Trigger Warning: Self-Harm

Sirius hated what was happening. In the corridors, people were purposefully shouldering into Remus. Snide remarks and slurs were whispered in every class. In the Great Hall, Remus found no one would actually sit with him. Eventually, he stopped going to meals. Remus was also not commonly seen in Gryffindor tower, always leaving before the other boys and returning right before curfew and retiring to his bed immediately. Sirius noticed all of this and a few things the other boys didn't as well. The increasing dark circles that marked Remus' fatigue, the redness in his eyes that indicated his tears. 

Sirius was lying awake one night trying to think of how to convince James that being gay wasn't so bad. It would actually be the first time he would talk to James in 2 weeks if he got the courage to actually follow through. His thoughts were broken by the sound of a sob from the bed beside his own. 

"Remus?" Sirius whispered as loud as he dared, trying not to wake James or Peter. The occupant of the other bed didn't answer. "Are you ok?"

"Obviously not, but then again, what do you care? If James says it's bad, he must be right, you're his fucking lapdog." The anger was punctuated by a sniffle. 

"That's not true. James is wrong, you know?" Sirius stood up from his bed, approaching his neighbor's. 

"And yet you did nothing," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius began pulling back the curtains on Remus' bed. "What should I have-" He stopped mid-sentence, shocked at what he saw. "What is that?" Sirius stood with his gaze fixated on the fingernail creating angry red lines on Remus' arm.

"Nothing." He tugged at his sleeve, attempting to hide from Sirius.

"Don't bullshit me. Why?" Sirius sat down on the bed, facing the tear stained face of who was supposed to be his friend.

"You think it's easy being an openly queer student at Hogwarts? It feels like I'm the only queer student here at all. And I didn't even get a choice. You butt-buddy over there took that from me as well." Tears began to fall again.

"You're not." Remus jerked his head up, giving Sirius an odd look. "You aren't the only one." Sirius was mumbling as he hid behind a curtain of raven hair.

"Don't, Black. Don't fucking play games with me. I don't want to be involved in whatever sick joke you and Potter have cooked up. I feel enough like shit. Don't make my hell worse." The barely audible whisper sounded desperate.

"I'm sorry," Sirius managed to force out through the lump in his throat. Tears began to stream down his face as he continued to hide. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened, and I'm sorry for not doing anything, and I'm sorry for being scared."

"You really mean it, don't you? This isn't some prank put together by Potter to humiliate me?" Sirius answered Remus' questions with a simple, small nod. "Why haven't you said anything? Why have you let everyone treat me like that?" Remus sounded hurt, scared.

"I was scared. I've already been disowned by my family. If I lost James, I'd have nowhere to go. What am I supposed to do? I don't know what to do. Moony, I'm so fucking scared and confused and-" Sirius' rambling was cut off by his own sobs.

"We will figure it out, Padfoot, I promise," Remus reassured. He had no idea what either of them would do, but at least they wouldn't be alone anymore.