Friday, 26 May 1977
"Hey, Gwennie," Sirius said as he and James sat beside Gwen, Peter, Lena, and Remus in the library.
"What did you just call me?" Gwen said, narrowing her piercing blue eyes.
"Gwennie. That's what I'm calling you now. You won't let me call you Gwen and Guinevere seems too long and I think we're past calling each other by our last names."
"If you're going to call me Gwennie, I'm going to call you son of a bitch," Gwen warned.
"Gwen!" chastised Lena. "You can't call Sirius a son of a bitch."
"Even if it's true in a literal sense," James muttered.
"I think I can, though. His initials are S.O.B. That stands for 'son of a bitch.' His name is literally 'son of a bitch.'"
Remus, Lena, Peter, and James were unable to contain their snorts and laughter. Madam Pince shot her a dirty look. Tears were coming out of James' eyes and Peter's cheeks were completely red.
"Oh, Merlin! Why would my parents do this to me?" Sirius moaned, burying his face in his hands.
"I think the explanation's in your name, Pads," Remus laughed.
"Yeah, your mum's a bitch," Peter grinned.
"Why has no one else noticed this until now?" Sirius cried.
"Oh, no. I noticed, like, seven years ago. I just didn't know how to tie it into a conversation until now," Gwen said nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry, you've been waiting seven years to call me a son of a bitch?" Sirius said in disbelief.
"Well, to your face," Gwen shrugged.
Lena burst out into laughter and was joined by everyone else except for Sirius and Gwen.
They were quietly shushed by Madam Pince again. Lena was sure that she would kick them out soon.
"Well then," Sirius humphed. "I guess I won't ask you what I was going to ask."
"Well, now I'm curious," Gwen smirked.
"I was wondering if you want to move in together."
Lena had never seen Gwen so taken aback. "What?"
"Do you want to move in together?"
"No, I heard you the first time. I'm just wondering why you're asking me."
"I'm moving out of the Potters—"
"You don't have to," James chimed in as Peter patted him on the back.
Sirius sighed. "I know, mate, but I should. Anyways, I know you're looking for a place to live in for the summer."
"How do you know that?"
"I heard you on that day everyone was hanging outside."
"You weren't there," Gwen said.
Well, he was as Snuffles.
"I told him," Peter said, covering for Sirius' slip up.
Gwen looked at him. "So you want to move in together?"
"Yeah. I mean it would be cheaper and better not to live completely alone," Sirius replied.
Gwen nodded. "Alright."
"Alright?"
"Alright, let's move in together."
"Great. Let's start looking at some places in the paper."
"Sounds good," Gwen said. She paused, swallowing. "I guess, since we're going to live together, you can call me Gwen."
Sirius grinned. "I knew you'd warm up to me eventually."
Everyone laughed as Gwen grumbled for Sirius to shut up.
"That's it! Out of my library, the lot of you!" Madam Pince yelled.
The group of six friends couldn't help but to laugh as they ran out of the library.
Wednesday, 1 June 1977
Lena couldn't sleep as she laid on her bed. She wanted to, but she couldn't. How could she when she had her History of Magic O.W.L. exam the next day and that tonight was the full moon?
She just wanted to pass the exam and prove to herself that she could do it. She had put so much time and effort into studying, not to mention all the time Remus had sacrificed in order to help. And she didn't want to disappoint her parents. She just wanted to make them proud.
And she had more pressing concerns than her exam. Tonight was the full moon and she didn't like the idea of Remus being in pain. She had hoped that he would have changed his mind and let her come and help him, but he had refused, saying that he still wasn't ready for her to help and that he wanted her to get a good night's rest before her exam. He was sweet like that.
Wednesday, 2 June 1977
Lena paced outside the examination room. She had decided to skip lunch. She was positive that she would vomit if she ate anything. She was terribly nervous. She didn't want to fail her History of Magic exam. She knew everything, well mostly everything, she just didn't think she'd be able to read all the questions properly and write her answers. And she knew that the chance of her completing the entire O.W.L. was astronomically small.
"Hey, Lena," her boyfriend, who wasn't in the corridor with her previously, said.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her brown hair flying as she turned to look at Remus.
"Looking for you," he said with a soft smile. Lena still thought he looked handsome even though he was scratched up and had exhaustion written all over his face.
"But it's lunch. You should be eating."
"So should you, Lee."
"But you need to eat after last night And I'm too nervous to eat."
"You shouldn't be. You know it," he said, taking her hands in his own.
Lena shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much I know. I can't always show it when I take exams. I just want to prove that I'm smart and I don't know how to prove that I'm smart when the very thing that determines if I'm smart or not is an exam that takes me longer than everyone else to complete and one I'm not likely to pass."
Remus put a hand on her cheek and brushed the hair behind her other other. "Lena, you're brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Everyone knows that just from talking to you. You know so much about so many things. You're miles ahead of me in potions and you're so talented in DADA and everything else. And you know history. You do. And the exams don't matter. All those people we study in school— Merlin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Flamel— never had to take O.W.L.s. Why do they get to be called brilliant and smart when they never had to take the exams?"
Lena sniffed and smiled.
"And you're brilliant outside of school. Your insights that you've written in the books you've read are incredible. And your opinions about the world— werewolves— are brilliant. You think of things like no one else does. You're so smart, Lena. You're so smart. You're smart about the things that matter."
Lena looked at her boyfriend. Her brown eyes were large. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you. You're pretty brilliant yourself. I don't think anyone's ever said anything like that to me."
"They should."
Lena went on her toes and kissed Remus. "I like hearing it from you, though."
"Good. I like saying it to you," he said, kissing her once again.
They kept kissing each other against the wall for a rather long time.
And then Lena's stomach grumbled and Lena felt her Rmus smile against her lips.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Don't be. I figured you'd be hungry."
And then Remus reached into his rucksack and pulled out a napkin wrapped parcel. "Which is why I bought you this."
Remus unfolded the parcel. There was a pile of bread, two apples, and a bar of chocolate.
Lena grinned and took an apple in her hand. "You're wonderful."
Remus shrugged. "I try."
"You're wonderful even without trying," Lena said as she tilted her head. Remus blushed.
The couple sank to the floor and leaned against the wall. They ate and laughed until it was time for Lena to take her exam.