Chapter Text
The burst of lukewarm air hit Remus as a most welcome relief from the stifling heat outdoors.
The fans stationed throughout the store didn’t provide the experience of walking into an icebox that he was really dying for. But it prevented the room from feeling too stagnant, which was a right sight better than the almost thirty-degree weather he’d escaped outside.
On days like these, Remus wished air conditioning units were more prominent in these tiny, muggle towns. Or that his seventeenth birthday could come a bit sooner than March. What he wouldn’t give for a cooling charm right about now.
Thankfully, his home in the north of Wales didn’t experience too many unbearably hot days during his time off from Hogwarts. And today wasn’t truly awful, but it would certainly be more enjoyable if he could just do a tiny bit of magic without the Ministry coming down on him.
If Sirius and James were here, they would say in no uncertain terms that Remus was overreacting - that they wouldn’t care about an insignificant little cooling charm on one of the hottest days of the year, Moony. But the absolute last thing Remus needed in his life was the Ministry snooping around.
So he sucked it up and braved the July rays bearing down on him. He trotted through luscious green pastures and over the stone bridge leading to the town centre until he arrived at the record shop that was to be his sanctuary that afternoon.
Normally, he’d stay cooped inside his family’s cottage on the outskirts of the village, preferring to spend the hours locked away with a book for company or sleeping until the sun had set and the mountain breeze crept back in.
But after two weeks at home, his mother insisted that it was too beautiful a day to be spent indoors. Hope Lupin practically marched her son to their front gate before pushing him off toward civilization.
Even though he knew he wouldn’t buy much, if anything, Remus still made the trek into town every so often.
The Lupins usually didn’t have extra money lying around, and Remus couldn’t exactly hold down a muggle summer job - what with his spending ten months out of the year learning charms and potions rather than maths and English - and not to mention the fact that he also needed time off every full moon. So every summer, he was reduced to the small pocket change he’d receive for his chores around the house.
Most of that was saved with the plan to exchange his pounds for galleons and sickles on his yearly trip to Diagon Alley before the new term began. He’d eventually spend it in Hogsmeade, keeping his supply of Honeydukes chocolate and Zonko’s joke products fully stocked. But he’d occasionally splurge on a new record or a couple of Mars bars if his leftover chocolate frogs were running low.
He loved perusing the shelves of the local music store, noting which artists had released albums while he’d been sequestered away in the Scottish Highlands. And sometimes, on particularly slow days, Jerry, the shop owner, would let Remus select a record to play while he hung around.
Remus also knew that there was a small sale bin at the back of the store that Jerry updated once a week with older albums and titles that didn’t sell as well as expected. It wasn’t a huge selection, but Remus could usually find a couple of pieces to add to his collection or to give to Sirius as a birthday present.
After updating Jerry about his time away at boarding school and taking a brief moment to revel in the air coming off the fan next to the register, Remus headed to the back corner.
The town was small, and the Lupins mostly kept to themselves, not wanting to draw too much attention to the only wizards present in the muggle village. But over the years, Jerry had made a point to remember the boy who spent his school year in Scotland, and Remus shared some of the antics he and the Marauders got up to - just being sure to leave out any instances of magic in his stories.
Remus quickly got absorbed in the pile, sifting through the classical numbers and Christmas albums he had absolutely no interest in.
As if sensing Remus' displeasure at the absence of rock he was obviously looking for, Jerry called out from the front, “I think there’s a couple in there you’ll find to your liking!”
At the back of the stack, he found some old Beatles and Elvis records, but the gem of the group was hidden behind a Welsh folk artist. The white edge of the album was practically glaring at Remus as if his magic was causing the record to shine even brighter amidst the fluorescent bulbs of the shop.
Gingerly, Remus lifted A Night at the Opera from the bin, silently thanking Merlin for this brilliant find, as well as the £1.50 sticker tacked on the front. Much within his price range.
The album had been released the previous year and had either been too expensive for Remus to justify buying or had been completely sold out.
Even Sirius had attempted to find the album for his mate, sneaking out into muggle London while home for Christmas, without any luck. And while at Hogwarts, it was near impossible to come by new records unless Hope bought it and sent it to him by owl.
Deciding he wasn’t going to find anything better or that he’d prefer to spend his limited coins on, Remus was ready to turn around and head straight for the counter when a decidedly non-Welsh voice called out behind him, “Oh, that’s a great album!”
If Remus didn’t know the person speaking wasn’t British from their accent, he’d certainly know from their choice to speak to a complete stranger rather than politely ignoring them and pretending they didn’t exist.
Turning, he found an American girl about his age hovering behind him. She was a head shorter than him, and her shift dress flowed around her knees as she pushed herself onto her tiptoes before quickly lowering herself back onto her soles like she couldn’t find it in herself to stay still. She reminded him of James in that moment, her dark, large eyes blinking expectantly at him before flickering back to the Queen record.
“Have you listened to it before?” She asked, nodding down at the album clutched tightly in Remus’ scarred hands and not seeming put off by the fact that Remus hadn’t answered. Her smile showed a glimpse of what looked like perfectly straight, white teeth behind lips coated in a shiny gloss.
If he hadn’t been completely thrown off by what this gorgeous foreigner was doing in his small town - and talking to him no less - Remus expected that he would have been annoyed at the interruption, wondering if she was going to try and convince him to give up his prize and allow her to buy it instead.
He watched as her open, hopeful expression began to give away, morphing into one of confusion before it dawned on him that he was making a complete arse of himself, staring at her as if he’d never seen a fit bird before.
“I haven’t listened to the whole thing, no, but I’ve heard a few songs on the radio,” He replied, proud of how he managed to force the statement out nonchalantly without stuttering or sounding too nervous.
“It’s great. You’ll love it!” She replied, her easy smile back in place.
She spoke with an air of confidence that made Remus believe her, even if he already knew the album would hardly disappoint.
“Was there any Paul McCartney in there?” She continued, peering around him and into the bin as if she could see the titles even though they were resting up against each other. “I lost Ram in the move. I swear my dad put it in one of the Goodwill boxes. He says he didn’t, but I just know he got tired of listening to Monkberry Moon Delight.”
Remus couldn’t help how his bemused smile grew as she rambled on. The smile she had directed at him before had rearranged itself into a small frown of annoyance as she spoke, her nose wrinkling in frustration.
Honestly, she looked as if she had stepped out of one of those muggle fashion mags the lads had a habit of stealing from the girls when they’d leave one lying around the common room. Her dark hair was blown into fashionable curls, and her fringe hung in perfect wisps against her forehead despite the heat, whereas Remus was sure his own hair was matted down with sweat despite how often he ran his hands through it.
“No, sorry,” He replied, shrugging his shoulders awkwardly. “Some Beatles and Wings, but I didn’t see that one in there.”
“Rats.”
She turned abruptly, heading back towards the front while Remus trailed along behind her. He placed his album down for Jerry to ring up and watched as the girl chatted cheerily with the shop owner, asking if it was something she could order through him.
“Did you just move here then?” Remus blurted, wondering how in Merlin’s name she came to end up in Wales of all places.
“Mhm, we’ve been here for about a week.”
“You Dorothy’s girl?” Jerry chimed in, taking Remus’ money while placing the vinyl in a plastic bag.
“Yeah! That’s my Nana.”
“I thought I heard her American granddaughter was coming to stay. How’s she doing? Feel like I hardly see her down at the pub anymore.”
The girl chuckled as if that was a completely normal statement to make about one’s nan. Remus is certain his Nan would have never been caught dead at the pub.
“Yeah, she’s having a harder time moving around these days. But I have a feeling my dad will be sneaking her down there while my mom’s at work. You’d think he was her son, the way they act. It drives my mom crazy.”
“I’ll be glad to see them when he does. You tell her old Jerry Morgan asked after her, you hear?”
“Will do,” She nodded, smiling while she watched Jerry hand Remus his bag and receipt before leaning forward to clap the boy on the shoulder.
“And, if you need a guide to show you around the town, I’m sure Remus here would be glad to give you a tour,” Jerry casually threw in, covertly winking at Remus all the while. “His family’s lived here for years now. Practically your whole life, it feels like.”
Remus deserved a medal for his ability to refrain from blurting out the fact that spending most of the year away at school probably wouldn’t qualify him as the town expert. But he nodded anyway, attempting to simultaneously not imagine the events that led up to his family finally settling here after leaving one wizarding village after another, or how Dorothy’s granddaughter would surely and swiftly dismiss that offer as soon as possible.
“That’d be great,” She replied, keeping her eyes on Jerry and offering him a kind smile. Her tone was one of placation you used with adults when you were trying to be polite and not tell them what you truly thought of their suggestion.
Remus knew she’d probably already met all the local kids and certainly wouldn’t want or need Loner Remus to show her around. Especially when his idea of fun was the occasional trip with a book and a box of ciggies to the secluded spot along the river he’d found a few years back. Or lounging about his bedroom with his vinyl collection on repeat.
No, Remus was certain he was not the welcome committee she would pick out for herself.
“Have a good one, you two.”
“It was nice to meet you, Mr Morgan!”
“Cheers, Jerry,” Remus nodded, and without confirming or denying he’d be this newcomer’s tour guide for the day, he took his bag and hastily made his way to the exit. The girl seemed to fall into step with him though, somehow reaching the exit first and holding the door open for him.
As much as Remus couldn’t deny that he was immediately attracted to the girl, he had no desire to embarrass himself in front of her, which was sure to happen eventually the longer he spent in her company. But before he could make his escape, she thrust her hand out in greeting and told him, “I’m Betty, by the way. Betty Miller.”
Apparently, Americans were as confident and direct as people always made them out to be.
“Remus,” He offered, accepting the handshake.
Her hand was soft in his grip, slightly sweaty from the heat or possibly from the lotions he could smell wafting around her. It was a calming but odd mixture of sunscreen and something floral, but a welcome one that didn’t seem out of place on the main street lined with flower boxes and people bustling about doing their day’s shopping.
“It’s nice to meet you, Remus,” She offered, seeming to genuinely mean the statement. “You don’t have to show me around, but I was going to look for another place to cool off if you’d like to join me. I haven’t exactly met anyone else our age just yet, and I already know you have good taste in music, so you can’t be too bad,” She threw in cheekily, tilting her head and peering up at him through her fringe. Her dark eyes squinted from a mixture of the afternoon sun and her welcoming smile that raised her tinted cheeks.
“Well,” He playfully drew out. “I don’t know if I could say the same about you. I mean, looking for a McCartney album when Lennon is obviously the superior songwriter? That doesn’t spell good taste in music to me.”
He couldn’t help the snarky reply. It practically tumbled out of him on instinct, probably too used to talking with Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs who expected his sarcastic jabs. He made a point to offer her a crooked smirk though, hoping that it would clue her in on the fact that he was only joking. Godric, he could just hear Sirius now - asking if had Remus learned nothing in all the years they’d been mates about how to talk to girls.
“Oh!” Betty gasped, seeming to alight under his teasing. “You take that back! I will not hear this blasphemy against the love of my life!”
Remus let out a loud, unexpected laugh at the statement, head thrown back and everything.
“The love of your life?” He questioned, lowering his head to raise an eyebrow at her inquisitively.
“Oh, yes,” She grinned, nodding her head furtively. “We’re getting married. Haven’t you heard?”
“Really? I thought he was already married to an American?”
“Ugh, he is,” Betty sighed, pouting as if she was truly defeated. “It’s a total tragedy.”
Remus let out a small chuckle at her obvious dismay at Paul McCartney being off the market.
“Well, maybe some ice cream would cheer you up?” Remus offered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “There’s a parlour around the corner if you want to come along?”
Remus immediately felt his cheeks redden. Even if Betty had asked him to show her around, that didn’t necessarily mean she wanted to hang out with him. She was probably expecting him to politely decline, telling her he had plans that he really didn’t, and then she’d be free to do whatever else she planned for the day.
“God, that sounds amazing. Yes, let’s do that!”
Hiding his shock at her acceptance, he morphed his features into one of casual indifference. Remus could do this. He got ice cream with stunning girls all the time, no big deal.
She immediately took charge, heading down the pavement to the left before abruptly turning and telling Remus, “I have no idea where I’m going. Is it this way?”
Shaking his head, he laughed and told her, “No, it’s just over here.”
Betty quickly stuck to his side, following along as Remus directed her around the corner and onto High Street, where they passed the barber shop and the laundromat before reaching their destination. It was tucked away next to the local toy store and boasted a couple of tables and chairs out front.
Holding the door open, the scent of sugar and ice cream cones hit Remus just as strongly as the blast of cold air from the line of containers under the counter.
Betty thanked him before entering, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath of the ice cream in the air. On the exhale, she called over her shoulder, “Smells like home,” and directed a smile so blindingly beautiful at Remus that he almost lost his footing. The ridiculous thought flashed through his mind for a split second that maybe this muggle girl he’d encountered was actually part Veela.
Shaking himself from his stupor, he followed behind her as she made a beeline for the row of options beneath the glass.
“Hiya. Can I help you?” A bored voice called over to them. The worker was clearly around their age, probably a student from the local sixth form, and was certainly more interested in examining her nails than taking their order.
“Hi,” Betty replied, scanning the list of flavours. “Can I get two scoops of coffee, please?”
The worker - Peggy, her name tag said in clear bubble letters - jerked her head up at the request before hopping off her stool and striding over to them.
“Are you American?!” She questioned, completely ignoring the scoops and paper bowls in favour of interrogating Betty.
“Yeah, what gave me away?” Betty joked, directing another one of her award-winning smiles at Peggy.
“Wow. And what are you doing here?!”
“Oh, my nana’s here. We’re living with her for a bit.”
“So, will you be here when the new term begins? Maybe we’ll be at the same school! Which courses are you taking?”
Peggy was all smiles now as she bombarded Betty with her questions, obviously wanting to start the school year on the right foot by showing off her new American friend.
Remus sighed internally. He could’ve won some serious gold betting that this was exactly how things would go.
It was inevitable that Betty would find some hip kid more her style and dump Remus faster than yesterday’s rubbish. She’d obviously just latched onto him since he was the first person she’d found. At least it was happening now before he’d taken the time to get to know her anymore.
He couldn’t help the swoop of disappointment that settled low in his stomach. For a moment, he’d let himself believe there was a chance this captivating person would take an interest in boring, old Remus.
He’d gotten used to the feeling of having friends while at Hogwarts, but the reminder of his lonely childhood and the reality that he’d be alone for the rest of his life always returned in full force upon his arrival home for the summer. This was just another indication that he shouldn’t get his hopes up.
“Oh, um,” Betty began, for the first time looking awkward. “I’ll be going to a boarding school in London, actually.”
Remus assumed Betty must be worried that Peggy wouldn’t be interested in being mates if she wouldn’t be around come September, but his treacherous brain supplied the thought that maybe this was something they could bond over.
It wasn’t long before his common sense took over, though. He couldn’t exactly share much with her about his boarding school experience. And he had a feeling that the local kids would be much more interested in keeping in touch with Betty while she was away at school than they did with Remus, so she’d probably be fine in the friend department.
“Oh,” Peggy replied dejectedly. “Well, let me write down my number. Phone me, and maybe we can go shopping before you leave!”
“Yeah, maybe,” Betty nodded noncommittally, accepting the slip of paper before turning towards Remus again. “What are you getting?”
Remus quickly scanned the prices listed on the sign over Peggy’s head.
Suddenly, the terrifying question flashed through his mind of whether it was possible Betty considered this a date. Not that she would ever be interested in him like that, but he did ask her for ice cream - did that mean he had to pay? It’s not like he couldn’t afford to pay for both of them, but it would severely dip into his Hogsmeade fund.
“Just a single scoop of chocolate, please.”
“Oh, do you like brownie bites?” Betty must have seen something in Remus’ demeanour because she swiftly turned back to Peggy and cheerfully added the topping to both of their bowls.
Handing over their treats along with spoons and napkins, Peggy told them their total.
“Let me get this,” Betty said, pushing Remus’ hands away from where he was digging in his trousers for some change. “For showing me around!”
“No, Betty, please -”
Before Remus could finish insisting that he at least pay for his own, Betty, fast as lightning, had her own wallet out of her purse and gave the necessary pounds over to Peggy.
“Thank you,” Remus replied softly, feeling a tell-tale heat creeping up the back of his neck.
“No problem! Thank you for hanging out with me.”
After waving bye to her new friend, Betty turned to Remus and asked if he wanted to sit outside.
Nodding, he followed her to the rickety set of chairs and tables partially shaded underneath the shop awning.
He suddenly realised he really didn’t think this ice cream idea through because immediately after taking her first bite, Betty let out, to his British sensibilities, a practically indecent moan, eyes squeezed shut and spoon resting between her lips.
Gulping, Remus directed his eyes back to his own cup, gathering some chocolate and one of the rounded pieces of brownie before hastily distracting himself and, nodding to her choice in flavour, asked, “So, I guess it’s true that Americans have an unhealthy obsession with coffee?”
“It’s a perfectly normal obsession, thank you.” She replied, not hesitating to stick her tongue out at him. He was amazed at how comfortable they seemed in each other’s presence after only knowing each other for a few minutes. “You all just don’t appreciate it enough. I honestly don’t understand how anyone gets anything done surviving on tea instead of coffee.”
“It’s because we’re caffeinated. Not jittery.”
She waved him off with her clean spoon before dipping back into her bowl.
“Whatever. Coffee is delicious. And it’s obviously the better choice. I mean, who gets chocolate?”
“Seriously? You think coffee is more popular than chocolate? ”
“Chocolate is boring!”
Remus clutched at his chest as if the statement physically wounded him. “Take that back.”
“I’m just not a fan,” She shrugged as if the declaration wasn’t completely ridiculous.
“Not a fan of chocolate?” Remus took back any thoughts he’d had about how Betty was seemingly perfect. Apparently, she did have a glaring flaw. “Who doesn’t like chocolate?!”
“I like chocolate! Heck, I love chocolate! I just don’t enjoy chocolate ice cream.”
“You’re mad,” Remus blinked, wondering if he’d ever heard anything that absurd before. He was stunned enough to momentarily dismiss any worries about possibly offending the girl.
“And you’re missing out,” She teased back, waving a spoonful of her coffee ice cream to punctuate the sentence.
“On bean water? I don’t think so.”
“You drink leaves!” Betty yelped in amused outrage.
At the sight of Remus openly laughing at her response, Betty’s smile seemed to grow even wider. As his laughter died down, he watched her eyes track his open face, and he suddenly became self-conscious again, wondering what she must think of his scarred visage.
“I go to boarding school, too,” He blurted, attempting to redirect the conversation, hoping she wouldn’t begin to question how he came to get the marks. Despite the heat, his anxiety had him unfurling the sleeves of his plaid shirt that he’d thrown over his ratty Rolling Stones top, essentially covering the jagged scars along his forearms.
“Really?” She perked up, leaning forward and setting her ice cream on the table. Remus noticed her hopeful expression and wondered if she thought perhaps there was a possibility they’d be attending the same school.
“Yeah, in Scotland,” He replied, thinking it best to put a stop to any of those hopes before she got carried away. Even if she hadn’t already mentioned her school was in London, Remus knew there was absolutely no way they’d be seeing each other come the fall.
Her shoulders seemed to deflate a bit at the statement, but she smiled once again, asking if he liked attending boarding school.
“I do. My mates are great, and the professors are brilliant. The Highlands are beautiful too, so no complaints, really.”
“Cool. My school’s the one my mom attended when she was a girl, so that’ll be nice, at least.”
Remus nodded as his father had attended Hogwarts before him. “My dad went to my school, too.”
“Is it one of those all-boys schools? Do you have to wear uniforms?” Betty’s sweet smile turned into more of a smirk at the question, making Remus momentarily wonder if she had a mischievous side. Maybe she'd enjoy some of the pranks the Marauders got up to at Hogwarts.
“Mhm,” He nodded, not seeing any harm in lying, at least about the all-boys part, since he certainly couldn’t tell a Muggle how he went to a co-ed school for witches and wizards.
“Ugh, I had blocked it out, but I think my mom said something about having to buy uniforms, too.”
Remus physically closed his eyes, daring the image of the schoolgirl outfits he’d seen on a walk through muggle London while escaping Diagon Alley last year with James to disappear from the forefront of his mind. He’d had the brief thought after that encounter that it was probably for the best that they wore robes most of the time at Hogwarts.
“You didn’t have uniforms at your last school?”
“Nope! It was great!” Her upbeat tone when talking about her previous school seemed to die away quickly as she sighed and said, “Guess that’s just another thing I’ll have to get used to over here.”
“Not too thrilled to be here, then?”
Remus couldn’t imagine being forced to move across the ocean, leaving Hogwarts in the middle of his schooling and attending somewhere like Durmstrang or Ilvermorny.
When he did imagine leaving Hogwarts, it usually wasn’t of his own volition. And he sincerely doubted that the Headmasters at either of those schools would be as welcoming to a werewolf as Albus Dumbledore had been to Remus.
“I am!” Betty hurriedly corrected as if worried she’d offended Remus. “I like it here, really I do. And I’m excited about finally getting to see the place my mom’s been gushing about all these years. It’s just hard starting over, leaving all my friends. And people can be mean. What if I spend my last couple of years with everyone hating me?” The words rushed out of her as if they’d been weighing heavily on her mind.
“Well, that’s obviously not going to happen,” Remus blurted before realising how insensitive that was. “I just mean, look at how Peggy jumped at the chance to get to know you,” he reminded, jerking his back towards the shop window. “People are going to be bending over backwards to be your friend.”
“You think? You sure I can’t transfer to your all-boys school?” she joked. “I have a huge suitcase you could squeeze me into. They’d never even know I was there!”
Remus wasn’t sure if it was the heat or the idea that Betty would prefer to stick with him, even though they’d barely known each other for thirty minutes, that made his body temperature rise. He could probably pass off how the tips of his ears had turned red as sunburn.
“Mm, I don’t know. My mates aren’t too great at keeping secrets.” Another lie, but was he even really keeping track anymore?
Breathing through her nose, she let out a small, indignant huff. “Well, at least I tried.”
They shared a small laugh before digging back into their frozen treats.
“London will be exciting, though. Much more to do there than in the Highlands.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Betty shrugged.
“Is your Nan sad that you’ll be away in London when you’ve come over to stay with her?”
“No, she’ll probably be glad to have us out of her hair,” Betty laughed, flipping her own off her shoulder. “We really moved here because of my mom’s job. She’s a professor and accepted a position in London. Even though my Nana does need some help, she refuses to admit it and made my parents promise that we’re only staying with her until we find our own place. My dad says we’ll probably find somewhere close by, so we can keep an eye on her. And though mom will come home on weekends, we’ll be gone most of the year, so it’ll be nice for my dad to have someone he knows around.”
“So, if your mom is Welsh, how’d you end up in America?”
“My dad’s American. They met while my mom was working in DC. It was supposed to be a temporary position, but then she fell in love, and they decided to stay,” Betty said, letting out a wistful sigh like the story was too romantic to bear.
“Is that where you lived?”
“We lived in Virginia, which wasn’t far from DC, but we also spent a lot of time in Massachusetts since that’s where my school was.”
“So you attended boarding school in the States, too? I thought that was more of a European thing?”
“It is, yeah. But there are a few that cater to specific subjects or skill sets. Most students stayed in the dorms, but you could also go home if you wanted, which was nice. But this will be the first time I’ll have to live at school.”
“Wasn’t that a long trip? To go back home?”
Remus wasn’t sure how far the states were from each other, but he knew the country was enormous. And he doubted it’d be like taking a carriage into Hogsmeade after classes were over.
“Yeah, but my mom was one of the professors at my school, so we had a home nearby. My dad would have to go back for work, but we only went back to Virginia for the long breaks.”
The way she casually brought up the two homes, Remus wondered if it wasn’t odd for muggles in the States to have multiple homes like purebloods seemed to have here.
They continued getting to know each other while attempting to talk and eat their ice cream before it became a sopping puddle of mush.
Remus told her about meeting James, Sirius, and Peter for the first time and how he was sad they wouldn’t make the yearly trip to the Potter’s as was standard practice during their summers at home. They’d usually plan for a week between the full moons to gather at James’ and spend the perfect seven days lazily lounging in the gardens, indulging in Mrs Potter’s baked goods, and playing pick-up quidditch games in the gardens. He strategically left out the bit about the full moon and ensured he’d replaced any mention of quidditch with football.
“Oh, I’d love to see a football game while I’m here,” Betty replied, eyes brightening as she finished her last bite. She began to gather their rubbish, dropping it off in the bin just inside the entrance of the ice cream shop.
Remus pushed himself onto his feet, feeling his knees crack after being sat for so long. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned before following along as they naturally set off towards the bridge leading out of town.
“There’s a local team that plays in the town over, but you’d have to go into the city to see one of the premier league teams.”
“I don’t know what that means, so I’m sure the local team will do just fine,” she laughed. “Would you want to go together sometime? I’m used to American football, so I think I’m going to need some help understanding the rules.”
She leaned over while they walked in tandem and nudged her shoulder against his teasingly. When Remus glanced down at her out of the corner of his eye, he caught her gazing up at him, bright grin and perfect teeth on gleaming display and felt his face grow red once again. It took an enormous amount of self-control to not openly stare at her like a love-sick puppy.
“Oh, um, sure. If you’d like?” Remus attempted to be casual when really he just wanted to jump at the chance to hang out with Betty again.
“I would,” she nodded fervently, as if that wasn’t a completely remarkable statement.
Suddenly, the little watch on Betty’s wrist gave a ding, signalling it was the top of the hour. Sighing, she continued, “I should get going. I promised my Nana I’d be back to have tea with her, but I really enjoyed getting to know you, Remus. I appreciate you hanging out with me.”
Betty’s smile was serene, and Remus swore his heart skipped a beat as she peered up at him through a row of dark, wispy lashes.
“O-of course. I had fun.”
“Me too. Here, give me your hand.”
“Huh?” He questioned, awkwardly holding out his hand in the space between their bodies, not sure what exactly the girl had in mind.
Betty rooted around her purse for a moment before finding a pen. Then, grabbing Remus’ arm, she turned it over and pushed up his sleeve again.
Remus refrained from the instinct ingrained in him to cover his scars and instead stayed as still as possible. Her soft grip held him steady while she wrote something along his pale skin.
“Call me, and we can plan a time to see a game.”
Remus looked down to see the digits of a phone number clearly printed along his forearm. All he could manage was to nod dumbly, too amazed at the turn of events.
“Which way are you?” Betty asked as they crossed the bridge.
Remus pointed in the direction of his parent’s home and found that Betty’s was along the same path.
After their stroll through the grassy hillside, they ultimately reached Betty’s drive. Her home was blocked from view by the overgrown trees and brush surrounding the stone walkway, similar to Remus’ own drive up the road.
“Well, this is me,” Betty said, turning to Remus to say her goodbyes.
“Thanks again for the ice cream. It was a nice way to spend the hottest day of the year.”
“You’re welco- wait? Hottest day of the year? This is your hottest day of the year?” Betty regarded Remus with a look of utter disbelief before turning and examining the landscape around them as if it could offer some explanation for Remus’ statement.
“Yeah…?”
Remus thought she was beautiful before, but that was nothing compared to how she looked at this moment. Her head was tilted back and her hand covered her mouth, attempting to drown out her loud giggles at what she thought was obviously a comical sentence. Her shoulders shook with the effort to tame her amusement.
“God, that’s hilarious. I knew I’d love this place.”
She bemusedly shook her head and, still giggling, turned to walk home.
Not knowing exactly what to say to that, Remus just smiled along, sticking one hand in the pocket of his denim trousers and waving goodbye with the other. His smile grew from a crooked smirk into the grin he usually reserved for the other Marauders when Betty turned around to yell, “Call me!”
Later, as he pushed open his front gate and registered his mother’s voice drifting out of the open windows as she sang along to the radio in the kitchen, the thought struck Remus that he hadn’t smiled that much since he’d exited the Hogwarts Express in June.