- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO -

Be Quiet, Potter!

"Is it just me," said James to the other three, once they had put a reasonable distance between themselves and the classroom, "or has Professor Oden been acting weirdly lately?"

Peter nodded. "I was thinking that, too," he said. "His memory's been getting worse each lesson. Remember when he told me I was in the wrong class?"

The others nodded. Peter had been reduced to a jittery state of confusion when their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had mistaken him for another student and told him to leave the classroom.

"I agree that it's strange," said Remus, as the four of them entered the Entrance Hall. "But we can't just accuse him of acting suspiciously. There could be all sorts of reasons why he always forgets things; he could have some kind of memory loss problem. Or he could have a very complicated life outside of school."

The enchanted knight turned to look at them as they approached, but they merely ignored it. And, when it began to move towards them, shuffling its heavy feet and lifting its axe, they ducked into the Great Hall and sat down opposite Marcus and Felicity. The two prefects must've taken a shortcut in order to arrive before them.

"Hello, boys," said Felicity cheerfully, realising they were there. Her features had no trace of anguish on them now. "It's lovely to see you again. How are you settling in?"

"We're good, thanks," said James, helping himself to potatoes. "You?"

Felicity practically beamed at him. "Oh, I'm thriving," she said, while Marcus scowled and speared a forkful of carrots with unnecessary force. "It's been busy with all my prefect duties, but it's been great too."

"That's nice," said Remus politely, who - like James - had noticed Marcus' expression. He watched the older boy curiously for a while, trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Yeah," added Sirius. "And we've stopped getting lost on our way to lessons. So it's a win-win situation, I'd say." He stuffed half a Yorkshire pudding into his mouth at once and chewed heartily, noticing nothing about Marcus' attitude.

Peter, meanwhile, glanced from Marcus to Felicity, frowning slightly. There was something strange going on between them, but he didn't know what... Shrugging, he joined Sirius in eating and let his mind wander elsewhere.

"So," said Sirius loudly, when no one else spoke for a long time. "What lesson have we got this afternoon?"

"We've got Charms," said Remus immediately, turning away from Marcus to face Sirius instead. "And I saw that there was a notice in the Gryffindor common room today; the first Quidditch match of the year is next week."

"Excellent!" said James, all thoughts of Marcus, Felicity and Professor Oden vanishing on the spot. "Who's playing?"

"It's Gryffindor against Slytherin," said Remus, who had only read the sign because he knew James and Sirius wouldn't. "But I don't know any of the players."

"I'm Captain," said Marcus unexpectedly from Felicity's right. "I'm Captain of the Gryffindor team. And I play Keeper."

James turned to him at once, a mixture of awe and delight on his face. "Are you really? Wow, that's incredible!" But Marcus only grunted and returned to his meal.

Felicity gave the four boys a reassuring smile. "Oh, don't worry about him," she told them as if Marcus wasn't there. "He's just a bit grumpy today. You know what he's like..." She laughed lightly but threw an anxious glance at her fellow prefect.

Marcus resolutely ignored her, and James and Remus exchanged glances.

"There's definitely something going on between them," said James in an undertone to Remus, once Marcus and Felicity had finished eating and said goodbye. "They're acting so strangely around each other, it's like they're both enemies and friends."

"I know," said Remus, while Peter and Sirius looked bewildered. "I noticed that as well. They're like opposite sides of the same coin... And they can't have a very stable relationship."

"What are you two talking about?" demanded Sirius, laying down his knife and fork so that they tinkled on the plate. "I didn't notice anything odd. What's going on?"

"Well, actually, I thought there was something weird about them too," said Peter. He copied Sirius and sat up a bit straighter. As he was so short, however, this didn't have much of an effect. "But I was more interested in eating." He sighed dreamily at his clean plate. "The food at Hogwarts is the best! Did you try the gravy?"

"Yes, I did," said Remus impatiently, glancing over at the gravy boat. "But that's not the point."

"Yeah," said James. "The point is that at least three people are acting weirdly and we don't know why."

Losing patience, Sirius leaned over and elbowed James in the ribs. "Who's acting weirdly?" he demanded. "Will you please tell me what you're talking about?"

"We just told you," said James, his voice low and steady. "Felicity and Marcus are always so... strange around each other. Haven't you noticed that they're always together, but they never seem to like each other's company?"

"Well, who cares?" said Sirius bluntly, now drinking from his goblet. "I mean, it's not like I give a damn about what Marcus does. He's an idiot. Let's just forget about it for now. There's a match next week, it's almost Halloween and my birthday is three days after that."

Remus interrupted, looking interested. "Your birthday's on November the third?" he asked. "I didn't know that! That's only six days away and I haven't even got you a present!"

Sirius only shrugged. "It's okay. You don't have to bother. My parents probably won't, anyway. They'll still be mad about the fact that I'm in Gryffindor..."

"That's not very nice!" said Peter, his watery eyes wide. "I'll get you a present. In fact, I'll write to my mum and dad as soon as we've finished eating. They'll send me something to give you if I ask."

"Me too," said Remus, who was already wondering what he could possibly give Sirius. Was it appropriate for someone like him to give people presents?

James, on the other hand, said nothing. He was too busy mulling over Sirius' words. 'My parents probably won't anyway'... What sort of parents couldn't be bothered to give their child presents? He'd always received a mountain of presents from his family. Even distant relatives that he'd never met would send him stuff. It was just something that happened every year, something that he always looked forwards too. He would unwrap all the gifts, groan at the hideous sweater from his mother, and the whole family would be happy.

He couldn't imagine not going through that each year.

"James?" asked Remus suddenly, jerking James out of his reverie.

James blinked and stared up at his friends. All three of them has risen from the bench and were ready to leave. He must've zoned out.

"You okay, mate?" asked Sirius, with a somewhat forced smile.

James had a feeling that Sirius was more affected than he let on by the knowledge that he'd be getting no presents. A boiling hot determination bubbled over him. "What? Yeah, I'm fine. Absolutely fine." But the moment they'd left the Hall, he ran straight up to the owlery and sent a letter to his parents.

His friends would be loved, he thought fiercely. They would. They'd be loved by him forever, no matter what. And that was the end of the matter.

"Happy Halloween!" James yelled, on the morning of the thirty-first, flinging a pillow across the room. It hit Sirius in the face and bounced off onto the floor.

"Mmmph!" groaned Sirius, burrowing back under the duvet again as James leapt out of bed and began to get dressed.

James laughed and unbuttoned his pyjamas. "Come on, you lazy lump! It's the day of Slughorn's party!"

This got Sirius moving. "Haven't I already told you that I'm not going?" he said firmly, sitting bolt upright in bed, glaring at James. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"Try telling that to Professor Slughorn," said James, now putting on his robes. "He seems pretty determined to persuade you to come."

"Well, Slughorn can get stuffed, can't he? It's not my fault that he's barking mad and obsessed with famous people! He's asked me four times now and I've said 'no' to each one. He's never going to persuade me to go and that's final."

"Why are you always up so early?" grumbled a voice from the end of the room. Frank Longbottom had rolled over to look at them, his eyelids gummed together with sleep. "I mean, the other day, there was that thing when Remus disappeared... And now there's this! Do you ever sleep?"

"Sorry, Frank," yawned Remus from Sirius' left. "I don't think they're going to leave you in peace. Ever. You might want to consider moving dormitories."

James threw his other pillow at him but it missed. "Oi! Whose side are you on, Lupin?"

Remus smiled and picked up the fallen pillow. "Frank's," he said simply. "Because I'd quite like a lie-in too, you know."

"Traitor," muttered Sirius, grinning as James held out his hand for his pillow.

But Remus ignored him and, still smiling, turned to James. "What? You want it back?" he asked, teasingly waving the pillow.

"Yes," said James, trying to reach Remus and the pillow over Sirius's head. But, as Remus was a good four meters away, this achieved absolutely nothing. "I need something to put my head on. I threw my other pillow at Sirius and it's on the floor next to you-" He broke off in a groan as Remus leaned over the side of his bed and picked up the other one too.

"You shouldn't have said that," Sirius told James, watching Remus holding both pillows out of reach.

"I know," said James, slumping back onto his pillow-less bed. He addressed Remus again. "Remus, give me the pillows! I'm sorry I threw them at you and Sirius, but-"

"What's the magic word?" asked Remus, looking thoroughly enjoying himself.

James sighed and reached for his wand on the bedside table. "I'll give you 'the magic word'."

Remus held up his own wand, stuffing the pillows out of sight at the same time. "I meant, 'please', you idiot!" he laughed, ducking to avoid James' aim. "Just say 'please' and I'll give them back. As long as you promise not to wake us up this early again."

Scowling, James held out his wand-free hand. "Oh, all right. Please. Now hand my pillows over!"

"I don't think demanding is very polite, James," said Frank in a muffled voice. He'd burrowed under the duvet again in a last-ditch attempt to get some more sleep.

James grinned and caught the pillows that Remus threw at him. "It worked, though, didn't it? I have officially got my pillows back! Anyway, what happened to Peter? Is he always this sleepy or what?"

Sirius peered over at Peter's lifeless form. The smaller boy's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were determinedly closed. "Looks like it," he replied, sitting up in bed. "Do I need to wake him?"

"Wake him?" repeated Remus incredulously. "You call poking someone senseless 'waking' them? Poor Pete will be black and blue if we let you wake him!"

"Hey!" said Sirius, swinging his legs onto the floor and glaring at Remus. "I'm not that bad!"

"Yes, you are. Anyway, I'm going to get dressed." Picking up his robes from the top of his trunk, Remus crossed to the other side of the room and disappeared into the bathroom.

Frank called after him. "Why're you going in there?"

Remus didn't answer and shut the door with a loud 'click'.

Frank turned back to Sirius and James. "What's he doing?"

Sirius shrugged and began to get dressed too. "Dunno. He always gets dressed in the bathroom. It's just something he does."

"But why? I've never noticed him doing it before."

It was James who spoke this time. "I guess that's because you're normally downstairs by the time we wake up. Remus is quite a late-riser. Sometimes he sleeps later than Peter." He cast a quick glance at the sleeping boy in the bed next to Remus' empty one.

"Yeah," chimed in Sirius. "And that's saying something. Peter can sleep for a really long time. Speaking of which - should I wake him now?"

"I'll do it," said Frank, standing up. "Remus' is right: you do poke people really hard." He reached over and gave Peter a light shake. "Peter? Peter, it's time to wake up."

Very slowly, Peter's eyes opened and he looked groggily around. "Huh? Is it morning yet?"

"Yep!" said Sirius cheerfully. "And happy Halloween! James woke us up really early, but we might as well get moving. Halloween is a nice excuse to play pranks!"

"It's a nice excuse for eating sweets, too," added James, while Peter's eyes fell on Remus' abandoned bed.

"Where's Remus?" he squeaked. "He hasn't gone to visit his mother again, has he?"

"Nope, he's getting dressed," said Frank. "In the bathroom." He glanced anxiously at the closed bathroom door, behind which, Remus was still hidden.

"Oh," said Peter, not especially perturbed by this information. After all, Remus always got dressed in the bathroom.

"We were just discussing that, actually," continued Frank, still not taking his eyes off the bathroom door. He lowered his voice slightly. "You don't happen to know why he doesn't get dressed in here, do you?"

Peter shrugged and let the duvet roll off him. "No, I don't know anything about it," he said. "But maybe he's self-conscious. or something."

"He could be," said James thoughtfully, while Sirius finished dressing and began to massage his stomach.

"Yeah. I wish Remus'd hurry up, though. I'm starving."

As though Sirius' words were a cue, the bathroom door opened and Remus appeared, looking perfectly normal. His expression flickered slightly, however, when he saw that they were all staring at him. "Oh, hi, Peter," he said fairly, deciding that it was best to ignore the awkward silence. "You're awake, I see."

Peter nodded and the atmosphere in the room relaxed. "Yep," he said, glancing from Remus to Sirius and James, and then back again. "Shall- Shall we go down to breakfast then, or what?"

"Yeah, come on," said Frank, immediately hurrying to the door. "I'm hungry too."

The other four followed him out, eager to get started on breakfast. Halfway down the gap between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, however, they were accosted by Severus Snape.

"Morning, Snivellus," said James in a falsely brightly voice, coming to a halt in front of his enemy. "You haven't had a shower this morning, I see."

Snape sneered and did not back down. "The same to you, Potter," he said. "You're hair's as messy as ever."

"What?" asked James, pretending to be surprised. "Oh, no. This is just my natural look. I know, I'm gorgeous-"

"Be quiet, Potter! What are you comparing yourself to, the Giant Squid?" sneered Snape, looking very pleased with himself at this insult.

James only snorted. "Well, I'm better looking than you, anyway. Come on, you lot."

The boys followed James to a spot at the Gryffindor table beside four girls: Marlene, Mary, Alice and Lily.

"Hi, Frank," said Alice, as soon as her friend sat down. "What did Snape want?"

"Not much," replied Frank. "But I see what you mean about him being a jerk. He's such an attention-seeker."

But Lily interrupted him, a scowl on her face as she attacked her porridge. "Excuse me, Sev is not an attention-seeker! And don't call him a jerk! Potter is the only one here who is either of those things, thank you!"

Frank gaped at her. Lily was usually nice to everyone - with the exception of James and Sirius.

Luckily for him, Sirius leaned forwards and saved Frank from answering. "Evans, do you have a problem with us sitting here or something? Because it's a free country and we're hardly convicted murderers. We can sit where we like."

Lily said nothing and turned back to her conversation with Mary. Marlene began to talk to Alice and Frank, while James, Sirius, Peter and Remus started to shovel food into their mouths.

"We've got no lessons today," said James, amid the sounds of gulping and swallowing. "So what do you want to do?"

"Pranks?" suggested Peter, chewing on a bacon rind.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "We could prank Snivellus. Give him a hair wash, maybe..."

"Dye his hair pink?" said Remus.

Sirius grinned. "That'd be good. We could even dye his robes to match... Or maybe orange... Bright, luminous orange..." He stared reminiscently into the distance before speaking again. "How're we going to do it, though?"

James shrugged. "Colour Changing charms?" he suggested, remembering some of the things mentioned in Transfiguration. "Professor McGonagall says you can change the colour of things by-"

"Human Transfiguration is supposed to be really hard, though," interjected Remus as they finished eating, stood up, waved at the others and departed. "There's a lot of concentration involved... And you have to learn an incantation that's supposed to be N.E.W.T. level."

"It doesn't sound like something we could do as first-years," agreed Peter, glancing over his shoulder. They were just passing the first-floor classroom, from which the whispering had come a week or so ago. The door was completely shut.

"It wouldn't hurt to give it a go, though," said Sirius fairly. "Anyway, I'm sure there's another way to change the colour of something."

"A Switching spell might work-" began Remus but, just then, the classroom door burst open to reveal Professor Oden looking utterly distracted.

His greying hair was rumpled as though he'd been tugging on it and his eyes darted wildly around the corridor. He was muttering long strings of words under his breath and didn't seem to notice them.

"Erm, Professor?" said James, when their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher showed no sign of moving. "Professor, are you okay?"

"Keep saying 'no'... I need to plan my lessons after this... Don't succumb... Oh, and I'm meeting Minerva at eight..." The professor did not appear to have heard James; he was still muttering to himself, half talking nonsense. As he stood in the doorway, wringing his hands, he rocked back and forth, looking deranged.

The four boys glanced helplessly at one another.

"Professor?" asked James, a little more loudly. "Professor, can you hear me?"

"...Have work to mark, essays to grade... Wars are terrible things. Yes, wars are terrible- What?" Professor Oden seemed to have heard him at last. His silvery eyes snapped into focus and turned on James, looking thoroughly surprised to see him standing there.

"I said, are you all right, professor?" said James, exchanging a meaningful nod with Sirius. "You seemed a bit... a bit funny just then."

Professor Oden blinked bewilderedly. "What? Oh, no. No, there's nothing wrong. Thank you very much, Mr Pumblebum. Well, I'd better get going..." He set off down the corridor, now humming vaguely to himself as though nothing had happened.

Peter stared after him, then turned to the others. "Mr Pumblebum?" he repeated, amazed.

James, Sirius and Remus only shrugged.

A/N:

Hello, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I realise that it might be a bit clunky - I had some trouble getting into it, but I hope it's okay. I apologise for the delay this week in posting a new chapter. I've been working on a new fanfic called 'Greater Than Good' :) Thanks to those who have read and reviewed it so far. The same goes for you if you're reading this!

See you soon!