Chapter 21

I tapped my quill against the desk, my eyes were focusing solely on the board but I had no idea what was going on. I glanced around the room and noticed that I wasn't the only person who felt that way. History of Magic was probably the most boring subject I had ever encountered in my entire life, not only was the subject dull. The professor that taught it could put the class to sleep in a matter of minutes.

But there was something else occupying my brain - something that was stopping me from paying attention to what was happening around me. It was what Kenneth had revealed to me. I had been having an internal conflict for days. My mind was too busy focusing on what Kenneth had told me and wondering whether to tell the boys or to keep it to myself, to the point where I had forgotten to do three assignments. I had replayed the conversation with Kenneth in my head for days and -

"Winnie could you stop doing that for Merlin's sake!" James said, jabbing me with his arm.

I stopped the tapping and looked at him, "Sorry. Hey James. Imagine this, you have information which you aren't sure is true or not. But you think it's true. Kind of. Should you reveal it to your mother?" I realised a moment later that what I had just said made absolutely no sense at all, whatsoever.

James looked at me weirdly, "What? My mother? Winnie what are you talking about?" he said, doodling on a piece of parchment.

I scratched my cheek, awkwardly. Okay, that wasn't the best analogy I could've used but I wasn't sure how to ask him for advice without revealing to him what I knew.

"Okay, what if you knew something that could change everything? But you're not sure if you should tell someone. Like your mother for example." I said, hoping and praying that he wouldn't become suspicious.

James tapped his quill against his chin, to show that he was thinking. "Hmm, I guess it depends really. You have to really think. Will your mother freak out or not? Will this information hurt her in any way? If not, tell her. If it will. Tell her anyway. Mums hate secrets." He said, nodding sombrely and then went back to doing nothing.

I could have laughed. That conversation had achieved absolutely nothing and that was probably due to the fact that James was literally the worst person to ask for advice on anything. He had his wise moments, but usually he was just as confused about life as I was. I assumed that was one of the reasons why we were best friends.

James glanced at me, briefly before asking. "Why are you asking by the way?"

I racked my brain trying to come up with an answer and quick. "I think Greg is going to quit Quidditch." I blurted out.

James gasped, his eyes wide. "No! No! No, tell me that's not true!" He said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "You better me lying Winnie Erhard Powers!"

Professor Binns was not impressed, "Mr. Plotter kindly release Ms. Prowers so we can get back to the subject. Don't you think learning about Gerald The Grump is more important than your romantic involvement?" He said, floating near us.

I almost choked, "We're not - we're not romantically involved Professor!" I said, loudly making everyone turn around and actually pay attention for once. I turned a bit red and avoided their gaze.

Professor Binns looked appalled, if that was even possible for a ghost. "Ms. Pellton! How dare you raise your voice at me? Do you think this is some sort of loud party classroom? 10 points from Gryffindor for ill-behaviour!"

James laughed, "Whats a loud party classroom? I want to join." He said, making everyone laugh. James embraced the spotlight, grinning as he saw the smiles on everyones faces.

Professor Binns turned a bright shade of red, "Mr. Plopper! How does detention sound to you?" he said, crossing his arms.

James shrugged nonchalantly, "Come on, Professor. At least buy me dinner first." He said, causing an eruption of laughter in the usually dead classroom.

I chuckled, hiding my face but that didn't stop Professor Binns from being angry, "Do you two think this is funny? You are wasting valuable learning time. I'm sure you'll find it very funny when you're scrubbing the bathroom floor with your toothbrushes!" He said, irritated.

I gaped at him, "What that's not fair! I didn't say anything, why am I involved?" I said, glaring at Binns.

James laughed, slipping an arm around my shoulder. "Now, darling. You know what he said. We're in this together baby." he said, making people laugh once more. That arse. He wanted me to be there.

Professor Binns shook his head, "Teenagers. I'll see you two at detention tonight after dinner, Now back to more important topics. Gerald The Grump.." Professor Binns said and began to say something about Gerald The Grump, whoever that was.

Once class was over I grabbed my textbook and began to hit James repeatedly, "You arse, why'd you make me go to detention with you? I need to pack, you know that the holidays are in less than a week!"

James grabbed the textbook before I could hit him again, "Yeah, well so do I! You know what they say. If I'm going down you are going down with me. Besides, detention alone is boring. Sirius isn't there anymore, apparently he's been good lately. Yeah right. So I need you there!"

I threw my hands up, in frustration. "So I have to go with you? Did you forget about Remus or Peter? Also now thanks to you people will assume that we are together! Again! This is fourth year all over again." I said, frowning.

James looked at me sheepishly, "Sorry 'bout that but hey! if you look on the bright side, people are starting to tolerate you again. If they think we're together then you'll be back on everyones love list one more time!" He said optimistically.

I rolled my eyes at his optimism but couldn't help a smile, "Yeah yeah, okay. You better not ditch me at detention, Plopper." I grinned.

He scowled, "Quiet Pellton." he said before he waved goodbye as he headed towards the other direction.

I knocked on Filch's door, as usual I was always five minutes early to everything. Even if it was something as horrible as detention. The door slid open to reveal Filch's bored face along with his evil cat Mrs. Norris, who hissed at me when she saw me before hiding behind Filch. Filch rolled his eyes at me before sliding back into the room and returning with a toothbrush.

"At least y'had the decency to show up earlier, if only you had the decency to stay out 'er trouble." He grumbled as he handed me the toothbrush reluctantly.

I gave him a sarcastic smile, "Well you can't get everything you want in life."

A loud BOOM! was heard and James's face appeared almost out of the shadows, he looked more messy than usual. His hair was in all directions, his face was covered with dirt and his clothes dishevelled and ripped "I'm here! I'm here - am I late? I'm not late, I'm sure of it. I think." He locked gazes with me, "Hey Winnie."

Filch almost screamed, "What happened 'ter you?!" He said pointing at James.

James laughed, "Oh yeah, that's why I came to get you. Someone is making things explode all around the school and Peeves is helping! They already damaged a lot so you better hurry."

Filch glared at him, disbelief splattered across his face. "This better not be one of 'yer li'l pranks, Potter!"

Another boom was sounded from the other side of the hall, louder than the first one. James jumped up, probably to show fear and feign innocence. How did I know it was them? Because the other day they had the intelligent idea of making fireworks from random things they could find at Hogwarts.

I gasped, hoping it sounded real. "Filch! You're wasting time by just standing here! At least try to stop whoever is doing this before McGonagall finds out. If she knew that you were standing here doing nothing she'll have your head,"

He narrowed his eyes at us suspicously and then said in a loud voice, "You two bet'er stay here! C'mon Mrs. Norris." He said and then ran down the hallway.

I turned around to James and shook my head at him, "Now can you please explain to me why the hell you got me in detention and then decide to get me out? You don't make sense, James Plopper." I said a small smile on my face.

James glanced at his cracked watch, "No time to explain, we have to go." He said and then proceeded to grab my arm and drag me outside to where the whomping willow was. We approached the violent tree and tried to avoid getting cut into pieces, if that was possible. I didn't want to test that theory.

"James what's happening," I said as he proceeded to poke the knot of the tree which automatically paralysed the tree. "James, what's going on and why do you look so messy? Your clothes are ripped-" I stopped myself short when I had realised what happened.

That idiot had gone with Remus to transform, I had forgotten that it was Remus's 'time of the month'. I assumed that the others were there too and James probably purposely got me into detention to keep me busy. The idiot was suddenly smart. You'd think I'd be annoyed at the fact that they didn't let me come with them, but in a way I was kind of relieved. Why? Because I hated blood. When Remus was in wolf form, they would have to fight and there would be so much blood. I couldn't handle blood. The only thing that didn't make sense was why I was here. If he wanted to keep me out of it what was the point of bringing me?

The sight before me explained everything.

Sirius sat on the chair, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Peter sat in the corner, avoiding everyone's gaze and Remus was passed out on the bed, his body covered up in cuts and bruises. My eyes widened and I could've sworn that a small shriek escaped my mouth as I took in everyone's state. James sat down on the dusty couch, running a hand through his hair and then looked at me.

"Yeah, this is why I need you." James laughed, "Can you do something about Padfoot? he's bleeding a lot. We wrapped it up, but I don't know if that actually does anything."

I felt like I was going to vomit, there was blood on the floor and on the bed. I felt like I was going to vomit but I had to pull myself together. I shuddered at the metallic smell in the room and made my way over to the potions cupboard I had installed, especially for moments like this. It would probably have been a good idea if I taught them how to use any of the potions.

I grabbed a bunch of potions and moved over to Sirius who had his eyes closed, "Sirius? Are you - eh - okay?" I said, patting his cheek.

He lazily opened his eyes, "Finally, where have you been?" He whispered. "Win, I have a question - am I dying?" he said and glanced at the blood soaked garment that was supposed to stop the bleeding.

I gulped, not sure how to answer his question. "No - no, you're fine. I think. But you try to stay awake, okay? Focus on me." I said and proceeded to slowly remove the blood-soaked wrap and it took everything in me not to scream, I quickly grabbed my wand and pointed at it before thinking of the spell Vulnera Sanentur. The flow of blood disappeared immediately and the wound began to heal but not completely.

I glanced at the potion I was going to use, essence of dittany. It was extremely painful but excellent at healing. The pain was almost excruciating and some had even died from how painful it was, which was why it wasn't sold excessively and why I had to brew my own.

"Sirius, you might want to hold my hand for this. It's going to be painful." I said and gave him an uneasy smile.

Sirius's eyes widened, "Wait what?" He said and I began to drop a bit of the essence, he immediately clutched my hand and groaned in pain, his body contorted as he shrieked in pain. He was squeezing my hand pretty tightly now, to the point where I felt like he had stopped the blood circulation but I didn't falter, another drop. His other hand balled into a fist as he banged the wall next to him. The wound began to heal and new skin began to wrap itself around the open wound, a green smoke erupted and then it was done.

"Okay, okay, it's over. It's over. The worst is over. You're okay." I said, breathing a sigh of relief. I felt like I was directing the words more to myself than I was to him. He let go of my hand and I immediately scanned him over, "How do you feel? Any pain at all?" I said, grabbing my wand just in case.

He panted, out of breathe. "No - no, I'm fine. That was horrible. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." he ran a hand through his hair, "Thanks. I'm sure that was equally as terrible for you as it was for me." He said, giving me a sympathetic smile.

I pointed my wand at him and muttered a cleaning spell and in a moment, all the dried blood was gone and all the dirt that was on his hair, face and clothes disappeared. I then turned around and said the same spell while pointing to the room and even at James. As usual, everything became clean, once again. I glanced at Remus who was still asleep but Peter was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Peter?" I said, scanning the room just in case I had missed him.

James looked up, "He left when you were doing the healing thing," He stood up and moved towards Sirius, "You alright, mate?" he said, tilting his head.

Sirius laughed, "Considering that I almost bled to death tonight, yes. I am definitely alright." He looked at me, "Thanks for not letting me die."

I laughed despite how I was feeling, "Well, it can't be The Dream Team if there's only one member. Then it would be The Dream. Which, I guess is not bad. But, it would be better if there was another member," I paused, "What I'm trying to say is, you're welcome."

James clapped his hands, "So, back to reality. How are we going to drag Moony back to the infirmary? I mean carrying a student who looks like hell through the castle isn't exactly normal."

Sirius shrugged, "We could always levitate him?"

I nodded, "Yeah, let's do that. " I said and watched Sirius take out his wand, "Also can you all do me a huge favour and try not to get yourselves killed for once? It's not very fun watching your friends almost die." I said, pointedly. "Especially without me."

James chuckled, "I can't promise you anything."

Sirius muttered the incantation and Remus was now levitating, Sirius guided him around the room with his wand looking like an excited kid.

"Careful! you don't want him to accidentally bump into anything." I said as I watched Sirius move him around, "Sirius! there's a cupboard there can you please stop messing about?" I said, frustratedly.

James looked at me, like I was an alien, "You sound like my mother." He said and walked out of the room making us all follow him as we walked down the creaky stairs, James suddenly stopped half-way making me collide with his back and making Sirius collide with mine. I groaned and hit him in the back.

He turned around and put a finger to his lips, looking wide- eyed. Sirius and I both stared at him with bemused epxressions, until we heard it. There was a faint mumbling and the sound of people climbing up the loud and creaky stairs. "Go back, go back!" he whispered/ushered making us all look at each other in panic as we tried to quietly run back up, which wasn't possible when the stairs were so damn loud.

"Hey d'you hear something?" One of them said, it sounded like a girl but not a voice I recognised. We could hear the shuffling of feet and the other person said something that was incoherent. Suddenly, a bark was heard and I turned around to see that Sirius had turned into his animagus form and had started to bark loudly. This gave us the perfect chance to go back to the room.

"What was that?!" One of them said, not sure which one. "Was that a dog? Merlin, I hate dogs. Get me out of here Louise."

Louise began to climb up the stairs, "No, Claire. We want to see what's up there come on don't be such a baby. I mean, we're probably the first people to discover this passageway - don't you want to see where it leads to?" 'Louise' said, which made Sirius bark louder in attempt to scare them off.

"I'm leaving, Louise!" Said the other one and left. I couldn't hear her anymore so I assumed she was gone.

Louise sighed loudly, "Gosh, fine. I'll come back here another time then." she said and then we could hear her leave.

We all let out sighs of relief, Sirius turned back to a human and started to laugh hysterically. James however was still tense, peering outside the door every five seconds just to make sure that they were really gone. Remus, was still floating in the air unaware of all that was happening around him.

I shook my head, crossing my arms. "Damn it- why are Hogwarts students so damn nosy? Can't they just keep to themselves and hate everyone?"

James cleared his throat, "Okay, I think the coast is clear. But that was close, too close. We need to make sure that no one can get in here - ever. How do you prevent people from entering places?"

Sirius laughed, "Mate, who cares. I mean the holidays are in like - I don't know, two days? Besides you can't stop people from being curious. What are you going to do?" He said, with a nonchalant shrug.

I bit my lip, "Well, you can start a rumour. That the place is insanely haunted and that we, the courageous marauders tried to enter but the shrieks of the devil had frightened us to the point that we could not enter!" I said, dramatically.

Sirius clicked his fingers in agreement, "Yeah, yeah yeah. She's right, the more we exaggerate about how haunted it is. The less people will come. We can say that there are animals living in there. Like a vicious wolf." he said, grinning proudly.

James scoffed, "You're a dog, Padfoot. Not a wolf." he mused.

Sirius raised his forehead at him, as if challenging him. "Says the moose."

I rolled my eyes, "Children please, silence yourselves. We can go over the details later. But can we focus on the matter at hand? We need to sneak Moony in, in the middle of the night. To the infirmary. Where we will have to cross multiple corridors. How are we going to manage that?" I enunciated, as if speaking to children just to annoy them, of course.

They didn't seem to notice.

Sirius then erratically turned to James, a huge grin on his face. "Prongs, do you have the cloak with you?"

James then seemed to catch what he was throwing because a smile grew on his face, "Sirius, mate. You are the smartest person alive. Yeah, I do." He said and took out the blanket from his pocket and threw it over Remus, making him disappear completely. Sirius moved his wand around, making Remus travel as well. We all gave him a weird expression.

"I'm just checking to see if the spell still works," He said, laughing awkwardly.

"Okay, let's do this." I said, feeling a bit giddy. "I don't know why I'm so excited, we've done crazier things."

The boys laughed at my expression and we climbed down the stairs, trying to make sure that Remus wouldn't hit his head on the random pieces of wood sticking out. We were trying to keep ourselves hidden but that wasn't possible when Hogwart's was so bright from inside, as we made our way towards the hallway we could faintly hear a hissing of a cat.

We looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "Run," James said and pointed in another direction. We ran. Remus floated.

Luckily, the direction we were running is was also the direction of the infirmary. We 'carefully' walked in, careful not to disturb the sleeping students. The infirmary itself was dark, but there was a light coming out of the nurse, Madam Pomfrey's room.

"Put him down there, I'll get Pommie." James said and then rushed to the nurse's room.

Sirius let Remus float on top of a random bed before he mumbled the incantation that stopped the spell for working and he flopped down onto the bed in a loud manner, Remus bounced as he crashed on the bed before falling back into his slumber. When Remus wolfed out, he usually fell into this kind of deep sleep that no one could wake him out of.

"Nice going, genius." I said sarcastically, "You almost killed the bloke."

Sirius put his wand away, "Yeah, but he almost killed me. Now we're even." he retorted, "Honestly, I thought the fall would be smoother."

I laughed but then my expression softened, "How about you? Are you okay? I mean, not physically. Mentally. How's it going up there?" I was referring to the fact that he had literally witnessed his friend attempt to kill him, maybe not his friend. But still, it wasn't something you could easily get over in a couple of hours or two.

Sirius shifted his weight from one foot to another, "I don't know, honestly. I'm too tired to feel anything. I'll answer you tomorrow. All I want to do right now is go to sleep."

I nodded understandingly but before I could answer, James and Madam Pomfrey had emerged from the room. Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she examined Remus's bruised and battered body.

"That poor boy, what he goes through every month is what soldiers in the military go through." She said and began pouring a potion over the visible cuts and bruises. "You all must care about him an awful lot."

James laughed, looking down at Remus fondly. "It's not easy, but he's worth it." He said making us all smile.

He was right.