It took him days to convince his mum not to accompany him to Diagon Alley this year. Normally, Remus would not have minded but she had been particularly annoying this summer. He knew she meant well, but her constant hovering was driving him mad. The chance to escape came up every now and again when he was invited to one of the other Marauders' house for dinner or to cause havoc upon their family. It was a good time, but now he wished to be alone. He even took the muggle way of underground transportation to ensure he spent enough time with his thoughts.
As he emerged from the tunnel, he was welcomed with rain splashing upon the ground. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the argument he had with his mother earlier that morning. She insisted that he bring a jacket or an umbrella to protect him from the rain the delectable weatherman on the tele predicted. He argued and argued, complaining that even if it did rain, it'd be too hot for long sleeves. He was glad she wasn't here to gloat.
The summer drizzle continued to dampen his clothes as he made his way down the busy London street. The Muggles were scurrying about, trying to make it to their office buildings before their boss counted of every second of tardiness. He watched them rush past him as though he was merely an obstacle that prevented them from their destination. One of them bolted right into him, causing him to fly forward without a hope to regain his balance.
"I'm so sorry, sir!" the culprit shrieked. The voice belonged to a female, and Remus had a feeling he knew who it belonged to.
He turned to face the clumsy suspect and discovered the was in fact correct in guessing that Lily Evans had nearly knocked him to the ground.
"Remus?" she gasped in disbelief. She stood before him with a newspaper hovering over her head in a pathetic attempt to protect her lengthy red hair. She had no coat, or barely a shirt for that matter. Dressed in summer clothes that left her shoulders and knees bare, she was almost drenched from the light rain that sprinkled upon them.
"I wasn't watching where I was going," she continued. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it," he said dismissively. "You should probably run on. Your newspaper is going to be too wet to do you any good."
Looking at the shield she held above her head, Lily lightly tugged it, causing it to rip cleanly in half. She quickly crumbled it up in her hand. "Too bad we can't do magic outside of school just yet," she frowned. "Only one more year."
Remus nodded in agreement. He didn't have much to say, so he continued to walk towards the shabby inn. Silently, Lily stayed beside him, covering her pale arms with her hands. He had never seen Lily in Muggle clothing. At least, none this revealing. Her blue tank top and matching shorts showed her womanly figure that usually hid beneath her baggy robes. Remus never looked at her in that sort of light, but with her wet clothes clinging to every curve of her body, it was hard not to notice.
Remus felt guilty as an unusally large raindrop pelted his head. The rain began to pick up and The Leaky Cauldron remained a few blocks ahead of them.
He removed his jacket and handed it to her. As he expected, she began to protest, saying that he would be soaked without it. He argued, pointing out that they were both going to be drenched if they stood there any longer. She wrapped herself in the slightly overlarged grey hoodie and they both took off running, carefully this time, at full speed down the street.
When they stepped inside, Remus nodded toward the first wizard he saw and asked for a helping hand. Without a second glance, the old bloke flicked his wand at the two Gryffindors, instantly drying their clothes.
"Here for school supplies?" Remus guessed, taking a seat at an empty table. Lily stood by the empty chair across from him and nodded. Remus received his supply list the previous day. Itching to get out of the house, he took the first train to London. It seemed Lily had the same idea.
He invited her to sit with him and join him for breakfast if she wished. She thought about it for a moment and eventually sat down. She pulled off his jacket and placed it on the back of her chair.
Remus kept his eyes on the menu that hovered above the bar. In truth, it felt weird sitting with Lily. They had been alone together before, sure, but she had a bad habit of irritating Remus more than anyone else at school.
Last year was their first year as Prefects. When Remus discovered who his partner was, he wasn't shocked. Nor was he shocked when James demanded he spend every waking moment he had alone with Lily to try and convince her to give James a chance. He knew it wasn't going to work, but he gave it a go anyway. Instantly, his suggestions were met with hostility and name calling. He promised to never speak of it again to her, but the subject quickly changed to demeaning Remus' taste in companions. He knew that she had no idea the true depth of his friendship with his fellow Marauders, but the constant nagging had brought him to wits end.
Why do you associate with them? They're vile! You're not strict enough! Dumbledore made you a Prefect to keep your friends under control! You're abusing your authority y protecting them! You need to a firm hand with them, Lupin! Tell that cockroach Potter that if he ever does that again, I'll hex him into oblivion!
It wouldn't have been so bad if she shook it up a little, but no. Remus got the same speech five times a day. Instead of listening to her, he kept his distance from her by requesting a new floor to patrol and avoided any situation in which he would be subject to her nagging. He still got the "Do something!" when his friends did something that displeased the redhead, but he pretended not to notice her and went back to enjoying himself.
It was a bit uncomfortable to be sitting with her, knowing that he'd be getting the same lecture at any moment.
"Mum told me it was going to rain today," she said suddenly. "I didn't listen."
"I tried not to listen to my mum," he told her. "After the look she gave me, I knew she would have cast a permanent sticking charm on me if she had magic."
Lily raised her eyebrows quizzically. "Is your mum a Squib?"
"Muggle," Remus replied, deciding that a sausage croissant sounded the safest.
Lily smiled brightly. "That's really interesting! I know your father is a wizard. I've read some of his work that's been published."
Remus found this fact to be very uncomfortable and attempted to change the subject. "Yeah, that's dad. Have you decided on what to order? I'm thinking of a croissant."
Lily nodded thoughtfully, but decided to order a fruit cup instead. Remus went to the counter to order, and bought her a croissant anyway. When he returned to his seat, Lily went back to the subject of his parents.
"I've always found it so romantic when wizards and witches marry muggles," she informed him. "Especially these days when it's all about 'blood purity'."
He was debating on whether or not to tell her the story of how his parents met. It seemed to enchant all of his mum's girlfriends, and since he was at a loss for a good conversation topic he decided to tell her.
"Seems you already know that Dad works for the Ministry as a specialist in Non-Human Spirituous Apparitions," he began. "One night he was out investigating a nasty boggart that was hiding in this neighborhood forest. He heard a woman screaming her head off and found just what he was looking for. With a wave of his wand, he turned the boggart into a mushroom. He escorted the woman home and told her she'd be alright.
"He kept seeing her after that. He said she was whimsical and brilliant, but stayed cooped up in an office. He didn't like that she was wasted her days in box, so he showed her our world. Turns out she loved it just as much as he did. She wasn't afraid of it or thought it evil. She embraced it."
Lily was leaning towards him in interest with a large smile plastered on her face. "That's really romantic, actually."
Remus raised his eyebrow. "You sound surprised."
She shrugged. "I've just never heard anything like it. Sounds almost like it came straight out of a book."
If she was accusing him of anything, he didn't notice. Their chat was interrupted with the arrival of their food. Lily happily dug into her tiny fruit bowl that consisted of multicolored melons and berries. When the croissant was placed in front of her, she thought it was a mistake.
"It's for you," he said.
"But I said I didn't want one," she replied politely.
It was Remus' turn to shrug. "A dish that size isn't going to fill you up. Go on, eat!"
Lily thanked him and ate it without any further discussion on the topic. She did ask him why he wasn't accompanied by his friends. He ignored the bitterness in her voice and answered that he simply wanted to travel about the city without getting thrown out of every shop for setting off dungbombs. The subject quickly rounded to what he busied himself with over the summer. Again, he told her about the few adventures he shared with James, Sirius, and Peter, as well as the boring bits like reading and helping his mum around the house.
He left out the part where his parents had made try every experimental potion that was rumored to cure his Lycanthropy. As suspected, none worked or seemed to do anything besides humiliate him. He knew his parents meant well, but having them constantly 'find a cure' made it worse for him. He knew he was a creature of evil in the eyes of the world, but to be reminded by his own parents, to see their shame, it hurt him deeply.
Lily told him of the vacation to America she went on with her family. He never knew she had a sister. When he asked about her, he quickly found out why. She was a muggle and detested the magical world. This interested him more than the story of her father almost falling off of the Statue of Liberty. He wanted to ask how she managed to live with someone who hated everything she was, but he knew it would be too personal of a question.
When they finished their meal, Remus dusted off any lingering crumbs from his shirt and stood to his feet. "Well, Ms. Evans," he began. "I should be going."
"Mind if I join you?" she asked, copying his actions and standing before him. She grabbed his jacket and draped it over her arm. "I'm not meeting anyone either."
Remus thought about it for a moment. She didn't deliver her usual sermon which came as a relief to him. He saw no reason to tell her no and decided it would be funny to tell James that he spent the day shopping at Diagon Alley with his beloved redhead. The thought brought a mischievous grin to his face.
"Sure, I don't see why not," he answered.
She smiled happily and slipped her arms back through his jacket. They exited the back door of the inn and stared at the brick wall before them. Lily asked to do the honors, and Remus watched as she tapped each brick in order, revealing a large archway. Together, they stepped through and entered Diagon Alley.
There had been a charm placed above them that protected them from the dropletts. Lily watched with an amazed smile as the rain slid down the invisible barrier. It had been a lot less crowded than Remus expected. Of course, it was really early in the morning on a week day. Most parents waited until the weekend to go to Diagon Alley as a sort of family field trip. There was a fair number of people out and about, and Remus prefered it that way.
First, they stopped at Gringotts so Lily could convert her muggle money to wizard currency. Remus was surprised to see that it wasn't much. Again, he did not ask and they made their way to the nearest shop, which happened to be the apothecary.
The smell was as wretched as ever. They quickly grabbed all of their supplies needed for potions class. Lily stood by a jar that held a pickled Puffskein and tapped the glass gingerly.
"I always wanted one of these," she said fondly. "They're so useless, but cute."
Remus joined her in admiring the spherical creature. "I had one for a while," he reminisced. "Named him 'Dot.'"
"Just got old in the end?" she asked, turning her attention to him.
"Yeah," he lied. It sounded a lot better than the truth. Poor Dot came lurking about the wrong room one night and got himself eaten. Remus cried for weeks. His first kill happened to be his best friend.
They paid for their goods and made their way down the street. Together they stopped in Scribbulus Writing Instruments and Magical Menangerie. To his surprise, he was actually having fun. Lily had a habit of not watching where she walked. Remus understood why. He watched as eyes swept the shelves in amazement. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed it was her first time here. It was even better when she knocked over a stack of books, or ran into someone. He began to feel a bit guilty for wanting to blow her off earlier that morning, for she seemed totally different from the Lily who constantly harassed him about his choices. Much to Remus' surprise, she even played a prank on him, which ended in him hanging by his ankles from the large owl cage in Eeylops Owl Emporium.
She was certainly not the Lily he knew from Hogwarts. This Lily was funny and dare he say it, a bit carefree. Nothing like the stickler that took her form at school. She even shared some more information about her family with him. They sounded like nice people, but he noticed she mentioned very little of her sister, Petunia. Again, he refrained from asking and returned the favor by carefully reveling stories of his family and childhood to her. She seemed to hang on to his every word, and reply with 'I didn't know that about you'. 'How strange, I thought I was the only one.'
This was a revenge of sorts for Remus. A few weeks ago while Remus was in Potter's company, James smacked the bum of a rather good looking muggle girl. It woud have been fine if James didn't blame Remus for the crude encounter. Remus was met with a harsh slap across the face and was hit repeatedly with a handbag.
Remus could only imagine the look on James' face when he said he spent the day with Lily Evans. Of course, he would clarify that nothing particularly exciting happened. He'd never want to hurt James' feeling or give the impression that there was something going on between he and Lily. No, just a dose of jealousy to get him flustered would be enough for Remus. He couldn't wait to tell James what he discovered. He wouldn't believe it. Although, something inside him wanted to keep this Lily a secret.
Remus looked longingly at Gambol and Japes, the local joke shop. Lily rolled her eyes playfully at him and told him to go on without her. She needed to be fit for new robes and preferred if he found something else to do while he waited for her.
He stocked up on as many gags he could find useful for the upcoming school year. He knew that Peter, James, and Sirius would be doing the same, so he built his private arsenal with as much he could without breaking his budget. He didn't want to run out this year. Although, he didn't notice that Peter had been stealing some of his goods last term. The boys were known for being mischievous, and they never established a rule about not pranking each other. In fact, it was one of the highlights of their time together.
Remus was particularly proud of the hoax he played on Peter during his first year with the help of James. He discovered that Peter habitually napped in the forest before dinner. Remus thought it would be funny to transfigure a few twigs into large moths to attack Peter in his sleep. As soon as he caught sight of the evil butterflies of which he had a phobia, he began running around while wildly waving his arms in an attempt to beat them off. It wasn't much, but it had been the first time he mustered up enough courage to prank anyone, much less a friend. He had so few that he couldn't think of doing anything to chase them away. Although, after that little introduction, he liked the feeling of getting a good laugh. It took no time before he became the target of evil schemes.
Before Lily could scowl at him in disapproval, he stashed all the evidence in socks and pockets before he met her outside of Florish and Blotts. She met him after a while and the walked into the crowded shop. Lily was greeted by a number of Hogwarts students as they toured the shop. Remus saw few he recognized, but said nor received any welcome. Instead, he eyed his list and made his way around the store as Lily engaged in small talk with the people she knew. When she rejoined him, he handed her a pile of books he collected for her.
"Is there a single person in here you don't know?" he teased.
"There's nothing wrong with having a lot of friends, Remus," she said, looking at the cover of the books he handed her. "I'm afraid these are out of my budget," she sighed. "Going in for second hand this year."
Remus apologized, and put the brand-new books on the nearest shelf. Lily must have detected his embarrassment and played it off.
"That's why I came without Dad, actually," she said, flipping through a particularly tattered copy of Advanced Spell: Grade 6. "He'd have a heart attack if he saw the price of these now that's he trying to finance Petunia's wedding."
"You're sister is getting married?" he questioned.
"Within the year, she hopes," she answered dryly. "I've met him. Dull and ignorant. Makes Potter look like a real charmer."
Unaware that she looked at him during his eye roll, Lily apologized.
"Sorry," she said quietly. "I know he's your friend."
"No worries," he replied. "He can be a bit of a dunderhead."
Lily chuckled and left it at that. Remus followed her around as she collected her school books, taking notice that her stack was considerably larger than his.
"How many classes are you taking?" he asked, grabbing the book she added to her growing pile.
"Seven," she answered through a strained voiced.
Remus took her books off her hands, and piled them into his arms. "That means you don't have any free periods," he frowned.
Lily shot him a puzzled glance. "What would I need a free period for?"
He knew what he was going to use his free periods for, but knew that Lily would not approve of napping or relaxing during school hours. He replied with, "Studying, I guess, since you're taking so much."
Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I'll have the evenings and weekends. How many free periods do you have?"
Remus took a particular interest in her Ancient Runes text. "Three."
She gasped and smacked his shoulder forcefully. "Three? That means you're hardly getting class time!"
Remus smiled at her, but she only her shook head at him. "So lazy," she muttered.
"Hardly," he snorted. "That means I'm squashing all my classes in at once. Cramming is an art I have mastered along with procrastination."
Lily gave him another grim look. "They've been a bad influence on you."
"Look who's talking!" he returned, pointing at the salmon pink novel in her hand. "Florence and The Warlock of Greenbriar? What kind of smut have your roommates got you reading?"
Lily blushed furiously and slammed the book on top of the growing stack in his arms. "It's not for me, if you must know!" she replied hotly. "It's a thank you gift for Rachel!"
Remus flipped the book over with his nose and began to read aloud. "Florence seeks the calming isolation of the far away town of Greenbriar, where she meets a devastatingly handsome warlock. Nights are no longer lonely, passions are shared, and she believes to find her true love. But, is he who he claims to be? Explore this tale of love, lust, and loss to discover the truth yourself.' Merlin's leg hair, Lily!"
She kept her eyes on the shelves before her, pretending not to be embarrassed. "Like I said, it's not for me. It's for Rachel."
"So, Rachel, when did you start reading such filth?" he asked teasingly. It had been enough for Lily, who stomped on his foot.
"Oi!" he howled, rubbing his throbbing toes with the heel of his other foot. "No need to be violent."
"Rachel mailed me an unhealthy amount of sugar quills this summer. I thought I'd get her something she'd like in return," she said calmly, though her face still glowed red."I don't read those sort of books."
"I'd hope not," he laughed. "It's creepy."
Lily turned to him with a smirk and raised eyebrow. "How do you know what's in them?"
Remus smiled smugly at her. "Don't think you've outsmarted me. James' mother reads those novels. It so happened that one of the first times I slept over there, Sirius found Mrs. Potter's copy of Secrets of McGormich Village. Of course he opened it hastily after he saw how busty the witch on the front cover was," he began to laugh at the memory, causing Lily to chuckle with him. "James tried to get him to stop reading it aloud, but it was too funny. Siruis replaced the names with James' mum and dad. Took James ages to recover."
Lily laughed loudly, and Remus joined her in hysterics. They began to get curious glances shot at them from around the shop, but they paid no mind.
"Sirius is evil!" she gasped eventually. "As much as I despise Potter, that is just cruel!"
Remus contemplated on giving her ideas, but after a moment of deliberation, he gave in. "If you ever want to get back at him, there's a way to do it."
A mischievous grin danced across Lily's lips. "I think I might use that. All copyright to Sirius, of course."
They journeyed to the check out counter. Remus paid for his, and waited patiently for Lily as she bought her miniature library.
He found it difficult to stop looking at her. Glad that she had her back turned to him to give him a better view, he shamelessly gaped at her figure that was flattered by her blue high waisted shorts. Whenever he caught himself staring, he'd blush and avert his eyes. But somehow, they always found their way back.
When Lily finished paying for her books, Remus took a majority of the bags so she could walk freely. Before they reached the exit, a familiar face popped up in front of Lily.
"Hey," Michael said. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Yeah, real shocker," she replied jokingly.
Remus began to feel uncomfortable. The boy that stood before him was named Michael Crenshaw. He happened to be a beater on the Hufflepuff quidditch team. He seemed to not notice Remus' existence and continued to chat away with Lily, who seemed a bit uninterested. Remus thought it better if he waited outside, and started to walk off.
"I would, Michael, but I'm here with Remus," she said, grabbing Remus by the arm as he attempted to pass the pair.
Remus stopped abruptly and looked at Lily in confusion. She raised her eyebrow at him and lopped her arm through his. Getting the idea, Remus looked at Michael and nodded in acknowledgement.
Michael's face fell into a scowl. "Right," he muttered. A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "Another time maybe."
Lily nodded. "Enjoy your shopping!"
The two Gryffindors exited the book shop arm in arm. When they reached the street, Remus immediately shook her off.
"You can't do things like that!" he exclaimed. "You'll be sending the wrong message!"
Lily snorted. "Yeah, I wanted to send the wrong message to Michael. He's been trying to get me to go on a date with him for months."
"So why don't you?" he questioned. They continued down the street towards the brick archway.
Lily wrinkled her nose. "I went to Hogsmeade with him once last year. He's not very intellectually stimulating. He's quite crude."
Remus played off his chuckle as a cough. He could only imagine what 'crude' meant to Lily. He had no idea about her dating history or her experience with the male gender. He did have suspicions, though, that she had never been exposed to the truly disgusting nature of a man. He decided to keep her oblivious, hoping that the worse she would have to deal with was potty talk at the table.
They walked through the archway together with arms full of supplies. He was feeling very hungry, seeing as it was almost one in the afternoon now. He invited Lily to eat with him, but she declined, insisting that she should head home. He decided he should help her to the train since he doubted she'd manage to lug all of her goods with her alone.
Completely forgetting that it was still storming, Remus frowned as he gazed at the flooded street.
"Suppose you want this back," Lily said, shrugging out of his hoodie.
He tried to stop her, but she refused.
"Here. You put it on. No, go on! I have an idea," she insisted.
He did as he was instructed and reloaded his arms. Lily grabbed the latest edition of the daily prophet and hung it over head. Remus prepared to argue, but was interrupted when he felt her arm loop around his waist beneath his jacket.
"I used to do this all the time with Petunia," she informed him as she stuck her arm through the sleeve that his own arm already occupied.
It felt very odd, to say the least. It was like he was a Siamese twin that was loosely attached. She roomed in his jacket, keeping one arm free of a sleeve to hold the paper above her hair. Remus began to snicker widly as they attempted to run into the rain. With the looks they were getting from passersby, he imagined that they resembled a lopsided, four-legged beast.
He said goodbye to a half soaked redhead and watched as the train sped off to her destination. Before her departure, Lily gave him a quick hug and a piece of parchment. She made him promise to write her at least once before school resumed, and she would do the same for she enjoyed his company.
If he was told a few hours before that he would befriend Lily Evans, he would have laughed.
A/N: Hey guys. This is my attempt at Remus/Lily, which I have always been a fan of. Let me know what you think! There will be more to come, hopefully more detailed then this. I have always had such a hard time with first chapters. Thoughts/opinions would be appreciated!