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

Chapter Eighty-One - An Afternoon With Lily

Author's Note:

Surprise! I figured since we're getting close to the end and I don't want to wait an entire month before starting to post book two I thought I'd get an extra chapter out a week! It'll still take a couple weeks to finish up book one but I am just super excited to begin book two I thought it'd be nice to do this :)

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Friday was a brilliant, beautiful warm, sunshine-y day. After Defense Remus went outside with Lily, planning on studying by the lake however they didn't really do much studying. Lily ended up making a flower crown while Remus took his socks and shoes off, wriggling his toes in the cool mud.

"Only three weeks till the exams," she said, carefully weaving white flowers together. "Six till we go home."

Remus flopped onto his back, looking up at the blaze of blue above. "I can't imagine being home for so long. Two weeks feels like too long for me now."

"I know what you mean. I loved being home for the holidays but it felt so... weird."

"Empty."

"Precisely. None of your friends live near you, do they?"

Remus closed his eyes, not wanting to talk about his home. "No."

"Oh. I'll write you loads of letters. Maybe we can get together! At least when we go into Diagon Alley, we'll have to go on the same day." She adjusted her legs, bringing the crown closer to her face as she began adding in tiny little purple flowers.

"You'll have Snape though, at least. Right?" He had fully expected things to be tense between the two of them, but she didn't even mention what happened in Potions. He wondered if she knew what happened after... that Snape made James's glasses explode.

Lily smiled. "Yeah he lives nearby. I am looking forward to that. I feel like him being in Slytherin and me being in Gryffindor makes it so difficult for us to spend much time together. So hopefully we'll be able to do more over the summer. Wish you could come over too. Isn't there some sort of... instant travel?"

"There's Apparition," Remus replied, "which is kinda like... one second you're in one spot the next you're somewhere else. But only adults can do that. They can bring kids along but they need to be licensed for slide-along Apparition, which my father doesn't have. There's the Floo network. Fireplaces. But... my family's not connected up."

"I see. Sev's talked about the fireplace thing. Sounds really scary to me. Walking into a fireplace." She shook her head. "I still get surprised by magic. Is that weird?"

"Of course not." He sat back up, using some sticks to scrape the mud off his feet which had gotten cold. "You spent eleven years--well, I s'pose less than that since you met Snape a while ago, but most your life the Muggle way. You'll probably still be surprised by magic when you're twenty-two."

He felt something on his head and he jumped a little, glancing up. Lily was kneeling next to him, adjusting the flower crown that she draped on him. "Looks good on you." She sat back against her heels, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. Remus reached up, touching the flower crown gingerly, not wanting to break it. "You look cute."

He wondered if guys were supposed to be 'cute'. "Thank you," he replied, not sure what else to respond with.

Lily began working on another flower crown while Remus got his socks back on, continually reaching to touch the flowers, wondering what it looked like. Probably dumb. He casually went over to the edge of the lake and peered in. All right, maybe not so dumb. He gave his sickly reflection a smile then went back to sit next to Lily. She finished her second crown--white with lots of greenery--and put it on herself.