On Thursday evening Remus reported to the library for the detention he was supposed to have the week before during the full moon. At first he was excited he'd be serving his detention in the library (James, Sirius, and Peter had spent two hours in the kitchens for theirs, washing dishes and getting into a bit of extra trouble for starting a water fight with each other) however as soon as he began working he realized just why they had given him a detention that normally would be a dream come true: it was during study group. As he wandered the aisles for misplaced books he kept passing the group and they'd watch him with amused eyes. Craft especially seemed to be enjoying watching Remus work. He could hear the Ravenclaw snickering, and Lily often telling him to stop it. She was the only one who wasn't entertained by Remus having to do this. Silverlocke didn't seem too entertained either, at least.
After a while he realized someone was messing with him when he re-shelved a book he had already taken care of earlier. Then it happened again. Frowning, he hurried through the aisles until he found the culprit: Snape. He watched as Snape pulled a book off one shelf, went down another aisle, and pushed it in there.
"Hey!" Remus marched over.
Snape jumped a little then scowled. "What do you want, Loopy?"
"Stop that!" He took the misplaced book. "What are you-you-you doing that f-for?"
"I thought about checking it out but couldn't remember where I got it," Snape lied smoothly.
Remus clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to give into wolfish violence and pop that smug look in. "I'm sorry. It must be so difficult to-to have such a terrible memory. Of course, that probably explains your grades."
Snape's face grew stormy. "What did you say?"
"Wow, your memory is worse than I thought if you've already forgotten. Have you considered seeking treatment for your ailment?"
Snape looked beyond furious now. "You little-" Remus turned on his heels, taking the book back to its proper place. Snape followed him. "I'm surprised they're letting you do this, letting a diseased person touch things other people touch." Remus just kept walking, eyes scanning for books out of place, ignoring Snape. "I wish Lily would listen to me, she's going to get whatever you have. You know, if you truly thought of her as a friend you'd keep away from her, for her own safe-"
Remus whirled around suddenly and Snape-who had been following closely-nearly ran into him. "You have a plentiful lack of wit, Snivellus, and show it well." Then he turned once more, storming off.
He heard Snape pull out his wand. A shiver went through his body and he went for his own wand to shield himself, but Snape was faster, and the spell he used was one Remus had never heard before. "Langlock!" Snape hissed out.
Remus stumbled back, blinking at the other boy. Snape smirked, tucking his wand away, and hurrying off, his robes billowing behind him. Remus tried to ask him what he did but-he couldn't. His tongue was affixed to the roof of his mouth, or something very like it. He made strangled sort of sounds, clapping his hand to his mouth.
"Nnnggg-ggg! Ggg! Ggggllll!" He began clawing at his mouth, panic rising rapidly. He began running through the aisles, to the front of the room. "Gggllgnn!" he exclaimed, pounding his hands on Farrow's desk.
"What on earth-?" Farrow stood up, very angry. "What are you doing, boy? You're supposed to be working!"
"Ggnnnllg!" Remus felt tears going down his cheeks now, and he pointed at his mouth. "Hnnnn!"
"I shall give you more detention unless you stop fooling around right this second!" Farrow snapped.
Remus shook his head. "Nnnn!" He pulled out his wand, pointing at it, then pointing at his mouth. Then grabbed a piece of paper off Farrow's desk. CURSE! he wrote in big letters.
Farrow inspected the scrawl then made a tsking sound. "I see. You've cursed yourself to get out of detention. Now lookie here, sonny boy, you're not getting out of it that easily!"
Remus was totally amazed that someone so stupid had been put in charge of such a beautiful library. He gave up, opting instead to go to Lily. He scribbled the note down as he went. I was cursed cant talk & Farrow doesnt care please help. He approached the table, ignoring the stares the others gave him as he slapped the paper down in front of Lily.
She gasped loudly as soon as she read it. "What? Who did that to you? Why? Come on, let's go to Pomfrey!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the library, ignoring Farrow's snarling voice about giving Remus more detention. "Professor McGonagall will understand," Lily said. Remus just gagged out sounds as a response. He wasn't sure how to tell who cursed him, not with Lily around. He-intended on telling the truth (once he could talk again) however would she take Snape's side? Would she get mad at him? He didn't want to cause any arguments between the two of them, even if Snape was a total twat.
Once in the hospital wing Lily handed the note over to Madame Pomfrey who carefully opened Remus's mouth open. "What's this?" She prodded his tongue carefully. Then she wriggled her finger in, giving it a gentle tug until Remus gave a pained moan. "Finite incantatum!" she tried however it didn't work. "What spell was used? I don't think I've seen anything like this."
Remus took the quill she offered, and began writing. I don't know the spell. It was something lock I think. Tongue-lock maybe except there was another L said. Snape used it on me. He handed this back to Pomfrey.
"Miss Evans, could you please fetch Professors McGonagall and Slughorn for me? Also please inform Professor Slughorn we may need Mr. Snape." She scribbled something down for Lily to use in case any prefects stopped her. Lily left, and Pomfrey went back to trying to get the spell off. "It'd be easier if I knew the exact spell. This doesn't seem to be too complicated a hex however without knowing the precise nature... Oh, drat," she said as Remus squealed in pain as she tried a spell that almost felt like a knife cutting into his tongue. "I'm sorry, dear. We'll just have to wait."
It took ages. First Professor McGonagall showed up. She also examined Remus's mouth, unable to figure out what spell had been used. Then Slughorn finally waddled in, with Snape and Lily behind him. Lily looked very anxious, eyes darting from Snape to Remus and back again.
"Mr. Lupin has informed us that you put an... a-hem... unknown hex on him?" Slughorn said.
Snape lifted his eyebrows. "Me, sir? Why, no. I didn't."
"Nnnggll!" Remus got out.
A flicker of a smirk went across Snape's face but quickly disappeared; Remus doubted any of the adults saw it. "There's no use pretending otherwise, but Loo-er, Lupin here hates me. Him and his friends. They've made that quite clear. It doesn't surprise me that he's tried to put the blame on me. It wouldn't surprise me if one of his little friends put it on him, to try and get me into trouble."
Slughorn smoothed down his mustache. "Now, the boy's got a point."
McGonagall lifted her chin, eyes blazing a little. "While a possibility, Horace, it does not make Mr. Snape entirely innocent. From my understanding he's pulled a few tricks on my students as well." Slughorn gave a sort of harumphing sound. "We can easily discover the truth. Mr. Lupin was supposed to be in the library for detention..." Remus nodded eagerly, and Lily confirmed his presence in the library. "Good. Now, the question is, did this happen in the library?" Remus nodded again, pointing his finger at Snape who took a step back, holding his hands up, trying to look innocent. "The other question is who else was in the library? Mr. Snape, were you there?"
"No, Professor," Snape said, black eyes wide. "You can even ask Mr. Farrow." Remus suspected that Snape had snuck in without the librarian seeing him. Nobody had witnessed their small altercation. Had anyone seen him in the library? Actually, Lily turned to stare at him which gave Remus a surge of hope if she had seen him. She bit her lip and looked downwards, remaining silent, crushing Remus's hope. She was taking Snape's side.
"It's apparent than Mr. Snape cannot help, and is blameless in all of this," said Slughorn. McGonagall frowned, appearing to agree.
Remus shook his head. He knew the hex could be lifted sooner or later without them knowing the details, but he didn't want Snape to get away with this. McGonagall excused herself to go speak to Farrow. As soon as she left Snape looked at Slughorn and asked, "May I go? If I'm not needed."
"Yes, that's fine," Slughorn said.
Snape gave a rather creepy smile and left the hospital wing, head held high. Remus glowered, furious that he had gotten away with it! Sure enough, McGonagall came back with the news that Farrow hadn't seen Snape at all. Nor had James and Sirius gone in. Remus fumed while the adults talked around him, then finally they turned their attention back to him to try to fix the problem. It took a lot of prodding and spell attempts before finally he felt his tongue go a little slack.
"Sn-Snape-d-d-d-did it!" was the first thing he stammered out.
"He wasn't in the library, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall said.
"He m-must of snuck in be-because he was there." He looked at Lily rather desperately. "You d-d-did see him, didn't you?"
"I-I don't know," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure. He... may have... but it might have been someone else I saw."
"That's fine, Miss Evans," McGonagall said. "Thank you for your help. Mr. Lupin-"
"I'm n-n-not lying!"
One of McGonagall's eyebrows raised at the tone in his voice. "I cannot say what truly happened, however I am disappointed in your attitude and insistence on blaming someone who wasn't even there!"
"Then b-b-be disappointed, because I'm nn-n-not going to lie!" he said without even thinking, then he wished the spell was still on him. He covered his mouth while Lily stared at him in horror.
"Mr. Lupin." McGonagall looked sterner than he could ever remember seeing her be. "Ten points from Gryffindor. In addition, you'll serve a full night's of detention next week since you didn't finish this one."
Remus bowed his head. "Yes, ma'am," he whispered, defeated. He got off the bed, taking a note from Pomfrey that stated he had been in the hospital wing, therefore was allowed to walk back to the tower after hours. Lily went with him to the door, and as they left he could hear Slughorn informing McGonagall she really should have firmer control over her students. A wave of fury went through Remus at that, and he resisted the urge to run right back in and tell Slughorn to have firmer control over his students! Talking back to one teacher was enough for one night though.
"Are you mad at me?" Lily asked after a good three minutes of silence.
"You saw him in-in-in the library, didn't you?"
She hunched her shoulders forward, angling her head so some of her hair fell across her face. "I really don't know, I promise I don't. I-I saw someone who might have been him but not enough to say it was!"
"It was. He was going around messing up the books to-to-give me more work!"
"Severus wouldn't-"
"Well, he did!" Remus snapped. Lily cringed back, making him feel a little bit bad. "He c-c-called me diseased again. T-t-told me to st-stay away from you. Then he c-cursed me. With-with whatever that was. I don't even know." He felt like crying, feeling overwhelmed with everything. Angry with the teachers, annoyed at Lily, furious with Snape. It wasn't fair!
"He said he wouldn't mention that again!" Lily said.
He couldn't take it anymore. "Then he lied to you! A Slytherin lying, what a shocking turn of events!"
"STOP!" she shouted, and now he cringed back. "First of all I thought you were better than that! Saying such a thing, just because he's a Slytherin! Second of all, whatever happened in there, Severus didn't do it. He wouldn't! You heard what McGonagall said! Mr. Farrow never saw Severus even come into the library!"
He didn't know how to respond, realizing at last he was teetering on the edge of a fight with Lily, a proper real fight. Her eyes were watery and her hands were balled up into little fists as she defended her friend with a ferocity that surprised him.
Remus felt himself slipping away from her, like a gulf had appeared between them, one that-shouldn't even be there! Snape had done it! It wasn't fair, at all.
Of course, when was life ever fair to him?
"I'm s-sorry." He felt sick as he spoke, sick for giving in, hating himself for giving in. He just didn't want to make Lily mad. Didn't want to lose her. He was already a sub-par friend without pushing her like this. "Snape... d-d-didn't get in-nto t-trouble for it, and I'll-let it be."
"Who did curse you?"
He just started walking again, trying to convince his tears to stop before they spilled over. His chest ached so deeply that he didn't know how to handle it. He had folded under, for the sake of preserving a friendship that would end sooner or later anyway. He-just didn't want it to end sooner. Now. Even if she thought him a liar, taking Snape's word for everything.
"Remus... please talk to me." What was he supposed to say? He told her he'd let it be, so why was she pushing him like that? Her voice felt like claws raking into his very soul. That need-to-be-alone feeling took hold. "Remus? Please?" He stopped again, reaching into his pocket to pull out Pomfrey's note. He shoved it into Lily's hand then turned and ran in the opposite direction. "REMUS!" she yelled but he kept going as the tears finally came. He ran as fast as he could (tripping once) to one of the secret passages he had learned from his other friends. He slipped inside and went to the other end, though stayed hidden within so he could curl up on the stone floor and cry.
Maybe he had been wrong. Not about Snape, about saying those things to Lily. He probably was. He should have kept quiet. He had caused the mini-fight. He just didn't understand what had gone wrong. Didn't understand how she just completely took his word like that. Though, he supposed, it was either Snape's word or Remus's word. He could have understood her taking Snape's word over James or Sirius, but automatically dismissing Remus like that? It hurt so much!
He curled up into an even smaller ball, wishing to disappear, to sink into the stone and no longer exist in this world. Not just because of all of what happened (that'd just be silly, in his opinion) but because he was sick of trying. Of trying to be human, to be a normal person, of fighting the wolf. He wanted-a little bit-to give in. Give up. It was so utterly exhausting, being human. He just didn't understand things! Things it seemed everyone else understood! It was like they lived in a bubble with him on the outside looking in, trying to figure out what they were saying by reading their lips. Never fully knowing.
Loopy, he thought, tightening his arms against his stomach. Loopy! Loopy! Loopy!
Then finally the emotion flooded out of him. Slowly his body uncurled and he lay prostrate. I'm an idiot. He felt ashamed of his feelings, glad no one else had somehow known how childish and immature he had been. Except Fawley would probably see it. He'd have to go through everything again. She'd at least see Snape had done it. Even if she couldn't do anything about it. Course, James, Sirius, and Peter would believe Remus too... if he told them... which he wasn't sure if he should or not. If they got wind of what Lily said, that would cause problems that he didn't want to occur.
Eventually a sort of calm settled into him. He'd apologize to Lily again. Hopefully she wasn't too upset he ran off like that (he just wanted to get alone before those shaky, sweaty, falling-over issues took hold)... Soon he fell asleep in the passageway, dark dreams where unseen figures shot hexes at him, gluing his jaw shut, laughing at him, calling him a liar. He woke up with a start, confused for a few seconds about where he was before he remembered.
He got up, stumbling to the exit. It was dark out in the castle indicating that it was very late. What time is it? He listened carefully and after not hearing anything for a full minute he slipped out, creeping along the wall. His eyes adjusted to the darkness without much trouble, very happy he could maneuver around without a light source. Eventually he passed a clock. 12:25am! It was Friday.
It's my birthday! he realized, stopping in his tracks. I'm twelve now. He looked down at his body, at his hands. He didn't feel much different. He didn't somehow magically grow since he fell asleep. He was still shrimpy. But, a twelve year old shrimp, he thought as he continued on. Hah! Older than James. He grinned to himself at that, excited to be able to tease his friend in the morning. Poor Jimmy, the baby of the group!
Remus froze up again, hearing footsteps approaching. He quickly slid behind a statue, crouching down against the ground as he watched a lumos spell grow closer. It belonged to a teacher he didn't know the name of, a raggedy, torn up, wild looking man who had a weird contraption at the end of one arm instead of a hand. He smelled very strongly of blood and forest. Remus bit his lip, a little frightened. He had seen this teacher at the High Table on occasional but seeing him close up like this...
He had a student with him. Remus didn't recognize her, though she looked like a seventh year. She was arguing as they went, while the wild man insisted he didn't care and mentioned Horace which Remus knew meant Slughorn so he figured she was a Slytherin.
"People like you will get your own in a few years!" the girl snarled, rather viciously. Remus couldn't believe she'd talk to a teacher like that! "Don't be on the wrong side!"
"Wrong side of what? Letting students roam around after hours?" the teacher snorted. "Let's go."
They disappeared down the corridor, the girl still complaining and snarling. Remus stayed close to the ground until he couldn't hear her shrieking voice anymore, then he scurried off. He avoided Peeves twice, and Filch once, then finally got to the common room. Thank MERLIN the Fat Lady was present. "Spider Eyes," he said. She yawned loudly, complaining about students out of bed, then opened up.
Remus climbed inside. Despite the late hour there were a couple students still up. Older students, working on homework. They frowned at him as he slunk past them, except in the armchair by the foot of the boys' stairs was a sleeping figure: Lily. Her head was tilted back and a little bit of drool went down her chin.
"Lily?" He gently shook her arm. "Hey, Lily?"
"Huwaa?" She bolted up, eyes huge. "What? Remus? Oh! Remus!" She jumped to her feet though nearly fell since she was still trying to wake up. "Thank God you're back! I was so worried! I'm sorry! I am! I didn't mean to hurt you, I just-it's only-"
"Hey, it's okay," he said, holding up a hand. "I w-w-wasn't mad at you." Not completely. "I j-just really needed to be alone. I was upset about everything, it wasn't only-you."
"I-I couldn't be sure I saw him. If I had, I swear I would have told them but I wasn't sure it was him..."
"I know." He didn't want to get into all of that again. "Can we-n-not talk about it? Please?" Her face fell a little. Obviously she wanted to, to hash out the reasons she was defending her friend. "Please?" he said again.
"Yeah, all right," she whispered. "But... you're not... angry with me?"
"Not at all," he promised. Annoyed and hurt by you, but not angry. He kept that to himself. He didn't want to make another mess. "You sh-should get to bed. G-goodnight..."
"Goodnight." She gave him a small hug before fleeing up the girls' side.
Remus went to his dorm, listening at the door before going in. Everyone sounded asleep which was good. He didn't want to deal with more talking right now. He just wanted to go to sleep and let everything fade away by morning.