Words: 2,497
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The marauders took the long way back to the dorm, enjoying the feeling of being together again and back at Hogwarts. It was relaxing, finally getting to slip away from the danger of the war, even if it was for just a small amount of time. Because soon Dumbledore would be trying to get kids to fight for him since he can't get off his lazy ass and do it himself.
Remus never openly expressed his dislike for Dumbledore since the man gave him an education. Sometimes that fact only made his dislike grow more because the only reason he was given a place at Hogwarts was that after school ends, he'll need him to recruit werewolves and to recruit he'll need to know magic.
Again, because he was too selfish and lazy to do it himself.
Remus pushed away these thoughts. He was joking around with James and Peter and had his whole world in his right hand. This was all he needed to be happy.
"I read some over the summer," Remus said. "To properly execute flooding the common room you'd have to have many people help out with aguamenti. We could form like a meeting and get all the houses in on it. Y'know, payback on the Slytherins for all their tormenting."
Sirius grinned, bringing his and Remus' entwined hands to his lips and kissing his knuckles softly. "You're always the brains behind our greatest pranks, Moonykins."
"Call me Moonykins one more time I'll tear you to shreds and feed you to the giant squid."
"Love you too Moonykins."
(Let's just say Sirius couldn't walk without a limp the next day- and no he wasn't beaten.)
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The Howell twins seemed content even if slightly frightened at Hogwarts. The prefects and head boy and girl warned them about The Marauders but they caught on soon enough.
Embry was fairly shy, always tucking into herself with a sketchbook or working on some kind of art activity. Romulus was sort of the opposite, loud and unashamedly speaking his mind. The boy reminded Remus of James, but he was definitely jumpier and couldn't sit still. At least you could get James in the library to study for a good hour.
Romulus was also tall for his age. Remus pouted at that. Even if he was the tallest of the marauders, he did start the shortest, even shorter than Peter.
Sirius was sitting on one of the large red sofas, Remus sitting between his legs on the floor. The black-haired male noticed that his boyfriend was biting his lip nervously and glancing at the Howell twins every so often. He frowned, deciding to wait until the twins left to ask.
Twenty or so minutes later the twins went to bed and so did a few other Gryffindors here and there. They were left alone in the quiet common room, night falling outside and the fire slowly dying.
"Rem?"
Remus hummed, leaning his head back to look up at Sirius. "Yeah, babe?"
"You're staring at the Howell twins." Sirius reached out to brush some of his tawny fringe away from his forehead. "Did they annoy you? Want me to yell at them?"
Remus snorted, standing up so he can sit next to Sirius. "Okay, this is going to sound weird, but promise you won't freak out."
Sirius looked at him curiously but also slightly worried. "Stop it you're scaring me Moons. What's wrong?"
Remus sighed, breaking eye contact so he didn't have to look him in the eye. "It's about my family."
Sirius blinked. Remus never talks about his family, the only thing they know about him is that he's a half-blood. Remus looked down, fiddling with the rings on Sirius' fingers, one of which is the promise ring he got him a few months ago for their second anniversary.
"My mum- biological mum- disappeared after I was bitten. Lyall, my dad, always said she left because she didn't care about a- uh- a monster like me. I sort of believed this but I also didn't. I kind of thought that maybe she was attacked too but since she's a muggle didn't survive it as their bodies can't handle it as well as a wizard's can. But that's what he told me so I left it at that."
Remus sucked in a shaky breath. It felt weird opening up so much, especially in one sitting. Sirius used the hand that Remus wasn't playing with to rub soothing circles on his back, letting him continue at his own pace.
"Lyall remarried when I was six, almost a year after the attack. I suspect he was cheating on Mum while they were still together. The woman moved in immediately after the wedding. I had a nice bedroom that I decorated with my Mum, but she kicked me out and used it to put all her storage items. Then they remodeled an extra bathroom, a small space with peeling wallpaper and hideous photos of flowers, which became my bedroom, sort of."
Sirius POV
I felt an overwhelming sense of rage for the people that Remmy lives with. How could they treat such a beautiful human being that way?
"There was a-a cellar under the house that I went for my transformations. It was h-horrible down there. Even when it wasn't a full moon, I had to stay there because my step-mother, Cassaundra, always had guests over and they stayed in my 'room'."
"She always had s-silver on or nearby to press to me or t-throw at me. Lyall always had a silver knife in his pocket." Remus sniffed and rolled up his jumper sleeve, presenting what I guessed was his most recent burn. I blinked back tears, looking up at my strong boy.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips ever so gently to his, letting the kiss linger for a few moments. We slowly pulled away. I rested my forehead against his.
"I'll get you out of there, baby. And I'm sure Prongs and Wormtail will help too. We're The Marauders, we can do anything."
Remus smiled a little. "I don't doubt it, you managed to become animagi when it's highly dangerous, illegal, and difficult. But that's not what I mean. I- my mother's- real mother's- maiden name was Howell."
Sirius blinked, the realization crossing his face and his mouth forming an 'o'. "So...You think that Embry Howell and Romulus Howell are your brother and sister?"
Remus didn't do anything to confirm this, but Sirius already knew. He could see the longing for family affection written across his sad expression. Sirius pulled Remus closer to him. Remus sighed with both comfort and- well pain. He buried his face in Sirius' t-shirt and Sirius threaded his fingers soothingly through his fluffy tawny hair.
"I wanna talk to them," Remus spoke up after a few moments of silence. "I wanna know if my mother is still alive. I remember her. She made amazing breakfast foods but never cared much about dinner and usually made my dad cook. She was always doing things the muggle way no matter what. Magic amazed her but she never let dad put up the ornaments on the Christmas tree because she likes to let me put them on the tree.
I know that dad's liking for her went down over the years. Mum noticed it too. He became more distant and never was home. I was too young to understand what it meant, but I could hear Mum crying at night."
Sirius kept quiet and let Remus speak softly into the silent common room. Remus never liked to talk about himself and it was always very hard to get him to open up about something, especially when he was sad.
"I'll talk to the twins tomorrow," Remus decided, looking up at his boyfriend. Sirius smiled and leaned down to kiss his addictive lips passionately.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
Remus didn't hesitate to nod. "Yeah, please." Sirius returned the gesture. "'Course I will Moony. Now come on, it's not very comfortable sitting on this couch for longer than three hours at a time."
Remus chuckled and got up. He held out his hand to Sirius who took it happily and pulled himself up.
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"Alright, Moony?" Sirius asked quietly as he and Remus made their way to the library, where they overheard one of Embry's friends saying she was dragging Romulus there to study.
Remus let out a shaky breath, wringing out his hands. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay."
Sirius paused and turned Remus to look at him. Remus looked at him questioningly but smiled a little when the black-haired male brought him in for a sweet, slow kiss. Sirius grinned back and took the werewolf's hand in his own, leading him to the library.
The pair found the twin near the back of the library, right in front of the restricted section. Romulus sat on the table, messing around with his wand while Embry looked through books.
"Rom, seriously. You need to study if yo- oh, hello." Embry smiled at Sirius and Remus. Romulus looked up at the new faces, blinking in surprise.
"Remus?" Romulus asked quietly, setting his wand down. "I mean, wow, I know who you two are, The Marauders of course. It's hard not to know who you are but you look so much like-" Romulus gaped at him, his mouth wide open.
Sirius hadn't taken the time to look at Romulus and Remus properly, but now that he did they looked so much alike. Though Romulus had the palest blue eyes and Remus had vibrant amber. Other than that, they looked almost identical.
Embry noticed this too. Romulus had matching tawny-colored hair (all three of the siblings shared the same color of hair, which Remus was grateful to say came from his mother's side) but it was more styled than Remus', which was loose and fluffy.
"Hey," Remus said weakly, waving at the small girl then to Romulus who was only a few inches shorter than Remus' 6'2 height.
"Wait," Embry paused. "You're Remus Lupin, right?"
"Yeah," Remus chuckled. "Hope Howell's son."
"Holy shit," Romulus muttered. Embry immediately scolded him but it wasn't terrible since she looked as if she would spit out a line of profanity as well.
"So you're our brother?" Embry asked after a moment of silence. Sirius suddenly felt as if he was intruding, but Remus had his hand in a tight hold that Sirius was sure he was cutting off blood circulation, especially with his inhuman strength due to the lycanthropy.
Remus nodded slowly, deciding not to mention the whole Remus and Romulus thing until later. "Um, yeah. At least step-brother."
Embry shook her head. "No, it's definitely biological." She frowned at Remus' confused look. "Didn't your dad tell you?"
Remus chuckled humorlessly. "Dad hates my guts. Long story."
The twins looked like they wanted to question it but left it.
"Well, maybe we can convince McGonagall to let you go visit for the weekend," Sirius piped up. "I can get James to set dung bombs all over the school until she does!"
Remus rolled his eyes while Romulus snorted and Embry laughed.
"She loves me," Remus protested. "I'm the best out of all of us."
"Moony, you're the worst. You come up with all the pranks."
"But unlike you and Prongs, I know how not to get caught."
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McGonagall let Remus off for the weekend, and the other Marauders would come the next day too.
So here he was, standing in front of a gorgeous cottage with vibrant flowers lining the stone pathway. Embry and Romulus stood next to him with large grins on their face.
"Come on," Embry smiled, taking Remus hand and leading him up to the cottage. Remus followed her and tried to not let his nerves get to him too much.
Romulus knocked on the door. Shuffling and something crashing on the ground came before the door swung open.
"Laura! Don't open the door to strangers, Honey!" A gentle feminine voice came.
The lady came around the corner, her long tawny curls down to her waist. The woman's bright blue eyes peered around who Remus suspected was Laura.
"Em, Rom, Hello loves. And-" She cut off abruptly with tears sparkling in her eyes. Laura looked between Remus and her mother, pretty confused.
"Remus?" She asked. Remus smiled widely- he couldn't help it.
"Hey, Mum." Hope finally let out a sob and brought the taller male into a warm hug. Remus didn't expect it but eagerly returned the hug. Hope wrapped her arms around her son's neck tightly with a few tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cry! Remus, you've gotten so tall. And so handsome." Hope pulled away and admired her son.
"Come in, dears." Hope led the three into the house and made tea before they were all sitting at the table.
"Uh, I was in the library with Romulus because he refused to study when Remus and one of his friends came." Embry explained. "I recognized his last name, Lupin."
Hope's eyes widened a little. "L-Lupin?"
Remus sighed quietly.
"I thought- Lyall never liked werewolves," Hope muttered, missing the way Remus flinched at the word. "I thought he would give you up."
Remus huffed and shook his head. "No, actually remarried only a year after you disappeared, Mum. Told me you didn't want to stay with an animal like me."
Hope shook her head so quickly that Remus was sure she got whiplash. "No! Absolutely not! Rem, I was pregnant at the time of That Night. Pregnant with Embry and Romulus, who are your biological brother and sister. I never wanted to leave you. Remus, you must know that I'm not magical, love. I couldn't defend myself. I had no chance against your father. He threatened to k-kill my babies if I didn't l-leave immediately. I wanted to take you with me but I wasn't stable for the both of us."
Remus didn't know how to take this information. He never blamed his mother, because he never loved himself. So he understood why she would want to leave. Though now that he knew Lyall forced her away, that was something else.
"Married," Remus started. "They tore apart my bedroom, him and his new wife Cassaundra. She hates me and everything that has to do with me. They used it for storage and that extra bathroom was made into a guest room. Cassaundra always had guests over so I had to stay in the cellar, where I transform every month. If there weren't guests over, I got to stay in the room. But it was always unlikely."
Remus took his time explaining the rest of the story, including the silver and abuse. He drifted to his time at Hogwarts and told the family about The Marauders but left out the Animagi process and his and Sirius' relationship. At least for now.