🌹Nerds in Love🌹(young!Remus Lupin x reader)

Chapter 1: Muggle Work

A/N: Okay guys, here's the first chapter! I made the reader a Gryffindor but you can change that if you'd like, I don't think it matters much. And the reader likes to write, just a heads-up. Hope you like it!

She rubbed her face in her hands, longing to rest her brain from her work. The common room was so warm and cozy; she wanted nothing more than to relax on the couch by the fireplace. Alas, she knew that she needed to continue this work; it was mainly just to make her mom proud.

Y/n looked over at the stack of papers next to her on the table. How on earth did her mother expect her to be able to complete all this? It was just plain insanity.

The sound of people crawling through the portrait hole roused her from her thoughts, and she looked over at the four boys climbing into the Gryffindor common room.

The Marauders were friends of hers, yet she was closest to Remus. They shared many of the same interests, such as books, writing, and a love for chocolate.

"Hey, Remus!" y/n called out to the tall boy. He looked at her sitting at the table and broke into a wide grin.

"Hey, y/n," he greeted, approaching her table. He towered over her, though only because she was sitting. "What's up?"

She ran her hands through her hair and took a deep breath. "You're smart, right?"

Remus laughed, and his friends turned their attention towards them. They began whispering, but y/n ignored them. "Well . . ."

"Oh, stop," she said, rolling her eyes. "That was a rhetorical question. You're the smartest person I know." Remus laughed again. "But seriously, I need your help on this."

Remus nodded, and y/n brought out the papers she was working on. The mathematics she was working on seemed normal to her since she was a muggle-born and was familiar with math. Remus, on the other hand, was speechless.

"What in Merlin's pants is that?" he gawked rather loudly. Sirius, James, and Peter came barging over.

"What's the deal, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Is that even -- what is that?" Remus asked in astonishment.

Y/n sighed. "Okay, so you know how my mom is like, really . . . involved in my academic life?"

Everyone nodded. They remembered the countless letters she had received weekly from her mother, reminding her to keep up her grades and answer back with how she was doing with her classes.

"Well," y/n continued. "She, for some strange reason, believes that I should be more connected with the muggle world or something, saying that I won't make it anywhere after I graduate into the muggle world."

"That's bloody --" Sirius began.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she interrupted before Sirius could say anything too bad. "So what does my crazy mother do? She goes to my old muggle school and personally asks my teachers for make-up work that she can send to me so I'll be all caught up with muggle standards."

Remus looked confused. "Wait, what?"

She shook her head and pulled out the folders from all the subjects she sent to her. "It hasn't been all that bad. I've always been good at Language Arts, Science, History, and Music. But I just can't grasp mathematics."

"English, please?" James pardoned.

She rolled her eyes but managed a little laugh. She showed them all the books from the curriculum that her mother sent to her, including, Romeo and Juliet, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Lord of the Flies. "I've been reading all these, and I've been writing essays on them all. Really, it's not that hard. I actually like it." She showed them the packets about Earth Science that she had to fill out, including Astronomy, Meteorology, and Geology. She showed them all the other classwork that she had no problem completing, until she finally showed them her math packets.

"I just don't get it," y/n explained. "Factoring quadratic equations, polynomials, exponents . . ." She sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her hair again, something she tended to do when she was stressed. "Look, see here, there are only four equations that I have to factor, but the examples don't show how to do it when there are coefficients other than one!" She groaned and looked at her friends, hoping they would have some insight.

They all just gawked at her, at the mountainous stack of papers beside her, at the numerous Muggle books spread all over the table. Y/n knew that she would get no help from them, because they were too awestruck by the muggle mathematics and schoolwork.

"How are you not, like . . . dead?" Sirius asked.

"Excuse me?"

"From all that work, he means," Remus added, trying to force down the look of astonishment plastered on his face, while glaring at Sirius. "And, y/n, I'm sorry to say, but I am about as useful as a doorknob in this situation. I'm not even sure where to begin."

She smiled despite her stress and stood from her work space, which was cluttered. She turned to her friends. "Well, thank you anyway. I'm going to head to bed after I pack up everything."

They each bade her goodnight, and left, muttering about muggle work, still astonished. Remus, however, still lingered around as she organized papers and shoved them into her separate book bag which her mother sent to her to hold all her muggle schoolwork.

"Remus, you should get to bed," she said, stacking her books on top of each other.

He reached out and helped her pack up all her things. They were so close that their arms touched when packing, and she couldn't help but sweat a little at the close contact.

"Have you finished all these books?" Remus asked, flipping some over to read their summaries.

"Yeah, but some of them I've already read before," she replied, trying in vain to fit a paperclip onto a particular thick stack of papers.

"Do you think I could borrow them sometime?" he asked. "I'd really love to read them."

Y/n smiled and turned toward him. "'Course, Remus. I'd recommend reading The Lord of the Flies first. That's probably my favorite book in the history of books."

"Really?" He picked up the book and examined it. She subconsciously studied his concentrated face, eyeing the little scar above his jawline that crinkled as he pushed his lips to the side.

"Yeah, basically it's all about these kids that get marooned on an island, and slowly start to go savage. In fact," she dug through her English folder and pulled out a rather thick packet of handwritten words. "I still have my essay about it." She gave it to him.

His eyes popped looking at the essay, which was close to six pages long. "You wrote all of that just about this book? It's only about two hundred pages long!"

She blushed, despite herself. "Come on, Remus, you know how I write. I can produce a ten page paper on the glory of treacle tart and still feel like it's not enough!"

Remus smiled and took the book and the essay. He stared at her, and she could feel butterflies tingle in her stomach under his praising gaze. "You're really something, you know that, y/n?" He kissed her cheek and bounded off to the boys dorms, leaving her in a complete haze of blushes and shaking hands.

A/N: sooooooo what did you think? the next chapter's gonna be pretty cool I think, if you like The Lord of the Flies. It's one of my favorite books lol. Anyway hope y'all are doing okay!