The Songbird and the Serpent
Part I: Hogwart's
Lupin's first year at Hogwart's...
Chapter 3
The next day began with a double Transfiguration class with Hufflepuff, led by Professor McGonagall. Sirius was particularly good in the class, and by the end of the lesson was the only person who managed to turn his matchstick into a needle. James had almost managed it, but his needle still had a flammable head. Remus had managed to make something that looked like a toothpick, but was rather proud of it when he realised that, besides the three of them, very few people had managed to make any difference at all to their matchsticks.
Peter was looking particularly disheartened, obviously embarrassed about being the only Gryffindor boy not to have done something to their match. He grew even more depressed when McGonagall more than made up for the homework-free night they had enjoyed the previous day by assigning them a long essay about the chapter as well as the goal of being able to transfigure the match by the next class.
After lunch they spent a painful afternoon in History of Magic, the only class to be taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had apparently died in the staff room one day, left his body and simply continued about his daily routine. He had a droning, soothing voice that put even the most alert students into a sleepy trance by the end of a class, and Remus had to stab himself with his wand under the table at intervals during the lesson to keep awake.
Peter's head was lolling back, but every time he fell asleep he would snap awake again, straightening his head and staring wide-eyed at Professor Binns as if this time he might be able to keep himself from nodding off again. Sirius and James didn't seem so eager to try and stay focused. They were both sound asleep, and Sirius snoring quite loudly. Binns didn't give them the slightest bit of notice, keeping his eyes on his book and lecturing without pause.
By the end of the class, only Remus, a Ravenclaw boy he didn't know, and the shy Gryffindor girl named Zoë were still awake. Zoë nudged Lily awake, who had fallen asleep face-down in her notes, and they made their way out of the door. Everyone else was following suit, some people stretching dramatically as if they'd just woken from a leisurely nap. James had snapped awake at the sound of people leaving, but Sirius was still snoring deeply.
James gave him a shove, and he woke up with such force that he yelped and fell out of his chair. He stood up almost as quickly, trying to look casual, and shot James a menacing glance as if it must be his fault. Remus suppressed his laughter, not wanting to anger Sirius, and Peter looked quite horrified that Sirius might have actually hurt himself.
Their next class that afternoon was Herbology with Madame Sprout, where they were taught about the uses of various magical plants, and how to take care of them. The class went by with little incident, and at the end of the day James and Sirius had to congratulate themselves on a whole day gone by without getting into any trouble. In fact, they managed to stay out of trouble the next day too, and Remus noticed with amusement that Sirius was careful to stay awake in their next History of Magic class, obviously trying to avoid further embarrassment.
Their next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson went by particularly well for Remus. He had successfully mastered every block, counter-curse and disarming technique that they were asked to try, and had won Gryffindor a fair few house points in the process.
"Keep that up, Remus, and you just may be able to make up for all the points me and Sirius lose..." said James, with a wink and a grin.
That night they had their first Astrology lesson at midnight, and Remus couldn't help but glance at the waxing moon every few minutes. It was a painful reminder that there were only a few weeks to go until they'd be able to test out Dumbledore's plan, and he was far from looking forward to it. He was very relieved to get out of the tower and into bed, and thankful that the late lesson had made everyone too tired to want to talk.
Thursday they had their first flying lesson, along with the Slytherins, and James in particular was incredibly excited. Madame Hooch gave them each a broom and instructed them on the proper mounting and gripping techniques, which James mastered with extreme ease. Remus soon discovered that he had a bit of a fear of heights, and Sirius kept complaining about the comfort-level of broom riding.
"Even with the cushioning charm, it's just too bloody thin, isn't it...not comfortable at all...it's too easy to just sort of slide off, don't you think?" he was saying absently to a perpetually nodding Peter, since James was off swooping around with a few others that had mastered the techniques. Remus was hovering about nine feet off of the ground, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the broom's handle, breathing heavily and trying to remember how to get down.
"You all right, Remus?" he heard a voice say, and turned to see Lily hovering beside him. He almost fell off his broom with a small yelp, but quickly regained his composure and smiled nervously.
"Er...yeah...fine." he said, and Lily raised a brow.
"You're a bad liar, Remus...want me to help you down?" she said with a kind smile, and Remus thought it best to just let her do it...he thought he might be sick if he stayed up there much longer. He nodded, and Lily showed him how to direct the broom slowly to the ground. Once on solid ground he felt a lot better, despite his legs having turned to jelly. He sat on the grass, panting slightly.
"Thanks...never even knew I hated heights before..." he said, feeling beyond embarrassed. Lily just continued to smile without a hint of mocking on her face.
"It's no problem..." she said, as the other Gryffindor girls landed a few feet away and called her over. "well...see you, Remus." she said, and he smiled and nodded. Just as he was standing up, his legs having returned to normal, he heard laughter breaking out in the small group of girls standing a few feet away. His first reaction was that they were laughing at him, but when he looked at them he realised they were looking the other way.
He wandered over to join them, curious as to what they were all laughing at, and saw the greasy-haired Slytherin boy, Snape, flailing wildly on his broom which was bucking like an angry horse. Just about everyone had turned to see what was so funny, and almost everyone, Gryffindor and Slytherin alike, were laughing--although none quite so loudly as Vivienne, who was standing right behind Remus with Mau and Zoë, both of whom were giggling behind their hands.
Lily wasn't smiling however, but was instead glaring at Sirius and James, who Remus suddenly realised were both staring, unblinking, at Snape. Sirius was giggling like a maniac, and James was muttering something, a mischievous grin on his face, and hiding what looked suspiciously like a wand behind his cloak. Madame Hooch was standing as close as she could to the misbehaving broom, shouting instructions at Snape, all of which he was trying his best to do and none of which were working.
"Madame Hooch! It's James and Sirius! They're jinxing the broom, Miss!" Lily suddenly screeched, and James jumped, looking shocked, and Snape's broom mysteriously stopped bucking. Sirius attempted to look innocent and confused, and failed miserably. Within seconds Madame Hooch had them both by the arm, shouting so loudly at them that Remus noticed curious faces appearing in the windows of a nearby classroom.
"A whole week of detentions...stupid little slag..." Sirius muttered in potions class later that afternoon, his teeth clenched in anger. James was expressing similar sentiments, and Remus felt himself growing angry. Snape had not turned up for potions that afternoon, most likely out of embarrassment, since he didn't seem particularly hurt, and so Tsepesh had paired him with James and Sirius for the day. Remus had never wanted to be around them less than he did right now. He was quite appalled at their behaviour, and even more angry that they were saying nasty things about Lily, who'd been so nice to him.
"Well...I mean...you were breaking school rules, you know..." said Remus, and Sirius looked as if he'd just been punched in the face. James made to say something, but couldn't find the words. Remus could tell that James probably knew that they deserved their punishment, but he wasn't about to say it in front of Sirius, who was now turning a bright shade of red out of anger as he looked at Remus.
"You...you little...you think I don't know we were breaking rules? I'm not stupid, you know! The point is, we wouldn't have been caught if it wasn't for that swatty little nark...it was just a bit of fun!" hissed Sirius, and Remus could feel himself reaching breaking point. It took all of his self-control to stay calm.
"Didn't look like a bit of fun to Snape..." he said, and Sirius gave a loud bark-like laugh.
"As if I care about that little tosser..." he said, and James nodded.
"He did deserve it, Remus..." James explained.
"Oh, really...what exactly did he do?" Remus asked, and James frowned.
"Never mind..." he said quietly, returning to work on the potion. Remus was about to push the issue, but decided instead to just drop it for now. He wasn't about to lose the first friends he'd ever had over this.
"Fine...just stop blaming Lily...she did the right thing, telling on you. You could've seriously hurt someone." he said, keeping his eyes on the ginger roots he was slicing. James and Sirius kept a tense silence until the end of the lesson, and when Peter rejoined them in the hallway, he quickly became very confused at their behaviour.
"Er...what's going on?" he asked, looking at each of them in turn. After a few moments, in which the rest of the class left the room and were disappearing up the stairs, Sirius finally answered him.
"Lupin was just moaning about us slagging off his girlfriend..." he said mockingly, shooting Remus a very insincere smile before slouching off towards the stairs by himself. Peter raised his eyebrows and blinked, looking at Remus.
"What?" he asked, and Remus felt himself growing red.
"I don't have a girlfriend...Sirius and James were just being arrogant little wankers and I told them to shut up, that's all." he explained, a little shocked at the anger in his voice, not to mention his language. Peter looked to James to confirm the story. James shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it..." he said, laughing nervously. "Er...I'd better go after him..." he continued, and ran to the stairs to catch up with Sirius, who was long out of sight. Remus turned to Peter, who still looked very confused.
"Well, come on...I'm hungry." he said, and they both headed for the stairs themselves.
The next week seemed to fly by, much to Remus' displeasure. He'd never wanted a week to go by more slowly in his life. Snape turned up for the next potions class, but didn't look at or speak to Remus in any way, and merely did his share of the potion preparation in angry silence. Remus might have cared about this treatment if his mind wasn't so preoccupied with his first full moon at Hogwart's.
He spent the afternoons leading up to it doing homework with Peter, since James and Sirius were in detention all week--which he was slightly thankful for as it made it easier for him to avoid Sirius, whose mood seemed to get worse every day. The times he did get to spend with them mostly consisted of chatting with James while Sirius sat moping and Peter shot constant worried glances his way. Remus was quite relieved that Sirius' angst had kept anyone from noticing he himself grow weaker and paler as the full moon got nearer. That was, until Astrology that Wednesday night.
The moon was only a few days from being full, and as soon as Remus reached the top of the astrology tower he could tell that he was going to have a hard time. Only a few minutes into the lesson, Remus noticed a fair few of the students staring at him, some looking quite concerned. James leaned over and asked if he was okay, and Remus nodded.
"You don't look it, mate...you're a bit...pale..." James whispered, and suddenly Professor Sinistra looked over at them, about to tell James off for talking in class. When she saw Remus, however, she forgot all about it.
"Heavens, child...you look like you're about to pass out..." she began, then realised just who the child was, and her eyes darted quickly to the sky outside and then back to Remus. "You'd best get to the hospital wing...you don't look well at all." she continued, and Remus was shooed out of the door to the infirmary. He was quite thankful that everyone was asleep by the time he returned to the common room that night, as he was in no mood to answer a load of questions about his strange behaviour.
