H A L L O W E E N
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Elaborate lanterns replaced the usual wax candles on the ceiling of the Great Hall. The huge spider unleashed at breakfast by James and Sirius in honor of their favorite holiday was finally captured and shrunk. Detentions were scheduled every weekend up until winter holidays, although neither boy really cared.

Lily's attempt of scolding James failed miserably. Despite her many efforts to make him realize that detention due to the spider chaos was unwise and would likely go in Filch's permanent records, nothing seemed to sway him.

"Babe, everyone loves a bad boy," James attempted to flirt with his hand raking through his already-messy-enough hair.

Lily shot this advance down with both a scowl and a shove that resulted in the determined boy falling down off the bench.

James ignored Sirius's loud laughter as he climbed back on his seat, which was now noticeably closer to Lily's, "Guess you could say that was me falling for you."

"Just give it up, mate," Peter guffawed as he greedily grabbed yet another sandwich from the heaps of food on silver dishes.

"Only death will part me from my attempts to woo my dear Lily flower!"

At that moment, when his 'dear Lily flower' pointed her wand towards James, Freya actually feared what would happen next between the rambunctious male and the annoyed redhead. The blonde was relieved to see that beneath Lily's annoyed disposition, she actually looked quite amused.

"Silencio," she muttered in a monotone voice before casually returning to the ham that sat on her plate. "I have plenty of other ways of shutting you up, but if death really is your wish — just try me."

Dumbledore even seemed slightly disturbed by the prank. Normally, he would delicately scold the two and agree with their detentions, but something about this prank in particular set him on edge. Apparently, years ago a frightening event involving a spider and Hagrid had occurred, but when they questioned the gamekeeper, the giant man acted utterly clueless.

The feast that evening was divine, and Freya ate without worry. Try to impress Sirius all she want, but a boy effecting her meals would not happen. After a second helping of pie, Marlene and Freya walked together back to the common room with full stomachs. It was nice to catch up with Marlene, as Freya usually preferred to spend her time with either Lily or Remus.

After a shower that same evening, Freya went downstairs to the common room in hopes of finding Remus. She spotted him curled up comfortably in his favorite chair beside the fire; his potions essay lay abandoned next to Peter, who periodically glanced at it before scribbling something down on his own parchment sneakily.

The soft knitted wool felt familiar in her hands as she tugged Remus's sleeve in order to get his attention. His sweater was soft beneath her hands. A faint scar darted from the front of his hand and out of sight behind the material and up his arm.

"Remus," Freya whispered into his ear. Goosebumps raised on the back of his neck, but she didn't notice due to the poor lighting.

It was times like these that Remus was afraid to open his eyes. He knew he'd be met with nothing but longing as soon as her gaze locked with his. The type of longing that beat twice in your heart, sorely, before spreading through your body to the tips of your toes like wildfire. The type of longing that for a fleeting moment made you think twice about ruining their friendship. The type of longing that made him want to smash his lips against hers.

He opened one eye from where he sat with arms propped behind his head and feet crossed on the table. He sighed before focusing his attention on her, "Yes?"

She glanced around the dim area to assure that Peter no longer sat on the floor beside them. Sure enough, the smallest Marauder was across the room playing a rather aggressive game of Wizards Chess with James. A large pile of chocolate frog cards sat in between the two boys as the prize for whoever won.

"Will you help me with Sirius?" she asked hopefully. He watched as she bit thoughtfully down on her cherry red lip.

"Not now."

"Why not?" she huffed.

Because I want you.

"Because I think Lily could help you more," he mumbled through the thousands of other responses that were threatening to spill from his chapped lips. It took all his willpower and a sip of his scalding sip of hot coffee that burned his tongue to keep him from uttering any of these thoughts.

Freya stared at him.

Remus scrambled for an excuse as a thousand alarms rang in his head.

"I just feel like girls are better at that kind of stuff, you know?"

The blonde laughed sarcastically, "Oh yeah! I'll just go up to her and say 'Hey Lily, you know how you practically hate Sirius? Well, I need your help. Help me date him please?"' she exclaimed with frustration.

Remus opened his mouth to respond once again, but the man of the hour had chosen that exact moment to appear suddenly from behind them. "Ah, do I hear someone talking about me?" Sirius smiled.

The werewolf watched her face turn a bright tint of red and was instantly filled with jealousy. "Yeah, we were just talking about your massive ego and impulse to have sex with anything that moves — "

"We were not!" yelped Freya in embarrassment. The corners of Remus's mouth threatened to tug upwards as he watched her face grow flushed.

Sirius plopped down onto the squishy couch in between the two and wrapped his arm nonchalantly around the small girl, "Honestly, Moony. I heard what the two of you were saying. One of you fancies me."

The other boy rolled his eye at his friend's self-confidence. He flatly stated, "Oh you're right. You caught me. I'm madly in love with you."

It bothered him that the words poured so freely and easily from his mouth when they weren't true, but he couldn't bring himself to mention them to Freya when they were more true than anything else.

"I'm flattered at your confession, Moony, honestly I am. However, something is telling me that it was Bradberry saying all of that," Sirius laughed in a nonchalant manner, clearly not displaying the same amount of distress that she was. The girl only turned more red and she skimmed her tongue over her red lips nervously.

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News spread around Hogwarts as quick as a wild fire, lacing itself from student to student and consuming itself around the campus. That's why when Freya awoke from a peaceful sleep that particular morning, the first thing she heard was Mary's gossip about none other than Sirius Black. Apparently, he had a new female friend.

When Freya bounded down the stairs that morning, she was surprised to see that the common room was mostly empty. The clock that hung by the portrait door told her that it was half past six. Freya decided to go to the boy's dormitory and wake them up, after all they did the same thing to her all the time just to spite her — and at much earlier hours. It bothered her that the group of four wouldn't divulge the secret of how they were able to walk up the twisting girls staircase with her.

Her hand wrapped around the doorknob and she rolled her eyes at the mess that stopped the door from being pushed open. She slid her foot through the crack and pushed the trunk barrier out of the way as quietly as possible.

When she was finally able to step into the room, quiet snores greeted her. Her eyes immediately wandered to Sirius's bed and her heart sank when she saw long, blonde hair that wasn't her's tumbling over the edge of the pillows through the cracked curtains. Ah, so the rumors were true, but she wasn't really surprised nor was she nearly as heartbroken as she had been when things like this happened in fifth year. She'd honestly become accustomed to it.

Her wool sock covered feet padded towards Remus, who was breathing heavily from behind the closed her curtains.

Curiously, she examined the Daily Prophet that was laying on the nightstand next to the boy's bed. She cringed as the pages crinkled loudly when opened. Her blue eyes skimmed over the front headline that read in bold letters, Strange Disappearances Connected to You Know Who.

With disgust, the newspaper landed on the side table without being examined further. The picture of muggle family with their giggling witch daughter waved to her on the front and her stomach twisted at the thought of that being their last wave ever. She reached towards the paper again to flip it over as to stop the families' gaze that seemed to watch her, but something slipped out from between the pages with ease and fell onto the ground with a soft pat.

Her eyebrows furrowed as parchment that was now being flipped between her slender fingers revealed itself to be blank. She bit her lip and glanced around the room before tapping the paper with her wand. Nothing happened, and she felt slightly ridiculous, so she reached to stick the paper back into the newspaper.

As a sudden thought crossed her mind, and feeling more daft than before, she connected her wand with the empty parchment before lowly whispering, "Show me your secrets, please."

When nothing further happened to the black paper, a disappointed sigh escaped her lips but was abruptly cut off when an ink blot seemed to appear from nowhere onto the paper and with a casual scrawl began to jot across it. It happened so abruptly that she had no time to read the words in a particular order.

Sirius's nickname, of course, was the first that caught her eye.

"Mr Padfoot believes it to be far too early to have to think of a witty remark due to one witch being nosey."

"Mr Wormtail agrees and would like to remind Freya that she should find something better to do with her time."

A scowl formed across her face as she read the last two in a low whisper. It wasn't hard to figure out who the enchanted parchment belonged to seeing as their idiotic nicknames were scrawled all over it. Her eyes switched back to the top of the paper despite her annoyance with the bottom two comments.

"Mr Moony absolutely loathes Freya's impossible crush on Mr Padfoot and would like to add that there are better candidates for her heart rather than the unlikely fantasy she has of him."

"Mr Prongs full heartedly agrees with Mr Moony and advises Ms Freya to explore more lunar routes."

A slight feeling of betrayal bubbled in her stomach at the thought of her leaking her heart to Remus about Sirius, but him thinking her ridiculous.

And James knew as well?

➤

a/n: I'm publishing although it is a day early but it's one am here and there are dogs barking everywhere & I can't sleep.

qotd: would you rather go to hogwarts during the marauders era, golden trio era of next generation?

aotd: this took me way longer than it should have to decide, but marauders