𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 | remus lupin

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

[ 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑  𝐅 𝐈 𝐕 𝐄 ]

𝓪 𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓪𝔀 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓷

"I THINK REMUS is getting sick," Winnie told the girls as she applied lipstick and began to sort out her mess of bed head curls.

"Again?" Marlene asked, still in bed.

"He does get sick quite often, doesn't he?" Lily mused, already dressed.

"Yeah. James says his mum's always sick too. I'm worried it might be a family thing. I heard Muggles have family diseases that can kill them," Winnie said worriedly, turning to Lily.

Both Marlene and Winnie were purebloods and hadn't the faintest knowledge of Muggle illness.

"I mean there are some like—"

"Chicken pox!" Marlene suddenly cried. "I've heard Muggles get something called chicken pox!"

"Oh no!" Winnie wailed. "That sounds horrible. Will he die?"

"Of course he'll die," Marlene said. "It's probably like dragon pox, but worse."

"Oh Remmy," Winnie mourned. "Oh the boys will be so devastated. I'll be devastated. Lily, my heart couldn't handle it. There's a cure, isn't there?"

"Were in bloody Scotland, where are we going to find a Muggle cure?"

"Guys—"

"I don't know! We'll fly to Muggle London if we have to!"

Lily just gave her hysterical friends an unamused look. "Guys! You realize chicken pox isn't deadly, right? In fact, it's less dangerous than dragon pox."

The two purebloods seemed to calm down at that.

"It could be heart disease, though," Lily added, immediately regretting it once she saw the look the girls exchanged.

"HEART DISEASE?"

///

Elowen knew something was up the minute she arrived at quidditch practice. Sirius and James were bent over their brooms, talking in low voices. One glance at the stands showed Peter and Remus weren't there.

She also knew they hardly ever skipped coming to practice.

And so she spent practice watching the two carefully, as if the way they played would answer all of her questions.

She watched Sirius let three quaffles in a row through, and with mild annoyance, noted that none of them had been scored by James.

"Heads out of your arse, boys! We've got a match coming up. Don't make me bench you."

"You wouldn't," James challenged. Winnie merely raised an eyebrow and flew away, calling out a new practice formation.

After being called out, the boys had put more work into it. They weren't up to par with normal, but they played well enough that Winnie didn't bother getting after them.

Afterwards, she stayed on the pitch, angrily packing her back after everyone on her team had left.

"Stupid James. Stupid Sirius. Stupid Peter. Stupid Remus and his stupid heart pox," she muttered under her breath, throwing her robe into the bag.

"Woah there," a voice behind her said. She spun around and came face to face with Everett Brennan, the seventh year Ravenclaw captain.

"Oh, hey Brennan," she muttered with a disinterested wave of her hand.

He seemed to take note of her foul mood and gave her a small smile. "Rough practice?"

"You know it. Ugh, it's just my brother and his friend being irritating. But when are they not? And I thought normally Remus and Peter were there to kick some sense into the blokes, but now they've gone and acted like idiots, hiding Remmy's chicken heart and what not."

Elowen continued to rant about the situation, and despite not knowing what she meant, Everett just smiled and nodded when appropriate, letting the girl get everything off her chest.

They barely even noticed when they'd made it back to the castle. Already, the sun was setting on Black Lake.

"Thanks for walking with," Winnie said.

"Anytime, Potter."

Winnie began the walk back to the common room, a million things on her mind. She was passing by Professor McGonagall's office when she had an idea.

She hesitated, standing in front of the door for a good few minutes. She'd raise her hand to knock, change her mind and lower it. The process repeated itself for a few times. Finally, the door swung open on its own.

"Are you going to just stand there, Miss Potter?" McGonagall mused.

Winnie stumbled over her words for a moment, trying to think of an excuse for why she sought out her professor. Truthfully, with her foul mood, Winnie was missing her parents. She also missed James, but since he was one of the causes of her foul mood, she didn't want to see him.

At Hogwarts, McGonagall was the closest thing she'd get to a motherly presence.

"I needed help," she settled on. "I don't quite understand the Transfiguration assignment."

Minerva seemed to understand what the girl really needed, and despite the fact Hogwarts had tutors for this sort of thing, she just smiled.

"Come in then. Have a biscuit, Elowen."

The girl grinned and ran into the office, chucked her quidditch gear on the floor and made herself comfortable on the chair across from her teacher.

"Thanks Minnie," she said. Since she was already there, she figured she may as well ask questions about the assignment.

And if the conversation slowly drifted from Transfiguration, to quidditch, to her brother and her idiot friends, then that was for them to know.

///

While his sister stressed and stuffed her face with biscuits with their head of house, James was galavanting around the Shrieking Shack with a dog, a wolf, and a rat.

They'd been helping Remus with his transformations for a while now, but it was something James never thought he'd get used to.

It hurt seeing one of your best friends tear himself apart once a month. But at least he could help.

So their game of cat and mouse (read; wolf and dog, rat, and deer) commenced, just as it would for every full moon to come. Because Remus would never have to spend another full moon alone for as long as James lived. 

_____

Hello! If you're actually reading this, thank you so much for giving Protego a shot! I appreciate it. I'm actually kind of in love with the concept and unexplored potential that is the Marauders Era. 

They bring me so much joy (if you ignore the fact they're all canonically dead, that is) and I wish we got to see more of them. 

I can only aspire to have friends and loves as strong as they did.