Written for: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments), Assignment 9, the Astronomy Task 3: Write about an organisation.

This is a Muggle!AU. The cover is a (magnificent) drawing by atalienart

Warning: mention of abusive relationship

Changing the world

"Come on everyone, come and sit down."

Remus moved from the corner of the room and sat on the edge of a chair at the far end of the oval table. He was unsure of what he was doing there. He tried not to think about his discomfort and focused on the woman with bright red hair who had told them to sit down. She stood at the other end of the table waiting for everyone to be seated and added "Thank you all for coming. Please welcome our new member Remus Lupin. Today's his first day among us." Remus didn't expect all the attention and felt his cheeks burn as everyone clapped and smiled at him.

The red-haired woman introduced herself as Lily Evans. She was the director and co-founder of the London LGBT center. She had a gentle and calm voice which made Remus feel more at ease. After her quick introduction she focused on the goal of the meeting.

"As you may know, we're here to make a recap of our progress this year. I have to say I'm really glad with the way this association is going. We've achieved most of our goal, this year has really been productive. Thank you all for your commitment!" There was another enthusiastic round of applause. Lily smiled widely and added "Don't get me wrong, we're still far away from our goal of full equality but I think we can allow ourselves to celebrate the small victories of this past year. I would like now for each chief of project to present to the group their progress, what worked and what didn't and what are their ideas for the following year. So who would like to start?"

A man seated a few chairs away on Remus' right stood up and introduced himself as Kingsley Shacklebolt, the chief director of the project for the raising awareness campaign. He was tall and imposing and exuded confidence. He talk with a deep and slow voice.

"I have to say this year has been quite tough. We had to fight tooth and nail to get even the smallest article or image in a newspaper. We mainly aimed at the largest newspaper companies but without much success. We also held several meeting in different London areas. Twice a month we handed out flyers in the busiest streets. These flyers were meant to raise awareness among the general public about the struggles we had to fight and what our goal - equality - is. For the following year, we would like to create our own newspaper - a proper one - and organise more meetings. The few ones we've held this year have been productive, a large number of people turned up and we've been able to have proper enlightening discussions with the people who were there."

There was another round of applause and a woman named Marlene McKinnon made her own team's report, followed by Albus Dumbledore, Dorcas Meadowes, Emmeline Vance and some others Remus didn't remember the name. As he sat there, listening about the different projects the association had undertaken during the past year, Remus felt his doubts about contributing to the center gradually leave him. These people were doing some actual good in the world. Some rose awareness, some helped people in need, some guided members of the community through medical procedures and tests, others were reaching out to distressed children and teenagers. Everyone had a part in this movement and tried their best to make the world a better place.

And even though it wasn't his idea to join the group and he had had a lot of second thoughts about taking part in such an openly queer association, in this moment Remus was convinced it was a good idea.

Remus had grown up in small village in the north of Wales where people weren't really open-minded. He had learnt to conceal his attraction towards men from the beginning of his teenage years and kept his few encounters with other men completely secret. He had had a few relationships but he had never told his girlfriends about his bisexuality. That was until Anna. Even now, Remus still didn't know how she had found out but somehow she had.

At first he was afraid she would leave him once she knew. Now he regretted she hadn't. Instead she tried to turn him into a man he wasn't. She kept telling him that homosexuality was wrong and that it was dirty and degrading. She told him that as long as he didn't act on it, God may forgive him his sin. She said it, again and again until somewhere along the way, Remus started to believe it.

It took him a long time and a lot of help from his friends, especially from his best friend Peter, to finally break it off. It had been a year since the day he had announced Anna their relationship was over but Remus still couldn't think about her violent reaction without flinching. He was slowly but surely rebuilding himself and Peter had convinced him that taking part in a LGBT association could help him. And so here he was.

When each project's progress had been presented Lily stood up again, thanked everyone for their participation and reminded them that the next meeting was planned for the next Thursday before encouraging them to stay for a small brunch.

They all got up and went to the adjacent room where a table was covered with various dishes waiting for them. Remus stayed a bit behind, he wasn't really good at mingling with people he didn't know. He grabbed a glass of juice and stood on a corner of the room where there weren't as many people, waiting for them to help themselves before he could reach out for some food.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the man approaching until he heard him speak.

"How's it going Mr Lupin?"

The man was shorter than him, his black hair was tied up in a bun with a few strands falling on his gorgeous stormy grey eyes. He had smooth aristocratic features and was half-smiling at him. Remus had to blink several times to bring himself to focus on the question he was asked. "Humm... I'm good, thanks Mr…?"

"Black. But you can call me Sirius." Sirius extended his hand and Remus shook it.

"Nice to meet you Mr… hum Sirius. You can call me Remus."

Let go of his hand, Remus, it's starting to get weird. Let go of his ridiculously smooth and strong hand. Remus attempted a smile to the other man to hide his turmoil.

"I'm glad you've decided to join us Remus."

And in this right moment, Remus thought that he was very glad to have joined them, indeed.

1,140 words

Review? :)