Redamancy (Harry Potter x Fem!Reader)

Of Good Friends and Gossip

i've been in a slump, guys. but please enjoy this long chapter <3 hopefully i can start regularly updating again soon!
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By the end of the night, (Y/N) had listened to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars all the way through three times. After she and Harry finished it, they began the album again. Hermione, Ron, and the others returned halfway through, and Dean – who loved David Bowie already – insisted that they join them. When it finished, Neville had asked them to play it again, since he missed the first half, and no one seemed to mind.

Between Seamus and Neville, there'd been enough sweets to keep everyone busy, and when they ran out of those, Harry and Ron threw on the invisibility cloak to sneak down to the kitchens for more snacks. Hermione sat on the floor surrounded by books and parchment, but even she was tapping her foot as she worked through her assignments. The third time Starman played, Dean and (Y/N) stood on his bed shouting along to the chorus. Everyone else had joined in by the end of it.

It was how they spent their night: sat up in the boys' dormitory, eating sweets, sharing stories, and learning all about Ziggy Stardust.

It was the best night (Y/N) ever had.

She left breakfast fifteen minutes early the next morning to return the record to Professor Lupin. She was relieved when she arrived at his classroom and found him copying notes onto the board inside; there would be no Snape in Defense Against the Dark Arts that day. All was right.

She knocked twice on the doorframe. "Professor?"

He turned, and upon seeing her smiled. "Good morning," He set down his piece of chalk as he beckoned her inside. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I've just come to return this." She placed Ziggy Stardust on his desk, feeling suddenly nervous. She'd come so early in hopes that they'd be able to talk more about her mother, but then, the words got caught in her throat.

"Finished already?" Professor Lupin didn't seem to notice. "How'd you like it?"

"It was really good. My favorite's Suffragette City, though." It had been the loudest and messiest-sounding one, and she knew it would drive Lucius Malfoy crazy. "Lady Stardust is close, too."

"Ah, Lady Stardust – that's my favorite." He smiled. "Excellent choice,"

(Y/N) watched him organize his notes, trying to find something to say. Then, all at once, she blurted, "Do you know what my mum's was?"

Lupin turned. "Her favorite song?"

(Y/N) nodded, feeling embarrassed.

He didn't tease her, which she half-expected. He only answered, "Starman. And she'd never let us forget it." His laugh was fond and he smiled, mostly to himself.

(Y/N) thought of the night before, shouting the song with Dean, and Seamus spreading his arms wide as he bellowed what words he could remember. She remembered when Ron pulled himself up on his own bed to shout with them, and how brightly Hermione had laughed, for once forgetting her workload. Neville had hurried over to the record player to turn it up louder, grinning all the way. And, when she hopped off Dean's bed to dance and shout with Harry, she'd never seen someone look so content.

She wanted to ask if Lupin had shared nights like those with her mother. She wanted to know how they danced to Starman; if they jumped on beds and shouted until their voices went hoarse. She was too embarrassed to ask – she still wasn't sure if she was allowed to. After all, Professor Lupin had looked quite sad last time they spoke about her.

She wondered just who she was to him.

Good friends, he'd said.

"If you'd like, I have a few more records we listened to upstairs. I can lend them to you."