Well, I am getting some good positive feedback...

Disclaimer: These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase...


Chapter 3 - Professor McGonagall's Interrogation

All of the Marauders (minus Remus, of course) had agreed that Remus indeed could protect himself quite effectively from the Slytherins once they had seen Remus do a rather complicated Bat-Bogey Hex on Snape when he'd tripped him. But none of them could deny that, no matter how well he could protect himself from other kids, there was no way he would be able to protect himself from a full-grown wizard.

"And abused children wouldn't fight back anyways," Sirius was busy explaining to Peter as they both 'worked' on their Defense Against The Dark Arts essay on Dark creatures. "See, I've been reading up on it, and it makes perfect sense; a child isn't going to hit their own father, right? They think it's all their own fault, and that to fight back would make them even more evil than they already were! They think that they deserve the horrible punishments, even though to any outside eye it's quite obvious that they don't deserve it at all."

Peter nodded, still somewhat amazed that there were people out there awful enough to beat up their own children. "I can't believe that someone who could hurt him like that could ever create someone as nice as Remus, though," Peter ventured to say.

"Yeah...well, no one ever thought that a family as snake-like as mine could render a Gryffindor, but look at me!" Sirius seemed to think that this small piece of evidence was proof that Remus was indeed being abused by his own parents.

The Marauders had been planning to use Remus' next absence as a planning period; they had been secretly talking, but now they were going to be able to do everything without having to walk on eggshells around their friend. However, Sirius ruined this little bit of extra planning by pissing off their strictest teacher, Professor McGonagall, and getting detention on the very same day that Remus told them he was visiting his mother ("She's really sick this time, they think she might die!").

Sirius grumbled unacommadatingly as he sorted through McGonagall's files. "Why does she need to remember so much stuff?" Sirius mumbled to himself. "Bleh. Who would want to transform a squirrel into a pinecone anyways?"

"What was that, Mr. Black?"

"Nothing Professor..."

Sirius looked out of the window onto the grounds. The moon shone brightly, shining off of the lake, illuminating the grounds as if it were day. Sirius was caught off guard when he saw someone walking on the grounds though. It was well after curfew, so whoever this was, they must be some sort of trouble maker.

Sirius pulled himself closer to the window in order to get a better look. He was startled when he realized that there were two people walking (In broad moonlight too, Sirius thought with a grimace). And they were walking directly towards the Whomping Willow.

That looks like a teacher! Sirius thought. A woman teacher and a boy student! Walking right towards the Whomping Willow! Are they crazy?!?

Sirius almost said something to Professor McGonagall, but then he realized that somehow, they had made the Whomping Willow stop thrashing around. Sirius watched in awe as they both walked towards the trunk, and then, they disappeared.

Sirius was seriously startled now, and jumped back from the window.

"Mr. Black, is something the matter?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"N-no, Ma'am," Sirius said, slightly shaken.

It took Sirius the better part of the next half hour to get over the odd scene he'd witnessed and to realize that Professor McGonagall was the perfect person to talk to about his Remus problem! All he had to do was tell her that he suspected abuse, and she would have to investigate. However, Sirius knew that just one suspicion was not going to be enough. It would work better if James and Peter were there too. Or, if James and Peter and I all brought it up separately! Sirius thought.

"Professor, ma'am?" Sirius asked.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering...you know how Remus goes home to visit his mom all the time?" Sirius asked.

Professor McGonagall looked up sharply. "What of it?"

"Wellll..." Sirius drew his word out, trying to create suspense, but obviously only succeeding in annoying his teacher. "Uhm, what if, when he went home, er...someone got mad at him?"

McGonagall did not quite get what he meant, obviously, as she was sitting there looking quite confused.

"Well, you know when parents get mad, they punish you by making you sit in a corner or on your bed or sometimes, they give you a spanking. Wellll...what if Remus did something really bad, and his parents (probably his dad, since his mom is sick...) lost his temper? And hurt him? Like, a lot worse than a spanking?"

Professor McGonagall suddenly looked very relieved, for some reason. "Oh, Sirius dear," - Sirius noted that this was the first time she had ever used his first name - "Remus' parents are nice people, very nice people, and the idea, the idea that they'd be abusing him is absurd!"

"But Professor, he comes back with all these bruises and scratches and this one time he had this really long scratch down his arm - although he told me it was a burn - and I'm really worried!"

"Black," McGonagall said sharply. "Remus is not being abused by his parents."

"Can't you at least check into it?"

"NO! Your detention is over, get out!"

Sirius scrambled to pick up his stuff and get out of the room.


James and Peter each tried to talk to McGonagall about Remus, but she would have nothing to do with either of them.

James had attempted first. After class, he lagged around behind, and then went to talk to her.

"Professor, I have a problem," James said.

Professor McGonagall looked at James expectantly. "Yes?"

"Well, uh, you see...you know Remus?"

"Yes, I know Remus, he is only the star student of Gryffindor and the sweetest boy I've ever met," Professor McGonagall answered sardonically.

"Welllll..." Sirius often rubbed off on his three friends, and the art of creating suspense had been used on James so many times, that he had started doing it too. "I noticed, the other day, that he has many scratches and scars..."

"And you want to know if he's being abused?" Professor McGonagall correctly guessed.

"Er...well, yes, I was wondering if you could check into it - "

"Potter, Remus is not being abused by his parents in any way, shape, or form. Now, get out of my classroom before I give you detention!" she snapped.

James high-tailed it out of there.

Peter's attempt had been quite hilarious, really. He went up to her at dinner, in front of the entire school.

"P-professor?" he asked.

"Yes, Pettigrew, what is it, I am in the middle of my dinner!" she said, already annoyed with him.

"I'm sorry, I am not meaning to interrupt your dinner...but, well, I was wondering, Remus has a lot of scratches and - "

"REMUS IS NOT BEING ABUSED!" McGonagall shouted. The whole hall looked up to the table and saw the strict looking witch red in the face with anger as she glared furiously at Peter. Peter squeaked and ran. Remus, who had just gotten back from his mothers right before dinner, was very shocked indeed.


Finally, they all three came and tried to talk to her together.

"Please, Professor, before you yell at us, can you hear us out?" was the first thing out of Sirius' mouth.

She did not look pleased.

"Okay, we accept that Remus isn't being abused at home," Sirius said. "We're confident that if you aren't going to look into it that you must be sure, because you would never put your students' welfare at risk." Sirius said this to a) butter McGonagall up so that she'd be more willing to talk, and to b) get her to check into it to prove that she cared about her students if she had not been completely sure.

"So, we were wondering..." James continued, pausing for dramatic effect.

"Yes, you were wondering?" Professor McGonagall snapped.

"We were wondering if you know where all of his scratches come from!" Peter piped up.

McGonagall took a deep breath and appeared to be counting to twenty in her head. Finally, she spoke. "Boys...this is not something that I wish to be discussing with you..."

"Do you think we wish to be discussing it either!?" Sirius suddenly blasted, seeming to have snapped. "This is our bloody best friend, and he looks like someone used him to clean a bloody cactus! Do you think we want to be talking about the ways in which he could be getting hurt?? Do you think that we like discussing his injuries, not knowing if he's okay, if this time he's not going to come back alive!??"

Professor McGonagall just sighed. "Boys..."

"Don't 'Boys' us!" Sirius said, him always being the one to not notice that there was an age difference between him and the professors. "I am not leaving until you can explain why Remus looks like a bloody punching bag!"

"Language, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall reprimanded lightly. "I believe you boys have Astronomy tonight? I would get working on that homework that you haven't finished yet. Now, get out of my office. NOW."

"No, I - "

"NOW, MR. BLACK!"

And so Sirius, James, and Peter trudged sullenly up to the tower, nowhere nearer to figuring out Remus' mystery than before. "This Investigation doesn't seem to be getting anywhere," Peter said sadly, voicing the thoughts that all three had been having.

Maybe their friend could simply not be saved.


Yeah, a lot of dialogue...sorry...next chapter is going to be grand though.