TEN

Josephine found that the curriculum had apparently gotten harder in the next twenty years, as most of the class content was surprisingly easy for her. This, of course, allowed her to spend most of her time doodling in the most boring of classes. She had bought a ton of ballpoint pens in muggle London, which were a lot more satisfying to draw with than quills. She was caught only once, but by the pleasant serendipity of the simpler syllabus, Josie could answer the quick-fire question shot at her by Professor Cardimino in Ancient Runes, to make sure she was listening, without too much trouble.

That night she arrived at the Common Room with Remus, who had been typically nice to her as he introduced himself to her in the Ancient Runes class they shared. She emerged from the portrait hole with a backpack sagging with homework for the week over one shoulder. The sight of the rest of the Marauders, Lily and Marlene sitting congregated around the hearth greeted Josephine. There was always a soft warm light in the Gryffindor Common Room that she was very fond of, and it reminded her that this was her home now. Marlene was the first to notice them and waved them over. They made room for her on the couch and Sirius pushed James off the side with a nonchalant shove of his elbow. The boy sprawled on the floor and staged an offended look toward Sirius as he made himself comfortable with his back facing the heat of the dancing flames.

Josephine collapsed on the couch next to Marlene, who was said nothing but was staring at her very pointedly. After a while, everyone pried Josie enough to start telling her story, despite all her efforts to direct the conversation elsewhere. She told the story the way Dumbledore had told it to her – starting off with her father's death and ending with the Hogwarts Letter arriving five years late. The group remained mostly silent, except for Sirius asking the occasional disrupting question, whom Remus eventually silenced with an adept wave of his wand.

The Common Room around them stayed abuzz with alternate conversations, but Josephine knew that certain people were listening in. She didn't mind. It would mean she wouldn't have to tell the story too many more times, which was good because she hated lying about her family, her mother especially. She was also glad to get this out of the way. With a backstory, she could continue her life as if it was the truth and feel like this was reality, and not just some hazy dream.

As she finished, she looked up at the others' wide eyes and gave a nervous laugh to stop the tears from escaping.

"And they lived happily ever after, the end!" The words fled her mouth in an almost incoherent string of sounds as she picked up her bag and sped toward the dorm room. It would be a bad idea for them to see her cry. This whole story was too much already. She could feel their gazes locked into her back like a fleet of snipers as she reached the archway. Before she could, however, a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Josephine," She turned around to see Remus, slightly taller than her, looking down at her with worried eyes. "I just wanted to say that you're really, uh, brave for telling us that. It's not easy to share secrets."

She knew he was saying this from experience, and she took his hand off her shoulder with her own. Little did he know that she had a million more secrets that she could never tell, of his best friends' deaths, and his life bound of undefined duty and of the chaos that the world would become. They were now her burden to bear. Remus pulled her into an inviting hug that enveloped her with the friendly warmth that she didn't know she had missed. Before she could stop herself, she whispered quietly in his ear, her voice thick with her contained tears.

"It's Dumbledore we have to feel sorry for. Two pranksters who could burn the school down any minute, a crazy nutter from the middle of nowhere, and a werewolf, all in one year…" She pulled back and gave him a sad smile. His eyebrows were knitted together in puzzled surprise and he was locked to the spot, the wiry muscles in his back and arms going tense.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Josephine assured him as she closed his mouth with two slender fingers against his coarse jaw. She stroked his cheek and turned toward the stone steps. Now she had a one up on the poor fellow, which would, unbeknownst to Josephine, make for a steadfast friendship from that point on. He was now a person whom she could indisputably trust, which subconsciously, made her feel infinitely more grounded. Remus watched her ascend the steps as she imagined the emergency Marauders meeting that would undoubtedly be held in a few minutes time. Josephine Swire slept better that night than she ever had since she arrived in 1975.