Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Fifty-Two- Spring Break

"Remus?" Sirius' voice was close as he sat down beside him. His friend was silent for a long while, then he put his arm around Remus. "Can you point him out to me so I can punch him?"

Remus shook his head, knowing he was supposed to laugh at the ridiculous suggestion but finding it impossible too. "You should go, Sirius. You'll get in trouble," he said instead, his voice quivering slightly despite how hard he was trying to control it.

"But..."

"I can't leave until you do," Remus pointed out with as much bravado as he could muster.

"Why?" Sirius asked bitterly.

"Because you might do something stupid."

There was a long pause in which Remus knew Sirius was trying to come up with something to say but couldn't

"Only two weeks," Sirius finally responded, his voice sounding as shaky as Remus.'

"Only two weeks."

When Remus finally calmed down and looked up, Sirius was gone. He quickly stood up, looking out the window just in time to see Sirius' mother put what seemed to him to be a threatening hand on her eldest son's shoulder and disappear in the crowd.

"Only two weeks," Remus said again, picking up on the sort of mantra Sirius had created.

With a heavy heart, he finally exited the train, one of the last to do so. He was surprised to see Severus stalling as much as him. Remembering all the things Lily let slip, he realized he shouldn't have been startled by this. The Slytherin boy caught him looking, but instead of getting mad or defensive like he normally would, he nodded his head slightly as if to say 'good luck.'

Remus ought to have been embarrassed, realizing thanks to Bellatrix, Severus now knew, or at least suspected, what Remus' break would be like. But he was too tired to, and the lack of judgment or haughtiness in Severus made him nod back in a similar fashion as well. 'Good luck,' he thought to Severus. And he certainly meant it.

.................................................

Remus' uncle said nothing the whole journey back 'home'. If Remus had been worried before he was downright petrified now. He was used to nasty lectures, cruel statements, and subtle threats. Not a cold silence. That somehow felt worse, much worse.

Remus didn't dare break it though. He knew better.

He mutely followed his uncle into the small apartment as he realized he had never actually stayed overnight at his uncle's before. At least it seemed normal enough, it appeared to be a simple muggle home, even if it was rather messy. However there were traces of items, like a tea pot and a broom, that must have been charmed to operate on their own, twitching if one looked close enough. Remus made a mental note of all the heavy or sharp objects that could be thrown at him and was glad to find that his 'room,' a mere closet really, only had a mattress in it.

He stood there obediently, glancing quickly at his uncle who he hadn't dared look at before.

SMACK!

Remus' cheek stung and he looked at the ground, realizing his uncle had been waiting for that to happen.

"I've thought long and hard about how to make you recall your place. To punish you for even attempting to make friends. Monsters don't deserve friends! And what are you?" the older man yelled loudly, the familiar stab of his words a dull ache to Remus, who still felt his friends' not-that-long-ago presence as a shield. "I SAID WHAT ARE YOU?"

Remus didn't look at him. "A monster."

"What are you to your father?" his uncle continued in that self righteous tone of his that Remus secretly hated.