Chapter 1
If it was up to Remus, his life would’ve ended right then.
When he woke up in the shrieking shack, James at his bedside. He knew it as soon he saw James’s face, his cheeks red, brows furrowed, eyes filled to the brim with tears. Remus had asked what happened, he had begged James to please just tell him. All James did was apologize.
In the end, it was Peter who finally got the words out. Peter, who couldn’t even bare to look Remus in the eye. Peter who told him of what Sirius had done. How he had put Remus, himself, and Snape in danger. How he betrayed Remus in the worst way possible. How he had ruined 6 years of friendship, all for a stupid prank.
Remus had wanted to kill him. Remus still wanted to kill him. He wanted to get up, and find Sirius. Wanted to grab him by his shirt, or perhaps by his stupid fucking hair that he cared so much about. He wanted to punch him in the face, repeatedly. Until he bled, until he begged Remus to stop, until he passed out and Remus couldn’t feel his hand anymore.
Remus had never felt anger like this. He couldn’t bare it. He couldn’t look at Sirius, be around him, or even hear his name without wanting to beat the shit out of him.
And this was fine for the most part. During class he stayed by Lily, Mary and Marlene. Around them Sirius wouldn’t bring it up. He couldn’t, considering Mary and Marlene didn’t know about Remus’s “furry little problem” as his friends often called it. So throughout the day, as long as he stayed by either Mary or Marlene, he was fine.
The biggest issue came at night. Because although Remus could escape Sirius during the day, he couldn’t at night considering they shared a dorm.
At first, Remus had pretended to be injured so he could stay in the hospital wing. However, after the second night, Madame Pomfrey had called him out on his bullshit and sent him back to his dorm. After that, there was no escaping it. Every opportunity he got, Sirius would immediately go off on a rant, apologizing, claiming he didn’t think it through properly, etcetera etcetera.
The worst part was, it wasn’t just Sirius. James too had taken to telling Remus exactly what he thought. James’s speeches always started the same. First he would tell Remus that he had every right to be mad, what Sirius did was wrong and so Remus could hate him forever. And if that was all that he had to say Remus might actually enjoy those speeches. But of course, James was James, and he just had to follow that up by telling Remus he should at least TALK to Sirius because ‘for Merlin’s sake Moony if you don’t talk about it you’ll never move past this.’
The thing was though, that Remus wasn’t gonna move on. He had never been so mad, never hated someone as much as he had once loved them. He couldn’t just talk it out, have a cry, and have everything be ok. Sirius had done something much worse than Remus had ever imagined he was capable of, and Remus was not just gonna let it go because ‘he’s really sorry.’
Remus really had tried. Tried to ignore them and just go to bed, but of course Sirius had come to talk to him. Remus had to yell at him to fuck off twice and hex him four times before Sirius finally left him alone. This happened again the next night, and Remus swore to Sirius that if he spoke one more word, Remus would burn Sirius’s hair straight off. Sirius shut up immediately. The night after that, Remus had stayed out after curfew, hoping that by the time he got back Sirius would be asleep. This worked for two nights, but on the third night Sirius realized what Remus was doing, and to ensure that he was up when Remus came back, he sat against the door of their dorm so that went Remus opened it, it would wake Sirius up. He had done that the next night and last night, which is why tonight Remus was waiting in the library, with no idea what to do.
He was sure Sirius was asleep against the door, so going back to his dorm was out of the question. He could sleep in the library, but if he did that the chances that he would be discovered in the morning were very high. He couldn’t sleep in the common room, because Sirius would find him in the morning, not to mention people would question it. He couldn’t get into the girl’s dorm, plus even if he could how would he explain it to them. So that really left him with zero options.
Just as Remus was considering the idea of sneaking out to the shack, he heard the door to the library creak open, and the soft sound of footsteps on the polished wood floor.
Remus slowly stood from his spot on the floor next to the book shelf.
“God no, please do not let it be him.” He thought, body tensing as the footsteps drew nearer.
A figure slowly came into veiw and in the faint moonlight Remus could just barely make out the boy, dark hair that hung just slightly above his shoulders, thin frame, sharp cheek bones, and a thin nose.
And for a moment Remus wanted to scream, because this was it. Sirius had him cornered. He couldn’t run, and he couldn’t hex him because that would be too loud.
“He’s got me,” Remus thought, “Sirius Black outsmarted me and now I’m going to have to hear his stupid fucking speech about how sorry he is.”
And then he heard it. One word, whispered in the dark.
“Lupin?”
And that was not the thrilled whisper-shout of Sirius Black.
That was confused, and almost angry whisper of none other than Regulus Black.
“Regulus?” Was all Remus could think to say back.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Regulus questioned. “This isn’t for one of your stupid pranks is it?”
“God do NOT mention pranks to me right now.” Remus hissed before he could stop himself.
“Merlin, sorry.” Regulus said. And even in the dark Remus could tell he was rolling his eyes.
“Then what are you doing here.” Regulus repeated.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Remus countered.
“Yes, but you didn’t and I did.” Regulus replied.
He’s got me there, Remus thought. Now he had three options. He could tell Regulus everything, how Sirius betrayed him, how he couldn’t go back to his dorm, how he wanted to beat Sirius senseless. But that would take to long and it was perhaps more information than Regulus wanted. His second option was of course to lie. But Regulus was not stupid, and he was not afraid to call Remus out for his bullshit. So there was one more option and that was to change the subject. And while Remus might not know much about Regulus, he did know he was a member of the Black family, and there was nothing the Blacks loved more than talking shit about the other members of the family.
“Your brothers a real prick, you know that.” Remus said.
“Yes,” Regulus laughed, well, not laughed as much as scoffed, “I’ve known it since the day I was born. Are you only just noticing? Honestly, Lupin, I thought you were smarter than that.”
“So did I.” Remus muttered.
“This wouldn’t have anything to do with what happened to Snape now would it?” Regulus asked after a moment.
Remus felt his stomach drop. Fuck. Was Snape telling people? Of course Snape was telling people! What exactly was he telling them though?
“What-” Remus cleared his throat, “what exactly happened to Snape?”
At this Regulus raised an eyebrow, a slow smirk spread on his face.
“Oh so it does have something to do with him.”
“What happened?” Remus said, a little louder, “what did he say?”
“Nothing much,” Regulus answered, unfazed, “just that my idiot brother did something idiotic and nearly had Snape killed.”
“Did he say what?” Remus asked, he could hear his heart beating furiously.
“No.” Regulus said, “but I think that I know.”
This made Remus laugh, “trust me Regulus. You definitely do not-”
“It’s the werewolf thing right.” Regulus interrupted. “I’m guessing Sirius told Snape something about it, maybe told him to go see it for himself, and the wolf, you, tried to attack him. Am I right?”
Remus stood there, mouth agape, absolutely dumbfounded. “How did you…”
“I’ve suspected it since my first year, and slowly more and more things started to line up. Too many for it to just be a coincidence.” Regulus answered lazily, “as for Sirius telling Snape, when Snape came into the common room about a week ago ranting about his near death experience, yet not being able to give specific details, I knew that the fact that it was the night of a full moon and that my brother was involved just made too much sense for it not to be connected back to you.”
“Regulus, I…you…you can’t say anything please I can’t” Remus stumbled over his words. He had never been this worried. If this secret got out it would ruin his entire life.
“Honestly Lupin,” Regulus said, sounding slightly offended, “I’m cruel but I’m not some sort of raging idiot. Of course I’m not going to tell anyone. Had it been anyone else then perhaps if I was feeling evil enough, but I actually happen to hate you much less than I hate most people, so of course I’m going to keep your secret.”
“God, Regulus thank you!” Remus breathed, “really thank you so much.”
“Yeah alright Lupin don’t go getting all sappy.” Regulus rolled his eyes. “So is that why you’re here then? Avoiding my brother?”
“Pretty much,” Remus answered, “if I go back to my dorm I’m bombarded with half assed apologies. I can’t deal with him right now and I don’t really know where else to go.”
“You gonna sleep here then?” Regulus asked, glancing at the spot where Remus had been sitting.
“I guess so.” Remus sighed, “like I said, I’ve got no where else to go.”
Regulus paused a moment, like he was thinking something through. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, but his lip, and then began to smile like he had made up his mind.
“Come stay in my dorm.” He said.
“What?” Remus blinked. Had he heard that right?
“Come stay in my dorm.” Regulus repeated, like this was the simplest concept in the world. And it sort of was, except that this was Regulus Black and as far as Remus knew Regulus hated him. So what the fuck was going on?!
“Why?” Was all Remus could manage to say.
Regulus actually laughed at this. “Why? Because why not.”
“Lupin the way it seems to me, you could either go back to your dorm and have to put up with my brother and his friends trying to get you to forgive Sirius. Either that or you sleep here, probably get caught in the morning which will earn you detention. And if you get detention Sirius will find out and he will get him self detention just to be with you.”
That was all very true but Remus was still confused as to why Regulus was so happy to offer up his dorm.
“Or,” Regulus continued, “you could accept my offer and come stay in my dorm. It’s just me, Evan, and Barty so there’s a spare bed, you could hang out with us Pandora, and Dorcas. So not only would you get a place to live away from my brother, but it would also drive him insane to know your hanging out with his god awful little brother and his dickhead friends.”
“Also,” Regulus said suddenly, like another great idea just occurred to him, “Evan and Barty think you’re incredibly attractive and would gladly shag you if you’d like.” A wicked smirk spread across his face. “It would make Sirius absolutely mental.”
That actually made Remus laugh. He liked the idea of it all, him at breakfast with Regulus’s friends, while Sirius sat across the greathall, fucking seething.
This could work. It would be nice to get away from the Marauders for a bit, plus he could spend time with Regulus, who he really always liked. Sirius wouldn’t bother him because he’d rather die than let Regulus see how bothered he was by it. James wouldn’t bother him either, seeing as James had always been very intimidated by Regulus. Remus could relax, make different (maybe even better) friends, and piss off Sirius all by just agreeing to stay in Regulus’s room. That sounded like a pretty good deal.
“Alright.” Remus smiled, “I’ll stay with you.”
“Lovely.” Regulus said.
And with that he turned and headed back out of the library. Regulus moved very quickly and Remus was struggling to keep up with his abrupt turns and seemingly random stops. Eventually they reached a flight of stairs where Remus was able to catch up the Regulus.
“Do we need to be going this fast?” Remus panted.
“Unless you want to be caught by Filch, yes. Now keep up Lupin.” Regulus said as he turned down yet another winding hallway.
Eventually, after a few more turns and what felt like an eternity, they reached a portrait of an old man, dressed in knight’s amor, holding a sword up in the air.
Regulus approached the painting, glanced around to make sure no one was coming, then whispered, “bacterial”
The knight shifted slightly, eyeing Remus up and down. Were portaits allowed to accused students of being out after curfew?
Regulus cleared his throat, clearly annoyied now.
“I said-”
“I heard ye.” The knight replied in a thick Scottish accent.
The portrait slowly swung open, revealing the Slytherin common room. Regulus wasted no time climbing through and waited for Remus to follow before abruptly closing the door.
The Slytherin common room was much different then the Gryffindor one. The wood was darker, the couches made of black or green fabric. Bookshelves lined the back wall and there were two small windows that were fogged over. Beautiful paintings hung around the room, and there were three miniature marble statues on the mantle above the fire place. The room was lit by one large chandelier and when Remus looked up he noticed the ceiling was covered in faintly glowing dots. It looked to be a star chart, the kind you find in an old astronomy text book.
Remus didn’t have long to appreciate it, as Regulus was already headed towards the stairs that led to the boys dormitories. Remus followed him up three flights of stairs and then down a small hallway to the last door on the right.
Regulus reached out and opened the door, absolutely silently. He let Remus enter first then followed and shut the door behind himself.
The second the door was shut the lights flashes on and someone shouted “REGGIE”
Remus squinted in the sudden brightness, and after a moment his eye adjusted and he saw the scene before him. The Slytherin common room was the same as the Gryffindor ones, except with green and black beds instead of red and gold. The bed in the far left was made, the sheets pulled back tightly, the pillows all on it but some slightly askew. On the stand next to it there were two books, a quill, and some paper. On the bed next to the one Remus assumed was Regulus’s, the sheets and pillows all looked perfect, completely untouched. Remus assumed this was the spare bed. The one to the right of that actually had a person in it. Evan Rossier, to be exact, was sitting up reading a book. His space looked neat, not as neat as Regulus, but he clearly cleaned up after himself. Then, there was the bed on the far right. Barty Crouches bed was an absolute mess. The sheets were a mess, thrown about like no one viene attempted to keep them neat. There were clothes on the floor around his bed, and his night stand was littered with random papers, quills, books, socks, and much more.
“Yes hello Barty.” Regulus replied, sliding annoyed. “Shouldn’t you be asleep by now?”
“Shouldn’t you?” Barty responded. Then his eyes fell on Remus and a smile spread across his face. “Speaking of which, nice of you to bring by such a pretty visitor. Is he the reason your not sleeping?”
Evan snickered softly and Regulus rolled his eyes. “Don’t be fucking weird Barty. This is Remus, he’s going to be staying here with us for a bit.”
“Oh trust me I know who he is,” Barty said standing up and walking over to Remus. And Remus had to admit, he did look pretty fit, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and a tight fitting shirt.
“Pleasure to finally meet you properly Lupin.” Barty smiled putting out his hand.
Remus decided to play along, dramatically shaking Barty’s hand a saying, “please Mr. Crouch the pleasure is all mine.”
“Oh god Lupin not you too.” Regulus muttered as he climbed into his bed.
“Oh relax Reggie, let the boys have their fun.” Evan spoke for the first time. He glanced up at Remus, “Evan Rossier, I think we’ve met before.”
“Yeah we have.” Remus smiled at him.
He had been pretty nervous at first. He was sure that they would start questioning him as to why he was there and why Regulus’s just randomly brought him. But they did nothing like that, instead they gladly welcomed him. Bart lent him a pair of sweat pants to sleep in and Evan told him about the book he was reading, something about a witch who married into a muggled family and was desperately trying to keep her secret.
He and Evan discussed their favorite books, with Barty making comments here and there. Then, at around 2:30 (god had they really been talking for two hours?!) Regulus said that if they didn’t all shut up and turn off the lights he would drown them all in the Lake. And with that, Barty shut off the lights and Remus fell asleep feeling better than he had in over a week.