Chapter 6

"Remember," Professor Flitwick called after them as they left charms class, "not one inch under five feet and I will be measuring!"

"Five feet," groused Sirius as he shoved some spare quills into his pocket. "He could at least assign a length more comparable to his height."

Peter still looked shell-shocked and responded in a slightly absent voice, "It's the NEWTs. They say the seventh year is the hardest year at Hogwarts."

"Is there an easy year at Hogwarts?" Remus asked lightly as he tried to secure his permanently overweight rucksack onto his frame.

"First year wasn't so bad," James commented. "At ;east we still had plenty of secret passages to find."

"Oh yeah—remember the time we found the one behind the mirror?" Sirius' eyes shown with the memory. "Took all the fun out of the third years visit first visit to Hogsmeade for us to have Honeyduke's and Zonko's products before they did." James and Sirius laughed at the memory.

"Oh, and remember the time we jumped out from the behind the statue of the one-eyed witch just as Peter was walking by?" Sirius went on, trying to give Peter a sympathetic look, but not quite succeeding. "He was so scared he nearly wet himself."

"I did not." Peter protested with all the dignity a seventeen year old could muster when reminded of pranks played on him when he was younger.

"You did, too, Wormtail. You don't have to deny it. At least you can say you've advanced since then, though I imagine you'll still be asking for help on that five foot essay," he ended with his voice taking on a tone of complete disgust. James rolled his eyes.

"It's not like we don't work together, anyway, Padfoot. We all tend to get help from each other. Besides, if anyone had aright to be upset about it, it would be Remus—he is the one who usually helps Peter."

Remus shrugged nonchalantly—his mind had not been following the conversation too closely, but now that it involved him, he responded, "if you need help, just ask me in advance—not the night before it's due, as some tend to." He cast a look over at Sirius and James, who both smiled.

"Hey, it's not our fault you always finish your essays early," James tried to console him.

"But with FIVE FEET," Sirius added, "you'll be writing just as long and hard as the rest of us mere mortals. How is Flitwick even going to read these? They're nearly twice as long as he is tall."

"Then be glad he didn't assign his students essays twice the size of their heights," a new voice suggested behind them. "Or worse, the size of their egos. You'd never be done."

Remus smiled and was not surprised to see Lily Evans scurrying along behind them when he turned. "Why Evans! How dare you--," James gave Sirius a sharp look "—call yourself egotistic! That could simply not be farther from the truth."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You think you're charming. You're not." Sirius grinned.

"What, then, you want help on the essay, too? I'm sure James wouldn't mind helping you out on one of these nights."

"Sorry, Black, but I did not become Head Girl because I got help from others. But, incidentally, we need to patrol this Friday and Saturday nights. You will be there, right, Potter?"

"Er—" James looked at Remus and Remus wished he hadn't. Friday night was the full moon and the thought of transforming with only Sirius there to control him was not a comforting one.

"You can't shirk all of your Head Boy responsibilities, you know," Lily went on accusingly.

"Lily is right, James. It is important—more than homework." He emphasized the last part.

"Homework?" Lily snorted. "You don't do homework on Friday nights."

"Maybe I do and maybe I don't," James answered sharply and Lily fell silent for a moment. Then—"Fine. If you want, you can bring it with you—who cares?"

James gave Remus an apologetic look before nodding. "It's a date," he affirmed and then winced.

"Yes, I bet you wish it were. Now, would you four mind letting me through? You block the whole hall." They parted and Lily swept through, giving Remus a smile, which he returned. "Do you know what aspects you're going to cover in your essay yet?"

"No, not quite. I haven't had time to think of them yet."

"Oh, too bad…some of them are quite fascinating!"

"I'll keep that in mind," he said amicably and then she was gone down the hall.

"I see your plan is working well, Prongs," Sirius said sarcastically, once she was out of earshot and James was more than happy to ignore him.

"Are you sure it doesn't matter, Moony?" James asked.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"With only Padfoot and Wormtail there to control you while marauding?"

Now came the difficult part and Remus began in the most casual voice he could muster. "Actually, I was thinking that with all the homework we've been having lately, it would be better to just cancel marauding all together."

"WHAT?" The world exploded out of Sirius' mouth. The other two just stared at Remus with shocked looks on their faces. "Cancel marauding? We haven't cancelled marauding once since fifth year, not even when Filch filched our map."

Peter muttered something under his breath.

"What was that, Wormtail?" Sirius asked and Peter muttered it a bit louder.

"Ah, that's right—we did miss it one time at the end of sixth year, didn't we? Still, that's a pretty good record. Why ruin it?"

Remus searched for an answer, then shrugged helplessly. "Right. Why ruin it?"

"ARE YOU SURE?" James questioned them again. "You will be fine?"

"Yes, Prongs—honestly, did someone hit you with a Mollycoddling charm last class? It's fine."

"Mollycoddle Charm?" Peter piped up. "There isn't one of those, is there?"

"Well, why don't you just ask Moony to leaf through his massive Tomb of All Charms Known to Wizardry?" Sirius teased and Remus patted his bad then frowned.

"I would check it but I think I left it the Charms classroom."

James' widened his eyes dramatically. "Better go get it, or else Sirius might have a heart attack if he doesn't have the exact charm he needs for his motorcycle, or Flitwick might borrow it and you'd never see it again."

"Or worse, we'll all have to use it as assigned reading," Peter groaned, but Remus just smiled.

"I'm sure it's still there; I'll just swing back there and meet you all back in Gryffindor Tower." They waved him away and Remus turned to head back through the castle, bumping through groups of chattering Hufflepuffs and flocks of Ravenclaws, whose large backpacks made even the smallest of them resemble a good-sized Slytherin candidate. Speaking of Slytherins…

"The pull of the moon dragging you backwards, Lupin?" Snape now stood before him, a sneer gathering on the corner of his lips.

"No, not really," he answered evenly.

Snape sniveled and Remus did his best to not think of their nickname for him and to concentrate instead on the fact that this one person had the ability to make his everyday at Hogwarts a living hell—or worse, he could make it his last day. Maybe some casual conversation would change the way Snape was eyeing him suspiciously? He certainly wasn't showing any signs of moving.

"On your way to charms?" Nothing. Remus continued on, "Because Flitwick is assigning a murderous essay." It wasn't working. Really, he hadn't expected it to. Snape watched him carefully and then looked up and down the hall, his eyes peering out from behind his greasy locks in a piercing gaze. "Where is your pack, Lupin?"

"Not any of your business is it, Snape?"

"If they are out here, plotting anything—" As luck would have it, James came striding around the corner at that very moment, his Head Boy badge shining on his chest and a whistle on his lips. He broke stride for a second when he saw Snape standing there in the hall, blocking Remus' path. "Hello, Remus, Snape," he nodded his head casually at both of them. "Any luck finding the book?" He asked Remus, pointedly ignoring Snape.

"I haven't yet made it to the Charms classroom."

"Ah. Then, if you'll excuse us, Snape, we'll be on our way." Snape gave him a disgusted look and for a few minutes, they stared at each other, neither willing to give up their place. James reached into his left hand pocket. Snape started. James paused. A group of Slytherins headed down the corridor and Snape moved into their ranks. Remus breathed a sigh of relief. James pulled his hand out of his pocket and revealed not a wand, but a gold galleon, which he proceeded to weave through his fingers. "You weren't reaching for your wand?"

"No," James grinned at him, "I keep my wand in my right pocket. I'm right handed. You know that."

Remus smiled. "Good thing Snape didn't."

"He was always a little blind, don't you think?" He paused, and then continued in a conspiratorial tone, "Maybe his nose gets in the way and blocks his vision."

"Right." They reached the Charms room and it only took Remus a few seconds to walk in there, find the book, exchange a few polite words with Professor Flitwick and get back to James.

The journey back to Gryffindor Tower was uneventful, but Remus still found himself scanning the faces of passing Slytherins, looking for any signs that Snape might have revealed his secret.

"You know," James told him casually, "If you keep staring at them like that, they're going to give you dirty looks, simply because you're a Gryffindor. Then you'll take it the wrong way and spend the rest of the day hiding behind the curtains of your bed hating yourself."

Remus shrugged, not wanting to discuss it. "I still think we should be more careful."

"Around Snivellous you mean? He's not going to tell anyone."

"No, I don't mean Snape," He gave James a meaningful look.

"Ooh, don't worry, my lips are sealed. If Lily hasn't figured it out already—"

Remus' voice grew unintentionally sharp. "What do you mean if she doesn't know already?"

"Well, she's smart, Remus. If we figured it out after knowing you for two years, she's bound to figure it out eventually, especially since you two were prefects together."

"Has she said anything to you?"

"No, but—"

"Good. Don't give her any hints I don't care if we never go marauding again."

They reached the seventh year's dorm room and James pushed open the door. "Really, Mooney, does she strike you as the type that would blab secrets out all over Hogwarts? You've spent more time alone with her than I—"

"No fair!" Sirius' head popped up from behind his motorcycle. "No talking about any females without telling everyone whom you're talking about."

James ignored him. "Don't you think she's trustworthy? Snape I can understand you not trusting."

"Whoa, we've gone from female to Snape. I no longer want any part in the conversation." Sirius bent over and began talking to the space underneath one of the four-poster beds. "Have you found it yet, Wormtail?"

"Not quite," a muffled voice called out. "Oh, wait!" A dusty hand, then head, followed by dust-covered robes emerged out from underneath it. "Are these them?" Sirius took a few small items from his hands and looked them over critically, then sniffed them.

"No, but I think you have just found the most ancient Bertie Botts All-Flavor Beans that I have ever seen. They've gone grey and hard with age. If you never find the blots, I bet it wouldn't take much to transfigure these into some."

"You lost some bolts?" James asked Sirius, forgetting his previous conversation with Remus.

"Yeah, I reckoned it wouldn't be worth it to waste time waiting on you lot to get back with the Charms book, so I decided to get a head start and see how much I could get done with my own hands." He paused and flexed his grease smeared hands and dirty fingernails. "We really ought to give those Muggles more credit. They're willing to get absolutely filthy."

"And for what amounts to a completely outmoded form of travel, too. I'm telling you, Padfoot, you should just buy a broomstick."

Sirius snorted. "Right. If I wanted to be like every other typical Hogwarts student, I would have a broomstick. But this," he patted his motorbike lovingly, "this is different."

"Yes, so different, you might find yourself at a hearing in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"Nah, they're way too busy with more important things right now." Sirius averted his eyes, wiped his motorcycle down with a rag for a moment, and then blew some gunk off of it. "I saw in the Daily Prophet there had been another attack. Could you give me that lubrication charm again, Moony?"

Remus handed him the book. "Was it a wizarding family?"

Sirius shook his head and began to leaf through pages. "No, a Muggle one but there's plenty of evidence that points to it having been the work of a wizard. It's really not all that hard to narrow down, is it?"

James frowned deeply. "Did this family have any magical members? There have been a few—"

"I don't know." He said, now sounding irritated. "It might have been, like some of the others. Mainly I think they're hoping whoever it is that's doing this will get cold feet and stop with all the publicity."

"I've heard some things from my mum about who's doing it," Peter added.

"It's probably more than one person," Remus reminded him.

Sirius nodded. "For all we know, the whole of Slytherin is behind it." He, James and Peter sniggered. "Ah, ha! Here's the charm. It doesn't look too complicated. You found those bolts yet, Peter?"

Coughing, Peter crawled even farther under the bed. "Why don't you just summon them?" James asked Sirius.

"But he seemed so eager to help…" Peter emerged, clutching a few newly de-rusted bolts in his hand, which he eagerly gave to Sirius. Sirius smiled at them, happily then took up his wrench, screwed them on and sat back a bit to admire his one-wheeled motorbike. "Excellent."