Disclaimer:
No funny business. I simply don't own Harry Potter. You know
I don't and I know I don't. Let's face it together. Hey, if I did own it, you
wouldn't be reading this fic on a web page, you can be sure it'd be an elegant
hardcover!
Author's notes:
I'm baaaaaaaack! Well, anyway, I was real surprised when I
had seven reviews within five hours of my first upload! You Harry Potter people
sure do take things fast! Okay, I know that may not seem like a whole lot of
reviews for you all, but I'm pleased! I personally enjoy getting reviews just
so I can read authors who apparently like the same stuff I do! Hey, as long as
I'm here, don't expect an update as quick as this one so often… I was sort of
on a roll here. Well, alrighty then, on with the show! Once again, I
semi-proudly present…
The Secret
A Marauder fic by ShinagamiWing
"Hey!
Hey James! James Milton POT-TER!!!" Finally, Sirius smacked James in the
side of the face to get his attention.
-smack-!
"Huh? Hey! What was that for?!"
James was suddenly in his 'harsh' mode. However, at the moment Sirius was too
busy having a fit of hysteria in his breakfast chair to be intimidated.
"I'll tell you what that was for!"
He said, finally stopping his laughing long enough to look over at his best
friend through his long black hair, which he absentmindedly brushed aside.
"You, my friend, have not touched a bit of your breakfast!"
James looked down at his plate and
was shocked to see that Sirius was absolutely right. He quickly started chewing
up scrambled eggs at a speed usually reserved for tree mulchers. "So, -munch-
what, -munch-?" He asked as he swallowed a large amount of the yellow
mush so fast it hurt his throat. "I don't see why that merits a blow to the
cheek!"
"Well, it's not that you weren't
eating the food!" Sirius said, the smile returning to his face. "Save those
excuses for the house elves! No, what got me was what was distracting
you from the food!" His smile turned wry… perhaps spiteful, even. "You were
staring your eyeballs out at that girl over by the head of the table!"
"I was not!" James lied, realizing
for the first time that he had, in fact, been staring at the girl. She was
quite pretty, he thought… she had this nice, auburn hair… it was just so
pleasing to look at… and her face, too… it was so fine…
"You're doing it again!" Peter
Pettegrew observed, still shoveling corned beef in his mouth Author
Interjection: Geez, not even friends gets between Wormtail and his food… then
again, friends don't seem to mean much to him! Ohh, I hate his guts…
"I am not!" James defended, looking
back down at his plate. "Remus, defend me!" he begged without looking up, but
still clenching his fists together and shaking them at Remus' face pleadingly.
The gesture would have normally gotten Remus to laugh, but the young Lupin
wasn't really in the mood to laugh these days. So he remained silent as his
cohorts continued to bicker amongst themselves.
It had all started some weeks ago…
Remus had trouble placing exactly how many, but he was fairly sure it had been
at least three. His best friends had started acting differently towards him.
They no longer seemed to want to include him in things. Well, at least that was
the impression the boy got from Sirius and Peter, but James was still nice to
him. But even James seemed to be acting kindly in a manner that seemed more…
well, more forced.
Is he forcing himself to be my
friend? Remus worried, not understanding. I don't want that. And Peter
and Sirius seem to want nothing to do with me, these days. Maybe they've
finally realized that I'm an agonizingly boring little boy. He felt
immediately downtrodden. Well, they're right. Nothing remarkable about me…
except for one huge flaw. Remus looked up at the domed ceiling of the great
hall, which was as gray and gloomy as the sky it magically imitated. And
tonight's another one of those nights… He thought, ashamed. I wonder why
they've even tried to be my friends this long. I guess they finally just got
tired of hanging out with a loser like me. They didn't even need a special
occasion… it stuck him like a lightning bolt, then. He didn't quite know
what to say to his friends. So he said absolutely nothing. But his mind was
racing a mile a minute.
They couldn't have found out!
He thought frantically, a cold sheen of sweat spreading over his forehead and
making him feel uncomfortable physically as well as mentally. They just
can't know! But… why else would they suddenly turn so cold? And how could they
have found out? Wait, I know! Last time, that was the day James let the snitch
go in class… were they at the Quidditch pitch that evening? Did they see me go
in the Whomping Willow? Do they know that they planted it just for me? He
noticed that he was gripping the arm of his chair very tightly to release his
tension. No… no, they couldn't have. If I know them, then they would have
already made some move, taken some course of action… they would have tried to
kill me, or told everyone, or something. Okay, so they don't know… they just
don't like me. Remus frowned to himself. Well, even if they don't know
my secret, I'm still not in any good position. But at least it's better if they
don't know… for my safety and theirs. I don't want them to get hurt. Maybe
they're not really my friends, but I'm theirs.
"Oh my God!" Sirius guffawed,
goggling at James openly. "You're doing it again! You're staring at her! I
can't believe it!"
"Am not!" James cried, shielding
himself from another of his best friend's verbal attacks. Remus smiled as he
watched them argue playfully.
No matter what, I can't let them
know… they might get hurt. Or worse, become… Remus mentally pictured the
long white scar on his right thigh … like me. And the last thing the world
needs is more of my kind. I still can't believe the new headmaster Dumbledore
let me in. He seems to think I'm worth saving, even if I am a plague on
humanity. Well, he's headmaster, he obviously knows more than me… so I'll let
him decide what my life is worth. Remus Lupin smiled his sad, crooked smile
and joined in the fun.
Later
that day, as the four boys walked together to their Potions Lesson, James had a
little misstep when turning a blind corner and…
"Ouff!" a voice squeaked. James only
heard it when he was done butt-planting on the floor of the corridor. He
himself gave a discontented grunt when his rear end started aching. The floors
were marble, after all, and very hard… but that didn't stop him from
apologizing in true James-the-nice-guy style.
"Sorry!" He apologized as he began
to gather up the books that had scattered themselves all over the ground during
the collision. James noticed that his own bag was still fully stocked. All the
books must belong to the girl he'd hit. "I can't believe it… so stupid of me…"
"No, my fault…" the girl said,
apologizing too. "I wasn't watching where I was going… reading a textbook, and
all…" They both crawled across the floor, picking up the heavy textbooks one by
one. When all had been collected, they looked up at one another.
James' eyes nearly popped out of his
head in horrified surprise.
It was the girl he'd seen at the
breakfast table.
His first thought was not Oh my
God, she must think I'm a bumbling idiot! or Jesus Christ I knocked into
her and hit her textbooks everywhere… she probably hates me.
No, actually. His first thought was:
Wow, she has pretty green eyes.
Then he thought of all that
other stuff.
"Aaah…" he said stupidly, not sure
what he could possibly say in the presence of this radiant nymph of a girl.
"Umm…" she said, also unsure of what
to say, definitely for similar reasons. Well, I mean of course she knew what to
say in front of herself, but… oh, to hell with it, just keep reading.
Sirius sighed as he looked on at the
two kids who were on the floor staring, lost in each other's eyes. This was
pathetic… it was like something out of an awful romance novel his mother might
read (damn straight, man…).
"S-so…" James said, finally breaking
the deafening silence between them. "Uhh… here's… your books…" he handed the
mover
"T-thank you…" She stammered,
blushing and feeling like the biggest idiot in the whole world. They stood up,
but didn't walk away.
"Umm… these all yours?" He said,
taking a look at the thick pile of books in her arms. JAMES YOU IDIOT!
He thought to himself, having had never felt worse in his whole life. Of
COURSE they're HERS! She was CARRYING them! What kind of line was
THAT!!!!!!??????? James quickly moved to salvage the conversation. "Uh,
because that seems like a lot of books for one person to be carrying…" James
you are really just such an incredible idiot… he told himself, not
believing how much he was stammering.
"Well, yes…" The girl said, hoping
she didn't sound foolish. "That's what all my friends say. I just always carry
them… it's so hard to go all the way back to the dormitories to get my things,
I do tend to get lost…" She was also mentally punishing herself over very small
things, like the fact that she was admitting she had no sense of direction
before he even mentioned anything pertaining to it.
"Ahh, maybe that's why you were
walking that way down the corridor," James jerked his thumb over his shoulder
to give a visual aid "When us second-year Gryffindors are all supposed to be
going to the dungeons down those stairs?" James, you dummy, you're
insulting her! He said, mentally berating himself over every detail of what
he said. You just went and completely insulted her like that, it's
unbelievable just how singularly stupid you can be…
"Oh, no, I was going the wrong way?" She said, looking worried. "I
really can't get the hang of this living in a castle thing, even after two
years…" He probably thinks I'm such a fool… the girl agonized. I
can't believe I've just completely proven my own idiocy like this…
"Umm, well, I'd be glad to show you
the way. And, uh, if it helps, I'll take some of those books off your hands…" Oh,
there you go, James! He thrashed himself inside of his head. You're
making it sound like she can't do anything by herself! You've known her not two
minutes and you're no doubt already coming off as a chauvinist…
"Oh." The girl said, her voice barely a peep. "Sure."
And so, James took her books and
they started walking down towards the dungeon together, James' friends all
forgotten over this girl whose name he didn't even know yet.
Peter sighed after the two of them.
They had just begun to talk again, this time with a bit less stammering and a
bit more actual communication. "I don't get it. He just slammed into that girl
and suddenly they're all over each other. I mean, they slammed into each other!
Shouldn't they be arguing or swapping insurance info or something?"
Remus smiled. "Well, sometimes
people just click…"
Sirius shot him a dirty look. "Who
asked you?" and then he walked away, Peter close to follow. It damn near
brought Remus to tears, just like it would anybody. Now that James wasn't
around to keep them from shunning him, apparently, Peter and Sirius wanted
nothing to do with him.
Am I really that awful to be
around? He wondered forlornly to himself. Well, then… I guess that's
that. I'll just stay away from them.
And that was the beginning of the
day that Remus' secret got out…
Author's Notes:
I was going to make an "If you
send me a flame I will use a flame-freeze charm and enjoy the pleasant tickling
sensation" joke here, but unfortunately, Sunny Monster got to it before me (Well
at least it was in a good fic with Sunny Monster, dammit!). So let's try this:
"I
encourage flames… I can use them to ward off Devilsnare!"
-Humorous
symbol clap!-
-ShinagamiWing
spreads his arms like he's just said something hugely funny-
-utter
silence follows-
-A
cricket chirps in the background-
-ShinagamiWing
lowers his head in shame-
-Asuka
Langley from NGE calls him a baka-
Uhh… right. Anyway the girl was
Lily, no *#$&!!!!!! Of course it was Lily, I mean honestly… Anyway, I only
added that bit of useless WAFF as something to keep the plot alive. This supershort
chapter was just to establish stuff… you know, that they're in second year,
that they have lives out of trying to find out Remus is a werewolf,
yattayattayatta. By the way, did it occur to you that Remus is one seriously
depressed little boy? Reminds me of myself at twelve. Jeez, I'm reminiscing
about two years ago… I'm strange. Right then! Until we meet again!
-ShinagamiWing