Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Return of Remus Lupin
Sirius watched in horror realizing Remus was a monster. Not a literal one obviously, that was ludicrous. But he was quite the terrifying metaphorical one. Sirius had assumed things would go back to normal as soon as Remus woke up. However, he hadn't counted on the fact Remus had missed so much homework and was behind in all his classes.
He thought Lily was scary when she was stressed about tests but she was a kitten compared to Remus. The usual calm quiet boy had been transformed into a raging ball of anti-social ness. He snapped at everyone and they all gave him a wide berth, even Lily unless they were talking about studies.
"We've got to do something Sirius he's going to hurl himself off a tower out of his free will if we don't get him to relax soon." Sirius nodded absentmindedly, watching Remus scan through three books at once, with irritation.
"We've offered to help but he's so bloody proud! He won't even let the professors help him because he doesn't want "special privilege." Sirius grumbled remembering how after Remus' first day back to classes Flitwick had to beg Remus to stay after class so he could go over the severing charm with him.
In fact, throughout the week Remus seemed to be avoiding all the professors and Sirius wasn't entirely convinced it all had to do with pride. He still hadn't forgotten Remus' comment about a teacher causing the drama around Hogwarts. But talking to Remus about anything other than studies resulted in the stubborn boy pretending they didn't exist or quite the tongue lashing.
Gone were the days Remus didn't seem able to express his irritation with his friends, and this seemed to give him the confidence to tell them to bugger off. Sirius just hoped Remus wouldn't want them to bugger off forever. Sirius knew Remus had told him what happened to him wasn't his fault but it was hard not to feel like Remus wasn't mad at him with how touchy and bristly he'd been.
"Yes but you know how he is. He nearly bit my head off for slipping him my transfiguration homework the other day. He actually called me a cheater. To think I ever thought he was nice." James sighed dramatically. Sirius knew James was joking but still felt the strong need to defend Remus.
"I mean... he... it's just….."
"I know mate. If I cared about my marks and was in a coma for over a week I reckon I'd be the same way."
"Plus he hasn't been sleeping…."
"Ugh neither have we!" James groaned as only Peter had been getting much sleep in their dorm lately. James had even slept on the couch in the common room a few nights. Sirius couldn't blame him since Remus woke up every night screaming, absolutely terrified. He would pace around looking mad, a crazed wild look in his eyes, and fall back asleep an hour or so later. Even when they attempted to talk to him he didn't seem to realize they were there, even with the lights on, so they had taken to trying to ignore it.
It really creeped both of them out and they couldn't seem to find time to talk about it to Remus, who if he remembered the next morning stubbornly pretended not to. They all were just holding out, waiting for Remus to catch up so he'd go back to his usual self, one they missed desperately.
"Well if you have any brilliant ideas James I'd love to hear them," Sirius replied a bit short, they all had been a bit irritable with one another, courtesy of being woken up every so often in the middle of the night.
"If we could just get him to sleep." James lamented.
"We can," Peter said coming over to them with a broad grin. Sirius wanted to hit him, he wasn't bothered at all by Remus' nightly terrors.
"What do you mean?" James asked also sounding mildly irritated. Peter's smile fell but he had gotten bolder with them as well and sat down at the table where they were spying on Remus who spent 95% of his time in the library, eating and sleeping little.
Sirius couldn't understand why he wasn't in worse shape, to be honest. He knew he wouldn't even be able to function but somehow Remus seemed to keep slowly catching up in classes. A fact that Sirius would have thought would calm him down but it didn't seem to help.
They had decided if Remus didn't snap out of it for Lily's birthday which was on Sunday they would take drastic measures. It was Saturday and they were beginning to think they might actually have to take such measures, though none of them knew what that would be.
"I told Madam Pomfrey I wasn't sleeping well and she gave me a tonic." It was such an obvious answer that Sirius smacked his forehead. James kissed Peter's cheek beaming.
"You are the best out of all of us mate!" He said enthusiastically. Peter rubbed his cheeks with a dramatic sound of disgust then grinned broadly.
"I know." Sirius laughed, he and James seemed to be very good at transforming people into cheeky little bastards.
"How do we get him to take it though? Professor McGonagall had to threaten detention just to get him to go attend meals and he hardly eats or drinks anything." Sirius pointed out not bothering to hide his concern.
He had told James and Peter after Remus woke up and was in a lot of pain what his theory had been for a while now. That Remus father beat him and that he might work at Hogwarts or somehow get access to Remus while he was here, which didn't go over to well with any of them.
He was right to suspect they would question why he had come to such a conclusion. But it was easier to convince them Remus' dad was probably a terrible person because they all knew, though pretended not to, he hadn't visited him. Still, Sirius knew that Peter and James didn't believe it, not really.
"We just slip it in his drink. I mean it's not like he doesn't drink anything."
"Good luck with that," Sirius muttered and they all sighed heavily. For someone so buried in his books, Remus had been extremely attentive to the going ons around him. James had attempted to sneak up on Remus in an attempt to get a laugh out of the stressed boy and nearly avoided a black eye.
"It's worth a try though." Peter insisted firmly. So with a rather flimsy plan, they waited for dinner looking over their own work haphazardly all of them thinking of what they had learned, or more accurately what they hadn't. Because Lily had told them that she had been excused from Remus and Dumbledore's meeting, and predictably Remus hadn't said one word about it.
"And he did use the Imperturbable Charm." She had added with a smug look at James. Sirius had cut in before James could retaliate, pointing out that now they would never know what they discussed.
He thought it was amusing Lily thought she could get the information out of Remus. But nearly a week after the fact and none of them were any closer to the truth.
"I'm telling you he knows something," Sirius muttered as they walked to dinner.
"I think so too, but it's not like we can force him to tell us the truth." Sirius stopped dead in his tracks and turned to James a gleam in his eyes.
"Sirius no."
"Sirius yes!" He responded ecstatically. Once more they had skipped over an obvious solution. They could technically speaking, force the truth out of Remus, with the right potion anyway.
"Sirius that's a huge invasion of privacy! He'd never speak to us again!" James pointed out patiently. Sirius deflated, he was right, of course, but he couldn't deny how tempting it was.
….
Halfway through dinner like clockwork Remus arrived, his face expressionless his walk tense as if he expected someone, or something, to attack him any minute. When Sirius found out who had caused such fear in his friend he was going to kill whoever or whatever it was.
Because he now firmly believed the Slytherins had been involved. For starters Remus hadn't remembered giving Snivellus the gift he had made for him, Sirius was able to get that much out of him before he was released from the hospital ward.
Not only that, but Sirius had read over Remus' shoulder the first day he was back for breakfast in which he had received a letter. It was painful to see how excited he got tearing into it, so distracted by whoever he hoped had written him, that he wasn't at all careful. That's why Sirius could see the hastily scrawled letter that said: "You better not say anything." Remus had seemed confused but scared and Sirius had caught older Slytherins in closer proximity to Remus than was necessary throughout the week.
But on the other hand, Sirius suspected Professor Blavatnik to since Remus jumped at every sound in the classroom and Professor Blavatnik ignored him more than he did any of his other students.
Most of the Gryffindors thought Remus was touched in the head now, considering he didn't soak up the glory of his return like anyone else would have.
"Hi, Remus. How're your studies going?" James called cheerily, none of them expecting more than a grunt or one-word answers.
"Fine," Remus responded cooly but softly, sitting next to Peter, in what had become all of their designated spots. Peter shifted slightly, guilty at what he was planning to do, and Sirius kicked his shin. He better not ruin this! They all needed the sleep and they needed Remus back.
"You...getting caught up?" Sirius asked.
"Nearly," Remus replied as shortly as he had been the past week. But he seemed to pause and when he looked at them again he actually seemed to be able to see them. Which was some serious improvement. Sirius sat up straighter a flicker of hope in his chest.
"I…...I'm sorry how I've been acting this past week. I…..I've been a real jerk…" He explained his voice hesitant.
"Massive," James replied cheerfully and Sirius found himself grinning.
"A real pain in the arse Remus." Perhaps they took things too far for he had gone very pale and now hung his head in shame mumbling something James and Sirius couldn't hear.
"Of course not!" Peter exclaimed unhappily and Remus jumped.
"What did he say?" James demanded. Peter looked a little hesitant glancing at Remus who shook his head pleading him with his eyes not to say anything. Peter hesitated but he really had grown more confident from their influence and he turned to James and Sirius, determination in his beady eyes.
"He said he understood if we didn't want to be his friends anymore." Sirius laughed, loudly. He couldn't help it. It was such a typical Remus thing to say, so ridiculous, but so..him. James was grinning too though trying not to.
"That's rubbish Lupin we aren't going anywhere."
"Yeah, that's what friends are for," Peter added happily. Remus looked up his honey-colored eyes soft and filled with tears.
Sirius thought he'd actually start crying but, like usual, Remus sat straighter and blinked them back.
"I'm really sorry." He repeated again. Peter thumped his back nearly sending Remus' face flying into his untouched pot pie.
"Apology accepted. Now eat." Sirius barked pleased to see Remus listen to him and pick at his pot pie with more enthusiasm towards food than he had displayed all week. Peter looked at them clearly wondering if the plan was off or not. Sirius nodded looking pointedly at Remus' goblet.
"So Remus we were wondering if, since you are now talking to us again, you'd fill us in on what Dumbledore said." James goaded. Sure enough, this threw Remus off, his fork clanging against his plate with unnecessary force, allowing Peter enough time to slip the draught into the goblet. They all let out a breath of relief. Now he just had to drink the damn thing.
"He said that it wasn't a monster. That it had to be someone, not something."
"Most likely a Slytherin," James said wisely. Remus said nothing.
"Or perhaps a professor." Bingo. Remus stiffened, just slightly, but it was enough to convince Sirius which of his theories had been correct. He lowered his voice knowing he shouldn't be pushing Remus so much but needing to know.
"It was Professor Blatvnik wasn't it." Remus jumped this time his fork falling to the ground with a clatter that rang across the table. He went red and scooped to pick it up quickly avoiding their eyes.
"Remus." Sirius urged because he could now tell that their Remus was back. He looked up looking torn.
"Either way I'm going to think it's him so you might as well confess it."
There was a long pause then Remus nodded, just slightly, but they had all been watching him intently and they all noticed. Peter let out a squeak of fear. James sat straighter and Sirius shot a glance to the Professors table where their defense against the dark arts professor was taking a deep drink from his goblet.
His eyes found Sirius' and he felt a shudder run down his spine, he looked quickly away. Remus looked horrified and guilty and Sirius realized with a jolt why he hadn't said anything until now.
"You…..you moron!" He hissed and James looked at him surprised by how angry he sounded. Remus met his eyes, a resigned look in them. Sirius realized he was expecting him to no longer want to be his friend and he almost screamed.
"Later." Hissed James sounding fearful as they realized Professor Blavatnik was walking straight towards them. All of the students at the Gryffindor table went quiet, at least if the professor tried anything there would be witnesses.
"It occurred to me you all owe me at least one more detention." He responded thoughtfully casting Remus a sharp look.
"Now that you are all back and healthy I think it's time we start them up again. Don't you agree?"
"Yes Professor." James grounded out.
"Good, then I will see you all tonight."
"I thought you said Remus was done." Sirius pointed out quietly watching their professor closely. He looked thoughtful for a minute then gave a sad smile that looked rather threatening to Sirius.
"I don't think so. I'll see all four of you tonight. No exceptions." Then he was gone and all their hearts were pounding in their chests. They looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Later," James repeated in a tense whisper. They all nodded.