FIC: Once in a Blue Moon - Ch 18 (WIP)
Start of the story, including summary, full ratings, warnings, pairings etc. Here
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Invisible (PG)
“What’s it like?” James asked Romulus curiously.
“What’s what like?” Romulus replied, looking across from where he was hovering near one of the windows of Gryffindor Tower.
“Being dead,” James clarified. “Is it cold? Ghosts feel cold to us, but are you cold? How did you die? Was it painful? I can’t see any scars or blood on you, not like the Bloody Baron has.”
“I feel the cold sometimes,” Romulus commented with a shrug. “It seems to depend on the weather.”
James looked disappointed that Romulus hadn’t replied to the rest of his questions, and Sirius felt disappointment too. He knew that Remus hadn’t asked exactly how his brother had died, and neither of them wanted to broach the obviously sensitive subject with the new ghost. Thankfully, James had about as much tact as a manticore, and was nosy as hell.
Unfortunately, no information about Rom’s untimely demise was forthcoming, and Sirius turned back to Remus to demonstrate the cheering charm again. “Your wand movement’s too sharp,” he explained, moving his empty hand in a graceful loop to show what he meant.
Remus nodded and tried to copy the movement, unfortunately all he managed to do was give Peter a healthy dose of the hiccups.
Peter glared at Remus, and reached for the glass of water to take a swallow. It was his third bout of hiccups that evening, and he was now prepared.
“You could just use a spell to get rid of them,” James pointed out.
“Last time he tried that, he lost his voice,” Sirius pointed out.
“As I said, he could just use a spell to get rid of them.” James grinned at Peter teasingly. Peter responded by throwing a pillow at him. Sirius shook his head, amused at the antics of the others, but hesitant to join in with the fun.
He turned back to Remus, who was looking at him thoughtfully. “Can you show me that wand movement again?” he asked sheepishly.
“Sure,” Sirius agreed, taking his wand back and completing the wand movement again.
“You’re doing it wrong?” Romulus interrupted.
“I am?”
“Your second movement should be clockwise, you’re moving your wand counter-clockwise instead.”
Sirius frowned and picked up the textbook again. “Well, that explains why we’re not getting very far,” he mumbled. “Let’s try this again.”
He followed the movements precisely and watched as Remus mirrored his movements with his empty hand.
“Pretty good,” Romulus commented, nodding at the two boys. “Not as smooth as Professor Flitwick of course, but who is?”
“Wish he could show me what to do,” Remus muttered, apologising a moment later, when he realised that Sirius may take his thoughtless comment as an insult.
Sirius shrugged off his apology and looked back to his textbook.
“You could always sneak into class,” James suggested from where he was now lounging on his bed.
“It’s too risky,” Romulus quickly replied. “The teachers will notice an extra student in class.”
“Not necessarily,” James smirked.
“James!” Peter hissed, a worried look coming over his face.
“Stop worrying,” James replied as he hopped down from the bed and opened his trunk. “We’re all friends now, aren’t we?” He looked towards Sirius and Remus questioningly.
Sirius shot a look at Remus from the corner of his eye. He knew that over the last few days his friend had come to trust James a lot more than he had.
Peter, on the other hand, looked as suspicious as Sirius felt. Unlike Peter though, Sirius was also curious as to what it was that James was rummaging around in his trunk for.
Finally the other boy emerged with a triumphant ‘ta-da’.
Sirius wasn’t sure what he was looking so pleased about. The cloak he was displaying so proudly was rather old and tatty looking, and not even remotely stylish.
“It’s a cloak,” Remus said, equally confused.
“Not just any cloak,” James smirked, sweeping it around his shoulders as he spoke.
Sirius gasped as the boy’s body vanished from sight, leaving only his head and feet visible.
“Wow!” Remus breathed.
“You won’t tell anyone I’ve got it?” James asked. “It’s been in the family for years, and my dad’ll go mental if it gets confiscated by Filch.”
“Who would I tell?” Remus asked, with a somewhat bitter laugh.
“Sirius?” James asked.
“You’re going to let Remus use your cloak to sneak into class?” Sirius asked quietly.
“If he wants. It’s not like I can use it in class time anyway.” He turned to Remus with a grin. “So, what do you think?”
“You’d let me borrow it?” Remus whispered.
“You’re shorter than me, you could attend classes completely hidden.”
Remus nodded, his hand reaching out to skim the edge of the fabric tentatively.
“You want to try it on?” James asked. He took the cloak off with another flourish and handed it to Remus.
Sirius caught a look of pure joy on Remus’s face, right before he vanished from sight.
“This is a bad idea,” Romulus said, though not with a great deal of conviction. Sirius suspected he already knew that his arguments would be falling on deaf ears. “What if you knock into something, or someone, or what if the cloak slips accidentally?”
“I’ll be careful,” Remus’s disembodied voice replied. Sirius realised that he’d moved across the room, towards the doorway.
Romulus appeared to have realised the same thing and he drifted towards the door. “Remus!” he called.
But Remus didn’t reply. Instead the door was opened and closed by an invisible hand.
“Could you see him?” Peter asked.
“What?” James laughed. “You think ghosts have some sort of super vision or something?”
“No, but he might be able to…”
“I couldn’t see him,” Romulus confirmed. “And now he’s running around the school, risking being caught by the Ministry at any minute.”
“I’ll go find him,” Sirius said. “He can’t have gone far.”
“You won’t find him while he has the cloak on,” James pointed out.
“I can’t just sit here and worry,” replied Sirius. He stood up and made his way towards the door. “You keep an eye on them,” he said to Romulus.
“You still don’t trust us?” James sounded aghast at the idea. “Your mate is running round the castle in a priceless family heirloom, and you still don’t trust me?”
Sirius ignored him and nodded to Romulus. Then he disappeared out the door, wondering where Remus might have gone.
“Where would I go?” he mumbled to himself as he hurried into the common room. “If I was at Hogwarts for the first time, with an invisibility cloak, where would I go?” He glanced towards the staircase that went to the girls’ dormitories, and immediately saw that it was still a staircase. Clearly Remus hadn’t tried to sneak up there.
“Sirius?”
Sirius turned at the sound of his name. Charlene was looking at him nervously, and he wondered what it was she wanted. He halted his progress towards the portrait hole and waited for the girl to approach him. “What is it?” he asked impatiently. He really didn’t have time for whatever it was she had to say.
“I’m really sorry,” she began, looking almost tearful. She pulled him out of the portrait hole and down the corridor towards one of the empty classrooms.
“What for?” Sirius asked, getting more worried by the minute.
“I didn’t know anyone was listening to us,” Charlene hurriedly explained. “I was just talking to Lily about you and your friend. I didn’t know anyone was listening, I swear. Lily wouldn’t tell anyone about you. I didn’t know anyone was listening.”
“Charlie, slow down,” Sirius interrupted. “Just tell me what you said.”
“I sort of mentioned that you had a boyfriend.” Charlene looked sheepishly at him.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Sirius replied with a glare.
“But…”
“I don’t. James was just being a jerk.”
“But, you were…”
“He was sharing my bed,” Sirius finished for her. “That’s all, and only so the house elves wouldn’t figure out we had a visitor in the dorm.”
“Oh dear.” Charlene looked even more tearful at this.
“What’s the matter now?”
“Everyone is going to think you’re gay anyway,” Charlene whispered. “Rita overheard us.”
“Rita Skeeter?”
Charlene nodded and chewed on her lip. “She was listening round the corner, getting gossip for the next edition of the school newsletter. I couldn’t see what she put, but she was taking notes and looked really pleased with herself.”
“Great, just great,” Sirius muttered. He felt thankful for the small mercy that Charlene didn’t know Remus’s name, and thus hadn’t given Rita even more ammunition for her gossip column.
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sirius said kindly. “I’ll have a word with her.”
Charlene breathed a sigh of relief. “So, the boy isn’t your boyfriend?” she asked.
“No, just a friend.”
“Good.”
Sirius frowned. “Why is it good?”
“Oh, no reason,” Charlene grinned. “I’m going to go flying for a bit. Want to come along?”
“No thanks,” Sirius replied. “I was looking for a mate. I should…”
“Okay.” Then Charlene was dashing through the door, waving briefly back at him as she left.
Sirius was left alone to contemplate on where Remus would be likely to disappear to. He checked the kitchens first, always a popular place to sneak off to. There was no sign that Remus had been there, merely a group of Ravenclaw students stocking up on food for a late night study session.
The Great Hall was empty and Sirius called out for Remus a time or two, but there was no answer.
He couldn’t see the attraction of the numerous empty classrooms, though he did briefly stop in Professor McGonagall’s room to see if Remus had gone to see the various animals that were in the cages lining the walls. They’d been talking about them earlier that day, so it was as likely a place as any to look for him.
“Can I help you, Mr Black?” Professor McGonagall asked.
Sirius jumped slightly and turned to face the Head of Gryffindor house. “Just looking at the mice,” he replied.
“Just looking?” Professor McGonagall looked and sounded highly suspicious. “I’ll take your word for that, but be assured that if I hear reports of mice suddenly appearing where they shouldn’t, you’ll be the first person I’ll be speaking to.”
Sirius nodded and wondered just where McGonagall’s white mice had popped up in previous years.
“Is there a problem here, Professor?” another, even less welcome voice asked from behind her.
“Certainly not,” Professor McGonagall replied shortly. “Mr Black was just looking at the mice.”
“Is that so?” Professor Spion asked as he slipped into the room. “Mr Black might be better advised to spend his time studying, instead of petting the school mice.”
“The students are allowed a little time off,” Professor McGonagall replied. “Mr Black’s marks have shown considerable improvement this last year.”
“In your classes, perhaps,” Professor Spion sneered. “In my classes on the other hand. Average at best. His essay on werewolves last term was sloppy and full of romanticised ideas that have no basis in reality at all.”
“Every student has a weak subject,” Professor McGonagall replied, clearly not too worried about Sirius’s Defence Against the Dark Arts marks.
“Of course,” Professor Spion agreed. “But a student can’t afford to be slack in Defence class. It’s hardly a crisis if a person can’t transfigure a mouse into a goblet or some other such nonsense.”
“Nonsense?”
Sirius tried to conceal his amusement as he watched Professor McGonagall turn an interesting shade of pink.
“Not to diminish your own achievements in the field,” Professor Spion hurriedly assured her. “But Defence really is the most important of all the school subjects.”
“That is a matter of opinion,” Professor McGonagall hissed, sounding very cat-like as her temper rose. “Mr Black, perhaps you’d better run along now. You should just have time to get your friends off the Quidditch pitch and back to the common room before curfew.”
Sirius nodded and ducked out of the door, keeping as far away from Professor Spion as he possibly could.
He hurried across the grass towards the stadium. Charlene was still in the air, battling with a bludger and seemingly winning the fight. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in sight though, and Sirius wondered who McGonagall had been referring to when she spoke of his friends.
“Hey! Charlie!” he called out, pointing at the clock tower. Charlie nodded, and after hitting the bludger away once more, she flew to the ground to put the equipment away.
“She’s pretty good.” Sirius turned to see where Remus’s voice had come from. The Quidditch pitch - of course - he wondered why he hadn’t thought to check there first. As mad about the game as James Potter, it was the obvious place to look for his invisible friend.
“Where are you?” Sirius whispered.
“Right next to you,” Remus replied, lightly nudging him in the arm.
“You scared me, running off like that,” Sirius scolded, sitting down on one of the benches.
“Sorry. I just hate being cooped up all the time.”
“That’s okay,” Sirius sighed. “We should head back though, it’s nearly curfew.”
“For students,” Remus teased.
“You won’t be able to get into the tower without the password,” Sirius pointed out.
Remus chuckled quietly.
“Shush,” Sirius hissed as Charlene bounded up the steps of the stands.
“Did you find your friend?” she asked as she sank onto the bench in front of them.
Sirius nodded. “Yeah. I found him.” He felt Remus nudge his side, a subtle way of reminding him that without him speaking, he wouldn’t have found him at all.
“Good,” Charlene looked out over the pitch thoughtfully. “We should be heading back.”
Sirius nodded again and stood up. He started to walk towards the entrance to the pitch but Remus’s legs were stretched out across his path. He tripped and fell to the floor with a complete lack of elegance. His fall dislodged the invisibility cloak, revealing part of Remus’s legs.
“Bugger,” Sirius muttered. Remus snickered at him as he struggled to pull himself up off the floor.
“Here, let me,” Remus said as he tugged off the cloak and reached down to grasp Sirius’s hand.
“So, you sneak into the school quite a lot?” Charlene asked with a grin. “Don’t you ever get caught?”
“Not yet,” Remus replied with a smirk. “You were pretty good up there, but you’re favouring your right hand too much. You need to practice with your left as well.”
“You’re the expert, are you?” Charlene huffed.
“No,” Remus flushed. “But you should.”
“You fancy a quick circuit next time you’re up here?” Charlene asked. “Show me how it’s done?”
“I can’t,” Remus admitted. “I’m not supposed to be up here, remember?”
“Who’s to know?”
“I can’t,” Remus repeated.
“Why not?”
“I…” Remus looked down at his hands, his face flushing with embarrassment. “I’ve never been on a broom before,” he finally admitted.
“You haven’t?” Sirius asked in surprise. “Not ever?”
“Flying lessons!” Charlene exclaimed. “I’ve never taught anyone how to fly before. It’ll be so much fun.”
“We should be heading back to the common room,” Sirius pointed out.
“And I should be heading back to Hogsmeade,” Remus lied, pulling the invisibility cloak back on.
“See you round…er…” Charlene hesitated. “What is your name?”
Remus remained silent.
“I guess he’s gone,” Sirius commented with a forced laugh. “Come on, let’s go back inside.”
Sirius and Charlene made their way back to the school. Sirius could tell that Remus was with them, the brush of the cloak occasionally catching his arm and hand, and the telltale sound of a third set of footsteps on the stone floor giving his presence away. Charlene, however, didn’t appear to have noticed the invisible presence walking alongside them. She chattered about the upcoming Quidditch match and complained at length about certain players - James Potter in particular - who were constantly slacking off during practice.
They arrived at the portrait hole and Sirius made a show of gesturing for Charlene to enter first, making sure he allowed Remus enough time to pass by as well.
Back in the dormitory, Remus was delighted to tell Romulus and the others how easy it had been to slip through the school under cover of the cloak. “I can come to lessons with you guys,” he said with a wide smile.
“I still don’t like the idea,” Romulus commented.
“If I had access to the cloak, I wouldn’t use it to go to classes,” Peter added with a snort. “I’d use it to sneak into the prefects’ bathroom or the girls’ changing rooms, like James does.”
“Shhh,” James hissed.
“What’s up?” Peter asked. “Thought we were all such good pals now. No secrets amongst friends and all that?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want them to think I’m some sort of creep who goes spying on girls all the time.”
“I don’t think that,” Remus said, and he handed back the cloak. “Friends?”
“Friends,” James agreed. “Peter?”
“Whatever,” Peter muttered.
“Sirius?” Remus asked. “If I can trust them, surely you can?”
Sirius nodded slowly. “Okay.” He did notice that Romulus wasn’t asked his opinion on the matter, and knew that Remus’s brother would continue to keep a close eye on James and Peter. That was enough to ease his lingering fears.
-o-xXx-o-
Classes with Remus alongside them were, in a word, interesting.
The invisible presence was always nearby, perched on the desk, slouched on the floor, or very occasionally in an empty seat beside him. At first he’d found it hard to follow where Remus was, but after a while he’d started to notice the signs. The sharp intake of breath as Professor McGonagall performed a particularly impressive spell; a slight choking sound, hastily stifled as a potion went awry. Even the steady breathing of his friend, less raspy as his health returned, told Sirius where Remus was at any given time.
The only classes Remus didn’t join the other boys in were flying lessons and Defence Against the Dark Arts. For the former, Remus watched from the ground, for the latter, he remained in Gryffindor Tower, and as far away from Professor Spion as he could.
Sirius was surprised at how enthusiastic Remus was about attending the lessons, though he was amused to see that his friend’s excitement was tempered slightly by Romulus’s suggestion that Remus complete the homework set in the classes, just like the other boys.
“You never put this much effort into the homework I set you,” Romulus complained as he watched Remus scribbling across the parchment. “I guess I wasn’t a very good teacher, huh?”
“I…” Remus looked up from his work and felt a twinge of guilt. “This is just more interesting than healing charms,” he muttered.
“You still have to learn those,” Romulus pointed out. “And while we’re on the subject, what are you going to do tomorrow night?”
“I’ll go back to the forest,” Remus replied with a grimace. “Firenze will keep me from getting into trouble, from hurting anyone.”
“I’ll be there too,” Romulus promised. “Moony can’t do anything to ghosts.”
“I don’t want you there.”
“You can’t stop me,” Romulus reminded him.
“I don’t like you seeing me like that.”
“I know, but if anything happened to you out in the forest, I’d never forgive myself. At least now I can watch over you.”
Remus nodded reluctantly, but was immediately distracted by the sounds of the other boys returning from the dinner.
“You didn’t have to hex all of them,” James said as he threw himself onto his bed.
Sirius glared at him but didn’t reply.
“What’s happened?” Remus asked with a frown.
“Nothing,” Sirius snapped.
Remus turned to James and Peter. “What happened?”
“The school newsletter was published today,” Peter explained, tossing the paper in question to Remus. “Rita Skeeter has a bit about Sirius in the gossip section.”
“You can’t even tell it’s really about him,” James pointed out. “No one would have known who it was about if he hadn’t hexed the first person to ask him.”
Remus looked through the newsletter until he found what he was looking for. The gossip section was fairly small, and consisted mainly of sly hints at who the new Hogwarts couples were and who had broken up with whom. Remus skimmed the section until he spotted what had put Sirius into his bad mood. “The heir to one of the oldest and purest wizarding families may be breaking the family traditions in more ways than one…while his parents are choosing him a bride, he has been looking at grooms. Fireworks are predicted.”
“I’ll give her bloody fireworks,” Sirius snarled.
“Come on Peter, let’s leave him to it,” James suggested. “We’ll come back up here when you’ve calmed down.”
“Sirius?” Remus asked, after the other two boys and Romulus had left. “Why does this bother you so much? I thought you didn’t care what people thought? As long as you know it’s not true, that’s all that matters.”
Sirius stared out of the window, refusing to look at him. He hadn’t cared if people thought he was queer when he didn’t believe he was. In a way, it wasn’t that much different to people thinking he was a pureblood fanatic just because he was a Black. He knew it wasn’t true, so he didn’t care what everyone else said. But, the more he tried to sort out the tangled thoughts that ran through his mind about his best friend, the less sure he was of his own feelings, and the last thing he wanted was everyone staring at him and gossiping about him. He was quiet for a long time before he spoke again. “What if it is?” he finally whispered.
“What do you mean?” Remus asked as he approached Sirius cautiously.
“What if it was true?” Sirius whispered. “I don’t fancy any of the girls here at school. James keeps talking about Lily and how he fancies her, but I don’t fancy any of them. What if Rita’s right?”
“You’ve probably just not met the right girl,” Remus suggested.
“What if the right girl’s a boy?”
“I’d still be your friend,” Remus told him. “You’re my best friend, and nothing will ever change that.”
“Not even if I was queer?” Sirius asked quietly.
“Not even that.” Remus took hold of Sirius’s hand and squeezed it slightly. “You and your boyfriend would just have to be uncles to all my kids.”
“You want children?”
“I guess. I never really thought about it.”
“I didn’t think you would,” Sirius explained. “I read about how Lycanthropy can be passed on by parents to children, and I thought…”
“It can be passed on like that?” Remus asked.
“You didn’t know?”
“I never really looked up stuff about werewolves,” Remus admitted. “I know enough about what I am to hate it.” He looked down at his hands, wondering what else he didn’t know about the monster that resided in his body.
“I’m sorry,” Sirius said. “I thought you knew.”
“It’s okay,” Remus replied with forced cheerfulness. “Maybe by the time I’ve found the right girl, they’ll have found a cure?”
Sirius nodded, encouragingly. “I’m sure they will,” he said. “And if they haven’t, I’ll find a cure for you myself.”
Remus smiled slowly. He was inordinately pleased that he had managed to calm Sirius down, and even persuade him to smile again. It was a small smile, but it was still there, and Remus felt his own face stretching into an answering grin.
Chapter 19
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
Invisible (PG)
“What’s it like?” James asked Romulus curiously.
“What’s what like?” Romulus replied, looking across from where he was hovering near one of the windows of Gryffindor Tower.
“Being dead,” James clarified. “Is it cold? Ghosts feel cold to us, but are you cold? How did you die? Was it painful? I can’t see any scars or blood on you, not like the Bloody Baron has.”
“I feel the cold sometimes,” Romulus commented with a shrug. “It seems to depend on the weather.”
James looked disappointed that Romulus hadn’t replied to the rest of his questions, and Sirius felt disappointment too. He knew that Remus hadn’t asked exactly how his brother had died, and neither of them wanted to broach the obviously sensitive subject with the new ghost. Thankfully, James had about as much tact as a manticore, and was nosy as hell.
Unfortunately, no information about Rom’s untimely demise was forthcoming, and Sirius turned back to Remus to demonstrate the cheering charm again. “Your wand movement’s too sharp,” he explained, moving his empty hand in a graceful loop to show what he meant.
Remus nodded and tried to copy the movement, unfortunately all he managed to do was give Peter a healthy dose of the hiccups.
Peter glared at Remus, and reached for the glass of water to take a swallow. It was his third bout of hiccups that evening, and he was now prepared.
“You could just use a spell to get rid of them,” James pointed out.
“Last time he tried that, he lost his voice,” Sirius pointed out.
“As I said, he could just use a spell to get rid of them.” James grinned at Peter teasingly. Peter responded by throwing a pillow at him. Sirius shook his head, amused at the antics of the others, but hesitant to join in with the fun.
He turned back to Remus, who was looking at him thoughtfully. “Can you show me that wand movement again?” he asked sheepishly.
“Sure,” Sirius agreed, taking his wand back and completing the wand movement again.
“You’re doing it wrong?” Romulus interrupted.
“I am?”
“Your second movement should be clockwise, you’re moving your wand counter-clockwise instead.”
Sirius frowned and picked up the textbook again. “Well, that explains why we’re not getting very far,” he mumbled. “Let’s try this again.”
He followed the movements precisely and watched as Remus mirrored his movements with his empty hand.
“Pretty good,” Romulus commented, nodding at the two boys. “Not as smooth as Professor Flitwick of course, but who is?”
“Wish he could show me what to do,” Remus muttered, apologising a moment later, when he realised that Sirius may take his thoughtless comment as an insult.
Sirius shrugged off his apology and looked back to his textbook.
“You could always sneak into class,” James suggested from where he was now lounging on his bed.
“It’s too risky,” Romulus quickly replied. “The teachers will notice an extra student in class.”
“Not necessarily,” James smirked.
“James!” Peter hissed, a worried look coming over his face.
“Stop worrying,” James replied as he hopped down from the bed and opened his trunk. “We’re all friends now, aren’t we?” He looked towards Sirius and Remus questioningly.
Sirius shot a look at Remus from the corner of his eye. He knew that over the last few days his friend had come to trust James a lot more than he had.
Peter, on the other hand, looked as suspicious as Sirius felt. Unlike Peter though, Sirius was also curious as to what it was that James was rummaging around in his trunk for.
Finally the other boy emerged with a triumphant ‘ta-da’.
Sirius wasn’t sure what he was looking so pleased about. The cloak he was displaying so proudly was rather old and tatty looking, and not even remotely stylish.
“It’s a cloak,” Remus said, equally confused.
“Not just any cloak,” James smirked, sweeping it around his shoulders as he spoke.
Sirius gasped as the boy’s body vanished from sight, leaving only his head and feet visible.
“Wow!” Remus breathed.
“You won’t tell anyone I’ve got it?” James asked. “It’s been in the family for years, and my dad’ll go mental if it gets confiscated by Filch.”
“Who would I tell?” Remus asked, with a somewhat bitter laugh.
“Sirius?” James asked.
“You’re going to let Remus use your cloak to sneak into class?” Sirius asked quietly.
“If he wants. It’s not like I can use it in class time anyway.” He turned to Remus with a grin. “So, what do you think?”
“You’d let me borrow it?” Remus whispered.
“You’re shorter than me, you could attend classes completely hidden.”
Remus nodded, his hand reaching out to skim the edge of the fabric tentatively.
“You want to try it on?” James asked. He took the cloak off with another flourish and handed it to Remus.
Sirius caught a look of pure joy on Remus’s face, right before he vanished from sight.
“This is a bad idea,” Romulus said, though not with a great deal of conviction. Sirius suspected he already knew that his arguments would be falling on deaf ears. “What if you knock into something, or someone, or what if the cloak slips accidentally?”
“I’ll be careful,” Remus’s disembodied voice replied. Sirius realised that he’d moved across the room, towards the doorway.
Romulus appeared to have realised the same thing and he drifted towards the door. “Remus!” he called.
But Remus didn’t reply. Instead the door was opened and closed by an invisible hand.
“Could you see him?” Peter asked.
“What?” James laughed. “You think ghosts have some sort of super vision or something?”
“No, but he might be able to…”
“I couldn’t see him,” Romulus confirmed. “And now he’s running around the school, risking being caught by the Ministry at any minute.”
“I’ll go find him,” Sirius said. “He can’t have gone far.”
“You won’t find him while he has the cloak on,” James pointed out.
“I can’t just sit here and worry,” replied Sirius. He stood up and made his way towards the door. “You keep an eye on them,” he said to Romulus.
“You still don’t trust us?” James sounded aghast at the idea. “Your mate is running round the castle in a priceless family heirloom, and you still don’t trust me?”
Sirius ignored him and nodded to Romulus. Then he disappeared out the door, wondering where Remus might have gone.
“Where would I go?” he mumbled to himself as he hurried into the common room. “If I was at Hogwarts for the first time, with an invisibility cloak, where would I go?” He glanced towards the staircase that went to the girls’ dormitories, and immediately saw that it was still a staircase. Clearly Remus hadn’t tried to sneak up there.
“Sirius?”
Sirius turned at the sound of his name. Charlene was looking at him nervously, and he wondered what it was she wanted. He halted his progress towards the portrait hole and waited for the girl to approach him. “What is it?” he asked impatiently. He really didn’t have time for whatever it was she had to say.
“I’m really sorry,” she began, looking almost tearful. She pulled him out of the portrait hole and down the corridor towards one of the empty classrooms.
“What for?” Sirius asked, getting more worried by the minute.
“I didn’t know anyone was listening to us,” Charlene hurriedly explained. “I was just talking to Lily about you and your friend. I didn’t know anyone was listening, I swear. Lily wouldn’t tell anyone about you. I didn’t know anyone was listening.”
“Charlie, slow down,” Sirius interrupted. “Just tell me what you said.”
“I sort of mentioned that you had a boyfriend.” Charlene looked sheepishly at him.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Sirius replied with a glare.
“But…”
“I don’t. James was just being a jerk.”
“But, you were…”
“He was sharing my bed,” Sirius finished for her. “That’s all, and only so the house elves wouldn’t figure out we had a visitor in the dorm.”
“Oh dear.” Charlene looked even more tearful at this.
“What’s the matter now?”
“Everyone is going to think you’re gay anyway,” Charlene whispered. “Rita overheard us.”
“Rita Skeeter?”
Charlene nodded and chewed on her lip. “She was listening round the corner, getting gossip for the next edition of the school newsletter. I couldn’t see what she put, but she was taking notes and looked really pleased with herself.”
“Great, just great,” Sirius muttered. He felt thankful for the small mercy that Charlene didn’t know Remus’s name, and thus hadn’t given Rita even more ammunition for her gossip column.
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sirius said kindly. “I’ll have a word with her.”
Charlene breathed a sigh of relief. “So, the boy isn’t your boyfriend?” she asked.
“No, just a friend.”
“Good.”
Sirius frowned. “Why is it good?”
“Oh, no reason,” Charlene grinned. “I’m going to go flying for a bit. Want to come along?”
“No thanks,” Sirius replied. “I was looking for a mate. I should…”
“Okay.” Then Charlene was dashing through the door, waving briefly back at him as she left.
Sirius was left alone to contemplate on where Remus would be likely to disappear to. He checked the kitchens first, always a popular place to sneak off to. There was no sign that Remus had been there, merely a group of Ravenclaw students stocking up on food for a late night study session.
The Great Hall was empty and Sirius called out for Remus a time or two, but there was no answer.
He couldn’t see the attraction of the numerous empty classrooms, though he did briefly stop in Professor McGonagall’s room to see if Remus had gone to see the various animals that were in the cages lining the walls. They’d been talking about them earlier that day, so it was as likely a place as any to look for him.
“Can I help you, Mr Black?” Professor McGonagall asked.
Sirius jumped slightly and turned to face the Head of Gryffindor house. “Just looking at the mice,” he replied.
“Just looking?” Professor McGonagall looked and sounded highly suspicious. “I’ll take your word for that, but be assured that if I hear reports of mice suddenly appearing where they shouldn’t, you’ll be the first person I’ll be speaking to.”
Sirius nodded and wondered just where McGonagall’s white mice had popped up in previous years.
“Is there a problem here, Professor?” another, even less welcome voice asked from behind her.
“Certainly not,” Professor McGonagall replied shortly. “Mr Black was just looking at the mice.”
“Is that so?” Professor Spion asked as he slipped into the room. “Mr Black might be better advised to spend his time studying, instead of petting the school mice.”
“The students are allowed a little time off,” Professor McGonagall replied. “Mr Black’s marks have shown considerable improvement this last year.”
“In your classes, perhaps,” Professor Spion sneered. “In my classes on the other hand. Average at best. His essay on werewolves last term was sloppy and full of romanticised ideas that have no basis in reality at all.”
“Every student has a weak subject,” Professor McGonagall replied, clearly not too worried about Sirius’s Defence Against the Dark Arts marks.
“Of course,” Professor Spion agreed. “But a student can’t afford to be slack in Defence class. It’s hardly a crisis if a person can’t transfigure a mouse into a goblet or some other such nonsense.”
“Nonsense?”
Sirius tried to conceal his amusement as he watched Professor McGonagall turn an interesting shade of pink.
“Not to diminish your own achievements in the field,” Professor Spion hurriedly assured her. “But Defence really is the most important of all the school subjects.”
“That is a matter of opinion,” Professor McGonagall hissed, sounding very cat-like as her temper rose. “Mr Black, perhaps you’d better run along now. You should just have time to get your friends off the Quidditch pitch and back to the common room before curfew.”
Sirius nodded and ducked out of the door, keeping as far away from Professor Spion as he possibly could.
He hurried across the grass towards the stadium. Charlene was still in the air, battling with a bludger and seemingly winning the fight. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in sight though, and Sirius wondered who McGonagall had been referring to when she spoke of his friends.
“Hey! Charlie!” he called out, pointing at the clock tower. Charlie nodded, and after hitting the bludger away once more, she flew to the ground to put the equipment away.
“She’s pretty good.” Sirius turned to see where Remus’s voice had come from. The Quidditch pitch - of course - he wondered why he hadn’t thought to check there first. As mad about the game as James Potter, it was the obvious place to look for his invisible friend.
“Where are you?” Sirius whispered.
“Right next to you,” Remus replied, lightly nudging him in the arm.
“You scared me, running off like that,” Sirius scolded, sitting down on one of the benches.
“Sorry. I just hate being cooped up all the time.”
“That’s okay,” Sirius sighed. “We should head back though, it’s nearly curfew.”
“For students,” Remus teased.
“You won’t be able to get into the tower without the password,” Sirius pointed out.
Remus chuckled quietly.
“Shush,” Sirius hissed as Charlene bounded up the steps of the stands.
“Did you find your friend?” she asked as she sank onto the bench in front of them.
Sirius nodded. “Yeah. I found him.” He felt Remus nudge his side, a subtle way of reminding him that without him speaking, he wouldn’t have found him at all.
“Good,” Charlene looked out over the pitch thoughtfully. “We should be heading back.”
Sirius nodded again and stood up. He started to walk towards the entrance to the pitch but Remus’s legs were stretched out across his path. He tripped and fell to the floor with a complete lack of elegance. His fall dislodged the invisibility cloak, revealing part of Remus’s legs.
“Bugger,” Sirius muttered. Remus snickered at him as he struggled to pull himself up off the floor.
“Here, let me,” Remus said as he tugged off the cloak and reached down to grasp Sirius’s hand.
“So, you sneak into the school quite a lot?” Charlene asked with a grin. “Don’t you ever get caught?”
“Not yet,” Remus replied with a smirk. “You were pretty good up there, but you’re favouring your right hand too much. You need to practice with your left as well.”
“You’re the expert, are you?” Charlene huffed.
“No,” Remus flushed. “But you should.”
“You fancy a quick circuit next time you’re up here?” Charlene asked. “Show me how it’s done?”
“I can’t,” Remus admitted. “I’m not supposed to be up here, remember?”
“Who’s to know?”
“I can’t,” Remus repeated.
“Why not?”
“I…” Remus looked down at his hands, his face flushing with embarrassment. “I’ve never been on a broom before,” he finally admitted.
“You haven’t?” Sirius asked in surprise. “Not ever?”
“Flying lessons!” Charlene exclaimed. “I’ve never taught anyone how to fly before. It’ll be so much fun.”
“We should be heading back to the common room,” Sirius pointed out.
“And I should be heading back to Hogsmeade,” Remus lied, pulling the invisibility cloak back on.
“See you round…er…” Charlene hesitated. “What is your name?”
Remus remained silent.
“I guess he’s gone,” Sirius commented with a forced laugh. “Come on, let’s go back inside.”
Sirius and Charlene made their way back to the school. Sirius could tell that Remus was with them, the brush of the cloak occasionally catching his arm and hand, and the telltale sound of a third set of footsteps on the stone floor giving his presence away. Charlene, however, didn’t appear to have noticed the invisible presence walking alongside them. She chattered about the upcoming Quidditch match and complained at length about certain players - James Potter in particular - who were constantly slacking off during practice.
They arrived at the portrait hole and Sirius made a show of gesturing for Charlene to enter first, making sure he allowed Remus enough time to pass by as well.
Back in the dormitory, Remus was delighted to tell Romulus and the others how easy it had been to slip through the school under cover of the cloak. “I can come to lessons with you guys,” he said with a wide smile.
“I still don’t like the idea,” Romulus commented.
“If I had access to the cloak, I wouldn’t use it to go to classes,” Peter added with a snort. “I’d use it to sneak into the prefects’ bathroom or the girls’ changing rooms, like James does.”
“Shhh,” James hissed.
“What’s up?” Peter asked. “Thought we were all such good pals now. No secrets amongst friends and all that?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want them to think I’m some sort of creep who goes spying on girls all the time.”
“I don’t think that,” Remus said, and he handed back the cloak. “Friends?”
“Friends,” James agreed. “Peter?”
“Whatever,” Peter muttered.
“Sirius?” Remus asked. “If I can trust them, surely you can?”
Sirius nodded slowly. “Okay.” He did notice that Romulus wasn’t asked his opinion on the matter, and knew that Remus’s brother would continue to keep a close eye on James and Peter. That was enough to ease his lingering fears.
-o-xXx-o-
Classes with Remus alongside them were, in a word, interesting.
The invisible presence was always nearby, perched on the desk, slouched on the floor, or very occasionally in an empty seat beside him. At first he’d found it hard to follow where Remus was, but after a while he’d started to notice the signs. The sharp intake of breath as Professor McGonagall performed a particularly impressive spell; a slight choking sound, hastily stifled as a potion went awry. Even the steady breathing of his friend, less raspy as his health returned, told Sirius where Remus was at any given time.
The only classes Remus didn’t join the other boys in were flying lessons and Defence Against the Dark Arts. For the former, Remus watched from the ground, for the latter, he remained in Gryffindor Tower, and as far away from Professor Spion as he could.
Sirius was surprised at how enthusiastic Remus was about attending the lessons, though he was amused to see that his friend’s excitement was tempered slightly by Romulus’s suggestion that Remus complete the homework set in the classes, just like the other boys.
“You never put this much effort into the homework I set you,” Romulus complained as he watched Remus scribbling across the parchment. “I guess I wasn’t a very good teacher, huh?”
“I…” Remus looked up from his work and felt a twinge of guilt. “This is just more interesting than healing charms,” he muttered.
“You still have to learn those,” Romulus pointed out. “And while we’re on the subject, what are you going to do tomorrow night?”
“I’ll go back to the forest,” Remus replied with a grimace. “Firenze will keep me from getting into trouble, from hurting anyone.”
“I’ll be there too,” Romulus promised. “Moony can’t do anything to ghosts.”
“I don’t want you there.”
“You can’t stop me,” Romulus reminded him.
“I don’t like you seeing me like that.”
“I know, but if anything happened to you out in the forest, I’d never forgive myself. At least now I can watch over you.”
Remus nodded reluctantly, but was immediately distracted by the sounds of the other boys returning from the dinner.
“You didn’t have to hex all of them,” James said as he threw himself onto his bed.
Sirius glared at him but didn’t reply.
“What’s happened?” Remus asked with a frown.
“Nothing,” Sirius snapped.
Remus turned to James and Peter. “What happened?”
“The school newsletter was published today,” Peter explained, tossing the paper in question to Remus. “Rita Skeeter has a bit about Sirius in the gossip section.”
“You can’t even tell it’s really about him,” James pointed out. “No one would have known who it was about if he hadn’t hexed the first person to ask him.”
Remus looked through the newsletter until he found what he was looking for. The gossip section was fairly small, and consisted mainly of sly hints at who the new Hogwarts couples were and who had broken up with whom. Remus skimmed the section until he spotted what had put Sirius into his bad mood. “The heir to one of the oldest and purest wizarding families may be breaking the family traditions in more ways than one…while his parents are choosing him a bride, he has been looking at grooms. Fireworks are predicted.”
“I’ll give her bloody fireworks,” Sirius snarled.
“Come on Peter, let’s leave him to it,” James suggested. “We’ll come back up here when you’ve calmed down.”
“Sirius?” Remus asked, after the other two boys and Romulus had left. “Why does this bother you so much? I thought you didn’t care what people thought? As long as you know it’s not true, that’s all that matters.”
Sirius stared out of the window, refusing to look at him. He hadn’t cared if people thought he was queer when he didn’t believe he was. In a way, it wasn’t that much different to people thinking he was a pureblood fanatic just because he was a Black. He knew it wasn’t true, so he didn’t care what everyone else said. But, the more he tried to sort out the tangled thoughts that ran through his mind about his best friend, the less sure he was of his own feelings, and the last thing he wanted was everyone staring at him and gossiping about him. He was quiet for a long time before he spoke again. “What if it is?” he finally whispered.
“What do you mean?” Remus asked as he approached Sirius cautiously.
“What if it was true?” Sirius whispered. “I don’t fancy any of the girls here at school. James keeps talking about Lily and how he fancies her, but I don’t fancy any of them. What if Rita’s right?”
“You’ve probably just not met the right girl,” Remus suggested.
“What if the right girl’s a boy?”
“I’d still be your friend,” Remus told him. “You’re my best friend, and nothing will ever change that.”
“Not even if I was queer?” Sirius asked quietly.
“Not even that.” Remus took hold of Sirius’s hand and squeezed it slightly. “You and your boyfriend would just have to be uncles to all my kids.”
“You want children?”
“I guess. I never really thought about it.”
“I didn’t think you would,” Sirius explained. “I read about how Lycanthropy can be passed on by parents to children, and I thought…”
“It can be passed on like that?” Remus asked.
“You didn’t know?”
“I never really looked up stuff about werewolves,” Remus admitted. “I know enough about what I am to hate it.” He looked down at his hands, wondering what else he didn’t know about the monster that resided in his body.
“I’m sorry,” Sirius said. “I thought you knew.”
“It’s okay,” Remus replied with forced cheerfulness. “Maybe by the time I’ve found the right girl, they’ll have found a cure?”
Sirius nodded, encouragingly. “I’m sure they will,” he said. “And if they haven’t, I’ll find a cure for you myself.”
Remus smiled slowly. He was inordinately pleased that he had managed to calm Sirius down, and even persuade him to smile again. It was a small smile, but it was still there, and Remus felt his own face stretching into an answering grin.
Chapter 19