Chapter 20

Bribery

The week that followed didn't hold as much excitement for the Marauders as that week did. They worked on their map, and discovered an even greater dislike for ht Slytherins, who never seemed to be able to pass them without throwing some hex at them. Poor Peter seemed to be the main victim of these attacks. Luckily Sirius knew the counter cursed for most of them.

A full moon came and went. Remus' transformations in the Shreaking Shack weren't as bad as they were at his home. Still bad, but not as bad. Sirius also stopped bugging Remus about his illness when he gained some of his color back.

They were doing well in all their classes. James and Sirius were extraordinary students, and they hardly tried at all. Sirius was still having problems with transfig, but James was excellent at it. He quickly hired himself as Sirius' tutor in the class. James was good at everything; He never had trouble with any of it. Remus was also very bright. He had to try harder and he still wasn't that good in potions, but he always got good grades. Peter was getting by well enough as well. With three excellent students as his best friends he was pretty much guaranteed a good grade.

James and Sirius were a little worried about History of Magic. Even in the rare occurrence that they tried to pay attention they didn't learn anything. They didn't start worrying about it until Remus mentioned it to them.

"You don't even care if you pass do you." Remus sat on his bed reading as usual. They had no idea what had even brought the subject up. It wasn't like Remus to be random.

"Of course we do, but it is impossible to pay attention to that dumb teacher." James said, referring to Professor Binns.

"James is right, and I actually like history." Sirius complained his favorite subject was being mutilated by the man. "It would be different if the teacher actually cared about the subject, or you know noticed if someone barged into the room in the middle of class. I don't even think Professor Binns would notice if he died."

Remus sighed. "Somehow I doubt that Sirius." Sirius just shook his head.

"How do you do it? How can you possibly stay awake long enough to take notes?"

"I take them straight from them book." Remus answered. James got back in the conversation.

"You have notes! Can I see them?" James looked ready to beg.

"No take your own."

"Please!" James was officially begging.

"No."

"Would you do it if we bribed you?" Sirius asked. Remus thought about it.

"No." James huffed and flopped on his bed. Sirius refused to give up.

"Not for anything? No books you want desperately or anything like that?"

"Not really, I'm fine with the ones I have." Remus looked back to his book, realizing that he had just told Sirius that he could be bribed. He smirked to himself; maybe he could get something good out of this.

"Hmm, what about…" He bent down and started looking through his stuff; he was looking for anything Remus might want. Remus peeked out from behind the book. Sirius caught him looking.

"Your wanting something specific aren't you?" Remus chuckled and nodded.

"What?" Remus just shook his head, he still wasn't sure if it would be worth it. "Give me a hint." Remus thought about this for a second. He decided to go for it.

"It's brown." Sirius couldn't figure it out. So Remus helped him again. "Food, or candy really" Sirius smiled, knowing what Remus wanted now. He grabbed it and threw it lightly to Remus' bed. Remus caught it easily and smiled into his book. "The notes are in my book on the desk." He said. James looked at Sirius with wide eyes.

"What did you give him?" Sirius smirked.

"A chocolate bar." James' jaw dropped open.

"You're kidding." Sirius laughed and shook his head, pulling out Remus' notes.

"Who knew Remmy was a chocoholic."

"You're going to have to copy them later Sirius, we need to head for potions." Remus said and stood. They grabbed their potions books and headed for the dungeons.

It was actually a very good class for all of them. Remus got his potion right without help from Sirius or James, which was a first. James unfortunately decided to 'help' Snape a little though. He and Sirius began laughing when Snape's potion blew up in his face. Remus moaned and half hid when Snape glared at them. They couldn't figure out how he knew it was them.

"What did you do to his potion?" Remus asked quietly when class was over. He didn't wait until they got out of the room. James laughed.

"I added a few newts' eyes." Remus was about to scold him for this when Slughorn noticed they were still there.

"Ah boys, I've been meaning to talk to you." All four of them turned to him.

"About what Professor?" Remus was the first to speak. He was almost positive it was about James' trick on Snape.

"Mr. Remus Lupin. Am I correct?" Remus nodded, he knew the teacher knew his name. So what then was going on? "Are you by chance related to a Mr. Lyall Lupin?"

"My father." Remus answered. Slughorn nodded.

"Good man, Lyall. I had him when he was your age. He was in Ravenclaw I believe." Remus nodded wondering what this was about. "Ah, yes. He was a good man. Been very active in protecting the wizarding population from dark creatures, especially werewolves." Remus' jaw tightened. "He was the one who got the law passed that they couldn't live within a hundred yards of a large city or town. I remember now. Didn't he believe that we should just kill them once they're bitten?" Remus had forgotten that only Dumbledore and McGonagall knew about his condition.

"Not anymore." He could barely answer.

"Pity." Remus felt the strange urge to lunge at the man's throat. Thankfully Sirius' yell distracted him.

"Pity! What do you mean pity! That's sick! How can anyone actually think that!"

Slughorn smiled like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Please don't think I am prejudice. I was merely stating that with the amount of pain they go though, they might be better off dead." It was pretty clear that no one believed him.

"Did you want us for something Professor?" James said harshly. He was struggling to stay polite. Slughorn thought for a moment and seemed to decide not to say why he had held them back. There was no chance they would come to his little get-together while they were so angry.

"No I suppose not, you may go ahead." They left quickly. Sirius felt the need to hex the nearest Slytherin out of anger.

"Merlin, what is wrong with him? Killing people for no reason! I just want too…" Sirius made a violent gesture in the air. This made Remus feel good. He was glad Sirius still thought of werewolves as people. He had been the one Remus had been worried about the most, what with his background and all.

"You'd be surprised how many people feel that way, Sirius." James said with a hard look in his eyes. "Some people are willing to kill anything that is different than us, werewolves, muggles, house-elves, anything to keep everyone the same. It isn't that much different than your family's hatred for muggleborns." Sirius stopped walking, he seemed lost in thought.

"But we don't want any of them dead." James looked back at him in surprise. This was the first time he had ever heard Sirius attempt to defend his family.

"You could have fooled me." Sirius looked at him. He seemed desperate to prove it, but he couldn't, because he knew it wasn't true. He sighed and sat down on the floor.

"Sirius." Remus knelt beside him.

"I'm sorry. This is all still kinda new to me, you know." He looked at the ground. "Two months ago I might have argued on Slughorn's side." Remus' winced; he hadn't wanted to hear that.

"We understand, Sirius." James said also kneeling beside him. Peter did also, mostly for looks though.

"Thanks James." Sirius smiled at him though it didn't reach his eyes. They stayed there for a while, James and Remus attempting to encourage Sirius. They knew how hard this was for him, but they also knew it would only get harder and that he would need them, even if he didn't realize it himself.

A/N) Hi again. Sorry for taking so long to update. Can anyone guess what Slughorn wanted? ^_^

Review! Please! I'm starting to feel kinda lonely.

Edit (8/5/2013) Edited Mr. Lupin's name due to recent cannon information.