"Poppy, I don't think there exists a more kind-hearted person on this planet, than Remus Lupin," said Minerva.
"I agree. Sometimes I feel he's too kind, even to undeserving people," said Poppy. "But I guess, that's what true kindness is all about. It doesn't discriminate."
"By undeserving people, do you mean Sirius Black?" asked Minerva, smiling.
"I'm not prejudiced, Minerva-"
"No, I didn't mean that-"
"I know it's not my place to judge people based on their families, and they're all still children, after all," said Poppy.
"But, you should be taking his family into consideration," said Minerva. Poppy was perplexed. "It's because he was raised in that hellhole, that he behaves like that, Poppy. He's bound to make mistakes. He's a good boy. Every year, he learns so many good things at school... I see him grow... but when he goes home, none of that matters there. And every year, he comes back diminished and wane... but he still rallies on as good as he can."
"You're right, the poor child. I didn't even think of that," said Poppy. "And that little brother of his, he's a good egg, too."
Minerva was surprised. "Is he?" she asked, and Poppy nodded.
"Yes, he is. The best thing about working at a school, is everything you get to learn from the children," she said.
"I thought we were here to teach them?" said Minerva, grinning.
"Of course we are, but you can't deny that you learn something new with every batch that goes through here," said Poppy.
"Yes, we do. I feel like we are reminded in the most unexpected, and extraordinary, yet so simple of ways, that the most important things in life are love and compassion. Like Albus always says," Minerva agreed.
"Not to mention, they'll keep us young," said Poppy.
"Keep me on my toes, more like, this particular batch," said Minerva, and the two women laughed.
Stood on a secret staircase a few floors above, Peter glanced at James. "Do you have the Map with you?" he asked, and received a smack on the head from James.
"Oops," he said, as they walked up the staircase.
"I didn't even know this was here," said Marlene, looking around in wonder.
"Yeah, well. One of the perks of knowing the Marauders, you find out things like this," said Sirius, grinning at her.
"Let's go back to the Common room," James said, and they all nodded.
As they walked towards the stairs, Peter glanced around. "Look, there he is! Beside that bookcase," he said, pointing to the bookcase.
"To be honest, I never knew there was a bookcase there," said Sirius, as they walked over to it.
"Yeah, well. One of the perks of knowing Remus, you find out things like this," said Peter.
Sirius simply grinned affectionately at him, he had even missed Peter's annoying jabs.
Remus sensed them coming over and threw a crumpled piece of parchment at them, without even looking up from his book.
James picked it up and opened it. 'Don't make a scene, I'm fine. Also, I'm still mad at you, Sirius, so stay away,' he read out and chuckled at the note.
"Brilliant!" said Sirius dejectedly.
"I hope you didn't expect him to just start talking to you right away, mate," said Peter.
"Not really. One never knows what to expect from Remus Lupin," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.
"You can say that again," said Marlene, and they laughed at her. "I think I'll go see what my friends are up to now," she told James, tossing him the salve. He nodded at her.
"I'm coming with you," said Sirius and followed her to her friends' table.
"Hey Marlene," said Mary.
"Hi ladies," said Sirius brightly.
"Oh, and you've brought Black back with you... Goody," said Lily, smiling sarcastically.
The both sat down at the table.
"So how are you feeling, Black? Heard you got hexed?" asked Alice.
"I'm fine now," said Sirius, avoiding Marlene's eye.
"So who hexed you?" asked Mary quickly.
"Mulciber and Macnair," he told them. They all exclaimed.
"That Macnair, I just hate him so much! He's the kind of person I would expect to just hex someone ruthlessly. Do you remember what he said about werewolves last year?" said Alice angrily.
"Great Godric!" said Marlene, looking at Sirius. He nodded, knowing that she was imagining how Remus must have felt sitting there, listening to that crass debate.
"Snape, Goyle, Avery and my brother were there too, but they didn't do anything," he said.
"Regulus was there?!" asked Marlene, surprised.
"Er.." he said, and she narrowed her eyes.
"What is it, Sirius?" she asked sternly, and watched as his palm involuntarily balled into a tight fist.
He told her how Regulus had been forced to use the Steleus jinx on him, and the girls were horrified.
"So this is what use he's being put to now," said Marlene gravely.
"I've always known that this would be the fate that awaited him if he got put in Slytherin," he said darkly. Which is why I wanted him to get sorted to Gryffindor like me!
She put her hand on his arm on his fist, but he suddenly stood up. "Siri," she said.
"I'm going back to the dorm, I'll see you later," he said to her and stalked off, hands in his pockets. Marlene sighed as she watched him go.
"Wow, I've never seen him so depressed before... he's always so cheerful all the time," said Alice.
"It's Remus," she said.
"Yeah, they're still not talking, are they?" asked Lily, and Marlene shook her head.
"How can he be so heartless? His best friend just got hexed, but still he won't talk to him?" asked Mary.
Marlene knew her tactics too well to fall for them. Mary would keep saying something insensitive until her victim snapped and spilled everything. "I still don't know what they fought about, but you can't blame Remus. Like at all. He's not in the wrong," Marlene told the girls.
Lily smiled. "I know what you mean, he really is the nicest person ever," she said. "But weren't you supporting Black up until now? I'd have thought that would continue... what changed your mind?"
Marlene glanced shiftily at her. "Something happened, didn't it?" Lily asked.
"I'm really not taking sides in a fight I know nothing about, Lily. I just care about Sirius. But, you have no idea. Remus is nicer than you think, he's out of this world nice," said Marlene.
"Oh just tell us already!" said Mary, but Marlene shook her head.
"No way. There's a reason the Marauders have so many secrets. It's more than any of us can handle, really," she said importantly.
"I must confess, I'm a bit jealous that you know something about Remus that I don't," said Lily, smiling a little.
"Nah, it's only one thing that I know. You know so much more about other things, I'm sure," said Marlene bracingly.
"Actually, I don't. He's a very private person. All I know, is that he has a lot of issues with health and his family, but nothing in detail," said Lily, pouting.
"I'm sure he'll tell you one day," said Marlene, patting her hand.
"Okay, so what hexes did Macnair and Mulciber use on Black?" asked Mary eagerly.
"I actually didn't have a chance to find out all the gory details yet. But I'll get it out of Potter soon enough," she said, chuckling evilly.
Sirius walked up the stairs and opened the dormitory door. James was applying the salve to Remus' chest. It looked similar to what his own chest had looked like earlier, but not as blotchy. But Remus' scars were superimposing the blotchiness, so it made it look worse.
"You didn't have to do that, you know. It wasn't your fault," Sirius said, from his own bed.
"I didn't do it on purpose," Remus replied, not looking at him.
"Yeah, sure. The wounds just magically transferred on to your body," said Sirius sarcastically.
"I didn't even know this would happen, alright?" said Remus, sitting up angrily.
"It wasn't your fault! I don't understand why you had to go feeling so guilty about things you didn't even cause! I mean, you didn't hex me!" Sirius said loudly.
"But I did feel guilty, okay! So… just deal with it!" said Remus, scowling.
"Deal with it? How am I supposed to deal with it? You literally took my pain, I never asked you to!" Sirius yelled.
"I already told you, I wasn't planning on it," said Remus, frustrated. "Besides, it's nothing compared the the pain from the transformations, so just chill."
"Chill?" asked Sirius incredulously.
"James, tell him to stop talking to me," Remus said, getting really agitated. Peter widened his eyes at James.
"Remus, why don't you lie back down?" James told him patiently. "Here's your book, if you want. Take some rest, and I'll take Sirius downstairs, alright?" he said, putting the book and the empty potion vial on the bedside table. Remus lay back down on his pillows again and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down.
Sirius took one last look at him before following Peter and James down to the Common room.
I want to just hug him. Kiss him. Hold him in my arms and tell him off for doing this. But for now, I can settle for a single friendly word from him. Please.
Remus lay on his bed thinking about how unbelievable it was that he'd managed to absorb the wounds, and felt that it'd been the right thing to do. Then he made a mental note to never ever mention this to his parents.
Merlin, I'm too high-maintenance! All the secrets, all the lies, all the cover-ups. They had to get tired of it sometime, right? They were bound to slip up... and poor Sirius was so badly hurt as a result of all this drama! I'm glad I could take these wounds. It's better if I keep my distance from them, so Sirius can at least have his friends back.
"I don't understand," Sirius said to the other two. "He'll gladly take my pain, but he won't talk to me?"
"Just give him time, alright," said Peter.
"But it's still bloody vexing!" said Sirius, banging the balustrade with his fist. Peter felt his frustration too, he kicked a step.
"Let's take advantage of this, lads!" said James, putting his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Like last year. Let's practise our transformations. I know we can do it! We're on the last stage, and when we succeed, he's bound to come around, Sirius!" James said, and the other two beamed.
"Let's find an empty classroom now!" said Peter, almost skipping down the stairs.
"A secret passageway might be better," said Sirius, smiling.
"And also, Remus was saying a few days ago, that some of the Prefects, especially the Head girl and Dorcas know a few of the secret passageways, so we have to remember not to use those particular ones," said James, also getting to his feet.
"Do they know the one in that corridor on the fifth floor?" asked Sirius.
"Which one is that again?" asked Peter.
"The one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy," James told him patiently. "No, Remus didn't mention anything about that one."
"Okay," said Sirius gleefully. "Let's go there then."
As Marlene watched the Marauders step out through the Portrait Hole again, she realised that she had this newfound respect for all of them. Sirius, Potter and Pettigrew sticking by Remus even after they knew he's a werewolf, and Remus taking all of Sirius' pain even when they are fighting. Incredible.
"Oh, by the way, how did you find me when I got hexed?" Sirius asked them as they walked to the hidden passageway.
Peter told him how he had noticed Regulus' expression and how Altham and Gladstone had led them to him.
"Honourable Slytherins, who would have thunk?" said Sirius, chuckling. "Marlene would never believe it of them."
Peter glanced at Sirius. "Do you know of the rumour going around about you and Marlene, by the way?" he asked.
"That Filch had caught us mid-shag?" he asked and laughed. "That's as fake as my grandmother's face."
"So... er..." Peter prompted him.
"It's completely and utterly fake, Peter, for Salazar's sake!" said Sirius. Then he immediately regretted it.
"You've been a Gryffindor for five years now, and you still say-" James began to say.
"Uurgh! Alright!" he exclaimed. "Captain of the rumour mill, Corban Yaxley started that rumour."
"Who the hell is Corban Yaxley?!" asked Peter.
"Ravenclaw Prefect. Complete rat face, that one! Let me tell you guys who he is and what actually happened..." Sirius said and proceeded to tell them what happened that night, and James was soon saying what an idiot Yaxley was, and listing the hexes he would use on him if he ever had the guts to do that again.
But Peter somehow couldn't fully believe Sirius. He thought Marlene was cheating on her boyfriend with Sirius, and that Sirius was lying to keep it all under wraps. And then he decided that if in case, Sirius was indeed lying, it was his own business, and that he wouldn't bother about it too much.
Over the years, James Potter had literally asked himself thousands of times, what was the use of brushing his hair. No matter how much he brushed it, it always looked like the top of a Xanthorrhoea tree, also called Grasstrees, a species of flowering plants which are endemic to Australia. His head was literally a black Xanthorrhoea. Still, every morning, James would stand in front of the mirror and attempt to tame it, just because that was what everyone did. And also because that was what his father had taught him to do.
As he stepped into the bathroom the next morning to brush his hair, he saw Remus just standing in front of the mirror, glumly staring at his own reflection.
"Moony, what are you doing?"
Remus sighed. "This scar across my nose," he said, touching it lightly. "It's just there... on my face, you know, screaming to everyone to look at it."
"Did someone-"
"Just a curious firstie. I lied and told her I'd been attacked by a Hippogriff," said Remus, and James grinned. "But, hippogriff wounds don't leave scars, James. They disappear when we use the Essence of Dittany."
"Oh," said James, trying to think of another animal which would leave scars.
"Maybe I should say it was a thunderbird, next time," said Remus, and James nodded. "American creature, not many people know it well." Then, he sighed again. "I know I got it a year ago, but I still can't seem to get used to it," he said. "My face looks different, I guess it matches the rest of my body now."
James looked at Remus through the mirror. "Well, if it helps, Sirius said it made you look rugged," said James. "Oh, I'm sorry." He forgot he wasn't supposed to talk to Remus about Sirius yet.
"It's fine. When did he say that?" Remus asked.
"Last year, Few days after you got it, I think," said James.
"Fine," said Remus, and walked back into the dormitory.
James wondered if he'd said too much, if he had annoyed Remus by mentioning Sirius, but what he didn't know was that he had actually made his day. Remus couldn't stop smiling the whole time he packed his bag. He thinks it makes me look rugged. Does it really?
Not that he would let anyone see him smile, though. If he did, someone would ask him why he was smiling, then he would have had to lie. Because that is a weird thing to feel happy about. Right? Who even does that? And then if it got back to Sirius, he'd think he's been forgiven. Which he isn't. Not at all, no.
For poor Sirius though, it seemed like the dark night would never lighten. Even though he had James and Peter back, Remus was now avoiding them too, most of the time. He was spending most of his time in the library now, either with Lily or on his own. And Sirius felt like he was stuck in a deep abyss of loneliness which Remus had left him in. Every time someone came up to him, he thought it was Remus. He couldn't sit still, he couldn't move, he felt quite restless. He couldn't think about anything else.
Author's note: Have you guys googled 'Xanthorrhoea' yet? :D