CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑦 𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

Things with Marlene would never be the same, and it was that simple.

The friendship she used to have with the six teenagers wouldn't get back to where it was before after what she had done to Sirius, but it could certainly get better from them glaring and ignoring one another in both classes and when they passed in the hallways.

Marlene didn't do everything with the Marauders and Lily as she had once before, but now she at least had that friendship to fall back on instead of only hanging out with Dorcas and occasionally Alice and Frank.

"Evening, Mckinnon," Hollis nodded in acknowledgement and a smile as she and the other Marauders passed the blonde in the hallway.

"Evening," she called back with a small smile at the greeting instead of the sharp look she would have usually received.

"Hey, Rosier," a sixth year Ravenclaw boy called out as he passed the Marauders with a group of his friends. "My little sister wanted you to have this because she said she actually learned something from you last night and she passed her quiz this morning."

"Is your little sister Charlotte?" Hollis asked, turning her head over her shoulder.

"That dramatic one and only," he replied with a grin.

He tossed her the little brown package as he walked away with his friends, who all seemed a bit flustered with a bit of color in their cheeks at their mate's connection to Hollis and how he had talked to the popular Marauder so casually.

Hollis snatched the package out of the air gracefully with one hand while she kept the other intertwined with Remus's fingers.

"I didn't think you were supposed to get paid for tutoring," Sirius said jealously as he grabbed one of the watermelon candies Charlotte had given Hollis in thanks from the small pouch. "No fair."

"I didn't ask her," Hollis teased, popping her favorite candy into her mouth as well. "I'm just that amazing, I guess."

"I really think you could be a professor," Peter told her. "All the kids you tutor literally love you. And you helped that girl at Halloween."

"I just want to make sure they have a good childhood," she replied, smiling a bit.

There was an unspoken and implied a better one than I did.

"Rosier!" another voice shouted, and all five Marauders turned their heads this time. "Will you be back at quidditch soon? We're not going to win a match this year."

"What are you talking about?" Hollis said with a wink that made the girl blush. "Malfoy is the best Keeper I've ever seen."

All four boys and the little pod of girls whose leader had talked to the Rosier laughed at this, and they continued their way down the crowded halls on their separate ways to their common rooms after dinner.

"Little Miss Popular," Remus teased Hollis, poking her in the side before stealing another one of her candies. "And to think James and Sirius get a lot of attention, then here you are."

"I am not Little Miss Popular," she said back with a roll of her brown eyes. "I just-"

"Yes you are," James and Sirius said at the exact same time, the unison making the statement more impactful.

"Okay, fine," Hollis grumbled, giving in dramatically. "But I am changing the fact to the subject that you, Remus Lupin, are becoming very rich all of the sudden."

"Yea, how have you won literally every bet for the quidditch matches?" Sirius asked with genuine curiosity.

"Good motivation, I guess," Remus replied, leaning down to kiss Hollis on the cheek.