Words: 2166

Description: It's third year and the Marauders are learning about Boggarts in their DADA class. *Warning: there are homophobic slurs*

Story:

The thirteen year old Marauders jokingly shoved each other in the halls as they approached their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They were goofing off, as many teenage boys will do when they're nervous, for they were learning about boggarts in class.

Remus was shaking quietly as they neared the classroom. The thought of facing his worst fear in front of his whole class terrified him to no end. He was positive it would have something to do with his lycanthropy and he was horrified of anyone else finding out about it. He'd be kicked out of school for sure if anybody did. Especially the Slytherins who bullied him when James and Sirius weren't around.

Peter was shaking for different reasons. He didn't want to be embarrassed. He was quite sure he knew his fear already: pigeons. He was absolutely petrified of the little buggers.

James was sure his worst fear would be something simple, like spiders, though he was never really afraid of them.

Sirius was quite ready to valiantly face his fear in front of the whole class. He was very prepared for it to be some sort of bad ass fear, like Voldemort or his Death Eaters, and he'd whip out his wand and execute a perfect Riddikulus and be the hero. He was shaking with excitement.

The boys finally reached the classroom and filed into a long line of students as their professor excitedly explained the rules and the concept, reminding them of the spell they were to use.

The boggart was released and students filled through. Their Defense block was a collaboration between Gryffindor and Slytherin this year, which none were very fond of.

Unbeknownst to the Marauders, the rest of the class had been watching the four from a distance. They were all quite excited to see what the very popular group of boys feared the most. Some took bets on what it was that they were afraid of. Some said that they weren't afraid of anything. Well, except Peter, of course. Peter was definitely afraid of a lot of things.

Soon enough, after Lily Evans had gone, who was standing just in front of Peter, it was time for the Marauders to give it a go.

Peter, cheeks flushed, stepped forward timidly and waited for the boggart to notice him; for it to change from Lily's fear to Peter's.

It faced him and began...to shrink. Peter shrieked as the boggart turned into a pigeon, just as he predicted.

The room errupted into laughter. What a silly thing to be afraid of! And surely it wouldn't be Peter Pettigrew's worst fear forever, but it was for now. So Peter lifted his wand in shaking hands and tried to imagine something funny to do with the pigeon.

"R-R-Riddikulus!" He shouted and the pigeon started to expand until it exploded into a puff of feathers. Peter giggled at it and turned to receive a high five from James. He waltzed to the back of the line, oblivious to the laughs he was getting.

James, thinking he was well prepared, rolled up his sleeves with a grin on his face.

The boggart transformed before his eyes into Professor McGonagall and the student body gasped. James Potter was afraid of his favorite professor?

James looked confused as well. "Professor Minnie?" He asked tentatively.

McGonagall tutted and her eyes softened into a look of pity. "I'm deeply sorry, Mr. Potter, but there's been an accident."

James wasn't afraid of McGonagall herself, but the terrible fear that gripped him every time she entered the common room to inform a student of a family death as a result of the war. He was afraid of losing the ones he loved.

James backed away. "No, no."

McGonagall looked saddened. "I'm sorry. Your Mum, Dad, and all of your friends are dead, James. You're all alone. You'll have to go to all of the funerals alone. All of us are dead."

And with that, McGonagall seemed to transform into a terrible corpse, standing there. "We're all dead, all of us are dead," she said, repeating it quietly to herself.

James made a horrified sound, tears filling his eyes as all of his loved ones, his parents, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily all appeared as corpses behind McGonagall.

Sirius was mesmerized by the scene in a horrified way. James had backed into him, eyes fixed as well, unable to look away. That's what had shocked Sirius out of his trance.

"Mate, snap out of it. It's not real."

James, crying, uttered, "Riddikulus!" The corpses turned into a group of puppets that started acting out a scene. James shoved past a few students to the back of the line, wiping tears from his eyes as discretely as he could.

Remus pushed aside his worries and stepped in front of the boggart to save James from any further torment and embarrassment, regardless of what it meant for him.

A glow settled on the students as the boggart transformed to a night sky, the full moon nestled in the clouds. Remus was shaking in fear at the sight of it, but he raised his wand nonetheless and said the spell. The moon turned into a balloon that whizzed around the classroom, making a funny noise as the air was let out of it.

The class laughed in amusement, but Remus couldn't bring himself to smile. He patted Sirius's shoulder on the way past. Sirius was the last to go.

Sirius rubbed his hands together in excitement, stepping forward to face his worst fear. The whole class held their breath in anticipation. They were all, Sirius included, expecting to see the Dark Lord.

But perhaps Sirius was the most surprised to see...his mother standing there instead.

"Mummy?" Sirius asked, suddenly feeling quite small. The whispers started around the room like a wild fire and Sirius hated the way he sounded like a little boy when he called out for his mother.

Walburga Black sneered at her oldest son. "I am not your mother, you filthy scum! You are no son of mine. You are to be burned off of the family tree for being such a worthless, no good, blood-traitor! Sirius Orion, you are nothing but a treacherous, Gryffindor f***** and I wish for nothing more than to step on you like dirt under my shoe!"

Sirius eyes welled with angry and hurt tears as his whole form trembled. The class stared on in horror.

Walburga's eyes flashed with murderous rage. "You are a disgrace! A DISGRACE THAT DESERVES TO DIE FOR ITS ACTIONS AND THE WAY IT HAS BETRAYED THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! WHY COULDN'T YOU BE AS GOOD AS YOUR BROTHER? YOU GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT! CRUCIO--"

The professor, shocked out of his stupor, lunged in front of Sirius before the spell could be cast and shouted a quick, "RIDDIKULUS," banishing the boggart back into it's cupboard.

Sirius stood stock still, not a tremble to his body any longer. He stared ahead stoically, jaw clenched dangerously tight.

The entire class was understandably shaken, the group of Slytherins that were pledged enemies to the Marauders too shocked to start their teasing just yet.

"Class dismissed," the professor said, swallowing harshly. Sirius, back to the rest of the class, hardly registered the sudden outbreak of sound and commotion as the class started to exchange whispers about Sirius Black's boggart.

"I said class dismissed!" The professor shouted and the students hurried to leave. James, Remus, and Peter hurried up to the front of the classroom, Lily lingering at the door.

"Are you alright, Sirius?" The professor asked him. Sirius didn't answer, didn't even acknowledge his presence.

James took him by the shoulders. "Mate, we've got you, yeah? We're here."

That elicited a reaction and Sirius glanced to James, bloodshot eyes wilting in a way that pulled at the boys' heart stings.

James pulled Sirius into fierce hug and the two didn't move for a long time. Once they finally did, Sirius eyes were wet and his hands had a constant shake to them.

Remus reached out and grabbed Sirius's hand in his and Sirius felt much more calm after he did. The two had always been closer than the others. Much more gentle than James and Sirius were, and a lot more physical in the way they comforted each other. A simple hand hold wasn't awkward, and most often when nightmares were involved, they'd end up sharing a bed.

The professor escorted the five of them up to the Gryffindor Tower and then headed to the Headmaster's office to report the peculiar boggart.

The whole way up to the dorm, Sirius's mind was stuck in a loop. He couldn't stop thinking about the boggart, what she said, what it meant, how it was more of a memory than a fear, what everybody else thought of it...

But in the back of his mind, he kept going over the word faggot. Over the way his mother said it with such a vile disgust. It hurt his heart more than he'd care to admit.

He hadn't meant to come out to anybody anytime soon. He'd really just figured it out a few months prior. He'd connected the dots, coming to terms with his crush on Remus that he'd been denying for months. It was in his mind's version of Walburga's rants that she'd found that other little part of him to pick on, to rub in his face in the worst of ways.

He hadn't ever told her in reality and this was a prime example of why. He was also especially worried of how his friends would react to him being gay. He was terrified, rather. James, Remus, and Peter (maybe even Lily, he wasn't sure yet) meant the world to him and he couldn't bear to lose them. He couldn't bear it if James left him, if Peter refused to talk to him. What if Remus was disgusted with him? What if he would stop holding his hand and crawling into bed with him at night when his thoughts wouldn't turn off and he couldn't get to sleep?

Because surely they heard his mother call him a...the f word. He didn't even want to think it anymore.

Tears were streaming down his face as the four boys made it to their dormitory, saying goodbye to Lily as she headed to her own dorm. Remus led Sirius to sit on his bed and hugged Sirius. James and Peter sat too, James hugging him from the other side as Peter rested a hand on his knee, as he couldn't reach well enough to join the hug.

Of course, the three boys were rightly horrified of what the boggart had shown them. They were aware before hand that Sirius's home life wasn't the best and that his parent's resented him being in Gryffindor, but they hadn't the slightest clue the extent of it. Not until today.

"You should all hate me," Sirius sniffled, drawing his knees up to his chest. "I'm a dis--"

"Shhh," James interrupted him. "You're not any of the things your mum called you Sirius. She's horrible and a liar and she doesn't deserve you."

Sirius cried harder. They just didn't get it. They didn't see it like he did. If they saw him like he saw himself, they'd surely be running far away as fast as they could by now. If only he had that option.

"It's alright, Sirius. We still love you. That hasn't changed," Remus spoke softly, soothingly.

"How?" Sirius choked. "How can you love me? I'm terrible! And...and you heard her, I'm gay."

He felt Peter's fingers stiffen on his knee and he knew Peter was about to pull away, but James nudged him. Remus's hug didn't change, not even a little bit.

"I don't mind," Remus said.

"Yeah, Sirius," James said with a smile. "Get it through your head, this changes nothing. You're still my best mate."

"Really?" Sirius asked, eyes filling with hope.

"Of course," Remus and James said at the same time, laughing.

James nudged Peter again. "Y-yeah, you're still my mate, Sirius," Peter said.

Sirius's heart swelled with love for his best friends, the best friends a guy could ever ask for. "Thanks you guys."

Remus smiled. "No problem, Siri. We love you."

Sirius squeezed Remus's hand out of sight of the other two. "I love you lot, too," he said.

They decided to skip the rest of their classes that day, instead staying inside their dorm and playing games.

They stayed up late, laughing like they'd never laughed before.

Remus crawled into Sirius's bed again that night and Sirius was able to fall right to sleep in the arms of the only person who was ever able to calm him down and maybe even neutralize his crazy just a little.

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