I do not own the right to Harry Potter or its characters.
After a long day of classes, Remus made his way to the library; the rest of the Marauders would not be joining him due to the disastrous prank that had earned them detention. With the O. this year, he knew he had a lot of studying to do, considering he'd lose some days throughout the year due to his "furry little problem," as James and Sirius would say.
He went to their usual desk located near the restricted section. His curiosity about the books that lay in there attracted him towards that particular desk. As his friendship bloomed with the other three, it became their desk. They had carved their names into the desk's underside, knowing that Madam Prince would've given them detention. He spread all his books and parchment all over the desk; there was so much to do.
Remus was bent over his History of Magic textbook, furiously writing his essay. One thing was sure to him; he was a lot more productive without the other three around. He was startled when the seat across from him was pulled out; he glanced up from his essay. Elizabeth O'Leary, Gryffindor's female beater and social butterfly, sat across from him, bag in hand. Remus was fond of her. They weren't close, but she was often a ray of sunshine in the Gryffindor common room. Elizabeth had friends spread across all the four houses, much to the surprise of many. He was expecting her to say something, but she continued to look at him, looking somewhat shy.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Remus, can I ask you something?" She asked, leaning forward, chin perched on her hands. He put his quill down, "Sure, what is it?". "I was wondering if you could help me with History of Magic. My grades aren't great, and Professor Binns will give me detention if I don't improve. I asked Marlene if she could help me, but she told me to ask you." She replied with a small voice. Remus was bemused. For all the confidence that Elizabeth had, he'd never seen her like this. He gave her a soft smile, "Sure. If you have your book with you, I can help you right now." She flashed him a dazzling smile and pulled her books out from her bag. Remus couldn't help but notice the plasters and bandages on her hands and smiled. She was a beautiful girl, everyone knew that, and 13-year-old Remus had had a crush on her, but she was ruthless and somewhat scary when it came to quidditch. She took after her father, the no.1 beater for the Irish national team.
He spent a long time helping her. She struggled with dates and specific events; he got that there was a lot to learn. He made her a list of all the key dates and had her read over it a couple times, then reading the passages in the books while he went about completing his essay. That took him about half an hour. Then he set about helping her with her essay, now that she had reread over everything they could start. Time was flying by. He observed how easily she grew frustrated with the subject, the way she would bite her lip when she wasn't sure about something, or the way her eyes went wide when she made a connection about events. She was an interesting girl.
While she was writing her essay, Remus heard her stomach grumble and his own, "I'm bloody starving! I didn't get a chance to eat lunch today because I was prepping my broom for the next game, then suddenly, when I checked the time I had to sprint to class." she sighed, stretching back in her seat. She looked at Remus, and his stomach growled loudly. He chuckled, not wanting to be scolded by Madam Prince. "Me too. We better get down for dinner. I can help you with the rest tomorrow if you want." Remus finally looked up at the clock and groaned, "Scratch that, dinner is already over." Her eyes went wide with disbelief before she left out an annoyed groan. She suggested they go to the kitchens to eat. Remus was surprised that she knew about it, but then again, he was sure many students knew; he'd seen a few 7th years sneak in there over the years.
The two walked in comfortable silence as they made their way down to the kitchen. The two looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then Elizabeth reached out and tickled the pear before it morphed into the handle. The two of them then entered the kitchen. The house-elves rushed to welcome them and ushered them to a small table.
The two jumped into conversation, talking about everything from O.W.L.s to quidditch and their career paths after school, "So what do you want to do once you leave Hogwarts?" he asked. He was inquisitive, she was an exceptional student in many classes, she had an affinity for Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Charms. He was a little jealous. His grades were excellent, but his job prospects were almost non-existent due to his circumstances. "I don't really know. Dad would love me to continue with quidditch, mum would love for me to be a healer like her…but I'd like to be an Auror." She replied. She asked him what he'd like to do, and he told her truthfully, in an ideal world, he'd like to be either an Auror or Professor. She smiled at him, telling him that he'd be a great professor, and he couldn't stop the blush that rose on his cheeks. Once they finished their fair share of food, the two made their way back up to Gryffindor tower just before curfew.
The two were still talking as they entered the common room. Elizabeth wished him goodnight before heading up to the girls' dorms. Remus made eye contact with the Marauders as they were sprawled across the sofas. He sighed as he saw James and Sirius wiggle their eyebrows and him and Peter with a dumb smile on his face. He joined Peter and threw an arm over his shoulder, "How was detention?" the 3 others groaned, "Absolute hell. I swear if I have to scrub another damn cauldron, I'm going to chuck it in Slughorn's stupid face." James groaned, "Hey, I warned you that was going to happen, but you never listen to me." He stuck his tongue out. The boys continued chatting, planning their next prank, a prank that Remus had full intentions of participating in. He was the good or at least well-behaved Marauder, so he had a good reputation with the professors, but he still liked to have fun. He was the voice of reason in his gang.
For the most part, James and Peter had been doing the majority of the talking Sirius had been relatively quiet in the corner; the smirk he'd had on when Remus entered was still on his face. "So Moony." All of the boys whipped around to look at him, "You were back rather late, weren't you." Remus rolled his eyes, "You're right, Padfoot, and he wasn't alone." James spoke. The two boys leaned towards him, devilish smiles on their faces. He groaned internally; why did his friends have to be like that. "I was helping her with History of Magic; we missed dinner, so we went to the kitchens, nothing more…I swear." His friends howled with laughter. The conversation then jumped to the particular Gryffindor that he's come in with. Remus knew how much his friends wanted him to get a girl, but he had no plans. He didn't want to lie to them about his problem, and if they found out, they'd probably just leave him. Being alone was for the better. Glancing at the clock, the four boys decided to head to bed.
Remus woke up early the next morning. He took the opportunity while the others were sleeping to take a shower. Remus knew full well that once everyone was awake, all hell would break loose for the bathroom. Once he was out of the shower, he looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. His body was mottled with scars; he hated them with a passion. Someone once told him that scars made you look like a superhero, but that was when he was a child. Now he felt like he looked like a monster. He ran his fingers over one of the fresher ones, they were still pink, and he knew that he would have new ones by the end of the month. A wave of anger washed over him, and he slammed his fists down on the sink. "Why me? Why did it have to be me?" He spat, his eyes darkened. He always felt this way; the scars on his face were fewer and less noticeable than those on his body. He'd forever hate himself, and the wizarding world would always hate him too. He couldn't change that. He'd always be fighting an uphill battle.
He took some time to regain his composure before changing into his robes. As he left the bathroom, the others began to stir in their beds, all still half asleep. After feeling like crap about himself, we wanted to perk himself up a little; the morning fights for the bathroom were always fun to watch when he wasn't involved. "Bathrooms free!" Suddenly, the 4 others bolted for the bathroom door. Each one trying to be the first in. In the end, James was successful, leaving a sulking Sirius and Peter. "Heading down for breakfast, Moony?" Peter asked, stretching beside his bed. Remus nodded and waved them goodbye.
The corridors were pretty much empty as Remus wandered down them. It wasn't long before he was outside the great hall. Remus wasn't surprised that it was relatively empty; the people there were from the exams years. He saw some of his Ravenclaw classmates, books sprawled across the tables as they studied. There were a few 7th years huddled around the benches too. Hair messy and sleepy looking. The O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s had taken their toll on the students, just like they were taking a toll on him. Remus dragged himself over to his usual spot and started piling food on his plate. The dinner he'd had yesterday in the kitchen hadn't been enough to satisfy his hunger.
As Remus was inhaling his food, his mates finally joined him; they took piling copious amounts of food onto their plates. They began to talk about the upcoming Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match. As they were deep in discussion, a loud voice boomed, "Oi, Black!" The booming voice belonged to Marlene McKinnon, "What did you do now, Padfoot?" James asked. Sirius shrugged his shoulders; he had no idea what this was about. Marlene marched towards the boys. Elizabeth followed behind, trying her best not to laugh. "Black, you're such a gobshite. Who the hell do you think you are to promise Julia a second date only for her to find you wrapped in the arms of some random Hufflepuff girl." Remus looked as the lightbulb went off in Sirius's mind. He was a playboy indeed.
"Hey, I couldn't help myself. That Hufflepuff girl is well fit." He smirked. Remus watched as Marlene raised her fist to punch Sirius in the arm, only for Elizabeth to grab her arm, "Mars, he's not worth it." Marlene stomped towards the other end of the table. "Morning, guys. Sirius, don't be a gobshite. You know she likes Julia." Sirius put his hands up, "I know, but she threw herself at me at the party. Who was I to say no?" Elizabeth pushed his shoulder and ruffled his hair. While Remus wasn't that close with Elizabeth, both James and Sirius were. Sirius and Elizabeth were particularly close since he was the team's other beater. "At least let her try to crack on to Julia." She waved goodbye to them before joining Marlene.
Remus's attention snapped towards Peter, who for the whole time had remained silent, that wistful look in his eyes as he pinned for Marlene, "Wait, what just happened?" Peter asked cluelessly. Every time Marlene was in his vicinity, the boy wouldn't take in anything happening around him. His mind went to the beautiful Marlene. "Don't worry about it, Wormtail," James replied, stacking more rashers onto Peter's plate. Neither Remus nor the others had the heart to tell Peter that Marlene was not interested in him and never would be because she was 100% into women. They knew that he'd have to figure it out himself.