#dorlene
oh my god this was rly long but I did it! idk maybe less happened than I thought it would but! oh and I made Mary and Hope asians, deal with it, tho I’m sorry if there’s been inconsistent hc oops it’s been so long since I read through the tumblr version fully anyway I’ll stop now & as always ty for reading ily <3<3<3
It was bound to be a long and raucous evening. With the speaker turned up to full, and boxes of reheated pizza piled on the coffee table surrounded by bottles of wine and beer, they filled the room full to the brim. Those who didn’t fit on the couches and armchairs spilled onto the floor, making a circle between them.
No one and everyone was holding court, the way they sprawled across the room. Remus curled up on the couch with Lily and Mary, who was telling all sorts of stories about James from before, making Lily laugh till her eyes watered. Where James and Sirius sat on the carpet in front of the sofa, Sirius was gleefully adding to the mix, head leaning back just enough to rest on Remus’ knee. Peter, the lucky bastard, bagged the comfortable armchair before anyone noticed, and Dorcas and Marlene were snuggled into a beanbag by its side.
“Marlene darling—” Mary stretched an arm to pass a fresh can of beer, “how’s the hockey been?”
“Please, you wouldn’t understand if I told you.”
“What! It’s not like we know nothing!”
“Look, I’d grab Pete if I wanted to talk hockey. Cheers—” She saluted at Peter’s laugh, “The rest of you are all clueless.”
“How’d you know I haven’t become a hockey player! I could have just secretly changed careers overnight. Heard it was the fad ‘round here.” She turned to wink at Lily and Remus.
“Oh yeah, wasn’t that a surprise.” Dorcas said, “you all need to stop keeping things from us. Can’t believe I hadn’t heard a word of it till I showed up myself.”
“Well I’m not complaining,” Sirius grinned, and James hummed in acquiesce. Remus couldn’t tell if it was about him, or Lily and James.
Lily was blushing nonetheless. “Oh enough about us. How’s the States been, Mary?”
“Yeah, how are the people of the New World? Are they really all obsessed with money and guns?”
“No but hear me out, they’re still all so weird.” Mary laughed easily, “And also, apparently I sound too Chinese for the white people and too British for the Asians. Nevermind they all grew up with American accents anyway.”
-
“Remus Lupin,” Mary leaned across the space Lily left empty as she stood, “how’s my favourite fake asian doing these days, hmm?”
Remus groaned, and jostled her head on his shoulders. “Not bad, I suppose.” he said simply, not knowing how to elaborate.
Mary stared at him a bit, then snorted. “See, there’s why you’re a fake asian.”
“So was I supposed to tell you about the new bubble tea store in town?”
“Exactly. You don’t even need a ‘how are you’ to start ranting about your parents and shitty new Chinese restaurants.” Mary waved a hand, hiding a forlorn smile that showed up every time she started to ‘talk asian’, “And obviously I want a nuanced analysis of that new bubble tea shop.”
Remus smiled back. He never expected to have real opinions about something like this, but at some point, between him and Mary, it became a coded dialogue about missing home. “They’re quite good. And not too obsessed with tea leaves to be crazy expensive. You should try the ice matcha.”
“Do they have good pearls?”
“Pretty good actually. Perfect texture, and melts just a bit on the outside—”
“Ugh,” Mary groaned, then started to giggle. “Yeah, I do like bubble tea. Oh Rem, how’s aunty Hope been doing?”
“Yeah, she’s good. Well, physically she’s the best she’s been since before, but there’s been other things bogging her down.”
“You know,” Mary looked up, matching his frown, “she could ask my parents anything, even though they’re not in the country, right?”
“Oh Mary. Thank you. But you know she’d never ask.”
“I’ll get my parents to call then.”
“Even then she won’t tell. Or say yes.”
Mary sighed, “you two. You’re the exact same. But anyhow it’ll be nice for them to catch up.”
‘Yeah… You should come ‘round some day.”
“Yea!” Mary breathed eagerly, “I really missed those massive veggie buns she used to make.”
“Yeah.” Remus said quietly.
For the next few moments, Mary watched him. Remus barely realised, he was looking ahead and unconsciously gnawing his lips again.
“Whatever it is, stop worrying.” Mary slapped him lightly on the arm.
“What—”
“Just enjoy the evening, yeah? And stop worrying so much about everything, you sooty stick.”
He replied with a light chuckle, “I’ll try,” and raised his beer in salute.
-
It would be very welcoming indeed, Remus thought, if his brain was just wired to let go. Which it should, tonight of all nights. It would be ideal indeed, if noise and friendship was just enough.
But there was no way to explain the nameless agitation that started and didn’t go away. Soon it manifested physically as a headache rising from behind his eyes, an audible static that came in waves and settled as a buzz between his ears. It wasn’t the beer, he barely had any, and he was nowhere as drunk as the rest of his friends. But he found that their conversation started to race ahead that he could barely follow. They flitted in and out, never too far from skating, of course. He felt strangely unsteady, floating as though in a dream, and all that noise. Remus was hearing himself being drowned out.
-
They started talking about program music at some point. Sirius was proudly showing some moves from the Bohemian Rhapsody remix he’d put together for the free skate, even pulling Remus up with him at some point. Dorcas jumped up, matching move for move with her jazz tracks. Then Lily and James would start arguing among the two of them again.
“Just choose something you both like and be done with it! What’s so complicated?”
“Oh no Marls, that was the wrong thing to say.”
“It’s got to make sense, you know?” Lily said urgently, “It can’t just be a random track out of your workout playlist, or whatever your coach chooses—”
“You two are just obsessing at this point—”
“Itneeds to resonate. I need to feel it in my soul.”
Marlene laughed.
“She’s right though.” James added, “And it needs to be right for the both of us, which you know, is easy if you’ve paired for years but we’ve just started, and—”
“And we’re fighting about everything, it’s so frustrating, neither of us were like this before!”
Mary and Remus, ‘the ones before’, shared a grin and a smirk.
“So is it a romance you want to tell?” Dorcas suggested.
“Obviously it’s a romance!” Lily gestured, “And an intense one at that. ‘Cause you know, with Remus, all our narratives have been mostly— platonic, and even if it’s a love story it’d be some innocent and pretty fairytale, because it’s, it’s Remus—”
Remus scoffed, “what’s that supposed to mean?”
“She says you’re cute!” Marlene called from across the floor.
“Yeah,” Sirius breathed into his shoulder, “and I’d agree.”
Remus whipped his head around, “how drunk are you?”
But Sirius’ eyes were stone cold sober, startlingly clear in the light and edges crinkled with a smile.
Remus felt something jump in his chest. He hurriedly looked back towards Lily.
“And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, Remus, I love you, and you know that. But I just— it’s been two years and I feel different. I want to show something different now, you know? James doesn’t get it—”
“What do you mean I don’t get it? I totally get it!”
“Then why has everything you’ve suggested been, oh I don’t know, playboy pretty girl—”
“That’s not— I mean, that’s not what I—”
“Playboy, Prongs?” Sirius had burst out laughing, “you? Really?”
James’ drink-flushed cheeks coloured even more, despite his dark skin, “That’s not what I was going for! I’ll have you know—”
“Then who did you want to be?” Peter snorted, “some loverboy Romeo?”
“Yes, exactly!”
The room burst into laughter. James frowned.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Oh James,” Dorcas wiped her eyes, “I knew we should have gotten you into acting with us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” Remus nudged James with his elbow, “you would have made a nice Romeo, that’s all.”
“If he could have taken it seriously for more than a second.” Peter said.
“I’m not Romeo,” James blurted. “I don’t want it to be Romeo, but you know, I don’t really want it to be me either—”
“But James it’s meant to be you, how else do you tell the story?”
“Just that! Tell a story. I mean, it would be a bit creepy to imagine myself in the story with— you know…” James trailed off.
Remus heard Sirius’ quiet laugh, and dared to look over.
“I think he wants to not-himself,” Sirius whispered with a smile in his voice, “so he can unabashedly obsess over Lily.”
“Yeah.” Remus smiled a little, “That’s the impression I got as well.”
-
“What about you, Remus?” Mary finally asked.
“Huh?”
“You. Your music?”
“Oh, I— don’t know yet.”
“Oh.” She said, looking at him curiously. She saw Remus squirm uncomfortably, and quickly added with a smile, “not that far behind these two, then. Have you got any ideas?”
“Yeah I’m,” Remus grimaced to himself, “mostly not sure.”
“Wait, you’ve chosen our waltz for the short right?” Lily turned to beamed at him, “Chopin’s 19?”
‘Our waltz’, Lily called it, because it had been the track for their senior debut, a couple of years ago now. The posh kids from Slytherin scoffed and laughed at how it’s “one of Chopin’s easiest waltz”, but the two of them had always been ridiculously proud of it.
“Yeah.” Remus squeezed a smile, “that’s what I told McGonagall. But I don’t know, I could still change it, if I’m not sure. And the free skate—” he exhaled frustratedly, “I— don’t even know what I want it to be. I just know what I don’t want it to be— sometimes.”
“And what’s that?”
“What everyone else is doing?” Remus said, with half a frown, half a pout.
His friends burst out laughing, though Remus didn’t feel the humour.
-
“Oh my god!” Dorcas clanked her bottle down, “Are we here for another round of complaining about the scoring system?”
“Yes! I swear—”
“The very idea of a panel for subjectively judging components and interpretation—”
“Like sure, it’s not the 6.0 system anymore, with anonymity and everything, but I swear to god sometimes it just feels like they can now cheat you and have nothing traced back to them—”
“I did a degree on this, if you suggest a human panel for judging anything in computer science they’ll just straight up laugh at you, but not here it seems!”
“At least we used to be able to tell straight away if a score is off. But now we have to just guess, meticulously compare every person’s jumps and scores to call them out.”
“And what the hell do you do with the ‘presentation mark’?”
“Exactly!”
“It’s so easily manipulated it’s crazy.”
“And honestly, sometimes I feel bad for the judges, everyone is always taking a shot at them”, Dorcas said, ever-so-compassionate, “but it amazes me how they’d came up with a system so easily questioned.”
“Oh no, not just questioned, their reputation is getting destroyed in all circles of sensible people. Honestly, how many scandals does it take for them to start fixing things?”
-
Marlene was at the stage of drunk where she looked ready to climb on the coffee table, and start an impromptu impassioned speech against capitalism. Mary was trying to get the troupe to start singing show tunes together, old-time-theatre-kids-style.
“Comeon,” she intoned, “We’ve got the wines and beers, and all the loud obnoxious young queers”
“Mary, you’re speaking in rhyme.”
“La vie boheme!!” She shouted as the only reply, raising her glass to the ceiling.
“Oh is that Rent? I loved that show!”
“Hell yea Jamesy! And oh my god look, it’s like us now! A bunch of young drunk bohemians in a room—”
“Yeah, not quite sure we’re there yet.”
“We are drunk, though. And we love that show. I love living queer hippie anti-establishment. I love theatre,” Mary mumbled, smiling dazedly and one arm around each of James and Lily, pulling them around with her words, “Oh you know what— this is exactly what you two should do for your skate! Dig out your theatre roots and go for one of the musicals—”
Lily chuckled noncommittally, “yeah sure.”
“No, I’m being serious! Oh shut up Sirius—” she immediately said, with a huff from Sirius, “god. A couple of months away and I’m already forgetting. How could I. Anyway, James, Lily, you listen— you know what I think? I think you should properly look at all the theatre classics, romantic, and as intense as you want them—”
“Hmm,” James turned his head to the ceiling, snorting a laugh.
“Listen up! This could be your Eureka moment.”
“Alright, yes! Listening!”
“I could help you fix up a medley. No, really, I was going to do some work with Hogwarts’ orchestra anyway.”
“That— would be wonderful.”
“Wouldn’t it?” Mary grinned, “so what do you think? The Phantom, Les Mis— though James I don’t really think you could pull a Marius— Christian from Moulin Rouge— maybe. Or some Sondheim? A Little—”
“Wait no—” Lily started, at the same time as James:
“No stop a second—”
They paused, surprised, and slowly turned to look at each other. They became even more astonished to find the same shade of epiphany in each other’s look.
“Blimey,” James breathed, “this is it, isn’t it?”
Lily said nothing in response. She looked back at Mary.
“You said— Moulin Rouge, right?”
“Yeah…” Mary thought again, “Oh. Oh— oh my god! Satine and Christian!”
“I don’t get it.”
“Shut up Pete!”
“That movie was so cheesy!”
“Shut up! This makes so much sense!” Mary was grinning like mad, “Oh god this is wonderful. I could— we could start tonight—” she made to stand up, only to stumble.
“Hey it’s fine, it’s fine!” James pulled her back down. He and Lily were staring at each other with such a look in their eyes. “Oh Mary! Thank you, I— can’t believe we just—”
“I told you,” Mary said happily, “your Eureka moment! And Lily— come on, Satine is so hot—”
-
No matter how much Remus wanted to knock his own brains out, he couldn’t concentrate at all after that. On anything. He suspected something ugly in him was envious of his friends, and the thought sent through him shocks of guilt and disgust at himself. The buzz between his ears was becoming a swirl, pounding under his skull as though almost starting to block his vision.
He screwed his eyes shut. Surely, he could slip away without them noticing? The way they were so wrapped up in their rapture.
He felt Sirius place a concerned hand on his knee, but he lightly pushed it off. “Sorry Pads I— I’ve got a headache. Might just go outside for a while.”
Carefully, he stood and made his way to the door. Mary stopped him with a questioning look.
“Headache. Will probably turn in early tonight.” He said apologetically. And Mary put her drink down to envelop him in a hug.
“Go on you. I’ll explain to everyone.”
“It’s so good to see you.” Remus said sincerely. Having gotten Mary’s answering smile, he picked up his rucksack, “come for lunch on Sunday, yeah?” He said, and slipped out the room to the front door.
-
Out in the cool night air, Remus looked up and tried to breathe deeply. Above him, a blanket of bright stars were silently moving through another night, along their assigned tracks, in perfectly coordinated harmony. He wondered why everything else must seem so ordered, so peaceful.
Lily and James would really make an insane pair as Satine and Christian, he thought, despite how his brain might refuse to process it.
He sighed, feeling too tired to stay and too restless to go home. So he headed to the rink.
-
ok look I’ll break my rule and put my ramble here instead of in the tags because my dudes please watch Tessa and Scott’s Moulin Rouge free skate because it’s maybe *the* most iconic program in recent history?? it’s unironically almost a religious experience. if I remember right that was the reason this monster was started, like one time I watched (and look I’m not lying when I say I literally watched this daily recently while writing this) and my brain just went ‘wait… jily?’ and yeah anyway have a good day <3
When I said plot I actually meant plot not just new old characters but here they are anyway happy monday ty for reading xx
“Remus Lupin!” bellowed a voice Remus hadn’t heard in two years.
He was just about to demonstrate the double axle to one of his older students. But he winced and stumbled on take-off, and landed with his arse on the ice.
And the boy had the audacity to laugh at him.
Remus groaned, “What do you want, you lunatic!” He shouted back, and looked towards the source of the voice. Sure enough, one Marlene Mckinnon, crop top, leather jacket, ripped jeans and all, was perched at the rails sporting an almost-amused smirk.
“Get your arse over here!”
The boy looked at Remus amusedly. “I guess that’s that for the day?”
“Yeah, I suppose so.” he muttered, shaking his head, “Sorry, Andrew. We’ll try that again next Tuesday, yeah?”
Marlene’s eyes followed him all the way as Remus made his way over. “You’ve got to stop letting those kids bribe you into unpaid overtime.”
“Well,” Remus shrugged, “how’d you think I started skating.”
“What’s it they say? Fight the system, not acquiesce to it?”
Remus laughed breathily, “good to see you too, Marls.”
Marlene was possibly the only one out of their friends to appear even less impressed to see Remus than he was to see them. But the fierce hug they shared betrayed them both.
“Marlene,” Remus drew back with a smile, arms still on her shoulders, “How did it take you so fucking long to show up?”
She lightly punched him in the side, “I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“How’ve you been?”
“Oh you know,” She grinned, running a hand through her messy blond locks, “a bit bored. But that’s life.”
“Oh my god,” Remus chuckled. They’ve come a long way from binge-reading Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky together at 3am, but— “you’re still exactly the same.”
“Surely nothing and no one ever really changes.” She deadpanned.
“None at all?”
“Well. Nothing that really matters.”
“Alright you.” Remus snorted fondly. “Then what’s this I hear about you falling in love?”
Marlene’s lips twitched, “Oh yeah?”
“So what. Have you gone crazy about someone and finally figured out what the fuss is all about now?”
“Oh no.” She laughed, “Didn’t you hear? Nothing changed. The world doesn’t turn over on its belly. You just don’t realise it isn’t really different. Sure, I’m crazy about her but. Always been, haven’t I?”
“Hmm.” Remus considered her with a small smile. “I quite like that. Good for you, Marls.”
-
It wasn’t long before the rest of everyone bundled in. They were impossibly loud as they poured down the sidewalk that led from Hogwarts into the village. Everyone was laughing, trying to have five different conversations with everyone else. Remus flitted between walking besides each of his friends, not a couple of words exchanged before one of them was pulled into another conversation. But it was the pleasant kind of exasperated buzz in his head. It’s been so long since they were like this. For perhaps the first time since they’ve graduated, all of them were gathered together in one spot. Well, almost everyone.
“Oh by the way!” James suddenly called out over all of them, “Did you all know that Mary is flying in tonight?”
“What?!”
“Who fucking what?”
“You’ve got to be kidding—”
“Why didn’t I know—”
James laughed as he was drowned out with a bout of surprised, indignant exclamations, and looked around delightedly at them all. “Well yeah! She told me her flight’s today, asked me to pick her up and everything!”
“No, no, no, James Potter—” Lily looked ready to pull out her hair, “did you just— forget to mention— how long have you known?”
“A couple of days.” The way James was grinning, one would think he’d won a million-pound prize. “Dance partner loyalty, and all that.”
“Not jealous, are you Lils?” Sirius nudged her with an elbow.
“Fuck you, Black.” Lily whipped her head around, her ponytail almost slapping James in the face as Sirius laughed.
“Mary that traitor,” Dorcas said disbelievingly, “How come she didn’t tell any of us! I knew she was coming back soon but not— James, when exactly is she arriving?”
“Oh, she’ll probably be landing soon, I was gonna get home and get the car straight away.”
“Bloody fuck,” Remus breathed. “Glasgow? Godspeed with the traffic, Prongs.” James responded with a two-finger salute.
“Yeah, want us to pack you something to eat on the way?” Peter added.
“Nah, it’s all good! Just make it good for when we get back.” James winked.
“You bastard,” Marlene said, “guess we’re at yours tonight then? Bloody hell, give some warning for this sort of shit next time.”
“Where’s all the fun to that!”
Marlene rolled her eyes. “We’ll go grab some beers then, shall we?”
“And pizza. Literally nothing else would do.”
“Good call, Pete!”
Remus shook his head to himself. This was bound to be a long and raucous night. As everyone else prattled on excitedly about their plans, Sirius sidled up to him.
“Remus—” he smiled a little nervously, and said under his breath, “I know we said we’d go somewhere just the two of us tonight, but—”
“Shut up.” Remus grabbed Sirius’ hand with both of his, “of course we’ll bunk in with everyone. What were you thinking?”
“Know you must be tired. Had a long day, wanting a quiet night, that’s all.”
“No, it’s fine.” Remus shook his head, “I can’t wait to see Mary. Fuck, I can’t believe we’re all here.”
“Crazy, ‘innit?” Sirius chuckled breathily.
“You didn’t know either, did you?”
“No.” Sirius gave him a lopsided little smile. “Not a clue.”
They shared a quiet smile, the lamplights’ shadow gliding across their faces as they continued walking forwards.
“We’ll do this again another day, won’t we?” Sirius asked.
“For sure. Any day you want, really. We don’t even need to set a date, most of the time you end up grabbing me for the evening anyway.”
“Alright, well. What about tomorrow?”
“A saturday? We won’t be at the rink though.”
“Yeah, but we could just go for dinner anyway.” Sirius shrugged, looking ahead.
Remus smirked a little. “Won’t miss me so much after one weekend, will you?”
Sirius huffed, “will you come with me or not?”
“Yeah, of course.” Remus said quietly, after a short moment.
Sirius turned to him then with a soft smile. “It’s set, then.”
-
Sirius’ phone buzzed— it’s a message from James. Remus leaned in to read over Sirius’ shoulder. They’ve piled into Sirius and James’ house, with enough food and drink to feed a zoo. Though Remus supposed they weren’t all that different from a zoo. The message read:
Pronks: were just outside town now!!!xxxx
“Ahoy mates!” Sirius exclaimed and jumped off the sofa, “they’ll be here soon!”
Remus picked up the phone that kept buzzing:
gon make it a surprise kay?
turn the lights off and everything
With some sort of telepathic understanding, Sirius was already running up and down closing curtains and turning off lights.
“Right, Pete, you’re on window duty. Signal the moment you see Prongs’ car rolling in.” He flew around the room, so fully in his element, “someone go get the upstairs light, I’ll stand by for hall and kitchen— Lily, can you find the stairs?”
“I don’t know where your lights are—”
“Ow Lils that was my foot—”
“Oh I’m so sorry—”
“Can you turn the fucking lights back on?” Marlene waved an arm around, hitting Remus in the chest, “oh for fucks— can y’all calm down?”
“Calm down, Marls? We’re about to see Mary!”
“Can someone please go upstairs those lights on the stairs are our fanciest!”
“Alright I’ll go!” Remus relented, getting up and started to feel his way through the dark.
“Love you Moons! Okay, do you think we’ve got any streamers?”
“Oh my god can we not—”
“Code red!” Peter suddenly shouted, turning from the crack in the curtain, “targets approaching— everyone get to station, wherever we didn’t even agree to!”
“Jesus mother, all of you are mad.”
“Shh!” Sirius whispered aggressively. “Everybody down— hide behind something. Now!”
“Alright, alright!”
-
After a couple minutes of waiting interrupted with occasional whispers and stifled giggles, they heard muffled talking through the doorway. Laughter— James’ booming bellows and Mary’s high pitched giggles— a jangling of keys, then the key was turning in the hole, and the door cracked open. The shadow of a shaggy head was seen in the doorway before James flicked a light on. With it, the entire house burst alight.
“Surprise!!” Everyone shouted, jumping from behind walls and furniture. Remus poked his head down the top of the stairs.
“Welcome home, Mary!” James grinned, stepping aside to let Mary take in the room and everyone around. She stood wide-eyed and still for long moments, jean jacket awry and high ponytail messy from travel, both hands full with travel sacks. Everyone held their breath.
“Oh my god.” Mary dropped the bags and covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes were shiny, “of fucking course all of you are fucking here!”
In unison, the entire room flooded forwards, and crowded the tiny hallway in the loudest, grandest group hug they’ve had in two years.
What? You’re still writing this? The hell I am! This is a short-ish revival montage, then plot will be coming, I promise!!
“Hello there, Remus,” Lily said sweetly.
“Mmh. I’ve missed you. Where the hell have you been?”
“What, I thought I was giving you and Sirius some space.”
Remus’ head snapped to her, looking scandalised, “excuse me? That’s what you’re call gallivanting around with James?”
“What was I supposed to do when you were off with Sirius all the time?”
“Well what if I thought I was ‘giving you and James some space’?”
They narrowed their eyes at one another.
“Let’s drop it.”
“Hm.” Remus hummed sceptically.
“Alright! I’m sorry!” Lily said, “Your love life is not my excuse! Neither is mine yours. Happy?”
“Fine.” Remus crossed his arms, “so it’s a ‘love life’ you’ve got now?”
“Oh you know,” Lily looked on the verge of blushing.
“What have you gotten up to?”
“We— ended up going on a few dates. And umm, went back to his, when Sirius was out,” she was undeniably red now. Remus smirked and punched her arm. “Hey! Not so fast. When Sirius was out— with you, I presume?”
Remus thought about it. “I think that’s when he came to have dinner with me and mum.”
“Getting cosy, are we?”
“Well. Then there’s that time we biked to the regional park? That wasn’t cosy at all, that was quite cold. And he had the bright idea of hitchhiking to Glasgow to go to an arcade. That one didn’t really work out, obviously, we ended up on the train. Got back in the middle of the night.”
Lily looked at him in wonder.
“He did get to go to the arcade, though. I quite enjoyed watching him go berserk alongside a bunch of children.”
“Have you—” Lily asked curiously, “talked with him about it?”
Remus took a long moment to sigh, then looked back at Lily. There was no question what ‘it’ was. The ‘it’ between two people that sometimes had a name but Remus simply didn’t yet want to name.
“Maybe. No. Not exactly.” Remus said, “We did decide to just be comfortable around one another. Physically too, to some extent. Doesn’t mean it has to be a— thing.”
The look Lily was giving him resembled how one might look at a cute little puppy about to make a fool of itself, brows drawn and holding in a laugh.
“Oh shut up.”
She continued to regard him with a tilt of the head, “but do you want it to be ‘a thing’? Have you really thought about it?”
“I— don’t know.” Remus muttered, and shrugged. “I sort of have a lot on my mind.”
-
“Do bandaids work on lips? Bandaids don’t work on lips.”
“Huh?” Remus looked up at James, who stood looming over Remus as he sat in the stands hunched over a pile of files “what in hell are you on about?”
“Can’t put a bandaid on your lips, so you should stop biting them, before they start bleeding.”
“Oh.” Remus poked at his bottom lip with his tongue. It did feel rather tender, “I didn’t even realise.”
“Stressed?”
“A bit, I guess.”
“What are those?” James sat down next to him and gestured at the pile.
“Oh. Just trying to figure out my jumps. Key word trying. And not getting very far.” He flicked through the top few sheets to display pages full of component score calculations.
“Blimey. All this for that? Sure you aren’t overthinking it?”
“Course not. And no, most of the pile is just class schedules for McGonagall, which I also still need to figure out, shit—”
“Oh. Chill, Remus, it’s fine—”
“—Oh and she’ll be hounding me about the free skate music again.” Remus didn’t like the way his head was almost going dizzy, “James—”
“C’mon Remus.” James wrapped an arm around his shoulder, “take it easy, yeah? It’s really all fine. Lord knows me and Lils are nowhere near the end of bickering about it too.”
Remus huffed through his nose but said nothing.
“You’ve got no need to be so wrung out about the jumps at all, either.” James declared, ever the pep-talker, “It’ll all make sense the moment you got your music sorted.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose.” Remus sighed, and ran both hands over his face, “thank you, James.”
“No problem. And hit me up if you want me to take over a couple of classes, yeah?”
Remus knew that James knew he’d never actually accept the offer, but it was nice to hear, regardless.
“Sure.” he said with a little smile.
“Alrighty.” James nodded satisfiedly, and moved to stand up, “See you around, Moony.”
“Hmm.” Remus replied distractedly, before a thought occurred to him. “Wait— you wait just the moment.” he started, pulling James by his sleeve, “I’ve got a couple of questions about you and ‘Lils’, Mr Potter.”
James smiled sheepishly. Remus smirked.
-
“Oh my god, what are you doing here now?”
Remus sighed at another interruption. Though it was probably a good thing. He might be doing his head in at this rate.
It was Dorcas this time. She breathed heavily and her face flushed olive— most likely due to having run across campus from her dance session.
“Oh I, have a class to take in—” Remus said distractedly, checking his watch, “an hour.”
“Again, why the fuck are you here? Where’s Sirius?”
“He’s visiting Benjy’s studio in town for choreo.”
“Of course.” Dorcas muttered, “so what, you’re just going to coop in here all day because no one’s dragging you out?”
“It hasn’t been all day— and wasn’t going to be all day!”
“Yeah, ‘cause you’ve got dinner plans with Sirius?”
“No!”
“I know you do, love, he told me himself.”
Remus groaned. “What, you think that’s something you’ve got over me?”
“Why were you so quick to deny it then?”
“Well you made it sound like— something it’s not!”
“I said nothing of the sort. Have you considered this concept called projecting?”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“So can you leave me alone to my brooding now?”
Dorcas rolled her eyes. “See you in a bit, nerd.”
Friendly Reminder
Marlene McKinnon never lived in a world without Dorcas Meadowes in it.
Marlene: Your eyes look like dark black holes, but that’s alright, because I like astronomy.
Dorcas: If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I’d have a galaxy in my hand
Marlene: Your eyes look like dark black holes, but that’s alright, because I like astronomy.
Dorcas: If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I’d have a galaxy in my hand
Dorcas and Marlene
and here’s Marlene matching my latest spots of Dorcas
a painting of Dorcas Meadows I did a few days ago
Dorcas x Marlene
here’s a ship + headcanon thingy I did over october on insta.
some of summer’s dorlene aesthetics to get through November
“dance with me one last time.”
and their feet would collide with the broken shards of glass, blood blending in with wine (of happiness and good old times that have slipped through their fingers, just as summer does.).
they felt the end nearing. it’s just by the corner, one last dance, one last everything before it all ended. like it was supposed to.
marlene was of a sickly pallor. she shined dimly, a ghost, a mere figment of a young, happy girl, a sticky with sweat adolescent, a fierce woman, that she had once been.
her hands go through dorcas’, almost as if she was invisible.
she was. she was just another phantasm of just another person that had fallen from their ranks.
“dance with me again.”
and they danced one last dance before marlene, a distant smile, would leave dorcas again, whispering words of affection and promises that they’d see each other again soon.
they would.
the soft pitter-patter of london’s rain was already so well-known by all of its residents and still, there was something special every time; a distant rumble of a thunder, a different flash of a lightning.
marlene stumbled over dorcas’ feet as they swung clumsily in the rain, which earned her a chuckle from her lover.
“you’re supposed to be a good dancer. or so, you bragged.” they nudged her gently, to which she scoffed.
“i didn’t say anything.”
“sure you didn’t.” dorcas smiled, resting their head on marlene’s shoulder, letting the rain drip down their hair.
marlene hummed contently, stroking their hair. “i want a kiss.” she pouted.
dorcas raised their head and, lacing their arms around marlene’s neck, they kissed her gently, their lips barely touching. she eagerly returned the kiss, her hands on their hips.
and with their clothes soaked and their hair damp, it was them, only them. and thay was enough.
“i am not real, dorcas.” marlene whispered one night, lying in bed next to them. “i am just a figment of your imagination now, am i not? a memory of yours, sealed away, not to be forgotten.”
“i could never forget you, my darling. even if you wouldn’t be real, i could never forget what we had. all of the memories, everything.”
“i’m not real, dorcas.”
she still looked ethereal, a light aura always around her, an aura of white light, but this marlene was cold, colder, the humanity of a once young, lively girl, gone, drained from what was left of her. the only thing that had changed about her were the new, strange twinkles in her eyes, pale and dim, but, to dorcas, there was nothing that could change their lover’s rough beauty.
dorcas would have done anything for marlene. the blood on their hands, the screams of agony as the people who hurt her lied in torturing pain begged for mercy at their feet, it was all for marlene.
it always had been.
they reached out, in the dark, almost blindly, in hope that marlene would be there. it was nothing, just the cold night and the empty pit in your stomach a dead lover leaves.
i have decided that i shall kin dorcas meadows because i can so be prepared for dorcas content
emmeline vance headers!
must explain that these headers contain quotes and phrases from MY headcanons, such as the fancast.
twitter @remusrights
dorcas meadowes headers!!
twitter: @remusrights
¡OBS! this is MY<< fancast to dorcas meadowes.
Rules & Guidelines
Rules & Guidelines
Drarry & HP Femslash Bodice Ripper Fest is here to celebrate the romance novel. Give us your steamiest, cheesiest, most dramatic and heart-rending romance!
We want your pirate Drarry, queen Pansy and her fierce knight Ginny, Lavender swooning into the arms of Parvati. Umbridge/McGonagall enemies to lovers anyone? A ripped bodice with a binder underneath? Yes, please!
This fest is open to fic, art, podfic and crafts.
You always wanted to illustrate an existing fic in romance novel style? Here is your chance! Collaborate and create a steamy romance and a swoon worthy cover? You know the perfect romantic fic and want to record it? Yes yes yes!
Go wild! If you can imagine it, we want it.
Prompting:
Start date: 13th March 2022
End date: 2nd April 2022
- You may submit as many prompts as you like. Prompting can be done using your name or anonymously. You do not have to be creating for the fest in order to post a prompt. Anyone can prompt.
- Please include any extra prompt details that you would love to see incorporated. If you wish, you can also include a maximum rating and any squicks/triggers you would prefer not to see (for example, Maximum Rating: Explicit. No MCD, No Non-Con). Please note that these are for inspiration only and creators may not fulfil all aspects of your wishes.
- We allow self prompting. You can submit your desired prompt and then take your chance claiming it (with the risk that someone might snatch it up before you), or you can fill in the special box for self prompts once claiming opens.
- Prompts will be available for browsing once prompting opens: prompt gallery
Claiming
Start date: 3rd April 2022 | 3PM UTC
End date: 17th June
- This is an 18+ fest. Please do not sign up if you are under 18 at the time of posting (1. August 2022).
- You can only claim one prompt at a time. If you finish your prompt, you may claim an additional prompt. If you have finished your first prompt and wish to claim another, please submit your first work as per submission guidelines before submitting another claim form. Claims will be awarded on a first come first served basis.
- You may claim for different fanwork types at the same time, either as an individual or as a collaboration (for example: fic + art, fic + podfic, podfic + art).
- Collaborations are welcomed. Please only submit one claim form per collaboration and include the details of all participants. Collaborations can be illustrated fics, fics with multiple authors, art created by multiple artists, multivoice podfics etc.
- If you wish to create based on an existing fanwork (either alone or as a collaboration) please submit as a self-prompt. We will only allow art and podfic for existing works with the original creator’s permission. We will trust you to honour this and only ask for proof in case issues arise. As proof we would expect written consent or a blanket permission statement from the original creator, as either a link or screencap).
- You can browse blanket permission statements of creators here: https://www.fpslist.org/
- Link to claiming form: [pending]
Creating
- All creations should be inspired by romance novels and romance tropes.
- For fics there is a minimum word count of 1000 words, no maximum. For podfics the recorded story should be a minimum of 1000 words, no maximum.
- All fics must be proofread. Podfics should have been proofed before submitting. (If you are unable to find a beta, please let us know.)
- This is not an anonymous fest. So talk about your creations, find collaborators and cheer each other on!
- Submissions must be complete works created for this fest. Please do not submit incomplete works or works that are part of a series or a prequel/sequel to an existing work.
- We encourage you to be inspired by the prompts’ additional details, but it is not a requirement to incorporate them into your creation. You are not required to abide by any mentioned dislikes. However, if you plan to gift a creation to the prompter, we may disallow this if you ignored stated dislikes. Please tag your work appropriately.
Submitting
Due date: 17th July 2022
- All works must be posted directly to the AO3 collection; HP Bodice Ripper 2022.If you do not have an AO3 account, please contact the mods.
- You are required to add hpbodiceripper_mod as co-creator when uploading your creation. This is so that we can change the posting date, check the submission and add a tag for HP Bodice Ripper 2022. We will not make any other changes to your work, and we will remove the mod account immediately after the fest has ended.
- Submissions for existing works should be linked to the original work using the AO3 function: “This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work” and pasting the URL of the original work.
- Be sure to include all appropriate warnings, tag your work correctly and please be mindful while choosing your tags. The mods will proof all submissions and inform you if there are any additional requirements for the duration of the fest.
- Following submission, please email [email protected] to confirm you have submitted your work and completed the form. You will receive a confirmation email from us.
- Please contact the mods if you have any issues posting your work.
Submission header:
Title:
Creator(s):
Type: art, fic, podfic, craft
Word count/Length:
Art/Craft medium:
Warnings/Tags:
Prompt:
Summary:
Link to work:
Link to original work (if applicable):
Extensions / Dropping out / Adjustments
- If you need to drop out for any reasons, please let the mods know ASAP via email. There will be no repercussions for future fests if you let us know before the submission date.
- If you need an extension, please contact the mods ASAP with the estimated additional time you need. Please don’t hesitate to reach out as soon as you find yourself struggling to make the due date.
- If you signed up for a collaboration but things don’t work out for one participant, please have the single participant drop out indicating the collab they were a part of. We will confirm to all collab partners and treat the remaining participant as a single claim pending confirmation.
Posting
- The mods will post your creation on the scheduled day. We do not release the posting schedule as this is subject to change.
For any and all questions or comments please reach out to the mods via email at [email protected]
Please keep in mind that we don’t all live in the same time zones. We will respond ASAP.
Coming Soon: HP Bodice Ripper Fest
Follow for updates. HP Bodice Ripper Fest coming soon. Watch this space! Prompting will start soon!
Preliminary timeline:
- prompting: 13th March
- claiming: 3th April
- submissions due: 17th July
- posting: 1th August
Mark your calendars!
your mods: @ghaniblue&@3lvendork
(The clock strikes midnight on New Years)
(James and Lily start making out)
(Sirius and Remus start making)
(Marlene and Dorcas start making out)
Peter (smirking at Mary): I guess we should-
Mary: Hold on one second. Lily!
Lily (stops kissing James and skips over)
Lily (grins, leans down, and kisses Mary): Happy New Years love!
Peter (stares dumbfounded)
Mary (shrugging innocently): Sorry, I already got my kiss. But thank you.
