Chapter Text
Computer keys clacked as Remus looked around the office of Professor Slughorn awkwardly. The pudgy old man was typing away at his computer, laser focused on the letters appearing on his screen.
“I’ll be right with you.” He smiled, eyes appearing over the edge of his laptop screen, glasses slipping his nose before he’s looking back down at his computer. Remus glanced up and nodded at the guidance counsellor, a soft hum leaving the back of his throat. Tapping his hands away in his lap absently while he waited.
Slughorn closed his laptop abruptly when there was a drawn out pause in his tapping, smiling widely at Remus once he noticed the boy was still in the room. A smile Remus could see was only an act of professionalism. Not because he cared to show anything genuin to the boy.
“So, Remus.” the counsellor said, picking a piece of paper quickly from his desk, “Here you go.” Slughorn passed him a schedule, glancing at the file he had opened on his desk for Remus.
“My, nine schools in ten years.” He grimaced. “Army Brat?” He asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah my Dad’s-”
“That’s enough.” Slughorn cut off, raising a hand.
Remus glanced up in shock. Eyebrows raised as he looked at the name on the desk, making sure he was in the right office.
“I’m sure Hogwarts will be just like your other schools.” The atmosphere of the room was quickly disturbed when a glob of who knows what was slammed against the window behind Slughorn's head. The man's face quickly fell, eyes going dead as he looked at Remus with a cold stare. “Same little ass-wipe, shit for brains everywhere, am I right?” Slughorn chuckled heartily, holding up his middle finger and flipping it towards the window behind him, not caring to see who had thrown the sludge.
“Excuse me?” Remus squeaked, mortified at what he had just witnessed, “Am I supposed to be here?”
“Not anymore you’re not, I’ve got social deviants to see and a novel to write.” Slughorn smiled again, his laptop being flipped back open. “Now scoot.”
Remus paused at the sudden end to the meeting, raising his eyebrows for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
“Scoot!” Slughorn said more urgently when Remus showed no signs of moving.
Remus fumbled to grab his bag, slinging the strap over his shoulder before rising from the chair awkwardly. “Okay.” He said, clearing his throat. “Thanks a lot.” He rushed out, throwing up his hands as he backed out of Professor Slughorn's office. Nearly tripping on his feet as he dragged them towards the door.
Remus jumped as he turned to the door, a boy with messy curls and the smell of cigarette smoke wafting around him as he tried to enter. The boy gave Remus a quick nod, sharing a smile full of mischief and a wink before he turned to Professor Slughorn. Even though the time had passed, Remus sent the other a nod in return, leaving him to deal with the crazed teacher.
As Remus left the office he threw a quick glance behind him, an incredulous look on his face. That was the strangest guidance counsellor he had ever had the displeasure of interacting with.
“Hello, Mary Mcdonald.” A girl approaches Remus, her curly hair clouding around her shoulders. “And this is Lily Evans,” She says with a large grin as she gestures to the redheaded girl beside her. “We were sent to show you around.” Mary holds her hand out to Remus.
“Thank god,” Remus exclaims, taking Mary’s hand. “They usually send down one of those audio visual geeks.”
“I know, I know what you mean.” Lily laughs.
“Hey, Lily, where should I put these slides?” A boy asks, sliding his trolley filled with gear next to Lily.
“Lily?” Lily plays dumb for a second before leading remus away from the confused boy.
“So, uh … Remus?” Lily takes the sheet from Remus, eager to change the subject.
“Here’s the rundown,” Mary takes over from Lily, turning to face Remus as she walks backwards, gesturing vaguely at a group of people leaning on a fish tank, “Over there you’ve got your basic pretty people.”
“Don’t talk to them unless they talk to you.” Lily added, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she fell into step with Remus.
“Is that your rule or theirs?” Remus asked, raising his brows as he looked between the two.
“Watch this.” Lily gestured loosely to Mary.
“Hey guys,” Mary smiles to the clique as they walk past.
“Eat me.” One of the boys in the group spat as they all turned away from the girl.
“See.” Lily says with a knowing shrug, turning away from the clique.
The group moves through the building swiftly, Lily and Mary pointing out various classrooms, teachers and people as they went, not stopping for too long so they could get through the tour.
“And here’s the courtyard,” Lily said grandly, opening one of the large glass doors to allow Remus and Mary through. The redhead takes two big steps forward, her two companions being forced to follow after her if they want to keep up.
“To the left we have your coffee kids.” Lily pointed as one yelled about his being spilled, a brown sludge dripping down his shirt as his complaining only grew louder once he realised his white band-t had been stained.
“Very edgy, don’t make any sudden movements around ‘em.” Mary hit Remus on the chest with the back of her hand, staring at the group with narrowed eyes.
“These idiots are your overbearing feminists.” Lily says with an eye roll, trying to move the group along quicker as they pass. “Big protesters like to think that being bitches actually does something for the movement.” Lily scowls as they walk past a group of women lounging on lawn chairs.
“Over there-”
“Let me guess, cowboys?” Remus buts in, staring at the group with an unimpressed scowl.
“Bingo.” Mary cheers, firing finger guns at the taller boy.
“Yeah, but the closest they’ve ever come to a cow is Mcdonalds.” Lily giggles, her joke falling flat as one of the cowboys catches onto her words, his lasso gripped tightly in his hands as he sends Lily a demeaning stare.
“This is the Slug club.” Mary says, her face losing some of its normal joy as they turned towards the group. “They’re all Ivy league accepted.” Mary nods at the table filled with students dressed in blouses and loafers, nothing but the best.
“Hey, Guys!” Lily grins, waving at the group, holding no shame as she greeted the group. A cacophony of whispers rose from the table, urging a boy named Lucius to close the laptop they were all leaning over. The blonde boy and the rest of his group sneered at the girl.
“Yesterday I was their God.” Lily pushes out through gritted teeth. Her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides before Mary takes one in her hands and rubs it.
“Well, what happened then?” Remus asked, his head tilting to the side slightly as he glanced at Lily.
“Lucius Malfoy started a rumour that I bought my Izods at an outlet mall.” Lily mutters, her voice filled with contempt. “Apparently I’m no longer rich enough for them.” She scoffed, turning her nose up at the group as she turned away from them, leaving their snobby behaviour behind her.
Lily surged ahead of the group, muttering something about crystal glasses and the guidance counsellor. Remus glanced at Mary who was watching her with a fond smile on her face.
“They kicked her out over Izods?” Remus whispered, face aghast as she lowered his voice, staring between the two girls with something akin to horror on his face.
“Lucius Malfoy really.” Mary nodded. “But I’ll make him pay.” Mary punched the palm of her band with a determined look on her face.
“Now, over here-”
“Oh my god.” Remus interrupts Mary. His eyes glued to a leather clad figure moving past the duo. “What group is he in?”
“The ‘don’t even think about it group.’” Mary sneers, her eyes latching onto a boy with long black hair. “That’s Sirius Black.”
“I burn, I pine, I perish.” Remus sighs enraptured, ogling the shorted boy as he walked past. Remus turned slowly, following after him as he passed by with a friend.
His friend was much shorter, adorning dusty blonde hair as he scurried along with Sirius, two of them laughing along with one another. Remus didn’t much care for the blonde, eyes solely trained on the dark haired beauty.
“Of course you do. You know he’s both beautiful and deep.” Mary rolls her eyes, looking at her nails. “I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, but there’s a difference between like and love, Pete. Like, I like my plated rings, but I love my leather jacket.” Sirius explains to his friend.
“But I love my plated rings.” Pete responded, brows scrunching together as he looked down at the jewellery that was wrapped around a few of his fingers.
“That’s because you don’t have a leather jacket.” Sirius throws an arm around Pete’s shoulders, sharing a large grin with the other boy as he pushes them forward, keeping them moving through the courtyard.
“Oh.” Pete sighs, letting the taller boy pull him along, not really caring for where they ended up
Mary sighs next to Remus, eyes following the two boys every move. “Look, forget him.” She says, her voice coming out softer than it was moments before. “Incredibly strict mother and it’s a widely known fact that the Black brothers aren’t allowed to date.”
“Uh huh, yeah.” Remus nods, still staring at Sirius across the courtyard, Mary’s words not properly rendering in his mind. “Whatever.” He mutters, not paying attention to what he was saying.
The bell pulls Remus out of his reverie. Glancing at Mary quickly before his head snaps down to his schedule. “Shit, where are the science labs again?”
***
Remus sat in the courtyard, the first few periods passing by quickly as he sat with Mary and Lily, his eyes glued onto Sirius once again. The whole day he has been trying to catch glances of the dark haired boy, only seeing him for a number of seconds, but even then, he was gone again in a flash. Remus looked hopeless as he stared after the shorter boy.
“Looking good boys!” A cocky voice shouts across the courtyard, catching the attention of Remus as Sirius looks up at the bloke, laughing softly at the call before turning back to Peter with a smile.
“Who’s that guy?” Remus jerks his head at the boy across the courtyard, a scowl dancing across his features as he stares at the brunette, for once his eyes leaving Sirius Black.
“Fabian Prewett,” Lily states with a frown, eyes falling quickly on the person in question “He's a jerk off.” Lily scowls, telling Remus who he was straight up, not trying to savour any reputation for the other bloke.
“And a model.” Mary adds quickly, just as unimpressed as Lily.
“Really?” Remus laughs, staring at the other boy with a raised brow, doubts quickly rising in his mind.
“Really.” Mary confirms, a crooked grin overtaking her face as Remus’ hesitation. “Mostly regional stuff but he’s rumoured to have a big tube sock ad coming out.” Mary giggles, her own disbelief clear in her words.
The pair laugh together before Remus spots Sirius in the crowds, attention once again being captured by the other boy.
“Man, look at him.” He sighs, “Is he always so-”
“Vapid?” Lily buts in, staring at the boy in mild disgust.
“How can you say that?” Remus questions, face agast like he had just been slapped. He’s totally-” Remus tries to defend, instead being interrupted once more. This time it was by Mary.
“Conceited?” Mary asks, not helping in the slightest.
“No! What are you guys talking about?” Remus asks, completely confused. “There’s more to him than you think. I mean look at the way he smiles, and his eyes. He’s totally cool. You're missing what’s there.” Remus defended.
Lily grabs Remus’s hand on her own. “Remus what’s there is a spoiled little prince wearing a strategically placed jacket to make people like you realise that you can't touch him and make people like Fabian realise that they want to.” Lily sounds pitiful, staring at Remus with downturned eyes.
“People like him, my friend, are what we will spend the rest of our lives not having.” Mary’s tone is soft again.
“So put him in your spank bank and move on.” The two girls say in unison, an unplanned perfection.
“No.” Remus says stubbornly, the side rising quickly at the challenge at not even being offered a chance.
“Move on.” Mary repeats, shaking her head in finalisation.
“No!” Remus exclaims, brows furrowing more as he gets denied. “You’re wrong about him… I mean not about the spanking part.” Remus says with a small smile, mirth behind his eyes as he waits to gauge his friends' reactions.
Lily scoffs at Remus, shaking her head while pinching the bridge of her nose. Mary looked slightly amused, but her views on the situation were not changing.
“But the rest, you’re wrong.” Remus pushes, not yet ready to drop the subject.
“We’re wrong?” Lily asks, one of her perfect brows raised in disbelief as she looks at Remus challengingly. Remus nods vehemently.
“You wanna shoot your shot? Be my guest. He’s actually looking for a french tutor.” Mary sighs, resigned at Remus putting a fight up with the both of them.
“Are you serious? That’s perfect!” Remus says with a large grin. A smaller smile started to dawn on his features. “No pun intended.”
“You speak french?” Mary asks, incredulous.
Remus hesitates, smile momentarily dropping. “Well, no. But I will!” He is determined.
The two girls laugh at the expense of their new friend, making eye contact with each other.
***
Remus watches from the parking lot as Lily and Mary start up a vespa. The engines whirring as they drive towards him. Accidentally stopping in front of a moving car. A head of curly black hair leans out of a window, deep scowl on the boy's face as he stares at Lily and Mary.
“Remove the head from the sphincter and then drive.” He yells, throwing one of his hands in the air as he stares at the two girls with clear disgust. Lily waves at him in apology before starting the vespa up again and steering the bike to Remus, who was leaning against his care, waiting for the parking lot to calm down before leaving.
“You ok?” Remus asks, worried as he steps up to the parked bike, staring down at the two girls with a crease between his brows.
“Yep,” Mary scratches her face, looking back at the car that had nearly hit them, the boy that had yelled at them driving past quickly, music blaring from the speakers inside. “Just a minor encounter with the shrew.”
“That’s your boyfriend’s brother.” Lily looks pointedly at Remus.
“That’s Sirius’s brother?” Remus gawks, eyebrows raising in disbelief as his head snaps towards the shrinking car, growing smaller in size the more it got away. Now that Remus thought about it, the two boys bore a striking resemblance. Both had long black hair, Sirius’ falling to his shoulders while his brothers curled arond his ears; another thing, his brothers hair was much curlier.
“Yep.” Lily nods. “The mewling rampalian wretch himself.” She says with a roll of his eyes. “Just like his brother. If not, worse.” She complained, her hands tightening around the handles of her vespa. “That's Regulus Black for you.”
“Stay cool bro.” Mary pats Remus’s arm before wrapping her arms around Lily’s waist. Lily smiles at Remus before starting the bike back up and beginning to drive away.
Remus watches in panic as Lily swerves away from a car, and starts careening down a hill towards the field. A crowd begins to form at the two girls’ screams. Remus looks at the students around him before ditching his bag and running to help Mary and Lily.
He pushes to the front of the group of students in time to watch the vespa fall on its side, taking the girls down with it, the two girls going on a small tumble. Remus watches as Lily and Mary push themselves out from underneath the bike and get to their feet.
Mary laughs and helps Lily to her feet. “We’re ok!” She yells and the crowd erupts into cheers. Remus claps for the two as well shaking his head. What had he just gotten himself into?