Truths
By Neurotica
Fifteen
29 July 1986 brought along with it the first full moon since Sirius Black reentered the wizarding world. It was also the first full moon in which Harry Potter would think of the white ball in the sky as more than just "pretty." More importantly, however, was the fact that this full moon would be the first test for Remus Lupin.
If the Wolfsbane Potion he had gotten from St. Mungo's did its job correctly, Remus would be able to keep control of himself in wolf form—something he hadn't been able to do since his Hogwarts days. For three days, Remus forced himself to drink the bitter potion (sugar made it completely useless, unfortunately), and on the afternoon before his transformation, he could already sense a difference.
"The wolf's pull isn't as strong as normal," he explained to Sirius. "I don't feel as weak as I usually do."
"You're still pale, though. A bit sweaty too," remarked Sirius as he cast a critical, concerned eye over his friend.
"Well, yes, but I think that's because of the coming transformation. I don't know. Guess we'll just have to wait until moonset to know for sure."
"You'll do fine," Sirius said encouragingly. "I just wish I could stay with you, you know? Like the good old days."
Remus smile reminiscently. "Yes, that would be great. But you've got to take Harry to Hogwarts. I don't want to take any chances with him being here. And if you back out now, we are going to have an angry child on our hands."
Sirius laughed. "True, very true. And we wouldn't want him angry on his birthday, now would we?"
"Definitely not," Remus agreed, looking around the kitchen. "Speaking of Harry... any idea where he is?"
Sirius craned his neck to look in the living room. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He was in there playing with those little flying dragon things you gave him."
Indeed, there were dragons flying around the room, breathing fake fire, one a Hungarian Horntail, but no sign of Harry.
"Maybe he's in his room," Remus suggested.
Together, Sirius and Remus crossed the short hallway to the half open door of Harry's bedroom. They opened the door completely to find the child in question sitting on his bed, holding an upside down book. Turning their heads simultaneously to the side, Sirius and Remus read the title: Alice in Wonderland—it had been Lily's favorite book and Remus thought Harry should have a copy as well.
"What are you doing, Harry?" Sirius asked with a smile.
Without looking up, Harry turned a page in his book and said, "Reading."
Remus held back a laugh. "You are aware, Harry, that your book is upside down, aren't you?"
Harry looked at his guardians for half a second, and then at the cover of the book. He nodded that he was quite aware of the position of his book and went back to "reading."
Sirius raised his eyebrows and smiled wider. "Okay then, Harry. Since you would rather stay here and read, I suppose I will have to go to Hogwarts all by myself."
The sentence had the reaction Sirius had expected: Harry quickly closed his book, a large smile forming on his smile on his tanning face, and jumped off his bed.
"We're going to Hogwarts, now?" Harry asked in childish excitement.
"Soon," Sirius said with a grin. "First, we need to get you packed."
Harry was already at his closet throwing everything he owned to the floor, attempting to stuff it all into an overnight bag.
Remus stopped him. "Whoa, Harry!" he said, crossing the room. "Hang on a second. You're only going for the night; you only need pajamas, clothes to where tomorrow, and your toothbrush."
Harry ceased emptying his closer and looked at Remus. "Oh," he said with a sheepish smile.
Remus chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Yes, oh. Now, let's get all this back into the closet, okay?"
While Remus and Harry re-hung robes and shirts into the closet, Sirius leaned on the doorframe in high amusement. Once they'd finished, and properly packed Harry's overnight bag, Harry ran past Sirius to the fireplace, waiting to leave.
"What is it with that boy and Floo?" Remus muttered.
Sirius laughed as he followed Remus to where Harry stood with his bag slung over his shoulder waiting rather impatiently.
"Come on, Sirius! We have to go!" Harry exclaimed, tugging Sirius' hand.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something, Harry?'
Harry dropped Sirius' hand and thought. After a moment, his green eyes widened in realization. "My broomstick!" he cried. Harry dropped his bag onto the floor next to Sirius and ran back to his bedroom. He returned a second later, carrying his prized possession.
Remus exchanged an amused look with Sirius. "Er, Harry, I think Remus wants a hug before we go," Sirius said as he took his godson's broomstick and bag, and nudged the child towards Remus.
Harry grinned sheepishly. "I knew that," he said, hugging Remus tightly. Remus chuckled.
With a kiss on his forehead, and another ruffle of his hair, Remus released Harry. He stood back up, and shook Sirius' hand.
"Good luck tonight," Sirius said.
"Yeah, thanks. Well, you better get going. Sunset is coming."
"All right, then; come on, Harry," Sirius said before shrinking his and Harry's broomsticks and placing them in his pocket. He then reached down and picked Harry up.
"You two have fun. Don't give McGonagall too many grey hairs," Remus said in mock sternness.
"Never!" Sirius and Harry exclaimed in unison.
Remus backed away from the fireplace as Sirius clearly said their destination ("Hogwarts, Headmaster's office!"), and with a final wave from Harry, they were gone in a whirl of green flames. Remus' eyes drifted from the fireplace to the window subconsciously. The sun was beginning to set. In an hour or so, the moon would be out and Remus would know for sure about this new potion.
He walked into the kitchen and had a quick sandwich before uncorking the final flask of Wolfsbane Potion. "Well, here goes—something, I hope," he said to himself. He swallowed the last of his potion with a grimace at the taste, and headed to the basement to prepare for the night ahead.
Sirius stepped out of the whirl of flames and set Harry down to the floor. Both automatically began to dust themselves off from the ride. Sirius looked around the room; Dumbledore's office was empty.
Well, no, not completely empty; Fawkes the phoenix sat high on his golden perch eyeing the visitors warily.
Harry stepped closer to examine the exotic bird; Fawkes hadn't been in the office during Harry's last visits. Fawkes stretched out a bright red wing to Harry; Harry reached out his arm to Fawkes. They seemed to be shaking hands—or wings... or... something. Sirius watched on in interest as Fawkes flew onto Harry's outstretched arm. He had only seen the phoenix do that with two other people: Albus Dumbledore and Lily Evans.
Harry turned around slowly to face his godfather. "Look, Sirius," Harry said, smiling.
Sirius returned the smile. "I think he likes you, Harry."
Harry smiled wider to Sirius and went back to studying Fawkes.
"What is he?" Harry asked, stroking the bird's feathers.
"That, Harry, is a phoenix," said a gentle voice from the doorway.
Harry and Sirius looked over into the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster walked to where Harry stood with Fawkes, and kneeled down. "Phoenixes are a very rare breed of bird. They are highly loyal and intelligent creatures, they can carry immensely heavy objects, and their tears hold healing powers."
Harry looked away from Dumbledore and back to Fawkes, highly impressed. "Wow," he mumbled softly.
Dumbledore stood and smiled, turning to Sirius. "Hello, Sirius, how are you?"
"Fantastic, sir, thank you for letting us stay here tonight," Sirius said, shaking Dumbledore's hand.
"Not at all, Sirius. I am delighted to have the both of you here," Dumbledore said. "How is Remus fairing?"
Sirius smiled. "He's okay, sir," he said truthfully. "A little nervous about that potion, but he says he already feels a difference."
Dumbledore smiled back. "Wonderful. Remus deserves a little peace of mind during rough times. Well, I am sure the two of you want to get settled in for the night. If you are hungry, I am in no doubt that the house-elves will be more than thrilled to accommodate you."
"Great, thank you again, sir. Come on, Harry, let's drop our stuff off and explore the castle."
Harry was reluctant to leave Fawkes, but after being assured—by both Sirius and Dumbledore—that he could see Fawkes again, Harry followed Sirius out of the office. They walked through the deserted corridors, occasionally passing a ghost or a painting Sirius stopped to chat with. After a long walk, they reached a room just across form the Gryffindor dormitories. The main room was arranged much like the Gryffindor common room, it was just a bit smaller. Three doors led to a bathroom and two bedrooms. Sirius directed Harry to his room, then went to his own. The four-poster bed in the center was exactly like his old one had been in school: big and comfortable. Gryffindor colors surrounded the room, and a large window showed the beautiful Hogwarts sunset.
Sirius dropped his bag into an armchair and retrieved the broomsticks from his pocket. He sat them on the bed to enlarge them when he noticed a rather large lump under the blankets. Curious, he pulled the blankets back revealing a brown package tied in white string, and a note with his name on it. He opened the note and read:
Sirius —
I believe you know what this is, and its interesting history.
James left it in my possession before he died; he wished for it to be passed on to Harry when he reached the appropriate age.
I thought you would like to have it.
Use it well.
—A.D.
Sirius reread the note three times before he took it all in. Whatever was in this package had been James'. It had been left in Dumbledore's possession (Sirius knew that's who "A.D." was), and was to be passed on to Harry.
It can't be... Sirius thought. He pulled the string off the package, and opened the paper. He gasped.
A silvery liquid like material fell onto Sirius' lap. He picked it up and placed it over his arms—his arms vanished instantly.
James' Invisibility Cloak.
Sirius sat on the edge of the bed shaking slightly. Of course he knew this object. The number of times he, James, and Remus had used it for a prank, or to go to the kitchens, or to sneak into Hogsmeade was in the thousands, at least.
Memories flooded over Sirius. James had come back from Christmas break in first year, and had gathered the Marauders—yet to be named, of course—in their dormitory and had shown it to them. It had been an heirloom passed through the Potters—from father to son—for centuries. Immediately the boys had thrown it over themselves and proceeded to wreak havoc in the Gryffindor common room.
In later years, James would use it when he and Lily snuck off to the Astronomy Tower to—
"Why are you crying, Sirius?" Harry said from the door.
Sirius looked up; he had not realized he had been crying again. He hastily wiped the tears from his cheeks and smiled at Harry. "Come here, Harry," he said.
Harry walked over to the four-poster bed, and with a little help, managed to climb up.
"What's that?" Harry asked, pointing to the cloak next to his godfather.
Sirius smiled widely. "This, Harry, was your dad's Invisibility Cloak."
Harry's eyes widened—he had heard stories about the cloak and the Marauder's Map. "Really?" he asked reaching for the cloak. Sirius handed it to him. "This was my dad's?"
"Yes, it was. And when you start Hogwarts, it's all yours."
"Can I try it on?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Sure." Sirius grinned.
Harry stood on the bed with the cloak. He wrapped it around himself and vanished. The only thing proving he had been there at all was the small foot shapes moving along on the bed.
"Turn to the mirror," Sirius said.
"Whoa! I'm gone!" came Harry's excited voice.
Sirius laughed. "Well, that would be the point of and Invisibility Cloak, now wouldn't it?" He heard Harry laugh. "Okay, let's get that put away somewhere safe and go eat."
Harry obeyed and a second later, he reappeared next to Sirius, grinning. "That was awesome."
Sirius grinned back and ruffled Harry's hair as he stood. "Come on, kid, let's go to the kitchens."
Harry jumped on Sirius' back and they headed to the kitchens. Sirius showed Harry precisely where to tickle the painting to get the golden doorknob to appear.
"Don't tell Dumbledore I showed you that," Sirius said. He received a giggle in return.
They walked into the kitchens and were immediately greeted by a dozen house-elves. Sketch, the elf who had served Sirius and Remus on their first night back in the castle, was in the front, bowing low to the ground.
"What can we get sir and little sir this evening?" Sketch asked, standing properly.
"Let's see, I think we'll have a couple of chicken sandwiches, some crisps, and a couple of slices of cherry pie for dessert," Sirius said.
Instantly, the house-elves pushed Harry and Sirius to a small table and sat them down. Their food arrived a moment later, fresh and hot. Sirius received a butterbeer, and Sketch gave Harry an ice cold glass of pumpkin juice.
"Thanks, everyone," Sirius said to the house-elves. "This looks incredible."
The elves beamed and bowed themselves away.
Sirius began to dig in while Harry stared at the house-elves in awe. "What are those things?" he asked quietly.
"House-elves," Sirius said thickly through a mouthful of chicken. "They work here. Well, not work; they don't get paid or anything. But they're the best house-elves in the country!"
A few house-elves around them beamed and blushed.
Once finished with their meals an hour later (the plates kept refilling themselves), Sirius and Harry decided they were too full to fly and headed back to their rooms. On the way, they ran into a familiar face. (Notice I didn't say "friendly.")
"Black," said the oily voice of Captain Slytherin himself, Severus Snape.
"Snivellus," Sirius retorted coldly.
Snape curled his lip and looked down sharply at Harry. The boy cowered behind his godfather's legs. "And this must be... Harry Potter," Snape said softly. "Yes, I see the resemblance to Potter Senior... Tsk... Quite unfortunate to have inherited his father's looks, I must say. Has he got his father's arrogance as well?"
Sirius drew himself up angrily. "Get lost, Snivelly, or we are going to have a repeat of fifth year."
Snape's head snapped up to meet Sirius' cold furious glare equally. He looked around the corridor behind Sirius before speaking again. "But where is Lupin?" he said in mock-confusion. "Ah, yes, that's right. Werewolf, full moon. He's probably tearing himself to shreds as we speak. Good riddance; this world needs to rid itself of filthy monsters such as that."
It happened in a flash: Sirius' wand was pointed sharply into Snape's throat; Snape returned the favor.
"I'm warning you, Snivellus, one more word..."
"Sirius..." said a terrified voice some distance behind Sirius.
Sirius moved his eyes to Harry. He had moved away and was now cowering against the wall, crying. Immediately, Sirius dropped his wand from Snape, placed it in his cloak pocket, and rushed to Harry. He scooped the child up and whispered apologies and comforting words. Finally, Harry began to calm.
"How touching," Snape said coldly.
Sirius stood and hid Harry's head in his shoulder, retrieving his wand and wondering what the best way to curse Snape with. But at that very instant, Peeves the Poltergeist—partner to the Marauders since the beginning—swooped down and dumped a bucket of ice cold water on Snape's head.
"PEEVES!" Snape roared.
Harry and Sirius were in fits of laughter. Peeves came by once more and poured a bottle of flowery smelling shampoo on Snape's wet hair, blew a raspberry at the professor, grinned at Sirius, and disappeared. Sirius had to set Harry down before he dropped him from laughing so hard. With a final look of pure hatred to Sirius and Harry, Snape stormed to the dungeons, removing the shampoo, and drying his wet hair with a wave of his wand.
But even after he had turned a corner, Snape could still hear the question Harry asked, "Sirius, wasn't that Professor Potato Head?" Sirius' barking laughter echoed loudly through the corridors.
In the very late hours of the night, the Hogwarts corridors seemed completely deserted to the naked eye. This, however, was not the case; if one were to strain one's ears, one could hear the soft footsteps of Sirius Black. He and Harry had decided a little late night exploration was in order. They headed out under the Invisibility Cloak and walked quietly through the castle.
They had passed Dumbledore once. Harry had been quiet as a church mouse, not wanting to draw attention to them, but the old wizard sent a small smile and wink in Sirius' direction, and continued on seemingly oblivious. Harry noticed nothing.
Somehow during their journey—Sirius couldn't think of how—they had arrived in front of Argus Filch's office door.
Hmm... all the possibilities, Sirius thought to himself with a grin.
Harry jumped a bit in Sirius' arms as Peeves appeared next to them, attempting to rig a bust of an old wizard above the door so that it fell on Filch and Mrs. Norris when they entered.
"Peeves," Sirius whispered. Peeves nearly dropped the bust, looking around stupidly. "Peeves, it's me, Sirius."
Peeves grinned. "Ooooh, Seriously Sirius Black!"
"Yeah, listen, Peeves, I need a distraction from Filch and his cat. Can you break something, say, on the seventh floor?"
Peeves mock-saluted and disappeared.
Moments later, Sirius heard a crash. "Stay here, Harry. Stay under the cloak," he said quickly, setting Harry down.
He ducked out from under the cloak and looked around the empty corridor once more before he opened Filch's door. The office smelled as terrible as ever—rotten eggs, bad milk, and fish—but Sirius was too wrapped up in his mission to care. He spotted the filing cabinet in the corner of the office: "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous," and headed straight for it. He started with the "M's," but turned up nothing. Sirius was pleased to see that the Marauders had their own drawer to themselves; he would have to check that out another time; it wasn't there, either.
"P." Sirius yanked opened the drawer and peered inside. There, right under the exploding peanuts, was where it lay in all its glory. A little aged and wrinkled, a slight tear in the right hand corner, but otherwise just as Sirius remembered it to be. He quickly, but very gently, placed the Marauder's Map into his robes and went back to the corridor to fetch Harry.
"Harry?" he called quietly searching the deserted halls.
"Over here," he heard somewhere to his left.
Harry held open the cloak and Sirius picked both up. He pulled the cloak over himself, and proceeded to their rooms.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Sirius said as he tapped the parchment with his wand.
Immediately, lines formed from the middle of the parchment revealing the Marauder's Map. Sirius reread the heading for the millionth time in his life, remembering all the late nights of hard work to create this work of art.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map
"Wow," Harry muttered, staring at the map in amazement.
"Yeah... wow..." Sirius grinned. He never thought he would be looking upon this again.
"You made this?" Harry asked his godfather.
"Well, I helped. Your dad and Remus were the genius behind it."
They watched Dumbledore pace around his study; McGonagall walk to and from the kitchens; Filch and Mrs. Norris stalk Peeves. They watched the map until they fell asleep together on Sirius' bed.
"So, Moony, how'd the night go?" Sirius asked as he and Harry came through the fireplace the next morning.
Remus sat on the sofa with a large, tired smile on his face, waiting for them. "Brilliantly!" he declared, standing up. "Never lost control once, Sirius! Just curled up in the corner, a harmless wolf!" He showed Sirius his arms and back, proving the fact that he had not once bitten or scratched himself.
"That's great! I'm very happy for you!" Sirius said, following Remus and Harry to the kitchen.
"So how was your night?" Remus asked as he served Harry cereal and pumpkin juice.
Sirius and Harry told him everything about their night at Hogwarts. Fawkes the phoenix, the kitchens, Snape, Peeves, but he saved the best for last.
"You will never, in a million years, guess what we brought back!" Sirius grinned happily.
"What?" Remus asked, sipping a cup of coffee. "Not Hagrid's rock cakes, I hope."
"Better. Close your eyes."
Remus did as instructed. He heard a familiar noise, but couldn't quite place it at the moment.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now."
Remus did. Sirius was there, but Harry was not. "What did you do to him?" Remus asked dryly with a raised eyebrow.
Sirius continued to grin and pointed at Harry's cereal bowl. The spoon was moving seemingly to its own accord, and cereal was disappearing into thin air.
"No way..." Remus muttered, moving towards Harry with his hand outstretched.
"Way." Sirius grinned wider.
Remus smiled broadly at Sirius as he pulled the Invisibility Cloak from Harry's head. Harry tilted his head back and grinned up at Remus. Remus held the fluid-like material over his arms exactly as Sirius had the night before.
"There's more," Sirius said, reaching into his robes. He pulled out the map and held it out to Remus.
Remus stared wide-eyed at the parchment in his friend's hand before trading the cloak for the map. He pulled his wand from his pocket and tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Remus watched in stunned amazement as the map formed. "You actually did it... I can't believe you did it," he mumbled over and over, watching the figures of Hogwarts move.
"I had a little help from old Peevesy and Harry," Sirius said as he watched Remus' joyful face.
Remus looked away from the map and grinned at Harry and Sirius. "This, my friends," referring to the map and cloak, "marks a new chapter in Marauder history."
The rest of the day and part of the night was spent looking through photo albums and relaying stories to Harry about the Marauder days, and just staring at the map.
By nine o'clock, Harry was fast asleep between Sirius and Remus on the sofa. The map lay open before them on the coffee table. Remus closed the photo album while Sirius picked up Harry to take him to bed.
Before they left the room, both Sirius and Remus grinned at each other as they tapped the map simultaneously with their wands and said, "Mischief managed."