ᴅᴀᴛᴇ ғᴏʀ ғᴀᴋᴇ → ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ

↳ 6: BROTHER-IN-LAW

WITH DECEMBER APPROACHING FASTER THAN expected, the coldness could be felt by everyone in the Gryffindor room. Freya was currently in front of the common room fireplace in attempts to warm herself. Even on hot days, Freya easily got cold since she was raised in Arizona by her mum.

           Remus, much to Freya's gladness, arrived and handed her a beige wool sweater. "Here, this is the smallest one I have so I reckon this would fit you."

           "Oh, thank, Zeus!" she grabbed the sweater and wore it over her shirt, instantly feeling warmer.

           Remus chuckled as he settled down on the floor next to her. "An Arizona girl who believes in Greek mythology and is studying in a British school. What mixture you are, Freya."

           Freya chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes. She rubbed her hands together as she answered, "To be fair though, my dad is British. So, I'm half American and half British."

          "Oh, how rude of me. I forgot your parents are divorced. I'm sorry," Remus looked genuinely concerned that he might have hurt her feelings but she only waved her hand in the air as if dismissing him.

          "I got over that. It doesn't matter anymore," she said and then went back to creating friction with her hands. "What bothers me is that because of their stupid arrangement, me and Froyce have to make arrangements with both of them as to where will be spending what every holidays and summer."

          "Oh, yeah, he lives with your father," Remus said in a recalling tone. It might have been odd but the laid back Remus Lupin was actually good friends with the ever so loud Freya Merse. It was ever since they sat together in the train at first year with Peter, Lily and, unbelievingly, Severus Snape. James and Sirius entered and acted like the egotistical jerks they were and owned the entire compartment, giving them a long scold by Lily and a very hurting ear pinching by Freya. They have all known each other since then.

          "I heard my lovely name." all of the sudden Froyce popped out and sat so cooly on the other side of Freya. "What's up, dear sister?"

          "She's currently being frozen slowly to death," said Remus amusedly, making Freya turn to lightly scowl at him.

          "Not everyone is a werewolf who basically radiates heat."

          Froyce laughed and Remus only innocently and jokingly shrugged. The two knew about Remus' condition along with Lily and, of course, the Marauders. And it was one of the reasons Remus was so close to them.

           "I am so glad I was raised here in Britain." said Froyce who only earned a glare from Freya.

           Though upon realizing what she had said earlier, she suddenly scooted closer to Remus and snuggled herself up on his neck. Before Remus could protest, Freya was already sighing in content. "Holy Headless Nick, you're warmer than the fire!"

           Remus just rolled his eyes as Freya hung on to his neck, trying to get as much as heat from the werewolf. That is, until, James somehow managed to squeeze in between the two.

          "Oh, how rude! I was enjoying Remus and his hotness!"

          Froyce laughed at his sisters choice of words while James looked offended. "I'm your boyfriend, Freya! You should be snuggling up to me. Oh, my, how offended I do feel!"

           Before Freya could respond, Remus beat her to it. "Oh, cut the act, Prongs. I know you guys aren't really together."

           There was silence before Freya turned her head abruptly to Froyce's direction to glare at him. "You told?!"

           "Wait — Froyce knows?" James asked incredulously. "I thought we agreed not to tell anyone!"

           "Alright, raise your voices up more so the whole of Gryffindor would know your scheme." said Remus to which immediately shut up the two. Once there was silence, he leaned in closer to them. "I'm not an idiot, James. This is obviously a plan as revenge on Sirius and to make Lily jealous. Your story was believable enough — but not for me. I know how deeply infatuated you are with each others best friends that it came to my mind that the story was, not impossible, but simply untrue."

           Freya wanted to raise her eyebrows and question why it was 'not impossible' that her and James can suddenly fall in love and make out lustfully in a broom closet but she decided she didn't even want to know.

            James fidgetted with his fingers much like a child — which was so obvious that Freya wanted to roll her eyes at him — and in a pitiful voice he asked, "So, are you going to tell on us?"

           Remus rolled his eyes — Freya wanted to thank him for doing the rolling of eyes for her — and said. "You technically aren't breaking any school rules so, as a prefect, I am not going to tell on you."

            James beamed but Remus was not done talking. "But you might be breaking bonds and relationships so, as a friend, I will tell you that this has a high at percent of ending badly."

           The brightness on James' face immediately drained as Froyce from Freya's right exclaimed, "See! I told you I was right, Freya!"

           "Still, I'm not stopping you on this." Remus continued. "But if the whole thing blows, you're on your own. I'll pretend to be like the rest and not know anything. I don't want Sirius or Lily being mad at me for knowing and not telling them. You are all my friends and for the sake of everyone, I would just ignore this."

           Freya and James looked at each other, visually contemplating. How they did it, they, too, didn't knew. But with a look, they agreed with each other before turning back to Remus and shrugging. "Okay, deal."

           Remus nodded and smiled at the two. It was hard to take sides on his accord — especially since he couldn't just stop being observant and knowing their plan. And ignoring the truth was the best on Remus' case. It was up to fate.

           There was a pause until Froyce voiced up. "So, since technically, you're officially my fake future brother-in-law now, let me tell you about the thing Freya did when she was ten."

           "Froyce!"