Disclaimer: Characters owned by J K Rowling.
Summary:
Castle of Destiny - 1971
Early Risers
It was four o'clock in the morning of October 31st, and Remus was cautiously pushing the door of the Great Hall open. The ceiling was aglow with starlight, the candles were extinguished, and the four tables were completely bare, but Remus was not disappointed. This was, in fact, exactly what he wanted.
"The c-c-coast is c-clear," he whispered to the three shadowy silhouettes behind him, and they slipped silently into the room.
This Remus Lupin was almost unrecognisable as the thin, quiet outcast from two weeks ago. Since that fateful day in the library when he had dared to offer Sirius Black and James Potter his help, his miserable life at Hogwarts had been completely reformed. Sirius had ensured his seamless integration into his group of friends, and once they had relayed their ingenious Halloween prank to Peter he had treated Remus almost as though he was the smartest wizard in existence. The cruel pranks had disappeared, and suddenly all the students who had shunned him were treating him as a real human being. Lessons were suddenly hilarious, the Common Room was friendly, and bedtime was greeted with a groan from them all. His stomach had grown, so now he ate as much as any of the others (but not nearly as much as Peter, he never seemed to stop eating) so his ribs had finally begun to disappear beneath a thin layer of fat. And best of all, as his confidence grew, he gradually began to loose his hunched figure and stand taller - he now had to look down to meet Sirius's eyes.
However, today was not to be a recollection of changes. Today, the four First Years were setting up their first prank upon the whole school. Remus had managed to teach the other students the spells required, and they were all eagerly anticipating the coming chaos.
-----
Sirius peered out from behind the doorway, his face solemn. He nodded to James, and they both dived for the nearest table, crawling along and singing some muggle spy song that James had heard on a trip to London once. Peter trotted along behind, giggling quietly.
Sirius eventually crawled out from under the table, and grinned up at Remus, his open, happy face a far cry from the shuttered, Black stare that used to grace his features. Staring up at Remus, Sirius realised two things. One, this was what he would count as a friendship - a true friendship. And two... This... friendship wasn't just good for him.
For a start, Remus actually smiled these days, and it pained Sirius to think of the hunched up, miserable child that he had so viciously hounded for so long. At least now I can begin to pay him back... To atone for what I did... This will make everything right.
In the end.
-----
Remus, exasperated as he was, could not help but smile back at Sirius, his once sworn enemy turned best friend. "St-stop messing about, g-g-guys!" he hissed, whipping his wand out from the inside pocket of his robes. "We c-c-can't stay t-too long." He turned around, ready to get on with everything, and nearly bumped into Peter. "Wh-what are you d-doing?" he asked. "You're m-m-meant to b-be the l-lookout!" Peter jumped to attention, muttering an apology, before returning to the doors.
Remus turned back to Sirius and James. "Alright, l-l-let's get g-going." He waved his wand and whispered a quick "Inanimatus Conjurus," allowing an incredibly lifelike plastic jack-o-lantern to appear on the table, leering at them all. Remus grinned back at it, immediately conjuring it a twin. Once they had enough pumpkins, the rest of the plan could be put into action...
-----
Sirius grinned, and was all set to conjure up the slimiest slime Hogwarts had ever seen - when he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. He turned to Remus, face white, suddenly realising what could happen if they were caught.
We're going to be expelled!
I'll...
I'll have to go... home.
-----
Remus froze the moment he heard the footsteps, turning to Sirius the moment the other boy turned to him. Identical shades of white on their faces, it seemed that Remus' fears had begun to take shape.
'Nonononononono!' he screamed inwardly, panicking wildly. 'I can't be expelled! What will Dumbledore think?'
Peter suddenly came running into the hall, his chubby face reddening from the minimal effort of running all of two hundred metres. "Someone's coming!" he warned, too loudly. "What'll we do?"
Remus was frozen in shock, still staring in utter terror at Sirius. "W-w-what do w-we d-d-do?" he stuttered, his golden eyes wide. "I c-c-can't b-be expelled!"
And then, as the doors opened once more, his animal instinct kicked in. Quick as lightning, he darted out of sight and under the nearest long table, his arms curled protectively over his head and his body already shaking in the fear of being discovered. Still, protecting himself brought upon guilt like he had never felt before.
Sirius, James and Peter would now take the blame from whoever had just walked in, and the guilt stabbed at his heart like a knife.
'Please forgive me. Please, please forgive me!'
-----
Sirius was frozen to the spot, not even shaking in his sudden panic. James looked over, not noticing the way Sirius' hands were clenched into fists, or the way his grey eyes were just slightly too wide, and whispered, "Sirius, we could run for-"
The door opened.
It was a greasy-haired first year, wearing black pyjamas that were far too long, and puddled around his feet in pools of faded cotton. James blinked, and started to laugh. "Who the hell are you?!" he asked rudely, his wand held out threateningly in front of him.
-----
Remus was practically shivering, his fingers like claws that tore at the air by his face. He did not dare to look up, even at James's laughter, for all that he could think was that he was certain to be sent home. His father's glare shone in his mind, his hands holding the silver shower cable to taunt him. He knew that his father would find his expulsion hilarious, and would take great pleasure in torturing him with it for the rest of his life.
Why, oh why, had he let Sirius implement his stupid plan? Remus was sure that his stupid idea had just cost him and his three friends their education.
-----
The greasy little first year took one look at James scowling face and brandished wand, and ran for it, stumbling over his too-big pyjamas, James laughter echoing behind him. The Gryffindor, still chuckling, turned to Sirius, still not noticing his friend's distress.
"Oi, did you see his face Sirius?! Poor lickle Slytherin almost wet himself!"
His words fell on deaf ears. Sirius was staring at the slowly closing door, his mouth still slightly open in horror. James placed a tentative hand on his shoulder, and Sirius' reaction was immediate. He stiffened, his face closing off into a mask of indifference, his eyes sharpening, focusing. He scowled at James, and moved out of his friends reach.
James blinked, and held up his hands peaceably. He lowered his voice, whispering quietly, so that only Sirius would hear. "It's okay, mate. Was just a Slytherin. You find Remus - I'll go and kick the stuffing out of Peter. Useless little..."
James wandered off, still muttering darkly to himself. Sirius felt a sudden surge of guilt. Remus... The poor kid was probably terrified! He wasn't as brave or confident as James - or indeed as Sirius pretended to be. Sirius frowned, and glanced around the hall, plunging slightly shaking hands deep into his pockets.
There.
A sudden glimpse of a telltale shock of sandy hair. Sirius half-smiled, and crawled slowly under the table, flopping onto his side, his head resting on Remus' knee, suddenly too heavy for his neck to hold upright.
I... I'm sorry, Remus.
-----
Remus had been so closed off from the happenings outside of the table that he had no idea that James had frightened off the Slytherin, that Sirius had not said a word, that Peter had disappeared. So when he felt a sudden weight on his knee, he yelped like a startled animal and skittered away, his golden eyes opening wide and terrified. When he spotted that the weight was nothing other than Sirius, his rapidly-beating heart hardly calmed.
'I just yelped!' he thought anxiously. 'Like an animal! What if he... no, please! He can't guess. It's fine, we haven't been friends over a full moon yet, there's no way... perhaps he'll blame it as an idiosyncrasy...'
And as he finally began to calm, his emotions hit him. It was as if someone had turned a tap on, for the tears suddenly fell thick and fast and uncontrollably. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, S-Sirius," he sobbed, placing his head in his hands. "I d-d-didn't m-mean to l-l-leave you, I-I-I just c-couldn't get c-c-caught, and I-I kn-kn-know you th-think b-b-badly of m-me but I-I-I just c-couldn't help it!"
-----
Sirius tried to sit up, startled, and succeeded only in whacking his head on the underside of the table. Scowling, and rubbing his head, he crawled over to Remus, and plonked himself down cross legged in front of the other boy, resting his chin in his hands.
"It's alright, Remus." He said eventually, patting his friend's knee awkwardly. "It's not your fault. Peter's the incompetent loony who doesn't seem to be able to guard a door... You know," he whispered conspiratorially, "I wasn't of much use either. I just stood there, like an iceberg or something. James was the only one who kept his head. So don't feel bad Remus. Don't feel so bad for being human."
-----
Sirius's words struck Remus' heart much like the guilt had, and rather than stopping his tears they only seemed to fuel them. It was obvious that he had not guessed his secret - and if he had, he was an exceedingly good actor - but to have someone console him like he was human... he had not had such comforting words since before his mother had died, and he had been too young to remember them. It was new to him, new and scary, and he could not halt his crying.
"B-b-but you and J-James are br-br-brave," he wept. "I'm n-n-not, I w-wouldn't have r-r-run if I w-w-was! I'm n-not a Gr-Gr-Gryffindor like y-you and J-J-James!" He wiped his cheeks with the ragged sleeve of his robes, burying his head in fear and shame. "I d-d-don't d-deserve you all as fr-fr-friends."
-----
Sirius snorted - classily, though - and stared at Remus indignantly.
"Don't be so daft, Remus! The Sorting Hat does not make errors twice in a row! Look, if you're this afraid of being caught, and you still came... Then that makes you a whole lot braver than James and I put together! Courage isn't the absence of fear, you know. It's the ability to go on and face the danger anyway. Not being scared isn't courageous or heroic, its foolish! So stop crying, Remus. We've chosen you as our friend. That's an unconditional offer, you know. You don't have to earn it, or do anything, or be anything to deserve it. I'm not going to take it back, or abandon you. An alliance is not something that can just be disregarded because of a difference in personality or opinion. Besides, what sort of a wizard would I be if I just deserted someone who was afraid? That would be considered wrong by all parties - muggle, wizard or otherwise."
He fell silent for a moment, before bowing his head and moving his hands back to his lap, suddenly feeling tired. "Remus... To be perfectly honest... The one that isn't a Gryffindor is me. We all know it. Slytherin is in my blood. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it will stay."
Whether I like it or not...
-----
Remus finally glanced up, his face streaked red like it had been so many times before. "B-b-but you are br-brave, Sirius," he said quietly. "Y-y-you s-survived your f-family's curse, and r-returned to l-living in sc-school n-n-normally. Y-you're no m-m-more Slytherin than I-I-I am." He wiped the final tears from his cheeks, his sleeves sodden. "A-and then wh-wh-what about m-me? Y-y-you were afraid, t-too, and I j-j-just deserted y-you. S-so what k-k-kind of w-wizard am I?"
He hugged his arms around his body, a comforting and familiar grip that managed to bypass his long bite scar. "I-I-I'm sorry, S-Sirius. I sh-sh-shouldn't be c-complaining like th-this. Y-y-you don't n-need to h-h-hear it, y-you have pr-pr-problems of your own." He pushed himself out from under the table, standing up with his arms still around him, and came face to face with one of their conjured jack-o-lanterns. A moment passed in silence, and then Remus lashed out and sent it flying across the Great Hall to smash against the far wall.
He just did not care any more.
-----
Sirius stared at the spattered orange remains of the pumpkin and shook his head slowly, before waving his wand. Instantly, the pumpkin was repaired, and with another quick charm and a flick of his wrist, they were full to bursting with gloopy multicoloured gunge. Sirius nodded to James, who quickly performed the rest of the necessary charms.
Their mission completed, the boys quickly returned to Gryffindor Tower, for a night of fitful sleep, plagued by dreams of pumpkins, and first years with greasy hair and malicious smiles.
