Under the Full Moony

Scroll 7: Maybe yes, Maybe no, Maybe maybe

After lunch, the Marauders walked to their favorite tree, near the shore of the lake, and sat underneath its shade. James and Peter played Exploding Snap, Remus had taken out his glasses and a book, and was reading, and Sirius ... was looking out at the lake (and at Remus out of the corner of his eye), scouting for Snape who was probably spying on them.

It was very hard for Sirius to concentrate on looking out for Snape, when there were other things to look at. Such as the lake, Remus, the exciting game of Exploding Snap, Remus, a couple of third years teasing the Whomping Willow, Remus, and Snape hiding in the bushes.

Snape was hiding in the bushes. Spying on them.

Sirius sat up, "Oy, Snivellus, what do YOU want!"

Snape made his way out of the bushes and James took out his wand, "What do you want!"

Snape ignored James and Sirius, and instead spoke to Remus, "Regulus Black would like a word, Lupin."

Remus frowned over his half-moon glasses, "Oh?"

"I will take you."

Remus stood up slowly, leaving his book on the grass and followed Snape. Sirius noticed that as he put away his glasses, he took out his wand.

"Smart ... I'm going to have a look," said Sirius, standing up.

James frowned, "Want us to come-"

"No, stay here."

'Now what would dear old Regulus want with Remus!'

Sirius hid behind a cracked statue and saw Snape, Bertram Aubrey, and Evan Rosier standing near Regulus who was telling Remus something very quickly, and in a hushed voice.

'This is serious ...'

Snape was looking around and suddenly he grabbed Remus.

He grabbed Remus Lupin. By the arm. In front of Sirius Black.

'Oh ... hell ... no!'

Sirius strode over. To his surprise, they all left and Remus walked over to him pale-faced.

"What'd he say, Remus!"

Remus shook his head and walked past him.

Sirius followed him. Up ahead a crowd had formed. Hagrid was carrying a boy in his arms. He was bruised and scratched and bleeding. Sirius glanced over and followed Remus, who didn't seem to register anything.

Sirius grabbed Remus' arm, "What did he say!"

Remus just stared blankly at him. Sirius shook his roughly, "WHAT DID HE SAY!"

Remus blinked and looked at the grass, "Fenrir Greyback ... I think he was the one ... "

"What?"

"He's a werewolf famous for biting children when their parents refuse Lord Voldemort. I think ... he's the one who bit me ... and killed my friend Nathan ..."

Sirius' mouth dropped open, "But ... maybe Regulus was lying ... that prat-"

"No! He knew! And he told me ... how did he know I'm what I am!"

"I told him ... but that was before I knew he was an idiot! It's okay, he won't tell!"

Remus played with his Prefects Badge and started walking away again.

Sirius walked alongside him, "Remus ... I dunno what to say-"

"Don't say anything ... I don't need you to!"

Sirius stopped walking. He watched Remus go, then tore after him.

"Wait! I'm sorry Remus ... I'm an idiot ..."

Remus was walking to the castle, forgetting his bag near the tree.

"Remus! Please wait ..."

Sirius ran past the crowd and Hagrid, finally catching up to Remus. He grabbed the hood of Remus' robes.

"Stop!"

Remus stopped, looking at the grass, "All this time ... my father ... he lied! He said he didn't know! I pitied ... UGH!"

Remus was about to start walking away again, when Sirius spun him around. The two looked at each other for what seemed forever. Then Remus moved closer, and stopped. Sirius too moved closer, stopped, and after an awkward moment, took Remus in his arms.

He hugged Remus for a long time, burying his face into Remus' light brown hair. He felt Remus relax against him and cling to the front of his robes.

Sirius looked up and saw a few people staring, including Bertha Jorkins, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid. The latter looked away when they saw Sirius looking at them, and Flitwick led Bertha Jorkins away.

Finally, they broke apart.

Remus looked up at him, eyes questioning, lips parted slightly. Sirius licked his own lips and smiled nervously. Remus returned his smile.

Sirius licked his lips again, and racked his brain for a conversation starter.

'Damn! I'm good at this! Say something! Idiot! Comment on something! SAY SOMETHING!'

Yet Remus seemed just at loss for words as him.

"The ... so ... when's the next full moon!" Sirius blurted out, senselessly.

Remus smiled up at him, "Not for another month!"

Remus' smiled suddenly disappeared and he looked down, "I think I've heard of Greyback ..."

Sirius frowned and cupped Remus' face, turning it up, "Just drop it ... it happened, you're here ... I don't mind ... we don't care ..."

"Sirius I-"

Their eyes met for an instant, or it could have been an hour, it wouldn't have mattered. Sirius leaned close, their noses almost touching. Sirius knew and Remus knew what was going to happen.

'Do it!'

But Sirius waited a second too long. James came running towards them, "So what happened!"

He and Remus broke away coughing.

Sirius grinned and ran a hand through his hair, "Nothing!"

He saw Peter's faint outline, struggling with Sirius' and Remus' bags. Remus ran to get his and ran off, into the castle without so much as a glance towards Sirius.

Sirius stared after him, long after he'd gone into the Entrance Hall.

He stopped when he caught James and Peter sniggering.

"What!" he asked annoyed.

"Poof!" shouted Peter.

"What! I am not!" Sirius frowned and pouted defiantly.

"Poof! Poof! POOFY POOF SIRIUS BLACK!" taunted James and Peter.

Sirius sighed exasperatedly and grabbed James' glasses, throwing them to Peter," Keep them safe."

With that he grabbed James' hair and dragged him to the lake, "I'm going to DROWN you!"

"What are you so worried about?" asked James as he drank Madam Promfrey's cold remedy and gagged.

Sirius looked away from the window and felt at his nose. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

"Your nose? Is that all?" Peter laughed. "Don't worry, it's dead center and definitely not bleeding anymore ... the girls loved you when you were fighting with James in the lake, so it's all good."

James grumbled and Peter quickly added, "But they loved you too of course! And ... " Peter looked around for ideas when James still didn't cheer up and noticed a green and white scarf handing form a four-poster near Sirius.

"... and there were more Slytherins on Sirius' side."

James grinned, "Hah! You've got more rotters on your side, Padfoot!"

But Sirius was walking toward the four poster next to him. He pulled back the hangings and saw Regulus with Davey Gudgeon, who was unconscious in the bed. Davey had a lot of scratches and bruises and his left eye was covered.

"Oh, it's you," said Sirius, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

Regulus nodded and said nothing.

"You're an idiot, you know? Hanging out with scum like him ..."

Regulus sighed, "Sirius, I don't want to-"

"To what! To cause trouble ...? Oh, I forgot! You're the good one, while I'm the evil, disowned filthy blood traitor! Riiight! Let me tell you something-"

"Let me tell you something, Sirius! I can see your future if you keep hanging around with those half-bloods, and blood-traitors, and half-breeds! You're going to end up dead! You had a choice and you picked the losing side!"

Sirius laughed, "Wow! Memorized word for word! That's exactly what my dear old mum told me! I'll give you that, a good memory! But it's YOU who'll end up dead! Mark my words, Regulus ... you're not one to go over to the Dark Side ... don't do it ... go on with your idiocy ... go on being a ... Slytherin ... but choose what is right ... not what's easy ... okay?"

With that Sirius jerked the curtains closed and strode out without even a glance at his friends. Regulus glared after him, then walked out as well.

James raised an eyebrow and looked at Peter who shrugged.

They found Sirius in the Common Room, sitting in a chair by the fire and staring off into space. James and Peter walked over, "Hey ...? Wanna-?"

"No."

"You su-"

"Yep."

"Want me to change-"

"Please."

"How about a game of chess!" suggested Peter cheerily.

Sirius nodded, "Okay."

Sirius played a few games, but his heart just wasn't in it. Nor was his mind.

And after his third loss to Peter James grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye, "I've got three things to say to you."

"Um ..." Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"One is, ignore him! Let him live his life and you live yours ... sod him! Two is, tell him ... and you know who I mean. You almost snogged in front of the whole darn school ... "

Sirius rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to argue but James cut him off, "Third, try to keep up appearances ... you know ... play the field a bit! Every girl in the school swoons when you glance at them ... don't let that go to waste ..."

Sirius laughed, "Alright ... "

Peter looked at his watch, "Speaking of telling him ... where's Remus? He wasn't in the dormitory when I went to put the chess set away."

Sirius frowned, "He might be in the library ..."

"Go and check," said James automatically.

Sirius stood up, "Wait ... what are you two scheming?"

"We're not scheming anything!" said Peter quickly, too quickly.

Sirius sighed and started walking away, "O.K. I will go ... but if you're scheming something ... I'll ... I'll ... stick you to the ceiling or something ..."

"Aw come on Padfoot! That was weak!"

Sirius rolled his eyes as he walked out of the portrait hole and to the library.

Sure enough, he found Remus in the library, sitting at a desk with his glasses on, and sifting though old newspapers.

"Remus ...?"

Remus looked up at him and Sirius bit his lip to stop himself from saying," Aww!"

"Hello Sirius."

"What are you doing?" said Sirius as he picked up a newspaper with the headline, 'Murder of Five, Greyback Suspected.'

"Research," was Remus short, clipped reply.

"Ah ..." Sirius' eyes traveled over all the newspaper articles:

'Fenrir Greyback Accused of Murdering ...'

'Fenrir Greyback At Large'

'Wizarding Community Fears Fenrir Greyback'

'Greyback, Suspected Death Eater'

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Erm ... so what have you found out ...?"

"That Greyback is a maniac who kills for pleasure and is suspected of attacking even without the full moon, except in special cases. 'Bite them young and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards ... that's what he says. I was a special case and would have been killed or worse taken away ... had it not been for Nathan ... he saved me ... and now he's dead."

Sirius sighed and sat down next to Remus, "Moony ... you've got to let it go ... Nathan's dead ... Tad's-"

"Ted ... he's gone ... I know."

"You're so obsessed with Greyback-"

"He convinces werewolves to join him ... to join the Dark Lord's side ... "

Sirius frowned, "So you're saying he might come after ... after you?"

Remus shrugged, "Anything's possible .. I want to know as much as I can ..."

Remus grabbed all the Greyback articles and rolled them up, stuffing them into his bag.

"So why are you here, Sirius?"

"I ... I came to look for ... you ... I was worried ... about ... you ..."

'Damn! Why are you going red NOW!'

Remus frowned, "Worried about me ...?"

"You just left and ..."

Sirius suddenly stopped. He drew out his wand and pointed it over Remus' shoulder at a stack of books, "Out of there you or I'll hex you!"

Bertha Jorkins stumbled out with another girl, giggling and gossiping as they ran from the two boys.

"They were spying on us," said Sirius bitterly. "Honestly ... what do they want!"

"They want us to confirm their suspicions," said Remus with a smile.

"Sus-suspicions?"

"That we're together ... they want us to snog in public ..." Remus rolled his eyes and slung his bag over his shoulder, "Well let's go ... wouldn't want to be late for dinner ... "

Sirius looked at the stack of books where Bertha had been hiding with her friend, 'Maybe ... he doesn't ... maybe I should just forget about-'

"You coming?" said Remus, holding out his hand.

Sirius looked at it for a full ten seconds before taking it, "Yeah ... yeah I'm coming ..."

'Maybe I he does ... and maybe I will ...' thought Sirius happily.

James nudged Sirius hard after he'd sat down, "Well? Why were you two holding hands! And why's Bertha having a giggling fit every time your name is mentioned!"

"And Remus," added Peter, leaning towards Sirius as well.

Sirius frowned and opened his mouth, when Dumbledore stood up.

"Before we begin dinner, I must ask for your full attention." He paused as everyone turned to him. "I'm sure you are all aware of the most unfortunate event that occurred today. Davey Gudgeon of the Slytherin House, nearly lost an eye today, due to participating in a well-known game that consists of getting near enough to touch the trunk of the Whomping Willow."

Dumbledore looked around and stopped at James, his blue eyes twinkling. It was James who had started the game, back in First Year.

Dumbledore continued, not taking his eyes off James, "I want to say this only once and hope that you will memorize it and take it to heart like rational human beings we are."

Dumbledore now looked at Remus, who smiled, "The Whomping Willow does not like being touched. You are forbidden to go near it."

He gave the Marauders another meaningful look before turned to the whole school, "Unless you wish to suffer a most painful decapitation, I repeat, do not go near it."

He smiled, "And now, on a happier note. Dinner."

James turned to the plates of food instantly appearing in front of them, "He makes a decapitation sound funny! I LOVE this guy!"

The other three laughed.

A/N: Sorry for the late update ... I don't know ... this chappie's a bit slow, ne? I think I'll end their 5th year in the next chapter. "wink"

I think I did it for the Shonen-Ai "giggle"

Well anyway! Tell me how you liked it, Review Plz!