The End of Year

When he came to - in the Infirmary - it was to find Petra in the bed next to his and all 6 of the other Gryffindors gathered around looking solemn … and Big Macca at the foot of his bed, breathing fire. He immediately closed his eyes again and pretended to still be unconscious.

'Don't. You. Dare .' Professor McGonagall hissed at him, and regretfully he opened his eyes once more.

She glared around at them all. Lily seemed to be trying to make herself as small as possible and hide behind Mary. Sirius looked like he was on the verge of fainting … Well, he had sailed too close to the wind too many times. He must be looking at expulsion this time for sure.

'So,' she said to them. 'The entire castle is keeping its head down, nose to the grindstone, trying to pass their end of year exams … but not the Gryffindor first years. Oh no! They seem to think pranking and japes and general tomfoolery are the order of the day. Tell me - do none of you wish to return to Hogwarts to study for your second year? Because between rule breaking and academic failure, I really don't see how any of you can possibly expect to return.'

She took a deep breath. 'I have never - never - found myself having to make a decision on whether or not to expel an entire year group!' she barked. 'I have never been more disappointed in, more ashamed of Gryffindors in my life. You are without doubt the worst cohort of children to ever set foot in this castle - and while some of you may be talented, you use those talents to do the very worst things you can imagine. Unless there is some very serious growing up done - in the next five minutes - then you will not be fit to continue to study at this school. You children are lucky enough to have a very rare and precious gift. There is not a child in the muggle world who would not give their left arm to be where you are. You have magic. Power. And yet you use that power to cause harm and destruction and general stupidity. As Gryffindors I expect better of you - I expect you to use the gift you have been given in such a way as to make this school proud.'

She took another deep breath - and glowered around at them all. 'I am removing hundred points from Gryffindor. Each! '

So cowed were they by her anger that they did not even murmur at that - even though that was 800 points, and Gryffindor would now be in negative numbers.

'And - once your exams are over, you will all be in detention every night - weekends too - until the end of term. We will get you scrubbing and cleaning every corner of this castle - and we'll see if we can't get you getting along. There is to be no more of this rivalry. There is to be no more of this pranking. If you do not like each other - and Merlin knows I do not blame you, if that is the case, for I don't like any of you very much right now - then you must learn to avoid each other. But we cannot have a repeat of this all out war. You are supposed to be on the same side. You are supposed to be a team. Now - get through the rest of this week, pass your remaining exams, if you can, and your detention slips will be in the post.'

She swept out of the door.

'Well,' James said, as the door slammed shut behind her. 'At least the boys won.'

Lily buried her fist in his face.

...

The week dragged by. The rest of Gryffindor were not talking to any of them now … Their hourglass was well and truly empty and no matter how many points any of them won, no rubies ever flew down into the lower half. Their deficit was just too great to be undone in the time they had left.

Remus melted another cauldron in his practical Potions exam - though his hiccoughing solution was at least the right colour … sort of. And he knew he hadn't done badly on the paper. He could answer questions about ingredients, he just couldn't chuck them all in a pot and get anything halfway decent.

Sirius and James had done so well on the Switching Spells in their Transfiguration exam that McGonagall had had to hide how impressed she was (she was still determined to be furious).

Astronomy was rescheduled for the Wednesday night - and they all trudged up there once again. And while Remus thought he might have got some of the names of the stars around the Orion constellation wrong (he forgot a whole load and just started naming them after members of Sirius's family … though he was pretty sure there wasn't one called Walburga - but now she was the middle of the belt) he thought he had probably passed.

He knew he had passed Defence against the Dark Arts though. The paper was easy and when he left Professor Tenebris, after performing all the defensive spells she had taught over the year, she actually gave him a wink.

And then, the exams were over - and while the rest of the school flopped around in the sunshine enjoying ice cold pumpkin juice and a well deserved break, the first year Gryffindors started their detentions.

The first two nights they were all polishing the trophies in the trophy rooms - no magic allowed - watched over by Mr. Filch. They left at the end of each night with sore arms and smelling strongly of the foul smelling stuff Filch had them using.

There had been an awkward moment, when Filch had directed Remus to go and buff up a silver cup awarded to one Arthur Weasley for coming second place in a wizard's chess championship … but then Sirius had appeared out of nowhere, and casually offered to do that one for him if he would swap and do Tom Riddle's special services to the school award. 'It's massive,' he shrugged, 'I'm not doing it - you do it.' And he snatched the silver cup off the shelf before Remus even had time to argue … which he wasn't going to.

…

After that they were taken out into the forest by Hagrid and made to help him feed the thestrals …. Which was unnerving because none of them could see them - and Lily shrieked when something invisible stole an apple right out of her hand.

…

Then they were scouring bedpans in the Infirmary - and then they were scouring cauldrons in the dungeon … and then the next night, Slughorn had them disemboweling horned toads. And then Filch had them again - and they were polishing suits of armour and scrubbing clean grimy, old portraits (the subjects of the portraits did not seem too pleased with this - and they winced and hissed as they were cleaned - and afterwards sat there touching their faces, as if the sudden cleanliness left them raw and exposed).

…

Flitwick had them cataloguing his Charms library when it came his turn to have them. And by now - none of it seemed so bad. They were all having rather a lot of fun together every night … and even James had to admit that maybe the girls weren't quite so awful as he had thought.

Professor Sprout made them crawl through all the greenhouses, pulling up any weeds that had sprung up among her magical plants - which turned out to be the most fun yet … And when McGonagall came to collect them at the end of the night, she frowned at their happy faces and declared that from now on detentions would be individual.

'I thought she wanted us to get along!' James complained.

But when their detention timetables came through - and Remus saw that on the night of the full moon he was being sent to the Hospital Wing alone to "practice hospital corners" he gratefully understood what Big Macca had really done.

...

The full moon was on the Monday of the very last week of term, soon their detentions would be over and then the freedom of the summer beckoned … and it was only Sirius and Remus who were not looking forward to the end of the year - though for different reasons.

'Two whole months!' Sirius said gloomily, one night, when they were safely ensconced behind the curtains in Remus's bed and the others were fast asleep. 'I can't bear two months with my family. You will write to me - won't you, Remus?'

'Of course - we'll do the crossword by owl post every day… and you can let me know what's happening with Regulus.'

Sirius snorted and shook his head, 'my mum is gonna flip her lid. But as long as she doesn't work out it was me - I might still get a broomstick when she takes Reg to get his wand. What about you? Do you think you'll get a racing broom?'

'My dad said I could have one. It won't be a good one but …' he bit his lip.

'What?'

'He's selling my mum's car to get the money for it. I don't want my mum's things to be sold - even if it means I can get new stuff … I don't want to go home, when she isn't going to be there.'

Sirius wrapped his arm around him. 'I still say it's not fair. I don't want my mum and I can't get rid of her. And you love your mum and you don't get to have her any more. It's not right.'

…

The detentions continued - now individually - and the night of the full moon came and - as everyone else trudged off to whichever corner of the castle they had been banished to, Remus had his ready-made excuse to disappear off to the Hospital Wing.

As always, he was taken across to the Whomping Willow by Madam Pomfrey - and then he took the hidden passageway (which fortunately none of his friends had ever discovered during their games of roulette) all the way down to the Shrieking Shack.

He went up to the bedroom and took his clothes off and neatly put them away and then got under the covers of the four poster. This time next month he would be locked in a cellar and chained to the wall again … His transformations were much easier, far less cruel and far less humiliating when he was at school - and he felt a twinge of guilt as he wished he could stay here over the summer.

But his dad was home all alone … and Remus couldn't abandon him.

Eventually, the sun sank - and the moon rose - and Remus was lost for the night, tearing his way through the house, howling and screaming and biting at himself.

And the inhabitants of the little village of Hogsmead lay awake in their beds, listening in to the racket.

But the sun rose mercifully early. The wolf was stopped in its tracks. It froze - its limbs went stiff, it shuddered and shook - and then it began to shrink, and its fur receded beneath skin - and its paws uncurled and became hands and feet. And Remus was unconscious and face down on the floor - where he woke up an hour or so later and scurried off to find his clothes before Madam Pomfrey came for him.

He slept for the rest of the day, and left the Infirmary on Wednesday morning - when the rest of the school would already be in class.

As he made his way through the deserted corridors - he suddenly heard a door creak open - as if by itself. He frowned and peered down the hallway to see what had caused it. But, seeing nothing, he continued on his way. The creak came again. He stopped again - and looked around.

There was a door hanging open just down a small offshoot of the Charms corridor. He went to go and have a look. He peered around the open door - and saw an empty classroom - but the door at the other end was hanging ajar, and when he looked at it - it creaked open a little wider as well.

Frowning even deeper, he crossed to that door, saw yet another empty classroom and yet another door hanging open. This one swung wide open when he appeared - as if inviting him in - and he went across to it.

The next room was not empty. There was a tall figure standing by the window, looking out over the grounds. And, when Remus's eyes adjusted, he realised it was none other than Professor Dumbledore, himself.

'Oh, Professor, I'm sorry - I didn't mean to…' he began to back away.

But the headmaster turned - and smiled at him genially. 'Ah - Mr. Lupin, isn't it?'

Remus nodded.

'Coming to the end of your first year at Hogwarts.'

'Yes.'

'And how have you found it?'

'Good - great.'

'Did you learn much?'

'A bit.'

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind their spectacles. 'A bit … well - that's something at least. And you have made friends?'

Remus grinned. 'Yeah.'

'Wonderful … there is little in life as important as friendship. Unless it is family… I was sorry to hear about your mother. Truly sorry. I knew Hope, she was a wonderful woman.'

'Thank you.'

'And now you must go home - and see all those familiar places where she used to be. Are you afraid?'

He swallowed - and nodded his head. 'Yes.'

'I don't blame you. It is a pain you cannot understand until you experience it - the loss of a loved one; living with the shadow of them, walking the same halls, seeing the empty rooms, feeling their loss all the more keenly every time you expect them to be there … and then they are not. But in time you learn you do not need to look, do not need to fear not finding them.'

He smiled sadly. 'Those we love never truly leave us, you know. And you will learn soon enough that your mother lives in you. You do not need to look for her - for she is everywhere you go - she is in everything you see - every birdsong and flower in spring. Love, you see … love is the one thing that can never be destroyed. Not even by death. It is a magic beyond anything we teach here - and it is a magic which your mother, muggle though she was, had in spades.'

Remus sniffed and surreptitiously wiped his eyes.

'Still,' Dumbledore smiled at him more cheerfully and his eyes twinkled again. 'I'm sure you have a class you are supposed to be in. There is still time for you and Mr. Black and Mr. Potter to get into more trouble before the end of term. You do not want to waste a single opportunity.'

'Er - no.' He wasn't sure if Dumbledore was joking or not.

'Run along then.' He turned to go. 'Oh - and Mr. Lupin?' Dumbledore called after him. He stopped and looked back. 'I am very glad you have managed to be happy with us.'

Remus nodded - and hurried away - and it was only as he got back to the Charms corridor that it occurred to him that the headmaster had lured him to that room with the creaky doors just so he could get a chance to talk with him alone.

…

And then - two more days had passed, and the trunks were packed and there was only time left for the end of year feast before they all returned home the next day.

Slytherin had won the Quidditch cup thanks to Ludo Bagman's beating (Alex Wood was very dejected - as this was his final year as well - and he was already speaking of one day having a son, who would follow in his footsteps and succeed where his father had failed in bringing home the Quidditch cup to Gryffindor). And due to their winning the Quidditch cup, they had also won the house cup (though the escapades of the Gryffindor first years had not helped matters - and when the points were read out - minus 246 to Gryffindor - the first years found themselves being pelted with bits of old parchment and chalk by the rest of their house).

Much to James' disgust, therefore, the end of year feast took place under the silver and green banners of Slytherin - and the Slytherin table were unusually loud and jubilant. Unable to take it any more, James chucked a spoon right at Snape's smug git face and smacked him slap bang on his abnormally large nose.

And then the night was over, the morning came and they were all lugging their trunks back to the Hogwarts Express.

The boys found a compartment all to themselves and settled down for a game of exploding snap.

'It feels weird to be going home,' James said. Sirius and Remus glanced at each other but said nothing. 'Still - at least we didn't manage to get ourselves chucked out - though there were some pretty close calls. And next year we'll get up to even more amazing stuff. You'll see.'

After lunch, Sirius brought out the crossword, and he and Remus sat together to fill it out. They were almost back to London by the time they were done - and though neither of them said anything, both were glad to have been distracted for so much of the journey. Both had their own reasons to dread what was waiting for them at home.

But all good things must come to an end - and they pulled into Kings Cross station just as the sun began to set in the west. James saw Remus and Sirius's glum faces, and he put his arms around them - as they headed off the platform. 'Come here, Pete,' he said. Remus held out his arm and wrapped it around Peter's shoulders.

'We' re only going to be away for a couple of months,' James said to them. 'And we've just had the best year of our lives. Next year will even be better - just you wait and see.' And with their arms all tangled up around each other, the four boys made their way through the barrier together and out into the muggle world.

…

The Daily Prophet with the completed crossword lay abandoned on the seat, where Sirius had tossed it aside once he was finished. A short article lay unread, unnoticed and unremarked upon - pointing face up at the ceiling:

Aurors Office Finally Steps In To Investigate Disappearances!

Following on from the five disappearances within a year, and the three further disappearances that have occurred in this month alone, the Auror's office have finally decided it is time to start investigating. 'We will be treating these disappearances as one case,' renowned dark wizard catcher, Alastor Moody, told the Prophet. 'None of them make sense by themselves, and indeed there seems to be little pattern to them. But the fact is - something is making all these witches and wizards disappear. And it is our job to find it and stop it.'

Although it may come as something of a relief to know the Ministry has finally pulled its head from its fundament and has started to take the matter seriously, it is cold comfort when we must face up to the fact that our fears have not proved unfounded. We do not know what became of the eight missing people, we do not know how many more of our little community will go missing in the near future. But what we do know is: something dark is rising in wizarding Britain. And dark times may lay ahead for us all.