The rest of the week went by quickly for Remus as he immersed himself in classes, assignments, books, and the study group after supper. He still didn't talk much during the meetings but enjoyed the conversations about their schoolwork. Even if everyone else was doing better in Defense Against the Dark Arts than him...
Every single assignment he got back from Dedenne was covered in red marks with an A at the top. You can do better than this. I can't since this is great work, he thought on Friday afternoon as he stormed through the corridors. It's not fair...! He didn't know what to do, though. He didn't want to complain or go to anyone, he didn't want to cause any problems--if he did, they might feel he'd be better out of the school and he didn't... couldn't give this up. He had to just keep pushing himself along and hope Dedenne didn't grade him too poorly for his exams.
As he went down a corridor he heard raised voices. Angry voices, like students prepared to fight. He hesitated, debating whether or not to turn around. Just get to the library. He hugged his books to his chest and plunged forward. Around a corner stood two Slytherins cornering Pettigrew who was quavering. Remus hesitated. The Slytherins were saying awful things. Calling Pettigrew weak and dumb.
"Not so brave without your friends, are you?" laughed the bigger one, a boy whose name Remus sort of recalled was Mulciber.
"Are they his friends though?" asked the other, named Avery. "Someone as pathetic as you? Friends?" The Slytherins laughed and then Avery pulled out their wand. "I think we should test out the spell we're gonna be learning in Dark Arts class soon..."
Remus couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't want to get involved at all but he couldn't let Pettigrew get hexed. He pulled out his own wand and did two quick flicks, whispering a spell he had accidentally learned while trying to find a spell to make his nose less sensitive to smells. Immediately hair began sprouting out of Mulciber and Avery's noses, growing at a rapid rate. Pettigrew's eyes got wide as the Slytherins' nose hair grew clear past their chins and wriggled about as if alive, causing them to sneeze and cough and sputter, and get tangled in their mouths when one of them tried to speak. Pettigrew took this chance to run off. Remus tucked his wand away and hid a snicker behind his hand before striding off.
*
That evening as soon as Remus, Evans, and Twycross returned to the common room after study group, they were jumped upon by Potter, Black, and Pettigrew. They basically grabbed Remus and dragged him off without any sort of explanation and Remus began freaking out as he was hauled up the steps and to the dorm. Potter was holding one of his arms and Black had the other and Pettigrew was behind so he couldn't escape that way. Part of him knew they hadn't figured out his secret (they would have probably just gone to a teacher) however that's all he could think of which made him sort of like a bottle of soda pop shaken up about to explode as soon as someone took the lid off.
Once in the dorm they let go and he stumbled back, shaking rather violently, worried they were going to do something to him. He took a few steps from them, fingers tugging at the hem of his vest as he waited for the shoe to drop. They just looked expectant like they were waiting for him to say something. He began twisting the hem between his fingers.
"D--did I--d--do something wr-wrong?" he finally stammered out, face hot with embarrassment from not knowing what was going on and fear. He tried to think if he had done something to cross them. He had left a few books out on the floor... were they mad about that?
"Wrong?" Potter asked disbelieving.
"You were brilliant!" Pettigrew cried out.
"I wish I could have seen them!" snickered Black.
Remus frowned, eyes darting from roommate to roommate, the fear of being beaten up slowly ebbing away. "I d--don't under... stand...?"
Pettigrew put his hand under his nose--fingers down--and began wriggling them. "Any longer and their nose hair woulda been as long as Dumbledore's beard!" Pettigrew giggled.
Oh, that. Potter and Black were both grinning form ear-to-ear and Remus finally stopped trembling. "I d--don't know wh-what you're t-t-talking about."
Pettigrew's hand dropped. "You were the only other one in the corridor. It had to be you. Nose hair doesn't just sprout out like that."
"Maybe they suddenly hit a really bad puberty," Potter said and Black made loud gagging sounds sending both of them into laughter.
"Come on then, Lupin, it sounds like a perfect spell for us to know. All the spells I know aren't the sort to use for fun like that," Black said, a hint of darkness to his voice as he said that, as if he were ashamed of what he did know.
"I still don't get how you guys can even do so much," Pettigrew grumbled. "My dad always said underage magic was illegal and didn't let me do anything or learn anything, said I'd learn when Hogwarts took me."
"My parents didn't care," Potter replied, pushing his hair back (which made it even messier than before). "They disapproved, of course, but... they didn't do anything to stop me from practicing. Course it's all pretty basic stuff. I can make things move real well, when we get to levitation spells I'll be on it."
"You must have been using spells left and right," Black said to Remus.
"I w-w-wasn't allowed t--to use any--any m-magic be--before," Remus admitted. He remembered the last time he tried anything. He floated a book over from an upper shelf and his father exploded, yelling at him, reminding him that if anyone got whiff of underage magic they might send a Ministry worker. WE CAN'T RISK THAT! Lyall had yelled while Hope cried. YOU WANT TO GET CAUGHT?! That was when Remus was seven, and he hadn't done anything since. Intentionally.
"Then how'd you know how to do that spell you did on them Slytherins?" Pettigrew asked.
Remus returned to twisting the hem of his vest in his fingers and he looked down at the floor. "I read," he finally said, knowing how snobby and egotistical it sounded but not knowing how else to say it.
All three of them looked at the books piled around Remus's bed and stacked on his desk and they all knew Remus's trunk was full of books too.
"So that's the key," Potter said in a rather aghast sort of voice as he rubbed his chin. "Books."
"I do my best to avoid'em," Black said.
"Same," Potter agreed and they both began laughing again and Remus glanced up, sure they were laughing at him but they seemed to be laughing at what they had said. Laughing at themselves. "Hey, in your book-reading-ness have you come across any sort of spell that is like... a timing activation spell? Like, you put the spell on something and it, er, goes off at a certain time or after a certain length of time?"
Yes, Remus thought. "Why?"
Potter and Black exchanged looks then both smiled innocently. "No reason!" they chorused, hardly able to hide their mischievousness.
"By the way..." Pettigrew gave Remus's sleeve a tug to get his attention. "Thanks for rescuing me. I d--don't know what they were planning but it couldn't have been good. I thought I was done for."
"Yeah, thanks for rescuing Pete," Potter said and suddenly his arm was around Remus in a far-too-familiar sort of manner that made the panic and fear come back, frothing up inside of him and churning his stomach.
"Slytherins are the worst," Black said firmly. "They should be blasted out of this school. Hey, Lupin, you know how to do the blasting spell?" he asked suddenly, face lighting up.
"You c-c-c-can't bl--blast a st--student!" Remus half-shrieked, absolutely horrified at the thought.
"Not supposed to hex students either," Potter pointed out with a very wicked grin. "That didn't stop you."
Remus's face went brilliantly red and he shrank back a bit, as if wanting his too-big clothes to swallow him up. "I--th--th--that's--I--w--I was--that--that--I was--"
"Oh come off it, ignore James, he hasn't any manners," Black said, elbowing Potter. "You did the right thing. Protecting Peter. We're family."
Remus blinked a few times, at first thinking Black was meaning he and Pettigrew were actually related then realizing he was (probably) referring to McGonagall saying 'your house is your family'. That made more sense in the context. We aren't, though. We aren't family. You're humans. I'm not. "I w--wasn't going to--to let them..."
"Of course not," Potter said in an apologetic tone. "I was only teasing."
"You two really should have seen it though, all of sudden it just blasted out of their nose like--liek--like furry bogies!" Pettigrew laughed.
"THAT WOULD BE BRILLIANT!" Potter screamed so loudly all three boys jerked backwards, Remus dropping his school bag and putting his hands over his ears. "Lupin, mate, Lupin, is there? A spell? For furry bogies?"
"Bat-bogey hex mixed with a furry bogey hex!" Black suddenly gasped out.
Potter grabbed Black's arms and they began jumping up and down and squealing. "Lupin, come on, you're brilliant, you've got to know how to do something like that!" Potter said.
"I--wh--what?"
Then suddenly Potter was on his knees, hands clasped together. "You said so yourself, you read! I've no idea how to even start looking up anything like that. Please? Please? Please?"
"Bu--but--I--that--"
"Do you even know how to do the regular bat-bogey hex?" Black asked Potter. "Cause I don't, I've only heard of it."
"I've only heard of it too," Potter said, still on his knees. "We can practice and Lupin can figure out how to make it furry too."
"I--I didn't--that's--what?"
Potter got up on his feet and grabbed Remus's sleeve. "Can you come to the library with us tomorrow and help us find out how to do that? The regular one, I mean, I don't think there's anything for it to be furry. But you can probably think of how to do that, right? Furry bogies?"
"I--d--didn't--I--"
"This is going to be so brilliant!" Black had started laughing again and was bent over, smacking his thigh.
"I can see it now, furry bogey bats flying everywhere!" Pettigrew giggled.
"That--that sort of--that's a bit--" Remus felt like he had been picked up and dumped in an ocean, the undercurrents known as Black, Potter, and Pettigrew pulling him under until he was drowning in absolute confusion. "That's--advanced...!" he tried but none of them were listening to him at all, they were all talking about their prank idea and Potter and Pettigrew began flapping their hands around like bats and Black was practically rolling on the floor. Remus took a few more steps back and sat down on the edge of his bed rather hard.
What?!
*
In the morning Remus was certain the other boys would have forgotten all about the whole thing but after breakfast as he headed to the library for some studying he heard three sets of feet running up behind him.
"Left without us!" Black complained, coming to a halt beside Remus.
"Barely had time to eat," Pettigrew added, a buttery scone in one hand. Black reached over and took it, eating it while Pettigrew pouted at the loss.
"Come on, then, let's go!" Potter said and began running again. Black ran after him, Pettigrew following.
Remus watched them run and considered just returning to the common room instead of going with them. This could only turn out bad, he thought then made his way to the library. Black, Potter, and Pettigrew were all waiting for him outside the doors, Potter complaining at how slow Remus had been. I'll help them find the bat-bogey hex and then they'll leave me alone, Remus decided as they went in. Mr. Farrow glared at the lot of them, especially Black and Potter who gave their patented 'I'm innocent!' smiles.
"Did--did you do s--something to m-make him mad?" Remus whispered as he led them to the hexing section.
"Dropped a dung bomb in here the other day," Black said, not bothering to whisper.
"Completely on accident," Potter promised.
Remus went down an aisle and began running his fingers across the spines. Bat-bogey hex, he thought, struggling to remember what he knew about it. Not much. He began pulling books out at random and checking the index. "D--do you know anything about the--the hex?" he whispered. "Who invented it? Time frame?"
"It's recent, I think," Potter said. "If that helps."
Remus put the book back and went down. "That does help." He found a very new book on hexes though it was just information, not explanations. It did give information about the bat-bogey hex. Miranda Goshawk, he thought, a little surprised. The witch who wrote our textbook for Charms. Muttering to himself as he had been this entire time (and not even realizing it) he put that book back onto the shelf and went back to the Gs. Book of Spells, he thought, knowing it wasn't in the Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) pulling it off the shelf and flipping to the index. A-ha.
He moved to a table, barely noticing the three boys traipsing after him. He sat down and opened the book to the spell. "Here you go," he said, bending down to read the spell and information. "The instructions are fairly simple however it takes a great deal of practice, according to this. You cannot practice on animals as it could kill them, so you'll just have to do it on each other, I suppose." He turned the book and pushed it across the table to them and they were all just staring at him. "What?"
"You're not stuttering," Black said.
Remus flushed pink, having not even noticed. Of course that caused the problem to come back. "I was--it--we--well I just--it w-w-w-wasn't..."
Potter smacked Black's arm and whispered, "You shouldn't have said anything!"
"You don't need to be nervous around us," Pettigrew said, unwrapping a licorice wand. "If that's the problem." He broke up the candy into four pieces and handed them out without even asking if anyone wanted them. "You talk fine in class."
"You talk to ghosts too," Black said, popping the piece of licorice into his mouth.
"How d--do--do you know?" Remus asked.
"Seen you, chatting away with Nearly Headless Nick. Didn't seem to have any problem doing that. Not that I saw."
Remus felt rather uncomfortable at the idea of Black watching him like that. "His--his n-n-n-name is Sir--Sir Nicholas," he scolded, focusing on that instead of the rest of it, not wanting to even think about the rest of it. Of Black noticing something like that. It seemed... not so good that the other boy was taking so much notice of Remus.
"You were talking to the Fat Friar too," Black continued, ignoring Remus. "From Hufflepuff. Just pretend we're ghosts, then."
"Th--that--that's not--n--w--well that's--"
Potter jammed his elbow into Black. "Ignore him, he doesn't have manners," Potter said, mimicking what Black had said about him the previous night. Black stuck his tongue out but was grinning. Potter grinned back and then turned to Remus once more. "Stutter if you have to, it's okay. Nothing wrong with that."
Pettigrew pushed the piece of licorice wand closer to Remus, assuming he just hadn't seen it. Remus picked it up, wanting to say food wasn't allowed in the library. But Pettigrew looked so earnest about sharing his candy that Remus slipped it into his mouth.
"So... okay first of all, let's check this book out and get out of here before someone sees us looking at this," Potter said, closing the book.
"If--if you ch-check the bo--book out and then people st--start getting h-hexed with th-that spell they probably c-c-could figure out it's you," Remus pointed out.
Potter slumped a bit. "So what do we do?"
"Rip the page out?" Black suggested.
"No!!" Remus hissed out, glaring at the brute.
"Nick the book?" Pettigrew offered.
"No!" Remus said, getting quite offended.
"I suppose I could write to my dad and ask him to buy me a copy," Potter said, tracing the spirally designs on the cover.
Remus rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Honestly!" He took the book and opened it to the hex then began pulling parchment, ink, and quill out of his bag. "You're all neanderthals!" He began carefully copying over all the instructions, ignoring the other boys beaming at him like he was sent from Merlin himself. Once everything was copied over in his scrawl he blew on the parchment until the ink dried then handed it over with a 'was that so difficult?' look on his face.
"Okay, okay," Potter said, folding it carefully up and sticking it into his pocket. "I guess we didn't really think about doing something like that.
Black leaned forward, silver eyes glittering with excitement. "And you're going to figure out how to make them furry, right?"
"I--... n--..." Remus felt a bit itchy and hot. He knew he should say no, he wanted to say no... but the image of furry bogey bats flying out of noses was also quite tempting. Plus the possibility of actually achieving such a complex spell... that was even more tempting than anything else. It was very much so something he thought he could manage with plenty of research and practice. And they were giving him those eager looks again. Pleading with their eyes. Potter even clasped his hands together again and that tipped Remus over the edge. "Yes," he sighed.
"YES!" Potter and Black both shouted, giving each other high-fives and then promptly getting kicked out for making noise, followed by Pettigrew for having food in the library. Remus watched Farrow dragging all three of them out and then shook his head, smiling a little bit to himself as he went to do some fur-related research.