Chapter 40: Goodbye feast
After a long week of James refusing to talk to Remus, the goodbye feast finally came. It broke Remus to be ignored by James, even though Remus received top grades in every exam. Sirius and Peter tried to help Remus by still including him in conversations, but James refused to acknowledge he was there. Right after breakfast on Friday the tenth of June, the four boys were escorted into the kitchen by Professor McGonagall. They were amazed to find a large enchanted kitchen with at least 100 house elves hard at work. Professor McGonagall approached an older looking house female house elf with a mean expression.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Nika." McGonagall said.
"You are certainly excused, Madam. How may I help you?" Nika said in a shrill raspy voice.
"These boys will be serving detention in here to prepare for the feast tonight, servants to you and your staff." McGonagall said sternly as she scoured the boys.
"Servants, ey?" Nika asked as she eyed the boys up.
"Yes, and make sure they don't perform magic to assist themselves. Make them do everything by hand." McGonagall replied.
"Professor!" Sirius whined.
"No whining! And just to be sure, hand me your wands. You will get them back tonight." McGonagall said as she collected the wands. "Right then, may I suggest making them peel potatoes for the next 5 hours."
"Pro-" Sirius started saying but was given a death glare by the professor.
"I will see you tonight." McGonagall said coldly and left the boys in the kitchen.
"Okay, you all will work right here, peeling these potatoes. I don't want to have any dead weights in this kitchen, so you better finish in the five hours you have." The old house elf said sternly and left to yell at a younger house elf who just spilt a bag of flour.
"Wow, I have never seen a house elf who talked so well and rude to humans." Sirius said in astonishment. The boys stood around a table and started peeling potatoes.
"Me either, Sirius. I heard they are more educated at Hogwarts than at homes like ours. That it's the same as a job at Buckingham of the wizarding world." James said to Peter and Sirius, avoiding Remus.
"You have house elves?" Remus asked James in disbelief. His father always said that it was absolutely awful and embarrassing that slavery is still allowed in the wizarding world.
James ignored Remus and Sirius nudged James but he didn't talk. Sirius sighed and said "Yes we both do. Though Kreacher, our eldest house elf, can be pretty rude sometimes."
"But don't you think it's just like how muggles used to capture slaves?" Remus asked annoyed.
"They want to work." Sirius said, rather robotically like he was programed to.
"Huh." Remus said shortly. He didn't want to start anything with Sirius as well as James.
For the next five hours the boys peeled a huge crate of potatoes and were exhausted. They were relieved when McGonagall came back to invite them to the feast and held out their wands. The boys took them back and were walking to the Great Hall when McGonagall broke the silence.
"Your evening still may not be enjoyable for you four. I overheard the Gryffindor table talking and they seem very upset that you four lost 200 points and put Gryffindor out of the running for the House Cup." McGonagall said.
"How did they find out?" James asked angrily.
"Silly me, I have a running mouth sometimes." McGonagall smirked and she walked to the head table.
The boys sat down, Remus and James at opposite ends. Remus sat next to Lilly and attempted to say hello, but she purposefully turned her head. It seemed as if the entire Gryffindor table was giving the marauders nasty looks.
"Goodevening everyone. I am proud of the successful academic year that we achieved even though we've experienced dark times. We stand here today with one seat empty at the Gryffindor table. Katelyn Domer will be missed and her legend will live on. Let's also not forget the one auror who was injured, and the two brave aurors who died protecting our school. We cannot be more grateful to them." Dumbledore announced solemnly. He paused and looked at the seat at the head table where Professor Estrella used to sit. He looked at it, contemplating something. He finally opened his mouth and said
"Also, though some of you may have enjoyed not taking the Astronomy exam this year, we will always miss Professor Estrella. Though he made a huge mistake recently, we shall never forget how he saved an entire class of first years from Frederick Greyback. I thank you."
Remus looked around and saw some people, especially from the Slytherin table, rolling their eyes and mocking Dumbledore.
"But let us not only grieve tonight, for tonight is a celebration. To the 7th years, we thank you for your dedication to your academics and I know each one of you will succeed in whatever path you chose to take. Perhaps some of you may be returning in a few years to work as a professor here. We will now have our graduation ceremony, when your name is called, please rise and accept your diploma." Dumbledore boomed proudly. Professor McGonagall then took the podium and started reading names off of a long scroll.
"Head Boy, Kaydron Baxter." McGonagall said and a boy from Hufflepuff shook hands with Dumbledore and accepted his diploma. The tables cheered.
"Gan Chang." Remus watched as Gan happily stood and received his diploma, completely healed from the last quidditch match. He seemed a lot taller and mature looking too, finally hitting his growth spurt. The entire Gryffindor table erupted in thunderous applause, especially from the quidditch team, and he stood next to Kaydron.
A few more names were called before the Gryffindor prefect/chaser/quidditch captain, Robert Haneb, was called up, also receiving huge applause. And a few people after him, the senior Ravenclaw beater quidditch player, Tessa Lopez, was called.
"We're losing a lot of players this year, plus first years can't even try out next year." Sirius said to the four friends.
"Meh, we'll be fine, Sirius." James said.
The ceremony continued and Remus watched as Head Girl/Slytherin beater, Maddison Springhetti, Hufflepuff prefect, Emma Simon, and countless others receive their diploma. Near the end, Ravenclaw seeker/Gan Chang's girlfriend, Jennifer Wegner, accepted her diploma. Remus saw Gan quickly kiss her when she walked past. Ending with a nerdy Slytherin named "Phillip Yazbac" the ceremony ended.
"Now that the 7th years have officially graduated, let's also congratulate the underclassmen who are graduating into the next year of their schooling." Dumbledore said and lead an applause. "Now let the feast begin." Dumbledore announced jollily. Mountains of food appeared on the table in front of them and everyone dug in. Remus went straight for the mashed potatoes and turkey and filled his starving belly. Sirius, Peter, and him laughed and joked around about the countless pranks they committed throughout the school year. Sirius even got James laughing at one point, though he was still pretty upset with Remus. The boys enjoyed the meal and went to the Gryffindor dorm room to pack their belongings for the train left the next morning. Remus went to bed and recieved a kind goodnight from Peter and Sirius, but silence from James.
The boys said goodbye to the teachers and other students as they left Hogsmeade station. They sat in the same compartment as they came to Hogwarts in just a few months ago, Remus and James sitting across from each other. After the majority of the ride still being ignored by James, Remus finally snapped.
"James would you just talk to me?" Remus pleaded loudly. But James just looked out the window instead.
"I know you think Severus was telling the truth, but he was just trying to get me in more trouble. I went to my Mom's bedside that night and every night before then." Remus lied.
"Come on James, just believe him. Sneverus was pissed at Remus that night, and McGonagall said he was mistaken." Sirius said.
"Okay I will." James said suspiciously.
"You will?" Remus asked relieved.
"On one condition." James added.
"Whatever you need." Remus said.
James pulled out a little device out of his pocket. It was a crystal cube with white smoke floating inside it.
"What's that?" Remus asked.
"This nifty little thing is a lie detector. I bought it from Zonko's. If someone were to lie while holding it, it turns red. But if they tell the truth it turns blue." James said. "Testing. My name is John Potter." James said and the box was filled with red smoke. Remus gulped. "And I want you to say what you say is true while holding it."
Remus turned pink and said "Well, I don't see how that's necessary."
But Sirius squinted his eyes at Remus and said "Mate, you have nothing to hide. Just do it so you and James can stop fighting."
"Yeah Remus." Peter squeaked.
It's going to turn red the second I open my mouth.
"No, I-" Remus stuttered.
"Why not, Remus? Afraid it will show you're lying?" James said.
Remus opened his mouth, but noise wouldn't come out. James suddenly took Remus's hand and put it in and said "Exposmise!" while waving his wand. Remus tried to remove the box, but it was stuck.
"GO AHEAD, LUPIN!" James screamed.
"The story of me going to my mom's every month, of her being sick . . ." Remus paused, knowing he was trapped now and sighed ". . . is a lie."
The boys turned their attention to the box's white smoke and it turned a royal blue.
"I knew it. I knew you were a liar." James snarled.
"Remus, how could you? Even after I told you about my dad, you claimed to relate to me." Sirius said while looking to the burns on his arms.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what to say." Remus said. They boys looked down to the box and it was still a truthful blue.
"So, now that you have that box in your hands, and we can finally see if you are lying again, where do you go every month?" James asked
Remus paused to think. What do I tell them?
"Dumbledore told me not to tell anyone." Remus said truthfully, remembering that day Dumbledore delivered his letter. The boys looked to the box and it remained blue.
"What? Dumbledore knows about what you're doing?" James asked.
"Yes." Remus said.
"Who else knows?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
Remus sighed. "My parents, Madame Pomphrey, McGonagall, and Professor Estrella." The box remained blue.
"What? Why Professor Estrella?" James asked.
Because he's a fellow werewolf.
"Because he figured it out." Remus said and the box stayed blue.
"What? What did he figure out? What is your secret?" Sirius exploded.
"I can't tell you." Remus said. Finally the box turned blood red.
"No, you can. You just won't." James said. Remus nodded and the box turned blue again. They felt the train squeaking to a stop. They had arrived in King's Cross. James pointed his wand at the box and muttered the counter curse. James lifted the box out of Remus's hand.
"Friends don't keep secrets from friends." James said.
"What does that mean?" Remus asked, holding back his tears.
"It means until we know your secret, we aren't friends anymore." James said coldly, but Remus could tell that it was challenging for him to say.
"Sirius?" Remus asked. He nodded.
"Peter?" Remus asked. Peter hesitated, but nodded.
Remus nodded and stood up and grabbed his luggage and Moonlight.
"Remus, just tell us the truth!" Peter said.
Remus thought for a second and picked up the lie detector cube laying next to James and said. "I fear that you will hate me more if I tell you the truth." and it shined bright fluorescent blue. Remus set it down and said "Goodbye." and left the compartment and the Marauder's friendship.
End of Year 1
Author's notes:
7th of August, 2016
Hiya! I'm Christylee7663. If you are reading this message right now that means you've read over 50,000 words in these 40 chapters. Good for you! I just want to say thanks so much for reading, and I am sorry for torturing poor Remus with so many conflicts. Also, I know everything wasn't accurate from the books, but I took some liberties anyway for fun. If you want more, I am writing Year 2 right now. I just posted chapter 5 and something huge happens, so maybe check it out here: story/story_ ?storyid=12085254&chapter=1
Thanks for reading, fellow Remus Lupin nerds.