Word count: 2,700

Chapter 16

Not in Isolation

"Why did I take NEWT-level Care of Magical Creatures?" James asked, running a hand through his already messy hair. "When am I going to use this?"

The Marauders had claimed a table near the fire in the common room, and James was neck-deep in research for an essay on how to to defend oneself against Grindylows. He'd been working on it for more than an hour. Remus couldn't blame him for being fed up with it.

"You said it would be an easy NEWT," Remus reminded him.

James grimaced and threw his quill down on his parchment, ignoring the ink splatter it created.

"Well, I was wrong. Not to mention, even if I get the NEWT, I don't plan on doing anything with it. I guess I'll just have to brag about it for the rest of my life to justify it."

"There are no magical creatures in your future, Prongs," Sirius said with a laugh.

He was supposed to be working on his own homework, but he'd been doodling on a scrap piece of parchment for the last twenty minutes, something which was getting on Remus' nerves. It was nearing full moon again, and he was becoming easily irritated as the moon put strain on his body. Each scratch of Sirius' quill sent a wave of irritation through him.

"No, I don't think so," James said, oblivious to the way Remus was glaring at Sirius from the corner of his eye. "I couldn't deal with all of the shit that comes with caring for animals."

It was quiet for a beat before Sirius threw his head back in laughter. Remus exhaled in annoyance, but no one noticed as Sirius' laughter masked it. At least they'd taken up residence in the common room for their study session. If Sirius got them banned from the library for any duration, Remus really might have snapped.

"Do you have any idea what you are going to do then?" Peter asked.

He shifted as he spoke, and his visible nerves were enough to finally draw Remus' attention away from adding to his essay as his friends distracted each other. Sirius and James would often joke about future careers they might take, none of them serious, but Peter had always grown quiet during those conversations, never revealing even the slightest hint of what he had planned.

"Of course I have," James said. "I want to fight. I've told you before."

"I meant an actual job," Peter said with a roll of his eyes. "Something that would pay you."

James shrugged.

"I'm not too worried about that to be honest."

Remus pressed his lips together but didn't say anything while Peter nodded, his shoulders slumping.

"What about you, Pete?" Sirius asked, leaning forward on his elbows. "You been thinking of something then?"

Peter frowned.

"My cousin Joyce asked me if I'd help out at her store. She owns a bookshop in a small wizarding village in Wales. It's about the size of Hogsmeade but with no Hogwarts nearby, so business is always slow. I've visited before, and half the books are in Welsh. She said I don't need to learn the language but that I might think about it anyway. I don't know… It doesn't sound ideal."

Remus shared a look with James and Sirius, knowing they were thinking the same thing he was. Peter had never planned to work in Wales. He'd grown up in London, and even stints at the Potter estate, which sat on the outskirts of a Muggle town, had been strange for him. But there other advantages to small villages in Wales if one was worried about the current political environment.

"Do you plan to take the job?" Remus asked.

Peter looked at his parchment as he shrugged and shifted in his chair.

"There's nothing else I want to do? I mean, maybe it'd be cool to work in Diagon Alley instead, but I don't have any big dreams really. I might as well take it."

He glanced up at them, but none of them had anything to say.

"I think I'll take the job," Peter concluded after a few seconds of silence. "There's no guarantee I'd find something even if I searched for a job, and it'd be nice not to worry what my NEWT results will be."

Sirius laughed.

"When you put it that way, I'm jealous. Please check with your cousin about any other openings."

"You'd never make it in a rural village, Padfoot," James said.

Sirius' mouth dropped open and he held his hand over his heart as he looked at James in disbelief. A second later, he grew sober.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm a city boy at heart. How could I live so far from decent shopping?"

"What is a fully grown wizard with an Apparition license to do when he can't walk to Diagon Alley?"

"You wound me, Moony. Truly."

Sirius leaned into Remus' side, prompting Remus to push him away with a shove of his shoulder.

"To be serious not just in name though," Sirius ignored the collective eye rolls of his friends, "I'd never make it working in a shop. One wanker coming in and asking if we stock robes in a bookshop and I'm fired."

"You're putting a lot of faith in making it that long," Remus muttered.

Sirius leaned into him again, resting all of his weight against him, and this time Remus didn't push him away. When he spoke, Remus could feel his breath brushing against his cheek as he pointedly looked forwards.

"Why are you so mean to me?"

Remus rolled his eyes, halfheartedly nudging Sirius with his arm but not making a serious effort to dislodge him.

"You can take it."

Sirius shrugged before sitting up on his own.

Remus cleared his threat and tried to focus once more on his essay.

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Sirius entered the dormitory in a whirlwind that made the other three boys open their eyes despite being half asleep in their beds. Peter shot up, and James scrambled for his glasses on his bedside table. Remus was the only one who didn't sit up as he watched Sirius come to a stop in the middle of their dorm, a smirk on his lips over capturing their attention so easily.

"Guess who has detention with McGonagall on Friday night," he declared, holding his arms wide.

James scrambled to the end of his bed, mouth hanging open.

"What? What did you do, Padfoot?"

"Charmed McGonagall's office door to only open if she sang it a tune," he said.

He sat at the end of his bed and tugged off his shoes and socks as if he'd just told them that it was cold outside and there was nothing that required further explanation. Remus, exhausted over the coming full moon, wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he knew it would be near impossible until Sirius explained himself.

"You pulled a prank without me," James said, the sadness in his voice causing Sirius to pause before shrugging and removing his robes.

"I've been asking you lot to pull a prank all year," he pointed out. He turned his back on them to rummage for his pajamas in his trunk. "But you always have other things to do. Sorry that I wanted to actually have some fun."

"It hasn't been that—"

James paused, his brow furrowing as he thought back over the year.

"Have we really not pulled a single prank this year?" he asked.

It was Sirius' turn to stare at him.

"No, we haven't, Mr Head Boy." He crossed his arms against his chest. "Not for a lack of trying on my part."

"Sorry, Padfoot," James said, cringing.

He stood up and placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"I promise we'll do something soon. All four of us, right?"

"Sure," Remus said from his bed with a shrug.

He'd go along with whatever they planned like he always did, but all he really wanted to do was sleep.

"I'm always up for anything," Peter said, bouncing on his bed.

"Soon then," James said, patting Sirius on the shoulder a few times before returning to his bed. "We'll plan the greatest prank ever to end our time at Hogwarts. How does that sound?"

Peter clapped, and Sirius gave a small smile that Remus couldn't help but note was strained. He didn't realize Sirius was waiting for him to agree too until they made eye contact. Remus tried to smile and said, "Obviously I'm on board."

Sirius' smile widened only slightly before he tugged his shirt over his head, obscuring his face from view and prompting Remus to shut his eyes once more.

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The common room was silent. Remus stared into the fire to avoid seeing the fear on his classmates' faces. The unease was stifling as they waited for some further news about what had happened to their housemate.

It had been early morning when the first Gryffindor students had learned of the attack, and the entire house had woken in record time, filling the common room and demanding answers about what was going on. They'd been sitting together for several hours since as the situation developed.

A young Gryffindor first year had been attacked, a fact that was discovered when her roommates began asking questions when she didn't turn up hours after curfew. It hadn't taken long for McGonagall to arrive in her dressing gown to try to mitigate the brewing commotion.

In McGonagall's desperation to provide some comfort to her students, it had been revealed that the student in question was in the hospital wing being nursed by Madam Pomfrey. She would survive, though they did not yet know what the lasting effects of the attack would be or who had committed it. The staff had hopes that, when the girl regained consciousness, she would be able to provide some answers.

No matter how much the girls' friends demanded it, McGonagall did not reveal what spells had been used on the girl or how she had been found.

Once McGonagall left with strict orders not to leave Gryffindor Tower, some students had filtered back up to their dorms, either to speak to friends in private or to attempt getting more sleep before the coming school day. Many others had stayed put, including the Marauders.

James was gone, he and Lily being the only two Gryffindors permitted to leave as they helped the staff handle the situation, but Remus sat with Sirius and Peter on either side of him in silence. Lily's best friend Mary was also nearby, also silent as she chewed at her nails.

The portrait hole opening made everyone in the room perk up, many of them standing as Lily and James appeared. The Head Boy and Girl were frazzled but calm as they providing comforting platitudes that sounded like they were straight from the mouths of McGonagall and Dumbledore.

It took ages for them to escape the students demanding answers, but eventually, they made it to their friends. Lily took the chair next to Mary's, and James perched himself on the armrest, looking like he might slip into sleep and fall off.

For a few moments, the rest of the group silently watched their friends as they stared into space. Eventually, Sirius took it upon himself to break the silence.

"It's that bad then?"

James turned to look at him, but Lily's eyes remained glazed over even as she answered Sirius' question.

"I'm sure this is already spreading, but she's a Muggleborn. That's probably why whoever did this attacked her."

"There have to be some theories about who the attackers were."

Lily finally looked at them, and the spark of fire in her eyes sent a shiver down Remus' spine.

"The curses used hint that they were seventh years," Lily said. "Even seventh years only learn the countercurses to them, so the attackers learned them themselves. Other than that, we don't know anything for sure. If they were smart, there's a good chance the girl didn't see them either despite what McGonagall said to calm everyone down."

They fell into silence again. It was no secret which group of students they all thought were responsible, and they surely weren't the only ones to have jumped to the same conclusion. Remus would have been surprised if even their professors weren't discussing the possibility.

In earlier years, James and Sirius would have been very vocal about wanting to see Snape and his friends punished. They would have been ranting and raving about it to the whole of Gryffindor Tower, but that day, they were silent.

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Over the next two days, Rowan the first year regained consciousness and was able to provide hints about her attackers. She knew there had been three students, but as expected, they had hidden their faces. The only personal information on them she could provide was that they had taunted her with their intentions to become Death Eaters and how You-Know-Who would praise them for their actions.

Remus and his friends weren't the only ones shooting suspicious glances at the Slytherin table over the following days, but no Slytherins did so much as hint that they'd been behind the attacks. As far as the students were aware, the professors were making little progress in determining possible suspects.

Perhaps Dumbledore's speech about increased monitoring the evening after the attack had scared whoever was responsible from doing it again, but it did little to decrease the anxiety of the other students.

Lily had grown uncharacteristically quiet in the days since everything had happened. Though Remus had offered to ease up on their tutoring sessions, Lily insisted on continuing to help him with Potions. They sat in the library one evening as she tried to explain Amortentia to him while her eyes flickered around them every few minutes for potential threats.

It was an anxiety that Remus understood, but he didn't think he had a way to calm her.

"Have you been keeping tabs on Rowan?" he asked, drawing her attention away from the potion steps they'd been going over.

She blinked as she processed the sudden change in topic.

"Rowan?" She waited for his nod before continuing. "Yeah, I've been talking to her every day. She's nervous about being in the corridors. Who can blame her? So I've started walking her to and from class as often as I can."

Many of the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years had been doing the same. Remus and Peter had walked with her between Transfiguration and Herbology when they had a free period.

"It's a shame she couldn't see their faces," Remus continued. "Besides them being held accountable, I also think it would help her feel a lot better knowing who it was."

Lily cringed at the idea, causing Remus to raise an eyebrow.

"Don't you wish we knew?" he asked, leaning forward and whispering even more quietly than he typically would in the library.

Shifting uncomfortably, Lily nodded.

"I do," she insisted. "Really, I do. Hogwarts would be safer if they were expelled. I'd never want them to get away with it."

"But you and I both know who was involved," Remus said slowly. "That's what's bothering you, isn't it?"

Lily cringed and kept her gaze averted as she spoke, her eyes instead darting around the library.

"You know Severus and I used to be friends. I wish that I didn't still care, but… It's not that I want him to get off scot-free. It's more that I wish he hadn't done it in the first place, and as long as he hasn't been caught, there's part of me that can pretend he didn't actually do anything. That's a flawed way of looking at it, I know, but I can't get past it."

Remus tried to smile, though he really didn't know if he could sympathize when his own feelings towards Snape were radically different. He wasn't any different as a seventh year than he had been as a first year except he could use far more dangerous magic.

He knew convincing Lily not to care for Snape was useless, so he asked once again about Amortentia, trying to get her lost in Potions instead.