Time seemed to run away from Sirius so quickly. He had read once that time passed more quickly as a person got older, ("yeah, well, isn't that just the theory of relativity?" Peter had said, but Sirius had not understood a word of that sentence and hadn't bothered to ask) and he feared it may actually be true. The first month of his first year seemed to drag on and on, months were such a long unit of time when he was younger… and now it was already October and he had barely blinked.
October first. Tomorrow was Remus's full moon.
Sirius hated the summer moons, knowing that Remus was locked in his basement all alone, hurting himself because he didn't have a dog or a stag to chase and play with. He hated seeing Remus transform anyway, his bones popping out of place, his face in a twisted grimace that morphed into a snout, but at least at Hogwarts Sirius could be there. Could make it better.
"How are you feeling?" he asked his boyfriend, taking his hand.
"Okay," said Remus, but he didn't look it. His face was pale with prominent eye bags, his hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. The day before the full moon was always like this, and Sirius always felt slightly conflicted- should he try to convince Remus to go to the hospital wing a day early? Wouldn't that be healthier?
Then again, he thought, clutching the shiny silver handle of his cane particularly hard, it's his choice. His body, and if he wants to go to class I'd better let him.
"We're doing vinea mortiferum today," said James with a smile as they traipsed towards the greenhouses. "I'm so excited."
"Mort- that's definitely something unsafe," said Remus tiredly. "Jesus, why can't they give us one day of classes where we don't almost die?"
"I should've never taken NEWT level Herbology," said Peter with a groan. "It's impossible. The plants always bite me or some shit and I end up going to the hospital wing."
"I've actually started tracking it," said James, holding up a battered notebook. "See, look. It's been… four days since your last hospital-wing-free Herbology class."
Peter hummed dejectedly. "I don't know what to do. Maybe I should drop the class."
"Aw, naw, don't drop it," said Sirius. "Look, you passed your OWL, right? You wouldn't have gotten into the class if you weren't able to handle it."
"Yeah, exactly!" said James, and Peter brightened considerably.
They were only three minutes late to Greenhouse 4- three points from Gryffindor- and just as Remus had predicted, vinea mortiferum were incredibly dangerous, deadly plants. Tall, spiky, and fluorescent shades of pink and purple, Professor Sprout informed the class that the plants were some of the best possible protection against intruders…
"Yeah, I mean, I probably wouldn't intrude if stepping on someone's lawn could literally kill me," Sirius muttered.
"Seriously, this has got to be a crime," said Marlene. "I mean, c'mon. That's murder."
"Slightly murderous, yes," said Sprout with a grin. Pomona Sprout was actually one of Sirius's favorite teachers. Only 24 years old, she was able to relate to the students far more than most of the professors at Hogwarts, and only gave homework when it was actually necessary- she was not a fan of busywork. She also dressed in long skirts, knitted cardigans, and clunky jewelry rather than the prescribed robes, saying that working in the greenhouses allowed her a lot more freedom. Although her students did often end up grievously injured, they also tended to have a lot of fun. And, she allowed students maintaining an E or O average in the class call her Pomona.
"So that's why you need a license to own this plant. And you certainly can't plant it in your lawn to keep out trespassers. But it does have one harmless, practical use, if anyone can guess what it is."
Dorcas Meadowes, widely recognized as the best Herbology Gryffindor, raised her hand. "The fibers can be used to prompt invisibility. They're woven into cloaks, boiled into potions, all that jazz."
"Exactly," said Pomona, "which is why many second rate invisibility cloaks fade to pink. Of course, this does provide a foreseeable difficulty in working with vinea mortiferum. The plants tend to disappear when approached-" she walked over and poked a purple plant to demonstrate, which promptly faded out of sight. "To remedy this, you will need to cast a simple freezing charm before extracting the fibers."
"Say we forget to cast said charm," said Peter, "when do they, er, come back?"
"Twenty minutes to an hour, roughly," said Pomona. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, just the one," said James lightly. "How do we prevent the plant reaching out and strangling us to death?"
"Ah, right, probably should've covered that bit," Pomona admitted with a grin that showed off her smiley piercing. "You don't need to worry about these guys killing you. Their strangles are pretty slow, so it takes ten minutes, approximately, to die by vinea mortiferum. I'll notice and take you to the hospital wing before that. But more importantly, these plants can sense ill intent. That's why they're sorta nature's home security systems- they can tell when you're not where you're supposed to be. So as long as none of you are secretly Dark wizards pretending to be Hogwarts students, you should be fine. Just walk up to the plant confidently, freeze it, extract the fibers and move onto the next one."
"Cool, cool," said James, "let's do it!" He walked up to a particularly spiky pink succulent, cast a nonverbal freezing charm with apparent ease, and in seconds had used his wand to pull out several long fibers.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor!" said Pomona approvingly. "Alright, Peter, why don't you give it a go?"
"Why don't I?" said Peter nervously. "Great question. Well. Um."
"Rhetorical," the Herbology professor clarified. "Let's see it."
Peter walked up to the plant nearest to him, but before he had a chance to freeze it, long vines crept out of the succulent's base and wrapped around his throat. The classroom screamed. Sirius stood stock-still. He had always assumed that seeing one of his friends in danger would prompt unquestioning help, always assumed he'd be unwaveringly loyal… but, all he could think in the moment was why? What ill intent could Peter possibly have?
Pomona Sprout sprang into action, severing the plant's tendrils from its base with forceful streams of blue light before prying the vines away from Peter's neck.
"Hospital… wing…" Peter choked out before fainting. With a wave of her wand, Professor Sprout levitated him onto a stretcher.
"Stay here, guys, will you, and maybe stay away from the plants until I get back," she said. Her voice was steady, but her eyebrows were bent inwards in concern and confusion.
Concern and confusion. That was what Sirius was, confused. Intruders… but it was Peter, Peter who had been one of his best friends since age 11… if he couldn't trust Peter, who could he trust?
Then again, Peter may have just triggered the plant's alarm system with nerves. That had to be it, right? The plant could sense nervousness?
"Siri! You coming?" said Remus, turning around at the door. He and James, naturally, were following Peter to the hospital wing.
"Oh- yeah, of course," said Sirius, pasting an easy smile on his face as he got up to follow his friends.
Intruder...