Go for it all

They went up to the cape along a narrower path, they did so in pairs. They left Valerie and Sirius behind, very lovey-dovey. Cecile and Hippolyta, bonded, were ahead of Sev and Remus, also bonded.

"I'm going to bring up the topic now to get it out of both of our minds, in case we don't have the chance to talk about it in the next few days," Lupin told him.

"Speak, Remus, speak, it makes me very uncomfortable," said Sev.

"Don't worry, I'll say it all. Cecile really likes you since she met you, even before meeting you you had conquered her, with those flowers you gave her."

"Oh…"

"And then everything that she has experienced with you in person and what Lily has told her, that very few things she has kept silent about," the Gryff continued.

"Sure…"

"So you know that she doesn't do it, that we don't do it, just for you. I am the only boy with whom she has had experiences apart from kisses and that bastard who almost raped her, and she, although she believes she is monogamous and is very clear at the moment that she wants to spend her entire life with me, also wants to experiment. and try new things, know what it's like to do it with another person, also to learn more about herself and be able to teach me, because I'm not very skilled."

"Sure… But in that case I'm afraid she'll fall in love with me, Remus," the Sly objected.

"Sev, she is already in love with you, she loves you with all her soul, otherwise she wouldn't do it with you. Cecile doesn't do it if she doesn't love."

"Of course… So she is not monogamous."

"Maybe not, she thinks she is. Let's see what happens when she does it with you if you come do it, of course, because she, of course, is not going to force you to do anything, nor is she going to be demanding nor are you going to have to reciprocate to the same extent as what she gives you. She's like that with me, she knows that boys, especially at our age, are more active than them."

"Sure…"

"Cecile knows a lot about the subject," Lupin continued. "She has an older sister and she has always had a lot of confidence in her and her friends, they have told her everything they know and she is a person who knows how to learn from other people's experiences. And most importantly, and let it be clear to you, she is an exceptional companion in difficult times. With me she has learned a lot, a lot, to console and comfort. She is the best tear cloth to recover from what just happened to you with Lily."

"Sure…"

"So don't cut a hair. She will be at your entire disposal whenever you need her, whether to chat, cry, sleep together or everything else, and everything else is very comforting. It heals me like this from every crisis. The next night we do it and I am like new."

"Oh…"

"And she is going to feel very satisfied and proud to be able to help you in that way," Remus continued. "You are going to raise her self-esteem a lot, a lot, which is not that she has it low, far from it, but it is very difficult be at your level, Sev. All of us, by your side, feel in some way little."

"Well, I don't like that at all. If you seemed like little to me, I wouldn't pay any attention to you. I also find what you are doing admirable."

"But you are the only one who has gone through the crucible without burning, Sev."

"You have also been through the crucible, Remus."

"I do not, Sev. I, despite what happened to me as a child, have grown up in an exemplary family, my parents love me very much, both of them, and have raised me very well. And later I was lucky enough that the old man admitted me to Hogwarts and provided all the necessary means so that I could spend my crises here. The Whomping Willow was planted, the passage dug, and the Shrieking Shack built for me to undergo my transformations."

"Wow, Remus, you've never told me that…"

"No, but it is the right time. Then I was very lucky to find such exceptional friends as Sirius and James, who accepted me as I was since I was eleven years old. Despite my serious problem, I had a lot, a lot of help and a lot of luck."

"True."

"And instead of thanking life for what it was giving me, what did I do?" the Gryff wondered. "Devoting myself to harassing you with others, for almost four years, even leaving aside my studies to make the Map to do so."

"But then, as a rebound, it saved my life."

"But what you said, as a rebound, it was not created for that. So yes, I could have overcome my problem and become an exceptional person on my own, and I didn't become good until I found myself on the ropes, until I was about to kill you, I burned in the crucible. And yet, I continued to be lucky, again thanks to you, because Cecile fell in love with me when she found out that I was protecting you from the others, on that Express trip that you couldn't take at Christmas because of your father."

"True," Sev confirmed.

"So take it as one more grain of sand that we contribute to the great work we are doing, Sev, together. You have been the glue and look at everything we are achieving. It's been a long time since we've all moved beyond this nonsense of jealousy and insecurity, because we know that even if our partners change their feelings towards us or we lost them for any other reason, we're not going to be left alone. Even if you and Cecile worked out and she decided to leave me for you, I wouldn't care at all, and even less for you. Now I know that I would find love in any other good person, because you have given me the self-confidence and self-esteem necessary to move forward and not give in to those vicissitudes of life."

"How I admire you, Remus."

"Learning from you again. How well you are taking what Lily has done to you."

"Not at all, Remus, that is precisely why I admire you. I seem fine but I'm just pretending. It's all a facade, inside I'm destroyed."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, Sev… You have to get rid of the attachment you have with her. Even if you were still together it wouldn't be healthy, you can't depend on someone like that."

"It was you who stressed to me the seven years I had spent feeling what I feel for her, Remus, it is not something I am going to get over in two days."

"Certainly not, you are right. We will try to help you together, so that you feel supported and do not need her. I am of the opinion that she should not have come today. Know that we have not waited for her to come with us, not even Alice and Frank, she has come on her own, we are all very warm with her. And I'm telling you something, I think she's here to try to start something with Jack."

"Booff… don't tell me that, Remus, what I was missing."

"That's why I tell you that you have to disengage, Sev."

"Sure."

"I'm going to tell you something else in an attempt to open your eyes about Lily, because I get the impression that you continue to idealize her. Do you think it's okay?"

"Go ahead, Remus."

"I, after what happened with you in the Shrieking Shack, had a very restless time, I slept badly, and that was when I began to relate to her trying to alleviate my guilt."

"Yes I already know that."

"At that time I was already running through the Forest and drinking from springs," explained the werewolf. "My Clairvoyance, which I just discovered was from birth, was enhanced. I had dreams and visions related to you, before she fell in love with you that summer, the season you started thinking about becoming a Death Eater."

"Oh… tell me, tell me…"

"It's going to make you dizzy, huh? I warn you."

"Tell," Sev encouraged him.

"You and Lily would have ended up very badly. You would have had a serious disagreement as a result of a new harassment by James and Sirius in front of numerous students, in which she would have tried to defend you and you would have insulted her, perhaps out of anger at seeing yourself humiliated in front of her or perhaps for disassociating yourself from her in front of the other vipers, to protect her."

"Oh…"

"I even know the exact date on which it would have happened, because a similar situation occurred, which confirmed to me that it was a premonition with a solid basis," continued Lupin. "Last Thursday, after the Defense theoretical exam, when we four of us were under the beech tree, you next to the shade of the bushes and Lily on the shore of the Lake with the girls. The situation of my visions also began like this."

"What a story… And indeed, I had a confrontation with Pettigrew."

"That's how it was. After that you would have tried to fix it in private and she would have denied you her forgiveness."

"Booff…"

"Later, she would have formed a couple with James and when you left Hogwarts you would have marked yourself," Remus added.

"How awful…"

"So maybe she saved you from becoming a murderer by falling in love with you, but before that, you had saved her life by trying to give her a kiss, since she would have been James' partner who would have died in the war leaving a son orphan."

"Ugh… how awful…"

"Lily knows, huh? Not in so much detail, just this last thing I told you, Cecile told her yesterday," said the Gryff. "We have been talking about the subject for a long time. Can you imagine the rest of the story?"

"Of course. If Lily had died in the war while I was on the other side, I would have felt responsible for her death, I would have changed sides being already marked."

"Double agent, that would have been your destiny, suffering the rest of your life for her death and in the hands of Voldemort and the old man, who would have taken advantage of your guilt to do with you whatever he wanted."

"How awful… I already told you that it makes me dizzy."

His friend took him by his shoulders. "I told you this in case you had any doubts about whether you owed Lily something. She doesn't deserve you, she never did and she probably never will. You have saved her life even though you didn't intend to, she didn't fall in love with you either trying to save you from being a Death Eater. And if she hadn't, she wouldn't have had any pity for you at all, because her rejection of your friendship and pairing herself with your worst enemy would have irremediably pushed you into the abyss, and yet, you would have continued to love her and given your entire life out of fidelity to her memory. I'm wrong?"

"No, Remus, you're not wrong."

"Are you better?"

"No, Remus, I'm not."

"It didn't sit well with you that I told you."

"I need time to digest it. Knowing that about Lily doesn't comfort me, it makes me feel even more empty because of all the energy, dreams and hopes I have put into her since I was nine years old."

"I understand it, but you had a right to know, Sev, to give you something to think about. You would have given your entire life for her, even though she would have renounced your friendship for just an insult. Even now she has not known how to value you and resist, and it is because you have never failed her, Sev. Maybe she needs to really lose you to realize your worth. May what I have told you help you put things into perspective, take her down from the pedestal you have her on and not sink because of this. You would have given your whole life for her, don't do it now, because now you have many other people to fight for and love, and who fight for you and love you, Sev. Lean on us, get over it as soon as possible and don't fail us, because the lives of none of us here, of Hogwarts, of the entire Wizarding World, would be the same without you. We need you, Sev."

"Thank you, Remus, I really feel better now."

"Well, you know, don't get involved with her again, at least not until she has matured more. At the moment you can only expect backstabbing from her."

"I won't, Remus, don't worry, but now something else worries me. If everyone has turned against her, she will be left without a summer escort. If they don't love her anymore, they won't be able to protect her."

"You continue to worry about her life. It's her problem, Sev. Let her work on it, she has a month until she has to go to Diagon for her material and her books, and if she doesn't, we will at least be merciful to her and the rest of us will take them to her home. Alice liked her very, very much. But she appreciated her through you, for having the courage to be by your side, to resist against all odds, and she was not able to do it for two months when you waited for her for more than six years, and you just admitted that you would have continued loving her all your life, even after she died."

"You're right."

"As you said, it's going to be a long process, Sev. Seven years are not forgotten in two days. We will keep a close eye on you and we will tie you both up short, so that you don't get involved again and you don't have to go through the bad times again and again."

"Thank you, Remus."

"Issue settled?"

"Issue settled."

"Also about Cecile?" Lupin asked.

"Of course."

"Don't play too many tricks on her, huh? Otherwise you will surely steal her from me."

They laughed.

"I was kidding, I was kidding," said the Gryff.

"Don't worry, Remus, I don't think Cecile likes the way I am on that regard too much. We snakes are into dirty sex."

"Oh…"

"Of course, with Lily I already cut myself off a lot from how I really am. Only at Easter did I dare to do something to her and she didn't like it at all."

"I understand," said Lupin. "Well, propose things to her before doing them and it's done, maybe you'll make her discover facets of herself, which is precisely what she brings out for herself. If she doesn't like it, respect her and that's it."

"That, of course."

"If you want, I'll tell you what she likes."

"No, Remus, I'd rather she do it or find out for myself. Otherwise, you take away all the fun."

"You are absolutely right, I will only tell you one thing. Cecile is not a beauty, but you will be pleasantly surprised if you see her naked."

"Wow… how you've piqued my curiosity, Remus… Can't you give me a clue?" mischievously.

"No no. Something else I have learned from you, to act mysterious," smiling openly.

"Okay, I won't insist, I like surprises. Now I'm sure I want to see her."

"It was what I intended."

They laughed.

"You are so bad, you have colluded but well," said Sev.

"Something else we have learned from you. The king of strategies."

They had reached the end of the path, which led to a flat space, under which was the cliff formed of rocks.

"Let's pay attention to our girls a little," Sev suggested.

"I still can't bond with Hippolyta."

"Right, then we will talk to them."

They unbonded.

"Hey, girls!" Sev called. "You have abandoned us, sit with us."

The four of them sat together on the ground, the sun was already very close to the sea.

"What a shame there are no clouds, twilight is much better with clouds," Sev opined. "When we came to the cave before the exams, we caught an afternoon with clouds and it was spectacular. And do you know what we did next?"

"What, Sev?" Cecile asked.

"Turn the Time-Turner back very slowly to see the sun rise from the sea, in the west."

"Wow... amazing…"

"If there were fewer of us we would do it today too," he said.

"Whose idea was it?"

"Mine."

"Well, what a stupid question, whose was it going to be?" she wondered.

"Prince," Hippolyta said. "Will you hug me like you do from behind? It's going to be a fantastic sunset on the sea with a hug."

"Sure, honey, whatever you want," Sev agreed. "Sit between my legs."

She did and he hugged her from behind.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked him.

"Yes, honey, you can lean on me if you want."

She leaned on his shoulder so as not to block his vision.

"We also have to travel somewhere where the sea is to the east, to see the sunrise," the girl suggested.

"Of course we will. We have the advantage of living on an island, there is sea in all directions."

"It's true, I look stupid."

"No, my love, what happens is that you never went to Muggle school and you didn't learn Geography," he reassured her. "We both have a lot left to learn about those things. Have you gotten very tired going up the cliff?"

"A little, Prince."

"If you're tired when you get back home, I'll take you along."

"No, it's very far and you'll get very tired."

"Hippolyta, you know very well that I am strong. Also, if I get tired I sleep better, I don't mind getting tired at all."

"Let's be quiet for a little while, it's about to set."

"Okay."

They remained silent admiring how the setting sun was setting in the sea. Everyone else was also silent, if they chatted, they did so bonded. When the last ray of sun disappeared, everyone applauded.

Sirius said, "What a pity that there is no planet in the sky, otherwise we would stay to see it appear."

"Do you know the time at which each planet rises, Sirius?" Sev asked him, very surprised.

"Of course, I consult the ephemeris every week."

"Wooow… yours is passion," admired.

"You know, his main characteristic," said Valerie.

"Then, if there is nothing else to see, it is better that we return to the beach now," said Deborah. "We have to Bond and light the bonfires."

"Do we not fit here to Bond?" Sev asked.

"A little fair, there are sixteen of us to make the circle, we could fall off the cliff below."

"We can try, here it is much cooler than on the beach."

"Okay, let's try," she agreed. "Let's all form a circle as close to each other as possible."

They did so, Sev flanked by Sirius and Hippolyta, who held hands behind his back. He told them, "Interlace your fingers."

Next to Hippolyta, Cecile, and next to Sirius, Valerie, holding hands with Sev.

"We fit," said Sev. "Now we just need to teach the spell to Sirius."

"I've already taken care of teaching him on the way," said Valerie. "He already knows it without music, let's sing it until he gets it."

"Separate then," said Deborah.

They stopped holding hands. Valerie gave the entry and they sang it repeatedly, without stopping. Between the fifth and sixth, Sirius interrupted, "It's done, I have it."

"Very well, hold hands again and also put your heads together," Deborah led. "We have to sing it sixteen times because there are sixteen of us. Go count them."

They arranged themselves like this.

"Are we there?"

"Yeah!" everyone exclaimed.

"Valerie, enter."

"One, two three, and…"

They sang sixteen times.

The same feeling as when we were fourteen, Sev thought. Lily does not interfere, because among so many, just one that goes astray does not matter. As I said, we must be many to be strong.

As soon as they finished, Sirius spoke, "Wooow… what an indescribable feeling, my Patronus has just changed."

"Hippolyta, Sirius and everyone, try to penetrate the thoughts of everyone else, that's how the Bond becomes effective," Deborah said. She waited half a minute to speak again. "I have you both. Let's talk bonded, from Prince to the left. Wait a few seconds between each other in case there is someone you can't hear."

They did it, a whole round. When they were done with Sirius again Deborah asked, "Someone who hasn't listened to someone? Again a round, from Prince to the left, this time out loud."

Only Sev, Jack, Anthony and Ariel had heard Lily, and she had only heard the four of them.

"Lily," Deborah said. "I'm sorry to tell you in front of fourteen other people, but at this precise moment, less than forty hours from leaving Hogwarts, you are without a summer escort. Only Jack could protect you and he wouldn't be able to make the shield himself, without your collaboration."

Lily didn't answer.

"Let's go down to the beach, it's very exposed here and it's starting to get cooler, we have to light the bonfires," Deborah led.

They set off, Sev unbonding from everyone except Sirius. "Sirius," he called. "I want to chat with you in private for a while. Unbond from everyone else, please."

A few seconds later, Sirius said, "I think it is ready."

"If you are not sure, wait a little until you don't listen to anyone else. It's top secret."

"Alright."

They waited about twenty seconds.

"I haven't heard anyone," said Sirius.

"Very well, I'm sorry I separated you from Valerie, but it's to talk to you about something as soon as possible and then you're free to do whatever you want. These are three great joys that I am going to give you. Test your Patronus first, to see if it is true that your corporeal has changed, because with what I am going to tell you I think that it is going to change again."

Sirius did it, conjured the giant dog. "It has changed, it has changed. Come on, Sev, don't keep me on tenterhooks, don't act mysterious."

"Mystery is my main characteristic. I'm going there. You have two other cousins, the slut's sisters. True?"

"Yes, Andromeda and Narcissa."

"I have news about both of them and the husband of one of them," the Sly announced.

"Malfoy?"

"Spot on. Who do you want me to start with?"

"With Andromeda," Black responded.

"It's going to be starting the house on the roof, but it doesn't matter, here I go. You have a three-year-old niece named Nimphadora, metamorphmagus."

"Wow…!" out loud.

"Sirius, bonded," Sev warned very calmly.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Try your Patronus again."

Sirius did it. "It has changed, it has changed."

"Wonderful. Who do I follow?"

"With Narcissa."

"We continue with the house on the roof, but here I go," said Sev. "Narcissa is no longer malefic."

"And so?" surprised.

"I start with the foundations. We've had a spy on the other side since Christmas."

"Malfoy?" the Gryff was even more surprised.

"Spot on, Sirius."

"I can't believe it."

"Believe it. He's been protecting me from your slutty cousin ever since. He and Narcissa learned Legilimency and Occlumency alone, with books and a Pensieve, so that Bellatrix wouldn't catch them because they changed sides because of me."

"What are you saying?" very amazed.

"What you are hearing, Sirius, I will tell you from the beginning in detail. Don't ask me anything until I finish." Sev told him everything in the greatest detail, from the letter received at Christmas, through the meetings then and Easter, the letter received by Avery, the one on May 15th that he returned, the torture to which Lucius was subjected, his readings during it, the subsequent actions at the Ministry to protect him, Lucius and Narcissa's last impressions about Sev himself and about what had happened at Hogwarts and how the latter had resumed her relationship with her sister Andromeda.

Sirius was filled with joy and amazement. Meanwhile, they had arrived back at the beach, the others had set up the bonfires and lit them and they had taken off their shoes to walk up and down the shore on the sand, letting their feet get wet by the small waves.

"Do your Patronus again, Sirius," Sev asked him.

He did it. "It has changed again."

"Three times in less than half an hour. As good as falling in love. Comments and questions."

"You have left out some of the information, how did you find out all that, because it doesn't even occur to me that you correspond with him, the mail is dangerous," Black deduced.

"Then guess it yourself."

"Parkinson's parents."

"Spot on, Sirius, Lauren's parents. The spy is not yet a spy, she is a liaison."

"Oh…"

"I'll tell you part of what I've left out, Lauren's story. Please know that I have had her permission to tell you everything, she has trusted you without knowing you personally. Only Lily, Jack and I know this story. I'm going there. Again, don't interrupt me, otherwise we will never finish." Sev told him the story of Lauren's family, who had been in love with him since their first year, how she had been controlling all the malefics at school for a year and a half, how she had taught him Mental Arts, and how he had fallen in love with her in turn, how they had planned all the strategies together, but nothing about the Horcruxes; how her parents had contacted Lucius to help him when they discovered that he was in trouble and how she had protected Sev when the camouflaged malefics were in the Library waiting for him to ambush him. "What do you think?" he asked him when he finished.

"Too implausible to be a lie," Sirius responded.

"That's what I thought when she contacted me in January."

"She is a true heroine, I have also fallen in love with her."

"Well, like me, we'll wait for her until September," said Sev. "Lie, because I'm going to see her tomorrow, right here, to say goodbye to her. The idea of creating this space and traveling the Way of the Stars when the war was over was hers."

"She should be here."

"I need to explain to you why she can't be there."

"Tell, tell, I won't interrupt you," Black encouraged.

Night had already fallen, there was barely any light left in the sky.

Sev told him about the plans Lauren had made, first the one she would have carried out if she read in Sev that he wanted to become a Death Eater, and then the one she had in place to be instructed by Sev, contact Lucius and instruct him in turn, and when she graduates, let herself be marked. He concluded, "This last plan, the one she is going to carry out, is only suspected by two other people, Deborah and Hippolyta, but only you and I know it in detail."

"She is the real brain and the real leader," Black deduced.

"The strategy designer, as she likes to say."

"Wow, Sev… I can't wait until September to meet her."

"You have to hold on, Sirius. Also, keep something in mind, you may have already realized, from everything I have told you, that she lives for me, who knows why. If you love her you will have to earn her, live up to her."

"Have you already forgotten your doubts about her?"

"Yes, they have already passed me by."

"Then I won't interfere," said the Gryff.

"Don't do it for me. For the moment, I'm going to wait for Hippolyta, because for Lauren I wouldn't be her first, you know what I mean, and for Hippolyta I would be. So you can give her what I still can't. Pact."

"Okay, pact. Are you going to have some kind of contact on holidays?"

"Yes, by encrypted mail, like she communicates with her parents," answered Sev.

"Oh…"

"She is making it herself."

"Ask her if I can also communicate with her, through you, even if it's just to give her my support," Black asked. "She's going to feel alone in the summer."

"I will, Sirius. But she is not going to feel alone, no more than she feels here, she has her family."

"You ruined my night with Valerie, now it's going to be little for me."

"It is what it is, Sirius. Forget what I have told you and do what she has recommended, enjoy the moment. Doing it bonded is amazing, you can keep your mouth busy and chat at the same time."

"It's true…" excited.

"Valerie is worth it, huh?"

"Yes, she is worth it. Give me advice, Sev, what do Slys like?"

"Dirty sex."

"Wooow… the ideas that I have never put into practice yet."

"I knew it, because one of the characteristics of your Celtic horoscope is aggression, but also tenderness," Sev explained. "That's what drives them crazy, the contrast of both things."

"Great," very satisfied.

"Go for it all, Sirius."