Chapter Two
The Prefects
As the day grew on James and Sirius started talking to Remus again, about new ideas for them to get into trouble when Remus transformed once a month, and Remus just sat by, shaking his head.
"Oh come off it Remus, you know you'd go insane if you didn't have us to come visit you in the shack," said James rather quietly, "Plus, we enjoy it."
Remus smiled slightly and sighed.
"I do appreciate it," stated Remus, a tone of unconvincing doubt in his voice, "I just don't want you guys to get caught."
"We've done it tons of times, Remus," said Peter, "There's nothing to worry about anymore."
"Yeah, unless you count the Prefect, professors, ghosts, and old Pringle wandering the halls, waiting for rules breakers" said Sirius; Pringle was an hot tempered old man who took care of the castle and constantly threatened students for Rule Breaking. "So, you're right, Pete, there isn't anything to worry about."
Remus rolled his eyes while James sat quietly, his eyes focused on the ground as he rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed in thought. Peter and Sirius bickered back and forth as James thought, until he interrupted with a loud 'Got it'.
"Got what?" asked Peter.
"Got Milk?" interjected Remus.
The others turned and looked at Remus, all thoroughly confused. James, shaking his head, continued.
"An idea, so that we can, you know, sneak past everyone, even get past grumpy old Pringle." James said quickly, "Well, one night last year I was rather bored so I grabbed my invisibility cloak and innocently wandered through the restricted section of the library. Whist there I came upon a very curious looking article; the Attachment charm."
"The what?" said Remus, Sirius, and Peter together.
"The Attachment charm." repeated James smoothly; "If used properly the Attachment charm could create a link between a place and an inanimate object. I was curious as to why this particular charm would be in the restricted section of the library. Until of course I realized the effects that could be caused by the charm if not used correctly. So, in effect, we could bewitch the castle to be linked to a simple piece of parchment and according to the article, if I am not mistaken, which of course I am not." He said smugly, "We could, in effect, link the castle as well as its inhabitants to a random piece of parchment."
"What kind of screw ball idea is that!" interrupted Sirius, "I mean honestly! You're a nutter!"
"And how," Peter asked, "may I ask are we supposed to link the people inside Hogwarts to this 'parchment'."
"Well," said James, "That's the brilliant part about it. As long as you know who or what you are trying to attach, you can indeed attach it."
"So then," said Remus, "We could link all the teachers, ghosts, Pringle, the prefects, everybody, to a single piece of parchment?"
"And know where they are at all times," said James.
"Wow," said Sirius, "That's like..."
"...Amazing," said Peter, his eyes wide with amazement.
"But what are the effects if not used properly?" asked Remus.
"Well, there in lies our problem," said James, uncertainly.
"What?" said Sirius.
"If you mess up, the person and/or object being attached would be instead enclosed inside the inanimate object." Explained James.
"So what have we got to lose?" asked Sirius, "Let's go for it."
They all laughed for a bit at the seemingly crackpot idea, although all of them secretly wondering if it was indeed possible. Remus turned and noticed there was some sort of commotion going on outside the compartment. He checked his watch.
"We're almost there," said Remus, "We better get all of our things together and get ready."
They all began to throw things into their trunks and throw on their robes and uniforms. Sirius's robes seemed more wrinkled that normal and he tried to smooth them out with his hands, but it was to no avail. Finally he gave up, sat down and began to put his tie on. Remus had just pulled on his robes and Sirius noticed the large red badge on right side of his robes with a large Lion and with a gold P over it.
"Oh no, Remus, they made you prefect again?" gasped Sirius, "You being prefect takes all the fun out of making trouble. I mean, how are we suppose to get away with anything while your lurking the halls."
Remus smiled as he handed Peter the badge whom admired it with a slight bit of jealousy.
"But Sirius," he said looking up from the badge "we always get away with a lot."
"That's the idea Pete," he said, exasperated.
"And tell me Sirius," Remus said with a smile, "if I am the one doing the lurking why would I try to get myself into trouble as well as you."
"Oh..." said Sirius as the benefits began to don on him.
"My, you're forgetful old chap." James said with a wink.
About a half an hour later the train stopped and all the students scrambled to get off. Remus left, having to go off for prefect duty.
"We'll save you a seat at the feast, Remus," yelled Sirius as they waited for a carriage.
The three of them packed into a carriage moments later and were about to close the door when they heard a voice outside.
"Wait! Wait!" yelled the female voice, "Is this carriage full?"
The door swung back open and Sirius's eyes met the face of Nicole, who wasn't being led around by Lily and was instead just being followed by Linnea. James quickly looked around, but saw no sign of Lily. He had made up his mind on the train that he was going to apologize to Lily the next chance he got.
"We're got room for more," said Peter, squeezing over on the other side next to James and Sirius.
As the two girls entered the carriage, Nicole quickly scanned the carriage and her face dropped when she didn't spot Remus anywhere.
"Did Remus miss this carriage?" Nicole asked as the door snapped shut and the carriage took off.
"Nope, he's got to go off and Prefect stuff before the feast," said James, "What about Lily?"
"Prefect," said Linnea, her voice very smooth and mature, "Seems like being in that position takes a lot of time away from your friends."
The boys nodded and the carriage barreled towards the castle.
Back at Hogsmeade Station, Remus was standing, waiting for the Prefects to all arrive. He leaded against the wall alone, looking up at the half moon. He sighed; it wouldn't be long before he transformed into a werewolf again like he did every full moon. As him mind wandered he saw the castle in the distance and smiled. Hogwarts always did seem to bring out the happiest side of him there was.
"Prefects, this way please," called a friendly voice.
Remus turned and followed the crowd of Prefects. The group was made up of four students from each house, two boys and two girls, one from 5th year and the other a 6th year. Remus turned around and tried to scan the crowd, noticing Regulus not far behind him. He turned around and ran smack into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "Honestly, I should've been watching where I was going."
The girl turned around and smiled at him. Remus was relieved to see Lily Evans standing in front of him.
"It's all right, Remus," said Lily with a slight chuckle, "I suppose I can forgive you this once."
Remus laughed as they continued towards the castle. It made him very happy to know that Lily and him would be Prefects together.
Remus and Lily had always been good friends, and found they had a lot in common; a certain respect for the rules, a love for watching Quidditch, and the Muggle blood in their backgrounds. Lily was also one of the few people aside from Dumbledore and the other boys that knew Remus was a werewolf. He had entrusted her with the information when she began to be deeply concerned with his constantly abused and beaten appearance.
The prefects climbed into the four carriages that were there for them, one for each house. Lily and Remus met the Gryffindor 5th year prefects, one a young black boy with very short hair and chocolate brown eyes by the name of Isaac Jordan. The other was a very tall black girl with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and beautiful green eyes by the name Alicia Johnson. Remus had met them both the previous year when he was helping them out with some homework and knew that Isaac loved Quidditch and Alicia loved to play chess, which she was rather good at having beat Remus several times in succession.
As they approached the castle, Lily and Remus began to talk quietly while Isaac and Alicia chattered on about the coming year.
"So how are you, Remus?" asked Lily, her eyes looking concerned.
"As well as can be expected I suppose," he said, "I wasn't able to do much because of...well...you know."
Lily Gazed upon her friend sympathetically.
"Don't give me that look, Lily," he said, as Lily looked away and he watched Hogwarts grow closer through the window, "So what about you?"
"Me?" asked Lily, "Well, I didn't really do much of anything. I got into quiet a few fights with my sister about school and everything. My parents finally told her to grow up and start acting more like me, and you can just imagine how that helped our sister sister relationship."
"I'm sure she'll come around eventually, Lily," said Remus.
Lily rolled her eyes. Her sister, Petunia, coming around was as realistic as her falling in love with James Potter, it just would never happen.
Once the carriages arrived, Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration and Gryffindor's Head of House, was there to greet the Gryffindor Prefects. She smiled kindly at Remus and Lily as they led Isaac and Alicia towards her.
"Hello, you four. It is very good to see you all back again. I trust you had a good summer holiday." She said in a very odd and kind tone that she rarely used, "Now, as you know being a Prefect is an honor from Dumbledore, so I will expect you treat it as such. It is your duty to help maintain order and discipline within the school. Ways that you will accomplish this will be to patrol the corridors certain nights, controlling, noise level and ruckus in the common rooms, as well as keeping bedlam in the hallways to a minimum. You will also be in charge of helping first year students find there way around the castle. You will find the common room password under your plate when you enter the great hall. Do be careful because three seconds after you maintain eye contact with the piece of parchment it will incinerate. After the sorting and the feast, your first duty as prefect is to show the first years to the common room. We may now go inside and join the rest of the school."
Remus went to walk past her and into the school but McGonagall held him back for a moment. Lily hesitated, but after seeing the look on McGonagall's face, proceeded inside for the feast.
"Remus, how have you been?" asked McGonagall, sounding very concerned.
"Fine, Professor," he said casually, "No worse than normal."
She nodded.
"Now, I understand that your condition may interfere with some of your prefect duties..." she started but Remus cut her off.
"Professor?" he asked, "Um, I was able to do it fine last year, I don't really see why this year would be much different."
McGonagall stopped, looked Remus in the eyes, and slowly nodded.
"Okay, well, run along then," she said as Remus headed into the school for the feast.
Remus ran up the stairs and entered the great hall. He stopped suddenly and looked around. On the far side of the room he could see the snide Slytherins clearly talking about there smug summers. Down the center he could see Sirius leaning back talking, it seemed, quite smoothly to a Ravenclaw seventh year who was in fits of giggles, while Peter watched beside him apparently taking notes. Across the table James was slipping something that looked oddly like bubotuber puss into Peter's Pumpkin Juice. Remus laughed quietly at his friends, until her heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Remus...Remus" called Lily, "Are you coming".
Remus nodded and followed Lily to their spots at the table. Glancing up at the sky Remus breathed a sigh of relief. He was home again.
The Prefects
As the day grew on James and Sirius started talking to Remus again, about new ideas for them to get into trouble when Remus transformed once a month, and Remus just sat by, shaking his head.
"Oh come off it Remus, you know you'd go insane if you didn't have us to come visit you in the shack," said James rather quietly, "Plus, we enjoy it."
Remus smiled slightly and sighed.
"I do appreciate it," stated Remus, a tone of unconvincing doubt in his voice, "I just don't want you guys to get caught."
"We've done it tons of times, Remus," said Peter, "There's nothing to worry about anymore."
"Yeah, unless you count the Prefect, professors, ghosts, and old Pringle wandering the halls, waiting for rules breakers" said Sirius; Pringle was an hot tempered old man who took care of the castle and constantly threatened students for Rule Breaking. "So, you're right, Pete, there isn't anything to worry about."
Remus rolled his eyes while James sat quietly, his eyes focused on the ground as he rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed in thought. Peter and Sirius bickered back and forth as James thought, until he interrupted with a loud 'Got it'.
"Got what?" asked Peter.
"Got Milk?" interjected Remus.
The others turned and looked at Remus, all thoroughly confused. James, shaking his head, continued.
"An idea, so that we can, you know, sneak past everyone, even get past grumpy old Pringle." James said quickly, "Well, one night last year I was rather bored so I grabbed my invisibility cloak and innocently wandered through the restricted section of the library. Whist there I came upon a very curious looking article; the Attachment charm."
"The what?" said Remus, Sirius, and Peter together.
"The Attachment charm." repeated James smoothly; "If used properly the Attachment charm could create a link between a place and an inanimate object. I was curious as to why this particular charm would be in the restricted section of the library. Until of course I realized the effects that could be caused by the charm if not used correctly. So, in effect, we could bewitch the castle to be linked to a simple piece of parchment and according to the article, if I am not mistaken, which of course I am not." He said smugly, "We could, in effect, link the castle as well as its inhabitants to a random piece of parchment."
"What kind of screw ball idea is that!" interrupted Sirius, "I mean honestly! You're a nutter!"
"And how," Peter asked, "may I ask are we supposed to link the people inside Hogwarts to this 'parchment'."
"Well," said James, "That's the brilliant part about it. As long as you know who or what you are trying to attach, you can indeed attach it."
"So then," said Remus, "We could link all the teachers, ghosts, Pringle, the prefects, everybody, to a single piece of parchment?"
"And know where they are at all times," said James.
"Wow," said Sirius, "That's like..."
"...Amazing," said Peter, his eyes wide with amazement.
"But what are the effects if not used properly?" asked Remus.
"Well, there in lies our problem," said James, uncertainly.
"What?" said Sirius.
"If you mess up, the person and/or object being attached would be instead enclosed inside the inanimate object." Explained James.
"So what have we got to lose?" asked Sirius, "Let's go for it."
They all laughed for a bit at the seemingly crackpot idea, although all of them secretly wondering if it was indeed possible. Remus turned and noticed there was some sort of commotion going on outside the compartment. He checked his watch.
"We're almost there," said Remus, "We better get all of our things together and get ready."
They all began to throw things into their trunks and throw on their robes and uniforms. Sirius's robes seemed more wrinkled that normal and he tried to smooth them out with his hands, but it was to no avail. Finally he gave up, sat down and began to put his tie on. Remus had just pulled on his robes and Sirius noticed the large red badge on right side of his robes with a large Lion and with a gold P over it.
"Oh no, Remus, they made you prefect again?" gasped Sirius, "You being prefect takes all the fun out of making trouble. I mean, how are we suppose to get away with anything while your lurking the halls."
Remus smiled as he handed Peter the badge whom admired it with a slight bit of jealousy.
"But Sirius," he said looking up from the badge "we always get away with a lot."
"That's the idea Pete," he said, exasperated.
"And tell me Sirius," Remus said with a smile, "if I am the one doing the lurking why would I try to get myself into trouble as well as you."
"Oh..." said Sirius as the benefits began to don on him.
"My, you're forgetful old chap." James said with a wink.
About a half an hour later the train stopped and all the students scrambled to get off. Remus left, having to go off for prefect duty.
"We'll save you a seat at the feast, Remus," yelled Sirius as they waited for a carriage.
The three of them packed into a carriage moments later and were about to close the door when they heard a voice outside.
"Wait! Wait!" yelled the female voice, "Is this carriage full?"
The door swung back open and Sirius's eyes met the face of Nicole, who wasn't being led around by Lily and was instead just being followed by Linnea. James quickly looked around, but saw no sign of Lily. He had made up his mind on the train that he was going to apologize to Lily the next chance he got.
"We're got room for more," said Peter, squeezing over on the other side next to James and Sirius.
As the two girls entered the carriage, Nicole quickly scanned the carriage and her face dropped when she didn't spot Remus anywhere.
"Did Remus miss this carriage?" Nicole asked as the door snapped shut and the carriage took off.
"Nope, he's got to go off and Prefect stuff before the feast," said James, "What about Lily?"
"Prefect," said Linnea, her voice very smooth and mature, "Seems like being in that position takes a lot of time away from your friends."
The boys nodded and the carriage barreled towards the castle.
Back at Hogsmeade Station, Remus was standing, waiting for the Prefects to all arrive. He leaded against the wall alone, looking up at the half moon. He sighed; it wouldn't be long before he transformed into a werewolf again like he did every full moon. As him mind wandered he saw the castle in the distance and smiled. Hogwarts always did seem to bring out the happiest side of him there was.
"Prefects, this way please," called a friendly voice.
Remus turned and followed the crowd of Prefects. The group was made up of four students from each house, two boys and two girls, one from 5th year and the other a 6th year. Remus turned around and tried to scan the crowd, noticing Regulus not far behind him. He turned around and ran smack into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "Honestly, I should've been watching where I was going."
The girl turned around and smiled at him. Remus was relieved to see Lily Evans standing in front of him.
"It's all right, Remus," said Lily with a slight chuckle, "I suppose I can forgive you this once."
Remus laughed as they continued towards the castle. It made him very happy to know that Lily and him would be Prefects together.
Remus and Lily had always been good friends, and found they had a lot in common; a certain respect for the rules, a love for watching Quidditch, and the Muggle blood in their backgrounds. Lily was also one of the few people aside from Dumbledore and the other boys that knew Remus was a werewolf. He had entrusted her with the information when she began to be deeply concerned with his constantly abused and beaten appearance.
The prefects climbed into the four carriages that were there for them, one for each house. Lily and Remus met the Gryffindor 5th year prefects, one a young black boy with very short hair and chocolate brown eyes by the name of Isaac Jordan. The other was a very tall black girl with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and beautiful green eyes by the name Alicia Johnson. Remus had met them both the previous year when he was helping them out with some homework and knew that Isaac loved Quidditch and Alicia loved to play chess, which she was rather good at having beat Remus several times in succession.
As they approached the castle, Lily and Remus began to talk quietly while Isaac and Alicia chattered on about the coming year.
"So how are you, Remus?" asked Lily, her eyes looking concerned.
"As well as can be expected I suppose," he said, "I wasn't able to do much because of...well...you know."
Lily Gazed upon her friend sympathetically.
"Don't give me that look, Lily," he said, as Lily looked away and he watched Hogwarts grow closer through the window, "So what about you?"
"Me?" asked Lily, "Well, I didn't really do much of anything. I got into quiet a few fights with my sister about school and everything. My parents finally told her to grow up and start acting more like me, and you can just imagine how that helped our sister sister relationship."
"I'm sure she'll come around eventually, Lily," said Remus.
Lily rolled her eyes. Her sister, Petunia, coming around was as realistic as her falling in love with James Potter, it just would never happen.
Once the carriages arrived, Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration and Gryffindor's Head of House, was there to greet the Gryffindor Prefects. She smiled kindly at Remus and Lily as they led Isaac and Alicia towards her.
"Hello, you four. It is very good to see you all back again. I trust you had a good summer holiday." She said in a very odd and kind tone that she rarely used, "Now, as you know being a Prefect is an honor from Dumbledore, so I will expect you treat it as such. It is your duty to help maintain order and discipline within the school. Ways that you will accomplish this will be to patrol the corridors certain nights, controlling, noise level and ruckus in the common rooms, as well as keeping bedlam in the hallways to a minimum. You will also be in charge of helping first year students find there way around the castle. You will find the common room password under your plate when you enter the great hall. Do be careful because three seconds after you maintain eye contact with the piece of parchment it will incinerate. After the sorting and the feast, your first duty as prefect is to show the first years to the common room. We may now go inside and join the rest of the school."
Remus went to walk past her and into the school but McGonagall held him back for a moment. Lily hesitated, but after seeing the look on McGonagall's face, proceeded inside for the feast.
"Remus, how have you been?" asked McGonagall, sounding very concerned.
"Fine, Professor," he said casually, "No worse than normal."
She nodded.
"Now, I understand that your condition may interfere with some of your prefect duties..." she started but Remus cut her off.
"Professor?" he asked, "Um, I was able to do it fine last year, I don't really see why this year would be much different."
McGonagall stopped, looked Remus in the eyes, and slowly nodded.
"Okay, well, run along then," she said as Remus headed into the school for the feast.
Remus ran up the stairs and entered the great hall. He stopped suddenly and looked around. On the far side of the room he could see the snide Slytherins clearly talking about there smug summers. Down the center he could see Sirius leaning back talking, it seemed, quite smoothly to a Ravenclaw seventh year who was in fits of giggles, while Peter watched beside him apparently taking notes. Across the table James was slipping something that looked oddly like bubotuber puss into Peter's Pumpkin Juice. Remus laughed quietly at his friends, until her heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Remus...Remus" called Lily, "Are you coming".
Remus nodded and followed Lily to their spots at the table. Glancing up at the sky Remus breathed a sigh of relief. He was home again.