Chapter 10
Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter
"Okay, let's forget about everything else for a while and work on our next prank," Sirius suggests when they get to lunch that day, before they even sit down though, McGonagall reaches them.
"Mr Lupin, the Headmaster would like to see you, if you please."
"Do I have a choice?" Sirius kicks his shin, "Of course Professor, I'll head right on over!" He says with false cheer, Sirius sighs as Remus leaves, heading to Dumbledore's office.
"Would one of you care to explain why one of my best students lost forty points within the last half an hour of a lesson, and seems to be behaving increasingly erratically?" Professor McGonagall asks them, they exchange looks.
"He didn't…sleep well last night," James eventually says as Peter tucks into his food with increased vigour, Sirius smiling innocently at her.
"Then I suggest he have an early night," She replies unhappily.
"Yes Professor." She begins to walk off.
"Professor?" Sirius says, catching her attention before he actually gets up and walks the few steps to her, "I've been meaning to talk to you, erm. I just wanted you to know that, us Marauders, we know about Remus'…furry little problem." He gives her a significant look but is unsurprised when her face gives nothing away, "Hope and Lyall know that we know but, um, we were hoping you'd…not mention it to Professor Dumbledore." She raises an eyebrow, "It's…a little complicated. We just wanted you to know in case something happens," He says, he nods at her and then returns to his seat, she turns and walks to hers.
"You wanted to see me Professor?" Remus looks up at Dumbledore's desk and sees two people sat at it with him, "Oh, my apologies, I'll wait outside."
"There's no need, please, come in my boy." Remus instantly goes on high alert, he thinks the couple notice this, but if anything, they seem impressed, "This is Druella and Cygnus Black." Remus bows formally.
"It's an honour to meet anyone of such high stature My Lord, Milady," He says as he rises, the two seem pleased, even more pleased when they see Dumbledore unhappy.
"This is Remus Lupin, the half-blood your youngest daughter seems to have taken to quite strongly," Dumbledore informs them, they look him over, clearly unsure what to think now but distaste is clear on their faces.
"Must you sir? You know how I feel about my blood status," Remus says, all but hanging his head in shame, Dumbledore look as though he's recalculating his position as the couple grow more intrigued.
"And what, pray tell, are your feelings on that?" Cygnus Black asks shortly, Remus stands tall though deliberately still appears shamed.
"Well it's embarrassing. To bring Muggles into wizarding society is dangerous, and now I'm weaker than I could have been. All I can do is hope to have children with a pureblood and try to clean my family line as much as possible," He replies, appearing completely genuine.
"And I'm to understand you plan to do this with our daughter?" Cygnus asks him, Remus smiles slightly.
"Not necessarily My Lord." Cygnus raises an eyebrow, "Regardless of what happens with your daughter, having any sort of relationship with one such as her will only serve to help me in the future. So whilst I care deeply about Bellatrix, I do not necessarily need to marry her to save my descendants further shame."
"But if you could, would you?"
"Oh yes, My Lord."
"How can you be so sure? You are only twelve, are you not?"
"Yes Milady, but, if I may be candid, I love your daughter. I would spend the rest of my life with her if I were permitted, but I know a person of my status is unworthy of her."
"You seem to be a rather level-headed young half-blood," Druella tells him, "Tell me boy, what are your thoughts on he-who-must-not-be-named?" Remus ducks his head slightly.
"I'm not sure you'd like to hear that Milady."
"And why not?"
"No one ever seems to appreciate my opinion on the matter." Dumbledore's beginning to think he's underestimated this child.
"Tell us anyway," Cygnus orders, though not unkindly. Remus bows again.
"Yes, My Lord." Cygnus seems to appreciate this response, "I admire him Sir." All three adults seem surprised, "He's been fighting for what he believed was right, no matter what, for years. Not many people would go to such lengths for their cause, and I admire the dedication and tenacity he shows."
"This has been an enlightening conversation, I expect we shall be seeing you young man. Good day Albus."
"Cygnus," Dumbledore replies, Remus bows to the two again as they leave, they seem impressed with that. Remus calmly looks into Dumbledore's eyes after the couple floo away.
"Your move, Old Man." Then he leaves.
"What happened?" Sirius asks when Remus returns and sits down, looking far too controlled.
"One of these days, I'm going to stop caring about things like life, laws, emotion, and morality. Because one of these days, I'm just going to eat him," Remus replies, still seeming perfectly in controlled.
"Glad to see you're getting along better."
"We told McGonagall that we know about your 'furry little problem', as Sirius put it," James tells him, Remus raises an eyebrow in Sirius' direction, Sirius shrugs.
"I was trying to be subtle."
"Your attempt at subtlety makes it sound as though I have a misbehaving rabbit."
"…we could get you a rabbit," Sirius replies, Remus rolls his eyes at him before he eats.
Next they have potions, Remus manages to gain points that lesson after Sirius explains to Slughorn how Remus has been helping him with potions because he finds it really difficult. And so, by the end of the day, Gryffindor is only twenty-five points behind where it began, given that he also earnt points in transfiguration.
By that night, Remus is exhausted and collapses on his bed to sleep as soon as he enters the dormitory.
The next morning at breakfast, the mail arrives as usual and Remus receives a package.
"Oh good, my order arrived," He says happily, Sirius sighs.
"Do you really need more chocolate?" Remus nods.
"Yes, always." Then suddenly, from across the room, they hear a voice screeching loudly.
"REMUS JOHN LUPIN!" Remus looks up in surprise to see his girlfriend fuming and stomping over to him, "EXPLAIN. NOW!" She yells at him as she shoves the letter she'd received at him. He still has no idea what's going on, and looks more than a little nervous, but takes the letter from her rage shaking hands and reads it.
Bellatrix,
We wished to inform you that yesterday afternoon we met your half-blood friend.
He was not at all what we expected, and whilst we do not approve of such a contaminate mix, we underestimated your ability to choose people of character.
As such, talks with the Lestranges have been put on hold. He may be a more valuable ally than we had previously given him credit for.
Cordially,
Lord Cygnus Black II and Lady Druella Black
"WELL?!" For all that he should be quaking in his boots at his girlfriend's anger, he can't help the slightly smug smile that spreads across his face.
"Trixie, isn't this a good thing?" He asks her carefully, if anything, that makes her angrier.
"WHEN DID YOU EVEN SPEAK TO MY PARENTS LET ALONE GAIN THEIR APPROVAL?!"
"Trixie, you're making a scene, can we talk about this outside?" She glares even more intensely, "I suppose not. They were in Dumbledore's office yesterday, I don't know why. We spoke briefly before they left, that's all."
"And when exactly were you going to tell me about this?" She demands, he grimaces slightly, "Remus?"
"To be perfectly honest, it hadn't actually occurred to me to do so," He says, bracing himself for the reaction. She turns and heads back to her table, pointedly ignoring him as she aggressively eats. He sighs, turning back to his own table and finding everyone staring at him, unsurprisingly. Yet all he manages to do is see Dumbledore's hard expression, he nods slightly at him as he radiates smugness, the Headmaster seems to fume while his composure barely even cracks.
"Well that was interesting," James comments after a while, Sirius snatches the letter out of Remus' hands and reads it.
"They don't even approve of me this much," Sirius tells him in confusion, "What did you say to them?" Remus scratches the back of his head awkwardly.
"Nothing exactly untrue…not sure that's actually comforting but…well anyway," He trails off, he looks over at Slytherin but Bellatrix is still staring angrily at her plate, "Something tells me chocolate isn't going to fix things this time." Marlene claps him on the back in sympathy.
"Nope."
Bellatrix doesn't speak to him during PE, then he has charms and she has History of Magic, then they all go to the tree for break again.
"Remus," Bellatrix says when she gets there, he stands up, brushing his hands off awkwardly, "Let's take a walk."
"I'm guessing you want to know what happened?"
"You guessed correctly." He sighs, the two walking some distance away now.
"Then we're going to have to go back to the middle of last year." She eyes him sceptically but doesn't interrupt, "When Dumbledore called me into his office, when you waited outside, he suggested I end things with you, said because of your family and because of what I am and all this kind of thing and stuff, that it was a bad match. He also hinted at bad stuff happening were your family ever to find out what I am." She doesn't look happy but at least her anger was no longer at him, "I basically told him to butt out. Then, the night we got back this year, James wanted to know what the staff were thinking of us all getting along again. Turns out Slughorn likes Lily and I best but McGonagall has faith in anyone. Dumbledore said he didn't like the two of us together, a fact McGonagall was apparently already aware of. He brought your family up, she mentioned that Andromeda was nice and he said you aren't your sister and McGonagall said you aren't your parents either. Basically he has no faith in your ability to choose your own life. Anyway, when he called me in yesterday, your parents were there. So I greeted them respectfully. Dumbledore introduced me as the half-blood you're quite taken with. I may have exaggerated my thoughts on that slightly, but apart from that I did not lie."
"That isn't enough for this," Bellatrix tells him as she grabs the letter from his pocket and waves it in his face.
"Well…we may have briefly spoken about you-know-who." She covers her face with her hands and the crumpled letter.
"So you somehow managed to speak to my parents about the Dark Lord, whom they support, without lying, yet they approve of you?"
"I just said that I admired his determination and tenacity in fighting so hard for what he believes in and pointed out that most wouldn't do as he has done." She sighs, "Oh, I also said I wanted to marry a pureblood so as not to bring further shame on my descendants and that having any sort of relationship with you would only benefit me in the future, and also that I love you and also that if I was allowed I'd marry you and spend the rest of my life with you." She looks at him for a moment before grabs his hand and leads him back to the group, pushing him to the ground and then sitting in front of him and leaning back into him without so much as saying 'sit' to him.
"…you two okay?" Mary asks carefully, Bellatrix huffs.
"Well, he's managed to make my parents think he'll support the *Voldemort if I do," Bellatrix tells them, "And also told them he loves me before he told me." They all look at him in shock, he grimaces.
"In my defence, when the conversation started I was trying to get them to like me because I wanted to one-up Dumbledore, and then as it continued it sort of clicked exactly who I was talking to and then I thought things would be easier if they held any kind of approval for me and then Dumbledore was getting annoyed and both her parents and I were enjoying that and by that point I think all three of us were trying to annoy him and now…here we are," He explains, Bellatrix huffs again and rolls her eyes.
"What if he actually does it Remy? Do you think they'll look past that?" Much to the confusion of the others, Remus tilts his head as he thinks it through.
"Possibly if I actually joined Voldemort."
"Will you two stop saying his name!" Peter asks desperately as he slams his hands over his ears.
"Sorry Pete."
"No one is joining Vol…you-know-who," Bellatrix tells Remus sternly.
"Obviously, but they don't have to know that…yet at least."
"At the very least he's given you more time on the Rodolphus front," Sirius points out.
"Probably not long, all Narcissa has to do is mention the first time we met and they'll know I was lying about the blood purity thing."
"What blood purity thing?" James asks with a groan.
"Well, Dumbledore introduced me as the 'half-blood your daughter is quite taken with' or taken to or something, so I sort of had to dig my way out of that hole."
"We're trying to teach Reg to be a good person not to lie! What if he hears about this!?" Sirius asks desperately, Remus sighs.
"Yes, okay, I didn't think things through. I know," Remus tells them as he wraps his arms around Bellatrix and all but hides in her hair.
"What is with you and my hair lately?" She asks him suddenly, he shrugs.
"It smells nice and it looks pretty and it's really soft," He replies, nuzzling it slightly.
"Somehow I managed to forget you aren't quite yourself right now," Bellatrix mutters, it seems to click in everyone's head at once and makes them all feel a bit bad for not considering it.
"What do you mean?" Remus asks, parting her hair so that he can sniff around her neck and catch her scent properly.
"What you said, about not remembering how to deal with the things you felt before you were bitten. But there are things you've never felt before, the anger you have for Dumbledore and need for revenge being one of them. So naturally you don't think things through or handle it particularly well, you just react and then you run with it. Like kids do when they learn to handle emotions." He hums in agreement but she's not convinced he was really listening, at least the others were and are all looking a bit more understanding now, "Remus?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you listening to me?"
"Yes Trixie," He tells her as he starts kissing the back of her neck lightly, she rolls her eyes and elbows him in the stomach, "Owww! Merlin, why?" He asks, slightly winded.
"You weren't paying attention to me."
"Oh, I was paying attention to you."
"Wrong kind of attention Remy." He sighs.
"What were you saying?" He asks grumpily, moving her hair to one side so that he can put his chin on her other shoulder, but now listening.
"That there are things you wouldn't have felt prior to being bitten and so you're just reacting to them without much forethought." He takes a minute to process her words.
"All right."
"That's it?"
"Well what else am I meant to say? You're probably right, but there's nothing I can do about that except try and think things through more which I was going to do anyway."
"You should be aware of what's happening to you Remy so that you can look out for it. Anger like yours for Dumbledore is not something one feels at four-years-old."
"I was almost five!" Bellatrix rolls her eyes, "But I see your point."
"I'm not sure Anger is the only thing he doesn't seem to know how to process," Severus says rather suddenly as he looks at him in a considering sort of way, "Also if we assume because of everything with Moony his emotions weren't exactly coming through properly, when something did come through it would have been intense. So that would explain why he attacked me instead of a more Remy-like response."
"That…makes sense," Remus replies slowly.
"What were you saying about Anger not being the only thing?"
"Well, at four, there are a lot of emotions he wouldn't have been exposed to. Anything of a romantic fashion for instance." They all turn to where Remus is practically curled around Bellatrix who seems to agree with Severus.
"What?" Remus asks, noticing everyone's looks, "I didn't even speak how could I have been behaving weirdly again?!"
"Also, even things he did feel, he was four, no four-year-old can control their emotions. It seems to me as though everything he was feeling before has just been heightened a whole lot, like frustration, and curiosity, and then there's new emotions and such that he never felt in full to begin with, such as the extreme anger he feels for Dumbledore, and his feelings for Bella," Severus continues, "Basically, Remy, don't make any big decisions without one of us around to talk you through whatever emotions you are feeling at the time. Not to have us decide for you, but so that you can come to an actual decision instead of a knee-jerk reaction." Remus nods.
"All right, that shouldn't be too hard, it's not like we're apart much, or ever really."
"So, now that we have time, what the hell were you doing in the restricted section?!" Lily demands quietly but fiercely, looking directly at James.
"Oops," Remus says, Bellatrix chuckles. Remus nuzzles against her neck slightly as he holds her close, "I do love you, you know. I didn't lie to them about that."
"I know, and I love you too. But Remus, don't throw your life away for me." Remus chuckles rather darkly.
"I'm a Werewolf Trixie, I have no happy life to throw away. I should be saying that to you." Bellatrix turns to look at him slightly, she smiles.
"I'm not sure I'll end up saying this much in our lives, given how intelligent you are in general, but Remus, I think you're wrong." She says sternly, "You have a happy life to look forward to with all of us in it. One day, the war will be over, and hopefully we'll have all made it through. We'll be standing at king's cross, all of us, saying good bye to our children and nieces and nephews and godchildren and whatever else and they will be coming here to do as we do now. When that happens, you are going to look at me and say, 'I was wrong Trixie, and I love you.'" Remus smiles at her and nods.
"Sounds like a plan." She nods satisfied and turns back to the conversation in time to hear…
"…and then they start yelling at us about how we can't do this and it was a waste of time and they refuse to tell us what it is or anything. But apparently, it's given them both nightmares," James explains passionately, Sirius looks at him calmly.
"You will never know what we found, no one will."
"You still haven't even told us why you went there to begin with beyond 'we were looking for something'," Marlene points out, Remus and Sirius look at each other as they both shudder.
"Let's just say that that experience more than anything taught me what recklessness can lead to," Sirius tells them, "I can't stop thinking 'what if I hadn't said no to begin with', or 'what if you hadn't insisted we go looking for more information.'" Tears fill Sirius' eyes as he imagines again how close he came to being forced to kill his best friend, Remus nods.
"Me too."
A few days later at dinner, Remus feels the first twinges of the ache he feels before a full moon, but mentions nothing. After dinner, the group goes to the library to do homework together. They'd been sitting in the back for about ten minutes when Sirius turns to Remus.
"I thought we agreed you'd tell us when it started?" Remus raises an eyebrow at him.
"I don't recall agreeing to anything of the sort. And anyway, what makes you think I won't?"
"Because it's a pretty early one so it should have started by now." Remus just unhappily looks back to his homework and continues filling out the sheet.
"We should do another experiment tonight," Severus tells them, "See if there's a change in results."
"All right, same plan as before then?" Everyone nods, except James who clears his throat.
"Actually, I uh, I need the cloak tonight. But, I can just come get you two from your common room when it's time?" James suggests, everyone looks questioningly at him, he shrugs, "Plausible deniability, the less you know the better."
"All right, twelve then?" Bellatrix asks, they all agree.
"All right, I'll be back later," James tells the Marauders and their Gryffindor friends as he pulls the cloak on and exits the dormitory at eleven. James heads straight to the library, unlocking the restricted section and wasting no time in beginning to search the shelves. He wasn't exactly sure what sort of book would have the information he needs, something on transfiguration or on shapeshifting? Magical creatures perhaps? All he knows is, he must find out how to become an Animagus, it may be the most important thing he's ever done.
An hour later he's at the Slytherin common room when the door opens, Severus and Bellatrix exiting and closing it behind them.
"Potter?" Severus whispers into the corridor, James debates whether or not to scare them before realising it's a very stupid idea and instead pulls the cloak off.
"Let's go," James says, only they hear the door open again behind them, James knows they can't all hide under the cloak because whoever it is will have already heard their voices, so he does the only thing he can think of at the time, "The password to the tower is Verona Fillia," James whispers as he puts the cloak over Bellatrix.
"Snape?" A man James recognises as one of the Slytherin prefects asks as he exits the common room, "And Potter. What do we have here?" James gulps as he and Severus look at each other. "Well? Am I to expect the other Marauders to appear? Is Bellatrix out here too?" The prefect asks angrily, again James acts before he thinks.
"Well I'd hardly invite them out for a romantic moonlight stroll." The prefect's eyes widen, but Severus feels Bellatrix walk past him and knows she's heading to the Gryffindor tower to tell the others they've been caught. He has to make the prefect believe him, he grabs James' hand, "I don't suppose we can agree to only meet up in daylight and simply let this go?"
"No. We're going to see both your heads of houses, now. You can explain your midnight romp to them."
"Romp? We're twelve you Snake." The prefect raises his eyebrows at the wording, James turns to Severus.
"No offence Honey." Severus doesn't look impressed, James thinks it has more to do with the 'honey' than the insult to his house, but the prefect doesn't have to know that.
Ten minutes later finds them in McGonagall's office as the prefect catches her and Slughorn up on what's happening, both turn to the boys in surprise. Severus can't help the blush that coats his cheeks as he drops his gaze to the ground, James scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I understand that when you enter a new relationship, things can all seem a bit exciting. But I'll thank the two of you to remember the rules of the school do not stop applying to you because you've decided to become romantically involved with each other." James clears his throat awkwardly.
"Sorry Professor, I suppose we just got…carried away with it all." The prefect sneers at the two of them, Slughorn doesn't seem happy about that.
"If anyone gives either of you trouble over this, do let me know."
"Or me." McGonagall tells them, noticing what Slughorn did, "We'll have no homophobic bullying in this school so long as I teach here."
"What's homophobic mean?" James asks, Severus looks mildly surprised.
"Homophobic people are people who have issues with same-sex couples for numerous different reasons. I suppose it's just a muggle thing," Severus tells him, knowing the prefect is a half-blood and thus it's entirely possible.
"It's a very cruel thing to do to people. We don't see much of it here, but when it does come up, I make it a point to be clear that it is not to continue."
"Yet the blood purists aren't a problem?" James asks, Severus elbows him, "Oh if you think I don't know they've given you a hard time about it just like they have Evans, then you give my intelligence even less credit than I thought."
"…James, it doesn't matter. Let it go." Severus tells him, hesitating when he almost calls him Potter, he doesn't think that would fit the 'relationship' well.
"No, it does matter. It mattered when it was Lily, and it matters when it's you. The three best students of our year aren't pure bloods and I'm not going to let people shit all over your achievements just because they don't like your parent's choice of partner." Slughorn and McGonagall exchange looks.
"You make a good point Mr Potter, I'll endeavour to pick such things up with more ferocity." James nods, satisfied.
"Thank you, Professor."
"Ten points from both you for being out after curfew. Professor Slughorn, if you would walk your students back, I shall return mine as well."
"Yes of course Minerva, I think we could all use some sleep."
McGonagall keeps looking at James out of the corner of her eye and smirking.
"Something I can help you with, Professor?" She smiles.
"This is not exactly what I had in mind when I tried to get you two to stop fighting, but I am happy for you both." James doesn't really know what to say, "I think this may be good for both of you, regardless of the outcome. Good luck Mr Potter, and goodnight."
"Good night to you as well Professor…and…thank you," He stumbles awkwardly as he enters the common room, immediately heading to his dormitory to see the Marauders asleep and no one else in sight. He sighs in relief, he'd rather not explain everything that happened right now.
The next morning, is a Friday, and everyone else in the school is looking forward to the weekend. Unfortunately, the groups is ruined by the full moon on Saturday night. They've decided they'll hole up in the Gryffindor common room all weekend, none of the Gryffindors ever mind Bellatrix being in there so they're all just going to raise hell should anyone complain about Severus' presence. Friday morning, everyone heads to Breakfast as usual. Apparently though, Bellatrix had neglected to mention the excuse they had given the night before and so none of the Gryffindors knew of James' 'relationship' with Severus. That is, until they enter the Great Hall.
"There he is! Potter, the Gryffindor/Slytherin err…liason…" One of the Slytherins, Avery, calls with a wink.
"Oh, sod off," Severus tells them.
"Defending your boyfriend are you Sevvy?"
"I don't need his protection. Keep getting on my nerves though and you will," James shoots back, Severus snickers at him, "Better yet, you'll need protection from him," James tells the boy, nodding his head to Remus who is glaring unhappily at the Slytherin. Avery gulps and sits back down, all of Slytherin house avoiding the eyes of Remus Lupin who smirks and takes his seat.
"Sod the lot of you," Severus tells the table as he gets up, walks over to the Gryffindor table, and plops down with the rest of the group. Bellatrix shrugs and does the same.
"So you want to tell me what that was about?" Remus asks, he's never really comfortable using his…reputation, amongst Slytherin. But that was obviously in defence on his friends in some fashion so he isn't upset they did it, he just wants an explanation. James notices McGonagall walking towards them and looks to Severus who nods slightly, he'd seen her as well.
"Guys, we have some news. Severus and I are dating," James tells them, sitting beside Severus and taking his hand, the group's eyes widen in shock.
"Sonofabitch," Remus mutters in surprise, the group aren't too shocked. Over the year they'd known each other they had learnt that, one, Remus had one hell of a mouth on him, and two, he may have been shy to speak, but when he did he was not shy about letting his vocabulary fly.
"While I did agree there would be no harassment allowed, Mr Potter, please refrain from threatening your peers, trying though they may be," Professor McGonagall requests, James blushes slightly. Severus notices this and inwardly smirks as he puts his other hand on top of their conjoined ones.
"Don't worry Professor, I'll keep him in line," He says, looking at James adoringly and silently mocking the boy for his embarrassment as he blushes furiously.
"See that you do," McGonagall replies with a pleased and amused smile.
"When did this happen, what is happening, and are you kidding me!?" Lily demands of them both, they look at each other awkwardly.
"Can we talk about this during break?" James requests.
"No! Severus Snape, I am your best friend, how could you not tell me this?!"
"Yeah and what happened to you both being completely hung up on someone? Someone else that is," Sirius comments confused. Severus coughs awkwardly, James decides to get him back and throw an arm over the boy's shoulders while he opens his mouth to say something. Severus gets there first.
"We just wanted to keep this to ourselves for a while, given our history. We got caught out after curfew last night and had no choice but to tell Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn the truth," He says, the others seem to understand and instantly look amused.
"I want to know everything, when did this happen? What changed your minds? How much of your fighting last year was actually a 'different kind of tension'?" Lily asks, waggling her eyebrows as she uses their lie to mock them both.
"And what is it you two were doing out that late at night?" Sirius piles on, he and Lily high-fiving when Severus groans, instinctively dropping his head onto James' shoulder because of their position as James places an elbow on the table before him and drops his face into his hand.
"So we're going to torture them about this until it happens for real, right?" Lily whisper asks Sirius who's eyes light up and nods.
"Oh yes, I did not even know they were my one true pair until this moment but…oh yes we are." The two grin conspiratorially as they hear Frank Longbottom getting in on this and questioning the two boys, Remus and Marlene throwing in a word every now and then to keep the conversation going throughout breakfast.
They had double potions first, Sirius and Lily kept taking every opportunity to mock their friends. Seeing as she's Slughorn's favourite student, it's Sirius who gets in trouble. He and Remus are forced to change seats, so when Lily puts her hand up to ask a question, Sirius looks at his friend pleadingly. Remus rolls his eyes and high-fives Lily.
"Sorry, his puppy dog eyes are killer," Remus tells her, she glares at Sirius who turns his puppy dogs eyes on her. She curses the fact that Remus is right.
At break they all head out to the tree by the lake and sit, turning to face Severus and James who sit beside each other out of habit, already.
"We were trying to keep Bellatrix from being discovered out of bed as well, it was the first thing that came to mind and now we can't go back on it without it being suspicious," James tells them without prompting.
"Yeah you two are stuck fake-dating for at least a week," Mary tells them both, Severus nods gravely.
"Potter, you call me Honey again, I will punch you. Fake-boyfriend or no." The group laughs.
"So, do we retry experimenting tonight?" Alice asks, looking between Severus and Remus, the latter of which is sitting against the tree with Bellatrix laying on the ground, head on his lap.
"No way, he'll be too weak by that point," Sirius tells her earning a glare from the boy in question.
"I'll be fine Sirius, we can do tonight."
"Remus, you don't have to prove anything here." The two glare at each other for a few moments.
"It's not like I'll sleep well anyway." Remus points out.
"Tell you what, arm wrestle with me, if you win we'll do it."
"I'm not sure I could win that in any condition," Remus deadpans.
"Okay, we're all going to meet up at dinner, whether or not we move forward will be decided based on how you are then," Severus decides, Remus and Sirius both go to argue.
"He's right chaps, we'll all decide at dinner," James tells them both, they raise eyebrows in identical fashion at James backing him up.
In the end they decide to hold off until after the full moon, Remus has to admit it was the right decision the next morning when he wakes to find the entire group in their dorm doing various pieces of homework and such and he hadn't awakened at all. He's also quite thankful they are all being quiet as they talk.
"Ah, our favourite Werewolf has awakened," Sirius comments when he sees his friend awake, Remus snorts and rolls his eyes.
"I'm your only Werewolf, idiot."
"That you know of."
"Sirius Black are you cheating on me with other Werewolves?" Remus jokingly demands, for some reason the statement makes Sirius blush as the others laugh at the joke.
"Can you help me with this?" Sirius asks as he lays down on his stomach besides Remus, Remus rolling onto his side to see what 'this' is. He's not all that surprised to see it's a modified version of their potions homework. Lily and Remus had taken Sirius under wing with Potions, Lily would look at the work given in class and break it down into smaller segments, setting out easy work for him to work through before doing the classwork. For anyone else it may have been too much, but given his affinity for every other lesson, he had time.
"I have to write down what ingredients are used in the forgetfulness potion."
"All right, what's tripping you up?"
"What's a forgetfulness potion?" They hear Peter snort behind them, then they hear him get hit (Presumably by Lily).
"It's a perfectly reasonable question you toad," Marlene tells him sternly.
"Sorry."
"What I meant was, is it supposed to give total amnesia, or does it erase part of your memory, does it give you short term memory loss for a certain amount of time? Or just generally make you more forgetful at random?"
"In this case it's supposed to make you more forgetful at random, although now that I'm thinking about it, Lily, do you think it could be modified somehow to delete certain memories? Or at least memories of things that took place at a certain time for a certain amount of time?" Lily looks thoughtful hen he turns to see her.
"Not exactly, but you could alter it to delete a certain amount of memories. It would delete everything from the time the potion is taken to whenever you've set it to," She tells him.
"That could come in handy…"
"How so?" Remus shrugs.
"I don't know. But I was thinking, we should start collecting, stocking up on all sorts of potions and ingredients. Spells, charms, rare, common, ones we create, and hide it in all in the castle. Leave a legacy for our children and their children and it can keep growing and stuff forever."
"Where would we put all that?" Severus asks, the Marauders all exchange looks.
"What about the attic?" Peter suggests, they all nod.
"It's got the system in place, we just need to add on a password no one will guess," Remus tells them, they nod again.
"The attic?" Marlene asks, "Is this one of the hide-outs and secret passages and such that you lot found while exploring the castle?" They nod.
"It's not actually an attic, we just call it that," Sirius explains, "It's kind of hard to get to. See, first you have to go through this portrait and down a ladder, through a crawl space and into the basement, again not an actual basement, then there's a wall, that's where the password will go, the wall opens up and you go up this spiral stair case and then it opens up into the attic."
"How do you find these things?" Alice asks bewildered, they shrug.
"Curiosity."
"The attic is large, it's full of old stuff we've been meaning to sort through. Old potions and spell books, cauldrons, and ingredients for various potions. A lot of it needs to be replaced," Remus tells them.
"We should look into making the offshoot into some kind of practice room for spells and stuff." James suggests, the others nod.
"Okay, James, Sirius, Marlene, you three are in charge of choosing what security measure we have for the place. Lily, Severus, Mary, and I will sort out stocking up the attic. Pete, Alice, Trixie, you three are in charge of the off shoot, get it cleaned up, set up, silenced, all that stuff," Remus dictates, they all nod.
"What's the offshoot?"
"It's a room that comes off the attic, we think it may have been some kind of ballroom at some point before it moved to where it is now and is too difficult to access. We tossed up on the name between off shoot and the missing ballroom or runaway ballroom but off shoot worked better," James tells Alice who seems to just accept the information.
"Why exactly do we need our own duelling room?" Severus asks, "And potions lab, and restricted library?"
"Because there is a war on that probably will still be on when we finish school and no one in here strikes me as the type to sit it out." Everyone looks around at each other at James' words, "We have something no one else in this war has had save for you-know-who."
"What's that?" Mary asks, curious and concerned.
"A chance to prepare." No one makes a noise, "We can't waste that chance."
"He's right," Bellatrix tells them, "I've overheard enough in my house to know this war needs to end and you-know-who has to be stopped." Sirius looks uncomfortable for a moment before he clears his throat.
"Regulus overheard my parents talking about you-know-who, they support him, they think he's doing the right thing." They all look concerned, "If I can do anything to end this war before he's dragged into it, then I'm doing it."
"Well, we're hardly going to risk the Little Marauder," Severus comments after no one speaks for a few moments, everyone quickly agrees, "We need to try to keep up to date with what's going on in the war, not just the stuff the prophet is spewing out either."
"Bella and I can listen in around home but, how do we know what Dumbledore is up to?" Sirius asks, they all look at each other for inspiration.
"I don't think we can yet, but if we have say, James and Lily, spend time trying to build a rapport for him, then in seventh year they can say they want to help with the war effort and hopefully he'll give something away. Until then we just have to keep an ear to the ground and really apply ourselves to all of this. But we can't fall behind in school, we need to be getting good grades," Remus tells them, they all agree with the plan, "So for now, Sirius, what ingredients are used in this potion?"
A few hours later, Bellatrix and Sirius accompany Remus down to the shack as he argues that they shouldn't risk being around him, just in case.
"Oh will you relax, we'll play with the Pup, and in the morning we'll all eat chocolate," Sirius tells him, Bellatrix sighs.
"Can you not encourage the chocolate habit? He eats way too much of it."
"Damn you guys are so married," Sirius mutters.
"I'll have you know that Chocolate comes from cocoa beans which grow on the cacao tree, that means it's a plant. Therefore, chocolate is a salad and I can eat as much as I please," Remus tells Bellatrix who stops moving and looks at him unimpressed, then he suddenly jerks and falls to the ground, "Oh fuck." The other two look with wide eyes before they grab an arm each and haul him down the rest of the tunnel and into the shack.
"There we go," He says as they shut the door behind them, "Hey Bella, what exactly does this bit look like?" Sirius asks, she turns to face him, looking frightened.
"I came in afterwards." Remus cries out as he drops to all fours, Bellatrix about to go to him when Sirius pulls her back.
"I don't want you to see this," Remus pleads with them, Bellatrix kneels down.
"We aren't going anywhere." Sirius sits beside her on the floor, and then he can't protest anymore. They watch as his bones break, joints dislocate only to change shape and relocate themselves. They watch him writhe in agony for long moments, holding on to each other as it happens before at last, Moony crouches before them. He throws his head back and howls, Sirius looks to Bellatrix, tears in his eyes as they are on her face, and grins a bit.
"I have to say, the howl is pretty cool."
Chapter note:
* Bellatrix and Remus both use Voldemort's name instead of 'you-know-who' or 'he-who-must-not-be-named' and it's not because I've forgotten. The way I see it, fear is either learnt or taught. Bellatrix hasn't been raised to fear Voldemort, she's been raised to believe he's some messiah that will lead them out of the control of a government allowing mudbloods and the like around the place. The Fear that Lucius, and Narcissa grow to have of Voldemort, which we see in Harry Potter, I think developed after meeting the man. There's no way he was spoken about like the boogy man, not to the children of those following him, so that's why she's not afraid.
As for Remus, he's not afraid of Voldemort either. Why should one monster be afraid of another? As far as Remus is concerned, nothing is as frightening as himself.
And that's why they both refer to him as Voldemort, apologies if anyone disagrees with my viewing of things, I would be interested to hear what others think of it should anyone want to discuss it 😊