AN_: Hey, quick update! Enjoy, review, and have a gret weekend!
OOOHH, much love to the famazingTechNomaNcer28 for the wonderful cover picture! It's beautiful! Thanks to everyone who reviewd the last chapter- I love you all!
Remember to vote on my "Favorite Couple" polll!
Love you!
Love,
Alex
XOXOXO
PS: Just saying, I AM NOT HINTING AT SLASH (yet :3) ANYWHERE IN THIS CHAPTER! It's supoposed to be an introduction to something. :) And THANK YOU to my dear Kyandua for the lovely ideas :) Love you babe!


"What goes around comes back around."
(Best Thing I Never Had, Beyonce)
(No, I am NOT hinting at Snape/Remus. It's just supposed to mean that if you give bad karma, it's going to come back and bite you in the ass)


Potions and Payback

The three boys stopped in front of Hagrid's huge hut, and James and Sirius pulled large sacks out of underneath their cloaks, giving Remus identical twin grins of evil pleasure. Remus gave Sirius a tiny grin, and Sirius slung an arm around Remus's shoulders, bumping his hip against Remus's.

"It's okay Rem, everything will be fine. If we get caught, we'll just say that it was only me and James together, and that you weren't involved. Are you alright?" he said softly, mistaking Remus's shaking of jittery excitement for nervousness. Remus patted Sirius's hand, grateful that he had friends who would risk getting in trouble just to keep Remus out of trouble. Sirius gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, then backed away to stand by James. James pulled off his glasses and wiped them off, holding them up into the sun to make sure they were clean.

"Okay Rem. Sirius and I would be in there for twenty minutes, thirty minutes TOPS. If you get nervous or someone sees, book it back up to the castle and wait in the dormitory. We'll finish the potion tonight, after dinner."

"It's going to be bloody sweet!" Sirius crowed, winking at Remus, then charging off into the forest, pausing where the last few rays of light started to die in the densely-leaved trees. James gave Remus an encouraging smile, then charged odd after his friend, both boys disappearing into the lush overgrowth in a matter of seconds. Remus walked up a few paces to sit on a large, flat rock in the ground. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, sighing as he felt the sunlights soothing fingers brush across his skin. It was very relaxing and very sleepy, and Remus started to have difficulty keeping his eyes open. He would start wide awake, gradually start to drift off, the start awake again. He was just so comfortable, and five minutes of drowsing couldn't hurt him, could it?

He was about to drop off when something huge and heavy came down on his shoulder, and he jerked awake, the wolf instantly on guard for the threat of an attack. He flipped over and landed on the ground with a thud, rolling over and up into a compact crouch, lips retracting back from sharp teeth as he let out a vicious, involuntary snarl. The enormous person before him backed away slowly, gigantic hands held up as a method of surrender.

"Easy there Remus. S'only me." Hagrid gave Remus a gap-toothed smile, completely undeterred that he was mere feet from a pissed werewolf. Remus straightened up, embarrassed, and held out his hand for Hagrid to shake.

"Hello Hagrid, how are you today? I'm... I'm dreadfully sorry. You startled me a bit." Remus told the giant man, staring at him apologetically.

"S'fine, lad. Can't help what you are. Care to come in for a rock cake or a sip o' hot chocolate? I just learned 'ow to bake 'em this week." Remus dithered, looking back anxiously at the Forbidden Forest. Would Hagrid get suspicious if he didn't go? He finally decided to go with the enormous game-keeper, figuring that he'd be able to see out of the window in Hagrid's hut to keep an eye on the forest. He also felt as though he should spend some time with the giant boy, who was probably only eight or nine years older than Remus himself and already had to live alone. Hagrid beamed at Remus and clapped him so hard on the back that Remus's knees buckled and he nearly fell over onto the the floor from the impact.

"Oh, sorry, sorry..." Hagrid muttered absentmindedly, grabbing Remus's shoulder with one hand and picking Remus up, setting him down on the ground and dusting off his back.

"Comin'?" Hagrid asked excitedly, starting to make his way back to his cabin. Remus nodded, and followed him, carefully stepping around a pile of something that looked suspiciously like the feces of a very large a animal. Remus looked back at the frost quickly, and shuddered, anxiety in his throat for Sirius and James. What if they got seriously hurt in there? He pushed the negative thought out of his mind. He had to think positive and not be such a downer all the time! Thinking positive would keep him worry free. He'd reached Hagrid's hut by now and Hagrid held the door open for him.

He walked through the Huge wooden door, (which was nearly the height of three more Remus's, all standing on the others heads. Remus couldn't deny that for such a small-looking cabin, it was quite roomy and clean. There was an enormous bed in one corner, occupied by a multicolored, patchwork quilt that looked as though it had been sewn by hand. Hagrid had a large rocking chair in one corner, a big wooden table in the middle, and several shelves filled with all sorts of different things, a barrage of scents that assaulted Remus's sensitive nose like a tidal wave. He doubled over and let out a loud snort, sneezing four or five times in quick succession.

"You alrigh'?" Hagrid asked with concern, and Remus gave one last sniff, standing up, eyes watering.

"I'm fine. I just... I just have a really sensitive nose, and those.. spices over there irritated it. I'm fine." Hagrid smiled at him again, going over to one of the shelves and grabbing two mugs. The mug itself had to be as big, if not bigger, tha Remus's own head. He poured some tea into them and set them down on the table with a loud thud, causing some of the hot water to slosh over the edges and onto the table. Hagrid waved oput a hand, motioning for Remus to sit down, and Remus did, carefully sliding out a chair from the table and hoping up onto the chair. When he sat, his feet did not even reach the floor.

"Do you like Hogwarts so far?" Hagrid asked eagerly, smiling aat Remus over an enormus mug of steaming tea.

"I love it. "Remus answered simply, and it was the truth. He loved more than anything else in the world. For once, he had friends. Good, loyal, tustworthy friends. He had nice teachers, an incredible healer for the full moons, and he was able to learn! Remus greatest joy in life had to be the abilitly to leanr and mature with knowledge. He simply loved to learn about Goblin Wars (one of the reasons he was the only student awake in Professor Binns's class), to be able to practice learning spells and important incantations in charms, and to everything in between. He woulod stay up every night reading one of his textbooks, too fascinated by the information he found to put it down. James and Sirius gently teased him for his book-wormness, but Remus just loved books!

"Aye, I loved it too. Great school." Hagrid said fondly, sighing with the sigh of someone who was remembering an old memory. Remus reached for his mug of tea, but jerked his hand back, letting out a hiss of pain. The mug was wooden, but the handle had to be madee out of what Remus assumed to be silver, judging from his rapidly forming blister and the heat that saurrounded it.

"Ehh?" Hagrid snorted, Remus's exclamation of pain drawing him out of his reverie.
"Blimey, you jus' can't get a break 'ere, can ya?" Hagrid ssaid sadly, reaching over the table and taking Remus small hand in his own, flipping it over carefully to examine the blisters and red marks on his palm. Remus clenched his teeth together against the pain, nodding let go of his hand, getting and going over to a stone basin in the coner. He pulled out a cloth and handed itr to Remus, who wrapped it around his hand gratefully.

He was abpout to say thank you to the huge man before something caught his eye. Froim Hagrid's table, he could see out the window, and he saw James and Sirius running out of the forest, grins on their faces, through Hagrid's polka-dotted curtains.

"I'm dreadfully sorry Hagrid, I must go." He said abruptly, leaving Hagrid staring after his retreating figure with confusion.


Remus let out another enormus sneeze, startling James out of his meticulous counting for what had to be the fifth time.

"Rem!" James shouted indignantly, throwing the thistle leaves he was counting on the chopping board and glaring at Remus.

"What is with you? I have to finish coutning these! Please, STOP SNEEZING!" Sirius giggled beside Remus, and Remus turned to glare at him, which shut the black-haired boy up prertty quickly. Remus was utterly miserably. The mere scent of the thistles was driving his nose insane, as were the fumes of the ragworth and other vile ingrdients that James was brewing over a toilet in the third floor desereted bathroom. He suspected it was because of all the herbs and things were irritating his nose, much like those jars filled with whatever had been earlier in Hagrid's hut.

"Sorry! I think I may be all-all-all..." He quickly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeze, his looud sneeze muffled by the fabric. That sneeze hadn't seemed to bother James, so Remus sniffed and wiped his streaming eyes on his robes collar.

"Allergic?" Sirius looked at him sceptically.

"Whjo ever is allergic to thistles?" Remus tensed up automatically, praying that Sirius wouldn't read to deep into his "allergy". The boy was right- whoever was allergic to thistles?

"Maybe it's not thistles." Remus snapped irritably, quite uncharictaristic for him, for his worry of discovery coming out in an annoyed tone. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Jeeze Rem, I was just joking. Way to bite my head off." With a huff, Sirius folded his arms over his chest and looked back at James. Remus winced at the thought of how much the wolf did want to bite Sirius's head off at that moment.

"Forty exactly!" James crowed suddenly, holding up the thistle leaves with pride. With ceremonious flourish, he dumped them into the bubbling caulron, which had begun to emit a very noxious smell (not unlike old socks) and was a sickly green color. Remus wasn't quite sure if potions were supposed to look or smell like that, but James seemed to know what he was doing, so Remus just sat back and let James and Sirius do all the work. Knowing him, he'd be measuring something out, sneeze on it, and have everything blow away everywhere.

"Alright, now I need to add three next eyes, ugghh," James paused to shiver with revulsion, "And stir it three times clockwise, one time counter clockwise, and then we all spit in it. "

"What?" Remus and Sirius asked at the same time, Remus looking horrified (Snape was going to be drinking that!), Sirius looking absolutely delighted. James winked at Sirius.

"I'm just kidding Remus. Though the slimy git deserves worse than that for what he called you..." James muttered darkly, scooting backwards on his butt over to bag where they'd had all their ingredients. He held up the jar with the newt eyes and groaned.

"What?" Sirius asked curiosuly, craning his neck over Remus's shoulder to see James had found.

"There's only two eyes in here! And we can't go back and get more, because Slughorn almost caught us last time!" James ground his teeth together, but Sirius looked completely nonchalant.

"So? Just put the two in there- I'm sure it will be fine. It can't do anything that bad to him." Remus turned his head to look at Sirius, shocked. Even Remus, coming from a mixed heritage, knew that you must never, ever, ever make a potion unless you had all the ingrdients. Something always tended to go terribly wrong. With Sirius's pureblood upbringing, Remus couldn't believe that he'd even suggest to do such a thing. What if Snape wasd permanently difigured? Even though the Slytherin had said some nasty things, Remus wouldn't wish that on anyone!

"I don't know mate..." James hesitantly said, looking over at the bubbling cauldron apprehensively.
"I've heard about things going horribly wrong when you didn't use the proper ingrdients!" Remus thanked Merlin that James was on his side. But a wicked grin crossed over James face.

"Anything that will go horribly wrong would be too good for him!" He dumped the two newt eyes into the potion, which fizzed and hissed and made a sick sloshing sound. Remus looked at his two friends anxiously. Should he say something? Snape didn't deserve something as horrible as a mis-brewed potion. In a moment of cowardice, Remus decided to just let it be. What could he do? Try and convice James and Sirius to do something otherwise when they were already firmly set on doing something else? Sirius was more stubborn than a mile, and twice as smart. He'd fine some other way to get back at Snape, Remus told himself. And that way would be doubly awful and humiluiating because Sirius wouldn't have Remus there to tell him something was too dangerous.


Remus, Sirius, and James burst in to the common room, giddy and floating on cloud 9 from their success at potion brewing. Remus rubbed his itchy nose anxiously- he would have to talk to Professor McGonagall about what to do for potions, since they obviously irritated his senses so much. He hadn't realized that his first time brewing an actual potion could go so dreadfully wrong.

His heart lept a little- maybe he would be able to drop our of potions forever! It was easily his worst and least favorite subject, so it would really be no skin off of his nose. Smug now that he had figured out a legitimate excuse to drop out of potions, Remus resolved to talk to Professor McGonagall about it after Transfiguration tomorrow.

The common room was moderately full with students enjoying their Friday night off, wanting to party since there was no school on Saturday or Sunday. Older students occupied the couches and the corners of the room, while the younger students were all crammed at the two wooden tables, watching the sixth and seventh years with admiration and hero-worship in their eyes. Sirius spotted an empty spot on one of the couches by the stone fireplace and he dragged Remus and James over to it, where Remus collapsed gratefully onto the plush couch, limbs welcoming the soft fabric.

He was sitting next to Connor MacIntyre, a seventh year boy who was particularly kind to Remus and had given him directions a few times to get to class. Remus poked his head out to say hello to the older boy, but stopped dead in his tracks, eyes growing huge as he took in the scene in front of him. Connor was snogging someone, which wasn't unusual, since all the seventh years snogged once in a while, but what blew Remus out o water was that the other person was a BOY. Connor was kissing Ethan Mirewood, another seventh year, who happened to be the star Keeper and practical jokester of Gryffindor. Remus's jaw nearly fell onto the floor, he was so shocked.

How could they be doing that in public! Why wasn't anyone in the common room freaking out? There had been a homosexual couple that had lived on the Lupin's block for a number of years, but one day they started kissing outside of their house, and one of Remus's muggle neighbors called the police. Now, Remus knew it was none of his business, but he couldn't help staring and feeling just a tiny bit freaked. Wasn't that considered abnormal? Ethan's hand slid up Connor's back, pulling the boy closer, and Remus let out a squeak, causing the two boys to break apart. Connor turned around to see Remus's incredibly shocked and bewildered expression and burst out into laughter.

"Hello Remus!" he said between laughs, wrapping an arm around Ethan and yanking him down so he was splayed across Connor's lap.

"Say hello, Ethan." Connor said sternly, and Ethan grinned at Remus, responding with a cheeky "YO!" Connor smiled and pecked him on the cheek, causing Remus to scooch ever so slightly away from them, hitting into Sirius, who turned around to see what was happening.

"Bit shocked, eh Remus?" Connor asked kindly, covering Ethan's mouth with his hand as Ethan started to giggle. Remus managed a small nod, and Sirius, noticing what had happened, started laughing as well.

"You're half muggle, right?" Connor asked, fighting to keep a smirk off his face. Remus managed another nod. "They don't do same gender relationships, do they?" Remus shook his head vigorously. They indeed did not. Here, Sirius butted in.

"Ohh Rem. In the wizarding world, everythings so much more open! Muggles are so stuffy. It's not weird here, it's actually accepted. See?" Sirius moved his head quickly and kissed Remus right on the mouth, earning a howl of laughter from James, who nearly fell off the edge of the couch in mirth. Remus couldn't do anything but sit there, dumbstruck. Sirius had just kissed him. Sirius had just kissed him? The thought alone was too much for his already fried little brain. Connor nudged him gently in the ribs, a smile on his face.

"It's okay, Remus. Sirius, go easy on him! You nearly made him faint! Here, it's not strange for people to do that. Wizards believe that you should be able to love whoever you want to love, no matter what their gender is." Remus just nodded slowly. How could the wizard world be so accepting of something that the muggle world looked down on, but they couldn't be accepting of what he was?