love, lupin

seventeen

November 14th, 1976
Sunday

Of course Remus had seen Potter since the whole prank thing as it had been a whole week but Remus steered as far away from the brunette as he could have managed. He didn't particularly want to add any time to his detention by getting into a fight.

He wasn't really peeved anymore that Potter had pulled the prank, he understood it really. He had beat his best friend unconscious with a short onslaught of hexes. But having to spend hours pretty much alone with Sirius Black was something he wasn't happy about and could definitely start a row about.

And honestly Remus thought he'd done a pretty good job at steering clear.

When Sunday came around he could probably, almost say he'd forgotten why he was even angry in the first place. Almost. Peace never seemed to welcome Remus with open arms though. It taunted and as soon as he was about to fall into the embrace it was gone.

It was a pretty average Sunday Remus admitted to himself. He, Evan and Jack were lounging under a tree by the Black Lake. Remus had always found the Lake a comforting sight despite the dangerous creatures that lurked inside.

Jack was sat beside Remus, head on his shoulder as he read the book in his hands with him. He signalled she'd finished the page and it was okay for him to turn ny knocking her foot lazily into his calf. Evan wasn't laid with his head in Remus' lap like he usually did when they came down here but he was instead sitting by the edge of the lake, attempting to skim small pebbles across the water surface. He'd only been succesful a handful of times.

Ever since Remus had told him he was set on his decision for the new member to be Crouch, the blonde had been rather short with Remus. He knew he wasn't happy about it and if the brunette was being honest with himself he wasn't either, but there weren't many other options. He'd, with complete seriousness, considered Snape, the greasy git wasn't half bad in a duel and followed orders and rules pretty simply but something about him irked Remus so it didn't take long for him to move onto Crouch who had been his first choice.

Evan had been persistently keeping himself a safe distance from Remus to make sure it didn't seem to obvious, he'd sit furthest away from him at meal times and when they'd all gather somewhere he wouldn't assume his usual spot with his head on Remus' lap but would sit with Regulus, who wasn't too fond of sharing the too-big armchair but did so nonetheless.

The behaviour hadn't been to estranged to he doubted anyone but himself and probably keen eyed Regulus Black noticed.

It was peeving Remus to the end of his wits. Although he was admittedly and quite obviously not Evans closest friend, Evan was his. He hated to admit it but he actually missed Evans company, he missed the small touches of affection that made his stomach flutter comfortably and the smiles that were so infectious they had Remus' lios mimicking it quickly. He also was struggling to get his attention to finally talk about talking to Crouch.

He'd decided when he'd do it, the weekend after his last detention with Sirius Black. That gave three weeks more to figure how to break it all to the Ravenclaw and Remus needed Evan's help with that. Evan knew how Crouch worked and how to speak to him, Remus didn't.

Flipping the page after Jack nudged his leg, he didn't focus on the page and rather watched Evan skim some more stones glumly. He was only here because Jack had asked him to come with. Remus knew he'd have said no if he knew Remus was there.

"Is something up between you and Rosier?" Remus looked down at her, she was still resting on his shoulder.
"Why would you think that?" Remus asked as he dropped his head against her and the book tipped so it lay open and upright on his lap. Neither were reading it anymore. Jack sniffled and they both watched Evan.
"Its just- he hasn't really spoken to you in the last couple days." The now ginger girl explained as she took hold of a loose thread of Remus' jumper and pulled on it. "You guys are usually pretty tight knit."