More homophobia mentioned because this is set in the 70s and I want to point out the harsh reality of what it was like for LGBTQ+ people back then (and this is mild, the world wasn't good back then)
The already cold air seemed to turn a hundred times colder.
"What?" I said slowly. "But, Monifa… Milly's a girl. And… and you're a girl… what?"
"I know," Monifa said. She wasn't crying anymore. Just looking at the floor, seeming ashamed of herself. "That's why it's so wrong."
"This doesn't make sense," I said. "I've… I've always been told that… that girls will be with boys and boys will be with girls."
"Me too," she said sadly. She wouldn't look me in the eye. "It's what's normal… but… but… I'm not, I guess. Please don't hate me."
"OK…" I said. "So… if girls can like girls, that means boys can like boys?"
"Yes," she said.
This caused a rush of joy to shoot through me for some reason.
"OK," I said. "Well, this is great! This is showing me that love comes in more forms than I thought! That's… I love that!"
"You do?" she said, looking up at me. "I'm glad. I'm so glad! Thank you so much!"
She threw her arms around me, crying again, but in happiness this time. I hugged her back, smiling widely. I couldn't keep the smile off my face… boys could like boys… it was weird, but that made me feel so great knowing that.
"So, you gonna go on a date with Milly, then?" I asked.
She laughed loudly. "No way. Maybe one day, the world will let us love, but until then… I'll love from a distance."
"Yeah," I said. "Well, thank you for telling me this. We should probably get back to the match."
She nodded. "See you later."
I waved goodbye, and we split ways, both going back to where we were meant to sit.
"Where did you and Monifa go?" Milly asked me as I sat back in my seat. "Snogging under the stands, eh?"
I laughed. "No, we were just chatting."
If only she knew the truth.
Spring came around, I turned twelve, and as it started warming up, all the chat around the school was on Easter.
"I'm going home for the Easter break," I told my friends.
"Same," said James.
"I'm not," Monifa laughed. "Parents don't love me enough for that."
"I'm meant to," said Sirius. "But I don't think I will… I'll just stay here with you, Monifa."
"That may be smart," James agreed.
"You can't avoid them forever, you know," I said. "You have to go home during the summer."
"Nah, you can just come to mine," James said.
Sirius laughed. "I wish. It'll be OK. Plus, that's not until June! There's still a few months to relax, and just think about schoolwork, and essays… and the end of year exams… completely relaxed!"
We all laughed, then Severus Snape came walking past with his textbooks pressed up against his chest.
"Here's something to get your mind off your worries," James said, grinning and standing up.
"Seriously?" I groaned, crossing my arms in disapproval.
Sirius and James walked over to Snape, sticking out their feet so he tripped over.
"Whoops," said James mockingly. "Sorry, Snivellus."
"Why do you have your school books?" Sirius asked. "It's Saturday, and break starts tomorrow!"
"At least my mother wants me back home," Snape said, giving Sirius a dirty look.
"Really?" James sniggered. "I wouldn't want you back home if I was your mother. Not when you go making fun of people who's parents don't want them home."
"You dare—" Snape started, but, James had already grabbed out his wand.
"FLIPENDO!" James yelled, and Snape was knocked to the floor.
"POTTER!" Snape yelled out, drawing his own. Sirius and James were standing side by side, their wands drawn to Snape.
"STOP!" Monifa shouted, running in between them. "You're not allowed to duel on the school grounds!"
"Move!" Sirius shouted. But, using Monifa's distraction, Snape had snuck away. "The little prat."
"Give him a break," Monifa said. "Yes, he's rude and stupid, but you're not much better acting like that!"
"Whatever," James muttered, putting his wand away, Sirius doing the same.
"I'm serious," she said darkly. "Grow up."
"REMUS!" my parents shouted as I arrived at Platform nine and three-quarters at the start of the Easter break, throwing their arms around me. "We haven't seen you for three months!"
I hugged them back tightly, smiling.
"Let's go," they said, and the three of us ran through the barrier together and came out at King's Cross Station, then walked to the car.
"We're still living in that same house?" I asked.
"Yeah, because we've told the neighbours you're just off at boarding school," Dad explained. "We probably won't have any troubles until the summer.
"Well, next Wednesday's full moon…" I said nervously.
"Already got an excuse for if they ask," Mum smiled. "You're going to be, apparently, doing an Easter egg hunt with your school friends."
"OK, sounds cool," I said.
"How are you going with your studies?" Dad asked.
"Good, there's about two and a half months until the exams," I said. "I've been studying hard in every class for them. And if you fail the exams, you fail the year, and then I'll have to repeat first-year!"
"Remus, calm down," Mum said. "You'll definitely pass, you don't need to worry!"
"Maybe I should study more," I said. "I can't repeat a year, that would be so embarrassing and shameful!"
"It's really rare to fail the end of year exams," said Dad. "You can only fail it if you haven't listened at all, and literally made no progress all year."
"OK," I said. "It'll be fine… I should probably write down more notes in class, though…"
"Remus! We're home!" Dad said, interrupting my worries. We climbed out of the car and walked into our house.
I woke up bright and early on Easter Sunday, and rushed out of my bedroom to see the house had been turned into a complete Easter wonderland. There were chocolate eggs and bunnies all through the house. Then my parents jumped out in front of me.
I laughed, then rushed around the house collecting the chocolates, then my parents and I shared it all while sitting by the fire.
"Oh, I'm stuffed," Mum said, laying down on the floor after we finished the last egg. "Absolutely stuffed."
"Too stuffed for what we're doing today?" Dad asked.
"Of course not," said Mum, smiling sideways at him.
"What?" I said. "What's happening today?"
"Oh nothing," said Dad. "Just going to the annual witch and wizard Easter egg hunt."
"What!?" I said, getting excited.
"Heaps of witches and wizards from all around the world go to this Easter egg treasure hunt, full with clues to the next place… you go in teams and every team must have at least one witch or wizard who can legally apparate — the clues are all over the world, and the first team to get all the clues wins the massive pile of Easter eggs," Dad explained. "It starts in twenty minutes, in the initial place — Central Park, New York City."
"Oh my gosh!" I shouted excitedly. "This is going to be SO MUCH FUN!"
"Alright, let's go," said Dad. He grabbed our hands and apparated. We arrived at a huge area, where it was early in the morning, and there were thousands of people, speaking many different languages and accents. My parents grabbed my hands as we walked through the huge crowd.
"HAVE YOU DONE THIS BEFORE?" I shouted to them, over the top of the noisy crowd.
"YES!" my father yelled back."I WOULD DO THIS WITH MY MATES ALMOST EVERY EASTER WHEN I WAS AT SCHOOL!"
"SILENCE!" came a voice, and the crowd fell silent, looking up at a huge stage, where there was a tall witch. She had a strong Western American accent. "Welcome to 1972 Wizarding World Easter Egg treasure hunt! Before I give you your first clue, you now have ten minutes to form your teams. Remember, each team must have at least two people in it, and no more than seven. Each team must have at least one person who can legally apparate. Alright, start forming your teams now!"
"Team Lupin," Dad said excitedly. "Let's do this."
"Alright," said the witch, ten minutes later. "Are you all ready for the first clue? Listen carefully… you will find the next clue at… the biggest rock in the world. GO!"
I remembered learning about famous landmarks from my parents when I was younger, the biggest rock… it was in the heart of Australia…
"Uluru!" I whispered loudly. Dad nodded, and grabbed our hands and apparated. We appeared in front of the huge rock. It was the evening here, and at least half the people who were in the park before had apparated here as well, and were all rushing around. Then I saw a wizard meditating on a chair in front of the rock. "There!" I led my parents over to him. He smiled at us.
"The next clue will be at the house of a lady named Elizabeth," he said.
"A lady named Elizabeth?" I said. "I bet there's so many people called Elizabeth!"
"It'll be someone famous," said Dad. "Either in the muggle world, wizarding world, or both…"
"The Queen… Queen Elizabeth," Mum cried. "Buckingham Palace!"
"Right, let's go," said Dad, clutching our hands, closing his eyes and spinning on the spot. We came out at the huge palace, along with a lot of other people.
"OK, where's the clue person?" I said, looking around amongst the hundreds of people. Then, a loud voice came over all the chatter from the crowd.
"WE'RE HERE ON BEHALF OF LORD VOLDEMORT!" screamed the voice. Dad gasped, dragging Mum and I closer to him. Screams were let out, as a hundred black shadows flew down to the ground, and people were around us, their wands drawn. I recognised the one nearest to us: Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix.
"Well," she said, grinning at the other people who'd just come, "this should be fun."