A/N: Hey, look! This author is back with a new adventure for Remus and the Marauders :D Told you I'd never abandon this story, didn't I? Well, here we are with another chapter. Enjoy my lovelies, and thanks ever so much for being incredibly patient with me!
Warning: Not beta'd. Also, um, a little bit of self-criticism and negative thoughts in this chapter. Not sure how much of a trigger that could be but I'm paranoid…
Disclaimer: I'm not Jo, not pretending to be her, not earning any money writing this, blah, blah, the whole shenanigans XD
STARTOFCHAPTERSTARTOFCHAPTERSTARTOFCHAPTERSTARTOFCHAPTERSTARTOFCHAPTER
Chapter 10: A Sirius Disappearance
The library was the best place to study. As long as no one knew where Remus was, that is.
The sandy-blonde had taken up residence at the farthest corner of the library, buried up to his neck in textbooks, and sneaking sips of hot chocolate from underneath the table every few seconds.
The hot chocolate was compliments of a young Third-Year from Hufflepuff, who had seen Remus lurking around the basement, trying to remember the way to the kitchens. The taller wizard had been walking back from the kitchens himself, judging by the plate of hot muffins he was carrying, as well as the satisfied-looking grin plastered on his face. When Remus had bashfully admitted he had been searching for the kitchen, the taller wizard smiled cheerfully and offered to run back and fetch what Remus wanted. He then returned with a steaming cup of hot chocolate, just the way Remus liked it, claiming that all he had to do was mention Remus' name and he was immediately tended to.
Remus had found the kitchens the first time by mistake when he'd been trying to find his way back from detention with Slughorn one night. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed he was headed in the wrong direction, and he somehow found himself in front of a peculiar-looking painting of a fruit bowl, which he later found out from James was the key to opening the door to the Hogwarts kitchen. When he'd gone back there the second time, he remembered to tickle the pear in the bowl, and the door swung open to reveal a massive-sized kitchen stuffed with the oddest little creatures Remus had ever seen, hurrying about with trays laden with food, frying pans or delicious-smelling entrées that made Remus' mouth water excessively. The little creatures had happily offered Remus some left-over dessert, insisting that he also choose anything he would like to drink, and Remus had shyly asked for hot chocolate. Two hours in the library later that day lead to the discovery that the small pointy-eared creatures were called house-elves- slaves to any witch or wizard who owned them until the day they die, and bound to do what their masters wish of them.
Tonight Remus was enjoying his warm drink under the table and attempting to finish his Charms homework when he heard Lily Evans' voice and looked up to see her and a certain Slytherin walking towards him- one with a surprised smile and the other with a scowl.
"There you are!" Lily exclaimed brightly to the werewolf, tugging on Snape's sleeve and dragging him alongside her as they approached Remus' table, arms filled with heavy textbooks. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Sev with me today, he was feeling a bit down so I thought we would keep him company!"
Lily pulled herself a chair and sat down, opening her books and turning the pages rather loudly, but Snape remained standing, glaring at the werewolf, and Remus had the crazy urge to ask him to go away. Instead he silently raised his eyebrows at the Slytherin and waited for him to take a seat beside Lily. When half a minute had passed and Lily finally looked over her shoulder at Snape in surprise, Remus cleared his throat and said quietly, "You're welcome to join me and Lily, Snape."
The Slytherin's only answer was to glare more intensely at Remus, to which Lily sighed exasperatedly and turned back to her books, frowning deeply.
Finally Remus looked away from the glaring wizard and busied himself with his own homework, ignoring the way he knew Snape was hatefully eyeing him.
"So, Sybill tells me you haven't been spending any time with her lately," Lily said casually, flipping through one of her books. She looked up at Remus. "I told her you were probably too caught up with school and those other… friends of yours," she finished distastefully.
Remus flushed a little, pulling a random book on the table towards him. "She likes to predict my future," he said quietly. "I didn't want to tell her to stop so I… so I maybe thought that she would get the hint if I limited our time together."
There was a short giggle from across the table, and Remus looked up to find Lily trying to stifle a laugh behind a fist. She tried to control herself. "Have you tried telling her you wouldn't like your future read?" she asked finally, an impish grin still gracing her features.
"Well, I… yes, I have considered telling her but-"
"-But you're afraid she'd take it personally? Is that it?" Lily's smile was too understanding.
Remus nodded and Lily shrugged. "You should tell her," she insisted. "Maybe offer to find her a candidate for her 'fortune telling' sometime. It's funny though: she never tells me anything about what she sees…"
Before he could stop himself, Remus muttered, "Probably because I'd agreed to be her friend," and Lily started giggling again.
"I thought we could Herbology together tonight," Lily announced brightly. "I brought a book which looked useful at the time. But now it seems…" She trailed off looking thoughtfully at a page on which a drawing of a large cauldron with what looked like orange plant organisms protruding from it was depicted.
"That's a Potions textbook," Snape muttered from where he was still standing, not having moved an inch. "You won't find much in there."
Lily closed the book with a sharp snap and stood up. "Right, I shall go and look for another one then, shall I?" she said airily, and walked off in the direction of a bookshelf.
Remus looked down to his essay again, but before he could lift his quill to finish what he had been writing, he heard a sharp bang go off and his face started stinging like sharp needles were trying to penetrate his skin. His mug of unfinished hot chocolate slipped from his slack fingers onto the floor and the werewolf grabbed at his face and started rubbing it harshly, gasping and reaching into his robes for his wand at the same time. But before he could do so he was knocked off his chair by a mass of black, and a heavy body collided with him as he hit the floor. He looked up to find a furious-looking Snape leaning over him, his wand pointed to his face, right between the eyes. Remus blinked.
"Did you think," Snape breathed onto the werewolf's face with every whispered word, "that I would forget that stunt you pulled on me in the corridor, Loopy Lupin?"
By now Remus had realized the stinging on his face combined with the sudden bang which had gone off was probably Snape's doing, and he resisted the temptation to use his werewolf strength to push the Slytherin off of him and cast a good curse his way. Instead, he discretely inched his hand toward his wand pocket as he looked up at his attacker, straight-faced and calm.
"I was only bidding me time until I could get my revenge for what you did to me!" Snape hissed, heatedly, his face contorted with rage. "I see how you always walk around with a guard at your side now, hoping your friends would stick up for you if anything happened. Yes, I know your kind; run away when there's trouble, but always making sure someone is around to look out for you… Coward."
The hand that had been just about to close around the wand in Remus' pocket stilled, and Remus froze at the word spoken by the Slytherin above him, eyes widening, heart-rate increasing. He breathed out slowly, trying to come up with an appropriate answer while his mind yelled: 'See? Even Snape says you're a coward too! Admit it, Remus: you don't belong in Gryffindor!'
The angry, demanding thoughts were still finding their way to the eleven-year-old's mind when Snape put his mouth to the sandy-blonde's ear and whispered roughly, "And stay away from her or I swear that hex I just gave you will look like a pretty birthmark compared to what I'll do to you next, Lupin!"
Shaking slightly, Remus nodded mutely and swallowed, feeling a large lump in his dry throat that hadn't been there a moment ago. Snape glared down at him a few seconds longer then slowly, keeping his eye on Remus, moved away from his face, his black wand still pointing steadily at the helpless werewolf before him. He backed up slowly and sat in the chair next to Lily's, his black eyes never leaving Remus as the werewolf attempted to look busy with his essay again.
When Lily finally returned, Remus avoided her gaze as she sat back down at her side of the table.
"Well, these books look interesting," Lily said, sounding uncertain. "I'm not sure they'll help us but…"
Curious, Remus looked up and immediately wish he hadn't; Lily's eyes were trained on him, brows furrowed, confusion marking her features. "Remus, what happened to you?" she asked in a hushed voice.
"It's nothing," Snape answered crisply, as Remus struggled with four different kinds of emotions. "He had a break-out while you were gone. Probably stress."
"I'm not very familiar with anti-pimple spells," Lily said apologetically to Remus. "Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey? I could take you-"
Snape stood up so abruptly that he might have been hexed with an itching spell himself at the seat of his pants, and Remus cringed when the Slytherin spoke. "I'll take him," he offered quickly.
Remus cleared his throat. "I can walk alright, Snape. Thank you."
Their eyes met for a brief second but Remus understood the message: "remember my warning."
Remus' jaw clenched and he felt his muscled stiffen but he nodded and assured Lily that he would be alright with Snape.
Lily seemed satisfied with Remus' assurance and told them she'd wait for them to get back.
Outside the library, Snape made a quick check around the nearly-empty corridor and turned to face Remus once more. "Clear off," he growled, eyes narrowing with hatred.
The blood in Remus' veins started boiling and he told himself to breathe through his nose, but was saved the necessity of responding to the nasty remark by James' arrival.
The messy-haired wizard was slightly out of breath when he ran up to the unlikely pair and put his hand on Remus' shoulder, eyes shining with worry behind his square glasses.
"Have you seen Sirius?" he asked, panting a little. "Can't find him anywhere and we've got a Quidditch tryout in a couple hours!"
The way James said 'Quidditch' made Remus wonder about his friend's ability to prioritize his life, but Remus put his own hand on James' shoulder and shook his head.
"Haven't seen him," he said quietly. A gnawing sensation began in his abdomen and Remus paled, remembering how quiet Sirius had been all day.
James groaned and pulled at his untidy hair. "Where is he?"
Snape spoke then, interrupting Remus' panicky thoughts, his arrogant sneer back on his hook-nosed face. "Take your friend's lead, Lupin and get lost. Black seems to have taken the hint that nobody wants him around, and you would do well to do the same." He turned and headed back into the library, shoulders shaking in what Remus imagined to be silent chuckles.
"Want me to hex him?" James asked, eyes flashing dangerously, his wand pointing to Snape's retreating back. "Probably could still get him from here."
Remus shook his head and lowered James' wand hand. "Later, maybe. We need to find Sirius now."
"Did that git hex you? I don't remember you having quite so many freckles, Remus."
"Later," the werewolf repeated firmly, grabbing his friend by the arm and rushing off with him -away from the library. "Where haven't you looked yet?"
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The problem started when they couldn't find Sirius anywhere for more than three hours. James checked all the boys' dormitories and made Lily check all the girls' ones when she'd returned to the Common Room. James brought Peter up to speed and he joined in the search as well, and they all ran around the castle, asking passers-by if anyone had seen Sirius, but everyone answered with the negative and Remus started to get really worried. Although he doubted very much that the aristocrat Pureblood would want anything to do with Hagrid, he and Lily checked with their giant friend nonetheless. When they didn't find him there either, Remus began hyperventilating and losing control of his magic.
"But you saw him after lunch, didn't you? Stop breathing like that, Remus! You'll make yourself ill for nothing."
Remus tried his best to listen to Lily, but all he could see were white spots in front of his eyes, and he felt he was about to collapse if not for her arm tightly grasping his shoulders.
"I can't...," he wheezed. "Sirius is gone. All my fault."
"No it isn't, we'll find him."
Remus nodded.
"Deep breaths, Remus," Lily's gentle voice said. "You're making little sparks with your magic."
Remus nodded a second time.
The next half hour or so was a blur for Remus. He was constantly flitting between fits of hysteria and moments of self-blame. When Lily said was almost certain she'd seen a dark-haired Gryffindor run up the stairs for the fourth time that day, Remus collapsed in a fit of tears and refused to listen to anything else, insisting he needed just a few minutes to gather himself.
At last, he got himself off the floor and he and Lily met up with James and Peter on the seventh-floor corridor, all coming up empty-handed and Sirius-less.
"Maybe he went swimming or something," said a red-faced Peter, still breathing heavily and clutching his sides.
"The lake's freezing, Pete," James replied dejectedly. "Even Sirius' not mad enough to swim in there in this weather."
"But why would he disappear?" Lily asked desperately. "Did you say something to him, Potter?"
James snorted. "Sirius would never disappear because someone upset him!" he said flatly. "One of the Slytherins probably got hold of him, locked him in the dungeons or something as a prank. He's got loads of enemies in Slytherin..."
The watch on Remus' wrist now read quarter to seven and he sighed. "It's almost dinner time."
"He might be there for dinner," Lily said unsurely. "Let's just head down and have something to eat, and if he's not there…" Her voice trailed off.
"We could always replace him for a new dorm-mate," Remus heard James say under his breath, as the four of them made their way to the Great Hall.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
After dinner, Remus, Peter and James walked back to the Common Room, sullen expressions mirroring one another. Remus was feeling especially miserable, blaming himself for Sirius disappearance and wondering desperately about his friend's whereabouts.
His school bag was on his bed when he got to his dorm, with a note from Lily saying he'd forgotten the bag in the library when he'd left. His gift for Sirius was sitting on his dresser, neatly wrapped and neglected, and Remus wished he'd thought of giving it to Sirius sooner.
'Maybe if I'd given it to him before, he wouldn't have disappeared,' Remus thought miserably.
Tired, frustrated and feeling unreasonably scared, the werewolf threw himself on his bed and shut his eyes.
"Should we tell someone about Sirius?" Peter asked timidly from the other side of the room. "Professor Dumbledore or something…?"
"He'll be alright," James sighed. There was a light thump followed by a soft groan.
Just then the door banged open and the last thing to be expected happened. Remus heard a surprised cry from someone and leapt quite suddenly off the bed when he heard Sirius' voice cry: "YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I'VE FOUND, YOU LOT! IT'S AMAZING, IT'S BLOODY AMAZING, YOU'LL NEVER GUESS!"
The dark-haired wizard was completely wild-eyed and wind-swept, about half a dozen shopping bags the size of small books dangling from his excited hands. His whole posture screamed excitement, and Remus feared the boy would start performing England's national Anthem from joy. Luckily, Sirius did no such thing, though he did leap into the air whooping at the top of his lungs, and when no one reacted did an extra flip and landed right in the middle of James' four-poster, laughing hysterically.
"GUESS WHAT HAPPENED JAMSIE! GUESS WHAT I FOUND!"
"Sirius...," James began cautiously, staring around at Peter and a dumbstruck Remus helplessly, "what-where-?"
"I WENT TO HOGSMEADE! HA HA! I WENT TO HOGSMEADE, JAMES, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!"
Remus looked over to James questioningly and the bespectacled wizard shrugged, turning back to his friend who was now jumping on the bed like a hyperactive three-year-old, bags of merchandise wining wildly in his hands.
"Sirius, can you please just tell us-GET OFF MY BED ALREADY! LOOK AT THE STATE OF IT, YOU BLOODY IDIOT!"
Still laughing madly, Sirius did a flip off the bed and landed heavily on the ground, eyes shining, chest heaving. "I went to Hogsmeade," he repeated, a lot quieter this time, but still shaking with excitement. "Guess how I got out, Jamsie, guess!"
Remus, still dumbfounded by Sirius' sudden arrival and manic behavior, approached Sirius cautiously as if he were advancing on a frightened wild animal.
"Sirius," he said carefully, keeping his eye on the wizard. "You were gone for hours. What-how-do you know what time it is?"
Sirius began nodding excitedly and opened his mouth to speak, but James interrupted. "And we missed the Quidditch tryouts because of you!" he said furiously, his shock ebbing away slowly as he spoke. "We were given one shot at being on the Gryffindor team but you had to disappear and go-"
"-But you don't understand, James!" Sirius exclaimed, happily, hopping up and down as if he needed the loo. "I found a passage out from the castle to the village! It's on the third floor-I could show you-!"
"-And how is that more important than Quidditch?" James asked furiously, now eyeing his friend with a murderous look in his eye. "You had us all worried, disappearing like that, missing the tryouts-"
"-Oh give it a rest about the stupid tryouts!" Sirius sighed exasperated. "You can have another go at it next year. This is big news, this is! Hogsmeade, James! We can go whenever we want without anyone knowing, and get back in to the castle. Imagine all the trouble we could get into. And look what I bought from Zonko's and Honeydukes…"
He spilled the contents of his little bags onto the floor and Remus saw why Sirius had been excited about his adventure outside of Hogwarts. There were all kinds of little pranking toys, sweets, chocolates (Remus' mouth began salivating without his permission), and various other things that would make a toddler go crazy with excitement. He saw a couple joke toys he recognized as being one of his dad's favourite and picked it up.
"Is this a Dungbomb?" he asked fearfully, holding it gingerly between his fingers and glancing nervously at Sirius. "Do you know how easily these things could go off, Sirius?"
The twelve-year-old gave a whoop of laughter and nodded. "Brilliant, isn't it? And these are Sugar Quills," he added, picking up what looked like an ordinary writing quill and putting it into his mouth, sucking on it. "Tastes amazing and the teachers won't even know you're eating in class!"
"Wow!" exclaimed James, who seemed to have forgotten his anger about missing the Quidditch tryouts. "My dad got me one of these when I was a kid! Fanged Frisbees!"
The boys spent the next hour examining the new products and Sirius even shared some of his sweets with them after promising they were perfectly harmless.
"I went to Honeydukes as well," he said grinning. "S'where I got these. Want some chocolate, Remus?"
He nodded at the big pile of Honeydukes' finest and Remus reached for a big chocolate bar he'd been eyeing, managing a "thanks" in response around his cauldron cake.
"So, where did you say this secret entrance is, Sirius?" James said, munching on his chocolate frog messily. "And how is it that Filtch hasn't found it first?"
"Yeah," said Peter, frowning thoughtfully. "You'd have thought Filtch had closed it by now if he knew about it."
Sirius got up off the floor where they'd all been having a picnic with their sweets and joke shop merchandise and waved his hand with a flourish, bowing as if he was meeting the Queen. "Gentlemen," he said in a most aristocratic manner, "follow me if you please."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
"This is absolutely brilliant, you're brilliant! Sirius, how did you find this place?"
The three friends had followed Sirius down to the third floor corridor, to a statue of a hunched-over witch with one eye, which Sirius tapped with his wand. The hump opened up to admit the boys and they went in after a beaming Sirius, to find themselves in a narrow, semi-dark tunnel lined with candles along the walls on either side that looked like they'd been placed there quite recently.
Remus wondered what made it smell so musty.
"Well, you know how it is, James," Sirius said proudly, leaning back against the wall, hands behind his head so casually. "My awesome hunting skills do come in handy in times such as-"
"-You accidently found it, didn't you?"
Sirius' face fell but James gave a shout of laughter.
Remus was feeling torn, nervous excitement eating away at his insides as he scanned the tunnel Sirius had mentioned lead to Hogsmeade, uncertainly. "Where exactly does this lead again, Sirius?"
"Oh, Honeydukes," Sirius replied casually. "It goes right up to the trapdoor that leads to the cellar. That's when you have to be careful though, someone could spot you leaving and then it's all over."
"Let's go, gents!" James started forward but Remus stopped him.
"James-wait! We can't just go now-"
"-Why not?" James demanded half furiously, half amusedly. "We've already had dinner and there aren't any more classes until tomorrow. What's stopping us?"
"Well, it's late for a start. We aren't allowed out the castle, especially at night, and-and we need a plan!"
James frowned. "A plan?"
"Yeah, we need to know exactly how we're going to do this. We can't just-"
"We don't need a plan. We're the Marauders, yeah? We'll just wing it."
Remus' first thought was to tell James that "winging it" wasn't exactly the best idea since they could easily get suspended form Hogwarts if they were caught sneaking out the castle. But he shook his head and tugged on his hair tiredly. "Fine," he sighed, "but if we're caught, it's all on you, James.
The grin on James' face was that of a true marauder for sure, and it bothered Remus to no end as he followed his three friends down the dimly-lit tunnel into the village.
ENDOFCHAPTERENDOFCHAPTERENDOFCHAPTERENDOFCHAPTERENDOFCHAPTER
Ta-da! How about that? Nice long chapter after a long absence. Much love to all of you who are still reading, and a shout-out to those new readers out there ;) Love you all XXX