CHAPTER 24

Professor June's Warning

That night was relatively peaceful for James. Of course, the afternoon and evening had been hectic. There had been a going away party for Bertha, and they had stopped in the middle of the party because of the dinging of her spoon on her butterbeer bottle. She stood, and the room went quiet. She raised her butterbeer to James and said, "You're the best Quidditch player of your age I have ever seen." James smiled. "You were what we needed to get this Cup, and I think that we all know that if it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have it here with our names engraved in it. So, as a token of our appreciation, the team has decided to give you a special award."

Dennis held up a golden trophy and handed it to James.

"It's for your talent, speed, and skill," Bertha said. "It will stand next to our own trophy in the case. Thank you, James."

The common room exploded with cheers and applause, and James blushed.

Sirius, Lupin, and Peter had been waiting for him when he opened the door to his room. Sirius was holding the invisibility cloak out to him.

"Now it's time for our celebration," he said, smiling.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

They made their way down the corridor and up the stairs that had led to a dead end.

"Peter and I went back here during Christmas," Remus explained, "and there really is a door here. I'm not sure what exactly it does, but if you walk past it, thinking of what you need in a room, the door will appear and hold whatever you were thinking about. We tried it a few times, and it seems to work."

"What do we want?" Sirius said. "Quidditch decorations, music, lights ---"

"Sure," James shrugged, and they walked past the room, thinking of all the things that could be there for their delight.

They swiveled around at the end of the hall, and doubled back, and then one last time before the door came into place.

"Excellent," Sirius said as he pushed it open. In front of them was a large room with toy Snitches flying every which way, a table filled with tankards of butterbeer and other assorted sweets, and blaring music from all corners of the room.

"Peter, you've made up for all your other flaws," Sirius smiled, but Remus was looking worried.

"I hear something," he said. "Quick, shut the door."

James quietly shut it, and they all listened through the door to the approaching voices.

"It was a great attack," Professor McGonagall's voice came. "And two of us were killed."

"They follow Snorks," Dumbledore's raspy voice said, "and more will follow them."

"Open the door," James said, and Remus, very confused, opened it quietly. "Now walk," James instructed, and the four of them pursued the two talking teachers who were now stepping silently down the stairs.

"Who was killed?" Dumbledore asked.

"The McKinnons. We arrived too shortly, and then Loraine and Westerham were found dead. It was the Death Eaters again."

"And Marlene? Poor Marlene ---"

"No, Marlene is safe. We have her with Mad Eye at his home. Minerva, It is growing," Dumbledore said, turning a corner. The boys followed.

"What does Alastor think of all this?"

"He was there tonight, and took four of them into custody,. Those four killed themselves before arriving at the Ministry headquarters. Minerva, we have a duty to tell the children what is happening to our world."

"No, Albus. They are too young." They headed down another staircase.

"And soon they will be too old for us to help them," Dumbledore said as they turned and began walking down a corridor.

The boys struggled to keep up.

"The Order is still growing. We have infiltrated Tom's lines, and we soon will infiltrate his highest associates."

Professor McGonagall scoffed, "Albus, we cannot win this with just the Order. The Ministry has got to-"

"And the Ministry has," Dumbledore said. "Jeremiah has been very supportive of the Order. He will continue to be."

"Albus," said a new voice.

The four boys turned to look at Professor June, only a few inches away from Peter's nose.

"Yes, Michael?" Dumbledore addressed him.

"Albus, I have news from the Ministry. They seemed to have identified one of the Death Eaters. The other three did a pretty good job in disguising themselves, but this one they could recognize." He pointed to a piece of parchment. "It was Klien."

"Michael, that's impossible, it ---" Professor McGonagall trailed off, and then looked to Dumbledore. "Isn't it? He was only the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher here two years ago-"

"He was a high supporter of Voldemort," June said, walking to them. The boys hastened out of his way. "One of the recruiters when this all started. They think he was in charge of killing that Muggle born off in London during the holidays."

"Oh my!" Professor McGonagall said.

"And another thing," June added. "They believe that Voldemort himself was there to kill off the McKinnons. He knew that Raymond was in the Order. Somehow, he knew."

"Raymond and his family knew the risks involved with joining us," Dumbledore said. "And all we can do is hope that no others are hurt as they were. We will need to secure the houses of the Bones's, the Figgs, the Shacklebolts, the Potters, all of them."

James felt his heart stop. The Potters? Was his dad in this Order?

Sirius looked at James, trying to appear sympathetic. But his mind was already racing. James had been right. They were going to target his family.

"We will not have any more bloodshed of the innocent," Dumbledore said, and then he took his leave of the other two. "Tell Hagrid to contact Arabella. I would like to speak with her."

James didn't say anything on the walk back to the dormitory, and he couldn't fall asleep that night. He kept looking to the window, and to the moon. How much longer before he could see those Thestrals?

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Now that Quidditch was over and exams were coming, James had nothing to look forward to except for summer. Sirius would be joining him at the Potter house this year, and this thought helped him get through the two remaining months of school. Ever since Gryffindor won the Cup, the entire school had been wanting to shake his hand. Sirius, as his best friend, was also dragged into the limelight. At least five girls could be seen staring at him at any given time. And they had good reason to. The boy James had met on the train was changing faster than any of the others. His slick black hair was constantly in his face, but in a graceful sort of way. His voice had dropped, and his shoulders were lengthening out to meet the rest of his size. As for James, he was still on the short side and wasn't planning on too much of a growth spurt. But he was still taller than Remus and Peter.

"Tell us again how you taught him that dive roll," a second year Hufflepuff fawned over Sirius as he balanced on two legs of the chair.

"Well, it was when we were in first year," Sirius said. "When me and James were just young and innocent-like."

"I doubt you were ever innocent, Black."

Sirius slammed onto four legs and looked up at the snarling face in front of him. "Oh, hello, Snivelly. Care to join us? You know --- me and the girls. You do know what girls are, don't you?"

"You think you're the greatest thing to ever grace Hogwarts, don't you?" Snape spat, his greasy hair falling into his face. "You can fool them, but you can't fool me."

"Is that so?" Sirius said, grabbing for his wand.

"Oh, don't hurt him, Sirius," a giggly third year squealed.

"You couldn't hurt me if you tried," Snape hissed.

"Oh, that's right," Sirius grinned, "I'm not the one that gets my jollies out of the Restricted Section, am I?"

"At least I know what a book is," Snape retorted, and he raised his own wand. A red spark flew out and hit Sirius over the face. A streak of blood ran down his cheek. His eyes glazed over, and his smile faded.

"You shouldn't have done that, Snivellus," he growled.

Snape smirked.

"Tonight. In the third floor corridor," Sirius snarled, his eyes still dark. He looked ready to murder Snape, "We'll have a proper wizard's duel. James is my second. I advise you to find a second as well. That is, if you've got any friends."

"I choose Mulciber as mine," Snape said dryly.

He pointed to the boy who had been handing out the boycott posters. He was a terrifying lump of a boy, his black hair falling into his chiseled, gaunt face. His beady eyes looked to Sirius. Sirius grinned an unsettling grin.

"Tonight. One o' clock," Snape added as he walked away.

"We'll be there," Sirius snarled.

"""""""""""""""""

"Snape? Snivellus? Are you mad?" Remus said as James and Sirius grabbed their robes from the drawer. "He knew more curses than the seventh years when he came here! Imagine what he knows now! And Mulciber? James, some of the professors are afraid of him! He's a terrible piece of work --- they say he's aiming to be a Death Eater --- Snape is, too ---"

"They don't scare me," James said, pulling on his robe.

"Oh, he plenty will when you're looking at him from flat on your back!" Remus turned a page in the Animagus book. "And we're getting closer to the third step of the spells. Do you want to waste a perfectly good night on getting yourself killed?"

"Yeah," James said, buttoning his robes.

"Stop whining, Remus." Sirius walked to the door, holding the Invisibility Cloak out to James. "We'll be back in a few. We're just gonna shake Snape up a bit, that's all. Don't be such a mother hen."

Peter let out a laugh, but no one else joined in. He grew quiet.

"Give us twenty minutes," James said, opening the door. "If we're not back, then you can tell on us for all you want. All right?"

"Any last words before you die?" Remus said.

"Yeah," Sirius said as James disappeared under the Cloak. "You worry too much."

And the door shut behind them.

"Well, they can't blame this one on me," Remus sighed, going back to the book. "I warned them."

The two of them walked carefully to the third floor corridor, where they saw the silhouettes of two skinny boys waiting for them. One of them was pacing, and the other was looking steadily at the wall, deep in concentration.

"Let's make this good," James said, and took out his wand.

"I don't think they're going to show," Mulciber said to Snape.

"They'll show," Snape replied. "That air headed git wouldn't pass up a chance to fight me."

Sirius and James crept slowly to the back of Snape, and James pointed his wand at the unsuspecting boy's buttocks.

"Incendio," he whispered.

"Did you hear something?" Snape hissed to Mulciber. But Mulciber wasn't interested in what he was hearing. He was staring at the sight on Snape's robes. The flames were rising to his sleeve, and-

"AAAHH!" Snape batted at the flames, and Mulciber stood there, unable to use speech.

"Help me!" Snape cried.

"Are you a wizard or not," Mulciber extinguised the fire with his wand, after half of Snape's clothes had been burnt off into ashes.

"I won't stay any longer, Severus," Mulciber snarled, "Potter isn't coming." And then Snape's face turned white as he looked past his friend's shoulder.

"What now?" Mulciber snarled.

Sirius picked up a painting, despite the requests to be let down by the inhabitants. He made it dance in the air, and Snape became face to face with the jumping portrait.

"Potter!" Snape spat, and he grabbed the picture. "Potter is here. I don't know how he is, but he's here. Why don't you show yourself, Potter?"

"Liccions!" James whispered.

Mulciber watched in boredom as Snivellus's robes flew up and over his head.

"Wedgions!" Sirius chortled.

It was as if an invisible pair of hands had grabbed Snape's underwear and was pulling them skyward. Snape made a face and flew up two feet in the air. Finally, he managed to break free and fall to the ground in a heap.

"POTTER!"

"Writtandius!" James took his wand, sticking it outside of the cloak, and wrote in the air in green letters, "Snivellus should wash his hair for a change."

Snape grew a very bright red, and Mulciber gave a bit of a grin.

"What's going on up there!"

It was Filch.

"Run for it!" Sirius hissed to James, and the two of them ran off down the corridor, down the stairs, up another flight, and past the Fat Lady.

"Who's there?"

They slammed the portrait behind them and jumped up the spiral staircase three at a time. James pulled Sirius inside the dormitory room just as Professor McGonagall entered the common room.

"Hey, you're in one piece," Remus said, sounding surprised. "I was going to rent out your beds."

"Professor McGonagall's coming!" James whispered as Sirius and James dove into their beds. "Cover for us!"

"Right," Remus said as the door opened and Professor McGonagall came charging in.

"Good night, Mr. Lupin," she said, looking at him and Peter, who were sitting up wide awake.

"Good night, Professor," he replied.

Peter stared at her, and then back at the two snoring boys across the room.

"Are Mr. Potter and Mr. Black in here with you?" she asked.

"Yes. They went to sleep about two hours ago," Remus lied. "There they are. Why, Professor?"

"We caught Mr. Snape and Mr. Nott in the third floor corridor. He had some story about Potter being out of bed?"

"No, they've been here all night," Remus said. "I've been sitting here, trying to teach Peter about Animagi all night. See?" He pointed to his book. "I find the topic very interesting."

"Y-yeah, interesting," Peter stammered.

"And they haven't gone anywhere the whole time we've been studying."

"Yeah, studying."

Professor McGonagall looked from Remus and Peter to the sleeping bodies of Sirius and James, and then back to Remus. "Very well. Sorry to disturb you. It is very late, though. I would advise you to get some rest before tomorrow." She opened the door. "And Mr. Potter, you may want to remove your shoes next time before jumping into bed in a frenzy."

"Sorry, Professor," James's muffled voice came from under his pillow.

The door shut, and the occupants of the room burst into laughter.

""""""""""""""""""""""""

Snape was very cross now, having been caught in one of their tricks for the second time. He loathed James Potter and his friends. He loathed everything about them, and he had made it his duty to trip them up at every chance he got with a spell or hex in the halls. James made it his duty to return the hexes. Four fights had broken out in the corridors between classes, and the two of them had earned a week's worth of detention by assorted teachers.

In the meantime, Remus realized how close his next transformation was. Professor June had stopped him the hallway and told him that he would be accompanying Remus down to the Shrieking Shack the next day.

"Why? What happened to Madam Pomfrey?" Remus asked. He didn't like June too well. After finding that he was suspicious of Sirius knowing about the transformations, he felt as if this man could stop them from joining him and tearing all of the hope he had left away from him.

"Well, I decided that I could do my part to the school by giving her a break," June said, smiling. "You know, before I leave."

"You're leaving, too?" Remus said, trying not to sound happy about it.

"Well, yes. Dumbledore has a job for me somewhere else. But don't worry. You'll enjoy your new teacher. No boggarts to sneak up on you next year, right?"

Remus' stomach lurched.

"Now, where does she usually pick you up?"

"Outside the Gryffindor common room at four o' clock. Knock on the Fat Lady. I'll hear you." Remus tried to add a smile, but it came off looking like a grimace.

"Let's make it three, shall we? I'd like to talk to you for a bit. Have a few words about your performance in my class?" June still had that stupid grin on his face. "What do you say?"

"Sure, okay." Remus swallowed back a bit of throw up in his throat. "All right. Three o' clock."

He was going to pump him for answers. He knew about their secret.

The next day, three o' clock had come, and Remus felt very sick. Sirius and Peter sat with him, as James was at detention with Professor Hall. The Fat Lady gave a scream, and Sirius looked at Remus darkly.

"Don't worry," Remus said weakly. "I'm not going to say anything."

Sirius didn't look too convinced.

Remus ran for the portrait and opened it to the smiling face of June. His stomachache returned.

"Hello, Remus," June said happily as Remus joined him out in the hall.

"Hello, Professor," Remus grumbled.

They walked onto the grounds and past the Whomping Willow. Remus did a double take at June, but June didn't seem to be heading for the tunnel just yet. He was walking toward the lake, where a few other students were throwing twigs at the giant squid.

"Take a seat, Remus," he said, sitting down on the grass. Remus gulped and sat down in the shade under a tree.

"What exactly did you want to talk about, Professor?" he asked.

"How long has the curse been affecting you?" June said, ignoring his question.

"About nine years. Why?"

"And how many friends have you had for those nine years?"

"Why are you asking me this, Professor?" Remus said, very unsure of what he was doing there.

"Not very many, I suppose," June said. "Must have been the greatest time of your life, coming to Hogwarts and meeting people. People that would accept you."

"Maybe we should go to the-"

"I know, as well as you do, what that Black boy saw, that day with the boggart," June interrupted him. "And I haven't told anyone, no. There would be no way to prove that he followed you down into the tunnels. But I know how fond you are of him and his little friends."

"They're my friends, too, Professor," Remus said. "And I have no idea what you're talking about. What boggart?"

"I saw your eyes, Remus," June said. "I saw your eyes. They had that same horrified look that my son used to wear."

There was a silence between the two of them, and then Remus spoke very softly, "Erm --- your son, Professor June?"

"He was like you," he said, staring out at the lake. "He was bitten when he was a child. Very young, like yourself. I tried to make him feel not any different than anyone else, but he did." He looked at Remus and smiled sadly. "It killed him in the end."

"What?" Remus gulped. He had never heard of the curse ever killing the person affected with it before.

"Society. His so-called 'friends,'" June snorted. "That's what. I've lived with the heartache that comes with being a werewolf, Remus. I know how you must hate yourself some nights. And how, no matter what, you will always be that monster inside. Yes, I know all about it, Remus."

"Well, I'm sorry for your son, Professor," Remus said, looking down at the ground. He wanted to sink into it, far away from this conversation that they were having.

"I am, too," June said quietly. "And I would like to give you a piece of advice before leaving. People like Mr. Black and Mr. Potter. You must be weary of them," he said. "They are the kind of people that stab you when you aren't looking. There is no such thing as a friend here in this world, Remus. Especially in this world that is changing."

"I don't think that Sirius or James would ever-"

"I warn you," June said. "I would not trust either of them with my life. Now the sun is setting. Better get you into position."

June stood, and Remus weakly followed him over to the Whomping Willow. Making sure that no one else could see what they were doing, June prodded the knot with a stick, and they climbed into the hole. Down the tunnel they went, Remus not wanting to talk any more to this man. Two years ago, he would have taken his word. He would have steered clear of everything and everyone, only looking out for himself. But now he felt anger boil up inside him. He would not let anything kill him. Including doubt.

He clenched his fists as he walked closer to the entrance. This was his curse. This was his nightmare. And yet, it was not his life.

"Here's where I leave you," June said. "Have a pleasant night."

"Thank you, bye," Remus muttered as he hoisted himself up into the Shack for what seemed like the hundredth time and locked the trap door behind him.

He took a seat on the couch, waiting for the moon to rise. It would be soon, very soon, when his friends would find out how to transform with him, and they would all be together again. He wouldn't be the wolf any longer. He would be Remus.

He was so tired that he wanted to drop off to sleep right then, as the sun set in the sky. Maybe that way it wouldn't hurt as much when it happened.