Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Cutest Boy

Author's note: CW internalized homophobia, imaging the feeling of needles, scratching at own skin.

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It took several showers for James, Sirius, and Peter to completely get rid of the stench of the stink cloud following them all day, but thankfully Peeves took the clouds off them around curfew. Remus was able to sleep without worry of any smelliness, though he did have nightmares of Peeves somehow turning him into a werewolf in front of everyone. He woke up at some point, crying softly into his hands at the image of so many hateful, angry eyes glittering at him from the abyss of sleep. He heard Sirius stir, and quickly lay back down, pretending to still be asleep when Sirius came over.

"Remus?" Sirius poked his head in, watching Remus 'sleep'. "Oh. Okay." He retreated back to his own bed and Remus curled up into a ball, feeling bad for faking being asleep... but not really wanting comfort at the moment.

Even though the magnetizing spell had only been active for a short while, Remus felt extremely uncomfortable the next day. He rubbed his arms, imagining people sliding towards him, imagining people touching him. His skin felt raw at the mere thought, and it was agony when any of his friends touched him. When Lily brushed her arm against his at breakfast he almost screamed.

"Is Tuesday fine for you two?" Remus asked James and Peter when he and the Marauders met up on the way to Muggle Studies, doing his best to keep away from them without being obvious about it.

"Tuesday is good with me," James said brightly, as always too energetic for the morning.

"Yeah, that works for me too," Peter yawned.

Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets, a smile curling the ends of his lips. "Man, glad I don't need to work myself to the bone to learn Occlumency!"

Peter whirled around and kicked at Sirius's ankles. "Twat. Showoff."

Sirius danced back, giggling. "Aw, more time to spend with just Remus though!" He put an arm around Remus, yanking him in close. "You and me can have fun while these two practice Occlumency!"

Remus squirmed, feeling like a balloon about to pop at being held. It felt like his skin might peel away, leaving him nothing but an empty soul to drift away. He wished he could just drift away! "Leggo!" he whined, finally managing to get loose. He staggered back, fixing his hair, hoping Sirius wouldn't try grabbing him again. "But—but yes. Perhaps we can work on homework."

Sirius glowered. "Perhaps no. We can work on... er... pranks. Prank-planning. Come up with something absolutely brilliant, just the two of us."

Remus couldn't help but smile at that thought. "Perhaps." He wondered if he would be spending a full hour each week with only Sirius. A shiver went through his body, and he wasn't really sure how to feel about it. Excited? Nervous? He shouldn't be any of that. Sirius was his friend.

His... very... good-looking friend...

Remus shook the thoughts from his head, refusing to face what he knew. "Or perhaps," he continued, trying to sound lofty, "you could do your homework for once!"

"BORING!" Sirius shouted and Remus made a show of rolling his eyes and huffing.

"Maybe you should tell Professor Lewis her homework is boring," he said as they reached the door, knowing perfectly well none of them considered Muggle Studies homework to be boring. It was the only class they enjoyed doing work for. Even the essays! Besides the musical essay, they had had another essay assigned the previous week, when Remus wasn't there; they were to look up famous Muggle artwork in their books and write how the art made them feel. Remus wondered if all the essays would be like that: how they felt. Not to mention the fact Lewis was very generous with her grading. Judging from the first essay, as long as you showed some enthusiasm she'd give you a good grade. All four Marauders had been given Os for their musical essays, even with Peter's poor spelling and James's long tangents that had nothing to do with the essay at all.