A/N: Dallas Comicon is this weekend! I'm such a bad nerd... I've never been. Just a bit excited =)


Chapter Three.

The common room was packed full of Gryffindor students by the time Sirius made it through the opened painting. He saw the man who had to be the Hunter speaking with Cadmus towards the front and the prefects trying to quiet the curious students. James and Peter were standing near Remus who looked as if he might be ready to snap at a first year who seemed to have lost his ability to understand the words sit down.

Finally, when everyone had quieted, Remus moved to stand with his friends. "This is a living nightmare," he grumbled, strain evident.

"Don't worry about it, Moony. These guys are more talk than anything," James promised.

McGonagall stepped to the front, calling for quiet and attention even as the last few students filtered in through the portal. She introduced Vincent Nott with no excitement and sounded very much as if she would have preferred to be doing anything but allowing the foul smelling Hinter near her students.

The room fell silent under his piercing gaze and a few first years scooted back and away. He cleared his throat and eyed everyone carefully. "Been a long while since I've been in the fine halls of Hogwarts," he said gruffly, " and it'd seem the students grow softer by the year. Makes me wonder how you lot have survived this long with the things that crawl around in your forest." He watched, as if waiting for someone to say something, but what they couldn't be sure. "There are rumours. Terrible, nasty rumours, and I must admit the Ministry was a bit... taken back with the resistance it met with my conning here. Hogwarts students' safety is a priority."

"What are you here for, sir?" Frank Longbottom, another sixth year, asked cautiously.

The way that Nott's lips twisted could hardly be considered a smile, but they thought it was meant to be. "Rumours," he repeated.

"We understand that, sir," Frank pressed. "Well, what I mean to say is-"

"What Frank means to say is that it's the end of term and if you're just going to dance around something you're never going to hit on all night, we've got enough to keep us occupied, thanks," Sirius growled.

Nott's lips twisted again. "What do you know about Werewolves, lad."

"Same as anyone else that's ever taken the OWLs. You make it to fifth year?"

Remus laid a hand on his lower arm, begging for his silence. There was no need to draw attention with open hostility.

"I'd wager your knowledge would do you little good against a live one. You kids ever heard strange sounds on the full moon?" He watched as they shrugged and shook their heads.

"Everything sounds strange here at first," said a Muggle-born first year.

"Yeah, there's even a tree that'll hit ya if you get too close!" added a third year.

"And the old Shrieking Shack is haunted. Even Professor Dumbledore says so!"

"Yes yes, but there are some things even you lot should notice. Strange howls in the night?"

"There are wolves in the forest, but not Werewolves," James piped up.

"Suppose you would know from first hand experiences, huh, Potter?" Lily asked with a roll of her eyes. Between detentions and impromptu trips that the Marauders took on nights they felt mischievous, they had half the forest mapped.

Anything else that might have been planned for the talk was washed away as only a group of students are able to do, and McGonnagall seemed less than enthused to quiet them back down. After several long minutes of Nott watching them, he seemed to get whatever he had come for and dissapeared through the portal.

"So what do you think he plans to do?" Peter asked nervously.

"I'd wager he's convinced someone in the Ministry they need him. To do that he'd have to provide results," James said darkly, plucking his glasses from his nose and cleaning them.

"Surely he won't stay around until the next full moon," Remus murmured.

"If that's what he thinks he needs to do to land a cushioned job at the Ministry, he will," Sirius growled.

Remus felt the uncomfortable feeling that had been growing all day begin to twist and knot inside his chest. Nott would be there until the next full moon, and when he found Remus to be the lone missing student, his results would be found. Remus would be driven from Hogwarts, his name would be input into the ever-growing Werewolf Registry, and they would go after every person he held dear that had not given him up over the years. They might even throw him in Azkaban.

"It'll be okay," James promised, the same determination glinting in his hazel eyes that had been there the night he promised Remus that they'd find a way to be with him every full moon of the school year. "We'll find a way."

Remus nodded, but he couldn't make himself believe it.


Nott was a regular figure in the halls after that. He could be found lingering and listening, sending students off in uncomfortable silence. The Slytherins seemed to have little problem with him, and he claimed their House even if no record of his Hogwarts years could be easily found.

They were halfway through the week following his visits to the dorms and the Marauders were no closer to finding a way around it than the had been that night. The apprehension was making Remus noticeably jumpy and none of the boys had been able to contact Dumbledore to seek help. Iin fact, the headmaster had been very scarce since the Hunter had arrived.

It was when Nott began taking a focused interest in Remus, lurking near more of his classes and finding him in most any crowd that James decided they couldn't wait on Dumbledore any longer. He didn't bring his plan up to any of the others, either, because it would be complicated enough as is.

Taking a deep breath, James rounded the corner and came face to face with Severus Snape.

Snape looked only mildly startled. "What is it with your lot?" he growled, beginning to push past the other student.

"You owe me," James said before he made it into the busy hallway.

Severus stopped and took a few steps back so that their voices could remain hushed. His crooked nose wrinkled a bit in irritation. "You'd like to discuss that with the company this school now keeps?"

"That's the reason it needs discussing. The new rumour flying around is that Nott's bringing in extra men to watch the dorms on the full moon. He's taking account that every student is in bed."

"I'm sure you can put a few hours' thought into it to save your mutt... I'm sorry, your friend."

James bit off the sharp reply and the hex that might have come with it. "We have, and we're running out of options. Even with our knowledge of the passage ways we've been limited." He took a deep breath, reminding himself why he was there. "I'm calling it in, Snape, because Remus' life depends on it. I know you don't like us, but he's never done a damn thing to you and you know it."

Severus' lips twitched downward. "What are you asking for, Potter?"

"You're the top of any class in Potions. You know Slughorn never let's up on it. Surely you could-"

Surprise crossed the Slytherin student's face. "There's no cure for it, Potter," he said seriously.

"I know, but there has to be something... Anything. They'll take him away, you understand that don't you? They don't think he's human."

"He's not."

"He is!" James hissed. He stopped and steadied himself. He steeled himself. "Please, Severus. I saved your life."

"So that your friends wouldn't get in trouble!"

"So that he wouldn't have to live with having killed you!" James growled back. "He'd never have been able to live with himself, and he didn't deserve that. Not even you deserved that."

Severus snorted and ran a hand through his greasy hair. "I'll look into it, but even if I had an eternity I'm not sure I could do it. It's not curable, and you're asking for something in what... Two weeks?"

James sighed and slumped against the wall. He knew he was asking the impossible. "Do you have a place to start at least?"

"There's a wizard by the name of Damocles that Slughorn put me in contact with last year. Excellent potioneer. He's been working on a potion that's meant to... ease the mind of a Werewolf after transformation." He was speaking lowly now and they were leaned in close, discussing it.

"That won't be enough."

"But it's a place to start. Standing here discussing it with you is only wasting time."

"Go then. And not a word."

"I'm under oath, remember?"

James gave a small smirk at this. "Yeah. Just... please help him."

Snape nodded. "Then we're even."

"Yes. Even. You won't owe me a thing."

The funny thing was, James thought as he watched the other student walk away, he'd never thought he owed him for that night anyway. He was more than willing to use it, though, if it saved Remus.