𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐏A𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄, jp

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

"You and Remus...I always forget how stiff it is between you guys!" Jessie exclaimed, laying back on Izzy's bed.

"He's a nightmare," she replied, glancing up at at the ceiling.

"Do you think that going to the same school will change anything?"

"I dunno...Remus and I haven't gone to the same school since Maisie died. Living together over Christmas and summer is bad enough, let alone all year round! Even if he isn't being a dick...I doubt I could every forgive him."

"I wouldn't be able to either," Jessie said truthfully. "But maybe one day in the far future you guys will get along."

"Maybe," Izzy shrugged. "Oh! Guess what I got? A new vinyl for my record player!"

"The Beatles!?" Jess inspected the vinyl, carefully turning it in her hand. "I'm so jealous! We have got to play it!"

And so the girls did just that - Isabella making it loud enough to piss Remus off, so much so that after a few minutes, he and his boy brigade started banging on her door.

"If we ignore them, they'll go away," giggled Izzy, who was singing to the songs being played.

"ISABELLA!" Remus stormed into the room, and the two girls pulled a face at one another.

"Nice room," James said as Remus turned off the record player.

"Why'd you turn it off?" Isabella frowned.

"Don't be stupid, Isabella," Remus said sternly.

"It's just a little music, Moony, I quite like the Beatles." Sirius said.

"Well I don't," Remus huffed. "Can you...I don't know, shut up?"

James regarded his best friend with a curious gaze, his usual laid-back demeanor replaced by a rare display of anger. Remus, typically the epitome of calm, presented an unfamiliar side to James. The unexpected shift in Remus's temperament intrigued James, prompting a silent acknowledgment that there might be more beneath the surface of his usually composed friend.

"Get out of my room, Remus," Izzy said softly. She didn't bother shout, she had purposely turned the music up to annoy him, she had indeed deserved it.

"I can easily write to mum and tell her that you're going out when you're grounded."

"Your friend has a beer in his hand," she pointed at Peter with a smirk. "Drinking underage is illegal, I can easily tell the police."

Peter looked horrified. "I can throw it away? I-I didn't mean to..I'm sorry!"

"Ignore her, Pete, she's just being a bitch," Remus spat. "She wouldn't actually do anything."

"Maybe we should go back downstairs. We could chill in the garden if the musics a problem for you, Moony?" James suggested.

Izzy shared a look with her twin, she knew that neither of them ever went in the garden, now when their sister had been killed there.

"No."

James was shocked at Remus' tone. "Right...or just downstairs? There's no point arguing up here all day!"

"Do as your friend says, Remus," Izzy smiled sweetly, though her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"What's the deal with you two?" Sirius clearly had no shame in asking personal questions.

"There is no deal," Remus said dismissively.

"Well, it seems like there is."

"True, you didn't even tell us you had a sister!" Peter added.

Observing the unfolding conversation, James chose not to partake, sensing an undercurrent of significance beyond mere sibling drama. Intuitively, he grasped that Remus harbored a substantial secret, one not casually shared. While he respected Remus's privacy and had no intention of prying, a lingering curiosity sparked within him, prompting a silent acknowledgment that there was more to the situation than met the eye.