AN: This will be a series of one shots about the Marauders or in the Marauders era. I'm not sure how long this will be, but each one shot will be at least 1,000 words a piece. Hope you enjoy!
Remus Lupin was a monster.
Or at least, he thought of himself as a monster. How could he not? It was in his blood. He couldn't change that fact, no matter how hard he wanted to, wished he could. He had tried. He had tried when he was a little boy. He had tried the first few lonely weeks of Hogwarts. He tried every day. Promised any deity he could think of anything they wanted, if they could only make him human. Make him not a monster. But for as much as he had hoped and wished, Remus was not a fool. He had no illusions. He was a monster.
So, it was a shock to Remus that there were three other people that knew he was a monster and accepted it. And not in the way Remus had. No. They had accepted him as a monster, but as a human too. As if he somehow how deserved the respect they gave him. At first, he figured these three boys, his roommates, had just wanted a swot to help them with their homework and classes. All of them were smart, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It couldn't have been that. But what was it? What made them want to hang around a monster like himself, Remus would wonder. For a long time, he did. He pondered and reflected and catalogued and he tried and tried to figure it out. But as time went on, just like most things, he learned to accept it. They wanted to be his friends, so Remus, being the smart boy he was, decided not to look a gift thestral in the mouth.
Peter Pettigrew was a lonely little boy. Ever since his Dad left him and his Mum as a child, he had felt lonely. When he got to Hogwarts, he didn't expect much better. At least at home he had his Mum and their little cat, Pepper. He never expected to make friends, let alone friends like them. Friends that made sure he never felt lonely again. He and Sirius threw dung bombs in the girl's bathroom. James helped him with his transfiguration. Remus and Peter laughed as one of Sirius' prank went awfully wrong and McGonagall hauled him off to her office. Summers were filled with letters and school days were filled with shenanigans. Peter would not feel lonely for a long, long time.
Sirius Black thought he'd never be a part of a family again. His parents hated him. His brother wouldn't talk to him. Even the house elf despised him. He was a pureblooded prince of the old. And he hated it. Hated his family for supporting that murderer and them hating him. For what? Not caring about people's blood status? For having friends who loved him? For not feeling superior just because he was a Black?
Screw that. Sirius was going to make sure that he proved them wrong. He was going to be the loudest, rudest, biggest disgrace his mother has ever seen, even if he had to prank Dumbledore himself. He would be a blood traitor, loud and proud. His friends loved him despite his dark family history, despite the darkness he felt still lingered inside him. They saw the good and the bad and they still stuck by him. Sirius never thought he'd get a second chance at a family, but he soon realized he was wrong.
James Potter had always been confused about the idea of brothers. Siblings in general baffled him. There were so many ins and outs. Protocols that seemed to change every other minute. Hatred and loved all in one second. Where one ends the other begins. James Potter knew nothing of this, until Remus, Peter, and Sirius came along. It wasn't much of a stretch to say that they had changed his life completely. Most days were adventures whether they were planning pranks, studying in the common room, or jumping from moving stair case to moving stair case. Even the simplest of things felt like adventures when it came to them.
But some days, he wanted to pull his hair out. And anytime he'd comment this the other three were quick to make fun of his hair in general. James knew they were bound to get on each other's nerves considering all the time they spent together. They shared a room, they shared classes, and they shared more personal space than actually necessary. But Merlin knew he loved them all. So much that they had all cheered when they found new bunkbeds waiting for them on the first day of term in their dormitory. Just another thing for them to share in their lives.
"James." Sirius whispered from where he was (supposed to be) sleeping on the top bunk.
"James!" Sirius hissed again when he had gotten no answer.
Yes, James loved them all like brothers. He also hated them all like brothers too.
"Sirius, I swear to Merlin I am not going to argue with you about whether dementors come in any other color than black. Go to sleep." James replied, not even turning over.
"No!" Sirius whispered. "It's not that. It's just… Did you check?"
"What?"
"Did you check?" Sirius insisted.
James rolled over and glanced at his friend, just making out his form lit up by the moon light. It was a little over a half moon, twelve days until the full moon. James would have never known that before… He turned his gaze from Sirius to Remus who was laying on the bottom bunk underneath Sirius. Remus. His incredibly smart, wonderful, sarcastic, asshole of a friend, who just happened to be a werewolf.
"Did I check what Sirius?" James said, snapping out of his train of thought.
"For monsters?" Sirius whispered, his voice horrified.
Remus sighed from underneath his covers.
"I think there's a monster underneath my bed…"
James started laughing before he knew it. Only Sirius would ever attempt to make a joke like that. Sirius currently had on a shit-eating grin as James laughed. He joined in on the laughter when Peter fell off of his top bunk bed laughing so hard.
"I will kill you all." Remus groaned, but they could all see his slight smile as he turned over, burrowing deeper into his covers, listening to the sounds of his friends' laughter. As Remus closed his eyes he thought of an old favorite book from his childhood and he remembered a word that seemed to describe his friends right on the nose.
"Good night, you Marauders." Remus mumbled to his friends who were still laughing.
Remus Lupin thought he was a monster. But so did his friends. And somehow, that made everything alright.