Blue Eyes
Title: Blue Eyes
Author: mrstater
Format & Word Count: Fic, 1000 words
Rating: PG
Prompt: "blue eyes"
Summary: Remus spends Valentine's Day with a natural redhead, and discovers the merits of poetry as a Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Blue Eyes
"Well isn't this just lovely? No offence, Remus, but I'd thought I'd be looking at a much prettier face tonight."
"None taken." Remus hunched in a tight, filthy alcove of an even filthier alley with Bill Weasley. "I'd had the same hope for tonight. Though it might have involved a long red ponytail."
Bill let out a puff of laughter and peered around the wall of crumbling brick. "I appreciate that the best Auror of our age thinks you and I are the only blokes for this job, but Moody could've swapped."
Shivering despite the close quarters, Remus turned up his coat collar and chafed his hands. "I think he had a date of his own."
"Had a--?" Bill's head snapped sharply back to look at Remus. "You're joking."
Remus shook his head.
"Who'd go out with Mad-Eye?"
"Perhaps the better question is..." Remus' breath puffed in the frosty February air that clung to the dark corners of the alley. "Who would Mad-Eye go out with?"
"You mean on account of his trust issues?"
Remus nodded.
"I haven’t a bloody idea," said Bill. "But you're smirking -- least I think you are, bit dark -- so I reckon you have?"
Shrugging, Remus turned to resume their watch. "Have you noticed Hestia giggles quite frequently?"
"Quite?" Bill snorted.
"Last week I had the misfortune of overhearing her say, 'Oh Alastor, no wonder the ladies call you Roving-Eye."
"They don't call him--" Bill shook himself. "You're taking the piss."
"Believe that, if it helps you keep the Dementors at bay."
Bill looked out into the alley, lines hardening his features as his face set in the grim expression befitting the best bloke for this job. "Come on, you hooded, stinking bastards." He slapped his wand against his palm. "Be my Valentine."
"Now I'm offended," said Remus. "I've a far prettier face than a Dementor."
"Seeing as they haven't got faces..." Bill's half-laugh trailed away with his words as his eyes fluttered closed; Remus watched a smile played at the Curse Breaker's mouth as he undoubtedly called to mind the image of the face that would be his talisman tonight.
Remus didn't have to close his eyes, even as the alley became colder, empty and dead, the Dementors' arrival heralded by rattling breath and the stench of rot, to recall the heart-shaped face crowned with pink hair, which hovered vividly in the forefront of his mind...turned upward to his as they sat together on a park bench near the Ministry...
Slim fingers touch his mouth. "Stop apologising for me being alone tonight, because I won't be. Merlin knows it'll be easy peasy to pick up a shift."
When he parts his lips to argue, her fingers press a little more insistently, and she goes on. "And tomorrow we're neither one on the Order roster, so-" He tries not to react, but he can't stop the reflexive wince, and she goes Valentine heart red. "So you'll be curled up on your bedroom rug and I'll be home wearing a hole in mine waiting for the moon to set, and oh Merlin, Remus, I'm sorry--"
He kisses her fingertips as he catches her hand and draws it to his chest. "No apologies. Fair play. You won't let me."
"We'll find another time to go out. Our own personal Valentine's Day. Maybe it'll become a tradition."
"I know." Smiling, he leans in to kiss her lips. "It's just that I'd really looked forward to our reservation tonight."
He'd made it at Christmas, to ensure they'd get in, and scrimped and saved for it for even longer.
With a small smile of understanding, she pulls her hand from his and reaches into her cloak. "I won't put off giving you your Valentine, though."
"But I haven't got yours with me."
"S'okay. You've got Dementor duty tonight. I want you to have this before."
"A new happy memory?" He reaches for the blue heart-shaped card, but she withholds it.
"I want to read it to you." Her eyes drop as her tongue darts out to moisten her lips. "It's...s'a bit of a poem..."
"You wrote me a poem?"
"I wanted to do something you wouldn't expect. It's crap, but...Oh Merlin, here goes..."
And she reads, quickly, shakily,
"Gryffindors are red,
Ravenclaws are blue --
My favourite colour,
Cos your eyes are, too.
"Like clear summer skies,
So bright is their hue;
When you laugh they light up
And warm me right through.
"So boyishly they peer
through your fringe like they do,
Twinkling with humour,
And mischief a-brew.
"Dark when they're pensive,
Corners crinkling into
A look of pure wisdom,
Possessed by so few.
"They're like deep blue velvet
As you draw me to you --
A look that is shared
Just between us two.
"But your blue eyes are best
Cos they always see through
All the faces I wear
And look at me true.
"This poem is crap,
But I'm telling you true,
Your eyes are my charm
When I'm feeling blue."
When she finishes, he laughs, but stops as explanations tumble from her mouth: "I'd meant for it to be about Dementors. Or getting rid of them. Reckon that really makes it about Patronuses. Conjuring them, anyway. Or how I conjure them. Oh bugger, this is stupid--"
His fingers touch her mouth. "It's not stupid." He leans into her again, tilting her face to meet his eyes, removing his fingers so his lips can touch hers, briefly. "I shall certainly conjure a Patronus by thinking about you thinking about my eyes to conjure a Patronus."
And he makes a mental note to picture her face, as well, lit up with laughter, as she tells him she'll pretend that made sense, and gives him a new nickname.
Sure enough, when Remus pictured it, silver blazed from the tip of his wand, billowing into a powerful corporeal form.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said as he cast the Dementors into oblivion. "From Blue Eyes."
Author: mrstater
Format & Word Count: Fic, 1000 words
Rating: PG
Prompt: "blue eyes"
Summary: Remus spends Valentine's Day with a natural redhead, and discovers the merits of poetry as a Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Blue Eyes
"Well isn't this just lovely? No offence, Remus, but I'd thought I'd be looking at a much prettier face tonight."
"None taken." Remus hunched in a tight, filthy alcove of an even filthier alley with Bill Weasley. "I'd had the same hope for tonight. Though it might have involved a long red ponytail."
Bill let out a puff of laughter and peered around the wall of crumbling brick. "I appreciate that the best Auror of our age thinks you and I are the only blokes for this job, but Moody could've swapped."
Shivering despite the close quarters, Remus turned up his coat collar and chafed his hands. "I think he had a date of his own."
"Had a--?" Bill's head snapped sharply back to look at Remus. "You're joking."
Remus shook his head.
"Who'd go out with Mad-Eye?"
"Perhaps the better question is..." Remus' breath puffed in the frosty February air that clung to the dark corners of the alley. "Who would Mad-Eye go out with?"
"You mean on account of his trust issues?"
Remus nodded.
"I haven’t a bloody idea," said Bill. "But you're smirking -- least I think you are, bit dark -- so I reckon you have?"
Shrugging, Remus turned to resume their watch. "Have you noticed Hestia giggles quite frequently?"
"Quite?" Bill snorted.
"Last week I had the misfortune of overhearing her say, 'Oh Alastor, no wonder the ladies call you Roving-Eye."
"They don't call him--" Bill shook himself. "You're taking the piss."
"Believe that, if it helps you keep the Dementors at bay."
Bill looked out into the alley, lines hardening his features as his face set in the grim expression befitting the best bloke for this job. "Come on, you hooded, stinking bastards." He slapped his wand against his palm. "Be my Valentine."
"Now I'm offended," said Remus. "I've a far prettier face than a Dementor."
"Seeing as they haven't got faces..." Bill's half-laugh trailed away with his words as his eyes fluttered closed; Remus watched a smile played at the Curse Breaker's mouth as he undoubtedly called to mind the image of the face that would be his talisman tonight.
Remus didn't have to close his eyes, even as the alley became colder, empty and dead, the Dementors' arrival heralded by rattling breath and the stench of rot, to recall the heart-shaped face crowned with pink hair, which hovered vividly in the forefront of his mind...turned upward to his as they sat together on a park bench near the Ministry...
Slim fingers touch his mouth. "Stop apologising for me being alone tonight, because I won't be. Merlin knows it'll be easy peasy to pick up a shift."
When he parts his lips to argue, her fingers press a little more insistently, and she goes on. "And tomorrow we're neither one on the Order roster, so-" He tries not to react, but he can't stop the reflexive wince, and she goes Valentine heart red. "So you'll be curled up on your bedroom rug and I'll be home wearing a hole in mine waiting for the moon to set, and oh Merlin, Remus, I'm sorry--"
He kisses her fingertips as he catches her hand and draws it to his chest. "No apologies. Fair play. You won't let me."
"We'll find another time to go out. Our own personal Valentine's Day. Maybe it'll become a tradition."
"I know." Smiling, he leans in to kiss her lips. "It's just that I'd really looked forward to our reservation tonight."
He'd made it at Christmas, to ensure they'd get in, and scrimped and saved for it for even longer.
With a small smile of understanding, she pulls her hand from his and reaches into her cloak. "I won't put off giving you your Valentine, though."
"But I haven't got yours with me."
"S'okay. You've got Dementor duty tonight. I want you to have this before."
"A new happy memory?" He reaches for the blue heart-shaped card, but she withholds it.
"I want to read it to you." Her eyes drop as her tongue darts out to moisten her lips. "It's...s'a bit of a poem..."
"You wrote me a poem?"
"I wanted to do something you wouldn't expect. It's crap, but...Oh Merlin, here goes..."
And she reads, quickly, shakily,
"Gryffindors are red,
Ravenclaws are blue --
My favourite colour,
Cos your eyes are, too.
"Like clear summer skies,
So bright is their hue;
When you laugh they light up
And warm me right through.
"So boyishly they peer
through your fringe like they do,
Twinkling with humour,
And mischief a-brew.
"Dark when they're pensive,
Corners crinkling into
A look of pure wisdom,
Possessed by so few.
"They're like deep blue velvet
As you draw me to you --
A look that is shared
Just between us two.
"But your blue eyes are best
Cos they always see through
All the faces I wear
And look at me true.
"This poem is crap,
But I'm telling you true,
Your eyes are my charm
When I'm feeling blue."
When she finishes, he laughs, but stops as explanations tumble from her mouth: "I'd meant for it to be about Dementors. Or getting rid of them. Reckon that really makes it about Patronuses. Conjuring them, anyway. Or how I conjure them. Oh bugger, this is stupid--"
His fingers touch her mouth. "It's not stupid." He leans into her again, tilting her face to meet his eyes, removing his fingers so his lips can touch hers, briefly. "I shall certainly conjure a Patronus by thinking about you thinking about my eyes to conjure a Patronus."
And he makes a mental note to picture her face, as well, lit up with laughter, as she tells him she'll pretend that made sense, and gives him a new nickname.
Sure enough, when Remus pictured it, silver blazed from the tip of his wand, billowing into a powerful corporeal form.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said as he cast the Dementors into oblivion. "From Blue Eyes."