**Remus' thoughts are in italics

In the midst of a war, one of the keys to staying alive and not just surviving, but truly living was to love. One must love in order to fly away from their problems every once in a while.

So, if you traveled to Hogwarts and visited the heads common room, you could see two teenagers with Charms textbooks and rolls of parchment long abandoned.

"Someone needs to teach you how to properly fly on a fucking broom," he says as she laughs.

"You can," a suggestion that could've meant more if one was looking into things.

"Someone with patience, I do not have patience," he drew another tic-tac-toe board onto the piece of parchment they had sacrificed.

"Yet, you're the Quidditch Captain and have been for the past three years. What do you do with the young kids at tryouts, it seems like they've never touched a broom sometimes?"

"They usually get eliminated after the first flight around the pitch, but other times they're promising," he mused while drawing a thick o in the middle square.

"Are those the ones who did well in the first-year flying lessons?" She smiled as she spoke, brightening the darkroom only lit by the fire.

"Those flying lessons taught us nothing! I mean, shouting 'up' at your broom when you're trying to mount it in a real quidditch game doesn't work!"

"We were in first-year, James!" Lily laughed at his dramatics once again.

"Age doesn't matter in quidditch! My kids will be able to ride a broom as soon as they can walk!" He got up to add more wood to the diminishing fire.

...

Love can be expressed in many different ways, whether that's shouting about how to properly fly on a broom or patrolling in an empty corridor.

Mary and Remus were different from James and Lily. For one, they are actually a couple, and two, James's loud tendencies trump Lily's quieter ones, while Remus's quieter ones trumped Mary's louder ones.

So, they patrolled empty corridor after empty corridor until they reached the astronomy tower to find a sky of glistening stars.

"Are you surprised there's no one out in the corridors tonight?" Mary said still staring up at the sky.

"No, after Dumbledore scolding everyone at dinner, nobody taking the risk of going out isn't surprising to me," he responded almost simultaneously.

Remus pulled her hand in hers and started to gain her attention by beginning to go into a slow dance.

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words

Remus watched in fascination as the words floated out of Mary's mouth because he had never heard her sing before.

Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song

"I didn't know you could sing, you have a very nice voice," he said when she paused for a breath as they swayed under the stars. She responded by continuing the song.

Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song

Her singing voice was a stark contrast to Lily's as hers was softer, more delicate, while her friend's was louder and more powerful.

"Who knew Remus Lupin was such a softie at heart?" She asked teasingly with a broad grin.

"Literally ask anyone, Mary, everyone knows that."

"Oh shush."

They swayed under the stars, Mary resting her head upon his chest, listening to his beating heart, rustling leaves, and the occasional coo of an owl was something she could get used to.

...

Remus and Mary were wrong in the sense that everybody listened to Dumbledore's warning of not leaving the dorms after curfew because Marlene and Sirius sat in the middle of the kitchens.

They had eaten their way through two ice cream sundaes each and had moved on to a game of charades.

"What are you doing with your hair?" Marlene asked laughing.

Sirius pushed his hair against his head and put on a snarl that looked a lot one of their classmate's.

He started walking around the room very slowly with shifty eyes, yet Marlene had no idea what was going on.

"What in the actual fuck are you doing?" She asked snorting as she spoke, Sirius sighed dramatically with a smile.

"I'm Snape!"

This statement caused Marlene to go into an even deeper fit of laughter.

"You should've put grease in your hair to make it more realistic!" She said with a glimmer in her eyes.

Sirius invoked this emotion out of Marlene she never even knew she had. It was almost like Sirius held a key no one else in the world had that unlocked a piece of Marlene no one else could see except him. She was a happier version of herself.

"Now, are those scars of yours healing?" Sirius asked changing the conversation topic to something more sirius.

Never in his life had Sirius been so downright disgusted by the people who were his biological family. He may not associate himself with them, but he had to carry his surname around with him for the rest of his life.

"The one on my arm is healing pretty quickly since it wasn't as deep as the one of my stomach, but that one is making progress too."

Sirius wasn't reassured until he saw that they actually were healing because Marlene was one to downplay her injuries. She had been doing that since the start of her quidditch career.

"Roll your sleeve up, please," he used what Marlene called his soft voice, he spoke quietly, but you knew whatever he was saying was to be taken siriusly.

"It looks worse than it actually is, Sirius."

She revealed a lengthy red scar spanning from her wrist to near her elbow and pulled her button-up shirt to reveal a much darker red scar with yellow bruising around it.

"I'm going to kill them! I'll kill them for what they did!" Sirius near shouted while kneeling next to Marlene.

She took her hands and cupped his cheeks to look straight in his eyes.

"Hey, we survived it, didn't we? And we can use that for future experiences," she said almost whispering.

"I'm just sorry! I dragged you into the darkest family there is-"

"You're a Potter, Sirius. You are not like them and you will never ever be like them!" She said firmly as his tears continued to fall.

"I'm so sorry, Marly," he said into her chest.

"Sirius, you have nothing to be sorry for. I love you for the way that you are and so do the rest of our friends."

...

Love didn't have a time limit, but such a thing called curfews existed and so did unexpected meetings with Dumbledore.

Mary and Remus laid flat-backed, shoulder to shoulder, gazing at all the stars above then. The only thing pulling them from the tranquility of the bright lights was a curt clear of the throat, which caused their heads to snap in that direction.

"Miss MacDonald, can you please return to your common room? And Mr. Lupin, could you please follow me?" Dumbledore phrased it in such a way that sounded like a request, but they knew it wasn't.

"Yes sir," Mary rushed off down the stairs without a second thought as to why Remus was asked to meet with Dumbledore.

Rushing through the dark halls, Mary consequently was not watching where she was going and she ran straight into someone who did not know where they were going.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She asked in a flustered manner, helping up whoever she had knocked over.

"It's alright, I'm not injured," Craig replied with a smile.

"Why are you out in the corridors so late?" Mary asked him when they started walking again with a quirked eyebrow.

"I could ask the same thing, but truthfully, I got lost and haven't been able to find my way back to the Hufflepuff common room."

"I'm out late because of patrols," she said ignoring the slight flush on her cheeks.

"Patrols ended thirty minutes ago. You were out late with your boyfriend," he said accusingly.

"How the fuck do you know about that?" She shouted at which the portraits all shushed her and Craig smirked.

"It was a hunch, which you just confirmed. Lily also has her suspicions by the way."

"If you tell her, I swear to Merlin!"

"Contrary to popular belief, even though I'm American, I can keep secrets."

...

Doodledorf arrived with Remus at his office after walking at a brisk pace with Remus's concerns arising.

He opened the door and Remus didn't get any less confused. In the corner, stood Minnie and in a chair sat Rebecca Cortell.

"So, as you both know the full moon is in ten days and I need to talk to you about that."

Why does Rebecca Cortell know the full moon is in ten days?

"Remus?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes?"

"I was bit this past summer. Do you ever get used to the feeling of pain when you change over?" She asked with wide eyes.

Oh fuck.

"Nothing can ever really prepare you for that and every month is the same pain. Over time, it gets duller, but it's still the same amount."

"We'll stick through it together."

The only thing Remus was thinking were a multitude of swear words because of his friends being illegal animagi. He missed Minnie's knowing look from all the worrying he was doing.

Well shit...

...

Author's Note:

First, thank you all for the birthday wishes, it made my day! Second, this chapter is my gift to you.

I can't wait for Craig to meet James and Sirius because I was siriusly dying from laughter thinking up the different interactions.

I hope you're having a wonderful day/night depending on when you're reading this!

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🥳

(Just because it's my birthday🥳🥳)