Chapter 12: Summer Holidays
James, Sirus, Remus, Arabella and Stefanie had headed over to the Evans to fetch Lily over a month ago. Then they flooed Lupin Villa and stayed for a week. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were ecstatic to see Remus' friends and had even allowed the kids the freedom of having the entire house. They had several games of quidditch at the Lupin's quidditch pitch during the stay, then they spent the nights watching the sixty-inch television and even learnt to use Remus' computer. All of them had enjoyed themselves tremendously during that week.
At the end of the week, the five bid goodbye to Remus and headed towards the Black's Mansion via the Floo Network. Remus said that he had some personal matters to attend to and was unable to join them until a week later.
"What a beautiful moon!!" Arabella commented as she looked out of the balcony from Stefanie's room.
"Full moon? Hmm.. Do you think this could be the reason why Remus is away?" Lily asked thoughtfully.
"Why did you say that?? Don't tell me you think Remus is a.." Stefanie said, shuttered at the thought that Remus could be a werewolf. Her encounter with a werewolf five years ago still haunts her till today. I wonder what happened to the boy who saved me.
"It is possible. I noticed that he is away once a month during the full moon night, and skipping lessons the next day. And when he's back, he always look tired with those black eye bags. I've seen some bruises on him before, which appeared to be healed magically in a few days." Lily added as she recalls the times she seen Remus looking like that after the full moon night every month.
"Come to think about it. If that's the case, why doesn't he tell us?" Arabella asked. Werewolf. Didn't I have a dream about a werewolf when I was younger?
"Werewolves are not accepted in the magical community. Remus may be a pure blood, but if he is a werewolf, his words and actions will be seen as erm.. well.. not trustworthy." Stefanie said as she tried to find the right words.
"So, the conclusion is Remus is a werewolf." Arabella asked.
"But, let's keep it as a secret. Don't even tell the guys!! I don't think he is ready to tell anyone of us now. We shall pretend that we don't know about it. Anyway whether he is a werewolf or not, Remus is my friend and will always be." Lily said, looking out from the balcony. Remus can't be a werewolf, could he??
"Do you think Remus is a werewolf?" James asked Sirus suddenly after he instructed his castle to move right. It was boring and they had no one to prank on. So leaving with not much choice, they started playing wizard chess after many games of Exploding Snap and Gobstones. Moreover, Remus was not there and they felt that something was somewhat missing.
"Well, I did thought of that. I mean he's always away with some lame excuse on the full moon night."
"No wonder he always have that sad and lonely look in his eyes."
"What can we do about that anyway?"
"I know werewolves are harmful towards human, but to animals, they are harmless." James said as he thought about what he had read about werewolves.
"Does that mean we can become animals and keep him company?"
"But how? I think there could be some kind of potion or perhaps charm to turn us to animals for one night."
"Well, I think I read somewhere about something known as Animagi. But I'm not too sure what exactly it is." Sirus scratched his head as he start thinking where he had came across the word.
"Oh merlin!! Sirus Edward Black can read??" James asked in amusement as he started laughing.
"Hey!! And Checkmate!!" Sirus grinned.
"Not fair!! I wasn't concentrating." James exclaimed.
"Well, you lose and I win!! Simple as that." Sirus started dancing around his room.
"Anyway back to Remus, shall we confront him the next time when we see him?"
"I like the idea of pining him onto the ground and force him admit that he is a werewolf." Sirus grinned at the thought.
"That's not the point!! So we ask him when he come and join us next week then?? Next game." James gave Sirus a cheeky look. They had made a bet of ten galleons for the winner that night and James was only leading by two games now after that loss.
"REMMIE!!" James and Sirus rushed towards the fireplace dramatically as soon as Remus walked out dusting the soot off him.
"JAMIE!! SIRIE!!" The three guys gathered into a bear hug.
"Remus!! So glad to see you!!" Lily gave Remus a sisterly hug.
"Hey Bella, how are you?" Remus gave Arabella a big brotherly hug.
"Yo Stefie, miss you so much!!" Remus gave the same bear hug but lingered a little longer.
"Let's take Remus to his room." Sirus instructed as he lead Remus away from the girls. The girls gave each other a confused look and headed back to Stefanie's room.
Once the three guys stepped the room, James locked the door and Sirus Sirus jumped onto Remus and pinned him down.
"So why were you away last week?" James asked curiously.
"My grandpa was ill." Remus answered without hesitation. It seems like he had prepared for this question.
"Do you think we buy that?" Sirus asked cheekily and gave James a wink.
"W-What do you mean?" Remus asked, confused and fearful at the same time.
"Admit it, Remmy. We know about it already." James sighed.
"W-What are you talking about?" Remus enquired, a fear was creeping up to him.
"That you are a werewolf." Sirus said and released Remus.
"H-How did you guys know?" Remus asked, trembling at the thought that his only friends had found out his darkest, deepest secret.
"We knew about that before Christmas. Being your good friends, we just wanted to hear it from you. But you never admit." James said, as he positioned himself on the carpet.
"I-I don't know. Well, I guess I know what's going to happen." Remus sighed, grabbed his stuff and turned to head out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Sirus shouted and went after him.
"Home."
"Why are you going home?" James looked at Remus quizzically.
"I understand that werewolf is not welcome and never accepted in the magical community." Remus said, without turning back because tears were starting to form in his eyes. I thought I had found friends.
"You are welcome and will always be accepted by us, Jamesie and the Great one, which is commonly known as Sirus Black." Sirus said proudly.
James threw a pillow at Sirus and even Remus turned around and smiled at the comical scene.
"Remmy, you'll always be part of me and Sirus. Just because you're a werewolf doesn't mean anything. You'll always be our best friend whether you're a werewolf or Remus." James said sincerely as he put an arm around Remus to steer him back into the room.
"That's right. We'll always be here for you. And that's why we are coming up with some brilliant plan so that you won't feel lonely being a werewolf." Sirus added excitedly.
"How?" Remus questioned, with a slight smile at his friends.
"Well, we're still thinking about that. Anyway how did you become a werewolf?" Sirus asked, trying to change the topic quickly.
Remus started his story about the time he was at the park when he was seven.
Their last week of summer holidays had ended too soon. They had spent the whole week playing quidditch regularly, sitting around in the large hall chatting and playing wizarding games, and even played the muggle hide-and-seek and 'police-and-thieves' in the huge garden in Potter's Manor.
"That was so fast!" James sighed as he settled himself in his favorite green couch.
"Time always flies when we're having fun." Lily told him.
"Shall we do this again next summer??" Sirus suggested.
"Well, it's nice to be prank-free and yet having so much fun!" Arabella commented.
"But well, don't we all love lessons?? Just think of how interesting Professor Binns' lessons are getting." Stefanie said, emphasizing certain words.
"Potter!! Black!! Lupin!! In my office now!!" Remus was pretending to sound like Professor McGonagall.
All the six burst into giggles. They continued chatting into the wee hours of the night until their eyes can barely be kept opened. All of them fell in deep sleep on the couches in the middle of James' substantial bedroom.
"Wake up!! You are late!!" A female voice was booming.
"Mum, it's still early." James said sleepily and turned around but stuck because it was a couch and not his king size bed.
"It's ten-thirty already!! Do you all want to travel to Hogwarts via train or another manner??" The voice boomed.
The voice sounds so familiar. Lily stirred in her couch. She opened her eyes a little, but the light was too glaring.
"What's going on?" Stefanie groaned.
"Five more minutes please, Mum." Sirus said and covered his head with a cushion.
Suddenly there was a large downpour of cold water on the six of them.
"What's going on?" Remus stuttered, fully drenched and feeling cold.
"Someone close the windows." James said and continued to sleep.
"What's happening??" Arabella said and got up slowly.
"FION!!" Lily shouted happily and went to hug her.
"What is Fion??" James muttered. By now all the five kids were awake except James, who had been too used to this sort of waking up call to realize what was going on.
"James, if you don't wake up at this instant. Your broom will be confiscated." Fion muttered a spell and a deep and manly voice came out of her mouth.
"NOOO!! Dad!!" James jumped up from the couch, fully awake and fully wet. All of them burst into hysterical laughter as they saw what James had just done.
"That's not funny!!" James was blushing furiously. Trust Fion to humiliate me at this sort of timing.
"It's ten already. You kids better hurry up or else you are going to miss the train. Forty five minutes to get ready and we're going to floo over to King Cross." Fion told the drenched and half awaked kids in a rather bemused kind of tone.