#remusowls

A moment of terror | Remus wakes up and finds Amelia next to him

Remus felt like he'd been thrust into a room full of light after being kept in the dark for years. His eyes were squeezed shut from the onslaught of blinding sunshine, and yet they still burned behind his eyelids. He groaned, throwing an arm over his face to protect his eyes further. To say Remus wasn't a morning person would be an understatement.

He rolled over, willing sleep to overtake him again, and hit something lying in the space next to him. Something warm... and breathing. Wrenching his arm away from his face, Remus' eyes flew wide open. Dark hair was spread over the pillow next to his, the covers hiding the obviously female body underneath it. Remus suddenly became painfully aware that the girl next to him was none other than his best friend.

"Mia?!" He yelped, pushing the covers away hastily as he jumped out of bed. He took a quick glance down at his body; thank Merlin, he was still fully dressed. What had happened last night that made him forget that he apparently fell asleep in the same bed as Amelia Bones?

From what he could remember, everyone had been at the party Sirius had thrown in celebration of Gryffindor's win against Slytherin. Firewhiskey and butterbeer had been passed around freely, and soon enough everyone was sufficiently 'sloshed'. It was a blur after that, but Remus distinctintly remembered stripping down to his underwear and dancing provocatively on a table. Merlin, he thought, I'm never going to live that down.

His panic had woken Amelia, who glared up at him blearily. "What the fuck are you doing awake this early?"

"I-I- what happened last night? Did we..." He trailed off, gesturing for her to understand what he was hinting at.

It took her several seconds to comprehend his frantic waving, but once she did, hysterical laughter began bubbling out of her mouth.

"You... I... think... I... Bloody hell!" Was all she could get out before giggles took over once again.

Remus frowned. "So, we didn't?"

This seemed to placate Amelia. "Of course not, you prat! Now get back here, I'm not done sleeping yet."

[ooc: i decided to post each one in a different ask, this one will be the traitor one. i've set it during PoA because i figured that with Sirius being carted off to Azkaban, Remus would be forced to believe that Peter was dead and Sirius betrayed them - even though he had his doubts]

The longest lie | Remus realises the truth about his 'friend'

After confiscating the map from Harry, Remus found himself holed up in his office studying the old parchment with a distinct resolve. He couldn't believe Harry's words, suggesting that Peter was alive. Remus had forced himself to believe for twelve years that what he had been told that night was the truth, and here was the only son of James telling him otherwise. Part of Remus wanted nothing more than to brush it off, having come to the realisation that he had lost all of his friends in one night so many years ago, yet another, larger part of him was yearning for what Harry said to be true.

In the darkness of his office, the memories of that dreadful Halloween night slowly began to leak into his conscious, flooding his brain with the pain that came with them. He remembered arriving in Godric's Hollow, finding Lily and James' house in shambles. Peter was nowhere to be found, and Sirius was crying and screaming at a bloodied finger on the floor. Remus presumed the worst, shouting terrible words to his once friend.

Remus couldn't believe it- didn't want to believe it. Back then he'd been blinded by grief, thinking three of his friends had been murdered during one night. He hadn't even considered Sirius' pleas that he was innocent, that it was Peter who was guilty.

But as he perused the map, he eyes caught onto something rather peculiar. There - in the Gryffindor boys dorms - was the name of Peter Pettigrew. Remus wanted to deny it, to say his eyes were deceiving him... but he had created the map with his friends, and the map never lied.

A match of personalities | Peter and Remus meet for the first time

The sorting was slow and monotonous, Remus having been sorted midway through the whole event. Professor McGonagall was currently going through the 'O's', with Sinead O'Hare being sorted into Hufflepuff. Remus wasn't paying much attention, instead listening closely to the two boys sat across from him, discussing Quidditch in great detail. As a half-blood, Remus didn't care much for Quidditch, unlike the two purebloods he was currently speaking to. The long, dark-haired one was insistent that the American Quidditch team would win the World Cup this year, whilst the bespectacled one with the unruly hair argued that the Peruvian team were much more skilled. Remus found he was not interested in the slightest, and so turned his attention back to the sorting.

"Peter Pettigrew!" McGonagall called out, and Remus watched as a small, shy boy with mousy brown curls stumbled up to the Sorting Hat. After a moment of deliberation, the tattered garment opened it's mouth and let out a yell of 'Gryffindor!'. Instantly, the entire Gryffindor table burst into uproar, yelling out cheers of welcoming to their newest member. They seemed to do that for every new student to enter the lion house, and were also the only house to do so.

The smallish boy grinned, relief flooding his features as he bounded down and towards the Gryffindor table. He took the free seat next to Remus, inhaling heavily to get his breathing back to normal from running at such a high speed.

"Hello," Remus began. "My name is Remus Lupin." He spoke with the formality that had been drilled into him from a young age. His father always believed in keeping the highest appearances. Of course, that had diminished slightly after the incident, but nonetheless Remus could not shake the habits that had been taught to him since infancy.

Peter smiled, "H-hey, M'name's Peter."

Mishaps and misconceptions | Remus and Amelia's first meeting

Remus met Amelia during first year, when he was still an awkward, gangly kid with shaggy hair and she was a tiny thing with pigtails and a scheming smile. At the time, he'd thought her too loud, too... different from him for them to become friends, but by the end of their first meeting most of that opinion had changed.

They were partnered together in Potions, Slughorn thinking that pairing up students from different houses would be a good idea giving the brewing war outside the castle walls. Remus never thought Slughorn was much of a thinker, if he was honest. But at eleven years old he couldn't argue with a teacher, and so he was stuck with the sprited Ravenclaw.

After a shaky introduction from Remus and an assertive reply from Amelia, they began to work. Their assignment was simple; brew a boil-cure potion. Remus understood the instructions and how to prepare the ingredients easily, and he was sure Amelia would have too... if she was actually paying any attention. Whilst Remus was working diligently preparing the dried nettles, Amelia was relaxing and talking carelessly to the quiet boy, insistent on getting him out of his shell and conversing with her. Remus thought her infuriating, but held a secret amusement for the dark-haired girl. She was fearless, and didn't back down from a challenge.

The potion was almost complete when Amelia finally decided to contribute. Unfortunately, she added too many porcupine quills and the concoction inside the cauldron turned from a milky white to an acid green, bubbling up and over the edges of the cauldron. Remus had been standing too close, and ended up covered in the rancid liquid with angry, red boils sprouting all over his body.

The newest member | The first time Remus meets Harry

Remus watched as Sirius paced back and forth across the waiting room of St. Mungo's, feeling the impatience practically rolling off his friend in waves. Padfoot was never one for waiting, and the remaining three of the Marauders had been at the wizarding hospital for hours. Peter was sat next to Remus, also watching their dark-haired friend. James was in the delivery room with his wife, waiting for Lily to give birth.

After what seemed like hours, James burst out through the double doors with an ecstatic grin on his face.

"It's a boy!" He cried, throwing his hands in the air, "Come on, I want you to meet him."

The other Marauders stood up, grinning, and followed their friend into the room. 

"Well done, Prongsie." Sirius laughed, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me, Black." A tired voice called from the bed. "I think it's me you should be congratulating, I did all the work after all."

Remus glanced over, seeing his redheaded friend grin tiredly at the group of friends. Lily's hair was tied back from her face, and she had a small bundle in her arms. From where he stood, Remus could see the short tuft of black hair peeking out from the blanket.

"Technically, Prongs started the whole procreation progress when he-" Sirius couldn't continue his words, as Remus slapped a hand across his mouth before his friend could become lewd with his words. Lily shot a grateful look at the werewolf.

The Marauders moved slowly towards the bed, Remus torn between wanting to give Lily space and wanting to see the newest member of the family. Lily seemed to sense this, and smiled in fond exasperation at him.

"Remus, I want you to meet Harry James Potter." She said before handing the small bundle to him once he was close enough.

The first thing his eyes noticed was the remarkable resemblance Harry had to his father. There wasn't a speck of Lily in his face, although Remus suspected that once his eyes opened, they would not be the brown-hazel that James had. The infant squirmed in his arms, trying to get closer to the person holding him. Remus' wolf felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards the boy, and knew that Moony had just mentally added him to his pack. The wolf already considered the Marauders and Lily part of it, and now Harry was too.

"Hello, Harry." Remus murmured, tilting his head closer to the boy, as if he was sharing a secret with him. "My name is Remus. I'm your sensible uncle, the one who will make sure that your Uncle Sirius doesn't corrupt you too much."