love, lupin

eight

October 7th, 1976
Thursday

"Barty sucked at this."

"Okay."

"Remus you have no idea how thankful I am." Evan gushed as Remus helped put another orchid into a plant pot for him.

Evan had suddenly decided he wanted as many plants in his room as humanely possible, and as many as his door mates would let him. He placed the pot down and glanced over at the only currently occupied bed in the dormitory.

One of Evans and Regulus' roommate was sat on his bed, practically cowering from Remus' presence.

"Orchid, Beals?" Remus asked and gestured to one of the many potted orchids.

"No thank you Greyback." The fifth year squeaked and Remus rolled his eyes before turning back to Evan.

"Go easy Remus. People are still wary after what happened with Wilbur Smith." Evan warned with a harsh look and Remus rolled his eyes a second time.
"It was five years ago Evan."
"You ripped him apart."

It was technically true. Wilbur Smith sas the first and only kid Remus had completely wolfed out on at Hogwarts.

In his first year Remus had been heavily bullied for his scars and depressing inability to make friends. And for what people referred to once as freakishly long hair before he buzzed it all off. He'd kept all the anger bottled because that's what he'd been raised to do. To not lash out. He was in so much trouble with Fenrir when he got home after the attack.

Wilbur Smith was a Hufflepuff. A very unkind Hufflepuff who was alot of the time the source of Remus' bullying. Remus dealt with it for months but after Christmas he'd lost control. He was excused because it was nearing a full moon but he'd gone feral on Wilbur. His face was in shreds from the claws and he'd been bitten terribly on the shoulder. It was a miracle he hadn't turned.

The situation was attempted to be kept under wraps but for such a tight knit school, the news spread like a wildfire and eveyone knew by the end of the week. So everyone stayed away. News still got spread to first years who joined the school even now and Remus knew the first years of this year knew already.

He snapped from his thoughts as the door slammed open and Regulus walked in angrily.
"Beals. Out." He snarled and Beals was gone in seconds and Regulus shut the door behind him and cast Muffialto on the room so they couldn't be heard from the outside.

"What's Beals' first name?" Remus asked Evan as he sat down on the blondes bed and Evan shrugged.
"Do you know Regulus?" Evan asked him and Regulus shot a deadly glare.

"Eren." He snarled and stormed to his own bed, practically ripping off his tie and robes. It was after lessons so it wasn't unexpected that he was getting changed but Remus was shocked by the vigour. Regulus Black was normally as cool as a cucumber.

"Does he always get dressed ao aggressively?" Remus whispered to Evan who shook his head nervously. Remus stood up and stared at Regulus for a moment.

"Regulus, you alright?" Remus asked and stepped towards him cautiously. It was approaching the first full moon so Remus' senses were heightened, much more then usual.

He froze when he heard a sniffle and then realised that Regulus' shoulders were shaking.
" Reg, what's wrong?" Remus took another cautious step as Evan got up aswell.

Regulus' back was towards them and he didn't turn or answer. Remus moved forward but was pulled back by Evans hand on his shoulder.
"Is it Sirius?" Evan asked and Regulus crumpled and he practically dropped into a crouch and took in a laboured breath.