Friday, 10th September 1971, 9:30 am

Remus breathed a sigh of relief as he left the Defence classroom. Emhio's imitation of banshee screeching had been unbearable to his sensitive ears. She had stopped ten minutes ago, but his ears were still ringing.

'We're going to grab some food. Pete's hungry again,' Sirius said. Remus turned his attention to him. 'I know you don't like the hall. Will you be alright on your own for a bit?'

'Of course. I need to go to the library and finish some homework, anyway,' Remus lied. He'd finished all his homework the night before, but he did need to be alone to find an opportunity to leave his message in the Great Hall, and they hadn't left his side since Potions the day before.

'Oh. Okay. We'll see you in History then?'

'Sure, and then you can all fall asleep while I take notes,' Remus said.

Sirius barked a laugh. 'Exactly.'

The three boys strolled off towards the Great Hall, and Remus acted like he was heading towards the stairs, but as soon as they were out of sight, he turned around and went outside. He would wait until break was over and the hall was empty, and then sneak in to leave his message. It would only take a minute.

Sitting down on a bench, Remus pulled a book from his bag and settled down to wait. It was nice to get some peace. The company of his dorm mates was pleasant, but he wasn't used to it, and it sometimes grated on him. He was soon engrossed in his book, and the time passed quickly. It wasn't until he noticed a distinct drop in the noise level around him, that he tore himself from the fictional world, looked up and realised that second period had begun.

Remus put away his book and hurried into the entrance hall. The place was deserted, and he approached the doors to the Great Hall, trying to look casual, and cracked them open. Seeing no one inside, he slipped through and closed them behind him with a quiet click.

He decided to leave his message on the wall behind the teacher's table, thinking everyone would be looking in that direction when it all kicked off. So, he climbed up onto the raised stage area and took out his wand.

After setting the timing charm for one minute later than the transfiguration was due to occur, he cast flagrate and moved his wand with precision to form the letters for his message. Satisfied with his work, he watched them fade out of existence to return at the specified time, before sneaking back out into the entrance hall.

When he emerged, he spotted a small group of students congregated around the notice board. They were talking amongst themselves in loud, excited voices and took no notice of him. He waited for them to disperse and then wandered over to take a look. It was a notice about extra-curricular clubs, and Remus read through the list with interest. As much as he despised Potions, he was struggling in the class, and maybe extra practise would help. The Potions club was held on Tuesdays after dinner in the Potions classroom. He decided to check it out the following week. The other club that caught his interest was art. He'd always wanted to learn how to draw. That one was held on Thursday's, after dinner again. He had nothing better to do, so he might as well go.

Decision made, he left the entrance hall and took a slow, meandering walk to History of Magic.

That evening, Sirius was sitting up in his bed with the curtains drawn, writing an essay on fluxweed for Herbology class.

'Bugger it,' he muttered when he pressed too hard and his quill snapped. Reaching around the edge of his bed curtain, he grabbed his bag, pulled it onto the bed and began rummaging around for a replacement. Unable to find one, he pulled all the books and loose bits of parchment out so he could see better and found a lone quill sitting at the bottom.

He started putting everything back into his bag when he picked up a piece of parchment and saw the words, "befriending my dorm mates" written across the top. This wasn't his. It must be Remus'. He had stuffed a lot of his stuff in his bag earlier. He must have missed this when he emptied it out. Feeling incredibly guilty—he knew he shouldn't be doing it, but by Merlin's shaggy beard he was intrigued—he unfolded the parchment and read through the list of pros written in Remus' neat handwriting.

"Having friends would be nice," he read.

Well, he agreed with him on that. Having friends was very nice. Fantastic actually. Quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to him.

"They seem fun."

You're damn right, we're fun, Sirius thought with a grin.

"Sirius would be less suspicious of me."

Sirius frowned. What the fuck did that mean? Was there something to be suspicious of?

"If they did find out, they might be okay with it."

So there was something to be suspicious of. Remus had a secret, and it was something he thought they might reject him for. Sirius felt a potent urge to prove him wrong.

"I stand out more if I'm always alone."

Did he feel a need to hide? What was his secret? It must be something big if he was this intent on keeping it.

Feeling guiltier than ever but unable to stop himself, Sirius read through the cons list.

"They would take more notice of when I'm gone."

That was interesting. It sounded like he expected to be absent often, and that the timing of those absences would be a clue to the content of the secret.

"Less chance of them finding out if we're not friends."

He had given that one a score of five. The secret was so important that he was willing to forgo friendships to keep it. Sirius felt even more guilty now because there was no doubt in his mind, he was going to discover Remus' secret. There had never been anything more important. He would figure it out, and he would not reject him for it.

Sirius finished reading and snorted at the last item on the list. "Would be a distraction from schoolwork." Remus had given that a three! He was such a nerd, Sirius thought with affection.

Sirius pulled out his journal. He was going to make a list of his own. But he wouldn't risk using a sheet of parchment that was so easily misplaced for something so important. He shook his head. What had Remus been thinking? It was lucky Sirius had found it and not some evil Slytherin that would use it against him.

Now, what had he noticed about Remus that might be a clue? He tapped the end of his quill against his chin as he thought, but quickly stopped because it tickled. There was the no-touching thing, but that could be unrelated. He wrote it down anyway, just in case.

Thinking about Remus' list, he checked the dates that Remus had been missing for and jotted them down. If he was going to be absent often, then the teachers must be aware of the secret or he'd never get away with it, Sirius thought. And if they're aware of it, then they must be okay with it, or they wouldn't have let him in the school. What could it be that the teachers are fine with, but others might reject him for? A contagious disease spread through touch? Was there even such a thing? It seemed like it would spread rather fast if there were.

He flicked back through his journal to see if there was anything significant about the two days he'd been gone. Remus had disappeared on the 5th and come back late on the 6th. The 5th was a full moon. He considered that. Could Remus be a werewolf?

He snorted. No. Impossible. Remus was the most un-werewolf-like person he'd ever met. His own mother was more werewolf-like than Remus, vicious and full of spite. No, it must be something else.

He sat there for a while longer but couldn't think of anything else to add to the list, so he put his journal away and continued with his homework. There was plenty of time to come back to the mystery later, and he was determined to figure it out. He would be watching Remus.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and Remus woke at twenty past eight feeling well-rested and energised. It had been five days since the full moon, not to mention five mornings of nutrition potions. He was fully recovered from the ordeal and couldn't remember the last time he had felt this good. Madam Pomfrey must be an angel, he decided.

He pulled back his bed curtain and mumbled a greeting to Sirius, who was sitting up in bed reading something with his quill in hand, as he passed him on his way to the bathroom. James and Peter were still asleep. He showered and dressed in the privacy of the cubicle and returned to the dorm, feeling more awake.

'Morning, mate. You sleep okay?' Sirius asked, his voice low to not wake the other occupants of the room.

'Yeah, really good. You?' Remus said, wandering over to Sirius' bed.

'Yeah, not bad.' Sirius shifted over on the bed to make room for Remus. 'Sit down, we can chat while we wait for the lazy boys to wake up.'

Remus eyed the bed. They were large, much bigger than eleven-year-olds needed. It should be fine, as long as Sirius didn't become too exuberant. But he seemed very conscious of Remus' boundaries. He decided to risk it and sat down next to Sirius, leaning back against the headboard.

'What are you reading?'

Sirius closed the book. 'I wasn't,' he said. 'It's my journal. I was writing and thinking.'

'You keep a journal?' Remus asked, surprised. He didn't seem the type.

Sirius scowled. 'Yeah, why? You going to take the piss? Call me a girl?'

Remus held his hands up in surrender. 'Not at all. I was just surprised. You don't seem like you'd be able to keep still long enough to write anything.'

'Yeah, that's fair,' Sirius said, laughing. 'The thing is, my brain's always thinking, so many different things. Sometimes it gets too much, too full, you know? Writing it down helps.'

'I'm not sure I know what you mean,' Remus said thoughtfully, 'but I can understand why it would help. I'm glad you found something to make it easier.'

They both looked to the other side of the dorm at the sound of movement. 'Wha' 'ime is it?' James' voice called out, slurred and almost incoherent with sleep.

'Half past eight, you lazy git!' Sirius yelled back. 'You getting up or what? I'm hungry.'

'Alright, I'm up,' James said sleepily, still lying in his bed and making no attempt to move.

Sirius rolled out of bed, marched over to James', pulled back the curtain and yanked his duvet from his body.

'Argh!' James shouted. 'Give it back, I'm cold!'

'Nope,' Sirius said. 'I'll give it back when you've had a shower and gotten dressed.'

James leapt out of bed, arms outstretched, towards Sirius, but Sirius was quicker and whipped around, rocketing in the direction of his own bed. Remus yelped and jumped off, backing up into the wall to get out of the way as Sirius launched himself onto the bed and landed with James' quilt beneath him.

'Sorry, Remus!' Sirius called from underneath James, who had leapt on top of him. 'Argh, no tickling, you bastard!'

'No harm done,' Remus said, returning to the safety of his own bed.

'I guess that's the end of sleep time then,' Peter said, appearing from behind his curtains and glaring at the two boys now wrestling on the floor.

'I think we better get used to it, Pete. I reckon there's going to be a lot of this over the next few years,' Remus said, nodding at the pile of thrashing limbs.

'Reckon your right,' Peter said, stepping over them on his way to the bathroom.

When James and Sirius had finished wrestling on the floor of the dorm, and Peter had showered and dressed, they all went downstairs for breakfast, parting ways at the Great Hall, so Remus could continue on to the kitchens alone. Against Remus' better judgement, they arranged to meet back up after the meal and do some more exploring of the school. He still wasn't sure it was a wise move to get close to the boys but, oh, how he wanted to. His desire made it impossible to say no when they asked him to hang out with them.

Remus ate his breakfast quickly, knowing he still needed to cast the spells on the last wash bucket that morning and not wanting to keep the others waiting for too long. It was still over an hour before they were together once more in the entrance hall, discussing where to look.

'Where have you already searched?' Remus asked.

'The astronomy tower, some of the third floor, some of the fifth, a lot of the ground floor,' James said, ticking the places off on his fingers.

'Not very organised,' Remus said, frowning. 'How do you expect to search the whole school like that?'

'What would you suggest?' Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

'I think we need to go back to the dorm and make a plan,' Remus said, looking around. 'There are too many people here to talk about it properly.

They all agreed, and they hurried back to Gryffindor tower. Once they were safely hidden away in their dormitory, they continued their conversation.

'I think we should start by making a list of all the locations and then search them thoroughly one by one, recording what we find,' Remus said.

'Like, all the individual rooms?' Peter asked. 'That'll take ages!'

'No, just the various floors, wings and towers. If we find something, we can specify exactly where in that section it is when we record it.'

'When, my friend, not if,' James said.

Remus smiled at him. 'Sorry, James. When we find something.'

'Much better,' James said. 'It just so happens that I have the perfect thing for the job.'

James rummaged around in his bag for a few seconds and pulled out a pristine notebook filled with expensive, high-quality parchment and bound in black dragonhide. He tossed it across the room so it landed on Remus' bed.

'Merlin, James, this must have cost a fortune,' Remus said, picking up the book and examining it with awe.

'No, just a very small percentage of a fortune,' James said. 'Will it do?'

'Will it do?' Remus repeated, his voice strangled. 'James, this notebook is far too nice to use for something so trivial.'

'Trivial?' James said, looking offended. 'This is the most important task of my school career. It will be my legacy!'

Remus laughed. 'Surely your education is the most important?'

James flapped his hands at Remus' suggestion. 'No. That's just a side note.'

'Alright, we'll use this.' Remus said, opening the book to the first page and stroking it with reverence before pulling out a quill to write with. 'So there's the main building and then the East and West wings, and the five towers, not including Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.'

'Why wouldn't we include them?' James asked.

'Well, I doubt there's anything hidden in the common rooms or dormitories.'

'There could be,' Sirius said.

'Alright, we'll include them. It's going to be hard to search Ravenclaw tower though.'

James grinned. 'Hard, but not impossible. We have an invisibility cloak on our side, remember.'

'That is true,' Remus said, pointing his quill at James. 'So, what have you already found?'

They went through the list of things they'd found, and Remus recorded them in the notebook, giving a separate page to each of the thirty-seven sections they'd identified.

'Now, where do you want to start today?' Remus asked.

'I say we should start at the top and work our way down,' Peter said. 'I think we'll be more tired later in the year and won't want to climb the stairs if we don't have to.'

'That is good thinking, Pete,' Sirius said, and Peter beamed at the praise. 'And, you also don't want to walk all the way back down again, when we just walked up here.'

'Well. Yes. That too,' Peter said, laughing.

'Alright, so we'll search the seventh floor of the main building today then?' Remus said, trying to get them back on topic.

'Sounds good to me,' James said, and the other two nodded.

They left Gryffindor tower and began their exploration of the seventh floor. For most of the day, they found very little. There was a hidden passage behind a tapestry which led from one side of the main building to the other, cutting out the meandering maze of corridors one would normally have to navigate, which would come in handy, but not much else. Not until they started searching the Grand Staircase. It was Peter's suggestion to check the portraits that lined the staircase. Considering the entrance to their own common room was hidden behind one such portrait, it was surprising no one else had thought of it. However, it was Remus that found it in the end, when he struck up a conversation with the portrait of an old man holding a book and smoking a pipe.

'Good afternoon, sir. Is your book interesting?'

The man in the portrait jumped and turned his head to look at Remus, 'Well, hello, young man. And a good afternoon to you too,' he said, looking Remus up and down. 'My book is most interesting, thank you. Do you enjoy reading?'

Remus nodded with enthusiasm. 'Yes, sir. It's my favourite thing to do.'

The man in the portrait smiled. 'Mine too. My name is Silas Persimmon. It's a pleasure to meet you. Few people stop to talk to us portraits. It gets quite lonely sometimes.'

Remus felt a pang of sympathy. He knew what it was like to be lonely. 'I'm sorry to hear that, sir. I'm Remus, and these are my friends, Sirius, James and Peter.'

'Hello all,' Silas said cheerfully, greeting the other three as they came over. 'And what are you four up to today?'

'Good afternoon, sir,' Sirius said, bowing to Silas. 'We are on the hunt for Hogwarts' secrets.'

Silas leaned forward in his chair. As he got closer to the picture plane, his face grew bigger and more detailed. 'Well then, you have come to the right portrait. I happen to know there's something hidden behind the portrait three to my left. It opens when you say, "Congratulations." I've seen it happen by accident a couple of times.'

'Thank you, sir,' Sirius said before dashing off to the portrait Silas had indicated. Remus stayed to talk some more. 'Have you been here long?' he asked.

'Sixty-three years.' He sighed. 'It's not a bad existence. I enjoy watching the students go about their days, but it would be nice if they stopped to talk once in a while.'

'I promise I'll visit you when I can,' Remus said.

Sirius had opened the portrait down the landing and returned breathless. 'There's a door behind it but it's locked. Do you know how to open it, sir?'

'Oh, I am sorry, young man. I have no idea,' Silas said, shaking his head.

'Damn. Okay, thank you anyway. I'm sure we can figure it out,' Sirius said before dashing off again.

'My, that one has a lot of energy,' Silas said with a chuckle.

Remus laughed. 'He never stops. I better go and help, but I will come back and talk to you. I promise.'

'I look forward to it. Have a nice time with your friends. It was a pleasure to meet you, Remus.'

'You too. Bye,' Remus said. He waved goodbye as he turned and walked over to where Sirius, James and Peter were examining the door, wands in hand.

It was made from aged black wood and had a series of runes carved into the surface.

'What have you tried?' Remus asked.

'Tapping them in different orders and combinations,' Sirius said. 'We figure it's a combination lock.'

'Could be,' Remus said. 'Could also be a clue or a password.'

'Any idea what they mean?' James asked.

'No, I'm afraid not,' Remus said, leaning forward for a better look. 'But I could do some research in the library and find out.'

'That would be brilliant,' James said. 'Sounds like a lot of work though. You don't mind?'

Remus shook his head and pulled the notebook from his bag. He leant the book up against the door and copied the runes painstakingly into the notebook as accurately as he could. Excitement fizzed deep in his belly. This was going to be fun.

They hadn't seen much of Remus on Sunday. He had hidden himself away in the library, researching the runes from the door. Sirius was on an emotional high from spending the whole of Saturday with him, though, and knowing he was away doing something for the group made his absence easier to deal with. Remus had returned to the dorm late on Sunday evening saying he had made some progress with the runes but was still unsure of the meaning of one and would need to return to the library to finish. Knowing they had a long day ahead of them as Monday had no free periods, they all went to bed early after an exhausting but productive weekend.

Sirius awoke at six o'clock Monday morning to the darkness of the dormitory. The sun wouldn't rise for another half an hour, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep any longer thanks to his cursed mother. So, he got up and readied himself for the day before lounging on his bed to read while he waited for the others to wake up.

An hour and a half later, they were up, and Sirius, James and Peter were walking into the Great Hall, Remus having parted from them to head to the kitchen. They sat down in a clear spot near one end of the long table and piled their plates with food. James insisted that they both take some fruit too.

They were halfway through their meal when the post arrived in a flurry of wings. A regal-looking screech owl landed in front of him, and Sirius glared at it when it held out its leg with a letter attached.

'Bite me and I'll hex you, you got that?' Sirius said to his mother's owl.

The owl hopped closer and stared back at him with a haughty expression, continuing to hold its leg out. Sirius reached for the letter and untied it, but before he could pull his hand away, the owl bent down and bit his finger hard before taking to the air with an ear-piercing shriek.

'Fuck!' Sirius yelled, snatching his hand back and staring at his bleeding finger. 'Bloody bird.'

He put his bleeding finger into his mouth and sucked at it to ease the pain.

'Guess I'd better see what the old bitch wants,' he said, glaring at the tightly rolled scroll in his hand. He unrolled it and felt a jolt of happiness when he recognised his brother's handwriting. His joy soon gave way to anger though when he read the contents of the letter.

Dear Sirius,

I'm writing this letter at midnight, hiding in your room. I hope you don't mind. I'm sorry for not writing to you sooner, but I'm afraid that when Mother heard of your sorting, she forbade me from writing to you at all. Her reasoning for this is a belief that, even in writing, your "Gryffindor sickness will infect me." It's ridiculous, is it not? Please do not write back or she'll know I've disobeyed her, but I simply could not allow you to think I hated you too.

I hope you are happy in Gryffindor, Sirius.

Your eternally faithful brother,

Regulus

Sirius felt his eyes burning, and, knowing blinking would cause the tears to fall, stared at the words on the parchment with his eyes as wide as he could make them. He would not cry at the dining table with the entire school present. But Merlin, how he hated his mother. He had known it was a risk being sorted into a house other than Slytherin, had known his mother would be furious, but he hadn't expected her to go this far. How dare she try to come between him and Reggie? The only person in the house who ever spoke to him kindly.

The burning in his eyes had moved to his chest now. He no longer wanted to cry, he wanted to rage.

'Hey, you alright mate?' James asked. 'It's just, you look about ready to murder someone.'

Sirius thrust the letter out to James, not willing to speak yet, and James read through it quickly before passing it to Peter and looking back up at him, his eyes full of sympathy.

'Merlin, I'm so sorry,' James said, reaching across the table to pat his hand, which he realised was clenched into a fist. 'Your mum is a complete gorgon, isn't she?'

'At least it sounds like your brother disagrees with her. He's not abandoning you,' Peter said, passing the letter back to Sirius.

Sirius knew they were trying to help, but he couldn't take it. He wanted—no; he needed—to be alone right now.

Abruptly getting to his feet, he tried to communicate this need to his friends.

'I'll see you in Herbology,' he said. James and Peter both nodded, so Sirius assumed they understood what he meant and left the Great Hall, dashing to the closest hidden passage that he knew of and finally letting himself cry. Why was his life so shit?

Half an hour later, they were planting mistletoe seeds in Herbology, and Sirius kept to his own tray, not speaking to his friends during the lesson. But he noticed the worried glances between James and Peter and the concerned expression on Remus' face whenever he glanced up. Transfiguration was harder. Remus had continued to sit next to him in this class, and as much as Sirius didn't want to alienate him, when Remus started bemoaning his perfect needle's bluntness, he snapped.

'Oh, will you shut the fuck up about your pathetic issues? Some of us have actual problems to worry about!' he hissed, slapping his hand on the desk and making Remus jump out of his skin. He instantly regretted the outburst. The expression of hurt and confusion on Remus' face, which moments later melted into understanding resignation, stabbed him through the heart. But he didn't have the strength to calm himself down and repair the damage, not right then. He just couldn't do it, and the guilt only intensified his rage.

Sirius turned away so Remus wouldn't see the regret in his eyes. With a speed born of guilt and grief, shame and anguish, he got to his feet, stormed over to Professor McGonagall's desk and gently placed his perfect silver needle, formerly a matchstick, in front of her.

In his most polite voice, he asked very quietly, 'Professor, may I please be excused? It's a personal matter. I feel I need some time alone.'

Professor McGonagall glanced at the needle on her desk before moving her eyes to Sirius' face and searching it for clues. He got the feeling she could see the entire story written in his eyes. She nodded.

'Thank you,' he breathed, relief flooding him as he escaped the room and fled, looking for somewhere to hide.