Sweeter Than Revenge

Revenge

In the aftermath of The Prank, Remus starts by requesting a change of dorm. Taking pity on the boy, Professor McGonagall obliges his request and has him moved to the Head Boy dorm the moment he's released from the hospital wing. Sirius steadily tries to approach him, but is met with painful and cruel hexes, some forming welts on Sirius's arms, others taking away his ability to speak for the rest of the day. Sirius mopes around, not knowing what to do with himself. Remus relishes in the pitiful sight of him.

He only has one motivator: revenge.

And he knows exactly how he's going to achieve it.

~

Regulus is sitting at the Slytherin table per usual, with Pandora next to him and Evan, Barty, and Dorcas are across the table. They're all discussing the upcoming Potions exam when suddenly, the three across from him fall silent. Regulus furrows his eyebrows and looks back, spotting an angry-looking Remus Lupin approaching them.

"What the fuck?" Regulus murmurs, feeling confusion rise in him.

"Merlin and Morgana both!" Evan squeals slightly, causing Regulus to violently roll his eyes.

"Your crush on him is pathetic, Rosier," Regulus mutters as Remus reaches them.

He throws himself down beside Regulus at the table, and Regulus instinctively looks back at the Gryffindor table, spotting the shocked faces of his brother and his friends. Regulus notices that Sirius looks, well, terrible. He rarely looks for his brother these days, with their relationship being downright abysmal all the time, but when he does rarely glance his way, Sirius is usually barking out loud laughter with his friends or hanging off Lupin's arm.

This is unusual in every sense of the word.

"Er, hello there, Lupin." Regulus stutters, not exactly sure what to say.

"I hate your brother," Remus says as a greeting.

"I beg your pardon? Isn't he your boyfriend or something?" Regulus rears back, slightly appalled.

"Ex." Remus spits viciously. "Ex-boyfriend. He's dead to me."

Regulus chances a glance at his friends, who are all sharing equally confused looks. Regulus looks back at Remus, who looks worse for wear. There are dark circles under his eyes, and fresh scars litter his neck and arms. Regulus knows that Lupin is a werewolf, it's not exactly hard to figure out, though he's never told anyone. Regulus is observant and clever, and he knows the rest of Hogwarts is not either.

"Why, pray tell, do you hate my brother?" Regulus asks.

"He betrayed me in an unforgivable way. And I am going to do the same. I want to fuck up his life so badly that he wishes he never knew me." Remus says darkly, his face twisted.

"Merlin, that's hot." Barty mumbles.

Regulus looks up to see his best friends drooling over Remus. They're literally sprawled out on each other, eyes fixed on the boy next to Regulus.