A.N.: So…I'm back! Writing Harry Potter stuff! XD Bet no one saw THAT coming. This is a bit unusual for me, and I'm still trying to get into the swing of it. Hope it's all right. I actually agonized over the summary. Don't even get me started. Title means 'werewolf' in Latin. I was really surprised and excited that the word werewolf was even in my Latin dictionary at all XD.
Disclaimer: I always forget to do these, but it seems more important when you're writing about Harry Potter. So yeah, I don't own these characters/places/etc. JK Rowling does. That's why she is one of the richest people in the world, and I am not.
One January afternoon in third year, just after Christmas holidays, Sirius Black and James Potter found themselves in a most unlikely place—the library. There was nothing to study for, as classes still hadn't resumed, and neither one could be really described as anything remotely related to the word 'studious,' anyway, but despite this, Hogwarts' resident troublemakers were seated quietly in a corner of the library, each poring over a book.
Neighboring students eyed them warily. It was an unusual and thing to see James and Sirius in the library, unless there was going to be an explosion or the Slytherins were about to be sprayed with something goopy, neon-colored, and extremely foul-smelling. Even rarer were their trips made to the library without the company of Peter Pettigrew, whose admiration for the two was just a hair shy of completely revolting, or Remus Lupin, the only one of their little group who spent time with books for the sheer enjoyment of it.
But James and Sirius did not appear to be experiencing any enjoyment. They'd been almost perfectly solemn and silent since they arrived—much to the relief of the other students, as pranking was usually prefaced by a good deal of snickering and other equally ominous noises.
"You know," Sirius said at last, finally breaking their silence as he idly flipped through the pages of an enormous and ancient-looking textbook. "I've been thinking about something."
"Is it about why in God's name we're in the library when we are neither pulling off a prank nor studying, even though we never study for anything anyway?" James replied, not looking up from what he was reading—the library's extremely worn copy of 'Quidditch Through the Ages.' "Because if it is, I'd really like to know. There are about a million other, much better things I could be doing right now."
"Like being turned down by Evans for the eightieth time this year?" Sirius replied, sounding very unimpressed. "Though if she beats you to a pulp like she did last time, maybe it would be a better use of your time."
"She's just playing hard to get. Eventually she'll come around and acknowledge the strong feelings she has for me."
"I think the only strong feeling she has for you is nausea."
"And yet," James said, finally looking up from his book so he could fix his friend with an annoyed glare, "I'd rather be with her, belligerent and nauseated though she may be, than stuck in the library with you for no apparent reason."
Sirius tried to look wounded, but a smirk appeared instead. James was rather amusing when he was trying to be threatening. "Fine. I dragged you here because I wanted to read something. That's what people do in libraries, you know. That's what you're doing."
"Against my will."
"Like you haven't got that book memorized by now," Sirius said, sounding even more unimpressed than before. James obsession with Quidditch—and, therefore, that book—was hardly a secret. "Besides, you can quit whining, as I have found what I came here to read, and we can leave in a matter of moments. Satisfied?"
James snorted and went back to reading.
Sirius snorted back and pulled the book into his lap, precariously balancing on two legs of his rather rickety chair.
A few minutes passed, the silence only broken by the occasional sneeze or hushed snippets of conversation. Finally, Sirius snapped the book closed with an air of finality and set it back on the table, rocking a bit in his chair.
"So," Sirius said in a would-be casual tone, "Do you reckon Remus is a werewolf?"
"What?!" James spluttered, almost falling out of his equally dangerously perched chair, his book falling unceremoniously on the floor. "What're you—…what?!"
Madame Pince's loud 'Shhh!' went unnoticed.
"A werewolf?" he continued in the same slightly hysterical voice that echoed off the bookshelves. "Are you completely— I mean why would you—"
"Mr. Potter!" Madame Pince spat angrily from across the room, while several studying Ravenclaws glared. "If you cannot control the volume of your voice I will have to ask you to leave!"
James all but ignored her, and turned back to Sirius, poised to carry on with his rant, but he was abruptly cut off.
"Bloody hell, James!" Sirius hissed, punching James hard in the arm and looking around warily. "Say it loud enough for the whole school to hear, why don't you?"
"Well sorry," James said, clearly not meaning it. "But you do know that's absolutely mad, don't you?"
"It's not mad at all," he replied, in that calm, 'I-know-something-you-don't' sort of way that was infuriating at the best of times.
"Care to enlighten me then?"
"Gladly, but first I have to check this book out, so we can step outside and no one will have to overhear you raving like a lunatic."
"Fine," James grumbled, abandoning 'Quidditch Through the Ages' and storming out of the library. The library-dwellers looked relieved to see him go.
Once they made it to the grounds—Sirius had insisted, for privacy's sake, no matter how James complained about the cold— and began walking by the lake, James decided to speak up again.
He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, having calmed down from his previous outburst. "So about this, er… this Remus thing. I mean, a werewolf? You can't be serious."
Sirius smirked, as he always did when given that phrase. "Well, of course I'm s—"
"Oh save it," James said, holding up a hand impatiently. "That joke got old about ten minutes into first year."
Sirius pouted, but continued on. "Anyway yes, I am serious, as always. It makes perfect sense. And don't," he continued as James went to open his mouth again, "Don't argue with me until you hear me out."
James huffed, but shut up. "Go on then. Dazzle me with your logic."
"Okay, well, haven't you noticed that he only gets 'sick' exactly once a month?"
"And that automatically makes him a werewolf?"
"…Well either that or he's a woman."
James made a strange, choking noise.
"I mean I suppose hecould be a woman," Sirius continued thoughtfully. "Haven't got much evidence to the contrary, really…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "But no, I think it's probably more likely that he's a werewolf."
"You're mental."
"Yes. But I'm also right, so feel free to stop looking so skeptical."
"Not likely."
"Whatever! But haven't—haven't you noticed that he's got scars and scratches all over his arms all the time?"
"So've we!" James argued, sounding rather proud that he had a comeback that was a bit more valid than implying that Remus was female.
"Well yeah, but they're from Quidditch, which Remus doesn't play, and other general mayhem we create or become involved in, which Remus tries very hard to stay away from," Sirius explained, and James looked sour over having his reasoning shot down so quickly. "Besides, it's not just that. You know how he'll never take his shirt off in front of anyone?"
"Not really, sorry. I don't pay that much attention to when or where Remus, or any bloke, for that matter, undresses. I am a man after all," James said haughtily, looking less like a man and more like a boy than ever.
"Yes, I'd forgotten what an extraordinary example of masculinity you were," Sirius commented dryly. "It's a wonder Evans can resist you, what with the skinny arms and pasty complexion and all…"
James tried to look threatening again. Sirius laughed. James tried to look morethreatening. Sirius laughed harder.
James growled. "Did you have a point?"
"Yes, and I'd've made it by now if you could shut up for two seconds. I'm pretty sure Remus is hiding a werewolf bite," James rolled his eyes, but Sirius ignored him. "I've seen it once, when he was fixing his tie and his collar opened some. He's got a big scar on his shoulder," he said matter-of-factly. "I've read that werewolves often go for the jugular."
"That's not the jugular."
"They often miss."
"You sound daft, do you know that?"
"Just—" Sirius said, at last sounding frustrated by his friend's skepticism. "Just—here," He shoved the giant textbook into James' hands. "Read this and then tell me if you think I'm daft."
"This," James replied, sounding more disbelieving than ever. "You want me to readthis?" He examined the cover, which was badly beaten up and faded, but the word "lycanthropy" and an illustration of the full moon were just barely visible. "Honestly, Sirius, what makes you think you can believe what you read in here? You know most of these old books about dark creatures are usually nothing but out-dated, intolerant rubbish."
"This is the only book I found about werewolves that doesn't focus on how they should be tagged or kept locked up at the Ministry or what kind of silver is most effective for poisoning them," he said, somewhat relieved that James was finally listening. "It actually, if I'm not mistaken, was written by a werewolf. Y'know, to counter all the nonsense that's out there." Sirius raised an eyebrow, daring James to find a hole in his logic.
"…Fine," James conceded, after a few moments of intense staring. "I'll read it. But if I don't agree with you, you'd better just drop it, all right?"
"Fair enough," Sirius agreed, and they shook on it. "But Peter and Remus are coming back this afternoon—not a word to either of them, got it?"
"Well, obviously," James scoffed. "What do I look like, an idiot or something?"
Sirius gave James a shove, causing him to stumble comically and nearly fall into the lake.
"Yeah, most of the time."
A.N.: So there's the first little part for you. More like a prologue than anything else, really.
Please leave reviews!
They are much needed nourishment for any author :P This has been a new and scary experience for me and I need the encouragement XD I have other parts written up, but have become a failure at writing things in order. If this is well received I will stop being weird and actually write the next part, as opposed to half-writing about three other parts, which gets me nowhere.
Hope everyone enjoyed: )
