Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Twenty-Five - Pinky Promise

Remus was a little worried that hexing Black would mean Black was after him however that night as soon as Remus went into his dorm, Black shoved two things of ink into his hand.

"If you don't take these, I'll put a hex on you," Black threatened and then returned to Potter's bed and the game they were playing.

Remus was too tired to argue so he put them on his desk and then curled up in bed, wanting to ask Black why he had lied to McGonagall, not daring to. It's probably ego, didn't want to admit I managed to get him or something, he decided before he shut his curtains and wound up falling asleep fully dressed. He kept waking up as the other boys came and went, and then would drift off again. Sometime around midnight he woke up to hushed arguing and heard Potter and Black. He wondered if they were arguing about him but as he listened in to them for the millionth time that week, he realized they were arguing about some of the Slytherins. It sounded like Avery and Mulciber took offense to their second year friends being accused of hexing Black, and actually properly jumped Potter and hexed him, and Black and Potter were complaining about them, debating what to do in revenge.

Remus just lay awake until finally they went quiet, then he waited a bit longer and slithered out of bed. He froze when he saw someone sitting up in Potter's bed then saw it was Black. But he wasn't awake, he was asleep, and Potter was curled up next to him. They had fallen asleep while talking. They look angelic like that, Remus thought as he quietly gathered pajamas. Black looked like he could be out of some sort of Renaissance painting or something with his noble features and inky black locks falling across his pale face.

Remus went to the bathroom to change into the pajamas (even in the dead of night he wasn't risking anyone seeing him) and was going to go back to the dorm when he heard a noise down in the common room. He set his dirty uniform down just inside his dorm then tiptoed down the stairs. It sounded like... crying?

Remus crouched on the bottom of the steps and looked across the room, seeing a small figure hunched over by the fire. There was a glint of red, and he realized it was Evans--Lily. Remus watched her as she rocked back and forth, crying into her hands. He wanted to go back upstairs and pretend like he hadn't seen... then considered going in and comforting her... but he didn't know how to comfort. He silently rose, fully intending to go back upstairs, then took the final two steps down into the common room.

"Lily?"

She gave a gasp and jumped to her feet. "Oh! R--Remus, you--you scared me!"

He quietly walked over to her, chewing at his bottom lip. Her shoulder-length hair was a total mess and she was wearing a long nightgown, her feet bare. There was a piece of paper clutched in one of her hands.

"I heard crying," he said. "I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to bother you."

She shook her head then sat down on the couch by the fire. "I didn't mean to wake you up. Could you really hear it all the way up there?"

"I was on the staircase," he replied, going over and sitting next to her. She pulled her feet up, tucking them underneath her. "Is... everything a--all right?"

Lily looked down at the paper in her hands and then unfolded it, smoothing out the wrinkles. "I don't know." She gave a little sigh and then rubbed at her eyes. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He shook his head. "Oh. I do. A sister..."

"Is--is she okay?" he asked.

Lily gave a half-hearted smile. "I guess. We used to be really close." She ran a finger down the flowery script written on the paper. "I've written to her several times since starting school, she's only just written me back. Telling me to stop sending my owl because it upsets her. Sh... she says... only freaks send messages by birds..."