November 4, 1976
11:31 am
Hogwarts

The Thunderbirds stared out at the Black Lake lit up by the overhead, buttery late morning sun for a few moments before speaking to one another. Ilvermorny was on the rocky coast of Massachusetts, which was beautiful in it's own way with the crashing waves and dark grey sand beaches. But Leo had never been in a place like the mountains, mossy grounds before, and he was completely transfixed.

"So, what happened with you and this boy?" he asked to start off the conversation, resting his chin on the cold metal bar in front of him. "Did you kiss him or something?"

"No!" Anneliese said quickly with wide blue eyes, making Leo tilt his head up and grin at her fast denial. "I mean, yes, but that was before I knew him- stop looking at me like that!"

"So the first thing Anneliese Callaway does when she gets to the UK is kisses a stranger," he said with a short nod and serious expression. "Sounds about right- stop hitting me, I'm sorry!"

They both laughed for a few moments before the smile slowly fell off the corners of her mouth.

"Some guy was being a jerk at a pub, like kind of scary, actually," she started, and Leo's eyes narrowed. "And he was all like 'then prove it.' when I said I already had a boyfriend. And the first group of boys my age I see are James, Remus, Peter, and him."

"Who are James, Remus, and Peter?" Leo asked curiously, scooting a bit to adjust his jacket. "Are they in Gryffindor, too?"

"They're the pranksters here, along with Grey Eyes. All three of them are really nice, James is the head of my quidditch team. Bit arrogant sometimes, but we're good friends." Anneliese explained. "I think you would really like Remus. Oh, that reminds me, PEEVES!"

Leo whipped his head around as a bolt of light blue shot between the small space between them a second after Callaway had shouted, ready at her command.

"What will it be today?" he asked, chubby cheeks pushed up with a demonic smile. "I don't think that old Dumbles liked it much when we added Pepperup Potion to all of the professor's drinks yesterday so they acted like they were one something, but there's always- who's this?"

Blinking a few times in both shock of the poltergeist and what he and Anneliese had done, Anderson stumbled menatlly for a few moments before answering.

"I'm Leo, her friend," he said with a smile. "You must be the famous Peeves. I admire your work already, sir."

The cherubic ghost took a dramatic bow that made both of them laugh before zooming away once he realized that he had been summoned simply for an introduction.

"Smart idea with the Pepperup Potion," Leo smiled, turning back to the reason why he was here. "Now, please continue about you kissing Siriu- Grey Eyes."

"Oh, yea, so he got me out of that situation, and uhm, I thought that was that," Anneliese explained, fidgeting with a strand of wavy hair. "I wasn't expecting to ever see him again."

"Tough luck," Leo grumbled, pulling out a cigarette and offering one to Callaway, who accepted. "And then you got sorted into the same house as him in the same year?"

"Unfortunately," Anneliese confirmed. "We despised one another for the first bit, but then we started to get closer. A lot closer, actually. But he's always been the jealous type, you know? Whenever I mentioned another guy, he would just get all cold."

Leo frowned a bit, knowing the kind of guy he sounded like.

"And yesterday was his birthday, and he had a party, and he uhm.." Anneliese started, uncomfortably starting to braid a strand.

Anderson let a trail of light grey smoke come from his slightly parted lips before beckoning for her to go on.

"He broke a guy's nose with a hex because he was, uhm, jealous."

Leo started coughing rapidly, completely caught off guard at this.

"Is he out of his mind?" he cried, standing up rapidly. "That's insane!"

"There's a lot of stuff I skimmed over," Anneliese said, quickly standing up next to him. "There was quite a bit of.. tension between us for the lack of a better word, and I can honestly see why he did it, not that he should have at all!"

Leo narrowed his eyes with concern. He had seen his best friend in such a state of emotional confusion very few times, and it was making him feel rather angry towards Black.

"I was stupid for letting my guard down, letting myself trust him, which I did, and he raised my expectations too high!" Anneliese cried, emotion starting to break through her voice. "And now I can't even look at him without being reminded of how naive I am!"

Leo simply gently wrapped his arms around her, running his hand up and down her back as she sobbed into his chest. His touch was warm and comforting to her, and Anneliese didn't know what she would have done if he wasn't there.

His furious expression over her shoulder contradicted his soft motions.

Since they were eleven years old, Callaway had cried in front of him maybe three times, this being the third. If this boy had played her so badly in two months that she felt this ashamed and upset, then he deserved every bit of what was coming for him.

November 4, 1976
11:45 am
Gryffindor Common Room

Remus was sitting on the cushy orange couch in front of the fire reading after filling his stomach during lunch, flipping the pages slowly. He was only half reading as his mind wandered, repeatedly back to the new arrival.

Lupin knew that this boy had smelled him in his amortentia, because who else would be the unique combination of chocolate, pine trees, and old books? What he couldn't fathom, though, is if he wanted to get to know him or not.

The last thing Remus wanted was to fall hard for this boy and then never see him again, which would only cause more harm to his already stressful life. Relationships weren't simple for him like they were other kids, they came with an immense amount of baggage.

The voice of the very person he had just been thinking of snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Excuse me, but someone said you would tell me which dorms to go to?"

Remus stood up so quickly that his head started to hurt as he slammed shut his book and turned to look at Leo.

"Oh, uhm, yea," Lupin said, holding out his hand. "My name's Remus."

"Leo," he replied. "You're the one that A said I would like."

Remus's cheeks instantly darkened as he realized that Anneliese must have connected the dots far before him. He couldn't blame her for not telling him, though, Lupin himself had never told her that Sirius was the one she had smelled in her amortentia.

"Of course she did," he muttered under his breath before giving Leo the most calm smile he could. "We have a spare bed at the end of the room, the year before us was larger than we are now. You were a Thunderbird as well?"

"Yea, I was," Leo said with a returned smile as they climbed up the stairs. "A told me that it was basically Gryffindor. Thunderbirds are the adventurers, and apparently you guys are brave or something?"

Anderson found himself wanting to please Lupin already, and he had no idea why.

"Or something," Remus replied with a sideways grin. "We have a bit of the, for lack of a better term, dumbass house reputation."

"You don't seem like that to me," Leo said with a smooth wink as he stepped through the door Remus was holding open.

The pale boy blushed furiously as he shut the door behind them.

"Guys, this is-"

"Leo!" James cut off with a wide grin, adjusting his glasses as he gave Anderson a firm handshake. "I admire your work already, mate."

"What did A tell you?" Leo asked, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "Hopefully not too much."

"I liked the driver's license story," a blonde boy in the back piped up as he stepped towards the American. "My name is Peter."

"I'm Frank," another boy with dark brown hair said, stepping in as well. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Just as a warning, James snores really loud."

Leo was already starting to warm up to these boys as they laughed, and they to him.

Except for the silent one in the very back of the room sitting on his bed who was smoking a cigarette while reading a black leather bound book.

"That's-" Frank started in a low tone, but Leo cut him off with narrowed eyes.

"I already know who he is," he muttered with a cold voice. "Sirius Black, the reason the middle finger was created."

The other four boys in the room took in a sharp inhale as he said these words and instinctually stepped a bit back. Remus, however, couldn't disagree.

"Leo Anderson, the suspicious git who gets his nose in business that is not his," Sirius snapped right back, throwing his book down and standing up off the edge of the bed. "A true pleasure, believe me."

"It becomes by business when it's about A," Leo said, casually placing his hands in his brown leather pockets. "So in this case, you most definitely have every reason to believe that it is my business."

"So what're you going to do then?" Sirius asked with a sarcastically curious expression as he slowly stepped towards him. "Hex me?"

Leo tilted up his chin slightly.

"No, I don't break people's noses when I'm mad at them instead of giving them a decent explanation."

"So should we go get popcorn, or-" James started in a low tone before Remus sharply elbowed him in the side to shut up.

Ignoring his friends, Sirius felt a wave of anger and dejection surge through him.

"So she just told you everything about last night, then?" he asked, hurt flickering across his face.

"She told me the basics enough so that I get the idea," Leo replied, lighting a cigarette of his own. "The idea that you're a selfish moron with the if I can't have her no one can attitude."

"Rather be that than as self-righteous as you are," Sirius responded quickly. "You can't just walk into my home and start lecturing me."

"And you can't just hurt A and then expect for there to be no consequences for you and only her," Leo said, snuffing out his cigarette on an ashtray by James's bed. "That's just messed up."

"Interesting that you assume there haven't been any consequences for me," Sirius said, his voice turning solemn. "Because there have."

"Really?" Leo asked. "Because you seem pretty unbothered to me."

Sirius may appear as casual and light on the outside to most people, but all of the other Marauders could tell that he was tearing himself apart. The night before, he hadn't spoken to any of them at all, which was very concerning because he had never once turned down an opportunity to rant to them.

"I'm not unbothered," Black said back with a roll of his neck. "I just don't tend to express all of my feelings to gits like you."

"So you like her, then?" Leo asked in a threatening tone. "And not just as a friend?"

Although his mind didn't hesitate to say yes, his mouth did.

"Once again, get out of my business," Sirius snapped, getting defensive. "And since you clearly aren't going to leave, I will."

Before any of them could stop him, Sirius slammed shut the heavy oak door, only taking his pack of cigarettes and wand with him.

"Okay, it could have been worse," Remus said slowly as he turned to Leo a few minutes after they all stopped staring at the door. "I'm honestly surprised he didn't start screaming at you."

"I'm honestly surprised that you aren't in the hospital wing right now," James added on, plopping down on the edge of his bed. "Sirius is never that calm when he's this.. hurt."

"Why would he be the one hurt?" Leo asked, disgust written all over his face at the short yet hostile interaction. "He's the one who hurt A."

"It's hard to explain," James said, gesturing for Anderson to sit down in the bed in front of him. "But we can try, I guess."

"So basically Sirius has a very devil may care attitude," Remus started off explaining as he sat down by Potter. "He also kind of has the reputation of being a huge flirt and having slept with half the school."

Leo was already lacking the part of what Anneliese saw in him.

"And from the second they met, I think A was one of the first people to actually fluster him," James continued, adjusting his glasses. "Which was a shock for all of us."

"And even more of a shock was when she showed up to sorting," Remus said with a tiny smile and shake of his head. "Threw Sirius for a total loop. Then, she basically said she could already tell that he was arrogant behind his back."

"And Pads got mad," James said with a small chuckle. "A told him off right back, and from then, they decided to hate one another."

"Of course, that didn't work," Remus picked up. "They got in arguments to try and prove they still disliked one another, but it's really obvious that they both see something in one another. Adding on that they have the same Patronus and he smelled her in his amortentia."

"So the cards are stacked for them?" Leo mused aloud, thinking carefully. "But then, let me guess, she didn't like him totally back and his ego got hurt and he took out that anger on Prewett and now we're here with a mess of emotions?"

Potter and Lupin both exchanged a surprise glance at his unnervingly accurate diagnosis.

"Uhm, yea, that sounds about right," James shrugged. "And now both of them won't even look at one another."

For all Leo cared, it could stay that way. He hated Black's guts, along with the way he had treated Anneliese. If it were up to him, Sirius would be the one in the hospital wing. He had to repeatedly remind himself that he was here to help Anneliese, and so he had to fulfill that intention.

Hopefully his anger wouldn't get the best of him.

wow. how cute. this is going to be so fun.

the official ship name is reomus

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