Magical Mischief Makers Part Two:
Getting to Know You
Sunlight shone in the window of the girls' dormitory. Slowly, five sleepy first years opened their eyes.
"Oh, good morning," said the first girl to sit up. Her bright red hair sparkled in the sunlight. "Who are you?" The other girls laughed.
"We didn't have much of a chance to introduce ourselves last night, did we?" a brown haired girl in the next bed over said. "I'm Jenny."
"My name is Lily," the first girl said.
"I'm Elsie," a pretty girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes.
"We're Anna and Sophia Herron," one of the twins said. "I'm Anna."
"You'll never keep us straight, but we don't mind," Sophia added. They both had long yellow hair and light blue eyes.
"Nice to meet you," Lily said. "I suppose we should get dressed. It's probably almost breakfast time." The girls dressed hurriedly. Anna and Sophia conversed together, and so the other three girls spent more time getting to know each other.
"I'm from a wizarding family," Jenny said. "What about you two?"
"My parents are both wizards," Elsie said. "But my big brother's a Squib."
"Oh, that's horrible," Jenny said.
"He is very smart, though, and is at college studying to be a physicist or a physician or something like that. I forget."
"My parents are both Muggles," Lily admitted shyly. "So's my older sister."
"It doesn't really matter to me," Jenny assured her. "Have you read many books about us?"
"A few," Lily said. "Mostly our course books, but I did get one on Hogwarts itself."
"You can get more from the library, I'm sure. They'll tell you everything you need to know about our kind." Jenny smiled. Lily smiled back.
"I thought I could learn everything I need to know from people," she said in a soft tone. "I mean, our course books, of course, but I think the best way to learn something is from someone who knows it, not from a book." Jenny stared at her.
"I guess you could see it that way," she said uncertainly. "I've never thought of it like that. I did a lot of reading in the past few years, because I haven't been very well. And my parents aren't that young; they like things quiet."
"No brothers or sisters, then?" Elsie asked.
"No, I'm an only child."
"It's never quiet at our house when we're all there. I have four older brothers –two are here, one graduated, and then my other brother, like I said, is at a Muggle school. It's very wild at Christmas when everyone is home." Now finished dressing, the three girls hurried down to the Common Room. A few older students were heading down to breakfast. Lily followed right away, the other two trailing her. The twins were still dressing in the dormitory.
At breakfast, they sat near a few of the first year boys. A dark-haired, dark-eyed boy snickered as Jenny sat down. Immediately she jumped up.
"Ouch!" she said. "What was that?" She looked at the seat. A small, pointy rock was lying on the seat. "Who did that?" She glared around. Nobody admitted anything.
"It was one of you two, wasn't it?" Lily asked, staring at the boy who had snickered and his neighbor, a boy whose dark hair stuck up here and there.
"Are you all right?" the messy-haired boy asked.
"Yes. I was just startled, I guess," Jenny said.
"I'm James Potter. This is my friend, Sirius Black." The three girls introduced themselves. Jenny glared a little at Sirius, who looked totally unrepentant.
"Do you know each other?" Elsie asked them. "I mean outside of Hogwarts."
"Yeah," Sirius said. "James' dad brought me up. We're practically brothers. This is Remus." He introduced a pale boy with light-brown hair. "We met on the way up here."
"Who else is in our year?" Jenny asked.
"There's that Weasley kid –over with his brother. He says call him Bill. And Peter Pettigrew's the other. The little blond-haired kid at the far end of the table." James pointed.
As they watched, two boys from the Slytherin table came over. They were obviously first years as well, and one of them was definitely the leader. He had greasy black hair and a bit of a sneer.
"That's Severus Snape," James said. "Watch out for him."
"You know him?" Lily asked.
"We've met," James said tersely. Snape was speaking to Pettigrew. The six couldn't hear him, because they were at the other end of the table, but Pettigrew went white and looked as if he might cry.
"Hey," James said, getting up and walking over. Sirius followed him. "Pick on someone your own size."
"Oh, it's you, Potter," Snape sneered. "Should have known you'd be sticking up for the other losers here in the loser House."
"Gryffindor is not a loser House," Sirius growled.
"I've been asking. Gryffindor hasn't won the House cup in ten years. I don't think you'll be changing that."
"Yes, we will," James said. "Now go away and leave Peter alone." Snape sniffed, but he moved away. Peter looked up.
"Thank you," he said, his small eyes grateful. And then it was time for class.
The girls almost found themselves liking Sirius, James and Remus by the end of the day, but that changed quickly. The three girls were walking out of the hall after dinner, when the boys came running through, collided with them, and knocked everyone to the ground. After a lot of confused noise and struggling, everyone managed to get standing. Suddenly, in burst Filch.
"Aha!" he said, pointing to the six young Gryffindors. "You! All of you to my office, at once!"
"But we didn't do anything!" Elsie protested.
" 'But we didn't do anything,'" Filch mocked. "I've heard that so many times I could spit. Come on." And he marched them off. The boys kept their eyes on the floor the whole way.
"Now," Filch said as he seated himself at his desk, "You planted a very large Dungbomb in Professor Binns' classroom. Don't deny it; you were the only ones who had the chance, I know. I realize it's your first day here. You may not know how this school works. So to make sure that you remember that is against the rules, you all have detention. Tonight."
"But, sir," Lily protested, "It wasn't us!"
"No, sir, it wasn't." James agreed.
"Silence!" roared Filch. "You three boys will scrub the trophy room. And you girls will be washing all the dishes in the kitchen. And I don't care what spells you know – no magic!" And he made them march off right them.
Hours later, Lily, Jenny and Elsie collapsed into bed.
"That was so unfair," Elsie complained.
"We'd better stay far away from those boys," Jenny agreed.
"But they did try to explain," Lily said.
"James did," Jenny agreed. "But that Sirius! First this morning, now this. I'm going to try to avoid him most of all."
"Good idea," Elsie said. "But if we avoid them, we'll be fine."
"Look, James, I'm really sorry," Sirius said. "I thought it would be fun to upset that boring ghost. It might have made him more interesting."
"Well, next time make sure Filch isn't anywhere near," Remus grumbled. "I never want to see a trophy again."
"Unless we win one," Sirius grinned. "I don't think we'll have to scrub them any more after that. It would be kind of perverse."
"Well, we sure got ourselves into trouble," James mused. "And the girls too."
"I'm really sorry about that," Sirius admitted. "I don't mind so much for me. But when other people get in trouble for what I do, it bugs me."
"Thanks for leaving me out," Peter said. He'd just woken up. Bill was still snoozing. "I won't mind if you leave me out of things where you can get into trouble."
"Fine," Sirius said. "And when we do cool things we'll leave you out then, too."
"Now, Sirius," James said.
"Well, if he doesn't want to take the risks," Sirius began hotly.
"Do you mind if I come along?" Remus asked. "I'd love to."
"Even if we get detention again?" James asked.
"Yes. Detention isn't as bad –as some things." An odd shiver passed over his face. "And I'd love to have real friends."
"Didn't have any at home, huh? Only wizard in the village, something like that? Or were you just unpopular?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, you know how people are sometimes," Remus said vaguely.
"Well, we like him, don't we Sirius?" James glanced at his friend.
"Sure we do. Nice to have you along." And the boys dropped off to sleep.
Gryffindor had Potions with the Slytherins on Thursdays after lunch. There were ten students from each House; they worked in pairs. Sirius and James teamed up right away. The Herron twins did everything together. Lily and Jenny arranged to work together, and Elsie teamed with Bilius –or Bill, as he told everyone over and over again to call him – at a nearby cauldron. The Slytherins paired together quickly, leaving Remus and Peter to work together.
Well, that was nearly a disaster. Remus was a very intelligent boy, but he really wasn't much of a potion brewer, and Peter caused havoc simply by living. Professor Circe was at her wits' end with them.
"I know you boys have trouble in here," she said one afternoon in late October, "But this is ridiculous!" Peter had just dissolved half of his robe with what was supposed to be a simple Lethe draught. Remus looked haggard. "Remus, you're asleep on your feet! Didn't you get any rest last night?"
"He's been sick," James volunteered. "He was in the hospital wing for a couple days, he just got back."
"Oh," she said. "Well, I suppose… why don't you work with Snape, Peter, and Remus can work with Darin?" She smiled. Everyone else groaned internally. Snape was the best student in the class; everyone knew it. He'd certainly made sure that they knew. Darin was middle of the class, but far better than Peter. Snape scowled darkly. Peter gave a weak smile and moved his ingredients.
"No, you idiot!" Snape said ten minutes later. "No wonder you melted your robe. One bat wing, three moths, not the other way around!" Peter tossed something in. Smoke started coming out of the cauldron. Suddenly, it exploded, showering potion all over students, mostly Slytherins. Shrieks, howls, and curses filled the air as people began to scratch furiously.
"What an itching powder!" Sirius whispered gleefully. "I've got the list of what went into it, we can make it again." James peered at the parchment his friend was holding out.
"Dragon's blood, beetle eyes, spider legs, bat's wings, moths – one Filibuster's Firework! He didn't put that in!"
"No, I did when it started smoking," Sirius laughed. "Why else bother to carry them around? It was rather fabulous."
"True," James allowed. "Oh, look at Snape!" The Slytherin boy was trying his best to keep his dignity, but he had been soaked by the solution. He finally gave up and ran from the room.
"Where did Severus go?" Circe asked. "Oh, dear. Everyone, you are excused. Go get changed." There was a frantic rush for the door. Sirius, James and Remus followed everyone else. They'd managed not to get soaked.
"I suppose you think this is funny?" They turned to see an irate pair facing them. Lily and Jenny were covered in bright red blotches. They kept scratching themselves.
"Us?" James acted innocent. "We had nothing to do with it."
"Right," Jenny said. "I'm not an idiot. You're involved in every bit of mischief that goes on at this school!"
"Isn't it great?" Sirius asked happily.
"Moderation is a word you boys should learn," Lily said. "What point do these pranks have? Are you causing havoc for the sheer joy of it? It doesn't seem to be helping anyone."
"It brightens peoples' days," Remus suggested. "People like me."
"How about people like Snape?" Lily asked. "If he wasn't your enemy before Hogwarts, he is now. Practically every prank you pull gets him."
"And us!" Jenny added indignantly. "Do you really hate us? Look what you've done this time! And last time, with the frogs –we still haven't finished cleaning up that. And the chess set prank, and the biting teacup, and the hot-pepper-sauce-filled chocolate frogs, and the-"
"Okay, Jenny, they know what they've done," Lily said. "Let's go." They marched off.
"Gee," Remus said. "I didn't know that they were that upset."
"I guess we're successes," Sirius chimed in.
"Oh, shut up!" James and Remus yelled together.
"Sirius, your pranks have gotten us into more trouble," Remus began. "I don't know why you don't ever think first."
"But haven't we had some fun?" Sirius asked. "Like today. That was funny!"
"Yes," James admitted. "It was fun. But the girls were right, too. Maybe we should try to think before we play these jokes. Sometimes."
"Sometimes," Sirius conceded. "But if I see an opportunity like today…"
"We should apologize to Lily and Jenny," Remus suggested. "They looked horrible. You must have really soaked them, Sirius."
"I didn't mean to," he said. "But I guess we can try." The boys walked quietly back to the common room. At this time of day, it was usually deserted because everyone was in classes. Today, of course, the first years were there. Peter and Bill headed up immediately to get changed. The other three looked around. Lily and Jenny were sitting together in chairs near the fireplace. James nodded to Sirius, who cleared his throat. The girls looked up.
"Um, where's your other friends?" he asked.
"Elsie had to go to the hospital wing for something to make her stop itching," Jenny snapped. "And the twins are still changing."
"Well, um, I, that is, we wanted to –but I guess it was my fault, not James'..."
"Sirius, what are you trying to say?" Lily asked patiently.
"I'm sorry for soaking you with that stuff. I really didn't mean to get you girls, just Snape…"
"So you're sorry that your prank got us, not that you pulled a prank?" Lily asked.
"That's about right," Sirius said.
"Well, that's ridiculous!" Jenny said. "You boys are so –so full of it!"
"Look, I said I was sorry," he said irritably. "Are you going to forgive me or not?"
"All right, Jenny, we don't need to make him say it over and over again," Lily told her friend. "We accept your apology."
"Great!" Sirius said. "I've got to put my stuff away." He ran off, James following him. Remus glanced after them, then turned back to the girls.
"Sirius – Sirius is just a little- oh, I don't know what you'd call it."
"Headstrong?" Jenny suggested. "Pesky? Thoughtless? Careless? Rash?"
"He just doesn't take life seriously," Remus said. "But he and James are –they're the best friends I've ever had. He really doesn't mean any harm to anyone."
"Except maybe Snape," Lily suggested. "But I understand what you're saying."
"I just think we should all be friends," Remus said.
"'All be friends,'" Jenny repeated. "I don't understand how you can be friends with someone like Sirius."
"More like how can someone like him be friends with someone like me," Remus said in a very low voice, so low the girls weren't quite sure what he'd said. "Just give him a chance, okay?"
"I'll try," Lily promised.
"I don't see why we should," Jenny started. Lily shot her a glance. "Oh, very well. I'll give him one chance. If he messes that up, I'll make him sorry." Remus grinned and went off to change. Lily stared at Jenny.
"You've changed a lot in the past few months," she said. "You were all shy at first, and now you've got quite a temper."
"That's just because I'm feeling comfortable here," Jenny replied. "I'm still terrified inside of lots of things. The temper is just a way to hide that. But I really don't see why we need to be friends with those boys."
"I just think they're worthwhile people," Lily said. "Very nice."
"Oh, so that's it," Jenny teased. "You've got a crush on one of them. Which one? Not Remus, I think. Sirius? Or James?"
"Oh, shut up," Lily said crossly. Jenny burst into laughter. "It's –oh, stop it!" She joined in the laughing.
Laugher rang frequently in the common room after that. True to their word, the girls did give Sirius another chance, and Lily found herself drawn into the boys' circle quickly enough. Jenny held out a while, but when she discovered that Sirius had a passion for wizard chess matching her own, she gave up. It was a rare night that the two of them weren't bent over a board together, fighting tooth and nail for victory. Usually, Elsie and Peter would be studying together, sometimes with Remus; it took them longer to finish their assignments. Remus was an excellent student, but he kept falling behind from missing classes because of illness or other difficulties.
"Okay, Sirius, that's checkmate," Jenny said. "Twice in a row!" The chessmen kept yelling at them, but they ignored the pieces.
"Girls are the best!" Jenny's queen yelled.
"Oh yeah? Then how come I captured halfway in?" an enemy rook asked.
"Well, I beat you three times before that." Sirius retorted. "Remus, why don't you play me now?"
"I have to finish this essay," Remus said. "Sorry."
"What about tomorrow?" Sirius pressed.
"Uh, no, I don't think so. Maybe some other time." Remus looked uncomfortable.
"Tell you what," Jenny grinned, "I'll spot you three pawns. Maybe then you can win."
"Hey!" her pawns yelled. "We all want to play!"
"We take them out fast enough," Sirius' knights said pompously.
"I don't need that!" Sirius howled. He grabbed a pillow from the chair behind him and whacked Jenny.
"Lily! Help!" She giggled, grabbing her own pillow and smacking Sirius on the head. Lily seized a pillow and was about to help Jenny when James hit her from behind with a pillow of his own.
"Please, guys, I'm trying to study!" Peter pleaded. Sirius laughed and pulled away his books.
"All work and no play make Peter a dull boy," he said playfully. "Get the girls!" A few older students glanced over at the wild first years.
"Oh, it's Black and Potter again," Arthur Weasley commented to his friend Molly. "Always something with them."
"I'm trying to study here!" a fifth year girl yelled. "Please be quiet!"
"All right, what's going on here?" The first years looked up to see Andrew Smith, the Head Boy, standing over them. "Just a pillow fight, eh? Well, glad to see everyone having fun, but people are trying to study. Why don't you play something quieter?"
"Like what?" James asked.
"Solitaire?" Peter offered. "Dad says it's a really cool game, - actually, he said it was 'groovy', whatever that means, something Muggle, I think – but I don't know how to play. Mum thought I should learn wizard games, not Muggle ones, even if I am a halfblood, and so I-"
"Cards? We haven't got any cards except for James' exploding snap," Sirius broke in. "We'll just have to play another game of chess, Jenny."
"You ready to be beat again?" she asked, grinning. "Hey, Lily, why don't you and James get another set and I'll show you how to play double chess. Four players, two boards, two sets of pieces. It's great fun. Muggles call it 'bughouse' for some reason, but my dad taught me and he just calls it double chess."
"I'm not so good at chess," Lily commented.
"Don't worry, it'll be fun. Now, what you do is this…"
"No, Peter. That was 1403. We're talking about 1430 here. Let's try again." Remus was trying to help a clearly struggling Peter with his History of Magic homework. He sighed patiently and opened the textbook. "See, it's right here."
"Can I open a window?" Peter asked. "It's hot in here."
"Peter, it's January. We don't open windows in January. You can pull the curtain if you must."
"Wow. It's bright out there tonight. I can see all the stars!"
"Maybe you should do your Astronomy homework now," Remus suggested. "Let me see your map." Peter handed him a bit of parchment. "Good grief! Peter, this is atrocious. You've got Ursa Major and Orion all mixed up, for one, and you seem to have lost Polaris. Did you even bother looking at the sky before you made this?" He glanced over across the room to where James sat, engrossed in his own work. Remus sighed again.
"I just got confused," Peter said. "Hey, did you know that there's a star called Sirius."
"Yes, Peter. It's the brightest star in the sky, located near the constellation Orion, has a greenish-blue tinge, and is visible all winter in the Northern Hemisphere." Remus sighed. "Do you want me to finish quoting Professor Sinistra? I remember most of what he said in that lecture." Remus squirmed a little.
"Are you all right?" Peter asked.
"I just feel as if someone's staring at me."
"I'm the only one here. And James over there isn't paying attention to us." Peter shrugged. Once again, Remus sighed. He turned to the window.
"I guess it's the moon," he said.
"It's very pretty tonight, isn't it? I love the way it looks tonight. When will it be full? Three days?"
"No, two." Remus looked at the moon and whispered something, scowled at the luminous body.
"What was that?" Peter asked.
"Nothing," Remus said. "Do you mind if we close the curtain? I don't like the moon tonight." He didn't notice James look up from across the room, a puzzled look in his eyes.
"I guess," Peter said. "Now, you said I lost Betelgeuse?"
"Polaris, Peter. The North Star."
"So where did it go?"
"It's supposed to be here," Remus pointed to the parchment. This was why Sirius couldn't coach Peter. By this point, Sirius would have blown up in Peter's face, leaving the smaller boy in tears. Remus was always patient with Peter, no matter how long it took. James and Sirius thought it very generous of Remus to spend so much time helping Peter. Remus knew that he did it as a way of silently showing his gratitude to his friends, for being his friends. He'd have liked to tell them that, but they would have asked why they shouldn't be his friends. He didn't think he could bear it if they ever found out the truth. But he was so tired of lying.
"Remus, where have you been?" James asked a few days later. "You've missed so much!"
"I was ill," he said shortly.
"You were ill not that long ago, and before that you had to visit your mother, and before that you were ill again!" Sirius said. "You've missed more classes than the rest of the House combined."
"I can't help it," Remus said tiredly. He was exhausted from his monthly ordeal and didn't want to be questioned.
"Remus, is something wrong?" James asked, very sympathetically.
"No," Remus said sharply. He knew that the other boys knew that he was lying. He didn't care any more. He was so tired of lying.
"Remus, what is it?" Sirius asked. "We're your friends!"
"Remus," James asked slowly, "There's a reason why you vanish so much, isn't there?"
"You know why," Remus lied. Such a pathetic lie, too. He wanted to throw himself out of the window before they found out the truth. His eyes darted toward the window, shrank back at the sight of the no longer full moon staring at him.
"Why don't you like the moon, Remus?" James asked quietly. "I've heard you curse it under your breath sometimes, if you think we can't hear you. Why do you hate it?"
"Why?" Remus burst out yelling. It startled his friends. He just kept yelling, even though he knew that they'd abandon him as soon as he was through shouting. "Why? Because I'm a werewolf, okay? I'm sure that you suspected it. Well, you are right. I'm a monster. I'm a werewolf, I lied to you and everyone else. Now you're going to hate me. Fine. Go away and leave me alone." He turned face down on the bed, waiting for them to all leave.
But they didn't. Peter made little squeaking noises. James walked over.
"I thought you might be," he said. "But I wanted you to tell us."
"How long have you known?" Remus didn't look up.
"A few days," James said gently. "It's just me, Sirius and Peter who know. Bill wouldn't notice if you changed under his nose; you know how oblivious he is to everything around him."
"The girls don't know?"
"Not unless they figure it out themselves," Sirius assured him. "What we want to know is why you didn't tell us."
"Because people hate werewolves," Remus said, still not looking them in the eyes. "We're hated, despised, hunted, beaten –it's awful. I wanted friends, so I didn't tell you. Can you really blame me?"
"No," James said. "You said once that you didn't have any friends before Hogwarts."
"Not after I was bitten," Remus whispered. "Everyone in my home village knew, we couldn't keep it a secret. But Dumbledore said we wouldn't have to tell anyone here. They've got a –a safe place for me."
"We saw you going out to the Willow," Sirius said. "It's under there, right?"
"Yeah," Remus sighed. "Look, I know that I'm not what you thought I was, that I'm a - a monster. I guess it was stupid of me to think I could ever really have people like me…"
"You aren't a monster," James said firmly. "You're Remus. You're the same now as when we met you, and I swear it won't change just because we know your secret."
"And we're not going to tell anyone, we swear," Sirius said. "I know that I don't usually really think before I act, but I really thought this time. We're your friends, Remus. Like it or not, you're stuck with us." He grinned. Now Remus looked at both of his friends, a huge smile splitting his face.
"Thank you," he said. "Thank you more than you can ever know."
What did you think? There's lots more to come… I am greatly encouraged by people taking the time to review! (hint, hint). This story series is getting to be like an octopus in my brain –it keeps sending out more shoots that are growing into huge limbs.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters belong to the great JK Rowling and her worthy publishers, original characters sprang fully grown from my head, I have no intention to make money off of this –not that I could anyway.
The series is still certified by the League of Pettigrew Haters –founding member and president being me, myself and I… Membership now numbering –uh, very high, nobody likes Pettigrew, after all, the rat…