A/N: This is just a random, short little Wolfstar oneshot. Plain and simple. Based off a Tumblr post that I actually found off Google (whoever wrote it is amazing, the name was cut off otherwise they'd be credited). Have fun!
Disclaimer: Nope, I own literally none of this, not even the plot this time. It all belongs to the appropriate people, and I am very much not appropriate.
Resignation
He awoke in the forest and his first thought was immediately, Sirius.
His second thought was, Fuck - did I hurt anyone?
His third thought was, Oh, hell - Snape will have told them all, won't he?
Remus sat up warily and took a moment to orient himself. He was definitely in the Forbidden Forest and was rather surprised that the centaurs - or worse - hadn't found him. Perhaps they had, but they'd been too frightened of a lone werewolf to do anything about it. He didn't care, really; he just needed to figure out a way to get back to the castle.
With a resolute sigh, he began to make his way back to the Whomping Willow, hoping he'd be able to find his wand and get a message to the castle. It surprisingly didn't take him all that long; he must not have wandered too far into the Forest. Once he'd found his wand, the only evidence left of what had happened the night before, he sent two Patronuses up the school, to Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore respectively. He then summoned some robes for himself, aware that walking back into the school naked would not exactly be a good idea. He thought as he dressed, getting angrier at Dumbledore with every passing second.
Sirius. Sirius was innocent. Remus had spent twelve long years being told that he was a murderer, that he'd sold out James and Lily and killed Peter, and Sirius was innocent. And he'd known it - he'd known it from the start, and he could still clearly remember the night he was told to forget it and believe otherwise.
[flashback]
"It can't be." Remus sat slumped in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk at Hogwarts. "It just can't be. Sirius - Sirius would never -"
"And how, pray tell, do you know this?" Dumbledore replied. "People can change, Remus. Look at Sirius's brother Regulus."
"Reg was misguided," Remus insisted. "I knew the kid. Walburga and Orion turned him against Sirius, as did Slytherin House itself I think. Sirius would rather have died than betray James and Lily, I know it."
"You are blinded by grief," Dumbledore said calmly. "You have just lost all of your best friends and, if I'm not mistaken, your boyfriend. It is natural that you should wish to believe that at least one of them remains alive and innocent."
"He IS innocent!" Remus roared, leaping to his feet. "I've known him for ten years, Dumbledore! He would never have done this!"
"Ah, but he was the Potters' Secret-Keeper," Dumbledore reminded him. "It could only have been he who told Voldemort of the Potters' whereabouts."
Remus shook his head. "I refuse to believe it. Sirius is innocent. Sirius would never sell his best friends to Voldemort."
"All the evidence suggests otherwise," Dumbledore said, still infuriatingly calm. "You would do well, I think, to let this go, Remus...whether Sirius is indeed guilty or not, all the evidence points straight to him, and there is nothing we can do about it now."
"But -"
"Let it go, Remus," Dumbledore said, and now his voice was firm, a clear dismissal. "Let it go."
[end flashback]
Yes, Remus thought, he was very angry with Dumbledore, and as soon as he and Madam Pomfrey had made sure he hadn't hurt himself or anyone else last night, he was going to go marching up to Dumbledore's office to demand some answers.
Madam Pomfrey arrived on the scene not a second after he had this thought and immediately tutted. "You forgot to take your potion, didn't you?"
"Yes," Remus admitted with a rueful smile. "I just need you to do a quick check and make sure I didn't hurt myself last night."
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Alright." She pulled out her wand and started muttering the familiar spells. Remus stood perfectly still, his heart hurting and his mind racing ten miles a minute as he remembered so many mornings spent in similar positions, usually with Sirius by his side.
What he wouldn't have given to kiss him at least one more time.
"You're clear," Madam Pomfrey announced after a few minutes. "I'm not sure how, but you managed to control yourself enough to not hurt yourself."
"And...anyone else? Did I...?"
"No," Madam Pomfrey said, her voice kind and gentle. "You didn't. There was no one else on the grounds last night aside from the obvious."
"Do you know what happened?" Madam Pomfrey was one of the few people who believed the truth about what had happened last night, Remus assumed, as she'd always been the believing sort and didn't ask questions.
She nodded. "He's safe. He escaped on a hippogriff who'd been sentenced to execution earlier today, though bugger if I know how. Severus is furious, but then when is he not?"
Remus conceded that with a nod. "Thank you, Poppy."
"There's one more thing, Remus," Madam Pomfrey said. "Er...Severus told the school about your...affliction...this morning at breakfast. I expect the Howlers will start arriving any day now, even if the students all love you."
Remus sighed. "I expected nothing less from Severus. Well, I need to talk to Dumbledore anyway."
Right on cue, Dumbledore's silver phoenix Patronus soared to a stop in front of them and spoke two words: "Sugar Quill." Remus shook his head; the passwords to Dumbledore's office were always candy, even back in the '70s when he was in school.
"I suppose that means he's ready for you," Madam Pomfrey said. "I need to get back to the castle and tend to Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, and Miss Granger."
"I'll accompany you as far as the entrance hall," Remus said. Pomfrey nodded and the pair set off for the castle.
Remus was still thinking, remembering years spent with Sirius. Things had gotten tense towards the end of the war when Voldemort targeted the Potters, but for years in between there had been so much love between them that Remus was still amazed his heart could feel that much without bursting. Sirius had been everything Remus had ever wanted, and losing him to Azkaban had very nearly killed Remus too.
Dumbledore could go to hell for forcing him to think the same way the rest of the Wizarding World had, and Remus was determined to make him understand that.
"You lied to me!"
"I did not."
"You did! You told me not to pursue it!" Remus raged, as he'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes. "You told me he was guilty!"
"I did not know," answered Dumbledore, as infuriatingly calm as ever, though Remus thought this was bullshit as Dumbledore had most likely been the one to give Harry and Hermione the instructions about how to save Sirius. "No more than you did, Remus."
Remus was shaking with anger, enraged by this last statement. "I - DID - KNOW! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU HE WAS INNOCENT AND YOU TOLD ME TO LET IT GO! You - I - TWELVE YEARS HE ROTTED IN THAT CELL! TWELVE YEARS, AND YOU DID NOTHING! You - you..."
Remus took a deep, shaky breath and forced himself to calm down. He forced himself to stop shaking and took another deep breath, then looked Dumbledore directly in the eyes.
"I quit," he said bluntly, then turned and walked away.
He couldn't stay on as a teacher now. Not when Dumbledore had lied to him about Sirius for so long. Not when Sirius was alive and Sirius was free and Sirius was innocent.
I need to find him, Remus thought as he headed for his office. I need to find him and remind him that I love him.
So that was what he'd do, he decided as he entered his office and flicked his wand to open his trunk. He'd pack his things, he'd leave, and he'd go look for Sirius to give him a proper greeting, because Remus needed Sirius now that he was free, for at least one more day before Sirius had to go on the run again.
As he climbed into the thestral-drawn carriage waiting to take him to Hogsmeade's Disapparition point, Remus took one look back at the castle that had become a second home to him over the years and thought, There's my resignation, Dumbledore. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go find the man I love.
He didn't look back again.
Not my best work, but it's getting too late for me (school sucks) and I'm tired and distracted so that's why. Hope you enjoyed anyway. Please review! :)