Remus had always had the reputation for being at least somewhat responsible, despite the company he kept or had kept. They had started as four children, four eager eleven year olds excited about their upcoming school year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Those four children would become fast friends and soon, brothers with the exception of one Sirius Black. Remus had been taken with the dark haired boy with silver eyes instantly, the way said boy would grin in Remus' direction whenever the latter suggested funny yet safe prank ideas to play on other unsuspecting students or professors never failed to make the tawny haired boy blush, the same blush that always spread up to the tips of his ears. Remus had never thought that he would have friends, especially not with the secret he kept. 'It wasn't safe' his father had always said and for eleven years Remus had followed his fathers rules but the second the boy with unruly black hair had wrapped his arm around Remus' shoulders and introduced himself as James Potter he told himself that he could indulge himself, even if it only lasted a little while.
Fast forward to the beginning of second year he found himself cornered in their shared dormitory, the eyes of his friends neither cold nor accusing as they told him, quite bluntly, that they knew he was a werewolf. Remus had blinked back the tears and hung his head. This was it, this was where his education would end, where his first ever friendships would end; after all, no one would want to be friends with a werewolf. He had stopped unpacking his trunk and kept his back to them as his shoulders had began to shake, much to little twelve year old Remus' shock his fellow dorm mates had dog piled onto him embracing him in one of the tightest hugs he had ever experienced. A hug so fierce it rivalled that of his mother, who's hugs were known to knock the wind completely out of your lungs. It had taken hours to calm the hysterical boy down enough for his friends to convince him that they weren't scared or disgusted, something that had taken Remus years to fully accept.
Third year Introduced something new to the four, who had recently named themselves 'The Marauders'. The start of Puberty had befallen them and with that came the awful inconvenience that was, hormones. For James this meant ogling a certain ginger muggle born, fondly called the smartest Witch of her age by professors. Lily Evans. Somewhere in the background Peter too was ogling some unnamed, blurry faced Ravenclaw but none of that really registered to Remus who had been overwhelmed by his own dose of love sickness. The cause of his pining? One Sirus Black, the same Sirius Black who had taken Remus' heart all the way back in first year on the train, only now those feelings felt like they had been multiplied by a hundred and Remus felt like he was drowning. Sirius seemed oblivious to Remus' longing stares and loving smiles that were only seen when Sirius was around. Remus kept silent about his feelings, why ruin a perfectly good friendship when it was so obvious that Sirius would not and could not return his feelings.
Fourth year seemed to arrive far too quickly for Remus' liking. Not that he wasn't excited to return to Hogwarts, because he very much was, but because it meant seeing Sirius. Remus' feelings had not lessened over the course of the summer, quite the contrary, his feelings seemed to have multiplied and deepened to the point where even the mere mention of Sirus name made butterflies erupt in his stomach. He had returned to his family's home in Wales in a slump, which of course his ever observant mother noticed almost instantly. It had taken a few days but eventually Remus had confided in her that he had developed feelings for Sirius, his mother had been delighted for him only he wasn't so thrilled. Neither was his father, who upon hearing the news tried to forbid Remus from seeing Sirius stating that he "Would not let his son become corrupted by a Black." And that Sirius was "Evil through and through.". This had sparked a very heated argument which had ended in Remus not talking to his father for an entire week. That summer had sparked change in Remus as he began to physically change growing slightly bulkier and a little taller, finally "Filling out a little." As his mother had put it. Soon enough he found himself back on Platform 9 and 3/4 where he was waved over by James and Sirius while they waited for Peter.
Not much happened during the course of that year, nothing substantial changed between the four. Remus' longing looks and pining had been noticed by Lily Evans, James' "one true love." As he had dreamily stated one evening at dinner. Whilst at first Remus had been hesitant to talk to her, he soon found that she had a soothing aura around her and eventually he began to confide in her about Sirius. It definitely had nothing to do with her stubbornness or the fact that he was driving himself mad with bottling it all up. No, absolutely not. It had taken a few weeks but eventually they went from study partners to friends, much to James' delight and Remus found himself hounded with questions about his new found friend. Remus had also began to notice the odd looks Sirius would throw at the pair when he thought Remus wasn't looking. Was it possible that Sirius was jealous? Remus had noticed the odd almost drooling look Sirius had had on his face when he first saw Remus on Platform 9 and 3/4 on September 1st of that year. In the end Remus had thought nothing of it, Sirius Black could not be jealous. After all, he had given no sign that he was even into blokes. The entire idea was preposterous, or at least thats what Remus told himself anyways.
Fifth year started and the air was thick with annoyance as the professors went on and on about their upcoming O.W.L's as if they could forget. The only major development was James' new found enthusiasm in his attempts in getting the attention of Lily who merely rolled her eyes at his dramatic performances. The library was Remus' safe space as it was mostly empty, save for the few other fifth and seventh years studying for the upcoming exams. Lily had become Remus' rock over the last few weeks as his feelings for Sirius grew ever deeper and he could barely stand to be in the same room as the other boy without his heart wanting to spew out his ever growing love for the pureblood. Lily had also confessed to Remus that she had a crush on James, though she had made him swear to secrecy something that had made Remus giggle as Lily had threatened to charm his robes to say "I love Sirius Black." In neon pink letters. The thought alone made Remus shudder and blush, hiding his face in his hands.
Remus had known something was off when he saw his three fellow Marauders reading, like really reading. Although the books they held seemed to have no title on them, nor a blurb. They had shrugged off his questions saying that they were from the restricted section of the library and they were reading them to get 'inspiration' to plan a prank to play on the Slytherins. Remus had been sceptical but one look at Sirius' pout and Remus had let the whole thing go, it was almost as if the sneaky pureblood had done that on purpose. The next hint Remus got that his friends were up to something was when they went quiet, for three whole weeks. Remus had tried to get them to tell him but conveniently Sirius had been there to send Remus fleeing in the opposite directly in search of Lily, his rock, the only reason he still had any shred of sanity.
Lily had been equally confused and had even tried to sweet talk James into telling her what they were up too but he had just gave her an apologetic look before going back to sit with Sirius and Peter. Remus let it go as he buried himself in books trying to prepare himself for the upcoming exams even if they were a while away, with Lily beside him they spent every free moment in the library. Then suddenly after a very powerful lightning storm everything went back to normal, Sirius went back to cracking jokes and speaking at every given opportunity and James went back to trying to flirt with Lily who's walls had slowly began to crumble and she found herself enjoying James' stupid pickup lines. Even Peter seemed more cheerful than Remus had seen him in months, it was as if nothing had happened, as if Remus had just imagined the entire thing.
The following month seemed to pass far faster than Remus wanted it too and soon the day of the full moon was once again upon him and it was with a heavy heart that he declined Lily's invitation to study in the library before making his way down to the Whomping Willow and through the damp passageway into the shack, his home for the night. Madame Pomfrey made sure he was all set before leaving and Remus felt the loneliness begin to sink in along with the overflowing dread. He was used to it by now, the way the wolf would tear its way out and force his human mind away for the night before leaving him aching on the floor at sunrise. The familiar pull of the moon was disrupted by the sound of shuffling and just before the wolf took over Remus watched his three best friends turn into animals before his very eyes. A stag, a dog and a rat.
Remus couldn't believe it. He simply couldn't believe it. They had become Animagi, so they could be with him during the full moons. Part of him wanted to be angry, to be furious with them for being so..so reckless! But the larger, more prominent part of him had reasoned that they had known what they were doing, they had known the risks but had done it anyway. Done it for him. Tears had filled his amber eyes as they stood opposite him clearly anxious at what his reaction would be. He had pulled them into a fierce hug and thanked them over and over again for going through all that effort for him. In the end Sirius had been the first to pull away with a grin and a glint in his eyes as he stated that they needed nicknames.
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were the names that they had eventually decided upon although Sirius was still a little miffed that Remus hadn't like 'Wolf Boy' as it was "Too obvious.". Still they were finally happy with the relatively anonymous names they had come up with for their Animagi forms and Remus' werewolf form. Remus felt a little odd giving his Wolf a name after fifteen years of trying his best to pretend it wasn't part of him but he had to admit, in a way it felt nice to not just refer to Moony as an 'It' or 'The wolf'. With that life went back to normal for the remainder of the year with the small exception of the new project the four had started, the new project involved parchment and a lot of reading on new spells. The quest? To make a map, the Marauders Map. In between working on the map and studying for their upcoming exams that came closer with each passing day, Remus had began to notice that Sirius was being far more touchy-feely. Hugging Remus more often and just generally touching him more and Remus started to believe that Sirius was hinting at something. Perhaps..perhaps it was possible after all…
Sixth year had started differently then the others before it, sixth year started with Remus and Sirius sneaking a snog in before Peter and James had entered the compartment on the train. They weren't hiding their relationship, no in fact they had been having a hard time keeping their hands off each other when they had seen each other over the summer after Remus had finally admitted his feelings, stuttering them out after a particularly harsh full moon when Sirius had been helping him clean up the cuts he had acquired the night previous. Sirius was living with James now, after running away from home after only a week of being there. James' parents had welcomed Sirius with opens arms, just as they had with Remus even with knowing what he was. His own father had become quite disgruntled when he found out that Remus and Sirius were together but after a few weeks and a few visits from Sirius he seemed to warm up to the idea, after seeing that Sirius was most certainly not like his estranged family.
Lily and James had also started dating not long after the first day back at Hogwarts, which had boosted Gryffindor houses mood as a whole as they no longer had to listen to James Potter pine after Lily Evans, instead they could celebrate their quidditch captain and his new girlfriend. That just left Peter, who had been disappearing a lot more often these days but had always come up with excuses leaving the other four to shrug off his disappearances. Maybe he was seeing someone from another house? The four Marauders welcomed Lily in with open arms, as the four of them became five.
It soon became obvious that they would need to tell Lily about Remus, which had been a very hard lump for Remus to swallow. They had waited until the common room had emptied with the other students going up to bed before James caught Lily's arm and brought her to the sofa where Remus was practically sweating with anxiety, his leg bouncing furiously as Sirius sat beside him, finger intertwined. Remus had thought of a tactful way of breaking the news however his mind seemed to throw caution to the wind as he blurted out in a hushed tone that he was a werewolf. Lily had frozen for a fraction of a second before she had giggled her eyes brightening as Sirius asked what it was that she found so humorous. Lily proceeded to inform them she had known for a while, proving that there was a reason she was deemed the smartest Witch of her age. It had taken a lot of convincing but eventually Remus had given into her insistence that she was completely fine with it and that she didn't love him any less now that she knew for sure that he was "A victim of lycanthropy.". Remus had never heard it put like that, he had only ever heard himself referred to as a Werewolf; never a victim. He found himself smiling and soon the five parted ways with the boys going up the staircase to their dormitory and Lily going up the opposite to the girls.
By now Voldemort had began gaining power and it was gossiped about in hushed voices that there was a war coming and the thought had chilled Remus to the bone. The Prophet was slowly filling with disappearances and attacks, but it was one name that was seen continuously in the daily paper that made goosebumps rise on Remus' body. Fenrir Greyback: Monstrous Beast sighted! Remus felt bile rise in his throat whenever he saw that name written in magical ink on that paper with blurred images of a beast that looked more animal than man. It hadn't taken long for his friends to catch on to why he blanched when he saw the name and Remus wondered that had he not calmed Sirius down, that perhaps his lover would have started a hunt for the rogue werewolf. Everything seemed to be going fine at that moment and Remus tried to focus on the present and not the war that was looming over them, with Sirius by his side that seemed completely fine.
Everything had been going so well, too well and now it had all come crashing down. Sirius had really gone and done it, sending Snape to the shack when he knew that Remus would be there waiting for the moon to rise. If it weren't for James then Snape would have died, or worse been turned. Remus would have been a murderer no matter which way you looked at it and he would have been given a one way ticket to Azkaban or if he was lucky a one time meeting with the executioners axe or a guillotine. As it were Remus owed James his life and he had been trying to give back in anyway he could. Meanwhile, Sirius was apologising left and right trying to get Remus to just look at him.
Remus hadn't even uttered a single word to Sirius since waking up the following morning and being told about the 'almost' tragedy, he hadn't even looked at Sirius which was starting to worry him as he watched his boyfriend slowly fall into a depression that no one seemed to be able to rise him out off. Sirius knew he had gone too far and he thanked Merlin that James had stepped in and stopped the Greasy gi-..Snape from getting too close. Sirius wanted to fix it, he wanted more than anything for Remus to hold him, talk to him..to just look at him! But he knew, deep down that this wasn't just going to go away on its own. Sirius was going to have to do something about it, not alone of course so he got Lily and James to give him a hand. He would have had Peter join them but as was normal these days, Peter was nowhere to be found.
Five days, many owls, flowers and half of Honeydukes later, Sirius was finally ready to surprise his Moony in an attempt to fix things with his beloved werewolf. Remus had been avoiding him completely and Sirius had watched on from a distance as Remus slowly fell apart but no more! He would make things right. He had everything set up at the astronomy tower with the help of Lily who, surprisingly, hadn't taken too long to convince to slightly stretch her powers as a prefect. She wanted their Remus back just as much as Sirius did and it showed as she helped him set everything up with James lending a hand too.
Remus had wondered where Lily was leading him, it was their turn to patrol the east side that night so why was she leading him up to the Astronomy Tower? And more importantly, why had she blindfolded him? All became clear when the soft silk was removed from his eyes and he took in the beautiful scene before him. Sirius stood in what looked like his best dress robes with the exception of the actual robe which he seemed to have chosen to forgo and instead he wore one of Remus' threadbare, woollen jumpers. Which Remus had to admit, looked delightful on him. Lily had left then, leaving the two of them alone and Remus looked around at the spread of flowers and the woven blanket that had Remus and Sirius' initials on them. Remus almost didn't notice the abundance of Honeydukes finest that were spilling out of the basket that was sat surrounded by even more flowers on one side of the blanket. Remus had been at a loss for words as he embraced a shaky Sirius who kept apologising for being "A immature prick." While Remus was stuttering out his own apologies for ignoring Sirius for so long. Eventually the two settled down on the soft blanket that Sirius admitted that he had made himself, without magic, blushing slightly when he added that Lily had helped him. Remus had leaned in and kissed him softly with tears in his eyes at the overwhelming feelings that were pulsing through him. The pair spent hours up there watching the stars and eating their way through some of the chocolate before they packed up and used James' invisibility cloak to make it back to the common room where they promptly fell asleep together on the sofa nearest the still smouldering fire.
Little did they know that Lily had snuck down with an enchanted muggle camera to take pictures of the two, or that they would receive matching Christmas cards with that exact picture of Sirius laying half on top of Remus with the latter's arm thrown over Sirius' middle as they were curled up together next Christmas.
Seventh year started and just like fifth year the air was thick with stress as the professors drilled into them the sheer importance of the N.E.W.T's they were set to take at the end of that year, their final year at Hogwarts. Surprisingly it didn't take too much convincing for Sirius to join Remus in the library and James joined Lily, Peter made an appearance now and then but much like the previous year he seemed to disappear quite a lot. The course work for N.E.W.T's was far more demanding than it had been for their O.W.L's and with Voldemort's power growing by the day many of the students were studying hard in order to get ready for the war that was just beginning. James and Sirius had plans to join the Auror's and Lily wanted to work for the Unspeakables, Remus however went cold whenever future careers were mentioned as he had little chance of one himself. No one would want to hire a werewolf, he'd be lucky to find even a part time job no matter how many N.E.W.T's he got. Still he wanted to make his parents proud, so he kept his head down and studied with Sirius by his side as always.
Ever since 'The Incident' the year previous, Sirius had matured immensely and had even began taking life and school more seriously much to Remus' delight. That wasn't to say that he and James didn't still do the occasional prank on unsuspecting professors or younger students but it was nothing to the extent of their younger selves. Voldemort was gaining more followers by the day and had began targeting some of the students families in an attempt to get them to join him, most refused and..well, suffered the consequences. Things were getting worse and the four of them agreed that once they were out of school they would help in whatever way they could, even though Peter looked a little nervous about it. The year seemed to fly by with the four or occasionally five of them studying or just hanging out, Christmas came and went and Remus' face was quite the picture when Lily handed him his Christmas card with the picture of himself and Sirius on the front. Blushing furiously he let himself be pulled into Sirius' arms as the former asked Lily for a copy of the picture.
The rest of the year was spent studying as the exam dates slowly began to creep up on them and soon they were all sat at individual desks the only sound in the room was that of multiple quills scratching against the parchment. The library, for once, was constantly packed with stressed seventh years trying to study even with the looming threat of the war hovering over their heads. The stress eased slightly after the final exam finished and Sirius all but collapsed into Remus lap in the Gryffindor common room followed by James and lily who curled up on the opposite sofa to the chair in which Remus and Sirius were now sharing. The time between the exams finishing and graduation was slow as the stories in The Prophet became more and more dark, the dark mark appearing over more and more houses. More deaths and disappearances but eventually graduation came and the five of them said their goodbyes to the castle that had been their home, their safe place for the last seven years before the carriages came to take them to the station where they would ride the train one final time.
Despite everything going on around them, Remus had been happy. He had amazing friends, a loving boyfriend and a future even if it was a little gloomy but it was something. Remus felt hopeful that things would be okay, despite how dark they looked at that moment, he had been hopeful.
If only he had known then, what he did now.