Sunday, 11th June 1972
The Aurors were called in, and the eight students present in the Defence classroom were interviewed individually in Dumbledore's office. It was a nerve-wracking experience for Remus. He knew his lycanthropy was on record with the DRCMC; if they looked him up, they would know what he was. The entire time he was waiting for his turn to be questioned, he was expecting to be accused of the murder. Why look anywhere else when a werewolf had been the one to 'find' the body?
And so, when he'd entered the Headmaster's office for his turn, it was with a feeling of certain doom. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey had both insisted on being present for the interviews. The former, in lieu of parental presence. The latter, in a medical capacity; she felt the students had suffered a traumatic experience and may be in need of support. The moment the issue of his lycanthropy was raised, McGonagall had gone to bat for him.
'Mister Lupin is a model student,' she said. 'His behaviour, while not always perfect, is not violent or aggressive. He's an intelligent boy, and I've never even seen him lose his temper, never mind become violent. The virus in his body does not affect his mind unless the full moon is in the sky, and on those nights he is safely contained, willingly I might add. I will not stand here and allow you to accuse him on the basis of his lycanthropy alone. What is your evidence?'
'He was the one that found the victim.' the head Auror said. 'Three of the other witnesses have stated he went directly to the cupboard when they entered the classroom. Can he explain that?'
'Why don't you ask him,' Professor McGonagall snapped. 'He's perfectly capable of understanding the question.'
'I could smell the blood,' Remus said. 'I didn't know what it was, but I knew it shouldn't be there.'
'You haven't smelled blood before?'
'Only my own. It didn't smell like that, though.'
'What did it smell like?'
Remus hesitated. He didn't want to answer that question. Not with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey listening. He didn't want them to see him for the monster he was.
'Answer the question or I'll be forced to take you into custody.'
'It smelt nice,' Remus said, staring at the floor. 'Like food.'
'Well, of course it did,' Madam Pomfrey said. 'Your memories are all mixed up with the wolf's, but it didn't make you violent, did it?'
Remus shook his head.
'Exactly, that's because your mind is in control, and when you smell food you can control yourself.'
The Auror cleared his throat. 'So people smell like food to you? Is it really safe for you to be here?'
'How dare you?' Professor McGonagall snapped, rounding on the man with the fury of a lioness protecting her cub. 'If you continue to be bigoted towards my student, I will floo the Ministry and have you replaced.'
'With all due respect ma'am, your student is a dark creature, and classed as dangerous by the Ministry.'
'My student is a child under my protection and if you make one more prejudiced remark, I will remove you myself,' Professor McGonagall said, facing down the far taller and bulkier Auror as if he was a first-year caught out of bounds.
The Auror actually looked a little scared, and Remus had to work hard to suppress a smile at the sight.
Composing himself, the Auror turned back to Remus. 'Where were you between the time Professor Hawthorne was last seen alive, and when his body was found?'
Remus was beyond relieved that he had a solid alibi. 'In the Great Hall with everyone else. Then my friends and I left, we went to Professor Slughorn's classroom, and then to Defence. We were all together the entire time.'
The Auror let him leave after that, but he called Sirius, James and Peter back in, one at a time, to verify his story. When they were finally able to return to their dorm, they were all worn out and on edge, which went some way towards explaining what happened next.
'Why were they so interested in you?' James asked, looking at Remus through narrowed eyes the moment the dormitory door was closed.
'Because we all told them he found the body,' Sirius said. 'Well, I did, anyway.'
'I did too,' Peter said. 'Sorry, Remus.'
'It's alright. You had to tell them the truth.'
'And that's another thing, how did you know to look in the cupboard? You went straight to it. It was like you knew something was in there.'
Remus' stomach flipped over and he rubbed the back of his neck. 'I don't know. I was just playing the game, looking for clues.'
'You reacted like it was real straight away too. The rest of us thought it wasn't really him, but you seemed to know it was. How?'
Remus took a step back. 'What exactly are you accusing me of?'
James blinked at him. 'Nothing. I'm just asking. Should I be accusing you of something?'
'For fuck's sake, James. He was with us the whole time,' Sirius said. 'Will you stop acting like Remus is guilty of something?'
James glared at Sirius. 'I just want to know how he knew, that's all.'
'I don't know how I knew! It just looked real,' Remus said, almost yelling now. 'Which I think is pretty understandable, seeing as it was real!'
Peter was hovering by his bed, glancing back and forth between them and wringing his hands. 'Guys, don't fight. Please.'
'We're not fighting,' James said, calmly. 'I just want Remus to answer the question.'
'I've answered the question!'
'Sure it looked real, but we were playing a murder mystery game. How did you know it wasn't part of it?'
'I didn't know,' Remus said, running his hand through his hair. 'I just reacted. Instinct, I guess.'
'Instinct?'
'Yes.'
James gave him one last indecipherable look and then turned away. 'Alright.'
It had gone one in the morning before Sirius was sure James and Peter were both asleep, and he tiptoed over to Remus' bed as quietly as possible to make sure he wouldn't wake them.
He pulled back the curtain, expecting to have to wake him, but Remus was sitting up, hugging his knees, and he looked up when he felt the curtain move. His eyes were rimmed with red and his hair was a frizzy mess; he'd clearly been pulling at it. A lot.
'Do you want to talk about it?' Sirius whispered.
Remus didn't hesitate, as if he'd been waiting for Sirius to arrive and ask that exact question. 'Not here.'
Sirius stepped back so he could get up. 'Get your cloak.'
They didn't go far, slipping into the passage behind the tapestry of the goring of Elphick one corridor away from the common room, but they wanted to make sure they wouldn't be overheard.
As soon as they were hidden from sight, Sirius reached out and pulled Remus into his arms. 'You are not a monster,' he said, his tone allowing no room for argument.
Remus struggled for a moment but then relaxed into Sirius' arms, hugging him back. 'Madam Pomfrey said it was because my memories are mixed up with the wolf's. But that doesn't make sense. I don't remember anything after moonrise until I wake up the next day.'
'There's an explanation,' Sirius said. 'We just have to find it.'
'How?'
Sirius pulled away and looked down at Remus. His face was pale; his eyes worried.
'I don't know, but you're not a monster, and neither is Moony. He's just a lonely animal that instinctively attacks humans because they smell good, not because he wants to hurt them. He's not evil.'
Remus stared at him for a moment, frowning. 'How can you be so sure?'
'Because I know monsters.' Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his hair. 'I'm related to monsters. And you are nothing like them.'
'You mean your parents?'
'My whole damn family, pretty much.'
Remus sighed and turned away. 'It's not really the same thing.'
'No, it's not,' Sirius agreed. 'My family has everything they could ever want in life, money, power, respect. And despite that, they're awful people. You have so little, you've suffered more than anyone should ever have to, and you know that's unlikely to ever stop. You have every reason to be bitter and twisted, but you're not. You're kind and thoughtful and amazing. So you have a disease that makes blood smell nice to you, who the fuck cares?'
'Most people do,' Remus said. 'When I told the Auror, he asked me if it was really safe for me to be in the school.'
'I'll kill him,' Sirius said. And he meant it too.
'There's no need. Professor McGonagall already killed him with words.'
'Of course she did. That's my Minnie,' Sirius said with a chuckle. 'I wish I could have seen that.'
'It was pretty entertaining.'
They didn't stay long in the passage after that. They were both exhausted, physically and emotionally, and they knew sleep wouldn't come easily. For the first time in weeks, Sirius didn't think about what was waiting for him at home when he finally closed his eyes. Instead, he couldn't stop seeing Professor Hawthorne stuffed into the supply cupboard, imagining the last, horrifying moments of his life.
The next morning, Dumbledore announced at breakfast that classes would be cancelled for the day and they would be holding a memorial service for Professor Hawthorne beside the Great Lake at one o'clock for anyone who would like to say goodbye.
The Marauders attended, along with most of the school. That was no surprise; Professor Hawthorne had been well-liked by the students. What was surprising was the arrival of the merpeople. They surfaced as a group at the beginning of the service and paid their respects with music, playing a heartbreaking song on instruments Sirius had never seen before. Amaria was among them and she gave the Marauders a small wave when the song was finished, before flashing her tail as she dived back beneath the water with the rest of her people.
When the memorial was over, the Marauders lingered outside, wandering around the edge of the lake until they found a secluded and shady area in which to sit.
James' animosity from the day before seemed to have been forgotten. He was back to his usual friendly self, a little subdued, but that was understandable considering what had happened. Sirius knew he should be glad that James seemed to have moved on, but a little part of him deep-down wished he would keep digging. If James found out, it would all be out in the open, and he wouldn't have to keep secrets anymore. It was selfish of him, he knew, but he couldn't help it, he hated lying to his friends, even if it was for another friend.
'Talk about a sad end to the year,' James said, picking at the grass. 'This has really put a downer on everything.'
'I know, I can't stop thinking about it,' Peter said.
Sirius knew what he meant. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the professor's torn out throat. 'Who do you think did it?'
'It looked like some kind of animal,' James said.
'An animal could have killed him,' Remus said. 'But it wouldn't have put him in the cupboard like that.'
'Yeah,' James said. 'That was weird, right? What kind of monster would do something like that?'
'And where did they go?' Peter said with a shudder. 'They can't have been gone for long when we got there.'
'If we'd been a few minutes earlier, we might have caught them in the act,' Sirius said. 'Why did we have to muck around? If we'd been quicker, maybe we could have saved him.'
Remus shook his head. 'We'd have been killed too. Professor Hawthorne was an expert in Defence. If he couldn't fight them off, what chance did we have?'
James suddenly jumped to his feet, peering out across the lake. 'What's going on over there?'
Sirius turned to look. Professor Dumbledore was standing on the bank, with what looked to be a couple of Aurors. 'What do you mean?'
'Two others just went into the water,' James said.
'Are they looking for something?' Remus asked, climbing to his feet.
Peter grimaced. 'Or someone.'
They stayed where they were, watching, not daring to move closer in case they were spotted, and twenty minutes later the two Aurors emerged from the lake, with a third figure held between them.
'Is that…' James started.
'Emhio,' Remus said, finishing the question for him. 'They can't think it was her, surely?'
'No,' James gasped. 'Emhio wouldn't have hurt Professor Hawthorne. They were friends. Come on.'
He broke into a run towards the Aurors, and Sirius followed immediately.
They caught up with the group when they were almost at the gate. Remus and Peter had been left behind, and Sirius was gasping for breath, unable to speak. James was panting, but nowhere near as out of breath as Sirius.
'What are you doing?' James said, his tone demanding. 'You can't possibly think Emhio did it?'
Professor Dumbledore stopped and turned around, while the Auror continued to lead Emhio out of the gates. She was wearing some kind of bridle on her head and her hands were magically restrained behind her back with golden light.
'Mister Potter, please return to the castle. You too, Mister Black.'
'No,' James said in a firm voice. 'I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. But Emhio wouldn't hurt a fly. They're making a mistake.'
Sirius couldn't believe James had the confidence to talk to Dumbledore like that.
Dumbledore smiled kindly at him. 'For what it's worth, I agree with you. But I'm afraid I can't override the Aurors decision, and they believe Emhio to be guilty.'
'You have to do something!' James said. 'They'll execute her!'
'Not before a trial is held. And I assure you I will do everything possible to prove her innocence. But right now, I need you to return to the castle, so I can accompany Emhio to the ministry.'
'Right,' James said. 'Thank you, sir. We'll go right away.'
They returned the way they had come, finding first Remus and then Peter along the way, and recounting what had happened.
Classes remained cancelled for the rest of the week. The exams were over anyway, so it wasn't like they were missing much. The Marauders had put off packing for as long as they could, but on Friday morning they finally acknowledged that it had to be done, and as Sirius folded his last set of robes and placed them into the trunk, he tried to keep his hands from shaking. Tomorrow he would board the train that would take him back to the hell-hole he was forced to call home. And he didn't want to go.
There had never been anything he wanted to do less.
What he needed was a distraction.
'James?' he said, turning away from his annoyingly fully-packed trunk. 'How about one last hurrah before the holidays?'
James' face broke out into a wicked grin. 'What did you have in mind?'
Sirius mirrored his expression with a grin of his own. 'Well, what do you think about…'
It hadn't taken much to put his plan into action; a quick trip to the library, a little persuasion directed at Remus who had been reluctant at first, an invisibility cloak and just a touch of magic.
And now they were all seated in their usual seats at the end of the long Gryffindor table furthest from the teachers, calmly waiting for the dessert to be served. If everything went to plan, it would be glorious. Sirius was a little nervous that it wouldn't work—their mischief was usually planned to the tiniest detail, and this had been very spur of the moment—but it wasn't a difficult task to pull off. The hardest part had been getting past the house-elves; not hard at all with the aid of James' cloak.
'It's time,' James murmured, looking across the table at him with a wicked smirk as the desserts appeared. 'Are you ready for this?'
Sirius winked at him. 'Always.'
'I still think this is mad,' Remus said at the same time.
'I'm just going to…' Peter said, grabbing two fairy cakes from the plate in front of him. He shrugged. 'Before it all, you know?'
As Peter pulled his arms back, every dish, plate and tray along the length of all five tables exploded simultaneously. All except one. As steamed pudding, cake, jelly and ice cream soared into the air and rained down over the students and teachers, Remus calmly sat forward and helped himself to a slice of the one dish that remained unharmed. A fat triple layer chocolate cake positioned directly in front of him.
'You missed that one on purpose, didn't you?' Sirius said, leaning close to Remus' ear to be heard over the chaos.
Remus shrugged. 'I couldn't ruin such a beautiful cake.'
Sirius laughed and glanced around the Hall. It was pandemonium. Students were squealing and shouting, many were trying to clean the food from their hair and clothes, others were picking up the ruined desserts from the table and floor and launching it at their friends and/or enemies. Most of the teachers were out of their seats, attempting to restore order, but Dumbledore was still seated in his throne. A great glob of vanilla ice cream had landed on his hat and slid down to the rim, slowly dripping onto the table below. As Sirius watched, Dumbledore caught a drip with the tip of his finger and popped it into his mouth. Then he caught Sirius' eye and winked.
'Black! Potter!'
Sirius looked away from Dumbledore at the sound of McGonagall's angry voice to see her striding towards them with a face angrier than he'd ever seen it.
He grinned at her. 'Yes, Minnie, my love?'
'Don't waste my time with the innocent act, I know you two are behind this. Probably Pettigrew and Lupin too.'
'Me?' Remus asked, pausing to look at her with a forkful of chocolate cake halfway to his mouth.
Professor McGonagall arched her eyebrow and crossed her arms. 'Yes, Mister Lupin. You have access to the kitchens, do you not?'
'Well, we're offended, aren't we Fab?'
'Too right we are, Gid. Not only does she not recognise our work after seven years, but she gives the credit to a bunch of first years!'
'Shocking is what it is.'
McGonagall turned around to glare at the red-heads who were standing behind her sporting wicked grins. 'You two did this?'
'Absolutely,' Gideon said.
'Thought we'd go out with a bang,' Fabian said. 'Literally.'
Professor McGonagall sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over her face. 'Detention, tonight, three hours, come to my office in twenty minutes,' she said before walking away to break up a food fight between a group of second-years.
'What did you do that for?' James asked as the twins sat down next to them. 'Not that we don't appreciate it.'
'Couldn't let our replacements spend the whole of September in detention, could we?' Fabian said.
Gideon nodded his agreement. 'You wouldn't have any time left to plan the Games.'
'But now you have to spend your last evening in detention,' Peter said.
Fabian shrugged. 'We spent most of our school years there, seems kind of fitting really.'
Remus peered out of the window as the train pulled into Kings Cross station and slowed to a stop. The platform was packed with parents waiting for their children and he scanned the crowd for his father—he refused to think of him as dad anymore. He didn't see him at first, but eventually spotted him standing near the back, with a scowl on his face. It was crystal clear that he'd rather be anywhere than where he was. A familiar rage burned in his chest as he looked at the man that had taken so much from him.
Sirius squeezed his hand in reassurance, and Remus turned away from the window to look at him. His face was pale, and he'd been almost silent for the last hour, gripping Remus' hand so tightly it was almost painful. They'd all been pretty quiet, to be fair. Losing Professor Hawthorne in such a brutal way the previous weekend had put a dampener on the spirits of the whole school, but Remus sensed there was something different about Sirius' silence.
'Is he there?' James asked, peering out of the window.
'Yeah, at the back,' Remus said.
'Come on, then. I want to introduce you to my parents before the sleepover.'
They all grabbed their trunks and other belongings and hauled them off the train onto the platform. Sirius carried Cosmo's cat carrier so Remus could manage his trunk and Rieka's cage.
'This way,' James said, leading them into the crowd of parents.
They followed him as he weaved his way through to the far-left of the platform, stopping in front of an elderly-looking couple. The man was the spitting image of James, right down to the messy hair and glasses.
'Hi Mum! Dad!' James managed to say before finding himself engulfed in his mum's arms as she rained kisses down on the top of his head. Remus glanced at Sirius; he was grinning at the spectacle as James attempted to fight her off.
'Alright! I get it! You missed me. Can you say hello to my friends now?'
'Oh, hello, Sirius, it's lovely to see you again, dear. And you must be Peter.' She released James to hold out her hand to Peter, and he shook it. 'It's wonderful to meet you, James has told us so much about you.' She turned her attention to Remus. 'And I'm guessing you're Remus? I know you don't like to be touched, dear, so I won't shake your hand.'
'Oh, Remus is over that. We helped him,' James said.
James' mum raised an eyebrow at that. 'Is that so? James didn't force you, did he? He can be a bit overbearing when he gets an idea in his head.'
'No, Ma'am,' Remus said, shaking his head. 'It was my idea, James has been nothing but kind.'
James stuck his tongue out at his mum. 'Honestly, you have no faith in me.'
James' mum cuffed him around the back of his head. 'Cheeky. But I'm glad to hear it, Remus dear. And please, call me Effie, none of this ma'am nonsense.'
Remus nodded. 'Okay.'
'And you can all call me Monty,' James' dad added with a wicked grin so much like James' it was uncanny. 'I'm looking forward to hearing all about your escapades this year.'
Mrs Potter—Effie, Remus corrected his own thoughts—checked her watch and her eyes widened. 'Well, it was lovely to meet you all. But we must be getting off. We'll see the three of you during the summer, though, yes?'
They all nodded and said goodbye to James. Remus made sure his father was watching when he gave James a hug. Peter then spotted his own mum and said a hurried goodbye, hugging Remus and Sirius quickly, before walking away, hauling his trunk behind him.
'You ready for this?' Sirius asked when they were alone.
'Is he watching?' Remus asked. Sirius glanced to the side where Remus' father was waiting for him and nodded.
'Perfect.'
Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius and buried his face in his neck. He breathed in deeply, trying to memorise his scent, hugging him for several seconds before letting go.
'He doesn't look worried,' Sirius said after peeking at his father again. 'Just impatient.'
With a twinge of guilt, Remus remembered the very expensive and now completely useless present his friends had bought him so many months ago. 'Mum must have told him about the gloves and hood, he must think I'm wearing them,' Remus said.
'So I need to touch a part of you he knows isn't covered up?'
Remus frowned. 'Like what?'
Sirius paused for a second, looking him up and down, and then shrugged. 'Only one place I can think of.'
And before Remus could ask what he was talking about, Sirius snaked his hand around the back of Remus' neck, bent his head down, and pressed their lips together in a kiss.
Remus' mind short-circuited. What the hell? They hadn't planned this. He felt uncomfortably hot, and the familiar tingles he still felt every time Sirius touched him were intensifying. And then Sirius pulled away and winked at him.
'Now there's no room for confusion,' he said. 'See you in August, Nerd Boy.'
Remus stood there, on the platform, confused as hell, as he watched him turn away. Sirius went completely still for the smallest of moments, before straightening his spine and striding over to a scowling woman who looked beyond furious. As soon as he was close enough, she grabbed his arm and apparated them away.
Shit. He hoped Sirius would be okay.
He was distracted from his concern by a pain in his arm, and he looked up to see his father glaring at him and gripping his bicep hard.
'What the hell was that?' he growled.
Remus wouldn't be cowed, though. He met his father's eyes with an equally angry glare of his own. 'I know the truth. You lied to me.'
All the colour drained from his father's face. 'I don't know what you're talking about, but we'll discuss this at home. Get your trunk, now.'
Remus rolled his eyes at his father and gripped the end of his trunk in one hand and the two pet cages with the other as he was pulled into the suffocating tunnel of apparition.
They materialised in the garden and Remus immediately ripped his arm away from his father and made for the house. A distant rumble told him his mum was almost home, and he wanted to put as much distance as possible between his father and himself until she was present.
'Get back here now!'
'No!' Remus said, continuing to walk towards the kitchen door. The rumble was louder now. He looked up and saw her car pulling into the driveway.
'Don't you speak to me like that, you rabid little animal.' His father grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Remus glared at him again, refusing to show any fear although his heart was racing. The car door slammed.
'Lyall? What's going on?' Remus' mum called, hurrying towards them across the grass.
'Yeah, Lyall,' Remus said. 'Why don't you tell her what's going on?'
'Remus! Show your dad some respect,' his mum said, sounding shocked at his behaviour.
'No.' Remus crossed his arms. 'He doesn't deserve it.'
'Go inside. I don't know what's got into you, Remus, This wasn't the homecoming I was expecting.'
'Not until he tells you what's going on,' Remus said, refusing to budge.
His mum frowned at him, but then turned to his father. 'Lyall? What's he talking about?'
'He was hugging people at the station,' his dad blurted. 'Then he kissed one, the heir to the Black family of all people. We're going to have to run. He's surely infected them. The Black's won't take this lightly.'
Remus snorted at his attempt to continue the lie. But his mum looked at him with a shocked expression.
'Is that true, Remus? Why would you do that?'
'Yes, it's true,' he said. His mum's face morphed from shocked to terrified and he hurried to explain. 'I've been hugging them for weeks, mum. There's been a full moon since I started, and no one has been infected. All the books say the same thing, werewolves can only turn people by biting them on a full moon. My touch isn't infectious. Dad lied to us.'
His mum gaped at him for a moment before turning back to his father. 'Lyall?'
His dad just stared at the ground, saying nothing.
'Lyall!' she snapped. 'Is this true?'
His father spoke so quietly Remus almost didn't hear him. 'Yes.'
There were several seconds of complete silence while various expressions flickered across his mum's face; shock, confusion, joy for one brief moment and finally it settled into fury. 'Get out,' she said, her voice cold.
His dad's head shot up. 'What?'
'I said, GET OUT!' She screamed the words at him. 'Pack your bags and get the FUCK out of my house, Lyall Lupin, or so help me I will end you!'
His father took a step back from the furious woman in front of him, and Remus didn't blame him, he'd never seen his mum so angry.
'I don't have anywhere to go.'
'Do you think I care?' she spat. 'You kept me from my son for SEVEN YEARS!'
'I… I did it for you. To help you stop caring about it after what happened. That's not your son anymore, Hope. It hasn't been your son since the night he was bitten. Can't you see? It's just an animal, a monster.'
Remus felt his insides squirm sickeningly. That was the reason his father had lied? To make his mum stop loving him? He truly believed Remus was a monster; no longer human. No longer his son.
Remus' mum didn't respond for several seconds, but finally, she opened her mouth and said in a quiet voice, 'You disgust me.'
'I disgust you? But you still love that thing that took Remus away?'
'This is Remus, Lyall. He's just sick,' she said, shaking her head sadly. 'I'm sorry that you've never been able to see that. I tolerated you distancing yourself because I thought, hoped, that you'd get over it. But this? I can't forgive this. You're not welcome in our home anymore. You need to leave.'
'And how do you expect to contain it without me?' he sneered.
'I'm his mother. I'll find a way.' She shrugged like the problem was nothing. 'It's what we do.'
Lyall shot one last venomous glare at Remus before stomping into the house. They both watched him until he disappeared inside, and then Remus' mum turned to him with tears in her eyes.
'Sweetheart,' she said. 'I am so sorry.'
Remus frowned. 'For what?'
'Believing him. I should have checked, made sure it was true. You must be so angry with me.'
'No, mum. I'm mad at him, not you. Never you.' He swallowed and scuffed his feet on the ground. 'Can I… Can I have a hug?'
His mum hesitated. 'You're sure it's safe?'
Remus nodded. 'Positive. I wouldn't put you at risk if I wasn't.'
'Come here then,' his mum said, opening her arms to him.
Remus blinked back the tears forming in his eyes and stepped into her embrace. Thanks to Sirius, he felt no fear as she wrapped him up in her arms, nothing but warmth and love, comfort and belonging.
She buried her face in his hair and made a noise that sounded like a sob.
Remus pulled away to look at her. 'Don't cry.'
'I'm just so happy,' she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
'Me too.'
A loud crack sounded making them both jump; his dad had disapparated, angrily judging by how much noise he'd made.
'Let's go inside,' his mum said. 'I think we could both use a cup of tea.'
Together, they hauled his trunk and pet carriers into the house and he let Cosmo and Rieka out, before following his mum into the kitchen. Leaning back against the counter, Remus pulled out his wand, fiddling with it while his mum boiled the kettle.
'Dad has a point. How will you keep me secure on the full moon?'
'You let me worry about that,' she said. 'I'll figure something out. I'll need to borrow Rieka, though.'
'Sure. Who are you going to write to?'
'Dumbledore.'
Remus nodded. That made sense; Dumbledore was already sympathetic. Maybe he'd let him use the Shrieking Shack during the holidays, too.
His mum placed a steaming cup of tea on the counter next to him and sipped her own.
'Remus, did you really kiss a boy at the station?' she asked, watching him for a reaction to the question.
Remus dropped his wand and felt his face heat up. 'Well, it was more him kissing me, but er… yes?' He bent down and picked up his wand to hide his burning cheeks.
'Are you gay?'
Remus stood back up too fast and felt a little light-headed for a second. 'I don't think so.'
She let out a relieved breath. 'Good. You know it's wrong, right?'
Remus frowned. He'd seen many same-sex couples at Hogwarts among the upper years. It didn't seem to be a problem in wizarding society.
'I don't think I agree with you.' he said carefully, not wanting to start an argument. 'But it doesn't matter, anyway. Sirius only kissed me to scare dad.'
'Scare him?'
Remus nodded. 'We wanted to show him I knew he'd lied. We hugged first, but he didn't look worried, and we figured he thought I was wearing the gloves and hood. Then Sirius kissed me. I didn't even know he was going to do it.'
'But you didn't like it, did you?' his mum asked, frowning at him.
It was all too clear what answer she wanted from him, and Remus was confused. She could still love him with lycanthropy, but not if he liked boys? He needed to know.
'What if I did?'
'It's disgusting, Remus. Boys aren't supposed to be with other boys like that. It's revolting… unnatural.'
Right. But turning into a wolf once a month was totally natural. He couldn't lose another parent, though. He didn't know if he'd liked it or not. It had all happened so fast and he was too stunned to notice, but even if he had, he had to hide it. He clearly couldn't risk being gay.
'No, I didn't like it.'
His mum nodded, satisfied with his answer. 'So this boy knows you're a werewolf?'
'Yeah, he worked it out. He doesn't care, though, and he's been helping me hide it from everyone else.'
'That's kind of him,' she said. 'But if he's gay, you need to watch yourself around him. Don't let him get too close.'
Remus wasn't sure they could really get much closer, all things considered. Sitting in Sirius' lap and burying his face in his neck didn't exactly leave much room between them. His mum would be horrified if she knew the things they'd been doing the last few weeks.
'I don't think Sirius is gay, mum. Like I said, he just kissed me to scare dad. He's kind of impulsive sometimes, that's all.'
'Mum must have told him about the gloves and hood, he must think I'm wearing them,' Remus said.
Damn, that made things a little more difficult. But not impossible; Sirius liked a challenge. 'So I need to touch a part of you he knows isn't covered?'
'Like what?'
Sirius looked Remus over. He was wearing those weird blue muggle trousers and a shirt with long sleeves. The only skin he was showing was his hands and face. An insane idea occurred to him, and without pausing to think it through, he grabbed it with both hands.
Shrugging, he said, 'Only one place I can think of.'
He didn't wait for Remus to respond, just curled his hand around the back of Remus' neck, leant down and kissed him, right on the mouth.
Remus' lips were soft and the same tingles he felt whenever he touched him shot through his body more intensely than ever before. It was as exciting as riding a broomstick at top speed through heavy rain, as terrifying as being shut outside during a thunderstorm, and as natural as breathing, all at the same time. The kiss only lasted a second or two before he pulled away. It had only meant to be a way to unsettle Remus' father. He hadn't expected to like it, but he did. And he wanted to do it again.
In an effort to hide his reaction, he winked at Remus. 'Now there's no room for confusion,' he said, despite feeling more confused than he ever had in his life before. 'See you in August, Nerd Boy.'
Grabbing his trunk, he turned around and was immediately doused with icy terror as he saw his mother stood on the platform glaring right at him. She'd seen the whole thing. Fuck. What was she even doing there? He'd expected her to send Kreacher to collect him. Never in a million years had he thought she'd come herself.
He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing his fear, though. Straightening his spine, he stuck his nose in the air, letting his mask fall into place, and walked over to her. She grabbed his arm and without giving him even a second to prepare, apparated them to Grimmauld Place.
They materialised in the drawing-room, and Sirius had barely acknowledged where he was before he was hit with a stinging slap around the face.
'What the hell do you think you're doing cavorting with filthy half-bloods in public?'
Sirius looked up at his mother with defiance. 'Fuck you.'
After staring at him for a few seconds, she curled her lip and grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him through the house as he stumbled along next to her, trying to get his feet beneath him. He managed it just as they reached the top of the stairs to the cellar, thank Merlin, or he was certain she would have dragged him down them headfirst. When they reached the bottom, she tossed him onto the floor and Sirius fell hard against the wall, banging his head and making it throb in time with his racing heartbeat.
'Don't expect to get out of here before September. I told you what would happen if you continued to associate with that filth. Not only did you defy me, but you kissed one of them in public. People saw you.'
The pain in Sirius' head was making his anger flare brighter. 'So?'
'So? You are the heir!' she screeched. 'You have a responsibility to this family! How do you expect us to find you a respectable wife if you go around sullying yourself with mudbloods and filth? And flaunting your… preferences.'
Perhaps it was the head injury, but she wasn't making any sense at all. 'My preferences?'
'I don't care if you're gay. Once you're married, you can do what you like, but for Salazar's sake keep it discreet, or no decent woman will want you.'
Sirius couldn't help it, he laughed in her face. 'I'm not gay!'
'That was quite clearly a boy you were kissing. I'm not stupid, Sirius.'
'We just did that to piss his dad off. I'm not gay.'
'Regardless, it doesn't matter if you are or not. You can screw all the pureblood boys you like for all I care. Just stay away from the filth.'
'Mother! I'm twelve, for Godric's sake. I'm not screwing anyone.'
'Your uncle Cygnus was already married at your age.'
Sirius' stomach rolled at that information. 'Gods, this family is disgusting.'
Walburga back-handed him across the face again. The blow radiated even more pain through his already throbbing head and made his ears ring. As he raised his eyes to glare back at her defiantly, he licked his lips and tasted blood.
'Don't get comfortable. Kreacher will be down soon to see to your punishment.'
Sirius watched his mother close the door before wiping the blood from his split lip. That hadn't gone well at all. Kissing Remus at the station had only added fuel to the fire, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it. It had been weird, but not bad. Did that mean he was gay? He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the animated sketch of his friends, staring at the image of Remus.
Did he like him, like that? Every time he touched him, he tingled all over, and he wanted to kiss him again; he knew that much. When he thought about kissing Remus, his body felt warm and his stomach flipped over. Had Remus liked it, though? He didn't look disgusted after, just surprised. And that was fair; Sirius really hadn't given him any warning.
Maybe he could talk to him about it at James' house. He tucked the picture back into his pocket, not wanting Kreacher to catch him with it—his mother's favourite house-elf had a spiteful streak that rivalled hers, it was why she liked him so much—and leant back against the cold stone, closing his eyes. This summer was going to be even worse than he'd anticipated if she was handing his torture over to Kreacher to handle, but unlike all the previous times they had punished him in this room, he now had happy memories to cling to and a new hope to get him through it.
He whispered the word, wanting to hear it out loud one more time before his last moment of peace came to an end. 'Remus.'
