A History of Romance

Chapter 2: We Solemnly Swear, Proff

"Where're you going?" Sirius asked from where he sat in the chair beside the fireplace. He still wore his school robes, his tie tied in a knot.

"See my mum," Remus replied quickly.

"She looked in perfect health to me when you boarded the train," Sirius said skeptically, and twirled his wand around.

"Sirius, she's in treatment. I have to go see her."

Sirius stood up. "Liar."

Remus turned pale, "I don't believe you are in any position to call me a liar, Mr. Peter-Ate-My-Homework!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Binns is dead; he didn't even blink an eye when I said that."

"Ugh! Listen, I've got to go, good-night."

"Why! Where do you go, Remus!" Sirius strode over to him. "I don't want to resort to stalking you, but-"

"No!" Remus said quickly. "Please … I'm telling you … I have to go now. Sirius, please, let's talk tomorrow."

Sirius reached out, as if to touch his arm, but then turned away. "Okay. Tomorrow, we'll talk."

Sirius walked upstairs and walked up to James' bed. He pulled open the curtains.

"James! Wake up!"

James sat up groggily. "Uh?"

"Yeah … you were right. He doesn't trust us."

"Well, it's probably something, like, really bad. Hey, let's talk tomorrow… I'm sleepy."

James slumped back onto the pillows, and Sirius only grumbled and walked to the window. He looked out into the darkness, glancing at the tiny stick in the distance that was the Whomping Willow … and something caught his eye.

It was a boy, unmistakably, brown-haired in the moonlight, walking quickly and stopping every now and then to fall on his knees, twitching. Soon, though, he made it to the Willow, and got inside.

Sirius frowned and stayed very still, barely breathing and willing for the figure to appear once more.

'That was Remus! That was totally Remus! What was he doing walking there … and how'd he get into the tree … I gotta follow him. But … what if he comes out first. Okay, I'll wait here, all night if I have to, and watch for him. Dammit, Remus, you little liar!"

Sirius watched a long time, for most of the night, but it wasn't long before he'd fallen asleep. He awoke to sunlight streaming in through the window, by which he now knelt, his arms on the frame.

"Mmm?" he mumbled sleepily. Then it all came flooding back and he stood up, looking wildly around for Remus, sleeping on his bed perhaps. But, no … his bed was empty.

Sirius ran out of the dormitory, down the stairs, and onto the grounds, making for the Whomping Willow.

He stood in front of it for a moment, devising a plan to not get smashed by the murderous tree. In the end, he just lunged forward and ran towards the small crevice between the roots of the Willow.

He dodged the branches, got whacked on the head a few times, until the tree managed to hit his side and knock him away.

'Now I get it … I see your purpose Willow!'

So, Sirius tried again, and despite the deep scratches he received as the tree struggled to knock his away again, he made it into a narrow tunnel. He followed the dark tunnel, groping wildly, until he reached a trapdoor, which he promptly opened.

The smell of dirt and blood assaulted his senses as he looked around what he now realized was the Shrieking Shack. Every wall was covered in blood; there were scratches, pieces of wall that looked as if they'd been scraped off … a chair snapped in two.

Sirius ran up the creaky steps, almost slipping on the various puddles of blood until he reached a cracked, wooden door. He turned the knob as quietly as he could and peeked inside. What he saw took his breath away.

Remus was hunched over the bed, trembling as his paws lengthened into hands and feet, his snout shortened into a human face, fur sank into his body, fangs shortened into teeth. He threw his head back and gave a long, mournful howl that made Sirius shudder. Then as the last note of the howl gave away to a pained human cry, Remus fell back onto the bed, panting and exhausted.

Sirius stood in the doorway for a very long time, just staring at Remus' sweaty, shaking body, until without warning, Remus sat up, eyes wide.

"Sirius!" he said and gasped. "Sirius, what are you doing here!"

He realized, finally, he was naked and looked around for the bedspread, which had fallen o the ground. Sirius moved forward to pick it up, but Remus held up his hand.

"Don't come near me! Please, just go- go away! Leave me be!"

Sirius frowned. "Remus. I-"

"Stop! Don't say it! Just go, I'll be gone by tonight."

"What? No, no … Remus, no. You've got it all wrong!"

Sirius walked over and picked the sheet up. He draped it around Remus' shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't care. I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to. I'll help you … we can think of better lies, you and I. And technically it is tomorrow," Sirius said and smiled at Remus.

Remus blinked, confused. "You don't … you don't hate me? You don't think I'm dangerous, disgusting?"

Sirius put a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Listen, you could be a werewolf, a vampire, a banshee even and I couldn't care less! You'd still be my Remus."

Remus smiled, finally, and his ears turned a bit red. "Your Remus?"

Sirius laughed nervously and said nothing.

"Thank you, Sirius," Remus said, breaking the awkward silence that had stretched for ten whole seconds.

Sirius frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, no way! You don't have to thank me! I'm your friend, dammit!"

Sirius flung himself onto the bed suddenly and started fluffing up pillows, and making the bed comfortable despite the torn bedspread and blood stains. "Come on, enough about me. Lie back, here on the pillows. That's it."

Remus lowered himself onto the pillows and wrapped the sheet around himself tighter.

Sirius smiled. "There. Comfy? Go ahead and sleep; I won't go anywhere."

"Actually, Sirius, I can't sleep when I'm dirty, and sweaty, and bloody, and I'd much rather go to class," Remus said sheepishly, hiding under the sheet.

"Er," Sirius said. "I can get you into the castle, but … we'll need James."

"What?" Remus asked, eyes wide.

"Well, he's the only one with an Invisibility Cloak. I'll be back in a jiffy," Sirius sad and stood to leave.

Remus grabbed Sirius arm. "Wait, what if … what if James doesn't- doesn't like me?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and took Remus' hand. "James not like you? C'mon, Remus, this is James here!"

When he noticed Remus still looked uncertain, Sirius gave his hand a little squeeze and smiled. "Hey, don't worry, okay? I'll be right back."

With that, Sirius ran out of the Shrieking Shack, through the tunnel, across the grounds, and into the castle. He found James sitting with Peter in the Great Hall, eating breakfast.

"James!" Sirius greeted him, breathlessly. "Need … Invisibility Cloak, now!"

James frowned and spooned some scrambled eggs into his mouth. "Why?" he asked, with his mouth full.

Sirius paused to marvel at his friend's lack of manners, but continued, shortly, "It's Remus … trouble! C'mon, cloak!"

James rolled his eyes and downed the eggs with his pumpkin juice. "Let me finish my breakfast!"

Sirius' eyes flashed and he drew his wand, pointing it at James. "This is about Remus, you know, our FRIEND! You come with me, now!"

James blinked twice and grabbed a piece of toast. "Fine, fine, if it's about the love of your life, I better do what you say."

Sirius blushed and lowered his wand. "Shut up and come on!"

James motioned for Peter to follow them. Sirius walked ahead, almost running to their dormitory.

"Well?" James demanded when they were out of earshot, and safe in the dormitory. "Is Remus dying or something? Breakfast is the most important meal-"

"James … he's a werewolf," Sirius said and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "It didn't sink in until, like, right now! I acted like it was no big deal back there, but--he's a werewolf!"

Sirius tugged hard at a strand of his hair and James bit his lip. "It all makes sense now."

Peter was pale-faced and looking from Sirius to James. "W-well? What're we going to do about it?"

James looked at Sirius, who was still tugging at his hair. "We're going to go down there and help him, right Sirius?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, right, yeah. Help Remus, right."

James put his hands on Sirius' shoulder. "Sirius, this changes nothing. This is Remus, our friend, okay?"

Sirius let go of his hair and nodded quickly. "Okay! Okay … let's go."

Remus lied on the fluffy pillows on the bed where Sirius had left him and wondered what was taking so long.

'James probably hates me and refused to help me,' he thought miserably.

A few minutes crawled by before he heard voices coming up the stairs.

"What a completely awesome place to hang-out he's got here! Imagine what we could do here!" came James' voice.

The door opened and Remus smiled shyly at the three boys that stood in the doorway.

James grinned back and walked in first. "Dude, this place is wicked!"

He held out his hand. "You have just blown away all my goody-goody expectations of you! If I had a hat, I'd take it off to you, my werewolf-man."

Remus rolled his eyes, but nonetheless shook James' hand.

Sirius came over and held out the cloak. "What'd I tell you?"

Remus looked over at his completely shredded school robes. "James, you don't mind if … I won't be wearing much under the Invisibility Cloak."

James blinked twice. "Seriously, the things you worry about. Just shut up and put the cloak on."

Remus quickly flung the cloak around himself.

"Okay," Sirius said and looked over at James. "We've got a plan and everything. Remus, wherever you are, come hold on to my back pocket."

James sniggered and looked over at Peter, who looked blank. Remus slipped his cloaked hand into Sirius' back pocket easily, making Sirius' cheeks turn a little pink, to James' amusement.

"Okay, let's go," Sirius muttered, and the four made their way out as best they could, acting as cool as could be.

To their dismay, when they got into the castle, people were still walking around the halls. As a crowd of giggling, third-year girls passed them on the stairs to the first floor, Sirius was forced to press himself against the wall, squashing Remus.

"Ow!" Sirius heard the werewolf complain. "You're stepping on my foot!"

Sirius quickly moved off him and followed James and Peter, who were ahead of them now. To Remus' dismay, the bell that signaled the beginning of classes rang.

"Oh, dear we're going to be late. We might not ever get to Transfiguration! Things can't get any worse," Remus grumbled.

Sirius rolled his eyes and was about to speak, when, as if to prove things could get worse, Peeves shot out of a suit of armor, cackling madly.

"Oooh, it's the Marauder freaks! What're you little boys scheming today?"

James motioned for Sirius to keep moving as he distracted Peeves.

"Well, Peeves," he began, "we were just going to come to you for any ideas you might have, seeing as how you are the trickster king."

Peeves turned a back flip and grinned. "I am, aren't I?"

He suddenly noticed Sirius' back pocket stuck out a little. "Hey, what's Twinkle-Twinkle got in his pocket?"

Sirius glared at Peeves. "My name is not Twinkle-Twinkle! It's Sirius, you air-head!"

Peeves' eyes narrowed and he stuck his tongue out at them. He zoomed away without another word.

Sirius heard Remus' voice in his ear. "Now you've done it."

"Oh, come on! What can he do?" Sirius asked and rolled his eyes.

The answer came to them just as they were climbing the stairs near McGonagall's classroom, as quietly as they could manage. Peeves came shooting out of her classroom, arms laden with chalkboard erasers.

He clapped them over Sirius, laughing like a maniac. The four boys froze as the chalk dust settled on the cloak, and Remus was no longer invisible. To make matters worse, McGonagall strode out, frowning.

"What is the meaning of this!"

"There you have it, McProfessor! I told you they were smuggling someone into the castle. Let's take a look at who it could be!"

Peeves flew at Remus and pulled on the cloak hard.

"Stop!" Remus pleaded, as the cloak slipped down past his shoulders, and dangerously close to his waist. He clutched at it, his face red.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "I think I understand what has happened. Follow me, all of you. Peeves, put those erasers back!"

But, Peeves only cackled and waved mockingly at the four boys before sinking through the floor.

Sirius didn't think anything too bad would happen to them … that is, until they were led to Dumbledore's office. Then he began worrying.

"James, do you think he'll expel us? What if he kick Remus out for letting us find his secret out!" Sirius whispered to James, anxiously.

"Nah, Dumbledore isn't a bad sort of guy," James whispered back confidently.

"He did let a werewolf into Hogwarts," added Peter.

"Sh!" Remus whispered frantically, holding the cloak close to his body.

"Acid Pops," McGonagall said to the Gargoyle in front of them. "Go on, then," she said to the "Marauders."

One by one, they stepped onto the moving staircase and prayed that their fate would not involve any sort of flaying, flogging, or Filch.

"Good morning," was Dumbledore's greeting to them. He was sitting behind his desk, drinking pumpkin juice and eating toast with jam, calm as you please.

The four dared not look at each other and wondered what Dumbledore was planning as he sat there eating toast and smiling at them.

"Well, then," he began. "Why don't you sit down and have some breakfast?"

This time, the four boys could not help but look at each other in amazement.

"Can we really?" asked James.

Dumbledore nodded and waved his wand. Four squashy, purple chairs appeared before them; they gratefully sat down and reached for the toast and jam in front of them, Remus a bit awkwardly, because of the cloak.

"Well, now that we are all cozy, we need to talk about the fact that Remus is a werewolf," Dumbledore said, and Remus went tense.

"Professor, please, in no way did I ever mean for-"

"Now, now," Dumbledore cut in, and held a hand up. "Before you start making up excuses for your friends, I want to say that it is quite alright for them to know as long as they think they can keep the secret. Otherwise, I will be perfectly happy to perform a Memory Charm."

He looked at them, blue eyes twinkling, and began with James. "Mr. Potter, do you think you can keep Remus' secret?"

James held his hand up. "I solemnly swear, Proff. Sure thing!"

"Mr. Pettigrew?"

Peter nodded rapidly.

"Mr. Black?"

"You don't even have to ask me Proff! I'll keep Remus' secret even if they torture me with hot pokers and tar!"

James nodded, and added. "Oh, no, don't worry Professor Dumbledore. Sirius will take very good care of Remus after every full moon," James said, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Sirius just ran a hand through his hair and smiled, his cheeks red. "That too."

It was then, eating toast with professor Dumbledore, the four boys truly, truly knew they would all be friends for a very, very long time.

A/N: This is the longest chapter ... wow, anyway. Thanks for the reviews, you're all awesome. Please review.