Dear Remus, 1/3/72
We've gotten you a new school bag, it's an early birthday present!! I went ahead and included your other birthday present too! Except for something you'll have to wait till your birthday to get of course. My baby is going to be twelve soon! I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday you were born. You were such a tiny baby!
What's all this about wanting to stay at Hogwarts during the Easter holidays though? You're coming home, of course. You can do your homework here. No arguments. Besides the moon will be lasting for longer than usual, you need to be home. How did it go this time? You're still under the curse while I write this. I hope you're well enough. I wish I could be there for you! I can at least be there for you next month.
I've been thinking perhaps this summer we can take a trip to the seaside. I've been saving up some money for petrol and other things we may need. I haven't been to the ocean in so long. You don't even remember the last time we went, do you? You were three. You built a huge sandcastle then cried when the tide took it out. You've always been such a sweet, sensitive soul. I think a small trip would be nice! Even if it's just you and me. Would you like that?
Love always, Mother
Remus opened the package immediately. He had packed all his school things in a small backpack that barely fit everything, so it was a huge relief to have a proper school satchel again. The satchel looked old and a little dinged up, probably from the antique shop his father worked out. Inside was a wrapped package which he tore open without a second thought. A book, naturally.
"I thought your birthday wasn't till next week?" James asked, watching Remus.
"My other bag got ruined so my parents sent me a new one for a present," he explained as he began putting all his school stuff into the new satchel. Old-new satchel. Whatever. He read the back of the Muggle book for a synopsis (his mother always liked buying him Muggle books, a connection to her heritage) then tucked it away, excited to start reading it later.
*
Remus had missed a Defense test earlier in the week so after supper that night he had to miss Study Group yet again so he could take the test. He felt sick as he approached the classroom, not wanting to be alone with Dedenne; he was certain she was probably in a very similar mindset. He knocked at the door then jumped a little when a voice that didn't belong to Dedenne told him to come in.
It was a much older Ravenclaw student--probably a seventh year. He beamed at Remus, clearly happy about whatever was going on. "Hi! My name's Rowan Sullivan. Professor Dedenne asked me to oversee your test this evening since she's busy with something else."
Wow. Wowwwwww. "All r-right," Remus said, setting his stuff down on an empty desk. "It's just a wr--written exam?"
"And a practical one. I'm going to become an Auror and have been working closely with Professor Dedenne this year, so she trusts my judgement," he said, rubbing his hands as he spoke. "I'm getting extra credit."
"Are you gr--grading me?"
"Only the practical session," Sullivan laughed. "Let's get that out of the way, shall we?"
It was mostly a review of things he had learned--the shield spell, knockback jinx, etc, etc. Sullivan was quite impressed, and gave Remus a 100%. Remus beamed, feeling beyond pleased he finally got recognition for something in this class, and wished that Sullivan was grading the written portion as well. When he did finish the test and handed it back to Sullivan, Sullivan gazed over the answers then made a comment about how Remus must be top Defense student in his year. Remus smiled, wishing he could say yes, wishing that Dedenne was fair to him. Instead he thanked Sullivan for his help before heading on out, a little skip in his step for finally achieving an O in that class.
*
Saturday marked one week before the big Gryffindor versus Slytherin game, and Remus was already tired of hearing about it. It seemed that's all people could discuss, at least the Gryffindors. Someone tacked up a drawing on the common room board, a drawing of the Gryffindors destroying the Slytherins who were all characterized as crying babies (it looked remarkably like Sirius's style of art, though remained unsigned and unclaimed).
Remus's mind was more on the end-of-term exams coming in two weeks, as well as anxiety over staying at Hogwarts or going home. He wanted to stay so bad especially since the general consensus around school seemed to be a majority of students staying over because of schoolwork.
"I'm going home," Lily said when Remus asked her on the way to study group. "I'd rather stay here, honestly, but Easter dinner's a thing in my family... and Tuney's always loved Easter so I'm hoping..." She trailed off, her voice tinged with sadness.
"You should take her some flowers," Remus suggested. "Not magical ones, just regular flowers. Professor Sprout would probably have some, she'd probably let you take some."
"Oh, that's a terrific idea!" She bumped against him, grinning. "She'll like that. I guess especially if they're not magical. I'd rather get her something super nice... but..."
"Maybe after she's more used to you being magical," said Remus, and Lily nodded. She still had a smile on her face however she definitely gave off the aura of misery. Remus regretted saying anything--not suggesting flowers, just... the last thing he said.
At study group he found out pretty much he and Lily were the only ones going home. Bones and Buckling both agreed the homework over the holidays were pretty intense, at least according to their older siblings. The exams weren't too bad, just the assignments were heavy. Buckling was of the mind it'd be best to stay at school. Lily shrugged it off while Remus chewed at his quill, figuring he might as well try another letter home.
He really didn't want to admit to his parents part of why he wanted to stay also had to do with the fact he really didn't want to spend his nights down in that tiny, pitch black cellar room...
*
The next day Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus worked more on their bat-bogey prank. Remus was getting really good at the doorway spell as his friends tried more complicated spells on it with Peter--as always--the guinea pig. And today marked the day he walked through and got whammied by the actual bat-bogey hex. Sirius and James began shrieking and jumping around victoriously while Peter tried swatting away the flying boogers. Remus just grinned, super proud of himself even if holding the spell on the doorway took a lot more effort than he anticipated.
"Thursday!" James exclaimed, flicking his wand to get rid of the boogers.
"We need to make sure it does effect more than one person though," Remus said. James rolled his eyes but didn't argue. So they put the spell back on the door and this time it wasn't just Peter who came through, but James as well. They both got hit with the hex so James and Sirius returned to celebrating.
Remus felt a thrilling sort of tingle of anticipation. He couldn't wait to see everyone being bombarded by loads of the bat-bogeys! He knew they'd be caught. Slughorn was going to figure it out pretty much instantly. "We should scope out the dungeons soon," said Remus, causing his friends to go quiet. "If we show up to class early and get our wands out, Slughorn's going to put a stop to it before we even begin. We need to find an area to hide in where we can see the door enough to put the spells on it."
Sirius snapped his fingers. "Remy's got a point."
"There's plenty of nooks and stuff we can hide in, I think," said Peter.
"Yeah, we'll be able to find something," James agreed. "Let's look on Tuesday afternoon. Oh man I can't wait!"
"I hope it all goes according to plan!" Peter said, clapping excitedly.
"Me too," Sirius said, eyes twinkling.
"Me three," laughed James.
They looked at Remus who grinned broadly. "Me four!" If they could pull this off, it was going to be absolutely brilliant!
*
However on Monday all of Remus's excitement was dashed into pieces when James suggested they go through the door as well, to throw suspicion off themselves: to be hexed. Sirius and Peter readily agreed. Remus kept a smile on his face while inwardly freaking out. He couldn't! The risk--he wasn't human! Of course, the information about the hex didn't strictly say monsters just--just non-humans. It specifically mentioned animals. Werewolves included? He was a non-human-animal-monster thing.
He was so worked up that he didn't even care when Dedenne handed his test results back from Friday, with a very bad grade. That coupled with his 100% for the practical side made the overall grade an A, so at least he had that (Dedenne looked like she had sucked a lemon. Remus figured she'd never let anyone oversee his makeup exam ever again).
After class he excused himself from his friends, stating he needed to be alone. He went to one of the many secret rooms the ghosts had showed him and paced around, chewing his nails down so far they began to bleed. Fawley? he wondered as he walked back and forth. He doubted she'd do anything to risk hurting him.
Remus stopped, coming to the only answer possible. He had to try it on himself. Could one hex themselves? Some hexes, yes. But the bat-bogey hex? What if it did hurt him? What if it killed him? It'd be easier to try and get out of going through the classroom door on Thursday. But it would work in their best interest if they did go through. Except he couldn't go through.
Remus gave a small cry and collapsed onto the floor, hugging his knees tightly as he tried desperately to find a way out of this without anyone even beginning to suspect anything! We're going to get in trouble anyway, he thought, rocking back and forth. They'll know it's us. Except, would they? What they were doing was so advanced, would the teachers put the blame on the four of them? The hex was still popular enough around school that plenty of students--including older students--were doing it. Still, the coincidence of it being their class...
So we do it to a different class, he thought, looking up rather hopefully. One of the older classes. When did they have Potions? He was sure they could find out easily enough... Yes, that made the most sense. Older class. Second years, or third years. Surely James and Sirius would agree to that, and it would absolve Remus of having to go through the doorway himself. Yes. A perfect solution! A stupidly obvious one. If they agreed...
*
"What?" James and Sirius squinted at Remus as he stammered out his reasoning for attacking a different year altogether. He knew it was pointless to pitch the idea to Peter at all since Peter'd just go along with whatever the Main Two said.
"All we n--need to do is find out when--when another year has their classes. The best choices would be the second or-or third years," Remus said, fingers twitching a bit as he resisted the urge to wring his hands, to show how nervous he was though he knew they could tell he was somewhat nervous by his stutter. "I just r-really think if we attack our own class--even if we get hit with it--we'll get blamed."
"You're just trying to avoid detention," James accused.
Remus gave a shrug. "So what if I am? What's wrong with wanting to avoid detention? Doesn't that make one a better--better--" He began snapping his fingers, trying to kick his brain back into gear. Words weren't working too well because of how he felt. "Uh--uh--uh--trickster!" There it was. "Prankster. Person who causes trouble! It just proves that we're better if we're not caught. Doesn't it?" That certainly got their attention. Remus knew they liked getting caught occasionally, it bolstered their infamy when they were, but even they could see getting caught every time would be a bad thing.
"I guess we could do that," said James, rubbing his chin.
"Yeah--plus the second year Slytherin class is pretty big," added Sirius. "More victims, like you originally wanted. They'd make great victims."
James tilted his head to one side. "Yeah? Sounds like you're pretty eager to get them."
Sirius smiled rather innocently. "I've got a relative in that class I particularly hate. I say let's do it."
The next order of business was finding out when the second year Slytherins had either Potions or Herbology class--because obviously they wanted as big a group as possible so one of the doubles would be best. At first they doubted Potions would work since they knew second year Slytherins had Potions right after their own Potions class on Thursdays and that gave then zero time whatsoever, however when they dug around they found the older Slytherins also had Potions on Tuesday afternoons--when the four boys didn't have any class and would be able to pull their prank.
Of course that night in Occlumency Remus was so keyed up about the whole thing it dominated his thoughts. Fawley broke contact after the first foray into his mind, laughing hard. Remus was relieved she had a streak of mischief in her, that she wouldn't go telling on them. All she really said on the matter was to be careful. She also praised him later that lesson when he managed to put a little pressure back on her, though she still slipped easily into his head.
"At least it's progress," she said as he got off the couch to leave. "More progress than I ever expected from someone your age. Speaking of age..." She pulled a wrapped present out of her purse, holding it out to him.
"Ma'am, you didn't--didn't need to!"
She smiled, the scars around her eyes wrinkling. "I wanted to. Go on, open it." It was a rather advanced book on Occlumency and Legilimency both, with very complicated and obscure language. "It's the same book I learned from so many years ago. I know you'll make use of it. I also know it's not beyond your intellect level. You're a very bright young man."
"Ms. Fawley, th--thank you!" He held the book to his chest, hoping it was a used copy. It looked pricey. Surely she wouldn't have spent much money on... on him! "Thank you." Was he supposed to hug her?
Fawley rose up and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a bit of a squeeze. "Happy birthday."
"Thank you so much."
He left the room feeling on cloud nine. He couldn't believe she had gotten him something! It didn't make much sense to him, he didn't really feel... worthy... of presents, especially something as fancy as this! But it was an extremely useful gift which he fully intended on delving into as soon as possible.
*
That night he stayed up late reading. He sat upright with the book propped open across his knees, the soft glow of a Lumos spell lighting up inside the confines of his curtained bed. The language was even harder to get through than the one he had checked out of the library, but he managed. The first chapter had a lot of history in it. Really fascinating stuff. He was so into it that when he barely heard the thumping sound out in the room. It was the second thump that finally managed to break through, and he glanced up. Whispering.
He slid the book off his lap and went to the curtains, twitching them back. James and Sirius were awake, pulling shoes on. They were both giggling, shushing each other, then giggling more. Remus glanced at the clock. One-fifteen in the morning. When he glanced back he gave a slight gasp of surprise since Sirius was looking directly at him.
"Hey there," Sirius whispered. James frowned at the sight of Remus's pale face. "Did we wake you up?"
"N--no, I was already up. Nox." He got out of bed, padding over to them. "Where are you going?"
"Out," replied James as he tied his shoelaces tight. "Wanna come with?"
Remus's heart began pounding harder. Part of him really wanted to, the other part knew he shouldn't. He was pushing things enough helping them with their pranks and causing trouble--he shouldn't do worse, not with all the trust Dumbledore had put in him, everything the headmaster had done for him. Flaunting small rules was one thing. Sneaking around after curfew was quite another.
"What do you even do when you go about?" Remus asked.
"You'll have to find out," Sirius said, smirking.
"I...." He wanted to, that was the worst part! He really wanted to. "N--no, I c-can't. Sorry." He couldn't betray Dumbledore that much.
Sirius seemed a little disappointed however James merely shrugged. "S'all right, maybe another time. Say, you could still help us. Sometimes when we come back the Fat Lady's gone. We try not to leave when she's already gone but a lot of times she leaves while we're out, and we get stuck in the corridor for ages. One night we were very nearly caught by Filch because of that!"
"Wh--what do you need me to do?" Remus asked.
"Open up the door every fifteen, twenty minutes?" James unsnapped his watch and dangled it in front of Remus.
Remus took the watch and put it around his own wrist. It was incredibly fancy, made out of pure gold. He felt a little dizzy at how expensive it must have been. It showed the time, the date, the planetary movements, the sun, the moon (last quarter, not quite at the halfway point). It was probably worth more than all of Remus's possessions put together, and someone entrusted it to an eleven-year-old.
Remus put on slippers then followed them down to the common room. Sirius paused on the stairs, listening carefully to make sure nobody was there.
"Last time we tried there were a couple of students snogging," James gagged as they took the last steps. "Waited for ages but they never stopped. All right so, just open'er up every so often."
"Thanks for doing this for us," said Sirius, reaching out to tousle Remus's hair. "See ya in a bit."
They disappeared into the dark corridor, and Remus retreated to the couch near the fire to go back to his book. He wasn't sure how James's watch worked so he could set alarms, which meant he couldn't fully disappear into the text. After only five minutes he returned to the dorm to change the Occlumency book out for a fiction story, one that didn't require as much focus.
The Fat Lady left at around two am, and James and Sirius returned at around three. Remus opened the door--not expecting them--then saw them hurrying to climb in. They were breathless, hearts hammering away, smelling of sweat and excitement. Apparently they had almost been caught down in the dungeons.
"What were you doing there?" Remus asked.
"Lots of stuff," Sirius answered, tossing his hair back. "We found a perfect nook to hide in to pull the prank on Tuesday, and tried to find the Slytherin dorms--"
"Still dunno exactly where it is, or how to get in," sighed James. "Another time."
"We also found some places we think have secret passages behind them just need to figure out how to open them up," Sirius said.
"Thanks for helping us out," James said as they returned up to the room. "You'll do it again, won't you?"
"Um. Yeah, course I will."
"Perfect."
It wasn't until Remus was nearly asleep that he realized he still wore James's watch. He rather reluctantly took it off and went across the room to set it on James's bedside table, wishing he had something half as nice as that.