More money exchanged hands at Hogwarts that day than any other day in Hogwarts history - probably even more than the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match for the House Cup back in 1956. Everybody knew about James and Lily and everybody breathed a sigh of relief that the couple was finally together. No more playing it cool. No more playing hard to get. They still bickered of course, but they cooed and teased and snogged a whole lot more.

It was really great and cute and Fae was so happy for her brother. Well, she was happy for her first brother. Her second brother, on the other hand, threw himself back into sleeping with any cute guy he could get his hands on. And since it was her brother, Sirius Black, the most charming little shit ever, that was pretty much every guy. So she made sure to give him the safe sex talk and made sure he actually listened and knew how to use the spells for lubrication and protection, while also still using condoms. He took it blushing, but pretty well.

A week or two in, James and Lily as the power couple and Head Boy and Girl became the new business as usual. Lily ruled with a less-than-iron-fist because she was so enamored and James backed her up in every single situation, altercation, or issue.

And then it was just obnoxious because they were that couple. Kissing. All the time. Hands in places that made people in the same room very uncomfortable. I Love You's and I Miss You Alreadys and You're Amazings every five seconds. It was nauseating and Fae was intensely grateful that she really only saw it at meal times. Peter and Remus looked traumatized by the end of the third week, and exhausted because between Sirius and James, they never got to sleep in their own damn beds anymore. Of course, they were always welcome to the Hufflepuff couch and Fae happily enjoyed lots of sleepovers with them. Although for whatever reason, Romilly wasn't a fan of Remus sleeping over. She'd hang if it was just Peter, but if Remus was there? Nope, she'd stay in their room and read or go find Regulus.

Her two best friends had gotten closer over the summer, which wasn't surprising since they spent the bulk of it living in the same cabin and trauma bonding through counseling summer camp with little snot-nosed shits. They'd both come out of it tan, tough, loose, even taller unfairly enough, and freshly laid. Romilly had finally hooked up with Jenna and then when Regulus got tired of her bragging, he went after Jenna's older sister.

Fae was almost jealous. Those two always had similar demeanors and were weirdly in sync on multiple things, but now they had inside jokes and a summer's worth of experiences between just them. Still, Fae was more happy than anything that Regulus had enjoyed his summer and that her two lovely friends had been removed from the violence of the war. And of course, they told her everything over the first few weeks of school. The stories were marvelous and it felt good to see them so chatty and animated.

Severus disappeared, no surprise with the PDA. He stopped coming around to hang out with Lily, but he was still fighting with Sirius as far as she knew. Fae was wondering if he was going to do anything about Lily and James. The look on his face when he'd seen them kissing had been almost as heartbroken and shattered as Sirius'.

And yeah, with how goopy and lovesick and soppy the couple were now that they'd decided they were in love and it was all or nothing, Fae was almost about to stage something herself. So she'd been ready for the day Severus Snape poisoned a treacle tart and floated it to James at lunch with a note saying it was from Lily. It was subtle - she could barely smell the extra liquid laced in it. But she knew it was there and Severus, while a spy master in the future, was not that subtle yet, glancing over every five seconds.

It was the day after the moon, Fae was super hungry and had spent the morning in the infirmary anyways. She figured she might as well just finish out the day relaxing and reading with some mild stomach discomfort or whatever, so she ignored James' cry of anger, stole the tart off his plate, and swallowed it down happily. Tasted delicious - wonder if Severus had a talent for cooking?

A minute later, as she felt like there were knives in her stomach and she was coughing up considerable amounts of blood, Fae realized she might've been a tad hasty and careless. And thus, Fae had her second potions-related near-death experience at Hogwarts.

It was an accident, again. It was meant to make James get sick in random bouts over two weeks, which was pretty impressive actually. Triggered by the smell of Lily's chapstick. Fae had to give him a hand for that one, and it would've stopped the PDA so she was a little regretful she'd spared her brother.

But Remus and Fae had been pushing awareness again last night and had been super tired this morning, but he insisted on going to class so Madam Pomfrey gave them Pepper-up Potions. It was a complete fluke that the ingredients reacted so volatilely with Severus' potion. Her brothers and Remus had snitched on him fast and if it hadn't been for Fae insisting she ate it on purpose, knowing it was poisoned, and it was an accident for it to go so badly, Severus might've been expelled. As it stood, he had a few months of detention. And Lily had screamed at him and refused to speak to him ever again.

Which sucked, because Fae had really been trying to keep the bond between those two strong so he wouldn't betray her one day, unintentionally or not. Ugh. Well fuck. It meant Fae had to either try and fix it, or create a bond between herself and Severus so she could keep an eye on him post-Hogwarts and attempt to keep him from fucking up. More work for her, yay. As if the Horcruxes weren't enough.

But for the next few days, she wasn't doing jack shit. The bad reaction had hit her hard and layed her real fucking low. As in all day in the infirmary and then released with strict orders to stay down and be watched literally 24/7 in combination with daily visits with Madam Pomfrey over the next few days to make sure she was healing right. What a fucking pain. No running. Hell, no walking. No good foods or coffee, only weak broths and water and nasty-ass herbal medicine. At least the drugs were good. Made her real sleepy and healed her fast. She should be back to normal by the weekend, as long as she was well taken care of.

And she was well taken care of, especially at first. Fae ended up where she spent plenty nights these last few weeks - on the couch in Hufflepuff. James hovered like the mother-hen he was, until his hovering got annoying and Fae just started sending him on really long excursions to Hogsmeade for certain drinks or chocolates or pillows that she just absolutely had to have. And he went, because he felt guilty, the adorable idiot.

Sirius and Peter stuck around for quite a while - but Sirius knew how tough she was and was focused on some boy or some dueling maneuver, or both, the cheeky genius. Peter was editor-in-chief of the yearbook so she told him to fuck off and do his job, and her job while he was at it. He gave her a grateful smile and promised to make the picnic basket extra delicious for her on Saturday when she was better.

That left Regulus, Romilly, and Remus. Her favorite 'R's, she thought with a giggle and then a burp as her stomach heaved again. She groaned and leaned off the couch, reaching for her bucket. The medicine knocked her on her ass and made her sleepy and dopey. But it also purged her stomach of the violently reacting chemicals. This was not fun.

She was throwing up spectacularly and Remus was holding her hair back while Regulus took up one her other side and rubbed her back.

"I got this," Remus said sharply.

"No, I got this, she likes having her back rubbed more," Regulus insisted.

Remus snarled a bit, which was rather surprising to Fae, but she was kind of busy so she didn't think too much of it. "Yeah, I know," he said. "But she'd be unhappy if her hair got messy. I'll rub her back after she's done throwing up."

For whatever reason, they just did not get along. And they kept bickering, long after Fae had leant back and then fell over onto the ground out of both of their hands, feeling quite wrecked. And annoyed. Gods, couldn't they shut up?

"Both of you, fuck off," Romilly suddenly commanded, voice strong, but blissfully quiet and soothing. She helped Fae's head into her lap and then started smoothing her hair out and braiding it back. When she was done with a quick, perfect braid, she handed Fae a steaming mug.

"She doesn't like tea," Regulus and Remus said in unison.

"I know," Romilly hissed at them. "It's soup. She needs nutrients, you dumb, useless sacks of air. Now shut the fuck up so she can sleep."

Fae took a sip and sighed into the warmth. And the silence. "Mmm… love you Romilly."

"Love you too Fae."

The thing was that Fae hated sitting still. She'd never sat still for a day in her life. Even in classes she was changing the position of her legs every fifteen minutes, going from cross-legged, to balancing back on her chair with her legs on the table, to sitting with one leg bent up, and so on. Being confined to the couch made her pretty pissed off and restless and irritated. At first, she'd been sleeping a lot, and then keeping up her letters from Athena and Romulus - there were 9 pen pals they were keeping track of now. And she got ahead on homework for the next two weeks. She read through her journals and updated entries she'd been meaning to get to for a while. But eventually, the restlessness settled into her twitching bones.

She fidgeted relentlessly and couldn't settle on a book or listening to music or doing homework or playing cards or any single activity for shit. Every ten minutes, she'd huff angrily, give up on her current activity, and demand that the nearest person bring her something else.

Regulus and Romilly were only humans. Humans with lots of patience, but also self-preservation instincts and proper tempers and backbones. By the end of the day, they were chased off as well. And then that just left Remus. Patient, kind, impossibly perfect Remus.

When she got tired of reading, he knew exactly that a puzzle would keep her hands busy for an hour. When she got sick of the puzzle, he had her cassette tapes and Sirius' record player and knew exactly what she wanted to listen to. When the music wasn't enough, he turned it down to background noise and played all sorts of card games with her. When she got tired of beating him, he would snuggle in beside her, let her lean against him despite the threat of sick-up, and read aloud to her until she found herself drifting off.

He held her hair back and learned to braid it properly and not too tight for her, but not so loose that it fell out easily and got caught when she rolled in her sleep. He brought her favorite sweaters that he owned and the one patchy blanket from the Gryffindor common room and the heaps of pillows on her bed and helped her make a proper nest on the couch. When the restlessness was enough to make her want to cry, he carried her around the quidditch pitch so she could get fresh air, or held her and swayed around the common room, dancing to her favorite slow songs. He carried her to her appointments with Pomfrey and made sure she took her medicine every other hour, all through the night.

Remus received all her get-well gifts and checked them thoroughly for any poison, amaryllis, pranks, or anything that she might not like, like roses. She thought roses smelled too strong, especially red ones, and she was very surprised that he remembered that. Red roses made her nose twitch so he transfigured them into camellias instead and charmed them to sing Queen for her.

Despite the orders to stick to a liquid diet, he let her snack on her favorite chocolate, just a bit. He kept visitors from staying too long and shooed people out of the common room when they were too loud while she slept or Fae was getting irritated with all the talking. Hell, Remus skipped classes. For the rest of the week. He didn't leave her side for a second, just taking her with him on whatever adventures she demanded, to the kitchens, to the pitch, to the infirmary, wherever.

He put up all of it and all of her games too. For a while, she'd kept asking him for something and then the second his back was turned, she was trying to get off the couch and go do something. He always caught her, picking her up gently and yeeting her back onto the couch with a laugh. That had been a fun few hours, at least.

Two days passed in a blur like that. Fae had not been looking forward to the healing process at all, but it shouldn't have surprised her that Remus found a way to make it relaxing and comfortable and pretty wonderful, all things said. The only tense bit they had, despite her shitty attitude most of the time, occurred when he'd been reading to her one evening on the second night and he thought she'd fallen asleep.

Truth was, Fae could listen to him read textbooks, phone books, grocery receipts, anything, for absolute days. His voice made her ears tingle and wiggle happily. It left her hanging on to every word, even when she got tired and couldn't fight sleep. She had been getting there, eyes closed and completely relaxed against him. It was late and she was so comfortable, but she also knew it had been a while since her last stomach heave, so she waited up for it before she could properly sleep for a few hours.

He must've thought she was out because he stopped reading. Then he closed the book quietly and set it on the nearby table. Leaned his head over hers and nuzzled softly. Sighed. And then became extremely tense. His shoulder went from cushy to rock hard and she thought she actually heard a light growl coming from his throat. She could certainly feel the vibrations.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, not bothering to move or open her eyes. Even tense, he was still so damn comfortable.

He inhaled sharply and didn't say anything, likely surprised that she was awake and had noticed. She asked him again, absolutely curious now. "I can tell you're mad. You smell like spicy vanilla chai. What's on your mind?"

"Just thinking, s'all," he murmured.

"Clearly. What I want to know, is what you are thinking about. Silly git."

He exhaled a light laugh and pressed his lips to the top of her head, quiet for another few moments as he chose his words. "You almost died, you know. They had to pump your stomach and do all sorts of spells to keep your innards from being shredded by the reaction."

"Oh I know. I was there, remember?" she said, laughing.

"You were unconscious."

"Still fucking hurt," she teased. He didn't ease up.

"I'm okay now, though. Thanks to your loving care, Nurse Remus, I'll be back to normal in no time. So cheer up, yeah? You're almost through with all my bitching and demanding," she joked.

"It was too close," he said, voice low and quiet.

"Remus?"

"Too close. All because of Snivellus and his bloody jealousy," he said, nearly growling outright by the end of his statement.

She sat up and looked at him closely, trying to catch his eye and calm him down. "Hey, nobody was supposed to get hurt as bad as I did."

The older boy just frowned deeply and snarled, sharpest teeth flashing the slightest bit. "Why are you defending him? He almost killed you. He deserves to pay for what he did. He deserves to suffer."

Oh, he was such a sweetheart. It made her inescapably happy that he was getting so worked up on her behalf. Still, though. "It was an accident. And besides, I've got dibs."

"Pardon?"

"On doling out punishment," she said, grinning. "I'm the one who got hurt, I call dibs. He's mine so keep your bookish nose out of it."

He absolutely gaped at her and then argued, "That's not fair!"

"Not fair?" she repeated, chuckling.

"I should think so," he said vehemently. "After what you did to my attackers last term? I think I should be able to take revenge as well."

"You absolute darling," she cooed, lying back down on his shoulder and making herself comfortable once more. "But again, accident. Severus only meant to cause discomfort, while your attackers meant to hurt you and blind you and whatever else. Besides, Severus is harmless. Those three were right assholes. It was different."

He grumbled. "S'not that different."

"Back off, Remus," she said sharply, commanding him rather than asking this time. "I have plans for Severus, don't you worry about it."

There was a beat and then, "Not even some minor transfiguration? He'd make a lovely batch of worms,"

"Remus."

"Come on," he whined.

She laughed delightedly, giving in. "Fine! Fine, small pranks. Confuse don't abuse and all that."

"Oh thanks, so glad I have your permission."

"You're welcome."

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Bucket!"

He woke her early on Friday, before the sun and the bustle of students going to classes and she thought it was for medicine, but nope. He must've been up for a while, because he had a backpack - one of her Dad's inventions - packed already for something. Bag on his back, he helped Fae into a comfy pair of his sweatpants and a hoodie over her sleeping shorts and t-shirt, then picked her up in his arms.

"Where are we going?" she asked, drowsily and becoming quite comfortable again. His arms were so strong, his chest so warm, the scent of soothing books and sun-soaked laundry filling her senses, the lull of his steady heartbeat, the sway of his steps.

He shushed her. "You'll see when we get there. Go back to sleep."

So she did. When he woke her next, the sun was ascending and the bottom tip of it was hovering above Black Lake. Also, beside the sun, was the distinct, grand form of Hogwarts. They were on the far side. Gaping, Fae wracked her brains for why they were there. And then gasped, looking up at the boy holding her in wide-eyed wonder. He smiled and crouched, settling her onto a blanket that was warm to the touch. There were pillows too and more blankets and a little heater to keep her warm in the chill of coming fall. Their usual, well-worn picnic basket was on one corner of the blanket, a preservation charm keeping the food in it fresh. She could smell many of her favorites. Remus knelt next to her and swung the backpack off. Inside it were her notebooks. All of them.

"I didn't know which ones were important for today, so I just had Romilly bring them all to me. All the notebooks, and this," he said, handing her the smooth, glassy, black cell phone. It had been dead for the past month so she wasn't worried he discovered the future technology or anything. In fact, regardless of the battery, she knew he wouldn't go through any of her stuff for her secrets. She knew this with absolute certainty. He handed her blank sheets of paper and her favorite pen. And lastly, he handed her their shared notebook.

"Here. When you're ready, write me. I'll come get you," he said, smiling.

"You're not… staying?"

With a shake of his head, he stood. "No. Today is your day, isn't it? You always spend September 30th alone. Madam Pomfrey said you should be okay to skip seeing her today, s'long as you take your medicine every few hours and go easy on the solids."

Fae's mouth dropped and closed like a fish, choked sounds coming out before she managed, "I… Remus, I don't know what to say. I'm bloody speechless, you tosser."

Chuckling, he beamed at her, sweet, beautiful Remus. "A simple thank you will do just fine, I suspect. I'll see you later." Then, with a kiss on her forehead, he turned and trekked off.

"Okay. Later."

She came very close to kissing him. Fuck it, she came very close to throwing him to the ground and putting her mouth all over him, fucking him stupid and bringing him to sweet, screaming orgasm multiple times over. It was a damn good thing she was so weak that she physically couldn't and that all he could smell around her was medicine lately. He'd been complaining about her scent being so masked, which was for the best because his little TLC act was making her hot as hell and embarrassingly wet between the thighs for him.

Instead of ravishing him, she called him back before sunset. After he'd left that morning, she'd stared after him for probably a solid hour in shock, then squealed and squirmed like the blissfully lovesick idiot she was. And then the reality of the day set in and Fae fell into nostalgia and memories. But even then, he wasn't far from her mind and she found herself fantasizing about what it would've been like to text each other constantly and stay up all night on the phone. Go to Electric Forest together or take college classes together. How would he have handled meeting her brothers? Her shitty mother, who probably would've gotten on with Hope like a perfectly decorated and lavish house on fire.

An hour before sunset, she decided to share this moment with him. He deserved it and she wanted to, even if she couldn't share it all. He was there within minutes, most likely having been wandering close by all day. Utter sweetheart.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Not yet," she said. Then reached for him and pulled him down until he was settled beside her. She crawled and sat between his long legs, leaned back into him and breathed in.

"Three years ago on September 30th, I left another life behind. A life, where I had three older brothers and an older sister. A narcissistic mother and a quiet father who should've gotten divorced long before I was old enough to understand hurtful words and constant yelling. I had two best friends, Milly and Cara. I had six uncles, two aunts, and a stupid amount of cousins, all on my mother's side. My favorite cousin was Katie. We were the same age, but she lived with most of the family in the north. I had a dog and two cats, named after car brands, although I can't remember which anymore." As she talked, she took his hands in hers. Settled a notebook on her lap and moved his large, graceful fingers between hers, teaching him clumsily how to fold a paper boat.

"I came here and shortly after, realized my memories of that life were fading. I wrote it all down so I wouldn't forget. Still do. Every once in a while, I'll hear a song and think of a day I spent swimming in the backyard and jumping on the trampoline with Milly. I'll taste something and remember how it tasted nearly the same when my mom cooked it for somebody's birthday or Thanksgiving or something."

The first few paper boat attempts were poor, but eventually they got something good enough to float. She held it up to the fading light and smiled, snuggling back into him purposefully. "I love my life here. I'm truly happy here. I love Euphemia and Fleamont like I loved Karen and Ray, Sirius and James and Peter like Matthias and Jorge and Braden, Romilly and Regulus like Milly and Cara. Sometimes, more. For both the same reasons and different ones. And I like myself and who I am, still the same as who I was, and yet different too."

Remus didn't ask any questions. He just listened and held her hand through the laughter and the tears of the stories she told. He helped her stand, legs weak from the medicine and from sitting all day. Helped wade into the lake and send on her paper boat, watching it float away with the sunset and imagining a green flash of light between this world and that.

"Today, I remember it all and pay my respects."

Then they packed up and he kept his arm firmly around her as she walked home as far as she could. When she couldn't walk anymore, and she really tried to push it all the way to Hogwarts but he knew her too well, Remus swept her up with ease which wasn't fair because he didn't lift like she did. But, to be honest, she was tiny, if mostly muscle, and had thrown up a considerable amount of everything in the last few days, so.

"Thank you for telling me," he said. "I'm sorry you had to leave them all behind. But I'm so happy you're here."

"Nowhere else I'd rather be, darling."

Fae felt a million times better the next day. The last dose of medicine had been taken, her energy was recovering to proper levels, and she was given the go ahead to eat solid food, within reason.

Remus had to physically hold her back from leaping out of bed and sprinting into the forest. It was Saturday and they went running. That was what they did and she was a little put out that he even tried to stop her. But she supposed he had a bit of a point, not wanting to overdo it and end up stuck back on the couch for another few days. So they took it at a light jog. And when Fae felt tired, she swallowed her pride, sat in a tree to play with some bowtruckles, and sent Remus on a proper run because he'd been perfectly healthy all week, but had stayed by her side anyways. Hesitant at first, she rolled her eyes and sent a curse at him which had him grinning and then bolting away marvelously fast. The sheer joy in his movements was enough to keep her from being too jealous.

As promised, Peter had a glorious picnic basket waiting and a plethora of stories for all the bullshit he'd had to put up with in club that week, all the rumors and stories he'd hunted down, all the exciting pictures that had been taken. Sirius had just as many stories, and surprisingly none about any of his paramours. It was a relief, to see him put his energy, heart, and soul into something other than poorly dealing with his heartbreak. A little scary to see that his focus was preparing to join the war. But still, he was driven and perky again. And had risen to the top of the Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT level class, to Remus' dismay.

James and Lily were nowhere to be found, but that was fine. She didn't really want to watch them sucking face anyways. Romilly and Regulus got her later, filling her in on what happened in classes over the past three days and what not. Remus, Peter, and Sirius disappeared in what they probably thought was a subtle, sneaky manner. But she'd been with Remus constantly for four days and felt his missing presence like a missing limb.

She wasn't surprised in the least when Romilly casually dolled her up and Regulus nonchalantly led her to the school theater. Everybody was waiting to surprise her and wish her a Happy 17th Birthday. There was a live band on the theater stage and trays of treats and presents floating up and down all the rows of red velvet chairs. The orchestra pit had been covered and turned into a makeshift dance floor. It was absolutely perfect and Fae only threw up once from eating too much. She also pathetically fell asleep on Remus' shoulder while sharing a dance with him much later that night. He caught her easily, just as she knew he would.

Fae was back to her regular self by Wednesday the following week. Lily, more affected by Severus' poison attempt than she wanted to admit, had slowed down the PDA and so, sadly, Remus was back to sleeping in his room at Gryffindor, although Hufflepuff was very pleased to have their common room back.

As for Fae, it was time to go hunting for the stupid little Slytherin that had poisoned her, hadn't had the balls to come see her and apologize, and had been practically MIA ever since. It wasn't too hard to find him. She dropped from the ceiling as he walked back to Slytherin one late night, getting all up in his face and going, "You," rather threateningly.

His reaction was priceless - outright squeaking, flinching away, and then yelping as he fell back on his ass. Fae grinned devilishly down at him, grabbed him up, and spirited him away for a little chat.

"So here's the thing," she said conversationally. "You owe me. You owe me lots of things and I'm here to collect."

He frowned and dusted his ass off. "I do not. You almost killed me, remember?"

"I think we're remembering that differently - Sirius almost killed you. I saved your life," she replied sharply.

"Well I kept your secret!" he argued. Typical Severus, could never take things easily.

"Which made us even, and now you almost killed me so you owe me," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"It was an accident," he said, eyes shifting away.

She shrugged. "Yeah, but you break it, you bought it."

"That's now how it works."

Throwing up her hands in the air, she whirled on him, and got close again to intimidate him despite being about a foot shorter. "Just say sorry and take my punishment gracefully and thankfully," she commanded.

"Ha! Thankfully?"

She smiled. "Yeah, because I called dibs on dishing out just desserts when I could've let my brothers and my friends handle it. Imagine the combined forces of the Marauders, Lily, Romilly, and Regulus."

At that lovely thought, he went hilariously pale, especially for someone who was already as pasty as he was.

"And besides, if we do this right, Lily might forgive you in the end," she tacked on, sweetening the deal.

He made a few choked sounds and then said, "How."

"Meet me at the front gates, 7am, Saturday," Fae said, grinning. Oh this was going to be fun.

Severus was like Peter. He was a wallflower, quiet, easily overlooked, even preferring to be overlooked because teenagers tended to smell fear and swarmed like sharks. Severus was also like her and like Remus - preferring their own little worlds over anybody else's, save a few precious ones. And he was like Sirius, a rebel, wanting to be acknowledged as different, special, something above status quo and normalcy and conventionality.

And so Fae's punishment for Severus was to make him conventionally attractive, thereby garnering all sorts of unwanted attention, positive and negative.

That, and she'd always wanted to be in one of those cinderella-make-over movie scenes, sans falling in love with the transformed protagonist. This was her Fairy Godmother moment.

She started with the hardest part first - she cut off his hair. No more shoulder length locks. Instead, it was but a few inches long for the most part, and combed to the side over his forehead so he could show off his thin face, and actually rather fine features. He had nice cheekbones and great eyebrows. If he worked on a more intense look and less of a resting dead-fish glaze, he would be quite a looker. Even with the perpetual frown or sneer.

She understood very well the mundanity and boringness and the work of having thick hair and having to wash it every day lest it be greasy, so she got him some nice shampoos and conditioners, but also hair creams and powders that would keep his hair shiny instead of oily. He actually seemed to rather appreciate those.

He had less appreciation for the skin creams, the deodorants and body sprays, the concealer sticks and bottles of teeth whitening powder and nail clippers.

"No. Absolutely not."

"Too bad sunshine, get in the room and get naked."

"Why do you have to say it like that?"

Then there were the brand new robes, sleek, properly-fitting, with stylish and sharp black shoes. He protested wildly at that.

"I don't need your charity!" he seethed.

"This isn't charity you wanker, this is punishment. You're too proud to blend in, so I'm forcing you to swallow your pride and blend in. Cheers mate."

He got casual clothes too. She rather liked tight, darkly patterned button-up t-shirts on him. He was skinny, but properly fitting shirts made him look less bony and more lean. Same to be said with tailored slacks and a few waist coats. Business casual, she decided for him. And some band t-shirts because, bewilderingly, he had somewhat similar music interests to her and Sirius. He hadn't asked for them, hell no, but she saw him looking.

The pierced ears were a spontaneous decision by both of them. For funsies, Fae pierced her navel too. Super cute and shiny.

Come afternoon, they were laden with bags and settled down to have coffee at a little cafe a few streets off the main Hogsmeade walk. Even so far from the bustling part of town, Severus was still receiving very appreciative looks and double looks from every person that walked by. Fae grinned and considered it a job well done.

"Now you may actually get a girlfriend," she teased.

"Erm," he coughed, taking a deep sip of his own coffee. Ha! He liked coffee. He liked really sweet, creamy, cutesy stuff too which was adorable.

Fae grinned and waved a hand idly. "Sorry, boyfriend."

His coffee sloshed as he set his cup down sharply. "How do you-"

"I'm me. You constantly seem surprised by this fact." And she'd seen him checking out guys before. He was not subtle, but most people probably didn't know his tells. She'd noticed he was an eyelash flutterer, and had rather pretty, long, full eyelashes. Surprisingly, they had similar tastes there too, in guys, although of course, Severus had never checked out Remus. Remus was, as always, the exception.

"You're a monster," he deadpanned.

"Thank you."

"Not a compliment."

"So you say, but I think you actually like me. Mostly because I'm so monstrous," she pointed out.

Severus frowned, but didn't disagree so she counted it a win. Tricky, and hard to win over. She did so like a challenge. "Whatever. How is this supposed to get Lily back?" he eventually said, voice very close to a frustrated and impatient whine, like a toddler.

Fae's eyebrows arched. "Didn't we just acknowledge that you're gay? Why do you say that as if she's going to somehow magically decide she's in love with you and come leaping into your arms?"

"It isn't like that," he hissed. "I'd just rather swallow nails than see her with Potter."

"Oi, that's my brother you're talking about," Fae said, frowning.

"He's a swine."

"That's a funny way to pronounce idiot. But he really is a decent guy. Like I'd let him live otherwise, what with us sharing the same name and all."

Severus snorted and she shot him a quirky smirk.

"No really. He's a good guy. Silly and immature and overexcitable, sure, but caring, cheerful, funny, and loyal."

"Oh, I'm sure," he drawled.

Fae sighed, straightened up, and hit him below the belt. "He loves Lily. Has loved her for years. He will cherish her and protect her and go to ridiculous lengths every day to make her happy."

He looked like he might be sick at that. "You say that like they're getting married."

"It's an inevitability." Literally.

"Oh like you and Lupin?" he shot back, to her surprise.

"This isn't about me and Remus," she growled, automatically defensive.

"The way you pine for him is pathetic" Severus seethed.

"Thin ice, motherfucker," she said threateningly. "How 'bout you curbstomp the 'tude and quit deflecting. You're scared to lose Lily and you're too prideful to let her love and be loved by someone who you don't like."

"Bitch," he spat.

"Coward," she spat back. "Also, I'm not wrong."

They sat in silence as he mulled it over reluctantly.

"Lily and James are a done deal," she told him a moment later. "I know it. You know it. Dumbledore knows it - hence why they are Head Boy and Girl even though my brother should have absolutely nothing to do with that kind of authority."

A soft laugh escaped his mouth at that, but it faded and he looked down into his coffee, deeply conflicted and unhappy to have to confront this. But it had to happen and she just knew, he was a tough love type. You kind of had to force sensitive topics with guys like him, and girls like her, frankly speaking.

"You need to accept it and move on," she said, settling a hand over cheek, caressing, and then letting go with a sharp pat. "Lily cares about you and there's little she wouldn't forgive. Fighting constantly with someone she loves is one of those things. Keep it up and you will lose her."

Half an hour passed before he finally accepted it. "So what should I do?"

She beamed. "What I've been teaching you to do all day - swallow your pride. Get out of your comfort zone. Be open to change."

"I hate you."

"That's fair." She ordered them each another coffee. Turns out, he had no problem taking 'charity' when he got free food and drinks out of it. Like a proper teenager.

They talked some more, coming up with plans. However, Fae admitted she couldn't help him too much there. He knew Lily better than anybody else, being her best friend of several years. She did tell him that he ought to be honest and sincere, especially about the uncertainty regarding James, his wish for her happiness, and his hope that they could work things out.

"But I don't want her to be happy if it's with James Potter," he said.

"You're so full of shit," she laughed. "You need some money to buy her chocolate sauce? Maybe some lingerie to show you support her having a healthy sex life with my brother? I bet you she'd be happy then."

"Fuck you."

After all she'd done to him that day, it really was no surprise that he wanted some digs at her of his own, bitch-crafty Severus.

"It really is disgusting, you and the other werewolf, by the way."

She sighed deeply. "I know. Love sucks, man. You don't even know how hard last week was, thanks for that by the way."

"To have him waiting on you hand and foot? You're welcome," he said dryly.

"Oh go fuck yourself," she snapped, prompting him to snicker. "To have him constantly nearby and being so damn sweet and perfect and knowing I can't have him? Fucking hell on the nerves. And the hormones! God, I need to get laid."

Well, he started it. She may as well take the chance to bitch. He'd never tell Remus any of this, that was for sure. Or her brothers.

Severus spit out coffee. Coughed. Fidgeted. Then said, "So get laid. You have your pick of gentleman to-"

"And ladies."

"Right, gentleman and ladies," he amended. "You have plenty to choose from. Why not take what you want?"

And Fae? She was rather flattered by that assessment. "Trust me, I've thought about it. Like, I'm not the only one who noticed that Keith McClain got hot this year, right?"

"Well."

They talked about other cute boys in her year and his, but he just wasn't willing to give up on the topic, to her dismay. The little shit brought it up again as they walked back, Fae still enjoying how rankled he was getting from all the double, and now triple takes, the closer they got to the castle.

"So why don't you just take Remus? He'd do anything you say, clearly you must know that," he said and Fae looked at him calculatingly. Was he being supportive?

But still. She sighed and smiled bittersweetly. It wasn't as if she hadn't thought of it. All the time. "Remus and I are close, sure, but he doesn't see me as a woman. I'm the little sister figure and alpha pack leader combined into this weird zone of best friendshipness. Do you know how often he has the chance to sneak a peek when we wake up after transformation? Every time. Does he ever? No," she explained, frustrated with this same old argument that her dumb head and heart really liked to have.

Fae shrugged and exhaled, letting go of her breath and her hope. "No, I don't think I'll ever have his love. Platonic, sure. But not romantic or sexual. I came to terms with it last year and what we have is enough. As long as he's happy, I'll be fine. Like you said, I can get my kicks elsewhere whenever I need my scratch itched, yeah?"

"You're foul. Also, disgusting."

Bless! He was letting it go. Was it her clear tone of heartbreak and hopelessness, perhaps? "Awh, you say the sweetest things," she cooed.

"You're mad."

"Really though, I do appreciate your candor and your blatant 'screw the world' attitude. It's refreshing. We should do this more often."

He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no.

And as it happened, they did end up having coffee together in Hogsmeade every other weekend for the rest of term, if only for Fae to make sure he was keeping up his new look and for him to ask for more advice on how to appease a fiery, feisty woman scorned with a fury hell hath no. He tried apologizing to her and Lily just spun away and ignored him.

Lily did come up to her later, asking Fae 'What the hell did you do to him?' in a very awed and concerned voice though, so Fae was happy to report that to Severus next time they met up.

Then they bitched about how awful it is, the way people treat attractive people so much better. Severus had been getting so much positive attention and compliments and he honestly liked it, she could tell, but they were in agreement that it was really shitty, how people treat people who look nice. Fae even admitted to him that she was once fat and the difference between how people treated her felt nice, but really pissed her off and kind of ruined being thin for her. Of course, being lean and ripped was much better, she found.

She found it very funny, all the stories he told her of blatantly telling girls to fuck off and how, bewilderingly, it only seemed to make them more interested.

"Because you're hot now," she explained sarcastically. "Ugly guys with bad attitudes are assholes while hot guys with bad attitudes are redeemable pet projects."

"That's fucked up."

They drank to that.

The Marauders didn't take it too well, surprisingly Remus least of all. He asked her about it pretty often and she couldn't deny it, she kind of liked the attention and the implication that he was jealous, even if he wasn't jealous, but rather concerned and slightly disgusted.

"Why do you keep spending Hogsmeade with Snape? You got your revenge, he gets all of the attention now and clearly hates it," Remus asked. He'd thought it was hilarious, Fae's choice of revenge. But now?

"He's not so bad," she said easily. "We have a lot in common it turns out."

"Like what?" Remus said in deadpan.

"Like we both like coffee."

"Hmph."

In November, Severus tried gifts of flowers 'made and blessed by The Fae'. Lily threw them in the trash and Fae tried not to be offended that the red-haired girl would do that to her flowers. He tried baking her favorite dessert - a desperately tricky Princess Cake decorated with buttercream icing lilies on top and marbled marzipan to look like a pond. It was gorgeous and delicious, but no dice. Fae did not let her, or Remus, throw that one away, and instead shared it with Romilly and Regulus.

The saving grace was that at least he wasn't arguing with Sirius and making things worse, strangely enough. She supposed Sirius was just that focused on becoming an Auror and Severus was too busy dodging people. And then her brother strolled up to them on the last Hogsmeade visit of the year, sat down, and made things real weird.

"This is your last shot before term ends and frankly, you haven't made much headway thus far. I know exactly how to fix it," he said pointedly, ordering himself a mocha latte with extra whipped cream, interestingly enough exactly the same as Severus had ordered. Fae laughed and watched the scene unfold.

"And what do you get out of it?" Severus asked, wary.

"Potions NEWT," Sirius answered. And wow. Sirius was really intent on this Auror thing. Fae was so impressed. So proud. So excited to hold this over his head and blackmail him into doing chores at home over break, lest she tell the others.

Severus mulled it over, but eventually agreed. They awkwardly set up times to meet to go over Sirius' work and then Sirius, cool-as-you-are, business-like, completely un-Sirius-like, told Severus the simple answer.

"It's foolproof," he said. "You can't fuck it up. Just apologize to James. That's it."

Severus gaped at him and Fae outright laughed. He wasn't wrong. That was definitely a clever way to go about it.

"You can't be serious," Severus said,

Sirius snickered. "Of course I'm Sirius, I've never been anybody else. But for real, you nutter, just apologize for being a git about the whole thing and for accidentally poisoning Fae. Even better if you don't idiotically stage it and make a production of it. Just tell him in class one day or something. No way James won't talk about it to Lily."

And well, he was James' best friend, so he was 100% right.

"I heard you apologized to James," Lily said, sidling up to Severus.

"You heard correctly."

"That must've been hard."

"You have no idea. Excruciating."

For the first time in months, Lily smiled at him. Fae collapsed with a hefty sigh of relief. Thank Merlin.

A/N: Happy Friday, my loves.

It's snowing here and I'm simultaneously thrilled and offended. It was not supposed to snow, but wow, how beautiful.