The Marauders' Tale

6

In the days before the full moon, Remus visited the hospital wing a few times. He always became agitated at this time of the month, so he visited Madam Pomfrey on the mornings of that week to get some relief.

"Here," Pomfrey said briskly, thrusting a beaker filled with bubbling red liquid in his direction.

Remus reached his shaking hand towards the cup and drank it in one gulp. Disgusting, he thought miserably, but already feeling the decrease in his trembles.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said shyly to Pomfrey. He didn't like going to the infirmary as often as he did because she had stopped treating him in a friendly manner.

"I better start making some more of that potion," she snapped. "You'll be back again, I suppose?"

Remus ducked his head in shame.

"Um... No, ma'am," he said finally, turning around and walking towards the door. "I think I'll be fine for this month."

Remus took a while to get to Transfiguration that morning. He dragged his feet around the castle, thinking of Pomfrey's treatment towards him, of Jennifer, and of his whole situation in general. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, slowly walking down the stairs to class.

Of course he wouldn't be okay for the next few days. He just hated having to go back to the infirmary every morning, and sometimes in the afternoons, and see that look of disgust on Pomfrey's face as she had to hand him yet another potion.

Face it, Moony. It's what the real world will be like. Get used to it.

Remus grumbled as he approached McGonagall's classroom, hating his cursed condition. He stopped outside and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He turned to the door and knocked twice, thinking of an excuse for being late.

"Why, Mr. Lupin. So nice of you to decide to join us."

"Sorry, Professor," Remus began, walking into the class and meeting the questioning stares of Sirius and James. He looked desperately at them for help, and Sirius pretended he was stuffing his face with food. Remus got the hint. "I... was eating breakfast... and lost track of time."

"Five points from Gryffindor, Lupin," McGonagall said quickly. "A prefect should know better."

Remus nodded, sat in his seat and doodled on his parchment for the rest of the period, occasionally punctuating McGonagall's lecture with loud growls from his stomach.

By afternoon, Remus was shaking again. He couldn't hold anything without the risk of dropping it. His sense of hearing increased to the point that he could tell Sirius exactly what the Slytherins were saying across the Great Hall.

"So, what now?" Sirius asked Remus.

Remus rolled his eyes, focusing all his strength on not spilling his pumpkin juice. He decided not to answer his friend.

"Moony! What are they saying?"

Remus dropped his goblet, spilling the orange liquid all over the white tablecloth.

"Sirius!" shouted James. "Don't you have better things to do? Can't you see Remus is a little preoccupied?"

Sirius looked at James curiously. "And what's up with you? Sound like you've got a broom up your--"

"Shove off," James said grumpily, making shapes in his mashed potatoes.

Sirius took the hint and decided to put aside his jokes. "Is it about Evans?"

"Her name is Lily," James snapped, stabbing his fork into a piece of chicken. "And yes."

Remus wasn't listening to his friends. He was actually straining to hear what a group of seventh year Slytherins was talking about. "Guys," he said, trying to get James and Sirius to shut up.

"Did you ask her out again?" Sirius asked James, unaware of Remus' attempts.

James put his fork down. "Well that's just it! I didn't ask her out again because everything's been fine since I haven't! So if I do, she'll probably never speak to me again."

"Guys!" Remus said again, struggling to hear the Slytherins.

He caught a fragment of what Avery Nott was saying. "--Stupid Gryffindor. If McGonagall hadn't showed up--"

"What are you on about, James?" said Sirius, incredulous. "Me of all people should know that a girl wouldn't mind getting closer to a friend, if you catch my drift."

James raised his eyebrows at Sirius. "I think I'm gonna stop taking advice from you. I've stooped to asking Hogwarts' biggest player about girls."

"James! Sirius! Shut up!"

The two finally did, and Remus could at last hear what the Slytherins were saying without interference.

"--Too bad that curse didn't hit him," Justin Price, a black haired boy with a squashed face was saying.

"Get your aim right next time, Narcissa," Nott spat at Sirius' cousin.

"Moony!" Sirius said, punching his friend's shoulder. "What the hell is going on?"

Remus rounded on Sirius and hissed, "Is it at all possible for you to shut up?" Turning back to the Slytherins, he tried to figure out who they had attacked.

James leaned over to Sirius and whispered knowingly, "It's almost that time of the month. Let him be."

"I heard that;" Remus snapped at James. "For your information, I'm trying to find out who from our house was attacked by Nott's gang."

Peter suddenly looked up. "Oh!" he said with a squeak. "It was--just some second year, I think." The three other boys looked at Peter curiously. Usually they were the first to find out the business at Hogwarts, not Peter.

"I, um, overheard McGonagall talking about it."

But during the moment of silence that followed, Remus' ears perked at Nott's voice, floating across the hall.

"--Idiot Pettigrew. Did you see him blubber?"

Remus' eyes widened and he rounded on Peter. "It was you!"

"It wasn't--I don't--" Peter began, but quailed under Remus' stare. "Nothing happened!"

Sirius threw his napkin onto his plate. "That's it," he spat bitterly, standing up. "That's the last time. Those slimy gits, I'm gonna get them."

James grabbed Sirius' robes and pulled him back down. "Later, Padfoot. Peter, why wouldn't you tell us?"

Peter remained silent, trying to think of an excuse.

Sirius was still fuming. "I bet stinking Snape had a part in this. That nasty grease ball."

"No," Remus said. "I don't think he did. He's not even sitting near them. So far, it looks like Nott, Price, and your cousin."

"Cousin?" Sirius spat with disgust. "She's no cousin of mine."

"Settle down, Sirius," James said. "Look, Pete. I don't know why you didn't tell us. But we're going to get them back. Just remember, no matter what they tell you, don't let them push you around."

Sirius nodded, seemingly calmer than before. "We're here for you, Wormtail. Don't think we're not."

Peter looked like he was going through some kind of internal struggle, but after a moment he nodded sheepishly.

Later that night, Remus was sitting in the common room. It was about nine o'clock and James and Sirius had gone sneaking around the castle, carrying out "Operation Revenge," as they called it. Remus had decided it was better if he stayed behind since he was already in McGonagall's bad books. Sirius had also pointed out that Remus was bound to knock over a suit of armour in his current state.

Peter was sitting by the fire, looking anxiously over James' Potions notes; rumor had it Professor Dawson was setting a surprise test next class.

Remus was trying to work but it was very difficult to do so at this time of the month. His head was filled with snippets of conversation from around the common room, and the different smells of sweat, shampoo, and food mingled in his nose to form quite a distracting scent.

After doodling idly on his parchment for the next half hour, the portrait door opened and Jennifer Atlas walked in with Elizabeth Bell, the third and final sixth year Gryffindor girl. Elizabeth bade Jennifer goodnight and Remus watched Jennifer cross the room and sit on one of the couches.

He hadn't talked to her in a few days, so when she looked up and around the common room several minutes later, he met her eyes and smiled.

She gave a shy little wave, and he gestured her to come sit with him. For some reason he always felt more daring right before the full moon than any other time of them month. It made him feel jumpy and spontaneous.

Jennifer motioned wildly to the papers surrounding her, and indicated the square foot of empty cushion on the seat beside her. Remus nodded and collected his sheets, then walked over to join her. As he sat down, he tried miserably to control his damned shakes and trembles.

"How've you been?" Remus said, steadying his voice and finally blocking out the other conversations in the common room.

Jennifer shrugged. "Professors are already in their holiday craze. They seem to think students want homework over break."

Remus laughed. "I know what you mean, and it's not even December yet." He stopped for a moment, clenching his fists in effort to stop them from shaking. You stupid moon, he thought wretchedly. Taking a deep breath, Remus continued. "So... What are you working on now?"

Jennifer tilted the sheet to give Remus a look. "Charms essay. It's not due for a week, but I have so much work coming up I might as well just get it out of the way." Jennifer watched Remus clench and unclench his fists. He seems a bit stressed, she thought curiously. "What about you, Remus? Is something up?"

Remus grinned, showing her the bits of parchment in his hands. Jennifer smiled as she looked through the simple sketches.

"Big night," Remus said smiling.

"These are good! I don't think I've ever seen your work."

He laughed loudly. "These? Good? I don't even think I was concentrating when I drew them. But how's your painting going? You finished that one of the grounds, I suppose?"

Jennifer nodded. "I finished that last month at the full moon. But I'm working on sketching as well. I think I want to do a whole series of things around Hogwarts."

"Yeah?" Remus said, interested. "I'd like to see those."

Jennifer looked up and said, "Well, actually, I'd really like to see your work. If these are just doodles--" she indicated the scraps of parchment in her hand "--I would really want to see what your real artwork is like."

"Oh, it's not much better than this. I told you before I'm more of a sculptor."

"Still," Jennifer said. "My dad always says that working with another artist is good for creativity. Makes for new horizons, right?"

Remus considered this. "Yeah, that's true."

"So then we should work on some stuff some time?"

He couldn't believe she was proposing this. He thought about how he never had any one else to hang out with besides the Marauders. But then again, I don't just want to hang out with Jennifer. Shaking his head to clear this thought, Remus smiled at her. "Yeah that would be nice."

Jennifer observed Remus. Something was wrong with him tonight. His eyes seemed acutely aware of everything around them, his fists were clenched tight but shaking slightly, and he had just shaken his head to a question that he'd said yes to.

"Remus?" she asked tentatively. "Is something wrong?"

His eyes widened and he shook his head firmly. "No, no. I'm fine. I think I'm just coming down with a fever or something, yeah."

He's behaving oddly... she thought. "OK, well, how about tomorrow?"

Remus' eyes snapped up. "What about tomorrow?"

"Um..." she said, reddening slightly. "We just said we'd do some sketching together, didn't we?"

"Oh! Um. I can't--tomorrow. I have--something due. For Care of Magical Creatures." Even as he said this, Remus realized how stupid it must have sounded.

Jennifer looked slightly baffled. "Oh. All right then. Friday night?"

Remus' heart was beating rapidly. I have to make up lies for the next three nights? "I--cant. This weekend I can't. I have detention on Friday and Saturday. McGonagall was upset that I was late for class."

"Okay..." Jennifer said. Remus couldn't tell if she believed him or not but it would have to do. He couldn't afford someone finding out about his lycanthrope. "Well," Jennifer said, gathering her papers from around the couch. "I'd better be going up. It must be past eleven. Where are James and Sirius?"

"Detention," Remus said at once. That, he thought proudly, is the most believable thing I could say about those two.

She smiled. "How shocking." Jennifer stood up, her papers piled in her arms. "Anyways, Remus," her eyes grazed over his shaking hands and twitchy manner. "I hope you feel better."

"Oh it's nothing," he said, waving it aside. "It'll be gone in a few days."

Jennifer nodded. "OK goodnight, then."

Remus looked Jennifer in the eye, and down again at the floor, feeling horrible for lying to her. Nevertheless, he breathed out a long, shaking breath and whispered, "G'night, Jen," and walked back to the fireplace.