Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are J.K.Rowling's creation. I just corrupt them to my fancy.
Rating: M just to be safe and it will go in the M area later on
Summery: A story about Remus' days at Hogwarts starting at day one. It will mostly be about him and Sirius. It will be Slashed in later years. Will contain Slash if you do not like slash do not read.
A/N: I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed
Phases 1.13.13
Sunday the 30th
Both boys ate breakfast in silence. An odd occurrence for them as they usually only stopped talking to swallow. Neither boy noticed the silence as they were lost in their own thoughts. They finished their meal and stood up, ready to leave.
"I need to go to the library." Both boys said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed.
"Did I hear you correctly? Sirius Black going to the library without the use of thumbscrews?" Remus felt Sirius' forehead to make certain his friends wasn't ill.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I am not ill I just want to do some research."
Now Remus was truly worried. What had this imposter done with his friend? This was surely a pod person sent to replace Sirius. Remus laughed at the pod person, he would never be fooled!
"Stop looking at me like that. I just want to see if I can find anything on Letcher." Sirius whispered Letcher's name for fear of eavesdroppers.
A smile swept across Remus' face. "I was going to do the same thing."
"Great minds think alike." Sirius' face lit up; with the two of them working together they would surely find what they were looking for.
They entered the library and went straight to their nook. Remus and Sirius noticed that Cassie was not in her portrait. They searched the stacks for any books that might be beneficial to them. They knew very little about Letcher – hence the need to research. They knew he lived in Hogsmeade, was a professor and had a wonderful wife. But they needed to know more. In doing so they hoped to understand why Edwina was in love with such a foul man.
Remus suggested finding old Daily Prophets and books on Hogsmeade. Remus found a promising book entitled 'The History of Hogsmeade' and Sirius found stacks of Daily Prophets. Remus dove right into his book, while Sirius looked at his stack and decided to read over Remus' shoulder for a bit.
"Hogsmeade is the only entirely wizarding village in Britain. It's a picturesque village of little thatched cottages and shops. It was founded around the same time as Hogwarts by Hengist of Woodcroft. He was driven away from his home by muggle law enforcement agents. He fled to Scotland and settled here. The Three Broomsticks used to be his home."
Sirius groaned, somehow he knew Remus would read the whole book. Remus, it seemed to Sirius, did not know the concept of skimming.
"The whole village is enchanted. Muggles who stumble across Hogsmeade only see an over grown field and a dilapidated building. This shields the muggles from the glorious rolling hills, apple orchards and fields of goldenrod."
"Wow, I never knew Hogsmeade was so pretty. Next time we go there we have to explore more." Sirius said as he looked at the various pictures. Remus shook his head in agreement.
"Hogsmeade is the wizarding world's largest producer of goldenrod. Hogsmeade is over run by wizards and witches around Valentine's Day, as goldenrod is a common staple in love potions. Long time resident Edwina Letcher is renowned for her crop. It is said to be the best in all of Europe."
"That doesn't surprise me one bit. I pictured Edwina gardening and figured she'd be the great at it." Sirius said as he looked at the picture of Edwina's home. It did look like a beautiful crop of goldenrod.
"Yes I thought the same and look how huge those plants are. She really has a green thumb." Remus took one last look at the picture before moving on.
"Hogsmeade has a variety of wildlife. Many wizards vacation here to witness the flutter of a wren, the brown flash of a weasel, the glimpse of a receding fox or even the bobbing white tail of a startled roe deer."
"Flutter of a wren, who writes like that, what does a flutter look like? Is that why everyone watches wrens to figure out how they flutter?" Sirius bit his lip trying not to laugh; he just wanted to push Remus' buttons. Asking silly questions was sure fire way to do just that.
"It just means to see the wren in flight. Now please let's get back to reading." Remus took a deep breath, he though the handled that very well. Somehow he knew that Sirius was just trying to get a rise out of him. It was going to be a long day indeed.
"Hogsmeade has had several famous inhabitants. Uric the Oddball the highly eccentric wizard who is most remembered for wearing a jellyfish for a hat. No one knows if he meant to be the weirdest wizard of the ages or if it just came naturally."
"A jellyfish for a hat – didn't it sting?" Sirius couldn't fathom why anyone would want to wear a jellyfish for a hat.
"I am sure he took the stingers out when he made it into a hat." Remus made a face that resembled someone who was force fed raw haggis. A hat like that just drew attention and Remus was never one for that.
"Alberic Grunnion inventor of the dung bomb lived here for many years. The Brave Norvel Twonk lived here before he died saving a muggle child from a runaway manticore. Derwent Shimpling lives here as well but he is rarely seen out of his house. He is still purple from eating a whole Venomous Tentacula on a bet."
"Cool, he ate it on a bet. I like his style." Sirius was in awe over the Derwent Shimpling. Remus just rolled his eyes.
"Greta Catchlove famed author of Charm Your Own Cheese lives near the Three Broomsticks. Celestina Warbeck popular singer is known to walk the streets singing her hits."
"Merlin, I can't stand her voice. I hope she never is out when we are there." The colour left Remus' face. He sat there wide eyed, a look of fear spreading across his face. The memories of having to listen to her were too painful and plentiful.
"It ok Remus I promise if she is ever out I will cast a silencing charm on her." Sirius laughed at visions of Remus being forced to listen to her music. And he knew that Remus being such a well behaved child would never let on that her voice made his skin crawl.
"Many of these are buried in Hogsmeade Cemetery. Many ghosts reside there as well. Hogsmeade is also home to the most haunted building in Britain. The Shrieking Shack's ghosts can be heard across town. No one has ever seen the makers of the ruckus."
Remus felt his face flush. This was being written about him. He drove the thoughts out of his mind as he shut the book.
"That was a huge waste of time. Let's hope the Daily Prophets yield some useful information." Sirius proceeded to divide the stack, giving half to Remus.
"Thank you Sirius. We did find out some interesting history about Hogsmeade." Remus said as he took his share of papers.
"Yes we learned to be careful of wandering singers." With a wink Sirius started looking through his papers.
They were beginning to think they would never find anything useful.
"Sirius I found it!" Remus exclaimed and then read the article aloud. "Hogwarts is pleased to announce that Archibald Letcher will be joining the staff this year as the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Archibald and Albus Dumbledore are old friends. They met while Archibald was an auror. Archibald was one of the finest aurors the ministry had ever seen. His early retirement is still veiled in mystery. All that is widely known is that he retired to spend time with his wife Edwina. She is hardly seen without Archibald at her side. The Letcher's are one of the wizarding world's oldest families. We wish him the best at his new post and hope he fairs better than Professor Tobias Bellamy. Tobias is doing well at St.Mungo's though he thinks he is a Venomous Tentacula and tries to sting the healers."
Sirius and Remus read the article again – it couldn't be true. Letcher used to be an auror? It did make sense, but why did he retire? They had to find out more – but where.
After dinner they made their way to the Fat Lady's portrait.
"My dear lady I hate to disturb you but I wondered if I could ask you a question." Remus looked directly at the Fat Lady. His amber eyes emitting a soft glow as he spoke.
"What is it you would like to ask?" Fat Lady spoke, her voice considerably nicer than when she spoke to other students.
"I was wondering if you knew why Professor Letcher quit being an auror."
"Oh dear, I do not remember, Violet told me about it. She had heard it from a portrait – oh which one was it… Why do you ask?" She was becoming suspicious of the fine young man before her.
"I was curious; I read about it in the Daily Prophet and wanted to get more information." Remus never stopped smiling. Sirius kept his mouth shut. The Fat Lady did not care much for him – but she adored Remus.
"Well I will have to ask Violet when she comes by again. I will let you know when she does – now password." She smiled and swung open when the password was given. How could she be suspicious of Remus? He was a model student. She also knew that he would not stop until he had answers.
"Thank you very much." Remus and Sirius said as they stepped through the portrait hole.
Inside the boys talked the night away. They each speculated on why Letcher retired. In time they would figure it out. Sirius hoped it would be a juicy reason that he wanted to keep secret. Sirius was thinking leverage; he still hadn't forgotten how mean he was to Remus. Remus wanted to know if it would explain why Letcher hated him so much.
But did Sirius and Remus really want to know the truth?
TBC...