4th October:
This morning, I decided that I wouldn't be breaking any unspoken deals with Dumbledore if I asked Remus himself what I'd seen. I planned to find out exactly what the secret was that I was keeping - I felt that I deserved at least that much as a secret-keeper. So I went to breakfast in the Great Hall, intending to pull Remus aside from our group and demand details from him. But when I arrived in the Great Hall, there were only three of the four Gryffindor first year boys at the table.
Remus didn't show up at any of our classes, either, nor at lunch.
I sat quietly at dinner, watching James and Sirius bewitch their potato jackets to dance about on their plates, while Peter clapped excitedly. I would have gotten a kick out of it, too, but I just wasn't in the mood.
Finally, unable to hold it back any longer, I cleared my throat. "Hey, Potter."
I guess my voice was harsher than I thought, because James nearly dropped his wand, causing the potato jacket to flip backwards onto the floor at his feet. Sirius laughed heartily as he ducked to retrieve it. "What's up?"
"Where's Remus?" I asked.
"I don't know," James said, shrugging. "The Hospital Wing, I think?"
My eyebrows furrowed, "Is he ill?"
"Yeah," James said.
"What from?" I questioned rhetorically, not expecting James to know. He hadn't seemed sick at dinner yesterday, nor when I'd followed him along the corridors last night.
James shrugged.
"Something chronic, I bet," Sirius spoke up quickly, leaning around James. Peter pointed his wand at the potato jacket on his plate, but couldn't succeed in casting the spell correctly. "It's probably the same as last month, I bet," Sirius added, turning to Peter to show him how to hold his wand correctly to cast the charm on the potato.
I had nearly forgotten that Remus had been missing for several days last month, too. I'm now wondering if he really was sick then, or did he leave the castle, too?
The boys continued with their antics, but I remained lost in thought of Remus and his secret.
Later that evening Sirius and James had gone up to bed, and so Peter and I were working in the common room. Peter nudged me, and so I looked at him. "What's up?"
"Do you fancy him?" Peter asked.
"Fancy who?" I said, "Dumbledore?"
"No," Peter said, giggling, "Remus."
I shook my head, scrunching my nose, "No, I don't," I said. "I'm just concerned about him, that's all."
"Oh," Peter said, turning back to his book.
I sighed and returned back to my Potions essay.
5th October:
Peter hadn't arrived at breakfast at the same time Sirius and James had. The two sat down to join me, and the first words out of Sirius' mouth were, "Do you fancy Peter?"
I gagged, "Merlin, no! Why is it that everyone's been asking me who I fancy? Fun fact, the answer is NO ONE!"
James began laughing, "Well last night, we were getting ready for bed, and Peter said you did. Well, more like he said you didn't fancy Remus, so we asked if you told him who you did, and he smiled and didn't respond. We knew it was a load of tosh, but it didn't hurt to make sure."
I shook my head, "Even if I did fancy someone, it wouldn't be Peter Pettigrew of all people! He can't fly a broomstick to save his life, his marks are the lowest in the entire first year, his entire personality is based on idolising James...shall I go on?"
Sirius laughed, "No need to, it's enough in itself!"
Peter came down just as we burst into laughter, and asked what was so funny. I hastily changed the subject.
We agreed to go up to the Hospital wing and visit Remus after Herbology. When we'd finished going over various plants and fungi with Professor Viridi, we ran back up to the castle and through the halls to our destination. All the way, Peter second-guessed our choice to visit our ill comrade. "What if he's got Cauldron Pox?" Peter questioned.
"Then I guess you'd better get ready for oozing boils all over your face, huh?" Sirius laughed, leading the way along the corridor.
Peter didn't look amused at all. "Cauldron Pox is no laughing matter," he argued. "Haven't you ever seen 'em? My gran had 'em once; she was covered in boils, so much you couldn't hardly recognise her!"
James rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Peter? Are you a Gryffindor or not?"
"The way he's acting, he's more like a blubbering Hufflepuff." I said, high-fiving James.
Peter scowled. "If you're calling me a coward because I'm nervous about catching Cauldron Pox, then you obviously don't understand how contagious-" he'd stopped talking mid-sentence, though, for we'd arrived at the Hospital Wing. Sirius led the way inside, quite boldly I may add.
Madam Pomfrey was measuring out a potion that smelled like mouldy socks. She looked up at us when we walked into the room. At the far end of the wing was a moaning Ravenclaw third year who I heard had fallen from his broomstick during Quidditch practice on the pitch. Other than him, the wing was empty.
"No visitors!" Madam Pomfrey announced. "Mister Turin has a kneecap to regrow, he needn't be bothered right now. Out with the lot of you."
Peter started to scurry off at once, but Sirius grabbed his collar. I stepped forward, and politely said, "Actually, we're not here to visit Turin, we're here to see Remus Lupin. Can we see him?"
"Remus Lupin?" Madam Pomfrey looked confused. "I haven't seen Remus Lupin. Now out, you. Go." She shooed us into the hall roughly and shut the door behind us.
We exchanged a bunch of confused looks. "He's not in the Hospital Wing?" Sirius said, his eyebrows screwing up into a perplexed expression. "So where's he been at then?" I made sure to keep my mouth quiet. Seems to me that he's likely wherever he went when he left the castle.
"Dunno," murmured James, looking puzzled.
Peter said, "Isn't it obvious? I told you Cauldron Pox was dangerously contagious - they've obviously sent him off to St. Mungo's."
"We don't know that he's got Cauldron Pox," James reminded Peter with exasperation. "That was just a theory, don't you remember?"
"Besides, I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey can cure Cauldron Pox without sending students off to St. Mungo's," said Sirius.
"Maybe he had a family emergency," I suggested. "You know, like a death in the family or something." That would certainly fit the theory, but if that was the case, what had happened last month?
"Perhaps," mused Sirius, but he was less than convinced.
"Think he'll come back?" Peter asked.
"Why wouldn't he?" James asked.
"Well, he's missed a lot of classes," Peter pointed out.
I shook my head. "He's got good marks."
Peter sounded miserable, it was quite pathetic. "That's true, I 'spose. If it were me and I missed that many classes, I'd never catch up."
"They'd just have you repeat the year, probably," I said, as we started down the hallway.
"Or else they'd just officially declare you a squib," James taunted.
Peter scrambled to keep up. "I'm not a squib," he argued.
We all laughed, and walked on up to Gryffindor tower to complete our astronomy homework, but I wasn't really able to concentrate on any of the charts and books… I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on with Remus. Sirius, too, seemed quieter than usual.
