Welcome one, welcome all, to the third installment of my series! If you haven't read the other two, I highly recommend starting with either Of Marauders and Monsters (the first installment) or Of Meditation and Revelations (the second installment). Out of all the books in this series, this one will be the one that builds off of the others the most. If you've read Meditation and Revelations, you know exactly why that is: something very horrible and jarring happens at the end of it that Remus must continue to process throughout his third year.
If you'd rather not start with the first or second installment, then I suppose I can't stop you. Here's the run-down (both for new readers and old readers, who may have forgotten the overarching plot after 790,000 words). Warning: major spoilers ahead! This is your final chance to turn back and appreciate the mystery/plot twist in Year Two to its full, intended effect!
No? All right, then!
Remus Lupin, a book-loving poetry enthusiast with a pet toad named Bufo, was bitten by a werewolf at a young age, and he spent six and a half years quarantined in his home with only his parents for company. But lo and behold, Albus Dumbledore personally invites him to Hogwarts, where he meets friends, gets into trouble, and spends many days in the Hospital Wing with the wonderful Madam Pomfrey. It's a bit difficult to endure the prejudice—much of the Hogwarts staff are less than enthused about a werewolf at Hogwarts—but Remus is (in his own humble opinion) ridiculously mature about the whole thing.
He meets a grumpy child-hating professor named John Questus, a snarky former Auror who is intensely curious about Remus' affliction and becomes Remus' biggest mentor. At the end of Remus' first year, he resigns his teaching position to rejoin the Auror force.
Something terrible occurs at the start of the summer, and the now-horribly-injured Professor Questus must resign once more and find somewhere quiet to live. He accidentally moves directly next to Remus' house, where the two of them talk of all things from philosophy to shared experiences with chronic illness. They write each other letters over the school year, which is complicated further by Remus' friends (who find out that Remus is a werewolf!).
At the end of Remus' second year, he is informed that the Death Eaters have set fire to the town next to his house, and the mostly-beloved Professor Questus (along with fifty-eight residents) have tragically perished. It's revealed that Questus' "injury" was actually a lycanthropy infection which he'd kept hidden from Remus for months, but Remus doesn't know that yet.
On a happy note, Remus' friends are now in the process of becoming Animagi (which, again, Remus does not know about), and they've already learned to cast Patronuses, which indicates what form they will take. They've christened themselves with very familiar nicknames based on those forms, which Remus is less than enthused about.
Third year starts with Remus moving to a new home, dealing with grief and uncertainty. Get ready for a wild ride, my friends.
Remus set his bag down with a small thunk and surveyed the new house.
It was small: something of a cottage, really, and much smaller than their last home. It was only one floor, which was all right with Remus. After all, climbing stairs could be near impossible after a full moon. There were three bedrooms, which was absolutely perfect. One for his mother and father, one for Remus, and one to be turned into a study for Remus' father.
There were plenty of windows. There was a cozy sitting room with a coffee table. There was a nice kitchen. There was also an engraving of a snake on the doorknob (Remus' father said that the past owner must have supported the Sligo Snakes, which was apparently quite the popular Irish Quidditch team back in the day).
There was no view of a town that lit up on Christmas and was always bustling with people. There was no Grindylow pond. There was no Professor Questus. Remus' old house had once boasted all of these things, but this house did not.
Remus had expected that.
"Go on and pick out your room, then," said Remus' father, clearly trying to sound much more excited than he was. "I'd suggest the one closest to the door. It's biggest, I think. Your mother and I don't mind taking the second room down—it's the second biggest. After all…." Remus' father trailed off slightly, but he continued anyway. "You'll be spending quite a bit of time in your room after full moons while you heal, won't you?"
Remus smiled at his father's frankness before poking his head into the first room. Thanks to Professor Questus' guidance (who was the very definition of blunt), the Lupins were getting braver when it came to sensitive subjects. It was too bad that Questus wasn't around to see this; when he'd died, Remus' parents still tended to step around the word 'werewolf' whenever possible, which Questus had hated.
The first room was nice, Remus supposed. It was very empty, but that was to be expected. The walls were a dark shade of green. There was an odd sort of skylight instead of a window. There was a mousehole, but Remus couldn't hear a mouse.
Remus wandered to the sitting room, where his father was trying to dust off the coffee table. "Is this a wizarding house?" he asked.
"Yes. Wizarding all the way. There might be some traces of magic still here—though it's been abandoned for years, so I wouldn't count on it. Just be careful, and call me if anything looks suspicious."
Remus nodded and explored the second bedroom, which was just the same as the first—nice, but nothing like his old one. Did he even want his new room to be the same as his old one? Remus wasn't sure, actually. Maybe he wanted it to be completely different.
He entered the third room, which was the smallest, and started trailing his hand against the dusty walls….
Wait a moment.
Something wasn't right.
Remus' hand stopped over a part of the wall hesitantly. Remus' lycanthropy gave him enhanced senses (a blessing, but mostly a curse), and he was certain that there was something different about this area of the wall. The sound was… darker, almost… hollower… like there was something there.
Remus might have been a vicious werewolf capable of tearing a human skeleton apart in seconds, but he was also a thirteen-year-old boy. "I'm taking the third room," he called to his parents.
"What?" said his father.
Remus sighed and raised his voice a bit. "I'm taking the third room!" he shouted. "The third! Room!"
"But it's the smallest!"
"I don't care!"
"Remus, there's a giant window!"
Remus gazed at the window that took up nearly the entire wall. Eight years ago, a werewolf had emerged through Remus' window and attacked him in his sleep. He was sort of afraid of sleeping next to windows now, and he knew that he couldn't possibly cover up that monster of a glass barrier with a bookshelf like he had in his old home. "I don't care!" he shouted. "I'm going to have to get used to it at some point! Besides, my Hogwarts bed is next to a window. I'll be fine!"
After what seemed like forever, Remus' father finally responded. "Fine," he said. "Go ahead. Let me know if you ever want to switch rooms."
Remus watched excitedly as his father levitated some furniture into Remus' room, grew the furniture to its normal size with an Engorging Charm, and cleaned the walls with some sort of complicated-looking dusting charm. As soon as he left, Remus flopped backwards on his bed and started smiling ear-to-ear.
Remus' room had a secret passageway, and this was going to be an interesting year indeed.
Remus pulled out the magic mirror and held it up to his face. "Helloooo," he said, and James and Sirius appeared in the mirror in a couple of seconds flat.
"Remus!" said James. "My mum just made peach cobbler, and Sirius and me stole the entire thing. We're eating it in my room. Look." The mirror haphazardly angled itself towards a half-eaten container of peach cobbler. "It's delicious, and Mum is going to be so angry."
"Jealous?" said Sirius.
Remus shrugged. "Not particularly, seeing as there's a secret passageway in my new room."
"WHAT?!" Sirius' and James' faces appeared back into the mirror, and they both looked absolutely stunned. "No way! Really? A secret passageway? What's in it? What does it lead to? How big is it? Is it magic?"
"I don't know," said Remus, laughing. "I can just hear that there's a hollow space behind the wall when I knock on it. Listen." He rapped his knuckle against the normal wall next to his headboard, and then did the same to the portion of the wall on the other side of the room. "You hear it? The second time was definitely hollower."
"I didn't hear a thing, Superwolf," said Sirius; Remus rolled his eyes, and Sirius grinned. "Are you sure it's just… I dunno… the layout of the house?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. No, look. I thought about this." Remus exited his room and ran into the sitting room, still holding the mirror. "Mum, I'm gonna show James and Sirius our house. I'm going outside."
"Have fun, sweetie," said Remus' mother. "Hello, James and Sirius."
"Hello, Mrs. Lupin!"
"Be safe, Remus. Mind the bog."
"Will do." Remus pulled on his shoes and ran outside, pointing the mirror at the exterior of the house. "See? My room juts out a bit—it's sort of like a very, very small extra house attached to the real house. None of the other rooms do that, so there's already something weird about it."
"That doesn't prove anything," said James.
"Yeah, I know. But look. That area right there is the edge of my room. The exterior is larger than the interior."
"How do you know?"
"Because of that giant window, duh. The wall inside my room is a good couple of feet smaller than the wall outside my room. And also…." Remus knocked all around the exterior of the house. "See? You can hear it. Hence: my room has a secret passageway!" He pointed the mirror back towards him, triumphant. "I'm sure about this, lads."
"If you say so."
Remus gasped. "And! And the ground! I can hear it—my footsteps sounds all hollow, like I'm on the second floor of something—there's something underground! What if… what if there's a tunnel that leads underground? Dad says it's an old wizarding house. Think of the possibilities! There could be anything down there—a Boggart, or pirate's treasure, or the fabled Philosopher's Stone, or…."
"Or a monster!" said James. Sirius still looked skeptical, but James was lit up from the inside-out.
Remus laughed. "Well, if I go down there, then it's going to contain a Dark and dangerous creature no matter what. But yeah! It could be anything! And I'm totally certain that it's underground. The ground sounds so weird… especially here…." Suddenly, Remus stumbled and dropped the mirror.
"Remus!" shouted James. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did the monster get you?"
Remus picked the mirror back up, grinning. "No, I just wanted to mess with you. But the ground really does sound hollow."
"You dog!" said Sirius.
"Guilty as charged, but wolves are technically separate species."
"Very funny," said James. "So… can we come over? Right now? My parents wouldn't mind at all!"
Remus considered. "Er… let me ask my parents," he said, and then he dashed back into the sitting room. "Mum. Dad. Sirius and James want to come over."
"That sounds lovely, if you're up to it. Perhaps in two weeks?"
"No… right now. They want to come over right now."
"Oh. Erm."
"Absolutely not," said Remus' father. "Sorry, boys."
"Why not?" said Remus.
"Go put that mirror back in your room and then we'll talk about it, okay?"
Remus sighed, said goodbye to his friends, and then put the mirror away with a small frown and the tiniest bit of a sulk.
"I didn't expect you to say yes," he said, "but is two weeks still okay?"
"Yes, two weeks is fine, as long as we can get everything unpacked… why don't we take a walk, Remus?"
Remus looked at his father quizzically. "A walk?"
"Yes. I have something to tell you."
"Okay." Remus had been sitting on top of the recently-dusted coffee table, but now he hopped off and followed his father to the front room. "Is Mum coming?"
"No, she'd rather stay here and get some cleaning done."
Remus was automatically suspicious. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"
"Not particularly. Come on." Remus' father held the door open, and Remus followed him down the path. It was very muddy, but Remus and his father managed to avoid most of the puddles.
While he stepped around mud and tried to ignore the slight drizzle of rain, Remus silently begged that there would be no more bad news. He'd had enough bad news to last him a lifetime. "Dad?" he asked. "The suspense is kind of painful."
Remus' father laughed before growing uncharacteristically somber. "Remus," he said, "there are actually two things that I wanted to talk to you about. The first regards your mood lately—"
"What? I've been fine!"
"Yes, yes, I know. Your mother and I get on your case very frequently for seeming 'down', I know. But you've been happier today than I've ever seen you, I think. And I know you like moving days—you always have. I'll never forget the first time we moved: you were still healing from the last full moon, but you still hopped back and forth like Bufo if he'd downed a gallon of Firewhiskey."
Remus nodded. He'd always loved moving. His life, especially before Hogwarts, had been quiet and predictable to the point of depressing. Getting out of the house was never an option—but getting out of one house and into another was. Moving was the only escape he'd ever had, and there was still a certain thrill attached to it.
"Now, I don't want you to misunderstand," said Remus' father. "I'm glad you're happy... so very glad. I'm glad you have friends. I'm elated that they accept you. You have every reason to be happy, especially since the full moon is tomorrow—you'll most certainly need your strength. I'm not sure if we've already told you, but Madam Pomfrey is coming again to check in on you afterwards—"
"Yes, you've told me."
"The point is, Remus: I don't want you to be sad, necessarily… but you have to understand that, even though you haven't fully processed the event—which is fine!—your mother and I aren't doing so well right now."
"Really?"
"I'm afraid it hit me rather hard last night, and you know how your mother's been doing lately," said Remus' father with a sad sort of smile. "It's... horrific, and it's the sort of thing that takes a long time to wrap one's head around." He got a faraway look in his eyes and nearly stepped directly into a mud puddle. "To be frank, Remus, I feel awful. I don't think that I'm quite up to having your friends over for a long time, and I know for a fact that your mother isn't."
"Oh," said Remus. He had, in fact, noticed the lethargy in his father's movements, the sadness behind his eyes, the constant blinking, increased heart rate, and the irregular breathing…. "Well, er, that's fine. I'll see them in September, anyhow."
"Why don't you ask if you can go to James' place?"
"Peter mentioned that he wanted to invite us over, so maybe I'll go there sometime?"
"That sounds wonderful. You deserve to be happy, just… oh, I hate to tell you this, but maybe tone it down just a bit while your mother is around. She doesn't have the energy to match your happiness, and she wants to ever so much."
Remus smiled a little. "That's reasonable. I just… I mean, I'm fine. I know I shouldn't be. I was feeling a bit melancholy earlier today, and yesterday, and a little the day before… but I'm not even… numb anymore. I feel normal. I feel like I've processed it already."
"Could be that you adapt a lot more quickly than your mother and me. Also could be that it's just a very delayed reaction. Grief is a funny thing, and nothing's unheard of."
"I haven't even cried yet. Not even a little bit."
"I don't know what to tell you, Remus. You might, a little later on, or perhaps you won't."
"Hm." Remus kicked a rock, and it splashed into the mud. "What was the other thing you wanted to tell me? You said there were two things."
"Ah. Erm, I don't know how to say this, but…. the cellar is not… as functional as I thought it was. It's falling apart a little. One of the walls is completely broken. It'll take days to fix."
"What? But the full moon is tomorrow! Where will I go? Is our old house still open?" Remus nearly offered to transform in his room, but he worried a little bit about the fragility of whatever secret passageway there was inside. He started to panic slightly.
"Remus, calm down," said his father. "The guest bedroom is a perfectly acceptable place to transform tomorrow."
"But it's… it's too close!" The cellar and Remus' parents had always been separated by at least one flight of stairs, and Remus was most certainly not comfortable transforming so near to them. "Your room is right next to it, Dad, and the walls are thin. You can Soundproof it, but you'll still... I mean, the vibrations and such. The walls are so thin! You'll have to charm every part of that room! And it's not even easy to contain because it's surrounded by other rooms…." And a secret passageway. "Dad, I can't transform there."
His father sighed. "I thought you would say that. And, even though the Ministry offers restraint if absolutely necessary…."
"Dad! I will not transform at the Ministry! I'd rather do it anywhere else! Can't we go back to England? You can just Apparate me there—we won't have to drive. Even if someone's already in our house—I think perhaps Professor Questus' house has a cellar..."
"Remus, if you'll just let me finish. Even though the Ministry offers restraint, I agree that allowing the Ministry to do so would be incredibly stupid. So… right here, through this forest… I came across a shed of sorts. I know it'll be very uncomfortable, and likely very cold. According to your mother's Muggle forecast, the temperature's supposed to drop tomorrow night, and it's probably going to rain. But it's better than the Ministry, isn't it?"
Remus fell silent. "Yes," he whispered.
With a smile, Remus' father grabbed Remus' hand and helped hoist him over a large log. "See it?" he said. "It's just in that clearing."
Remus peered through the trees at the shed. It was small. It looked rather old. There was a sort of tree growing out the window. It didn't look safe, but then again, neither did the Shrieking Shack.
"You can get it charmed by tomorrow?" he asked quietly.
"Of course. It's sturdier than it looks, and with a few charms, it'll keep in a werewolf with no problem."
"Okay. I like it. I mean, I don't like it, but it's better than the Ministry. Or the second bedroom. Or the destroyed cellar. Or Professor Questus' house."
"That's what I thought. Now, getting you back into the house once the full moon is over will be a challenge…."
"The shed is closer to the house than the Hospital Wing is to the Whomping Willow. After all, the Shrieking Shack is all the way in Hogsmeade."
Remus' father had been staring at the shed, but now he looked directly at Remus. "The what?"
"The… the Shrieking Shack. Where I transform. You had to have known; it was in the Prophet and everything…."
"That's where you transform?"
"You didn't know that?"
"No! You and Dumbledore said it was 'an old, abandoned building on the outskirts of Hogsmeade'…. I was thinking something smaller and obscure—like a cottage, perhaps, or… but that one's huge, famous, and said to be haunted!" Remus' father covered his mouth in shock and disbelief. "Wait… the ghost noises. Are those…?"
"It's me."
"Merlin's beard, Remus. I'm so sorry. That must be horribly embarrassing for you."
"I got used to it. Anyway… I'll be fine. And I can go to Peter's house afterwards if he lets me?"
"Of course." Remus' father pulled Remus to his chest and kissed the top of his head—Remus thought that he was far too old for that, but he didn't protest. "I know that the atmosphere in our house is a… a bit of a downer right now. You need an escape, don't you?"
"It's not a downer." Remus thought that perhaps his parents needed an escape more so than he did, actually: he knew that they were trying to keep their composure so as not to disturb their thirteen-year-old son, and it was likely that they needed some time to themselves. "More than a hundred people died. We're allowed to be sad."
There was a thumping noise, and Remus' head whirled around to his father, thinking he had fallen—but no, he was just sitting on a log with his head in his hands. "I'm all right," he said, his words muffled through his hands. "I just need a second."
Remus slowly sat next to his father and wrapped his arm around his neck, and they sat there for twenty minutes before either of them wanted to get up and start the trek back to the house.
It was going to be an interesting year, that was for sure, but Remus suspected that it would be an intensely difficult one as well.
AN: For the newbies—I update every Sunday and Wednesday evening (EST). Everything is already written, so I'm fairly consistent! This will be more than 360,000 words long and about 100 chapters. Here's to another year :)
