When Remus is suddenly not a werewolf anymore, there's only thing that could've lifted his curse: True Love's First Kiss
But... which one was it?
All the Boys I Kissed Last Month
“I'm not a werewolf anymore.”
Lily almost chokes on her tea. “Sorry, what?”
“I'm not a werewolf anymore,” Remus repeats.
“What do you mean?”
“Last full moon, I was in the Shrieking Shack, waiting for my transformation, and then… nothing.”
Lily blinks. “How… how is that even possible?”
Remus looks down at his hands. “There's really only one way my curse could have been lifted…”
“And that is…?” Lily urges.
“True Love's First Kiss,” Remus replies. “What else could it be?”
Lily's eyes widen. “You always said the chances of even having a True Love were almost zero, let alone finding your True Love, let alone having and finding your True Love as a werewolf!”
Remus shrugs. “Well, almost zero is apparently not zero.”
“Oh, Godric!” Lily jumps from her chair and runs around the table over to Remus to wrap her arms around him. “You found your True Love! I can't believe it! That's amazing!” She lets go of Remus and looks at him. “So, who is it?”
Remus scratches his head. “Well, that's sort of the problem…”
“Here you go.” Remus hands James the parchment.
James looks up at him. “What's this?”
“My Potions essay. Just make sure you're not too obvious when you copy it, so Slughorn won't notice.”
“Really?” James jumps up from his chair. “Moons, honestly, you're such a life saver! Godric, I could kiss you! In fact, I will kiss you!”
James grabs Remus’ face between his hands and gives him a big smooch.
“Tada!” Marlene twirls around in her new skirt.
Remus claps his hands together. “You look so pretty! Dorcas won't know what hit her! I can't believe you're finally going on a date. I'm so proud of you, Marls.”
“Aaaw, Remmie,” Marlene gives Remus an endeared look. “You're so cute. Come here, give us a kiss.”
She pulls Remus in and plants a kiss on his lips.
“I had a great time tonight,” Benjy whispers.
“Eh, yeah, sure, it was fun,” Remus replies.
Benjy suddenly places his hands on Remus’ waist, but before Remus can properly react to that, he moves in and presses his lips against Remus’.
It takes a moment for Remus to register what's going on, and then he places his hands on Benjy’s shoulder and gently pushes him back.
“Benjy, what are you doing?”
Benjy looks taken aback. “Eh, kissing my date goodnight at the end of the date?”
Now it's Remus’ turn to be taken aback. “Wait, this was a date? I thought… I thought we were just hanging out as friends?”
“Remus, I literally asked if you'd like to go out with me!”
“You didn't specify going out as what!” Remus says defensively, though, he's starting to realize, okay, this one is probably on him. “But regardless,” he continues. “Benjy, you're great, and I had fun, but I really only see you as a friend.”
Benjy nods. “Can't say I'm not disappointed, but that's fair.”
Remus takes another shot of Firewiskey. He knows he probably shouldn't, he already had too much, but it's a Gryffindor House Party, and he just wants to unwind.
Benjy shifts closer on the couch and Remus, feeling dizzy with alcohol, leans into him. Again, he knows he probably shouldn't, but it's fun to flirt a little and feel wanted. Through his haze, he realizes Sirius has already gone upstairs, which is very unlike him. Usually, James and he are dancing on top of the table until the early hours.
“I've got an idea!” Fabian loudly announces. He holds up an empty bottle. “Spin the bottle!”
The crowd of drunken Gryffindors cheer, and a moment later, they're all sitting in a large circle.
Everything is a bit of a blur, but Remus remembers both Gideon and Edgar landing their bottle on him. He remembers two kisses, but he can't for the life of him remember who was who.
He remembers his bottle landing on Mary. He remembers her giggling and saying ‘lucky me’, and the strong smell of her perfume.
“You don't know,” Lily says for the tenth time. “You don't know which one is your True Love.”
Remus shakes his head.
“Okay,” Lily pinches her brow. “So, we've got six options, right?”
“As far as I remember, yes,” Remus confirms. Though the idea that one of these people has to be his True Love does not exactly sit right with him. And neither does what this means for who definitely isn't his True Love, if he's completely honest.
“We're getting to the bottom of this,” Lily says, as she sits down across from Remus a couple of days later. She takes a piece of parchment and a quill out of her bag and starts scribbling. “Okay, we've got six names. I think we can start by scrapping Marlene, as, let's say, she's not your type and you're not her type.”
Remus nods in agreement.
“And let's scrap Mary as well. You might be her type, but she's not what you're into.”
“Agreed,” Remus says.
“And of course we're scrapping James.” Lily crosses out his name.
Remus rests his head on his hand. “Oh? Don't like the idea of James with someone else, now do you, Lils?”
Lily gives Remus a hard stare. “We're scrapping James,” she just repeats decidedly.
Remus leans back on his chair with a smirk on his face.
Lily ignores him and brings her focus back to her list. “So, we've got Benjy Fenwick, Gideon Prewett and Edgar Bones.”
Remus feels nothing but a slight dread in the pit of his stomach at the idea of one of them being his True Love.
Lily taps her finger against her chin. “I think that you should start spending time with each of them, and see if any feelings can develop.
Remus is playing chess with James when Lily comes running up to him. “Seven Minutes in Heaven, Gryffindor Quidditch Cup Party, fourth grade!” She exclaims.
Remus blinks. “Come again?”
“You kissed Gideon before!” Lily says enthusiastically. “And the curse wasn't lifted! So we can rule him out!” Out of nowhere, she takes out the piece of parchment. “Four down, two to go!” She says, with a swipe of her quill.
“What's going on?” James asks curiously, standing up and looking over Lily's shoulder. “Hey, why is my name on there?”
“We're trying to figure out who Remus’ True Love is, by going through all the people he kissed last month,” Lily explains briefly. “Don't worry, you've already been ruled out.”
“Aaaw, Lils, of course you've ruled me out,” James slings one arm around Lily. “You know who my one and only True Love is.”
Lily's cheeks slightly colour. “In your dreams, Potter,” she mumbles, before taking off.
James sits back down across from Remus.
“So, you've got some explaining to do.”
“Moony!”
Remus whirls around as the door to the dorm is suddenly flung open.
Sirius is standing in the doorway, looking bewildered.
“Padfoot? What's going…?”
“Moony,” Sirius repeats. “Oh, Moony.”
“Eh, hi?”
Sirius walks further into the room. “Prongs just told me what happened.”
Remus immediately feels embarrassed. Who kisses so many people in a month that he doesn't know who his True Love is? He scratches his head. “Right. Well, yeah… I guess it's kinda stupid. I mean, I wasn't expecting-”
“Moony,” Sirius interrupts. “Moony, you're not a werewolf anymore.”
“I'm not a werewolf anymore,” Remus confirms, slightly taken aback about the direction the conversation is going.
“It's gone, Moony,” Sirius says, and Remus notices there are tears in his eyes. “Your curse is gone.”
“It's gone,” Remus repeats softly.
And for the first time since the last full moon, it actually hits him.
He's been so focused on the True Love's First Kiss-part, he has barely thought about his Lycanthropy, but it's true. The loss of control, the pain, the stigma, it's all gone. He's free. Remus can feel tears well up in his own eyes, but before he knows it, Sirius arms are around him as he wraps him into a tight hug.
When they break apart, tears are streaming down Remus’ cheeks. “Merlin,” he says. “You must think I'm so stupid for not even knowing who my True Love is.”
Sirius reaches out and brushes the tears away from Remus’ face. “Oh, Moons. I wouldn't care if you kissed hundreds of men if the end result is you being finally free of that horrible curse.”
“Thank you,” Remus whispers, though deep down he wouldn't have minded if Sirius cared a bit more about who he kissed. “And I didn't kiss hundreds of men,” he adds.
“Pfff.” Remus lets himself fall onto his bed.
“You okay?” Sirius asks.
Remus rolls over onto his back. “I just spent the evening listening to Edgar go on and on about his workout regimen, and I can't even tell if it was better or worse than listening to Benjy yesterday talk non-stop about the self-help books he reads.”
Sirius winches. “Yikes.”
Remus sighs. “Yeah, but it'll all be worth it once I find out who my True Love is, right?”
Sirius looks down at his hands. He looks sort of… guilty. “There's something I should tell you,” he begins. “I think… I think you should consider me as a possibility for your True Love.”
“What?” Remus sits up on his bed. “Sirius, you-”
“I know! I know!” Sirius interrupts. “I know I sound totally presumptuous, and I'm just getting my hopes up...”
Remus wants to say that if only Sirius could have been an option, he would've been his actual preferred option, but he needs to stick to the facts, and factually, it can't be. And did Sirius just say ‘hopes’?
“I just don't think you should disregard it completely,” Sirius says.
Oh, Remus so badly wants to give in. To hell with broken curses and True Love's First Kiss, if there's a possibility that Sirius wants him, what does anything else matter? But Sirius isn't his True Love, and pretending he could be won't be fair to either of them, or to his actual True Love, for that matter. No, Remus needs to stay strong. “Sirius,” he says gently. “You know that I can't ignore-”
“You don't have to,” Sirius interrupts. “Remus, there's something I haven't told you…”
Remus walks into the dorm, or, well, slightly stumbles into the dorm. He notices Sirius laying on his bed, still awake, flipping through some Muggle magazine with a motorcycle on the front.
Remus walks over to him and lets himself fall onto the bed next to him. “You left early,” he says, or, well, slightly slurs.
Sirius glances up at Remus and then looks back at his magazine. “Wasn't feeling it tonight.”
Remus rolls over onto his front and pops his head up on his hands. “Pity. Was fun.”
“You definitely had enough to drink,” Sirius says shortly, like he has never gotten black-out drunk at a House party himself.
Remus pouts and pokes Sirius’ leg. “Would've been more fun with you there,” he tries, attempting to lighten Sirius’ mood, and it works, as Sirius can't help the smile spreading over his face.
He shakes his head, though. “You should go to bed, Moony.”
Remus doesn't know where he finds the courage (alright, the shots of Firewhiskey probably help), but he looks up at Sirius with big eyes as he asks “Goodnight kiss?”
Sirius' eyes widen. “Moons… You're drunk.”
“And I should go to sleep,” Remus says.
“And you should go to sleep,” Sirius confirms.
“And,” Remus adds. “I'll sleep better with a goodnight kiss.”
“I shouldn't…” Sirius says, but Remus can tell he's hesitant, so he decides to push a little further.
“Please, Pads?” He says. “Just a peck to help me sleep?”
Sirius bites his lip. “Just a peck?”
“Just a peck.”
Sirius leans in and lightly presses his lips to Remus’.
Remus feels a pleasant buzz in his stomach, and as Sirius pulls away, he feels warm, happy and content, and ready to drift off. Then, all of the sudden, he feels a tingling all over his body. His eyes fly open. “Something’s different.”
Sirius shakes his head. “Rem, you're not even going to remember this in the morning. If something’s different for one of us, it's for me.”
“No, something’s-” Remus pushes himself up, and immediately, the whole room starts spinning. Remus lets himself fall back on the bed. “Oef.”
“Go to sleep, Moons.”
“Yeah,” Remus mumbles. “I should really just…” And with that, he drifts off.
Sirius hides his face in his hands. “I'm sorry! I shouldn't have kissed you while you were drunk, even if it was just a peck. And I know it sounds totally presumptuous and arrogant of me to think that a small peck you can't even remember could have been your True Love's First Kiss, but you did say something felt different, so I just thought…”
“It's you,” Remus says, staring at Sirius in wonder.
“I don't know, of course, but I think that maybe you should consider the possibility that it could be.”
“No,” Remus says. “It's you. I know it's you.”
Sirius just looks at Remus for a moment. “You can't know that,” he whispers.
“But I do,” Remus says, not quite able to explain himself how he can be so certain, but he is. He knows, without a doubt, that Sirius is his True Love. “My heart was telling me that it had to be you the whole time,” he tries to put it under words. “But my brain was telling me that it couldn't be. Now that my heart and my brain are aligned, I know without a doubt that it's you.”
“Your heart wanted it to be me?” Sirius asks softly.
Remus chuckles. “My whole being wanted it to be you.”
A smile spreads over Sirius’ face as he reaches out and places a hand on Remus’ cheek. Then he leans in and kisses him, and this time it isn't just a peck.
That's how Remus gets his True Love's Second Kiss, which is much better than the first, if only because Remus is going to remember this one for the rest of his life.
So there's gossip about some version of kinktober over on twitter adding a bunch of nonsensical rules this year, and I am fascinated. Studying this like a bug.
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