Title: What makes a smart man silly
Pairing(s): Remus Lupin / Fabian Prewett
Word Count: ~4200
Rating: PG 13
Warning(s)/Content: None
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary:Remus Lupin is smart, reliable and always level headed. But teenage desires, thanks to hormones are enough to make even someone like him silly. Or in which Remus and Fabian begin talking in the library. Done for the hprarefest 2017.

The way Remus had started talking to Fabian Prewett wasn't something out of the ordinary or even worth mentioning. It was a perfectly ordinary moment—Fabian asked Remus if he could sit beside him in the library and he had said 'yes'; that was all. There were no prior feelings or anything involved and Fabian should have been just like all the other students surrounding Remus on a daily basis; someone he occasionally glanced at but had no business with.

Okay, so their first real conversation might have gone a bit differently.

"Need some help, shortie?" Those were Fabian's first words to Remus. Remus scowled at the gangly boy. So maybe he was a bit short for his age; he just hadn't had his growth spurt yet, alright? Why nobody picked on Peter for his height when he was, in fact, a whole inch shorter than Remus himself was a mystery.

"No, it's alright," Remus replied politely enough as he turned towards the bookshelf in front of him and pointed his wand upwards. The incantation was on the tip of his tongue when a hand blocked Remus' vision of the book he had been eyeing.

"Not a wise move to point a wand at books," Prewett informed Remus. His expression was serious before turning smug as he offered the book to Remus. "Don't want to start a fire now, do we, little guy?"

"Speaking from experience?" Remus ignored the jibe at his height; no point in making an enemy out of a housemate—and well—he was a Prefect. The annoying redhead laughed at that with a twinkle in his eyes that Remus couldn't look away from.

"Yeah, it was a mess; ashes ashes everywhere, even places you wouldn't think of." The redhead had a gleeful expression as if remembering a very good time.

Remus didn't want to thank Prewett but he did anyway since he still had some manners left in him, despite being friends with James and Sirius. "Thanks for the book." Fabian continued to smile at him. Okay, so maybe Remus' housemate wasn't so bad, he looked like a fun—

"Anytime you need help, shortie, just ask nicely." Well, never mind; Remus wanted to hex that twat. Prewett laughed loudly this time and Madam Pince was on them in an instant with a rebuke, spouting about rules in the library as she chased the boys out. Remus tried to protest but both he and Fabian were well-known troublemakers so really, there was no point.

ooOOoo

Another clear day with the sunlight shining through the windows behind Remus as he sat in the library, unable to focus on the textbook in front of him, surrounded by the soft hum of students discussing and rustling of pages; why was this one so important?

Today Remus had come out as a healthy, young gay man during Transfiguration class. Or rather, he had been outed by Sirius as he had laughed like the dog he was. That stupid, giant pillock. It was a good thing they weren't in Fifth Year anymore; Remus constantly catching himself looking at Sirius' growing body or James' flexing back muscles because he did not in any way want to be in lust with his best friends. Just…no.

"Psst!" Remus was busy cooking up a few ways to get back at Sirius, first and foremost being an actual kick to the groin—because that was sure to shock his friends—when his shoulder was gently tapped and he was brought back to the hushed atmosphere of the library where he had taken refuge from his friends. He turned to see a redhead—damn! The day could not get any worse for lo and behold, here was Fabian Prewett judging by the lack of tie and hair gelled upwards like a shark fin.

"So, is it safe to sit here or are any parts of my body in danger of turning boneless?" Come to think of it, Fabian was in his Transfiguration class; he had obviously witnessed the entertaining scene where Remus had lost his cool and hit Sirius with a Jellylegs curse. That had earned him a loud 'Mr. Lupin!' from Professor McGonagall and a loss of points. She had yelled in such a way that Remus almost asked if she was having a heart attack. Bugger.

Remus suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as he pushed his bag aside before he gave Fabian a tight smile. "You're free to sit here if you believe your arse and other parts to be safe from me." He didn't expect Fabian Prewett to be an idiot who would just carelessly toss away his cautionary words and pull up a chair beside him. Remus narrowed his eyes.

"Did you perhaps not get the memo about me being a shirt-lifter?" Remus asked in genuine surprise because he was sure his classmates weren't all that keen to be around him at the moment if their stunned looks and hasty glances in classes earlier had been anything to go by. Thank you, Sirius.

"Well, actually—" Fabian hunched slightly in his seat and looked at Remus with an expression that was somewhat…shy? Remus stared at the reddening on Fabian's cheeks in interest. "—that might have been why I came over to talk to you. I mean, that's not the only reason." He sounded flustered which Remus had not expected from someone reputed for being mischievous and out there. It was very, very interesting; especially the way Fabian's ears were starting to colour too.

"Is that so?" Remus asked slowly, curious now, "You want to talk to me now that you know I'm gay? You do know that just makes you sound like you're coming on to me, right?"

"Remus!" Fabian exclaimed a little loudly and then mouthed a 'sorry' at the students who had looked up from their work to glare in their direction. Oh. So Remus had been upgraded from 'shortie'?

"What happened to calling me 'shortie'?" Remus asked, really, he had pretty much given up thinking before speaking for the day. "Or 'tiny man'? Or—"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Fabian interrupted, seeming somewhat desperate. He pulled his chair closer to Remus'. "Look, I just wanted to talk to you then. You aren't really that short, I was just messing with you." Remus could not help the way his eyebrows rose. They wanted to rise up even further; if possible they might have left his head entirely.

"By calling me names?" If a very obvious note of incredulity had crept into his question, Fabian should expect no less. "You could have said 'hello' like everyone else—"

"And where's the fun in that?" Fabian replied, now with a smile that seemed more appropriate on his face. Then he leaned forward with a soft look that made Remus' stomach swoop down unexpectedly and quite pleasantly. "Would you have remembered me if I'd been just like everyone else?"

Remus did blink at that; it was a thought, a good one, and if he stopped to think about it, it was a brilliant idea because Fabian had stood out among the countless students Remus encountered every day. Albeit, not in a good way because all Remus had done was frown whenever he saw Fabian from a distance.

"Even so, we are in the same house," Remus reminded Fabian and in a bold move, he reached out to touch the nape of Fabian's neck. "If it was about talking, I prefer the nice-guy approach." He pressed his fingers gently, squeezing the nape of Fabian's neck, watching as it reddened and he pretty much resembled a tomato from the neck up. But goddamn, for some unknown reason Remus found it attractive, smirking before letting go.

"Are you leaving?" Fabian asked with a frown when Remus stood up and packed his bag. Remus slung the bag over his shoulder and tapped Fabian's brows with his index finger. The frown melted away and Remus couldn't help smiling; his day was already looking up.

"I've got work to do, but you know where to find me if you want to talk," Remus lowered his voice and leaned down until he was eye to eye with Fabian, "or whatever else." He straightened up and left the library in a better mood than he had come in.

Well. Thank you, Sirius, I suppose.

To Remus' slight disappointment Fabian didn't seek him out for talking or whatever else throughout the week so naturally it occurred to Remus to try and seduce him. Why? Because he was free to do so just like the rest of the straight population in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, seduction was hardly Remus' forte so he just went to the library to study.

It wasn't until Remus' fingers started hurting that he stretched and looked up only to see Fabian, who had just entered the library. The redhead's eyes widened but he waved at Remus and made his way towards him.

"Hi," Fabian greeted somewhat breathlessly, running a hand through his hair. Remus smiled up at him. He leaned back and put an arm on the chair beside his in a way he assumed was sexy; he had seen Sirius do it many times flawlessly.

"Hey, care to join? I can help with that," Remus told Fabian with a pointed look at the Arithmancy book tucked in the crook of his arm. Fabian raised a brow but shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"Sure, why not." That was that. If later on Remus actually enjoyed talking to Fabian about Professor Vector's teaching methods or Dumbledore's braided beard, or coyly loosened his tie and unbuttoned a button of his shirt as he smiled at Fabian; well, it was simply Remus being adventurous in his pursuit of a boyfriend and to be expected.

ooOOoo

"He's ridiculous!"

"Where d'you think he learned that psychotic smiling?" James eyed Sirius beside him as if he had an answer. It was the third time this week that Remus had left the dormitory around 5:30 pm, which was his normal homework time, without offering any explanation to his friends about his whereabouts. Which was fine, really. The shocking bit was that Remus had left all his school books on his bed and the Marauders map was gone, meaning—

"Moony is hiding something from us," Sirius had concluded in the middle of putting on his pants. Peter had been subjected to a traumatizing view of his lengthy package which apparently would only get lengthier with time. It was the Black genes; Sirius said so.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" James—the concerned friend that he was—had led the other two Marauders to the library. Peter was thankful for the invisibility cloak James' dad had kindly handed down to his son because spying on Remus in the library while he tried to subtly flirt with Fabian Prewett would have been impossible otherwise. Of course the Muffliato helped greatly.

Remus shifted, scooting closer to Prewett and reaching out to finger a lock of the boy's red hair. From here they could see legs, Remus moving a leg to press against Prewett's. Wait a second…Peter had seen that move before. "It's Sirius!" He said out loud and the other two whipped around to look at him. "What?" He asked nervously.

"What did you just say?" Sirius asked with a brow raised while James pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Yeah, Wormy, what's that?" James was an arse to most people, but he always made Peter feel at ease. The rat animagus cleared his throat.

"Err—see, he's imitating Sirius. You know—when Sirius flirts with someone?" The way the two boys cocked their heads at him made Peter gulp. "I mean—"

"Peter, you're brilliant!" James slapped Peter on the back and turned to look at Remus from behind the bookshelf. "You're right; look at the way he's smiling—"

"I don't look like that!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly, "It's supposed to be sexy. He looks positively deranged. D'you think it's a wolf thing?" He added with a glance at James who hummed in response.

"Okay, but do you see that? No tie and what's with the hair?" James' voice was starting to rise, "This is not our Moony."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed but he couldn't help smiling, "But he looks good, James; not so bookish and uptight. It's like—"

"—he's growing up." James finished in a sickeningly, tender tone that had Sirius rolling his eyes and Peter casting a sarcastic look behind James' back.

"I meant, he looks more like our Moony, don't you think?" Sirius asked after a few seconds, looking at the rakish smile and the way his hair stood up roughly then, none of them could deny it; their Remus was anything but sweet and innocent.

However, that did not mean that Remus' friends would leave him alone. As soon as Remus entered the dormitory he was subjected to kissing noises and quite a lot of teasing. Over the next week Remus found wrapped packages on his bed that he opened cautiously, knowing his friends, only to find himself blushing fiercely at the bottle of scented lube, The Complete Guide to Homosexual Kamasutra and chocolate flavoured condoms from Peter, Sirius and James in that order.

Well, there went his sexual bravado.

ooOOoo

The evening before Easter holidays began Remus was surprised to hear someone calling him when he was heading out to visit Hagrid's new puppy. He stopped but before he could turn, the wind was knocked out of him as he landed on the ground. Immediately he recognized Fabian's voice as he was manhandled into a sitting position.

"Sorry, sorry. Are you okay?" Fabian wheezed and panted as if he had run a long way.

"I'm fine—"

"—Thank Merlin!" Fabian interrupted and took a deep breath. "I just wanted to give it to you before I left."

"What?" Remus didn't get enough time to catch up as a brown package was almost shoved into his hands and Fabian was pulling them up.

"Sorry about this, my mum sent these for you and I forgot about it earlier." Remus looked at the package in his hands.

"Err, thanks, but—"

"Sorry!" Fabian interrupted loudly this time, "gotta run. Have a good Easter, Remus." And then, before Remus could say anything, Fabian had leaned down, kissed his cheek with a smacking sound, and was dashing away madly to head home.

Remus, mouth open and eyes wide, touched his cheek where Fabian had kissed it. So…did this count as his first kiss with Fabian?

Fabian was soon back at Hogwarts and Remus had had two weeks to miss him while enjoying the Easter eggs that Mrs. Prewett had made especially for him; only dark chocolate, only almonds, if nuts were to be in chocolates, and definitely no strange fruity fillings. There was even a white chocolate one about which they had had a lengthy debate with Fabian declaring it 'not even real chocolate'. The nerve of him!

But he remembered. He had remembered what Remus' sweet tooth craved and wasn't that just sweet? Oh, Merlin. He was starting to really like Fabian.

ooOOoo

"This Doctor story sounds like fun," Fabian said as they sat under one of the trees. "So you watch this thing on the telephone?"

"Television," Remus corrected even as he smiled, "just call it a telly, might be easier to remember."

"Right." Fabian rested his head on his bent knees. "Y'know, I've got an uncle, really odd but he's fun in family parties. He talks about all these Muggle things and everyone just kind of—I dunno, doesn't care."

"But you do?" Remus guessed from having talked to the red head; the look of wonder when Remus talked about his house gave it away.

"Yeah, y'know." He turned to face Remus and folded his legs genie-style with a bright spark in his eyes. "No one knows this but last summer I snuck into Muggle London, well, I wasn't alone…" Fabian talked with his hands a lot and Remus found himself admiring them, rough and long; a mix of Quidditch and genes.

"You have really nice hands, you know?" Remus didn't realise he had spoken out loud until Fabian was silent and rubbing the back of his head. He began chuckling, looking oddly at Remus who kind of wanted to crawl in a rabbit hole. This was so not sexy! Who even said those kinds of things?

"Is that all you like about me?" Fabian asked jokingly but Remus could detect something else like he might be a bit serious, so he didn't reply immediately.

"You're a good guy, Fabian," Remus answered after some thought, "I know we got off on the wrong foot last year but—yeah, I like you. You're a great friend."

Fabian stared.

Remus stared.

They stared at each other in surprise because Remus had opened his goddamn mouth and called Fabian a 'friend'.

"Ah. That's great." Fabian laughed loudly. Remus wanted desperately to clarify that no, he had honestly flirted with Fabian and he didn't flirt with 'friends' and that he wanted to be 'more than friends' with Fabian—

"Hey, I forgot that I was supposed to have detention with Vector," Fabian was saying and Remus found his arse stuck to the ground even as the boy who frequented his dreams was leaving with the fakest smile he had ever had to see.

"Fabian, I'll see you later," Remus blurted out; really, his brain seemed to fall asleep where Fabian was concerned sometimes.

"Yeah, I don't think so. I have stuff to do." Fabian shrugged without looking at Remus properly and trudged away towards the castle.

Merlin, he was really the worst. Remus sat back dejectedly as he realised something about Fabian's excuse: Professor Vector never gave detention.

Yeah, he had just royally screwed up any chances of having a boyfriend. Forever.

ooOOoo

"You know, you don't act like it most of the time, but you're actually kind of dramatic," Sirius observed as he looked down at Remus who had laid down on his bed and not moved for forty-five minutes.

"Shut up," Remus retorted with a glare at his friend who sat down and patted his leg with a grin.

"You really do like him," James delivered wisely from where he was sitting on the stone cold floor. "It must be love; I can see that it's changed you into a better human just as it has done—"

"—to you?" Sirius asked James sarcastically before turning to Remus. "So, is it love love, or do you just want a shag?"

"Sirius! Padfoot!" Both James and Peter chorused as Sirius shrugged. Remus hid his face with a hand. He didn't know if it was love or what, all he knew was that he had really started liking Fabian at some point and well…he just wanted the redhead.

"Just a suggestion, Moony," James said seriously, "you should talk to him instead of avoiding him."

"Nonsense!" Sirius countered and crossed his legs and in typical Sirius fashion added, "What you should be doing is offering to give him head, no guy can say no to that."

"And you can do it in the library if it makes it more exciting for you," Peter added and Sirius held a thumbs up at him while James slapped him on the back painfully. Peter endured and Remus gave up. He couldn't sulk, not when his daft, daft friends were trying so hard to come up with a solution; granted, neither of them would work.

Well, the lube was going to expire, he needed to put it to good use soon.

Easier said than done, Remus' feelings were disorienting and he might just be a bit of a coward so what did he do? That's right. He went to the library to hide from Fabian with his red head and his stupid smile, who blushed like a goddamn tomato whenever Remus so much as sighed over his shoulder when reading a book together. Remus had thoroughly enjoyed those reactions.

Quite stupidly, he had come without his books again so he browsed around the shelves until he had reached the back of the library which was devoid of students. He looked up at the Magical Creatures section, reading about dark creatures always made him feel better; maybe he would find something about the mating habits of hinkypunks that could help him with Fabian?

He shook his head and pointed his wand at a book way above his reach then remembered Fabian's words from a long time ago. Returning his wand to his pocket, he pulled a chair up in front of the shelf; he hadn't really felt short until now. He stood on the chair and still found himself on tiptoes as he rose up trying to reach the book. His fingers barely grazed the bottom of the book, just a little more—

He gasped and steadied himself against the shelf when a hand suddenly rested on his waist. He turned around to see none other than the boy who sometimes invaded his dreams of an erotic nature.

"Fabian, you scared me." Smiling apologetically, Fabian took out his wand.

"I can help with that," He told Remus, pointing his wand at Remus' shoes. "Don't worry, I've been practicing this for a while." Remus felt his feet leave the chair and flinched slightly.

"Fabian?" He asked cautiously as he found himself rising slowly. The redhead smiled in a familiar manner.

"Don't worry. Trust me, okay?" Okay? That smile would make Remus follow Fabian down a rabbit hole to Wonderland or even the Underworld if he so asked. He looked around to find himself floating high and then hovering near the book he wanted. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah," Remus answered, extracting the book he wanted before ordering Fabian to shift him to the right so he could get another book and another. When he was done, he looked down to signal Fabian to lower him.

One second he was in the air then suddenly with a popping noise the books flew out of Remus' hands and he found himself falling straight down. The ground met Remus' back faster than expected and he continued to lie there dizzy and disoriented as he caught his breath. His fall didn't hurt much surprisingly and he would have stayed that way until he heard a pained groan and the ground wobbled underneath him. He scooted away to find—oh—not the ground but Fabian, who had cushioned his fall with his body.

Ah, his knight in shining armour whose nose was now bleeding quite spectacularly. He helped Fabian sit up.

"Reebus?" Remus had to fix that, he needed to hear Fabian say his name properly; it had been one week and four days since they had last talked.

"Hold on. Episkey." Remus sat back and sighed as Fabian touched his nose gingerly and thanked him. Remus stared at him, at the freckles over his nose and dotted on his cheeks, even the hand that was checking to see if his face was alright and he spoke up without thinking once more. "I don't know why girls put on makeup to hide their freckles, I think they're really cute." No, no he didn't think, not until this moment.

"Err, you mean freckles in general?" Fabian asked but Remus didn't reply so he cleared his throat. "Or do you just mean…my freckles?" Remus couldn't help wanting to look away so he picked up one of the fallen books and opened a random page before answering.

"Yours specifically. I really like them." In fact, now that Remus was thinking about it, he had the strangest urge to lick those freckles. "I don't know why but I think they'd taste like strawberry ice cream."

"Remus!"

Remus dropped the book and stared at Fabian who seemed to have lost whatever patience he had because he placed both his hands on Remus' shoulders and looked right into his eyes. "Remus, I'm really trying hard to be your 'friend' here, but you've got to stop sending me these mixed signals. It's driving me absolutely mad!"

Oh. So Fabian was in the same place he was? Did he too feel flustered and hot all over like Remus was feeling right now due to their proximity?

"Well then, I'll be honest about it," Remus said, irrationally annoyed. He tried to glare at the redhead. "I don't want you to just be my friend, Fabian. Honestly, can't you just read the bloody signs?"

"Read the—" Fabian looked flabbergasted and then without any warning he leaned over Remus. "You know what, Remus? I just want to bloody kiss you, alright. And if you don't stop me—" Fabian was really more than a head taller than him, Remus noticed and smiled.

"Okay," He interrupted and couldn't help a small chuckle. "Okay," He repeated even as he felt Fabian cup his face, just before he kissed him.

ooOOoo

Of course, such a big moment in Remus' life would be incomplete without his friends being present to witness it. So, naturally, his guardian angels—as James liked to refer to themselves—had followed Remus to the library. Under the invisibility cloak of course, oh, and Disillusionment charms which they were currently practicing. So far, so good.

"That is honestly the worst confession I have ever heard," Sirius commented, whistling lowly when Remus boldly moved to sit in Fabian's lap.

"Oh my god! My eyes!" Peter whined as he covered his eyes with his hands and then squeaked after taking a peek. James cleared his throat as he looked away, his face scarlet.

"Yeah—err—we probably should move." James shuffled them out of the library hurriedly, tugging on Sirius' sleeve as he continued to try and see what Remus was getting up to. They barely avoided colliding with Madam Pince as she barged in the newly formed couple's direction just as Fabian let out a rather loud groan.

Well, Remus was living up to his reputation as a true Marauder, his friends agreed with matching grins as they heard Madam Pince shriek like never before.

The end.

AN:Notes: I originally started out with a different story and then moved to art. After a while I got heavily artblocked and then finally this piece was born and I'm really happy with the way this turned out! I really tried to put in the teasing from Sirius and James, I hope it worked!
Thanks a million times to my beta Cynthia for the wonderful suggestions and quick work. *kisses*