A gigantic thanks to mmauney12, Kongfangxiong00, and HisLordFluffiness for reviewing the last chapter - this chapter is dedicated to your kind words. Also a big thanks to everyone who has followed and/or favorited, I love you guys. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up next weekend - let me know what you're thinking so far and I might be able to publish it sooner!
Previous on Above All Others: Our favorite band of seventh years is back at Hogwarts. Messalina is singled out by her new DADA professor due to her desire to be an Auror and is paired with Slytherin Graham Pucey.
If there was one thing Messalina learned from September to the middle of October of that year, it was that their new DADA professor chose blatant favorites. Namely, herself and Graham Pucey, who she had been surprised to learn was also trying to be an Auror when he graduated. Professor Vector had heard about it from whatever source had told him Messalina was pursuing the same position and decided the best way to prepare two naive seventh years for the outside world was to have them come to the DADA classroom every Friday night after dinner. They would spend hours dueling under Vector's watchful eye, more than prepared to hear him scream that their wandwork was sloppy or that nonverbal spells had a higher chance of catching your opponent off guard. He had recently taken to standing on the balcony to his office, leaning heavily on the railing and launching old textbooks at them from behind when he thought they were growing lazy.
Then, sometime around midnight (which seemed awfully late for an ancient wizard who looked like he needed all the beauty sleep in the world) he would call them up to his office to give a rather thorough analysis of the few things they were doing right and everything they were doing wrong. The night always ended with a stern reminder that the spells they used in these duels would not be appropriate to use against a Death Eater ("if I get word you're trying to stupefy a Death Eater, Pucey, I'll come collect whatever body parts of yours are left") but that it was good practice to learn how to fight and that when they were actually Aurors, they could use the appropriate spells.
Another thing Messalina learned during that time was that while Graham Pucey was a rather talkative and nosy Slytherin, he was also becoming a friend. There were only so many times you could attempt to maim someone on your professor's orders before you became friends with them after all.
It also helped that although Pucey was a Slytherin who was incredibly proud of his lineage, it wasn't because they were pureblood fanatics. Apparently, him and John Higgs were cousins (hence why the pair appeared inseparable) and they were not overly harassed by their Housemates because between the pair of them, they had three of the twelve Hogwarts governors in the family. It certainly didn't hurt that Pucey's father was the Head of the International Magical Office of Law and Higgs' mother was Senior Advisor the Minister of Magic.
The Higgs and Pucey influence would keep them safe from persecution from other students about John Higgs dating a muggleborn Hufflepuff, but Pucey knew the moment they graduated, they would all have a target on their backs and so he wanted to be an Auror to end the war as soon as possible. Messalina gleaned this information from him over the course of a month, each tidbit making her respect the boy even more. She sensed there was something additional behind his reasoning for wanting to be an Auror, but she didn't push. She certainly hadn't told him her secrets.
It was after a more intense session than most (Messalina had been thrown across the classroom more than she would've liked to admit as Pucey practiced nonverbals) that Messalina staggered through the castle at nearly one in the morning with a black eye and a split lip. She was certain her body was covered in darkening bruises and each step on the journey to the Common Room was excruciatingly painful. Vector had given her arnica root gel to put on her bruises so they would fade sooner than they would on their own, which she had applied to her face gingerly in his office, and told her to go to the Hospital Wing if she was in too much pain. But, he had also told her a few weeks earlier that they should strive to increase their pain tolerance for the years ahead and she balked at the idea of the Hospital Wing, even as she contemplated whether or not she was bleeding internally. Pucey had offered to walk her back to her Common Room, clearly guilty about his role in her current physical state, but she had refused, telling him he ought to get some rest. The Gryffindor-Hufflepuff quidditch match (the first of the year) was in the morning and he gave up rather easily, likely thinking about how early he had to get up to get a good seat.
And so, Messalina limped into the Common Room at half past one in the morning, fully expecting the room to be completely empty as everyone rested up for the big day ahead of them. She was so certain that this was the case that she didn't even look around the room when she walked in (forgetting that Vector had hit her in the back of the head with a sizable book only two hours earlier, citing how important it was to PAY ATTENTION). Upon realizing she had to make it up to the top of the tower to get into bed, she groaned aloud and closed her eyes.
The hesitation in her step gave her muscles the opportunity to seize and she collapsed onto the couch in front of the fireplace, knowing there was no chance she would make it up to the top of the tower at this rate. She was destined to sleep on this couch for the rest of her life. She wondered if Lily would levitate her to the match so she could watch. Or maybe she could harass a first year to go grab her a plate at breakfast. A nice muffin would really hit the spot right-
"Are you okay?" a voice far closer to her than she would've expected possible asked and she nearly jumped out of her skin as she opened her eyes, whipping her head to the side so fast it took a second for the pain to register. Remus Lupin, who had been peacefully reading some book in front of the fire before she had rudely interrupted, was staring at her from the other side of the couch, eyes wide with concern. His gaze lingered on her blackened eye and split lip, and by the way he was looking at her she guessed she had an additional bruise forming on her cheekbone. It didn't help that her entire body was burning with a blush that likely caused her to look like an overly ripened tomato. Why did she always have to embarrass herself in front of this boy?
"Yeah, sorry for coming in here like I was on the brink of death," she replied, leaning her head against the back of the couch in hope that it might help ease her neck pain and allow her avoid that thoughtful, concerned look in Remus' pretty green eyes. No, she told herself sternly, not pretty. Just such a nice green. Had he not been there, already thinking she was crazy, she would've groaned aloud.
"Is Vector still having you and Pucey come by every week?" he asked, reminding Messalina of another thing she had learned since September. Vector overly favored her and Pucey and he was certainly not shy about expressing his feelings about the state of the rest of the class. He'd gone so far as to say Black had been using the wrong grip on his wand for 'Stupefy' the previous week, much to her amusement and his horror. It had become a rarity not to see someone on the brink of tears in the hallway outside the DADA classroom and Lily had apparently caught a first year openly sobbing in an alcove across from the room a week before.
And so, when Vector had told her and Pucey they needed to come to his office every Friday for additional training, Messalina had tried to keep it a secret. She really had. But, when you're leaving dinner with your friends and head off in the direction of a classroom you have no business going to on a Friday night and stay gone until hours after curfew, people become suspicious. Especially when you've sworn to never get a detention and don't seem worried about getting one for being out after hours. Plus Marlene lived and breathed to gossip so as she soon as she found it out, it was as if the whole school knew. Messalina wondered savagely what Snape thought about a pair of blood traitors receiving extra lessons in his favorite subject.
"Yeah, I think he's a sadist."
"It certainly looks like it. Is it helping, though, do you think?"
Messalina lifted her head to look at him, knowing there was a confused look on her face but having no energy to attempt to hide it. No one had ever asked if they thought the lessons were helping, they usually focused on her company. Mary was still determined to believe Vector was a werewolf, Marlene had a vested interest in figuring out if Pucey ever had to take his shirt off for any reason, and Lily wanted to know if Vector was physically or mentally abusing her. No one had ever asked if they thought the extra lessons were helping and as a result, she had never really thought about it.
Her confidence was increasing, she mused, even if her ego had taken a huge hit in the beginning as Vector declared them woefully weak in a variety of areas. But, after nearly a month and a half, he seemed to be growing more pleased with them each week. She told Remus as much before stretching her arms out in front of her and pulling her right sleeve up with a wince. The skin had been aching and so she shouldn't have been surprised to see a massive bruise on her forearm, staining her skin an ugly yellow color. Just as she moved to pull the sleeve back down before she traumatized Lupin further, he reached out and grabbed her wrist gently.
"I can fix that," he said quietly, staring at the bruise as Messalina prayed to any entity listening that Remus couldn't feel how fast her heart was beating. They'd never been so close or alone, and Messalina was aware the stubbornness that had kept her from the Hospital Wing had disappeared the second he spoke. She nodded wordlessly, certain her voice would betray her, and he pressed his wand lightly onto her skin, whispering something under his breath. The feeling was instantaneous - the dull throb was replaced by a pleasant, warm feeling and she let out a sigh at the relief. He did the same thing for her face and she nearly moaned as her face went from hurting like she'd been run over by a carriage to feeling somewhat normal, if warm.
"Thank you," she murmured as she sank back into the couch, relishing the relief and trying to avoid any facial expression that might indicate those weren't her only bruises. The largest one was squarely on her hip from falling onto a desk and there was certainly no way she was going to pull her pants down at one thirty in the morning in an empty Common Room to a boy that she had just caught herself thinking had pretty eyes. She had been humiliated enough tonight, thank you very much. "How do you know how to do that? Out here giving Madame Pompfrey a run for her money."
"Peter's pretty clumsy, you pick some stuff up after a hundred trips to the Hospital Wing." They both laughed at that, likely thinking about when Peter had fallen down a staircase the previous day on their walk to Transfiguration in front of a pack of Hufflepuff fifth years, nearly bowling one of them to the ground as he went.
"What are you still doing up? I thought the whole tower would be asleep for tomorrow," Messalina asked when silence fell over them both. When she had come into the Common Room she had wanted nothing more than to race up the steps to her dorm and throw herself onto her bed to nurse her wounds, but now she found herself completely unable and unmotivated to move. She wondered fleetingly if Remus' spell had an unexpected side effect and she had become paralyzed. When he didn't answer immediately, she felt panic kick in. "I'm sorry, that was personal-"
"No, it's okay. James can be a lot to be around before a match, sometimes it's better to just get out of the dorm until he falls asleep."
"Yeah I could see that."
"At least Lily seems used to him as Head Boy now."
"I think it took us all a lot of getting used to," Messalina reasoned, the corner of her mouth turning upwards as Remus nodded his head emphatically. "We all thought it would be you, Potter's not exactly an equivalent."
"My parents were disappointed," Remus confessed, the tips of his ears turning pink and he avoided her eyes. "Well, my dad was anyways."
"Lily was too, you know. She always said you and Jenny Connors were the only ones she could bear being on rounds with."
"She's a good person, Lily Evans."
"Yeah she is." The pair sat in a companionable silence, looking thoughtfully into the fire until Messalina felt her eyelids drooping and her muscles relaxing. The adrenaline had left her system and if she had to guess, she had a maximum of ten minutes before she was out like a light. She told this to Remus, ignoring the part of her that very much would've liked to see if his jumper was as soft as it looked, and stood up to go.
"Goodnight Messalina," Remus said quietly as she turned to walk away. There was something in his tone that she couldn't quite decipher and as she laid in bed later, she wondered if it was a certain level of sadness that made her linger.
"You know you're the only one in this whole school that calls me that," she blurted out, immediately mentally berating herself for being so awkward. No wonder the boy could barely look at her. Resisting the urge to clap her hand over her mouth, she tried to gauge his reaction. It was difficult because she had made it behind the couch before deciding that urgently needed to be said and he was still facing the fire, leaving her gnawing on her bottom lip and studying his profile. "It's Lina to my friends, I don't know the last time someone used my full name."'
"I guess I didn't realize we were friends."
"I want to be. I mean, if you want to be of course."
"I'd like that," he said after a few seconds of silence that made Messalina wish she wasn't cursed with an inability to think before speaking. "Goodnight Lina."
As she laid in bed, listening to the storm raging outside and wondering why she had asked Remus Lupin of all people to formally be her friend, Messalina wondered if she had imagined the hesitation on his face when he'd answered. There was no reason for it unless he didn't like her, but he was always pleasant to her when they had spoken so he had to be a very talented actor if he was hiding his true emotions. She pondered the look on his face for a few moments curiously. When her eyes closed of their own accord she didn't fight it and she was asleep before she could theorize anymore.
When she woke in the morning to Mary screaming about how she couldn't find her quidditch robes and Lily pointing out that they were in her hand, Messalina had completely forgotten about the look of doubt that flashed on Remus' face the night before. Instead, she was considering how much time in Azkaban she would get if she killed Mary for interrupting a perfectly good dream she was having about being on a white sand beach with the handsome Scottish keeper from Puddlemere United. She thought the Wizengamot might let her off with a warning, all things considered. Lily pulled back her curtains just as Messalina was debating skipping the match to have a bit of a lie in and not feel like she was on the brink of falling asleep for the whole day. The thought immediately left her mind though as she knew from the look on Lily's face that there would be no going back to sleep.
"I'm glad to see Pucey didn't disfigure you too much last night."
"Good morning to you too, Lily," she grumbled, narrowing her eyes at her roommate as the sun assaulted her senses.
"Get up! It's quidditch day!" Marlene called from over Lily's shoulder and Messalina was unsurprised to see Marlene was already ready. Her dark hair had been pulled back into two French braids with scarlet and gold ribbons securing them and gold glitter tastefully applied to her cheeks and neck. She looked the picture of school spirit.
"I'm sleeping." Messalina rolled over onto her stomach, deciding to do her best Mary impression and refuse to wake up until the last minute. Her body ached from the previous night and she was grateful Remus had healed most of her bruising because she was fairly certain she wouldn't have been able to get out of bed otherwise.
"You need to get up!" Marlene announced, tickling the bottom of Messalina's feet that stuck out of from the covers and laughing wildly as the girl tried to pull her feet to safety. Groaning, Messalina did as she was ordered when she realized there would be no peace until she did what they wanted. So that they wouldn't confuse her compliance with agreement with their tactics, she gave Marlene a dirty look as she trudged into the bathroom and slammed the door.
Fifteen minutes later she was walking to breakfast with her roommates, having ignored Marlene's insistence that she also smear glitter all over her face and neck as well. Despite Remus healing most of the visible bruises, it was still clear she had been in some kind of fight the previous night and somehow she didn't think gold glitter would pair well with dark circles and bloodshot eyes. Lily had given in to Marlene's request and looked like a true Gryffindor with her freckles mixed with gold glitter.
"I think I'm going to throw up," Mary repeated for what felt like the hundredth time since they had left the tower. It had been her constant gameday mantra since she had joined the team in their second year and had actually thrown up on the walk to the pitch before her first game. Since then, she had complained of intense nausea before each game no matter how many times she was reminded that the whole dorm had caught a nasty case of the stomach flu and they had all spent a few days throwing up in the Hospital Wing afterwards. "Oh Merlin, I'm definitely going to throw up."
"Mary, you're going to be fine!" Lily assured her, rubbing a hand on Mary's back soothingly. Lily had always been the best at getting the others to relax, going into full Mother Hen mode anytime her friends were upset. In comparison, Messalina couldn't help but feel the rest of them were inadequate friends to Lily. Had it been Messalina's closest childhood friend (hypothetically, of course, as Antonin was her only childhood companion) that had called her such a vile name in front of so many people in fifth year, Lily would have leapt into action and known exactly what to do. But Messalina was no Lily and her only response was to chase after Lily and sit in relative silence for an entire afternoon, not knowing what to say.
"How dare your brothers have graduated and left me in this position," Mary moaned, whirling to face Messalina accusatorially. "No Prewetts, no Dearborn, no Wood. We're screwed."
"Macdonald, you're breaking my heart," a voice called cheekily and the girls spun around to see the Marauders a few paces behind them. Potter ahead of the rest of them moving quickly in his scarlet and gold quidditch robes, looking a bit tired but otherwise himself as he grinned at Mary. "It doesn't matter who is on the team when we've got the best captain in the world leading us."
"Don't be a suck up, Potter, it's not going to get you anywhere," Mary mumbled. Messalina noticed she had perked up a bit though and bit her lip to keep herself from smiling at Potter as he threw an arm around Mary's shoulders. He led her through the doors to the Great Hall, giving her what sounded like a rousing pep talk. Lily stared after the pair with her mouth open and eyebrows furrowed, only moving when the rest of the Marauders reached them and Sirius Black gave Messalina a once over.
"What the hell happened to you, Lucien?"
"Education," she grumbled self-consciously as she felt their eyes on her. Remus had been unable to heal her split lip and her black eye had only been partially healed, leaving her looking like she had been the victim of an attack a week ago instead of 12 hours. Her muscles still ached and she had blanched at the idea of wearing anything form fitting so she had just thrown on one of Gideon's jumpers Molly had knitted him for Christmas. While it fit Gideon quite nicely, it hung off her figure and the dark maroon made her skin look even paler and brought out the lovely red in her bloodshot eyes as well as the blush that was making its way up her neck as they stared. Mumbling something about wanting to see if Mary had thrown up, she skirted past Lily and made her way to the table.
Mary was sitting across from James Potter and he had evidently cheered her up enough to nibble on a piece of bacon, a small smile on her face as he recounted some outlandish story of when his father had challenged him to a broom race over the summer. Messalina sat beside Mary as Potter reached the conclusion of his story, which involved a great deal of explosions and cheering. Messalina helped herself to some tea in hopes it might lessen the pounding headache and exhausted feeling that had settled over her. Mary turned as their friends approached and Messalina looked to see James Potter with a smile, satisfied smile on his face as Mary waved their friends over. Messalina caught Potter's eye and she gave him a grateful smile, flicking her eyes over to Mary who certainly seemed much more relaxed. He winked at her in response and she couldn't help but wonder if he had grown up a bit over the summer.
"What a subtle getaway," Black commented as he sat beside Potter and Messalina resisted the urge to kick him under the table. She had gone six years without a detention marring her impeccable character so that when McGonagall filled out her 'Head of House Evaluation' for the Auror program, good old Minnie wouldn't have anything negative to write about her. And something told her that new Head Boy Potter might be willing to ruin her reputation if she wrecked havoc on his best friend's crown jewels.
"Be careful of Lina, she's in a mood this morning," Marlene added as she plopped down on Potter's other side and helped herself to a blueberry muffin the size of her head.
"I'm not in a mood."
"It's quidditch day - I'm the only one allowed to feel crummy!"
"Says who?" Messalina asked Mary, urging the corners of her lips not to curl upwards as they wished.
"Says girl code."
"Why are you invoking girl code?" Lily asked as she approached, looking rather less upset that they were eating breakfast with the Mauraders than Messalina had anticipated. But maybe it shouldn't have been such a surprise as Lily's rampant complaining about the boy had finally died down a few weeks earlier. She'd cited that civility was required based on how much time they were spending together, but Messalina knew that not to be the case as Lily had hexed the Ravenclaw prefect Montgomery just a few days before for repeating asking her out during rounds. Apparently he hadn't seen the many times Potter had used the tactic and failed. Manners couldn't keep Lily from doing what she wanted, that was for sure. Hiding a smile behind her mug of tea at the idea of Lily secretly deciding Potter wasn't all that bad, Messalina watched as Lily sat beside Mary.
Now, the issue with the Hogwarts Great Hall tables is that they continue on and on endlessly so once you've committed to a side, you have to sit on that side or face the awkwardness of retracing your steps to sit elsewhere. And because the two groups of seventh years usually sat apart in groups of four, there was no established sitting arrangement for them all sitting together. So, with three sitting on one side and three on the other, it put Remus and Peter in the position where they had to sit one on each side lest one side have more people. Peter had gone on to the side with Marlene, likely hoping to sit beside her, which meant Remus was approaching the side Messalina sat on. He had two options: sit beside Messalina or Lily. Telling herself to remain calm, Messalina felt the exact opposite as he neared.
Had it been any other morning, she would not have minded Remus sitting beside her. But now as she sat in her adopted brother's oversized jumper on the verge of falling asleep, the last thing she wanted was a handsome seventh year she had asked to be her friend on a complete whim the night before to sit beside her. She prayed to any entity listening that Remus might choose to sit with Lily, though her plea went unheard as Remus smiled sweetly at her at sat beside her.
"Good morning, friend."
"Hello Remus." She couldn't help the grin that erupted on her face but she could hide it with a large gulp of tea that she hoped might burn the butterflies that had erupted in her stomach so they might cease their fluttering.
"I'm sorry my spell didn't work as well as I'd hoped," he said, his eyes flicking to her bottom lip which was throbbing lightly and Messalina prayed it wouldn't start bleeding as it had when she brushed her teeth. Something told her even kind, sweet Remus might not be able to look at her the same way if she started bleeding all over the place at breakfast.
"I would be black and blue today if you hadn't been in the Common Room last night." She demonstrated by pulling the sleeve of her jumper up and showing him the large bruise was completely healed. "See, a miracle."
"So what's it like, Lucien?"
"What's what like, Black?" Messalina asked slowly, turning her attention from the boy beside her to the rest of the group. Everyone else had gone quiet despite Marlene and Lily putting up the appearance of of examining the cuff of Marlene's sweater which was coming undone despite it arriving from Madame Malkin's only a week before. Marlene had been threatening to cut ties with the shop for most of the week, but Messalina knew she had just placed an order for new aquamarine dress robes the afternoon before.
"Being able to fight an arsehole Slytherin without any consequences."
"If you're talking about Graham Pucey, arsehole is the furthest word I'd use to describe him," she replied coolly, staring across the table as the smug smile on Sirius Black's face faltered ever so slightly.
"Want to become Mrs. Pucey? I thought we were done being players in the pureblood game."
"I want you shut up about things you don't know anything about," she countered, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes at the boy. And she was reminded of exactly why her group of girls had never become friends with the boys in their year. First and foremost, Lily had hated James Potter with a passion since the first time they had met and had spent much of the last six years vehemently denying his attempts to court her.
But underneath that lie Messalina and Sirius' relationship. They had always been able to stand each other for relatively short periods of time, but it never lasted and when their patience broke it was best to separate them immediately. One might have thought two kids from pureblood families might bond over a shared traumatic childhood and embrace their similarities. But Sirius had always been cavalier about their families, joking about his parents and younger brother often, whereas Messalina found herself far more outwardly bitter about her childhood. Sirius downplaying her anger had never sat well with her. The pair clashed more and more often when they were younger until they effectively began ignoring one another as much as possible.
"Well, I think Pucey's a great guy," Lily added after a few tense seconds passed with the pair glaring at one another, Messalina's grip on her fork turning her knuckles white.
"Must be a decent enough fellow if Lucien can stand to spend so much time with him," Potter commented offhandedly and it felt as though the whole table let out a collective breath. Lily stared at Potter in surprise, her eyebrows raising so high they were almost hidden by her hair. Black turned his attention back to his toast and Peter began chattering about how excited he was that the quidditch season was starting and they had something other that coursework to look forward to. Messalina stabbed at the sausage on her plate angrily, wondering how she could make sure the girls sat separately from the boys at the game. She had been in a foul mood when she woke up and she would run out of her remaining energy if she had to butt heads with Black all day.
Mary and Potter left not long after for their official pre-game pep talk with the rest of the team. Judging by the determined look on Mary's face she had forgotten her nausea and had firmly landed in what Messalina called 'the captain zone'. She had experienced it firsthand for years with Archie Wood yelling at Fabian and Gideon for goofing off the mornings of their matches (Archie was a firm believer in envisioning victory to make it a reality and fooling around was a surefire way to lose that vision and the match). She had the most memories with the mentality when she dated quidditch captain Caradoc Dearborn the year before. Rarely did a week go by without him lecturing Potter on the importance of being able to show up to practice. He had finally reached his last straw a few weeks before the last match of the year when he got into a rather heated screaming fit with Potter about not getting any more detentions in the middle of the Common Room. It ended with McGonagall coming to see what the fuss was about and then threatening Potter with kicking him off the team if he couldn't get his detentions under control. Messalina shivered at the idea of how the captainship would impact Mary. There was a constant level of anger under Mary's skin that threatened to bubble up at any time and the increased stress of having a quidditch team that had won the last two Cups in a row was likely to drive Mary into the madhouse.
The rest of the seventh years left breakfast shortly after, Messalina plotting about what they could arrange to have happen to Black before they made it to the pitch so she could still sit with Remus but not him. Her best ideas involved hexing him so badly he needed to spend the day in the Hospital Wing and telling one of the members of his fan club that he had a crush on her just to see what would happen. Both options seemed likely to land her into detention and she was resolutely determined not to allow Sirius Black to derail her career.
"Don't let Sirius ruin your day," Remus said quietly just as she was thinking just that and she offered him a wry smile. "He's obtuse on the best of days."
"And on the worst?"
"A right son of a bitch." Remus deadpanned and Messalina let out a giggle before wondering when on earth she had last made that sound. She hoped it didn't become a regularly occurring thing because the tips of her ears were turning quite red and she was glad she'd let her hair fall where it may as it kept anyone from noticing.
"You're very wise, Remus. I don't understand how you and Peter-"
"Oi Lina, think if we win this game Mary will dedicate the team's victory to you?" Marlene interrupted, turning to look over her shoulder and winking as Messalina gaped at her. See, there was one event that the rest of the seventh year girls knew not to talk about with Messalina. And that was why her and Caradoc Dearborn had actually broken up. She liked to say it was because she found his constant desire to talk about his glittering gold future at Gringotts boring. But she also endured three months of it and there isn't exactly a final straw when something has been happening with the same intensity for the whole period.
No, but what really broke her back the year before with him was when Gryffindor won their second match of the year. In front of the entire school, he rode his broom over to the Gryffindor cheering section and announced with all the bravery of Godric himself that their victory came because of her 'special relaxation remedies'. She remembered standing in the crowd, praying the ground would open up and swallow her whole as the rest of the stands laughed. There wasn't much of a victory party that night as far she could remember but she'd also broken up with him the moment he stepped out the locker room and spent the rest of the day contemplating how to get the whole school to forget what had happened.
"I sure hope not. She should at least wait until the season's over so she doesn't jinx them," she replied, sticking her tongue out at Marlene and making a mental note to add 'Mentioned Dearborn telling the whole school we had sex' to the list of reasons why it would be justified to kill Marlene. She hoped to present it as evidence to the Wizengamot at her trial.
Thankfully, Marlene's retort was lost into the void as they reached a mass of other Gryffindor students trying to get into the stands. By the time they made their way up the cheering section, it seemed Marlene had forgotten about her joke as they jostled their way to their seats. Messalina found her wish to be separated from Sirius Black had been granted, but whoever had granted that wish had taken Remus from her side as payment. She ended up between Peter and Lily, who had knew enough about the Dearborn situation to know better than to let Messalina and Marlene spend hours sitting next to each other.
"Lina?" Peter Pettigrew's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she shifted to look at him rather than gazing out at the pitch and faintly wondering what Fabian and Gideon were up to. "Do you think you could help me with the nonverbals for DADA? I'll get a T at the rate I'm going."
"Yeah of course," she replied, trying to subdue a groan at the thought of how much homework she had. She'd meant to start her Transfiguration essay the night before but Vector had kept them later than usual and by the time she'd gotten back to the Common Room she was in no shape to do anything but talk to Remus and go to sleep apparently. Even if there was a victory party tonight she'd have to excuse herself to the dorm to try to get at least one essay done. The extra attention on DADA had her de-prioritizing her other classes and with the N.E.W.T. coursework she felt she might drown.
The Gryffindor team emerged to loud shouts and cheers from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw stands and Messalina noted that Mary might have been right to be concerned about the talent on the team. She and Potter were the only ones older than sixth year and they towered above the rest of the assembled. Angelica Cole had been seeker since her second year and even now in her fourth year she looked as fragile and small as a bird. But the girl was immensely talented and Mary had hypothesized she would probably take the captainship the next year and play professionally after graduation. The third chaser was Eric Vosper, a fifth year new to the team with the worst acne Messalina had ever seen and according to Mary's complaints from practice, he acted as though the quaffle was going to explode if he held it for longer than ten seconds. The keeper that had replaced Archie Wood last year, Max Hooper, looked as though he was going to be sick. Messalina didn't know either of the two beaters as they were new to the team but she thought they were in third year as she remembered the twins laughing about a pair of second years turning up to try outs the year before.
The Hufflepuff team on the other hand looked like a well polished team. Half their players were seventh years, the rest a mix of fifth and sixth years and they had all been on the team at least three years. Messalina couldn't help but wonder if she was going to need to venture to her and the twins' favorite room in the castle to get Mary some firewhisky to drown her sorrows. She hadn't been to the seventh floor to see the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching the trolls ballet all year and while it certainly wouldn't be as much fun venturing there by herself, it would be worth it to keep Mary from quitting the team in a huff.
"Big Hogsmeade plans next weekend?"
"The twins got the day off of training so I'm meeting them at the Three Broomsticks," she replied, smiling fondly at Peter. She'd miss him when they graduated and went their separate ways. "You ask anyone to go with you this time?"
"No, not this time," Peter managed to say, his face turning a bright pink and he turned to stare resolutely out at the pitch. Messalina felt a surge of guilt for asking and she scrambled to find something else to say. She had forgotten Peter's crush on Amelia Bones, who they had run into snogging Black the week before on their way back from the Herbology greenhouses, and had probably just reminded the poor guy of it. Black had been involved with enough girls for the whole of the Marauders, which was arguably a good thing because none of the others had ever dated anyone as far as Messalina could remember. Potter's reasoning was simple enough - he wanted Lily Evans and no other girl could even appear as a blip on his radar. He'd gone to Hogsmeade with a few girls but they always seemed to come back dour and he never took the same one twice. Peter, sweet as he was, did not have the looks or talents or charms of his friends and try as the lad might, none of the girls he'd had a crush on appeared to reciprocate his feelings. He'd taken a cute Hufflepuff in the year below them to Hogsmeade the year before but apparently it hadn't gone very well as she was preoccupied with getting her friend a date with Black.
And then there was Remus Lupin. Not as handsome as Black or Potter, but he certainly had an aura and a charisma that was very different than theirs. The definition of the kind of boy your mother dreamed you'd bring home, with his never ending collection of soft looking cardigans and jumpers and mild-mannered attitude. Clever and intelligent, but in a more understated way that you couldn't help but respect when compared to who his friends were. It was a rarity in the school to be so humble - the Hufflepuffs were probably upset they didn't get to claim him as their own. And despite this, Messalina couldn't think of a single time he had been in any sort of a relationship with a girl, though plenty seemed to try. The year before she remembered a very pretty Ravenclaw in the year below them had worked up the nerve to ask him to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day and Remus had turned her politely down, looking rather uncomfortable. He, Lily, Messalina, and Peter had been working diligently together in the library on a rather lengthy Herbology project they had been assigned when she had approached and asked if she could have a word with him. Messalina remembered straining her ears to try to hear what they were saying and had gotten the gist of it when Remus returned as red as a tomato, cleared his throat, and got back to reading the textbook in front of him. Word of the rejection must have gotten around the school fairly quickly as Messalina couldn't recall another girl doing much more than look rather hopefully at Remus and certainly none had been so bold since.
"You and Remus looked rather cozy at breakfast." Messalina flinched at Lily's voice right in her ear and she swatted the girl on the arm before looking quickly to make sure Peter hadn't heard. Thankfully, he had turned his attention back to the other two Marauders and they were discussing something equally secretive as they had all leaned in close to Remus who was shaking his head and looking exasperated. Content that they wouldn't be overhead, Messalina turned and glared at Lily.
"I don't know what you're talking about, we're friends."
"Friends on their way to being more than friends?"
"I've given up boys this year, Lily, or did you forget?"
"No, you gave up annoying, arrogant toerag boys. And Remus is the furthest thing from that."
"Do we need to talk about this now?" Messalina hissed, glancing over at the boys to make sure they were still engaged in whatever they were whispering about.
"Are we talking about boys?" Marlene asked in a stage whisper, a manical grin plastered on her face. Messalina winced at how her voice carried and Lily elbowed Marlene solidly in the ribs before murmuring something in her ear.
"I am not talking to you two anymore," Messalina grumbled. She turned to focus on the game but found it nearly impossible as her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and kept turning to look towards Remus. He was smiling goodnaturedly as his friends whispered in front of him about Merlin knew what and Messalina couldn't help but feel like Lily might be right about him. Shit.
