They were famous last words.
I tried to argue with James about the broom thing, but he just wouldn't listen.
And like I said, it ended terribly.
I woke up 3 hours after falling to the ground.
I was in the hospital wing, surrounded by the blaring of AC/DC around me, upon further investigation I found Sirius Black sitting in a chair across from me playing some sort of imaginary guitar.
"Sirius, your making my headache worse" I muttered, grasping my head that ached horribly.
"She lives!" James called dramatically from the side at which I hadn't looked yet.
"Yeah, no thanks to you" I scoffed.
"Come on that was fun" James tried to plead.
He tried to justify his actions by saying I'd have a nice scar on my head to match the one on my chin.
It wasn't a very appealing argument.
——————————
When October came, we were well into classes and about knee-deep in homework.
I spent most of my Time practicing spells or hanging out with James and Remus and Even Sirius, who despite his ignorance and annoying tendencies was always doing something stupid that could at least make me laugh.
Sometimes I hung out with Lily and Marlene, but I realized quickly that just because she seemed nice, didn't mean she wasn't entirely annoying.
Marlenes Sirius Black obsession made me want to punch her in her stupid pretty face.
The amount of girls that followed Sirius around like he was a cute little puppy was quite pathetic really, Of course he never looked at any of them, I wasn't sure whether it was out of blindness or lack of care.
My favourite class by far was Astronomy.
My grades in that class were the best and easiest to receive.
I'd been studying stars for years so I didn't really have to put much effort into it.
I was walking back to the common room one afternoon when I passed Sirius and James arguing in the corridor, Sirius had his hands over his ears, shaking his head immaturely while James flapped his arms around foolishly trying to get his friends attention.
"Prongs! Not right now!" Sirius shouted.
"Come on Padfoot"
"I'm not being your wingman right now mate!"
That was all I caught of that conversation, But I'd noticed in the passing weeks that the 4 boys each had nicknames for each other, I'd collected that James was Prongs, Remus was Moony, Peter was Wormtail, and Sirius was Padfoot. I wondered if it were some sort of inside joke because they made absolutely no sense to me.
I had this sinking suspicion that those boys were hiding something, maybe I was overthinking it, which was usually the case but there was just something off about them sometimes.
They all must be excellent liars.
𝑆𝐼𝑅𝐼𝑈𝑆-
"We have to tell her" James said
"No, she'll hate me James!" Remus pleaded.
"Remus, for merlins sakes, you read poetry and wear knit sweaters, we've been over this" James said rolling his eyes.
"Sirius? Thoughts?" James asked me, clearly irritated by the whole thing.
I shrugged my shoulders, I'd listened to this conversation several times at this point, they'd been debating telling Juliet Crescent the true nature of our friendship for a couple weeks, including Remus's condition, frankly I didn't care what they did.
"Come on Sirius, this involves you too"
"Yeah whatever, I don't really care what you guys do" I told them all.
"You are absolutely no help Sirius"
I sighed, "Fine, My bet is that she's going to find out all on her own, Juliets smart and besides, she already looks at us like we're criminal masterminds, she's practically Sherlock Holmes" I told them, giving them my two sense about it.
"Did you just compliment Juliet Crescent?" Remus asked, shocked.
"I should've recorded that" he added
"Well Sirius, she's not wrong, we are criminal masterminds, but how could she possibly find out herself!" James asked confidently, clearly proud at his ability to not get caught.
The three of us have caught him doing rather interesting things many of times so I have no idea what he has to be proud of.
"Ok Prongs I'll make you a bet, if Juliet finds out on her own you owe me 3 Galleons" I told him, crossing my arms
"Easy! Done!"
𝐽𝑈𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑇-
On Saturday night I snuck up to the astronomy tower for the 10th time, it had taken a lot of thought but I'd been managing to sneak up here for the passed few weeks to star gaze and to think.
I sat myself at one of the telescopes breathing in the warm night time air, it was always so silent at night, except for the sounds of the crickets somewhere out in the field along with the cries that came from a few rather vocal owls in the owlery.
I stared down at the whomping willow, it was a magnificent tree and a little hard to see from my seating position so I adjusted my telescope, pointing it just left of the balcony where I examined the trees swaying branches.
Why would the school have a death tree?
I truly did wonder, because apparently hogwarts was supposed to be the safest place on earth.
The dead of the night and the slight rustle of the grass was interrupted the moment my telescope spotted the weirdest thing I'd seen since arriving at Hogwarts. I watched as a small animal, a mouse maybe? or perhaps a rat appeared out of nowhere and ran through the freshly cut grass towards the whomping willow that swayed aggressively, at first I thought it were just a ball of fluff drifting away from Merlin only knows where, but I was certain now that it was indeed an animal.
I adjusted my telescope to see closer to where the rat had gone but it seemed I'd lost It.
Surprisingly, that wasn't even the odd part, the odd part was how the tree stopped rustling and thrashing its branches, becoming completely still and how 2 boys had appeared out of nowhere in the round barrel of my telescope all the way out on the lawn.
Tonight was a great night for observation due to the full moon, but that advantage seemed to be useful for now trying to see who the ghost boys were who had just appeared out of no where.
One of them foolishly turned around and there was no doubt that it was Sirius Black.
The other boy was aggressively shoving a blanket or something similar into a bag, the bag had the letters "J.P" on it, the same one is seen wrapped around James's chair in potions everyday.
I wondered how the hell those two got out there undetected and what the hell they were doing.
I thought they were up to their usual mischief until they ran for the immobilized tree, stopping at the roots.
James hid his backpack underneath a branch and for a moment, I myself was immobilized.
unable to breathe as I watched the 2 boys transform into...animals.
Literally animals. Their shapes morphed, turned and twisted until they were larger and more powerful.
The telescope fell and tumbled to the ground, but I immediately picked it up panicking, and eager to confirm what I'd just saw.
At the root of the trees now stood a mighty stag, tall and Elegant.
Next to it was a black dog, it could've been a wolf, I wasn't entirely sure, but it was huge, twice the size of a Great Dane.
I was certain that these animals had just been the two boys I'd been spending my days with and then it hit me ,when I thought back to the mouse thing I'd seen immobilize the tree the boys nicknames came to my mind, what I thought was an inside joke.
Sirius always called Peter wormtail, it was a stretch, but all of this was.
The rat could easily have been Peter.
James was Prongs, like the Antlers on a...stag.
Sirius was Padfoot and the Paws of a dog are called "pads".
It was all starting to make sense to me, I stumbled around in confusion, dizziness filling my mind to the point that I feared I might pass out, my eyes blinked excessively trying to comprehend what my brain was coming to the conclusion of.
No, that's insane Juliet.
But is it?
Moony...I thought to myself.
Where was Remus?
He had not come out with the rest of his mates.
And then I heard it.
A loud cry, a howl in the distance.
I looked up at the sky, at the full moon I'd come out to see.
No...that couldn't be it.
But it all matched, The way I'd told Remus that his last name meant wolf in Diagon alley scared him immensely, way more than it should've.
I thought back to my defence against the dark arts course in third year when we'd learned about werewolves... I had a feeling I'd seen the scars on Remus's face once before.
In a photograph of a person with lycanthropy.
I put my eye back to the telescope searching around vigorously for the boys, but they did not return.
My heart skipped a beat when the tree resumed its movement.
But they didn't come back.
———————————————————
I woke up on the stone floor of the astronomy tower with an aching pain in my spine.
I swung up off the floor wincing at the pain in my neck and back remembering why I'd been in the astronomy tower in the first place.
I looked at my watch which read about 6 am
I needed to find them.
I ran down the stairs at full speed, crashing into a few exhausted students on the way to the great hall where I would look for the faces of the four boys.
The great hall was empty except for James, Sirius, and Peter sitting at the Gryffindor table laughing.
𝑆𝐼𝑅𝐼𝑈𝑆-
"Here's to another full moon, and too our mate Remus Lupin."
I said raising my glass of pumpkin juice which collided with both James and Peters.
I looked to my side and saw Juliet Crescent storming her way over to us
"Where's Remus?" She asked
I looked at James and then back at her.
"Uh, he's ill, I'd suspect his bed" I said.
"Bullshit"
She slammed her hands on the table looking right at me
"Don't play dumb with me Dog-Star, I know." She said.
"know what?" I asked cautiously.
But I already knew that my suspicions of Juliet Crescent finding out our "secret" had come true, I knew James would eat his words eventually.
She squinted her eyes at me.
James sighed. "come with us"
We piled into an empty classroom a few rooms down from the great hall.
I hopped onto a dusty desk slouching back on my elbows, Waiting for anyone other than myself to start the conversation.
"How did you find out" Peter asked
"Peter! We don't even know if she knows what we think she knows!" James exclaimed.
"James can turn into a stag, Sirius can change into a giant ass dog, which is quite bad ass by the way.
and Peter over here is a little rat"
"thats insulting" I said in response to Juliet calling Peter a little rat
"So she does know" James said impressed
"I saw you all last night from the astronomy tower, and put it all together"
James threw his arms in the air
"See James! I told you she'd find out all on her own! Now give up those galleons"
"No fair you must have helped her!"
"Do you think he told me to go to the astronomy tower last night?, of course not!"
James sighed and reached into his pocket, handing Me the 3 galleons he owed me.
"Thank you"
"So where's Lupin." She said, her arms crossed and eyebrow raised.
"Hospital wing, recovering" James muttered.
"So I was right about what I thought...lycanthropy?" She looked concerned but not scared.
"Yeah, if it makes you feel better, they were going to tell you" I said pointing towards James and Peter.
"And I told them that you'd probably find out yourself"
"You had confidence in me Sirius?" She asked, surprised.
"More like I had confidence in how nosey you are."
"Observant" she coughed.
"That explains the scars though" she said, she rubbed her chin as if deep in thought.
"But how did you get out there last night?"
James looked at me and nodded
"James has a cloak, an invisibility cloak"
"Really? That's wicked, where did you go?"
"The shrieking shack, we accompany Remus there when he transforms, werewolves are only a threat to humans"
"Alright, you guys can go now." She said quietly, as if still distracted by the idea.
"Your not going to go run to professor Dumbledore?" Peter asked.
"No, your lives aren't my business, i only found out by luck. I just wanted to make sure Remus was okay"
"Yeah he's fine" I assured.
"We will be leaving then" James said ushering Peter out of the room.
Which left just Juliet and I alone in silence for the first time since we were back at grimmauld place.
"Your an enigma Juliet, I would've thought you'd be freaking out"
She collapsed into a chair and rubbed her temples slowly
𝐽𝑈𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑇-
"Oh no I'm definitely freaking out"
He laughed at me, as he so often did.
"Come on Sirius! It's hard to comprehend is all"
I'm amazing for figuring that out so easily.
I mean, I had absolutely no idea that that was what they were hiding but I knew it was something.
But I couldn't help but notice how irritated Sirius seemed. Maybe he worried for his friend, or was angry at James and Peter for leaving me alone with him.
He got up off the desk and looked at me intently
"What is it?" I asked him, afraid he might blow up at me and be dramatic about the whole situation.
"Nothing." He told me simply.
"Are you thinking about my pretty demon eyes"
I joked, eager to relieve the tension of the room, because I could feel it, lingering around us.
"I could ask you the same thing about my handsome smirky face" Sirius couldn't help but answer.
I rolled my eyes.
"But yes, since you asked, I was thinking about that"
And without another word, Sirius walked out of classroom and down the hall quickly leaving me relatively confused still.
𝐽𝑈𝐿𝐼𝐸𝑇-
I walked down to the hospital wing to visit Remus after the boys had told me the truth
I was still a little uneasy and shaken up, I mean who wouldn't Be?
But I ultimately just wanted to make sure that Remus was okay.
I found him lying in the farthest bed, the curtain closed around it.
"Juliet? W-what are you doing here?"
"Calm down wolf boy, I'm just visiting"
"They told you?"
"No, I figured it out"
He laughed nervously
"did James pay up?"
"Is that seriously the first thing you ask me?" I said pulling up a chair next to him.
Remus looked at me, waiting for my answer
"Yes he did pay up."
"Good, Sirius was right, you really are Sherlock Holmes " he nodded
"He probably didn't mean it as a good thing" I stressed
He shrugged.
"Anyway, how are you doing"
"I'm fine, exhausted, but fine."
"I can leave if you want"
"No, I want you to stay."
I smiled and took Remus's hand, tracing the lines in his palm calmly
"So you aren't scared of me"
I rolled my eyes
"No Remus of course not"
"I'm a monster" he muttered
"Don't make me slap you, you aren't a monster, you're just unfortunate, have you send your friends? Sirius has a drinking problem and James runs out to the quidditch pitch at full speed just to watch a girl who doesn't even like him!" I explained
"Wise words" he muttered
I reached forward for Remus's hair which seriously needed some help, I combed through it with my fingers to fix it as best as I could.
"You're too good for me Jules"
"Oh You make me blush Remus" I joked
"I think you make Sirius blush" Remus muttered to himself, probably thinking I wouldn't hear him but I did.
"I'm sorry? What did you just say?"
"Sirius pays you much more attention than any other girl at this school"
"Because he wants to piss me off Remus, what's your point"
"You don't understand Juliet, I've been friends with that guy for years and he acts as though every girl is just a brick wall, the fact that he treats you the way he does means more than you think"
"You know Remus? I think you overthink more than I do, besides I think Sirius is annoying and arrogant.
the only person he cares about is himself!"
"But he's attractive" Remus added
"Extremely, but that's not the point I'm trying to make"
"And what point would that be?" Remus asked curiously
I looked down at Remus's bed, my fingers had become entwined in his, he rubbed the side of my thumb softly.
but I seemed to lose my focus in the moment, thinking about Sirius, I wasn't sure why I was thinking about him, Remus had just brought up things I'd never thought about before.
"I suppose he's really funny when he chooses to be, he always knows how to make everyone laugh.
But he's got this sense of sadness to him, sometimes I feel bad because it's the same kind that I have. But that smirk, oh my god that smirk"
"It makes your heart skip a beat doesn't it"
"It makes everyone's heart skip a beat!"
"Hate isn't far from love my friend"
"I think you hit your head during your night time adventure, maybe I did too."
" I think that you should remember those words"
"Whatever Remus, get some rest"
𝑆𝐼𝑅𝐼𝑈𝑆-
I walked back to the great hall to see James staring at me.
"What?"
"So what happened!"
"With what James?"
"You and Juliet idiot!"
"What about it?"
"Are you clueless! We left you guys alone on purpose!"
Peter nodded in agreement
"Why in the world would you do that?"
"Come on Sirius you like her don't you"
"Excuse me? How could I like her!"
"I think you just pretend to hate her, I saw the way you were looking at her in astronomy"
"For your information, I was looking at Remus" I said crossing my arms
"Oh you and him? That's old news! And bullshit I know you weren't looking at him"
"James your suspicions are bullshit"
I grabbed my bagel off the table and left the great hall irritably.
They don't know what they're talking about.