Author’s Notes: MWPP era, Second Year. Rem’s POV.

 

 

Chapter 5 – Just a Furry Little Problem

 

“Remus! Remus!”

 

Remus turned at the feminine shriek that sounded, strangely enough, like his name, and spotted the redheaded Lily Evans waving wildly at him, pushing through the students crowded on the King’s Cross platform.

 

“Hey, Lily!” he grinned.

 

She threw her arms around him in a hug. “I am so glad to be going back to school. Home’s so dull. My family just doesn’t understand.” She waved a hand at two adults and an older girl who were standing near the wall, watching.

 

“Wow, Lils, is that your sister?” Remus asked. He’d heard a good bit of griping over the past year about one Petunia Evans. “Did she just bite a lemon?”

 

Lily laughed, but there was a slightly bitter edge to it that Remus was unaccustomed to hearing. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But no, she’s been like that all summer – would barely speak to me.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Remus said, and meant it. He knew what it was like to be shunned.

 

“Don’t be. I mean, sure, we were very close when we were little, but if she can’t accept me for what I am, it’s for the better that it comes out now, right?”

 

“Lils…” Remus felt his heart break a little for the girl, understanding her far better than she could know.

 

“Remus! Remus!”

 

Remus turned again, searching for the source of his name. He saw James leaning out of one of the windows on the train, beckoning for him to come.

 

“Go on, then,” Lily grinned. “I’ll see you at school.”

 

“See you,” Remus smiled, and boarded the train.

 

He lugged his trunk down the corridor until he found the compartment his three friends were in.

 

“Anyone sitting here?” he asked, opening the door.

 

Sirius looked up, a grin lighting his face. “What?”

 

“I asked if anyone was sitting here,” Remus repeated, ignoring the confused expressions on James and Peter’s faces in favor of the delight on Sirius’s. “Everywhere else is full.” (1)

 

“I’m sitting here,” Sirius responded, grin widening, “but you’re welcome to join me.”

 

Remus laughed, and sat down, too happy to be back with his friends to think much about the little frisson of excitement he felt as Sirius threw a welcoming arm around his shoulders.

 

“What were you doing with Evans, Remus?” James asked, a funny little catch in his voice.

 

“What?” Remus turned away from Sirius to raise an eyebrow at James in question.

 

“They were hugging,” Peter snickered. “Looks like Remus has a girlfriend!”

 

“WHAT?” Sirius and James half-shrieked in unison.

 

“We just said ‘hello’!” Remus snapped defensively, and shot a glare at Peter, who was still chortling happily.

 

“But you – ”

 

“ – were hugging!”

 

“Lily’s a girl, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Remus gritted. “She hugs everybody. It’s what girls do.”

 

“Didn’t hug me,” Sirius pointed out.

 

“Nor me,” grumbled James.

 

“Ne meither,” (2) Peter chipped in.

 

“She doesn’t know any of you,” Remus reminded them.

 

“So?”

 

“‘So’? So, Sirius, I don’t see why you’re so worked up about this.” Remus shrugged off Sirius’s arm, which was still draped about his shoulders, and ignored the upset clench of his stomach at the sudden loss of the other boy’s warmth.

 

Sirius gaped at him for a moment. “But I – ” he started. “I mean you – I mean, how could you hug her? How could you do that to m – to James?”

 

“What?” Remus’s eyebrow went up again.

 

“Sirius!” James screamed at the same time.

 

Sirius had flushed, but Remus got the feeling it wasn’t because James looked ready to kill him. Sirius didn’t turn colors over just anything, and he was used to doing things that made people angry.

 

“You swore you wouldn’t say anything!” James hissed.

 

“Come on, Jamie-boy,” Sirius teased, the color of his face slowly returning to normal, further proving that it wasn’t James’s ire that had caused the sudden redness of his face. “It’s sooooo obvious.”

 

Oh, went Remus’s brain. Of course he’s talking about that. Poor James.

 

“But you swore,” James insisted.

 

“I didn’t tell Rem why he shouldn’t hug Evans, exactly,” Sirius hedged, voice mock-nervous, though his grey eyes were laughing.

 

“Sirius!”

 

“Oh, come off it, James,” Remus laughed. “It’s so obvious you fancy Lily Evans.”

 

“I – ” James stopped, face turning beet red as he clamped his mouth shut.

 

Sirius gave a barking laugh and tossed his arm over Remus’s shoulder again in a one-armed hug. “See, Jamie?” he crowed. “I told you!”

 

“James likes Evans?” Peter asked, confused.

 

Even James had to laugh at that.

 

* * * * *

 

Remus paused outside his dormitory door to catch his breath after climbing the steep spiral staircase. He’d just been released from the hospital wing after the second full moon of the school year, and he still wasn’t feeling in top form.

 

“Do you think he’s ill?” James’s voice asked from inside the room.

 

Remus blinked. James’s voice was low, hushed. With his senses heightened by his recent transformation, Remus had no trouble hearing his friend’s words, but their meaning eluded him.

 

“Must be,” Peter squeaked worriedly.

 

Remus felt a stab of fear. Was Sirius the one Peter and James were discussing so quietly? Was he perhaps in bed, and they didn’t want to wake him? Was he feverish? What was wrong?

 

Remus’s hand was on the knob, panic welling inside him when Sirius’s voice sounded, speaking the tawny-haired boy’s own name.

 

“Re would have told us,” said Sirius’s firm, healthy-sounding voice.

 

Remus froze, hand still on the doorknob.

 

“He wouldn’t want us to worry about him, Sirius, you know how Re is,” James returned.

 

“Don’t call him ‘Re’ like that, James,” Sirius’s voice was tight. “He doesn’t like it.”

 

“But you – ”

 

“It’s a trade-off, Potter. I can call him ‘Re’ and he calls me ‘Siri’.”

 

Remus’s eyebrows rose in confusion. A trade-off? What was Sirius talking about? And Remus didn’t care if James called him ‘Re’.

 

“But – ”

 

“Drop it, James,” Peter’s voice hissed.

 

James grumbled something that didn’t sound like words, then said clearly, “You have to admit, Sirius, that there’s something… off, I suppose, about how often he has to go home to see his mother.”

 

“I guess,” Sirius’s tone was grudging.

 

“And he always looks like the one who’s ill when he gets back,” James went on. “We saw his mum on the platform at the end of last year, and again at the beginning of this term, and she looked perfectly healthy to me.”

 

“You’re right…” Sirius sounded like he agreed completely, but didn’t want to admit it.

 

“So…?” Peter sounded only slightly less bewildered than usual.

 

“So James has a point, that Re might be ill,” Sirius explained reluctantly.

 

“Oh. Right.”

 

“I feel like we’re missing something important!” Sirius suddenly burst out.

 

Remus, whose ear was almost pressed against the wood of the door by this point, though it was unnecessary, drew back at the force of the exclamation.

 

“Something like – ”

 

“– a pattern?” suggested James, voice much softer than his friend’s.

 

“A pattern,” Sirius agreed.

 

Bloody hell, thought Remus. This is bad. What can I do? I’ve got to stop them before they figure it out!

 

Hurriedly he crept down a few steps as quietly as he could, then re-climbed them, making as much noise as possible without seeming deliberate, before flinging the dorm door open, a grin pasted on his face.

 

“Cheers, lads!” he called out, pretending not to notice the abrupt silence that greeted his entrance.

 

“Rem!” Sirius recovered first, crossing the room to wrap the smaller boy in a tight hug.

 

Startled, Remus wasn’t sure how to respond. He thinks I’m ill, Remus’s mind reminded him, even as his arms, of their own accord, rose to return the bone-crushing embrace.

 

But Sirius released him as abruptly as he’d grabbed him, pulling back and stepping away, face bright red. “Sorry,” he muttered.

 

Remus’s smile was genuine, now. “It’s all right,” he said, feeling his stomach do a funny flip as he met Siri’s eyes and Sirius flashed him a hesitant, but brilliant, grin of relief.

 

“It’s good to have you back,” Sirius told him, voice unusually sincere. “We missed you.”

 

“We were – ” James started to say.

 

“Pining?” Remus asked with a laugh. James had said the same thing every time Remus returned.

 

“The whole time you were gone,” the hazel-eyed boy insisted.

 

Remus ignored his friend’s frivolity, figuring it was best to bite the bullet now than be forced to swallow one later. “So, what have you lot been talking about up here? You’re usually down in the common room this time of the evening.”

 

“Er…” Peter fidgeted.

 

“We were just – ” James began.

 

“– planning a prank,” Sirius finished.

 

“Oh?” Remus raised an eyebrow. This should be good.

 

“Yeah,” James nodded enthusiastically.

 

“On the Slytherins,” Sirius added.

 

“We’re working on a new idea,” James continued.

 

“To cause mayhem – ”

 

“ – mischief – ”

 

“ – disorder.”

 

“So we returned here – ”

 

“ – to our humble abode – ”

 

“ – to discuss this idea – ”

 

“ – away from the prying eyes and ears of our esteemed house-mates.”

 

“And what, pray, is this phenomenal idea?” inquired Remus, trying not to laugh.

 

“Can’t tell you that,” Sirius said mysteriously.

 

“Be more than our lives are worth,” James added, voice hushed.

 

“I see.” Remus looked back and forth between the two black-haired boys. Well, gotta give them credit for trying. At least now they aren’t pondering the cause of my monthly absences… or figuring out that they always coincide with the full moon. “So, basically, you haven’t come up with anything yet,” Remus prompted.

 

“You could put it that way,” James agreed unabashedly.

 

“Thought so.” Remus gave a great exaggerated sigh. “Well, I guess I have no choice but to help. What can I do?”

 

“You’re the best, Re!” Sirius grabbed Remus in another enthusiastic hug, but once again he jumped away, face red, as though he’d been doing something he shouldn’t have.

 

“You are, Remus,” James concurred, not noticing Sirius’s red face. “Now, let’s plan some trouble!”

 

Remus laughed, and settled in with the other boys, pushing Sirius’s strange behavior to the back of his mind – something to think about on a rainy day.

 

* * * * *

 

“Hey, Rem,” Sirius greeted the tawny-haired boy.

 

“Siri,” Remus grinned as he turned away from his trunk, which he’d been reorganizing, finding the everyday task soothing after a particularly rough transformation. The late January sun shone weakly through the windows as Remus moved closer to his friend, expecting the traditional glad-you’re-back-how’s-your-mum? hug he’d become accustomed to upon his return to the dorm.

 

But there was no hug.

 

“I’m not going to ask how your mother is,” Sirius said, a strange catch in his voice.

 

Remus stopped moving, feeling his breath stick in his throat. Something’s wrong.

 

“Pete and Jamie and I thought you might be ill, you know,” Sirius continued, in a would-be-conversational tone that fell far short of the mark. “We talked about it a lot.”

 

Oh, no. Oh, no. I can’t lie to him, not now. Not after all this time, after everything we’ve been through together. But what if he finds out? What if he suspects? What if he knows?

 

“But, Re,” Sirius began again after a long pause in which walled grey eyes bored into frightened amber, “you’re not…” he paused again. “You’re not ill, are you.” It wasn’t a question. “Not in the way most people think of as being ill.”

 

The smaller boy was silent, knowing what was coming now, and unable to stop it. Should I run? he wondered, feeling panic gnaw at him. Will he hunt me down? I don’t want to hurt him. Would I be able to defend myself against him? Do I want to? He took a step backwards, then another, moving away from the menacing figure that had once been his friend.

 

“Your mother isn’t ill, either.”

 

Step back.

 

“You don’t leave school at all when you vanish once a month, I saw you in the hospital wing this morning, and last month, too. You’re regular as clockwork, Rem. Once a month, every month. Right at the full moon. You’re gone for two nights, the night of the full moon and the night after, and you always return looking like death warmed over.”

 

Step back. Step back.

 

“Your boggart wasn’t a crystal ball, like you said in class when we practiced before the hols, you’re not that scared of the future. It was a full moon.”

 

Back. Back.

 

“Stop moving, Lupin!” the dark-haired boy barked. “I’m telling you we know!”

 

Remus froze, terrified. “We?”

 

“James, Peter, and I.”

 

The amber eyes went even wider with fear. They all know. It’s over. I’m over. I never should have come here. I’ve lost him. I’ve lost them. All of them. This can’t be happening. No. No. “No. No. No.”

 

“We know what you’ve been trying so hard to hide.”

 

“No. No.” He stumbled backwards.

 

Sirius grabbed him, keeping him still, holding so tight to his upper arms that Remus was sure he’d bruise. “We know you’re a werewolf!”

 

TBC

 

(1) Remember the prologue?

 

(2) The mouse in My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett isn’t the brightest of creatures, and tends to mix up words. Granted, Peter is a rat, not a mouse, but I love that line “ne meither” and Pete, too, isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. I felt it fit.