"I need your help"
For the second time that term, the Gryffindor common room was emptied of all students, save the infamous Marauders. Now it was Remus' turn to call for a meeting, something he had never done before.
Sirius wanted to be proud of Remus asking his friends for help, but he was too busy worrying about how desperate Remus must be feeling to have taken such an action. It was always them begging Remus for the opportunity to help him, Remus denying he needed help. For him to just come out and say it… A slight shiver went through Sirius, because he knew what Remus wanted help with, and he knew how important it was.
"Of course, mate! How can we help?" Peter spoke up first, always jumping at the opportunity to be useful.
Sirius sat silently as Remus told the others what he had shared with him the night of Halloween — the meeting with Dumbledore, Greyback's last known attack, Remus' father's account of the night.
Sirius had suggested that Remus immediately write to his father and demand the truth, but Remus countered that he wouldn't change his story now, not unless they came to him with proof.
"In conclusion," Remus said, because of course he presented the problem like it was a potions essay, "I am 90% sure that Fenrir Greyback was the werewolf that bit me as a child, and I need to find proof. Ideas?"
Silence. Shocked looks. Was that pity on James' face?
"Do you think if you asked Dumbledore he'd tell you the truth?" Sirius asks, even though he knows the answer. Anything to cut through the silence.
"I tried already. He said it was 'not his place' to question what my father told me." Remus didn't bother hiding the bitterness in his voice.
"He might as well have spelled it out for you then. It's obvious that he's hiding something," James pitched in.
"But I need proof. I need to know what happened to me…why it happened. I spent my whole life pitying this fictional werewolf, and now I need to know for sure," Remus' voice was low and urgent, and something in it made Sirius' heart constrict painfully.
James took a moment to take off his glasses and wipe them on the hem of his robe.
"I could try owling dad's secretary and say that Dumbledore requested I get as much information as possible about this Greyback guy. You know, Hogwarts security and all that," James said, sounding pleased with himself at the idea.
"I couldn't possibly ask you to…" Remus had started saying, but Sirius cut across him.
"An excellent idea, mate, but won't your dad think it's odd that Dumbledore would send you to do this?"
"I doubt ol' Harold would think twice, if he even hears about it. His secretary wouldn't forward such a menial task to him, and isn't bright enough to think it's an odd request. Poor guy's a bit of an idiot, actually." James rolled his eyes, and Peter started guffawing.
Remus was silent for a moment, and the rest of the Marauders followed suit, knowing he needs his time.
"Thank you, James. Sounds like a plan," he said, shoulders deflating.
They spent the rest of the meeting crafting the letter that James would send to his father's secretary, and Remus looked almost cautiously happy.
Sirius wasn't feeling optimistic. Sirius was thinking about what it would mean for Remus if Greyback, the very epitome of a monster, had been the werewolf that bit Remus.
Peter was sore, and tired.
Having set fire to a first year's potions homework, he was serving on his third consecutive night of detention, and three hours re-potting plants with Sprout had taken a toll on his arms.
He was just debating whether or not he was too tired to stop at the kitchens, when he heard his name being called from the other side of the hall.
"Hey, Si.." He started, thinking it was Sirius calling to him. It sounded like Sirius' voice and even looked like him, but as the boy inched closer, he saw it was Regulus.
"What do you want?" Peter spat out, trying to sound both unconcerned and angry, like Sirius did when he saw his brother. Instead, his voice came out in an embarrassing squeak.
Regulus was the clean shaven, shirt-always-tucked-in version of Sirius, with some boyish features still on his face. He was, after all, a few years younger than the Marauders. Peter always secretly admired how much respect Regulus commanded from students older than him, despite his age and small stature.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Pettigrew. I was actually looking for you…or are we not allowed to even talk just because you're friends with my brother?"
Peter looked behind his own shoulder, and then further down the hall. They were alone. Why did Regulus want to talk to him? No one was ever looking for Peter. Well, sometimes they were, to ask him where James or Sirius was. That made sense.
"Why were you looking for me?"
"I see how brilliant you are at Care of Magical Creatures. I need some serious help with my Bowtruckle feeding chart. It's a bit late now, but do you have time tomorrow to lend a hand?" Regulus sounded hopeful, which only added to the strangeness for Peter.
No one had ever said he was brilliant at something.
But what would Sirius say if he knew Peter was helping his brother, Marauders' Sworn Enemy #2?
Sirius had never said he was brilliant, so why should he care?
"Sure," he said, this time adopting a James unconcerned voice, "let's meet at on the grounds after dinner?" A small smile started blossoming in Peter's chest. Peter Pettigrew, brilliant and sought after by much cooler students.
Regulus nodded at him, and turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Peter called after him, not really knowing what he was doing
"Have you ever been down to the kitchens before?"
Peter liked to think that the house elves liked him the best out of his friends — after all, he spent the most time down here, and the little elves loved to provide him with everything he needed, and a few things he didn't need.
Regulus had seemed suitably impressed when Peter showed him the trick to the kitchen door. He had never had the opportunity to show off all the secrets of the castle he knew. It was always Remus or James, and sometimes Sirius, discovering new tricks, and Peter having to catch up. Now he was showing Regulus Black something completely new.
"You know, the other Slytherins really underestimate you," Regulus said, between dainty bites of a scone. He ate so unlike Sirius, that despite their similar looks, Peter was having a harder and harder time associating the two boys.
Peter's face fell a bit. Everyone underestimated him.
"But I told Snape, Peter's one of the smartest and most devious Gryffindors," Regulus continued, taking a sip of warm cider.
"Oh come off it, you don't really think that? I mean Remus is brilliant, and James and Sirius are pranking legends!" Peter couldn't believe what Regulus was saying. Was this some way for him to get back at his brother, by befriending Peter?
"Oh sure, bookish smarts and stupid schoolboy pranks. But you're about so much more, aren't you, Peter? I mean, you have the smarts to align yourself with powerful people, discover all sorts of cool things in the castle, and you can wrangle any beast. Not too shabby, if you ask me" Regulus had put down his scone now, and was watching Peter intently.
Peter felt his face go hot, and stammered over his next words.
"I, I, most of that is my friends, ya know? I'm just, I'm just Peter." He hated the way he sounded, like a squeaking mouse.
"Alright, if you insist. I better be off anyway. Thanks for showing me the kitchen, and I'll see you tomorrow." Regulus said easily, getting up from the table.
"You know," he said, turning back, "your friends seriously underestimate you."
Before he could open his mouth to reflexively argue, another thought burrowed itself into Peter's brain. They really do.
Remus and Sirius were in the dormitory, pouring over the materials that James' father's office sent to them. James was at Quidditch practice, and Peter was off somewhere, but Remus didn't want to wait.
They had to wade through various newspaper clippings and Ministry reports to find what they needed. Although Remus was only interested in one bit of information, he couldn't help but read through the medical records provided to them.
Fenrir Greyback had been one of the last werewolves held at the underground experimental facility at the Ministry, before the practice was outlawed. Greyback had been imprisoned in the facility since he was 6 years old, until the age of 17. Remus read with horror as the documents outlined the experiments, nay, torture, that was inflicted on Greyback.
Gradual silver exposure. Burning. Forced starvation. Avada Kedavra. They were throwing at the child everything that they knew couldn't kill a werewolf, and testing how much exposure to silver and fire would finally kill one.
"Remus, what is it?" Sirius asked, feeling the other boy squeeze his hand harder, and harder. He looked at Remus and was shocked to see the pale look on his face.
"It's… not relevant. I can't…" Remus swallowed once, twice, and suddenly shot up and ran to the bathroom.
Sirius could hear him gagging.
Sirius picked up the folder Remus had been reading from, and skimmed it over.
He felt ashamed that he was unable to continue reading it.
Sirius summoned some water, and waited for Remus to emerge.
He couldn't fathom words of comfort existing in a world where such things were done to children, so when Remus came back into the room, Sirius pulled him into a hug.
And Remus wept. He took all that he was feeling and for once let it out, his sobs morphing into sounds of anger, fists balled up at his side.
When he settled down, they both resumed their positions. Without words, Sirius picked up the next folder, determined to shield Remus from whatever would come next.
Remus wasn't able to stop thinking about a small Fenrir, taken from his family, faced to endure torture for years.
There hadn't been any pictures in the reports, but Remus' mind easily filled in the gaps. He sat there, as Sirius pored through the documents, and in his mind it was sometimes Greyback in that child-sized cage in the Ministry, and sometimes it was Remus himself.
"I got it!" Sirius said, unable to hold back his excitement.
Remus shook his head, and willed the images away, giving his attention to the piece of paper that Sirius handed him.
Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
Beast Division
After action memo: Werewolf attack
March 15th, 1965
CLASSIFIED
At 20:30 this evening, Fenrir Greyback was seen at the home of Lyall Lupin, Ministry researcher. The werewolf attacked Lupin's son, Remus Lupin, infecting him with lycanthropy. Lupin Jr was taken to St. Mungo's. Attack is seen as retaliation for Lupin's research condemning werewolves.
The memo was short, and had clearly undergone de-classification spells. James had warned them that many of the files had been classified, but using Dumbledore's name granted him special access.
And here, finally, was the truth.
The werewolf that had bitten Remus, cursed him for life, had not been a poor soul who was unable to help himself — it had been a calculated attack.
Calculated because Remus' own father had been contributing anti-werewolf research.
The image flashed into Remus' mind again — a scared child, thin and covered in burns, alone in a silver cage.
For a brief, twisted moment, Remus couldn't blame Greyback.