III —— marauder by association

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          IT WAS A TRADITION WITHIN THE LUPIN house to have pancakes on the first of September. Fianna was nine when it started, her big brother begging for his favourite breakfast — chocolate chip pancakes — before he went away until Christmas. "What if they don't make them there? I'll die!" he whined, as their mum gave in and whipped up a batter for him. It happened the next year, the year after, and every year since then — so much so that when Fianna thinks of the return to school, she thinks of the smell of pancakes and cinnamon wafting through her family's house.

They decided it would be better, safety-wise, for Remus to drop Fianna off at the platform; her mum can't go anymore, and if her dad were on his own, they worried they'd question why Hope wasn't around. So, to keep people off the muggle scent, Remus offered up himself... He also seems to think this'll scare the Death Eaters lurking amongst her classmates into steering away from her, but Fianna doesn't think her brother is very threatening, sans that one night a month. (And even saying that, she's distracted him from rabbits before with a squeaky dog toy...)

So, as Fianna makes her way downstairs, she knows it's only a matter of minutes before Remus shows up — early for the first time in his life, because he knows he can eat chocolate for breakfast. Fianna dumps a ladle's worth of strawberries on top of her pancake, making a lake of lemon juice and sugar, as her mum starts double-checking Fianna's packing list.

"New uniform?"

"Yes."

"Warm clothes?"

"Yes."

"Underwear? Socks? Pyjamas?"

"I'm not Remus, yes."

(For context: Remus forgot all of his socks in third year. Hope had to manically post a load up.)

Hope sits down with a cup of coffee, waiting for Fianna to finish her pancake before frying another one. She's got another Pyrex jug with chocolate chips mixed into the batter, set to the side for Remus' arrival. (Fianna hopes she gets this attention when she moves out.)

"Your work apron is in the wash — it'll be ready for the weekend, so I'll send it up to you as soon as possible," says Hope. She doesn't let her kids do any of the laundry; she says it'll mess up her washing schedule, which feels like something Fianna would say. But, Fianna's grateful that her work uniform is granted priority.

They're allowed to go to Hogsmeade on weekends, yes, but fourth years and up are allowed to transport elsewhere if they have a parents' signature and proof they have a job somewhere. Which is nice, because it means Fianna rakes in a healthy allowance all year long — plus, she gets to go somewhere other than Hogsmeade on the weekends, which is nothing but rain from November to March. On quiet Saturdays, too, her and Georgia's manager would give them an extra-long break, so they could venture off elsewhere in London for a little bit, understanding the cabin fever Hogwarts creates.

"I'll speak to Basil about having a half-day, too, so I can see you and Dad," says Fianna.

They're not really supposed to — school warned them that if students went anywhere other than their approved workplace, they wouldn't be allowed to go at all — but what else is Fianna going to do? Her mum can't step foot anywhere magical anymore, her parents can't come and visit whilst she's working. Fianna will Apparate to her brother's flat, have a nice cup of tea with her parents, then go back to work. Basil will allow it — he has before, ever since the Lupins realised the danger of Hope stepping foot in Diagon Alley.

"Just make sure you're careful," says Hope, pursing her lips. She's been worrying about all of this for as long as Fianna can remember — first it was her son being a werewolf, and having to keep that a secret, and then it was her bloodline making them a threat. When Fianna looks at old pictures of her mum, she's shocked by how skinny she is now, the anxiety of the past fifteen years eating away at her insides.

"Yeah, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Fianna looks up, finding Sirius standing in the hallway. Remus walks out of the living room behind him, the two having used the Floo Network to get here. (Hope hates Apparating — she thinks they're going to be cut in half.)

Sirius winks at Fianna, as he sits down at the table. He's wearing a jumper that Fianna could've sworn was her brother's, but she doesn't question it. She guesses the Marauders' laundry loads have merged into one, since living together.

"James and Lily are dropping Georgia off, so Sirius got jealous," says Remus, making himself a pancake. He pours more chocolate chips into the batter before their mum can realise; Fianna smirks.

"What about Peter?" says Hope.

"Oh, he's hungover," says Remus with a shrug. "Also, he wouldn't care anywhere. It's only Sirius that gets FOMO."

For context, dear reader — Peter Pettigrew, the final quarter of the Marauders, currently works at The Leaky Cauldron. And, because of this, he often stays after his shift to drink his weight in lager... Fianna knows this because he's been accepting Fianna and Georgia's fake IDs all summer long. (Begrudgingly, she'd like to add.)

"You could've taken Regulus," says Fianna, grinning mischievously.

"The only sibling I've got is you, Fee," says Sirius, grabbing Remus' pancake off his plate, and shoving the entire thing into his mouth. Remus' entire body stops moving, looking at Sirius with pure betrayal. "Oh, this is amazing, Remmy."

"I'm going to kill you," says Remus.

Hope rolls her eyes, getting up. "Sit, I'll make you one."

Remus does so, giving Sirius a dirty look. He grins back at him, and Fianna smiles.

"Won't it be weird, though?" says Fianna, looking across at Sirius. "What if you run into your parents...?"

"I will hide," says Sirius with a shrug, taking a sip from Remus' cup of tea. Remus glares at his best friend, again. "They'll want to avoid me as much as I want to avoid them."

"I think that's disgusting," says Hope, shaking her head.

Fianna nods in agreement. When Sirius was disowned by his family, he sofa-surfed between the Lupins and Potters, before Hope and Euphemia Potter realised what was going on. The Lupins didn't have a spare room — and they worried they were too half-blood for it to go unnoticed — so the Potters took him in. It did mean, though, that Hope Lupin had an unwavering hatred for Walburga and Orion Black. Sometimes, when Euphemia comes over to see Hope (somewhere in-between their sons and their daughters becoming best friends, they too became close), Fianna can hear the two bitching about Walburga... Fianna thinks it's deserved.

"Dumbledore did say at last week's Order meeting that there's going to be changes at Hogwarts," says Remus. "I think some Order members are going to be at King's Cross, to keep an eye on things — see who's talking to who."

"See who's a Death Eater?" says Fianna, raising an eyebrow.

Remus nods. "Mostly, yeah... But who might be next," he explains. Fianna thinks it's really weird that her big brother is involved in all of these grown-up conversations now. He literally just got into a mard because his best friend stole his pancake. "If you see anything, too, when you're at school..."

"I'm no snitch," says Fianna, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it would be helpful if—"

"Say, where did the extra chocolate chips go...?"

"In my stomach," says Sirius, under his breath.

Fianna turns back to her brother, giving him a look. "If I see anything super fishy, then sure. But I'm not listening into people's conversations. If they want to become a Death Eater, you lot swooping in and having a drugs-awareness-type conversation with them is not going to change anything," she says. "Plus, Death Eaters are exactly the demographic of people that would kill you if you snitched on them."

"She has a point," says Sirius.

Remus sighs. "OK, fine. It's just that they think something is going to happen at school—"

Fianna thinks back to the other day, when she saw Regulus questioning Borgin/Burke/Bob about the speed of fixing an unknown object. She decides to keep that to herself. Fianna, as head girl, likes to think of herself as the people's princess: and that means keeping secrets, secret. She isn't putting her nose in people's business.

"Nothing is going to happen—"

"—well, it could." Their argument follows them from the Lupin house to King's Cross, with Remus and Fianna bitterly arguing as he drags her trunk along the platform floor. (His punishment for being annoying is looking after her bag. Sirius has the other. Fianna is carrying her tote bag, because her makeup and hair rollers are in there, and she doesn't trust another soul with such precious objects.)

"You've become so boring since graduating," says Fianna. Remus drops her trunk for a minute to catch his breath.

They're standing amongst the families saying goodbye to their children for the term; Fianna looks around, and she can't help but notice the tension in the air. Pureblood families — the ones with ancient magical blood in their bones — are casting judgemental eyes at muggleborns showing their muggle parents around, an even worse sense of entitlement exuding from them. Fianna feels uncomfortable. Her and Remus are in the middle of it all — or, at least, they would be, if they didn't have the added secret of her brother's curse.

"There's more important things now, I guess," says Remus.

Sirius raises an eyebrow. "What, like having a stick in your bumhole?"

Fianna laughs.

Remus grimaces. "I hate—"

"How's it cracking, boys?"

James Potter — the man, the myth, the moron — waltzes up behind Remus and Sirius, joyfully putting his arms around them both. He grins at Fianna; his girlfriend, Lily Evans, follows behind him, mid-conversation with Georgia.

"Padfoot thinks I've got a stick up my arse," says Remus.

"I called Remus boring," says Fianna, shrugging nonchalantly, knowing she's right.

James goes quiet for a minute. He looks at Fianna, then at Remus, then back at Fianna.

"Well... you have become a bit of a stickler for the rules," says James.

"Told you," says Sirius.

Georgia, though, scoffs. "Like you can talk, Fee," she says, and Fianna knows she's referring to the other day, and her almost-refusal to follow (stalk) Regulus. James gives his little sister a confused look, and she goes, "Regulus showed up at our work, and Fianna almost didn't follow him, to see what he was up to."

"Almost...?"

Five pairs of eyes fall upon Fianna. She looks around awkwardly, fidgeting on her feet. What is she supposed to say? She felt weird following him? Because, as much as that makes sense to her, the four Order members standing in front of her might not get why she almost refused — considering the boy in question is a Death Eater...

... And, not to mention, the little brother of one of the boys looking at her now. Fianna recognises the conflict on Sirius' face, both confused and upset that his brother is on the other end of their fight. She feels uncomfortable. Why has so much of her life recently revolved around Regulus Black, of all people?

"Well, I didn't even see anything, so it was a waste," says Fianna, lying. She isn't sure why she lies — it spills out of her mouth before she can think of anything else. Maybe she wants to figure it out for herself... or, maybe, she feels a strange sense of protection, a sensation she doesn't quite understand herself. But, this confusion mixing inside of her makes her want to keep her information to herself. She'll figure this out, then report back.

"Good," says Sirius, but Fianna thinks it's more for his own reassurance.

Remus must've noticed this, because he turns to his little sister. "Well... if you do think anything is up with him..."

"To snitch and let you know." Fianna rolls her eyes. "I got it."

Georgia nudges Fianna lightly. "Simmer down, Miss Slytherin."

Fianna gives her a defeated look. Of course, Georgia knows that Fianna lied to the Marauders about Regulus — Georgia was the first to know what Fianna saw, the other day. But, like any good best friend, she doesn't call Fianna's bluff. She does, however, tease the slightly-Slytherin quality of Fianna telling a big, fat lie... and the refusal to snitch (again: Fianna has no idea why she's feeling this defensive about a boy she doesn't even know).

The train conductor blows her whistle, meaning there's fifteen minutes before departure. Fianna and Georgia say their goodbyes to their brothers, Sirius and Lily giving them quick hugs, too. As Fianna steps away from Sirius, she glances to the side, the crowd parting to reveal Regulus, Walburga, and Orion Black, all watching Sirius. Fianna's gaze locks with Regulus for a dreadfully long moment; he looks hurt, she thinks, which she doesn't quite understand. She looks away, her and Georgia making their way onto the train.

"Make good choices!" says James, calling after them.

"Or bad ones! That's more fun!" says Sirius. In the distance, Fianna hears Lily tell him off.

Georgia pushes her way past the other students, finally finding the two of them an empty compartment. Fianna claims one of the window seats, and prays that no one else decides to sit in here, so they can finally talk about what Regulus was doing, without anyone overhearing. She loves her brother, truly, but ever since the Order has gotten involved in their lives, Fianna just feels aware, that something she says could eventually trickle back to Aurors, powerful wizards, her headteacher. It makes her nervous.

"Why'd you lie?" says Georgia, right off the bat.

"Because they'll turn it into a thing," says Fianna. "You know they will."

"I feel sorry for him," says Georgia.

Fianna raises an eyebrow, surprised at the uncharacteristic behaviour. It isn't because Georgia is unsympathetic, or anything — it's more she doesn't like Death Eaters, and rightfully so. But, still. It's surprising.

"I mean, either submit to those beliefs, or get kicked out like Sirius? I get it," says Georgia, shrugging. She digs out a packet of sweets from her bag, offering them to Fianna. She quickly takes one of the lime ones, unwrapping it as Georgia selects strawberry. "Not that I'd make the same choice as him... but still."

"I just don't understand what he was doing the other day," says Fianna, shaking her head. "I mean, what is he trying to fix? What's the urgency about? And, like, no offence to him, but why would he of all people be given a task that seems that important...? He's a Black, sure, but I doubt he's ranking high with Volly D—"

The compartment door slides open, pausing Georgia and Fianna's conversation for now. Fianna looks up, her heart thumping, and finds Pandora Malfoy, standing in the threshold. Her snow-white hair has been pulled into two plaits, secured by emerald lacey ribbons. She smiles nicely at the two girls.

"Oh, hey," she says. "Do you mind if me and Reg sit in here? Everyone else is packed."

Georgia and Fianna pause for a second. But, it'll be weird if they say, no, you can't sit with us, your best friend is a psycho, so Fianna awkwardly smiles.

"Uh, I don't see why not..."

"Amazing!" Pandora sits herself down next to Georgia; behind her, Regulus awkwardly appears, sitting beside Fianna. They don't make eye contact — or maybe Regulus tries, but Fianna avoids it completely, looking across at Pandora instead. "How were your guys' summers?"

Georgia shrugs. "We worked, mostly."

"Oh, at that place on Diagon Alley?" says Pandora. "Reg said he's seen you guys there..." Fianna and Georgia exchange a look. Why? "... I think he went there, the other day, with my brother."

Here's the thing: Pandora Malfoy has always been a lovely girl, something that divided her from the rest of her family. It was conflicting, really — she got along with her brother (the biggest prick known to Hogwarts) but she didn't seem to be as bitchy as him. In fact, she was kind-of... weird. She'd read conspiracy magazines, and talk about magical creatures Fianna wasn't sure even existed. Fianna struggles to make her mind up about Pandora. Is this girl truly nice, when she's so close to her family — when her best friend is a Death Eater?

"I remember," says Fianna, quietly.

"How was your summer, though?" says Georgia, changing the subject.

The train slowly departs from the station, the engine making the entire carriage shudder. Fianna wishes her and Georgia had walked a little further down the train, and admitted defeat sharing a compartment with second years. They might've been offered free chocolate, at least — especially if Fianna pulled the head girl card.

"It was alright... Kind-of dull, to be honest," says Pandora, shrugging. "But, I spent lots of the time in the countryside near my house. I almost got involved in a fairy war, you know."

"Fairy war...?" says Georgia, accidentally allowing Pandora to dive head-first into her personal theory about the politics of fairies.

But, Pandora's enthusiasm contains the entire compartment, allowing Regulus to quietly say to Fianna, "I saw you with my brother."

Fianna frowns, unsure what to say. "Uh, yeah?" she says. "He came with my brother to drop me off. Why...?"

"I know this isn't my place to ask," says Regulus. "But are you two, um, seeing each—"

But Fianna cuts him off, before he can even finish the question. She looks at him, horrified. "Absolutely not," she says. "He's like a brother to me, it's nothing like that. He's just affectionate, you know?"

The second the words come out of her mouth, though, she realises what poor choice they were. She cringes, just as Regulus goes quiet for a second, before saying, "... No, I don't, actually."

"I didn't mean it like—"

"No, I get it," says Regulus, quietly. "He always preferred you to me."

Well. Fianna doesn't know how to respond to that.

So, she doesn't — instead, she sits in an uncomfortable silence, staring ahead of Georgia, who's too interested in Pandora's fairy discussion to notice the absolute destruction of Fianna Lupin opposite her. Fianna tries to come up with a reason to leave the compartment for a while, to regain some serenity, but everything falls flat, an obvious lie to get her away from Regulus Black, stat. But, can you blame her? He's just said that his older brother — the one that was disowned, the one he hasn't spoken to in years, the one that has a clearly nuanced yet unfinished relationship with him — prefers her to him. And she supposes she understands why — Fianna's Gryffindor where Regulus is Slytherin — but still! What the fuck!

Fianna fidgets, wishing the train journey would end already. She keeps on checking her watch, for when she's meant to go to the prefect meeting — she knows she could lie and say she needs to go early, but Pandora and Georgia both happen to be prefectsID, so she wouldn't get away with that bullshit. So, instead, Fianna sits, counting down the seconds before she can leave.

"Hey." Georgia rests her foot on the part of the bench next to Fianna, nudging her. "What say we go to the pub later?"

"A bunch of us are going," Pandora excitedly says.

"I'm not," says Regulus, sounding irritated — more irritated than usual.

Pandora rolls her eyes. "Apparently he's busy. No idea with what, at that time."

Georgia and Fianna exchange a look; she thinks back to whatever she overheard at Borgin & Burkes, and she presumes Georgia is doing the same.

"I don't see why not," says Fianna, shrugging.

"My brother's girlfriend made a copy of her ID for me," says Pandora, and she opens her bag — a big slouchy thing, with a William Morris type of floral pattern wrapped around it — to show the girls. As she proudly brandishes the ID, Fianna reads, Narcissa Black. "We've both got blonde hair, so I don't even have to change anything!"

"Yeah, Fifi has to go ginger to pass as Lily," says Georgia, smirking.

Fianna rolls her eyes. "I like the ginger. I'd just feel like I was copying Lily if I dyed my hair that colour."

"Because you would be," says Georgia.

Fianna gives Georgia a dirty look. "OK, Marlene."

It's been a common thing amongst young wizards, once learning the duplication spell, to give out a copy of their ID to a younger sibling, or a family friend. At the start of the summer, Lily and her best friend Marlene gave Fianna and Georgia copies of theirs, respectively, something that worked out quite nicely. Georgia and Marlene had a similar enough skintone — or, at least, the nuances of it didn't show up in the small photo — along with coily curls for Georgia to pass as the older girl, and Fianna only had to use a charm to make her hair ginger for the evening. It worked out nicely — but, it always made Fianna nervous, and count down the days for her eighteenth.

Some more time passes, until Fianna can finally escape the air of Regulus Black, and head to the prefect meeting. The three girls leave a little early to change into their uniforms, Fianna adjusting her new head girl pin, fastened to the lapel of her robes. She doesn't mind the school uniform, but she cannot stand the robes, feeling as though she's being weighed down the entire day. She wonders if it's the swan in her needing a certain level of freedom, wanting to fly away and escape at the drop of a hat.

She's already ditched the robes by the time she arrives in the prefects' carriage, dumping them on a chair and making a mental note to grab it before they get off the train. Annoyingly, it's the same carriage that Slughorn transforms into his Slug Club luncheons, meaning her and Georgia couldn't have sat here the entire journey.

Bilius Prewett — known to everyone as just Prewett, after he spent his entire first year being called Willy — arrives talking to one of the Hufflepuff prefects, a girl that Fianna knows as the Hufflepuff seeker. He rakes his fingers through his ginger curls, and Fianna thinks he's trying to flirt.

Fianna decides to be kind, though, waiting for him to wrap up his conversation before wandering over. As he does, Fianna swiftly swoops in, smiling politely. "Hey, how was your summer?" she goes.

"Ace — Jordan's family has a flat in Berlin, so we stayed there for ages," says Prewett, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Fianna's amazed he got head boy, largely because he doesn't seem like head boy material... "I've finally learnt how to drink an entire bottle of Firewhiskey in one go, with next to no vomit."

... See what she means?

"Groovy," says Fianna. She reminds herself that she's an illegal Animagus, so their morality's at the same level, really. "I'd love to go to Berlin."

"Yeah, it's proper cool. We stayed in this one club for an entire week," says Prewett, as the two walk away from the others, waiting for the final prefects to arrive before beginning the meeting. "I had to come back at the start of August, though, because my sister decided to get pregnant, again." He pulls a look of disgust. "How was yours, anyway?"

"Not as exciting as that," says Fianna, with a small smile. She isn't even halfway through the train journey, and yet, she's already fed up of the summer questions, and having to sigh and say, I worked, and that was it. "Did you get my letter, though? About my ideas for this year?"

"Yes, and I vote yes to them all," says Prewett. "We've got that meeting with ol' Dumbles tomorrow morning — if you're going to the pub later, we can sort it then."

"Sounds like a plan," says Fianna, and they fist-bump. (Tragic, she knows.)

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          FIANNA AND PREWETT STAND ON the raised tiles just in front of the fireplace; they'll have to magic them away shortly, but for this meeting, it's easier to stand at the front, rather than all sit around one long table. The small stage is decorated in red and gold tiles, reflecting the head girl and boy's house. Fianna's surprised they picked them both, since Dumbledore normally picks the head girl and boy from different houses, but whatever. She wonders if the stage was meant to be red and green until the very last moment.

"Welcome back, guys, and a warm welcome to the new prefects," says Fianna, taking charge. She looks over at Georgia, who gives her an encouraging thumbs-up. "This'll only be a short one — we've made a schedule for everyone's prefect duties on the train, so if you can check that before you go, that'd be fab..." Ew, why did she say 'fab'? That's almost as bad as 'groovy' earlier. "You just need to make sure people are wearing the uniform properly, and that no one's being crazy. Also, be friendly — give some house points to the first years, make them feel a little less nervous for school."

"I think Fee's said everything," says Prewett. Fianna exchanges a look with Georgia, just as stunned that Bilius Prewett, of all boys, has just called her Fee. "Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" He winks, and Fianna looks at him funny.

Before she can step down, though, Slughorn walks into the room, from the small study beside the bathroom.

Prewett goes, "Uh, sir, we've got the room for five more—"

"Oh, it's not me, dear boy!" says Slughorn. As he moves further into the room, five Aurors appear behind him, wearing their infamous purple-and-gold robes. Fianna frowns. "There's been a change of plan — these fellows need to do some checks, before we go any further."

"Checks for what?" says Fianna, crossing her arms.

One of the Aurors, a man with black hair in a slicked-back bun and a rod of gold through his left eyebrow, tells her, "We're under good authority that some students on this train are Death Eaters." Fianna thinks straight to Regulus. "It's nothing to worry about — we just need to check."

"Right..."

"And, of course, this goes without saying — if you suspect anyone, you must tell a member of staff immediately. This is very serious."

Fianna steps down from the stage, her mind obsessing over Regulus. The Aurors could quite easily reveal him as a Death Eater, if they make him pull his sleeve up. She knows they aren't friends, and that it's terrible that he even is a Death Eater, but she thinks of Sirius. The two of them were raised by nasty parents; she understands why Regulus fell down that path, because Sirius should've done too. But Sirius deflected and disowned, meaning Regulus had to keep himself in line, even more than ever... She knows Walburga and Orion would be proud to have a Death Eater for a son, maybe that's why he even joined...

Fuck's sakes.

Call it Marauder-by-association, but Fianna is good at sneaking around, something that lends itself handy to Fianna. She slips out of the carriage, and before the prefects leave, she books it down the next carriage, and the next, back to her original compartment. She's cursing to herself, as she hurries past people, trying to move quickly without causing suspicion. She could leave him to be discovered — she should, in fact. But, there's a nagging feeling in her brain, a worrying protective instinct, that overpowers her.

She slides open the compartment door, finding Regulus. He's reading a book, and he looks up at her, confused.

Fianna closes the compartment door behind her, quickly pulling the blinds down.

"You need to hide," she tells him.

Regulus frowns. "Why?"

"There's Aurors on the train," she says. His eyes widen for a brief second, before he forces himself to look unbothered, trying to stay composed. "OK, I don't agree with what you are, but they're looking for Death Eaters. They'll send you to Azkaban if you don't hide, now."

She looks at him, her chest rising and falling, breathless from her scramble to get back here. His eyes don't leave hers, as if he's trying to decide if he can trust her or not — if he can risk revealing himself to her, or if he has the time to think about that. Finally, he throws his book to the side, standing up.

"Where are they?" he says.

"The prefect's carriage — but there's a storage cupboard the Trolley Witch uses the other way to it, they won't look there—"

Regulus looks nervous — scared, in fact.

He says, "I don't know where that is—"

Fianna looks around. She knows the seconds are slipping away, that if he doesn't run now, then he'll be fucked — and she'll be fucked, because the Aurors will think she's his accomplice. Beginning to panic, Fianna sighs.

"Follow me!"

She slides open the compartment door, checking for the Aurors. Through the door leading into the last carriage, she catches a glimpse of the purple robes. OK, we've got time, she thinks. She looks back at Regulus, nodding that he can come out.

They hurry through the hallway, passing over into the next carriage, and the next, and the next, until finally, they reach the service carriage, one off-limits to students. James showed her it in first year, in case of a werewolf-shaped emergency. And, over the years, the full moon fell on or around the start of term, so she often accompanied the boys in their heist to retrieve chocolate for her big brother, especially since she raised less suspicions than the Marauders, the troublemakers of the century, sneaking around.

Fianna peers into the carriage, but sees the Trolley Witch through the window, standing in front of their hiding spot. She's heard the stories about the monster the Trolley Witch transforms into when students misbehave, so Fianna freezes. She grabs Regulus' sleeve, to stop him from going in.

"OK," says Fianna, her heart pounding. "New plan."

They're next to the girls' toilets, and Fianna pushes open the door. No one's in there, thank God — and she figures if Aurors are checking everyone, people will be shortly banned from leaving their compartments, anyway. Regulus awkwardly steps in, and Fianna starts to pace.

"I don't know what to do — there's places the other way, but the Aurors are in the way—"

"Could you distract the Trolley Witch? Maybe there's somewhere else in that carriage where I can hide—"

Outside of the bathroom, they hear loud voices. Fianna and Regulus look at each other; before she can think otherwise, she grabs Regulus' hand, and pulls him into a bathroom stall. She locks the door, covering her face with her hands.

"I don't know what to do!" she wails.

"Just go — you've got nothing to do with this, I'll figure something out—"

"Figure what? How are you going to run from this?" says Fianna, looking at him wildly. "Is there not—is there not a spell, to cover up your arm? Jesus Christ, I wish the Invisibility Cloak was real!"

She's so caught up in it all, she doesn't even realise she's used a muggle-ism. She looks back at him, who has no answers himself.

"It's OK — I'll take the fall, you have nothing to do with this. The Dark Lord will get me out of whatever mess this is—"

"The Dark Lord?" she echoes, raising her eyebrows. "I'm sorry?"

"That's what we call him!" he says.

"What is he, God?"

Fianna has no idea why her Catholic mother's possessed her at this very moment.

Regulus looks at her, stunned. Fianna winces.

"OK, OK — I'll check the coast is clear, then you just need to run—"

Outside of the bathroom, Fianna hears someone say, "I think we saw two people go past, though...?"

She hears the Auror from earlier say, "We'll have a look around..."

Fianna and Regulus look at each other, expressions of pure terror washing over their faces. "OK... They're going to find us," she says. She desperately wants to apologise for making everything worse for him — they should've just tried to hide him behind robes and coats in their compartment, and hoped for the best. "Maybe... Maybe if we... If we distract them, they won't think to check your arm?"

"... That could work," says Regulus. He frowns for a second, the clogs in his brain whirring. "If they find us, and we're doing something so... shocking... that they're stunned, and they'll drop it?"

Fianna nods. "But what?"

She looks around, trying to think. His tie's loose around his neck from the commotion, and Fianna glances at their two bodies, so close to each other, locked in a bathroom stall together. Ew, it looks like we're trying to shag, she thinks...

... And then the penny drops.

"Oh, no," she says. "I have an idea."

Regulus must've come to the same conclusion, because he grimaces.

"Me, too," he says, like he could vomit.

Fianna puts her hand on his hair, and ruffles it, messing it up. He undoes his top button, as she messes her uniform up, untucking parts of her shirt, white cotton peeking out from underneath her sweater vest. Her heart is pounding in her chest, her eyes transfixed on Regulus, trying to accept what she needs to do, to get them both out of this. She pulls a face, wishing there was any other way—

The bathroom door opens. Fianna's stomach drops.

Outside of their stall, two Aurors — the one with the bun, and another man, one with a blue buzzcut — exchange a glance. Blue Buzzcut motions to the singular locked stall, quietly stepping towards it.

"Come on out, there's nothing to hide..."

Black Bun waves his hand, the bathroom stall unlocking—

—And it swings open, revealing Fianna Lupin and Regulus Black; hands where they shouldn't be, chests pushed together, kissing each other like their lives depend on it. They tear apart from each other, and the two Aurors make a horrified noise.

"Stop! Stop! You're children!"

Regulus stands in front of Fianna; he holds his arm out as if to protect her. If she didn't know this was all an act, she'd find this kind.

"I'm sorry — why are you—?"

Black Bun puts his hands over his eyes. "Just go!"

Regulus looks back at Fianna; still pretending to be star-crossed lovers, hiding in the toilets away from the judgemental stares of their warring houses, he holds onto her hand, pulling them out of the bathroom quicker than she can say Romeo.

But, as they step outside of the bathroom, they realise the hallway is already littered with students, all being nosey about who the Aurors were looking for. Fianna looks at herself, and at Regulus; their uniforms are still messy, his hair is fucked up and all over the place, her lipgloss has left a rosey tint smudged around his mouth—

Everyone thinks they're together. News travels fast at Hogwarts, by the time they're rolling into Hogsmeade, the entire school will know that Fianna Lupin and Regulus Black — the younger siblings of the Marauders, including the brother of the one that was disowned — were found in the bathroom together, making out. And if the entire school knows, it's only a matter of time until her brother's told, until the entire world thinks that Fianna Lupin is secretly dating Regulus Black.

This is worse than when she was a hatstall. Forget those awkward six minutes, when everyone in the school was staring at her, wondering what was wrong with her to be in-between two wildly different houses. No, instead all eyes will be on her. On the head girl, the people's princess, and her supposed boyfriend, Regulus fucking Black.

She winces. "Oh—"

"—shit," he finishes.

i've never done fake dating LET'S GO

let me know what you thought!! i hope you enjoyed!! xx