The Truth About Remus
Chapter Eight
Mid-November brought harsh, bitter winds, more reported Voldemort killings, longer and more excruciating exams and victorious Quidditch matches for all four houses of Hogwarts.
Headmaster Dumbledore tapped the edge of his crystal goblet one afternoon during dinner and stood to make an announcement. The Great Hall grew silent immediately and Dumbledore cleared his throat to speak.
"It has been brought to my attention by Madam Hooch that all four of the Hogwarts Quidditch teams are equal in rank," he informed the mass of students and they began looking around at each other, "This means that I have no choice but to hold a seven day tournament on the week before holiday vacation. Madam Hooch will be putting together the schedules for the tournament and they will be given to team captains for reference and Prefects to post around the school by the closure of next week."
The Headmaster sat and the Great Hall burst into applause. Certainly, this was the greatest news any of us had heard in weeks. After dinner, the gang and I headed up to Gryffindor tower to hang out.
"I wonder what's on the notice board," James said, sitting down.
"Why didn't you go over there and look at it when you came in," I asked.
"Don't you see I have my hands full," he asked as Lily sat in his lap.
"Your loss."
"Fine, I guess I will just have to summon the board to me. Accio ----"
"NO," I interrupted, "I will go see what is up there!"
I walked up to the notice board and looked for the new memos.
"Personal ads…homework reminders…" I whispered, and then said aloud, "Hogsmeade weekend is next Saturday and, hey Remus…there is a message from Professor Trelawney up here for us."
I pulled it off of the board and took it to him.
"Divination Club," he asked, "but why us?"
"She senses a powerful energy in us," I said in my best Trelawney voice.
"Okay, you can sit down now," James said.
"Thank you for your permission, Thongs," I mumbled as I stretched out on the couch with Remus.
"Thongs," Sirius laughed, "Yeah, he's got a couple of those ---"
"SHUT UP, Padfoot," James exclaimed.
"Prongs in a thong," Remus asked, doubled over in laughter, "Oh, that's rich!"
"Be nice to be, Moony, or you wont be part of the secret Padfoot and I have been putting together," James warned.
"Oh," I asked, "Is it finished?"
James looked to Sirius and Sirius nodded, "Yes."
"Goody! I wanna see!"
"Calm down, Humper," James said, "Padfoot, if you will…"
Sirius nodded again and left to go up to his room. Remus and I sat patiently and Sirius seemed to take his sweet old time. Right when I was about to burst, Sirius emerged from the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories, hiding something in his right pocket. Once he was standing in the middle of our huddle, he turned to James.
"You want me to show 'em now, boss," he asked, sounding like a member of the Italian Mafia.
"Yes, Padfoot, go ahead."
Sirius didn't waste an instant as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and unraveled the piece of parchment he was holding. Then, he held it out, open, to Remus and I as though it was the greatest thing on the planet.
"A piece of blank parchment," I asked, thoroughly disappointed. "Is this your wonderful surprise?"
"Well…yes."
I sighed and closed my eyes.
"What were you expecting," James asked.
"Something…well, I don't know," Remus said, "Certainly not a piece of parchment."
"But this isn't just a piece of parchment," Sirius explained, "Really, you two should know us better than that!"
"Tell us what it is, exactly, before I rip it into pieces," I told him.
"Do you want to play a guessing game," Sirius asked jokingly and I growled, "Okay, okay. It is a map."
"A map," I whispered.
"Yes, a map," he whispered back.
"But, not just any map," James explained in a regular voice, "It's the Marauders Map. Just place the tip of your wand on the parchment and chant, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', and a map of the school of the area you are in will appear. There will be dots moving across the map, labeled with the names of the people who are those dots. Also labeled are the several hidden passageways that we have found and if you come to a passageway that needs a password, the password will show up on the parchment. To erase the map, say 'mischief managed' and no one will be able to see what this is."
"What if we misplace the map," Remus asked, "or if it is confiscated?"
Sirius thought for a moment, then replied, "Just be extra careful."
"Now, one of the fun things with this map is if someone else tries to see the contents of the map who is untrustworthy, a series of insults from our personal collection will appear on the parchment," James told us.
"Wicked," I said.
"Knew you'd like it," Sirius said, winking.
I turned to the entrance of the common room as Bill walked in. He looked troubled as he sat in an abandoned corner by himself.
"Um…excuse me," I said, getting up and walking over to where Bill was sitting.
I approached and kneeled beside the chair. He looked up at me, but other than that, didn't acknowledge me at all.
"Hi," I said softly, putting my hand on his, "What's wrong?"
"Silvia dumped me," he said.
"The fourth year Hufflepuff girl?"
"Yes."
"Awl, Bill, I am so sorry to hear that."
"She was my first girlfriend," he told me in barely a whisper.
I smiled softly and embraced him in a hug that he looked like he needed right then, "It'll be okay. There will be others and I am sure that you will like them a lot more."
The hug ended and he sat back, looking me in the face, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
I laughed gently and he looked offended. I stopped quickly and replied, "No, I don't."
"That is what everyone tells me…but it looks to me that you and Remus go out."
"No, he and I are just good friends."
"Good friends that kiss in the middle of a slow dance?"
I felt my face go red, "You saw that, eh?"
"Yes," Bill replied, nodding, "You like him, don't you?"
"Define 'like'."
"You are in love with him."
"No," I told him, shaking my head, "I love him, but I am not in love with him. He is my best friend."
"You know, I never really liked Silvia anyway," Bill informed me brightly, "but there is someone that I really like."
"Who," I asked in a curious tone.
"You."
"Oh, Bill, I cant get into a relationship with you ---"
"Not like that," he exclaimed, laughing, "Don't get me wrong – I think you are very pretty and nice, but I like you as a friend!"
"You are a great guy, Bill," I said, standing up, "Would you like to sit with my friends and me?"
"Sure!"
I hugged him close as we walked over to my posse.
"Why, out of everybody in the school, did we get exclusive invitations to join the Divination Club," Remus asked me as we climbed the stairs to the top of the North Tower.
"Didn't I answer that question earlier," I asked.
"Yes."
He was silent for a moment and then spoke again.
"Why were we given this gift?"
"Ask the spirit board."
"Very funny."
Remus and I climbed into the Divination room. There were nine other students in there, we noticed.
"Welcome," Professor Trelawney said in that misty voice of hers, "I am pleased to see that you two have arrived…of course, I knew that you were going to come."
We nodded and sat at our usual table just as the trap door swung open again and Bill climbed in. Professor Trelawney eyed him strangely.
"My dear, who might you be," she asked.
"Bill Weasley," he replied, "I am a first year Gryffindor."
Trelawney smiled, "I am pleased to have you here, Mr. Weasley. Please, have a seat. It is nearly time to get started."
I waved to Bill and he came to sit with Remus and I.
"Hey, Bill, what's going on," Remus asked him, punching his shoulder lightly.
"Nothing really, Moony."
I laughed, "Since when do you call the Marauders by their nicknames?"
Bill got a scared look on his face, "Er…its okay if I do that, isn't it?"
"Of course," Remus replied, "but now, you will need a nickname."
"Like a Marauder nickname," Bill exclaimed, his eyes beaming with excitement.
"Exactly like a Marauder nickname," I assured him.
"This is going to be hard, though…we usually base our nicknames on, I mean, our personalities reflect our nicknames," Remus said, catching himself before he revealed that Sirius, James and I were animagi.
"Oh, it shouldn't be too hard. We can hold a meeting later tonight," I told them.
Remus and Bill nodded as Professor Trelawney called the meeting to order.
"I would like to call the first meeting of the Divination Club to order," she announced, "Here in the club, I would like to help you build on your strengths in this branch of magic and allow you to meet new people and make new friends. Tonight we are going to experiment with some things, just to see where your strengths lie. In the middle of your table, you will be able to find several things that will aid you. Please begin."
I looked ay the items placed in the middle of the table. Bill looked a bit uneasy.
"What is the matter," I asked him.
"I have never done this kind of magic before."
"Its not very difficult," Remus said, "Just watch Ani and I. You'll get the hang of it in no time."
"Lets read tea leaves first," I said, picking up one of the teacups.
As I stood to get some tea, Trelawney walked over to our table with a girl beside her.
"Would you be so kind as to allow Crystal to work with you," Professor Trelawney asked, motioning towards the brown haired, blue eyed girl at her side, "She is a first year Hufflepuff. Can you take her under your wing and introduce her to some of the basics?"
"Of course, Professor," I replied and the girl took a seat beside Bill and Remus.
"Hi, I am Remus Lupin," he told her, "What is your name?"
"Crystal Star," the girl mumbled nervously and looked at her hands in her lap.
I looked at Bill and smiled. He looked at Crystal as though he had found a new love.
"Remus, you like to get tea with me," I asked, nudging him.
Catching on, he nodded and we walked to the other side of the room to get the tea. Once we were back at the table, Bill and Crystal were engaged in a conversation. Remus smiled at me as we drank our tea, and began to read the leaves.
I opened the signs book and Crystal helped me read my leaves as Bill helped Remus read his.
"Here," I told her, handing the cup to her, "Look around and tell me what you see."
"Um…" Crystal scrunched up her face and peered into the cup, "I see…a ghost…"
I looked down at the pages and looked for what a ghost might mean. I found it almost instantly.
"A ghost," I read, "symbolizes that you are always followed by a loved one who has passed on and looked over by them."
"Neat," Crystal exclaimed and looked for more objects.
After tealeaves, we worked on tarot cards. That worked for a while until Crystal kept mixing up the meanings of the cards. While I helped her try to sort my reading out, Remus nudged me.
"Yeah," I asked, looking up at him.
"Would you like to do a bit of crystal ball Seeing," he asked mysteriously.
I nodded and Crystal put the tarot cards away as Remus and I set up the crystal ball. Bill and Crystal took seats opposite each other as I took a seat opposite of Remus. I smiled shyly as he took my hands and held them over the ball. I closed my eyes and I could feel an odd energy run up, out of the ball, and through Remus and I. As though it were a wall of ice water, an image hit me and sorted itself out in my mind.
It was of Remus, sitting on a cold, concrete bench. The ground beneath his shiny black shoes was green and springy with grass and blood red rose pedals surrounded him. He was looking at something in a small, palm-sized black box and running one of his fingers along something inside of it. Suddenly, he closed the box with a sense of angst and a lone tear fell down his cheek. Then he stood, shoved the box in the pocket of his robes and walked out of sight.
Then the connection broke. My body fell backwards into the pouf and my hands released themselves from Remus' grip. My hands were clammy and sweat lined my forehead. I looked at Remus, and I knew that he was horrified.
"I felt the energy the two of your were giving off while Seeing," Professor Trelawney exclaimed excitedly, "What did you See? Can you do that again?"
"No," Remus said flatly and I looked at him shocked.
He gave me no explanation for his answer as he got up and left the room.
Remus was still testy when I walked into the common room with Bill after Divination Club. He was trying to get some homework done as I sat on the couch beside him.
"Are you okay," I asked him, putting my hand on his leg.
"Yeah," he said shortly.
Sirius and James looked up from their homework. They had never heard Remus speak to me like that. I ignored it and turned to my other fellow Marauders.
"Hey, I kind of promised Bill that we would give him a Marauder nickname – that is, if it is alright with you," I said.
Sirius and James beamed, "Initiation ceremony time!"
"What," Bill squeaked.
"Don't worry," James said.
"Its harmless," Sirius assured him.
"And you will become an honorary member of the Marauders."
"Sweet," Bill exclaimed, "What do I have to do?"
"All you have to do is say one sentence – an oath that you will take, promising your loyalty to us," James explained, "With this oath, you sign a contract in blood saying that you keep everything that you know about the Marauders within the Marauders. We will then be your brothers and sister – your family – we will risk our necks for you and we expect the same in return. There are no secrets within our circle and every argument is resolved before the sun sets. William Weasley, raise your right hand and repeat after me: I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Bill raised his right hand and, smiling, repeated, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
"Congratulations," I exclaimed, "You are now an honorary Marauder."
"Now, you need a nickname," Sirius said, "What is your favorite animal?"
"Oh, that's easy! A scorpion," Bill told him.
The four eldest members of the Marauders were silent for a moment.
"Stryker," Remus said suddenly.
James, Sirius and I looked at Bill.
"Do you like that," I asked.
"Yeah," Bill replied, "I like it."
The five of us celebrated the new addition to the Marauders into the early hours of the morning.