Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Twenty-Five - The Cousins Black

Author's note: CW for mentioned misogyny

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It was the weekend, finally, which for Remus meant a lot of work. The first week of lessons didn't give much homework, however the second week... well he had missed a lot. Thankfully, Lily copied over all her notes from most of their classes, David lent Remus his notes from Divination, and the Marauders did their best to fill Remus in on what happened in Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. Though Remus did end up getting Aegis's notes from Muggle Studies, and Bones's notes from Magical Creatures. James, Sirius, and Peter were all amazing guys but good note-takers... they were not.

When Sirius woke Remus up on Saturday morning, Remus was still tired since he had stayed up late the previous night; James and Sirius had gone exploring, so Peter and Remus stayed up to keep an eye on the entrance. Instead of doing homework like he intended, Remus wound up playing multiple rounds of Wild Adventures with Peter.

So he was pretty tired and hadn't made any dent in his workload yet, and felt his shoulders sag slightly when Sirius explained why he woke Remus up so early: Slytherins' tryouts. Not only that but he had his first Magical Theory that night.

"Tryouts start soon," Sirius said as they got ready. "We should have time to grab something to eat."

Remus yawned as he tied his trainers. He was wearing his nice, new jeans that actually fit him and as he finished tying the laces he looked at the denim on his legs, feeling happy he had something that fit him so well. He considered wearing the jumper James had gotten him a year ago that also fit well, but didn't feel like looking for it; instead he wore his father's ancient Beauxbatons sweatshirt that engulfed his upper body. He wondered, vaguely, what the Jean-Marie would think when he saw it on him.

Sirius grabbed James's cloak, tucking it into his satchel as they left the dorm as quietly as they could. If it was a weekday everyone else would be at breakfast by now but since it was Saturday, Sirius and Remus were the only Gryffindor third year boys awake.

The two of them grabbed toast and pieces of bacon, wrapping them in napkins as they left the castle. They went out a different door than the one nearest the pitch, and found a quiet corner by the castle to wrap the cloak around themselves. Then they trooped across the grounds, Remus glancing back at the trail they left in the dew. It was somewhat foggy so hopefully nobody would really notice.

The pitch was already filling up with Slytherins and Remus quickly spotted Aegis's pale blonde head. He was by himself, twisting the handle of a school broom around in his hand, looking nervous. Remus scanned the other bleachers, relieved when he saw Alexander, hoping she was there for Aegis. Then he returned his gaze back to the wannabe-players and saw Regulus. He was also by himself but didn't look nervous. He gripped his broom—new, and nice—while giving that haughty Black look Remus knew so well from Sirius.

"C'mon," Sirius whispered, pulling them over to the Gryffindor section of the stands. They took seats and quietly ate their food, watching as the Slytherin Captain rallied the waiting students. "Wait—what the hell is she doing here?" Remus followed Sirius's eyes to see his cousin, Narcissa Black, striding confidently across the pitch. "She—she's in trousers!?" Sirius gaped at his relative. "I didn't think Narcissa even knew girls could wear trousers, let alone own a pair herself!"

Narcissa Black stopped next to Regulus. She was wearing a tight Slytherin jumper and nice trousers, looking very different from the few times Remus had seen her. Her pale blonde hair scraped back in a tight ponytail was definitely different too; Remus thought she usually wore her hair loose around her shoulders. As he and Sirius watched, Narcissa pulled Quidditch gloves out of her pocket, yanking them on before stooping down to pick her broom carrying case back up. She turned to Regulus, saying something. Regulus responded, and the Black cousins both smiled.