Brothers (year 2)
“I sent a letter to Madam Pomfrey,” Mr. Lupin said, picking up Remus’s trunk and locking the car door, “So she’ll be prepared with a new ointment as soon as you get there.”
“Ok,” Remus said following his father towards the KingsCross station, pawing at his arm, unconsciously.
“Remus.” His mum gently pulled his arm away, where he could feel a little blood well up underneath the sleeve of his muggle sweatshirt. Although it was almost thirty degrees celsius on the first of September (an unusual temperature for this time of year), Remus had chosen to wear a zip-up hoodie over his t-shirt, to cover up the newly acquired scar that covered his arm, in a long, ugly gash.
“Don’t do that..” She muttered softly, rubbing his arms.
He pulled away, “Sorry, mum.”
“That new ointment will help.” His father reassured him, though it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself.
“Yeah, ok,” Remus said, uncomfortably pulling down the sleeves of his sweater even furthur, and speeding up, longing to get on the train as quickly as possible.
“Remus! Wait.” His father caught up to him, while his mum stayed behind them to double-check the train schedule.
“You can’t keep wearing that hoodie all year-”
“Yes, I can.” Remus snapped. Lyall stepped back, and Remus felt something twist in his stomach. Had he just frightened his own father? He pushed the thought down. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout…-”
“-Remus...Be careful. You have more to hide now than ever.”
Remus looked up and saw some other kids his age, run around King's Cross station, yelling excitedly. How he longed to be like. No scars, no pain, no turning into a murderous beast once a month. “I know.”
Lyall nodded and they exchanged a meaningful glance.
Hope reached them and slid her hand into her husband's. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah.” Remus and his father said at the same time.
Lyall ruffled his hair and gave him a weak smile, which Remus returned.
“We better hurry up, and get to the platform,” Hope said, pulling along her husband.
“Yes, yes,” Lyall bustled along, pushing up his glasses with his thumb and index finger. Remus hurried after them, and soon they were back at platform 9 3/4 where everything had started exactly a year ago. Somehow it was hard to grasp that one year had passed since the nervous eleven year old had stood here all alone, not sure of the people he was going to meet, and the things he was going to do. Now all Remus could do was think about the marauders. Everytime he was alone all he had in his mind was the way James's nose turned pink when he got excited or embarrassed, the way Peter's eyes squinted when he laughed, the way Sirius's lips curled more in one corner of the mouth than the other when he grinned. The way Remus's heart and lungs buzzed whenever they pulled a prank. He wanted that. He needed that. He longed for that.
Remus stood on the tips of his toes looking over the crowds' heads, trying to grasp a glimpse of any of his friends. Anyone, even Lily, Marlene, Dorcas or any of the other Gryffindors would be fine. But he needed to finally see them again.
“Oh isn’t that Peter, dear?” Hope, who had appeared through the wall behind Remus, said, pointing somewhere to his right, where a short, plump, boy, with a mop of mousy blond hair, stood talking to two blonde women.
Remus couldn't even answer his mother, he was too excited, “Pete!”
Peter turned, saw Remus and jumped up and down, excitedly beckoning Remus forward.
“Come on,” Hope said, grabbing her husband once again, as the three of them pushed through the crowd.
“Lupin!” Peter cried excitedly, jumping up and giving him a hug.
Remus stumbled back, and laughed. He then turned towards the woman standing next to Peter. “Uh, good to see you, Ms Pettigrew.” He said nervously.
“And you, Remus dear.” She smiled brightly at him. She had Peter’s same round face, dimples, and tufty short blonde hair which she had styled in big curls that sat stiffly above her broad shoulders.
“Oh, uh this is my m-mother, Hope.” Remus added quickly, “And uhh, my da,-father. Lyall.” He awkwardly waved toward his parents.
“Pleased to meet you,” Hope beamed, shaking Ms Pettigrew's hand.
“Uh, good...good morning,” Lyall said nervously, pushing up his glasses once again, forgetting to shake Ms Pettigrew's hand and only reaching out his arm once it was too late to shake hands anymore without it being awkward. Remus blushed; it was obvious where he got his social anxiety from. Peter obviously thinking the same thing grinned at Remus evilly.
“Oh shut up..” Remus muttered. Peter pulled Remus aside to let their parents talk, or in Lyall's case try to talk.
“Hi, Remus,” The tall, elegant girl, with long blonde hair, who had been standing next to Peter's mum, stepped forward.
“Er, hey. Hello, Enid.” Said Remus.
“It’s my sister's last year at Hogwarts this year,” Peter explained.
“Oh, uh wow. Yeah. ” Remus muttered, not sure of what else to say, to that.
Enid laughed and Peter shook his head at her. “Come on, Rem, let’s go find the others.”
“See you around Remus.” Enid smiled at him.
“Oh uh, you too.” Remus bowed his head a bit, then feeling stupid stood upright again but she just laughed again, the sound of her voice similar to Peter’s when he laughed at something.
“Mum, we’re leaving,” Peter said impatiently.
Remus hugged his mum and dad. “Should I help you find a compartment like last year?” His father whispered.
Remus blushed and smiled. “I think I’ll be ok, dad.”
His father laughed softly and pushed him away. “See you soon, pal.”
“See you, mum. I’ll write.”
Hope put her hands on her hips, “Oh you better.”
“Alright, bye!” Remus and Peter yelled one last time, (Peter peeling himself away from his now sobbing mother) and ran into the crowd, looking for their friends.
“Now, where-?”
“Oi, Pete! LUPIN!” Someone tackled them from behind. “My dearest of friends!”
“Ah!” Remus straightened and turned around. “James!”
“Remus!”
“James!”
“Peter!”
James Potter appeared behind them, one arm slung around Peter and the other around Remus. His black hair was messy as always, and his glasses askew, though he did not adjust them. Like Remus, James had gotten taller over the summer, but he was a lot taller than Remus, and even looked a little older now, his black hair somehow even messier than the year before and tiny freckles appearing underneath his light brown skin.
James grinned his usual shit-eating grin.
“Come on, Lads, better find a compartment before they’re all gone! Sirius can find us on the train!” He had to yell in order to be heard over the hum of the crowd but Remus suspected even if he didn’t he would’ve yelled anyway. James grabbed their wrists and pulled them onto the train. He was right of course, there weren't very many empty compartments left, but they were lucky to find one, close to the end of the train. Remus stepped in and gingerly placed his trunk on the ground, underneath his seat. James on the other hand threw in his trunk and jumped in behind it, tackling Remus to the ground once again.
“Lupin, me boy! I haven’t seen you in so long!”
Remus laughed feeling smothered. “I am aware of that, yes.”
James straightened up and lounged on the bench of the compartment.
“How are you? What have you been up to?”
“I don’t know...” Remus said nervously. He obviously couldn’t say what he was really up to, as he suspected being shredded to bits a couple times during the full moons wasn’t an answer that would quite satisfy James. “I wrote to you everything I did!”
“Not enough letters!” James shook his head. "We've got to find another form of communication! Bloody owls won't do it for much longer."
“Besides,” Peter added, “Most of the letters you wrote were just about books you read!”
“Yeah, mate,” James shook his head solemnly, “We don’t care, ok? I’m sorry.”
“Hey!”
“It’s true!” Peter nodded.
Remus shrugged, then exclaimed, “Wait! Watch this!” He buried his hand in his pocket and brandished his wand. “I found out a new spell! And since I’m on the train now I can finally use it!”
James pulled a hand through his hair. “Now you’re talking! What is it?”
Peter jumped up and down. “Can we use it for pranks?”
“Er…” Remus knit his eyebrows together. “Maybe?”
Excitedly, James and Peter watched as Remus opened his trunk and pulled out a mug, and a small brown box, holding his wand in his mouth to free up his other hand in order to gingerly open the box.
“What’s in there!” James asked, looking like he might explode out of excitement. Remus held up his index finger indicating for him to wait. He peered into the box, before rummaging around, picking something out of it, dropping it in the mug and then holding the tip of his wand to the mug muttering an incantation. Steam wafted into the air. Remus grinned, proudly turning the mug towards them to reveal...tea.
“Tada!” He yelled.
Peter and James looked at him, then at each other and then back at him.
“Seriously?” James said.
“Wha?” Remus asked, looking dumbstruck.
“That was boring.” Peter supplied.
“What?” Remus said drawing out the letter ‘t’, and looking around at them frantically. “No, no, you don’t understand.” Remus frantically put his wand between his teeth again, putting away his supplies, and waving around the mug.
“I think we understand Lupin…-” James laughed rolling his eyes.
“Wuuk,” Remus dropped the wand into his lap. “Look,” he repeated. “I made myself tea! And it's going to stay warm in this mug! And now I can have warm tea for the next eight hours! And-” He lifted up the box again turning it so they could see, “I have so many different flavours left too!”
“Hey,” James said in realisation, “wait, that’s the gift I gave you for Christmas right?”
Remus nodded enthusiastically.
James laughed leaning back, “I can’t believe you're so bloody excited about that. If I knew you were such a nerd I would’ve gotten you more. My mother knows a-”
The compartment door slid open, “Is that seat taken?” A voice drawled.
“Sirius!” James jumped up from his seat and tackled the black haired boy at the door even harder than he had tackled Remus before.
“Oi!” Sirius laughed and pushed James off. “You’re going to scare off Reggie!”
Behind him, a small miniature version of Sirius stood, and waved at them all, awkwardly.
“Everyone, this is my brother. Brother this is everyone.” Sirius introduced waving his hands towards them carelessly. He laughed at his brother's confused glance and stepped into the compartment, pulling Regulus behind him.
Both Sirius and Regulus’s dark hair had been cropped short during the summer, but Regulus’s was still a tad lighter, sparkling a burnt brown colour in the light of the compartment. His grey eyes were also darker than Sirius’s and unlike Sirius’s which almost leant towards a cold blue colour, his were more of a warm tone leaning almost towards brown. Other than these small differences, and a slight alteration in their faces the two boys looked almost identical. Although Sirius, with his sharp jawline, cheekbones and his airy confidence, was obviously the more handsome brother.
“Look, Sirius tea!” Remus held up his mug.
“How exciting.” Sirius deadpanned.
James started getting up, “I’m James.” He reached over and shook Regulus’s hand.
“Potter?” Regulus asked though he looked like he knew the answer.
James hesitated and looked over at Sirius before answering, “yeah.”
Regulus nodded and gave him a small smile, though he radiated nervous energy.
“That one's Peter, and that -” Sirius interrupted shoving Regulus into a seat.
“Oh, uh, yeah Remus. Lupin.” Remus got up too, introducing himself. Regulus hesitated for a moment before shaking his hand and Remus didn’t miss the way that the younger boy’s hand flew to his robes, as if to brush off traces of Remus’s touch, before settling in his pocket. Remus sat back down quickly trying to ignore the pang in his chest. Sirius was too busy talking to James and Peter and hadn’t noticed.
“-Boring as I expected.” Sirius was saying plopping down next to James.
“Really?” James said disbelievingly. “Nothing...happened?”
Sirius’s eyes skidded over to his brothers for a second. Regulus looked at him nervously, and Sirius shook his head the tiniest fragment, as if warning him.
“No,” He said turning back to James casually, “nothing.”
Remus and Peter exchanged a look.
“James has a great prank idea,” Peter exclaimed, “We’ll start the year off with a bang! Regulus you can help us if you like-- we can always use more Marauders!”
Regulus smiled, “Yeah, maybe. I just hope-” He looked at Sirius. “I mean I don’t want to get...in trouble with moth- anyone...I just want…-”
“It’s ok.” Remus said quickly, “You don’t have to.”
The five of them suddenly heard a muffled voice from outside. Sirius’s head snapped in the direction of the door.
“Aw no…” He moaned quietly. Regulus sat up straighter in his seat.
“Wha-?” James started but just then the door slid open once again and a black haired witch stood in front of them. Bellatrix glared at them loathsomely, her grey eyes burning a hole through whoever they settled on.
“Sirius Orion Black you disgrace.” She hissed.
“Why hello, Bella dear.”
“Don’t give me that attitude you little shit. Performing a nice show for your friends, are you? You weren't this confident when Auntie Walpurga-”
Sirius got up from his seat. “What do you want Bellatrix?”
The girl’s eyes glinted dangerously, and Remus was more than happy that her attention wasn't focused on him. He didn't know how Sirius wasn't trembling at the very scrutiny of her gaze. “How dare you kidnap Regulus like this? Do you seriously think he wants to sit with you and these mudbloods ?”
“Oi-” James got up, but Remus silently pulled him down again. This wasn't the time for him to play hero.
“Bella I-” Regulus started looking like he might throw up. Remus hoped with all his heart that he wouldn’t. Bellatrix turned towards the younger boy and stepped inside the compartment, bearing down on him.
“What, Regulus? Are you suggesting you want to be a blood traitor?”
“No!” Regulus cried stepping back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sirius shouted.
“No, I- I just-”
Sirius and Bellatrix both stared at him and then at each other.
Bellatrix grinned evilly. “Well, that clears it doesn’t it?”
Sirius fumed. “Leave,” He whispered.
"Me or him?" Bellatrix asked grinning.
There was a long intense pause that felt like hours but probably only lasted for seconds.
“Well, see you soon Regulus. I don’t doubt you’ll join me at dinner tonight.” Bellatrix smiled at him, and stepped forward one last time, grabbing his hand and pushing something into it. Regulus flinched and stepped away but she held his hand firmly. For an uncomfortable moment, they stood there while Bellatrix maintained eye contact with Sirius and Regulus held his breath looking as pale as ever. “See you very soon.”
Peter shifted in his seat, bumping further away from the door. You could hear a pin drop.
“Leave,” Sirius repeated menacingly.
His cousin just smiled and left the compartment, leaving the door slightly open. Regulus opened his hand allowing everyone to see the small object that had been pressed into his hand. It was a small glass snake the colour of an emerald. Regulus looked up at Sirius and hesitantly dropped it into his pocket his hands shaking. Peter silently inched forward and shut the door with a last push. As soon as the door clicked, Sirius plopped down onto his seat.
“Fuck!”
Regulus blinked and sat down on the corner of the bench timidly.
“What a bitch!” Sirius fumed. “For her to just come in here -! And-! Did you see -?”
Regulus stayed silent.
The train whistled and started slowly pulling out of the station.
Finally, Sirius turned to his brother. “Promise me, Reggie! Promise me you won’t be like that !”
Regulus now started turning pink in the face. “Like wh-?”
“They’re all the same! Those slimy-”
“Who’s all the same?”
Sirius stared at him in disbelief, “Slytherins!”
Regulus frowned, “Slytherins? Sirius, what if I'm in Slytherin?”
“You won’t be!”
“Sirius, what if ?”
“You won- ”
“SIRIUS.”
Sirius and Regulus looked at each other for a long moment.
“Do you want to be?” Sirius asked eventually, trying very hard to make his voice sound monotone, although they could all hear the quiver in it. Regulus shook his head and looked away.
“You don’t get it…” He laughed weakly, “You still don’t get it...out of all the people…After what happened at-”
“Don’t .”
They stared at each other.
Sirius opened his mouth, closed it again, and eventually settled for looking down at his feet.
Remus felt like he knew what the others were thinking because he suspected it was the same thing he was thinking too. Something happened during the summer holidays and neither of the Black brothers seemed very intent on sharing what it was. Come to think of it, Sirius did look skinnier than he had before...and paler too...Had Regulus always looked that tired? Or was it a result of something recent?
Opposite him James shifted in his seat, watching the other occupants of the compartment closely. Knowing James, he could probably sense the unease in the air as thick as honey and was trying to find out a way to calm down Sirius and his brother. Remus caught James's eye contact and the other boy gave him a reassuring smile as if trying to make him feel better. Remus smiled back, trying to convince James that everything was alright. If there was anything that Remus had learned about the other black haired boy that not many people seemed to know it was that James was one of the most empathetic people around. If someone was in a bad mood it was hard for him to concentrate. If someone was sad all he could focus on was making this person feel better. If someone was angry all he could do was share their anger. It was just the way that James Potter had been programmed. And it wasn't easy when Sirius and Regulus Black were sitting just a few centimetres away, pouting.
Remus sighed quietly and took a long sip from his mug, the tea in which was still pleasantly warm. At least one thing was going right. If only he knew a spell to fix family drama. Although Sirius and Regulus seemed to need a lot more than just a spell…
_ _ _ _
The first day hadn't really been going as James had imagined so far. As soon as the five of them got out of the train, Regulus hurried off to join the other first years without saying a word to Sirius who silently glowered all the way to school. Once they got into the great hall though, his angry demeanour started to slip away and got replaced with a nervous energy that no one had ever seen in him before. The three other marauders sat in silence watching him, waiting for him to finally go off, explode, like a bomb.
“Oi, Black, you alright?” Marlene McKinnon who had come to sit down next to them said. She had grown taller, and looked as elegant as ever, with her blocky black heels and black painted nails. James shook his head in the slightest degree, trying to warn her, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Marlene frowned, playfully, “Uh...earth to Black?”
“Stop,” James said, a little bit too forcefully. “He doesn’t want to talk.”
Marlene looked taken aback. “Damn ok then, no ‘nice to see you, Marlene’ no ‘how was your summer, Marlene?’”
James just shook his head again, and Marlene gave up, leaving to go talk to the other girls.
“What is taking so long?” Sirius hissed bouncing up and down in his seat.
“Calm down,” Peter said nervously. Sirius ignored him.
“It didn’t take this long when we got sorted.”
“Of course it did.” Remus assured him, and James could tell he was trying to sound reasonable, “They’ll come out in a moment.”
By now some students from the other houses were turning and squirming in their chairs to get a better look at Sirius. A nervous Sirius Black was a rare and unusual sight, and the other students, especially the Slytherins were milking the view as much as they possibly could.
James realised it must've been the first moment for many of the other students to ever see Sirius Black as a full human. If you weren't one of the marauders it may have been hard to see him as anything other than an arrogant, good looking goofball. The other students could finally see that Sirius Black wasn’t unbeatable, unattainable. That he had sadness, and fragility to him too. James knew that if Sirius realized what was happening he would hate it.
Apparently, James wasn’t the only one that thought this. Remus, who had been pretty quiet up until now, leaned forward and stared directly into Sirius’s face, which he didn’t do very often. James had noticed that about Remus, how no matter how much he liked a person or how comfortable he felt around them he seemed to have a problem with eye contact, always choosing to look down at the ground instead of into people’s eyes.
Sirius fidgeted with his hands, and turned his head side to side, and up and down, and back and to the front. James grimaced and looked away. If he continued to watch Sirius any longer he knew the nervous energy would rub off on him. In fact, he was already trying to remind himself to stay calm. Everything would be fine. His friends would be fine.
“Sirius,” Remus whispered, looking at him with big wide eyes. James turned to watch, with fascination, as Sirius stopped fidgeting and focused his attention on Remus. Remus gave him the tiniest fraction of a smile, his eyes glinting reassuringly, in a golden, orangy colour. “It’s going to be ok. You love him.”
Sirius shook his head abruptly and leaned back in his seat. James could see sweat starting to gather on his forehead.
“Sirius listen to me,” Remus said, this time more firmly. “You know you love him.”
“I don’t.” Sirius spat through gritted teeth.
“Yes you do,” Remus said knowingly. Sirius looked like he wanted to say something but he just looked at Remus grimly.
“You don’t have to watch-” James started but Sirius shook his head and James couldn’t say he was surprised. Yet he tried again anyway, “We could go upstairs-”
“No,” Sirius said firmly.
Peter, Remus, and James all exchanged a look. This could go very, very wrong.
“Ok,” James said finally.
It didn’t take long before Regulus was sorted into Slytherin.
“Fuck.” James whispered, staring at the younger brother making his way to the Slytherin table. It hadn’t surprised him in the slightest, but he knew it would destroy Sirius’s mood for at least the next few days. And when Sirius was in a bad mood everyone was in a bad mood. From a few seats away Lily was biting her nails nervously.
“That’s Sirius’s brother isn’t it?” He heard her say to Dorcas Meadows.
Dorcas nodded, “Who knows what he’ll do now that his younger brother is in Slytherin. They’ll practically be enemies.”
James thought that was a bit harsh. The Black brothers would certainly never be enemies, they would just not be in the same house, and as much as James despised Slytherins himself he knew that Sirius would have to come to terms with it eventually. Sirius on the other hand probably wasn’t thinking the same thing. As soon as ‘Slytherin’ had been called out he had jumped up in his seat before reluctantly sitting down again, his eyes glazed over and his face white as death.
“Oh dear,” James heard Lily mutter again. “He doesn’t look too well.”
Over by the Slytherin table, Regulus glanced at them uncomfortably, Narcissa, and Bellatrix on one side of him and Snivellus on the other.
“Come on.” Remus who had suddenly appeared at their side, whispered, pulling Sirius up, while the rest of the hall roared with sound, what had first been the echo of clapping was now morphing into talk, as everyone started whispering about the Black Brothers. James had always been well known, his parents were some of the wealthiest Wizards because of their company after all and his family was known to be important purebloods, but he was never famous. The Balck family on the other hand...that was different. Especially the situation involving Regulus and Sirius. Dumbledore got up and raised his hands for the rest of the sorting to continue and a shush echoed through the great hall, causing everyone to quiet down.
“Come on .” Remus tugged at Sirius once again and the four of them left the great hall, the doors behind them echoing loudly as they shut with the whole school watching them. James walked with as much confidence as he could muster, hoping that everyone got the message. There would be no talk of this, ever. Not in front of Sirius.
_ _ _ _
“Come on, Sirius, please .” Peter complained, “I’m hungry .”
“I already told you, if you're so hungry you can go without me. I’m not coming.” Sirius sat on his bed ruffling through his trunk trying to look for a pair of matching socks. It was the second of September and their first day of classes was about to start in only half an hour.
“But James won’t let me leave if you don’t come!” Peter persisted.
“That’s right!” James yelled from the bathroom.
Remus sighed and rolled around in his bed realizing he wouldn’t be getting any more sleep, “Why don’t you just go to the kitchen and get us some food like last year? That way Sirius won’t have to face his family and you still get food. Win-win.”
“That,” James peaked his head out from the bathroom, “is an excellent idea, Rem.”
“Thanks. Now let me sleep.”
“Alright well, who’s gonna go?” Peter asked crossing his arms.
“You, obviously,” Remus mumbled into his pillow.
“No!” Peter jumped up from his bed. “I don’t want to go, I always have to!”
“Well you’re the one that wants to eat,” Sirius said. "It's not our fault your such a fatass."
“Pete’s right,” James said, finally emerging from the bathroom for good, “He is always the one to go. It’s only fair if we take turns. Remus, you know what that means.”
Remus sat up in his bed, “What? Why me? I don’t want to!”
“Come on, just this once.” James said, “That way you won’t have to go next time.”
“Why don’t you go, Mr I-Just-Spent-The-Past-Hour-In-The-Bathroom-Getting-Ready-And-I-Still-Conveniently-Look-Like-I-Just-Got-Off-A-Broom?”
“Oi!”
“You’re not getting out of this one, Rem.”
“I hate all of you.” Remus crawled out of his bed and tried not to think about the sweat running down his back from the hoodie he had worn during the night, as he walked past James glaring at him and slammed the bathroom door shut. Quickly he pulled on his school uniform before pulling yet another sweater over his white shirt pulling his Gryffindor tie over it. He looked kind of ridiculous.
He exited the bathroom and casually flipped off Sirius who despite his bad mood had taken it upon himself to laugh at the sight of Remus's outfit.
"Looking hot, Rem." James joked, though he sounded slightly concerned.
"Yeah, whatever," Remus said as he turned to leave the dorm room.
“Hey, get me one of those Jam tarts if they have them!” Peter called after him.
Remus didn’t turn around, “I know what you like, Peter, I’ve seen you eat Jam tarts for breakfast every day last year.”
He closed the door behind him just in time to block out the chorus of, “thank you, Remu!”
He rolled his eyes fondly- it was something not many people could do but he had had a lot of practice.
At the kitchens, Remus pulled the usual bag that they used for smuggling food, out of his pocket and started tossing in some Jam tarts for Peter carelessly. He walked around the Kitchen freely, already being familiar with all the house elves who greeted him excitedly offering him bagels, and cheese platters, bowls of baked beans, and stacks of pancakes that he kindly had to refuse. Instead, he dropped some pieces of toast in the bag and stuffed small packs of different flavored Jams into his pockets, grabbing a handful of plastic knives too. He even thought of packing an apple for James who always preached a healthy lifestyle (“I need to get strong for Quidditch Lupin!”) and he felt pretty smug once he finally made his way to the back of the kitchens again, ready to exit the way he came. Before he left though he saw another figure doing the exact same thing he was doing, but filling up a basket instead of a bag like him. At first Remus thought it was just another house-elf, but it obviously wasn’t- It was a familiar looking third year.
The figure turned around.
“Gideon Prewett,” Remus said, before he could stop himself or even think about what he was doing. Gideon smiled softly. His red hair had gotten longer and now the curls that used to bounce right below his ears rested comfortably on his shoulders.
“Remus.” He said, eyes glimmering. Something about him seemed different. More confident. Remus realized that his lips were a slightly different color than they had been last time, a little more red, and the eyelashes surrounding his eyes were darker and seemed longer than before, although it was unlikely that they would’ve grown. It seemed like he was wearing makeup, Remus realized with a shock. It was the same type of stuff his mother wore. Mascara and some lipstick is all a girl needs, Remus. Remus remembered his mother once saying. But Gideon wasn’t a girl. Suddenly Remus felt even more ridiculous in his stupid sweater-robe combination-although it was better than the alternative.
“So, why are you stealing food instead of going to the great hall?” Gideon asked quietly, blushing slightly, and setting down his own food basket.
"You talk now?" Remus said.
"I always talked." Gideon laughed, "Sometimes I just...talk less than other times. So?"
“Oh, right. Uh...Sirius doesn’t really want to...you know...See his brother after the sorting. And he’s scared his cousins will say something.”
Gideon nodded knowingly, “Oh Blacks...yeah. Is he ok?”
“I...I think so.” Remus said hesitantly. “Why are you stealing food?”
Gideon grinned and a small spark glinted behind his eyes, “My brother and I were thinking of this prank but we didn’t want anyone to overhear us discussing it. Maybe you could help me- us develop it actually. I know you and your friends pull pranks a lot too-”
“Gideon!” The portrait door burst open and Fabian rushed in, “I just had the most amazing ide- Oh.”
Fabian looked at them for a moment, then his eyes focused on Gideon's face, scanning his eyes and lips, and he instantly went red. He rushed forward and shoved Gideon behind him. “What are you doing? ” He cried shrilly. “You can’t go around, like- Looking like- You know! We can't have anyone seeing you like this! You know what would happen!"
“It’s just Remus,” Gideon argued weakly. Fabian's eyes widened, as he turned and looked at Remus before turning back again gripping his brother’s arms.
“Well, it’s not always going to be justRemus, Gideon! What if someone sees! You can’t look like this.”
“I just wanted to see what it felt like…” Gideon murmured avoiding eye contact.
“Um...i-it’s ok. I...I don’t...uh mind .” Remus stammered quietly feeling like he should help out.
“Stay out of this!” Fabian yelled.
“Hey!” Gideon snapped.
“YOU’RE NOT A GIRL GIDEON!” Fabian finally roared.
The two of them stared at each other for a long time as if they were having a silent conversation. Finally, Gideon ripped himself away from Fabian.
“I know.” He said quietly. He picked up the food basket which trembled slightly in his hands. As he turned his face away Remus could make out tears glistening in his eyes wanting to break the surface but not being able to. Fabian stared at him, his eyes wide. He held his hands up to his face which was a pale grey color. “I shouldn’t have…” He breathed quietly.
Gideon’s eyes flickered to Remus and then he turned away.
Fabian reached towards his brother, “Hey...I’m sorry. I shouldn't have said...”
“It’s fine,” Gideon said. Remus felt like he should do something or say something. Anything to help out. Gideon looked at him then shook his head slightly as if he knew what the other boy was thinking. “See you around Remus Lupin.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Fabian stepped after Gideon.
“Where do you think?”
“....It’s just,” Fabian shrunk back uncomfortably, “I’m sorry but we have to….we should….before class….we have to take off...before…I mean if anyone sees...”
Gideon pushed open the back of the portrait hole. “I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
Gideon started to leave. Fabian was about to follow before he stepped closer to Remus. “Don’t-” His voice cracked slightly, as he tried to sound threatening, “Don’t you dare tell anyone you saw my brother like this.”
Remus just nodded choppily and watched the Prewett teens leave.
For a moment he just stood there.
What had just happened?
He wondered why Gideon had been wearing makeup. Why would anyone want to do that? It seemed like a lot of extra work for girls, and if it was such an inconvenience for a girl why would a guy even want to try that?
I just wanted to see what it felt like... Remus remembered how much more confident Gideon had looked. Had he felt different too? Remus swallowed hard. Whether boys should wear makeup or not, Remus didn't really care. Personally he thought Gideon had looked quite good. Quite good indeed.
After a few more moments, Remus picked up his bag of bounty and left too, closing the portrait hole behind him.
Breakfast was almost over and he didn't want to think about it anymore.