This story is undergoing intensive reconstruction due to several factors some of them being, quality of writing, factual/canon evidence, chronological listings, etc. Your patience is greatly appreciated, and be sure to read through the entire story once this author's note is taken down.
Prologue
"Macnair, I am most pleased."
Indeed, Tom Marvolo Riddle was feeling immensely gratified. He knew his followers doubted him, mostly because what he was doing was so complex, with each move nothing less than an intricate dance in a giant chess game; and also because it was highly dangerous. If one thing went wrong, it could bring the universe crashing down upon them, and already, Lord Voldemort sensed that this timeline was convoluted. His spy, Snape, was supposed to have done something huge, something that would have tipped the war in their favor, but it was already the Potter boy's seventh year; the time frame had long passed.
But no matter. His plan was moving along well.
"Open the door."
Macnair, one of his more foul Death Eaters, inclined his head and extended a grimy hand, opening the heavy, stone door for his master, the Dark Lord. Faster than a cat's blink of an eye, Lord Voldemort's wand shot out of his robes and a red blast of magic exploded from the wand tip. That would have stunned anyone within the small ten by ten cell.
He glided into the cell, and a foul stench hit him so hard that even his twisted human form could detect it. He hissed softly, stepping aside the excretements that littered the bare stone floor, and made his way toward the frozen bundle of flaming red hair and the baby--Harry Potter.
He traced one long, pale finger along the young woman's spine; despite being blasted by an immensely powerful Stunning Charm, Lord Voldemort detected a slight shiver from the woman, Lily Evans. Revulsion: it was not uncommon; even his followers had to struggle to look at him in the eye.
He rose and faced Macnair, "A job well done. But--" Macnair cringed, "But," Lord Voldemort continued, "Why is he not here?"
"My Lord," Macnair's voice quivered, "We are--what I mean to say is, we are--I--we, don't know where he is. He's moving too fast for us."
The Dark Lord remained very still. Finally he extended a long, thin wand and directed it at Macnair, who let out a sob.
Crucio!
January 17th, 1998
Harry is seventeen
Lupin is thirty-seven
Snape is thirty-eight
The rain slapped Harry James Potter's face, and when he looked up, great, black, rolling storm clouds swept over him. Gales pummeled Ron's skinny figure, sweeping him off his feet and into Hermione. The Invisibility Cloak fluttered off and into the wind, finally settling far into the reaches of the Whomping Willow.
"Get off of me Ron!" Hermione cried, but her voice was soon lost in the shrieking fury of the wind. Ron lay on top of her, dazed for a second, but then Harry grabbed Ron by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him off of Hermione.
"The Invisibility Cloak..." Ron's voice was muffled, and grabbing Hermione's hands, he helped her up. They slipped in the mud, stumbling over each other. Finally, Hermione caught a hold of Ron by wrapping her arms around his neck, and she slipped, falling into Ron's chest. This knocked Ron off balance and they were both on the ground again, and even in the rain, Harry could see Hermione blushing furiously.
Harry suppressed the urge to sigh in annoyance and gripped his wand tightly...he had to get the Invisibility Cloak; it was his father's...Ron and Hermione finally got themselves up from the ground, but reluctantly so. Hermione yelled:
"Accio!"
The Invisibility Cloak flew from the grasp of the Whomping Willow and safely into Harry's hand.
"Don't know why we're bothering with the bloody thing anyway," Ron grumbled, "It's monstrous out here; nobody can see us anyway."
"Don't be so daft, Ron," Hermione growled, "They can see us." She pointed in the distance where two dark smudges were against the horizon.
Twenty-seven Years Ago
September 8th, 1971
Snape, James, and Lupin are eleven
Sirius is twelve
James Aaron Potter choked on dust, and his best mate, Sirius Black slapped him on the back.
"Mate, shut up or we're going to get caught."
"Chill," James hissed, but very hoarsely so.
The two boys were lying on their stomachs, Sirius peering from behind James's feet, while James squinted so that he could see through the vents into Filch's office.
"Do you see it?" Sirius whispered.
"No," James shook his head.
"It's there. Check the bottom drawer next to the trophies—I swear to Merlin, man, I saw an Invisibility Cloak from there."
"Sirius," James scowled, "You were probably on acid then. There's nothing there; besides I already have my dad's Invisibility Cloak. Let's bust of this place before I get asthma."
"Ass-what?"
"A respiratory infection."
"Ah!" James and Sirius yelled, and then James: "Who said that? Who said that?"
"Well James, the guy in front of you," Sirius offered, already recovering from the shock.
"Oh...yeah. Hey man," James knocked on the vents, "What are you doing here?"
A sallow looking boy with light brown hair and black circles under his eyes smiled—it was more of a grimace to James and Sirius though.
"Same thing you're doing...only I chose to wait till Filch was on the grounds, and..." He tapped the vent, "Alohomora."
The vent unscrewed from the wall and went flying off, crashing into the opposite wall. Glass tinkered and then fell to the ground.
"Smooth," James nodded.
"Yeah, now get out man," Sirius pushed James out of the tunnel, and he crashed to the floor. Sirius then gracefully leapt from the tunnel and landed on his feet and fingertips like a cat would. Rising up, he swept his long, black hair out of his face and grinned at a very annoyed James and a very confused Remus Lupin.
"What...is he doing?"
"I've found it's best to not question Sirius's antics. So mate, what are you doing in here?"
"Questions later," Remus said nonchalantly, "Filch is due anytime so if you two were planning to do anything, I'd suggest you'd get it done...soon."
The medium-built but slender boy walked to a padlocked, wooden cabinet and muttered a charm under his breath. The locks sizzled and then dropped to the ground, the cabinet doors swinging open. He quickly took a jar full of clear liquid and another with murky, brown stuff floating on top and stuffed it in his robes before James and Sirius could clearly see what it is.
"Replucate." The jars shimmered and then an identical copy of each jar appeared on the table. Remus shoved them back into the cabinet.
"Reparo." The padlocks levitated and swung themselves around the cabinet handles again, sealing themselves where they had been broken.
"I'll see you guys around," Remus smiled shyly at the two dumbfounded boys staring at him.
"Woah, man," Sirius breathed, "That was some serious work there."
James nodded his agreement.
"You're in Gryffindor right?"
The corner of Remus's lip curled up into a smile.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm in Gryffindor."
"Pleasure doing business with you man," Sirius slapped his back, and James smiled, offering friendship.
"Quick," James then hissed to the two other boys, "We really need to get out. Filch is coming."
James tugged on Sirius' sleeve, but Sirius pulled away, and scrambled towards the bottom drawer next to the trophies. Among the trophies, two especially large ones stood out: Special Services to the School trophies. Sirius glanced over them curiously, but shifted his focus to the drawer while James hovered anxiously. Remus simply stood to the door, confused and unsure of whether he should leave or stick with these two guys he had just met.
The drawer unlocked and opened a bit. "Got it," Sirius smirked triumphantly, "There it is. It looks just like yours, James." He grabbed a light, silvery cloak and jammed the drawer shut, but as he attempted to stand up, he tripped over the cloak and landed, sprawled on his face.
"Unh," he groaned.
"Come on, stop fooling around Sirius," James kicked Sirius in the ribs playfully.
"Hey," Sirius breathed, sitting upright, his eyes scanning the special services trophies, "Hey, look at this."
Both James and Remus took this as an invitation.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle. So what? The guy has a funny name."
"No," Remus hissed, startling James and Sirius, "He means the other one."
"Oh." James wiped his glasses:
AARON QUIRINIUS POTTER
"What did your Dad do to get that trophy?" Remus asked.
"No idea." James shrugged.
They suddenly heard a cat meowing, and Sirius scrambled to his feet, swinging the cloak over the three boys. When Remus protested, he shushed them and signaled towards the door where Filch's shadow was now outlined. They watched in horror as the door creaked, edging its way open slowly, ominously.
"Move out when he comes in," James whispered. The other boys nodded.
When Filch entered his office a slow, bubbling rage boiled within him as he when he saw the broken glass—and the missing vent.
"Damn kids..." He growled.
Fifteen Days Later
September 23rd, 1971
Snape, James, and Lupin are eleven
Sirius is twelve
"...and Smokes was looking at me like I was a bloody idiot, so I said 'It's just in the crystal man,' and it really was, but you know," Sirius raised his eyebrows at a group of girls and flipped his collar upwards, "I'm so smooth nobody takes me seriously anyway...so the future shall forever be lost on these wasted minds."
Remus glanced up from his book.
"Sirius," he began slowly and patiently, "We were there. It was Divination. We were all gazing into crystal balls and all of a sudden—
"WHERE'S THE BEEF?" Sirius crowed.
Remus glanced helplessly at James who was now smirking.
"Exactly. See dude, what Remus is trying to say is that nobody is going to take you seriously if you just yell that out loud in the middle of an er—serious atmosphere." James quickly glanced behind him.
"But man, I seriously saw that in the crystal ball...there was this little old lady and she kept saying 'Where's the beef?' over and over...and over, and over...and over—
"We get the point," Remus interjected quickly.
"Yeah, but whatever man. It's just what I saw. Woah, James," Sirius snapped his fingers in front of James's face, and he snapped into focus.
"What is it?" he said shortly.
"Chill," Sirius ordered.
James chilled.
The three boys were on the Hogwarts grounds, leaning against a beech tree near the lake. Other hopeful first years were teetering on the edge, to get a glimpse of the giant squid, and all in all, it was a beautiful, sunny day...so naturally, Remus was cranky.
"Why does it have to be so bright?" he shielded his face, "This tree doesn't have enough foliage—
"Foli-what?"
"Foliage. Leaves."
"Oh," Sirius shrugged and leaned against the trunk, closing his eyes.
"Anyways, the tree doesn't have enough foliage to block out the sun."
"The sun isn't supposed to be blocked out," James pointed out, arms folded across his chest. He glanced behind him again.
"Why are we talking about leaves? Why do I have to spend a beautiful day with you two geeks? The injustice...it's almost as unjust as us having to take Divination when Dumbledore goes and changes it so you don't have to take it until third year--as an ELECTIVE!"
"Shut up Sirius, you're depressing me," James grinned, but then he returned to craning his head around the beech tree trunk.
"There it is again," Remus shook his head.
"There's what?" Sirius opened his eyes.
"James. He keeps looking behind him..." Remus stepped forward and peered in the general direction of where James was looking.
"Hey man," James started to protest.
"Oh, I see," Remus nodded knowingly.
"What!" Sirius threw his arms open in exasperation.
"Those girls," Remus inclined his head where a group of girls were sitting on a slope.
"Girls?" Sirius wrinkled his nose.
"Yes, Sirius, girls—uh never mind," James added quickly.
"Oh, no," Sirius's curiosity was piqued, "Pray tell us James. Do you like girls!"
Remus and James were both silent for a moment.
Finally James spoke, "As opposed to...what?"
"Er, never mind."
"Thought so," Remus remarked, clearly amused.
"Are you sure you're not doing acid?"
"There he goes with the acid thing—what, what I ask you, what is acid?"
"It's a drug commonly affiliated with the Muggles part of the Cultural Revolution taking place now—primarily to protest the war in Vietnam," explained Remus.
"There's a war?"
"A muggle war," James corrected.
"Mates, how do you know—
"I'm half blood, James takes an interest in Muggle current events,and you're ignorant Sirius," Remus sighed, opening his book once again.
"The great and noble house of Black," Sirius hissed under his breath in contempt, "It's not like I could take an interest if I wanted to."
"We're getting off topic here though. James, give Sirius a year or two and he'll be all over the girls. Nothing to fear there. And Sirius, you were asking James about what he was looking at..." Remus prompted Sirius.
"Oh...oh yeah. So, James, you have a crush huh? That's so cute...ickle little Jamie is in love..."
"Good God," James rolled his eyes, and sat down. "It's not that big of a deal..."
"Sure it is," Sirius nodded.
Then suddenly loud screaming erupted from behind the boys' backs.
"SNAPE! PUT ME DOOOOWN! AAAGHHH!"
"What's happening?" James, being startled, leapt to his feet
"Snape—
January 17th, 1998
Harry is seventeen
Lupin is thirty-seven
Snape is thirty-eight
..."They can see us."
Harry squinted, but his glasses were fogging up.
"Impervio," Harry muttered, and his glasses were clear again, but it still didn't do much for visibility. The rain was pouring down too hard and the black figures were too far away.
"Harry..." Ron began, his voice small, "McGonagall said to stay in the castle. For a good reason."
"Oh now Ron decides to start listening to me and McGonagall," Hermione huffed impatiently.
"You guys, shut up," Harry hissed.
"Who are they?" Hermione asked, leaning against a tree for support.
"They're probably Death Eaters," Ron said worriedly.
"Remember what we're out here for," Harry reminded them.
"But Harry..." Hermione's eyes widened, "We've been trying to tell you...this is definitely a trap. You know your parents have been dead for fifteen years now—
"So You-know-who can't have them." Ron interrupted Hermione, ignoring her scolding look, "This is...this is Sirius Black all over again, Harry. You can't trust ideas planted in your head by--" he took a deep breath, "Lord Voldemort."
"They've been dead for fifteen years now," Hermione repeated,clutching Harry's wrists, "And whatever these Death Eaters say won't change that."
Harry shook Hermione off of him, "They're not Death Eaters," he growled at her.
"Harry, mate, those are Death Eaters," Ron shook with cold, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"We did this before!" Harry suddenly yelled, "At the Ministry of Magic--and Death Eaters have been inside of Hogwarts before!"
"But Harry," Hermione protested, "We had more people at both times, we didn't have wands soaked to death, and we don't know what to expect at all. Besides even if what they claim is true, we'd be tampering with things meant to be left untouched."
"I—we don't really have time to debate this," Harry said slowly.
"You're right man," Ron said quickly, "Let's keep walking."
"But—"
"Quiet, Hermione," Both Harry and Ron shushed her.
But as they were trudging along in the heavy rain, Harry noticed Ron's fear still hadn't dissipated.
September 23rd, 1971
Snape, James, and Lupin are eleven
Sirius is twelve
"Snape—he's that bloke with the black hair in Slytherin," James hissed in fury.
"Isn't that pretty much everyone in Slytherin?" Remus glibed.
"SNAPE PUT ME DOWN...AAAAGH!"
"What is he doing?" Remus exclaimed, finally standing up beside James to get a better view, "Who's that screaming?"
"Zzz..."
"Would somebody wake up Sirius?" James rolled his eyes.
"Er..." Remus kicked Sirius.
"Uh...what? What?" Sirius stood up abruptly.
"Never mind," James shook his head. He strode to the base of the slope where a pale looking boy with greasy, black hair and Slytherin robes was holding a mousy looking boy with blond hair plastered on his head by his collar.
"What—did—you—do with my Veritaserum?" Snape roared at the boy.
"I didn' do nothing, I swears—AHHH PUT ME DOWN!"
"Snape put him down!" James roared, dispersing the crowd that had gathered.
Snape released the mousy boy reluctantly and turned to stare at James malevolently. The boy skittered across the ground and hid behind James's robes while Sirius looked down on him with mild contempt and Remus looking perplexed but curiously so.
"And who would you be?" Snape asked James coldly.
"I'm James Potter," James announced smugly so everybody could hear him, pulling his wand out.
Snape sneered, "Pettigrew stole my Veritaserum."
"He didn't take your Veritaserum," Sirius frowned at the boy hiding behind James, "Accio Veritaserum!"
Nothing flew from Pettigrew's pockets or robes. Snape's face turned puce:
"I know he stole it! The conniving thief was—
"You know, Snape," James started casually, fingering his wand threateningly, "We really don't like greasy-haired Slytherins that go around making false accusations about innocent Gryffindors like, er—what's your name?" James glanced down at the boy cowering behind him.
"Peter Pettigrew," he whispered.
"HE STOLE—
"Wingardium Leviosa!" James roared. Snape yelped as his legs kicked up into the air and he levitated into the air.
"Put me down!" he screamed.
A crowd of onlookers started laughing, and Sirius was snickering.
"Let me help you out with that man," he offered, "Petrificus Totalus!"
A beam of red light shot out of his wand at Snape and instantly his body locked up, so he repeatedly hit against the tree limbs like a determined log.
"Haha man, that's so freaking hilarious," Sirius crowed, slapping James on the back. Peter started giggling a high-pitched giggle, but Remus Lupin?
He merely gazed at Snape; their eyes met and Snape's blazed with hatred. Remus Lupin suddenly knew at that moment that his friend, James Potter, had just made a lifelong enemy.
One and One-half Years Later
March 25th, 1973
Lupin is twelve
Snape, James, and Sirius are thirteen
"Wonder where he's off to again," Sirius whispered to James.
Peter Pettigrew, meanwhile, was busy stuffing his face with apple pie and pumpkin juice.
"He said the library," James shrugged.
"Yeah," Sirius took a bite of black and white pudding, "but it seems like he's always taking off sick looking."
"He's always sick looking," Peter offered, cramming a handful of sweets into his mouth.
"And besides," Sirius pointed out, "We caught him in Madam Pomfrey's getting checked up yesterday when he said he was going to be 'at the library'."
Their friend, Remus Lupin, had scurried away from dinner hastily, his reason being that he needed to study at the library for the Charms theoretical review the following day. Sirius Black had experienced this phenomenon for the past year and a half he knew his good friend, Remus, and now he was getting the feeling there was something too clockwork about it. Too planned, too much of a deadline set for Remus.
Evening had already fallen, and James was asking a pretty, red-headed girl with brilliant green eyes in a cheeky tone:
"Hey Evans, I'm failing in Astronomy..."
"What a surprise," she snapped.
"...and the sky looks awfully pretty tonight. What say you we go outside after lunch and then up to the Astronomy tower?"
"Sorry, but I have to help my roommates shampoo our carpet." The girl flipped her hair and then walked away from the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
Sirius, who had been observing the whole thing, started sniggering uncontrollably.
"Shut up," James's face turned slightly pink.
"Aw, Jamie," Sirius shook his head, "I didn't know you had a thing for Lily Evans."
"So what if I do," James commented nonchalantly, shoving another spoonful of black pudding into his mouth.
Sirius decided to let it go. Besides, he had another bone to pick with James, so to speak, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to bring it up at the Great Hall. Sirius felt vulnerable sharing his theories and assumptions with anyone except for James; he had a reputation for carelessness--recklessness more like, he knew Remus would interject if he could hear Sirius' thoughts--and delving into serious topics in public wouldn't do his image justice. Speaking of which...there was a hair in Sirius' eyelash. He flipped his hair out of his way slightly, and...
Sigh.
Right on cue. The girl who had sighed was also really pretty; the kind of girl that wouldn't have looked at Sirius twice in his first year. Sirius was beginning to think that growing his hair out a bit was probably the best idea he'd ever had. Poor Jamie--if he ever attempted to grow his hair it'd ended up looking like he got electrocuted.
"I--uh--what are you guys going to do after dinner?" Peter's eyes widened in anticipation.
"Huh? Oh. I was thinking I could check out some Transfiguration books--supplementary reading you know; McGonagall's been after me ever since I transformed a porcupine to a perfect satin pillow. She kept going on about how it was O.W.L. level and stuff, heh heh," James chuckled to himself, obviously completely lost to his glory-inflated head. Sirius ignored him.
It was getting darker, and the Great Hall seemed more empty now that so many students had begun to filter out and to their respective locations. Peter had finally long given up waiting for James to finish eating, but Sirius, being a bit more patient with James' culinary quirks, persisted.
"Stop looking at me when I eat. I can't concentrate," James ordered.
"How come you're not built like Goyle when you eat like a giant?" Sirius raised his eyebrows at the dismembered turkey leg James was gnawing on.
"Your folks know Mr. Goyle? Nasty bloke that one is--he ragged on my dad when he was a first year here." James took a huge gulp of pumpkin juice as the last group of girls departed--all second years and all following a particular red-headed girl with pretty, green eyes. "Done," he announced, "Time to go, mate."
"You're a bit transparent James. But that's what I wanted to talk to you about--
"You wanted to talk to me?" The boys were now making their way towards a staircase that would lead to the library, "About what? My transparency?"
"No. Two things: Remus and your dad."
"My dad?"
"Just listen up would you?"
They pushed the worn, heavy door open, creeping along the musty shelf that ran parallel to the entrance. In Sirius' opinion, it was pretty poor architectural planning on the staff's behalf since Madam Pince woudn't be able to see who had entered the library until they had reached the end of the shelf.
"Shh," James shushed Sirius, "I don't want her to see me."
"Why? Can't we just sit down; this is going to take a while anyway."
"Fine. Stay here; I'm going to get what I need, and then we'll go to this place I found. It's absolutely brilliant; you'll love it, man."
A few moments later, Sirius heard a shrieking sound while he was lounging against the entrance shelf. Startled, he straightened himself and was quite astonished to see James hurtling towards him, face covered by his robe sleeve, a heavy, old-looking book under the other sleeve.
"JAMES POTTER! I KNOW THAT'S YOU, DON'T BOTHER COVERING--
"Go, go, go!" James yelled, disguising his voice to be deeper for incognito purposes.
Sirius swore as they ran out of the library, a furious Madam Pince temporarily running after them before giving up, "You could've warned me, Potter!"
"Just keep moving would you? Up here--take a right--a right Sirius--SIRIUS that's your left! Damn if I know how you managed to score perfectly on all your exams but you don't know your right from left--aha." James broke off, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Where are we and why did you feel compelled to pinch a library book?"
"Restricted," James offered as if that was enough explanation, "Now go into here."
"That stone wall--
"Just go." James pushed Sirius into the wall; unfortunately, Sirius hit his head and started howling:
"BOLLOCKS! WHAT WAS THAT--
"Hmm. Try a bit further to your left--oh wait, I forgot; you don't know--
"Try this you great prat," Sirius shoved James into the wall on his right.
To his surprise, James disappeared. Oh shit, what did he do--but then James' hand came flying out and grabbed Sirius' shirtfront, pulling him into the wall.
"Woah," Sirius breathed. "This isn't very impressive for a room hidden by a great big stone wall."
They were inside a moderately sized room, with several plump and comfortable beanbags, and a coffee table with glasses of water resting on its surface. The walls were decorated with paintings of pleasant horticultural imagery, but were otherwise bare.
"It changes depending on what your needs are. I guess you don't need very much, Sirius," James made a face.
"Sit down." Sirius pushed James into a beanbag before settling into one of his own.
"First topic. Remus. I've been keeping track of his disappearances and his regular sicknesses. The disappearances are always just before evening, last a few days, and after a disappearance, he's always really sick for a few days. And look at this--" Sirius opened his schoolbag, pulling out his Astronomy textbook and crumpled pieces of parchment with scribbling on them fell out from the pages. He collected them and slapped them onto James' lap.
"And...what is the meaning of this?"
"Well, this--" Sirius pointed at the most crumpled one, "Is the log of disappearances I've been keeping. And the other one is a moon phase chart."
James was silent. He looked up at Sirius and slowly blinked.
"A moon phase chart, Sirius? I don't remember this being assigned in Astronomy."
"It wasn't. I did this on my own."
"This must be serious then," James mused, examining the charts, "But I don't--I don't see how Remus' disappearances could be--could be...hmm..." James was now thoroughly engrossed.
"Need some help?" Sirius smirked.
"Er--well, it would be nice if you could explain yourself Sirius."
"All right," Sirius scooted his beanbag closer to James, his tone suddenly crisper and more business-like. "Remus' last disappearence was so he could visit his great-aunt Millie who mysteriously came down with food poisoning and simply could not be devoid of her ickle Remus' company. This took place from March seventeenth to the twenty-first." Sirius pointed at the moon chart. "Full moon."
"Then you'll see here that the month before, from February fifteenth to the nineteenth, Remus had to leave, his excuse being that he was invited to attend a lecture abroad with his father, with special permission from Dumbledore."
James examined the moon chart, "There was a full moon for those five days." He peered at Sirius, frowning suspiciously, "Sirius, please tell me you're not actually insinuating what I think you're insinuating."
"It goes on like that forever," Sirius smacked his beanbag for emphasize, expression triumphant, "We got ourselves a--
"Don't say it."
"A--
"I said don't say it. You're barking mad, Dumbledore wouldn't let one in Hogwarts."
"He would if it was Remus."
"Doesn't matter who it is; once a month, they become monsters, and that's the end of it."
"So you admit he might be a werewolf?"
"I'm not admitting anything!" James snapped, "We shouldn't be lurking around like this behind his back anyway. If you have your suspicions Sirius, then talk to him."
"James, I will. But look at it; really look at it."
"Fine." James sighed and turned to the charts spread out on his lap. He set and smoothed them over the coffee table, taking a gulp of the water that had been magically provided for them before finally focusing his full attention to the meticulously inscribed charts, unusal for Sirius.
Sirius' Astronomical Lunar Chart for the Years 1972-1973 (Full Only)
Sept. 21 - 25 '72
Oct. 20 - 24 '72
Nov. 19 - 23 '72
Dec. 18 - 22 '72
Jan. 17 - 21 '73
Feb. 15 -19 '73
Mar. 17 - 21 '73
Sirius' Surveillance of Remus Lupin Chart (it was here that James let out a derisive snort)
Disapp. 5 d. Sept. 21 - 25 '72 ex. : family ferret swallowed by hippogriff
Infirmary, breakf. Sept. 26--- after dinner, 27-- Infirm. free period
Disapp. 5 d. Oct. 20 -24 '72 ex. : Halloween visit to great-aunt Millie
Infirm., after breakf. Oct. 25 '72-- dinner, 26-- Infirm. free period
Disapp. 5 d. Nov. 19 -23 '72 ex. : ask James
Infirm. lunch Nov. 24
Disapp. 5 d. Dec. 18 - 22 '72 ex. : X-mas visit, mother hospitalized...for what?
Infirm. before breakf. (thought he would sneak out) Dec. 24-- Infirm. breakf. Dec. 25 '72
James had actually remembered this isolated incident. The three of them had been staying at Hogwarts for the holidays--Peter had gone home to visit his folks--but Remus had disappeared for most of that week, and Sirius caught him sneaking out of bed at the crack of dawn. Remus relented, admitting he wasn't feeling well, but Sirius had made a bigger deal out of it than James thought was appropriate. Now he knew why; Sirius had been closely monitoring his friend's absences, and for Remus to try and sneak out meant an unrecorded absence, which would undoubtedly piss Sirius off.
Disapp. 5 d. Jan. 17 - 21 '73 ex. : needed to be present for home security charm (?)
Infirm. breakf. Jan 22-- Infirm. after dinner, 22-- Infirm. before breakf. 23, lunch 23, dinner 23, breakf. 24 (first full moon of new year rougher on werewolves?) v.b. (very bad)
Disapp. 5 d. Feb. 15 - 19 '73 ex. : Aunt Millie depressed--no sweetheart > V. Day...excuses increasingly flaccid/then some lecture thing? With father
Infirm. lunch Feb. 20 (v.g.)
It had gotten to the point where Sirius was starting to become as acquainted as Remus was with the intensity of his transformations--no, that would mean Remus was a werewolf.
Disapp. 5 d. Mar. 19 - 23 '73 ex. : Aunt Millie got food poisoning--perhaps she is possibly cursed with random afflictions? Why the hell does Remus care anyway
Infirm. after breakf. 24 (not quite as g.)
"And as you'll notice, Remus has paid the infirmary another visit during dinner as of this evening," Sirius scrawled onto the surveillance chart, "of--the--twenty--fifth. There you go; and now Jamie, those exact dates coincide with the full moon, and for a few days after his return, Remus has to see Pomfrey because he's still weak from the transformation!"
It was true, James thought, Sirius' records were meticulous--James could even remember some of them--and there were far too many coincidences.
"I still have to ask you about your dad..." Sirius was still talking, "About that special services thing because I--
"Later, Sirius. We'll talk about this with Remus in the morning."
To the untrained ear, James sounded dismissive, but Sirius knew from the slightly widening of his best friend's eyes, the slight arching of the left brow...there was no doubt about it; James Potter was impressed--and grateful.
Lunar phases for 1800-2100 can be found at http/tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html