Chapter Fifty-Five: Early Riser

Sirius watched outraged as Slytherin scored yet another point.

"It's not bloody fair!" James groaned beside him. They had all come to watch the second to last Quidditch match of the year. Even though it was Hufflepuff vs. Slytherins it still felt like a blow every time Slytherin won. It wasn't fair and Slytherin was going to be 3-0 having won both their first game against Gryffindor in the season and against Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff was the only hope they all had to stop Slytherin from going undefeated.

"Next year I'm going to be on the team and we are going to go undefeated," James muttered being especially touchy about Slytherin of late, ever since his birthday party.

"Well, I'm going to get on the team too," Peter announced proudly and both James and Sirius laughed in response. Causing the smaller boy to go scarlet.

"Good one Pettigrew. Way to cheer me up." James laughed patting Peter's hair fondly who looked annoyed but said nothing.

"OH! THE SNITCH!" James announced pointing wildly, on his feet and trying to gesture to the Hufflepuff seeker.

"Oi sit down before you get in trouble." He laughed yanking James back onto the seat.

"Why didn't Remus come?"

"Studying with Lily," Sirius announced with a smirk noticing James scowl.

"Next year he better be at every single game if we get one the team!"

"Unless he's visiting his mum. He doesn't seem to have much control over that." Peter pointed out and James frowned, only this time it was a thoughtful frown and he looked deep in contemplation for a while.

"I've been meaning to talk to you two about it but it's not often the three of us are without Remus." That wasn't entirely true. Remus had been gone for a few days, the second to last week of April, and a few days after he got back since the three of them were pestering him about where he'd been.

"He says he goes to see his mum but…."

"Go on Potter enlighten us with your brilliance," Sirius muttered knowing James wouldn't have considered anything he hadn't already, having spent much more time driving himself crazy over the subject.

"Well, why is it at odd times every month? It seems to be a pattern of some sort but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Well, gee captain obvious why don't you tell us something we don't know." Sirius mocked ducking as James took a half-hearted swing at him. He grinned and James stuck his tongue out at him then rolled his eyes.

"Well think about. Remus is obsessed with grades."

"For a good reason." Sirius snapped defensively. James held his hand up in mock surrender.

"Down boy. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, pretty sure he'll have top marks over all of us this year. But if it's so important to his family and him…." Sirius' eyes went wide realizing at last where James was going with this

"Then why do his absences keep resulting in him missing class?" He finished excitedly and James scowled.

"Geez steal all the glory, why don't you."

"Sorry. All hail the brilliant Potter whose ego is oh so fragile and must be watered daily like a precious little flower." James laughed and punched his shoulder.

"Shut it Black."

"I don't get it." Peter cut in sounding frustrated.

"Peter if he was going to see his mum why not do it on the weekends?" Peter's eyes went wide.

"Oh!"

"Yeah, oh."

"You know I really thought I was beginning to understand him too. We really bonded over the whole Slytherin thing and he talked to my folks…."

"What Slytherin thing?" James shifted nervously and Sirius sat straighter realizing he knew something he didn't.

"James." He growled out in a warning tone.

"Oh nothing just, you know the prank we did. He's really grown up that one has." James explained sounding touched at Remus' achievement, pretending to dab his eyes with an invisible handkerchief.

"And me?"

"And Peter. Blimey, Sirius, I think we need to write a manual or something. How to turn a prankster out of a goody-two-shoes." He grinned at Sirius but he refused to grin back, even though he found it rather amusing.

"What Slytherin thing?"

"I'm sworn to secrecy!"

"James come on!"

"I solemnly swear I can't tell you a thing!" James replied seriously, in a stubborn tone Sirius knew he wasn't going to get around.

"ISLA BAKER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! SLYTHERIN WINS!"

"Dammit!"

"Son of a banshee!"

"Does this mean we can't go to the kitchens for a snack?"

"Peter!" They both shouted at the boy who clearly didn't understand the magnitude of Slytherin winning all three games.

"What? I figure we could grab something for Remus he didn't eat dinner at all."

"No, let him starve," Sirius exclaimed dramatically glowering at the celebrating Slytherins, if they had so much as bothered one of his friends again they would pay. He scowled as Bellatrix, who was Keeper for the team. She seemed to feel his gaze and looked at him with a gloating smile, her eyes and his full of loathing for one another. She mouthed something he couldn't understand then was ushered away by her cheering team.

All the other houses were glum as they trudged back up to the castle. When they got to their dorm the lights were still lit but Remus was breathing deeply, either really asleep or doing a good job pretending to be. Since Remus had been fine with them lately and had no way to know Sirius now suspected something he assumed the boy really was asleep.

As Peter and James sat down for a game of chess he sat on his bed pouring over the notes he'd jotted down about Remus' disappearances.

January: Disappeared around the last week and came back a few days later

February: Disappeared on the 21st came back a few days later.

March: Disappeared the 22cnd in the afternoon. Was back on the 25th just in time for James' party.

April: Gone for two weeks during spring break. But left again on Thursday the 20th at 4 pm and returned after dinner on Sunday the 23rd after dinner.

May: Nothing yet. Should be leaving around the 20th? About a week from now. But why then?

He tossed down his quill and groaned in irritation. He knew there was a pattern, was certain. But he just couldn't see what it was. He crumpled the useless paper and tossed it into his rubbish bin but quickly took it out again, before flopping back on his bed with a sigh. He was surprised he fell asleep that easily, long before Peter and James did for once. He had no nightmares which was a relief and woke earlier than usual hearing water running, realizing for once he had gotten up around the same time as Remus.

He got dressed quickly so he could go down to breakfast with him feeling practically giddy at this small victory. He bounced on his bed impatiently waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally, the shower stopped and Remus entered the room seemingly comfortable moving around in the faintest light coming from the window. Sirius waited forcing himself to be still grinning as he watched Remus who hadn't noticed him yet. Then Remus did notice Sirius sitting upright in his bed and jumped inhaling quickly in surprise.

He grinned and waved at Remus who seemed completely stunned and quite a bit nervous, perhaps thinking there was a particular reason for Sirius to be up this early.

"Morning. I was so depressed by Slytherin winning that I fell asleep awfully bloody early. Want to head down to breakfast together?" He asked happily and Remus was silent for a moment, Sirius wished he could make out his expression in the dark.

"Seemed I missed quite the game." He finally responded sounding far more tired than Sirius, and he wondered, not for the first time if Remus really was so tired as he often was why didn't he sleep in.

"Yeah, it was blimey ridiculous. I hope you know that next year when James and I make it on the team you are required to come to every game and every practice." Again another long silence and Sirius decided he much rather preferred talking to Remus when he could see his expression, at least sometimes able to gain something from him that way.

"Come on, let's go into the Common Room at least before we wake this lot."

"Alright." They both made their way downstairs and it wasn't until Sirius heard the floors were all quiet and saw the common room deserted that he realized it was earlier than he had originally thought.

"Bloody hell Remus you wake up this early every day!" He asked incredulously as the boy made his way over to a plush chair and sat by the fire. His cheeks went pink and he hugged the book he was carrying close to his chest.

"It's peaceful. I get a lot of studying done without you berks distracting me." He responded after another moment of silence, forcing a smile onto his face. Sirius thought he looked awfully lonely sitting on the edge of the large plush chair the flicker of the fireplace illuminating his pale face. He felt a stab of sadness and decided he would pick a different time to interrogate his roommate, a time when he didn't look so frail and scared.

…..

Remus wasn't used to having company when he first woke up. He was used to sitting by the fire and crying away the nightmares then studying until he could be one of the first students down to breakfast. Sirius being awake was new and certainly threw him. Especially Sirius being awake on a weekend when there were no classes and he could sleep in.

He tried to hide how upset he was but he could tell Sirius knew, as he spoke to him in a softer voice which he hated. He felt foolish and tried to get Sirius to leave him alone several times throughout the early morning hours, but his friend wouldn't budge.

It was painfully awkward and uncomfortable at first as Sirius attempted to pull Remus into some sort of conversation. Remus tried, he really tried to participate but his ears were still ringing with the screams from his dream and he felt as slow and sad as he always did this early in the morning. Sirius seemed to realize this and gave a play by play of last night's game which Remus only pretended to care about. Afterwhile Sirius also seemed to realize this and after a few minutes of tense quiet he asked Remus about the books he had given to him for Christmas and a surprisingly pleasant conversation arose as Sirius revealed the ones he had read, which Remus had as well and enjoyed.

By the time they went down to breakfast, he found himself sincerely smiling at Sirius' jokes about the characters or plot of whatever book they were discussing at the time, and actually was responding to him with more energy than he usually had. It successfully distracted and cheered Remus up and as they sat down to eat, the Great Hall empty of all but a few early risers besides him, he realized he had actually appreciated Sirius' company. It felt a lot less lonely than how it usually did and he was able to pull himself away from his nightmare riddled mind faster than he normally could.

"It's kind of nice. Being up this early I mean. Only don't tell James or he'll give me an earful about needing to stay up with him and Peter!"

"You'd regret waking up this early in about three days." Remus grinned helping himself to some scrambled eggs.

"That's rude Remus I'd at least give myself two weeks!" Sirius exclaimed far too loudly for the usual din of the Great Hall at this time. He got several glares from the Slytherin and Ravenclaw table, while the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors who were awake only seemed half awake and hardly seemed to notice. Hagrid who always seemed to be in a good mood, even this early in the morning waved from the staff table which was mostly empty and was the only time he ever got to sit there.

Remus wondered if Hagrid wanted to be a Professor and if that was why he woke up so early. He waved back to Hagrid with Sirius and decided he owed the groundskeeper a visit, one without his roommates or Patricia which he was worried would end with them all going into the Forbidden Forest.

"I give you no more than a week and that's being ridiculously generous."

"I'd say! You're going soft on me Remus." Sirius grinned at him and he rolled his eyes but grinned back.

"Perhaps." He was going to give another witty retort that would force Sirius to consider he wasn't going soft at all and had merely given up on his hopeless friend when Andromeda walked through the doors and Sirius caught her eye and quickly looked down ashamed.

Remus felt bad, he didn't know the details but knew that Sirius' last conversation with his cousin didn't go well. He also knew that if Andromeda had told her family about her pregnancy Sirius hadn't heard anything about it, which is not to say she didn't as he pointed out to Remus bitterly.

"You think she knows my mother treated me like a blasted house-elf while she was off sipping tea in Spain," Sirius grumbled, his demeanor immediately growing dark like it always did everytime he brought up his family or they were brought up.

"I'm sure she doesn't know Sirius. Perhaps you should go talk to her."

"I can't bloody do that!"

"Why bloody not?" Sirius whipped around eyes going what would have been comically wide if not for how guilty he looked at his cousin who had come up behind them.

She looked rather upset and Remus hoped it wasn't at Sirius. There were bags under her eyes and her normally styled hair fell flat this morning as if she hadn't the energy or the care to do anything about it. Remus was surprised by this as both Bellatrix and Narcissa seemed to pride themselves on their looks almost as much as on their upbringing, and he had always assumed Andromeda did is well.

"Drommie ...I ...I…" The older girl's eyes soften and she gently tugged Sirius's arm.

"Come on, let's talk. You ought to listen to Remus more often." She gave Remus an appreciative smile that eased his worry she was angry with Sirius. However, his roommate seemed uncharacteristically uneasy around Andromeda and shot Remus a pleading look.

"I'm not going with you unless Remus can come." Andromeda looked like she was about to snap at Sirius for a second then she just looked tired, deep grief in her eyes that worried Remus for an entirely different reason.

"Well, I guess he knows doesn't he" Sirius' guilty look was seemingly the reaction she needed because she nodded and all three of them were walking out of the Great Hall and onto the ground. They trudged down the hill the early morning mist swirling around their ankles. Remus wondered if Andromeda was as nervous about talking to Sirius as he was about talking to her, for they walked and walked for a ridiculously long time. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion about whatever it was she had been battling herself on for she steered them with a purpose to the quidditch pitch.

...….