That Monday afternoon, Remus' head still swam, even though the full moon had been Saturday. Worth it though it had been to see Sirius and James crush Ravenclaw on the Quidditch pitch, Sirius kept reminding him that he really should have been resting, and see look now Moony had a fever and a headache, and on Thursday he'd be turning 17 so how in hell were they supposed to celebrate if Moony was ill?
As stubborn as Remus was, he'd never tell Sirius he'd been right, although he privately agreed. Neither Sirius nor James would have cared if he'd missed the game, though Marlene might have given him the silent treatment for a time.
Besides, two of his three Monday professors expected him to be alert and engaged, regardless of when the full moon was. They had Slughorn in the morning, who'd never given Remus a break, really (last time he missed a Potions assignment in third year after a full moon, Slughorn had given him detention), and Defense after that. Formerly Remus' favorite class, this year Professor Picardy made it particularly difficult for him. Picardy found muggle-borns and half-breeds detestable. He even wrote a book about how all werewolves deserve to die, which luckily he hadn't assigned to the class, although Remus was pretty sure some of the Slytherins had read it.
Picardy strode to the front of the room and set his case on his desk. With a wave of his wand, all of their essays on dark curses (which Sirius tried to finish for Remus, and which Remus insisted he do himself) flew up to the front of the room and landed in a neat pile beside his case. "Good morning, class. Today we'll be starting a new lesson." He waved his wand at the board, where the words "Dark and dangerous creatures: DADA NEWT level" appeared.
Remus slumped further down his chair. Honestly, fuck today.
"We'll be starting with" – Remus closed his eyes – "werewolves. If everyone could please get your parchment and quills out, we'll be starting with some notes."
Beside him, Sirius squeezed Remus' hand and whispered, "No one would blame you if you left. You can say you're ill."
Remus shook his head. He wouldn't use this as an excuse.
"As many of you will know from Professor Kettleburn," Picardy said, "werewolves are one of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world."
"Sir," Sirius interrupted, raising his left hand. His right hand still held Remus' left under the table.
"Mr. Black?"
"Professor Kettleburn actually told us that werewolves are only dangerous at the full moon. He reminded us that werewolves are actually just normal people most of the time. Professor Puckle also taught us that," Sirius said, referring to their Defense professor from year three, who'd taken care to warn Remus the day before that they'd be discussing werewolves.
"Mr. Black, are you teaching the lesson, or may I continue?" When Sirius didn't say anything, Picardy moved on. "Dangerous," he repeated. "Now, does anyone know how to protect yourself from a werewolf?"
He looked around. Although Dorcas, a Slytherin, and two Ravenclaws had their hands raised, Picardy said, "Mr. Lupin?"
Everyone in the class looked at Remus. Severus Snape turned and smirked slightly. Shaking now, Remus said, "You have to kill them." Picardy gestured for him to continue, so Remus said, "They can't be stunned easily. Or knocked out. But –"
"Just because you hate anything you don't understand doesn't mean all werewolves deserve to die."
"Mr. Black –"
"You haven't called on Lily since she said she was muggle-born, and that was months ago," he said. "Or did you think we haven't noticed."
"Mr. Black, detention for the rest of the week," he said. "I'm going to ask you to leave until you learn how to conduct yourself properly in my classroom."
Sirius gave Remus' hand a squeeze and stood up. Remus heard him mutter, "Honestly, fuck this class," before the door swung shut behind him.
"Now," Picardy said as James swung around to sit beside Remus, "if anyone else thinks this is a laughing matter …" He tapped the board with his wand and several students screamed – even Peter – and James grabbed Remus' wrist under the table. Three paintings had appeared on the board, all of them depicting a werewolf attacking a person in various stages of injury or death. The last showed a man clearly dead, the whites of his eyes visible and blood dripping from his lips, the wolf standing over him with the man's innards in his mouth. Remus couldn't help but think the man looked a bit like Sirius.
XXX
James and Peter were waiting for Remus when he left the bathroom, Remus having thrown up what little he'd been able to eat at breakfast. James put a hand on his arm. "D'you want to come with us to lunch?"
Remus shook his head. "I'm going to sleep," he said. "I'll meet you in Transfiguration."
"McGonagall won't care if you skip, Moony," Peter said.
"We'll tell her you're ill," James said. "And honestly, you are. You look awful."
Remus shrugged. "Alright."
"We'll come check on you after class, okay?"
"M'fine. Thank you."
He staggered up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower and stumbled into bed still in his clothes, shaking still from fever and fear. Would anyone in the class figure out why Picardy had called on him? What if next time he hurt one of his friends like that?
Though his body was exhausted, it took Remus at least an hour to get his mind to sleep.
Soft light filled the room. The first thing Remus became aware of was that he was covered in sweat – his fever must have broken. The second was that Sirius was sleeping next to him, his arm around Remus' shoulders. In fact, all the boys were back and a bit of sunlight strained through the window, so it must be … dawn? Just after?
Beside him, Sirius stirred. "Moons?" he whispered. "You okay?"
"M'okay," Remus said. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten back together with Sirius this year. Not because of Sirius, but because Remus could really hurt him …
"You sure?" he asked, placing a hand on Remus' back. "You slept for a really long time."
"Just tired." Remus turned to face Sirius. "What Picardy said –"
Sirius' eyebrows furrowed. "That man is full of shit."
"Sirius –"
"No, stop, I don't want to hear it. I know what you're going to say, and it's bullshit. You're the most wonderful person I know, so fuck him."
Remus nodded and buried his face in Sirius' chest. Sirius put his arms around Remus and held him close. "I love you," Sirius said. "I love you, I love you, I love you."
XXX
They didn't do much for Remus' birthday – he was still tired, and insisted he just wanted to do something quiet in the common room with the Marauders and the Gryffindor girls and some of the Quidditch team – but to him, it was perfect. James even let him snog Sirius as much as he wanted without complaint.
"But on my birthday," James said, "you're not allowed to kiss once."
Remus and Sirius laughed. "Agreed, Prongs," Remus said, taking another bite of cake – chocolate, of course – from Sirius' fork.
"Ah, James, let them have their fun," said Dorcas, who was using Marlene's lap as a chair.
The weekend passed with a trip to Hogsmede and setting of a series of Zonko's products by a napping Mrs. Norris, which greatly angered Filch, much to the delight of the Marauders. Although Remus was dreading Defense on Monday, it was nothing compared to how he felt when Picardy pulled him into his office, the other boys looking mutinous. Picardy sat behind his desk and cleared his throat. "I owe you an apology, Mr. Lupin," he said, not looking at Remus. "I shouldn't have called you out in front of the class. And I suppose I could have warned you that I'd be talking about, er, werewolves."
"Oh, thank you for apologizing."
Picardy gave a curt nod. "Well, that's settled," he said, and stood, gesturing for Remus to leave. Remus had to remind himself that it would be impolite to run.
He made it back to his seat beside Sirius and whispered, "What did you do?"
Sirius grinned. "I may have gone straight to McGonagall when I left class last week. And she may have been furious."
Remus grinned back and squeezed Sirius' hand. "I love you so much."
Sirius kissed him quick on the cheek (James wolf-whistled behind them) and took out his quill and parchment. Remus forgot, sometimes, that he had people who cared, however many times they told him. He went to lunch with the other boys after a long and boring Defense lesson and walked with them to Transfiguration in the afternoon, where Professor McGonagall may have given him a small smile, and he may have returned it gladly.