Author's note: CW for broken bones and child abuse

-x-

Norbert Leach (more commonly known as Nobby) was the Minister for Magic from 1962 to 1968. Nobby was the first Muggleborn Minister for Magic.

Remus frowned, not sure if he needed to go into the history of the Minister or not. Since the assignment wasn't due for a while, he could ask Professor Talkalot on Tuesday.

Nobby's destiny number is a four.

Remus paused again, furrowing his brow this time, ignoring his puffskein tickling at his arm. Sometimes he wondered, though, if this puffskein was weird… however Sirius and Peter's puffskein wasn't too afraid of him either. He wanted to ask someone about it, but wasn't sure who. Maybe it was their affinity for being rough handled, or perhaps they simply knew through their magic that Remus… that werewolves… weren't a danger to animals? A lot of magical beasts were like that.

Then his mind wandered back to the assignment at hand. Was he supposed to add up Norbert Leach or Nobby Leach? Or find out Mr. Leach's middle name too? For the kids their middle names were included, but when Talkalot did Jenkins he only added up Eugenia Jenkins, no middle name.

A destiny number of four indicates the person has a lot of patience, is a hard worker, and able to take on a lot of responsibility. As Mr. Leach was the first Muggleborn Minister, he needed to have a lot of patience, and also held a lot of responsibility that other Ministers may not have.

Remus stopped again, this time to rub his eyes. He was really tired due to the nightmares from the previous night. He had dreamt of himself falling out of the Divination trapdoor, falling down several floors until he landed at the feet of all his friends, who began pointing at him and calling him soulless. He had woken up crying, waking Sirius up too who had, as usual, come over to help soothe him. Neither boy mentioned sharing a bed, and they didn't, since Remus wasn't ready to deal with that.

Destiny number Fours are also known for holding on to traditional values.

He could still hear the echoes of 'soulless' in his head and it made him sick. Did it really have something to do with when he was bitten…?

To keep order and conventions, which was something Mr. Leach also needed to do to try to keep the Purists from

There was a loud crash followed by a thudding sound, an 'ouch!' and a 'whoops' right outside the dorm door. Soon he heard James and Peter arguing over who was supposed to be the one to open the door. Remus got up, opening the door for them. He saw James, Peter, and a huge bundle of cloth, which Sirius was holding.

I knew I should have gone to the library, Remus thought as he stepped aside to let his friends in. It was Saturday morning and they had been missing for ages. Figuring they had snuck into Hogsmeade, Remus decided to take the time to work on some assignments. Apparently they had not gone into Hogsmeade and instead raided…

"The laundry room?" he asked when Sirius dumped the pile of sheets on the floor.

"All clean," Sirius promised. "From the Hufflepuffs, too; no Slytherin sheets here."

Remus went over to the small linen closet in their room and opened the door, gesturing at the sheets there.

"Nah, we needed more than that," James said, adjusting his glasses. "Plus these will be ruined more'n likely."

"Which is why I thought we should take the Slytherin ones," said Peter.

"You want to touch someone a Slytherin's been sleeping on?" James demanded. "Or worse?"

Peter tilted his head. "Worse? Whaddaya mean by—oh. Oh!" he shrieked as James made a hand movement. "JAMES! NO! EW!"

While Peter flailed about gagging, Remus reminded them that Hufflepuffs probably did that too, to which James replied he knew that but still would rather touch sheets from a Hufflepuff than a Slytherin. He had wanted Gryffindor sheets, however the house-elves hadn't gotten to the Gryffindor linen yet so they had to make do with Hufflepuff.

"Is this some plan to get Cassie back?" Remus asked as Sirius began sorting through the sheets.

He glanced up, eyes blazing. "No! I don't want to ever talk to her again anyway. She's mad at me for no reason whatsoever, and I am not gonna play her game."

Remus could hear a tinge of regret in his friend's voice and knew sooner or later that Sirius would want to make up with Cassie; or if she finally approached him, he'd accept it.

"So… what are these for?" Remus asked.

James had chosen a sheet and was bundling up the four corners. "Remember that documantry Lewis showed up about the, ummmm, war stuff? With the Muggles jumping out of planes with—"

"NO!" Remus yelled.

"Parashoes!" James held the sheet up proudly. "We're going to try parashoes."

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose, imagining all three of his friends jumping out the window and falling to… well, not their deaths due to the spells on the school preventing that, but to great injuries. "It doesn't work that way! Besides, we've used LiftAways which are almost the same thing—parachutes, they're called parachutes."

James was climbing up onto his bed to get on top of the wardrobe he and Peter shared.

"It doesn't work like that!" Remus half-shouted. "You're going to hurt yourself!" At least he was only jumping from the wardrobe and not out the window.

James completely ignored him and jumped, landing on the floor with a loud thud and a few cracks followed by screams of pain.

"Least he didn't go straight for the window like he was thinking about doing," Peter said, voicing Remus's very thought.

Sirius was at James's side, helping him sit up. Tears ran down James's cheeks as he clutched his leg. "MERLIN'S FOOT I THINK I'VE BROKEN SOMETHING!" he howled. "It hurrrtsssss! Auuuuggghhhh!"

Sirius helped him up and James leaned against him, hopping on one foot. "Oh Merlin, oh bloody Merlin, oh bloody Merlin's bloody nose!"

"Um, I'm going to get him to the hospital wing," Sirius said, helping James out. "Be back soon!"

Remus collapsed down on his bed, head in hands while he tried not to laugh. He felt awful for laughing at his friend getting badly hurt but he couldn't help it. When he peered through his fingers he saw Peter was at least laughing too.

"He wanted the window," Pete giggled, flopping down next to Remus. "Sirius and I told him he should do the wardrobe first. Well. I said the wardrobe first, Sirius suggested the Astronomy tower."

"God, he is stupid."

"Sirius or James?"

"Both!"

Once he managed to stop laughing, he got to his feet to examine the pile of sheets. Why on earth did they need so many for parachutes? he wondered, poking at them. "We better take these back to the laundry room." He began folding them neatly, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Peter was making a face.

"I don't wanna go all the way back down to the dungeons…"

Remus didn't really blame him, so he said he'd be back soon. He easily gathered the folded sheets in his arm and left the dorm, making his way down to the dungeons. Sometimes being friends with James and Sirius felt like being a mother taking care of two toddlers who kept getting into everything, or at least he assumed it might be like that. He didn't really mind cleaning up their messes. It made him feel useful, and it felt good to feel useful.

The laundry room was way in the bottom of the castle and he tiptoed in, feeling guilty the house-elves would have to rewash the sheets. He headed towards the Hufflepuff section then froze when he realized there was another student in the room, talking to some of the house-elves.

"…appreciate the help," Regulus Black was saying as he pulled on a fancy-looking jacket.

"No need to thank us, Master Black!" squeaked one of the house-elves.

Regulus gave the house-elf such a gentle smile that Remus almost fell over. "Of course I need to thank you," he said in a tone that Remus never expected to hear from him! "This was an expensive coat, my parents—well, Barty didn't mean to, the spell simply went completely wrong and…"

Remus watched as Regulus buttoned up his coat and then slipped his wristwatch back on. There was something about his movements that nagged at his mind until he realized Regulus's hands moved a lot like James. Then he bent down and solemnly held out his left hand to the house-elf, sealing the deal.

"You're left-handed!" Remus blurted out, without thinking.

Regulus gasped, spinning around, brown eyes huge with fear. "Pardon?! L—Lupin?! What the hell are you doing skulking about? Spying?"

"What? No, I—"

Regulus pulled his wand out. "How dare you spy on me—"

"I wasn't—"

"Don't attack Master Lupin!" the house-elf squeaked, snapping her fingers. Regulus's wand was yanked from his hand and floated about a foot above his head.

Regulus jerked a little, taking a few steps back. "Er, right, we shouldn't duel in—"

She was shaking her head. "No, you don't hurt Master Lupin at all!"

Remus bit his lip, hating to hear that term. "P-please, Iddi, I t-told you it's just Remus."

Regulus looked from Iddi to Remus then back again. Finally his eyes settled on Remus suspiciously. "You know her name?"

"Of c-course I do!" Remus straightened up a bit. "That's Iddi, and over there is Gella, Lurchen, and Dipsy." The other three house-elves in the room were standing off to the side, watching with interest. Lurchen and Dipsy looked anxious, though Gella was obviously enjoying himself.

Regulus continued to stare at Remus as if he couldn't believe what he heard. Slowly he switched his gaze to Iddi. "You… wish to protect… him?"

"Master Lupin is good," Iddi said sternly. "No fighting, no, no! Not you two. Both of you are good."

Regulus didn't seem to know what to do with this news. Remus took the opportunity to put the sheets into the dirty Hufflepuff pile, keeping an eye on Regulus. Once that was done, he went over and took Regulus's wand out of the air, offering it to him. Regulus took it—in his left hand, as Remus expected. Then, as if knowing what he was doing, Regulus flushed slightly and shifted his wand to his right hand.

"You're left-handed," Remus said again. "That's why the spells aren't working properly for you."

Regulus glanced quickly at Iddi before giving Remus a light shove. "I am not. I have no idea what you think you saw, but I am most certainly not left-handed! You are—are—are insolent for even suggesting a thing, you—you—you dirty-half-blood!"

With that he spun around and stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"He's good?" Remus couldn't help but say.

Iddi sighed. "Poor Master Black, spends most his time with—" She stopped and began wringing her hands. "Oh! Oh, dear, Iddi almost says secrets Iddi shouldn't be saying!"

"I heard nothing," Remus said swiftly before Iddi could start punishing herself. Spends most of his time with what? The house-elves? That seemed surprising. Most people treated house-elves like they were lower than slugs! Some of the things Sirius said certainly made Remus believe he felt that way, so how come Regulus…?

He shook his head. None of his business. Instead he apologized to Iddi and the others about the dirty sheets, and left the room before they could demand he not apologize.

-x-

Naturally, James and Sirius were irritated at Remus for taking all the sheets back since they had plans that went 'beyond' the parachutes. They were only going to use a couple of them for parachutes, and the rest for another idea. Apparently that idea consisted of them sticking all the sheets together to make one big sheet, enchanting it to be bouncy, and have Remus levitate it near a window while the others jumped out to see if it would work.

Remus mentally called them all idiots, though did apologize for taking the sheets away. He didn't really want to apologize but also didn't want to annoy them.

"We could take one sheet and, um, engorge it," suggested Peter.

James rubbed his chin. "Won't that make it too thin and dangerous?"

"If Remus does it, it probably won't."

All three looked at Remus who let out a despairing sort of sigh. "I shan't be responsible for you breaking all the bones in your bodies! You just got back from the hospital wing for doing that!"

"Nuh-uh!" James smiled victoriously. "I only fractured my shin, that's all."

That's all. "What if we test it here inside first," Remus suggested carefully. "With the wardrobe."

James reluctantly agreed so Remus used the engorgio spell on one of the spare sheets, making it quite large. He then spongified it before floating it a few feet in the air. As James climbed back onto the wardrobe, Remus spongified the ground under the sheet. Sirius caught his eye and Remus pressed his lips thin.

"Wheee!"

James jumped off the wardrobe backwards and slammed into the sheet, bouncing wildly up, sending his glasses flying off his face. The sheet sank down precariously low in the middle and Remus felt the levitating spell tugging, and he couldn't keep it up. The sheet began to float down until James came back down, and the two hurtled down, bouncing when they hit the spongy floor. James wasn't too pleased about the bouncy floor, citing that for the reason the plan failed despite it failing before he touched the floor.

"I can lift that much weight," Remus agreed when James asked him about it. "However not so… suddenly." To prove it, he used the levitation charm on James, yanking him up into the air briefly before bringing him back down.

"Hmph." James adjusted his glasses. "Well. If you can't do it, none of us can. Guess it'll have to wait."

"Let's paint something rude on the sheets and put it in someone's dorm," yawned Sirius.

The four of them dragged out some of Sirius's paints and brushes, doing their best to disguise their handwriting. Remus thought this was a brilliant time to bring up what had been on his mind since the Regulus incident.

"I had a question." He sat back on his heels, his paintbrush dripping blue all over the word 'twat' making it more like a 'tw' with a blotty end. "Is there anything wrong with being left-handed? In the wizarding world, I mean."

"Is this something about me being an idiot?" James asked suspiciously.

"No-no!" Remus flushed a little. "I, er, overheard something in the halls earlier. I wasn't sure…"

"What did you overhear?" Sirius inquired, not looking up from his excellent painting of a bum letting out a green fart.

"I dunno." Remus brushed some of his hair back, unknowingly leaving a blue streak across his forehead. "Just someone being embarrassed about being left-handed."

"No?" James tilted his head. "Nobody's ever said anything to me about being left-handed, at least. I've never heard anything bad about it."

"It is in the Muggle world," Pete said and Sirius gave a nod. "I remember when I was in Muggle school one of my classmates, she was left-handed and the teacher kept hitting her with a ruler until she used her right hand. Said using the left-hand was a sign of the devil."

"What. The. Hell?!" Sirius stared at Peter in shock. "Muggles do WHAT? They—they beat their students?"

Pete squinted. "Um, kinda? Not bad. But Miss Smelly didn't like people using their left hands."

"Miss Smelly?" James asked slowly, before snorting with laughter.

"Er, her real name was Miss Snell but everyone called her Miss Smelly because she smelled like onions all the time, and nobody liked her."

"Were you ever beat?" Remus asked.

Peter ducked his head, going back to his painting. "Um, yeah, a few times but she, uh, well, never mind." He pressed his lips thin and went pinker and pinker as his friends urged him to tell them what happened. "A dunce cap." Remus bit his lip while the other two frowned. "It's a big cap, kinda like our fancy hats, and it says 'dunce' on it," Peter explained for the purebloods. "Stupid students were put on a stool and made to wear it. I had to wear it every week even though I did okay in school, 'cause of my spelling problems. But it's okay when I went into Year Five, I got a new teacher and she was real nice and got rid of the dunce cap and didn't hit anyone."

"Merlin," James breathed out.

"And they call us the evil ones," Sirius muttered, eyelashes fluttering as he returned to painting. There was a twitch in one cheek as he grit his teeth.

Anger was bubbling up inside of Remus at the image of a young Peter sitting on a stool with the cap on, in front of everyone. Since he didn't know what any of his schoolmates looked like, in his head they were the Slytherins, all of them jeering.

The wolf wriggled and stirred, soon panting to lash out. Remus gripped his paintbrush tighter and tighter until it snapped in half. He swore and repaired it quickly, mumbling an apology to Sirius who didn't respond; he looked just as angry still. James looked furious too. At least the incident caused the wolf to back down a little, though still whined to get some sort of violence out. Remus had to carefully control his breathing and focus very carefully on the sheet in front of him until his eyesight blurred a little from his determination to keep the wolf down,

"Right," James said in a distant voice. "Right. Miss Snell in—where, Wakefield? Does she still teach? What's your school called? How many Muggle schools are there? There can't be very many, right? It should be easy to find."

Peter stared at James. "Why do you wanna know? What, you're gonna go get revenge or something?"

"Yes," James said. "Permanently hex a 'dunce' on her stupid forehead or turn her stupid hands into rulers or—or something!"

"And get in trouble with the Ministry?" Peter asked, looking more amused than upset. "Go to Azkaban for hexing a Muggle?"

James tossed his head. "I'm a minor, a pureblood, and rich. They'll haul me in for a stern talking to, Dad will donate some money, and I'll be back before you know it."

Peter opened and closed his mouth, shaking his head a bit. James continued to look intent on somehow going to Wakefield and finding Pete's teacher, so Remus inched away to put some music on. James jumped when the music began pouring out of the radio, and then slowly slumped down.

"Well, someday we'll get her," he grumbled, angrily dabbing his paintbrush back into the yellow. "Bloody dunce indeed."

How could a school allow a teacher to hurt and embarrass their students like that? Was that… normal for Muggle schools or uncommon? He'd have to ask his mother.

Remus sighed, spelling up the blot he had left. This wasn't what he imagined his question leading to but at least he got an answer. Being left-handed wasn't frowned upon in the magical world. He hadn't thought it was, but wasn't really sure why Regulus was so distraught over being left-handed he was ruining himself in school.

He excused himself and went to the bathroom, trying a few spells with his left hand. The wobbliness was a bit similar to how Regulus did his spells with his right hand, and they worked about as well. Why? he wondered as he returned to the dorm. Why is he doing it?

Did Sirius know Regulus was left-handed or was it a secret even from him? Surely Sirius would know, right? Except, Remus definitely didn't want to bring it up just in case. Maybe he'd try talking to Regulus again sometimes, if the Slytherin ever let him near enough to talk. After what happened earlier, Remus seriously doubted that would happen.

-x-

He really wasn't expecting Regulus to ever even look at him again let alone talk, so it was with great shock that evening when Magical Theory let out, and Regulus was waiting. When Remus spotted him, he assumed Regulus was there for Sirius; Sirius seemed to assume the same, and took a step towards his brother. Regulus frowned as he said he needed to speak to Remus.

"You want to talk to Remus?" Sirius asked for verification, all three ignoring the fact they were causing a block in the hallway. Other students had to shuffle around them, Snape lingering slightly to try to figure out what was going on.

"Yes," Regulus said, quick and curt. "About tutoring."

"I thought you—"

But Regulus wasn't going to let Sirius talk. "Will you come with me or not?" And with that he turned and walked off, not even looking back. Sirius looked at Remus who shrugged and followed the younger Black, a flutter of apprehension in his stomach. At least there wasn't much Regulus could do to him. Even if he tried hexing Remus, the hex wouldn't be that great.

They went down a side corridor and into a cleaning cupboard. It was rather cramped, making Remus feel uncomfortable. Regulus's scent filled his nose. It was utterly different than Sirius's, more damp and springtime to Sirius's warm fireplace and wintriness; marshy to Sirius's dry forests, and new plants to Sirius's old trees. Plus the usual Slytherin smell to Sirius's Gryffindor one. Yet there was also a familiarity to it, that reminded him of Sirius.

"Wh-what?" Remus asked when Regulus remained silent.

Regulus stared at him with suspicious eyes until he gave a slight sniffle. "The house-elves like you."

What?

Remus blinked a few times, not sure he heard right, and even if he did hear right he certainly didn't understand. He started to say something then changed his mind, remaining silent.

Regulus scowled. "They like you," he said again. "All of them. They said you're nice to them and help them out when you're around, and treat them like…"

"Like?"

Regulus shrugged, folding his arms again, shoving his hands in his armpits. "Like they're regular people and not the scum of the earth."

A flash of anger flared up inside of Remus. He doubted Sirius would be pleased if he hexed Regulus, so he kept his hands firmly at his sides. "They are not scum," he snarled out and Regulus's eyes went wide. "They deserve to be treated right, treated well."

"Most wizards and witches treat them like they're slime," Regulus drew out.

"Most witches and wizards are stupid," Remus snapped out without thinking. "Er. Well." He shifted, plucking at the sleeve of his jumper. "What d-does it matter anyway? You d-dragged me off to tell me off for treating house-elves nicely?"

"No!" Regulus shook his head. "You don't understand. I—I…" He stepped back, pressing up against a shelf of mop heads, knocking one of them off. "I like house-elves."

He whispered it, like some sort of dirty confession. He refused to even look at Remus when he said it, as if it were something to be embarrassed about.

Remus had no idea what to say to that.

"My b—my friend is a house-elf," he muttered, digging his hands deeper into his armpits. "Kreacher. And—and I like the house-elves here, too. They're nice. So. If—if they like you, if they trust you I… I suppose you can't be all that bad."

Remus tugged at his sleeve so hard he yanked it down over his hand. After that he simply stood there, the sleeve dangling down a bit.

"What I'm saying is—"

"What's wrong with being left-handed?" Remus asked.

Regulus closed his mouth, pressing his lips thin. "I'm not left-handed."

"Liar."

Regulus finally looked up, eyes glittering fiercely. "Don't call me a liar! You're a half-blood, how dare you—" He stopped, nostrils flaring a little as he swallowed whatever else he was going to say.

I'm not all that bad but still a dirty half-blood, Remus thought bitterly.

"James is left-handed," Remus said and Regulus shifted his gaze back down to the floor, at the spider-y mop head lying at his feet. He kicked at it, not saying anything. "Nobody's ever given him trouble for being left-handed."

"The Potters are a very different family than the Blacks," Regulus said slowly, kicking at the mop head again, sending it flopping across the tiny room.

Remus began tugging at his other sleeve. "What, your—your family doesn't like you being left-handed?"

Silence.

"Does… Sirius…?"

"This isn't what I—" He stopped, sighing. "Look. I'll—if you—I'll try tutoring again. With you. If house-elves, if the house-elves like you I suppose you're all right."

Remus wanted to leap at the chance of earning some more money for a possible book (if it existed) but shook his head. "No. I'm not going to tutor you." Regulus looked very puzzled at that. "It's not going to work. You're left-handed, but insist on using your right hand. The spells won't ever work well for you, you'll never be at the same level as the rest of your class. Tutoring is pointless. Look."

Remus got his wand out, shifting it to his left hand. He pointed it at a bucket, doing the movement awkwardly. "Wingardium leviosa." The bucket slowly lifted up into the air, floating a foot or so above the floor, and wobbled quite a bit. Remus set it down, put the wand in his right hand. "Wingardium leviosa." The bucket shot up at eye-level, floating firmly in the air without so much a tremor.

Regulus turned his head.

"It won't work." He set the bucket down, tucking his wand back into his pocket. "You're sabotaging yourself."

"You don't understand."

"No, I don't," Remus admitted. "I don't understand why anyone would purposely hold themselves back when—"

Regulus let out a disgusted scoffing sound and shoved past Remus, knocking him back against the wall. "Oh, forget it! I thought—but—forget it!" He flung himself out of the storeroom, slamming the door shut behind him, leaving Remus in bewildered silence until the door opened again, Sirius's face peering curiously in.

Of course he wanted to know what happened but Remus simply shook his head, figuring if Regulus had wanted Sirius to know much of what was said, he wouldn't have dragged Remus off like that. Regulus didn't want Sirius to know, so Remus needed to stay quiet on the matter despite feeling sick of keeping secrets. He felt too full of them, like any second they'd bubble over like a boiling potion. It made his head hurt a little.

"And why did he take you into a broom cupboard?" Sirius asked as they headed down the now-empty hallway. No. Not entirely empty. Snape was still hanging around, watching them closely.

"I don't know," Remus muttered, stumbling as he tripped over a loose shoelace. "Privacy, I s'pose."

"For what? What did he say?"

"What he said it was about," he sighed, feeling very on edge. "Tutoring."

"But why a broom clo—"

"What do you want from me?" he finally asked, looking rather pleadingly up at Sirius. "I told you, he wanted to talk about the tutoring thing. Why did he take me into a cupboard? I haven't the faintest, I never asked. Why does it matter?"

Sirius was quiet for several seconds until, "It doesn't, really. It's just odd. I mean, if it was about tutoring I don't see why he needed so much privacy." Silence again. Then, "Tutoring? That's all?"

Remus felt like screaming. Or punching Sirius. Or both.

Then part of him wanted to lose his temper and say something like no, he shoved me against the wall to snog me silly. But the mere thought made Remus feel like crawling into a hole and he knew if he even managed to get the first couple of syllables out he'd probably drop dead of embarrassment. Plus Regulus was only twelve (or thirteen? Was he thirteen yet?) so that felt very awkward and uncomfortable.

"Remus? Remus?'

"What?" he asked, knowing he sounded completely exasperated. Sirius's eyes widened at his tone and he didn't say anything. "What is it?" Remus asked, gentler. Or rather, as gently as one could be while also clenching their teeth.

Sirius raked his fingers through his hair then licked his lips before asking, "Are you sure it was just about tutoring?"

This time Remus did scream, though he managed—somehow—to resist the punching part. At least the scream made Sirius stop pressuring him about the conversation, and he instead began talking about Magical Theory in a rather squeaky sort of voice that was clearly him trying not to step on Remus's toes. Remus apologized for screaming and Sirius shrugged, insisting it was fine.

"Let's find the other idiots and get into some trouble," he said, throwing an arm around Remus and hauling him off.

Remus went along quietly, wishing to work on schoolwork instead of pranks but he felt far too guilty about the scream to do anything besides obey.