Marauders Rare Pairs ♦ Fic: The Hogwarts Express
Title: The Hogwarts Express
Author: fugacious_love
Pairing: Lily/Remus, one-sided
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1900
Prompt: Lily/Remus, “Summer Skin” by Death Cab for Cutie
Warnings: None
Summary: And then suddenly Remus was very alone in his compartment.
Author's Note: Beta'ed by A
Year one.
His dad helped him drag his trunk onto the train, and his mother kissed him on the cheek, and they both waved goodbye from the platform with mixed expressions of joy and anxiety. And then suddenly Remus was very alone in his compartment, his forehead resting on the cool glass of the window.
A girl and a boy opened the door, and the girl asked perkily if they could join him. He, of course, said yes in his usual polite, quiet manner, but something started fluttering in his stomach. She sat across from him, red hair just past her shoulders and her face flushed from excitement, and introduced herself as Lily Evans, nice to meet you, and this is my friend Severus Snape.
Remus watched as Severus slouched in his seat, a bit too close to Lily, but she didn't seem to notice. The landscape past the window rushed by in a blur of greens and blues, and the train moved faster and faster, and for once his indelible loneliness was absent.
Year two.
The full moon fell on September the first during Remus's second year. Because the Hogwarts Express rode well into the night, Dumbledore allowed him to arrive earlier that day so he could use the shack under the Whomping Willow. A Floo network was temporarily set up in their house, and at half-past five, he arrived-by way of falling face-first into the hearth-at the Hog's Head bar in Hogsmeade. As he made his way towards the school gates, he found himself wishing he was on the train playing Gobstones with James, Sirius, and Peter, and wondering if Lily was once again sitting with Snape.
Year three.
Remus followed James, Sirius, and Peter onto the train, running his finger over a new scar on his left arm he'd acquired the night before. The full moon was over, and he couldn't be happier that it'd happened before school, but exhaustion was beginning to set in. The idea of catching up on missed sleep on the train was a joke-he knew he'd be practically begging for Sirius to lob a Dungbomb at him.
As he yawned, he caught a glimpse of Lily Evans walking past. She smiled at him, ignoring her other fellow Gryffindors (despite James's frantic wave). The yawn was past his control, and he imagined that his greeting was reminiscent of a large, two-legged puffer fish.
Year four.
The only chocolate the sweets cart had to offer was some sort of lizard-egg filled with caramel, which, if not eaten quickly enough, would attempt to escape. Remus was never a fan of food that gave up a fight, but he purchased three of the eggs anyway.
"Remus!" He turned to face Lily, who glanced around, looking surprised and relieved.
"No Potter?"
He shook his head, and as she smiled at him, he dropped one of the eggs. Something about her seemed different, although her eyes were the same bright green and her hair was red as ever and she was still a few inches shorter than him. A tiny caramel creature had crept out from smashed egg; it tried to scale Lily's leg, but she shook it off.
"He must be morally lost without you, wherever he is."
"He tends to be morally lost even when he's with me." Quick to change the subject-this was, after all, one of those few times when their conversation wasn't about why she shouldn’t jinx James-he added, "How was your summer?"
"Excellent. My perfectly Muggle family enjoyed a relaxing vacation until I found an infestation of gnomes in the garden. I think they're a bit attracted to me being magical…how was yours?"
"It was nice, been feeling a bit under the weather though, so I bought…" He realized a few seconds too late that buying chocolate as medicine was unusual-unless the illness happened to occur during the full moon.
He'd never seen her look so concerned, perhaps because, with James usually by his side, her automatic setting was disgust mixed with annoyance. "Would you like some of my Pepper-Up Potion? I had a cold this last week and looked up how to make it…" Lily grinned. "Mum thought I was cooking soup."
"I don’t think it'll help, but that's brilliant. I'm lousy at Potions," he admitted. "I'd like to take O.W.L. level, but I doubt Slughorn'll let me."
Her face lit up. "I'm pretty good at Potions, and I'm sure Slughorn wouldn't mind if I helped you out-as long as you help me with some of the
Defense Against the Dark Arts theories…"
Extra lessons with Lily Evans. Remus almost burst out laughing at James's almost-certain jealousy. "That'd be great, actually."
"Great!" She shook her foot again, and the caramel lizard went flying. "I'm heading back to my compartment now-see you at Hogwarts!"
With a last wave, she turned left down the corridor, and Remus suddenly realized what was so different about her: absolutely nothing, except that when he looked at her, he felt as though he was much stupider than usual.
Year five.
"Don't prefects share a bathroom, Moony? If Liona Trevors in Ravenclaw is a prefect too, I reckon you could talk her into sharing a bubble bath sometime…"
Remus chose to ignore this suggestion, but Peter grinned at James, who continued to make a few obscene gestures. Sirius stared moodily at the families hugging good-bye on Platform 9 ¾ before turning to the others.
"And I reckon Moony and Evans will suck the fun out of Hogwarts," he said darkly. "Ever see a worse pair of goody-goodies?"
"She's a prefect?" James's hand shot up to his hair.
"Saw her with the badge on and everything." Sirius stood and stretched. "Bet she already asked McGonagall to give you detentions for the first month, mate…"
Peter peered out the window. "At least Snape doesn't look like he's got one."
Sirius snorted. "If dear old Snivelly tried to give me a detention, I'd give him what he deserves."
"Such as trying to sneak him into the underground lair of a wild werewolf?" Remus smiled as he said it, but Sirius noticed the strain in his voice.
"Oh, you and Evans are going to be a fantastic pair. Won't even be able to play a little joke without spending the next week scrubbing bubotuber pus off the greenhouse benches."
Remus exchanged a look with James, who raised his eyebrows, a clear signal to not fight a losing battle. He sat across from Sirius but didn't make eye contact; instead he watched Lily's parents fuss over her and the new Gryffindor prefect badge. He assumed the girl glaring at them was her sister, although the two looked nothing alike except for the way the girl's arms were crossed defiantly.
Year six.
By age sixteen, Remus had transformed into a werewolf countless times. The physical pain of changing was only overshadowed by the way in which he would find himself as the sun rose: naked, on all fours, surrounded by thick forest, with the bloody remains of some woodland creature by his side.
Somehow, seeing Lily cry was worse.
She'd been alone in the Prefects' Compartment of the train, facing the window's drawn shades. Both her hands rested on her hips, in the power-stance that was typically accompanied by pursed lips, narrowed eyes, and a general sense that everyone in the area-usually James and Sirius-should flee as soon as possible.
As Lily whipped around, Remus immediately wished he was an Animagus. If he could be an ant or a slug, she might've looked at him with less repulsion. Her face was blotchy and tear-stained , and her bottom lip was trembling. But the worst were her eyes: red and puffy, they were glaring at him with such disgust that he would've been pleased if she'd cursed him into a newt.
"I'll just-I'll leave you be."
It wasn't the most Gryffindor of actions, but her vulnerability had struck him with a chord of fear, and he barely noticed when he bumped into an already-disgruntled Snape a few doors down. But when he returned later to do prefect rounds throughout the train, he brought with him a bar of his most prized chocolate. When he slipped it next to her on the seat, she seemed surprised, but she whispered, "Thank you," and squeezed his arm.
Year seven.
He reached an empty compartment before the others. On the platform outside, Peter was tying his shoe, shaking his head as his mother spoke animatedly. Mrs. Potter appeared to be strangling Sirius by way of hugging while James shook his father's hand and waited, with the impatient air of an only child, for his mother to pay him attention. First years bumped their carts into each other and smiled nervously as their owls hooted with indignation.
And then the door opened, and Lily planted herself in the seat across from his.
She was still wearing Muggle clothes: beat-up trainers, denim shorts that seemed to make her already-long legs longer, and a tight-fitting tee shirt with the Beatles (a band which Sirius and James were still convinced consisted of actual enchanted insects) splashed across the front and a Head Girl badge pinned to the top.
"Head Girl? Congratulations!"
She smiled. "Thanks!" After glancing at the platform outside, she adds, "You're waiting for them, I suppose?"
He nodded. Seeing her alone was rare, as he was normally with James-which, when Lily Evans is nearby, was rather like being friends with a randy baboon.
His tongue managed to unstick itself from the roof of his mouth, and he asked, "Ever going to give him a chance?"
She frowned, glancing outside again.
"Maybe-but don't tell him that." Remus's raised his eyebrows, and she sighed. "I mean, he's friends with Sirius and Peter, and they're idiots, the whole lot of them. But he's also got you, so he can't be all bad."
They exchanged a smile for a brief second, until she frowned again.
"Are you alright? You seem-oh, honestly!"
James's face was barely an inch from the window. He drew a heart in the condensation from his breath, stepped back to admire his work, and grinned.
"Ugh." Lily stood, ignoring James, who was now waving eagerly, his other hand in his hair. "I'll see you later, Remus."
She slammed the door shut , and Remus watched as James sprinted onto the train, presumably to chase after her, and smiled briefly at thought of her anger when she realized James had been chosen as Head Boy. He didn't have a chance. But to her, he was the redeeming quality of James, who couldn't even bother to own a comb.
Author: fugacious_love
Pairing: Lily/Remus, one-sided
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1900
Prompt: Lily/Remus, “Summer Skin” by Death Cab for Cutie
Warnings: None
Summary: And then suddenly Remus was very alone in his compartment.
Author's Note: Beta'ed by A
Year one.
His dad helped him drag his trunk onto the train, and his mother kissed him on the cheek, and they both waved goodbye from the platform with mixed expressions of joy and anxiety. And then suddenly Remus was very alone in his compartment, his forehead resting on the cool glass of the window.
A girl and a boy opened the door, and the girl asked perkily if they could join him. He, of course, said yes in his usual polite, quiet manner, but something started fluttering in his stomach. She sat across from him, red hair just past her shoulders and her face flushed from excitement, and introduced herself as Lily Evans, nice to meet you, and this is my friend Severus Snape.
Remus watched as Severus slouched in his seat, a bit too close to Lily, but she didn't seem to notice. The landscape past the window rushed by in a blur of greens and blues, and the train moved faster and faster, and for once his indelible loneliness was absent.
Year two.
The full moon fell on September the first during Remus's second year. Because the Hogwarts Express rode well into the night, Dumbledore allowed him to arrive earlier that day so he could use the shack under the Whomping Willow. A Floo network was temporarily set up in their house, and at half-past five, he arrived-by way of falling face-first into the hearth-at the Hog's Head bar in Hogsmeade. As he made his way towards the school gates, he found himself wishing he was on the train playing Gobstones with James, Sirius, and Peter, and wondering if Lily was once again sitting with Snape.
Year three.
Remus followed James, Sirius, and Peter onto the train, running his finger over a new scar on his left arm he'd acquired the night before. The full moon was over, and he couldn't be happier that it'd happened before school, but exhaustion was beginning to set in. The idea of catching up on missed sleep on the train was a joke-he knew he'd be practically begging for Sirius to lob a Dungbomb at him.
As he yawned, he caught a glimpse of Lily Evans walking past. She smiled at him, ignoring her other fellow Gryffindors (despite James's frantic wave). The yawn was past his control, and he imagined that his greeting was reminiscent of a large, two-legged puffer fish.
Year four.
The only chocolate the sweets cart had to offer was some sort of lizard-egg filled with caramel, which, if not eaten quickly enough, would attempt to escape. Remus was never a fan of food that gave up a fight, but he purchased three of the eggs anyway.
"Remus!" He turned to face Lily, who glanced around, looking surprised and relieved.
"No Potter?"
He shook his head, and as she smiled at him, he dropped one of the eggs. Something about her seemed different, although her eyes were the same bright green and her hair was red as ever and she was still a few inches shorter than him. A tiny caramel creature had crept out from smashed egg; it tried to scale Lily's leg, but she shook it off.
"He must be morally lost without you, wherever he is."
"He tends to be morally lost even when he's with me." Quick to change the subject-this was, after all, one of those few times when their conversation wasn't about why she shouldn’t jinx James-he added, "How was your summer?"
"Excellent. My perfectly Muggle family enjoyed a relaxing vacation until I found an infestation of gnomes in the garden. I think they're a bit attracted to me being magical…how was yours?"
"It was nice, been feeling a bit under the weather though, so I bought…" He realized a few seconds too late that buying chocolate as medicine was unusual-unless the illness happened to occur during the full moon.
He'd never seen her look so concerned, perhaps because, with James usually by his side, her automatic setting was disgust mixed with annoyance. "Would you like some of my Pepper-Up Potion? I had a cold this last week and looked up how to make it…" Lily grinned. "Mum thought I was cooking soup."
"I don’t think it'll help, but that's brilliant. I'm lousy at Potions," he admitted. "I'd like to take O.W.L. level, but I doubt Slughorn'll let me."
Her face lit up. "I'm pretty good at Potions, and I'm sure Slughorn wouldn't mind if I helped you out-as long as you help me with some of the
Defense Against the Dark Arts theories…"
Extra lessons with Lily Evans. Remus almost burst out laughing at James's almost-certain jealousy. "That'd be great, actually."
"Great!" She shook her foot again, and the caramel lizard went flying. "I'm heading back to my compartment now-see you at Hogwarts!"
With a last wave, she turned left down the corridor, and Remus suddenly realized what was so different about her: absolutely nothing, except that when he looked at her, he felt as though he was much stupider than usual.
Year five.
"Don't prefects share a bathroom, Moony? If Liona Trevors in Ravenclaw is a prefect too, I reckon you could talk her into sharing a bubble bath sometime…"
Remus chose to ignore this suggestion, but Peter grinned at James, who continued to make a few obscene gestures. Sirius stared moodily at the families hugging good-bye on Platform 9 ¾ before turning to the others.
"And I reckon Moony and Evans will suck the fun out of Hogwarts," he said darkly. "Ever see a worse pair of goody-goodies?"
"She's a prefect?" James's hand shot up to his hair.
"Saw her with the badge on and everything." Sirius stood and stretched. "Bet she already asked McGonagall to give you detentions for the first month, mate…"
Peter peered out the window. "At least Snape doesn't look like he's got one."
Sirius snorted. "If dear old Snivelly tried to give me a detention, I'd give him what he deserves."
"Such as trying to sneak him into the underground lair of a wild werewolf?" Remus smiled as he said it, but Sirius noticed the strain in his voice.
"Oh, you and Evans are going to be a fantastic pair. Won't even be able to play a little joke without spending the next week scrubbing bubotuber pus off the greenhouse benches."
Remus exchanged a look with James, who raised his eyebrows, a clear signal to not fight a losing battle. He sat across from Sirius but didn't make eye contact; instead he watched Lily's parents fuss over her and the new Gryffindor prefect badge. He assumed the girl glaring at them was her sister, although the two looked nothing alike except for the way the girl's arms were crossed defiantly.
Year six.
By age sixteen, Remus had transformed into a werewolf countless times. The physical pain of changing was only overshadowed by the way in which he would find himself as the sun rose: naked, on all fours, surrounded by thick forest, with the bloody remains of some woodland creature by his side.
Somehow, seeing Lily cry was worse.
She'd been alone in the Prefects' Compartment of the train, facing the window's drawn shades. Both her hands rested on her hips, in the power-stance that was typically accompanied by pursed lips, narrowed eyes, and a general sense that everyone in the area-usually James and Sirius-should flee as soon as possible.
As Lily whipped around, Remus immediately wished he was an Animagus. If he could be an ant or a slug, she might've looked at him with less repulsion. Her face was blotchy and tear-stained , and her bottom lip was trembling. But the worst were her eyes: red and puffy, they were glaring at him with such disgust that he would've been pleased if she'd cursed him into a newt.
"I'll just-I'll leave you be."
It wasn't the most Gryffindor of actions, but her vulnerability had struck him with a chord of fear, and he barely noticed when he bumped into an already-disgruntled Snape a few doors down. But when he returned later to do prefect rounds throughout the train, he brought with him a bar of his most prized chocolate. When he slipped it next to her on the seat, she seemed surprised, but she whispered, "Thank you," and squeezed his arm.
Year seven.
He reached an empty compartment before the others. On the platform outside, Peter was tying his shoe, shaking his head as his mother spoke animatedly. Mrs. Potter appeared to be strangling Sirius by way of hugging while James shook his father's hand and waited, with the impatient air of an only child, for his mother to pay him attention. First years bumped their carts into each other and smiled nervously as their owls hooted with indignation.
And then the door opened, and Lily planted herself in the seat across from his.
She was still wearing Muggle clothes: beat-up trainers, denim shorts that seemed to make her already-long legs longer, and a tight-fitting tee shirt with the Beatles (a band which Sirius and James were still convinced consisted of actual enchanted insects) splashed across the front and a Head Girl badge pinned to the top.
"Head Girl? Congratulations!"
She smiled. "Thanks!" After glancing at the platform outside, she adds, "You're waiting for them, I suppose?"
He nodded. Seeing her alone was rare, as he was normally with James-which, when Lily Evans is nearby, was rather like being friends with a randy baboon.
His tongue managed to unstick itself from the roof of his mouth, and he asked, "Ever going to give him a chance?"
She frowned, glancing outside again.
"Maybe-but don't tell him that." Remus's raised his eyebrows, and she sighed. "I mean, he's friends with Sirius and Peter, and they're idiots, the whole lot of them. But he's also got you, so he can't be all bad."
They exchanged a smile for a brief second, until she frowned again.
"Are you alright? You seem-oh, honestly!"
James's face was barely an inch from the window. He drew a heart in the condensation from his breath, stepped back to admire his work, and grinned.
"Ugh." Lily stood, ignoring James, who was now waving eagerly, his other hand in his hair. "I'll see you later, Remus."
She slammed the door shut , and Remus watched as James sprinted onto the train, presumably to chase after her, and smiled briefly at thought of her anger when she realized James had been chosen as Head Boy. He didn't have a chance. But to her, he was the redeeming quality of James, who couldn't even bother to own a comb.