Chapter 1
Remus remembered him. Of course he did. And Sirius had forgotten him. Of course he had. It was ten years ago. And ten years could do a lot to a boy.
~
Remus hates posh boys.
The way they strut around the town, heads held high above their starched, stiff collars. It had to be tiring, holding their noses that high. As if a private school and daddy’s money made them better than him. As if.
They were all stupid, anyway. Private school clearly hadn't helped much with that.
If they weren’t, it might not be so laughably easy to steal from them. But as it was, Remus had no qualms about swiping the green sweater that the dark-haired boy had so carelessly dumped on his front porch and slinking around the side of the enormous house to revel in his triumph.
He smiled grimly as he watched the boy's mother stroke his cheek through the small, grimy window.
It almost surprised him, the first time, when he snuck a look inside someone else's house and saw their family - two parents. Children. Whole. Not anymore. He supposed he had gotten used to it.
Anyhow. This boy evidently had both of the two essentials in life - money and safety.
But as Remus watched them through the window, his smile dropped. He watched the mother’s haughty face contort into a smirk, watched him shrink away from her hand slowly - too slow as the ark of her downturned palm caught him easily - almost gracefully. The boy's body stayed perfectly still, only his head snapping to the side, exposing the pale line of his throat.
Remus felt his breath catch in his throat, and he fought the urge to gag. It would not have been so bad, really - at least it would not have hurt the boy if not for the rings lining each finger of his mothers white, slender hand.
Not beautiful. You couldn't call them beautiful, especially not after having watched the cruel slice of them across his skin, seeing the flesh of his cheek and eyebrow rip beneath the harsh metal.
Remus flinched, the nausea building in his gut as she grabbed the boy's face with both hands, taking care to align her fingers with the fresh cuts as her lips moved before scornfully shoving him away, his dark hair swaying as he stumbled.
Stumbled out of Remus’ line of sight and onto the porch with a clatter of wooden boards and dress shoes. Remus pressed his bony back into the wall, the familiar press of his bones a reminder of his growing hunger. He had missed dinner for this.
Exhaling as the boy now only meters away produced no loud shriek upon seeing him, Remus slowly backed up towards the garden fence. If he ran fast enough perhaps the wind could push this memory from his mind.
“Hello.”
Bollocks. Remus froze, heart beating faster under the dark green sweater he clutched to his chest, so different from his threadbare gray jumper. He had almost forgotten about it. The cause of all this mess.
Or perhaps not yet. There was always the possibility that the boy could be talking to a stray cat or-
“d’you want me to pretend i haven't seen you?”
Shit. Well, that one was certainly for him. The syllables seemed much more intimidating in a rich boy’s accent.
Remus grasped the last reserves of his courage, slipping fast through his fingers like sand through an hourglass as his left foot landed on the too-green grass.
What had the boy asked? Hadn't seen him.
No, Remus certainly hadn't been seen, had not been caught though he had nicked dozens of things from the shops in town. He didn't know why he did it, really. He couldn't even keep them, or the matron would march him back to the store and make him return it as he wallowed in shame.
It felt good, though. It really did. A small sort of revenge on the butcher or the grocer or the station master, looking down their noses at him with that awful mix of pity and disgust.
Revenge on him. This boy. Who walked home each day, past the small, stained window of remus’ bedroom, shiny leather bag and shinier - faced brother in hand.
Some people, Remus concluded, simply had too much. Had too much to be angry, the way he was. But that anger made him sloppy.
Sloppy enough to, apparently, be caught. Remus shook his head in disgust before realizing the boy was still staring at him.
“Why not?”
Despite the blood still running down his face, nothing but curiosity sparked in his eyes as they flitted over remus.
Remus cleared his throat, mouth suddenly dry.
“I s’pect you're gonna forget anyway.”
The boy grinned wide and, despite himself, Remus felt his lips tugging into his own small smile.
“Not bloody likely.”