A/N: The title to this chapter comes from A Perfect Circle and the song is "Sleeping Beauty".

Chapter twenty: "Sleeping Beauty"

Wanting the winter vacation back, the weeks through January went by excruciatingly slow. In the last week of January, Remus received a disturbing and upsetting letter from home.

Remus,

Your sister is deathly ill. Please come home immediately.

Mum.

Staring blankly at the letter, which was so short with such a horrible message, Remus' heart seemed to stop.

"Oh shit," Remus said, putting the letter down and placing his head in his hands mortified.

"What?" James asked, looking up from his food. Remus waved his hand at the letter as if to say 'go ahead, read it'. Pulling the letter towards him James began to read. After reading the two short sentences he frowned and his eyes ran over it again, and then again.

"Uh Remus," James said.

"Yes James," Remus replied with a sigh.

"Does your mum always have a shaky hand?"

Looking up at him, Remus said, "No, her handwriting is usually neat."

"And are her letters always this discreet?"

Frowning, Remus thought. "No," he finally said, "then again she hardly sends letters by owl but-" Looking at James quizzically Remus questioned, "What are you getting at James?"

"I think," James said after one more read of the letter and some thought, "that your mother did not write this letter."

Remus stared at him in shock disbelief, "James you're cra-"

"No! Listen," James leaned forward so that no one could over hear them and whispered, "You're a were-wolf and what Voldemort needs is exactly that. He's luring you home so he can kidnap you and put the Imperius Curse on you."

Remus just stared. Then he broke out in hysterical laughter, "James, you have the wildest imagination!"

"No, Remus I think I'm right," James said so seriously that Remus decided to level with him. He sighed.

"James, what you're saying could be true but I highly doubt it. We left Sissy sick and my mother would be worried since it is her daughter, hence the shaky hand writing. So I can see where you're going with this but I'd rather pass on your story." Remus began to get up but James stopped him.

"Fine, you don't have to believe my story but I beg you, please don't go home. Please."

Remus looked at James very hard. He never joked about Voldemorts plans and he had already lost almost his whole family at the hand of his Death Eaters. He understood how James would feel losing a close friend too. Remus sighed, "Alright James, I won't go home."

In a dark cave by the sea, a dark and sinister plot brewed.

"I told you my Lord, it is quite impossible to touch James Potter," A young boy with slicked back blond hair said down on one knee.

"No, it is just that I shouldn't have children doing the work of an experienced adult."

An angry Sam Knox pushed forward. "That is not fair my Lord!" she all but yelled. "You know I tried my hardest-"

"And your hardest wasn't good enough," Voldemort said coolly but all the while giving her an icy look.

When she backed down the boy with blond hair said, "I think what Sam is trying to say my Lord is that you can't possibly get someone older then required for Hogwarts to do the job. It would be wise to stick with someone who can be near him all the time."

"You are right Malfoy. I must admit it. But who?" After a bit of thought his snake like eyes glowed red with glee. "I know just the person." His laugh echoed off the walls of the cave.

A week passed with out any word from the Lupin household.

"I bet you everything's fine, Remus," James assured a worried looking Remus. "I'm just glad you didn't go home. Who knows what could have happened if you did." He started digging into his porridge.

"Only for you James," Remus replied cutting his eggs into smaller portions. Just then the Great Hall was filled with hundreds of owls delivering letters to the designated person. Remus was surprised when a brown barn owl landed in front of him. He practically tore the letter off the owl's leg and opened it, reading it his eyes ran across the page. Lowering the letter with a blank expression on his face, he stared right in front of him but didn't seem to be all there. James looked at him and asked, "Remus?"

Remus shook his head and got up from the table. "I gotta go," he said and he walked away accidentally leaving the letter behind. James picked up the letter and began to read it as Sirius, Peter and Lily came over.

"Dude James, we just saw Moony at the door. He didn't look like himself," Sirius said and agreement came from Peter. Lily just looked at James concerned as he looked even more downtrodden by every line of the letter.

"James," Lily asked, "is everything okay?" James looked up at them with wide, sad eyes.

Very quietly, but loud enough so they could hear him, he said, "Sissy's dead."