Chapter Eight
In which James and Peter get stuck to the floor, Remus dyes everyone purple, Peter gets lost in the library, and Sirius causes generic mischief
"When do you plan on telling her?" Sirius asked James one morning.
"Tell Evans? Do I really have to? Remus is still in the infirmary, and it's not too fair as far as dares go." James replied, as he tried to get his feet unstuck from the floor. "Sirius, what in Merlin's name did you use on the floor that I'm so stuck?"
"Some spell I found. I'm not too sure what it really does even, I was just trying it out and it happened to coincide with this early morning. But I'm not getting stuck on the floor, it's just you and Peter." Sirius replied, nudging Peter with his foot, as the smaller boy lay stuck to the floor. James sighed in annoyance; that was so typical Sirius. Cast a spell on the floor, have no clue what the spell does, and then laugh when everyone else gets stuck to the floor. Since Peter had fallen out of bed that morning with the surprise of the howler, he was stuck laying on the floor, his back glued to it's relentless surface. James just felt fortunate that only his feet were stuck to the floor.
"Sirius, can you please try harder to get us unstuck? We only have an hour or so before classes, and I'd really like to eat before I have to go transfiguration." James whined, casting ever spell he knew on his feet. Since he only knew a few spells though, most of them color changing spells, and one to transfigure needles and matches, he wasn't having much luck.
"James, I sincerely doubt that lumos is going to help your feet at all. Relax, I'm looking through this book. I think that Peter fell back asleep though. What class do we have first today?" Sirius said, casually flicking through a book, not at all concerned with James' plight.
"Where did you find that book? I mean, why were you reading book in the first place to find this spell? I don't know what we have first, aren't you the one with the photographic memory who's not stuck to the floor?" James moaned, desperately grabbing at his left foot with both hands. His balance was off though, and he fell forward with a scream. He reached out with his hands to catch himself, but that didn't work, and ended up stuck even further. Now, instead of just his feet being stuck, his nose, left hip, and both hands were stuck.
"James, you look ridiculous. I can't figure out a countercharm for it. Any suggestions? What day of the week is it?" Sirius said, shutting his book and sliding off of his bed. James groaned, it was highly uncomfortable with your head only being held up by your nose, but he couldn't move his head any to a more comfortable position.
"Tuesday. Get an older student." James called out as he tried to itch his left arm with his right elbow. "Sirius, my arm is itchy. Will you itch it for me?"
"We have history of magic first, so that gives us a little extra time. Who should I get? Which arm?"
"Left arm. What about Frank Longbottom?"
"I won't itch your left arm. Sorry. Who's he?"
"What do you mean you won't itch my left arm?"
"James, focus. It's nothing personal, I just have a vendetta against left arms and won't itch your left arm. Your right arm would be a completely different situation. Now, Frank Longbottom?"
"He's the second year I was talking to yesterday, he seems ok and probably won't tell any teachers. Will you wake Peter up? I'm really hungry. Could you please do something about this soon? Really soon? I'd love to itch my arm and eat some food."
"I'll go and find him. What does he look like?" Sirius said, walking out of James' limited line of sight. He hoped that Sirius was going to wake up Peter though.
"Ow!" A shriek came from behind James. That would be Peter waking up then. "Ow, Sirius why did you kick me? Have you figured out how to get us up yet? I have to pee."
"Sirius is going to get Frank Longbottom. I told him to wake you up so I wouldn't be bored while he was gone. Sirius, he's vaguely tall, and he has brown hair and eyes. He's friends with one of the Prewett brothers. Fabian I think?"
"Ok. I'll go and try to find him then. Wish me luck!"
"I wish you the best of luck that Peter and I don't kill you once we're unstuck from this floor. Do you know how dirty this floor is when your up close and personal to it?"
"I have no idea, and I don't care to learn. Bye fellas!" Sirius called as he yanked open the door.
"Sirius, I won't kill you, but please do hurry." Peter yelled after him. For a moment James and Peter laid (or sprawled in James' case) in silence.
"I'm hungry." James moaned to Peter.
"I think that I'll go back to sleep. Would you mind if I did?" Peter asked tentatively.
"Yes. Please stay awake?"
"Alright. I've been thinking about Evans and the dare and everything." Peter said.
"What have you been thinking about it?" James asked, his curiosity spiking.
"Well, I don't think that Evans even knows you exist. I think that you should do something to get her attention."
"You think? How should I do that? How do you suppose that she doesn't know I exist?"
"She never looks at you, and only talks to those other girls in her dorm. And some guy in Slytherin. Have you ever talked before?"
"No. But we've only been in school for almost a month so far. Darn. I need to do something to get her attention! How do I do that, Peter?" James asked desperately. A whole month of school was gone, but Evans still didn't know who he was. Although the whole getting romantic advice from Peter was kinda funny, his nonexistence really was highly distressing. "Wait, she talks to someone in Slytherin?"
"Yeah. The same one that you had a problem with on the train?" Peter said reluctantly.
"That's outrageous though! She's so nice, why would she talk with someone so dark and dangerous and so snakey and blah!" James finished, his mind racing frantically.
"Maybe they're not all like that." Peter said timidly. James was aware that he was scaring Peter a bit with his intense hatred towards the Slytherins, but it was just outrageous. Evans was so...innocent seeming, and they Slytherins screamed anything but innocent and nice.
"How do I get her attention?" James asked, knowing that he would need to talk to Evans soon. He couldn't imagine her getting mixed up in some of the things Slytherins got into, he wanted to keep her as far away from them as he could.
"Maybe you should talk to Sirius about the whole attention thing. I tend to hide behind the whole attention thing, I don't try to attract it. You and Sirius do though." Peter said with a slight laugh.
"Ok. I'll talk to Sirius about it. Where is that git though? He's been gone for a while. Much longer than it takes just to go and get someone to help." James said, as his arm started to itch again.
~Cessare~
"Damnit. Damn." Sirius swore under his breath as he reached the great hall. He knew that swearing wasn't exactly something acceptable, but he really couldn't help it. He had been raised his whole life hearing swear words in every language tossed around as though they were nothing, and had just picked them all up. They were a part of his vocabulary as much as any other word was; his family didn't hold swear words with the same regard the rest of the world seemed to view them with. But at Hogwarts he had to try and not swear as much, teachers loved to assign detentions for swearing. Still, it was hard.
None of the second year Gryffindors were in the great hall. Maybe they had a class earlier than the first years did, maybe they had classes later and were all still sleeping. But whatever the reason, Frank Longbottom was not in the hall. Several teachers were still in the hall, despite the fact that breakfast was finishing up, and McGonagall was giving Sirius a very suspicious look. However...
"Professor?" Sirius asked, after walking the long walk to the front of the great hall.
"Yes, Mr Black? Where are your friends?" She replied, casting a suspicious glance around the room, as if she expected them to pop out at any given moment.
"They're sleeping still. None of us got much rest last night, so they wanted to sleep in and miss breakfast this morning. Although Remus is still in the hospital wing."
"Why were you up so late?"
"A rouge owl found its way into our dorm, and refused to leave. We spent hours trying to get him away." Sirius said, hoping that she wouldn't see through his lies.
"A rouge owl? Hm." The professor replied, peering at Sirius with a great bit of suspicion. "Mr Black, what do you need? I don't have time for social visits."
"Right. Do you know where the second year Gryffindor boys are?" Sirius said, crossing his fingers.
"Why do you need to know?" Professor McGonagall said as she pulled a list out from her pocket.
"Frank Longbottom borrowed a book of mine, and I have some papers I'll need for defense in it. I'm hoping to track him down to get it back, but he's not in the common room or here or anywhere else I've checked."
"He has a class right now. But it should be over in ten minutes if you want to hurry to the charms classroom." Professor McGonagall said, apparently believing Sirius' words.
"Thank you loads Professor. But, um, could you please not tell anyone that I, um, was actually reading?" Sirius stage whispered, just to add a little more authenticity to his stack of lies. Humility was always a good indicator that a person was telling the truth, Andy had told him. Bella had taught him to always keep track of his lies, so he would need to remember to inform James and Longbottom of the stories he had invented.
McGonagall was looking at Sirius with an expression akin to amusement. "I'll be sure to keep the fact that you are literate to myself. Now, if that's all you need to say, I'll need to be going to my classes."
"Right. Thanks! I'll see you in class today." Sirius said, turning away.
"Yes. I'll see you then. Give Mr Lupin my best wishes next time you see him."
"Longbottom!" Sirius called as the charms class let out. He had recognized who James was talking about when he mentioned Longbottom's friends, so he was fairly confident that the tall boy he was shouting at was who he was looking for.
Sure enough, the tall boy turned around to Sirius, a look of confusion on his face.
"Yeah?" Longbottom said. "What do you need?"
"Hi. I'm James Potter friend, and, um, we have a slight situation up in the dorm rooms. James suggested that I go and get you to help us with it." Sirius said, shuffling his feet nervously. He thought he might as well play up the role of a scared firstie.
"Alright. I don't have any classes for another hour, so I could help you I guess. What's the problem?" Longbottom replied, following Sirius down the hall.
"I, uh, may have accidentally stuck my dorm mates to the floor." Sirius said, trying not to grin with pride. Be the ashamed little kid that people wanted you to be, they're more willing to help a scared kid than a boasting one.
"How did you manage that?"
"Some spell I found in a book. I didn't actually look to see what it would do, I just casted it. Now I can't figure out how to undo it." Sirius said, turning down into another hallway.
"Where are we going? Isn't the tower the other way?" Longbottom said, halting at the edge of the turn.
"Yeah, but we need to stop at the kitchens. James and Peter will kill me if they don't get any food." Sirius said.
"You know where the kitchens are? I've been looking for the kitchen for a few months now!" Longbottom said, hurrying along eagerly now.
"We found them within the first week here." Sirius said with a shrug. "We're pretty persistent."
"Jamesie-boy! Peter-weter! I come bearing older student and food! If you can get your mouths unstuck that is." Sirius called as he opened the door. "Longbottom, you might not want to come in. You might get stuck too."
"Sirius! Where in Merlin's blazing pants have you been?" James yelled. Sirius suddenly was struck with the thought of how incredibly glad he was that James was still stuck to the floor, and knew almost no spells.
"I brought you some food. And I got Longbottom, and Minnie thinks that I'm a literate student. I'd have to say that it's been a fairly successful time." Sirius said, digging through his stuff for the book with the spell. "Longbottom, here's the spell that I used." Sirius said, showing him the page.
"Hi Potter, Pettigrew." Longbottom said from his position in the doorway. "Ok. Um, I think I might be able to undo this. Do you have a charms book maybe?"
"Yeah, sure. It would be..um..." Sirius said, throwing some things out of his trunk.
"Sirius, just get Remus'. His trunk is actually organized." James called. "My arm is insanely itchy right now. I am going to kill you when my nose isn't stuck to the dorm room floor."
"Save your griping for later James. Where's your book? Remus has his with him it would appear." Sirius said, tossing a pair of socks at James' head.
"I dunno. Maybe under my bed? We don't have charms today. How would I know where it is? Peter, where's yours?"
"I don't think I still own my charms book..." Peter started.
~Cessare~
"Thanks loads and loads." Peter said to the second year as they walked out the door. "I might have died of starvation if I had to lay there any longer."
"Yeah, thanks loads Frank. My arm was getting really itchy, and Sirius has some problem with left arms, so he wouldn't itch it for me. So really thanks." James said, throwing Sirius a nasty look.
"Thanks Longbottom. Thanks for saving me from a lifetime of itching arms and feeding some idiots who got stuck to the floor." Sirius said begrudgingly. Peter supposed that that was the closest to an apology Peter and James would be getting. But Peter was just grateful to no longer be stuck to the floor, he didn't mind the lack of apology.
"No problem. Just, uh, don't get stuck to any more floors, and Sirius, please never try that spell ever again. Until you learn the countercharm to it or whatever." Longbottom said, giving Sirius a teasing grin.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Just cause some babies can't handle being stuck on the floor for a few hours..."
"Babies? Babies? Sirius, my nose was glued to the dorm room floor for an hour and a half. I had to sneeze the whole time so badly, but I couldn't even! And my arm? I think I've itched a whole in it so far." James cried out. Peter looked at the arm that James had been scratching, and noticed how red it was getting. It seemed that James had been itching it the whole time since his arm was freed.
"I'm just glad that I landed on my back. I got a nice nap. What class do we have next?" Peter said, as he munched on some of the toast Sirius had brought them. Peter was pretty sure that he was never going to let Sirius bring food ever again though, he had brought the strangest assortment. A few things were normal, like toast and some fruit, but other things, like the biscuit made with hot sauce, were just insane. Why would someone even ruin a good old biscuit with some hot sauce? Sirius should not be allowed to create a meal for anyone other than himself.
"We have history of magic...five minutes ago. Huh. So Longbottom, how dedicated is the ghost to his classes?" Sirius said, picking up some of the food off of the plate Peter was holding.
"He doesn't even notice if you aren't there. I'd say just skip the class, he'll never mark you absent. Just make sure you get the assignment from someone. But history of magic is a class that you really can skip just as often as you'd like to." Longbottom said, walking towards the door. "But I have a class I need to get to, so good luck! Enjoy being free from the floor."
"See ya! Thanks again!" James called after him.
"Yeah, thanks!
~Cesser~
The remainder of September passed, and the detention wall grew, much to Remus' annoyance.
"You really got another detention?" Remus remarked as he walked into the dorm a few days before the full moon.
"Aren't you proud of us? I have eight so far. But I'm tied with James." Sirius said, proudly pointing to his most recent addition to the wall.
"And, oh look, Peter and I don't have any!" Remus said, trying to stress a point.
"Actually, I think that you'll stand to be corrected! For little Petey just got his very first detention." Sirius said, grinning maniacally.
"What have you persuaded poor Peter to do? Where is he and James?" Remus said, looking around and not seeing them.
"I think that they're getting food from the kitchen to celebrate. I was nominated to come back and wait for you, and we're having a party tonight about it!" Sirius said as he pinned up a Gryffindor banner over the doorframe.
"No, we're not supposed to encourage detentions. Detentions are bad. Where did you get the banner?" Remus said, rushing over to prevent Sirius from taping his finger to the door as well.
"Longbottom. Thanks. Now, have you heard of those muggle tricks?" Sirius said, jumping down from the chair he had been perilously perched on.
"I've heard of lots of muggle tricks. Which one would you be referring to?" Remus said, his voice cautious. Sirius with a wizarding trick was bad enough, let alone adding muggle ideas into the equation.
"The one where you prop water up over the door! Wanna help get James and Peter?"
"Is that really a good idea?" Remus said, massaging his temples slightly. The moon was in only another few days, it was a Friday afternoon after a rather long week, and he really hadn't had enough sleep to be dealing with this kind of thing.
"Yes. Why not? They would appreaciate it." Sirius said, his tone completely serious, and lacking of any amusement.
"Uh, well, let's think this through Sirius." When Sirius didn't respond he decided to give him another clue. "What will they be carrying?"
"Food from the kitchens?" Sirius said, a bewildered look upon his face.
"Good, good. Now, what will happen to the food that we are looking forward to eating?" Remus said slowly, pretending he was speaking to a small child. Not that he had actually ever spoken to one...
"It will get wet?" Sirius questioned. "Hey! Remus! Our food will get wet!"
"That's the spirit. I knew you'd get there eventually." Remus said, highly pleased that he had discouraged Sirius from this.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, can you fix it? Can we spell the water to be repelled from food or something? You have that one book." Sirius said, his eyes anxious. Remus sighed, he knew exactly what book Sirius was referring to.
"Yes, I have that book. Let's have a discussion about the books, ok?" Remus said, knowing that he had to breach the subject now. "Now, I know that you've been digging in my trunk and reading my books."
"How'd you know? I put them all back in the exact same spots!" Sirius said, an incredulous look on his face. Remus bit back a smile, he was supposed to be stern. Or at least slightly responsible sounding.
"Yes, you put them all back in the same spots. But you not only just confirmed that, I also knew what spells you were using from my books. James and Peter stuck on the floor for a few hours ring any bells?" Remus said as he knocked on Sirius' forehead.
"Oh. Yeah. Well, umm.." Sirius said, staring at his feet sheepishly.
"Sirius, I don't mind you reading my books. I'd just prefer if you would ask me first, and not take them out from my trunk."
"Why?"
"Because. Now, I may possibly know what page a good spell would be on..." Remus said, dangling that out there. Hopefully, Sirius would go back to the prank and away from thoughts of Remus' trunk.
"You do? Really?" Sirius said, his eyes lighting up.
"Yes. But, you have to promise not to use the spell on anyone other than James and Peter unless I'm there to approve of it." Remus said, hoping that this wasn't too large of a boundary for him to step over. He knew that this spell could potentially cause plenty of problems, and Sirius and James could be counted on to use the spell incorrectly every time. Neither of them had an ounce of forethought.
"Ok. Fine. Can we do it?"
"Promise first. I mean it, Sirius."
"Fine. ." Sirius said, all in one huge breath.
"Ok. That's acceptable. Now, where have you put my book?" Remus said, after confirming that it wasn't in his trunk.
"It's under your bed. You sure do have a clean underside of your bed. But, Remus?" Sirius said in a worried tone.
"No, I won't tell Peter or James or anyone else that you're actually literate. Sirius, the underside of a bed is supposed to be clean-ah." Remus said, unable to prevent the slight sound he made at the pain of having to kneel down.
"You ok?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What else have you put under my bed while I was gone?" Remus said, pulling several more novels and other books out from under his bed that he was positive he hadn't put there.
"Other books that I've needed to hide." Sirius said, trying to act very nonchalant, and quite honestly failing at it. Luckily for him though, Remus was distracted.
"Ha!" Remus said, a triumphant look on his face as he shifted through the piles of books. "You did borrow my Sherlock Holmes books! And my copy of the bible? My book about America, and Alice in Wonderland?"
"Oh shut up. You do not breath a word of this to any single person!" Sirius said, looking quite frightening. Remus actually backed up for a second before he realized that Sirius was teasing.
"Right, right. Now, for the spell. I'm thinking a general repelling spell?" Remus said.
"But how do we get the food to stay alright?" Sirius asked.
"I'll just add in a food prep charm, one that's made for keeping food warm or cold or whatever, rearrange the words a bit, and there we go!" Remus said, unable to keep the smile off of his face this time. A very mischievous grin was on his face he knew, but he couldn't care less at that moment that Sirius was seeing this side of him.
Remus generally tried to hide his more mischievous nature, he needed to be a role model student, and not succumb to anyone's low expectations of him. But he loved the idea of a good prank or scheme; as long as he didn't get caught.
"Sirius," Remus began, an even better idea plaguing his thoughts now, "do you suppose you could get a dye-spell to transfer over to water?"
Sirius started laughing as soon as he grasped what Remus was suggesting, and gave Remus a hearty pat on the back.
"I don't suppose I could do it, but you probably could. The dye spell is coloris traiciem, and think really hard about what color you want it to be, while pointing at the spot that you want done." Sirius said, trying to talk between laughs. "Remus Lupin, I never would have thought that I would see the day you were so, just, bad!"
"Just because I don't have a detention record doesn't mean that I can't cause trouble." Remus said, tilting his chin up to look at Sirius defiantly. He really wished that he would grow a bit taller, it really sucked being the shortest kid in the entire school.
"Oh, I believe you! Now, we better get a hurry on this if we want it done before they get back." Sirius said.
"Ok, find us a bucket, and I'm ready to go." Remus said, catching the flaw in the plan.
"Can't you just, I dunno, make one appear or transfigure one?" Sirius said offhandedly, knowing that he would be hard pressed to find one in the dorm.
"No, you know that I very well cannot. Check Peter's trunk." Remus instructed, as he searched for the repelling charm.
Peter's trunk?" Sirius asked as he opened it up.
"Yes. Repellat aquam. Then we could do a... cibum trahaxit? But then if we combined them we could say maybe a repllat aquam ciborum? That might work. What color should we have the dye be?" Remus said, lost in his thoughts.
"Damn, you're right. Peter really did have a bucket in his trunk." Sirius said, emerging from the depths of Peter's trunk.
"You shouldn't swear." Remus said absentmindedly, as he muttered various Latin phrases under his death. Ablative or accusative? What would work better? Remus knew enough about Latin to translate or remember words, but he didn't really know quite enough about the grammar and mechanics to really make spells work.
"I shouldn't swear?" Sirius said, interrupting Remus' musings. "Do you remember anything at all about being in the infirmary?"
"Vaguely. It had a lot to do with birds." Remus said as he cast the spell on the bucket.
"Birds. And swearing. That was literally all you did, little Remmy." Sirius said as he stood back up on the chair. "How do you attach these things?"
"Don't call me little Remmy. I'm Remus. You could even call me Lupin if you'd like, but please not Remmy. I really have no idea. Isn't it supposed to fall when the door opens?"
For the next ten minutes, the two boys struggled to attach the bucket above the door successfully. They both got a bit wet in the process, but eventually they situated the bucket above the door. Even better, the water would now dye, and soak, everything but food.
"Now we just have to wait for them to show up!" Sirius said, bouncing around the room in excitement.
"They really should be here soon." Remus said, as he joined Sirius on his excited pacing. Even though Remus was incredibly tired, sore, and hungry, he really just couldn't sit still.
"Let's count down for it!" Sirius suggested wildly.
"1!" Remus started.
"2, 3!" Sirius said, grabbing Remus and swinging him into a waltz. For another minute or so they counted and danced, reaching 97 before they heard a creak on the stairs. Instantly, they both stood still and waited. But they weren't disappointed. For a second, the door opened and they saw two smiling faces, laden with food. The bucket seemed to hold itself, defying all laws of physics, and even a few of magic. Then, it all collapsed.
"Ah!" Peter and James screamed, dropping the food as they were coated in green water. But it was incredible to see the reaction to the food; the water jumped away from the plates in a wide arch. But as the food flew, the water flew too. Basically, the whole room was now soaking.
"Sirius!" James bellowed, his face furious, but comical seeing as it was green. It was even better since his hair was also green, and was so wet that it actually laid flat for once. "Why in Merlin's name would you coat us in water?"
"Why do you assume that it's just me?" Sirius said, barely able to talk through his laughter.
"Why would Remus do this?" James asked, a look of genuine confusion on his face.
"Oh come on! Everyone assumes that Remus is some kind of an angel, and I'm just the spawn of the devil. Remus, take credit where it is due, my dear friend!" Sirius said, gesturing with his arms towards Remus.
"Thank you, thank you very much." Remus said, surprising himself with a large bow. Last week he was sure that he would have blushed and ducked his head sheepishly, avoiding taking credit. But now? Here he was, bowing and taking all the credit that he could. He was becoming such closer friends with these boys, and that scared him more than anything else. They would surely discover who, what, he was if he let them get close to him.
"Remus?" James said incredulously. Peter could only laugh in response to this information.
"Yes? I'm Remus?" Remus said, a twinkle in his eyes. He was so happy right now, successfully pranking the people he liked best.
"Merlin, are you serious? You really did all of this?" James said, gesturing wildly to the disarray that the room had been thrown into.
"No, I'm not. I'm Remus. This is Sirius, he came up the idea of the bucket." Remus said in a calm tone, to rival James' frantic voice.
"But little Remmy here did everything else! He came up with the spells and gestures and kept adding on to the spell." Sirius said proudly, swinging an arm around Remus' shoulder.
"Don't call me Remmy." Remus said with a frown, shrugging out from under Sirius' arm. "I'm starving, let's eat."
"But what about all the water..." Peter said, but trailed off when he saw the food laying on the ground, perfectly fine, except for a bit squashed from the fall.
"Remus is brilliant. That's all there is to it!" James declared as he picked up a slightly flat piece of bread. Remus smirked a bit at how quick James was to forgive and forget.
"Cheers to Remus!" Sirius said over-dramatically, holding up a bruised apple and running it into James' bread.
"Cheers!" The rest of the boys echoed, and Remus' heart swelled. He didn't think that he would ever be as happy as he felt that moment.
~Cesso~
"Where's Remus?" Peter asked with a frown Sunday afternoon. He had a charms essay to write, and Remus was the only one patient enough to help Peter edit it.
"I dunno. Have you checked the library?" James said, looking up from his potions essay.
"No, I couldn't find it. Is that essay due tomorrow?" Peter asked, nervously seeing how much James had written.
"No, Wednesday. Just don't tell anyone that I'm doing it ahead of time, ok?" James asked, worry creeping into his tone.
"Sure, I promise that I won't. Will you help me with charms?" Peter said. nervously shifting his weight to his other foot. He really needed a good grade in charms, his last test had gone fairly unspectacularly.
"Sure, sure. Just let me finish up this last paragraph first." James said, flipping open his book to another page. Peter smiled a little bit, now he had two secrets about his friends that no one else was supposed to know. James did his homework ahead of time, and Sirius read muggle books for fun. But he knew next to nothing about Remus.
For the next few minutes Peter sat quietly and watched James write, wondering vaguely if he should recognize what James was talking about in his essay. Then he reflected on how he was supposed to find his way around the school. None of the boys but Remus were good with directions, so when Remus disappeared for a few hours, no one was quite sure where to look for him. Sirius was no help with places, even with his photographic memory. Peter secretly thought that he had a very directionally challenged memory.
"Ok, I'm done. What do we need to talk about?" James asked, throwing down his quill with a flourish.
"What does this wand movement here have to do with the way the words influence it?" Peter asked.
"Where's Remus?" Sirius asked, throwing his cloak on the floor as he walked through the dorm room door.
"We think he's at the library, but neither of us can remember how to get there to check." Peter answered as he looked up from his charms essay. James had helped him through a lot of points on it, and he was only a paragraph or so away from being done.
"Where have you been all afternoon?" James asked.
"Spending time with Andy. She has some kind of idea stuck in her head that after she graduates I won't be allowed to see her. She has something up her sleeve. Hey, are you two actually doing homework?" Sirius said skeptically.
"Peter here just needed some help with charms, but we're almost done." James said, throwing Peter a look.
Peter nodded in agreement to it all, and said "I only have another paragraph to go. Is it time for dinner?"
"We have about a half hour until it starts. Wanna go find Remus then get to dinner?" Sirius suggested.
"Let Peter finish up this paragraph before he forgets it." James said, throwing Peter a teasing smile.
"I'm almost done, give me another two minutes and I'm done. How do you spell 'inflection'?"
"Why would you want to use a word like inflection?" Sirius said. "I-N-F-L-E-C-T-I-O-N."
"Slower please!" Peter said, trying to frantically copy down the letters Sirius had rambled off.
Sirius obliged, and Peter copied it down. Mere moments later, he set his quill down triumphantly.
"I'm done! Let's go get food and Remus." Peter said.
"Sirius, do you know where the library is?" James asked.
"If you can get me to the charms hallway, I can get you there." Sirius said with a shrug of the shoulders. Peter closed his eyes in frustration, getting Sirius to understand how to get there would take all day.
"Do you know any way to get to the charms classroom?" James said, also sounding slightly frustrated.
"From the defense room I can get there." Sirius said.
"Why would you know that? We don't even have defense and charms in the same day." James complained.
"I don't really know why I know that way." Sirius admitted.
"Ok. Can you get to the defense room?" James asked, hoping that this would lead to the final step.
"I can get to the defense room from the astronomy tower. And the astronomy tower from the kitchens."
"Ok. How do you reach the kitchens?" James said, in a bit of a dazed tone. Peter wasn't even sure how many rooms Sirius had mentioned so far, and he wondered how Sirius managed to get to classes at a semi-decent time.
"I can get there from the quidditch pitch." Sirius said, his voice trailing off.
"Couldn't you get there from the great hall?" James said, a bit weakly. Peter was torn between laughing in amusement and groaning in exasperation.
"No. I know the way from the quidditch pitch and nothing else." Sirius insisted.
"Ok. Um...let's just go to dinner and hope that Remus shows up. If he doesn't, we'll walk down to the pitch and see how getting to the library goes." James decided.
After dinner though, the three boys received the shock of their life, and their plans to find the library shrunk. For Lily Evans walked up to them.
"Um, hi." Evans said, giving the boys a nervous look. Peter glanced at his two friends wondering how they would react to talking to her. Just as Peter thought he would, James was staring at Evans like he had never seen a girl before. Sirius started laughing the minute James got the dopey look on his face, and was too preoccupied to talk. So that left Peter to respond.
"Uh, hi Evans." Peter said, unsure if he could just talk to a girl like a regular person. He idly wondered if he was supposed to bow to her or something, he had never been taught how to properly greet a girl. Was he allowed to call her by her last name, or was he supposed to call her Miss Evans or Miss Lily or something?
"Hi. Um, do you know where Remus is?" Evans said. So she wasn't offended by Peter's way of greeting her. Phew.
"That seems to be the question of the day." Peter mumbled, then said slightly louder, "No, we haven't seen him in a few hours. We were just about to go and check the library for him actually."
"I haven't seen him in the library at all today, unless he's hiding in some obscure corner." Evans relayed.
"Oh. Well, I guess we'll go and check those obscure corners for him. He tends to hide out in those. Why do you need Remus?" Peter asked, suddenly remembering that Evans had wanted to find Remus, not just talk about his library habits.
"I wanted to compare some notes with his. We study together sometimes, and I haven't seen him all day to double-check anything."
"Oh. Right." Peter cast a quick glance at James and Sirius, who were now standing just a little further away, talking and gesturing wildly, but quietly. Peter decided that he could make his very own decision for the group. "Evans, do you know how to find the library? We know where it is, we could find it eventually. But Sirius is the only one with a memory for direction, and he can only find the library starting at the quidditch pitch to the defense room and charms hallway, kitchens, and who knows what else. If you knew a shorter way we'd really appreciate learning it."
"Sure, I know a shorter way. I can get to the library from here, or almost anywhere else in the castle. You guys really are just lost without Remus, eh?" Evans said, casting a worried glance in Sirius' direction.
"Yeah, we really are. Could you help us find our way there now?" Peter asked hopefully.
"Sure, now is fine. Just, uh, will Potter stop staring at me anytime soon?"
"Here it is. Will you need help finding your way back to the dorms from here?" Evans asked as they stepped into the library.
"No, I can get back to the great hall from here now, and from there I can get us to the dorms." Sirius said, nudging James with his elbow in the ribs.
"So you can memorize this way so we won't have to traipse down to the quidditch pitch anymore?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, we'll be able to find Remus loads easier now." Sirius said appreciatively.
"Thanks Evans." Peter said, turning to her.
"Yeah, thanks." James said, with wide eyes and a stupid grin on his face, saying the first words that he had said ever since Evans showed up.
"Um, you're welcome." Evans said. Peter thought that she looked more than a bit worried to have James' intense stare on her. "I'll be going now."
"Right. So where do we start?" Sirius said as he rubbed his hands together.
"We split up, each of us search a different section for twenty minutes, and we meet back here by the doors. If we find Remus, great. We get a prize. If we don't find Remus, we return to the dorms with long faces." James decided. Peter noticed that more and more often, they looked to James for instructions. He always seemed to have the best idea of how to do something.
"Ok. I'll take the left side." Sirius said as he walked away.
"What side do you want, Peter?" James asked.
"Right I guess?" Peter said. He didn't really see the difference that the different sections made, they all were the same. Windy, twisty, and impossible to navigate.
"Ok. Let's get going then." James said, as he walked straight to the center section.
For the next twenty minutes, Peter wove himself in and around shelf after shelf of books. Every so often he would run into the obscure table or two, or stumble upon some older years snogging in a corner. Many times he knocked over a stack of books just laying out in the middle of the path, and wondered why they weren't given a place on the shelves. After twenty minutes, he had to admit to himself that he was really well and truly lost in the labyrinth, and it was time to meet the others.
But he was incredibly lost. He wound his way back through the maze, but he couldn't remember where he had come from in the first place. He knocked over a stack of books he remembered knocking over earlier, and then ran into a familiar desk. But after he ran into the desk another two times, he was forced to conclude that he was just running in circles. Even worse, every couple he had found before seemed to have left he library as well, so he couldn't even ask anyone for directions.
He started to panic a bit, it was just a like a dream he had once had. In this dream, he had run for days and days in a white maze, being fed very few drops of water, the smell of food distant in the air. But he could never reach the food at the end. This was that dream practically, and he was utterly terrified.
So Peter decided he would just sit and wait. Eventually, someone had to stumble upon him, and he would do well just to sit patiently. James or Sirius should be along soon.
"Peter! Peter, where are you, mate?" Peter heard a voice call. His heart jumped at that, he was saved after all.
"Over here!" He called back to the voice. Was that James?
"I heard him, it was over this way. No, this way. I think it was the left shelves, not the right. No, we're not splitting up anymore." Definitely James. Sirius didn't talk nearly as loudly as James did.
"I swear it was-oh! Hey Peter!" Sirius said as he literally ran into Peter.
"Hello to you to. Can we pretty please leave?" Peter fairly begged.
"Please! Let's go. Sirius, do you remember the way?" James said, turning to Sirius with hopeful eyes after he gave Peter a hand up.
"Sure do! We go left at this shelf, then right, then four lefts, then-"
"We don't need to hear it, we just need to follow. You alright, Peter?" James asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How long was I gone for?"
"We've been looking for close to an hour. This library sure is big. Let's not separate next time." Sirius suggested.
"It didn't work anyways, we didn't find Remus." James said morosely.
"Yeah. Maybe he's back at the dorms now though." Peter thought out loud, hoping that they would be back at the dorms soon enough. He was getting very sick of picking up stacks of books he knocked over.
"I really wish that Remus would stop these disappearing acts." James said as he ran a hand through his hair.
"It's like playing 'Where's Waldo?', but it's Remus, and he wears black robes like every single other person." Peter said with a sigh.
"Huh?" Both James and Sirius said, utterly confused by the muggle reference.
"It's a muggle game." Peter said, and started to explain how it worked. By the time they reached Gryffindor tower, the two boys mostly understood how the game was played. But they still were unsure why anyone would actually want to find "an idiot who gets lost in crowds".
"Remus!" Sirius yelled as he threw open the dorm room. But the dorm was empty, save for the bucket of purple water that drenched the three boys.
"Oh, come on!" James moaned. "Remus was the one who got the color off of us last time. I have no idea what spell he used for it though. Are we just going to be stuck purple until he magically reappears?"
"It's not such a bad color." Peter said, looking into the mirror. The purple actually wasn't so bad as far as colors to be went. "At least it's not green again. Or silver."
They all stood quietly for a minute as they contemplated the horror of being Slytherin colors.
"Let's start looking for a dye-removal spell." Peter suggested as he opened up the first textbook he saw. Unfortunately, it was an astronomy book, so he quickly put it down and hoped no one had noticed.
~Cese~
The moon held itself high above the earth, it's position regal and unchallenged by the night. All over, creatures were responding to the bright gaze it held, and bones were melding and breaking all over.
The wolf was completely under the influence of the moon. He howled at it, singing songs of pain and frustration, hoping that it would be able to free the wolf. But when no reply came, the wolf took his anger and desire out on the human living inside him. The human, trapping his majestic self away twenty-eight days out of a month. Ridiculous.
Inside the brain of a wolf, a small child shivered back into control for a brief second. He was able to stop himself from completely chewing off his leg, but after one glance out to the moon's pure light, he was forced to a back corner, and the wolf took over again.
But as the boy laid in the infirmary the next day, he still could remember that one look he had gotten of a full moon in all of it's glory. He remembered the soft glow it had had, so innocent, so unsuspecting of the horrific damage it had caused to his leg. He thought about the moon, how elegant it really was. He wished that someday, someday, he may be able to have a firm grasp on the moon, and not be dragged away, kicking and screaming. He hoped that someday he could maybe hold the moon.
AN: Hi guys! I put the author's note at the bottom this time, cause I know that some people really don't like to read them, so you could just scroll on through if you don't want to read this! I sincerely apologize for this being so late. This chapter is one of my longest yet though, it's actually 24 pages long. I did put Peter's view in this chapter twice, I'm not entirely sure why I did it though...I'm sure I had a good reason at the time though! My email(I type this up on my iPad and can't upload it on the website from there, so I have to email it to a real computer) has not been cooperating with me, so it's taken a while. On the bright side, Pottermore opened up to the public! I'm so excited about that! So as always, thanks for reading! If any of you guys ever have any prank suggestions or things you'd like to see in the story, I welcome all suggestions! Just pm me or leave a review about it or whatever. I hope you liked the chapter!
