Ruthless
By Bedroom Dancing

A/N: Woohoo, my first full-legnth Remus/Sirius. Please note that this is rated T, and there will be no explicit slash in the entirety of this story. There will, however, be mild swearing and violence. This fanfiction will also contain hints of Lily/James romance spread within. The Prologue to this story is set in The Marauder's third year.


"Now do take care, Remus," Madame Pomfrey said gently, putting the finishing wrapping touches on a teenage boy's tender wrist. "You've still got rather a nasty cut on your face, but, well that's as good as it's going to get."

The boy named Remus nodded and examined his heavily bandaged wrist before rolling down the sleeve of his white uniform shirt. "Thank you ma'am," he said quietly before hopping off the infirmary bed and heading for the exit. She watched him go and hastily wiped a tear off of her cheek.

"Werewolf puberty..." sighed Madame Pomfrey empathetically, watching the sandy blonde haired boy push the door shut behind him.

Remus wandered through the dimly lit corridors towards Gryffindor Tower, taking a staircase that resided behind an ancient tapestry to shortcut the route to his dorms.

The common room was vacant, typical of such a time of night. Remus had also expected all of his fellow third years to have gone to bed, but as he tugged open the door to his dormitory and slipped inside, his honey brown eyes focused opon the scene of three teenage boys on the floor playing a game of Exploding Snap. All heads swivelled to Remus as he stood awkwardly in the threshold of the room.

"Something wrong you guys?" Remus couldn't hide the apparent shock in his voice. He flattened his slightly overgrown fringe in an attempt to cover the slash mark above his eyebrow.

"No, we're just playing a game," James said simply, tossing down a card onto the pile.

Crossing the common room, Remus sat himself on the bed and weakly tugged at the knot of his tie.

"And where were you, Mr. Lupin? Off wreaking havoc without us?" Sirius asked conversationally, his grey eyes glinting mischeivously in the light of the floating candles surrounding the pile of cards.

"Nope," Remus mumbled, and gingerly continued to undress. He bit down on his lip- bad idea, as the wound smarted as awful as it looked.

"So then where?" Sirius repeated sharply.

Remus felt his taped ribs protest as he stepped into a pair of flannel sleep pants and climbed onto his bed. He replied hesitantly, "I fancied a stroll. And I... y'know, tripped over a bush," Remus added lamely at their prolonged glares.

"A stroll out on the grounds from before dinner until past 4am?" James asked, raising his eyebrows, while flipping down a card that caused the entire deck to explode.

Remus flicked his wand, and the bed curtains swished closed around his four poster. "Goodnight," he said firmly.

"He's not gonna tell us," Peter said in an undertone.

"Well duh," Sirius replied, and Remus heard the ancient floorboards creak as he crossed the room.

Sirius tugged open the curtains and took a seat on the very edge of the bed, speaking in a kind voice, "Remus, for the past three years, you've dissappeared for hours at a time and come back with these awful injuries-" he gestured to Remus' heavily bandaged arm, which was immediately withdrawn under the covers. Sirius frowned. "I'm not going to pretend I don't notice anymore."

"I told you," Remus murmured, averting his eyes from Sirius'. "I tripped, you know me, the klutz-"

"We can only believe that so many times," James interjected with a small chuckle.

Remus gazed around at the three boys watching him intently, and he knew the game was up. There was no way to keep fabricating these dumb, half-assed excuses and ridiculous stories anymore.

"Okay," he sighed audibly. "I rather fancied you guys' company, but I guess you've caught on."

Remus wholeheartedly meant it. Since arriving at Hogwarts as an 11-year-old boy, he'd spent a great deal of time with James, Sirius, and Peter.

I guess they're nicer to me than Snape used to be, and quite a bit more entertaining. We're even still mates after the whole 'Sirius is such a wanker, James is a sodding prat who needs to be taught a lesson' prank wars thing last year, Remus recollected. Well, they certainly found other people worthy of combining forces to pick on- A certain greasy, hook nosed Slytherin in fact...

And thus far, Remus continued to ponder, James hasn't murdered me for accidently snogging Lily Evans around Christmastime. It's not my bloody fault she got drunk and showed me her knockers...

... Well what James didn't know wouldn't kill him.

And, as unlikely as Remus was to ever admit it, he quite enjoyed the recent late nights roaming the castle while huddled under James' very own invisibility cloak. I mean, hell, we've practically discovered enough hidden passages to write a novel.

"Oi, quit being a prat and just confess," Sirius replied impatiently, penetrating Remus' reflections.

"Err," Remus grumbled. Everyone waited.

Under the relentless watch of his roommates, he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, "I'm a werewolf."

"What?" Peter leaned towards to the bed, craning his neck to hear.

"I'm a werewolf. I have to go somewhere safe once a month to transform so I don't accidently tear anyone limb from limb," Remus spoke through gritted teeth.

Nobody replied. Remus rolled over and shoved his face in a pillow to try and block out the three shocked faces staring up at him.

"A werewolf, huh?" Sirius finally broke the brewing silence. Remus peered up into his face, his defined features were all etched with concern.

"Never thought of that one," James added.

"I'll... Understand if you don't want to be be seen with me anymore. I'm a 'danger to society.' Just don't tell your parents or anything, 'cause they'll go after Dumbledore and he's done me a huge favor by letting me even come here in the first place. I spose you'll want a seperate dorm too, maybe it can be arranged-"

"Remus, HUSH." Sirius barked the command. Remus immediately shut his mouth and stared apprehensively. "Why would you think we'd stop being your friends?"

"Because, I'm dangerous!" He shook his injured arm in the air, immediately regretting the decision as he winced in pain. "Look at me! I tear myself apart every month, I daresay what I could do to you!"

"So? It must really be hell for you, the transformations," James grimaced, staring blatantly at Remus' lip.

Remus gaped. Why weren't they grasping the concept?

"Look," Sirius ran a hand through his long, dark hair. "If you weren't already banged up, I'd beat some sense into you. None of us are going to stop being your friend or anything, especially over something like this. If you had let us know earlier, we could've helped out, you daft cow."

"Helped me?" Remus croaked, for his throat had become exceptionally dry.

James nodded. "That's what friends do."

The atmosphere in the room lightened considerably, and the four boys launched into a conversation of possible ways to be with Remus throughout his monthly ordeal. A smile had creeped upon Remus' lips, and from that night on, he never again doubted the bonds of friendship he had formed.


A/N: Hoped you like the prologue. This will probably be the shortest installment in the story. And a special thanks to Shanzeh, who will be beta-ing this fic.