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“You know we gotta start working soon, Mary. Stop the gossiping,” Remus told her. They were supposed to finish at least one song that night, and Lupin wasn’t going to stay in the girls’ wing for much longer, not if he wanted to keep his expedient clean.
Mary punched him in the arm, smiling. “Alright, whatever Moony says. D’you know if Peter’s joining our band or staying with those boys?”
“Well, I didn’t ask him.”
“He said he wanted to join us but didn’t want to leave the boys alone. They’ve been in the same band since forever, I guess,” Marlene joins, playing with the fag in her fingers. They weren’t supposed to be smoking in the dorms —well, they weren’t supposed to be smoking at all—, but Remus was already in the girls’ wing, and if they were going to break rules, they were going to break as much as possible. It was hard since Lily hated watching Marlene and Remus smoke, especially in their room, but they could get along with it once in a while.
“I don’t know what he sees in them, they’re a disaster,” Lily whispered.
“Don’t say that in front of Remus or he will get defensive.”
“Shut up, Mary. I don’t care, she’s right. They’re a disaster.”
“And you love a disaster, don’t you?” Marlene joked, passing him the cigarette.
Remus took a puff of the fag before speaking again, “I’m not that into Sirius, please. Get over it.”
“No, you get over it. We’ve been listening to you pining over him since we were like fourteen.”
“I’m over him, Marlene. You should get over Dorcas, though.”
“Don’t you dare go over there, Rem,” Marlene warned him, smirking.
Both of them had been pining over Sirius and Dorcas for years, Remus knew that. He also knew that he’d been really crazy about Sirius back in the day, after all, he was his first male realistic crush he had after he came out to the girls, but it was a thing of the past. Remus was aware Sirius was everything but Achillean, and being after him was definitely not worth it.
“He isn’t going there, aren’t you, Remus?” Lily interrupted, “Let’s finish the song, please.”
When Remus got into his dorm, he didn’t expect to see everybody awake. It was late and the boys had a football practice before, and they were usually pretty tired after that.
“Hey, Lupin,” James greeted him.
“Hi, Potter. Was the practice good?”
“Amazing as always,” James smirked. He had a great smile, if Remus had to be honest, and was definitely the best option to fall for. And still, he had to fall for Sirius. Life is unfortunate, isn’t it?
“Where’s Peter?”
“Oh, he’s in the bathroom with Sirius.”
Remus sat on his bed and he put all of the papers he brought from the girls’ dorm on his bedside table. He had to check them, but he was way too tired for it. It could wait.
Both of the guys came out of the bathroom at the same time. Peter glanced at Remus and smiled.
“You were with the girls?” He asked him.
“Yeah, they were wondering if you were going to go or not.”
“Sorry, pal. I’m stuck with those brick heads.”
“Shit, Peter. You are able to work with Evans and you chose us before her? That’s some audacity you got there, man.” James said, now really interested in the conversation. Remus was aware James had had a big crush on Lily even before Remus was pining over Sirius.
“Pete and Remus got more chicks than us, dude. You and I are nothing to the ladies,” Sirius joins, his hair wet thanks to the shower he had to take after the practice. While James’ was already dried, Sirius’ hair always took more time to dry thanks to his length. Remus liked that, a bit.
“So, Remus, tell me. Does Lily fancy you?” Potter asked him. He looked like a puppy waiting for a cookie.
“No, she doesn’t fancy me. You can sleep without worries tonight.”
“Told ya, Prongs. She’s definitely into you. Right, Lupin?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say she’s exactly into you, but she doesn’t know you, man.”
“You should get close to her, Prongs,” Peter said.
“I don’t think that would work. Look at you with Dorcas. You exposed your feelings to her and got rejected. I don’t wanna get hurt, Pete.”
“She's a lesbian, James. It’s a whole different story. I got rejected because I’m a dude.”
“What if Lily is a lesbian? How am I supposed to know?”
“She’s not, Prongs,” Sirius told him. Then, he looked right at Remus, with his face full of worry, “Please tell me she’s not a lesbian, Lupin. That would be really harsh.”
“I don’t think she is,” Remus reassured.
James stayed silent, thinking. After a whole minute, he stared at Remus, smiling. “We should work together.”
“What?”
“Join the groups. Be a whole band. That way I can get close to Evans.”
“I don’t know, pal,” Pete sat next to James, furrowing.
“Why?”
“You want me to be brutally honest, Prongs?”
“Please, Pete. Be.”
“I don’t think they are going to be up for that, dude.”
“What do you think, Lupin?” Sirius asked.
“I mean, I could ask. But don’t get your hopes high, Potter. Lily hates working with new people.”
“Mary Macdonald will want to work with me, James,” Black said.
“She will not.”
“You don’t know, Pete.”
“Dude, you both snogged once in a cinema four years ago when we were twelve. She is a grown-ass woman now and you should be one, too.”
“A grown-ass woman?” Sirius questioned, confused.
“A grown-ass man, Padfoot. Catch the context.”
“Whatever. This is going to work out.”
Sirius smirked, with his eyes full of hope. And Remus didn’t want to let him down.