Chapter Sixteen
Letters and Training
Remus woke the next morning in the best mood he had been in for days. The fact that he was waking up at school rather than home was more comforting than any other thought. He sat up and changed into his school robes and went down to the common room. He sat down in the empty room (it was still early) he stared into the fire. He was waiting for James, Sirius and Peter and then he heard some footsteps scurrying down the stairs. He looked at the stairwell but to his disappointment it was that creepy kid Julius.
"Hullo," the boy said.
"Hi," Remus answered distractedly.
"I was wondering about something." Julius crossed the room and sat down in a squashy armchair and looked at Remus, who had fixed all of his attention into the fire. "What class do you think is the hardest? I'm just curious so I know which subject to pay attention to."
"You're asking me? Why not ask a seventh year?"
"Because you're the only one awake."
"Oh. Well I think Potions is. That's just my opinion, I'm going down to breakfast so see you." Remus stood up and ran out of the portrait hole. As he was heading down the staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower he could not help but think that Julius Mangorn knew something about Remus that he did not. Maybe he was just being paranoid but he could not help thinking that. The first time Julius saw Remus he had that mysterious air in his eye that seemed to see right through Remus's head and into his mind. He wondered if James and Sirius felt like that too but he highly doubted it.
Rubbing some sleep out of his eye, Remus shook the thought out of his head and turned to his right to enter the great hall. The Great Hall was fairly empty nothing more than four Hufflepuffs, three Ravenclaws, five Slytherins and four Gryffindors were in there. Remus took a seat next to Gryffindor Head Boy Jeffery Polkis. Jeffery said good morning to Remus, who wasn't paying attention so Jeffery muttered under his breath, "rude." Remus started loading his plate and began eating. He sat there for some time, shoveling his food down his throat, before James, Sirius and Peter appeared. It was nearly time for the bell to signal classes rang and Remus was now looking over his schedule for the day.
"Lovely morning isn't it?" James said in a daze. He sat down opposite of Remus, Sirius next to James and Peter next to Remus. Ordinarily Remus would have questioned James's good mood but he knew precisely why.
"Its Lily isn't it?" Remus said pointedly.
"Actually it isn't," James answered. Remus looked at him open mouthed. He'd never been in such a good mood before, unless Lily Evans had something to do with it. "I just love the sound of a good scream in the morning."
"But no one's screamed and you just got here."
"No one's screamed yet," Sirius laughed. Just then there was a holler coming from (as if anyone had to guess) the Slytherin table. Although it wasn't an angry or scared shout, it was more like surprised. Remus looked over and saw something moving around on Snape's breakfast dish. Nearly screwing up his vision to depict what was moving, Remus recognised it as the eggs Snape had on his plate. They had stood up and were now equipped with a black top hat with a silver stripe cutting across the middle and a cane with a curved end. The eggs seemed to be doing an interpretation of a tap dance right in front of Snape. Remus thought it was incredibly funny but not at all like one of Sirius and James's usual pranks. The difference was that Snape had not been humiliated in the process. Or so he thought. Just then the hat and can disappeared and the eggs splattered in Snape's face. He now looked like he was wearing a gigantic pair of white sunglasses and they made you look like you had enormous yellow pupils.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter burst out laughing and pounding their fists on the table. Remus looked up the table, still blinded with tears from laughter, and saw Lily glaring at them menacingly. Remus tried to smile but she just huffed impatiently, picked up her books and stormed out of the hall. James, Sirius and Peter picked up their schedules, due to the fact that they could no longer laugh, and scanned them thoughtfully.
"Not bad," Sirius commented. "Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, lunch, Defense Against the Dark Arts, yuck History of Magic, James could you remind me to bring a pillow? To top the day off we got oh joy! Potions." His friends laughed and they picked up their books and headed to the third floor. Professor McGonagall was at the board scribbling down complicated notes on how to change an animal into a water goblet. The four boys took seats in the back of the classroom. They talked for a while, mainly discussing their perfect execution of Snape's public embarrassment. Once the class had filed in Professor McGonagall called everyone to attention.
They spent an interesting class there. It was certainly very noisy because you had animals of every species squawking, barking, croaking, and squeaking and blowing bubbles in water. The outcome of the spell had some bizarre effects. James, who had been transfiguring a toad in a water goblet, had changed it into the form of a goblet but it started croaking uncontrollably and Professor McGonagall had to put a silencing charm on it. Sirius transfigured his rat perfectly and Remus managed to get his tortoise into a goblet shape but it still had a head and shell pattern. Peter just failed miserably and ended up having an octopus stuck to his face for fifteen minutes. During Charms they learned the water repelling charm, "Impervius." In order to demonstrate this Professor Flitwick took James and started spraying water on his glasses while Alice Gordon tried to make the water repel off the lens.
After Charms they went out onto the grounds to green house seven for Herbology. Professor Sprout made them pot Mandrakes and they all had to wear these blue fluffy earmuffs in order not to pass out from hearing the shrieks of the Mandrake babies. After they headed to lunch where Remus decided to bring up the subject of Animagi.
"So," he said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table and put their book bags under the table. "Have you guys been practising Animagi?"
"I have all summer," James said proudly. "I haven't gotten too far, but I've learned not to shout out whenever I get something."
"Yeah we don't want a repeat of last year," Sirius said.
"When are we going to practise in the common room?" Peter inquired.
"How about tonight?" James suggested. "It's not a full moon is it?" James added looking at Remus.
"No that was last week. I agree with tonight, I'll keep watch so no one interferes okay?"
"Perfect then tonight at eleven it is!"
They went to their remaining classes and listened to the usual long boring first day lectures. They had to sit through the most boring forty-five minutes of History of Magic. Sirius and James had once again fallen asleep at their desks and Peter was absentmindedly picking at his fingernails while Remus struggled to remain focused. All the while Professor Binns just went on and on about Goblins. When class was over James had to rip Sirius's textbook off Sirius's face because while he was sleeping his drool caused him to get stuck to the book. They ended up ripping that page but they could not care less. Then there was Potions and they spent an hour concocting Engorging Solutions to be tested on a toad that their professor had found outside near the forest.
When classes let out everyone rushed away. James broke off from his friends because there was a Quidditch meeting scheduled and he could not miss it. Remus, Sirius and Peter retreated to the edge of the lake to do their homework. They had Transfiguration ("Read the chapter on the transformation of animals to nonliving objects and answer all thirty five questions in paragraph form," Professor McGonagall had told them, followed by a loud moan from every student). Professor Flitwick had given them no homework in honour of the first day; Professor Binns had assigned them to read a ten-page chapter on the ways of life of Goblins. The rest of their teachers had taken pity on them and assigned absolutely no homework, but promised them a lot for the next day.
They were sitting under the beech tree next to the lake, their quills scribbling lazily on their parchment. They would, every now and then, look at the lake and see a giant tentacle emerge on the surface causing some nearby first years to scream. One little first year girl ran over to the three boys and cried
"There's a monster in the lake!"
"Oh relax," Sirius said exasperatedly, "its only the squid. It won't hurt you!"
"But what if it comes on the land?"
"It's not going to," Remus said, not looking up. "Now if you don't mind we're trying to do homework." The girl looked at Remus indignantly and stomped away. They finished a good portion of the homework and packed their bags up to go back to the castle. They climbed the stairs of the moving staircases and approached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor. The portrait hole swung open as they gave the password and they entered a noisy common room. Everyone was crowded around the fire and talking excitedly, Remus, Sirius and Peter all wondered what could be exciting them so much. The three boys found James somewhere around the middle of the commotion. He obviously had been the one to start it all because everyone was looking at him. Sirius grabbed James' robes and pulled him out of the circle.
They brought him to the stairs that led to the dormitory and sat down.
"So what's everyone so excited about?" Sirius asked.
"Quidditch openings," James said happily. "We have room for two more chasers since the ones from last year graduated. Now nearly all of Gryffindor thinks they stand a chance of getting on the team. All of the first years were jumping up and down screaming, 'I want to be on the team! Put in a good word for me James!'" Remus, Sirius and Peter laughed.
"Hey why don't one of you guys try out?" James suggested.
"Good idea," said Sirius. "Think I will. I mean they can't refuse me can they?"
"I can think of ten good reasons not to have you on a Quidditch team," came the voice of Lily Evans. Like clockwork James ruffled his hair, puffed out his chest and adopted that horribly annoying manly voice that he used only when Lily was present. Lily gave him a cross look and turned her attention back to Sirius.
"Why would they refuse me?" Sirius asked.
"Well one: they need real players, two: you've never played before, three: they would think the only reason you got in was because of Potter, four: you're you. Shall I go on?"
"Please Evans do," James said.
"Cut that voice squirt!" Lily scowled. James dropped that voice and went back to his real one. Lily said nothing more and walked right past them and up to the dormitories. They all shrugged and went back to discussing Quidditch. Sirius said he would try out, just to prove Lily wrong. They knew Peter did not stand a chance so they were asking Remus.
"I don't know," he said. "I've never ridden before and what if a match falls on the day of or after a full moon? I can't risk a game going into night hours!"
"Remus, relax!" James moaned. "The staff would work around the full moon so you could play. Besides I doubt any of our games will go into the night hours. Just consider trying out. I'm going down to the Great Hall if anyone wants to join me, and remember tonight at eleven. See you." James stood up and strode over to the portrait hole and disappeared through it. Sirius and Peter followed but Remus decided to head to the dormitory. He opened the door to the second year dormitory and walked in. He felt a breeze in the room and his eyes darted towards the open window. Wondering why it was open he pushed it closed and saw his owl sitting in the cage. Remus had let him fly around outside in the morning so he thought that maybe he had a letter. He saw his owl clutching a letter in its beak and Remus tore it out.
He sat down on his bed and ripped the sealing open. He unfolded the letter and read it swiftly. The letter read plain and simple.
Dear Remus,
The operation your aunt and I discussed with you will take place on December 23rd at St. Mungo's. Please show this letter to Professor McGonagall and she will handle it from there.
Sincerely,
Uncle Albert
Remus pocketed the letter and headed down to the Great Hall where Professor McGonagall would be at this time. He walked behind a group of loud Slytherin first years who were saying how much more superior they were to Gryffindors, apparently they did not notice a Gryffindor was walking behind them. Just as they were going on to talk about the fact that Salazar Slytherin was so much more powerful than Godric Gryffindor one of the Slytherins turned his head and saw Remus. He tapped the girl standing next to him and she turned around.
"You're a Gryffindor?" she snarled.
"Yep," Remus answered, drawing himself up. "Proud of it too!"
"I wouldn't be proud if I were a Gryffindor."
"Well I wouldn't be proud if I were a Slytherin." Remus shoved past them and wondered to himself, why was I arguing with a bunch of little first years? He descended down the staircase in the Entrance Hall and turned to his right to enter the Great Hall. As he walked through the double doors he saw Professor McGonagall rise from her place at the staff table and walk towards him.
As she was approaching the doors Remus stopped her.
"Professor McGonagall," he said.
"Yes Mr. Lupin?" Professor McGonagall said kindly (she was never strict with Remus like she was with James, Sirius and Peter).
"My uncle asked me to show you this letter," Remus held out the letter and Professor McGonagall took it. "He said you'd know what to do."
"Yes I know what he's speaking of. I'll go and show this to the headmaster, good day." She ran out of the hall and headed up the stairs. Remus turned his attention to the Gryffindor table and found Sirius, James and Peter sitting all the way at the end. They were talking quietly and every so often they would glance at Snape. Remus walked over and sat down next to James.
"What were you talking to McGonagall about?" James asked as he was sticking his fork into his mashed potatoes. "You're not in trouble are you?"
"Of course not," Remus answered as he piled food on his plate. "I just had to ask her something." His friends shrugged and returned to their meal. As Remus was eating he kept wondering when he was going to hear the distinct shriek of Snape, due to another prank of James and Sirius. To his misfortune the shriek never came.
So that night once the last three sixth years packed up their game of Wizards Chess Remus, James, Sirius and Peter snuck down into the common room to have their Animagus sessions. Earlier after James had finished with the Quidditch meeting he went to the library and borrowed the book about Animagi ("McGonagall's making us learn about them!" James told the suspicious Madam Pince. "Sorry I meant Professor McGonagall.") James, Peter and Sirius placed the book on the wooden table while Remus made himself comfortable on the stairs leading to the dormitories. He always had to stay there, just in case there was a wandering student he'd be able to stop them just before they made it to the common room. The three others started practising and Remus noticed that they had made an improvement, except for Peter.
James was now able to attain the silvery gray hair of a stag and he would not start screaming, "I'm doing it!" as he made the transformation. Sirius was starting to grow the ears and his nose would enlarge as it turned into a snout. Peter however was completely and utterly hopeless. He could not shrink in size obtain those beady little eyes or wormlike tail. Sirius and James felt almost confident that they would master Animagus way before Peter did. Remus's three friends sat in front of the fire scanning through the many chapters in their library book while Remus sat on the steps. He did not have anything to do so he just sat staring at the wall and picking at the carpet. James and Sirius were now sitting on the floor watching Peter squint his eyes in concentration as he tried to transform into a rat. Remus smiled and shook his head as James and Sirius grabbed pillows off the couch behind them and rested their heads on them. James had enough so he just told Peter to give up for now so he and Sirius could have some practise. James went after Peter and closed his eyes. He put a frown on his face and his expression showed he was in concentration. Remus was watching as fur started sprouting on his nose when he had to leave to go to the bathroom. He stood up and went out of the room.
Remus came back five minutes later and what he saw made him nearly slip down the stairs. Peter, James and Sirius were standing cornered near the fireplace by Julius Mangorn. He was staring bleakly into each of their eyes and had his wand in the ready position. Sirius's eyes darted over to Remus.
"Hey our look out is back!" he muttered rudely.
"I had to go to the bathroom," Remus said defensively.
"You couldn't have held it?"
"No!" Remus glared at Sirius and then Julius decided to voice what was going on. Remus half listened, at this point he hated everything about that kid from the top of his head down to his scrawny little feet.
"What do you think you're doing?" Julius grimaced. "Practising Animagus? That's illegal."
"What do you care?" James snapped. "We're not telling you anything you're not supposed to know." James and Julius started arguing back and forth. Peter and Sirius joined in but Remus just stood there and watched. He knew it was useless arguing with that kid so he just whipped out his wand, pointed it at Julius and muttered, "Obliviate!" Sparks flew out of his wand and his Julius in the head and he fell onto the floor. Remus did not wait for his friends to say anything; he just turned around and marched up the stairs. He sat down on his bed and pulled the curtains around so he could change. He lay back on his bed after he finished changing and heard weak footsteps coming up to the dorm.