Remus threw himself into his assignments, double, triple, quadruple checking everything he wrote down. Most of his free time was spent in the library with piles of books around him as he crammed for the pre-Easter exams. He also had the Easter prank to work on, which took up time too. Though, the most difficult part on his side of things was a conjuration spell. The others were working on the potion.
In order to make time, he stayed up late, practicing the spell in bed over and over until he passed out from exhaustion. It didn't take long for his friends to grow concerned over the fact the dark circles under his eyes were growing darker and that he started falling asleep during meals. Friday morning he began drifting off when James was reading the letter from his mother (informing them that Flossie and May were perfectly fine, and very determined to open again), and then did fall asleep during lunch.
"No, I'm—I'm fine," he murmured when Pete shook him awake. "I was just resting my eyes for a minute."
"How much sleep did you get last night?" Sirius asked.
Remus yawned. "Erm, enough. Stop glaring, I'm fine! Pete, you were saying something about—" He broke off into another yawn. "About your holidays?"
Peter gave him a suspicious stare. "Yes," he said slowly. "Um, my parents are thinking about going on holiday. Without me. So my options are stay here completely by myself since Spinnet and Struthers are leaving too or spend the Easter holidays with my Muggle relatives since that's where Grandpa is going. Or I could go to my other aunt's house—my mum's sister, magical—but Merlin I can't stand my cousin, he's such a prat. Between him and the Muggle cousins, I'd rather stay with the Muggles even though that's still not what I'd like."
James winced. "Oof."
"Yeah oof, it means no letters!" Pete wailed, his voice rising a bit. "I couldn't use Cocoa, couldn't even bring Cocoa, or get letters from you guys. I'd have to pretend to be Muggle!"
Some nearby Ravenclaws overheard this and one of them leaned over. "That shouldn't be difficult for a Squib like you!"
James jumped to his feet. "Say that again?"
The Ravenclaw glanced at James, then at Sirius who was also on his feet. "Nothing," he said, holding his hands up, a smirk on his lips. "Nothing at all." When he turned to walk away he tripped over nothing, almost smashing face-first into the table but managing to catch himself—barely. "You little—" He whirled around to yell at James except James didn't have his wand out. Neither did Sirius.
"We didn't do anything," Sirius said, folding his arms. "You're just clumsy."
The Ravenclaw scowled and stormed off with his friends, while Remus tucked his wand back into his pocket, hidden by the table.
"Man, perfect timing for that!" laughed James as he sat down.
Sirius grinned, flopping back into his seat. "Karma."
Peter was looking at Remus who scooped up some potatoes. "Karma," Remus agreed with a smile.
"Hmm." Peter kept watching Remus for a second then sighed, putting his head down on the table. "Two weeks without letters from you guys. Or—or else being all alone here. Or forced to be around Pratty McPratface. This sucks rotten plimpy eggs."
"Maybe you could come to Italy with me," James offered.
Peter perked up for a split second then frowned. "I couldn't do that. I mean, thanks for—"
"No, really. I mean, I'd love for all of you to come but I know Sirius and Remus can't, so maybe you can?"
"Thanks, really," Peter replied. "But I—I don't know."
James smiled. "Think about it, at least."
Remus figured Peter was still going to say no and when he asked him about it later in the afternoon, Peter nodded, saying he didn't want to be a tagalong for James's holiday.
"Maybe if we were all going," he said, "then I would. If it's just me going I'd feel kinda weird."
"I understand that," Remus said. "I'd feel the same. I am sorry you've got three awful choices though. I—I wish I could stay with you here. I really do."
Pete nudged him. "It's fine, we all get why you can't. I think I will go with Grandpa though. Pretending to be Muggle will suck but it beats being alone and being around my dumb cousin."
Remus wondered briefly who Peter's cousin was. Surely if he had a cousin in the school he'd have said something right? Or was it another one of those things where he just… didn't think about it? Like Sirius and James being related to people? Actually, Remus had no idea how much of a pureblood family Peter's maternal side of the family was!
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus was in the library fairly early, having eaten supper as quickly as he could in order to go spend more time studying. So he was already there when Aegis showed up with his cousin in tow. Remus had forgotten completely about him bringing her that night and felt a little uneasy at having to deal with a complete stranger when he was that tired.
"It's so good to finally meet you!" Pandora Silverlocke had long, floaty, pale blonde hair and enormous blue eyes. When she shook Remus's hand, the lightness in her touch almost felt unreal. Her voice was equally as soft. "Eej has spent so much time telling me about you, I feel as though I know you already!"
"It's—it—it—it's really nice to—to meet you t-to," Remus managed to say.
Pandora smiled, sitting down on Aegis's other side. "It makes me happy to know he has such a good friend," she said, tucking her skirt around her legs carefully. "I hear you're top in your year."
"I—uh—I don't—I don't know about that," he said with a nervous chuckle.
Aegis rolled his eyes. "He is," he said, grinning at Remus who ducked his head. "He is the one who came up with the spell I showed you."
"The one to make books lie open flat without hurting their spine?" Pandora gave him a surprised look. "You did that?"
"Er, ah—well, um, y—yes…"
"It's absolutely brilliant!" She clapped her hands. "I had a spell but it was as if I was holding the book open myself, and the spines would crack a bit. I don't mind my books to be well worn, however I'd like them to last a long time before doing repairing spells." She tilted her head, eyes scrutinizing him carefully. "Do you often come up with new spells?"
Remus hesitated, unsure what to say since most of his other spells were used for pranks. "Y—yes."
Pandora beamed at that. "Perfect! You see, there's another class—it's not really a class, it's more of a… hmm…" She tapped her chin in thought. "I'm going to say a bimonthly lesson though it isn't an elective. Anyway, it's called Magical Theory. It's a lesson to help teach and educate on everything you would need to know to develop your own spells." She leaned across Aegis, looking very happy. "I take it. It has been a marvelous help. I love developing my own spells, see, and I always had trouble until I took that last year. It's only for the third year, although in your sixth year there is another one called Advanced Magical Theory. Watch this!"
She tapped her left hand with her wand, saying a spell that sounded Gaelic in origin. Then she trailed her fingers across the table, leaving flowers in their wake.
"Oh that's beautiful," Remus gasped.
Pandora reached up, stroking Aegis's hair, leaving dainty flowers in them. "Isn't it?" she asked, then removed the spell from her hand. "Eej, stop," she giggled when Aegis began plucking the flowers out. She picked one of them up and flicked it at him. He laughed, flicking some back.
"You should take it," Aegis told Remus, and flicked a little flower at him. "It sounds like something that would benefit you greatly."
"I—I think it might too," he said, rather excited about the thought. "You said it—it's n-not an elective? I c-can simply t-take it without—without worrying about—about—without worrying about limiting my elective ch-choices?" Pandora listened without batting an eyelash despite his awful stammering.
"Yes," she said, tucking her wand behind her ear. "That's right. It has nothing to do with the electives. OH!" She jumped to her feet. "You must be… Kyra Pierce? And Florence Buckling?"
The other students began arriving and Pandora happily shook everyone's hands, greeting everyone with a cheerful smile. Even Craft and Twycross.
"So!" She sat back down, bouncing a little in her seat from excitement. "Electives. There are five electives you may choose from. Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies. I personally take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy myself. I suppose I should start with the ones I don't take, so at least I can end my speech on a seemingly intelligent note.
"Muggle Studies," she said, resting her hands on the table. "Just as it sounds. You'll learn about Muggles and their culture in that class. My friend takes it and she says it's very interesting. You'll learn everything from important events in Muggle history, to what sort of music they're listening to nowadays. You'll learn how Muggles make things, their hobbies, their entertainment—all of that. It is primarily focused on UK Muggles though you will learn about stuff from all over.
"Care of Magical Creatures." She sat back down, winding a strand of hair around a finger. "Again, on the package. It's a very hands-on sort of class where you learn about magical creatures and how to take care of them. Some creatures you'll learn about are more for… um… you know, simply learning. Like my friend said Professor Kettleburn once brought in a thunderbird from America, which isn't something you'd have as a pet. But it's fun to learn about that. It can be a bit dangerous sometimes though, from what I understand.
"Divination," she continued, "is where you'll learn how to use tools in order to see the future. Crystal balls, tea leaves, tarot cards… all sorts of things. Some students think it's a ridiculous class to take, and though personally I don't take it, it's as valid as any other branch of magic if you ask me. A lot of my friends take it since they see it as an easy class. I don't know, from what I can tell if you really are interested in actually learning then it's not that easy. Using divining tools can be difficult.
"Arithmancy!" She smiled, perking up. "Arithmancy is… the connection between numbers and magic. It's also connected with divination as well, as one can use numbers to possibly predict outcomes and events. There are those who feel that breaking things down into numbers can bring one closer to the true origin of magic. Using numbers to… enhance magic, even. Numbers have magical properties. If you reduce everything to numbers, you can unlock more power than simply using words. Or so some believe. I think there is some truth to that, honestly.
"Ancient Runes." Now she beamed. "My favorite! It is so interesting! You'll find runes used almost everywhere still, though it's not something everyone knows. Or understands. It isn't simply… an old language, as some believe. Don't get me wrong, that is a big part of it, but runes are more than simply words. They are, in a sense, full of magic themselves. You can put runes down as physical spells, though you do need your wand. You can enchant things using them." With that she pulled her bracelet off, flipping one of the little stones around to reveal a rune. "This bracelet is inscribed with runes that helps keep me focused." She slipped it back on. "I had to get permission from all my teachers, of course, to use it in class, and I do have to take it off for tests. It's nice to have though.
"Now!" She dropped her hands onto the table, a little loudly causing everyone to jump. "Any questions?"
They all had questions. Remus had loads of questions, his head was buzzing, and his heart was pounding, and he knew he had to take everything. Everything! They had to! He couldn't choose! He supposed if he had to choose, he wouldn't take Muggle Studies or Care of Magical Creatures… except those were the two the other Marauders wanted to take. Besides, he did want to take them anyway. Just, maybe a smidge less than the others. He still wanted them though! He wanted all of them! McGonagall would agree, wouldn't she? His grades might convince her even if his trouble-making friends and the fact he could never be Prefect or do anything impressive after school spoke against him, right?
Right?
He was so caught up in his thoughts he barely heard the questions his study mates were asking. Then his hand rose because he finally settled on an important question.
"Wh-what sort of—of runes d-do you st—study? I—I mean, is it—is it G—Germanic/Old English or—or do you study others like C—Celtic and—Egyptian?"
"Mostly Old English," she said regrettably. "We are learning some Celtic, as it is connected to our land; Gaelic, Breton, Irish, and Welsh. I believe possibly some Greek and Roman. Unfortunately, it's centered on Old English runes since those are the runes our country's society has mainly used since before Hogwarts was founded."
Remus mulled over that as the others peppered her with questions. It didn't surprise him, and he supposed it would be like learning multiple languages in one class if they taught several various runic languages. At least they would be learning various Celtic runes including Welsh; he was very excited about that. The book on Celtic runes he had gotten was obviously for people who had more advanced knowledge of runic work. Not all of it was within his understanding. Not yet.
When Craft asked which were the most difficult classes, Remus glanced back up. Pandora said it depended.
"If you don't have a good grasp with numbers, Arithmancy will be your most difficult," she explained. "If you aren't good at… learning about other cultures, Muggle Studies might not be so easy."
Twycross pursed her lips. "Yes, but which one is the best?"
Pandora tipped her head to one side. "They're all good in their own ways. It really depends on where you'd like to go in life. And remember, you can always drop an elective and pick another one up before your fifth year."
"I heard Muggle Studies and Divination are the easy classes," Buckling said.
"From what I've heard they are the easiest ones to… get through. If you want good grades you'll need to put in the work but…" She folded her arms on the table and leaned forward. "You can make some things up for Divination, and only do some basic studying for Muggle Studies and you'll get an A without any trouble. My dormmate chose those classes for that very reason; she has done hardly anything, and has an A in both." Pandora shrugged. "She's happy."
"I'm going for all the classes," Craft said.
"You can take all of them?" Bones asked, surprised.
"Yes, if your Head of House agrees," Craft said, smirking. "Professor Flitwick will definitely agree that I can take all of them. I am top student."
"Of Ravenclaw," Pierce said, and Craft glowered at her. "What?"
"Why did you have to say it like that?" Craft demanded.
Pierce smiled. "Because Lupin is the top in our year and the way you said it you insinuated that you were?"
Craft looked furious, while Remus slid down in his seat a little. Pierce looked pleased with herself for having irritated Craft, and Pandora seemed vaguely amused by the whole thing.
"I did no such thing," Craft finally said, giving a sniffle of disapproval. "I said—oh, it doesn't matter, you won't listen anyway."
Pandora cleared her throat. "Any other questions?"
"What are the teachers like?" Lily asked.
"Well, we have Professor Quirke who teaches Ancient Runes. She is a little… loopy." At that word, Remus flinched. Aegis and Lily glanced at him, neither saying anything. Pandora continued talking. "She says she's connected to runes. She's a good teacher but tends to ramble a lot, and takes time getting to the point. She is retiring soon. I think next year may be her final year? There is Professor Codde, her current assistant who will take over. She's very demanding... You must be very precise when writing the runes for her. Though, that is good since, well, a wobbly line might mess up the rune's magic. She is also particular about the translations. Professor Talkalot teaches Arithmancy."
Remus remembered his only run-in with Talkalot, when Malfoy's hair had been dyed.
"Contrary to his name, no, he doesn't talk a lot," she giggled. "He likes lecturing and is very patient when you need help with numbers. He's one of my favorite teachers. Let's see. Lewis teaches Muggle Studies. I've been told she's a lot of fun and really enjoys her job. She's really into music especially. Um… Professor Hawkwood teaches Divination. He's really into the more… hmm, not sure how to put it… I think my friend said it's like he wants to apply strict logic with Divination?" She spread her hands out. "Don't ask me how that works. Oh! Like, the physical aspect of divination I guess? He always says to use your mind as much as your instinct though instinct is important, but getting 'too carried away' with visions and what you see takes away from Divination in his opinion. Anyway, Professor Kettleburn teaches Magical Creatures. He is wild, dangerous, and, from what I can tell from his injuries, doesn't have as much concern about safety as he should. Anyway, he's very well-liked, and no student has died."
Yeah, definitely James and Sirius's class, Remus thought.
More questions were asked, nothing that really interested Remus, and he went back to thinking—hoping—about the possibility of taking all of them. If Craft could, he surely could, right?
Study Club broke up early that night, and Pandora went out of the library with Aegis, Lily, and Remus. Pandora talked with Lily for quite a while about Arithmancy, while Aegis kept acting like he wanted to say something to Remus. Finally Remus asked if everything was all right, and Aegis jumped a little.
"Yes," he said, pulling a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "Here."
Remus unfolded the parchment to reveal a spell. Cariabsenium – Healer spell, blocks smells.
Remus jerked his chin up, eyes wide. Aegis was smiling rather shyly. "I—I've been looking for this for ages! How d-did you find it?!"
"My aunt," he replied. "My—my other aunt, not Pandora's mother. I suppose technically not my aunt. Pandora's aunt. My aunt's sister. Er, anyway she worked at Saint Mungo's for a while and was very friendly with one of the wizards who worked in the morgue. I thought perhaps she may know, or know someone who knows, and she sent me that. I couldn't get it quite right when I tested it. You are better at spells than I am, though, so I hope it works for you."
Remus got a sudden urge to hug Aegis. He wanted to hug him, but that was probably way over the line. "Thank you," he whispered, clutching the parchment. "Thank you so much. I can't begin—can't even begin to thank you."
"No, it is fine," he replied. "I am glad to have found it. I hope it helps."
Remus carefully folded the parchment up, tucking it into his pocket. "I'll be right back."
He went back into the library and began trying to look up the spell. It took several tries until he finally found the spell in a very hefty medical tome. By his guess of how long it was taking him to get through the medical books, he would have come across it sometime in June, perhaps not till September. Aegis had really saved him a lot of time.
Lily and Pandora were still talking when Remus came back out of the library, and probably would have kept on talking if Remus hadn't reminded Lily they were supposed to be helping Mary Macdonald with preparing for the exams. They said goodbye to the two Silverlockes and headed to the Gryffindor tower, Lily extremely bouncy as she walked, talking a mile a minute about the classes. She was definitely taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and wanted to know what Remus was thinking. He admitted he wasn't sure though he was very interested in Study of Ancient Runes.
"Good." She linked her arm with his. "I was hoping to have at least one elective with you!"
Maybe both, he thought. His mind stayed on all the electives while they worked with Macdonald, though he did his best to help drill history facts into her head. While he did that he briefly thought of Regulus, having initially wanted help with History then changing his mind last minute. He hoped the younger Black would do all right. Perhaps he found a Slytherin tutor? He wished he could ask Sirius, though knew that would cause difficulties, so he wouldn't.
Fingers snapped in front of his face and he jumped, blinking rapidly at Macdonald. "I can tell you're not all here," she said, giving him a rather amused look. "You don't need to stay."
"No, n—no, it's f-fine," he stammered. "What y-year was the Gargoyle Strike?"
Macdonald rested her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes. "Y'know, it's so bloody strange, thinking gargoyles are real. It's downright spooky."
"Nnnn-not all gargoyles are s-s-sentient," he explained, tapping the page in her history book. "When, and wh—where was the st-strike?"
Macdonald sighed, folding her arms on the table and flopping her head down. "This is boring. Who cares?"
"Binns does," Lily said, garnering a giggle from Macdonald. "Your test results will."
Macdonald threw herself backwards, sulking. "I'll be fine with History, it's—I'm fine with an A. OH!" She suddenly sat straight up, staring past Remus. "Hi!"
Someone slapped their hands down on Remus's shoulders, causing him to jump. He knew before the other person spoke that it was Sirius, as his familiar scent washed over Remus.
"Heya, we need to borrow Remy for a bit," he said, patting Remus.
"I—I'm helping Miss—Miss Macdonald," Remus said.
"When was the Gargoyle Strike?" Macdonald asked, looking up at Sirius in the same way most the girls seemed to be looking at him these days.
Sirius bent down, his head resting on Remus's shoulder. "Hmm? Gargoyle Strike? I dunno."
"Sirius, we learned it a year ago," Remus moaned.
Sirius turned his head to look at him, his face right there, right by Remus's face. Too close. Far too close. When he spoke, his warm breath rolled across Remus's ear which sent very uncomfortable (and tingly) feelings through his body. "Did we? I seem to have forgotten. Anyway, we need you for important business."
"If you an—answer the q-q-question I'll go with you," Remus said.
"1911," Sirius replied without hesitation.
Remus pulled away, glaring. "You knew, you little rat, you just—ooh!"
Macdonald giggled. "1911, right. I remember now."
Sirius straightened up, winking at Macdonald (which made her go bright red) before grabbing Remus's jumper. "A deal's a deal. C'mon, Brains."
Remus barely had time to grab his stuff and send an apology Macdonald's way before Sirius was hauling him up to the dorms. "What in Merlin's name is the big emergency?!"
In the dorm there was a good inch of mud all over the floor. Sirius half-shoved Remus inside before following, and Remus stumbled, lifting his feet out of the mud and looking around till he saw James and Peter sitting on James's bed.
"Might've had an accident," James said with a sheepish grin.
"Wh—what did you do?! Besides alter your fountain of slime spell into a fountain of mud!"
Sirius nudged him. "It isn't a fountain of mud. There's no gushing. It's just… oozing."
"We wanted to transfigure something into mud," Peter explained. "For the sixth year Slytherins! But, um, well. Yeaahh. It—it didn't go so well."
"We didn't want to get a teacher, since that means they'll know it's us if we do it to the Slytherins," James said then tapped the side of his head. "See? We're smart."
Remus looked down at the mud squishing around his trainers. Thankfully the waterproofing spell he had used seemed to be working and it wasn't seeping in. "Sirius, lift your feet." He quickly waterproofed Sirius's shoes and did the same to James and Peter so they could help him. He had Sirius and Peter filling buckets of mud to take into the bathroom to dispose of while James tried to show him the source of the issue.
"It was a bowl of water," James explained when Remus tried to see what was under the mud. "I tried to transfigure the water to mud but uhhh, oops."
"It's difficult transfiguring water into anything, unless it is part of a greater whole—such as blood in an animal's body, or juice in an apple—or when it's in its solid state of matter," he sighed. "We won't be able to do that until later."
"Solid what?"
"State of matter. When it is ice. It is easier to transfigure solids than it is the other states of matter—liquid and gas."
James rubbed his chin, nodding. "Gotcha. We turn the water to ice then transfigure the ice into mud. Hey, Sirius, we got a solution—"
"No, we don't," Remus said, shaking his head. "Let's get this fixed before we do anything else."
It took him a good twenty minutes to get the bowl to stop oozing mud. By the time he managed, he had stripped off his robes and jumper, and was soaked in sweat, about ready to pass out. His vision was rather blurry from all the advanced magic he was trying to do plus the fact he had been getting very little sleep. But there was more work to do: cleaning. James wanted to summon the house-elves to help which Remus argued against.
"You made the mess, you clean it up," he said, scooping up a large handful of mud and dumping it into a bucket.
"You're helping even though you didn't make it," James pointed out, leaving a streak of mud across his face when he tried to adjust his glasses. "Aw, shit."
"Because I'm your friend."
Peter groaned, a hand on his back as he leaned way back. "This hurts! Can't we get a shovel or something?"
"Locomotor mud!" Sirius said, flicking his wand. To his credit, the mud did move.
However it moved right onto James instead of the bucket by his feet.
He staggered back, looking at the splatter of mud all over his uniform. "Sirius!"
"Whooops!" Sirius giggled.
"Locomotor mud!" James snapped, sending mud onto Sirius.
"No!" Remus cried out. "Guys, come on, let's—"
Mud was flying everywhere. Peter squeaked and jumped back, slipping and falling splat right into the mud. Remus wobbled his way over to help him up, ducking under the sprays of mud the other two were sending. It was getting all over the beds, the furniture, the walls… it looked exactly like the prank Sirius wanted to do, only it was in their dorm instead of the Slytherins!
And all over James and Sirius. They were coated.
"You know, any minute Spinnet will be here and he is going to go to a prefect or McGonagall and that will be that," Remus said when they paused for a moment.
Both looked at him.
"Bloody hell, you're right," sighed Sirius, wiping some mud from his face.
"How are we supposed to clean this?!" Peter demanded, looking at the mess.
Remus rolled his sleeves up. "Persistence, and a spell we won't learn for a couple years. Scourgify!"
He had never attempted the spell before. It was one they wouldn't be learning till most likely their fourth year, and he hadn't had any need up till now to learn it properly. In hindsight, learning the cleaning spell was probably something he should have been working on as friends to James and Sirius.
"Scourgify! You lot keep mucking the mud out, please. Scourgify!" He kept trying until his wand produced clean swathes of the wall with each wand movement. To someone who could use it properly it should clean large sections at one time but at least this was something,
He worked on the furniture while the others hauled as much mud out as they could. They eventually returned with buckets full of water and dumped them on the floor. They had mops, as James had summoned some house-elves to at least give them those.
"I hope that's all right," he said as he began mopping up.
"That—that's fine, yes."
Remus kept working on the furniture, ignoring the fact his head was pounding and his vision was getting blurry until a stab of pain shot through his head. He paused, pinching the bridge of his nose. Sirius asked if he was all right and he nodded, sucking in some air to prepare to use the spell again. He raised his wand, aiming at one of the wardrobes. Instead of the spell he let out a moan as he swayed, then everything went black.
