selenophile || remus lupin

chapter forty five

27 November 1976

1:14 pm

"Hey fun fact," said Sirius, as the marauders and maraudettes finished eating lunch. "I'm really bored. That's it. That's the fact."

"Padfoot, do you expect us to entertain you all day every day?" snarked Remus.

"Yeah, that'd be great actually," said Sirius with excited eyes.

"I'll tell you what Pads," James began, looking up at the enchanted ceiling in the great hall, depicting a relatively clear sky. "Why don't we go outside for a bit?"

"Are you mad?" gasped Peter. "It's almost bloody December! We can't go outside, you'll freeze your bloomin' arse off."

Ophelia laughed loudly and clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound.

"I agree with Peter. It's much too cold to go outside," said Lily.

"Well, then we can stay inside. I don't want my Lily Flower to freeze," smiled James, genuinely.

"What are we going to do inside, then? Walk the halls aimlessly?" Marlene deadpanned.

"That doesn't sound too bad actually," said Remus.

"Sounds like a plan," smirked Sirius in his infamous Sirius Black smirk.

"Plan? The whole thing is that we don't have a plan," Lily said.

"It'll be fun, Lil. Honestly," smiled Ophelia.

"Fine, but only because I'll be with you five," she motioned to Ophelia, Marlene, Alice, Mary, and Dorcas. James looked like Christmas had come early.

"Oooh," Dorcas grimaced. "Actually I have plans." She quickly glanced at Marlene, which went unnoticed by the four boys.

"Wha- Oh! Me too! Very busy, urgent stuff to do. We'll be in the- in the- We'll be in the common room!" exclaimed Marlene. Dorcas got up out of her seat, grabbed Marlene's hand to help her off the bench, and the two girls all but ran out the doors.

"What was that all about?" Sirius furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"You really don't know, Siri?" asked Ophelia. The confusion, still plastered on his face, signaled that he really didn't know.

"I think that the 'urgent stuff' that Marlene really needed to go do was Dorcas. They think they're being secretive, but we've known for months," explained Alice.

"We? How many of you have known that they're shagging?" asked Peter.

Ophelia, Lily, Alice, Mary, and Remus raised their hands slightly.

"Remus you too?" Peter did a double-take. "Wow, we really are more oblivious than I thought."

"Wow Petey, you're really stepping up on your self-awareness game," joked Ophelia as Mary laughed at the boy.

"I'm done, can we go now?" whined Sirius impatiently.

"Yes, yes, Siri. Calm down," smirked Ophelia. The group all stood up from the bench, James extended his hand to help Lily up, but she pushed it away and muttered an "I don't need your help, Potter." but couldn't keep the slight blush from creeping onto her face.

They walked down the hallway in a little clump of eight. They laughed and joked as they started wandering around the castle with no purpose in sight, yet no purpose desired.

"So, any deep dark secrets that anyone wants to share?" said Mary as their last conversation came to a close.

"Oh, I do! I'm really really scared, actually," said Ophelia with wide eyes.