It was hard not to talk when we didn't entirely know what was happening, just that the evillest person in the world was currently in our school.
We got to the Great Hall, and I found my three best friends quickly. The doors were locking, and the prefects began to take role calls. Once they were done, the teachers all drew their wands and left the Head boy and girl in charge as they went out to fight.
"So what, we just have to sit around while the teachers get to fight?" said James angrily. "Act like it's all fine!?"
"Shh!" the head boy hissed. "You-Know-Who might hear us!"
"He's right, guys, we need to stay quiet," the head girl whispered. "Just stay quiet and wait."
We stayed quiet and waited for six excruciating hours. The longest six hours of my life. Every time anyone so much as opened their mouth, they'd get a death stare from a prefect, or the head boy or girl.
We all sat at the tables quietly for the entire six hours, and I was so close to letting out a yell from the impatience I was feeling, and heaps of others seemed to be feeling the same way.
The six hours ended when we heard a knock on the door. The head boy and girl both stood up in an instance and walked towards the door.
"Don't open it," James whispered to himself. "Don't, don't, don't…"
They opened the door.
But it was just Dumbledore.
I only just noticed that I was holding my breath because I exhaled loudly. Dumbledore stood still, then spoke directly to the school leaders.
"You can all come out now. We got rid of Voldemort," he said. Peter flinched.
"I wish he wouldn't say You-Know-Who's name…" he said.
"It doesn't matter," James muttered.
"Follow me, students!" Dumbledore boomed. We all shuffled along behind him out into the entrance hall and stopped when he stopped. Dumbledore then turned around, drawing his wand, and pointing it directly at us, then his smile twisted. "So, which one of my dear students should I kill first?"
I froze. Was Dumbledore secretly on Voldemort's side!?
I was embarrassed about it later, but at that moment, out of fear, I instinctively grabbed hold of Sirius's hand as we began to back away.
And then we were running.
The entire student cohort of Hogwarts was all bolting out of the castle, into the night sky, and to the boat area of the Great Lake as our Headmaster chased us and shot out dark spells at us. Some students jumped into boats, others went straight into the water, while others stayed put.
"Come on, we gotta jump," said James, "We'll be safest under the water."
Sirius, Peter, and I all nodded, then the four of us jumped into the dark lake.
I thought I'd died at that point. The cold of the lake was like nothing I'd ever felt, so cold it felt like it was burning my skin. I couldn't think, I couldn't even remember how I'd gotten my entire body submerged in this death trap. I couldn't see anything because the water was so dark. When I felt someone's hand on mine, I almost screamed and thought they were going to pull me down.
But they were pulling me up.
I took a huge shaky breath once my head was out of the water, then Sirius was whispering to me.
"W-we're going to s-swim to the o-other s-side, g-get out there…"
He was shivering violently. He looked as cold as I felt. I didn't even know where James and Peter were. I just nodded, and he gripped my hand tighter.
"S-so we d-don't get s-separated," he said, motioning to our hands linked together. I nodded, my teeth chattering, and we began to swim together.
It took forever, but eventually, we got to the other side, which was near a tree we often hung out under. Sirius hugged me tightly once we were lying down on the grass.
"Oh, g-god, M-Moony, you f-feel like i-i-ice," he said, his voice still shaky.
"Y-you do too…" I said, "W-where are James and P-Peter?"
"We're r-right here," said James from behind us. Sirius and I immediately pulled apart at the sound of his voice. "B-bloody hell, h-how c-cold is that water?"
"It's g-got to be in the m-minuses," said Peter.
"It's n-not even winter, th-though…" I said.
"G-guys, I think D-Dumbledore's under the i-imperious," said James. "Did y-you see his eyes? Th-they were all g-glassy!"
"Y-yeah, I suppose he i-is," said Peter.
"OK, s-so two questions: where are the other t-teachers, and who's p-putting Dumbledore under i-imperious?" James asked. He then paused for a moment. "OK. T-two of us n-need to go back through the lake t-to help Dumbledore and the other s-students. The other t-two needs to go into th-the castle to try and find the other t-teachers a-and stop the imperious."
Both tasks would be risky. We were given the choice between dying from hyperthermia and our headmaster who was under the imperious curse or going into the castle to be killed by death eaters and maybe even Voldemort himself.
"I'll go to the c-castle," said Sirius.
"A-alright. Peter and I will g-go back in the water," said James. We all stood awkwardly for a second, before instinctively going together in a tight, warm, four-way hug.
"We'll see you guys soon… h-hopefully," said Sirius, and then we separated.
Sirius and I jogged through the Hogwarts grounds and entered the castle. It was unexpectedly silent. You could have heard a pin drop. We just exchanged a look, then continued walking quietly, drawing our wands.
We went through the entire ground floor, but there was no one. We made our way up each main floor of the castle but still found no one. There were only the dungeons left to check, and we ran down all the stairs and to the dungeon, where we found all of the teachers in the school, apart from Dumbledore, sitting down in a line in the hallway of the dungeon.
"What the…" Sirius started, and McGonagall stood up and approached us.
"How did you two get here? Where is everyone else?" she whispered.
"Everyone's in the lake, swimming away from Professor Dumbledore," I said, "and there's no one else in the castle."
"Swimming away from Professor Dumbledore!?" Professor Flitwick squeaked.
"He's under the imperious," I explained. "We don't know who's controlling it, though. There's no one else in the castle."
"So… You-Know-Who must have left but kept controlling Albus under the curse…" said McGonagall, then she turned to the other teachers. "Filius, Horace… you two keep the students safe, and bring them out of the lake to here, and Pomona and I will seek out You-Know-Who to make him stop the curse."
"How can we help?" Sirius asked.
"Stay here with the other teachers. They'll look after you, and the other students when they come," said McGonagall, then she and Professor Sprout left, Professors Flitwick and Slughorn close behind.
"Sit down, boys, it's not safe out there yet," said Professor Sinistra. Sirius and I sat cautiously and quietly next to each other against the wall.
After an hour of sitting, Sirius whispered to me, "Do you think we're going to die?"
"What?" I said, surprised. "No. We're here with the teachers. We'll be fine."
"No, I mean… we as in all of us… James and Peter, they're out there with Dumbledore. If any of us die, the marauders die," said Sirius.
"I'm sure they'll be OK… I hope they'll be OK…"
"Well, if we die, I… I want to tell you something," said Sirius.
"Yeah?"
"Remus, I know we've been really good friends for a few years now, and I don't want to ruin our friendship, but I sort of… well, sort of doesn't cover it, it's really huge, but I f-"
"It's all clear!" Professor Flitwick appeared at the door, motioning for everyone to come out. We followed him out into the hall, and I whispered to Sirius.
"What were you going to say?"
"Never mind, we're not going to die now," Sirius responded.
"Seriously?" I muttered. "Now I'll forever be curious."
"I guess so," he said, smiling at me.
"Sirius!"
"As you said, curious forever." Sirius smiled even wider. I just rolled my eyes as we began walking up the stairs and heading to the Great Hall. Hundreds of students were sitting there, many with towels around them.
Sirius and I found James and Peter and sat down by them. They both looked freezing and exhausted. The teachers began to take a role call.
"How did you guys go?" James asked.
"We literally just sat in the dungeons with the teachers for an hour," said Sirius. "How about you two?"
"Froze half to death in the lake, almost drowned, then Professors Flitwick and Slughorn came and began fighting Dumbledore," said Peter.
"Where's Dumbledore now?" I asked.
"Locked up until McGonagall and Sprout can get You-Know-Who to stop the curse," said James.
"How long will that be?" Peter asked nervously.
"Dunno…" said James.
The next few weeks were weird. Having the headmaster of the school being controlled by a murderer and locked up somewhere, and the absence of two teachers, not much schoolwork got done, and we spent a lot of our time sitting around in the common rooms.
The first of October was a full moon, and I got awful pre-moon symptoms that day. We had all afternoon off classes, and I was playing exploding snap with Peter, Dorcas, and Mary, and I got a splitting headache halfway through the game. It was so bad that my vision blacked out for a moment, and I thought I was transforming.
When my vision returned, my head was on the cards, and it took me a second to remember why.
"Remus…" said Mary, placing her hand on my head. "Should we take you to Madam Pomfrey? Have you had enough water?"
"I'm fine," I said, lifting my head, feeling embarrassed. "Let's just keep playing."
"No, come on," said Dorcas, standing up, then pulling me up. "Better safe than sorry."
"It's nothing…" I said, but the two girls were dragging me out of the common room, Peter following behind.
We came into the Hospital Wing, and it was packed with students, but that didn't stop Mary and Dorcas. God, we barely knew each other, and they were causing a huge scene about me.
They pulled me into the Hospital Wing and called for Madam Pomfrey, who spun around and cringed when she saw me.
"What are you four doing here?" she asked, not taking her eyes off me.
"Remus is ill," said Mary.
"Alright…" said Madam Pomfrey, sighing. "Can you take a seat for a bit, it's really busy at the moment. You three can go."
Peter, Mary, and Dorcas left, then Madam Pomfrey spun away from me to tend to other patients. I just sat there and looked around at everyone else there, and realised I was recognising more and more people the longer I looked. James, Sirius, Marlene, Regulus, Helios… many of them were bruised or bleeding, and some were unconscious. They were all in Quidditch robes, and I was surprised to see Regulus, as I didn't know he played (he must have started just this year).
I stood from my chair and went to James and Sirius. James was conscious, and Sirius wasn't.
"What happened?" I asked James.
"Quidditch accident at training," he muttered. "The Slytherin team decided to crash our training and hex our brooms… but it sort of backfired, and all the brooms stopped working so we all fell, and… yeah…"
"How… how are you all… not dead?" I asked.
"Uh, magic?" said James. "I dunno, but we have magic, so I assume that… I wasn't very high, so I feel quite alright, but why are you here? To visit your true love?"
"Shut up!" I hissed, glancing over at Sirius. He didn't respond. "Dorcas and Mary thought I was sick, so they brought me here. I'm fine now, though."
"Well, what happened?" James asked.
"Just symptoms for tonight, I guess," I said, lowering my voice.
"Did they suspect anything?" he asked. I shook my head. "Did you get really angry or something? Or throw up?"
"No, I sort of blacked out for a second," I said. "It's nothing, though, it doesn't really matter…"
"Has that happened before?" James asked sharply.
"No, but it doesn't matter, Mary and Dorcas were just being dramatic. I was probably just dehydrated or something."
I knew it had been to do with the full moon. I'd felt the same as I did when I transformed. But I didn't want to make any more of a scene.
"Why is Sirius unconscious?" I asked, trying to take the subject off me.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because he fell off a broom and hit his head?" said James. "Madam Pomfrey's a good healer. He'll be alright."
"Mr. Lupin, are you alright there?" said Madam Pomfrey. "Was there a reason you came in here other than to chat with Mr. Potter?"
"No, I'll be going…" I said, then quickly left. Like she'd want to help me anyway.
When I collapsed into bed the following afternoon, James was in the dormitory, however, Sirius was not. James said he'd been at quite a height when the brooms fell, and I was beginning to worry. But, thank the lord, Sirius returned the next morning, and I almost cried with relief. God, I loved him so much.