Lionhearted: The Moon Ascendant
Chapter 26
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When Remus awoke Saturday morning clutching a piece of parchment with James, Sirius, and Peter's names doodled on it and a pile of sweets on his nightstand, he only had a blurry memory of how it all got there.
Madam Pomfrey had been more preoccupied with dousing him with potions to have noticed he thought, or perhaps she just didn't feel it worth mentioning. He thought that was understandable considering what he'd put her through.
The last full moon had been horrible. All night the Wolf had been going berzerk, convinced that it could hear the sounds of something calling out to him, and injured himself trying to get out of the library, but was unable to make the desk budge. It had been good for keeping the wolf inside the shack, but bad for when Madam Pomfrey had to come and find him.
She'd been fussing over him in a much more distressed manner as he recovered, which is how Remus still found himself in the hospital wing all afternoon, even while the rest of the school had gone out to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff game. He wasn't quite as invested in it as, say, James, but he still didn't like being left out.
He could hear the noise of the crowds and echoes of the commentating coming from the Quidditch Pitch in the distance, and he was feeling very put out sitting alone in his hospital bed as the only one left in the hospital wing. Even the Ravenclaw student who'd apparently been victim to a transfiguration spell gone wrong had been released.
He was feeling fine, if a little nervous about what to say to the others, but mainly he was keen to get out and back to normal life.
Remus kept looking at the matron with doleful eyes every time she came over to wave her wand over him, casting spells that presumably told her what shape he was in, while she chided him on proper rest and recovery.
He did the same when she came over to him around noon with another dose of potion, a nasty one that tasted of iron, and levitating a tray of lunch food which he did take with more enthusiasm while she checked his vitals and took off the dressing around his arm.
The damage had left him with a starburst scar all around his elbow, but it was healed which was the important thing. Madam Pomfrey gave a sigh of either relief or resignation before she finally declared him fit enough to leave.
"Now, do take it easy for a few days, you are still recovering. And be sure to eat and sleep properly!" she fussed as he got dressed behind the screen and stuffed his bag with all the treats the others had given him.
"Yes Madam Pomfrey," he said dutifully as she escorted him out of the hospital wing, "Thank you!" He grinned as she gave him a final look and shake of her head before he turned and quickly made his way back towards the common room.
The halls were crowded with all the students back from the match, although it was mostly the Ravenclaws and Slytherins milling about. He ducked his head as he passed Lucius Malfoy telling a group of Slytherin boys trailing behind him "... And it's just a matter of time, at least if my source is to be believed, before we can put all this nasty business behind us…" on his way out the Grand Hallway.
He wasn't quite sure what to expect as he climbed the Grand Staircase up to Gryffindor Tower, and approached the corridor to their common room. There were a group of students also standing around in the hall in front of the portrait when he arrived, although he couldn't see over the top of everyone's head what was happening.
He tried squeezing his way through and saw Lily and Dorcas leaving, and both, to his surprise, looked glad to see him.
"Lupin! Good to see you back!" Dorcas said with a genuine smile.
Lily nodded beside her, looking relieved. "How are you? Black and Potter were very worried," she informed him, and Remus smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, all better, thank you!" he looked around at everyone else, "Erm, what's going on?"
"Erg! You'll see!" Lily said, her green eyes frowning acidly before storming off, and Dorcas smiled and shrugged at his bewildered before going after her.
The 'what' became clear when Remus was finally able to shove his way through into the portrait hole and was almost engulfed in sound–
Someone had charmed the wireless to echo throughout the common room playing victory music, and it was full of students cheering and laughing and carrying on, and there were bangs and whistles as celebration crackers went off and two students were hoisting up a Gryffindor banner. The Gryffindor Quidditch team had clearly achieved victory, which meant that the house had clawed it's way back in the running for the house cup.
Remus covered his ears as he entered and tried to make his way through the room, eyes scanning the crowd for his own lot. He'd just gotten towards the boy's dormitory door when he was tackled from behind.
"REMUS you're alright!" James cried, before wheeling him around to look at him properly, "You are feeling better aren't you?" he was having to shout over the din.
"Yes! I'm feeling fine, thank you!" Remus yelled back, smiling as Peter squeezed his way past some older boys to get to him and Sirius came up behind James grinning, "I– thank you for the sweets," he added.
"What are friends for? Anyway, some party huh?!" said James looking around at all the other Gryffindors cheering and jumping about. "I almost wish it was always like this!"
"It's a little loud, no wonder Evans fled!" Remus said, massaging his ears. If he hadn't been doused with so many potions for pain he'd probably have a splitting headache by now. James was bouncing where he stood in his excitement. "Where's the team?"
"They should be up any moment now! Five hundred points! Weasley and Lyoun completely shut out the Hufflepuff chasers, and Podmore did this amazing move, I don't even know how to describe it! And then the Prewetts took out their seeker! I'm sorry you missed it!" James yelled, but Remus shrugged and grinned.
He was still holding his bag with all his books, so the moment the portrait hole opened and the cheers and screaming swelled with the Quidditch Team arriving and being descended upon, he ducked out of the common room.
Away from the deafening noise of the other's merry-making, their room had never felt more peaceful. With relief, he dropped spreading his limbs over his bed and sighed up at the canopy of his four-poster. It was good to be back and out of the hospital wing.
After a moment's rest, he started unpacking his things from his bag, dumping his books and supplies into his trunk mainly, and when he went through his pockets he put their crinkled note in a place of honour on his nightstand with a grin.
He then grabbed clothes for a shower— He hadn't had a proper one aside from the Tergeo spell Madam Pomfrey used on him when she took him to the hospital wing– And was happy to be feeling more human again as he left it in a cloud of steam.
James and Sirius were raiding their closet of joke items when he came out, looking up with matching grins and their arms full of exploding balloons. Their inventory was nearly depleted since the beginning of the year, but it seemed the other two couldn't help themselves.
"Alright, Remy? We're going to set these off in the common room, want to join us?" asked James.
Remus laughed at their infectious spirit of mischief. "All right!"
James grinned and threw balloons his way.
When they came back down into the common room, Fabian and Gideon were in the centre holding Podmore on their shoulders, which of course presented the perfect opportunity for them to unleash their goods.
The celebrations lasted the whole afternoon until dinner in the Great Hall, when half of the house dispersed, and even after there was butterbeer flowing and music playing at a much softer volume, well into the night. The Quidditch team was holding court in the middle of the common room, especially Podmore whom someone had draped the Gryffindor banner over, recounting the game to their audience.
James watched this with bright eyes, distracted from their little corner where Peter and Remus were trying to teach Sirius and James Old Maid, and said, "One day, that's going to be me."
Sirius glanced at the team and then back to him before nodding. "We'll make it happen, don't worry," he said, making James beam before taking one of Remus' cards.
Remus looked across at him over his own hand, taking a card from Peter and discarding his new pair. The older boy had been relatively quiet all day, which was making Remus nervous.
Even when he lost by being stuck with the old maid, he didn't grouch at James as he normally would when the other boy started teasing him, and even after they went back to their room for bed following McGonagall stopping by the common room to make sure her house wasn't having a rave-up, he would lapse into a thoughtful silence only laughing or grinning when addressed.
By the next day, Sirius seemed back to his usual self as he and James explained their next agenda– Taking their revenge for Filch's detentions and doing something about their little Snape problem. Whatever it was he had planned, they decided, they would be ready.
The Filch problem was one with an easy solution.
They still had just enough stink pellets that they thought they could give the mean old bastard a good lesson and were planning to give him the old Malfoy treatment. Peter and Remus didn't even have to participate– They both had reservations about pranking a staff member, especially since neither of them had been the direct victim of the same injustice, and Remus privately thought he couldn't afford the caretaker to take any interest in him, although they would have done if asked.
But James and Sirius told the two of them gently that it would be easier with just the two of them– While they were willing to break out the cloak for this one job they needed to mitigate the risks of getting caught.
Remus tried not to feel too dejected about it, but he had also gone to enquire about joining the duelling club only to be disappointed when the impatient older students said he'd have to wait until next term due to many of them preparing for OWLs that year and having 'no time for inexperienced first years getting underfoot.'
"Aww, cheer up Remy," James said, putting a hand on his shoulder, while Remus tried not to look too upset, "It's just half a year away!"
"I'll remind you of those words when you start moaning on about Quidditch," muttered Remus without real heat, but he thought that being back in the Charms classroom together again at least made up for the duelling club.
As for Snape, they'd all started consulting the book of curses that Sirius had received from Regulus, going through it to find any spells they thought particularly interesting.
Only, the book in question was full of some really nasty spells, and James, Remus, and Peter were starting to get a better idea of what sort of household the Black Family was when even Sirius' younger brother had easy access to it.
"Oh, Regulus has always been interested in researching the dark and strange– Hard not to be when the family library is full of it," Sirius said flippantly after James expressed disgust over the section on blood-related spells. "He's the bookish sort, and it gets boring being stuck up in the house all day– You just learn to skim over the really dark stuff and keep what's useful, like this!" Sirius said suddenly grinning as he held it up to show James an image of a wizard having his head double in size that earned a laugh.
They'd put together a list, and after that weekend they had Remus convince Professor Flitwick to let them use the Charms classroom again after liberating one of the duelling club's straw dummies.
There was one spell for giving its target the hiccups that Peter thought he could handle, another for covering the target in slime, one for causing itching or vertigo, and James had particularly enjoyed the ones for growing hair or enlarging body parts.
They'd decidedly crossed out any of the ones related to bodily functions, such as the nosebleed curse, the ones for causing blindness or deafness, and they'd been especially revolted by the ones for giving seizures, cramps, or shortness of breath.
"We just want to teach him a lesson, not murder him!" James exclaimed, watching the little pictogram of a wizard shaking on the ground.
James had very bravely volunteered to let Peter practice the hiccuping spell Singultos on him, and only after researching to make sure it could be stopped with a simple Finite.
Remus was on standby while Sirius compiled their list and was plotting different pathways through the castle for giving Snape the slip whenever they noticed him skulking about and had to split up. James and Sirius found it incredibly inconvenient as the two of them went practically everywhere together.
That's why Remus was surprised when after packing up the Charm's room and sending James and Peter ahead to dinner, Sirius stopped Remus with a request; Sirius had found that spell he'd told Remus about during the Christmas break, and he wanted his help.
"I need your help, but you can't tell James! He thinks his Magnipes spell is just so funny, but I've had this earmarked since December! I can't wait to see his face when I finally make it happen! But I need someone to practice on. So, will you do it?" Sirius asked, grey eyes shining hopefully.
Just how could Remus say no to that face? Or to having their own little secret operation from James and Peter, which was bound to surprise and impress them?
"Sure! But there are conditions," he said, businesslike. Sirius raised a brow.
"First, you'll have to learn the countercurse. I'd prefer not to have to visit Madam Pomfrey again just because I got stuck as a troll."
"Fair enough," Sirius nodded.
"And, I think I'd also like to have a go. If you don't mind," he asked shyly, as the voice in his head that sounded like the older student's words wondered if Sirius would think he couldn't handle it.
But Sirius just looked excited. "Brilliant! That means Operation Troll can finally begin! Pleasure doing business with you, Mister Lupin," he said, tucking his book under his arm and holding out his hand formally, making Remus laugh.
"I'm sure the pleasure's all mine, Mister Black," he returned.
They made their way out, and it was on the way to the Great Hall that Remus found out what had got Sirius so quiet.
"So," Sirius said, his hands in his pockets casually, "I was thinking, this illness of yours… I know you said it's a muggle one, and they've not found a cure for it, but maybe we could still research it ourselves. Between the four of us, there might be something to help you. Just a thought."
"O-oh, I don't know what to say!" And that was the truth. As grateful as he was that Sirius cared, he couldn't let him go looking into it too deeply. He smiled while suppressing an internal wail. "It's nice of you, and thanks, really, b-but I'm sure you have better things to do, and besides, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore have got it well in hand—"
"Dumbledore knows about it?" Sirius cut in, brows raised.
"Erm, well, yes, he would have to…" said Remus hoping he hadn't made a mistake.
Sirius' nodded, his brow scrunched thoughtfully. "Well… that's fortunate. If it's Dumbledore then surely they'll find something…"
"Right, exactly," Remus agreed, just happy that if this meant Sirius would drop the matter as they arrived at the Great Hall. "Still, thanks again for–" he gestured around, but Sirius just smiled.
"Of course! Just what sorts of friends would we be if we didn't at least offer?" he said, waving back to James and Peter who'd saved them both seats.
Tomorrow was May Day, and James had been asking Peter what sort of birthday celebration he'd like since it was only weeks away.
Peter nervously declined the sort of to-do James had put on. Instead, he casually mentioned that what he really wished for was to fly with them– Not just as a lesson but with proper flying. While James and Sirius had convinced some of the older years, like Alice and the Prewett twins that they could handle borrowing a broom after practices, Peter usually spent the time watching with barely concealed longing.
"Oh! That reminds me! Dad said he and Mum have got the pitch at home fixed up and ready for if any of you can visit this summer," James said. "Peter's Mum's already confirmed, but maybe if you start asking now you can convince your parents?" he asked the other two.
"I'll post Mum and Dad tonight," Remus said happily. Surely he could find a safe time to visit between the full moons? Now it was just a matter of convincing his parents.
"Brilliant!" he turned to Sirius with barely suppressed hope. "What do you think?"
Sirius opened and then closed his mouth before answering.
"I want to go obviously, but it might be a long shot. There's my cousin's wedding going on after all, and Reg will be preparing to start next year… Maybe I can convince them that I'm better off out of the house entirely…" he murmured thoughtfully, "We'll see." He said decisively, while James beamed and went to chattering on about all the things they'd get to do when summer came. While Sirius was trying not to look too excited, his mood steadily brightened as James described his room and games.
In History of Magic before the weekend Professor Bins had told them about different celebrations related to the transition of spring to the summer solstice around the isles and abroad, and Sirius had been amused to find his mother's namesake had been a saint, ironically enough. Some ancient wizards and witches celebrated the night before May with bonfires and dancing, and James had been especially captivated by depictions of antler crowns. In Muggle Studies they'd been taught about other celebrations for celebrating spring, with different areas using either May Poles or May Bushes and crowning a May king and queen, which many of the girls found romantic.
The next morning James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter awoke to find flowers and boughs fastened to some of the windows and doorways, and many girls were wearing sprigs of hawthorn and lilies of the valley in their hair as they went giggling down for breakfast.
The grounds had been especially crowded with students enjoying the nice weather after lessons, playing games going down to the shore of the lake.
Unfortunately, the cheerful mood of the castle was quite ruined by how nasty Filch had become throughout the first week.
After Professor McGonagall approached the Headmaster about Peeves, the poltergeist's activity had been noticeably muted, and to the entire student population's disappointment, instead of a happier Filch being easier to deal with it seemed that the perceived power had gone to the caretaker's head.
Now he had started making up silly rules during the day and punishing students for the most minor of infractions, such as confiscating attire that violated their uniforms, or such things as talking too loudly in the corridors.
Nobody was safe from the caretaker's tyranny– He'd made several first-year girls cry and had a fleet of older students of different years spring-cleaning just about everything around the castle without magic by the end of the week– except, it seemed, for a certain seventh-year Slytherin. As a matter of fact, they had noticed that the caretaker seemed keen on unfairly catching and penalizing the Gryffindors especially, and Sirius was convinced that Malfoy was paying the man off somehow.
"He has enough gold to do it," Sirius said as he, Remus, James, and Peter were leaving the Dungeons after Potions, where Lucius was talking quietly to the caretaker in front of the hourglasses. Despite Filch's almost deferential hunching and smiling, Lucius had an indifferent bordering disdainful look on his face.
James shook his head. "I don't know what he's getting at, grovelling for that snuck-up git. He does know it won't change anything, yeah? Malfoy still will just see him as a Squib who doesn't belong here."
Sirius shrugged. "Idiots like that just like being around power since they think it'll rub off on them," he said sagely. "Anyway, how do you feel about practising the you-know-whats?" He whispered, looking out for Snivellus possibly lurking around.
"Actually, I'm thinking of trying to see Madam Eryinyes. See if we can ask for extra practice time during a certain free hour on the twelfth, you know, to improve poor Petey's flying," James said throwing an arm over Peter's shoulder.
"You don't say?" Sirius said with a calculating glance, "Well then Remus, what say we go about practising for charms? After all, we have so much work to do to improve your score!" He said dramatically.
"Ah yes, just want I want broadcasted to the whole hall," Remus said nodding briskly.
"Aww, don't be like that, we have it on good authority that you're first in Charms class," James said patting his shoulder. Remus' ears reddened, but his expression remained dour as James, Sirius, and Peter sniggered.
Remus tutted, "You might just miss Madam Erinyes if you carry on like that," he warned, mouth quirking as James and Peter startled and went scrambling out of the Entrance Hall towards the grounds. Remus rolled his eyes fondly, glaring at the mock innocent look Sirius was giving him before they both went off towards the marble staircase and on to the Charms classroom to get to work.
As it turned out, the Truzla spell was a bit more complicated than they'd thought. Though the wand movement was relatively simple, the charm itself required some formulating as it was dependent on the subject's proportions.
The first time Sirius attempted it, he'd only managed to make Remus' ears longer and the next time his nose, and they both had a good laugh as Remus looked into the tiny mirror Sirius kept in his pockets, before trying to decide if the older boy had actually put him to rights once he'd done the reversal spell.
After deciding that yes, his nose was sufficient back to its snubbed shape, then it was his turn to practice on Sirius, convulsing with laughter at the results. He'd managed to turn Sirius green, who took one look at himself before demanding to be turnt back, and once Remus couldn't get ahold of himself to do it started chasing him around the charms room until finally he could clear his mind long enough to cast Reparifarge on his whining classmate.
"You know, I wonder if we even need to transfigure him after all. Just turning him green with Colovaria might produce the same results," Sirius said thoughtfully as they left the classroom for dinner.
Remus tutted, "You just don't want to do the proper formulations," he said with a quirk of his mouth.
"What? Me? Why do more work than we have to? Work smarter, not harder I say!"
"Perhaps, but then what if you end up having to use it on someone else, only to find you don't know the formula," Remus said reasonably, and Sirius looked resigned.
"Fine, fine! It was my idea so I'll persevere! But it's a good thing you're all so scrawny or else this would be a nightmare!"
"Oi! I'm not that small!"
Sirius laughed, "You are to me– All of you, James, Peter, and even Snivellus look like ants from here."
Remus grumbled, something about how he'd better be so tall with such a big head, while Sirius made a show of craning to listen.
"Sorry, what was that? It's so hard to hear from up here!"
"Just you wait! Soon enough James and I will hit our growth spurt and then all of a sudden you'll be looking up to us instead! And then it'll be we bragging, 'Oh what Sirius? We can't find him! On account of he's too small!'" Remus ranted back at him as they entered the Great Hall for dinner and spotted the other two.
Sirius cackled, "I'll take that bet! If you don't catch up to me by Year Six I win!"
"What are we winning?" asked James as they plopped down at Gryffindor table.
"Remus says the two of you can grow as tall as me," Sirius said, cheek on hand, and James looked him up and down, a determined glint in his eye.
"What are we betting?"
Sirius waved a hand, "Oh who knows! By Year Six? We can decide what the winner gets then. And I'm sure it'll give you all time to pay me back when I win," he added smugly.
"And does this count for everyone? Say one of us does it, but the other stays short?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "We can do it individually just to be fair. I still think neither of you will, but why dash your hopes so soon?" he teased.
James rubbed his chin for a moment, deciding, while Peter looked around at all of them sizing each of them up nervously.
"Alright! It's a deal," James decided before going in his bag and producing a sheet of parchment before he started writing out their terms, while Sirius watched him in alarm.
"You've made a whole contract?" he exclaimed when James was finished and held it up for them all to see.
"Dad says never make a business deal without putting it in writing! It's how he was able to sell Sleekeazy's while still earning royalties in perpetuity," James said crossing his arms proudly, while Sirius shook his head, scrutinizing the terms while Remus read it over his shoulder. James could be a bit intimidating when he wanted to be.
"C-could I get in on this bet?" asked Peter, speaking up.
"Course you can Petey! Just sign and date on the dotted line, and we'll all write what we're betting the outcomes will be," said James cheerfully.
"And what are you betting?" Sirius said with a calculating look.
James grinned, "I bet I'll match your height at least. Though I can't decide about you, Remy," he said laughing when the other boy made a rare rude gesture at him.
"Interesting," said Sirius, turning to Remus, "And you?"
"I stand by my statement; James and I will both catch up to you. And when we do, my how the tables will turn!" said Remus, confidently.
Sirius chuckled, "Alright! And you Peter? What do you think?"
Peter looked at them with a rare shrewd expression and wrote out his bet.
The other three leaned over to read it, and Remus looked at him while James and Sirius howled. "Et tu, Peter?" The other boy just shrugged apologetically.
Remus didn't talk to them for the rest of the evening on principle, although he did almost crack a smile several times despite his determination to stay grumpy. James and Sirius kept hanging off his shoulders trying to get him to forgive them, and Peter tried to bribe him with chocolates. He wasn't really angry after the first hour, but it was fun watching the others trying to get back into his good graces again.
"Ah ha! I saw that!" James cheered, poking the side of his mouth which he hadn't managed to stop himself from quirking.
The four of them had retired to their room: Remus was attempting to finish a letter to his parents about staying over at James' for the summer, but all three of the other boys had crowded onto the end of his bed in their attempts to harass him into talking again.
Sirius was also working on a letter asking Reg to try buttering up their parents before he could get home and ask them about staying over, while James and Peter were playing slapsies.
Remus turned his head huffily, earning a laugh.
"Oh come now. You still can't be cross!"
Remus glowered before writing on another parchment and holding it up for them to read;
'Wanna Bet?' It said, causing the others to snigger.
James grinned at him with a mischievous look before taking out his wand slowly. "I bet I know how to make you laugh with us again."
Remus' eyes widened as he realized what James meant, and drew his own wand in warning.
"Ah ah ah! That means you'll have to talk to us if you want to cast a spell!"
Right. Because they didn't know any non-verbal spells yet. Mentally he cursed, glancing around for all the escapes, his wand still trained on James when the other boy moved.
Remus dodged off his bed, James' Titillando bouncing off his pillow harmlessly.
James looked at him with large eyes before he tried again; Remus could be surprisingly nimble when he wanted to be and he kept dodging around the room even as Sirius and Peter joined in, turning it into a four-man duel.
Sirius got the jump on James early with a Tarantallegra dancing spell, which made it harder for the bespectacled boy to aim properly, so Remus focused on him as the bigger threat, with a Body-Bind and Immobolous charm that Sirius dodged seamlessly before Peter in what would have been an effective move had they not been indoors used Fumos to try and make it harder for any of them to see him.
Unfortunately, the smokescreen spell only managed to fill the entire room, and their duel was immediately ended by the need to open all the windows and doors and escape into the common room where they were still coughing as other students either shrieked or yelled at all the smoke or scolded them.
Marlene, Mary, and Dorcas seemed amused by their antics as they were doing homework in one of the corners, but Evans who was with them gave them all a frustrated growl before flouncing off to the girl's dormitory, waving her nose.
The four boys lay on the common room floor laughing until Frank and Alice came over to give them a dressing down, but James said it was worth it after they'd finally had their room cleared out with stern instructions to go straight to bed and stop fooling around or they would take points.
Within the second week of May, James and Sirius finally got the drop on Filch in a rather glorious display!
The caretaker had cornered a group of Hufflepuff girls in the Entrance Hall for the grave sin of sitting in front of the giant hourglasses, reading muggle magazines and giggling too loudly for the caretaker's taste— And as he'd started shouting, making two of the girl's cry as he demanded they turn over their 'muggle contraband,' James took the opportunity to duck into the boy's lavatory to don the cloak before sneaking up on the man and releasing their stink pellet.
The effect was an amazing foul-smelling cloud that enveloped the caretaker, giving the girls the chance to run away while Filch was distracted, cursing a storm, and clearing out the rest of the students before he could turn his ire on the rest of them. He couldn't even pin it on Peeves because the slightly humbled poltergeist had at that same exact moment been witnessed by Nearly Headless Nick shoving gum into keyholes on the first floor.
Filch was furious.
He'd taken the opportunity at dinner to give a very long announcement reminding the students of the banishment of joke products in general, but even worse penalties for anyone found carrying Dungbombs, Stinkpellets, Flatulence Flasks, Burp Bottles, or any other such items that could create disruptive noises or smells
Not that this discouraged either James or Sirius– Most other students were quite happy to see the old caretaker getting his comeuppance. In Herbology which they shared with the Hufflepuffs, the same girls were still chattering excitedly about whoever it was who had so heroically swooped in to save them, leaving James and Sirius feeling proud of themselves and and encouraging their antics, fancying themselves champions for their common schoolmate.
Peter and Remus were to stay scarce while they were plotting as both James and Sirius thought Filch would get suspicious if he continually saw their faces nearby.
Peter's favourite haunt was the Great Hall for often being the best place to witness the results of James and Sirius' pranks, meanwhile, Remus was becoming more and more anxious about completing his assignments and preparing for exams when he and Sirius weren't working on their troll spell. It meant that instead, he had taken to going to the library in an attempt to maximize his time without the chaotic duo there to distract him.
This late into the term other students were also starting to take their lessons more seriously. He'd passed Dorcas, Marlene and Mary studying several times until one day the girls invited him to join them. He had always assumed he'd have trouble getting along with girls his age, as he hadn't much experience playing with them when he was younger, but he was happy at the prospect of making more friends.
Sometimes they had Evans with them, although a few times she'd broken off to meet at another table with Snape, who would take one look at Remus and scan the library for the other boys, looking even more suspicious when they didn't appear.
Once Snape had gone out of his way to ask him in a mocking tone where his co-conspirators were, but Remus, tired from lugging around his pile of books that couldn't fit into his overstuffed bag, had just looked politely confused before pretending to be distracted by Mary and Dorcas waving. Remus was under the impression that the other girls didn't get along any better with him than the rest of his own friends did.
The last time Snape spotted him as he came into the library, Snape had even stood to immediately leave, much to the confusion of Evans' who'd clearly expected he'd be there longer, but that suited Remus just fine.
While studying together, Remus was happy to learn more about his fellow Gryffindors.
Marlene, for example, was from several generations of magical parents, but the McKinnons weren't considered 'true' purebloods by the other families because they had a muggle surname and muggle-born great-grandparents.
She'd mentioned that her dad worked for the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad under the ministry, which meant she had plenty of stories of interesting situations he found himself in, such as the time her dad had to save an older muggle who'd been Engorgio-ed by a muggle-born child while playing Father Christmas at a muggle parade.
"So there Dad is, standing in the middle of the street with thirty muggle children who are screaming and running from this giant Father Christmas, and his partner looks at him and he says, 'I thought it was a big red pack, not a big red sack!'" she told them, to plenty of giggles from the girls and he and Peter who he'd convinced to come along.
The younger boy still seemed a bit intimidated by them, becoming rather flustered and stuttery, so Remus took pity on him, as he always did, and made it a point to find segways for Peter to join the conversation instead of sitting quietly and blushing when anyone addressed him.
"Oh, that's terrible!" Mary chuckled, wiping a tear.
"I'm glad he isn't in too much danger there. Mum says all the departments are stretched thin right now," said Dorcas.
Her parents worked at the ministry too so they heard a lot of gossip about what was going on behind the scenes. There was a lot of dark activity that had been building up within the last few years, with sporadic attacks that the ministry was attempting to prevent, but they didn't want the public to know just how bad it'd been getting. Dorcas said her mother was hearing rumours of another Dark Wizard on the rise and recruiting from abroad.
"Well, he wanted to be an auror, but Mum didn't want him going off and getting himself hurt, not when baby Calum was just born, so this was their compromise since he hates being in the office all day," Marlene replied with a roll of her eyes. Calum was her baby brother who'd turned four last year, and she apparently complained about him often due to, ever since he'd been born it felt that her parents had quite forgotten her.
"Ignore her grumbling, she dotes on him as much as they do!" Mary whispered behind her hand before Marlene threw an uninked quill at her, while Dorcas rolled her eyes at their antics.
Dorcas' was a family of half-bloods– Her father worked in the Portkey Office, while her mother worked at the Department of International Magical Co-operation office, which was an apparently much less glamorous job than it sounded, but with her dad's work she also got to travel quite a bit depending on his assignments.
"Last summer we went to Greece as Dad had to set up a portkey network for a group of magi-archaeologists. They were excavating a site called the Tomb of Judgement! We couldn't go in of course, but we went to Athens and saw The Parthenon and Erechtheion and other tombs!" she said, eyes brightening when she talked about meeting the curse-breaker team sent to make sure the tombs wouldn't hurt the archaeologists.
Remus, Mary, and Peter all sighed, wishing they got to travel.
Remus' father used to roam the globe hunting down problematic spirits and apparitions back in the day and had shared many stories, and Remus thought he would love to see the subjects of his books in person. Instead, he used to settle for romping through the woods at home, pretending to be an adventurer looking for treasure or lost cities until his mum would call him back in.
Peter said his mum was too much of a homebody to travel much when Remus asked, although he mumbled about his dad taking him camping when he was younger.
Mary's said that her dad and brothers were always busy with work. Her dad was a shipyard rigger back in Aberdeen, and she had three older brothers who were all incredibly jealous that she was the only witch in the family. But as she was the baby girl of the family, she got along with them well enough, really, which was why she didn't seem to mind Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter's noisemaking as much as Evans.
Evans, Remus still hadn't gotten to know very well as she was there less often, and the few times she'd joined them she'd made comments to the effect that she mainly came to the library because it was so hard to study in the common room with everyone being so loud.
"Especially Potter!" she muttered, green eyes turning acidic over her Defense essay, but Dorcas and Mary had shared a knowing smile behind her head, before devolving into giggles, causing Evans to start hissing at them before Madam Pince could come lurking.
"Don't mind Lily," Dorcas told them as they left the library when Evans hung back to finish her own work. "She's just been grouchy about Snape not showing up when he was supposed to of late."
"Really?" Remus was curious if they knew more about the Slytherin's strange behaviour, but Dorcas just shrugged. "Is something going on with them?"
She shrugged, "Don't know. I think he's just been spending more time with his housemates."
"Good riddance," Marlene muttered, "Better he sticks with them than with us!"
Dorcas tutted, "Now, now, he's not so bad… According to Lily at least…"
Marlene snorted.
"You're just angry with how he corrected your potions essay," teased Dorcas.
"Of course I am! He wrote in the margins, and I quote, 'Even a troll would have learned to understand the difference between Lorchel and Morchella mushrooms this late in the term, which is why I would score this work as less than Troll!'" Marlene exclaimed in a poor imitation of his snide voice to Remus and Peter's great amusement.
"At least he even agreed to read your essay," Mary said glumly, "Have you noticed? He won't even say one word to me, and I've been nothing but polite since Lily asked us to give him a chance!"
Dorcas and Marlene looked at each other before Dorcas patted her arm, "I-I'm sure there's an explanation for it…"
"I hadn't noticed, sorry, but don't worry. If it makes you feel any better, I'll be happy to write scathing comments about how you're too much of a dunderhead to pass potions," joked Marlene.
"You may have to add me in too," sighed Remus, "It's completely lost on me."
"Well, you know who could tutor you better? Lily! I'm sure she wouldn't mind since her 'Best friend,' isn't skulking around!" Marlene sneered.
Remus hummed neutrally before he and Peter split off to drop their things off in their room.
After that, Remus did become more aware of Evans and her predicament. He noticed when she'd start scanning the Great Hall at lunch or dinner for their Slytherin classmate or sometimes sitting alone in the library, looking up hopefully whenever someone came in, only to be disappointed when it wasn't who she was looking for.
Despite each of their respective reservations on the subject of their groups of peers, he was starting to feel a bit sorry for her. Without the other girls around she just looked… lonely.
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