Chapter Twenty-NIne: A Rather Stinky Situation

Remus had of course been lying about studying with Lily. He only slowed down when he was nearing the castle and realized he hadn't been chased. He took several breaths then realized he really ought to see Lily and give her the scarf he had knitted her. It was a much worse present than the shiny new copy of Hogwarts a History she had given him after he had told her the one he currently had wasn't his own.

It was a relief to ship it back to his father with a letter and an assortment of cookies he had boxed up from one of the dinners, and he kept his new copy with him at all times. Still, he felt a little emboldened by his roommates' reactions, he was back to thinking of them not as friends after yet another interrogation and decided he best give Lily her present soon or he never would.

So he went back to the dorms briefly, and changed into some dry robes, then headed for the library the badly wrapped bundle in his arms. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Severus' voice carry over the books. He hadn't made Severus anything and it was terribly rude to give Lily a present when he had nothing for him. So he tracked down a house-elf, they were all incredibly helpful and asked for some more materials this time in different colors. He apologized for bothering the house-elf named Nibbly who didn't seem to mind the bother at all.

"Here you go, sir. Think nothing of it, sir. It's my pleasure, sir." Remus found the house-elves made him feel very uncomfortable. Still, he had the green and silver material and he spent the next few hours magically knitting a small pen case which turned out, he thought, much nicer looking than the scarves did.

He was quite pleased with the progress he had made in enchanting the knitting needles, especially since they had been particularly ornery ones his uncle had given him for Christmas. He hadn't counted his uncle's present since the little letter attached said they were so Remus wouldn't kill himself with boredom being friendless and all, and they stabbed his hands till they bled until Remus got the hang of them.

Still, they did the trick and Remus was now quite grateful for them, deciding it to be the best present his uncle had ever given him. With the finished product Remus set out for the library again, and just in the nick of time for he nearly ran into his roommates who were, once more, covered in snow and out of breath.

"Think he's in the dorm room?"

"Seems unlikely. Bet he's avoiding us."

"You mean you?"

"You didn't exactly come to his offense." Sirius and James bickered quietly.

"Maybe...he's actually in the library," Peter added timidly only to get shot down. Remus hurried off before he could hear anymore. Confident now that they wouldn't look for him, if they even bothered, where he said he'd be. So he headed to the library and once more found Lily there, but it seemed he had taken to long for Severus wasn't.

"Oh hello, Remus. How was your break?"

"Good. Yours?"

"It was lovely. Only my sister Petunia was acting like quite the brat. She can be very annoying. Oh, what's that your holding?" She asked noticing the bundle and stopping her excited recounting of Christmas.

"It's um…..for you." He held it out his embarrassment growing as a light blush spread across Lily's cheek.

"Really? Thank you!" She opened it and was just as satisfied with the scarf as his fr….roommates had been. She put it on immediately too and praised Remus' handiwork though he still thought they had all turned out a bit lopsided.

"This will be perfect for the Quidditch games. I imagine I'll have to go sooner than later considering Dorcas and Marlene like it so much." Remus was glad to hear Lily mention one of her other roommates. Marlene was just as outgoing as Dorcas but a good deal more confrontational and her and Lily butted heads nearly as often as James and Sirius and weren't nearly as good as making up as they were.

"Getting along with her now?"

"Oh yes, you see…." Lily then launched into a long-winded explanation about how Marlene read this one author that she did and how the two had bonded over that and the fact that their side of the room was always tidy while Dorcas and Mary's side was not. Then she launched into her family Christmas story after making sure Remus liked his present, which he assured her sincerely he did.

It was a relaxing evening in which Remus had to do little talking and he appreciated this. Eventually Lily fell back into studying and homework which Remus was glad to do as well. They walked back to the dorm together discussing what they hoped they'd learn during the next half of the year as well as discussing professors, who they now had much stronger opinions of one way or another.

Remus was startled to find Lily liked Slughorn as little as he did despite him liking her so much, but he quickly steered the topics to other professors for fear of her remarking on his behavior during potion classes.

They both agreed McGonagall was tough but impressive, Sprout was passionate and interesting, that Binns was utterly boring, that Flitwick was friendly and easygoing often letting them play charm based games if they finished lessons early, and that their defense against the dark arts professor Professor Blavatnik whose name could never be pronounced well enough for his liking was intimidating but had a great deal of experience.

By the time they went through all the main professors, Lily not finding flying worth mentioning it seemed, probably because she was dreadfully bad at it and therefore pretended it did not exist, they were back in the common room having worked through lunch and dinner without stopping and it was time for bed.

"Oh, dear Marlene's going to scold me again for not eating. I can't help it though when I'm absorbed in a good book." Remus was amused she thought their herbology book was such a book but kept his mouth shut as the walked into the common room.

"THat's alright we'll have a bit breakfast tomorrow." He responded dreading Sirius scolding him, as he has in fact missed all means and was grateful Lily hadn't noticed or he'd no doubt get scolded by her.

"Yes, that's true. Though you really ought to sit with me sometimes. You're spending far to much time with those no-good trouble makers. Be careful or they'll rub off on you Remus." He gave her a smile but decided it was best not to answer that stopping at the steps leading into the female's tower.

"Goodnight Lily."

"Goodnight Remus." He left her with an increasingly heavy heart as he slowly dragged his feet up the stairs to floor seven. He stood outside his door and listened, he knew it was still too early for his roommates to be asleep but perhaps he'd be lucky and they would have gone somewhere else, anywhere else.

"Ugh, I don't understand this rubbish!"

"That's because you're holding the book upside down you nitwit." He heard three distinct pairs of laughter, including Sirius whose presence he worried about the most. He sighed and sat outside the door hoping they'd go to sleep very soon.

He had completely forgotten he hadn't slept at all last night do to the adventure he had with his friends when they were his friends and not prying into things they ought not to pry into. So he underestimated how tired he was and sprawled out on the floor, leaning against the door, he soon fell asleep.

….

"Remus? What's going on? Have they locked the door?" Prefect Liam asked a slight gleam in his eye at getting James and Sirius in trouble who mocked his authority every chance they got.

"No sir I just fell asleep." Liam looked unconvinced so Remus had no choice but to open the door to prove his point. Of course, his roommates had gone quiet because of course, they were listening to the exchange, no doubt becoming more suspicious of him by the day. He was fooling himself if he thought he could stay friends with them long.

Perfect Liam gave him a look clearly questioning Remus' sanity, to be fair he was too. But the Prefect seemed to have better things to do with his time and realizing he had nothing to get James and Sirius in trouble for he walked away.

"So…." He addressed his roommates awkwardly feeling like he had been caught red-handed somehow.

"Get in here Remus! We are hashing out the prank for Monday." Remus was torn between relief they were all acting as if nothing had happened and dread because he really didn't want to turn the Slytherin dungeon into a swamp.

….

Remus, despite his friends' obvious attempt to put him at ease after the disaster at Hagrid's cabin, was keeping his distance again. He had another terrible nightmare where they found out and Sirius especially hated him and attacked him. It left him shaky all day and a similar nightmare made him particularly jumpy Monday.

His roommates contributed it to the prank they were going to pull using over fifty dungbombs and a potion Sirius stole from the sixth year that turned the floor into a swamp-like consistency. Of course, Sirius had insisted that Remus, who supposedly had come up with the idea with him, help him in the dungeons to make sure all went right. Meanwhile, Peter and James would be the guards, and if need be, decoys to keep people away.

This whole prank was only possible due to Sirius' intensive knowledge of the Slytherins schedule, meaning he'd know when they would mostly all be gone. Unfortunately, this meant they would be skipping History of Magic after lunch. If it had been any other class Remus would have called the whole thing off, even if it meant the three calling him a swat for the rest of their years.

But he really found the subject boring and they all knew Binns wouldn't note their disappearance. As it was James and Sirius skipped most of the time only passing due to Remus giving them his notes.

Remus still hated the plan, this was his first time actively participating in a prank and he didn't think antagonizing the Slytherins was a good idea, especially after they lost to Ravenclaw in the recent Quidditch game he had refused to attend. But to no one's surprise, none of them listened to his protests and he was carted off by Sirius, after lunch on Monday, to the dungeons.

So not only was Remus sleep-deprived, jumpy from nightmares, and guilty from pulling a prank, but he'd be alone with Sirius. Needless to say, this day could not be over fast enough. Still, Remus partly wanted to get Sirius alone as at breakfast all the color had drained from his face upon reading a letter from home, an unusually strong reaction as he usually crumpled them up or read off the insults in a mocking tone.

This time it had clearly bothered him and Remus really wanted to know why. Besides, hopefully, this would keep the topic off him. He hesitated to bring it up though as he helped Sirius line the floor with dungbombs.

"You've been really jumpy today." Sirius started off innocently enough, he even shot him a look of concern and Remus knew he meant it, that was part of the problem.

"And you got really upset after reading the letter today." He retorted softly. Sirius shot him a look eyes narrowed in irritation.

"I've already told you about my family. You actually haven't said one word about yours. I don't even know what your parents do for a living!"

"Technically I don't know what your parents do either…"

"My mother is an heiress so all she does is spend money and complain about things. My dad works for the ministry some real boring high up position that I don't really get nor care to try." He responded immediately, in the same cold tone he often had when discussing his family, and always had when discussing his mother.

"Oh."

"Your turn." Remus knew not answering this would set Sirius off, and they were stuck down here for at least an hour as all the dungbombs had to be set with precision or the chain effect wouldn't work, meaning the end product would end up not nearly as stinky or masterful. Besides, it seemed an innocent enough question.

"My mom doesn't work...too sick. My dad, he also works for the ministry but in a low position under the beast division. He doesn't talk about work much so I don't really know what he does." He explained cautiously weighing each word making sure Sirius couldn't gain any information Remus didn't want him to know.

"Oh."

"So why were you so upset at breakfast?" He asked, hoping he had given enough information to get Sirius to talk more. But the older boy shot him a disgruntled look and he wearily realized this was not the case at all.

"Not so fast. If I'm going to tell you more about my family's secrets I want to know some of yours." Remus panicked and nearly dropped a dung bomb which would have set the whole lot off and would have drenched Sirius and Remus in the foul-smelling gas which would no don't linger for days.

He made sure to set it down very carefully as that scenario flashed through his head briefly. He took a breath, there was a way out of this, there had to be. A way to answer but not and to get the information he wanted out of Sirius, he just had to think.

"Alright." He responded as slowly as before, again weighing every word carefully.

"My dad's brother. He hated my dad married a muggle and he and my dad didn't talk for years. Now they get along but he hates me." Sirius had been watching him carefully, stopping in the daunting task they had to finish quickly. Remus watched Sirus' hand clench slightly and he nearly set his bomb off as well. Maybe they should save this conversation when the stakes weren't so high?

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"You never specified. So what upset you at breakfast." He sounded much more confident than he felt and his slightly demanding tone did the trick. Seeing as Sirius really couldn't argue that Remus hasn't answered he sighed and answered himself, seemingly just as careful about his words as Remus had been. Whether this was out of spite or because he really didn't want to talk about it was hard to know.

"My mom wrote something about my brother."

"Regulus."

"I'm surprised you remember his name. I only mentioned it a few times."

"I'm a good listener." His comment earned a wry smile from Sirius.

"I've noticed. Your a bloody brilliant listener but an awful talker." It was jab but it was delivered with a friendly tone so Remus gave Sirius his own wry smile. He figured that was the end of that but Sirius' expression grew stern and serious instead.

"You know you can talk to me right? I haven't told anyone about anything you know. Even though I hate James calling you Lupin. But I haven't said anything even about that. You really can talk to me." Once again there was the faintest hint of desperation in Sirus' voice that made guilt rise in Remus swiftly. He nodded as if he was considering it and silence fell as they set to work lining the dungbombs, each lost in thought.

"She wrote to me that she put him in the basement…..because he was sticking up for me. She knew it would be a worse punishment for me than if she had done it to me. Wrote it was all my fault because I had been such a bad influence on him. Said she won't be letting him receive any more letters from me."

"Oh, Sirius!" Remus cried full of sympathy and horror. He did drop the bomb this time but swooped and caught it in the nick of time. Sirius commented on his fast reflexes but it was clear where his attention still was.

Remus didn't think he was great at comforting people but once again he was the only option, and he must not be too terrible if Sirius kept talking to him even when he wouldn't do the same. Either that or he was just that desperate but Remus preferred to believe it was the former reason.

"It's not your fault Sirius. She's terrible and there's only her to blame." Sirius gave him a sad smile.

"So you don't think I'm a bad influence."

"Not on your brother no." He said seriously and Sirius relaxed as if he had been waiting much longer than a day to hear those words.

"Thanks, mate." Remus waited for the hidden meaning behind his words to sink in.

"Wait...you said not on my brother as if I am on someone else?" He asked worried and Remus wondered if it was right to tease him now, but he could tell from Sirius' tone that he didn't want to stay serious long nor did he usually, certainly not about his family situation.

"Me." He responded making sure Sirius saw his wide smile and could tell easily he was joking. The concern turned to amusement and he snorted.

"Clearly. Somehow I've convinced a well-mannered swot to partake in a criminal act. I must be quite the bad influence."

"Awful just dreadful," Remus responded delightfully, glad they were no longer on such serious topics, for both their sakes.

"You must be touched in the head to follow suit like this."

"No, you are just that good." Sirius barked a laugh at the backward praise taking pride in it like Remus knew he would. Remus rolled his eyes and flicked his forefinger which, after hours of watching the two communicate, found it was Sirius and James nonverbal way of saying twat. Sirius' eyes widened and he stopped placing the bombs yet again.

"How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Remus asked surprised, feigning innocence. They really should be moving faster than this, they were going to get caught. Yet at that moment Remus couldn't quite get himself to care.

"Don't play innocent with me! How'd you know what that meant?"

"Maybe I don't." He responded with his best not so innocent smile. Sirius' mouth dropped then he closed it and grinned in a similar fashion.

"I reckon you're the most dangerous one of our lot Remus." He responded proudly. Remus knew, he truly did know that Sirius meant this in the best possible way. A good way, a friendly joking way.

But it felt like Sirius had stabbed him with a knife so Remus quickly ducked down feigning concentration so Sirius wouldn't realize just how right his comment had been.

...

Somehow Sirius and he managed to focus enough to set all the bombs in the allotted time they were given, despite their rather slow start. They raced back to James and Peter, and Remus shook Sirius' comment away. He felt a sort of thrill fill him, nearly as powerful as his guilt, as Sirius kissed the potions bottle and chucked it as far as he could down the hall.

"Run!" He yelled and none of them hesitated in bolting down the hall as the sound of over fifty dung bombs exploded and a full-blown swamp opened up on the dungeon floor. This Successfully blocked the Slytherins from their dorm and leaving any Slytherin unfortunate to be inside a nasty surprise. It was an immature and stupid thing to do so it was beyond Remus why it felt so good, why he was sincerely smiling.

Perhaps it was the sense of camaraderie building inside him, the sense of belonging in all aspects of his crazy friends' adventures. Whatever the reason it felt really good until they nearly collided into Professor Blavatnik, then it just felt sickening and dreadful.

IMPORTANT Author's Note:

In the comments leave who your favorite side character is and why, and whichever character wins I will write a half chapter on their perspective. This could be Andromeda (for a chapter on her and Ted) to Patricia to one of the Professors, whoever is fine.