Chapter 10. Friends
October 6, 1971
September passed quickly. In that month Remus had a lot of fun: during the lessons he learned many new things and started to get to know the boys better. He bonded not only with his fellow Gryffindors but also with Marlene, another Hufflepuff boy named Benjy who was paired with Mary at Herbology and two Ravenclaw girls, Emmeline and Pandora. Only a few things he didn't like: flying lessons - which he found particularly useless since he wasn't interested in Quidditch - and when situations of awkwardness arose between them because of James and Lily.
The October transformation was worse than the September transformation. Fortunately, however, thanks to Madam Pomfrey, Remus recovered well and so the boy was already able to go to dinner with his companions that evening.
The problems began the next afternoon, during the Potion class that Gryffindors usually attended with Slytherins. That day they were supposed to pair up and prepare a Good-Skin Potion: James stayed with Sirius, Lily with Severus, Mary with Dorcas and Remus with Peter. Initially, everyone worked in silence but in the middle of the hour the situation escalated. Everyone was thinking about their potion and trying to turn it salmon pink when two Slytherins approached Severus.
"Snape, when you're done with yours, can you help us with ours? We did not understand anything. Slughorn is not good at explaining .. "Mulciber asked.
"I haven't even figured out what potion we have to make…" Avery continued.
"Good-Skin Potion." Severus said. "And anyway, in my opinion, it is you who understand nothing. Slughorn knows how to do his job. "
"Do you want to help us or not?"
"Yes, Avery. Keep calm."
Avery nodded.
"What's it for, anyway?" Mulciber asked.
"To remove skin imperfections .."
"I know someone who would need it .." Mulciber looked cautiously at Remus who was across the room and the three began to giggle. "But have you seen it? It seems he hasn't slept in a lifetime .. "
" Why do you think that loser has all those cuts? " Avery asked, still looking at the boy's scratched arms.
"Dunno, as a good loser who is surely for some stupid reason." Snape said proudly. They giggled again.
"I see you're enjoying yourself…" Sirius appeared behind Severus.
"What do you want, Black?"
"From you, Mulciber? Absolutely nothing. " he said with a disgusted face. "We just wanted to know the reason for all this laughter .. to laugh a little too."
"Fly away, losers!" Avery yelled.
The class turned to them.
"What is happening?" Lily, who had previously left to wash her hands, approached the group of boys in alarm.
"Your dear friend and these two empty pumpkins were making fun of Remus!" James barked at the three Slytherins.
"Sev, is that true?"
"Do you believe me or this one?" Snape looked at the girl who was staring at him with an indecipherable look.
"Really, Evans?"
"Potter, stay out of this! I'm trying to understand .. "
" What is there to understand? We heard it! "
"Lily, we're not lying. Why should we ever invent such a thing? " Sirius continued.
"Guys, what's all this noise?" Professor Slughorn asked, joining the students. No one answered. "Today I don't want to have any problems: everyone go back to your stations and run out of your Potion! There are only 20 minutes left .. "
Silent, everyone went back to their seats. Lily looked dismayed, Severus was serious while James and Sirius were furious.
The mood continued to be the same even during the next lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts, always shared with the Slytherins and then also during Charms with the Hufflepuffs.
"Are they ok?" Marlene asked worriedly, referring to the two boys.
"I don't know .. first they had an argument with Severus, Mulciber and Avery and they have been like that ever since." Doras answered.
"Why did they fight?"
"For me." Remus said that he was exactly between the two girls.
"For you?" Marlene was confused.
"They called Remus a loser and Sirius and James got mad." Dorcas explained.
"Well, I would have been angry too .. and I never get angry."
"And Lily doesn't know who to believe .." the gryffindor added.
"But how? To James and Sirius, of course. "
"There's Severus on the other side…" Dorcas pointed out.
"Oh yeah. They are friends .. God, what a bad situation. " the blonde said, shaking her head. "However, how are you, Remus? Don't believe what those there say, eh. " she continued putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "They only talk because they are unhappy people, worse for them."
Remus shrugged and smiled sweetly.
At the end of the lesson, once in the common room, the two companions joined the boy.
"They are blockheads!" James began.
"Fools!" Sirius continued.
"No brain!"
"The next time I see them I swear that-"
"Sirius no. There is no need .. "
" But they called you a loser! "
"It doesn't matter, really…"
"No. I don't know how yet, but they will pay dearly for it. Are you angry with a friend of mine? Then you'll have to deal with me too. " stated the boy with the glasses.
"And with me." Sirius said nodding.
"And with me." Peter joined the conversation.
Friend?
Remus wanted to smile with happiness, but the situation was not the most suitable. 'Friend'. No one had ever called him that.
Friend. Wow. It's weird .. So if I'm their friend, are they my friends?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt stupid.
Friend. What a beautiful word!
Later at dinner Lily, who was sitting across from Remus, spoke up:
"Sorry .."
"For what?"
"For the words they told you .."
"So you believe us, Evans?"
"As usual, it's none of your business, Potter. Anyway, I know Severus and I know when he lies .. so sorry. " she seemed truly sorry.
"Don't worry, Lily." Remus said smiling at her, so as to reassure her.
Sure, it wasn't nice to realize they were making fun of him, but he really didn't care. The fact that Severus, Mulciber, and Avery thought Remus was a loser didn't touch him in the least, because those three people were no one of importance to him, except schoolmates. If, on the other hand, the others had said it, then in that case it would have been very bad. But luckily it didn't happen. In fact, they got mad at the three Slytherins and called him 'friend'.
After that story the four became inseparable: when you saw one, you also saw the other three. This made Remus immensely happy. He had gone from always being alone to not having even a moment to himself. But it happened that Remus would isolate himself: not to avoid others but only because sometimes he felt the need, and mostly spent those moments reading. He noticed that Sirius too sometimes became estranged from others, but he did it with music. Remus was pleased to be able to share with someone the passion for muggle music and always had a lot of fun discussing which song was the most catchy or which singer had the best voice. These little things - the guys, the school, the books and the music - made him feel normal, made him feel like an 11 years old boy . He also loved the girls so much. They were always super nice to him and he never understood why. He had a lot of fun with Dorcas and Mary, they both had two explosive characters and when they were together they always made everyone laugh; with Lily, on the other hand, he could talk about everything - Remus in her presence could become super talkative - and between them he had created a good confidence so much that it seemed that they had known each other for a lifetime and then there was Marlene. He and the girl were like kindred souls: they were both very similar in temperament and for this reason they often agreed on many things, they had the same sense of humor - which he also found in boys, especially in Sirius - and she was very positive and also extremely sensitive and sweet with everyone, and he liked this a lot.
And then there were the boys. They were a force of nature. Peter was surprisingly funny, clumsy but determined, he loved talking to them and telling many new things; James always smiled and tried not to make anyone feel alone, he was caring and generous, but he was also a born leader and loved to lead them everywhere and Sirius was ironic and cheeky, sometimes he was silent and others loved being the center of attention, he had zero sense of personal space and put passion into everything. Both together complemented each other. With them he felt good, he felt he could be fully himself. He hated having to hide his 'problem', but was afraid that if he ever revealed it to them they would run away, so he just avoided thinking about it and enjoyed every moment as if it were his last.