"I'm calling Gryffindor," Fae said.
"No way, that's a Ravenclaw for sure," Romilly said.
Regulus rolled his eyes. "You guys are awful. And he's one of ours,"
Not a second later, the sorting hat called out, "Slytherin!"
"Called it."
Romilly and Fae huffed. "Ours he says, literally sitting at the Hufflepuff table during the sorting," Fae said, laughing.
She was so happy to be reunited with her best friends. They looked wonderful - Romilly tan and infinitely freckly and bursting with stories of all the creatures she'd encountered over the summer. The Zouwu and the 'Giant Niffler' were her favorites. Regulus had nothing to say about his summer, but was happy to listen to Romilly's and Fae's stories, sticking close, asking questions and offering his sassy commentary. He hadn't left their side for a second since they'd met up in front of Hogwarts, not even giving the Slytherin table a glance when they'd entered the Grand Hall.
To keep herself occupied while waiting for dinner, Fae and Romilly had started betting on which house each first year was being sorted into. Regulus called them idiots and then won the collection of chocolate frogs in the end. He shared them with the two girls anyways after following them to Hufflepuff house and settling down in the common room to relax before classes began. It was nice, familiar and warm.
In fact, Regulus was rather clingy the whole week. Somehow, the Slytherin house had been paired up with Hufflepuff for every double core class and Fae nearly suspected his involvement. Especially considering he had somehow transferred out of Alchemy and into Care of Magical Creatures with them. She was too happy to have him around to care though and Romilly was having far too much fun chasing him around with the Red-backed Flying Lizards.
The first week of classes went by in a flash. Remus and Fae were thrilled to be running together every morning again, although figuring out evenings got a little tricky since Fae decided to join yearbook club with Peter, who spent a good three hours at the first meeting introducing her to everybody and showing her all the equipment and the work they'd done in the past yearbooks. For now, Fae was to help generate ideas for stories and work with the whole club to come up with a theme for the coming yearbook. It was fun, different than she was used to, but it felt good.
Saturday was a blast. Remus had been itching to test out his new hearing and sense of smell in the Forbidden Forest for weeks and while they didn't have any animagus to hunt during the day- losers- they had plenty of Puffskeins, Augureys, and other assorted creatures. Overeager dumbass nearly set a horde of Hippogriffs on them. Still, he looked happy and she was thrilled that he kept on wearing his t-shirts and shorts instead of reverting back to cardigans and track pants, despite being around all the students and stuff again.
The full moon was on Wednesday and things were just the same as the last semester, running around all day as much as they could, wearing down their energy for the night which was extremely difficult considering it was a strong chance for Remus to gain awareness finally. He practically skipped to the Shrieking Shack when the time came.
Unfortunately, he did not gain awareness that night, but they had a wild time with Padfoot, Prongs, Whiskers, and the creatures of the Forbidden Forest. They woke up the next day pretty much already laughing, Fae making fun of Remus for nearly yeeting himself off a cliff and Remus making fun of Fae for nearly getting James tangled in a tree. There was some tender stretching and some lotion being rubbed on bruises because those boulders came as a surprise, oops, and then they were heading to the infirmary to sleep it off.
Nerd that he was, Remus woke Fae again around noon, insisting they go get food and then attend afternoon classes. She rolled her eyes and whined and complained and begged, but to no avail. He just kicked her off the bed, she tackled him, they knocked over several partitions, and then were forcefully ejected by Madam Pomfrey.
"I'll meet you down there," Remus said cheerfully.
"Go fuck yourself," Fae replied just as cheerfully, dragging herself to Hufflepuff.
Fae got to lunch first. She sighed happily and sank down at the Gryffindor table, darling Peter having saved her a seat accompanied with three plates already heaped with her favorite foods.
"Where's Remus at?" James asked.
"On his way, that asshole. Can't believe he's making me go to class," Fae huffed.
"Damn, I was hoping he'd skip today," Sirius cursed.
She arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I'm sick and tired of all the girls."
"The.. girls." Fae repeated, laughing.
"Yes!" James groaned. "You must've noticed! Ever since Remus shot up another 4 inches, got lean from your training nonsense, and started wearing non-old-man clothes, the bloke can't go anywhere without mad attention and twittering and giggling and hair twirling! There's only so much of being ignored a guy can take without his self-esteem taking a major hit."
"Now that's just not true," Remus said, joining them. "I'm very sure your self-esteem is indestructible. Your dignity on the other hand.." he trailed off, grinning mischievously and stealing a chicken leg from Fae's plate.
"It is too true! Everywhere we go, they're all staring at you! It's getting creepy," Sirius whined.
"They are not. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh yeah. Fine then, right now, there's Milly, and Janice, and Penelope, oh! And Jillian's looking!"
"Ooooh Jillian Jones? Isn't that the girl that Moony was crazy about for most of third year?" Peter piped in.
"Quit it! I wasn't crazy about anyone," Remus hissed, red flushing his cheeks.
"Absolutely mad, you were. You used to check out all the same books in the library as soon as she returned them and practice talking to her about them in the mirror. Never quite worked up the courage to though, our shy Moony," Sirius teased.
"I did no such thing!"
"And now she can't take her eyes off you," James added.
"Bet you Moony's still too shy to actually talk to her though," Peter quipped.
Remus stood up abruptly and glared at them all. "Oh yeah? Watch me!"
Remus strode over, sat down, and struck up a conversation as if it were easy, as if it were something he did all the time. Completely unlike him. Jillian smiled and giggled and got touchy, patting his shoulder and batting her eyelashes. Fae watched it all and heard Remus casually ask her to hang out that weekend.
"Really? Yeah, I'd love to."
Then time skipped and the next thing she heard was, "Fae, where have you been? Get over here, Romilly is about to beat the shit out of Brandon because he called her a liar for saying she pet a dragon this summer."
"Oh, ok, coming," Fae said as Regulus dragged her to Slytherin.
Fae was in a haze over the next few days that she just couldn't shake off. Staring out windows and getting called on unawares in class, running into walls, nearly tripping down the stairs several times. She'd be jumped back into awareness and suddenly so much time had passed. It was starting to freak her out a bit, but she just kept dazing out. It was weird. Zombie-like, as Romilly and Regulus kept saying. Thank Merlin for those two, herding her between classes and giving her answers when professors called on her.
It was just a weird week. She didn't see much of Remus either. He missed morning runs and never seemed to be able to make it in the evenings. When she found him in the library, he was sitting at a table with Jillian instead of reading in their den. When she saw him in the halls, he was walking with Jillian, the pretty girl pressed against his side under his arm. They were really cute together. Jillian was so composed and graceful and poised, hair in gorgeous black waves perfectly framing her face, long black lashes framing dazzling green eyes, uniform always in pristine, proper condition and hugging all her soft curves. A true lady, almost doll-like, Fae knew Hope would approve.
Where are you? Fae wrote him one night, staring at the pages of their shared notebook and wondering why the hell he was so late. She really wanted to get running, her knees were jumping and knocking. The reply came ten minutes later.
With Jillian, sorry, can't make it tonight, see you in the morning?
And Fae tore the page out even though the space in their notebook was still very finite.
Fae missed Remus, but she didn't feel quite right pulling him away from his first girlfriend, a girl he'd apparently had feelings for through the last three years. It was a weird week. And it got weirder when Gilbert caught her wandering around the library aimlessly one night and asked her if she wanted to hang out the next day, Saturday.
"Yeah, sure," Fae said, smiling. "But it'll have to be after 2 if that's okay? I like to run in the mornings and have lunch with my brothers."
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll meet you in the courtyard?"
It hurt more than Fae wanted to admit when Remus showed up late Saturday morning and then left only an hour into their run because he had plans with Jillian. Fae finished out her run alone, picked over her sandwiches at the weekly picnic with her brothers and Peter, and then threw on her favorite mini-skirt and t-shirt to go meet Gilbert.
And then in a flash she was with Gilbert, walking back to Hufflepuff and saying good night as he leaned down, kissed her on the cheek, and smiled sadly before departing. "I'll see you 'round?"
"Yeah, okay."
Fae found Remus the next morning because they always spent Sundays together. Trouble is, she caught him on his way out of Gryffindor Tower, running past her with rushed apologies and a promise to meet up later, he was late for a date in Hogsmeade. Fae didn't see him later, instead she spent the day talking with Tara Corky about how fascinating it was to be learning tarot cards in their divination class. Then she spent the evening curled up with Romilly in their dorm room, eating chocolate and talking about centaurs. And Regulus' adorable clinginess which had yet to wear off.
Later that week, Fae realized she was dissociating. Hard. Not dissimilar to the full moon and she went from mindless actions to suddenly being in control of her body hours later and then faded out again. Just going through the motions and only occasionally realizing what she was doing.
"Um," she said awkwardly, separating her mouth from Brock Klein's.
He gave her a smirk and then Brandon turned her cheek and kissed her too. After, he smacked his lips and gave his twin a sardonic smile.
"Told you bro, like kissing a dead fish."
"Excuse you," Fae said angrily, diving back in for a proper snog. She kissed them both breathless, tongue and all, not bothering to think about how the hell she'd gotten here, although she vaguely recalled them asking her to stakeout with them in preparation for a prank on Professor Flitwick in an attempt to postpone their Friday charms exam.
When everybody was properly kissed, she pulled back and glared at them. "Dead fish, my ass."
Brock laughed heartily. "Okay fine, you know how to kiss," he said.
"It's just too bad your heart isn't in it," Brandon added.
"I'll show you heart," Fae said, beginning to map out the perfect plan of chaos to inflict on Professor Flitwick. They didn't try and kiss her again and Fae tried hard not to think about why kissing them had felt so nice, but felt so wrong. She thought really hard about not thinking about it, so hard that she didn't even question why Peter was at Hufflepuff when she got back, chatting with Romilly of all people. Instead she just sighed and dumped herself into her armchair, whining for Romilly to brush out her hair.
Remus wasn't there Saturday morning and Fae didn't feel like running, so she took her time walking, wandering blindly until well after noon had passed. Being as late as she was, she was surprised to see Sirius and Peter waiting for her, picnic basket in hand, at the edge of the forest. They had been waiting for her and wanted to take her somewhere cool. Cool turned out to be the Whomping Willow of all places - they'd staked out a perfect patch of grass just out of reach of the waving vines for them to have lunch.
"So what do you think of Jillian?" Sirius asked.
Fae shrugged. "She seems really nice. A little too polite, but sweet. Friendly enough. Really pretty," she answered casually, tearing her croissant into itty-bitty pieces.
"Well it's nice that you like her. Frankly, she's around all the time and has this high-pitched laugh that makes my ears ring. Driving me bonkers. And she's not shy about PDA either. She and Remus are constantly snogging," Peter complained.
"Snogging?"
"Yeah, he can't get enough of it, talks about how talented she is with her tongue and how she tastes like cinnamon. Remus loves a good snog. Who knew?"
"You guys suck," Fae said, curling into a ball and beginning to cry big, fat, wet droplets.
"Yeah. This sucks," Sirius agreed, throwing an arm around her and holding her close while she cried.
Peter did the same, rubbing her back and petting her hair. "Get it all out," he cooed sweetly. Fae sobbed harder. Bastards had been aiming for this.
Of course Fae had noticed how beautiful he'd gotten, the way he'd begun to shine. Remus had always had a kind, sweet face, soft hair, perfect, long fingers. He was so tall, and only got taller. Leaner. He grew into his gangliness that summer, finding sureness and confidence in his long strides finally. His smile made the earth move, and Fae had blamed her racing heart on how fast they'd been recklessly twirling, dancing together at the fair all those weeks back.
His ringing, carefree laugh played in her head like a catchy song. The way his eyes tended to seem more blue at night, the warmth of his side and the solidness of his ribs when she leant against him. The slightly crooked front tooth and the way he fiddled with his sleeves and the happy hum he made before taking his first sip of tea. How his eyes lit up and his shoulders lifted when he read an exciting scene in a book.
Fae bitched and ranted for a good hour through her tears about all the unfair things about Remus Lupin which made her fall for him without her realizing it. This was all a cruel trick, absolutely not fair, she hadn't stood a chance and now never would, because Jillian Jones was perfect and everything Remus wanted in a girl and everything Hope Lupin would want Remus to have.
"Unrequited love is a bitch, isn't it?" Sirius said sagely.
Fae snapped at him, upset at everything in the world. "And how would you know?"
"Haven't you wondered why James isn't here?"
And well, that was the ultimate distraction. How had she missed it? The lingering glances and how Sirius craved James' attention above all others' and HOLY FUCK he was jealous of Lily back in spring when James decided to help her instead of go with them for the full moon and took it out on Snape and HOW had she missed this?
So then Fae was forcing a bitch rant out of Sirius about how he'd had these feelings since last year after he'd been kicked out and come to terms with his sexuality and James had just literally become a brother and wow, wasn't that a great time to fall for your best friend? And he'd literally never have a chance because Lily Evans existed and straight guys were a thing that also existed.
And so Peter ended up with two crying siblings, laughing through their tears about how much being a teenager sucked and how much being in love sucked even more. They told him to fuck off when he promised it would work out and they'd find love eventually. He laughed and took it in stride.
It was exactly what she needed. Peter knew that, Sirius knew that, and Romilly knew that, welcoming her back with a big hug and chocolate when Fae returned to the dorm. She'd gotten all her tears out and was upset over having feelings for Remus, but he was with Jillian and that was just how it was. Fae got over it and she felt a little more normal and with it for the next week. The melancholy was still there though and when September 30th arrived, she was all too happy to skip class and go to the far edge of Black Lake again, losing herself in happier memories and saying goodbye.
Of course, that's when Remus decided to show back up again, running up to her, panting and breathless and berating her for skipping class and asking far too many questions about the phone in her hand, the notebooks scattered around her, the paper boats. Fae, hurt by his absence, frustrated with her feelings, and grieving a lost life, may have overreacted a tad bit.
"Go away! Get the fuck away from me! I don't want you here!" she screamed.
Remus just gave her a hurt look and then obeyed, backing away in staggered steps until he eventually turned and ran. For a second week in a row, Fae found herself crying.
Ironically, Remus had dumped Jillian that same day. Fae found that out the next morning when she saw him waiting at the edge of the forest for her, as if it were a normal Saturday morning. She ran and jumped on him for a hug, already apologizing over and over for being so harsh with him. He was apologizing too, for being so absent lately, and for intruding on her time to say goodbye. He didn't know and she said it was okay, she didn't expect him or anyone to really know.
"So where's Jillian at today?" Fae questioned as they began to run, wondering if she'd be lucky enough to have the whole morning with him, or if she'd see him at whatever surprise birthday celebration James had planned for later that he thought she didn't know about.
"Oh we broke up."
"What?"
"Yeah, dumped her yesterday. Too clingy. And she didn't like me hanging out with anybody, but her. I needed space, you know? And besides, I might've liked her when I was in third year, but I'm a different guy now," Remus explained.
"Oh. Well that's too bad. You guys were cute together," Fae said, trying to keep the sheer joy out of her voice and the dumb grin off her face. Happy birthday to her!
James' birthday celebration was on point too - he'd struck an accord with the other three quidditch captains and they'd agreed to convert the quidditch pitch into a maze for the day, for the sake of some good old Hide and Hunt, all houses and friends of Fae Potter welcome. She and Remus teamed up and wrecked everyone shamelessly. Following the clearing of the field, there was cake and chocolate and dancing at Hufflepuff. Sweet sixteen.
Too bad she was so busy having fun that she didn't notice Lilah Wilder dragging Remus to dance with her until Fae had tried to find him for a dance herself. Instead, she waltzed dangerously with Sirius and he made it so fun and so wild that she could keep smiling.
By Monday, Remus was once again a taken man. But at least this one gave him space, Fae acquiesced. He was back to running every morning and night with her again. He'd insisted, actually, and Fae was pleased enough to not let Lilah's perfectly bouncy black curls make her feel too subconscious about her own randomly wavy and wild locks. That, and Lilah was actually really funny. She had a good sense of humor and a talent for evading pranks that impressed Fae and the Marauders.
It was good timing too - the next moon was approaching fast and Remus threw himself into running and hunting in the forest, using his sensory skills as much as he could without overwhelming himself, singing loudly at the Monday Music session, for once joining in at Hufflepuff. It was great and Fae could feel it - this was the one.
She was proven right.
Fae's vision faded in around 11pm, close to the peak of the moon. Padfoot, Prongs, Whiskers, and Remus were around her, in the forest as usual. It was two hours later when Remus suddenly disappeared. They had been running and all of sudden, he wasn't behind her anymore. She tried to smell him out, worried that he'd wandered too close to the acromantulas, when he came flying from the right. His body collided with her and they rolled down a hill. Fae whined a little when they came to a stop, hitting the ground hard with him successfully pinning her for the first time ever.
She was pinned on her back, his paws against her shoulders. The wolf grinned at her, tipped it's head back, and howled a few chords of what was unmistakably Aerosmith's Dream On. Then Remus lurched forward and started licking all over her face and nipping her ears playfully. It was him, he was in there, awake, controlling his body. Fae howled and yipped and barked, completely overjoyed for him, immediately licking him back and struggling out from under his weight to wrestle and nuzzle and paw at each other.
It was amazing - they'd never been so in sync before, the way they snuck up on Padfoot and ambushed James and herded the three of them into a small stream for shits and giggles. Fae was so happy and she followed Remus as he sprinted, felt the complete power of his body for the first time. Unfortunately, it only lasted for half an hour and soon, his run had stopped, he'd shook his head, and his mind faded.
Fae had never been so eager for the morning transformation before, for the night to end. It came soon enough and she relished the pain, so excited to see Remus, to congratulate him and hug him. For once, she didn't pass out after the morning transformation. Instead, she collapsed to the ground, gasped and panted until the pain faded, and then started crawling towards Remus. He was doing the same thing, and they reached for each other, grinning.
"You did it!" Fae cried breathlessly as she collapsed on top of him, knocking them both to the hardwood ground. Her arms wound around his neck and his arms around her back, both in serious pain but not giving a fuck as they held on tight. Still feeling the remnants of the werewolf, she kissed his cheeks and nipped his ears and nuzzled his temples, burying her nose in his soft hair and deeply inhaling the scent of vanilla, books, and laundry.
His nose was similarly burrowed in her collarbone and they were laughing and completely unable to stop smiling.
"That was amazing, Remus! I'm so proud of you! You scared the shit out of me, coming out of nowhere like that!"
"I know! Merlin, that was the most incredible thing I've ever experienced! It felt like-"
"Yes!"
"We were so fast!"
So caught up in their joy, Madam Pomfrey got worried and came to collect them, herding them to the infirmary. She'd long since stopped trying to pry them apart or get them to sleep in separate beds and instead let them sit glued to each other, still talking animatedly as she looked them over. In the thirty minutes that Remus had been awake, they'd run faster than ever before and were perhaps a little overeager and rough when wrestling with each other, resulting in a few cuts and strained muscles, not that either noticed. Madam Pomfrey applied the dittany mix to the cuts, gave them a potion to repair the muscles, told them to stay in bed for the day, and left them to talk with a reminder to stretch and rub out their sore bodies.
James, Sirius, and Peter joined them not long later, ramping up their excitement again and starting the recollection from the beginning. Fae had been sitting behind Remus, rubbing out his shoulders and still babbling away when Lilah came in.
"What's all this then?" she shrieked, pointing rather angrily at Fae.
Fae froze and then went 'ummmm' because honestly, this looked pretty bad. Remus still hadn't bothered to put on a shirt and Fae only had on her robe.
"I knew it! You spend far too much time with that girl for it to be normal!" Lilah had cried.
Remus had bristled quickly, shoulders becoming tensed up all over again underneath Fae's hands. "That girl? What do you mean by that?" he growled.
"I mean she's strange and wild and you completely disappeared yesterday with her in the forest and now you're hurt and she's here, practically naked and-" Lilah babbled.
Remus cut her off. "You know, I don't think this is going to work out," he said coldly. "You should go."
"But-"
"Woah!" Fae said, wondering if she should calm Remus down. It wasn't like Lilah was wrong to be suspicious about this rather sketchy-looking situation or to care that her boyfriend was spending so much time with another girl.
However, Fae stayed quiet and then absolutely beamed as Remus said, "Fae is my best friend and if you can't handle me spending time with her, then we're done."
"Fine!" Lilah screamed, turning and stomping out.
There was silence and then Sirius, "Girls, right? Now, what was that deal with you guys chasing us into the stream? Because I gotta say, not fun."
Fae and Remus shared a toothy grin.
Thank Merlin it was Saturday. They did actually stay in the infirmary the whole day for once because Fae had seriously overextended her calf and Remus' left shoulder was pretty fucked up. It was completely fine with both of them, they were happy to nap for a few hours once they finally calmed down and then send the Marauders off as messengers and delivery boys for whatever they needed for the rest of the day. Gamely, to celebrate Remus' awareness, they allowed it. Peter, of course, picked out the best food. Sirius carried Remus' books from their room. James was left to hunt down Romilly and ask her to get Fae's stuff from their room without making Romilly too suspicious.
When James came back, it was with Fae's favorite sweater of Remus' that she never gave back, wrapped around a little something special she'd prepared for him. He laughed and took the sweater back, for now. Fae would steal it back again when it was sufficiently soaked in his scent, she decided. In the sweater was a compact cassette player, a set of headphones rigged to the player, and a few tapes. Remus looked at them curiously and then gasped.
"You found audiobooks of these?"
'These' being a few of his most recent favorite books. And a few of his all time favorite books. And a nice handful of some books she'd know he'd love. Honestly, she'd been collecting every audiotape she came across since Remus had discovered how much he loved them. That and she and Fleamont had figured out how to get headphones to connect to a cassette player over the summer, bless that man, and she'd kept the prototype for herself but made sure Remus would get the more completed version. The audiobooks helped him meditate while she did strength training and they made him happy.
"Congratulations Remus," Fae told him for the millionth time that day. He shone just as bright for the millionth time he heard it and then wrapped her up in a tight, perfect hug.
Remus walked with a spring in his step for the following week, feeling proud and strong and fierce. It was a breathtaking look on him and Fae honestly couldn't fault any of the many girls, and a few boys, that couldn't take their eyes off him. She sure as hell couldn't. Then again, he'd always had the biggest draw on her attention whenever he was close, since the day they'd met.
His next girlfriend was Cassia, a tall, slender girl with pin-straight curtains of dark hair and a penchant for playing tricks. She had cleverly replaced all his books with blank replicas and when he'd laughed and asked for his stuff back, she'd bargained them in return for a date at Hogsmeade. Cassia was sharp and always eyed Fae carefully whenever she and Remus talked or spent time together, but Cassia was overall actually friendly to Fae and considerate of their friendship. She played it cool and calculating, which Fae respected.
"Peter, you're going to do great!" Fae promised, patting him heartily on the shoulder. Peter was a nervous wreck that morning at breakfast, barely eating a thing which Fae knew was a terrible idea. Hence, why she and Romilly had shephereded him to Hufflepuff. Gryffindor table would leave him alone and hopefully it would take the pressure off his shoulders.
"Right," he said. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure everything will go great."
"Yeah, broken bones aren't that bad," Romilly commented idly.
"WHAT," Peter shrieked.
"Kidding, she's kidding," Fae snickered.
Peter nodded and then gasped. "Shit, I forgot about yearbook! Fae I'm going to need you to take photos for me," he requested.
Fae smiled brightly and turned to her blonde friend. "Uhhh Romilly! I'm going to need you to take photos for me," she requested.
The curly-haired Hufflepuff arched a thick eyebrow over her glasses. "Why? What will you be doing?"
Fae grinned devilishly.
See, the thing was that Sirius was bummed. Rightfully so. They'd all gotten over the whole nearly-get-Severus-killed thing but McGonagall hadn't quite just yet and it seemed the last bit of punishment was to ban Sirius from the biggest game of the quidditch season - the opener of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. On the day before Halloween no less, which they had planned to celebrate his and Regulus' birthday too since next weekend was the full moon.
James had done the smart, and awesome thing, by keeping Sirius at practices and such because he'd definitely be back. But for this game, he'd subbed in Peter as Sirius' replacement. They were all happy for Peter and Peter would do great. He was more familiar with the Gryffindor team's techniques than anybody else in the school and had practiced with both James and Sirius for multitudes of days in summers past. So Fae was calming down Peter and then she had something special planned to cheer up Sirius. Both tasks had kept her busy all week, and distracted from Cassia and Remus, so win-win. Excitement thrummed in her veins as game time loomed. This was going to be fun.
Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. After the crowd had stopped shrieking and laughing, Sirius and Fae had rallied them easily into stomping and clapping to the beat playing off the boombox.
"I love Gryffindor! So put another ball through the goal post baby! I love Gryffindor, so come on take em down, and win that game!" Fae and Sirius sang, shaking their pom poms and asses to Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'N' Roll shamelessly.
And yes, Sirius had gone the full nine yards, pig tails, short skirt, crop top and all. And boy did he work it. This was the highlight of Fae's school career. Nothing could top this - she and Sirius had been making up cheers and practicing all week, and it was going fabulously. They were jumping in sync and dancing like total hoes and having so much goddamn fun.
All of a sudden, Fae heard a loud 'whap!' and caught a glimpse of Cassia standing up and storming away. Remus had his hand rubbing his reddened cheek, looking quite shocked. As soon as this cheer was done, Fae was at his side.
"Holy shit! Are you okay? What happened?"
"Oh, Cassia and I just broke up. No big deal," he said with a shrug.
"What? Why?"
He mumbled something and looked away. Fae flicked him between the eyes and asked again, more sharply. "Why? What the hell happened that she could've been so mad as to slap you?"
"She called you a cheap slut and said you'd probably slept with the whole quidditch team. I told her she would know - plenty of guys on the Slytherin team have told me all about her. But then again, the Gryffindor team has standards," Remus answered with a smirk.
Fae gaped at him. "Oh." And then settled her hand on his cheek tenderly. "But Remus, I have slept with all of them."
His smirk dropped. "That's not funny."
Fae laughed wickedly and then cast a quick charm to ease the sting on his cheek, checking to make sure her nails hadn't scratched him. Nope, he was fine. Good thing or Fae would have to go hunting. "Well thank you for defending my honor. Sorry it didn't work out," she said, lying through her teeth.
"S'alright. She was a bit of a bitch," he said, prompting Fae to snicker. Then, mischievousness possessed his expression. "Anyways, what's a bloke have to do to get some pom poms?"
"Ooohhhh? Is Mr. Prim-And-Proper going to shake ass with us wild ones?"
"I can shake it better than you can."
"A challenge has been issued," Sirius declared loudly. "Let the dance-off commence!"
Sirius, in his scandalously short skirt and hypnotic-ly swaying hips and relentless, energetic jumping, won.
James laughed loudly at Sirius' cheerleading outfit, which he proceeded to wear all night into his and Regulus' birthday celebration which took place, cramming far too many people into Hufflepuff this time.
"We couldn't have won without you, mate!" James told Sirius and Sirius absolutely beamed. And then deflated when Lily gave James a congratulatory kiss on the cheek. So then Fae was left with a sulking Regulus and a jealous Sirius on their birthdays, which just wouldn't do.
"Shots!" she called. "Shots, shots, shots, everybody!"
Regulus, Sirius, and Fae got completely shitcanned. They ended up on the biggest study table, dancing wildly with each other and as sluttily as possible because making Regulus act less than proper was hilariously good fun.
Fae had removed her top and forced it onto Regulus so he could match the other birthday boy and then they had started fingerpainting on each other with someone's glittery eyeshadow palette. Between her breasts and lacy bra, Fae proudly wrote 'THE FAE' in bold, red, sticking forever lipstick. Somehow, things got lost in translation and Sirius ended up with 'RELUGUS' on his chest while his little brother boasted 'SIRUS' in bright pink. Fae forced herself between the Black brothers for naughty grinding so they could be a Black Pot Sandwich, because it made sense at the time. And then she had conjured a pole and tried to teach them how to pole dance and how to belly dance. It went surprisingly well.
Romilly and Peter continued to be MVPs by holding back Regulus' and Sirius' hair respectively when the two started throwing up later. Fae just crawled into the center of it all, away from the puke, and gave them all kisses and droopy, drunk giggling flower crowns as she told them she loved them so, so, so very much and would do absolutely anything for them, like jumping in Black Lake. And then Romilly and Peter had to keep them from stripping naked and going to jump in the lake. Romilly was absolutely right, more shots was a much better decision. More shots of really, really weak vodka, and a combined lap dance performance by Sirius and Fae for Regulus because sixteen was a really big deal, he was a man now.
The last thing Fae remembered seeing was Remus slinking upstairs, Ophelia Johnson's legs wrapped around his waist as she kissed his neck passionately. Fae dumped her water shots from Romilly out and swapped it for proper Firewhiskey. Then taught Regulus how to give Peter a lap dance and a strip tease.
"Wakey wakey!"
Remus' far too cheerful voice woke Fae from where she was slowly becoming one with the couch, facedown and hungover as hell.
"Whyyyyyy," she cried as Remus dragged her off the couch, shoved a t-shirt over her head, and pulled her out the door.
"It's Saturday, silly! We always go running on Saturdays!"
Fae was far too slightly still drunk and way too hungover to process anything, so she stumbled madly as he tugged her along, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Is this what an angry Remus was like? What the fuck, whyyyyyy.
"Dude, I hurt so much. Why are you doing this?" she mumbled, only half the words coming out articulately, the rest just a slurred, sloppy, liquidy mess as she held back vomit.
He understood her just fine, of course, and chimed, "What? You're fine! You had so much energy just a few hours ago, dancing with Sirius and Regulus!"
Fae stopped abruptly and then fell over because he kept walking and hadn't let go. She groaned and pushed herself up off the ground. "I was drunk. So drunk. Still drunk. Water," she begged.
He sighed deeply. Minutes passed. Then he was gently helping her up and giving her water. "Come on silly. Let's walk this off," he said.
So they walked, Remus mostly holding her up, and the cold, crisp, clear autumn air did clear her head quite a bit. The water helped. She was nowhere near ready to run, but she could appreciate the fine morning. And Remus acting like a sane person again, whatever that was about. Although, he was talking quite a lot. Making observations about the night, joking about Sirius' skirt and complimenting Peter's flying skills. Fae was just trying to get her bearings and was idly humming to let him know she meant to listen, but wasn't listening because her head was pounding and her stomach was spinning like a washing machine. Then he said something absolutely wild.
"So, are you and Regulus a thing then?"
Fae heard that one, loud and clear. At the thought of kissing her friend, she bent over and hurled, sending the contents of her stomach onto the grass.
"I'll take that as a no," Remus said softly, holding her hair and rubbing her back. Fae fell to her knees until she was dry heaving and then fell to the side, landing on Remus' lap.
"The biggest no to ever no. Oh, no thank you. Regulus is great, but no," Fae gasped when she was done. She wiped her mouth and then refilled her water cup, taking a deep swig, sloshing, spitting it out, repeating, and then taking a long, deep drink. Then she spat out her water because Remus apparently wasn't done asking invasive questions.
"What about the Klein brothers? I heard you made out with them both. At the same time."
Fae rolled her eyes. Everybody heard about it - the twins considered it a crowning achievement and she only let it go because they made her sound like a sex goddess, thus the Veela rumor was started again. "It was a random thing, they were just messing with me. No, I'm not interested in dating anyone, girl or guy or gryffin."
"Oh."
Fae's mouth twisted and she tried not to say it, but it came out anyway. "And you and Ophelia?"
"Huh?"
"I saw you two heading upstairs last night. Is she the new Cassia?" she asked.
"Oh that. No. It was just a.. one time thing."
"Oh," Fae said, feeling really, hugely miserable. She shifted out of his lap, attempting to stand, and flopping over onto the ground. Oh, the cold felt good.
Remus huffed a long, tired sigh and sat next to her on the cool, wet grass. "I've realized dating isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, the snogging is nice, but it's so much work."
Fae laughed so hard that she started crying and then dry heaving again. It wasn't even that funny, it was just that entire term. Shaking with residual giggles and hiccups, she shoved her head on his thighs, he carded his fingers softly through her hair until it was mostly untangled, and they enjoyed the sunrise. It felt like summer all over again in that moment.
"Yeah, I agree."
AN: So sorry for the late post! Last week was busy. Very good, but very busy. I'll make it up this week with a few extra chapters and I hope you all enjoy this one. Finally, romance is coming into play. Unrequited love is a bitch, no? Good luck and happy Monday ya'll.