Author's Note: Hey guys I just want to say thank you SO SO much to everyone who is leaving comments here! I've said before I don't mind if people don't leave comments, I want everyone to consume the story how they want. That is absolutely a-okay with me! But I did want to thank those who are leaving comments. It really helps me, and means more to me than I can ever say. I appreciate it, and you! Thank you!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
When Remus woke up Friday morning, he knew it was going to be a bad day. The voices of his friends felt like blades under his skin, and when Sirius offered to help him with his tie Remus almost flinched back, mumbling that he didn't mind the points removed. Sirius gave him a curious look but didn't press.
What did I do to deserve this? he wondered as they headed down to breakfast, Remus being very careful to walk at enough of a distance that he didn't bump into any of them. Nothing particularly bad happened the day before, and he hadn't had any nightmares. It wasn't fair to wake up and have these issues out of nowhere. What had he done wrong?
Breakfast was horrible. All the voices and noise slipped into Remus and he wanted to scratch at himself to get rid of the itchy feelings. He didn't eat much, he mostly spent his time poking at his food and going over the events of the day before to try to figure out what caused this. Was it Wednesday? The talk with Peter? Or getting into trouble? Wouldn't that have caused problems the previous day?
Finally Remus pushed his food away, an idea forming in his head. He didn't want to give in—shouldn't give in—but he was already hating everything so much he didn't want to deal with more problems. "I—I forgot something, I'll be right back," he said, and hurried off. If he was quick, he'd be able to get to the dungeons in time.
He sprinted to the Gryffindor tower (falling several times) and slid into the dorm, yanking open his desk drawer to get the earplugs. He put them in, hiding their evidence under his hair. As he ran back down all the flights of stairs he adjusted the sound levels until he got to what he hoped would work.
Remus hated using his earplugs for a regular day like this—he didn't want to depend on them. But...
He flung himself through the door to the Potions classroom just as nine am hit, and tripped, landing on his face. The Slytherins and some of the Gryffindors laughed and he could hear a few murmurings of the all too familiar phrase of Loopy Lupin.
"Are you all right, Mr. Lupin?" Slughorn asked, hurrying over to help Remus to his feet.
"Y-yes sir," he said, feeling blood pouring from his nose. He raised his arm, covering his nose with his sleeve, staring through his fringe at Slughorn. "Ahh..."
"Come into my office for a moment," Slughorn said, helping him through the doorway. "What happened?" he asked once the door was shut. He began rummaging through his cupboard. "Your friends were here five minutes ago."
"I l-left something in my dorm," Remus said, glad his fall hadn't broken the earplugs! Thank Merlin he fell on his face and didn't strike the back of his head against the floor. He'd have to be very careful. "I thought I—thought—thought I had time." Slughorn handed him a potion that would heal his nose. "Um, s-sir? What—um, I don't need this?"
"Your nose is injured," Slughorn said.
Remus squirmed uncomfortably. "I—I heal, s-sir?"
Slughorn stared at him for the longest time before putting the vial back in his cupboard. "I assumed that was a rumor of—of your kind. Interesting." He then gave Remus a damp cloth to clean his face off and was watching him with an expression that made Remus feel beyond uneasy.
"Th-thank you, sir." Remus finished getting rid of the blood and Slughorn threw the handkerchief away. "S-sorry for the—sorry."
"It's quite all right, you're usually never late. Though your tie is very crooked and I'm afraid I must take a point off for that."
They returned to the classroom and Remus sat on the end of the bench next to Peter, trying to keep enough space so their arms didn't touch. Slughorn gave a lecture about some ingredients and the potion they'd be working on, and then announced it'd be solo potion work. Remus swore under his breath, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up a bit more. This was going to be an unmitigated disaster, especially since some of the ingredients smelled very strongly.
It wasn't long before his potion was completely off-color and thicker than it should be. Remus peered into the bubbling goo wondering what he had done wrong! He double-checked the ingredients and then rubbed his head, feeling as though he might throw up. Carefully he read through the steps and realized he had added the zalthorn seeds too quickly. Okay, think, you know this, how to counteract the thickness? He stared at the text until it went blurry. His head was pounding, and he was sweating profusely due to all the potions boiling for so long. Several others had shed their robes and Remus followed suit. The seaweed powder should reduce the effect of the seeds... however it will just make the potion even thicker. Would the rosewater work...?
He did some quick maths on a piece of paper before adding some rosewater and seaweed powder. The potion became the right thickness, however turned black. Remus swore, realizing too late the rosewater combined with the crushed hermit crab shells messed it up. After wiping the sweat from his forehead, he reluctantly raised his hand. When Slughorn approached, he explained what he did, and Slughorn looked at Remus's potion as if it were something dangerous.
"You were on the right track," Slughorn said slowly, "however you are right, the rosewater with the shells—you must have exact proportions when combining with zalthorn seeds in order to offset the reaction between the shells and the seeds, in addition to the rosewater combining dangerously with the bulbadox powder. I'm afraid you've made something... quite poisonous." He waved his wand, and the contents of the cauldron disappeared. "Wash it out and start again, you should have just enough time if you're quick."
There were several titters as Remus scurried to the back to clean his cauldron out. He went as quickly as he could but wasn't fast enough and by the time class was over his potion still had a good ten minutes left. After giving him an A for effort, Slughorn asked for an essay about the ingredients, understanding the way they interact, and the importance of proper calculations for all ingredients involved in order to not make poison. It was embarrassing.
"How do you manage that?" James asked when they left the classroom. All of them had their robes over their arms, and James, Peter, and Remus had disastrously messy hair from all the heat and steam; Sirius's hair looked flawless. "You—you made poison."
"I don't know!" he grumbled, trying to smooth his hair down. "It was smelly and my head hurts, it's—it's hard to focus!"
"You made poison," Peter said, sounding rather impressed.
"So—rosewater and bulbadox powder makes poison?" Sirius asked.
"Not directly," James replied. "It's... more of... the wrong amounts of ingredients mixed together. It was the rosewater, and bulbadox powder, and shells, and seeds, and probably everything else too." He paused to think and added, "Though bulbadox powder is dangerous. It can cause boils on its own."
"Hmmmm... sounds like something we should use on someone," snickered Sirius.
"Oooh, putting bulbadox powder in someone's bed!" laughed James. "Perfect! Next time we go to Hogsmeade I'll have to get some."
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus moaned when James woke him up well before dawn. The rest of Friday hadn't gone so well, and he has spent as much time alone as possible which included skipping Study Group. He had also stayed up very late, distracting himself from the miserable thoughts by finishing off a book by his favorite author, Ariadne Quillers. By the time he had gone to sleep it was after one in the morning, and now it was four.
"Ugh..." He rubbed his aching head, reaching for his glass of water to help calm his stomach.
"You sure you're still wanting to do this?" James whispered.
"Yes... and the sooner we go the sooner I can get back to sleep..."
He quietly slid out of bed, putting shoes and a dressing gown on. Peter was in his pajamas and a robe, but James and Sirius were dressed head to toe in black.
"You—you do realize we'll be under the invisibility cloak, right?" Remus asked.
Sirius struck a pose. "And we'll look terrific under the cloak."
They didn't get under the cloak until after they left the common room. It was crowded, and Remus was squashed up between James and Sirius. They shuffled along as quietly as they could, limbs knocking together. And breath being wafted across faces.
"Did you clean your teeth before bed?" Remus hissed at Sirius.
"If by eating half a box of pepper imps is cleaning them then sure," replied Sirius.
"No wonder you smell like smoke." Sirius let out a puff of breath right in Remus's face. "Ugh, no, don't! Ewww!"
"Would you two be quiet!" James snapped. "We're kinda sneaking through the school here."
Sirius giggled a bit while Remus fell silent though purposely let his sharp elbow clip against Sirius's side. Sirius nudged him back. Remus elbowed harder and then Sirius poked him in the ribs, causing him to yelp and jump, knocking into James who snapped at them yet again. Sirius clamped a hand over his mouth to try to stop from giggling louder, while Remus apologized. Or tried to. Sirius poked him again, and Remus's apology turned into another squeaky yelp.
"Do I have to separate you two?" James teased, and Sirius had to stop walking completely as he fought against the laughter. Finally, though, they continued, and Remus tried not to bump against Sirius too much.
They had to stop several times to avoid Peeves and, at one point, a teacher. No sign of Filch which was either a very bad sign (was he in his office?) or a very good sign (asleep). When they reached his office, James tapped at the door multiple times with no response. They exchanged looks then James unlocked the door.
"Nobody's in there," Remus whispered, and they went through the door.
"Whoa, it's so creepy!" Peter said, glancing anxiously at the manacles hanging on the wall.
"You've been in here multiple times," laughed Sirius, smacking Pete.
"Not in the dark!" Pete grumbled as James pulled the cloak off. "Can we turn a light on?"
James snorted. "Sure! If we want someone to see the light."
Remus's eyes darted around the room and reached for a pile of cleaning cloths. He lined them up on the floor along the crack. "That should be fine. Lumos. Oh! Nox." They were plunged back into darkness, and Peter asked if the rags weren't working. "I need to use my wand, for the spell," Remus pointed out. "Chionius!" He flicked his wand, and soon snow began falling from the ceiling.
"Er, right," Pete said. "Lumos. What are you two doing?"
James and Sirius were rifling through the cabinet marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. Sirius glanced over his shoulder and replied, "Nicking stuff."
"Chionius," Remus repeated, reinforcing the spell.
"More like taking our stuff back, this is mine!" James pulled out a roll of firecrackers. "He took them from me the other day."
"Yeah, this is yours too," said Sirius, pulling a box of stink pellets out, then a vial of Bubble Belch. "And this."
"How is Bubble Belch highly dangerous?" Remus asked. "Chionius."
"Guess it depends how loud the belch is," giggled Peter, and James grinned at him.
Sirius took a dungbomb out of the drawer. "Jimsy, how much of this is yours?"
James snorted. "Looks like a good seventy percent of it. Look, someone's got to help keep Filch employed—OH MERLIN!" James shrieked, then covered his mouth. "Shit, how loud was that?"
Sirius was putting the stuff in his pockets. "Pretty loud. Merlin what?"
"Chionius."
James slowly pulled a parcel out of the drawer. "Flaming. Ink."
Sirius gasped. "Where did Filch—or rather, who did he get these off of? And where did they find them?"
"Who knows? Who cares!" James set it on the desk. "This is gonna be brilliant!"
By the time their pockets were full there was a good inch of snow on everything. Remus put the spell on the ceiling again for good measure and it began snowing even harder. They disappeared under the cloak again and hurried back to the tower, trying not to laugh.
/\/\/\/\/\
First thing in the morning (which was after ten am) James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus tried to casually go near Filch's office but it was all blocked off. By the time lunch rolled around on Saturday a new rule was posted: no making it snow in teachers' offices or staff rooms. The Marauders weren't quite sure how deep the snow wound up being in Filch's office—the rumors all varied. The least amount they heard was one foot, the most they heard was it went past the door and when Filch opened the door there was an avalanche on him.
"I don't understand what the big deal is. It's just snow, not like it's fire," yawned Sirius as they ate lunch, listening to the gossip around them. "Not like his office was ruined. We're not animals."
I am, Remus thought, though kept his mouth shut.
"'Less the snow melted an' made a pool," Peter said.
James's eyes lit up. "We should absolutely make a pool somewhere in the school sometime."
"You can't just go around making holes in the school," Remus pointed out.
Sirius grinned at him. "Someone did, with the pits."
Remus closed his mouth, annoyed. "Er, right, well—we saw how dangerous that was..."
"Have you figured out anything new?" James asked.
"Not yet. I've been rather busy with everything else going on." He poked at his rice, realizing he had told Aegis about the book and not them. "The book we found had some pages ripped out of it which possibly may be connected."
"What pages?"
Remus frowned, suddenly unsure about sharing the theory about the Chamber of Secrets. It was such a farfetched possibility with the only linked evidence being the missing pages, which was not at all strong evidence. "Some pages about Slytherin," he finally said.
"Those are the pages I'd rip out too!" Sirius exclaimed, and the others all laughed.
They began chattering while Remus stared into space, thinking about nicking a broom again with Aegis. Stealing school—borrowing school property wasn't the best of plans, however it wasn't as though they could get a broom from anywhere else. There was also the possibility of a ladder? A very, very, very long ladder. or a rope? Attached to something? Would he be able to climb a rope? He had the strength for it. Would Aegis? He could pull Aegis out of a pit except that would show off how strong he was.
Hmmm. He rested his chin in his hand, absentmindedly stirring his rice as he tried to figure out a good way of getting in and out of those pits.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus spent some of the afternoon in the Pits Passage by himself. The others all had detention together, and initially Remus had intended to go to the library but halfway there he changed his mind. Soon he was crouched at the edge of the first pit, trying to see as far down in as he could. He eventually sat back and attempted a light-up spell on a bit of parchment until it started glowing, albeit faintly. Frowning, he prodded at it until it got a little brighter then he lobbed it down into the darkness. He watched it fall about a story then stop. Hmm, he thought, and slid along the narrow ledge of wood to the second pit to repeat the process. This one was a bit deeper.
Soon he began pacing, still trying to figure out a good way to get in and out of them. One idea formed in his head... however it was incredibly stupid and certainly unsafe. Probably dangerous. Possibly the worst idea he had ever had in his life, barring whatever he had done to get bitten.
Remus chewed at his nails, wondering if Aegis would go for it. Only one way to find out.
It took him a while to find his friend. First, he checked the other end of the Pits Passage, then the library, the Great Hall, various nooks and crannies, and finally went to the dungeons and hovered outside the Slytherin common room. He intended to ask the first Slytherin he saw to see if Aegis was in there, however the first Slytherin he saw was a very angry looking fifth or sixth year who looked like he wanted to murder Remus for daring to be in the vicinity. Then a troop of fourth years left the common room, all of them shooting Remus odd looks. Then Remus ducked into a side corridor when he saw Malfoy and his goons heading to the common room.
Darn it all, he thought, about to give up on finding Aegis when he saw a Slytherin that might help him.
Regulus jumped about fifty feet when Remus popped out from the corridor. "Ahh, s-sorry!" Remus said as Regulus clutched his chest.
"Why did you do that?!" Regulus demanded, not sounding at all like his usual self. Whenever Remus normally heard him he sort of sounded thin and anxious, like he needed to be careful about the words that came out. Now he sounded irritated and not at all worried about how he came across.
"Sorry," Remus repeated.
"Did my brother put you up to that?" he asked, face clouding.
"N-no! I—I n-needed to t-talk to Aegis Silverlocke," Remus explained.
Regulus gave him a strange look. "Why?"
"I, er, it's—it's important. An—an emergency."
"What sort of emergency?"
Remus racked his brains. "Um. About... an—an essay."
One eyebrow lifted, and Regulus folded his arms. "An emergency essay?" he asked, then snorted as he shook his head. "My brother was right about you."
What? Remus wondered.
"I suppose you want me to go get him?" Regulus continued.
"Er, I mean—I—if you—if you d-don't mind?" Remus whispered, twisting the hem of his jumper around one finger as he looked up at Regulus. He was only a first year but already a few inches taller than Remus. Perhaps his birthday was right at the beginning of September and he was twelve already? That would make Remus feel slightly less bad about his height.
Regulus studied Remus carefully, a sort of haughty expression on his face that looked so much like Sirius that it sent an uncomfortable shiver down Remus's spine. "I can't be seen talking to him," Regulus finally said.
"Oh." Remus fought off the urge to snap at him, to tell him he was being rude and awful if he was shunning Aegis for whatever reason.
"But..." Regulus tipped his head. "I will."
"You—will?"
"If you do me a favor."
Remus started to say yes then quickly shut his mouth. "What sort of—of f-favor?"
Regulus glanced down the corridor then took Remus's arm, pulling him back into the side corridor. "You're the smartest kid in school, right?" he asked quietly.
"Um—no, but—"
"I'm having some trouble with some of my assignments," Regulus continued, ignoring Remus's protests. "Would you help me?"
Remus was rather taken aback by this quest, definitely not expecting it. Regulus shifted from foot to foot, rubbing his elbow as he purposely avoided Remus's stare. "Y—yeah. I can—I can help."
"Very well. I'll be right back." Regulus spun around and went into the Slytherin common room. Remus waited where he was, watching the wall, hoping Aegis was in there. Even if he wasn't he'd help Regulus.
About four or five minutes passed and the wall opened again, Regulus appearing again followed by Aegis. Aegis had a frown on his face and when he spotted Remus he was obviously surprised.
"There," Regulus said, folding his arms again. "Tomorrow at one in the library? Oh, and don't tell Sirius."
"Oh! Ah, y-yes," Remus said, a bit startled by the request to not let Sirius know. Regulus shrugged and went back to the common room.
"Tomorrow?" Aegis asked curiously.
"Um, nothing," Remus muttered. "I think I might have figured out a—a way to get..." He stopped, realizing they were probably too close to the common room. He motioned for Aegis to follow him and took him down to a secret corridor. "I have an idea to get into the pits without stealing a broom."
Aegis widened his eyes. "You have?"
"Um, yeah, it's... uh..." Remus tugged at his sleeve, feeling awkward now. "It could be dangerous though."
"More dangerous than one of the school brooms?" Aegis joked, and Remus smiled.
"Hmm, you do have a point," he conceded before telling Aegis the idea. Aegis stared blankly at Remus until he finished then he stepped back, very shocked. "What do you think?" Remus asked.
"I think Misters Black and Potter have rubbed off on you," replied Aegis. "That has got to be the most mental idea I have ever heard in my life."
"Should we make a ladder? I think they'd be too short. Or—or use rope?"
He flinched at those suggestions. "Ahhh... those seem potentially more dangerous or rather, the ladder seems preposterous. If we enchant it to be longer it could weaken."
"That's what I thought. Rope..."
"Could you use the levitation spell on the rope to pull yourself and/or me up?" Aegis inquired.
Remus wrinkled his nose. "I don't know if I could levitate either of us. I could try but I think that mass might be a bit much for me. Let me try."
"Wait—"
He got his wand out and flourished it at Aegis's jumper. "Wingardium leviosa."
"Re—wait!" Aegis yelped. The jumper jerked up a little, pulling Aegis with it; he got about an inch or two off the ground when the jumper yanked itself off, and Aegis fell.
Remus clapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm so sorry!"
Aegis was on the ground, laughing. "It's Jarleth Hobart all over again!" he said, and Remus began laughing too. "Thank Merlin it was only my jumper you enchanted."
Remus offered his hand, pulling Aegis to his feet. "I am sorry, I wasn't thinking—"
"So it would seem," Aegis said, grinning. Remus retrieved the jumper and Aegis pulled it back on. "Well. You are strong however I am not sure if you could pull my weight up the entirety of one of the pits. I... suppose... your idea is... crazy but... better than stealing a broom. I am assuming you have access?"
"Yeah, um—yeah. I can go get them now."
Aegis frowned. "Unfortunately I cannot do it today. I am rather behind in homework. Next Saturday?"
"That will work," Remus lied. Next Saturday he'd be 'visiting his sick mother', so they'd have to wait two weeks. While he didn't want to wait that long, he also knew homework was far more important. Unless they managed to find some time during the week. "Do you need any help?"
"No thank you. It's only a matter of making myself sit down and do it," sighed Aegis, taking his hair out of the messy ponytail and pulling it back into a nicer one.
They talked for a few more minutes before Aegis returned to the common room and Remus headed off, not sure what to do. After wandering around for a while, he went to the library to work on some assignments though everything was pretty much done. He rewrote an essay and had just started on another when the other Marauders showed up, finished with detention and smelling very strongly of cleaning supplies. Apparently they had to clean out Filch's office.
"S'not fair!" James complained as they walked through the corridors. "We weren't caught for that. We just happened to have detention today and Filch... ooh he's such a twat!"
"Filch definitely blamed us," Sirius informed Remus. "He kept hovering around and telling us how we liked cleaning up after our own messes."
"It was like a swamp," giggled Peter. "Everything was soaked. We had to dry things out."
"Some of the old detention folders were wet too and we had to rewrite them," sighed James, flexing his hand and fingers.
"It's a good thing you weren't there," added Sirius, elbowing Remus. "The cat's litter box was soaked and made the whole place smell disgusting."
James adjusted his glasses, casting a smirk at Sirius. "Hopefully he doesn't torture you too much tomorrow."
"You have detention tomorrow?" Remus asked. "Since when?"
"Since I told Filch he wouldn't've had a problem with soggy detention slips if he waterproofed his cabinets," Sirius answered.
"I think it might have also been the fact you hinted it was his personality that made everything soggy and gross," Peter pointed.
Sirius smiled very sweetly. "Am I wrong? He's a soggy scone. A waterlogged scone mushed up into a soggy lump of disgusting."
"EW!" Peter screeched. "That is gross, Sirius! You've put me right off scones now."
"That was a very disturbing description," James agreed.
Sirius snorted, waving his hand dismissively. "Either way, it's true. Waterproof the cabinets. What's so hard about that?"
"It's typically a bad idea to insult the staff," Remus said.
Sirius flung his arm across Remus's shoulder. "I didn't call him a soggy scone to his face, as tempting as it is; I only vaguely hinted. Now then, what trouble shall we get into?"
"Personally, I think you three should get into a shower," Remus said, ducking away from Sirius's arm. Mostly due to the stench, but also because it was upsetting the box. "You stink."
