The door slammed shut behind Sirius, the echo reverberating in the silent dormitory. His breaths were shallow, his face pale as he turned to face Remus, who stood by the window, arms crossed tightly over his chest.
“Finally decided to show up, did you?” Remus said, his voice low but cutting like a knife.
Sirius flinched, his usual confidence nowhere to be seen. “Remus, please, let me—”
“Explain?” Remus interrupted sharply, spinning around. His amber eyes burned with fury. “Go on, Sirius. Explain why you thought it was a good idea to tell Severus Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow. Explain why you used me—my condition, my life—as part of one of your idiotic pranks.”
Sirius took a step forward, hands trembling at his sides. “I didn’t mean for it to go so far,” he said quickly. “I thought—I thought he’d just... get scared and back off. I didn’t think he’d actually—”
“You didn’t think at all!” Remus shouted, his voice echoing through the room. “Do you even understand what could have happened? He could have died, Sirius! I could have killed him! Do you know what that would’ve done to me? To us?”
Sirius looked as if he’d been struck, but Remus wasn’t finished.
“Or what if he’d told someone?” Remus went on, his voice trembling with barely contained rage. “Do you have any idea what it would mean if people found out what I am? They’d expel me. They’d throw me out of the wizarding world entirely. And you—you handed him the keys to destroy me like it was a joke!”
“It wasn’t like that!” Sirius’s voice cracked, desperation creeping into his tone. “I wasn’t trying to destroy you—I swear, Moony, I wasn’t. It was stupid, it was reckless, but I never meant to hurt you!”
“Well, you did!” Remus snapped, his fists clenched at his sides. “You hurt me more than anyone else ever has. Because you—you of all people—you were supposed to care about me. You were supposed to protect me, not... not use me as part of some stupid, childish game!”
“I do care about you!” Sirius shouted, tears brimming in his eyes. “You’re everything to me, Remus. You have to believe me!”
Remus let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. “Believe you? After this? Do you think ‘I didn’t mean it’ makes it better? That it erases what you’ve done?”
“Please,” Sirius whispered, his voice breaking as he dropped to his knees. “Please, Remus, don’t do this. Don’t end this. I can’t—I can’t live without you.”
Remus froze, his chest tightening as he looked down at Sirius, broken and pleading at his feet. For a fleeting moment, he wanted to believe him, to forgive him. But the weight of betrayal crushed that thought before it could take root.
“You can’t live without me?” Remus repeated coldly. “Funny, because you didn’t seem to care much about me when you were plotting your little prank, did you?”
“That’s not fair!” Sirius cried, tears streaming down his face now. “I love you, Moony. You’re my whole world—you know that! Please, don’t leave me. I’ll do anything, anything to make it right.”
“Love?” Remus spat, his voice dripping with bitterness. “You don’t know the first thing about love, Sirius. Love is about trust. Respect. Protecting the person you care about. And you—you took the one thing I trusted you with, the thing I was most terrified of anyone knowing, and you used it to hurt someone. To hurt me.”
Sirius crawled forward on his knees, reaching for Remus. “Please, Remus, please don’t do this. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you—I swear it. Just don’t leave me. I—I can’t live without you. I’ll be nothing without you.”
Remus stepped back, avoiding Sirius’s touch, his voice trembling with both anger and heartbreak. “You already destroyed us, Sirius. You destroyed everything the moment you decided I was just another part of your games.”
“No,” Sirius choked, his voice breaking into a sob. “Don’t say that. Please, Moony. I love you—I love you more than anything. I’ll fix this. I’ll make you trust me again—just give me a chance.”
Remus’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, but his expression was resolute. “I can’t trust you, Sirius. Not after this. And without trust, what do we even have?”
Sirius shook his head furiously, tears falling freely now. “We have each other. We have everything! I’ll prove it to you, I swear—I’ll prove it!”
“You had your chance,” Remus said quietly, his voice thick with pain. “And you ruined it.”
He turned away, drawing the curtains around his bed with a finality that made Sirius’s breath hitch.
“Remus, please,” Sirius whispered one last time, his voice breaking. “Please don’t do this. Don’t leave me.”
The only answer was silence.
Sirius remained on the floor for a long time, his body wracked with sobs, before finally stumbling to his feet and leaving the dormitory.
Behind the closed curtains, Remus buried his face in his hands, his own tears falling silently into the darkness.