Disclaimer - You know the drill. You don't seriously think I created Harry Potter, do you? Give me a break, I'm not that smart. No, these characters are the sole property of J. Rowling and a number of publishing companies.
A/N - apparently there's been some confusion as to when this takes place, although I can't imagine why. To clarify, yes, the marauders ARE in school during the story. More specifically, they're in their fifth year. Thanks to those who actually read the story and reviewed J -Leaf
THE MORNING AFTER
At 6:00 sharp the familiar whisper came: "Sundown. Let's go."
Sirius rose from the chair in front of the fire and stretched casually. "Gotta study," he said regretfully to the fourth year girls he'd been chatting up. He felt their eyes on him as he left the common room, knowing that he'd come up with a flimsy alibi. These girls were bound to know he had no intention of studying. Shit.
"Nice one, Padfoot," James said, tossing the invisibility cloak over his friend as soon as they'd reached the corridor. "Studying, eh? I didn't know you could read."
"Shut up, Prongs," Sirius replied, testing the new nickname James had come up with for himself.
Once inside the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, the boys shed the cloak. Sirius felt oddly exposed; they had never been down this passage without it. He had a sudden urge to go ahead and transform, to make himself unrecognizable, but he held back. He wanted
Remus to see.
It had been Sirius who'd first discovered Remus' condition and, contradictory to his later boasts, it had been entirely by accident. They'd all been curious about Remus' constant disappearances, wondering where he went every month and why. Remus was a terrible liar, and his cover stories were pathetic. The night Sirius found out the truth, he'd told them something about a job interview that might run late. When Peter had asked him where he was seeking employment, he'd stammered the name of a restaurant downtown before running off.
Yeah right. Sirius knew that restaurant, he'd snuck off-campus to eat there since first year when he and James had discovered a secret passage into a sweet shop downtown. Apart from Remus being underage, the place didn't even employ wizards. It was run by house-elves. Frustrated by his friend's lies and his own inability to gain his trust or to find out the truth, he'd gone outside to sit by the lake and sulk. It had been unusually quiet out that night, and Sirius had been sitting there for at least ten minutes before he'd figured it out - the Whomping Willow wasn't moving.
Of course this phenomenon had to be investigated further. Sirius had approached the tree cautiously, remembering his first (and rather violent) encounter with it during his first year. He'd braced himself for the tree to spring into motion at any moment, but it hadn't, and at its base he'd come upon a dimly lit passage, with an inviting set of stairs leading down.
The sun had set by this time, and the full moon cast eerie shadows through the passage entrance onto the walls of the tunnel. Sirius had wondered, perhaps for the first time in his life, whether he knew what he was doing. What did he expect to find at the end of this tunnel anyway?
Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't prepared him for the shock of finding himself in a dilapidated old building that sounded as though it were in the process of being torn to bits. Something incredibly loud was going on upstairs. Sirius heard wood breaking, a howling cry, and growls that gave him chills. Whatever was up there, it didn't sound friendly. Which meant he'd had to go have a look and see for himself.
Having never seen a werewolf before, Sirius hadn't known what he was seeing. He knew only that it was a monstrously large animal that seemed intent on ripping its own skin off. When he'd first reached the top of the stairs the wolf had frozen, and there was a heart stopping moment when it stared straight at him. Then it had howled, and charged, but Sirius had managed to wedge himself under the bed. The wolf tried to upend the bed, but it was bolted to the floor, and it had had to content itself with chewing at its feet. Sirius had been sick with fear for his life and horror at the sight of the wolf lapping up its own blood, whimpers of pain mixing with greedy, excited howls. He stayed there all night, pressed to the floor under the bed, afraid to leave, afraid even to breathe. It was unbearable, and yet as the moon set and the first rays of light spilled into the room, it had become far, far worse.
The wolf had been quiet for several minutes when Sirius pried his eyes open. At first he hadn't understood what he was seeing. The wolf was shrinking, or so it seemed…its fur was…was it falling out? It almost seemed to be retracting into its skin. Horrified, Sirius watched as the monster he'd heard mutilating itself all night shifted painfully into the shape of his best friend Remus Lupin. And still he didn't understand. What was Remus doing here? He was hurt…had the wolf hurt him? What had just happened? Where was the wolf?
Remus' wrists were bloody; he lay curled on the floor licking at his wounds, whimpering. And suddenly Sirius knew.
"Oh God…" he whispered aloud, staring at his friend. Desperation filled him; he'd longed to go to Remus, to comfort him, to clean his wrists and - somehow - make everything all right. But should he? Would Remus want to see him now? Was he - and Sirius felt ashamed as soon as the thought had entered his mind - was he still dangerous?
The decision had been taken out of his hands. Remus had seen him. For a moment he'd just stared, then he'd begun screaming and sobbing. "No…Sirius, please no…god…oh god…not Sirius, please not…"
"Hey!" By this time Sirius had emerged from under the bed and had grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Hey, Remus, calm down. It's okay. I'm not gonna tell anybody." Remus was shaking, pale, and, Sirius suddenly realized, still bleeding. He pulled off his shirt and began tearing it into strips to bind his friend's hands.
Remus sank to his knees, leaning heavily on Sirius. "I thought…I thought I…" he swallowed hard. "You're…you're not hurt…you're all right?"
"Oh…" Sirius pulled Remus into a hug, rubbed his back gently. "I'm okay. Nothing happened, Remus. Everything's all right. Oh Remus, why didn't you tell us?"
"I…I couldn't! You would have…you'd hate me or…"
"Hate you!" Sirius held Remus back at arm's length and stared. "Why would we hate you? Don't you know we're your friends?"
"But I could've killed you!" Remus sobbed. "Were…were you here all night?" When Sirius nodded, he let out a moan of despair. "How could you do that, Sirius! Why? Do you know what it would've been like? What if I'd…oh my god…"
Sirius had held him like that for the better part of an hour, and on Remus' orders had sworn never again to enter the shack during a full moon. When Remus had calmed down enough, they walked back to the Gryffindor common room and told James and Peter what had happened.
Years of preparation had gone into tonight. No one agreed on who had come up with the idea. Sirius insisted it had been James, while James maintained Peter had said it first. Peter claimed he never came up with the ideas, and that it must have been James or Sirius. He'd not been entirely wrong about that point, Sirius remembered wryly. Peter was all for following along with James' and Sirius' plans, but you'd be hard pressed to remember one he himself had thought of.
They'd been sitting around a table in the library a few weeks after Sirius' discovery, trying to come up with ways to help Remus. The moon was waxing again, and their friend had been quieter lately. They all knew he was dreading the impending full moon.
"How about this?" Peter had suggested, shoving a book at them. "Taming wild wolves, page seventeen?"
James rolled his eyes heavenward. "Peter, come on man."
"That won't work on a werewolf," Sirius said nicely. "Probably just make it mad."
"Oh," Peter looked sheepish. "I guess it says that here…"
They resumed searching.
It had been hours before the idea of Animagi had been brought to the table. Sirius' version of events held that James had found the idea in a book. They'd discussed it idly, a neat thing to do and suddenly - and everyone agreed here - James' eyes had lit up.
"We'll do it!"
"We'll…what?" Sirius had been taking the whole thing as a joke.
"We'll become Animagi! We can do this, look, it doesn't look that hard."
"It does look hard," Peter had said doubtfully, and for once Sirius had been in complete agreement. The process of becoming an Animagus looked disturbingly complex. It would require years of work, of study, practice, potion-brewing, and charms. "We won't be able to do it any time soon," Peter added as if he'd been following Sirius' thoughts.
"How's that going to help Remus?" Sirius demanded.
"Look!" James jabbed excitedly at a passage in another book. "Werewolves are only a danger to humans! In animal form, we'll be safe, see? We can stay with him!"
Remus had nearly cried when they'd told him what they were planning. Then he'd been furious. "You can't," he'd told them angrily. "It's illegal, you'd be expelled, you'd probably be killed when I got whiff of you…I'm not having it."
"And you!" he'd added, turning on Sirius, very upset. "You promised!"
"Listen, Remus, we won't do it if you really don't want us to…" Peter began.
"Like hell we won't!" Sirius had interrupted. "We're doing it, Remus, whether you like it or not. Only you better like it, because if you don't it'll just be a waste of time." Softening at the frightened look Remus gave him, he added, "Remus, you're our best friend. We care about you. It's not dangerous, the wolf won't hurt us as animals. You know it won't."
Remus sighed. "I know…it's only dangerous to humans."
"And we won't be expelled," James said, "because we've got the invisibility cloak. We'll use that whenever we're doing anything illegal, and as animals no one will recognize us. Remus, it's barely a risk and it's more than worth it. Think about it - you'd never have to be alone again. We'd be with you all night. We'd keep you from biting yourself, it'd be so much better for you. Please let us try."
Remus wavered. "Promise you'll be careful?"
"Swear," Sirius said solemnly. "We won't let anything happen, Remus. It'll be okay."
For a moment they thought he'd still say no. Then suddenly he was in floods, diving at them, hugging them. "You're the best friends anyone ever had!"
A/N - apparently there's been some confusion as to when this takes place, although I can't imagine why. To clarify, yes, the marauders ARE in school during the story. More specifically, they're in their fifth year. Thanks to those who actually read the story and reviewed J -Leaf
THE MORNING AFTER
At 6:00 sharp the familiar whisper came: "Sundown. Let's go."
Sirius rose from the chair in front of the fire and stretched casually. "Gotta study," he said regretfully to the fourth year girls he'd been chatting up. He felt their eyes on him as he left the common room, knowing that he'd come up with a flimsy alibi. These girls were bound to know he had no intention of studying. Shit.
"Nice one, Padfoot," James said, tossing the invisibility cloak over his friend as soon as they'd reached the corridor. "Studying, eh? I didn't know you could read."
"Shut up, Prongs," Sirius replied, testing the new nickname James had come up with for himself.
Once inside the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, the boys shed the cloak. Sirius felt oddly exposed; they had never been down this passage without it. He had a sudden urge to go ahead and transform, to make himself unrecognizable, but he held back. He wanted
Remus to see.
It had been Sirius who'd first discovered Remus' condition and, contradictory to his later boasts, it had been entirely by accident. They'd all been curious about Remus' constant disappearances, wondering where he went every month and why. Remus was a terrible liar, and his cover stories were pathetic. The night Sirius found out the truth, he'd told them something about a job interview that might run late. When Peter had asked him where he was seeking employment, he'd stammered the name of a restaurant downtown before running off.
Yeah right. Sirius knew that restaurant, he'd snuck off-campus to eat there since first year when he and James had discovered a secret passage into a sweet shop downtown. Apart from Remus being underage, the place didn't even employ wizards. It was run by house-elves. Frustrated by his friend's lies and his own inability to gain his trust or to find out the truth, he'd gone outside to sit by the lake and sulk. It had been unusually quiet out that night, and Sirius had been sitting there for at least ten minutes before he'd figured it out - the Whomping Willow wasn't moving.
Of course this phenomenon had to be investigated further. Sirius had approached the tree cautiously, remembering his first (and rather violent) encounter with it during his first year. He'd braced himself for the tree to spring into motion at any moment, but it hadn't, and at its base he'd come upon a dimly lit passage, with an inviting set of stairs leading down.
The sun had set by this time, and the full moon cast eerie shadows through the passage entrance onto the walls of the tunnel. Sirius had wondered, perhaps for the first time in his life, whether he knew what he was doing. What did he expect to find at the end of this tunnel anyway?
Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't prepared him for the shock of finding himself in a dilapidated old building that sounded as though it were in the process of being torn to bits. Something incredibly loud was going on upstairs. Sirius heard wood breaking, a howling cry, and growls that gave him chills. Whatever was up there, it didn't sound friendly. Which meant he'd had to go have a look and see for himself.
Having never seen a werewolf before, Sirius hadn't known what he was seeing. He knew only that it was a monstrously large animal that seemed intent on ripping its own skin off. When he'd first reached the top of the stairs the wolf had frozen, and there was a heart stopping moment when it stared straight at him. Then it had howled, and charged, but Sirius had managed to wedge himself under the bed. The wolf tried to upend the bed, but it was bolted to the floor, and it had had to content itself with chewing at its feet. Sirius had been sick with fear for his life and horror at the sight of the wolf lapping up its own blood, whimpers of pain mixing with greedy, excited howls. He stayed there all night, pressed to the floor under the bed, afraid to leave, afraid even to breathe. It was unbearable, and yet as the moon set and the first rays of light spilled into the room, it had become far, far worse.
The wolf had been quiet for several minutes when Sirius pried his eyes open. At first he hadn't understood what he was seeing. The wolf was shrinking, or so it seemed…its fur was…was it falling out? It almost seemed to be retracting into its skin. Horrified, Sirius watched as the monster he'd heard mutilating itself all night shifted painfully into the shape of his best friend Remus Lupin. And still he didn't understand. What was Remus doing here? He was hurt…had the wolf hurt him? What had just happened? Where was the wolf?
Remus' wrists were bloody; he lay curled on the floor licking at his wounds, whimpering. And suddenly Sirius knew.
"Oh God…" he whispered aloud, staring at his friend. Desperation filled him; he'd longed to go to Remus, to comfort him, to clean his wrists and - somehow - make everything all right. But should he? Would Remus want to see him now? Was he - and Sirius felt ashamed as soon as the thought had entered his mind - was he still dangerous?
The decision had been taken out of his hands. Remus had seen him. For a moment he'd just stared, then he'd begun screaming and sobbing. "No…Sirius, please no…god…oh god…not Sirius, please not…"
"Hey!" By this time Sirius had emerged from under the bed and had grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Hey, Remus, calm down. It's okay. I'm not gonna tell anybody." Remus was shaking, pale, and, Sirius suddenly realized, still bleeding. He pulled off his shirt and began tearing it into strips to bind his friend's hands.
Remus sank to his knees, leaning heavily on Sirius. "I thought…I thought I…" he swallowed hard. "You're…you're not hurt…you're all right?"
"Oh…" Sirius pulled Remus into a hug, rubbed his back gently. "I'm okay. Nothing happened, Remus. Everything's all right. Oh Remus, why didn't you tell us?"
"I…I couldn't! You would have…you'd hate me or…"
"Hate you!" Sirius held Remus back at arm's length and stared. "Why would we hate you? Don't you know we're your friends?"
"But I could've killed you!" Remus sobbed. "Were…were you here all night?" When Sirius nodded, he let out a moan of despair. "How could you do that, Sirius! Why? Do you know what it would've been like? What if I'd…oh my god…"
Sirius had held him like that for the better part of an hour, and on Remus' orders had sworn never again to enter the shack during a full moon. When Remus had calmed down enough, they walked back to the Gryffindor common room and told James and Peter what had happened.
Years of preparation had gone into tonight. No one agreed on who had come up with the idea. Sirius insisted it had been James, while James maintained Peter had said it first. Peter claimed he never came up with the ideas, and that it must have been James or Sirius. He'd not been entirely wrong about that point, Sirius remembered wryly. Peter was all for following along with James' and Sirius' plans, but you'd be hard pressed to remember one he himself had thought of.
They'd been sitting around a table in the library a few weeks after Sirius' discovery, trying to come up with ways to help Remus. The moon was waxing again, and their friend had been quieter lately. They all knew he was dreading the impending full moon.
"How about this?" Peter had suggested, shoving a book at them. "Taming wild wolves, page seventeen?"
James rolled his eyes heavenward. "Peter, come on man."
"That won't work on a werewolf," Sirius said nicely. "Probably just make it mad."
"Oh," Peter looked sheepish. "I guess it says that here…"
They resumed searching.
It had been hours before the idea of Animagi had been brought to the table. Sirius' version of events held that James had found the idea in a book. They'd discussed it idly, a neat thing to do and suddenly - and everyone agreed here - James' eyes had lit up.
"We'll do it!"
"We'll…what?" Sirius had been taking the whole thing as a joke.
"We'll become Animagi! We can do this, look, it doesn't look that hard."
"It does look hard," Peter had said doubtfully, and for once Sirius had been in complete agreement. The process of becoming an Animagus looked disturbingly complex. It would require years of work, of study, practice, potion-brewing, and charms. "We won't be able to do it any time soon," Peter added as if he'd been following Sirius' thoughts.
"How's that going to help Remus?" Sirius demanded.
"Look!" James jabbed excitedly at a passage in another book. "Werewolves are only a danger to humans! In animal form, we'll be safe, see? We can stay with him!"
Remus had nearly cried when they'd told him what they were planning. Then he'd been furious. "You can't," he'd told them angrily. "It's illegal, you'd be expelled, you'd probably be killed when I got whiff of you…I'm not having it."
"And you!" he'd added, turning on Sirius, very upset. "You promised!"
"Listen, Remus, we won't do it if you really don't want us to…" Peter began.
"Like hell we won't!" Sirius had interrupted. "We're doing it, Remus, whether you like it or not. Only you better like it, because if you don't it'll just be a waste of time." Softening at the frightened look Remus gave him, he added, "Remus, you're our best friend. We care about you. It's not dangerous, the wolf won't hurt us as animals. You know it won't."
Remus sighed. "I know…it's only dangerous to humans."
"And we won't be expelled," James said, "because we've got the invisibility cloak. We'll use that whenever we're doing anything illegal, and as animals no one will recognize us. Remus, it's barely a risk and it's more than worth it. Think about it - you'd never have to be alone again. We'd be with you all night. We'd keep you from biting yourself, it'd be so much better for you. Please let us try."
Remus wavered. "Promise you'll be careful?"
"Swear," Sirius said solemnly. "We won't let anything happen, Remus. It'll be okay."
For a moment they thought he'd still say no. Then suddenly he was in floods, diving at them, hugging them. "You're the best friends anyone ever had!"