FIC: Once in a Blue Moon - Ch 21 (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.
On the Hunt (PG13 for a bit of bad language)
“Exams?” Remus spluttered as he looked at Professor McGonagall, sitting across from him in her office.
“The end of year exams,” McGonagall clarified. “I think you should try sitting them along with your friends. The theory exams anyway.”
“But I’m not a real student.”
“There won’t be a record of your marks, we’d just like to see where you’re at with your education.”
Remus wanted to argue with the teacher, but could already tell that it would be no use.
“You can take them here in my office, and myself, Professor Sprout and the headmaster will mark them for you.”
“Why doesn’t Professor Dumbledore ever want to see me?” Remus asked, wondering, not for the first time, why he’d never run across the headmaster in all his wanderings around the castle.
“I’m afraid that the headmaster is closely watched by Professor Spion whenever he leaves his office. It seems that the Ministry is convinced that Professor Dumbledore is harbouring you within the school. He’ll speak to you when he’s ready. But I must ask you not to try to visit him yourself.”
Remus nodded his agreement. The last thing he wanted to do was run afoul of the Defence teacher. McGonagall rummaged around in one of her desk drawers for a moment, before emerging with a sheet of parchment, which she passed to Remus.
“Now, this is your exam timetable, don’t lose it. And I suggest you study just as hard as the rest of your friends.” Remus snorted at this. “Make that even harder than the rest of your friends,” McGonagall amended.
-o-xXx-o-
“They’re making you take exams?” a horrified James asked. “Well, that’s just plain cruel, isn’t it?”
“It’s definitely screwed up your plans for me to prank the Great Hall during OWL week,” Remus replied, secretly relieved that he wouldn’t be required to pull off that particular prank. During the last couple of months, James, Peter, and even Sirius on occasion, had talked him into pulling one stunt after another under the cover of the invisibility cloak, and Remus, thrilled to be a part of a group had joined in eagerly. But charming all of the desks to grow teeth and snap at anyone who tried to open them in the middle of OWL week wasn’t likely to go down well with any of the staff.
“Shame about that,” James muttered. “Guess we’ll have to find a way to prank the Express on the way home instead.”
“I guess.” Remus looked out of the window at the setting sun.
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t think,” James apologised. “Maybe things will be sorted out by the end of term? You might be on the train with us.”
“I doubt it,” Remus sighed.
“What are you going to do in the summer holidays?” Peter asked. “Stay here at Hogwarts?”
“Wish I could,” Sirius chimed in. “Mother’s been sending owls for weeks about her plans for the summer. Boring dinner parties and then cousin Bellatrix’s wedding. I may just accidentally miss the train and stay here.”
“They can’t be that bad,” James commented.
“They’re all pureblood fanatics and want me to think the same way they do.”
“All of them?”
“Most of them,” Sirius amended. “Uncle Alphard’s all right, and Bellatrix’s sister can be a laugh.”
“Narcissa? A laugh?” James choked out. “Her face would crack if she ever smiled.”
“Not that sister, Andromeda,” Sirius explained around his own bubbling laughter at the thought of Narcissa’s face cracking into pieces. “But the rest of them are just what you guys thought I was back in first year.”
“Maybe you’re wrong about them?” James suggested. “Just like we got you pegged all wrong.”
“I don’t think so. They’ll never change.”
An awkward silence descended over the room and Sirius pulled out his Transfiguration textbook, eager to avoid any more talk about his family.
Remus picked up his own book, but he couldn’t so easily push from his mind the problem of what he was going to do at the end of term. He had no idea what was going to happen to him after the other boys boarded the Hogwart’s Express, leaving him alone in the cavernous castle, without the protection of James’s invisibility cloak to keep him hidden from the eyes of others.
-o-xXx-o-
“It’s perfect,” James announced proudly.
“It’s way more advanced than anything we’re going to learn at school,” Sirius pointed out.
“But imagine the looks on everyone’s faces when they look out of the windows of the train and see all sorts of other places instead of Scotland and England.”
“We don’t know how to do the spells,” Sirius repeated for the umpteenth time.
“The maintenance workers at the Ministry can do them.”
“Then why don’t you owl them and ask them if they’d like to help you prank everyone on the Express?” Sirius muttered. “Because I’ve got no clue how to pull a stunt like that on one window, let alone a train full of them.”
“I might just do that,” James replied with a haughty sniff, and with that he stood up and hurried down to the common room to tell Peter his latest idea.
“It would be a good prank,” Remus commented quietly.
“No, it wouldn’t; it’s stupid.”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if I was coming back to London on the train with you guys,” Remus felt obliged to point out.
“Doesn’t make any difference whether you’re with us or not, I still don’t know how to do those sort of spells.”
“But you’d be looking them up right now instead of doing your Herbology revision.”
Sirius scowled at Remus’s accurate assessment and ducked his head so that anyone coming into the room would believe he was diligently reading back through his class notes for the year.
“Sirius?” Remus sighed. “You’ve got to stop worrying about me all the time. You’ll fail all your exams if you don’t stop it.”
“I can’t help it,” Sirius replied with a sigh of his own. “London seems such a long way from here and you’re going to be on your own, visible and you’ll be on your own and I won’t be here.”
“Sirius, in one way or another, I’m always on my own.”
Sirius looked up at him curiously. “What do you mean? You’re not on your own now, I’m here.”
“But you can’t always be with me.” Remus looked out at the evening sky; another full moon was only a couple of days away. “No one can be with me all the time.”
Sirius tossed aside his notes and buried his face in his hands. “What do you think about sneaking back home with me?” he finally asked.
“You know I can’t.”
“Why not? My parents won’t notice, they’re out most of the time anyway.”
“And what about your brother and the house elf? You told me that Kreacher always tells tales on you, so what’s to stop him telling your parents I’m hiding out there?”
“We’ll be careful, Regulus won’t say anything and we won’t let Kreacher know you’re there.”
“And on the full moon? What about then?”
“We’ll work something out.”
“Oh, Sirius.” Remus sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could come back home with you. I want to see London, your home, your room, everything, so badly. But it’s too dangerous. You know it is.”
“You can’t stay here on your own. That’s too dangerous too.”
“Some of the teachers are staying for the holidays. They live here at the castle. And the school ghosts are always keeping a watch on me. I think Rom’s got them on some sort of schedule or something. Then there’s Rom himself. He won’t let anything happen to me. The summer will go by really quickly and you’ll be back here before you know it.”
“Liar,” Sirius muttered. “The summer’s going to drag horribly and you know it.”
-o-xXx-o-
“How did you do?” Peter asked eagerly after Remus had returned to the dormitory following his meeting with Professor McGonagall about his test results.
“Totally failed Potions,” he replied with a grimace. “Professor McGonagall also suggested that next year I sneak into Arithmancy with James instead of Divination. Apparently I don’t have the gift for that either.”
“But you passed the rest, didn’t you?” Sirius asked.
“Scraped through them,” Remus muttered. “But if they were OWLs I’d have failed most of them.”
“You’d make it up on the practical exams though. You’ve only done the written tests.”
“I guess.”
Remus tossed his results onto the bedside table and threw himself down onto the bed. “So, what about the prank for the train? Are you all set?”
“Nearly,” James confirmed. “We were just discussing…”
“Arguing,” Sirius interrupted.
James glared at him for butting in. “…Discussing whether to do the driver’s windows too.”
“I say it’s too dangerous,” Peter piped up. “James thinks it’s a brilliant idea, and Sirius is on the fence.”
“It does sound kind of dangerous,” Remus commented after a few moments of thought.
“It’ll be just as good a prank if it’s only the rest of the train,” Sirius added as he turned to James.
“I thought you hadn’t made your mind up?” James queried with a raise of one eyebrow. “When Peter said it was dangerous you weren’t sure.”
“You’re outvoted anyway,” Peter crowed. “We’ll just do the rest of the train.”
Sirius nodded in agreement. “It’ll be great. Nearly perfect.”
“Only nearly?” asked James, with a sniff of annoyance.
“Nearly,” Sirius repeated. “Perfect would be if Remus was with us on the train.” He looked across at Remus who was trying his best to hide his disappointment. Unfortunately, everyone knew that there was no realistic possibility of Remus joining them on the journey and his absence would be the only blight on the day.
-o-xXx-o-
“You sure you’ve packed everything?” Remus asked as he watched Sirius close his trunk with a loud slam.
“Probably not,” he replied. “But I’m not wasting the rest of the morning hunting for whatever it is I’ve missed.” He sank down onto the bed and looked around the room. James and Peter were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, but Sirius had opted to stay and eat with Remus on the last morning of the school year. The carriages would be leaving for Hogsmeade in an hour and he didn’t want to waste a single minute.
“I’ll be all right,” Remus assured him. He sat down beside Sirius and nudged him with his elbow. “You worry too much.”
“I can’t help it. I’m going to miss you so much in the holidays.”
“We’ll talk every day,” Remus promised. “I’ve still got my mirror and you’ve already packed your own. And we can write and it’ll be just like every other summer.”
“How can you say that?” Sirius asked. “The Ministry is breathing down your neck and you could get caught any minute.”
“Like I said, just like every other summer,” Remus repeated with a grimace. “I can’t remember a time when the Ministry wasn’t looking for me.”
Sirius stood up and walked over to the window. “You’re so brave,” he whispered. “Braver than all the other Gryffindors by miles.”
“I don’t see it as being brave,” Remus replied as he joined him at the window. “It’s not like I’ve got any other choice.”
“I’m going to miss you so much,” Sirius told him again.
Remus reached round to pull Sirius into a tight hug. “I’ll miss you, too.”
Sirius hesitated only a moment before he hugged Remus back. No one was around to see them, and Rita’s gossip was long forgotten by the rest of the students. Only Sirius had continued to think about the words that had been printed about him, and he hadn’t let himself dwell on them that often. But now, with Remus held tightly in his arms, his half-forgotten worries surfaced once more.
He pulled back ever so slightly so that he could see Remus’s face and looked down at the other boy. “You’ve gotten taller,” he commented when he realised that Remus was now barely an inch shorter than him.
Remus grinned up at him. “I’m catching you up. I’m going to overtake you by this time next year, just you watch.”
Sirius smiled back, and before he could think about what he was doing, he was leaning forward, perfectly positioned to kiss the other boy right on the lips.
Somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice was shouting at him, screaming out all the reasons why this was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. From reminders about the fact that this was his best friend to the cringing knowledge of how his mother would react if she knew, the reasons tumbled through his mind in a heated rush.
Unfortunately, the pounding of his heart was drowning out the voice of common sense. His pulse quickened and his breathing became more ragged.
Remus was looking at him with wide-eyes, but he wasn’t pulling back.
Sirius could feel the other boy’s heart beating at an equally rapid pace and moved a little closer.
Then suddenly Remus was torn from his arms and a dreadfully familiar voice was coming from the doorway.
“Keep back, werewolf!” Professor Spion warned. “Black, did it bite you?”
“W-what?” Sirius stammered, turning to face the Professor.
“Did it bite you?” Spion repeated impatiently.
Sirius looked at Remus, then back at the Professor. This was not good at all and with the Defence teacher blocking the dormitory door there was no way that Remus could escape the room. The best he could do was play for time and hope that someone arrived to help them. “Did what bite me?” he asked, feigning confusion as best he could.
“The werewolf!” Spion snapped.
“Werewolf?”
“There!” Spion pointed his wand at Remus who had risen into a sitting position beside the bed, but had yet to stand up properly. “Did it bite you?”
“Why would he bite me?” Sirius asked.
“I know you failed your Defence Against the Dark Arts exam this term, but even you must know that werewolves bite their prey in order to turn them into werewolves themselves. Did it bite you?”
“Of course not,” Sirius replied. “You okay, Remus?”
Remus nodded and Sirius went over to help him to his feet. “Get Dumbledore,” Remus whispered as he stumbled slightly.
Sirius shook his head in reply. There was no way he was leaving Remus alone with Professor Spion. There was no telling what ‘accident’ might happen before he returned.
“Foolish boy,” Spion snapped. “Stand back and let me deal with it.”
“I think I should take him to Madam Pomfrey, he’s hurt his wrist,” Sirius argued, hoping that Remus would play along with his lie.
“Stand aside,” Spion ordered again. “You’ve no idea what sort of monster you’re dealing with.”
“He’s not a monster,” Sirius shouted. “He’s my friend and I won’t let you hurt him.”
“It’s a werewolf, they’re deceptive and dangerous, and this one’s been on the run for years.”
“You’re not taking him,” Sirius stated. He pushed Remus behind him and faced the Professor who was still brandishing his wand in a menacing manner.
The stand off may have continued until long after the Hogwart’s Express had departed, were it not for James and Peter returning to the dormitory.
“Shit!” James swore as he took in the scene.
The distraction was just enough for Sirius to grab Remus’s hand and sprint for the door.
“It’s too late for running,” Remus told him, though he kept up with Sirius as he tore down the stairs and into the common room.
“We’re going to Professor Dumbledore,” Sirius told him. “He’ll know what to do.”
“What if he’s not there?”
“Then McGonagall will be about somewhere, or Sprout or someone, anyone who can…”
“Who can stop the Ministry?” Remus panted, pulling Sirius to an abrupt halt.
“We don’t have time for this,” Sirius warned as he tried to pull Remus along again.
“Professor Spion knows I’m here, he’s seen me. He won’t just let me go on hiding here.”
“You can come home with me,” Sirius said with determination. “Dumbledore won’t let Spion take you and Grimmauld Place is like a fortress, no one can get in.”
“You know that’s not possible.”
“Dumbledore will let you, he doesn’t want you caught by the Ministry either.”
“But he can’t stop them,” Remus pointed out sadly. “If he could, then Rom would still be alive.”
“Remus, Sirius,” Professor McGonagall hissed as she strolled round the corner. “This may be the last day of term but that’s no reason for not taking the usual precautions. Where’s Mr Potter’s cloak?”
“James has already packed it,” Remus replied, forgetting for the moment the fact that he’d already been discovered. Professor McGonagall had that effect on a lot of people, if she asked you a question you were compelled to answer it without hesitation.
“Well, I suggest you stay in the dormitory until such time as the school is empty of students. Professor Spion intends to travel back to London with the students so you should be safe for the summer. If he intends returning Professor Dumbledore will be aware of it and can make the appropriate arrangements. Now…”
“He’s already found him,” Sirius interrupted.
Professor McGonagall looked momentarily stunned at being interrupted, but quickly recovered her composure as the words sank in.
“He just barged into the dorm and we were going to Professor Dumbledore to get help. Spion’s right behind us.”
“Professor Spion,” McGonagall corrected automatically. “And in that case, I suggest we don’t linger here any longer. Professor Dumbledore is in his office and will need to see you both.”
“Stop right there!” Professor Spion shouted from the far end of the corridor.
Sirius groaned as he turned to look at the Professor. The man appeared to have been on the receiving end of a spell or two since their hasty exit from the dormitory and he looked none too happy about it. He stumbled down the corridor with great difficulty, his knees having been reversed by a jinx that Sirius knew was a speciality of both James and Peter, having been on the receiving end of it himself.
“You two run along to the Headmaster’s office,” McGonagall whispered, shooing them away. Sirius tugged Remus along again, but not before he heard Professor McGonagall greet Professor Spion. “Oh dear, whatever has happened to you. Now, what is the counter-curse again? My memory isn’t what it used to be, I just don’t have the knack for Defence Against the Dark Arts, as you pointed out to the rest of the staff at dinner last month…”
Sirius and Remus raced to the Headmaster’s office, password at the ready.
Sirius wasn’t surprised to see that Professor Dumbledore was waiting for them as soon as they arrived.
“Ah, Mr Black, Mr Lupin,” he greeted them, waving them towards the seats. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“You have?” Remus asked nervously.
“Yes.” Professor Dumbledore gestured to the third seat in the room. Sirius had thought at first that it was empty, then he saw that the occupant was one of the school’s house elves, who appeared to be in great distress. “It would seem that Professor Spion has taken it upon himself to question each and every one of the school house elves in the hope of finding your whereabouts. With more than a hundred in residence here, it has been quite an undertaking and Minny here has been doing her utmost to keep out of his way.
“Unfortunately, this morning, she was spotted returning to the kitchens with your breakfast tray and taken aside for questioning. As Professor Spion is a teacher she has been unable to lie to him without inflicting punishment on herself, which alerted him to her untruths. She came to me immediately and explained the whole thing.”
At this point Minny threw herself from her chair and wrapped her tiny arms around Remus’s leg. “Minny is sorry Master Lupin. Minny didn’t mean to betray you. Minny has punished herself and begs Master Lupin’s forgiveness.”
“It’s all right,” Remus assured the house elf, patting her on the arm whilst simultaneously trying to disentangle himself from her grip.
“As you can see, Minny is thoroughly distraught at what has happened.” Professor Dumbledore summoned another house elf to lead her back to her quarters before he continued.
“What are we going to do now?” Sirius asked. “Can Remus come home with me?”
“A generous offer, but quite impractical,” Professor Dumbledore replied with a shake of his head. “I’m afraid that there is nothing that can be done other than to allow Professor Spion to notify the Ministry that Remus has been located.”
“But the Ministry wants to kill me,” Remus whispered, the blood draining from his face.
“You can’t just turn him over to them!” Sirius shouted, rising to his feet in anger.
Dumbledore looked back at Sirius calmly and waited until he had resumed his seat before speaking again. “I’m afraid that if we don’t, Remus will be taken anyway and I will be forced to flee the Ministry myself. If that should happen then I won’t be in a position to help.”
“You can stop them from k-killing me?” Remus stammered hopefully.
“We’ll talk later,” Dumbledore replied kindly. “In the meantime, I believe Professor Spion is rather anxious to join us.”
“He is?” Sirius asked. “How can you tell?”
Dumbledore smiled secretly and pointed his wand towards the door. Sometimes it seemed that Dumbledore simply knew.
A moment later Professor Spion charged into the room, his wand raised and pointed towards Remus again. Professor McGonagall followed close behind him, Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey trailing behind her.
“You can’t possibly turn this delightful young boy over to the Ministry,” Professor Sprout demanded as she pushed Professor Spion aside and moved to Remus’s side.
“As the school healer, I have to agree,” Madam Pomfrey stated. “It would be detrimental to his health, the last full moon took quite a toll on him.”
Professor McGonagall merely nodded as she joined the rest of them in facing off Professor Spion.
“I am under orders from the Ministry of Magic,” Professor Spion announced imperiously. “I am compelled to take the werewolf into custody immediately.”
“And I am compelled to request that you show a little compassion for a young boy who is clearly unaware of the intricacies of the laws set by the Ministry,” Dumbledore replied.
“You can explain the intricacies to it when it’s in custody,” Spion replied.
“He, Professor Spion, has a name,” Professor McGonagall snapped. “Sirius, you’d better be heading back to Gryffindor Tower. You still need to collect your things for the journey to London.”
“Professor McGonagall is correct,” Professor Dumbledore agreed. “Run along, Remus will be quite all right for the moment.”
“But…”
“No arguments, Mr Black,” McGonagall warned. “I don’t wish to be the one to explain to your mother if you were to miss the train.”
Sirius opened his mouth to argue again, but saw that it would be useless. “Look after yourself,” he told Remus before he turned to leave the office.
-o-xXx-o-
James and Peter were in the common room when Sirius arrived back at Gryffindor Tower.
“Did he get away?” James asked. “Peter got Spion with a great hex, but he was still giving chase.”
“They’re all in Dumbledore’s office,” Sirius replied. “I don’t think there’s anything Dumbledore can do now. Remus has been well and truly caught.”
“We didn’t tell on you,” Peter said. “Really, we didn’t.”
“I know.” Sirius sighed. “It was one of the house elves, they can’t lie to teachers without consequences and Spion questioned the one that brings Remus his meals.”
“Should have known that the teachers getting involved would cause problems,” James muttered. “We should have taken care of him ourselves.”
“We did our best,” Sirius replied. “It just wasn’t good enough.”
“Is Romulus in the Headmaster’s office?” Peter suddenly asked. “I’ve not seen him all day.”
“No, me neither,” replied Sirius after a moment of thought. “I’d better go find him and let him know what’s happened.”
“You can use Moony’s Map now we’ve finished it,” James suggested. “Didn’t Remus hide it upstairs?”
Sirius nodded and ran for the dormitory, easily finding the map in the drawer of Remus’s bedside table. Unfortunately it wasn’t as easy to find Romulus on the map. Sir Nicholas was hanging around in the Great Hall, and the Fat Friar was loitering around in the Hufflepuff common room, but there was no sign of Romulus anywhere on the map.
“I’ll go get one of the ghosts to find him,” Sirius said as he ducked out of the common room. “They said they would help if they could.”
Sirius flew down the stairs, suffering only one near miss as the staircase leading down to the second floor moved whilst he was on it. He soon spotted Sir Nicholas and enlisted his help in persuading the Friar to emerge from the Hufflepuff quarters. Sir Nicholas did raise an eyebrow at Sirius’s earnest belief that the Friar was in there, but thankfully he didn’t press him on how he could be so sure.
“I can’t find Romulus,” he began, the moment the Friar drifted through the door.
“I’ll go get him,” the Friar promised, disappearing out of sight faster than Sirius had ever seen a ghost move.
“You’d better be getting ready to leave for the train,” Sir Nicholas advised. “Romulus will return to his brother soon.”
“Return from where?” Sirius asked, but Sir Nicholas was already moving back towards the Great Hall.
-o-xXx-o-
Sirius loitered in the Entrance Hall until the last possible minute. He climbed aboard the last of the carriages as slowly as he could, lingering as long as possible in the grounds.
James and Peter had already gone ahead of him and Sirius felt more alone as he left the school at the end of his third year than he ever had before.
He turned to look back at the castle as the carriage pulled away, but he couldn’t see anything of either of the Lupin brothers. High above him in the tower that housed Albus Dumbledore’s office, he knew that Remus was waiting whilst the teachers decided his immediate fate. The boring summer was now something he longed for, anything was better than this.
Chapter 22
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. J K Rowling retains all copyright.
On the Hunt (PG13 for a bit of bad language)
“Exams?” Remus spluttered as he looked at Professor McGonagall, sitting across from him in her office.
“The end of year exams,” McGonagall clarified. “I think you should try sitting them along with your friends. The theory exams anyway.”
“But I’m not a real student.”
“There won’t be a record of your marks, we’d just like to see where you’re at with your education.”
Remus wanted to argue with the teacher, but could already tell that it would be no use.
“You can take them here in my office, and myself, Professor Sprout and the headmaster will mark them for you.”
“Why doesn’t Professor Dumbledore ever want to see me?” Remus asked, wondering, not for the first time, why he’d never run across the headmaster in all his wanderings around the castle.
“I’m afraid that the headmaster is closely watched by Professor Spion whenever he leaves his office. It seems that the Ministry is convinced that Professor Dumbledore is harbouring you within the school. He’ll speak to you when he’s ready. But I must ask you not to try to visit him yourself.”
Remus nodded his agreement. The last thing he wanted to do was run afoul of the Defence teacher. McGonagall rummaged around in one of her desk drawers for a moment, before emerging with a sheet of parchment, which she passed to Remus.
“Now, this is your exam timetable, don’t lose it. And I suggest you study just as hard as the rest of your friends.” Remus snorted at this. “Make that even harder than the rest of your friends,” McGonagall amended.
-o-xXx-o-
“They’re making you take exams?” a horrified James asked. “Well, that’s just plain cruel, isn’t it?”
“It’s definitely screwed up your plans for me to prank the Great Hall during OWL week,” Remus replied, secretly relieved that he wouldn’t be required to pull off that particular prank. During the last couple of months, James, Peter, and even Sirius on occasion, had talked him into pulling one stunt after another under the cover of the invisibility cloak, and Remus, thrilled to be a part of a group had joined in eagerly. But charming all of the desks to grow teeth and snap at anyone who tried to open them in the middle of OWL week wasn’t likely to go down well with any of the staff.
“Shame about that,” James muttered. “Guess we’ll have to find a way to prank the Express on the way home instead.”
“I guess.” Remus looked out of the window at the setting sun.
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t think,” James apologised. “Maybe things will be sorted out by the end of term? You might be on the train with us.”
“I doubt it,” Remus sighed.
“What are you going to do in the summer holidays?” Peter asked. “Stay here at Hogwarts?”
“Wish I could,” Sirius chimed in. “Mother’s been sending owls for weeks about her plans for the summer. Boring dinner parties and then cousin Bellatrix’s wedding. I may just accidentally miss the train and stay here.”
“They can’t be that bad,” James commented.
“They’re all pureblood fanatics and want me to think the same way they do.”
“All of them?”
“Most of them,” Sirius amended. “Uncle Alphard’s all right, and Bellatrix’s sister can be a laugh.”
“Narcissa? A laugh?” James choked out. “Her face would crack if she ever smiled.”
“Not that sister, Andromeda,” Sirius explained around his own bubbling laughter at the thought of Narcissa’s face cracking into pieces. “But the rest of them are just what you guys thought I was back in first year.”
“Maybe you’re wrong about them?” James suggested. “Just like we got you pegged all wrong.”
“I don’t think so. They’ll never change.”
An awkward silence descended over the room and Sirius pulled out his Transfiguration textbook, eager to avoid any more talk about his family.
Remus picked up his own book, but he couldn’t so easily push from his mind the problem of what he was going to do at the end of term. He had no idea what was going to happen to him after the other boys boarded the Hogwart’s Express, leaving him alone in the cavernous castle, without the protection of James’s invisibility cloak to keep him hidden from the eyes of others.
-o-xXx-o-
“It’s perfect,” James announced proudly.
“It’s way more advanced than anything we’re going to learn at school,” Sirius pointed out.
“But imagine the looks on everyone’s faces when they look out of the windows of the train and see all sorts of other places instead of Scotland and England.”
“We don’t know how to do the spells,” Sirius repeated for the umpteenth time.
“The maintenance workers at the Ministry can do them.”
“Then why don’t you owl them and ask them if they’d like to help you prank everyone on the Express?” Sirius muttered. “Because I’ve got no clue how to pull a stunt like that on one window, let alone a train full of them.”
“I might just do that,” James replied with a haughty sniff, and with that he stood up and hurried down to the common room to tell Peter his latest idea.
“It would be a good prank,” Remus commented quietly.
“No, it wouldn’t; it’s stupid.”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if I was coming back to London on the train with you guys,” Remus felt obliged to point out.
“Doesn’t make any difference whether you’re with us or not, I still don’t know how to do those sort of spells.”
“But you’d be looking them up right now instead of doing your Herbology revision.”
Sirius scowled at Remus’s accurate assessment and ducked his head so that anyone coming into the room would believe he was diligently reading back through his class notes for the year.
“Sirius?” Remus sighed. “You’ve got to stop worrying about me all the time. You’ll fail all your exams if you don’t stop it.”
“I can’t help it,” Sirius replied with a sigh of his own. “London seems such a long way from here and you’re going to be on your own, visible and you’ll be on your own and I won’t be here.”
“Sirius, in one way or another, I’m always on my own.”
Sirius looked up at him curiously. “What do you mean? You’re not on your own now, I’m here.”
“But you can’t always be with me.” Remus looked out at the evening sky; another full moon was only a couple of days away. “No one can be with me all the time.”
Sirius tossed aside his notes and buried his face in his hands. “What do you think about sneaking back home with me?” he finally asked.
“You know I can’t.”
“Why not? My parents won’t notice, they’re out most of the time anyway.”
“And what about your brother and the house elf? You told me that Kreacher always tells tales on you, so what’s to stop him telling your parents I’m hiding out there?”
“We’ll be careful, Regulus won’t say anything and we won’t let Kreacher know you’re there.”
“And on the full moon? What about then?”
“We’ll work something out.”
“Oh, Sirius.” Remus sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could come back home with you. I want to see London, your home, your room, everything, so badly. But it’s too dangerous. You know it is.”
“You can’t stay here on your own. That’s too dangerous too.”
“Some of the teachers are staying for the holidays. They live here at the castle. And the school ghosts are always keeping a watch on me. I think Rom’s got them on some sort of schedule or something. Then there’s Rom himself. He won’t let anything happen to me. The summer will go by really quickly and you’ll be back here before you know it.”
“Liar,” Sirius muttered. “The summer’s going to drag horribly and you know it.”
-o-xXx-o-
“How did you do?” Peter asked eagerly after Remus had returned to the dormitory following his meeting with Professor McGonagall about his test results.
“Totally failed Potions,” he replied with a grimace. “Professor McGonagall also suggested that next year I sneak into Arithmancy with James instead of Divination. Apparently I don’t have the gift for that either.”
“But you passed the rest, didn’t you?” Sirius asked.
“Scraped through them,” Remus muttered. “But if they were OWLs I’d have failed most of them.”
“You’d make it up on the practical exams though. You’ve only done the written tests.”
“I guess.”
Remus tossed his results onto the bedside table and threw himself down onto the bed. “So, what about the prank for the train? Are you all set?”
“Nearly,” James confirmed. “We were just discussing…”
“Arguing,” Sirius interrupted.
James glared at him for butting in. “…Discussing whether to do the driver’s windows too.”
“I say it’s too dangerous,” Peter piped up. “James thinks it’s a brilliant idea, and Sirius is on the fence.”
“It does sound kind of dangerous,” Remus commented after a few moments of thought.
“It’ll be just as good a prank if it’s only the rest of the train,” Sirius added as he turned to James.
“I thought you hadn’t made your mind up?” James queried with a raise of one eyebrow. “When Peter said it was dangerous you weren’t sure.”
“You’re outvoted anyway,” Peter crowed. “We’ll just do the rest of the train.”
Sirius nodded in agreement. “It’ll be great. Nearly perfect.”
“Only nearly?” asked James, with a sniff of annoyance.
“Nearly,” Sirius repeated. “Perfect would be if Remus was with us on the train.” He looked across at Remus who was trying his best to hide his disappointment. Unfortunately, everyone knew that there was no realistic possibility of Remus joining them on the journey and his absence would be the only blight on the day.
-o-xXx-o-
“You sure you’ve packed everything?” Remus asked as he watched Sirius close his trunk with a loud slam.
“Probably not,” he replied. “But I’m not wasting the rest of the morning hunting for whatever it is I’ve missed.” He sank down onto the bed and looked around the room. James and Peter were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, but Sirius had opted to stay and eat with Remus on the last morning of the school year. The carriages would be leaving for Hogsmeade in an hour and he didn’t want to waste a single minute.
“I’ll be all right,” Remus assured him. He sat down beside Sirius and nudged him with his elbow. “You worry too much.”
“I can’t help it. I’m going to miss you so much in the holidays.”
“We’ll talk every day,” Remus promised. “I’ve still got my mirror and you’ve already packed your own. And we can write and it’ll be just like every other summer.”
“How can you say that?” Sirius asked. “The Ministry is breathing down your neck and you could get caught any minute.”
“Like I said, just like every other summer,” Remus repeated with a grimace. “I can’t remember a time when the Ministry wasn’t looking for me.”
Sirius stood up and walked over to the window. “You’re so brave,” he whispered. “Braver than all the other Gryffindors by miles.”
“I don’t see it as being brave,” Remus replied as he joined him at the window. “It’s not like I’ve got any other choice.”
“I’m going to miss you so much,” Sirius told him again.
Remus reached round to pull Sirius into a tight hug. “I’ll miss you, too.”
Sirius hesitated only a moment before he hugged Remus back. No one was around to see them, and Rita’s gossip was long forgotten by the rest of the students. Only Sirius had continued to think about the words that had been printed about him, and he hadn’t let himself dwell on them that often. But now, with Remus held tightly in his arms, his half-forgotten worries surfaced once more.
He pulled back ever so slightly so that he could see Remus’s face and looked down at the other boy. “You’ve gotten taller,” he commented when he realised that Remus was now barely an inch shorter than him.
Remus grinned up at him. “I’m catching you up. I’m going to overtake you by this time next year, just you watch.”
Sirius smiled back, and before he could think about what he was doing, he was leaning forward, perfectly positioned to kiss the other boy right on the lips.
Somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice was shouting at him, screaming out all the reasons why this was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. From reminders about the fact that this was his best friend to the cringing knowledge of how his mother would react if she knew, the reasons tumbled through his mind in a heated rush.
Unfortunately, the pounding of his heart was drowning out the voice of common sense. His pulse quickened and his breathing became more ragged.
Remus was looking at him with wide-eyes, but he wasn’t pulling back.
Sirius could feel the other boy’s heart beating at an equally rapid pace and moved a little closer.
Then suddenly Remus was torn from his arms and a dreadfully familiar voice was coming from the doorway.
“Keep back, werewolf!” Professor Spion warned. “Black, did it bite you?”
“W-what?” Sirius stammered, turning to face the Professor.
“Did it bite you?” Spion repeated impatiently.
Sirius looked at Remus, then back at the Professor. This was not good at all and with the Defence teacher blocking the dormitory door there was no way that Remus could escape the room. The best he could do was play for time and hope that someone arrived to help them. “Did what bite me?” he asked, feigning confusion as best he could.
“The werewolf!” Spion snapped.
“Werewolf?”
“There!” Spion pointed his wand at Remus who had risen into a sitting position beside the bed, but had yet to stand up properly. “Did it bite you?”
“Why would he bite me?” Sirius asked.
“I know you failed your Defence Against the Dark Arts exam this term, but even you must know that werewolves bite their prey in order to turn them into werewolves themselves. Did it bite you?”
“Of course not,” Sirius replied. “You okay, Remus?”
Remus nodded and Sirius went over to help him to his feet. “Get Dumbledore,” Remus whispered as he stumbled slightly.
Sirius shook his head in reply. There was no way he was leaving Remus alone with Professor Spion. There was no telling what ‘accident’ might happen before he returned.
“Foolish boy,” Spion snapped. “Stand back and let me deal with it.”
“I think I should take him to Madam Pomfrey, he’s hurt his wrist,” Sirius argued, hoping that Remus would play along with his lie.
“Stand aside,” Spion ordered again. “You’ve no idea what sort of monster you’re dealing with.”
“He’s not a monster,” Sirius shouted. “He’s my friend and I won’t let you hurt him.”
“It’s a werewolf, they’re deceptive and dangerous, and this one’s been on the run for years.”
“You’re not taking him,” Sirius stated. He pushed Remus behind him and faced the Professor who was still brandishing his wand in a menacing manner.
The stand off may have continued until long after the Hogwart’s Express had departed, were it not for James and Peter returning to the dormitory.
“Shit!” James swore as he took in the scene.
The distraction was just enough for Sirius to grab Remus’s hand and sprint for the door.
“It’s too late for running,” Remus told him, though he kept up with Sirius as he tore down the stairs and into the common room.
“We’re going to Professor Dumbledore,” Sirius told him. “He’ll know what to do.”
“What if he’s not there?”
“Then McGonagall will be about somewhere, or Sprout or someone, anyone who can…”
“Who can stop the Ministry?” Remus panted, pulling Sirius to an abrupt halt.
“We don’t have time for this,” Sirius warned as he tried to pull Remus along again.
“Professor Spion knows I’m here, he’s seen me. He won’t just let me go on hiding here.”
“You can come home with me,” Sirius said with determination. “Dumbledore won’t let Spion take you and Grimmauld Place is like a fortress, no one can get in.”
“You know that’s not possible.”
“Dumbledore will let you, he doesn’t want you caught by the Ministry either.”
“But he can’t stop them,” Remus pointed out sadly. “If he could, then Rom would still be alive.”
“Remus, Sirius,” Professor McGonagall hissed as she strolled round the corner. “This may be the last day of term but that’s no reason for not taking the usual precautions. Where’s Mr Potter’s cloak?”
“James has already packed it,” Remus replied, forgetting for the moment the fact that he’d already been discovered. Professor McGonagall had that effect on a lot of people, if she asked you a question you were compelled to answer it without hesitation.
“Well, I suggest you stay in the dormitory until such time as the school is empty of students. Professor Spion intends to travel back to London with the students so you should be safe for the summer. If he intends returning Professor Dumbledore will be aware of it and can make the appropriate arrangements. Now…”
“He’s already found him,” Sirius interrupted.
Professor McGonagall looked momentarily stunned at being interrupted, but quickly recovered her composure as the words sank in.
“He just barged into the dorm and we were going to Professor Dumbledore to get help. Spion’s right behind us.”
“Professor Spion,” McGonagall corrected automatically. “And in that case, I suggest we don’t linger here any longer. Professor Dumbledore is in his office and will need to see you both.”
“Stop right there!” Professor Spion shouted from the far end of the corridor.
Sirius groaned as he turned to look at the Professor. The man appeared to have been on the receiving end of a spell or two since their hasty exit from the dormitory and he looked none too happy about it. He stumbled down the corridor with great difficulty, his knees having been reversed by a jinx that Sirius knew was a speciality of both James and Peter, having been on the receiving end of it himself.
“You two run along to the Headmaster’s office,” McGonagall whispered, shooing them away. Sirius tugged Remus along again, but not before he heard Professor McGonagall greet Professor Spion. “Oh dear, whatever has happened to you. Now, what is the counter-curse again? My memory isn’t what it used to be, I just don’t have the knack for Defence Against the Dark Arts, as you pointed out to the rest of the staff at dinner last month…”
Sirius and Remus raced to the Headmaster’s office, password at the ready.
Sirius wasn’t surprised to see that Professor Dumbledore was waiting for them as soon as they arrived.
“Ah, Mr Black, Mr Lupin,” he greeted them, waving them towards the seats. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“You have?” Remus asked nervously.
“Yes.” Professor Dumbledore gestured to the third seat in the room. Sirius had thought at first that it was empty, then he saw that the occupant was one of the school’s house elves, who appeared to be in great distress. “It would seem that Professor Spion has taken it upon himself to question each and every one of the school house elves in the hope of finding your whereabouts. With more than a hundred in residence here, it has been quite an undertaking and Minny here has been doing her utmost to keep out of his way.
“Unfortunately, this morning, she was spotted returning to the kitchens with your breakfast tray and taken aside for questioning. As Professor Spion is a teacher she has been unable to lie to him without inflicting punishment on herself, which alerted him to her untruths. She came to me immediately and explained the whole thing.”
At this point Minny threw herself from her chair and wrapped her tiny arms around Remus’s leg. “Minny is sorry Master Lupin. Minny didn’t mean to betray you. Minny has punished herself and begs Master Lupin’s forgiveness.”
“It’s all right,” Remus assured the house elf, patting her on the arm whilst simultaneously trying to disentangle himself from her grip.
“As you can see, Minny is thoroughly distraught at what has happened.” Professor Dumbledore summoned another house elf to lead her back to her quarters before he continued.
“What are we going to do now?” Sirius asked. “Can Remus come home with me?”
“A generous offer, but quite impractical,” Professor Dumbledore replied with a shake of his head. “I’m afraid that there is nothing that can be done other than to allow Professor Spion to notify the Ministry that Remus has been located.”
“But the Ministry wants to kill me,” Remus whispered, the blood draining from his face.
“You can’t just turn him over to them!” Sirius shouted, rising to his feet in anger.
Dumbledore looked back at Sirius calmly and waited until he had resumed his seat before speaking again. “I’m afraid that if we don’t, Remus will be taken anyway and I will be forced to flee the Ministry myself. If that should happen then I won’t be in a position to help.”
“You can stop them from k-killing me?” Remus stammered hopefully.
“We’ll talk later,” Dumbledore replied kindly. “In the meantime, I believe Professor Spion is rather anxious to join us.”
“He is?” Sirius asked. “How can you tell?”
Dumbledore smiled secretly and pointed his wand towards the door. Sometimes it seemed that Dumbledore simply knew.
A moment later Professor Spion charged into the room, his wand raised and pointed towards Remus again. Professor McGonagall followed close behind him, Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey trailing behind her.
“You can’t possibly turn this delightful young boy over to the Ministry,” Professor Sprout demanded as she pushed Professor Spion aside and moved to Remus’s side.
“As the school healer, I have to agree,” Madam Pomfrey stated. “It would be detrimental to his health, the last full moon took quite a toll on him.”
Professor McGonagall merely nodded as she joined the rest of them in facing off Professor Spion.
“I am under orders from the Ministry of Magic,” Professor Spion announced imperiously. “I am compelled to take the werewolf into custody immediately.”
“And I am compelled to request that you show a little compassion for a young boy who is clearly unaware of the intricacies of the laws set by the Ministry,” Dumbledore replied.
“You can explain the intricacies to it when it’s in custody,” Spion replied.
“He, Professor Spion, has a name,” Professor McGonagall snapped. “Sirius, you’d better be heading back to Gryffindor Tower. You still need to collect your things for the journey to London.”
“Professor McGonagall is correct,” Professor Dumbledore agreed. “Run along, Remus will be quite all right for the moment.”
“But…”
“No arguments, Mr Black,” McGonagall warned. “I don’t wish to be the one to explain to your mother if you were to miss the train.”
Sirius opened his mouth to argue again, but saw that it would be useless. “Look after yourself,” he told Remus before he turned to leave the office.
-o-xXx-o-
James and Peter were in the common room when Sirius arrived back at Gryffindor Tower.
“Did he get away?” James asked. “Peter got Spion with a great hex, but he was still giving chase.”
“They’re all in Dumbledore’s office,” Sirius replied. “I don’t think there’s anything Dumbledore can do now. Remus has been well and truly caught.”
“We didn’t tell on you,” Peter said. “Really, we didn’t.”
“I know.” Sirius sighed. “It was one of the house elves, they can’t lie to teachers without consequences and Spion questioned the one that brings Remus his meals.”
“Should have known that the teachers getting involved would cause problems,” James muttered. “We should have taken care of him ourselves.”
“We did our best,” Sirius replied. “It just wasn’t good enough.”
“Is Romulus in the Headmaster’s office?” Peter suddenly asked. “I’ve not seen him all day.”
“No, me neither,” replied Sirius after a moment of thought. “I’d better go find him and let him know what’s happened.”
“You can use Moony’s Map now we’ve finished it,” James suggested. “Didn’t Remus hide it upstairs?”
Sirius nodded and ran for the dormitory, easily finding the map in the drawer of Remus’s bedside table. Unfortunately it wasn’t as easy to find Romulus on the map. Sir Nicholas was hanging around in the Great Hall, and the Fat Friar was loitering around in the Hufflepuff common room, but there was no sign of Romulus anywhere on the map.
“I’ll go get one of the ghosts to find him,” Sirius said as he ducked out of the common room. “They said they would help if they could.”
Sirius flew down the stairs, suffering only one near miss as the staircase leading down to the second floor moved whilst he was on it. He soon spotted Sir Nicholas and enlisted his help in persuading the Friar to emerge from the Hufflepuff quarters. Sir Nicholas did raise an eyebrow at Sirius’s earnest belief that the Friar was in there, but thankfully he didn’t press him on how he could be so sure.
“I can’t find Romulus,” he began, the moment the Friar drifted through the door.
“I’ll go get him,” the Friar promised, disappearing out of sight faster than Sirius had ever seen a ghost move.
“You’d better be getting ready to leave for the train,” Sir Nicholas advised. “Romulus will return to his brother soon.”
“Return from where?” Sirius asked, but Sir Nicholas was already moving back towards the Great Hall.
-o-xXx-o-
Sirius loitered in the Entrance Hall until the last possible minute. He climbed aboard the last of the carriages as slowly as he could, lingering as long as possible in the grounds.
James and Peter had already gone ahead of him and Sirius felt more alone as he left the school at the end of his third year than he ever had before.
He turned to look back at the castle as the carriage pulled away, but he couldn’t see anything of either of the Lupin brothers. High above him in the tower that housed Albus Dumbledore’s office, he knew that Remus was waiting whilst the teachers decided his immediate fate. The boring summer was now something he longed for, anything was better than this.
Chapter 22