Selenophile // Marauders

|19| Greyback, Third Year

Riley flipped the pages of the newspaper, she was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace and the rest of the marauders were talking, she didn't listen to them.

"Do you think I'll become quidditch captain one day?" James asked.

"I mean you really like quidditch—" Peter said.

"No," Sirius said, not lifting his head from the sweets he was eating.

"What? Why?"

"I wanted to see your reaction, that's it."

"Evil!"

Riley flipped the page again and gasped. The others turned to her, worried because last time there was something to "gasp about" on the paper, someone had died.

"Wh—what happened?" Remus asked as he tried to take the paper away from her.

"Nothing! Everything's fine — give it back!" Riley insisted but Remus had already taken the paper.

"Oh... So that's what you gasped about..." Remus said. His eyes widened as he read the words.

"Would you two maybe wanna tell what's going on?!" Sirius said loudly.

"Greyback is trying to gather up an army," Remus said. "So that's great, he's trying to turn more children into werewolves, great, fantastic, terrific..."

"Moony—"

"What?! You even call me 'Moony' because he bit me ten years ago!"

"That's just a nickname—" James said.

"But what if he tries to lure me so that I work for him? What if he lures all the children that are werewolves? What if he tries to make us work so that we hurt people?!" Remus said angrily, rather scared and worried.

"Lesson one: don't believe everything you see on the Prophet—" Sirius said.

"No! I know it's true! Because there's evidence—"

"What evidence? There isn't any kid that joined him—" Peter said.

"Yet. Don't you see where this is going? He's evil!"

"We know that, but you have to stay calm—" Riley said.

"No! See," Remus said as he pointed to his scar on his face, "this is what I count as evidence!" he said loudly. "I am evidence!"

"You didn't join him though, did you?" James said.

"No, of course not — James! This isn't what I'm trying to say and you know so fucking well! This is why he bit me in the first place, not because he wanted revenge on my dad!"

"Then, you'll learn how to protect yourself!" Riley shouted. "Then, you'll have to learn how to keep yourself out of this!" she paused. "You've already accepted the fact that you're a werewolf and you don't even complain... You're strong enough to protect yourself..."

All of them stayed silent. Remus was on the verge of crying and Riley felt a bit bad for shouting.

"I didn't mean to—"

"You're right."

"What?"

"You're right. I have to protect myself."

"Took you long enough, Moony..." James said.

***

10th of December, 1973

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Dear V,

How's everything there? I'm ok, don't worry. I'm coming there next week for Christmas, I missed you, both. The last match until January is tomorrow.

How's mum? Tell her I said thank you for the birthday present, I loved it. I'm 14! Finally, my birthday was a month ago but doesn't change the fact that I'm older now. Do you want anything from here? I can go to Hogsmeade this weekend.

See you soon,

Rey.

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Riley went down to the Great Hall after sending the letter to Ivy from the owlery. She gave the letter to Ollie and she flew away. It was almost dark outside and she was hungry. She saw her friends gathered around one newspaper and she got worried something bad happened, again.

Remus was covering his face with his hands as Sirius and James kept talking.

"What happened now?" she asked as she sat down.

"This is horrible," Remus said.

"What is?"

"Greyback has been spotted in Hogsmeade," Sirius said. "What is he trying to do? Form an army?"

"That's exactly what he's trying to do!" Remus blurted out. "Where can he find most children? School! And believe it or not, Hogsmeade is sorta near Hogwarts!"

"He won't be able to come here," James said. "Impossible, Dumbledore won't let it happen."

"You have a lot of trust in Dumbledore..." Remus said under his breath.

"Because he'll protect us. He won't let that monster come—" Sirius said.

"Monster?" Remus asked quietly. He looked at Sirius with his warm hazel eyes that were filled with sadness. He then looked down, trying to avoid eye contact. "D'you think I'm a monster?"

Sirius's eyes widened and he stuttered for a while. "Moony, you know you aren't like him... He attacks people on purpose, he hurts people, I didn't say that because he's a werewolf!"

"...You did."

"Moony, come on... You can't compare yourself with him," Riley said.

"You're our Moony!" James said.

"Yeah!" Peter agreed. "You're our friend, and you always will be."

Remus looked down at his food and stabbed it with his fork as he ignored them. He tore the newspaper into pieces as everyone looked at him but he couldn't care less. Riley kept looking at him. He was probably the one she felt closest to among her friends. She liked how witty he was sometimes, she admired him for being so strong. He always tried to hide his pain after the full moon which made her feel bad, but she tried to put herself in his shoes.

What would she do? She would probably never tell anyone about it. She would try to hide her pain like she always did. She couldn't help but notice how hurt and offended he felt after Sirius's words. She knew Remus always was insecure most of the time, because of his condition, his scars, even the way he dressed.

He wasn't talking now. He didn't even look at their faces. He suddenly stood up and fled the Great Hall, grabbing his books and going out of sight.

"Shit..." Sirius mumbled.

"Yeah, shit..." Riley repeated.

"How do we make him feel better?" Peter asked.

"Or how do we get him to look at our faces again..." James corrected.

"Leave him alone for some time," Riley said. "He'll make peace."

"No he won't, I called him a bloody monster!" Sirius said. "I swear I didn't mean to!"

"I know you didn't but you did call him that..." Riley said.

"Thanks for the comfort..."

"As I said before, I'm not good with emotions. People don't come to me for comfort, because they are not ready to hear the truth."

———

A/N:

THANK YOU FOR 400 VIEWS AND 60 VOTES AHHHHHHH!!! ILY! follow me on TikTok: pygmypuffarnold and don't forget to vote and comment if you liked it <3