Remus
Remus(Moony)Lupin:
Remus wakes up late for breakfast and has to sprint downstairs only to see that the tables are empty; he drops down on the end of the Gryffindor table.
“Everything okay?” it was a Slytherin boy a year above Remus. Remus’ fists curled and his jaw tightened, “I’m not here to fight you just look… tired.” Yesterday was a full moon, and while the marauders knew about his furry little problem as Sirius would put it, they didn't know the full toll it took on him. They usually made sure to snag him some breakfast but with the upcoming tests they've been less attentive than usual.
Despite this boy trying to be nice Remus keeps his jaw and fists tense, “whaddya need?” The boy takes this as an invitation to sit down.
“Have you eaten?” Remus just stares at him blankly, “I'll take that as a no. Here.” The boy places a small napkin full of toast and jams, Moony quickly whips up his toast and eats the three slices the boy offered in mere minutes.
“Thank you.” Remus says despite himself.
“Of course, my name is Briar, just so you know.”
“Remus,”
“I know, I've seen you and your friends around; they're all pretty loud.”
“I suppose, now why did you offer me toast?”
“You looked hungry, and you're cute, nothing more.” he smiles before walking back to his house table where his group of friends are watching Remus closely. Sirius comes running in and sits down where Briar was just moments ago.
“Hey moony! Come on, we have potions!” Sirius grabs Remus’ wrist and drags him out of the dining hall but not before taking a last glance at Briar.
Potions class felt boring as always but the marauders had fun messing around, Remus’ cauldron turned the wrong color and he couldn't figure out why, Sirius’ cauldron tipped over and almost burned a hole in the table, James’ blew up in his face causing him to lose part of an eyebrow, and Peter managed to do his perfectly.
James had quidditch practice and Sirius wanted to mess around on the pitch so Peter and Remus went to the library to study.
“Can you help me with herbology?”
“Uhh I don't know, I'm not the best at herbology”
“I can help” Peter goes for his wand as Briar sits down.
“Hey Briar.”
“Remus.”
“Why are you friends with a Slytherin, worse one of Snivellus' friends?”
“Snivellus?”
“Yeah, the greasy one,” Peter decides to clarify, but it definitely wasn't the best way.
“You guys really hate Slytherins? Why? What did an entire house do to you?” Remus is at a loss for words, why does he hate an entire group of students for something they couldn't change, it would be like hating him for being who he is, for wanting a boyfriend.
“Because they're a bunch of blood supremacists who want to kill hundreds of wizards?” Peter looks to Remus for agreement, he nods not fully listening to what Peter had said.
“I should go, blood supremacists to befriend.” Briar stands up to leave and Remus is clued into what he just agreed to. Briar is halfway out the door before Remus can even stand up.
He chases Briar out the door, “hey wait up!” he stops but looks more than upset by it.
“What? Want to make it any more obvious?”
“Make what more obvious?”
“How you feel about my entire house?”
“I didn't even say anything? I wasn't even listening to what Pete said. I was in my own head, I tend to block out my idiot friends.”
“So you just agreed?”
“Yeah, I tend to do that a lot, It's why I'm in detention for half the week.”
“You should pick up on better habits.”
“Probably, and just so you know, I don't hate the entire Slytherin house, just the blood supremacists and arseholes.”
“That's fair.”
“I’d love to continue this conversation, but I really need to study.”
“Course, see you around Remus.” Remus nods and heads back into the library where Peter is still studying. They sit in silence for a while not wanting to discuss the events from a moment before. They spend a couple hours doing everything they need to get done, before the other boys join them, Peter immediately falls into conversation with them but Remus is on the sidelines. It's moments like this when Remus remembers that they don't need him the way he needs them. They could stop being friends with him and they wouldn't think twice, but he will never find friends that are okay with him being a werewolf again, he doesn't even know if they will be okay with him being gay and the thought of coming out terrifies him to the core.
“Moony, you okay?” Sirius nudges him.
“Yeah fine, just busy with homework.”
“I thought you finished your homework like an hour ago?” Peter opens his mouth and ruins his lie
“Whatever.” Remus packs up his things and leaves, he needs to be careful how much time he spends with them, they cant find out he doesn't truly belong.
He goes down to the dining hall which is mostly empty at this hour, there's some food on the tables but dinner hasn't been served yet.
“You seem to be here alone a lot?” Briar sits down with a smile on his face.
“Yeah I guess.”
“Don't want them to find out your secret?”
“Huh, what secret?!”
“That you’re… not… into women.” he whispers the last part making sure no one else is around.
“How do- you're wrong.”
“No I'm not, I've seen the way you look at that boy, Regulus’ older brother.”
“No- I don’t- I-”
“I'm not judging you,” he pauses until Remus’ face relaxes and the terror is seemingly gone, “come on, I wanna show you something.” he’s hesitant but Remus decides to follow. They go up some stairs down some halls and end up in the astronomy tower.
“I've seen the astronomy tower before?”
“I know, but you haven't seen this.” Briar leads Remus to the ledge of the astronomy tower and pushes one of the bricks causing a new door to open in the floor. Briar and Remus head down the stairs where there is a little room consisting of a chair, a side table and books lining the walls all the way up, “my dad found this place when he went to school here.”
“This is amazing.”
“Can I tell you something?” Remus is surprised by the question but nods anyways, “I knew you were… gay,” the word sound forign to Remus but it also sounds right, “because, well, I am too.” Remus regards him for a moment as a forgin object disrupting his way of life.
“How’d you know for sure?”
“I kissed a boy, got the hell beat out of me by the others in the muggle neighborhood, but it was definitely worth it.”
“I don't think I could ever do that, I'll probably end up marrying a girl who isn't into guys just to appease my friends and parents.”
“Sounds sad, would you and this hypothetical woman have a kid?”
“Probably.”
“Whatar ya gonna name this kid?”
“No idea, I'm thirteen.”
“You should name your kid after me? If this ever happens”
“Why?”
“Because I helped ya realize your true identity.”
“Sure, ya did.”
“Mhmm.” Remus doesn't understand what’s happening as Briar comes closer to him, his brain short functions as Briar’s lips barely touch his own. Briar hesitates for a moment until Remus leans closer; after that it's what Remus coined while talking to James years later “a make out session.”
When they finally pull away Briar has a smile on his lips and Remus is blushing harder than he wants to be, “told ya I helped you.” he says smirking ridiculously. Remus opens his mouth to speak but no words come out, he closes his mouth and blushes again making Briar laugh. “I've never brought anyone down here, I guess that makes it our spot.”
Remus catches a glimpse of his watch and realizes its drifting dangerously close to curfew for being out with a gay Slytherin boy, “I should go? It's late and I don't want to lose house points.”
“Alright, I’ll see ya later.” Briar places a quick peck on Remus’ lips before leading him back up the stairs. They part ways as they reach the stairs, Remus makes his way back upstairs and into the dorm.
“Moony, where have you been?” Sirius scolds the second Remus opens the door.
“With a girl hopefully?” James sits up putting his glasses on.
“Moonyyyy, tell us all about it! The first Marauder to be with a girl.” Peter yells pulling out candy to gossip but Remus just ignores them, gets into his bed, casts a silencing charm, and lays down. The smile that takes over his face is one he never wants to lose and for the first time he can see himself with someone other than Sirius.