Loverboy

"How's Herbology?"

Remus sat on the couch by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, doing his homework. Peter was beside him, drawing Cinnabon as he purred next to Remus.

The little brown kitten woke up and stretched out his paws onto Remus's lap, kneading his jeans and mewing for attention. Remus set aside his papers and scooped up the cat.

Ollie had gotten him as a birthday present, and all of the self-titled Marauders adored him. It was not an unusual sight to see one of them holding the animal while in conversation or doing homework.

While he was Ollie's cat, Cinnabon often would just roam the common room and dorms. He rarely went into the dorms of strangers, but he sometimes would be found in the second year girl's dorm.

Something that the students found mildly amusing was that stern Professor McGonagall kept a cabinet in her office of small bowls and plates, as well as a variety of cat food options. She was an Animagus cat, but she never really had to eat as a cat.

Once, though, James and Sirius asked her about the mysterious cupboard and she let them look in it. It was arranged almost like the Potions storeroom, with labeled jars of animal organs and plants. She kept jars with the hearts and brains of mice and songbirds, and even kept a live pot of catnip on her desk.

Sirius asked why she kept this odd collection of animal parts, and she said that sometimes, students couldn't get good cat food delivered, and sometimes they simply wanted to treat their cat. And, as McGonagall put it, she'd rather eat mostly freshly made food than the rubbish Muggles fed their cats.

Sure, students' cats could just eat vermin around the school, but McGonagall and Slughorn found it fun to make food to give to the animals that wandered the school at night. It inspired an unlikely friendship between the pair, and it helped feed the animals around the school.

Cinnabon would wander the castle during the daytime and could sometimes be found in a pile of sleeping cats in McGonagall's office.

Now, though, he was up on Remus's shoulder, happily purring while Remus scratched him behind his ears.

Peter set aside the unfinished sketch of Cinnabon he'd been drawing and joined his friend on the couch. The brown kitten had taken an unlikely kinship with Remus.

When he wasn't wandering the halls or napping in a cozy corner, Cinnabon could often be found playing with Remus, or just on his lap while the boy worked. Nobody really knew why the little cat took such a liking to the boy, but it could be because of his soft demeanor, or perhaps the fact that he was a werewolf.

After all, it would make sense that of all the people to attach himself to, the one that was not fully human and was always, somewhere inside, an animal, would be the choice of the sweet creature.

"How's Herbology treating you?" Remus asked Peter, breaking the silence between the two. They often found themselves quietly sharing space while their friends were out and about getting themselves into trouble. Remus was the most reserved of the group, and Peter was shy and meek.

"It's been really fun, actually," Peter replied. "We've been working with stinging tartulas this month, and they're so interesting..."

Peter rarely interacted with people he didn't know. He wasn't one of the "main people" of the Marauders. James and Sirius were popular purebloods who would go and cause chaos around the school, Remus was the bookish nerd who kept to himself because he couldn't be bothered, and Peter was sort of just a lackey for the others. He never got the spotlight.

If James and Sirius were a duo, Remus and Peter were another. All five of them were best friends, they all loved each other with everything in them, but Peter was forgotten more than the others. He got pushed to the side, not intentionally of course, and he would get left out the most. Remus knew this, and he didn't like it.

He didn't appreciate one of his best friends being cast to the side so often, but he knew what made Peter happy. All Peter wanted was for people to pay attention to him, so Remus knew that the best way to make Peter happy was to let him talk.

Peter was interested in Herbology, more than his classmates. He said it was calming, he liked it, that he felt at ease working with the plants. And oh, how he loved to talk about it.

Peter was rambling about the stinging tartula, all of its properties, everything it did, what it was used for. And with his big blue eyes lit up and the pure joy and enthusiasm that he spoke with, the dangerous plant sounded like something someone would choose to keep in their garden.

It was around dinner time, and rain was pattering against the window, and the common room was mostly empty, save for a few third years playing a Muggle card game in the corner. Cinnabon hopped down from Remus's shoulder and slipped back up the stairs to the girls dormitory, so Remus and Peter got up and gathered their papers, and went back to their dorm.

After dropping off their things, the pair made their way down to the Great Hall. Hopefully, their friends were still there and they could spend their Friday evening with them. But of course, if they weren't, well, they still had each other's company.

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oh my god this took way too long to post. between writers block and only having my phone to write on, i haven't been getting anything done. hopefully this simple and cute chapter will be worth the six months it took to push it out 😭 i promise yall im gonna get more out soon i promiseeeeee!!! thanks for reading and all your support and patience:) i love y'all and see you guys soonish

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