Beyond Rumours | Remus Lupin x Reader

Chapter Two

Y/N MALFOY

Friday, 2nd of September 1977

I woke up the next morning feeling excited for the first day of school, but I knew the feeling would fade quickly. I dressed in my robes and tied my tie before heading to the common room. Regulus was leaning against a wall, and when he saw me, he rolled his eyes.

"You take so bloody long to get ready," he complained. "I've been waiting forever."

I rolled my eyes and smacked him, earning a shove in return. We bickered about how long I took to get ready all the way to the Great Hall. After having breakfast, we went to Professor McGonagall to get our timetables for the year.

"You're clear for Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, and seventh-year Potions," Professor McGonagall told me.

I took the timetable from her with a 'thank you' and waited for Regulus to get his. I'd gotten perfect scores in both my Potions practical and theoretical O.W.L.s exams, so over the summer, I'd taken a test to see if I could be put up to seventh year potions. I passed with flying colours, so now I was taking Potions with the seventh-years.

"Potions is gonna suck without you," Reg said once he'd reached me. "But maybe you'll have Lupin with you."

Regulus gave me an exaggerated wink, and I whacked him in the side. He grinned at me, and we compared timetables. We had free periods at the same times, and we only had two different classes, those being seventh and sixth year Potions, and Regulus was doing Astronomy instead of Herbology. Since we both had a free first period, we went out to the courtyard to soak up some of the September sun.

"Are you going to play Quidditch again this year?" I asked, sitting down and leaning against a tree.

"Probably," Regulus said, sitting beside me. "It's pretty fun. You should try it."

I snorted and shook my head.

"No thanks," I said. "I'd prefer not to play a sport that I might die participating in. You go for it, though."

Regulus laughed, and I felt his shoulders shake with the action.

We enjoyed an hour in peace before we had to head to class. I waved goodbye as Regulus headed to the Potions classroom and I walked to the greenhouse for my first Herbology lesson. I sat with Pandora, who spoke to me about a new spell she wanted to invent.

Once Herbology was over and Professor Sprout had given us our homework, I made my way to the dungeons for my first Potions lesson. Regulus was going to his Astronomy class, so I'd meet up with him for lunch.

I reached the dungeons earlier than most students, and waited at the door for Slughorn to let us all in. I noticed as Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew arrived, and huddled together.

"Isn't that your brother's friend?" Pettigrew asked, just a little too loudly.

"Wormtail, mate, do you know how to keep your voice down?" Black sighed, rolling his eyes. 

He shot me with a withering glare, and I returned it before readjusting the bookbag on my shoulder and looking away. Three girls arrived, and I recognised them as Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, and Mary Macdonald. Evans looked at me and then her friends before whispering something to them. McKinnon rolled her eyes and Macdonald eyed me warily, but they followed Evans when she walked towards me.

"Y/n, right?" Evans asked.

I nodded slowly, confused as to why they were speaking to me.

"I'm Lily," she said, giving me a small smile. "Do you know any seventh-years?"

I hesitated for a moment before I shook my head.

"No, not really," I admitted, still eyeing them warily.

"If you want, you can sit with us," Evans said kindly.

Several thoughts crashed through my mind. Was this some kind of joke? I was a Malfoy – why was Lily Evans, a muggle-born, even talking to me? Hadn't she heard the rumours? Besides, if she hadn't, Gryffindors didn't associate with Slytherins.

But... she really was talking to me. And she had previously had a Slytherin friend. Severus Snape. I'd never really liked him; his hypocritical nature put me off him.

I opened my mouth to say no, afraid of what my family would think, when someone laughed loudly. I looked over Lily's shoulder to see Sirius Black clutching his stomach and leaning on James Potter, who was also dissolving into a laughing fit.

Sirius Black had never been happy when he was with the Blacks. He was always gloomy and distant, and when I thought about it, I'd never actually heard him laugh like that before. Like he didn't care who was listening, like he was... happy. Like he was free.

"I'd like that," I decided, smiling at Lily.

She grinned back, and Slughorn arrived, letting us into the classroom. All of the seventh-year Slytherins took seats on one end of the classroom, the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws on the other side. I glanced at the Slytherins briefly before sitting down beside Lily. I heard whispers from the Slytherins, but ignored them.

"Welcome to the first Potions lesson of the year!" Slughorn boomed joyously. 

He then told the class what he expected from us, and a rough outline of the curriculum. My eyes kept straying from the teacher to Remus Lupin, who was only a few seats away from me. He sat with his chin propped up on his fist, and a few curls were falling over his face. I mentally shook myself and looked back at the teacher.

Once the bell rang, I packed up my things and walked with Lily and her friends to the Great Hall. She'd included me in all of their conversations, and I found it kind of nice to talk to her. She was very kind, and very selfless, and she was very intelligent. We split up in the Great Hall as Lily, Marlene, and Mary went over to the Gryffindor table, and I walked to the Slytherin table. I sat down beside Regulus and proceeded to tell him all about my day.

"You sat with Lily Evans?" he asked once I'd finished.

"Yes," I replied slowly. "What about it?"

"Y/n, you're a Malfoy. You're a pureblood," Reg said. "And Evans is, well... she's a Mudblood."

"Don't call her that, Regulus," I snapped, shocked. "She's a muggle-born."

Regulus sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry, sorry," he muttered. "Mother got to me over the summer." I scowled at the thought of Walburga Black, but Regulus continued talking. "Anyway, my point is, what do you think your parents would think if they knew you were hanging out with a muggle-born?"

"I don't care what they think," I grumbled. "Besides, how would they know? I don't see them peering through the windows."

Regulus rolled his eyes at me.

"You know other Slytherins will tell their parents," Regulus murmured.

"I know," I sighed, frowning.

Regulus looked at me for a moment longer before dropping the subject and telling me about his day. I listened attentively, relieved to focus on something other than my family.

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