Birth of a Legend
Chapter II: Disappearance Mystery
James found himself sighing almost as much as Sirius was grumbling. They had a paper due in under an hour and no clue what to write. Their group's resident bookworm was somehow missing once more. This wouldn't have bothered the boys much if it wasn't something that seemed to be occurring every month. Usually for about two days each month Remus Lupin would simply vanish. Well, more appropriately it was more one afternoon and a day. Sometimes he came back with a darker tint to his scars. The coloring signs of magic having been performed on him to keep them from looking worse. The other three of their dorm wouldn't have even noticed him vanishing if it weren't for just how important he was to their groups inner workings.
"That's it! I give up! I wonder if I can get away with saying my potions assignment managed to spill over it and I need more time," Sirius grumbled, looking from Peter to James. Peter seemed to just be writing away, although since James and Sirius both knew Peter did just as poorly as them when Remus was missing, they didn't expect much of it.
James sighed, tossing his quill down as well, his paper not even begun. "We could always jinx one another and spend the day in the infirmary. It will give us the extra time to figure out what to do."
Sirius laughed. "We are getting pretty good with those tricks. The other day I managed to make every other step Snivellus took on the stairs sink under his weight. The whole thing was hysterical. You would have loved it James."
James chuckled. "Bet he didn't like that too much. Too bad I had to miss it. Old Miss Evens was busy giving me a dressing down since I always pick on the prat. I swear, she's overly protective of the boy. You'd think they were siblings or something. Perhaps married, the way she carries on about him." His tone of voice made Peter look up from his work, watching James for a long moment.
"I heard they were friends before they came to Hogwarts," Peter added, hoping to be of assistance in the conversation. The news was unexpected and made both Sirius and James pause in their comments to look at the rat-like boy.
"How ever did you hear this, Peter?" Sirius asked, completely surprised by just how much that boy could hear some days.
"Well, people talk a lot. They also tend to never notice me so I hear things they wouldn't otherwise say to someone they don't know. It was Severus who helped Lily realize she was a witch, apparently," Peter told them, happy to be of some use to them.
James sat back in his chair, one hand coming up to rub his chin. "No wonder she's always protecting him. Probably thinks she owes him for her new life or something. I wouldn't know for certain, but that's what it's beginning to sound like."
"We can talk about all this later. We have a paper due in an hour and we are no closer to getting it done now than we were just a short while ago. If you've got any ideas, then by all means, I'm all ears in getting out of them," Sirius said, looking at his two friends. "We can't rely on Remus since we have no clue where he's once again vanished to. I don't rightly feel like reading to understand the topic we're writing about this time. So we need to come up with something that won't fail to get us out of the line of fire, so to speak."
James sighed, picking up the large book before him, rolling his eyes. "Who wants to write about werewolves anyway? It isn't like we'll ever run into one. I mean… does anyone even hear about werewolf attacks anymore? I know I haven't."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "And you're so caught up on current events since you read the Daily Prophet every day," he remarked, his tone sarcastic.
"Come on now… it at least would mention if there was some dangerous creature on the loss. It's all over the place when something that will endanger us has managed to already attack some of us."
"Things have been pretty quiet… aside from several people who were pushing for pure bloods to be the only wizards allowed to learn magic," Peter chipped in, not wanting to be left out or ignored.
"Why in the hell would people agree with that? Some of the best wizards and witches are half-bloods or even from non-magical families. I see no reason why people could agree with such a thing!" Sirius commented, knowing his family was one of the biggest supporters of Pure Blood Supremacy. That those who were from pure wizarding families were the only ones needed in the wizarding world. He hated them for that. It was completely stupid and he wasn't about to be a part of it.
"Apparently there are some who are for it and some that aren't. But there's one wizard who's beginning to build around the idea. That Pure Bloods are the only good wizards," Peter commented, recalling all that he had heard about the man.
"That's ridiculous. I'm serious, Peter, it will never stick," Sirius commented before turning to James. "So, dropping the serious and crazy issues, it's time to figure out the right jinx to spare us from our assignment."
James nodded. "I think I've got just the one. That is, if Peter and you don't mind feeling like hell warmed over for a couple hours."
Sirius laughed. "That's our resident prank master. Always good with an idea the second he knows it's needed."
Peter looked as if he was completely uncomfortable with the idea of having one of James' jinxes cast on him, even it was meant to be a way to get out of having to turn in his work. He really wasn't all that good with the school work. If it wasn't for Remus, he was sure he'd be failing even worse than he was now. He'd found Remus was perhaps the best friend he'd ever had, especially when Remus seemed to have a never ending flow of good ideas and patience when it came to the dealing with the three of them. It was a must with the three of them in the same room and Remus just seemed to be the gel that kept them from completely going insane. "I… suppose I can… handle it," Peter stammered, nervous.
"I can handle it, James. Just give it your best shot," Sirius remarked, smirking as he watched his friend.
James smirked back before laughing softly. "I'll remind you of that when you can talk again," he said, before casting it on the two of them before then hitting himself with it. He'd been wise enough to summon for someone to see them laying in pain on the floor before he'd cast the last one but he was more than certain there would be a large chunk of time where they'd be uncomfortable as all hell before they arrived.
Remus started in surprise as he watched his fellow dorm mates being brought into the infirmary. Remus was currently recuperating from his latest round with his curse, which was often the case when he was trapped inside of a small confined area during his change. He figured his friends were always worried about him disappearing, but not so much they'd hurt themselves. He looked to Madam Pomfrey, a questioning look in his gaze. "What happened?" he asked softly.
Madam Pomfrey was a rather sweet woman and she helped him as much as she could each month. It was almost as if he had a very caring mother, the way she doted on him each morning after his change. She glanced over at him after waving her wand over each of the boys. "Just a simple form of impediment curse with some added side effects. They're going to be uncomfortable for a bit but should be fine in a couple hours."
"How did…" Remus trailed off, thinking it over for a second before shaking his head slowly. No, if he mentioned it then it was possible that things could end badly. It was more than likely they'd done this to themselves, which wouldn't be good for them.
"We aren't sure. We think perhaps a rivalry that they hadn't been expecting. Mr. Potter is particularly disliked by some people," Madam Pomfrey commented as she finished checking them over and casting the appropriate counter jinxes. "Now… don't you boys get overly excited while I'm out. I'll just be stepping out for a little bit." That said, she turned on her heel and left the room.
James groaned, sitting up once the door shut, only to have his eyes fly wide as they took in the familiarly blurry shape of their missing roommate. "Remus? Don't tell me that you were in here the whole day! We thought you'd vanished once again!"
Remus looked down, his hair hanging around his face, but unable to hide the fresh signs of recent magic work on it. "I… hadn't meant to worry you all. I'm sorry."
Sirius moaned, opening his eyes and taking in the still out Peter across from him. Then he took in James, who was in the cot beside Peter. Finally, his gray gaze settled on their missing forth member. Unlike James, he didn't need glasses and was able to see just what the other couldn't. Fresh scars that were still under a healing enchantment could be seen on his chin and his skin was much paler than usual. "Good lord, Remus, what happened to you? Who do we have to beat up?" he asked, moving to push himself out of bed before a wave of pain and dizziness washed over him and caused him to flop back ungracefully onto his bed.
"N… No one, Sirius. I did it to myself. So you don't have to get protective," Remus said, hoping to diffuse things before they got out of hand. Unfortunately, Sirius' words were the catalyst that seemed to snap Peter out of his stupor and caused James to scramble awkwardly for his glasses. When both boys observed just what Remus had, their reactions were quite similar.
"Now don't start covering for the bloody sod, Remus. There's no way you'd hurt yourself like that," James exclaimed, staring at his friend. Could this be why he was vanishing every month? Was he being beaten once a month by some student and trying to cover it up?
Remus swallowed, wondering just how he could explain things to his friends and manage to still keep them as his friends. It certainly didn't seem like things were going to work out at the rate they were currently going. Some innocent person would get beat to hell if he didn't make them realize the truth. "Seriously James, Sirius, Peter, it wasn't someone else. I really did hurt myself so don't be so eager to fight someone over it."
Peter thought about their current assignment and with a growing, sinking suspicion, he spoke up. His voice was a bit high and pitchy as he talked. "Was last night… a full moon?" he asked, almost as if praying what he was beginning to piece together was completely wrong.
James and Sirius paused in their rants and looked at Peter. "What does that have to do with anything?" James questioned.
"It was," was all Remus answered, still not looking toward any of them.
Sirius opened his mouth but nothing came out. How could it. With that one question and subsequent answer, Remus had caused all three of the boys to look at one another. James' hazel eyes seemed to be rapidly filing away information that had just been received while Peter's own beady eyes were beginning to show some fear. But it was the flash of pain in Remus's hazel gaze that pulled Sirius back to a place he could think. Say what one would about what they all had to be thinking, but that was not Remus. He wasn't a bad person. Not in the least. No curse would change that. "How long have you been suffering from it?" Sirius asked, wanting to get a better understanding.
James' own mouth closed as his own mind caught up to the rest and he realized just what was going on. Their friend always vanished for two days out of the month. One was on the night of the full moon and the other day was always the day immediately after. With their lesson still fresh in their minds, it wasn't possible to pretend they didn't know any longer. Determined, he sat up a bit straighter, since he couldn't get out of bed. "It doesn't matter. Remus is Remus. What he is or isn't cursed with doesn't matter."
Peter started at those words, glancing first at James' determined expression and then Sirius' mirroring one. "James is right," he whispered, though there was still fear in his voice, despite his best effort to hide it.
"So what if you're a werewolf, Remus. You're still one of us. If you're suffering two days a month alone then it needs to stop. We can be there for you, so that you aren't alone," Sirius said, causing Peter to almost pass out at the fear that mere thought brought about to him.
"No! You can't possibly do that! I know wolfs bane helps somewhat during a full moon, but it isn't safe for other humans to be around me on those days. You could be hurt or killed, or worse… made to suffer the same fate!"
James thought back to his first class of Transfiguration and what their teacher had done. He knew Sirius must have been thinking the same thing because he met James' gaze with a smirk that rivaled the best ones James could produce. "Then we find a way to be there as something not human… so that you aren't tempted to eat us."
"But that's impossible!" Peter exclaimed, his eyes now wide and slightly moist from his previous fears.
"Perhaps for us as we currently are. Yet time and effort can change all that. I always wanted to see if I could qualify to be an animagus. This just gives me an excuse to hide it and not register it with the ministry," Sirius remarked, grinning brightly.
James laughed, nodding his agreement. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Sirius. That's just what I was thinking about as well." He paused in his words to look at Remus, whose eyes seemed to have become so huge they seemed to take up most of his face. "What do you say, Remus. Will you help us? I know it's going to take a while, but I hope you can wait for us."
"You… know about my… curse but you still… want to stay friends?" Remus asked, his voice breaking as tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
Sirius sighed. "We'd be pretty rotten wankers if we just abandoned you because of something you couldn't control."
"Besides, we're a team, Remus. Without you we're all pretty hopeless. Peter especially. He'd fail and flunk out if you stopped hanging with us. You can't bear to be responsible for that, now can you?" James asked, his smile the same as Sirius', open and honest, the same as always.
Peter swallowed his fear, realizing his friend was his friend no matter what and he had no right to be fearful if his idols James and Sirius could handle this. "Yeah… would you abandon me to my scary fate all alone?" he asked.
Remus' tears spilled down his cheeks just then, even as he ducked his head to hide them from his friends. "I… I couldn't leave all of you. You're as important to me as I hope I am to you three."
With a shared look the three boys smiled and answered as one. "You are important!"
Remus laughed then, sniffling softly. "With that kind of answer, how could I leave you guys? From now on, we can meet up here the day after so that if there's work you need help on, you won't have to jinx yourselves to share the same space."
James laughed. "I knew you'd figure us out, though we didn't do it to join you here. We were just trying to get out of class since we didn't have our papers done."
"The werewolf report that was due?" Remus asked, looking at the three of them. At those words the three seemed a bit foolish, especially since they were currently speaking to the foremost expert on the whole matter.
"Yes," they answered as one, looking sheepish as Remus shook his head disapprovingly.
"You three are on your own. But I suspect by the time you have a test on it, this will be the one subject not even Peter will be able to fail."
"Fine," Sirius remarked, rolling his eyes. "We'll do it when we get back to the dorm rooms. On one condition, though."
Remus looked at Sirius, a wary look in his eyes. "What's that, Sirius?"
"Never disappear again. No matter the reason. Always let at least one of us know that you're heading out, okay?"
Remus felt his heart catch slightly at those words and he smiled brightly at those words. These were his friends; his true friends. Despite the fear that came with his curse, they were all willing to remain at his side. Even more so, they were going to start working at becoming animagus just so that he wouldn't be alone. He could never ask for better, truer friends than these three right here. "I promise. I won't disappear on you again."
AN: I hope everyone is enjoying this so far. Please review and let me know what you think... or even if I should keep going or give up. Thank you so much.