All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

First Year : History

Saturday 23rd October 1971

For the next week, Remus didn’t avoid him, exactly, not as he’d been before. But he made sure that Sirius never caught him alone—always careful to remain in the presence of their fellow marauders, or else choosing to spend time in the crowded common room. Of course, he also continued to dart off on his own, and while Sirius attempted a few times to catch him leaving, Lupin was just too slippery.

So it wasn’t until the next weekend that Sirius finally caught him, alone in their room, flicking through one of James’s quidditch magazines—which was odd, as Remus had already made it clear that he had zero interest in the sport, no matter how the other boys tried to explain to him that it was one of life’s greatest joys.

Sirius had found that direct questions seemed to work best with Remus, so as he trotted over to the bed, he said bluntly, “Did you just never get taught?”

Remus waited a moment to respond, pointedly turning the page and acting as if he was entirely absorbed in an article about This Month’s Newest Models.

“I got taught.”

Sirius continued to stand, stubbornly, at the end of the bed. The article was outdated, anyway, and not very interesting even if you could read.

Finally, Remus released a resigned sigh and closed the magazine. “I got taught,” he repeated, “Just didn’t learn properly. When I look at the words, I don’t think I see what everyone else does. It doesn’t make any sense; all the letters keep jumping around and changing. Teachers said I was just thick.”

Sirius blinked, studying him. He had never considered that two people might just…look at something and see two entirely different things. He stared into Remus’s eyes, wondering what it was about them that was wired differently.

“But how have you been doing it?” He insisted, waiting expectantly for an answer.

Of course, Sirius had suspected for a few weeks…but to be quite honest, the confirmation that Remus couldn’t read had still been a shock. He was so clearly brilliant, with the way he mastered spells. Sirius had half thought that he was just too much of a rebel to bother with homework.

Remus seemed baffled by the question. “Doing what?!”

“Well…everything! All your work, here, at Hogwarts.”

Now Remus was looking at him as if he were thick,

“Sirius, I haven’t been doing it. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in detention every night.”

Ugh, he was IMPOSSIBLE. “Well, yeah, obviously,” Sirius waved his hand dismissively, “But the other day, in Potions, I saw you – you didn’t take any notes, didn’t even look at the book, or the blackboard, and you still prepared all of the ingredients for the cure for boils perfectly – Slughorn gave you five points!”

Remus flushed and shook his head, “Oh, that was easy. Sluggy told us how to do it in the lesson before, I just remembered it.”

“Bloody hell, you must have a brilliant memory, then.”

Remus just shrugged, looking for all the world like he didn’t understand what was so impressive about brewing a potion perfectly, without any practice, after being told one time an entire week ago how to do it.