(no subject)
Title: Blossoming Romance
Author:
carnivalgirl
Format & Word Count: Fic, 1098 words.
Rating: G
Prompt: Prompt 16, lipstick on mirror. Prompt 29, extract from "The Waste Land"
Warning: Silliness.
Summary: OotP era, a follow up from this fic. Having a bit of a wallow in self-pity after a meeting with an ex, Remus the apparent Marauder forgets about April Fools' Day on the 31st of March and wakes up the victim of a prank. But is it all down to Fred and George?
Author's Note: Pretend Fred and George had left school at this point (I only remembered the details after I'd written the fic). I was determined to make my last story fun despite the angsty prompt and I hope I managed it, because I've had so much fun this month and I'm sad it's over! Does anyone want to be Friends?
Blossoming Romance
She would not leave him alone. These days he was not only pursued by her in reality but also in his thoughts. Only tonight her jazzy smile had made one of those unusual prints, like remembering a towel you had at the beach. Such connections seemed pointless until you considered what they were connected with.
How long had it been since someone smiled at him like that? The most recent had been Charlotte, a girl he had gone out years ago with whom he had recently had coffee (on an entirely friendly basis). She was married now, which was more than he ever expected for himself, and he did not feel any pull towards her apart from that of friendship. This was lucky, really; Charlotte's purpose for meeting up with him was not only to catch up but also to unburden her guilt at their awkward split, after he told her his secret when they had been together a year. Of course, Nymphadora Tonks was no Charlotte-she didn't plait her hair, wear comfy jumpers or sensible shoes. He had not expected to find romance ever again, let alone with someone like her, someone who had no plans to split up with him for a little thing like lycanthropy. But there were other things in their way-things like the yawning age gap that made him cringe when he thought about it too much. While she was a very special someone he knew it would surprise and probably bother people to know about their closeness, so he did his best to keep it a secret.
"How's Charlie?" Sirius had asked him when he returned.
"Charlie?" Fred and George Weasley, who had both been sitting with Sirius in the kitchen, spluttered. They were lodging at Grimmauld Place as they were slightly nervous about returning home to the Burrow after leaving school.
"Not your Charlie. Remus's Charlie."
"Charlotte is fine. Her mum is still teaching at Hogwarts. She told me she has every faith in Harry Potter-the topic came up by itself, I said nothing-and she is currently working at Madam Malkin's. Oh, and she's married. She is definitely not my Charlie."
Sirius gave a disappointed groan for his friend. "Too bad, you were good together back in the day."
"He has Tonks." Fred, or at least the one wearing an 'F' jumper, offered, reassuringly.
"I...don't have Tonks. She's...her...own woman."
George rolled his eyes while Fred chuckled. "We've seen it, Professor."
"Or rather, Ginny and Hermione have."
"We intruded in their conversation one day-"
"-and that was what we heard."
"That was way back in January-"
"So by now you must be gagging for it."
"Pardon?" Remus responded in shock, going even more squeaky while Sirius burst out laughing.
"Come, come, Remus, we're all adults here. By the way, he went round to her flat on his birthday." he told the twins.
"Ooh-er."
Remus felt a blush creep into his cheeks, especially since there had been something of the 'ooh-er' about that night. "She and I are nothing more than friends. Flirt as she may with me, she is far better off with someone else."
There was a pause, but then a "We don't believe you..."
"You don't get it, Professor, everyone knows there's something going on with you and Tonks."
"Probably because Sirius has been telling them in his boredom. I'd like to see you prove it."
This had been enough to change the subject of conversation, but it still preyed on Remus's mind that night when he stared at himself in the mirror after brushing his teeth. To him they were the only things that looked good. His eyes, though the eyeballs themselves were quite alert, were surrounded by dark, creased skin that looked like it belonged to someone both older and more sickly. His hair seemed very grey in the cold light of the bathroom, despite the brown roots. Though she may have called him a silver fox at one point, this was probably just his way of making him feel good about aging prematurely. What he had never admitted is that it had started when he was seventeen and he had never been happy about it. In short, he looked positively dead.
"Her father probably looks younger than you." Remus told his reflection spitefully, substituting for the worn-out charm that caused the mirror to spurt comments.
Perhaps if it had, Remus would have remembered his youth rather than his old age. For Moony the Marauder would never have gone to bed on March 31st without a thought for the next day.
When he woke up that morning, he felt slightly different. The sun was shining through his curtains and it lifted his mood. After he got dressed, he thought he would go and say good morning to Nymphadora, who had slept over that night after coming in the evening for a meeting. In her seriousness she had not even winked at him and he was rather in the mood for some romance, even if he did not deserve it.
However, as he opened the wardrobe the mirror on the inside door had quite a surprise for him. The mirror was covered in pink lipstick kisses, and there was a message scrawled on it in the same material.
"HELLO THERE MR LUPIN. IT'S BEEN WAY TOO LONG. MEET ME IN MY ROOM. SNOGGITY SNOG. LUV YOU."
This was not even the worst. Remus Lupin no longer had grey hair. Or brown hair, for that matter. He had...lilac hair. It was so lilac it had a lilac growing out of it.
Not stopping to consider how his scalp could cultivate a plant without rain or sunshine, Remus's mind drifted to the proper cause of his new 'do. It was April the first...and Fred and George's birthday.
"April really is the cruellest month." he said to himself, giving the flower a tug. It did not come out, and so when he had Scourgified their graffiti to his mirror, which would have been rather tempting were it not from two nineteen-year-olds. he turned and began to march furiously downstairs to confront the pranksters.
Fred and George Weasley were downstairs, opening presents and discussing the various pranks they had pulled in the night.
"I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's faces when they find out they've just tested our Bloomin' Head formula." Fred said, laughing to himself as he admired a new Butterbeer mug.
"Yeah." George agreed. "Though we'll have to prank Tonks at some point today. For some reason she was out of bed when we called on her last night..."
Author:
carnivalgirl
Format & Word Count: Fic, 1098 words.
Rating: G
Prompt: Prompt 16, lipstick on mirror. Prompt 29, extract from "The Waste Land"
Warning: Silliness.
Summary: OotP era, a follow up from this fic. Having a bit of a wallow in self-pity after a meeting with an ex, Remus the apparent Marauder forgets about April Fools' Day on the 31st of March and wakes up the victim of a prank. But is it all down to Fred and George?
Author's Note: Pretend Fred and George had left school at this point (I only remembered the details after I'd written the fic). I was determined to make my last story fun despite the angsty prompt and I hope I managed it, because I've had so much fun this month and I'm sad it's over! Does anyone want to be Friends?
Blossoming Romance
She would not leave him alone. These days he was not only pursued by her in reality but also in his thoughts. Only tonight her jazzy smile had made one of those unusual prints, like remembering a towel you had at the beach. Such connections seemed pointless until you considered what they were connected with.
How long had it been since someone smiled at him like that? The most recent had been Charlotte, a girl he had gone out years ago with whom he had recently had coffee (on an entirely friendly basis). She was married now, which was more than he ever expected for himself, and he did not feel any pull towards her apart from that of friendship. This was lucky, really; Charlotte's purpose for meeting up with him was not only to catch up but also to unburden her guilt at their awkward split, after he told her his secret when they had been together a year. Of course, Nymphadora Tonks was no Charlotte-she didn't plait her hair, wear comfy jumpers or sensible shoes. He had not expected to find romance ever again, let alone with someone like her, someone who had no plans to split up with him for a little thing like lycanthropy. But there were other things in their way-things like the yawning age gap that made him cringe when he thought about it too much. While she was a very special someone he knew it would surprise and probably bother people to know about their closeness, so he did his best to keep it a secret.
"How's Charlie?" Sirius had asked him when he returned.
"Charlie?" Fred and George Weasley, who had both been sitting with Sirius in the kitchen, spluttered. They were lodging at Grimmauld Place as they were slightly nervous about returning home to the Burrow after leaving school.
"Not your Charlie. Remus's Charlie."
"Charlotte is fine. Her mum is still teaching at Hogwarts. She told me she has every faith in Harry Potter-the topic came up by itself, I said nothing-and she is currently working at Madam Malkin's. Oh, and she's married. She is definitely not my Charlie."
Sirius gave a disappointed groan for his friend. "Too bad, you were good together back in the day."
"He has Tonks." Fred, or at least the one wearing an 'F' jumper, offered, reassuringly.
"I...don't have Tonks. She's...her...own woman."
George rolled his eyes while Fred chuckled. "We've seen it, Professor."
"Or rather, Ginny and Hermione have."
"We intruded in their conversation one day-"
"-and that was what we heard."
"That was way back in January-"
"So by now you must be gagging for it."
"Pardon?" Remus responded in shock, going even more squeaky while Sirius burst out laughing.
"Come, come, Remus, we're all adults here. By the way, he went round to her flat on his birthday." he told the twins.
"Ooh-er."
Remus felt a blush creep into his cheeks, especially since there had been something of the 'ooh-er' about that night. "She and I are nothing more than friends. Flirt as she may with me, she is far better off with someone else."
There was a pause, but then a "We don't believe you..."
"You don't get it, Professor, everyone knows there's something going on with you and Tonks."
"Probably because Sirius has been telling them in his boredom. I'd like to see you prove it."
This had been enough to change the subject of conversation, but it still preyed on Remus's mind that night when he stared at himself in the mirror after brushing his teeth. To him they were the only things that looked good. His eyes, though the eyeballs themselves were quite alert, were surrounded by dark, creased skin that looked like it belonged to someone both older and more sickly. His hair seemed very grey in the cold light of the bathroom, despite the brown roots. Though she may have called him a silver fox at one point, this was probably just his way of making him feel good about aging prematurely. What he had never admitted is that it had started when he was seventeen and he had never been happy about it. In short, he looked positively dead.
"Her father probably looks younger than you." Remus told his reflection spitefully, substituting for the worn-out charm that caused the mirror to spurt comments.
Perhaps if it had, Remus would have remembered his youth rather than his old age. For Moony the Marauder would never have gone to bed on March 31st without a thought for the next day.
When he woke up that morning, he felt slightly different. The sun was shining through his curtains and it lifted his mood. After he got dressed, he thought he would go and say good morning to Nymphadora, who had slept over that night after coming in the evening for a meeting. In her seriousness she had not even winked at him and he was rather in the mood for some romance, even if he did not deserve it.
However, as he opened the wardrobe the mirror on the inside door had quite a surprise for him. The mirror was covered in pink lipstick kisses, and there was a message scrawled on it in the same material.
"HELLO THERE MR LUPIN. IT'S BEEN WAY TOO LONG. MEET ME IN MY ROOM. SNOGGITY SNOG. LUV YOU."
This was not even the worst. Remus Lupin no longer had grey hair. Or brown hair, for that matter. He had...lilac hair. It was so lilac it had a lilac growing out of it.
Not stopping to consider how his scalp could cultivate a plant without rain or sunshine, Remus's mind drifted to the proper cause of his new 'do. It was April the first...and Fred and George's birthday.
"April really is the cruellest month." he said to himself, giving the flower a tug. It did not come out, and so when he had Scourgified their graffiti to his mirror, which would have been rather tempting were it not from two nineteen-year-olds. he turned and began to march furiously downstairs to confront the pranksters.
Fred and George Weasley were downstairs, opening presents and discussing the various pranks they had pulled in the night.
"I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's faces when they find out they've just tested our Bloomin' Head formula." Fred said, laughing to himself as he admired a new Butterbeer mug.
"Yeah." George agreed. "Though we'll have to prank Tonks at some point today. For some reason she was out of bed when we called on her last night..."