THREE: ANIMADVERTO SENSUS

Sirius stared up at the drawn curtains of the four-poster bed; they were nothing at all like the happy red and gold ones of the beds back at his Hogwarts dormitory. The curtains at the ancestral home of the Black family at Number 12, Grimmauld Place were, of course, black, just like everything else in the house. He had never realised how morbidly his mother decorated her home before, it was like the whole house was set up for a funeral, a very grand funeral for a noble, wealthy, influential and slightly stuck-up wizard maybe, but a funeral nonetheless. You also had to act in the house the way you would do at a funeral, with quiet respect.

This was what he'd been doing all his summer holiday, sitting cooped up in his room, staring mindlessly at various things, and daydreaming the time away. That and having to sit through tedious family dinners and uncomfortable silences where his only means of entertainment was bullying their house-elf, Kreacher. But even that lost its novelty after a while, seeing as the damn creature didn't seem to mind being kicked around by the son of the 'Oh So Noble Mistress Black'.

Although there were times of excitement in Grimmauld Place, such as the day after Sirius arrived back for the Christmas holidays and his mother had screamed at him for being a "disgrace to the family", because he was placed in a House "filled to the brim with mudbloods, half-bloods and blood traitors". Sirius' mother had an obsessive affixation with the type of blood people had, she had told him once that it was the only way to determine a true wizard, by the purity of their blood.

His dear mother had now vowed that she wouldn't make the same mistake with Regulas, Sirius' younger brother, and that she would send him to Durmstrang to learn magic.

"Far away from idiotic, muggle-loving Headmasters with dragon dung for brains," she had said when she took them both shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley.

Regulas was her new task. She focussed all her attention on moulding her second son into the perfect, pure-blooded bigot just like herself and his father. She did, nevertheless, cast glances of disdain and dislike in Sirius' direction whenever he was in the nearby vicinity. Luckily for him he had managed to live a sheltered life locked in his bedroom for most of the holidays and only came out for food and sanitation purposes. Though sometimes his mother demanded his presence at dinner parties, mainly to stand there and look good, like a wax statue in those muggle museums.

Sirius sighed and closed his eyes to sleep, he was extremely glad that the next day would be the first of September, the day of the Hogwarts Express, and then, finally, he'd be home.

-8-

"Any of you going to be trying out for the Quidditch team?" James asked through a mouthful of Chocolate Frogs.

Both remus and Peter said "no" almost instantly and Sirius gave a quick shrug. However James Potter was not the type to be disheartened by his friends' lack of interest in the best game of all time and he started talking about the positions he was interested in playing, which incidentally turned out to be all of them.

Peter listened intently to James' one-man conversation. James' obvious enthusiasm and love for the supposed best wizarding sport in the world had always amazed him. Peter had hoped that the flying lessons in first year would have taught him a thing or two and maybe even bring out a sort of hidden ability, but it had made no difference. The chubby boy with mousy hair was still as useless on a broomstick as ever, and he wasn't going to kid himself by trying out for the team.

Remus' reason for not trying out was far simpler: with his condition he was in no state to play any competitive flying sports (in the words of Professor McGonagall). Really he knew she meant that he was too weak to play any competitive flying sports. She was right though and Remus didn't mind, it was not like he had a particularly genetic gift for flying like James had. Quidditch would have been just another weight on his already over-burdened shoulders.

Sirius had no reason to not try out except the fact that there was only one open spot for a second year in the Quidditch team, and that spot was most definitely going to filled by James Potter. Sirius had to admit, though grudgingly, that someone was better than him at something. That was the Black in his blood talking; old habits die hard.

James' topic of conversation had now changed from the upcoming Quidditch tryouts to girls. This time Sirius joined in, clearly liking the subject.

"What about Lily Evans?" James said.

"Not you type James," Sirius replied smirking, "Way too cleaver."

"You saying I'm an idiot?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, idiot." At this James hit his best friend upside the head and threw some of his remaining Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans at him. The blue-eyed boy caught the majority of them expertly in his mouth while the others hit a number of new first year Gryffindors on the back of the head. James muttered a quick apology before scowling back at Sirius, who had started talking again.

"What I'm saying," he said, "Is that she's more like… Remus' type."

The sandy-haired boy snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his name and turned to face his friends.

"Hmm?" he said.

"So what do you say Remus?" Sirius asked, he was smirking what was now known as the 'Sirius Smirk' to all of the four boys. "Shall I try and set you up with Lily?"

Before Remus could answer James cut in. "Firstly Lily is mine," he said through a pout, "secondly Remus wasn't even listening to half our conversation, and thirdly… even if he was I don't think Remus is quite there yet." He ruffled Remus' hair in an affectionate yet patronising manner.

"Where yet?" Peter said in that oblivious manner of his.

James and Sirius laughed and they took it in turns to ruffle Peter's hair as well.

Remus, however, knew what they were talking about and he wondered at James' words. He was only twelve years old (thirteen in April but that was over six months away) after all. It was not like he found girls icky or anything like he did back when he was five, but like James had said; he wasn't quite there yet.

He yawned and decided now would be a good time for a nap. Remus fell asleep as his eyes closed. James and Sirius glanced over at him with curious and questioning eyes before continuing with their conversation.

-8-

Severus Snape had become Enemy Number One on James' and Sirius' list now that Sirius' cousin, Narcissa Black, and the ever-so stuck-up Lucius Malfoy had left Hogwarts. Severus was the sort of boy that was especially easy to loathe; with his conceited air, his snarl that seemed to be forever planted on his face and his overall not very appealing appearance. He had already been marked as the unpopular one of their year and even his fellow Slytherins disliked him. Now Lucius Malfoy was no longer at Hogwarts to keep an eye out for the greasy-haired boy, Severus had very quickly become a complete social recluse. The only students that ever talked to him, at least in public, were James and Sirius, and their conversations were not of the civil 'how do you do?' kind.

"Watch it, Snivellus." Sirius snarled at Severus when the boy knocked over a phial of Sirius' potion ingredients during a Potions lesson. The silvery contents of the phial spilt over to where Remus, Sirius' Potions partner for the day, was sat, observing the boiling of some Bergamont petals. It was difficult to tell whether the phial was knocked over purposefully or not, but really Sirius didn't care, as long as he had a chance to fight with 'Snivellus' Snape, Enemy Number One.

"Watch where you put your potions, Black," Severus snapped back at him.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something – preferably about how much Severus looked like a greased-up boar – when, at that precise moment, there was a loud thud from somewhere to his left. Sirius turned to see what had made the noise. Lying on the floor, with his eyes firmly shut and shards of the glass from the broken phial beside him, was Remus Lupin in a dead faint.

After the initial stunned silence the whole class gathered round Remus' unconscious bodies with looks ranging from worry, curiosity, and even indifference. Professor Slughorn pushed through the crowd of children; he looked concerned and even, for whatever reason, somewhat guilty. He knelt down beside Remus but the boy did not wake. After what seemed like hours, although it was really just a minute or two, the Proffesor stood back up again and turned to face Sirius.

"Take Mr Lupin up to the Hospital Wing immediately," he ordered the blue-eyed boy. Sirius nodded in reply and, after Slughorn had finished casting a Weightlessness Charm, he bent down to lift up Remus' limp form with gentle consideration. Pushing past the crowd of people he exited the dungeons and made his way to the Hospital Wing in a slight run. Fortunately the school corridors were empty and there was nobody around to wonder why a thirteen year old boy was cradling the limp body of his classmate in his arms.

Madam Pomfrey let out a small yelp of surprise as Sirius burst through the double doors of the Hospital Wing. Sirius did not know what to do. Should he just stand there and wait for Madam Pomfrey to take control of the matter or should he speak first and tell her what had happened? Although he still wasn't completely sure what had happened. Luckily Madam Pomfrey, after seeing Remus' unconscious form, summoned a bed with a whisk of her wand and told Sirius to place Remus upon it.

"What happened?" she asked whilst examining Remus' body thoroughly with that exasperated yet concerned look on her face that Sirius was all too use to seeing.

"I'm not sure," said Sirius. "He just fainted in our Potions Class."

"Did anything happen to trigger it?"

Sirius was about to say no until he suddenly remembered something. "Sniv-Severus Snape knocked over a glass phial only a few seconds before Remus fainted." He didn't see how that would make a person faint, but he supposed that even the smallest detail would help find out what happened to his friend.

"What was in the phial, Mr Black?" Madam Pomfrey's features were now deadly serious.

"I think- I can't remember," Sirius muttered, "but we were working on the Draught of Intuition today."

Upon hearing this Madam Pomfrey murmured something that sounded like, "no wonder there are burns" then turned back to Sirius quickly.

"Tell Professor Slughorn that I wish to see him immediately, and that I don't give a Kneazle's uncle whether he's in the middle of teaching a class or not." She practically shouted those words, her face flushed pink with anger. She ushered – or perhaps pushed would be a better word – Sirius out of the Hospital Wing and shut the door behind him. Sirius ran the whole way back to the Potions classroom.

-8-

Remus Lupin was awoken by the muffled sound of adults talking; one of them being a very irate Madam Pomfrey. Remus could already picture her annoyed expression.

"Horace, I never thought a Professor would be so inconsiderate about one of his own student's well-being," she huffed.

"Poppy, my dear," came Slughorn's voice, "I had warned the boy about the lesson but he insisted on being present, always the studious sort that Remus. It was just his sheer misfortune that the young Mr Snape knocked that phial over."

"Just because a student insists does not mean you should allow him," Madam Pomfrey continued to badger Slughorn. "Even diluted and liquefied silver is still dangerous to a werewolf as young as Mr Lupin."

"That is why I assigned Mr Black to do all the practical work for him," said Slughorn, "and you said yourself, Poppy. They were only minor burns that a healer as qualified as you could mend in a jiffy."

However Madam Pomfrey was not subdued by Slughorn's obvious complement, she was rather the opposite actually. She looked as if she wanted to pull Slughorn's mustache right off his face and the only things stopping her were her good manners and somebody else, a man very much respected in the wizarding world.

"I see Mr Lupin has gained conciousness," remarked Professor Dumbledore with that all too familiar twinkle in his eye. "I hope you are feeling well."

Remus nodded and lifted himself slightly up on his bed.

"Good good. I suspect you feel well enough to go down to the Great Hall and have some lunch with your friends?" he smiled his kindly smile. "They have been rather worried about you."

Remus mumbled a "Yes Professor" and climbed out of the hospital bed. As soon as thanked Madam Pmofrey, who still seemed slightly agitated, and nodded goodbye to Professor Slughorn, he left the Hospital Wing and made his way towards the Great Hall where he hoped his three friends were waiting for him.

After half an hour of pestering Madam Pomfrey to allow them to see Remus, James, Sirius and Peter Pettigrew had finally given up and were now sat in the Great Hall munching on some chicken and ranting tirelessly about their right to see unconscious friends. Sirius had told James and Peter about his brief conversation with Madam Pomfrey and how she had muttered something about burns and they were all pondering as to why Remus had fainted in the Potions class, which had been cut fifteen minutes short – to the joy of the students (except perhaps Snivellus) – but Professor Slughorn still assigned them an essay about the Draught of Intuition for homework – much to their dismay. It was Sirius who noticed a tired and weary Remus walk through the grand doors of the Great Hall, the anxious frown on the blue-eyed boy's handsome face melted away.

When Remus caught sight of his three friends sitting along the Gryffindor table, he smiled and sauntered up to them. They all greeted him happily and budged up on the bench to allow Remus to squeeze in next to them.

"We tried to go see you," James said once Remus had made himself comfortable, "but PomPom wouldn't let us in." PomPom was James' nickname for Madam Pmofrey, and it fit the healer quite well. James had always been the one in the group who thought up the nicknames for various staff and pupils; he was very proud of his creations. "We had to just wait here for you instead. You 'kay now?"

"Of course," Remus said, "or I would still be up in the Hospital Wing.

"What exactly happened?" Peter questioned timidly.

Remus gave a casual shrug. "I fainted," he said simply and helped himself to some lunch. The three other boys glanced at each other for a moment before they too continued with their lunch. There was no point pressing the matter any further because, after knowing Remus for over a year, they could tell that the sandy-haired boy would not give them a straight answer no matter how much they pried. Nevertheless Sirius Black and James Potter decided to make it their sworn duty to figure out Remus' secret. Once they've finished their lunch, of course.

-8-

It had been almost a week since the great Potions lesson faint and Remus Lupin was having yet another one of his check-ups with Madam Pomfrey, leaving James, Sirius and Peter to toil over their homework without his studious aid. The three boys were now trying their best to complete the essay assigned to them by Slughorn in the largest handwriting they could muster. Sirius leafed through the pages of his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger trying to find the page on the Draught of Intuition. He thought it unfair that Sluggy (yet another one of James' professor nicknames) had given them homework on a potion that was not even fully completed during their lesson.

"It's page 406," said a voice from behind him making him jump. Sirius peered over his shoulder to see a haughty looking Lily Evans standing behind his armchair with her arms crossed.

"What's page 406?" Sirius said bemused.

"The passage about the Draught of Intuition," Lily replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thanks but I didn't need your help to find -"

"Lily Evans!" James interrupted, sitting up in his armchair and abandoning his homework. "What do we owe the pleasure of your acquaintance to, my dear lady?"

Lily rolled her eyes and did not bother to reply to James' question. "Where's Remus?" she asked instead.

"Having one of his check-ups with PomP- I mean Madam Pomfrey," said Peter over a pile of parchment.

"Oh," Lily murmured, then she spoke up again, "Well when he comes back tell him that I'm done reading Hogwarts: A History and he can have it back." With that she walked away and returned to her group of chattering friends.

"She's so thoughtful," James said with a sigh and a look of forlorn love as soon as Lily was gone. Peter gave off a nervous laugh and Sirius shook his head and smiled at his best friend's folly. He turned to page 406 in his textbook and read what was written there.

Then Sirius stopped reading.

"What's the date today?" he asked in a rush to no one in particular. James was the one that answered.

"22nd of October, why?" he said.

"Read this." Sirius shoved the textbook into James' hands and signalled Peter to come over as well. James raised his eyebrow questioningly but did as Sirius told him.

The Draught of Intuition (also known as Animadverto Sensus) allows the drinker to gain an increased instinctive belief and knowledge on a certain event or thing without any proof or reasoning. This instinctive belief comes in the form of a prophetic dream which lasts approximately ten minutes. It is a far milder and also less precise version of Felix Felicis and is therefore a lot easier to brew than the previously mentioned N.E.W.T. level potion. The main ingredients of Animadverto Sensus consists of the herbs Bergamont and Solomon's Seal, both also used as Divination herbs, and the metal silver, preferably liquefied...

"I don't understand," Peter said as he finished the paragraph; James nodded in agreement to the mousy boy.

"That was what was in the phial that Snivellus spilt on Remus." Sirius pointed to the word silver on the page.

"Liquefied silver? But that doesn't -" James' eyes widened and he stood up, so suddenly that Peter fell to the floor with a thud, and looked down at Sirius. "You said PomPom said something about burns."

Sirius nodded.

"And you asked me what the date was," James continued, on a roll. Peter was now sat on the rug rubbing his sore rear.

Sirius nodded again. "You said it was the 22nd of October," Sirius added.

This time is was James that nodded as he riffled through the heaps of parchment on the floor. He let out a small cry of "Oho" as soon as he found the one he wanted. James threw the piece of parchment over at Peter and Sirius; on it were his Astronomy notes titled The Lunar Phases.

-8-

"I don't believe he's a-a-"

"A werewolf," Sirius finished off Peter's sentence. After the first initial shock of discovery Sirius had hoped that James, or even Peter, would prove him wrong. That they would tell him that he had an overactive imagination due to eating far too many Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. But they didn't. They just muttered mild disbelieving yet believing words, and neither of them said his theory was all Balderdash. Really all the clues fitted together perfectly like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. There were Remus' monthly check-ups with Madam Pomfrey where he would stay in the Hospital Wing the whole night and miss lessons the next day. There were the scratches and scars on the young boy's torso and virtually everywhere else on his body too. Remus never carried any Sickles around with him; he always paid with Galleons (if he ever had any) and Knuts. Sirius remembered trying to give Remus some Sickles for the sweets on the Hogwarts Express but Remus had refused; he had thought it then as good old-fashioned politeness, although some of it may have been. Then there was Slughorn's Potions lesson incident and Madam Pomfrey's words of "no wonder there are burns". If it weren't for the stupidity of adults than Remus would have been able to continue his lie for Merlin knows how long. Sirius wasn't sure whether he was glad or not.

"It's pretty cool now that I think about it," said James, intruding on Sirius' inner soliloquy.

"What?" Sirius spat rudely. "Having a murdering monster that feeds on human flesh as a roommate?"

James was slightly taken aback by Sirius' cutting remark. He didn't think that Sirius would be so… so… (So much like the rest of his family). "No," he said, "having a murdering monster that feeds on human flesh as a friend."

"But he's a w-w-werewolf," Peter stuttered.

"Only once a month," James reasoned, "otherwise he's just like you and me."

"He's nothing like me," Sirius said, "HE'S A MONSTER." He had enunciated each syllable with a mixture of hatred, fear and something else James couldn't quite pinpoint.

"You know what Remus is like; he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Maybe it was all an act," said Peter.

"Oh not you too, Peter?" James said, crestfallen. "Listen. Why would Dumbledore allow something dangerous in his own school?"

"Because he's an idiotic, muggle-loving Headmaster with -" Then Sirius stopped. He had just been reciting, word for word, what his mother had told him so many times before. He felt sick with disgust, disgust at himself. I will never be like my mother, he thought to himself, never. He looked up at the shocked faces of his friends and he noticed how strange it was that only two pairs of eyes stared back at him, Remus' eyes were not there. "I'm sorry," he said in barely a whisper.

James gave him a sympathetic look with a hint of a smile on his face, it was almost fatherly.

"I think we should go pay little Remy a visit tomorrow morning," he said, his smile had now grown.

"What?" both Sirius and Peter said in unison.

"We should tell wolfie boy that we know his secret now and that there is no need to hide anymore, at least from us anyway."

Sirius shook his head but not in a way that meant he was against James' idea. "But Madam Pomfrey won't let us in the Hospital Wing to see him."

"We won't go to the Hospital Wing to see him." James was now all out grinning.

-8-

-8-

AN: I am proud of this chapter, wanna know why? Well it is RESEARCH baby. Yup I researched a lot on various magical properties of herbs and metals. Silver is truly a metal that supposedly increased intuition as well as the metal of the moon (no duh). However during my research I found out Sirius' eyes are grey and not blue. I take creative license and say that Sirius' eyes were blue when he was younger.

Reviews, as always, very welcome. Oh and by the by I would like beta readers so if you're interested in the job please email me (email can be found on my profile).

And the story begins….