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Remus Lupin’s Homework


Remus lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling in the dorm. Sirius was asleep beside him, curled up in his dog form, and Remus absently stroked the soft fur behind his ears, staring at the moonglow coming in the high vaulted windows. Peter snorted in the next bed and rolled over and Remus looked to the side, over Peter’s round form beneath his duvet and, beyond him, James, laying the wrong direction in his bed, his feet up on the headboard, his Quidditch playbook open across his bare chest, glasses still on and askew. Remus struggled to sit up and the dog beside him rolled onto his back, kicking his legs languidly and yawning widely, his long pink tongue lolling out and then hanging sideways from his wide open jaw. Slowly, Remus slid away from the dog, propping him up with a pillow so as not to disturb him, and he crept across the room to the desk, lifting his wand, and a couple of the books and his parchment, and sneaking to the door slowly, wincing with every step as pains shot up his legs and lower back.

Downstairs in the common room, Remus stoked the fire and lit a couple of the lamps about the room and eased himself onto the floor before the coffee table onto a cushion from the couch. He’d made a cup of tea and he pulled his brown sweater ‘round his shoulders, shivering as the ticking of hailstones on the window panes echoed about the room. He sniffled and took up his quill and, with a shaking hand, started working on writing the Defense Against the Dark Arts paper that was due the next day. Even if he wasn’t going to class, he didn’t want to give Gaunt any reason to be cross with him, so he’d send the homework along with the others when they went to class at least… His arm swept around the top of his parchment as he wrote, his wrist getting ink on it like it always did - (ah the hazards of being left handed!) - and he grit his teeth each time he had to lean forward to dip the quill into the ink bottle - the small motion a big deal with moon-knotted muscles.

“Moony?”

Remus looked up to find James coming down the stairs from the dorm, his jogging pants slung low ‘round his waist - still no shirt, rubbing the hair on the back of his head and squinting across the room at him. “Hey Prongs,” Remus answered.

James wandered over and threw himself onto the carpet, crossing his legs up like a pretzel, and looking at Remus with the sort of squinty eyes that comes from being still half asleep. “What’re you doing, mate?”

“Homework,” Remus replied. “It’s not going so good.”

“No?” James glanced at the paper. Remus had only managed to get a paragraph into it and there were smears from where his wrist had smudged the wet ink, too weak from the moon cycle to lift up off the page. The quill shivered from Remus’s trembling. “Here. Lemme have that.” James reached over and plucked the feather from Remus’s fingers and slid the parchment to himself, scootching closer to the table. “Defensive spellwork is driven by the determination of the caster, and like how no two wizards are the same, so too the Defensive tactics used against Dark Magic cannot be the same between two wizards. One wizard’s motivation to defend themselves will be different from any other’s, and the drive to defend is what will determine the best spell for use in any duel. For example, ---” James looked up, “Excellent start.”

Remus said, “I s’pose.”

“This is Exceeds Expectations work if I ever heard it,” James said. He licked the quill tip and dipped it into the ink pot, cleared his throat and hunkered down over the parchment. ”Alright, go on, dictate the rest and I’ll write it down for you.”

Remus stared at James a moment as the quill hovered over the parchment… a drip of ink fell onto the page, spreading out through the porous paper. James raised an eyebrow. Remus hesitated, then, “For example, one wizard may find motivation in the drive for power, or fame…”

Power or fame…” James muttered as the quill scratched across the page.

“...and another in love.”

Love,” James said, nodding, “Go on, Moony.”

Remus watched as James wrote, his hair falling over his forehead, and he smiled, thankful for the help, and he leaned back against the couch, hugging an extra cushion to his chest, closing his eyes as he dictated the paper, and James wrote, scratching the tip of the quill along over the page as Remus spoke, occasionally pausing to ask how this word was spelled or that word, patiently allowing Remus to pause and think now and then, to assemble the words he wanted to say in his mind before speaking them. “And in conclusion,” Remus said, over an hour later, “The Determination Theorem speaks of the magical ability that a wizard could potentially possessed, based upon strength of the emotion that powers their drive to defend. Therefore, a wizard is only as weak as their hearts are full.”

“...as weak… as their hearts… are full,” James repeated, and he put the final period on the end with a flourish of his wrist. He looked up at Remus expectantly.

“That’s it, that’s the end,” Remus said.

James smiled and looked down at the parchment before him, blowing the ink to dry it, and he scrolled it up and put it down on the table, completed. “Well, there you have it, then,” James declared, laying down the quill.

Remus sipped the tea he’d made, holding the cup in his palms, and it rattled against the saucer quietly.

James sighed and leaned back against the couch beside Remus, too, and took off his glasses, putting them up on the coffee table before them and sighed, running his hands through his hair, letting his head roll back to lean against the cushion and sliding down ‘til he was at an angle, half laying and half sitting.

Remus put his teacup down.

“So what’s keeping you up at night, Prongs?” Remus asked after they’d sat in silence for several long moments.

James’s voice was low, “I dunno, just loads of stupid dreams, really.”

“Stupid dreams?” Remus asked. “What sort of stupid dreams?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.” James murmured. Behind his eyelids, he could still see her - even now - with her glowing red hair and those eyes… green as a bottle… leaning over him, looking down into his eyes..… He opened his eyes now and stared up at the ornate frame on the larger-than-life portrait of Godric Gryffindor that hung over the fireplace, though Godric himself was asleep, resting against a tree in the background of the painting, his sword leaning against the frame’s edge as his horse ate some of the grass.

Remus’s voice lilted with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I s’pose,” James replied. He straightened himself up again and he looked at Remus imploringly. “I can’t get over her, Rey. I’m trying. I’m trying really hard.” James leaned against his knees, propping his chin up on his forearm. “I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, Moony - the moving on.”

“You just haven’t found the right girl yet is all, Prongs.”

“I’m trying different girls and every single one of them - something about them, something they do, it reminds me of her, and I just find myself realizing that they aren’t her, that none of the girls are Evans, and… and they never will be. Do you know what I mean?”

Remus nodded. He remembered the feeling all too well from third year, from that summer in the woods with Sirius.

James sighed.

“For what it’s worth, James, she’s mental for not being over the moon in love with you.”

“Thanks Moony.”

Remus nodded.

James stared at the fire.




Lily Evans was already in the Defense classroom when James and Sirius arrived the next day - and only just in time, too. Gaunt closed the doors directly behind them and turned to wave his wand to block up the windows with their shutters. Lily looked over at James as he fell into his seat beside Sirius and the pair of them scrambled to assemble their books and quills before Gaunt could dock them for being late.

“Is Remus alright?” she whispered.

James nodded.

Lily turned to face forward.

“I trust that you’ve all brought along your work,” said Gaunt and he turned back to face them. “Accio parchments!” and they soared forward into Gaunt’s waiting hands - including Remus’s homework that James had carried along. Gaunt looked the parchments over a moment and he paused, then looked over at James. “What is this?” he asked, and he held up both James’s parchment and Remus’s.

James said, “Uhh… homework?”

“And why have you handed in two, Potter?”

“Oh. No. Sir, one is Remus Lupin’s. He’s sick, see, up in the hospital wing with Pomfrey. Asked me to hand it in for him,” James explained.

Gaunt looked the parchment over, then raised his eyebrow and stared at James along moment. “And why is it in your handwriting, then, Mr. Potter?”

James paused, “Well, sir, because he wasn’t feeling well, so he dictated it to me.”

Gaunt frowned.

“It’s quite good,” James added, “You’ll see a marked difference between the quality of my paper and his, I assure you.”

Gaunt shook his head, “Handing in work that isn’t your own is hardly good, Mr. Potter,” he said silkily. “Fifty points from Gryffindor for Mr. Lupin’s cheating. And another fifty for you, assisting him, Mr. Potter.”

“WHOA! Hold on a minute,” Sirius said, “Haven’t you heard what he’s just said? Rey dictated that to him, it’s Rey’s work! It isn’t cheating.”

Gaunt’s eyes flickered to Sirius and he raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, seeing as Remus wasn’t feeling well then it’s quite impressive that he’s turned in any work at all,” Lily said defensively, “If anything it should be fifty points to Gryffindor for Mr. Lupin’s determination to hand in the paper to you, and fifty more for James’s assisting him!”

Sirius grinned over at her and she flushed.

Gaunt scowled. “You’ll all serve Saturday detention. Mr. Lupin included.”

James protested, “But Saturday is Hogsmeade!”

Sirius added, “And besides that, we didn’t bloody do anything!”

“Shall we make a second one for Sunday as well?” Gaunt asked in a threatening tone.

Sirius glowered, “Just wait ‘til Minnie gets back, I’ll bloody tell her everything you’ve done and she’ll blast you to the damned moon!”

“Are we going for a third detention, Mr. Black?”

“Fucking book me up!” Sirius replied, “See if I attend a single bloody one of ‘em! See how that works out for you, you bloody troll!”

Gaunt’s teeth clenched. “Fine. Then you’ll join me every evening until holiday.”

Lily’s eyes widened.

Sirius said, “Yeah we’ll see about that. Don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting for me to arrive ‘cos I won’t be coming.”

James laughed.

“Funny, is it Potter?” Gaunt demanded, “This insolent attitude he’s got is funny, you think? You can join us as well.”

“Well. At least you won’t be alone mate,” James snickered.

Sirius high-fived him. “Good one, James!”