House: Slytherin

 "Hey Remus!" I said excitedly as I saw him enter the defence against the dark arts classroom followed by his three friends.

"Hi (y/n)... good summer?" He asked and my eyes widened with happiness at the question.

"It was great thank you! How about you, did you do anything fun?" I asked eagerly.

"Not much if I'm honest. I guess it was nice to be home at least for a little," he said. He glanced back at his friends who were sitting down at the some of the desks at the back of the classroom. "I should probably go."

"O-okay- yeah, of course," a little bit of unhappiness crept up on me at his sudden departure. I watched him go as he sat beside Black, Potter and Pettigrew occupying the desk in front of them.

"Smooth," Charlotte, my closest friend teased me but I rolled my eyes. She knew of my incredible crush on Remus - in fact I think it was hard not to notice it as I wasn't exactly discreet. The extent of my feelings for Remus were probably bordering love at this point, as I'd had feelings for him for years. He had never outright declined my feelings and because we were now in seventh year I knew I had little time to woo him. "What do you even see in him?"

"What do you mean? He's smart, handsome, funny and obviously brave. I mean those scars must have awesome stories behind them," I said dreamily, looking back at him and accidentally locking eyes with Black. I looked away sharpish, my cheeks heating up but thankfully the professor came in and began the class.

Throughout the class I found myself looking back towards Remus' desk but I always awkwardly caught eye contact with Black instead of my crush. "Miss (l/n)," the professor suddenly asked, snapping my head back to the front of the class. "Is there something interesting at the back of the classroom?"

"N-no sir, sorry sir," I muttered awkwardly, keeping my attention on my desk. Beside me Charlotte chuckled but I decided to try not to think about Remus for the rest of the lesson. Thankfully the lesson went by quickly so we were soon packing up our parchment and quills ready for the morning break. I glanced over to Remus who was laughing with his three friends, the four of them heading out the classroom as a group.

"Okay (y/n), I'm gonna be serious with you," Charlotte suddenly said as we left the classroom together. "You've had feelings for him for years but you've never properly spent time with him outside of classes. You've had the occasional conversation granted, but that's all it's been. I don't want to sound harsh but maybe... maybe you should move on to someone else," she suggested much to my surprise.

"But last year you kept on saying I should go for it. We got quite close last year, I mean we sat together in potions and spent ages working together on the potions," I defended and she sighed. "Plus we had a conversation only this morning. The only reason we were interrupted was because class was starting."

"(y/n) you only asked how each other was," she said and I felt a little pang in my heart.

"Even still... I think I have a chance. After all, he's never turned me down, and I think I've caught him blushing from time to time," I said with a confident smile.

"I just don't want you to get hurt... I don't want you to be desperately chasing Remus and miss the chance to have someone else," Charlotte said.

"I know you're just looking out for me, but I know Remus is the one," I said and she sighed.

"If you're so sure then it seems I can't change your mind. C'mon, lets take a breather in the courtyard before heading to transfigurations," she said, taking my hand and running out of the school and into the sunshine.

- Timeskip -

It was a few months into the new school year and I had noticed a few changes in Remus' behaviour. He seemed to be trying to distance himself from me, and it was especially noticeable in potions where we still sat next to each other. I tried talking to him politely like I always had done, smiling and hoping to get one in return and at first that was the case, but with each lesson the smile slowly vanished and his conversations slowly ceased.

I expressed my worries to Charlotte, scared that she was right about me needing to get over him. We sat in the common room together mulling things over, me unable to stop thinking about him and how differently he had been acting recently. "Listen, I think I know why he's avoiding you now," Charlotte said and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You do? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked desperately.

"Because I didn't want it to be true, but I can't think of another explanation. I think he may hate Slytherins."

"What? That's absurd, Remus isn't like that," I defended him.

"It's just a theory. I mean, his two closest friends hate the Slytherin guys in our year because they're pureblood maniacs. As far as I'm aware Black and Regulus have fallen out over it to the point where they don't speak anymore, and they're brothers! Perhaps the hatred Potter and Black has for some of the people in our house has stemmed to them hating the house entirely, and maybe they've turned Remus into thinking the same way," she said as I listened intently. I paused for a moment to consider this option but I soon realised Remus would never think that way.

"No, I refuse to believe Remus hates the entire house because he doesn't get on with a few of the guys in our year. To be fair they are all jerks, I mean they openly call muggle-borns 'mudbloods'! I heard Snape call Evans it the other day. I'm not sure I even like the Slytherin guys in our year to be honest," I said, not caring that they could overhear us. "Remus wouldn't judge someone on their house alone. He gets to know the person before he judges them... I'm sure..." I tried to defend him but I was scared Charlotte was right. After all I had noticed Black looking at me a lot more recently which made me uneasy.

I kept Charlottes theory in the back of my mind as we attended our next potions lesson. I decided to put on a cheery face in one last hope that Remus would actually properly talk to me like he used to during these classes. "Morning Remus," I said brightly, approaching the bench.

"Hey," he said simply, there being no smile on his face. Instead there was a solemn look, as though he was refusing to even look up at me.

"Are you okay? You seem upset about something," I dared to carry the conversation on.

"I'm fine. Lets just work," he dismissed, angering me. I glanced over at Charlotte who was on a different bench, but she was looking my way as though trying to read the situation as well. He shrugged but judging by her body language it looked as though for now she wanted me to persevere.

"Sure," I tried to smile again and I spotted his eyes dart in my direction. Professor Slughorn suddenly began the classroom, but out the corner of my eye I kept on watching Remus' body language. He seemed tetchy, and even when we were doing the practical task he made minimal contact. I tried to start many conversations with him, but nothing worked.

By the end of the class I realised that what I was feeling inside was anger as opposed to upset. He didn't even say goodbye before darting out of the class, leaving his friends behind also. Without caring that I could be heard I let out and irritated growl, storming over to Charlotte. "He's so infuriating! If he's not interested then can't he just tell me?! I hate how much I like him!" I shouted, a few people looking over at me as they walked past and out of the classroom. "What're you looking at, Black?!" I shouted threateningly but he raised his hands in a defensive manner, walking out the classroom with Pettigrew and Potter.

- Timeskip -

Since then I had begun to get increasingly angry, just wanting him to speak to me even if it was to turn me down. Every time I saw him now he walked in the opposite direction, and with each potions lesson I got more and more angry until I finally snapped.

I waited at our bench in the potions classroom, expecting Remus to come in any minute but his friends came in without him. Professor Slughorn began the class and it made me realise he was now skipping lessons just to avoid me. The fuse inside of me was incredibly short and I knew I had to keep control until class ended when I could interrogate his friends and when the time came, I didn't hold back.

They had gotten out of the classroom before me so I ran out after them and grabbed Black's bag strap, pulling him back. "Hey! What the- (l/n)?"

"What the hell is up with Remus? I know you know! He's been ignoring me completely for months, to the point where he's actually skipping classes where we sit together! It's pathetic, is it just because I'm a Slytherin and you hate Slytherins?! Tell him from me that if that's the reason then I don't care, if he's going to be so petty to hate me for my house and skip classes where we sit together then I don't give a damn about him-,"

"Whoa, calm down (l/n)!" Potter and Black said at the same time.

"No! I'm not going to calm down! I want to know why the idiots been ignoring and avoiding me at every possible chance! If he doesn't like me then he should just come out and say it! If he'd just told me he didn't share my feelings for me then maybe I wouldn't be feeling so angry and hurt!"

"(y/n), he's in the hospital wing!" Black suddenly said making me stop.

"W-what?"

"He's in the hospital wing, he got injured last night," Potter said and my stomach dropped.

"Is he alright? How badly is he hurt? Will he recover?!" I asked quickly and the two chuckled, glancing at each other. "What's so funny?" I asked through pierced lips.

"You know I think he'd like a visit from you," Black said and I scoffed loudly.

"I find that so hard to believe. He's spent the last few months ignoring me and now he suddenly wants me to go see him in hospital? No thanks!" I said firmly but at the bottom of my heart I wanted to go to him.

"(y/n), seriously, go see him," Potter surprised me by putting a hand on my shoulder and looking into my eyes with his. He made me slightly nervous so I glanced at his two friends who nodded with reassurance.

"Won't he just tell me to get lost?" I asked, still doubting them.

"No, trust us, he won't," Pettigrew said and I furrowed my eyebrows, slightly confused however something compelled me to go to the hospital wing despite everything that had happened. On my own I walked to the hospital wing, it being lunchtime now so I had an hour to spare. Nervousness overwhelmed me as I reached the door and saw the silhouette of the nurse tending to someone from behind the thin curtain. All the other beds were empty so I assumed that hidden behind the curtain was Remus.

Carefully I approached it, and stepped into view. The nurse was bandaging up Remus' arm and neither of them noticed me at first until Remus looked up and stopped talking. The nurse glanced back and was a little shocked to see me staring at the situation. "Miss (l/n) I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave-,"

"No, it's okay," Remus suddenly said, his look directly on me. There was silence as the nurse finished bandaging his arm and leg before leaving the two of us alone. "H-hey-,"

"Don't 'hey' me," I scoffed, folding my arms and he flinched. "What happened?"

"Er... the Whomping Willow," he said but I decided to show no sympathy despite the erratic beating of my heart.

"Your friends told me that you wanted me to visit you. Why?" I said simply and to my surprise his cheeks turned red and he looked away awkwardly.

"I guess I just wanted to see you," he mumbled and I pierced my lips.

"Well you've seen me now, so I'm going to leave," I said firmly but he suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist, catching me off-guard.

"I'll be discharged in a few hours, can we... meet up? I wanna talk to you," he said and him having the audacity to request such a thing irritated me. Still I found it difficult to say no to him so after a moments silence I sighed and nodded.

"My last lesson is Care of Magical Creatures, so meet me by the wooden bridge," I said before leaving without glancing back.

My mind was preoccupied for the entirety of the rest of the day. I told Charlotte what had happened and she seemed just as confused as I was about the sudden need of my attention. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go and meet him or not despite agreeing to it as I dreaded to think what would be said. If I was to turn up and he'd reject my feelings then I'd at least have some closure, but I guess what I wanted more than anything was a heartfelt apology and him to finally accept my love that refused to go away.

Nerves ran through my body for the entirety of the day and when the end came I trudged up the hill back towards the castle seeing Remus already stood by the bridge, watching me as I approached. I waited until the rest of people around us had walked onto the bridge leaving us alone. The cool wind of winter made me shiver as we stood for a moment simply looking at each other. I was waiting for him to speak; after all it was him that wanted to see me.

"Shall we walk?" He asked, gesturing the grounds an I nodded, him leading the way. We walked in silence for a moment, me feeling oddly comfortable despite what had happened over the past months. I noticed he had a little bit of a limp which I assumed was from his injury made by the whomping willow. "Listen, I'm sorry... about pushing you away. It was unfair of me but I thought it was for the best," he said with sincerity and I crossed my arms.

"'For the best'? Why on earth would you pushing me away be 'for the best'?" I huffed.

"You don't understand. There's a perfectly good reason I did so and it's for your own good," Remus said angering me further.

"I need an explanation Remus! A proper explanation!" I shouted, there thankfully being no one around and he grimaced.

"I can't give it to you! I can't tell you why... you'd hate me," he said quietly and I rolled my eyes.

"So all this was was for you to claim there's a reason for you suddenly ignoring me, hurting me when you knew I had feelings for you but refusing to tell me what the reasons are? I'm going back inside," I turned to walk away but he grabbed my wrist.

"I like you too!" He suddenly said and I froze on the spot. "It's difficult- I want to tell you but I can't bring myself to because I know you'd hate me and I- I can't bare that thought... but I know you probably hate me now anyway because of the way I've been treating you... merlin I am such an idiot," he said, disappointment laced in his voice. "I'm sorry."

Slowly I turned around to face him again, his grip still firmly on my wrist. He looked sad, almost like he was in pain - like he was fighting an internal war. "I don't hate you Remus. The audacity you have to suddenly say you share the feelings I have for you after ignoring me and treating me as though I was a ghost these past few months is incredible," I scoffed and he sighed. "Tell me the truth."

"You'll hate me," he whispered, sadness in his brown eyes.

"I need a reason Remus. I need closure," I said firmly and he sighed, letting go of my wrist and heading over to a nearby rock to sit on. I followed and sat next to him, waiting for him to speak.

"You have to keep this a secret. Even from Charlotte. If people knew there was someone like me at Hogwarts, Dumbledore would get into trouble," he said, throwing me off-guard.

"What the hell do you mean?" I asked and he breathed in a deep breath.

"I'm- I'm a werewolf," he whispered and my eyes widened. I froze on the spot, having definitely not expected him to say such a thing.

"H-how- what?" I asked, stunned.

"When I was younger my dad pissed off a werewolf named Greyback, so he got his own back by breaking into our house and biting me. I was four and have been a werewolf since... we had to move around a lot so that people didn't get suspicious of my erratic behaviour. I almost didn't want to come to Hogwarts just in case, but Dumbledore persuaded me. That shack on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, the one people have started calling the Shrieking Shack? That was built for me. I go there when I... when I transform," he explained and my mouth went dry realising he wasn't joking. There was silence between us as I was trying to digest everything.

"So you... you don't hate me because I'm a Slytherin?" I asked carefully and he looked up at me, apparently shocked.

"Of course I don't! I don't hate you at all (y/n), I- I- I like you," he mumbled the last words but I could tell they were said with sincerity.

"I'm struggling to wrap my head around this," I spoke my thoughts aloud.

"I'm sorry, I pushed you away because I didn't want to get you tangled up with my messy life. I'm a monster and I was scared that if we dated you'd find out and leave me, become scared of me... that thought just killed me. I know I went about everything the wrong way but I was just so confused," he whispered.

"Do you seriously have feelings for me?" I asked skeptically after a moments silence and he nodded. "For how long?"

"Since the end of last year. I thought about you all summer and I was so excited to see you again, but as soon as I saw you I realised you could do so much better than me. You shouldn't be with a werewolf (y/n), you deserve someone so much better, someone who could give you everything you want."

"What if everything I want is right here, sitting next to me right now?" I asked and a look of surprise appeared on his features. "I still have feelings for you Remus, but I don't know if I forgive you for the past couple of months... it'd take me a while to get used to the whole werewolf thing but it's something I'm willing to do if it means I get to be with you-,"

"But it's not something I'm willing to do!" He said, standing up abruptly. "I could seriously hurt you, I've managed to hurt the Marauders occasionally when I transform and I always end up injuring myself... if I was to hurt you or worse then I'd- I'd never forgive myself," his voice was shaky as he spoke and I sighed, tears coming to my eyes and realising that he'd never change his mind.

"Right," I whispered, thinking I had the closure I needed. "So I guess that's it... you don't want to be with me because you think of yourself as a monster. Just know this Remus, I don't give a damn. I couldn't care less whether you're a werewolf or not, because right now, standing in front of me is Remus Lupin, the man I've completely fallen for. If you're not willing to give us a chance then you couldn't of fallen that hard for me. You're willing to throw any possible relationship with me in the trash without even thinking about how it makes me feel. And if that's the case then... then I think it's a good idea for us to keep apart, and at the end of Hogwarts you'll never have to see me again."

"(y-y/n)-,"

"Bye Remus," I tried to say without my voice cracking, but as I walked away and back up to the castle I had to cover my mouth to stop the sobs from escaping. I ended up sitting down on the windowsill of the concrete entryway to the wooden bridge, my head in my hands as I cried. I wasn't sure how long I was sat there, but I jumped out of my skin when I heard my name being called by Remus. I looked out at the Hogwarts grounds and spotted him sprinting up the hill and straight past me without realising. He leant over, panting heavily but was about to carry on running across the bridge before my voice made him jump. "Remus?"

"(y/n)!" He seemed almost relieved to see me and immediately stepped up to me, grabbing my biceps. I could tell by the red puffiness of his eyes that he'd been crying, which admittedly shocked me a little. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I've been selfish and inconsiderate and I didn't take your feelings into account even though you're all I can think about, I'm begging you to forgive me because I love you and I want to be with you, I swear it, I know you deserve better because of what I am but I am selfish and I want you-,"

I quickly put my hand over his mouth, stopping his out of control rambling. There was a look of worry on his face but my heart melted when I digested his words: he was willing to give us a chance. "Do you mean it? That you want to be with me?" I whispered and he nodded frantically. I carefully pulled my hand away and it was like I'd just pressed play on a recorder as he started to talk quickly again.

"Please forgive me, I want you so badly and I didn't fully realise how much until I saw you walk away, I've just been so stupid and scared to tell you about my secret that I didn't realise I was hurting you so much I just didn't want to put you in any kind of danger - would you really be okay with it though? Being with someone like me?"

"Of course I would, because whether you're a werewolf or not you're still the same man I fell in love with," I whispered and an infectious smile appeared on his handsome face.

"I love you too," he whispered and warmth I hadn't felt in months filled my body. "C-can I... can I kiss you?" He mumbled awkwardly and I giggled, nodding. I felt my heartbeat excel as he leaned in, and fireworks were set off inside of me when I finally felt the warmth of his lips on mine. His arms wrapped themselves around my waist as mine snaked around his neck, the two of us holding each other in place as we shared our first kiss of many.