Practice

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Chapter Six



‘Are you mad at me?’ Remus asked a few weeks later as he and Emma were walking to their Ancient Runes test area.

She looked over at him and shook her head. ‘Nope,’ she told him, smiling.

He noticed that, yet again, it hadn’t reached her eyes. ‘Jack, if I’ve done something wrong…?’

‘You haven’t,’ she said, stopping in her tracks. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’ She sighed and looked up at him. ‘Let’s just get this exam done.’

‘Is this because you and Sirius aren’t seeing each other anymore?’ he asked and her face hardened a little.



She’d caught Sirius flirting pretty heavily with a Fourth Year. While she didn’t care about the flirting, it was the touching and his attitude she didn’t like and she called their fling off.

‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘I don’t like sharing the guy I’m dating but I never really thought Sirius was a long term prospect or anything.’

They reached the room and found their desks were next to each other.

‘You’ve just been a bit…quiet lately,’ he whispered, leaning over to talk to her.

‘I’m surprised you noticed,’ she said, her temper flaring a little. ‘You don’t move your tongue out of Kelly’s mouth long enough to see what’s going on around you.’



He frowned and sat back in his chair, startled by her outburst.

‘God,’ Emma muttered, rubbing her forehead. ‘Sorry. I’m just not sleeping much with exams and I’m cranky.’

Remus watched her, knowing that although she probably had been worrying about the exams, that wasn’t why she was so snappy. He knew her too well to not know when she was lying to him. They’d hardly spent any time together in the last couple of weeks but between the people they were seeing and exams, that wasn’t really surprising. But the slight chill she was emitting was unusual and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. The teacher arrived just then and the exam began. Emma snuck off quickly afterwards and he resigned himself to having to try and catch her when they went home.



Emma avoided Remus on the trip home. She saw him when she went to the toilet, standing in the hall with Kelly, talking quietly. Kelly looked unhappy but Emma didn’t hang around to find out why - turning and heading back to her carriage with the other Gryffindor girls.



Two days passed and on the third, Mrs Jack pulled her daughter aside after breakfast.

‘Have you and Remus had a fight?’ she asked and Emma shook her head.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Why?’

Her mother made a face and let out a disbelieving laugh. ‘For the last sixteen years, if he hasn’t been here, you’ve been at his place,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen him at all. You’ve not been around there. What’s going on?’

‘Nothing,’ she said, turning away. ‘I’ve been busy. I’ll go see him today.’



She left the house and wandered down to the park they used to play at when they were small. She swung on the tyre swing for a while, thinking, then twisted it around until she couldn’t tighten it anymore. Lifting her feet, she let it spin back, going faster and faster until it stopped and she felt a little sick.

‘Should I stay back?’ came a male voice. ‘Are you going to spew?’

Emma looked up, still dizzy. ‘I had eaten a whole bag of candy,’ she said in her defence, having thrown up on his pants several years ago after doing this. ‘You should have known better than to dare me to spin on the swing.’



Remus chuckled and sat down next to her on the swing, to her complaint. ‘It really isn’t big enough for two teenagers,’ she told him as he squeezed in beside her.

‘It’s fine,’ he said, almost on her lap. ’You’re the size of a well built flea.’

He looked at her, faces close to each other. ‘Hi,’ he said softly.

‘Hi yourself,’ she said with a closed mouth smile.

They sat silently for a few minutes, letting the tyre swing circle slowly.

‘Emma, are we still friends?’ he asked and she nodded.

‘Of course we are,’ she murmured, looking down at their feet as she got a bit teary. ‘I’m sorry, Lupin. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. Puberty, I guess.’



He bit his lip, feeling surprisingly upset. ‘That’s not it, Em,’ he said quietly. ‘Please tell me. If I’ve done something, let me make it up to you.’

‘You haven’t done anything,’ she said, trying to extract herself from the tyre, not easy since their legs seemed to have knotted together.

He clamped his legs together, trapping hers between them. ‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘You’re not running away this time, Jack. Tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours.’

She stopped struggling and stared at him with a frown. ‘Don’t let Kelly hear you say that,’ she mumbled. ‘I hear she’s the jealous kind.’

‘Pot calling the kettle black,’ she thought to herself.



‘Kelly can think what she likes,’ he said casually, but watching her closely thinking he may have just figured out what was wrong. ‘I broke up with her on the train.’

Emma looked at him. ‘Did you?’ she asked then looked away as she tried to hide how happy she was about that. ‘Why? You two looked pretty into each other.’

‘Once I got used to the making out, I realised we didn’t have a single thing to talk about,’ he told her, unable to stop his heart jumping a little at the thought that she might have been jealous. ‘Not like us.’

‘She was a good kisser?’ Emma asked, chewing the inside of her mouth.

‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘Pretty good. Sirius?’

She glanced over at him and nodded. ‘How…how far did you go with her?’ she asked hesitantly and his face went a little pink.

‘Will you tell me how far you went with Sirius?’ he countered and she nodded.



They jumped when they heard a squeal and turned to see three children running for the swings.

‘My parents are going out,’ he told her as they untangled their legs. ‘Come to my place. I don’t think this is a conversation for a public area anyway.’

He grabbed her arm and hauled her up. They walked the block to his house then made some sandwiches and took them to his room with a soft drink each. Drawing out lunch, they talked about anything but what was on their minds. Remus took their plates away, putting them on his desk then settling himself on his bed.

‘Alright,’ he said, deciding he was ready to hear how far she went with his friend. ‘Tell me.’

She clenched her jaw, wondering if it would hurt more to hear what he’d done with Kelly or to tell him what she’d done with Sirius.

‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ she told herself. ‘I don’t want him to be my boyfriend.’



She stood up and sat next to him, taking a deep breath. ‘I went down on him,’ she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

Remus felt a stabbing pain in his chest and tried not to let it show on his face. ‘You did?’ he asked.

‘Not properly,’ she said hastily. ‘He asked me to while I was…you know, and I thought I’d try.’

‘What did you do?’ he asked and she frowned.

‘You want details?’ she asked and he nodded, not sure why he did.

Emma closed her eyes then said in a rush, ‘I licked the tip of his cock then I sucked it a couple of times then I moved cause he came. Happy now?’

She opened her eyes and forced herself to look at him. His face looked tense but he nodded.



‘Kelly gave me a head job,’ he told her abruptly. ‘Pretty similar to what you did actually. Not a full one. Just a bit of a lick as she was jerking me off.’

Emma stared at him, biting her lip hard, then she said, ‘Did you…do anything to her?’ ‘Not like that,’ he said quickly. ‘Just, you know, what we did last summer.’

‘That‘s all Sirius did too,’ she said.

They were quiet for long moments, each trying to work out how exactly they felt about what they’d just heard.

‘Were you mad because I was fooling around with Kelly?’ Remus asked suddenly and Emma frowned.



‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘Maybe.’

She was silent for several moments then added, ‘I didn’t like seeing you kissing her the same way you kissed me - your hand on her face…you do that with me. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. It just did.’

Remus reached out and took her hand in his. ‘I didn’t like you seeing me with her,’ he confessed. ‘I felt like I was doing something wrong.’

He frowned. ‘I hated seeing Sirius’ curtains shut, knowing you were in there with him. I hated seeing him touching you.’

They looked at each other, their faces confused and worried. ‘I don’t fancy you, Em,’ he said softly, although not so sure anymore ‘I don’t. You’re my friend.’

‘I know,’ she said, nodding. ‘I don’t fancy you but…I don’t want anyone else to fancy you either.’



Quiet. Then Remus leant over and kissed her quickly. ‘She asked me to go down on her,’ he said softly. ‘She asked me to have sex with her. That’s why I broke up with her.’

He pushed her back onto the bed and held himself over her, his face revealing his insecurity. ‘I didn’t want to do it with her. I wanted to do it with you. I want you to be my first.’

Emma gave him a smile then reached up and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him.

For the first time, they just kissed. Not practicing, not pretending it was anything else than what it was - them wanting to kiss each other.



It felt like hours that they kissed, slowly, deeply, tasting every crevice of each other’s mouths. Hands moved over each other with no hesitation. Remus finally tore his lips from hers - only to pull her shirt off and let her do the same to him. He kissed her again, then his mouth trailed down her throat, her tiny moans the most exciting thing he’d ever heard. His fingers quickly undid her bra, pulling it off as his mouth closed around a nipple, making her cry out softly. As he teased her nipples until they were painfully hard, Emma’s hand moved to cup his bulge then she pulled down his zip, sliding her hand inside. He groaned as she stroked him as best she could then lifted his head and shifted. Undoing the fly completely, he slid his pants and boxers down his legs and off, watching her face carefully. Emma’s hands moved and she undid her own fly, lifting her butt so she could pull them off.



This was the first time they’d been completely naked with each other and they took a few moments to look each other over.

‘You’re beautiful, Em,’ he said softly, running his hands up her legs, over her ribs to her shoulders.

‘Remus,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t think I’m ready to go all the way.’

‘That’s alright,’ he assured her with a smile. ‘We’ll stop whenever you want. Promise.’

She smiled and pushed him over onto his back. ‘My turn to play then,’ she teased and he chuckled.



Her lips moved over his neck, biting lightly and making him growl. ‘Down, boy,’ she mumbled and felt his smile.

It had been a year since they did anything like this and they were both curious about the changes in each other’s bodies. She noticed Remus’ shoulders had broadened and his jaw felt rougher. He had more scars than she remembered and she kissed a long one over his ribs. She made her way down his body, her hand drifting between his legs and wrapping around his cock. Stroking firmly, she felt him tense when she kissed the skin over his hip.

‘Em,’ he murmured, putting his hand on her head. ‘Don’t do it because you think I want it. Don’t do it unless you want to.’



She nodded then spent a little more time exploring, touching him all over then experimentally licked him. He tasted familiar and she quickly closed her mouth over him. Remus gasped then gripped her hair and the bed, tearing the sheet off. He watched as Emma slid her mouth further over his shaft, seeing how much of him she could take. She circled her tongue around him as she moved her lips up and down. ‘Jeez, Em,’ he moaned, then pushed her head out of the way.

He wrapped his hand over hers and pumped it faster for a few seconds before he arched up, crying out as he came.



It took a few minutes for him to breathe normally again, rolling over to face her when he could.

‘Damn it, Jack,’ he swore. ‘I wanted to do it to you first.’

She smiled and reached for his wand to clean up. ‘There’s time,’ she told him, casting the spell. ‘We’ve got six weeks off.’

‘Shh!’ Remus said suddenly, sitting up. ‘Shit!’

He heard a door close downstairs after a pop of an apparition. ‘Mum and dad.’

They jumped up, pulling pants on hastily. Remus scooped up her shirt and threw it to her, yanking on his own.

‘Where’s my bra?’ she hissed and he looked around, unable to see it.

‘I can’t see it anywhere,’ he whispered then heard a knock on his door.



They threw themselves down, trying to look casual as Remus called out, ‘Yep!’

His father opened the door and smiled. ‘Hello, Emma,’ he said. ‘Wondered when we’d see you again. Remus, your mother wants you to try on some clothes. Now, please.’ ‘Ooh, a fashion show,’ Emma said, grinning as she stood up. ‘Can’t wait.’

Mr Lupin chuckled and let the girl past then turned back to Remus, who was amazed at how cool she was considering his parents almost caught her with her mouth around his dick. ‘Come on then. Don’t keep them waiting.’

He seemed to get distracted for a moment then waved Remus out. ‘Go on,’ he said then, as his son trudged downstairs, he slipped into his room. He crouched beside the bed and tugged on the familiar looking bright pink lace that he’d caught a glimpse of a minute ago. It was stuck between the mattress and the bed head and as he pulled on it, he hoped it wasn’t what he thought - his hopes dashed when he pulled out a pink lace bra.

‘Shit,’ he mumbled with a frown then put it back, not sure what he was going to do about this development.



He waited until Remus had gone to bed then knocked lightly on his open door. Remus had a book opened but lying across his chest as he stared up at the ceiling, thinking. He turned his head and smiled at his father, who came in and shut the door.

‘What’s up?’ Remus asked.

Mr Lupin sighed and reached under the mattress, pulling out the bra and holding it up. Remus’ smile faded and his face kind of froze.

‘Um,’ he said as he sat up, frantically trying to think of a reason, other than the truth, as to why he’d have a bra in his room.

‘Don’t bother trying to think of excuses,’ Mr Lupin said. ‘Your mother cleaned this room just before you came home and this is the first day Emma has been here.’

Remus felt his face reddening. ‘So, how long has this been going on?’ he asked. ‘I thought I heard you were seeing some girl at school?’



‘I was,’ Remus said quietly, not wanting to tell his father about his and Emma’s arrangement. ‘Em and I aren’t going out. We were just mucking around…’

‘Sex is not something to take lightly, Remus,’ he admonished and Remus quickly said, ‘We haven’t had sex.’

His father was silent for a moment then said, ‘But you’ve gone far enough that clothes haven’t remained on. That’s far enough for us to need to have a conversation.’

Remus closed his eyes and groaned. ‘Dad, they taught us Contraceptive spells and that sort of thing…’ he said.

‘I know,’ the man said, looking at the floor. ‘And trust me, I’d rather be anywhere but here having this conversation with you but I need to know that you understand what a big thing this is. Not just physically, but emotionally.’



He looked up at his son. ‘You and Emma have been friends for so long. Sex complicates things, son. I’d hate to see a friendship I know you value highly ruined because you both let things go a bit too far one day.’

He shifted a bit uncomfortably. ‘I know you’re at the age where you’re getting very curious and it’s easy to get carried away. Sex and…everything that comes with it, feels good but you and Emma could pay a high price for that pleasure. It’s hard to stay friends once you’ve started to get physically involved.’

‘We both want to do it,’ Remus said. ‘I feel more comfortable with Emma. She wouldn’t…laugh or anything cause I don’t know what to do.’



His face burned but he continued. ‘And Emma feels the same. We trust each other. We didn’t just jump each other one day, you know. It didn’t just happen. We talked about this and made a decision that we wanted to…try this with each other before we did it with anyone else.’

Mr Lupin frowned. ‘Remus, your first time…I’m assuming you haven’t…’

‘No, dad,’ he said. ‘I haven’t had sex.’

‘But you’ve come close?’ he asked, reading his son’s carefully chosen words correctly. ‘And you have participated in other sexual acts?’



Remus closed his eyes. ‘Dad, I’m sorry but that’s private,’ he said.

He opened his eyes again and saw his father looking at him with a strange look on his face. ‘Well, at least you have some respect for Emma’s privacy,’ he said softly. ‘Look, Remus. I know how much you care for Emma and I know you don’t think you’re doing any harm by…fooling around like this but I’m telling you, neither you or Emma are ready for the possible consequences of a sexual relationship - particularly if you decide this is a casual relationship.’

He stood up. ‘Neither of you are of age and, although it’s not a crime, it’s also not encouraged. And I would like for the two of you to wait until you are at least of age before taking this step with anyone.’



He put his hands in his pockets and said, ‘Remus, I love Emma like she was my own and I don’t want to see either of you hurt, and that is why we have a new rule. When she visits here, there will be no more closed doors, and she is not allowed over when we aren‘t here, nor are you allowed at her house unless her parents are home.’

Remus opened his mouth to argue but his father got in first.

‘It is that or we cannot allow Emma over any more,’ he told him, his tone final. ‘I cannot ban you from having sex with someone but I can try to prevent it long enough for you to be older and wiser. Is that understood?’

‘Yes,’ Remus muttered, frowning.



‘If you truly want your first time with Emma then you’ll wait until you‘re really ready,’ Mr Lupin said softly. ‘There should be love, Remus. Trust is important, you’re right, but…sex is a big deal. Feelings, emotions become more intense when you begin to get physical and you can get in deeper than you think you are. Staying just friends would be hard.’

Remus bit his lip, knowing that this was already starting to happen.



‘You’re getting confused already, aren’t you?’ Mr Lupin said, reading his son correctly. ‘You’re not sure how you’re feeling?’

Remus shrugged then looked up at him. ‘I’m fine, dad,’ he said. ‘Everything’s fine. I’ll do what you want. No closed doors.’

His father gave him a closed mouth smile and left the room, leaving Remus to fall back on the mattress, his father’s comments weighing heavily on his mind.