Chapter Text
It was just another stupid class, that's what it truly was. He just had to wave his wand and say some weird Latin words with a little English mixed within them. (Seriously, why were they in latin??) He had been doing it for six years, he didn't really see the fuss of it when it all became so repetitive.
Thankfully, spells were starting to involve something other than memorising and pronunciation. Apart from all the minimum concentration he had to put, Remus was getting bored, he felt he could do so much more than levitating a feather or try to not fall from the second hand broom he had to borrow, ten feet up into the air. Okay, maybe flying lessons were a bit hard, but it was only because he was scared of heights. Maybe his boggart would be a cliff. He’d much rather play football, and he had always thought it was boring, but it seemed much safer for literal ten year olds. The school organisation really needed some changes, or so he thought.
“Remember to read the next chapter in which we will base our practical lesson next week.”
Reading was easy, and casting a spell wouldn't be a problem, but as Remus was reading the boggarts chapter of his worn out second hand book, he had the realisation of what was going to happen.
“It’s going to be a moon” Remus sighed looking at the ceiling of his shared room.
“What are you talking about? '' James was really focused on trying to win the chess match he and Peter were in. But everyone could tell he was going to lose. Sirius was trying to roll a cigarette off the floor, also clearly not doing his best.
“The DADA assignment” they were silent, of course they didn't do it “the boggart..?”
Now all three of them were looking at him like he was trying to explain how telephones worked.
“What on earth are you talking about, we will probably be doing drills on that expelliarmus thing again” defeated with his task, Sirius hided the matchbox and reminded himself that he would ask remus to roll his cigarettes, he didn't want to waste more paper, he would have to use parchment sometime soon.
“You guys really need to stop sleeping in class, i don't even know how any of you passed your OWL’s'” his head was starting to hurt from so much dumbass concentrated in one room.
“Well explain to us Professor Lupin” James had already lost the game, and a triumphant Peter was cleaning up the broken pieces into the box.
“Shut up” they always teased him about his intelligence, or maybe it was his lack of dumbness.
“C’mon Moony, enlighten us with your knowledge” long lashes were fluttering in a mocking way, stupid long pretty lashes that Remus debated over ripping out or kissing them.
Kissing eyelashes, Jesus Christ, get your shit together. His inner voice reminded him of how weird he was thinking about his friend.
“Next week we're going to be fighting a boggart,” Remus explained, tired of always being the voice of reason.
“One against the whole class, that doesn't seem fair”
“It's one by one Peter, a boggart can only face one fear at a time” Sirius said as a matter of fact.
“I thought you didn't do any reading, Padfoot,” James said.
“Oh i don't read it, my lovely mother had one in the basement, when we were being bad children she locked us there for like an hour” How was he so chill about trauma? Remus almost fainted every time someone mentioned the moon.
“Ok…, well, that, um, lovely story Black. I guess you know how to counter attack it” the air in the room was starting to become thick. Now Peter and James were looking awkward at an infinite point in space.
“You.., dont?” silence “you just wait until it doesn't affect you, it's pretty easy, like a patronus of something i don't know”
“That’s not… I can't right now. I'm freaking out. Don't you guys get it? The moon, it's going to be a moon, my boggart” At least he hoped it would be that, the image of his father didn't scare him, it only caused a tiny heart attack, but he wasn't scared of it.
“So? You're good at counter attack spells, and I'm pretty sure if it's not the real moon you won't transform. "James was now pulling his piyamas from his trunk, getting ready to hit the sack. He had to get up in like 5 hours for quidditch practice.
“But won't people get suspicious if they see a moon?” Peter asked.
“We'll figure it out”
“We?” Remus asked.
“Of course!” Sirius jumped from his bed “Marauders stick together! Now all of us are thinking of a plan!”
So they stayed up for an hour, way past James’s bedtime, surely going to make him groggy on the pitch, but they all would do anything for their Money.
During the morning before their DADA lesson, all four of them were having breakfast, satisfied over the plan they had made. It wasn't really the best plan they had come up with, but I would work.
Remus wasn't really sure of the effectiveness of it, so he had a backup plan of faking feeling sick and going to madam Pomfrey’s. He would even take some vomit chocolate, if he had to, his least favourite type of sweet.
He still was grateful for the marauders trying to help him, but he could not for the life of bhim stop thinking about what Sirius had told them. Walking up the stairs, Remus took his chance to talk to him.
“Heyy, so, about what you told us the other day? Do you really want to face a boggart, having that experience with them” He couldn't really sound worried, not as much as he really was.
Worrying about your friend was more than fine, but he wasn't worrying as one. He really just wanted to make sure Sirius was always going to be okay, not haunted by the constant image of his mother, his father, his brother, well, his entire family to be honest.
But in the end, it all came to wanting Sirius to not feel the way he felt. What Remus felt was the least of his concerns, he had grown used to his suffering, but seeing his friend talk so freely about all the things Wapulgra had made him go through? It really hurt him.
“Don't worry mate” Mate, it really stung like a motherfucker “look at it like extra classwork”
“Im serious” Talking about feelings with Black was as hard as talking about feelings with, well, Remus.
“Nooo , im Siri- '' he couldn't finish his so-called joke because of the thump coming from the cupboard that startled the both of them. Sirius could also not finish his so-called joke because of an unison groan from the people around him, and because of the punch Remus gave him on the shoulder.
This was going fine, James had already passed the practice, being the first one in the line, always wanting to be a show off. As the queue of teenagers was getting shorter, Remus came to realise that, okay maybe not all people were werewolves, but they still had fears. Surly they weren't as tragic, Peter’s turn made the boggart a clown. Still he found himself getting anxious. His turn was going to be soon, he only had Sirius infront of him and his turn would be next.
“Black! Come up to the stage, time to shine.” the teacher yelled after Lilly had turned her sister into a literal flower.
The steps, as some might have seen from the outside, would appear as confident, caring himself with the arrogance only a heir of the Black family could. But Remus saw immediately through it. He could tell by the little mannerism he had found himself staring for way too long when he thought no one was looking. Sirius's hair was now in a ponytail, a sign of how even a hair touching his face had him feeling overwhelmed and too caught in his head. He was flicking up and down his wand, a steady beat on his wrist, like a drummer. But what gave him away to Remus were his eyes.
He had often joked to him that he had those porcelain doll eyes with that insane look of literal terror and a haunted evil spirit behind them, but as for now, there were no signs of emotions. A blank stare into nothingness, like a soldier heading to the front line, knowing what is about to become of him.The boggart was taking his sweet time trying to decide on what to transform into. After several seconds, what felt like minutes to reminisce, something started to form in the cloud of silky ashes.
All of the sudden most of the class knew what it was turning into. A tall woman, with a Victorian dress with a high neck, embellished in black crystals, with gloves that made her slim fingers look like a spider. Boggarts were supposed to make its form scary to the person facing it, but almost everyone in the classroom was getting scared by the mere presence of a woman dressed like Frankenstein's wife.
Her wand, shiny and plain, came behind her, of course, it wasn't really Walpurga Black, it was the mere image of her, she couldn't do magic. She couldn't say the words she had said over and over again, leaving the trace of what had happened after she waved her wand at the little boy that wept over and over until he had trained himself not to do so, but still, the power of those memories struck Sirius to his core.As a kid he had been faced with a boggart that made itself into all kinds of scary things a child would be terrified of. Spiders, dead bodies, snakes, all of it. With time he had made it to overcome those fears. Maybe that's what his mother was trying to do, make him pass a test of mere fears so he would become a man that would bring pride to the family. Over the years, Wapulgra had stopped using the boggart on her sons, choosing a more drastic punishment for whatever she thought was wrong. As she would have put it, silly games of terror were over, only if Sirius would behave and stopped being a baby.
Remus could see Sirius shocked by the image of her mother, having not seen her in a very long time. In reality, Sirius was shocked, because he had promised himself that he wasn't scared of his mother, he just hated her.
“Ri- Riddikulus' ' A voice came out of Sirius's throat, but it wasn't as brave as he had wanted it to be, as he wished he would have acted.
Nothing happened, the scary mother didn't turn herself into anything other than what she was now. She only laughed, a high pitched voice that sounded like when Bellatix used to years prior. A shrieking sound that turned the almost relieved face of Serious into a horrified stare. Now his hands were shaking more than they were already.
The thing with boggarts was that you needed to find happiness, or make a little change into what you feared the most, but it appeared that the teenager couldn't defy her, he just wasn't able to.The boggart walked slowly, the heels making a clicking sound with each step. Mother leaned against son’s ear and whispered something, no one could hear it.
“ Finite .” a wave of her hand, and the professor turned the woman into the again mesh of outlines and silhouettes of objects and creatures “that's all for today, Remus, i'm sorry you couldn't do it, but were out of time” the boggart was locked inside the cupboard and moved to the office. “When we start with the patronus you'll be the first one to attempt it, ok?”
The first one to get out was Sirius, storming out of the door even before the teacher finished her sentence.
Remus, partially glad his furry little secret was revealed to anyone, was still in shock of what had happened, of what he had heard Surius' mother say. The words the woman had said to his son echoed in his voice, it was in times like that that Remusdidn't like his super hearing abilities. He was the second person in the classroom to step foot out of it, following the sounds of his friend down the tower. He didn't really need to follow him, Remus knew where he was going.