Lesson Five: The Unexpected Art of Pranks
The healer arrived early the next morning, and even with his charms and potions it still took Remus a good week to recover fully. During his time of healing Remus was thankful for Sirius, both being there for him and yet at the same time being able to keep his distance when Remus had preferred to be alone. An odd thing for anyone to do when someone they loved was sick. The rest of his family was just as supportive, as they always were. His mother constantly worried over possible infections and his father brought him home books to read after he had stopped at Flourish and Blott's after he had worked a double shift at the Ministry all that week because there was a mild crisis in the Department of Mysteries that had needed his area of expertise (astronomy) to aid in deciphering a new prophecy. This was a job Remus knew all too well that his father despised. Edmund firmly believed that Divination and Arithmacy were a waste of ones time because they were proved to be wrong every day. This was also something he had made clear, yet again, everyday that week over dinner. Both Sirius and Remus found it quite funny how someone could get so worked up over something so pointless. That fact, combined with the derogatory jokes Edmund would tell over late night meals, eventually left the family both laughing and mocking the industry all at the same time.
Eventually, though, Remus' wounds did heal completely and he bounced back just as well as any other twelve-year-old boy. He was back to his usual activities by the first week of that new month, playing with Sirius and Kara, who had continued on the following day of his Lycanthropic adventures as if nothing had ever even happened between them, in the woods and at the fishing hole. They spent the rest of that month much as they had their first week with Sirius at Lupin Lodge, until finally their Hogwarts letters arrived with the new lists of school supplies for both Remus and Sirius. Along with the boys' letters came Kara's acceptance letter, where everyone, even Remus and Sirius, took the time to congratulate her for.
As they finished up with their breakfast they told Kara about most of the things they had done during their first year, conveniently leaving out some of the more colorful bits that involved Snape. Whom they took the time to inform Kara that: "He's a foul kid with greasy hair and no brain of his own," as Sirius had stated. Kara had laughed at the disgusted look Sirius had on his face as he told her about this particular boy. But after he had described him, he quickly changed the subject before the mere thought of Severus Snape lead him into a huge venting that he would no sooner be able to get rid of. Remus only chuckled to himself as Sirius spoke so dismally of their archenemy. He still didn't fully agree with everything that had gone on between the four boys and Snape but he also understood that worse things were also inevitable now. They had ruined any chance of a truce between themselves and Snape when they had embarrassed the boy in front of the whole school during Halloween. This one action had proved to be fatal in trying any further attempts at civil behavior that could have been made between the five of them. And now they were to be left to reap whatever they had happened to sow with the events that had followed that first ultimate prank.
Remus' attention was brought away from these particular thoughts as his mother asked him whether or not he and Sirius wanted to go to Diagon Alley with her to collect their supplies. It took Remus a moment to comprehend what she had asked him and once it had finally processed, he merely glanced over at Sirius who shook his head slightly. Then he kindly declined his mother's offer. Gwen accepted this, and a few minutes later she and Kara left to collect the extra things that the children would need for school. Soon after they had left, Remus and Sirius ran off into the woods to enjoy one of the last days they would spend together outside without Kara's interference.
They spent that day fishing upon Sirius' request and they only went back to Lupin Lodge when the sun had just begun to set. When they were inside the comforts of the house they noticed the pile of textbooks that were sitting on the coffee table for the both of them to take up to Remus' room for safekeeping. After dinner, though, they, instead of putting them away, occupied their time by leafing through the pages of the new textbooks. During this absent minded searching they would occasionally tell each other the things they thought would be cool to learn or when they had reached the end of the textbooks they would state how difficult and tedious some of the things they were supposed to learn were gradually getting. They also stopped, intermittently, and pointed out the coolest spells and potions in Kara's books, which were mostly hand-me-downs from Remus, as they told her why they thought they were the best. Even though they got a bit rowdy when it came to discussing a few of the smaller pranks they had done with these particular spells that they had pointed out to her, she still appreciated their friendly gestures just the same. Eventually, Gwen sent them up to bed and instructed Kara to put her cauldron and new robes in her closet until the end of the week when they would be leaving for school. After much delay from all of the children, they did go to bed.
The rest of that week they spent outside, and inside, running around and enjoying the last few days they had of their summer holiday. On August 31, the Lupin family rose early with much protest from the kids and packed up the car with their trunks. Sirius had thought this to be very odd because they could just as easily floo and it would be less work for everyone and not to mention less time-consuming. When he had said this Remus had heaved a huge sigh and re-explained the obvious to his friend while Kara rolled her eyes at Sirius' stupidity. Remus glared at her and continued on with his explanation stating that his mother was Muggle, therefore if she wanted to see him off at the station they would have to drive there, which lead to Remus spelling out unnecessarily that it would be a very boring trip. After the car had been packed they went back inside and had the breakfast that Gwen had made for them. They ate in relative silence and when all the plates were cleared of food the kids began to talk of all the things they were going to do when they were back at school, while Gwen and Edmund listened carefully to what they were saying. Finally, they had to clear the table and then they went out and piled into the car and headed out for the evening.
During the extensive trip to London, Sirius inquired Remus about the things Remus had taken for granted and ultimately could not answer. Like how Remus' mother was even allowed onto platform 9 ¾ if she was a muggle. Remus had stuttered and stumbled over that one until he finally told his friend that he didn't know. While he had stumbled over that particular question, he contemplated whether or not he should ask his father what the answer was, but, in the end, he opted not to because his father rather disliked being bothered on long trips like this.
When they arrived in London it was late afternoon. His father parked the car in a lot down a little bit from the ministry and the small unsuspecting family made their way down to Diagon Alley, leaving their trunks in the car for Edmund to take back to them at a later time. They checked into the Leaky Cauldron and with the remaining sunlight the boys begged Remus' mother to let them go look at the shops but she refused to let them go. They would be having a very hectic day tomorrow and she wanted some rest for herself without having to worry about what they were getting into outside of the Leaky Cauldron if they were to go. Remus knew this, but like with every parent her excuse was that 'they' needed some rest and relaxation before their journey to Hogwarts the next day. So rather than spending their afternoon exploring the assorted stores of Diagon Alley, Remus and Sirius spent their time in the confines of the inn talking energetically with Tom the innkeeper. In the parlor, they enjoyed a hot meal with all of the Lupin's and a few of the other guests and when it came time that the boys had actually begun to get tired they finally retired to their separate room where they dozed off rather quickly into a deep slumber.
There was a soft tap on the door and Remus groaned loudly as his mother's voice filtered in through the thick wood informing him to get up because they would be leaving for the station soon. He rolled over on his side and looked at the clock hanging on the wall and found that it was eleven o' clock. He groaned slightly as he heard Sirius' bed creak under his weight as he rolled over in his bed. Remus, rather than getting out of bed straight away, stared at the clock for a bit and eventually noticed that between the twelve and the one there were only three minutes and then between the eleven and the twelve there were seven minutes to make up for the previously missed two. After he watched this cycle for a while, he eventually found that it annoyed him greatly so he got up out of the comfortable bed and walked over to Sirius. He stood over the lump of sheets that was his friend until a smile began to play at the corners of his lips. He then quickly ripped the covers away. Even though it was a warm day the absence of the sheets and body heat had its effect on the possum-ing Sirius as he bolted upright in his bed and glared openly at his friend.
"That wasn't nice!"
Remus just grinned and then shrugged his shoulders at him. "Yeah, well, we should be getting downstairs. Probably with our things too."
Sirius gave one last groan as he stretched his arms out and cracked his neck to ease the tension that had grown there throughout the night. Then the boys slowly went to putting their clothes on and slowly made their way down the stairs, clumsily carrying their heavy trunks behind them. When they reached the parlor they noticed Remus' family sitting having a quick lunch. They joined them gladly and half-listened to Kara ramble on anxiously about the upcoming term.
When eleven twenty-five rolled around Edmund Lupin left the rest of the family to collect the car. Gwen instructed the children to wait in the parlor while she watched for her husband's arrival with the car. When he came back, nearly ten minutes later, Gwen quickly went and got the children and they piled their things back inside the trunk of the car and headed off to King's Cross.
They arrived at King's Cross and practically ran onto the platform. The platform itself, though, was busy enough when they had finally gotten on it. Instantly, Remus and Sirius went to look for their other friends but unfortunately they couldn't find them. When they had rejoined Remus' parents Edmund helped them find a compartment and set their belongings inside. Once they were tucked away safely the boys went off of the train and continued to stand with Gwen and Edmund. They stood there for a while before they heard a squeal of excitement and Sirius was almost pushed to the ground by the weight of James' body jumping on his back. This certain display of affection slightly shocked Remus' parents who eyed the Ambassador of Magic's son with a mix of confusion and shock.
"You miss me?" James asked in a teasing manner as he let go of Sirius neck and quickly fell into a fit of laughter as he dropped to the ground once more.
"Always, mate. Always." Sirius replied as he too fell into a fit of giggles. When they had finally come out of their stupor James smiled at Remus. "How have you been?" He asked sincerely. Remus just smiled at him and patted him on his back. "Just fine actually, but then again in three weeks I doubt if I'll be able to say the same."
James nodded his head, not knowing what to say so he just hugged his friend as tightly as he could, without hurting him too much. When he finally let go of him, Remus looked around, somewhat uncomfortably, as he realized that his family had seen that open display of friendship. Kara stifled a laugh and Remus glared at her and then he introduced James to each of them. When they had finished with the pleasantries the train whistle resounded around them. Gwen gave her son one last hug and kiss before they walked away to board the train. As they went to leave Remus' parents sides, she gave out the last few motherly warnings: "Don't get into too much trouble, watch out for your cousin, and remember to have fun." Remus just rolled his eyes at her as he turned back around and went to hug his father goodbye as the train let out its last warning blast and then the boys ran off to board the train with Kara barely managing to keep up with their much larger strides.
They lead themselves down to the compartment where they had set their belongings a few minutes earlier and quickly took their seats just as the train began to set off. It was only a few minutes later that Peter joined them. They spent the first hour catching up discussing their summer breaks. As both Remus and Sirius had assumed Peter had spent all of his time with his family. Some of the tales that he told were worthwhile but mostly they were just typical stories you would hear with any other family. So when his stories began to fall upon deaf ears he gave up and settled into listening to the others' stories.
Remus and Sirius explained their summer and then finally James got his chance. He started by dumping out the contents of a large bag out onto the table and he began to smile madly at his friends who just stared at the contents open mouthed. "Told you they had a good joke shop." James said with a smirk. "Those are gumballs that if a person eats them they lose their voice and can only make animal sounds. Er... the wands malfunction and cast whatever spell the person said back on them. Those little beady things act a lot like dung bombs but I think they last longer." He sighed deeply. "There's more but we can find out what they do another time." With that he pushed the candy to the side hoping to move on, so he could tell the rest of his story.
"That stuff isn't allowed, we'll get in trouble." Remus stated with a straight face.
James' face instantly dropped to the floor, "No we won't. It's American. These pranks aren't on Filch's list to destroy all fun! Well, at least they aren't on it yet, anyway." He said quickly in defense.
Remus lost his straight face and just laughed, "I know. I was joking."
James then picked up one of the items on the table and chucked the little yellow ball at Remus. Once it had made contact with his friend's forehead it began to screech like a banshee, which made all the boys jump. Once the scream had died away all the boys fell into a fit of giggles as Kara, who had situated herself in the corner upon entering the car, rolled her eyes at them and then fixed her attention back to her little black notebook she had been frantically writing in moments before. When they had finally composed themselves James went onto tell them all about the Americans as his friends clung to his every word.
While Remus listened intently to James' tale, he couldn't help but feel a tad bit jealous of his mate. He would never be allowed to do such interesting things, even when he was old enough to do so on his own. His Lycanthropy would never allow for it, and even if it did he would have to plan accordingly to avoid any stays during a full moon, which would certainly limit his fun. He sighed deeply to himself; it was yet another thing he could add to his list of limitations do to his condition.
"But that wasn't even the coolest part." James said eagerly, pulling Remus away from his thoughts. Remus looked up at James who had seemingly ended his tales of America as he continued about certain top-secret Ministry business he had heard his father discussing with some of the Unspeakables upon their return to the United Kingdom. "Apparently five people disappeared for a week without a trace and turned up at the beginning of the month somewhere in Glenrothes dead." Sirius sat up straight in his seat. His eyes were all aglow with interest. Peter did the same as Remus just continued to sit back in his seat silently contemplating the news.
"Really?" Sirius said completely entranced by what James had just said.
"Yeah, some poor muggle stumbled upon the bodies. He had to have his memory wiped completely of the event as soon as the ministry officials got involved. All the victims were wizards. The only thing Moody said they had in common was that they were considered nutters in Devonshire and had few if any relations at all. My dad said that there's only ever been one case like this before." James finished up rather proud of this top secret knowledge.
Remus frowned slightly at this new information. "James, people die all the time. I mean, granted, it is five people so it was most likely was a murder but I still don't see what's so special about it. There are tons of murderers in this world, wizard and muggle."
Sirius then began to frown too as he processed Remus' statement and then he turned to James asking for some kind of explanation to make this case cool for him yet again. James after looking intently at Sirius decided to then address the oddness of the case, even though his father had warned him against it for he had known full well that his son knew everything he had talked with the officials about. James sighed deeply, "Remus, people who are murdered also normally have some sign that they had been mortally harmed. These people just died, like their very life had been sucked out of them, but there was no harm done to any of the organs or the skin." He grinned morbidly. "And it's only happened once before."
With his final comment Kara looked up from her notebook and stared intently at her cousin and his friends. Remus faltered a bit under her gaze and he suddenly found that he had to ask the only question that was floating through his head. "James, when was the last case?"
"About s-"
Just as he was going to answer the question, their car door opened and in walked Snape and another small boy with short-cropped black hair. He was shorter than Snape and was built rather stocky for his age and was wearing expensive black robes with an arrogant look set contently on his sharp- featured face. When the two had realized whose compartment they had stepped into both began to scowl instantaneously. They walked through as both sides kept an eye on one another, making sure that neither side would pull anything funny, but once they had gotten halfway through the small compartment the smaller boy found that he had to say something to the inferiors they had just intruded on.
"Mum almost disowned you." The younger boy said as he began to play absent- mindedly with one of the candies that were sitting on the table. Remus watched him unsurely and then he glanced up at Snape who was smiling rather smugly at this news. Remus' attention was then brought to Sirius who had been glaring profusely at the both of them from the moment they had entered the car.
"So what stopped her, Regulus?" He asked coldly, taking the bait, which had been set out before him.
"Dad wanted to keep his punching bag."
Sirius clenched his fists in anger as his face began to turn a slightly darker shade of red as he glared at Regulus, completely hating every single thing about him. His brother let out a cold-hearted chortle knowing that he had succeeded at getting on his older brother's nerves. He then picked up the candy he had been playing with and popped it into his mouth. Now it was Sirius' turn to laugh. He knew as soon as Regulus had touched the candy that he was going to eat it. The boy had always had a soft spot for sweets.
When Regulus went to inquire as to what could possibly be so funny, considering the news he had just delivered, he let out a low croak rather than the 'what?' he had meant to utter. The boy's eyes grew wide with fear and his face turned pale before it quickly began to grow a dark shade of red as he began to croak frantically with growing fright. "What did you do to him?" Snape growled as he tried to figure out what was wrong with the young Black.
"Nothing." Sirius retorted viciously.
It was then that Snape realized that it was the candies that had induced the change in the boy's voice and he quickly instructed Regulus to spit out the gum. Even though the boy obeyed immediately, the croaking persisted. Snape then pulled out his wand and pointed it at the four boys who, once he had turned to them, already had their own wands out and directed at him. Snape growled out a final profanity at them and ushered Regulus out of the car as he muttered certain hexes that, in his mind, would most assuredly knock them off the pedestals they were so keen to put themselves on.
"That was your brother?" A small feminine voice asked from the corner of the room.
The four boys directed their attention to Kara, all looking rather confused, forgetting that she had even been in the room to begin with. Sirius only growled at the thought and turned his attention to the window and the English countryside that was sprawled out before him. No one really spoke during the rest of the trip. Every once and a while, someone would mention something of mild interest and a short, to the point, conversation would ensue until, ultimately, all the parties involved grew uninterested and fell into silence once again.
Remus, while in this particular silence, knew that what Regulus had said had hurt Sirius, but at the same time he knew that Sirius was also too prideful to let any of that hurt show. So instead, the brooding silence continued because every other person in the car understood this fact too. Sirius needed his space. He also needed to be alone, but unfortunately as much as Remus wanted to grant him that particular wish he couldn't. At least not while they were on the train.
Lily Evans stopped in once when she was looking for one of her friends who had gone off to find the lady with the treat trolley. When she had spotted Kara in the corner she quickly 'rescued her' from the 'foul boys' she had been staying with. As Lily grabbed her hand and hoisted her up off the ground Kara looked over at her cousin who only laughed mildly at the confused look on her face. Eventually, she left with the red headed girl only because she hadn't known what else to do. Once the car door had closed behind them the boys were left again to be their little gang of four.
The train arrived at Hogsmeade exactly on schedule and the boys climbed out of their car onto the platform. They could here Hagrid's cries for first years off in the dark distance. They resisted the urge to say hello to the giant and instead quickly wandered off to the awaiting carriages. When they had reached the little black coaches Remus stared gapingly at the fact that they were hooked up to nothing at all. He absent-mindedly reached out his hand to touch the air to see if anything was actually there but he quickly decided against it as he realized that if there was a being there, it could possibly harm him if he frightened it. And he would much rather be able to see something attacking him than not any day. He pulled himself up into the carriage where Sirius was talking openly now with James about something Remus didn't fully understand so he left them alone and listened instead to Peter casually talk about the kitten his mother had bought him over the summer and how he was disappointed that he couldn't bring it with him because his father wouldn't let him, saying that the boy would most likely lose it. Occasionally, Remus would add his input on the subject, carefully making sure that he wouldn't hurt his feelings in the process by being to honest with him, until they finally reached the castle gates and fell silent as the familiar surroundings of the castle came into view.
The invisible beasts stopped the carriage in front of the school's entrance and the four second-years clumsily climbed out of the coach. From there they made their way into the Great Hall where the first few students that had already arrived were gathered at their house tables. They walked down to the end of Gryffindor's table and sat down casually. Remus, once comfortably seated next to Peter, looked up at the head table and smiled at the staff that was already situated there. He waved at Madame Pomfrey, knowing that he would have to make a quick visit with her tomorrow just because he had grown to like the older woman very much over his last year. She waved back to him, which caught Headmaster Dumbledore's attention. The elderly man nodded his head in the boy's general direction and smiled knowingly. Remus grinned widely and then turned back to his friends as they all began to talk amongst each other, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of the students and for the sorting to begin so they could thoroughly enjoy the upcoming feast.
A/N: Well, after seeing the PoA twice I figured it was about time for me to type up the next chapter since it has been sitting with me for the last two- three weeks... I hope you enjoyed it. I don't know if you readers have seen the new movie yet but if you have you will notice that my candy scene is similar to the one in the movie. I wrote this, like I said, two to three weeks ago so it's not my fault that I'm so clever something similar came up in the movie too ;). So basically all I wanted to clear up was that was my own idea; I can't help that something like it was in the movie. If you don't believe me, talk to Kara Black, Berbilicious, or Fiery Wordess, if you don't care enough to check that out... read their stories. They're wicked. ;)