A/N: One review. Again. Thank you, Child-of-Scorpio. Incidentally I am
Aries. And Eihwaz is Aquarius. I really doubt she even knows that.
Um... I am trying to capitalise on half-term boredom by posting today so
PLEASE, MORE PEOPLE REVIEW! I am metaphorically down on my knees begging.
Which is sad. But hey. Pppplllllllleeeeaaaaasssssseee.
Chapter 9
For the rest of the month, I kept my eyes peeled for him and enough hexes and taunts in mind to curse and upset the whole year.
"Hey, Snape, look who's here - furnunculus!"
"Snivelly, how pleasant to see you. Wipe your nose - textum omnipraesentia!"
"You look tired today, dear Snape. This should make you bright eyed, and, er, greasy tailed. Oculos lumos!"
"Your voice annoys me, Snivellus. Aries vocatis!"
After two weeks of nightly detentions, Sirius and I grew more practised at spotting teachers, and then distracting them or being sufficiently quiet that little could be proved as us. Snape was caught a few more times retaliating before he wizened up - although he seldom did Sirius or I any harm in the few actual duels we had, or when we got to him first. It was when he took us by surprise that he got us, and that only lessened the little respect I had for him even further. I had no more scruples about two, or occasionally three, against one, when he attacked from behind. No true wizard did that, and I certainly didn't. It was a trick of the dark side.
The month of December was busy - I was out of Hogwarts every weekend, most often training with the England squad, but I went into Hogsmeade with the rest of my year to buy Christmas presents on a couple of occasions. Once in Zonko's, the joke shop, Sirius made a brilliant find.
"James, look!" He held up a pair of small but ornate silver-backed mirrors.
I laughed. "I knew you were vain, mate, but two identical mirrors?"
"Come off it," he replied. "No - these mirrors are for communicating. Look, go over there with this and watch it."
Bewildered but obedient, I retreated to the other side of the shop and waited. Suddenly Sirius' face swum into view.
"Hi James!"
"Sirius?"
"Yeah! And I can see you! How cool would these be in separate detentions?"
I began to grin. "How much do they cost?"
"Fifty galleons for the pair - there's only one lot in the entire wizarding world. Can we go halves and get one each for Christmas?"
"Yes," I agreed immediately. "Excellent."
Because the thing was, whilst we had taken pride in our first week of detentions, the second week had been more of a sacrifice. Detentions together could be even fun, but separate detentions were a bore, at the least. With these, though... we need never have a truly separate detention again.
My first junior England match, against Germany, was a week before Christmas. Sirius and Remus, who had come to stay at my house for the holiday, came to watch, as did Mum and Dad. I had not been moved to Chaser, as the manager thought it would be good for me to vary what I played, so I was against a very small girl who didn't look like she wanted to be there. Perhaps it was because of that that she didn't seem to be playing very well. Or maybe I was just expecting too much. Either way, it was clear from the start that I was the stronger player. Only a fluke would let her win.
However, halfway through the match a Bludger hit her in the arm and she had to be carried off. In her place was a taller boy with nasty, determined eyes and thick eyebrows. He was far more equally matched with me - I could not understand why he had been their reserve.
Meanwhile, our team was leading, but only by ten points. I peered around for the Snitch, but low cloud cover was making it more difficult. Rain would be worse, though. It looked like we had ten minutes, maximum, before it would start pouring.
At last a gold glitter caught my eye, but my opponent had had a head start. I laid flat on my broom and managed to overtake him, but I was going too fast to grab the Snitch. I heard his laugh, but I had heard a tip from Geoff Bones on how to cope with this. I knew it was potentially dangerous, particularly the first time, but I had no time to think - I yanked my broom head up and flew into a miraculously neat backward roll and snatched the Snitch just as my rival's hand stretched out.
"Ha ha! Look who's laughing now!" I shouted over my shoulder as I soared to the ground, hands free and whooping.
I felt myself caught between the Beaters, who landed but continued to run, lifting me high. This was the life, I grinned. I was the hero now - victory snatched from the other team's hands.
Cameras flashed as the others landed round us, cheering and yelling. Our manager ran onto the pitch, arms raised and robes flapping.
"Well done, Potter!" he called. "Brilliant! That was superb inspiration, that roll - excellent!"
"Go, James! That was spectacular!" shouted our Keeper.
I chuckled. "His face! That stupid git's face!"
'That stupid git' overheard and spat at the ground. "Ooh, temper, temper," yelled our captain, George. "Sore loser, are you? No match for our Potter, oh no! Never."
Finally I was allowed to dismount. Sirius and Remus were pushing their way through the crowd massing on the pitch, that parted as I walked forward.
"You go, mate!" Sirius crowed as I reached them. Remus clapped me on the back. "Snape'll be sick as a pig."
"Looks like one too," I smirked.
"A photo of the team?" said a rough but smarmy voice. "Perhaps?"
I backtracked and was shoved to the front of the group. "Our hero!"
I didn't bother to shut them up. I was basking in it.
"Smile, please!"
But I already was.
Remus went home on New Year's Eve, but Sirius stayed the entire holiday.
"I'm surprised your parents don't want you home," Mum said fondly.
"Nah. They don't approve of me. A Gryffindor, and all that."
"But Gryffindor's the best house! What is there not to approve of you?"
"They prefer Slytherin," he said sullenly. "That's the sort of thing they do approve of."
Mum and I glanced at each other. I had never realised that Sirius' parents were like that.
Sirius and I returned to school with the mirrors and an assortment of other accoutrements for making havoc, many given to us by Remus. Thus provided, the first few weeks were a riot of bubbling corridors, icy - literally - classrooms and freak snowstorms in the Great Hall. Pringle went mad. We were almost permanently stalked, but we were becoming experts at covering our tracks. Snape had begun to go out of his way to avoid us. I spent most of the time laughing aloud as his bag disappeared round corners and behind statues.
The first week of February brought a shock, however. Remus was standing with Sirius and I, admiring the steady rain falling on the Slytherin table, when suddenly he gave a yelp and sprinted out of the hall.
"What -?"
"Come on," Sirius muttered. "Let's follow him."
We ran, dodging behind things as he turned several times, all the way to the hospital wing. "Remus!" cried Madam Pomfrey. "Where have you been?"
"I don't know how - I forgot - how can I forget, I've never done that before..."
"Come on, hurry. We don't have much time, do we?"
Remus checked his watch. "Ten minutes," he moaned. They began to walk briskly out of the castle. Sirius and I crept behind, more mystified than ever. Madam Pomfrey and Remus kept looking up at the sky - I remembered this from last time.
"You must promise to run if I start transforming. Tell everyone to stay indoors. I'll leave tomorrow. I should never have come here." Remus' voice was shrill - loud enough for Sirius and I to hear.
"Transforming?" I muttered. And then I stopped.
Sirius' eyes slid up to the sky. Full moon.
"Oh my God," he whispered. "Remus is a..."
"... Werewolf," I finished.
Remus returned to breakfast the next morning with a scratched face and shadowed eyes. "What happened to you?" Sirius asked pointlessly.
"Oh, nothing. I just fell over, that's all. Stupid of me."
"You look like you've had a fight with the Whomping Willow," I commented sagely.
"Yeah, you did go to Madam Pomfrey, didn't you?" Sirius chipped in.
The penny was slowly dropping, I could see. He stared at us, wide-eyed.
"What, Rem? Is there something wrong? Something you need to tell us?" Sirius inquired.
"Er -"
"Maybe we should talk after breakfast," I suggested. "Go into full details, eh, Remus? Snouts and all."
We weren't trying to be funny, but Remus attempted a laugh before falling into a long, despondent silence.
"OK, Rem, tell us everything," Sirius ordered once we'd found an empty classroom. It was a Saturday, so there were no lessons. I was skipping Quidditch practice - this was more important.
"Um."
"Remus, come on," I said. "We already know that you're a werewolf, so -"
He winced. "Keep your voice down!" Then he stared at the floor. "Well, actually, what's the point?"
"Sorry?"
"Oh, come on. Nobody wants to be friends with a... one of me. They don't even want to be near one. So shout it out and enough letters will come from parents that I have to leave. Go on." He kicked a desk unhappily. "I said, go on!" And then, for the first and last time I ever saw, Remus cried. Great, choking, whole body sobs that shuddered through him. We were flabbergasted.
"We don't want you to leave!"
He waved me away. "Of course you do. Why would anyone care that all I've ever wanted is to come to school, have friends? I'm a werewolf, I don't deserve dreams!"
"What?"
"That's what you think, isn't it? It's what everyone thinks. You loathe me - worse. You fear me. Have you any idea what that's like?"
"Remus, wait." Sirius put a firm hand on his shoulder. "No, we don't want you to leave. We don't hate you and we're certainly not scared of you. In short, we couldn't give a damn what you are. My parents are dark wizards working for the darkest one of all - does that make me a bad person? A lot of people might think so, but I trust you two not to."
"If anything, we want to help you!" I added.
Remus stared. "W-w-what?"
"Listen, there must be some way we can... accompany you, or something?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I never considered it. Nobody would've wanted to. You're the first friends I've had since I was bitten when I was three. That's nine years of loneliness. I didn't really consider friendship during my transformations. I was more working on how to get any friends."
I swallowed. How truly, truly horrible.
"Well, you've got us now."
He nodded slowly. "Professor Dumbledore was good to let me in here," he said. "No one else would have."
"Dumbledore is good, full stop, Moony," Sirius said.
"Moony?" Remus blinked.
"Yeah, well, why not? Nobody else'll guess why and I like it."
"Well... OK," Remus said. "Moony it is." And he grinned.
Chapter 9
For the rest of the month, I kept my eyes peeled for him and enough hexes and taunts in mind to curse and upset the whole year.
"Hey, Snape, look who's here - furnunculus!"
"Snivelly, how pleasant to see you. Wipe your nose - textum omnipraesentia!"
"You look tired today, dear Snape. This should make you bright eyed, and, er, greasy tailed. Oculos lumos!"
"Your voice annoys me, Snivellus. Aries vocatis!"
After two weeks of nightly detentions, Sirius and I grew more practised at spotting teachers, and then distracting them or being sufficiently quiet that little could be proved as us. Snape was caught a few more times retaliating before he wizened up - although he seldom did Sirius or I any harm in the few actual duels we had, or when we got to him first. It was when he took us by surprise that he got us, and that only lessened the little respect I had for him even further. I had no more scruples about two, or occasionally three, against one, when he attacked from behind. No true wizard did that, and I certainly didn't. It was a trick of the dark side.
The month of December was busy - I was out of Hogwarts every weekend, most often training with the England squad, but I went into Hogsmeade with the rest of my year to buy Christmas presents on a couple of occasions. Once in Zonko's, the joke shop, Sirius made a brilliant find.
"James, look!" He held up a pair of small but ornate silver-backed mirrors.
I laughed. "I knew you were vain, mate, but two identical mirrors?"
"Come off it," he replied. "No - these mirrors are for communicating. Look, go over there with this and watch it."
Bewildered but obedient, I retreated to the other side of the shop and waited. Suddenly Sirius' face swum into view.
"Hi James!"
"Sirius?"
"Yeah! And I can see you! How cool would these be in separate detentions?"
I began to grin. "How much do they cost?"
"Fifty galleons for the pair - there's only one lot in the entire wizarding world. Can we go halves and get one each for Christmas?"
"Yes," I agreed immediately. "Excellent."
Because the thing was, whilst we had taken pride in our first week of detentions, the second week had been more of a sacrifice. Detentions together could be even fun, but separate detentions were a bore, at the least. With these, though... we need never have a truly separate detention again.
My first junior England match, against Germany, was a week before Christmas. Sirius and Remus, who had come to stay at my house for the holiday, came to watch, as did Mum and Dad. I had not been moved to Chaser, as the manager thought it would be good for me to vary what I played, so I was against a very small girl who didn't look like she wanted to be there. Perhaps it was because of that that she didn't seem to be playing very well. Or maybe I was just expecting too much. Either way, it was clear from the start that I was the stronger player. Only a fluke would let her win.
However, halfway through the match a Bludger hit her in the arm and she had to be carried off. In her place was a taller boy with nasty, determined eyes and thick eyebrows. He was far more equally matched with me - I could not understand why he had been their reserve.
Meanwhile, our team was leading, but only by ten points. I peered around for the Snitch, but low cloud cover was making it more difficult. Rain would be worse, though. It looked like we had ten minutes, maximum, before it would start pouring.
At last a gold glitter caught my eye, but my opponent had had a head start. I laid flat on my broom and managed to overtake him, but I was going too fast to grab the Snitch. I heard his laugh, but I had heard a tip from Geoff Bones on how to cope with this. I knew it was potentially dangerous, particularly the first time, but I had no time to think - I yanked my broom head up and flew into a miraculously neat backward roll and snatched the Snitch just as my rival's hand stretched out.
"Ha ha! Look who's laughing now!" I shouted over my shoulder as I soared to the ground, hands free and whooping.
I felt myself caught between the Beaters, who landed but continued to run, lifting me high. This was the life, I grinned. I was the hero now - victory snatched from the other team's hands.
Cameras flashed as the others landed round us, cheering and yelling. Our manager ran onto the pitch, arms raised and robes flapping.
"Well done, Potter!" he called. "Brilliant! That was superb inspiration, that roll - excellent!"
"Go, James! That was spectacular!" shouted our Keeper.
I chuckled. "His face! That stupid git's face!"
'That stupid git' overheard and spat at the ground. "Ooh, temper, temper," yelled our captain, George. "Sore loser, are you? No match for our Potter, oh no! Never."
Finally I was allowed to dismount. Sirius and Remus were pushing their way through the crowd massing on the pitch, that parted as I walked forward.
"You go, mate!" Sirius crowed as I reached them. Remus clapped me on the back. "Snape'll be sick as a pig."
"Looks like one too," I smirked.
"A photo of the team?" said a rough but smarmy voice. "Perhaps?"
I backtracked and was shoved to the front of the group. "Our hero!"
I didn't bother to shut them up. I was basking in it.
"Smile, please!"
But I already was.
Remus went home on New Year's Eve, but Sirius stayed the entire holiday.
"I'm surprised your parents don't want you home," Mum said fondly.
"Nah. They don't approve of me. A Gryffindor, and all that."
"But Gryffindor's the best house! What is there not to approve of you?"
"They prefer Slytherin," he said sullenly. "That's the sort of thing they do approve of."
Mum and I glanced at each other. I had never realised that Sirius' parents were like that.
Sirius and I returned to school with the mirrors and an assortment of other accoutrements for making havoc, many given to us by Remus. Thus provided, the first few weeks were a riot of bubbling corridors, icy - literally - classrooms and freak snowstorms in the Great Hall. Pringle went mad. We were almost permanently stalked, but we were becoming experts at covering our tracks. Snape had begun to go out of his way to avoid us. I spent most of the time laughing aloud as his bag disappeared round corners and behind statues.
The first week of February brought a shock, however. Remus was standing with Sirius and I, admiring the steady rain falling on the Slytherin table, when suddenly he gave a yelp and sprinted out of the hall.
"What -?"
"Come on," Sirius muttered. "Let's follow him."
We ran, dodging behind things as he turned several times, all the way to the hospital wing. "Remus!" cried Madam Pomfrey. "Where have you been?"
"I don't know how - I forgot - how can I forget, I've never done that before..."
"Come on, hurry. We don't have much time, do we?"
Remus checked his watch. "Ten minutes," he moaned. They began to walk briskly out of the castle. Sirius and I crept behind, more mystified than ever. Madam Pomfrey and Remus kept looking up at the sky - I remembered this from last time.
"You must promise to run if I start transforming. Tell everyone to stay indoors. I'll leave tomorrow. I should never have come here." Remus' voice was shrill - loud enough for Sirius and I to hear.
"Transforming?" I muttered. And then I stopped.
Sirius' eyes slid up to the sky. Full moon.
"Oh my God," he whispered. "Remus is a..."
"... Werewolf," I finished.
Remus returned to breakfast the next morning with a scratched face and shadowed eyes. "What happened to you?" Sirius asked pointlessly.
"Oh, nothing. I just fell over, that's all. Stupid of me."
"You look like you've had a fight with the Whomping Willow," I commented sagely.
"Yeah, you did go to Madam Pomfrey, didn't you?" Sirius chipped in.
The penny was slowly dropping, I could see. He stared at us, wide-eyed.
"What, Rem? Is there something wrong? Something you need to tell us?" Sirius inquired.
"Er -"
"Maybe we should talk after breakfast," I suggested. "Go into full details, eh, Remus? Snouts and all."
We weren't trying to be funny, but Remus attempted a laugh before falling into a long, despondent silence.
"OK, Rem, tell us everything," Sirius ordered once we'd found an empty classroom. It was a Saturday, so there were no lessons. I was skipping Quidditch practice - this was more important.
"Um."
"Remus, come on," I said. "We already know that you're a werewolf, so -"
He winced. "Keep your voice down!" Then he stared at the floor. "Well, actually, what's the point?"
"Sorry?"
"Oh, come on. Nobody wants to be friends with a... one of me. They don't even want to be near one. So shout it out and enough letters will come from parents that I have to leave. Go on." He kicked a desk unhappily. "I said, go on!" And then, for the first and last time I ever saw, Remus cried. Great, choking, whole body sobs that shuddered through him. We were flabbergasted.
"We don't want you to leave!"
He waved me away. "Of course you do. Why would anyone care that all I've ever wanted is to come to school, have friends? I'm a werewolf, I don't deserve dreams!"
"What?"
"That's what you think, isn't it? It's what everyone thinks. You loathe me - worse. You fear me. Have you any idea what that's like?"
"Remus, wait." Sirius put a firm hand on his shoulder. "No, we don't want you to leave. We don't hate you and we're certainly not scared of you. In short, we couldn't give a damn what you are. My parents are dark wizards working for the darkest one of all - does that make me a bad person? A lot of people might think so, but I trust you two not to."
"If anything, we want to help you!" I added.
Remus stared. "W-w-what?"
"Listen, there must be some way we can... accompany you, or something?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I never considered it. Nobody would've wanted to. You're the first friends I've had since I was bitten when I was three. That's nine years of loneliness. I didn't really consider friendship during my transformations. I was more working on how to get any friends."
I swallowed. How truly, truly horrible.
"Well, you've got us now."
He nodded slowly. "Professor Dumbledore was good to let me in here," he said. "No one else would have."
"Dumbledore is good, full stop, Moony," Sirius said.
"Moony?" Remus blinked.
"Yeah, well, why not? Nobody else'll guess why and I like it."
"Well... OK," Remus said. "Moony it is." And he grinned.