Sirius suddenly shot awake, breathing frantically in the dark of his cell.
What in the hell was that? Did I just turn into a dog?
Sirius tried to clear his mind, but he kept seeing himself running from the Great Hall and turning into a dog.
That makes no sense. How would I be able to do that? Suddenly, he found himself thinking about something he hadn't even given a second though until that very moment.
Was it Voldemort? Is what everyone's saying true? Am I Voldemort's biggest follower? Am I his most trusted and most loyal servant? Could he have taught me how to do that?
Sirius sighed, unable to come up with any explanation for anything, but content with the fact that he now had a happy memory of Remus. He smiled to himself in the dark, still pondering over what the memory all meant.
For the following hours Sirius replayed the memory over in his head, looking for any clues about why he had been so anxious to find Peter, or why he had been able to transform into a dog. He found, however, that the more he thought about it, the more he felt tired, as if thinking required all of his energy. Which he didn't understand, because thinking wasn't that hard at all.
Maybe it's hard for you because it's all you want. It's that punishment Dumbledore was talking about, the punishment that you're putting on yourself.
But why am I punishing myself?
Whatever I did, whomever I killed, I must truly believe that killing them was a mistake.
And that's why I'm punishing myself, because I killed someone by accident?
That may not be the reason. There are hundreds of other explanations, I'm sure.
Then which one is right?
Sirius realized that fighting with himself was not only pointless, but also very confusing. Neither side of his conscience had the answers, so he decided that he was going to stop arguing with himself, at least for the time being, and try to get some sleep.
In his dreams, Sirius found the answer to many questions he'd been asking since he first realized that he knew so well the face of the full moon.
"I've figured it out, James." Sirius whispered quietly into James' ear while the two friends walked to class through an empty hallway.
"Figured what out?" James asked.
"Remus. I think I've figured it out!"
"Sir, he told us, there's nothing to figure out. He goes home to see his sick aunt every month."
"Honestly, James, you are so daft sometimes." Sirius pushed James out of the way of a group of Seventh Years.
"Ug, look at them, thinking they own the school, or something, just because they're Seventh Years. Like it would hurt them to move out of our way for once." Sirius said loudly enough that the Seventh Years could hear.
"Anyways, James, I don't think he goes to visit a sick aunt. I mean, remember the first day we met, he said he didn't have any family besides his parents?"
"People sometimes don't like to talk about family members who are dying, Sirius." James whispered as more Seventh Years walked past.
"My God, we're walking here!" Sirius yelled, as many of the older girls shot him dirty looks.
"I know some people don't like to talk about that, James. I mean, I don't even like to talk about my own family. Lousy inbreeds, is all they are. All, the same, haven't you noticed some things about how he looks when he leaves, and when he gets back?"
"Yes, Sirius, and I suggest you just drop it, before you learn something you don't want, or need to know." James spat as he pushed his way through the crowds, away from Sirius.
"What in the hell? James, come back!" Sirius called, as he ran after James, finally catching up with him just outside the Transfiguration classroom.
"What, Sirius?" James pressured.
"You know, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know that he has a sick aunt, and that, that's where he goes each month." James huffed.
"James Potter! You've been my best friend as long as I've known you, I know you very well, and I know that you're lying to me right now." Sirius stared hard into James' eyes.
"No, I'm not." James bluntly said, as he turned and walked away from Sirius again.
"He's a werewolf, isn't he?"
James spun around and glared at Sirius. "Why don't you just tell the whole world then?" He yelled.
"James, there's no one here! I'm not that much of an idiot!"
James narrowed his eyes at the teenager with shaggy black hair standing a few feet away from him. "Then maybe you should forget what you just asked me." He sputtered, as he whipped around again, only to trip over the squat figure of Peter who had come down the hallway behind him.
"Erm... I needed to find you; I needed help with my homework. So I got out the Marauder's Map, to see where you two were. I found you, but you'll never guess who else I saw..." Peter trailed off when he saw the looks of anger on the faces of both his friends. "Err, did I come at a bad time?"
"Not if you're going to tell us who I think you're going to tell us." James muttered quietly.
"James, answer my question." Sirius ranted from the background.
"Yes, Sirius."
"And he told you? And you never told me? Need I remind you who your best friend is, James?"
"Yes, he told me, but only because I figured it out, like you. He made me promise not to tell. And no, you don't need to remind me, but I think you might need reminded." James hissed.
"Hello?" Cried Peter from behind James, "Can someone tell me why Remus, who's supposed to be in France visiting a sick aunt, was just seen on the Map with Professor Dumbledore heading towards the Forbidden Forest?"
"Because there is no sick aunt, Pete." Sirius said rather rudely.
"They're not headed to the Forbidden Forest, Peter. They're going to the Whomping Willow."
"Why in the hell would any man in their right mind go near that thing?" Peter gasped.
"Give us the map, Peter." James answered.
Peter pulled the map from his pocket and handed it to James.
"Look, Sirius, they're just about to leave the grounds." James pointed to two moving dots on the map.
Sirius ran to James' side, "James, why are they going to Hogsmeade?"
"That's where the Shrieking Shack is, Sir. That's where he goes."
"HELLO!? Will someone PLEASE tell me what's going on?"
James and Sirius looked at each other. "I'm going to tell him, James. He's Remus' friend, too, he has every right to know."
"Know what?" Peter asked anxiously.
"Sirius, don't."
"I know when friends deserve to know things, James, and this is one of those things."
"Are you preaching me on how to be a friend?" James pushed.
"And if I am?" Sirius spat.
"Well, that's rich. Teachings on how to be a good person coming from a Black." James sneered.
Sirius stared at James, his mouth curling into a sneer. "Well, I'm glad that at least I'm able to get past my name." He growled as he spun and walked away from the two boys standing bewildered outside the classroom.
"Sirius, come back!" James called after him, but Sirius didn't even look back.
Sirius walked angrily through the hallways, pushing students out of his way and shooting nasty looks at anyone who gave him a second glance.
Before long he found himself outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. He practically bellowed the password at the portrait of the Fat Lady, and then he ran through the common room, ignoring the looks from the members of his house who were there. His feet pounded on the stairs on his way to the dormitory, never stopping until he collapsed onto his bed, where he finally let himself start to cry.
Several minutes later he sat up and wiped the tears from his face, realizing that he was being childish. James said a lot of things that he didn't mean most of the time when he was mad. There was no way he had meant what he'd said about Sirius being a Black.
Sirius knew a name didn't change who he was, even if James didn't realize that, they had still been best friends since they'd met.
Sirius stood up and found himself standing face-to-face with James.
"Oh." Sirius said, looking down at his feet.
James didn't apologize. He didn't have to, and he knew it. He knew Sirius well enough to know that he wasn't mad anymore; if he were he wouldn't have gotten up from the bed.
"I told Peter." He did say.
"How'd he take that?"
"Well, he's warming up to the idea." James laughed.
"That's not really funny, James. It's serious."
"I know, which is why we need to find a way to help him, Sir."
"I don't mean to sound small minded, James, but how do you help a werewolf?"
"It won't be easy, but there is a way we might be able to offer him some company." James suggest timidly.
"Hey, he's my friend and all, but I don't personally feel like walking up to him when he's a werewolf and asking him if he wants to go for a bite to eat."
James smiled, "Of course you don't. Not even you are crazy enough for that, my friend."
James ducked as Sirius threw a pillow at him. "So, what do we do, then?"
"Well, there's something I've been reading about since Remus told me. It sounds really hard, but, and I'm not pulling our own chains here or anything, we're some of the smartest people in our Year, we should be able to do it."
"James, what are we going to attempt to do, old friend?"
"Well, there's a spell, a really difficult spell, that turns people into animals." James finally answered.
"Animagus." Sirius muttered.
"You've heard of it, then?"
"Only in passing, in Transfiguration Class."
"Well, that's what I propose we do then. It'll be a challenge for us, and we'll be helping Remus out. What do you say, Sirius?" James asked, biting his lip, expecting the teenager before him to reject the idea.
"Simply brilliant."
Sirius stirred in his sleep, shifting to get more comfortable on the muddy cell floor.
Remus stood behind the thick door that led into Sirius's cellblock. He'd traveled all this way to see Sirius, and now he couldn't bring himself to push open the door and stare into the face of the man who had once been his best friend.
Well, Later days everyone! Yeah, I don't really have anything to say, except sorry for the two week wait!