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Remus was walking to DADA with Sirius' arm draped over his shoulder, his face close to Remus' as he whispered plans for James' birthday. James made a big show of trying to hear which resulted in Sirius mock attacking him. So they were all smiling and laughing as they entered the classroom, Remus relieved none of his friends had figured out his birthday was on the 10th, a few weeks before James'.
As they walked into the classroom, Remus having been forced to sit next to them ever since he had told them his suspicions about their professor, he felt something was off.
It wasn't until he sat down between James and Peter that he realized what precisely was off. He jumped out of his seat, all eyes going to him, and went dark red as he made a big show of dusting off some nonexistent prickly item in his seat, before sitting once more with his heart hammering loudly in his chest.
In a large covered-up cage at the front of the room was a large wolf. He knew it instinctively, just like he knew it was no ordinary wolf. Remus wasn't sure how he knew this or why. As far as he knew he couldn't sense werewolves or wolves' presences, although he realized he had never before really tried. Still, the sensation left him shaken even if in the back of his mind he recognized it might be helpful for his search for the other werewolf in the castle. If it truly worked that way? Maybe he was just losing his mind. That somehow seemed like a more likely and preferable outcome.
"I have a special treat for you today, class," their professor began. "Of course, you have the older classes to thank but I figured there's no harm in all my students benefiting. After all, we have been covering a lot of dark creatures lately. While we won't get into werewolves in detail for a while, I figured a practical demonstration would make a more...lasting impression."
If Professor Blavatnik didn't have the whole class's attention before then he certainly did now. A chorus of gasps and scraping chairs echoed around the class as people either learned forward or back. Then the cage was uncovered and intelligent gold eyes were staring directly at Remus.
Thump, thump, thump went his traitorous heart! Remus had to calm down or one of his friends would notice. But he realized instead everyone was staring at the wolf.
"Anger. Cage. Human brother. Help. Cage bad, cage bad."
Remus nearly toppled out of his chair as the words just appeared in his head with urgency. He blinked a few times, never looking away from the golden eyes that stared at him. He had to be going insane!
But if anything, the words in his head were becoming clearer, the buzz of words becoming oddly more melodious and guttural at the same time.
"You hear me."
"Yes," he thought back, hardly daring to breathe. He briefly caught Professor Blavatnik asking the class if this was a werewolf or regular wolf.
"Release me."
Remus inhaled sharply as the wolf laid down in the cage, never looking away from Remus. Nodding its head towards the door, one that merely required opposable thumbs to unlatch, made it clear what was wanted of the boy who had the ability to let the wolf g.
"I can't." Remus replied regretfully.
The wolf seemed to huff, "I know, human-wolf brother. Cage is bad though."
"Yes, it is," Remus thought back, feeling sympathy for the wolf, after all, he sort of knew what it was like.
"My father was like you."
Remus couldn't believe it. He had never heard anything about werewolves having any children, let alone wolf children. It left him feeling sick.
"Where is he?"
"Dead."
"I'm sorry. Where are you from?"
"Forest."
The Forbidden Forest, Remus felt a chill run up him.
He vaguely heard Lily finally being called upon and responding logically that the wolf was normal even with the slightly shorter than average snout and tail which looked a bit peculiar because it wasn't a full moon and the wolf wasn't being aggressive.
"Incorrect, Ms. Evans. This was a trick question. It is neither a regular wolf nor a werewolf."
Remus forced himself to pull his stare away from the wolf, going cold when he realized Professor Blavatnik was staring right at him.
"It's the result of two werewolves mating on the full moon. They create, quite fittingly. a beast. The only difference is that it supposedly has high intelligence. While oafs like Hagrid may believe such a thing, I think this is a clear example of why a werewolf is a beast and nothing else seeing as they produce one. All of you remember this for the future. Class dismissed."
"But professor, there's so much time left," Lily protested.
"Do you want me to unleash this beast upon you?" their professor snapped, sounding downright hostile. No one else complained and chairs began scraping. The wolf stood on its paws again making the girl closest to it scream and several boys raise their wands in mock bravado.
"Don't leave me."
Remus wanted to cry, scream, and puke all at once. He felt James nudge him, hard.
"Come on, mate. I know it's cool but I'd rather not get eaten today," James laughed but sounded a bit uneasy, none of them 100% sure whether or not if their professor's threat held any truth.
"I can't. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but I can't," he thought back frantically.
"Get Hagrid." The wolf commanded him, though it finally looked away and bowed its head in a gesture of respect that left Remus dazed.
"Geez Remus, come on!"
Sirius grabbed him and James pushed. They finally managed to get Remus outside of the classroom and away from the wolf, though Remus had a strong desire to return to it. No, not it, her. Silverstream, named because of her affinity for running in streams, bathed silver in the moonlight, even as a small pup. He wasn't sure how he knew this, only that he did. Images of a small wolf pup dashing through reflected moon water had flashed briefly through his head.
He had to save her, because he wasn't sure if Professor Blavatnik would simply release her or not. The thought of him hurting her made him feel physically ill. Hagrid... he had to get to Hagrid, quickly!
"Guys, I have to study with Lily," he shouted, already taking off. He ignored their questioning shouts which became jeers about his "girlfriend" and he bolted through the halls with detention earning speed.
"Lupin, slow down or that will be a detention." He heard Professor McGonnagal call to him from across the hall, beginning to become crowded with students. Remus didn't slow down though and nearly tripped over a third year, jumping across the pile of papers he caused her to spill with an apology.
"Mr. Lupin, last warning, if you don't slow down there will be detention for you," his head of house shouted, though she sounded more concerned than angry. He hardly cared. He had received a detention from Professor McGonagall and even the prospect of sitting alone in detention with her was less scary than failing to save Silverstream. Really trying not to dwell on how he knew her name, as she had never told him, he flung open the door and sprinted down the grounds at a neck-breaking speed. Each second that passed felt like he was too late and after a few minutes of bolting and nearly tripping a few times the familiar hut appeared in the distance and Remus forced himself to speed up his legs and chest burning from the overexertion.
"HAGRID!" he shouted loudly, his whole body slamming hard into the gamekeeper's door as he tried to stop. He choked back a sob, slamming his fists against the door again. He nearly hit Hagrid as the door opened, and instead toppled onto the floor, or would have, had the gamekeeper not caught him with a strong hand.
"Remus? What's the matter? Yer not usually so worked up," Hagrid responded only mildly concerned, almost sounding amused.
Remus didn't care if it was suspicious that he cared so much about a werewolf spawn, nor did he stop to consider the fact he should use "it" instead of "she," he just rushed to tell Hagrid before it was too late.
"Professor Blavatnik has one of the Forbidden Forest's wolves in a cage and he might hurt her," he shouted, tears streaming down his face. "You have to help her!"
Hagrid's eyes went wide and then a dark expression crossed his normally gentle features. Remus felt a stab of fear before he reminded himself it wasn't himself the gamekeeper was mad at.
"That's why 'e wanted directions for the Forbidden Forest? I'm going to ''ave a word with Dumbledore. ALBUS!" the gamekeeper's voice boomed angrily across the grounds. And just like that, the headmaster appeared taking in the two of them with twinkling eyes, though he didn't smile.
"What's the matter, Rubeus? You may want to set Mr. Lupin down now," he responded mildly, and Hagrid seemed surprised to find he had a child in his hand.
He set Remus down who nearly buckled, feeling ill and weak. Dumbledore steadied him with a gentle hand on his shoulder, though he kept his eyes on Hagrid who quickly explained what Professor Blavatnik had done.
"I see. I will have a word with him immediately. Do not worry Hagrid, Silverstream will be returned unharmed to her home," Professor Dumbledore responded assuredly.
He never looked at Remus besides an initial glance and was gone as quickly as he came. Remus was both relieved Dumbledore reacted so quickly and a little upset the headmaster hadn't met his eyes. It had almost seemed intentional?
After shaking off Hagrid's profound thanks, the groundskeeper not even questioning why he had been so upset, he pondered on why Dumbledore hadn't even said 'Hello, Mr. Lupin.' Every time Remus had seen Dumbledore in the halls, which was quite often though brief, he was greeted by the headmaster. Perhaps it was him reacting quickly for Silverstream's case but Remus couldn't help feeling the Professor was upset at him.
Perhaps he was upset because of how careless Remus had been. So he worried if this was the case and if he had somehow given himself away during class, remembering Professor Blavatnik's eyes on him, which made him shudder. It wasn't until he reached the common room to find Dorcas, James, Sirius, and Peter all recounting their most recent wonderful prank, in which Severus was one of many targets, that Remus wondered how Dumbledore had known the wolf's name.
"And they'll be smelling like daisies for weeks, won't they Potter?"
"Absolutely! And several of them have vines coming out of they're ar--"
"I assume you four aren't openly admitting to a punishable offense that was committed yesterday?" Kingsley asked in his deep and disapproving tone. Dorcas grinned but shook her head.
"Course not, Kinglsey. We are merely discussing what hypothetically would have caused plants to sprout from the Slytherins...ahem..extremities. Besides, us first years never could pull off such a thing."
Which most likely meant Patricia had helped this time. James and Sirius hid their snickers behind their hands, amused by Dorcas' boldness in addressing the ever strict Kingsley.
Ever since Valentine's Day, in which Dorcas had discovered her love for pulling pranks, she had been occasionally helping with plans, as well as Patricia when she wasn't busy.
Unlike the younger boys, who were all still struggling to hide their laughter, Kingsley did not look impressed, scrutinizing the four unruly Gryffindor's a moment longer before shaking his head and walking away.
"Go on then, tell us what happened next," exclaimed Jeremiah Cattermole, one of the three boys on the seventh floor across from their dorm. It seemed the whole of the first years were in the common room, usually dominated at this time and day by the older students. It was an odd site but not the first time all the boys had gotten together. Though with no birthday he could think of coming up, besides his own, he wondered how they all came to be here.
Gary Thomas elbowed Jeremiah in response.
"He's getting to it! Give him a second, will ya?"
"Oi! Remus, come over here," James called, suddenly spotting him.
"Come back early from snogging Lily, have ya?" Sirius teased, and Remus felt himself go red.
It was one thing to have his friends teasing him about it when it was just them, but another thing to tease him about it in front of the other first-year boys, who were now gawking at him with a sort of reverence. He was just grateful that Dorcas was the only girl, knowing that despite being Lily's best friend she wouldn't say anything, not one to spread needless gossip and drama.
"Sirius, we are just friends," he protested loudly, a bit of irritation in his voice. Sirius shrugged but his expression suggested something was bothering him, but what that could be Remus didn't know. He only hoped his friends had bought his excuse about meeting up with Lily.
"Thought you were going to be busy for a while?" Peter asked innocently.
"Couldn't find her."
Dorcas turned to him, and he knew she knew meeting up with Lily was an excuse.
"She must have forgotten, she's been up in our dorm writing the paper on the property of mandrakes."
James and Sirius groaned loudly. They had clearly forgotten all about it. Herbology had been deemed 'too boring' for them.
"Well, come here and help us plan James' party," Sirius called impatiently. Remus almost laughed. James' birthday was on the 27th, nearly a month away!
"Shouldn't James be gone for this then?" he responded amused, trying to meet Sirius' eyes but found the boy had already looked away. He was definitely upset about something.
"I'm not gonna let you tossers mess up the preparations."
Gary laughed in response to that. Remus knew that he had been trying to hang out with James and Sirius more, practically idealizing them as much as Peter for their evergrowing ease with communicating with the Quidditch team, but never seemed successful.
Sirius had outwardly stated when James pitched the idea of letting him hang out that five was too many and four was a perfect number. To which James had jokingly said they'd just swap Gary, who was much more well mannered, with Sirius, which resulted in another pillow fight. Remus often felt bad for the house-elves who always had to replace their pillows.
James grinned at Gary, always liking the attention and stuck his tongue out at Sirius.
"See? It's not a ridiculous idea."
"Yes, it is!" Sirius shot back, with mock outrage.
"Absolutely ridiculous," Remus assured James with a slight grin.
"Peter?" James ventured, used to Peter always taking his side. However this time the boy seemed hesitant and didn't answer, causing James to groan.
"Fine. But if you lot botch it up, I'll be really cross about it," he huffed and stormed off. So Remus spent the next two hours, two whole hours, in which he should have been doing homework, dragged into a useless discussion about what type of cake to get the house elves to make and what activities to have.
Sirius loved birthdays as much as he loved any excuse to throw a loud rowdy celebration which he never got at Grimmauld Manor. Remus finally was able to slip away when Dorcas and his party-loving friend began arguing about whose birthday party between the two of theirs had been better.
"Remus, wait."
He stopped, surprised as Gary approached him. Remus had never exchanged more than a few words with the boy before.
"Everything ok?" he asked, wondering if Gary Thomas had broken another quill and needed one of Remus' loaned to him again.
"Yeah, I was just wondering...well, how do you do it?"
Remus blinked, surprised since he had no idea what Thomas meant. His confusion must have been clear because Gary hurried on.
"How do you stay such good friends with them? I mean, Peter follows them around but you aren't with them as much and you hardly ever join in on the pranks, and yet they still seem to like you so much," he explained quickly in one breath. Remus wasn't sure whether to feel insulted or just amused.
"I mean, it probably has to do with the fact that I'm in their dorm. We aren't really super close or anything. It's just.... I don't know," he finished lamely and Gary looked crestfallen, no doubt feeling Remus was hiding some secret skills to himself. The disappointed boy quickly rushed back to the small group who was now wondering if they could sneak brooms into the common room. Remus shook his head and climbed the stairs, nearly forgetting James was waiting in the room.
"Oh good! Have you come to tell me all the plans?" James asked eagerly.
"No. Though I'm sure you can get Peter too later," he teased, going to his bed. He couldn't believe it wasn't bedtime yet, he had been feeling so tired lately, even without the moon being high in the sky.
"Great idea. I'm sure he'll tell me loads."
Remus rolled his eyes but said nothing, taking his already completed paper on mandrakes out of his bag to review it. A silence fell that James seemed to find uncomfortable, he and Remus were not often alone together.
"Do you...want to play a game of exploding snap?"
"No, I'm looking over my herbology assignment."
"Oh bloody hell, I haven't done that yet," James groaned. "I meant to do it right after defense against the dark arts but then we had that really cool but weird class and--"
"Do you want me to help you?" Remus cut in before James could ask what he thought about the wolf. James quickly agreed and an hour passed in which Remus succeeded in avoiding the wolf topic. Until Peter and Sirius came back in, the latter clearly still annoyed.
"Remus, you were supposed to help!"
"I didn't have any good ideas."
"Bollocks, you always have good ideas!"
"Lay off him, Sirius. He was helping me with my paper and didn't want me to be all by myself up here. Unlike SOME people, he's a good friend," James said, immediately coming to Remus' defense.
"Fine, I'll just send back your expensive present," Sirius shot back, and James had to admit defeat. Since James was already on Remus' bed, once more they all piled onto it, and soon the topic Remus had been so desperate to ignore was brought up again.
"That wolf was so cool though," James finally pointed out with a grin.
"Nah, I thought it was lame. Pretty sure Professor Blavatnik was lying about the whole bloody thing," Sirius retorted.
"Yeah, maybe. But I swear it was staring right at me," James said thoughtfully.
Remus flinched and was very glad Sirius, James, and Peter all habitually gave him more space than they gave each other by now. They didn't seem to notice, but he didn't think he could keep up this topic much longer without letting something slip.
"If only you could get Patricia to stare right at you," Remus teased lightly and was oh so glad when the topic changed.
He convinced himself he must have only imagined Sirius' sharp gaze on him for a moment.