Crimson Rivers

Chapter 7

Remus can tell that everyone is nervous. He'd offered to go and wake them all up, which Pandora had seemed grateful for. He starts with James, who he knows is generally up early as it is, so there won't be any issues there.

"Morning, Remus," James greets when he opens his door. He sounds less cheerful than he usually does when greeting him.

"Good morning, James," Remus murmurs. "I just wanted to be sure that you're up and ready for the day."

"Up? Yes. Ready for the day? Well..." James grimaces slightly and runs his hand through his hair.

Remus is silent for a beat, then he says, "If it helps at all, I find you to be very likeable. You're kind and funny, James. I doubt you'll have any issues for your interview."

"Yeah?" James brightens up a little at that. "Thank you, Remus. I'm just-well, I'm nervous. Not just for me, but for Regulus, too. And-and it's also our last day before..."

"I know," Remus says softly, his heart squeezing in his chest. He's never really grown attached to anyone as a servant before; no one cares about him, so he returns the favor. And yet, when it comes to this group of people-Sirius, James, Regulus, and even Pandora-Remus finds that he's come to care about them so much in such a short amount of time.

James huffs out a weak laugh. "It's a shame I'll be gone soon. I think you and I could have been friends."

There's something so irrevocably sad about that, even more so because Remus can tell that James means it, and believes it. To him, it doesn't matter that Remus is a servant. So, Remus keeps his voice light as he teases, "I thought we already were."

"No, yeah, we are," James agrees, grinning. He looks so relieved to have something to be cheerful about.

"I have to go wake the rest," Remus tells him. "Breakfast is already finished, and you should eat."

"Alright," James says. "Hey, you'll eat with us, yeah? Sirius likes it when you do that. Well, we all do, but today... Er, you always cheer him up, that's all. He likes you, Remus. A lot."

"I know," Remus repeats once again, this time with a tiny smile, and James' eyes sparkle with delight. "He's not very subtle about it."

James laughs. "Bless him, he's really not."

"He doesn't-do anything," Remus ventures cautiously, not entirely sure how to put into words what he means.

"Yeah, he won't," James replies simply, and Remus can't stop himself from frowning. Seeing it, James sighs. "It's-I mean, in fairness, the power imbalance is... Well, I know none of us really talk about it, but we're painfully aware."

"It's not his fault, or anyone's," Remus points out. "It's not as if you all did this to me, and you've made my assignment here as comfortable and close to freedom as I'll ever have."

"I get that, but Sirius won't cross a boundary," James tells him, sounding solemn. "We see you as Remus, our friend, but we also know that we have superiority over you that none of us asked for. We could-we wouldn't, not ever, but we could have you killed, or we could make you do...fucking anything, honestly, and it's awful. It's not right. None of us would ever, ever cross boundaries with you, because you deserve them, and you deserve for us to respect them."

Remus feels like there's a band tightening around his chest, just from that blunt declaration of consideration. It's basic human rights that Remus doesn't have as a servant, and yet they all grant it to him without question. That's more important to him than he could ever express to any of them. There's just one tiny problem, though.

"But what if I want Sirius to...do things?" Remus asks weakly, feeling oddly embarrassed, his face heating up.

"I thought you might," James teases, beaming at him. He looks fucking ecstatic. "I suppose the question is, if you want something done, why don't you do it yourself?"