Chapter Text
“Welcome to Camp Hogwarts. It’s a pleasure to see so many faces returning from last year. There are so many brand new counsellors joining us. We cannot wait to welcome to kids in just five days time, but we have some important business to get down to now.”
That was Remus’ cue to block out Dumbledore. He had gone through all the safety measures and rules a million times. He wasn’t looking forward to the next few days of training and group bonding. But he liked the job when he got it two years previous. It was perfect for a uni student studying to become a teacher. He was dealing with kids from seven years old to fifteen, brushing up on his skills over the summer. Plus, some of his best mates worked at the camp too.
The only thing he hated was dealing with the fact that many of the kids and a handful of the counsellors were snobby rich arseholes. It was a very exclusive camp for a long time then they started offering affordable rates. But the rich kids still came because they had some fantastic programs that their parents wanted to them involved in. Not to mention the tradition of the thing: The camp was split into four “houses” that campers were placed in by taking a test before coming to camp (counsellors too). Most kids wanted to be in the same houses as their mum or dad. Those houses also competed throughout the summer to win the Hogwarts Cup. The campers took it all very seriously.
This year there seemed to be two new pompous jerks joining the staff to go along with Lockhart, Snape, and that one Black sister. One of them had already hit on Lily, his best mate. The other one had some posh twatty air about him. He was phenomenally good looking, but Remus was sure there wasn’t much else there.
“Psst, Moony.” Remus cringed a little at the nickname Gideon had whispered behind him. He had got it after a drunken night two years before where he may have mooned Dolores Umbridge, the wretched director who had taken over in Dumbledores’ absence when he was in hospital.
“Gid?” He muttered back.
“Fab and I are all set up for the most epic party on the face of the planet tonight.”
“I’m sure you are.” The Prewett twins, best known among the other counsellors as the place to go for all prohibited items, also loved throwing a good party or two. The twins had found this old run down shack not too far from camp (some campers called it the shrieking shack after they heard some very inappropriate noises from there one day when they were on a hike). The Prewetts used it to store all their things and hold parties to get away from the kids every so often.
“We’ll be there,” Dorcas said, staring down at her mobile.
“Good.” Gid cuffed him on the shoulder before leaning back in his chair.
Once he survived the mind numbing experience of orientation he was off to his cabin to relax before dinner. This year he was in Hill 1 for Gryffindor with Fabian. They were the younger boys of the house, which Remus seemed to have an easier time dealing with. As the kids got older they had more drama that Remus didn’t want to have to worry about. He got enough relationship drama from listening to his co-workers. They were worse than their charges most of the time.
“New guy's not bad looking,” Fabian commented.
“Which one?” Remus asked while he worked on making his bed.
“Well, they’re both not bad but the one with the manbun.”
“Can we never use that term again.” Remus groaned.
“Yeah, yeah. But you know, the shorter one who looks a bit like a model with pouty lips.”
“He’s all right, but I’m not interested.”
“I’ll go out with him then.”
“Sure and I’ll let Benjy hang you from the rafters in the dining hall by your pants. I would probably lend him a hand.”
Fabian threw up two fingers at him. “I’d never really go for the new bloke. You should think about it. We're going into your third year and you have yet to have a camp fling.”
Remus just shrugged. He never wanted to be a part of the drama at camp. Watching from the sidelines was good enough for him because when it got too much, he could just go off by himself or with the campers. Even if he did want a summer thing, it probably wouldn’t be with Sirius. Surely a bloke so posh looking couldn't be someone who Remus would get on with. He knew he wasn’t supposed to make assumptions about people based on their looks, but sometimes Remus was more judgmental than he liked to admit. But he’d never say any of that out loud (except to maybe Lily), and he never complained when he had his mind changed about people when he got to know them.
“I’m fine. I can survive a summer without shagging someone. I know that sounds mad to you.”
“Whatever, mate, I’m sure both these guys are fantastic, and you’re missing out.”
***
“Then Sirius took the next corner, and we lost the fucking cops!” James Potter, new bloke, was over-enthusiastically sharing another story of mischief that involved Sirius Black, other new bloke. All the counsellors seemed enthralled with the stories, but Remus was more interested in sitting outside the circle that was around the bonfire and having some time to look up at the night sky. He always loved it when he was away from London.
James seemed like an egotistical know-it-all and Sirius was totally playing up the quiet and mysterious thing. Remus was into neither of those, so he decided not to try to get to know either of them. Remus’ friends were interested, though. Except Lily, who seemed to see through James Potter’s bullshit. She was sitting off to the side chatting with Marlene.
“Spare a fag?” A deep voice asked from behind him. He had his back turned to the crowd and had been spacing off, looking up at the night sky.
Remus turned his head to see Sirius standing there with his hands in the pockets of his too tight jeans. Those were going to be impractical for camp, Remus thought.
“No,” Remus said simply as Sirius took a seat next to him. He did his best not to let out an annoyed breath. “You have to stockpile them, so I don’t share. We only get a little time out in the real world every once in a while without the sprogs around.”
“Oh, I have plenty. I’m just trying to make conversation.” Sirius shrugged, looking down at his lap. Remus almost felt bad. “Sorry for Jamie being… er, well, Jamie. He has a tendency to overpower conversation and act like a git when he’s nervous.”
The counsellor shrugged, taking a long drag of his cigarette. He was surprised that Sirius was sitting and talking with him because of how quiet at he had been the whole day.
“So, this is your third year, ah, you said during introductions.” Remus was taken aback at Sirius’ nervous tone.
“Yeah.”
“You must like it?”
“I want to be a teacher so, yeah, it’s a good gig for me.”
“Brilliant,” Sirius smiled, idly picking at the grass in front of him. “Any sage advice for a rookie, then?”
“Don’t be a prick and don’t let the kids walk all over you.”
“Find a happy medium.”
“Yeah.”
“With co-workers too, then.”
“Sure.” Remus stood up after crushing his cigarette out. “I’m off, tired from the travel from London today and such. See you round.” Remus said without even really looking at Sirius.
***
“Jamie, he fucking hates me,” Sirius complained as he and James made their way back to the cabin they managed to talk Albus into letting them lead themselves. A perk of being alumni. Too bad there wasn’t a perk of getting cute blokes with dimples and honey eyes to give you a time of day.
“It couldn’t have been as bad as Lily and me. If anyone hates anyone, it’s her hating me.”
“He acted like I was gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. I’ve never been brushed off like that.”
“She looks like she actually will murder me. We don’t even have locks on the cabins, so I’m a bit scared she may.”
“You’re a twat! I was perfectly nice to him. I can’t think of anything that I did to make him dislike me.”
Sirius wracked his brain for a moment, thinking back during their whole day when he could have given Remus the wrong impression of himself. But there wasn’t any. Remus seemed completely disconnected throughout the entire day, even when all the counsellors introduced themselves.
Meanwhile, Sirius listened attentively to everything like a good puppy dog. He didn’t want to fuck up the chance Dumbledore was giving him to spend some time with his brother. He hadn’t seen Regulus since he graduated and now his baby brother was 15. He wanted to reconnect with him. He also wanted to connect, hopefully, with this Remus Lupin.
“Maybe he’s not gay.” James offered.
“Even if he’s not, he's not even nice to me. It wasn’t like I was blatantly trying to chat him up like you.”
“You’re so obvious when you fancy someone.”
“I am not.” Sirius huffed as they entered their cabin.
“You shouldn’t even care. You’re here to see Regulus, not find someone to shag.”
Sirius flopped down on the uncomfortable bed. “I know.” He sighed. “What happens if he hates me.” He closed his eyes tight. Sirius just wanted some type of relationship with his brother. They had gotten on so well when Regulus was little, but as they grew older and their horrible mother got to him, Regulus started to spit the same hateful words as the rest of the Black family. He was just as terrible as them all when Sirius was thrown out of the house for being gay.
“He sent you that letter saying he missed you. I don’t think that he hates you. Maybe he realized that all the shite your mum was putting in his ear was just that, shite.”
“I hope so.” Sirius opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Look, it’s our first day here, and we both apparently got off on the wrong foot. We can have a better day tomorrow.” James was always so hopeful. Sirius couldn’t wrap his head around that because he spent his life waiting for the worst to happen. It apparently came from how the two were raised.
“Its like first night of camp all over again.” Sirius rolled onto his back.
“Tomorrow will be better, right? We had a great time when we went here after getting over that little bump of feeling the place out. Maybe we could do a prank or something. Turn Malfoy’s hair pink.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea.” Sirius’ face broke out into a grin.