Shut Up - A Harry Potter Fan-fiction
They met over a book in the library.
"Hey, you're reading Homer too!" She said. Remus looked up, startled by the sudden voice. A bush of fiery red hair was thrust into his face as the girl sat beside him and bent forward peer at the book in his hands. Spluttering and trying to spit out strands of frizzy ginger hair, the eleven year old hurried to move away from the strange girl.
"You're at chapter seventeen already? Wow you're a fast reader, I'm only at eight. I'm dying to know what happens to Heracles…there're hints that he'll fail this task but if you look at the clues from before you can tell that he isn't." the girl pouted. Remus stared at her (through thankfully un-hair-blocked vision). That was the exact same conclusion he had had at chapter eight, and it was a rare one. Not many people could read into the nuances of the text, to see the deeper layer of meaning within.
"Well um…" Remus began, shifting away to a comfortable distance and running a hand through his mussed up brown hair. The girl looked up and smiled at him, and Remus felt a sharp jolt hit him when her bright green eyes met his. The fire in them, the zest- it was like a dancing flame that instantly melted any cautionary ice in his heart and drew him closer.
"Hush, don't spoil me. I want to find out if I'm right on my own." She laughed, turning to take her own copy of the Greek mythology book out of her bag. It was obviously old, the leather worn away by the touch of many hands, but Remus was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no dog-eared pages. He hated those.
The girl cracked the tome open and began reading in the seat beside him, leaning into the chair and slightly towards him easily, as if they were old friends. Oddly enough, it did feel as if they were. Remus furrowed his brow, thinking about it for a while, and then made a decision.
"I'm Remus; Remus Lupin. What's your name?" The ex-stranger smiled at the question, making his prepubescent heart somersault slightly. Her teeth were slightly crooked, but that little imperfection made the other student all the prettier.
"Lily Evans," she closed the book and extended a hand towards him, "pleased to meet you."
They grew closer.
"What do you think of The Book Thief?" Remus asked her one afternoon. They were beside each other in the library again, shoulder to shoulder and heads bowed over their respective books.
"It's well-written, but the character of Death is never given enough credit." She replied, not looking up from her book. Remus turned to her, watching the way her long fingers tapped slowly on the honey-brown oak table, a habit of hers while reading.
"Why do you say that?" He asked, furrowing his brow.
"There's more to him than the cynical pessimist, if anyone realises. He's actually a very empathetic character that was forced by circumstance to become apathetic to adapt to his job. He does care, a lot in fact, but he's not allowed to by nature." Lily huffed, flipping another yellowed page, careful not to crinkle anything.
Remus thought through Death's passages, and then nodded, thinking it true. The demure thirteen-year old then smiled, his mind jumping to another matter. He put the book away and coughed slightly to catch Lily's ear. She turned, an eyebrow arched and head tilted in slight curiosity. A lock of her red hair fell out from behind her ear and Remus had to fight the urge to tuck it back.
"Would you also count James as such a character then? He's not an "arrogant prick with nothing but Quidditch in his brains" as you phrased it, but someone who was forced by his background to be so, and is really a, as I've tried to tell you, nice guy who's trying too hard?" Remus teased, smiling just enough to not let Lily know.
Lily turned red, and then pushed Remus' shoulder in protest, her cheeks flaming.
"Oh shut up, absolutely not. James Potter is a complete and utter git. His background says nothing."
Lily paused for a while, still thinking about James perhaps, Remus thought. Her face had a strange, transcendent calm when she was thinking quietly like that. Then she turned to him, and he felt himself sinking into the deep green of her pupils.
"Nobody's background says anything." She added. Lily then reached out and placed her hand over his for a moment, letting him feel her warmth.
Of course Remus knew what Lily was referring to with those quiet words. She was talking about his own story, his past mistakes that led him to be a werewolf, the injuries he had caused, the grief he had let his parents go through. Despite knowing that, she was not shocked, nor was she disturbed. Instead she accepted him, and Remus once again felt a strange urge to lean over and close the gap between their lips. The boy looked down, and then let his smile grow wide.
"Thanks Lily."
How he loved his best friend, the way she could read him. The way she could see him as a friend and not as a werewolf, the way she and him could talk about books, animals, studies, people, them, and anything in fact and go on for hours on end, just she and him in this small library together. Remus loved that about her; Remus loved her.
But she already had another.
"Why do you always let them off Remus? I know they're your friends but it's our duty as Prefects to uphold Hogwarts' rules!" Lily sighed, plopping onto the chair beside Remus in the library with slightly more noise than usual. Lily was frustrated, it had been a long day of OWL mock-tests and homework assignments, and her day had been made especially tiring since the three other Marauders besides Remus had just avoided been booked yet again.
Remus mumbled, finishing his potions essay with a blotted flourish, "They weren't doing anything wrong, Lily…"
The red-haired girl rolled her eyes and replied exasperatedly, "Remus…Would you call sneaking into the Slytherin dormitory and blocking the door from the inside nothing wrong?"
"Of course my darling, those smelly pure-blood fanatics deserved it," said a suave, deep voice behind them. They each identified the owner of that voice easily. Remus turned and shot a wry grin at one of his best friends, James Potter. Lily turned and gave her most persistent admirer, also James Potter, a deep scowl.
"Potter, they took two HOURS to unblock that door thanks to your stupid charms!" Lily snapped, swivelling around in her chair rapidly, unconsciously slapping half of her long locks in Remus' face. Remus took the treatment stoically, so used he was to Lily's antics he was after five years.
"Merlin's beard, only two hours…Sirius will disappointed…" James muttered to himself. Unfortunately, Lily heard him.
"Oh shut up. Both of you should be disappointed in yourselves! Riling up the Slytherins again…" they continued bickering after that, with James flirting and asking Lily out at every opportunity and Lily shooting him down each time. Remus leaned back in his chair, watching them with an amused smirk on his face. Lily might say that she hates James, Remus thought, but she sure does like to talk to him… With most of the other guys she's chased, she just politely declines and scoots away from conversation, but for James…
Remus held back a bark of laughter as James knelt down on one knee to present Lily with the bouquet of (wait for it) lilies before being treated to a rare Lily-huff-and-stomp-away. You're being too nice Lily…if you want to chase him away you have to be cold. Remus felt his heart freeze at the thought. No, she shouldn't be cold, they should continue like this.
James and Lily…they were perfect for each other, Remus knew. For Lily, James would do anything, and for James, Lily would always care. Just a moment with each other defined their whole day. Watching them dance another each other day in and day out, seeing the way Lily's eyes would take on a strange glow when she talked about him, even when in complaint, Remus knew, as best friends always do, that she was in love with James.
So he let her go.
Even though his heart protested, Remus made efforts to bring James and Lily closer. He arranged "accidental" meetings, spoke praises to Lily about James. He applauded when they finally kissed the year after. At the wedding, he was the first person to toast the marriage, and, along with Sirius, the brown-haired man had smiled the broadest when they each said "I do."
Decked in a floor-length white dress with minimal sequins, Lily walked off the steps with her hand in James', her bright red hair catching the lamplights in the same way they had on the first day she and Remus had met. She caught his eye and gave him a wink before throwing the bouquet in the air. Chuckling, Remus caught it, feeling the last pangs in his heart at seeing his childhood love depart vanish. The man lowered his right hand, now grasping a bouquet of lilies, and felt fingers twining through his left.
"Good thing that you caught it, that'll be us next," said Sirius. Remus turned slightly, and leant his head on his partner's shoulder.
"Oh shut up."