A/N: RIP Helen McCrory
Narcissa Black was never so vulgar as to be caught in a hurry - the way she spoke, the way she sauntered from place to place, the way she drifted down onto chairs like a silk scarf settling over them - hers was a deliberate, luxurious, unhurried pace.
But tonight, she was bolting up the Hogwarts main staircase, her cloak streaming out behind her as she took the steps two at a time. At the top, she crossed the corridor and ran to the bottom of the moving stairs, the ones that would probably not budge under her Slytherin feet to take her to Gryffindor Tower. She was right about that and stood halfway up them, pointed in the wrong direction but able to see to the portrait hole where Remus was waiting while Peter Pettigrew boosted himself inside.
"Lupin!" she called across the open space, unconcerned for once about the possibility of anyone else hearing her.
At the sound of her voice, his shoulder jerked toward his ear but he didn't turn around.
"Quit your sulking and finish talking to me," she called again.
It was Sirius who answered back, his hand on Remus's back, pushing him toward the tower entrance. "Go home, Narcissa. We've had a long day."
"Lupin!" she called again.
His foot was on the edge of the portrait hole, about to step up into it, about to go in for the night with his head full of images of Lucius Malfoy snogging her hand in the Entrance Hall just now. She wouldn't have it, and she called out one more time.
Only, there wasn't a sound - not in the usual way. She opened her mouth, air moved through her throat, but nothing echoed off the vaulted stone walls of the castle stairwell. At least, nothing simple humans could hear. But across the open space, Remus and Sirius both covered their ears and cried out, as if in pain.
"Bloody hell," Sirius said, spinning around to look incredulously at his cousin. "How did - "
"I told you she was part creature," Remus said. "Though I didn't know she could - "
"Stop standing there looking impressed," Sirius said. "Either go inside, or holler back at her to never use that ultrasonic tone with you again."
"Are you coming?" Narcissa called. "I wasn't finished speaking with you when I was interrupted."
Sirius patted Remus's shoulder as he took his place in the portrait hole. "You know what the Black family is like. Don't get too close to her. Don't go anywhere private. Be careful," he said. "I'll expect you up in our room in ten minutes."
Remus nodded, sighing and scuffing to the top of the stairwell, waiting as the stones sensed him there and turned toward him. They were moving, Narcissa holding their bannister and coming along with them. He walked down to where she stood.
"What?" he said.
"No, not in a high traffic area like this," she said. "We can't talk here. Come with me."
"Where?"
"Just over here," she said, pulling on his arm. "The Divination classroom. It's always empty on the weekend."
He followed, hanging back as if he was resisting as she led him by his sleeve. Dumbledore was looking for a new Divination teacher so the class lacked the territorial feel of belonging to any professor in particular. That's not to say it was sparsely decorated. It was full of lush trimmings from previous teachers, giving it a heavy, shadowy feel, lit even in its off hours with the faint blue glow of the crystal balls set on all the low tables. As always, there was nowhere to sit but on the cushions on the floor, so they stood.
Remus closed the door behind himself as she let go of his sleeve. "Alright," he began. "So tell me what else I said to Snape when I was drunk."
"Not a word, actually," she said.
He waited for her to continue but she seemed to be fighting to keep breathing normally, her shoulders rising and falling, one hand on her chest. He frowned, stepping closer. "Narcissa?"
She shook her head. "It's not about what you said to Snape that night. It's about what you said to me."
Even in the dim light, she could see the change in his face. He remembered. He remembered the way he'd held her on the stairs and told her it wasn't right that she belonged to Lucius Malfoy when he, Remus himself, belonged to her.
He fell more than stepped back, recoiling from the mention of it. "If you want an apology, you can have it," he said. "Sorry for what I said. It was inappropriate to speak to a betrothed woman that way and I never would have done it unintoxicated. So you're welcome to forget it. Are you satisfied? Can I leave now?"
"No," she said. "I am not at all satisfied with you saying one thing and then trying to take it back."
He ran his hands through his hair. "How can I not take it back? Malfoy was just here, making a show of fawning all over you and - and kissing you when he knew, he KNEW we were standing right there. Even Moony could read a display like that."
"Don't talk about the werewolf like he's not you," she said, her voice rising. "That's something else you said on the stairs that night." She stepped closer. "You told me you and Moony are the same. But you didn't have to say it. Not to me. I already know."
"So does anyone who cares to look at the Ministry's werewolf registry," he said, getting louder himself.
"You know that is not what I mean." Her voice was quiet again. The distance between them was short enough for her to easily, naturally curve her fingers around his. He startled at her touch, but didn't resist it.
"I mean," she said, "that I know you're part of each other, not separate. I know all sides of you, Lupin. And what's more," she said, the grip of her fingers becoming more insistent, "what perhaps no one else in the world can say, is that I like all sides of you."
His limp hand closed on hers as his voice released a sigh that was almost a sob. He raised their joined hands. Hers was the one he'd seen Lucius Malfoy kiss. Remus had watched as pain flared in his chest, like the wind knocked out of himself, and he'd turned away and bolted up the stairs. Now that he was holding that hand, it seemed like he had no choice but to push it away. Slowly, he bent her arm at her elbow, and pressed her hand against her sternum.
"It's kind of you to say that. But none of it matters," he said, letting go.
"That is not true."
"Yeah, well that doesn't matter either."
"Wait a moment anyway," she said, taking him by his tie and pulling him closer than ever.
He closed his eyes, held his face turned away from her, but he didn't try to leave.
She went on. "Let me see something. We've gone and confused each other. And I don't know for certain anymore whether touching you makes me calm or - or not. Let me see, Lupin."
She rose onto her tiptoes, leaning into him. He tipped back on his heels, slouching against the tapestried wall behind him. She inched forward to stand between his feet. "You've never let anyone kiss you before."
He shook his head, eyes still closed, swallowing hard. "They're hardly queuing up - "
Her hands resettled their grip on his clothes. "Answer me properly. Look at me."
He opened his eyes and turned his head to see her face. The low light had made her eyes dark again, softened the sharp contours of her nose and chin, and in the glow of the crystal balls on the tables behind her, her hair had taken on a blue halo. For him, she was a magical creature even when she wasn't transformed.
He swallowed. "I swore I would never let anyone that close to me. With my nature, I can't be sure I could kiss someone without tearing them apart." His words slowed as he got to the end of his statement, as if he was losing his resolve to say them.
She boosted herself higher, using her grip on him and the friction between her clothes and his to help hold herself up. "I won't force you," she said, her face so close to his she could feel his breath, hot and fast on her skin. "But I am asking you..."
She paused, wondering if she had only imagined the slight inclining of his head toward her.
He spoke into the pause. "Your heart beat, it's…"
"Yes," she said. "Because I'm asking you to kiss me..."
She closed her eyes. For a moment, there was nothing. His hands didn't take hold of her. Nothing pulled her closer. And then, warmth and texture against her lips, tentative, exploratory, like a dog sniffing the closed hand of a stranger. She had invited it but it still startled her, and she opened her mouth to gasp just as Remus moved closer. The smooth curve of his lip touched the wet inner edge of her mouth. The sensation shook through him. She heard his voice, faint but irrepressible, wanting, starving, and she surged into him.
Her hand framed his jawline, her fingers splayed on his cheek, guiding the angle and motion of his face, showing him how to find what he needed in the kiss. But he needed everything, more than she had ever given anyone. Remus was no longer shy but commanding. His arms were around her now, strong and forceful again, one hand in the small of her back, lifting her toward himself, the other holding a great handful of her silky hair. She was breathless, clinging to him, chasing him as he moved his face and hands against her, overwhelmed but desperate for more. She licked at his upper lip and he was there, returning it, deep, and moaning into her again.
It was coming back - their meeting in the forest as werewolf and Veela. He had his tongue on her that night as well, and the glorious madness of it was melding into tonight - the urgency and intimacy.
Her heart beat in his ears. The sound drew his mouth away from hers, kissing down her neck, to the point where her carotid pulse fluttered in her neck. He fell on it, ravenous, sucking the delicate skin over it between his teeth. Her head was thrown back to let him take it, her hands on his shoulders, kneading him into her.
But when her voice sounded in her throat, not loud, vibrating in his mouth, he tore himself away, horrified, panting, his head tipped back against the wall, eyes closed.
"What's wrong?" she said in a tiny, breathy voice, staying close as he backed away, her lips brushing his throat as she spoke.
"I wanted," he said, chest heaving, not stilled at all by her hands running over it, inside his outer robes, against his shirt. "I wanted to bite you."
She took his chin between her fingers and tilted his head until he was looking down into her eyes. "But you didn't," she said. "You wouldn't do that. Not to me."
She sprung up to kiss his neck, not like his Veela, with fangs, but with soft, warm lips mouthing the underside of his jaw, melting away any more trepidation he might have had. His arms clamped around her as he bent his knees, sinking along the wall, his face in her hair as he took her to the floor. But their motion dragged too hard on the tapestry behind him, and the rings it was suspended by snapped, sending the heavy, dusty, ancient cloth falling from the ceiling, on top of them.
They came apart and fought their way out from underneath it, emerging to sit side by side on the cold classroom floor, still breathless but now coughing at the dust as well. Remus looked at her and laughed, doing a poor job of smoothing her disheveled hair with one hand. "Look at you," he said. "The elegant Narcissa Black."
"Well on my way to ravished," she said, beating the dust from where it sullied the shoulder of his dress robes. "It's a shame about your clothes. You really did look devastatingly attractive, all dressed up today."
He grabbed at her, pulling her into his lap, facing away from him, his arms wrapped around her from behind, holding her upper arms to her sides. "Dress robes? Is that what this is all about?" he said, jostling her. "James Potter's wedding clothes?"
She laughed and rocked in his hold. "Well, they don't hurt your case, I will say that."
He dropped his chin onto her shoulder and sighed. "What is this truly all about then?" he said, serious now.
She bowed her head against his temple. "I don't know. All I can say is I couldn't let you go, not tonight, not again. And not with the idea that I feel anything but duty bound to Lucius Malfoy. I don't love him. I don't want him. And I couldn't stand for you to doubt it. Maybe it was as simple as that. I do hope you're not sorry."
He sighed again. "I'm not. I've been suffering exquisitely from wanting to kiss you for days - maybe weeks. But now it's happened, I can't let myself become some creature fancy man you keep on the side for when your human is off Death Eating."
It was crass enough to set her shuddering as he said it. But it wasn't wrong.
"Even if I had no moral objections to it," Remus went on, "running around with you would eventually get me murdered by both your families. I don't need Sirius to tell me that."
She breathed a soft whimper against his face. "I know. I certainly don't want anything to hurt you. But how can I give you up?" she said, her voice falling to a whisper. "How can I ever be content with anything less than you now?"
Remus held her tighter. This couldn't be happening. Here he was, sitting coiled around someone, her softness filling his arms, the taste of her still in her mouth. And she wasn't just anyone, she was Narcissa Black. It couldn't be real. And no matter how perfect everything she said and did was tonight, it probably wouldn't stay real for very long.
"If only not wanting this arranged marriage meant I'd know exactly what to do about," she cupped his knee with her hand, "about this."
He smoothed his rough evening cheek against the hair at her crown. "Go home and sleep on it."
"You're sending me away already?" she said.
"I need to," he answered. "I can't stay here mindlessly devouring you all night."
"Of course you can."
"Well, I shouldn't," he said through a quiet, tormented laugh. "This isn't how I thought my day would end. And I need to take a moment to stand back and think through it."
"Lupin," she whispered into the side of his face. "Don't let this be the last time we meet like this. I'll - I'll do something. I'll go to the library and read everything I can on betrothal law. I'll visit my parents again and force them to listen to what I want."
He sighed again. "If what you really want is to get clear of Malfoy, then don't marry him. But don't be careless with your future either. I can never give you the life you're used to. I've no fortune, and as a registered werewolf, I don't know if I'll ever be able to work - "
"Look, I didn't lure you in here as a ploy to get you to take care of me for the rest of my life," she said, pushing herself out of his lap to kneel in front of where he sat, taking his hands. "Mad James Potter's wedding has got you taking relationships far too seriously today. I can break up with Lucius without instantly making myself a burden on you."
He hung his head. "You're not a burden."
"Oh yes I am," she said, laughing joylessly. "You have no idea how much of a burden I could be. But come back to me anyway. At least one more time. And then maybe another..."
She cradled his cheek in her palm and he raised his head to meet her eyes. She still gave the sense that she glowed in low light - her hair and skin. He reached for her again, his hands on her arms. Beneath his fingers, her flesh was ethereally soft, almost like she wasn't there.
But then he stopped, whistling low and swiping his thumb along the bruise he could see forming on her neck. "Have you got any more of that healing balm? I'm afraid I've gone and marked up your skin."
"Not yet," she said, lifting the hood of her cloak to hide it. "I want to keep it for a little while. Maybe until I wake up in the morning, as if you're still with me through the night." She finally blushed at herself. "Pardon me. My Veela is speaking her mind."
"Don't talk about her as if she's not you," he said as he drew her closer, watching her advance, her eyes were wide and bright. She saw him, looked inside of him, unblinking, unafraid as he kissed her again.
Foolish girl, entreating him to come back to her. He would. Every moment he didn't fight to keep himself away, he would be with her.
"What's happened to you?" Peter was standing in the centre of their room, well and truly tangled in his wedding tie as he tried to get free of it.
"Nothing," Remus said, closing the door behind himself and fighting back a grin. He stepped forward, pulling on the end of Peter's tie that released him from the knot.
"Thank the stars you came, Remus," Peter said. "I was just about to throttle myself with it."
Something about hearing Peter say it was like a cold hand passing over Remus's warm mood. He shuddered under it as he slipped out of his own dusty robes.
But Peter was safe and well, tossing his dress robes into a pile on James's empty bed where Sirius's already lay rumpled and scattered. "Really, Remus, what have you been into?" he said, his nose twitching. "It's a bit like - like Sirius, only flowery."
At that moment, the bathroom door banged open. Sirius stood in it, his black hair wet from his shower, arms leaning against the jambs as if he was a model posing in nothing but a towel around his waist. "You call that ten minutes?" he said.
He marched into the bedroom, sniffing hard in Remus's direction. "Aw, you did. Hang it, Remus, you've gone and snogged my cousin."
"He what?" Peter squeaked. "Remus - how? Right after Malfoy stood there and loved her up in front of us all in the Entrance Hall? Won't he have you hunted down like a - erm, well..."
"Yes, he would, Pete," Remus said. "That's why I'm back here already, trying to think it through."
"That shouldn't take long," Sirius said, toweling his hair. "Leave each other alone. There you have it. Nothing else makes sense."
"On the surface, yes," Remus said. "Which is why I need to slow down if I want to think below the surface."
"This is James's fault," Sirius said, glaring up at the ceiling before snapping a T-shirt over his head. "Him up there right now, getting off with his Missus, giving everyone else rash, fanciful ideas."
"Was she a Veela when you did it?" Peter asked.
"She's never not a Veela," Remus said, falling face down on his mattress. "But no, she wasn't transformed, if that's what you mean. She took me aside to tell me how Snape found out about the wedding and then - she just - asked me to kiss her."
"And you obediently obliged?" Sirius railed.
Remus only shrugged.
"Well, how was it?" Peter asked, glancing warily at Sirius. "Your first kiss, mate. That's - something."
"Well," Remus said, sitting up. "I didn't turn into a beast and tear her throat out, so I'm calling it a success."
"A high bar indeed," Sirius said.
Remus tossed a pillow at him. "It was a very nice kiss."
Sirius threw the pillow back with more force. "You end up on the floor?"
Remus's cheeks flushed and he turned his face to the window.
"By the stars," Peter marveled. "Our Remus and Narcissa Black."
Sirius hated it, growling out a change of subject. "So what's this about her having news of Snape?"
Remus explained about Snape hurrying off to tell Tom Riddle about James and Lily being married as soon as he finished sending the Evanses off to try to spoil the wedding. "Narcissa seemed to think it was dangerous for the Death Eaters to know about the wedding, but I'm not sure about that," he said. "Now that it's made, the marriage strengthens their power, so isn't it a good thing that he knows not to trifle with them anymore?"
Peter was frowning. "Maybe he'll turn his attention to Alice now."
Sirius patted Peter's shoulder. "Poor old Pete. You had a rough time today, didn't you mate? Watching Alice and Frank at the wedding getting all caught up in the soulmate talk."
Peter rolled his eyes. "Destiny is a better excuse than many for being thrown over."
"We'll find you someone new," Sirius said. "I'll ask Marlene if she knows anyone. Maybe that nice Dorcas she shares a room with now Lily's moved upstairs?"
Peter and Remus shared a look. Sirius had a rather sordid history with girls, but most of it was based on snogging misadventures and showy dates. They'd never known him to be in love with anyone, not even in the longing, one-sided way Peter felt for Alice. He still approached girlfriends like a young boy, as if they were somewhat interchangeable. And in between all of them was Marlene, who wouldn't take him seriously.
"Right, Rus, thanks," was all Peter would say for now. "So who's going up there to tell James that Riddle knows he's married?"
"No one," Remus and Sirius said in unison.
"We won't go looking for the happy newlywed couple until they emerge on their own," Sirius said. "Let them carry on in their perfect dreamworld as long as they can."
Remus fell backward on his bed. "Dreamworld," he said. "Yeah, that's nice."
Monday began with a double period of seventh year Care of Magical Creatures. The morning was cold but bright, everyone blowing clouds of warm vapour as they trudged toward the forest.
"Lads, wait up," James Potter called out, hurrying down the hill to catch his friends.
A cheer went up when they saw him.
"Here he is," Remus announced as he approached. "Are you going to be able to survive without the missus for two whole hours, James?"
"Doubtful," he said, smiling anyway, slowing to their pace.
"Here we all were, thinking you'd still be in hiding today," Sirius said. "Especially when you didn't turn up for breakfast."
James cleared his throat, smirking. "Yeah, busy morning at home."
They were yelling again, jostling him, Peter pretending to punch him in the stomach. "So married life then, it's…?"
"Quiet, Pete," James said. "But yeah, I have no complaints. None at all. None ever again for the rest of my life. It's amazing. Inexplicable, really - "
"Alright, then," Sirius laughed. "We believe you. And we're happy for you, mate."
"Do I look different?" James joked. "Isn't that what people always ask? I get it. I feel different."
"How about Remus?" Peter asked. "Does he look different too?"
Remus's face was instantly red. "Shut it, Pete."
James was sputtering, grabbing at Remus's arm, stumbling along beside him. "Why would he - what did you do, Remus? Who? I'm gone for forty-eight hours and - "
"Never mind it right now," Remus said, watching something over his shoulder, desperately shushing James.
Sirius laughed at them, hard, holding onto Peter as if he'd fall over otherwise. "Stars, it serves you right, Lupin."
"Tell me," James was insisting, gripping Remus by the front of his cloak. "In one weekend you went from zero to - "
"Just a kiss," Remus said in a shouted whisper, pushing himself free of James's hold.
"Stars, Remus! With who? Not with Padfoot's cousin."
Sirius and Peter were laughing again.
James gasped. "No, it wouldn't be - not when she's still officially with - "
"Later, James," Remus said.
Mercifully, Grubbly-Plank was beginning her lesson. "Right. For today, our mer-folk have generously provided for us these Lobalugs. They've had a bumper crop this year, don't know why, and fear they may have been seeded in the lake for," she eyed Narcissa Black, who was arriving last of all, "for nefarious purposes by cunning malcontents."
Remus clenched his fist inside the sleeve of his cloak. Narcissa might not have been the only thing bringing Malfoy around the school this year.
"As advanced students like yourselves will doubtless know by now," she went on, only slightly sarcastically, "the Lobalug is a very simple aquatic creature. Little more than a rubbery bulb for squirting a powerful, potentially deadly venom. A lazy creation, if I do say so," she paused to chuckle to herself.
"Our task for today is to remove the venom glands from these animals before they're dispersed into the sea. Their venom is an ingredient in several weaponized potions and these creatures must be de-venomized in order to control its supply. In other words," she paused again, no chuckle at all, "this is much more than a lesson today, my lads and lasses. This is an act in the service of the peace and stability of your country. Now McKinnon, come assist me while I demonstrate."
The de-venomizing process looked easy but harrowing. "If you make contact with the venom on any part of your body," Grubbly-Plank warned, "see me immediately for the antidote. Now partner up and get to work."
Remus's chest swelled with a deep breath as Narcissa sauntered through the crowd, coming to stand beside him at the long work table, over a large glass fishbowl where a Lobalug lay suspended beneath the water's surface like a limp, swamped yellow balloon.
She glanced up at him. "Good morning, Lupin."
"Hello, Black," he said, struggling to sound casual as he opened the vial of aquatic stunning anesthetic potion.
They had seen each other since everything changed for them on Saturday night in the empty Divination classroom, but they hadn't spoken, and certainly hadn't touched. Yesterday had been Valentine's Day, of all things, and they independently decided to give each other some space. Narcissa had done quite enough chasing that weekend, and Remus - he was so used to caution he could hardly do anything else. By the end of the day, they had exchanged nothing but a few blush inducing glances across the dining hall.
"Did you get caught up on your studies yesterday?" She asked as if making breezy conversation, watching his back as he bent to measure the anesthetic into a flask, thinking how she'd like to climb onto that lean, long back and have him carry her around for the rest of the day, her arms looping his neck, legs hooked around his waist, face nestled into his shoulder.
"Yes, it was most productive," he fibbed. He'd spent yesterday sitting in front of his books, running his eyes over the same passages without remembering what they said, distracted by reliving one particular shadowy half-hour over and over again.
"I started that research we talked about," she said. "About bonds and contracts."
For a moment, he was puzzled. "Contracts?" He said, straightening up.
"Yes, family contracts. You remember," she said, taking the flask from him and using her wand to distill it, drop by drop, into the Lobalug's bowl.
And he did remember. She had said she would look into betrothal law. As they waited for the stun to take effect, she was twisting her hair into a bun at the top of her head, looking up at him from beneath her pale eyebrows. That familiar pricking in his fingertips returned, the urge to grab her while she held her arms above her head.
But he kept still, concentrating hard on listening as she explained. "Most of the laws are antiquated, and if recent case law is anything to go on, they wouldn't hold up in a modern courtroom." She dropped her arms. "By now, they're traditional more than they are legal. Though the social consequences of breaking them are real. The shunning and disinheriting. It's a good thing most daughters of old families have - "
"Pupils, what are you doing?" Grubbly-Plank was standing at the head of the table, frowning deeply, her hands planted on her hips. Everyone had been waiting for their Lobalugs to fall asleep, and as they did, many of the partnerships had draped their arms around each other, leaning their heads together, whispering and giggling. "My word," Grubbly-Plank scolded. "Valentine's was yesterday. In this class, you will maintain a professional working stance at all times."
The cuddly student pairs were properly jarred by her words, unhanding each other and stepping apart, confused and muttering apologies.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked. Whatever had come over everyone, it had not inspired him and James to start cuddling. Though he had looked over at Marlene and noticed she was looking even prettier than usual this morning.
"I don't know," James answered, staring out over the tops of the trees, toward the castle. "But I'm missing Lily terribly all of a sudden."
Sirius craned his neck to check on Peter. There he was, looking physically sick, holding himself up on the edge of the table as Alice held out her wrist, showing him the fine silver bracelet Frank had given her as a Valentine's gift.
"Remus," Sirius called, beckoning him over to their side of the table.
"What?" he said as he arrived.
Sirius spoke into his ear. "Did you feel strange at all just now? Before Grubbly-Plank spoke up. Like - like you could do with a good snog all of a sudden?"
Remus glanced at Narcissa. "No more so than usual," he said.
Sirius hummed. "Something funny is happening here this morning. I'm not sure, but I suspect there might be some kind of love magic at work. Maybe to throw us off de-venomizing these monsters the Death Eaters planted."
"You think so?" James said. "I might have felt something a minute ago. But it was for my own wife, thank the stars. And it seems to have passed now."
Sirius stood quietly for a moment, as if checking himself. "Oi, Marlene," he called.
She turned around, openly annoyed at being interrupted. "What is it?"
While she was still looking her usual lovely self, Sirius's drive to take her in his arms had abated. "Nothing," he said, waving her away. "Yeah, alright. Back to work I guess."
Remus left them, walking back to Narcissa. The Lobalugs were drowsy now, floating instead of swimming. The students were getting into their gloves, preparing to handle the deadly venomous creatures. Remus took his place beside Narcissa. Her hair was still tied up, but a strand of it had fallen along her long bare neck. The mark he'd left on her skin had indeed been healed, and as he tucked the stray hair behind her ear, he dared to swipe one finger along the place on her unbruised white skin where the mark would have been if she hadn't treated it.
The caress was subtle. No one but a blinking, pink-cheeked Narcissa seemed to notice, especially when, right beside Remus, a pair of Hufflepuffs tumbled to the ground, snogging the daylights out of each other.
It was happening all over, pairs of students clasping hands, stroking one another's faces, and looking longingly into each other's eyes. Peter crawled under the table to get away from Alice's ardent babble, thanking him for teaching Frank chess. He was a natural, truly brilliant at it, a delight to watch…
"Sirius," James groaned. "I miss Lily so much right now I think I might cry."
It was a good thing he said something, bringing Sirius back to himself when he was about to leap over the table to fall on the suddenly unfathomably alluring Marlene.
Instead, Sirius tore his gaze away from her to find Remus, standing composed but confused next to Narcissa. "Remus, over here," he called through gritted teeth. "Now. Hurry!"
Alarmed, Remus threaded through the couples Grubbly-Plank was ordering to behave themselves, making his way back to Sirius. As he came, people let go of each other, backing away, embarrassed again.
"Are you seeing this?" Sirius asked James.
James wiped his eyes and put his glasses back on. "Yeah. You're right, Rus. There's love magic, but it's not the Death Eaters doing it. It's coming and going depending on how close Remus is to - "
"To the Veela," Sirius finished.
"What about her?" Remus said, his voice rising.
"Easy, mate," Sirius said, pulling him aside. "We just couldn't help noticing the change in Narcissa today."
Remus frowned. "What change? She's as she always is."
James tried. "Alright, but don't you think she's exuding a bit of a love magic this morning?"
"Yes, as she always is," Remus said, frustrated, his voice rising again.
Sirius was understanding. "Always for you, maybe. But now it's affecting more than just you. Look at these people. I reckon you must have made some magical change in her when you, uh, you know," Sirius said. "Or maybe it was Moony. Creature magic when he, uh, cleaned her wound."
"No more talking about Moony like he isn't me."
"Whatever you say," Sirius allowed. "All I'm saying is that since you snogged Narcissa the other night, her Veela nature is now in full bloom. Romantically active - isn't that how they say it? Anyways, her liking you is making everyone here like everyone else here far too much."
Remus scoffed. "You think this pandemonium is our doing?"
"It's hard to argue with it," James said. "Look around. Now that you're over here with us again, everyone just looks mortified with themselves. No more inappropriate snuggling."
"But if I go back - "
"No!" James and Sirius shouted at once, grabbing at his cloak.
"No, no going back," Sirius said. "I don't know what to do about this in the long term, but for the rest of class today, to save us all from being too doped up on love to save ourselves from being squirted with venom, I'll be the one to partner with my cousin."
"At least let me explain it to her - "
"No!" the lads said again, loud enough this time for Grubbly-Plank to frown in their direction.
"Not until there's no more venom on the table," Sirius said as he backed away, leaving Remus with James.
The rest of class was uneventful. The Black cousins worked together in efficient, if testy near-silence, Alice regained the ability to speak of things other than Frank, and James and Remus settled into good natured interrogating of one another.
"So Narcissa Black," James said as he gingerly clamped the drowsy Lobalug into place.
"She started it," Remus grinned as he raised his wand over the creature.
"Yeah? How far did it go?"
"Not nearly as far as your relationship."
James smirked. "I should hope not."
Remus set his wand on the table, digging into the Logalub with a silver probe. "So you're alright then? You and Lily? No problems?"
James sighed, only a little sadly. "The first one hurt her. Everyone expects that. But you always hope it will be different for you, especially when everyone's crowing at you about how you're soulmates."
Remus hummed. "Maybe that's only right. Maybe soulmates need to understand the painful potential of love more than anyone," he said.
James looked up the hill, toward the castle, sighing. "I hate to think of her up there stuck in double Divination class with Snape as Mrs. Potter for the first time."
Remus straightened up, pinching their successfully extracted Logalub venom gland with a pair of tweezers. He tipped it into a vial and screwed on the lid.
James bent over the Logalub to mend the wound left from the gland removal. "Not that Lily's angry about him sending her parents over to the wedding at the last minute. He did us a favour, really. It's better they know from the beginning."
"But the Evanses aren't the only ones Snape told," Remus said. "He ran and told You-know-who as well."
"Who?"
Remus leaned in close. "Riddle. Tom Riddle."
James huffed. "What's he going to do about it?"
Remus shrugged. "Nothing good. And he wants you to know that he knows. He sent Malfoy here on Saturday to gloat about finding out."
James shook his head and dropped a hand on Remus's shoulder. "Malfoy's still coming and going freely from the school, is he? Please be careful, mate."
Remus nodded. "You as well."