Nic - Thanks for pointing that out to me. I out to fix that soon; I just realized that. Haha, never learned Astronomy in grade school, so that's probably why.

Celebrean - I'm sooo sorry I didn't update soon enough. So here's the next update .

Popularmonster - Here's my update! And this one is just going to be the first year. I'm going todo their second year, third year, and so forth later after I finish this one. Hehe.

koriaena- Sorry if it's confusing you. Yes, I'm sorry for making Sirius act like an idiot > ...It's not my intent.

cascadingmagic - Oh, nope, I've never read Terry Pratchett. Must be interesting though I just put the Weird Sisters there because Tonks wears a shirt that says Weird Sisters on it. Oh and about how long this story will be... I'm not sure. I'm going to try and do this till their 7th year, just like the Harry Potter books . I hope I can achieve that... I already have the entire storyline planned out for it!

Mirkwood -I'm glad it's to your liking! Please keep reading!

brennqt14- Thanks for reading! Don't worry there should be more Sirius to go around later... grins

Author's Notes: It's been a while since I updated this, huh? I'm sorry all those who read this fic... you probably thought it was dead!Nope, I'm not done writing about the Marauders' adventures just yet! I must say, this is the longest chapter to date. Going a record of 13 pages long . Well, enjoy!

CHAPTER 20: WHITE LIES

The eerily yellow glow from the lit torches of the great castle seemed to fill the corridors giving a sort of warm feel to the long winding hallways. Although the hallway seemed rather cozy, James and his friends appeared rather cold and glum as though walking down the road to their deaths. Thoughts of Remus left all alone in the dormitories clouded their minds; James was especially concerned now. A rush of doubt had come over him; perhaps he shouldn't have let Remus stay there all by himself. Even so, he refused to tell his two friends about his concern for it would only cause more worry. The boys, at the moment, weren't even remotely interested in seeing the meteor shower nor were they even thinking about it at all. They were late as it stood anyway, and Sinistra would most likely scold them when they got there so why bother rushing? The lot of them were literally dragging themselves to the tower!

"Ohhh!" shrieked a voice from behind them, a voice one would be stupid to forget. "Look it what I foun' 'ere!"

T'was Peeves the Poltergeist, ready to surprise you at times when least you need it. James winced his voice, but the lot continued walking as if they didn't hear a thing. Peeves, who was not one to be ignored, decided to pester at them a bit more in order to get their full attention. Peter, who was absolutely frightened of the menacing pesterer, quickly clung to Sirius' dark cloak, and urged him to walk faster.

"Yer late! LATE! That ol' hag Sinistra's gonna have a fit when I tell her I found you lot running amuck in the halls!" he squealed in a loud voice, a bright smile across his translucent face, "Oh oh! Maybe you're not running amuck, maybe yer lost? Lost are yeh? Are yeh? I can tell you where you're going! Lost little boys are sad little—!"

"Do us a favor and you get lost, Peeves!" Sirius growled, spinning around to face the Poltergeist, wand at the ready, "Or shall I assist you at getting there?"

Peeves quickly shut his mouth when he saw the wand facing him, and eyed it carefully. His sinister smile melted into an unhappy frown as he noted that Sirius was not fooling. The handsome lad meant business. The code of the Black family: they mean what they say, and their actions definitely tell you when they mean business. Peter was nearly flung to the side when Sirius turned around, and gulped as he looked at him, sweat trickling down his already pale face. James, who had been walking in front of them, merely looked over his shoulder just to make sure Sirius didn't do anything rash that could get them suspended. A suspension would not look good to any of their parents, that's why James was so dead on making sure Sirius didn't do anything they'd regret later on.

"Well?" grumbled Sirius, his dark eyes gleaming at him, "Get lost!"

Peeves obliged willingly and disappeared behind an old rickety armor along the right side of the wall. Even though Peeves was long gone, they all caught themselves staring at the armor for a good five minutes; they didn't even understand why. Perhaps the armor just appealed to them, or maybe they were waiting for Peeves to jump out and surprise them again—either way there was just something strange about it that they couldn't get off their minds. Peter had enough guts to tap on it a few times before the helmet toppled over causing a rather loud clang as it fell upon the cold stone floor. Sirius, who had been a bit edgy all evening winced at the loud disturbance in the air then shot a harsh glare at Peter who cowered at the sight of him.

"Give him a break, mate, all right there, Peter?" Asked James, rumpling his hair, "Sirius has been snapping at yeh lately, 'asn't he?"

Sirius straightened himself and bit his lower lip, "It's not like I meant it, mate."

Peter smiled slightly then shook his head, "No, it's okay. He's been in an awful mood lately so—"

Sirius glanced at Peter, a look at disbelief on his face, "Me? An awful mood? What you on about?"

James shrugged his shoulders; he knew very well that Sirius was a bit edgy because of Remus. He could understand his situation because he felt the same way, and Sirius wasn't the kind of person to admit his feelings openly like that. James had felt the same concern when Sirius had gone to see Bellatrix without telling them anything, and it was that kind of feeling he didn't wish to feel again.

Before the three of them continued their journey to the Astronomy Tower, James quickly whipped out his wand to fix the armor back to its normal state. Filch and Mrs. Norris would literally track down the culprits who desecrated the poor suit of armor as if their lives depended on it. After encountering that bit of nonsense, James pocketed his wand and they continued their trek. Their destination wasn't too far away. They all knew, from the number of times that they've been there, that it was located almost directly over the entrance to the castle. Should take us 'bout another good fifteen minutes or so, thought James, trying to keep his mind off the friend he had left behind.

Soon enough, the corridors opened up and led them onto an open-aired rickety, damp bridge. The night air was rather chilly, causing them to shiver immensely from the sudden change of temperature. The wind seeped through the little holes of their cloaks and breathed on their skin. They could feel the hairs on their arms stick up from the amount of cold that pushed against them. James had often come here to catch a glimpse of Cinder, his owl, flying over the Black Lake. The view was impeccably magnificent compared to the one in their dormitory. The bridge, although rickety, was probably among one of the best places for people to look out at the Black Lake. That's where I saw them—Merpeople, James thought as he looked over the edge, I'd like to meet one, one of these days.

"Hey! Hey, James!"

The messy-haired boy jumped at the mention of his name and turned to face Sirius and Peter who were already waiting at the other end of the bridge. After taking another brief look at the lake, he sped off to join up with his two friends. Upon reaching them he pulled out his wand and frowned as he noted the amount of frost that had grown on the tip of it.

"What were you looking at?" asked Peter, as James came toward them.

"The Black Lake." He replied looking at them with a smile.

"Why?"

"Oh, no reason."

Sirius grinned, "Fantasizing about merpeople in the lake, again?"

James couldn't help but laugh, and he patted Peter on the head gently then rumpled the back of his hair.

"Did you have a look at the moon?" implied Peter, "It looks ghastly tonight, almost like them creepy harvest moons me mum always talked about! Werewolves especially hate those kind of moons, did you know that—"

"That's all well and good, mate," interrupted Sirius, walking on ahead, "But save it for later, a'rite? I want to have a look at that meteor shower Raven was on about."

Peter nodded and followed behind Sirius, and James behind them. James was a bit puzzled at what Peter had just said moments ago for he hadn't seen the moon when he looked out at the lake. It was probably on the other side, his mind told him, I should be able to see it when we get to the tower. It was not only the little tidbit about the moon that caught his interest, but there was something about werewolves that interested him more. He didn't understand why either; the thought just came to him as though urging him to find out something more. There was just too much foreboding going on from within James that made him feel rather uneasy so it was to no surprise that he cast all the nonsense out of his head and tried to forget about it.

By the time they had finally reached the foot of the tower, Sirius held a good bet that the falling debris of rocks in the sky were probably falling at it's best around this time. It must've been a beautiful sight when it first came into view. James knew, as well as any of his friends, that the tower was open aired just like the bridge, only a few hundred meters taller than it. The high altitude could only mean that the cold would in fact be chillier than from the bridge. For a second, James couldn't decide if he wanted to go up to see the shower and be cold, or to go back down and not see the shower, but be warm. Sirius immediately answered his question when he dragged him up the stairwell.

"Sirius, you don't have to tug so hard!" he screeched as they went up one step at a time.

"If I didn't do so, you'd have been standing their, thinking, for the rest of your life!"

Just as they reached the door to lead to the very top part of the tower, they were utterly startled when they heard a loud Oohhh from what seemed to be some rather impressed Gryffindor students. James grinned; the three of them felt rather excited, it appeared as though Sinistra's surprise was a smashing success. With deep breaths, the three mischievous makers entered the room with great hope that Professor Sinistra wouldn't make a scene and give them some sort of manual labor to attend to. Fortunately for them, no one even took notice that they had entered the room; everyone, including Professor Sinistra, was caught staring up at the sky with open mouths and dazzled eyes.

As soon as James looked up he felt entranced just like everyone else: it was probably the rarest thing he had ever seen before. Muggles would die to see such a beautiful sight; meteors zooming passed in groups of no more than two at a time illuminating the night sky in rays of vagrant colors you would only see in an aurora. There were dozens of them, and when you thought it was over, there was a second batch ready zoom passed you in a blink of an eye; the number of falling debris that night was almost uncountable, almost never ending. The tails of each piece of debris that zoomed by appeared to suspend in midair as though time had stopped. Although the meteors illuminated the sky with radiant light, they weren't the only ones lighting the sky that night. The moon, just as Peter had told them, was even larger and eerie looking than they could have ever imagined.

James couldn't help but be more fascinated by the moon rather than the seldom seen meteor shower. It's face was completely circular, an exact 2D circle in the sky that filled almost a third of the night sky. James felt a smile cross his face as he looked at Peter, the messy-haired boy didn't need anyone to tell him what phase the moon was in now, there was no doubt about it, 100 full. No doubt the best full moon sighting in centuries. Two spectacular sightings in one night, how lucky could a guy get? Even so, it made him wonder whether or not this was all coincidence or just a little trick the Sinistra had whipped up just for the occasion.

"Sirius, do yeh find sumthing odd about the moon?" questioned James, hoping Sirius had been think the same thing he had, "I mean, don't yeh find it strange that the moon turned up like that during this time of year?"

The handsome young Black crossed his arms and thought for a minute before answering. It was quite obvious to James that Sirius had done nothing but stare up at the sight, which was very unlike him. Peter watched them James and Sirius with a large smile on his face, not knowing what in all the Wizarding World was going on.

"You do have a point there." He answered, finally, glancing at Sinistra, "You don't think she's got anything to do with this, eh? Or maybe it's just naturally done, coincidence, maybe. James, you're thinking too hard, yeh've got my brain hurting now!"

They frowned at each other. Then something caught their attention from the corner of their eyes; turning, they saw Raven leaning against the railing eyeing them as though reading their every thought. Girls these days, James thought, shrugging, I hate that look in their eyes, it's like they're looking into your very soul. Raven, pushing herself away from the railing, quickly walked over to them. Her face looked smug and relaxed, a bit too comfortable for her own good.

"The work of a wizard, that is," Raven murmured, silently walking over to them, "Sinistra's quite pleased with herself 'bout this. Ministry's been furious though! Witches meddling with the natural forces of nature, I'd say she'd be fired if it weren't for the Headmaster. From the looks of things, you three didn't give word to Lily either…"

"Oh sorry, I couldn't find her." Replied James, looking down in embarrassment.

Sirius ran his left hand though his soft hair then scoffed, "So this is Sinistra's doing, eh? Well, anyway, you know how them Ministry peoples are. Too over protective fer their own good, I'd say. It's not like the end of the world is coming—"

CRASH!

The lot of them jumped, startled by the racket that had just ruined a beautiful moment. Several Gryffindors jumped up from were they sat and glanced around frantically looking for the source of the disruption. Peter did some what of the same thing, but in stead of doing so calmly, began running around squeaking, "It's the end of the world!" like some lunatic that had just been released from the clutches of Azkaban.

Both Raven and James glared at Sirius harshly and stammered, simultaneously, "You just had to jinx it, didn't you?"

Sirius sighed hopelessly. It sounded just like one of those random books off Madam Pince's library shelf that didn't have a plot what so ever; the moment you think something doesn't happen, it happens. A very unrealistic plot, if you didn't live in a world full of a magic and mischief where almost anything can happen. Raven trotted away from them in hope that Professor Sinistra would know what that sound was.

"All right, Peter?" asked James, glancing over at Peter who had finally stopped running around.

Peter looked over at James then flung himself around him, screaming, "James!" over and over again. Peter appeared completely attached to his cloak that even Sirius had trouble yanking him off. When they finally got Peter back to his normal senses, the three of them walked over to the ledge of the tower to look out at the view. James and Sirius were more interested in finding the source of the crash from earlier, unlike Peter who was awed by breathtaking view.

"What did you make of that sound from earlier?" implied Sirius, thoughtfully.

"It sounded like glass, it did." Responded James as he leaned against the ledge, "You don't suppose someone broke in; it could be one of the ghosts…"

Peter quivered at the thought of ghosts running mayhem downstairs, but remained silent in order to allow James and Sirius to talk without raising their voices. Just as the two of them were about to go in depth of where the crashing came from they were rudely interrupted by the footsteps of someone walking toward them.

"Bad luck…" Sirius muttered under his breath as he turned to look at Professor Sinistra.

Sinistra put her hands on her hips and stared down at them with a stern look on her face. What could the three have possibly done to upset her this time? Peter hid behind James while looking at her with a deep frown across his face.

"Where have you three been?" Sinistra asked.

"We ran into some trouble on the way up," replied Sirius, honestly.

"And we had to look for Evans and Remus because Raven requested we do so." Implored James, trying to make her to warm up to them, "I couldn't didn't find Evans though, and Remus said he wasn't feeling too well so he stayed up in the dormitory…if that okay with you, Professor."

She stared at them for a second before opening her mouth to reply.

"Lupin?" her voice in a questioned tone, "Shouldn't he be in the infirmary?"

The three of them looked between each other. The in the world was Sinistra talking about?! Remus in the infirmary? What for? Sure, the boy's been there a fair few times all year, but why'd he need to be their now? It was also true that Remus was acting rather strange when they left, but they hadn't suspected much of it.

"He was up in the dormitory." repeated Sirius, brushing some hair out of his eyes, "Why, is he supposed to be in the infirmary?"

Professor Sinistra's eyes grew wide as she heard what Sirius had to say. There was something definitely wrong going on in their Professor's head. James had not seen such horror on someone's face since his mother found a dead doxy in the pie she had baked a few years back. James was beginning to wonder what, in Merlin's name, the fuss was all about because of Remus. Peter and Sirius were just as confused; what was she so scared of, and exactly why does she think Remus should be in the infirmary?

"Is he sick?" Peter asked, his face shifting from scared to worried

Professor Sinistra looked at them, not knowing what to reply. Her face had grown rather pale, and she bit her lower lip out of worry. She just kept opening and closing her mouth, but nothing actually came out. Then after a few second she finally said, in a very weak voice, "Yes, he's very ill."

Ill…? The word ran through their heads. They looked between each other then back at Sinistra, it felt like a very awkward moment. No one dared to speak, for the look in Sinistra's eyes was if she were in great pain. James knew the very instant she said that, that his professors was not supposed to tell him of Remus' condition. James had known there was something wrong with Remus from the first time they met him; the pale face, pain in his eyes, and from the times when he'd go short breathed and need medical care said it all. Although they now knew for sure that Remus had some sort of condition, the lot of them could not figure out what kind of illness he could have contracted and kept secret for the past couple months.

Sinistra, not knowing what else to tell them, turned away from the boys to face the other Gryffindors who appeared to have their complete and undivided attention on her. It was no surprise that they did, for most of them were awfully scared and wanted to know where that horrible ruckus came from. By now, the meteor shower was long gone, and there was nothing but the eerie moon that could have caught any of their attentions. Professor Sinistra straightened herself up the looked at each of them with as calm of a face as she could.

"I—I must speak with the headmaster." She announced, as she quickly walked over to the door, "Prefects! Gryffindor Prefects! Where are you? I'll need you to be in charge, be sure not to let any of them out of your sight, is that clear?" She eyed the James, Peter, and Sirius, carefully, "Especially those who have the words 'MISCHIEF' written all over the their innocent faces."

It was most obvious to Peter that Sinistra was talking about them, for he dug his face deep into James' back to hide his humiliation. James and Sirius, on the other hand, did not intend to cower to a teacher.

The two prefects nodded and stood from where they sat to get a better look at number of students in the vicinity. After seeing this, Professor Sinistra quickly sped out of the room and down the spiral staircase of the tower. She sped down so fast that one would have thought she would, without a doubt, trip on her way down. This left the two prefects in charge now and, from what James could see, the two prefects looked quite suited for the job of watchdog. The both of them had this look of authority about them that the three boys did not want to get on the wrong side of. Even so, this didn't change the fact that James, Sirius, and Peter were left hanging. Sinistra had made them wonder even more, and now they were more than positive that they had to figure everything out as soon as possible. Considering their titles as Mischief-Makers, the lot of them couldn't sit still; they just had to find out the secret as if their lives depended on it.

"We have to check on Remus…!" Sirius whispered with great urgency in his voice, "I don't want to stand 'ere doing nothing while 'em professors are all worried-like."

James nodded, "I know what you mean, mate. But you don't expect us to waltz on out of here undetected!"

Sirius shrugged. It was their only major problem, exactly how were they supposed to get out of the tower? A prefect's eye is as watchful as Professor McGonagall in her animagus-cat stage; her eyes never seem to blink. Just thinking about McGonagall made the three of them shudder in horror, with that kind of attention span how could they possibly find a way…?

"Um… W-what about your invisibility cloak, James?" murmured Peter, nervously chewing on his pinky. The poor boy's nose appeared as red as an apple, and he sneezed upon saying this.

James and Sirius looked at each other then stared down at Peter. It was an absolutely brilliant idea, considering the source, and it was the only logical thing that would work at a time like this.

Sirius grinned haughtily then put an arm around Peter's neck in a friendly manner, "That's more like it! That's using yer brain, mate, trying using it more often though—" He was cut off when James' face faulted, "—What's the matter?"

James rumpled the back of his head nervously; "I—uh—didn't bring it with me."

Sirius stared at him, speechless.

"Y-you didn't bring it?" Sirius repeated, just trying to make sure.

James shook his head. The grin across the handsome lad's face faded, and Peter covered his eyes, trying to guess what was coming next.

"How could you not bring it!" he exclaimed.

James frowned, "Look, I thought we were just going to look at the meteor shower then come back. I didn't know—!"

"You should have known!"

"How was I?!"

"I don't know, I thought you were the leader of our group!"

"You're the one who made me leader—!"

"Stop it!" squeaked Peter, jumping between the two of them. His face was even more frightened the Professor Sinistra's now, and his eyes were filled with fresh tears, "I want to see Remus now…!"

The quarrel ended there; Peter was right, fighting wasn't going to get them anywhere fast. Sirius and James nodded to each other, and mutely began trying to think of ways to distract the prefects while they were to make their get away. As they thought a chilly breeze passed through causing many of the students to shiver; it was just that kind of breeze that freed James' mind filling it with loads of ideas.

"…Hey, Sirius." James murmured, a thought popping into his head.

Sirius looked up at him and stammered, "What now?"

"Remember what Professor Dumbledore said when we were in the Great Hall?"

Peter looked at James thoughtfully, "You mean when he said that we were mad?"

"I was the one who said that he was mad, Peter!" Sirius snapped. "So what about what he said…?"

James looked at them, a glitter of hope in his chestnut eyes, "'You may find yourself using the surprise to your advantage' was what he said, remember? You don't think he was referring to the meteor shower helping us get out of here…?"

Sirius and Peter looked at James in wonder. The two hadn't caught Dumbledore saying that in the hall, but it sounded rather promising. James had a good hunch, now, what Professor Dumbledore was telling them to do.

"You don't think he's psychic do you?" Peter wondered aloud.

James laughed as he looked up at the sky, "He might be a seer, but you never know. Might wanna ask him one of 'ese days, ey Peter?"

Sirius rubbed his hands together to keep them warm; it was indeed very cold that night. Professor Sinistra was probably unaware of it because of her long velvet cape that she wore over her cloak and professor's uniform.

"So 'xactly how are we supposed to 'use it to our advantage', mate?" asked Sirius, crossing his arms, "I don't suppose any of you know any charms or spells that can do much to affect our atmosphere…"

"That's it!" James exclaimed.

"What's it…?" Peter wondered, looking at him in worry.

"An illusionary charm." He explained with a wink, "I read about them a few months ago. Don't worry, the charm's easy enough to conjure up!"

Sirius exchanged worried glances with Peter. Although James' voice was filled with great confidence, one couldn't help but feel a little bit worrisome about what James was about to do. The messy-haired boy quickly whipped out his wand, flicked a few times, and then whispered some words neither Sirius nor Peter had ever heard of from within the context of a book. Exactly what kind of book did James look this charm up in…?

Somniuous was the final word that came out of James' mouth; the moment he said it there was a wispy smoke that seemed to slowly move upward catching the attention of all of the students in the area. Sirius and Peter found themselves in the same awed state the rest of the class was in, all except James who smiled proudly. The illusionary charm that James had performed had several abilities, and James, fortunately, read each one carefully to be sure that it wasn't toxic in any way. The charm itself brought everyone, except the user, into a state where they were in a world of their own little worlds, away from everything that troubled them at that moment. In this case, James added a bit of his touch to the spell and made it so that all of the students, including the prefects, would see the exact same thing. James used the surprise, all right, simply by making all the students see the meteor shower that had just ended moments before.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself as he quickly pocketed his wand, "Now to wake Sirius and Peter."

James, being as careful as he possible could, tapped the both of them on the shoulder in order not to startle them.

"Hey, mates…" he said in a low voice to them, "Time to stop spacing out."

Sirius turned to James with a disgusted look on his face, "What you on 'bout? Seriously, James, can't you see the beautiful meteor shower?"

"That's not a meteor shower, remember? I cast that illusionary charm?"

Sirius frowned, and then looked up at the sky again; this time there was nothing but a blank night sky with twinkling stars and a round full moon. Just when he was about to ask questions, the illusion before him snapped and he remembered James' little trick. Peter, on the other hand, continued to stare up at the shower, completely transfixed.

Shaking his head and slapping himself a few times, Sirius scathed, "That's a powerful charm, James, don't ever use that on me again. Looking back on it now, it make me look stupid."

"Are yeh sure you're not already?" James laughed.

Sirius frowned then walked over to the spiral staircase.

"H-hey! What about Peter?" James exclaimed looking back at him, "We can't just leave him like that! He'd be really sad if he found out—"

Sirius shrugged, "Right, sorry, I just got a bit excited."

The two of them quietly arouse Peter from the illusionary dream and snuck as quickly as they could down the spiral staircase. Before long, the three of them had already run across the rickety bridge, passed the old armor, and down the corridors to their common room. They ran in order to avoid Filch, Mrs. Norris, and Peeves, while trying to make good time with Professor Sinistra who must have been in Dumbledore's office by now. James was sure of it now, what ever Sinistra had on her mind that was bugging her had something to do with Remus. The lot knew that if they wanted to find out what was going on, they have to ask little Lupin himself.

Just as they turned the final corner, the three of them could now see the door to their common room awaiting them. The common room was not far now, and they all held their breaths as they began to run closer and closer to what appeared to be the Fat Lady's painting. The idea was to immediately give the Fat Lady the password, run into the common room, up the stairs, and into their dorm room to check with Remus, but unfortunately, that wasn't the cast. Just when they reached the door, to where the Fat Lady was, they all came to a sudden halt; the door of the common room had been left open, and the Fat Lady was nowhere in sight.

James patted Peter on the head in assurance then walked in. Peter then waddled in behind him, and Sirius came in last, closing the door behind him.

"…I have a bad feeling about this," squeaked Peter as they took a few steps into the common room.

Both James and Sirius felt the same way, for some reason, the warm fire of the fireplace was no longer pleasant, and the once comforting common room seemed barren and cold. Sure, the fire was still burning, but this feeling was just something they just couldn't shake off. It was almost as if the dementors of Azkaban had laid siege to their once welcoming common room.

"We should check on Remus," urged Sirius, immediately, "I'm beginning to worry…"

Peter nodded at Sirius' comment. James walked over to their dormitory tower then looked back at their common room examining the place a bit, nothing was missing from the place, nor did it seem like anything had been destroyed from within it. This was all well and good, but they couldn't shake off the feeling that something had, indeed, taken place in that common room. Another eerie thing was the fact the door had left wide open. Who ever the last person was, who came in or out of the dormitory, left in such a rush that they'd be stupid enough to forget to close the door. Other than that, though, the common room appeared just as they had left it not more than thirty minutes before.

"Quit staring into space like a 'unatic and come on!" croaked Sirius, tugging on James' cloak, "You go up firs'!"

"Bit scared are yeh?" James said grinning, "I'm sure, Remus doesn't bite."

Sirius pouted for a second then immediately pushed Peter up the stairs, "Well then, let Petie up first!"

Peter stumbled as Sirius pushed him onto the first steps of their dormitory tower, he appeared to be quivering madly, "A-are you sure you don't wanna be in front, James?"

"I can see you better when you're in front." He replied, a warm smile appearing across his face.

The lot of them walked up the stairs in a rather odd single file line; James, who stood in the middle, couldn't help but feel like a very small herd of cattle walking through a narrow walk way. The walls seemed to close on them as they continued upward. Even though they had been up these stairs many times, it felt different as though there were some clue that would answer their question up these steps. Upon reaching the level of their dormitory, their minds became heavy with doubt.

Peter refused to open the door to their room since his hands seemed to quiver too much. So James, being the closest to the door, knocked on the door first then turned the knob of the door. Strangely enough, it was unlocked, and he pushed the door open.

"Remus…?" James murmured, "You here?"

Peter quickly reached for the lights and turned them on with a small flick of his wand. Peter had come to learn how to do this because of his fear of dark places. They all walked in and looked around wordlessly. Everything looked just as they had left just that there was no Remus in sight.

"Where'd he go off to?" grumbled Sirius, taking the chance to flop onto his bed, "Maybe he did run over to the infirmary just as Sinistra said. Whew! All this running around's got me as tired as fish."

"Fish get tired?" wondered Peter, walking over to his bed.

Sirius frowned, "Course they do! Er… Right James?"

James was not listening; even though Sirius and Peter now felt a sense of security, James just couldn't. Remus had gone to the infirmary? Their friend had just vanished without a trace? None of it seemed to fit no matter how they twisted the story. He shrugged his shoulders then walked over to his bed, by chance, something caught his eye. A glitter of red had left a small trail upon a part of the glass window.

"What you looking at, mate?"

James knelt down to take a better look at what he had just noticed. Pushing his round glasses up the bridge of his nose he traced the area of red with his finger. Although it felt hard at one part of the glass, the further up he moved the less of a solid it felt, then his finger touched a rather gooey, wet part of the red blotch at the tip of it. It's liquid…? He thought with a start, he scrapped the substance with his finger and looked at it, this isn't just liquid…this is…

"Blood!" James gasped, backing away from the window. "Bloody-birdsome-menace! There's blood on the window!"

"What?!" Sirius shouted, jumping off his bed to join James, "Ye've gone made, haven't you?"

"B-blood?" Peter squeaked clutching his most favored pillow.

"Jus' take a look at the window!"

Sirius bent down and did the same thing James had done by tracing it with his finger. He then looked at James worriedly, and they could read it in each other's minds. It was blood, but not just anyone's blood; it was Remus'. Sirius stood up in order to take a look at the window as a whole.

"Hey, mates, look what we 'ave 'ere…" Sirius pointed out tracing in the air what appeared to be crack marks in the glass. "Looks like this glass was broken. You dun think—?"

James stared in horror at it, "—This was the crashing sound we heard? Probably, someone must have tried to fix it… actually, looking at our room now. Someone tried fixing our entire room."

Sirius jerked as the mention of it, and he looked around. Although the room looked perfectly normal, there were a few things that couldn't be erased like the placement of their belongings. Either Remus had some sort of fit then fixed it… or there was a struggle that took place and the culprit that took Remus fixed up the room so they wouldn't suspect anything.

"The glass looks like it's about to break again." Sirius said, calmly, "Hey, Peter, can you fix it up? I don't feel like doing it me self."

Peter nodded, while clutching his pillow, and exclaimed, "R-Reparo!"

A shot of light zoomed out of his wand and cleaned all the cracks in the surface of the glass. James looked at Peter, quite impressed, and since when did Sirius depend of Peter to do something for him?

"I've been teaching him a bit o' things," Sirius said with a grin, then walked over to the door, "What do we do now? Should we head back to the Astronomy Tower?"

James hung his head before answering, "I guess… Not much we can do right now. I want to go look for Remus, but I don't even know where to begin! Hogwarts is just too big a place."

The three of them agreed on that point. They were in grave danger of getting detention as it stood anyways. It would be for the best that they headed back to the Tower and reverse the illusionary charm James had so proudly cast on them. They all huddled out the door in great dismay; their hopes of asking Remus about his condition seemed to flutter away from them. They were beginning to wonder if they'd ever be able to ask him about it.

Just as they got midway down the steps of the tower, the three of them heard voices coming from below; coming from the common room just below them. A particularly rapidly speaking voice, a calm voice, and rather stern voice seemed to be chattering amongst each other, no doubt signifying evidence three people.

Upon hearing this, the three of them slowed to a walk and stopped when they heard their voices clearly. There was without a doubt that the people in their common room were professors, not students, and they were talking about something rather urgent.

"I can't believe you told them the boy was ill!" screeched the first voice, no doubt the voice of Professor McGonagall, "Of all things, you've given them suspicions now!"

"He is ill, isn't he?" stammered the next voice, one that was no doubt Professor Sinistra's, "Potter, Black, and Pettigrew are his friends, don't they have a right to know, even a little bit?"

It was like the silence before the storm; Professor McGonagall's voice seemed to boom through the common room, "Are you mad, Sinistra?! Have you no thought for Lupin at all? What do you think he'll say when he finds out that you told them even remotely that—!"

"Minerva, calm down, please," said the calm voice; Albus Dumbledore's, "I think she did what she thought was in their best interest…"

"Not you too Albus!" exclaimed McGonagall, "If you support Sinistra, then fine. But I do not want to find out you've told them more than they need to know. If then knew that Remus was a werewol—!"

"Minerva!" Sinistra shouted, "Walls have ears!"

There was no doubt in James' mind that Professor McGonagall was out raged for they heard her stomp away, grunting angrily toward the Fat Lady's painting. "Minerva, wait… I didn't mean to shout," was the last thing they heard Sinistra say before the door of the Fat Lady slammed shut behind them. It was a rather horrific moment for the three of them; was Remus really what they overheard he was…? The thought of it made them all worry even more about him than before. Peter was apparently shaken the most.

The three of them didn't move from their spots, not only because they were shocked by information they had found out, but also because they were sure Professor Dumbledore was still in the common room below them.

After what seemed like forever, Dumbldore's calm voice arouse once more, "Sirius, Peter, and James; you can come down now."

The three boys gulped as they heard the mention of their names. It was no use hiding now, James knew for certain that Dumbledore knew the whole time that they were up there eavesdropping. He didn't know how Dumbledore knew, but he just knew that he did. The three of them walked down the steps, James in the lead, and Peter trailing behind them; the lot of them looked about a glum as the herd of sheep James had thought about walking up there. Upon reaching the common room, they immediately noticed Professor Dumbledore standing at the center of the room; his face smiling warmly at them.

"W-we didn't mean to eavesdrop." James muttered, immediately as they walked toward him, "You can suspend us all you like, but is Remus really…?"

The old man blinked behind his half-moon glass and shook his head, "Suspend? I was just going to say that you three should hurry back to your classroom before the surprise is spoiled." He turned to the door to leave them, "And it's your choice to believe what you heard or not."

With that said Dumbledore glided over to the Fat Lady's painting, pushed it open, and walked out. The door shut instantly after he disappeared, leaving the three boys in dread about what was to happen next.

:: COMING SOONTOTHISSTORY IN FRONT OF YOU::

Next Chapter: The Whomping Massacre

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