Seven Undeniable Truths

There are some undeniable truths one learns throughout their childhood and when you become an adult, those truths have compiled themselves into all the knowledge you will ever need. Throughout his life, Remus has learned six different truths, yet each of these truths build upon each other until they arrive at the seventh and final truth. He doesn't know if others feel these truths the same way, but in the end it doesn't matter. These are his truths and his truths alone.

The first truth was one that Remus learned early on: the full moons would only bring him pain and suffering. From the moment he was attacked as a small child, Remus knew his life had been changed forever. He accepted it, or accepted it as much as a seven year old could who suddenly found himself growing claws and fur each month. Yet with each transformation, Remus began to strengthen. The transformations were always painful for how could they not? Every bone in his body was broken and reformed into the bones of a wolf. However, Remus learned to conquer his fear of the transformations. Nothing could be done to change the inevitable, so why fear it?

It was then that Remus learned the truth of his affliction: it was something that could be conquered through strength of will. While he would be sunned as he grew older, he could survive anything. He was a survivor and a fighter; he would never give up and allow his lycanthropy to rule his life more than it did through the phases of the moon.

The second truth Remus learned the moment he stepped onto the train to take him to Hogwarts: people liked him and wanted to be friends with him. Of course, he wouldn't become the most popular boy in school; such a title would be left to people like James Potter or Sirius Black but Remus didn't want the responsibility of being "the most popular boy." All he wanted was the friends he had been denied as a child.

He gained those friends and friends who would stick by him through thick and thin.

The third truth was a corollary to the second truth: with the presence of friends came the undeniable fact that fights were doomed to occur. Often, fights between the four boys were confined to wrestling matches or heated words; never anything as bad as betrayal.

Remus knew what it felt like to have a friend betray his confidence. When Sirius spilled the beans about his affliction, he swore he would never speak to the raven-haired boy again. He nearly accomplished the feat, had other things not happened between himself and Sirius: namely Sirius revealing that he fancied Remus.

Such news could not be ignored and Remus found himself slowly beginning to reopen lines of communication.

If there was a third truth that friends could turn to enemies, was there a fourth truth that friends could turn to lovers?

After watching James's strange courtship of one Lily Evans, Remus decided that there was such a truth. They certainly began as enemies and he knew from the giggles that came from James's bed every so often that they had most certainly turned to lovers. Thus it was a truth that couldn't be denied. It had happened for himself and Sirius and now for James and Lily... so why couldn't it happen to anyone?

The fifth and sixth truths, like the second, third and fourth, built off each other.

Both truths dealt with the wonders of sex.

With the fifth truth came the knowledge of how wonderful it was to make another man (namely Sirius) come. It didn't matter how, the pleasure came from feeling something hot and sticky on his belly or on his hand and knowing it was because of something he did that he was seeing this wonder.

He remembered hating the taste at first but Sirius never pushed him. They were a team and together they explored all the wonders of sex: experimenting with positions, with hand movements and with mouths... learning what made the other writhe with sheer pleasure.

Pleasure was always paramount. Nothing was important but the other's pleasure.

The sixth truth Remus learned was the sheer ecstasy he felt when he came inside Sirius for the first time. He knew the feeling would be similar to the fifth truth, but he had no idea it would be like this. Hearing Sirius's soft whimpers as he slammed into him, feeling Sirius scratch up his back and for the first time not caring about the marks... it was the most wondrous feeling in the world.

It was then that he realised he loved this man and with that realisation came the seventh truth. It's this truth that Remus holds closest to his heart. It is the true culmination of the other six truths into one universal fact.

The seventh undeniable truth is that Remus knows there is only one man in his life that he will ever love. The other truths were merely the smaller incidentals leading up to this final truth and no matter how he tries to deny it; he knows it is the truth.

He remembers how Sirius used to look at him and how a single smile could melt him all the way down to the very tips of his toes. The fabulous sex was simply an added bonus as Remus could have survived on dazzling smiles and light caresses alone.

Those caresses will never come again; Bellatrix saw to that. The moment Sirius's body arched backwards and fell beyond the veil, the one truth in Remus's life that he knew to be universally true suddenly became the most painful one of all:

There was only one man he would ever love and he would spend the rest of his life mourning that which he couldn't have.

After a lifetime of building up his lessons to the final undeniable truth, he could only stand there as it was rudely stripped away from him.

Sometimes, life simply wasn't fair.