Lesson Twelve: Permission

Remus stared down at his wristwatch silently counting down the seconds until the bell would ring and proclaim go time for "Operation 'Magus." In the outer regions of his mind he could hear Lily's quill scratching dryly against her parchment as she tentatively took down the last of the notes for the day.

90 seconds…

He looked up at Professor Pike and carefully jotted down the last few bullets of their notes on the mechanics of a watered down deflecting charm that they were going to be practicing for the remainder of the week. His own quill moved quickly across the page as it formed messy letters while his mind wandered aimlessly from one idea to the next. All the while, his busy mind barely registered all of the key points that his left hand was putting down.

60 seconds…

Why does it seem like time's slowed down? Remus wondered tentatively as his eyes drifted back over to the second hand on his watch. It still looked like it was trying to be slower than the minute hand. He quickly chanced a glance at his friends, who were busy with whatever was occupying their minds, for their own quills did not seem to be moving. Aside from Peter's that was.

He carefully looked at each of them in turn until it had registered that, despite their outward appearances, they were nervous, even Peter seemed on edge as his face hovered closer to his paper than it typically did. Remus smiled to himself when he looked over at Sirius, who was actually paying attention to the lecture, undoubtedly trying to keep his mind off of what they were going to do. Then he stared at James, only to see him ruffling through his hair with his hand giving him an "I just woke up, don't bother me" look. Remus turned back around and sighed deeply to himself before he eyes, once again, wandered back down at his watch.

30 seconds…

He suppressed the urge to groan aloud with his growing frustration with the concept of time, and simply settled on staring at his paper. Remus then looked up at his Professor, trying to place where he was in his final bits in his lecture only to find that he was joking openly with a few of the students in the front row. He laughed a bit at some of the comments that referred the lack of importance of they're latest lecture, which was an ongoing joke amongst the students and their teacher, when he felt a hand rest gently on his knee. Remus turned towards Lily, her green eyes shifted towards him with a casual smile. He returned the gesture awkwardly as his leg stopped bobbing up and down with nerves.

Lily merely lifted her hand from his knee once he had stopped moving the leg he hadn't realized he was bobbing and mouthed, "Are you okay?"

Remus simply pushed his scrawl of notes up a bit on his desk and wrote on the bottom of it, "Yeah, I'm still a little sick. That's all."

She read the notes, studied his face for a moment and then nodded her head. The bell rang loudly throughout the school and the students quickly packed up their belongings and left the classroom, until only four remained.

Remus looked back at his mates and grinned to himself. Then he turned back to watch Professor Pike as he walked over to his desk and shuffled through some of the papers that were haphazardly sprawled upon it. Remus could hear the others behind him begin to shift in their desks, so he quickly followed their actions and, once his notes were in his backpack, stood up. Somehow, he now knew that they were going to eat their previous words.

"It's not like Professor Pike is all that intimidating, right?"

Yeah, right. Remus ignored his more cynical thoughts and joined James at the front of the room to Professor Pike's stronghold, otherwise known as: his desk. He stood there a moment beside James as he glanced over his shoulder only to see the other two taking their time to get to their professors desk. When Sirius and Peter had finally joined up behind Remus, Professor Pike looked up at them. The boys shifted uncomfortably from their positions in front of him, shocked a little bit at the nervousness they hadn't planned on during their meeting last night where they had discussed what they were going to say to their teacher.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're going to ask me something?" Professor Pike stated bluntly, breaking the silence temporarily.

Remus breathed a sigh of relief knowing that now the ice had been broken and they more or less couldn't run. They were stuck, for better or worse. A heavy silence fell back among them. There was the shifting of feet for a moment more, until a voice broke through the silence.

"Well, yes, er, we- well- we-" Sirius nudged James in the side, "Well," he looked up at the ceiling before he continued, "we were wondering if you could give us permission to get into the restricted section of the library."

There was more silence. Deafening beyond anything most of the boys had encountered in their young lives. Then when they were ready to give in and retreat, regroup and try again, Pike laughed. The four stared in shock at their Professor's outburst, and then just as quickly as it had begun it stopped, "No."

They continued to stare at him a while longer while the simple word had processed. When it had registered completely and replayed within Remus mind he felt his heart sink. He could feel everything slipping away… All of the misadventures he'd unconsciously been planning while he'd been alone in the hospital wing, everything. Then he heard the plea from their leader.

"But – but we have an idea, and we need to research it-"

"More pranks I suspect," at the blank look on their faces he went on, "Yes, the other member's of the staff seemed rather inclined to tell me all of your little exertions last year. So the answer is 'no.'"

"It's hardly a prank, sir," Sirius interjected before James shot him a glare.

"We swear it's not for that," James stated as he gave his professor a level glance to show that he wasn't lying and, hopefully, to show his teacher that he wasn't nearly as immature as he had been brainwashed to believe. Professor Pike merely stared at him but said nothing.

"We think that we've discovered a way to help werewolves with their transformations," their professor's brow furrowed slightly.

"We think that if an Anamagus were with them then they would be able to keep their minds. The only problem is that the only books we can get at about Anamagus' only give the definition of the transformations for both of the things we'd have to look up," James sighed deeply in feigned defeat, "See the problem?"

Their professor continued to say nothing as the boys stood, uneasily, before him. Time once again seemed to stop for them. Then, finally, after a long extended pause Professor Pike gave a reluctant sigh, "It's only for research?" the four nodded intently, "Nothing else?"

The question had been directed towards James but his eyes were locked with only Remus's. Remus stared directly at him without faltering. Professor Pike then sighed deeply and nodded briefly to himself, before he turned his attention back to James, "Alright," and with that he pulled out a half piece of parchment and scrawled out the words that would get Madam Pince out of their hair for the rest of the year.

He then handed the small note over to James, who tried his best not to give himself away by grinning too widely or breaking out in a small happy dance, and muttered stiffly, "Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to regret this?"