Forsaken

Twelve
In which there is chocolate.

The next morning I woke, as usual, and was followed to the showers by the other three Marauders, all anxious to see Snivellus' transformation. So we hurried to the Hall to wait. We pulled out notes to use studying as a guise to be there early, though there was no way there would be any studying done.

Rose. Fuchsia. Orchid. Magenta. Bubblegum. Pink. Bright, blinding pink.

Everyone in the Hall turned and gaped, taking it for a moment before laughing hysterically. Snivellus tried to pretend he didn't notice, but it's hard not to notice the entire school laughing.

It was priceless.

His pale skin, turning an unbecoming shade of red as we watched, was accented by the bright pink mass upon his head. He glared over at the Gryffindor table, as if he were trying to puzzle out which one of us had done it. And how. We four were the natural suspects, but we had done nothing (insofar as he knew). He sat down stiffly and began to eat, trying again to ignore the jibes from his Housemates.

Poor Snivellus. He was such an easy target for the Marauders. This was, in part, because he wasn't very well liked by the Slytherins. He spent much time following Lucius Malfoy, who was then a Sixth Year, and his cronies. Malfoy seemed to not be bothered by him, and I think it was though his association with Snivellus that Snivellus didn't get pulverised.

It was Friday and thus time for everyone's favourite: double Potions with the Slytherins. We went to the dungeons unhappily, as always, everyone dreaded it. Professor Virulent was waiting for us, standing behind his desk with an air of self-importance. Snivellus paused as he passed us, 'if I find out you did this, you'll be sorry,' he threatened.

'I think you're jumping to conclusions, Snape,' James said calmly. 'Why would we ever want to dye your hair? Furthermore, how could we?'

'I know you did it. I just need to find proof. I'm watching, Potter, Black.' He stalked off to his seat.

'Is this a face that wishes to cause mischief to anyone?' Sirius asked batting his eyelashes. We all laughed.

'Now, if everyone would stop focusing on Snape's hair and pay attention,' Virulent began. 'Today we begin Enhancements. Will someone please tell me what they are?' My hand sheepishly went up. Class had begun.

Christmas came around and, like always, Sirius and I stayed while James and Peter went home. Quin asked me to come back for Christmas and I did feel guilty staying, but I didn't want Sirius to be alone, I told him. He understood. He said though, that he had a bit of a surprise for me, but he guessed it would have to wait until I came back in the summer. This, of course, piqued my curiosity.

More than once over the Christmas hols I would return to the dorm room to find Sirius reading avidly. Whenever I asked him what he was reading and why, he would smile and tell me it was nothing. I didn't ask, it seemed he didn't want me to.

For Christmas Quin sent me a collection of Muggle philosophy including Plato, Voltaire and Dostoevsky. Sirius gave me chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Other than that, Christmas was pretty quiet, as it usually was.

On Boxing Day Sirius and I went marauding. I had a bit of an idea I wanted to try out and for it to work I needed a school map. The only full school maps that we could possibly obtain were in Filch's office. We figured that he would be off guard because of the holiday. James had left his Cloak for that purpose so we waited outside Filch's office for him to leave before we went in and rummaged through his desk. It didn't matter if he knew someone had been there, the point was he wouldn't know who.

'That was so easy,' Sirius laughed as we got back to our room. 'What do you need it for anyway, Moony?'

'You'll see,' I promised.

'Moooony!' he groaned.

I winked and went to looking at the map. There was only one so I only had one chance. It would take lots of work, and I doubted that I would finish it before the end of the year, so I didn't want to get up anyone's hope quite yet. But when it was finished… Uninterrupted marauding! Okay, so we had one track minds, but we were boys.

That moon, on 28 December, I was alone with Sirius, but he was there, helping three times as hard, to make up for the absence of Peter and James. It was a bad one and bloody cold, but he carried me faithfully to the infirmary.

And so December rolled into January and Snivellus' hair was back to its customary black. The other Marauders sullenly paid me in chocolates. Sirius got a Howler from his mother, who yelled at him for his “horrible behaviour towards his brother, his cousins and the Black tradition”. Sirius laughed so hard yet we all felt his suffering. Summer would be, as usual, a living hell for him. We wanted to be there with him, yet we knew we could not.

We said heated good-byes at the end of the year. We promised to meet early at Diagon Alley to do our shopping together and get a head start on our marauding. We would be Fourth Years. Plus, we would owl each other. This promise was harder for Peter, who was Muggle-born, and for Sirius, whose parents tried to blockade his mail. But we were the Marauders, and we would work something out. And so the train ride passed and we stepped out on Platform 9³/₄. James and Peter saw their parents immediately and waved before running off. Sirius' parents were so absorbed in Regulus that it took them a moment to call Sirius to them. But he left slowly. The crowd thinned and I couldn't see Quin anywhere. Had he forgotten about me? Had he abandoned me? Being the pessimist that I am, my mind jumped first to the worst conclusions.

'Remus Lupin?' I heard my name and turned around. There was a man of average height and red hair standing in front of me. 'Rian Higgins,' he pronounced in a thick, Scottish accent as he extended his hand. 'Quin got tied up with something an asked me to come pick you up.' I raised a questioning eyebrow. 'He's caught up in a meeting about the case he's working on. The Alpha came from France to offer some more information. Charlot isn't giving up as quickly as we had hoped. Don't worry though, Quin will win.' I took the hand he had offered and shook it and he smiled triumphantly. 'We're going to meet him for lunch, hungry?' I nodded and he grinned. It was close to the full moon, he must have known about me. I didn't know anything about him, but Quin had told him all about me. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt at that.

He took my trunk and we walked from the station and took a taxi to the entrance to Diagon Alley. We dropped my trunk off in the tavern, with promises that it would be kept safe, before we left, re-entering Muggle London.

'We decided on a Muggle pub, I hope there're no objections.' I shook my head to the negative. We walked for a mile or so until we reached one of those quaint little pubs that's just like every other one in London. 'The inkeep's a Squib,' he whispered to me, 'I've known him for years.'

We sat down at a small table in the corner; the pub was more or less empty anyway. He ordered a pint for himself and I got a pot of tea. I just looked at him, trying to read him. Trying and failing. He didn't push me though, he sat and studied me as well.

'Sorry to keep you waiting,' a welcomed voice broke the silence.

'Quin!' I exclaimed, jumping to give him a hug.

'My meeting took longer than I expected,' he apologised, 'I hope Rian didn't bother you too much.' Rian gave an innocent look and Quin rolled his eyes before sitting down next to him.

We ate (I ate much more than they did) and then returned to get my trunk and then went off to Quin's house, Rian followed us the whole way. It was just before I was planning to go off to bed, and Quin was making our customary tea and hot chocolate that Rian left.

We sat, together, and he paused as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say to me.

'I told you at Christmastime that I had a bit of a surprise waiting at home,' Quin reminded me. I nodded. 'I knew Rian in Hogwarts, he was in the year below me. I hadn't seen him in years, but we met in France, in Paris, actually, and, well, we hit it off.' He paused. 'Remus, he's moved in.'

'Come again?'

'Rian is my lover, Remus.'