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Bullies in Hogsmeade


“JINGLE BELLS, SNIVELLUS SMELLS, SLYTHERINS MAKE ME SICK! JINGLE BELLS, SOMETHING-SOMETHING -- VOLDEMORT CAN SUCK MY ---”

“Sirius!!!” Remus shouted, interrupting him before he could finish, “Don’t say stuff like that! You never know who could be listening!”

James was laughing uproariously.

Sirius grinned as he ran through the snow, bundled up in his leather jacket - with the collar popped - and the longest Gryffindor scarf known to man, which had been twined around his neck several times over and still hung to the ground. He patted some snow into a ball and chucked it back at Remus, “Aw c’mon, Rey, lighten up!” He ran on ahead.

Remus rolled his eyes, ducking away before the ball of snow could hit him.

It was a week later and the boys were on their way down to Hogsmeade for the second time. Sirius was hyperactive from the cold and his nose was scarlet red as he trotted along, singing loud and obnoxious renditions of Christmas songs - such classics as I Saw Voldey Cursed By Santa Claus, Regulus Got Run Over By A Reindeer, and The Marauders Are Coming To Town.

Sirius had spent a good part of the week moping about, upset that he’d missed the fun of running through the forest from the ginormous arachnids, and getting to see Newt Scamander fend off a werewolf with a whistle. “I always miss ALL the EXCITEMENT!” he’d pouted when he’d heard the story of what had happened.

“What are you talking about? You’re usually the one that starts it!” James had argued.

“Lucky Newt had the whistle on him,” Sirius had commented.

“I said the same thing,” James had said.

Remus had nervously asked, “You think he’s onto me? And that’s why he’s carrying it about?”

“Nawh mate, course not!” James had tried to be supportive, but his flippant attitude hadn’t helped calm Remus’s nerves much.

Remus was officially off his crutches now, after the last session with Madam Pomfrey on Wednesday, during which she’d clucked in disapproval at the thick bandages that Sirius had wrapped around Remus’s bites on his wrist. The flesh was terribly raw and stung when she insisted that he let her pour a bottle of liquid skin over the wound, and though it hadn’t healed anywhere near perfectly, it’d done a fair bit better since she’d tried than it had been doing before. It still ached quite a bit, though, and he was still uncertain on his feet, feeling a bit awkward now without the bracing support of the crutches or the cast.

That pain was a lot more tolerable than the others he was feeling, anyway.

After the night in the Shrieking Shack, when Sirius had arrived like a fluffy black knight in armor to keep Remus from slowly losing his mind out there in the night, he’d expected maybe things would go back to how they normally were before. But no. Sirius was still acting so funny, so distant. Normally, walking some place like this, he would’ve been hanging all over Remus, draping his arms over his shoulders and making wolf jokes and laughing when Remus said some stupid pun that wasn’t really all that funny but Sirius acted like it was. And he’d warn Remus about stones or dips in the road. But now, he was off ahead, singing like a doofus, and although Remus couldn’t help but laugh at the lyrics Sirius was making up on the spot, he couldn’t help but think how much funnier they would’ve been if Sirius had just been acting like he always had before…

Remus would’ve done anything for Sirius to come back and flop his arm over his shoulders and make some stupid wolf joke now.

They made it to Hogsmeade without any incidents, which was amazing given how loudly Sirius was singing. They decided to visit Honeydukes, as they could smell the warm fudge from down the way. James bought them each a very large block of it and they greedily ate it in the street as they walked along, licking their fingers for the remnant that stuck to it. They visited the bookstore to replenish their supplies of ink pots for the second half of term, and Remus stopped to marvel at a parchment set that came with a wonderful owl feather quill that he would’ve liked to buy for Lyall, but he didn’t have near enough money to do so.

They walked next to the Three Broomsticks for the mandatory butterbeers - Peter got distracted watching a vendor serve up warm pretzels along the way, and scrambled to catch up just as the end of Sirius’s longer-than-life scarf disappeared through the doorway. They took a booth in the corner and James went to get some warm steins of the butterbeer from the barmaid.

A table full of Slytherins, including Severus Snape and Evan Rosier, weren’t too far away and Sirius could feel the Slytherins looking over at them with smirks on their faces, just waiting for a reason to start something. “Here, you sit there,” Sirius said, pushing Peter into the center of the round booth seat, so that he himself was on an end, away from Remus.

James came back and pushed the butterbeers around the table.

Later, they were at the Quidditch supply shop and looking around at all the fancy Quidditch things they carried. James showed Sirius some really top-of-the-line beaters bats and gloves that Sirius drooled over, wishing for. Peter yawned, bored with the shop, and nudged Remus, “Let’s go outside. It’s hot in here.”

“Alright.” Remus told James and he and Peter went out onto the main street and sat on the edge of a fountain that stood in the square, comparing how much of the chocolate they each still had from Honeydukes.

“There’s the Puffer Fish.”

Remus looked up to see Evan Rosier looking at him, his cheeks puffed up mockingly, accompanied by a couple of the other Slytherins from the pub, all snickering nastily as they walked by. Remus reddened.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Peter asked, glaring after them.

“It’s just more slurs is all,” whispered Remus.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Antonin Dolohov called, “Why isn’t he here to save you?”

“Does he only like you when you blow, Puffer Fish?” called Rosier.

Remus sighed and stared down very hard into his bag from the bookshop, reading the label on his inkpots with an immense amount of concentration. Then a snowball hit him squarely in the face. The crystals of snow hurt and he winced and looked up to see it was Dimitri Goyle that had thrown it and he was high fiving Evan Rosier and laughing horribly at him.

Peter stammered, “We should go back inside probably.”

Remus nodded and got up as Dolohov was forming another ball. “What’s a’matter? You don’t wanna play with me, Puffer Fish?” he called. Remus ducked the snow ball that was chucked at him, quickly following after Peter toward the door of the Quidditch supplies store. Antonin cackled and caught an icicle from a shop awning and threw it like a javelin in the general direction that Remus and Peter were going. It fell short, but the threat of it was enough to upset Remus a good deal and his heart was slamming off his rib cage by the time they skid into the Quidditch shop, pink faced and shivering - though less from cold than the emotions of what had just happened.

Peter looked up at Remus. He was about to say something when Sirius and James spotted they were back and started coming over. Remus looked at Peter, “Don’t say anything,” he told him.

“But --”

Don’t.” Remus’s voice was firm. He didn’t want Sirius to go after those guys - they were cruel and who knew how far guys like that would be willing to take a duel when they were off of school grounds? He didn’t want Sirius to end up in trouble or to end up hurt.

Peter didn’t look like he much liked the idea of it, but he kept his mouth shut as Sirius and James eagerly showed them the cool stuff they’d found - including a spray that made the broomstick less slippery when riding upon it and a funny instrument that clipped onto the broom that read the speed at which you were flying.

“That’s great,” Remus nodded, though the enthusiasm just wasn’t there really.

“You alright, mate?” James asked, concerned.

“Yeah,” Remus answered. He was afraid the Slytherin boys might follow them into the shop and all he could imagine was something horrible happening and he just wanted to get back to Hogwarts and the warmth of the dormitory, where nobody could say any terrible things to him. “My leg’s just… killin’ me... I’m really tired… sorry.”

James frowned, “Maybe we ought to head back.”

“We just got here,” complained Sirius.

Peter started to say something, but Remus was afraid it was going to be about what had happened, so he cut him off, “It’s alright. I can go back to the castle by myself. You lot stay here and do stuff.”

“Are you sure?” James eyes narrowed.

Remus nodded, “Yeah. I’ll see you back at the dormitories.”

James shrugged, “Alright, whatever you want.” He turned and rushed back into the shop to continue looking around.

Peter stared up at Remus, “But what if --”

“I’m fine,” Remus said.

Sirius was staring at him with nervous eyes.

“Really, I am,” Remus persisted. “Go… go keep looking about. I can handle my own.” He turned quickly and went out of the shop. Sirius didn’t stop him. Remus paused in the street looking both ways to see if there were any signs of the Slytherins, but he didn’t hear nor see anything, and so he rushed away, hugging his arms about himself as he sloshed through the snow up the road to Hogwarts. It seemed particularly long and winding, moving through the trees that thickened as he neared the castle, and the wind was cold and nipped the tops of his ears rather violently and he wished he had a hat. He nestled deeper into his thick woolen jacket and wound his scarf tighter and jammed his hands in his pockets. The brisk air burned his eyes.

“Rey!”

He paused, hearing his name, and looked back. Running up the path was Lily and a few steps behind her were Marlene and Annalee McKinnon, Emmaline Vance, and Pandora Jenkins. Remus held up until the cluster of girls had caught up with him. “Hey,” he said thickly from beneath his many layers of winter clothes.

“You look positively frozen,” said Marlene gently, “Where’s your hat?”

“Haven’t got one,” muttered Remus.

“Silly boy!” said Annalee, “It’s about one degrees out here, how could you not have a hat!”

Remus shrugged.

“Why are you walking all by yourself?” Lily asked.

“Yeah where are the other three?” Pandora questioned.

“They’re back at the quidditch shop,” Remus explained, “My leg was bothering me, I wanted to go back to the school but they weren’t done with shopping yet, so…”

“Sirius was going to let you walk all the way back by yourself?” Emmaline asked in surprise.

Remus shrugged, “Why not?”

“It’s just that usually boyfriends --”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Remus said sharply.

Emmaline turned pink, “I’m sorry, I thought I heard --”

“You heard wrong!” Remus snapped.

“Okay. Sore topic. Got it. Sorry.” Emmaline looked abashed.

Lily reached forward and looped her arm through Remus’s, “Well you can walk with us so you aren’t alone.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“Yeah, we’d love some company!” Pandora said.

“Especially from somebody so handsome and strong,” Annalee added, smiling. She was obviously just saying that bit to make him feel better, Remus knew, but that didn’t keep him from enjoying the tags just the same.

“Thanks,” Remus said, and they all set off to continue their walk toward the castle. He felt better now, less worried about running into the Slytherins. Even if they were a bunch of girls, they would probably be more likely to stand up for him than Peter had been. Especially Lily. Though he didn’t want her getting into it with any Slytherins, either, being a muggle-born and all.

They reached the castle safely, though. Lily and Remus stood to the side waiting for the other girls while Filch performed his checks on them. LIly looked up at Remus, “Did you have a row with the fellas?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head, “Just wanted to come back to the castle.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“There was an incident with some Slytherins,” he murmured the confession. “Rosier and his lot.”

Lily frowned severely.

“It’s not a huge deal, they’re just bullies, they didn’t really hurt me… much. Just threw a couple snowballs and called me a puffer fish, that’s all.” Remus shrugged.

“A puffer fish?” Lily asked, confused by the slur.

Remus sighed, “It’s… it’s stupid.”

“You should tell McGonagall or someone about what they’re doing to you,” Lily said quietly. “She’ll put an end to it.”

Remus shook his head, “No. She’d punish them, I’m sure, but that wouldn’t put an end to it, Lily. They’d just find other ways to do it, sneakier and darker ways.”

Lily looked up at him sadly. “I’m so sorry, Rey.”

He shook his head.

Lily wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick hug. Remus felt his throat close up. He’d been positively dying for someone to hug him, ever since this all started, and he didn’t realize how much he missed all the little touches and half hugs that had stopped so suddenly. He felt the edges of his eyes threaten tears and he was very thankful it was his turn to step up for Filch’s search to get into the castle and he could turn away before Lily saw how red his eyes had gotten.




Sirius couldn’t concentrate on anything they were doing. “Do you reckon Rey got back to the castle okay?” he asked for about the hundredth time as they visited Zonko’s.

James was exasperated. “He’s a big boy Sirius.” He lowered his voice, “I’m sure he can handle himself, seeing as he’s a bloody werewolf.”

Sirius was worried anyway, though, and he barely saw any of the cool stuff that they were looking at. He didn’t end up buying anything the rest of the day. They went from shop to shop and finally the sun was starting to set and it was time to head back, so they started their walk up to the castle.

It was dinner time at Hogwarts by the time they got back. The Great Hall was lit up and warm and the food was on the table. Frank Longbottom was sitting at the table, pink-nosed himself, having just gotten back from Hogsmeade, and giving Ali Prewitt some of the chocolate he’d bought at Honeydukes. Lily and the other girls were all around her at the table, too, laughing and talking about their day. But Remus wasn’t there. Sirius looked at the other three, “You lot go on, I’m gonna run up to the dorm and change real quick.”

Peter scrambled into the hall. James waved and let Sirius go, watching him rush up the stairs. He sighed and followed after Peter.

Sirius hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, through the deserted common room, and up to the dormitory. It was dark in there, the lanterns not lit. Remus was in bed, curled up under his blankets, his wet robes hanging off his desk chair. Sirius stood in the door, hesitant. “Rey?” he called quietly. “Rey? It’s dinner time.”

“I’m not hungry,” Remus murmured. He wasn’t asleep after all, just laying there.

Sirius hesitated, then peeled off his leather jacket and hung it and his ridiculously long scarf over his desk chair, too, then set to changing into clean clothes. He stood awkwardly at the end of his bed as he tugged on his trainers. He felt he needed to say something more to Remus, but he wasn’t sure what, and he opened and closed his mouth awkwardly, but nothing would come out. Finally he said, “Alright. I’m going back down to dinner.”

“Alright.” Remus’s voice was quiet.

“I’ll… I’ll bring you something incase you’re hungry later,” Sirius said.

“I won’t be,” Remus replied.

“Well… just in case,” Sirius answered.

“Alright,” Remus replied.

Sirius backed away, out the door, and closed it carefully. He started down the stairs, even though a very great part of him was telling him to go back up there. But he didn’t. He went on down to dinner in the Great Hall and he shoved the thought of the tone of Remus’s voice out of his head as he laughed with James and the other boys at the table, and quite ignored the gnawing feeling inside of himself.