CHAPTER ONE
Note: I know that technically, Remus becomes friend with Sirius, James and Peter within his first year or two at Hogwarts, but I'm taking a little creative licence and changing things around a little bit.
On a scale of 1 to Unfortunate, my situation would probably be deemed roughly Disastrous.
Yes, I had always been different. But not in a conspicuous way. I was surreptitiously different – a quiet boy who didn't have any friends - but wasn't noticeable enough to get picked on. I was intelligent – thank Merlin – so it wasn't as if I had any particular stupidity to distinguish me from the crowd. Neither did I make a point of answering questions and avoided teachers' praise, so I couldn't be accused of being a know-it-all. I tried not to make eye contact, only spoke when making nervous polite conversation, and spent most of my free time sat inconspicuously in the common room.
All in all, I had made every possible effort not to be noticed. And up until now it had been working.
To be honest, I hadn't expected my little pretence to last forever. I knew that at some point someone was going to discover – if not my shape-shifting secret – at least that I wasn't normal. But even by my standards, it was spectacularly unlucky that Sirius Black should turn out to be that someone.
"So, the name's Remus, isn't it?" He was speaking casually and almost jovially, which was strange considering it was his fist that clenched a handful of my shirt and was pressing me quite painfully up against a wall. "Would you care to explain to me why I'm facing two weeks of detentions?"
This was a difficult question. It wasn't made easier by the fact that quite an impressive crowd had gathered around us.
"Well?" Sirius asked, tightening his grip on the front of my shirt. I hoped he couldn't feel how fast my heart was beating. I resisted the urge to squirm.
It really hadn't been my fault, but I could tell that that wasn't going to be much help in this situation. It had the average lesson; me keeping my head down, staying inconspicuous. I hadn't been paying attention to what was going on until I heard surprised shouts and yells from around me. Looking up, I was rather surprised to notice that about half the desks in the classroom were whizzing around in the air.
Chaos had ensued. Our charms professor went white, and began shouting and waving his wand, to little effect. Students were screaming and throwing themselves to the floor, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Several of the girls burst into hysterical sobs as the heavy desks sped around the classroom, smashing everything in their path.
"Who is doing this?" shrieked the professor, trying desperately to target one of the airborne desks. "Who is doing this? Stop it at once!"
And that's where it all went horribly wrong. It wasn't my fault that I knew that this sort of magic would require quite a bit of concentration. And it wasn't my fault that I quickly spotted the only person not running around screaming. And also wasn't my fault that I instinctively flung out my arm, and shouted: "It's him!"
It was only a matter of seconds before the professor had dodged through the spiralling desks and grabbed the culprit by his arm.
Sirius Black.
Suddenly the class went quiet. The desks swooped ungracefully back down to the floor, and all was still. I looked around, and found every single pair of eyes focused on me.
The girls – who had been sobbing a minute ago – glared at me with unconcealed venom. The rest of the class – who had just been screaming with terror – now showed on their faces varying degrees of shock or disgust. And no face was more disgusted than that of Sirius.
"It was just a prank, sir." He said, and although he was speaking to the teacher, his narrowed eyes were trained right at me.
A prank – one the whole class had been in on. That's when I had begun to realise just how badly I had made a mess of things.
So it wasn't a surprise that no-one made a squeak of protest when Sirius shook me roughly, pulling me forward before slamming me back against the wall again. His handsome face was set in a passive expression, but his eyes were dark and flashing with anger.
"You really want to answer me, Remus." I swallowed hard. His tone was starting to lose any trace of casualness.
I really did want to answer him, but for some reason no words came to mind. I just stared at him, my eyes wide and my heart racing - wondering if I'd end up covered in hexes, or if I'd escape with just a black eye.
Sirius shot me a look of utter scorn as I looked up at him uneasily, trying not to wriggle against his painful grip.
"Sirius – just leave him. He's probably wet himself already." It was James Potter. Although I was desperately grateful for his intervention, I felt my cheeks redden with humiliation. Sirius smirked and let go of me. I almost collapsed without his grip on my shirt to hold me up.
"When a teacher asks what happened, you know what to do." Sirius said, the lazy relaxed tone back in his voice. He flicked his wand at me, muttering a spell under his breath. I flinched and cringed, then instantly hated myself for doing so.
A second later I felt an invisible force barrel into my chest, flinging me into the air and back against the wall. I hung just a metre or so above the ground, suspended there by a pressure against my shoulders and upper body. My face turned an even deeper shade of crimson – if that was possible - as Sirius turned and sauntered away with his posse, the remaining students snickering or grinning.
I couldn't help it. I closed my eyes and wished desperately that I could disappear.
Of course, it would be the case that one of the people I shared a room with was Sirius Black. This usually meant that James Potter and Peter Pettigrew were in the room as well, sitting on Sirius's bed or the floor near it, chatting and laughing late into the night. It had never really affected me much before – I had perfected a charm for sound-proofing my bed many years ago. All I had to do was draw the curtains, wave my wand, and I had a perfect little sanctuary. For a night a month or more I didn't sleep there anyway, but to be honest I don't think that anyone ever noticed my absence.
Well, that was all about to change.
I had dangled in the air for a good half hour before a teacher found me. They hadn't even bothered to ask how I had gotten there – not that I would have even considered telling them anyway. I may have been an idiot, but I wasn't suicidal.
I had been late for my next lesson – potions – which meant I had to enter the class after everyone had already found their seats. I entered to a fanfare of snickering and whispering from Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, desperately avoiding looking anywhere near Sirius. I was aware of the gazes focused on my throughout the whole lesson, and even when I looked straight down I could see people leaning over to mutter to their friends. I assured myself that it would pass, and thankfully by the end of the day people seemed to have forgotten about it, or at least lost interest.
All except for one person.
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