All My Cards are Here - Marauders+Wolfstar+Jily

Chapter 16: talking to the moon

Songs in this Chapter:
Cancer by My Chemical Romance
Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars

Marlene immediately called an emergency team meeting. The four of them were ordered to the studio as soon as humanly possible. James, Sirius, and Remus all came in together, meeting a frantic Dorcas and a murderous Marlene who were both surrounded by important lawyer-looking people. Peter joined them ten minutes later.

"Well, now that we're all here, I think I best we get started." Marlene's voice was grave. "I don't think I need to tell you that this is not just a violation of contract but also a violation of the law. Phoenix Records is actively working on putting forth a lawsuit against the Death Eaters which is why we absolutely need every fact of this case. Remus, walk us through it."

Remus fidgeted where he sat as every eye in the room turned to stare at him. "Well, um, a few weeks ago, Sirius came over and we gave each other tattoos."

The lawyers started eyeing Sirius suspiciously which Remus absolutely hated. Sirius wouldn't do something like this... right?

"When exactly?" one of the lawyers asked.

Sirius supplied the date, pulling out a photo on his phone of the fresh tattoo dated at the top. The lawyers nodded and started typing things out.

"So while we were doing that," Remus continued. "I started writing some song lyrics, as a joke really." Remus remembered that he just wanted to make Sirius laugh. He caught the other boy's eyes from across the table. There wasn't a trace of a smile now, just a cold calculating gaze.

Remus pulled out his notebook and opened it to the page. There was his messy scrawl of lyrics surrounded by Sirius' doodles. The lawyers surrounded it like vultures.

"Who had access to this?" Marlene asked.

"No one, just me and Sirius." Which of course, made them prime suspects.

"Did you leave this anywhere? A friend's house? A restaurant?" A lawyer asked.

"No, it's only really at my flat or the studio."

"So it's either one of us or one of your friends," Sirius said, his voice bitter. Remus knew he was talking about Oliver.

"And someone who knew people in the Death Eaters," Peter added quietly. "Someone who knows Snape maybe."

The boys all shared a look. James was sitting there in silent shock. "It couldn't have been Lily. She hasn't spoken to Severus in months."

"But how well do you know that, Prongs?" Sirius said.

James' eyes flashed with anger. "She wouldn't betray me like that."

"She was his best friend," Sirius said.

"We're all best friends here, Padfoot. Any one of us could've been the person," James shot back.

"And we all know Severus," Remus added. "So it's not exactly a fair argument."

Sirius just crossed his arms and sunk in his chair.

"Mr. Lupin, can you chronicle where exactly this journal has been in the past month?" A lawyer asked.

Remus went through the sparse locations - his flat, the studio, James' flat - and Marlene took to writing them on the board on one side.

"And it was never out of your possession?" A lawyer asked. "It never went missing?"

Remus shook his head 'no.' The lawyer didn't say anything more but Remus felt the weight of suspicion fall on his shoulders.

Then Remus had to list anyone who could've had access to the journal - Remus, Sirius, James, Peter, The Longbottoms, Marlene, Oliver, Lily, and Mary - a list of suspects, all of them trusted friends. It was nauseating to look at.