"—I THINK YOU DESERVE DUE JUSTICE, BUT DON'T YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING UNREASONABLE?"

    Rex raised his head from where he was picking at his breakfast, raising an eyebrow at Penelope who was trying and failing to handle the situation delicately, spreading a fair amount of butter on her biscuit, glancing over to Nathaniel who pretended not to hear, eyes trained on his own food, clearing his throat.

    Wordlessly, the Hufflepuff reached up and tugged down his robes and his sweater, revealing the scarring over his body which had spread since the time he had shown Remus, as if it were a living being all on its own, causing his friends and those close by to wince and look away, stomachs churning at the painful sight, the boy letting go easily and going back to eating.

    "Shouldn't you be with your own house?" William Linceworth asked, coming to stand between Nathaniel and Penelope, raising an eyebrow at both of them, then turning to look at Rex questioningly, fiddling with his yellow lined robes.

    "Shouldn't you be minding your own business?" Rex asked, making a shooing motion with his spoon, looking positively unfazed by the boy's presence.

    When William walked off with a grumble of house pride, earning Rex a few stares from those who witnessed the short scene, the two non-Puffs turned towards their friend, both uncomfortable with the stares they were receiving, wishing that he didn't look so nonchalant about the entire thing.

    "This school is too small to be making enemies," Nathaniel said carefully, and Rex raised his head, giving him a withering look.

    "I'm not making enemies, I'm looking out for my friends," Rex countered shortly, "House pride is ridiculous if it just means I'm going to hate someone because they value something different than me. Like you said, this school is too small to be making enemies."

    Nathaniel gave him a small smile, glancing over to Penelope, shrugging, as if to say, "He has a point." The girl just sighed and took a bite of her biscuit, glancing over towards the Gryffindor table, smiling at her girlfriend who gave her a small wave.

    Rex followed her gaze, eyes darkening when he caught sight of Remus sitting with his friends. He had spent most of the night thinking about the boy, wondering just how far he could stretch what the boy owed him, unsure of what could get him to get his justice.

    It was an interesting sight to see, really, watching him interact with his friends. The boys were rather infamous around the school, James Potter and Sirius Black making quite a name for themselves, though Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were names just as hushed, though they were mostly out of sympathy for the boys, people shaking their heads at how such upstanding young men were tangled with such mischievous souls.

    Remus seemed to be the brains behind the operation, though even Rex knew James Potter had a head on those nice shoulders, but Remus seemed to be the type who knew exactly what to do, but didn't act as impulsively as his friends did, but was ready to go along with as much vigor as the others.

    "Staring a hole in the back of his head won't do much," Nathaniel pointed out, and Rex rolled his eyes, forcing himself to look away. "Look, mate, if this is going to help you, then I say go for it. But don't be cruel."

    The boy sighed long sufferingly, but nodded his head in reluctant agreement. Of course, he never planned on being cruel, but Nathaniel's definition of cruel had much tighter limits than his own.

    "It's rather ridiculous if you ask me," Penelope said, because she knew Rex would never get back at her for it, "He's one of the smartest in this school. Ask him to do your work or something that will actually benefit you."

    Rex blinked. "I don't need him to do anything for me. This isn't about the physical gains, I need the emotional reaction. The pain and humiliation. I can do my own work, thanks."

    She pursed her lips, but found that his argument was valid; being the sort who would much rather shirk her homework in favor of learning something she enjoyed, she would have done much better with Remus doing her work; however, Rex was not her, so she couldn't find much place to judge.

    "When will you talk to him?" Nathaniel asked, "Do you want us to be there?"

    Rex shook his head, biting his lip, now showing the edge of uncertainty that he always tried to hide; a Muggleborn wizard, there was a chip on his shoulder that some never let him forget, and he tried everything he could to never show that, especially not when he had his whole family to think about.

    "I'll talk to him after Potions," he decided, "You just go without me, it could get ugly."

    He tried to brush it off with a laugh, but it was clear that his friends took this much too seriously to find his quip anything but suspicious and inappropriately chosen. He tried to remain positive despite that, finally starting to eat, rather than just stare.

    When it was time to go to their classes, the three sharing their first of the day, Charms, Rex turned to look over at Remus who, coincidentally, was looking over at him as well.

    He frowned at the boy, whirling around and stalking off, Nathaniel and Penelope right at his heels, shouting for the much shorter boy to slow down some, glancing back over towards the Gryffindor who watched them go with a guilty expression.

    The Slytherin and Ravenclaw shared a look before looking towards their friend who had his shoulders up to his ears and his arms wrapped around himself, no doubt his right hand placed over his scar.

    Merlin help Remus Lupin.

º º º

    It was the middle of the day and Remus could barely focus in Potions. He kept tapping his quill against his parchment, his leg shaking. It was enough to get the attention of both James and Sirius who both, throughout the course of the class, had turned to give him a quizzical look, James going so far as to tilt back in his chair and ask if he needed to go to the infirmary.

    Peter, being his seat mate, had taken to pressing the back of his hand against various parts of Remus' face and neck to see if he was sick. He didn't quite know the best area, so he figured to try every part, and while Remus did appreciate his friends' concerns, he brushed them all aside.

    As time wore on, he found himself glancing towards the corner of the room where Rex Pike was taking meticulous notes, though looking ready to fall asleep at any moment. As he glanced back more and more, he found that Rex seemed to be staying awake out of spite, glaring over at the back of a Slytherin boy; it seemed that he was trying to prove a point.

    While he hadn't ever paid much attention to the Hufflepuff boy—or many other Hufflepuffs for that matter—he did know that the boy was much more hostile than most in his house, often picking fights defending the members of the Slytherin house who tended to spend their time in the Puff dormitories, for whatever reason.

    "Why are you staring?" Peter asked softly, nudging him back into focus, and he cleared his throat, starting on the coursework they had been given.

    "Rex is out of the Hospital Wing," he replied in an equally hushed tone, and Peter nodded in understanding; the Marauders were all aware of Rex's demand for recompense for Remus' accident, and while they found it ridiculous, Remus was still willing to hear the boy out.

    "Don't let him take over you, Moony, he's just a Puff," James whispered, leaned back in his seat, falling back forward when Professor Slughorn made a sound for him to focus.

    "I would look out, actually, he's pretty feisty," Sirius chimed in, now his turn to lean back in his seat, moving too far back and nearly falling if not for James who caught him, pulling him forward.

    Blowing air out of his puffed up cheeks, Remus tried to focus on the remainder of the class, despite knowing fully well that, whenever he turned, Rex would look at him, as he could feel his angry stare from the back of his neck.

    When it was finally time to leave, Remus dawdled in gathering his things, trying and failing to get the others to leave without him, but they were all loyal to a fault and stuck close by. At least until Rex made his way over towards them.

    "I need to talk to Lupin. Alone," he said, glancing over towards his own friends who were glancing back at them, leaving the room.

    Sirius opened his mouth to disagree, but Remus shook his head, telling them that he'd catch up outside. With a huff, the boys all agreed, though James made sure to let them know that they would be right outside.

    When they finally left, Remus felt a sudden jolt of fear. It wasn't as if he thought the boy would try anything—he could overpower him, really—but it was in fear of what he might say; it was clear that he was not in the boy's good graces.

    He slowly turned to find the boy staring up at him with his arms crossed, an eyebrow raised in silent, judgemental question. It took all of Remus' power not to fidget under his gaze; he was  Gryffindor for Merlin's sake, he was stronger than this.

    Finally he asked, "How do I repay you? With chocolate?" He was already reaching into his pocket when the boy shook his head.

    "As tempting as that sounds, no," he sighed, with a kind of air of power that Remus wished he wouldn't flaunt, "I've been thinking about what you did and the little get ups you and your friends get to. So I have a proposal."

    "I think we're a little young to get married," Remus deadpanned, finding enough courage within him to make a quip that, to his pleasant surprise, made the boy scowl.

    But he immediately regretted upsetting the boy when he snapped, "Alright, then. Here's the deal. You're in debt to me and, until you clear it, you have to do all the dares I tell you to."

    Remus raised an eyebrow. "Dares? You're joking."

    Rex surged forward, dangerously close to Remus, fire in his eyes. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

    The Gryffindor boy took a deep breath, looking down at the angry Hufflepuff. He couldn't help but feel a flare of his own anger at the boy's demand that he agree to do what he would expect to be humiliating acts for who knows how long, just to repay him for something that had been an accident.

    He opened his mouth to let the boy know exactly how he felt, only to stop short. Through the sweater under the boy's robes, he could see the scarring he had been shown when he first went to see him, and his stomach churned when he realized that, in fact, it never would leave. Turning his gaze to the boy's face, he found with a start that the boy was actually starting to cry, fighting back tears with an angry determination.

    "My grandmother doesn't know I'm a wizard," he hissed, "Barely anyone in my family does. If they all found out, they would never let me come home."

    That did it.

    With a deep, resigned sigh, Remus dropped his head forward, nearly bumping into the other boy. He could hear his friends shouting in his ears, demanding to know why he had agreed, why he had given in. He himself was even shouting, knowing fully well that he couldn't afford to do something reckless, he was a Prefect.

    Yet there was Rex Pike, a boy he didn't know, but a boy whom he had caused tremendous pain. Accident or no accident, someone had to pay a price. This was the least he could do.

    "Alright," he sighed, "I'll do it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 4. 10. 18 )

I'm sorry I haven't been updating super regularly for this story, I promise that they're gonna get a lot more regular, like, I promise. Seriously, I'm pre-writing, everything's gonna get a lot more fast paced because I'm back in the Harry Potter swing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!