The feast was nearly over when Professor McGonagall approached the Marauders. She was a strict-looking woman with a strict expression. Her black hair was tied in a strict bun.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin" she said strictly, "Please come with me. The headmaster needs to see you."
They followed her to Professor Dumbledore's office.
"Pumpkin pasties," the teacher had announced to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance. Sirius made a note of the password.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin," said the headmaster, "sit down."
They sat down.
"I am aware," Dumbledore continued, "that the three of you are responsible for Hagrid's new hairdo?"
The Marauders nodded sheepishly.
"I trust you are aware that this is strictly against our rules here at Hogwarts?"
More sheepish nodding.
"Though I am very impressed at your display of magic, the rules are rules. You will serve a detention one week from today at 6:00 P.M. with Hagrid. You will be collecting flobberworm mucus. You will not use wands. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter; you are excused. Mr. Lupin, please stay here a minute longer."
The children complied. When the door to Dumbledore's office had shut, the bearded wizard continued.
"I will not go into detail as I am quite confident that your friends are listening at the door. As you know, special arrangements have been made to accommodate your stay here at Hogwarts. Some of the teachers were uncomfortable with this. I know it is a terrible burden to bear at such a young age, but you are representing a group of people with every action that you take. I would never, of course, dare impose harsher rules on you than others. However, I would advise you be cautious in your behavior."
"Thank you professor," Remus responded. He felt terrible. How could he have been so irresponsible? What must Hagrid think of him now? The half-giant could have been a friend, even a mentor, to the young werewolf. Even if Remus' schoolmates discovered the truth, perhaps the gamekeeper would have at least spoken to him.
"I am aware," the headmaster continued, "that it was Sirius Black who cast the spell. Nonetheless, you can imagine that to the more prejudiced, it might seem otherwise. Please be careful. Speaking of which: this Sunday. You no doubt know what to do?"
Remus nodded.
"You are excused. Professor McGonagall will show you to your common rooms."
Remus stood up and left the room. He found Sirius and James listening at the door.
"What's this Sunday?" they demanded, as they followed their very severe teacher to their new domicile.
"Oh, well err... umm... I have to... err," Remus stammered.
"Yes, get on with it! You have to:" Sirius prompted.
"I have to... I have to visit my mother, yes that's it! She's sick. In fact, she's really sick. I'll probably be visiting her a lot."
"Oh," said James, giving Sirius a strange look. They made their way up to Gryffindor tower in silence.
When the boys reached the dormitory, there was a small, rat-faced boy already sitting on one of the beds.
"Hello, I'm Peter!" he called cheerily. "Peter Pettigrew."
Lily sat quietly on her bed. Gryffindor? Gryffindor! After all of the awful things Sev had said about the house, this was where she was Sorted? There must have been a mistake. She wasn't brave, was she? Well, Lily knew one thing for certain: she definitely wasn't one of the arrogant prats that Sev had described! There must have been a mistake. Right? Or maybe... Sev had said that the hat was never wrong. Maybe Gryffindor wasn't that bad after all! Lily supposed that Sev's hatred of Gryffindors might just be like other boys with rival sports teams. Perhaps this was all just exaggerated. Whatever. Lily would talk to him about it tomorrow. Maybe she could transfer out. The girls in her dorm at least seemed nice, although Lily was too tired to make conversation. There were four other beds in the room, occupied by Marlene Mckinnon, Emmeline Vance, Florence Figg, and Mary MacDonald.
"Mary MacDonald, what an utterly awful name," Lily thought. It sounded like one of those terrible OC names that fanfiction writers sometimes used. Overly corny. She yawned loudly, slowly falling asleep as she contemplated her dislike for her roommate's unfortunate moniker.
"Remus, wake up!" Sirius whispered.
Remus sat up. He wasn't actually asleep. The day had been to exciting for him. He was to first werewolf to ever attend Hogwarts! It was an honor, even if most of the professors didn't approve of his existence. "What's going on?"
"Shush! You'll wake up Peter! We're going to go exploring."
"What? What time is it?"
"It's only eleven." James informed him. "Come on!"
Remus started to get up. Then he remembered Professor Dumbledore's words. If he got caught- and he probably would... Could he be kicked out for this? Sneaking out of one's dormitory would normally only merit a detention. But if the teachers already hated him-
"I... I don't want to get caught," he said.
"Suit yourself," James told him."We're gonna see if we can find the kitchens!"
Argus Filch sat in his office, crying. His friend and beloved cat, Mrs. Norris,was sick. She had contracted Scrofungulus. The only cure was a very complicated and expensive potion. The caretaker, who was broke, had no chance of healing the cat on his own. He would have to ask Professor Slughorn to brew it for him, something that could take up to two months. Filch did not trust Professor Slughorn, nor did he like him. The man was irritating, a waste of magical abilities! Stupid arrogant git...
Filch's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash. He ran outside of his office, towards the end of the hallway. There lay an overturned suit of armor. Next to it stood two students, trying to look as innocent as possible. They failed.
How dare they gallivant about the castle while a cat was dying? How could they be content to break the rules, while others suffered? Not to mention, those baffoons were disturbing Mrs. Norris' precious rest. The fools could be inhibiting her recovery!
The children would pay for their crimes.
Hello! I of course own nothing.
I know this chapter is a little late, but to make up for it I plan to post another one tomorrow!
I want to thank everyone reading this, and I hope you enjoy the story!
