Memento Mori » Sirius Black

02

CHAPTER TWO — TRADITIONS

"Is it me or did Remus Lupin get hot?"

Sat on the opposite side of the train compartment with her long legs sprawled across Lily's lap, Marlene McKinnon lowered her sunglasses and squinted at Dorcas Meadows. "Really?"

"Oh, totally." Dorcas paused briefly as she brought her hand towards her lips and blew some air onto her freshly painted purple fingernails. "In, like, a sexy nerd kind of way, obviously."

"Oh yeah, I see it," Chrissy said, mouth full of chocolate.

Marlene frowned at her. "Really?"

Mary Macdonald chuckled, peering at the girls over the top of her book – another Muggle romance Liv had never heard of, though the shirtless man on the front cover had certainly intrigued her. "Personally, I think Remus has always been cute."

"Merlin knows he's probably the only decent person in that friend group," Lily muttered, tossing a card down into the space between her and Marlene. They were on their fourth game of exploding snap, and it was getting increasingly more violent as time went on.

Liv lowered the issue of Witch Weekly she was skimming onto her lap, raising her eyebrows at Lily. "James Potter slander already? We're not even at school yet."

Lily huffed. "Do you know how many letters he sent me this summer? Seventeen, Liv. Seventeen."

"It's a new record," Marlene added, the corner of her mouth twitching.

"I do know that," Liv responded. "Because he spent the entire summer complaining that you hadn't responded to a single one."

"I did reply, actually. It said," Lily paused, holding up a finger mid air as she pretended to scribble a letter. "Dear Potter, stop sending me letters or I will hex you into oblivion when I see you at school."

Marlene and Mary giggled.

"A huge mistake on your part." Liv struggled to hold back her grin. "That'll only encourage him more."

Lily groaned, slamming another card down. Liv smirked and picked up her magazine again.

—

A few compartments away, Sirius Black absentmindedly tracked the movements of a black fly as it tried, and failed, to get out of the window. Remus was sat across from him, his head buried in a book. Peter was beside Sirius, nodding along as he listened to James rattle on about Lily.

"Liv always says they have better things to talk about than boys, but I reckon that's just a cover up," James theorised, pausing to take a bite of his pumpkin pasty. "I'm telling you, Evans is warming up to me."

Sirius grimaced as pastry crumbs sprayed from James' mouth.

"Have you ever, I don't know, considered that Liv might be telling the truth?" Remus spoke up, though his eyes remained trained on his book – one of the many multitasking skills Sirius had never quite mastered. Not that Sirius willingly read books that often. "Surely your lives aren't that interesting to them."

"Stop taking her side," James criticised, eyes narrowing at him. "Merlin, I wish I'd never introduced you two."

Peter directed a smirk in Remus' direction. "It's because he fancies her."

Remus exhaled heavily through his nose. "No, Peter, I do not fancy her," he dismissed, flicking his page. "Do I enjoy her company? Yes, because she is a welcome break from the three of you. Is the majority of our time together taken up by studying? Yes, because I'm tutoring her in Herbology. Which, Peter, you could probably also do with some help with."