swim || remus lupin

she will be loved

"Are you excited to go home?"

The question came one chilly December afternoon from Peter. I was sitting on the floor of the boys' dorm room playing exploding snap with Peter, James, and Sirius. Remus's head was in my lap, a book concealing his face.

"I'm not going home," I said offhandedly, placing down a card and then moving my hand back to playing with Remus's hair.

"What do you mean you're not going home?" James asked.

"My grandparents practically disowned me when I came here," I shrugged. "So I signed up to stay."

I was a bit upset about this fact at first, when the signup sheet began to circle. But since then I had come to terms with it. The castle was beautiful, and staying within it's magical walls in a literal winter wonderland was likely far better than returning to Pennsylvania with its lurking shadows and hurtful prejudices.

"Well go get it fixed," stated James, his card bursting into flames. I shielded Remus's face but he seemed unphased.

"Fixed?"

"Yeah," he answered. "You're coming to my house."

"Oh, James, you don't have to-"

"You're not going to get out of it," said Sirius.

"Besides, everyone goes to the Potter's," Remus added, turning his page. I was almost surprised that he was listening.

"And Marlene and I live right next door!"

"Are you sure?" I asked. James blinked.

"When is she going to stop asking stupid questions like that?" He said to Sirius.

"No idea," Sirius replied, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Squid," James stated, turning back to me. "While I may despise you, I am far too kind and generous to leave you here alone in the cold."

"Gee, thanks, James," I said dryly.

"I'll send an owl to Mum later to let her know," he said with a cheeky smile.

"I didn't know that your grandparents did that," Remus said quietly.

It was later that night, and he and I were on a walk outside. Though I normally hated the winter, tonight's weather was one of the few exceptions. It was that prickly sort of cold, the sort which required pom pom hats and fluffy coats. Snow fell prettily and peacefully around us, sticking to the ground piece by piece to coat it a pure white which contrasted beautifully with the blue hues of the night.

Remus and I strolled, gloved hand in gloved hand, with no real destination in mind.

"I didn't want you to feel bad," I replied. He scoffed.

"Will you stop with that," he said. "You should've told me."

"Sorry."

"Don't be," he said quickly. "Anyways, I only meant that I would have invited you to mine."

"Meet the parents already?" He laughed.

"Too scary?" I shrugged.

"You said that everyone goes to James's," I said. "Does that include you?"

"For the second week, yeah," he replied.

"So what if I split it like you do?" I suggested. "Like, one week with you and one at the Potter's."

He smiled a little.

"Yeah, alright."

"Yeah?" I smiled too.

He was so cute when he smiled like that. He had little lines by his mouth and his eyes would crinkle the slightest bit. Such a softie.

We stopped walking by the castle doors and he turned to face me. The snowflakes sprinkled his brown hair and his nose was slightly pink from the cold. He lifted one of his gloved hands to hold my face, stroking my cheek slightly with his thumb.

"If you meet my parents," he said, tilting his head. His eyes were sparkling. "I suppose I'll have to properly introduce you."

"Yeah, I suppose you will," my smile grew.

"So then, I suppose I'll say: 'Hi, Mum and Dad, this is Sydney, my girlfriend.' Yeah?"

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

"Yeah, that would work."

He smiled a genuine and loving smile, his eyes pulling me in. He leaned down, his hand still on my cheek, and our lips met. The snow fell around us, landing in my hair and melting on my face. A slight and sharp breeze blew about, but I barely noticed - too warm from the kiss.

God he was such a perfect kisser.

_______

A/N

okay like big step here but low-key bad delivery bc i'm writing this between games LOL so sorry but it still came out kinda cute i think??

i have to catch up on hella work today so hopefully i'll be good to keep writing but by this weekend i should have a better schedule set up

song: she will be loved - maroon 5

how i think it applies: it mostly fits in with the walk in the snow, although i think james inviting her over is represented in the way that the boys always look after syd and make sure she's loved. i picked it a lot to align with how remus feels about protecting syd through all of her pain, but i also just love how the chorus sounds playing over the kiss scene with snow falling in the background 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3uIilURPYXouyAzxQuBr4L?si=tLfGI5MFSeSY_Y0yLWDPlA