The First Lie
Sometimes Muggles would ask him where he got the scars - had he been in an accident? Sometimes, non-Muggles asked him as well. His parents' friends, or people on the streets.
He always said yes. Yes, it was an accident. That's too bad, they would say. I was very small, he would respond.
He never lied to them, unless they asked for details. And they rarely did.
It had been an accident.
It was harder to lie when he got to Hogwarts. People were more curious, more naieve about pain. But it was a long time before he had to lie to his best friend - and that lie ended the friendship, if only for a while.
Sirius Orion Black had scars of his own, and since he did not want to be quizzed about his, he had waited a year before asking Remus.
It was the summer before seventh year that his worst transformation came - the one where he had gotten stuck in the mountains, alone, for days and days - and by the time they found him, his broken leg was healing already. Twisted.
He needed a cane for the rest of his days.
It was a problem in the Order, his leg - it got him into more than one mess and stopped him from getting out of what seemed like hundreds more. It put him in danger. Dumbledore refused to request for him not to go on missions because he knew Remus did not want to feel useless. But after his friends risked their lives trying to help him out, after a mission where he had faced Voldemort, he went to his old Headmaster and demanded out.
He had meant out of the Order. But Dumbledore would not allow it.
For a while, Remus thought it was because Dumbledore suspected him of being the spy. For a long while. He didn't ask until years after James' death - until after Sirius' death, in fact.
Right after.
He hadn't intended to come out with that furious suspicion. But he couldn't help it. He had been angry - shouting - finishing what Harry had done, destroying as much more of the office as he could. Dumbledore was less forgiving with him. And the Headmaster was angry, then, as well.
And on his way to storm out, his cane - cracked earlier in the evening by a stray spell and a good beating over one of the Death Eater's heads - had broken, and Remus had collapsed on the Headmaster's floor and wept.
He regretted that first lie to Sirius more than anything else.
Sometimes Muggles would ask him where he got the scars - had he been in an accident? Sometimes, non-Muggles asked him as well. His parents' friends, or people on the streets.
He always said yes. Yes, it was an accident. That's too bad, they would say. I was very small, he would respond.
He never lied to them, unless they asked for details. And they rarely did.
It had been an accident.
It was harder to lie when he got to Hogwarts. People were more curious, more naieve about pain. But it was a long time before he had to lie to his best friend - and that lie ended the friendship, if only for a while.
Sirius Orion Black had scars of his own, and since he did not want to be quizzed about his, he had waited a year before asking Remus.
It was the summer before seventh year that his worst transformation came - the one where he had gotten stuck in the mountains, alone, for days and days - and by the time they found him, his broken leg was healing already. Twisted.
He needed a cane for the rest of his days.
It was a problem in the Order, his leg - it got him into more than one mess and stopped him from getting out of what seemed like hundreds more. It put him in danger. Dumbledore refused to request for him not to go on missions because he knew Remus did not want to feel useless. But after his friends risked their lives trying to help him out, after a mission where he had faced Voldemort, he went to his old Headmaster and demanded out.
He had meant out of the Order. But Dumbledore would not allow it.
For a while, Remus thought it was because Dumbledore suspected him of being the spy. For a long while. He didn't ask until years after James' death - until after Sirius' death, in fact.
Right after.
He hadn't intended to come out with that furious suspicion. But he couldn't help it. He had been angry - shouting - finishing what Harry had done, destroying as much more of the office as he could. Dumbledore was less forgiving with him. And the Headmaster was angry, then, as well.
And on his way to storm out, his cane - cracked earlier in the evening by a stray spell and a good beating over one of the Death Eater's heads - had broken, and Remus had collapsed on the Headmaster's floor and wept.
He regretted that first lie to Sirius more than anything else.