Ch 3 the plan

It was really late by the time James and Sirius got out of Detention. McGonagall escorted them to the portrait hole. When she reached the fat lady she turned to the boys.

"If I catch you boys wandering the halls once more, I won't be so gentle on your detention. Understood?"

"Yes, professor." They muttered together,

"Good, now, in there, in your beds. I'm sorry to tell you but your friend Mr. Lupin, will be absent from his bed tonight."

"What happened?" asked James.

"That is under Mr. Lupin's decision to tell you. But I must ask you not to pressure him into telling you. If he doesn't feel comfortable telling you, then drop it."

"Yes, professor." Said James, Sirius had that little smile on his face again.

"Password?" asked the fat lady.

"Squawk." Stated McGonagall and she swung open to admit the boys.

"Remember straight to bed." And the hole shut.

The common room was dark, only the flare of the coals and ashes of the fire lit the room, leaving it a fiery red glow. The room looked so much bigger when it was empty, nothing but the armchairs and tables and the many moving portraits on the walls.

"What do you reckon is wrong with Remus?"

"Whatever it is, I'm going to find out." said Sirius.

"Sirius, mate, I don't think that's-."

"-such a good idea. I knew you'd say that. He's supposed to be our friend, right? So he shouldn't keep secrets from us."

"Fine. So what's your plan?"

"Go to the hospital wing and ask to see him."

"But, McGonagall said if she catches us once more then we'd get a worst detention then we did tonight."

"What's the worst thing they can do? Send us into the forest, hell that'd be an adventure to me. It's not like they'll use an unforgivable curse on us."

"You mean like what You-Know-Who does." said James quietly.

"Exactly. Personally I think the teachers of Hogwarts have more respect then that."

"You got a point there."

"And don't you want to find out if our friend is ok?"

"Well, defiantly."

"So, go grab your cloak. This time, we'll be quiet. At least until we reach the hospital wing."

James nodded and ran up the stairs to the boys dorms, rummaged in his trunk for his cloak, took a quick glance at Remus's bed to make sure it was empty then ran back down to the common room.

"Got it? Good. We'll do this fast. We get in, we get out. And we won't get caught."

"But, will matron let us in at this time. I mean, it's nearly one in the morning."

"If there's a patient, I doubt she's asleep."

The boys put on the cloak and crept silently out of the portrait hole, the fat lady woke up.

"Whose there!" she called, but the boys kept walking quietly down the corridor. They turned left at a tapestry of Beedle the Bard and continued down 2 flights of stairs. The door was open to the hospital wing.

"Ok, we've made it this far…there's no going back," whispered Sirius, "the door is open. I mean that must be a sign that we ought to find out what's wrong with him."

"I say we take off the cloak. We've got here, haven't we? So let's take it off." Sirius agreed and James pulled off the cloak and tucked it into the pocket of his cloak.

"Now, all we have to do is sneak in."

"Follow my lead," said Sirius, and he edged the door open quietly. He poked his head in to examine the room.

"I don't see any empty beds."

"Are there curtains around any of the beds? Maybe he's so ill…"

"There's nothing. Wait, I hear someone coming." And sure enough James could hear the footsteps as well.

"Is the boys safe?"

"Yes Minerva, I got him down the tunnel safely, he should be fine to pick up in the morning."

"Excellent. I just hope Albus knows what he's doing."

"Now, Minerva, the boy seems harmless, and very bright. It is such a terrible thing to happen though."

Sirius had removed his head from the door way. Motioned silently to grab the cloak and put it on. James understood, and moved away from the door, threw the cloak over them and they silently walked back towards the fat lady.

"You know what this means don't you?" asked Sirius.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a smart guy…at least as smart as me, you should figure it out."

"I'm still not getting it."

"Come on James, think. The moon, a howl, a dangerous student, a secret shack and a tunnel under the deadly tree. We got ourselves a werewolf at the school."

James looked frightened, "You're not serious!"

"Come on James, don't be a chicken. It's put away safely. But I think it would be a daring adventure to go and see who this little wolf is."

"Squawk" said James as they reached the fat lady.

"If you say so," she said sleepily and swung open.

"This could be more dangerous then roaming around. If there really is a werewolf in the school and we go searching for it, we could get bit, then we'd be-"James couldn't go on.

"Fine, but I'm not giving up on it. When you change your mind, let me know." And Sirius walked up the stairs to the boy's dorms, leaving James looking sad and confused.

The next few days went by calmly with nothing big and eventful happening. The only thing that related at all to the werewolf was when Sirius and James explained their suspicions to Peter and Remus.

"I mean, if you think of it logically, it makes sense. What we heard the first night and then last night. There's a werewolf at this school and he's hiding in a shack under that tree and there's a tunnel that leads you there."

"Did you hear who the werewolf is?" asked Remus, there was a worried little look on his face.

"No, unfortunately, but now that you mention it, I wanted to ask you something." Remus looked even more worried at this.

"When we snuck up to the hospital wing we couldn't see you. There were no full beds or curtains hanging around, so what happened and where were you?"

"Oh, well, because of my illness, I need to have my own little space. There's a hidden room off the hospital wing where I have to go so I don't contaminate the other students."

"Well, that makes sense. So, are you feeling better?"

"Yea, Pomfrey gave me my medicine and let me rest over night. It helps a lot."

"Well that's good, how often are you sick anyways?"

"Well, the medicine lasts a month, so next month I will have to take it again."

"I see, so each month you're sick."

"Yea, so anyways, any more suspicions about this werewolf?"

"Well, it's a male, and that's all we got."

"I suspect he's a first year though because when we first heard Dumbledore talking he said they just planted the tree."

"That's right, I forgot about that. So, Sirius, since you're the brilliant one who knows all the details, who do you think it is?"

"Well, we can rule out the four of us. That's a start."

"Well, we can actually rule out all the Gryffindor first year boys, since the only once missing was Remus here."

"That's right. I have a suspicion it may be a Slytherin. Maybe Snivellus?"

"Yea, I can see him being the wolf kind. With his attitude and all. So, maybe we can do some sort of charm to find out-." Sirius started but stopped suddenly.

"What?"

"Well, Sirius, we are only first years, and we don't know all that kind of magic yet."

"Maybe you don't, but remember where I came from. My family is pure blooded dark wizards, even though I'm not, but that means I've learned some things. I already know a confundus charm."

"That's pretty advanced for some one your age."

"Yea, I'm a smart man and I don't even know that one, we usually don't learn it until about fifth or sixth year."

"Remus, mate, remember, you should've seen my mother, before she went completely insane."

"How insane is your mom?"

"Well, let's just say she still beheads our house elves and nails their heads to the wall. A relative of hers started it, but she continued it. Our house elf, Kreacher, you should see him with her. He simply loves her."

"Your family must be pretty rich to own a house elf."

"Well, James, it's not that we are poor or anything but our house is really old, been in our family for generations. Kreacher actually comes from generations of elves too. His ancestors are actually the ones who are nailed to the wall."

"Your family is pretty twisted."

A smile spread over Sirius's face.

"So you see my problem." He gave a bark like laugh and continued.

"I know my brother will be a Death Eater when he's older. My family would be so proud. They would never become Death Eaters themselves but they do believe in his ways. Pretty sick to me."

"If your brother becomes a Death Eater, do I have your authority to beat the living-."

"James, if you were to touch him, I'm sure his little Death Eater pals would definitely do something about it."

"You got a point there. So, as were on the topic of families, let's hear about your Peter."

"My family is nothing special." He squeaked. "We're just normal witches and wizards."

"So, pure blood too, eh?"

"Yea, we're just not sure how far back."

"My family goes generations back. At least, my dad's does. Not so sure about my mom."

The boys continued to talk about their families for the rest of the night.

It was pretty quiet for the next few weeks. Sirius agreed to keep the mischievous down and decided not to go out under the cloak for a while. James was secretly pleased with this. He didn't want the cloak to be confiscated because his dad did give it to him and that made it special. But, near the end of September, Sirius brought the subject up again.

"I've been thinking on the best way we could confund Snivellus into telling us if he's a werewolf-."

"I've been thinking on that too, Sirius, but I don't think a simple confundus charm will work. It's not going to confuse him enough to tell us if he's actually the werewolf."

"Remus, I know your smart and everything, but do you think I'm that stupid."

"Well, no, but-."

"James tell him."

"It's your plan Sirius, and I don't exactly approve-."

"Fine, we'll scrap it."

"What was the plan?" asked Peter, he seemed the only curious one of them.

"I was going to attempt Imperious-."

"An unforgivable curse?!" Remus seemed outraged.

"If you were to do that, you could go to Azkaban and-."

"That's exactly why I said I didn't approve. It's too risky and dangerous. We need another plan."

"Isn't there some kind of potion we could slip him?"

"Mate, Snivellus and lily are the two best at potions in our year. I doubt we'd succeed in that."

"He's a first year, he couldn't tell the difference could he?"

"He comes from a pure blood family."

"No he doesn't. I over heard Lily telling Mary. He's half-blood and lives in a poor society muggle house and town."

"That's got to suck. I live in a wizarding city. Well at least it's most wizarding."

"Muggle, but my house is secret. Only a witch or wizard could see it."

"That's pretty cool."

"Godrics Hallow. That's where I live. Wasn't born there though. Moved there a few years ago."

"What's it like?"

"Well, Peter my friend, it's a normal looking city, with a church and a grave yard."

"Oh, so nothing special."

"Nope, nothing at all."

"That still doesn't help though. Just knowing he's half-blood and lives in a muggle city won't help us find out if he's a werewolf or help us pull the best prank ever."

"Sirius has a point." Said James, "So here's what I'm thinking of a prank."

James started whispering to the others. As he went on, Sirius's smile widened even more.

"You really think that will work?"

"Well, if we follow my instructions and do everything right, yea it will."

"Ok, so let's start planning." Said Sirius, looking the happiest he had since James had met him.

A/N: Well, I believe this is my first note. I'd just like to thank everyone whose read this so far and alerted it or reviewed. Means a lot, anyways, hope your enjoying it and liking the quick updates!