James chuckled softly and twisted in his sleep, almost kicking the large, black dog at the end of the bed that was licking his feet. Peter paused his hair-combing long enough to snigger at this now-familiar scene. Ever since Sirius had escaped detection by Dumbledore, he had thrown himself vigorously into his new canine persona.
“Put that pudding away, the house-elves are coming,” James mumbled, burrowing deeper into his pillow. Sirius pricked up his ears in mock alarm and Remus couldn’t help laughing, which finally roused James from his heavy slumber.
“Huh, wha...? Ugh, Sirius, I told you that’s disgusting!” James moaned, yanking his foot away from the dog’s panting tongue.
Sirius transformed into human form and repeated, “Pudding?”
“Oh no, don’t you make me out to be the weird one here,” James argued, though he did look embarrassed. “You were licking my feet. You’re still a human, you know.”
“Only sometimes,” Sirius said blithely and shrank back into dog form. He leapt onto James’s bed and shook himself into a furry blur.
“All right, all right, I’m getting up!” James cried, shielding his eyes. “You’re getting fur everywhere, you shaggy mutt!”
Sirius transformed back just long enough to ruffle James’s hair and retort, “You’ve got a lot of nerve calling me shaggy.” Then the next instant, he was bounding in circles around the room on four legs again, tearing the blankets off all the beds and shaking them vigorously in his mouth. Peter and Remus laughed as James crashed into his bedside table trying to tackle the agile dog. When he finally succeeded, Sirius wriggled out from James’s arms and licked his feet again.
“Argh! Quit it, you sick bastard!”
Peter hooted with glee, “Isn’t this great, Remus? I always wanted a dog!”
“I don’t know, I’m beginning to think cats are underrated,” Remus replied with a smile. “They’re so nice and quiet. Goldfish, too.”
He finished gathering his schoolbooks and called out more loudly, “Peter and I are going to Defence class now. You can keep licking the pudding off James’s feet, Sirius. We’ll send Cóvas your regards.”
“Wait, I’m coming!” Sirius said, instantly transforming back into a human. “Ugh, James, get your feet out of my face.”
“You couldn’t keep your tongue off them a second ago!” James said exasperatedly. He pushed Sirius aside and hastily pulled on his school robes.
“I was a dog then.” Sirius rolled his eyes at James’s ignorance. “You wouldn’t understand. But maybe someday you will, if you’re lucky enough to become a majestic canine like me.”
James laughed as he finished putting his shoes on, then grabbed his books out of his trunk and followed the others out of the room.
“Majestic my arse,” he said. “I’d never be a dog. From now on, it’s my life’s ambition to turn into a flea so I’ll be the one to never give you a moment’s peace.”
The heavy door had just closed behind Remus when the silver clock signalled the beginning of class. The four boys grabbed the last remaining seats in the back of the room, sitting quickly before they could be punished for being late. Professor Cóvas didn’t notice, however, or didn’t care.
“Homework,” she announced, languidly extending one hand. “Three… two…”
Dozens of parchments flew from the class into her open hand. Remus, who hadn’t had time to unpack yet, saw his own assignment wrestle itself out of his bag and soar forward with the others.
“One.” Professor Cóvas licked her fingertip and casually flipped through the pages in her hand. “And how did we do this time? Good, good, illegible, fair, terrible, misspelled, good, and… abysmal.”
Remus recognized Peter’s scrawl on the last page she turned to and vowed to help him more on the next assignment. Leaving him to his own devices had not instilled the sense of responsibility Remus hoped it would.
“I hope you paid attention while writing your essays, because today we’re putting the theory into practice.” Professor Cóvas drew her wand and caressed invisible circles in the air with its tip. Words appeared on the blackboard, detailing the incantation and effects of their latest curse.
While Professor Cóvas was turned to the board, Sirius slipped a small, folded piece of parchment onto Remus’s desk. Remus unfolded it and read, “Three days!”
Smiling wryly, Remus wrote underneath it, “You’re awfully excited about your imminent demise,” and passed the note back. Sirius read the message, smirked, and scratched another one.
“Are you kidding? I bet I’m bigger than you.”
“Maybe, but I guarantee I’m meaner.”
“I’m a Black; we invented mean.”
Remus chuckled and tried to think of a witty reply when the parchment burst into flames in his hands. He yelped and thrust his singed fingers into his mouth, belatedly aware of Professor Cóvas’s icy glare upon him. With a quick flick of her wrist, she vanished the words from the blackboard.
“Passing notes in class, Mr. Lupin?” she said. “How very tiresome; I thought you were above such foolishness. Please, reassure me that my original judgment of you was sound and explain the Soporus curse to the class, thoroughly.”
“Whew, better you than me, mate,” Sirius muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
Remus ignored him but silently agreed; he had spent considerable time studying this particular curse and was certain that Sirius had not.
“The Soporus curse,” he began, recalling the textbook, “hinders the victim’s body and gives them a sense of vertigo and frightened confusion, making their movements slow, clumsy and unbalanced. It’s said to be like walking into a nightmare, where your body won’t respond to your mind. It leaves the victim helpless to protect themselves from further attacks.”
“Expertly recited without a trace of originality, Mr. Lupin. Have you experimented with this curse yet?”
“No, Professor,” he said. “We haven’t been shown the counter-curse.”
“Haven’t been shown the counter-curse.” she repeated with a smirk. “In my school days, we were much more adventurous.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow and plucked a dog hair off his robes.
Professor Cóvas continued, “It’s simply a short, jabbing motion with the wand, as such, and Reinveo! Nightmare over. Please practice it together now.”
“Reinveo!” the class dutifully repeated and Professor Cóvas nodded.
“Now everyone pair off. I want you all to experience the fear and paralysis of this curse so you can understand what it is you’re defending against.”
“What is it with this woman and fear?” James grumbled as he turned in his chair to face Remus. “She’s such a nutter.”
Remus shrugged and said, “Odds.”
The two boys held out their fists, shook them, and then both extended two fingers on the third shake.
“Damn.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle,” James teased. “Ready? Soporus!”
Remus felt a wave of nausea ripple through his body, as if the whole world had lurched sickeningly around him. He tried to turn his head to look around, but it flopped and rolled on his neck like a useless weight.
“Ok, your turn now,” he slurred thickly, but he couldn’t tell if he’d actually made an intelligible sound. He plodded heavily toward James, nearly falling over as he shifted his clumsy weight from foot to foot. He struggled to move his arms and legs through the air, as if he were wading through treacle. A sense of claustrophobia threatened to overtake him, trapped as he was by the invisible bonds of the curse.
“Enough,” he managed to croak. Then, with a point of James’s wand, Remus stumbled backwards, his head cleared of the confusing fog and his limbs buoyantly free. He raised his arm and wiggled his fingers in wonder, feeling as though his entire body were lighter than air.
“You all right, mate?” James asked with concern.
Remus nodded, straightening his robes with an invigorated smile. “Better than all right. The curse is a drag but the after-effects are delightful.”
“Well, come on then,” James grinned and threw his arms wide. “Hit me, I’m ready!”
But his grin disappeared at the sound of a sudden thump, followed by a choked gurgle of pain. Erica Wilson, a quiet, dark-haired girl, had crumpled to the floor in front of Gayle, pawing loosely at her broken nose which was spurting blood down her pale face. She let out a low moan as her hand flopped clumsily into her injury, worsening it.
“Reinveo! REINVEO! Professor!” Gayle shrieked. “Professor! She fell over and hit her face on the desk! I can’t lift the curse; please help her!”
Professor Cóvas allowed herself the faintest of sighs before speaking “Reinveo” and stabbing the air with her wand. Erica’s low, choked moans instantly sharpened into a wail and her now agile hands flew to cradle her bloody face.
“Stop crying, Miss Wilson, and let me look at you,” Professor Cóvas said, swooping down upon the scene and gripping Erica’s chin. “If you don’t move your hands, I won’t be able to heal you. There, that’s hardly a fracture.”
Professor Cóvas pulled a vial of black powder from her robes and sprinkled it liberally over the swollen nose. The bleeding stopped almost immediately and Erica’s wails subsided to a woeful hiccup.
“Go to Madam Pomfrey; she’ll set the bone,” Professor Cóvas ordered. “And on the way, do think about keeping better control of yourself! Being cursed is no excuse to fall about the place and bleed on the floor.”
Erica nodded tearily and left, wiping her face on her sleeve. Professor Cóvas turned on Gayle with a stern look. “Why, precisely, did you not lift the curse?”
“I- I tried, ma’am!” she stuttered. “I was nervous; it didn’t work!”
“You were nervous?” Professor Cóvas mocked. “Tell me, what’s the name of this class?”
“Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor.”
“Correct, not Duelling Club Practice or Jinxes To Annoy Your Siblings. Defence! When your enemies come for your life and you watch your friends dying before your eyes, how ‘nervous’ do you think you’ll be then?”
Gayle’s lip merely quivered in response.
“No fear, no distractions!” Professor Cóvas went on, facing the rest of the class. “Even when you are surrounded by screams of agony and rivers of blood, you clear your mind and you fight!”
“Blimey, she’s a right ball of sunshine, isn’t she?” James muttered to Remus. Remus stifled a chuckle and held his face in what he hoped was a serious and thoughtful expression.
Professor Cóvas glared at the class’s stony faces and sniffed, “I suppose you won’t truly understand until you’ve experienced it. And believe me, one day you will. But until then, I expect you to master distractions.”
She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a large handful of Filibuster fireworks. With a toss and a flick of her wand, the classroom exploded in a cacophony of shrieks, bangs and whistling fireballs.
“Carry on,” Professor Cóvas shouted, barely audible over the explosions.
Remus and James exchanged a surprised look as a rocket zoomed between them with a shower of gold sparks.
“Well, what do you know? She’s starting to grow on me,” James grinned. “Now it’s my turn. Give me your best shot.”
Remus found it extremely difficult to concentrate at first with the explosions all around him, but after a while the fireworks lost their novelty and they became merely annoying instead of surprising. James and Remus were able to curse and counter-curse each other with ease by the end of class, ignoring the crashes and bangs.
After the silvery bell chimed at the end of class and the fireworks fell dead to the floor, Remus packed his bag and followed James out of the room, Sirius and Peter close behind. Lily walked out of the door after them, holding her head in her hands.
“Are you all right, Lily?” Remus asked, coming to a stop beside her.
She looked up and smiled wanly. “I’m fine, just a bit dizzy still.”
“I bet your partner didn’t counter-curse you properly,” James spoke up. “I can do it for you.”
“No. Thanks, but I’m fine.”
James looked as if he wanted to argue, but at a sharp glance from Remus, he merely said, “Walk with us to Herbology, then. Get some fresh air.”
Much to Remus’s surprise and delight, Lily accepted and fell into step beside them. Sirius raised a meaningful eyebrow at Remus over her head, to which Remus responded with a slight shrug. True to his word, he’d not told Sirius about his promise to James. He wondered what Sirius would say if he knew Remus had only worked up the nerve to approach Lily when it was to win her for someone else. He imagined “fool” and “coward” would be top on the list of words used.
“Poor Erica,” murmured Lily. “I’m not surprised that curse ended up hurting someone. I hope Madam Pomfrey can heal her nose.”
“I know, it looked terrible,” said Peter, turning a bit green. “All that blood…”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. Madam Pomfrey’s healed worse,” Remus assured them.
A cold voice sneered behind them, “Wilson’s in the hospital wing again? That’s twice in the first month!”
Remus turned around sharply to find Severus leaning against the wall with Calder Morrow, a burly sixth year Slytherin. Both wore cruel yet amused smirks. Calder responded disdainfully to Severus, “Mudbloods. Already embarrassing themselves among the real wizards.”
“Ten points from Slytherin,” Remus ordered. “And the use of that word is grounds for being reported to your head of house.”
“Is that so?” Calder narrowed his dark eyes, then sauntered into the middle of the hall and faced him with defiant scorn. Remus drew his wand from his robes, feeling a rush of adrenaline in his veins. Lily stepped beside him, her own wand already out.
“Move on, now, or we’ll take you to Slughorn personally,” she commanded.
Severus sniggered behind the massive form of Calder and cast a disparaging look between them. “I don’t know about your… background, but in wizarding families, we’re taught to respect our superiors. I suggest you try it unless you want to end up in the hospital wing, too.”
Faster than Remus could respond, James shoved past him with his wand out.
“How dare you threaten them, you foul bastard,” he snarled, just as Sirius yelled, “Shut your mouth, Snape, or I’ll curse you into a grease spot on the floor!”
Severus laughed as Calder stepped forward, pointing his wand menacingly between Sirius and James.
“It’s wise of you to try to surround yourself with more powerful wizards, Lupin,” said Severus, his eyes glittering coldly. “But surely you could have done better than this filth.”
He cast a disgusted look upon Sirius, whose jaw clenched tightly.
“Feeling pretty safe behind your muscle-headed lump, aren’t you, Snivellus?” James spat. “Weren’t quite so cheeky on the train, were you? Taranta”“
“NO!” Lily yelled and pushed James away with surprising strength. He stumbled backward and his half-formed curse bounced harmlessly off the ceiling. “Stay out of it, Potter!”
Calder, seizing his opportunity, aimed his wand at Lily’s unprotected back and began to utter a curse. Remus instantly shouted, “Expelliarmus! Petrificus totalis!”
The disarming spell flung the wand out of Calder’s hand, but Severus managed to block the body binding spell and counter with a nasty hex that flew inches from Remus’s head. Sirius let out something like a war cry and hit Severus with a powerful spell that knocked him off his feet and slammed him into the wall. His pallid face went slack as he crumpled to the floor in a daze. Calder grabbed his wand from the ground and fired a spell at James, who shouted angrily as the red jet of light singed his arm.
Lily cast a quick Stunning spell on Calder and the heavy Slytherin fell to the floor, just as James fired back with a hex of his own.
“All right, it’s over, that’s enough,” she panted. “Potter, I said that’s ENOUGH! BLACK, STOP! Expelliarmus!”
James and Sirius were still cursing the fallen Slytherins with fury when their wands exploded out of their grasps. Peter’s hopeful grin vanished and he glared at Lily.
“Hey, why the hell did you do that, Evans?” Sirius demanded, rubbing his hand.
“They’re down, Black!” she said furiously. “It’s over!”
“It is not over,” Sirius retorted. “That prat’s still got his wand, hasn’t he?”
Severus was indeed still brandishing his wand vaguely in Sirius’s direction, but judging by the blank expression on his blood-streaked face, it was clear he wasn’t up to producing any intelligible spell. Remus’s stomach turned at the sight.
“You know perfectly well he can’t fight back!” Lily snapped at Sirius. “How could you be so… so savage?”
“Me?” Sirius kicked Calder’s leg. “He’s the one who tried to curse you when your back was turned! You should have been worrying about him instead of attacking the people who were fighting on your side.”
“Potter wasn’t fighting for anyone’s side and neither were you!” Lily yelled.
“I was defending Remus,” Sirius said, his voice low but his eyes narrowing dangerously. “And you, for that matter.”
“From two unconscious people?” Lily bit back.
“No, from that ‘pureblood’ bollocks! I won’t let that scum treat my friends or anyone else that way!”
“Oh, come off it,” Lily snapped. “Like you really give a damn at all what half-bloods go through. You just want to hide your bullying behind a cause! You’re as cruel as they are!”
Sirius glared at her incredulously for a second and then let out a contemptuous laugh.
“As cruel as they are?” he repeated. “Do you even have any idea what these monsters are like? Your world is Hogwarts and the Muggles, Evans! Some greasy git calls you a nasty name between classes and you think you’re at the front of the battle, don’t you? Well, try coming home with me sometime and I’ll show you how much worse it gets! If you even knew the half of it”what these people think! What they do to people like you and Remus! Bloody hell, Evans, spend one day in the real world with these people and you’ll be bloody ashamed for ever defending them!”
With one last disdainful glare, Sirius swept down the hall. He didn’t look back even when Lily shouted after him, “I may not know what’s happening in the real world, Black, but I do know that cruelty will only make it worse! If you care at all, like you say you do--”
But Sirius had disappeared around the corner, leaving Lily fuming at the corridor full of wide-eyed students. Only then did Remus notice the crowd of people that had gathered to stare at them.
“Move along,” he directed them. “Go back to class. We have it under control now.”
The crowd dispersed reluctantly, several students grumbling and glancing back over their shoulders to make sure they weren’t missing any more action. A few younger students stared at the crumpled Slytherins on the ground, cast frightened looks at Remus, and ran away.
James put his hand on Lily’s trembling shoulder and said softly, “Evans, calm down, it’s”“
“Don’t touch me, Potter!” Lily snapped, jerking away. “And don’t you dare try to play nice; you acted just as terribly as Black did!”
“Calder hexed me first!”
“No, you hexed him first and missed, and then you hexed him while he was unconscious,” Lily said scathingly. “Well done, Potter. I’m sure your idiot fan club will be lining up any minute to tell you how incredibly brave you were.”
James looked stung. Lily continued in a disgusted voice, “Come on, Remus, I’m going to need help moving these two to the hospital wing.”
Remus glanced at James, who was holding his burnt arm and glowering at Lily. “Maybe you and Peter should find Sirius,” he said quietly.
“Right,” James muttered, and with a defiant toss of his head, stalked off down the hall with Peter close behind him. Lily watched them for a moment with pursed lips and then shook her head.
“Mobilicorpus.”
Severus rose limply from the ground on her command, and she directed him forward with her wand poised like a conductor’s. Remus followed suit with Calder’s heavier form and walked beside her down the hall.
“You all right?” he asked after a few minutes, breaking the edgy silence.
“Yes,” Lily replied shortly. Then in a softer voice she added, “Sorry, yes, I’m fine. Thank you, by the way. You saved my back.”
“Of course,” said Remus. “Thank you… for saving theirs.”
Lily grimaced and said nothing. When they reached the hospital wing, Remus recalled the last time he was there and how shocked he was to see the burn Bellatrix had left on Lily’s forehead. Now he cynically wondered why he’d been surprised. From the day he arrived at Hogwarts, the rift between the pure-blood separatists and the Muggle-born had consistently widened. Every year it seemed more violent outbursts erupted between students about their respective backgrounds. Remus had fortunately been spared most direct confrontation because few wanted to incur the wrath of James and Sirius, but he still found the growing trend disturbing. And by the troubled frown on Madam Pomfrey’s face when they led the unconscious Slytherins into the hospital wing, Remus knew he was not the only one.
“Lay them down on the beds,” she sighed. “What happened this time? Or do I even need to ask?”
Remus glanced across the room at Erica, who was sitting on a bed and patting her swollen nose in a mirror. “Just another fight, ma’am.”
Outside of the hospital wing, Remus and Lily exchanged a reluctant look about their final prefect duty. Remus would have been perfectly happy to put the whole matter behind them, but he knew they had one last stop.
“Slughorn?”
Lily pulled a face. “Yeah, I reckon we have to.”
Though Remus never enjoyed meeting with Slughorn, whom he found shallow and insincere, he was curious to finally see his office. It had reached a certain level of fame among the Hogwarts students, reports of it ranging from “brilliant” to “ridiculous.” Remus and Lily travelled down the stone staircase to the dungeons, faster without the weight of the Slytherins, and came to a stop in front of Slughorn’s door. Remus knew without asking that it was the right one by the crystal bell dangling on a long, silver chain.
“Enter!” Slughorn called after Lily awkwardly jiggled the chain. Remus opened the door and stepped into the most luxuriously furnished room he’d seen outside a museum. A gleaming, mahogany desk sat in the centre of the room, covered with expensive-looking trinkets and ornately framed photos of Slughorn with various celebrities. Rich, velvet drapes hung from the wall, though there were no windows, and an upright piano took up most of one side of the room. On the other side, under a particularly elegant tapestry, his Potions instructor sat comfortably in a winged armchair, munching raspberry truffles from a small, gold box. His face, merely quizzical at the sight of Remus, broke into a jovial grin when Lily stepped into the room.
“Lily, what a delight! I told you you’d be back to see me, didn’t I?” Professor Slughorn winked, setting his box of truffles onto a carved ivory table beside his chair. “You’re here about tonight’s party, of course?”
“No, Professor,” said Lily with a fixed smile. “I told you I won’t be able to attend. We’re here on duty about two of your students.”
Ignoring the last sentence, Slughorn shook his finger at Lily and admonished, “I’m disappointed in you, my dear! Why, I was just telling Malcolm Smethwyck that you’d be attending and he was quite interested in meeting you. You do know his father, don’t you? Alden Smethwyck, founder of the”“
“Professor, Severus Snape and Calder Morrow are in the hospital wing,” Lily broke in. “They called a Muggle-born girl a Mudblood, which began a rather violent fight in the hall.”
Slughorn looked perplexed and annoyed by the abrupt change of subject. “Eh? Snape and Morrow? Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Always thought they were a rather unpleasant sort. I assume you took points off them?”
Remus nodded. “Yes, Professor, ten.”
“Well, that and their stay with Madam Pomfrey ought to teach them a lesson,” Slughorn said decidedly, helping himself to another truffle. “Now then, Miss Evans, about tonight”“
“Sir, it was James Potter who cast the first hex,” Lily persisted. “Both he and Sirius Black escalated the fight beyond reason. I believe they both deserve detention.”
Lily cast a sideways glance at Remus. He felt a twinge of annoyance that she wouldn’t let the matter go, though he had to admit that she was right. But to his relief, Slughorn merely chuckled.
“Black and Potter! Now there’s a talented pair. I’m sure Snape and Morrow have certainly learned a lesson if they were involved.”
“But Professor, if they’re allowed to hex people without”“
"Lily, your dedication to your prefect duties is admirable,” Slughorn smiled. “But it was just a fight! I’ve been a professor for thirty years and seen more than my share. 'He said this, she turned me into that!' A couple of blows and hexes, and then it's all out of their system. Let’s not waste any more time worrying over it."
Lily exhaled, her face falling into resignation. “Yes, Professor.” With a sullen shrug at Remus, she walked out the door, the small bell tinkling as she left.
“Stop by again any time, my dear!” Slughorn called out merrily. Remus followed behind her until Slughorn beckoned him back. “One moment! Remus Lupin, is it?”
Remus paused in the door way and looked back. He nodded, surprised that Slughorn even remembered his name.
"You’re friends with Sirius, aren’t you?" Slughorn’s eyes twinkled slyly. "What’s it going to take to get that boy down here for one of my dinners?"
Remus coughed. "I'm sure Sirius is flattered by your invitations, Professor. All of them. But you know he can't stand to be in the same room as Bellatrix, let alone most of the other Slytherins in your club."
"Nonsense, he's a Black! He belongs with Slytherins!” Slughorn declared. “I've always said the Sorting Hat was off its mark that day. But never mind that, just give him this, my boy, and tell him I expect to see him shortly!"
Remus took the glittery parchment from Professor Slughorn's hand and shoved it into his pocket, taking care to crumple it. Normally he'd have saved the invitation to place on Sirius's pillow for a laugh, but he doubted that would be well-received today.
“I’ll see that he gets it, Professor,” Remus lied and left the office. Outside, he spotted Lily waiting for him in the hall, a troubled look creasing her brow. He braced for the inevitable, a lecture about his friends’ irresponsible behaviour and a promise to see them suitably punished. But on closer examination, he saw that she looked more brooding than vindictive.
“What’s wrong?” Remus asked.
“Do you think…” Lily began slowly, as if reluctant to voice her thoughts, “do you think Sirius was right? About what’s happening in the world?”
Remus hesitated; he hadn’t expected that question. “I don’t know. I’m pretty… isolated at home during break. But the reports of violence outside are only getting worse and the atmosphere in Hogwarts seems to be reflecting that. I’m afraid we don’t even know the half of what’s really happening.”
“But what can we do?” Lily pressed. “We have to do something!”
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do. At least, not yet.”
Lily’s fingers twitched restlessly at her sleeves. “I hate feeling so helpless! I can’t just sit still and watch our world self-destruct. Merlin help me, sometimes I do want to blast away every Slytherin in this school side by side with Sirius and James. I know that wouldn’t help anything, but damn it, I want to do something!”
Remus understood her frustration, her feelings of powerlessness. He wished he knew how to fight against such an intangible enemy as prejudice. Merely representing half-bloods in a capable, responsible light seemed laughably ineffective, yet what else could be done? What other weapons could they use to defeat the contempt in others’ minds? Though he had no answers, Remus fervently wished he could think of something, anything, to ease Lily’s distress.
“Here,” he said. He dug an apple from his bag, and after a few seconds’ recalling his lesson on fruit, transfigured it into a teacup. She took it from him with a confused expression.
“Throw it against the wall,” he offered. “You’ll feel better.”
Lily’s face relaxed into a surprised smile. “You’re not serious?”
“Of course I am,” Remus grinned. “It’s easy enough to clean up. I’ll even reform it for you if you want another go.”
“You know,” Lily said, tossing the teacup in the air and catching it again. “I think it’s been just a rotten enough day…”
She threw the cup as hard as she could at the stone wall, wincing a little as it exploded into a cloud of shards with a mighty crash. Looking at the shattered pieces on the ground, she let out a nervous laugh.
“Very nice,” Remus nodded approvingly. “That’s an excellent mess you’ve made. Reparo!”
The teacup was too far damaged to be completely repaired, but Remus held out the tatty reconstruction anyway. “Feel better yet, or do you need another?”
Lily laughed fully this time and threw her arms around him, almost causing him to drop the teacup in shock.
“Oh, Remus,” she said, her face pressed against his shoulder. “Thank you.”
Remus hesitated, then lightly put his arms around her. “Any time.”