This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

School: Durmstrang

Year: 4

Theme: High School Muggles AU – Chosen By Shadow Rain

Prompt Main: [song] An Evening I will not forget/ Furthest Thing

Additional:

1. [speech] "Don't you dare [add any action here]!"

2. [quote] "There is a point where the universe can deliver you from the verge of regret. I know your love for me will take you there." ― Lawren Leo

Word Count: 2216

Warnings: Abuse, Homophobia, Outed/forced coming out.

Wolfstar (Remus/Sirius) Lily/James

Beta: HectaA & Aya

Confessions

Remus Lupin opened the classroom door, peering outside to check that there was nobody around. He gave his secret lover one last glance before leaving the classroom, closing the door behind him. Then he walked to the cafeteria to go find his friend Lily Evans.

He walked over to the redhead sitting with her tray untouched. She was holding a green apple in her hand, nibbling on it while her eyes stared across the packed cafeteria. Her eyes were on the star quarterback, James Potter, sitting among a throng of his team mates.

"Lily, hey Lily, snap out of it!" Remus said, causing his friend to jerk in shock. Then she dropped her hardly eaten apple to the ground, and her eyes left James's table.

"Oh honey, why don't you ask him to go public?" she asked, softly seeing her friends' dishevelled appearance and deducing where he had come from.

"It's not that simple, Lily Pad," he responded, even if his eyes gave away how he longed for something more; he wanted to be a boyfriend, not a dirty little secret, not just a mistress. He wanted some commitment from the other boy.

"I know you love him, Moony," she said and continued. "Does he treat you right?"

Remus nodded at her, and deciding to change the subject, he said instead, "What about you, when will you tell him how you feel?" Names were not needed, her eyes quickly fluttered to his table before turning back to Remus.

"Maybe it isn't that simple," she responded. It was clear Lily was smitten with James, and Remus was pretty sure James felt the same, but with men it was never all that easy to tell. His promise to Lily kept him from letting the cat out of the bag. James Potter and Sirius Black were head of the school's popular click, and they were also great pranksters.

"He doesn't even know I exist," Lily sighed dramatically. Remus rolled his eyes at her. It was clear she didn't realise how special she was. She was a rare mixture of both beauty and brains, and she also had a soft, easy-going nature. Before Remus could tell her off for speaking that way, the bell rang loudly and they went off towards their classes.

Remus often hung out with James and Sirius as well, because he and Lily's childhood friend, Severus Snape, didn't get along at all. It was obvious Severus hated Remus, but he couldn't be too bothered about why that was. Remus also didn't like Severus, agreeing with James' assessment of him as "a greasy-haired, long-nosed git."

After a while it became obvious to him that Severus had a crush on Lily. It had been subtle at first, a change in a look, lingering on their hugs... It was clear after a while that this was getting serious, and since Lily was his friend, he wanted to protect her.

He knew he needed to tell her, but he was shocked she had him so high in the friend-zone she didn't notice the now-too-obvious flirting. He complimented her daily now; another reason why Remus split his time between her and James.

"James," Remus asked while they were supposed to be studying. "Why don't you just ask Lily out?" He was trying to be subtle, because of his promise, but he knew she was interested in him.

"I don't know, Moony," James said softly. Sirius just pretended to be focused on his work.

He scribbled a note and passed it to Remus.

Meet me after school in the gym?

Xxxx

Remus just nodded. James knew his friends were gay and secretly dating. It was clear he was more focused on being popular than his friends sometimes. He was a good friend; that they couldn't deny, but he was also the star of the school, and he acted the part perfectly. He got invited to every party, and enjoyed being the centre of attention. The fact that his two friends weren't into girls was a benefit to him, he could have his pick of the hottest girls in school.

Remus felt like he wouldn't be able to take much more of this situation. He often looked at couples holding hands with jealousy; why did they have to deny what they felt? Why couldn't he and Sirius walk hand-in-hand down the school hallway? He longed to kiss Sirius in front of his locker between classes, or entwine their hands as they walked to their next class.

Sirius's parents were very religious and homophobic, but Remus had no idea how bad it really was. Remus's parents accepted him just the way he was—they loved their son and they just wanted him to be happy.

While Remus was waiting in the gym after school, he went over all the things he wanted to say to him. He wanted more than sneaking around; he wanted to be able to date Sirius, officially, without the fear of someone catching them together.

But Remus forgot all about that when he saw Sirius's face as he walked through the door, shoulders hung low and his face cast to the floor.

"What happened?" He asked, taking Sirius into his arms and rocking him against his chest.

"I got my chemistry mark back. Coach Hooch says I am off the football team, and I'll be grounded for sure," Sirius replied.

Sirius left to go home, and Remus saw Lily still outside her locker. The school was quiet now; most of the students had already left for the day.

"You're here late," Remus said to her happily. He needed the distraction.

"I was wondering if we could get a jump-start on that biology assignment," Lily replied.

Remus nodded, "Sure."

They were outside the school, about to leave for their favourite coffee shop, when Remus remembered he needed to warn her against Severus's dubious attentions. 'Oh, Lily Pad, hold up," he said touching her arm to get her attention, and she looked up curiously.

"Yes, Remus?" she asked.

"Severus likes you," he blurted out, all subtlety forgotten, Severus meant nothing to him. Lily snorted in laughter, then sobered when she realised he wasn't joking.

"Trust me," he continued, "it's in the way he looks at you. I know you only see him as a friend but lately he looks at you the way you stare at James; and the way I look at…" his voice trailed off here, and just in time.

Severus was walking over to them, glaring at Remus before giving Lily a coy smile. With the new information she now analysed how he talked to her, she noticed him lingering on their hug too long, and how he complimented the dress she was wearing and told her how it matches her eyes.

"Severus, what do you think is going on here?" she said, trying to be delicate.

"You're my girlfriend, of course. We have been friends so long it's only natural," he replied, trying to reach for her hand.

"Don't you dare touch me!" She responded angrily.

"How dare you just assume that… we will never be more than friends." She was furious now and struggling to speak in her rage.

"This is entirely your fault!" Severus said, rounding on Remus. "She doesn't want me now because of you." He carried on ranting.

Remus was sick of his drama and without thinking he went loudly and very clearly: "It can't be me, I'm gay!"

When he paused to think after the fact, it probably wasn't necessary for him to have been quite that loud, because his words echoed through the parking lot, causing the last students to stare at him in shock.

Lily had this all under control, he decided then, and without another word he left the two of them to talk things out between themselves.

The three of them often walked to school together in the mornings. The next day Remus walked over to Sirius's house. The two of them just walked in comfortable silence to James's place and, as much as he itched to grab Sirius's hand, he knew that he would get in trouble for it. When they reached James's house, Remus almost said something, but then seemed to decide that it was better left unsaid.

It was clear when the Marauders got to school that today was not going to be the same as every other day. The halls were filled with giggling girls and gossiping boys. When Remus reached his locker he saw a note poking out. He opened his locker to pink glitter pouring from his locker and a note that only said: 'You will pay for this.'

Remus went pale. Lily walked over to him, ignoring all the sniggers. "Are you okay?" she asked him softly, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Snape," he replied, handing her the note, almost dropping it to the floor.

He was worried, very worried. During all the drama James had disappeared, and was probably chatting with a cheerleader, while Remus had no idea where Sirius had gotten to. Remus was sure that Sirius was keeping his distance because of the teasing, and he only hoped that Severus had not been observant enough to notice there was something going on between them.

No such luck. Remus had been unaware that Severus had been tailing him since their confrontation, determined to either prove he was lying or make his life miserable regardless. This meant that with Severus observing Remus instead of Lily, Severus was sure that Remus was smitten with Sirius. All he needed now was proof that Sirius was also gay.

Remus had followed Sirius into an empty classroom later that day, wanting to get a snogging session in before the end of lunch. The day went smoothly, with Remus only getting taunted in a couple of lessons, but otherwise it was bearable. When the three of them walked home after school, they again stopped by James' house first. This left the two alone together. When they reached Sirius's house, there was a racket going on inside the house. It was clear to Sirius what was going on, but he didn't want Remus to worry. Remus wanted to go inside to make sure it was okay, but Sirius had insisted that he go straight home instead.

Remus heard nothing from either of his friends that Friday night, but he had no reason to worry except a feeling of unrest. When James showed up outside his house early Saturday morning, he shouldn't have worried, but he could tell on his friends face something was badly wrong.

"Sirius's parents kicked him out; they got a picture of you two snogging in a classroom," James said, without even a greeting. Remus went pale, it could not have been any worse. There was no way Sirius would want to talk to him now.

He went over to James's house on more than one occasion, but even though Sirius was bunking on the Potters' couch, he refused to speak to Remus for well over a week. Eventually though, Sirius broke down and agreed to seeing Remus again. It was clear he still blamed him for them both being outed so obviously. He kept thinking if only he had kept his temper when the stupid git had cornered him. Now all that was left was to beg for forgiveness, and beg and plead Remus did.

"Baby please, let me explain," Remus begged, in full view of James. It seemed like Sirius was finally willing to listen to Remus so James looked between his friends and muttered. "You two need to sort things out," and disappeared off to his room to give them time to themselves.

Remus couldn't help but try and reach out to touch Sirius; he had been going out of his mind not seeing him outside classes. He struggled to go a day without kissing Sirius, and yet it had been more than a week since they had last been together.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Sirius tried to shoot back at Remus, but Remus could see that his resolve was crumbling, it was clear he didn't really mean what he was saying.

"I just wanted us to be official, I… I love you," Remus finally confessed.

"You, what was that?" Sirius said, looking up, losing all pretence of anger. "You have never said that before," Sirius continued, as if he couldn't believe it.

"I love you, Sirius," Remus said sweetly.

"I love you too, Remus," he replied and Remus let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. They kissed for a while, but broke apart when they heard someone on the stairs; it was clearly James making extra noise to make sure that he didn't catch them doing anything on the couch.

"There is a point where the universe can deliver you from the verge of regret. I know your love for me will take you there," Remus said romantically.

"Seems like quite the night for confessions," James said mysteriously. It came out a while later that while they were making up downstairs, James had called Lily and asked her out on a date, and she had said yes.

"Definitely a night that we will never forget," Sirius responded, smiling at his best friend and his new boyfriend.