Shades of Gray: Year Two
Chapter Eleven:
The Wolf's Out of the Bag
by PotterScar
"Tom."
Dumbledore peered at the young man over his half-moon glasses. Tom Wilson stood before him, still donning his dark robes.
The young professor seemed to be a different man than he was in front of his students. He was drained; his eyes were hooded with dark circles under them. His black hair, normally tidy, hung about his ears messily. He was hunched and slumped over, making him look shorter than his six foot one.
Wilson sighed gently. "Albus…" he said. "It's Orion. Orion Black. He's the one brewing Voldemort's potion."
"And which potion would that be?" Dumbledore asked.
"Liquid Fire, according to Orion. He apparently only has two weeks left to finish it," Wilson said. "He's not nearly close, though. I overheard him talking to Nott."
Dumbledore sighed, turning to look out the window. The sun had set long ago; right now, Remus Lupin would be destroying the old house out in Hogsmeade. The poor boy, Albus thought, still gazing out the window.
"Sir?" Wilson's voice pulled him back from his thoughts. Dumbledore turned back. Wilson wasn't much more than a boy himself, only twenty three, and yet he was suffering so much. The young man's electric blue eyes seared through his own. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore said, watching the younger professor intently. "You don't have to do this, you know. Spy for me."
Wilson laughed harshly. "Of course I do," he said. "I'm a damned Death Eater, and I hate them all. At least… at least this way, I can help. Help the Light."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "You're brave to do this."
"Consider it balancing the scales. I was a coward when I joined the Death Eaters last year."
More silence from the old professor. "Sirius' lessons coming along?"
Wilson seemed to perk up. "Yes, yes they are!" he beamed. "He's a brilliant boy."
"He is," Dumbledore chuckled. "That he is." His face turned grave. "He can't find out that you're a Death Eater, though. He'd never trust you again."
"I know, I know."
"Good." The silver-haired man rose from his seat. "You should go rest, Tom."
-
James and Sirius locked themselves in the bathroom again that night.
"I think he's a werewolf," Sirius announced once again. This time, James didn't hit him. He agreed.
"It is the full moon," James replied. "You sure you saw him go under that tree?"
Sirius nodded vigorously. "Madam Pomfrey froze it. Rem slipped right under it!"
"How do you go under a tree, though? I mean, isn't there… like… I don't know, dirt? Roots? Stuff like that?" James wondered aloud.
"Not if there's…" Sirius leaned in close. "A secret passageway."
James suddenly jumped to his feet, causing Sirius to yelp and fall backwards. "That's it! That's it! There's a passageway under there!"
Sirius frowned. "How do we find out for sure?"
James smiled. "Well, we'll have to go down there, won't we?"
The other boy grinned. "Tomorrow night?"
"Sounds good to me!" James danced around in a circle. "Now we'll know, once and for all!"
Sirius pondered for a second. "James… James, how will we confront him?"
James stopped dancing. "What?"
"How… how are we going to ask him what's up?" Sirius frowned. "I mean, we can hardly run up to him, grab his shoulders and go, 'Hey, Rem, do you turn into a big hairy beast once a month? 'Cause, man, that is so cool!' I mean, how is this going to go?"
His counterpart frowned. "I don't know. I guess that works."
"James!"
"I know, I know! Okay… we have to go about this calmly…"
"We should probably tell Peter…"
"No," James interrupted. "Peter will freak out and never talk to Remus again. No, we tell Remus we know on our own. Then we tell Pete."
"He'll feel left out, though."
"Sirius," James replied, irritated, "this isn't a game of Quidditch. We're not 'leaving him out'. This is serious. What if we lose Remus?"
"We'll fail half of our classes."
"Sirius!"
"I know!" Sirius said, holding up his hands. "I was kidding."
James sighed, sitting.
"How in the hell do we do this?"
-
Remus was exhausted the next morning, but not too exhausted to give his three best friends an excuse.
"I was visiting my aunt. She's ill."
"With what?" Peter had asked.
"Er… dragon pox. It's awful," Remus replied with some hesitation.
"Huh," James said, raising his eyebrows.
They had then been hurried along to class by Professor McGonagall, who had a head of bright green hair. The Marauders' doing, of course.
They had Defense first that day, but McGonagall needn't have hurried them along. Wilson was nearly fifteen minutes late.
"Sorry, sorry," Wilson said as he flew into the room. "Overslept."
"He looks beat," Peter said quietly.
"Think he had a full moon too?" Sirius murmured in James' ear, quietly enough so Remus and Peter, seated behind them, wouldn't hear.
"Shut it," James hissed in reply, glancing at Remus. The latter hadn't heard a thing. "Idiot."
"Jerk."
"Prat."
"Pigeon."
"What?" James turned to face Sirius.
"You're a stupid pigeon."
"Yeah… well…" James frowned. "You're a… you're a stupid turkey!"
"A turkey?!"
"A turkey!" James crowed, poking Sirius in the side. Sirius elbowed him. James elbowed him back.
"Boys," Wilson scolded.
"Yes?" Both Sirius and James whipped around. Wilson suppressed a smile.
"Please stop… whatever that was," he replied. "Fighting. Elbowing each other. Whatever you want to call it."
"Alrighty," James replied cheerfully.
"Alrighty," Sirius mimicked.
Wilson turned away from them again. "Today we are continuing dueling. This time you will be partnering up - "
"YES!" Sirius roared.
" - and practicing with each other," Wilson sighed. "Thank you for your enthusiasm, Mr. Black."
-
"Alright, so how do I hold my wand?" Peter squeaked.
Peter and Remus had partnered up. James and Sirius were across the room, already "dueling", if that's what you would call it.
"Like this, Peter," Remus sighed, showing him again.
"Oh… oh right…"
"You know what I just noticed?" James asked, looking away from Sirius and over his shoulder.
Sirius stopped trying to hit James with a spell. "What's that?"
"Lily Evans."
Sirius looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?" Sirius turned as well. He saw her, but there was nothing particularly interesting going on, so he turned back.
"She's…" James trailed off. Sirius burst out laughing. He ended up on the floor clutching his sides and rolling about, attracting the attention of the rest of the class, including the aforementioned redhead.
"You - you like her!" he wheezed. James turned crimson.
"Alright, Mr. Black, c'mon. On your feet." Wilson had come over to their side of the room.
"Yes - yes sir…" Sirius was still laughing as he clambered to his feet.
"Stupid git," James muttered, still bright red.
"You totally like her!"
"I do not!" James protested, scowling at his best friend.
"'You know what I just noticed?'" Sirius mimicked in a breathy voice.
"I do not sound like that!"
"Oh, please," Sirius snorted.
James fired off a spell at him. Sirius managed to barely block it. "Hey!" he yelped. James smirked at him.
"Let's just duel, Sirius."
-
"How did she freeze the tree?"
Sirius and James stood before the Whomping Willow, hidden by the shroud of darkness.
"She poked it with that stick. Ten feet to your left," Sirius pointed. James retrieved the long stick, hefting it from one hand to the next.
"Where did she poke it?" James asked, looking at the tree and inching closer, keeping a close eye on the swinging branches. He ducked and one whizzed over his head.
Sirius followed his friend. "I couldn't tell exactly," he said, dodging a limb. "But it was around there." He pointed towards the base of the tree, directly in front of them. James could see a knot.
"What're the odds…?" he looked at Sirius, who shrugged. Reaching forward with the stick, he poked the knot.
It was as if a Freezing Charm had been cast over the tree; it looked as if made of marble.
"Right there," Sirius hissed, as James marveled at the tree.
"What?"
"There," Sirius repeated. "There's a gap in the roots. A hole!"
"Let's go!" James grabbed Sirius by the elbow, and the two dashed down to the base of the tree.
"You first, or…?" Sirius said. The two stared at each other for a second, before James firmly said, "We go together."
After a bit of maneuvering, James and Sirius managed to slip through at the same time.
"Blimey!" Sirius exclaimed. "I was right!"
They were in a long, dark tunnel. "Do we go, or…?" James asked Sirius with uncertainty.
"Of course we go!" Sirius started off down the tunnel. James scrambled to catch up. "By the way, if Rem asks, we had detention."
"Right," James said.
They were silent for a few moments as they walked down the tunnel. "So you really like Evans?"
"God, Sirius, not this again…"
"C'mon, I'm your best friend! I swear I won't make fun of you," Sirius pleaded, pouting at James, who sighed.
"Alright… fine, fine, maybe I like her a little. A little!" he repeated when Sirius looked as if he was about to burst out laughing again. "Oh, come on, you said you wouldn't make fun of me!"
"I know," Sirius said, trying in vain to hold in his laughter. The conversation was cut off when they approached a door. Looking at each other, they eased it open and entered the room beyond.
They were in a cold, dark room. "Bloody hell!" Sirius whispered. A chair stood barely six feet in front of them, destroyed, with scratch marks all over it.
James approached a grimy window. "We're in that old house. In Hogsmeade," he said to Sirius in a hushed tone.
"Really?" his best friend replied, still surveying the damage. "I think he really is a werewolf. I mean… this stuff is destroyed. Demolished. Desecrated - "
"I get it, Sirius," James said, approaching the former. "So… so we really do have to confront him."
"I suppose."
James paused. "Think it can wait until tomorrow?"
"No, I don't," Sirius sighed.
-
"Hey, Rem, can we have a word?"
Sirius and James had approached Remus in the common room that night after returning from their "detention". He had his nose buried in a book; however, he withdrew it when he heard Sirius and James speaking to him. He looked at them, puzzled.
"Alright," he replied.
"In private?" Sirius amended, deepening Remus' confusion.
"… okay. Dorms, then?"
After they had settled in upstairs, Sirius and James took a deep breath. James spoke first.
"Remus, we…" he stopped, and looked at Sirius pleadingly.
Sirius started, "Rem, we think… er…" He trailed off.
"What's going on, guys?"
Sirius started speaking again, feeling his voice getting weaker with every word. "Remus, we didn't have detention tonight. We went out to the Whomping Willow."
"You… what?"
"We went out to the willow," James continued where Sirius left off. "We saw you going down there last night."
"Wait… you guys…"
"Let us finish," Sirius said softly. "When me and James were fighting last month, it was because I thought something that he disagreed with. And my thoughts - our thoughts - were confirmed tonight. Everything up in that house up in Hogsmeade is destroyed."
Remus was looking at his two best friends, terrified. James and Sirius looked at each other again. James spoke. "Last night was the full moon."
"You guys…" Remus whispered, then stop and swallowed hard.
"Remus… Remus, are you a werewolf?" Sirius asked. "Because… because we think…"Remus didn't answer them. He got up and fled the dormitories.
Sirius and James were silent.
"Er… think that's a yes?" Sirius finally said. James groaned and fell back on his bed.
-
By the time Remus had snuck back into the room last night, Sirius and James had been fast asleep. He was gone, along with his books, the next morning before the three boys woke up.
"Where's Remus?" Peter had asked. Sirius and James decided that then was the time they should tell Peter their suspicions and what had happened the previous night.
By the time they were done, Peter was flabbergasted.
"Really?" he asked, eyes wide.
"We think so," James said, "but keep it to yourself, okay?"
"And don't talk to Rem about it. Not yet," Sirius added.
"Yeah, sure," Peter said.
-
Remus wasn't at breakfast either. However, he was in Defense that morning, though every time they tried to turn to talk to him, Wilson caught them and told them to face front. He seemed irritated and on edge that day.
"Remus!" Sirius caught up with the brunette boy as the latter practically sprinted from the class. James and Sirius bodily dragged their best friend into an empty class.
Remus stared at them, terrified. "We're going to be late for class," he stammered.
"Aw, it's just Transfiguration. Minnie'll understand," Sirius said, waving a hand. "Look, we need to talk to you… about last night."
"Please, Remus," James added. Remus continued to stare at them, before practically deflating. He perched onto a desk, staring despondently at his feet.
"You're right," he whispered miserably. "I'm a… I'm a werewolf, okay?" He couldn't look at them. "I guess you guys don't want to be friends with me anymore."
"What?" Sirius said, confused.
"You guys don't want to be friends with a… a monster," Remus said.
"What're you going on about? You're not a monster," Sirius said. "You've just got… a problem."
"A furry little problem," James added. Remus stared at him. "What?"
"So… so you guys still want to be friends with me?"
"Of course!" Sirius exclaimed. "We just kinda wish you'd been open with us about this."
"Though it was awesome to go down under that Willow," James mused.
"Yes, it was," Sirius nodded.
"You guys told me you had detention," Remus accused.
"What else were we supposed to say? 'Oh, Rem, we're going down under a tree. See ya later!'?"
Remus laughed. "Okay, okay," he said. He paused. "Does Peter know about this?"
"We told him this morning," James said. "That's okay, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Remus said, getting to his feet. "We should go to class."
They entered the corridor, which was deserted. "Ooh… we're really late," James said.
"Who cares?" Sirius said, and they started down the hall.
-
Orion vigorously stirred his potion. A puff of steam rose from the bubbling black surface.
"Orion!" Celena descended the stairs. Orion turned, his face turning from frustration and desperation to fury.
"I told you never to come down here!" he boomed. His wife didn't look frightened in the least. She rolled her eyes.
"You've got a visitor," she said, before climbing down up the stairs. "And I'd never come down here by choice. It smells disgusting."
Orion grunted and followed his wife up the stairs, leaving his potion to bubble.
-
First day of school tomorrow…
sighs
-PotterScar