Marauder era oneshots

Comfort Crowd

"speech"'lyrics'*sounds*Thoughts

Remus Lupin was a tall guy who so loved wearing sweaters, reading, drinking tea and hot chocolate but, most of all, he was obsessed with Conan Gray. Remus was bullied. For being a nerd, for having scars, for being him. But in the music he always found a home. One day he found himself surrounded by classmates when suddenly, all the comments people had thrown at him came back. All the ugly words, the slurs. All the times some kid slammed into him or threw his books on the ground. His breathing shortened. He desperately tried to find solace in his music as the line "'Begging on my knees screaming, someone come and help me'" kept repeating on an endless loop in his head. He covered his ears and tried to desperately to tune out the voices. Everything. He could feel the full fletched panic attack coming on when, out of nowhere, a short boy with long black hair and grey eyes lay a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you alright!", the guy asked worried. "Stupid question. Hey tell me five things you can see...", he started. "You, my book, a tree, the clouds and ... Hogwarts.", replied Remus shakily. "Ok, now four things you can touch." "Your leather jacket, the velcro, my sweater and your rings." "Ok, now three things you can hear.", continued the helpful stranger. "My music, your voice and the birds", answered Remus. "Two things you can smell." "Mint and cigarettes." "And one thing you can taste." Remus frowned slightly and then replied, more calmly, "hot chocolate." The boy smiled down at him and gave him a hand. "Thank you so much, I'm Remus, by the way.", Remus said as he got up. "Your welcome and I'm Sirius." Remus started walking towards the main hall. "Well see you at break Rem I guess.", said Sirius and ran off towards the castle.

The mysterious boy didn't leave Remus ' mind during a single moment all throughout class. He kept staring dreamily at the blackboard his thoughts in a different universe altogether. When Professor McGonnagall called upon him to transform the cup into a bird he couldn't remember a single spell much less wand movement. He snapped out of it and did comply. But none of the spells he tried that morning felt right or correct and none of the classes were as fun as they usually were. He kept thinking about Sirius. Waiting impatiently for the bell to ring and for the teachers to let them out of the crammed classrooms. This might not seem unusual but Remus, being the good student he is, loved classes. But not today. When Slughorn finally adjourned the class, Remus didn't wait and talk with the teacher or help one of the kids finish the activities. He gathered his bag, his quill and ink, his Potions book and ran out of the stinking dungeons.

On the grounds, Remus sat down in his shady spot behind the astronomy tower, like he always did, to avoid the kids that would look for him to pick on him. Sirius came waltzing over towards him. "Hey wanna spend break together?", asked Sirius enthusiastically. "I won't get far 'Telling you I'm fine I don't really need nobody', will I?", he counters. "Well", answers Sirius, "'I just needed company now.'" He sat down next to Remus. "So, what was that about?", asked Sirius. "Well, sometimes 'we rot thinking lots about nothing'", answered Remus honestly. "As long as your fine now." "I am, thanks to you.", replied Remus. Sirius ripped off a corner from his notebook and wrote his phone number. "Here's my number. We can hang. I really don't care what we do. 'I don't care what song that we play. Or mess that we make.' Let's just do something fun.", he said as he handed Remus the paper. "I'll message you.", answered Remus. "You better, or I might just track you down.", laughed Sirius. Remus couldn't help but laugh along. He couldn't help but feel safe and cheery around this short kind stranger. After all this time, being bullied for being himself; spending each full moon in excruciating pain and, in general, just pretending, a real laugh was something unknown, but welcome to Remus. And, Sirius, knew he would soon grow to treasure that musical laugh and had Remus had unconsciously gifted to him.