Author's note: some blood stuff mentioned, also period accurate homophobic slur referred to.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The final night of the four moon stretch was about the same as any fourth night of a four moon stretch. Remus was exhausted, miserable, in pain, and glad it was over. Thank Merlin it never lasted longer! When Remus returned to the school he was informed he wouldn't be allowed visitors after what happened the day before, but about half an hour before Charms started, Pomfrey allowed Lily in to see him. The No Visitors thing seemed to only be about the Marauders.
They mostly talked about school and the lessons Remus had missed, and she promised she had taken care of Arthur. Not only on the days he needed his medicine; she had visited him on Sunday as well. After twenty minutes—just before she'd have to go in order not to miss class—he asked her about Sirius and Spinnet.
Lily chewed at the end of her braid. "Black punched Spinnet. They got into a big fistfight."
"Do—do you know what started the fight?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "What was said?"
"No, I've no idea," she sighed. "You know them, though. They don't get along at all."
She's telling the truth, he thought after she left. If Lily doesn't know, I don't know if I should ask her… He was worried if he asked her what poof meant she'd want to know why. Maybe he could say he heard it elsewhere? It was—it seemed too much of a risk. If nobody knew what was said during the fight, he preferred to keep it quiet. I'll find out, he thought, determinedly.
/\/\/\/\/\
Pomfrey didn't allow Remus to go to Charms on Wednesday, though gave him permission to attend his afternoon classes after he ate a hearty lunch and had another rest. His right arm and wrist were pretty injured, and he had bandages wrapped tightly around his forearm. There was a very deep gash making it hurt to move his hand. Thankfully his first class was History which didn't involve any wand-waving; note-taking, yes, but he could borrow Lily's notes. Transfiguration… well, he'd deal with it when he got there.
His friends were very happy when he went into History, though he couldn't help glance at Spinnet who kept his head firmly pointed towards Binns, refusing to look. Struthers was giving him rather anxious looks.
Instead of paying attention to Binns, Remus pulled his little dictionary out of his bag. When he swung by the dorms to get his History and Transfiguration books he had snatched it up, determined for an answer. Unfortunately the only explanation in the dictionary was about things disappearing. Going 'poof!'. That certainly wasn't the problem. Unless Spinnet was saying he wanted Remus to disappear which, while sounding like something he'd say, was most likely not the issue.
I wonder what Spinnet would do if I asked him directly, he pondered, foot jiggling, quill tapping against his desk. It hurt to write notes so he gave up after a few minutes of trying. A tiny part of him wanted to, wanted to look Spinnet in the eyes and have him explain exactly what the insult meant. Ooh, that'd be nice. If it was something really bad it would probably be uncomfortable for Spinnet to explain to Remus's face. However, the thought of doing that also made his insides shivery, and his stomach hurt. It would be nice, but he doubted he could. Some Gryffindor I am.
The other Marauders sent notes back and forth, and eventually Remus sent a note to Sirius asking what poof meant.
I know Spinnet called me that. James and Peter refused to tell me what it means, they said it doesn't matter. It sounds as if you know. I'd like to know. Please?
It took ages to get a note back.
its a really rude insult – SB
Remus closed his eyes, frustrated. It hurt too much to write, so he didn't send anything back. After class when the Marauders were slowly making their way to Transfiguration alone, he tried to broach the subject again. Sirius tousled his hair, promising him it didn't matter. Remus wanted to snap that it did matter! Except he didn't want to push his friends. Definitely didn't want to irritate them. Whatever the reason was for not saying, they didn't want to, which meant he'd have to find out elsewhere. It was annoying, although if poof was something really bad he could understand the hesitation to explain. If Lily came to him and asked him what mudblood meant with no knowledge whatsoever of it, he'd probably find it difficult to say.
Fawley might know. Remus walked absentmindedly down the corridor, staring at nothing. She'd probably see this anyway, so he might as well write to her. Explain what happened. Ask what it meant.
"Would one of you mind if I borrowed an owl to send something to Miss Fawley?" he asked, stumbling a little from not paying much attention to where he was going and knocking into a statue. Some students nearby snickered as he pulled back, his cheeks a little pink, and his arm very sore from where it hit the statue.
"You can borrow Cocoa," Peter offered once Remus shook himself off.
"Thank you so much."
His arm ached pretty badly all the way to Transfiguration, and when he raised his wand to try the spell (transfiguring metal into shapes), a few droplets of blood fell on his hunk of metal. He blinked a few times before setting his wand down and pushing his left hand up into his sleeve. It was hot and damp. When he pulled his hand back out there were red stains across his palm. Bumping into the statue must have torn open one of the wounds.
"Yes?" McGonagall asked after he wiped his hand off and raised it.
"M—may I please go to the bathroom?"
"Of course."
He dashed out of the room, going to one of the nearby bathrooms. After making sure it was empty, he locked the door then shed his robes, jumper, and began unbuttoning his shirt. Almost as soon as he started doing that there was a knock at the door.
"Oc—occupi—pied!" he cried out, shrinking back.
"It's me," said Sirius.
Remus bit his bottom lip. His injury was on his right arm so he'd be able to keep his left arm covered, but he didn't really want Sirius seeing his bare chest. "Give me a—a minute."
"What? It's me, it's Sirius."
"I know." He stared at the door then flicked his wand to unlock it before diving into a stall, swinging the door shut as Sirius opened the main door. "L—lock the door, please."
He heard the click. "Why are you taking your clothes off?" Sirius asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, just wondering what's with the stripping."
"One of my wounds reopened, I need to put fresh bandages on it."
"Oh, I thought you were just trying to skip class."
Remus shot a glare at the door as he carefully pulled his arm out of the sleeve. "That would be you and James. Ouch!"
"Do you need help?"
"No."
"All right. Um. Well, I also wanted to talk to you privately."
"So you chased me into the loo?" Remus gave a small smile at the thought. "Awkward place for a private conversation, don't you think?"
Sirius walked to the stall, leaning against the door. "I wanted to make sure things were—that we were…"
Remus made a face at the red blossoming across the bandage. "We were what? Oww!" he yelped as he pulled the bandages off. Some of the scabbing stuck to the cloth. One of the deeper gashes was indeed split wide open, oozing blood. He tossed the bandages in the rubbish bin, trying to figure out the next step. The stinging in his arm plus Sirius being there both added up to a distraction.
"We were okay," Sirius replied, a bit stiffly. "We haven't had time to… to talk without the others around. Things seemed all right yesterday and today, but that's with James and—and Peter—are—are you sure you're all right?" he asked when Remus let out a hiss of pain from trying to clean the wound with the toilet paper. It wasn't going well.
"Yes, could you hand me some wet paper towels?"
"Yeah hold on. You're not still mad?"
Remus unlatched the door, opening it a crack so he could take the paper towels. Sirius peered in, face pale, brow furrowed. "We already talked about this. We already made up."
"Yes, but…" Sirius trailed off uncomfortably.
It was evident he needed more reassurance, which was really surprising to Remus. Was he really that worried? "I was never mad," Remus replied honestly. "I said before, I know perfectly well I deserved what—what was said. I crossed a line."
"You didn't—"
Remus shut the door, locking it again. Maybe Sirius was anxious because he was still mad, so he thought Remus might still be mad? "Well, are you still cross with me?" he asked, wiping his arm off carefully.
Part of him felt rather trapped like this, and he didn't like it. He wished Sirius would drop the subject. They already talked about it, already forgave each other, why was Sirius pressing about the ordeal? Wasn't it done with? Except Sirius was pressing, and Remus couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't even run off to the library or make some excuse and disappear.
"No," Sirius muttered and, after a few seconds of silence, added, "I mean, okay. I'm not cross. I'm not mad. Maybe... a little upset still about your completely wild assumptions."
Remus tried to ignore the tightness in Sirius's voice, knowing he was lying about it only being an assumption; Remus had been right. "I'm very sorry for that, for making the assumption." His chest ached a little, wishing he could confront Sirius about everything
"I know. The thing is, I know I said really horrible things and I wanted to—"
"We both said things we regret, and perhaps it's best if we—damn!"
"What?"
"It's a little difficult with my left hand."
"Are you sure you don't need help?"
Remus looked at the awkwardly wrapped bandages. He tried the spell Pomfrey taught, to tighten the bandages, but it wasn't easy doing a spell with his left hand. The movement was rather wide and wobbly, and the spell failed. There was something vaguely familiar about the movement, though not familiar enough to place it.
"Could you do the sticking spell?" He cracked open the door again, holding out the very end of the long bandage. "Just there, and there?"
Sirius did so, and Remus shut the door again, doing his best to wrap the bandage around tightly. While it wasn't the best, it would work. Sort of. He stuck the end down to keep it in place, and then pushed his arm back into his sleeve. There was blood stained on the sleeve. Hopefully the house-elves would be able to get it out.
"As I was saying… we're both sorry for what happened. I think we're okay, aren't we? I don't want to be fighting with you—"
"I don't either," Sirius said quickly. "Never again. I—I guess I'm still worried you're—I said those things when I really shouldn't have—the—well, you forgive me for the things I said?"
I could probably forgive you for anything, he thought as he finished buttoning up his shirt. "Yes. I said before that I do." He opened the door fully, and Sirius's eyes landed on the bloodied sleeve. "Do you forgive me for crossing the line."
"Of course," Sirius said with relief as he offered Remus's jumper. "Is your arm going to be okay?"
"Yes, it broke open when I banged into the statue is all." Remus shimmied into the too-big jumper and yanked his robes back on. "Is the blood noticeable?"
"Not really."
Remus smiled, and Sirius grinned back.
"You're sure you don't want to bunk off?"
Remus hitched his satchel up over his left shoulder. "Positive. We need to return to class."
Sirius rolled his eyes, starting to say something then stopping. "Fine," he sighed. "If I must." But he tousled Remus's hair, and cheerfully followed along behind him.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus went to the owlery shortly after Transfiguration, mostly to see Arthur rather than sending the letter. Arthur hooted happily when he walked in, spreading his wings to fly down. Remus ordered him to stay where he was then hurried over, carefully picking him up. He looked really good. A lot healthier already! His eyes were bright, and he wasn't very droopy.
"Good boy, good boy," he murmured, nuzzling the snowy owl. Arthur nibbled happily on his nose. "It's good to see you too. I'm sorry I was gone for so long." He sat down on a bench, balancing Arthur in his lap. Peter was taking care of Cocoa, not bothered by Remus taking his time with Arthur.
The two cuddled for quite a long time until finally Remus put him back, promising to come up again in the evening. Arthur watched with annoyance when Remus attached the letter to Cocoa.
"I know you want to deliver this, but you can't yet," he said, carefully tying the string. "If you go out too soon you could hurt yourself."
Arthur hooted, settling back though still glaring.
"It's real good to have you back," Pete said as they left the tower. "I always miss you when you're gone."
"I miss you guys too."
They chattered as they made their way to the Gryffindor tower where they assumed the others were waiting, and Remus considered asking Peter about the word. Perhaps he'd say on his own. However he felt he might as well wait for Fawley's response. If Fawley didn't know then he'd try cornering Peter and needling him about it. Pete was awful at keeping secrets from the other Marauders, so it might work.
James and Sirius weren't around so Peter and Remus hung out until supper. After supper the four roamed the school which was when James brought up the possibility of trying to get behind the dragon painting again. Remus had been wondering how long it would be until it was mentioned!
"What about the fire?" Peter asked.
"We can duck or jump out of the way," James said, waving his hand lazily. "It'll be fine."
"James, you were se—very injured," Remus said, forgetting for a split second he had taken care of the fire issue and there was no need to convince them not to do it. In fact, he needed to encourage them. He wanted to know what was behind the painting! And if they didn't have any interest then he'd go by himself.
"You almost said seriously didn't you," Sirius asked with a smirk.
Remus pressed his lips thin. "Perhaps. But I didn't. In any case, I do think we should try again, we could try tomorrow after Defense?" All three of them stared at him in what seemed to be disbelief. "What?" he asked.
"Is that really you?" Pete asked suspiciously. "No speech about how we need to think about this before we go do it?"
"Aren't you going to lecture us about safety?" James asked, pushing his glasses up. "Suggest we research fireproof spells or something?"
"No trying to convince James not to do something stupid and dangerous?" Sirius asked, tilting his head to one side. "No offense, but do you maybe get a little confused after there's been four full moons in one go?"
Remus groaned, taking a step back. "All right, yes, we need to be cautious and safe. However, I think interacting with the dragon itself is what caused the problem. It's probably a spoken password. Or perhaps something to do with the frame? Like the painting on the sixth floor, where you need to press the four flowers in the corners of the frame to get past?"
"Touching the frame seems to be a bad idea," Peter said, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "It'll probably blast us. Maybe we should research fireproof spells."
"Er, well—we can't do it tomorrow afternoon anyway," Sirius said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've got detention at three-thirty for the whole Spinnet thing."
"Thursday night is a no-go cause of practice," sighed James.
"Friday then? Oh, you've got Study Group," Pete said, glancing at Remus.
Remus was about to say he could skip but James spoke first saying, "I've got detention after supper."
"For what?" Remus asked.
James shrugged. "I don't know. For being me? I've stopped asking the teachers why they give me detention. I could skip though—"
"No," Remus said firmly, and James made a face. "Saturday. That will give us plenty of time to explore if there are extensive passages behind it." He began to grow eager, all the anxiety over being called a poof (whatever that was) and the exhaustion from the moons slipping away as he thought about exploration. About maybe finding out some answers. What was behind the painting? A passage that led somewhere super secret? Another passage to Hogsmeade?
"You are weirdly looking forward to it," Peter noted.
"No, I—look, I am very curious about what's going on there," Remus pointed out. "Most likely we won't ever get answers—it's probably simply going to be a passage to another part of the castle... but the possibility of something is really exciting."
"Right, you're nerding out about this," Sirius said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Remus. "Never mind, it's definitely you then."
"I still think we should look up fireproofing spells," Peter said. "Remy, is this how you feel all the time suggesting research? It feels very weird."
"It is weird hearing you say it," Sirius laughed. "Maybe sometime we should pull a prank where we act like each other."
"That'd be great," snickered James. "Right, so Saturday we try the painting? If you want to research spells, that's fine. Ooh, maybe Sluggy's got some kind've fireproof potion? That's a thing, right? We could break into his storeroom and nick it."
Remus gave him a look. "Or we could simply try it? Breaking into the storeroom is too risky."
"We've done it before," James reminded him. "First year. We could do it again."
"Let's do it," said Sirius, clapping his hands once.
"You don't care about being safe, you just want to break in!" Remus accused.
James flung an arm across his shoulders. "Naturally!" he said, then recoiled. "Oh shoot, did I hurt you? I'm sorry, I forgot you were still healing up—"
"I'm all right," he said. "It's mostly my arm and some scratches on my legs, not my shoulders. How about a compromise? If we can't get past the painting Saturday, we can try stealing some potion. Or make it ourselves. Or I'll research fireproof spells."
Peter frowned at him. "How come you don't want to do the research first?"
This is ridiculous, what's with the inquisition and not everyone jumping on me not demanding we wait?! It wasn't that strange, was it? "Because I think we'll be all right if we don't physically touch the dragon," he said, tugging at the strap of his bag. "That's all. I've put a lot of thought into it. The dragon didn't seem concerned until we touched it."
"Saturday it is," James said before Peter could say anything else, though Pete was giving Remus some odd looks. "Hopefully we get past that ol' dragon!"
"I have a good feeling that we can do it," Remus said, excited as well.
"And if not… steal from Sluggy," added Sirius with a grin.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus skipped that night's Study Group. He really didn't feel like being around a lot of people (even if he liked most of them) so he spent the evening with James, since Pete had Photography Club and Sirius had detention. Once the Marauders were all reunited, they mostly just wandered around the school until curfew, then spent a long time in the common room. Remus didn't want to go to the dorms, and his friends seemed to understand this. Finally, though, they couldn't put it off any longer, and they trooped up the stairs.
Struthers was on his bed with a magazine, glancing up when they came in. "Lupin," he said, smiling. "I'm glad you're better."
"Th—thank you," he replied, trying not to look at Spinnet's bed, though as he crossed the room he noticed out of the corner of his eye that his curtains were closed. The curtains were still shut tight even after Remus came back from the bathroom, and were still shut by the time Remus went to bed. There wasn't even a goodnight to Struthers. When morning came Remus noticed Spinnet sat by himself, and Struthers sat with Lily.
Remus didn't want to inquire as to whether or not they were fighting, though he got his answer later in the day. After Defense, Remus was feeling really tired and went to go take a nap while Sirius was in detention, and James and Peter went off to probably cause trouble. After only about ten minutes of sleep, he was awoken by music playing. Really good music.
He yawned, pushing his curtains back to see Struthers flopped back on his bed, feet wriggling along to the song.
"Is—is th-that Elton J—John?" Remus asked.
"YAAARGH!" Struthers jerked, knocking his head against the headboard. "Bloody hell!"
"S-s-ss-sorry!"
He sat up, rubbing his head. "Ahh, I didn't realize you were in here. I thought you were with—oh gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."
"It's f-f—fine, I mostly just didn't want to go around the school…"
Struthers gave him a small smile. "Yeah, it's Elton. His newest record. My brother sent it to me the other morning! Here, I'll start the song over." He got out of bed and adjusted the needle to the song restarted.
I remember when rock was young, me and Suzie had so much, holding hands and skimming stones, had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own. But the biggest kick I ever got was doing a thing called the crocodile rock, while the other kids were rocking round the clock, we were hopping and bopping to the crocodile rock!
Remus tapped his toes to the music, enjoying the song. Struthers was bobbing his head along to the tune and when it was over the two exchanged grins.
"I didn't know you liked Muggle music," Struthers said, reaching over to pull the needle off.
Remus nodded. "Yeah, I—I'm—I'm half-and—and half."
Struthers gave an embarrassed laugh. "Oh right, I forgot about that. You like Elton?"
"Yes, very m-much. I mean, when I catch his s—songs on the radio. My mum isn't r-really into… rock music… so I d-d-don't get a chance to—to hear new songs very often. Especially s-since coming to school. Muggle songs, I—I mean."
Struthers's face broke into a huge grin then he opened his trunk, pulling out several albums. "Pick your poison."
Remus wound up sitting with Struthers on the floor as the two jumped from album to album, excited over songs they both really liked. Struthers had a really good collection and when Remus said he hadn't ever heard him play anything, Struthers admitted he never did when anyone else was around.
"Andy thinks Muggle music is kinda weird, and I figure Potter and Black wouldn't like it either," he confessed. "I'm still trying to figure out what's, you know… socially acceptable in the wizarding world when it comes to Muggle stuff."
"Th—they're into music s-s-so I think they'd like it," said Remus. "It's—it's really not that d-different, really. It's the same only without—without some of the references. Though I expected things like a Chevy would g-go over their head."
Struthers shrugged as he switched albums again. "That's what I thought but Andy—well, anyway, I'm glad you appreciate the music!"
"I d-definitely do. As I said, my mum… I think the—the Beatles and Elvis is pretty much th—the extent of her rock'n'roll." He was kneeling on the ground, examining some of the albums. "Is—is Spinnet… I know you haven't b-been sitting with him at—at meals…"
Struthers snorted. "I don't know. I'm guessing your friends told you what happened?" Remus nodded. "I'm not really happy with it. With him. He's mad at me for not automatically defending him. I might have told him he deserved being punched. I think… I think he knows he went overboard though, but he's too sulky to admit it."
Perhaps I should ask him what the word means, Remus thought, except if it was really bad that'd make things awkward and he was having too much fun to risk bringing the mood down. "I d-don't think I've ever heard of this—this group," he said, changing the subject before he risked asking.
Struthers took the record and as soon as the song started, Remus laughed.
"Never mind, I h-heard the—the beginning of this song and—and my mum went mental. She v-very quickly turned the radio to another st—station, since it was 'inappropriate'."
"Sounds like my auntie," Struthers snickered. "Rock music is the devil's music," he said in a high, nasally voice and a shake of his finger, which sent Remus into a fit of giggles which he tried to suppress since he didn't want to seem odd, but Struthers was laughing too.
Well you're dirty and sweet, clad in black don't look back and I love you. You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah. Well you're slim and you're weak, you've got the teeth of the hydra upon you. You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
It sounded amazing, and was exactly what Hope would screech about being unsuitable and disgusting. When Remus gushed about the song, Struthers gave him a strange look.
"You know I always pictured you as enjoying classical music. Beethoven and that sort of thing."
Remus sat cross-legged, hands on his knees. "Er, I mean I—I enjoy classical music. I really l-like Chopin especially. But I really l-like rock."
"I guess it's since you're so quiet and studious," Struthers said as he put a different song on. "You never play music around the dorm. Not that I've noticed."
"I'm n-not fussy… Whatever everyone else w-wants to listen to. Generally they listen to the—the sort of thing I like. And when it's not, I don't—I don't want to, ah, make a—a big deal. As long as it's not interrupting my concentration or st—studying then it's not a bother."
He didn't want to add that his mother's dislike of his musical tastes made him feel uncomfortable about talking about it around other people. Especially James and Sirius. Unfortunately, he kinda agreed with Struthers in that he was a little worried James and Sirius would think Muggle music was dumb, and judge Remus for it.
It felt strange to even be talking about it around Struthers, but he had been playing Elton John, and Elton John was probably one of the best artists that ever existed, in Remus's opinion. If it had been any other artist, Remus might have kept quiet. He was glad he didn't, though. It was rather nice talking about Muggle music. Perhaps he should be more vocal about it. Or introduce it to his friends. Peter probably knew a great deal. Lily did, he knew she loved the Beatles. He wondered about her opinion on some of the others though!
"You should play the music you like more," Struthers said, cutting into his thoughts.
"You should too," Remus retorted.
Struthers rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah, maybe. Anyway, your turn. You pick. Anything you like."
Remus gazed at the pile of albums and without hesitation reached for Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player. "More Elton?" he asked, a little afraid Struthers would say no.
Instead Struthers took the album. "Perfect," he agreed, and soon they were quietly bopping along to Crocodile Rock again.
Remus felt really good for the rest of Thursday. The other Marauders asked about his cheerful mood, and he simply said he had had a really good nap. He wasn't ready to tell them about the hour and a half spent with David listening to Muggle rock. After all that time rocking out together, they both sort of agreed it was silly to not use first names. David said he felt weird using last names all the time if one wasn't good friends, since that wasn't a thing at his Muggle school, and Remus said he wasn't really sure what was proper and what wasn't, and just went along with what everyone else did in order not to make some sort of social blunder.
By Friday at lunch, though, he did notice David and Spinnet were eating together so they apparently made up. Remus wasn't annoyed by it, nor did he blame David. It was awful fighting with a friend.
