Chapter 20: Suspicions from Sirius

Sirius Black was not a patient man.

He found that being brought up as the heir to 'The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black' could make a man feel incredibly self important. Although he was no longer that person anymore, he couldn't help but fall back into that persona every now and again. Especially when his so-called friend thought that spending time with his girlfriend was more important than spending time with his mates.

"Calm down Sirius, he'll get here soon," Peter interjected from his position laying on his bed, eyes closed so as to ignore the pacing boy that was distracting his rest, "Remus said that he wanted to start the transformation on his own this time anyway. He still doesn't trust whatever potion he's been given, even if it was Dumbledore that gave it to him."

"Well the transformation was ages ago and they should have finished the rounds at least twenty minutes ago. I swear to God, if Prongs is standing us up just to get a blow job off Lily I'm going to fucking kill him."

Peter snorted, "You're one to talk, you've been late to the Shack at least four times in the last 2 years for the exact same reason. Anyway, I thought you were happy about them getting together?"

Sirius stopped his pacing and decided to stand over Pete's bed instead, "Mate when you get with a girl for the first time, you'll understand where your priorities lie." Predictably, his smaller friend blushed and looked mighty uncomfortable, though Sirius thought that he had never seen any other teenage boys look so panicked at the thought.

"Don't get me wrong, I am happy that James has finally tricked Lily into trying it with him, but I thought that it would stop his whining! He's even worse now and now he can't even be bothered to show up for the full moon. I mean what could be more important than helping Remus?"

"Stopping Hermione from shagging Snivellus." Came a dark voice from the entrance to the room as James finally joined them. Just as the other boys had leapt up to join him, they both simultaneously realised what he had said. "WHAT?" They cried.

James began to shuck off his uniform and change into some scruffy clothes while he chuckled darkly, "Yeah you heard me right, Lily and I were just starting our rounds when we had the pleasure of stumbling in on our dear friend 'studying'." The air quote hand symbols were unneeded for the other boys to realise what James was implying.

"You've got to be kidding!" Peter began

"Nope," James continued, forcefully jerking a jumper over his head to finish the ensemble, "She says that they're still just friends but he was practically on top of her."

For some reason the mental image that this produced in Sirius's mind caused an uncomfortable lump to form in his throat. "Clothes on or off?" He choked out, surprised at how quiet his voice was.

"On, obviously. She said nothing had happened, or was going to happen, but I saw it with my own two eyes. Lily too. They decided to have a heart to heart about it so I had to finish rounds by myself which is why I'm so late. She's probably up in her dorms now, washing her eyes out." At this, James glanced towards their bathroom as if he were also thinking of doing the same.

"Was Lily bothered?" Peter asked carefully, "I know they were close." James scowled in return.

"Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. She told me she never liked Snape that way, but they did have their first kiss together. She said it felt wrong, like kissing a brother." He turned to Sirius, trying for a joke, "I'm obviously not getting any complaints in that department, hey mate?"

"Sure, shall we go down to see Remus?" He replied quietly, ignoring the odd look he received from James, though he nodded and led the way. As they sneaked through the castle with the aid of their map and cloak, Sirius tried to put his finger down on what was bothering him so much.

Hermione Dumbledore was a puzzle that was always on his mind. It just didn't sit right with him how quickly she had infiltrated their group and somehow made everyone like her, himself included. Although he didn't trust the girl, he could appreciate her sharp wit and often found himself looking forward to spending time with her. Unlike with the other girls he was friends or had flings with, she was oblivious to his charms, instead rolling her eyes dramatically like the Gryffindor girls had learnt to do. But they had had years to get used to him, so for her to handle him so easily so soon was constantly getting under his skin.

As the weeks had continued, Sirius had done all that he could to crack her hard exterior, whether it was to make her blush or reveal her secrets, he didn't mind. He often intentionally placed himself for his various rendezvous within her path so that she might interrupt and so he could watch her reaction, not that there was much of that. In a slightly more stalkerish turn of events, he had also begun to seek her out on the Marauders Map at various points throughout the day in order to check on her.

It wasn't that he liked her in any capacity. Sure, he wasn't blind and could see the appeal of those bright eyes and bouncy curls that just begged to be tugged upon, but it was like he had cordoned her off within his mind. The no touch section was very small and only contained Lily, and Mary, thanks to his friend's feelings for them, and also Hermione, though he didn't really know why. It might have been because she knew about their secret and so she felt more like a friend now, but Sirius wasn't so sure, and was constantly wondering why he had put her on that pedestal.

This must have been why it bothered him so much that she had decided to pursue Snivellus. She was undoubtedly better, more worthy of someone decent, and commanded much more respect than what Snape could give her. Sirius certainly respected her enough. Pushing away a dangerous thought that screamed jealousy, Sirius chuckled, thinking maybe he should calm down with the extent he was watching her. He had plenty of women falling at his feet, so why should it bother him that the woman who refused to be ruffled would choose the slime ball over him?

While this furious internal debate finished churning inside his mind, the Marauders finally reached the Whomping Willow and entered the small passageway. After they stretched and took off the cloak that really didn't fit them all anymore, they began to scramble down the passageway together. Weirdly, the usual howls of pain and grunts of animal madness didn't greet them at the other end. Before changing into their animagus bodies, they cast a hesitant look towards one another and entered the building.

Almost as soon as they had set foot into the dilapidated room they were smothered by the huge body of the werewolf. More than used to the playful roughhousing, Sirius's mind sank at the thought that the potion had not worked. This doubt was quickly extinguished when the mass of muscle and fur stepped away from them and they finally were able to look into its eyes.

Remus's clear grey human eyes stared back at them. The beast was sitting on its hindlegs as it regarded them and suddenly cocked it's head to the side in a very Remus way. He yipped happily and leapt forward to lick Sirius's face in a playful way, causing him to jump before they nudged their noses together in friendship. He soon did the same to James and even to Peter, who Moony usually forgot about in his rat form.

After they had got over the shock of seeing their friend still possessing his mind, they all began to tussle and race each other across the building, playfully enjoying their time together. This continued for a few hours as usual until they began to tire. However, unlike with every other full moon, it seemed that Remus was content to just rest in his werewolf form, which soon found them all sleeping on the floor of the main bedroom upstairs.

Sirius's peaceful slumbering was swiftly halted once sunrise came, and they were all forced to listen to the agony of the change. If only there was a potion to help with that. Once Remus had changed back, the rest of them quickly shifted to cover his nakedness with a blanket and went to get the carefully folded clothes they always left for him in the passageway.

Once more, they were swamped by the time they returned, by a very awake teenage boy, tightly hugging each one of them in turn, before doing it again for good measure. "It worked! It FUCKING worked!" Remus began before they could comment on his behaviour, "I swear, when I get my hands on the mystery donator of that potion, I am going to snog the living daylights out of them!"

They all chuckled, "Sure mate, but maybe put some clothes on first," he gestured to the pile he was holding, "One slip of that blanket and we might find yourself a bit exposed…"

"I don't care," Remus continued, quickly shucking on some underwear and dropping the blanket, "With how I'm currently feeling, I'm up for streaking naked through the Great Hall."

They all laughed yet again and took in their friend, who was quickly finishing to clothe himself. Usually, on the morning following a full moon they would practically have to drag their friend's lifeless body out of the Shack and wouldn't see him till at least noon when he finally recovered from the transformation and the various injuries of the night. Today, however, his elation at the successful change meant that he somehow was able to greet them just seconds after waking.

"Are you sure you're not too tired or achy?" Peter asked for them all, stopping Remus before he could bound out in front of them, already dressed.

"Of course I am, transforming your entire body is no piece of cake, but other than that I feel incredible! I swear I could breathe fire if you asked me to." Remus shook them off and rushed to the hidden passageway, almost hitting his head in his haste.

"Careful mate," James began, and they joined him, "I reckon you're on some adrenaline high, so you might want to calm down."

They quickly made their way out of the other side of the passage and Remus decided to run away from the vines of the Whomping Willow rather than pressing the knot that would disable it. Sirius shook his head and smiled at the energetic werewolf while he began to recount the night before, even though they had all been there to see the majority of it.

They were just passing the Quidditch stands when they saw someone zooming ahead, before he could identify who it was someone shouted her name from the other end of the stands. Hermione turned towards the Gryffindor girls where they had just joined the stands and flew towards them before she noticed the boys. Remus called to her as well and so she changed the direction of her descent. The girl's noticed the change and also moved to join them.

However, as soon as Hermione landed she was enveloped in a giant hug from Remus and, surprised as she was, she was forced to chuck her broom towards Sirius. He caught it and watched as she was twirled around, the approaching face of Mary MacDonald scrunched into a grimace.

"What's put you into such a cheerful mood?" Hermione laughed out as everyone came together.

"Oh nothing really, it's just a lovely morning!" Remus replied, a toothy grin taking up his face as he regarded all of his friends, eyes lingering on the scowling Mary.

Noticing the absence of Lily, James couldn't help but ask, "What are you all doing out this early anyway?"

Marlene scoffed, "We always come out this early to run," she gestured to Hermione and herself, "but I could ask you the same thing. Not planning any pranks I hope? Lily will not be happy."

James opened his mouth as if to reply but Peter decided to step in, knowing he would just make a mess of whatever excuse he was going to come up with, "So what are you two doing out as well?" He gestured between Mary and Alice.

Alice yawned and stretched, "They are making me run with them so I can get more fit, it's not my fault that they decide to do it at the crack of dawn."

Mary looked slightly uncomfortable when everyone looked at her, already feeling self conscious in her rumpled morning state after noticing that Remus's eyes still hadn't strayed from her. "I was just bored so I thought I'd join them and watch. You know how Lily likes to lie in, so I knew that she'd be no fun to be around."

James cut in, smirking, "Actually, I haven't had the pleasure yet, though…"

"Shut up James, we don't want to know," Hermione interjected, along with the vast majority of the group before they were interrupted.

"Mary, would you like to go to the Christmas Ball with me?"

Although Remus's voice wasn't loud, everyone heard it and was immediately silenced, the eyes of the girl in question widening in surprise. For a moment no one said anything as they glanced between the pair, everyone too shocked that he had spoken at all for them to interrupt. Finally, she spoke a quiet response, "Thank you Remus, I would love to go with you."

Now it was turn for Remus's eyes to bulge, unaware that the girl also had a crush on him, regardless of what their friends had been telling both of them for the past couple of months. "W-well, that's good." He stuttered, "Great, I mean. See you later!" and he began to walk off very quickly towards the school.

When Sirius finally got over his amazement, he tipped his head to the others, who were still standing in silence, "Ladies, it was lovely to see you all, but we should really be going." As he left, he grabbed onto James and Peter and yanked them along with him, both stumbling over their feet until they caught up with Remus inside the Entrance Hall. He was banging his head on the closest stone wall, the adrenaline high lost in the face of his embarrassment.

"Merlin…. Please tell me I didn't just ask out Mary in front of everyone and then run off!" He mumbled out.

Sirius began to laugh, "You sure did, my friend. Now I want to know what was in that potion that you drank, and whether you can find some for me!"

James also ignored Remus's scowl, clapping him on the back, "I can't believe you finally did it, I always thought you would both die of old age before anything actually happened between you!"

Mercifully, Peter decided to just smile slightly and muttered, "I think it went great by the way, you could tell that she was happy."

Of all of the comments that they had been making, it was this that finally prompted their werewolf friend to move his head away from the wall, "You really think so?"

"Of course mate," Sirius cut in, "It surprised all of us though, I never thought that you would be the first one of us with a date."

"Wait a second, speak for yourself!" James interrupted, "I have a girlfriend remember."

Peter rolled his eyes and decided to give James a little bit of advice, "Yeah, and? You do realise that you still need to ask her, even if she already expects to go with you? Girls like that sort of attention."

Sirius sniggered, not expecting an answer, "How would you know Wormy, already got a date?"

Peter once again glared at his friend, turning to address him before walking in the direction of the hospital wing for Remus's check-up, "I've actually already asked someone, which you would know if you'd bothered to ask. So I think you'll find that it is actually only you without a date Padfoot."

"What, who?" James and Remus both asked in surprise.

Peter blushed and looked down, "Hermione and I agreed to go together a couple of days ago, but just as friends." He added that last part when the others raised their eyebrows in question.

Looking increasingly more tired now that the excitement of the transformation had worn off, Remus added, "Why as friends, surely you could give it a go? I know she likes to hang out with you."

Before Peter could correct him, Sirius cut in, delighted to tell his friend about the new development of the previous evening, "Actually Moony, we have serious grounds to believe that our Hermione has a little crush, and it's not on Petey here." Remus just rolled his eyes as he waited for the reveal, "It also isn't with any of us, or the Ravenclaws or a Hufflepuff, so who do you think that leaves?"

A moment passed while Remus connected the dots, before he stopped on his assent up the stairs, his eyes widening as he turned towards them, "No!"

"Yes!" James replied, "Lily and I had the misfortune last night to find…." They spent the next five minutes that it took to reach the hospital wing telling their friend the tale of the previous evening. No one noticed how Sirius hid the odd feeling in his stomach by exaggerating his excitement, though all he felt was dread.

He was having a wonderful day.

Unlike every other day following the full moon, Sirius was feeling well rested. Of course, he had to invest all of that energy on teasing the same werewolf for the rest of the day.

When they did eventually get to the Hospital Wing, the look on Madame Pomfrey's face was priceless at the sight of a significantly less battered Remus who was actually walking into her infirmary for once. It was obvious how much she had grown to care for them considering how she had promptly burst into tears. Sirius would have been touched if she hadn't then smacked and scolded him after he had made a slightly inappropriate offer to make her feel better.

She had then forced Remus to stay for a while so that she could watch him for any side effects, which inevitably meant that he missed breakfast. James and Sirius took great pleasure in spinning some tale to the girls about his absence after Mary kept looking towards the door throughout the meal. Peter just rolled his eyes and smiled knowingly at Hermione.

Their efforts to embarrass him did not stop there however, because by the time that first period started, he was deemed healthy enough to face transfiguration. When he walked into the class to conveniently find that the only seat empty was next to Mary Remus blushed bright red and directed a glare at it's usual occupant. James' innocent smile fooled no one, least of all McGonagall, and so she quickly reminded him of the importance of sticking to the seating plan.

This continued throughout the day which led to lots of awkward silences and uncomfortable situations between the quiet pair. Soon the entire student body heard after numerous bursts of confetti started to explode with red and pink streamers and clouds of paper hearts erupting at random times of the day. It was safe to assume that not only Remus would be having words with his friends, but also Mary, when the girls began to join in.

Unfortunately this had to stop in Defence because for some reason Mr Cribbs was in a really bad mood, his usual witty quips and self-sacrificing jokes replaced with hard stares and extended silences.

Although he felt more than ready to get right back to annoying his friend afterwards, something distracted him. Just as they were leaving for lunch, out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione whip out a small piece of parchment as if to check something. Of course this wouldn't be unusual for her to continue with writing her notes after the lesson ended, but the way she turned slightly into an alcove in order to shield the paper with her body didn't sit well with him. Something in his mind clicked as she lightly tapped it with her wand and whispered something, the beginnings of some lines appeared on it before Sirius was swept away by the crowd.

They all continued walking and Sirius turned to the person on his left, "Hey Alice, where did Hermione disappear to?"

"She just said that she needed to check something in the library before she joins us, she must have had an epiphany because her eyes did that glazing over thing."

Sirius hummed in response before joining James, tugging him slightly away from Lily, "Hey mate do you have the Map?" He whispered and when James only looked more confused, he clarified, "I don't need it, I just need to know that you have it right now."

When James nodded and patted down the front pocket of his bag where they could both see a significant bulge, Sirius was only made more confused. He continued to stare into space until he suddenly found himself sitting down at lunch with no recollection of how he had got there.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed some fourth years re-enacting a Quidditch manoeuvre and another thought struck him. "Hey James, have you heard of a brand of broom called a Firebolt?" He started, tugging on his friend's shoulder.

James's brow crinkled as he thought for a second, "No, you don't mean the Flyte and Barker company do you? If you're thinking about buying a new broom, my dad always says that people who buy from them have more money than sense."

"No, it's not that," He murmured quietly before Marlene interrupted where she had obviously been eavesdropping.

"Are you talking about Hermione's broom?" She smiled when Sirius nodded eagerly, "Sorry but I beat you to her, I was wondering how the broom could be so fast and was wondering if I could buy one for myself. Unfortunately, she said that it was a limited edition French make that was discontinued a few years back, though I don't know why. I mean, have you seen her fly it?"

"How the hell did she get her hands on that offer then?" James laughed.

"Dunno really." Marlene murmured in response, obviously no longer really interested in this conversation, "She just said that her parents liked Quidditch and knew that she would need a fast one because she likes to race rather than play."

By this point, Hermione had finally decided to join them, carrying a thick book under her arm rather than levitating it like any sane person would. Her parents were muggles though, a voice rang out while she soon engaged herself in conversation with Marlene and James. "Sorry, I just had to check this out, I didn't know if I would have had enough time if I left it till later!"

Time. Wasn't that something she and Madame Pomfrey had talked about weirdly after the full moon where she found out? The others hadn't heard because they weren't supposed to be eavesdropping, but with his advanced animagus hearing, it was much clearer. At the time, something had felt off about the statement and with the way that she spoke so warmly and candidly with the Nurse that they had worked hard to win over. Unfortunately, his suspicions were forgotten about in all the trouble of making sure that she wouldn't tell everyone about Remus.

"In my time, I found quite a few ways of getting in and out of this room unnoticed over the years."

By 'In my time' did she mean in her time before coming here? If she was, then why is she talking about it like it's a long begotten memory of the past? The 'this room' couldn't possibly be referring to Hogwarts Hospital Wing specifically, but why use that phrasing if she's talking about the infirmary at Ilvermorny? She could just be talking about her time spent here at the end of last year, but then why would she say 'over the years'?

For the life of him, he could not remember what Pomfrey had said in reply, but he would give anything to see that memory again at this moment.

About a million and one questions began to fly around Sirius's head and he soon realised that he had been staring vacantly across at Hermione for the last 5 minutes without saying anything. She had noticed and was silently watching him with a concerned glint in her eye.

Knowing that she couldn't know that he was onto her, he just smiled in that flirty way of his and pointed towards her, "I know it's hard to keep your eyes off of me Dumbledore, but you're starting to drool into your soup."

Up next is Chapter 21: Lost and Gained