Lily didn't know how she got through the last week of lessons before the Christmas holidays. She was still furious with James, and this time he was responding not by trying to apologize, but by giving her a wide berth. On the surface, this was what Lily wanted: to not have to see James or talk to him or think any more than she absolutely had to about their last conversation. But whenever her thoughts did stray to that afternoon in the Room of Requirement, she felt the stirrings of doubt and shame. She didn't want to admit it to herself, so she'd gone about treating James with surly disregard.
Her friends picked up on her mood and her renewed frosty treatment of their classmate within hours of their fight, though they knew better by this point than to bring it up. Alice asked with uncharacteristic timidity on Sunday morning if they were re-instituting the anti-James shield, and Lily told her no, but that was the extent of her explanation.
For the first time, the rest of the Marauders also seemed a bit standoffish toward Lily. A small part of her brain told her that it was because this time, unlike every other time she'd had a row with James, it was because she was at least partially responsible. The realization only increased Lily's feelings of guilt, so she mostly just tried to ignore them.
In fact, she barely spoke a word to any of the Marauders at all that week, even in her Wednesday morning Potions class, where she was partnered with Remus to brew a Darkening Draught. She looked up from the book just in time to stop Remus from adding a bat spleen to their cauldron. "Not until it's simmered for sixteen minutes," she said quickly, grabbing his wrist as he picked up the spleen.
Remus jumped and looked around at her. "Oh," he said. "Sorry, I must have missed that part of the instructions."
"Not a problem," Lily said quietly and looked away from him.
Silence stretched between them, but Lily couldn't think of anything else to say. That brief exchange was the first thing either of them had said in the past twenty minutes.
But after a moment, Remus chuckled darkly. "Don't know why we're even bothering with this potion," he muttered. "All it does is turn things a darker color. We could just use Muggle dye."
"Hmm," Lily said in agreement, but she didn't go on. Still, she thought as she peeked over at her partner, Remus was the most reasonable of his friends, and Lily really did like talking to him. They had spent a fair bit of time together for prefect duties, and they Remus was by far her favorite partner for rounds. And if she was going to bridge the gap between herself and the Marauders, she might as well start with him. She cast about for another topic. "So…are you going to Slughorn's Christmas party on Friday?" she asked. She knew invitations had gone out on Monday morning, having received one herself.
Remus shook his head. "No invite," he said. "Slughorn has never been particularly keen on me."
"Oh," Lily said, momentarily stymied. "I could bring you as my guest, if you'd like."
He shook his head again. "Thanks, Lily, but no."
Lily frowned. "Why do you think Slughorn doesn't like you?" she tried again, deliberately ignoring the edge in his voice.
Remus sighed. "Well, I'm hopeless at Potions, for one," he said.
Lily chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but it felt forced. It probably sounded forced, too. Still, she went pressed on, "why did you keep on with Potions, then? You could have dropped the subject."
He didn't respond right away, and when he did he sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. "Potions as a field makes some of the quickest advancements in magic. I'm hoping one will come along that I might find…useful."
Lily heard enough in his tone to not press further this time. Clearly he didn't want to talk to her. She just nodded. The silence grew again.
She checked her watch a while later. "We can add the bat spleen now," she said. Remus did so.
"What next?" he asked, and Lily checked the instructions in the book.
"Stir clockwise three times and then add a drop of Peruvian Black Mud," she read, and then watched as Remus did it. Their potion swirled and turned from opaque grey to inky black. "It's done," Lily said, satisfied, as she peered into the cauldron.
"D'you want to test it out?" Remus asked.
"Sure." Lily tore a scrap of parchment from a roll in her bag and handed it to Remus. He dipped it into the potion and it came out black.
Lily nodded. "Yeah, we definitely could have just dyed it," she said, and Remus chuckled.
"But at least we know the potion came out right," he agreed, and they shared a smile.
Their potion now complete and with five minutes left of the lesson, the two devolved once more into an uncomfortable silence. But this time, Remus broke it. "Are Slughorn's parties any fun?" he asked.
She thought about that before answering. "Sometimes," she said honestly. "The ones he throws during the school year can be a bit dull; he mostly just serves us bad food and brings in old pupils to show off how accomplished they are. But the ones at Christmas and the end of exams are usually better. He saves the more exciting guests for them, anyway. More Quidditch players and famous curse-breakers, less Ministry workers."
"Any idea who he's bringing this time?"
"No, the invitation just said 'an exciting guest,'" she said. "I can't decide if he's trying to build suspense or if he's having trouble getting anyone good."
More silence.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" she asked again, eager to pursue the first polite conversation she'd managed to have with any of the Gryffindor boys in days. "Slughorn won't mind, and he probably won't even talk to us. In fact, if we get there a little late he'll probably be too tipsy to even notice we're there."
Remus grinned at that. "Alright, Lily, I'll go."
For the first time in the three years Lily had been in the "Slug Club," the promise of one of his parties was the only thing that sustained her through the rest of the week. Whatever she'd told Remus, she had never exactly loved the Potions master's little get-togethers, but after the week she'd had, she was right ready for something to break the gloom the way interactions with the Marauders did, and as Remus was currently the only one willing to speak to her…
"Excited for the party, Lily?" Dorcas asked Friday evening in their dormitory as they got ready.
"Yes, I think so," Lily replied, her head halfway through the collar of the pale green dress robes she was pulling on. With another wiggle, the fabric slipped past her ears and she released it, letting the length of silky fabric drape down the length of her body and rest on the floor. She sat on her bed and shooed Radagast away, then opened her trunk and began sifting around for her shoes.
While she searched, the door opened and Alice came in. She looked from Lily in her green robes to Dorcas, who was tying a ribbon at the neckline of her burgundy robes, and frowned. "I thought you weren't going to the Slug Club party!" she cried, sticking her lip out in a comical pout.
Lily straightened up, one shoe in hand. "I told you yesterday that I was going," she protested. "I'm taking Remus, remember?"
"And Roger invited me on Tuesday," Dorcas reminded her, now applying blush with a rather dreamy expression on her face.
Alice sat heavily on her bed, crossing her arms with a humph and glaring at her dormitory-mates. "I miss Frank," she said grumpily.
Lily gave Alice a sympathetic sort of smile. "You'll see him tomorrow, won't you?" she asked.
"Yes," Alice replied, though she still looked downhearted. "He's picking me up from King's Cross. But I want him here. And now!"
Abandoning her makeup, Dorcas got up and crossed to Alice's bed. She put an arm around her. "It'll be alright, Alice. We only have until tomorrow and then you'll be able to spend as much time with him as you want," she consoled.
"Yes, but only when my mum and dad let me," Alice reminded her. "And even then it will only be for a couple of weeks. Then I'll be back here, locked away in my tower!" She pulled out of Dorcas's arm and flopped back against her pillow.
Dorcas and Lily laughed at Alice's histrionics. "Okay, well, it'll only be another year and a half after that," Lily offered next. "Then you'll be done with school and off in auror training with Frank."
"Ooh, don't say that!" Alice said, making a flapping gesture to quiet Lily, who grinned. "You know I'm going to fail all of my N.E.W.T.S. and the auror department tests!"
Lily chuckled, crouching down to look under her bed for her missing shoe. She found it behind a box of old letters from home. "What about you, Dorcas? Any more luck in the romance department than poor, downtrodden Alice, here?" she asked as she pulled the shoe out and tapped it with her wand to rid it of dust.
"Well, yes," Dorcas said. "But I wasn't going to say that in front of dear, sweet, much-more-lovable-than-me Alice," she continued, eyes twinkling.
Alice bolted upright again, apparently having forgotten her declarations of heartbreak from a moment earlier. "What's that supposed to mean?" she cried.
Dorcas looked at her funny. "That you're a dear, sweet, loveable—" she started.
"No, not that! What do you mean 'yes,' you're having luck in the romance department?"
"Oh!" Dorcas said, and she smiled. "Just that I'm going to Slughorn's party with Roger, and that I'm hoping it will go well."
Lily and Alice shared a knowing look. "And by going well, you mean…?"
Dorcas smiled wider, now a bit embarrassed. "I mean I'm hoping he'll ask me to be his girlfriend," she admitted.
Alice and Lily squealed and jumped up from their beds. They hurried forward and grabbed Dorcas's hands, and all three witches jumped up and down in a circle, now positively giggling. It was in that state that their last roommate found them when she opened the door a moment later. Mary raised her eyebrows as she watched them dancing and laughing. "Aren't you lot supposed to be hidden the woods around a fire when you do this bit?" she asked sardonically.
Lily burst out laughing, immediately getting the reference to the Muggle mythologies from her childhood, but Alice looked confused. "Why—" Alice began, but Mary cut her off with a shake of her head.
"Nevermind," Mary said quickly.
Still looking unsure, Dorcas released Lily and Alice's hands and stepped back, smoothing out her dress robes and checking her reflection in the mirror. "What about you, Mary? Are you and Sirius going to the party?"
"No," Mary said. "Sirius doesn't go to parties unless he's gate-crashing them, and I didn't want to go on my own. Plus, with most of my friends and most of his friends going to the party, we figured we could get some time alone."
"I'm not going to the party either," Alice reminded her.
"Neither is Peter," Mary retorted. "But he's in detention tonight, and Sirius and I almost never get his dormitory to ourselves…"
The other three witches silenced her with various groans and gagging noises, and Mary trailed off into a snigger.
James stood in his dormitory, trying to tie the silver fastenings on his new dress robes. Behind him, Remus was considering the two sets of robes laid out on his bed. "Have you picked a bleeding color yet, Moony?" James asked, glancing at his friend's reflection in the mirror as he fought with the knot at his neck.
"Not yet," Remus said fretfully. "Are you sure you don't mind letting me borrow—"
"Of course I don't mind," James said, cutting off the question before it could be asked again. "And neither does Sirius. Now just pick a set and be done with it. It shouldn't be this hard; it's not like you're going on a real date, or anything."
Remus didn't respond to the jibe. He finally reached down and picked up the dark green set that Sirius refused to wear because, as he said, they made him look like a Slytherin. "What do you think?" he asked James, holding them up.
James's eyes flicked to Remus's reflection again. "I think Evans will absolutely fall all over you when she sees you in them," he grumbled.
Remus shook his head. "James, you just said it yourself: it's not a date. She's just bringing me because I didn't get an invitation and she's allowed to bring a guest. You could bring me as your guest if you'd prefer—"
James snorted. "Yeah, Slughorn would love that," he said sarcastically, but Remus just smirked.
Dressed and otherwise presentable, James and Remus descended the spiral staircase to the Common Room, arriving at almost the same time as Lily and Dorcas. Lily looked around at Remus and put her hands on her hips as she took in his green dress robes. "Alright, one of us is going to have to change," she joked, looking pointedly at his robes and then at her own green ones.
Remus laughed, but James rolled his eyes and stalked across the room to the portrait hole. Dorcas caught up with him a second later.
"James, wait up," she called just as he was climbing into the corridor. He stopped, turning around as she hurried up to him. "Walk with me?" she asked. "I'm meeting Roger in the Entrance Hall."
"Sure," James said, hanging back to let Dorcas catch up. He caught another burst of laughter from Lily and Remus just as Dorcas shut the portrait hole and he had to hide a scowl.
Dorcas gave him a knowing look as she took in the expression on his face and opened her mouth to say something. James, not exactly eager to talk about his feelings with one of Lily's closest friends, hastily changed the subject. "So, things are still going well with Roger Nix?"
"Oh yes," Dorcas said happily. Much more happily than James thought was exactly warranted, but he didn't press. He didn't need to, for Dorcas went unprompted: "He asked me to Slughorn's party on Tuesday, you know. It'll be our first proper date, I think, since we've only just been for butterbeer the one time in Hogsmeade and that wasn't exactly pre-arranged…" she babbled happily for a while. James listened with benign interest; he didn't exactly know Dorcas or Roger well enough to be invested in their budding relationship, but he liked them both and he knew they had fancied each other for ages. Dorcas went on, "…but he specifically used the words 'it's a date' when he asked me to the party, so I know he really intended to take the next step. Speaking of, when are you and Lily going to get over whatever little spat you're in and make it official?"
"What?" James sputtered, blindsided by the question, but not entirely able to stop himself from privately commending Dorcas's segue. "What makes you think we're in a spat?" he asked, ignoring the second part of her question entirely, and the way it made his heart jolt unpleasantly.
Dorcas smirked. "Because you've been avoiding her ever since last Saturday, and because she's been moping around the dormitory and shooting you dirty looks in class. And because you haven't been pestering her or showing off as much," she said wisely. "You know, she doesn't hate you as much as she says she does. Not that she's really said anything at all about hating you recently, come to think of it. And I'm sure if you just apologize for whatever you did, she'll—"
"Hang on," James cut in. "What makes you think I'm the one who has something to apologize for?"
"Because…" Dorcas started, her conviction wavering for the first time. "Because you're always the one who has something to apologize for when Lily's cross."
James huffed but otherwise didn't respond. It seemed Lily hadn't recounted the story of their talk in the Room of Requirement to her friends. He didn't know what to make of that information. Whatever Dorcas was thinking, she didn't press.
They walked the rest of the way to the Entrance Hall in relative silence. Dorcas seemed to think she had offended James, because she didn't bring Lily up again. Still, James was relieved when they arrived at the bottom of the marble staircase and Dorcas was greeted by Roger. James gave them both a parting smile and slipped off to Slughorn's dungeon office alone.
The party was already in full swing by the time he arrived. Professor Slughorn was drinking deeply from a goblet of wine, standing next to the door with an older wizard whom James thought he recognized, but whose name he couldn't quite place. Whoever the wizard was, he seemed to recognize James too. His grey eyes narrowed as James entered the room, and he turned his face to watch James's movements as he hurried further into the crowd.
James ducked behind a trio of Ravenclaw seventh years, eager to escape that sharp, cold stare. He didn't like the way that wizard had been looking at him; expectantly, appraisingly. But before he could dwell on it for too long, James was hailed by Nettie Harris of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. "James!" she called, lunging out of the crowd towards him, a butterbeer in her hand. She seemed a bit unsteady. "The man of the hour! Great Quidditch match, wasn't it? Last weekend, I mean?"
She reached him, knocking aside a Slytherin fourth year, and put one hand on his shoulder for support. Her eyes were a bit out of focus as she stared into James's face. "Er," he started. "Are you alright, Nettie? You seem a little…"
"Drunk?" she guessed, smiling mischievously. James nodded. Now that she was closer, he could smell firewhiskey on her breath. Nettie laughed. "Yes, Dennis Finch said the same thing! He got me this, you know," she held up the butterbeer. "Said I should stick to something light for awhile. Personally, I don't think he knows what he's talking about, because I feel great. But when the Head Boy tells you to do something, you do it, y'know what I mean?"
"Sure," James agreed, and he glanced around for something to distract Nettie, or someone he could pass her off to. He looked around at the door just as Lily and Remus appeared in it. As unpleasant as a surly Lily might be at the present time, she was still better than a drunk Nettie Harris. "Look, Nettie, it's been great catching up. We'll have to do it again sometime. But I've got to…. Oh! Here's Dennis again!" he said as the Head Boy appeared at the edge of the crowd. James reached forward and pulled him over. "Dennis, you don't mind talking to Nettie for a few minutes, do you? Great! Bye!"
He made his escape, slipping between a couple of old warlocks as Dennis sputtered and Nettie began jabbering again. James wound his way over to the door and grabbed Remus's arm before he could get lost in the crowd. "Remus," he hissed, pulling his friend closer. "Thank Merlin! I've been here for two bloody minutes and I've already been stared down by one of Slughorn's friends and accosted by a sloshed Nettie Harris!"
Remus looked around for Lily, who had slipped off into the crowd. "I think I'm supposed to stay with Lily," he said. "Since she's the one who brought me."
"You can't leave me alone, Remus, I'm begging you!" James said, "Look, I'll be your bloody date. I'll even kiss you at midnight, if you want, as long as you promise not to get handsy."
"Prongs!" Remus said, half reproving and half amused. But before he could go on, another voice boomed out James's name.
"James, m'boy!"
It was Slughorn, wearing sweeping robes of grey velvet that didn't quite fit over his vast stomach. The wizard was red in the face, and the goblet of wine he had been carrying earlier was now empty. Just as James made this observation, a house-elf appeared carrying a new goblet, which Slughorn grabbed and took a sip from.
"I was just telling my associate here about some of the up-and-coming talent as Hogwarts," he said, throwing an arm out and ushering in the intimidating wizard from before. He came forward, still watching James with those eerie grey eyes. "This is Abraxas Malfoy. Abraxas, this is James Potter and his friend Remus Lupin. Both in their sixth year; Gryffindors."
James and Remus nodded politely to Abraxas Malfoy. Remus managed a brief "pleased to meet you," but James didn't say anything. He suddenly knew how he recognized the wizard. Abraxas Malfoy knew his parents. They had known each other for decades, though James was sure that none of the three considered themselves friends. The Malfoys were the antithesis of everything James's parents stood for. Still, Malfoy and his wife, Wilma, had been to James's London manor several times throughout the years for parties and other social gatherings. Appearances mattered in the wizarding world, especially among the old families. And James's parents, though willing to break from tradition when they thought it necessary, also knew when to bow to the pressures of custom.
But that didn't mean they held their tongues. The last time James had seen Malfoy was two years earlier when James's father was escorting him and Wilma out of the house in the middle of the Potter's New Year's party. Malfoy had made some comment to another guest, James didn't know what it was, but it must have been bad. From what James gathered, the incident (either the comment, or the Malfoy's ouster from the Potters' home) had caused ripples in the wizarding community that still hadn't completely settled. And as Malfoy continued to stare at James, James knew that Malfoy had not forgotten the incident either.
Slughorn, on the other hand, didn't seem capable of remembering anything at the moment. "Now, I'm sure you know James's parents, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter," he said, clapping a hand on Malfoy's shoulder.
Malfoy managed a thin smile. "Quite," he said, eyes flashing. "Yes, Monty and I go very far back indeed, Horace."
"There's a good lad!" Slughorn roared genially. He took another swig from his goblet. "Now Mister Lupin, here, you might not be familiar with," he went on, turning Malfoy to face Remus next. "Your mother is a Muggle, isn't that right, Lupin?" Slughorn asked.
Remus nodded, apparently uneasy under the scrutinizing eyes of Malfoy, which had flashed again at Slughorn's words.
Again, Slughorn didn't notice a thing. "But you might know his father: Lyle Lupin. Works for the Ministry in…what department was it?"
"Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Remus said.
"That's the one! Knew it was something like that!" Slughorn boomed.
Malfoy gave Remus a curious look. "Lyle Lupin's son. Is that right?" he said quietly. "No, boy, I don't think I have met your mother or father. But you could say I've met your, ah, real parent."
It took James all of a second to register what Malfoy had said and the meaning behind it. Judging by the way Remus's face went quickly from white to red, he understood the meaning just as quickly. "YOU B—" he started, and his hands curled reflexively into fists. James grabbed his arm.
"Time to go!" James said loudly to Malfoy, who was smirking, and a quite shocked Professor Slughorn, and he dragged Remus toward the door. Before they made it out of the dungeon, Lily appeared.
"Remus!" she said, shocked by his shout and the look on his face. "What's going on? What's—"
But Remus shook James's hand off his arm and stormed down the corridor. The flames in the torches mounted to the walls flared as he passed, and James could tell by the cast of Remus's shoulders that he was angrier than James had seen him in a long time. James's own heart was pounding loudly in his ears as he remembered what Malfoy had said.
Lily turned instead to him. "James, what happened? I heard Remus shout and…"
She didn't need to go on. James knew what she was going to say. He too had seen Remus's face, had seen the shadow of the wolf flicker across his furious features. But Lily wouldn't know the reason behind it, and wouldn't have understood Malfoy's words if James repeated them to her. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter," James mumbled, his heart still pounding in his ears. He looked away from Lily, back into the dungeon at the party-goers. Slughorn and Malfoy had turned away from them and were talking to Corban Yaxley of Slytherin. This conversation seemed to be going better; Slughorn was laughing genially again and Yaxley was staring, apparently quite impressed, at Malfoy as he spoke.
"Do you…do you want to go back to the party?" Lily asked. She sounded hesitant.
"Not remotely," James said flatly.
Lily was silent, and James realized a second too late that she may have misinterpreted his tone and thought it was because of her. He turned around to face her again. "I mean," he went on, "we could go somewhere else and talk." Then, remembering the way their last conversation had ended, he added, "if you'd like."
She considered for a moment, also looking back at the party. Nettie Harris appeared in the doorway, her arm draped around the shoulder of Dorthea Hemming, a fellow Hufflepuff. "James! Lily!" Nettie squealed as Dorthea helped her into the corridor and she spotted the two Gryffindors. "Are you having fun at the party? I am, but Dorthea," she swung her head to indicate the other girl, "says I have to leave now."
Dorthea's eyes met theirs and she gave them an apologetic smile. "She's had a little too much…fun," she said to them, still helping Nettie down the corridor. James gave her a sympathetic sort of nod as she passed them, and Dorthea told Nettie, "I'll get you a glass of water when we get to our dormitory, then you really ought to go to bed…"
Lily watched as the two Hufflepuffs reached the corner and turned in the direction of their Common Room. "I think I'm done with the party too," she said lightly.
James didn't know what to say to that. "So…do you want to go somewhere and talk, then?" he asked, not exactly sure what he wanted her answer to be.
She turned back and considered him. "No, I don't think so," she said after a moment.
Disappointment clenched around James's heart and he suddenly knew what he had been hoping she would say. But she went on a second later: "But I do want to apologize."
Surprise mixed in with the disappointment then. "You want to apologize?" he repeated.
Lily nodded. "I don't think I was very fair to you when we talked the other day. I was upset, and you were saying…all the wrong things—"
"And I'm sorry about that," James interjected. "I was just—"
"No, James, you don't have anything to be sorry for," Lily continued, holding up a hand to stop him. "Everything you said made sense. I just didn't want to admit it. Now, I still don't think you're right about this, and I'm not going to give up the idea of trying to heal my mother. But I promise not to do anything that I haven't completely thought out and practiced. And I'm sorry that I shouted at you, and for what I said."
She stopped and looked at him, her eyes clear and expectant. James gulped. It took him longer than it should have to realize that he should probably say something; those green eyes and the expression on her face had caught him off guard. "It's…it's okay, Lily. I'm not angry."
Lily stared at him for another long moment. "I know you're not, James." And she swept down the hall and disappeared around the corner.
James gave Lily a couple of minutes' head start and then went back up to the Common Room, his head once again buzzing with the night's conversations. He was mostly distracted by his last one with Lily, but he was forced to stop the intricate analysis of her every word and expression when he climbed through the portrait hole. He looked around for Remus in the Common Room, but he didn't see him. Either he was in their dormitory or somewhere else in the castle. If it was the latter, James would need the Marauder's Map to find him, and that too required him to go up to the dormitory. Hesitantly, he made his way up to his dormitory and paused outside the door. There were no noises from inside. Sincerely hoping Sirius and Mary were not still alone in there, he knocked twice and pushed the door open.
Fortunately, James was not met by the sight of his best mate and best mate's girlfriend in any compromising positions. He was met by the sight of his two best mates, one sitting silently on his bed, arms crossed, glaring at the opposite way, and the other staring helplessly at the first.
Sirius looked around at James when he came into the room. "Prongs, what happened? Why are you two back from the party so early?"
James's eyes flicked to Remus's stony face. "What did Remus say happened?"
"Remus hasn't said a damn word," Sirius replied, turning to face Remus once more. "He just stomped in ten minutes ago, sat down, and started trying to stare a hole into the wall."
James hesitated. "I think Remus should be the one to decide what he wants to tell you."
"Apparently Remus doesn't want to tell me anything," Sirius said, frowning.
"Then Remus doesn't have to tell you anything," James said.
"Remus has to tell me something!" Sirius insisted.
"No, Remus doesn't have to say a bloody word!" Remus said angrily from his bed.
Sirius and James fell silent, watching Remus cautiously, waiting. After a moment, Remus sighed. "Or Remus can stop feeling sorry for himself and trust his friends to be supportive, like they always have been," Remus went on, rubbing a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, a habit he had had for as long as James had known him. But when he lowered his hand, James saw that his face was clearer than it had been before.
James sat down on his bed, facing Remus. Sirius straightened up and leaned forward. "What happened, Moony?" Sirius said in a tone that suggested it was not the first time he had asked.
"Abraxas Malfoy is a right git," Remus responded.
Sirius snorted. "Well I could have told you that," he said. "All the Malfoys are gits; you should meet his son. But how in particular did Abraxas prove himself a git this time?"
"Who's a git?" someone asked. It was Peter, standing in the doorway, a look of polite curiosity on his round face.
Remus sighed again, sinking back against his pillow and crossing his arms again. "James can tell you," he grumbled.
"You sure?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No," Remus said wearily. "But as Sirius isn't going to leave either of us alone until someone tells him, and Peter will want to know too, and I don't even want to think about what that git said again…" he trailed off meaningfully.
James took it as permission to continue. He explained about their introduction to Malfoy and Slughorn's question about whether he knew Remus's parents. When he told them about Malfoy's response, Sirius leapt up from his bed. "What?" he shouted, incredulous and angry.
But Peter just blinked. "I don't get it," he said.
"His real parent, Peter," James said, placing a delicate emphasis on the words.
Peter still looked lost. He turned a studying eye on Remus. "You're not adopted, or something, are you Remus?"
"No!" James and Sirius shouted simultaneously.
"He meant he knows Greyback; the werewolf who bit me, who made me a werewolf too," Remus said darkly. "Werewolves are usually outsiders, but You-Know-Who has been reaching out to them, forming a network, using them to threaten people. Greyback was one of the first he recruited, and he considers infecting me something of an accomplishment, because of my dad's standing in the D.R.C.M.C. I'm sure he would have bragged about it."
"Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," James added quietly, for Peter looked like he was going to inquire.
Peter's eyes widened. "Oh," he said.
It wasn't so much of a shock to James. They had heard the story before, and he'd already put together the implication of Malfoy's comment, both what he meant by it and the fact that he'd made it in the first place. "Malfoy must be a Death Eater."
Remus nodded. "I worked that part out too."
"I wonder why Slughorn invited him, then," Sirius added, frowning.
"You think Slughorn knows Malfoy is a Death Eater? And he invited him anyway?" Remus asked, skeptical.
"Could be," Sirius said, shrugging. "Maybe Slughorn is trying to help recruit. You know how he likes making connections, sharing the credit."
James raised an eyebrow. "But Slughorn working with the Death Eaters? I'm not sure I believe it." The Head of Slytherin may be a bit pompous and more than a bit power-hungry, but he always struck James as more clueless than cruel. James couldn't imagine the old man wanting to play an active role in Voldemort's mission. "I think it's more likely he just invited Malfoy as a networking tool. The whole Malfoy family is very well connected.
"Apparently," Peter said, with a nervous glance at Remus. James followed his gaze and was glad to see that Remus looked calmer, more interested in the conversation now.
"Should we, I dunno, tell someone?" Remus asked after a moment. "About Malfoy being a Death Eater?"
"Who would we tell?" Sirius asked.
They all looked around at each other, but none of them said anything.
"You could tell your mum, James," Peter said eventually.
James nodded. It was true; his mother was also well connected due to her job. "I could try," he said. "I'm not sure how I'd explain how I know, though," he added with a glance toward Remus. James hadn't told his parents about Remus's condition, not because he thought they would care, just out of respect for his friend's desire to keep it a secret.
Remus, however, sighed and said, "If Malfoy is a Death Eater, it's a big deal, and the Ministry should know. If it takes your parents finding out about me in order for that to happen, it's fine, James."
"Really?" James asked, surprised.
"Really," Remus confirmed.
James thought about that. "Okay, I'll talk to my mum tomorrow, then. But if I can convince her to look into the Malfoys without saying anything about you, I will."
Remus nodded. "I know you will James, I trust you."
The two shared a brief smile, which Sirius was quick to interrupt. "Don't worry, Remus, the Potters won't care about you being a werewolf." Remus started to say something to that, but Sirius went on in a louder voice. "Not when we could tell them really embarrassing secrets about you, like the fact that you referred to yourself in the third-person a few minutes ago. Twice."
Peter and James rolled their eyes as Remus threw a pillow at him.
Author's Note: Whew, it's been awhile since I was last able to post. I really don't have an excuse, so I'll have to just beg for mercy. I'm also pleased that I've finally managed to elicit a couple of comments; thank you to those who took the time to leave me a few words of encouragement. It really means a lot.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to get the next one up within a week, but no promises. Happy reading!
