Four To The End Book Two (Marauders Era)

Chapter Forty-Seven - Feelings In The Night

Saturday was turning into another one of those perfect days, which Remus was glad for. The morning with the other Marauders was great then after lunch he spent time with Aegis in one of the courtyards. They played chess for a while then switched to gobstones. Remus enjoyed gobstones for the most part. The smell was horrific so he gagged a lot, but because it was supposed to be stinky he didn't feel weird gagging so much. As they were gathering up the gobstones some older Slytherins walked by and decided to harass them.

"Look at the babies, playing a baby game," said the blonde haired boy Remus realized was Lucius Malfoy from Slug Club. He kicked the gobstone Aegis was reaching for, sending it careening off. "Oops."

Aegis's cheeks went a little pink but he silently went after the marble. Remus stood up, scowling. If it had just been him he'd've scurried off without another word but he wasn't going to let a bully give crap to his friend. "L-l-l-leave us alone," he said.

Malfoy's mouth curved into a big smile which was creepier than anything else. "Wh-wh-what was that?"

"Remus—" Aegis whispered as he came back over.

"M-making fun of my st-stutter? How origin—nal, and q-q-quick-witted of you," Remus retorted, making a show of rolling his eyes to show how bored he was of that being an insult.

Malfoy didn't take too kindly to that. He got his wand out, pointing it into Remus's face, grey eyes flashing with anger. "Have something to say, Loopy?"

Aegis tugged at Remus's sleeve. "We were just leaving," he told Malfoy then began pulling Remus away.

Malfoy grinned broader. "As I thought. Best be getting a shower to get rid of that Gryffindor stench, Silverlocke. Or is that gobstones? It's always difficult to tell the difference."

Aegis's face went even pinker as he yanked Remus into the covered area and then into the school. "You should not have said anything to him," he said, finally letting go.

Remus brushed himself off. "I'm n-not afraid of him," he lied.

Aegis raised one eyebrow. "Perhaps you aren't, but I'd prefer not to antagonize him. He's one of the biggest bullies in Slytherin. He even torments older students. And he's—" Aegis stopped then sighed, dropping the remainder of his gobstones into the bag, not saying anything else.

"I... I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking about how it might effect you," Remus said, regretting doing what he did.

"It's fine. I admire your courage."

They split up shortly after as they both needed showers. After Remus got cleaned up he hung out in the dorm with Peter since James and Sirius were off doing who-knows-what. Well, first Remus just worked on homework while Peter napped, but once Peter got up they hung out. Remus was kinda glad it was just the two of them. It made him feel a lot better about how Peter might be feeling. Peter was definitely not the bravest out of all of them so Remus wondered if maybe Peter was just okay with the werewolf thing with the others around, so the fact he was sitting on his bed with Remus playing cards just the two of them... it was great. Also it felt so normal. Like, he had also been worried that the others would just want to hover around him all the time just to prove something, but no; it was like it always had been.

After a while Remus grew very curious. "Can I ask you something?"

Peter smiled. "Of course."

Remus stared intently at his cards. "I don't... scare you?"

"N—no!" Peter said, falsely cheerful.

Remus pressed his lips thin. "I can tell you're lying."