Archive of Our Own

“Hey, Remus,” Sirius said, poking his friend with his wand. “Wake up will yah, I can’t do this assignment on my own,”

“You're screwed man,” James said. “He’s out,”

“Come on,” Sirius said in a whiny voice. “I need help,”  

“I can help,” James said, grabbing his homework. “The answer is bloodwart,” 

“I’m supposed to be writing a fucking essay on plant growth,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes, before squinting at Remus. “Do you think he’s alright? He seems a bit… off,” 

“Why wouldn’t he be?” James asked. “He’s probably just tired, full moon isn’t far away. You should let him sleep,” 

“Aw look at you, being all reasonable,” Sirius said, punching his shoulder.  

“Ay shut your mouth,” James said, hitting him back. “I’ve gotta go-” 

“Oh, right, Lily’s class is out in about five minutes huh?” He said with a smirk. 

“I’m not taking this from you,” James said, smacking Sirius gently upside the head. 

“I’ll see you later, love sick puppy,” Sirius said, smiling as James made his retreat, flipping him off as he went. 

Sirius really did try and pay attention to his homework… for about five minutes. But then both his concern and his boredom got the better of him, and he turned back to his friend, who was slouched over on his desk. Sirius reasoned that Remus would be rather mad at him if he’d allowed for him to fall asleep instead of working. So, with a gentleness usually reserved only for Remus and small animals, Sirius started shaking his shoulder, trying to stir him. 

“Rem, come on,” Sirius said. It took a surprisingly long time for Remus to wake up, and when he did he looked very much out of it. His hair was all messed up and his eyes were sleepy. “There you are, you were dead to the world for a minute there,” 

“Hey Sirius,” Remus said, rubbing his eye with the sleeve of his jumper. “How long have I been asleep?” 

“I only noticed a few minutes ago,” Sirius said. “So it couldn’t have been to long,”

“Alright,” Remus said, shaking his head to try and waken himself more.  “Sorry, it’s a boring assignment,” 

“You read latin for fun, I’m shocked that you find anything boring,” Sirius said, looking over at Remus’s work. “Aw come on moons, this isn’t due for weeks,” 

“I know, I just like to try and keep up,” Remus said. “You know that Madam Pomprey won’t let me do work after the moon,” 

“Well sure but no need to torture yourself over it, don’t the teachers know about you?” sirius asked. 

“No, only a few know,” Remus said. “I didn’t want to tell anyone I didn’t have to,” 

“Right,” Sirius said. “And you told all of us because…?”

“Because I didn’t have another bloody choice,” Remus said, and even though he sounded bitter his face told Sirius he was joking. 

“It was because you loved us, right?” Sirius said. 

“Right,” Remus said, stretching the word. 

“Oh shut up you love us,” Sirius said, bumping into his shoulder. Remus shot him a tired smile, before laughing. 

“I suppose so,” He said. 

“I knew it,” Sirius said. “Now you should go to bed, you didn’t sleep last night did you?”

“What makes you say that?” Remus asked, tilting his head. 

“Because if you aren't asleep by the time I am then you never go to bed,” Sirius said. “I’ve know this sense first year,”

“You’re annoying, you know that,” Remus said, shaking his head. “Please let me work in peace,” 

“Uh, not happening,” sirius said, kicking him under the table. 

“Ow,” 

“You should go to bed,” Sirius said. 

“Well I’m not,” Remus said. “Besides, if I go to bed now then what will I do when it’s actually night?” 

“Sleep through the whole night?” Sirius said. 

“You’re vastly overestimating my ability to sleep,” Remus said. “Come on, let me finish this and then I’ll think about it,” 

“It’s not due for two bloody weeks,” Sirius said, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Come on mate,” 

“I’m not having this argument with you,” Remus said, standing up. “I’m going to go get some tea,” 

“Can I come?” Sirius asked. Remus stood there, faking annoyance, before sighing and nodding his head. “Yes,”  

“Just try and be less annoying then normal, will you?” Remus said, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. 

“Why Moony, how could you say such a thing,” Sirius said, gasping. Remus just rolled his eyes at him and turned around. “Wait wait I’m coming, wait for me!” 

“You really are a dog aren't you?” Remus quipped as Sirius scrambled to follow him. 

“Oh shut up,” Sirius said, slinging an arm over Remus playfully and following him down the twisty stairs, making Remus cautiously grip the handrail. “Why so careful?” 

“Because I almost broke my nose going down these stairs last night,” Remus said with a laugh.

“Probably because it was two in the bloody morning,” Sirius said, putting more weight behind the words. 

“Yeah yeah well-” Remus stopped talking as they entered the commons and saw Peter sitting in a chair, playing with his wand. 

“Hey Pete,” Sirius said, making Peter snap his head up. “What are you up to?” 

“Oh just messing around,” Peter said. Remus took a slight step back, averting his eyes 

“Hey we’re going down to the kitchen, wanna come?” Sirius asked, tilting his head. 

“Sure-” 

“Hey did I ever give you that essay to copy?” Remus asked abruptly. “Due tonight, innt?” 

“Oh… yeah,” Peter said. 

“I’ll go grab that, before I forget,” Remus said, pulling away from Sirius and going back up the stairs. Sirius turned to look at Remus, confused, but Remus was fast enough that Sirius didn’t have time to follow him up the stairs. 

“Thanks…” Peter said as Remus handed him the papers. 

“It was only supposed to be three scrolls but I did seven so you can just pick the parts you like,” Remus said. 

“Thanks mate,” Peter said, smiling at him. 

“Sure,” Remus said. The entire exchange left Sirius pulling a confused face, and he opened his mouth to speak but Remus interrupted before he could. “Well, i’ll be going down stairs then,” 

“I should probably work on this,” Peter said. Remus nodded, before awkwardly excusing himself. 

Sirius stood in the middle of the room, torn for a few seconds, before following Remus, having to run to catch up. 

“Moons what the fuck was that?” Sirius asked, grabbing Remus’s sweater. 

“Oh, nothing,” Remus said. “Just gave him the essay is all,” 

“No, not all,” Sirius said. “Why was it so odd? I’ve never seen you two be so strange.” 

“We don’t normally talk one on one,” Remus pointed out. 

“Well yes but-” 

“I’m tired Pads, let’s talk about this later,” Remus said firmly, something that was unusual for him. Normally setting a firm boundary was not one of his strong suits, and he spoke with two little emotions, a clear sign that something was bothering him. 

“Moony,” Sirius sings, making Remus elbow him sharply, as he nodded to the other gryffindors in the hallway. Sirius narrowed his eyes in slight annoyance, but managed to keep his mouth shut for the long trek to the kitchen. 

“You know you could have made tea upstairs with your wand right?” Sirius said. 

“I wanted to stretch.” Remus said. “Besides, do you really not want the elves to give you cakes?” 

“That is so not what I said,” Sirius said, climbing through the painting. “Oh uh- mate… what the hell was that upstairs?” 

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked. 

“You were acting like I do with my bloody father,” Sirius said. 

“Don’t you live with James now?” 

“Exactly,” Sirius said. “It’s not like him and I get on, what’s going on with the two of you?” 

“Uh, nothing,” Remus said, ducking his head as he walked further into the kitchen. 

“Remus,” Sirius said in a knowing voice. “Come on, last time we had a talk like this I found out you were a werewolf, so you know I’m not letting this go,” 

“That was forever ago,” Remus said, his brow furrowed. 

“Well that was the last time you acted this bloody weird,” Sirius said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m not getting on with Peter right now,” Remus said with a shrug. “That’s all. Happy?” 

“No, please tell me what all happened,” Sirius said, hoisting himself up on the counter. Luckily the elves were sleeping, or busy for the moment, because the kitchen was completely abandoned. Remus had never thought about it but he supposed elfs must sleep at some point. 

“Why don’t you go grill Peter if you want to know so bad?” Remus asked. 

“Because I don’t want to hear his side first, I want to hear yours,” Sirius said

“Come on,” Remus said. “It’s stupid drama, it’ll blow over,” 

“You don’t do stupid drama Moons,” Sirius said. “Come on,” 

Remus took a deep breath, leaning against the counter top with a sigh, his head turned to look at the wall. He was clearly uncomfortable, he always was when dealing with these kinds of things, but at least he didn’t seem quite as closed off as he had before. Turning to look at his friend with troubled eyes, he wrung his hands together, before speaking. 

“Look, I know that it’s nothing I have a right to be upset over, so let me start with acknowledging that,” Remus said. “I have no reason to be the one who’s so angry about this, because we all have things we deal with from time to time,” 

“...okay,” Sirius said slowly. 

“Yesterday in Defence Against the Dark Arts they had us work individually or in pairs. They wanted us to propose a theoretical law to make our community safer. I worked on my own, and I didn’t know we would have to present to the class. And no one else did either,” 

“Right,” Sirius said. “Bit of a shitty thing to do to a kid,” 

“Right,” Remus said. “Well anyway, I went up, and immediately after me, Pete and this chick from Hufflepuff had to go-” 

“Wait wait what was your law?” Sirius asked. 

“Why does that matter?” 

“Context,” Sirius said with a grin. 

“I proposed mandatory classes for muggle parents who marry wizards or witches with the intention of having children, so that they can learn what to look for, how to handle things, what to expect, all that stuff,” 

“That’s a good idea,” Sirius said with a smile. 

“I thought so,” Remus said, grinning for a moment before his face fell again. “Then Peter went up. He looked like he was going to piss himself, so he let the girl to most of the talking, even though he was real exited when working in the group-” 

“Wait wait I have another question,” Sirius said. “Why didn’t you and Peter work together?” 

“He didn’t want to,” Remus said. “And I like working alone,”

“He didn’t want to?” 

“We don’t talk much in that class,” Remus said with a shrug.

“So what was his law?”

“Well, the way it was setup was in a group you both propose an idea and let a wand game pick who's won. Peters won, even though he didn’t talk much about it-” 

“Remus what was the bloody law?” Sirius asked, losing patience with the story. 

“He uh, well he proposed to have all werewolves placed in custody for safer transitions, or for them to be eliminated completely,” Remus said bluntly. “And that at the very least they should not be allowed in public, or to be in close contact with anyone who hasn’t been bitten, no matter if it’s a full moon or not, because it’s far too big a hazard for everyone else. And that we should all be fitted with trackers so if we do bite someone both people can be killed instantly.” 

“I’m sorry,” Sirius said slowly. “He said that?” 

“More or less,” Remus said. “Like I said it was just a stupid assignment I’m sure he didn’t mean anythign by it-”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” sirius said. “I’m going to- He said that? Really?”  

“Okay see this is why I don’t tell you things-” 

“What the everliving fuck is wrong with that fucking asshole what the-”  

“Keep your voice down!” Remus said, springing across the room to cover Sirius’s mouth with his hand. “Okay I know this seems bad but-” 

“MMPF-”

“What he proposed is not a new idea,” Remus said very calmly. “He was probably just repeating what he’s already heard at home-”

“MMMHH.”

“Ay what’s going on down here,” 

Both Sirius and Remus froze, realising their compromised position, and Sirius slowly turned around, with Remus’s hand still clamped over his mouth, to  make eye contact with James, who was standing confused in the doorway. Sirius slowly lifted his hands to give James finger guns, while Remus put a hand over his face, mortified. 

“Are you both wearing clothes?” James asked apprehensively. 

“I bloody hate it here,” Remus said, finally letting go of Sirius’s face. 

“Why were you holding-” 

“WHAT THE ACTUAL BLOODY FUCKING HELL I AM GOING TO-” James this time was the one to cover Sirius’s mouth, although he was much more aggressive in his approach, basically putting his friend in a headlock. 

“Okay so one thing makes sense,” James said, holding the wiggling Sirius. “What happened?” 

“Nothing really,” Remus said, lying through his teeth. “Just wanted some tea,” 

“MMMHHH MHMH” Sirius yelled into Jame’s hand. 

“If I let you go will yah be be quiet?” James asked. 

“...mhm,” Sirius hummed agreeably. James let his friend go, his face furrowed in confusion. Sirius, letting out a dramatic gasp as he rubbed his neck, turned to look at James. “Mate,”  

“What’s going on?” James asked, looking completely baffled. “Are you alright? Is someone dying?” 

“Yes,” Sirius said. “I’m murdering Peter,” 

“Sirius is just being dramatic,” Remus said, trying to cover the situation.

“Okay someone explain from the beginning,” James said, running a hand through his already messy hair. 

“Peter is planning to kill Remus,” Sirius said, throwing his hands in the air. 

“We had to propose laws for Defence Against the Dark Arts and Peter proposed a reinstatement of that one werewolf law,” Remus said. 

“The one where they kill everyone,” Sirius reinforced. 

“What,”  

“Oh boy-” 

“Peter proposed that?” James asked, turning to Sirius in disbelief. 

“I know right,”

“I- maybe he was…” Jame said, pausing, trying to find a way to defend Peter. “I mean… it’s possible that he… had a bad experience with a werewolf,” 

“Yeah mate Mooney stole my toast yesterday, I’m not going to kill him over it,” Sirius said. 

“I stole my toast back from you,” Remus clarified. 

“Still,” 

“I- maybe he… I don’t know,” James said, shrugging. “I suppose we ought to go talk to him, see why he said it,” 

“Maybe,” Remus said with a shrug. “I was just going to let it blow over, I really don’t need this to be-”

“I don’t bloody care what you want, I want to murder him,” Sirius said. 

“Alright no murder,” James said, extending a hand to his violent friend. “Lets just go have a chat with him, see if we can figure this out,” 

“You know I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Remus said. “I would rather we just let it fly under the radar,” 

“I mean I just can’t believe that he would do that Moony,” James said. “I’m sure he’ll want to make it right,” 

“Sure,” Remus said. “If you want to go see then I suppose I will follow you,”

“Right then,” 

---

“Pete, come with me for a moment, will you?” James said, sticking his head into the room. 

“Course,” Peter said. 

They had decided that James should be the only one to talk to him at first, based on how strongly Sirius seemed to feel about it, and Remus’s general discomfort with the situation. James promised to keep them updated on what Peter said, and so for the time being the other two stayed in the kitchen. James leads Peter up to the Owelry, in an attempt to find a place to actually talk to him alone. 

“Listen, I heard that something went down with you and Remus in DADA a few days ago, I just wanted to hear your side of what happened,” James said, crossing his arms. 

“Oh, is Remus still stuck on that?” Peter asked, laughing. “No that was just what my assignment was about, I wasn’t being real about that whole law,” 

“Well then why sudjust it?” James asked. “Like if you don’t want to put it in place why bring it up? You knew it would hurt Remus,” 

“Well it was just a stupid presentation.” Peter said. “And I was working with a cute girl, wanted to impress her,” 

“I’ve been trying to impress Lily for four years and never once did I have to throw any of you under the bus to do so,” James said, confused. “I mean, sure I did his Sirius rather hard that one time but I think that’s forgivable given what he was saying,” 

“Look mate, I don't know what to tell you. I didn’t expect him to be so upset by it,” Peter said. “I thought he would see it as one big joke, really,” 

“You joke about that stuff in private,” James said, exasperated. “Alone. Without other people there, and then your laugh and you apologize. You don’t propose a law that was almost in place anyway,” 

“Look I really don’t know what to tell you,”Peter said. “Look ‘M sorry he took it so hard,” 

“Mate this is… I just don’t understand how you thought that this was okay,” James said, softening his approach. “Please, help me understand what you were thinking,” 

“I didn’t put all that much thought into it, if I’m telling you the truth, I just wanted a good grade, and I know how that teacher is about werewolves. If I’d known that Remus would hear the presentation, I wouldn’t have done it,”

“So that’s really it?” James said. 

“That’s all there is to it,”Peter said. “Come on man, we’re friends, you wouldn’t be mad at me if I said this to someone else,” 

“Well yes I would be,” James said. “Because then someone else may think it’s a bloody good idea. I mean really mate what was going through your head?” 

“If we killed all of them, then Remus never woulda been bit,” Peter defended. “You know? If everyone who could be a werewolf wasn’t one because we took them all out wouldn’t that be a good thing?” 

“...but Remus is a werewolf,” James said. “And other people like him. Like not bad people,” 

“Sure they ain’t bad, but come on,” Peter said. “You’ve seen him at the full moon… he’s dangerous Prongs,”

“Moony isn’t, the wolf is,” James said. 

“But without Moony there would be no wolf,” Peter said. 

“So you want to kill Remus,” James said. 

“No no,” Peter said. “I want to help people like him,”

“By… murdering them?” James said. “I’m not sure I follow that line of thinking,” 

“Look as long as you have more people out there hurting people like that the worse it’s going to get for everyone else. I mean imagine what happens during the summer when Remus is out there running around near people. It must be dangerous for the normal people around-” 

“Peter what the hell, where is this coming from?” James asked. “You’ve been cool about this the entire time,” 

“Well I wasn’t going to bring anything up in front of everyone,” Peter said. 

“Really? You went through everything that we had to do to become amongi, you did everything with us, you went to the shack every night, all to turn like this?” 

“I’m not turning mate,” Peter said. “I’m just saying,”  

“Saying what?” James asked, suddenly more confrontational. Peter didn’t say anything, his watery eyes wide, and James stood back, taking a breath. “Peter, you can’t be serious about this, you… I don’t understand how this could be… I just don’t get it, I guess,” 

“I’m sorry,” Peter said. “I just want to protect everyone. I don’t want anyone to be hurt,” 

“I’m-” James gopt cut off by Sirius entering with a literal bang, bursting through the door dramatically, his brow furrowed. “You said you were waiting in the kitchen,”  

“You submitted it to the counsel?” Sirius yelled, approching with his wand in hand “what the fucking hell mate? Are you trying to sign his death wish?”  

“I’m sorry I’m sorry-”  

“Sirius,” Remus appeared in the doorway behind Sirius, clearly out of breath. “Sorry I didn’t mean to tell him. He kept asking me questions,” 

“It’s fine Remus,” James said. 

“Sirius put your wand down,” Remus said, walking behind Sirius and putting a hand on his arm. “Come on, it won’t fix anything,” 

“Well this seems to be his way of problem solving,” Sirius said. “He’s lucky I don’t kill him,” 

“Sirius, if you kill him they will try to put you in jail forever,” Remus said. “And besides, it would be rather annoying to cover that all up,” 

“Cover it up-” 

“Well we wouldn’t want you to stay in jail would we,” Remus said. “Anyway, please put the wand down,”

“I’m sorry, please put it away,” Peter squealed, his hands raised in defence. Sirius showed no sign of wavering, holding Peter there without a hint of sympathy in his eyes. James was seriously considering how he would take the wand from his friend's hand, but the situation got handled for him. 

“What is going on up here,” Mcgonogal stood at the door, horrified. “Black, get away from your friend, Peter come here,” Peter scambered over, hiding behind her robes like a small child, making Remus wrinkle his nose in vague disgust. “Everyone in my office- actually because apparently none of you can be trusted with each other, I want to speak with you all alone. Peter, you can be first,” 

“How did you find us,” James asked, blinking in surprise. 

“You were shouting across the entire school, how do you think Potter?” She asked in exasperation. “Lupin, can you keep Black under control while I talk with poor Peter here?” 

“Yes ma’am,” Remus said, smiling at her. 

“But Peter was the one who-” 

“Potter I don’t want to hear another word,” she said, glaring at him. “Peter, come with me,” 

The two of them disappeared through the doorway, which she slammed rather dramatically, leaving the three boys in silence. James ran a hand though his incredibly messy hair, sighing as he stared at the ceiling. Sirius was stuck glaring at the door where their friend had left through, still white knuckling his wand, and Remus stood awkwardly, shifting his weight. 

“I’m going to go to the lavatory,” James said, quickly excusing himself, as he often did when stressed. More likely what he meant was he was going to go smoke in the bathroom.

The two boys stayed quiet as they watched James retreat, his hand carding through his dark hair again, and Sirius started pacing with annoyance, his shoulders tense as he walked. Remus slowly lowered himself to sit with his back against the wall, his knees to his chest. 

“I’m sorry,” 

Remus’s apology startled Sirius, who turned to look at Remus in confusion. 

“What the fuck for?” 

“I told you, this caused more trouble than I ever meant. It didn’t bother me so much when it happened,” Remus said with a shrug. “I mean… like I didn’t expect him to say that to me but… I’m used to that kind of stuff, so... you know,” 

“Moony it was bloody awful,” Sirius said, softening his voice and sitting down with Remus, arm to arm. “I can’t believe what he told you, I would have put my fist in his face by now if we didn’t know him, but honestly I don’t even care all that much that we do,” 

“Look, I know that it’s… alarming to hear,” Remus said. “But… I can’t say I blame him-” 

“Remus-”  

“Ay, I don’t agree with him either,” Remus said quickly, raising his hands. “But… look. If you want to be friends with me, care about all of my bullshit, you should know -and frankly I’m shocked you don’t yet- that people are going to say that kind of stuff all the time. And if you react like… that … it only gets worse. Believe me,” 

“Remus,” Sirius said softly, turning to look at him. “I know that some people are compete aresholes, there isn’t anything I can do about it, but it’s fucking Peter who said all that,”

“Yeah… I know,” Remus said, resting his chin on his knee. If Sirius wasn’t so in-tuned with his friend he may have missed the glint of a tear that escaped his eye, which Remus quickly wiped away. 

“It’s bloody terrible that you have to deal with this,” Sirius said, scooting over closer to put an arm around Remus. “I’m sorry, it must be awful,” 

“It can be frustrating,” Remus admitted, accepting the sideways hug. “It’s just… you know I come from my home, what with all my parents say, and I kinda feel like here I shouldn’t have to worry as much, because I know you all are okay, and no one else knows. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but-” 

“Yes you should be,” Sirius said very firmly, turning so he fully enveloped Remus in the hug, the other boy's head resting on Sirius’s shoulder. “Yes you should be surprised, I mean I am. I just… I don’t understand what’s gotten into his head, that he would change all of the sudden,” 

“It… might not be as sudden as you think,” Remus said. 

“...why do you say that mate,” Sirius said, his arms tightening around Remus. 

“I- he talked to me a little while ago,” Remus said quietly. “He asked me if I was going to stay for the entire 7 years here,” 

“Why would he think you wouldn’t?” Sirius asked. 

“I asked him that, he just said that because I can’t get a job he thinks it would be better for me to take some time off, ‘give everyone a break’ I think is how he phrased it. He’s said a lotta stuff like that,” 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sirius whispered, trying to keep anger out of his voice. 

“Because I didn’t want to mess up our group,” Remus said. “But I guess I did anyway…”

“He’s the one who fucked everything up,” Sirius said sincerely. “Not you. You haven’t done anything wrong,” 

“...yeah,” Remus said, relaxing into the hug, although he seemed unsure of Sirius’s statement. “I just wish we didn’t have to deal with any of this. That we could just be kids,” 

“You’re the one who got the short end of the stick here mate, you aren't messing up anyone elses childhood,” Sirius said. 

“still , It does kinda bing down the mood to have this all going on,”

“No, what brings down the mood is Peter being a bloody awful person,” Sirius said. “You’ve been just fine Moony,”

“Thanks,” Remus said with a sniffle, finally returning Sirius’s hug, as he tried to wrap his arms around him from the awkward angle. “One of us should go get James, if he gets caught smoking on top of everything else I think McGonagall  is going to have a stroke,” 

“Did you see her face when she walked in here,” Sirius asked. “She looked like she was going to kill one of us,” 

“Hey I’m not the one with my wand in his face,” Remus said with a smile. 

“True,” Sirius said, chuckling. 

“Come on, I think James got lost on his way to the bathroom, we should get him before She comes back or-” 

“Or what, Mr. Lupin,” McGonagall  asked, already in the doorway. 

“Oh shit you summoned it,” Sirius said, scooting away from the doorway. 

“Mr. Lupin, a word with you please,” She said. “And make sure Mr. Potter finds his way back,” 

“Can Sirius come with me?” Remus asked softly. 

“No-” 

“Please,” Remus asked, looking sadly at her. “I would really rather talk to you with him there…” 

“Come on, don’t have him leave me behind,” Sirius said, jumping up. “James smells,”

“Oh fine,” She said, shaking her head. “But if I hear one word from you Black you will be in detention for a month,”  

“Thank you- fuck- sorry,” Sirius said, covering his mouth with his hands. Unfortunately Mcgnoagal wasn’t amused, but she just sighed defeatedly and led the two of them out of the room. Remus kept his head down, he’d never gotten used to being in trouble, despite his friends, and Sirius just looked thrilled to be there. 

Peter was seated in McGonagall's office as well, he wasn’t moving, but tears streaked his pudgy face. Remus sat in the chair abreast from Peter, and Sirius took a seat behind the two. Specifically because of the two boys she had four chairs in her office, instead of two. 

“Remus, tell me exactly what happened,” She said. “Start from the day of the presentation, use context sparingly and as needed,” 

“Well… uh,” He said. “Okay well what happened was we had a presentation project, and Peter's group chose Peter's idea, which proposed the extermination of werewolves. I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I didn’t really care. After that things were weird, because he just proposed to kill me, but I wasn’t going to bring anything up. Until Sirius asked me a few times what happened. I figured it wasn’t my place to lie about it, so I told him, and he was… upset. And so then James heard him being upset, and then James went and talked with Peter and I don’t know what happened to them. At that point I accidentally told Sirius that he also submitted the law to the Ministry of Magic. And then Sirius threatened Peter, but didn’t say what he was going to do to him. That’s when you walked in,”

“I see,” She said, her eyebrows drawn together. “Well it seems I have heard two very different stories. Mr. Black, do you care to tell me if Remus’s view lines up with yours?” She asked. 

“It does!” Sirius said, eager to speak. “Although I was uh… very confused as to why he cared about werewolves so much. I assume that he… uh… knows one or something...” 

Remus facepalmed at his friend's attempt to cover for Remus, but Sirius gave an optimistic thumbs up, which was in plain sight of Mcgonogal. Luckily she didn’t seem to care enough to comment on the odd behavior. 

“Right then,” She said. “Peter, would you care to fill in your friends the portions of the story it would seem they forgot?” 

Peter shook his head, averting his eyes. 

“Are you quite sure? You seemed very sure of this story while we were alone,” She said. Peter shook his head again. “Very well. I will need to speak with James of course, but I believe I have a fairly good view of the situation-” 

“Ma’am,” Sirius said, leaning forward. 

“Sirius please don’t make this worse,” Remus hissed, turning around to his friend. 

“No no, this is going to help,” sirius said. “...if I may?” 

“Go ahead Black,” she said. 

“Look man, you can’t really blame this on Remus, can you?” Sirius said. “I mean look at him, he hasn’t done anything wrong, obviously, and then look at Peter over here,” Sirius said. “One of the first things I learned as a kid was if you wanted people to feel bad for you when you cry, you don’t wipe your tears away, and you make sure to ruffle up your hair and clothing-”

“Sirius mate what the fu-” 

“Remus shut up,” Sirius said, smacking the back of his friend's chair. “Look at Peter, everything about him screams ‘feel bad for me’. Now why would he want to make people feel bad for him? Because he knows we shouldn’t. Because he’s a asshole,” 

“Eloquently put,” Mcgongagol said sarcastically. 

“Is not why I’m crying,” Peter sniffled. “You scared me,” 

“Oh so you’re just a pus-” 

“Sirius,” Remus said, scooting his chair back so it hit his friend on the foot. 

“Ow,” Sirius said. “Honestly remus, I was going to call him a sensitive soul,” 

“I’m sure you were,” Remus said, scowling at him. 

“My point is,” Sirius said. “He’s trying to be manipulative, and he’s very bad at it,” 

“Right. Well, your… first hand experience… will be taken under consideration,” she said with a grin. “Now, I do wish to speak with Remus alone. Why don’t you two go get James for me, alright?” She said, 

“Ma’am is that a good idea-” 

“Mr. Lupin, I believe your friends to be mature enough to walk to the owlery and back without getting into a fight. If they are not then I believe we have a much greater issue at hand then this querl,” 

“...right,” Remus said, looking at Sirius. “Please behave,” 

“Oh you know me,” Sirius said. 

“Why do you think I asked you to behave,” 

Sirius walked out of the room, and Peter shuffled very slowly after, looking like a lamb walking to the slaughter, which he may as well have been, with the glint in Sirius’s eye. Without James there to rane Sirius in, the teenager was left to say whatever and do whatever with Peter for the next few minutes. Remus watched the two leave with a furrowed brow, before turning back to his teacher. 

“Remus, I notice that you have made very little effort to hide your condition from your friends,” she said, crossing her hands together. 

“I tried, I really did,” Remus said, hanging his head. “I don’t want them to know, but it’s  hard,” 

“I will ignore the original rules of your stay here, because I do not believe that you intentionally shared this information,” she said. “However, there was a reason that we told you not to disclose this with your fellow classmates,” 

“Why’s that?” Remus asked softly. 

“Because of what’s going on right now,” She said. “This is mainly for your protection Remus, imagen if the student wasn’t as weak willed as Peter is, you could easily have been injured or worse, and there isn’t much of a leg for us to stand on to defend you,” 

“I’m sorry,” Remus said, still avoiding eye contact. 

“I know you are,” She said. “You’re too trusting, that’s your problem. Take a page out of Blacks book, look at the world a little darker,” 

“No offence ma’am, but I don’t think I want to live in Sirius’s world,” Remus said. “It seems a rather unhappy place to be,”

“And I take it you’re living in a world of sunshine and roses then?” She asked.  

“I didn’t say that,” Remus said. “And I would say that my ability to be cynical is not something that is in question, I just wasn’t expecting this particular complication,” 

“Right,” She said, in a voice that betrayed her supposed confidence in Remus. “Well then, if you believe yourself to have figured all of this out-” 

“Well I didn’t say that, ma’am,” Remus said quickly. 

“If you don’t wish to take my advice,” She said, amending her statement. “Then there is little I can do for you,” 

“There is little anyone can do, it seems,” Remus said, tucking one of his feet up in the chair so he could hug his knee. 

“Look, I understand that it must be difficult-” Whatever she was about to say was dramatically interrupted by James bursting through the door, followed by Sirius and Peter. “Oh- lovely, you all made it back,” 

“Barley,” James said, and it wasn’t until then that Remus noticed the tight grip James had on Sirius, pulling him to the other side of James that Peter was standing on. 

“Well spare me the details,” she said. “Come now, I think we could all use some tea to calm down. Have a seat,” 

Peter went back to the chair he had been sitting in, and sirius, clearly unhappy with that, pulled James over to angrily whisper in his ear about it, just low enough that Remus and Mcgongagla couldn’t make out what they were saying. However it wasn’t mystified for long, because rather quickly Sirius walked over to Peter and pulled him up by his arm, forcefully moving him to the chair behind Remus instead, so that Peter was sitting next to James. 

“Glad to see none of you are carrying a grudge,” She said quietly, rolling her eyes at the boys as they sat down. 

“He was going to get all his slime on Remus,” Sirius said, kicking his feet up on Remus’s lap, much to his annoyance. Usually Remus and Peter both sat in the back, and Sirius and James were in front, as they were the ‘main trouble makers’ according to her. 

“Listen boys,” She said. “I don’t care how mad any of you are at each other, given the information you seem to share-” 

“What information?” Sirius asked. 

“I don’t have any information,” James reinforced. “Sirius, do you have any information?” 

“No information here,” Sirius said. “What about you Remus,” 

“Can’t say I have any idea what you are talking about,” Remus said, shrugging. 

“Boys,” She said. “Come on now, I’m not going to specify what I am speaking about, but I think you all have a pretty good idea. Needless to say, that no matter what kind of querls happen within this group, you must make the decision to be responsible with your words and actions, at least about literally this one thing,”  

“But he was stupid before I was mean,” Sirius said, pointing a finger at Peter. 

“Sirius was totally justified in everything he did,” James said. 

Peter, who still seemed pretty much nonverbal, just sniffled as the two boys bickered back and forth with the teacher. Remus kept his head down, trying to keep out of it, and Mcgonagol looked so completely done with their two friends that Remus almost wanted to laugh. Almost. 

“Right, all of you behave, if anything at all happens again then all of you will be in detention for a month, understood?” She asked. 

“But what about-” 

“I think quidditch would survive without their two star players for a month, don’t you?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure your head coach would agree, so why don’t you all keep your mouths closed so I can get finished working on next week assignments and thank you lucky stars I am being as nice as I am,” 

“Yes ma’am, thank you,” Remus said, standing up and pulling Sirius along with him. 

James followed behind them, almost smacking into the wall as he tried to clean his glasses, and it took several seconds longer than it should have for the three of them to fully remove themselves from her classroom, as Sirius wouldn’t let Remus leave before James could, and James was very absorbed in his glasses cleaning. It wasn’t until they entered the hallway that they remembered the cause of all of this trouble, as Peter appeared directly behind them, still scrubbing his face with a handkerchief. 

“Get out of here, or I will beat you,” Sirius said, shoving Peter the other way. James bit his lip, clearly uncomfortable, but not about to say anything. 

“Sirius, come on, he feels bad enough,” Remus said, looking at their pathetic friend. “At least do him the courtesy to ignore him,”

“But he-” 

“Sirius,” Remus said, looking at him with annoyance, although he spoke soft enough. “Come on, let it go for tonight. I’m too tired to keep you in line right now,” 

“We’ll deal with him in the morning mate,” James said, clapping a hand on Sirius’s back and steering him upstairs. “Now come on, I managed to steal Lily’s hair brush-” 

“Holy fucking shit-” 

“No no no it’s not creepy I stole it from Snape,” 

“Dude you have a problem,” 

“I’ve got a great plan, I’m going to return it to her, like a gentleman, and thus win her affections,” 

“Ah, and he’s also delusional,” 

 so Remus I need your help with a spell...” 

---

The three boys stayed up in the dorm chatting until late in the night. James sat on his bunk, and Remus sat with Sirius on his. It was freezing that night and they all had bundled themselves up with wool blankets, Remus and James in sweaters. Sirius however, had proclaimed he was way too cool for those, and was still wearing his normal clothing. He’d originally denied a blanket to, but ended up sharing one with Remus when he couldn’t stop shivering, much to Remus’s annoyance. They had pretty happily moved on from the events of the day, and everyone was thoroughly distracted. Until Peter came in to go to bed. 

“Uh, hey guys,” Peter said, opening the door. James stopped his rant on Snape's latest actions and all three of them turned to stare at him. “Sorry I just… uh, well I still sleep here so…” 

“Why are you talking to us?” Sirius asked, his face completely apathetic. Remus pinched him under the blanket, trying to make him stop. “If you want to go to bed the bed is right there,” 

“Right…” Peter said. “Uh… look I’m really sorry Remus-” 

“It’s fine,” Remus said, cutting off the apology before it could get too emotional. “Just go to bed mate,” 

“Okay,” Peter said, looking down. “Is it really fine?” 

“Peter, now isn’t the time,” James said, eyeing Sirius’s incredulous face, and not wanting another argument to escalate. “We were going out into the comments anyway,” 

“But-” 

“Sirius if you don’t shut your mouth I will hex you until you’re in worse shape then half the ghosts here,” Remus said, grabbing his friend by the arm and pulling him out of the room. 

Sirius did manage to keep himself quiet until they made it to the comments, and was about to open his mouth to say something, when James spotted another student sitting in a armchair and elbowed Remus. 

“Want to go up to the owlery again so we can all talk in private?” James asked. 

“Sure,” Remus said. 

“Are you sure?” Sirius asked. “You’ve looked like you were on the verge of passing out all night,” 

“Course I’m sure,” Remus said, rolling his eyes. “Wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t,” 

Sirius and James exchanged a glance, but they dropped in and made their way to the owlery. It quickly had become the place they would all go if they needed somewhere to talk without being overheard, as the bird poop was usually enough to drive people away. And the owls provided a nice distraction during lulls in the conversation. 

“I guess we should talk about it, huh?” James asked, plopping down on the cleanest corner of the room. 

“I mean… we don’t have to talk about it,” Remus said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“I personally think we should tie him up and throw him out the window,” Sirius said, lowering himself to sit down with James, and dragging Remus down with him.

“That is a touch extreme,” James said. “But we do need to talk about it,” 

“What’s there to talk about?” Remus asked. “I mean… we know how he feels, so what?” 

“Well we can’t keep being friends with him, can we?” James asked. 

“Course you can-” 

“Remus if you don’t shut you stupid fucking mouth I will break your jaw,” Sirius said, turning to Remus. “Of course we can’t,” 

“N0,” Remus said. “I can’t. You all could, and frankly it would be a bit mean to just exclude him from everything from now on…” 

“Moony it was very mean for him to advocate to have you killed,” James said. 

“Look, it’s not that odd an opinion to have, really you two are the odd ones out,” Remus said, his words coming quicker. “So just… you know don’t judge him to harshly, he’s most likely grown up hearing most of that from his family, so it’s really probably not only him to blame, and even if we were to blame him, it’s truly very rude to just shut him out, you know he doesn't have many other friends or anything, so I just worry that if you don’t-'' As Remus talked James nodded his head to Sirius, who scooted behind Remus and wrapped his arm around Remus’s face, effectively muffling him. 

“Moony, mate, we aren't going to be friends with someone who wants to kill you, it’s just not happening,” James said kindly, as Sirius focused on holding Remus still. “Frankly, I don’t care if he doesn't have other friends, I’m sure he can make some. And just because a lot of people believe something doesn't make it right,” 

“If you keep talking like that I am going to kill you after I kill him,” Sirius said on a darker note. “You’re bloody stupid,” 

Remus made an annoyed face, but didn’t try to talk at all, and simply allowed Sirius to continue gripping his face. 

“Look, I know it’s not easy for you,” James said. “But it’s not as if Peter didn’t know you, or was completely ignorant. I mean take, Pads over here, he was the worst person we’ve ever met first year,” 

“Hey!”

“Because his parents loaded him full of shit ideas,” James said, smirking. “But because he’s not a shit person, he figured out that the ideas he had were bad and then he asked a lot of questions and learned what he did was wrong and why. Where as Peter came from a great home but he’s still a little areshole for no reason,” 

“I mean, admittedly,” Remus said, pulling Sirius’s hand down. “I’m also not a huge fan of werewolves, so I can kinda see his point,” 

“Listen Moons we don’t have enough time to deal with your self esteem issues right now,” Sirius quipped, covering his face again. “That’s tomorrow's problem. 

“Technically it is tomorrow,” James said, looking at his watch. 

“And I've got a bloody test in dark arts,” Remus gripped, removing Sirius’s hand once again, only to have Sirius replace it. “Mmh,” 

“Shut up for a minute will yah?” Sirius said. 

“You know, I’m not sure this is the most effective way to communicate your point mate,” James said, gesturing at Sirius. 

“What makes you say that?” Sirius asked as Remus made a very discontented face. 

“Well first of all it is helpful if they actually want to be here,” James said as Remus struggled against Sirius, to no avail. “Remus mate, if we let you go will you talk with us about Peter?” 

“Mhm,” Remus hummed. James gave Sirius a very pointed look, and sirius finally let Remus go. “Gosh your hand is like sandpaper,” 

“Sorry I do things other than study,” Sirius said. 

“Your grades already told me that,” 

“Alright you two hush, please,” James said, sighing. “Remus… I don’t feel good about staying friends with Peter after everything. I don’t think I can keep hanging out with him knowing he would be okay with having you killed,” 

“Well then there are very few people you can hang out with,” Remus said, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Look guys, this stuff isn’t all that cut and dry, Peters a good bloke, I don’t think we can just… cut him off,” 

“What if we just cut him?” 

“No Sirius,” Remus said, side-eyeing him. “Look, frankly, the fact that you two don’t want me dead is completely shocking, and most people wouldn’t do what you all have done for me. In fact most people would do far worse than what Peter has. So just… you know, don't expect so much from him. If he doesn't come around then he doesn't,”

“But doesn't that hurt you?” James asked. “To know he would advocate for you to be killed?” 

“Well I’ll admit it doesn't feel great,” Remus said. “I mean… I kinda didn’t expect it, and yeah it hurts, but what can I do?” 

“Cut him-”

“No,” 

“Look Moony I don’t actually care if you’re mad about it or not, I am,” Sirius said, gesturing dramatically. “He knows better, he is smart enough to figure this out, it’s just him being a shithead and nothing else. And you’ve been nothing but lovely to him,” 

“Yeah, it sucks sometimes,” Remus said, shrugging. “It’s just how it is,” 

“It doesn't have to be,” James said. 

“Yeah guys, it kinda does,” Remus said, his shoulders tensing. “I don’t think you understand just how strange it is that you all haven’t tried to literally kill me yet. I mean I’m just thankful this is all Peter did…” 

“You can’t just walk around thinking everyone hates you,” James said. 

“Yeah mate that sounds horrible,” Sirius said. 

“Look, it’s… you know I'm awfully tired, I think I will just go to bed,” Remus said, shaking his head. 

“No no Moony come on,” James said, grabbing Remus before he could go. “Please, just stay and talk for a little while longer, I want to fix this,” 

“Prongs you really can’t,” Remus said, an empty smile pulling at his lips. “I’m sorry, there isn’t anything we can do to change everyone's mind, just accept it and move on, it’s what I’ve done,” 

“I personally think that we need to enforce repercussions,” Sirius said, raising his hand.

“Oh yeah, that will make people believe that werewolves are not a danger to society at all,” Remus said sarcastically. 

“It’s okay though because anyone who thinks that will be dead,” Sirius said cheerfully. 

“So you’re planning a genocide then?” Remus asked, smirking. 

“In all- er… seriousness-” James said, making the group chuckle, as the word always did. “I’m not going to be friends with Peter after this. It’s quite alright if we chat every now and again, but I don’t want to sit with him at lunch, I don’t want to pull pranks with him… frankly I’m just done,” 

“Agreed,” Sirius said. 

“...there is another issue to consider,” Remus said. “If we do so, and he gets mad, he knows a awful lot about me being a werewolf…” 

“You don’t think he would tell people, do you?” James asked. 

“No, he won’t,” Sirius said. “I’ll see to that,” 

“Please don’t hurt him,” Remus said, half pleading and half resigned. 

“I won’t,” Sirius said. “I’ll just remind him that I could,”  

“...acceptable,” 

The three boys stayed up far too late talking in the owlery that night, until they eventually fell asleep, all of them slumped over each other. And Remus did not take his test the next day, in fact all of them were very late to their first two classes, however, none of the boys seemed to mind, and despite the emotional night, all three woke up smiling and a little stiff.

As for Peter, he spent the next month finding dead rats in the oddest places, all with very distinct bites that would have come from a very large dog…