Too Many Puzzles to Count

The Map

"Oi!" Sirius said, looking scandalized. "What did I do?"

Remus shook his head, still with a laugh on his face. He gathered a couple textbooks and stuffed them into his schoolbag. As he stood up, he grabbed his robes that were balled up at the foot of his four-poster bed.

"Where're you off to?" James ask, watching his friend.

Remus shrugged. "Studying. Can I take the map?" he asked, turning to Sirius.

Sirius handed it to him, still looking at Peter, who was pointedly staring at his Potions textbook, despite his eyes not moving as to read the words on their pages.

"See you," Remus said, ducking out of the dorm. He still couldn't believe how just a few short years ago, he could barely reach the top of the doorframe standing on his tip-toes, and now he had to bend down so as to not bump his head on the polished wood.

As he got down the stairs, he tucked the map into his bag. Better no one saw it at all than lie about what it was, he figured. He would look at it more in a quiet corner of the library, far away from the peering eyes of the younger students.

The only thing Remus Lupin hated more than people butting in on his privacy was his condition. Unlucky for him, his "furry little problem," as the boys had taken to calling it, would never go away. Just one of the many joys of being Remus.

He let his mind wander as he made his way to the library. He knew Hogwarts so well after five years and extra time walking around at night under the invisibility cloak with James that he figured he could probably get anywhere in the school blindfolded with earmuffs on. His thoughts flitted in and out of his mind: the new spell they had learned in Charms the day before, a book he heard about from Lily, the dirty sock he found on his pillow that morning (not his), homework...and, of course, the full moon. Things had become so much better for Remus since his best friends became Animagi, but that didn't change the fact that the transformations were always, always painful. Excruciatingly painful and terrifying. From the moment the sun rose the day of the full moon until the last of his human consciousness faded as the wolf took over, Remus could only think, "What if tonight's the night it goes wrong?" His worst fear, hurting someone; or worse, turning them, was impossibly close to coming true once a month, and the stress had worn him down. This year more than ever, Remus found himself making some excuse to slip out of the dorm into some lonely place in the castle. There, no one would know how scared he was. No one would see him hurting.

Thankfully, the library was empty. It was a Friday afternoon in late September, and most of the Hogwarts students were outside, enjoying the last bits of summer before October covered it in morning frost. He found a seat in between two tall bookshelves, a window behind his chair. He sat in it sideways, so he could glance out and see the lake below, at the far end of the grounds. He smiled. There wasn't a day that went by where he didn't think Hogwarts was the most beautiful place in the world.

He got the map out of his bag. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he whispered, his heart fluttering seeing the magic he and James created come to life on the parchment in his hands. There he was, a tiny dot labeled "Remus Lupin." He unfolded the parchment, showing more of the castle. He scanned the school for a moment until he saw what he was looking for.

"Lily Evans," he said under his breath. She was in the dungeons, with Professor Slughorn and a few other students. Advanced Potions was on Friday afternoons, the only class going on at the time. It tended to run long, too, since Slughorn and his students got along so well. Lily was exactly where Remus knew she would be. James would have known, too. But the map wasn't unfolded to show the potions hall when the two of them had first opened it, when James had been staring with a dazed look at the pages.

"Perhaps he was just admiring his work, the tosser," the rational side of Remus mused. "I know he's your best mate, but he is rather arrogant, especially when it comes to his talent for charms and clever spells."

"Bollocks. He's arrogant, not a narcissist," added the Marauders side of Remus that wanted a challenge, a puzzle to look at; a mystery under his nose to unfold, examine, and solve. "He only looks like that when he talks about Lily. You heard Sirius."

Remus conceded. Marauder Remus was right. There was something else going on with Prongs, rather than his usual pining for the beautiful girl with the bright red hair. Even rational Remus couldn't debate that.

Remus shifted in his seat, allowing the map to unfold further and flop across his lap. He looked first at Gryffindor tower, where he saw James, Peter, and Sirius in the dorm. His eyes lingered for a moment, seeing how close Sirius and Peter were. Probably just saying sorry for being a twat, he told himself, tearing his eyes away. He furrowed his brow, looking around the tower, where James had been staring. Nothing. Whoever James had been watching move on the map had gone off to a different part of the castle.

Remus carefully refolded the map and whispered, "Mischief managed," before putting it back in his bag and getting out his Transfiguration textbook to start his homework for the weekend. As he worked, the sun passed through the sky. It turned from a bright blue to a fiery orange, then pink, and then deep purple as the moon rose. Remus glanced at it. Half-full. He swallowed hard. No matter how far away the next full moon was, it was never far away enough for Remus' liking.

He packed up his things to head to the Great Hall for dinner. Finding out what James was hiding would have to wait for another time.