Blackbird

Belle sat at one of the tables in the Gryffindor Common Room. Books and parchment were sprawled out in front of her in an unorganized mess. She pulled her blond hair into a messy bun effortlessly. She was in white shorts, with a black t-shirt and slippers. It was nearing midnight, and though she looked ready for bed, sleep was the last thing on her racing mind. “Ugh!” she suddenly groaned as she ripped off her glasses and slammed her head onto the table. She fought her urge to scream over and over again out of frustration and worry. Tonight was Remus’ first transformation of the new school year. Belle knew Remus would be fine, but she always worried. She could remember when they were younger, and Remus would lock himself in the Shrieking Shack, and come back the next morning with self-inflicted scratches. He always used to get frustrated with himself while locked in the shack. It was better now with James, Sirius, and Peter, but the worry still lingered.
As Belle brought her head up from the desk, her eyes fell to the cupcake opposite to her on the table. She hadn’t noticed it until just then, but assumed that it had been there for a while. She reached out for it. Underneath it was a note reading, “Hi, love. I know you’ll probably be up late tonight. I wish you wouldn’t worry but I know that no matter what, you will. I thought I’d leave you your favorite cupcake in case you get hungry. See you in the morning. I love you.” She smiled. Remus was always doing little things, which were the most thoughtful, yet very easy to overlook. Belle never did though. The little things that Remus did were the things that made her fall more and more in love with him with each passing day.
She bit into the cupcake and smiled delightedly. It was white chocolate and raspberry, in fact her favorite. She finished it within only a few minutes and felt slightly better than she had before. The worry was still there though, so she pulled her glasses back on, and went back to her homework. As she opened her advanced potions book to continue studying, a wave of tiredness hit her. Belle removed her glasses to rub her eyes, and just like that, her head hit the table again, and she was asleep.

“Belle.” A finger poked her arm.
“Is she dead?”
“Of course she’s not dead, you twat!”
“James, how much of that sleeping potion did you put into the cupcake?”
“Enough…”
“James you drugged her?!”
“Remus wanted her to actually sleep!”
“Yeah, sleep, mate. Not go into a coma.” There were a few footsteps, and the crack of someone’s knee. “Love.” A thumb ran across her cheek softly. Belle groaned and opened her eyes.
“She’s alive!” Peter shouted happily.
“No shit, I’m alive,” she said groggily. She rubbed her eyes and her friends came into focus. That was when she noticed they were all in their robes. “Bloody hell! Why did no one wake me earlier?!” She scrambled to her feet and gathered all of her things on the table, then shoved them all into her bag, probably crumpling the papers in the process.
“Belles, calm down. We are just about to get breakfast, class doesn’t start for another hour,” Sirius said. She groaned again, half irritated and half relieved.
“Thank goodness!”
“Do you want us to wait for you?” Lily asked.
“No, that’s alright. I’ll be down soon enough.” They all nodded and began to head toward the door. Remus lingered though. He wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head on his chest and sighed. He kissed the top of her head, and then she looked up to find a few new scratches on his face. She brought her hand to his cheek. “Are you okay?”
Remus nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just got myself a few times last night.”
“Good,” she said as she slapped his chest.
“Ouch, what was that for?” he asked as he rubbed his chest where she hit him.
“You had James put a sleeping potion into that cupcake?”
“I just wanted you to sleep. You would have been up all night if I hadn’t done it.” Belle bit her lip. He was right.
“I hate when you’re right,” she sighed as a smile crept onto her face. Remus smiled back at her, and connected his lips to hers in a soft kiss.
“Now go get ready, I’m starving,” he said when he pulled away. Belle nodded, and kissed him again before running up the stairs and into the girls’ dormitory. Remus’ eyes followed her bouncing figure with a smirk. I’m going to marry that girl.

“Today, we will begin working with Crystal Balls,” Professor Binns announced. Sirius’ head fell onto the table with a groan. Belle rolled her eyes but felt exactly the same as him. She didn’t want to be in Divination, but she took an O.W.L. in Divination fifth year, meaning she had to continue on with it, and take her N.E.W.T. this year. Her want to become an Auror though, was strong enough for her to sit through the class for another year.
“Aye, Padfoot, maybe you’ll see a proper fuck in your future,” James whispered to Sirius and then broke out laughing with fellow seventh year Gryffindor, Frank Longbottom. His face flushed a crimson color, and Belle laughed a little.
“Ah, piss off, the lot of you,” he said as he returned his head to the table. Sirius and Marlene had been going through a dry patch. Since the summer, Marlene had been giving him a bit of a cold shoulder, and all of their friends knew about it. Every one of Sirius’ friends was “getting some,” and he was beginning to get frustrated. It was even worse that he was the focus of a lot of their jokes.
“Do you have something to say, Mr. Black?” Binns suddenly asked in mid-sentence. Sirius sat back up and cleared his throat.
“Uh, just that I’m really excited about Crystal Balls,” he said on the fly.
“Yes, that’s what I thought you said,” Binns responded sarcastically, knowing Sirius was lying through his teeth. He continued on anyway, not bothering to discipline Sirius.

“You’re going to be able to see into the future!” Sirius exclaimed mockingly as he thought back to their lesson with Binns. The group burst out laughing, and all began to join in.
“Binns is a total whack job. Man belongs in the looney bin, I’m tellin’ ya,” Frank laughed.
“He isn’t that mental,” Alice added with a giggle as she leaned into Frank’s side.
“Alice, he makes me look sane,” Dorcas responded. “He’s completely mental.” Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then hysterical laughter broke out again. As they laughed, Remus and Peter walked up, having just got out of Ancient Runes.
“What are you lot on about?” Remus asked with a chuckle.
“Just how much of a looney Binns is,” James responded. Remus agreed, and then drew his attention to the blonde headed girl resting on the table, with papers underneath her cheek.
“What did you do to Belle?” He asked as he sat down next to his girlfriend with a sigh.
“This time?” Sirius asked nonchalantly. “Not a thing.”
“I think the little thing is just really tired,” Alice stated.
“I told you, mate. You put too much of that sleeping potion into the cupcake,” Remus complained.
“It was your idea!” James defended.
“Either way, you’re properly fucked if you can’t get her awake enough for Quidditch tryouts today. If you don’t you’ll be flying solo,” Sirius pointed out. James groaned loudly.
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about your own tryouts?!” Lily exclaimed, completely baffled on how the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team could forget about the tryouts he had scheduled at the beginning of term. James said nothing; just face palmed himself and groaned again.
“What happened?!” Belle suddenly shouted as she sat up tiredly from the table, a paper stuck to her cheek. Her friends looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then all broke out laughing. Remus chuckled at her, and pulled the paper from her skin. He then ran his thumb over where the paper had stuck. “What’s so funny?” She looked around at all of them, still completely out of it.
“Nothing, Belles. You alright?” Lily asked sympathetically. Belle ran her small hands over her face lightly.
“Yeah, just a bit tired,” she responded.
“Mate, did you know we had Quidditch tryouts today?” James asked. Belle nodded, and reached out for her pumpkin juice.
“Yeah, at five tonight,” she responded nonchalantly.
“You are a complete moron,” Marlene said as she looked at James.
“You forgot didn’t you,” Belle said, knowing how he was sometimes. James nodded and looked away from her.
“Oh for fucks sake!” she exclaimed. She went to continue but the bells cut her off. They all groaned, knowing it was time for their afternoon lessons. Belle grabbed some fruit still sitting on the table and her pumpkin juice as they began to leave. She had slept through lunch, and if she didn’t eat something, she would become a very unpleasant person by the time she got to the tryouts that night.
“I’ll see you later,” Remus said as he kissed her quickly. Belle nodded with a smiled. She began to head toward Transfiguration with Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter, while everyone else went in different directions. “Love you!” Remus called as he walked away.
“Love you too!” she responded as she looked at him one last time before finally heading down the hall.

“You know, now that I’ve mastered changing into a Stag, I really don’t see the point in Transfiguration,” James said as the five of them left the classroom.
“I wouldn’t say mastered, quite yet,” Sirius said with a smirk.
“Oi, shove off. It’s hard!” Sirius just continued to smirk without response. Belle and Lily rolled their eyes at the two.
“Well, I’m off. James, I’ll see you at tryouts!” Belle announced as she turned away from the group.
“Where you off to?” Peter asked inquisitively.
“To spend time with my boyfriend!” she called back and then vanished into the sea of students in the hallway. Peter looked back at his friends.
“I'll bet anything her and Remus tie the knot right after we finish,” Sirius stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"For once, I agree with you, Sirius," Lily said, sounding surprised.
"It was bound to happen one of these days," he responded. They all continued to walk talking about mundane things that were really just filling the time while they walked to the Common Room.

With excitement filling her every move, Belle made it to the tree down by the Blake Lake where her and Remus called theirs. He was already sitting there, doing homework, and looking very focused on whatever it was he was doing at that moment. Belle crept up to him quietly, and once she was sat down, she kissed his lips softly, pulling him out of his studious daze. "Hi, love," he said softly.
"Hi," she responded in an equally soft tone. For the next two hours, the young couple enjoyed being in each others company while doing school work. Once school starts every year, they never have much alone time, but always manage to work something in no matter how hectic their schedules may be. This year was a bit easier though, with Remus not making Head Boy, and both of them having a free period at the same time.
Remus and Belle truly seemed to have it all figured out, while at the same time, not having anything figured out. Their relationship wasn't as normal as the ones their friends had, purely based on the fact that Remus was a werewolf. When they were younger, it was the thing that kept Remus from allowing himself to fall for one of his best friends. He didn't want to let anyone in, but Belle was the exception. She didn't care what happened to him every month, because it wasn't who he was, it was just something that happened to him. She had fallen for him, flaws and all, and by their fourth year, Belle wanted nothing more than to just be with him. And eventually Remus gave into what his heart wanted, and if he were to go back, the only thing he would change would be to let Belle in sooner. She was the best thing that had happened to him, because she did what his friends couldn't do. She brought a constant light into his life.
At the end of the period, they headed toward the Great Hall for dinner, and to re-enter the real world, for when they were at their tree, the rest of the world didn't exist to them.



James and Belle stood on the Quidditch pitch, shivering from the cold rain falling from the sky. The players all stood in a cluster in front of them talking and not paying attention to the Captains whatsoever. “So tonight I’m going to be putting you all through some exercises to assess your strengths,” Belle said. No one listened. “Quiet, please,” she said as she shivered.
“Oi! Shut it the lot of you!” James suddenly yelled, and they all silenced within moments. Belle glanced at James.
“Thanks. Alright, now remember that just because you made the team last year, it does not guarantee you a spot this year. Is that clear?” she announced. Nothing but silence came from them now. She sighed. “Good.” And with that they all began to get ready to begin the drills.
Belle turned to James. “This is going to be a long night, yeah?” James asked. Belle nodded. With that, the tryouts began. They ran the players hard, despite the worsening weather conditions. They had to get the tryouts done tonight so they could start practice that weekend.
Throughout the drills, the two Captains watched each player, trying to seek out the best of the bunch. Both of them wanted a winning team for their final year at Hogwarts. James and Belle noticed the same players as being the strongest ones, and she took note of them. At eight, they called the practice, and they all stood once more on the pitch. Tired, weary eyes looked back at them. “Thank you so much for coming out tonight,” James said. “We saw some great players tonight.” They all clapped lightly. “Belle and I will have the list posted in the Common Room no later than tomorrow evening. And remember, for those who make it, we have our first practice at 10am, Saturday morning.” Everyone then dispersed to get changed.

Silence had fallen over the Common Room. Everyone had retired to bed, leaving James and Belle to deliberate on their players. Remus and Sirius had attempted to stay up with them, but they had fallen asleep nearly an hour before they even began talking about Quidditch. “What about David Hamblin. He was the best Keeper we saw all day, and he’s improved immensely since last year,” James said as he looked through the notes he had attempted to scribble down during the tryouts as well as the tryout roster.
“Agreed,” Belle said. “I saw him snatch a fly out of mid-air just before we began drills.” She shivered at the thought. Bugs were not her thing.
“Then David Hamblin it is.”
“So Chasers… Stephen Gould got better over the summer too.”
“Done.” James said as he wrote his name down below Stephen as Chaser. “Ashley Sanders is still as good as ever. We need to keep her.”
“Yep,” Belle responded. “And what did you think of Hamish Frater as a beater?”
“Kids good for a third year. Frater it is,” James responded. All they needed was one last Beater. “Natalie Holkam is who we need as our other Beater.” Belle nodded her head.
“She definitely knows what she’s doing.” James wrote her name down then handed Belle the sheet to write them in on the official roster for the year. “Alright, Gryffindor Quidditch team is Captains James Potter, Chaser, and Belle Crouch, Seeker; Keeper, David Hamblin, Chasers, Stephen Gould and Ashley Sanders, and Beaters, Hamish Frater and Natalie Holkam,” Belle said, reading off the full roster. James nodded contently. They discussed a few of their alternates, who would practice with them but would not be in games unless one of the first string players was injured or unable to participate in the game. And by the time midnight rolled around, they were done and ready to go to bed.
Belle went over to Remus. “Love,” she said softly as she sat down on his lap. He opened his eyes slowly. “It’s time for bed.” He nodded in response. James awoke Sirius right after that. They all walked up the stairs.
“Goodnight,” Remus said softly as he turned to Belle. He kissed her lips lovingly.
“Goodnight, I love you,” she said as she pulled away slightly, and then kissed him again.
“I love you too,” he responded, giving her one last kiss before retiring to bed behind James and Sirius.