Author's Note: My teddy bear. Mine. All mine. Oh, where was I? Oh yes--this was going to be part of the "It's Never Easy" series, but it was a bit too long and a bit too cheerful, so uh--I made it an entirely independent story on its own. I found this to be overall uberly cute and fluffy towards the end--and the OOC can be ignored. Please? We can blame it all on James being a prat, right? Right? Oh fine, it was Kreacher in the hallway with a pan. I give. (End of rant that has absolutely no real meaning to the story.)

Warnings: OOCness. No pairings. No slash. (gasp) 1st year, 1st day.

Harry Potter © J. K. Rowling

Mr. Moony
by Mint Pizza Queen

Remus had a stuffed animal when he was a young child.

As his mother tucked him into bed each night, she would tuck the little toy in beside him just under the covers, and give it a kiss on the head as well. "Good night to you too," she would smile and turn off the light for the night.

Remus had packed his toy. He wished he had left it at home now that his fear of losing him in such a large place and being made fun of had tripled in the past ten minutes. Oh how he wished he had.

It was the first day of being in Hogwarts; he had just been assigned his room, and had just met his roommates. He was in the middle of unloading his items when a loud chortle broke out from the bed beside his.

"A teddy bear?" James cackled and rolled around, pointing at the Black who was mortified that his precious item and secret had been discovered. "Oh my GOD, that's for babies!"

Sirius scowled angrily at James, and then scowled at Peter who merely stared at the toy in wonder. His attention then swung to Remus who was staring at the raggedy bear in shock. "All right, fine! Make fun of my toy! I don't bloody care! But I am not a baby!"

Remus was about to interject with a 'you are not a baby' but froze as Sirius tore the head off his teddy bear, and proceeded to tear off the limbs and shred the body into a pile of indistinguishable fluff and cloth. He watched sadly as the boy slammed his trunk closed and jumped into bed, yanking the curtain closed without another word.

He looked over to Peter who was frowning, but shrugged to himself and went back to his task. His gaze swept over to James who was looking slightly guilty for upsetting the boy, but didn't appear to be willing to apologize anytime soon.

Remus sighed, rising from his kneeled position on the floor. He walked across the room to the pile of destroyed cloth and fluff and picked up a small piece, examining it carefully. It was damaged too much for him alone to repair. He frowned, and then glanced over at his own trunk.

He collected the pieces carefully, then walking back to his stand, placed them inside the drawer. He then made his way back to his trunk and dug around a bit until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out his toy, looking over its fabric carefully before marching back to Sirius's bed. Glancing over, he saw the surprised looks from James and Peter, but ignored them. Instead, he called out softly.

"Sirius?"

"Go away."

"I--I have something for you."

The curtain parted slightly and grey eyes stared out. "What?"

Remus squirmed in his skin. "I--I looked at your bear. He's far too damaged for me to repair, but perhaps one of the teachers could. For now, you--I--well, you can--have mine." Remus held out his toy awkwardly. "I know it isn't a teddy, but--it--it would be fine for the night, don't you--think?"

Sirius opened the curtain a little more, scrutinizing Remus for a moment before turning his attention to the toy. "Yours?"

"Yes." Remus faltered. "Uh--I call him Mr. Moony."

Shaking hands reached out and took the toy from Remus, bringing it close to his face. "Mr. Moony?"

Remus smiled. "He likes the moon. He's a wolf so, it's--it's sort of to be expected." He stumbled for words, but decided to shut his mouth before he made a further spectacle of himself.

Sirius nodded. "Well, uh--thanks."

The sandy-haired boy nodded back. "No problem." With that, he made his way back to his trunk and changed into his pajamas, climbing into bed and passing out from sheer exhaustion.

The night seemed to have passed incredibly quickly, for Remus opened his eyes, and found that it was morning already. Rising from the bed, he looked to see that James and Peter were still asleep. He glanced over to Sirius's bed only to find it perfectly made and the Black missing.

So was his precious toy.

Fear overwhelmed him. What if he took the toy down to the Great Hall to show off to make fun of him? What if he got angry at him and flushed him down the toilet? Or destroyed him like the bear from last night? What if--

--he felt a lump by his right hand. Glancing down, he saw the brown tail and pulled.

Mr. Moony appeared from under his blankets, perfectly unharmed, and well intact.

Remus smiled to himself and glanced at his stand.

Hopefully McGonagall wasn't too busy to do a little bit of mending this morning.

-End-