Chapter 10

"So your grandmother died?" James asked the next day.

"Yeah, my parents want me there tonight and tomorrow. They're pretty devastated, I need to be there for them," Remus replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Tell your parents our regrets," Sirius said, inspecting the hairs that hung in front of his face.

"I will," Remus said. A silence followed his promise.

"It really stinks that you're going to be gone for Halloween," James said.

"Yeah, but you guys will be fine without me," Remus reassured them.

"Maybe we shouldn't do it, now that you're going," Sirius suggested, pushing his hair out of his face.

"No! You guys are going to do the prank. It'll be fine," Remus exclaimed. The Halloween prank consisted of Sirius' voice magnifying and reading a scary short story, James would extinguish most of the candles till only a few were lit, and Remus would change the ceiling so that it was stormy and dark. During the short story, James and Remus would create sound effects for the story.

Another silence befell the trio as Sirius once again inspected his hair; James picked at imaginary lint on him pants, and Remus staring at the ground.

"I should probably get going," Remus said after a moment of silence.

"Oh yeah, well. See you in a couple of days Remus," James said, looking up.

"The prank won't be the same without you," Sirius said, also looking up.

"You'll do fine. Bye," Remus said, walking out the door.

James and Sirius sat in silence once again.

"He didn't take anything with him," James noticed.

"I'm just sort of assuming he has clothes at his home," Sirius said sarcastically. "Come on, this is boring. Let's go wreak havoc and harass people."

James ginned. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

---

Remus walked through the halls with his hands shoved in his pockets. It was midmorning and already he had had a handful of pain attacks. The day was not going to be a good one. He was half hoping they would become less frequent when it became nearer sunset.

"Remus! I was looking for you!" Remus turned around and saw Lily jogging toward him.

"Hi Lily," Remus muttered. "Why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Lily said, glancing around.

"About?" Remus asked when Lily didn't explain.

"About tonight!" Lily said excitedly.

"About the Halloween feast? I won't even be there so I can't help you with anything," Remus said.

"No! Not about the-" Lily started but then stopped when she heard him. "Where are you going?" Lily asked curiously.

"My grandmother died, I'm going home for a day or so," Remus explained.

"Your grandmother died? I'm sorry," Lily said, looking very dejected "Tell your parents I'm sorry about their lose."

"I will," Remus said, continuing his walk toward Madame Pomfrey.

After four steps, Remus felt the sensations of a pain attack coming on. Remus bent over, the pain residing in his chest.

"Remus!" Lily exclaimed behind him. She rushed over to him. "Remus, are you ok?" she asked, bending over beside him. At that moment, Remus was in the climax of his pain attack.

Lily was panicking. What to do? What to do? What to do?

Suddenly Remus' breath slowed down. It was over, for the moment. Lily let out a breath of relief.

"Are you ok Remus?" Lily asked when Remus still didn't move.

"Yeah," Remus said in a forced voice.

"Are you sure? Do you need to see Madame Pomfrey?" Lily asked as Remus slowly stood up. Beads of sweat lined his forehead.

"Um, no, I'm ok," Remus said, brushing his shirt of the wrinkles as his heart slowed down.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked again.

"Yes!" Remus exclaimed, slightly annoyed. "I have to go now." Remus once again continued his walk toward Madame Pomfrey.

Remus made it to Madame Pomfrey with no more pain attacks.

"Hello Remus. I was expecting you today. It's quite a shame that the full moon had to be on Halloween," Madame Pomfrey said when Remus walked into the door.

"Yeah, I was pretty disappointed too," Remus agreed, keeping the part about the prank to himself.

"Are you hungry, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

"No, I'm all right. I had a big breakfast," Remus lied. He had had barely anything for breakfast. He was afraid he might throw it up during a pain attack.

"Ok, well I will be back later. I have to go to St. Mungo's for some medicine. They've stop delivering for fear of it being intercepted," Madame Pomfrey explained.

"How long will you be gone?" Remus asked.

"I shouldn't be too long, but you never know with hospitals," Madame Pomfrey said, pulling on a dark purple cloak.

"Can I go to the house if you don't get back in time?" Remus asked. Madame Pomfrey looked skeptical for a moment.

"Are you sure you'll be able to hit the knob with the branch?" Madame Pomfrey asked. Remus nodded. "Fine, but go during the feast. No one will be out so you're less likely to be caught."

"Yes, ma'am." Remus nodded, though secretly he knew he would be going to the house way before that.

"Do you promise you won't go to the house before the feast starts?" Madame Pomfrey asked as an afterthought before walking out the door. In his head, Remus cursed. After a second of that, he crossed his fingers behind his back and nodded.

"If you want something to eat just summon the house elves. They'll gladly give you food," Madame Pomfrey said, and then walked out the door.

Remus laughed. Why summon the elves when you can see them personally? One of the first things the boys had investigated were the food was kept. James guessed that it would be under the Great Hall; so after several nights of searching paintings and tapestries on three different floors, they finally found the kitchen. It was full of elves that were always eager to give food.

Remus leaped off the bed, looking at his watch at the same time. One fifteen; plenty of time to get something to eat, do a little bit of homework, and still get to the house in plenty of time before dark. Remus grinned as he recited the plan in his head.

Remus walked through the halls silently, incase students were wanders the halls, wondering what Lily wanted to talk to him about. She said it was something about tonight, but what could that possibly mean? Remus pondered on this thought through two more floors. Finally, as he reached the kitchens, Remus realized why Lily wanted to talk to him. She knew that he was a werewolf! Remus tickled the pear and he mulled over this new information.

The painting swung open and Remus was greeted by hundreds of hello's.

"Mr. Remus! Twinkle and the house elves are so glad you could visit. Twinkle has missed you!" said one of the house elves as Remus entered the kitchen. "Does Mr. Remus want anything?"

"Hello Twinkle. Actually I would like some food. I didn't have any breakfast," Remus explained as he was ushered to a seat. As soon as the words left his mouth, the table before him was filled laden with butter and bread, roast beef, steamed carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, a pitcher of pumpkin juice, and a bowl of salad. After staring at the food, Remus loaded his plate with a little of everything. The house elves watched at Remus stuffed his face.

"That was delicious," Remus said after eating all he could. He took one more gulp of pumpkin juice and then pushed the food away. "Thank you so much."

"So Sir Remus want any dessert?" Twinkle asked.

"No thank you, I'm full. Besides, I really must be getting back," Remus said, standing up and walked toward the door.

"Goodbye, Mr. Remus. Please come back again!" Twinkle said, waving as Remus walked out of the kitchen and closed the painting. Remus rested against the painting, letting his food settle.

"Maybe I should've had some pumpkin pie, considering I won't have it tonight," Remus thought aloud as he started to walk back to the hospital wing.

---

"So you're really going to do it?" James asked as he and Sirius sat in the common room.

"Yes, I've made up my mind and you can't stop me," Sirius said, folding his arms.

"This is going to make Lily hate me even more," James groaned.

"Aha! You admit that Lily does in fact hate you!" Sirius exclaimed. The scattered people around the common room glanced over.

"Hey, let's get back to the topic at hand," James said. Sirius smirked. "You're going to break Brooke's heart and then Lily'll find out and she'll blame me for it all."

"Why would she blame you though? I'm the one doing the breaking of the hearts," Sirius asked.

"Because that's the way that complex mind of hers works. Whenever something goes wrong, she blames James Potter," James sighed.

"You live a rough life, mate. I'm so glad I'm not you," Sirius said sympathetically.

"Thanks. Well you might as well get this over with. I don't want to save the yelling session for tomorrow," James said, ushering Sirius away. Sirius laughed and walked over to where Brooke and Lily sat talking.

---

Remus sat on the hospital bed, finishing up his Potions essay, when he looked at the clock. Five Twenty-five. Two hours before sunset; plenty of time to get to the house. So what if Lily suspected that he was a werewolf? He delayed her thinking by convincing her about his grandma. Also, James and Sirius would be fine without him at the feast. The prank was going to be a classic, too bad he couldn't be there.

Remus hopped off the bed and gathered all his school work. Sirius and James had their prank tonight. Just because he couldn't be there didn't mean he couldn't have his own.