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“Mum,” he said, tired and exhausted. “I can’t go to Camelot. That’s ridiculous.”
“You can’t stay here either,” she said, tears brimming in her eyes. Remus felt terrible, knowing that he had always been the cause of everything wrong in his mother’s life. Not only did his father leave once he found out that Hope was pregnant, he had to go and be born with magic too. “You know I can’t help with your magic, and Poppy is a close friend of mine. She’ll keep you safe.”
He sighed again, and for possibly the tenth time that day Remus wished that he could have just never been born. Really, his mother was the only reason he hadn’t just—
Well. No point dwelling. “Fine. When must I leave?”
It turned out that it really wasn’t that urgent. He set off for Camelot in two weeks with ample time to pack but not nearly enough time to say goodbye to his mother.
“Poppy is taking you on as an apprentice, so you’ll learn plenty of non-magical skills as well. Oh. And before you go,” Hope said, picking out a necklace from a plain blue box. “This used to be your father’s.”
He took the necklace, carefully examining it. Hope rarely spoke about Remus’ father, insisting that she was happy with how their family was, so this was a treasure trove of information by itself. It was a black cord with an oval-shaped, brown and gold streaked stone. He nearly teared up, but didn’t want to make his mum even more emotional than she already was.
“Thanks, Mum,” he whispered, giving his mum one last hug before he left for the foreign kingdom. “I’ll miss you. I’ll write every week.”
“Poppy will make sure,” she said, laughing wetly. “Now. Better set off. You don’t want to get caught in the woods after dark.”
Remus didn’t mention that he would probably be fine with his magic.
———
Camelot was nothing like Ealdor.
First of all, there were stone-cobbled streets leading to stone houses, completely different to Ealdor’s dirt roads and wood and straw houses. Everyone here was in a hurry to get somewhere, and it was so loud. Remus had half a mind to use magic to muffle the sounds to his ears.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few women and men wearing light armor, just a training chestplate and arm guards, surrounding a poor servant boy with a target. Knights, then, he decided with a frown. The knights that had passed through Ealdor had never been particularly well-behaved. By the looks of these ones, they weren’t either.
“Come off it, yeah? Stop harassing the poor kid!” someone shouted at them, and they turned to stare at him. He was confused until he realized that he had yelled at them. Whoops. He was never that great with staying quiet. He committed to the act, still, and strode forward, helping the kid up. He hastily bowed, scrambling away.
The knight in red cape, probably the highest-ranking one, stepped forward. A haughty smirk was on his face, and Remus had never had the urge to punch someone so badly. It looked like he could use a punch or two, with that perfectly symmetrical face. “Really? Would you like to take his place then?” he snarked. “You didn’t steal from the royal family, so perhaps not quite as much of a punishment, but interfering…” He tsked, and the sound grated on Remus’ ears. “I don’t think I could let that slide.”
Remus rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what the issue is, with you knights. Always thinking you’re so high and mighty. And so what if he stole something? Not only do you probably not have proof, they probably deserved it.”
The group laughed, and Remus noticed the marketplace-goers gathering around them. Well, if that was how it was going to go.
“I guess that you don’t know who I am,” the knight said, a haughty grin on his face. A few strands of pure black hair were dangling between his eyes, and Remus wanted to brush it away. With his fist.
“Does it matter? You’re still a complete and utter twat,” he said, scoffing. The knights straightened up around him. One of the knights with curly black hair and circle framed glasses stepped up.
“Now look, it’s gone on, but now it’s getting a bit—”
“Ooh, getting your little guards to protect you?” Remus looked at him pitifully. “I thought guards were supposed to be stronger than that.”
“No no, James. It’s alright. Besides, isn’t the crown prince of a kingdom supposed to hear out his subjects?” It’s clear that the slight emphasis on crown prince was supposed to elicit a reaction, and while there was nothing else going through his brain but fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck , he couldn’t let the man win. After all, he was nothing if not committed to the bit.
“Oh. Sorry,” he said, faux apologetic. That just made the guards behind him snicker and the prince frowned harder. “I just assumed that a prince wouldn’t have such a mental affliction. They’re supposed to be smart and all. Although I guess you wouldn’t know.”
The prince scoffed. “I could take you apart with one blow.”
Remus looked him up and down, raising his eyebrows skeptically. The prince was fit, no doubt, but Remus still had a few inches on him. Not to mention his magic. “I could take you apart with less than that.”
“A duel then,” the prince said, laughing. “If you’re just so much better.”
One of the knights tossed a sword at Remus, and he barely managed to catch it. It was heavy, but nothing he couldn’t use. One of the boys in Ealdor and he used to spar all the time. It couldn’t be far too different, right? Even if he had used magic at the time.
The prince swung at him, and he barely had time to duck. Oh, right. Those duels were mostly for him to practice at a moving target. Remus had just mostly dodged, which seemed to be how it was going to go here.
“What, not so much of a superiority complex here?” the prince mocked. Remus really had to learn his name. It wouldn’t do to keep calling him ‘the prince’ in his head. Prat it was, then.
Prat swung at him again, and he just barely dodged. It seemed as if this was actually happening. The crowd cheered for Remus’s head, and he felt miffed. They were choosing a prat over him!
“Oh, don’t run away!” he mocked, and Remus seethed. He swung the sword at Prat’s head, adding a bit of strength with his magic. It was only fair to balance the scales. The prince even looked surprised.
“Maybe you’ve got some strength in you after all,” he said grudgingly, breathing just ever so harder.
They fought, and Remus made sure that his eyes were hidden whenever he used magic in order to aid him. He didn’t need his eyes to be seen flashing gold. A few vegetables on the ground here and there caused the other man to slip a few times, and paired with the extra strength, it was actually a fairly evenly matched fight.
Camelot’s attitude towards magic was quite bad, although he didn’t realize this until he picked up on the chatterings just before he picked a fight with the knights. Those that simply possessed magic but never used it were banished, and those that used any type of magic, no matter what it was for, were executed. So yeah, Remus kept his magic hidden from his opponent and the crowd.
“It seems as if the peasant has some skill to him,” the prince said, his voice dripping in condescension. Remus barely needed to boost his strike against him; anger was enough fuel.
One particularly hard blow against Remus’ side, however, destabilized his footing, leaving him precariously balanced. The prince saw his opening, hitting the blunt of his sword against Remus and pushing him down. His sword pushed under his neck. Damn it.
“Have fun in the dungeons,” he said sarcastically as the other knights dragged Remus up by his arms roughly.
Poppy and his mum were going to be extremely disappointed in him.
———
“One day in Camelot and you’ve already antagonized the knights and the crown princess,” Aunt Poppy muttered. She had to bail him out from Camelot’s jail, and she had heard about it from the king himself. She had heard from Sirius’ complaining about the unruly peasants that had no sense of propriety. Remus really didn’t want to get into a ton of trouble, but seriously. This was hardly his fault, with the prince acting the way he was.
“It’s not my fault!” Remus protested. “How was I supposed to know that the prat was Prince Sirius? He hardly acts the part, unless you count the brash arrogance.”
Poppy gave him a withering look, and he shrunk back. “It would be a good start if you stopped calling him a prat, for one. Besides, I work quite closely with the King considering my position as court physician. You’re lucky I was able to claim you as my ward before they executed you for treason.”
“Treason,” he muttered. “It would be a public service for humbling the-”
“ Remus ,” she said sharply. “Do you think your mother has not informed me of your nature?”
His head shot up. “What?”
Poppy’s voice lowered, but the intent in her voice in no way lessened. “It would be wise of you to keep on the royals’ good side. Heavens know how you’ve survived so long without giving yourself away.”
“Ealdor doesn’t hate magic,” he muttered. “They just don’t understand it.”
“Remus.”
“Fine, fine. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, Poppy.”
“See to it that it won’t.”
———
Poppy sent him out for delivering a draught to Prince Regulus, Prince Sirius’ brother and cousin. Remus personally thought it was a terrible tragedy that he hadn’t known this during his altercation with Sirius the day before. Apparently Regulus had been having nightmares that caused him to be constantly exhausted due to a lack of sleep, and even Poppy wasn’t sure what the cause of it was.
Remus hovered with uncertainty in front of Prince Regulus’ chambers. Did he knock? Was he meant to bow or whatever peasants did in front of nobility? He didn’t want a repeat of yesterday for the only reason that Poppy was terrifying when she was angry. He couldn’t care less about what the royals thought of him.
“Well, don’t wait forever,” a voice joked, and he startled. The vial of the draught nearly slipped out of his hand, and he hastily regained his footing. The voice came from a man dressed in a simple tunic and trousers, although his boots had clearly been shined recently. He was a few inches shorter than Remus, but that was nothing special; most people were. It was the same man with the dark curly hair and the circular glasses that had been present yesterday.
“Oh,” he said, his lips curling derisively. “You.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Me. Listen, I wanted to apologize for Sirius’ behavior yesterday.” Remus noted the lack of a title. “Between you and me, he can be a bit of a twat, but he’s normally not that mean. I was just about to step in myself.”
Remus was about to say that it really hadn’t looked like that when James—as Prince Sirius had called him—continued. “The boy should’ve just gotten a day or two in the dungeons, but it went too far. Sirius has already given him some gold for his misdeeds.”
“Sure,” he said, still mildly unbelieving, but dropped the animosity.
“But anyways, Sirius isn’t the center of everything. What brings you to Regulus’ room?” James asked, and Remus wondered if it was normal for normal knights to be so familiar with this many princes.
“I was just about to deliver a draught for him.”
“Oh,” James said, his face falling with sympathy. “Thanks. I know those have been difficult for him.” He seemed to stare off into the distance, forgetting himself for a moment. “Oh! I completely forgot to introduce myself. I’m James. You are?”
“Uh, Remus?” he said, confused by the sudden change of directions. What was with that whole staring off into the distance thing?
“You sure?” James was grinning, and Remus felt comfortable enough to relax around him.
“Yeah,” he said, laughing softly. “Sorry, it’s been a weird few days.”
“No worries,” he said cheerfully. “I can deliver that to him if you’d like. He can be a bit of an asshole, if you know what I mean.”
“That’d be so helpful,” Remus said, a tentative smile on his face. James seemed to be extremely kind, unlike certain princes he knew. “I’ll see you around?”
“I hope so!” he said, winking as he slipped into Regulus’ room.
Now all he had to do was collect herbs for Poppy, buy food from the marketplace, tidy up Poppy’s workplace, and practice hiding and controlling his magic. Great.
———
There’s a feast that King Orion is having in celebration of a new treaty with another country tomorrow evening,” Poppy commented as they were getting ready to turn in for the night. Remus almost thought it was a casual comment until he saw her calculated gaze on him.
“So?” Remus asked, and then immediately shook his head once he realized her intentions. “Nope. Absolutely not. I have no intention of going to a feast where I’ll have to see that prat again.”
“Of course you don’t,” she said easily, “but you will because you must. Not only to make amends but friends as well. I’m a very busy person, you know.”
Remus sighed. It seemed like he was doing a lot of that lately.
He was forced into his nicest tunic and trousers—which really wasn’t all that different from his normal clothes, save for the lack of tears that had been shoddily repaired. Remus forced his hair into something resembling a proper hairstyle, although it really didn’t do much.
As Remus was getting ready, though, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that was all too familiar. It always happened right before something terrible happened, like that time that a tree fell through their roof or when his mother accidentally fell down the stairs.
He shook it off, forcing the feeling down. It would go fine. It would have to. Magic wouldn’t save him in Camelot.
———
The party was loud, pretentious, irritating, and all Remus wanted to do was go home. Whether that meant the dingy little room at Poppy’s or his childhood home with his mother he didn’t know, but whichever it was, he wanted to be there. Really, he would’ve settled for the bottom of a lake than this place.
“Hello, you seem like you’re having a lovely time,” a girl said, sidling up to him in the corner of the room he had chosen to camp out in. She appeared to be around his age, and was dressed similarly to the servants of the palace.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, laughing dryly. “A great time, really.”
“For sure.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Lily.”
“Remus,” he said, shaking it. “I had an unfortunate first meeting with the prince and am desperately hoping to avoid running into him.”
“Regulus?” she asked, frowning. Remus wondered if anyone had to call the royals with their titles. “He can be a bit cold at first, but he’s usually kind to anyone that isn’t related to him. Or James.”
“Uh, no?” he responded, cocking his head in confusion. “It was Prince Sirius. He and I got into a little…altercation in the marketplace.”
“ Oh! You’re that Remus.” She burst out into laughter once the realization dawned. Remus was just left even more confused. “Oh my god. Sirius just keeps going on and on about you. Apparently can’t stand you or your ‘ridiculously beautiful mop that he calls hair.’”
This party was not turning out like anything he had been expecting. Not that he had been expecting much in the first place, mind you, but it wasn’t like he was expecting to hear that the prince of Camelot had called him—or at least something of his—beautiful.
“Anyways, where are you from? Your accent is familiar,” she said, tilting her head.
“Uh, Ealdor,” he said, twisting his pendant between his fingers. “You?”
“Ohh. That makes sense. My parents are from Ealdor, but I was fully raised here.”
Remus thought about how he could’ve had a friend while growing up, at least one person who was his age who was this nice to him, but immediately dismissed that thought. He didn’t know her thoughts on magic. “Nice. Maybe my mum knows yours. We all know how small towns are,” he said, laughing slightly.
She gave him a knowing look. “Of course.” Someone must’ve called her name because she turned around, then immediately groaned. “James is ‘requesting’ my presence.”
“Oh, I thought he was nicer than the other knights,” he said, confused once more. Had he talked to very many people in his village? Not particularly, but he thought he had a relatively good grasp on who was nice (James) and who was a total twat (Sirius).
“No no, he is, but you know. All the knights are a bit daft,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s mostly Sirius and James, although Peter can get a bit into the pranking mood when they’re together. Mary, Dorcas, and Marlene are alright, but Mary and Marlene can get a bit…intense, sometimes.”
“Um, right,” he said, completely lost with all of the names. “Yeah.”
Lily laughed. “You’re so cute. I’ll be sure to introduce them to you soon.” The yelling of her name became even louder and more intense, and she groaned, even more annoyed. “I’d better go though, before they set something on fire to get my attention.”
She hurried off, and even from his vantage point on the other side of the ballroom he could see and hear Lily going off at James, although there was no real irritation there. Just a fond exasperation.
“Having fun here?” another person asked, although he was much less friendly-looking than Lily. His hair was jet black and his features aristocratic, eerily similar to Sirius’ features. No doubt his brother, then.
“More than I expected,” he said diplomatically. Really, making friends with Lily was the only ‘fun’ part of this party. Banquet. Feast. Whatever.
He nodded, swirling his goblet. “Definitely look the part. I mean, sulking in the corner, glaring at various people throughout the room. You absolutely look like you’re having fun.”
“Exactly. See, at least one person gets me here,” Remus said sarcastically, although he felt his skin pricking, as if there was magic present at this ball. Which, obviously there was, but his own magic wouldn’t set him off,
“So, what brings you to Camelot?” he asked, far more amicable than his brother. Well, the derisive glare that he constantly sent to people throughout the room wasn’t terribly amicable, but apparently he had done that as well, so really he was in good company.
“Um, I’m apprenticing for Poppy. The court physician,” he added, in case Regulus didn’t know.
“Oh, you must be Remus then,” he said, his cloudy expression clearing up. “Thank you for the draught yesterday.”
“Of course,” Remus replied. “If you don’t mind me asking…”
“What are they for? A rather juvenile reason, if I do say so myself,” he said, smiling sardonically. “Terrible nightmares and night terrors, choose your pick.”
Remus winced. “That’s not very juvenile. You’d think Sirius is the one with them considering the size of the stick up his arse.”
Regulus let out a rather undignified snort. “That’s what I’ve been telling everyone. But everyone seems to think that he’s the charming one, for some ungodly reason.”
The clanging of a spoon against a goblet signaled to everyone that they had to gather around for some reason.
“There’s a famous singer that’s performing,” Regulus said, apparently noticing Remus’ confusion. “I have to go, but you should deliver the draught in person next time.”
Regulus was strange enough that Remus wanted to continue, but obviously he had other things to do. He would definitely ask Poppy about his nightmares. Something about the topic seemed off.
While Remus made his way to where Poppy was standing, off to the side but still in the front with some other court members, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was wrong, magically wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Poppy,” he said urgently. “Poppy, something’s wrong.”
She shushed him. “I’m sure everything’s fine,” she assured him. “But the king will have it under control if it isn’t.”
Remus wasn’t so sure, but let it go. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it even if he did figure out what was wrong.
“We have gathered together today to celebrate two countries joining for the first time in a century,” the king boomed. “We have enjoyed prosperity, wealth, and a new era thanks to the eradication of magic.” Remus wanted nothing more to get out, but when he just shifted his weight, Poppy put her hand on his back, dispelling any of those thoughts immediately.
He glanced up at the table at the head of the room with the royals—King Orion, Sirius, and Regulus—Regulus was frowning. Their eyes connected, and he immediately wiped it away, his face a blank slate. Strange. “We welcome our new allies with a famous singer from a distant land,” King Orion said, finally finishing whatever he was droning on and on about.
Everyone politely clapped as the singer, a princess from some random country that Remus couldn’t care less about, got up and smiled. She seemed beautiful enough, but the moment her voice was audible, a strange silence settled over the court. So this is what was going to go wrong today.
Time seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time, and everyone around him almost started to sway, their eyes glazing over. Many slumped over almost immediately, although some took longer to get sucked into what was an obvious spell. Cobwebs quickly covered the tables and people, as if a hundred years had passed in a moment. Remus wasn’t immune, but the moment the effects were obvious, he covered his ears to prevent himself from succumbing to the same fate.
Even Poppy had slumped over the table when he looked over, but he didn’t have a chance to worry or dwell for even a moment because when he looked up at the table with the royal family, all three of them were unconscious. The major issue was that the singer was also looking at them, but she had a dagger in her hand. She aimed to throw it at Prince Sirius, but as much as Remus couldn’t stand the prat, he also couldn’t stand murder. Much.
He concentrated on the chandelier above her and willed it to fall down on her. He didn’t know any proper spells, but usually sheer force of will was good enough, and in this case, it was. The chandelier came crashing down on top of her, and the spell along with her song was broken.
Everyone stirred, and he quickly dropped to make it seem as if he was also affected by the spell. No one around him noticed or particularly cared, but Poppy blinked at him a few times, brushing away the cobwebs. Both mentally and physically, probably, considering the nature of the spell.
Remus looked up at the king, who, already having brushed away the cobwebs, was staring at the singer under the chandelier. Remus hoped it was expensive.
She was no longer a beautiful young woman, but rather an old one with saggy, wrinkled skin. He almost felt bad for her, but then again, if she wanted to murder a royal, she really should’ve done it with far less witnesses.
Everyone else in the room was still getting their wits about them, which is why no one, save for the king, the princes, and Remus, was watching the old woman when she pushed herself up her hands just enough to be able to hurl the dagger towards Sirius. The dagger that was hurtling towards his heart.
Almost instinctively, Remus sprinted forward, knowing that no one else was going to react fast enough. Time seemed to slow down—and now that he thought about it, it probably actually had— and he just barely had enough time to push Sirius down to the cobblestone floor when the knife brushed past his collar. He crashed hard, his blow softened by Sirius, and when he looked up, the dagger was embedded in the wall.
Sirius pushed him off, muttering something about “stupid commoners” who apparently need to “stop fighting princes.” They both scrambled to their feet in time to see the old woman crumple back onto the floor. Dead.
In some part of his brain, Remus realized that he had basically killed her, but he really couldn’t find it in himself to care.
“You saved my son’s life,” the king said, almost in tears with his gratitude. Or actually, know that Remus was a bit closer, it was just the light glinting off the torches. “What reward would you like for this display of bravery?”
He shook his head, already taking a step back. “No! I mean, it really was nothing. Your majesty,” he added hastily.
“Nonsense. You deserve a position in the royal household for this action.” Is that all it took for a sorcerer to infiltrate the royal family? “For this, you will have the honor of being my son’s personal servant,” King Orion declared, setting his hand on Remus’ shoulder. “It’s the least I could do.”
“Father!” Sirius protested, but the king was already moving away to talk to the other nobility about what just happened.
Remus could only stare at the other boy in shock. This could not be happening.