Secrets Revealed
Peter Pettigrew was seated at the Gryffindor table across from James Potter and Sirius Black while slowly eating his omelet in a way that suggested he wanted to savor each and every bite. James was picking at his pancakes and watching Sirius, whom he was sitting next to, from the corner of his eye.
Sirius, on the other hand, was completely oblivious and was munching idly on his bagel, absorbed in his own thoughts. The fourth and final member of their group, Remus Lupin, was off at the library, having made a brief appearance in the dorms before slipping off.
Finally, after twenty minutes of silence, James slammed down his fork in frustration and turned irately to his best friend.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he practically shouted. Those around the current trio fell silent and stared for a few moments before James gave them all the evil eye, effectively stopping any gawking. Sirius turned from his bagel at this point and blinked innocently up at the aggravated boy.
"Whaddya mean Jamsie?" James sighed angrily and ran his hand through his hair.
"Obviously something's wrong. You're spacing out and…and eating a bagel. You hate bagels!" James looked at Sirius, willing him to answer, and Peter stopped eating his precious omelet to tune into the conversation.
"Nothing's wrong," Sirius started, eyeing his half eaten bagel, as if seeing it for the first time, before dropping it to his plate with a shiver of disgust. He looked up at James again before glancing towards the doors. "Promise."
"Come on, don't try and pull that," the messy haired boy said, fully prepared to take drastic measures in order to make his friend talk.
"Yeah Sirius," Peter added. "It's not healthy to bottle things up."
Sirius sighed before resting the side of his head on his palm. "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously."
James not only did not believe such lies, he was wholly insulted that Sirius thought he'd buy it. So, resolute in getting the information he desired, 14-year-old James Potter stood purposefully from his seat, grabbed Sirius from around the middle, and threw the slightly lighter boy over his shoulder before stomping out of the Great Hall. Peter quickly stood and scurried after his friends, casting a glance back at the many heads turned their way.
James carried the struggling Sirius up seven flights of stairs before entering the Common Room, going up to their dormitory, and throwing the other teen on the nearest bed. Peter entered shortly after and shut the door, casting a Silencing Spell in case things got loud.
"Dammit, James!" Sirius shouted angrily, making it clear that the Silencing Spell was indeed needed. "What's your problem!" James crossed his arms and huffed at the other fuming boy.
"What's your problem?" he shot back. "You're gone all night, come back moping, and refuse to talk to us!" he went on, gesturing wildly with his hands as he began to pace. "You sit there, eating your fucking bagel and pretending like we aren't supposed to notice you're all depressed! We're not stupid!"
And suddenly Sirius was enraged. How could James notice he was feeling a little 'depressed' and not notice when their Remus disappeared once a fucking month only to come back with injuries that normal boys their age didn't just happen to get. It was absurd! So, with this new found rage, Sirius jumped up and began his own rant.
"Fuck you James!" he shouted, taking the other boy by surprise. "Did you, did either of you," he yelled, turning briefly to Peter who was still standing by the door with a face of mild shock, "happen to notice anything unusual about Remus! How he leaves once a month, every month, how he comes back in pain, or how he's always sick and pale before he disappears! Did you pick up on any of that! Or is it only my bloody well insignificant silence that you care to notice! " And as Sirius stood there in the center of the room breathing heavily he watched as James practically deflate in front of him.
"Sirius…" James started off weakly, sitting down on the bed behind him and rubbing his temple, overcome by a sudden tiredness. "I…yes I've noticed. But every time we ask him anything about it he clams up and spouts some story that is obviously a lie. But it's not like we can force him to talk to us Sirius, and we can't come out and tell him we think he's full of it." Sirius lost his anger and sat on the edge of the bed next to James feeling exasperated.
"Why not? You forced me to talk just now. And this is important, James. You must realize that he's hiding something big from us. We can't just pretend like we don't see what's happening!" Peter stepped forward and chose this moment to speak.
"Do you know something we don't Sirius?" James turned to look intently at dark haired boy who turned to face the wall, not comfortable with the turn this conversation had taken. James was the first to break the silence.
"You do…." Sirius sighed and faced his friends, looking at them with torn eyes.
"It's not my place to tell. It's his secret…" James crossed his arms and looked hard at Sirius.
"Sirius Black, Remus is our friend too, so you had best tell us if you know anything or me and Pete will make you tell us." Sirius smiled a bit in amusement before sighing again and starting.
"Well, you know how he disappears ever month?" His companions nodded. "Well, every time he goes, Madame Pomfrey takes him to the Whomping Willow and sends him down a tunnel."
"Doesn't it attack them? That thing is brutal," Peter asked curiously. Sirius shook his head.
"Well, there's this knob near the bottom that you poke, and it makes the tree freeze." James nodded slowly.
"Okay…where does this tunnel go?"
"That's just it," Sirius whispered, causing James to lean in and Peter to venture closer, "I went down there one day and it leads to the Shrieking Shack." James blinked rapidly at that and Peter nearly fell over.
"That haunted place? Why on earth would he go there?" Peter asked after gaining his balance. Sirius looked away briefly before answering.
"It's not…haunted. All that noise is made by Remus. He's the 'ghost' that everyone's so afraid of." This time it was James who spoke.
"Sirius, you're telling me…us, that Remus goes to the Shrieking Shack once a month to make noise and scare people?" Sirius rolled his eyes at James' odd logic.
"No, you daft idiot. He goes there once a month and it's always on the full moon. And shortly after he goes down the tunnel I hear howling. I may be wrong, but….I'm pretty positive Remus is a werewolf."
Sirius watched as James' face froze into a face of shock and as Peter stumbled back to sit on the bed opposite them. The sat like that, in silence, for several moments, letting the severity of the situation sink it.
Remus was a werewolf.
As James went through it in his mind it made sense. Remus was gone once a month. He always seemed pale and drained of energy around certain times. He had thought it was just all the work the sandy-haired boy did, but obviously he'd been wrong. Remus also never had any sickles, which were made of silver, opting instead to carry knuts. It was all clicking. Their timid little bookworm Remus wasn't all he seemed to be.
In Peter's head many similar thoughts were coming and going. The brief notion that Remus was a dangerous dark creature that could kill them all was quickly pushed away. Remus would never do that, he'd been a loyal and kind friend for the past four years. Nothing had changed except that once a month Remus went through something he couldn't control.
Before anything else could be thought upon or spoken about though the door to the room opened and the topic of conversation walked in carrying more books than was strictly necessary.
"Oh, hey guys," Remus said softly as he gently put the books down by his bed. "What're you up to?"
The three of them shared a look in which Sirius shook his head ever so slightly in order to tell the other two to not say anything.
"Nothing important, Remus m'boy," James said cheerily after a moment. Remus looked at them oddly before shrugging.
"Okay, I'm going to write my Charms essay now. I'll be in the Common Room if you need me." And with that he picked up his bag and a few of the books from the pile before turning around and leaving the room.
James turned to Sirius.
"What should we do? Let on that we know?" Sirius shook his head.
"I don't know. I really don't know. It hurts that he doesn't trust us enough to tell us, or think that we'd ever hate him for it. That has to be what it is. If we don't say anything I don't think he'll ever tell us." Peter rubbed his face with his hands absently.
"A werewolf. Man, I knew it was big, but not that big." James nodded.
"Yes. It was rather unexpected. I thought you were moping because some girl turned you down, but damn Sirius, you know how to drop some heavy stuff." Sirius grinned.
"No girl would ever turn me down mate. Look at me," Sirius declared while striking a pose, "I'm gorgeous." James rolled his eyes.
"Yeah. Stunning."
"Guys," Peter piped up, obviously not caring about the banter, "we're all okay with this right?"
"Okay with Sirius being drop dead gorgeous? I suppose. As long as I get Evans." It was now the blonde haired boy's turn to roll his eyes.
"No, not that. Are we all okay with Remus being a werewolf?" James and Sirius stared at Peter.
"Why wouldn't we be?"
"Well, technically he's a dark creature that could kill us all with one blow if he wanted to." At that statement both dark haired boys looked angry.
"Remus would never do that!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Peter, if you have a problem with Remus' condit-"
"I never said I feel that way," Peter interrupted. "I'm just saying that people could feel that way. I'm fine with it, even if it is a bit disconcerting."
"Oh. Okay then," James said. All three boys sat in silence again until Peter rose from his seat and walked over to his bag.
"I'm going to work on my Charms essay with Remus," he stated, before walking out of the room. James ran his hand through his hair before standing as well.
"Why they're doing homework on a bloody Saturday morning I'll never know. But while they're at it I'll go down and get it done. Nothing else to do."
"James?" The brown eyed boy turned to his blue eyed friend after picking up his bag.
"Yeah Sirius?"
"…We're going to confront him, aren't we?" James pushed his glasses up his nose and readjusted the bag on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we are."
"You think we can help him? He's always alone, and you know he hurts himself. Practically tears himself apart. That's where all his injuries come from." James looked at Sirius with grave eyes.
"I don't know Sirius. I would if I could, but I don't know how. We'll think of something. Let's see how the confronting part goes first." Sirius nodded.
"Okay. You're right. Tell them I'll be down in a minute."
"Alright."
After James left Sirius crawled to his truck and pulled out a book. He'd ordered this book specially after trying to think of a way to ease Remus' suffering. Now it looked like he'd have a chance to put it to good use.
He ran his hand delicately over the cover, How To Become A Registered Animagus.
And Sirius smiled.
A/N: Since some people seemed to like this Lyndsey's decided that she'll try to write it and see how it goes. She can tell it won't go well. She suck at this sort of thing. But she'll try, so please let us know what you think. Oh, and sorry that Madame Pomfrey has turned into Madame Pompfrey. There was a slight miscommunication and now the damage has been done. So in chapter one it'll be spelled wrong. Sorry again.
