AN: And thus the long-awaited chapter where secrets are revealed...
This is the last chapter we're posting before our much-needed break. This is also a really good place to pause, plot-wise. You'll find that, when we come back, things will have shifted a lot in the story. That means, expect a time jump. Anyway, enjoy the break and enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks
CHAPTER 21: SECRETS
"Thanks," said Draco, accepting the sweater that James tossed at him now.
He hadn't exactly thought of everything when he'd decided to go after Remus in the middle of an end-of-October night. And the three boys who'd arrived were fairly warm-dressed. As he pulled the sweater on, the three boys whispered to each other and then crossed their arms.
"What?" said Draco.
"What are you guys doing here?" James repeated.
"We...uh..." said Draco, looking sideways at Remus and wondering how much he should say.
Remus glanced back at him and then at the three confused boys in front of him.
"We had a long overdue talk," he finally said.
James' expression changed instantly.
"You did?" said Sirius, slowly.
Draco looked at Remus again, who gave him an encouraging nod.
"Yeah," he said, glancing at Sirius. "We did."
A smile spread across Sirius' face and Peter raised his eyebrows.
"Well," said Sirius, glancing sideways at the boys awkwardly, "Um, that's good!"
"Y-yeah...it is..." said Peter.
There was silence.
"So..." said Draco.
"So..." said James.
Draco put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground, whistling lowly.
"Okay I'm just gonna come right out and say this," said James, impatiently.
"Please, yes," said Draco, who was glad someone had finally caught on.
James turned to Remus.
"What does he know? Exactly?"
Remus bit his lip and looked at Draco.
"I know enough," Draco answered, feeling suddenly so relieved that he could actually say these words for once, instead of just fantasize about saying them.
"But..." said Peter, who had been the quietest of the three, "How did you find out?" Draco turned to look at him. "And how did you know what he would...would look like...and act like...?"
"Yeah, you know what, I think this is a story we all need to hear," said Sirius, who suddenly took a seat on the grass, crossed his legs and looked up at Draco. A split second later, the rest of the boys did the same, until Draco finally decided to join them.
"Aren't you cold too?" he asked Remus.
Remus shrugged.
"Moony's body temperature works a bit…differently than the rest of us," said Sirius.
"Ah," said Draco. The boys waited. "Well to be fairly honest with your guys, I've actually known for quite some time." Remus' mouth fell open.
"How long?" he croaked.
Three years...
"Just a few weeks," Draco said. "I didn't find out from anyone though, I swear!"
For some reason, he couldn't stand the idea of anyone thinking that Dumbledore had told him other students' secrets.
"Well then how—?"
"Sirius, let him finish," said James, boldly.
Draco paused. "I suppose I just...saw the signs and everything..."
"What signs?" said Peter.
Draco let out a laugh. "You're joking, right?" The boys stared at him. Draco's smile faded. "You lot couldn't have been more obvious! The way Remus kept getting mad at teachers…the pathetic excuses you guys came up with to cover up why you were gone on the moon..."
"You weren't fooled one bit, were you?" said James, sniggering.
Draco shook his head. "And not to mention all the whispered conversations."
"But we didn't make excuses this time," said Peter.
"Yeah, why is that?" said Draco.
Peter shrugged.
"Well actually," said James, letting out a nervous laugh, "We figured we'd tell you this weekend."
"Yeah I mean you're not exactly an idiot and everything," said Sirius. "We didn't think we'd be able to keep it from you for much longer."
"When were you gonna tell me?" said Draco, who couldn't believe the trouble he'd gone to tonight when the boys were gonna tell him anyway.
The boys glanced at each other.
"After the Halloween feast," said Sirius, "Tonight."
"Guess you fooled us though," said Peter, brightly.
Draco grinned.
The sky was getting brighter now as the sunlight slowly spread throughout the grounds, bringing with it slightly warmer air.
"So you knew the entire time why we were out on the full moon last month and why we acted weird before it and why Moony kept getting sick and how he didn't go home to his sick mum because she wasn't sick and—"
"Yes, Sirius, I knew it all," said Draco, rolling his eyes. "I do however wonder what you guys were doing with him on that full moon while you lot were out in the forest." The boys froze and Draco let out another nervous laugh. "I mean from what I saw tonight, it's not a piece of cake."
James caught Remus' eye for a brief second before looking round at Sirius and then at Peter.
"We…" said Sirius.
Everyone now looked at Remus, who hadn't said a word in a while and was staring down at his lap, his hands fondling with some grass that he'd picked.
"Remus," said James suddenly. The boy looked up at his friend. "It's time." There was another pause. "We're ready. You just have to say the word."
Remus looked at the others, and then a split second later he sighed and waved his hand.
"I'll take that as a yes," Sirius told James.
Excited, the pair of them jumped to their feet with Peter just seconds behind them. But before Draco could even open his mouth to ask what the hell was going on, he found all breath sucked right out of him. Where only two seconds before stood three, widely-grinning, very excited boys, there now stood a large deer-like animal, a charming black dog, and a small, grey rat. Draco stumbled backwards, his eyes round as he stared at the three creatures standing awfully still before him. Remus hadn't even flinched since they'd transfigured. He just watched them calmly before his eyes landed on Draco.
"Meet Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail," he sighed.
The black dog walked over to where Draco was sitting on the grass. Draco flinched away from him but the dog only moved closer and began licking his hand. Draco stared at it, then looked up at the deer that was somehow smiling at him. And then the rat jumped onto his leg and settled itself there.
That was the last thing Draco remembered when he woke up some time after that to find himself lying on the grass and James slapping his face.
"I'm up, I'm up!" he exclaimed.
James, Sirius and Peter helped him sit up and he looked around. They were still sitting on the chilly hill and it was still sunrise. Remus had evidently moved from his spot before and was looking slightly more concerned now.
"Wha..." said Draco.
"You fainted, mate!" said Sirius. "I gotta be honest with you—it's a rather dim reaction. Are you sure you're a wizard?"
"Yeah, I would've thought you'd have known all about animagi, given your unusual childhood with Dumbledore and everything," said James.
"I didn't faint!" Draco managed to get out.
James' eyebrows rose.
"I...was shocked, that's all," said Draco, slowly. "I was just…trying to figure out what to say…"
"With your eyes closed?" said Sirius, amused.
"It helps me concentrate," Draco muttered without looking at him.
Sirius' grin widened.
"Guys, he's been out all night, running after a wolf in the cold," said Remus. "And he probably hasn't eaten in a while. It's actually understandable that he'd faint." He turned to look at Draco. "So there's your answer. That's how they've been keeping me in check. Every time I transformed, they transformed with me and accompanied me in the Shrieking Shack...That place has been built especially for my transformations...by Dumbledore himself."
"And the tunnel that leads to it ends at the Whomping Willow," said James. "That's why it's there."
"And no one knows this except us and the teachers," said Peter.
"And Madame Pomfrey," said Remus.
"And Snape," James added, giving Sirius a look.
"But if you always came to the Shrieking Shack then why were you in the woods last month?" Draco asked Remus. "I followed you lot to the Forbidden Forest. That's...that's why I was there!"
"Actually?!" cried James, looking suddenly relieved.
But Remus was now glaring at Sirius.
"A while back, someone thought it'd be funny to play a joke on Severus Snape...and it sparked his curiosity...and his interest."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, looking round at Sirius who suddenly became very quiet.
"Snape was in Hogsmeade last month on the full moon," James explained.
"What was he doing in Hogsmeade?"
"He was trying to find me out," Remus answered, his eyes on the grass again. "He's been trying to do that for quite some time now."
"Why?"
"There have been...incidents...in the last couple of years…" said James, quietly.
"Not pretty ones," said Peter.
"But equally real," Remus finished, in a whisper-like tone.
"Yeah?" said Draco.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "So every once in a while, we've had to change our...transforming locations."
There was silence. Draco could hear some birds chirping somewhere in the distance and knew that soon, staff and students would start waking up. Although, it was a Saturday and still quite early.
"How long have you guys...?"
"Just over a year," answered James. "But we've been trying since fourth year."
"But..."
"Can I tell it?" Sirius suddenly said. "You lot will give him your twisted, long versions and I can make this quick and simple."
"Go for it," shrugged James.
Sirius clapped his hands once and took a deep breath, his eyes on Draco again.
"We became friends in first year, and you can imagine how well that went for us, always wondering where our friend was disappearing off to and why he was happy one minute and pissed the next, soooooo we did a little investigating and admittedly it took some time but eventually we figured it out in about third year and confronted our little wolf friend until he actually let us accompany him in the hospital wing on the nights proceeding the full moons, but then we saw how much he was actually suffering and decided to plot and devise a plan to fix this, hence came forth our brilliant idea of turning animagi." He took a deep breath. "So, that pretty much sums up the majority of our fourth year at Hogwarts, with the three of us spending our time researching and practicing and plotting and planning, and then this one—" he pointed his thumb at Remus, "—kept trying to talk us out of it and feeding us all these excuses of potential consequences and yada, yada, yada. So, after careful consideration, plenty of research and sleepless nights and great determination, we finally managed to turn animagi by the end of fourth year."
"So you've only ever accompanied him in last year's moons," Draco concluded.
"Precisely," said Sirius.
Draco sighed. That was a lot of information.
"Wait so where the hell were you guys last night then?" Draco finally remembered to ask. "Your detention couldn't have lasted all night. I was in the common room with...um, I mean I was reading there and then I saw in the map that Snape was headed for the Shrieking Shack where Remus' dot was labelled and I just followed my gut instincts and ran after him!" He paused to look at the three boys. "I'd have thought that once you lot returned to the dormitory you'd have noticed me gone...I mean, I did leave my books behind..."
"Yeah, but apparently not my cloak," said James, his eyes gesturing to the silk pile on the ground next to Draco. Draco blushed slightly. "Seriously mate, when I said you could borrow it whenever you wanted to, I was kinda hoping you'd at least have the decency to tell me that you're taking it."
"It's a bit hard to do that when you're off in detention with McGonagall," Draco muttered.
"Yeah, but still," James mumbled.
"We got sidetracked by Madame Pomfrey," Peter explained. Draco and Remus turned to look at him. "We met up in the common room and we noticed you were gone so we went looking for you around the castle 'cause you took the map with you and we couldn't just look you up, but then we heard Madame Pomfrey raging in the hospital wing."
"We came in there and saw her scolding Snivellus and prodding him for information," said Sirius.
"But he didn't say anything," James added, seeing the look of worry on Remus' face. "To her anyway," he added momentarily.
"We...questioned him...afterwards..." said Sirius.
James scoffed. "Yeah, and by questioned, he means that Sirius pushed him up against a wall and threatened the information out of him."
"Guys…" said Draco.
"It's fine, it's all good," said Sirius. "He told us where you two were and we meant to go after you."
"But then Pomfrey made us go back to the tower," said James.
"And she made sure that we stayed there until sunrise," said Peter.
"So you waited until a minute after sunrise to come out here," said Draco, nodding.
"At that point, we'd hoped Remus had only crushed one of your legs and perhaps a couple of ribs but nothing more..." said James, thoughtfully.
"Actually, I was betting him no leg and just the ribs," said Sirius, proudly. He winked at Draco. "We always knew you could handle yourself."
Draco grinned at him.
The sun shone brighter now, cueing the boys to their feet as they yawned and stretched. Remus, Draco noticed, was still very quiet and his eyes kept travelling to the ground.
"Come on before Pomfrey realizes we got out of the tower after all," said Sirius, who now began leading the way back down the cliff to the village below.
Draco looked over his shoulder at the Shrieking Shack again before following the boys through the cold.
Thankfully, it was still quite early and so the village was completely deserted and quiet. The boys felt no need to sneak back using any tunnels or even James' cloak, which was strapped safely against his shoulder now, along with the Marauder's Map sticking out of his back pocket. They walked calmly across the village streets, paying no attention whatsoever to the owls hooting above, on their way to deliver the morning post.
Draco was walking alongside Remus at the very back of the group. And just as the boys turned the corner and began descending down the path leading to the castle, Draco's patience reached its limit.
"Oy!" he hissed, poking Remus at the elbow.
Remus instantly looked up. "What's up?"
"You tell me," said Draco. "Why are you acting so weird?"
"I'm not," Remus mumbled.
Draco scoffed and looked away from him.
"I...guess I never did thank you," Remus slowly began, speaking in a low voice so that the others wouldn't hear, "You know, for what you did back there...with your patronus and everything."
"Um...yeah...you know, don't mention it," said Draco, dismissively.
"It was brilliant."
"Well I just did the first thing that came to mind..."
It was the truth, anyway. And to say that Draco himself hadn't been surprised with his abilities was an understatement. It really was a bitch to have to keep his concentration all night while he wrestled with Severus at the same time.
"So," said Remus, looking nervous, "You don't...I mean you're...alright with it?"
Draco raised his eyebrows at him and let out a small grin. "Totally and completely."
Remus breathed.
"Was there ever a doubt in your mind that I would be?" Draco asked, amused.
"Being the way I've been for most of my childhood? Yeah, of course there was a doubt," Remus answered. "Not many are accepting of my kind."
Draco laughed.
"What?" said Remus.
"You're a kind!" said Draco. "You actually have your own kind."
Beside him, Peter laughed too. But James and Sirius, who were walking ahead, were too busy discussing some Quidditch stuff.
But Remus didn't laugh, and when Draco noticed, he rolled his eyes at him.
"Oh come on," he said. "You can't seriously still be upset?"
Remus only shrugged.
"Hey," said Draco, stopping him for a second. "I'm not gonna ditch you now just 'cause you know that I know. Are you forgetting that I've known for a while now? That this isn't news to me?"
Remus only looked at him.
"And I'm not gonna tell anyone," Draco added, not knowing what could possibly be bothering Remus at this point.
Remus' face finally relaxed. "I'm not worried about that, I know you won't."
"Well then what's—?"
"I just feel bad about tonight," he finally admitted.
"About Severus? He'll be fiiiine!"
"Not Severus," said Remus. "I feel bad about what you had to do to keep me in check...about all the trouble that you went to. I know how to produce the Patronus Charm, and it's hard enough making a full-bodied one, but keeping it up for several hours, keeping that concentration and trying to get some git of a student to stop attacking a live wolf all at the same time...it's not a piece of cake."
"It was nothing," Draco shrugged, but Remus was now shaking his head furiously.
"It's not nothing," he argued. "It's something. It's huge! It's amazing that you managed to do all that and it's...nothing like I've ever seen before..." he sighed and looked on at the boys who were still walking and hadn't noticed that Draco and Remus were no longer following them. "They've risked a lot to help me. And now you have too."
"What can I say?" said Draco. "It looks like you have four of the best friends in the whole world."
Remus turned back to him with a grateful smile. "Totally."
When the boys finally got back to the castle, most of their classmates were enjoying breakfast up in the Great Hall and reading their morning editions of the Prophet. But the boys turned away from the Hall and headed up to the hospital wing instead. There, Madame Pomfrey was waiting to do her usual assessment of Remus post full moon.
"So she knows about you guys being animagi?" Draco whispered to Sirius once they'd finally arrived and Remus moved to sit on one of the beds.
"Nah," said Sirius. "She just knows that we know he's a werewolf."
"Well then how—?"
"Before we became animagi, she used to go through the Whomping Willow tunnel to greet Remus in the Shrieking Shack after his transformations. And then she'd help him back to the castle and treat him here. But then we became animagi and we told her that we knew about him and we mutually agreed that we would be the ones to bring him to her while she'd have the medicine and all the treatments already prepared for him right here."
Madame Pomfrey now handed Remus a small bottle with purple liquid which he drank down in one gulp and handed back to her. She moved to fetch the bandages and began fondling with his left arm while dabbing a wet cloth on his upper brow. The rest of the boys sat on the other beds and waited quietly.
Draco moved to stand near one of the windows and looked ahead at the Quidditch Pitch which could be seen in the distance.
"So he knows now too?" he heard Madame Pomfrey ask, quietly.
"Yeah," Remus answered.
Madame Pomfrey said nothing, and Draco kept looking through the window, pretending he hadn't heard.
It was true. He knew everything now. He really did. And while that meant he didn't have to hide it anymore and that things would be better now, it also meant that he was the only one with a secret now, and that when the time came, he'd feel even guiltier about it.
After the hospital wing, the boys went to the common room to get that much-needed sleep, since James, Sirius and Peter all claimed that, despite being stuck in the tower for the night, they didn't get any sleep at all. And Draco knew that he and Remus hadn't gotten any sleep at all. And so, the boys collapsed in their dormitory and slept. And slept. And slept all to the point when Frank finally burst into their dormitory with raised eyebrows.
"GET UP, YOU LAZY GITS!" he yelled, punching each of them with a pillow until they finally scrambled out of bed.
"What time is it?" Sirius yawned.
"It's just after supper," Frank announced. "You lot have been sleeping all day, what's up with that?"
"It was a long night," James answered.
"Ah," said Frank, turning to Sirius. "You lot got drunk off your arses again, huh?"
"What?" said Draco.
"I'll tell you later," smiled Sirius.
The boys dressed and went down to the common room to hang out with some people until it was time for the Halloween Feast, at which point the Gryffindors were super stoked, for a reason Draco did not yet know.
Draco had been to the Halloween Feast six times before, and each of those times had been loads better than this one was. The food was of course the same—glorious as usual—and the pumpkins floated over the heads of staff and students. But the ghosts didn't do their presentation after the food had been served, and Dumbledore didn't even acknowledge the hall at any point during the feast. Wondering what was up with all that, Draco ate in silence and occasionally looked over at the Slytherin table, where the gang was sitting in its usual spot. They were all talking amongst themselves but Severus and Regulus were the only quiet ones.
Draco sighed sadly. It felt like it had been ages since he'd last talked to Regulus. Had he ruined that relationship for good?
With Wilkes gone, he'd essentially hoped that Regulus would be around slightly better influences and perhaps wouldn't completely fall into that dark path that he'd been so clearly headed for. But now, Draco was starting to think that he'd maybe underestimated the influence of the rest of the gang. Or in this case, Severus.
His eyes landed on Severus now, who was eating quietly with his head bent. Several white bandages were covering the side of his neck and it looked like he had a couple on the side of his head too. He looked absolutely terrible...and miserable, too. Draco watched him with sad eyes.
For all he knew, Severus could have already reached that dark path and was probably pulling Regulus down with him. For all he knew, Severus was a master Legilimens now and could be playing Draco completely. For all he knew, Severus was exactly the type of person that he'd shown to him earlier that morning—that angry, violent kid from back in the forest who was stupidly trying to attack a wolf just to prove a point.
But Draco knew in his heart that he just had to have more faith in Severus...
…especially now.
At the end of the feast, all the students returned to their common rooms instead of the Entrance Hall hangout. Draco doubted it would come back on anytime soon, but he also didn't really mind it. He had to start heading up to Dumbledore's anyway. But just as he was about to part ways with the Marauders, Mary showed up with a handwritten note which she gave to Draco.
"What's this?" he asked her, unfolding it.
"Dumbledore told me to give it to you," she said, simply.
She gave Sirius an acknowledging nod and went on her way. The boys waited as Draco opened the note, and when he finally looked up, he grinned.
"Looks like I have tonight off," he announced.
"So Dumbledore's finally deciding to acknowledge Halloween?" said Sirius, brightly.
"Nah, he just has to run some errands tonight," said Draco, pocketing the note and continuing up the stone steps to the tower. "Speaking of, though, why didn't he acknowledge it at the feast?"
The boys all fell silent.
"Does he not like Halloween or something?" Draco guessed.
He already knew why the ghosts hadn't done their bit. It was probably Dumbledore's orders—to keep the ghosts out of the spotlight for now so that no Slytherin parents would petition to have them removed from Hogwarts altogether. It was doubtful they'd forget their last performance anytime soon. After all, it had been completely brilliant, in Draco's professional opinion. And now that he thought about it, he still hadn't gone to thank Myrtle for all her hard efforts.
"It's because of the war," Peter answered quietly. "Whenever things get really bad, Dumbledore assumes it's best not to mention any festivities or anything like that..."
"You know, out of respect to the students suffering," said Remus.
"Who's suffering?" Draco wondered.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Haven't you seen the Prophet today?"
"You have?" said Draco.
"Well yeah, I got a hold of a copy," said Sirius.
"There's been another raid," said James. "And it was a pretty bad one."
"Emily in fourth year lost her uncle to it," Remus added. "And Elijah from Hufflepuff...I reckon he's a fifth year? His parents died too."
"Damn," said Draco. "That sucks."
"Yeah, it damn right sucks," said James, bitterly, "But apparently, all the Ministry cares about nowadays is adding more pathetic dementors to that loathsome prison…that, and what dear old Harold Minchum's hair is gonna look like tomorrow."
Draco grinned, amused at how passionate James was about the issue...much like Lily, actually.
Peter sighed. "It's been a terrible weekend so far."
"Yeah and we didn't even get to celebrate your birthday properly," Draco told Sirius.
"Yeah," said Sirius, finally stopping in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "It's too bad, though."
"I mean, wouldn't it be great if we could get a hold of some liquor right now and make one heck of a night out of it?" said James.
"It really would," said Sirius, sadly. "It's too bad there's no way of doing that..."
"Sugarplums," Remus told the portrait.
As soon as it sprung open, Draco's eardrums exploded.
Inside was a massive party going on, with shouting and laughing and drinks pouring all around. The boys—mainly Sirius—were dragged into the center of it amidst loud cheers and shouts.
Draco laughed as he watched several of Frank's friends lift Sirius into the air and cheer to him finally coming of age, even if his birthday was technically yesterday.
Draco only accepted one drink, but before long, he was having another and another to the point where he felt like he needed to sit down. Remus was already sitting in one of the armchairs near the windows, away from the excitement but still watching with an amused smile. Draco stumbled over to join him, and Remus laughed as he collapsed on the neighbouring chair.
"You okay there, pal?" said Remus.
"I have a headache," Draco mumbled, leaning back against the chair and closing his eyes.
Remus laughed again, and then leaned forwards. "So, a thestral, huh?"
Draco grinned, his eyes still shut.
"I never would've thought," Remus said, a few seconds later.
"Surprised that you could see it?" Draco mumbled.
"Well actually," said Remus, sparking interest as Draco slowly turned his head to look at him.
"Actually what?"
"A patronus is a patronus...even a thestral," said Remus. "So anyone can see it, whether or not they've seen death is irrelevant."
"Really?" said Draco. "I didn't know that."
"It's not the real thing," Remus shrugged. "Because at the end of the day, it's still only a patronus."
Draco nodded thoughtfully.
"But it was still a very creative way to distract me while I was…well…"
Draco shut his eyes again and leaned back.
"Just wait until I turn into an animagus...then it'll be a party."
Bet you thought the marauders would finally learn Draco's secret...
HAHAHA AS IF!
Soooooo much more has to happen, people. Sorry to disappoint.
But hope you loved the chapter nonetheless XD And, hope you loved the bomb that Draco just dropped in that last line ^
Bet Remus will love that...
