Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Thanks for reviewing!
And, I am so sorry that I have not been updating. To those who say they are not going to continue reading my story if I don't update soon, go screw yourself. I have a lot of other stories to write. I have a life outside of Fanfiction. I have a nephew that I babysit at least twice a week. And I am going back to college in a few weeks and my schedule is crazy this year. I am FREAKING busy!
The Marauders Year 3
Chapter 14: Abandonment Issues
"But we need to talk about this whole always running-away-without-getting-an-explanation thing you do." James replied with a steely glint in his eyes that said Remus was not escaping this time.
"Especially since we always manage to corner him in the end and explain it to him." Sirius added with a grin.
Remus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Well, since I'm stuck here anyway…"
"Right!" James declared and pointed a finger at Remus. "I am not scared of you. You misunderstood my boggart."
"It seemed pretty clear to me." Remus retorted stubbornly.
James rolled his eyes. "And that is where you are wrong. You were only looking at the surface of my fear, but you didn't interpret it correctly. I don't fear you, but I am scared for you. I am afraid that you might die one of these full moons."
"Oh." Remus said blankly.
"Oh?" James echoed before shorting a glare at Remus. "After all that and the fact that we are going to get detention, and that's all you say?"
Remus blinked, but grinned. "Okay. It is really socially unacceptable to commandeer something that isn't yours."
"Forget that!" James cried, throwing his hands into the air. He couldn't believe Remus was still on about the whole stealing McGonagall's office. That wasn't even the important thing here!
"Kind of hard to do since you probably made Professor McGonagall even angrier." Remus pointed out.
Sirius snorted. "That is all that Remus cares about. Detention."
"I have better things to do then spend my evening in detention." Remus argued, shooting an annoyed glare at Sirius. "Especially for something you idiots did."
"It matters not!" James declared dramatically. "We are Marauders! If one of us goes down, we all go down together! That is the way of the Marauders!"
The werewolf blinked before he smirked. "So what are you high on?"
The other boy grinned. "Life." He answered, causing Remus to roll his eyes. What a typical James answer.
"Didn't you say once before that if one of us got caught, we don't rat the others out?" Remus asked.
James looked confused for a moment before blushing. "Well, this time we were all caught together so we must go down together!"
Before the boys could go any farther, they heard a click and turned to see McGonagall entering the office as she stored her wand away. Oh, great, the warden had arrived!
*Y*E*A*R*3*
"Can you believe it? Two weeks of detention just for blowing down a door?!" Sirius grumbled.
"It's called vandalism!" Remus snapped at him as he jumped onto his bed facedown. "I didn't even do anything and I still got detention."
"Well, seeing as you're the one who ran into the classroom and locked the door, you did do something." James pointed, sitting on his trunk as he kicked his shoes off.
Remus turned his head on his pillow to glare at James. "You didn't have to follow me."
"I couldn't let you wallow in sorrow when there was nothing to be upset about." James argued, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, it's like you want us to despise you for it."
As soon as he said these words, James felt himself frowning. If there was one thing that he noticed about his werewolf friend, it was that he could be really self-deprecating at times. It didn't take a genius to realize why. Remus had been hurt too many times because of what he was so he was starting to believe it himself. He was starting to believe he was nothing and didn't deserve to be happy or have friends.
For a moment, Remus just stared at James, frowning. Of course he didn't want to be hated because he was a werewolf, but that was what he used to. He was used to being hated, facing insults, being beaten for what he was. He didn't even know how to handle friends who didn't care about his curse and continued to stand by his side. It was something so unreal, like a wonderful, never ending dream. But he knew dreams, no matter how wonderful they seem, never lasted. Dreams would eventually turn into nightmares. And that was what he was waiting for, the moment that his friends realized how stupid they were being and banished him.
Sighing, Remus turned his head back into his pillow. "You know that's not what I want." His muffled voice said.
"Then stop complaining."
Remus blinked against his pillow. With darkness in his eyes from the pillow, he no longer saw his friends, but their Defense class. He saw Nazik jumping in front of him and stopping him from facing the boggart. What he couldn't understand was why Nazik stopped him from facing the boggart? The more he thought about it, the more he didn't understand. His fear would have given something away or made it more clear that he was a werewolf. Someone was sure to put the pieces together so why did Nazik stop him and ruin his chance of getting the information out? Remus absolutely refused to believe he did it out of the kindness of his heart. Anyone he mentioned this too would agree with him there. Just what the hell was Nazik playing out? Was he trying to keep him from learning the spell and put him behind on his training?
It was certainly seemed more plausible then any other idea he had.
Nazik trying to restrain his training to ruin him.
Oh, hell no. He was going to learn this damn spell. But before he could do that he needed a boggart. He needed to get to the only boggart he knew about, but that was in Nazik's classroom. It would be a pretty stupid idea to just wander into his classroom to play with a boggart when Nazik could hear him.
"I'm going to break into Nazik's classroom." Remus said, though his voice was muffled by his pillow.
THUD!
Remus turned his head to see where the noise had come from and was surprised to see Sirius lying ungracefully half on the ground with his legs tangled in the curtains of his bed and lying sprawled out on his bed. Sirius didn't even seem to notice his predicament as he stared incredulously at Remus in shock, though it looked pretty hilarious to Remus considering his friend's face was upside down.
"You really shouldn't talk with your face in your pillow, Rems. For one crazy second I thought I heard you say you were going to break into Nazik's classroom." Sirius said.
Remus pushed himself up onto his knees, frowning. "You didn't mishear, Sirius. That is what I said."
"Are you BLOODY–" Sirius ripped his legs free of the curtains, which resulted in ripping the curtains off the bed but he didn't pay it any attention. He twisted his body around and sprung to his feet and stared at Remus. "INSANE?"
"We all knew Remus was crazy, but I guess we really didn't realize how crazy." Peter mumbled to James, but he was staring in horror at Remus.
James nodded, also staring at Remus. "Remus, let's be sensible. Nazik despises you. It's not a wise idea to break into his classroom. Why would you even want to go back there? Isn't suffering in that class twice a week enough?"
A steely glint entered Remus's eyes as he stared from Sirius to James to Peter and back to Sirius. "What happened to Marauders break the rules and are so daring that they aren't afraid of things like this?"
"This and our crazy antics are two different things!" Sirius shouted, leaping over to Remus. He grabbed his friend by his shoulders and shook him violently. "Nazik despises you! He's an ex-Dark Creature Hunter! Breaking into his classroom is just asking for him to maim you. It might be hard for you to understand, Remus, but we don't want you dead!"
"I'm going to his classroom tonight." Remus replied stubbornly, bushing Sirius's hands off of him. "I need to face that boggart."
"Are you freaking insane?" Sirius asked.
"This is about the bloody boggart?" Peter asked disbelievingly, brows furrowed.
Remus nodded. "I need to see what my greatest fear is."
Peter looked at James, frowning. "The boy has clearly lost his mind."
"His greatest fear should be what Nazik will do to him if he catches him." James hissed at Peter.
"Can we all just shut up and think rationally about this?" Sirius yelled frantically, turning wild eyes to James and Peter then back at Remus.
Three pairs of eyes stared at him blankly. Noticing the stares, Sirius scowled. "What?"
"Since when do you ever want to think rationally? You just charge right in." Remus replied.
Sirius's scowl darkened. "Remus, you are freaking losing yourself to your anger and hatred of Nazik. Someone has to think rationally now."
"I would have voted James or Peter to be the new rational one long before I ever picked you." Remus told him.
Sirius nodded. "I know, right? No one would ever think of me as ever being rational. It just isn't in my blood to be calm and think things thro–What the hell am I doing? We're discussing your crazy ass plan of sneaking into Nazik's classroom to play with a boggart."
"I'm going whether you lot help me get there or not." Remus said, grinning. "Tonight after curfew."
"Rems wants to break curfew." James echoed, staring at his friend in shock. He slowly turned his head to look at Peter with blank eyes. "Rems is the one suggesting we break curfew."
"Emergency Marauders meeting!" Sirius declared suddenly. "Remus, you stay there while I talk to the others." He gave Remus a stare that lasted about a minute before he moved over to James's side of the room where Peter and James were.
"Remus has lost it." Peter whispered frantically when Sirius joined them.
James nodded, glancing over his shoulder at their friend who was sitting on his bed, staring at them. Oh, God, his werewolf hearing, he could hear them! Looking back at the other two, James frowned. "Let's indulge him in this crazy idea. He said he's going with or without us. At least if we're there, Nazik can't kill him with witnesses there."
"Or he'll kill us all." Sirius pointed out. "We have two weeks of detention to go still. We can't get anymore."
"Or he'll take all our house points away." Peter said with a grimace. This was getting much worse then any of them thought. If Remus was suggesting crazy things like this, he really was mad and upset with Nazik. "We've already lost so many because of his hatred for Remus."
"Then we'll just make sure not to get caught." James said. "In fact, I say one of us goes with Remus to Nazik's class while the other two cause an explosion or something near the classroom to get Nazik's attention."
"Perfect!" Remus declared, jumping off his bed and grinning at his friends.
"What the–" Sirius said shock, shooting his friend a look. "Damn it. Forgot about the blasted werewolf hearing." He looked back at James and Peter with a grave look. "It's so inconvenient for us." He looked back at Remus, frowning. "We haven't agreed to anything." Sirius paused, blinking, before he turned his to the ceiling. "My God, I can't believe I am the one being responsible now." He whipped his head down to James. "I'll go along with this crazy plan if it will get Remus back to normal. I can't be the rational one anymore!"
Two hours later, a twitching Sirius stood by Remus in the middle of Nazik's classroom. "I can't believe I agreed for us to do this."
Remus looked at him with a smirk. "Where's that reckless Marauder daring you are always going on about?"
"Nazik hates you." Sirius hissed at Remus. "If he catches us in here, we're dead."
Remus rolled his eyes. "That's why James and Peter are distracting him."
"How did we even change roles?" Sirius grumbled as he moved closer to the cabinet and pulled his wand out. "Are you sure you want–"
"If you continue to ask me that, I'm going to hex you, Sirius." Remus snapped.
Black eyes stared at Remus in disbelief for a moment before Sirius shook his head and flicked his wand and mumbled a spell under his breathe to open the cabinet. He really hoped Remus would go back to normal after this.
What stepped out was something that neither of the boys was expecting.
*Y*E*A*R*3*
James quickly, but quietly ran down the hall with Peter by his side. Without a look over his shoulder, he launched another dung bomb over it without taking his eyes off the path in front of him. They were approaching an intersection ahead of them. Taking a chance, James grabbed Peter's arm and dragged him right before stopping and slamming his back against the wall.
"This is completely insane." Peter hissed.
"I know." James replied, frowning. When he said he and Peter would make a distraction to give Remus and Sirius time in the classroom, he didn't expect to drag Nazik out with noise and smell and then make sure he chased them all over the school. Because it meant keeping his attention and risk getting caught and in a serious amount of trouble. "When this is over, we have to knock some sense back into Remus."
"We should have done that instead of going through with this crazy plan." Peter retorted as he fished fireworks out of his pockets and handed them to James.
"Remus was doing this with or without us. Would you rather have us tie him to his bed overnight so he didn't do anything stupid?" James asked as he took the fireworks.
There was a moment of silence in which James lit the fireworks with some water and swung them around the corner they were standing by. Almost immediately after being tossed, the corridor was lit up with flashing lights that whizzed and buzzed and exploded loudly. Neither of the boys stuck around for the show though. They both took off running down the corridor again with the lights flashing in the corner of their eyes.
"Actually," Peter wheezed. "I would have much preferred that."
"I'll be sure to consider that choice more thoroughly next time." James snapped sarcastically. "Now, turn left."
*Y*E*A*R*3*
Out of the cabinet walked an exact copy of Sirius Black. Remus stared at the boggart then at his friend with wide eyes. His worst fear was one of his best friends? No, that wasn't right. It was supposed to be something to do with his transformation. He was scared of his transformation and life as a werewolf! Not this!
The Boggart Sirius stepped closer to Remus, wearing a nasty sneer and gripping his wand tightly in his hand. "Friends?" He sneered, voice full of hatred. "Why would I ever be friends with a disgusting creature like you? With your tainted blood and curse, you're one of the first that should be killed. Killed before you can kill someone. Killed before you can turn someone else."
Remus stared at the Boggart Sirius with wide eyes, wand trembling in his hands. It made sense now. For the first time ever, he had friends who didn't abandon him because of his curse, but Remus was scared that they would abandon him one day. He was scared they would see the true horror of his curse and leave him.
"REMUS!" Sirius shouted. "It isn't real. Don't listen to it! You know me. I would never say anything like that. You're my best friend!"
Remus raised his wand, but had no idea of what to do to make this funny. "Riddikulus!"
Instead of turning into something funny, the boggart changed into a smirking James who had his wand raised and pointed between Remus's eyes.
Someone behind the Boggart James, Remus heard Sirius groan, but barely registered it as he stared fearfully at James.
"All werewolves deserve death. They are vile monsters who are a menace to our world. Dumbledore was a fool and idiot to let a monster like you into our school Just go and k–"
Sirius crossed his arms and held his arms tightly as he watched.
"Riddikulus!" Remus cried before James could continue on. He didn't want to hear James finish that sentence. It would probably cause his heart to freeze.
Once again the boggart changed, but not into something funny. It changed into a sinister grinning Peter.
"Come on, Remus. I thought you were good at Defense. Think of something funny, not more dark thoughts." Sirius urged on, glancing worriedly at the door. This was taking much too long. He looked back at the Boggart Peter and grimaced. An evil grin like that did not look right on Peter's face.
"It's best to put you down right now before you do any harm to any one of us." Peter sneered. "I can't believe I've been forced to share a dorm with such a horrible monster."
'No! Don't listen. Don't listen. They are your friends. They don't care that I am a werewolf!' Remus thought as he raised his wand at the Boggart Peter.
"Sirius Black!"
Sirius whipped his two-way mirror out and smiled faintly at James in it.
"We just left Nazik with a mess, but I don't know how long it will hold his attention. You should get out of there now." James said quickly, only glancing over his shoulder once. "We're on our way back to the dorm. Meet us there."
"Riddikulus!" Remus cried once more.
Sirius quickly glanced up from the mirror to see the Boggart Peter's clothes suddenly turn into a pink, sparkling ballerina's costume and start twirling on his tiptoes. It didn't even take a minute to process in Sirius's mind. The scene in front of him was simply too hilarious. He started laughing loudly with Remus joining in a split-second late.
"Sirius?" James asked confused through the mirror. "What is it?"
The Black heir couldn't reply even if he wanted to because he was laughing so hard. The only thing he could do was turn the mirror to what he and Remus were seeing.
*Y*E*A*R*3*
Of all the things that James expected to see, a ballerina Peter was not one of them. It was just lucky for him that he and Peter had just reached the Fat Lady when Sirius turned the mirror. Peter murmured the password while James stared at the Peter in the mirror in shock, which soon turned into loud, uncontrollable laughter. James stumbled forward and fell through the portrait hole.
Peter turned around to give his friend a look of confusion. "James?"
James looked briefly up at Peter then down at the mirror where the Boggart Peter began to leap around the room and land on his toes to do more spins and he lost it again. Tears began to run down his face and he was clutching his side and rolling around on the ground.
Peter had never felt so confused in his life.
*Y*E*A*R*3*
"A-as funny as this is," Sirius said, tears straining his cheeks and a grin trying to fight its way on his face. "Nazik will probably be back soon. We need to get out of here."
From his bag, he pulled out the invisibility cloak while Remus sent the Boggart back into the cabinet. Sirius threw the cloak over him and Remus and pulled them over to the classroom door.
"Uh, Sirius," Remus said, pulling Sirius to a stop. "How are we supposed to know if Nazik is in this corridor or not?"
Sirius gave his friend a dry look. "I blame you if we're caught. Use your enhanced hearing, wolf boy."
Giving his friend a scowl, Remus listened carefully for any sound in the hallway. Though it was a bit difficult because of the thick door and the fact that it wasn't near the full moon so his hearing wasn't as good as it was then, Remus still heard nothing. He just prayed he was right so Sirius didn't murder him in his sleep. "It's clear, dog boy." He whispered.
Sirius scowled at him. "You better be right." Is all Sirius said in reply before he was pulling the door open and stepping into the hall.
"Oh, what is this?" Remus looked around. He shot his friend a smirk. "Look who was right."
"Well," Sirius drawled. "At least I don't have abandonment issues!"
"A-Abandonment Issues?!" Remus cried. "I d–"
Sirius slapped a hand over Remus's mouth and dragged him down the hall.
After taking a NICE LONG detour because of the mess James and Peter made and to avoid running into Nazik, Sirius and Remus made it safely back to the sleeping Fat Lady. Sirius ripped the cloak off of them and stuffed it into his bag while Remus woke a very miffed Fat Lady and gave her the password.
"Welcome back, chaps! Was the operation a success?" A very cheerful James yelled when the last two Marauders entered their room.
A big grin broke out onto Sirius's face. "You know it was." And when Sirius's eyes moved to look at Peter then back to James's eyes, both boys fell to the ground, laughing hysterically.
I don't get it. What's wrong with me?" Peter said confused. He looked down at himself and when he didn't see anything, he looked to Remus for the answer since he was the only one not laughing like a lunatic.
But even Remus wasn't able to keep a straight face. He was biting his lip and knew if he opened his mouth, the words he wanted to say would be lost and replaced by his own laughter. So instead, he just shook his head.
The next day when three of the four Marauders started laughing hysterically whenever they looked at Peter, everyone, including Peter, had to wonder what was so funny and if they should call an insane asylum for them.
A/N: Please Review!