I posted this before but took it down because it had a swear word in the summary. I think they should have given me a warning so I could have just changed it, but they took it down instead so I am reposting it.
Please review :)
"Are you a fucking idiot!" James yelled at Sirius, who was sitting on his bed, looking up at his angry best friend. Peter was sitting crossed legged on his own bed, hiding nervously behind a book, and Remus was watching the fight, sadness and disappointment in his eyes.
James never yelled, or lost his temper, so the scene was quite shocking to watch.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened last night if I hadn't got there in time?" James yelled, throwing his arms up into the air.
"Look, I said I was sorry," Sirius sighed, looking guilty, but also quite angry.
"Well, sorry doesn't cut it," James told him, "Nowhere near."
"I'm really sorry?" Sirius suggested. James glared at him, and then began to pace. Sirius, Peter and Remus followed him with their eyes. There was an air around him that no one had ever experienced before. It was quite scary. His fists were clutched so tight that his knuckles were pure white. He looked tired and stressed.
"Give me one reason…" James said, suddenly stopping and spinning round to face Sirius, "Give me one good reason why I and, more importantly, Remus should even consider forgiving you?"
Sirius looked from James, to Remus, to Peter, and then back to James again,
"Come on, James, it was only Snape, and it's not like I told him about Remus," Sirius said.
"Well, you might as well of," James told him, "You told him how to get past the Whomping Willow, you knew Snape has been trying to found out where we go every Full Moon," James's voice was getting steadily louder, "You might as well dragged him there by force, 'cause he would have gone either way."
"I didn't think he'll actual go," Sirius mumbled, feeling the weight of his three friend's eyes on him.
"That's because you don't think," James snarled. Sirius stood up, glaring at his friend.
"What does it matter now?" he asked, "It was only Snivellus, no one would care if he got bite."
Remus stood up, moving over to Sirius, but James, who was nearer, got there first and punched Sirius, making him fall backwards.
"How can you wish that upon anyone?" James screamed, causing Peter to whimper, "Even Snape? How can you be so blind? Don't you see how painful it is for Remus?"
There was so much anger in James's eyes that Sirius winced.
"And did you even stop to think what this would have done to Remus?" James continued, "How he would have felt if Snape had got bitten, or worse? Don't you know how bad Remus feels when he gives one of us so much as a stretch at the full moon? And we are in our animal forms then, Snape wouldn't have stood a chance against Remus."
James started to pace again.
"And Remus would have got expelled for something that had nothing to do with him because you thought you'll be an idiot and tell bloody Snape about where we go every full moon!" James paused, breathing deeply. Sirius looked up at him, wiping his blooding nose.
"I'm sorry," Sirius said again.
"You need to grow up, and stop thinking of just yourself," James replied, "You say you're nothing like your family, yet you act just like them."
Peter gasped, as James realised what he just said. He had trodden on forbidden ground. Sirius looked at James for a long moment, hurt in his grey eyes, before looking down at his hands. James went to say something, but decided against it and left the room. Remus followed quick behind him.
Sirius looked up to watch them go, and then looked to Peter, who looked quite scared.
"Aren't you going with them?" Sirius asked, surprised.
"I don't disagree with them, but I think you need someone right now as well," Peter explained, clearing his throat. Sirius gave a small, nearly invisible smile.
"Thanks, Wormtail."
James and Remus walked out of the dormitory and into the empty common room. It had been a long day, and night for that matter.
Last night had been a full moon, and James, Sirius and Peter had landed their selves into a detention.
To make matters worse, Sirius had been paired up with Snape in Herbology. James, who had been working with Peter, overhead their conversation.
"Hey, Snape!" Sirius had said, a grin on his face.
"What?" Snape had snarled.
"You know the Whomping Willow?" Sirius asked, leaning back in his chair. Snape sighed.
"Of course, Black, it is a hard thing to miss," he answered, sarcastically.
"Well, I've been hearing rumours," Sirius told him, at which Snape raised an eyebrow, but looked slightly interested. James stared at Sirius's back, trying to figure out what Sirius was planning.
"What kind of rumours?" Snape asked. Sirius lent forward, putting all four legs of his chair on the floor.
"Well…" he began, in a hashed whisper, "apparently, one of the knobs on the bottom of the trunk is like a switch that makes the tree stop moving."
Sirius! James yelled in his head.
"And then you can get into an opening that leads into a secret tunnel," Sirius continued. Snape looked at him, raising another eyebrow.
"Really, Black, and why would you be telling me this?" He asked, clearly suspicious. Sirius lent back on his chair again, laughing.
"Well, I'm stuck with you, Slimball, and I need to talk about something," he said, nastily, "But as I said, just rumours."
James confronted Sirius after class.
"Why did you tell him?" James demanded.
"Chill, mate, Snape's too much of a wimp to try anything," Sirius laughed, walking back to lunch.
James, however, wasn't convinced, so took the Marauder's Map to his detention with Professor Slughorn, and watched it like a hawk. Normally, James would have fallen asleep as Professor Slughorn told some long winded story about this or that, but James watched the enchanted map, intensely.
He watched as Remus and Madam Pomfrey walked towards the Whomping Willow, wishing like hell he was following under his invisibility cloak. He watched as Madam Pomfrey walked away from the Whomping Willow, stopping briefly at the doors of the castle, watching the moon raise like she always did. James watched Snape sit in the Slytherin common room, which was full of green tie wearing students. James watched as slowly, the students decreased, until only Snape was left. Then James watched as Snape's name slowly left the Slytherin common room.
Panic rose in James, and he looked up at Slughorn.
"Sir?" James asked, trying to mask the fear in his voice. Slughorn stopped talking and looked at the boy. Peter and Sirius woke at the sound of James's voice.
"Can I go please, I really don't feel well," James asked.
"You do look quite pale, my boy," Slughorn said, looking at him, "You better get to the hospital
wing."
James got up and ran out of the room, ignoring the looks from Sirius and Peter.
James ran through the castle, and out into the grounds. He didn't care if anyone was looking as he turned into a stag. It was quicker to run that way. James saw the Whomping Willow come into view and was terrified to see it standing still. James galloped to it, as it began to move again, shaking and twisting violently.
Prongs formed back into James, and he quickly jumped out of the way of the dangerous branches, getting scrapped by the razor sharp twigs. He pulled out his wand, ignoring the blood tickling slowly down his arm. He yelled the spell, which caused the tree to stop its fight. James then dived into the hidden passage, sprinting after Snape.
James spotted Snape's back, nearer to the Shack then he had hoped, or more honestly prayed. He could see light coming from the doorway at the end of the tunnel.
"Snape!" James yelled, in a hashed whisper, grabbing the Slytherin's arm, causing him to stop in his tracks.
"Let me go, Potter!" Snape snarled, pulling his arm away.
"You need to get out of here!" James told him, whispering and looking to the entrance of the shack.
"Why should I, Potter? I knew this is where you and your friends go every month," Snape hissed, his voice sounding louder then it was, "I wonder why?"
James grabbed hold of him again.
"Snape, unless you have a serious death wish, I suggest you get out of here," James warned him. Snape raised his eyebrows so they were hidden under his greasy hair.
"Really?" He said, sarcastically, "I'm not afraid of you, Potter."
James began to pull him away.
"It's not me you should be afraid of," James told him, and felt his blood run cold when he heard a bone-chilling howl. It was loud and lasted about ten seconds, which seemed like forever.
James saw Snape's eyes widen in shock, and look to the shack. Snape pulled away from James's desperate grip, doing so by punching James in the jaw, and ran to the opening.
"No! Snape, are you stupid?" James ran after him, pain pounding in his mouth. They got o the shack, as James grabbed Snape's arm again.
It was the first time James had been to the shack at night as a human, so he didn't have his deer eyesight that made it easier to see in the dark. The only light was from the full moon, which James had grown to hate, shining through the dirty windows. James could see shadows dancing across the walls. A small gasp from Snape made James jump.
It was then he noticed two yellow eyes, staring at them from behind a battered and broken chair.
"Run," James managed to mumble, fear shrieking him. He clumsily got out his wand, as Snape didn't move.
"That….that's Lupin, isn't it?" Snape whispered, as Moony began to rise onto his two back legs. His teeth were showing, growling into a snarl.
"Shut up, and get out of here," James whispered, glaring. He moved to stand in front of Snape, as Moony sniffed the air. Another growl escaped his furry lips, this one louder and more threatening. He took a step towards them, before letting out a howl that shook James's insides. He took a step back, bumping into Snape.
"Move!" James hissed, thinking fast. Remus had told them a spell which he had ordered them to use if things got too rough and if they were at risk. James, Sirius and Peter had vowed never to use it.
However, it looked like James had to break that vow as Moony got back onto all fours and pranced. Orange light erupted from James's wand and the beast froze in midair, before crashing to the floor.
Snape ran out of the shack, in a fit of panic. James looked at Moony, whose eyes were alight with madness. The spell had frozen him, causing his bones to lock together painfully.
"I'm sorry, Remus," James whispered, before too running from that shack. He shut and locked the door with a spell, before catching up with Snape.
"Why did you come down here?" James yelled at him. Snape's eyes were alight as well, showing just as much anger as Moony's.
"You…you're trying to kill me!" Snape yelled, turning around and pointing a finger at James.
"What?" James questioned. Snape looked at him for a minute, before spinning back round and running towards the castle. James raced after him, beginning to pant.
"Where are you going?" James asked, as they entered the castle, and Snape went up the stairs, instead of down into the dungeons.
"I'm telling the headmaster! He must know about this!" Snape told him, a smirk now on his pale face, "You and your friends will get expelled for sure this time!"
James looked at him in horror, and began to run after him, which he was stopped by a hiss.
"Oi! James, what's going on?" came Sirius's voice. James looked towards the voice, and reached into thin air. His hands touched something solid and he pulled. Sirius and Peter came into view as the invisibility cloak fell off.
"You are the biggest, stupidest, bloody git that I've ever meet!" James yelled, beginning to run up the stairs.
"What happened?" Peter asked, following him.
"Snape now knows about Moony, thanks to the genius next to you," James snarled.
"Bloody hell, he actually went?" Sirius gasped, catching up with James.
"Go figure," James hissed. They arrived at the gargoyle that was guarding the head teacher's office.
"Acid Pops," James said, remaindering the password from when he was in here a couple of weeks ago. The stature jumped away and the three boys ran up the stairs and into the office.
In there, Dumbledore was trying to calm down Snape.
"They tricked me into going there!" Snape said, anger in his voice, "They tried to kill me!"
"Sir, we can explain-," James started, but was cut off by Dumbledore holding up his hand.
"I think we all need to calm down and take a seat," Dumbledore said, in an unnaturally calm voice. It made James shiver. All four boys took a seat.
"Now tell me what happened."
They were in that office for most of the night, telling the man they all respected what had happened. Snape had vowed not to tell anyone, when he realised what an uproar it would cause.
Snape was dismissed at about 3am, and Dumbledore began to question the remaining three boys.
They told him everything they knew about Remus and his 'furry little problem'. They did not, however, mention that they, themselves, were animgus.
"You showed great courage tonight, Mr Potter," Dumbledore quietly said, leaning his chin on his hands. He looked at James through his half-moon glasses and then shifted his glance to Sirius.
"Whilst your actions, Mr Black, were not so wise," Dumbledore's tone was still calm, but it made Sirius wince and look down to the floor.
"Mr Potter, Mr Pettigrew, you are dismissed," Dumbledore said. Peter and James nodded and walked out, leaving Sirius.
"The moon is setting now, we should go get Remus," James said, as Peter yawned and nodded.
The castle was slowly getting lighter, and they could see out of the windows that the sky was dark blue. They slowly walked down to the Shack, neither of them talking. They took it in turns to yawn, setting the other into a deep yawn as well. It was nearly 5 am, so they found it amazing that they could even stand, let alone walk across the grounds.
When they came close to the shack, they heard sobs echoing through the tunnel. Peter and James glanced at each other, before running towards the door, and rushing in.
Remus was naked, his limbs still locked together in a tight grip. His eyes were screwed shut, and tears were running down his pale cheeks.
"Moony!" Peter gasped and kneeled next to him. James swore under his breath and released Remus from his hold. His limbs fall limp and he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"Wh…why was S….Snape here?" Remus cried, taking the worn cloak that Peter gave him. James sighed, helping Remus up.
"Ask Sirius," James said, anger in his voice. Peter and James helped Remus back up to the castle and to the hospital wing. Remus's bones were stiff and sore, making walking extremely slow.
James and Peter sat by the bed, while Madam Pomfrey made a fuss over Remus. She herded him into a bed, and gave him pain relief potion. However, when she went to give him a dreamless sleep potion, Remus stopped her.
"I want to see Sirius first," he told her.
So they waited. The sun had risen and students could be heard going off for the Christmas holidays. The Marauders were the only Gryffindors staying this year, much to their delight. Peter fell asleep in his chair, and his soft snores echoed gently around the hospital wing. Remus was sitting up in bed, staring into space. James yawned continually.
"Do you hate me?" Remus suddenly asked, so quietly that James thought he had missed heard him. James looked at Remus, and was shocked to see a single tear fall down his pale cheek, that Remus wiped away roughly with his sleeve.
"What?" James asked. Remus turned to him, another tear falling.
"I nearly killed you last night," Remus told him, "How can you even stand to be near me?"
"Don't be silly, Moony," James smiled at him, "I'm not going to stop being your friend over something you had no control over."
He got up and hugged Remus, patting his back.
"You will always be my friend, no matter what,"
Remus smiled as James broke away.
"Thanks," he said, wiping his face with his sleeve again.
Both James and Remus looked up as the hospital wing doors opened. Sirius walked in, looking upset. He got to the end of the bed, and looked up at Remus, not quite reaching his eyes.
"Hey," Sirius said, quietly, "I guess you heard what happened."
"No, actual, James decided to leave the story to you," Remus replied. Sirius winced, and told Remus of his mistake. As the story progressed, Remus's eyes grew wider.
"You…you told him?" Remus whispered in disbelief in his tone. Sirius nodded, looking down at his feet.
There was a long silence, before Remus said, in a hiss,
"Get out!"
Sirius didn't say anything, but slowly walked off, leaving a stunned silence behind him.
James silently watched Remus, who shut his eyes as more tears fall. James put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.
"I trusted him," Remus whispered. James nodded in agreement, not saying a word. Remus shook, and Madam Pomfrey came over to give Remus his needed Dreamless Sleep potion. He no longer had any fight left in him, and was asleep, his face pale and tear stains on his cheeks.
James watched him sleep for a few minutes, before he started to feel sleep overtake him. His head found the side of the bed and darkness surrounded him.
James woke up, after what seemed like two minutes. He felt like he was being watched, so lifted his head.
Dumbledore was standing at the end of Remus's bed, looking at the sleeping boy.
"You would never think such a terrifying beast could be hidden in such an innocent boy," Dumbledore said upon noticing James awakening. James looked at him.
"You're not going to expel Remus, are you Sir?" James asked, trying to see what his headmaster was thinking. Dumbledore didn't reply, but just kept looking at Remus.
"Sir! You can't!" James said, standing up with panic in his eyes, "It's not his fault."
Dumbledore held up a hand, silencing him. Remus stirred at James's yelling, opening his eyes.
"I have no intention of expelling Mr Lupin," Dumbledore said, looking at James, "He is an intelligent student, who is hard-working, kind and thinks of others before himself, he is also one of the bravest students this school has ever seen, Mr Lupin has just as much right as everyone else to be in this school."
Lupin, who was lying on his side, looking at James, said nothing.
"Hard times are coming," Dumbledore said, "People make mistakes, some worse then others, but we need people to trust and love in the troubled times ahead, bear that in mind before you cast Mr Black out forever."
The headmaster then left, leaving the boys to reflect on his words.
Now, here they were, sitting in the quiet room, not quite knowing what to believe. James glared into the fire, while Remus sat, with his knees to his chin, his eyes closed. To their right, the Fat Lady opened and closed again.
"I think Sirius nicked your cloak again," Remus mumbled.
"I know," James sighed, without taking his glance from the fire. There was a short pause before Remus said,
"You do know we can't stay angry at him forever?"
James took in another sigh, this one deeper.
"I know."
About an hour later, the Fat Lady opened and closed again. Again, with no visible force.
"Sirius, we know you're there, so give me back my cloak," James told the force. Sirius appeared and threw the silver fabric at James. In Sirius's arms were three bottles of butterbeer and a variety of sweets and cakes. He handed James and Remus a butterbeer and placed the food on the table in front of them.
"Look," Sirius said, sitting down opposite them, "I know there is no way you would ever trust me again, and you shouldn't, I don't even trust myself anymore, but I just want to know that you don't hate me 'cause you're the only family I have."
James looked at him, opening the bottle. Sirius looked from him to Remus, his eyes showing hurt and pain, and regret.
"Please?" He pleaded. Remus sighed, got up and sat down next to Sirius.
"I could never hate you Sirius," Remus told him. Sirius looked at him, his eyes going moist. He shook his head.
"I'm so sorry, Remus…I've just been so angry lately, you know with my family and everything…and I just needed to take it out on someone….and…and…Snape…," Sirius took a deep breath, "And I know I can't justify my actions…but I'm so sorry."
James looked at him, anger still in his glare, but it softened upon seeing his best friend so close to tears.
"What did Dumbledore say?" He asked.
"He brought McGonagall in," Sirius told them, "She was all ready to expel me, she even offered to pack my bags, but Dumbledore said the worst possible punishment I could receive was having to face you two, and he was right, because now I am so scared that I'm going to lose the only people I ever cared about."
James sighed, and then threw a chocolate frog at him, which hit Sirius in the head.
"How did you end up in Gryffindor?" James asked, "If you're scared so easily?"
"You're not going to lose us anytime soon," Remus laughed, putting an arm around Sirius's shoulders.
"Yeh, and in due time, and a lot more butterbeer and cakes, we could consider forgiving you," James said, with a wink. Sirius smiled, his eyes still moist.
"And we are going to have to glue your mouth shut," Remus told him.
"I solemnly swear I will never tell anyone a thing about your monthly changes, ever again," Sirius said, determination in his grey eyes.
"Good," James and Remus said together.
"Mischief managed?" Sirius asked, holding up his butterbeer bottle. James and Remus looked at each other, before raising their bottles to met Sirius's.
"Mischief Managed," they agreed.