The quidditch tryouts took place that Friday. James, the captain, had to act impartial but of course Sirius made beater, Remus keeper, and Peter had to be politely told his talents better served him off the field. He couldn't have expected different, as he'd never made the team in all of his seven years at Hogwarts. Peter was smaller, slower, and not as physically apt as his companions.
"Sorry, Mate," James told him in earnest as they walked off of the field. "I had to give the last chaser to Audrey. She scored six against your four."
"I get it," Peter replied. "Water under the bridge."
He remained in low spirits the rest of the afternoon as the other three sat in the common room discussing the results. It had to hurt, in his seventh year, to know he would never contribute to the victory or defeat of his house.
"We need to make a practice schedule," James said. "Remus do you have the moon charts ready?"
A stone sank to the pit of Remus's stomach. "Not yet," he replied. "Just make the schedule how you want and I'll work around it."
"We can wait until tomorrow."
"Don't put it off on my account."
He hated asking the others to modify their plans to accommodate him. It was only a matter of time before they woke up and decided his friendship wasn't worth the hassle. His mood fell to the gutter with Peter's and his demeanor must have shown it.
"Cheer up you two," Sirius told them. "Defense tomorrow. We'll see if Kresnik can handle us."
"Right, dueling," James said.
That perked Peter up. He was a decent dueler.
"Who do you think you'll get paired with this year?" Sirius asked.
"Hopefully not Lily," James answered. "She can't stand losing."
"Good thing she never does against you," Peter chuckled.
James threw a pillow at him.
"Too bad Bellatrix is a fifth year. I'd sure love to knock some sense into her," Sirius sneered.
"Speaking of which," Remus said. "I've seen Regulus hanging around her and her minions. You might keep an eye out."
"Reg is a good kid," Sirius replied. "Easily swayed, but good. I think he'll come around soon enough."
"Let's hope so."
"What do we say to Wednesdays for practice?" James suggested, making a note on his chart.
They agreed. James asked if the rest wanted to go back out onto the field to make the most of the sunshine but Remus declined. Instead, he gathered his parchment and quill and made for the library to calculate the moons, watching the beautiful afternoon slip away as he started his most dreaded task.
The Slytherins' attention towards Emmaline did not wane like she had hoped. Defense Against the Dark Arts together made her a sitting duck and they chose that as their moment to hunt. One class she arrived to a defiled rosary on her desk. The others laughed as she swept into her bag for hiding.
"Good morning," Professor Kresnik called, silencing their glee. "Today we will discuss afflictions that affect witches and wizards. Not all dark creatures live in forests or lakes or mountains. Some walk the streets among us every day, hiding in plain sight. Lycanthropy, for instance, only manifests during a full moon. The disease is passed from monster to person via bite by one who is in wolf form, then the victim develops the same symptoms as their attacker. There is presently no cure or remedy to undo a werewolf's bite, so take caution," he warned, looking from face to face.
"Other afflictions take longer to develop. They can be passed from parent to child but remain dormant until that witch or wizard reaches adolescence..."
Another day, after class was over and Emmaline sat for lunch, she found a Bible in her bag. Upon opening it, the pages contained vulgar and violent hand-drawn pictures of the saints. That's when she decided to take action.
She would have liked to ask Professor Kresnik for a recommendation but his stony exterior did not welcome inquiring young minds. He might press why she wanted to know defensive spells so desperately and she would be forced into tattling. Worst of all, if a Slytherin overheard her question, they could use it as ammunition for further harassment.
On a more shameful note, she didn't want to let slip the inattention she'd paid to the subject for the last four years. What if he sent her back a level to repeat the curriculum? Her embarrassment kept her hand down and feet moving as soon as they were dismissed from class, no matter how determined she'd been upon entering to use her voice and speak the request on her mind. She would have to scour the library and catch up on her own, and in the mean time, give Eliza a firm warning.
"You're not to walk anywhere in this castle or on the grounds alone, understood?"
"Why not?" The girl asked.
Emmaline didn't want to frighten her.
"It's easy to get lost and I won't always be there to guide you. Until you learn your way around better, join a group. I don't care if you don't know them; stay with someone in your house. You'll all be going to the same classes anyways."
The Marauders' experience in Defense was quite the opposite. Kresnik noticed their gifts immediately and praised each for their talent, especially Remus.
"You have skills that surpass most of the aurors I work with," he told him.
"Gee," James said when the professor was out of earshot. "Almost makes me feel bad for running him out of town."
"Almost," Sirius answered. He turned to Remus "We're going to have to get you deep into the Forbidden Forest tomorrow night so he can't hear you howl. Something tells me his ear is sharp."
So on the following night at sundown they took the cloak and crept out the doors and far into the woods. It was a nice excuse to push themselves further than they'd explored before. James, Sirius and Peter peeked around the hedges and great stones with curiosity and wonder but to Remus it made the his walk to the gallows stretch even longer.
"How about here?" James asked.
The rest agreed and began removing their clothes.
Remus looked at his friends and their unbroken skin, then at his own chest dotted with scars, and those were just the ones visible. Others had faded and sunk deep into the flesh to remain only in his memory. Quidditch served as a good excuse to give the girls who looked at his wounds with concern. As keeper he didn't need to elaborate on a brutal hit from a bludger, quaffle, or broomstick.
"Ready?" Sirius asked.
They looked to the darkening sky.
"Ready," Remus lied.
The dread was almost worse than the pain. It started in his head and then his stomach, making him want to retch. His heart pumped so forcefully he was surprised his friends couldn't count each beat. They would never understand this feeling. The nerve of Sirius to ask if he was ready! What did any of them know about ready? When the moon rose they would voluntarily transform into cognizant animals and revel the night away. They wouldn't be ripped apart from the inside out and enslaved to a monster. Resentment took hold of him. Why, of all people, did he have to carry this burden? Why couldn't he be like everyone else? It was all his careless father's fault, angering Fenrir Greyback with his foolish remarks!
He scolded himself. That was the wolf talking. He loved his family, even if they saw him as a burden. And his friends...they were the only reason he wanted to be alive. A cynical bloke like him didn't deserve the loyalty they gave every day. Guilt and gratitude to them were the last things he felt before his body split into pieces and his scream chased out any thoughts of tomorrow.
The following week, Emmaline was in the library. It was late. Dinner had come and gone and she should have returned to the common room half an hour prior.
"Practical Defense Volume Three," she read on the spine of a book in front of her. "Perhaps that will do."
She pulled it out and flipped to some of the illustrated pages. They showed steps for wand movements and finger grips. Leaving the book open on the table, she held up her own wand and manipulated her hand to match the picture. She spoke the incantation. It all seemed simple enough, but so did every spell until the time came to use it against a foe.
"What are you doing in the library at this hour?" She heard a boy's voice ask.
It was Remus.
She dropped her hand and closed the book, but he was already approaching.
"Sorry," she said, filing it back on the shelf. "Lost track of time."
He looked at where she had reached and read the title.
"Practical Defense? That's not a required text for your level."
"No. It isn't."
"But you're out late trying to read it."
"You're right. I should have gotten back ages ago. Good night "
As she was walking away she heard him call, "Everything all right?"
"Fine. It's fine. Good night!"
If telling Kresnik about her inadequacies was embarrassing, telling Remus, one of the best duelers in the school, was unthinkable. Yet the next afternoon she did get an opportunity to confide in someone she trusted; someone who already knew she spent far too much time in the greenhouses.
"Professor Sprout," Emmaline murmured. "I'm in trouble."
Sprout was about to pick an apple from the orchard. It was a beautiful autumn day without a cloud in the sky. They were harvesting fruit for the house elves to use in the Halloween feast.
Her professor turned to her with concern. "What sort?"
"My defense mark. It's slipping," she fibbed.
"Is it?"
"I'm struggling to catch up. There are plenty of spell books worth reading but I need to practice. Hands-on. Fine tune."
"That's one subject you can't fall behind on, I'm afraid. Not these days."
"What do you mean?"
Sprout shook her head. "Nevermind."
"So what do you recommend?"
"Isn't it obvious? Speak to Professor Kresnik. The expert. He's a good fellow. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him otherwise."
Emmaline grimaced. "I was hoping you could show me a thing or two."
"Me? I'm an herbalist, not a defense teacher." She smirked. "I like being employed for longer than a year, thank you very much."
Emmaline put down her basket and fanned her face. Her teacher studied her.
"And you best get inside and started sooner rather than later. That fair skin of yours is bound to burn on a day like today. It's getting pinker than a honey crisp."
"I spent too much time in the shop over summer," Emmaline replied, moving her hair away from her neck to cool off. "I haven't gotten used to being in the sun again."
"Don't fret. The season's bound to change soon and you'll have the Scottish clouds to give you cover until April."
She wasn't wrong. Halloween came and went and the days grew short and grey and cold. The nights whipped a chill against the stone walls and windows. Emmaline was in the greenhouse after dinner moving saplings under shelter. Soon, when frost blanketed the countryside, only the long established plants would remain outside.
The door opened and closed and she expected to hear Remus call his usual curfew warning. Instead, Zachary's dark figure stood before her, his wiry black hair framing the sharply angled features of his face.
"Evening," he smiled.
She immediately gripped the wand in her pocket. "What do you want?"
"That's a cold sort of greeting. Why so tense?"
"Are you looking for Professor Sprout?"
"I'm not," he answered. "No, I've noticed this place is a favorite of yours. And that you're often alone."
He took a step in her direction down the row of plants, then stopped, rose a hand, and pushed a pot so that it fell to the floor and shattered.
"Someone could make quite a racket at this hour and no one would hear it."
He took another step and pushed a second pot down. Each time one fell, Emmaline gave a little jump of shock.
"Did you like the pictures I drew you?" He asked.
She could only watch as he approached, lessening the gap between them, and wonder what he intended to do when he arrived.
She withdrew her wand. "Stop."
He grinned.
"Don't come any closer."
He reached for his pocket.
Though her rib cage constricted in panic she braced herself to shout Expelliarmus!
That's when the door opened again.
"Emmaline, curfew!"
When Remus entered the greenhouse he could detect right away that something was terribly wrong. Dirt and pottery littered the floor. Emmaline stood in defensive pose. Zachary turned around and Remus disarmed him, causing his wand to fly up in the air and to his waiting hand.
"What's going on?"
Neither answered right away.
"Emmaline made a mess," Zachary finally replied. "I was offering to clean it up."
Remus looked at Emmaline. She hadn't taken her eyes away from Zachary and still held her wand toward him as if he would attack.
"Get out," he told Zachary.
"I was only trying to help."
"Like hell you were. Leave."
"If you insist."
Zachary approached him.
"My wand, if you please."
"It'll be returned after you've served detention. Tomorrow."
His nostrils flared. Remus waited for him to take a swing, to lash out in the only way left to him. Instead, he released a furious breath and trudged to the door.
When he was gone, Emmaline clenched her stomach with her hand and sat down on a stool. She was gasping for air. Remus approached and knelt in front of her.
"Are you all right?"
She nodded.
"What happened?"
"He came in and...began breaking things," Emmaline huffed. "Said something about no one being able to hear him."
She rested her hands on her knees to steady herself.
"Has he done anything like this before?"
Emmaline looked at him with unease. She rose and approached her bag, rustling the contents within, then pulled out a book and handed it to him. It was a Bible.
"Open it."
He stood and did as she told him. Inside were unspeakable things drawn on the pages.
"He made those and Bellatrix put it in my bag during class."
Remus's rage amplified the more he saw, until he closed the book with a loud crack. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She reached out and took the Bible. Her hands were shaking as she tucked it back in her bag.
"Didn't I say to tell me if the Slytherins gave you trouble?"
"They've always given me some trouble," she shrugged. "Especially Zachary. He hates me more than any of the rest and I don't know why."
Remus didn't believe Zachary felt hatred exactly. It was something far more despicable.
"Lately they've gotten worse. Much worse. I thought I could handle it on my own, but tonight proved me wrong." She watched the floor, kneading the hem of her skirt with her fingers. "I'm pathetic. You can say it. I don't know the first thing about dueling. I probably couldn't disarm a first year."
"Is this why you were reading the defense book in the library?"
She nodded
"You're not pathetic. Even if you knew what you were doing, he's two years older than you and far more experienced. You should have reported it right away."
"If they knew I told, they'd be furious. Then what would they do?"
"How about Eliza? Have they been after her, too?"
"I told her to stay in a group when she's outside of the common room. She's been safe so far."
"That's good advice." He crossed his arms. "Yet here you are, at night, completely alone and open to an attack."
"I didn't-"
"What were you thinking?!"
"I...had work to do."
"Not anymore you don't, at these hours anyways. Until their behavior stops, or you're better able to defend yourself, you're not to come in here alone again."
"But-"
"I'll remove points. I'll give you detention. I don't care what it takes."
"I don't know how to get better!" Emmaline rose to her feet. "I would have done it by now if I could have!"
He'd never heard her raise her voice before.
"I'm sorry," she blurted and sat back down.
"Why didn't you say so?" he asked.
"What good would it do?"
"A great deal, because now I know you need help. And I can give it to you."
She knitted her eyebrows and tilted her head. "You?"
"Yes. I'll tutor you."
It took a moment for her to understand his offer. "You'll show me how?" Her green eyes grew wide and her lips parted as she looked up at him in disbelief. "Really?"
Something about that look dug its way deep into his mind. If she'd asked for all of his worldly possessions just then he might have said yes. He shook himself straight.
"Of course."
"Aren't you busy with quidditch?"
"Not on Tuesday evenings."
"Today's Tuesday."
"It is, but too close to lights out. We'll start in a week."
She stammered and seemed to second guess herself. "I don't know..."
"You can't have plans because you won't be coming here," he said. "Am I right?"
"Apparently I don't," she replied.
"Then Tuesday it is."