Remus, like he had the last time there had been an attack, found that staying busy helped.

He threw himself headfirst into his schoolwork, returning to the level of care and precision that he had achieved in first year—back when he'd been lonely and terrified of losing his place at Hogwarts. He read as much as possible. He worked on his project for hours. He studied Arithmancy and Ancient Runes until his eyesight started going blurry. He even turned down a visit from his friends at one point so that he could work alone (they didn't seem miffed. After all, they had their own "project" to work on, whatever that was).

Remus was out of the Hospital Wing only two days after the transformation, just in time for the evening meeting of Drew's Crew. Remus got there right on time and tried to ignore Max, who was sitting only a few inches away from his feet.

"Today," announced Dilley, "we're going to Hogsmeade to search for that object!"

Evans' mouth dropped open. "You can't mean the one that… that killed… Professor Craff?"

"That's the one!" said Dilley, bouncing up and down. "I couldn't find it on my own, so I want a few other pairs of eyes. I would have invited the older group, but this group is slightly more skilled."

"I knew it," said James smugly. "It's because I'm on the team."

Evans rolled her eyes, but her face was still white. "We could die," she murmured.

"Nope, you couldn't," said Dilley. "Hogsmeade is perfectly safe, and I've obtained permission from Dumbledore. Here's what I think happened, so everybody listen up." Dilley picked up a piece of chalk and started drawing on the blackboard. "The Death Eaters broke into Hogsmeade. That was risky, so they did it for a reason—and that means that they probably killed and mutilated the victims themselves."

"Then why are you convinced that there was a cursed object involved at all?" asked Valencia.

"Max told me," said Dilley immediately. "He's a very clever dog."

Remus looked down at Max, who was sniffing Remus' shoes. "Why is he sniffing me?" Remus asked. "Does he think that I'm the cursed object?"

Dilley shrugged. "I don't know why he's sniffing you. Max can't talk."

"But you said that he told you that there..."

"Never mind that. Anyway. Here's what Max said happened." Dilley resumed his blackboard-drawing with far too much joy for someone who was discussing the gruesome death of a co-worker. "The Death Eaters came into Hogsmeade, undetected. We don't know the identities of the Death Eaters, so they could have been anyone. They wouldn't have needed to break in. They went into some dark, hidden place and put a cursed object on the ground. When someone touched it, the person was Petrified. From there, the Death Eaters only had to murder them."

"Why didn't they just hex them when they came close?" asked Basil.

"Dunno. That's just what Max told me. So, anyway, it's our job to go to Hogsmeade and find whatever cursed those people! Follow me, Drew's Crew!"

Remus sighed, threw his bag over his shoulder, and followed Dilley out into the freezing cold.

The eight of them tramped through Hogsmeade for almost two hours. It was getting dark, but Dilley said that breaking curfew was all right as long as they were with him.

"May we split up?" asked James, who clearly just wanted to run away and look at the racing brooms.

Dilley shook his head vehemently. "Of course not. There were Death Eaters here only a couple of weeks ago. Stay close to the group."

"Oh," said James. "Well, I think the cursed object is in the broomstick shop, or Zonko's, or perhaps Honeydukes…."

"This is not a pleasure trip, Potter! Keep looking. The object is likely small, and it's probably in a place to which not many people go… after all, only two people were killed."

Remus turned to Evans, who was hugging her middle as she walked. "All right, Evans?" Remus asked, only cowering a little under Snape's nasty look.

"I'm fine," she responded. "Only a little… frightened. I mean, I never thought that magic could do things like this. Sev always told me that it was a good thing that I was a witch, and that witches weren't bad, or evil, or..."

Remus shook his head. "It's not witches who are bad. It's people who are bad. I'm sure there are lots of Muggles who would do similar things if they had magical powers."

James tapped Remus' shoulder and beckoned him closer to where he and Sirius had been lagging at the back of the group. Remus cast an apologetic look towards Evans, who was still hugging her middle, and followed James. "What do you want?" he hissed.

"Just to point out the irony of that statement," whispered James. "You're always so self-deprecating, but it's not werewolves who are bad, Moony; it's people who are bad."

"Shut up. It's not the same at all."

"It's exactly the same."

"No, it's not!"

"I'm sure there are lots of humans who would do similar things if they transformed into a wolf every month."

"Well, of course they would. Anyone would. That's the whole point. I am dangerous on a full moon."

"Yeah, but not during the day."

"I never said I was!"

"You act like you are. I reckon you think that you are, somewhere deep down. You're always martyring yourself."

Remus rolled his eyes. "And you're always annoying, but I don't hold it against you."

"Git," chuckled James, punching Remus' arm.

Ahead, Basil started walking more slowly so that he could fall in line with the Marauders, leaving Valencia talking to Evans in the front. "Remus," he said.

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your face? Val and I were wondering."

"Oh," said Remus. "It was nothing, really. Just hit my face against a bedpost, and I bruise more easily because of my disease."

"Good," said Basil, apparently relieved. "Wait. I mean, not good. That's definitely not good. But I… I mean, it looked like something worse."

"It wasn't," Remus assured him. "But it looks kinda cool, doesn't it? Like I got into a fight or something. That's what James says, anyhow."

"Yeah!" said Basil, and James nodded with a smug smile. Basil grinned and lightly punched Remus on the arm. "You're the coolest. By the way, did I tell you about the thing that Val said to me the other day? She said that I had nice hair. Nice hair! Can you believe it? She's falling for me; I can tell!"

Basil rambled about Valencia for a couple more minutes, and Remus listened politely. He knew that he was supposed to be searching for something, but he didn't exactly know what he was searching for. It seemed to him that, if Dilley hadn't found anything, then the search was futile. Dilley was supposed to be the best. How much help were a couple of Hogwarts students going to be?

"How do you know the cursed object hasn't already been moved?" Sirius asked Dilley, cutting off Basil's story about how pretty Valencia's shoes were today.

"Simple," Dilley responded. "No one can move it without getting Petrified. Lupin! Up here with me!"

Remus jumped at the sound of his name. "What?" he said.

"I said get up here with me. Need to tell you something."

Remus cast a terrified glance towards his friends before leaving them behind to join Dilley in the front. "What do you need, Professor?" he asked, twiddling with the thumb of his glove under his sleeve.

Dilley pulled him ahead of the group slightly so that the two of them were out of earshot. "You didn't get a perfect score on the quiz," he said.

"Er," said Remus. "What quiz?"

"The quiz that I used for an entrance exam into Drew's Crew, obviously. Everyone else here scored perfect, but you missed one question. Well, actually, Severus Snape missed a question, too—but Snape's fantastic at magic, and I knew I had to have him on the team. And Basil Huckleby missed a question as well, but he's so interesting, and I wanted him around. Anyway. You missed a question, but I wanted you on the team anyway. Know why?"

"No," said Remus. He was starting to feel horribly inferior—and also a little embarrassed for so much as daring to think that he was on James' and Sirius' level.

Dilley leaned close before telling Remus the answer. "You have some abilities that the rest of us don't have."

Oh, no. Remus' heart sunk so sharply that he felt a bit sick. "Like…?"

"Your heightened senses, for one. That'll be useful."

Right. Of course! Dilley wanted Remus around so that he could be his tracker—his bloodhound. Apparently one dog wasn't enough for Dilley—no, he had to go and make Remus play the part of a dog, too. Remus hadn't minded Drew's Crew all that much up till now… but now he wanted out. He could feel his eyes narrow ever so slightly before he composed himself and returned to a neutral expression.

"That's not all, of course," Dilley said hastily. "Your duelling skills are unmatched, and you know quite a lot about nearly everything. Your quiz score of 24/25 was still quite, quite impressive."

"Thank you," said Remus dully. Yes, he was a decent duellist, but he wasn't nearly good enough to merit such special treatment. No, it was at least partially on the basis of his lycanthropy, and that hurt.

"But here's the thing that'll make you absolutely invaluable," continued Dilley, evidently oblivious to Remus' concerns. "Do you see any frozen animals around here?"

"Er… no, sir."

"Precisely. So if there's an object that freezes whomever touches it, except that "whomever" does not include animals, then it must only include humans… after all, there are birds and rats and bugs all over. That means that you, Lupin, can touch this object without any adverse effects."

"Right," said Remus. Of course. Because Remus was an animal, wasn't that it?

Remus realized that he was being silly. What would Questus say? He would tell Remus that he had an advantage—that it was a fact of life—and that Remus shouldn't act all offended that he was the way he was. This was an advantage. This was good, and Remus was being silly.

So he forced a smile, met Dilley's eyes, and pointed towards an abandoned spot between two buildings. "Have you checked there?" he asked.

Dilley gasped. "DREW'S CREW!" he shouted. "THIS WAY!"

They searched for hours, but ended up having absolutely no luck whatsoever. When the sun set below the buildings, leaving behind the dusky color of almost-night, the Drew's Crew was still fruitlessly searching for something (though they still weren't sure what). No progress had been made.

"Why doesn't Max know?" grumbled James at one point. "If he's so clever, I mean."

"But you don't know yourself," snapped Evans. "Does that mean that you're not clever, either?"

James opened his mouth to retort and then closed it, embarrassed. "Er, you're right. Didn't think of that." And then his face lit up devilishly. "You just called me clever."

"Did not!"

"Yeah, you did. And even if you didn't, that would mean that I'm not clever, therefore my original point still stands and Max is not a clever dog…."

Remus couldn't quite follow James' argument, but it seemed to annoy Evans. She flounced off, Snape trailing behind her like a lost puppy. "You ought to be kinder, Prongs," whispered Remus in James' direction.

James shrugged helplessly. "She started it. She usually does."

Remus thought about that. James was right: Evans usually did, in fact, start it. She was quite hot-tempered. Still… "There's no point in making an enemy," said Remus. "Just because she started it doesn't mean that you have to continue it."

"Fair point, fair point. Though any friend of Snivellus is already an enemy of mine. When d'you think Dilley's letting us go back to Hogwarts, by the way?"

"Dunno."

"Do you know what time it is?" asked Sirius. He'd been diligently kicking a rock as he walked for about ten minutes.

Remus looked down at his wrist, but he wasn't wearing his watch today. "Er, probably around seven-thirty," he decided.

"How do you know that? Is it a werewolf thing? Are you a human clock?"

"Not so loud!" hissed Remus. "No, Sirius. I'm guessing. It's not as if I'm some superhero. I can't do everything. I'm mostly human save for one night a month, you know. Haven't you gotten that already after spending so much time with me, you absolute and utter…"

"Woah!" James held up his hands. "Remus! Where is all this coming from, mate? It was only a question!"

Remus stopped walking. "I'm sorry," he said, and he could feel the anger draining from his body as surely as he could feel the color draining from his face. "I'm… sorry. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, we got that. Did he touch a nerve or something?"

"I'm only… I mean…" Remus sighed. "I'll tell you later. Something Dilley said. I'm on edge, and I'm tired."

James nodded and then grinned. "Must have been something right awful to get you wound up like that. You were talking about werewolves even more loudly than Sirius was—in public! And you were actually angry. You're almost never angry."

Remus was horribly embarrassed. "I'm sorry! He wasn't even that bad. I'm just… I've been being weird lately. I'm sorry."

"No problem. You're allowed to shout at us whenever you want. Goodness knows Sirius does it plenty."

"Oi," said Sirius, slugging James on the shoulder. "But he's right, Moony. We don't care a bit."

"I care," insisted Remus. "I'm… not allowed to get like that. There are certain… stereotypes." Remus was being very, very careful not to mention werewolves again. He hadn't realized that he'd been talking loudly. After all, Remus was a werewolf with senses far beyond those of humans, so his perception of what humans could hear was terrible. But he was usually too quiet, not too loud… oh, he'd only wanted to get the point across. He'd made a mistake, and he wasn't going to make it again.

"You're allowed to do anything you want," argued James, slinging an arm around Remus' shoulder, "because, like you said, you're not some superhero. Everyone gets angry, Moony, including you. It's fine."

"But it really was an honest question and you were bang out of order," Sirius added.

Remus laughed. "Fine, fine," he said, though he was still embarrassed.

Fortunately, his embarrassment was interrupted by a triumphant cry coming from his left. "I found something!" shouted Basil. "Val and I did, I mean! We actually found something!"

"Don't touch it!" shouted Dilley.

Remus gritted his teeth. Of course Basil couldn't touch it. No, that was Remus' job.

Dilley sprinted in Basil's direction, and the rest of them followed. Remus lagged behind a bit with Severus Snape, who didn't particularly look like the type of person who ran for fun. Sirius and James, predictably, were at the front of the line.

Basil was in a small alleyway between the Quidditch shop and some tea shop that Remus had never seen before. He was pointing to a small hairbrush on the ground. "I think this is it!" said Basil excitedly. "It looks new, but no one walks in here. It's a tight fit. Who would have dropped it?"

"Yes, good work!" said Dilley. "That looks like it's it, all right. Well done, Drew's Crew!"

"Wait," said James, looking sheepish. "That's not the cursed item. That's… er, that's mine."

Everyone's heads swiveled in perfect unison to stare at James. "What?" asked Evans. "That's a giant pink hairbrush, and you've never brushed your hair a day in your life."

"I've been trying to Conjure large items, but all I can muster is a hairbrush. That exact hairbrush, I mean. Last time I was in Hogsmeade, I was practicing, and I… well, you know how much time I spend in the Quidditch shop."

"The only thing you can Conjure is a hairbrush?" repeated Valencia.

"I can Conjure more! But when I'm trying to Conjure big, advanced items, it always reverts to a hairbrush. I don't know why."

"I told him that perhaps the universe was trying to tell him something," said Sirius helpfully. "Seeing as James has never brushed his hair a day in his life."

"I do!"

"You comb your hair upwards," muttered Remus. "You use the comb to tangle it up even more."

James crossed his arms huffily. "It's the style," he insisted.

"Yeah? I don't see anyone else wearing it, do you?"

"Because it's my personal style, Moo—"

Dilley clapped his hands once. "Stop arguing!" he said. "Look, Drew's Crew, I'm gonna need you to focus. James, pick up that hairbrush and get rid of it. Let's keep searching."

"It's getting dark, though," Snape pointed out.

"I don't care! Keep searching! We need to make sure that no one else is affected by the object!"

Remus sighed and began the long trek to the other side of Hogsmeade, where they would start searching again from the top.

It was about ten o'clock when they finally stumbled across something. Well, Remus did. And it was far more unpleasant than anything they could have expected.

They had begun wandering inside of the shops, and they'd started in the number-chart shop. Remus hadn't even known that it existed, but here it was in all its glory: rows and rows of shiny, laminated number charts, lining the walls and in cabinets and neatly labeled. Remus had never been inside this shop before, and he was eager to see if they had anything on werewolves. It would be wonderful research for his project.

They'd only taken a few steps into the shop, however, when Remus noticed a very familiar scent.

"Professor Dilley," he said urgently, yanking on Dilley's sleeve. Dilley, who had been rifling through a few charts, turned around.

"Lupin? Something wrong?"

"Yes," said Remus emphatically. "There's… right around that way, through the door, probably… blood."

Dilley gaped. He turned to face the door. "Are you sure?" he whispered.

"Yes, sir. I don't know why Max didn't notice."

"Max doesn't have your senses," said Dilley dismissively.

"But… but he's a dog, isn't he?"

"Yes, and a clever one, too. Anyway. Follow me, Drew's Crew!"

Remus followed, even though dread was gnawing at his stomach. It didn't make sense that Craff would have been in here. How had the Death Eaters lured her to the small room? Had she gone herself? And, more importantly, what was down there that smelt so strongly of blood?

A worker came across Dilley and his assistants trying to open the door, interrupting Remus' thoughts. "What are you doing?" the worker asked, wrinkling his nose. "That's only storage, that is."

"Curse-breaking!" announced Dilley. "Very important business. We come from Hogwarts. And this is Max. He's a very clever dog."

"A very clever dog?" asked the worker. "Well, in that case. Go on in."

He unlocked the door for Dilley… Dilley opened it… Remus squinted at the door, expected to see some horrid, awful sight….

But it was only a long corridor. "Off we go, Drew's Crew!" Dilley said, and they set down the dark corridor in silence.

Remus could hear their hearts beating. He felt a hand slip into his own, and he jumped—only to see Sirius standing next to him. Sirius immediately let go of Remus' hand. "Sorry," Sirius said. "Thought you were James."

"I should warn you, Sirius, that the scent of blood is completely overpowering," said Remus. "You may want to close your eyes or something when we get closer."

Sirius was looking green, even in the dark. "Gotta get used to it," he mumbled, and then he walked in the opposite direction—presumably in search of James.

They walked in silence for a bit, and then Dilley moved closer to Remus. "Which door?" he whispered.

"Oh," said Remus, who had forgotten that not everybody else knew from which door the horrible stench of blood was emerging. "Right. On the end."

A few more seconds (that felt like a few hours), and they had finally reached the door on the end. To Remus' surprise, Dilley would not let them enter. "Max will watch you," he insisted. "I'm going in alone. Be good."

And so they waited, huddled in their group, as Dilley entered the room.

Time seemed to move in slow motion. Even though they were only standing out there for about a minute and a half, it felt like hours upon hours. Remus wondered if the room had some sort of magic that made the time move slower… but no, that was ridiculous.

They waited.

They did not speak. Somehow, it felt as if something was waiting in the darkness to reach out and grab the first one to make a noise, even though Remus knew that there was nothing there.

Remus could hear heartbeats and ragged breathing… and then, all at once, he heard the door open. "Oi, Lupin," said Dilley. "Need your help."

"Mine?" asked Remus tentatively.

"Yes. Yours. Come on."

Remus followed Dilley into the room, and the door shut behind them, and the air was so thick with blood that Remus nearly choked. "I assume you're not squeamish?" said Dilley.

"No," said Remus, but his voice wavered a bit. He hoped that Dilley had not noticed. He tried to see, but the door was airtight, and even Remus' werewolf night-vision could not adjust that quickly to the all-consuming darkness.

"I must warn you that it is rather gruesome," said Dilley.

"I figured."

"Fair enough." With that, Dilley lit up his wand, and Remus could see what he was talking about.

The walls were positively painted in blood. It was dried, but it still seemed to be dripping down the walls in thin streaks—covering the door—in large puddles on the floor. Remus wondered exactly how many people had died in order to create the gory display.

The most striking thing of all, however, was that the blood was not randomly splashed around the room—no, it spelled out a word. A name. Indeed, the name VOLDEMORT was spelled across the walls in all capital letters, wrapped around the room like Francine the Bowtruckle had sometimes wrapped her fingers around Remus' own while she was being fed.

To top it all off, there were four snakes crawling around on the floor. "They're not deadly," said Dilley, following Remus' gaze. "Wouldn't get too close if I were you, though."

Remus wasn't afraid of snakes (he had, after all, already been bitten by a far worse animal). He looked back up at the letters on the walls. "What…?" he said, but his throat suddenly closed up and he couldn't say anything else. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What do you need me to do, Professor? And what happened?"

"I'm thinking that it's the book that's cursed," said Dilley, and he pointed to a book on the floor. Remus hadn't even noticed it. "It won't hurt you. I've already touched a snake to it to test my theory, and the snake is fine. Go on, pick it up."

Remus didn't. "What will we tell everyone else? It doesn't make sense that you'd need me to help you carry a book."

"I came prepared." Dilley pulled two bundles of knick-knacks out of his pocket. "I'll just say that I needed an extra pair of hands to carry all of the cursed items. Go on."

Remus hesitantly started moving towards the book, and then, before he could change his mind, he picked it up in one fell swoop.

Nothing happened.

That was it, then.

Remus inspected it closely. "It doesn't look dangerous," he mused.

"That's exactly why it is!" cried Dilley. "Now, follow me—and don't let anyone else touch that book!"

"May I open it?"

"NO! Don't risk anything else. Just follow me."

As they walked back to the castle (after alerting the shop-owners of the room, who immediately called a swath of Aurors), Dilley talked their ears off. "I'm assuming that the victims stumbled across that room, for whatever reason, and touched something they shouldn't have. They were then paralyzed, and Death Eaters came to collect the paralyzed persons and then killed them."

"How do you know that they didn't die immediately after touching the item?" asked James.

"Max told me. Isn't that right, Max? He's a very clever dog."

Max snuffled.

"How come you asked Remus to help you and not any of us?" asked Sirius. "I can carry the book for a while if you want. To help out."

"No," said Remus. "I assume he asked me because I was closest. And I… also know a lot about books." Remus cringed. It had been a stupid lie, but he hadn't known what to say.

"Too right," said Dilley. "You're also the only one who hasn't complained yet. I thought I'd repay you with a fun little task."

"Yeah, fun," repeated Remus, and Sirius chortled.

Once they were back in the castle and the book was safely contained with Professor Dumbledore, Remus lied awake in his bed for hours and thought of the war.

He couldn't stop thinking about it.

And the next day, when news of the Room had spread to the Prophet—to the students—to their families—to the world—Remus could only think of how terrifying the world in which he lived truly was. The future looked bleak, and Remus wasn't even sure he would live to see it, at this rate.

AN: Yesterday was March tenth, so happy late birthday, Remus Lupin! Not the greatest chapter to celebrate a birthday, but oh well :)