Forward March (a fanfic)

​Specifically, a “Harry Potter” fanfic.
(Hufflepuffs against TERFs!)
:::
Overall, it had been a lovely holiday. Kreacher was still being his usual self, but at least he stayed away from most people. It was as if the Christmas Spirit was a stench he couldn’t stand.
Most everyone assumed that the house elf had gone nocturnal and roamed about at night, doing his dirty work. However, it was nearly two in the morning and Sirius hadn’t seen any sign of him. Not that Sirius was worried or upset over Kreacher’s absence. He wasn’t wide awake, sitting on a moth-eaten couch, bouncing his leg in anticipation (and high levels of caffeine) to hear any of Kreacher’s moronic and disillusioned rants.
Sirius was waiting for a far more interesting story.
And at exactly one past two, the door opened and a figure shakily entered the Black house. The stranger shook the snow off his cloak and then pulled it off, throwing it upon a hook on the wall. He was rubbing his hands together and attempting to create some kind of warmth when Sirius realized he couldn’t wait anymore and pulled out his wand, conjured some light, and asked slyly, “So…how did it go?”
The reaction was perfect. Remus had the look of a deer caught in headlights. He jumped and froze, staring at Sirius’s face and blinking a few times as his eyes got used to the sudden light.
“You’re…you’re up…”
“Well spotted,” Sirius had to use every bit of control not to laugh at his friend’s face. He took a breath and repeated the question, “So…how did it go?”
Remus’s eyes hit the floor, and he went back to rubbing his hands together; now more out of nervousness than the cold. “You stayed up all this time just to ask me how it went?” He tried to walk past Sirius, but Padfoot blocked his escape.
“Well, it’s a milestone of an occasion. Things like this don’t happen every day. Well, not for you, anyway, Moony. So…how did it go?”
“It was fun,” Remus finally said after a few nervous bounces on the balls of his feet, “It was a lot of fun. I’m glad I went.”
“You’re glad that I told you to go, you mean.”
“I’m glad I went.”
Had he said good night and run away quickly enough, Remus could have avoided any further questioning. But the fact of the matter is that both men knew there was a part of Remus (however small) that wanted to talk about what had happened that night. That part left him standing there, staring at the floor and waiting for Sirius to continue asking questions.
“And…” Sirius obliged, “What happened? What did you eat? What did you do?”
“Well, it was a Christmas party so we did…party-like things.”
“Remus, I don’t get out much these days. Entertain me. Tell me about the party-like things. Tell me about Dora.”
Remus ignored the way Sirius said her name and pushed on, “Well, Moody never showed up. No one was really surprised by that. Kingsley and a few other Aurors did, though, and they were all very nice. We had dinner. It was very good. The best food I’ve had in a while. Don’t tell Molly. Not that her stuff is bad at all. She’s fantastic, but Andromeda and Ted pulled out all the stops. Ham, turkey, black pudding, potatoes of every variety-”
“Andromeda and Ted? You’re on a first-name-basis with the parents?”
“I wasn’t very well going to go on calling them Mr. and Mrs. Tonks all night. She’s your cousin, afterall! We’ve met. We know each other. I thought you wanted to hear about the party. I was going to tell you about the food-”
“Moony, you know damn well I don’t want to hear about the food! Who did you sit next to at dinner?”
Remus didn’t have to answer that question; Sirius already knew so he just went on, “Did she ask you to sit next to her or did you just sit next to her all on your own?”
Even in the dim light of the Lumos charm, Sirius could make out that his friend was turning a bright red color that he had not donned in ten years probably. Remus finally moved past Sirius and fumbled his way to the kitchen. Sirius was practically skipping as he followed him and asked, “What was she wearing tonight? A dress? What color was her hair? Did you meet any of the Muggle cousins? Did she look pretty?”
Remus was pacing in the kitchen now, torn between his general embarrassment and that small stupid part of him that wanted to go on, “She was wearing a red dress. Yes, she did look very pretty. Her hair was black because, yes, the Muggle cousins were there, and Andromeda didn’t want her to scare them. I didn’t talk much with the cousins because they seemed utterly terrified to be in the same room as us-”
“Did you kiss her?”
Remus stopped, “What?”
:::
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https://archiveofourown.org/works/51479101