Chapter 3
When Remus awoke the next morning, he was instantly chased out of the infirmary by Madam Pomfrey, who had refused to house him any further despite his persuasions. She had also insisted that he kept the bandages on for the rest of the day, and brushed Remus’ complaints of looking like a wimp away without a second glance.
“Don’t get beaten up next time then,” she said with an eye roll, and Remus was left gaping at her retreating figure, an amused smile on his face.
Gone were the days where Madam Pomfrey had treated him like a baby, though Remus wasn’t one to complain about the easy banter they had settled into over the years. While she still treated his injuries and afflictions seriously and with the utmost care, his whining has since lost its effects on her, and she’d never hesitate to turn away from his ridiculous requests now.
With a pout on his face and a second glance back at the woman he considered to be his mother away from home, he left the infirmary with a dramatic sigh when Madam Pomfrey waved him off without even looking up. A slight limp to his gait, Remus made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
He settled himself down next to Peter, who was the first to notice and ask about his injuries, catching the attention of the other two. Remus brushed off their questions, claiming that he had simply fallen down the stairs the previous night, and though none of them seemed to believe his lies, they returned to their breakfast with only Peter’s suspicious eyes still trained on him. Remus smiled at him, grateful for the concern, before returning to his own meal.
Remus was the last of them to leave the Great Hall, having managed to persuade Madam Pomfrey to give him a permission slip to excuse him from the first lesson despite her hardening heart. With the official slip in hand, Remus was on his way back to the dorm room when Regulus Black stepped into his path.
Now, Remus almost tripped from the abrupt roadblock, which wasn’t good considering he had just been mended, and Madam Pomfrey would have his arse dunked into the Great Lake if he returned with new injuries again. So, with nothing but self-preservation in mind, he reached out to steady himself on Regulus’ shoulders, and was unfortunately met with two pairs of narrowed eyes raging with anger before his hand was brushed away roughly. The good thing was, he didn’t fall. He took that as a win.
“You have to talk to him,” Regulus said abruptly, brushing his hand against the shoulder that Remus touched. Remus scowled at the sight; did Regulus think he had cooties or something.
“Him?” He asked, eyes flicking between Regulus and Barty, who was standing a few feet behind, eyes still narrowed at him.
Remus mused, it was the first time in years he’d seen such an expression on the other’s face. His amusement must have been showing, because Barty’s face only turned darker. That was interesting, Remus thought to himself, before bringing his attention back to the younger Black brother.
While the younger Black and him were hardly friends, he seemed to dislike Remus the least, and Remus only knew that because he had been acting as Regulus’ messenger owl for Sirius fro the past three years. He didn’t quite appreciate being reduced to that, but, Regulus always got what he wanted, even from strangers like Remus. Such was life, and Remus had long since accepted his bird-like fate.
Regulus sighed, closing his eyes in what must have been irritation. “Who else?” He asked after a deep breath, and Remus chuckled, much to his chagrin. Regulus glared at him, and Remus shut up. “He really needs to read the letter.”
His voice was grave, less stoic than usual, and Remus straightened himself up. “You know he doesn’t listen to me,” Remus explained, scratching the back of his head as he did when he was overwhelmed. “He only listens to James.”
“Just try. This is important.” He was almost pleading, the way he spoke, and Remus’ heart ached for him. He would try, he always did try; it was always Sirius that refused to listen, and he could tell how much it affected his younger brother to have his warnings go unheeded.
Remus sighed, nodding his head in defeat, and before he could get another word out, Regulus turned to leave with Barty joining him by his side. “All right then,” Remus said, not at all surprised. “Goodbye Regulus, you have a nice day too!” He shouted as they retreated, though he was only greeted by a raised middle finger from Barty in response.
Git, Remus thought, before making his way back to the dorm room. There was only two ways the conversation could go, and Remus just knew which it would be.
“You talked to my brother?” His voice was raised from the get go, and Remus was right; it would end terribly for them.
Remus took a breath, closing his eyes as he regained his train of thoughts. He knew that it wouldn’t be an easy conversation. He knew their relationship was complicated. He’d done this a dozen times before, but not since their fight after The Prank. It was uncharted territory for them. “He sought me out to talk to you,” he explained, softening his tone in an attempt to ease the situation.
“We don’t talk to him. You know that.”
Complicated relationship. Complicated relationship. Complicated relation.
“Sirius, he looked for me. I didn’t go to him.”
Sirius kicked the chest that sat by the foot of his bed and Remus knew that the conversation was coming to an end. “Then walk away.” He said through his teeth, jaws clenched tight like his fist that sat on his lap. “You know we don’t talk to him.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, but just read the letters all right?” Sirius turned to glare at him and Remus ignored the look. “He sounded really serious this time.”
Sirius walked towards him with shaking breaths, his chest visibly heaving beneath his shirt. “Lupin,” he stopped directly in front of Remus, looking up to meet his eyes. He was far from short; Remus just stood taller. “Butt out. It’s bad enough that you went behind my back to talk to him, don’t bloody push it.”
“I told you—,”
“Oh fuck off won’t you!” He shouted, and Remus took an alarmed step back. “You talked to him. Ergo you betrayed my trust. Fuck off and mind your damn business!”
Trust. Sirius actually said that Remus betrayed his trust. Sirius fucking Black actually dared to speak about a betrayal of trust after what he bloody did not too many weeks ago. Remus was floored, he was fucking speechless. The audacity, the bloody audacity of Sirius Black to speak of trust.
Remus slammed the door shut on his way out without another word; fuck Sirius Black.
Anger, frustration, hurt — the emotions were a swirling mess in his mind, in his chest. Anger at the stupid Black for daring to bring up betrayals. Frustration at his incapacity to comprehend a stupid sentence. Hurt that he’d fucking shouted at him for helping. Anger, again, for still being hurt by Sirius despite seeing through him.
His mind raced as he walked the familiar path to the astronomy tower. There were still hours before curfew, and while the tower was strictly off limits to unsupervised students even during those hours, Remus didn’t care. He needed to go, he needed his peace, he needed time alone to think and—
And Barty Crouch Jr. was there.
“Fuck!” Remus shouted, kicking against the door when he caught sight of the other in the corner, looking out the window.
Barty turned, familiar smile gracing his lips, and Remus turned to leave. Just one moment to himself, just one bloody moment of peace, why couldn’t the darned universe even grant him something that simple.
“Bloody Nancy!”
Remus whirled around, seething hot with rage, and with only five strides across the room, he stopped in front of Barty who was smiling at him whilst leaning against the wall. He pushed his wand into Barty’s neck, digging in at the jugular. Barty’s smile only widened. He was a sick man, real fucking sick.
“Ah,” he mused, eyes crinkling into a smile. “The wolf’s got teeth today. Should I take a guess as to why?
“Regulus was talking to you today, which could only mean he had a message for Sirius.” Remus dug his wand in deeper, anger coursing through his veins. “Sirius hates his family and if you brought it up with him,” Barty trailed off, eyes lighting up as he grinned at Remus. “You and your boyfriend had a fight!”
A flash of red shone through the room, and Barty pushed Remus’ wand away as his hands raced to cup his neck. He winced, where his skin was turning red, before brandishing his own wand from within his cloak.
The room flickered in varying colours as they casted spells against each other, both taking turns toppling over in pain when they failed to avoid a jinx.
“Hit a soft spot, didn’t I?” Barty laughed from across the room, hands flying in the air as he conjured a protective bubble around himself.
Remus cast a spell, penetrating through the bubble, his own chest heaving in effort. “Fuck off!” He shouted back between pants, narrowly avoiding a string of blue light that hurtled his way.
“You’re so bloody obvious Wolf,” Barty said, tripping over his feet from Remus’ jinx. Undeterred, he continued speaking as he pulled himself back up. “You’ve been drooling over him for how many months now?”
His legs locked beneath him, and Remus fell to the ground in a heap. “Waddiwasi,” he pointed at the model of Jupiter, flinging them straight at Barty in a blur of orange and beige. It hit him straight in his unsuspecting head, knocking him over onto the ground, and Remus took the chance to disarm him with a quick Expelliarmus.
“You’re one to talk,” Remus panted, laying down onto the wooden floor, assured that he couldn’t be hurt with Barty’s wand in his hand. “Did you think you were being subtle about Regulus?”
At the mention of the younger Black brother, Barty abruptly sat up from where he was lying. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he warned, a frown on his face.
Huh. It seemed like Remus finally found a way to push his buttons. “Don’t I? You—,”
“Hey, don’t you get fucking cocky now.” Barty interrupted, pushing himself up as he made his way towards Remus. The sickening smile was back. “You’re aware that your boyfriend is straight don’t you? That despite all that crap he spews about us Slytherins, he’d already stuck his knob into—,”
“Silencio.”
Remus left the astronomy tower with blood gushing through his ears, a nauseating twist in his heart. He knew, he knew, he just didn’t know it would hurt that much to hear about it.