knows, maybe we could end up playing some video-games.'

    [y/n] furrowed her eyebrows and parted her lips in confusion. How they'd play video-games in a castle, she'd never know. And besides, she already should have known it would be an empty promise because the last time Remus suggested they play some video-games was over the Easter holidays up his house, and they ended up having se—

    'Oh?' [y/n] exclaimed. 'OH! OK! Shall we lock the door?'

    'Yeah, where's my —'

    'Colloportus!'

    'Right, nice to see you're prepared for once.'

'Moony, just shut up and kiss me.'

'Eager today, Miss — hmph!'

:)

they'll be getting a lot of free time after hogwarts

and who knows

perhaps it'll lead

to the subject of our sequel