the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 34: Courante

Surprise, surprise,
The boys are home;
My guardian angel,
Run down my telephone;
The heats on, Mister,
Can't you hear them scream,
What ever happened to the teenage dream?

- "Teenage Dream" T. Rex, 1974

Thursday 21st October 1976

"Oi, Lupin! Phone call!"

The muffled shout came with a sharp banging on their dorm room door. Hearing it, Remus launched himself up out of bed so fast he nearly tripped on the stack of books Sirius had pulled out of his hutch earlier that morning. He hadn't even taken a book, just left a mess. Remus was starting to suspect he did it on purpose just so he could watch him put them all back into order again.

"Moony, bring back tea!" Peter called as he threw the door open.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he might've slammed right into Sirius, who was making his way up to their room with a large duffle bag slung over one shoulder, had the other boy not pressed himself against the railing as Remus sailed past.

"Where're you going in such a rush?" Sirius demanded.

"Be right back!" He called, nearly slipping on the third-floor landing as he went.

Only one of the three Godric House phones was free, but he'd gotten lucky and it was the last phone on the left, meaning that he could pull the cord taunt and swing into the other hallway for a bit of privacy.

Remus slowed as he approached the phone and readjusted his school jumper, eyeing the receiver that had been left off its hook for him to retrieve. His heart was slamming against his rib cage and his palms were clammy, but it felt stupid to hesitate, so he forced himself to scoop up the phone as casually as he could and leaned back against the wall, tucking himself around the corner so no one could watch him slowly raise the speaker to his ear.

"Hello...?"

Please God, just this once—don't let it be Giles.

"Hey, Lu."

Remus let out a sigh like he'd just run a marathon but his vigour returned instantly along with a sudden surge of anger. " 'Hey, Lu'? Two months and all I get is 'hey, Lu'?"

"Helloooo, Remus, my darling. That better?" Tomny said from the other end, making Remus scrunch his nose up with an embarrassed smile.

"Hey, Tom," he sighed.

"Jesus, if I'd have known you'd get so up in arms I would've waited another month."

"Sod off. You already took your damn time. It's almost Halloween—my friends are already concocting some sort of plan for it."

"Ooh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting then? Were you busy making up your costumes? I bet you'd look really good as a little cat or something."

"Yeah, about as good as you'd look in a fairy dress."

"I missed your snappy attitude, Lu." His voice came out crackly as the connection faded every now and then, but it was about as good as it got so far up in the Highlands.

"Say, who was it who picked up the phone earlier?" Tomny asked.

"What? Oh, well, the phones here are sorta communal. One rings and whoever's closest picks up and shouts out a name."

"Like prison?"

"Yeah, like prison."

"Jesus Christ. Maybe we do need to come save you."

"How's home?" Remus asked, anxiously thumbing the phone's cord.

"Wet," Tomny said, "but it's not as hot anymore, thank fuck. The humidity's killer though."