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The sun began to fade behind the trees, leaving Remus's room increasingly grey as cool air filtered through the vents.
Remus wanted to use magic to make it warmer, but his mum didn't like much magic in the house. She said that it was best to not become reliant when there are things you could do yourself. It would make Remus more well-rounded, she thought.
Remus just thought it was cold.
Sydney, who had grown up without magic anyhow, was uncomplaining on the matter. She simply shouldered on a big grey jumper that said 'Wales 1910' across the front and covered herself with the clothes as she pulled them from her trunk.
Remus was flipping through a book he had taken from Sydney's room back at Hogwarts. It was filled with frozen photos of her as a child. There were a number of gaps, blank pages with photos missing, so all that was left were pictures of Sydney by herself.
But Remus didn't mind.
He held up a picture of her at what he assumed to be somewhere around age eight. She was standing on some sort of pitch with a white athletics uniform that had text the same royal blue color as the socks that went up to her knees.
In the picture, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, like she wore it for quidditch, except it was much shorter in the photo and the wisps of hair that fell out were much frizzier. And she was smiling such a big smile with so many teeth missing that Remus wished the picture had been moving.
"What's this from?" He asked, spinning the book around so she could see. Sydney looked up from the trousers she was folding and laughed.
"When I used to play soccer," she said. "That picture is terrible."
Remus spun the book back and let it fall to his lap. "It's not," he insisted, almost offended that she thought so. Sydney shook her head and went back to her folding.
"It's at least not as bad as when my Granddad made me try boxing," she said. Remus released a surprised breath and Sydney looked up, smiling again. "It's in there somewhere," she said.
Remus instantly began flipping through the pages in search of the picture. He found it towards the back. Sydney was standing in a dark gymnasium, and she had on a black tank top and black shorts, and she was holding her fists, covered in huge red boxing gloves, to the camera.
Even if Remus was younger and didn't know Sydney, he wouldn't have been nervous at all stepping into a ring with her. Her arms and legs looked like sticks and she was still smiling bigger than the gloves on her hands.
"Oh, wow," Remus said. "Look at you, so strong!" He was lying, of course, and Sydney laughed and threw a shirt at him.
"I beat all of my friends," she said. "One of them, Nellie, said I should try to go pro. It was a joke for years."
