most ardently,

“No. Absolutely not.” There was only one of Sirius’ friends who could ever say no to him, and it was Remus Lupin. He’d always been able to draw a clear line in the sand to stop whatever it was Sirius was scheming about.

“Aw, c’mon Moony it’s just a bit of fun. Besides, Snivellus deserves it.” Sirius groans as he flops on his bed face up, staring at the canopy above his bed.

“Look, I am not a fan of Snape much like you lot but sometimes you need to learn to take a step back. You see the people he hangs out with now? They’re all bound to be dark wizards in the future, they meddle with dark magic, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” Remus states, putting his foot down firmly and wanting Sirius to know where he stood on the whole prank.

“It’s just a little humiliation in class, that’s all! He’ll get over it.” Sirius insists, propping himself up on his elbows to look over at his stubborn friend.

“Fine! Do it but I’m not helping you. So don’t come crying to me when he fights back.” Remus concedes, throwing his hands up in the air before grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to study with y/n in the library.” Remus continues, heading to the dorm door and exiting loudly, ignoring the roll of Sirius’ eyes as he walks past him.

The next day, Sirius had snuck down to the potions classroom to switch one of the ingredients used in the potion for something else. Just by glancing at Slughorn’s desk, Sirius saw that they were going to be learning how to make a draught of peace so he grabbed the small bottle of powdered moonstone on Snape's usual desk and mixed in a little bit of another ingredient he knew wasn’t needed for the potion. He didn’t know what reaction it would cause nor did he particularly care. He just wanted to humiliate Snape and if that meant he got his potion all over him or a look of disappointment from Slughorn Sirius would be happy regardless. When he’d mixed the two powders together he returned it to the desk Snape usually sat at before leaving the room again and heading to breakfast, unable to wipe the shit-eating grin off his face.

“The look on Snivellus’ face is going to be golden.” Peter sniggers when he sees Sirius approaching the three, sitting himself down next to James who claps him on the back.

“No one saw you, right?” James questions quietly. He had been keeping an eye on all the teachers who sat at the staff table at the front of the Great Hall, but he hadn’t been keeping an eye on students coming and going. He had no clue if any students had slipped out of the hall and made their way down to the dungeons and saw Sirius.

“Nope. I mean no one walked in while I was in the room. They couldn’t have seen me going in and out considering you lent me the invisibility cloak.” Sirius jokes, grabbing a slice of toast and tossing it at James’ forehead, laughing as it bounces off harmlessly. Remus, having had enough of Sirius and the prank gets up and leaves the Great Hall, hoping to locate you before potions class.

“Hello, love.” Remus says, snaking his arms around your waist, making you jump slightly before you turn to face him, a large grin on your face.

“Hello, Rem.” You greet happily, leaning up to press a quick kiss on his lips.

“You ready for potions?” Remus asks, stepping away from the embrace and offering you his hand, tugging you down to the dungeons as students begin to head to their morning classes. You follow the trickle of students heading to the potions classroom and since you had no set seating plan, so you and Remus unknowingly sat at Snape’s desk, just finding the closest available seats, and planting yourself in them. Sirius noticed your choice of seat and sniggered to himself. He hadn’t told Remus what class he was planning on pranking Snape in, nor did he know the exact details. He only let Sirius say that he was planning on humiliating Snape somehow in a class and shut him down. If anything, Sirius figured it would be funny, a way for Remus to learn to listen to him. It was harmless.

“Okay Remus, let’s make the best draught of peace potion Slughorn will ever see.” You start as soon as Professor Slughorn has finished his lecture on how to correctly make the potion. You flip open your potion’s textbook to the correct page and shed your robes, rolling your sleeves up as you lay your robe on the stool. Remus laughs and nods, beginning to prep the ingredients. Everything goes smoothly at first until Remus glances at the textbook as you stir the potion.

“Hey, we don’t have enough Valerian root. I’ll grab us some more, you keep going.” Remus says, pushing his stool back as you nod and reach out to grab the syrup of hellebore, dropping small droplets into the potion and watching carefully. To your shock, the potion started bubbling violently due to the extra ingredient mixed into the powdered moonstone causing a reaction and as you looked at the textbook to inspect what you might’ve done wrong, your cauldron exploded, and the potion splashed all over you and the table. A chorus of laughter rippled across the classroom after a brief silence.

“Class, quieten down! Oh, dear miss l/n. I don’t know what went wrong there but I think it’s best you go and get yourself cleaned up.” Slughorn quietens the class with ease before speaking gently to you. You nod stoically and glance across the room at where Remus was standing, Valerian root in hand as he noticed the shining tears in your eyes. You gather your belongings and dart out of the room. Remus looked over at his friends and saw Sirius sitting in shock about the result the prank had. Remus stormed over to the desk as the rest of the class began to chatter about what happened again.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” Remus demands, slamming his hands on Sirius’ desk and glaring at him.

“You and y/n sat in Snapes spot. I thought it would be funny to let it play out. I swear Moony I didn’t know the ingredients were going to react like that.” Sirius insists, his eyes wide and pleading as Remus narrows his eyes in his obvious anger.

“If that hurt her, I swear…” Remus seethes, jaw tensed, and teeth gritted.

“Alright class, I think we should wrap up today’s lesson.” The second those words left Slughorn’s mouth, Remus grabbed his stuff and was out of the room in a flash, immediately disregarding any other classes, prioritising you instantly. Remus went to your dorm and knocked on the door, frowning when he heard no response or any signs of life inside the room. He then racked his brain for where you could be. He knew he could go and get the Marauders Map he just didn’t want to waste time when he could be with you right now. Suddenly, he knew exactly where you would be and he stormed through the castle and headed towards the Black Lake, finding your favourite secluded spot, and spotting you sitting underneath the large oak tree, your back pressed against the trunk as you sobbed. You had changed into fresh clothes and had your knees pulled up against your chest and your face buried in your knees, but Remus could tell you were crying from your shaking shoulders.

“y/n?” Remus calls out cautiously, approaching slowly and easing himself down next to you.

“Did you know?” Your small voice says moments after Remus has sat down, making him tilt his head and look at you.

“Did I know what?” He asks, watching as you lift your face to look at him, tear streaks staining your cheeks.

“Did you know about the potion? You moved away seconds before the potion exploded. Did you know?” You say, your voice shaking and filled with betrayal as Remus shakes his head.

“No. No, I swear to you I didn’t know. Sirius mentioned wanting to prank Snape and I didn’t realise he’d try it so soon. I didn’t know any details of the prank. You have to believe me.” Remus croaks, his throat tightening as tears well in his own eyes. He didn’t blame you for figuring he had something to do with it. He did move away at a perfectly convenient time. To his joy you nod your head and move closer to him, wrapping your arms around his middle and burying yourself in his side.

“I believe you.” You whisper, looking up at Remus who nods tearfully before pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve figured he was going to do something.” Remus apologises, hugging you close as one hand messes with the baby hairs at the nape of your neck.

“You didn’t know. Like you said, it was a prank intended for Snape how were we supposed to know?” You say, resting your head on Remus’ chest and staring out across the Black Lake.

“Sirius should consider himself lucky it’s not anywhere near a full moon because if it was, I’m fairly sure I would’ve punched him.” Remus muses, smiling slightly when he hears a slight chuckle escape your lips.

“I’ll be sure to let him know that when I next see him.” You reply, tightening your grip on Remus ever so slightly.

“Can we stay out here for a while? I don’t really want to face anyone right now.” You say, looking back up at Remus as he nods.

“Of course, we can, love. We’ll stay out here as long as you need. If anyone tries to disturb us, I’m sure a quick hex will drive them away.” Remus says as you giggle, shaking your head at his comment about hexing people.

“I don’t think hexing anyone will go down well with any professors Rem.” You say, pressing a quick kiss to Remus’ cheek.

“I’ll come up with something to get myself out of it. McGonagall and Dumbledore have a soft spot for me.” Remus brags, poking at your side and laughing as you squirm. You both quieten down after laughing and watch the lake, enjoying the peace and quiet. Remus was still unbelievably pissed off at Sirius for not saying anything when you and him sat in Snape's spot and let you put the tampered ingredient into the potion but he was mostly glad you were unharmed. You were embarrassed yes but you knew Remus was willing to fight anyone who poked fun at you for the incident. He knew the moment you guys went back into the castle, Sirius would be on his hands and knees begging for you to forgive him for his stupidity and you’d simply laugh and tell him that everything was okay. He knew everything that would be happening when you both went back into Hogwarts, but he didn’t want to dwell on that or the events that lead you to now. He just wanted to enjoy the feeling of you cuddled up in his arms in the bright summer sun, a light breeze blowing causing the leaves of the trees to rustle quietly as the water of the lake lapped at the shore. Remus relished moments like this. He hated that a backfired prank was the reason you were out here, but he was glad you were okay and that you knew that Remus wouldn’t allow students to pick on you for what happened.

When you woke up this morning, you hadn’t expected to become a victim to one of Sirius’ pranks, but you knew he never meant any harm. You were embarrassed but he could’ve easily done something much worse than an exploding potion, so you were just grateful you only received a bruised ego. Looking back on the prank you could see why Sirius did it. You were sure if you could’ve seen yourself covered in potion from an outside perspective, you would’ve found it hilarious, so you held no grudge against Sirius for his prank. You were grateful you had a wonderful boyfriend like Remus who wasted no time making sure you were okay and being willing to hide away from everything until you felt ready to face the school again.

“I know I’m going to forgive Sirius for the prank when he inevitably begs for it but what do you reckon, I hold it over him for a while? Make him buy us a shit ton of chocolate from Honeydukes or something?” You ponder aloud, making Remus laugh heartily and press a kiss to the top of your head.