Remus’ flat was a tip and the houseplant Gid had bought him was dead. Setting the kettle to boil, he pushed aside the dirty cups in favour of filling his travel mug with tea. Slightly hungover from that bottle of red he and Pete shared the night before, he flung the tea bag into the mug and shakily poured the water. His suit was ruffled and needed a good iron, but more importantly, Remus Lupin was late.
His alarm had failed to go off and what woke him instead was a BBC news notification going on about something or other; what was more pressing was that he had to be out the door in ten minutes.
With his teeth brushed hastily and an unsuccessful attempt to tame his mousey curls, Remus was out the door- tea in hand.
His mum’s old toyota sputtered to life and Mr Lupin was on his way to Hogwarts Secondary School. He had taught there for four years, as a teacher in the English department and worked alongside his good friend Peter Pettigrew, a geography teacher. When he first arrived he felt incredibly out of his depth, as he was fresh out of his teacher training, but on his first day Pete had offered him the last digestive in the staff room and the rest was history.
Tonks happened to also work at the school, but as a receptionist. It was as he drove that he thought about how glad he was that it was Tonks’ turn to have Teddy that night as he most definitely could not have dealt with a moody teenager that morning. Tonks was pregnant with Teddy when both they and Remus were seventeen, and so Remus finished his teaching qualifications much later.
Teddy was a result of a drunken fumble between good friends, and so Tonks and Remus’ relationship didn’t last. They did, however, remain best friends and they successfully co parent Teddy, with the help of Andi and Hope. Ted Tonks and Lyall Lupin had both passed away before Teddy was born, and so he was named Edward Lyall Lupin-Tonks as a way to honour the two. Their unconventional family worked and Remus wouldn’t change a thing. He was happy, but he did feel something, or someone, was missing sometimes.
He had dated in the past. His most recent relationship with Gideon Prewett didn’t last long, and they mutually parted because neither was able to give each other what they wanted: Remus wanted someone to settle down with and all Gid wanted was a shag to be honest.
Remus was just about to turn into the school car park and as he was tinkering with the radio, a big black dog ran in front of his car. Hitting the brakes, the dog had successfully avoided Remus’ car bonnet but what seems to be its owner wasn’t so lucky.
His tea covered the inside of the car.
It wasn’t a bad hit, as Remus was only going about ten miles per hour (as he was in a school-zone), but the person had still taken a tumble. Remus ran out of his car to hear a wailing, “Padfoot, get back here you bastard!” He rounded on the man, muttering under his breath several ‘fuck’s, before finally asking, “are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah fine. Could you get the dog?”
So, Remus, already late and suit already creased, found himself chasing after the menace- cornering it by a bench in the small park by the school. He grabbed the dog’s lead and ran back to his car, the beast trotting beside him happily with its tongue lolling out of its mouth, leaving a trail of slather in its wake. He really was a bastard.
As they approached, the man had gotten up, brushing himself off and then running his fingers through his hair. His long, black hair. At second glance, the man was very good-looking, not that he wasn’t lying face down on the ground, and Remus felt like he himself had been hit by a car with the way all of the air had left his lungs. Dressed in torn-up black jeans, probably not torn from the fall, and leather jacket, which should look ridiculous but doesn’t, the man spoke, “I am so, so sorry I shouldn’t have run out in front of you. Jesus, I am so sorry he just ran off.”
Remus needed to get a grip. He’d just hit the man, the gorgeous man, with his car for fucks sake. “No no don’t be silly, are you hurt?”
The man looked at Remus for a second and then down at himself and Remus could see he had scraped his right cheek and chin from the fall, and his knees weren’t faring too well either. Even with the abrasions on his face, he still looked beautiful.
He was staring. Suppressing a blush, Remus managed to speak, “You’ve cut your face and knees a bit. Come on, let me park and I’ll take you inside and get you patched up.”
“Inside?”
Remus gestured to Hogwarts, “The school, just there, I’m a teacher. I’ll get someone to cover my form and I’ll help you get sorted.”
“Really don’t worry I’ll be okay”
“I insist, it’s no trouble”.
It was comical really. Remus had woken up, slightly broken hearted and late, and now here was this angel-like, injured, bloke in his car with a hellhound in the back, slobbering all over the seats. They parked up and ambled towards reception.
*
*
Tonks and Dorcas were at reception and Marlene from PE was there too- chatting up Dorcas as per usual. The trio walk in.
“Sirius Black what have you done?” Marlene asked.
“Why do you assume I did something?”, Sirius threw back, scandalised.
“Well I don’t think Lupin is the type to rough you up by the bike shed, so I assumed you did something stupid.”
“I did nothing. He hit me with his car.”
“No, you ran in front of my car.”
Marlene looked pleased.
“Touché”, Sirius Black conceded.
With Marlene and Sirius engaged in heated conversation, Remus approached Tonks and Dorcas’ desk. “Cas, do you have that First Aid kit?"
She rummaged in the cupboard to her left and withdrew the green bag.
“Here, use conference room A”. She handed it to him with a wink; Remus blushed furiously.
“Remus”, Tonks looked incredibly amused.
“I’ll tell you later”. He turned a deeper shade of scarlet. He heard both their giggles as he walked away.
*
*
Remus and Sirius, led by Padfoot, wandered the corridor and came to conference room A and shuffled inside. The men brought two chairs to face each other, and sat down. Padfoot slumped into a heap in the corner.
“Are you even allowed dogs here?”, Sirius asked.
“Probably not, but here we are.”
Sirius grinned.
Remus began tending to Sirius’ wounds, cleaning them first (“Ow fuck”, “stop moving!”). They were (mostly) silent while Remus cleaned the scrapes on his face, licking his lips slightly with concentration. Sirius cleared his throat. Their eyes met, stormy grey meeting amber, “Lupin was it?”
“Remus Lupin”
Sirius gave him a blank stare, “You’re telling me your name is-”
“-Wolfy McWolf yes.”
Remus’ eyes sparkled with mischief, “but you’re one to talk ‘black dog’”
“Fair enough wolfman.”
Sirius smiled. Remus, smiling back, continued cleaning and patching in silence, and Sirius continued to watch him work with a strange glint in his eye. They were nearly done when the door opened.
Peter, a student and what seemed to be the student’s parents entered the room. The men leapt apart and Padfoot made his presence known, bounding towards the student and parents from his corner- tail wagging and tongue hanging out. The boy, Remus now recognised as Harry Potter from his year seven class, fell to his knees and started petting Padfoot. The Potter parents, who Remus knew from parents evening last week, stared at Sirius. Peter looked to Remus with a mouthed ‘what the fuck’ and Remus shrugged with a grimace.
Remus looked to Sirius and then at the scene before him. He stood up grabbing Pete with a ‘please excuse us a second’ aimed at no one in particular and left the room. When they were out the door, Peter leant against the wall with folded his arms and gave him a questioning look.
“I hit him with my car”
“Okay.”
“He ran out in front of me to chase that beast in there.”
“Okay.”
“I’m helping him clean up.”
“Okay."
He paused.
“I couldn’t leave the dog in the car.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
They looked at each other. Peter was suppressing a laugh. Git.
“What are the Potters doing here?” Remus asked, ignoring him.
“Harry’s having trouble with Draco again.”
Remus gave an understanding ‘Ah’.
“Should we go back in?”
“Yes Pete. We can’t not mate.”
“Twat.”
The men sheepishly entered the room. Everyone looked at them. Sirius was the first to speak, “Remus this is James, Lily and Harry-”
“-I teach Harry actually-”
“-James, Lily, Harry this is the bloke who hit me with his car-”
“-You ran in front of my car.”
“Tomato, tomato.”
“Hi again Mr Lupin”, interrupted Lily.
“Hello Lily. James”, nodding at him.
“Hi.” James waved an awkward hand.
Peter jumped in, “should we go to another room guys?”
The Potters, looking grateful, agreed and they left with a reluctant Harry, who wanted to continue playing with Padfoot.
As soon as the door closed, Sirius and Remus were alone once more, except for Padfoot. They looked at each other until Remus was blushing and had to look away, “let’s finish cleaning you up”. They resumed their previous positions and Padfoot went off to sulk in the corner again, obviously he wasn’t going to get the attention he wanted.
Once they were finished they stood awkwardly in the conference room. Padfoot’s lead held tightly in Sirius’ hand, obviously wary of another escape.
“Thank you”, Sirius spoke up.
“Really don’t mention it, it’s the least I could do.”
“Yeah, you did hit me with your car”
“I did yeah”, he admitted, scratching the back of his head. “Do you have a lift home?” He had a thought, “actually, maybe a quick trip to A&E wouldn’t hurt.”
“That’s a good shout, I’ll wait for Lils and Prongs to finish with Harry- ask them for a lift.”
“Prongs?”
“James.”
Remus arched an eyebrow, “a story for another time?”
“A story for another time.” Sirius agreed, grinning.
Suddenly, Sirius took his phone out of his pocket, and handed it to Remus. He was about to question him when Sirius answered, “for another time”.
Blushing for what felt like the fiftieth time that day, Remus typed his number into the phone and handed it back.
“Well, I’d better get to my class-”
“-Oh shit, your class-”
“-No really it’s okay I wanted to make sure you were okay”
“Well cheers”, His eyes sparkled. Sirius, made to leave the room before he paused and grinned. “See you around Moony.”
He was gone before he could ask what the fuck a moony is.