"Hey golden boy" Malfoy sneers at Harry, casually leaning on the wall across the hall from where Harry and the rest of the golden trio were waiting outside the DADA classroom.
Class has yet to begin and the students are gathered outside the room, waiting for Professor Lupin to let them in.
"Fuck off Malfoy."
"Really? That all you could come up with Potter?" Malfoys smirks and chuckles, eyeing Harry's tired appearance.
Said 'Golden Boy' Has his tie loose and out of place, under his robes he is wearing a loosely fitting jumper and what might be dark muggle jeans, his hair is messy as usual but somehow artfully so, windswept, if you will. He is glaring at Draco rather pointedly and has a tired and thoroughly annoyed look on his face.
Mayfoy, who appears very well put together and knows it, chuckles a bit and folds his arms across his dress-shirt clad chest. His robes are falling neatly to the length they are supposed to and his tie hanging undone but neatly around his shoulders.
"You know what Malfoy?" Harry says, "You're a right git." Harry mumbles.
"You hear that? I'm a git! The chosen one has at last responded to one of my insults!" Malfoy clutches his chest, gaping in mock horror. " He has retaliated with such a force that even I… The Malfoy heir… cannot escape. A git!" He puts his hand dramatically against his forehead and twirls dramatically, " How crude. Horrible really! I couldn't imagine a person so cruel as to call me…"
"A foul git…" Harry cuts off Malfoys over dramatic speech but the git continues as if Harry never spoke. Malfoy is now standing right in front of Harry who is glaring at him blankly.
"So cruel… so so cruel… a git you say?" He inquires mockingly, hands on his hips, head tilted.
"Yes Malfoy that's what I said. You really are quite an insufferable and overdramatic prat."
"Hmph" Malfoy pouts. "Fuck off Potter."
"Great one Malfoy, you come up with that yourself?" Harry says sarcastically. "Oh wait… I said that to you!"
"Well maybe you should take your own advice and fuck off then!"
"Really Malfoy… do you and your daddy sit down at dinnertime over the summer and just make lists of countless insults for you to recite to me at school?"
"That was a particularly bad insult Potter."
"Go tell your father about it"
"Maybe I will!" Some of the surrounding students snicker and Malfoy grabs the front of Harry's robes and pushes him against the wall. "Watch yourself Potter," Then he leans in closer, inspecting Harry's face for a moment. "What's wrong with your face Potter?"
Harry glares at Malfoy, confused. Malfoy looks Harry right in the eye and he can see the silver flecks of color in his eyes and the pale blue is icy and invasive and Harry can't tell what Malfoy could be thinking because either Harry is very bad at reading faces or Malfoy is just very good at hiding how he feels. But for a moment, Malfoy reaches up to touch Harry's cheek, right under his eye, where Harry realizes he has acquired a particularly painful scrape, and Harry flinches. Malfoy falters, but his sneer is back before anyone can notice.
"Well…? What is wrong with my face Malfoy?" Harry grumbles shoving Malfoy away.
"There are countless things wrong with your face, starting with your horrid eyesight." Malfoy retorts, pushing Harry back against the wall without letting go of his shirt. But he has is still looking at The bruised scrape on his cheek and the healing cut in his lip.
Then Malfoy knocks Harry's glasses off his face, releases him, and returns to the opposite wall.
Lupin appears a few minutes later and the class settles in and the lesson begins, Harry restoring the glamour charm.
During the class, Malfoy catches himself looking curiously at Potter, he eyes the spots on his face where he swears he saw bruising or scrapes. He definitely had a split lip. After class, Malfoy is walking up to Lupins desk for reasons unknown even to him.
"Can I help you Mr. Malfoy?" Lupin asks.
"Professor, I wanted to talk to you about another student."
"What about this student?"
"I'm worried I suppose." Malfoy reluctantly admits.
"Huh, okay, and why would that be."
"Well, I saw some cuts on his face. I think he might be having trouble with some of the slytherins."
"You are a slytherin." Lupin points out and Malfoy has to hold back the obvious retort.
"I mean the other slytherins."
"Alright, you are going to have to tell me who it is you're worried about though."
"Harry Potter."
"Ah. Okay then Mr. Malfoy."
"What do you think is going on? I mean, the other Slytherins have never really gotten physical, we're only in third year."
"I can't say for sure, but even if I knew, there is student teacher confidentiality, so I could not tell you. However, with the knowledge of your supposed hatred for Harry, what possessed you to report this?"
"Should I not have?"
"No! No… you should have, I am immensely glad that you did, and very proud that you could forget your pride and put Harry's safety above it for even a moment. I am merely curious is all." Lupin shrugs.
"I don't necessarily hate him I suppose. It's more of a friendly rivalry." Pause.
"I see. Thank you for informing me of this, I will look into having a chat with him about this."
"Thank you professor."
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy, thank you as well."
And with that, the blond boy walks out and the professor is left to dwell on this newfound information by his lonesome.
The next day is a Saturday and most students had gone off to hogsmeade, Harry however, could not, seeing as his uncle hadn't signed his permission form. So Harry was wondering across the hogwarts grounds when his DADA professor approached him. At first he just walked beside Harry, then he began to speak.
"Hello Harry."
"Hello professor."
"How've you been doing?"
"Well, I suppose. How about you?"
"Quite well. I can assure you that teaching is quite satisfactory. Being able to see the progress in students can be rewarding."
"Your classes are some of the best."
"Thank you. I try to make them entertaining as well as informative." The professor chuckles. Then "Would you like to have some tea in my office?"
"Uh, sure" Harry, follows his teacher into his office and they both sit at small table beside the big desk, tea cups and a kettle of hot tea appears between them and Lupin pours some tea into each of their glasses.
"I've always had quite an obsession with tea. I tried to force your father into liking it but he was more of a pumpkin juice kind of guy," Lupin chuckles.
"What about my mum?"
"Lily… she like tea too, though she quite enjoyed butterbeer and hot chocolate."
"What else were my parents like." Harry leans forward. "If you don't mind me asking?"
"Of course I don't Harry. I loved your parents. They were both some of my closest friends."
"What about… Sirius Black?"
"What about him?" Lupin says, suddenly more cross.
"I just heard someone mention that he had been… been best friends with my father. And I wanted… I wanted to know…"
Lupin sighs and Harry sips his tea tensely.
"Harry, Sirius was… he wasn't a murderer." Lupin begins, shifting forward in his seat. "He was… we thought we knew him. He was one of our best friends, granted it took Lily a while to warm up to him, eventually she began to grow fond of him though, before she like james even. Sirius really was quite a likable guy. No one suspected he would do anything like this. We were wrong. And I am so truly sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"But I still trusted him Harry."
"Professor… I also wanted to ask about… Peter Pettigrew… He's … dead right?"
"I'm afraid so Harry, Sirius killed him the night your parents died."
"I'm sorry."
"Harry it is not your need to be sorry for me."
"Yes, but you lost three of your closest friends in one night. And the fourth was found guilty for murdering them."
"Yes. Quite true, and though that was… is devastatingly and horribly painful… we are here now aren't we? And we'll be okay,"
"Yes, I guess so."
"What else would you like to know then?" Lupin settles back again, tea in hand.
"I also heard that… Sirius was supposed to be my godfather… is that true?"
"Yes. It is…"
"And… you said you were also one of their friends… So if it hadn't been Sirius, would you have been my godfather?" Harry asks, head down.
"Harry… I don't know what decisions your parents would have made had things not gone the way they did. I do know, that Sirius and I, or so I thought, were very, very close… and we had quite a few arguments regarding whether or not I was the spy." Lupin sighs. "A diversion, now that I'm seeing clearly, and I believe that Lily and James had thought it was me as well. And it would have been rather stupid to make me your godfather if I was a suspected spy for voldemort."
"But… you weren't a spy."
"I know that. And maybe if your parents had known too, I would have been your godfather. I would have quite liked to be. You truly are their son Harry."
"Thank you." they both pause. "And I would have quite liked if you were my godfather as well." Lupin smiled and bowed his head.
Lupins mind swarmed. Mixed with feelings of guilt because this isn't what James and Lily wanted and this was Sirius' role. Lupin can't be a godfather. Or any father at all. He is dangerous and he can't control himself on full moons and this is why He couldn't take Harry in. Sirius should be here. With him. With Harry. With his godson… his best friends son. But Sirius betrayed them. They're dead and it's because of Sirius.
Remus can't believe it some days. The childlike boy who loved to laugh and joke around… a death eater? The boy who cared so deeply for his friends, who trusted so openly, who had begun so closed off but had finally confided in and loved fully his friends and chosen family… betrayed the people whom he had considered family? The boy who was against every belief his blood family taught him became one of them in the end? The boy who grew up an outcast, a dissapointment, the boy who was disowned for not agreeing with the very thing he was convicted of, the boy who ran away from his home at 16 because his parents wanted him to take the dark mark, The boy who fought so hard to help the order and who fought so passionately for the people he supposedly loved and Remus is forced to believe that this is the same boy who was found guilty of the murder of 13 muggles, one of his childhood friends, and was responsible for the deaths of two of his closest friends and almost his own godson.
The boy who at 16 moved into James' house is the same boy who got James killed five years later. The same boy who betrayed his family. It can't be right. It can't. And Remus wished so, so deeply that it wasn't Sirius. For some miracle to come back and for Sirius to be innocent and for everything to be right in the world again.
But it wasn't going to happen. Even Dumbledore believes Sirius to be guilty. Even if Remus truly believed Sirius to be innocent, there's no proof. They could have checked his wand. Used veritaserum. But it's too late for that now. How Remus made it this far without his friends he doesn't know. Even a week without Sirius or one the marauders (and Lily) would have been thought unbearable to Remus back at Hogwarts as a student.
"Professor?" Harry asks, bringing Remus out of his thoughts.
"Yes Harry?"
"Sorry, I uh… I didn't meant to upset you or anything."
"Quite alright. You didn't," Remus assured him.
"Okay, well, if there's nothing else…"
"Actually Harry… There is something that I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh… er… okay,"
"It has been brought to my attention… that you have some injuries." Lupin says calmly, looking right at Harry, or more specifically, the scab under his eye.
"Professor,They Are nothing that i can't handle." Harry says.
"Alright Harry. I don't mean to pry, but you understand… you understand that you can trust me right? Your father got into fights quite often when he was your age… doesn't mean you should be fighting people though,"
"Yeah… I know." Harry draws out, picking at a loose string in the fabric of his chairs cushion.
"Just making sure." Remus says, leaning forward and resting his forearms on the table. "And you also know that, when a student is hurt, and another student shows concern, that teacher is… required to investigate the situation and make sure everything is alright? It could be dangerous for yourself and other students to be getting into fights, and if it is something else then we need to make sure everyone is safe in those circumstances as well." Remus continues and Harry nods.
"Professor, honestly, I'm great. The git that came to you was probably trying to play some kind of joke,"
"Harry…"
"Malfoy right? It was Malfoy who came to you?"
"Student confidentiality."
"Alright then." he says, resigned, they both just look at each other.. waiting. "I know it was Malfoy though."
Remus leans closer to inspect a bruising and scabbed cut is under his eyes and his split lip. It doesn't appear that Harry was hurt to the point of danger. Luckily it was nearly the second week of Hogwarts and most of the injuries were beginning to heal, but they had existed nonetheless.
"It's not a big deal. I didn't want people to worry." Harry says.
"You know it could've been healed in minutes right?"
"I didn't want to go to the hospital wing."
"How did it happen?" Remus asks calmly.
"My cousin Duley and some of his friends. The day before term started." Harry says quietly.
"How often does it happen?"
"I'm not sure, he's a teenage boy with a cousin who's family see's as a freak. Everytime he gets mad I suppose. I'm not in danger though, and you shouldn't worry. He's rather stupid and though he's large he isn't particularly strong."
"Harry you know I should tell Dumbledore about this."
"I think he knows already."
"Just to be sure."
"Okay."
The two of them sit in silence for a few more minutes. Remus finishes his tea and put down his empty cup.
"It was Malfoy right?" Harry asks. "Malfoy told you?"
"He actually seemed worried."
"Malfoy? No. Maybe he's just a good actor. That boy doesn't have it in him to care about the boy who lived." Harry chuckles and Remus thinks he might be reading into it too much but he sees something flash across Harry's face.
"Harry he doesn't hate you."
"Yeah he does, says so regularly."
"Maybe he's just a good actor. He told me he didn't. You only have a friendly rivalry if you ask me" Lupin chuckles kindly.
"Professor, it's Malfoy."
"Give him a chance."
"Yeah alright."
"Well, I suppose dinner is starting soon. You should probably go and meet your friends." Lupin smile wistfully, as if remembering a time when he himself was waiting for his own friends. Sirius pulling Remus after him, arm slung around neck, James telling elaborate stories and Peter laughing and adding on the parts James forgets or skips. Remus wishes he could go back. Do something to save them. Help them. Make things okay again.
(Now he's always going to be waiting. Waiting outside Godric's Hollow, right at the creek that they had considered their meeting place. He would be standing there forever. Waiting for James and Lily to come by, laughing and poking fun at each other, baby Harry tight in one of their arms. He would be that boy again, waiting for them to meet up with him. Except they won't ever come. And Moony will be waiting. No Padfoot. No Prongs. No Wormtail. No Lily, no Baby Harry. Just Moony and his furry little secret.)
"Yeah. But- err… just… before this, you said that Peter was dead… But I found his name on the map Snape confiscated from me the other night."
"Professor Snape Harry, and what map?"
"I think it was called… The Marauders Map or something?" Harry says, "But I definitely saw Peter Pettigrew's name on it.
"Hm."
"Maybe it was a mistake."
"Yes maybe." Remus says to Harry but to himself he whispers "But the map never lies."
Within the next few days, Remus is found arguing with Snape over a piece of joke parchment that was confiscated by one Harry Potter a few nights earlier.
"Severus, you would have to agree that this is my department."
"Yes Remus, well I think you are rather unfit to help at the moment so I shall keep it safe."
"Severus, you know very well that I am perfectly capable of handling a silly piece of parchment from a simple joke shop, it really is only precaution to have a defense teacher check it."
"Yes well, Moony, I don't think that would be necessary." Remus flinches at his friends nickname for him but recovers quickly.
"Alright then, Snivellus, it's on you if something goes horribly wrong with that paper, and embarrassment really doesn't suit you. Maybe you should get over whatever the Parchment says and let me check it for the safety of our students."
"Get Out. Lupin."
Lupin turns and swishes his robe as he exits Snapes office, he reaches into his pocket and drops into the room a small dung bomb from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Smiling to himself, he remembers when they had been in school and the Marauders had dropped a dozen dung bombs into a broom cupboard and locked a young Severus Snape into ity. James is almost still there behind him snickering with Peter trying to contain his own fits of laughter. Oh to be young and have friends who weren't dead.