Nose Bleeds
Remus walked into potions class, it was his third week of school now and had minimal contact with people lately. Sirius, James and Peter had stopped bothering him, Lily had been helping him out with class work and he was doing quite well in sneaking Trickster to quidditch practices. He was enjoying a quiet life, that was until he was grouped with Marlene McKinnon, one of Lily's friends and a first year gryffindor with short, blonde hair. Dorcas Meadows, one of Marlene's friends and a first year Slytherin with dark skin and long, braided hair. And finally, Severus Snape, a first year Slytherin whom Remus was all too familiar with.
"Hey, I'm Marlene," The blonde haired girl approached Remus with an extremely welcoming grin, "you're friends with Lily, right?" She asked him, and Remus nodded nervously. "Nice, this is Dorcas, she's our friend as well!" The girl gestured to her quieter friend, and Remus gave a half smile in her direction.
"Stop flirting, let's get to work," Severus said, Marlene barked out a laugh, and Remus couldn't hold his in either. He was laughing extremely hard, in fact, he had to wipe tears from his eyes. Remus noticed Sirius and James staring at him as he laughed, but he didn't really care all that much.
"So, Remus, who are you taking to the Halloween dance?" Marlene asked, playfully nudging him. They weren't very close, but Marlene seemed like a pretty harmful girl and was quite nice company.
"I mean, I wasn't planning on going to be honest," He started and Marlene tutted disapprovingly, "I don't really have any friends to take anyway, and I'm way too young to fancy anybody." He finished off, and Marlene pulled him into an overly excited hug.
"We're friends Remus!" He hugged her back, and peaking over her shoulder, saw a very jealous looking Sirius stood there. Remus stuck his tongue out at the boy, and Sirius coughed loudly, turning away. "Anyway, how about you go with me? It's only first years going to this dance anyway, the other years get their own private one on Halloween. Lucky arses." She said, and Remus giggled softly. Marlene definitely enjoyed rambling on a lot, and Remus didn't mind. It was nice to have someone other than a dragon to chat too.
"What about Dorcas?" Remus asked, looking over to Marlene's beautiful friend. Remus wasn't attracted to her in a romantic way, but she was definitely cool.
"Cas, aren't you going with Lily?" Marlene asked her friend, who was belong a particularly annoyed looking Severus on the potion.
"Yeah," she replied, in a deep, raspy voice, "Mary's going with a Slytherin lad as well." Dorcas raised her eyebrows suggestively, and Remus choked out a laugh.
"Mary? Has a date?" He must've looked crazy, mad, even, because they all looked at him confused, "Sorry, it's just I'd of expected her to go with one of her friends. She's always hanging out with you lot, and we are eleven years old." Marlene began laughing as well as Dorcas, and soon Slughorn had to split them up because of the lack of effort. Remus was now stood next to Severus, and Marlene was on the opposite side of the table to him. Dorcas, however, was apparently more trustworthy than them.
"Pass me the dragon scales," Severus asked, and Remus winced. Now that he had a friend which was a dragon, he had a newfound sympathy for them. Remus picked up the shimmering blue scales inside of a test tube, and offered them to Snape. "The pink ones, you dimwit." The greasy boy snapped, and Remus scoffed at his rudeness and corrected himself, sarcastically apologising.
Severus then went to walk past Remus, but knocked him into the cauldron in the process. The potion slightly spilled over the edge and Severus went into a fit of rage, "You idiot! We needed all of that!" He yelled, and suddenly all eyes were on them.
"You knocked me into it you stupid pig!" Remus yelled back, and Snape went to punch him in the face, but Remus dodged it, went into a crouching position and tripped up Snape sneakily. The greasy haired boy fell onto the floor with a thud, and his humongous nose began spewing with blood (again). There was a mix of gasps and cheers from his classmates, and when Remus pulled himself up, he decided to storm out. This was far too much attention for his liking.
Remus began walking up to the room of requirement, but was stopped by a familiar voice when he reached the third floor, "Lupin, hold on!" James Potter yelled from behind, and Remus calmly turned around. The boy was accompanied by Sirius and Peter, along with Marlene and Dorcas who trailed behind them, seemingly a separate group.
"Firstly, that was so awesome!" Peter exclaimed, and James cheekily kicked his ankle from behind.
"Secondly, are you friends with these girls?" Sirius gestured towards Marlene and Dorcas, who were smiling warmly at Remus. He nodded slowly, and Sirius gasped dramatically. "But I thought you couldn't have friends!" He groaned, and Remus scoffed.
"Firstly, how unbelievably selfish," Remus looked Sirius dead in the eye, making sure he wasn't smiling at all, "Secondly, I'm not, it's a rule I put down for myself. But, I can't lie, Marlene and Dorcas are too sweet to resist," Remus jokingly winked at Marlene, who blew him a kiss, Sirius gasped, but Remus chuckled lightly, "Kidding! I figured that if I'm here for seven years my only friend can't be an.. animal." Remus picked his last words cleverly, as to not expose his secret.
"But, why would you be friends with them over us?" Sirius said, sounding extremely pathetic and whiney. Remus rolled his eyes, and poked his tongue out at the boys, continuing making his way up the stairs.
"Because they aren't nosy pricks." He replied, simply. Marlene let a giggle slip out, and Dorcas followed Remus walk up the staircase with a blank, vacant expression on his face. "I'm gonna ditch the rest of the day, see ya." He said simply, leaving Marlene, Dorcas, Sirius, James and Peter all stood there, confused.
*Sirius POV*
It just didn't make sense, did Remus not want to be his friend since he was nosy? Because, if so, he could simply just stop. "Guys, he said the animal was a cat, but I'm not convinced." James and Peter raised an eyebrow at him. Sirius had a hunch that Remus was perhaps visiting some sort of dark creature in the room of requirement, as when they followed him under Jame's invisibility cloak he always disappeared inside of that room.
"You guys, let's follow him again," James said, and Sirius immediately agreed. Peter was hesitant at first, but finally caved in and nodded as well. Peter hated invading Remus' privacy, and as did James and Sirius, but they all agreed that it was for a good cause. The three immediately darted towards the dormitory, ignoring the looks which they were receiving from Remus' Slytherin friend and Marlene McKinnon.
They had collectively decided that they would ditch the rest of the classes, and visit Remus in the room of requirement. They swung the invisibility cloak over themselves and practically sprinted up the stairs, although Peter had to take a few rest stops on the way. "You're quite out of shape mate." James commented, and Peter flipped him off, angrily. Sirius snickered, as they made their way up the stairs.
About halfway there James pointed out an asleep Remus, who was lying with his head against a concrete pillar and looked as if he was deceased. He was an extremely peaceful sleeper, and his breathing was steady. Peter suddenly sneezed, which caused Remus to wake with a start, "Who's there?" He yelled, looking as if he were petrified. The three of them remained silent, and Remus heaved himself up to his feet, and hurriedly ran away.
"Suspicious." Sirius commented, and James mumbled in agreement. They continued their chase, and when Remus finally came to a halt on the fifth floor, they all let out an exasperated sigh. When he had first discovered this place, Remus had slammed them out of the room before they could see what was on the inside, so this time, they were extra careful to slither in before he could manage to shut them out again.
"I wish I had a friend." Remus whispered softly, and Sirius felt a tinge of guilt. So he did want friends, Sirius supposed that he had some now, but hanging out with girls for the next seven years wouldn't suffice. The three snuck through the crevice of the door, and had to stifle a gasp at the sight before them. Not only was there a miniature library full of spell books in there, but a miniature creature as well. A baby dragon, before his very eyes. Remus scooped the baby into his arms, and tickled him. The dragon bit hard into his skin, and Sirius could see James flinch from the corner of his eye. To their shock, though, Remus just shook it off, chuckling. "I heal quickly, don't worry!" He reassured the dragon, and Sirius had to bite his lip to stop himself from shouting out at him.
"Trickster! You won't believe the day I had today!" Remus smiled widely, he seemed so genuinely happy with the creature, and the three boys under the cloak collectively decided to take a seat and settle into a corner, watching Remus. "So, basically, in potions I made some friends! It's shocking, right? And, I'm going to the Halloween dance with Marlene! I don't fancy her, obviously, but isn't that sweet? Anyway, I also punched Snape in his ugly face, gave him a nose bleed," Remus chuckled at the memory, he talked a lot when he thought he was alone.
"My dorm mates haven't given up on being my friends, don't get me wrong though, I still want to be friends with them, but it's too much of a risk, being what I am." The three boys all turned to look at each other, Sirius and James were grinning widely, but Peter had an eyebrow raised, and he looked very suspiciously at Remus.
They sat there for a while, listening to Remus rant about his day, as he emptied out meat from his bag to feed this dragon, 'Trickster'. Then, eventually, he got up and pulled a very old-looking book from his satchel, which was covered in food, mind you. As the dragon devoured some meat which Remus must've smuggled for him, the boy pulled out his wand, and looking down at his book, began reciting spells.
"Bombarda!" He shouted, aiming at some scrap pieces of parchment, and they all exploded, scattering in all different directions. Peter jumped, and James had to put a hand over the chubby boy's mouth in order to stop him from squealing. Sirius knew all too well that the explosion charm was taught in fourth year, and in order to perform it this well, he had to of been extremely powerful and practice the charm a lot.
The dragon began playing with the paper, knocking it around the room with it's tail. "You wanna go to quidditch again?" Remus asked, and the dragon nodded excitedly. How could Remus communicate with a dragon? That had to be impossible, not a wizard in the world had that ability, some could infer what they were thinking, and what emotions were running through particular creatures, but this was a whole other level of cross-species communication.
Sirius suddenly noticed Remus' nose twitch and he stuck his nose in the air, and began sniffing around. "What the fuck?" He spoke in his British accent, and began searching around the room for something. Or someone. "Who's there?" Remus said, angrily. He was practically shouting, before his gaze fixated onto where Sirius, Peter and James were sat. "Come out, I know you're there." Remus said, his voice calming down.
*Remus POV*
Remus was staring at the corner of the room of requirement, where the all too familiar scent had come from. Shockingly, a seemingly invisible cloak began to fall to the ground, revealing his dorm mates. Sirius was looking extremely guilty, James was biting his lip, probably in nervousness. Whereas Peter was sat there, looking very suspiciously at Remus. "What are you looking at?" Remus choked out.
"We've seen everything, Lupin." Peter said, his voice far steadier than it usually was. Remus felt the colour drain from his face, and he let his mouth drop open. He darted around, staring at Trickster, then back at the boys, who were smiling weakly. "We saw the spells, the dragon and the recap of your day." He continued, and Sirius gave Remus an encouraging smile.
"Oh fuck, um," Remus recalled what he had said about wanting to be friends with the Marauders and about going to the ball with Marlene. "Only from today, right?" He asked, and the three boys all nodded in unison. "Well, you're all still dickheads, don't get me wrong." Remus felt his face heating, and he bit his bottom lip.
"We want to be your friend too, we don't always act like this, trust us," James started, staring honestly up at Remus, "We've just been concerned for you. You don't seem all that happy, and you did say you wanted to be our friend." James gave Remus a trustworthy smile, and Remus felt obliged to return it in full.
"I know, it's just," Remus looked over at the expectant faces of Sirius, James and (an overly confident) Peter, before sighing and deciding to just tell the truth, "I have some secrets, and having close friends might risk them getting out." He spoke in an almost whisper, but still loud enough for them to hear.
"We aren't going to pester you anymore than we already have, I mean, we do come off as strong initially," Sirius said and James snickered.
"Initially?" Peter said, and James playfully punched his arm.
"I don't understand a word of what you've just said." Remus finally admitted, and the three boys began laughing, eventually, Remus caved in and joined in on the laughing. "Fine, you guys can have a chance." Remus finally said, and surprisingly, and Sirius leapt extremely far into the air with glee.
"Yes! You're going to love me, Remus!" He exclaimed, grabbing Remus by the hand and jumping around with him. "Can you introduce us to your dragon?" He asked, politely. Remus nodded eagerly, and lead the group towards Trickster, who was hopping around eagerly. Remus sat on the seat which was next to him, and the dragon hopped onto his lap, growling at the other three boys.
"Trickster, stop being rude." The dragon turned to face Remus and spat fire directly onto his arm, the other boys gasped and began panicking, but Remus just giggled. "Don't worry! See, all gone?" He spoke as if he were talking to an injured toddler, and raised his arm where the burn mark recently was located. The skin was now completely clear, and there wasn't so much as a scratch left to prove he were attacked by a dragon.
"How did you do that?" Peter asked, in awe.
"I just have a good immune system, I guess." Remus said with a shrug. The full moon was still two weeks away, and it was putting Remus into a perfect mood. Both Peter and James looked convinced, but Sirius, not so much. "If you lot promise to not bother me too much, and to include me in pranks, that's all I ask, then I can be your friend." Sirius and James both cheered, whilst Peter just stood there, a sweet smile spread across his pink face.
"Can you guys not listen in on me again, though?" Remus spoke up, "I talk about quite personal stuff to Trickster, he's my first friend." The dragon wobbled towards Remus, and brushed playfully against his leg. Remus chuckled and scooped up the dragon, before looking up towards his new friends. "I took him to the first quidditch game, even though I hate both sports and loud noises. He knows all of my secrets, as well." Remus gave the dragon a kiss on the forehead, and he noticed Sirius smirking towards him.
"You should kiss me like that, Remus." Sirius said with a cheeky smile, followed by a joking yet flirty wink, causing Remus to scoff and roll his eyes.
"Right." Remus replied, sarcasm in his voice. "You guys should know," He began, ignoring Sirius' suggestive comment, "After every meal, I visit Trickster, I spend most of my time here, and most evenings I shrink him down and take him around the castle." Sirius gasped, laughing heartedly.
"Wicked!" The long haired boy exclaimed, and Remus stuck his tongue out at him. Remus glanced at the grandfather clock, and bit his lip, a habit which he had picked up from the orphanage.
"Shit, my detention is in five minutes." He kissed Trickster goodbye, and apologised to his new friends. Remus hurriedly gathered his things, including his satchel which still contained his annotated map, and darted out the door, not letting the other boys get in another word. Despite being late, Filch was quite easy on him. He only had to do an hour of dusting. Afterwards, he was escorted back to the dormitory, where he was greeted by a very jumpy Sirius.
He seemed to be very excited to be friends with Remus, which was unbelievable, in his opinion. "Want to play a game of exploding snap?" Sirius asked, and Remus shook his head. "I'm so happy that we're finally friends!" The boy excitedly screeched. Remus remembered about him being a werewolf and all, the fact that he's different, and the obvious flaw, that he had never had friends. This began the overthinking, the constant worrying that perhaps they were just pulling a prank on him, tears welled up in Remus' eyes, and he decided to reply with the shortest answer in which he could fathom without bursting into uncontrollable tears. As he choked back his emotions, he swallowed quietly, and then met eyes with Sirius.
"You'll get over it."