Chapter Text
“No,” said Remus not looking up for his copy of fantastic beasts and where to find them.
“I haven’t even said anything yet!” James exclaimed, looking up around at his friends at the table, obviously looking for support that wasn’t given to him.
“You were about to ask me to do your homework,” Remus looked up momentarily, “am I correct?”
“Is that how lowly you think of me, Moony?” James slammed his fist on his heart and gasped, causing you to giggle. “I was just gonna ask to copy yours!” the sound of laughter roared around the table, only interrupted by the screech of owl bringing in the morning post. Packages were being unpacked and sweets shared until two black envelopes were dropped at the table. One in front of you, the other in front of no one other than Sirius Black.
His handsome features tensed up and the shadow of laugher which fell from his lips just seconds ago faded into nothing. You, however, didn’t question this diversion in behavior seeing how you were mirroring his actions. Sirius looked up at you, and irritated yet worried look flickered through his eyes. a crease formed between your brows as a response. he looked back down at his letter and you followed suit, ripping the red, snake-embedded, wax seal. A few seconds of reading was all it took for the both of you to find the letter to contain the very thing you thought it would. A marriage arrangement. You groaned.
“N/N? everything alright?” James asked concerned. you just slammed your head down on the table and, without looking up, handed him the letter. he took it wordlessly. There was silence for a moment, the previous chatter between the boys now died down. Remus and Peter were glaring between the other three with confusion, but reading the room and knowing not to ask questions just yet. James made an airy sound, something between a gasp and a contemptuous exhale, and proceed to slam the letter back on the table.
“I cannot believe this!” He exclaimed loudly. This coupled with the force he slammed the letter down with made a few heads turn, but upon seeing James be the source of commotion which was a daily ordeal, the heads turned back to their breakfast. “Pads, you too?” He groaned in response.
Sirius nodded. You finally looked up. Your eyes wandered to Remus, his eyes were already locked on you, concern seeping out of them with a force you haven’t quite seen before. He briefly glanced down at the paper resting between you and the exasperated boy next to you, he was silently asking you what the letter said. After years of friendship picking up on these cues from the boys was like a second language, especially when it came to Remus who had trouble expressing everything with words. You knew that, and yet, you didn’t want him to read the letter. The letter which contained your future, possible suitor, your soon-to-be husband, which wasn’t him. the only one which you ever felt something real for, your best friend, your source of happiness, Remus’ name wasn’t there. it’s not as if you had to check, there was no way in hell his name would appear on a list of pureblood bachelors no matter how much you wanted it to. You decided to ignore his silent request and looked straight ahead into the gray eyes of the oldest descendant of the Black family.
You put your hand on the paper and crumpled it slightly with the pressure you used, the spoke in a steady voice which, to your dismay, was laced distress, “My dear mother suggests,” You started “Rosier or Mulciber. You?”
“Her disgraceful son was so hard to find a suitor for she nearly had to Imperio someone into marrying me, luckily the Vanitys took pity. Emma is her name, I believe.” He said trying to make a joke out it, but the bitterness in his words ruined it. Nobody laughed. Peter scratched his head in confusion.
“Wait- Marry? What are you saying?” He asked looking in between the pair. Remus almost whacked him in the back of the head for being so oblivious to you not wanting to answer the question, but his curiosity took the best of him, so he restrained himself. Luckily, it was Sirius who spoke, saving you the pain of telling the man you love you are to be married off to a stranger.
“L/N and I and getting married off, living up to the tradition.”
“It’s a stupid pureblood tradition! I mean they can’t honestly expect you guys to agree to this!” James cried out.
“I’m afraid we don’t have a choice, James. It’s not exactly up to us,” You sighed deeply stabbing your eggs angrily, “I should be glad they did me the courtesy of suggesting two candidates-”
“You cannot get married!” Remus stood suddenly with both hands on the table, as soon as he realized what he was doing his eyes widened slightly and he sat down promptly, “What I mean is - you’re both underages. You can’t be married.”
“It’s an engagement, Moony,” Sirius chimed in, “As soon as we’re out of Hogwarts, it’s marriage and pumping out as many pureblood babies as you can.”
“Well, can’t you refuse? What’s the worst that could happen?”
“The worst?” Sirius snarled, almost humorously. “The best-case scenario is being fed to the Malfoys’ peacocks! We’re already on thin ice, being Gryffindors and all.”
Your fists clenched tightly, and your eyes starring daggers into the half-eaten piece of toast on your plate, just so you wouldn’t have to look at Remus. The things which your eyes couldn’t see, your mind made up for. Remus’ slightly widened eyes. His clenched fists. His sad, sad expression on his, scarred but nonetheless, beautiful face. You could almost hear him voice his displeasure with the arrangement in his classic Prefect Voice. Your eyes watered. To quickly mask your feelings you stood up, put the crumpled piece of paper in the pocket of your robe, and swung your bag over your shoulder.
“Where are you going?” James frowned at you.
“To hang me in the girls’ bathroom, what do you think? I’m going to class,” You turned around and waved a hand in the air, “See you all in charms!”
Yet, they didn’t see you in charms, nor potions, or transfiguration. The map pointed to the girls’ dormitory, James almost started climbing the stairs up to the dorm before Remus dragged him away and explained the way the stairs work, yet again. He explained this very clearly to convince, not James he realized mid-speech, but himself to not go up there and check on you. He would have to wait in the common room. He would wait all night if that’s what it took to make sure you’re okay.
However, to his surprise, he didn’t have to wait that long. Just as he finished his homework and focused on his only source of entertainment which was watching Sirius brooding around while James and Peter fussed around him. You strutted down the stairs into the common room and looked around, once your head landed on the group you run up to them.
“Great, you guys are here! Sirius get up,” you took a hold of his hand and pulled him out of his spot towards you, “Marry me.”
The room went quiet. Remus thought he was going to burst out with a cry of shock, yet Sirius beat him to it.
“Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t like you that way.” You smacked his shoulder playfully.
“Me neither, you buffoon! Listen, I had an epiphany,” You said and started pacing as Sirius sat down, “We write to our families, we tell them how we just cannot live without each other and all that crap,” you said that a couple of octaves too high while batting your eyelashes, imitating a love-sick girl, “Best case scenario, our engagements get called off and we just have to pretend to be interested in each other for a few social functions.”
“Wait,” Sirius exclaimed, “That could work. I mean they don’t like the both of us being in Gryffindor why wouldn’t they want the two of us to hook up. We’re both pureblood anyways,” He said blurted out, comprehending the idea fully. He sprung to his feet and took ahold of your hands, “You, my dear, are a genius.” He spun you around and danced around with you while humming a clique song, earning a giggle out of you.
“What?!” Remus and James bellowed together. They glanced at each other and James let Remus continues. “Are you two seriously planning to marry each other? That’s your genius plan!”
“No!” You said quickly, suddenly alerted to his presence again. “We’ll just pretend to be engaged for a while and call of the wedding when we’re no longer dependant on our families.” You explained in a rush. Remus’ expression softened, he muttered a quiet oh and sat down contemplating this idea.
“I reckon it could work,” Prongs stated, still having a thoughtful look on his face, “Let’s write your letters, I figure it’ll be a laugh.”
A laugh was, for everyone in the room, except for Remus, who consumed by his jealousy at your lovey-dovey words towards his best mate, left up to bed early. His thoughts were so preoccupied he knew he wouldn’t get an ounce of sleep tonight. Sirius, his closest friend which already beat him in everything, now had the one girl which Remus cared about. Perfect, he thought, fucking perfect.
—
The next morning at breakfast, you were in a weird mood. For one, you though your plan was great and could workout, which means you wouldn’t have to marry some pureblood loser. On the other hand, you had mixed emotions about even fake dating Sirius, which was more about you rather than him, and your huge crush on his best friend. You tried to preoccupy yourself with the intense quidditch conversation, or rant rather, James was having with Peter next to you. During a particularly boring part of James’ already rather tiring rant, you were pretty sure it was about how awful school brooms are, you were rescued by Remus sitting down in front of you. Your mood immediately lighted at the presence of your favorite person, you smiled at him brightly.
“Good morning, Remus! Did you sleep well?” as you asked that you noticed the dark circles under his eyes looking slightly worse than yesterday.
“Yes-“ Remus attempted to lie, but he didn’t get the time to convince you about he had an excellent night that he most definitely did not spend thinking about how he could have confessed his feelings for you just twenty-four hours before and possibly flipped the whole situation around. However, he did not have time for his well-rehearsed excuses, he was cut off by the single most horrifying sight he has ever seen in his life. Sirius putting his arm around your shoulder. Sirius pressing a kiss to your temple. you laughing it off. You smiling at Sirius. Oh god, he felt so nauseous all of sudden.
“Good morning, beautiful.” Sirius beamed at you. You made a slight gagging noise as he pressed a kiss on your head, teasingly.
“You disgust me, darling.” You teased, smirking up at him, as you continued to eat your breakfast.
“Well, that is no way to speak to your boyfriend.” He fake pouted and you showed a piece of toast in his mouth. At that very moment, Remus swore you himself silently, of course, to never have a piece of toast ever again. He was just about to stand up and leave to go puke in peace when he noticed you tensing up.
The source of your tension soon became apparent as the great hall was flooded with screeching owls. The rest of the marauders seemed to also notice this and wordlessly looked around to find the Black or L/N family owls, hoping they carry good news. Soon enough James spat out a ‘look’ and pointed at the L/N owl heading their direction. Before the owl even managed to land properly, you snatched the letter out of its beak and ripped the envelope open.
“Merlin, I’m too nervous. You read it.” You said shoving the letter at Sirius.
“Alright-“
“You’re to slow, never mind!” You grabbed the letter back, and Sirius lent closer to you to get a read at it too. “Dear daughter, blah blah blah, this is an inconvenient arrangement, blah blah blah,” You read of in a hurried voice, eye skimming the page at a rapid rate, “But I am happy you found love, and with a suitable man. Mrs. Black and I agreed to let you persuade each other-!” You got cut off by Sirius suddenly standing up and turned to face him. His smile as bright as yours, he picked you up out of your seat in an embrace and spun you in circles. You both laughed and cheered, and the euphoria you were feeling that you almost didn’t notice Remus halfway out the door. Almost.
“Hang on, guys. I’ll just check up on Rem.” You managed to get out before dashing out after Remus. If your thoughts weren’t too preoccupied with the thoughts of your crush, you might have heard James’ snarky comment.
“Merlin, do you think he’ll ever confess to her? It’s so frustrating.”
“I bet you both five whole galleons he’ll do it before next full moon, I think I put him on edge,” Sirius remarked, very obvious to the effect this arrangement was having on his best friend.
“I’ll bet those five galleons she’ll be the one to confess!” Peter chimed in, he knew you to be a fairly confrontational person and hoped he could persuade oh to confess your feelings, which he was certain off so that he could earn thirds few galleons. James groaned.
“They are both clueless, no one will confess. You are on.” and they all shook hands.
—
Remus hasn’t gone far, he was a few meters outside the great hall when you caught up to him. Yet, the short distance didn’t stop you from feeling anxious. Was he sick? When is the next full moon again? No, it’s still almost three weeks left. Did he get hurt last transformation and didn’t tell you? Did you do something wrong? Oh my, you did something wrong. He hates you, he hates your guts and can’t stand seeing you happy. My crush hates me-
“Hey, Remus! Are you okay?” The sound of your voice caught you by surprise, it came out a little frantic but much calmer than you expected, considering your state of mind.
“Y/N!” He stopped walking for a second, clearly caught off guard, “Oh, I’m alright, thanks.” Then carried on walking.
“Come on, Rem. Whatever it is you can tell me, you know that.” You put a hand on his shoulder, and he stops again. He stops because the warmth of your gentle hands would be powerful enough to stop him if he were a hurricane or a tsunami. He stops because the power you held over him made him frozen to the spot, unable to move a muscle. He stopped unwillingly, but as he looked straight into your E/C eyes which glowed with concern for him, and even compassion? He stopped by your power but stayed for your magic. Not the magic taught at Hogwarts by old wizards, or the one used by house elves, no, it was a whole new type of magic which filled him with warmth from the inside. The magic of a helping hand, the magic of a shoulder to cry on, the magic of a kind smile, or a caring look, something that never failed to make him feel like he belonged as if he mattered. The magic, he realized as he watched your brows furrow slightly with concern (which twisted at his stomach, he hated himself for being the cause of any of your pain), was nothing other than pure, unadulterated, love. At that moment he felt, to his surprise as much as yours, a tear stream down his face.
“Remus…” You began, not knowing where you were going with it, but concerned nonetheless. “Talk to me, I’m here for you.”
“It’s just- I don’t- I mean-“ He took a deep breath. “I - I like you, alright!”
“Well, I like you too.” You giggled out.
”No, you don’t get it I like you. Like, I cannot imagine life without you, every morning when I wake up I think about you, and every full moon I’m so scared I’ll wake up to find you hurt, and how whenever I see you there the next morning my heart swells and I cannot bear to even think how it’ll be if you weren’t there. and I think you don’t like me, I know,” He attempted to take a breath in yet his breath shook with a sob, tears falling freely down his face, ”I know that Sirius is such a better match for you, and I wish I could have been that guy for you but I’m not and I’ll never be. I’m sorry just forget it-“ He almost turned to walk away but you were faster, grabbing his face and pressing your lips onto his.
“Remus you ARE that guy for me. do you know the real reason why I was so anxious about that arranged marriage? I didn’t want to lose you. I didn’t want to be forced away from you. I just thought by faking a relationship with Sirius i could still…. have a chance with you. I don’t like Sirius, he’s like a brother to me. I like you, and only you.”
He, shocked, didn’t know what to do with this new information. He never even considered the thought you’d like him back and now he was bawling like a baby in front of the one girl he loved and she loved him back? This was too much. He was ready to faint, head racing, as you embraced him, and the world seemed a perfect place when he wrapped his arms around your body. Everything made sense, and the rest of the world was merely a whisper in the distance.
The distant whisper had belonged to three eavesdropping men nearby. Sirius holding his hands out to the two others.
“Cough up,” he smirked at them. They, with dismay and much argument, handed him five galleons each. “What did I tell you, lads? I know my fake girlfriend and her real boyfriend.”