XXI.
The week passed quickly for Remus.
Everything seemed normal, except that James and Sirius seemed to be actively avoiding the cellar door. Remus thought this was odd, but he figured it was best not to bring it up. Peter, of course, never mentioned it.
On the last evening of the visit, as Peter, James, and Sirius were packing their trunks, Sirius abruptly looked up.
"Remus, what do you think of dogs?"
His mouth nearly dropped open, but he caught himself just in time. They know already? He thought he had been so careful, so convincing…
"What?" he asked, buying himself time. Though we might as well get it over with.
"He's being a prat," James intervened, shaking his head. But James wouldn't still be here, would he…? "We just saw an old chew toy in your living room the other day. I guess I didn't realize you had a dog."
Remus nearly sagged with relief, but again he stopped himself. "Oh, that must be my cousins'," he invented. "They visited over the summer and brought their dog along. I'm surprised it's still sitting around…"
"While you were here?" Peter asked, surprised. "I thought you hated dogs!"
The brown-haired boy was very confused. Think, Remus, think—
"Your neighbor's dog attacked you, right?" he elaborated, a little uncertain. "If I got mauled by a dog I wouldn't like them."
"Oh, that was a really big dog—my cousins just have a little yippy one. I could probably kick it halfway through the forest," he joked. The other three laughed as well and dropped the subject.
That night, the four of them were getting ready for bed. Without thinking, Remus pulled off his turtleneck sweater, leaving his long-sleeved shirt on underneath.
"Merlin—!"
Remus immediately realized his mistake. He had been able to hide the wounds on his neck all week by wearing sweaters with tall necks, but that was all shot to hell now.
"What happened to your neck?" James asked, his voice rather high.
"It's nothing," he promised quickly. Too quickly?
"Nothing?" Sirius asked incredulously, moving closer to see the scratches. "If that's nothing, I'd hate to see—"
"I swear, it's not a big deal!" Remus said loudly, backing up as Sirius advanced.
"It looks like you were attacked by a ruddy animal!" Sirius cried. There was something in his eyes that Remus could not make out.
"Just shut up about it, all right?" Remus said loudly. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Sirius gave him a piercing look. "Something's off about you," he said finally. A thrill of fear tore through the werewolf.
"Maybe you'll find out what it is someday," Remus said shortly, fighting to keep his voice level.
But I hope to Merlin you don't.
Sirius stared at him for a moment longer before finally turning toward his sleeping bag. Nobody said another word the rest of the night.
By the time break ended, the wounds on Remus' neck were completely healed. He hoped his friends might have forgotten about them entirely.
Fat chance.
After saying good-bye to their parents, Remus and Greta boarded the Hogwarts Express. They soon parted ways when Remus saw Sirius' face plastered to the window of a compartment. When he saw Remus, he waved cheerfully. Remus quickly stowed his luggage above a seat and sat down next to James.
"I've missed you so much!" Sirius yelled dramatically, flinging himself at him and holding fast to his arm. Remus raised an eyebrow.
"I saw you a week ago…you can't miss me that much!"
"But how could we ever get along without you telling us what we can and can't do?" James asked, sounding almost serious and attaching himself to Remus' other arm. Remus looked over Sirius' head at Peter, who shrugged. There's not much we can do, his look said, and Remus had to admit he had a point.
"Yes, guys, I'm glad to see you too," Remus said condescendingly, patting both of them on the head with a bit of difficulty. "Now, unless you want someone to walk by, look in the window and assume we're all gay, I suggest you get off of me."
Grinning, James and Sirius detached themselves from Remus' arms. "Only for you, Remmie-pie."
Remus rolled his eyes and cast hopefully around for a change of subject. Sirius beat him to it.
"So, how's your neck?"
Peter elbowed him. Sirius glared at the blonde boy for a moment, but soon turned back to Remus, obviously expecting an answer.
"It's fine, I promise," Remus said exasperatedly.
"Are we using your definition of fine or everyone else's?" Sirius pressed.
"Everyone else's," Remus said, rolling his eyes again."It doesn't hurt at all. Of course, it didn't hurt before, either…" The others looked skeptical, so he pulled the collar of his shirt down a bit to show the unmarked skin. "Happy?"
"Hey, guess what I got for Christmas!" James said loudly, changing the subject quickly.
"What?" Peter said, eager to ease the tense situation.
"Close your eyes," James instructed excitedly. They all complied, and Remus heard him open his trunk and something swish before he was told to look again.
James was not there.
"Very funny. You got nothing, then?" he joked.
"Of course not, Lupin," James' voice came from his seat.
Peter gasped loudly. "An Invisibility Cloak?"
James' head suddenly appeared again, floating in the ear. "Correct, Mr Pettigrew. Think of everything we can do with this thing…"
He did not bring the topic up again, but Sirius had definitely not forgotten the enormous wounds that had marred his friend's neck. Remus went to sleep quickly after dinner, but Sirius had different plans for his night. He dragged Peter and James to the opposite corner of the dorm room, and spoke in a near-whisper:
"Those were not normal scratches..."
James rolled his eyes. "This again, Sirius? Why can't you let it drop?"
"Because there's something weird about his entire family," Sirius said hotly. "And you saw that cellar, it—"
"You guys snuck into the cellar?" Peter said, a little angry. "Mr Lupin told us not to!"
"We wanted to see what was there because nobody would tell us!" Sirius told his friend what they had seen.
"Merlin…" was all that Peter seemed to be able to say.
"We don't know what could've made it that way…Greta said they never use it, so it must have been like that when they moved in."
"You're over thinking this," James snapped, standing up from his crouched position. "I'm going to bed. If you want to have any more secret meetings about friends, count me out." He walked over to his bed and yanked the curtains shut.
Sirius turned to Peter. "Do you think I'm overreacting?"
"If there's something wrong with Remus, it's his own business," he said slowly. "But, there's something off about him, you're right."
Lessons started the next day. Most of their teachers plunged them immediately back into their schoolwork, especially the strict Professor McGonagall. Remus had come to greatly respect her, especially because of what she was doing for him.
After class that Monday, he stayed back, telling his friends to go on to Potions without him.
"Is the animal thing going to work?" he asked casually. She looked up from her desk
"I won't know what animal I'll turn into until actually complete the transformation," she said regretfully. "I think it's going to be some sort of cat, but nobody can be sure. Even that is very vague."
"So you could be either a lion or a housecat," Remus said, a bit downcast. Whatever he led the professor to believe, he truly hoped that she was a big enough animal. It can't hurt…it may even help.
"Exactly. We will wait and see. If I stay on track, I should complete it by late March or early April."
Three more transformations. Remus knew his professor was thinking the same thing.
"Go to Potions, Mr Lupin. I will tell you when I complete it."
Most of the first years were eagerly anticipating the second term's Defense lessons. Neasce had promised that they would cover the bigger, more dangerous dark creatures after break.
Remus was not so excited.
His classmates were chatting animatedly about how they would be covering vampires, lethifolds, and werewolves, and Remus thought he might be sick. Sirius was already suspicious of something being wrong, and if he matched all the symptoms to him, it was only a matter of time…
The week after the start of term, Remus walked into Neasce's class full of dread. The Gryffindor boys sat in the very back row of the room as they always did, and Remus fervently hoped that they would not pay the slightest bit of attention to the lecture.
His friends did not disappoint. Though Peter seemed to be half paying attention, James and Sirius were not even pretending. Remus, not wanting to arouse suspicion, dutifully wrote down the facts that he knew all too well.
"We will only be covering the basics of werewolves and vampires," Neasce had said at the beginning of term. "You will study them in much greater detail when you are older."
Remus thanked Merlin for this small blessing, but he could not help but wish that the lesson had not been added to the curriculum at all.
"Mr Black!" Neasce said sharply halfway through the lesson. Sirius snapped his head around and pretended he had been listening attentively the whole time.
"Yes, Professor?"
"If you have been listening, sure you would know who one of the most infamous werewolves of modern times is?"
"That Greyback guy," Sirius said easily, giving the professor a winning smile.
"And what does he do that makes him so infamous, Mr Potter?"
"He's the one that attacks little kids and wants to create a werewolf army…"
"Very good. I'm glad you two can pay attention to the lecture and to your own conversation at the same time."
"It's a talent," Sirius whispered to Remus, who rolled his eyes but grinned a bit anyway.
The lesson seemed to drag on and on, but finally, the bell rang. Everyone sped out of the classroom, eager to get to lunch after being assigned a chapter to read for the following Tuesday.
"A whole chapter on werewolves?" Sirius whined as they helped themselves to turkey sandwiches.
"Maybe if you had paid attention in class you'd be able to just skim it," Remus said sarcastically. Sirius gasped in mock-horror.
"Us? Pay attention?"
"You're right, I guess that's too much to ask," Remus laughed. "How'd you guys know the answers to his questions, then?"
"Oh, it was easy," Sirius sad, waving his hand dismissively. "My parents talk about Greyback all the time, say he and his kind are scum and all that. It's one of the only things I agree with them about. Well, I guess I've never met one, but…they're all the same, aren't they?"
Remus made a non-committal noise and quickly—hopefully not too obviously—became quite interested in taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.
Two down. James and Sirius had both expressed their hatred of werewolves. Though Peter had not said anything either way, he was sure to agree with the others if the situation arose. That's just the way he is. He avoids conflict at all costs.
"How'd you know what Greyback does?" Peter asked James interestedly.
"He's the one that almost got me, you know," he said lightly. Remus looked up, also intrigued.
"How do you know who it was? I thought they run off before they change back?"
James nodded. "We didn't see him turn, but Mum had been rude to him at St. Mungo's before. Greyback's all for revenge," he continued. "He goes after little kids because he knows that'll hurt more than biting the adults."
"Wow," Sirius said, for once at a loss for words. Peter and Remus nodded their agreement.
"Not all werewolves are like that, though, are they?" Peter asked after a moment. "I mean, Greyback's a worst-case scenario. Don't a lot of them lock themselves up so they can't attack humans? Neasce said that's the Ministry regulation."
"Sure, a couple of them might do that," James acknowledged dismissively; he sounded doubtful that it ever happened. "But the majority would rather hurt others. It's in their nature."
Remus had felt a bit better at Peter's words, but his heart sank again when the blonde nodded his agreement to James' statement. Three of three. What happens if they find out?
Remus was quite relieved when, on the following Tuesday, Neasce only gave them a quiz on werewolves and moved on to the next topic. Nobody seemed at all the wiser that one of the monsters they had discussed less than a week ago was sitting in their classroom.
Another full moon passed, a good one by Remus' standards. His friends seemed no more suspicious than they already were. That month, Remus and Greta had decided to simply say that Remus himself was sick; Greta was quick to point out that it was not a lie at all. He returned a couple of days later from the Hospital Wing in high spirits.
"Did you say you were visiting your mum again?" Peter asked soon after he arrived.
"No, it was me who was sick this time," Remus said lightly, accepting copies of the notes he had missed from James.
"I thought you said her illness comes back every month!" Sirius said, obviously confused. "It's been about a month since Christmas, hasn't it?"
Remus felt like smacking himself for overlooking this key point. "Dad said it didn't show up hardly at all. It's lucky I didn't have to go—I was too sick to do much."
"Yeah, what'd you have?" James asked. "Not much can keep people out for that long…"
"I think Madame Pomfrey said it was a really bad case of pneumonia," Remus invented quickly. "Her regular spells wouldn't work, so she had to do a little research. That's what took so long for me to get better." He laughed a bit. "One too many snowball fights, I guess."
The next two months were nearly torture for Remus. Each Transfiguration lesson was marked with a hopeful glance from Remus and a subtle shake of the head from his professor.
Two transformations came and went. By the end of March, Remus was beginning to lose hope that Professor McGonagall would ever complete the transfiguration.
As March threatened to turn into April, James began to wear a grin that unsettled Remus a bit. "Mates," the black-haired boy finally said one night in their dormitory, "do you know what Friday is?"
"The weekend?" Remus suggested cheekily. James sent him a withering glare. Remus only grinned back.
"Any other guesses?" James asked, turning to the other two boys.
"April first!" Sirius said joyfully.
"Right you are, Mr Black. And who knows what special occasion happens on April first?"
Remus groaned loudly and buried his head in his arms. "Mr Lupin knows!" James said, Remus would have bet a large sack of Galleons that he was grinning madly. "Would you mind sharing?"
Remus only grunted. Apparently unperturbed, James pressed the other two for an answer. Finally, James got Sirius to confess that that particular date heralded the arrival of what James dubbed "our only chance to raise Hell and get away with it!"
"We have to do something to celebrate this holiday!" James continued. Remus lifted his head from his arms to raise an eyebrow at his friend.
"I don't think I'd call it a holiday…"
"Of course it's a holiday! James looked horrified at the thought that it might not be.
"Well, we have to pull a prank anyway," Sirius intervened. "It has to be good, the best we've pulled so far. So, boys, what will it be?"