September 2nd, 1971
Remus anxiously walked to the Great Hall, making sure he wasn't going the wrong way. He had just met his roommates and was delighted to find that two of them were the same blokes he met on the train. James and Sirius seemed pretty close to each other already, and Peter seemed very quiet. They were all walking together to the Great Hall, being pushed by older students as they scurried to the Gryffindor table.
It was his second day at Hogwarts and he'd been pretty excited and nervous. The one thing he was terrified about was people finding out what he was. He was also frantically panicking about how he would manage to transform later in the month without his father helping him. He looked at his tie, anxiously trying to fix it himself without asking anyone but failed to do so. He looked around at the Gryffindor table to see all his other peers having perfectly tied ties and he began to fret thinking he'd get in trouble if his wasn't like the rest of them. James, Sirius, and Peter were talking to themselves, trying to get to know each other more, not even paying attention to Remus. He fidgeted with his hands, looking down at the plate and nothing else until he felt a tap on his right shoulder. He turned thinking it was a professor but saw a tiny girl who was a few inches shorter than him. She had long black hair that fell all the way to her legs, wearing a bright red headband, and a red and gold tie around her neck.
"Oh! I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," She began, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I-I just noticed you were having trouble with your tie a-and I was wondering if y-you would let me fix it for you?" Her voice was soft and high. She stuttered a lot, Remus finding comfort in the fact that they both had something in common, as he also had a small stutter. He was confused as to why a random stranger was offering help.
"What's in it for you?" He shuffled in his seat, sitting on his legs.
"I don't want anything in return, silly. I just wanted to see if you need help. I'll be off if you're fine-"
"No! N-no," He stammered, surprised by the selfless act of kindness, "I'm sorry. Yes, I would like your help please." She smiled at him in satisfaction, bending down a little, and began fixing his tie. He blushed as the girl was very pretty. "I-I'm Remus by the way. Remus Lupin."
She smiled as she finished fastening the perfectly tied tie. "I'm Cerise Rein."
———— ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ————
December 6th, 1976
"You what?" Sirius yelled as he was on the edge of his bed listening to Remus tell them everything about what happened the night before. James was rapidly stretching like always but gradually stopped the farther Remus got into his recap, while Peter sat on his bed crisscrossed listening intensively, putting his head on a pillow.
"Holy fuck, Moony," James said now standing awkwardly still. "You got the girl." They all began slowly clapping. Remus frantically waved them to stop.
"No, I didn't. I promised to distance myself more because it's getting too much. I like her but I can't have her like me. I can't risk hurting her and the only way for me to do that is staying just friends." He sulked into his bed. The words "just friends" hurt him badly as he knew him and Cerise were anything but. Sirius hit him over with a book.
"Stop trying to be some kind of martyr, Rem. Accept that you're a teenage boy who's going to gain feelings for people, and sometimes those people will like you back. This is one of those cases. Instead of running like some git, tell her how you feel. Instead of making it your life goal to grow up alone and die a virgin, let yourself live a normal life. Cerise is one of our friends, and we know she won't care about you being a werewolf." Sirius rambled. James and Petter nodded in agreement.
"She'll probably hate me." He grumbled into a pillow.
"If she does then fuck her!" James said but immediately regretting, as he raced to check the hallway to make sure no one heard those words come from his mouth. He shut their door.
"Oh, I'm sure Remus wants to," Peter smirked receiving a pillow to the head from Remus. James and Sirius chortled. Sirius gave Peter a mini high-five.
"I'm not joking, Worm. I'm going to make sure that I leave her alone a-and I'll find a way to lose feelings." He slammed his fist in his open palm as a sign of agreement.
Peter rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Remus, you're an idiot. You're gonna regret this."
James loudly sighed before snapping his fingers. "How about waiting?"
"What?" Remus turned to him.
"How about waiting until after your transformation to ignore her. See how she'll react to you after last night. If you don't feel butterflies, knots in your stomach, or your heart racing whenever you see her, then you can start ignoring her and you won't hear a single word from us." James said motioning his hands down from an "X" position.
"Prongs, I'm not so sur-," Sirius began but was cut off by Peter slapping his hand on his mouth.
"No, no. Let's hear what Moony has to say first." They all turned to Remus.
"F-fine!" Remus stammered before walking out.
"I give him until the end of lunch," James said holding out a few sickles.
"No no, he has Potions with her today. I give him until then." Sirius said placing a few sickles on his hand sealing the bet. They turned to Peter and he shrugged, placing sixteen sickles in the pile.
"Rem's pride is huge, he'll break during breakfast but won't show it until free period."
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To Remus's luck and curiosity, Cerise wasn't at breakfast. She was in the hospital wing, helping Madam Pomfrey tend to students and organizing her material, something she did frequently as she and her brother were very close with Pomfrey.
The Marauders, however, did not know that.
They watched Remus shuffle around his seat, trying to not seem like he was looking for the captivating girl that had been on his mind. Peter snickered as his prediction was correct, while James and Sirius chortled to themselves.
"You okay, Rem?" James giggled watching the boy. Remus gritted his teeth.
"Brilliant."
Sirius howled at his one-worded answer, seeing his obvious discomfort because the girl wasn't there.
Remus's head filled with thoughts. Was she purposely ignoring him? Did he do something wrong? Did she have feelings but rethink them because of last night? Did she figure out what he was because of last night? He tried to think of the possibilities while attempting to not break his monotone expression. If he couldn't handle a few hours of not seeing her, he was definitely going to have an awful time acting as if they were just friends. He pouted into his seat, his weak muscles screaming in anticipation for what was going to happen tonight.
"Hey, we can be sad together. Bug not being here meant Lily went off with her little girlfriends rather than sit with us like usual." James scoffed looking over at the red-head who had been giggling with Marlene and Alice.
"Moony, stop being a git and just ask Lily where Bug is," Sirius said, with a hint of concern in his eyes.
"No, I-I don't need to know where she is because she can take care of herself." He loosened his tie, signifying that he didn't truly mean anything he said. The three other boys turned to each other and shrugged. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Just then a girl plopped to his side, her arm brushing against his. A wave of mixed emotions flooded his mind. He stared at her in silence, the three other marauders smirking.
She turned to face the boy, sending a frown. "Your tie looks weird, let me fix it for you." She said grabbing it without waiting for his response.
He thought back to the first time they ever met. The exact same words, he thought. Fuck.
She stood up after finishing his tie, grabbed a small plate of food, and saluting goodbye as she stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth, strolling out of the Great Hall and back to the hospital wing.
"Can't wait until after the full moon, huh Remus?" James hushed, slipping the betting pool into Peter's hands. Remus noticed and flipped them off once he realized what they were for.
"Sod off."
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AHHH this was a really short chapter for a reason lol.
big things are coming soon in this ff