4th October 1972
"James' got a girlfriend," Sirius teased in a sing-song voice, as she waltzed into the second year boys' dormitory alongside James.
"Who?" Remus sat up, looking amused as he put down his book.
"Melinda Norris, of all people," She threw herself onto James' bed.
"Really?" Remus wrinkled his nose. "She's in our transfiguration, isn't she? The one with the... nose?"
Sirius nodded, grinning, as James rolled his eyes as he sat down beside her. The Ravenclaw girl was rather pretty aside from her unfortunately long nose, but was very skinny, and short - although she supposed that matched James - and had the kind of giggle that always managed to grate on her nerves.
"Beak," She corrected.
"Shut up," James shoved her, but snorted with laughter.
Sirius just laughed too, elbowing him back in the ribs, which made him wince.
"A girlfriend?" Peter's eyes widened, as if James had just announced he could turn into a dragon.
"You have heard of those, haven't you Peter?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, of course I have," The boy flushed. "I just thought that if James got a girlfriend, it would be you,"
"Hear that, James?" She rolled to lie on her side, in a mock-provocative pose with her hand on her hip, batting her eyelids. "Maybe I should be your girlfriend, instead of Nosey Norris?"
Remus and Peter both laughed at that, though Peter's eyes kept darting to Sirius.
"I'd rather kiss the giant squid," James gave a dramatic shudder. "It's better-looking,"
She grinned, rolling onto her stomach.
"Speaking of," She gave her friend a sly look, chin resting on her hands. "Have you kissed Melinda yet?"
"None of your business," James said indignantly, giving himself away.
"So no, then," Remus muttered.
"I'm sure he tried," Sirius said rather wickedly. "But her nose nearly poked his eye out,"
She had rolled out of the way even before James grabbed his pillow, smacking it down where her head at been moments before. Alas, as she tried to escape he grabbed her ankle, hauling her back towards him as she shrieked and struggled. Remus and Peter looked up as the door opened, but the two of them ignored it until the person pointedly cleared their throat.
"Does Black have to be up here all the time?" It was Richard Hobbs and his friend Davey Gudgeon, both of whom were other second years who shared the dormitory with James, Remus and Peter. "What are you lot even doing?"
By this point, James had got the upper hand and was practically sat on top of Sirius, who was shielding her face from the pillow he had raised above his head.
"I don't know if your parents ever had the talk about what happens when a man and a woman love each other very much, Hobbs..." Sirius started, making James laugh, enough of a distraction to shove him off her.
The version of the birds and the bees she had got was simply obey the husband your parents arrange for you, and children were expected within a year of the wedding. She had learned since coming to Hogwarts that that version wasn't exactly normal, so had asked Andromeda during one of her visits. Her cousin had taken the responsibility of educating her to heart, which had been a truly traumatic experience.
"Ha ha ha, Black, you're hilarious," Hobbs said sarcastically. She bared her teeth at him in an approximation of a smile. "I need to get changed for Quidditch practice. Can you leave?"
It was a point of contention in that dorm that Hobbs was on the Quidditch team and James was not. No matter how many times Sirius, Remus or even Peter had pointed out that the only position open on the team that year was seeker - which James didn't play, but had tried out for nonetheless - it remained a very sore point.
"Fine," She got to her feet and attempting to smooth her dishevelled hair and robes. "You naked is not a sight I really wanted to see anyway," She suddenly turned to James. "Shit, did we have detention tonight?"
"Who with?" James furrowed his brow.
"McGonagall?" Sirius suggested. "Or Slughorn?"
"No, Slughorn's tomorrow, right after his lesson, remember?"
"You two have Flitwick tonight, don't you?" Remus said. "McGonagall's on Friday. I'm with you both for that one,"
Sirius grinned.
"What on earth'll Peter do without us?"
"Sleep," The boy mumbled, one of his infrequent funny comments, making them all laugh.
"Come on then," James got to his feet, grabbing her arm. "We're already late. Hopefully Flitwick is feeling generous,"
James and Sirius walked alone to Flitwick's office. Her friend seemed quieter than normal, and Sirius resolved to find out what was up, yet he spoke first when they were on the staircase leading up to the professor's office.
"Melinda did want to kiss me,"
"Why didn't you?" Sirius asked.
He shrugged.
"Don't know how,"
She just laughed at that.
"We're twelve, James, no one knows how. It's not like I've kissed anyone either,"
"I suppose," He said. "Although I did think - " He broke off, and she turned to him.
"What?"
"Alright," He stopped on the staircase, looking straight at her. "I've never kissed anyone. You've never kissed anyone. How about we just get it over and done with, now, here," He grinned. "Not like I can do it with Remus or Peter,"
"No one wants their first kiss to be with Peter," She said with a grimace, shrugging. "Sure, why not,"
They both stood there, face to face. Sirius was taller than James by a few inches, and she smirked as he had to look up at her.
"Move down a step,"
"You move up," He pulled a face, but went up one step so he now stood taller than her. They kissed for a second, then pulled away.
"Well that was underwhelming," James pulled a face.
"Agreed," Sirius said, wiping her mouth. "Let's not do it again,"
"So? Any tips?"
"You dribbled a bit. I wouldn't do that when you kiss Melinda,"
"Your hair got in my face," They continued on their way up to Flitwick's office. "Got caught in my glasses,"
"Growing a bit wouldn't hurt, either. It's not very romantic if you have to stand on a step,"
"Nah, Melinda's shorter than you, it should be fine,"
"Taller than you, though,"
"Everyone's taller than me,"
There was a silence, then James grinned.
"Now whenever anyone asks if you're my girlfriend, we can finally say we gave it a go and didn't like it,"
Sirius' laughter lasted all the way to Flitwick's office, and both of them struggled to contain their amusement even through the tiny professor telling them off for being late.
31st October 1972
"I think there's a reason no one has ever tried to draw a map of Hogwarts," James declared with a dramatic sigh.
Sirius, scowling at her own mess of crumpled parchment, scribbled out lines and blots of ink, agreed.
"This is hopeless. And boring,"
"Can we just go to the feast now?" Peter asked, the single piece of parchment in front of him bearing nothing but a rectangle titled 'the grate hall'. "Everyone else is leaving?"
"An excellent idea," She shot an incendio at the mess in front of her, which Remus wordlessly doused with his own wand, a charm he shouldn't rightly know yet, as a second year. She glared at him for a moment, then stopped when he ignored her.
"We've only been trying for ten minutes," The boy said. "If you get the basic floorplan down and don't worry about the secret passages til after..."
"That's what I've done," James held up his own parchment, wincing when the ink ran slightly.
"Yours doesn't look too bad," Remus looked at it critically. "Although you have titled the entrace to the Slytherin dorms 'hell'. And I'm not quite sure McGonagall's office is such a phallic shape,"
"Artistic licence," He seemed quite proud of himself.
"Well, enjoy your map drawing," Sirius snorted, getting to her feeet. "Me and Peter will see you both down at the feast,"
Peter eagerly stood to follow her. He loved it when she showed him a scrap of attention, be that positive or negative, almost as much as he loved it from James.
"No, I'll come with you. Remus will too," James dragged the boy to his feet, talking over his protests. "No, no, it was full moon last week and you're still looking a bit peaky. Can't be missing out on all that food. Map drawing can wait for another day,"
"Another year," Sirius muttered.
13th November 1972
The grounds were cold in the dead of night, especially so close to winter. A howling wind was biting at their skin through the invisibility cloak, making them all shiver; or perhaps the howling was an echo of Remus in the Shrieking Shack.
Sirius knew they really shouldn't be doing this. Not because they might get caught by a teacher being out of their dorms at night - she really couldn't care less - but because pretty much the day they had found out that Remus was a werewolf, their friend had told them not to sneak out and try and see him on a full moon.
They were now doing exactly that, but not out of morbid curiosity. Well, maybe only slightly, but their main reason was to see if there was anything they could do to help him. Remus had told them how the wolf tore itself apart on a full moon, as there was nothing to hunt; his scars and visits to the hospital wing every month, covered in bloody bandages, were proof of that.
The first challenge they faced was getting past the Whomping Willow. The monstrous tree had already taken the eye of a fourth year stupid enough to be taking part in the game of trying to get close enough to touch the trunk; no one had been foolish enough to go near it since. But they had been here for hours, waiting for Remus to be escorted into the tunnel by Nurse Pomfrey, and had seen how the trainee healer had levitated a long stick to press a specific knot on the tree trunk, freezing it for long enough to slip into the passage.
James tried first, but the stick was too slow and got snapped in half by the flailing branches of the tree. Sirius, after laughing at him, then gave it a go. It took three attempts but then the homicidal tree froze, and they all rushed towards the base.
"Here," Peter found the passageway first, clearly terrified the tree would start to move soon. "It's here, quickly,"
They all jumped down into the dark tunnel. All three of them cast lumos, revealing earthy walls, roots showing through the ceiling, and nothing but more darkness up ahead.
Peter swallowed, visibly nervous, but James grinned.
"Off we go then,"
"Off to find a werewolf," Sirius leered at Peter.
"Piss off, Sirius," He mumbled, and she laughed. "I still don't think Remus would want us doing this,"
"Of course he wouldn't," She said. "But we're doing it for his own good. You've seen how beaten up he gets. Surely we can help somehow,"
There was suddenly a scuffling noise behind them that had them all jumping out of their skin, even James and Sirius.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake," James groaned, as a small grey cat came into view. "That thing is Mel's. It must've followed me,"
"Oooh, Mel," Sirius teased him. "Her cat's as nosy as she is. Off to report back to Melinda where you've been?"
Peter snickered at that.
"She already thinks you like Sirius more than her,"
"Well you do," She grinned. "At least I hope so. Best hope that cat is just a normal cat, and won't report back to her you've been sneaking around at night with me,"
"It's just a normal cat," James rolled his eyes. "But I don't really want my girlfriend's pet being eaten by a werewolf,"
"That's the cat's fault, for following you,"
James ultimately seemed to agree with Sirius, though as they crept along the underground passage, he kept glancing back anxiously at the cat that was wandering after them. The tunnel was very long, though she supposed it would be, if it had to get them all the way to the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
They knew they were nearing the end when the sounds of banging, scratching and crashing reached their ears. Even James and Sirius had become less cocky as they reached a trapdoor at the top of a flight of stairs, and there was a moment where none of them spoke.
"Even I think we can't just go walking in. I'll have a quick look," James moved towards the trapdoor, lifting it open a tiny crack. Sirius crowded in behind him, lifting the door slightly higher so they could peer out. Peter remained at the foot of the stairs, but even she couldn't bring herself to mock him for it.
Silence. They got a glimpse of a shabby, destroyed room full of broken furniture, a dark hallway beyond it, claw-marks on the wall, blood spatters as well. One second, two, three, four - then a crash, the sounds of claws on wood, and suddenly they were faced with a monster careening down that long hallway towards them.
There was no trace of Remus in the creature's eyes, only the wolf. In the brief glimpse she got before they all screamed and slammed the trapdoor shut, Sirius saw lethally sharp claws, dripping with blood - his own, no doubt, from all the horrific wounds on its body - and saliva-covered fangs, terrifyingly long. The werewolf did not look like a normal wolf. It was much larger, ten times more awful, and completely and utterly crazed. That creature would happily rip the throats from their bodies. A sight that would haunt her nightmares for years.
"Where's the cat?" James panted, even as they ran down the stairs, grabbing a frozen Peter by the arm and tugging him along with them. "Where's the fucking cat?"
"Who cares, James!" She didn't stop, even though there was no way the wolf could get through the trapdoor after they closed it.
A long, low, mournful howl came from behind them, an eerie sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. After that, they ran to the end of the tunnel and didn't stop, even when they were panting with exhaustion, even when Sirius nearly got crushed by the Whomping Willow at the end because they'd forgotten to press the knot.
"We don't tell Remus we did that," James looked at both of them once they were back in the Gryffindor common room, serious for once. "He's never going to know we saw him like that,"
Sirius and Peter both nodded, all of them still shaken.
There was a pause.
"What happens when he realises he ate a cat?" She asked. "And Nosy Norris' cat has suspiciously gone missing,"
James groaned with a muttered curse, letting himself drop onto the sofa.
"Hopefully he won't realise,"
"I won't mention it if he has grey fur stuck in his teeth, then,"
Both James and Peter looked at her incredulously at that. Her lips twitched. Then James snorted with laughter and shook his head.
"You're awful. I'm awful, for laughing,"
As it turned out, Remus had not eaten Melinda Norris' beloved pet. Proven when he returned from the hospital wing a day later, looking rather bemused.
"I woke up after the moon with a cat curled up next to me," He said. "It was very odd. I'd heard that werewolves are only a threat to humans, but I never realised how true it was until now,"
"How did it get in?" Sirius asked, completely straight-faced. "Isn't the Shack spelled against intruders?"
Peter's eyes widened at her audacity, and James kicked him under the table.
"No idea," Remus said, frowning. "I might ask Dumbledore to look at the wards again. I don't want anything else getting in,"
"Probably for the best," James said.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for anyone who left a comment/review, they really mean a lot. If you could take a few seconds to leave some feedback on this story I would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading!