Author's note: Hey, I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who left the lovely reviews; I would reply but I'm not sure how. :/ (If someone could help me out, that'd be great!) More reviews are most welcome, and please enjoy this new chapter!
That first week was wonderful.
Remus was a perfect gentleman, walking me to and from class using his secret Marauder passageways and every night taking me on an exclusive tour of different parts of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. We had picnics on the roof and races through the dungeons and on one particularly memorable Wednesday, he taught me how to fly through the Forbidden Forest on his special broomstick.
I already knew how to fly, of course, having been taught when I had been a first year. I had taken up Quidditch since then, so I was taken aback when Remus pulled me out to the Forbidden Forest that night and told me that he was going to teach me how to fly. I knew perfectly well how to fly! What Remus did that night, though, could hardly be considered flying and I consider myself lucky to have seen him do it first-hand.
Back in those days, you see, flying was the ultimate form of dare-devilry and Quidditch was the ultimate spectator sport. You didn't fly for fun back then, you flew to be seen. People like James Potter and Regulus Black were considered gods-among-men for their hair-pin turns and devil-may-care tactics. They absolutely thrived on the praise and adulation and the crowds were more than happy to provide it, so long as they received plenty of smiles in return. Cocky and charismatic, James was more than happy to oblige his fans, and the silent and brooding Regulus had sort of a Byronic quality about him that the ladies absolutely adored, though I've since learned that it was mostly an act. Remus was hardly the type to pander to the crowd's whims, though. He needed a solitary sport that would be capable of providing the adrenaline he craved, so – when the excitement of playing Exploding Snap wore off – he made up his own.
At first glance, Remus' broomstick looked like an ordinary Troublesome Tyke's First Broomstick broomstick. It was about a meter long, with a thick handle and a soft, trailing tail but that was where the similarities ended. For one, it was most definitely not a Troublesome Tyke's brand broomstick. Remus had worked the label off but by the curvature of the handle, the etching of the tail, and the tell-tale orange wood, it was obvious that he had started off with an old Shooting Star. Secondly, the broom had none of the safety charms normally administered to a Troublesome Tyke's. It went 0-to-30 in under a minute, had none of the height restrictions, and had never seen the wands' end of a cushioning charm, much to my horror.
The first time I saw it I doubled over with laughter.
"What? You think this is funny?" Remus asked, lips twitching like they always did when he was trying to contain his laughter.
"It is funny," I said, sidling over to him. "It's the male equivalent of me taking you up to the Astronomy Tower to show you my stuffed animals."
"Ah, but can your fuzzy bear do this?" He dropped the broom and, instead of clattering to the floor, it hovered in front of him, just a few centimeters off the ground.
"That's impressive," I said, rolling my eyes. "You've put a Hovering charm on it."
Remus grinned, not at all the know-it-all act he put on in class. In that instant he looked like, for lack of a better word, a marauder.
What happened next, I can only describe as incredible. The closest thing I can compare it to is a muggle sport called Skateboarding, where a rider rolls around on a board with wheels attached to it, except this was much more amazing. In Skateboarding, the rider is limited by the terrain, by gravity, and by friction which all work together to slow the board or stop it altogether, but on a broom those things don't matter. And just like a master duelist with a wand in his hand, Remus was in his element.
He stepped up onto his broom and in an instant he was gone, zooming through the trees. He zigged and he zagged and how he didn't end up splattered across the forest I'll never know, but he seemed to have such an intimate knowledge about where things were that I doubt he even needed to have his eyes open. He came back around, his broom so high off the ground that he needed to kneel in order to look me in the eyes.
"You want to give it a go?" He grinned. The broom sank slowly to the ground and he stepped off gingerly, bowing low as I stepped closer. "M'lady."
"Do you show just anyone your broomstick?" I asked, genuinely curious. I placed a foot carefully on the broom, judging whether or not I could balance long enough to crash into a tree.
Remus held my hips as I balanced on the broom and he slowly led me through the trees. "Usually not." He said tightly. "Shift back a bit, you're starting to speed up."
I did as he told me and we slowly inched our way deeper into the Forbidden Forest. "Jeremy Kirkwick seems to know all about it," I grinned. He was the boy who insisted that Dumbledore had given them all Invisibility Cloaks.
Remus smiled back, but his face was hard to read. "There's a grain of truth behind every rumor." He shifted his hands on my hips so that I leaned to the right and we made a gradual turn back the way we came.
"So is it true that Sirius is the heir of Slytherin?" I asked, excited. "You're not really a leprechaun, are you?"
"No, I'm not a leprechaun." Remus laughed. "And as for Sirius…that's undetermined."
I squeaked loudly and fell off the broom, but Remus managed to catch me. Sort of. We ended up tangled together on the forest floor, but it was loads more comfortable with Remus by my side.
"You're really excitable, aren't you?" He smiled and brought his arms up behind his head while I nuzzled into his side. "Sirius isn't really the heir of Slytherin – he's a Gryffindor, remember?"
"But his family – he comes from a long line of Slytherins. Who's to say he isn't the heir?"
"Well what if he was? It wouldn't change who he is; he'd still be Sirius, except he'd also be heir of Slytherin."
"But knowing something like that would change everything! You wouldn't be able to look at him the same way because then you'd know who he truly was inside!"
Remus took some time to consider this; finally, he said quietly: "What if the Sirius I know is who Sirius is inside? And everything else is extraneous?"
I shook my head. "It wouldn't work like that. Being the heir of Slytherin is in his blood; it's worked into every single cell in his body – he can't fight against it."
"Well why do you assume that being the heir of Slytherin would be bad? What if the heir of Slytherin was actually an alright bloke?"
"It's in the name – Slytherin." I sat up and turned to face him. "Only bad things could come from the brood of a man who enjoyed talking to snakes."
"What, like…snakewarmers?" he said, propping himself onto his elbows.
"No! Things like prejudice…"
" – and Dinner-Fowl Post Owls –"
"…and discrimination…"
" – and Bite-Size Mice on Ice for dessert."
"…and You-Know-Who!"
There was a heavy silence all around us and suddenly I realized how dangerous it was to be lost in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night with a boy I hardly knew.
"Remus, I think we should head back." I said quietly.
Remus stood and stretched out languorously, before grabbing his broomstick. He looked at me then and for an instant I thought he was lost but he just smiled and held out his hand, which I eagerly took.
"I'm sorry for just then," I said. "I get really excited when I start talking about those sorts of things." Remus didn't say anything and I felt obliged to continue. "It's just – the whole You-Know-Who issue is sort of personal."
"You shouldn't feel like less of a person because you're muggleborn," he said quietly. "You're still a wonderful person." He paused. "Even if you were a muggle or a centaur or a vampire, you'd still be a wonderful person."
I pulled a face. "Not a vampire," I said. "They attack regular people!"
Remus smiled knowingly. "There is such a thing as reverse-discrimination, you know."
"And there is such a thing as inherent evil." I said. Remus sighed, exasperated. "I think we should just agree to disagree."
"Agreed." He said.
After he hid the broomstick behind a clump of shrubbery, Remus walked me back to my common room.
"I had a really good time tonight," I said, looking up into his eyes. It was dark and I couldn't see properly but I knew he was smiling. "I think if I practiced every single night from now until I graduate, I still wouldn't be able to ride your broomstick, though."
"You did fine." Remus smiled, pulling his arms around me. My heart was thumping so hard I wondered if he could feel it; I tilted my head up and wished he would kiss me but he seemed intent on being a gentleman.
"Remus," I said, suddenly pulling back. "I need to tell you something."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm…it's okay if you want to snog me." I said, blushing harder than I ever had in my life. "I'm not a virgin, if you're worried about my v-virtue or something."
Three excruciatingly quiet seconds passed before Remus started laughing.
"Remus I'm serious!" I wailed frantically, shaking his shoulders and hoping he'd stop laughing before a teacher heard us. "Please believe me, and for Merlin's sake be quiet!"
Remus took a few deep breaths to calm himself while I listened anxiously for the sound of approaching footsteps. I may have been beyond any embarrassment I had ever felt before in my life, but I wasn't going to leave the boy alone in that state. Besides, I needed someone to walk me back to the Common Room.
The more time I spent with Remus, the more I realized I didn't really know the real Remus. I had heard stories and legends about the boy who was so clever only Sirius Black could keep up with his constant quipping – a boy who loved words and language, and who could construct a number of witty retorts before you even finished a sentence, but the Remus I knew liked to watch people have fun and, in fact, liked to laugh more than he liked to participate in witty banter, no matter how much I teased him. The trick was finding out what made him laugh.
"What's so funny?" I asked indignantly just as he had stopped shaking from the silent giggles.
Remus smiled down at me warmly. "I don't care if you're a virgin or not," he said, not unkindly. "I like you and nothing's going to change that."
"But why?" I asked, unable to stop myself. "We're not in the same year, or house, or anything. Sometimes I can hardly believe you're talking to me, much less taking me for private midnight flying practice!"
"Well," he grinned. "You needed lessons." I shoved him lightly and he shoved me back. "Besides that, there's loads of things I like about you."
We had finally made it outside the door to the common room and I stood for a moment, waiting to see if he would kiss me. He seemed to sense my disappointment when he didn't.
"But there's also loads of things I don't-" He paused to grin at my reaction, "know about you yet." He pulled me into his arms and whispered into my ear. "And I want to make sure I like you for all the right reasons before I do something you'll regret later." He pulled back just then, and looked into my eyes. "Someone's coming," he said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.
I felt something cold dripping down from my head and spreading through the rest of my body. Remus had cast a disillusionment charm on me! Behind him, Filch was cackling murderously.
"Sneaking out to the kitchens again, eh?" He grabbed Remus roughly by the arm and tugged him along. "Was it worth it, boy?"
Remus turned to look at the spot where I had been standing. "Definitely."