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Remus liked the Weasley boy.
Of course he liked most of his former students but Ron Weasley was special.
The boy was a bit lazy when it came to school, but with the right motivation, he was able to pass without even spending a single minute extra to the absolute minimum on his school work...while using broken and unfitting equipment. He lightened up his classed with good natured jokes and with him by his side his two star students Harry and Hermione were able to relax and show their abilities.
He was a bit frustrating as a student, underachievers always made him a little sad knowing that they never would reach their potential… Remus still liked him though. Ron Weasley was a good kid.
Maybe he liked him a little more when he saw the boy, having a clearly broken leg, stand up and push himself between an alleged murderer and Harry. He still could see him his head, barely even a teenager and still so fiercely protecting his friend.
He remembered too how it flickered in Sirius eyes, because this was just so much like James. Their James, who died, because he pushed himself between his wife and child. Like Ron he knew he wouldn’t have a chance. They were both not stupid… they just couldn’t help but at least try to keep their loved ones safe. Even if it was futile.
Remus liked Ron.
Sirius... liked him a lot.
It didn’t bother him first, Sirius was broken after Azkaban and Remus thought it was probably healthy that his friend saw good people like the Weasleys to regain at least a little bit of belief in humanity.
Sirius...never had been a good person...he was a good friend, but he was broken like Remus. Being part of the Marauders had made them both feel a little more whole, but then Peter happened...and James was gone.
Sirius was without his north star.
Even if he hadn’t been under the influence of years of imprisonment and the Dementors, being without James was enough to break the man.
Sirius had kissed him back when they were in school and Remus thought it was fine to be with him, event though it was James that turned his boyfriend’s head every time he entered the room.
It was James that was woken up by Sirius in the middle of night if he had a bad dream again and it was James that made Sirius cry for weeks when he first started to date Lily.
Remus thought he’d be okay with it, because Sirius still liked him. He still kissed him and gave him small presents and laughed at him with that stupid lopsided grin.
James wasn’t a threat. Not only was James as straight as a wand, he was also a good person. he’d never made Sirius choose between him and Remus...as if there was a choice.
Remus knew Sirius would always choose to be at James’ side in whichever way he could, and he thought it was alright like that. He thought it was okay to be the second-best.
He knew better now. Looking at Nymphadora, that smiled at him like Remus was the best thing that ever happened to her.
He wasn’t sure if he deserved the way she clumsily tried to flirt with him. How she tripped over her feet and cheerfully thanked him as he stopped the floor lamp from landing onto of her. She was so inherently good, so strong and still so vulnerable and Remus felt like he didn’t have a right to sit next to her. She was light and soft and her soul was so beautiful no matter how she looked that day and he felt so messed up and gloomy next to her.
He wasn’t sure how he’d survived even a day With Sirius’ lukewarm feelings if he’d know something so genuine and kind had existed for him. Remus felt actually loved. It was difficult to deal with. A bit scary but also exciting.
He probably should have been a bit offended by how honestly happy Sirius seemed about the obvious crush Nymphadora had on Remus.
Seeing them together always brought a smiled on his friend’s face and he more than once pushed Remus to sit next to her at the table.
The Weasleys were a good influence on Sirius.
Sirius relaxed and was less drunk since Fred and George were around and he had someone he could influence with bad jokes and even worse pranks.
Ron was clearly his favourite though.
The boy was a lot lankier than a few years ago, almost able to look Remus into the eyes by now and several inches taller than Sirius. It would probably take another three years for him to fill out his height and his face was still round and boyish but he was was holding himself like someone who felt like he had to grow up fast to keep up with the world.
Maybe that was typical for younger siblings in big families.
He was still only fifteen though.
Ron was fifteen and Sirius looked at him like him, like he was red-headed James. Remus had been for a moment worried about Harry, because he looked like James, but Sirius loved James...he’d never let even a single thought sully James’ little boy.
Ron was a different matter.
Sirius, in his head, was barely twenty.
He had been stuck in the form of a dog for so long that he’d missed a big part of the “being an adult” thing and it showed in the way he wanted to involve the children into the war.
It showed in the way he tried to treat them as equal even though they were just tiny little cubs and should be protected.
It showed in the was smiled that lopsided at Ron when the other stood sadly in front of Harry’s closed door again. A steaming mug of hot chocolate in his hand as an appeasement that obviously hadn’t worked.
Remus watched as Sirius took the mug from Ron’s hand and waved him to follow into his room and for a moment Remus had the urge storm in there and...do what...Sirius was broken, but he wasn’t a monster. He would trust the man with his life why not to have a talk with one of his students without his supervision?
He faced himself to leave his place behind the keyhole of the door and sit down to read again.
Ron was a big boy too.
He had a good head on his shoulders and, though he could be a little reckless, he took good care of himself, Hermione and Harry.
Probably it was just his mind playing tricks when he saw Sirius smile secretly at the redhead, his eye lashes fluttering gently. Sirius had smiled at him like that in the past which seemed like a century ago. Sirius smiled at many people though...and Remus was pretty sure he wasn’t having thing a Molly Weasley.
That’s what he tried to say himself for a few days. Until he saw Ron coming out of Sirius room one morning.
Until he noticed that the boy smelled like Sirius though and he had that slight rush on his mouth like he been kissed by someone with beard.
Until there were bruises on his student’s neck and once or twice it seemed like he had either hangover or very little sleep.
Until he saw Ron reading books in the dark living room that Remus knew he wouldn’t have chosen himself.
Remus sat there by the fireplace pretended to not watch the way Sirius bend over the back rest of the couch and point at the text while quietly explaining a passage in the book. Sirius never in his whole life would have chosen to tutor anyone...but Ron became information about black magic whispered in his burning-red ear.
Bit by bit the list grew larger and Remus grew angrier.
Because...Ron was fifteen.
Ron was fifteen and he deserved feeling safe and having adults around him that he could trust.
He deserved being a boy for a little longer instead of taking care of his friends like a big brother. He was a good kid. Ron didn’t deserve having his head bashed in by a giant stone statue, being half-buried under stones, having his leg broken and being kidnapped to the ground of the great lake.
And on top of all that, on top of being hurt and worry about his friends’ safety, he didn’t deserve have his heart broken by an old man like Sirius and him.
And he would have his heart broken, like Remus, because Sirius broken and his heart and common sense had been take from him when he’d found James lying in the darkness of Potter’s Cottage.
Ron deserved being young and careless and finding things out with someone his age when he was ready.
The logs in the Fireplace crackled after Sirius left the room to check on Harry and feed Buckbeak.
Remus looked down on the book in his hands but he couldn’t form words out of the letters on the page.
He felt like going up to Sirius and shaking him and bashing his dumb skull against a wall, because he touched his student...one of his little cubs.
He didn’t want to mortify Ron in front of everyone though...the boy probably wouldn’t want his family to know and Dora and Moody would get into big trouble this would grow more public even among Harry’s supporters.
He almost chucked the book into the fire when there was a mug of hot chocolate being put down on the table next to him with a hollow sound.
The boy was standing awkwardly next to his armchair, looking really young and really old at the same times. With a weary smile he learned on the armrest.
“You know, Professor...you don’t have to worry so much.” he muttered scratching the overgrown red mob on his head.
“I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself. I...Sirius is teaching me a lot of stuff and...maybe it’ll help us survive a little longer.”
“What do you...you don’t believe in...surviving the war.”
“Three of my uncles died in the last war. He would have taken us and my parents to if they could, but luckily they didn’t find our hiding place. Percy is the most vulnerable...if I were You-Know-Who I’d try to get control of the Ministry and Percy has no one to protect him. He’ll probably be the first...afterwards probably the twins are the next in danger. Mum and Dad are strong and smart, Bill and Charlie know how to defend themselves better because they finished school...Ginny will be safe at Hogwarts...”
“It’s like chess. I’m in the way if they want to get to Harry. Please, drink the chocolate before it’s getting cold, Professor.”
Reluctantly Remus took a sip from the mug Ron had given him.
“Please me call Remus...” he said quietly. The boy pushed out his chin defiantly and stared furiously in the fire.
“I’m going to make it as hard as I for them, Professor. I’m gonna slow them down and maybe...maybe Harry and Hermione will make it. Maybe Ginny will stay alive and happy.”
It was just coincidence, but hearing James’s words from Ron shook him in his core.
“I’m probably not gonna grow very much older, Remus. If I want to do something, I need to do it now.”
two days later the children went back to school.
Remus took Dora out for dinner and Sirius went back to his brooding self.
He cowardly didn't talk with him about that thing with Ron Weasley.
Remus couldn't bear to lose another friend.
he did anyway.
Sirius died a year later.
The war had truly begun.