.................................................
The next morning by the time classes were over Remus was no closer to a believable story about what he had seen. Therefore, he decided to avoid his friends, not at all ready to explain. Instead, he went to the library and looked over old newspapers, desperate to find a picture of Greyback which he was sure he would be able to find in a copy of one of the old Daily Prophets that the library had an extensive collection of.
"What are you doing?" Sirius barked angrily from behind him making Remus jump slightly and turn around to face him habitually trying to hide the Daily Prophets as he did so.
"Ah! Sirius! Oh, I was um..." Remus should have been able to come up with something, but the sharp look Sirius had stopped him from lying before he could come up with a believable excuse.
"Where are the others?" he asked instead, not wanting to bring up the way his roommates had been ignoring him, but the need to have a topic to discuss alone with Sirius winning out.
"Back in the dorm."Sirius sat down giving Remus a rather chilling smile,"So it's just you and me."
There was a very slight threat ringing behind his friend's words and once more Remus knew he had to play on the truth just enough to be believable, yet get out of this without letting his roommates know what was really going on.
"Have you come to bring me back to the dorm?" Remus began.
"Well, I figured you'd hide out here all night if I didn't."
Remus didn't refute that, he knew just how true it was, he had in fact been contemplating it before Sirius had snuck up on him and scared him. His roommates had been kind enough to let it go until after Lily's birthday as Remus had wished, but the young werewolf wasn't dumb enough to think they would let it go even more.
"Then I guess we should go back?" Remus tried.
"I'm not letting you have more time to come up with a lie!" Sirius huffed, sounding more hurt than angry. This was worse, and Remus hung his head in shame. He really was a terrible friend and he wasn't going to be able to call himself one at all anymore if he wasn't careful.
"I saw something that really scared me," Remus admitted in a small voice. Sirius was regarding him carefully, the distrust apparent.
"What did you see?" he asked coldly, and Remus flinched again. Even if he concocted some sort of half-truth, would it be enough? Was it too late to be forgiven? Had he really messed up that badly?
"I'm ready to talk but I'd rather not repeat it," Remus admitted.
Sirius took him in carefully and suddenly his hand darted out. For one terrible second Remus thought he would hit him and nearly tumbled out of his chair. Instead, Sirius only gripped his shoulder, and Remus was surprised to find he was trembling.
"I wouldn't hurt you. I'd never hurt you," he heard Sirius whisper and looked up to those dark fog-colored eyes filled with hurt and tears."Tell us or don't Remus. I don't care anymore," he responded so flatly, so cooly, that Remus flinched.
Sirius let him go and walked away, looking more lonely than Remus had seen him look since the beginning of the school year. Remus wanted to chase after him, nearly did, but he still had to come up with something to tell his friends. Because he could no longer pretend he didn't want them as his friends, and didn't need them to be.
So he watched Sirius leave, his cheeks feeling damp and he put a pause to his hunt for what Greyback looked like and spent a long time coming up with what to tell them.
.................................................
Sirius was so upset that he didn't go back to James and Peter as he promised them he would. Instead, he went straight to Professor Blavatnik's office, sick of waiting on Remus for answers. After a seventh-year Hufflepuff, not a Muggle-born, was poisoned yesterday, everyone was thrown into confusion about what this was about.
Sirius was sure Professor Blavatnik was involved regardless of what his motive was. He reasoned that there was no reason he couldn't find out for himself what was under that trap door.
His resolve faltered slightly as he got closer to his professor's classroom. It's not like Sirius was afraid of detention or whatever. But something had terrified Remus, and that was unnerving. He let out a breath when he found the classroom empty. He looked both ways before dashing inside.
He stood where Remus had last time, trying to figure out what had caused his peculiar friend to know something was there. But try as he might, he neither saw nor felt anything.
Maybe something had been different last time, but he doubted it. Instead, he recalled where Remus had been and knelt down, sweeping his hands frantically across the floor, his frustration increasing as the minutes ticked by and he still didn't find a trap door.
"Oh come on!" he muttered to himself unaware of Professor Blavatnik entering the classroom and regarding him with cool disdain.
"Mr. Black, what do you think you are doing in my office?"
Sirius jumped, nearly banging his head on his professor's desk that he had been halfway underneath, just in case the trap door had been moved. He scrambled to his feet and gave his intimidating professor a calm smile.
"Well sir, I thought I lost something in here from detention." Sirius forced himself not to look away as cold eyes pierced into his.
"Mmmm, well then perhaps you should check the lost and found. There's a rather large collection after so many years."
Sirius knew Professor Blavatnik didn't believe him any more than he believed Remus about there being books and school supplies beneath the trap door.
"I don't believe I know where that is, sir," he responded dryly, feeling irked at his professor's calm demeanor. He should be acting guilty, perhaps he would. If Sirius bated him perhaps he'd show his true colors. The problem was he didn't know how to bate him, he didn't have enough information to do so. Still, he had to try, for Remus, for all the students he'd been hurting.
"Well, I imagine you will find it with all the snooping you do."
"I suppose. I bet there's all sorts of cool stuff in the lost and found. And probably some dangerous stuff too. For example, well I mean no one would be stupid enough to hide incriminating evidence somewhere it could be traced back to them."
He was sure his professor's eyes would narrow or he'd snap at him. But instead, there was no change in his demeanor, and when he spoke again it was with the same maddening calmness as before.
"If you are referring to the poison being used to hurt the students, I assure you all the professors have been on high alert for contraband of any kind."
Sirius felt a chill run through him as the man gave him a rather menacing smile.
"Of course, I would hope no incriminating evidence would be found on your person or in your dorm, Sirius. That would be...most unpleasant for you. Perhaps I ought to tell your head of house to search your dorm, as you've seemed to take an unnatural interest in this."
Sirius swallowed, feeling a stab of fear. He had never liked his professor very much, hated him after what Remus told him. Still, he hadn't expected to be threatened. Not so casually, at least!
It left him wondering what sort of nasty things Professor Blavatnik would do if he was pushed too far. Sirius convinced himself he wasn't giving up though, just merely biding his time. For there would be no reason for Professor Blavatnik to threaten him if he wasn't involved in the poisoning of the students. So, in the end, he had really won, even if he felt rather nervous about it.
"Not at all, professor. Just don't like all the students getting hurt recently, is all," Sirius heard himself reply, glad he was able to keep his voice from trembling. He could only imagine what Remus had found now, everything from bodies to poison, to the most dangerous of monsters.
"Then get out and don't let me catch you in here or anywhere you shouldn't be again. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir," he whispered, this time feeling his voice wobble. Professor Blavatnik raised an eyebrow at him in clear disapproval. Sirius left quickly, having to force himself not to run. It didn't take him long to get back to the dorm and once he got there he started searching like a mad man for planted evidence, just in case Professor McGonagal would be knocking on the door soon. He wasn't about to get expelled, if anyone was going to get expelled from his family it would be Bella, not him!
"Geez Sirius, what happened?" James asked, sounding more amused than irritated.
"You gonna finally lose it and go through Remus' trunk? Careful, I think I saw him hex it or something to bite," James laughed, and Peter joined in. When Sirius didn't laugh and went from Remus' bed to his own, both roommates stopped laughing.
"Are you ok?" Peter asked uncertainly, stepping quickly away as Sirius went next to his bed. James came up behind him and grabbed his wrist just as he reached to check under the bed.
"Woah there. I can only take one mysterious roommate at a time. What happened?"
Sirius thought about not saying anything but he didn't want to be like Remus. So instead, he explained it all hastily to his friends who by the end seemed as shaken as him.
"Sirius, what were you thinking? Pissing off a professor!"
"Not just any! One of the most dangerous ones in school!"
"Exactly! We could all get expelled."
"Then...then we should go to Dumbledore," Sirius found himself saying nervously. James nearly laughed at him then gave him a bit of a shake.
"I thought you didn't trust him. Besides, what makes you think he'd believe us?"
"I'm sure if we all explained everything..."
"He seems to like Remus and James a lot," Peter pointed out thoughtfully.
"I don't know if he does enough to believe us over a professor! You heard what Remus said happened when that one-seventh year tried to threaten the same thing, Professor Blavatnik just blew off the threat," James explained sadly. They all sat there for a while feeling the weight of the power professors had over them. It wasn't fair!
Sirius jumped to his feet.
"What is it this time?" James asked.
"I nearly forgot. Things didn't go well...with Remus."
"Big surprise," groaned James, flopping back onto his bed.
"I don't like being mad at him. Does this mean he won't tell us anything?" Peter asked sadly.
"Nor do I, but we have to stand our ground. We still know nothing about what happened to him," James pointed out, though he sounded more worried/sad than mad. Really they all were.
Sirius sighed heavily, wondering if it would make things worse for him to go hunt Remus down again or better.
"We can't let up on him now or he'll never be ready to talk." Sirius sighed, ready to head back to the library with a heavy heart.
"We can talk now."
They all jumped, shocked to see Remus standing in the doorway. He looked nervous but his eyes were filled with a determination Sirius had come to expect and admire from him. Of course, he wanted to ask Remus how long he had been standing there, how much he had heard, but James opened his mouth before he could.
"You mean it?" James asked happily, sitting up from his bed with a smile, apparently quick to forgive.
"Yes," Remus said in a tone that suggested he wished he didn't. Sirius bit back a grimace, the hurt, and frustration at not being trusted rising in him upon seeing his friend again.
"No lying ...I mean it, Remus. Don't you think it's about time you start trusting us?"Trusting me especially, he wanted to add silently and tried to with his eyes.
After all, Sirius got Remus in a way no one else did. He knew what it was like, so why didn't Remus trust him?
Why did he get the sickening feeling he didn't know what it was like at all, that Remus and his experiences hadn't been as similar as Sirius initially imagined?
Because whatever way he looked at it, it seemed Remus' life had been worse, way worse.
He shuddered and looked away from Remus' earnest amber eyes. Part of him wasn't sure he wanted to know everything, but most of him was convinced he had to. So he made a mental note to himself that he and Remus were going to have a heart-to-heart tonight even if he had to kidnap him to get him alone long enough.
And Sirius realized he knew exactly how to do it.
.................................................
They were all, predictably, excited for him to talk to them. They also all were, understandably, wary of whatever answer he'd give.
Sirius especially seemed ready to nitpick and interrogate every word he said. They were all huddled on Remus' bed, as had somehow become customary. Remus was sitting with his back pressed against his headboard, away from the other three who had elbows on elbows and legs on top of legs. All looking at him eagerly, expectantly. Sirius even looked ready to attack him if he didn't follow through on his promise.
"There was some sort of creature down there," Remus began slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"So?" Sirius asked, sounding disappointed and suspicious.
"He's a defense against the dark arts professor!" James exclaimed looking at Remus with confusion
"Why did that scare you so much?" Peter asked fearfully, his wide eyes indicating he figured there was more to the story.
The onslaught of remarks made Remus need to force himself to stay calm. He was expecting this. But he also knew he couldn't tell them he found the potion used to poison the student because he hadn't, and if it turned out Professor Blavatnik wasn't involved, ...well he didn't want to get anyone into trouble unless he was sure they were guilty.
"I...well I'm really afraid of Cockatrices...one...attacked me when I was younger. And I just...panicked." Remus knew he sounded convincing. It helped that he didn't have to fake the shame he felt when he explained the reason he didn't tell them sooner was that he didn't want them to judge him or laugh at him. He held his breath refusing to look up as the seconds ticked by.
"No poisons or potions of any kind? Promise?"
"Promise," he responded immediately, relieved it wasn't a lie. Again, there was another long pause and he could tell they were all deciding to believe him or not.
"Blimey mate, we wouldn't laugh at you about that. Cockatrices are scary especially if you got attacked by one. I think they should be on the list of banned creatures myself!"
"You just don't want to like Professor Blavatnik," Peter laughed, and James elbowed him lightly in response.
"It's not like any of us like him now. Especially not after he threatened Sirius."
Remus forgot he wasn't going to look at them and looked up in surprise as Sirius flinched, then shifted guiltily.
"What?" Remus asked.
"Um...well you see..." Sirius explained his utter stupidity and Remus had to take deep breaths so as not to yell at him. "So if you had just told us what it was about sooner, that wouldn't have happened. Not that I'm mad because now we are sure he's in on it."
"Sirius, isn't it possible he was just irritated by you?"
"Remus!' Sirius shouted, scandalized. "I can't believe you are protecting him. He pushed you out a window."
"Or maybe he didn't."
"Then it was the Slytherins."
"I don't know..."
Peter, Sirius, and James gave him an exasperated look.
"Well, I don't want to accuse anyone unless I'm sure," Remus protested weakly.
"I still think it's the Slytherins." James declared stubbornly.
"My bets on Professor Blavatnik," Sirius stood by his position firmly and James gave him a playful shove in response.
"You just don't like him because he gives lots of homework!" James pointed out sticking his tongue at Sirius who quickly rose to the bate.
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
Remus held back a laugh, watching his friends squabble fondly. Things were back to normal. He had done it, he had convinced them. For now.
"Oi, Remus! Tell us about being attacked by a rooster crocodile!" Sirius shouted from across the bed.
"Sirius! We said we weren't going to tease him!" James hissed.
"I can't help it, James. It's just who I am."
Remus knew he should be offended since they were making light about what must have been very traumatic for made-up Remus, who was a regular boy with loving parents. In fact, he reckoned that was the scariest thing that had ever happened to made-up Remus.
He covered his mouth shaking with laughter but soon was overcome once more by hysterical mirth. His friends, probably assuming he was laughing at them since that was a more sane option, soon joined in. Then they were tossing pillows and swapping stories about the worst creature that ever attacked them, and everything stayed light and fun and Remus was oh so very glad.