How It Was With You

Famous Actor Remus Lupin and Famous Singer Sirius Black, Wolfstar Getting Back Together with a Happy Ending!

How It Was With You

“Good evening, and welcome to Celebrity Insights, the show where we give you an insight into the lives of your favourite celebrities!” The pretty hostess beams into the camera. “I am here with one of the biggest actors of the moment, and one of the stars from the most-anticipated movie of this season, Mary McDonald’s latest work Wanderings with Werewolves, none other than Gilderoy Lockhart!”

People cheer, and Gilderoy Lockhart throws his thick, wavy hair back with a flourish, while giving a practiced wave to the audience.

“I must say, it’s an honour to have you here, Mr Lockhart!”

“It is,” Gilderoy confirms. “But please Marlene, call me Gilderoy.”

Marlene chuckles. “Alright then, Gilderoy. First we need to talk about your new movie! Mary McDonald is known to be very demanding of her actors, requiring them to give each character a deeper layer. Was this challenging for you?”

Gilderoy laughs. “I can imagine it might be challenging for some actors, but for me, it just comes natural. So no, I can’t say I found it challenging.”

Remus snorts as he stuffs another piece of chocolate into his mouth, sitting cross-legged on his hotel bed in front of the telly. The guy had nearly driven Mary to despair! While Mary had tried to keep reporters and fans away from the set, Gilderoy had cared more about having his picture taken and handing out autographs than getting into character. Remus had managed to convince him to practice lines with him, but only by swallowing his pride and stroking Gilderoy’s ego by making him think Remus needed his help.

“Well Gilderoy,” Marlene says with a cheeky smile. “There is of course one thing we need to talk about...”

“Alright, I’ll say it!” Gilderoy laughs. “Yes, these really are my real teeth.” He gives the audience a toothy smile. Only a few people cheer.

“That’s... lovely,” Marlene says. “But not what I meant. We need to talk about your on-screen romance with Remus Lupin turning into an off-screen romance!”

The audience whoops and whistles.

“So tell us everything! How did you two got together?”

“As it turns out,” Gilderoy begins. “Remus has always been a huge fan of mine. When I arrived at the set, poor guy was totally star-struck. But I did what I could to make him feel at ease, and even helped him with his acting, and eventually he gathered up the courage to ask me out, and I thought, why not?”

Remus groans into his pillow. Of course. Of bloody course he was going to paint Remus as some lovesick schoolboy gushing over him! Remus had wanted to come up with a story together in advance, but Gilderoy had said “While some actors may need lines for everything, the more naturally gifted ones can improvise.” He had told Remus not to worry, to just watch tonight’s live show, and stick to the story he would come up with.

Marlene laughs awkwardly. “I’m sure you must’ve thought something more than ‘why not’? I mean, it’s Remus Lupin! The hottest actor of the moment, widely acclaimed by film critics, and overall fan favourite! I can imagine you were ecstatic!”

“Right,” Gilderoy says. “Of course, it’s nice to date a fellow actor. It’s in my nature to help others when I can, and I don’t mind imparting my wisdom, so to say. Remus was very grateful for my advice, and you could tell I made his performance better.”

“It’s not like he was struggling before,” Marlene says, trying to keep her tone light. “He has already won two Oscars, after all.”

“Well, he has always admired my work,” Gilderoy smiles. “I’ve always been an example to him when it comes to acting. Did you know his Oscar-winning performances were actually inspired by me?”

“And yet, you’ve never won an Oscar yourself,” Marlene says sweetly.

Gasps can be heard from the audience, and Gilderoy’s face flushes in anger.

Marlene blinks, seemingly startled by her nasty reaction herself. She’s not afraid to ask the tough questions, but her show prizes itself on always keeping a friendly vibe and making the guests feel at ease. “Eh, right. Let’s... Let’s go to some questions from the audience! Yes, you love! What would you like to know?”

A girl in the audience gets up, and Remus groans. She’s wearing a Mischief Managed shirt, and Remus already knows what she’s going to ask.

“Hello Mr Lockhart! I was just wondering, how do feel about Remus being Sirius Black’s ex?”

Someone was bound to bring up Sirius. He and Remus had been society’s it-couple. The most beloved actor of the moment, with his dazzling smile, warm eyes and angelic-like beauty, and the best musician of the moment, with his undeniable sex-appeal, bad boy appearance, but heart of gold. People had loved them together, had been obsessed with them, and many still hadn’t accepted the break-up. Remus can relate.

Gilderoy ostentatiously rolls his eyes. There might be some spite there. “I don’t care,” he says in a haughty tone. “If anything, it makes me think it must be quite an improvement for him to be with someone on my level. If he was dating some ignorant rock star before, he must be very happy to be with someone with some substance.”

“Booooo!” Remus throws a pillow at the TV, which only results in making his hotel bed less comfortable. By the sound of it, the audience seems to agree with his sentiment, only they have no pillows to throw. Remus gets that it’s no fun to be compared to someone’s ex-boyfriend, especially when that ex-boyfriend is bloody Sirius Black, but Gilderoy doesn’t have to go and talk shite about Sirius!

“Ignorant?” Marlene raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Sirius Black has never struck me as ignorant. He’s never afraid to voice his political opinions, and even in his music, he sometimes addresses quite heavy themes. And if you listen to Lie Low with You, the lyrics are so deep and profound...”

The song Sirius has written about the break-up is his greatest hit so far, topping the charts all over the world. The song is constantly being played on all radio stations. And isn’t that just splendid? What could be more fun than hearing the song your hot and famous ex-boyfriend, who you’re quite possibly still very much in love with, wrote about your break-up every-bloody-where you go?

The song isn’t nasty. It’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful, not nasty. The break-up wasn’t nasty. There was no arguing, no fighting, no shouting, not even simply falling out of love. They broke up because of practical reasons. And somehow, that makes it even worse.

When they met, Sirius had just finished his American tour, and was searching for inspiration for new music, and Remus had just wrapped up filming, and had decided to give himself a break. They had all the time to just be together. But then life came and disturbed their precious little bubble where nothing else existed but each other.

Sirius’ management was pressuring him to do an European tour, and Remus got casted in Mary McDonald’s new film. It’s hard to be in a long-distance relationship. It’s extremely hard, if not impossible, to be in a long-distance relationship when you have no idea when you’ll be able to see each other again, when you’re both so busy you’ll barely have time to even call, when you’re constantly surrounded by reporters who’d love to stir up any drama between you and people throwing themselves at you wanting your relationship to fall apart. The memories of their time together were so good, they didn’t want them to be tainted by inevitable miscommunications, suspicions, and false accusations. No, better to end it before it went sour.

So they did the smart thing and it was all for the best. Well, if you ignore the fact that Remus is still desperately in love with Sirius, and feels like he’s been walking around with only half of his heart these last months, that is.

Gilderoy looks thoroughly unimpressed with Marlene’s defence of Sirius. “If you say so,” he says in a slightly mocking tone. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t listen to his music. My taste is more... refined than that.”

“I must say, I admire your confidence,” Marlene laughs, in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I honestly don’t know if I could be so calm about it if I were dating someone whose ex is widely considered to be the most eligible bachelor, and who has been voted Sexiest Man Alive three times in a row!”

The audience laughs as well, but Gilderoy’s expression darkens. The spite in his expression is now evidently clear, and that can’t be good. “Black is no competition,” he says firmly. “At all. Whatever he and Remus had, it was never real. Remus told me himself that sure, Black was nice to look at, but nothing more, and he quickly grew bored of him. There was nothing meaningful between them.”

Remus can only shake his head in stunned disbelief at the blatant lie.

Marlene frowns. “That’s... contrary to everything we saw of them when they were together.”

“Oh, yes,” Gilderoy says, really getting into it now. “It all looked great on camera, but that were all appearances. There were no real feelings, believe me. Remus just couldn’t connect with Black. Remus told me that, at times, Black had quite a temper, and the rest of the time he was just detached. Like someone who was, say, under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”

Marlene’s jaw tightens. “Those are dangerous insinuations, especially when uncalled for and unfounded. We will not make such insinuations in this programme.”

Gilderoy laughs and holds up his hands. “I’m not insinuation anything! Just making an observation. Like how it’s also an observation addiction runs in the family for Black.”

Remus is seething. How dare he! Remus can and will deny it a thousand times if he must, but it has been said, and the implication will linger.

Sirius grew up with an alcoholic, violent father, and his younger brother nearly died of an overdose just last year. Sirius hates drugs and alcohol, and won’t touch them!

Gilderoy has to wait before he can continue, due to the loud booing coming from the audience. “Anyway,” he says airily, throwing his blond hair back. “Remus says Black can’t hold a candle to me, and he’s just happy to be with a real man, who knows how to satisfy him,” he adds with a wink.

Remus wants to gag and laugh at the same time. Gag because, gross. And laugh at the idea that Sirius wouldn’t have satisfied him. If he just thinks back on those nights with their bodies intertwined while nothing else existed...

Remus is pulled away from his thoughts by his phone ringing. His private phone only a few people use, which means it must be Lily, his PR manager, to yell at him for saddling her with this PR nightmare of Gilderoy painting him as an arse-kissing twat who talks shite about his ex.

He starts pacing the hotel room, to release some of his frustration, while he picks up the phone. “I swear, I had no idea what that fucker was going to say!”

“Never real?!” The voice on the other end of the line asks incredulously.

Remus stops in his tracks upon hearing that voice. While he’s been hearing that voice in every car, every store, every bar he’s been in these last weeks, it still feels like he hasn’t heard it in forever. “Sirius...”

“Nothing meaningful? What the hell, Remus?”

Remus feels something warm swell in his chest at hearing that, despite all the shite Gilderoy said about him, it’s the suggestion that their relationship wouldn’t be real that’s making Sirius angry. “Look, Sirius,” Remus says, running a hand through his hair. “I swear to god, I never said any of those things! That pretentious stuck up bastard made it all up himself.”

“You and your boyfriend have some weird pet names,” Sirius replies.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Even though Remus can’t see Sirius, he can just picture him arching an eyebrow. “You might want to inform him of that.”

“It’s a fake relationship,” Remus explains. “His management contacted me, saying how it would be good for both our media coverages, and great publicity for Mary’s work... You know how these things go.”

“I thought you hated that kind of fakery?” There’s disapproval in his voice, yes, but Remus also thinks his voice sounds somehow lighter, though that might be just his imagination.

“Well, as it turns out, I hate it even more to be constantly bombarded with questions about my love life and...” Remus doesn’t finish his sentence, but the word ‘you’ hangs heavily in the air.

The reporters really had been awful.

‘Remus, why did you and Sirius break up?’

‘Mr Lupin, do you think your relationship with Mr Black was a mistake?’

‘Is it true you and Sirius Black were engaged before you broke up?’

‘Remus, do you agree with the speculations that the entire ‘Moonless Nights’-album was written about you?’

“What do you make of Sirius Black being spotted with Fabian Prewett, Remus?’

Each question made Remus want to rip his heart out. Remus had tried to do it the proper way. He had placed himself in a vulnerable position and made a statement saying that he was going through a difficult time, and needed space to heal, and requested the reporters to give him that space. They didn’t.

Remus doesn’t feel bad about feeding the reporters a fake story, as they blatantly ignored his mental health to get their headlines. Questions like ‘Is it true that you had a thousand flowers delivered on set to win Gilderoy Lockhart over?’ ‘Were you and Gilderoy already together before you started filming?’ ‘Are those Gilderoy’s real teeth?’ make Remus want to puke, but that’s a hell of a lot better than ripping his heart out.

“Yeah, it was hard to be constantly confronted with it,” Sirius agrees. “In hindsight, writing that song about our break-up that’s constantly following me around might not have been such a good idea either.”

Remus snorts. “You think?” Then he sighs. “I’m going to end the pretend-relationship with Gilderoy anyway. Even fake, I don’t want to be with someone who would say those things.”

“You shouldn’t be!” Sirius says firmly. “He was totally belittling you and your career!”

After a moment of silence, Sirius asks “It was real, right?” and there’s a rare vulnerability in his voice.

The warm feeling is back. Gilderoy basically called Sirius an ignorant drug-addict, and here he is, angry that Gilderoy wasn’t respectful enough towards Remus. God, he loves this man. Oh god, he loves this man.

“Do you even doubt it?” Remus asks quietly.

“Well, I have it on good authority you’re quite a decent actor,” Sirius laughs, but Remus can hear the anxiety in his voice.

“It was never an act with you, Sirius.”

Sirius lets out a shaky breath. “It was the realest damned thing I’ve ever had in my life.”

Remus swallow against the lump in his throat. “You were the one real thing in a world full of fakery.”

“Do you...” Sirius begins hesitantly. “Do you think that maybe we’ve... made a mistake?”

YES! Remus’ mind screams. YES, YES, YES!

“I don’t know,” he says carefully. “I suppose we had valid reasons at the time...”

“It just seems a bit silly now,” Sirius says. “Ending it because we didn’t want to end up unhappy, and what did that result in?”

“Are you unhappy, Sirius?” Remus asks quietly.

“I just... miss you so damned much, Remus.”

“Me too.” Remus’ voice breaks. “I miss you too.”

Both of them fall silent again, except for the ragged breaths while they try to control their emotions.

“I could get on a plane,” Sirius suddenly says. “I’m in America at the moment. I don’t have any performances planned for the weekend, only some interviews, which I can by video call. I could get on a plane and be with you.”

Remus opens and closes his mouth, his mind racing. “I don’t want you to get on a plane,” he eventually says. “If it’s only for the weekend. If you do get on that plane, I want us to actually try this time. You and me, giving it a real chance. Otherwise, please don’t bother.”

From Marlene McKinnon:

Rem, I don’t know Gilderoy very well, and I don’t want to be judgemental of your relationship, but I need you to know that I almost punched your boyfriend in the face on live TV.

From Lily Evans:

Well, that was a train wreck. I’ll drop by tomorrow so we can talk about what to do, and what statement you want to put out. And Remmie, don’t worry too much, okay? It reflects worse on him than it does on you.

Gilderoy Lockhart Finally Talks about Something Other than Himself, and We Kinda Wish He Hadn’t...

“Sirius Black is a Drug-Addict and Remus Lupin Never Had Feelings for Him”: Why Lockhart is Facing Backlash for his Latest Interview with McKinnon

Gilderoy Lockhart Claims Remus and Sirius Didn’t Love Each Other, Here Are 20 Pictures that Suggest Otherwise

Remus sends Marlene and Lily a quick reply, and scans through the headlines, feeling relieved that Lily seems to be right. He’s too anxious to really read any of the articles, however.

The smart thing to do is to text Sirius the name of his hotel, so that when his plane has landed (He must’ve gotten on the plane. Yes, he most likely got on the plane. But what if he didn’t get on the plane? Oh god, he didn’t get on the plane!), he can come to see Remus, and they can talk face-to-face about where they both stand and what they both want, without drawing too much attention. Yes, staying here and waiting for Sirius to arrive (If he arrives!) would definitely be the smart thing to do.

Ten minutes later, Remus is sitting in a cab on his way to the airport. Unsurprisingly, his arrival at the airport lobby causes quite a stir.

“Oh my god, is that-?”

“Yes, yes, it is!”

“Is that really Remus Lupin?”

“It has to be! Who else has eyes like that?”

“I can’t believe I’m in the same room as Remus Lupin! I can’t believe I’m breathing the same air as Remus Lupin!”

“I hope he’s fleeing the country after saying those things about Sirius Black!”

“I hope he’s fleeing the country to get away from Gilderoy Lockhart as far as possible!”

“He’s so beautiful, it hurts my eyes!”

“I don’t think that’s biologically possible.”

“Do you know what’s not biologically possible? To be that beautiful!”

“His hair looks so soft, I just wanna run my fingers through it!”

“Great. You can immediately get his autograph on you restraining order.”

Remus ignores the buzz of voices around him, and searches the crowd, getting more anxious by the minute. Suddenly, he sees a man standing near the end of the hall. He’s wearing sweatpants and a hoodie with the hood pulled up, covering his hair and obscuring most of his face, but Remus recognizes his slightly too upright posture, that he never quite learned to shake from his upbringing, and the way he’s opening and closing his hands, which he always does when he’s nervous. When his eyes meet Remus’, he knows for sure.

Remus starts to run. Well, he is an actor, after all, and he does have a taste for the cinematic dramatics. He throws himself into Sirius’ arms and Sirius hugs him tight.

“Sirius,” he whispers.

“I got you,” Sirius speaks against his hair. “I got you, and I’m never letting you go again.”

When Remus pulls back slightly to look Sirius in the eyes, he’s vaguely aware of talking all around him and the clicking and flashing of cameras, but his attention is mostly drawn to those silver-grey eyes, with a sparkle that hadn’t been there all those times he saw them on a television screen these last months. “You came.”

“Of course I came,” Sirius smiles. “How could I not? I love you.”

“I love you too,” Remus says, and the words come easy as he pulls Sirius into a kiss.

The situation with Gilderoy is still a mess, and being spotted kissing his hopefully-no-longer-ex-boyfriend in public will only make it worse, but he can’t bring himself to care.

It’ll be okay. They’ll be okay.