#lupin!reader

You stopped in your excited ramblings to cut a look to Regulus immediately - expression falling in a way that would be comical if it didn’t look so foreign on your face - asking “who” before he’d even had a chance to answer his brother.

“Nothing.” Regulus grumbled, standing tall and looking just past Sirius’ shoulder; though he couldn’t help but notice Regulus positioning his body directly between Sirius and McLaggen, whilst keeping his arm protectively behind you.

“What did who say?” You asked again looking between the Black brothers when your own didn’t seem to have the answer either.

“McLaggen.” Sirius said, never looking away from his brother who refused to make eye contact with him as he gestured to the sod with his chin . “He just said something to you as you were walking over here and now you’ve got that look on your face.”

“There’s no look on my face.” Regulus spat quickly. “This is just my face.”

“Did he say something to upset you?” You asked softly, and Sirius watched as Regulus’ shoulders fell slightly and he seemed to look at you apologetically.

“No, amour, it’s fine.”

“No it’s not fine, he’s lying.” Sirius accused, causing Remus to groan as he pulled on Sirius’ shirt sleeve, translating roughly to  ‘knock it off’. 

“What did he say about you?” You demanded then, and any signs of the bright, bubbly, effervescent girl you’d been mere moments ago as you excitedly explained the progress you and Pandora had made with the bowtruckles to your brother and his boyfriend were completely gone and overshadowed with worry.

Regulus seemed just as desperate to relieve you of that worry as Sirius was to never see it again. 

“He didn’t say anything about me.”

“About me?” You asked quietly.

“No, amour.”

“No one could possibly find anything bad to say about you, bubs.” Remus complained with a fond eye roll. 

“What’d he say about me, then?” Sirius questioned, causing three sets of eyes to point at Regulus in anticipation.

Regulus sighed and rolled his eyes - very un-Black and aristocratic of him, if you asked Sirius - and spared a look at McLaggen over his shoulder.

“Do you promise not to overreact if I tell you?”

“Absolutely.” Sirius agreed readily - though he knew damn well that what constituted a reasonable reaction was very different to Regulus than it was to himself. 

“He said our parents ought to throw me out like trash as they had with you.” He muttered quietly, and Sirius saw red.

But unfortunately, both Remus and Regulus had been so (correctly) prepared to grab Sirius by the back of the shirt and the arm respectively that he had no chance at enacting his very reasonable reaction to that news. 

Rather fortunately, however, is that both Remus and Regulus had been so prepared in stopping Sirius from storming over to McLaggen to correctly-react to that news, that neither of them even realised you’d gone storming over instead until your fist connected with McLaggen’s nose. 

“What the fuck!?” McLaggen hissed as he cradled his nose protectively with one hand and grabbed you by the arm with the other, though all that managed to do was limit your assault on him to one hand rather than two. 

“You’re a pathetic pile of shite McLaggen!” You screeched as your brother hauled you off of McLaggen (though Sirius was happy to note you got a few more good swings at him before), neither Black brother having realised Remus had left their sides as they both stood there staring at the spectacle dumbly. “Mummy and daddy told you it wasn’t your fault that they split but it is because she should have fucking swallowed you when she had the chance!” 

“Christ, bubs, stop it.” Remus hissed as he wrestled you over to Sirius and Regulus; the latter seeming to be brought back to reality now that you were standing in front of him.

Though, standing was a generous term, seeing as you were still being held captive by your brother as you tried to find a way out of his hold.

“Merlin’s tits, Y/N.” Regulus breathed out in disbelief, and only then did you stop fighting Remus and turned to look at your boyfriend. “What did you do?”

You seemed startled for a moment; eyes darting frantically over Regulus’ face as if looking for any signs of anger or disapproval. 

“You hit him.”

Your face broke out into a beaming smile as your usual bubbling energy vibrated through you and you stood on your toes in front of him. “Did you see that, Reg?” You asked, almost like you couldn’t believe it yourself. “I beat him up!”

A surprised laugh bubbled out of Regulus that surprised both Sirius and Remus just as much as your violent outburst had as he pulled you closer to him by your chin. 

“Did you just defend my honour, amour?”

“I’d rather say she was defending my honour, Reg.” Sirius argued. “You’ve got a wicked right hook, Trouble! Who knew!?”

“I did!” Remus nearly shrilled then. “I’ve been telling you all this; she’s been practising on me for years!”

“It’s not practising on you when you’re the one who taught me, Rem.” You countered as sternly as you could muster, but Sirius could still see that dimple near the corner of your mouth giving away the fact that you were trying really hard not to smile.

And by the way Regulus drew a gentle finger along the side of your face, he knew Regulus could see it too.

“What’s the damage on your hands, hm?” Regulus asked then.

“We’ve got a stash of wraps in our dorm for Moons that you can use.” Sirius added, pausing when Remus made a tentative sound.

“Perhaps we should get out of here before McGonagall starts asking what happened to McLaggen’s face though, yeah?” He muttered as the deputy headmistress came sweeping into the central hall. 

“They’ll never believe it was Y/N.” Sirius scoffed, causing Remus and Regulus to shoot him unimpressed glares.

“Exactly.” They said in unison before Regulus continued. “You’ll end up taking the blame for it.”

Sirius blanched at that. 

“Hey, didn’t she say that you’d be scrubbing toilets with a toothbrush until you’re fifty if you got one more infraction?”

Your question was met with silence, though, as Sirius was nearly half way up to Gryffindor tower before you turned back to look at him.

“Seeing as I’m the next most likely suspect, we should probably go too.” Remus announced, and the rest of you made like Sirius and quickly left the scene of the crime.

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“What, Moony? I can’t help it if your sister’s fit,” you heard Sirius say.

That stopped you in your spot, immediately turning your face red. Sirius thought you were fit? Remus didn’t have any other sisters… You certainly didn’t mind him saying that, if anything you loved it. One of your best friends, the one you developed a crush on sometime during third year, thought you were attractive. Part of you wanted to run up the rest of the stairs and into the dorm to hug him.

The continued laughter from the boys brought you out of your thoughts. You just smiled to yourself and turned around. You would study in your own dorm and let them have some boy time. 

To say that you were disappointed that Sirius never asked you out or even flirted with you over the next year would be an understatement. You tried to catch his eye. You tried flirting with him a little, not trying to push the limit. Nothing. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t catch the eyes of other boys though. You were flirted with. You were danced with at parties. You were even asked out, but every single one stood you up. It seemed like boys liked the idea of you but before it could ever bloom into a relationship, they disappeared. It certainly messed with your confidence. 

So you plunged yourself into your studies. It was a decent enough distraction. You can’t be upset and distracted by boys when you needed to memorize 30 different poisons, each’s symptoms and their antidotes. There’s no space in your mind when you have to create spell combinations for practice duels. You fought to be at the top of every class because if you didn’t, you doubted yourself in every single aspect of your life. 

In the quiet though, the doubts returned. They echoed in your mind as you pruned some plants in Greenhouse #3 for extra credit in Herbology. Not that you needed it. The insecurities frustrated you. Why had no one been able to show up to a measly date? You thought you were pretty enough, had a decent enough personality, an honest reputation. What was wrong with you? You started to take a little bit of your frustration out on the thorns and leaves you were removing. 

Snip. Snip. Snip. 

Then you smelled him before you heard or saw him. Cigarette smoke wafted through the greenhouse. 

“Don’t smoke around the plants,” you said automatically, turning your head to see Barty leaning over a plant and blowing smoke directly on it. 

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it. They like it,” he said, pausing to show you how the particular plant he was in front of seemed to lean into the smoke. “See!”

You rolled your eyes. “Or maybe you’ve gotten it addicted to nicotine…”

“But it’s not dead.”

“Yet.”

“Ah, don’t be no fun, Lupin,” he said, approaching you and pushing himself up to sit on the table next to the plant you were working on. “Whatcha doin’ in here anyways?” 

You watched him warily out of the corner of your eye as you continued to work. You didn’t know too much about him as he was a year younger than you. You knew he could be a wild card and his father was the head of a department at the ministry, but that’s about where your knowledge of him ended.

“Pruning.” 

Snip. Snip. Snip.

“Well duh. But why?” 

Snip. Snip. Snip.

“Extra credit. What’s it to ya?” 

He hummed as if considering your answer. 

“Do you want company? I’m sure I’m more entertaining than the lousy plants.”

“Why would you want to keep my company?” 

“Because I’m curious.”

You stopped mid-snip. 

“Curious?”

“Mhmm. That’s what I said.”

“Enlighten me, Crouch. Curious about what?”

“Curious about how a pretty girl like you got all those scars? I’ve been intrigued for a while now.”

You scoffed as you resumed your task. He was interested in the scars you got by being a werewolf. Classic. But he did call you pretty. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…”

“Try me,” he teased, leaning forward. 

For a split second, an embarrassing second, you debated telling him the truth just to see what his reaction would be. But he was a boy you barely knew. He wasn’t one of Remus’ friends. There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t run away and tell everyone, resulting in you and Remus getting kicked out of Hogwarts. 

“Fought dragons when I was little.”

“Then why aren’t you burned?” 

“Who says I’m not?” 

Snip.

The conversation died there and Barty watched you work for a little bit. It didn’t take too long for him to grow bored and leave. You were surprised that he stayed for so long, although your mind repeated him calling you ‘a pretty girl’ until you were finished.

“Guess who got called pretty,” you sighed as you collapsed onto the couch next to Mary in the common room. 

The Marauders might be your best friends but that didn’t mean you disliked your roommates. Quite the opposite, really. You were a Gryffindor’s girl through and through.

“Plants talking to you now?” Lily laughed from the armchair next to you. 

“Ha. No, actually, I had a visitor in the greenhouses today.”

“Who?” Mary asked, turning her full attention to you.

“Crouch. No one special, but still - a compliment’s a compliment.”

You proceeded to recount Barty’s visit to the girls. You were blissfully unaware of the Marauders’ eavesdropping on your story. 

---

A few days passed before you crossed paths with Barty again. You tried waving at him. Maybe you could entertain his attention if he still wanted to give it to you. 

He definitely saw you wave. His expression dropped to something cold before he looked away, muttering something to the boys around him. It felt like someone dropped a bucket of ice water on you. Literally said he’d been intrigued by you for a while and now he wouldn’t wave back? Yet another blow to your confidence. You tried to tell yourself it was for the better, that there would be someone outside of Slytherin who could give you the attention that you desired. 

Your last period of the day was a free period so you retreated to the comfort of the common room. To your relief, Sirius was there, lounging on the couch with a cigarette hanging loosely in his hand. 

You sat on the couch and draped your legs over his, a comfortable habit you picked up ages ago that he never complained about. 

“Padfoot, why are boys so confusing?”

“Not sure what you mean, Star,” he replied lazily.

“Like I swear a guy will be flirting with me one day and the next time I see him, he acts like I got the damn plague!” you exclaimed, throwing your head back into a throw pillow. “What turns a guy off so quickly?” 

Sirius snorted and you immediately sat up and looked at him firmly.

“You know something.”

“About what turns a guy off? Yeah. I would know about that.”

“Padfoot! What am I doing wrong?” 

“Love, you’re doing nothing wrong,” he tried to assure you, gently patting your leg.

“That’s rubbish and you know it.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Please,” you laughed disbelievingly. “You called me fit forever ago and look at us. You’ve never flirted with me. You’ve never hinted at wanting to kiss me. So, there must be something wrong with me.” 

Sirius stared at you for a second before sputtering, “H-how do you know… I never told you… What?” 

You lowered your chin to give Sirius an unamused look, waiting for him to compose himself. His look of shock remained. 

“Last year?” you offered when he didn’t say anything more. “Unless Moony has another sister?”

“You, uh, so you heard that.” 

“Yeah.”

“Did you hear what Moony said in response by chance?”

“No?” You furrowed your brows. “I figured it was better to give you some guy time if you were talking about girls.” 

Sirius exhaled out of his nose in seeming appreciation. “Well, thanks for that, but you should’ve hung around for his response. Something about… you know…” He gestured to his crotch. “Cutting my dick off if I ever acted on or repeated that.”

“Remus said that?” you gasped, leaning forward.

He nodded. You swung your legs off his lap and jumped up from the couch. You started to pace as you were filled with rage. You ran a hand through your hair.

“Fucking hell…” you muttered. You started to walk toward the portrait hole but then you turned back. “Please tell me he had nothing to do with every bloke who’s flirted with me.”

Sirius grimaced.

“Every one?” you whispered.

“Every one he knows about or assumes. He, erm, makes sure it doesn’t happen again.”

You frowned and sighed angrily. 

“He was what, Charms right now?” you asked.

Sirius nodded. 

“Thanks, Pads. And if you ever decide you want to risk your manhood, I think you’re pretty fit too. Always have.”

Then you stormed out of the common room. You kept a determined pace until you reached Professor Flitwick’s classroom. Out of respect for the professor, you waited outside the classroom, leaning against the wall with your arms crossed and fingers rhythmically tapping on your arm. Anger was radiating off of you. You knew it was. The few students who passed you gave you one look before hurrying on their way with semi-scared expressions. It was even more so confirmed when Flitwick dismissed his class and every student who passed you seemed glad that you weren’t waiting for them. 

“Hey Star,” Remus said when he exited the room. 

He didn’t seem to have the same fear that everyone else had. He didn’t care that you were seething as you waited for him. You grabbed his arm and pulled him down the corridor to an alcove.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” you asked bitterly.

“The same thing that’s wrong with you,” he said coolly. “You know, our furry little problems?” 

He smirked and that annoyed you. You slapped him. The crack of your hand hitting his face echoed around you. A curious passerby looked into the alcove.

“Keep moving,” you snapped at them before turning back to your brother. 

“The fuck was that for?” he gasped, holding his cheek.

“Have you been threatening every boy who’s looked my way?” you asked firmly.

The color drained from his face. “Oh.”

You laughed coldly. “Oh is right, you fucker. I ought to hex you into your next lifetime.”

Remus, ever a sloucher, straightened his back to stand at his full height, which was more than a full head taller than you. 

“I’m just protecting you. Boys are bastards who are going to break your heart. God forbid I make sure no one hurts my sister.”

“The only bastard around is you,” you spat. “I don’t need your protection. I’m fully capable of handling myself, thank you very much.”

You turned to leave. Remus reached out to grab your shoulder but you just jerked it forward so he had to let go.

“Star,” he called as you walked away from him.

You held up your middle finger. You assumed that he got your message when he didn’t call out again. You don’t think he realized how badly his actions messed you up mentally, but you were also upset that no one thought you were worth the risk of Remus’ wrath. Could he really be that frightening? You didn’t think so, but you were also his sister. 

From that moment, it became well known that you were beyond pissed at Remus. The reason behind your fury got lost in the gossip. All that anyone knew is that you were avoiding the Marauders as a whole and if anyone brought them up to you, you made it their problem. You also turned your flirting up to level ten. Anyone you considered passably cute, you charmed and if it seemed like it might go somewhere, you told them to ignore Remus at all costs. 

That, however, set off alarm bells in some of their heads and you were back to being dateless. You were reduced to sulking in the bell tower, somewhere few students went. It was actually a great place to be alone. You let your legs dangle off of one of the platforms, leaning against the wooden rail. You knew that the Astronomy Tower was where students usually went to sit like this, but you did want to be alone so you picked the less popular spot.

“You sure know where to hide, Star,” Sirius’ voice sounded from behind you.

You didn’t move. You didn’t respond. You didn’t look at him when he sat down next to you, letting his legs dangle as well. You didn’t have to wonder how he found you; you knew the answer: the map. Although a small part of you was curious how long he looked for you before turning to the map. You sat in silence for a while. Sirius swung his legs.

“So what do you want?” you asked with a sigh. 

“You said if I wanted to risk my manhood…”

That made you look at him. 

“I did.”

“I want to risk it.”

“Interesting.”

“Does… does the offer still stand? Or… should I go?”

“Oh, it stands. I guess I’m curious why now though.” 

“As compared to when?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a year ago?” you asked snarkily. 

“I figured it was just me that Moony would threaten. You know, he’s one of my best mates and siblings are usually off limits. I thought you would find someone else and I’d get over you. Except neither of those happened.” 

You let out a sad sounding laugh. 

“Hey,” he said, resting a hand on your thigh. “I really thought he was just waiting for someone he thought was good enough for you. Frankly, some of those blokes are complete gits and you dodged a bullet.”

“That’s not the point though, Padfoot. I thought I was undesirable. I thought I was the problem. How am I supposed to figure out who actually likes me and who’s worth my time if Remus scares everyone away?”

“He didn’t want to see you getting hurt.”

“But I need to get hurt. That’s how we grow. It’s not like I can’t handle pain. He should know that by now.”

“Yeah, he should. And I should’ve known that you’d be worth the risk. I should’ve flirted back.” He paused for a moment, smiling to himself. “Do you remember the first time you flirted with me?” 

You cocked your head to the side, trying to think back.

“Not really.”

He cleared his throat before speaking in a falsetto, “Padfoot, have you ever considered joining the quidditch team? You got really nice arms, you’d make a good beater.” 

You started giggling as the memory came back to you. Sirius joined in on your laughter. 

“I remember now! James burst out laughing. He said you’d never compete with their Prewett and Prewett combination.” 

“I mean, he has a point,” Sirius said, gently bumping into your shoulder. 

“Okay but listen. I was complimenting your arms, which are nice. Not my fault you can’t swing a bat.”

“It isn’t your fault. That would be Walburga’s sorry genetics.” 

“Not all of her genetics are bad.” You reached over to grab his chin, turning his face left and right. “You got that nice hair, good cheekbones, pretty eyes. Kissable lips.”

His eyes flicked down to your lips briefly with your hand still holding his face. 

“Kissable lips, you say,” Sirius repeated with a smirk. “Care to prove that?” 

You smiled and pulled his face closer to yours. You looked in his eyes for a brief second before pressing your lips against his. It was a quick and gentle moment, but it changed everything. You finally had your first kiss and it was with none other than the Sirius Black, the only boy you’ve ever had a real crush on. 

Sirius hummed when you pulled away. “Definitely not a problem with you. I could do that again.”

“Yeah?” you laughed with a sparkle in your eye. “Care to do it often? And in front of Remus?” 

“Only if you promise to protect my manhood. I actually am quite fond of it.”