A Love Without Time (Remus Lupin)

Fourteen.

We set up a little double date at The Three Broomsticks with Sirius and Marlene. He had agreed to at least go on one date with her to see how it would go. I could tell that Marlene was nervous. I've only seen her nervous once, before our very first Quidditch game third year.
   
Sirius was his usual calm, cool, and collected self. He acted even more casual than usual. I couldn't even tell he was nervous until after the date, when he took me aside and asked, "Do you think she had a good time? I was so nervous I think I blacked out for about a half hour." It made me laugh. I didn't think Sirius got nervous around girls. "Stop laughing!" He demanded.
   
"I'm sorry," I say, trying to control my laughter, "I just didn't think you got nervous around girls, Sirius."
   
"Well, I've been trying to ask Marlene out for a while. I just didn't know how."
   
"Oh Merlin, why didn't you say anything? I would have hooked you up ages ago. She's been pining after you for a while now. Why didn't you say anything?"
   
"I don't know, I never thought that she thought of me like that."
   
"Well, go hang out with her," I urge him on, smiling happily. "She likes you. Go."
   
He smiled and then left to go find Marlene, who was up the street a little bit talking to Remus. I watched as he took her hand and took her from Remus to go off on their own.
   
Remus saw me and came my way. He smiled lightly when he reached me, "What did you say to Sirius?"
   
"Just that he shouldn't be so nervous, that he had nothing to be scared about," I tell him, and shrug lightly.
   
"Well good," he says, smiling still. He takes my hand, and we start walking down the street together. "I think we should go check on James, make sure he's not stalking Lily or something insane."
   
"I think that might be a good idea, yeah," I agreed. We headed for Honeydukes then, to see if we could find James and Peter there. And there he was, with Peter, talking to Lily, who was with Dorcas and Mary. Only she wasn't wearing her usual, annoyed expression on her face. She was laughing at something he had said, looking like she was actually enjoying talking to him for once.
   
"Are you seeing that too, Bunny?" Asked Remus, obviously noticing how odd it was that Lily seemed like she was enjoying talking to James.
   
"I am," I tell him.
   
"Are you as weirded out by it as I am?"
   
"Totally," I admit.
   
We reached them then, and Dorcas addressed our presence. "Hey! How did the double date go?"
   
"Great, Sirius and Marlene went for a walk on their own," Remus says, and James nodded.
   
"Good, good," Said James, who was smirking to himself. The. He quickly turned his attention back to Lily, "So yeah, let me know if you want any flying tips, Evans. I'd be glad to help you out."
   
"Yeah," said Lily, nodding looking up at him, "I'll think about it." She said goodbye to us then, and she, Mary, and Dorcas walked away from us. James turned to Remus.
   
"Did you see that?" He asked, speaking very, very quickly he was so excited. "For once Evans didn't find me disgusting. She actually talked to me. She laughed at my jokes. She seemed to actually enjoy me being around for once."
   
"I know, mate," said Remus, happily. "You think maybe she's been Confunded?" 
   
"Don't be a prick, mate," said James, his excitement fading at Remus's joke. "She actually seemed into me. What do you think, Ellie? Did she seem like she was into me?"
   
"I wouldn't get your hopes up about that just yet, James, but she obviously doesn't find you revolting anymore. Just whatever you're doing, keep it up. Start by being her friend. Don't scare her away before she's come around to liking you."
   
James nods quickly, "Yeah, I probably should tread lightly, shouldn't I?"
   
"See," I say, patting his shoulder, "You get it."
   
That night, Lily sat by me at dinner, and James was directly across from me. Next to Sirius, Marlene on the other side of him. Peter was next to Remus. Both Sirius and Marlene looked very happy, which I assumed was an account of their date going well, even if Sirius had blacked out for a half hour out of nerves.
   
Sirius always sits with his back to the Slytherin table, he doesn't want to catch a glimpse of Regulus. What he doesn't know though, is that Regulus has also been sitting with his back to our table, so he doesn't see Sirius. He sits with Avery and Snape, two future Death Eaters. Regulus will be another future Death Eater if his parents have anything to say about it. He doesn't even want to hear his little brother's name, so we don't talk about him.
   
The Quidditch World Cup was going to be held in England this year, for the first time in forever. James said he was going to find out how many tickets his dad could get. That would be very exciting if he could get us all tickets, but he wasn't promising anything. Fleamont Potter has a crazy amount of pull at the Ministry of Magic since he donates there a lot. He's not the only Pureblood Wizard that does that. They pretty much all do.
   
All of us sixth year Gryffindors have become pretty good friends since Remus and I began dating. We were friends before, but the boys were so inseparable that they always chose to hang out just the four of them rather than let us girls join too. That's changed now. With Remus and I dating, Sirius and Marlene going on dates, and with the way Lily keeps looking at James, our friend group will be dating each other very soon.
   
A few days after the trip to Hogsmeade, Lily came into the Common Room looking very upset. So I asked her what was wrong, and she instantly started crying into her hands. So I hugged her tight and let her cry. James noticed this and he was at my side in a second, and I handed her off to him. She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his chest, he patted her head and told her it was okay.
   
He looked at me and asked, "What happened?"
   
I shrugged, "I don't know."
   
"It's nothing," said Lily as she wiped her eyes dry.
   
"Doesn't seem like nothing," said James.
   
She sniffled and stepped back from James, "Well, I'll be okay. I guess I just had to get that out."
   
"We're here if you need to talk," James tells her as he placed both of his hands onto her shoulders to look right into her green eyes. She nodded at him before wiping her eyes and heading up the stairs to the girl's dorms. 
   
"You should go find out what is going on with her."
   
"What?" I ask, slightly confused.
   
"Well I can't do it," he says, like it was a stupid thing to say. "I can't go in the girl's dorms. You go find out what she's so upset about."
   
It suddenly hit me what he was saying. Without another word I made my way up to our dorm. Lily was crying again, sitting on her bed. I sat next to her and I had my arm around her waist. She laid her head onto my shoulder.
   
"I didn't want to tell James, because I didn't want to anger him," she says through her tears, "but Severus was making fun of me for hanging out with him. He said that he wasn’t surprised at it, that we deserved each other. I know he meant it as an insult."
   
"He's just jealous," I tell her, keeping my voice as calm as I could make it.
   
"I know he is, but it's still hard. He used to be my best friend, and now he hates me. And I think I might be starting to like James. I didn't need Severus being an arse on top of me trying to figure out my feelings."
   
"I know it must be very hard," I say, rubbing her back with my hand. "You did the right thing not telling James. He would have hunted down Severus and blackened his eye if you told him. We'll just tell him that you got into a row with your sister. He'll believe that."
   
She nodded, wiping her eyes. I gave her one more hug, and I stood up and grabbed my robes that I had taken off earlier. I grabbed my scarf and I took off. I zoomed down the stairs and I wrapped my scarf around my neck as I heard James ask where I was going. I ignored him and I kept going.
   
I heard footsteps behind me as I made my way down the stairs. "Where are you going, Bunny?" I heard Remus ask.
   
"To talk to Severus Snape," I hissed through my teeth, anger coursing through my entire body.
   
"What did he say to Lily?" I heard James ask. I stopped and turned around.
   
I turned around and saw both of them on the staircase. "Never mind that. You guys go back to the Common Room and wait for Lily. I'll handle Snape."
   
"I'm not letting you talk to him alone, darling," said Remus.
   
"Fine. James, you go wait for Lily. Be there for her, and maybe she'll tell you herself what happened. She's going to need you there for her right now."
   
"Fine," said James and he took off back up the stairs heading to the Common Room. Remus and I started down the stairs again. I told him what happened on our walk to the Quidditch Pitch. I knew the Slytherin’s had practice today. The Slytherin Captain wasn't very excited to see two Gryffindors walking onto the Pitch as they were practicing.
   
I shot a nonverbal spell at Snape that made him fall off his broom but then I caught him midair with another spell, and brought him down safely and set him down in front of me. "You owe Lily an apology."
   
"Why would I apologize to that Mudblood?" He hissed, speaking through his teeth.
   
I stepped forward, putting my wand on his neck, "You better watch that half-Blood tongue of yours. You're no Pureblood. You've got Muggle blood just like she does. You should be lucky that I made James wait in the Common Room, he wanted to come down here himself. You do Lily a favor, keep your bloody opinions to yourself. You leave her alone. She has made her choice and she doesn't want you. She never did. Time to grow up and get over it, you slimeball."
   
I shot a spell at him and threw him onto his back. He looked up at me stunned. "Now you tell me you're going to leave her alone. It's not your choice if she decides she likes James. You hear me? Now tell me you're going to leave her alone."
   
He sounded scared and desperate as he spoke, "Fine, alright, alright, I will leave her alone I promise."
   
"You better if you know what is good for you." I threaten him and turn my back and start walking off the Pitch. I saw Regulus Black on his broom, hovering above as we walked off. He flew over to Severus and helped him up off of the ground.
   
Remus put an arm around my shoulders, and  he smiled, looking proud, and he said, "That was probably the sexiest thing I have ever seen. You are absolutely amazing." And he kissed the top of my head.

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Here's part 14!

I love Remus at the end there. Gotta love a supportive boyfriend.

He's like, "Yeah babe, you tell him!"

I love it so much.

-Emily Winchester.