Despite his own reluctance to go back into the pipes James and Sirius thought it was a grand idea. As soon as he had woken up they were asking him where the hole was. When he refused to give that up they went back over what they remembered of his story and tried to piece together where Remus exploded out. He tried deterring them. His leg still wasn't feeling better and he was sure he had caught something from those pipes yet they still wouldn't listen. What was worse was that they had Peter involved. According to him the pipes probably led all the way across the school. It was better than a secret passage in Peter's eyes because there were places in the school where not even the secret passages could lead them as Remus had proved when he told them about the chamber he found. Remus begged to differ and tried to further his point in the coming days. Somehow Remus had lost all influence on them.
It all came to a head when James nudged him all the way through transfiguration. Remus only vaguely remembered pulling his wand out before he was being restrained by Sirius. McGonagall deducted points but that was all. She had known them for two years now and knew better than to give them detentions for something as trivial as fighting. Especially when she knew James had hurt a sore spot on his arm. The teacher was sympathetic to him on most days and often invited Remus for a chat if he found the other boys in his dorm to be too oppressive. Remus thought this was the teacher's way of making sure that not only the others didn't know about his condition but that they weren't corrupting him either. If only she knew Remus was the mastermind behind more than one of their pranks.
So with a stern warning and an order to make up before their next class McGonagall vanished the especially long nails and sent them off. James wasn't all that mad at him. If anything the fight had jogged his memory and he was soon telling Sirius and Peter about the dungeons they had found again. All four of them had been down there last year but they hadn't fully explored them like Remus had. James knew then that Remus had been down to the other levels of the dungeon and since he told them he fell into the pipes they concluded that one of the entrances he made was there.
"Why can't you just explore the forbidden forest like normal people?" He whined. Sirius shot him a grin and tugged him into potions.
"We're not normal people Rem," James called. Already in his seat he warded away Remus from his cauldron and towards Sirius. The Black heir was the only one that could put up with him in this lesson.
"Don't you want to know what's in that room?" Sirius asked him. "I would have thought a brain the size of yours would love the idea of breaking into somewhere no one else has for years."
"Not really." And he was telling the truth. Apart from his leg aching he remembered wanting to get out of there as fast as he could. There was something about it. The smell maybe. Or the rat corpses. Something just told him to stay out. "Besides, I can't keep up with you if you go back this weekend. I think I re-cut myself or something. My leg's been aching since I woke up."
"It's probably excitement. Or the weather. It's getting rather cold these days. I know my Grandmother's back ached whenever a storm was coming." Sirius waved off.
"Sirius, I don't want to go back in there," Remus told him.
Blue eyes softened much like they did on the nights he woke Remus up from a bad dream. He turned his back to James who was in the midst of trying to throw Peter's ink into Sirius' potion to crowd in close to him.
"If you feel like that then you don't have to come. To be honest I don't think Peter will when he sees the pipes. It's alright if you want to sit this one out," Sirius said.
That wasn't what he was trying to say. "Sirius! I don't think any of us should go. It's not safe!"
"Of course it's not safe, it's fun!" He countered.
"No. I mean, it's really not safe. If something went wrong we could die down there and no one would find us. You don't understand when I tell you that you can't get down there any other way," Remus yearned.
Sirius still didn't look to be listening. It was then that he realised there was nothing he could say to put Sirius off. James would be even worse. He really wished he hadn't opened his mouth. Last night he should have told them he tripped in the dungeons. That his leg wouldn't support him until near morning and that was why he was late back. But he hadn't, and now Remus was going to have to live with the guilt of knowing it had been him that sent Sirius Black and James Potter to their deaths
Unless he did something about it. The idea came to him at tea. They were all seated, talking merrily when Remus' gaze slipped to the wall. Remembering his promised he bid the others goodbye on the pretence of looking up new hexes in the library. Really he went to the charms section and looked up repairing spells. So long as he patched the holes up the others would be none the wiser as to where Remus fell. Their only option then would be to make one of their own and risk discovery or continue to ask Remus and he wasn't going to give up that knowledge if this worked.
He smuggled the book out near closing time and hid it in the dorm. After that it was a matter of waiting until everyone had fell asleep and slipping out of bed. He thought he was caught when he saw Sirius sitting upright when he came back from the toilet. The boy was looking out at the wall across from him in confusion and it was only when he did nothing more than that when Remus realised he was still asleep.
Breathing a sigh of relief he tip toed past Sirius' still form and over to his trunk to collect the book. Gathered he sprinted through the corridors to the abandoned classroom. The clutter was still there and the hole untouched. Thanking Merlin that a teacher hadn't noticed the vandalised wall he looked up the first repairing charm he could-
And stopped when a wand poked him in the back of the head.
He thought for a moment it was Flich. That the dreaded caretaker had seen him and followed him to not only mischief making but evidence that Remus had broken more than one school rule. But then he remembered that Filch didn't have a wand.
"Put the book down Rem."
Sirius.
"You weren't asleep." He concluded.
"I was. But then you left and I woke up. A grand little idea occurred to me when I did," he could smell Peter and James behind him also.
"You used the cloak," He guessed. "Figured that I was going to cover my tracks to stop you from killing yourselves and followed me. Genius."
"Well I am a Black," Sirius chuckled and moved his wand along with Remus to the side. "You sure do leave a mess Rem."
"I'm telling you it's a bad idea," He warned.
"Yes, but you usually tell us that," James said. "We're learnt over the past two years to tune you out when you do."
"I'm not going down there with you," Remus protested as Sirius tried moving him forwards.
It seemed the boy had forgotten he had his wand on Remus in the first place and took it away from his neck. "I told you Rem, you don't have to." He turned to James and Peter. "So who's second?"
"First you mean," James snickered as he barrelled past Sirius and into the pipes.
"Oi!" Sirius wasn't far behind him.
Only Peter loitered with him. Remus thought for a minute that Sirius was right. Peter was going to back down and take the sensible route for once. He was mistaken. "It won't be that much fun without you Remus." It seemed he only waited to try and convince Remus to join them.
"Good," He spat and left to go back to the dorm.
They weren't back the next morning and if Remus were honest with himself he didn't expect them to be. Still as he made their excuses for their first few lessons he began to grow worried. What if something had happened to them? Remus had only fallen down a section of that pipe and it was lower down than what the others will be falling into. Who's to say one of them hasn't broken their leg… or neck.
At lunch he sat alone amongst a sea of red. A few prefects, noticing the boys absence, asked about them. Remus could only say he didn't know, which was true to an extent. He didn't know where in the pipes they were. For all Remus knew they could be back in the dorm, sleeping off their adventure. That last thought appealed to him and he clung onto it through his last classes. Even so, he expected the disappointment that welled in the pit of his stomach at the sight of the empty beds.
His mind cast back to his earlier thoughts as to what might have happened to them. The dread coiled as thoughts of one of them lying broken at the bottom of the pipes until he snapped. If they were still alive they needed to come back up now. Remus couldn't keep making excuses for them and wouldn't. So, steeling himself he cast his mind around the room. There was no way he was going back down there without a plan. For starters, he needed a way to get back up. He refused to climb a second time. Which was when he spotted James' new broom. A gift from his parents for a job well done in his end of year exams. It also came with a strict warning that he was to use it for Quidditch practice only. Remus felt guilty for all of three seconds as he picked up the broom. This was an emergency. If they were all stuck down there with no way out then this overcame any warning Mr and Mrs Potter bestowed.
Making sure he had his wand and a number of sticking charms in his pocket he scrambled down to the hole in the abandoned classroom. The hole was as foreboding as he last remembered. A cold draft wafted out and stung his eyes with the scent of Hogwarts' waste fresh in his nose.
Getting a better grasp of James' broom he hopped down into the small pipe. Vaguely remembering his way he skimmed the damp water beneath him. A few more twists and he barely stopped himself from falling face first, again, into the large pipe. One deep breath turned to three before the stench had him keeping to short pants as he dropped and slid down and down Hogwarts lower levels.
It only occurred to him as he rubbed his back from the landing that James may have took them a different way. The boy hadn't been with Remus the first time down here and didn't know which way to get to the pipe. It stood to reason that they may not even be down here at all. They could be lost in the vast pipes that made up the sewer system in this school.
Still, he thought, he had to make sure and walked on. He checked the small pipes leading off first and listened sharply for any sound. Eventually it was Remus' nose that had the breakthrough.
Back at the bottom of the huge pipe Remus was taking a small break. Sitting with his back to the sewer wall he picked at the bones beneath him. Kicking out with his foot to get more comfortable he uprooted some rat bones. The move wafted a knowing scent that had sank with the hours passed.
Thanking a year of sleeping together he kicked and followed Sirius' smell along the rat corpses to a pipe he hadn't been in yet. The smell grew as Sirius had thankfully walked in the sewer water. On and on it went, left and hen left again until a small drop had Remus facing a snake head.
Gathering himself from the small shock the snake head turned out to be some sort of water feature. And there, around it was clear enough to look drinkable. There were more snake heads lining a walkway Remus gladly hopped onto.
The sound of laughter assaulted his ears soon after he walked further into the room. Hurrying forward he stopped as he spotted Sirius hanging from a nose. Not just an ordinary nose. A nose he had seen on countless chocolate frog cards and was now immortalised in stone before him. Salazar Slytherin.
"Remus!" he looked up and saw Peter waving down at him. James wasn't far behind as they both had a good grip on Sirius' legs.
"You're okay," he mumbled more to himself than to he three boys before him. He had been worrying all day that they had been butchered by Hogwarts sewers when in reality they had been playing down here with no thought as to what Remus would do when they didn't turn up for lessons.
"Is that my broom?" James called. Remus looked at the broom in his hand coming back to himself. Holding it up he nodded and saw James sigh in relief. "Thank Merlin."
"What are you doing?" he was quite confused. Sirius looked to be in the midst of falling but his giggles betrayed whatever situation he was in to not be cause for alarm.
"Sirius wanted a better look at the inside of Salazar's nose," James told him.
"More like I wanted to stick my wand up it and then tell my mother I'd done so," Sirius called back and shifted rather unnervingly about in James' hold.
"You're going to-" Remus sighed knowing it was pointless. Coming down here was pointless. They weren't in trouble, they were having fun! "I'm going back up," He told them.
"Wait!" James called and Sirius let out a little shout as the hold around him slackened slightly. Regaining his grip James looked beseechingly at Remus not to move. "Please, we don't know the way back."
"But-"
"I know," James hurried, trying to pull Sirius up now he thought Remus was leaving. "I know it looks like we're having a good time but we just happened upon this place. You were right Remus, we shouldn't have come down here. At least, not without you. As soon as we got down we couldn't get back up and then Sirius suggested looking around, only we got lost in the pipes and that's how we found this place."
"Why didn't you just use the spell we're using for the map to find your way back to the pipe?" Remus hadn't needed to since he didn't know it existed until he fell down it.
"Told you," Sirius said. Back on solid ground he was stable enough for James to give him a thumping on the back.
"No, I told you," James corrected and started looking for a way down.
"What?" Something was going on.
James slid rather dangerously down Salazar's face before he found a ledge to stand on. "I told Sirius that you would have had some way to get us out. If you were here, that is."
"No," Sirius protested as he followed James' lead. "You said 'Remus wouldn't have gotten lost down here.' I was the one that said he would have found a way out even if he were lost. You have an amazing sense of direction."
"More like I'm not stupid," He muttered and went to help James make the final leap onto the floor.
"What was that?" Remus shook his head. James narrowed his eyes before disregarding Remus' muttered comment and looking up at the stone face. "In any case we're definitely coming back here."
"No we're not," Remus negated. His nerves were fried enough from being here for five minutes. Repeatedly coming back was out of the question. There was something wrong with this room.
"I'm with James," Sirius said. "This place is far too cool to not come back to."
"Peter," Remus appealed to. "Are you honestly going to risk this again?"
The last of the group shrugged. "It's a bit Slytherin but I'm not saying it's not cool. What do you think this place was used for?" He asked changing the subject.
"Duels," James theorized as he inspected his broom.
"More like secret meetings," Sirius corrected. "There's no way this place wasn't used as some kind of occult clubhouse."
"Whatever the case I'm not coming back. It can be as cool as it likes there's something not right with it," and with that he started on his way back. Following his own trail he left in the pipe he was soon back to the rat filled pit. The other's weren't far behind. Muttering to themselves with only a few words carrying. Still, Remus knew it was about him. Especially when he heard Sirius shush James.
"So," James called attention. "How exactly are we going to do this? Am I going to fly up and- no, wait, I'm not doing that."
"For Merlin's sake Potter just take us up one at a time," Sirius sighed and positioned James himself.
"Right," He nodded. "Hold on, I'll be right back for you two."
Remus only counted three seconds before James was back with Sirius still on his broom. Knowing they figured out they didn't know which pipe led back to the cluttered classroom he waited while Sirius dutifully hopped off and let Remus take the seat.
"Where too?" James joked.
"Just fly and I'll tell you when to stop." They flew up. And up, until Remus smelled his scent waiting in one of the higher up pipes. After getting off he played a fun game with James as the boy tried to find his way back up to the right pipe. Remus decided to make it easier on him when he knocked Peter against the wall and lit his wand for Sirius coming up. All of them present he set back off into the maze of pipes and out into the classroom thankfully still abandoned.
He spared a thought to closing the hole as soon as James toddled out but, once again, Sirius was ready for him and towed him back to the dorm before he had the chance.
There, it was four showers and bed for an hour before they were up for classes.
Their trip to the secret Slytherin lair seemed to have sparked something in James and Sirius. While Remus kept out of the place like he had promised himself the other three had made it a base of sorts. Using the method Remus had suggested by using the spell for the map to guide them they had their way there and back sorted. So when they were running from Filch, Peeves or even just bored they hopped into the pipelines and down into the Slytherin lair.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Sirius asked. It had been two months since Remus had led them back up.
"Yes," he said and went back to his Herbology homework.
"We could have a picnic down there?" Sirius bargained.
"No," Remus said.
Sirius sighed and flopped on top of him. "Why don't you ever want to do anything anymore?"
That had him snapping. "I do. It's just that what I want to do and what you want to do are completely different things. If you weren't always going to that stupid room perhaps we could come to some sort of agreement."
"What do you have against the room?" Sirius implored.
"It's wrong," Remus said. "It smells funny. It feels dangerous."
"Of course it does, it was built by Slytherins," Sirius waved off before backtracking. "It smells funny? What do you mean by that?"
"There's something there," Remus tried to explain. "I don't know what but it smells dangerous."
"You can smell danger?" From his tone of voice Sirius didn't believe him.
Trying to come up with an analogy Remus explained that. "It's like with animals, when they perk up because they can sense something. They can smell something different in the air and they know it's going to hurt them. You wouldn't understand."
"No, no," Sirius protested. "So you smell danger. Something is wrong in there and you don't want to go back in case whatever it is gets you. I understand that."
"Then why are you always asking me to come with you?"
Sirius shrugged. "I just want to spend time with you. We're friends remember."
"Well I want to spend time with you too," Remus amended. "But I don't want to go to that room. You can risk your neck all you like."
"Thanks," Sirius rolled his eyes. An idea coming to him he suggested "How about we play a prank then. I'm sure your brain's rotting with all this school work. It needs a challenge to keep it healthy."
"Maybe next week," Remus agreed with a grin.
He watched as Sirius' face fell. "Why next week?"
Remus arched an eyebrow over to the window. "Forget something?"
Realisation came over Sirius as he caught sight of the near full moon. Casting a look around the room he pulled Remus in the last couple of inches between them. "Need me to make an excuse for you again?"
"If you wouldn't mind," Sirius was a better liar than he was.
Swallowing audibly he cast a look at Remus' hands. The month before he had bitten one of them quite badly and had bandages on it until last week. "Will you be alright? It's the last moon before Christmas."
"I guess," Remus answered.
"You won't, you know, catch anything from the cold?" Sirius' worry was endearing. It alarmed Remus how much the boy cared about his well being.
"I shouldn't think so," Remus didn't remember ever catching anything when he changed before. "Usually I have fur, it keeps me warm until I can find a blanket in the morning."
"Blanket," an odd glazed look had overcame Sirius' face.
"Yes, we use them to keep warm," Remus told him. Looking Sirius over he asked "Are you alright?"
"Fine," Sirius shook himself out of whatever it was that had held him.
"Thinking about your birthday?" he guessed. It was one of the topics these days that had Sirius jumping for joy. After last years downer with just presents from his parents he was looking forward to his first official Hogwarts birthday with his friends. Remus had already bribed a fifth year to get his present for Sirius weeks ago and enjoyed the planning James would rope him and Peter into late at night.
"Aren't I always," Sirius quipped. "I'm going to be a teenager," he gloated.
"And only a few months away from getting spots," Remus countered enjoying the glower that etched onto Sirius' face.
"See if I'm nice to you again Lupin," Sirius said and flounced away. Remus was just about to go back to his homework when Sirius popped his head back into the dorm. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"Yes," he made sure to throw something to further his point.
"Lupin has a nasty temper," Sirius said the next time he saw him.
"Tell me about it," James grinned.
Remus pretended not to hear them as he piled on another plate of food for himself.
"I heard he once locked his dorm mates in the bathroom for three hours," Peter chimed in. "All because they were looking out for him."
"That's awful Peter," James gasped.
"That's nothing," Sirius waved off. "I heard he drenched a prefect. Twice!"
The other two gasped in horror as Remus rolled his eyes. He had awful friends.
True to his word he joined Sirius in his quest to upset the school's balance.
Sneaking back from suspending every Slytherin boy's underwear from Ravenclaw tower and laughing at themselves at a job well done they rode the high that only came from breaking the rules.
When Remus stopped. After his stint in the Slytherin secret dungeon his senses had gone haywire in fright. His nose was constantly sniffing which made James chuckle often and call him a rabbit after classes. Remus would have been offended but he was more concerned with his own self preservation and making sure that whatever was down there didn't come get him. Apart from keeping himself alive Remus had never considered using his senses for troublemaking. That was until he held Sirius back and towards the way they had just came.
Just in time too since the ambush that had been waiting for them jumped out and made chase. Flich, while not athletic, sure was fast as he kept pace behind them. Mrs Norris proved to be worse as years hanging around the castle had made her partial to the secret passageways also. She used one such passage now to try and cut them off. If only she had been aware of the flaw in her plan. That being, she was a cat and they need only jump over her to get away.
The sixth floor was one they knew well, and Remus hauled Sirius up hidden staircases until they came to the entry to the Ravenclaw common room. The riddle would take too long to answer so they ran across to the wall beside it. Climbing and clinging to the stony wall they cast an unlocking spell and entered the secret passage that opened for them. It closed just as Flich caught up, screaming his dismay at his lost prey.
Catching their breath they followed the passage part way in and bunkered down for a few minutes to make sure Filch was gone.
Back in the common room Sirius couldn't help remarking that if they had went immediately left and down as soon as Filch made chase they could have hidden in the Slytherin room. Annoyed with its mention Remus countered that if they had bypassed that and ran to the willow they could have hidden in the shack. It didn't matter what they could have done and Remus wished Sirius would stop trying to force Remus into that room. The boy was obsessed and Remus was sick of trying to be dragged to a place Sirius knew he didn't want to go.
He didn't talk to Sirius the rest of the night. His earlier high had long since left as soon as Sirius opened his mouth. The next morning they spoke nothing about it. Solemn in their movements it at least made them seem innocent when the teachers asked them about the their evening.
A few nights later Remus batted the hand nudging him and snuggled further into his pillow. The hand, not deterred, returned with another and promptly shoved him. Awake and annoyed Remus made this known to his bedmate with a snarl and a shove of his own. Sirius, for whatever reason, was in too good a mood to rise to Remus' anger and proceeded to drag him out of bed. Following like a dog on a lead he was too tired to realise where Sirius was taking him. It was only when he stumbled on a bit of rubble that he saw the wall caved in and snatched his hand back. He was about to walk off when Sirius cut him off.
"Please Remus," He pleaded.
"You know-"
"Yes but I have something to show you. Please," He begged. "It won't take long."
He was tempted to say no. There was a thousand reasons why it was a bad idea but another one overrode them all. Why was Sirius so determined to get him down there? He wasn't satisfied with just himself going and never seemed to bother James and Peter about going down. Why him?
Contemplating Sirius' eagerness he relented that it wouldn't hurt to go down one more time on the promise that, after this, Sirius would leave him alone.
Getting a better grip on James' broom Sirius motioned for Remus to go first and followed shortly after with a little whoop.
Strangely nothing was different when they got to the snake pit. With Sirius ha had expected something flashy and obvious to be waiting for him. In this case he was wrong, and as the minutes passed with no surprise forthcoming he eventually posed the question to Sirius.
His friend turned an interesting shade of red and with one deep breath led Remus over to Salazar's head.
Up they went until they rested comfortably on his skull. Still nothing happened but Remus was starting to get a good idea what it was.
Sirius launched into some speech Remus only half listened to. The other half was concentrating on the deep breathing he could hear through the walls. It echoed in its stone chamber and Remus wondered how Sirius wasn't telling Remus about what was behind there. Instead the boy went on about 'needing some place where no one would interrupt them.'
Remus bit back his instinct to run as whatever it was dragged itself across the stones in sleep. It was huge whatever it was, and dangerous. One too loud snort had the wolf in Remus whimpering in fear and yelling at his human self for not getting the hell out of there. Remus decided to listen to it.
He was about to tell Sirius that his surprise was too dangerous to investigate just as the other leant in. Sirius kissed him as best as any twelve year old could. It was more like something someone would give a relative but the meaning behind it was far from platonic. Over in just a few seconds Remus felt his mind whir as thousands of different questions came to him. The most important one was 'why'?
When he finally got his lips to cooperate he asked just that and watched Sirius blush and mumble something about needing practice. Remus let him have the lie. Right now there was more important things to pay attention too. Namely what was behind Salazar's head.
Sharing his findings with Sirius he knew the boy had no knowledge of the creature as his eyes widened in curiosity before flickering back to Remus in fright.
"We need to get out of here."
It was the smartest thing he'd ever heard come from Sirius' mouth.
Back at the dorm Sirius even warded James and Peter from going back there. Naturally this was met with some resistance and a whole lot of glaring sent Remus' way.
"Just because Remus doesn't want to do something Sirius-"
"It's not about that!" He snapped.
"Of course it's about that," James countered. "You always do what he says. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later even as I hoped you would grow a spine and say no for once."
"This isn't about Remus," Sirius insisted.
"Oh really?" James snarled. "Then why don't you want to go back? What's so bad about that place?"
"There's something there James. Something big and dangerous and Remus is scared-"
"See!" James gloated. To Peter "Told you it was about Remus."
"That's not fair," Sirius argued. "So what if it's about Remus? He's our friend. We should listen to what he says."
"And I have," James said. "I've not been the one forcing him to go back down have I? And so what if Remus is scared? It didn't matter this morning and I don't see why it should matter now. You're your own person Sirius."
"You don't understand," Sirius was frustrated enough that he messed up his hair until it was sticking out almost as badly as James'.
"Then make me," James insisted.
Sirius looked like he was going to. Until he closed his mouth and stormed to the bathroom. With a definitive slam the other occupants of the room turned their attention to Remus.
"We never forced you to go back down," Peter pointed out.
"I never said you did." Sighing he told them. "Sirius was right about there being something down there. Even if you don't listen to us you should at least be careful."
James just scoffed and fell back onto his bed. "You know, if you wanted to ward us off from going down there you should have come up with something better than a monster."
"I didn't make it up."
"Sure you didn't. Only, if it were a monster, Sirius would be down there with us. Unlike you, he has a backbone."
Remus chose to ignore that last comment in favour of getting back into bed. He felt Sirius slip in once the candles had been blown out again and turned to see the other boy frowning at him.
"What made you change your mind?" Remus asked.
"You," Sirius shrugged and fiddled with the edge of the bed sheet. "I thought you were just saying it before, about your instincts and stuff. But when we were down there... you're the scariest thing alive one night a month, if there's something down there that has you scared I don't want to know what it is."
"Thanks," They shared a small smile in the shadows.