moony and wood | r. lupin

secrets

"we all get it, you're hopelessly in love."

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

March 1976, Year 5

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Remus spent weeks considering telling Evie the secret.

There were a vast number of pros and cons about admitting his lycanthropy, he concluded, after consultation with the other Marauders. While Remus listed nearly all the negative possibilities, he couldn't deny the concepts his friends pitched. They were right– Evie most certainly had a big heart, and the others claimed that her closeness with the boy would help to secure her comfort with him.

Still, Remus wasn't sure. Too many things could go wrong.

It wasn't until one conversation with the boys that opened his eyes did he finally figure out what the course of action would be.

Remus had been seated in the Great Hall with James, Sirius and Peter one Saturday over lunch. Normally, the girls would sit with them too, but Marlene dragged them away, claiming that they had 'top secret business' to discuss, throwing a suspicious glare in the boys' direction.

So, Remus sat, Charms textbook before him, studying, rather than chatting away with Evie as he usually did. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to focus– not with his perfect birds-eye view of Evie down the table.

"Oh, snap out of it, will you?" Sirius snapped his fingers at Moony, leaning over the table to get a further reach. "Yes, yes, we all get it, you're hopelessly in love,"

Remus rolled his eyes, trying (and failing) to hide his reddening cheeks in his textbook.

"C'mon, Moony, why don't you just ask her out already?" James elbowed the werewolf.

"Because–"

"Because you'd need her to know about the monthly problem," Sirius answered, not looking up from his plate of mashed potatoes. To Remus' dismay, his statement was completely accurate.

"And so why don't you just tell her?" Peter asked, his tone rhetorical.

"Because–"

"Remus, she's not going to think of you any differently, or run away like you expect her to," James objected before Remus could answer. "It's Wood we're talking about."

"You don't know that," Remus seethed. "Who's to say she won't tell the entire bloody school?"

Remus knew she'd never do that. But anything could happen.

The group paused in thought. There was only so much they could do to make the situation easier.

Sirius smacked his lips. "You know what? I'd just tell her," he picked up his fork. "Because if she–" he pointed the fork in Evie's direction. "Reacts in a way that rubs you wrong–" he jabbed the fork towards Remus. "Then she isn't worth being with anyway." he jammed the fork into the mashed potatoes on his plate, scooping up a mouthful and shoving it into his mouth.

James looked to Sirius, somewhat surprised. He'd actually made a valid point.

"He's right," Peter said to Remus. "If she can't accept it, then you don't need that in your life."

Remus looked away in thought.

They had a point.

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