The story thus far: After being advised not to make close friends at school, Remus and his dorm mates get off to a rocky start. Remus makes a friend in Lily, and they are united in their dislike of James and Sirius. Or so they insist…
Warnings: Slash, eventual RLSB
Disclaimers: Don't own it.
Notes: Thanks to Oony and all my helpful reviewers. Help is good!
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The Worst Year Yet
By Rekahneko
Chapter 6 – Fourth Year – Merlin, the Giant Squid, and a Vampire at a bar
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"But James, we've already tried this a few times before, and it was terribly boring, remember?"
"Yes but today is different. I can just tell! This time we'll find out all sorts of things."
"We found out all sorts of things last time too. Like the fact that Lily and Remus really enjoy talking about boring topics. Who discusses politics and literature at our age? Honestly."
"Oh come on Sirius, it isn't like you have anything better to do."
"Fine, whatever. I can't believe I let you talk me into stuff like this."
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Remus and Lily were in their usual study alcove, a nice little area with just enough room for a large table and a few chairs. It was fairly close to the Gryffindor tower but in such an out of the way place that no one ever bothered them with noise or distractions. The table was their favorite place to get some serious studying done.
"Lily, can you pass me the book on top of that pile over there? I swear this Potions project is the most frustrating thing, ever."
"But Potions is so easy Remus! I just can't figure out what you like so much about Defense."
"At least we can rely on each other. Which reminds me…" Remus rifled through his bag for a moment. "I finally finished the map project we were messing around with last week. It turned out really well."
Lily Evans beamed over at her friend. "Finally! It was an interesting idea; I'm glad you talked me into helping with it. Let's see it then."
Remus placed a blank parchment on the desk between them and muttered, "Map Project" while tapping his wand. Suddenly, the paper had diagrams and writing on it.
"See Lily, this is us here, and this part is where… err… Hey!"
His finger paused as he was about to point to the part of the map which showed the hallway connecting their study area and the rest of the school. His eyes lifted to reassure himself that in fact the area around them was empty and, in fact, there was no one around. Which was quite strange as the map showed two dots at the desk, labeled 'Lupin, Remus' and 'Evans, Lily' but also about ten meters away, two other dots showed 'Potter, James' and 'Black, Sirius.'
"Remus, are you sure it works?" Lily had also looked at the map, looked around her, and then turned to her friend with wide eyes. "Because if it does…"
Coughing over her words, Remus interrupted her in a strangely stilted voice. "Lily, did I ever show you that new spell I was talking about yesterday?"
Lily just stared at him blankly.
"Yes, well. Very interesting spell. I will demonstrate." Remus looked carefully at the map, aimed his wand, and shot off a spell he had recently learned.
There was a faint sound which may or may not have been a stifled exclamation.
Lily raised her eyebrows and smiled widely. "What spell was that Remus? And can you teach me? It is so nice to have such an empty area to practice spells in, don't you think?"
Remus grinned mischievously for the first time in a long while. "Black and Potter hit me with it a few days ago. It turns the skin on your face bright colors. Takes ages to wear off. Of course, I now know the counter-curse if you are ever interested, but let's practice the spell itself."
As Lily took aim toward the empty space, she noticed that two dots on her map seemed to be moving away from her and down the hallway. She quickly tried out her new spell.
"Not quite, move your wand more like this." Remus 'practiced' his spell again, hoping he hit the second of the two boys this time. "You're right, the hallway is a perfect place to attempt new spells."
"Absolutely!" She replied enthusiastically, trying out the new spell a few more times and finally getting one properly off toward the end of the corridor.
Lily held her laugh as the dots sped up toward the end of the hallway and watched the parchment in front of her for a moment longer.
"It looks like they are off the map now and out of earshot. What complete and utter idiots." She laughed and then mused for a moment. "I wonder how they hid from us though. It was too strong for a Notice-Me-Not charm, but full invisibility spells are very difficult to master."
"I hope I hit them. And it was probably a magical object of some sort. Both of their families are rich enough to afford things like that. Who knew messing around with mapping spells would come in so handy! Of course, it only shows this one area but still…" Remus shook his head in both amusement and amazement.
"I never would have guessed those two would be hidden right there. Kind of creepy if you ask me. Do you think they have done this before?" The red head gave a shudder but couldn't contain her grin at the memory of being able to hex her two least favorite people and all without the possibility of getting into trouble for it.
"It might be less stalker worthy if it had been someone else instead."
Lily nodded her agreement. "What a tragedy such good looking guys have to be so completely annoying and bratty."
"You think they're good looking?" asked Remus incredulously.
"Well, I mean, relatively." Lily blushed. "And anyhow, I could have sworn you were staring at Black the other day in Charms." she added quickly in defense.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Lily. It's always a good idea to keep an eye on those two, you never know what they will be up to next."
"Riiight." Lily looked as if she didn't quite believe her werewolf friend. "Anyhow, why don't we work on that Notice-Me-Not charm. I really think it would be useful to help avoid Potter and Black when they are on the prowl with one of their pranks."
"Thanks by the way! You are amazing at research, Lily. This new charm looks to be wonderful and I can't tell you how much the revealing charm helped last week. I knew they had a potion but I didn't know where or when they were going to use it. It turns out they put something in my cocoa during Tuesday's lunch. I still have no idea how they got it in there."
"They're smarter than they look, eh?"
"So speaks the woman who thinks they look great." Remus grinned.
"Hey! I thought we were going to work on the spell, not make fun of me." Lily rolled her eyes. "And let's keep the map around in the future while we are studying, okay? Just in case."
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Journal Entry, May, Fourth Year
Hello journal of mine. I have more to whine about. Yup, it is about Sirius Black again. Only this time it isn't a prank I am annoyed with. Last week, the two of us were assigned as partners on a project for Transfiguration. I knew it was going to be bad because, well, it is Black and what else can you expect? But thankfully (I think) he needed a good grade so he actually consented to doing some honest to goodness work with me.
It is funny because I nearly offered to complete the whole project for both of us in return for him laying off the pranks and leaving me alone for a while. I decided that I didn't trust him enough to keep his word and for some reason, I was actually worried that he would laugh at me for offering. Plus, I am sure it would have just encouraged him since he would realize how much his behavior bothers me. So I ended up in the library with Black and I am still not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
We met in the library and I was completely on my guard, just waiting for him to do something to make my life more difficult. Well, it turns out, though he has absolutely no attention span, he is disturbingly bright. In fact, when he wasn't making fun of me for being so bookish, and when he wasn't pretending to hit on me (like I am going to fall for that trick), Black was almost pleasant. Imagine my shock!
And why should this all be something to whine about? I mean here is my arch nemesis being not only civil but agreeable and even, dare I say it, amusing. Well, it was refreshing for the first few days we had to meet but that last evening when we were just finishing everything up, he said something funny (now I can't even remember what it was), and I smiled and looked up at him. In fact, I might have even chuckled a bit but I will never admit to it out loud. He was sporting that obnoxious grin he has that is so annoying. But when I looked at him, all of a sudden it wasn't annoying any longer. In fact, it made him look quite handsome. Now you see my problem.
I am having such a difficult time now ignoring his rather more than average appearance. It never bothered me before because he was so aggravating. I just looked past the fact that he is quite stunning. At this point, I am almost thankful when he makes me angry because it becomes easier to dismiss my stupid attraction to the guy.
Hopefully it is one of those short term mental illnesses that will disappear as quickly as it appeared. I hate being a teenager. At any rate, it is almost summertime and I won't have to see him for months; I am sure that will help if nothing else.
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"It was great! We talked and joked and everything."
"Mm hmm," replied James, paying absolutely no attention whatsoever.
"He even laughed at one of my jokes! You remember? The one about Merlin, the giant squid, and a vampire in a bar? I don't think he has ever laughed at my jokes before. That'll show the stupid greasy git."
"What? Are you still on about that whole Lupin and Snape thing? It was ages ago!"
"The fact that you remember and knew exactly what I was talking about means it wasn't too long ago." Sirius sniffed indignantly, still clearly recalling his secret observation of Remus flirting with Severus.
"The reason I remember was because you remind me all the time. In fact, you bring it up almost every time we prank Snivellus, which is pretty often."
"Well anyhow, I thought it went great in the library. I was on my very best behavior and was as charming as humanly possible. Lupin smiled at me and everything! And wow! That was…" Losing focus for a moment, Sirius pictured the soft smile and sparkling eyes of the golden haired boy gazing at him over the table of the library.
"That's nice, Sirius. Keep walking." James pulled on the sleeve of his slightly lovesick friend.
"But now that we turned the project in, he is back to ignoring me. He should be on his knees begging me to date him!" Sirius looked rather disgruntled.
"Forget about it for the moment, Sirius. We need to finish this potion before it goes bad. If we don't get it just right, the horns on Snape's head won't be very noticeable."
Sirius rolled his eyes but followed his best friend as James headed to their Secret Potions Lab (really just an out of the way storage closet that hadn't been used in a few hundred years, but it sounded better to have a Secret Potions Lab).
As the started walking, Sirius added, "Just so you know, Lupin is back on our list."
James merely laughed, used to such a common occurrence.
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Next Time:
"It isn't my fault! He is just too..." Remus paused, thinking. "Too something. I'm not sure. But whatever it is, he has too much of it to ignore."