Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and different situations created by JK Rowling! No money is being made, No types of infringement are intended!
James watched as Remus entered the room… even though the full moon was six days away he had that pale complexion and pained nauseous look that was usually attributed to the night before. "What's wrong mate?" James asked, "Why do you look like shit this early?"
"Just Snivellus being annoying, apparently I'm a suitable target for his tricks when you're not unwary in the corridor." Remus sighed, worn out by the closeness of the full moon and by the prank of Snape's which had this time been a boggart.
"Okay… but you've had many tricks played on you…and you usually just look scared out of your mind for an hour or two… right now you look like your 'Furry Problem' is tomorrow"
"Prongs, you try being made to face a Boggart in a shortcut out of class when you're a werewolf and then tell me how it feels. It took half my power to stay human while I did ridikulus."
"Well is this going to affect what happens in a couple of days?" James asked.
"God, I hope not, I've never faced a boggart unknowingly this close to a full moon. Perhaps just in case you guys should stay away this time though." Remus looked down hearted as he made the suggestion, but it was more important to keep his friends safe than make his condition easier to bare.
"And let you see what happens by yourself," James said with a grin. "Never!"
"Better that I see what happens by myself than you or Padfoot or even Wormtail get hurt." He was serious as he faced James, but was obviously reluctant to transform without his friends nearby.
"Eh, you're just tellin' me that to try and scare us off… But we may want to leave Wormtail… He's very clumsy." James said, daring Remus to say otherwise.
"True, he's also you're way under the whomping willow since you and Padfoot don't tend to use magic on your way to the shrieking shack." Remus smirked, although he felt a little bad about insulting the rat behind his back.
"What would happen if you met another boggart before you change this month?" James asked, curious to the results.
"Well if I didn't know I was going to run into one I'd likely be made to transform and terrorise the school, not caring who tried to stop me, unless as usual they weren't in human form, I guess." Remus answered before spotting a mischievous spark in James's eyes, "No Prongs, Don't suggest it."
"I wouldn't dream of it," James said with a smirk… "Now what are we going to do to Snivellus to get back at him? Or are you already getting to that rehabilitating thingy-ma-whatever you call it where you can barely move because your insides are on fire or something?" James asked.
"Fool I'm getting back to my normal self, or just about. Hmm, I don't know how to get Snivellus back, but I bet Padfoot has some extreme ideas we can tone down a little to get him back. Where is he anyway?"
"No idea, most likely snogging some poor girl."
Remus grinned, "Who is his choice for this week I wonder? Another friend of Lily's perhaps?"
"I hope not… Evans hates me enough already… it'd be a miracle if she even talks to me after last week."
"What could you have done to stop her talking to you I wonder." Remus elbowed James, "Apart from pranking the guy she thought was her best friend and being the cause for Snivellus calling her a 'you-know-what'. Or has there been more annoyance caused by you that I don't know about?"
There are probably loads more," James said.
"Oh, I just remembered, Lily hasn't actually spoken to the slimy git since, however much he's tried, nor has she told me off for mentioning you or Sirius during our prefect duty at all, when she usually does at the mention of one of your pranks." Remus smiled as he watched James absorb his words.
"Is that good or bad?" James asked.
"Probably good because it either a) means she's taking an interest in you, and is making sure to be fair, and accept me talking about Sirius too, although you two rarely do anything without each other, or b) means she's too upset by the loss of her best friend to care, in which case you can be the one to cheer her up and get her to fall in love with you that way." Remus had an idea that these might both be wrong but hid it from James very well.
"You are starting to be quite the planner Moony," James said with a smile. "I'll have to try that."
Remus rolled his eyes. "I've always been a planner, but just not the one to plan pranks, and you always go to Padfoot for help with Lily, after all he is the one with a new girlfriend most weeks."
"I wouldn't call them girlfriends… just his temp. Kissing partner," James said, pointing out that they never lasted long at all.
"Whatever you want to call them Prongs, my point is his ideas work for getting a girl for a short amount of time, and only on girls who judge on looks and has never had someone that they care about even just as a friend, like Lily cared about Snivellus. You can't win Lily with those techniques." Remus explained, hoping what he said made sense to James.
"Ok… so I'll come to you now, and you may rest up so you might not be able to miss any extra days this time. That boggart really took its toll on you."
Remus hit James on the arm, "Whatever, I'll be fine, look who Padfoot has brought back this time." Remus nodded towards the door, where Sirius had just entered with a dark haired girl.
"Sirius… can you come with me for a sec?" James asked, "And Remus... upstairs NOW!" He said sternly once again to Sirius James said, " Snivellus caught Moony off guard with a boggart and somehow he says it triggered "you-know-what" and he looks like shit already… keep her OUT of the room… and the faster she's gone the better… we need to sort this whole thing with Moony."
"Prongs, Stop it, I've told you I'm fine, I'm not going to transform, Just apparently look like rubbish for a few days extra." Remus snapped. "But Padfoot I agree, get her out of here, but do me a favour and don't go too extreme." He added, leaving the room.
"Sure Prongs, let's talk, and girl, you heard the boys, I think you need to leave." Sirius said, pushing the girl he was with out of the room again.
"Wait! Sirius what are you doing?! No! You PROMISED me!" She protested as he pushed her out the door.
"Promises are broken the instant friends are in need. You saw my friend unwell, get out of the room, NOW!" Sirius growled the last word, scaring her enough that she couldn't get out of there fast enough. "Now I've got her out, what are we planning Prongs? Destruction? Embarrassment? Or a bit of both?"
"Well… we've gotta figure out if it started BEFORE the boggart and was just sped up by it… or if it really was the trigger, Moony… were you tired more than usual this morning?" He asked.
"Prongs, you just sent him up to bed, and now you want to talk to him about his tiredness and the boggart?" Sirius muttered.
Remus just looked at him. "We were up half the night plotting, so yes I was more tired than usual, but definitely not in the furry little problem way."
"Sirius… if I really started talking about that with YOUR 'friend' here… how would she react… and Moony… are you sure?" He asked.
Remus pulled a face, "Someone call Lily in. This dissecting why I'm unwell is getting annoying. No I'm not sure, what is it you want me to say James? That we need to check our moon charts to ensure it's not too soon, or that we need to go and talk to Dumbledore about whether a blue moon makes my transformation affect me sooner than just the full moon? Why don't you tell me why I look this way, and then sort it out?"
"Wait… it's a blue moon this time?!" James said curiously.
"Yes, the second full moon this month, or didn't you notice, occurs once every 3.4 years and is called a blue moon. It normally affects me maybe two days sooner than a normal one, but not almost an entire week sooner." Remus snarled, moving to close the curtains around his bed.
"So what is it?!" James asked…"Just shut up… leave him be…" Sirius said, not usually the one to settle disputes.
"What is what? And I thought you wanted me to rest?" Remus sighed, more tired and easily angered than his usual self.
"Oh…yea go…" James said.
Sirius smirked, "We can find out what's caused this in the morning James, don't panic over it, although you already seem to have done, or has he said something about Lily to get you so energetic?"
"So Energetic?! What's that supposed to mean?!" James snapped.
"Prongs, you're ordering me about in trying to find out what's up with Moony. You told him to go to bed and then insisted on talking about his furry little problem, it's like you're trying to think on so many things and do all of them at once, just chill out and let's plan a prank on that slime ball Snape already, to get him back for the boggart."
"Slime ball isn't enough for that greasy bag of dragon dung!" James close to yelled.
"OY! RESTING HERE!" Remus roared, from behind the curtains.
Sirius quickly dragged James out of their dorm, down into the common room. "Exactly my point. Shut up and tell me what has actually got you so mad."
"WHO SAYS I'M MAD!?" James loudly said.
"Okay, backing off now, when you want to talk find me, Prongs, but really, you normally decide to plan a prank when one of your friends is targeted by Snivellus, or just give Moony chocolate and order bed rest when he gets like he is now. So just what has you so annoyed?"
"He just reminded me how every time I try to talk to Evans it blows up in my face." James said obviously irritated.
Sirius nodded sympathetically, "Well it does, and she has been getting harder for you to talk to recently. I can try to get her to go out with you, but I might point out that she definitely doesn't like those death eater wannabe's and last week you made her see the git for who he is finally, so some good has started to come of it."
"Well… Moony also said to stop taking your advice…" James said semi-meekly
"Yeah, you are serious about Evans, and since when have I been Sirius about any of my flings Prongs? Ignore me unless we are completely focused on you and Evans." Sirius suggested cheerfully, not minding having his advice ignored by his best friend.
"Wow… you took that …well." James said.
Sirius shrugged, "What can I say Prongs? We all know Moony is the logical one who sees things more like they are than us two, and I had just said my suggestions weren't working."
"Should we get going before Lily comes down or that random girl you brought comes back?" He asked.
"Probably, but the random girl would only come back to curse me to kingdom come. It was one of her promises if I kicked her out of the room at all." Sirius laughed, knowing he wouldn't get cursed by the girl who cared too much about popularity.
"Who's going to do the cursing?" A voice asked… James instantly recognised it as Lily's.
"I guess we left that a little late. Just a Ravenclaw I was with earlier, before this guy insisted on some big talk that's only just finished. Or do you mean on Snivellus for pulling the worst prank he could have done on one of our friends? In which case it is us." Sirius answered quickly.
"Wait.. Did you just say that Severus pulled a prank on one of YOU for once?" Lily asked shocked.
"Actually, he has been all the years we've been at this school, only he's had the sense to do it when you're not around and not tell you about it, only this time he's gone too far. You'd probably have heard sooner if it wasn't for Prongs having the pride and us both having the pranks to get him back without you needing to know." Sirius was casual in giving this information to Lily, barely giving a damn that James would probably moan about it later.
"Severus… Doing what?... For how long?!" Lily asked again.
Sirius sighed, pretending to be hard done by from all the questions, "Honestly Evans, have you had your eyes open at all in the time at Hogwarts? Have you seen the death eater the creep wants to be? Or even acknowledged his idea of 'fun'? You know he hates us so why insist on asking questions you can answer yourself? And Prongs, are you actually going to join in conversation yet?"
"Wahl…Oh… I just can't believe you finally decided to tell her… Moony said not to…" James stammered.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Moony said not to tell her what? That Snivellus pranked him? Or that the git has hated us for years."
"Everyone knows he hates us." James said. "Yea! But he had a reason!" Lily suddenly spoke up.
"Yes Evans, I know he had a reason, did it ever occur to you that he might be giving us a reason too? Or did you think we picked on him purely because he was a Slytherin? I'm sorry but none of us are the type of guy to act like that." James turned an icy glare on Evans for the first time ever, annoyed by her apparent blindness to what had been going on for ages.
"Why are you taking it out on me?! Why is he doing that Sirius?!" Lily asked loudly.
"Calm down, both of you, and he isn't. He's giving you exactly the same treatment you've been giving him, because he's stressed and worried and tired, Evans, as well as because you're still protecting the slimy git, so I think after today, he's giving up and focusing on making sure he understands why Moony feels so bad." Sirius muttered, trying to act like there was nothing happening to require the stares that were focused on them.
"Wait… what's wrong with Remus?!" Lily said, forgetting her mini-argument with James a second before.
"Nothing we can't handle, in fact we're just on our way to find someone who might be able to help us, so if you'll excuse us, We'd better go." Sirius lied smoothly, refusing to let his worry over the apparent change in their friend show.
"No, tell me!" Lily demanded… "We can't, not now… it doesn't concern you." James replied to her.
"If we thought we could then you'd know, but right now, let us go, we need to find a professor who could help us. We'll see you around Evans." Sirius's tone was final as he spoke, leaving Lily no choice but to let them go.
James followed Sirius out, asking, "What are we going to do?"
"Either plan revenge, or find a Professor, but either way that was an interesting conversation with Evans wasn't it?"
"Yea…" He said, blushing for some reason.
Sirius looked at James, "Don't tell me, You noticed she really didn't like you being cold to her for a change and that got you more interest from her than you've achieved before when you've been just about begging for her attention.
"But I'm not going to be cold to her all the time just so she will talk to me!" James told him…"Now who are we going to find?"
"I'm tempted to say let's find Dumbledore, but he's busy being headmaster. Come on, let's go to the hospital wing and talk to Madam Pomfrey. Of course I don't expect you to be, hell this is probably the time when she'll need you being yourself most, but we've given her enough to think on for a while now." Sirius led the way to the hospital wing, quickly, worried but controlled in his worry.
James was nervous and fidgety the whole way towards the hospital wing… It was obvious he wasn't handling the stress of Remus's current condition well.
"Madam Pomfrey, we need your help," Sirius said as he approached the school nurse.
"Well what is it? What mischief have you two gotten into this time?" The woman was tired, and clearly wanting to get them out of the way.
"Well it isn't me or James who need your help if that's what you mean. It's just we're worried over Remus, he seems, how to phrase it, nearer the full moon than he should just no. He encountered a boggart unexpectedly today and we think it might have caused something to happen." Sirius tried to explain, watching James get even more fidgety.
"Well that's just strange." Madam Pomfrey said, "Had he been experiencing any other symptoms this morning?"
"No, not that we noticed, but he said something about the blue moon making his symptoms come on a day or two sooner, but never this much sooner."
"Yes, it is a blue moon next week…" She said curiously…"I'll look into it."
"In the meantime is there anything we can do to help him? Does he need to go to the shrieking shack sooner or something?" James muttered, nearly to quiet to be heard.
"What was that? You know you're not usually the quiet one James…" She said.
"In the meantime is there anything we can do to help him? Does he need to go to the shrieking shack sooner or something?" James repeated clearer this time but still shaken over his friends trouble.
"Well... I don't think he will change sooner, but it may be much stronger" Madam Pomfrey said
"And again is there anything we can do to help him feel better now? Other than insisting upon him resting?" Sirius asked, wanting to at least talk to Remus about what sort of prank was played on Snivellus for his trick.
"Meat..." She said... "Lots of Meat... Do you want me to write a pass for you boys to be able to go down to the kitchens directly whenever he needs it?" she asked
James looked momentarily surprised at the idea they'd be able to roam at night with permission for once. "Yeah, we want to do our best for Moony. Thanks Madam Pomfrey," He replied, gratefully.
James and Sirius took the note from her and told her they'd tell her if it got any worse then set out for the kitchen