chapter title: "heart of glass" by blondie

Remus left his three friends in Zonko's joke shop as he went to meet up with Lily the following weekend. They had agreed to meet in the old bookshop once again and Remus eagerly found himself taking the familiar stone cobbled route down towards the quaint little shop.

Lily was indeed inside, browsing through spellbooks as Remus sidled round the aisle to greet her.

"Hey Lils." He said softly, smiling as Lily turned to look at him.

"Rem! How are you doing?" Lily reached up to give Remus a quick hug before pulling back to look Remus in the eye, a concerned expression falling over her features.

"I'm fine, don't worry!" He assured her. He had briefly spoken to her earlier that week about meeting up in Hogsmeade on the weekend, telling her he needed to talk about something. Now looking back on it, it did sound a little ominous and concerning. "It's nothing bad, I promise." He said as the two of them walked out of the bookshop side by side. "At least I don't think it is."

Lily hummed as they turned down a side street, leading them away from the majority of the bustle in the small town so as to have some peace and quiet where they couldn't be overheard.

"So what is it?"

Remus sighed. The minute he realised that Lily would be the ideal person to help him with his problem, he had forgotten to consider that he would actually have to explain the situation in the first place.

"Well..." he started, running a hand through his tawny curls. "It's Sirius." Better to get straight to the point.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Sirius?"

Remus nodded with a grimace. "He and I have been... well... I guess it started on Christmas Eve really..."

And so Remus proceeded to explain in full detail to an open mouthed Lily Evans as he talked about his and Sirius' first kiss and how he had avoided him afterwards, then how he had kissed him on his birthday after the party and how it hadn't really stopped from there.

"I- Remus, this is great!" Lily said with a grin. "Isn't it?"

"I don't know." Remus sighed. "I mean it's Sirius. How long is it before he gets bored and moves on to someone else? I mean am I really supposed to believe that he actually likes me? After he ran away and avoided me for the rest of Christmas break?"

Lily hummed, deep in thought. "It's possible he was just afraid of his own feelings." She contemplated, "but I don't know. One can never know with Sirius, he's all over the place."

An image of Sirius swam in Remus' mind. Sirius with his long black curls flying everywhere as he ran around the castle causing mischief. Sirius and his grey-quartz eyes staring at him with all the emotion that Remus found impossible to decipher. Sirius with his cigarettes on the balcony and his family issues and his music and his leather jackets. He was a bit of a mess really. But in all the best ways possible, and all that Remus could ever want.

"I still love him." Remus mumbled, quietly enough that he thought Lily might not have heard, but she leaned in softly to his side, her long red hair blowing gently in the breeze. 

"Oh I know, love. I know."

Remus paused for a second as they stopped walking and stared out at the view of the Scottish mountains ahead of them. "What should I do?" He asked, his voice gently carried by the wind, though he was embarrassed to admit it sounded a little desperate.

"Maybe give him time to figure things out. But you guys really need to talk about what you actually are to each other. You can't go on making out in broom-closets until you're forty." Remus smiled at that, imagining him and Sirius as older men, still happy, maybe in love. Just him and Sirius and James and Peter until the world stopped moving, and Sirius would still kiss him like it was the first time. "But if he breaks your heart I'm gonna beat his ass." Lily muttered into Remus shoulder. 

Remus laughed. "Oh I have no doubt you would."

***

Not for the first time in the eventful life of Remus Lupin, Remus wished that his birthday wasn't so close to James Potter's. Although his own birthday party had been fairly relaxed in  comparison to what they intended to throw for James (at Remus' own request), the proximity of two parties in such a short amount of time tended to drive Remus a little anxious considering he also had to get a large amount of schoolwork in as well practise for the band.

The plan was, that on the evening of James' birthday after the rest of the castle had gone to sleep. The rest of the Marauders would set up the quidditch pitch with all their silencing charms, before creating a makeshift stage on one end of the field so that they could play some of their songs. The rumour that this was happening had seemingly travelled extremely quickly as wherever Remus walked, he seemed to hear whispers of "James Potter's party" and "The Marauders." He was grateful that the quidditch pitch was such a large open space, so if they needed to accommodate the entire student body, they would be able to do so. Not that he was sure how such a vast majority of people would be able to sneak out of bed after hours without escaping Filch's notice, but he decided not to question it.

But after they had played the gig, there was supposed to be music and dancing and broomsticks. A combination of all of James Potter's great loves, and the life of a party. All they needed now was the guarantee that Lily Evans would be there, and plenty of alcohol.

The planning of the party, of course, had to be done in complete secrecy. Of course James knew pretty much everything that was going on- but it was the professors that Remus was more concerned about. And of course, typically, James' birthday fell on a Monday, meaning if all actually did go to plan and they weren't caught, they would have a lot of explaining to do the next morning in classes when everyone was either exhausted, hungover, or simply not present.

All the same, the excitement was drilled into Remus from the very start as he anticipated the upcoming event. The Marauders had been busy practising their new line up, which consisted mainly of old songs since they hadn't had time to practise many new ones between James' and Remus' birthdays, but now included two new songs, which Remus was of course excited about.

When Monday morning rolled in, the Marauders had a hectic day of shepherding a giddy looking James Potter to all his classes as the boy seemed too excited to concentrate on anything. Remus was starting to get increasingly worried that James was going to give them away before the party even started, simply by quivering with anticipation and his ability to not sit still for more than five seconds.

But to Remus' relief, the only thing they got was a stern look from Professor McGonagall as she dismissed them from her transfiguration class before they were on their way to set up. 

The Marauders got dressed in their usual performance attire, Sirius of course looking, as always, like a seventies rock and roll god (in Remus' opinion), before they sneaked outside in the invisibility cloak to perform the necessary charms around the pitch, and set up the stage on the inside. And finally, by eleven o'clock, students started to roll in, silently and sneakily so as not to wake anyone in the castle, all before the start of sweet chaos began.