Chapter 3
As per usual, Sirius Black never apologised, and Remus didn’t hold it against him. He did, however, hold a grudge against the rude one that unhelpfully informed him that his crush would never like him back. It wasn’t as if he was unaware of the fact, he just didn’t like being reminded of it. Much less, by Barty of all people.
With the grudge high on his list of displeasures, Remus made the conscious decision to be a menace, much to Sirius’ delight. Whenever he saw Barty, be it from across the Great Hall or as they passed each other in the hallways, he’d spell a jinx towards the other. From jelly leg spells, to enclosing him in a bubble of water, Remus attacked Barty whenever he saw a chance to.
The thing was, Barty seemed to be enjoying it as much as Sirius was, and that sucked all the relief out of it from Remus. He was trying to maim, trying to hurt, why the fuck was his victim enjoying it. Barty responded to each of Remus’ attack with a jinx of his own, but unlike Remus, he did it all with a smile on his face. It was infuriating how much he enjoyed it.
The feud continued between them, sometimes joined by their friends, sometimes not. It was perfectly casual, Remus might even have deemed it to be in good fun if a professor were to confront him, but good ol’ Bartemius Crouch Junior just had to take it a step too far. Though, was there such a thing between enemies?
Remus had been on his way to classes when he was stopped in his trek by Barty hollering at him from behind. “HEY WOLFIE!” He had shouted, footsteps thudding towards their direction.
Remus sighed, turning around with his wand raised. It was getting old, and with the full moon approaching, his patience was running thin. “What d’you want?” He asked, lowering his wand slightly when he noticed that Barty wasn’t holding his. Beside him, his friends kept theirs raised.
“Hey now, let’s not be rude,” Barty grinned at him, eyes flicking towards his friends. Then he said it, eyes twinkling, all while gesturing in the direction of Sirius Black. “Get your boyfriend to drop his wand.”
Remus stunned him.
“Boyfriend?” James asked, and Remus didn’t turn to look at him.
People were crowding in to catch a glimpse of the stunned Barty lying on the ground. Beside him, he could feel eyes boring into him.
“What’s he talking about?” It was Sirius’ voice, and Remus turned to look at him with the most neutral expression he could conceive.
“I don’t know,” he replied, staring straight into the pair of grey eyes.
His jaws were clenched, fists shaking by his side, and from the far distance, he could hear the sounds of heels clicking against the cemented floor.
Sirius was looking at him with narrowed eyes. “You don’t know?” He asked.
“No.”
They stared in silence — Sirius challengingly, and Remus in defiance. Deny, deny, deny. He was going to deny the hell out of it. His heart was beating out of his chest, his breath hitching in his throat, and Sirius was staring, brows narrowed. Anger? Confusion? Disgust? Remus couldn’t read him, maybe it was a good thing this time.
“Rennervate.” Came the voice of Professor McGonagall, and Remus thanked the mighty Lord in heaven that Professor McGonagall came when she did. “Which one of you is responsible for this?”
Remus tore his gaze away from Sirius, stepping forward to face his professor. “I am,” he replied, taking the chance to escape further questioning from the other. Startled as she was, Remus was eventually made to follow the professor to her office, where he was reprimanded and awarded with a week’s worth of detention for causing bodily harm to another.
The detentions worked out to be a beautiful distraction for Remus. For the week that followed, Remus was only released from his detentions at curfew, and even then, he’d headed straight for the shower and bed to avoid talking to any of them. During classes, he stuck by Peter’s side, and because the boy knew what was good for him, he never made a single comment over what he had heard during the incident. At the end of the week, Remus welcomed the full moon with open arms.
Since The Prank, the boys hadn’t followed him on his full moons, and while that had been upsetting initially, it turned out well in his favour now that there was that tension between them. That full moon, Remus couldn’t even find it within himself to be upset when he survived the night with more broken ribs than usual. After all, the more injuries he sustained, the longer he could stay in the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey, on the other hand, hadn’t been quite as optimistic as he was.
As they sat on the bed he was stationed in with a chess board between them, Remus didn’t miss the concerned glances that she sent his way. It was obvious that she was worrying over the abrupt return of his self-inflicted werewolf injuries, but at the same time, there was nothing Remus could have said that would ease her concerns. He was guilt-ridden by it, having to keep the secret from her.
“So tell me,” she said, as she moved her rook across the board. “Why are you avoiding your friends?” Remus looked up at her in surprise, and she laughed. “You agreed to stay in the infirmary for once, I’m not stupid, Remus.”
Remus huffed, shifting his gaze back down onto the chess board. “Not stupid,” He repeated, chancing a glance up at her through his lashes as a cheeky smile graced his lips. “Too matured, maybe,” he said, ducking as Madam Pomfrey raised her hand in a threat to throw a chess piece in his direction.
“You calling me old, werewolf?” She asked, and Remus fell back into bed laughing, arms wrapped around his ribs as the contracted muscles squished against his broken ribs. Madam Pomfrey eventually let her hand fall with a smile, dropping the chess piece back onto the board as she shook her head at him. “You’re okay though, right? Aside from these injuries?”
Remus nodded at her, from where he still laid on the bed, and Madam Pomfrey sighed in relief. They went back to their chess game soon after, and they only stopped when Remus began drifting off to sleep as the potions took effect. As negotiated, Remus was only discharged after three days in the infirmary, during which time, only Peter had made the journey down to visit him.