Genetics • Sirius Black

Chapter Sixty One: Moony?

The world is often on the edge of collapse, and it seems it takes nothing more than a dirty sock to undo entire buildings. Note to self: send letters to mother.

Remus Lupin had felt the bags under his eyes grow with the weight of time. He'd spent his Sunday morning on a group project with Xenophilius Lovegood and Dorcus Meadows. This pairing, Remus adored when it came to a casual conversation, but he wanted to push off them astronomy tower when it came to focusing. Finally, he retired early, with them still chattering about the mystical animals that could change people's auras.

The project had been about the History of Dueling.

Sluggishly, he walked up the steps to his dorm and was greeted with a mound of dirty clothes. He'd been out of it and had not noticed how the room was piling up. Sighing, he picked off one of the socks from the floor and tossed it in the bin. "Peter, can you help me clean up?"

His faded eyes turned to the mousy boy's bed and found it completely bare. Of course, Remus had utterly forgotten that they were all no longer friends. Not a prank pulled together in almost a month, yet several, several, secret whispers in the dorm. Shoulders slumped, he dropped on his bed like stones, unsure if he wanted to cry or jump off the astronomy tower first. Perhaps, he could multitask it.

Lily would kill him over twice if he did that.

Still, he had no clue where his mates were(if he could even use that term), which made him slightly bitter. Even when the school was afraid, they could not manage a simple "Hey. We're going out, don't worry. The ever-growing Deatheaters haven't killed us. See you later."

Nay, they were far too busy for that. But he saw a piece of parchment poking out underneath James's bed. Remus was more than respectful when it came to boundaries. However, he wanted to confirm his thoughts before wallowing.

He had improved slightly in the past couple of weeks and had become absorbed in Lily's friend group. To his surprise, it was mainly Marlene McKinnon since Severus Snape was hanging out with his other friend group, and one Lily did not exactly approve of. However, even with Lily's company, loneliness hit him like a gut punch whenever he returned to his dorm.

It was pathetic wanting to know what they were up to, but Remus Lupin was in a rather pathetic mood.

Finally, he got up and grabbed the folded map from underneath. Ink formed in swirls on the parchment, ink curling to spell "Messrs, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map."

It was a unanimous decision at the time to put Remus's name first since he was the main reason for the map's existence. Sirius reasoned that Remus was the sexiest and had to go first, which made Remus turn into a tomato since, at the time, he had a slight crush on the cool dark-haired wizard.

Much time had passed since it became Moony... and well, just Moony. 

Remus was hesitant on the name, a reminder of his illness, but the boys had sugared him so well and took so much joy in the apparent cleverness of moody-Moony that Remus accepted it with an eye roll and a smile. Now, he felt that it was the reason they'd all dissolved.

With a heavy chest, Remus said. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The Hogwarts castle formed on the page with little names written around it. He scanned the area and looked for James's but could not find it. Then he looked for Peter. No Peter. Finally, he saw something that made his eyebrows.

What the flying fuck?

***

At the very illegal lab with some of the most dangerous herbs on the market, essential discussions were being had between two sixth years on a Sunday afternoon only a few days after an attack at the nearby town.