The Marauders: Year One | #Wattys2016

The Lovely Tea

The Lovely Tea

"Well aren't you just a picture of sophistication!" Sirius was grinning from ear-to-ear as he lounged across his bed, his eyes twinkling with amusement at Remus.

Remus turned red and shook a too-long sleeve-covered finger at Sirius, "Don't you dare make fun of me."

Sirius's eyes were still sparkling with all the evil things he wished to say, but he bit his tongue.

"Here, let me shorten your sleeves up a bit, mate," suggested James and he quickly performed a shrinking spell on them until they were to size at Remus's wrists. "Still. Not much can be done about that pattern, I suppose."

"What's wrong with the pattern?" Remus asked, looking down at the brown plaid, flecked with bits of purpley-lavender. He sighed, "Oh Merlin, it's hideous, isn't it?"

"'Fraid so, mate," replied Sirius.

Remus looked desperate. "Someone go and tell Lily I can't go to tea with her because I'm a mess."

For Valentine's Day, it was announced in the morning that there would be an afternoon tea for the school's couples in the Great Hall. Notes had been passed by gnomes, bewitched to fly about the school as little ugly cupids, inviting people to the tea. It was that tea to which Remus was taking Lily - his Valentine. James had joked about asking Sirius to be his Valentine just to embarrass his mate in the middle of Potions, but he'd decided against it as they were in with the Slytherins and he figured neither of them would ever live it down...

Besides, he had better things to worry about besides teas and Valentines Day gnomes - it was a Wednesday. Wednesday was Quidditch Practice day - the last one before the tourney try outs, too, and James was eager to get onto the pitch one more time. Which was why he'd been devastated to find Derek cancelled the practice. "How could you?" James demanded, seeing the notice early on Wednesday morning, finding Derek in the chair by the fire, flipping through a dusty old book by a muggle named Shakespeare.

"There are more important things in life than Quidditch, Potter," Derek declared absently.

"More important than -- oi, Bell, do you hear yourself? Are you ill?" James asked, wide-eyed, "You've clearly lost the plot, mate."

Derek only smiled, "Trust me, Potter. You'll understand one day." He winked.

Remus seemed to be thinking more along those same lines as Derek. As soon as he'd heard about the tea, and Lily had said yes, she'd like to go with him to it, Remus had written home to his dad and told him all about it and Lyall Lupin had sent back the suit. The Suit was the supposedly quite-in-fashion-at-the-time muggle three piecer that he'd worn when he met Remus's mum, way back in the day. It was a time that Remus always thought of as being in black and white, like the old fashioned telly shows were. He supposed The Suit might've been more fashionable in black and white. At least that would've done away with the awful lavender stripes throughout the field of browns.

"You're going with Lily, don't be barmy," Sirius said.

"But this suit is awful," Remus said.

"Yes," Sirius agreed truthfully, "It certainly is."

"Perhaps the pattern will make her go blind and she won't be able to see it after the first couple seconds," suggested Peter.

Remus smacked his palms to his face, "Oi. No. I can't do this."

James was still doing up Remus's tie for him. "Sure you can." He pushed Remus's hands out of his face. "You don't look that awful, anyway. I mean, sure, a bit outdated, and it's muggle clothes, so - it's not exactly a sharp set of dress robes but - but... I mean... it's got a great - er -" He took a step back and stared Remus up and down, trying to think of something good to say about The Suit. Several long moments passed.