We all stood silently, looking down at Sirius expectantly until James finally spoke.
"If he doesn't want to talk about it, don't push it," he said, pulling Sirius up then adjusting his glasses. Sirius walked straight past me to his four-poster, where he drew the curtains.
"You don't want to know…?" I started.
"His business," James said sharply, "not ours."
I just went to my bed. James had a point, I supposed. I wouldn't want Sirius showering me with questions about when I'd killed people. But then again, he knew what had happened, so wasn't if fair to know what had happened with him?
I only wanted to know so I could support Sirius, it wasn't like I was going to go spread rumours about him. Rumours were a terrible thing, and I knew they spread incredibly fast at Hogwarts.
Rumours started to spread around the school about both Sirius and I. For me, it was why my face was more scarred than it had last year. The next morning, I heard Hestia Jones and Davey Gudgeon, two friends from my year in Ravenclaw saying I must have been attacked by Hippogriff.
Peeves the poltergeist came flying towards me, pointing at my face, and saying, "Loony Loopy Lupin has a very Loony Loopy face!" And I was beginning to get more questions than ever.
"Fell out of a tree," I told them, hating the attention. Professor McGonagall began taking points off the students who would harass me about it, and I smiled, grateful for her.
For Sirius, it was about what had happened at Godric's Hollow. James and I weren't the only people who'd seen him under the imperious curse that day, there were several other students, and someone had slipped it out, and everyone now knew.
If either of us past anyone, we'd be showered with questions, and James would just point his middle finger at them.
"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall cried when she caught him once.
"Sorry, Professor, it's just…"
"Come to my office. All four of you."
We knew not to argue with Professor McGonagall, so we reluctantly followed her to her office, where we sat down.
"Alright Potter, that's a point from Gryffindor for you…" she said, taking off her glasses. "Mr Black… the headmaster wants to speak with you about what happened at Godric's Hollow. He believes it will be crucial information for the Order of the Phoenix."
"Can I join the order, then?" Sirius asked. "If I have to give them information, I may as well be part of it."
"No, Mr Black. Wait three years, then sure. But for now, no."
Sirius just rolled his eyes and grumbled.
"Anyway, the main reason I want you all here now, is because I think I've found a way for you to keep mandrakes leaves in your mouth for a month. I didn't think of it when I was seventeen, but let's see if it works. It is to do with transfiguration…" she said, "I thought we could possibly transfigure the leaves into gobstoppers… that would be easier to keep in your mouth… and just before the next full moon, transfigure it back. Just make sure you get more mandrake leaves before the next full moon, and this should work."
"Sorry Professor, but what the heck are gobstoppers?" Sirius asked.
"They're a type of a muggle sweet, hard round ball sort of things, they can take weeks to fully dissolve," she explained.
"What about the other teachers?" James asked. "Won't they get us in trouble for having sweets in class? I know you've gotten us in trouble for it before."
"Leave that to me," she said. "Alright, you should all get to class now, meet me here on the evening of the full moon with your mandrake leaves… except… Mr Lupin, I'd like to talk to you, please."
I shrugged at my friends, and they walked out, leaving me alone with the teacher.
"I just wanted to let you know that from now on Madam Pomfrey will be taking you to and from the Whomping Willow," she said. "And afterwards you will stay in the Hospital Wing, and she'll treat you. She's… rather prejudice, however kind she may be to other students, but I have convinced her to do this, and I am still furious that she hasn't been doing it since you first came to Hogwarts." She sighed. "Anyway, stay out of trouble, and I'll see you tomorrow, block three."
I nodded, then left her office to find my three friends waiting outside for me.
"What was that about?" James asked.
"Just said I'll go to the Hospital wing after the…" I trailed off, seeing other people who were passing in the halls looking at Sirius and I again.
"Your furry little problem?" James offered.
"Yeah," I said, smiling. "Yeah, that."
The next day was Monday, and my first class was Arithmancy, taught by a very grumpy witch called Professor Harris. She made the class very dull, and was almost as bad as Professor Binns, just talking to us about what the class was about. By the end of the lesson, Peter was asleep and drooling onto my robes, which I didn't notice until the bell woke me up.
We had our first Divination lesson after that and met with Sirius and James there. The teacher introduced herself as Professor Patricia Trelawney.
Like Arithmancy, I didn't enjoy Divination that much. She made us all look at tea leaves which would predict our future. They were just little piles of black on the bottom of a teacup, so I didn't see how that could tell us our future.
"I think my future is an elephant," James said, peering down at his cup and looking amused. The only person in the class who'd enjoyed the class at all was the teacher's daughter, Sybill Trelawney from Ravenclaw.
I was hoping that my other elective, Ancient Runes would make up for my other two, but it turned out to be a bit of a joke. The teacher, Professor Babbling, was only eighteen years old and had no idea how to teach a class. In the end, she dismissed the class half an hour early, saying she needed to 'prepare for her first-years'.
"She doesn't even teach first-years!" Lily said to Amy Stebbins from Hufflepuff, rolling her eyes. "All of the electives are a joke!"
We had a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, called Professor Crappot. His name indeed did suit the way he acted… absolutely crap. At least we had a practical lesson, and we learnt that it was tradition for the third-years' first lesson to be facing boggarts.
I'd heard a lot about boggarts from my parents, it was apparently how they'd met, Mum was approached by a boggart, and it was in the form of a strange man, and Dad had saved her from it.
Professor Crappot was half asleep when we came into his classroom, and he just pointed to a small closet and mumbled to us, telling us to form a line.
"Why was this guy even hired?" James muttered angrily, getting in the line.
Lily Evans was at the front of the line, and when the cupboard opened, a snake appeared. Lily gasped, and stepped back, sweating from fear.
"Grab your wand and say riddikulus, point it at the boggart and imagine something funny," Crappot mumbled.
Lily's face was pale, and her green eyes looked like tennis balls as she grabbed out her wand and pointed it at the boggart.
"R-riddikulus!" she said, and the snake twisted and turned until it was in a bow. Lily smiled at the sight of it, then rushed to the back of the line to give way for James, who stepped forward next, looking back at Lily and messing up his hair. For him, the boggart changed into a man I'd only ever seen in the Daily Prophet, a man I'd heard the adults talk about in hushed tones and the other children and teenagers talk about with fear. He had a chalk white, snake-like face, red eyes with slits for pupils. He looked crueller than he did in the pictures, as he smiled evilly before James finally made him wear a pink dress and matching headband, and the class stifled out nervous laughter. Professor Crappot was barely awake.
Sirius walked forwards, and the boggart transformed into Sirius himself. But it wasn't Sirius, this Sirius was wearing Slytherin robes, smiling wickedly, and pulled his sleeve up on his arm to reveal a skull-like tattoo. Sirius took in a sharp breath, then pointed his wand at it, and used the spell to make it look like himself normally, then walked to the back of the line, looking down in shame.
Peter's boggart also turned into himself, but not exactly himself. The Peter boggart was covered in blood, his face was pale and it took me a while to realise that I was looking at my friend Peter's corpse.
"Riddikulus!" he cried. "RIDDIKULUS!"
The dead Peter turned into an alive and happy Peter, as Peter shook his head and rushed to the back of the line. I was the only one left now, and I stepped forward nervously, not entirely knowing what the boggart would be. But then the sight of the full moon came in front of me, and I faltered. Would Lily this and know straight away?
I shook my head, pointing my wand at it quickly. "Riddikulus!" It turned into a cockroach, then Professor Crappot grunted at us that class was over. I subtly glanced at Lily, who was staring at me, her eyes wide. I looked away, taking in a deep breath, but just thinking, she knows, she knows, she knows.
"He could at least put more effort into his job, don't you think?" Peter said once we were out of earshot from Crappot.
"But honestly, do you guys think that name is a coincidence?" James asked. "Crappot? For a crap teacher?"
"Fits perfectly, doesn't it?" said Sirius.
"Do we think the boggarts are accurate?" James asked. "Pretty sure mine was."
"I'd say so," Peter said, shrugging, and Sirius nodded.
"I don't know, to be honest," I said, "I think I'd be more scared of you all dying."
"Oh, how sweet," Sirius laughed.
"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes.
Sirius pointed his wand subtly at Snape as he passed and muttering something under his breath.
Snape then let out a shout, rushing back towards us and clutching James's and Sirius's hair. Bats were flooding out of his hooked nose, and I had to try hard not to laugh.
"What's the matter, Snivellus?" James asked, smiling.
"Stop it," Snape snarled, drawing his wand. He started sneezing and the bats came out even faster. "Blood traitor Black, Potter the rotter, fatty Pettigrew, and ugly-face Lupin. Your little gang won't go on this year… now stop this hex!"
"Try and stop us," James grinned, grabbing his own wand. "Expelliarmus!"
Snape's wand flew swiftly out of his hand and fell to the floor. James and Sirius pushed their way out of his grasp, laughing.
"I'm plotting revenge plans!" Snape snarled, trying to swat away the bats.
"Oh, we're just quaking in our boots, aren't we James?" Sirius said, smiling.
"Oh no!" James said in mock fear, falling dramatically onto Sirius.
"Good luck with that one, Snivellus," Sirius laughed, helping his friend up and the four of us ran back to the Gryffindor common room, laughing.
The first week and a half of third year was extremely dull. All three of my electives were incredibly boring, and yet set a lot of homework. On the afternoon of the full moon, I was sitting in the common room with my friends, looking over our Divination homework.
"So apparently the day we were born determines our future now?" Peter asked, putting his face in his hands.
"Not your birthday, your zodiac sign," said Sirius. "They're based on when your birthday is. See, yours is Leo, James's is Aries, Remus's is Pi-"
"I know I'm Pisces!" I shouted. "Only been looking at it for the past two hours!"
A few people looked over, and Sirius just gave them all a wink, causing some of the girls to blush.
"Time to go to Madam Pomfrey?" James whispered. I rolled my eyes and stood up, trudging out of the common room.
Based on the way Madam Pomfrey had treated me last June, I had no intention to go see her, so I walked out onto the grounds and went straight down the Whomping Willow on my own and sat there for a while before the pain overwhelmed me and I lost all my sense of self.
My vision was blurred when I came to, and I saw my own blood drip down and splatter onto the wooden planks of the shrieking shack. I walked to the dusty mirror to see terrible wounds on my face, neck, and chest. Another terrible moon. I walked to the first aid kit, but then there was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey came in.
"Hi… uh, w-w-werewolf," she said, "M-Mr Lupin. I'm going to be taking you to the hospital wing, then I'm going to fix up those wounds, Professor McGonagall's orders! And just so you know, I don't want you near me… and if you even try to lay a single finger on me, I swear I will have you put down. Now, can you walk right now, or do I need to carry your lazy arse?"
"I can walk," I said, biting my lip.
"Good," she said. "Now walk in front of me so I can see you, yes, good job."
We walked up to the castle together, me walking a great deal ahead of her.
"Is Madam Pomfrey nice to you guys?" I asked. I was sitting with Sirius, James, and Peter later that afternoon, poring over our Divination homework. All three of them had gobstoppers in their mouths, and I felt a pang of jealousy. Not because they got to eat sweets (although I would have liked a sweet too), but I hadn't told them yet, but I secretly wished that I could become an Animagus too. I was probably acting petty and childish by thinking it, but I thought it was unfair that they got to become Animagi, where they could change into an animal of their own choice, which they could transform into peacefully at will, when I was stuck being a wolf, where I couldn't choose when I transformed, painfully. I didn't tell them I was thinking this because I didn't want them to think I was being ungrateful, because I was very grateful that they would do something this big just to help me. But still…
"I've been to the Hospital Wing only a few times," said Sirius, interrupting my thoughts, "and she's been fairly kind to me."
"I broke my leg last year from Quidditch practice, I fell off my broom," said James, "and she was very sympathetic and soothing as she healed it with just a flick of her wand."
"She's pretty nice, yeah," Peter added. "Why do you ask?"
"Don't think she likes me very much," I said. "Ah well, you'll always come across haters in your life… Anyway, I am going to bed. Goodnight."