WILD & WICKED / © yllwjckts
017 ⸻ Our Weakest Dispositions

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SURPRISE! An early chapter since I won't have time to post tomorrow! Hope you guys enjoy <3

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October 4th, 1977 ✦ Hogwarts

"You wished to see me, Headmaster?"

Albus Dumbledore looked up from the paper he had been scanning over, blue eyes sparkling as they slid to meet Fulk's own gaze. "By all means, Fulk, you may refer to me as simply Albus by now. Surely our meetings have come to enough of a friendliness between us that formalities are no longer needed."

"Indeed," Fulk mused, not bothering to shut the door behind him as he stepped up to Albus's desk, taking a seat across from him. With the raise of his wand, Albus flicked the door closed with a gentle thud, causing Fulk to smirk softly to himself.

Their routine had yet to change in the month since he and Lux had arrived at Hogwarts, the dance they did around each other, the false pleasantries and true intentions neither of them fully bothered to mask, though never outright stated either. Their actions said enough, nothing ever done without meaning behind it.

"I presume there's been an update to your discoveries," Fulk spoke after a short, passing silence, in which Albus sipped from a cup of tea.

The Headmaster nodded. "The Coven were last sighted in Fort Augustus, two nights prior. Two of my sources have witnessed Adelais and Torquatus at a pub, but what confirms it is the dead body found in the lavatory stall the next morning, bled dry."

Fulk exhaled a breath, unable to fully contain his irritation. "They grow quicker and quicker with every set of the sun, it seems."

"What does Miss Erzsebet have to say on the subject matter?"

"I haven't had the opportunity to bring it up with her," he lied. In truth, he feared her reaction, how she would handle the knowledge that the Coven were making a beeline for Hogwarts. They weren't on the best of terms as it was, bringing this up without prompting would only send her into a state of panic. Who knew where her Gryffindor impulses would lead her - fleeing the school on foot was the most likely outcome, and certainly not bringing him along with her.

A selfish part of him despised that aspect in particular.

"You haven't informed her?" Dumbledore let out a soft laugh. "Miss Erzsebet doesn't strike me as someone who will take kindly to information so willfully withheld."

"She won't find out," Fulk insisted, tone sharp. "We'll stamp out this Coven problem ourselves, before they can get too close to her."

His head tilted to the side. "Do you have anything in mind? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Fulk, but they outnumber the two of us by over a dozen. Do you really think we on our own stand a chance against them?"

"Don't you have an army at your disposal, Headmaster? Surely Lux and I aren't the only people you've sought out to fight in your war."

Dumbledore gave a gentle shake of his head, as if finding naivety in Fulk's words. His fists clenched from where he held them under the table. "Fighting Lord Voldemort will be one thing. They signed up for that. It will take much more convincing for my allies to go to head with a group of vampires."

"I suppose all loyalty has its limits," he mused.

"What are your limits then, Fulk?"

"Pardon?"

"Your limits," Albus repeated, tone pleasant despite the nature of the topic they discussed. "When it comes to your loyalty to me, to this cause, what will it take to get you to jump ship and join Voldemort instead?"

"You sound like Lux," Fulk scoffed, dodging the question. "Always worried when you'll be abandoned, what will set you off."

Albus was aware he was maneuvering around giving an answer, Fulk could see it in the way his blue eyes shifted ever so slightly. But even so, the old man played along. "Lux fears you'll turn on her, I take it?"

"She fears anyone and anything she can't control. She can't stand it, the uncertainty of entities stronger than her. Why do you think she's pushed me away the moment we arrived here?"

"You've complained about that subject quite often, the push and pull game she plays with you. It's a shame you've yet to resolve it." Dumbledore placed his hands together, resting his elbows on the wood of his desk. "Is that why she killed Philip and fled the Coven, then? Because in that atmosphere, she was bottom of the food chain?"

Albus was playing the fool, they both knew it. There was no possible world in which the man before Fulk didn't at least have a suspicion of the abuse Lux had endured under Philip's rule, and he refused to play into his hand, by either confirming or denying a story that was Lux's and Lux's alone to tell.

"Why do you care? Her intentions don't matter - it's one less enemy you've got to deal with. You should be thanking her no matter what."

"I like to know what I'm dealing with."

A smirk slid onto Fulk's lips. "You fear she'll strike you down when your back is turned, don't you, Albus?"

He lifted his shoulders in a casual, almost absentminded shrug. "I have no reason to believe she wouldn't. If she deems me a threat, would it not be in her best interest to eliminate me? The same can be said about you."

"You think I intend to kill you as well?"

"No," Albus said simply. "I think Lux means to kill you."

Fulk didn't have time to react, to so much as process a word of what Albus Dumbledore had thrown at him. The door to the office flung open in such an abrupt manner that even Fulk felt his senses jerk, head pivoting towards the student who had rushed in. It was one of Lux's classmates - a girl with choppy blonde hair and a typical devil may care attitude, whose name was slipping him in that moment.

"Miss McKinnon," Albus began, rising from his chair and not scolding her for her rude interruption and lack of knocking before entering. "What might I do to help you?"

"I was sent by Madam Pomfrey," the blonde girl began, breathing heavy and cheeks burning red. "Professor Ingelger's needed. It's about Lux. She's in the Hospital Wing, unconscious."

Fulk was on his feet before he told himself to stand. "What's happened?"

"I don't know," the girl admitted, causing Fulk to exhale a breath of irritation. What use was she to him then?

Awaiting no further information, he shoved past her, making his way down the halls of Hogwarts as fast as he could without breaking out into a sprint. His skin seemed to shake against his flesh, gentle tremors rushing through his typically still, composed body. There was something about Lux that had all his emotions on edge constantly, and it hadn't helped that being at Hogwarts provided a whole new set of unknowns, of dangers for her to face. At least back at the cabin, he could keep an eye on her at all times. Now, it felt as though they walked upon two separate timelines, barely interacting at all.

He wasn't sure what to make of it. Her independence had come at the price of their own relationship - one built upon mutual dependency and suspicion of the other's true intentions, but a relationship nonetheless. One Fulk had vowed to himself twenty years ago, as he dragged the half dead girl through a winter storm, not to fuck up.

He had fucked up, though. So had Lux, he supposed, but she was the teenager, and he'd been the one to draw first blood. She'd never done anything of genuine aggression, just chipped and chipped away at him until he felt himself shatter. Explode, would be a better word, glass shards flying every which way, slicing into her skin when they'd burst out from him.

Maybe Albus Dumbledore had a point, he thought to himself with a sharp exhale as he shoved the door to the Hospital Wing open. Now that metaphorical blood had been spilled, it was only a matter of time before Lux's claws turned in on him as they had to Philip twenty one years ago. Maybe Fulk wouldn't be so afraid of such an outcome if it was obvious she saw him in the same light as she did that madman - someone she had to appease, lest violence occur.

Though, all thoughts of betrayal and deception and murder fled his brain the moment his eyes settled on the bed Lux was stretched out on, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. Something seemed to grab onto his heart, scratching it in his chest and squeezing down on it until he could scarcely move.

Alive - she was alive, her chest rising and falling with frequent, shallow breaths. Next to the bed, Madam Pomfrey was waving spells over her, frowning as she ran test after test in an evident way to see what was wrong. Evidentially, she was coming up with nothing. However, what truly caught Fulk's attention was Remus Lupin, pacing back and forth a few yards away from Lux's bed, hands wringing together and face gone pale.

Lupin, the last person Lux had been alone with. Whatever had occurred, the boy must have been there for it.

"Mr. Ingelger," Pomfrey exclaimed, letting out a relieved sort of breath. "Thank Merlin you're here. I've been running all sorts of tests on your daughter, and I can't seem to find anything wrong with her. Nothing to cause this..." she waved her hand around Lux's unconscious frame as her words trailed off. "I need to know her medical history, to see if there's anything I could be missing. Otherwise, I believe this may be out of my control. We may need to send her to St. Mungo's."

"No," Fulk interjected before he could stop himself.

Both Pomfrey and Lupin frowned, the latter halting his pacing as he did.

"I won't send her to a hospital where I can't keep an eye on her," he continued, maintaining his stern, confident aura, despite the nagging fear eating away at his insides.

Taking a step towards the bed, Fulk stopped once he was in arms length of Lux, glancing down at her. He didn't even like the idea of her being in the Hospital Wing, not when psychopaths like that Mulciber kid existed in the halls of Hogwarts, waiting for the right time to strike their prey. Lux could handle her own, he was well aware of that, but not when she was out cold.

"There's no medical history you need to know," he said before Pomfrey could get a word out. "I'll be taking her to my room. She can recover there."

"But-" Pomfrey began, but he cut her off by holding up a hand.

"She's my daughter," he insisted, and his words didn't feel like a lie. "While I do not doubt your expertise, I know what is best for her. Now, if you will excuse me."

Throughout his near millennium on earth, people rarely deprived Fulk of what he wanted, and Madam Pomfrey was no exception. She stepped aside, making room for Fulk to pull the blankets off of Lux, only to frown when his eyes came into contact with her shirt. It took a moment for him to spot the detail that was off, but when he did, his head whipped towards Lupin.

"Explain," he commanded the boy, struggling to keep his tone in its typical calm nature. When Lupin was silent, he pressed further, "Now, boy."

His lips parted, then shut, then parted again. "Explain what? Professor, I've told Madam Pomfrey everything that's happened, I swear it! We were in detention and she just collapsed!"

His jaw shifted, a deep breath coursing through him before he spat, "Explain why the buttons on her shirt are messed up."

Lupin's face went a beet red, as Pomfrey exhaled a sharp breath,

"I've got to go check up on Mr. Cresswell," she announced, voice high as she rushed out of the confrontation as fast as she could. Fair enough, Fulk thought to himself, sparing himself a moment to watch her flee the scene.

His attention jerked back to Lupin soon after, eyes narrowing in on the boy, who seemed one wrong word away from passing out. It reminded Fulk of the boy's father, nervously pacing around during that meeting where Mulciber had put his hands on Lux.

"Out with it."

He paused for a moment, before insisting. "I don't know what you're talking about, Professor."

Fulk raised his eyebrows, slowly tilting his head to the side. "Tell me, Mr. Lupin, do I seem like the kind of man that you wish to mess with? Do I seem like someone you want to get on the bad side of?"

This was enough to crack the boy. "We didn't do anything, I swear on my life! We just snogged! I don't know what happened or why, she just passed out suddenly, I didn't-"

"You and Lux snogged?" He interjected the boy's long winded rant, for once allowing his mask to slip just enough to reveal the shock on his expression.

Lupin nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the floor. "Her...her shirt came off in the process. I tried putting it back on as fast as I could without making it look obvious, but I suppose I didn't do a great job of it."

Fulk could tell by the shame in the boy's voice that he was being truthful. His initial presumption had been one far more nefarious on Lupin's end, but he supposed he could get the full story from Lux once she woke up. Until then, he was choosing to trust the tale being told.

If Lux opted to tell him the truth as well, that was. He doubted she would be very keen on telling him about how she'd snogged a boy she claimed not to like in a detention he'd assigned them, resulting in her shirt being torn off.

He cringed at the concept, just as he turned away from Lupin in favor of pulling Lux out of the bed and into his arms. He could deal with that kid later - his attention as of now was best focused on getting her somewhere private, where he could work out what was wrong with her on his own, with her vampirism as a factor.

Allicin exposure came to mind first, though he wasn't sure how she would've come about any in his office. Unless Lupin had somehow possessed some...

His grip on Lux tightened. She was light enough, not at all difficult to carry out of the Hospital Wing, down the mostly void hallways, and into his bedroom. Even so, his arms ached with relief as he set her down on the blankets, the movement not rousing so much as a stir from her.

Whatever it was that had struck her down, it must truly be bad.

Part of Fulk didn't want to touch her. He thought doing so would upset her, make her even more angry at him than she already was.

Instinctively, a hand went to his cheek, a smirk sliding across his lips at the memory of what had occurred earlier that day. Finally, Lux had broken through the wall she'd built between them, finally she'd lashed out rather than letting it build and build, breeding discontentment and mistrust.

Maybe he should've been angry with her. But all he could understand was that had been a turning point between them, proof she trusted him enough to express anger in such a way.

It was funny, he thought, that one teenage girl could have him compromising all he'd ever stood for - solitude and dignity and relaxation. Lux was a mess and a half if he'd ever met one, but there was something about the warmth she brought to his life that he wouldn't change for anything. A crack in an otherwise strongly held disposition.

Looking down at the bed, she looked so peaceful, he hated the idea of waking her up. It could've very well been an illusion, of course, who knew what nightmare swam beneath the surface of her neutral expression. But something told Fulk that she needed the sleep, no matter how it may have come about. He shouldn't disrupt a rare moment of tranquility in her ever hostile life.

Sighing, he grabbed the blankets on the bed, pulling them out from under her and pushing them over her body. If she failed to rouse on her own within the next day or two, he'd figure out something, but for now, Lux Erzsebet deserved to rest.

Fulk exhaled a breath as he sat down on a chair, kicking up his legs and reaching for a book, allowing himself to be absorbed into it.

It wasn't long before he, too, was drifting off to sleep. There was more than enough room for him on his bed, but he hadn't wished to frighten her if she were to wake up first. Just like back in their cabin, it was Lux's comfort that came first, and since she'd not given a single indication of vulnerability, he could take a hint on what her boundaries were. Not that he could blame her for them, not this time.

I think Lux means to kill you, Dumbledore had said so brazenly just hours ago.

Even in his half asleep state, Fulk let out a laugh. Let her, then.

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"You look ill," was the first thing Remus heard as he stepped into the dorm he shared with his three friends, hands still trembling from where he had them dug into the pockets of his robes.

He didn't need to look up to know who it was that had addressed him.

"Where are Prongs and Wormy?" He asked, dodging Sirius's statement as he moved through the dorm, shutting the door behind him before going to sit down at the edge of his bed.

Sirius shrugged, flipping through the contents of a biker magazine he'd snagged from a muggle convenience store over the summer. The way he oggled those so-called motorcycles was worse than what Remus imagined most teenage boys appeared like when sneaking peaks at porn magazines under their blankets.

"James is at Quidditch - insisted he needed to practice his flying right after dinner, even though Evans told him he'll be ill if he does. Not sure about Pete." Sirius rolled onto his back, dangling his head off of the bed and staring at Remus upside down. "Seriously, mate, you look like you're about to piss yourself. What's up?"

He kept quiet, though he wouldn't have been surprised if Sirius could hear the anxious beating of his heart.

A frown ran across Sirius's face. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be in detention?"

Panic seized in him. Sirius knew somehow, he could tell by the way his eyes scanned his body. He could sense Lux on him, the way their skin had met, his dog senses had taken over and he knew, fuck, he knew.

Even so, even despite knowing what horrible sin to their friendship Remus had committed, Sirius maintained a generally passive aura, confused but not at all aggressive.

"I was," Remus said, finally finding his words. "Lux passed out, so I had to bring her to the Hospital Wing. Professor Ingelger didn't send me back, so...suppose I'm in the clear for the night."

His posture stiffened as he rolled over once again, moving back into a sitting position on his bed. "Is she alright?"

Remus shrugged lamely, barely able to focus on the present moment, when all he could think about was the past. Oh Merlin, had he somehow killed her?

His stomach churned at the memory of Lux's body collapsing to the ground in a heap. He'd repaired her shirt with a spell, done her best to pull it back on over her in a way where no one would notice it had ever been removed, but the moment his eyes had snagged dozens of scars slashed across her back, he'd lost all sense entirely.

"Moony," Sirius said as he jumped onto his feet, stepping across the room and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me. What's going on?"

He shifted his weight from foot to foot. What was he supposed to say? How was he supposed to explain that he'd snogged the girl his best friend fancied - that he'd bit her? He'd given into that wolfish instinct that had risen in him every time Lux was nearby, a brief lapse of judgment that had sent her collapsing to the ground moments later.

It was bad enough without the betrayal towards Sirius. But his selfishness tipped the scale in confirming to him once more that a monster truly lived inside his bones.

A shudder ran through him as he finally gathered enough courage to ask, "You and Lux, you're not together, are you?"

Sirius blinked. "I dunno," he admitted, a hand running through his hair. "I'd been trying to make her jealous today, see if she'd do anything about it if I ignored her for a day, flirted with some other girl. She didn't seem to care at all. So...I suppose not right now."

"Right." Remus exhaled a breath of surprising relief. At least, despite everything, he hadn't gotten Lux to cheat on Sirius with him. She'd been responsible too, of course, but what did it matter to her if Sirius wound up hurt? She didn't have to put up with the aftermath, and he was well are she cared little for those outside of herself.

Herself, and that boy her Boggart had taken form as. Whoever that bloodied, mangled man had been, it was evident by the look of horror that had flashed across Lux's face, she loved him in a way he'd previously assumed her incapable of.

"You said she'd passed out," Sirius pressed when Remus was silent, suspicion riddled in his expression.

Remus nodded slowly, stomach aching.

"Should we go visit her? You brought her to the Hospital Wing, yeah?"

"Professor Ingelger brought her back to his room. Reckons he can do a better job at taking care of her than Pomfrey."

"Really? I thought they were in a fight."

"I think they are," he said, jaw shifting as he recalled their earlier conversation, crowded in the lavatory with Ingelger hovering above them, both he and Lux's expressions void. He hadn't lingered behind long enough to hear whatever they discussed after he'd left, but he could imagine with Lux's stubborn nature, it couldn't have gone well.

"Remus," Sirius sighed. "Mate, what's wrong with you? You've been acting off since-"

"-Since Lux got involved with our friends? I know. I just-"

"No," Sirius cut him off with an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Not since Lux got here."

Remus felt his body go stiff, eyes jerking towards his shoes.

"You know what I'm talking about, stop pretending it didn't happen. It won't change a thing.

"It shouldn't have happened," he grumbled, more to himself than to Sirius.

Sirius exhaled a breath, a mixture of annoyance and amusement in his expression. Months of pushing away an issue was bound to build up into an explosion of this sorts, but even so, Remus feared the blast. "You're the one who kissed me, Moony."

It was like a blow to the gut.

Managing to keep a straight face, Remus allowed his gaze to meet Sirius's. He expected anger to shine in his eyes, but instead, it was a sad sort of dejection that Sirius wore.

No, it was Remus's turn to be upset, his self hatred building a defensive wall around him. "And it didn't take you more than a few weeks after the fact to go off with the first bird you saw, did it?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. No doubt he'd expected this. "It's not my fault you can't accept who you are, Remus. I spent years hating myself for how I felt and whom I felt it towards, and I won't go back to a life like that. You kissed me, you ignored me for weeks after, was I supposed to sit around and wait? I met Lux, and I took a fancy towards her. I won't apologize for that."

"She doesn't even like you!" He blurted.

Sirius lifted an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"We snogged in detention."

He regretted his words the moment he said them, even if deep down he was aware what had transpired between them would've come out sooner or later. Lux - oh Merlin, when he got a word with her, he'd shout, he'd scream, he'd lose his mind on her for driving this wedge between him and his best mate.

You did this to yourself. You only have yourself to blame, a crueler, more familiar sounding voice echoed in the back of his mind. He shoved it to the side.

Sirius paled, any semblance of passivity vanishing as shock engulfed him. But it only lasted for a brief second, just enough for Remus to notice the sudden shift in demeanors, before he was letting out a laugh.

"How was it, then?" He asked, voice somehow both tight and airy at the same time. "I mean, before she...you know..." He gestured wildly towards the bed. "Remus Lupin, knocking ladies off their feet since nineteen sixty."

For a long moment, he kept quiet. Then, he voiced the only coherent thought he had at the moment. "Why aren't you yelling at me?"

"I've got no reason to," Sirius said with a shrug, moving to sit back down on his bed.

"I snogged the girl you fancy!" Remus argued, voice louder than intended.

Another shrug, careless, indifferent, almost. As though Sirius was so used to being let down by the people who were supposed to love him, it no longer came as a shock. Remus would prefer the yelling, the fight he'd assumed would ensue, compared to Sirius being all too okay with his error. "You still haven't told me how it was."

He exhaled a breath, silently searching for the right words. It had been fantastic in every way, a spark flashing between them that he'd only ever felt in one other kiss prior, but he couldn't dig the knife he'd shoved into Sirius's chest even further by saying as much.

"It was fine, I suppose. Nothing special. I...I kept telling her to tell me to stop."

Sirius's eyebrows jumped up. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"She shouldn't get involved with me. Even if I don't particularly care for her...we both know what I am."

He swung his head backwards, barking out a laugh. "Only you'd manage to worm your bitter self hatred into a snogging session."

Remus bit down on his lip, preventing a smile from forming. But as quick as the smallest bit of amusement came, it vanished, as he recalled what exactly had prevented them from going further than snogging.

Sirius too seemed to sense the sudden shift in mood, a return to what he had referred to as bitter self hatred. "What's upset you now? She wasn't a bad kisser, was she? Did she have bad breath or something?"

"I bit her."

This time, it seemed the boy was rendered speechless.

"Why'd you do that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Suppose my instincts got to me. Meant it to be...fuck, I don't know! Hot, I guess? I didn't even know wolf bites did anything when the werewolf is in human form, but she was unconscious in less than a minute."

"Well, it's not like you're in wolf form right now, so she can't have been turned," Sirius eventually reasoned, though he didn't sound convinced. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Ingelger will take good care of her. She'll be back up on her feet by tomorrow, swear it."

Remus moved to sit down on his own bed, running a hand through his hair as he did. "If I somehow-"

"You didn't," Sirius cut him off firmly. "Lux will be fine. I know it. Where'd you bite her, anyways?"

Remus shifted his weight from where he sat, once again avoiding eye contact. "Her collarbone."

"Kinky," he laughed, before his eyes grew wide in realization. "Wait, was her shirt off? Bloody hell, mate, you got Lux Erzsebet's shirt off?"

He nodded.

Sirius's eyes lit up, almost childlike with awe. "Were her tits as fantastic as they look?"

Once again, he had to tone it down, keep himself from twisting the knife.

"They were nice, I suppose. I didn't get her bra off." He paused for a moment, considering what to say and how to say it. But this was Sirius, he could trust him, and his tongue moved without his mind telling it to. "She's got these...scars."

"Scars?" He confirmed, frowning.

Remus gulped, having the idea he'd revealed something he shouldn't have, yet couldn't restrain himself from speaking further on it. "Yeah, loads of them. On her back. I suppose she forgot they were there, got caught up in the moment or something."

"Like yours?" Sirius asked, but before Remus could answer, he continued, "Maybe she's a wolf too, maybe the bite knocked her out because of like...werewolf on werewolf shit. I don't know how exactly that works, but..."

He found his mouth had gone dry as he spoke, "No, not like mine. They were more...uniform, almost. Clean cut. Not animalistic. And they were only on her back. However she got them, they were intentional."

Sirius's nose twitched. "Suppose however it was they came about, Ingelger knows."

"Assuming he didn't do it to her himself," Remus said grimly, though he wasn't quite sure he believed his own theory. Professor Ingelger scared the shit out of him, but he doubted he had an abusive bone in his body - especially towards his daughter.

Sirius, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at the suggestion, simply lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "It's possible. Who knows? We'd have to ask her ourselves to get an answer."

"She wouldn't be honest."

"Probably not." Sirius leaned back against the bed, hands behind his head and elbows poking outward. "I'm surprised you managed to get her shirt off, anyways. When we snogged at Hogsmeade, it was awful basic."

Something jolted in Remus at the reference of Sirius and Lux and what they'd done together, an ache searing through his gut. Who of the two he was jealous of, he couldn't begin to figure out, causing his head to spin.

His lips parted, prepared to blow it off, pretend he didn't care, that it didn't hurt, but Sirius was speaking again before a word could come out. "Funny, how it works, isn't it?"

Remus frowned. "What?"

"I mean, Lux is snogging both of us, while we're snogging each other," Sirius explained with a matter of fact shrug. "Odd sort of love triangle we've got going on."

"We snogged, we're not snogging. There's a big difference," Remus huffed, before adding, "And I'm not in love with either of you. It was spur of the moment, both times."

"Of course." Sirius grinned at him, flashing his shiny white teeth. "No one will melt your heart of ice, will they? Remus Lupin, never to know love, never to experience the caress of a woman - or man."

He shot him a glare despite the furious burn on his cheeks. "I'm not gay."

"Never said you were."

"And you know my reasons for avoiding relationships."

"I do," Sirius agreed. "And they're stupid. You've been sharing a room with the three of us for seven years, and you've not once hurt us. Why would a girlfriend or boyfriend be any different?"

"I don't want a boyfriend," Remus hissed.

Sirius's hands shot in the air in mock surrender. "If you insist."

Silence passed through them, before Sirius's lips parted once again. "All I mean to say is, we love you and we trust you. Any girl worthy of you will too. And if she doesn't, we don't want her around, yeah?"

Remus let out a small, unconvinced yet oddly flattered laugh. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Padfoot."

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The next chapter will be more of Lux's flashbacks with Elias, then we're back into this timeline again. I wanted to provide this chapter as a bit of a buffer between two very long and very dark chapters, with more relationships and dynamics explored vs me abusing my characters. Hope you guys enjoyed <3

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