CHAPTER THREE
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
AN: The conversation between Sirius and the new girl was made up by my friend.
Circle M: the question brought up in your review was actually the topic for this chapter! Hope it's answered! And thanks for the song!
The four Marauders stood in silence; the only noise was that of the rest of the school leaving for bed. Dumbledore appeared backstage wearing a worried look.
"Remus, I understand the next date does not suit you. I'm afraid that if there was not a consistency in practice time, suspicion would be raised."
"I understand" said Remus in a resigned voice.
"Congratulations on passing to the next round, now I suggest you all get a good night's sleep." Dumbledore walked off. Sirius had never thought so hard in his life. If Remus didn't show up for the performance, people would start to get suspicious anyway. There must be a way out of the situation. He would have to sleep on it. The polyjuice potion was starting to wear of and instead Sirius Black dreamt of gruesome figures a third Snape, a third Marauder and a third werewolf.
Sirius promised himself he would think of a solution the next day, but only after potions as there was a very pretty new girl.
"You do realise you're staring don't you?" she said.
"You look familiar; I think I know your boyfriend?" said Sirius. Ahh, his famous chat up line.
"I don't have a boyfriend." She said, confused
"Good" he smiled.
"Look, I appreciate the flirting, but I don't have time for one liners"
"Fine, I can't be bothered anyway, it's too hot in here" they were making freezing potions.
"You don't look hot."
"What a contrast, you do. I'd call that a two liner. Now, how about you stop insulting me by telling me I'm not hot, which, please, we both know is not true, and go out with me for a drink later instead." He smiled
"No." she turned her head back to the front.
"Oh come on, throw me a line!" he laughed
"What a third?" she said, turning her head to face him.
"Miss Denver, you will not talk while I am talking! And that piercing is against regulation" the teacher yelled at the girl, pointing to her cartilage piercing.
"Don't touch my hair!" she jumped back suddenly.
"Don't give me cheek" screamed the teacher.
"Leave her alone!" Sirius was now out of his chair, looking angry.
"Be quiet Mr. Black"
"Not until you give her a break"
"Sit down you retard!" the girl looked almost as angry as Professor Merryweather.
"ENOUGH! Detention! Both of you! Tonight."
"Bu-"
"End of discussion"
The rest of the lesson passed without incident and Sirius tuned up at the dungeons to meet the girl at 7.30pm. She was stood leaning against the cold brick wall looking mildly bored.
"Hey" he said, walking down the steps to stand with her. "How come I've never seen you around before?"
"I'm new here; I transferred from Beaubatons last night. My mother's a psychologist and thinks the all girl atmosphere was having an effect on my learning." She pulled a face. "I'm Kerry by the way."
"I'm Sirius, so do you know anyone here?"
"Nah, not personally, but body language is so easy to read." Sirius raised an eyebrow intrigued.
"Like your friend James; he's the leader of your group. He likes to show off and get the girls, so is understandably annoyed when you get them all." This was new information to Sirius, who would make a point of assisting James in his fight for Lily.
"Then, there's the small boy in your group. He's the shy one who looks up to you other three, but you brush him off." Sirius had never thought of himself like that. He felt guilty and decided to make more of an effort with Peter.
"And there's the other boy. The tall one. There's something wild about him, but I wont go into detail because I don't know if he's told you or not." Sirius didn't quite know what to make of this analysis. Was it possible that she knew about Remus? He chose his words carefully.
"He has…told me of certain…things that affect him." Kerry couldn't for the life of her think why, but she trusted this new boy with information that wasn't hers to divulge.
"If you know him well enough, you'll be able to tell me how accurate I am. You may want to inform your friend of the obviousness in which he shows his condition that he's a Werewolf." Sirius sucked in his breath.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"Years of reading peoples body language I guess." She shrugged. A smile curved Sirius' lips. An idea had finally come to him.
On the morning of the third round, one Marauder in particular seemed rather chirpy.
"I don't know what you've got to be so happy about." Said Remus grumpily.
"You'll see my dear Moony, you'll see."
"Yep, you'll soon find out" said Remus, walking up to the table. James jumped out of his seat.
"REMUS! There's two of you?!" the Remus and the Sirius laughed.
"We're doomed" mumbled Peter. James burst out laughing.
"Sirius, what are you planning?" there was no hint of a smile playing on Remus' lips. He leant forward and took a sip from his drink, looking worried. He promptly started choking and immediately questioned Sirius when he re-emerged.
"Sirius, what have you put in my drink?" Sirius just laughed and took a sip of his own drink. Remus, yelled out as his throat began to burn. He fell backwards off the bench and stood up looking exactly like Sirius. A split second later, Sirius was looking like Remus. Sirius began to explain.
"Thing is, I researched polyjuice potion and found that it's not only skin deep, your blood changes too, just not your mind. This is Kerry, she's just transfigured to look like you, she hasn't drunk any polyjuice. Now you can go on stage looking like me, she can go on as you, and I'll go and transform so you don't have to, sorted."
"NO IT BLOODY ISN'T SIRIUS!" Remus had never looked quite this furious. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S LIKE! IT'S NOT A WALK IN THE PARK, IT'S PAINFUL AND IT'S DANGEROUS!" Remus realised as he was shouting that it was no use. There was no way to reverse the spell before the performance. He buried his head in his hands. When he looked up, he saw only himself, James and Peter. There was no sign of the second him.
When the Marauders and Kerry arrived that evening for the show, Dumbledore sat at the top table, frowning. He said nothing, but resolved to question the boys after everyone else had gone to bed. Meanwhile, Sirius made his way down to the Shrieking Shack alone, turning to look at the castle before he stunned the Whomping Willow.
The Marauders walked out on stage to their normal welcome, the cheers travelling down to the Black Lake and carrying out across the grounds.
Sirius (Remus) walked towards the mike, pushed all worry out of his mind, and began to sing.
"I
see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see
earthquakes and lightnin.
I see bad times today." This wasn't
a song, this was Remus' thoughts.
"Dont
go around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life," He
sincerely hoped not.
"Theres a bad moon on the rise.
I
hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear
rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin."
Dumbledore seemed deep in thought.
"Dont go around
tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
Theres a bad moon
on the rise.
All right!
Hope you got your things
together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like were
in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye.
Dont go
around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
Theres a bad
moon on the rise.
Dont
go around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
Theres a
bad moon on the rise."
Remus finished and stepped away from the mike, finding to his
surprise that all the girls were making eyes at him.
Backstage the Marauders got changed hurridly and waited impatiently for the results to be announced. They were slightly abashed as a Gyrffindor team and a Ravenclaw band were voted out in a surprise double eviction. They left the castle and ran down to the Shack having told Kerry to stay behind. James became a stag and Peter took the rat form, leaving Remus left looking like Sirius.James turned back.
"Can't you turn into Padfoot?" he asked. Remus shook his head.
"It's not in my blood. I'll….i'll stay here, you come find me once you've checked it out." James nodded, and returned to his animal form.
The stag and the rat made their way down the cramped hallway and pressed their ears to the door behind which was the werewolf. An earsplitting howl deafened them. They exchanged glances; Remus had never been that loud when they checked on him. They jumped back from the door as there was a thud against it; the wood of the door began to split and the two animals dashed back the way they had come. Remus was found lingering at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, pacing back and forth. He was startled at the sight of a stag galloping towards him and began to back away. James materialised in front of him, as did Peter.
"He's trying to break out." James sounded out of breath. Remus smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, it won't break, it's magically reinforced. When the tranformation is complete, the pain is still there, and the need to get out and run is often overpowering. That's why he's trying to get out."
"Woah, Moony, you never told us it was that bad." Said Peter in awe.
"Did you think it was as easy as an animagus transformation? It's nothing of the sort. I cant believe Sirius did this just so I wouldn't feel replaced or get caught out. I don't think he realises how dangerous it is, I didn't want to say this before because I didn't want you to be distracted" he said, talking now to James. "James, his body isn't used to this and he isn't prepared mentally; this could kill him." James sat down slowly. This night couldn't pass any slower if they had Time Turners.
When the Marauders woke up the next morning, Remus looked like Remus, James looked like he had barely slept, Peter had been called by Dumbledore to explain what had happened last night, and there was a conspicuously empty bed. James tried not to wake Remus as he pulled on a cloak against the cold November chill. He walked quietly t the hospital wing to see what had become of his best friend. As he approached the bed at the very end of the ward, he realised there was already someone talking quietly with Sirius.
"I can't believe you did that for your friends. It was so…brave. You could've been killed, did you realise that?" it was a girl's voice.
"Yeah" James was shocked at how weak Sirius sounded. He quickened his step and rounded the curtain. Sirius' face split into a smile at the sight of his best friend, which was more than could be said for James. Sirius' arm and legs were covered in scratches and there was a bandage round his head. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week and one of his arms was in a sling.
"Couldn't Madame Pomfrey fix that for you?" James asked.
"Nah their werewolf inflicted, cursed wounds." Replied Sirius, shaking his head and wincing.
"Why did you do it Siri? I mean, we do some outlandish stuff, but notheing really dangerous."
"Because if we left Remus to transform, and turned Kerry into him, I'd feel like we were abandoning him, replacing him. Anyway, he deserved a night off; it's hell what he goes through." Kerry stood when Sirius had finished talking and dragged James out of the Hospital Wing.
"James isn't it? Look, Sirius isn't stupid, he knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to know what pain really felt like, being a Beater he's had his fair share, but nothing he couldn't really control. The Dark Lord is getting stronger and the rumours are no longer just myths and legends, they're real. By taking his burden, Sirius is strengthening bonds withing his life, and learning from doing so." James frowned.
"You're not from Beaubatons are you?" she hesitated, biting her lip.
"No, I work for the Ministry, but I'm behind Dumbledore 100."
"I want to talk to Sirius. See you later." Jaems walked off leaving Kerry stood in the corridor cursing herself. Had she said too much? They were still children. Then again, so was she.
AN: the song is Creedence Clearwater Revival › Bad Moon Rising.
