Chapter 113

Vow of Silence

"What on Earth is that smell?" Remus asked wrinkling his over-sensitive nose the moment they entered the room. It wasn't a horrible smell per-say but it wasn't exactly one that he enjoyed clogging up the air.

"Don't ask," Sirius replied he looked like he was going to be sick.

"You know what... you're absolutely right. I don't even want to know." Remus shook his head, laughing at his friends under his breath. James plopped a bag in front of him that smelled wonderful, "and suddenly I don't smell anything weird at all."

It was James' turn to chuckle. "It's not a bribe, we just thought you needed some cheering up. That's all."

Remus went slightly pink at their consideration. "Thanks," he mumbled.

The night was quieter than usual, which worried Remus a little. James and Peter went to bed early, and though Peter showers at night rather than the morning he still had that odd smell about him after he returned. Remus tried to ignore his curiosity, he really did, but his friends didn't often come back smelling like they'd been dragged through a pile of manure.

He refused to ask though if they didn't want to explain than it really was none of his business. It was especially difficult after Peter and James climbed into bed and shut their curtains and it was just Remus and Sirius. Sirius stayed up late to finish up his Transfiguration essay (Transfig was the only class Sirius would do this for) and they chatted a bit as he finished.

"Thanks," Sirius said suddenly, not looking up from his parchment.

"Hmm? For what?" Remus turned to him from where he'd been stowing his new acquisition into his chocolate stash under his bed.

"I dunno, not asking questions I guess." Sirius paused, still not looking up.

"I told you, I don't want to know." Remus returned his box of brown (and a little bit of white but that wasn't really even chocolate) heaven to where it belongs.

"Not just this time. I know you know we've been hiding things." Sirius closed the textbook, but whether he was finished or distracted Remus didn't know.

"What you lot do when I'm not around has nothing to do with me," Remus explained returning to the top of his bed and looking back at Sirius.

Sirius finally looked at him. "Exactly," but his words only confused Remus more, clearly Sirius could see that as he continued. "The thing is, the three of us would get in enough trouble ourselves. But you... We just don't want to get you involved if the whole thing blows up in our faces, that's all."

Remus felt a huge sense of relief. They were hiding things to protect him, of course they were, he felt like a twit for even considering that they didn't like him.

"Is that what you were so busy doing over the summer... this thing that'll get you in trouble?"

"Could... could get us into trouble. We might manage to get by." Sirius put his book and parchment on his bedside table and climbed under his covers.

"You're... not going to hurt anyone, right?" Remus asked quietly, half hoping Sirius wouldn't hear him.

"Of course not, Moony." Sirius sounded offended. "Why would we do something like that?"

Remus didn't answer and before long Sirius' breathing became as even as the others.

The odd silence between the Marauders continued the next morning, excluding a fight between Sirius and James over who actually owned a shirt that: 1: neither of them was even going to wear that day, 2: all four of them had worn at some point, 3: and Remus was pretty sure was Peter's to begin with. He didn't say any of this out loud, of course, because the noise was welcome over the creepy silence.

Transfiguration was worse. Not only did they sit in the very back row, something they never did, but all three of them flat out refused to speak. McGonagall asked James for an answer and he responded by writing the answer in the air with magic. She was torn between taking points away for his cheek and adding them for his clever use of magic. Remus managed to avoid getting points taken by informing her that they lost a bet and weren't allowed to speak for the entire day. Sirius practically hugged him for that right there in class (the real hug came after, with a "You rock, Moony," thrown in for good measure.)

Remus had hoped it would just be the one day, but it wasn't. After classes, they got the idea that he should dare them to go the whole month without talking (or at least tell the teachers that.) They weren't so quiet when it was just the four of them, but anytime there were others around Remus had to talk for them.

Which, surprisingly, wasn't that hard. He hadn't realized how well he could interpret their words just by looking at them before he actually had too. It was interesting to know exactly what Sirius wanted to yell at the first year just by the way his eyebrow twitched, or how outlandishly James wanted to attempt to ask Evans' out just by seeing how high his head perked up when she walked in the room (Remus ignored these gestures.)

After about a week the strangeness of the situation wore off for Remus (and he was even getting used to the weird smell,) even when James and Sirius began to take the dare seriously and literally didn't say a word when they were alone.

It was almost funny to wake up and see James trying to nonverbally yell at Sirius for waking him again, and Sirius laughing at his attempts. That's when James usually resorted to violence. The teachers seemed to be enjoying it as well, even Professor Binns noticed it was strangely quiet once.

Evans, however, was ecstatic about James' vow of silence, even coming right up to Remus to thank him, as well as congratulate him, for managing to keep him quiet for more than five minutes. She did this right in front of James too, who promptly spent the rest of the day pouting.

Snape was... not. If Remus had considered it he would have thought that Snape would have enjoyed this. Sirius and James hadn't learned nonverbal spells yet (though they were taking this opportunity to learn as their Defence Against the Dark Arts project) so they weren't able to bully him to the same extent as usual. They blew up his potions in class or tripped him while he walked past him but they weren't able to hang him from his ankles (a new favorite for them) or transfigure his bookbag into a dog and make it tear apart his homework two minutes before class started.

But instead of enjoying the peace while it lasted, Snape was furious. He was absolutely sure that they were up to something. If anyone gave him half a chance he'd start rattling off a thousand illegal or dangerous spells, potions, or other magicks that required total silence for an extended period of time. He followed them worse than ever, almost everywhere they went Snape could be found in that vicinity. He was determined to catch them doing something illegal. Evans tried more than once to get him to leave them alone, she, at least, knew that the retribution they'd hand out the moment they could talk would be severe if he kept it up. Every time she tried their conversation ended in a fight, and he could see Evans' patience wearing thin.

Remus couldn't help but wonder if Snape had developed some sort of obsession with James. He thought it was James rather than Sirius because anytime he mentioned just one of them it was always James... and usually around Evans. Was he jealous of James' attraction to her? Or was she just the only person who would listen?

It may have been James that Snape hated, but it was Sirius that he needed to watch out for. James was a bully, in it for a good laugh, but otherwise harmless. Sirius, however, was not harmless in any way. The looks Sirius sometimes flashed when Snape started being particularly annoying were beginning to scare Remus and he was beginning to wonder if there was something else going on, something Sirius hadn't told them. He almost looked...

Murderous.

Remus tried to intervene in these times, usually subtly since he wasn't brave enough to do it forcefully. A reminder that they were late, a hint that there were more important things to do, they usually worked but left both Sirius and James in a rotten mood for a good hour. By Remus' birthday, the last full week of their vow of silence, these times were nearly daily occurrences.

But still; James, Sirius, and Peter only broke their silence once. The night after the full moon, they were just as talkative as ever, which Remus appreciated more than they could ever know.

Let it never be said that James and Sirius couldn't keep their mouths shut.