For as long as Remus can remember he's had a hard life. Constant monthly mutilations of his skin, a absent father, and the trepidation of his blush inducing crush on Anastasia Fox. Anastasia Fox, who flirts with everyone, has matching fainter scars...
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CHAPTER 16 (part one)
Felix Felicis For James
Saturday March 27th 1976 James Potter's birthday. Remus, James, and Peter all shared March birthdays and, per James's request of wanting to celebrate with the three of them, they held a joint 'threesome' birthday party. James's words, not Remus'.
The party was hazy and drunken past this point. In the early movements of it, limited to the close clique, they played Pin the Tail to the Unicorn, wizarding charades, and a brief game of Snitch Snatcher. By now the lights had dimmed with only orange and green hues from the metal, mosaic guard of the fireplace and the green glass lamps positioned on the various study desks of the Gryffindor common room.
Remus attended the threesome solely for James and the ever sheepishly agreeing Peter. He had spent his birthday, 17 days prior, quietly reading books, giving kind thank you's to whoever had wished him a happy sixteenth, breaking in Hogsmeade for a pint of butterbeer and letting his friend give their respected gifts of books, poems, processed photos from their London day from Ana, an American style military jacket, chocolate, Television Marquee Moon's record. He got owl parcels from both his mother and father, a gift from Euphemia and a joke card from Fleamont and sent letters back to all of them.
Remus spent most of the night listening to music. He had deemed himself the night's DJ and forced everyone to listen to sad songs, or loud coming of age tracks. He talked to Pandora Fontane née Malfoy, the kind Slytherin, after she had told him happy birthday and mentioned how his aura was a bright red fading into a deep maroon which led Remus to ask her to tell him everyone's aura. Though Remus had little knowledge as to what peoples 'aura' meant.
Ana was a pink, Sirius purple, Lily and Mary were both a warm orange, James was yellow, Frank blue, Alice black, Marlene was a violet. Pandora explained how hers was a crystal, which Remus didn't understand what color to interpret that as.
James had come up to him midway through I do, I do, I do, I do, and pulled him aside to the stairs leading to the small Gryffindor tower up to the boys' dorms. James took out a vial smaller than Remus' index finger from the pocket of his blue jeans. It had a messily hand written label.
Felix Felicis For James
"I know I already gave you the jacket, but somebody made this for me." James grinned. Remus thought it almost looked like the spectacled boy was blushing, but it might have just been a drunken flush.
"But I don't want it. I want you to have it." James grabbed Remus' un-casted arm and placed the potion in his palm, allowing the taller to realize what it was. Liquid luck.
"Bloody- James. Who-who the hell made this? Do you know some fucking master potions wizard?" Remus asked.
James laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "No- I- I just somebody gave it to me as a gift. But I don't need luck. It's my gift to give it to you."
Remus noticed Sirius's younger brother Regulus showed up an hour earlier. He thought it was weird considering Regulus was not only a fourth year but a Slytherin who kept himself practically mute as far as Remus knew. Not only that, but he never showed his face just months before to his own brother's birthday.
Regulus was a thin, narrow boy, his hair curlier than his brothers and shorter, and looked as if he always had a fresh haircut. His clothes were always fitted, tailored even to a tee though Remus thought this may have been the first time he had seen him out of the Evergreen tie besides of course for the fact he was the Slytherin's Seeker, since last year and was the reason Slytherin would most likely win the house cup for a second year in a row. If Dorcas Meadows, one of the beaters, didn't rack up enough aggression penalties.
Nobody talked to him in the hour he stuck around; he stayed only, leaning his hip on one of the brown leather reading chairs, his legs crossed in his stupidly nice fitted black T-shirt, observing. Similar to Remus. Not even the drunk Sirius who had started downing dragon barrel the second the meek boy showed, had acknowledged his brother's existence.
Regulus was a forbidden topic between the friends. During their first year, Sirius would go on and on about his little brother. Every story he told had mention of Regulus. Practically anything new that happened in their entirely new first year, Sirius would insist on writing a letter to his little brother to inform him all about it. Remus thinks Sirius practically killed the Black family's owl within those two semesters. At the end of first year, Remus could remember Sirius stating multiple times that he and Regulus were different from his family and the boy would get into Hufflepuff because of how kind he was.
But when the train to second year came around, Sirius spent it moping. His parents had forced his older cousin Narcissa to have Regulus sit with her and her fellow Slytherins on the ride by train. When the boy was called second to his entire class to have the hat placed on his head and the snake's name was shouted immediately. Any and all talk of Regulus had stopped. Remus knew Sirius went to see him occasionally in their second and third year. But now even the mere mention of the Slytherin Quidditch team left Sirius tensed and silent.
Regulus had slipped through the exit of the portrait door not long after James, along with the serenading help from drunken Anastasia, started lazily singing one of Remus' many love songs to the glowing Lily Evans.
Pandora had wistfully walked off without cheers, and after Remus had to wrestle Sirius off one of the tall work desks. He had got back to his observations with the intermediate changing of vinyl to fit whatever romanticized aesthetic Remus had deemed fit for the next five minutes.
Ana in was one her white tattered silk dresses draped over the tall Emmeline Vance, who wore a cashmere coat and tight jeans. Ana had her back resting on Emmeline's front, having a conversation with Alice. Emmeline had her head turned away from Ana to Mary, having their own separate jive.
Emmeline Vance was a fifth year Hufflepuff. She was a pureblood, Irish, Asian witch with short black hair kept in a bob. She was known to be popular in their year. For what reasons, Remus didn't know. Kindness, he doubted it. She had upheld the stereotype of a hotheaded Hufflepuff who seemed far too smart for the house.
From what he could recall of his few probes into his opinion of her that was all he knew. He could faintly remember hearing she had slapped the slimy Slytherin, Severus Snape across the face last year, which had racked her up highly in Remus' view.
After Sirius' birthday and what seemed to be the ultimate climax of Anastasia and Fabian Prewett, the two became about as platonic as Ana and James. Which made potions class more enjoyable for Remus.
Without Fabian to flirt with, Anastasia had moved on to a strange way of being seen around Emmeline Vance. The two never seemed interested in teaseful flirting, rather than just mutual conduct of being within each other's company. Remus guessed it wasn't very platonic after a sleepless night of mindlessly watching the names move on his friend's map. His tired eyes happened to land on the Hufflepuff dorms and their overlapping names.
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