(A/N so I'm terribly sorry if I confused anyone with that last chapter. I changed the viewpoint to the marauders location. Next time I do that, and there will be times when I do, I will try and make it clearer.)
Third year was proving to be a very difficult year. There was a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Uglabarch had to retire. He feared he was aging and would pass on any day now. The new professor's name was Professor Jones. He was a middle-aged man going slightly bald. He stood quite tall, around 6'4. His eyes were a light brown that matched his hair color. Professor Jones looked like a friendly guy. Unfortunately, he wasn't.
It seemed like Professor Jones was out to get Kaitlyn. Anytime she made a mistake Jones launched into an angry tirade of how she was going to fail his class. Obviously, this depressed Kaitlyn a great deal. She spent all of September and most of October convinced that she had no aptitude what so ever when it came to Defense against the Dark Arts. Kaitlyn eventually got over Professor Jones's cruelty and returned to her normal self.
The boys, excuse me, marauders, had been acting up a great deal lately; especially in Professor Jones's class. Jones often found himself sitting on tacks that were magically stuck to his behind with a temporary sticking charm. Occasionally, his tie would detach itself from his neck and attempt to strangle him. Once, Kaitlyn swore she saw a lock of pink hair poke out from under Jones's hat.
The marauders did not only pull pranks but they talked out as well. Sirius always seemed to have something to say. Peter always seemed to have to repeat what ever Sirius said. Remus usually defended Kaitlyn whenever Professor Jones began one of his infamous speeches about her failure.
"Expeli-el-omous" Kaitlyn stuttered nervously as Jones watched her, breathing down her neck. "Oops, I meant Expelliarmus. I did it before Professor I really did!"
"Miss Glade," Jones began, "If you can not master a simple disarming charm that all my second years can perform you may need to take an extra class. You seem to perform very poorly in this class. Perhaps you might consider getting a tutor. You will never succeed in my class if you can not perform a simple spell like Expelliarmus. You are sure to fail miserably if this continues."
"Professor," interrupted Remus politely. "She really can do the spell. She did it just a moment ago while you were in the corner by Lucious."
"Mr. Lupin I do not care if she could perform it before she needs to get the spell right every time!" declared Professor Jones angrily.
"Well maybe if you weren't always breathing down her neck waiting for Kaitlyn to make a mistake she could perform the spell without any problems," Remus retaliated in a forced calm voice. Kaitlyn gave Remus an appreciative smile. Professor Jones continued strolling about the classroom in a very foul mood.
Jones's class wasn't the only difficult course this year. Professor McGonagall began demanding more from the third years. The students were now studying Animagus. For some reason, a reason Lily was determined to discover, a certain group of boys were doing exceedingly well in this subject. James and Sirius kept throwing each other these knowing glances that annoyed Lily to no end. Most surprisingly, Peter was doing better than Evangeline this semester.
"How is it that Pettigrew is pulling of an O while Evan barely manages to scrape an A?" Kaitlyn asked Remus while they were studying in the library one day. (A/N I don't really know what grade form they used to I'm just adopting the grading format used for the OWL's. Who took the Wombats by the way? I got an E! I feel special)
"Oh well you know he's not as stupid as everyone thinks," Remus told her a little bit unnerved. He was afraid Kaitlyn would find some way to manipulate him into telling his secret. Kaitlyn arched one eyebrow at Remus. This made him even more nervous. It has always bugged poor old Moony that he simply can't raise just one eyebrow and he finds it extremely intimidating when someone does.
"Well, he has some brains," Remus continued. He wasn't flat out lying. Most people deemed Peter stupid because of his appearance. The little guy actually has a good head on his shoulders. Or so they thought. Kaitlyn's other eyebrow shot up.
"ALRIGHT! I'm tutoring him!" Remus hoped this would convince Lyn and she would stop the eyebrow raising nonsense. His statement seemed to have convinced her.
"Oh yeah, I was thinking. Maybe you could help me in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm not even passing. My average is a P as Jones often reminds me. I desperately need help if I want to stay on the Quidditch team," Kaitlyn asked Remus.
"Err, alright, I guess. You know you could always ask James or Sirius they are much better than I am," Remus replied somewhat reluctantly.
"I'd rather not. Somehow I find it hard to take Sirius seriously when he occasionally has marshmallows balancing on his nose," Kaitlyn told him. Marshmallow balancing, according to Sirius, was the best way to spend you free time. Most people begged to differ. Remus laughed nervously.
(A/N Ok so this confused people last time so just so everyone knows…I am switching point of views even though I write in the third person anyway. Go figure.)
Remus walked back to the boys dormitory after being in the library with Kaitlyn. There was something about her that completely intimated him. It wasn't her appearance. Not that he thought she was ugly. Kaitlyn was actually very pretty. But she wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Evangeline and Sara Slite. Maybe it was her personality. She could be perceived as cold but once you get to know her she is really kind. Sometimes she even reminded him of Sirius. It couldn't be her personality. There was something though, that poked Remus in the back of his mind. She kind of had this air about her, almost arrogant. As if Kaitlyn knew in some way she was all that. Which at times she could be. Kaitlyn shared this lovely quality with James.
It was most definitely her arrogant air. Kaitlyn could be full of herself at times. Remus on the other hand barely had any self-confidence at all. Yet, in DATDA, Kaitlyn's air seemed to momentarily vanish and Remus's self-confidence boosted to the point where he could stand up for himself and Kaitlyn. There was something very perplexing about Kaitlyn Glade. Something that made Remus as nervous and as awkward as Peter. And unfortunately for Remus, he had just agreed to spending more time with Kaitlyn. Therefore he would inevitably be devoting more time to pondering what it is about her that confuses him.
"Earth to Moony!" Sirius yelled waving a hand in front of Remus's face.
"Sorry what?" asked Remus coming out of his temporary daze.
"We've been trying to get your attention ever since you walked up here," exclaimed James obviously peeved, "What the hell had you in such a daze?"
"More like who had you in a daze?" asked Sirius seeing a look he saw way too much on Remus's face lately.
"Nothing, nothing," said Remus, "and no one." He added trying his best not to glare at Sirius. Sirius had caught Remus red-handed whether he realized it or not.
"Sure, sure, sure," said Sirius all the while raising one eyebrow at him. God how Remus despised it when people raised their eyebrows at him. It there was one thing he would change about this world it would be that people wouldn't be aloud to raise eyebrows. Ok so maybe that's an exaggeration.
"We we're going to go down to Hogsmeade and get do some research," Peter squeaked happily.
"Not to loud! Sean and Felix might here you!" yelled Sirius throwing a hand over Peter's mouth.
"Well, they definitely heard you Padfoot," said James.
"Alright, I'll get the map," said Remus agreeing to spend at least an hour reading about painful transformations. In all honesty Remus was against the whole becoming illegal Animagus thing. It was great that his friends were willing to do something like this for him but Remus didn't want any more trouble than there already was. Unluckily for Remus he had bright friends who figured out he wasn't really visiting Auntie Mildred. He was however, transforming into a vicious werewolf once a month.
Surprisingly, his fellow marauders handled the whole ferocious beast thing pretty well. James felt extremely sorry for Remus for about a week but eventually resumed normal treatment of his friend. Peter was a tad bit afraid at first. Sirius had found the whole thing rather amusing. He compared Remus's "furry little problem" as James liked to call it, to a girl getting her period.
And now, his three friends were willing to put themselves in danger but turning into animals and accompany Remus in animal form, during his transformations. It was all a very nice gesture but Remus was afraid for their safety. He often reminded them how dangerous werewolves were and how difficult becoming an Animagus was. Not to mention the fact that James had suggested they do it illegally seeing as ministry officials would never let thirteen-year-olds become animagi.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," stated Sirius as Remus held out the Marauders Map.
"I've got the cloak, lets go!" James said urgently, "I don't want to miss dinner again. James pulled the cloak over all four boys. Luckily, they were all thirteen and still rather small. Small enough that they could fit under the cloak without anyone's ankles showing.
The four boys began the familiar trek to a secret passageway that would lead them to Hogsmeade. Outside on the Hogwarts grounds there was a large willow tree called, the Womping Willow. It was called this because if you came near the tree it's branches would swing out at you. As Sirius put it, it was a tree that "If you hit it, it will hit you back." The willow had been built so Remus could sneak out of the castle at night and complete his transformation away from Hogwarts grounds.
If you prodded a knot intertwined in the roots of the tree it would freeze, allowing you to pass through a tunnel. Then there was a passageway that lead into a place nicknamed the shrieking shack. The villagers of Hogsmeade believed the shack to be haunted. In reality, Remus went to the shack for the duration of his transformation. Having no humans insight Remus had nothing to bite so he would be forced to bite himself. This obviously caused him a great deal of pain. Therefore he made wailing sounds that the people of Hogsmeade thought was a pack of ghosts haunting the place.
Luckily, this kept people from investigating the house. Ensuring that Remus would be left alone. Dumbledore actually encouraged the crazy rumors. He found them hilarious.
James picked a twig up from the ground and prodded the knot amongst the tree roots. The willow froze allowing the four boys to continue their adventure into Hogsmeade. Sirius illuminated his wand once they were inside the tunnel. Seeing was always hard. The tunnel was a pitch black.
The marauders walked for what seemed like twenty minutes rather than the actual five it took. They eventually emerged in the shack. Sirius had the bright idea to do all the animagus research in the shack. This way no one would be able to question them and the other boys in the dorm wouldn't think they were up to something. James swung the cloak off of his friends and threw it onto a chewed up armchair.
Each boy pulled a book out from an exotic place. Madame Pomfrey usually led Remus up to the shack. She occasionally went inside with him as well. The boys did their best to hide the books from anyone else who would stray into the shack. Sirius loosened a floorboard and pulled out a thick rich purple volume. He immediately became engrossed in it and forgot to put the floor board back. After fixing the floor, Remus pulled a book out from a desk drawer. Peter got onto the floor and took a book out from under a beaten up couch. James loosened a wall panel and pulled out a stack of books.
Pretty soon every boy was deep into the book they were reading. Each of them concentrated on one goal, to become animagi. James and Sirius wanted nothing but to help Remus out. To make his transformations more bearable.
(A/N ok so it was really late and I was tired so if there are any errors that you see just let me know and I will fix them asap. Sorry about the eyebrow raising stupidity before. As I said it's late and I'm going on vacation on Monday and I wanted to get a chapter in before I left. I'm gonna take a lot of paper so I can work on the next chapter but I can't guarantee and update for about a week and a half. I've got this ridiculous reading project to do so yeah. I'll shut up with all my stupid excuses and leave you all in peace. I really tried to get into Remus's thoughts in this chapter. I was feeling adventurous.)