A few things I would like to say before getting to the chapter:
Since I last updated, one of my childhood heroes has died. On August 26th 2023, Bob Barker died at the age of 99. He would have turned 100 on December 12th. Bob Barker hosted The Price is Right for 35 years from September 4th, 1972 until June 15th, 2007. Watching Barker's TPIR was a big part of my childhood, especially during my kindergarten year of 1986-1987. I cried like a baby when I learned of Bob's passing. Let's now observe a moment of silence in the loving memory of Bob Barker.
Next, I'd like to congratulate the Detroit Lions on winning the 1st NFL game of the season 21-20 on September 7th, 2023.
Finally, since the last update, Things That Should Have Happened in Canon has surpassed the wonderful milestone of 400000 views and currently stands at 401623 views. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to Things That Should Have Happened in Canon reaching this awesome milestone. I am very grateful to everyone who has made this thread so successful. I would also like to thank everyone who has ever submitted ideas for this thread as taking suggestions kept this thread going for me when at one point I thought the end was near.
Now, this chapter comes from a suggestion posted in a review by Tinsy-girl on January 2nd, 2022. The suggestion was that Remus stand up to james and Sirius about their bullying and that's what this chapter is.
Remus Lupin was in a difficult position.
Since he had taken up his place as a Hogwarts student, he had friends for the first time in his life.
After being turned into a werewolf in an attack by the historically vicious Fenrir Greyback when he was all of five, Remus's parents had forbidden him to play with other children, lest the secret of his condition got out.
He had been admitted into Hogwarts on the condition that he use the Shrieking Shack, built specifically for his use for his transformations.
Remus had agreed to these terms and the Shrieking Shack, the tunnel that led into it, and the Whomping Willow had all been created to make it all work.
His two best and closest friends at Hogwarts were by far and away James Potter and Sirius Black.
James and Sirius had always shown nothing but kindness towards Remus and were so loyal to him that they even became animagi so they could keep him company during the full moons as werewolves would only attack humans.
Remus was deeply grateful to James and Sirius for their support. He had tried to conceal his condition from James and Sirius by lying about the reasons for his disappearances. Remus was a very insecure boy who feared rejection and abandonment. James and Sirius were both popular and talented and Remus's self-loathing was such that he feared James and Sirius would desert him for cooler friends if they knew he was a werewolf.
But James and Sirius weren't just talented at pranks, Quidditch, and magic. They were very street smart and very good thinkers. They were less academically minded than Remus and certainly did not read much, but they O students at putting two and two together.
They deduced that Remus was a werewolf when they caught on to the pattern that Remus's disappeared at every full moon.
But they didn't desert him. Instead, they doubled down on their loyalty to Remus by becoming animagi, greatly reducing his loneliness during full moons.
It meant the world to Remus to be accepted and embraced by James and Sirius even more so after they figured out what he was. They were ride or die besties.
But Remus was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with James's and Sirius's behavior. Namely, their bullying.
Sure, there were times when it was justifiable to stick up for themselves, but Remus noticed too much of a pattern of unprovoked bullying from James and Sirius.
Remus had noticed that James and Sirius liked to hex, jink, prank, and bully other students for fun.
Severus Snape was often the target of this bullying. Sure, Snape was not a good person, and there were definitely times when he started it.
But, while it was justifiable for James and Sirius to defend themselves in those situations, that didn't excuse their unprovoked attacks.
Just yesterday, Remus had seen James and Sirius catch Snape and perform Levicorpus on him just for fun while half the school stood by laughing their asses off.
And it wasn't just Snape that they were bullying. It wasn't even just Slytherins.
Last time James had played Quidditch, it had been against Ravenclaw, and he had purposefully thrown the quaffle at the face of opposing chaser Rachel Davies, hitting her in the nose, just for a laugh. James himself had laughed in Rachel's face when the quaffle had hit her nose.
And a few days before that Quidditch match, a Hufflepuff student in their year named Heather Abbott had won a box of chocolates as a prize from Professor Kettleburn for selecting the most successful niffler a Care of Magical Creatures treasure hunting lesson. Sirius had sneaked up on Heather and snatched the box from Heather and then proceeded to eat the chocolates himself in Heather's face with many onlookers presents and after eating all the chocolates himself, Sirius had waved the residual smell form the box in Heather's face laughing.
Then there was the not so small fact that they sometimes liked to test unknown spells on younger students, essentially treating them as guinea pigs.
After witnessing the Levicorpus incident, Remus had had enough.
So, Remus asked James and Sirius to follow him up to the Room of Requirement to ensure he could talk to them without being overheard.
Sensing that Remus had a need as a friend, James and Sirius agreed to go along.
When Remus had made the Room of Requirement a small barren room with nothing but three black office chairs and very poor acoustics, the three of them sat down in a row.
"So," said Remus seriously, "James and Sirius, you both know how much I appreciate your friendship. However, I must express my concern about your behavior. More specifically, I need to call both of you out on your pattern of bullying."
"We aren't bullies," insisted Sirius, "We don't hit, bite, punch, or kick people."
"Remus," piped up James, "You of all people should know that Sirius and I both despise the Dark Arts with a passion."
"Well," admitted Remus, "I know neither of you are Death Eater material. In fact, I'm confident that if it ever came to it, you would both lay down your lives to protect the ones you love from the likes of Voldemort and Bellatrix. Neither of you are anywhere near the evil spectrum. But you are bullies."
James and Sirius had shocked looks come upon their faces as though they had suddenly and unexpectedly seen a ghost.
"Not all bullying is physical," explained Remus, "Sometimes, just being mean to people or humiliating them, especially in a public setting, is bullying."
James and Sirius both kept quiet, so Remus went on, "James, last time you played Quidditch, you intentionally threw that quaffle at Rachel's nose."
"That was all in good fun," insisted James, "It was for a laugh."
Intending to come back to this point, Remus now added, "Sirius, a few days before that Quidditch match, you stole the box of chocolates that Heather won and ate them in her face, even throwing the smell back at her when they were gone."
"I love chocolate," replied Sirius, "And what's life without a little fun?"
"It's bullying because in both of those cases you guys were being deliberately mean and given the public settings of both incidents, your victims suffered humiliation. In order for the two of you to understand why you were in the wrong, I want you each to think about something."
"What?" chroused James and Sirius impatiently.
"James," said Remus clearly, "I want you to think about how you would feel if someone purposefully hit you in the nose with a quaffle and then laughed in your face with tons of other onlookers also laughing at you. Sirius, I want you to think about how you would feel if you had won a box of chocolates as a prize for performance in a class and someone else stole it from you and ate it in your face laughing at you while other students looked on laughing and then waved the smell back into your face."
A few minutes and a few nanoseconds of silence followed.
"Well," said James uncomfortably, "We actually have been bullies."
"Not only that," added Sirius uncomfortably, "But the Quidditch and chocolate incidents you've called us out on aren't even as bad as using younger students as lab rats to test out unknown spells."
"I realized that I needed to intervene against both of your bullying after the Levicorpus incident yesterday," acknowledged Remus, "That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Severus Snape is not a good person, and I will not act as if he is one. But the unprovoked public humiliation you inflicted upon him yesterday is indefensible."
"To hell with Severus Snape," spat James and Sirius defiantly.
"Look, I understand that you both hate Snape and I know he's a bad person," replied Remus patiently, "He's a racist, a bigot, a Dark Arts fanboy, and a future Death Eater. But it is still morally wrong to just bully someone unprovoked. If Snape tries to use the Dark Arts against you or he bullies you first, by all means defend yourselves and stick up for yourselves. But don't bully people just for fun."
James and Sirius nodded quietly.
"Now," explained Remus, "As a prefect, I have to power to dole out punishments. I will not do so at this time. However, if I see or find out in the future that either or both of you have engaged in unprovoked bullying, I will assign you two weeks' worth of detentions with Filch. I don't want to abuse my power as a prefect but if I think you need to be put in your place, I will not hesitate to do so."
"Remus," promised James, "We know you have our best interests at heart. We promise to strive to become better people from now on."
"Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention," said Sirius seriously.
"James, Sirius," said Remus emotionally, "I am deeply grateful to both of you for your unwavering friendship and your ride or die loyalty to me. But sometimes it is the responsibility of a friend to call out their friends when they know their friends are in the wrong."
James and Sirius nodded.
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