Chapter Forty-Five: The Stolen Letter

….

Time passed and James' party planning became more concrete. It was going to be a loud and exhausting event and Remus was a little sad he wasn't going to be missing it since the full moon was five days prior. Of course, James would kill him if he didn't come so he figured it was probably for the best.

Things were pretty uneventful as far as classes and his friends, although Sirius still seemed to be treating him just a bit cooler than usual which was confusing. Remus also spent more time with Lily and Severus, who after much convincing had begrudgingly "forgiven" Remus if only so Lily would stop pestering him about it.

Then, of course, was the trips to the kitchen and trips to Honeydukes which always resulted in holding Sirius back from exploring more of Hogsmeade. There was also defense against the dark arts class where he seemed to get called on more than usual, and potions which was bearable now that James and Sirius took turns helping him, and lastly there was flying which Remus had come to dread.

Everyone else was thrilled when their old professor, who hardly let them do anything on a broom, took maternity leave and was replaced by a very young professor, whose eager smile was as dangerous as Sirius', and who let the class run free. What used to be a boring class on the mechanics of brooms, the history of quidditch, and any other topics their Professor had used to keep them on the ground rather than in the air, was now just flying.

"This is the beeeeest!" Shouted James, who true to his bragging, kept on demonstrating a real talent for flying. Sirius was nearly as good as him, and now that they could just fly around they spent the class showing off and trying to one-up each other. It wasn't until Sirius nearly fell from his broom that their new professor warned them to be careful.

But other than the difficulty of flying, which was a relatively small matter, Remus was feeling pretty great. His worries about Greyback being at Hogwarts now seemed silly and his worries about Professor Blatvnik hiding and mistreating some poor werewolf ended when Dumbledore had a talk with him and made him release Silverstream back into the forbidden forest.

Even when Remus' birthday came and went, he had no complaints, quite relieved none of his friends knew and only mildly disappointed when he got no letter from his father. He wasn't even worried about the full moon about two weeks away because he had gotten used to the shrieking shack, and while the thought people could hear him still repulsed him, he had finally relaxed in the knowledge that no one would somehow get in.

Things really seemed to be going fairly well until he actually did get a letter at breakfast. A great large barn owl swooping down and dropping a plain envelope in front of Remus. He stared at it not really thinking anything of it and attempted to hand it to Peter, sure there must have been a mistake. James stopped tearing into his own weekly letter from his parents and gaped.

"Remus it has your name on it." He pulled it back towards him, Peter had not even attempted to read it, just getting a letter of his own from his mom two days prior. Sirius also looked up from his letter from Regulus who had begun writing him again.

"Really? Who's it from?" He asked barely audible from a piece of toast in his mouth. Sirius had a habit of talking with food in his mouth, apparently a habit he developed just to annoy his parents. So they had all gotten quite good at deciphering what he meant even if all they really heard was refff whoem ish ferm.

"It doesn't say," Remus responded carefully opening the letter. He knew it was too much to expect his father to write, he'd be lucky if his father even let him stay at the house after the several letters that had been sent to him concerning Remus' comma and detentions. He read it through once, then once more feeling sick. He must have gone pale because they were all staring at him then before he could stop Sirius he reached over and snatched it from his hands.

"Sirius don't that's mine!" He shouted angrily but Sirius was already running out of the Great Hall followed quickly by James, and then Remus who wasn't about to let Sirius read that letter!

"Guys wait up." He heard Peter call shoving one last bite of eggs in his mouth before he too abandoned his breakfast. There were shouts of "Slow down" but none of the boys listened. Remus sprinted as fast as he could down the aisles almost catching up with Sirius as he burst out the Great Hall doors, James right on his heels.

"What does it say?" James called clearly thinking this was some kind of game, perhaps expecting it to be a love letter. But Remus knew that Sirius didn't take the letter because of that and that Sirius' line of thinking about it was no doubt much closer to the truth on what was written inside.

"Sirius please!" He begged sounding hysterical. James stopped abruptly just now realizing how upset Remus was. With James no longer blocking him from Sirius, Remus made a desperate leap and tackled him to the ground. They both fell hard the letter sliding across the floor.

"Ow Remus.."

"Give it back!"

"Sirius come on…"

"What's this?" Three boys froze, two on the ground in a mess of limbs as each tried to overtake the other in the fight towards the letter, and James in the process of trying to yank Sirius away no longer finding this funny. Peter choose that moment to catch up to them, and they all simultaneously stared in horror at Bellatrix holding the letter in her hands. Her heavy makeup covered eyelids lowered as she scanned the first sentence of the letter quickly then laughed.

"Look like you are in for it when you get home, little icky Sirius, filthy little blood traitor." She taunted and Remus felt sick, she thought it was about Sirius…. He begged her silently in his head not to read it, just not to read it out loud, but she seemed delighted to do just that.

"You are twelve now and you better start acting like it. Your consequences for your actions this year will be severe when you get home and will certainly include physical punishment. Your father has grown ill with worry. It sounds like you have made friends and have clearly forgotten our little talk before school. I will be sure to hammer the lesson into you when you return for the break. Your father doesn't want to see you and has agreed that I am more likely to impress upon you the reality of your situation. He told me to write to you happy birthday, but we both know that each year older you get is just more of a burden you place on my poor brother."

She paused sounding confused and Remus nearly forgot how to breathe. He could feel Sirius stiffen then he was scrabbling away from Remus, who had lost all energy, and strode over to his older cousin with a dark expression.

"Uncle Orion doesn't have any siblings though." She responded in a tone that was much too similar to her cousin, a tone that hinted she would figure out this puzzle.

"It's not to me." Sirius snarled ripping the letter out of her hand. Bellatrix seemed surprised then recovered her haughty expression and sneered.

"Well, it will be soon enough. Just watch your back, Sirius." She threatened darkly then walked away with a cruel laugh escaping from her lips. Despite the din of the Great Hall just through the door the area suddenly felt far too quiet to Remus.

"Remus….." James began sounding sad and worried.

"Just...give it back." He hissed through clenched teeth forcing himself to his feet, wavering badly.

He stared at the ground, the last thing he wanted to do was meet Sirius' eyes but held out his hand hoping he would just be given his letter back so he could go cry in private. He should have known better by now though.

Sirius gripped his hand tightly and pulled him into a hug. It was only because Remus could feel he was shaking slightly that he didn't immediately pull away.

"I think we need to call an official Floor 7 room 1 meeting." James echoed quietly. Remus heard a noise of agreement from Peter.

"We really need a better name for ourselves," Sirius said with a shaky laugh that sounded closer to a sob, and let go of Remus still holding his hand tight.

He was dragged, gently, but still dragged to their common room. James and Peter flanking Remus as if they either expected him to run or expected someone to attack him until they were safely through the fat lady's portrait. When they reached their room no one said anything for the longest time and Remus had never wished so badly for it to be a weekday in his entire life.

"So….I guess we missed your birthday?" Peter asked sounding disappointed. Remus was just glad the suffocating silence had finally been broken.

"Dammit and here I thought I'd be the second oldest of the group. Guess it makes sense with you being so mature and all." They were all standing close to him, Sirius still holding his hand tightly.

"What about me?" The boy asked in a poor attempt at his usual fake outrage. They were all trying too hard and it didn't feel right. It felt wrong and bad and hard to breathe.

"No, you don't count."

"Hey!" Sirius responded, a very poor attempt at a grin on his face.

"You don't. You're the most immature out of all of us."

"Please stop." He whispered and they all did. He could almost feel their gazes, full of care and worry piercing him through.

"Can we talk about the real issue then?" Sirius asked seriously, finally loosening his grip. But he still didn't let go, just interlaced his fingers in Remus' which made his heart clench.

"I don't ...suppose we could just ignore it?" He ventured sadly. He knew they'd say no which they all did really quickly, and also knew there wasn't any way out of it.

"I'll go first," Sirius said and Remus almost looked up in surprise, almost. His friend sounded determined but his voice was wobbly. Surely he didn't mean…..he wasn't really going to tell the others about himself, was he?

"What do you mean you'll go first?" James asked sounding a little annoyed. "You're the one who always wants to know about Remus the most and now you're trying to distract us."

"No. Just shut up Potter." Sirius snapped sounding close to tears, Remus felt him sway slightly against him.

"We should all sit down." He interjected quickly positive either he or Sirius was going to collapse if they kept standing before this conversation was over.

"Fine," James said still sounding irritated, but an edge of worry was now in his voice. They all piled on Remus' bed although he wasn't alone at the headboard this time, Sirius squeezed next to him tightly as if trying to both hide behind him and gain courage from contact with him.

"Bella thought the letter was for me."

"Yeah because she's a bloody insane person," James replied scathingly, his dislike for Bellatrix evident.

"No…..becuase…..um…." Remus squeezed Sirius' hand gently, never having more respect and admiration for his friend than he did in that moment.

"It's because my family bloody beats me sometimes ok?" Sirius replied in a tone that dared Peter and James to challenge him. There was a long silence.

"B…..badly?" Peter squeaked sounding close to tears himself.

"No Peter they beat me with a pillow what do you think?" Snapped Sirius angrily.

"Sirius lay off him. We're just ...trying to wrap our heads around this." James whispered sounding like he had when he was at Remus' bedside the first night he had been in a coma.

"Yeah…...yeah I know ...sorry Peter."

"And ...Remus…..you too?" Remus felt Sirius squeeze his hand gently and he nodded still not looking up, dangerously too close to tears to do so.

"So…...when...in about a month when we go home for two weeks…." James' voice broke and Remus was surprised he was the first one to start crying, he was sure it would be himself. Somehow hearing James' tears calmed Remus down so he wasn't in danger of shedding his own. He sat a bit straighter and forced himself to take a deep breath.

"It…..it's only two weeks."

"Two whole weeks!" Peter exclaimed sounding horrified, and he too was crying now that James was which made it ok to.

"Then you two will come to my house," James said composing himself quickly, actually sounding delighted at the idea.

"Or mine." Peter offered not wanting to be outdone.

"Look I'm going on a vacation to Spain for two weeks to visit some influential cousins. My mom might whack me over the head a few times if I do something dumb but it won't be any more than that." Sirius explained and Remus was shocked that out of all his friends the only one not yet crying was him. He sat up further and took them all in, their watery eyes directed at him with worry. He had never felt so loved in his life by so many people before.

"If they knew what you were though…," he thought to himself miserably. He quickly shook the thought away, not now, he couldn't think like that right now.

"I'll write and convince my dad to let me stay with him."

"Yeah, but what if you can't? Besides is your father any better? Remus, maybe we should tell someone." Sirius offered, sounding desperate.

"It won't do any good." He said firmly and they all gave him looks of varying degrees of disbelief.

"Remus…"

"Sirius you of all people should understand." He urged him quietly. Sirius scowled and looked away.

"Your family isn't a rich pureblood family with strong ties high up in the ministry." No, but I'm a werewolf he almost said. He could feel his frustration rising. Even if Dumbledore was kind enough to do something about it, which Remus currently doubted since he seemed mad at him, there was still the issue of what he could possibly do about it.

"My dad and my uncle are both friends with the head of defense in the ministry." He lied convincingly. James closed his eyes and pinched his nose in frustration. Peter suddenly looked scared as if Remus suddenly had the authority to sentence him to Azkaban. And Sirius…..and Sirius, Remus felt another pang, at his friend who was hunched over sobbing.

"What do we do?" Sirius asked in a high pitch voice that drew all eyes to him. That was the question, wasn't it? Even James, strong-minded always seeing the logic of things James, seemed to be at a loss.

"Come to my place," Peter repeated again. Remus gave him a sincere smile truly touched at their care, it wasn't necessary, but it was really nice.

"They won't let me."

"Remus, why don't they want you to have friends? What situation was your uncle referring to?" James asked seemingly clinging to the questions as if they might hold the key to preventing Remus from getting hurt. Remus was just glad he hadn't asked why his uncle said he was a burden to his father.

"My uncle doesn't like goofing off much ...the situation was just him telling me not to have friends. He thinks Hogwarts is for education only and that having friends will get in the way of my studies. When he sees how good I've done grade-wise he'll calm down. He's just..really strict." He lied easily and nearly started crying from relief when they all seemed to believe him, even Sirius.

"No wonder you were so freaked out about your grades that one week. It makes sense why you were such a nightmare ..." James responded thoughtfully. Remus nodded, that hadn't really been what he was so upset about, but it helped his case to agree, so he did.

"So ...when you go back for the break, in about a month…" Peter began uneasily and three pairs of wide eyes looked at him imploringly for the answer they wanted to hear, needed to hear.

"It will be fine because I have top marks." Remus forced a small smile on his face knowing if they all kept serious about this his friends would die out of worry. None of them could handle this, they were all just kids after all.

"I'm even beating you in history of magic and herbology James." He teased lightly. For a second it looked like James wasn't going to smile, like Remus' attempt to break the heavy atmosphere would fall flat, but then he cracked a grin.

"And Transfiguration though only by a hair," Sirius added quietly, a hesitant grin of his own.

"Don't forget...well it would also be defense against the dark arts if Professor Blatvnik didn't have it out for you. And your also really good at charms" Peter added wisely. Remus tried not to blush, he wasn't actually trying to brag about the classes he just wanted to cheer everyone up. James rolled his eyes.

"The first few are rubbish subjects anyways. Besides my competition is with the infuriating Lily Evans not any of my mates."

"That's only because you couldn't actually beat us." Sirius taunted, a shaky tone in his voice, but ultimately sounding relieved they had moved on to much more pleasant topics.

"Would too!'

"Would not." Remus joined in trying to hold back the tears. This was good, he assured himself, his friends wouldn't be worried about him. They wouldn't think he'd be in a lot of trouble for spring break, but it didn't change the fact that he would be.

"Well, the real challenge is Lily."

"Careful Potter almost sounds like you're complimenting her."

"Eww, no girls are gross!"

"Except for Patricia." Sirius teased in a sing-song voice looking mighty pleased with himself when James went red in response.

"She's different," James responded in a clipped tone like suddenly they were all much too young to understand the inner workings of an almost twelve-year-old mind.

"Ever notice how Patricia looks a lot like Lily, she could be her sister." Peter pointed out thoughtfully and James started gagging.

"Ew no! Lily is just a little eleven-year...er twelve-year-old snot and Patricia is a woman." He puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm just that mature." He explained seriously then went red as his three friends burst out into laughter at him.