Aug. 15th, 2011 10:25 am
Fic: These Four Kings (Year Seven 1/?)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fox_confessorI wasn't going to post this yet but I'm feeling rather plucky :D
Title: These Four Kings (Year Seven 1/?)
Author: Dani (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
escribo)
Word count: 1292
Rating: PG
Pairings: Lily/James (in the future will be Remus/Sirius)
Timeline: September 1977
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. I've not made nor seek any profit.
Year 1: one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven
Year 2: one/ two/ three/ four
Year 3: one/ two/three/four
Year 4 (coming in the future when work quits eating my brains! Sorry for the out-of-order-ness)
Year 5 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight
Year 6 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight/ nine
Summer one/ two
"What books do you want, Remus?"
Remus didn't answer. He was standing still, listening at the door, which Sirius hadn't closed all the way when he'd come up to help Remus finish packing. They could just hear his mother as she wept in the kitchen, as she had been doing all morning. For days, actually, since they'd fought about whether or not he'd return to Hogwarts. She had pleaded with him, begged him to stay--to give up all this nonsense, she'd called it. Like his father had done, she'd said. Like his father would have wanted. Remus had known that was a lie, a retelling of his history because his mother had wanted to forget.
The door clicked shut and Remus blinked up at Sirius. "I'm sorry."
"The books."
"Take them all."
Sirius dumped the stack of books he held into the trunk, though he held out a weighty tome they had used in Divination many years ago. Sirius and James had arrived less than an hour ago to take Remus to the station, finding the house in chaos with his mother in tears and his aunt railing at Remus for upsetting her. Both women were in the kitchen now with James as he made what Remus assumed would be a bad pot of tea and worse conversation, not that they would have accepted anything James offered them. Sirius had come upstairs with Remus to help him finish packing and had found that Remus had barely started, still pale and weak from the full moon only just three nights past.
"You don't need the Augour, do you? Why did you keep this anyway?" Sirius asked as he held up the divinations primer.
"I'm not in the habit of tossing books away like you do."
"I don't if they're helpful. This is bloody useless."
"Let me see it." Remus moved nearer to Sirius and opened the book in his hands to the section on Grims, showing Sirius the words written in the margins--
This is probably your animagus form, Black--harbinger of DOOOOOOOOOOM
You're only just jealous, Potter, because you're probably a bunny.
He'd have a lovely tail, it continued in Remus' handwriting, Maybe Evans would keep him as a pet.
"This is fourth year," Remus said. "You were already trying by then."
"So, we'll keep the divinations."
"Keep them all, except the potions."
"I can't believe Slughorn failed you."
"He should have given me T's years ago. I always suspected Professor Dumbledore had his hand in that."
"You need at least an Outstanding to--"
"It's not like I was going to be accepted as an Auror, Sirius. A werewolf using a cane?" Remus gestured with the offending item, scowling at it.
"You won't have it forever. You're using it less already."
"The point is that they would have never taken me on even I wanted to apply."
"It's my fault, though. If I hadn't--"
Remus tossed his cane onto his bed and wobbled enough that Sirius dropped the book in his hand, reaching for Remus instead. Remus forced a weak smile as he let himself be caught, as he leaned against Sirius' side. "You aren't responsible for my inability to perform even the simplest of potions. I always hated it. At least now I can give up the pretense."
"I should have helped you more."
"Stop blaming yourself, Sirius. You helped me, more than you should have," Remus said. He steadied himself with Sirius' help and then eased his way over to his chair by the window so that he could looked out over the garden. James' buoyant voice floated up through the open kitchen window beneath his room and Remus could tell that he was putting his best forward, talking fast and likely attempting to regale them with Quidditch anecdotes. Behind him, Sirius was still sorting through Remus' books, dumping them into Remus' trunk.
"Keep everything but the potions," he said again. "I won't be coming back here to live."
"I'm sure your mum will let you come back to visit if you want."
"I won't be coming back at all. After we leave Hogwarts, I'll have to register. I should have done already when I turned seventeen."
"Your dad didn't want you to," Sirius said as he finished with the books and moved on to add what was left of Remus' clothes. "Besides, Dumbledore said not to."
"I don't think that'll stop the Ministry from punishing me for it." On the windowsill was a small tin dragon, the last belonging to his father's set of soldiers--Remus' favorite when he had been a boy, its red paint mostly chipped off. Remus touched it to make its wings flap and a small spark sputtered from its mouth. "Mum's terrified of them, of what they'll do."
"They'd better not try anything, the great gits," Sirius said as he tossed a drawer full of Remus' socks and pants into the trunk with more force than was probably necessary.
Remus didn't answer, not nearly as confident as Sirius regarding the ineptitude of the Ministry of Magic. Just because The Daily Prophet had stopped reporting any of the Ministry's actions, Remus didn't believe it was because they had lost interest in werewolves. He got up anyway, though, and used his wand to close the empty drawer and start on his pajamas before Sirius got ahold of them. When he was finished, he realized that was the last of everything, except the photographs lying in a stack on his desk. He picked them up and shuffled through them before he handed them over to Sirius when he held his hand out for them. Remus hobbled over to him and put his chin on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius had stopped on a photo of the two of them from fifth year, taken just after the term had started and Sirius had hounded Lily until she'd let him borrow her new camera. It was a Muggle picture, Lily had never bothered to develop this roll with the potion to make the images move. Remus' smile was shy as he stared steadily into the camera while Sirius' grin was wide and easy, his eyes on Remus and his arms slung over Remus' shoulders.
"It would have been nice," Remus whispered as he watched Sirius slip the picture of the two of them into his pocket and put the rest into Remus' trunk, letting the lid fall shut.
"What would have been nice," Sirius said when Remus had gone quiet.
"I was just... I don't know. It would have been nice for my mum to have a normal son who did normal things, like go on dates and play football rather than--" Remus held out his hand and showed Sirius the bite mark on the back of his hand from the last moon.
Sirius turned Remus' hand over and rubbed his thumb over the faint scar he found, the one he had made when he had saved Remus' life, and then held out his own hand to show his matching scar before he closed his fingers over Remus'. "Normal is bloody boring."
"I don't know," Remus said, pressing their palms together as they held hands. "I think I might like it, just as a change."
The quirk of Sirius' lips as he grinned and the sudden light in his eyes made Remus' tummy flop in a pleasant way, and he was willing to put aside any thoughts of the Ministry or what would happen once he left, of the coming war and of his remote chance for opportunity, N.E.W.T's or no, once he'd left Professor Dumbledore's protection. He was going back to Hogwarts with Sirius and this was their last year. Nothing else seemed to matter suddenly.
continue
Title: These Four Kings (Year Seven 1/?)
Author: Dani (
escribo)Word count: 1292
Rating: PG
Pairings: Lily/James (in the future will be Remus/Sirius)
Timeline: September 1977
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. I've not made nor seek any profit.
Year 1: one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven
Year 2: one/ two/ three/ four
Year 3: one/ two/three/four
Year 4 (coming in the future when work quits eating my brains! Sorry for the out-of-order-ness)
Year 5 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight
Year 6 one/ two/ three/ four/ five/ six/ seven/ eight/ nine
Summer one/ two
"What books do you want, Remus?"
Remus didn't answer. He was standing still, listening at the door, which Sirius hadn't closed all the way when he'd come up to help Remus finish packing. They could just hear his mother as she wept in the kitchen, as she had been doing all morning. For days, actually, since they'd fought about whether or not he'd return to Hogwarts. She had pleaded with him, begged him to stay--to give up all this nonsense, she'd called it. Like his father had done, she'd said. Like his father would have wanted. Remus had known that was a lie, a retelling of his history because his mother had wanted to forget.
The door clicked shut and Remus blinked up at Sirius. "I'm sorry."
"The books."
"Take them all."
Sirius dumped the stack of books he held into the trunk, though he held out a weighty tome they had used in Divination many years ago. Sirius and James had arrived less than an hour ago to take Remus to the station, finding the house in chaos with his mother in tears and his aunt railing at Remus for upsetting her. Both women were in the kitchen now with James as he made what Remus assumed would be a bad pot of tea and worse conversation, not that they would have accepted anything James offered them. Sirius had come upstairs with Remus to help him finish packing and had found that Remus had barely started, still pale and weak from the full moon only just three nights past.
"You don't need the Augour, do you? Why did you keep this anyway?" Sirius asked as he held up the divinations primer.
"I'm not in the habit of tossing books away like you do."
"I don't if they're helpful. This is bloody useless."
"Let me see it." Remus moved nearer to Sirius and opened the book in his hands to the section on Grims, showing Sirius the words written in the margins--
You're only just jealous, Potter, because you're probably a bunny.
He'd have a lovely tail, it continued in Remus' handwriting, Maybe Evans would keep him as a pet.
"This is fourth year," Remus said. "You were already trying by then."
"So, we'll keep the divinations."
"Keep them all, except the potions."
"I can't believe Slughorn failed you."
"He should have given me T's years ago. I always suspected Professor Dumbledore had his hand in that."
"You need at least an Outstanding to--"
"It's not like I was going to be accepted as an Auror, Sirius. A werewolf using a cane?" Remus gestured with the offending item, scowling at it.
"You won't have it forever. You're using it less already."
"The point is that they would have never taken me on even I wanted to apply."
"It's my fault, though. If I hadn't--"
Remus tossed his cane onto his bed and wobbled enough that Sirius dropped the book in his hand, reaching for Remus instead. Remus forced a weak smile as he let himself be caught, as he leaned against Sirius' side. "You aren't responsible for my inability to perform even the simplest of potions. I always hated it. At least now I can give up the pretense."
"I should have helped you more."
"Stop blaming yourself, Sirius. You helped me, more than you should have," Remus said. He steadied himself with Sirius' help and then eased his way over to his chair by the window so that he could looked out over the garden. James' buoyant voice floated up through the open kitchen window beneath his room and Remus could tell that he was putting his best forward, talking fast and likely attempting to regale them with Quidditch anecdotes. Behind him, Sirius was still sorting through Remus' books, dumping them into Remus' trunk.
"Keep everything but the potions," he said again. "I won't be coming back here to live."
"I'm sure your mum will let you come back to visit if you want."
"I won't be coming back at all. After we leave Hogwarts, I'll have to register. I should have done already when I turned seventeen."
"Your dad didn't want you to," Sirius said as he finished with the books and moved on to add what was left of Remus' clothes. "Besides, Dumbledore said not to."
"I don't think that'll stop the Ministry from punishing me for it." On the windowsill was a small tin dragon, the last belonging to his father's set of soldiers--Remus' favorite when he had been a boy, its red paint mostly chipped off. Remus touched it to make its wings flap and a small spark sputtered from its mouth. "Mum's terrified of them, of what they'll do."
"They'd better not try anything, the great gits," Sirius said as he tossed a drawer full of Remus' socks and pants into the trunk with more force than was probably necessary.
Remus didn't answer, not nearly as confident as Sirius regarding the ineptitude of the Ministry of Magic. Just because The Daily Prophet had stopped reporting any of the Ministry's actions, Remus didn't believe it was because they had lost interest in werewolves. He got up anyway, though, and used his wand to close the empty drawer and start on his pajamas before Sirius got ahold of them. When he was finished, he realized that was the last of everything, except the photographs lying in a stack on his desk. He picked them up and shuffled through them before he handed them over to Sirius when he held his hand out for them. Remus hobbled over to him and put his chin on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius had stopped on a photo of the two of them from fifth year, taken just after the term had started and Sirius had hounded Lily until she'd let him borrow her new camera. It was a Muggle picture, Lily had never bothered to develop this roll with the potion to make the images move. Remus' smile was shy as he stared steadily into the camera while Sirius' grin was wide and easy, his eyes on Remus and his arms slung over Remus' shoulders.
"It would have been nice," Remus whispered as he watched Sirius slip the picture of the two of them into his pocket and put the rest into Remus' trunk, letting the lid fall shut.
"What would have been nice," Sirius said when Remus had gone quiet.
"I was just... I don't know. It would have been nice for my mum to have a normal son who did normal things, like go on dates and play football rather than--" Remus held out his hand and showed Sirius the bite mark on the back of his hand from the last moon.
Sirius turned Remus' hand over and rubbed his thumb over the faint scar he found, the one he had made when he had saved Remus' life, and then held out his own hand to show his matching scar before he closed his fingers over Remus'. "Normal is bloody boring."
"I don't know," Remus said, pressing their palms together as they held hands. "I think I might like it, just as a change."
The quirk of Sirius' lips as he grinned and the sudden light in his eyes made Remus' tummy flop in a pleasant way, and he was willing to put aside any thoughts of the Ministry or what would happen once he left, of the coming war and of his remote chance for opportunity, N.E.W.T's or no, once he'd left Professor Dumbledore's protection. He was going back to Hogwarts with Sirius and this was their last year. Nothing else seemed to matter suddenly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
And it was so worth it. I like the chin on the shoulder! And the floppy tummy. :D
no subject