Once again, revamping a previously published fic. Third time's the charm!
Reviews give you brownies.
Remus-
How's your summer been? Only ten more days until September first! I wish I could've seen you more this summer, but like I told you before, Will had a Quidditch tournament in Greece. I don't remember if I told you, but his team lost in the minor league finals. He's been going about the house like an angry kid (or Sirius when exams come around) for a week.
Have you gone to Diagon Alley yet? If not, we should meet up and do our school shopping together. Maybe everyone else can come too! I know Lily would love it, she's been stuck at home all summer. With Snape right down the block, of course. I still can't believe he would say that to her! He's a dirty prat. With greasy hair.
Anyway, I know your "special time" is coming so I'm sending you a box of chocolate I picked up in Switzerland on our way back. I might've had a piece…or three. Can you blame me?! But I hope you enjoy it.
James wrote and told me that you didn't get Head Boy. He didn't say who did though…Well whoever it is, it's absolutely ridiculous that Dumbledore didn't pick you. You're the best prefect at Hogwarts, in my opinion, and whoever got chosen won't make as good of one as you would've. Lily's Head Girl, did you hear?
I can't wait to see you again Remy. It's been too long! A whole summer without my guy is too much time apart. I miss you so much.
I love you.
-Jennie
Remus smiled slightly and folded the letter closed again, following the permanent creases in the parchment. Jennie's untidy, cramped handwriting pressed through the paper so he could feel the indentations rubbing against his fingertips. The chocolates had indeed been quite excellent, and he'd devoured the entire box in less than a day. Unfortunate, really, since he'd have liked to savor them. That just didn't work for him when it came to chocolate though.
The train lurched as it approached its station. Remus stood and shook the two boys sitting across from him awake. Candy wrappers littered the floor around them as they rose and stretched.
"Blimey, Moony, can't you be more gentle? Nearly shook me off the bench!" James picked his tie up from the bench and fixed it around his neck. The Head Boy badge shone on his robes, brighter than Remus' tarnished Prefect badge.
"Who do you think I am, James, your mother? You were only out for five minutes anyway."
Sirius looked down at the boy sleeping on Remus' previously occupied bench. "He can sleep through anything, that one. Remember when-"
"When he fell asleep in Transfiguration and McGonagall changed his desk into a pig? Yes, we all remember that a bit too clearly. I still have the marks from trying to catch it!" James pushed up the sleeve of his robe and Remus shoved him aside.
"That was second year, and it was McGonagall's first year teaching. She didn't know that would happen!"
"You're only sticking up for her because you think she's bang-worthy, Pads. Wake Pete up already, the train's clearing out." Sirius turned pink at Remus's remarks but firmly denied it, woke Peter up, and continued denying it until the quartet met up with a group of witches. One girl, small for her age (seventeen and an even five feet tall) with dark brown hair tied into a braid, detached herself from her friends and was caught by Remus, who picked her clear up off the ground.
"Hi Remus! It's so great to see you!" She smothered his face in kisses until he set her down.
"It's really great to see you too Jennie. I really missed you this summer! How was the tournament?" Jennie looked up into her boyfriend's gray eyes and grinned hugely.
"Unbelievable. It was an edge-of-your-seat match until the very end! It was incredible, but Will's team lost in overtime like I said, which absolutely sucked. It's only minor leagues, but the Gargoyles bragged for days after." Her brother played for the British minor league team, Britain's Bashers, as a Keeper.
"I want to hear all about this Jennie, but it looks like rain. Shall we move into a carriage?" James' voice cut into the couple's conversation and drew them back to the train station. Jennie blushed when she saw Lily tapping her foot impatiently, standing with Mary and Marlene.
"Let's go then!" The carriages could comfortably fit eight, and luckily the group piled in just as the clouds broke and the rain began. Lily, to her dismay, found herself seated next to James, who was pleased.
"I figure we ought to try and be friends, what d'you say Evans? Seeing as the two of us are going to have to get quite cozy this year." Marlene and Jennie looked at each other and sighed.
"Just because you're Head doesn't mean a thing, James. We can still loathe one another like always." James harrumphed and ran a hand through his mess of black hair. Lily raised her eyebrow and he stopped.
"Aw, look at the two of you. Haven't even had your first patrol yet and you've already got a silent language worked out! We'll be planning a wedding soon, what d'you say Moony? Wormtail?"
"Please, Sirius, if I ever get married to this git," Lily jabbed James in the ribs and he gave her a mock wounded look and pretended to die, "Hex some sense into me."
"Besides, I only stopped with the hair because…Well…"
"Oh, shut up." Lily crossed her arms and ignored him for the rest of the conversation. Jennie curled up into Remus' side and the carriage shared a collective groan as a few drops of rain began to splatter the windows.
"Of course, this would happen." Peter looked morosely out the window.
"What's up, Pete, got a hot date already?"
"Well, no, but-"
"I don't really want to know. We're here!" Sirius elbowed his way past everyone and to the front of the carriage, triumphant in being the first out into the rainy night. James shoved Peter aside as well, then hesitated at the exit to the carriage.
"Either go or stay, James, we all want to get out of here!" exclaimed Jennie.
"Ladies first," said James, extending an arm to help Lily down the steps and onto the wet cobblestones. She raised an eyebrow and exited the carriage, followed by the rest of the girls and finally Remus, James, and Peter bringing up the rear. Peter, for some reason, looked furiously at his fellow Marauders but the expression was quickly replaced by his usual half-blank half-admiring look.
"I'll see you later Remy, I love you!" Jennie rose on tiptoes to peck her boyfriend on the cheek and then joined the rest of the Hufflepuffs at their table. All of the rest of her friends went to the next table over. Cries of "There you are!" and "I've missed you so much!" filled the air as students greeted one another. James, Sirius, and Remus enthusiastically greeted fellow Gryffindor Adam McKinnon, whom James quickly fell into a deep discussion about Quidditch tactics with. Jennie found her year-mate, Sybil Trelawney, farther down the table and moved to sit with her.
"Hello, Sybil! How was your summer?" Jennie and Sybil had been friends since their first train ride to Hogwarts, but somewhere during sixth year the pair fell out and became distant. In that time, Sybil had changed drastically. Before, she had merely been eccentric, tying her hair up with mismatched ribbons, excelling at Divination and Arithmancy, and meditation. Now, however, Sybil's oddities were even more apparent. Her dark blonde hair was tangled and knotted, held back by a multicolored band. She had several rings on her fingers and odd-shaped necklaces with strange symbols on them, and her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot.
"Jennie, dear, my summer was uneventful and boring. I believe, however, that yours was…not?"
"Nope, William had a tournament in Greece so I was out there all summer. Gorgeous too, I'd love to go back someday."
"Mm, yes, quite interesting." Sybil's mysterious behavior and breathy voice shattered in an instant. "Oh! I have to show you something I learned how to do!" It was almost like having the old Sybil back, with her enthusiasm for everything.
"What?"
"My aunt showed me how to read palms and channel my Inner Eye."
"Erm…What?" Without any more talk, Sybil grabbed her hand and pushed the sleeve of Jennie's robe up. An eyebrow was raised at the tiny "Remus loves Jennie" writing on the inside of her wrist. "He found a quill in his pocket in the carriages…" Jennie blushed.
"Let's see…" Sybil's prediction was cut off before it even began by Dumbledore waving in the first years and announcing the beginning of the Sorting. As the first scared child mounted the steps, Sybil eagerly traced the lines in Jennie's palm with a fingertip. Minutes passed, but as "Mumford, Elizabeth!" joined the Ravenclaws, Sybil gasped and dropped her friend's hand.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Oh, Jennie my dear…You haven't encountered any wolves, have you?"
"What? No…No, 'course not!" Jennie did not quite meet the other girl's eye. She regarded her small, freckled hand suspiciously, wondering what in it had revealed Remus' secret.
"Oh…Well, your heart line says that you will-"
"Y'know, Sybil, I'd actually like to leave my future a surprise. Let it play itself out and not worry about it."
"Oh! Of course, of course…" Jennie turned away from the other girl and tried to focus on the Sorting, but Professor McGonagall was already picking up the Hat and walking out with it. Dumbledore rose once again.
"Welcome, welcome, one and all! I'd like to point out once again that love potions and dungbombs, however exciting they may be, are strictly prohibited at Hogwarts." He raised an eyebrow to the Marauders and Sirius stood and bowed. Everyone remembered a little too clearly the prank last year, when James and Sirius somehow managed to fill all of the Christmas crackers with dungbombs. "Also, may I draw your attention to the newest member of our fine establishment, Professor Coul, who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year.
"I'm sure you're all famished, so I won't take up any more of your time. Bon appetit" As soon as he turned away from his podium, the tables filled with the usual piles of food and everyone dug in.
"Could I ask you a question?" came a voice to Jennie's left, and she turned to answer.
"Of course Amos, what's up?"
"Do you know…I mean, is…Well..." Amos Diggory, Jennie's house and year-mate, as well as the Quidditch Captain for Hufflepuff and prefect, bit his lip and struggled for words. His usual perfect face was blotchy with nerves and he anxiously ran a hand through the light brown curls that adorned his head.
"Spit it out, Amos, I'm starving!" He struggled with himself for a minute more, and finally burst out with:
"Islilyseeinganyoneandcouldyo umaybeputinagoodwordformeyou guysarefriendsrightthatswhat friendsarefor!"
"…Sorry?" He took a deep breath and tried again.
"Is Lily seeing anyone? Could you…Put in a good word for me? You guys are friends, and we're friends, and that's what friends do, right, they put in good words for one another."
"I don't…Yeah, sure Amos, I'll put in a good word." He smiled hugely at her and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "But I'm not promising anything!"
"No worries, Jennie! Thanks!" He sat there with an idiot grin on his face all through dinner. Jennie wondered how James would react to this. For what it's worth, maybe it'll make him realize that Lily will never agree to go out with him.
Amos bid Lily goodbye and rose, calling to the new Hufflepuffs to follow him to the common room. The rest of the prefects were standing as well, doing the same. Jennie caught sight of Remus directing the new Gryffindors and smiled, blowing him a kiss. He winked and led the House out. Jennie fell in with the rest of the students and made her way down to the Hufflepuff common room, near the kitchens. After tapping the correct barrel, she made her way into the brightly lit room, inhaling the fresh scent of plants that Professor Sprout must have brought in. She was very excited to begin Herbology again next week and the sight of the plants fueled her excitement.
"Jennie! C'mere, Mona wants to show you something!" Jennie followed Bridget Withers, her year-mate, through the entryway to the girls' dormitories and began to laugh immediately.
"What…This is awesome!" Mona Hove was the most artistic out of the Hufflepuff seventh years. At the moment, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed with a splash of blue paint on her nose, looking very pleased with herself.
"I think it kind of depicts us quite nicely!" Mona had taken huge pieces of butcher paper and done a Permanent Sticking Charm to keep them together, and then had painted a mural of the four of them. Jennie, Mona, Sybil, and Bridget were posed in their respective hobbies; Jennie was flying up at the top holding her Beater's bat, Mona was painting, Sybil was meditating, and Bridget was reading. All in all it was quite beautiful and a very nice addition to their dormitory.
"Wow, Mona, this is beautiful!" Sybil wandered in and gazed up at it, her already large eyes widened to the point where it seemed like they would pop out of her skull. She went up and continued staring at it. The other three girls exchanged a look and shrugged. After seven years, they'd all grown accustomed to Sybil's oddities.
That night, Jennie looked up at the ceiling above her bed and inhaled the earthy smell of Hogwarts, as well as a hearty breath of Sybil's joint, and smiled. She was glad to be back.
