August 8, 1998
James Potter was laying on a park bench, staring up at the sky. He had that grin he always got when he was about to propose something absolutely devilish, something that would probably upset their parents, if they found out. It was a grin that always filled Sirius with a mixture of fear and excitement, an internal war between his two halves, fighting against being like his parents.
"Well, go on, then," Sirius said and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Hmm?" Remus said, not looking up from where he was seated on the grass, his nose in a book.
Peter glanced between Sirius and James and looked anxious.
"You can't just force it out, mate. It's not ready yet," James answered.
"The suspense will kill me," Sirius observed then sighed.
Sirius wanted to ask Remus about the book he was reading. No, actually, Sirius was prepared to talk about anything Remus Lupin wanted to. He would listen to Remus recite the periodic table of elements if he wanted.
"Very well, lads," James said, sitting up and startling Sirius out thoughts of Remus.
James rubbed his dark hands together as Remus grunted and closed his book, then walked over to join Sirius and Peter. Sirius smiled at James in anticipation.
"How would you lot like to go on a short road trip?" James said.
"None of us can drive or owns a car. You've been watching too many American movies," Remus said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"I mean by bus, of course. I'd like to go over to Uppermill and pay a visit to a mutual acquaintance of ours," James said.
"Who do we even know that lives in Uppermill?" Peter asked, sounding confused.
"No one, as far as I know. But I have it on good authority that one Severus Snape is staying there with family over the summer," James said.
Sirius grinned and slid his hands into his trouser pockets then kicked a small pebble with glee.
"What do you have in mind once we are there?" Remus asked, sounding pensive but not all together against the idea.
"Give him a right good scare!" James said and stood up from the bench, looking very proud of himself.
"Would serve the bloody little wanker right," Sirius said.
"Isn't going out to Uppermill a bit extreme? And how will we even know where to find him?" Remus said sceptically.
James shrugged.
"Only two hours there and back. I don't know where he's staying in Uppermill but what I do know is that he like to skulk about the River Tame," James said.
"But how do you know that?" Remus asked.
"A friend. Well… no. Not a friend. He's this bloke that's the son of the cousins of friends of my parents. We met and exchanged email addresses last summer. He apparently met Snape on accident. When he mentioned our school, Ludo couldn't help but mention it to me. He didn't care for Snape much, if you can believe it," James said.
"Shocking," Sirius said.
"Quite. Anyhow, Remus has told me that Snape has a particular fear," James replied.
Sirius looked at Remus, whose mouth was hanging agape.
"You can't be serious!" Remus said, more surprise than anger.
"No, he is!" James said pointing at Sirius who groaned and looked down at the ground.
Remus huffed in annoyance while James laughed.
"All right, all right. Yes, I do mean what I think you mean," James said.
"What?" Peter asked.
Remus stepped forward, standing next to James and said, "Lily told me that Snape has a fear of… werewolves."
"Werewolves? Ridiculous. There aren't even any wolves in Great Britain," Sirius said with a shrug.
Sirius looked at Remus's face, at the scar that ran across his face in a diagonal line. It had been a wolfdog that had done that to him. Remus had told him the terrible story of his kidnapping. He knew Remus was sensitive about the scar. He no doubt thought it made him ugly. Sirius thought Remus was beautiful and his scar only made Sirius feel sad.
"Well, not as such. We killed them all, didn't we? But that doesn't change the fact that Snape believes in them and he always notices the full moon. Guess what tonight is?" James said, looking around at his friends with a smile.
"And we'll do what? Go in the woods and howl to spook him? Seems a waste of a trip," Sirius said.
"Don't be ridiculous. My parents have an old werewolf costume. Used to scare the piss out of me!" James said.
"And you're going to ask to borrow it?" Sirius asked.
"Are you mad? Of course not. I'm going to nick it. Well, borrow it. I'll put it back… probably," James said then shrugged.
An older lady came by with her dog and all four boys went silent for a moment, mutually recognizing that discussion of such mischief should be kept as private as possible.
Sirius thought James's parents were pretty amazing. Seemed a small shame to ruin their property, but he supposed it was for a good cause. Snape's bullying had gone unanswered for far too long. Sirius had heard the things he used to say about Remus. He had to admit, being gay himself, that he wouldn't have wanted to undergo the homophobia Snape had slung at Remus.
Sirius looked over at Remus again. Remus was staring off into the trees. His honey brown hair was fluttering lightly in the breeze. His brown eyes looked rich in the sunlight. His tongue wet his full lip then pressed them together. Sirius could just die thinking of what those lips would feel like.
The lady was finally gone and Sirius asked, "Well, who is going to wear the costume?"
"I think it has to be Remus. You and I are both too tall and Peter is too short," James said.
"I don't think I'd make a very good werewolf, if we're being honest," Peter said with a frown.
Sirius patted Peter on the shoulder, reassuringly. Remus was burying his hands in his face and shaking his head.
"Don't tell me you won't do it, Remus," James said.
Remus groaned and removed his hands from his face.
"No, I'll do it. I can't say that he doesn't deserve it," Remus said and made a small smile.
"Excellent. If we're all in agreement, we can discuss my plan in greater detail," James said and the other boys gathered close around him, Sirius feeling grateful that the park was empty for the moment.
Sirius sat next to Remus on the bus from Manchester to Uppermill. The seats weren't very large and their thighs were forced to touch in a way that made Sirius feeling excited and warm, some parts of him more than others, to his embarrassment. Remus spent much of the time gazing out the window, his pale finger tips caressing his chin, absentmindedly
"Remus?" Sirius said, quietly.
Remus turned to Sirius and raised an eyebrow.
"I just wanted to say… I'm sorry about how Snape treated you… the terrible things he said about you," Sirius said.
Remus licked his lips then frowned.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. And anyway, he wasn't wrong about me," Remus said.
"Of course he was!" Sirius said.
Remus looked very austerely at Sirius and said, "No, he wasn't. He wasn't wrong."
Sirius stared at wonder at Remus. Remus was really gay?
"You're gay?" Sirius whispered, afraid someone might hear them.
Remus nodded, looking tense now. Sirius was filled with elation, attraction and fear. He had believed his attraction to Remus was pure folly. As Remus looked forward to the front of the bus, Sirius traced the profile of Remus's soft, sensual features and realised it still might be folly. But perhaps, he could at least place just a little bit of bait on the hook.
"Me too," Sirius admitted.
Remus's face quickly turned and looked at Sirius in a mixture of shock and wonder.
"You are?" Remus asked.
"Definitely," Sirius said with a smile.
"Does James know?" Remus asked.
Sirius furrowed his brow and said, "He's my best friend. We're like brothers. Of course, he knows."
Remus collapsed against the back of his seat, seeming amazed. Sirius smiled, feeling a great sense of relief and comfort. Neither of them said anything for the rest of the trip and Sirius's mind was filled with glee at the thought of Remus having a chance to pay Snape back.
Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were crouched in the brush and trees watching Severus Snape kneeling in front of the River Tame in Uppermill at night. They were as far as away as they could get while still keeping him in their sights. There were houses on either side of the river not too far away. Sirius supposed where Snape was staying must be somewhere nearby.
"What is he even doing?" Sirius asked.
"Being a total git," James interjected.
"Right," Sirius said.
"Remus could just run up and push him in!" Peter said.
"That'd be too easy," Sirius said.
"Are you ready, Remus?" James asked.
"Probably not," Remus answered, dryly.
"You'll be great!" James said.
Remus sighed from within the costume. The costume hadn't looked exactly as impressive as James had promised but Sirius had to admit that if he weren't expecting it, he might be spooked by it in the dark.
Remus slowly walked out of the brush, making low growls and grunts, just like James had instructed him to do. Snape didn't notice anything at first. Then finally, he glanced around uncomfortably, but didn't seem to see Remus yet.
Snape must've been content that he was just imagining things, because he stopped seeming restless and put his focus back wherever it had been before. At this point, Remus began to charge at Snape and when he was only a few meters away he let out a powerful howl. Snape stood up and whipped around and let out his own howl of sheer terror. His arms flailed and he stumbled back, then tripped and fell into the river with a big splash.
"Shit!" Remus shouted and started to run.
The boys all laughed as they waited for Remus to catch up with them, before running as fast as they could to the bus stop. If all went to plan they wouldn't have long to wait for the next bus back to Manchester.
Once they were gone, Snape would have no way of knowing or proving that they had been the culprits. And it was clearly much too dark to see any of them and Remus had been in a costume. If he were to accuse them they could just say he was being paranoid. Oh, this had been a brilliant plan on James's part, Sirius wagered as they dashed back to the bus stop.
By midnight Sirius was safely back in Manchester, in his bedroom. At a minute past midnight the phone rang. Sirius quickly answered it, hoping it hadn't woke his parents.
"Hello?" Sirius said.
"It's me," Remus said, sounding downtrodden.
"What's the matter?" Sirius asked.
"It's Lily. She's not happy with us," Remus said.
"Why on Earth did you tell her?" Sirius said, exasperated.
"I didn't. Snape did," Remus said and Sirius suddenly felt his chest tightening.
"Snape did?"
"Yes. Apparently, he was badly injured. Cut himself badly on a rock or something sharp in the river. He nearly drown. Local man heard all the noise and came to check it out. Managed to save him."
Sirius pulled the phone away from his ear and placed the receiver on his chest, feeling numb.
"Sirius?" Remus's voice said, distant and muffled.
Sirius picked the phone back up and placed it back to his ear.
"Sorry," Sirius said.
"We… we could have killed him, Sirius. We very nearly did," Remus said.
Sirius didn't know what to say. Snape was an insufferable prick and a bully but Sirius didn't want to be responsible for murdering someone, even accidentally.
"We'll all have a sit down with James. We went too far this time. A prank isn't funny if someone dies," Sirius said.
"I'm glad you agree. I was worried you might argue," Remus said.
Sirius wondered if he would've ignored someone other than Remus and he had to admit that he would do nearly anything for Remus if he only asked. But in this case, Sirius felt confident that their values were consistent: murder was wrong, even if the victim is a total git.
"All right, Sirius. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Sleep well," Remus said.
"Good night," Sirius said, then he heard the phone click and the dial tone come on.