Cursed: The New Order of Merlin Book 2

12. Honesty

No one knew how Sirius Black could have gotten past the dementors. After they had searched the castle and found no trace of him, Dumbledore instructed the staff to get a couple of hours of rest before the start of classes. Going forward they had to escort Harry Potter everywhere he went.

Remus proceeded to his quarters and found the door guarded by Snape.

"Severus." He tried to smile at him but seeing the calculating gaze, he gave up on the pleasantry.

Snape barely moved his lips. "Black got in here undetected. As if he had an accomplice - a friend on the inside."

"Sirius Black betrayed and killed his closest friends. Do you really think that someone like that would have any friends left?"

Snape narrowed his eyes into slits. "I'm watching you, Lupin."

The black cloak billowed behind him as he sauntered away. Who else would point fingers at Remus? Did Dumbledore have any doubts as well?

Remus sat on his bed and took the picture of his friends out of the drawer. He liked to remember Sirius this way - the rebellious but lovable teen, charismatic and carefree. Sirius in the picture spat his wild hair out and shook his head to keep it out of his eyes. James shoved him playfully. Peter, the smallest of their group, laughed at them both, covering his large front teeth as usual. Sirius shoved James back and Remus tried to separate them.

Remus remembered that day well. It was the first summer after they had graduated from Hogwarts when life was pretty much perfect. A few years later, James married Lily and had a son, Harry, while the three of them tried to get used to adulthood. Remus remained in close contact with all of them, but most especially with Sirius.

Countless times Remus had searched his memories for any signs, a clue that would've warned him that his closest friend aligned himself with Voldemort but never found any. How could he have missed that?

He never fully believed the theory that Sirius wanted to hunt down Harry Potter to finish the work Voldemort had started, and yet, Sirius broke into the school and tried to get into the Gryffindor Tower, proving them all right. Whatever shred of hope Remus had for his old friend was gone. He didn't know who Sirius Black was anymore.

He couldn't sleep and when the sun rose just a couple of hours later, he put his worries aside and returned to teaching as if all was well. The students were cautious and spooked by the threat of Sirius Black, whispering theories of how he might have gotten into the school or what he might have wanted.

Not all students had known why Sirius tried to get in, but judging from the way Harry's friends started acting protectively towards him indicated that Harry knew. But did he know the whole story of who Sirius was? Possibly not. Would he suspect Remus if he knew how close they once were?

The next day, the weather outside matched everyone's stormy mood. Despite the freezing rain, the Gryffindor Quidditch team still practiced. Remus volunteered to watch over them, and even though he took shelter under a large umbrella, he was soaked through. Thankfully, they didn't last very long. They ran back inside to hide from the chill, soaking wet and shivering. Remus hung back, observing Harry, who tried to wipe his fogged-up glasses with a wet shirt.

Remus was looking forward to seeing him play. The boy looked a lot like his father, but his character reminded him of Lily. He wished they could've seen the wonderful son they had brought into this world.

"You're all wimps. We could've trained longer!" someone complained, and Remus looked away from Harry to the rest of the team.

"I think I've pushed them as far as they can go," Oliver Wood said. "I can't win the game with sick players. Let's go upstairs and change out of these wet clothes."